Disclaimer: The characters used in this fic are the sole property of Square-Enix, Tetsuya Nomura, and anyone else with copyright on the Final Fantasy series. I own nothing, save it be my own plot ideas and original characters.

Countdown

Day 1: Shadow

A/N: I've been in a bit of a Final Fantasy mood the past few days, so I'm making use of that and writing this. :D I really hope this one turns out well, as I rather like the idea I've come up with. See, I've been wondering what Tidus' life was like before he ended up in Spira, so I'm taking a shot at writing about a bit of that. So far, I like what I've come up with. ;D Since starting the concept for this, I've noticed that it's rather tough to come up with original names for Tidus' friends, but I'm glad to say that I managed to pull it off. I've also changed "chapter" to "day" to correspond with the fic's title and the countdown to Tidus' arrival in Spira. :D

The countdown buzzer sounded, signaling the last few seconds of the game as the ball flew from one player to the next. But one player, in particular, felt his adrenaline pulsing faster as one of his teammates sent the ball in his direction. He shot upward, taking hold of the desired object, and turned fiercely, weaving through the defenses of the opposing team as he quickly made his way to the goal.

Having reached the desired point in front of the opposing goal, he threw the ball high over his head, quickly following it as it burst out of the sphere pool. He found himself in a moment of pure weightlessness as he back flipped, sending the ball straight back into the sphere pool where it whisked past the goalie and entered the opposing team's goal, securing yet another victory for his own team.

He soon dropped back into the sphere pool, and found himself surrounded by his friends and teammates. Their smiling faces made him grin in turn, just as the final buzzer sounded. But as he began to swim out of the sphere pool with his team, he noticed something odd. The final buzzer was still going off. Before he reached the outstretched arms of his coach and teammates, the blaring sound of the buzzer filled his head, and he felt his life steadily drift away as the water overcame him.

"No... No! NO!"

Tidus rolled off the side of his bed, hitting the hard floor with a heavy thud. Sitting up, he rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes and abruptly slammed his hand down on his buzzing alarm clock. He looked up at his nightstand, realizing that the damned clock had been the reason for the interruption of the wonderful dream he'd been having.

"Hell," the teen muttered, glowering at the now silent clock. "Why the hell does this piece of shit always go off when I'm in the middle of something important?"

He picked himself up off the floor, throwing the blanket back onto his bed as he made his way out into the hallway. The fresh scent of coffee hit him square in the face; a sure sign that his guardian was already awake. Tidus padded down the hall to the bathroom, grabbing a towel from the closet as he closed the door. He glanced at the mirror, noting the small patch of steam that sat in one of the corners.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" Tidus shook his head. "Getting up at the crack of dawn like that... It's crazy! Who in their right mind does something like tha-" A sudden knock on the door stopped Tidus mid-sentence. He knew who it was before they even spoke.

"Yo, Tidus! You awake yet?" Tidus' friend, Arlan, called through the door.

Tidus turned on the faucet, splashing cold water on his face. "Yeah, yeah. Get a grip, Arlan," he said. "I'll be out in a bit."

Something heavy hit the wall outside the bathroom, and Tidus grimaced. Not only was Arlan there to pester him, but Teyron and Szera, too. The four were the best of friends, and did nearly everything together. But Tidus sometimes wondered why he didn't bother to give Arlan and Teyron a good smack in the back of the head. Of course, Szera, being the only girl in the group, took care of that duty multiple times a day.

"Hey, Szera!" Tidus called. "You out there?"

There was another loud thud against the wall before he heard Szera's voice. "Yeah, I'm here. Whatcha need?"

Tidus smirked as he turned on the shower. "Give Arlan and Teyron a good smack for me, will ya? And make sure they don't break anything."

He could almost see the smirk on his friend's face as she replied. "You got it, T!"

The bathroom door opened fifteen minutes later, and Tidus emerged, fully dressed with a towel over his head. He tossed the towel into his bedroom as he made his way down the hall to the front room to meet up with his friends. Amazingly, Arlan and Teyron were sitting quietly on the couch with a smug-looking Szera sitting between them, staring into the kitchen where Tidus heard a familiar voice.

"Does this happen often?"

Tidus smacked himself in the face. He could have died right at that moment. There he was, ready to spend the day with his friends, and they were, probably, having a conversation about him with his guardian. At the moment, he couldn't imagine anything more embarrassing than that. Tidus peeked around the corner into the kitchen, confirming his fear.

Oh, crap! he thought. Now I'm gonna have to go the rest of the day with this humiliation weighing down on me! Please, Szera! Please, don't say anything!

