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.

(Guardian?!)

Rayne looked at the small island in awe. Most of it was forest, and there were tall, sheer cliffs with huge waterfalls. But, there were also large remains of the old machina cities and, on a small peninsula, she could see the tops of the Temple and several smaller buildings. Besaid Isle; home of the aeon Valefor, the little girl. She was so distracted by its beauty, she never noticed Jecht yelling at her.

"KID!"

"AH!" She jumped forward when he screamed in her ear, "WHAT?! Oh, sorry. I guess I wasn't listening. Anyway, you were saying?"

"Where did you get the stuff to do your hair? It must have taken you hours to get all of those teeny weenie braids in, and we weren't on the boat that long yesterday."

"Oh," Rayne grabbed her braid and fiddled with it, "A cute little girl I met in Luca is onboard. She did it there the first time, and came prepared this time. She even gave me foam shampoo!" She whipped it out and showed him.

Braska looked at the writing on the bottle and blinked, "If I may?" She handed it to him and he looked it over. "What was her name?"

"Rikku, why?"

Braska stiffened and quickly handed the bottle back. "Hide it before someone recognizes the writing."

Frowning, Rayne put it away, "Is there a problem?"

"Are you aware of the fact that the girl, Rikku, was Al Bhed?"

"Yeah, she told me. Why?"

Braska frowned and shook his head, "Don't tell anyone you talked to her, or even mention her when we're in public."

"Why?!"

He sighed, "Not many people like the Al Bhed. Most avid Yevon followers, near everyone in Spira, hate them. The Al Bhed are machina users, users of ancient machinery from the days long passed. It's against Yevon to use them."

Rayne raised a brow, "That's it? The only reason people hate them is because they use electric toasters instead of a fire and an iron press? Because they use florescent lights instead of a candle? Because they like central heat and air? The hell?"

Braska nodded, "I realize that this may not make much sense, but I can't explain any further. We're landing."

They turned and watched as the ship drifted up beside the dock, members of the crew jumping off with ropes to tie them down. Then, a chain was removed and the plank was dropped, allowing people to run off and hug their waiting relatives and friends. Theirs was one of the last groups off, and many turned to gasp at Braska in awe. One of the men of the island, dressed in Temple robes, walked forward and bowed in the Yevon prayer form, murmuring, "Lord Summoner."

Many others followed his lead, many courses of "Lord Summoner" echoing throughout the crowds.

Braska bowed back, "I am Braska, of Bevelle. Thank you for welcoming me."

The man walked forward, looking from Auron to Jecht approvingly. "And these are your guardians, I presume?"

Braska nodded, "They are."

The man's eyes skimmed over Rayne briefly then snapped back to her, confusion evident. "And… who are you?"

Before Rayne could open her mouth, Braska answered, "She is also my guardian." He looked at her pointedly, "If she will accept."

Rayne just stared wide eyed at Braska, mouth opening and closing like a proverbial fish out of water, "Wha?"

Braska tilted his head, "You refuse?"

She stopped gaping and shook her head, "Nononononononono! I don't refuse! It's… just…"

He nodded, "Very well." He turned back to the man, "As I said, she is also my guardian."

The monk nodded and smiled at Rayne, "Congratulations, young guardian."

"Th-th-thank you!" Rayne bowed, but stopped halfway and preformed the Yevon bow instead.

The monk laughed and stepped aside, allowing Braska and his group to walk onto the boardwalk, a stunned Rayne now included in the group. When they had reached the ruin pillars, Rayne dropped her box and screamed, "Braska, what the hell?!"

He stopped and chuckled, "I'm surprised you held it in that long."

She screamed and stomped her feet, "DO NOT LAUGH AT ME! Lord Braska, are you HIGH?! I am nowhere NEAR guardian material, and I hardly know what the hell I'm supposed to do!!"

"You summed it up before." Auron said. "Protect the summoner with your life until we reach Zanarkand. There, Lord Braska will receive the Final Aeon and we fight Sin."

"And yes, kid," Jecht said, "You are guardian material. Come on, even I am, apparently. We still gotta travel all the way across Spira, and taking your current magic status into account, you should be more than prepared when we arrive."

Rayne looked at the three, "YOU ALL TALKED ABOUT THIS, DIDN'T YOU?!"

