(no subject)
Title: A Song Played On Muted Strings, Part 2. Key
Setting: Besaid, AU
Fandom: FFX
Characters: Auron/Lulu
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: AU. ANGST. Sap.
Summary: Written for a challenge at aulu: have Auron make the first move. AU. Auron never went back to challenge Yunalesca, now he's a pensive retiree on Besaid.
Part one here: http://muggy-mountain.livejournal.com/17705.html
It's times like this when I wish there were another kind of italics.
Auron always found a certain prayerful kindness in the sea at night.
Careful to avoid disturbing his bandaged finger, he unlaced his boots and slid his feet out, one by one, the slight spray moistening his toes. It was upon these moldy boards that he had taken his first step onto the island, eight years prior.
With Braska. And Jecht.
At the thought of his old friends, a distant whale called with a ghostly song. He gave a dour smirk at the expanse of water made visible by moonlight. "I'm sorry I failed you, Jecht. I still believe your Zanarkand is out there. I am not the man to find it. Forgive me."
He closed his eyes, then, and spoke with his heart. Yuna's safe here. Happy and safe. She's training in midwifery. A life-bringer. She'll live the peaceful live you'd hoped. I only regret that I could not do more, my lord.
Her voice behind him was soft. But it was not the waves against the shore, or the wind rattling the palms and thus it was immediately discernible. “This dock hasn't been used for eight years. I thought I was the only one who remembered it.” His heart fell like a rotten fruit. “You know why they don't, right?” Her voice became louder with every step nearer. She stood behind him now. Auron had not looked at her yet. “Perhaps not, you weren't here.” She sat beside him and Auron could not help but see her white hands, gesturing, in his peripheral vision. “Two children. Killed by a garuda while swimming in the shallow waters here.” She laughed sharply and unexpectedly. “Rather than dealing with the problem and simply hunting the fiend down, they took the trouble to move the entire dock and fishing operation to the opposite side of the island, farther away from the village yet. I always thought that foolish, but no-one here ever agreed with me.”
Auron turned his face away from her but her presence was upon him like the sun. “I could have agreed with that, once. But it continues.” He spoke quickly, vaguely addressing the sea rather than the girl beside him.
“What...?”
He turned to her, his eyes hooded in moonshadow. “Lulu, I am sorry. Losing one’s summoner is--”
“Sorry. Everyone says sorry. Don’t apologize if you’re not at fault.” She cut her words wearily.
In his last act, Braska had cast curaga on his youngest guardian with a noble smile on his face. Despite the sinister fanfare that accompanied the holy ritual -the seizing ground, the shrill whistling and snapping bright rudeness of the pyrefly swarm, Auron had witnessed it, lucid and livid. His lord's --his friend's life was over with all the poetry of a cold water droplet upon a hot wood stove. The summoner burst into sparks that swirled and wrapped around Jecht, layer upon layer, a silvery cocoon. He heard his ally -his friend, screaming from within, his low frequency clear and deep amongst the whining supernatural din.
They were not screams of pain. Nor were they screams of terror or grief. They were jangling crows of one gripped and mangled by power. The coronation of a corrupt king.
The survivor fell to his knees, heavier than tears. He should have done better. He should have done differently.
He said nothing.
“I'm the one to be sorry,” She lowered her voice. “No-one else. I was overconfident.”
“Perhaps she overestimated you.”
Lulu gaped at him. “When I was returning --when I was on the ship, you know what my thoughts were? I thought, of all people, Auron would understand. He's done this before, he's been a guardian, he's lost a summoner...and I thought about how I was lucky to know you, to have someone in Besaid I could--”
He shivered.
“I...have been through these things, yes. But I cannot process them. I have no wisdom for you, Lulu.”.
His right hand was on her left shoulder, trembling. She placed her right hand over his. His first instinct was to pull it away, but then...she smiled slightly, sad-eyed.
“You know, I remember when you first came here. It was on this dock. I waited for your boat, because I knew it was coming. Summoners came here all the time back then, a new batch every month or so, but I greeted everyone. Wakka was so jealous later that he'd missed meeting the High Summoner and his guardians. Do you remember me, from that day? I remember it.”
“...with Braska...” He said slowly, flatly.
“And Jecht. And I don't understand how you put up with him for so long--” In the dim glow of the moon, she could see memories working in his eyes. “You don't remember?”
“I remember you when I returned with Yuna. I remember how took her in, how dependable and devoted you were. I remember how I respected you. You were more of an adult than I could be for Yuna.”
“You were in a bad way, then.”
“You are stronger than me.”
“No. I'm not, Auron.” Her voice cracked and she began to weep.
He drew her close and thought of his summoner, his heart twisting and making him ill. The river kept rising and the rains would not cease. Years of unvoiced words and untaken actions had him worn down. The banks had eroded.
And in that moment, with her scent rising rising to his eyes, it flowed over.
Uncontrolled, flooding them both.
It was of a natural force.
He spoke, his words rising to the surface and busting like bubbles. “I remember when I fell in love with you.”
And so the warrior stood, raised up to his full height on the edge of the gorge. And so he released his sword and shield with a resounding clang that slapped across the crevice. And so as the arms were finally no more, the man was no longer a warrior.