"On a daily basis," the redhead replied with a grin. "These two," she pointed at Arlan and Teyron, "are always screwing around, so I've made it my duty to put an end to their stupidity whenever the need arises."

"What about Tidus?" Auron asked. "How do you deal with him?"

Tidus glanced in Szera's direction, noting that she was grinning at him. "Well, I-"

"I'm done!" Tidus announced, cutting in. "Now, let's go!"

The newspaper hit the counter, signaling that the older man hadn't found anything of interest in the local rag. "Hold it, boy," Auron said.

"What the hell do you want, old man?" Tidus muttered. "I'm dressed, clean, and ready to go. What more do you want?"

Auron sighed, giving Tidus a look. "I want to know where you're going."

Szera snickered. "We're gonna hang around the docks for a while, browse the shops at the Center, and then head to tonight's game. And don't worry about a thing," she said, throwing her arms around Teyron and Arlan. "I'll keep these three idiots in line! You can count on it!"

"Yeah, yeah," Tidus said, giving Szera a look that said 'shut the fuck up.' "So, can I go now, Auron?"

The older man shrugged as he left the room. "Just don't do anything stupid."

Trying to ignore Auron's last comment, Tidus changed the subject. "What the hell did she do to you guys?" he smirked, noting the bright red hand prints on Teyron and Arlan's faces.

Teyron ran a hand through his short brown hair, throwing the finger at Tidus with the other hand. "Fuck off, dude. You know damn well what she did to us. Now," Teyron stood up and stretched "are we gonna lounge around here waiting for your shadow to get back, or are we gonna blitz?"

Tidus glowered at the snickering forms of Arlan and Szera on the couch. "Guys, cut it out. Auron's not my shadow, all right? He's just my guardian."

Szera smirked. "I'm sorry, Tidus," she said. "But you know that we're never gonna give that one up, right? I mean, think about it. He's more like your shadow than anything else. And you can't blame us for speaking the truth, can you?"

"Yeah, I can. It's not that hard," Tidus shot back.

Arlan stood, stepping between the two before Tidus said something that would cause Szera to claw his eyes out. "Now, children," Arlan said, trying to slick back his white hair in an attempt to imitate Auron. "This is no way for you two to behave, understand?"

Teyron fell to the floor in a fit of laughter as Tidus' fist connected with Arlan's face. "Shut up, Arlan."

Szera grabbed Arlan by the wrist before he had a chance to fight back. "That's enough, boys. Now, are we gonna blitz or spend the day mocking Tiddy about his guardian?"

"Can't we do both?" Teyron suggested, earning a dirty look from Szera.

Tidus headed to the refrigerator, grabbing some sports drinks to take with him. "Not funny, Teyron," he muttered, shoving the drinks into his bag. "Hey! You guys got money for the game, right?"

Szera nodded. "Yeah. Hey, we'll meet you outside," she said, dragging her two friends out the front door. "Don't take too long!"

After gathering what food he needed for the day with his friends, Tidus grabbed his key and headed to the door. "I'll be back later tonight!" he called into the house as he closed the door.

"So, where to?" Teyron asked, kicking the blitzball down the dock.

Szera shot him a playful scowl. "We're getting to that, you dolt. Now," she pulled the schedule for the night's blitz games out of her satchel, "the game starts around nine, so that gives us plenty of time to, as Arlan says, 'dick around.'"

Tidus snickered at the phrase. Over the years, Arlan had garnered quite a reputation for being a foul-mouthed clown. But, for as long as Tidus had known him, Arlan hadn't let said reputation put a damper on his sense of humor. As fate would have it, each year, his humor seemed to make its presence known more fully than in the years before. And for someone like Arlan, that, in itself, was one hell of an accomplishment.

The group headed into town in search of a practice arena for them to start their own game. Fortunately, they found one, just three blocks from the Center where they would be spending the majority of their time before the big game started. Szera ran ahead of the boys, who were window-shopping for new blitz gear, and managed to book the practice arena before another group arrived.

"Let's go already!" she hollered over the bustling crowds. "You'll have plenty of time to pick up some of that gear after practice! Now, hurry up, or I'm ditching you!"

Not wanting to be left behind, the three boys pushed their way through the crowds and made it into the arena. But by the time the doors closed behind them, Szera was already inside the sphere pool with the blitzball, waving mockingly at her friends, who were struggling to remove their clothes from over their blitz uniforms. Tossing their belongings into one collective pile by the bleachers, Tidus, Arlan, and Teyron dove into the sphere pool to chase after Szera.

