1- Sin
Here it is: the rewrite of 'Lost in Spira'. I love the concept of this story, but the original version just sucked. There wasn't enough detail or plot development and I hadn't really played the game as I was writing it. But I'm replaying the game to get the details down and the dialogue right. That means that updates will be kind of slow, and since I haven't actually beaten the game yet—I've barely made it to Home actually—after a certain point updates will get even slower as I play through parts for the first time. And I noticed some concern that the plot of this was only alongside the game and didn't deviate much, but as I was rereading the original, I decided to make a change in that area as well. Enjoy.
. . .
I sat apart from the others as we prepared for the final battle against Sin. So much had happened since we were brought here…and somehow I felt that this would be the last time that we'd all be like this. This battle would change us all forever—more so than the trip itself. It was only a matter of how much change we could handle.
. . .
"You excited about the game Tidus?" I laughed, pushing his shoulder a bit as we headed towards the stadium from home.
"Aren't you?" He pushed me back and I picked up the pace to walk in front of him.
"Don't you ever get tired of it…?" I asked quietly—more to myself than to my cousin.
"What…?" I shook my head a little and tightened my ponytail a bit.
"Nothing. Let's get to the stadium. Maybe we'll get there in time for the captain's pep-talk." Tidus nodded a little.
"Zuri, you're so weird sometimes." I smiled brightly and we continued in silence. That is, until we heard the screaming. It wasn't the kind of screaming you'd hear when the occasional fiend showed up; it was the kind of screaming you hear in a stadium at a Blitzball game. Just great.
"Well, into the fray we go." I said lightly, walking over a rise in the road to see the small crowd gathered. Tidus ran right into the fray and I hung back for a moment. Then, sighing a little, I started running. "See you in the stadium, Cuz!" I darted passed him and onto the main road, clear of the crowd. There's still plenty of time for me to walk slowly and hear the announcements. I always liked hearing Zanar talk over the speakers…I've never been sure why.
"I was in a coffee shop, running away from home when I heard the news. Our hero, Jecht, gone. Vanished into thin air! My dad must have been his biggest fan. I knew how sad he'd be." Oh right, I'd forgotten that this tournament was in my uncle's honor.
We played the game so often that it was akin to a weekend party that you had for no reason other than to be lazy and make a fool of yourself. "Heck, we all were that day. 'Zanar,' I says to myself. 'What are you thinking?' I went running straight back home." Putting a name to the event was only like making the party bigger.
I've never understood how the people of Zanarkand could live like that. "We sat up talking 'bout Jecht all night. My dad and I never talked so much. Whoa…didn't mean to reminisce, folks." Always lazing around, letting machines do the work for them.
Watching pointless games every weekend—there was never an off season for Blitzball in Zanarkand, there wasn't anything else to do otherwise. "Anyway…ten years later, the Jecht Memorial Cup tournament is today! The two teams that have won through to the finals are…" I guess it was just because I was so strange that I felt this way, my aunt and cousin and uncle seemed just fine with that lifestyle.
Maybe it was because I couldn't help but feel as though the way we lived wasn't good and that it would end all too soon, in an all too bad way. "Of course, the Abes from A-East, and the Duggles from C-South. I know there's a lot of people out there today to see the stars of the Abes!" I stopped walking for a moment, hearing something over the sound of the speakers.
Something in the air felt wrong. Something was going to happen tonight. "In just one year, they've become the team's number one players! They're Jecht's blood, and the hope of Blitzball! What kind of super play will they show us today? Will we see his father's legendary shot? Or perhaps from Jecht's niece? I don't think I'm the only one excited here, folks!" I shook my head a little and kept walking.
