auronlu | Entries tagged with c: pacce

Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 41: "No Matter How Dark the Night"
Final Fantasy X/X-2
Characters: Auron/Lulu, Rikku, Elma, Isaaru, Pacce.
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Word Count: 3600
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The Story So Far: Thirteen years after Yuna falls in the Final Summoning, Auron and friends have brought down the Final Aeon. Yu Yevon pounces Auron as a last-ditch substitute.

Illustration by author

The Farplane promised longed-for release. Auron was so tired, a husk of secondhand pyreflies glued together by phoenix down and scars. Rest, sang the sky beyond all skies. Your journey is at an end. Yu Yevon promised nothing, but its dissonant, teeth-cracking whine turned every thought to despair, to the frenzied attack of the maddened hive. Defend, defend, defend, destroy, came the mantra, and he wanted to lash out at something, at anything, as if the violence he had just committed on Lulu's body had unleashed the ravening fiend within. All that held him back was pain, the pangs of childbirth magnified a hundredfold. Why was Erinyes screaming into his mind?

A pressure on his hand, light as the swish of a braid on bare skin, was proof against chaos. Choose, Auron. Choose. This is your story.

A fiend was still a man, as long as he remembered his name.

Auron jammed himself back into his body like an ill-fitting shoe. Rikku, shaking him frantically, gave an indignant, "Hey!" as he elbowed her aside and stood, feeling the weight of sword against callouses.

Lulu's garden was lost. In its place, brackish waters lapped from horizon to horizon, flooding the ruins of a ghost city under a bruise-purple sky. Jumbled stone blocks were scattered, patternless, a puzzle that could never have formed a coherent whole. Bolted to them were rusted pylons and transformers, a maze of drooping cables and catwalks leading nowhere. Bleached, coralline huts teetered on rotting piers, side by side with soulless skyscraper façades. A few dying Macalania trees glowed pale and dim in the shallows. Over the dome of Baaj Temple, carrion birds wheeled in an endless gyre.

No, not Baaj. Erinyes.

Seymour's aeon had sprouted from the temple foundations like an unholy mushroom, its flesh stained and gangrenous, its reflection mirrored on stagnant water. Around it orbited a pair of misshapen monoliths, last remnants, perhaps, of Lightning Mushroom Rock. At the aeon's foot stood a small figure in an old red coat.

Auron began to run. ( Read more... )

Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 40: "The Lady"
Final Fantasy X/X-2
Characters: Auron, Rikku, Elma, Isaaru, Pacce.
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Word Count: 2200
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The Story So Far: Overcoming the deadly trials of the dream-world inside Sin, Auron and his companions seek an audience with the Fayth of Yuna's Final Summoning.

Illustration by @mintywolf

In dreams, one might trip over a Luca balcony and die on the pavement below, or leap from the peak of Mt. Gagazet and alight on the ruins below with barely a jolt. This was no featherless glide, but at least it was not fatal. Icy boughs tore and broke, skinning flesh and slowing their descent. Tangled vines caught and gave way. Roots and gravestones made a hard landing. Winded and blinded, the party lay waiting for their eyes to adjust to the darkness while Isaaru healed them.

When he was finished, Auron pressed a vial of ether into his hand.

Accepting it meekly, Isaaru crushed it against his throat and looked around. "I could swear I've seen this place before."

"It's Djose," Elma said, voice tight. "Almost. What's with these rocks?"

The darkness of Lulu's garden had assumed a more specific color, blue-black to match the trunks of the Macalania trees. Golden light filtered down from the great crystalline moons of seedpods snagged in their branches. Dark vines and creepers curtained everything. There were fewer flowers than Auron remembered: a solitary orchid, a spray of jasmine with just a few waning stars left, a dusting of withered rose petals clinging to spiderwebs.

"It's beautiful," Pacce said.

"Yeah." Rikku reached out, brushing her knuckles against a hibiscus. "Guess this is the garden Yunie dreams about."

"It's pretty and all," Elma said, "but I smell an ambush. Let's move to open ground."

