A/N: Hey there Happy Campers! Jecht/OC for ya here! But just a short one. This is my first one-shot, and I'm never that good at short stories, so tell me if I'm doing something wrong. And it's pretty long. There's a lot of dialogue, but try to keep up! If I get enough (if any) reviews I'm thinking of making a sequel, so...
Is This a Game Now?
"Hey, Dad, wanna hear a joke?" Tidus asked.
"No." Jecht answered. Yuna broke out a small giggle.
"Ok, ok, here we go-"
"Oh god."
"What kind of TV do horses watch?" Tidus asked, grinning at his Father with his mouth open in suspense. Wakka shrugged and took Jecht's place.
"I don't know." He chimed in. Jecht rolled his eyes.
"Saddle-lite TV!" Tidus exclaimed. Jecht hung his head. Yuna laughed a little and Lulu cracked a smile, while Tidus clearly couldn't quite figure out why his Dad wasn't laughing, and kept repeating the punch line, explaining it each time. Lulu had noticed the bar getting slightly more crowded.
After a long silence on his end of the table, Wakka decided to pitch in and try to cheer Jecht up. No-one really knew what was wrong with him, but they could still try. His son's terrible sense of humour clearly wasn't helping anyone.
"So Jecht, do you want something to eat?" He asked. The man looked up at the menus on the table and snatched one from the holder. Yuna looked taken aback.
"Where's all the meat?" Jecht muttered. Everyone at the table caught on.
"It's a vegetarian menu, sir." Yuna chimed.
"I didn't fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian, sweetheart." He grimaced.
"It's wrong to eat animals." Lulu butted in, eager to stand up to her cause. Ever since Sin, she'd vowed never to eat animals - just to make the world a slightly better place - despite sitting at the table with him.
"If we aren't supposed to eat animals, why are they made of meat?" Jecht sighed, flicking the menu back to the table.
"Daaaaad?" Tidus whined. Jecht flung out a hand, trying to hit him, and missed.
"Um…Oh, I know! When did I last take an IQ test?" He grinned.
"When you were born."
"What did I get?"
"The results came back negative, son. Go away."
An hour later and Jecht was still sulking in his chair. Tidus, Yuna, Lulu and Wakka were eating their meals happily however, talking about God knows what. Jecht didn't care. Knowing his son, it was probably rainbow ponies or something. The bar had emptied somewhat, probably due to the time and the fact that the Blitzball tournament ended 45 minutes ago. A strange group of people were sat in a booth across the room, one of them eyeing up Tidus suspiciously. Jecht shrugged it off as just his son being too loud.
For the first time in the entire night, Jecht took in what everyone was wearing. Him and Tidus were wearing fairly similar outfits - both in black jeans and a matching shirt, only Jecht had rolled his sleeves up past his elbows. He couldn't stand wearing dressy clothes, so he might as well make it a little more tolerable.
Lulu was in a long, clingy grey dress fairly similar to her normal attire, still with her hair up. Nothing much had changed. Wakka was in a simple white T-shirt with a black leather jacket over the top, coupled with some blue jeans and industrial-looking boots. He'd swapped his usual blue headband for an identical green one, too. Yuna was in a knee-length puffy pink asymmetrical dress, with little flip-flops. He was proud to have her as a daughter-in-law figure in his life. Mainly because she was a child he could take care of that wasn't Tidus.
Seconds after he'd finished observing everyone's evening-wear, the door to the bar were flung open and a small cloaked figure walked in. The hood of the cloak was pulled down seconds later and a huge, frizzy mess of bright red hair burst out from underneath the green linen. Whoever the woman was, she was continuously looking behind her, as if in fright she was being followed. Lulu also seemed to have been distracted from the conversation by her.
She ran to the bar and leaned over the counter, taking a glance over her shoulder before talking to the barmaid. The woman over the counter gave a warm, reassuring smile that clearly felt the girl's fright and pointed out of the bar to the left. The girl gave a slight smile and turned on her heels, charging out of the door in the same manner as she came in, flicking up the green hood before she left.
