A Turning Point (chapter 29 of 49, 8407 words)
Back on the road, Braska insists on summoning so often that he quickly exhausts himself; after running into Maechen and fending off a sinspawn attack, the travellers arrive at their destination for the evening. Auron and Jecht have an odd encounter with Perula and her guardians, while Braska undergoes a life-changing experience.
Read here on praze.net or here on archiveofourown.org, or read the whole fic so far as a PDF or an EPUB.
Happy twenty-fourth birthday to FFX! 🎉 You'll soon be an auld lad.
This chapter needed quite a bit of rewriting during the final edits stage, which hasn't tended to be the case since some of the very early ones. This was because I realised I had gone for the wrong angle on Braska's “decision” and needed to integrate it a lot more into the chapter. I'm much more satisfied with it now!
We see another glimpse into Jecht's need for validation when he takes so much offence at Braska and Auron sending him away.
Braska thinks he'd be doing Auron a service by giving him a straight answer before the day is out, not realising that, as Auron thinks to himself, if he does decide to end his life Auron won't stop using every method he can to get him to reconsider. Out of the two options, Auron would rather go on with the pilgrimage even though that's supposed to result in Braska's death as well; after what he thinks he learnt in Luca, he's even more sure that he'll be able to find an alternative way of defeating Sin.
The idea that “the aeons didn't appreciate being used for trivial battles” is just based on the fact that there's a cutscene when they're summoned, haha. Imagine doing that every time (and don't ask me about my final fantasy eight experience).
Auron really wants to have made it to the travel agency before he and Braska have The Talk – mostly because he assumes that Braska may be in a better mood when it comes to the time of making his decision if he's been able to rest in a real bed first, but also maybe because he thinks he might be able to get assistance there if it seems like Braska's about to do something drastic.
“I don't know what possessed me to say that.”
Indeed …
Of course, as well as worrying that Braska might be about to kill himself, Auron is also alert to the fact that he could also start doing, er, things of an intimate nature again … which is obviously something he would enjoy, but he has to make sure he doesn't enjoy it too much …
I'm not sure Jecht actually knows what the others are talking about when they refer to Braska's decision; he hasn't been around during previous conversations about it. He's probably worked out that it's something to do with Braska's mental health and therefore has no desire to learn any more about it.
“That's not how it's usually done” was inspired by Auron's famous (to me???) battle line “that's how it's done”, although it's a bit less snappy. Give him ten years …
Jecht's “get over yourself” attitude actually suits Auron quite well a lot of the time. It wouldn't be so successful in Braska's case though.
The game tells us that Mi'ihen walked all the way down the Highroad to Bevelle; although the fatal flaw in that is that the Highroad doesn't seem to go anywhere near Bevelle. Maybe there was a northern extension in days gone by that was destroyed by Sin, or torn down by Yevon when they decided the Crusaders were getting too self-assured; or maybe they decided to name only the southernmost section of the road after Mi'ihen, who presumably had some connection with Luca.
Jecht's discovery that the story may be some sort of prophecy has quite an impact on him, although we don't dwell on it too much at this point because the others are more concerned with Braska's decision.
It's becoming a running joke that Maechen doesn't really know what to make of Braska – even though Braska is actually much more knowledgeable about Spiran history than either of his guardians, and quite interested in it on his better days.
Jecht and Auron have quite different attitudes towards the idea of one's fate being predetermined: Jecht doesn't like the sound of it, but assumes there's no way to fight against it if his path really is set out for him. Auron thinks it's a load of rubbish and believes that if one tries hard enough, it's always possible to escape destiny – as we see in his attitude towards the Final Summoning.
The Yevonites are trying to stop the boats, like some kind of neoliberal government.
I think Auron is quite grateful for the distraction of Jecht asking him about the interference in the pilgrimage, and then by the appearance of Perula and her guardians.
It's weird how the Al Bhed keep mistaking Jecht for a Yevonite when he doesn't look, act, or sound like one … I suppose they assume every human who isn't an Al Bhed must be a Yevonite because that's the only other option.
Yuna is a natural with the aeons, I think, despite the fact that it takes her a whole day to receive Valefor. Braska is not.
I think at this point there is at least a small part of Braska that doesn't want to die, which is what initially makes him so upset when he decides that he does. He soon manages to redirect this into some self-loathing though, which fits better with what he would have expected.
the two people who meant the most to him
Ah yes, completely normal to refer to your daughter and your platonic best friend in the same breath! Yep!
The word “hope” just makes Braska abandon all logic and reason, although we could perhaps say the same about a certain soon-to-be-legendary guardian.
“Veil of sorrow” is one of Braska's best canonical lines and now it turns out that it's not even his idea, smh.
If the aeons had literally said “he must die” when Braska asked them what the-guardian-whom-he-believes-to-be-Auron has to do, things might have turned out differently. Unfortunately for all concerned, they tend not to be very keen on explaining themselves.
I used light as the image for the aeons' communication with Braska because I wrote this chapter in late 2023 and was completely Dion Lesagepilled.
there was a dull ache behind his eyes, and he couldn't tell if it was from the tiredness, the crying, the experience he had had with the æons, or all three.
I'm sure this, er, won't be significant …
He found himself noticing the way Auron walked, confident and proud as he had every right to be; then the way he ordered the food, commanding and yet simultaneously polite.
Again, completely ordinary things to think about your best friend.
The final sentence of this chapter is excruciating … I love dramatic irony!