If there was nothing I hated more about the monotony, it was the fact that all anyone really ever saw me and Tidus as was Jecht's niece and his son. Even as I dodged the crowds at the stadium to get to the locker rooms, all I heard was people calling for 'Jecht Junior'—which was what a lot of people called Tidus—and 'the She-Jecht'—their way of distinguishing me. It was more than a little infuriating. Absolutely nothing was worse to me than working so hard to make your own name in the world and all anyone ever saw you as was the product of a legend.
I made it to the locker room and stretched while we waited for Tidus to get through the crowds of 'adoring fans'. The whole team was there except for him—even our backups. The five of them were sitting together as always, chatting away like there wasn't even the slightest possibility that they'd be needed—there usually wasn't, but the Duggles were known for not really playing fair.
. . .
We were tied, and Tidus had just knocked one of the Duggles' players out of the field and into the stands. I passed him the ball and nodded once. He nodded in return and tried the Jecht Shot. He'd never tried it in an actual game, so if he messed it up he'd be ruined. I looked up to watch him do the critical flip above the field, but he hesitated, letting the ball fall.
I frowned and swam up to catch it and fix the blunder to make the shot. I used my Zuri Shot and landed the goal just as I saw exactly why Tidus had hesitated. I looked up frantically as I saw the wave. Tidus had caught himself on a beam above me. Then the field started to collapse and people started screaming in fear.
The safest thing for me to do was to swim down and hope that Tidus made it out alive. So, I swam as fast as I could to the bottom of the sphere of water and landed on the ground in a crouch. The building began to flood and collapse and I made a run for it, mentally shouting at Tidus to make it. I barely made it outside and grabbed a ball that survived—one with Jecht's signature on it.
Then I spotted Auron. What was he doing here? I ran over and he shook his head before I could say anything. I frowned.
"I'm getting out of here."
"You're not going to wait for Tidus?" I shook my head.
"He can handle himself. Especially if you're waiting on him." He nodded and I turned to run off.
"Wait." I looked over my shoulder and he held out a whip. I frowned a bit, but took it from him. "It's from your mother."
"My…mother…?"
"Auron! Zuri!" I looked over to see Tidus running over. "Auron! What are you doing here?"
"I was waiting for you." Tidus frowned.
"What are you talking about?" Auron walked off without another word and I hurried after him, hoping Tidus would do the same. He did, but stopped before we were even very far from the ruined stadium. I turned to yell at him to hurry, but everything went pure white and a familiar person appeared in front of me as silence surrounded us.
"Arisha…" She nodded once, smiling a little.
"It's started. Time to go home." And then things went back to normal and the sound of the screams returned. What did she mean by that…? Time to go home? I shook my head and started running again, passing up Auron and skidding to a halt when a dozen of some sort of seed things landed in front of me. I narrowed my eyes and swung the whip in my hand to cut them down. Auron caught up with me and then Tidus.
"Hey, not this way!" Auron looked up and I noticed a large sphere of water in the sky.
"Look!" He said and Tidus looked warily in the direction of the sphere. Somehow, it seemed familiar to me.
"Sin…" I whispered the word and Auron seemed to hear, as he made a small sound
"We called it 'Sin'." Tidus and I both looked at him.
"'Sin'?" More of the seed things landed in front of us and Tidus swatted at them—like that would do anything. Auron sighed when he fell flat on his ass and held out a sword.
"Take it." Tidus blinked and grabbed the hilt, getting to his feet with Auron's help. "A gift from Jecht."
"My old man?" Auron nodded once.
"I hope you know how to use it." Tidus nodded in response and we all fought our way through. "These ones don't matter. We cut through!" Tidus and I both nodded and we continued down the road. Then we were attacked from both sides. "Don't bother going after all of them. Cut the ones that matter and run!" I rolled my eyes and slashed my way through ahead of them, skidding to a halt when a tentacle-like thing blocked the way.
Auron and Tidus caught up with me after a few minutes and the thing used a sort of spell. I seemed to be the only one unaffected by it.
"Get out of my town!" Tidus shouted.
"Some just can't wait to die!" Auron agreed and I looked toward the sphere in the sky.
