To Serve and Protect

By Snare-chan

Ratings: PG-13
Category(ies): Slight AU (Alternate Universe)
Warning(s: Spoilers for later parts in the game, namely after Zanarkand Dome
Status: Continuation, 1/3
Summary: There is more to the Omega Ruins than anyone could have realized, and it only took several mistakes for Tidus to make this clear.

Notes: When I was exploring the Omega Ruins, even on the first run, I found it rather boring. It's blatantly obvious that it was designated as more or less the place for players to level up. The plot was direct, the battles were simple and the layout is so small once it's revealed there isn't much else to say about the place.

So…thus the creation of this story. I thought I could add a bit more interest to the spot with it, though perhaps a little at the cost of general-Spira logic. I tried to keep the story as true to the game as possible, but just in case I'm tacking AU on. And because I'm cool like that.

Disclaimer: I dun own Final Fantasy X; wish I did like everyone else. They should put FFX in stock, then I'd buy it all!

"Does this place ever end!"

Though Tidus would have loved to sigh with the rest of the group, he too questioned the length of this underground cavern. The Omega Ruins, as designated on Cid's graphs, were downright huge, if not endless. They easily outclassed any other area the party had visited. Strong fiends like mini-bosses were crawling over every inch of the place, and save spheres – those beloved blue machina he'd come to appreciate on this journey – were more scarce than treasure chests.

It was also dark, cold, and if his companions were like him, then they would be nearly dead on their feet. At the moment, the blonde would do anything to sit down and rest for a couple minutes, but it was too risky…or so Auron argued. While he was convinced stopping would leave them open for any sort of attack, Rikku had argued back that they were being attacked anyway. Tidus, at least, was more than ready to agree.

"I mean, we've been here forever and ever! Can't we leave yet?" Rikku continued, arms wrapped around her shoulders to keep warm. "It's super creepy down here…"

"It could be worse, ya?"

"How could it possibly be any worse? I've already been turned to stone twice!"

Wakka coughed softly, rubbing the back of his head. He hadn't gone unscathed either, having been Confused, and because of it, he'd been one of those two reasons why Rikku got Petrified. The redhead had apologized immediately, but it hadn't improved the girl's mood at all. In fact, she had confiscated his T.K.O. ball some time ago.

"Stop complaining. We can always train in the Thunder Plains."

"Ya, that's how it could be worse!" Wakka suddenly brightened, missing the point entirely.

"You're both such meanies! Why did you have to drag us down here anyway? If you want to go and…and beat things with your big metal stick, then keep us out of it!"

"No one made you come."

"But…but Yunie came too, and I can't just leave her alone with you guys."

"Hey!"

Tidus and Wakka protested as one while a miffed Lulu snorted. Rikku released a nervous laugh, a finger going to rub her cheek in habit. "Sorry Lu; you're ok."

"Hey now; we're not so bad either," Tidus spoke up.

"Well…Kimahri is nice."

"Oh, thanks a lot."

"Be quiet, all of you. You'll attract fiends."

Tidus took the hint, having been around the older man long enough to know when to listen. Technically it should be all the time, but… For once, Rikku did too, but not without sticking out her tongue at Auron's back. From the annoyed tilt of his head, the Blitzball player assumed he knew about it. When Tidus was a kid, the other had always seemed to know what he was doing, as if he had eyes in the back of his head. Absently, he rolled his tongue around his mouth, remembering the one time Auron had caught him doing the exact same thing and nearly yanked the muscle right out.

The next five minutes of silence (if you could call it that) was spent battling Master Coeurl and Machea while listening to Rikku whine under her breath.

"Cold cold cold, tired tired tired, wanna leave wanna leave…can we leave now?"

"No."

"But I'm cold and I'm tired and I wanna leave…"

Yuna, who Rikku had progressively moved around more to keep warm, glanced over at her in worry. Though the summoner was usually concerned about everyone's health, she was growing more so at the young blonde's complaints. She might be known to complain every once and while, but she seemed absolutely serious this time. It couldn't be good to push her so hard in these conditions.

