Disclaimer: I do NOT own Shaman King, or Final fantasy, but I do own my computer! Lol. Hope you enjoy! Reviews are welcomed with open arms. Flamers can get lost! End of disclaimer. I do own the other main character that happens to be me! No one else owns me, but I do own Abbie, AKA: Dark and Light Samurai the FFX game I borrowed off her! .
Hao's new destiny. Part 6.
Hao's temper was becoming fairly short. Travelling the Mi'ihen highroad was one of the most annoying things he'd had to do. It was quite a long distance. Luckily, the distance wasn't as long as the last one, and the views were a lot more interesting.
"Reminds me of life back on Earth." Sarah exclaimed at one point, as they got nearer to Mushroom rock road, which lead to the next Temple, Djose Temple. "The area is like a farm scenery. Like Wales."
Yuna smiled, looking around at the place in great detail. Currently, Auron was trying to keep as far away from Hao as possible, Tidus was trying to teach Wakka how to play eye spy to pass the time, Kimahri was huffing because every now and then, Sarah would grab some flowers and threw them over his head. Yuna thought it was the cutest thing she'd seen. Like she'd said to Tidus, "I want my journey to be full of laughter."
"Uh oh…" Lulu mumbled when she looked ahead. The Crusaders were blocking the path entrance to the Mushroom Rock road. Hao groaned though when he saw Miss Conceited and her Gorilla man talking to one of the Crusaders.
Wakka frowned upon the situation, before running over to Luzzu and Gatta to ask them what was going on.
Hao overheard them say something about, 'Operation Mi'ihen.'
Sarah was also frowning. "Looks like the crusaders and the Al Bhed are working together to help stop sin." She snorted. "Even Adolf Hitler wouldn't be nuts enough to do something like that! It's not gonna work!"
Yuna sighed. "Well, if it slows sin down, even a little, I'm not bothered."
Sarah snorted again. Just then, Dona and Bartello came forward.
Dona obviously didn't want to stay around long when she saw Sarah and Hao. She just said, "Don't bother trying to get past. They're even turning Summoners away."
Sarah smirked. "Are you sure it's not just you?"
Dona glared angrily at her before storming off with the Gorilla man at her heels.
Yuna sighed sadly. "We might as well head back…" She mumbled, turning around. The others went to follow her, when suddenly…
"Oh no…" Hao grumbled, along with Tidus as a familiar figure in robes with electric blue hair strolled over the hill, accompanied by his guards.
"I swear this guy is stalking us." Hao hissed to Tidus. Tidus nodded. They both had an obvious dislike for the Half Guado.
Yuna and the others immediately preformed the prayer. Sarah hesitated before also performing the prayer. Seymour smiled calmly upon them. It wasn't until then that Hao noticed that a) Auron hadn't preformed the prayer, and b) Seymour wasn't taking his eyes off either Yuna or Sarah.
Tidus glared at him. Did he like them both? Or couldn't he just make up his mind?
"So we meet again." He greeted them, also performing the prayer. Sarah didn't respond. She just stood still. Yuna just look a little flabbergasted.
"Is there any trouble?" He asked them politely. Yuna stood up straight again, looking unsure what to say. She just turned to face the gate. Sarah did the talking. "Yuna's suppose to be on her way to Djose Temple, but, as you can tell…" She also turned to face the gate.
Seymour looked upon the situation. He sussed it out in seconds.
"Hm… it's extremely dangerous though. With all the machina and…"
He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. Wakka had yelped in shock, "So they are using forbidden machina!"
Sarah rolled her eyes. "For gods sake Wakka, get over it just cause Machina killed your brother! It killed my parents but…" She froze in mid sentence.
Seymour frowned at her in confusion. "Sorceress Sarah?"
Sarah quickly shook her head. "It's nothing." She mumbled quickly. "Anyway, you were saying?" She quickly changed the subject.
