Author's Note- …yes. Christmas day. And there's an update. You heard it right. An UPDATE. A DATE of UP. An UPDA-
Auron: …
before you read, I should let you know that the beginning of the chapter is insane again…but as you progress, the story wisens itself. It gets more serious, and there are less and less "funny" parts. Darius…is the worst Gary-Stu I've met, and I dislike him. Mainly because…he's highly immature, and, well, his character development needs some work in my opinion. Darius shall become more likeable in my view of him, though.
This chapter is dedicated to OCAdam, and ONLY OCAdam, dammit. Anyone who has a problem with this can take it up with Auron. Please read...and if you do, please review to let me know that there are indeed more than two people in the world reading it.
Destiny of a Not-So Final Fantasy
Chapter 14: The Proposal
As Darius and the others entered the town of Guadosalam (right before the hundreds of crazed fangirls—and, incase you had forgotten, one fanboy—could get a chance to tackle Auron, they had suddenly spotted Balthier from FFXII strolling along, and decided to molest HIM instead), they proceeded to look around at their surroundings tranquilly.
Rikku, however, yawned, apparently forgetting that she was the newest member of the group and therefore did not yet have the authority to be OOC like everyone else, and muttered, "You know, I've always thought Guadosalam to be a bit…humdrum." Observing the area, she added, "And it looks like I was right!"
Darius nodded. And if I ever see a town with nastier-looking occupants than THIS one…please, shoot me now, he thought, watching as very unattractive, disheveled men and woman with blue hair skipped up and down the roads, giggling and chortling with glee.
As one particular group of passersby… "passed by", bits of their conversation could be heard:
"…did you see—?"
"Those men carrying in that man on a stretcher? Yeah… Never seen such a strange thing…"
"Well, I have!" someone else bragged.
"… Well, yeah, but your face scares small children."
Dar quirked an eyebrow, sending a peculiar look at Tidus, who was not paying attention to the conversation, but was instead passing his time by casting Haste on random children and watching them talk in high-pitched, chipmunk voices and run around like they were on hydraulics. When Lulu cleared her throat loudly, Tidus realized he was being glared at and quickly began whistling innocently.
"Oh, m'lady! You've arrived right on time!"
The voice sounded familiar; Dar looked around the corner, down the hall, and down his pants to see where the voice had come from, but, to his disappointment, it appeared not to have been coming from any of them. Tromell popped out of thin air right in front of them, scaring poor Yuna half to death.
"Who are you?" Tidus shouted, patting Yuna on the back for comfort.
"Oh, please forgive me; I am Tromell Guado, the personal servant of Maester Seymour. I've been anxiously awaiting your arrival, m'lady," the man declared in a slow voice, smiling at the summoner. "There's been a horrible accident, I fear. You must follow me immediately.This way!"
…I wonder how that macaroni and cheese is doing back at home…, Darius pondered.
There was a long pause, during which no one bothered to follow the Guado's commands. "Oh, you mean now?" Tidus asked, scratching the back of his head.
"Yes, now!"
"Why do you need us to follow you, again?" Lulu queried skeptically, eyeing Tromell in a strange manner.
"Wellll…" he said, his sluggish drawl beginning to get annoying, "I'm not quite sure why… but a group of men in just rushed in a moment ago, pushing someone who was dying in a stretcher into the mansion…. They created such a ruckus that everyone saw it, m'lady." (Can you stop only talking to Yuna, and start talking to the rest of us too?! Darius snapped internally.) "The Lady Summoner is the perfect person to heal him!"
"…why would they care so much about one person dying?" Auron inquired quietly.
"And what about Maester Seymour?" Wakka added. "Why can't he heal him?"
Tromell shrugged. "I'm afraid I can't answer that; I haven't been given any information, I merely assumed it was a dire situation. But, m'lady, please—help us! Oh, and I almost forgot—even Maester Seymour wants to see you...for another reason, I think, though..."
Yuna nodded understandingly and, at the look on Auron's face, said, "Please, give us a moment; we'll be there as fast as we can," after which Tromell nodded and ran off, tripping several times and falling on boobahs.
