Author's Note: So, you have come to read this Fan Fic, eh? Well, there is some mild cursing, and some serious action and humor in this, so if you hate these things, beware. I am not warning you again. You must decide now: are you staying or leaving? Because once you read the first chapter of this, I expect you to read each and every other one. If you don't, Yevon will severely punish you and your descendants for all of eternity. This is your decision: read this or die. (Everyone runs away) No, wait!

Oh well, they all left. At least I still have my candy box! No, not "candy", "candy BOX". Yes, I happen to be gnawing on an empty box of Nerds (the candy, not the geeks) at this very moment.

EWW! Sorry, but I just took it out of my mouth and looked at it. Ugh, disgusting.

Disclaimer: Must I write this disclaimer? I suppose so. All characters from Final Fantasy X do not belong to me. Do not sue me because I am but a broke teen, and I have no money to give, no money to spend, no money to lose, no money to stash, no money to look at, no money to sniff—basically, I have no money at all.

Quote: "There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul." —Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Destiny Of A Not-So-Final Fantasy
Chapter One: FATE of The Beginning

There is silence. Nothing can be heard except for the rustling of the dead, fallen leaves as they fly around the bonfire, gallingly. No trees move, no mouths move, as the guardians sit silently, staring out into the open. A golden, setting sun lights up the afternoon sky, providing not only warmth, but hope.

Suddenly standing up, a fourteen-year-old boy rests his hand on Yuna's shoulder and smiles weakly. Tidusproduces a jealous growlfrom behind him, but otherwise says nothing.Sighing, the boy moves to the edge of the hill, gazing out into the once occupied city. Since those early days a thousand years ago, the city had become nothing more than a remnant of death.

"Listen to my story," the boy demands. "This . . . may be our last chance."

Continuing to walk closer to the edge of the hill, the boy trips and lands twitching on the ground with two chipped teeth anda broken bone.

Okay, so much for that beginning. This is where it REALLY began. And if it isn't, well, you'll just have to believe it anyway:

"NNOO, NNOO, NNOO!"

Darius glared at the television screen unhappily and watched Tidus lay, sprawled out on the floor. Seeing the words, "G-A-M-E-O-V-E-R" flashing incessantly on the screen, Darius angrily picked up the playstation and chucked it out the window, creating a loud shattering noise.

Still not satisfied, the fourteen-year-old began hurling random objects from under his bed out the window as well, creating more shattering noises.

How DARE Seymour kill Tidus! And then, after Tidus had died, the evil man just stood there, smirking, like he was having the time of his life. How could someone be so cruel? So mean? So terribly ugly and hideous?

Soon, there was nothing left in his room to chuck, except for his mirror (which he would NEVERR throw away) and his TV set (which he would've thrown away, if only Teen Titans wasn't coming on later that night). Plus, the window had now been complete shattered, leaving nothing but an open rectangle.

The boy frowned, realizing he could no longer spend countless hours playing Final Fantasy X, OR Kingdom Hearts (although he hadn't even gotten to Atlantica yet). But he also frowned because of the bothersome voice screaming at him from the other side of the bedroom door.

"RAISHAD MOMAR HARDNETT!" it screeched. "OPEN THIS DOOR, IMMEDIATELY!"

"Mom, I told you to call me 'Darius'!" he yelled back.

True, he hated his real names (all three), and was planning to get them legally changed to 'Darius DeRikku Johnson' the second he turned eighteen. Or was it even possible to change your last name? Darius didn't know, didn't care.

"OPEN THE DOOR NOW!" demanded the infuriated 51-year-old.

"But-but-but-but-but-but-but. . ."

But it didn't matter. The woman had already slammed her foot on down on the door, forcing the entire thing (hinges, and all) to come crashing to the floor, wildly.

"RAISHAD!" she boomed, seeing the shattered glass and empty room. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

"Uhh . . . I . . . uh . . . saw the messy room and decided to .. . clean up?" lied Raishad/Darius.

He began to slowly move towards the other side of the room after seeing his mother's left eye start to twitch.

"NO YOU DIDN'T! YOU 'DECIDED' TO THROW ALL OF YOUR JUNK OUT THE WINDOW!"

"Hey, you're good."

"SHUT UP! YOU'RE GROUNDED FOR THREE YEARS! AND YOU'LL BE THE ONE TO PAY FOR ALL OF THIS!" she continued bellowing. "AND WHAT ABOUT YOUR ALGEBRA TEST TOMORROW? HMM? DID YOU STUDY?"

"Uh-huh. Yeah."

Darius's mother, Sharon, glared evilly at him with twitching eyes, chaotic hair, and nasty-looking wrinkles.

