This was my first ever fan fic. The main reason I wrote this was because I'd always wondered what happened after the good ending when Yuna says "It all began when I saw this sphere, of you." I probably won't continue this now (kinda lost inspiration for it *is pelted with rotten fruit*) Anyway, I decided to edit it a bit to make up for that – seriously, my writing skills sucked when I first wrote this... (changed the disclaimer a little too after rediscovering my love for Digimon ^_^) I hope my writing has improved since I first uploaded this - I tried not to change anything, but if something's different, I'm sorry. I also have my internet back at home so I can update and upload more ^_^ Tidus' thoughts
So, let's get on with the story! Oh wait! The disclaimer. *looks around and spots Tidus* Aha! Tidus, read the disclaimer.
Tidus: Why?
Me: Because you're the main character in this fic.*hands Tidus piece of paper* Read it.
Tidus: *looks at piece of paper for 2 minutes, confused* Huh?
Me: *snatches paper off Tidus* You truly are clueless, aren't you?
Tidus: *shrugs and starts playing with his hair*
Me: *turns away* Okay... Hmm… *looks around again* Maybe I can find someone from Digimon… *spots a head of blonde hair* Aha! Yamato! Over here! *waves*
Yamato: *turns skeptically* Yes…?
Me: *runs over and shoves disclaimer into his hands* Read this please?
Yamato: *raises eyebrow* Okay… Um, the author of this fic owns nothing that has anything to do with FFX or FFX-2, apart from the games on PS2. *looks up* What's a PS2?
Me: Never mind that! Keep reading!
Yamato: *sighs and goes back to reading* But she does own a springer spaniel called Neo... and cookies! *looks up again* Cookies?
Tidus: *looks up at mention of food and looks at Yamato* Can I have a cookie?
Me: I don't know why you're asking him, but no. You didn't read the disclaimer. Yama can have one though. *offers cookie to Yamato*
Yamato: *takes cookie and inspects it before eating it* These are actually pretty good.
Tidus: *glares at Yamato menacingly* On with the story...
The Return
My eyes slowly fluttered open, the water in them only a minor irritation after spending practically my entire life playing blitzball, and stretched my stiff arms and legs, which had been pulled up against my chest... like how I used to sleep when I was a child. The burning in my lungs told me that I needed to breath, and soon, so I turned my head this way and that until I saw the sun beaming down at me from above the surface. I smiled and swam towards it, glad to finally see some light after what felt like years of being in the dark.
I surfaced and took a few breaths, my lungs feeling extremely grateful – the last time I'd felt like this was when I was first trying out for the Zanarkand Abes. I turned around, pushing my wet hair out of my face, and grinned, feeling a sense of déjà vu as I recognised the small island in the distance to be Besaid.
Then I remembered a certain inhabitant of the island and the promise that I had made to her at some point in the pilgrimage. 'If we ever get separated, just whistle. I'll come running, okay? I promise.' I took a deep breath, bringing my fingers to my mouth, and whistled as hard as I could before tilting my head back and looking up at the clouds, smiling when I saw one that looked like a star.
After another few deep breaths, I started to swim towards the shore, surprised that no one was there. Had something happened? Or was everyone too busy to be at the beach? I stood up when the water was shallow enough and started to walk towards the shore. When I was close enough to the deserted beach that the water was only just above my ankles, I heard a noise that made me turn around.
An airship? The last time I had seen one of those was when we all rode in the one that the leader of the Al Bhed, Cid, had salvaged from the sea when I'd first shown up in Spira. But this one was different – it was a dull red and shone in the sun. Whose airship is this? It had these huge metal rings or something attached to it and there was a giant metal gull decal on it – it looked much more modern than the thousand year old one I'd last seen. I watched in confusion as it came closer to the island until it was close enough that it was making the water spray up – soaking me again.
I turned around and saw a girl jump from the airship and start running towards me, smiling, looking a lot happier than I had ever seen her. She had short, light brown hair that flared out slightly at the ends with a wrapped braid at the back, the end of which reached her ankles. She was wearing denim shorts with half a skirt over the top, black knee-high boots and a white halter neck shirt with one thing holding it together in the middle – the symbol of my old blitzball team, the Zanarkand Abes.
She also had beautiful eyes, one green and one blue. I smiled, almost immediately recognising the girl, even though she had changed since the last time I saw her. Yuna.
She outstretched her arms as she neared me; I did the same – hoping that she wouldn't go through me again, like she did when we defeated Sin. I wouldn't be able to handle it if I was still just a dream… It'd be one of the worst things ever if I was only 'visiting'. Much to my relief, she ran into my arms and hugged me tightly, her head resting on my chest and her hands clutching tightly to my blitz uniform.