Darius slowly turned to face the "legendary guardian," who was looking straight back at him. Rikku, oblivious to what was going on, looked from Darius to Auron helplessly.
"I believe," the 35-year-old man muttered darkly, shadows of his hair hiding his eyes from view, "we may very well be about to find out what happened to Brynna."
"Sir Auron…?" Yuna asked, not understanding.
What is he talking about…? I thought Brynna was in Bevelle… Dar was equally confused.
But Auron did not utter anything else; the man merely swept from the rest of the party and entered the mansion on the other side of the town. The others stared after him, watching as he left them behind.
"There's something about him…" Yuna murmured with apparent interest, frowning slightly and tilting her head to the side.
Tidus watched her silently out of the corner of his eye for a while. He then wrapped his arm around his shoulder, as if comforting her…again. Was this supposed to be romantic, or just corny? "Yuna..." She looked up quizzically as the Zanarkandian called her name. "...whatever happens..." he said, and then stopped. "Well...I just have a feeling something bad is going to happen here..."
There was a pause. Rikku was staring resolutely at the mansion of Guadosalam, which was located toward the back of the small town. "So do I," she said quietly. "...could...someone please explain to me what is going on? Who is Brynna?" She turned to Dar.
"She's someone we met in Kilika. She became one of Yuna's guardians after she helped us kick the ass of a sinspawn outside the temple," he explained. And no one knew she would be dragging us into this…
"I hope she's alright..." Yuna murmured, resting her head on the neck of the blonde Zanarkandian beside her.
Lulu cleared her throat. "We should catch up with Sir Auron." The mage's elongated dress billowed beneath her as she swept away to the back of the petite town.
"Yeah…" Rikku agreed, sighing. "C'mon, Yunie, we can't be late!"
"Coming!" the summoner rushed forward, followed by Kimahri, Wakka, and Tidus. When Dar started to follow suit, the Al Bhed 15-year-old behind him grabbed his shoulder. "Yeah?" he asked.
"I... wanted to thank you," she said tentatively, smiling in such a way that her face seemed to brighten the area. "You saved my life back at the Salvage Ship."
"I- I did?!" the young man stuttered. 'The only thing I remember is...'
"Yes, Tyn," she replied, still smiling sweetly. 'Tyn?' he thought. "The only people Sin really wanted...was you and Tidus. If you hadn't leapt into Sin's mouth...it would've killed us all, just to get to you two. Thanks for..." She leaned on the tip of her toes and kissed him on the cheek. "...risking your life to save mine."
Darius stood there, vaguely realizing that the word 'Tyn,' when translated directly to Al Bhed, meant 'Dar.' But, more importantly, realizing that she had just kissed him.
"Rikku, that wasn't my doing, it was just coincidence... I mean, I would've done it if I knew it would save the rest of you, but...it isn't something to thank me for..."
The smile on her face did not fade, though. "I know. But I still wanted to say thanks." And saying nothing more, the girl began walking to the mansion, leaving him alone to stand there. Then, suddenly, she stopped. "Oh, I almost forgot!" She walked back over to him.
A notice immediately popped up and floated in the middle of the air, defying multiple laws of nature at once.
Customizing Equipment: Now that Rikku has joined your party, it read, you can customize weapons and armor. Let's take a look! Customize is used to upgrade weapons and armor by adding abilities to them. Use items to add abilities to your gear and customize it to your liking. First, choose the equipment you wish to customize. Note that some weapons and armor cannot be customized. If any of the slots in the Abilities window shown at the bottom right of the screen are empty...you can customize that piece of equipment. If the equipment has no empty slots, it cannot be customized any further. Note that some equipment cannot be customized at all. Let's give it a try! Once you select a piece of equipment to customize...a list of abilities available for that equipment will be displayed. The item cost for each new ability is displayed at the top right. On the left is the number of the required item currently in stock...and on the right, the quantity of that item remaining after the procedure. If you have insufficient items to add an ability...that ability is displayed in gray and cannot be selected. When you select an ability to add...you are asked to confirm the procedure. Select "Yes" to complete the procedure. Note that equipment will sometimes receive a new name after receiving a new ability. This concludes the Customize tutorial.
