Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy X or Highschool DxD
Also bear in mind that I'm basing the DxD characters that appear in this chapter on what is presented on their profiles on both the wiki and TV Tropes as I hasn't gotten very far on the Light Novels so please tell me if I got them down correctly.
I'm also going by the assumption that all Final Fantasy characters speak Japanese when writing the dialogue even if they used different writing systems.
And now without further ado, the first chapter of "A Living Dream."
Update: I went back here to rewrite large chunks of the prologue because I felt the previous version didn't quite capture Tidus's personality, especially after playing Final Fantasy X again.
It is such a shame really.
Sure he may have saved the world but only at the cost of his own existence.
No, he didn't die because he was never truly alive to begin with.
His existence only nothing more than a living dream, but like all dreams they just end.
I probably could place his soul back into an actual body, well its more of a spiritual container with a lifespan of a human really but the ritual requires a lot of mana and a loved one's will to anchor him back into the world of the living. And frankly I needed to rest after what Yu Yevon had put my friends and I through for a thousand years but even after I become strong enough to resurrect him, his loved ones may have already moved on, leaving him alone in the Farplane until their reunion in the afterlife.
"So," a deep booming voice said from behind me, "The cycle has finally been broken?"
"Yes," I said, not bothering to turn around as I knew my friend doesn't like to be stared at, "It is finally over. Though we'll have to talk some other time because I want to enjoy a few days resting without constantly watching and worrying about the state of this world."
"Well who I am to deny your rest? After all, you earned it with that plan of yours."
"Yeah, all because of the actions of one man. A man that I had chosen and manipulated into saving everyone."
"That's a bit of a harsh summarization of your plan isn't it? Still could you not reward him by giving him a real body?"
I ruefully shook my head, "I really wish I could but I am too weak to accomplish anything alone after a thousand years of maintaining a world that doesn't even exist in the first place. Not only that but his loved ones just saw him disappear before their eyes, I'm not entirely sure how they would take news of his possible resurrection considering what usually happens when the dead stays in the world of the living. Besides I'm not entirely sure what would happen if I bought him back."
My friend has fallen silence, no doubt pondering for a way around this situation. Well I suppose we first met after he stumbled across Spira during his travels and since then he became a frequent visitor as his stories about places beyond Spira and himself are quite a breath of fresh air through the years of watching helplessly as the people suffered from a continuous cycle of death. Part of our strange friendship much have been the fact that we are both dragons, though he is a legitimate dragon god from another realm while I am nothing more than a powerful spirit that takes the form of a dragon and the closest thing Spira's people have to a God.
"How about this? You and the other Fayth reconstruct his soul while I create a new body for him and place him in another dimension," he finally said.
"Are you sure about this?" sure the one chosen by us, the son of Jecht will have a new life but how will he take getting sent to an alien world alone?
"Come on now, I'm doing both of you a favor here. Besides the world I'm thinking of placing him in surprisingly has a lot in common with this one."
"If you say so, just make sure to put him somewhere reasonable," I began reaching out into the Farplane and gathering his pyreflies, small spheres light that are the physical representation of souls in Spira. All around me, the other remaining Fayth seeing what I am trying to accomplish poured in their remaining mana to support my delicate task.
Little by little, they are drawn to a small area in front of me, slowly fusing into a large glowing rainbow colored orb. As this went on, I could feel myself beginning to fade away, soon I'll be forced into a hibernation state before I can become active once more. The orb itself grew into a vaguely humanoid shape until at long last a faint outline of his body superimposed itself over it.
"It is done," I informed my friend while lowering my arms, "Hurry though, you don't have much time."
My friend's giant scaly, clawed, red paw reaching out and closed itself around him before a large rip in space and time quickly engulfed them.
"Well Tidus," a faint smile appeared on my face as I faded away, "I hope you have fun in your new life."
I felt myself stirring as something cool and wet surrounds me.
Wait didn't I die?
Is that all a dream?
No, that felt too real to be a dream.
But my journey to destroy Sin with Yuna and my friends should have caused me to disappear for good.
My eyes slowly opened and the sight of the sandy ocean floor greeted me.
