Just Another Star
by: Strike To Incinerate
Chapter Two
Summary: After dragging himself from the depths of the Underworld (with the help of Sora and co.) Auron finds himself in a strange world called Traverse Town. He soon finds himself in the care of three strange women... (YAY! Longest chapter I've ever written for anything!)
"Fully alive,
More than most,
Ready to smile and love life.
Fully alive and she knows
How to believe in futures."
Flyleaf: Fully Alive (Remixed version? I know there's two!)
Pairings: AuronLulu. Special surprise pairings with Quistis and Beatrix (no, they aren't together).
Warning: Yeah, Auron is a wee-bit younger in this fanfiction than he usually is. Becaaause, I said so. I don't care if the characters are a little OOC, because no one can accurately predict what someone elses character would be like in EVERY situation. Please, no complaints unless you think it is a serious problem. Constructive criticism is loved, flames are used to toast mah marshmellows into charcoal brickettes filled with gooey yumminess.
Disclaimer: Blahblahblah, I don't own...
--
"Was it really necessary to use a spell on him, Lu?" the Blue Mage asked.
The Black Mage nodded. "Yes... I thought he might resist. He didn't seem thrilled to have us take care of him."
Quistis laughed. "Maybe he really doesn't need help?" she suggested.
"Men are so stubborn," Beatrix said. "I think he needs help."
Lulu nodded her agreement. "I found him in the alley, surronded by Heartless, and he could barely lift his sword... he was never that way..." she said, shaking her head. "Never."
Quistis shrugged. "Well, you would know."
"I finished making dinner... so I'll be off now..." the brunette said, her armor clinking as she stood from her chair.
"Why?" the strawberry blond asked.
"Just to get some things... Why? Do you want to come?" she offered.
Quistis looked to Lulu. "Only if Lu will be okay, alone, with our little guest," she said, winking.
Lulu made a shooing motion with her hands. "Just go..." she said.
Beatrix headed out the door with a wave, but Quistis lagged for a moment.
"Just... one more thing..." she began. "Do you have any idea why he's so weak? He looks perfectly healthy to me... except for the scars, but those are very old. And, he can't be older than 35."
Lulu shook her head. "I don't. I'll ask him about it when he wakes up," she promised.
Quistis nodded and walked briskly out the door to catch up with Beatrix.
Auron could feel a fingertip lightly tracing the scar over his right eyelid. He stirred, but didn't wake.
--
"Do you mind telling me why we hurried out of there so quickly, Trix?" Quistis asked, as she walked alongside the swordswoman.
"No particular reason, my dear Quistis... just thought that Lulu could treat him better if she was alone," Beatrix replied smoothly.
"That's a crock," Quistis spat. "What do you know that I don't?"
Beatrix kept her hands clasped behind her back complacently. "Nothing, nothing at all... but I could tell you my opinoin..."
"That's what I meant," Quistis sighed.
"You asked for facts, which I do not have," Beatrix said smartly.
"Stop playing games, and just TELL me," the strawberry-blond wheedled.
Beatrix grinned. "I think our friendly, neighborhood black mage has a soft spot for our visitor from another world."
Quistis nodded quickly. "Well, that's obvious, but why?" she said.
"We could ask HER," the brunette suggested.
"Uh-huh... do you think she'll tell us?" the other asked, biting her lip. It would be awfully rude of them to pry into their friend's life...
But still, she was very curious.
It was often that Lulu showed such unbridled kindness to strangers, unless they were precocious children.
"Why wouldn't she?" Beatrix stated. "We are her friends."
"True but..." Quistis bit her lip again, then her eyes widened as she saw a flash of black disappear into the very same alley where they had found their 'guest'.
"Did you see that?" she asked, stopping and looking to Beatrix. Her hand was on her whip.
"See what?" Despite only having the use of one eye, Beatrix usually didn't miss a thing.
"That!" Quistis pointed to the alley. "Something went in there! I think it may have been a Heartless."