Darius blinked, and his eyes began swirling around. When they stopped, he calmly, in a quiet voice, said, "Rikku?"
"Yes, Dar?" she replied sweetly.
"About that tutorial…" There was a pause. "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?"
"So this is the Guadosalam mansion, eh?" Wakka observed.
"That, and a part-time Playboy mansion," Darius added knowledgably. But when everyone stared at him, asking what the hell "playboy" was, he merely dropped the subject.
The place was quite…creepy. Enlarged pictures of blue-haired, pale men with dreadfully disheveled features smiled at them as they proceeded farther into the building. Lulu seemed to feel that it was her duty to inform everyone that the pictures were of all of the previous Guado maesters. Darius made to whip out Dyrnsyn and slash the pictures to bits, but alas, the Lulu whipped out her moogles and threatened to Firaga his violent ass.
"You're that powerful, Lu? So quickly?!" Wakka exclaimed. "We've barely even had time to train, ya? And you've already taught yourself such powerful magic!"
"Actually, not exactly, Wakka…"
Suddenly, Rikku froze. "Do you hear that?" she whispered. She ascended the staircase before her and carefully leaned toward a door, putting her ear to it.
Motioning for the others to join her, the girl's eyes suddenly bulged. "Listen!" she urged them, "it's…"
…T'was Seymour.
…you know him, no?
You know, the creepy, nasty ol' bastard from back in the good ol' days when he would stalk you with his long nails, caress your arm, and then blame it all on your imagination?
Yes, him. And, as Darius followed suit to what Rikku was doing, he heard some very peculiarly interesting things from the opposite end of the door.
"…so they should be here any minute now," a drawling, whining voice was saying; it was immediately recognized as none but Tromell Guado's.
"YOU DID WHAT?" Maester Seymour's voice barked.
"But, m'lord… I was only trying to help that dying man!"
"What dying man?!"
"The one being rolled in on the stretcher, m'lord—"
Seymour snarled. "You were the one who came up with the plan in the first place; you know very well that the 'dying man' was merely a trick to smuggle her in without the townspeople knowing…"
"Huh? Sir…I did nothing of the sort!" Tromell's voice dropped significantly, so that Darius had to listen intently to hear what he was saying now. "I…don't even remember what I've been doing since yesterday, m'lord…"
There was a pause.
"…Tromell. Are you telling me," the maester said slowly, "that you have no recollection of anything you've done in the past 24 hours…?" After pausing to allow the Guado a response which Darius didn't hear, Seymour muttered, "But… if you didn't give me the idea for that scheme…then who…?"
But he was interrupted as an enraged Auron booted down the door; the entire thing landed flat on the floor of the room as the guardian stormed inside, furiously cutting off the rest of the conversation.
Yuna shrieked to herself, running behind the man. "Sir Auron …!"
"Yuna!" Tidus dashed to her side, as if protecting her from Seymour's nastiness—although, if Seymour really wanted to, Darius was quite sure he could easily fling Tidus aside and do whatever he wanted anyway.
Auron stormed inside and took in the surroundings of the room: Seymour was staring at the party in awe, and his assistant was doing the same. No one had any particular interest in getting any more observations that that; if they did, they would be risking their lives by looking directly at Seymour Guado's features too long.
The maester grinned as if greeting people he hadn't seen since old times. "Oh, Sir Auron, Lady Yuna! We were just discussing—"
"So we heard," Auron intervened sharply, his intense glare causing even Seymour to wince for a quick moment before recovering his posture. Darius exchanged wild looks with Rikku, who had never known the Legendary Guardian to be such a bloodcurdling person when angry. Lulu and Wakka reacted the same way: shocked, yet, in a way, interested.
"What have you done with Brynna?" he snarled, his eyes flashing as they darted about the room, taking in all the details of the surroundings.
