[A/N: This story is a follow-up/sequel to my previous fanfic, A New Threat To Spira. To save on confusion, I suggest you read that story first. I don't own Final Fantasy or its established characters- but then you knew this already.]
Final Fantasy: New Blood
Chapter 1: A Journal Entry
First of Spring, Year 22 of Eternal Calm
It never fails. Everyone eventually gets around to asking me or sis the same questions. "What's it like growing up as the child of celebrities?" or "Is it hard to live up to their standard?" Close family and friends aside, just about anyone will invariably ask us that, or a variant thereof. Usually when we're trying to hang back and just chill. It wasn't much of a surprise when people began asking those sort of questions, but you'd think they would learn to just leave well enough alone and let us live out our lives, rather than speculating on whether we're going to be the next generation of heroes. They have this preset notion in their head of what our family is like, and that leads them to wonder these things. Do we resent the attention our parents get. What their expectations are of us. What it's like to be children of living legends.
My name is Krys, son of Lady Yuna and Sir Tidus, and there's something a lot of people don't realize. To me and my twin sister Elsa, their achievements are secondary. It's who they are at heart that matters.
Don't get me wrong, we both know Mom and Dad have done some amazing things in their time. Phenomenal things, actually. But the thing that really ticks me off is the notion some people have that they set out to become these great heroes, the Saviors of Spira as it were. People don't seem to realize that they didn't do what they did for money, fame or glory. That was never part of the equation any of the times they faced ridiculous odds, not with Sin, not with Vegnagun, not even with Malar the Immortal. They did what they did because it was the right thing to do, and in some instances didn't even know they were averting an apocalypse until it was upon them. Take Sin, for instance. Yes, Mom was the one Summoner who defeated that threat permanently and brought about the Eternal Calm, but she never really intended to accomplish that which so many others had tried and failed. Hell, she didn't even expect to come out of that ordeal alive. She was doing what she felt was right, something that would bring peace back to Spira even if it was only for a little while. And nowadays I walk through the streets of Luca and hear stories of "the High Summoner's Epic Battle" romanticizing aspects of Mom's pilgrimage, and not bothering to mention the fact that the Church of Yevon had branded her as a heretic for uncovering their secrets. All they talk about was how she had set out to destroy Sin once and for all, by uniting the people of Spira and using the power of their faith to bring down the beast. They don't bother checking the Sphere libraries and learning what really happened. The fact is, if it wasn't for Dad, a lot of things would've been different- for one thing, I wouldn't be sitting here writing these words in my journal, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
That's where it really all began; when Dad showed up in Spira all those years ago, everything started to change. Now I've heard all the details on what happened and where he came from, and I've never really tried to understand the logistics of the "dream" Zanarkand that was his birthplace. That's not important. What is important is the fact that he was here at the right time. He wasn't a glory seeker or a world saver when he was my age- well, maybe if Blitzball was involved, then he might have gone for the glory- but on the Pilgrimage all those years ago, he didn't know what it was he was getting into. He was just a regular guy trying to find out what had happened. He had no idea what was going on when he first washed up on Besaid, and he still didn't know much when he first saw Mom emerge from the Chamber of the Fayth deep inside the temple. That was the moment, they've told us, where everything began to fall into place for them both; it may not have been 'love at first sight', but it was something. An infatuation at least. From what Dad tells us, he was mystified and intrigued by the figure that emerged, exhausted, from the Chamber. He wanted to know more about her, but wasn't sure she'd even throw a glance in his direction. The way Mom tells it, she had just gotten her bearings back and saw this mysterious blond-haired stranger standing with the people she'd grown up with- and she felt an urge to find out "why his azure eyes made her heart skip a beat". At least, that's how she described it.