Well wherever I am, it is certainly not the Farplane. Yeah too much water, not enough clouds and Pyreflies, and I'm certain it doesn't have a beach.
I stretched myself out before my legs began slowly to propel me towards the surface. Upon breaking the surface, the sight of blue clear skies and the bright shining sun along with the smell of sea salt immediately assaulted my senses. Gosh, is this what it's like to come back from the dead? That is what I asked myself as I began swimming as fast as I can to get myself towards the closest topical island I can find.
Up, over, and down my arms went, moving in a loop as each arm alternates. My legs kicking the surface of the sea to propel me towards the nearest topical island at great speeds, my breathing calm and controlled as my body automatically went through movements self-taught in its home environment. Before I knew it, I am already there.
I pulled myself onto shore, dripping and rather disoriented about my whereabouts. The island itself has a large white beach, clusters of palm trees, a small mountain, and a beautiful yet ominous looking jungle. Despite its similarities to the beach on Besaid, I couldn't but felt that I don't exactly belong here at all. Then I turned around to look out towards the sea to maybe see if there is anything out there that can maybe get me out here, only to find a little girl standing in front of me who clearly wasn't there when I first got here.
She has long straight black hair, pointy ears, the body of a small ten year old, dressed in a simple black sleeveless dress with a large purple ribbon on the back, and grey and somewhat empty looking eyes staring right at me. I couldn't help but shiver as the eyes never left me, still what is she doing here?
I hesitantly wave to her, "Um…hi there," darn it, that sounded way too awkward.
"Who are you?" the strange little girl responded.
Honestly, she kinda reminded me of the little boy who happened to be the Fayth of Bahamut. Is she going to be cryptic towards me as well?
Well I suppose I should introduce myself then because hey who doesn't call anyone by their names?
A bright smile appeared on my face as I told her, "My name is Tidus, Star Blitzball Player of the Zanarkand Abes. What's your name?"
Her eyes briefly widened in surprise before she unemotionally replied, "Ophis."
"Nice to meet you!" I said, "Now where are we exactly?"
Ophis tilts her head, seemingly out of both curiosity and confusion.
"Eh, is it something on my face?" I was certain that didn't have anything stuck to it and it looks like it will stay that way, I thought as I stopped touching my face.
"You're not angry at the Baka Red?" she asked in a monotone voice, apparently puzzled at the fact I'm not angry at whoever this Baka Red is. Then again, he did brought me over this world, assuming this is in fact an alien world. Plus Ophis appears to be oddly aware of my situation.
"Well, I guess I am alive again," I pointed out, "And Spira is now a safe place to live in. So why would I be angry at whoever this Red guy you're talking about?"
I may not be able to spend the rest of my life with Yuna but at least I know that she will now live on in a world without pain and sorrow plaguing it.
"Spira," she steps closer to me, "that was your world, isn't it?"
"Yes," that confirms it, someone in this world knows exactly what I'm going through.
Wait a minute, how did she know? What did I do to attract her attention? I mean I more or less expected to be completely alone when I got dropped off at this island though I guess me dropping out of the sky and landing in the ocean would've caught her eye if she lives here.
"So," I got to choose my words carefully because I don't know who I'm talking to, "why are you here? After all, you don't seem to strike me as the type that would hang out on abandoned islands alone without a good reason."
She stops right in front of me, standing uncomfortably close to my personal space, "You are the reason."
"Me?" My smile faltered a little, my right eyebrow raised itself. What did I do besides saving Spira and coming back from the dead?
Her monotonous response as she poked my chest three times at the end of each statement? "You are brought here by the Great Red. My goals involve killing or defeating the Great Red. Therefore you interest me."
Right...
At least she got to the point.
A glowing white circle appeared right next to us.
"So, you decide to show up after all, Vali."
A silver-haired man with icy blue eyes dressed in white t-shirt, black shorts, and sneakers around my age stepped out of the circle, "I am just curious about the new guy here that's all," he said coolly, "Besides his arrival is felt by every single faction on Earth. Naturally their curiosity for the newcomer is overshadowed by their fear of your very presences here, Ophis."