"What do you want…?" I whispered to myself, then shook my head a little. "Guys, back up." I tossed the ball I was holding on to into the air and used my Knockout Shot. It wasn't enough to kill the tentacle thing, but it was enough to get rid of the weird bird creatures. Tidus and Auron finished it and we ran on.
"Auron! Let's get out of here!" Auron sighed a little.
"We're expected." I frowned at that.
"Huh?" We were surrounded again and Tidus groaned. "Gimme a break, man!" We cut them down, but every time one fell, another took its place. What to do? Then I spotted a machine that had fallen from one of the buildings. If we hit it right, it would fall and explode to clear a path.
"Humph. This could be bad." Auron noticed the machine as well and pointed his sword towards it. "That—knock it down." Tidus blinked.
"What?"
"You'll see. Just do it." I rolled my eyes and hit the joint with the ball, sending the machine careening downwards. It exploded and the road-bridge broke. I made a dash for the break and jumped across. The guys made the first jump, but the second jump…Auron was technically the only one who made it. I jumped too high and got sucked up into the sphere of water.
"TIDUS! AURON!" I screamed before everything turned white and I was in the ocean. I coughed a little and looked around. It wasn't long before I spotted lights in the distance. Was that a ship? I didn't care as I swam towards it.
. . .
When I got to the ship, I shouted out, but only a girl came to the rail to look.
"What are you doing there?" She called, though it didn't quite sound like the language I was used to speaking—even if I understood just fine.
"My boat was destroyed by fiends! Can I board?" I called in the same tongue, wondering fleetingly how I knew it even though I was sure I'd never heard it before. She nodded and pointed to a ladder on the side of the ship. It didn't feel right lying like that, but I highly doubted that she would believe that I'd been sucked into a sphere of water in the sky and dropped into this ocean.
I climbed the ladder and squeezed the water out of my hair when I got on deck. The girl approached me and I smiled at her. "I'm Lezuri. But everyone calls me Zuri." She nodded a little.
"I'm Rikku." I nodded in return and looked her over. Kind of an odd outfit to be wearing, but I was considered kind of odd for how I dressed, despite playing Blitz—a dark yellow, reversible duster vest that zipped from just above my belly button to right between my breasts, black shorts with zippers on the front, a dark yellow belt slung low around my hips with pouches for potions and other things, and high boots that looked more like high socks than anything else. She had the same dark skin tone as me, the same green eyes with oddly swirled pupils, and the same blond hair. I'd never seen anyone with those exact features except in the mirror.
"Nice to meet you." She smiled and stepped closer to me.
"Are you an Al Bhed?" Without thinking, I nodded. I'd never heard the term, but somehow I got the feeling that we were kin somehow, and the term 'Al Bhed' went with that. Maybe it was also some sort of instinct that made me nod, something I knew in my subconscious, but didn't know otherwise. I also got the feeling it was best to act like I knew what was going on. I figured that I would be able to figure things out as they played.
"Yea, but I've been away from Home for a long time. Been exploring." Rikku laughed a little.
"That's probably why I haven't met you then. My father is Cid." I tried hard not to make it seem like I didn't recognize the name.
"Ah." I sighed a little. "How far is it to shore?"
"The nearest island is Besaid. We're actually pretty close if you wanted us to take you there." I nodded a little.
"That would be nice. Thank you." She nodded and headed for a door.
"Do you want some dinner?" I nodded.
"I'm really hungry." We laughed together and went into the ship.
. . .
The next morning, we arrived near an island and I wondered why we anchored so far off.
"Sorry, but there are a lot of Al Bhed-haters on the island that would recognize the ship. You don't mind swimming, do you?" I shook my head and hugged Rikku in thanks.
"Not at all. Thank you." I jumped off the ship and into the water and swam for the shore.
. . .
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Flames will be used to roast 'mallows and wiener-burgers.