Birth of Pain

Disclaimer: see prologue.

A/N: Ok, so I lied. But the chapter's here now so please enjoy and review! Also, don't be afraid to contact me via AIM, my SN is Athena799 for more info on my fics.

"Hey, Rin," the sound of Cid's gruff voice broke Rin from his reverie. Though profitable as the only merchant on board, his stay on the airship had been dull once the initial thrill of traveling through the air had worn off, leaving only traces of motion-sickness in its wake, "We've got a call from of those Travel Agencies of yours. The Highroad one"

Rin turned away from the window and strode up the oscillo-finder in the center of the bridge. Al Bhed code flickered across the sphere, mostly reports on the ships status. "What could it be, I wonder?" Rin pondered aloud, clasping his hands behind his back. Suddenly the words on the screen vanished and were replaced by to the face of Highroad branch manager, Jenni.

"Rin, yna oui drana? (Rin, are you there?)" Jenni called, her inquisitive face flickering with static.

"Kuut tyo, Jenni (Good day, Jenni). What is it that is so important you had to call me?"

"Thank goodness we finally found you!"she exclaimed, her eyes focusing on the center of the screen. "We've recently had a terrible occurrence at the Agency: three people, two boys and a girl, where shot with a machina just outside. One of them we've identified as Gippal, who ran off to join the Crusaders last year. The others are Yevonites and no one has come looking for them. The shooting happened earlier this week and we are currently tending the victim's wounds. We are hoping that when they wake up they can tell us more," Jenni said earnestly.

"This is extremely serious," Rin said grimly, clasping his hands behind his back, "Can you show them to me?"

"Of course." The image shook and was half covered by Jenni's fingers as she moved the sphere into one of the rooms. Rin recognized the young Al Bhed immediately but could only identify the white haired, caramel skinned by the Yevonite symbols on his clothes. In the corner of the room lay a girl no older, he approximated, than the Summoner Yuna. He could not tell what she was wearing beneath the sheets but her slim neck was decorated by a black studded choker and a long silver necklace with a chain of barbed wire. Her hair was a unique shade of steel-gray, as if all the color had been washed out of her. Rin's eyes narrowed. He had seen hair that color on only one person, a woman who had died many years ago. Sixteen, if he remembered correctly. He had no known her well, but he had become well acquainted with her husband as he journeyed with High Summoner Braska.

"Unless I am mistaken, Jenni, that girl has a very unusual eye color. A deep crimson, like blood, no?"

Jenni cocked an eyebrow in curiosity but she had long since become used to the vast amount of knowledge that her employer possessed. "Yes, actually. Do you know her?"

"I may. Can you arrange for her to be transferred to the airship's infirmary?"

Jenni's lips pursed "I'm sorry, Rin, but her condition is critical. The bullet went clean through her shoulder. The ligaments were torn and the bone nearly shattered. There's no risk of infection, but she could take a turn for the worst at any moment. I'm afraid I can't in good consciences have her sent by sphere transporter."

"That will not be a problem, Jenni, Cid has assured me that a visit to the Highroad on our way to Zanarkand will be no trouble. Also, the very best tulduns Home has to offer are on board. She will be in good hands," Rin said, blithely ignoring the aghast expression on Cid's face at this information.

"Now wait just a damn minute-," Cid began.

"Very well, it is settled," Rin said maneuvering his body to block Jenni's view of the apoplectic captain, "As soon as we land we'll bring her to the on-board infirmary. I assure you, Jenni, she will have the best care." Rin said.

"We can't be goin' all the way to Mi'hen! We gotta get to Zanarkand before Yuna-,"

"By the way," Rin said just before Jenni turned off the sphere-cam, "Have you discovered her name?"

"We watched her spheres to see if we could get any information on them. We'll send them with her. We found out her name is Paine, from Kilika Port. Be wary Rin, something called the Crimson Squad has made her an enemy of Yevon. We don't need any more reasons to have them breathing down our necks," Rin nodded to himself.