( Read more... )

Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 39: "Cloister of Guardians"
Final Fantasy X/X-2
Characters: Auron, Rikku, Elma, Isaaru, Pacce.
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Word Count: 1600
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The Story So Far: Auron and companions venture into Sin's eerie depths, where its host memorializes the fallen.

"Venus Crest" by author

Yu Yevon seemed to have called a truce. The fiends had disappeared back into the mists. Auron wondered where they had been diverted. Sin had gulped down half the pyreflies of Guadosalam, and he doubted Yu Yevon had applied them only to Sin's outer hull. But that was a matter for later. Now...

Now he had to resist the gnawing regrets that threatened to add him to the local fiend population.

Rearing out of the fog, an enormous dome rested on four piers of stone. Yevon's banners, tattered and begrimed, hung from it like cobwebs. Below it lay a wide circular mosaic, scuffed as if from centuries of ordinary foot traffic. Lulu's memory was as meticulous as ever. She had copied the floor of Besaid's shattered temple to the last tile. Around the perimeter stood four monumental sculptures, twice the height of ordinary summoner statues. Reversing the usual arrangement, they faced outwards like sentinels, each one framed by a vaulted archway.

Only one was a summoner.

( Read more... )

Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 38: "Sea of Sorrow"
Final Fantasy X/X-2
Characters: Auron, Elma, Isaaru, Pacce, Rikku, Gippal, Baralai.
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Word Count: 3600
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The Story So Far: The Crimson Squad brings down Sin using Vegnagun in an epic battle over the Thunder Plains. Now Summoner Isaaru's party must deal with what lies within.

"Purple!" by author

Sin lay like a split anvil, a mountainous ruin. Lightning painted it in stark relief against the clouds. Below, the flicker of energy weapons answered with feeble red fire. Cold rain pinged against acres of cooling shrapnel hurled from the Thunder Plain's newest crater.

A thunderclap and a muffled shriek pierced the air.

"You should go back," Auron said gently.

"I'm not scared!" Rikku said, words muffled behind clenched fists. "I'm just worried about you guys. All of you, you know?"

"I know." His hand tightened around the brand across his palm that was, finally, beginning to cool. Lulu's time was running out.

( Read More... )

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The Story So Far: Sin is down but not out. Friction between Auron's allies may prove almost as great a threat as Sin.

Stylized drawing of Vegnagun fighting Sin with energy bolts crackling between them

"Titanomamachy" by author

"You're kidding, right?" Gippal said. "You know damn well what Nooj is trying to do."

"Yes." She glanced at Auron, who was setting Baralai on the floor. "Hold him." Taking Gippal's seat, she threw the flyer into reverse. There was an instant of freefall before the craft stabilized. Vegnagun wheeled up and away from them, heading back towards Sin.

Gippal grabbed onto the guardrail. "Paine, have you lost your freakin' mind?"

"If Nooj intended suicide, Vegnagun wouldn't obey him." She tried an experimental turn. "How's Baralai?"

"Burns, erratic heartbeat," Auron said. "He needs a healer."

"Okay, great." Gippal hung on as the flyer tipped and straightened. "So now you're suicidal. Look, you've flown this thing exactly twice—"

"Plus two years piloting Vegnagun in simulation, two more working unloaders at Moonflow Port," she said. "Now shut up and let me concentrate."

( Read more... )

Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 30: "Yuna's Cloister"
Final Fantasy X/X-2
Characters: Zuke, Auron, Isaaru, Paine, Nooj, Pacce, Elma
Rating: PG-13 (Language)
Word Count: 2900
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The Story So Far: Thanks to a vengeful ghost, Bevelle palace lies in ruins, and one of Isaaru's guardians is dead. The survivors of the battle with Shuyin need healing before they can face Sin again.

illustration by mintywolf

"Ah! Sir Auron, there you are."

