Running
The sky was stained red as the sun began it’s decent toward the distant horizon. The five weary travelers where scattered in the cover of the ruins that lay crumbling along the Mi’Ihen high road. Auron was the only one left standing as they took a moment to recover. There had been no one behind them for a few hours and since news had yet to reach those people still traveling the road they where all right for now.
“So what the hell is going on.” Tidus growled out, his blue eyes flashing as he looked up at the graying man. “And don’t say this isn’t your fault because if it wasn’t for you we wouldn’t even be here in the first place!” The stoic former guardian mentally sighed.
“I brought you here, with Jecht’s help, because I made him a promise.” He began, his voice devoid of emotion. “That I would look out for you.” Tidus just glared as Harry, O’aka and Rikku gathered closer.
“Just who are you anyway?” The blonde asked quietly, a fragile edge of calm in his voice as he repressed his anger long enough to get the question out. “You knew my father.” It was a statement but Auron nodded anyway. “You knew Yuna’s father apparently, but you can’t have known both. So how do I even know if you’re the same Auron that’s been in Zanarkand for the last ten years?” Auron frowned at the question.
“It’s not impossible. Ten years ago… Jecht, Braska and myself, we defeated Sin, then I traveled to Zanarkand, to watch over you until the day I could bring you to Spira.” Tidus let a little of his rage wash away but it still lay there under his skin, ready to lash out.
“Why us?” He asked, “Why me? Why Harry?” Auron turned his sharp gaze on the dark haired Summoner.
“Summoner Harry was not included in the plan.” He said, making a shiver run through the smaller teen’s spine. “Nor did we know he would be there, Jecht agreed to bring him along because he showed far more power than Yuna.” Everyone stared at him like he was mad.
“What? My old man is alive!?” Tidus growled, his hackles rising at the mere mention of the man who’d ruined his life.
“It depends what you mean by ‘alive’.” Auron said after a long moment of silence, in a slow, measured tone. “He is… no longer human… but I heard him… from within the shell. Surely you heard his voice as well? When you came into contact with Sin…”
Time just stood still.
Tidus looked up at Auron in growing disbelief as yet another memory pierced through the cloud of anger in his mind.
“You’ve already got it kid.”
The voice he’d heard, it ‘had’ been his father’s. A chill ran through him that the sinking sun wouldn’t warm as he realized what Auron was trying to say.
“It… it can’t be…” He reached out and groped for Harry’s robe, catching on to it and holding it tight like he had when he’d been floating in that place within Sin.
“It is… Sin is Jecht.” It took every bit of will power he had not to cry at that point.
“No… I don’t believe you.” He said, denying the possibility.
“Don’t or won’t?” Auron challenged, suddenly fierce. “Come with me and I will show you the truth.” The other three could only look on as Tidus clenched the dragon hide robe until his knuckles went white.
“And if I say no?” He asked rebelliously.
“Every story must have an ending.” There where power in those words, whether Auron knew it or not. They invoked the dream he’d had back on Besaid and Tidus looked to the side to see Harry’s hand in the same place it had been in the dream.
“I don’t care about your stories.” He said, not looking at Auron. “Besides, what would you have me do? You’re the only one around here with any answers.”
“Kill Jecht.” The former guardian said evenly. “Destroy sin and free him from his prison.” Here he looked at Harry and Rikku saw it.
“NO WAY!” Their ‘little sister’ virtually exploded. “HARRY CAN’T GO AFTER SIN! HE PROMISED NOT TO!” She yelled at Auron, stomping her foot stubbornly.
“I don’t like the final summoning any more than you do but it must be done.” Auron rounded on Rikku and the pair where ready to go at each other’s throats but the final forgotten member of their group spoke up.
“Why don’t we just find another way then?” Everyone froze and turned to look at O’aka who was staring down the road pensively. “I mean, the final summoning can’t be the only way, right? All we have to do is defeat it ourselves.” He turned around again and saw them staring at him.
“What?” He asked indignantly. Auron’s lip curled up in a smile before he burst out laughing. Rikku and Tidus stared at him in confusion while Harry began to see the irony in the statement. Finally the old guardian calmed down and turned away.
“Keep the merchant,” He said shortly, a smile still in his eyes even if his face was blank. “I like him.” Tidus, who had gotten to his feet, promptly turned around and began banging his forehead against the nearest solid object, which happened to be a pillar of stone left from an old building. Harry blinked for a moment before spinning around and prying his guardian away from the wall, like he used to do with Dobby.
“So should we do it?” O'aka asked, his face still red from Auron’s semi-compliment. They looked at each other once more, the same question running through their minds. ‘Should they go after Sin?’ Slowly Tidus nodded.