"Are you real?" She asked, her voice trembling as if she was about to burst into tears. I didn't really know how to answer her. Am I real?
"I think so." I answered uncertainly. Well I was breathing fine, and I could feel my heart pounding against my chest – to top it off, I was holding the girl of my dreams in my arms. She pulled back, placing her hands on my chest; I kept mine on her shoulders. I let her look me over for a few moments, letting her come to her own conclusion.
"Do I pass?" I asked after a moment, worried about if her answer would affect me in any way – if she said 'no' would I disappear again? She nodded and smiled after a second's pause though, sending an immense wave of relief through me.
"You're back." She said, tilting her head to the left slightly, as though she was still silently examining me.
"I am back." I replied, with certainty and she dropped her arms to her sides, still smiling softly at me. "I'm home!"I breathed out, pulling her into another hug. Yeah. This is my home now, not Zanarkand – not if I have to be a dream. I was surprised because she didn't return the hug straight away, she seemed to have tensed slightly.
"Welcome home." I heard her say against my shoulder. Then I felt her arms go around my waist before she spoke again. "Yes home." Then I heard a familiar giggle in the distance. Rikku. I wonder how much she's changed... She sure sounds the same – bubbly and happy.
"Hey! Get a room, you two!" A familiar voice shouted from the beach. I pulled away from Yuna, but kept an arm around her shoulders and she kept an arm around my waist. I turned to look at the beach and was immediately surprised.
It looked as though everyone who lived on the island was there! Then I spotted the person with the familiar voice and grinned as memories of my best friend came flooding back. Wakka sure hasn't changed much – he just looks a bit older. And he's still got that goofy haircut. I chuckled softly.
"Wassup?" He shouted, waving and smiling. He was obviously happy that I was back… Along with everyone else who seemed to be cheering. That's probably for Yuna though, not me – after all, they probably remember me as the 'heathen' who broke the rules and entered the cloister of trials… I smiled back and said the first thing that came to mind.
"Who asked you to watch, Wakka?" I called back jokingly with a wide grin on my lips.
He spread his arms as if to say 'Hey!' and then looked to his right. I followed his gaze and saw another familiar face – Lulu. She smiled at Wakka and lowered her gaze to something in her arms, a baby.
That shocked me. Lulu's a mother? Wait... the way she looked at Wakka, is he the father? Man, I must have been gone a while...
I looked at Yuna and smiled before taking her hand in mine and running towards everyone on the beach. She suddenly sped up, taking the lead, causing me to stumble and nearly fall.
"You know, you've changed." I pointed out to her with a laugh. This definitely isn't the Yuna I remember... she seems more light-hearted than when we on the pilgrimage to defeat Sin. It's like she's got nothing to worry about anymore…
"Well, you've missed a few things!" She simply replied, still sounding overjoyed, but I caught the hurt in her tone and resisted the urge to wince, knowing that my disappearance had caused her pain.
"I wanna hear everything!" I decided, getting my mind off that subject for the moment. Yuna laughed and nodded her head, seeming to want to tell me everything that had happened too.
"Well," She began, still sounding cheerful. "It all began when I saw this sphere, of you." A sphere of me? Like the ones we had found of Braska, Auron and my old man?
"At least, I thought it was you." She continued, her tone changing slightly, that hurt in it once again.
"Who was it?" I asked as we slowed to a walk.
"His name was Shuyin." She told me, a sad smile on her face. "He lived in Zanarkand a thousand years ago... and he looked a lot like you, Tidus." She suddenly turned to me. "I'm just so glad to have you back." She said, practically beaming. I leant in and gently kissed her cheek, causing her to blush.
"Hey, I'm glad to be back." I replied, smiling. "C'mon. Everyone's waiting for us." I tilted my head in the direction of the beach. She laughed a little and started walking again. Shuyin? Who is he and why did he look like me?
"Hey, how you been?" Wakka asked me when we were close enough, grinning from ear to ear – I'm surprised he didn't have jaw ache with a grin that big. I smiled at the older blitzer.
"I've been great, underwater for ... um how long has it been since... you know?" I asked, being careful about the subject, not wanting to inadvertently upset the 'high summoner' by my side.
"We defeated Sin two years ago, bringing about the Eternal Calm." Yuna helpfully informed me, her tone neutral.
I nodded my thanks and returned my attention back to the former captain of the Aurochs. "So, how you been, Wakka?" I couldn't stop smiling – I was too happy.
"Never been better, ya? Guess what?" He asked, excited. "I'm a father now." He said sounding proud, and placed his hands on his hips with the grin still fixed in place. I'd only ever seen him that happy once, and that was to do with blitzball – this happiness was greater than that.
"Really? Who's the mother?" I asked, playing along. I already knew who the mother was, though it was a little bit of a shock.