A drainage ditch was an unlikely destination for morning prayers. Yet there was no mistaking the green robe, high collar, and ceremonial band stitched with Yevon's signs from throat to knees. Yevon's toilet paper, Kinoc had called it, and died in it.

The priest climbed down into the muck. "Goodness gracious. I suppose even legendary guardians are mortal, aren't they? Not too mortal, though, I hope. Let me see." Humming to himself, he began to circle Auron, ignoring the stagnant water and blood wicking up the hem of his robes.

Healing magic lapped out from his hands. A light drizzle pattered down, glazing the priest's bald head. The damp tasted of salt, not only from the breath of the harbor: there were tears in that rain, tears never shed by their owner when she had eyes to weep. The sour odor from the outflow pipe reeked of Sin and the living.

Auron gritted his teeth as bones shifted back into place, following the ley lines of the pyreflies. Breathing became easier, but his ribs still ground together like a sack of charcoal. Auron stared at the man shuffling around him. "Do I know you?"

( Read more... )

Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 29: "Via Purifico"
Final Fantasy X/X-2
Characters: Auron, Isaaru, Maroda, Pacce, Shuyin, Sin
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1800
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The Story So Far: Maroda and Auron have fallen in the fight against Shuyin. It's up to Paine, Elma and Isaaru to vanquish him now.

"Lulu's Garden" by cirruscastle

Vegnagun had vanished, taking with it almost all light and sound. Two distant splashes offered bleak testimony to ears that strained to hear. The only remaining illumination came from the elevator's lights and a swarm of pyreflies, drifting hungrily towards the remaining combatants.

The fight had ebbed but not ended. With Elma's help, Juno had finally pinned Pacce to the deck, kneeling on him with the shaft of Maroda's spear laid across his throat. Elma had seized his shoulders. He fought back in a snarling frenzy, thrashing and biting their arms. Nooj was crawling towards them on hands and knees. He balked at the edge of the pyrefly cloud, took a deep breath and waded in.

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Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 26: "The Tower"
Final Fantasy X/X-2
Characters: Auron, Isaaru, Maroda, Rikku, Elma
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2800
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The Story So Far: Cid, possessed by Shuyin, has attacked Bevelle, and now seeks the doomsday weapon beneath the Tower of Light. Summoner Isaaru, his guardians and Rikku give chase. One problem: the palace is on fire.

Artwork by mintywolf

Soot lay in eddies and glyphs about their feet. The stout doors creaked, their stone bulk dampening the roar of the maelstrom beyond. The floor quivered as if Ifrit might burst through to demand a new statue.

"Wait!" Rikku said. "There's another way in! Remember, Auron? When Kinoc and his goons caught us, they didn't take us back through the Cloisters. Those creepy tunnels—"

"The Via Infinito, used by the Elite Guard for initiations, interrogations, and executions." Auron's face went blank: not at the memory of Kinoc's betrayal, but for a darker crime. He could no longer remember the name of the lowborn monk executed without a sending, but Auron would have been named the father of the dead man's child, had he not refused to marry the mother. "Too far, and I don't know the lower levels. I'm sorry, Rikku."

"For all we know, they've already gone up in smoke," Maroda said.

"We're running out of time," Auron said, turning to Isaaru. "Can you shield us?"

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Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 11: "Her Favorite Color Is Death"
Final Fantasy X
Characters: Auron, Isaaru, Luzzu, Elma, Lucil, Maroda, Pacce
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2200
Summary: SHIT GETS REAL.
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The Story So Far: Summoner Isaaru, Auron and Maester Lucil are racing to save the temple fayth from Sin's destruction. In support of that mission, the Crusaders of Djose must once again take a stand against their old foe.

I want to show you the bouquet I've picked out for an old friend. It's just her color.

Luzzu's jest was salt for an old wound. Auron's time with Lulu had been brief, too occupied by their pilgrimage to permit much idle conversation, in which neither saw much point. Whereas her friends from Besaid had shared years of her life he had never known. Still, he had seen her in battle enough to know that Luzzu was right: lightning was her favorite color.

