Final Fantasy X and PlayStation are owned by Square Enix and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Final Fantasy X storyline (such as Rayne and Marcus) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.
(Death in Spira and The Unexpected Save)
After deciding to stay an extra night in Kilika, Rayne excused herself from the inn to go for a walk. The tension between Jecht and Auron was thick, and she only seemed to be making it worse. So, with all of her equipment strapped on but her jacket left behind, Rayne left the inn and decided to head back to the old ladies shop and buy a few more items with the money she had earned fighting. She wanted to do something with her items to make them a bit more organized…
"Hello, Rayne, care if I join you?"
She nearly jumped out of her skin when Braska seemed to materialize out of nowhere and at her side. He chuckled when he saw her face.
"Sorry."
Rayne shook her head and took a few cleansing breaths, "No, it's nothing. I'm just a tad too jumpy. Um… sure, you can join me, if you want."
He smiled, "Thank you. I find your company to, at times, be slightly more refreshing than theirs."
Knowing he was referring to the still fighting Jecht and Auron, Rayne chuckled, "Oh, Lord Braska, I could hardly imagine why! Those two have enough fun between them to start a party."
"Haha, yes, and a rather violent one, at that."
"Um, speaking of violence, was it wise to leave them alone?"
He chuckled nervously, "Well, it may not seem like it, but I'd like to believe that they know when to stop."
Rayne shook her head, "With Auron and Jecht, that's wishful thinking."
"Yes…" There was a worried pause before he brightened and asked, "So, Rayne, where are we headed?"
"Actually, I met this really nice elderly woman who owns an items shop. I was going to get a few more Potions and several more bags so I can organize all of my stuff. Hmm… she should be right around this corner here."
They turned a corner and came to the shop, but something was wrong. One of the walls was collapsed and several of the crates were busted; but the oddest thing was the damage looked to be years old.
"Something's wrong…" Without another word, Rayne walked over to the shop and ducked under the blanket, leaving a confused and worried Braska to trail behind her.
When he had walked in, he found Rayne sitting on the floor, looking at something behind the counter. Braska stopped where he was and looked around. There were no items or weapons hanging from the walls, only old tapestries. The walls were so aged that in some places they were nothing but the thicker veins of the old wood that had been used to make them. And, though the room was dark, there was a visible layer of thick dust that caked every inch of the old shop. No one had lived, worked, or even entered here in a long, long time.
"Rayne, perhaps this is the wrong place…"
She shook her head slowly, "No, this is it. The box that my staff was in is still here." And it was true, over on the counter was the case, and it wasn't covered in a speck of dust. Her voice trembling, Rayne continued, "And besides, I found the nice old woman…"
Braska slowly walked forward and gasped when he saw what she was pointing to. There, behind the counter, was a skeleton.
"Braska, if she's dead, what did I see?"
There was silence for a moment, and then Rayne heard Braska sit beside her on the dusty floor, he placed a hand on her shoulder, "Rayne, here in Spira, when a person dies, one of three things happen to them. They can pass onto the Farplane, either by a summoner or by accepted death in life. If they do not pass onto the Farplane, they often become angry at the living, and become fiends. Those two are the most common."
He paused, sighed, and went on, "There is one other thing that can happen. If a person's attachment to this world is strong enough, and they can will it, then they become unsent; tangible forms made of memories, thoughts, dreams, and pyreflies. Near exact replicas of their life, but not truly alive."
By this time, Rayne had a far off look in her eyes, and she said in an eerily calm voice, "She told me that her husband was a great weapon smith, and that this staff… my staff, was his last and greatest creation. She said that he was a Black Mage. She said that before he passed twenty years ago, she had promised him that she would make sure that his creation would reach the hands of its rightful owner… whom she said was me… Braska, would that have been her attachment?"
"I don't doubt that it was."
"I wish I could tell her that I was sorry for making her wait so long… but she's already gone, isn't she?"
"It would appear that way."
There was silence, broken by Rayne's shuffling as she got to her feet and walked over to the counter. Without looking at the body behind it, she looked inside of the black case and smiled. There, inside, lay several velvet bags and half a dozen Potions. Flipping the case shut, she locked it with the key that was still in place and picked it up.
"Let's go, Lord Braska, we'll tell the villagers about this place."
