Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Crimson Touched ❯ Crimson Touched ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

FFX-2: Vegnagun was gone, everything had settled into a tenuous peace. This was a rare moment to slip away to think, to reunite with three old acquaintances and reaffirming old bonds. Maybe things were getting back to normal, whatever "normal" was.

Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 06.08.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.9K | Visits: 528 | Status: Completed

Paine walked quietly on to an empty dock in Luca port, watching the moon float overhead, thinking about things. It was pretty dark out there, the moon a bare sliver of a crescent, and there were no lights on; the sailors and the dock workers were taking a holiday to celebrate the end of the hostilities. Some people, like her right at that moment, felt it was best just to let the night pass peacefully. The sun would be up tomorrow, things would look brighter after all their strife, rhetorically and literally- hopefully even for Yuna, as useless as Paine felt that cause was.

Meanwhile, there were the diamonds glittering up from the surface of the ocean to admire. It was soothing, relaxing in the cool air after a hot and eventful day, to watch the sparkling on the water.

Not too far into her thoughtful musings, Paine heard footsteps behind her, and in retrospect decided that the Luca docks were a bad place to go to be alone. Especially with certain people hanging around...

"It must have been a pretty hard battle at the end." It was a familiar voice that spoke; one she had heard on many nights like this, long ago, and more recently one that she had heard turned against her. Baralai approached slowly, wondering how she would take to talking to him after everything. Even prior to their speech to the crowd in the blitzball arena, none of the three leaders had been able to really talk with the Gullwings... so at least it was that they left him out. Things had just been too chaotic; people were resting from battles, making amends, cleaning up... Even now, there were still a lot of people in the process.

This was one rare moment- being alone.

"Yeah..." Paine did not really want to talk, wishing he'd just go away. This was a moment she needed to be by herself, to think about everything that happened to them; with the Crimson Squad, with Shuyin... Now it seemed as if Yuna would be the next big thing to worry about.

Yuna... They said that Shuyin looked like the one Yuna had lost. Even Paine, during her recording days, had heard of the man from Zanarkand that journeyed with the Summoner Yuna on her historic pilgrimage. It must have been so hard for Yuna with this Shuyin's plot to use Vengagun, having all those memories thrust at her and mocked, in a way. One bad tempered unsent, or memories, or whatever he was, had almost broken the fragile web the Eternal Calm Yuna had given to the world through her blood, sweat, tears and lost love, and to add insult to injury, tormented Yuna with another false hope. Rikku was the one that had told Paine that everyone mistook Shuyin for him at first; even Rikku, who had been with Yuna at the time, had thought so. The thief said she kind of felt bad now, showing the sphere to Yuna and getting her hopes up.

Honestly, Paine really didn't understand exactly what had happened to him. Nobody had really explained it to her, and she hadn't felt right to ask about it, especially not Yuna. Rikku told her a bit of what she knew, of course, but she had only understood part of it since she wasn't a summoner or knew much about the Fayth- that's what she said. Paine had the feeling the younger girl tried to block some of her memories of the pilgrimage out at times.

The best Paine could gather from her observations was that he didn't really exist, yet he had lived and breathed and ate like everyone else had. Rikku did mentioned he had something to do with the Fayth- which was why she couldn't say much- and that when they stopped singing, he disappeared, right before their eyes. She also thought perhaps he had been a Fayth sent to help Yuna defeat Sin, or maybe an unsent tied to them. Paine figured, if he looked like Shuyin, he might have something to do with him as well- they were both from Zanarkand, after all...

Obviously, that's what prompted Yuna on the search.

She tried not to think about the whole thing; it was already getting too confusing for her.

"Can we talk? It seems like we haven't gotten much chance lately." It was said softly, as if Baralai didn't really want to break the feeling of quiet that had settled over the usually busy port, for once. It was still enough to snap her out of her thoughts again, however.

Paine turned slightly, not entirely sure on whether to reply to him or not. There were still so many things left unanswered- things she needed to hear and say... and yet she had no compunction to pursue it anymore, at least not right now.