Beatrix's hand went to the pommel of her sword. "Then... shopping has been postponed," she decided, and began to walk towards the alley.
Quistis followed.
In the alley was not a Heartless, but a man in a long, black coat. He had the hood pulled up over his face, so they couldn't recognize him as a citizen or stranger. He was tall, broad shouldered and muscular, that much they could tell.
The figure turned to look at him. The only feature they could see was a pair of deep, sapphire eyes.
"Dilan!"
Quistis glanced to her comrade. "You know him?"
"Dilan!" she repeated.
He pulled down his hood, letting it fall against his shoulders. He had a mess of dreadlocks cascading down his back that had been pulled back into a ponytail, except for two that fell in his eyes, in a way that almost reminded her of Lulu. He could've been handsome, if not for the overgrown sideburns that had crept onto his cheeks.
His curious stare was fixed on Beatrix.
"Dilan!" she insisted. "It's you!"
"My name isn't Dilan, miss..." he said, his British accent thick.
"Yes, it is! You look different, but I know it's you!" Beatrix said confidantly. "What are you doing here, Dilan?" she asked him.
Xaldin didn't ask her how she knew his True Name, because he remembered her well. He hadn't thought that she would remember him, though. He hadn't expected to see her here, either.
"My name isn't Dilan," he said firmly.
"Dilan...? You don't...?" Beatrix began, stepping closer to him. "You haven't shaved in months. Where have you been?" she asked.
Quistis just stayed back, wondering if Beatrix had lost it. That couldn't be Dilan. Dilan was dead. All of Ansem the Wise's apprentices were dead.
"My name isn't Dilan," he hissed.
She tried to touch him, but he swatted her hand away.
"Beatrix, that isn't Dilan..." Quistis said gently. "He's just a stranger who sort of looks like him. Dilan had better hygiene, remember?" she joked weakly.
Beatrix shook her head. "It's Dilan, Quistis. I KNOW it's him."
Her conviction was so firm that Quistis almost believed it. Part of her wanted to... because if Dilan was alive, then it meant that Elaeus could be, too.
"It can't be! Stop acting crazy! He isn't a Heartless, let's just go!" Quistis pleaded, but Beatrix wouldn't move.
"No. Dilan, it's me. Don't you remember?" she asked.
"That eyepatch looks ridiculous on a girl as pretty as you," he commented, then looked to Quistis. "Elaeus says hi." The darkness swirled around him, and in an instant, he was gone. A dark purple... oval appeared on the wall.
And Beatrix charged into it.
"No! Trix!" Quistis yelled, but before she could follow, it closed.
"Bastard!" she swore,then hurried back to Leon's former home. There was no way that could've been Dilan... he and Elaeus... Xehanort, Ienzo, Even, Braig, even Ansem the Wise were DEAD. It was a horrible accident that left not even any bodies to bury, but they were gone and they weren't coming back. She thought that Beatrix had moved on, and that's why they were able to leave Hollow Bastion. How that strange man had even known about Dilan and Elaeus... maybe he was a sorcerer. Who knew. Who cared!
Beatrix was gone.
--
"Good morning," Lulu greeted him as his gray eyes finally blinked open.
"It isn't morning..." he grumbled, and attempted sitting up. Her hand gently pushed him back down, again.
"Why do you keep doing that?" he asked her.
"Well... you fainted in the alley. I don't think you should be getting up. Remember what happened last time?" she replied calmly.
"Hn," was his answer.
"Do you..." she began, "remember anything before the Keyblade master brought you here?" she asked.
"You know Sora?" he questioned, giving her a funny look.
"Not personally, no. But, he knew Leon, and I knew Leon... Leon told me how to recognize him. How else would you travel between worlds?" she told him.
He nodded. He wasn't going to argue. "I came from a World called the Coliseum..." he said.
"Oh."
She had never heard of it.
"More specifically, the Underworld," he added.
"The Underworld?"
"Never heard of it?" he guessed.
She nodded. "No, never. It doesn't sound pleasant, though."
