FicWad

Disclaimer: I own nothing of FFX and make no financial gain from this work.

Author's Note: Hope you enjoy this latest chapter!

Chapter Four: Relationships

Auron did not give much of a second thought to the short confrontation he had with Lulu earlier on the road. However, he had noticed a change in her demeanor as they came closer to Mushroom Rock Road. Her arms, which she occasionally had crossed in front of her, seemed to be more tightly wrapped than usual. Lu's manner had not changed from what he had come to assume was typical but Auron sensed a tenseness in the air around her. It was somewhat similar to what he felt when Lu had drawn energy from her environment at the beginning of their battle with the chocobo fiend. Yet, this sensation was different.

Auron had learned that when Lu had nothing to say, she would remain quiet. He had gleaned that quickly about her, but there appeared to be an underlying reason this time for her silence. Auron knew he was similar in how he conversed with others, which helped him observe the traits in others through mannerisms and actions. It was hard at times to read Lu well, but Auron realized she was a little less obscure than he expected.

"...This mission, Operation Mi'ihen, is a Crusader - Al-Bhed joint mission. We Crusaders lure Sin in, and the Al-Bhed strike it down."

The crusader soldier continued on about some of the mission's details as Tidus and Yuna asked questions. Wakka listened in on the conversation with a furrowed brow and narrowed eyes. Lu, on the other hand, had distanced herself from the group to watch from afar. Her gaze was an observant one and primarily focused on Wakka, possibly waiting for a reaction or outburst from him. Whatever was weighing heavily on her mind obviously had to do with Wakka. Her stare was concealed as the group turned away from the gate after being told once again they could not pass.

"So we meet again, Lady Yuna."

Auron stepped aside as Maester Seymour approached Yuna. Auron watched with a hint of surprise as the Maester gave permission for Yuna to pass through the barricade. It was still strange to wonder what connections the half-Guado, half-human Maester of Yevon had with an operation consisting of Al-Bhed and excommunicated Crusaders. Auron also did not miss the curious but knowing gaze from Seymour as he stepped up to him. The swordsman could see the realization in his eyes as Seymour perked a blue eyebrow upward. He knows.

The only other one who might have an inkling was Kimahri, but the Ronso was as silent as ever and Auron would thank him for that someday when he had the chance. Kimahri possibly understood Auron's reasons for not saying it or simply respected his privacy on the matter. Auron owed him for fulfilling a dead man's final request. The Ronso had come a long way from the uncertain yet caring teenager who had been by Auron's side in his final hours. Auron was not sure if Kimahri knew that it was futile or too late to find help for Auron medical help but he would not let the guardian be forgotten to die lonely and cold on an angry mountain. Despite the fact Auron might die on the trek, Kimahri still carried him down Mount Gagazet, struggling against the blizzard winds and finally across the hot plains of the Calm Lands, until he reached the Al-Bhed inn. After being assured that Auron would be taken care of, be it if he were to die or live, did the Ronso let go. They both were of the honorable fallen to the last breath.

Hesitantly at first, Auron followed next to Yuna as she led them all onward along the road. He did not wish to let his truth be known so soon and did not want to change the course of Yuna's pilgrimage when there was so much for her to still learn before coming to the end. They would learn Yevon's truths in Zanarkand and likely along with his own. This group of youngsters, mere kids to Auron, had to see what the pilgrimage of a Summoner meant and how it could change someone before they learned about him. He did not want them to make the same mistakes. Seymour would be an obstacle, the legendary guardian knew that for certain, and they would have to walk carefully the rest of the pilgrimage to avoid distractions.

They all had their own in some ways and would have to deal with them. Tidus was on edge as always, possibly mulling over the knowledge Auron had given him in Luca concerning Jecht. Kimahri had his Ronso issues but kept them to himself; thus, in Auron's opinion, setting an example for the others to follow suit in order to avoid the disruptions that could come. Wakka, as Lulu had predicted in the conversation she had with Auron, was struggling with his religion inwardly by the frustration and lines covering his face as he voiced his concerns to Seymour. Lulu was quiet but appeared contemplative at the same time. Yuna, strong like her father, was keeping them all together with her smile and hope.