The three looked at each other, then turned back to her and nodded.

"Yes."

"That's right."

"Yep!"

She felt her eye twitch, "When?"

"Last night."

"While you were sleeping."

"More like knocked out."

She twitched again, "And when did you plan on telling me?"

"Right about then was good."

"The timing there was actually perfect."

"Right when you would be most embarrassed about it."

Twitch again. Silence. Twitch. Tense silence. Twitch. Dragging tense silence. Twitch. Dragging tense silence broken by laughter. Twitch. Everyone looks at Jecht. Twitch. Jecht walks over and slaps a hand on her back. Twitch. Jecht grins.

"Welcome to the club, Rayne."

… Twitch.

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Braska turned away from the battle and looked at his two male guardians, who had long given up. Auron and Jecht were sitting on rocks a ways away from the fight, their weapons resting beside them, their faces expressing their slight worry and extreme boredom. Braska walked over and joined them.

"You don't suppose she's… angry, do you?"

They looked back at Rayne, who was currently whacking the senses out of a blorba with her staff, despite the fact that she had already been told that only her black magic would work effectively enough to kill it quickly.

"Nah," Replied Jecht. "She's probably just… really eager to battle."

Braska shook his head. "But, this is the tenth battle she has taken over. She even tried to attack Auron when he tried to handle that giant bird. And I've tried casting 'Esuna' on her repeatedly, but she doesn't seem to have any status changes that are affecting her mentality. I'm only left to assume that she is angry."

"Don't worry, Lord Braska," Advised Auron, who was now entertaining himself by watching her smack an already dead dog-fiend into a bloody pulp. "She'll tire herself out eventually. Until then, sit back and enjoy the show."

By the time they were in seeing distance of Besaid village, all of their packs were bulging with coins, items, and Grid spheres, and they were all carrying at least two extra weapons. But Rayne was still twitching. Tired, but twitching. Jecht took out a video sphere and turned it on, recording some of the scenery. He then turned it to Rayne and began talking.

"This is the newest addition to our happy little family. She just found out, after traveling with us for a few days, that Braska wanted her as a guardian. She agreed, but has been taking her frustration out on poor, defenseless fiends ever since. I guess she didn't like having the idea popped out at her too much, did ya, Rayne?"

She looked at the sphere, eyes flashing, "Jecht, if you don't take that thing off of me, I'm gonna take it and shove it somewhere really uncomfortable and trust me, you won't want to walk for a while."

He turned the sphere off, scowling, "Come on, kid. Keep this PG, I'm taking it back to my son, who less than half your age."

She twitched and sighed, "Sorry."

He smiled, "It's alright! I'll just erase that and film it again! And, in case you want to know, his name's Tidus."

This time, she looked at the sphere with a weak smile on her face and said, "Hey, Tidus! Listen, if your dad doesn't come back in one piece, please forgive me. I couldn't help it. Growing up with him for as long as you did, I'm sure you understand."

"Heh, yeah right." Jecht said before he turned off the sphere. "The kid was a crybaby. I was always tryin' to toughen him up, but he cried anyways. He probably never had the guts to even think about hurting me."

"You never said that to his face, did you?!"

Jecht blinked. "Huh?"

Rayne let out a small scream and shook her head, "Jecht! That's the kind of stuff that can ruin a child!"

"Ruin?" Jecht scratched the back of his head, "I was only trying to toughen him up."

Rayne groaned, "Jecht, let life lessons toughen him up! It's your job as a parent to try and shield him a bit, let him suffer a bit when he makes mistakes, and love him regardless!"

"I do love him!"

Rayne crossed her arms and frowned, "Oh, so you're one of those 'tough love' parents, eh?"

Jecht sighed and scratched the back of his head, "I can't help it. I don't know how else to take care of him. He… he cries so easily, so I thought that if I went a bit rough on him, he'd… just…"

Rayne smiled slightly, watching him struggle for the right words, "You really do love him, don't you?"

Jecht smiled back and nodded, "Yeah. It's just so hard to say, I never—"

"We're here."

The both looked forward to see Besaid village; a small community make of ramshackle huts with the Temple in the back. Auron was holding another sphere, taking footage of it.