So Ophis must be a very powerful person in this world and there are people like her out there that can somehow sense my arrival here through some unknown means. So how did they do that? No one back in Spira can detect other supernatural beings without the use of highly advanced and specialized machina (that is what we call machines back in Spira). Heck, if we can do that then it'll be much easier to find fiends seeing that they always seem to attack my friends and me out of nowhere.
The glowing circle disappeared, revealing four more people.
A short, mischievous-looking, young woman with long black hair with split bangs and hazel eyes, a large pair of black cat ears sticking out the top of her head and two cat tails, a figure that'll probably make Lulu jealous, and she is wearing a black kimono with a red interior, a yellow obi, a set of gold beads hanging off the side, and a red headband.
A young, well-built and somewhat wild looking man with short light brown hair, brown eyes, gripping a golden staff in his right hand in a relaxed manner, and wearing a black tank top, heavy looking green pants, and large brown boots.
A tall bespectacled blonde man who carries himself an air of dignity, across his back from the right shoulder down what appeared to be a double-edged long sword resting in its scabbard, and he is wearing eh… fancy looking black pants, a long sleeve fancy looking jacket with white cuffs over a white button shirt with a black tie, and black boots that both looked formal and very comfortable to run in.
And last but not least a little cheerful looking girl with long wavy blonde hair, large expressive teal eyes, and wearing a large blue pointy hat with a wide brim, a black bow tied around it, and yellow stars decorating it, a shiny blue cape with pink flowers attached all over the exterior and a white interior, and a dark green t-shirt and black mini-skirt.
"So…" I couldn't help but stare at them, besides I must have stuck out like a sore thumb to them especially with my choice in attire, it didn't help that my clothes are very torn up in a few places due to the many battles I've fought, "What did I do exactly? No wait, better question! Who are you and why are you here?"
The one called Vali is the one who answered me, "Well I suppose we are merely curious about your arrival, after all it's not every day you get to see a giant powerful red dragon hovering near this very island and causing a bunch of swirling orbs of light to gather in a single spot in the ocean."
Oh so they saw a giant red dragon manipulating pyreflies but wait a minute they weren't on the beach when it happened! Well granted I wasn't conscious yet but still it doesn't look like anyone lives here.
"But you just got here!" I cried out in disbelief, "How are you able to see that?!"
"That is quite simple," the blond swordsman said in a calm, polite tone while pushing up his glasses with his index finger, "Upon detecting the presences of the dragon we called the Great Red, we accompanied Ophis and merely observed your arrival from the top of the mountain on this island. After the Great Red went back to his home, Ophis asked us to if we wanted to investigate with her. Our leader declined but naturally his curiosity is piqued upon sensing you. By the way, the name is Arthur Pendragon and I am pleased to make your acquaintance," he held out his hand.
"….." Well they don't seem to be bad people, I thought as I took his hand and shook it, "Oh right, uh um… My name is Tidus and I am uh also pleased t-to make yours."
The little blonde girl with the pointy hat bowed down after I left go of Arthur's hand, "Greetings Tidus-sama," so she actually turned out to be overly polite, who would've thought, "I am Arthur-sama's little sister, Le Fay Pendragon and I hope we can get along!"
So is this what Rikku would be like if she is more polite? Okay that is a very weird thing to think about.
The catgirl is the next one to introduce herself, "Kuroka is my name, nya."
She suddenly disappeared only to reappear behind me, wrapping her arms around my neck, "And would you like to play with me?" she whispered in my ear in a sultry tone.
The dude with the staff then slapped his left hand on my shoulder, which nearly caused me to stumble, "Come on now Kuroka don't scare off the new recruit like that. By the way, I am Bikou and welcome aboard to the Vali team where all we do all day is train our asses and go off on wild adventures to kill off a motherfucking dragon! Oh," he then pointed at the silver-haired man, "That guy over there is our glorious leader of the group, Vali."
"You're too kind Bikou," he commented dryly, "Still Tidus, are you up for it?"
"Well, are you sure about recruiting me? After all I could slow you down," experience tells me to be a little skeptical of people making you offers to join them, especially when you don't know what they do exactly or if they go around causing with plans involving needless destruction, "Besides we just met."
