The Birth of Pain
Disclaimer: See Prologue.
A/N: I apologize profusely for the wait but life outside called. Special thanks to all my readers for their patience in waiting so long. This is the most critical chapter in the story so it required my special attention.
In my haste to post this as soon as possible I may have neglected to fix a few spelling errors. Rest assured that if there are any they will be fixed next time I have extended internet access. For now, enjoy the story!
The air was thick with smoke and crying pyreflies floating into the sky on the screams of the living and dying. As it is often said when inconceivable carnage that has taken place in Spira, Bevelle had the look of the Farplane. But then, the Farplane is a sugar-spun paradise, a heaven for both the deserving and the non for how could one eternally damn to any sort of Hell those who were already cursed by Sin?
Bevelle, that day, was Hell.
For if Hell was a place where our past failures and most horrible moments come back to haunt us then Bevelle, that day, would be played again and again before Auron's damned soul for eternity.
"I'm sorry, sir, but I'm going to have to ask you to wait outside," the young acolyte Belgemine said like a waitress informing a patron that there order would be ready as soon as it was done.
"My wife is in there, girl, and I will be with her when the time comes," Auron growled and moved to walk past the young woman.
"But, sir, your wife was the one who told us not to let you pass," she protested, stepping in front of him and spreading her arms to bar his path. "She just went into labor; it could take hours before the child is born," Auron paid her no heed but simply shoved her aside and continued through.
One of the nurses gave him a startled glance as his ground-eating stride brought him swiftly to the door wherein lay his wife and soon his child. He and Leyla had agreed to let the child's sex remain unknown until the day of its birth and despite his composure before Belgemine his throat was dry and his palm sweaty beneath the glove. Just as he reached for the knob a scream like a death knell rent the air and he threw caution to the wind and barged through the door.
"…AND TELL THAT SINSPAWNED SON OF A SHOOPUFF THAT HE CAN…!"
And closed it abruptly just as Belgemine came trotting up behind him.
"I told you, sir monk. Childbirth is a very trying time for a woman and the first is often the worst. She is not in the mood to see anyone right now," Belgemine explained breathlessly to the somewhat shell-shocked warrior-monk. Auron nodded to acknowledge the girl's presence and silently walked back to where he had been sat before. He could wait. How long could it take?
3 Hours Later
Auron seized Belgemine's wrist as she dashed out of the birthing room clutching a basket of blood-soaked rags.
"How is she? Has the child been born yet?!" Auron asked frantically
"No, sir, but soon," Belgemine gasped quickly then pulled her arm free and dashed off.
Auron reached after her when suddenly he felt tremors pass through his body from the soles of his boots rattling its way up to his skull. The doors and windows began to shudder as if being struck repeatedly by a giant fist.
"Wha-? Is someone…" Belgemine yelped and was pitched to the floor as the quakes rocked the temple's foundation.
"An earthquake?!" Auron shouted over the noise when suddenly the shaking stopped.
Silence fell, amongst the sound of chipped plaster hitting the floor.
…
…
"SIN!"
Echoing the cry was the sound of Spira's Suffering, tens of thousands of phantasmal voices crying out in their final agony, accompanied by the tearing of stone.
"Don't just sit there, girl, go! Sound the alarm!" Auron shouted and bolted out the door down the long curving hallway of the palace, not pausing to see if the acolyte had obeyed. Dashing down a pair of darkened twisting steps that led to the armory, Auron did not waste time seeking out his own sword but grabbed a great curved katana off the rack, hefted it to test the balance, then slung it over his shoulder and dove back the way he had come.
He emerged from the massive temple doors into a scene of chaos. Warrior-monks, priests and civilians alike milled around in what looked like confusion to the untrained eye but in truth held practiced purpose as defenses were readied and men took their stations. In the distance he could see that one of the supports of the Palace, the west stairway, had been severed and the other five were covered in Sinspawn. An elderly man in the robes of the Yevon clergy tried to scurry past but Auron wrenched him back. "Where is Sin?!" he shouted, barely able to hear his own voice over the clamor.