"Auron, not you too!" Rayne cried.

Jecht stepped inside of the village walls, looking around with traces of contempt on his face, "Smallest heap of huts I've ever seen!"

Braska walked beside him and looked around, something entirely different on his face. "Now, that looks like a fine place to live."

Rayne could have laugh. 'Yin and Yang, those two.'

"Auron!"

Auron, still recording, turned the sphere to Braska. "My Lord?"

Braska smiled, still looking over the village, "When this is over… could you bring Yuna here? I want her to lead a life far away from this conflict."

A look of sorrow, as if this were coming from Braska's final will, crossed Auron's face, and he solemnly replied, "You have my word. I will bring her here."

Still smiling, Braska turned to Auron, both of them disregarding the still recording sphere, "Thank you, Auron. You are a good friend."

Rayne watched all of this silently, suddenly aware of the gravity of Braska asking Auron this. Was there something they hadn't told her? Still weren't telling her?

"What are you guys doin'?" They turned to face Jecht, who was walking further into the village. "Let's go! I'm so hungry I could eat a shoopuf whole!"

Braska sighed and smiled, "Sorry. Well, let's go then."

Auron turned off the sphere and Rayne walked up beside him. "Shoopuf?"

He sighed and shook his head, "You'll see when we reach the Moonflow."

As he walked off, Rayne jogged to catch up with him. "Hey. You guys are already more than halfway done with the pilgrimage, right?"

"Hm." He nodded.

"Then, why let me join now?"

"What," He looked at her. "You want out already? And you were so persistent."

She groaned, "You know that's not what I mean!"

"It was what Braska wanted."

"Why?"

He sighed and stopped walking in front of the Crusaders hut. "You'd have to ask him."

When he turned to walk in, she grabbed his arm. "I want to know your opinion, too, Auron. Do you want me here?"

He froze, an unreadable expression on his face. Rayne was quite and let him think, not wanting him to get mad and walk off without leaving an answer. After a moment, he sighed again, "I don't know. Ask me when we reach Zanarkand."

He walked in and left her standing alone. She sighed, "I'll hold you to that, Auron."

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After the beast in all of them (especially Jecht) had been sated, they agreed that it was too late to head to the Temple, yet too early to sleep. So, they stuck wandering the village. They first stopped by the items shop, where they sold much of their spare items and all of the unnecessary weapons. Then, not really interested in walking back into the hot sun, they perused the trinkets.

"Hey, kid." Rayne dropped a seashell necklace she was looking at and turned to Braska. He was holding up a sphere and smiled. "Why don't you make one, too? You could take it back to your brother."

Rayne wrinkled her nose, "No, thanks. I'm not a big fan of movies."

"How about a song, then? They got some great music spheres. If you don't like any of the ones here, they got a wider selection in Luca."

Rayne sighed and looked back at the jewelry on the racks. "Not a fan of music, either."

"What?!" He ran up to her and grabbed her shoulder, flipping her around and looking at her with a surprised look on his face. The surprise grew. "You're serious, aren't you?" She nodded. "Jeez, kid! And you call yourself a teenager! All kids love music! The kids in Zanarkand loved music, I'm sure kids in your world love music, and there are even kids here, in 'no machina Spira', that love music! What in Spira is your problem?!"

Rayne sighed and turned to face Jecht. "Remember, back on Kilika, when I told you I was an outcast for my beliefs? This is that belief. Unless it's a book, I don't like most forms of storyline entertainment. I just don't. No clue why, and I probably never will know. But, the 'why' doesn't really matter, just the fact that I don't like it. You dig?"

Jecht shook his head and sighed, "Not really, but fine. Just do me a favor, will ya? At one point or another, buy one and make a recording. Because, the truth is, you and I are counting on something amazing to make us go home, and that might not happen. See, even if they never see it, I want to leave something behind for my wife and kid. That's why, ever since the beginning, I've been recording and leaving behind spheres, just in case they can somehow make it back if I don't. So… in case you don't get back to your brother… just… think about leaving him something, alright?"

After listening to that, something was confirmed to Rayne; they weren't telling her something. She was going to find out what it was. But… for now…

She nodded and took the sphere from his had, "Alright, Jecht. I will think about it."

He sighed and smiled, "Thanks, kid."