DISCLAIMER: I do not own SQUARE, SQUARESOFT, SQUARE ENIX or the characters, places or ideas from their games. They own me.
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Now the memories came in a terrible rush, multiple spheres showing different places and times simultaneously, all attempt at order gone.

'Where was he?' Kinoc peevishly drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair. Auron couldn't possibly be disobeying him, could he? No, it must be something else, paperwork maybe. Kinoc knew how that was, and Auron had many more responsibilities than him; how the man managed it all was a mystery to the impatient monk. Or perhaps it was something else keeping Auron from him tonight. Very well, after years of showing up maybe his slave was entitled to some leeway.

It was not like he had given Auron a chance to reply to his summons, sneaking up on him in a temple hallway and pinning him to the wall, fondling him while demanding his presence that night. He had left before Auron had even known what happened. If he had other commitments that night he never had a chance to say so. Kinoc could forgive one absence. Besides, it gave him something to pretend to be angry about for their next rendezvous.

The scene haphazardly shifts back to the two in Auron's room.

"Do you trust me?"

He had to think about that one. Certainly he trusted her medical skills but she hated him, did she not? He decided on honesty.

"I don't know."

"Are you willing to give it a try?"

Her questioning was making him wary. He thought more about it and realized he really did not have anything to lose; if she was going to help him then he would be rewarded for his trust and if she betrayed his trust it could not be any worse than what he endured with Kinoc. He nodded at her, noting the seriousness of her expression. With a crackle, the sphere fast forwards.

Thankfully he awoke early in the morning, his body refusing to let him sleep past his normal awakening. He sat up to see Chella curled up on her rug, sleeping soundly with a blanket thrown over her and a makeshift pillow that was actually his cloak tucked beneath her head. The rustling of the bed sheets made her lift her head and open her golden eyes to see his placid gaze on her.

Auron smiled to himself, it was a new day and life had just become…different. He pushed the covers off himself and made to stand up. Chella stood as well and sheepishly held his red cloak out to him. He took it and they stood for a time in amicable silence with the sounds of Spira slowly waking up intermingling with the still sounds of the night.

"Yeah," He broke the silence, "I trust you."

She thrilled at the simple statement coming from the man she had never thought would even realize her existence. She still had one more thing to do before he left.

"Then please, hear me out." She took a deep breath.

Auron paused, wondering what she would say.

"Auron.. marry Arenia." His eyes narrowed and she nearly panicked.

Auron could not believe what he was hearing. Somehow he had believed that last night she was in earnest, somehow he had let himself be tricked. It may be the next day but the rug still ended up being pulled from under his feet.

"Listen!" The raw anguish in her voice snapped him back to the present situation. "Kinoc wants you to rise to power so that he can control you but if you have the strength – the will to oppose him, you can shake him off and be the great man you are meant to be!"

Auron blinked, trying to figure out exactly what that entailed. "How is marrying her going to help?"

Chella took a small step forward. "Because both of you are being used but together you can give each other strength to fight him, don't you see?"

Auron did, grudgingly. "I…I need to think." It was too many things too fast for him to comprehend. Mostly he just wanted to feel the relief that the actions of the night before were indeed genuine before moving on to schemes and plots.

"I'm sorry." She averted her eyes subserviently, the fire of the moment once again hid behind her cool exterior. "Just know this: the choice you make is ultimately your own. Do what you think is right, not what anyone else tells you."

Auron nodded and opened the door, stepping out into the still brisk air. He paused with the door midway closed behind him and whispered words so faint but Chella heard them.

"Thank you."

Another sphere stopped mid-scene to show hands that moved to lace up heavy boots. Upwards to tighten the double clasp on the wide belt. Finally the man shouldered his pack and shifted under the weight of his large katana.

The news of Auron leaving the warrior monks had sent waves of shocked gossip coursing through the camp. When Kinoc had heard the news he was furious; more so because he was almost the last to know.

A soft knock sounds at the door and a slender girl pulls herself away from a bubbling beaker and turns down the burner. She cracks the door open to see him there and listen as he says a quick but thankful goodbye.

The whisperings were that Auron was cracking under the burden of his responsibilities and the added stress of his upcoming promotion. Second-in-command it was said. Others spoke of his staunch refusal of Arenia's hand in marriage as his reason for leaving. No one, not even Auron knew the true reason for his departure and there were only three people who could begin to guess.

One of the three watches his form slowly retreating into the main area of the camp, and she has to put a hand on the wall to steady herself. She can't stop the tears that stream unwanted down her cheeks.

Auron pauses as the large temple doors swing slowly inward to admit him. His purposeful footsteps echo through the hallways and he comes to stand before the high priest. Ignoring Arenia's wide-eyed look of disbelief he states that he seeks another duty, steadily but respectfully not offering any explanation for his choice.

The portly man nods benignly and after a moments thought offers him a new undertaking. To the priest it was an honorable way to discharge the man who had done so much for the Monks and to Auron it was a lifeline dragging him from the abyss of his life with Kinoc. He was charged with gathering his things and delegating his duties until they could find replacements. He had to stay and receive a proper sendoff; that much was expected.

While Auron was tying up his loose ends, Chella was in her room absent-mindedly stirring a concoction, wondering why Kinoc had not called her to do anything for him. She had considered leaving, it seemed that everything she cared about was gone – her foster father and now the man she was infatuated with. No she couldn't leave; she refused to run away from the repercussions.

Just as she was thinking about this, her door burst open and an incensed Kinoc stumbled in.

"You!" He pointed an accusing finger at her, "You did this!"

