Everything Looks Better Ch. 09

Drake House, Zanarkand

Auron had a perfect view of Raine's wedding from the roof of the garage, but his sunglasses were level with the ocean, scanning white-capped shores. The air's substantial gravity was oppressive and charged, like an approaching storm, minus the visual cues of thunder clouds and distant flares of lightning, and he was feeling a little like a human wind vane, the erratic ocean wind flapping the red banner of his sleeve in all directions.

When the weather got like this, Sin was not far. It was also the only time in Zanarkand when the Pyreflies in Auron got restless, when they knew Sin was close, but how close he would get was yet to be determined. Auron anticipated Tidus would not want to miss his little sister's wedding, whether he approved of it or not. Auron had the impression Tidus wasn't easily impressed when it came to Raine's suitors, but whatever the case, Sin wasn't in the habit of arriving to events unobtrusively.

Vaguely aware of some mild disorder in the narrow gully between the garage and house, Auron sidestepped down the shingles to investigate. There was a problem with the dress, apparently, although from this angle Auron saw nothing wrong, and when the father of the groom sauntered over to take his post next to Raine, Auron glowered as Mr. Drake lecherously partook in the same view. Auron hoped she might do something to stop him, say something sarcastic to put him in his place or, even better, slap him like he knew she could, but Raine was too polite. Looking startled and embarrassed, she held her tongue and glanced around to see if anyone had noticed. To resist jumping down and ripping the elder Drake's throat out, Auron stalked over to the opposite roof to resume his watch of the ocean.

The music had started, playing over the white noise of the surf, the procession in motion as the first couple bridesmaids paced with agonizing deliberacy. Another one of Raine's milestones played out before him, but instead of getting choked up, he watched with a staid glare. Even without Sin lurking behind the horizon, it felt all wrong: a horde of sphere-cams hovering over the jury of reporters, strangers in Raine's VIP section and a groom who was only now stumbling up to the wedding arch. Admittedly, Auron didn't know what kind of wedding she wanted, but this couldn't be what she had in mind.

Auron stiffened when the first black Sinspawn bobbed up from the shoal, the first of many, it turned out. Auron counted twelve in all. At first they resembled thorny clamshells until they, one by one, began to part like the jaws of a carnivorous plant, their armor flapping like wet laundry before settling on their backs as two mint-green wings. Looking very ancient and prehistoric, the only way Sinspawn could, a small army of black Sinscales invaded the beach with precise formation, stalking in unison.

At the expectation of combat, Auron felt a cord of excitement tingle through him, and with an easy roll of his shoulder, liberated his arm from his cloak.

*

Raine held her breath at the look of horror on Darwin's face as his flawless wedding march dissolved.

The first scream was the loudest, to alert the rest, and the screams that came after were out of terror, followed by the first wave of frightened guests as they stampeded across the yard. There was a collective clatter of collapsing chairs as the wedding guests who couldn't run down the aisles climbed over the seats or tossed them out of the way. Raine couldn't see what was prompting the chaos and attempted to move up against the garage to get a better look, but she was halted by Mr. Drake, who pinned her hand against him with his elbow. She wasn't sure if he was doing it out of alarm, or to keep her from escaping his son's wedding.

Darwin, the wedding planner, moved into the open and the look on his face made his earlier conniption about the torn wedding dress seem like a simple eye roll. It made Raine want to piss herself. He gestured with an urgent shepherding motion. "Run!"

Some of the faster, more ruthless wedding guests jostled Raine as they ran passed her and she hardly noticed when Mr. Drake released her hand and followed them.

Darwin grabbed Raine's shoulders, staring wide into her eyes. "Fiends. Come on, in the house!"

Raine wrestled out of his hands. She had to see.

Through gaps in the turmoil, Raine could see the insect legs scuttling out of the water and sinking into the white sand. As the creatures shook salt-water off their grotesque bodies, the membrane of their foam-green wings flickered ominously.

Woozy with relief, Raine fell on her knees, hypnotized by her reprieve, which had come in the form of Sinscales. Sinspawn meant Sin was close.

A smattering of guests came running through the strip of space between the garage and the house and one of Jory's groomsmen stopped to help Raine to her feet.

"Raine, what are you doing? Get up!"

The groomsman yanked her up by her armpits and dragged her by the hand, away from the beautiful sight of her wedding being destroyed, and that's when she remembered her great-aunt Naya had been sitting in the VIP seats.