Lightning was fine, but Auron could do without the rain. The slow drip from his white forelock was growing maddening. How long must this charade continue?

It had taken the work-crews half a day to extricate the statue from the temple cloisters. Auron had kept Luzzu busy, suffering himself to be led in a meticulous inspection of Djose's defenses. The day had been a blur of names, introductions, handshakes, until the unexpected arrival of a maester had put his tour on hold.

Lucil must have emptied every storehouse in Luca, bringing her troops an entire cartload of armor, swords and medical provisions as "gifts of Yevon." Their hurried distribution threw the ordered frenzy of battle preparations into chaos. During the confusion, Elma's team trundled the covered statue into the back of the wagon without anyone noticing. It was neatly done, Auron had to admit. Now if only the engineers did not forget their oaths of silence.

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Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 10: "Breach of Fayth"
Final Fantasy X
Characters: Auron, Isaaru, cast
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1870
Summary: Operation Stolen Fayth, Phase I
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The Story So Far: Trying to thwart a new Sin bent on destroying temples, Summoner Isaaru and Auron hatch a plan to rescue Djose's fayth. Most of the Crusaders in the operation are kept in the dark, especially Captain Luzzu, who is suspected of having some way of communicating with Sin.

"Sir Auron, I must protest! You mean to tell me they're not even guardians? They should never have been permitted—"

"Neither are you, Father," Elma said.

The priest stood spreadeagled in the doorway of the Chamber of the Fayth, blocking the workers who had been dismantling its frame. "Your presence here is sheer outrage! Your men have defiled the Cloister of Trials, desecrated the fayth's sanctuary! Why, it will take us years to repair the damage!"

"If there's anything left to repair," Pacce said.

"Hey," Maroda said. "Isaaru's communing with the fayth, remember? If you want your aeon in one piece, I respectfully suggest you shut up."

( Read More )

Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 9: "Memorial Gardens"
Final Fantasy X
Characters: Isaaru, Maroda, Auron, Pacce, Elma, Luzzu
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2850
Summary: Journey to Djose. At the Mushroom Rock Crusader Lodge, Luzzu and Auron discuss an old friend.
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Our Story So Far: Thirteen years after Yuna falls in the Final Summoning, Auron has joined Isaaru on a new pilgrimage. A Cult of Sin has arisen, and some now call Sin the Lady, both destroyer and benefactor. Whatever Sin's nature, she seems to be attacking the temples, and Djose may be the next target.

Three days out from Luca, they were approaching the turnoff to Mushroom Ridge. The Highroad had once been a beaten shelf of dirt exposed to the elements and scoured by the wind, but now berms or seawalls shielded it on the seaward side. Out of sight, leaden waves sighed against the rocks. Ahead, a finger from the cliffs arced down over the road to form a flying buttress. Beyond it, the land was transformed.

It was difficult to make out individual shapes in the growing dusk, but swaying dark fronds draped over the arch in a lush curtain. Nodding white flowers as wide as a woman's hand winked between broad leaves. A profusion of plants carpeted the path below, crushed or snapped by the passing prints of travellers, despite which they seemed to thrive: blue blossoms from Besaid and the coral-pink orchids of Kilika, ivy and hibiscus, lilies and irises, even the glassy trunk of a Macalania sapling with glowing seed-pods in the forks of slender stems.

"Yevon," Isaaru breathed, reining in his chocobo and gazing up at the floral tapestry in wonder. "What enchantment is this?"

"Nobody knows," Elma said. "Good thing it's so remote. Even so, we rescue a few tourists from fiends every month. They forget the danger. Speaking of which, be on your guard. Those vines can hide a full-sized iguion. Nasty buggers— their bite can paralyze. We try to keep the path clear up to the lodge, but the plants grow back fast."

She turned into a narrow cleft in the cliff-face which widened into a ravine. Sentries drew back spears and saluted as they passed.

