Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Ninety-ninth Sacrifice ❯ XV ( Chapter 15 )

XV

990 S.A.

 

“Hello, Cid,” said Braska calmly, looking at the man who was shorter but more muscular than he.

Balling a tight fist, Cid breathed heavily. “You damn bastard!” swore Cid, looking as though he were about to punch Braska. “What the hell are you thinking?”

“About what Cid?” asked Braska calmly, but with a hint of anger.

Cid abruptly grabbed Braska about the collar, causing both Auron and Jecht to grab their swords. “What do you think? It's all your fault! It's all your fault that Sara died, all because of your fool quest.”

Pushing Cid's hand away with more power than anyone gave Braska credit for, Braska said, “This is not some fool quest, Cid! My companions and I are doing this for the good of Spira.”

“Yeah, you and the ninety-eight before you who accomplished this task,” spat Cid. “Not to mention all of the others who died in the attempt of defeating Sin! Like Sara!”

“It was her choice to accompany me on this journey Cid!” shouted Braska. Both men were so emotional now that both of their faces were red with tears. “I didn't even want her to come! Just ask Auron! It's not like I was the one who made a hole in her chest!”

“Yeah,” added Jecht, trying to calm the two down, “That was one of them sinspawn's handiwork. I know, because I was there when it happened.”

“And just who are you?” snapped Cid, fuming in the cold rain of the Thunder Plains.

“This is Jecht,” said Braska, “One of my guardians, like Auron is, and Sara was.”

“Why did you let her be one of your guardians?” demanded Cid, seeing some of his comrades come up behind him to see what all of the commotion was.

“There was no stopping her,” said Auron, “She was a good fighter, and she knew it. Any one of us could have been speared by the sinspawn, but that was her fate.”

“You could have told me in a better way than sending a letter!” shouted Cid; both of his fists clenched tight, the muscles in his arms taut. “Now I'll never see my baby sister ever again!” Waving his hand, a group of Al Bhed men pressed upon Braska's group with an odd concoction. Within moments all three of the men were knocked out cold. “We'll begin this conversation again when we're on my terms.”

***

Jecht awoke groggily on an uneasily shifting mass. Rubbing his aching head, he searched around the room that was still fuzzy because his eyes had not focused yet. In his older age he had a harder time focusing with his eyes; a fact that he had not told anyone, not even his wife. Next to him was sitting Auron without his jacket on examining a piece of paper.

“Hey, Auron, where are we?”

“On an Al Bhed ship,” grunted Auron, still looking at the piece of paper.

“Remind me, what is an Al Bhed again?”

“Remember the guy who attacked us at the entrance of the Thunder Plains?”

“Oh,” grunted Jecht, attempting to sit up. “That Cid guy.”

“Yeah,” said Auron.

“Is that a map?” asked Jecht from his sitting position on the floor.

“Yes,” said Auron.

“Well,” said Jecht, crawling over to Auron on the unsteady floor of the ship. “Where are we?”

“Probably half way to Bikanel by now,” said Auron, pointing out a stretch of ocean between Bevelle and Bikanel. “That's where Cid has built a refuge for the Al Bhed, or so Braska has informed me.”

“Are we going to go that far?”

“I don't think Braska would let that happen.” Auron folded up the map and stretched out on the pile of net he was sitting on. Staring at the ceiling, he added, “I have a lot of fond memories about this boat. I lived on it for a few years. I can't believe Cid still has it.”

“Oh, really?” asked Jecht, looking up at the wooded ceiling. He didn't find it too interesting, but he realized he would look at the ceiling in his home the same way if he ever came to it again.

“Why do you think this Cid guy would listen to anything that Braska says?”

“If Cid doesn't, then the crew would,” said Auron. “Braska was a member of this crew years before I was, a great feat for any outsider. He's who got me onboard, and I owe the rest of my life to him.”

“Even if you're forced to fight fiends on ever road we take?”

Auron gave an uncharacteristic smile. “That's the fun part.”

Jecht smiled and said, “You're crazy, man.” Sitting in silence for a moment, Jecht said, “Where do you think Braska is?”

“Arguing with Cid,” said Auron.

“Oh. About what?”

“Cid, like most Al Bheds, is caustic towards Yevon, and thinks there is another way to defeating Sin. He's mistaken, but he still doesn't want his brother-in-law to be a High Summoner.”

“Why not?” asked Jecht.

“You should ask him yourself later.”