*

Auron searched for Raine in the current of the crowd, spotted her in the grasp of one of the groomsmen as he ushered her around the front of the house.

The former warrior monk paced the roof like a tiger stalking a trout from the riverside, but there was no good place to jump down to. His reflective glasses lifted to the roof of the house, across the eight-foot gap, and he internally hmphed. He hadn't made a jump like that in years, but he backed up to the apex of the garage's gable roof anyway and took a running start. His boots smashed a few of the terra cotta shingles when he landed, but he paid no attention and ran around to the veranda at the back of the house at an awkward slant, like one leg was longer than the other. Free-falling down to the support beam on the wooden trellis, his arm shot sideways for balance only to compensate for the weight of his katana, and jogged across the narrow board with short, calculated strides. Dropping down to the soft grass, Auron landed in a crouch, ignoring the shock prickling up his shins.

It was unusual for Sin to send Sinspawn on his behalf, but here they were, scrabbling into the backyard, squawking like angry seagulls. Swiping an insect leg, one of them shattered the wedding altar like it was made of Popsicle sticks and paste. Another scurried up to its brother, smashing the chairs in its path, chasing away the remaining guests. Rising from his stoop, Auron ducked as a sphere-cam zipped over his head, suspending in various positions like a hummingbird for the best angle. Auron scowled, but didn't waste swings.

Digging the side of his foot in the sand, Auron dropped his katana off his shoulder and the razor-sharp edge swiped upwards at a charging Sinscale, splitting a twitching maw in half. With a satisfying whump, the exoskeleton broke like a brittle eggshell and shards of black casing peppered the sand. Staggering, its segmented, saltatorial legs stabbed at the beach until it tipped on its side. Its wings faded grey as it died.

Eleven left. There were too many to keep track of. Auron could only cut through the ones that were closest.

Another Sinscale skittered toward the house and Auron scuttled sideways to block it. The Sinscale reared, backed up and its wings flickered pistachio-green. It made an unpleasant sound, an eerie sigh, and Auron just managed to dodge three spiny projectiles as they shot off its thorax. They landed in the sand with muted thumps and Auron swung sideways, rending through its dense wings like an old scroll ream. Auron didn't swing unless he had a mark to kill, and as he hacked through another two, blood splattered on the grass like ink.

Eight left. Except...

...Auron only saw 7.

*

In the front yard, Raine was able to break away from the groomsman. Scuffling in sandals to the edge of the drive, Raine skimmed the lilac shaded street for a flash of red before it filled with shrieking wedding guests.

"Auron!" she shouted through the disorder. "Auron!"

If Auron was here, he could take care of himself. Aunt Naya, however...

Raine turned back to the house. Some of Jory's relatives channeled through the front door and Raine got in line. Just inside the foyer, people milled anxiously, spilling into the kitchen and parlor, the rooms dimming as curtains and blinds were closed. The young flower girl and ring bearer were inconsolable, faces rosy with tears as one of the bridesmaids kneeled to their height to comfort them. Darwin was beside himself, sitting at the edge of a stark white sofa, eyes wide open but seeing nothing. A half dozen people suddenly funneled through the foyer hall to the sunroom by the veranda to gawk at the Sinspawn from a safe place and the foyer became easier to maneuver.

Mrs. Drake had gathered her own audience. She had lost a shoe and her dress had ripped to the thigh and she was wringing her hands together. Her bloodshot eyes seared at Raine as soon as the rooms thinned enough for Raine to be noticed. "You! This is all you, isn't it?"

"I—" Raine was frozen, speechless.

Two women flanking Mrs. Drake soothed her with supportive pats and shot Raine similar looks of disgust. Raine thought they might be her sisters. If it wasn't for her concern for her aunt, Raine might have turned and taken her chances with the Sinspawn outside.

"Mindy, listen to yourself," said Mr. Drake from the kitchen. Even in a crisis he was nonchalantly picking up appetizers from various silver trays and popping them in his mouth while a soux chef in white stood by with a dirty look. Might as well, before they went bad. "These things happen sometimes. It's not Raine's fault. "

But wasn't it? Playing the victim was just too tempting, even for Raine, who was secretly delighted in the arrival of Sinspawn, barring any injuries or deaths, of course.

"Has anyone seen my aunt?" Raine asked.

"No I haven't seen your aunt," Mrs. Drake snapped, the word "aunt" coming off her lips like venom.