Jecht leaned forwards in his chair and tried to join the conversation. It was none of his business if a woman ran in a bar and asked for directions, after all.
"So he said, go ahead: it's foolproof, so I-"
"Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool, son." Jecht said, and the entire table fell silent. Conversation soon sparked up again, and Jecht noticed some men from the other booth going up to the bar.
They had a long lengthy conversation with the barmaid, then she pointed them out of the bar to the left. Jecht's eyes narrowed at one of the men walking past. He hoisted his hoody up on his shoulders and took off after his comrades out of the door. Jecht stood up immediately.
"Dad?" Tidus said. Jecht walked through the seats crowded round the table, everyone staring, and out of the door, pausing to look for the men who left the bar seconds ago. He saw one turning into an alleyway and made a swift move to catch up. He heard her scream before he even reached the corner.
He charged round the turns to get to her, sliding slightly on the damp pavement. Three men could be seen dragging something down from the wall. Someone. She'd been trying to climb it. Jecht ran to one of them and punched him sharply in the nose, pushing him to the floor by his forehead.
One turned to Jecht, distracted by his arrival, and kicked him in the stomach. Jecht stumbled back, soon returning to pin the man against the wall and deliver several punches to his torso. He dragged the man from the wall down onto the floor and stamped twice on his chest, then pulled him up by the hood on his jacket and head-butted him. Jecht then dropped his limp form to the concrete.
The girl at the top of the wall had paused, and was standing in wonder, her cloak billowing relentlessly at her calves. She took down her hood again and jumped down from the wall, eyeing Jecht up suspiciously.
"Sir Jecht, right? Heard about you back home in Luca. I got talking to a Ronso, Kimahri, and-"
"Kimahri spoke to you?"
"…Yeah, why?"
"He, uh, doesn't usually do that with strangers." Jecht explained. A long silence followed and the woman climbed down from the wall, landing on her feet with a quiet clink of metal heels.
"I got told you were pretty high up these days."
"It's lonely at the top; but you do eat better." He agreed.
"I suppose. But then I wouldn't know." She sighed.
"How old are you? You get some recognition round here, I see." Jecht asked.
"Why should I tell you?" She responded, cautiously stepping back without hitting the sheer brick wall behind her.
"I get it, few women admit their age."
"Clearly few men act it." She spat, although grinning light-heartedly.
"I'm out of bed and dressed, what more do you want?" Jecht shrugged.
"What more can you give me?" She teased, stepping forward until she was inches away from Jecht and placing a hand on his chest. Jecht laughed slightly.
"What can you take?" He asked, cocking his head to one side.
"I can handle pain; until it hurts." She whispered.
"Feisty." He stated, although quickly getting back to the point. "What are you doing all the way out here in Spira?"
"I, uh, got offered a target somewhere up here." She murmured, looking off to the side. She would have looked just over Jecht's shoulder had she been a foot taller.
"So you're an assassin for private hire." Jecht grinned, deciphering her simple statement.
"I prefer the term, freelance bounty hunter." She said, staring into Jecht's eyes. She looked away sharply after noticing the red hue.
"You look pretty tired, huh?" Jecht assumed. The girl nodded.
"It's been Monday all week, I reckon."
"And no-one's watching until you make a mistake." He agreed.
"Eat right. Stay fit. Die anyway. We're just part of a big statistic." She uttered.
"Oh yeah? And what's that?" Jecht inquired.
The girl smiled up at him, green eyes gleaming.
"10 out of 10 die." She shrugged.
"How much are you willing to bet?" Jecht tested. The girl waved a hand in inattention, shaking her head, then rubbed her fingers together in a monetary gesture.
"No cash."
"I never said anything about money." He smirked. The girl's face remained strained. She gave a slight shiver, then looked up at Jecht's bare forearms folded across his chest, frowning.