***

Braska sat calmly, his arms crossed. In front of him in the same states room that both Niisa and Yuna were born in Cid fumed as he walked in disorientated circles. “I don't see what your big problem with me being a summoner is.”

“You don't see? What, are you blind?” Cid held his aching head, and then he rubbed his eyes. “If you don't accomplish your journey you'll turn into some kind of fiend! And if you do accomplish your journey, you'll die anyways!”

“To keep your mind at ease,” said Braska, “I would have never chosen Sara. To be my guardian.”

“Well, that's good,” said Cid sarcastically.

“Braska sighed. “I don't want to seem sick, but that's why I coerced you into letting Auron on this ship years ago. I thought he would make a perfect guardian. I was lucky enough to also get Jecht literally out of the blue.”

“How long have you been planning this?” asked Cid, horrified.

Gulping in a breath of air, Braska told Cid the truth. “Ten years; ever since my family was killed by Sin during the last cycle.”

Cid held his tired head in his hands. “Ten years. Ten years, I can't believe this. Two years before you even met my sister you decided when and how you were going to die? And you still courted my sister?”

“And I loved her with all my heart, Cid,” said Braska. “Eight years of love like that is more than most people could ask for. We had Yuna, too, and I love her more than air.”

“If you do this, Yuna will be orphaned Braska! How could you expect a child her age to deal with something of this magnitude! Plus, who would take care of her?”

“You're her only family, Cid,” said Braska. “If, in three months time she's still in Bevelle, you find her and take her with you. If not, then know that she will contact you to tell you she's all right. I taught her how.”

Cid placed his head in his hands again and let the tears fall from his eyes. Tears of remorse for his sister's death, tears of empathy for what his niece would have to endure, and tears of hatred for the monster that has done this to his family fell from his tired eyes. “Why does it have to be this way? Why does Spira have to exist in a cycle of death? Why can't Sin just die and stay that way?”

“Yevon teaches that Sin is a product of the wrongfulness of machina and how people us them.”

“That's a load of bull,” grunted Cid. “You don't actually believe that, do you?”

“Not a wink. Jecht, my older guardian, claims that he is from the past. A thousand years in the past, to be precise. He has some insight into this matter unlike any other person on Spira.”

“Heh,” grunted Cid, unbelieving. “Like what?”

“Jecht has told me that the ancient city states of Zanarkand and Bevelle were preparing for war against each other. As you know, Sin makes berth at the ruins of Zanarkand, and Bevelle still relies heavily on the ancient machina that make up the city.” Braska paused. “Yevon was a summoner, as was his daughter Yunalesca, of whom I am a direct descendant. Yunalesca became the first High Summoner in the first year of the age of Sin. In history, the city of machina, Bevelle, defeated the city of summoners, Zanrkand. After being a summoner and coming in contact with Sin, I have come to notice that Sin is more like a summons creature than a fiend.”

“Do you think it's the High Summoner that defeated the monster the last time who is summoning it again?” asked Cid. Even though he was an Al Bhed apart from Yevon society, he knew much about the topic of summoners.

Braska shook his head. “No, I don't think so. It's a more powerful and evil force than any human could muster, or one would think.”

“Do your guardians know what lies ahead once you reach Zanarkand?”

Braska shook his head. “Auron knows that I'll die when I become High Summoner, but Jecht doesn't.”

“When are you going to tell him?” asked Cid.

“When he asks,” said Braska bluntly. Standing up, he began to walk a familiar hall. “I'm going to tell the helmsman to make a course back to Macalania. I have yet to gain the ability to summon Shiva, which I need before I can proceed onto the Calm Lands.”

Waiting for Braska to go talk to the helmsman and come back, an idea came into Cid's head. When Braska reentered the room, Cid said, “Mitsuki and the kids are onboard with us. Maybe you should spend some time with your family before heading out. You'll never get the chance again.”

“That's a great idea,” yawned Braska. “First thing in the morning I'll meet Mitsuki and Niisa. Wait, you said kids, when did you have another?”

“About two years after you and Sara moved to Bevelle,” said Cid. “Her name is Rikku, and she's one hell of a little brat. Smarter than most of us, but real cheeky about it.”

“Hmm, Yuna will love to hear that she has a girl cousin. She can't remember Niisa, of course, but it would make her happy.”

“In the morning then?” asked Cid?

“In the morning,” confirmed Braska with a nod. Soon after Braska had walked into the room where Jecht and Auron were and fell asleep between them on a dry fishing net.

 

 

 

 

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