"Heh. You've changed a lot..." Another voice came out of the shadows of the overhang,Â Â she wasn't really surprised honestly- she'd heard him coming. As much as Nooj wanted to walk quietly, he couldn't hide the slight clicking of the false leg. He too, spoke softly, though his voice was a bit deeper, allowing it to carry better.

"So have you." She retorted, waving a hand towards her two old friends.

"..Maybe." Nooj sat on a crate, setting his cane to rest against it. He seemed preoccupied with something, a thoughtful expression on his otherwise serious face, tapping a finger against the cane's handle. "I-"

That was as far as he got. A voice broke in on whatever Nooj had been about to say, startling Paine slightly, because this time she hadn't heard this one coming. "So, what's there to do for fun around here? Sorry, saw you guys sneak off. I just had to follow." Gippal was almost abnormally cheerful, making the other three wince slightly at the loud. "Regular old party, huh? When was the last time... Mi'ihen Highroad? Good times."

Baralai sighed, and chose to remain standing. "At least we're on friendly terms this time. I'm sorry for what happened."

The young woman shook her head, pulling one knee up to her chin, resting her foot on the edge of the crate. "Don't apologize. It happened, it's over."

"Ah, but I have to. New Yevon caused a lot of problems." He looked a bit unhappy. "I honestly didn't know they were into destroying spheres. The whole thing almost caused another war. Just proves we've got to be careful, especially if we want the Eternal Calm to last forever."

Nooj didn't say anything, just made a small grunt of acknowledgment. He was, of course, as much to blame for everything as anyone, maybe even more so. Paine knew that was probably the only apology he was likely to give, not that she needed it. She knew they weren't at fault, mostly...

"He's got a point, I should too," Gippal leaned against the crate Nooj sat on, folding his arms. "Sorry. So what's former-High Summoner Yuna up to? Heard she went off on the Celsius for something." He was trying to keep things light-hearted, and wasn't sure how well he was succeeding. The history between them confused him... Well, at least the part on how they separated. He was dying to know how the others survived and ended up where they were- what they had done during that time, too. "Man, I really wanna take a look at that thing..."

That made Paine wince a little. "She's... out in Zanarkand right now, saying goodbye, I think."

"It's about him, isn't it? I heard about the blond guardian that disappeared. Kinoc talked about him once or twice. I even saw him when they passed through Guadosalam. It was kinda from the back..." Baralai lifted his arms, twining his fingers behind his head and pillowing it against his fingers, looking up at the sky. "Shuyin looked a bit like him, didn't he? Kind of weird, since he claimed he was from Zanarkand... I overheard someone saying something about that today. Shuyin was from Zanarkand, too."

Paine nodded. "Yeah, him. Yuna... Rikku had a sphere that detailed part of Shuyin's past, or someone did... She thought it was him. It was part of the Vegnagun spheres. The second one was the one you were fighting over in Kilika. That's how she got Yuna to join the Gullwings." She thought back to that day of their private concert, remembering how Yuna went off apart from the others to look at the land rushing past. It'd startled everyone when she demanded to know who Lenne was. Yuna had been so upset... To get her hopes up, find out it was someone else, and still not find him... Actually, it sort of amazed her Yuna was still insisting on trying to find him.

Lenne... That was another story full of sadness and pain. She kind of hoped that wherever those two were- Shuyin and Lenne-, in the Farplane, they were together and happy. Maybe that's what she could do next... Find the sad stories, try to make them better. She might be getting a little soft, but just because Sin was gone didn't mean humans would stop being cruel in the world, being human...

"So, what's going to happen now?" Nooj shifted slightly; he too, was looking at the sky. It was a popular object tonight. The stars seemed pretty bright, even with the city so close.

"Feels kinda like we were never apart, huh?" The praetor sighed a bit. Paine was surprised to find she agreed. It seemed like the two years apart hadn't happened right then... Just by a little talking. "Well, we rebuild Spira, of course... Spira needs good leaders who can work together. I'd like to be one of them. I hope that speech of ours wasn't just talk..." That was a little less than subtle reminding.