"Ah, Sir Auron. It is an honor," Seymour suddenly turned to Auron. "I would be most interested in hearing what you've been doing these past ten years."

/The trouble begins with him/, Auron grimaced.

"I've got nothing to say about it."

"I... see."

Despite feeling the questioning and confusing stares on his back from the others and hearing Seymour's supercilious response to him for catching him off-guard, Auron swept away past them on the road. He let his gaze roam over the sea before him, letting the cool spray in the air and the breeze ruffling his hair ease his mind and the slight panic that had crept up inside. He would not let Seymour get to him or expose him too quickly. Auron did not want to play his games of words and false esteem. There was much more to worry about currently. Jecht would be there soon.

After a few minutes, Auron heard Seymour depart behind him. Turning, he saw Yuna's gaze upon him but she only smiled, in that way that could make the most agitated and angered person feel harmonious. She asked no questions but simply nodded to let Auron know she was ready to continue. He nodded in return and stepped up in line with the others as they went onward. After some directions from the Chocobo Knights, they made their way toward the Command Center where Seymour wished for them to join him.

"Ow!" Tidus suddenly yelled from the back, causing all of the guardians to turn to him.

A raptor had jumped out of the outcroppings and surprised the young man who flailed at it with his inexperience but managed through luck to strike a few blows at the creature. At the same time, a Gandarewa flew down from a nearby peak and zapped a thunder bolt at Wakka who withered in pain. Lulu quickly attacked with a Watera attack, the water column engulfing the raptor as it collapsed into pyreflies. Wakka, recovering quickly from his zap, heaved his blitzball at the flying creature, knocking it to the ground.

"Woah, where'd dat come from?" Wakka said in astonishment to Lulu.

She shrugged about the spell she had been working on during the last leg of their trip on the Mi'ihen Highroad.

"I've been practicing."

"Haha! That was great, Lu," the blitzer laughed as he pulled out a potion to drink. "Gotta show us dat again sometime!"

"When the time comes," she said and began walking forward again.

"Thanks, Lulu," Tidus said, a little weary but trying to sound tough. "But I had him! Just a couple more hits."

"You didn't have a hit left in you. We're a team, don't try to do everything yourself and maybe you'll learn something," Auron stepped up. "Yuna, save your magic, we'll need it for later."

Auron tossed a potion Tidus' way and he caught it, watching the older guardian walk behind him to make sure no other fiends were following them.

"Grouchy jerk," Tidus mumbled under his breath as he downed the potion from the glass vial.

"Let's go," Auron said coming back and ignoring Tidus' comment.

The way was hardly clear and a few more fiends stepped in their path but they managed to dispatch the monsters quickly. Finally reaching the cliff-side near the Command Center, they saw two figures talking to each other.

"Why only you, sir? I want to fight, too!"

So eager to go to battle yet so naïve as to what awaits him, Auron thought to himself. He could not help but stifle a sigh as Tidus tried to back up the young Besaid native who had run off in frustration. Gatta may deserve better but is he ready for death? Yuna, Lulu, and Wakka all know these Crusaders from Besaid, but would they be able to face their deaths today? Is Gatta ready for that possibility as well?

"It's about your brother."

Auron's attention was piqued as he noticed Luzzu step up to say more to Wakka and Lu intervened. She was a protector, especially to Yuna, but now she tried to shield Wakka, a most unlikely person for her to be screening. Now Auron understood why Lu had seemed distracted and unsettled. She quickly hid the pain in her eyes as Wakka looked to her for confirmation about knowing Chappu's fate and decisions. Auron saw the grief then as she dropped her head that she usually held high and proud in defiance to evil and pain. /She had loved...and lost/, he realized.

All that was happening needed to be said and Auron did not step in as Wakka's anger and torment over the sticky religious matters finally boiled over. He let Tidus hold back his friend as Wakka struggled to get one more punch in on Luzzu. It would not change anything, it will not bring him back. Auron was aware that Lu stepped away from them and was closer to his side. No longer were the eyes of the group on her now that Wakka had caused a scene. Auron noticed out of the corner of his eye that her façade faltered for the merest of a moment. She lowered her head again as Wakka reminded everyone of her now dead lover and how he had meant to marry her but never got that chance.