"Thank you, Jenni, I will remember that. We should be there by the end of the day," the oscillo-finder flickered and was once again filled with data-stream. Rin's eyes flickered along the logs for a moment yet finding he could not understand half of the terms turned to begin preparations for Paine's arrival when something tapped him very lightly on the shoulder.

"Oh, Rin?" Cid said with frightening cheerfulness.

"Sir Auron, might I have a word?" the Al Bhed merchant called as Auron entered the hatch. The other guardians glanced over at the exchange but did not seem surprised. They all looked exhausted and beaten. Within moments, Al Bhed tulduns were hustling them off to prepared quarters.

"Alright," Auron replied, seeming to be the least weary of the seven. He gave Rin an expectant look.

"No, not here. There is something I need to show you. Down in the infirmary," Auron did not show his puzzlement but followed the Al Bhed, wondering what the other man could possibly have to show him. A young woman with blonde hair tied back in a long thick braid pressed a button that released the door to let them by.

"Nekrd drec fyo (Right this way), Mr. Rin."

Rin nodded his thanks as the hatch flew open with a swish and a clank, revealing a room buzzing with machina. Their steel surfaces flickered with red and green lights and a small screen sketched two peaks, one short and one tall, each second. A deep, even wheeze rang abnormally loud in a room so quiet Auron could hear the nearly inaudible clicks of the machina. For some reason the silence reminded him of a temple, as if a certain level of respectful quiet was required.

And within its sanctum, the Fayth.

Lying prone on a small cot , so delicate she left hardly any swell in the tightly tucked sheets, lay a girl as white and shining as alabaster under the garish, unfeeling lights. It was as if all the color had been drained out of her, even her hair was limp and gray.

A soft grunt escaped Auron's lips, as if his recognition of the girl had manifested itself as a punch to the heart. He knew her. Not by her hair which fell dark and lank as tarnished silver around her face, or by her eyes for they were closed. It was by her face, the way she slept, the way her nose was his own, but smaller, more feminine and her cheekbones shaped her face so like her mother's that had he lived he would have cried out. Around her neck was the necklace he had given her ten years ago, but now the silver chain that had once pooled in his hand like water was twisted and intertwined with barbed wire like thorns around the flower pendant.

"She is your daughter, is she not? I had heard that your wife, the Lady Leyla was nine months pregnant when she died sixteen years ago," Rin said softly but Auron could not rip his gaze away from her, nor find the words to speak. Though meeting her ten years before dulled some of the shock, seeing her now only a year younger than when he had met her mother shook him to the core. "We found her outside the Mi'hen Highroad Branch, badly injured after being shot with a machina by one of her comrades; most likely for her role as a recorder in the Crimson Squad."

"Kinoc's project," Auron murmured.

"He ordered their deaths," Rin said simply. "I have done some research since she arrived."

Auron went, if possible, even more still. The man he had once considered his best friend had ordered the death of his and Leyla's child. The last vestiges of his beloved on this world had almost been destroyed without a thought, and by someone he had once trusted with his life.

For a moment he brooded on this, but thoughts of the pilgrimage, never far from his mind, flooded back along with his sense of duty.

"You know there is nothing I can do, Rin," he said gruffly, "She has… never known me, it would be futile to introduce us now. You know that I must go soon."

"Then you will do nothing?" Rin asked pointedly.

"She was raised by her aunt and uncle, I saw to that. Doubtless they will take care of her better than I could," Auron said despite the hidden desire, buried deep since the last time he had seen her childish face, to be her father. But that was why he had given her up; he had too many promises to keep, no way of giving her the life she deserved. It was better this way.

"Her parents…they are dead," Rin said slowly.

Auron looked away from the Al Bhed back to his sleeping daughter. Yes, dead. A pained smile twitched at the corner of his lips. Dead for ten years.

"Sir Auron? Sin attacked Kilika a few months ago. You knew that, did you not? The girl's aunt and uncle were killed in the attack."