"You're not cold?" She examined, sceptical. Jecht shook his head, chuckling, and replied:
"Never. Are you?" He quizzed, looking her cloak up and down as if it were a dead animal. The girl nodded. Jecht clapped his hands together and turned round, walking back to the bar after remembering that his companions had no idea where he was. The girl soon grabbed his elbow.
"Sir Jecht, you don't have a place I can stay, do you? It would only be for tonight, just while I get my thoughts together enough to figure out what I'm doing." She pleaded. Jecht cringed at the fact that he was being begged for hospitality, but gave in after her huge green eyes had won him over. He walked out of the alley and away from the bar. Home sweet home.
Jecht got out of the shower, dripping all over the black lino before grabbing a towel from the rack on the wall opposite and drying himself off. He hated his hair wet. It went all tangled and wavy. He wrapped the grey towel round his waist and walked through the door into his bedroom. Whoever that girl was, she'd fallen asleep on the floor next to his bed.
He ripped a pair of boxers out of his wardrobe and dropped the towel to the floor, sliding them on over his still damp skin and launching himself onto his bed. The sheets were cold. Stupid Tidus, breaking his heat-regulating water bed. He rolled over and took a glance at the girl sleeping soundly on the floor next to his bed.
Then he left her there and fell asleep.
When Jecht woke up, the girl was no longer there, and while he walked to the kitchen, he dismissed the thought that she'd left him as the sweet smell of waffles drifted through his mind. He shook his head and did a double-take, staring at the small woman stood at his counter. Making his waffles. Drinking his wine. Wearing his clothes. He stopped in the doorway to his kitchen and scratched his head. She was still there.
"Oh hey! I made you waffles, but I ate 2 of them..." She sighed, cheerful and more carefree than before. Her bright red hair was even more vibrant and explosive. And even now as Jecht looked at her in plain uncaring light, something was missing. Something. She noticed that.
"What's up?" She said, leaving her place by the counter and walking towards Jecht.
He flipped out his hand and she thumped into it, showing a brief pained expression before looking up confused. Jecht withdrew his hand and shook his head. Deja Vu. Focusing back on the girl in front of him, Jecht summoned up his voice again.
"You never told me your name." He muttered, quiet though stern. The girl smiled again.
"Ella." She beamed. Jecht suppressed his smile, however contagious hers was.
"And how old are you?" He demanded.
"Old enough for you." She said, winking and walking back to the counter so casually that Jecht wasn't sure if the brief conversation they just had was even real.
"How many?" She asked, looking over at Jecht expectedly. Jecht frowned in confusion and Ella rolled her eyes.
"How many waffles would you like?" She repeated. Jecht held up 3 fingers and walked towards where she was dishing up, pausing behind Ella momentarily to look at the 2 strange horizontal slits on the back of her neck. Then he picked up his plate, went to his sofa, and turned on the TV.
Ella didn't join him for a while and instead remained in the kitchen to eat her breakfast. She didn't like eating in front of people, it made her feel self-conscious. Once she'd finished, however, Ella made her way to where Jecht was sat watching Dangermouse on the sofa. She gave his program choice a quizzical look before residing next to him.
Jecht looked over at Ella, clearly engrossed in the television and smiled lightly at her innocence. Sure, she killed people for a living, but the huge mop of frizzy red coils and the perfectly formed round green eyes currently staring at the screen. She caught his gaze somehow and moved her eyes to meet his, then grinned up at him with her eyes shut. Jecht gave an amused grunt and turned his attention back to the screen.
"Hey Jecht..." Ella began. Jecht looked over at her again and prompted her question. "Where'd you get all those scars?"
Jecht shrugged.
"Half of 'em I don't even remember." He sighed. Then turned back to Ella with a confused face. "What are yours from?" He asked. Ella's hand shot to the back of her neck and she let out a small nervous and obviously false giggle, then turned away to face the TV. Jecht brought his hand up to her chin and turned her head towards him.
"Tell me."