I wrote this in a weird state and took a weird approach. Thoughts?
Setting: Besaid, AU
Fandom: FFX
Characters: Auron/Lulu
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: AU. ANGST. Sap.
Summary: Written for a challenge at aulu: have Auron make the first move. AU. Auron never went back to challenge Yunalesca, now he's a pensive retiree on Besaid.
Part one here: http://muggy-mountain.livejournal.com/17705.html
It's times like this when I wish there were another kind of italics.
Auron always found a certain prayerful kindness in the sea at night.
Careful to avoid disturbing his bandaged finger, he unlaced his boots and slid his feet out, one by one, the slight spray moistening his toes. It was upon these moldy boards that he had taken his first step onto the island, eight years prior.
With Braska. And Jecht.
At the thought of his old friends, a distant whale called with a ghostly song. He gave a dour smirk at the expanse of water made visible by moonlight. "I'm sorry I failed you, Jecht. I still believe your Zanarkand is out there. I am not the man to find it. Forgive me."
He closed his eyes, then, and spoke with his heart. Yuna's safe here. Happy and safe. She's training in midwifery. A life-bringer. She'll live the peaceful live you'd hoped. I only regret that I could not do more, my lord.
Her voice behind him was soft. But it was not the waves against the shore, or the wind rattling the palms and thus it was immediately discernible. “This dock hasn't been used for eight years. I thought I was the only one who remembered it.” His heart fell like a rotten fruit. “You know why they don't, right?” Her voice became louder with every step nearer. She stood behind him now. Auron had not looked at her yet. “Perhaps not, you weren't here.” She sat beside him and Auron could not help but see her white hands, gesturing, in his peripheral vision. “Two children. Killed by a garuda while swimming in the shallow waters here.” She laughed sharply and unexpectedly. “Rather than dealing with the problem and simply hunting the fiend down, they took the trouble to move the entire dock and fishing operation to the opposite side of the island, farther away from the village yet. I always thought that foolish, but no-one here ever agreed with me.”
Auron turned his face away from her but her presence was upon him like the sun. “I could have agreed with that, once. But it continues.” He spoke quickly, vaguely addressing the sea rather than the girl beside him.
“What...?”
He turned to her, his eyes hooded in moonshadow. “Lulu, I am sorry. Losing one’s summoner is--”
“Sorry. Everyone says sorry. Don’t apologize if you’re not at fault.” She cut her words wearily.
In his last act, Braska had cast curaga on his youngest guardian with a noble smile on his face. Despite the sinister fanfare that accompanied the holy ritual -the seizing ground, the shrill whistling and snapping bright rudeness of the pyrefly swarm, Auron had witnessed it, lucid and livid. His lord's --his friend's life was over with all the poetry of a cold water droplet upon a hot wood stove. The summoner burst into sparks that swirled and wrapped around Jecht, layer upon layer, a silvery cocoon. He heard his ally -his friend, screaming from within, his low frequency clear and deep amongst the whining supernatural din.
They were not screams of pain. Nor were they screams of terror or grief. They were jangling crows of one gripped and mangled by power. The coronation of a corrupt king.
The survivor fell to his knees, heavier than tears. He should have done better. He should have done differently.
He said nothing.
“I'm the one to be sorry,” She lowered her voice. “No-one else. I was overconfident.”
“Perhaps she overestimated you.”
Lulu gaped at him. “When I was returning --when I was on the ship, you know what my thoughts were? I thought, of all people, Auron would understand. He's done this before, he's been a guardian, he's lost a summoner...and I thought about how I was lucky to know you, to have someone in Besaid I could--”
He shivered.
“I...have been through these things, yes. But I cannot process them. I have no wisdom for you, Lulu.”.
His right hand was on her left shoulder, trembling. She placed her right hand over his. His first instinct was to pull it away, but then...she smiled slightly, sad-eyed.
“You know, I remember when you first came here. It was on this dock. I waited for your boat, because I knew it was coming. Summoners came here all the time back then, a new batch every month or so, but I greeted everyone. Wakka was so jealous later that he'd missed meeting the High Summoner and his guardians. Do you remember me, from that day? I remember it.”
“...with Braska...” He said slowly, flatly.
“And Jecht. And I don't understand how you put up with him for so long--” In the dim glow of the moon, she could see memories working in his eyes. “You don't remember?”
“I remember you when I returned with Yuna. I remember how took her in, how dependable and devoted you were. I remember how I respected you. You were more of an adult than I could be for Yuna.”
“You were in a bad way, then.”
“You are stronger than me.”
“No. I'm not, Auron.” Her voice cracked and she began to weep.
He drew her close and thought of his summoner, his heart twisting and making him ill. The river kept rising and the rains would not cease. Years of unvoiced words and untaken actions had him worn down. The banks had eroded.
And in that moment, with her scent rising rising to his eyes, it flowed over.
Uncontrolled, flooding them both.
It was of a natural force.
He spoke, his words rising to the surface and busting like bubbles. “I remember when I fell in love with you.”
And so the warrior stood, raised up to his full height on the edge of the gorge. And so he released his sword and shield with a resounding clang that slapped across the crevice. And so as the arms were finally no more, the man was no longer a warrior.
I wrote this in a weird state and took a weird approach. Thoughts?