The priest wheezed something feebly and Auron shouted for him to repeat it. Instead the priest pointed to the sky and pulled free, revealing his face for a split second. Auron realized with horror that he had just manhandled Grand Maester Mika but it was only a small rush in comparison to his nearly hysterical fear for Leyla, confined to a bed, wracked by the birth pangs of their child.
His eyes rose slowly in the direction that Mika had pointed. At first he saw nothing but suddenly what he had taken for a storm cloud detached itself from the rest of the burning sky. Sin in all its monstrous glory was too far away to make out clearly, a temporary blessing to those on the ground. Around it, buzzing like a gnat in comparison to its bulk, Evrae's serpentine length dove in and out of its fins alternately scratching it with its scythe-like claws and repeatedly exhaling its breath attack. Even from thousands of feet below it was obvious that the guardian wyrm was doing a great deal of damage but to little avail. Somewhere in the Palace of St. Bevelle a ring of four Summoner-priests sat in deep meditation, conjuring the great wyrm. Should the circle be broken or Evrae take too much damage, the protector of Bevelle would be dismissed and it would be up to mortals and their Aeons to protect their home.
"Auron! To me!" a voice bellowed. Auron turned to see Kinoc and twelve other men from his squad running towards him. "Praise be to Yevon, we feared we had lost you too," Kinoc said, panting slightly, "Commander Ralleth is dead and the Sinspawn have nearly overrun the West stairwell! Lord Braska and squads 12 and 31 are already there."
"Leyla is in the temple, Kinoc!" Auron said.
"Is it her time?!" Kinoc said, realization flooding his face, "There is nothing for it, she is safer there than anywhere else."
Auron nodded reluctantly and raced along with his squad to the stairway. Soon, all his thoughts had turned to battle.
As the final rasping cry died away it was replaced with a newer, smaller one.
"It's a girl, my lady mage," the midwife's aid said gently and wrapped the newborn in a soft white blanket. Leyla gave an exhausted gasp and fell back against the pillows breathing heavily, her body too worn out even to shudder in the aftermath of the pain.
"Let me see her," Leyla panted and the aid gently placed the child into her arms. The babe gave a final angry wail then calmed, as if sensing the presence of her mother. Leyla gazed tenderly down at her. The babe was still damp from the birthing and her scrunched face looked strange and alien but the wash of love that swept through Leyla defied all that.
"Meva," she whispered, "Her name is Meva."
"Meva?" the aid said, unaware that she was now butting in on a private moment between mother and daughter. "That's a strange name, sounds almost heathen."
"It is Al Bhed, if that is what you mean," Leyla said without looking up then murmured for the child's ears alone "I could not giver her your name, Rikku, but that does not mean I cannot name her in remembrance."
"What does it mean?" the aid pressed, her curiosity overwhelming her.
"Life," Leyla whispered and closing her eyes lay back against the bed, her child cradled to her breast.
Thinking perhaps that the woman had fallen asleep, the aid reached to take the infant for her first bath when a low rumble shook the floor of the room. Leyla's crimson eyes snapped open.
"What was that?" she asked.
"Nothing, my lady," the aid said nervously, "Please, allow me to wash the child."
"You know something," Leyla said, her eyes becoming dangerous despite their fatigue. She shifted Meva to her other arm, away from the aid. "Tell me."
"There was some sort of disturbance so the midwife left me in charge to assist the final stages of the birthing while she healed the wounded. Please, my lady, the child," the aid said, becoming distraught.
"What sort of disturbance?" Leyla hissed.
The aid's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Sin, my lady."
Leyla's eyes widened, "Auron."
The aid mistook her distress, "Don't worry, my lady. We are protected here. The priests and the warrior-monks will drive Sin away."
"You foolish child," Leyla rasped. "Here, take her," she carefully placed Meva into aid's arm and pushed herself into a sitting position.
"My lady, you cannot!" the aid cried. Meva awoke from her doze and began to wail, her little lungs working so that the sound that emerged was more akin to a scream of pain than hunger.
