Everything Looks Better Ch. 09

Raine peered over the edge of the roof to the giant hydrangeas landscaping the side of the house, 12 feet down, but the Sinscale was efficiently spilling out of the window like a hermit crab. Scrambling down on her knees, Raine had to hunch to work her way to the edge of the roof, her dress binding tightly around her bust just as she heard a seam pop apart somewhere. The terror of being chased was more overwhelming than any height fears, and as she threw a leg over the side, she held onto the lip of the rain gutter and dangled over the side. Over her, the Sinspawn slipped inelegantly on the terra-cotta shingles, sliding downwards, piercing holes in the ceramic roof for something to grab onto. Raine let go moments before the Sinscale flew over the side of the roof, Sinscale and human equally vulnerable to laws of gravity.

Landing in the bushes below, Raine was relieved the Sinspawn launched further away from the house, struggling to find its feet again as Raine tugged her train from the foliage snarls. She turned and ran towards the front of the house before the dress had completely unraveled, ignoring the ripping sounds of lace and silk, noticing as one of the wedding guests came careening around the corner of the house, towards Raine, followed by a second Sinscale, stabbing across the sod.

Raine stopped.

So did the other girl.

"Lindsey Seawell," Raine grated under her breath.

*

Two more dead Sinscales crashed in the grass and Auron kneeled down to Raine's aunt, lifting her around his shoulders like a sack of rice, carrying his katana at his side as he rushed to the veranda. He maneuvered through a machina ruins of broken equipment, abandoned by the long-gone reporters. One of the Sinscales had been through here. Auron bowed cautiously through a gaping hole in the side of the sunroom. His boots crunched on the glass as he approached the last of the surviving wicker furniture, the rest lying in shreds across the room, and he felt the older woman's weight shift on his shoulder as she began to wake up. Leaning forward, Auron gently set the woman on her feet, righting the tipped chair for her to sit. Immediately on sitting, Aunt Naya crashed her pale face into a bony hand.

"As soon as you're able, find someplace better to hide."

Numbly, she nodded into her palm.

Auron started back out the hole.

"These creatures," the old woman called, "they're because of Raine?"

"I believe so." A message from Tidus, Auron reasoned. He never did like Jory.

Naya fished into the elbow of her sleeve, pulling out a wad of unused, but crinkled tissues and began dabbing at the sweat on her temples. "I don't usually cry at weddings, but I'm glad I tucked these away just in case."

Auron heard screams on the side of the house and his muscles tensed, but Aunt Naya wasn't finished talking.

"Raine is lucky to have someone like you to watch over her, but let me tell you something about her I think you should know. She is strong like Jecht," Naya said, folding the tissues as she looked down at them, "but she loves like her mother. It consumes her."

Aware of the direction the conversation was going, Auron turned towards the jagged gap, surveying the ocean for more Sinspawn. He was familiar with Aunt Naya's theory Raine's mother died of a broken heart after so many years waiting for Jecht to return. Had Raine felt the same way when Auron was trapped in Spira? It was hard to believe Raine would go the same way as her mother, fading quietly away in her sleep. If anything, it was the pain of living that made it unbearable for Raine and her attempt to exit life had to be aggressive if it she had any chance of succeeding. For once, Auron was glad for her pugnacious father, the part inside her that undoubtedly drove her to live anyway.

Although it wasn't Auron's habit to think on these events, there were times he wondered if Raine's mother would have been better off if he'd told her Jecht was dead. But Auron was convinced it was the hope Jecht was still alive that kept her going as long as she did. False hope. Wasn't that what he was trying to end in his plot to destroy Sin? It was false hope planted by the Yevon leaders that the people of Spira would eventually atone and Sin would disappear forever. Without false hope, the weak would die like Raine's mother, but the strong would carve new beliefs out of new evidence.

Another scream, this time further away, but Raine's aunt continued, unhurried and seemingly oblivious to the far-off cries for help.

"She won't admit it because she hates to be vulnerable, but she needs to be loved the same way. Don't get me wrong, Raine learned a lesson during her stay in the hospital, a lesson her mother never had a second chance to learn after Jecht disappeared, but if you aren't able to be consumed by her, then you should let her go."

Auron clenched his jaw for a variety of reasons, but the thought of leaving Raine made him queasy. He couldn't imagine being more consumed by Raine. Even as a child she had been recasting the igneous rock in him that had long ago cooled and hardened. Apart from those three agonizing months in Spira, he had spent every day for the last eleven years with her in his scope. He would give his life for her. How could that not be enough?

