"I own nothing but the ideas that fester within my greymatter. Read, enjoy, and review. BERNIE! GET OFF THE KEYBOarDkujhbvchjk!"
"You'll hear my story, won't you?" Roma looked up at the boy beside her.
"…Yeah"
Jecht looked down upon his second child. Kita had absolutely adored her. Most likely due to her looking like himself. Which was a totally rad reasoning, but the crybaby would probably disagree.
Speaking of, he lifted the little three year old to see his baby sister. Kita's orders, after all.
"Tidus, I'd like you to meet your new baby sister, Roma." His wife beamed at her boys, showing off her prize.
Blue eyes met a pair similar to his own.
Little Baby Roma was really alike to her father. She'd probably have less of a hard time getting their mother's attention than him. What with her chocolate brown hair and naturally tan skin. Add in the fact that she was a girl, well…
He'd have to work harder to get his mommy's attention.
"She looks funny." He did not mean to say that.
The one year old giggled as she threw her food into her big brother's hair. The four year old growled and clenched his fist. He went to hit her.
"Don't you dare!"
They cried.
Roma looked up at her brother, the five to her two, as he played Blitzball by himself.
"Can I pway now?"
"No! I don't need some dumb crybaby messing me up!"
"But Daddy says that you're the crybaby…"
"Shut up!" He messed up, he hit the ball wrong. It launched through the air. No, oh no! No oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no!
"MOOOOM!"
They cried.
The new three year old pouted as she remembered her six year old brother's taunts from this morning about how no one would come to her party just 'cause he said she had cooties. He was the one who had cooties! And he was waaaaaaay totally WRONG! People came! Lots of people came just for HER! So take that, Tidus!
But Tidus had invited his friends too so he wouldn't get lonely while she played with her (way more) friends. And the girls had dared her to talk to one of them. So she did. And when she did…
She cried.
Jecht got angry. Bottles, Balls, Fists, and Words were thrown. Her mother had said something that made all the girls' moms mad and take their kids and leave. Roma's party was ruined. And Tidus got blamed for it.
He cried.
"I'm sorry. He was a jerk."
"It's okay, it's their fault anyways."
They smiled.
Jecht was going to teach them Blizball.
He was really mean to Tidus.
Roma wasn't allowed to play because of her mother.
Kita insisted she learn how to cook.
Tidus hated Jecht.
Roma hated Kita.
They agreed to disagree.
Tidus whined for his mother's attention.
She tried to wave him off as she was dolling Roma up.
She ignored them both during her and Jecht's 'alone time.'
Roma did her best to help Tidus and be a big girl. SHE was a good girl, unlike her mother.
She hated their mother.
Tidus cried.
Roma whimpered as her father threw a glass bottle in her direction.
He was always drinking.
He was always distracting Kita with 'alone time.'
Tidus did his best to help Roma and be a good big brother. HE was there for her, unlike his father.
He hated their father.
Roma cried.
The four year old was excited. Daddy was taking her on a boat someplace! Her and nobody else! She couldn't wait.
She waved goodbye to Tidus. (She could barely remember him.)
The seven year old was excited. Mommy was going to be with him for a whole week! Him and nobody else! He couldn't wait.
He waved goodbye to Roma. (He would always remember her.)
She giggled at the really big one her daddy had caught. He was a really good fisher!
Then, the worst happened.
A storm, she'd thought. She was dead wrong. There was water everywhere. Everywhere! And she didn't know how to swim yet. She couldn't breathe. She could feel the water in her lungs. She couldn't breathe! Somebody! Daddy! Tidus! Somebody save me! Please! Somebody! Anybody!
"Roma!" Jecht cried out. I can't let her… "Hey!"
Somebody…
Tidus scowled as his mother refused to play with him once again.
Kita stared out into the Horizon. Her heart felt cold.
Please let me be wrong.
Please…
Don't die on me… "Hey!"
…save me…
Tidus looked in the same direction as Mommy.
He missed Roma.
At least she'd play with him.
They cried.
"Dammit…"
Gurgle. Gurgle.
Back then, I had thought I died.
"But, it's been nearly…"
It's been too long…
"It's been nearly a day already."
They're a day late!
"Perhaps you could go look for us?" Kita pleaded.
She knew something was wrong!
"Frederick, how is she?"
"The fever is settling down. At last."
"People are searching for them now." The man did his best to calmly explain this to Jecht's wife. But it was clear that she was still upset by the matter. It was then he took his leave.
"Thank you."
Kita held her face in her hands and cried.
Tidus scowled.
"I hope we can play with her soon."
"Probably not! She's as sick as Cheria!"