"Heal me," Leyla said. The aid simply stared at her, "You are a white mage, I can tell from your robes. Heal me!"
The girl gave a terrified nod and carefully placed Meva in a crib beside the bed. Taking a deep breath she crossed her hands above her head and brought them down in the sign of prayer. The air sparkled as a rush of energy flooded into the black mage. For a moment she could feel her body returning itself partially to the way it had been before the pregnancy. "Thank you," she said, her voice strengthened from the healing. Pushing herself off the bloodstained bed she stumbled slightly and straightened. Walking past the panting aid, she lowered herself over the crib where her daughter cried. "Be strong," she whispered, "I will return soon. With your father," she kissed the child's brow, running a long white finger down her face and turned back to the aid. "Take care of her until I return."
"Wh-where are you going?" she asked. Leyla glanced towards the door.
"My husband is out there and my squad. I must be there to help them fight Sin."
"But my lady!" Leyla looked at her and the words died on the aid's tongue, "Your staff and uniform are in your quarters."
Leyla nodded her thanks and left the room, the aid, and her daughter in safety behind her.
"That's the last of them," Kinoc said, lifting his helmet to wipe the sweat from his brow. When Auron didn't respond he followed the taller man's gaze skyward just in time to see Evrae writhe in agony and explode into a thousand pyreflies.
Being once against in her mage's uniform was both a comfort and an irritation. She had not worn it now for several months but even with the birth of the child it required adjustment to fit her. Despite that the familiar heavy sleeves and wide-brimmed hat returned her once more to a place of focus and allowed her to enter the calm that was required in order to cast the elemental spells. Hefting her jade-tipped staff she strode passed the milling nuns and priests in the palace's main hall with an air of composure that she held onto by a fingernail.
I should not be here, she thought, I have just given birth. I do not have the strength now to cast spells! But the thought of her husband outside and her child within drove these thoughts from her mind. Slinging the staff over her shoulder she pushed open the massive temple doors, clutching them as she did so for support and entered the maelstrom.
Sin fell to earth with deceptive slowness, its vast bulk covering the thousands of feet between it and the towers of Bevelle so that it seemed not so much that it was approaching but that it was growing larger and larger in the sky until with frightening clarity it was upon them, eclipsing the sun and covering the city with its shadow.
Auron had fought Sin before but it had always been from the water. There had always been only one front to fight on, one place to stand and keep the encroaching Sinspawn away from the heart of the city. Never in living memory had Sin attacked from the air and suddenly he wished that Leyla was by his side for a different reason, for what good was his sword against that awesome majesty?
Around him his fellow warrior-monks fell to their knees as one by one they were struck by the impossibility of their task. Some began to weep as Sin stopped just above the topmost spire. It underbelly crackled with energy as countless elemental spells danced through the folds of its armor with the occasional flare exploding amongst them. To Auron's eyes it seemed the only thing keeping the behemoth from crushing them all.
"Grand Maester Mika, we cannot ask you to do this. This-this is unprecedented! Please, allow another to go in your stead," High Priest Kabrek pleaded as he walked alongside the ancient Maester.
"There…is not other, Kabrek," Mika wheezed as each faltering step took him closer to the Chamber of Summons, recently vacated by the Summoner-priests of the guardian wyrm. "There are none who remember."
"But your Holiness, the cost!" protested Kabrek, his heart heavy. He already knew that the Grand Maester in his infinite resolve could not be swayed. He knew that the other High Priests would say no different than him but their words would be hollow and false, barely concealing their fiendish hunger to advance themselves in the hierarchy. It had been Kabrek's unwavering faith rather than his wit or wiliness that had gained him the position of High Priest and ever since attaining that position he had found a kindred spirit in Grand Maester Mika. Only the Grand Maester amongst Kabrek's superiors had shared the same zeal in the service of Yevon.
A zeal he would now put forth into protecting Bevelle with his life.