"Hey, Lu?" Wakka called to the black mage and she made her way over to us, carefully cradling the red-haired baby in her arms.
"Hey, Lulu. Miss me?" I greeted her, grinning, and she did something very rare.
She smiled – a genuine, happy smile curved her purple lips.
"Yes, I did. It... wasn't the same without you around, Tidus." She admitted, her eyes holding a touch of sadness as they quickly darted between me and Yuna. She was worried about her – I know it! Lulu had always been able to read Yuna like an open book, so she must've known how hard it was for her when I vanished.
"Hey," Wakka said, grabbing my attention. "I want you to meet our son." He placed his arm around Lulu as he said this. "This is Vidina." He said, looking down at the baby that Lulu cradled and I smiled, recognising the Al Bhed word that had been chosen for his name. Future. I wonder who named him... It'd be kinda ironic if it was Wakka. He did used to hate the Al Bhed, after all.
"Wakka named him." Lulu informed me, as if she was reading my mind. I laughed a little, remembering two years ago that Lulu was always the one to explain the various things to me that I didn't understand about Spira.
"What?" Lulu, Wakka and Yuna asked in unison. I shook my head slightly, holding back another laugh.
"I just remembered that when we were on the pilgrimage two years ago, Lulu was always the one who would explain stuff to me. You know like the Maesters and the Chamber of the Fayth and stuff like that." I told them. Wakka laughed slightly, Lulu turned her attention back to Vidina and Yuna smiled at me.
"Hey!" Rikku called from behind us. I turned around and saw the Al Bhed girl running towards us with another girl. The other girl reminded me of Lulu a little bit – she was dressed all in black with pale skin and appeared to have the same calm attitude. She had short grey hair though, not the long dark braids that Lulu had.
"Hey, Rikku." I replied as they reached us. "Long time no see, huh?" I raised an eyebrow at her appearance – she was wearing a yellow bikini and a tan miniskirt, a scarf wrapped loosely around her neck and lacey white sleeves around her arms.
A sudden thought occurred to me. Is it just me, or have Rikku and Yuna suddenly taken to wearing less clothing – I mean, I know Rikku used to wear those hot-pant things, but Yuna wore that modest kimono thing… What happened to her being all innocent and shy?
"I told you that we were gonna see you again, didn't I?" The chirpy Al Bhed said happily, interrupting my thoughts. The other girl was watching me with mild interest in her eyes. "Oh. This is Paine." Rikku informed me, noticing my glance at the new girl. "Paine, this is Tidus." She said, gesturing towards me.
"Hey." I said, offering my hand. She shook it and smiled slightly – in a very Lulu like way – before speaking.
"Hey, it's nice to finally meet you." She said, glancing at Yuna. "Yuna talked about you a lot."
"She did?" I asked, glancing at the former summoner stood next to me. A light blush had spread across her cheeks and she stared down at her feet. I smiled at her, reminded of the old Yuna that got easily embarrassed and flustered. There's no need for her to be embarrassed about talking about me to her friends though...
"We really missed you, you know?" Rikku suddenly said, her voice unusually serious. "We thought that you might not come back..." She trailed off, looking down, and her teeth bit down into her lower lip. Neither did I...
"But I am back. And... I really missed you too – all of you." I said, glancing around at everyone (except Paine of course – how could I miss someone I'd never met until just now?) – leaving Yuna for last so I could smile at her.
Rikku still looked kinda down, she was probably imagining what Yuna would have been like if I hadn't come back, and I'll admit that thought didn't appeal to me either. Yuna let go of my hand, to give her cousin a hug. I shook my head at her; she gave me a surprised look but stayed where she was. I moved forward instead until I was stood in front of the Al Bhed girl. She looked up at me and smiled.
"Rikku..." I trailed off. She looked confused for a moment. I didn't really know what to say – I mean, what could I say? Sorry for ditching you guys, but it's all right now? All of a sudden, Rikku locked her arms around my waist. I returned the hug and chuckled a little.
"You guys really did miss me a lot, didn't you?" I asked. Rikku nodded against my chest and then released me.
"If you ever do that again..." The Al Bhed said, a slightly threatening edge to her voice as she playfully scowled at me.
"Don't worry." I told them, moving back to Yuna's side and taking her hand again. "I'm not gonna pull another disappearing act on you guys." Then I looked directly at Yuna. "I promise."
Yuna smiled at me.
"How's Kimahri?" I asked, remembering the Ronso that had guarded Yuna since she was a kid.
"He's the leader of the Ronso." Yuna informed me. "He's up on Mt. Gagazet all the time now."
"Hey, we should go visit him!" Rikku piped up, an excited grin on her face. "I bet he'll want to see you again, Tidus!"