The path was mostly cleared, but creeping vegetation spilled over the lumps and crags of the cliffs on either side. Sea-fog had collected on rocky shelves and dimples along the edges of the winding track. The larger basins held mats of dark-green pads with pale flowers illuminating the shadowy ravine. Glowing wisps of pyreflies spiraled up from their fragrant blossoms.

"I don't believe it," Isaaru said. "Moon-lilies. I thought they were unique to the Moonflow."

"Well, it rains here fairly often now." Elma spoke in a hushed voice. "Folks say it's Sin's doing. Who knows?"

( Read more... )

Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 8: "Best-Laid Plans"
Final Fantasy X
Characters: Isaaru, Maroda, Auron, Pacce, Lucil/Elma
Rating: G
Word Count: 2500
Summary: Planning the next Operation Mi'ihen. Is this a good idea?
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The Story So Far: Thirteen years after Yuna falls defeating Sin, Isaaru sets the mantle of maester aside to resume his pilgrimage with his brothers. Teaming up with Auron in Besaid, they discover a pattern to Sin's attacks: it seems to be targeting temples. They meet Maester Lucil at Luca Stadium to report their findings.

Sin and an old friend...

The carnival ambiance of the blitzball tournament ebbed and flowed around Isaaru and his companions like another world pinned by pyreflies to a gigantic sphere. Fans cheered for their favorite players, bickered over team loyalties, lived and died with every goal. In the maesters' box, all was still.

Isaaru had been uncharacteristically stark, blunt, and brief as he narrated the bare bones of their journey. Now he and Lucil sat between two worlds, surrounded by a sea of noise. Clapping when the crowd roared, feigning interest in a match that no one but Pacce actually watched, they waited for the final moments of a Bevelle upset ("That's one for the history books, folks!") to play out so they could slip away to ponder the fate of the world.

As soon as the buzzer sounded, Isaaru and Lucil retired to a VIP suite below the maester's dais. The chamber was as dark as a Cloister of Trials, despite a few skylights. Luxurious furniture and refreshments could not disguise the fact that it had been built into the stadium's walls as a fortified retreat against attack— from Sin, or from an angry mob, to judge by its defenses. Years ago, Lucil had commanded the removal of the machina weapons embedded in the heavy doors leading out to the stadium, but the peepholes of gunsights and the stripped mountings on the doors' inner faces were a sober reminder of what Yevon could be.

Isaaru settled into a high-backed chair, his guardians forming a triangle around him. Elma helped Lucil into the seat across from him. The maester in charge of Yevon's military concealed her infirmity in public, but a chocobo accident had left her partially paralyzed. Her aide was no longer a starry-eyed cadet, but a seasoned officer with a scar half-hidden under short dark hair and a complexion weathered by years of riding.

Elma gave orders to the sentries outside and shut the doors. "There. No one's going to disturb us for anything short of a Sin sighting. The next match is in forty-five minutes, if you mean to keep up appearances."

"Thank you, Commander," Isaaru said, forgetting that he was no longer the senior official in the room.

"Djose, then." Lucil steepled her hands in her lap, expression grave. "Elma. Provide Summoner Isaaru and his party with mounts and escort them to Djose. Send couriers ahead to Mushroom Rock Lodge, advising the captain to begin battle preparations and await your arrival. We will need his ground forces as well for this operation."

( Read more... )

Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 7: "We Interrupt This Broadcast"
Final Fantasy X
Characters: Isaaru, Maroda, Auron, Pacce, Elma, Lucil
Rating: G
Word Count: 2300
Summary: Arrival in Luca with more fanfare than one could wish.
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The Story So Far: Thirteen years after Yuna falls defeating Sin, Grand Maester Isaaru resumes his pilgrimage with his brothers, investigating rumors of Sin's return and a heretical Cult of Sin. After dealing with Sin-attacks on Besaid and Kilika, they arrive in Luca.