"Rest assured Raine will go on living without you, if she has to. Happily, even, I'm sure, after enough time has passed."

"Hmph," Auron grunted, unconvinced he could function as easily if Raine ever died before him.

Aunt Naya sighed in forfeit, the way someone would when they knew their words weren't sinking. "Look, I think you're a decent enough guy and believe me when I say I know what you're going through. Cete's mother hated me at first, but time has a way of dissolving grudges, and our fifteen year age difference didn't seem as important to her once we were both over the hump of mid-life." Her eyes unfocused, going someplace else, probably to the past when Cetan was still alive. "She'll keep you young, but you have to treat her as an equal. It took me years before I learned to stop nagging my young husband like a mother." She laughed softly. "Although sometimes I think he secretly liked it."

Auron distractedly thought back on a few times he had scolded Raine for one thing or another. Little wonder she needed a therapist's help to sort through her feelings.

Two screams this time, almost in unison.

Auron shot an irritated look at the old woman, who dismissed him with a flap of her liver-spotted hand and said, "Go save her."

*

Raine dove into a clot of trees at the property line, Lindsey Seawell close behind, and further back, two scampering Sinscales. Coming out the other side to the neighbor's yard, her white dress was smudged with grass stains and there were twigs stuck in her hair. Raine turned to yank Lindsey through the branches snagging at her pleated skirt and when she was free, Raine gathered her own dress so they could bolt across the lawn together.

Soon, Raine heard a soft galloping behind them and dared a look over her shoulder. One Sinscale had somehow bypassed the trees and was charging towards them. A split second later, the other one landed several strides after the first, grasshopper-jumping across the property line. Its segmented legs were already in mid-dash when they hit the ground.

Ahead, a high wooden privacy fence divided the two lots and Raine's first instinct was to pick a direction—ideally the direction opposite Lindsey Seawell. But after a quick peek back, Raine discovered the Sinscales were not so much chasing as they were flanking them.

"This way," Lindsey said and began to veer right, but she was head off by one of the Sinscales. Raine had the peculiar feeling of being herded.

Racing through an arrangement of patio furniture, Raine and Lindsey were forced to stop at the wall of the fence, both women jumping in a vain effort to reach the top, but it was at least eight feet tall with no footings to climb over. The Sinspawn encroached at their leisure when they realized they had cornered their prey.

"Come on," Raine said, turning the woman around by her shoulders so that they faced each other. Raine hitched up her dress high enough to expose the elastic garter. "Step up shoulder stand."

"What?" Lindsey shrieked, edging on panic.

"Come on, has it been that long?" Raine snapped.

Something clicked behind Lindsey's green eyes. "Are you serious?"

"Do you think this is a time to joke?"

"Shit." Lindsey bent over and fidgeted with the clasps on her sandals, quickly flicking them off her feet. "Don't drop me like you did the first time."

"No spotter, no promises."

Lindsey pressed her lips together in determination and grabbed Raine's hand. The familiarity of her grip brought Raine back to the field behind the school where they used to practice. Raine assumed a half-squat, her stance wide, knees at almost ninety degrees, feet pointed out, keeping her thigh exposed so Lindsey didn't lose her footing on the smooth fabric of her wedding dress.

Lindsey nestled behind her, planted a bare foot at the crook of her right hip, took a couple preliminary bounces and jumped. Raine's legs trembled, but she reached over her head to catch Lindsey's other hand to help her balance as Lindsey's other foot landed on Raine's left shoulder. It was best done with a spotter, who could give Lindsey an extra shove to help her, but without one, Lindsey's foot burrowed cruelly into the side of Raine's neck as she struggled into a shoulder stand. Raine gritted her teeth together to withstand Lindsey's adult weight with muscles she hadn't used in a long time. After several almost-attempts, Lindsey's right foot left Raine's thigh and found her right shoulder.

The whole exercise took less than thirty seconds and in both Raine's peripheral visions, twitching Sinscales closed in on them. Raine could feel Lindsey's legs shake as she struggled with balance, her hands squeezing Raine's as she faltered to stand erect on Raine's shoulders.

"Let go Lindsey," Raine said under her breath. "I got you."