"Yeah!" I agreed, my grin matching hers. "But... not right now. I've only just got back." I added, catching Yuna's eye. "I wanna hear about stuff that's happened while I've, uh, 'been gone'."
"Oh. Right." The Al Bhed said, understanding that I wanted to spend some time with Yuna first.
"C'mon!" Wakka called. I turned around and saw him stood by the path that led to the village. "We're gonna have a celebration at the village, ya?" With that, he turned and started walking up the path.
"Celebration?" I asked, slightly confused. "What's there to celebrate?"
"Well, for one, you came back." Rikku answered, smiling, and then threw a couple of imaginary kicks and punches. "And second, we beat Vegnagun and kicked Shuyin's butt!" There's that name again... Shuyin.
"Eh? Vegnagun? What's that?" I asked, more confused – the name was completely unfamiliar, but it didn't sound like a fiend. Yuna laughed before explaining.
"Vegnagun was a very powerful machina built by Bevelle to use against Zanarkand in the machina war a thousand years ago. It was never used because it was unable to tell the difference between friend and foe." She paused for a moment before carrying on, letting the information sink in.
"Shuyin seeked to use Vegnagun to protect his lover, Lenne – she was a summoner. The summoners were being put on the front lines and Shuyin knew that Lenne wouldn't survive, so he sought out Vegnagun and tried to use it. Lenne stopped him though... but then, Bevelle soldiers found them and shot them – killing them." Her voice saddened towards the last sentence, but it was a strange sadness – almost like she had witnessed the horrific event with her own eyes. Doing my best to ignore that, I nodded once, to show her I understood what she'd said.
"Shuyin's spirit remained in Spira, unable to rest because of the grief he felt over not being able to save Lenne. He wandered Spira for a thousand years – his anger and sorrow building. He located Vegnagun again and wanted to use it, this time to destroy Spira. We fought him, and Lenne's spirit came out of the Songstress dressphere that I was wearing and she and Shuyin faded away together." She finished with a small, happy smile on her lips.
We were probably about halfway to the village at this point.
"I think I can understand how he felt." I said. Trying to save the girl he loved from her fate... Yeah, I understand. I understand completely – heck, I probably would've done. No. I did do something reckless, I gave my life for hers… "Uh... what's a dressphere?" I asked picking out the unfamiliar word, trying to distract myself once again.
"Um, it's kinda hard to explain. But basically it's an outfit contained within a sphere." Rikku answered, scratching her cheek with one finger. "We use them by placing them on the garment grid."
"Garment grid?" I asked, even more confused – was it like the sphere grids? Rikku and Paine sighed simultaneously.
"The garment grids allow us to harness the dressphere's power. There are different dresspheres that allow us to excel at certain things." Yuna informed me. "For example, there's the Black Mage dressphere that increases the power of our black magic and the Warrior dressphere which increases our swordsmanship skills." She explained, just as we reached the village, and bit her lip as though she wanted to say something else. Speaking of swords...
"Hey, Yuna? What did you guys do with all my weapons and stuff when I, uh, went away?" I asked, not wanting to say 'faded away'.
"We kept them." She answered simply.
"You did?" I asked, surprised. She nodded.
"Yunie kept all the stuff that you left behind when you disappeared." Rikku whispered to me, laughter in her voice. "Hey, Yunie?" She asked, smirking, and waited for her cousin to turn around. "Aren't you gonna tell Tidus about the sword you use for your Warrior dressphere?"
Yuna's eyes widened and a blush spread across her cheeks.
That surprised me. What's so embarrassing about the sword she uses?
"Um, the sword I use. It's... the sword that you used. The Brotherhood." Yuna said, avoiding my gaze. I blinked.
"You use the Brotherhood?" I asked, kinda impressed. She nodded.
"I started practicing with it a few months after you left – I wanted to make myself stronger. Paine taught me a few things when I joined the Gullwings." She told me with a small smile. I smiled back and then blinked again, hearing another unfamiliar word.
"Huh? Gullwings?" I asked, confused again, and feeling like it was my first time here in Spira all over again.
"I'll explain it to you later, okay?" Yuna asked before leading me towards Wakka and Lulu's home.
Tidus: Please Review and no flames please. Or the author will be sad like this - :(
Me: Well done, Tidus. Have a cookie. *offers Tidus a cookie*
Tidus: *takes cookie and eats it happily* Ha! In your face, blondie!
Yamato: *raises eyebrow* You're blonde too, you know.
Tidus: Yeah, but I don't suck!
Yamato: This guy's an idiot. *walks away*
Me: Great job, Tidus! Now I need someone to replace him!
Tidus: Why? You're not gonna continue this anymore, right?
Me: Oh… Good point.