Notes: well life is going a TAD better ^^;; I have finals tomorrow and Thursday so I thought I’d write a chapter today…I’m doing laundry right now, would you believe I haven’t done laundry in about three months? Yeah I have that many clothes -_-;;; but enough with my bantering..lets get it on!

Chapter 13

There is no absolute truth.

Braska sneaked into Jecht’s room a little after dawn. He realized that Jecht would not be in a great mood today, since he got drunk last night. Braska thought to himself, had he ever seen Jecht actually drunk? Tipsy maybe, but never drunk. Well never drunk since he arrived in Zanarkand. Jecht had mentioned he would get drunk from time to time, and sometimes get a little violent with his wife and son. It relieved Braska that Jecht had actually never hit either one of them, just verbally abuse them.

Braska wanted to wake up Jecht without the least amount of complaining, whining, and arguing as possible. Braska peered at the window, the shade was shut. He looked over at Jecht, then looked at the shade again. Braska got ready to summon an aeon, just incase Jecht was to put up a fight. Braska opened the shade in one single motion, letting the bright sunlight enrapture the hungover man. Braska then went next to the bed, turned Jecht over on his other side to look at the sun. Now the only thing to do was open the man’s eyes.

Braska took his rod and smacked Jecht on the stomach with it, hard. Jecht let out a scream of pain then opened his eyes, sat up and let the sunlight fully blind him. Braska giggled then ran out of the room, leaving Jecht to fend for himself. Braska opened up Rikku’s room and slammed the door waking her and…Auron?

“Is there a problem my lord?” Auron asked.

“No no!! I was uhm…about to wake you up! Yeah, that it. I’m sorry I probably intruded when I wasn’t supposed to. I…I didn’t know you were in here with Rikku! I was just trying to er…hide from Jecht who probably wants to kill me right now.” Braska noticed after his bantering that Auron had clothes on him, meaning nothing was going on.

“No Lord Braska, you didn’t interrupt anything. We were just sleeping, and why would Jecht want to kill you?” Auron started to get up.

“No! no…you don’t have to get up Auron, I’ll just be on my way. Braska left the room abruptly, and searched for another place to hide from Jecht. Braska instead was brave, to see if Jecht was out of bed yet but when he walked in Jecht had gone back to sleep. Braska realized it was hopeless and went into his room, waiting for the others to get ready.

Braska laid on his bed. He frowned. The man was happy for Auron, finding someone but Braska also felt jealous. Braska loved, loves his wife and daughter more than anything else but Auron filled a gap in Braska’s heart when his wife died. Braska eventually fell for the man, it wasn’t that he replaced his wife but the fact he was there for Braska. Braska didn’t exactly want to be in a romantic relationship with the man, but lately he had felt lonely. In a way Jecht filled the spot for Auron when he wasn’t around, but it wasn’t the same. Braska heard the door knock, and opened the door.

“Auron? I thought I told you to go back to bed.” Braska let the man inside.

“I couldn’t get back to sleep. Lord Braska, I worry about you. This morning you seemed more, jumpy than your usual self.” Auron took Braska’s hand and they both sat on the bed. Auron let go of his hand and hugged him tight.

“Let go.” Braska commanded. Auron let go after a few moments of hesitation and looked at Braska.

“I’m sorry Auron, that sounded a little harsh. I guess I haven’t been myself in the past couple of days.”

“Why? Wait, does this have to do with me and Rikku?” Auron questioned.

“Not…necessarily. I guess I may be feeling a tad, left out. I mean Jecht has been there for me and its great, but I want my best friend to be there sometimes too. I didn’t want to say anything because you were happy with Rikku, and I wanted you to be with Rikku. I wanted you to feel something you never have before but I realized that I was becoming distant as well.” Braska turned away from Auron, and sighed.