Apparently they didn't have a whole lot in common at first- Dad was full of energy, and still is to this day, while Mom was more demure. I think it was a combination of knowing the fate of Summoners and growing up in a more or less cloistered environment. She was going away from Besaid, the only real home she'd known most of her life, and was heading across Spira for the first time- and in her mind, the last time. Sometimes I wonder what it would've been like had Dad not shown up at that moment; for one thing, she probably wouldn't have had some of the fun times they've told us about. It still cracks me and Ellie up to think about the two of them laughing on the bridge overlooking Luca, with people walking by thinking they'd lost their marbles. And of course, if he hadn't shown up, and if he and the others hadn't fought to find another way to do things, Mom could've wound up married to an unsent half-Guado whose heart was bent on wrecking Spira beyond repair. Then not only would Mom be dead, but everyone else would be as well. See, these are the things people tend to forget as time goes by, they forget the bad aspects of the Pilgrimage and focus on the end result. That's how the theories began to arise that Mom had planned the whole thing out, that she meant to uncover all the falsehoods behind Yevon and defeat Sin forever. It was never planned, and it might not have happened if Dad hadn't given her the courage to stand up to something wrong.
I could go on about the other incidents, how they more or less stumbled into the position of saving the world again, but I'd probably wind up repeating myself. The point I'm trying to make is that people tend to ignore what was happening behind the scenes; during the Vegnagun incident, nobody except Mom's closest friends knew the pain she'd lived with ever since Dad disappeared with the destruction of Sin. They still don't talk about those two years they were apart very much; I think it's a subject neither one of them wants to remember. But they do talk about the journey that brought them back together a lot. Something about being so determined to find each other that the Fayth had no choice but to let Dad go free. Now to me that sounds a bit sappy, but the facts do speak for themselves.
After the third 'save-the-world' incident where they fought Malar the Immortal, Mom and Dad came back to Besaid and decided to make their home there. Course, that didn't mean they'd stay there full time; I've learned myself it can get old if you don't take a trip to the rest of Spira once in a while. But that's where our home is, and it's where me and Ellie were born in the fourth year of the Eternal Calm. Our house is right down by the beach; practically the whole village chipped in to help build it. It's got sort of a Kilika waterfront hut feel to it, cozy and spacious at the same time. It sits right in this little inlet below the ancient ruins, with a deck that rests right over the water; being that close to the ocean meant me and Ellie learned to swim almost faster than we learned to walk. A lot of people figured the legendary High Summoner would live in something more grandiose, right? Something akin to one of the temples, or the Bevelle palace, maybe? Perhaps somebody like ex-Chancellor Nooj's wife LeBlanc would like that, but not Mom. Even Dad prefers Besaid to the hustle of the city these days; I guess that's something about Mom that rubbed off on him. And in all honesty, Besaid is a great place to be a kid. I know it was for me and sis.
I'm not sure how ready Dad was for the arrival of twins, mind you. When he first learned Mom was pregnant, he was thrilled, naturally- but he was also more than a little scared. I think he was afraid he'd wind up making the sort of mistakes his father did. I don't know much about what Jecht put him through aside from what Dad's told us, or what we've learned from the few Spheres of him on Braska's Pilgrimage, but whatever it was, it sure haunted Dad for a while. Then when the big day came around and they discovered they didn't have just a son or daughter, but one of each... Mom says they were both thunderstruck and overjoyed at the same time. I know our Aunt Rikku was certainly ecstatic; we've still got some Spheres that she recorded the day after me and Ellie were born, and she was all over the place with that enormous grin on her face.
As for what it's like being a child of two of the most famous people in Spira? Well, I'd say it isn't all that different from growing up in any other family, except people ask us stupid questions more often. That aside, Ellie and I had a fairly normal childhood. It might have been different if our parents really were glory-seekers, like some people seem to think. They don't really notice how awkward Mom gets when she becomes the center of attention; she says she's been that way all her life, and usually passes it off with a smile. It certainly would've been different if we'd grown up in some place like Bevelle, where it feels like every other person you meet on the street is a snob or a poser. Fact is, if you didn't know who Mom and Dad were and you met them for the first time, you'd probably think they were just a very nice, very happily married couple. And you'd be right. Okay, maybe once in a great while they do argue about something, but they've never been upset with each other for longer than half a day at most. I guess after all the things they've done and the adventures they've had, little annoyances don't bother them much anymore.