They did, indeed, inform several villagers of the woman's death, and were assured that she would receive a proper burial. Rayne learned that the woman's name was Kala, and her husband was Harref, and that no one had been in the shop in fifteen years. Rayne and Braska walked back to the inn together, but Rayne felt alone.
When Rayne and Braska walked back into the inn room, they found Auron and Jecht sitting on opposite sides of the room engaged in a glaring contest. Braska shook his head and sighed while Rayne sat in between them on her bed and opened up the box.
"Alright, you two," said Braska, sounding like a father about to reprimand his children, "What are you arguing about now?"
Jecht smirked impishly, "Oh, nothing. Just Auron's inability to accept the fact that he wants—"
He was cut off by Auron standing and glaring at him even harder, growling in a commanding tone, "You don't want to finish that sentence."
When Rayne saw Jecht freeze in place, she sighed in recognition of the skill, "Honestly Auron, save your 'Threaten' energy for the fiends." She then threw an Ether bottle at Jecht, which smacked him in the forehead and enabled him to move again. "And you quit giving Auron a reason to want to kill you. It's tiring."
The two snorted indignantly, but turned away form each other nonetheless. Braska sat on his bed and watched as Rayne emptied her velvet bags and began to sort her items, removing the other bags from the black box. Quick to bore, Jecht turned and watched her too.
"Whatcha' up to, Rayne?" He asked as he tossed the Ether back over to her.
Not looking up, Rayne caught the bottle and put it among its fellows, "Color coordinating."
And she was. The Potions went inside of the sky blue bag with the navy drawstring, the Antidotes in a purple with green, the Ethers in an acid green with a forest green, the Phoenix Down in the red with gold, and the Grid spheres in the ash bag with the black drawstring. When she had all her items shoved into their respective bags and piled together she still had several bags left over, so she shoved them all into one bag for future items she was sure she was going to get.
"And the point of that was…?"
Rayne sighed and flopped back onto her bed. "Jecht, throw me a Potion, will ya?" She heard him fumble around for a few minutes before one finally landed on her stomach. Throwing it back, she said, "Okay, now ask me for something."
"Uhh… how about an Ether?"
Without even looking, she reached out and grabbed the acid green bag, slid it open, and tossed a bottle to him, all of this taking place in a matter of twenty seconds. "See how quick that was? It's a lot more organized and easy if everything is color coordinated."
He grunted and tossed the Ether back, which Rayne slid back into its bag. She then pulled out the ash-colored bag and the Sphere Grid, deciding to try and figure it out. She saw that her little 'her' space wasn't near any free spaces and that she had to move it. Problem was, she didn't know how to move it or how many spaces she could.
"Uhh, help?" She jumped when the little 'her' space glowed even brighter and a little bubble appeared above it, the number 4 inside of it and all of the Nodes within four moves around the 'her' space glowed a bit brighter. Not sure of what else to do, Rayne reached out and poked one of the available Nodes with her finger, watching as the 'her' space moved along the groves in wonderment.
When the space stopped moving, she had three Nodes available for activation. She reached into her bag and pulled out the spheres, unsure of what to do next. On the game, she had had to use specific spheres to activate specific Nodes. Did it work the same here, now that the game was reality?
"Hold a sphere in front of the Grid." She turned her head to look at Auron, who was lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling, his arms behind his head. "The Nodes that that particular sphere will work for will light up. If your space has a grove connected to a Node that is glowing, then press the sphere to the Node."
Doing as he said, she held one sphere in front of the grid. Several Nodes lit up, but none that were available for activation. She repeated this process with several other spheres, able to activate only two of the nodes. She flipped the Grid over and watched as two of the stats changed; Evasiveness going up one and Magic Defense four. The back of her head tingled slightly, followed by her whole body. When it had faded, she was trembling slightly.
"It takes a while to get used to the sensation, but you eventually stop feeling it."
Rayne turned again to look at Auron and found him still staring at the ceiling. Nevertheless, she said, "Thank you." She made sure to put as much sincerity in her voice as she could.
He grunted and shrugged. Jecht laughed, making Auron throw him a glare, making both Braska and Rayne sigh. A moment later, Rayne started laughing. The trio looked at her, having never heard her laugh before. When she saw them staring at her, she laughed even harder, clutching her stomach and flipping over to bury her face into her pillow.