"Brynna?" Seymour wrinkled his brow in thought. "Whoever is that?"
Wakka said "Ohhhhh!" and understandingly nodded. "You remember her, Maester Seymour, don't you? The short, small girl with a strange desire for Sir Auron! Her!"
Darius sent a quick glare in Wakka's direction; he was apparently too naïve to realize that Seymour was obviously lying and stalling for time: the maester obviously knew who Brynna was, for he had met her back at Mushroom Rock. "Wakka, you idiot!" Lulu grumbled. "You sure won't be 'getting any' from me tonight!"
Wakka hung his head in shame. "But why not?" he mumbled.
"Simply because I've encountered moogles with more force than you," the woman stated honestly, folding her arms and recalling a particular bootycall when—
"Excuse me," Tromell said, butting in, "but we are not interested in hearing your sexual inclinations; we must stay on topic: Maester Seymour has no idea what you all are speaking of!"
But as Darius watched with much interest, munching cheerfully on a bag of popcorn (questionably, he was munching on the bag, not the actual popcorn) as if he were in a theatre at the movies, he got the distinct impression that the pissed version of Auron begged to differ.
"Oh, but I think he does," the man retorted in a grumbling voice, taking one step closer to Seymour, who interestedly raised his eyebrows twice in quick succession as if inviting Auron to come closer.
This, needless to say, caused poor Darius to retch in his bag. "MY EYES! They THROB!" he cried, clawing them out.
"Um, Tyn?" Rikku said, prodding him politely on the arm. "Please calm down; you're loud voice is going to shatter the windows…."
Tidus nodded in agreement, and added, "Hmm… Actually…you may be on to something…" Rikku giggled, losing interest in the conversation with Seymour, for she still didn't seem to understand it anyway.
"Maester Seymour…" Yuna stepped forward tentatively. "…Brynna is the small girl with daggers for weapons. Shoulder-length hair…brown eyes… Do you remember her?"
"Ah, that girl…" he smiled graciously. "We found someone of that description sprawled out on the ground right outside the entrance to Guadosalam. Don't worry, my men were able to quickly bring her in on a stretcher and bring her here." There was a moment of silence, in which a couple people in the room rolled their eyes and muttered something that sounded interestingly like the word "bullshit" under their breaths.
Most, however, merely gazed at the maester with unfathomable expressions. He continued, "She'll be fine, don't worry…although she did look a bit beat up when we found her… In fact, I have...significant business with the girl, if you don't mind; if at all possible, I should like you all to meet me in the main hall of the mansion in five minutes. There I will explain the dilemma—"
"Right," Tidus interrupted, "but if your men brought her here, then where is she now?"
Seymour looked at Tromell meaningfully. "…I'll, erm…bring her out…"
He left, and returned moments later holding an unconscious girl in his arms. "Here she is—" he began, but Auron had already marched forward and snatched her away from him.
"Is she all right?"
Auron nodded in response to Darius's query. "She will be." Then he sent a sly look Seymour's way and added, "But when she wakes up, we'll find out for sure what happened…"
Tromell smiled. "We're going to have to ask you to leave now; Maester Seymour will meet you in the main hall in approximately…five minutes." And, quickly, he shooed everyone out of the room, ignoring Dar as he asked, "But where IS the main hall—?"
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"It's been a looooooooong time since I've seen a Guado," Rikku said, shuddering. "And they aren't as…friendly as I once thought they were…" She shuddered once more, apparently not exactly pleased with the fugliness of the Guado.
"We should've warned you to brace yourself," Darius replied, and then turned to the oldest guardian, who seemed to be the most emotional right now. "And what's with you? Don't you think you should…calm down a bit?"
"Yeah, really; we got Brynna back," Tidus added, "and even though—"
Auron cut him off.
"Yes, but we have yet to figure out what's happened to her, and why Seymour captured her and brought her here. And on top of that she hasn't yet waken up..." He glanced at the girl he was carrying in her arms, who had her eyes closed tightly in a very unnatural manner. "...which proves that the kidnappers either used excessively violence on her...or she's..."