Despite Isaaru's pleas, Kiyuri insisted on flying Bevelle's banners for arrival in Luca. The grand maester would have his due, even if it dashed his hopes of slipping through the city quickly and quietly. Judging by the din from the docks, he would do neither. Other towns welcomed maesters with hymns and ceremonial. Only Luca could sprout souvenir stands and hawkers in the time it took for the S.S. Konna to hoist sails and put into port. Cheering crowds waved prayer flags. Sphere cameras flashed up and down the waterfront like so many pyreflies. Children clutched collectible summoner statues and played dueling aeons while waiting for the ship to dock. Over the general hubbub, the public address system blared a breezy patter, the local equivalent of pious homage.

"Ladieeees and gentleman, we'll return to the pre-game show shortly. But first, here's an exclusive update on today's developing news story. The S.S. Konna has arrived at Dock Three. We can now confirm that Grand Maester Isaaru is aboard. We repeat, Grand Maester Isaaru has arrived! We missed him at the High Summoner's festival, but he's joined us for Luca's most famous tournament, the Eleventh Annual Sir Tidus and Sir Wakka Memorial Cup! And it looks like all Luca's turned out to welcome the ruler of Yevon and the undisputed leader of Spira!"

"While we wait for the maester's party to disembark, Jimma, this is a good time to remind folks of the new security measures in place at the stadium for our fans' safety. All bags will be searched, and machina not approved by Yevon will be confiscated. Sphere cameras with Yevon's seal are permitted. If you're wearing goggles, please remove them as you approach the turnstyles."

Isaaru waved to the crowd placidly while the crew secured the moorings and lowered the ship's gangway. Maroda shook his head at the broadcast. "It's only going to get worse, the longer Sin's out there."

Isaaru nodded. "One more reason to be on our way."

( Read more... )

Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 5: "Pearl"
Final Fantasy X
Characters: Isaaru, Maroda, Pacce, Auron, Lulu
Rating: T
Word Count: 2800
Summary: "Well, I am a goddess, you know."
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The Story So Far: Sir Auron, Maester Isaaru and his brothers take up the pilgrimage 13 years after Yuna dies defeating Sin. Attacking the new Sin at Kilika, Auron is lost when it disappears beneath the waves.

Auron slogged through darkness. He felt the lash of rain against his skin like tiny sullen barbs, warning him to keep his distance. Now and again lightning flickered, but never long enough to show him what kind of landscape this dream-world might be. He felt parched despite the rain, and his feet were numb with cold. At last, after he had forgotten what time and distance meant, he found a wall of leaping flame barring his path. He braced himself for searing heat and pushed through.

On the far side, darkness took on clarity and shape. It was the black and silver of moonlight, wisps of cloud and patches of night sky overhead where stars glittered. At his back was a whispering jungle, shimmering with crickets and the distant cries of fiends. Its lush, fiercely alive scents nearly smothered him. Before him lay a placid harbor, gentle flecks of crested waves rising and falling like a woman's breast in sleep.

He trudged through sand towards the breakers where kelp flexed over hidden shoals just offshore. When the sand gave out, he clambered over submerged rocks encrusted with shells. Mussels crackled underfoot. Water had never been his element, but it was Sin's, and it suited her now as much as fire's wrath, lightning's flash and icy disdain had suited her before.

There. A glimmer of white. He pulled up short, arrested by the same vision that had spawned a cult. Familiarity was no defense.

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Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 4: "For the Fallen"
Final Fantasy X
Characters: Isaaru, Maroda, Pacce, Auron, Lulu
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2600
Summary: Sin's going after Kilika. Again.
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The Story So Far: Thirteen years after Yuna fell defeating Sin, Maester Isaaru returns to the pilgrimage with his brothers. They find and team up with Sir Auron at Besaid in the wake of a devastating Sin attack.

"You have my thanks. And Lady Yuna's as well, you may be sure. May she guide our path and shield us from Sin's fury. For now we sail...to Kilika!" The maester raised his hands and drew them together in Yevon's sign.

A tepid cheer rose from the sailors and monks gathered at the waterline. They scattered at once to make ready the rowboats, even before the torches had reverted from blue to orange. It was disrespectful to the dead, but Isaaru did not begrudge their eagerness to quit this marred island paradise.