Shock that would have quickened his heartbeat long ago coursed through his veins like an electric jolt. No emotion showed on his stony face hidden behind his glasses and high collar but his fist tightened reflexively, fingertips scraping the side of her bed.

Sorrow darkened Rin's face. He could see that the news had shocked his friend and briefly wondered where the guardian could have been not to have heard of the destruction of Kilika Port. But something else bubbled beneath his pity for a man who had just had his illusions shattered. Anger. Red-hot and seeking to escape like lava from cracked and blackened ground. Yet Rin was a master at quelling his emotions, never allowing the mildly-interested mask to slip. In this he was as good, if not better than the crimson-cloaked man before him.

He knew that Sir Auron intended to die. He had seen the look many times; the look of someone who cares little for the small things around them, knowing that soon it will no longer be their problem. Rin had also deduced long ago that Auron was an Unsent but even the knowledge that the man sought rest long denied did not cool the fury inside. The legendary guardian Auron intended to die for a higher purpose, to pass on once he had helped rid Spira of Sin and go to the Farplane where he should have lain long ago; to rejoin his wife and fallen comrades.

And in the process would leave behind the daughter he had never taken responsibility for.

That was the source of Rin's fury. The man's daughter lay dying with a bullet in her chest, put there by a friend's betrayal, having lost her foster parents and never knowing her real ones. Yet Auron stood beside her, so close he would not have to move to touch her, to trace the lines of her face that were a mix of his own and the woman he had loved. A man who planned to give up, to die, for a promise he had made to dead men long ago. Forgetting the promise he had made to this child by being her father, the unspoken vow to protect her and love her as she grew into the woman she was meant to be.

"She has no one, my friend," Rin said, his assumed accent masking his true emotions.

"She will make it alone," Auron said, "It is in her blood," the subtle changing in his stance alerted Rin louder than spoken word that the man meant to leave, to return to the pilgrimage that had consumed his undead existence.

Rin would not have it.

"She is dying, Auron," Even now his volume did not change but the tiniest glints of his anger shone through. To those who knew Rin, that miniscule touch of emotion was the equivalent in others of screaming rage. Auron was one of those people.

"Even if she survives her wounds, she is defenseless. She is not a mage or a warrior-monk like you or your wife. She is a sixteen year old girl and an enemy of Yevon for her role in the Crimson Squad. She has been betrayed by her faith, her friends," Rin paused, "And her family if you abandon her now."

Auron's shoulders slumped but he did not look at Rin. So many promises to keep and rest so near. Did Rin really expect him to stay? His time had passed long ago. The only thoughts keeping him from becoming a fiend were the destruction of Sin, saving Jecht, and keeping his promises. A great burden but a thin shield.

"What would you have me do, Rin?" Auron said his voice tight with weariness. "Be her father now, when she has already grown up? That man died, Rin, not ten years ago but sixteen, he died when Sin attacked Bevelle. In that I have not lied to her," The Al Bhed remained silent, unmoving. Auron turned to leave and felt Rin's hand close around his sleeve like a vice, wrenching him back. The normally calm Al Bhed's mouth was compressed into a thin line and Auron could see the tremors in the merchant's clenched fists.

"Our debt was not repaid when I took you in that night in Bevelle, Sir Auron. I still owe you my life and I will repay you by saving yours. If you leave now she will follow soon, to the Farplane. Save her, Auron, save yourself. Your death can wait a little longer."

Auron looked Rin dispassionately then turned his gaze to the silver haired girl asleep on the cot, every breath rattling in her throat as if it were her last. His eyes did not change. "That debt was canceled long ago," he raised a mollifying hand before Rin could protest. "When she has recovered, bring her to me. I will teach her what I know for as long as I have. But she'll never learn, Rin, that this fiend in the shape of her father has any connection to her."

"She is wise, she will guess," Rin protested.

"But she will never know," Auron said. This time, Rin did not try to stop the dead man as he strode passed.

Tuldun: Doctor

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