The last word of the sentence did not come.
"She appears to be breathing, though," Lulu observed, placing her hand over the unconscious girl's wrist, "and her pulse is fine."
"Yes, but that could be an illusion; there are people in Spira who have mastered the art of illusion and trickery. And most of them," he added, "are maesters."
There was a significant pause, during which Darius narrowed his eyes, wondering how Auron would know something like this. "Anyway…" The eldest guardian began pacing around the room, deep in thought. "…our party is far too large; we need to split up into groups."
"Sir Auron…why?" Yuna tilted to head to the side questioningly.
"Because Seymour will only be more uncomfortable if has to talk to all of us at the same time about Brynna. Besides," he added, "we need more items and better weapons and armor anyway—"
"Also, Wakka and I have some business to take care of in the Farplane," Lulu put in. When Tidus asked what the hell the Farplane was, it was explained to him that the Farplane was the place where the dearly departed traveled to after their lives ended.
"Would you mind if I came along?" Darius asked; Auron also decided to follow them. The black mage eyed him suspiciously, as if wondering who he could possibly be visiting there, but allowed it.
Thus, it was decided:
Auron, Lulu, Wakka, and Darius would somersault their way into the Farplane; Yuna, Tidus, Rikku, and of course Brynna would all stay in the mansion and await Seymour's return; and Kimahri Ronso would be sent to acquire everyone's equipment and accessories, for no one really wanted him around.
They all shuffled away into three different directions.
Yuna, Tidus, and Rikku stood in the middle of the hall, anxiously awaiting Seymour's return—but it seemed like it had been over half an hour already, and still no show. Had he said five minutes, or five millennia?
Rikku was folding her arms and tapping her foot impatiently, Tidus was drumming his fingers against the wall, and Yuna was considering bursting into Seymour's room and casting Haste on him to hurry him up.
But as they all stood there intolerantly, a young girl in Tidus's arms (Auron had handed her over before heading to the Farplane) was beginning to arouse, groaning as she slowly opened her eyelids.
"Ti…" she murmured weakly, prodding him on the chest.
"Who was that?!" he cried, whipping around, his eyes darting around the room, not realizing the poke was coming from the girl in his arms. In effect, he accidentally dropped Brynna, who fell with a THUD! to the floor, and went immediately unconscious again.
"Tidus! That was Brynna, she'd finally awakened!" Rikku exclaimed. "Now look at her…the poor thing…" She peered down at the girl, who was now suddenly conscious again, but was twitching and sputtering on the floor.
"Oh, whoops…"
Yuna bent down and helped her up, allowing Brynna to lean on her for extra support. "Are you all right?"
"I will be…" she replied weakly. "Er…where are we, and what are we doing here?" Then she noticed the Al Bhed girl towering over her. "Oh hey, Rikku!"
She stared at her, confused. "…have we met?"
"Well, I never really introduced myself to you, but I know you." Rikku shrugged, and said, grinning, "Well, nice to meet you anyway!"
"Here, use this Potion, it should help," the summoner said, reaching into her pocket to pull out a miniature bottle of green liquid. Brynna gulped down the stuff and felt slightly livelier, but when she asked for another one, no one replied; they had heard a noise coming from Seymour's room.
"What the…?" Rikku quietly put her ear on the door again, and Tidus and Yuna did the same. (The previously unconscious girl merely glared at them, making a mental note to kick all three of their asses.) "It's Seymour…he's yelling at Tromell again…"
And, indeed, the bastard was. They listened to the conversation silently, making no audible noises:
"It doesn't make any sense! I could swear it was you who gave me the idea to dispatch my men to capture that girl…. But you're telling me, you don't remember doing it?"
Tromell was heard producing a tremendous sigh."No, m'lord, for the millionth time, I don't remember anything."
Tidus and Yuna looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes; it was obvious something strange was going on… So it was Seymour who ordered for Brynna to be kidnapped…
"But," Seymour went on, "if it wasn't you who did it, but it was someone who looked precisely like you… then don't you know what this means?" There was a pause. "It means, Tromell, that someone has been impersonating you… They snuck into my mansion…and deceived me."