They had worked hard. The beach was swept clean, and they had even washed down trunks and leaves to remove clinging ash. Prayer flags— many of them products of Besaid's weavers— fluttered on poles thrust into the sand. The ocean sparkled under a noonday sun, masking the pyreflies drifting up from submerged coffins jostling on beds of coral. Besaid's harbor had been too choked with flotsam to use for the sending, but they had ferried the dead around to a more sheltered cove.

"Will somebody rebuild here, do you think?" Pacce asked Maroda as they headed for the boats.

"In the next Calm, maybe," Maroda said. "Not before."

Both looked to their brother. Isaaru seemed oblivious to the exchange, although he walked between them. By silent accord they held a boat steady for him to board before dragging it down into the water where the stern floated free.

"Hey," Pacce said, tumbling into his seat, "Where's Sir Auron?"

"For a guardian, he sure doesn't seem to guard much," Maroda said.

Isaaru smiled. Auron was descending the short cliff at the back of the cove. He trudged out to them and stepped into the bow without breaking stride.

"No sign of Sin," he said. "We should have clear running tonight, although it may be another story in Kilika."

( Read more... )

Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 3: "Broken Bones"
Final Fantasy X
Characters: Isaaru, Maroda, Pacce, Auron, Lulu
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2000
Summary: Besaid village: Guardians get a warm-up. Auron dwells on the past (even though he knows better).
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The Story So Far: Maester Isaaru and his brothers arrive at Besaid to investigate a Sin attack. There they find Auron and learn that the village, its temple and its fayth have been wiped out.

FFX Auron Fanart: The Empty Cradle

The sea-breeze buffeting the headland had faded. The air felt pinched and still, as if Sin's passing had peeled away part of the atmosphere. In the village square, smoke-trails spiralled upwards in straight columns. The torches' blue flames barely flickered. In ones and twos, drifting pyreflies chased the smoke like furtive children stealing out after curfew to play in the fiend-haunted jungle.

Below, guardians and monks kept vigil while Isaaru circled the graves, his solemn gestures a restrained echo of Lady Yuna's whirling dance. Maroda watched intently, but for less than pious reasons: he had noticed his brother's knitted brows and taut face. The summoner was waging an inner battle far from his guardians' aid. At last, Isaaru staggered and halted. Maroda hurried towards him.

The maester waved him off. "It is done. They are free." He nodded to the monks, who bowed and fanned out to clear away the trappings of ritual.

"Leave the torches," Auron called from the temple platform, keeping watch. "We'll need them tonight."

"What?" Pacce said. "But if we hurry, we can reach the beach by sunset!"

Maroda raised his eyes to the sun setting beyond the jungle. "If we hurry, we could run straight into the jaws of fiends," he said. "Sir Auron's right. We don't want to get caught in the forest after nightfall. Don't worry. The ship's not going to leave without us."

"I'm sorry, Pacce," said Isaaru. "I've put us in some peril in order to perform a proper sending. But I have faith in my guardians." He winked. "It's like old times together, no?"

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Click for full-size:by SchmutzigeBanane

Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 2: "Memorial"
Final Fantasy X
Characters: Isaaru, Maroda, Pacce, Auron
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1700
Summary: Isaaru and his guardians make an unsettling discovery on Besaid, and seek the aid of a legend.
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The Story So Far: Thirteen years into High Summoner's Calm, Maester Isaaru and his brothers take a ship to Besaid to investigate rumors of a Sin attack. Auron is waiting for them.

"So have you been on Besaid all this time? Or did you just come here to fight Sin?" Pacce seemed bent on extracting every scrap of information from his idol as soon as Sir Auron stepped aboard.

Not that the legendary guardian was doling out many scraps. He stood in his customary slouch with an arm tucked in his coat, a dour expression, and a crop of more white hair than Isaaru recalled from their last unhappy encounter. Warrior monks shoved forward to form an impromptu honor guard. Maroda and Pacce, as usual, stood to Isaaru's right and left.