"Okay," she said. "If you HAVE, then I'll just ask you a few questions: 'Jan has 3 hours to do her homework because she has gymnastics. She has exactly 30 minutes to do her reading homework and it usually takes her 1 hour to do science homework. Math takes her 3x minutes to do. She has 3 math problems and each problem takes her around 15 minutes to do. Find 'x' and how much free time Jan has.' "

Darius sighed. "Jan should skip school the next day and do it then."

"NO. WRONG. NOW GO TAKE OUT THE DOG!"

Darius sighed. Rebelling against his mother was just as useless as chewing on empty candy boxes.

He was making his way to the laundry room (where his dog, Trunks, was) when he heard the doorbell ring. Happy that he'd have an excuse not to take the dog for a few minutes, Darius grinned and swung open the door, seeing a old friend at the doorstep.

"Brie? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, sorry, but I saw that you left your playstation outside," cried the girl with black, shiny hair that reached her shoulders, "So, I decided to bring it to you. Oh, and did you beat Seymour yet?"

When Darius shook his head and saw Brie cackling, he had to resist the urge to pull out achain sawand swipe it clean off of that pretty neck of hers. "Why, have you?"

"Of course! I could help you if you want, you know."

"That's . . .fine with me." Turning around, he cried, "MOM! BRIE'S GONNA HELP ME STUDY THE ALGEBRA TEST, OKAY?" He didn't receive an answer, but ushered the girl inside, anyway.

When he stepped back into the arctic house (Darius's mom was too cheap to turn on the heat), he noticed a blonde girl with massive, circular glasses standing behind her. "Uhh, who's this?"

Brie looked confused for a second, but then her face cleared. "Oh, this is Abby. You know, my kind-neighbor-that-enjoys-talking-and-is-extremely-smart-and-I-asked-her-to-come-with-me-to-your-house? Yeah, this is she."

"Hello," greeted Kind-Neighbor-That-Enjoys-Talking-And-Is-Extremely-Smart-And-I-Asked-Her-To-Come-With-Me-To-Your-House.

Too lazy to respond, Darius shoved the two into his room (trying to ignore the death glare that his mother was giving him as he did so) and hooked the playstation up to the TV. At first, it didn't turn on.

"Lemme give it a try," Abby suggested. "I mastered the art of renovating televisions when I was four."

Darius shrugged and moved aside.

Abby examined the televisions from all sides and views, fixing her glasses as she did so. Just when Darius thought she might have known how to fix the TV, she said "Aha!" and began beating it with her forehead.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Darius cried, pulling out his hair. Brie must have been thinking the same, for all three—I mean two—of her eyebrows were raised.

"I'm fixing the TV, what does it LOOK like?" Abby said, still thrashing it wildly.

NOO! She's only going to make things worse! I'm not going to be able to watch Teen Titans tonight! Darius cried internally.

Darius was just about to throw the girl in a choke hold when the TV suddenly flashed on.

Oh! he thought, happily. "Thanks, Abby!"

But something was wrong.

The TV wasn't on a channel. I was just . . . on. A blurry, snowy noise came from the speakers, and nothing but gray and black specks could be seen on the screen.

"Oh NO!" Darius and Brie screamed aloud. They both had seen the movies, "The Ring", "The Ring 2", AND "White Noise" together at the movie theatre before, and now it seemed as if their worst nightmare were coming true.

So there they were. Abby still banging her head on the TV set, Darius's mom glaring at them from outside the room, and Darius and Brie screaming bloody murder.

"AHH!" Darius shouted.

"THE RING GIRL HAS COME TO KILL US!" exclaimed Brie, holding Darius's hand tightly.

A short, bloody, rotten girl, with fangs for teeth, and long, black hair pulled over her face crawled out of the TV and grabbed both Darius and Abby's arms. Darius, who was holding Brie's hand, tried to squirm free of the nasty little Ring girl's grasp, but it didn't work. Brie, who tried to snatch Darius away, tried to pull him forward, but it didn't work. And Abby, two tried to bang her head on the TV set, couldn't, because she was also being pulled into the TV.

No, actually, none of that happened. But someone DID come out of the TV. It was a kind, gentle woman. She looked familiar to Darius, but he couldn't place a finger on it.

Brie was the first to react. "WTF, MATE!"

The woman did not respond to Brie. Instead, she faced Darius and smiled. "You have come to fulfil your destinies?"

"Uhh . . . no, we have come to play Final Fantasy X! Now buzz off, lady."

"You must choose," said the woman, calmly, "between life or death. Truth or lies. Fate or misery. Love or hate."

Abby finally stopped banging her head against the television and looked up, screaming.

The woman continued, as if the only person she could see was Darius.

"Your fate will not come to you," she said.

Confused, Darius stared blankly at the woman. Eventually, his face cleared as he responded. "Um. Whatever you say."

The room went white. All anyone could hear was whispers, but no one had any ideas where they were coming from.

"This is your story. This is your story. This is your story. . ."