Unsent and Unseen

Unsent and Unseen
Part 3
By: Gypsy Tollamer

Author’s Notes: Please remember to review. It helped me feel motivated to continue. Gundam Wing and Final Fantasy do not belong to me. I don’t profit from these fics. If I did I wouldn’t be poor right now.
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Trowa smiled and looked up head at the top of the small rise in the road. His father was standing there, alive. Trowa took a small step forward and then stopped for a second. What was doing here now? If he had been alive since Braska’s death, he should have come back sooner. He could’ve saved his mother. Trowa was alone because his father went on a vacation from them. But he couldn’t help but be glad he was back. Auron had been his hero growing up. He had modeled his skills in everything after that man’s.
Quatre looked at Trowa standing in the middle of the road. He had moved forward and then backward a few times but now was looking at Auron. Quatre had caught that small smile on Trowa’s face before it snapped down into a look of confusion. Auron was almost doing the same stance as Trowa but wasn’t so confused. He looked hurt. Quatre pushed past Auron and walked down the small slope. He could feel what felt like a hundred eyes burning into his back as he walked down to Trowa.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. Trowa’s face snapped up. Their eyes connected. Quatre grabbed Trowa’s hand and noticed how cold it was. Trowa’s hands were never cold.
“I don’t know” Trowa said. “I..”
“Your father is the man at the top of the hill.” Quatre began. Trowa looked away, he continued. “When I first met you almost every story you had for me had to do with your father. You said he was your hero. He’s back, Trowa.”
“Why now?” Trowa asked. “Wants to say goodbye, so if he does die, I’ll think of him fondly?”
“You do think of him fondly.” Quatre said tugging his chin up. “Now, stop being an ass and go up there. Now is not the time for indecision.”
Trowa nodded and swallowed. He moved forward and stopped again. He paused; almost ready to flee from the time his heels hit the dirt again. Then he felt it, a strong smack on his rear.
Quatre’s head reached from over his shoulder and whispered in his ear. ‘”Now.” That hand massaged where he had been spanked.
Trowa sighed and moved forward. He looked down as he walked until he got close. Then he looked up. He could see his father had changed. He had a scar now that ran from his forehead, down one eye and down to the top of his cheekbone. He was older, he was scruffy looking and smelled slightly of alcohol.
“Hello.” he said finding his voice.
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Auron looked at his son. Tall, broad in the shoulders, slim in the hips. Auron could see that Trowa had his mother’s eyes and mouth. And that unruly hair that was genetic in both Leia’s and Auron’s families.
“Hello.” His son said. Auron could sense the nervousness in the vocal tone.
“Hello Trowa.” Auron said softly. “You look well.”
“You look… different.” Trowa said.
“Things are different here, too.” Auron said.
Trowa nodded and then stuck his hands in his pockets.
“You must be… tired. Walking all day again?” he asked.
“No, we started not long ago. This is a more stressful pilgrimage then the last one.” Auron said.
“How can it be more stressful then that? I saw Braska during that, he looked like shit.” Trowa said.
Yuna listened and heard about her father again. It was always hard, hearing about him. She had been smitten with her father as a child, but now he was human to her. She saw spheres with Tidus and heard stories from the people who no longer hid the hardships of pilgrimage from her.
“Let’s just go.” Trowa said walking toward the village again. Everyone followed but Yuna. She looked back behind her and saw Quatre walking down toward the sound of the water. She followed. Quatre moved gracefully like most summoners did. It was the all the training they had to go through in order to summon.
She followed him around the curve in the road and past the small river. Yuna heard a step behind her. She turned and saw Kimahri watching her. Always, her protector. Quatre continued and walked into a building. Yuna stopped. This building was a temple. A badly, damaged one at that. It was on a distinct tilt, the roof had a large hole in it, one corner of the building was completely missing. It would fall apart soon. She tried to open the door but found it was difficult to handle such a heavy door when it was at such an angle. The door frame held onto it. So she just walked through where the wall was missing.