Raine ignored her caustic comment and addressed the rest of the room. "Chestnut hair? Early sixties? She was wearing a blue and white flowered sundress?"

"I saw her," someone said behind Raine. She was sitting on the steps, holding hands with one of the groomsmen, probably his date, and Raine thought she recognized her as a former underclasswoman from school.

"Where?"

"She was sitting in one of the front rows, wasn't she? In the VIP section?" She glanced at the groomsman for confirmation but he only replied with a shrug.

Raine brightened. "Yes, that's right."

"I haven't seen her since," she said, looking around nervously, realizing everyone was staring at her, most notably Mrs. Drake with her dagger eyes.

"Run!" someone screamed from the sunroom and Raine started. A streak of wedding guests sprinted back through the foyer hall, but it was the explosion of shattering glass that agitated the room into fresh chaos.

"Stairs!" Mr. Drake shouted, dropping his shrimp cocktail on the tray.

Mrs. Drake's sisters motioned to the stairs and wedding guests swirled around Raine. The queue for the stairs was anything but orderly as she was swept into the current, beyond her better judgment to become trapped on a second floor. The throng was largely unsympathetic as she stumbled on the hem of her dress and paused to adjust the sandal strap on her heel.

In the second floor hallway, guests dispersed to various bedrooms, and Raine commenced into one, but someone who didn't notice her slammed the door shut. The next couple doors closed before she could lay claim to them, the quick whisper of furniture on carpet as the doors were barricaded from within.

There was a horrible ruckus of crumbling drywall and snapping handrails as the 4-legged Sinspawn staggered its way up the steps made for bi-peds, wing tips unhitching family photos off the wall anchors. Raine found the sight of hairy insect legs scrabbling on the hardwood stair tread revolting, alien, and a little silly, despite the tickle on her spine, like a hundred mini Sinscales tumbling down her back.

"Raine!" hissed a voice at the end of the hall. Darwin was at the last open room, curling a finger to beckon her. Raine lifted her dress and clapped over. Darwin retreated inside and Raine risked a look back as the Sinscale lurched up to the second floor, its gigantic roach legs as uncoordinated as a newborn fawn as it skidded on the floor runner. Composing itself, the Sinscale's pointed head seemed to swing toward her in recognition and though Raine could not quite identify where its eyes were, their gazes locking for split second before Raine lost her nerve and slammed shut the bedroom door.

The room served as refuge for most of the wedding party. Mr. Drake and Darwin were already sliding a dresser along the wall, a ship in a bottle wobbled on its wooden display from the dresser's sudden stop in front of the door. Mrs. Drake moaned to her sisters at the edge of the sailboat bedspread, agonizing about Jory, who was, as Mrs. Drake reminded them, still outside with those "things." At least half the bridesmaids and a couple groomsmen argued about the attack habits of Sinspawn, which didn't include inside residences and certainly not in these numbers. Even the flower girl and ring bearer were shivering together in the corner arm chair.

Moving aside the ship in a bottle and other nautical trinkets, Raine pressed her ear to the door, listening to the graceless ticking of hard insect legs on wood floors.

"We should wait this out," Mr. Drake said, hands in his pockets.

"Wait?! But there are more out there, where our son is!" Mrs. Drake protested.

"If you haven't noticed, we're trapped in his room," said one of the groomsmen. It might have been the one who picked Raine up outside.

"That's his fault," Mrs. Drake spat, jutting a chin in her husband's direction. "It was his idea to go upstairs."

Mr. Drake showed his hands to defend himself. "How was I supposed to know they could climb stairs?"

"Quiet!" Raine hissed and everyone looked up sharply. She thought she heard the alien footsteps stop. "I think it's going away."

The bedroom became deathly quiet, save for the light whimpers of the children in the corner and Raine held the lip of the dresser as she stretched across it to press her ear on the door. She could only hear the pulse of blood in her head and an almost sea-shell whisper of muffled air. Without anyone to chase, the Sinspawn most likely became idle in the hall.

"Do you hear it?" Darwin murmured, breaking the long gap of silence.

As if in answer, the door rattled violently, jarring brutally against the side of Raine's face, the crack of splintering wood deafening in her head. Punched through the door, a dark, spotted claw fought to wiggle free, so close to Raine's face, she could see beach sand in the black sprouts of hair on its exoskeleton.

*

Auron thought he saw someone in the wreckage of broken fold-up chairs, but there was no time to investigate.