Mika's parchment lips turned up in the tiniest of smiles, "I am old, Kabrek, and have dedicated my life in service of Yevon. Let me now dedicate my death," Despite these brave words, the Grand Maester's heart trembled. For all his words, Mika feared for Spira once it was bereft of his capable leadership.
Kabrek bowed to mask the tears that had begun to flood his eyes, "As you will, your Holiness."
The Grand Maester took his seat in the center of the circular chamber and assumed a meditative position. Taking one last look at his mentor's peaceful visage, Kabrek solemnly made the sign of prayer and closed the door behind him.
A Meteor Strike collided with one of the fins as the Summoners took the field. They stood in full battle array on the Highbridge, scepters and staffs in hand as they urged the Aeons on. Bahamut flexed and the blue fire of the Impulse burned in his clenched fists then shot forward, taking Sin in one of its hundred eyes. Spira's Suffering rose higher into the air to escape this unexpected resistance just as a spear of ice descended from the heavens and crashed into its skull.
Sin roared in pain and it seemed as if time slowed. The great ribbed tail came up high like a sword prepared to strike then cut down through metal and stone, rending the Palace of St. Bevelle asunder. A shock wave ripped through the city, throwing all the warrior-monks to their knees. It carried with it a wave of brown dust and debris that engulfed the defenders and obscured the world from sight. Auron face and eyes stung as his wounds from the debris and the Sinspawn as well as his lungs were filled with the dust of crumpled temple.
For a moment while his ears were deafened by the tearing stone and his eyes were blocked by its ashes and all his other senses were simply overwhelmed, Auron wondered perhaps if he had died. The thought that occurred to him next made him wish he had.
Leyla was in the temple.
He tried to push himself to his feet but all feeling had left his body.
Leyla was in the temple!
He saw her trapped in the bed, surrounded by blood from the birthing, the walls of the room crumbling around her. He could see her screaming.
He could feel her dying.
"No," he gasped, choking on the dust that filled his lungs. Using his katana has a crutch he pushed himself to his feet and began to stumble towards the heart of the destruction.
"No, Auron, you cannot! The bridge could collapse at any time!" a voice called through the haze.
Auron turned and through the dust an apparition approached. Garbed in strange robes like feathers it was almost impossible to tell the sex of the speaker by appearances. Only the voice was recognizable. "Lord Braska?" Auron said hesitantly. There was no telling the color of the robes through the layer of dust but they were certainly not the robes of a priest of Yevon. The headdress was the strangest part of all, similar to a crown with a long ribbon of cloth hanging down his back, giving the priest the odd appearance of a quail.
"Sin is not finished yet," Braska said grimly, looking through the haze to the sky. A pale, rose-colored light shown through as Sin prepared for its final attack.
Kabrek felt the cold, unforgiving marble against his cheek and vaguely wondered how he had ended up face down on the floor, his body wracked with pain. Tentatively he tried to flex his arms but the pain that followed was enough to make him cry out through clenched teeth. With a whimper he tried instead to open his eyes. For a disorienting moment he thought he must be on the Farplane for there was Grand Maester Mika, his form translucent as pyreflies dodged in and out of his skin.
Kabrek opened his mouth to speak but no words came. The sight of his mentor and superior drove out all thought, even of pain, with the joy that it caused. But something was wrong. Agony twisted his body and there was no feeling on the Farplane, was there? Raising his eyes he sought answers in Mika's face, now filled contrastingly with fatherly affection and deadly purpose.
"I am sorry, my son. I have failed," Mika said, his voice cracked and old even in death. "My life was not sufficient to create a barrier against Sin," Kabrek nodded and smiled. It was alright. "Forgive me."
Kabrek wanted to reach out and touch the dry, parchment skin of the old man's cheek, to say aloud that he forgave him but a strange feeling had come over his body. Mika's hand was on his chest and it was as solid as any living being's yet it was cold as death.
Kabrek's thoughts went from love for this old man to the realization that he was alive, that he was not yet on the Farplane! But before his eyes his body began to dissolve and his consciousness floated up on a stream of pyreflies. His pyreflies.
