Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Ninety-ninth Sacrifice ❯ V ( Chapter 5 )

V

982 S.A.

 

Braska felt very awkward on the Al Bhed boat. Sara was standing next to him, but there were countless eyes on him, made countless mostly because most of the eyes were shod with goggles of some type. The worst part of the experience was the knowledge that these people could understand everything he said while he could understand nothing they said when they so chose. He waited for Sara to say something.

For Braska's benefit, Sara spoke in the continental tongue. “What are you all gawking at?”

One leaning on the ship's railing answered, “Ra'c yh uidcepan.”

“Who cares?” yelled Sara. “Maybe people would stop treating us like we're less than human if we stopped treating them as such! Argh! I have to go talk to Cid!” Grabbing Braska's hand, she walked down the deck of the much smaller ship that was going very fast to outrun any authorities that may have come to the passenger ship's rescue.

“Who's Cid?” asked Braska once they stopped.

Before Sara could answer, the same large man with the military haircut burst out of the bridge. A shorter woman with a swollen belly came out after him. “Sara, so will you finally introduce me to this young man of yours?” he asked in jubilation.

“This is Braska,” said Sara. Turning her head to face Braska, Sara added, “Braska, this is my family, Cid and Mitsuki.”

“Oh, hello, um, Cid,” smiled Braska, shaking his hand. “I'd like to say that your daughter is a wonderful woman.”

Both Cid and Mitsuki laughed heartily. Braska felt his face grow hot when Sara joined in with the laughing. “Cid,” said Sara, “Is my older brother by eight years.”

“Oh,” said Braska, bowing to Cid, “My sincerest apologies.”

Cid laughed and looked at Mitsuki. “Do I really look that old?”

Mitsuki kissed him lightly on the mouth and held his arm. “Nah, but who cares how old you look? I don't, and I'm the woman who shares your bed.”

“A.k.a. his wife,” included Sara. “A point they frequently forget to mention to make themselves look like a truly despicable couple.”

“You just wait, Sara,” added Mitsuki. “When you get married to someone you not only love but can also live with you'll forget that you're married and you'll be family.”

Sara inadvertently gave a blushed glance to Braska. The glance right after Mitsuki's words made Braska feel like he was purple to his hairline.

“Oh, honey,” cooed Mitsuki, placing Cid's arms around her shoulders. “Aren't you glad we're past the awkward phase?”

Cid gave his wife a loving kiss and added, “Yes, the comfortable parts are better.”

“Yeah,” hummed Mitsuki. “And then there's the kid part; the part that makes me look like a cactuar that's just been thrown in a puddle.”

“Oh, honey,” he said, rubbing her belly, “You're half as big as a cactuar filled with water, but twice as prickly.”

In response to her husband's snide comment, she gave him a sound slap on the shoulder. Like many of the Al Bhed in the summer Cid wore cargo pants with suspenders and no shirt on underneath. A large red mark enveloped his shoulder.

“Aw, Mitsuki, that hurt,” he yawned. “Geez, what time is it?”

“About four,” said Sara, getting her estimate on a setting moon. “You two should really get to bed.”

“As should you,” said Cid, leading his wife into the captain's state room. “There's room in the hold with the grunts,” he called from inside his cabin, which had an external door.

“So,” smiled Braska tiredly. “What does that mean?”

“That was in continental and you still didn't understand it?”

“Where did he tell us to go?” Braska sighed almost impatiently.

“Oh,” said Sara in understanding. “The hold is in the bottom of the ship. There should be some hammocks we can sling up easily down there.”

Braska was then led on a path through the extensively machina ship of the Al Bhed. All of the parts were run by steam when it wasn't windy, like at the moment, and the rest was operated by wind when they let the sails out. The entire outside of the ship was covered in lights in various places, which were turned off because of their raiding mission. The glow lights on the inside of the ship were alight though because the crew would bump into each other otherwise.

After descending a cramped staircase and tramping across a catwalk over some boilers Braska and Sara made it to what Cid had called a hold. Inside this room many bodies were hanging from the ceiling in large canvas hammocks. They hung low, but from the ceiling nonetheless. Braska did not look forward to the prospect of sleeping in such close quarters to people he had never met before, let alone not speaking their language.

“Um, Sara, you know this ship well. Could you find us a more comfortable place to sleep?” Braska searched around the room, looking for some kind of alcove.

“Oh, sure,” said Sara, taking his hand reassuringly again. “Here, just follow me.” Leading him to the corner of the room, Braska noticed a ladder to their left. “This is my special little area. I don't get a room because Cid says he doesn't want to favor me too much. But he let me have this when I found it.”

As she began to climb up the ladder, Braska joined her. “It's barely enough for two people, but it should do.” The area was a small loft at best with random slips of paper adorning the wall and little pieces of what Braska thought at first were junk. The little pieces of junk actually looked to have a purpose on further inspection, but for what Braska couldn't guess. “You're the first person I've shown this place to.”

“This is your room, your home, isn't it Sara?” Braska lied down on a soft bedspread after he distributed his back pack in the corner. When he lied down he left all of his clothes on because he didn't know when he had to get up next.

Sara curled up into a little ball next to him. “Yeah, it's all mine. Kind of pathetic, don't you think?”

“Nah, I think it's very comfortable.” Braska shuddered at the sheltered life he had lived at the temple. “A thousand times better than the blinding white at the temple. Please promise me you'll never make me go back.”

“So what, you going to become an Al Bhed now?” giggled Sara, falling to sleep.

“Your brother and his wife sure seem to think so,” badgered Braska, poking her with his elbow.

“Oh, I'm sorry about that,” yawned Sara.