"My lord…"
"Shut up; I'm not through. There are only two ways they could've done that: by simply disguising themselves as you with mere clothes and a mask, or by magically shape-shifting into your likeness."
No response.
"And," he continued, "furthermore…. Assuming that they shape-shifted into your likeness, there are only a small group of creatures on this planet who have the magical power to do that: the Gods."
Yuna gasped.
Quickly, before she could make another audible noise, Rikku clapped her hand over the summoner's mouth.
"…m'lord…what are you trying to say…?" Tromell said, amazed. "Do you mean to tell me that you, sir, believe in multiple deities? Surely a maester would believe absolutely in one god: Yevon…"
"I'm trying to say, Tromell, that the only person that could possibly have been impersonating you…is a God: one of the supreme, omnipotent creatures who rule over us all…. It has nothing to do with 'belief'; it is truth. Fact, even. Don't tell me you thought there was only one of them, Tromell," he said sharply. Then, the maester paused. "But… my only question is…why would someone so almighty want to convince me to capture that irksome girl? Why would they give a damn about her?"
Tromell seemed to be deep in thought, for it took him a while to respond. But when he did, it seemed to be something very interesting for Seymour to think about:
"Maester Seymour—perhaps they care about her…for the same reason you care about her…."
The three teens on the opposite side of the door continued eavesdropping for roundly another minute, after which Seymour said something so climactic, disturbing, and shocking that they all slowly pivoted their heads in Brynna's direction, staring at her as if they had just found out something overwhelming about the mystifying girl that they would never have guessed.
That girl… Tidus thought, shaken. …who IS she?
"I'll wait here," Auron said quietly, stopping close to the entrance of the Farplane. "You three go ahead."
After having anticipated this from the beginning (for he had played Final Fantasy X up until the halfway point), Darius looked at him dryly. "Why did you come if you weren't going to enter?"
"There wasn't anywhere else to go," he replied shortly, "except for with Kimahri to stock up on items."
"And no one wants that, brudda," Wakka added, understanding. Darius understood as well; it was really quite a simple concept:
Kimahri was too "goffik," as xxxBloodyWrists666xxx would put it.
"How sad," Lulu muttered. "One can't even trust their friends to back them up." However, she proceeded into the Farplane, followed by the two others.
The area was immense, in a seemingly petite way. The Farplane turned out to be only a two-dimensional floor with three-dimensional illusions bordering it so that it looked like the area was floating in the middle of the cloudy sky. "When you walk to the edge of the plain," Lulu explained, pointing in its direction, "if you think of someone you have once known in your lifetime who has died… the pyreflies of the Farplane will sense that memory and build on it, creating a vision of the dearly departed."
"Right. But it's not real, though, right?" Darius questioned. "It's only an apparition?"
She nodded. "Technically, it is an apparition, but you will find that it is very much…real." The woman looked at Wakka, who was already gazing sadly at an apparition of his deceased brother, Chappu. "Take Wakka, for instance. If he wants, he may 'summon'…Chappu, and say something to the apparition… and whatever he says will immediately be carried over to the soul of the real Chappu."
The boy thought about this for a moment. "So, technically, you can speak to the souls of the dead… but they can't respond, right? They'll just hear it?" he asked; Lulu nodded. "Then…where do the real souls reside?"
"They reside in the Farplane, but…" The woman looked off into the clouds thoughtfully. "…in a different section. For some reason, according to Yevon's teachings, it's only possible for us to enter the artificial end of the Farplane; the other sections, the real sections, of the Farplane…can't be reached by mere humans."
He shrugged. As Lulu walked off and joined Wakka in staring at Chappu, Darius trotted off alone to another end of the area.
Do I know anyone dead? he asked himself. When he realized he didn't, he began to wonder why the hell he'd wanted to come up here anyway. What stupidity— Huh…?
"What the hell...?"