Kabrek's last thought was a realization. Mika was dead but he was still alive. Kabrek was alive.
But now he was dead.
The room crackled with energy as a tiny blue barrier shot through with purple lightning no bigger than a bubble appeared where Kabrek's body had once been. It rotated and expand, filling the room until it was lost from sight, expanding out over the city.
"I am sorry, Kabrek, my son; but Bevelle needs me more than it needs you," Mika said and turned his attention to the barrier.
The mouth of Sin began to open and all Auron could do was watch.
On either side of Sin's elongated jaw strips of flesh like teeth stretched and came undone like clay being torn in two. Light began to collect there, shaping itself into a ball of crackling pink energy swirling with white and purple. The smell of fire and ozone choked the air and the ball grew until it was easily the size of the temple that Sin had so carelessly crushed.
This is it, this is the end, Auron realized, closing his eyes. Leyla, I will see you again on the Farplane.
The ball of energy shot forward, straight towards the heart of Bevelle, cutting everything in its path. Molecules of air were severed cleanly as the inexorable beam of light sliced down.
An explosion rocked Bevelle to its core, shaking free anything that had not already fallen. Despite his resolve to follow Leyla to the Farplane, Auron threw up his hands to cover his face from what he knew was certain death.
A breath.
Two.
Nothing happened.
Slowly cracking open one eye Auron raised his vision and saw the impossible.
A blue energy field like a bubble laced with violet lightning engulfed the city in its entirety. The energy from Sin's attack crackled and rolled off the outside of the barrier, which flexed in and out precariously close to the spire of St. Bevelle.
Sin pressed the attack and the barrier flexed inward, cleanly chopping off the tip of the spire. But as one part flexed in the other pushed out, brushing Sin's burnt underbelly. Where it touched it sizzled and the smell of burning meat filled the air. The cry of the voices that emitted from Sin like sweat doubled in pitch and volume, chorusing the creature's own cry of pain. It stumbled and fell, catching itself only inches from the surface of the barrier. Then with one last scream of inhuman rage it turned back towards the sea in search of easier targets and was lost from sight.
Yet at what cost?
Aftershocks shivered through the city in the aftermath of the destruction, sending plumes of dust into the air so thick that the sun in the cloudless sky was veiled by the brown dust. Here and there bits of masonry shuddered then gave in to the force of gravity and screams erupted from those who had stood on or under them.
Auron was oblivious to all of this. The feeling fully restored to his legs he dashed towards the temple, keeping his eyes trained on it while simulataneously attempting to block the image of its ruined shell from penetrating his mind. She was in the inner infirmary, he thought desperately, she is safe. As long as she was there, she was safe!
The Highbridge was smoking but intact but the three Summoners who had stood upon it in their heroic stand against Sin were nowhere to be found. It could only be assumed that they had survived, for the Aeons had been dismissed and somewhere through the smoke that covered the city, pyreflies were floating up on the winds of death.
As he neared the temple Auron felt a wash of relief so great it almost brought him to his knees. The infirmary was in the lower right wing of the temple and only the courtyard along with the front entrance had been severely damaged. He hardly even saw the priests and acolytes as they milled around, attending to the wounded hidden amongst the great stone blocks. Picking the clearest path he could find through the wreckage he kept his eyes trained on the temple doors when something crunched under his boot. Glancing down he saw shards of pale jade stone scattered around the broken globe of a Rod of Wisdom.
Sickening horror turned his insides to ice. He closed his eyes but knew he must look, he must know. Stepping off the cleared trail that led to the temple he carefully picked his way through the garden of debris. Around him a team of warrior-monks from another squad had banded together to lift some of the stone to free people and corpses that had been pinned beneath.
I should go, she is not here, Auron thought, She is not here, she is waiting inside with the child, if it has been born yet, One of the teams had moved back to where he had found the broken jade. They rolled a fair sized boulder onto the cart and a flash of silver caught Auron's eye.
Oh, Yevon, NO! Unable to maintain his composure any longer he moaned in fear and stumbled back the way he had come. His sword fell to the ground the ground with a clatter.