“Don't be,” said Braska. “It felt good to be noticed for once. And, the prospect of being with you does seem like it would be the nice kind of comfortable your brother and his wife have.”

Sara didn't respond to Braska's last remark. Taking it at though she had fallen asleep, Braska let his eyes close heavily. Next to him Sara stayed awake until daybreak contemplating her future. With or without Braska, an outsider she had only just met, she couldn't decide right now.

 

***

 

Braska was woken up in a fashion he found to be most abrupt. Opening his groggy eyes he found before him an unfamiliar and fuzzy environment. He was alone in the loft, and dirty yellow light was flooding the space from behind his head. A pile of rope on his belly was what had woken him up. Grabbing the rope, he stuck his head over the edge. Below the edge an Al Bhed man he couldn't recognize, not only for his goggles, yelled up, “Lad pufh rana! Cid fyhd'c oui!”

Unable to understand Al Bhed, Braska was at a loss for what the man wanted him to do. “Cid?” he called down, using the only word he understood in the whole sentence.

Shaking his head, the man said slowly, stumbling over the words, “Come down Yevon! Go to Cid!”

Scratching his head, Braska climbed down the ladder that lead up to the loft, the rope still in his hand. Offering it to the Al Bhed, the man shook his head. He said, “Sara,” and pointed Braska in the right direction. Fearing he would get lost, Braska always went in the direction that went up. After minutes of walking along and up metal, Braska found the door out of the hold. The height of the sun surprised him when he stepped outside. The sun was a deep orange and was sparkling over the eerily calm water.

“Whoa,” exclaimed Braska, not caring that others might hear. “How long have I been asleep for?”

His self directed question was answered by a woman's voice. “About fifteen hours.” The voice came form Cid's wife, Mitsuki. Her voice had a slight accent and was gruff with the slang of those who live on the sea their entire lives. “Why were you so tired?”

“I had a very long night last night,” he said, looking out on the eerie seas. “And a very hectic one. I needed the rest.”

“Ah,” cooed Mitsuki, “I guess Cid isn't being too harsh then. I'll have to tell him the confession you've just told me.”

“What! What are you talking about?”

Mitsuki cocked her head in the direction of the captain's cabin. “You do you think they're yelling about in there?”

“Who, me? But I, I mean we, we didn't do anything!” stammered Braska, hopping by Mitsuki and into the cabin. Even before he opened the door he could here the two raised voices. Shoving the door open, he found Cid berating Sara.

“Don't think you can get away with that under my nose kid!” shouted Cid, pointing his finger down at Sara.

“Get away with what? We've been over this! I didn't do anything!”

Cid's face was red with anger. “You took him up to your loft! Ten of the crewmen saw you do it!”

“Yes,” said Sara, “But we only slept! We didn't even touch each other all night!”

“How do I know you two didn't do anything on the ship?” yelled Cid.

“Oh, c'mon brother!” Sara argued. “Braska's like a kid! I don't think he's ever been with a woman before! You should hear him talk about relationships. He's worse than a woman.”

Severely crest-fallen, Braska added in at that moment, “I thought I was just being chivalrous and kind. But I guess that's not what you want Sara.” Dropping the rope on the floor, he stepped quietly out the door with his head down.

Surprised and embarrassed at what she had said about the only man who saw her for a person and not just a body, Sara punched her brother. “Look what you made me do you big oaf.”

“If he reacted like that,” chuckled Cid, “Just guess what he'd be like when he finds out you ain't a virgin!”

“Not like you're any better,” snapped Sara, running out the door.

Finding her sister-in-law just outside the door, Sara asked her, “Did you see where he went?”

“You better be nice to this one Sara,” consoled Mitsuki. “He's special. He seems like he needs love and he's not afraid to show it. That's a rare quality in a man.”

“I don't need this speech from you. Just tell me where he is.”

“Back of the boat. He doesn't look like he's going to jump. Well, not yet at least.”

Leaving her sister-in-law at the cabin door, Sara walked up slowly to the nose. Braska was watching the waves intently and did not turn when she came near. Placing her hand on his back she shrank away when he shrugged it off.

“So, is that all you think of me? Am I a woman to you?” He turned around and looked down at her severely. In the dark orange light of the sunset Sara had a huge impression of Braska's height against her own. “Do you belittle me because I have had more self control than you do? Because I did what I believe was right and kept my body for the one woman I would spend my life with?”

Sara turned around and felt the need to zip up the front of her vest. Against this man she felt weak and dirty. She desperately wanted to jump out of her skin. This man reminded her of all of the things about herself that she didn't like. “I'm sorry if I made you seem any less important than you are. I'm just so afraid of how you are. You have an inner power and control that I could never fathom. You make me feel inferior, so I needed to … to make you seem less than what you really are.” Falling to her knees she held her face in her hands and wept.

His anger having subsided, Braska bent down and enveloped her with his long arms. “What are you so afraid of that you cry so sadly?”

“I don't want to be alone. Every other man I've met other than Cid have been only interested in one thing. I'm always blind enough to think that they love me, but they never did. I didn't want to get hurt again.” Turning her head so that she could see Braska's face, she said, “I just want to be with a man I can love; a man who will love me for me and stay with me because we could have a life together. I need a life, not the scraps of ones I've been living on so far. Can you give me that?”

Braska, feeling tears well up in his eyes, embraced her tightly, and whispered, “I can try. I promise you that I'll never stop loving you or leave because of you. I want to be with you Sara. I don't need forever or until the ends of our lives. Just a moment, and then the next and hope we'll always cling to each other in these dire times.”

 

 

 

 

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