"Asbel!"
Huh? Who…?
Tidus ran up to his mother, "Who cares whether he comes back or not?"
Kita shook her head. No! He couldn't say that! "But he might die!"
"Fine! Let him!"
She crouched down before her child. "Do you… Do you hate him so?"
Tidus nodded.
"But if he dies, you'll never be able to tell him how much you hate him."
"So?" Tidus crossed his arms and looked away.
"What about your sister?" That got his attention.
"What about her?"
"Roma was with him, remember? Do you want her to die, too?"
His shoulders slumped and his eyes averted, "…no…"
A moment of silence passed between them. An awkward silence with a relief existing in only one of the two present.
"Then, would you like for her to return?"
"…maybe."
"She'll need an adult to bring her home, you know." She smiled gently at him.
"Fine! But only so Roma can come back! Then, he has to go back to wherever he got lost to!"
"Tidus, that's…" She sighed.
"Today, we're gonna make her wake up!"
"Huh? But how?"
"Like…" A grunt. "This!"
Bounce.
"Hey! That looks like fun!"
"Me too! Me too!"
Whose voices are these…?
People gathered at the dock, murmuring amongst themselves. Was it true? Did Jecht really…? And his baby girl, too?
Today was the day Jecht and Roma were legally declared dead.
Kita and Tidus cried.
Blue eyes opened to see a trio of kids. Probably her age.
She had no idea who they were though. She'd recognize weird purpley-brown hair like that anywhere.
"Who…?"
"Yay! She's awake!"
"We did it!"
"I can't believe your idea worked, Asbel!"
"Hey!"
"What's all the ruckus in here?"
An old man had come in. His eyes had widened, "Asbel, Cheria, Hubert! Out! And go get your father, boys. He'll want to see this."
Tidus kicked his blitzball, crying.
"I hate him!" Kick. "It's all his fault!" Kick. "Stupid!" Kick. "STUPID!"
The man who looked like the purple-brown boy's father knelt before her.
"Can you tell me your name? Where are you from? Who are your parents? Where are they?"
She blinked at him, flustered. "I'm Roma and my parents are Jecht and Kita. I have a brother named Tidus, too."
The blue-haired woman smiled at her gently. "And where are you from, Roma?"
"Zanarkand."
"I'm sorry?"
"Zanarkand!"
"I'm afraid I haven't heard of this 'Zanarkand.'"
A Month Later…
"Tidus! Don't look!" The seven-year-old's head was turned, but he saw a strange shadow.
Was his mother… floating?
Roma had adapted rather quickly to life with the Barnes and Lhant family.
She and Asbel were always the go-to for fun adventures. Cheria and Hubert had a hard time keeping up with them.
She missed her family, but it was okay. After all, Frederick said they were sure to find them. Even if they didn't know where or what Zanarkand was. They'd find Daddy and Kita and the Crybaby and everything would be okay.
The next month…
He was so sick and tired of being tossed around from home to home! Enough already! Just let him go back to his little boat house! He would be just fine on his own! He didn't need anybody!
He missed them, though.
It was at this point that Roma began to wonder if she'd ever go home. It didn't sound like any of the searches were going okay at all. It wasn't so bad, she supposed. She had Cheria and Asbel and Hubert. So they could be her family too. Along with Lord and Lady Lhant and Frederick.
She missed them though.
Don't cry, okay?
And the next month…
Tidus glared at all of them. He wasn't stupid! He knew what happened! They were all dead! And he was alone! They didn't have any right treating him like he was stupid! They were the ones who were stupid!
He looked down at the blitzball. And he picked it up.
He'd show them!
She picked up the glass ball. (It wasn't even made out of glass though, and it bounced!)
She beamed at the other three. "Do you guys know how to play Blitzball?"
"Huh?"
"Blitzball?"
"What's that?"
"I'll show you!"
And the fourth month…
Tidus drank in the sight of his little boat house.
"Who are you?"
"Auron."
"Why'd they let me come here with you?"
"We're going to live together."
"What? Why?"
"Because I'm your guardian now." He seemed to really take that seriously.
"Huh?"
"It means I'm going to look after you."
"I know what it means, but why?!"
"Your father asked me to."
"…You knew him? Did you know mom or Roma too?" His eyes looked up at him desperately.
"…I'm sorry."
They had given up.
She couldn't believe they had given up.
She sulked for the rest of the month, until Asbel inevitably cheered her up.
"So that's the prologue! Was it good? The next chapter will be about the next 8 months of their lives. So that'll be interesting. If you have any good ideas for childhood moments between Auron and Tidus or Roma, Cheria, Hubert, and Asbel, let me know!"