"Maybe…we should stop for a little while. We all have been working hard."

Everyone instinctively turned towards Auron. Even though it had never really been stated outright, his experience in this field had designated him as a sort of leader in their party of seven. In Tidus' opinion, however, his word would be law no matter what kind of wisdom he had in him.

"Oh come on, Auron; we've been at this for hours. Five minutes isn't going to kill us."

"…As you wish."

Tidus actually blinked at that, surprised that the older man had given in so easily. He supposed a part of it might have had to do with the fact that Yuna had asked and that whole 'summoners get their way because they are summoning' gig he'd been hearing about along this whole journey…but who really knew with Auron?

"YIPPIE!"

With a newfound sense of energy, Rikku did a sort of happy dance before plopping down right where she had been standing, huddling close to Kimahri and his warm, blue fur coat. The Ronso's expression never changed, but knowing him, he probably would have moved if Yuna hadn't carefully situated herself on his other side. Everyone else followed suit, sitting down in a close huddle to keep from freezing and to maintain a close eye on all their surroundings.

They had walked into another dead end, lit slightly by…Tidus wasn't sure what exactly they were. Torches maybe? They kind of reminded him of the electrical lights back home…in his Zanarkand.

Deciding he might as well take this chance, he laid his head on his knees, trying to rest. Most of the others were already ahead of him in that field, Rikku softly snoozing against Kimahri's shoulder and Lulu looking like she was in some sort of meditative state. He couldn't see his guardian's face due to it being shadowed from his position right beside him, but by all appearances he looked like even he was resting. Tidus knew if he could trust anyone to keep watch though, it would be him.

So with that in mind, he settled in and started to doze.

Snore. Snore.

While Tidus was still sleeping away in dreamland, his nose wriggled as it picked something up, detecting loose smells even without his knowledge. The stench now hanging in the air was strong enough to get him to stir, and when it didn't go away he cracked open an eye.

"What is that awful smell?" He'd only mumbled it without the intention of being heard, but sensed someone tense to his left.

"Get up."

"Five more minutes…"

"No. Get up!"

When he didn't comply fast enough, he was lifted up by his hood, the sensation of hovering over the floor starting him completely to wakefulness. Now fully aware of his surroundings, Auron set him down on his feet.

"What's wrong?"

"We've been here too long. Get everyone up."

Nodding, he was quick to head over to the next nearest person. He was a lot more careful with how he woke Yuna up, though, not wanting to hurt her. Gently, but urgently, he shook her shoulder.

"Yuna, come on."

"Mm…what's happening?"

He shrugged, just as curious and lost as she was. "Don't know. Auron just said that we need to get going."

"Yes."

As soon as she'd woken, Kimahri did the same, and helped both Yuna and Rikku to their feet. The Al Bhed girl yawned loudly, shaking her head and looking ready to drift off again. Wakka and Lulu were the last to rise, but wasted no time.

"What gives? I was just starting to get some real sleep."

"Something's coming."

Sniffing the air heavily again, Tidus gagged, both hands going to cover his nose and mouth in a feeble attempt to protect them from the horrid smell floating about.

"Whatever it is, it must have gotten something. It smells like something died in here!"

Feeling unsure, Yuna took a small whiff, her face scrunching up slightly. "It does smell like death. A fiend must be very close by."

"Then we should stop talking about it and get moving, ya?"

Heading out at a quick pace, they took as many turns and bends as they could, wanting to put some distance between themselves and the monster trailing them. The territory was poorly illuminated and with the ruins being completely uncharted, it was difficult moving about without risking getting lost. A part of why they had come down here in the first place was to mark it out, but at that very moment none of them wasted the effort of doing so.

They were unable to escape the disgusting odor despite these tactics. In fact, the more twists they took, the more powerful it became.

"It's strange, how there was nothing really here before," Lulu finally spoke up, appearing to be musing more to herself than to her companions.

"Ya, it kind of smells like a-"

"Great Malboro!"

Wakka blinked slowly. "Actually, I was going to say it smells like a locker room for a Shoopuf, but that works too."

