Love Her and Despair (7)

[auronlu]

Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 7: Half-Truths
Final Fantasy X
Characters: Maroda, Auron
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1360
Summary: Maroda calls Auron on his BS.
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Map of Pilgrimage - Links to All Chapters

The Story So Far: Thirteen years after Yuna falls defeating Sin, Isaaru and his brothers return to pilgrimage, teaming up with Auron. He's keeping his secrets, including Sin's identity.

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A Kilikan sunset of amber and gold had painted a picture-perfect backdrop for the departure of Isaaru and his guardians, duly sphere-recorded by several spectators. The whole village had turned out to see them off. They had been escorted aboard with cheers, hymns, a refill of Auron's jug from Kulukan the pubmistress, and an unusually frank, "Good luck, Isaaru— sorry you're finally getting your chance," from Dona. Now they sailed north, muffled in a fog that seemed intent on blotting out the ship's lanterns, crew's voices, and any sign of a world beyond the ship's rails. The gates to the Farplane could hardly be more impenetrable.

Auron sat outside Isaaru's cabin, sharpening the Crusader's blade that Pacce and Barthello had found for him. It had barely sufficed to cut through an ochu's hide. While that had given them a chance to show off to their idol, it might cost someone dearly in his next battle. He wondered if his katana was still lodged in Sin's skull.

Maroda slouched against the wall on the other side of the door. The quiet, steady snick of the whetstone had been cutting the air between them for some while, keeping awkward questions at bay. A delaying action at best, but it had given Auron time to prepare.

Eventually, Maroda broke the unspoken armistice. "So, who was the wreath for?" Not long after departure, Sir Auron had gone aft and cast the bedraggled garland overboard. The fog had swallowed it without a sound.

"A woman Sin killed on my last pilgrimage. She...mattered to me." Auron's former comrades would have been floored by the oblique admission. It irked him that a thirteen-year-secret could be so casually breached for the sake of tactics.

"Huh." Maroda's double-edged cordiality softened a notch. "Sorry, man. No offense, but you don't seem the type. Is she the one you were looking for today?"

"I saw her in the water. Sin's toxin, perhaps."

"Well, we all saw somebody," Maroda said. "But to me it looked like High Summoner Yuna. I could almost believe that Sin was marking the anniversary of its own destruction."

"Could be."

Maroda exhaled explosively. "Okay, look, Isaaru may be as patient as a Hypello, but I'm not. You've been holding out on us. You know what we'll find in Zanarkand, but you won't say a damned thing. You've survived two pilgrimages, when as far as I know, all your fellow guardians and summoners are dead. You know where Sin's going. It spared you today, and I don't think that was the first time. Just what is Sin to you? Your ticket to fame? Your...pet?"

Auron smiled sourly. Maroda's gambit was a good one, but it was not the first time a guardian had tried to provoke him into spilling secrets. Of course, Lulu's technique had relied on finesse more than a spear's thrust, turning his oaths against him.

"So that's it? You're going to withhold every scrap of knowledge about Zanarkand, so you can play some game with Yuna's life? And Tidus' too— or is he party to your plan?"

"I promised their fathers I'd protect them. They still have to find their own path."

"And wind up dead just like Lord Braska and Sir Jecht! Exactly where in the teachings is it written that summoners have to enter a fiends' den blindfolded?" In her desperation, Lulu had let slip a secret of her own. And yet her impotent barbs had almost swayed him, for he guessed their source. She seemed too young to bear the weight of a dead summoner on her shoulders, but that night— just the second of their journey together, before she had come to matter — he had suddenly understood what anvil had forged the mage's twice-hammered steel.

"If I reveal what lies ahead, Yuna might turn back from the pilgrimage. But perhaps that's what you want." He, too, could wield words as a goad.

"What I want is not a matter for discussion. And there is nothing and no one in Spira that can convince Yuna to turn aside."

"I take it you tried?"

"For two years." The ache in the mage's voice echoed the one that had kept him this side of the Farplane.

Then he had slipped. Auron had not realized until much later what seeds his words had sowed, or how far back Lulu had set foot on the first step leading to Yunalesca's lair. "I will tell you this. The summoner isn't the only one who pays the price for the Final Summoning."

"I... see."

"Do you?"

"Maybe." The curious calm in that one word should have alerted him, but Auron had been distracted, trying to head off her next question. "Except... you said Sir Jecht is still alive, did you not?"

"If Yuna knows the Final Summoning's true cost, she might turn back— or, if her will is as strong as you say, she'll try to finish the pilgrimage alone, and die far from our aid. No, Lulu. Let her find the answers she seeks in the Hall of the Final Summoning, with all of us at her side."

Auron grimaced. He had broken his resolve after all, and his words had sent Yuna to her death. Or perhaps he had made no difference. One guardian was gone by the time they reached Yunalesca. The boy might have changed the story.

Maroda was waiting. The crack of knuckles in the dark hinted that he would resort to more than words to get answers. Had Auron already said too much? No, this warrior lacked the witch's knack for adding up half-truths to find the whole.