“Lets do it.” Harry nodded along with him and they looked at Rikku. The Al Bhed girl was clearly torn between the prospect of bringing an end to Sin and reminding Harry of his promise to her people. Nearly a minute later she gave in.
“Alright! Alright! But on one condition! Don’t you even think about going after the final Aeon!” She shook her finger in their faces. Behind them O'aka jumped in to the air with a whoop.
“Yay! ROAD TRIP!”
It was all the others could do not to hit him.
_______________________________________________________
Night had well and truly fallen by the time they reached the Al Bhed travel agency. They found rooms for the night and Harry began to process to unlock O’aka’s magical core. He’d discussed it with the merchant back in Luca. He’d give him back his ability to use magic if he decided to stay with them for the entire journey. The merchant had come back to him as they approached the travel agency and asked him to do it. He was associated with Harry now and if he wasn’t careful he’d find himself locked up in Bevelle prison cells. So now he was snoring his head off sprawled out over his bed and sleeping like the proverbial rock. Fortunately his roommate, Auron, had the patience of a saint.
Harry looked out over the moon lit ocean and let out a sigh.
“What’s wrong? Look out duty can’t be that bad can it?” Harry jumped slightly in surprise and sagged again as Tidus sat down beside him. He was supposed to be watching the road in case a messenger came from Luca in the night. If one did come he would obliviate them. The method wasn’t fool proof but it would give them time to sort out what had happened.
“It’s not that…” Harry began but fell silent as he lay back against one of the large stones that littered the area. Tidus remained silent, a solid comforting presence that anchored his whirling thoughts to reality.
“How are we going to do it?” He asked suddenly and the blonde’s head tipped to one side in his confusion, a clear ‘do what?’. Harry shook his head slowly. “How are we going to destroy Sin anyway? I mean, I have little to no knowledge of this world and its people yet we just said we want to go after the equivalent of the ultimate evil.” He waved his hands in frustration before gripping his messy hair. “They where right, I do have a hero complex.” He moaned into his knees.
“Hey, it’s not that bad is it?” He looked just as Tidus reached over and grabbed him. Harry uttered a small shout before he found himself in the blonde’s lap. Tidus didn’t even seem to be thinking as he rocked slightly.
“I mean,” He continued on with his previous words. “Remember the people back on Kilika? You saved their lives and even if you don’t know how we’ll figure it out, and I still have a score to settle with my father.” He squeezed him slightly around the waist as the anger threatened to rise. Harry uncurled and leaned back on his chest. In his mind all he could think about was the other teen. He remembered staying back on Kilika and it took all his will power not to just turn around and jump the blonde. The Summoner forgot all about his earlier distress once he was presented this new distraction. What he didn’t realize was that Tidus was now having a similar problem.
‘WhatdoIdo?WhatdoIdo?WhatdoIdo?’ Even in the confines of his own head he couldn’t speak coherently. He was beginning to regret his actions, simply for the fact that Harry was silently going to drive him nuts. He began to hum the song he’d been singing back in Zanarkand just after Harry had arrived in an effort to distract himself. He’d gotten mid way before Harry spoke up.
“I remember where I heard that now.” He said shifting so that he could see the blonde’s face. Tidus gave him a questioning look.
“Where?” He asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
“I heard it when I was with to the Fayth back on Kilika. It was singing that song.” Tidus looked faintly surprised.
“The Fayth was singing the song?” Harry nodded.
“The priest said that it is called the Hymn of the Fayth, a song made up by the people of Yevon, but I know that isn’t the case because if that was really true, then why would I have heard it back in the time before Zanarkand?” Now that he thought about it, Tidus didn’t remember how he’d first begun to sing it. He’d learnt the words after hearing someone signing it but he’d never really found out who… Harry knew it was getting close to the time for the look outs to change and tried to get out of his guardian’s lap but the blonde wouldn’t let him budge.
“Come on Tidus! Let me up! Rikku will be out here in a minute.” Tidus had a flash of possessiveness at those words for no reason he could understand. Still he acted on it, pulling the Summoner against him. Harry really couldn’t bring himself to struggle out of the grip. This was exactly the kind of contact he’d needed since all his friends had moved on. Still, no matter how good it felt he couldn’t just stay where he was.
“I have to go.” He said distractedly as he got to his feet. Tidus watched him with a hint of hurt in his blue eyes.
“Harry?” The Summoner closed his eyes and shook his head rapidly.
“I can’t.” He managed to choke out before taking off toward the travel agency, mentally kicking himself for not staying. ‘To many shocks in one day.’ He rationalized to the part of himself that had wanted to just jump the blonde. ‘Not now, he’ll just regret it later.’ But no matter how much he thought that, it didn’t change the fact that he knew it was a lie. He had no idea where the connection had sprung up from but it was beginning to hurt.