I still don't know what to make of it when people ask me or Ellie about our plans for the future. When someone asks what our parents' expectations are of us, it never fails to annoy me. I guess some people think it's predetermined what we're going to do with our lives; hey, just because we learn how to do something doesn't mean we're supposed to follow it as a career choice the rest of our lives. And we've learned a lot of things. Dad taught us how to play Blitzball, Mom taught us the basics of the healing arts and how to sing, and they both taught us how to swim and how to fight. We didn't necessarily learn those because they wanted us to, they taught us because we asked them. I remember the way Dad would laugh and toss the ball around with us, always coaxing a little more energy out of us when we thought we had none left. And when we flubbed a shot or a pass, he'd just tell us 'practice makes perfect' and encourage us to keep trying. I guess that's something he wishes his dad had done for him. I don't know if I'll ever be as good as Dad was at the peak of his career- and I've seen him in action, we've been going to his games ever since we were toddlers- but he says we've got a real knack for the game, me and Ellie both.
Dad would probably love it if we joined the Aurochs, even though he's never said anything about it. I've thought it over, but still haven't decided yet. Some people speculate we might become Sphere Hunters or Fiend Exterminators, the way Mom did after she defeated Sin. It's a tempting thought, to say the least. Others think we might be the next generation of heroes- which is assuming a lot, considering what I've already mentioned about them just doing the right thing at the right time. If it comes to that, then we'll just have to deal with it when it happens, but as it is, right now all me and Ellie need to do is a little exploring of our own. We've been on a few trips with Mom and Dad, but never anything solo. We talked it over with them, and they weren't too enthusiastic at first- typical parental concern. But that didn't last long, and they gave us what advice they could before we began our journey.
Do we resent the attention our parents get? Of course not. What do they expect of us? All they've said they want is for us to find our own way, to be safe, and to be happy in what we do. Can we live up to their standard? If by that you mean their standard of being decent people, I think so. If you mean from a heroic standpoint...
Well, we'll just have to find that out.
It's time to start writing our story.
Final Fantasy: New Blood
Chapter 1: A Journal Entry
First of Spring, Year 22 of Eternal Calm
It never fails. Everyone eventually gets around to asking me or sis the same questions. "What's it like growing up as the child of celebrities?" or "Is it hard to live up to their standard?" Close family and friends aside, just about anyone will invariably ask us that, or a variant thereof. Usually when we're trying to hang back and just chill. It wasn't much of a surprise when people began asking those sort of questions, but you'd think they would learn to just leave well enough alone and let us live out our lives, rather than speculating on whether we're going to be the next generation of heroes. They have this preset notion in their head of what our family is like, and that leads them to wonder these things. Do we resent the attention our parents get. What their expectations are of us. What it's like to be children of living legends.
My name is Krys, son of Lady Yuna and Sir Tidus, and there's something a lot of people don't realize. To me and my twin sister Elsa, their achievements are secondary. It's who they are at heart that matters.