"No, a Great Malbaro! Look!" Rikku squealed shrilly, pointing behind them as a slimy, tentacled fiend with just as many eyes as it had arms came slithering out of hiding. Immediately, the smell of trash and twenty-year-old clipped toenails filled the cramped space as it spotted them.

Everyone scrambled into action, Auron, Tidus and Yuna moving up to be the first ones to face it while the rest of them headed back to cover the rear. It was the only thing they had time for as the fiend released a cloud of its putrid breath, a darkened cloud of pea green fogging up the small space. The status effects were instantaneous. Yuna got hit with Silence, the others missing her because she had wisely equipped her armor with proofs. Auron came down with Confusion, while Tidus had it the worst - Poison, Berserk and Darkness hitting him all at once.

Now it was their chance to strike back, and Yuna reached for an item to cure Auron first to keep another party-attack disaster from happening. It would be very bad if someone as hard-hitting and strong as the guardian hit one of them now. As grudging as it was to admit just to himself, the older man could probably knock them all out with a single hit.

Since he was now cleared up, he put forth some sort of ability Tidus couldn't recognize, his vision too blurred to spot any details. They had run out of Remedies, so even if Tidus was in his right of mind, he couldn't do anything but attack. The familiar stinging buzz of Berserk coursing through his veins accompanied his action of slicing into the monster, the lucky shot costing him as he retreated back to the front party. His strike only managed to remove a couple eyes and tentacles, and from the feel of things possibly even a tooth. As soon as he got back, he became overcome by a strong wave of nausea and stumbled.

He really hated it when he got Poisoned.

Due to Auto-Haste on his armor, Tidus quickly recovered enough for another attack. You can bet, as all the status effects did their job on his body, that he was kicking himself for several reasons. The next time he decided to auto everything on his armor instead of proof it like Lulu had suggested he should…he'd listen.

Now able to help again, Yuna used Echo-Screen, preparing to help heal all of her other companions' wounds on her next turn. It would take far too long to just heal one or the other. Her efforts were thwarted by another show of toxic smog, the haze covering them all like smoke from a fire before rising to reveal a re-ailmented party. Still with a bit of health left in him, Tidus vouched to strike again, another sense of illness taking him down to one knee.

"Tidus!"

None of the other previous battles had been this long or this hard, the blonde absently noted. Then again, any breed of Malboro, great or not, was everything when compared to simple species of bats and lizards.

"Can you move?"

Still shrouded in Darkness, Tidus could only tilt his head in Auron's direction to let him know he'd heard, but he could only shrug. He was feeling drowsy, but otherwise still conscious, so that was a good sign.

"I think so," he finally admitted, nodding his head in weak acknowledgement before he let his head fall back into a bowed position. He was finding it increasingly difficult to hold it up in place, and he almost made the mistake of passing out – for a moment he thought he had – until he heard the distinctive sound of something wet and slimy making its way towards him.

Tilting his head back, he tried in vain to see where the attack was going, but the cloud of darkness still hung closely to his face. He couldn't even see his hand wave around in front of him as he tried to push the hanging clouds aside. By the time he had realized it was him the creature was heading for, it was too late to step aside. Eyes widening in alarm, he tried to run, jump, roll…move out of the way any possible way he could. But it was impossible; he was just too weak to move. This hit would be the end of him.

Clenching his eyes closed and tensing in anticipation for the final blow, he expected to experience enough needles put into him to last him for the rest of his entire life. But the pain never came. Daring to open one eye, he had both snapping open in a second in a better attempt to see what was happening.

Before, there had been nothing but gnashing teeth in his short field of vision. Now he was only able to spot red. At first, he thought he'd fallen face down in his own blood, but the color was off. It was lighter and looked just like…Auron's robe? For a moment, he was completely lost on how he had gotten sent to wait back with the others. When did he find the strength to move?

Then it hit him like a Blitzball to the head. He hadn't been the one to move – Auron had. The other had been the one to take the hit.