Rikku greeted him sleepily as she walked out the door ahead of him and turned to her left, taking a seat in the shadow of the chocobo’s, cast by the moon. As Harry disappeared inside she didn’t miss the look on Tidus’s face as he watched the Summoner go. She frowned to herself as the other guardian went in a few minutes later.
‘Did I actually interrupt something this time?’ she thought was a sound of running footsteps came up the road. She looked around a post and saw a warrior monk running toward her.
“Oh…” she breathed out as she realized that this was the runner they’d been waiting for. She then began to grin like a shark, showing all her teeth in a way eerily similar to the way her brothers would whenever they were in a mood to fight. She let out a creepy giggle and her hand slipped into her bag of tricks to grab a small bomb attached to a sack of powder. This monk wasn’t going to get very far.
_______________________________________________________
To say that O’aka was hyper the next morning was an understatement of massive proportions. The merchant bounced in his chair as Harry sat beside him with the black magic book that Lulu had given them. It was a very good guide for spells and Rikku sat nearby trying to listen in as Harry taught O'aka a few of the basics of elemental black magic. The only problem was, was that the man couldn’t concentrate. He kept playing with the long staff Harry had found for him. Elder Rin, the owner of the travel agency and Rikku’s uncle, had been very helpful, he’d shown them a pile of disused staffs that he’d had in stock for years but no one had wanted. Harry had made O'aka try every one until they’d found one compatible with his magical signature. It was just over five foot long and made of a silvery wood the Rin said came from the magical woods of Macalania (sp?).
They where running through some of the spells nearly an hour later when Auron re-entered the travel agency, his body language giving away hints of stress as he quickly sought out Rin.
“Is there another way out of here?” He asked, grabbing the attention of the others. Harry handed the book off to Rikku who stashed it at they all quickly got the message. Something was wrong, really wrong.
“Why, yes.” The elder Al Bhed said gesturing toward the back half of the Inn. “There is a door we use to feed the chocobo’s.” Auron waved a hand for them all to gather closer.
“Seymour is on the Mi’Ihen highroad.” He said bluntly. “He and his guardians will be here shortly, with Yuna, if we don’t want to be caught we need to leave now.” Rikku and O’aka hopped to it, they began packing up the things carried in the backpacks both O’aka and Tidus owned. Harry had enlarged them inside and placed a feather light charm on them so they could carry everything they needed.
“If you run now you will not get far.” Rin said as they began to assemble. “But if you take the way down the cliff to the old road you might just make it to the Djose temple before them, if the Crusader’s operation does not block your path.” Tidus ran to the door and looked out. He could see the entourage approaching and the menacing aura of Seymour was unmistakable, even from this distance.
“That’s good, show us the way.” Tidus prompted the Al Bhed. They’d met earlier that morning and the Al Bhed had been impressed in the blonde’s growing mastery of their language. Tidus had asked Harry to take off the translation spells for a while and had been bugging Rikku to teach him properly. The Summoner was fine with the spells and had no real desire to change that. Rin nodded to the request and lead them out the back door he’d mentioned earlier. He stopped at the edge of the ravine and they looked down to see a slide of loose pebbles and dirt.
“Travel safe.” Rin waved before he turned and went back to the Inn. Rikku didn’t waste any time. With a skip and a hop she went over the edge, keeping her balance easily as she slid down the steep slope like a railing. O’aka followed her example enthusiastically but had a small problem keeping upright and rolled to the bottom, landing in a heap, just like a sack of potatoes. Auron copied Rikku before the three of them looked up to see Harry hesitating. The Summoner was unsure about it, he may like the heights from his broom but this was unnerving, although, before he could back out he felt a hand on his shoulder. Harry looked up at Tidus who grinned, seemingly having forgotten all about the night before.
“Trust me.” He said and quick as a snake he grabbed him and dashed for the cliff.
‘What is it with him and picking me up?’ Harry thought as Tidus slid down the slide and stopped at the bottom, regaining his balance quickly and setting him down. O’aka quickly finished brushing himself off before they set off quickly down the old road, but out of the corner of her eye Rikku noticed something. It was a small red object that looked as though it had been dulled by dirt and time, buried under the dirt slide. She picked it up and carefully tucked the medallion-sized crest into the pouch strapped to her thigh.
‘Who knows, it might come in handy later.’ She thought as she ran to catch up with the rest of the party.
_______________________________________________________
There where plenty of Fiends on the road as they made tracks in the direction of the Djose shore. One type in particular irritated them. The bombs, large balls of solid flame and heat that burnt you if you touched them, popped up all over the place, streaking out of bushes and setting the path in front of them on fire. Harry had O'aka practice the elemental water spell on each one. They might as well make the best of a bad situation. Back at the Inn one of the Al Bhed that worked there had taught him some of the more basic spells, mostly Nul spells that blocked certain elements. The Nul-Blaze spell had come in handy so far.
