Still don't own the game, or the characters, or SquareEnix
Lulu's first sight of Zanarkand took her breath away. Beneath the sky which always seemed to show twilight and stars, mixed with the breathtaking sunrise and sunet, she curled into the crook of Auron's arm, and gazed out over the ruins.
"Zanarkand." She whispered. "I never thought we'd make it here."
"It has been a rough few days."
Seymour had confronted the group once more at the summit of the mountain, and Auron had felt his heart fill with rage.
'Why can't you just die?' He thought.
During the battle, Seymour and Lulu had exchanged volleys of black magic. It made Auron's heart proud to watch this beautiful woman....his woman by rights....unleash her Flare fury on Seymour, and gain the group the advantage by knocking Seymour off-guard and shifting him into the defensive. Then Yunalesca had sent her dog to test them as they emerged from the caves, and the battle was hard-fought and won. Now...a brief respite. A night spent under the Zanarkand stars and sky, while the group recuperated around a small fire. There was a mournful air about, and Tidus had spent much of the early evening pacing around the campsite. He'd climbed a nearby summit, and stared out over the city of ruins, then come back down to stare into the fire. This was a routine he'd repeated a few times during the night, before finally settling down with his arms curled around Yuna.
Auron had seen Wakka gazing wistfully at Lulu a time or two, but the red- headed blitzer seemed to be doing his best to quell the intense emotions, and keep himself pulled together. Auron was grateful to him for it. He had no idea what Yuna would do when she saw that the promise of the Final Aeon was an altar on which to slaughter oneself, and a beloved friend. Braska had felt it was a worthwhile compromise. Auron knew it to be a lie now, and he knew in the pit of his gut that Yuna would know it to be a lie as well.
And there were times that Auron had found peculiar thoughts popping into his mind.
'I don't want to go...' He mused.
It was such a juvenile viewpoint. It was so akin to the temper fits Tidus had thrown when he was growing up. But more and more, Auron found himself inwardly resisting the idea of being Sent, no matter what he told Lulu, and Wakka. It disturbed him to say the least. He had been so deadset when he started this journey. Before Tidus had even been spirited away from the dream Zanarkand, when Auron knew deep in his gut that Jecht was tired of the killing and the death, and wanted his dear friend to end it. That had been the plan. Bring Tidus. Kill Sin. Bring a fleeing Calm, or the Eternal Calm. Whichever. Jecht had just wanted release.
Now Yunalesca was to come. And it had all been so simple. Right the wrongs. Send the Unsent. But Auron knew that there were many Unsent out there, and they couldn't all go. They wouldn't all go. Belgemine....she had reeked of pyreflies. Maechen was Unsent, Auron knew this as well. Once you were there, you could see it in others.
There was thought in Auron's head, a notion that he was cautiously entertaining in the caves of Gagazet, and he was ashamed of it.
'Maybe I don't have to go.'
Oh, it shamed him to think of causing Lulu all that pain, only to change his mind. It gave him a small, childish measure of satisfaction to think of killing Wakka's hope and spiriting Lulu away to some distant corner of Spira. And Lulu had said that she was perfectly willing to live childless, as long as she was with him. It wasn't right of him to ask her to deprive herself.
But it was her choice....
Auron stirred suddenly, and raised his head to look around the group. The seven of them were clustered around the campfire. It was late. Kimahri and Rikku stood watch, but the rest of them had pretty much drifted off. They were all trying to recover lost strength before they tackled the immense task of fighting their way through the dome. But his good eye rested on Lulu, who was curled up on her pallet by him. She wasn't sleeping, but reading instead. Eternally studying her spellbooks. Auron didn't know if the nightmares still plagued her, but she seemed to be sleeping better since Bikanel Island.
A bit of foolish pride flowed in Auron at thinking that perhaps he had something to do with it.
Quietly, so he would not disturb the others, Auron lay down, and stretched out next to her. Lulu looked up at him, her fingers pausing where they'd been following a diagram on a page, and she gave Auron a faint smile.
"I've been thinking...." Auron started, his voice hushed.
"Should I express shock?"
The corner of Auron's mouth turned up. His little imp.
"My name is Auron, not Tidus."
This brought a smile to Lulu's face, and Auron could not restrain himself from leaning over and kissing her.
"As I was saying...I was thinking. What you said earlier...about not wanting children..."
The smile at once dropped from Lulu's face, and she pushed her book aside. Her body turned so that she was laying on her stomach, propped up on her elbows, and she looked into Auron's good eye.
"If you're playing with me, I'll kill you." Lulu's voice grated out, harsh, but quiet. "I think you had best tell me all of what you were thinking."
Auron blinked, a tad ashamed, but he did his best not to show it.
"I am thinking that perhaps I do not have to go."
Lulu looked down. Auron could see that she was biting furiously on her lower lip, most likely trying to search for words. At length, she focused on him once more.
"You know what I told you before. That still stands, you know."
"I have never doubted your devotion."
The pair were silent. Somewhere in the distance, in the great Dome, a fiend howled. Lulu's skin prickled in response.