Exhilarated by combat, Auron fought with a permanently wicked fleer. He hadn't been in battle for months, not since his struggle in Spira to get back to Zanarkand. Surrounded in a pincer attack, Auron arched his sword downwards on the closest Sinscale, beating it into the sand, not killing it, but severely injuring it. It writhed to its feet, but too many of its legs were broken to lift its own weight and eventually settled in defeat. Another slammed into Auron from behind and he swung around, throwing the blade aloft. Oily innards smelling offensively of chocobo dung slopped on the ground seconds before the Sinspawn's limbs buckled. The next one went down almost as quick but the fourth skipped back as Auron dropped his sword with a misstep, slicing sod instead of cracking through shell.

"Hmph," he said, stepping back to rest his katana on an aching shoulder and study his opponent's movement.

The battlefield was teeming with Pyreflies. Further off, another Sinscale dragged the remains of the wedding arch in a loop around the back lawn, the lace tangled in its legs. Auron was only distantly aware of the remaining two, savagely chucking chairs in wild gratification.

But Auron could hardly take his eye off the Sinspawn dancing in front of him, swifter than his brothers. It circled around with wide berth and Auron revolved in place, daring it to turn its back, and it lurched gracelessly over one of its dead comrades. Its sea-green wings glowed and shivered and Auron bowled left, seeking cover from another fallen Sinscale as the tiny missiles soared passed. Scrambling to his feet, Auron leapt over the insect casualty, driving the end of the sword down over the top of the Sinspawn, pinning it like a lab specimen and killing it.

The other Sinscales distracted, Auron jogged over to the debris of white wedding chairs, flinging a few out of his way. An older woman lay on her side, just coming to as Auron kneeled down. Aunt Naya.

"What happened?" Raine's aunt asked, groggy-eyed until she recognized Auron and darkened. "It's you."

The racket of the wedding arch banging by directed Aunt Naya's attention to the remaining Sinspawn, her eyes growing so big Auron thought they might spring out of her head. Instead, she deflated and fainted. Auron grabbed her frail shoulder and her head lolled back like a fresh corpse. Losing consciousness under stress must run in the family, he thought.

The last three Sinspawn were drifting closer in their destructions and Auron lifted to his feet and swiveled towards them...

...except now there were only two.

*

"Everyone in the closet. Now."

Raine grabbed the flower girl, who was almost too big to lift, but Raine hoisted her up on her hip anyway. The little girl's white tights were scuffed with grass stains and they instinctively wrapped around Raine's waist. Reaching for the ring bearer's tiny hand, Raine helped him scoot down.

Slivers of wood flew into the room as the Sinscale axed away at the door. Darwin was first to the closet and as he opened it, Raine was relieved it was a walk-in, full of out-of-season clothes. She dropped the girl onto her feet, gave the children a gentle shove towards the back and ushered most of her wedding party inside.

"You too, Mr. Drake," Raine said.

Jory's father opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a shrill voice from inside the closet.

"Jerry, get in here, now!" Mrs. Drake shouted.

With a wary look in Raine's direction, Mr. Drake wandered into the closet.

Raine faced Darwin and jerked her head to the closet.

"What are you going to do?" Darwin asked lowly.

Fiddling with the bracelet loan on her damaged wrist, Raine shrugged. "I'm not sure." She managed to find the clasp and as the jewelry swung off her arm, she handed it back to Darwin. "I won't need anything old or borrowed, but I hope you still get paid."

Darwin laughed harshly. "I won't be surprised if she sends me a bill."

In the hall, the Sinscale stopped hacking for a moment, the ugly, pointed contour of its face lingered at the hole for a moment, to check its target was still inside, and then inserted a long claw through the beaten hole and pushed the dresser forward, ship in a bottle slipping off first, shattering, and the dresser instantly crushed the intricate model.

"Go," Raine urged.

Darwin ducked inside. "Try not to ruin your dress."

"No promises."

Raine closed the door and hurried to the window, peering out onto the roof, flinched at another woody smash as the Sinscale rammed against the last shreds of door.

Swiveling the latch on the window, Raine released it sideways and thrust the screen out. She swung a leg out the window, but waited for the Sinscale to squeeze through the narrow entry and stagger over the dresser. The clicking of its talons turned to soft pattering as it scuttled onto the carpet. Raine ducked sideways, dropping down to the shingles. Above her, the Sinscale wriggled out the window, legs first.