Forgotten Hope
A Final Fantasy X Fanfic by SJO
Note: Final Fantasy is owned by Squaresoft, now Square-Enix, not me. I've only played Final Fantasy X all the way through once, and I didn't see all of the details. I'm also playing Final Fantasy X-2 for the first, and really I just started. So, there may be some details about Rikku or other characters or about the storyline that I may not have exactly right. A big thank you to Auronlu for the online script; without it as a guide, I'd be doing this mostly from memory. The dialogue still may not be perfect due to artistic license, so please don't go pointing out every mistake I make. The time this story is being told I guess is sometime between X and X-2. For the most part, let's just assume that the Al Bhed is translated. I'll put in a few words here and there. There are a few spoilers and game secrets, so be careful if you're not familiar with the game. It's a little AU just because I'm stressing a theme that isn't made clear in the game. I'm not intending any romantic pairings. The story does focus on some close relationships, but I was intending them to be friendships.
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Chapter 1: The Castaway Blitzball Player
It's strange. It feels like it happened a long time ago, and at the same time it feels like it happened just yesterday. I guess that's how significant it all was. My thoughts, my memories, and my dreams about that journey won't leave me alone.
I think it started when Father sent Brother and me on a secret mission. Ever since Sin was reborn, all of us at Home were troubled, but I think no one in all Spira was more troubled than my father, Cid. When my father is troubled, he plans. He mutters to himself and snaps at people. Those days, he was more like that than usual. He kept saying to himself, "I'm not going to make the same mistake again." He sent many Al Bhed teams on all sorts of secret missions. We couldn't talk about them even to each other.
Brother and I both thought our mission was kinda crazy. We were to search around the ruins of the ancient Baaj temple for forbidden machina. Legend had it that a flying machine, an airship, had sunk somewhere beneath those ruins. Father was convinced that if we found the airship, it would make everything so much easier. Brother and I just weren't sure that we believed the records.
We started on the surface, mostly to try to clear out difficult fiends, but also to look for treasure or any evidence that we were wasting our time. As we approached the building, we were all surprised to hear a voice. It sounded like someone grunting while engaged in battle. We exploded a wall to get in.
Inside, we saw a young man dressed in very strange clothes. He was holding a sword while facing a fiend. It was a big critter he was taking on, so I figured he could use some help. So I took my place in battle formation beside him. The young man looked at me in amazement. "You're on my side? Cool!" Well, that obviously wasn't in Al Bhed. I was sure the other people in my party wouldn't be too thrilled about that. All I knew was I had to kill the fiend, and I could use the guy's help. He was great, very quick and strong. A few hits of a sword, a couple of grenades, and that fiend was done for. "Whew! That was close!" the boy sighed.
Then, quite suddenly, the other members of my team grabbed the young man, held him by the hair, and pulled out their weapons. "Hey, let me go!" he complained. How could they do that? They just saw what he could do!
"What is this?" they said to each other.
"A fiend, in human disguise!"
"Yes, it is so!"
Now, that was just absurd. Everybody knows that most fiends don't attack other fiends; they only prey on the living. When they started talking about killing him, I had to stop them.
"Wait! What if it is human?" I said.
One member of the team held a knife up to the young man's throat. "They are all the same in death!" he said maliciously.
"I forbid it! We bring it with us!" They let him go with great uncertainty. Then I came to him and whispered in his ear, "Sorry." Then, I knocked him out.
"Well, if you're on its side, what did you do that for?"
"This mission is still a secret. He can't know what we're doing or where he is, but perhaps he can still be of some use to us. Help me get him to the ship." So, they did, even though they clearly didn't like it.
Brother was very unhappy with me. "How can you think that this is really a human?" he yelled at me when we got on the ship.
"I didn't want to take the chance that he isn't!" I replied.
"Use your mind, Sister. These ruins are thousands of years old! Some say it was built before Sin ever came. Very few people in Spira know it exists! There's no heat, no food, no drinkable water, no machina, no chocobo power! It's unfit as a shelter! How would anyone be down there?"
"I . . . I don't know. But I know he's not a fiend! I've never heard a fiend speak in a human language. And I've never seen a fiend fight like that, especially against another fiend!"
"Maybe it meant to eat the fiend it was attacking!"
"Well, he didn't fight us, did he?"
"It would have if it had the chance. You know that!"
Another person from our team came down to our cabin. "The captive is awake."
"Let's go talk to him," I said.
"I'll do the talking," Brother said.
"He doesn't speak Al Bhed, Brother." Unlike me, my brother refused to learn any other language other than Al Bhed. The truth is back then he wasn't very fond of other clans or races. He's changed a lot since then, and I'm pretty sure this experience had a lot to do with that. Father was, well, less than pleased with Brother, and instead he taught me several languages and dialects of Spira. I thought he wanted me to become a diplomat or maybe an Al Bhed ambassador one day. I was eager to learn that because I actually thought it's a good idea. Someone needed to ease the hate and tensions that was going on, and I'd be happy if that someone was me.