Seymour nodded, letting it go. "Oh yes. I was going to say that it would be a bit too dangerous, but…" Once again, he looked Sarah up and down as though… checking her out?
Hao glared harshly at Seymour before snapping. "Sarah is a human. Not one of those intriguing objects you'd find in a museum!"
Everyone gasped at Hao's daring. Hao wasn't going to stand down. He was sick of this. He just knew that Seymour was evil. But even Sarah was fooled. Hao and Tidus weren't. They weren't letting fame cover his true self.
Seymour just frowned at Hao, before continuing rather coolly, "As I was saying, I think you and Lady Yuna will be strong enough to pass through."
Sarah smiled. "Thank you." She exclaimed. Yuna preformed the prayer again, and stayed bowed down until Seymour had walked ahead, to tell the guards to let them through.
Sarah sweat dropped. "Er, Yuna? You can stand up now you know…" Yuna yelped and jumped up again, looking embarrassed.
Tidus frowned after Seymour. "Who does he think he is?"
Wakka laughed weakly. "He's a Maester, ya. Better get use to it."
Hao was still seething. "Still doesn't give him reason to check out every girl he thinks will suit him best."
As he said this, Auron leaned over and hissed. "You're jealous. That's why you hate Seymour."
Hao's ears were practically letting off steam. He was really starting to feel like knocking this guy to his death.
They walked through, only to spot Seymour waiting for them on the other side. His business with them obviously wasn't over.
They watched as he turned to face the crusaders. They all turned to look at him. One of the captains called out, "All hail Maester Seymour!"
Seymour looked upon the crusaders. He called out, addressing every one of them, "Brave Crusaders of Spira, protectors of all Spira. Believe in the path you have chosen, let faith be your strength. I, Seymour Guado, Maester of Yevon, will bear witness to your deeds today!"
Sarah smiled. "Touching." She mumbled. Hao raised an eyebrow.
"More like dull…" He whispered to Tidus. Tidus nodded in agreement.
Wakka looked plain shocked. "What's goin' on?" He cried in horror. "Why's Maester Seymour backing the crusaders, eh? They're using Al Bhed machina! They're violating the teachings!"
Yuna was all set to reply, but Sarah got there first. "Wakka, get over it. It's better then nothing. I'll bet Seymour thinks the same thing! He isn't complaining!"
Wakka wasn't willing to listen. He turned to Lulu.
Lulu shrugged her shoulders. " I can only speculate."
Auron said with an even tone, "Ask him yourself." It was at this point they spotted Seymour walking over to them. He paused when he spotted Auron.
"Ah, Sir Auron, it is an honour." He exclaimed. "I would be most interested in hearing what you've been doing these past ten years."
Hao frowned, whilst Tidus just looked confused. As usual.
Auron showed no change in expression. He stayed his old self. "I've got nothing to say about it." Hao could tell that Auron clearly just wasn't in the mood. 'That's another person that holds a grudge against Seymour.' Hao thought privately. 'Maybe I should start a club…'
"I… see…" Seymour mumbled thoughtfully. Then he turned to face Yuna. "Sir Auron must a great asset as a Guardian." He claimed. Yuna cried quickly, "Your grace!" Before bowing. Again. Seymour smiled. "There's no need for formalities." He insisted. Yuna stood straight again, blushing with embarrassment.
Sarah chuckled at how funny she was acting. Seymour spotted Sarah. But before he could say anything, Wakka threw himself in headfirst.
"Excuse me…Maester Seymour" he started, "Why is your lordship presently… present here… sir?"
Sarah rolled her eyes, whilst Lulu shook her head. Seymour, you could tell, was trying not to roll his eyes too. "Please, speak as you normally would." He spoke firmly.
"Isn't this operation against the teachings of Yevon? Aren't you gonna stop them?" Wakka asked in shock.