A smirk appeared on Vali's face, "Good point there, quite glad to know that we're not recruiting a moron here. Now Kuroka can you please let go of him? I have a little test to give him."
"Muuu~ you're no fun Vali!" she said in a mock hurt tone, "But," she lets go of me, "perhaps you just wanted him all to yourself, Nya."
Vali lets out a deep sigh of exasperation, "You're still on that subject?"
"Of course, my dear sweet Vali," she lets go of me and walked over to Vali with a teasing smile on her face and crease his chin much to his obvious discomfort, "A girl couldn't help but notice how a very powerful man such as yourself ignore other women attracted by your strength. It does raise concerning questions you know."
He placed his hands gently on her shoulders and pushed her away, "Look Kuroka, I can see why you want to be with me but you're probably better off with someone else."
"Um hey," I said as I got between them, "Not to be rude or anything but what are you going to do to me?"
They better not think about knocking unconscious by punching me in the gut, dragging me back to their base, and then forcing me to work for them because going through that once is quite enough for me thank you very much!
"Oh I'm just going to test you by having you fight one of us," Vali then glances at Kuroka, "Kuroka, why don't you play with the newbie for a bit then we'll judge from there."
Everyone except Kuroka and I then cleared out, leaving plenty of space for us to duke it out.
"~Nya~, are you ready Newbie-kun?" her fingernails became sharp little claws and she crouched down on all fours, ready to spring forward. How is she supposed to fight me wearing a kimono, seeing that it doesn't provide any protection and it probably gets in the way? Is she a magic user like Lulu and Yuna?
I could feel a smug grin appear on my face, "Ready? I was born-"
I was cut off by a fist suddenly burying itself in my gut, sending me flying across the beach. I bounced a few times, causing sand to fly up with each one. When I finally landed, I am on my back sliding, the sand scraping all over me. I shakily got on my feet, feeling drops of blood falling off my back onto the sand, my back now stinging as if someone stuck a bunch of needles on it.
Well I probably should've kept my mouth shut but more importantly, she is pretty damn fast! Definitely much faster than anyone I've fought back in Spira.
My eyes dart to the right to see her zooming towards my right. I dodged to the left, avoiding another scratch and threw out a punch with my left.
She ducked and retaliated with a few swift punches and kicks, too fast for my eyes to see, that threw me into a palm tree. My back slams heavily through it, causing the pieces of wood to scatter about as I and the rest of the tree crashed into the sand with a loud thud. I laid sprawled on my back, my body crying out in pain as I struggled to get back on my feet.
"Nya, you're much tougher than I thought," Kuroka said chirpy.
Letting out an involuntary groan of pain, I managed to prop myself up onto my left knee, right foot, and left hand. My right fist is closed and drawn back as if to throw a punch, my back bent forward as I looked up to glared at the powerful catgirl.
"So how does magic work exactly?" I asked Lulu one day after we killed a few fiends on our way to the ferry that is going to take us away from the island of Besaid.
"Magic draws its power from mana," Lulu replied, "a type of energy that all living creatures can produce naturally. The process of casting spells is done by visualizing the target, figuring out how much mana you will need, and visualizing the end result."
"That sounds really complicated, I'm not sure if I can ever do that."
"Yeah Lu," Wakka piped up, "he only just got here, plus he's touched by Sin's toxin. You should ease him in more gently. You know start with the basics!"
"There is no time for me to be gentle to him, Wakka," she berated him coldly, "He should be more aware of the fact that his life will always be in constant danger. He should be spending every waking moment of his life doing whatever he can to survive. Because Wakka, he needs to start realizing how dire the situation is, how cruel this world can be, otherwise that will get him killed."
We watched as Lulu went on ahead of us towards the beach.
"Don't think of her too harshly, Tidus," Yuna said gently, I looked at her to see her beaming up at me, "She is just as worried about you as everyone else here."
"Even him?" I asked while jerking my thumb towards Kimahri, staring at me with an unchanging scowl.
She giggled softly, "Don't worry, I'm sure you two will get along."
"If you say so."
Right, it looks like I have to use the magic spells I managed to develop during Yuna's pilgrimage.