Lindsey released her left hand first and Raine used her freed hand to brace her partner's shin. Gaining confidence, Lindsey did the same on the right, until they were in a full shoulder stand, if a little wobbly and without the flourish at the end. Lindsey's weight shifted slightly toward the fence and with a final dig into Raine's left shoulder, Lindsey propelled forward, swinging a leg over the fence to straddle it, her hands holding the fence under her crotch.

The Sinscales sensed their targets were escaping and became frantic, upsetting the design of outdoor furnishings, and toppling the padded lounge chairs. One of them took a crack at a short cut, skidding over the top of the patio table made of wrought iron and tempered glass, but didn't anticipate the canvas umbrella folding down from the jarring impact. In its attempt to escape the collapsed canopy, the entire assembly tipped over with a terrible clamor. Raine hopped sideways to avoid the umbrella's pointed finial as it came crashing down.

While the Sinspawn were distracted, Raine reached up the side of the fence. "Okay, Lindsey, now pull me—"

But Lindsey had already slipped over the other side. Through the cracks in the fence, Raine saw Lindsey tumble into the grass and sprint through the neighbor's yard without even a look back.

"Lindsey!" Raine cried.

Back to the fence, Raine stood motionless as the fiends stalked her, their wings quivering aggressively as she listened to the awful song of their clicking mandibles...

*

Lured by shrieks, Auron plowed through the strip of trees between the ocean-side properties and stopped in his tracks. One Sinscale lunged tentatively around Raine as she prodded it with a closed patio umbrella. Its mandibles snapped down on the pointy end, testing it territorially. The second Sinspawn was lying in a black heap, surrounded in Pyreflies, and Auron wondered who had killed it.

Circling around the yard, Auron intended to approach the last Sinscale from behind, but its pale-green wings glimmered menacingly.

"Raine, get down!"

*

At the sound of her name, Raine scanned the yard and glimpsed the splash of red by the driveway and for a few brief moments, the Sinscales receded into the background...

...until three quick stabs into the side of her abdomen doubled her over and made her scream. Initially, Raine thought the Sinspawn bit her, until she detected three bloody spines shaped like arrowheads, half concealed in the skin of her belly. She used to spend hours scraping those damn spines off the bottom of her houseboat.

Baring her teeth to stifle another scream, Raine braced the umbrella on her healthy hip. As the creature's face-hole chewed on the end of it, its great strength was apparent through the conduit of the umbrella's shaft. Lunging forward, Raine jabbed the umbrella's tip into the most brittle part of the exoskeleton and the handle wrenched violently out of her hands as the Sinscale stumbled backward, thrashing around the patio until it crumpled in the grass and died.

*

Auron jogged forward, but Raine gestured for him to stay back. She found an upright lounge chair to lean over and a mouthful of clear vomit sputtered between her lips. Inwardly sighing, Auron slid away his sword and adjusted the scabbard on his shoulder. He slipped an arm around her waist to steady her, avoiding the spines spiking just above her hip bone. They had ripped the expensive dress, exposing slashes of her belly.

"I can't breathe," Raine wheezed.

"Sit," he instructed. He meant on the chair, but she plopped down on the patio bricks, her legs surrounded in a stiff white bell of satin and lace.

"It's this ridiculous dress," she panted, indicating the back so he could loosen it. "It's too small."

Kneeling down behind her, he discovered no less than a million tiny buttons against her spine. "A zipper would be easier," Auron muttered.

"I'll remember that for next time," she said through her teeth.

Auron inserted his fingers under the lacy drapery at her shoulder blades and tugged the dress apart. Minute but lethal buttons pelted him, bouncing and ticking all around them like freed pearls from a necklace. Raine didn't seem to mind and immediately disrobed to the waist, pulling her arms free of the sleeves. Suddenly gasping from the rush of air to her constricted lungs, she promptly fainted, flopping back into his open arms.

The ringlets of spun gold piled on her head tickled his face and as he carefully laid her down on the patio bricks, his eye slid passed her artificially tanned cleavage to avoid diversion. One of her fake black eyelashes was lying crookedly over the top of one cheek. Her arms were covered in scrapes and scratches, although not all of them were bleeding, and there were several tears in her hosiery.

It was best if she was out cold for the next part anyway. One at a time, he plucked the spines out of her soft belly and tossed them into the grass, leaving three oozing lesions. He used the top half of her dress to soak the blood, but the cloths were slippery, the lace full of holes, and soon there was blood everywhere. Auron perused the house for assistance, but there didn't seem to be anyone home.

With an aggrieved whimper, the raven wings attached to Raine's eyelids flapped open.

