Chapter 11

"…you were all dead." His words echoed in each of their ears as the three girls stared at him in a mixture of tormented shock and obstinate disbelief.

Rikku was the first to pipe up. "I sure don't feel dead. I'm pretty sure we'd know if we were dead!"

Yuna opened and closed her mouth but no sound would come out. 'That's impossible. How could we die and still be here? But then…' she looked into Sarion's emerald eyes seeing nothing but honestly in the dark green pools. 'how could we possibly have survived such a crash?'

"So what happened after they left?" Both girls turned to the inquisitive voice; Paine's face was a mask of calm as she looked at Sarion with patient curiosity. "How did we get from where we crashed to being separated in the cavern?"

Offering a small smile, Sarion was obviously impressed with her ability to accept what had happened with such composure. "After they left I approached the wreckage to see if, just maybe, they had missed someone still living."

Pushing a chunk of twisted metal aside with a grunt, Sarion stepped into the field of debris that had once been an airship. "Is anyone still out there? The creatures have gone! Anyone?"

When no response came he sighed and began searching through the calamitous scene. The ship had been damaged enough from the explosions that upon impact it had fragmented across the entire clearing. The chance of finding a survivor was next to nothing but Sarion was willing to spend the time on the slim chance of finding one.

Hours of digging and moving pieces of metal led to one disappointment after the next. Two bodies were found by what he could only assume had been the main bridge; one of them nearly melted to the seat in he was perched on. Both were burned beyond even recognizing gender but Sarion figured by their size that both were likely adult males. He mumbled a small prayer over them with a promise to give them a proper burial once he was finished.

As the sun began to set on him, Sarion finally found something to make his efforts feel worthwhile. A silver-haired girl with black leather clothing was sprawled face-down a good distance away from any debris. "She must have been thrown from the ship." Sarion spoke to no one; he had become accustomed to voicing his thoughts aloud to fill the silent void of quiet forest.

Sarion approached the still form and winced at the angle of her neck as well as the pool of blood beside her mouth. Kneeling down beside her he couldn't help but notice her face held a look devoid of fear or anger but one of regret. Scooping the girl in his arms, he carried her away from the wreckage and placed her gently beside the fire he had built for the night to come. He wasn't sure why he had been so gentle with her considering her body had felt like a bag of rice due to the shattered bones within but it just felt 'right' to still treat her as though she was alive.

Digging a while longer he managed to find both a blonde and brunette that, while both equally dead to the rest of the bodies, were still recognizable. Wiping his brow of sweat as he looked at the three girls before him he felt a pain in his chest that was unfamiliar to him. Why did seeing these girls lifeless disturb him so? It was not as though he had any family, friends or even acquaintances that he could claim resemblance to but something about the three girls stirred emotions in him that he never knew he had.

Looking out over the crash-site, he brushed a lone tear that managed to escape his strangely moist eyes. The entire crew was dead and apart from these three girls all were mangled beyond recognition from the fire or extreme crush injuries. As he looked at the girls again he felt that strange pain in his chest again and looked up to the sky with wide eyes. "I understand what I must do."

Morning came and Sarion woke with the sun. He had covered the girls during the night with a spare blanket to protect them from the elements as best he could. He knew what he had to do and he hoped that it would be enough; it HAD to be enough.

It was nearly noon when he arrived at his destination with the three girls. It had been a struggle but he had managed to place the blonde and brunette over each shoulder and carry the silver-haired girl bridal style through the woods. His muscles burned and his feet were blistered but he had managed. After setting the girls down side by side as gently as he could manage, Sarion let out a long sigh. To think, that was the easiest part of what was to come.

Sarion unpacked the small bag he had brought along and began drawing symbols into the stone pathway that led into the dark cavern before him. Well into the night he drew the strange symbols going through stone after stone of the black material he wrote with. Finally, with the moon high in the sky, he had finished and allowed himself to collapse in exhaustion.

As Sarion relived the story to them in great detail, Yuna couldn't help but be impressed. Not just with his willingness to search through the wreckage for survivors but to pull them from it and treat them almost reverently. Then to go through such lengths to bring them to another location where he had planned out some kind of ritual? It was almost unreal to think someone like him could exist.

Sarion had placed a hand over his chest with his eyes closed tightly as he fought the urge to cough. Paine recognized it from earlier and knew he was far more ill than he let on. Rikku and Yuna thought it could simply be from the rain they had been caught in.

When he looked up and seemed prepared to continue, Yuna spoke up. "If you'd like to take a break for a bit Sarion you are more than welcome to. I'd hate for you to feel pressured to continue if you are feeling unwell." Rikku nodded in agreement.

With a smile, Sarion shook his head. "I am fine Yuna, thank you for your concern. I've waited hundreds of years to be able to have this conversation with you."

Yuna swallowed hard at the reminder that so much time had passed. "Okay then, please continue."

With his work completed it was now on to the final steps of what needed to be done. Looking to the sky as if seeking guidance, Sarion nodded with finality. "I will do this. There's no going back now."

Kneeling beside the leather-clad girl, Sarion placed his left palm on her forehead to gently ease her head back. Leaning over her lifeless body he placed his mouth above hers with their lips only a hair apart. Closing his eyes let a nervous sigh. "Here we go."