Seymour obviously wasn't having second thoughts about this operation. He simply replied, "It's true, I should," he agreed, "However...both the Crusaders and the Al Bhed truly wish peace for Spira. This Operation Mi'ihen was born from that wish they share. Although it may be sacrilege to Yevon, their intentions are pure. And I, Seymour Guado--the person, not the Maester of Yevon...as a denizen of Spira," he paused, "I wish them well in their endeavour."
Wakka still didn't seem convinced. "But using machina… that's bad, ya?"
What Seymour said next shocked everyone, minus Tidus, Hao, Auron and Sarah. He said almost casually, "Pretend you didn't see them."
Most of the group gasped. Sarah just smiled triumphantly. This was fun to watch.
Wakka looked completely gobsmacked. "Beg your pardon but… that' s not something a Maester should say!"
Seymour just shrugged his shoulders, and said as though it was obvious, "Then pretend I didn't say it." Then he turned to face Sarah again, before smiling and saying, "Good luck." Then he walked off, meeting up with two Guado guards, and walking off.
Wakka still looked speechless, like someone had smacked him with a dead fish. "You're kidding!" He whispered to himself.
Tidus and Hao looked at each other and agreed on one thing. They may have hated the Half Guado, but they had to admit. The guy did make sense. For the first (and probably last) time, Hao understood Seymour a bit better.
"Well, let's get going!" Sarah spoke brightly. But before they could go any further…
"Um… excuse me? Sorceress Sarah?" A voice nervously stuttered. A man who Hao had seen also riding a chocobo on the Mi'ihen highroad, was the one who had spoke. Sarah smiled politely at him.
"Hello. What's your name?" She asked.
The man looked flattered to be spoken to by a Sorceress. "Erm… I'm Clasko, of the chocobo knights. I was told that Lord Seymour requests your presence at the command centre."
Sarah frowned in curiosity, before replying, "But won't that hold up the Pilgrimage?"
Clasko shook his head. "I'm afraid we're still in mid preparations." He indicated the other crusaders, who were bustling about. "Take that path over there to get to the command centre." He indicted a bumpy looking path.
Hao groaned. This meant even more walking. God, he already was starting to hate his new job.
Sarah smiled gracefully at Clasko. "Thank you." Before they walked onwards down the bumpy road.
"You don't mind if we run ahead do you?" Hao suddenly asked Yuna. "I need to talk to Sarah about something."
The others looked fairly surprised, particularly Sarah, whose eyes had widened to the size of saucer dishes.
"Erm… ok…" Yuna mumbled. "Just be careful, and don't go off path."
Sarah nodded. "We won't!" She called, before quickly running to keep up with Hao. The fiends weren't too hard to fight. Most of them were fire fiends, and because Hao's main element in this world was fire, he could easily take the fire attacks with only minimal damage.
Eventually, they got to a lift on the other side. They both climbed onto it, and activated it.
"Ok Hao…" Sarah mumbled, looking amused. "What is it?"
Hao frowned. "Look, you know quite well that I'm not fond of that Seymour…"
Sarah groaned. "Please, not again Hao…" She mumbled. "I get it, you want me to be careful around him. I can do that…"
"No, not that!" Hao snapped. "I'm not saying I don't think he's to be trusted. That's my opinion. I just wanted to say, as well as ask, I really think he has an interest in you."
Sarah raised her eyebrows. "Come on now, he's a Maester. He's probably too busy to get a love life. What makes you think that?"
Hao laughed hotly. "Didn't you see the way he looked at you before? I'm sure that was a sure sign. Anyway, I guess I'm just saying this because I'm not comfortable with the way he acts around you, so, please, if he tries anything, just give me a call."
Sarah laughed. "I'd like to see him try. I've got a good defence skill…" She pointed at the lizard creature entwined around the sword on her necklace.
Hao laughed. "Yeah, that thing scared the hell out of Dona and Bartello!"
Sarah smiled sweetly. "Bullies or sneaks always get what they deserve…"
To be continued…
You know the drill people! Please read and review! I'm extra thankful to reviewers Dark and Light Samurai and Lilka for convincing me to continue!