"Keep still," he warned preemptively, knowing she was going to want to hug him. He reached into his cloak, to a pocket where he always kept a spare potion and handed her the ampoule. "Drink this."

Popping the cork off the mini-beaker with her thumb, she propped up on one elbow to swallow the contents. After, she scrutinized the remaining liquid coating the sides of the glass. "What is it?"

Auron smirked. "Does it matter? You already drank it." He peeled back the gauze of her dress and was pleased her wound was already on the fast track to healing.

"Aunt Naya!" she cried and then flinched when she moved too suddenly.

"Easy," he cautioned. "Your aunt is safe. I saw to it personally."

The severe look in her eye diminished and she lied back, relieved. "Thanks, Auron." Her attention drifted over to the twisters of Pyreflies spewing from the Sinscales. Here, fiends were self-sending. "No one's seen a fiend in Zanarkand in years. Not since Sin destroyed the stadium."

Auron nodded.

"Those are what you've been protecting me from all these years?"

"Yes."

"Well you're doing a terrible job," she said. She looked at him with a glint in her eye, a glimpse of the real Raine breaking through all the hair extensions, fake tan and false eyelashes.

"I'm starting to wonder what I've been doing here all these years." If she didn't need his guidance or his protection, why exactly did Tidus send him there? Surely it wasn't solely to steer her away from Jory.

"Should we hide from Sin?" she asked.

"He won't come any closer. He will only send more Sinspawn."

"Until you defeat him?"

"Hmm."

She stared unhappily at the sky. "You have to go back soon."

"Soon," he agreed.

She was quiet in her thoughts for a while as he examined her wound again. It was near superficial now. Auron thanked the fayth those weren't poisoned spines. He didn't often carry antidotes.

"Will you show me one of your cards before you go?"

"Again?"

"I want to see your marriage card."

"Hmph. You've seen it."

"I know. I just want to know...was it hard for you to turn down the high priest's daughter?"

"What does any of that matter now?"

She looked away, back to the Sinspawn, nearly completely disintegrated now, but she wasn't really looking at them. Her eyes fixated on something far away in her mind. "How did you know it was the right thing to do?"

"The marriage benefited others more than it did me."

"It must have taken a lot of courage to call it off, knowing so many would be angry."

Then Auron understood. The majority of Zanarkand was anticipating Raine and Jory's union. Gently, he said, "I knew there would be harsh repercussions."

"And you did it anyway."

Slowly her eyes met his and he nodded.

She retreated back into herself to think and for a long time they didn't speak as Auron tended to her wound. The bleeding had stopped and scar tissue was already beginning to form.

"Will I live?" she asked.

"I think so."

She winced as she sat up. "Oh my," she breathed, glancing down at her injury. "What's in that stuff?"

Auron chuckled, but he honestly didn't know.

Scooting to him, she leaned wearily against his chest, an easy, affable gesture, one friend seeking comfort from another and his gauntlet came up to her spine. They hadn't been this close since that night he returned from Spira, on her bed at the houseboat, not long before she slapped him. Usually the events played out differently when he thought back to them, but sometimes he'd leave in the slap for variety. But then he would think he should make an appointment with Raine's therapist, to figure out why that turned him on.

"Maybe you would like to trade marriage cards?" she asked.

"Jory's not my type," Auron teased, deflecting because he knew where this conversation was leading.

"He's not mine, either. Not anymore. And I don't want to marry the high priest's daughter, either." Craning her neck, she found his gaze. "I want to marry you."

Arching an eyebrow, he glanced down ironically at her dress. "You have to work on your timing, Raine."

Sensing his reluctance, she frowned crossly. "I know it will be simpler with you. Just us. That's all I need. Those damned Sinscales saved me from a mistake."

"Don't let them drive you into another," he murmured.

He remembered the nights after she banished him, standing at the distant edge of the marina parking lot to watch over the houseboat. Occasionally, she would step out on her front deck, wrapped in an old brown sweater to shield her from an evening breeze and just stare out at the docks. Sometimes Auron thought she might be looking for him and it was a special kind of hell to see her every day and not be able to split a beer or sit quietly next to her on the back deck while she read the sports page or a hundred other things they had not actually done except for inside his head. He couldn't keep track of how many times he stopped himself from approaching her those evenings she would wait outside. She asked him to stay away. It might not have been what she wanted, but somewhere inside her, she believed it was what she needed and he had to respect that. At least until Sin came to collect them.