The first step, analyzing my physical condition and prime locations to pump mana.
Kuroka began rushing towards me once more.
The second step, tapping into my mana reserves and drawing out the necessary amount.
"Don't tell me you're done already, ~Nya~," Kuroka said as she got closer to me.
The last step, visualizing the desired effect and bringing it forth.
"I'm just getting started," I declared as boldly as I can.
"Haste", a glowing red clock briefly appeared in front of me, the hands moving faster than usual. Kuroka appear to have slowed down, making it easier to see what she is doing. By altering my time perception and my body's reflexes and movement speed, I temporary gain superhuman speed, enhanced reflexes, and mildly increased strength to compensate for my inexperience as a fighter and lack of hard hitting attacks. However, the spell drains my mana and my stamina very quickly so I need to defeat Kuroka and I need to do it fast.
I sprung forward and tackled her once she was close enough. She wasted no time freeing herself and threw me off but I landed lightly on my feet and blocked a scratch from her right claws with the gauntlet I always wore on my left. I jab forward with my right but it flew past her ear and hair as her head tills to her right. She quickly spun to her left, her right leg flying towards my side. I leapt back with a backflip, landing on my palms before pushing off the ground once more and into the air.
Will this work? It worked when I used it with a sword but what about my bare hands? Well here it goes.
I forcefully pump mana into my right hand, the process felt like shoving my arm into a bed of hot coal, causing a glowing white sphere to form in front of my right palm. I then thrust my arm forward, causing the energy sphere to split into ten streaks of lights racing towards Kuroka. With a display of catlike agility, she weaves back and forth avoiding the energy blasts that disappear into the sand as she made her way towards me.
"That's a very powerful technique Newbie-kun, too bad you mi-" a huge explosion suddenly engulfed her, sand flying up like a huge wave crashing down towards the beach.
I rolled as I touched the ground, lessening the impact of my fall as the time spell I used on my body wore off. I let out a sigh of relief before realization kicks in.
Oh crap, I didn't kill her did I?!
I ran over towards where I last saw her as the sand settled down and began digging around for any sign of her. Eventually I uncovered an arm and it was quickly followed by the rest of her.
"Hey, are you alright?" I asked in concern while dusting off some sand off her.
She doesn't appear to be too injured, only a few cuts, minor burns, and torn-up clothing that exposed some of her skin and lingerie.
Kuroka opened her eyes and they focus on my face peering down at her in concern, "My, you're quite a gentleman aren't you?"
She suddenly pushed me down onto my back, quickly pounced on my lap, and pinned my wrists down before I can react. She flashed a bright smirk down at my shocked expression when I saw her emitting some kind of aura that healed her whole body before my very eyes, "But you left yourself open and that means I won, ~nya~!"
"Ah, no fair!" I cried out as I struggled uselessly.
"So Vali-kun," she called out to the others running over to us, "What do you think of Newbie-kun?"
"He's powerful alright," Vali stated his opinion of me, "Plus with his ability to speed himself up with magic, he'll make a fine addition to the team. All we need to do is train him. What do you think of him, Ophis?"
"Feel free to take him, that just makes it easier for me to keep an eye on him," Ophis said in a still monotone voice despite her apparent curiosity about me.
"Hold still, Tidus-sama," Le Fay waved her right hand, causing a glowing circle with strange looking symbols to appear beneath me.
A soothing sensation washed over me, the spell used is no doubt a healing spell as the pain from getting thrown around like a rag doll and the strain of casting time magic on myself disappears.
"You're not going to let me go free, are you?" I said to them, already knowing the answer they'll probably give me.
"No," Vali replied, "besides the other factions would've claimed you had we not step in first."
Well I suppose that did made sense seeing that I technically am an alien to them and I'm assuming that pyreflies attract them.
"By the way," Arthur spoke up, "Shouldn't you be panicking or at least be in denial at the fact that you're forever stuck in another world and asked to join a group of strangers? Because I should point out that you are taking your situation quite well considering the circumstances."
"Been there, done that," I replied to him, no doubt they may be confused by my words.
Not only that but I've joined two separate parties in the span of two days after my arrival to Spira, though I doubt they would need to know that.
