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Posting: The Reason
Title: The Reason
Fandom: FFX-2
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 470
Pairings: Beclem/Yuna
Spoilers: For the end of FFX only.
Notes: In the spirit of finishing things up before the end of the year, I caught up on transferring everything I've written this summer and fall to my archive, including my three Trick or Treat 2008 stories. Usually, when I participate in a fic battle, I don't post the ficlets individually in my journal, but I've been meaning to make an exception for these, and this one in particular. The prompt was "Beclem/Yuna, murder", and I was so strongly put in mind of "Aftermath" that I couldn't help but write a metafic for it. Set post-game (and so post-"Aftermath" as well).
"I had to kill them, you know."
Beclem looked up at the abrupt words. Yuna sat a few feet away, twiddling a blade of grass between her fingers. She had invited him to lunch, he presumed to bury the hatchet, and they had found a quiet spot for a picnic overlooking the Djose Shore. So far they had mostly eaten in silence; this sudden confession was the last thing he had expected. "Excuse me?"
"The aeons," she said calmly, even as she tore the blade of grass in half and shredded the remnants. "When we defeated Yu Yevon. In order to beat him, we had to kill them."
"I have heard the story." Beclem set his flagon of ale on the ground.
Yuna bowed her head. "They told me to do it. I felt, at the time, that I had no choice. But they were my friends, my companions, my allies, and I killed them all. And it felt like murder. I grieved for a long time." She opened her clenched fists and let the tiny bits of grass free; caught by the afternoon breeze, they floated up and away, into the sky. Beclem turned to watch them go, then returned his eyes to Yuna, who had drawn up her knees. She hugged them to herself, and she suddenly looked young and vulnerable, not the confident High Summoner Beclem had thought he knew.
For just a moment, he hesitated. But finally he reached out to her, laying his hand on her arm. "I'm sorry." He closed his fingers in a sympathetic squeeze; she met his eyes and smiled shyly.
Suddenly very aware of the softness of her skin, he dropped his hand and leaned away. "But, why are you telling me this?"
She sat up a little straighter. "We haven't always been on the best of terms, and I know that you were angry that I didn't take a stronger role in the leadership of Spira at the beginning of the Calm. I thought, if you had a better understanding of why, maybe we could become better friends."
"Ah." Beclem dipped his head in a nod, then picked up his ale, controlling the blush that he felt creeping onto his cheeks. Who had told her about that? He took a drink and schooled his face before setting it aside again and clearing his throat. "Well. Yes. I think I do understand, now, better. Thank you."
"Thank you. For coming here to hear me out." Yuna smiled at him again; he looked back into her warm eyes and found that he couldn't look away.
Then the moment passed and she turned to the picnic basket. "Another sandwich?"
"Please." With a deep breath, Beclem shook his head to clear it, and busied himself with pouring another round of drinks.
Fandom: FFX-2
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 470
Pairings: Beclem/Yuna
Spoilers: For the end of FFX only.
Notes: In the spirit of finishing things up before the end of the year, I caught up on transferring everything I've written this summer and fall to my archive, including my three Trick or Treat 2008 stories. Usually, when I participate in a fic battle, I don't post the ficlets individually in my journal, but I've been meaning to make an exception for these, and this one in particular. The prompt was "Beclem/Yuna, murder", and I was so strongly put in mind of "Aftermath" that I couldn't help but write a metafic for it. Set post-game (and so post-"Aftermath" as well).
"I had to kill them, you know."
Beclem looked up at the abrupt words. Yuna sat a few feet away, twiddling a blade of grass between her fingers. She had invited him to lunch, he presumed to bury the hatchet, and they had found a quiet spot for a picnic overlooking the Djose Shore. So far they had mostly eaten in silence; this sudden confession was the last thing he had expected. "Excuse me?"
"The aeons," she said calmly, even as she tore the blade of grass in half and shredded the remnants. "When we defeated Yu Yevon. In order to beat him, we had to kill them."
"I have heard the story." Beclem set his flagon of ale on the ground.
Yuna bowed her head. "They told me to do it. I felt, at the time, that I had no choice. But they were my friends, my companions, my allies, and I killed them all. And it felt like murder. I grieved for a long time." She opened her clenched fists and let the tiny bits of grass free; caught by the afternoon breeze, they floated up and away, into the sky. Beclem turned to watch them go, then returned his eyes to Yuna, who had drawn up her knees. She hugged them to herself, and she suddenly looked young and vulnerable, not the confident High Summoner Beclem had thought he knew.
For just a moment, he hesitated. But finally he reached out to her, laying his hand on her arm. "I'm sorry." He closed his fingers in a sympathetic squeeze; she met his eyes and smiled shyly.
Suddenly very aware of the softness of her skin, he dropped his hand and leaned away. "But, why are you telling me this?"
She sat up a little straighter. "We haven't always been on the best of terms, and I know that you were angry that I didn't take a stronger role in the leadership of Spira at the beginning of the Calm. I thought, if you had a better understanding of why, maybe we could become better friends."
"Ah." Beclem dipped his head in a nod, then picked up his ale, controlling the blush that he felt creeping onto his cheeks. Who had told her about that? He took a drink and schooled his face before setting it aside again and clearing his throat. "Well. Yes. I think I do understand, now, better. Thank you."
"Thank you. For coming here to hear me out." Yuna smiled at him again; he looked back into her warm eyes and found that he couldn't look away.
Then the moment passed and she turned to the picnic basket. "Another sandwich?"
"Please." With a deep breath, Beclem shook his head to clear it, and busied himself with pouring another round of drinks.
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Good meta!
~Cendri
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This is one of those things I didn't think much about while playing FFX, but then in X-2, when Yuna calls that out as a terrible thing to have done, it really made me think, and notice when I went back and played FFX again.
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That was one of the things about X-2 that bugged me, Yuna saying how wrong it was that she'd had to kill her aeons, that it sucked. I was seeing it from their perspective, angry that the X-2 game designers seemed to have forgotten the aeons' wishes in the matter. They were tired (said Bahamut) and wanted to rest; they were prisoners of the cycle as much as Sin.
But you bring it around to Yuna's perspective and remind me that whether or not the aeons were pleading to be let go, she still had to be the one who killed them (and Auron, in a way) which was hard.
You prompted me to go and read Aftermath, too -- is that yours? -- an excellent story filling in the gaps for most of my favorite secondary characters. And Beclem.
I felt a little lukewarm towards him on first read of this, but after reading Aftermath, I see him more clearly. This works. I'm not quite sure I could ever see him as a sympathetic character to Yuna-- he seems to clash with her style in so many ways-- but it's a reasonable attempt to see them trying to bury the hatchet ( which they do indeed seem to be trying to do at the end of X-2).
Anyway, enough rambling. :)
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"Aftermath" is indeed mine, and I'm very glad to hear that you read and enjoyed it as well. It's been slow going -- I posted the first chapter nearly two years ago, and it's not yet done (I'm planning to take it through the founding of the Youth League). But I'm enjoying it, too. It's been rewarding to flesh out Beclem and figure out what make him tick. But, maybe as a consequence, I sometimes forget that Beclem is not even remotely a sympathetic character for most people in the fandom.
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Nice work!
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I definitely intend to keep going on "Aftermath"; there are two more chapters in there at least, and I'm pretty sure what I want to do with them. So there will be more! :)