Brother, however, looked coldly at me. "I'll manage." He banged open the door to the bridge where our guest was sitting on the floor. Brother's idea of "managing" consisted of weird gestures and grunts. It was no wonder the boy still looked confused; I'd be confused. "Do you not speak?" Brother said sardonically.
"I said I don't understand!" the stranger said.
"Insolence!" someone yelled, slapping him.
"Wait!" I told Brother. Then I approached our guest and explained in his language, "He said you can stay if you make yourself useful."
The young man gave me that same surprised look. "You! You understand me?" Someone hit him over the head. "Alright, I'll work!" he yelled. He started to wonder around the deck aimlessly and trying to talk to people who didn't understand him. Poor guy looked so lost. I saw him pick up an Al Bhed primer, but I knew those only teach one letter at a time. That wouldn't help. He knew how to work the Save Sphere, but then I saw him pick up that Ability Sphere that he won in the battle with the fiend, and he didn't seem to know what to do with it. So, when he came to talk to me again, I explained to him about the Sphere Grid. Then I told him about our mission, without really explaining any details, and he seemed eager enough to help.
He was quite impressive while we were diving down into the wreck. He never had to come up for air, and he was still fighting strong underwater. When we got down there, we found the machina panel and powered it up. As we were exiting, we encountered a really big, dangerous underwater fiend. It was strong, but worse, it was sneaky. It kept moving away from us. The stranger gestured to me to approach the fiend from behind, and he attacked from the front. We took care of it in no time! I knew he was a lot more than what Brother and everybody else was thinking of him.
Yet when we came up to the surface and discovered that we did indeed find an airship, they still treated him like an ignorant prisoner. They wouldn't let him come down into the cabin. I tried to argue that he was intelligent, but no one was willing to listen.
"His brain is as big as the black circles in his eyes!" Brother told me. That's an insult he often liked to use for any non-Al Bhed, anyone whose pupils don't spiral.
"Well, can't we give him just a little gil for helping us? He deserves it!"
"And what would he do with it?"
Just then, I heard our guest groaning outside. "Hungry."
"He wants some food. We can give him that, can't we?" I said.
Somebody very quickly put together a tray of rations, some of the grossest food we had. I brought it out to him and kicked his shoulder. "Whoa, right on!" he cheered. He started gobbling it up like there was no tomorrow. It was amazing to me because I've never seen anybody eat that food without gagging. I was almost expecting him to lick the tray clean, but then he started choking. He coughed a few times, and he was ok.
I game him a drink and laughed. "It's because you eat too fast."
He laughed a little, stood up, and swung his arms. Then he looked at me, that same look of surprise. He smiled. "Hello there. My name is Tidus. What is your name?" he said slowly.
I smiled back. "Rikku."
"Whoa! You really do understand!" He started doing some sort of dance. I've never seen anybody so excited to find an Al Bhed translator. Then, his tone got serious. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
"I tried, but I didn't get a chance to. Everyone thought oui were a fiend."
"Uh, we?"
Oops. I was so excited that I didn't think he was a fiend that I forgot which language I was speaking. "Oh, oui means 'you.'"
"Who are you guys anyway?"
"We're Al Bhed. Can't you tell?" I had wondered why he hadn't hesitated at my spiraling eyes.
"Huh?"
"Wait, you're not an Al Bhed-hater, are you?"
"I don't even know what an Al Bhed is."
I think that's when it really sunk in to me that something was very wrong with him. So we talked for a while. He told me he was a star Blitzball player from Zanarkand. Yeah, something definitely was up. Then he explained that Sin attacked his home, and he somehow found himself in those ruins. He said a lot of other weird things too, like his father was another famous Blitzball player named Jecht and that the sword he was using was given to him from his guardian, Auron. Everybody knows that those were the guardians last time Sin was here. No one had seen them in ten years. There was only one way I could rationalize all this.
"You were near Sin. They say your head gets funny when Sin is near. Maybe you had some kind of dream?"
"You mean I'm sick?" he asked.
"From Sin's toxin, yeah." I explained to him that Sin destroyed Zanarkand a thousand years ago. His expression changed to shock and despair, and he expressed very strong disbelief. I hated seeing him like that, so I wanted to help him. "You said you play Blitzball, right?"
"Yeah."
"You know, you should go to Luca. Someone there might know who you are, or you might find someone you recognize."
"Luca?"
I sighed in frustration. It was hopeless; he couldn't remember anything. But then I gave him another smile and patted his shoulder. "OK, leave it to me. I'll get you to Luca. I promise." Tidus looked like he didn't like the idea. I put my hands on my hips. "You'd rather stay here?" Tidus shook his head. "OK, I'll go tell the others. Wait here." I started to head under the deck, but then I turned back around. "Oh, and one thing–don't tell anyone you're from Zanarkand, OK? Yevon says it's a holy place. You might upset someone." I knew a few things about offending people, so I thought he probably should know, though he still looked like he had no idea what I was talking about.
I explained to Brother most about what happened, but when I asked him to alter our course, he laughed at me. "It's not going to take long, and I think it will help him find where he's from!" I argued. "Maybe we'll see him play."
