Everything Looks Better Ch. 02

Sticking the end of her staff in the grass, she leaned on it to catch her breath. "I tried. It's too hard." She could hear her own whine, but didn't care. She hated the sending dance. She was bad at it. Now she was soaked and crabby. "Let's go back to the Iguions."

"Absolutely not. You just need to work on the steps."

"I can't get the steps from a book. Can't you show me?" She raised her eyebrows suggestively.

"Hmph."

He meant: "Not in your lifetime."

Popping her hand on her hip, she shrugged. "Well, I need to be shown."

"Surely a Blitzball cheerleader can pick up a couple sending steps," he scoffed.

"That was ten years ago. And it's leading cheers, not sending Pyreflies to the Farplane. If it was easy, you'd be doing it," she muttered.

Slanting his sword over his shoulder, his sunglasses targeted her hand, curled around the shaft of her staff, and promptly gave it an admonishing shake of his head.

"Something wrong?"

"What happened to the Nultide Ring I gave you?"

"It's too big. It keeps slipping off."

"That ring has no beneficial properties. Yet you still wear it."

She knew he meant her wedding ring. Raine shrugged. "It's pretty."

"You'll lose it."

"Would that make you happy?"

He shook the water out of his hair. "Hmph."

He meant: "Don't ask mindless questions."

Snatching the staff out of her hand, Auron held it horizontal with both hands as he passed it back to her. "Don't hold it in the ground like that. It ruins it."

Matching his hard look in a battle of pure ego, Raine refused the staff and they stood like statues, glints of stray pink Pyreflies passing in the reflection of his sunglasses. As usual, Raine conceded first and waved the staff closer.

"Fine. Go lure another one. The faster I send it, the faster we can beat Sin, the faster we can go home."

Pausing, Auron showed her his back, scanning the woods for more Chimeras.

Her stomach dropped. "I get to go home after, right?"

He didn't look at her.

Bracing the staff against her shoulder to give her arms a break, she said, "It's Sin, isn't it? He's the link between our worlds."

Auron stepped around to face her. "We need to talk."

"Look, I get it. Once Sin is gone, I can't go home. No worries. I'll make new friends here. They can't all be like Dona."

"It's not that."

Without taking his sword off his shoulder, Auron's bare arm circled around the back of her neck and tightened in an avuncular way, a rough callous snagging the thin fabric of her blouse as he displayed stoic comfort. Her face mashed gracelessly against his smooth leather cuirass and all she smelled was the leather conditioner, which had a faint, soothing scent of honey. Something tore deep in her and she knew it was worse than she thought. If there was one thing she knew about Auron, he didn't console. Their rare efforts at physical contact were generally few and far between.

Her father and her brother both died fighting Sin. Why did she think it would be different for her?

Next to them, the dead Chimera was already attracting Vespa Wasps, looking for a place to bury their eggs. Soon that would be her, a carcass in the Calm Lands with no one to send her.

"When?" She was only dimly aware Auron was as cold as a Pyrefly under his wet cloak.

"After you call the final Aeon."

Dona knew. Rin knew. Barthello knew.

"Everyone knew but me. They must think I'm so stupid."

"On the contrary. They think it's me who is stupid, for not telling you sooner."

She felt oddly weightless, an empty vacuum seeping inside her. Raine didn't want her funeral to be like her mother's, people only there out of obligation, and she didn't want a funeral like Tidus', either, a circus of acquaintances trying to climb some sort of social ladder.

"Will there be a party when I die?"

Raine felt the jolt of Auron's body first and heard the clatter of his katana second. He ripped the staff out of her hands as he threw it down on the ground next to his sword, where they were definitely both in danger of being "ruined." Scooping her in both arms, he gave her a long squeeze, crushing the air out of her lungs as his unshaven cheek pressed against the top of her head. Cool water droplets from the ends of his hair landed on her neck and shoulders. Hugs did not make her feel safe, but this one came close.

"Of course," Auron rasped, and Raine sensed sincerity in the catch of his voice.

"A big one?"

"Not nearly as big as it should be."