“Why are you following me?” Quatre asked.
“I was wanting to see the temple. I was going to ask you to show me.” she said. The truth was, that was a complete lie.
“Well, you’re here now. “he said. “Going to pray? The fayth here is empty. No one will hear you.”
“Yevon is always watching.” she said.
“Yevon is a fantasy.” Quatre said sticking his staff into the earth that was creeping through the tiled floor.
‘How can you say that? You have aeons still. You were brought up in the church as much as I was. Yevon has to exist. We have to atone to have him forgive us.” she said. Yuan felt the tears sting in her eyes. The temples had betrayed her, called her a traitor.
“If Yevon is so great, he wouldn’t want children to suffer and good people to die, Yuna.” She felt Quatre come closer to her as she shut her eyes in an effort to keep the tears at bay. “Summoners are not expendable and neither are guardians.”
“I know that. I’m not stupid.” she said harshly. Then she sighed. ‘I’m sorry Quatre. I’m just tired.”
“No you’re not.” he said. “You’re just not ready to die.”
“Neither are you, obviously.” she said back bitterly. Who was he to chastise her, when he had quit.
“I’ll never be ready to die. I’m too much of a fighter.” he said. “Where is he from?”
“Who?” She asked.
“Tidus.” he said.
“He never told you his name.” she said softly. “How?”
“I read him.” he said. ‘He’s not from here.”
“No, he’s Sir Jecht’s son.” she said.
“No, I meant from here as in Spira. He’s got something on him. Something not from this world, I don’t know what it is. It’s not pyreflies, it’s something else.” Quatre walked back to his staff. “Come on, I’ll lead you to the fayth.”
She followed him down the corridors. They leaked water and smelled like summer rain. She noticed all the combination spheres were in place. Permanently keeping it open to others.
“Why is it open?” she asked.
“It’s empty. And sometimes people like to see it. They want to see what summoners see. Particularly the children that are left in the village.”
They walked into the place where the fayth are kept. The shell was very large. Yuna couldn’t really make out the shape. The torches glowed with a silver flame.
“What fayth was this?” she asked. “It doesn’t look like any of the others.”
“It’s alchemy, and metal.” he said.
“that’s not possible.” she said.
“What, lady Yuna doesn’t believe there is a machina aeon?” he said almost bitterly. “Too forbidden? People are not forbidden when they give themselves up to this!”
“Machina are forbidden, Quatre.” she said. “It’s in the texts. And how do you know? It’s empty, we’ll never see it.”
“I have it.” he said.
“Have it? The Aeon?” she asked. “Can I see it?”
“You’ll just say it’s forbidden. Like the others did. You know, I went back to Bevelle to show them. I wanted to bring the Al Bhed out of that hell of a desert, they live in. I wanted them to be accepted, but it didn’t happen. They accused me, told me I had consorted with Sin, to bring an aeon that was full of forbidden magic. They hated me, almost killed me, killed one of my guardians. My own sister, Yuna. Iria’s dead because of me and your God.” Quatre was furious, tears in his eyes. “This Aeon has brought a plague on my house, I did not quit. I ran for my life. I came back here because this is the only place I could go.”
He turned to walk out. “Find your own way.”
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When Quatre got back up to the village he felt the tears running down his face. His staff carrying more weight then it should because he felt weak. Yuna knew. She knew about Gundam. And he hoped she wouldn’t tell.
He moved up to the house he shared with Duo and Trowa. Trowa was in the living room with her guardians. He pushed through the room.
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Duo was leaning against one of the walls, he listened to Auron speaking to Trowa as if he were stupid. Like he was still naïve child. Then the door opened and slammed. He saw Quatre. He was crying and looked pale. He moved through the living room. The other guardians stared as he moved past.
“Quatre?” Trowa asked.
Quatre just shook his head and moved up the stair case.
“I’ll go.” Duo said. “Listen to the story Trowa. Maybe it’s the last time you’ll hear it.”

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End of part 3