Dance With my Father
Written by Psyfai
Song by Luther Vandross
Characters by Square Enix
Idea by Psyfai
Typed by Psyfai
The beginning is set in the present, which is right before Yuna's Pilgramage began.
The rest is 11 years in the past... when life was actually normal for Yuna and Tidus.
A house, fairly large, sitting between two others with a city skyline in the background appeared on the screen. The camera zooms in, and goes into the house, and we see a 17-year-old sitting on the couch, reading a magazine. He looks up as an older, about 35-year-old, man wearing a red coat walked in.
"It's been... ten years," the man said. Tidus lowered his magazine and looked at the man.
"Yeah, and?" the boy retorted, scoffing and putting his magazine back up.
"I thought you would be crying."
"Who, me?" the boy shouted, looking at him. The man shrugged and Tidus scoffed again, turning back to the magazine. He turned the page and a full-page picture of a man with brown dreadlocks and a red bandanna grinned up at him, under the headline 'Ten Years Seince Death'. The boy growled and pulled the face out of the magazine, crumpling it and throwing it across the room. Tears appeared in the corners of his eyes and he looked at the ground, crossing his arms. "I'm not gonna cry..." he muttered to himself.
"You'll cry. You're gonna cry. You always cry. See? You're crying," a gruff voice said in the boys head. The boy looked down more, so his blond hair partially blocked out his face, as tears fell down into his lap.
A girl, about 17, was sitting at a table in a fairly elaborate dining room. Across from her, a 21-year-old Ronso watched her eat her stew slowly. The Ronso picked up his bowl and slurped the last bit, causing the girl to giggle slightly. She took a last sip from her spoon and stood, picking up her bowl and moving to the Ronso, picking his bowl up, too.
"Thank you for dinner, Kimhari," the girl said, placing the bowls in a sink and cleaning them. The Ronso stayed silent, and observed as the girl wiped her face as if she was wiping a tear away.
"Yuna alright?" he grunted. Yuna looked up from the bowls.
"Oh, I'm just a little tired, is all... I'll be fine." She finished up cleaning, then turned, wiping her hands on her purple skirt. "I think I'll go to bed..."
"It is still light out." Yuna looked out the window and giggled slightly.
"Well, I want to take a bath before bed. But... after my bath, I will be going to bed. Goodnight, Kimhari," Yuna said, giving him a slight smile as she turned, walking upstairs.
Upstairs, she opened the door to a bedroom with a double bed in it. Obviously it wasn't hers. Yuna stood before the closet and pulled out a t-shirt that was too big to be hers. She hugged the shirt and fell onto the bed, smelling the shirt. She sat up, wiping her eyes again, and looked on the bedstand nearest her. On it was a picture of a man with brown hair standing next to a woman with brown hair. The two were standing behind a girl that looked a lot like Yuna, only a lot younger and a lot happier. Yuna sighed and fell back onto the bed, still hugging the t-shirt.
-a piano starts playing, with a drumset in the background-
A younger version of Yuna was lying on the ground in her house, reading a picture book. She flipped the page and looked up as a woman, her mother, stood as a man, her father, came into the room. The woman giggled as the man hugged her. Yuna smiled and went back to the book.
Back when I was a child
Before life removed all the innocence
My father would lift me high
And dance with my mother and me and then
"Comeon, Yunie. You can take a break from studying!" the man said, lifting Yuna up by her waist. Yuna laughed as her father tossed her in the air, but always catching her deftly, before she fell to the ground. Yuna's mother laughed and clapped, then squealed when her husband grabbed her by her waist, Yuna in his other arm and kissed the both of them on the forehead. Yuna and her mother giggled, and her father simply chuckled.
Spin me around till I fell asleep
Then up the stairs he would carry me
And I knew for sure
I was loved
Yuna yawned and fell asleep on her father's shoulder. The man looked at her, smiling. Yuna's mother patted down Yuna's hair, then waved as Yuna's father walked up the stairs, with Yuna in tow.
If I could get another chance When I and my mother would disagree
Another walk, another dance with him
I'd play a song that would never, ever end
How I'd love, love, love to dance with my father again
To get my way I would run from her to him
He'd make me laugh just to comfort me, yeah, yeah
Then finally make me do just what my mama said
A younger version of the boy snuck into the kitchen, a blitzball under his arm. He gently tried to ease open the door leading to the outside, but a woman standing at the sink looked at him.
"Tidus?"