"It is all right," he whispered to her quietly.

Glancing to meet his eyes, Lulu pursed her lips together as if wanting to say more but unsure as to how to phrase it. Instead she gave a thankful nod before turning back to the others before them. Rubbing his face, Luzzu stood up to face them all despite knowing his fault in the past.

"Chappu also said to me... That being with your girl is good..." he began. "But keeping Sin far away from her is better."

Auron could not help but feel his fellow guardians' pain. The constant reminder of death that came with Sin should not be a burden carried by all those so young. These years were meant to be the best of their lives but all they focused on was ridding the world of Sin and possibly losing their lives at the same time. Auron knew he was much the same way when he was their age and paid dearly for that. The others would lose whatever innocence they have left once they reached Zanarkand, even dear Yuna. He only hoped they could be strong through it all. Even at that moment as Auron watched Yuna try to stop Luzzu from leaving for duty, he felt a pang of bitter memories wash through him.

"Let him go. The man has already chosen his path... As you did when you became a summoner."

Yuna dropped her head and let him go but Auron did not miss Lu's glance in his direction as she seemed to search his meaning.
*

The haze of dust and fog hung in the air tellingly of the aftermath that lay upon the shores of Mushroom Rock Road. Yet, the haze blanketed the coast, hiding the devastation from those who had yet to discover the carnage of Sin's latest bloodbath. Auron made his way down the path from the cliffs to the shore. He would wait there until Tidus returned. The swordsman had seen the blond youth run into the surf, flailing against the waves of his anger and hatred. /There is much for him to learn and realize still/, Auron thought.

Coming to the dunes, Auron walked out further as his boots sank heavily into the sand. What was left of Operation Mi'ihen lay strewn and ruined before him, becoming visible gradually out of the fog like a ghastly premonition or dream. The bodies of the dead lay quietly and still while pyreflies hovered above them. Many of those who had survived had already been carried away to be tended to by healers and monks who had remained nearby. However, the recognizable movement of a cloudy figure in the mist bowing in prayer to Yevon caught his attention as he moved down the beach.

The elegant form of Lulu, standing straight and tall like a stone statue, surveyed everything around her with her back to Auron. As he came closer, Auron recognized the broken and battered body of Luzzu crumpled on the ground. Lifeless and unmoving like everything else on the beach, Luzzu's form gave no sign or showing of the lively Crusader they had spoken to only a couple hours earlier. Yet, the only thing alive on that strand gifted the empty shell of a once strong man with a prayer and unsaid eulogy.

"I cannot help but think of him when I look at Luzzu now," Lu said to Auron as she heard him walk up behind her. "That they both met the same fate on this same beach."

Auron said nothing but brought his gaze to Lulu's face as she turned to him. For only a moment he saw a flicker of emotion, the same he saw during the earlier confrontation with Luzzu and Wakka. The cold exterior was back once more as was her mask, crimson eyes calling out for answers and comfort that would not come.

"Luzzu is not Chappu," he said simply.

"I know," she said with a sigh. "So much today keeps bringing me back to him."

"To his death," Auron stated then continued as she looked at him questioningly. "Think not of his death but how you remember him. That he did it for you."

"'The man has already chosen his path'," Lu said, repeating his earlier words to Yuna, as Auron nodded solemnly. "Tell me, Sir Auron, does it come easier with time?"

"Death never does," he said without a frown but stepped closer to her, placing a gloved hand on her bare shoulder, something that made her turn a curious eye upon his own at the unexpected gesture. "But if we do not remember what they have done and died for, then we lose the meaning of why we are here."

Nodding, she said, "I understand."

Auron watched as Lu kneeled beside Luzzu and placed his hands together upon his still frame.

"I forgive you."

The swordsman began to turn to leave but her call out to him stopped Auron and he looked back at her again.

"Sir Auron," Lu said, standing once more. "I ... apologize for my behavior earlier."

"There is no need to," he said before continuing on his path down the other side of the beach where he saw Tidus had returned.

"Thank you," Lu said softly before turning to the sea for a moment. "Goodbye, Chappu."