Don't get me wrong, we both know Mom and Dad have done some amazing things in their time. Phenomenal things, actually. But the thing that really ticks me off is the notion some people have that they set out to become these great heroes, the Saviors of Spira as it were. People don't seem to realize that they didn't do what they did for money, fame or glory. That was never part of the equation any of the times they faced ridiculous odds, not with Sin, not with Vegnagun, not even with Malar the Immortal. They did what they did because it was the right thing to do, and in some instances didn't even know they were averting an apocalypse until it was upon them. Take Sin, for instance. Yes, Mom was the one Summoner who defeated that threat permanently and brought about the Eternal Calm, but she never really intended to accomplish that which so many others had tried and failed. Hell, she didn't even expect to come out of that ordeal alive. She was doing what she felt was right, something that would bring peace back to Spira even if it was only for a little while. And nowadays I walk through the streets of Luca and hear stories of "the High Summoner's Epic Battle" romanticizing aspects of Mom's pilgrimage, and not bothering to mention the fact that the Church of Yevon had branded her as a heretic for uncovering their secrets. All they talk about was how she had set out to destroy Sin once and for all, by uniting the people of Spira and using the power of their faith to bring down the beast. They don't bother checking the Sphere libraries and learning what really happened. The fact is, if it wasn't for Dad, a lot of things would've been different- for one thing, I wouldn't be sitting here writing these words in my journal, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
That's where it really all began; when Dad showed up in Spira all those years ago, everything started to change. Now I've heard all the details on what happened and where he came from, and I've never really tried to understand the logistics of the "dream" Zanarkand that was his birthplace. That's not important. What is important is the fact that he was here at the right time. He wasn't a glory seeker or a world saver when he was my age- well, maybe if Blitzball was involved, then he might have gone for the glory- but on the Pilgrimage all those years ago, he didn't know what it was he was getting into. He was just a regular guy trying to find out what had happened. He had no idea what was going on when he first washed up on Besaid, and he still didn't know much when he first saw Mom emerge from the Chamber of the Fayth deep inside the temple. That was the moment, they've told us, where everything began to fall into place for them both; it may not have been 'love at first sight', but it was something. An infatuation at least. From what Dad tells us, he was mystified and intrigued by the figure that emerged, exhausted, from the Chamber. He wanted to know more about her, but wasn't sure she'd even throw a glance in his direction. The way Mom tells it, she had just gotten her bearings back and saw this mysterious blond-haired stranger standing with the people she'd grown up with- and she felt an urge to find out "why his azure eyes made her heart skip a beat". At least, that's how she described it.
Apparently they didn't have a whole lot in common at first- Dad was full of energy, and still is to this day, while Mom was more demure. I think it was a combination of knowing the fate of Summoners and growing up in a more or less cloistered environment. She was going away from Besaid, the only real home she'd known most of her life, and was heading across Spira for the first time- and in her mind, the last time. Sometimes I wonder what it would've been like had Dad not shown up at that moment; for one thing, she probably wouldn't have had some of the fun times they've told us about. It still cracks me and Ellie up to think about the two of them laughing on the bridge overlooking Luca, with people walking by thinking they'd lost their marbles. And of course, if he hadn't shown up, and if he and the others hadn't fought to find another way to do things, Mom could've wound up married to an unsent half-Guado whose heart was bent on wrecking Spira beyond repair. Then not only would Mom be dead, but everyone else would be as well. See, these are the things people tend to forget as time goes by, they forget the bad aspects of the Pilgrimage and focus on the end result. That's how the theories began to arise that Mom had planned the whole thing out, that she meant to uncover all the falsehoods behind Yevon and defeat Sin forever. It was never planned, and it might not have happened if Dad hadn't given her the courage to stand up to something wrong.
I could go on about the other incidents, how they more or less stumbled into the position of saving the world again, but I'd probably wind up repeating myself. The point I'm trying to make is that people tend to ignore what was happening behind the scenes; during the Vegnagun incident, nobody except Mom's closest friends knew the pain she'd lived with ever since Dad disappeared with the destruction of Sin. They still don't talk about those two years they were apart very much; I think it's a subject neither one of them wants to remember. But they do talk about the journey that brought them back together a lot. Something about being so determined to find each other that the Fayth had no choice but to let Dad go free. Now to me that sounds a bit sappy, but the facts do speak for themselves.
After the third 'save-the-world' incident where they fought Malar the Immortal, Mom and Dad came back to Besaid and decided to make their home there. Course, that didn't mean they'd stay there full time; I've learned myself it can get old if you don't take a trip to the rest of Spira once in a while. But that's where our home is, and it's where me and Ellie were born in the fourth year of the Eternal Calm. Our house is right down by the beach; practically the whole village chipped in to help build it. It's got sort of a Kilika waterfront hut feel to it, cozy and spacious at the same time. It sits right in this little inlet below the ancient ruins, with a deck that rests right over the water; being that close to the ocean meant me and Ellie learned to swim almost faster than we learned to walk. A lot of people figured the legendary High Summoner would live in something more grandiose, right? Something akin to one of the temples, or the Bevelle palace, maybe? Perhaps somebody like ex-Chancellor Nooj's wife LeBlanc would like that, but not Mom. Even Dad prefers Besaid to the hustle of the city these days; I guess that's something about Mom that rubbed off on him. And in all honesty, Besaid is a great place to be a kid. I know it was for me and sis.