At first he could not see her. His mind simply could not comprehend what was before him. It was not Leyla, this pathetic, lifeless thing before him was not his wife, it was incapable of ever having been the shell of her soul. Nonetheless his body knew what his mind could not and he sunk to his knees beside her. And as if proximity to the body somehow brought clarity of mind he carefully gathered her into his arms and he knew.
A single thin trail of blood, already beginning to dry, trickled from her mouth. Her eyes, usually the deep crimson of heart's blood, had misted over to a shade of dark pink and remained open and staring into the burning sky. Her expression, so very dead was neither in pain nor at peace. It looked as if someone had constructed a wax doll of her, and not a very realistic one at that. Devoid of all sparkle.
Of all life.
"No, Leyla, no…please, oh Yevon, please no," he whispered hoarsely, cradling her face to his chest. "No… NO!" The scream was torn from his throat, choked by the tears that had begun to trickle unheeded down his face.
Pulling her close he rocked back and forth, sobbing, "No, no," over and over again. Time lost all meaning. An eternity past as he sat there, unable to move save to hold her tighter, as he had that day in the spring more than a year ago. But now instead the realization that they were going to spend the rest of their lives together had been replaced by the realization that she was gone… and he was still here. Fiercely his kissed her forehead and ran his fingers down the front of her face, closing those dead eyes forever. He tried to remember what they had been like alive, knew he should be able to, but his thoughts were consumed by dead eyes, dead face, and his own dead heart.
"Auron," Braska's voice rang out, piercing the haze of insanity that threatened to engulf the warrior-monk. "Auron, you must let her go."
"I cannot," he replied, his voice barely more than a whisper.
"I know what it is like, my friend, but you must allow me to perform the Sending," Braska said, kneeling beside his friend.
"My lord, you cannot send her, you are not a Summoner," Auron said, denying the small part of mind that told him otherwise. Braska could not be a Summoner, Summoner's died and Auron had seen too much death this day. "My lord, you cannot be a Summoner!"
"It is the path I have chosen. Please, Auron, let me do this," not waiting for the younger man's reply, Braska stepped into an area clear of stone and took a step forward then drew a circle around himself with his staff, swinging it around his chest and head in a circle. The motion of his legs was concealed by the thick robes yet the intricate swirl of his staff was sure and true.
Auron felt the cold weight of Leyla's body begin to recede from his grasp as her form became transparent then dispersed into a cloud of pyreflies, leaving the mortal trappings of her black mage's uniform and the necklace he had given her to celebrate the conception of their child on the ground below.
"NO! LEYLA!!" Auron screamed into the air, reaching out to grasp a crying pyrefly.
…She awoke, the feeling of his red wool coat comforting against her skin. Glancing to the side she saw her love still asleep, curled between her and the dying fire beside the spring. Silently she began to dress in her own black mage uniform but not before brushing her lips to his and whispering, "I love you," in his ear…
Braska brought his staff to a halt. All around him the pyreflies from those who had lost their lives in the courtyard of St. Bevelle danced around him on their way to their final resting place on the Farplane. Yet as they rose to the sky, Braska fell to his knees, emotionally and physically exhausted.
Auron's arm fell limply to his side as he stared after the pyreflies, Leyla's garments clutched in his arms. For though his heart beat on he knew that this day it had died and no matter how much time past it would never be as alive as it had been the last time he had seen her smile.
"I am sorry, Auron" Braska said, his voice cracked and tired. "But you must understand. I do not wish to see any more death. I do not want another to go through what I did when I lost Rikku. Don't you see? I do not want Yuna to grow up in the shadow of Sin. I want her and all that come after to be free of the fear that any day they could lose everything."
"I understand….my lord," Auron said hoarsely and Braska turned to him in surprise, "I understand now why you did it…and I wish to be your Guardian, if you will have me," he did not look up from the ground. For a moment Braska was too overcome to speak. He simply nodded.
"Nothing would please me more, my friend," Braska said.