She merely stared at him with the detached gaze he had practically trained her into. This only enraged him further, and he reached out to grab her. She dodged but he was far too quick, his reflexes honed to lightning precision after his years of rigorous training. She struggled in his grasp and he tightened a gloved hand painfully around her neck.

"If you remain difficult don't think I will hesitate to snap your neck." His voice had calmed to an icy whisper, full of threat. Self-preservation made Chella reach up and grip the hand that was choking her, trying to loosen it enough to let some air down her crushed windpipe. He shook her.

"Will you submit?" No response. He tightened his grip and repeated his question, almost yelling in her ear.

Finally Chella, on the verge of blacking out from oxygen loss, managed a distressed nod. He released her then and she fell to the floor, gasping. He afforded her a moments respite before taking hold of her once again and roughly manhandling her out the door.

Surrounded by friends, acquaintances and well-wishers, Auron scanned the crowd. His search didn't reveal either Kinoc or his assistant – the two people he wanted to see the most. He was not sure if he wanted to gloat at the look on Kinoc's face or if he wanted his ex-lover to beg him to stay. And Chella, he owed his freedom to her.

He was roused from his musings by a hand that clapped him on the back. He looked at the smiling Narem and nodded acknowledgement of his friend.

"It is a great honor to guard a summoner, they are Spira's hope." He leaned in, trying to keep his voice down while making himself heard above the din, "Don't listen to what people say about Braska, they speak in cowardice. He is setting out to do something that they will never have the bravery to do."

Reaching out to grip the other man's shoulder, Auron thanked his comrade before turning back to hear the High Priest continue his speech.

Faintly the sphere again showed the camp, the scene cloudier than ever before. Chella was sitting uncomfortably on a bundle of Chocobo fodder in the back of a goods cart, trussed and gagged. She was trying to see into the camp where the farewell for Auron was being held. It was too far and too foggy for her to make out any actual details. Her heart dropped. Kinoc had denied her one last look at her love before she died. She knew from the look in his eyes that Kinoc would surely kill her – eventually. He appeared just as she was thinking of him and he leaned in to whisper in her ear through the bars of the cart.

"You'll never see him again." His sick grin returned and he savored his next words to her. "Never. And we'll be arriving in Bevelle at precisely the time he is. But you won't get the chance to see him."

He moved off to the head of the convoy and gave orders to leave. Chella was jostled as the cart started to move hesitantly, the chocobos reluctant to set off. She wanted to lean her head against the back of the cart and just give up but the bouncing cart kept her sitting upright. She glanced at the opposite corner where a child, she had to be eleven or twelve, was crouched with her arms wrapped around herself. Chella knew that the girl was one of the reviled Al Bhed and her first reaction had been distaste but she caught herself and remembered the wise words of the previous High Priest.

She had been sitting at his knee as she often did, listening adoringly as he told a story when suddenly an acolyte had rushed in, informing the Priest that some Al Bhed had broken into the camp and stolen weapons. Eight-year-old Chella had crinkled her nose and repeated words she had heard from one of the warriors: "The Al Bhed are abominations."

In response the gentle man had shook his head and evenly rebuked her, saying words that would stay with her years later. "Never call anyone an abomination dear Chella, only wait and be amazed at what good they can bring. Yes," he had laughed at the look of puzzlement on her face, "even an Al Bhed."

"What's your name?" Chella tried to put as much a soothing tone into her voice as she could muster, the gag having fallen to her neck several potholes prior. The frightened girl shook her head, not understanding, blond tresses swaying from the motion. The ex-waitress sighed and shifted position, preparing herself for the long journey ahead.

When they arrived the carts went into the gate under the Highbridge and Chella's eyes widened at the enormous architecture of Spira's largest city. Everything was so big and foreign to the orphan who had spent her whole life cloistered in the territory of the training camp. They stopped and Kinoc walked around to where she was sitting. Wordlessly he pulled her from the cart and, forcing her to stand on shaky legs, propelled her down a dimly lit side corridor. She stumbled into a small tiled room and turned to face him as he shut the door behind them.

Chella couldn't stop the cry that wrenched itself from her throat as the first lash of the whip landed on her back. Kinoc had tied her hands to a metal beam and then, selecting a moderate-sized whip proceeded to make sure she was sorry for thwarting his plans. In-between strokes he boasted about how he planned to end her life. They had caught the small Al Bhed on the boundary of the camp and in order to have her punished she was to be thrown into the dungeons beneath Bevelle. For his first duty as second-in-command of the Monks he was to oversee this deed. And unbeknownst to the servants of Yevon, Chella was going to share her fate. When Kinoc was finally sated for her blood, he cut the bonds, making her fall awkwardly to the floor.

"And it's not just any dungeon. This is the one that only heathens – infidels are thrown into. The one that ensures they have no chance to survive. The one of darkness."

He looked down at the prone, bleeding girl and then glanced over at the entrance to the catacombs. Weighing his possible time limits, Kinoc decided and with a malicious grin, began to purposefully undo his pants. She was only partially aware of his actions, piteously feeble from blood loss and lack of food on the journey.

Afterwards Chella was thrown, struggling weakly, into the gaping hole that lead to the Via Tenebro. Falling painfully onto the hard ground, she hazily saw the screaming Al Bhed child thrown in after her. A flash of movement caught her eye and with what strength she had left she pulled herself to cover the small girl with her body before the world went black. And thus she lost consciousness, to awaken next on the Farplane. The sphere, with a final, piercing groan shattered into a thousand pieces.

And that, as they say, is that.

Except it isn't.