"Nya, I didn't take you as the type to hop to random dimensions," Kuroka got off of me after the magic circle disappeared.
I wanted to say not willingly back at her but that just makes me sound like a magnet for trouble.
"You know I'll be happy to tell the story on how I got here some other time," I told her.
"Looking forward to it, after all anything Newbie-kun has done must be very exciting!"
Yeah sure, would they believe that I killed my father because he was turned into a flying whale-like creature that ravages the land because he was controlled by… a floating parasitic tick thingy?
"Oh Tidus-sama," a small paintbrush and a bucket of red paint suddenly appeared next to Le Fay with a flash of light, "We should hide your mana signature from the other factions before we move out."
"Any reason why?" I am now wondering why such a precaution has to be taken as she painted a circle and a few strange looking symbols on my right forearm, the one the that really sticks out to me is the one symbol of a snake eating its tail while curled up in a circle.
"You could say that one of us is a wanted criminal and if they see us together, we will in no doubt be killed without hesitation."
Um okay, does that mean I'm technically a wanted criminal again?
Well, that doesn't sounds good.
"There, now that wasn't so bad was it Tidus-sama?"
I looked down at my right arm to see the circle and symbols now looked like they have been tattooed on rather than painted on.
"Whoa, that's kinda neat," I bought my arm closer to my face, "How did you do this?"
"It's called a seal, a branch in runic magic," Le Fay explained while the paintbrush and the bucket disappears with a poof of smoke, "I could show you when we get back."
"Where are we going?"
"Our place, rookie," Bikou said, "We're not fucking homeless you know."
The bright white circle appeared once more.
Vali is the first one to step into the circle, "You coming?" he asked me without looking back at me.
What do I have to lose? I asked myself as I followed everyone into the circle. As it flashes, a faint sensation of something grabbing my feet and pulling down became noticeable. Then everything became white.
This is the end of my story in Spira.
A bittersweet ending of saving the world to save the one I've loved but at the cost of my life.
However here is a world much like Spira, one without a spiral of death and its own set of supernatural creatures.
This is the beginning of my new life here, the first chapter of my new story.
So listen to my story.
Because I won't waste a second chance to live.
Biosword here with another story, this time with a crossover!
Now this Author's Note is going to be long so bear with me.
Well, I just thought to myself one day, "Hey let's write a story in this universe with a lesser used character."
Originally my choice was Goku from Dragon Ball but I thought that Tidus would be a much more interesting choice because well there wasn't a Final Fantasy X and Highschool DxD crossover story written before this one. Plus he narrates throughout much of the game, telling us his feelings and his thoughts on the pilgrimage to defeat Sin, from a storyteller's standpoint, writing from his perspective is quite easy.
And don't worry about him being OP because anyone who played the original game would know that even with max stats and strongest weapons, the hardest bosses can take up to 30 minutes to kill and there is the fact that no one in the game fights them alone (barring two exceptions but that was at the beginning of the game and towards the end for plot reasons). Plus I can imagine that many of the characters from DxD can probably take down the bosses with just as much effort or the really powerful ones like Sirzechs outright curb-stomping them (probably).
... You know I actually would like to see Sirzechs and Sin battle each other now. That would just be awesome wouldn't it?
Seeing that I can't rely on just the original game for his capabilities in combat, I watched a few gameplay videos of the Dissidia games to help me picture how he would handle more human sized opponents, since in the original game the bosses are mostly giant monsters.
I also hope you all liked how I adapted the use of magic from the game, seeing how difficult it actually is transferring the spells used in a turn based RPG into a world like this and explaining they would work here.
Oh and I could be wrong about this but from what I learned about Vali and his team, they seem to be interesting characters and they don't really have too many stories focused on them on this website. So I really did hope I got their personalities down correctly because the last thing I want to do is make them unrecognizable to anyone and I want to save myself the headache of having to rewrite this because I did the one thing I should be avoiding while writing fanfiction.
Plus I spend a lot of effort into making this fresh idea work and I'll only know through feedback, so please support me into bringing something new into DxD crossovers.
So that is all I have to say so good bye and have a good day.