Putting all his effort into trying to talk, he was unable to form the words. Though he couldn't see it, he heard the distinctive crunch of metal being torn apart – either his sword or bracer – before whatever it was shattered like ice. With a grunt, his guardian moved a bit away from him, most likely to attack, and from the loud gnarling screech that followed, it must have been a direct hit. The fiend's last lament echoed off the cave walls before leaving the party to a ghostly silence.

With the monster no longer around to leave its mark, all status effects evaporated, leaving Tidus with his sight back and some health to spare. It would seem he recovered just in time to see the other guardian begin to collapse. It was like watching a silent movie-sphere in slow motion. The spectacle could almost be called serene before it picked up again. Both unable to physically move away and mentally wishing to be there, Tidus tried to be quick enough to catch the other as he fell back against him. Still a little woozy from his own experience with the Malboro, he was only able to cushion Auron's fall as the two of them collapsed to the ground.

"Auron, you weigh like a rock."

The other was silent in his arms, and one glance down at him proved why. His earlier guess about the bracer being broken was proven correct as he spotted the other's unclothed arm bleeding heavily and laced with green ooze. Without the Poisonproof of his armor, the toxins were quick to take effect and were most likely eating away at the limb and traveling right through his blood stream.

"Auron!"

Without hesitation, Yuna moved over to see if she could help, her hands gently cupping over the wound as everyone hovered nearby. A green glow appeared at the tips of her fingers as she cast some form of Cure. It almost appeared to have worked too, the skin around the wound closing in around it in a scabbing fashion before snapping back into place.

"I…I'm out of magic!" she gasped, breathless from the ordeal herself.

"Then…then we need an Ether! Who has one?"

Tidus knew he was all out, having been the one designated to carry the Distillers and some select weapons. Lulu shook her head, the only one trusted to carry any food supplies and their money ever since Wakka had lost some on their journey. The same went for everyone else. Rikku was even out of her people's special Potions.

Slumping in dismay, Tidus looked at each one of their faces. "Nothing? We have nothing?"

"Um um um…" Frantically, Rikku fumbled through her many pockets, inside her gloves, and everywhere else, "Maybe…no…that won't work…well…can we clean it out with Holy Water at least? Will that do?"

"Anything will do at this point," Tidus assured, grabbing it from her hands and, with Yuna's help, washed out the bite marks as best as possible. Tentatively, the summoner pulled out some thorny-looking teeth as they were revealed. When that was all said and done, Lulu offered up some black cloth, the fabric probably used to patch up her dolls on the rare occasion they got overused.

During the whole ordeal, Auron neither made a sound nor moved. As they finished tying up his arm, this of course left them all rather concerned. They knew they could not stay put, or at least not out in the open, and using Kimahri's strength, they moved him to a more secluded area.

"We have to get him help, ya?"

"How? We are too far away from where we came in; what would moving him accomplish?" Lulu asked logically, her voice uncharacteristically softer than her normal scathing tone that she used every time she was forced to point out the obvious.

"Then one of us has gotta go back to get help!" Rikku chirped, her small hand rising in offering to do it herself. The idea was dismissed instantly, the rest of them fearing that they would get lost or hurt or a whole slew of misfortunes. Another one of them getting injured wouldn't help Auron in the least.

"He'll be ok."

At the sound of Tidus' voice, everyone turned to him, the blonde still hovering by the man's side. He'd refused to move anywhere else and only spoken up since the accident just now.

"He's a tough guy; he can hold on a little longer. We'll accomplish nothing by wasting our energy."

Quietly, Yuna moved to sit beside him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Yes…Sir Auron has had worse, right?"

Nodding sternly, he agreed whole-heartedly, "Yeah, I bet he'll be better in the morning…afternoon…whenever later is. You'll see! And if not…well, we're smart, we can come up with something when that time comes."

Their anxiousness only partly calmed, the group settled in, waiting to see if rest would be the answer. They all prayed it would just take something so simple. While the others rested uneasily, Tidus remained perfectly stationed over his guardian's form, having an even better idea of what he must do.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Cookies and cream to those who figured out what 'special ability' Auron used before he was attacked! Hint: it explains how he was able to defend Tidus. ;)