“Why didn’t you just tell me Lord Braska? I’ll be able to be with Rikku anytime, but…well. Maybe I’ve been distancing myself as well. I haven’t even thought about it in a few days, maybe because I don’t want to. I don’t want to face the fact that I’m going to soon lose a person, not just any person but my best friend. I’m going to lose someone I’ve cared about and who has cared for me for a long time. It scares me, to think of what life will be like when you’re gone.” Braska looked at Auron, and thought for a second he saw his eyes water up as if he were about to cry.

“Auron, how many years have we been friends?”

“Too many that I’ve lost count.”

“Then, why do you keep calling me Lord Braska?”

“I don’t know, saying just Braska sounds strange to me.” Auron heard Braska chuckle.

“Lord Braska, we should wake up the others. May I assist you dragging Jecht out of bed?” Auron gave Braska a smile, then the two men walked towards Jecht’s room to attempt to wake him up.

“You know that really did hurt you guys…” Jecht was rubbing his chest area and the top of the head. The group was en route to Moonflow. It was going slower that day, as Jecht had to stop every few minutes and sit down. Rikku didn’t mind so much, as it gave her time to think about what she would say. Braska would look around and enjoy the scenery. Auron though, only complained to Jecht telling him to hurry up and to stop his binge drinking.

“Hey! What the hell is that?!” Jecht noticed a big huge creature and ran toward it. The others didn’t notice what he was talking about until they saw its head. Everyone’s eyes got big and then ran after Jecht. When they got there, it was too late. Jecht had slaughtered a Shoopuf, when it had just been eating some leaves.

“What the hell are you doing Jecht?” Auron yelled at him. It didn’t make things any better.

“What do you mean?! Look at the thing, it would have attacked us!” Jecht argued back.

“You idiot! That’s supposed to be our transportation to Moonflow!” Auron bitched to him.

“T…transportation?” Jecht looked stunned. The Shoopuf’s owner ran to the group, and started yelling at them.

“I’m sorry sir, He didn’t know they were harmless. I’ll be glad to pay any damages sir.” Braska lured the owner away, to deal with the damage. Jecht still looked stunned, and Auron looked like he was about ready to kill him.

“Auron! Stop! Jecht didn’t know that it would harm us.” Rikku explained to him.

“Well if he didn’t jump to a conclusion for EVERYTHING, this wouldn’t have happened!” Auron yelled to Rikku. Rikku just turned around and walked away.

“Gah…he can be so mean at times.” Rikku told herself. She thought about the past few days, and everything that’s been going on. Her and Auron were getting close. Ever since Auron told Rikku he loved her, Rikku’s gradually been falling in love with him. Though it’s not the fact she’s falling in love with the younger Auron. Rikku had been thinking, about the older version of the man. She was longing him, she even missed him in a way. Rikku wasn’t falling in love with the younger version of Auron, but was just falling in love with Auron all together.

Rikku was afraid. She knew she would disappear after her mission was complete. Auron would be alone, and would it drive him to the edge? Would losing Rikku make him feel empty as he did when he lost, or will lose Braska? Rikku did worry about these things. She could only hope he would think rationally after the events happen. She could only hope that Auron would be waiting for her, she could only hope her mission will take her back to her time instead of the farplane. Though would it matter? She’d be with Auron in either situation.

“No…that’s being selfish. I have to think about his desires.” Rikku wanted Auron to be happy. Sure Auron must have been happy to finally be sent. Although, if he had lived would he long to be in this world? There were so many questions, and Rikku just couldn’t answer them all. A hand tapped her on the shoulder, then pulled her into an embrace.

“I’m sorry for the way I sounded.” Auron whispered into her ear. He felt her hand lock with his.

“I guess everybody is a little edgy today. It happens you know?” Rikku turned towards him and kissed his cheek.

“We’ll be leaving in a few minutes to Moonflow, you ready?” Auron saw Rikku nod. The two of them joined the rest of the group.