After five minutes and many exchanged glances between the three men, her laughter dwindled and was reduced to periodic giggles, at which point she turned back over and sat up, rubbing the tears out of her eyes with the palm of her hand.
"Alright, kid, what was that about?"
When she looked into Jecht's eyes, Rayne rubbed her eyes even harder and giggled. "It's just… whenever you two fight, you always reminded me of something. It took me a bit to figure it out, but I finally did." She paused, smiling widely and dropping her hands. "You two remind me of my brother and I when we were little kids."
Silence. Then Braska laughing, Jecht turning away, blushing slightly, and Auron grunting loudly and turning to face the wall. Rayne laughed again.
Later that night, after she was sure that all three of the men had fallen asleep, Rayne quietly got to her feet, grabbed her things, and slipped out the door. She strapped her staff to her back as she walked down the stairs, slipping on her coat after she had walked out the entrance to the inn. By the time she had gotten to the forest, she had all of her bags tied to her mesh and was spinning her staff over her head.
'Wow, this is harder than I remember. Guess it was all that adrenalin that had me going…'
Soon, she was fighting fiends in the dark, gathering Gil, items, and, more importantly, spheres and spaces for her Grid. She discovered that training, especially in the dark, was tiring, and she was glad she'd have all the next day to rest on the S.S. Liki.
Just then, she heard a buzzing. She looked around franticly, but it was too dark to see where it was coming from. Where was… There! Right behind her! She spun around and saw a bug fiend flying at her, its needle aimed at her neck. She panicked. She was low on health, and tired. She didn't have the energy. If the sting didn't knock her out, the poison would. Why had she gone so long without a Potion?! Oh, crap! In her split-second thinking, it had gotten even closer! She could already feel the stinger in her neck, and she closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to see the blow…
That never came.
A slashing sound, then a feeling of déjà vu as she opened her eyes and found the fiend erupting into pyreflies. Only, instead of Bahamut, it was Auron who had come to her rescue. He grunted and shook his sword, electric blue blood flinging onto the ground.
"What are you doing? Braska would be furious if he had woken and found you gone."
Trying her best not to snap, she curtly replied, "I was training. And what are you doing? Not taking a walk, I presume."
He sighed. "Couldn't sleep."
"Ah." She took out a Potion and downed half of it, choking at the thickness and oversweetness. "Wha?"
He let out a noise that could have passed for half of a laugh. "Makers thought it would make it more profitable. The original stuff tasted worse; much worse."
"Something else I'm gonna have to get used to, I take it?"
He grunted and watched her down the rest of it. "Use an Ether, too." When she looked at him with a confused look in her eyes, he sighed and continued. "If you're going to stay here and train, use an Ether to build your magic back up. Just eat the powder."
"What?" she called to his retreating form, "You aren't gonna stay and make sure I don't die? I thought you couldn't sleep!"
Without turning, he shouted, "I've suddenly found myself very drowsy. Besides," He stopped and turned, the smirk on his face illuminated by the moon, "You don't need to try so hard to impress me."
Rayne was suddenly glad it was dark where she was standing, because it hid her red face as she shouted back, "Who the hell said I was doing this to impress you?!"
Still smirking, he said, "Just kidding."
She watched him in silence as he walked away, shaking with rage and face embarrassment. She pursed her lips and pointed one finger at him, muttering a word beneath her breath just before he got out of range.
A startled Braska jumped in his bed when Auron slammed open the door and walked in soaking wet. Jecht was still snoring on.
"Auron? What happened?"
The drenched guardian just grunted angrily, throwing off his sopping clothes and crashing onto his bed, covers pulled up in an instant. The summoner looked over the four beds and, when noticing that Rayne's was empty, chuckled and went back to sleep
After bathing in a river (using shampoo, conditioner, and soap she had gotten in the Port when she and Braska were walking back to the inn), Rayne snuck back into town and tiptoed into the room, careful not to wake anyone. She nearly tripped over a heap of clothes lying in the middle of the floor…Wet clothes… Auron's wet clothes.
Feeling a slight pang of pity for the man, Rayne put her stuff away and spread out the clothing on the floor, waving her hand over it and murmuring a quiet and weak 'Fire' spell. She only dried the clothes a little though, so he would still be fairly damp in the morning.
'After all, if you completely revoke his punishment, your pet will never learn.' Giggle.