A Meaningful Life (chapter 44 of 49, 7464 words)
Jecht realises how he can be of most help to the pilgrimage, and Braska learns Auron's secret. After their duties in Zanarkand are complete, Braska and Auron return to the Ronso settlement.
Read here on praze.net or here on archiveofourown.org, or read the whole fic so far as a PDF or an EPUB.
Braska and Auron don't even consider that Jecht could be the one to sacrifice himself; it never occurs to either of them, until Jecht says it, that it's even an option for him. This is partly because of Braska misunderstanding what the fayth and aeons have been telling him about one of his guardians being special, but also partly because Braska and Auron's relationship is so intense that the thought of someone other than Auron sacrificing himself for Braska's sake is completely alien to both of them. This then means that Auron thinks that if he refuses, he'll be able to prevent Braska's death after all, so he experiences a brief flash of hope that turns out to be completely inappropriate.
Braska's apparent assumption that "some other summoner" would be male tells us something about his character, I think …
"Sorry," he said, and then immediately thought better of it: he knew Jecht didn't like it when he apologised. "I mean," he corrected himself, "thank you."
Yes, the whole "Jecht doesn't like it when Braska apologises" thing was entirely to explain this one canonical line.
For the part where Auron falls to his knees I originally wanted to make some reference to what happens ten years later by including something like "he felt as if someone was slashing at him with his own sword", but it was too weird in the end, I think.
I'm not sure when Jecht realised the mysterious child was Bahamut's fayth, but I guess he's just that perceptive.
Classic Braska only caring about Jecht now that he knows the aeons value him.
I think if Jecht knew homosexuality was so reviled in Spira, he probably still wouldn't tell Braska the truth about how Auron feels about him even at this point. Until now he's been obeying Auron's directive not to tell him, but without really understanding why. At this point, given that both of them are about to die, he concedes that he can't let Braska go any further without being clear about it. It's still a bit too late for Braska to understand the implications properly before he has to decide whether he's going to go through with getting the Final Aeon; also, the aeons are arguing forcefully in favour of continuing and he's very susceptible to their influence after having them in his head for so long. So the odds are stacked against thinking it through here. But Jecht's tried his best.
"In my day, there was a different method for creating a new fayth – what a shame that we won't need to use it today."
In the light novel we learn that fayth were once created by having sex with the summoner (somehow??). Anyway, Yunalesca is a fujoshi I guess.
Once Jecht becomes a fayth, we no longer have access to his thoughts.
The miracle of life was so much more beautiful than anything Yevon had ever promised him.
Me, a person with zero parental instinct: (squints at screen) is this right???
"Even if he ain't real" is what Jecht is about to say about Tidus, but he still doesn't want to make things even more harrowing by revealing that.
I've left the question of whether Jecht is actually suggesting that Braska give up on the Final Summoning and turn back unanswered. I don't think Jecht knows what's best himself; he just wants Braska to have all the information. He wants Braska and Auron to talk through their feelings for each other (especially now that he won't be around to hear it, haha), but he knows that isn't going to solve anything in itself.
"Did it hurt?" Auron mumbled.
"Eh, it wasn't too bad," said Jecht.
(jon ronson voice) But this would be a lie.
Now that Jecht has become a fayth, Auron knows there's no point in trying to get Braska to turn back anymore. If he did, Jecht's sacrifice would be wasted; and Auron knows Braska wants to see it through. I suppose he's known that all along, but at this point it's unavoidable.
Auron is a bit more put together during the descent, probably because he's Braska's only guardian now and needs to be able to deal with the practicalities. Braska, on the other hand, has reverted to being inconsolable. He claims to want to spend the night apart from Auron because he's guilty about everything he's put him through, but this probably isn't a good idea.
Auron tells Braska he'll stay with him "until the end"; in FFX, Tidus says to Yuna, "not until the end, always". But for Auron and Braska it's not "always": Braska's pilgrimage isn't going to break the cycle in the way Yuna's does.