A Happier Future

Nothing here belongs to me (not even the character who at first glance seems like she would be!). I'm just playing for awhile.

C&C welcome.

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Summoners and their Guardians were warned of many dangers that they might come across on their pilgrimage. Of the monsters they could expect to encounter, various illnesses they might catch and their cures, and even how to escape from a sinking ship. The frigid winds of Gagazet, however, had never been brought up at all; not until a couple of Ronso had stopped them as they began making their way up the mountain and presented them with an armful of heavy Bandersnatch pelts. Auron had thought at the time that the Ronso were just underestimating how well furless humans could deal with the cold, had continued to think that through most of the day as the temperature had remained within manageable limits.

Then, as the day waned, the temperature began to drop. Within no time at all his extremities had gone numb, while his bare face felt almost flayed from the winds tearing over it. There had been no choice they had all realised; they would need to stop until the night had passed, or else risk becoming just another pile of stones on the path side marking where a pilgrimage had failed.

They'd backtracked to a small niche they'd passed in the mountain wall, an enclosure just big enough for one person to fit in comfortably, and settled Braska into it with the majority of the pelts, nailing another to the entrance with shining thorns so he'd be protected from the wind on all sides. They had built a fire just outside the enclosure with wood that had carried all the way from the Macalania woods, Jecht setting it alight with sparks from his finger tips, a trick he'd learned from a failed guardian they'd met in the Calm Lands. Just a few months earlier Auron would have snapped at him about wasting his energy that way when they could just as easily have used flint and tinder, but with Zanarkand so close he couldn't bear to darken what little time they all had left together with a petty argument.

Besides, he could still remember the look of desperate hope on the young mage's face as she'd taught Jecht a few of her most basic spells. It was as though she'd thought that if her magic could protect another Summoner it would help her atone for failing her own. Now, if he ever saw her again, he could at least say 'Yes, your fire saved Braska on the mountain. We could not have made it to Zanarkand without your help.'

Now, hours later, he was beginning to regret that decision. He wished that he'd yelled at the other man until he'd gone off to sulk on the side of the fire closer to Braska's haven, and refused to speak to Auron until some time the next day. Because, instead, Jecht had begun talking almost as they'd lain down for the night, confident in the knowledge that the howling wind would whip his words away before they reached Braska. Sinful, seductive, words about how they could still force Braska to turn back before it was too late. How they could grab Yuna then go hide among the Al Bhed, and let some other Summoner finish the journey to Zanarkand. About how, even if Braska didn't agree with that plan, it would be easy to just knock him out and kidnap him for his own good.

And, though he knew it damned him, Auron could feel his treacherous will bending under Jecht's steady stream of plans and pleas. He knew that, if Jecht didn't stop soon, he would be convinced before the night was over, and the sun would rise on the two of them dragging Braska back down the mountain. Braska would hate them for it forever, but, Yevon, it would be worth it as long as he stayed alive.

That was why Auron reached out through the dark to drag Jecht to him, pressing their mouths together with a clash of teeth and the almost sandpapery feeling of chapped lips rubbing against each other, forcing the words to a stop. When he pulled away a long moment later Jecht drew in a deep, shuddering, breath then whispered, "Fuck, Auron. I'm married, I've got a kid. You better be damned sure you want this if you expect me to--"

"I know," Auron said, cutting him off then flinging one of his legs over both of Jecht's and tugging the rest of his body over. For a minute he busily fussed over the pelts, Jecht staying surprisingly silent as he combined their bedding, the extra warmth almost immediately noticeable and very welcome.

"If this is just some plot to hoard the covers," he said with a smirk as Auron laid back down next to him, "I'm gonna kick your ass straight over the damn mountain."

"Don't be an idiot," Auron muttered, then kissed Jecht again, more carefully this time. He wasn't sure exactly what he was doing, he had lived a cloistered life before joining Braska and as such had never gotten practise at physical relationships, but if he stopped Jecht might start talking again, and that wasn't a risk he could take. When, after a moments hesitation, Jecht opened his mouth slightly and ran the tip of his tongue over Auron's lip, he gladly surrendered the lead.

"Don't," Jecht muttered into Auron's mouth when he started tugging his shirt up. "It's too damn cold to strip. So wherever you want this to go, it better involve most of our clothes staying on."

"I want this to 'go' wherever you wish," Auron replied, letting go of Jecht's shirt to skim his fingers over the muscles of his stomach instead, and moving his face to nuzzle it against Jecht's neck. "You are the one with experience in this field."

"Wait a second. Are you trying to tell me that you're a twenty-five year-old virgin?"

Auron stiffened at the laughter in Jecht's voice, and moved to pull away. "I am unmarried," he said in a tight tone when Jecht refused to let him go, "and fornication is forbidden by Yevon. I don't know why I thought it might be a good idea to ignore the teachings for you, but if you're going to act like this is some sort of joke.... Get your hands off of me, Jecht."

Instead, Jecht rolled over, pinning Auron under him. "Do I look like I'm jokin' to you?" He asked, voice dead serious. "I love my family, Auron. I can even get the damn words out now, even though it's too late for them to hear 'em. I love 'em like hell, and I might've done some pretty shitty-ass things to them, but one thing I wouldn't do is cheat on my wife for a joke. And as for why I'd consider breakin' my marriage vows for you..." he laughed, and leaned down to start brushing light kisses across Auron's face, along his hairline, down his chin, muttering between them, "well, it seems pretty obvious that if I'm gonna need to start up a new life in this world, it should be with someone I give a damn about. If you want, anyway."