His katana-shaped sword Dyrnsyn had begun to glow a vibrant, golden color in its sheath. He gaped, flabbergasted, and wondering what the hell was going on. Pretty soon Dyrnsyn had begun to vibrate and pull itself out of its sheath, lifting itself into the air.
My sword…IS GOING TO SLASH US ALL! he thought wildly, trying to grab a hold of it.
But when he did, the thing seemed to be glowing so brightly that its temperature had risen dramatically and burned the palm of his hand. Cursing mentally, the Gary-Stu watched in horror as its glow turned white—then died, and the sword fell with a clang! to the floor.
"What. The. Hell," he repeated, confused, and tentatively picking up his sword. What had Dyrnsyn been doing?
Apparently the sword had a natural reaction to the Farplane…for some strange, creepy reason. Darius quickly remembered how he had encountered the sword in the first place: In Besaid, Wakka gave it to me, saying he'd found it lying beside me in the middle of the night…
He thought harder, recalling what had happened.
…the same night I had that dream… The one with Yuna and Rikku…fighting over me, and picking me over Tidus…
Was it a coincidence that Dyrnsyn had randomly showed up next to Darius's bed the same night Darius had been dreaming merrily about Yuna and Rikku? And if so, why did Dyrnsyn react to the pyreflies of the Farplane?
Unless it was made of pyreflies itself… But of course that didn't make any sense…
Darius laughed quietly. My mom would NOT be pleased if she found out about how stupid I've been… He probably should've had this case solved by now, but he was faaaar too idiotic (and PROUD of it, dammit).
"Welp, looks like I can now say I've effectively advanced the plotline!" he murmured to himself, pumping his fist into the air. "…exit staaaaage…left!"
Exiting the wrong way, he moved a couple of feet to the right—and then halted: An eerie noise had sounded from behind him, stopping him dead in his tracks.
Gradually, afraid of what he would glimpse, he slowly pivoted his head 180 degrees to see what had happened. Pyreflies were slowly joining into one small area, creating the likeness of someone vastly familiar. Before long an apparition of a middle-aged woman stared at him accusingly, as if he had done something horribly sinful.
He was breathless after the split second it took him to recognize the woman.
"…MOM?!"
Then his heart almost stopped completely when he realized what it meant.
Immediately, a bloodcurdling scream echoed throughout the Farplane; hearing his shout, Wakka and Lulu came sprinting over, screaming, "Who's that!?" and "What happened, Dar?!"
But he didn't respond; he was too busy frighteningly staring at what the pyreflies of the Farplane were forming into now. His mother suddenly disappeared from view, and in her place stood the rest of his family—dozens of them—aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins….
"SHIT! NO!"
Lulu made a sharp intake of breath, realizing what this meant. "Oh my god…"
But the morphing of the pyreflies did not stop; all of the family members disappeared, and apparitions of everyone else Darius had known on Earth, took their place.
Friends—teachers—neighbors—classmates—acquaintances…
Hundreds among hundreds among hundreds among hundreds of people showed up, taking up so much space that the apparition of Chappu that Lulu and Wakka had been looking at, was completely shoved out of the way.
"FUCK!"
Thousands of apparitions glared intensely at Darius—he collapsed on the ground and lay there, motionless, his eyes closing slowly…blurring vision…fluctuating vision…fading vision…darkening vision…and then—no vision at all.
Everything had gone black.
He did not get back up.
Lulu and Wakka snatched up the boy's body and sprinted out of the Farplane.
"SIR AURON!" Lulu cried, screaming at the man sitting on the ground awaiting their return. He looked up worriedly—and then froze after seeing the unconscious Darius.
"What happened?" he said sharply.
"It's Darius!" Wakka explained. "Something's… We heard him screaming and shouting, and we ran over, and next thing we knew…the Farplane was going crazy; thousands of people were appearing— He couldn't handle all the trauma, and passed out…."
"I think something's gone wrong with the Farplane," Lulu said, clarifying things further for Auron. "At first, it started out as just a few people showing up—but then, the numbers rose at an enormous rate! In the end, when Wakka and I took one last glance behind us before exiting, it looked like there could've been a million people there… It was as if everyone he ever met from Zanarkand was showing up out of nowhere, glaring at him, and indicating…."