The group went through their usual routine, deciding to team up for a short series of two-on-two games instead of playing "every man for himself." Tidus opted to play alongside Szera after having learned that teaming up with either Arlan or Teyron led him to complete, and utter, failure at Szera's hands.

0 - + - 0 - + - 0

"Ah. That was a good workout," Arlan sighed with satisfaction, his short white hair sopping wet as he climbed out of the sphere pool and headed to the locker room to change.

Tidus shook out his hair, grabbed the towel from his bag and followed Arlan. "What do you mean 'workout'? You didn't even put in an honest effort to win, you loser. How the hell can you, of all people, talk about getting a good workout?"

With a smirk, Arlan grabbed the wet ball and flung it at Tidus, who, much to Arlan's dismay, caught it with ease. "Lay off," Arlan whined. "I say what I want, and you get over it. Is that all right... Shadow boy?"

"Now, boys," Teyron cut in, taking a shot at imitating Auron. "This is a public place. Take your love affairs somewhere- Ow!" Teyron flinched as Tidus smacked him with his sopping wet towel. "Dude! What was that for?"

Tidus ignored him. After putting up with that kind of crap from his friends for such a long time, as harmless as their words and jokes were, Tidus was really getting tired of it. Maybe he was just angry. Angry that his friends were lucky enough to have something he didn't: real parents. Sure, Auron was good to him and everything, but Tidus couldn't help longing for the warmth of a real home and family.

It's all his fault, he told himself as he dressed. It's Jecht's fault all this happened to me. If that bastard hadn't left us... Mom would still be here, and I... I'd have a real family...

"Hey, Tidus! Hellooo?" Arlan waved a hand in front of his friend's face. "Hey, snap out of it, man. We're going to the Center."

0 - + - 0 - + - 0

"Holy shit, that game was awesome!" Teyron said as Tidus unlocked his front door.

It was well past midnight, and Tidus did not want to end up with the responsibility of explaining to Auron why every neighbor within a fifty-foot radius was knocking on their door. The blond spun around as the door unlocked, clamping a hand over his friend's mouth. "Shut up, Teyron!" he said. "If you keep shouting like that, you're gonna wake up the whole freaking neighborhood! Is that what you want?"

Teyron raised a hand to swat Tidus' away. "You should talk!" he hissed back. "You're the one yelling at everyone!"

"Well, I wouldn't have to if you'd keep your mouth- Whoa!" Tidus was cut off mid-sentence as he fell through the door, his friends following suit. As he lay across the threshold of the house boat, his friends piled on top of him, he found himself staring up at Auron. "H-Hey, Auron..."

"I know I'm going to regret this," the older man sighed, leaning against the door frame as he stared down at the stammering teen. "But what are you doing?"

Arlan, who had fallen on top of Teyron and Tidus, squeezed his way out of the pile, taking a seat on Szera's back. "Oh, that's easy," he quipped with a grin. "See, right after we got out of the game, we passed by a specialty store that brought about an interesting discussion. So, we were just trying to decide what position Tidus would be best in during se-"

"Arlan!" Szera shrieked, throwing him off her back. As he hit the dock outside with a thud, Szera jumped up and seized him by the collar of his shirt. "Shut up!"

Before Tidus could react in a similar manner, Teyron quickly stood up and stepped out of Tidus' reach. "Well, I guess we should be going now," he said, moving to assist Szera in dragging Arlan away. "See ya later, Tidus!"

Red with embarrassment, Tidus brushed himself off and went inside, throwing himself down on the nearest couch. If Auron had understood Arlan's twisted humor, and there was no doubt in his mind that his guardian had, he was in for a lecture of some sort. Tidus glanced up, realizing that his guardian was going to say something.

"What was..." Auron hesitated for a moment. "Forget it," he said, dismissing the subject with a wave of his hand. "I don't even want to know."

Szera: pronounced as "Zera"

Teyron: pronounced as "Terran"

Arlan: pronounced as "Arlyn"

I really like how this has turned out. :D I REALLY do. XD Since this fic is counting down the days until Tidus gets stuck in Spira, I'm considering a couple options. A: a 7-day countdown (the 7th being the day that Tidus comes into contact with Sin), or B: a 10-day countdown (with the 10th day where Tidus comes into contact with Sin). I haven't decided yet... Yeah. After almost three weeks of plotting this fanfic, I STILL haven't made a decision. But, I'm leaning toward the 7-day countdown at the moment. I was initially gonna post this three weeks ago, but school caught up with me again. D: Anyway, thanks for the read, and please review.

And FTR, I own Szera, Teyron, and Arlan. So, please don't steal them. If you wanna use them in a fic, please ask me FIRST.