The ride on the Shoopuf wasn’t so bad, except the fact Jecht was still feeling queasy from the liquor. It didn’t last long though, as they were on land before they knew it. They found a small area to camp in around Moonflow. Auron then went, as usual to restock on items. Braska made a fire and Jecht went to kill something, other than a Shoopuf. This left Rikku and Braska alone, at the campsite.

“So Rikku, how are things going with Auron?” Braska asked.

“Well, I’m not sure. I still cannot tell him what he has told me, I don’t know why. I think I just want to wait.”

“Wait?”

“Until I can reveal the truth. Though there are some things I won’t say.” Rikku replied.

“I see. You think he wont love you after you’ve told the truth?”

“I think he might not want to be near me anymore. I…I don’t want to hurt him.” Rikku sounded very sad. Braska frowned as well, and then smiled at her.

“Whatever it may be, he will still love you I’m sure.” He patted her on the back. Auron and Jecht got back around the same time.

“Jecht, I hope you know what you did was wrong. Braska had to pay for the damages as well.” Auron scolded him.

“Its alright Auron, he did apologize and everyone makes mistakes every now and then.” Braska calmed.

“I swear, from now I’ll only drink Shoopuf milk!” Jecht told everybody.

“You sure?” Auron was amazed to hear Jecht say something like that.

“Yeah, I don’t want to screw things up ya know. I don’t want to shame my wife or kid.” Jecht saw everyone nod at him, The group sat down together and cooked dinner. There were a few conversations, though it was mostly silent.

“I think its time I tell everybody. Why I’m here.” Rikku pronounced out loud.

“Is this what you really want Rikku? Everyone has our secrets.” Auron peered at Rikku, she nodded at him.

“This is what I want. I feel I cannot continue until you know Auron. I haven’t been able to tell you how I feel, in fact I’ve just been hiding things for long enough and I cant take it anymore. You all deserve to know before it’s too late. Listen, you may think all of this is silly but it is the only truth. If you seek out a man named Cid, who is Al Bhed you will realize he has a daughter.” Rikku paused.

“What does this have to do with you?” Jecht asked.

“Well, if you ask Cid the name of his daughter he will tell you it is Rikku. She is a six year old girl, with blonde hair. She’s me.” Rikku paused again, to think about how to tell the rest of the story.

“Wait…before you ask any questions. Ten years ago I will be on a pilgrimage to fight sin. I am a guardian and Auron is one as well. All of us find something about the man. Something happens that is terrible to you Auron. I’m here to stop that from happening.”

“Stop what?”

“Your death.” Rikku decided not to include Yuna or any of the other members in this discussion.

“Why Rikku? Why would you stop my death from occurring?” Auron was in a state of confusion. Rikku basically told Auron he would die, and she was here to stop it.

“Because a lot of people care about you, and…you were so unhappy. Even though you had wanted to be relieved of the pain of not being sent for ten years, you envied all of us. You wanted to be alive, you regretted what you did. You regretted it because it was out of anger, with no thought put into it at all. Though there is more.

“I’m sure there is.” Auron really didn’t care how he sounded.

“I was sent here, to stop this from happening. What you don’t know though, is once I stop it I will be gone. The travel through time has made me very weak. Part of me was left in the future, and what is here right now is getting weaker by the minute. I guess you could say my body is in the future but my spirit is here. Once everything is done, I’ll return to my own self, or I will die.”

“So basically what you’re saying is you’re getting weaker and weaker, and you’ll disappear or die when you save Auron.”

“I’ll die if Auron dies. I’ll live if he lives. I will not be here because my hold onto this time is getting weaker and weaker. Do not worry, I will stay here long enough. To complete the pilgrimage with you Braska.”

“I think I need time alone.” Auron went for a walk.

End notes: gah, I’m a little unhappy with some of my wording but you know, I’m getting back on pace. While this is an Aurikku I do concentrate on the other characters. I dunno about you but I personally don’t want to write fourty chapters of mushy stuff ^^;; I’d run out of vocabulary by then!