Auron stared up at Jecht blankly, his mind slowing to a crawl. "I want..." he mumbled before trailing off, unsure how to finish the statement. He'd just wanted Jecht to shut up when he'd started this, wanted him to stop encouraging Auron's dangerous, blasphemous, thoughts. He wanted them all to live a long and peaceful life, the three of them and little Yuna; to reach Zanarkand and find another Summoner had beaten them to the Final Aeon, a Summoner who would bring an eternal Calm at last, so Braska would never need die in the name of Spira. Mostly, he just wanted Jecht to keep touching him, and stop complicating things by talking.

Luckily, Jecht seemed to agree with the last desire. "Ah, don't worry about it now. We'll have time to figure things out later," he said as he roughly shoved Auron's pants down a few inches and pulled out his cock. Even that small amount of unfamiliar contact, quickly pulled away, made Auron gasp and buck, earning him a grin from Jecht as the man pushed down his own pants. "Try not to get too noisy," he said, grinding his hips against Auron's for one brief, blissful, moment before pulling away again. "Even this wind ain't gonna be loud enough to keep Braska from hearing us if you scream."

Auron knew that the reminder that Braska was sleeping just a few feet away should be enough to reconsider the whole situation, but instead all he could do was arch his hips up trying to get that friction back, and to erase the stupid smirk of Jecht's face. Finally he gave up and growled, "Jecht, will you please move?"

"Well, since you asked so nicely..." Jecht grabbed Auron and rolled them both onto their sides again. Before Auron could protest that that was not the type of movement he'd meant, Jecht spit into his palm and wrapped his fingers around Auron's cock, slowly beginning to pump. Auron had to bite Jecht's shoulder to keep from crying out, and let Jecht's spare hand grab his own wrist and lead it to his crotch. "Not the most interesting way for your first sexual experience to go, I know," he said, then took a long, unsteady, breath as Auron's hand tentatively began to move on him. After a second he regained control and continued, "but I don't wanna try anything more active when the covers falling off would make us freeze our asses off. There'll be time for that later."

"Okay," Auron grunted out, though at the moment he found it hard to believe there could be anything better then the slow, tight, movement of Jecht's calloused hand. He couldn't believe the small whimpers and moans he was making were coming from his own throat, and at that moment he didn't know how Yevon could ever, ever, call something that felt this good a sin.

But, like most good things in Auron's experience, it couldn't last long. Too soon the feeling peaked and crashed through him, leaving him whimpering Jecht's name as he clutched his shoulder hard enough to bruise with one hand and forced the other, with the small part of his mind that remained rational, not to clench shut around Jecht's dick. A few strong strokes later Jecht came with a grunt, and if he didn't moan out Auron's name then at least he didn't cry out for his wife either.

"Wipe your hand off on the snow," Jecht said tiredly, following his own advice, "and try to clean yourself up as much as you can. If you let it dry you'll need to scrub off with snow in the morning, and that'd be a real bitch."

"I do have hands of my own, Jecht," Auron replied drily. "I may never have been intimate with another person, but that doesn't mean I'm completely ignorant."

Jecht just grunted in reply, and for a moment Auron wondered if somehow something had gone wrong, if Jecht had suddenly realised that he didn't want to end up saddled with a man who he had, on more then one occasion, described as having a stick up his ass as big as a Shoopuf. If he'd decided that he couldn't betray his wife after all and wanted to distance himself before they got any closer. Then Jecht flung an arm around his chest and kissed him on the shoulder, and Auron realised that he was being foolish. After all, if there was one thing he knew for sure about Jecht it was that the man never did anything he didn't mean. "We should get some sleep," he said, pulling the blankets tighter around them. "Tomorrow we should reach the summit, and then--"

"--it's all downhill to Zanarkand." Jecht finished, squeezing Auron's arm lightly. "Yeah, I know." For a long time after that they lay together in silence, and Auron almost thought that Jecht had fallen asleep when the other man startled him by speaking once more. "You should have told me when we started this journey, you know. I shouldn't have had to learn the truth from some little girl Guardian who thought teaching me a magic trick or two would save her soul."

"Yes," Auron murmered back, "we should have."

"I mean, this whole time you keep saying it's my job, my duty to keep him alive no matter what the cost. Then, with the end in sight, I have'ta find out from a stranger that we were just protecting him so he could go off and die. You can understand, can't ya, why that makes me want to conk him over the head and drag him off someplace safe?"

"Yes. I would do it myself, if it weren't his choice to make. Even if we tried, he would escape us the moment he was able to and come back to face the mountain alone."

Jecht nodded against Auron's shoulder, but continued speaking without making a direct response. "I already lost my boy, Auron, and my wife. My friends, my fans, everyone. All I've got now are the two of you." The arm he had around Auron tightened almost enough to force the air out of his body, and in an almost desperate tone Jecht muttered into his ear, "Don't you dare die before this is all over, Auron. What the hell's left for me if I lose you too?"

Auron nodded, not knowing what else to do. "I'll do my best," he said, and Jecht seemed to accept that. Almost ridiculously fast he fell asleep at last, leaving Auron alone with his thoughts.

He had never before thought of life after Braska, he realised. The thought seemed almost taboo, Braska was his life, had been since the day four years before when he'd come to Auron as an apprentice Summoner and asked if he wanted to become his Guardian. But now, he realised, the journey was almost over. The time had come when he had to think about the future.

"If I'm gonna need to start up a new life in this world, it should be with someone I give a damn about."

The words echoed through his head, and he closed his eyes to picture it; Jecht, Yuna, and Besaid. A world without Braska, but one embraced by the Calm. Yes, he thought. Maybe that could be a future where they could find some happiness, in spite of the certain pain. A happier future then he could have imagined a few months ago, before meeting the brash Blitzballer from Zanarkand.

He let himself be lulled to sleep by the picture, and in his dream Braska walked beside them.