I'm not sure how ready Dad was for the arrival of twins, mind you. When he first learned Mom was pregnant, he was thrilled, naturally- but he was also more than a little scared. I think he was afraid he'd wind up making the sort of mistakes his father did. I don't know much about what Jecht put him through aside from what Dad's told us, or what we've learned from the few Spheres of him on Braska's Pilgrimage, but whatever it was, it sure haunted Dad for a while. Then when the big day came around and they discovered they didn't have just a son or daughter, but one of each... Mom says they were both thunderstruck and overjoyed at the same time. I know our Aunt Rikku was certainly ecstatic; we've still got some Spheres that she recorded the day after me and Ellie were born, and she was all over the place with that enormous grin on her face.
As for what it's like being a child of two of the most famous people in Spira? Well, I'd say it isn't all that different from growing up in any other family, except people ask us stupid questions more often. That aside, Ellie and I had a fairly normal childhood. It might have been different if our parents really were glory-seekers, like some people seem to think. They don't really notice how awkward Mom gets when she becomes the center of attention; she says she's been that way all her life, and usually passes it off with a smile. It certainly would've been different if we'd grown up in some place like Bevelle, where it feels like every other person you meet on the street is a snob or a poser. Fact is, if you didn't know who Mom and Dad were and you met them for the first time, you'd probably think they were just a very nice, very happily married couple. And you'd be right. Okay, maybe once in a great while they do argue about something, but they've never been upset with each other for longer than half a day at most. I guess after all the things they've done and the adventures they've had, little annoyances don't bother them much anymore.
I still don't know what to make of it when people ask me or Ellie about our plans for the future. When someone asks what our parents' expectations are of us, it never fails to annoy me. I guess some people think it's predetermined what we're going to do with our lives; hey, just because we learn how to do something doesn't mean we're supposed to follow it as a career choice the rest of our lives. And we've learned a lot of things. Dad taught us how to play Blitzball, Mom taught us the basics of the healing arts and how to sing, and they both taught us how to swim and how to fight. We didn't necessarily learn those because they wanted us to, they taught us because we asked them. I remember the way Dad would laugh and toss the ball around with us, always coaxing a little more energy out of us when we thought we had none left. And when we flubbed a shot or a pass, he'd just tell us 'practice makes perfect' and encourage us to keep trying. I guess that's something he wishes his dad had done for him. I don't know if I'll ever be as good as Dad was at the peak of his career- and I've seen him in action, we've been going to his games ever since we were toddlers- but he says we've got a real knack for the game, me and Ellie both.
Dad would probably love it if we joined the Aurochs, even though he's never said anything about it. I've thought it over, but still haven't decided yet. Some people speculate we might become Sphere Hunters or Fiend Exterminators, the way Mom did after she defeated Sin. It's a tempting thought, to say the least. Others think we might be the next generation of heroes- which is assuming a lot, considering what I've already mentioned about them just doing the right thing at the right time. If it comes to that, then we'll just have to deal with it when it happens, but as it is, right now all me and Ellie need to do is a little exploring of our own. We've been on a few trips with Mom and Dad, but never anything solo. We talked it over with them, and they weren't too enthusiastic at first- typical parental concern. But that didn't last long, and they gave us what advice they could before we began our journey.
Do we resent the attention our parents get? Of course not. What do they expect of us? All they've said they want is for us to find our own way, to be safe, and to be happy in what we do. Can we live up to their standard? If by that you mean their standard of being decent people, I think so. If you mean from a heroic standpoint...
Well, we'll just have to find that out.
It's time to start writing our story.