Scouting ahead Rikku was about to turn a corner of the path when she stopped and span around quickly, pressing herself to the wall and signaling for them to get back. Above them there was a clatter of wheels and chocobo talons on wood. Craning his neck Harry looked around the edge of the cliff they stood against and saw a large bridge spanning the gap between the cliffs.
“This used to be the road from Luca to the Djose shore.” O'aka made both Tidus and Harry jump slightly when he whispered to them from behind. “It’s called the old road now, they built the bridges above so they wouldn’t have to deal with the fiends down here. They named it the Mi’Ihen Highroad after the man who started the crusaders.” A red cart passed over head and behind it was a…. flock of chocobo’s all bearing riders. From this angle they couldn’t see well but Harry caught a flash of black and white through the rough slats of the bridge.
“I think Seymour and Yuna are with that group.” He said softly to Tidus, “I might have just seen Lulu.”
“They are.” Auron intoned grimly from ahead of them. “They’ll reach the gate before us, and there’s another problem on the way.” He pointed past Rikku to where a squad of Chocobo knights had entered the ravine from the other direction. They dismounted without giving more than a cursory look toward their surroundings and let their Chocobo’s roam up and down the natural stair case created over a lifetime of weathering away at the cliffs. It was too large for a human to scale but it was perfect for the chocobo’s to train on. The three riders of the squad gathered close as Rikku began to creep around the edge of the cliffs. She was just about past them when a chubby man looked around and saw her.
“Oh hello!” He greeted happily as the two women with him turned to see the fifteen year old standing there, embarrassed. Still behind the rock face Auron shook his head in exasperation and Tidus smacked his forehead. The point of sneaking was to avoid getting caught.
“My name is Clasko.” The brown haired man went on, unaware of the four hidden males and the dirty looks Elma and Lucil where giving the back of his head. “What are you doing down here all on your own?” He asked innocently. Rikku looked at him like a dear in the headlights and shuffled around slightly.
“Rikku, mad sa ryhtma drec!” (Rikku, let me handle this.) Tidus jumped when Harry spoke up suddenly. He turned around and saw that Harry’s appearance had changed. There where only a few things that had changed but the effect was very dramatic. He’d somehow gained blonde hair in the same red-gold shade as Rikku’s and his eyes shimmered slightly with an unmistakable swirl, instead of a normal pupil. He would have passed off for Rikku’s twin. Auron, who had seen Harry use his glamour spells, nodded approvingly as the Summoner handed his staff to Tidus and walked out into the open.
The look on Rikku’s face was rather torn as he approached her.
“Pid Har…” (But Har….) She began but trailed off when she saw what he looked like. Harry grinned and looked up at the three Chocobo knights.
“Hela du saad oui.”(1) He said brightly to the confused soldiers. Behind the cliff Tidus had to muffle a snort when he heard what Harry said. It brought back the memory of the first time he’d bumped into Rin. The elder Al Bhed had greeted him the same way and Tidus, in his true lucky fashion, had replied back fluently in spite of having only just learned some of the language.
“Are you Al Bhed?” Lucil stepped forward, taking the initiative to ask. Harry flashed her a smile.
“Yup.” He answered in a language they would understand. “Pop’s won’t let us in to see the operation so we came down here to explore.” He said, his acting flawless, one of his more Slytherin traits. Rikku got in on the act and pouted.
“It’s no fair.” She said crossing her arms over her chest petulantly. “They get to have all the fun.”
“Trust me, you ain’t missing much.” Clasko admitted earnestly. “Sin isn’t that pretty.” His two fellow crusaders looked at him like he was insane while Rikku retreated into silence.
“Isn’t the Operation going to start soon?” Harry pointed out and Lucil looked at the sky in alarm.
“You’re right.” She gave a sharp whistle and the chocobo’s returned to their riders. “Maybe we’ll met again after the operation.” She offered as she nodded and waved forward Elma and Clasko. “Chocobo Knights! Move out!” Clasko groaned and Harry and Rikku watched as they vanished toward the entrance to the battle site. Auron came out of hiding and chuckled darkly as he passed the pair.
“Good work.” He said, his voice giving away only a little amusement, before he walked ahead of them, not looking back as Tidus handed Harry is staff and the Summoner whispered ‘Finite’. His appearance went back to normal.
“We have a problem.” Auron continued. “We can no longer pass along the Djose shore. Either we wait for a chance once every thing is over or we make our way past them during the fighting. Personally, I know we can not afford to wait.” The others looked at each other and then back to Harry. Since he was the Summoner, he had the final decision.
He was silent for a long time before he looked at them all and nodded.
“We’ll go during the fighting.” He said calmly.
“I have a feeling that there will be something there we need to see.”