"No, not from Zanarkand…" Auron said quietly, dismayed at what he was hearing. "He's not from Zanarkand, he's from… It was everyone he ever met from—" Lulu and Wakka stared at him. "No! No! I should've known…!"
"Known what? What does it mean?!" Wakka shouted.
Lulu's head whipped around to face him. "It means that wherever Darius is from… everyone he ever knew could very well be…" She stopped to wipe her eyes, which were now beginning to water with something that looked significantly and surprisingly like tears. "…dead."
It was Wakka's turn to gasp loudly.
"Unless…" Lulu said, looking hopeful, "unless it was only a warning from Yevon…a sign that if we don't do something, everyone from Darius's home will—"
But her optimism was in vain when Auron shook his head no. "Impossible. The Farplane does not falter, make mistakes, or lie—it is the only thing on Spira that doesn't. It's…the place of truth and reality, of the present. If the Farplane says everyone has died...it means it. No jokes, no lies, no warnings, no prophecies...it merely shows what has occurred as of now."
He shook his head, looking sadly at the unconscious Darius sprawled out over Wakka's shoulder. "If the Farplane indicated they're gone…then it's too late. They're through."
"Quick, he's coming!" Rikku said hastily, quickly moving away from the door. Tidus, Yuna, and Brynna followed suit. "Act natural!" she added, and the four of them were quick to adopt suspiciously "natural" poses: Tidus was leaned against a wall stroking his chin, Yuna was suddenly staring determinedly at the ceiling, Rikku was inspecting the wall for spider webs and dust, and Brynna was "sexily" lying on the floor with her pinky finger in her mouth.
The door swung open and Seymour emerged, eyeing the eccentric positions they were in. He made no comment, but instead said, "Ah, so you four are here; did the others die?"
He looked strangely hopeful. Tidus said, "No, they're waiting for us outside," and left it at that. The maester uttered a rather sinful curse that Tidus was sure maesters weren't supposed to use, but did not pursue the subject. His eyes fell on Brynna.
"Ah, so she's awakened!" the maester grinned, eyeballing the girl and looking her up and down. "I see… Perfect timing."
"Perfect timing for what?" She looked from Yuna to Tidus to Rikku, confused. "What's going on here?!"
Seymour smiled to reassure her—although he was really only making matters worse. "You'll soon find out, Lady Brynna…"
'LADY Brynna?!' Tidus growled mentally, noting that a minute ago Seymour was in his room calling Brynna 'irksome,' and now he was calling her a 'lady.' Rikku seemed to be thinking along the same lines, for there was a look of anger on her face; Yuna, however, looked like she didn't know what to think.
Seymour paced around the room, looking from Yuna to her guardians. "Lady Yunalesca…" he muttered. "…the first person to defeat Sin and rescue Spira from its ravages. And you, Lady Yuna, have inherited her name."
The summoner nodded, but did not look like she knew where he was going with this. "It was my father who named me."
"Lord Braska was entrusting you with a great task. He wanted you to face sin, as Yunalesca did—however, Yunalesca did not save the world alone. To defeat the undefeatable Sin…it took an unbreakable bond of love—of the kind that bonds two hears for eternity."
It was then that he turned away from Yuna and faced…Brynna.
"I have an important question to ask of you. As I do so, I ask you please bear what I've said in mind…."
She stared at him in horror as he approached gradually, determinedly looking her in the eye. The maester descended on one knee, looking up at her, reached into his pocket and pulled out a glistening ring. He eerily slid it onto her finger, sending chills up everyone's spine.
"Lady Brynna. Will you marry me?"
---
Note- Happy holidays to everyone at FFN! Please review if you made it this far; it would would be a great Christmas gift after I've stressed so much over uploading this chapter in GA, where no one in my family had a computer with which I could upload it. n.n It was a miracle I COULD upload it... thanks, and Merry Christmas!
-S