"What makes you think he's a Blitzball player?"
"He says he is!"
"You haven't really trusted anything else he's said, have you? How do you know this isn't another hallucination of Sin's toxin?"
"Well, the way he handled himself underwater is one indication. I bet he's great. Plus, he looks like a Blitzball player." I added softer, "He's wearing yellow, after all."
"Agggh!!" Brother said in a loud, annoyed tone. "Not the Aurochs!" I giggled. "I've never seen him on that team of muncanc!"
"They're not losers, Bro! They're–"
"I know, I know, ihtantukc."
"That's right." Ihtantukc, underdogs. That's the reason I was a big fan of the Besaid Aurochs, and I loved annoying Brother about it.. I've always been big about rooting for the underdogs. The Aurochs hadn't won a match in twenty-three years, but I knew their time would come. They had some great players on their team, like Wakka. Well, especially Wakka. But he wasn't just an awesome athlete. He had excellent sportsmanship, and he always seemed so carefree and friendly. In fact, I was starting to convince myself that Wakka scouted out Tidus and hired him for his team. That what their team needed–new blood. "It would be great to see someone finally put those stuck-up Luca Goers in their place, don't you think?"
"Yes, and this year it will be the Psychs!"
I groaned. That's his way of annoying me. Whenever I try to talk about the Besaid Aurochs, he turns the conversation to the Al Bhed Psychs. They're alright. I even know some people on that team. But . . . they're not underdogs. I've seen them beat the Kilika Beasts, the Guado Glories, a couple of times they've even beaten the Ronso Fangs, and that team has a crazy defense. They still get creamed by the Goers. It's the same every year. I really wished for a team to win the Crystal Cup that really deserved it, and in my mind, the only team that deserved it was the Besaid Aurochs.
Suddenly, the boat shook violently. "What was that?" I asked.
"A storm?" Brother asked as he looked at the oscillator.
But then we heard the screams coming from the deck. "Sin! Sin is come!"
"Oh no! Tidus, we got to let him in!" I started running for the deck.
"Sister, no!" Brother screamed. He tried to hold me back, but I got out of his grasp.
When I opened the door, I saw Tidus standing on the deck, staring at the monster.
"Hey! Come inside, quick!"
He didn't seem to even hear me. A huge wave crashed on the deck. Tidus screamed.
Then, he was gone.
—
Nearly everyone was amazed that Sin disappeared after that. Why didn't it destroy our boat? It should have. It's Sin's nature to destroy everything, just like it destroyed our old Home. It was like all Sin wanted was that boy.
But I couldn't stop thinking about him. He had been attacked by Sin before. He was still reeling from the aftermath of his last encounter with Sin. Why didn't he run? Why was he just staring? He had that same bewildered expression. What was going on in his head?
Mostly, though, I spent a lot of time beating myself up. I felt like it was my fault that this happened. I should have let him in. I should have defied Brother and everybody else's prejudices and let him into the ship. Why did I tell him to wait on the deck? That's so stupid! I promised I'd get him to Luca! And instead, I let Sin have him. I failed him, and I felt awful.
When we made it back to Home, I told my father everything. I even told him some things I kept secret from everybody else, like Tidus saying he was from Zanarkand. Dad said, "Hmm," and nodded thoughtfully at that. I even started to cry around the end. "You shouldn't be so upset, tayn," he said after I was finished. "You did the right thing."
"No, I shouldn't have left him on the deck, especially when I knew Sin was around!"
"But it wouldn't have been smart to let a stranger into a ship who didn't know our plans. But you were right to care about him and to show concern. And who knows? If that kid survived one tangle with Sin, maybe he'll survive another. The way you describe him, he sounds pretty tough."
"Maybe," I said with a sob.
Dad grinned. "I know something that will cheer you up. I was going to save this as a surprise, but I'm going to be taking you and your brother to see the Blitzball tournament in Luca."
I gasped. "We're not just going to see it on a sphere? We're going there?"
"That's right. I got seats reserved for the leader of the Al Bhed and his family, courtesy of the new Maester Seymour Guado."
"A maester? But isn't he a Yevon priest?"
"Yes, and one of the most prominent leaders of Spira."
"But why would he invite us Al Bhed?"
"It's in return for a favor I agreed to do for him."
"He asked for a favor, from you?"
"That's right, rather suddenly after he was ordained."
"What was–?"
"Tayn, aren't you glad I got the tickets?"
"Oh yes, of course I am, but are you . . . sure about this? I mean, you got a lot of things to do, don't you? The pilgrimages are going to start soon, aren't they? And we really don't need a maester knowing–"
"Trust me, tayn, I'm sure. We'll take care of the pilgrimage and the summoners starting right after the tournament."
I knew my father too well, though. It's not like him to deviate from schedule, especially in such stressful times, even if it was for a Blitzball game, even if a Maester was inviting us. There was something else on his mind, but the tone he used, especially in his favorite name for me tayn (which means 'dear'), told me that I knew I couldn't question him . . . yet.