"Illiahvot!"

With this exclamation his eyes snapped open in a mixture of shock and pain as he felt his own life force being torn from his body. A wisp of white, almost smoke-like, energy went from Sarion's mouth down into Paine's. This continued for only a few seconds but to Sarion it felt like hours as the pain wracked his body from the inside out. Once it ended he collapsed, his head resting on her chest as he gasped for breath. "Well then, one down two to go."

Sarion repeated the process twice more, the pain intensifying with each but he refused to give up. As he finished with the third girl, the blonde, he collapsed beside them and lost consciousness.

The three girls now all shared looks of shock. Not only had he pulled their bodies from wreckage but he had used some strange kind of magic to bring them back to life. It was all so impossible but yet they were all sitting here now, together.

Yuna opened her mouth to speak but Sarion lifted a hand to halt her. "From there I took you to the outskirts of the woods and did what I could to treat your wounds. Had we remained by the cavern it would have preserved your injuries and not allowed the mending process to occur." He rubbed his temples, a headache apparent in his eyes as they focused on the table rather than the girls.

Leaning over the table, Rikku tilted her head to the side in mild understanding. "So that's why Paine's wound didn't get better while we were near the cavern?"

Sarion nodded with a wince, his headache worsening. "I returned you girls to the cavern when I was sure you had healed enough. It takes significant time for the body to recover but even longer for the soul to do so. In your cases, it took over two-hundred years."

The three gasped as one, even Paine looked shocked but it was Yuna who spoke first. "So everyone we knew…"

"Are gone now, I'm sorry. As for why you were split up, the cavern changes periodically to ward away intruders."

Paine frowned. "You speak of that place as though it is a living thing."

As he met her eyes, Paine gasped at seeing his usually bright emerald eyes were dulled, almost graying. "It most certainly is. You more than anyone should know that Paine. You were attacked within its walls and felt the wound inflicted. I have been subjected to such wounds many times. It is how I have aged since being there; I constantly had to leave to recover from injuries."

Rikku stood and turned away as tears streamed down her cheeks. She had been so distracted by his story that she hadn't fully registered everything that he'd said about the crash scene and the remains of Buddy and Brother. Without a word she ran down the hall and into their room to be alone as she wept.

Looking after her cousin, Yuna felt the sting of hot tears as well for the loss of her friends aboard the Celsius. Not only them but Lulu, Wakka and everyone else they had known. It was just so much to take in over the course of one afternoon talk. Turning back to the others she excused herself to go comfort her cousin and to not cry in front of Paine and Sarion.

Paine watched Sarion sip his clear drink and close his eyes as another tremor of pain went through him. She had no reason to doubt his story but she found herself terribly curious as to the 'why'. Why had he done so much for them when he knew nothing of them? Why had he used his own life force, which seemed to be taking quite a toll on him to help strangers?

Feeling her gaze on him Sarion offered a small smile to the ruby-eyed girl across the table. "You are free to speak your mind Paine. From what I've gathered, you are not usually timid about doing so."

Huffing indignantly Paine rolled her eyes. "I just wanted to be sure you had the strength left to answer and not collapse in a heap beside the table."

This caused Sarion to smile a bit more; her personality screamed cold and detached but he had already seen inside her heart and knew of the compassion it held. "It's okay to feel you know."

Narrowing her eyes at him, Paine folded her arms. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

He stood with great effort before answering her with a knowing smile. "I saved you because of the feelings you had trapped within you when you died." Paine's eyes widened and he continued. "Your spirit had refused to move on because you had died before doing something that was so important to you that you felt neither fear nor anger at your own death. You felt only regret."

Eying him curiously, she couldn't help but ask. "What do you know of my regret?"

Sarion turned away and slowly made his way for the door leading outside. "I know you have so much love in your heart that it burns at you every day to not express it. I know that for some strange reason you feel as though you should not be allowed to. You want the real reason I saved you Paine?"

She nodded, her mouth dry and her defenses being torn down by his statements. "I do."

He had reached the door but stopped and turned to look at her with soft green eyes and a sad smile. "I saved you because I would rather see my life extinguished than allow such a powerful love to go without ever being shared."

Paine felt as though someone had knocked the wind from her. "What are you saying?"

Turning away and opening the door Sarion spoke softly, but it was loud enough for Paine to hear him. "I did not give up a portion of my life to save you all. I gave all of it."

With that statement he stepped outside and allowed the door to fall shut behind him leaving Paine alone in the room with a very heavy silence.

Author's Note

*looks at clock* 1830 here means 1000 back on east coast means I beat my deadline by 2 hours! I did it just for you Secret PM Reviewer

I hope I navigated JUST slightly enough towards showing "romance" vs "Scooby-doo mystery" *laughs* Oh the plans I have…

So what does everyone think? I've been thinking this part out since I began the story. Hopefully it at least elicited an "Oh man!" from someone. Had three multi-hour power outages today which messed with me a bit but no big deal. All's well now. More to come! I have, barring horrible details involving box transfers in 115°F, Thursday off so I will be aiming for maybe another chapter then! If not, Saturday looks good. Please R&R so I feel motivated!