"What has changed your mind?"
"The end is coming soon." Auron said simply. "I find that I do not want to leave you."
Somewhere in Lulu's belly, butterflies took flight. Hopes that she had tried to kill were suddenly resurrected.
"It is cruel of you to change your mind while I am still reeling from the first decision. I do not know whether to be overjoyed, relieved, suspicious...and I find that I don't like not having perfect trust for you."
"I'm sorry....it's hard to explain..." Auron started.
"I'm a bright girl. Why don't you give it a shot?"
"This is going to be confusing."
"Just stop stalling and start talking."
"For a long time, I have been doing my duty, and doing what is right. Before Braska, I functioned on what Yevon and the temples told me. After Braska and Jecht died, I became obsessed with right and wrong. And for the most part of this pilgrimage, I was still locked into the idea of having to do what was right."
Auron took off his sunglasses, and rubbed fingers over his good eye. Lulu could see that he was tired. So very tired, and very sincere in what he was telling her.
"Then we went to Guadosalam, and the Farplane, and you came back so frail and pale. And I found myself thinking about you more and more. I still thought that when Yuna decided to destroy Sin, one way or another, I must go away. But other things were tugging at my heart. When Sin broke through in Macalania, and took us to Bikanel, I had the most horrible dream. And I'm only just beginning to make sense of it."
"Dreams do not necessarily mean anything."
"This is true. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. But this was not. I know this, just as I know that water is wet."
"So tell me about it. What was this dream?"
"I dreamt we were married. Tidus was dead. Yuna was married to Seymour. This was horrible enough. Then you were dead. Dead before my eyes."
Lulu was at a loss for words. It didn't matter, as it turned out, because Auron resumed speaking.
"I have thought on these things more and more. And the more I ponder it, the more I realize that although I am being pulled towards what I feel I must sacrifice, I am also being pulled in the direction of my heart, which is to spirit you away to a far off corner of Spira, and live there with you as my wife until we are ready to depart for the Farplane. Together."
Lulu stared at Auron. It was the most he'd ever said in one sitting. It was also totally unlike him. But then, he'd said a lot of things on this pilgrimage, to her, that were totally unlike him. Enough for her to realize that she saw a side of him that few people every really saw.
"You have changed your mind so suddenly." She stammered.
"I know. And for that, I apologize. I have been struggling with this for several days."
"We have to finish this pilgrimage, no matter what."
Auron smirked at her, laid his hand on her shoulder.
"Of course. But afterwards.."
Lulu looked down at her hands.
"What if there is nothing after?"
Auron went silent, then he laid his free hand on her fingers.
"During the final battle....I want you to stay as far away from it as possible."
Lulu blinked.
"What?"
"Your magic can be cast from very far away. You'll be safest if you're as far away as possible."
"I won't be a coward, Auron. I'm not going to hang back and let everyone else deal with.....whatever it is that we fight."
Auron's lips pursed a bit. She had no idea what was coming. She had no idea about Yunalesca. In a flash, Auron remembered exactly how he had become an Unsent. The fierce, powerful slap across his face that had taken his right eye, and eventually killed him replayed in his mind. He could not....would not see something like that happen to Lulu. And he knew that she would react in a similar way. Yevon was a lie. The temples were built on foundations of lies. The Final Aeon was a lie. Sin was a part of the cycle of death that held Spira firm in the grips of Mika, and Seymour. Auron was afraid of Lulu's rage, not only because she was a passionate person, but also because he was afraid of what it would lead her to do. What would she say and do once she found out what the Final Summoning was all about? What would she say and do once she found out that Sin was essentially in league with the undead who controlled the religious power structure of the world?
"I know you're not a coward. I know that what I ask will be just that: a request. It is truly your own will that will decide the role you'll play within the Dome. But..."
'...you have to live through this battle!' Auron stopped. He couldn't say it. Self-sacrifice was the noblest thing known to man. If it was Lulu's decision, he could not stop her.
Lulu looked at him, and seemed to divine what he was thinking. Her fingers came up to stroke over his cheek, played over the stubble.
"You worry too much. I have no intention of dying."
Auron's arms snaked around Lulu's waist, and he tugged her over to him. His lips went to bury themselves in her dark hair.
"You have no idea what's ahead." He muttered darkly.
"You won't tell us."
"I can't bear to. It won't do any good. I'll bias you. I'll prejudice you. I cannot be a factor in any decision that Yuna or we guardians make."
Lulu was quiet. She couldn't find any good response, save for the typical ones...'don't worry, we'll make the right decision.' 'don't worry, it will all turn out for the best.' They were just words. She wouldn't throw out idle words.
"Where are we going to live, once this is all over?"
She felt Auron's cheeks raise in a smile against her neck.
"I was thinking Besaid..." Auron replied.
"Tell me about how it'll be then..."
It was her attempt to lighten the mood. And it worked. The couple stayed up late into the night, talking, planning, now that Auron had decided to be selfish, and stay behind with the one he loved.....