Auron shrugged. "I followed a hunch."

"A hunch?" Maroda said, incredulous. "You can predict where Sin will strike?"

( Read More... )

Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 1: "Schism"
Final Fantasy X / X-2
Characters: Isaaru, Maroda, Pacce, Auron. Later chapters: Elma, Lucil, the Crimson Squad, Cid, Yuna's surviving guardians
Main ship: Auron/Lulu slow burn, but it's just one thread (and one relationship) among several in the greater story.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2200
Next Chapter | Map/ToC

Summary: [AU] 13 years after Yuna falls in the Final Summoning, a Cult of Sin has arisen, Isaaru must resume his pilgrimage, and Auron must try one last time to kill a friend before fiend's madness claims him at last.

Illustration by mintywolf

"In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!" (J.R.R. Tolkien, Fellowship of the Ring)

Burgundy sails snapped in a fitful wind that set the sailors muttering. The sea-witch had her ways, they said, and owned both sea and sky. Ships plied the waves by her permission, or not at all. There had been frost at sunrise, great spears of rime coating the rigging. The tropical sun had banished it quickly, but it was one more sign of Sin's proximity. That, and the lightning's balefire dancing on the mast at midnight.

"Land ho!"

The call was hardly needed. All eyes not bent to shipboard tasks were fixed on the wisps of smoke billowing on the horizon, fading now like the last breath of a dying fire. The rising column veiled half the sky in a grayish-pink fume that stretched clear back to Djose. For six disquieting days, the SS Konna had sailed under that gray pall, seeing only an orange smudge where the sun should be. Flecks of ash came fluttering down, dissolving to powder wherever they touched. A stark whiff of burning hung in the air.

One of the harpooners began to sing the Hymn of the Fayth. The subdued refrain spread out in ripples from the ship's bow as roughened sailors' voices took up the chorus. A squad of warrior monks, cleaning their weapons on deck, looked up and added their voices in prayer. On the railing above, a red-haired man in priestly robes smiled and cupped his hands in Yevon's sign. Neither he nor the pair of guards flanking him joined in the singing, however.

Clattering up the ladder to the observation deck, the captain raised her arm in salute. "Your Grace. We'll make Besaid by sunset."

"Very good, Kiyuri. Tell your crew the danger is past. Sin is at least a day from here by now."

"With all due respect, milord—” she began. Suddenly, she pivoted towards the woman keeping watch. "Naya, what's that thing you're wearing around your neck?"

The sailor's hands flew to the bone pendant that had slipped out from the bib of her overalls. "It's, ah, it's nothing, Cap'n. Just a carving of a pretty lady, y'know, that caught me fancy." Her cheeks reddened.

"Sin!" Kiyuri spat, stalking towards her. "The Grand Maester of Yevon sails with us, and I have an idol-worshipper who wears Sin over her heart! Hand it over, or I'll throw you overboard with it."

( Read more... )

Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 3: "Broken Bones"
Final Fantasy X
Characters: Isaaru, Maroda, Pacce, Auron, Lulu
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2100
Summary: Besaid village: Guardians get a warm-up. Auron dwells on the past (even though he knows better).
Navigation: Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
Map of Pilgrimage - Links to All Chapters

The Story So Far: Maester Isaaru and his brothers arrive at Besaid to investigate a Sin attack. There they find Auron and learn that the village, its temple and its fayth have been wiped out.

( Chapter 3: Broken Bones )

Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 46: Points of Departure
Final Fantasy X/X-2
Characters:Auron/Lulu, Isaaru, Pacce, Zuke, Cid, and...about half of Spira, okay?
Rating: PG.
Word Count: 3900
Navigation: Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
Map of Pilgrimage - Links to All Chapters

Our Story So Far: Yu Yevon has been defeated, and Sin's fayth is free at last. Summoner Isaaru, Sir Auron, friends and allies return in battered triumph to Bevelle aboard an Al Bhed airship.

( Chapter 46: Points of Departure )

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