"Uh oh..." Tidus said, looking at his mother. Tidus's mother put a hand on her hip, a soapy spatula in it.
"What have I told you about practicing without finishing your homework?"
"Uhh... Daddy!" Tidus yelled, going for the safety of his father, who understood how obsessed one could be over blitzball. Jecht came into the kitchen, a newspaper in one hand.
"What did you do now, kid?"
"Mommy won't let me practice!"
"He hasn't finished his homework yet..," Tidus's mother said. Jecht looked at Tidus.
"Look, kiddo. You might wanna do what your mother says. You'll get kicked off the Junior Blitzball team if you got bad grades," Jecht said, rubbing Tidus's blond hair messier than it already was. Tidus chuckled a little, then walked out of the kitchen, going back to the open workbook on the floor. He layed down in front of it and started working. Jecht sat, cross-legged, across from him, helping when he looked confused. Tidus's mother smiled from the doorway to the kitchen as she was drying a dish.
Later that night when I was asleep
He left a dollar under my sheet
Never dreamed that he
Would be gone from me
Tidus was asleep, hugging a blitzball in his sleep. Jecht slowly opened the door and peered in. He paused for a moment, then walked to Tidus's bed and kneeled by it, stroking Tidus's hair. He grinned and stood, reaching under his pillow for the tooth he said he had lost. He replaced it with a couple Gil, and smiled at Tidus one last time before kissing him gently on the forehead and walking out of the room, closing the door silently. Tidus smiled in his sleep.
If I could steal one final glance Sometimes I'd listen outside her door
One final step, one final dance with him
I'd play a song that would never, ever end
'Cause I'd love, love, love to dance with my father
again
And I'd hear her, mama cryin' for him
I pray for her even more than me
I pray for her even more than me
Tidus, only a few days older, walked down the darkened hallway to the Master Bedroom that now only belonged to his mother. He put an ear to the door and heard sobbing, with a 'Jecht...' thrown in every now and then. His eyes filled with tears and he sat down in front of her door, looking up at the doorknob, as if willing for it to open and his father to come out, beaming and shouting 'Fooled you! Now quit cryin', would ya?'
... But no one came.
The man in the red coat walked down the hallway to Tidus and crouched, putting a hand on his shoulder. Tidus looked up at the man, then stood up as he did, walking back down the hall, toward the living room. He looked over his shoulder at his mother's door, then continued to walk.
Yuna was sitting on Braska's favorite chair, looking at her hands folded in her lap and crying. A teenage girl wearing black with her long hair in braids walked up to Yuna and offered a teddy bear. Yuna took it, smiled sadly at the woman, and hugged the bear. A teenage boy with short red hair and wearing a blitzball uniform carried in a sandwich for Yuna. She took it and began to eat, still crying silently. The two watched the child for a moment, then looked up as a teenage boy with his red hair in a swoop and wearing a similar outfit to the other boy walked in with a sandwich plate in his hand. He shook his head slightly and the two teens looked dejected, and Yuna let out a sob.
"Mommy..."
Zanarkand at night showed through the window as Tidus, in pajamas, walked into his bedroom, aided by the man in the red coat. The man pulled back Tidus's covers, but Tidus shook his head and knelt by his bed, doing the prayer guesture and bowing his head, thinking hard. The man in the red coat paused for a moment, then quietly did the same.
Yuna was kneeling before the array of candles in Besaid temple, a lit candle in her hand. She lit the last one, then replaced the candle. She sat back for a moment, thinking, then did the prayer guesture, just as Braska had shown her just 3 months ago, right before he left.
I know I'm prayin' for much too much
But could You send back the only man she loved
I know You don't do it usually
But Lord, she's dyin' to dance with my father again
Every night I fall asleep
And this is all I ever dream
Tidus was now sleeping, the blitzball still in his arms. Next to him, Jecht's spirit appeared, as he was silently kneeling by his bed. He rubbed Tidus's hair again, and disappeared just as Tidus gasped and opened his eyes.
"... Daddy?" he said, looking around.
Yuna was sleeping as well. The teenage girl silently rubbed Yuna's hair, then stood and walked out of the room. As soon as the door shut, Braska's spirit appeared and he stood silently over Yuna. He smiled proudly and bent over, kissing Yuna on her forehead. She giggled slightly in her dream, then still smiled even after Braska disappeared.
It's the Holiday weekend... I've had this song in my iPod for a while now... and I actually listened to it and I thought, why not?
Flame, praise, worship, I don't care, just please review.
Thanks!