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deemoyzaTitle: "Easy Silence" (8,434 words)
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Final Fantasy X
Rating/Warnings: Explicit / Sexual Content
Characters: Lulu, Auron
Relationships: Auron/Lulu
Summary: Lulu appreciated Auron's silence. He seemed to know the value of words and, consequently, recognized when they were useless. When an encounter with her past leaves Lulu shaken and disconnected from even herself, she eventually finds comfort in his quiet understanding, and in a largely wordless reconnection with a part of herself she has ignored for too long.
As her companions entered the cavern, Lulu lingered behind, trying to prepare herself for what she might encounter within. Would she find remains, so long after the incident? Would she encounter Lady Ginnem as an unsent, or had Lady Ginnem succumbed to fear and hatred and become a fiend? What would she say if she did meet her? An apology did not seem like enough.
The fading sound of the others' footsteps brought Lulu back to the task at hand. Taking a deep breath, she steeled her nerves and stepped forward.
The air inside was warm and rank, heavy with the smell of decay, and brought with it a rush of memories Lulu had long suppressed: Lady Ginnem staggering from the Chamber of the Fayth, exhausted from prayer and negotiation; her outstretched hand as she was struck down, ordering her other guardian to get Lulu to safety; that guardian's dying wail; the heat of his blood spattered on Lulu's face; the cold night air outside the cavern, where she huddled for a day and a half, unsure where to go, unsure whether she wanted to go on at all.
Lulu set her jaw and tried to focus on other details around her, to anchor her senses in the present, but found nothing in the way of comfort. The sound of claws skittering against stone echoed from deeper in the passage, and clusters of pyreflies drifted throughout, each a collection of anguished memories, snatches of the last sights and dying moans of the party's unfortunate predecessors. She shook her head and tried to suppress the trembling in her body; if the pyreflies in Macalania had been watching her, these felt as if they were hunting her, resentful of the life flowing through her, yet desperate to taste it once again.
"Are you all right?" Auron asked. "If you would prefer to wait outside—"
"No," she answered, relieved to hear her voice steady. "I will continue. I must."
"Where to?" Rikku asked, wrinkling her nose and fanning the air in front of her. "You really sure there's something in here?" Yuna echoed Rikku's question with a skeptical glance of her own.
"It's here," Lulu assured them. "Farther in. At the very back."
"If you say so." Rikku started down the first passage, and the rest of them followed, Lulu hovering near the rear of the group, with Auron.
She turned toward him. "Did Lord Braska come here during his pilgrimage?" she asked.
"No," he replied. "He had confidence that the aeons of the temples would be enough to defeat Sin."
"I hope you do not see Yuna's decision to seek this aeon as a lack of confidence on her part."
"Each summoner prepares for the final battle as they see fit. It is not a guardian's place to judge."
"Yet you have an opinion, no doubt."
"Naturally."
"And it is?"
"This is a foolhardy digression, but ultimately good for Yuna, and her guardians. I was not lying about Gagazet; if this leaves her stronger and more confident, it will have been worthwhile. If I believed otherwise, I would have cautioned you not to tell her about this place." He smirked. "Though whether you would have listened to me is beyond my control."
"I would never deliberately endanger Yuna."
"Not even to lay to rest some of your own ghosts?"
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Final Fantasy X
Rating/Warnings: Explicit / Sexual Content
Characters: Lulu, Auron
Relationships: Auron/Lulu
Summary: Lulu appreciated Auron's silence. He seemed to know the value of words and, consequently, recognized when they were useless. When an encounter with her past leaves Lulu shaken and disconnected from even herself, she eventually finds comfort in his quiet understanding, and in a largely wordless reconnection with a part of herself she has ignored for too long.
As her companions entered the cavern, Lulu lingered behind, trying to prepare herself for what she might encounter within. Would she find remains, so long after the incident? Would she encounter Lady Ginnem as an unsent, or had Lady Ginnem succumbed to fear and hatred and become a fiend? What would she say if she did meet her? An apology did not seem like enough.
The fading sound of the others' footsteps brought Lulu back to the task at hand. Taking a deep breath, she steeled her nerves and stepped forward.
The air inside was warm and rank, heavy with the smell of decay, and brought with it a rush of memories Lulu had long suppressed: Lady Ginnem staggering from the Chamber of the Fayth, exhausted from prayer and negotiation; her outstretched hand as she was struck down, ordering her other guardian to get Lulu to safety; that guardian's dying wail; the heat of his blood spattered on Lulu's face; the cold night air outside the cavern, where she huddled for a day and a half, unsure where to go, unsure whether she wanted to go on at all.
Lulu set her jaw and tried to focus on other details around her, to anchor her senses in the present, but found nothing in the way of comfort. The sound of claws skittering against stone echoed from deeper in the passage, and clusters of pyreflies drifted throughout, each a collection of anguished memories, snatches of the last sights and dying moans of the party's unfortunate predecessors. She shook her head and tried to suppress the trembling in her body; if the pyreflies in Macalania had been watching her, these felt as if they were hunting her, resentful of the life flowing through her, yet desperate to taste it once again.
"Are you all right?" Auron asked. "If you would prefer to wait outside—"
"No," she answered, relieved to hear her voice steady. "I will continue. I must."
"Where to?" Rikku asked, wrinkling her nose and fanning the air in front of her. "You really sure there's something in here?" Yuna echoed Rikku's question with a skeptical glance of her own.
"It's here," Lulu assured them. "Farther in. At the very back."
"If you say so." Rikku started down the first passage, and the rest of them followed, Lulu hovering near the rear of the group, with Auron.
She turned toward him. "Did Lord Braska come here during his pilgrimage?" she asked.
"No," he replied. "He had confidence that the aeons of the temples would be enough to defeat Sin."
"I hope you do not see Yuna's decision to seek this aeon as a lack of confidence on her part."
"Each summoner prepares for the final battle as they see fit. It is not a guardian's place to judge."
"Yet you have an opinion, no doubt."
"Naturally."
"And it is?"
"This is a foolhardy digression, but ultimately good for Yuna, and her guardians. I was not lying about Gagazet; if this leaves her stronger and more confident, it will have been worthwhile. If I believed otherwise, I would have cautioned you not to tell her about this place." He smirked. "Though whether you would have listened to me is beyond my control."
"I would never deliberately endanger Yuna."
"Not even to lay to rest some of your own ghosts?"