He smiled to her, and launched into his tale about the Underworld. He told her of the swirling green void that sucked in the souls of the dead, and of how he had meant Sora. He told her about the Lord of the Underworld, Hades, and his plan to use him to defeat a man named Hercules, because he had been a great warrior in his own world.
He thought he saw something flicker in her crimson eyes when he had said this, but he didn't think on it for too long, and quickly continued.
Sora had rescued him and brought him here... and that was all he remembered. Nothing from his home world.
"Do you think this Underworld could be the reason why you're so weak?" she asked him, when his tale was finished.
His gray eyes narrowed at her slightly, and he slipped his sunglasses on. "I told you; I'm fine."
"I didn't mean to offend you. I just think that because your soul was gone for so long, that your body might need some time to readjust to being... well, alive," she told him. He could see her point, but he didn't like the idea of being a burden to her and Beatrix and Quistis. They seemed nice enough, but he didn't need three women to take care of him.
But, perhaps just this one, he could live with.
"Alright. So, Lulu, what do you suggest?" he asked.
"Rest. Lots of rest. Aside from that, you'll have to ask Quistis--"
As if someone had cued her, Quistis came bursting through the door, panting and pale. Lulu stood up and looked at her.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Beatrix... she's gone," she told them. "A man in a black cloak... maybe he was a sorcerer, I don't know... but he came and made her think that he was someone she cared about very much..."
"Who?" Lulu asked.
"I'll explain that later." Quistis sucked in a deep breath. "But, he disappeared, and this portal appeared on the wall in the alleyway... and she went through, and it closed before I could follow her."
Lulu clasped her hands together. "I see..."
Auron sat up, and she didn't stop him this time. "Organization XIII," he muttered.
Both women stared at him.
And so, he explained who Organization XIII was, and what their purpose was.
"Elaeus... is alive, then?" Quistis asked, hopeful now that she had heard that people could live without hearts. It was a little morbid to think, but still.
"Elaeus?" Auron and Lulu asked simultaneously.
"I'll tell you a different day, Lu," she vowed.
"How do you know that he could be a Nobody?" Auron asked.
"Well... he and 5 others were apprentices of Ansem the Wise in a place called Radiant Garden. It isn't called that anymore... unless Leon's already restored it..." she paused, shuddering as the memories flowed back to her, fresh as when she first experienced them. "But, they were experimenting with the heart... and with Heartless, too, I think. He never told me the fine details. He and Dilan didn't want us involved if something went wrong... and one day, it did."
Lulu stepped towards her and laid a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to continue," she said.
"No, I think I should. It might be the only way to get Beatrix back," she said, her hand pushing the red-framed glasses up as she wiped at her eyes. "One day, there was an accident at the research facility. Elaeus, Dilan and the others had vanished."
"It seems very possible that your friend Elaeus could be an Organization member... if he was experimenting with Heartless, they could've taken his heart at anytime. Of course, it takes a very strong person to live without a heart," Auron told her.
Quistis nodded. "Elaeus was kind... soft-spoken, but strong and kind. You know how people describe some men as just really big teddy bears? That's exactly how Elaeus was," she said, then new waves of tears rolled down her face.
Lulu pulled her into a hug, and stroked her hair. "There, there... it's alright..." she soothed. She knew exactly what it was like to lose someone you loved very much.
It had happened to her thrice.
--
End.
Yay! Elaeus/Quistis and Dilan/Beatrix! More backstory will be revealed as the story continues. The idea for those pairings popped into my head randomly today. Now I don't feel so bad for bashing Xaldin and Lexaeus with my friends.
Anywho, leave a review, and I'll get started on the next chapter. I know that my chapters are short compared to most authors', but I post really quickly (because I have no life. xD).
Oh! Just to ask an opinoin, because this would make it reaaally angsty and slightly lame if I did this, but it might work: Should Beatrix and/or Quistis have a kid? I already have ideas about who their kids would be. I just don't want to add that if it's gonna be stupid.