Auron stood, still clutching Leyla's garments, the necklace he had given her not six months ago wrapped around his fingers. For a moment they stood there, two men lost in their shared grief and now their shared destiny. They said nothing, for there were now nothing more to say.
"Please, can someone tell me where I can find him?" a desperate voice called and a young acolyte in green emerged from the temple. "He is a warrior-monk, I must know if he has fallen!" Braska turned and saw Belgemine questioning several priests frantically. One by one the shook their heads sorrowfully, each making the sign of prayer and Belgemine ran on. At the sight of him her eyes widened and she dashed forward. Just before she reached them Braska realized that it was Auron that her gaze was locked on.
"Praise be to Yevon, you are alive! Please sir, you must come inside," Belgemine said. Auron turned and at the sight of Leyla's clothing clutched in his hands the acolytes face went completely white and she choked on a sob. Swallow her tears, she grabbed the warrior-monks arm and pulled him back towards the temple. He offered little resistance and did not even bother to pull his arm free. He walked as if in a trance, eyes trained on the ground.
She walked him past the milling nuns and priests in the temple interior and brought him down the right twisting path further in to the temple. In his numbed state Auron did not realize that she was leading him back towards the room where Leyla had gone into labor.
The sound of a baby's shrill sobs broke Auron from his reverie. Pulling free of Belgemine he pushed open the door to the room where he now realized his and Leyla's child lay.
It was in shambles. One of the pillars in the corner that supported the room had cracked and fallen, snapping the bed in two. Dust covered every surface and the floor was covered in shards of glass from the broken window.
Glass was not the only thing that covered the floor.
A small, pathetic form clad in the robes of a novice white mage lay curled up on the floor in a pool of blood. A swift blow to the head from a loosened ceiling block had taken her life before she had known what was happening. Clutched in her stiffening arms was the source of crying.
"Oh, Yevon! Serry!" Belgemine cried and fell to the floor beside her friend, ignoring the blood that soaked through her skirt. Placing a hand on the girl's forehead she released a burst of healing magic into the girl's body, knowing even before she started that it was in vain. Auron bent and took his child from the dead aid's arms and with a feeling like a dagger being slowly shoved through his heart, noted that the baby was a girl and that her eyes were the same deep red as her mother's. The baby continued to scream, as if already aware that she had lost her mother forever.
"Paine," he whispered, his voice hoarse and empty of all feeling, "Her name is Paine."
"Why?!" Belgemine sobbed, rising from her dead friend's side to look at the child in the red-cloaked man's arms. "She is too young to bear such a sorrowful name."
Auron looked at her and back to the child. Why did she cry so? Did she know what he intended to do? Did she not understand that he did it for her? "Because it is all she has ever known," He closed his eyes, unwilling to show any emotion before the girl. Emotion would only cloud what he had to do.
Passing Paine back into Belgemine's arms he turned back towards the door, "She is to be given into the care of her aunt and uncle on Kilika. Their names are Nuada and Balgern. She is to be told that her parents died this day in Bevelle."
"How dare you?" Belgemine cried. "She deserves to have a family!"
"And that is the one thing I cannot give her," Auron replied. He needed to get out of this room before his resolve broke. The greatest gift he could give to Paine now was to defeat Sin at Braska's side. The life he had to offer her was no life at all, not without Leyla. Before Belgemine could protest further he left the room to make with the arrangements with the temple for Paine's adoption and his Guardianship.
A/N: This is not the end! There are at least four more chapters after this, two of which have already been completed (Unfortunately neither are the chapter immediately following this one) Please leave a review, you have no idea how hard this chapter was to write!
Also, this chapter will be accompanied by an illustration of Auron, Braska and Leyla as soon as I can get my scanner working. As soon as it is up I will post the link at the bottom of each chapter and on my homepage. Otherwise, it is in the fanart section on Elfwood under the name Margaret MacAlpine.
For more information on fics and future updates check out my author page or enter in this link without the spaces.
http: games. groups. yahoo. com/ group/ Avelerafantasy /
Note: The link on my author page is the same as the above.