"Mom is here!" Sora cried out loud enough that Zaon heard. Zaon breathed a sigh of relief and threw his full power into his swing. Another lightning spell and that guy was down. The boys were now clear to run to me, and they did. As soon as the temple guards saw me hug my boys, they knew that they messed up.
That is when the Youth League showed up, demanding the sphere. Then the priest brought out the machina to protect the sphere he was holding. I knew that even lightning spells wouldn't hurt it, so I had to resort to using my daggers. I also healed everyone as did Sora, who had learned healing spells from me. With everyone attacking the machina and me and Sora doing the healing, we made quick work of the thing. Yuna, Rikku, and Paine did a pose while Zaon ran over and grabbed the sphere. After laughing, he handed the sphere to Yuna and had to say something.
"You lose to my sister! Smell you next time!" After we boarded the airship that had a frantic Auron, I looked at Zaon.
"You just had to say that, didn't you?! Why do I waste my time yelling at you? You do not listen anyway. Now how did you get the airship that close to the temple?" I finally asked. Zaon laughed and pointed to Sora and Buddy, telling me to ask them. So I asked Sora and Buddy. Buddy, of course, told me that Sora figured out how to and Zaon persuaded him to. I hung my head thinking that only my kids would take what I said as a personal challenge. If only Braska was here as a role model for them. I knew Auron tried, but I bet Braska would have been able to tame their wild spirits. Or so I dreamed. But Braska was gone. And every day I woke up alone was a painful reminder of that fact.
As soon as Auron was assured that the boys were pretty much ok, he started yelling at them about how reckless they had been. And how Braska would haunt him forever if anything would have happened to them. They tried to protest but Auron wasn't having it. By the time Auron was done, I was trying to contain my laughter. He had been yelling about everything the boys had done since the calm started til now. And the boys, we're taking it for twenty minutes. I nodded to Rikku to go to him. She gently touched his arm and told him that they got the point. He did a double-take but stopped. The boys looked thankfully at Rikku.
"Well, now should we watch the sphere?" I asked, and the girls nodded. The sphere held a video of Vegagun and Shuyin. He did kinda look like Tidus. This was where Yuna's final trials began. I only hoped she had the heart to make it through. And the strength. It got brought up that Yuna should dance, and everyone agreed that it would be good to blow off some steam. Yuna and Rikku left to get ready, while Paine and the boys were going to set up the stage. I pulled Auron aside to talk to him.
"I know you made a promise to protect us to Braska but when this is all over, you are free to go be where your heart calls you. You have been the best uncle to those boys, but you have a life as well. Please do so, if not for me but for the boys. And you can visit us whenever you want, but live your story, not ours." I told him smiling. He looked at me as if I had told him to go to the Omega Ruins by himself.
"When what is over, exactly?" He asked, and I told him Yuna's final journey. He looked alarmed, but I said that this journey would decide her happiness. And that she would return to Besaid at the end. That took the worried look off of his face. The fact that he felt protective of all of Braska's children was great, but he needed to find his happiness as well. And as much as I had gotten used to having him around, I had to let him do that. The boys would miss him, but they would understand. This would be our final journey as well. I was planning on staying in Besaid to be close to Yuna after this was all over, so I would have an entire village to help me with the boys. Wakka liked the boys, and Lulu adored teaching Sora magic. So we would be okay.
Auron decided to talk with me some more while the singing and dancing started. We talked about everything, including Braska. We only stopped when Yuna stomped her way in, and laid down on the middle bed, and fell asleep. We moved to the cabin, and Auron looked a bit sad. I asked him why he looked sad, and he told me that Braska would have given his left arm to ride in an airship. And here he had ridden in two different airships multiple times. I laughed and said that when Auron made it to the Farplane, he would have to tell Braska all about it. That made Auron chuckle. But I told him not to go there anytime soon, which made him laugh. Just then Rikku and the others walked in. Buddy and Brother both held my sleeping boys in their arms, and I told them to just put them down in a corner and let them sleep.
"Those boys could sleep anywhere, so just stuff them in a corner out of the way. They will wake up at some point and come looking for me." I laughed. Brother and Buddy looked at me curiously, but put the boys gently down in a place they wouldn't get trampled on. I nodded to Auron and he left, followed by Rikku. Brother made a comment about them, and I told him that Rikku was safe with Auron. Then I settled in to wait for the boys to wake up.