"Yeah, me too. There's a lot of stuff to find out about the machina, especially if something like Vegnagun is still running around."

"Not what I meant. There should be a plan, but we need to agree on what is to be done first..."

The Al Bhed looked from one man, to the other, then at Paine. "How about we make a library of the spheres you guys have gathered, and let people choose whether they want to know Spira's history or not? Doesn't seem right taking it away, since it belongs to everybody."

"...I have to agree with that. I'm going to insist on some sort of security, though. We can't let the spheres get destroyed." Nooj glanced meaningfully at Baralai, and the accused Praetor shook his head.

"I didn't know, but I'm going to look into it right away. If there's any left, I'll leave them into your safekeeping." That had to be a hard concession for Baralai... "I've learned a lot, you could say."

"Y'know, we could use some help with the machina from time to time..." Gippal spoke again, a slight grin showing white teeth even in the dim light. "It'd probably be good if New Yevon and the Youth league took some lessons."

Baralai groaned. "You know that's going to ca-"

"We'll do it." Nooj cut him off, giving him a warning look. "It would be in our best interest."

"I know it would... All right, I'll deal with it." He looked quite resigned.

Paine watched, kind of wishing she had a sphere recorder right at that moment. This meeting... It probably had just turned into one of the most important meetings for the future of Spira.

"The Youth League will continue repairing the damage caused by Sin. Now that it's gone, we could try out some more permanent structures." There was a small pause. "Hmm. Seems we all have a role in this." Nooj glanced over at Paine.

The Al Bhed raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, sure, I guess we do, but... what about Paine?" He'd followed Nooj's gaze. He felt a bit guilty now, remembering that she was there.

"It's not obvious?"

That made Paine jump off her crate. "If there's three leaders helping to rebuild Spira..." She looked over the ocean, then turned back to them. "Then someone's got to record it, right?"

Gippal started laughing. "And we can have Nooj here be our captain, as usual, and work us like dogs."

"Hmph, you slackers need it. There'll be no dereliction of duty in my army." Though he sounded grumpy, his lips twitched.

That set them all off.

After a moment, when they stopped laughing, there was a serious air hanging around. "But there's something I want to say..." It was probably the time to say it now, the feeling was right, even after her initial hesitation. Paine walked over to stand beside Nooj and Gippal, and motioned for Baralai to get closer as well. "I've seen a lot over the past few years, months especially... Families being torn apart, friends turning enemies... Us included. I don't want that to happen again. Sometimes friends are all we have in the world. You guys... Promise me, we wont fall apart like that again." She held her fist out, palm downwards.

Gippal stuck his out as well, touching knuckles with her. "Sounds like a plan."

"I, too, have seen that happen in the world... Friendships disappearing, replaced by strife. Without Sin, it seemed like we were about to fall in the ways of the ancients, and it was all without machina... Really makes you think, doesn't it? We blamed the wars on machina, but it was really us..." Baralai looked thoughtful for a second, then touched knuckles with the other two.

"I'm in." Nooj stood up, placing his fist on the others.

"What? No big speech?" The Al Bhed smirked, punching him in the shoulder.

Nooj simply humphed. "Speeches are overrated, sometimes." He glanced meaningfully at Baralai.

"What? Hey! Did... did Nooj just make a jab at me? I think the world is ending."

"I said 'sometimes'."

"I heard you made quite the speech at Kilika, Noojie-woojie." Ah, Gippal must have had an interesting discussion with Leblanc...

"...Call me that again, and-"

Gippal made a face of mock surprise. "Wait, I thought you were a deathseeker, not a deathbringer?"

"Maybe Leblanc just isn't his type. I bet his type is-" Before the praetor could get anything further out, he found himself knocked over the side of the dock, and into the water. He surfaced, looking something like a drowned chocobo. There was a burst of laughter from somewhere above his head. That was it... something had to be done!

Paine just shook her head. It seemed like things were getting back to normal... Whatever "normal" was. Maybe things were looking brighter already, even without the sun.