"Her name was Lulu," he said. "Another of Yuna's guardians. She trusted no one and nothing else to protect her summoner so well as herself. A trait you share. Yet when at last I answered all her questions, it changed nothing, except that she chose the path I meant to take, and perished in the Final Summoning."

"Ah." Maroda affected sympathy. "I think I remember her. Busty, lots of belts?"

Auron smirked, wondering what sort of verbal fireworks that description might have earned from her. "Yes."

"You know, I'm sorry to hear about your friend— honestly— but that still doesn't explain anything about Sin. What's it doing? Why's it wiping out whole islands one day and showering us with flowers and rainbows the next? And what's with that vision of Lady Yuna that it plastered across the sky?"

Auron stared into the fog, recalling the texture of dew-drenched fur and the scent of wet leather. Was tonight's weather natural, or was Lulu out there somewhere, grappling with Yu Yevon's toxin and the more potent poison of regret? "Sin destroys. Sin grieves. It kills and honors the fallen. It's trapped in the spiral as much as we are."

"Huh. So why's it killing off the fayth this time around?"

"Freeing them is my guess," Auron said. "Maybe it thinks they're trapped in the same spiral."

"Except they volunteered for the job. A little like us, eh?" Maroda missed Auron's wry expression in the dark. "You know, if it succeeds, Isaaru won't die. He can't fight without aeons."

"Would that stop him?"

"No." Maroda slapped the wall with an angry thump. "And sooner or later, it'll kill us all. We've simply got to stop it from getting to Djose. Any ideas, old man?"

"Steal the fayth."

"Huh?"

"Remove the statue from the temple."

"Hey, that's a thought."

"It may not work. It depends on whether Sin can sense the spirit inside."

For once, Maroda's respect sounded unreserved. "Yeah, but it's worth a try. Thanks, man."

Second Cloister of Trials passed. Now Auron simply had to deal with Isaaru. The man seemed as innocent as Pacce, but Auron knew better than to judge summoners by their smiles. And he was still a maester of Yevon.

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Next Chapter: Two Can Tell a Lie

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Comments

[cumuluscastle.livejournal.com]

I love that Dona is blunt about the fact that a Pilgrimage is not all sunshine and rainbows. If there is anyone in Spira who would be regretful about him "getting his chance," it would be her.

The battle of wits between Maroda and Auron is so interesting. I also really like the conversation between Lulu and Auron.

Again, I think Maroda's suspicion of Auron is very realistic and well-handled. He does seem a bit like he's in collusion with Sin to an outside observer.

Typo:
Had Auron already said to much? No, this warrior lacked the witch's knack for doubling half-truths.

It should be "too" much (a mistake I make often when I'm in a good writing groove myself) and is it "doubling" half-truths you mean? I am a bit confused about what that means, but it could just be me.

Auron is right not to underestimate Isaaru. He's a bit of a dark-horse. I always thought so.

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

When my mother first watched the opening sequence of FFX with Sin coming in under the huge wave and Auron saluting it, then calmly ambling through armageddon almost as if he were leading Sin along, she was suspicious that he had summoned it to destroy Zanarkand and send Tidus through to Spira. It was really a shame I had told her he was a good guy; otherwise she would probably have played half the game wondering if he was a villain.

That's shaped a lot of how I'm writing these characters. Even Maroda's keeping a few things to himself, not because he's bad, but because he's wary.

Re: that odd phrase. If you double half a truth, you get the whole truth. Maybe I should write that out to make it more clear. Sometimes my rhetorical flourishes get a little too contrived.

Drat; that's another convo I've edited too often to have missed. Thanks for the nitpicks.

[cumuluscastle.livejournal.com]

Oh hmm, I like that. Two halves make a whole obviously. I wouldn't lose it just on my say-so because it's clever and I like it now that you've explained it.

[trekqueen.livejournal.com]

This is one of my favorite chapters so far. I'm liking Maroda more and more. :D Busy and black... bwahahahahaha I loved that. Such a guy response but so true, she certainly would've smoked him for that.

One guardian was gone by the time they reached Yunalesca. He might have changed the story.

I really perked up at this line, that perhaps it was Tidus' death that changed it all in the end? :O *giddy*

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

Yep, and I just threw that line in during my last edit. I've had to fine-tune a few details of the backstory as I move forward!

[mintywolf]

Haha well I guess she liked the flowers, regardless.

I know it's your area of expertise, but the interaction between Auron and Lulu in the flashback is really spot-on. (It's hard to remember that we actually don't see them interact that often in the game.) I like to think that Lulu had at least an inkling of what she was walking into when they enter Yunalesca's lair. She doesn't hesitate at ALL to volunteer while everyone else (except Auron of course) is all like ?!?!!!?!! over the Final Aeon announcement. And of course, the only person who could have divulged that information is him.

How could Maroda not remember all of her belts?? ;)

[auronlu]

Ha. Should've written, "Busty, lots of belts," shouldn't I?

Yeah, Lulu had looooots of time to think about it. And she's a thinker. More than Auron was at her age, that's for sure.

[auronlu]

*steals you suggestion during editing* :D