Act Two: Changes

Tidus sat on his bed the next morning, Vaan staring at him. Vaan had come to get him, and apparently decided that "Oh my god!" was a wonderful sentence to wake someone up with. Upon sitting up, revealing his new body, and just generally having the amount of shame you'd expect from a professional stripper, he explained to Vaan what had happened.

"So, basically, someone left something for you with a moogle, you accepted it, used it, and now you're a female?"

"Yeah." Tidus smiled at Vaan. "I don't know what to do, Vaan. I don't know the first thing about being a woman."

Vaan thought a few minutes before answering. Tidus got up and started dressing.

"First of all, you should lock those automatic doors of yours. I mean, people won't think very highly of you if you let in anything and anyone that shows interest."

"I don't-" Tidus was cut off as Vaan helped her get her shirt to actually stay on.

"You might also want to change your shirt," Vaan continued. "Though, quite a few people wouldn't mind if you wandered around like that. Myself included."

"What?!" Tidus's face flushed a deep red. Vaan once again chose to ignore her.

"As for that thing that happens to women every month, you should ask Yuna. At least it'll be a little less awkward."

"I can't ask Yuna for details," Tidus muttered to herself.

"Zidane would probably tell you to finally change your answer. I say keep playing hard to get. You obviously enjoy pretending to not like the monkey. Everyone finds the entire thing funny at least."

"Vaan, all I asked for was a little assistance on how to act. I didn't want you to analyze me!"

Vaan had the decency to look sheepish for a few moments before grinning.

"Sorry. I tend to ramble sometimes. Anyway, I say you shouold talk to Yuna." After a thoughtful pause he added, "And you should stop being such a slut."

"What about my shirt? Surely I shouldn't-"

"Don't even think of changing your shirt!" Upon realizing what he had just yelled out, Vaan laughed nervously. "Sorry. It's just, well... we could do having a girl around dressed like that. The chaos guys get all the fun." Vaan grinned at her again. "You're sexy as a man, too but... Those clothes are just perfect on you, Tidus."

"Ah... Thanks." Tidus had always been proud of her form, even before the fateful bath that made her a woman. "I guess I'll just go talk to Yuna, now. See you later, Vaan." Tidus left her room, Vaan following a few moments after.

Tidus went straight to Yuna's door, the pink one with a staff engraved on it, and knocked. She stood, nervously fidgeting, until Yuna's voice came from the other side of the door. Tidus opened the door and went in, shutting it behind her.

"Yuna..." Tidus began. Yuna turned, confused. She hadn't recognized the voice, but there wasn't any way she'd ever mistake that face.

"Tidus. What happened?" she asked.

"Well, I had some stuff, and used it in my bath- don't worry, I was supposed to- and this happened." Tidus gestured at herself. Yuna's eyes followed her hands.

"Well, you look great."

"Really?" Tidus asked, unsure.

"Really, really." Yuna smiled at her.

Tidus smiled, happy tears forming in her eyes.

"Oh, Yuna..." Tidus rushed forward, taking Yuna into her arms and holding her tightly. "So, you don't mind? If I'm a woman now?"

"Of course not. It really doesn't matter to me, Tidus. So long as you stay yourself. Now, what did you want?" Yuna pulled away from Tidus, smiling.

"I don't know the first thing about being a woman. Could you explain things? I mean, whatever's important?"

Yuna giggled.

"Didn't they teach you anything about women?"

"I didn't pay much attention." Tidus pouted, crossing her arms.

"Well, all right. What do you want to know first?" Yuna stared at Tidus, and was struck with a thought. "Could I teach you something special first?" Yuna leaned forward, until her lips were just an inch from Tidus's. Tidus opened his mouth to say something, but no words would come. Yuna pressed her lips against Tidus's, moving her hands to the shirt clinging to Tidus. Tidus gasped as Yuna's hands carressed her breasts, moving the shirt and overall straps. Both fell off Tidus's arms as Yuna gently pushed her back against the door...

-kitchen-

"I'm telling you, he was outside my window this morning." Cecil sat, staring out the window. Fudwick hadn't moved in the half-hour he'd been watching him.

"You sure you weren't just dreaming?" Laguna asked from his seat at the table.

"Laguna's right." The Onion Knight was silent a few moments, watching Cecil stare out the window. "I've got it. Maybe you have a phobia of gnomes."

Finally, Cecil turned away from the window.

"I do not have a gnome phobia!"

The Warrior of Light, who had just walked in, stared at Cecil with worry.

"Cecil's yelling an awful lot lately. Is he all right?" The warrior moved forward and pressed the back of his left hand against Cecil's forehead. "He doesn't seem to have a fever. Then again, not everyone gets grumpy when they're sick. Perhaps he just has a lot of built-up anger."

"Maybe you should take it out on some manikins, Cecil," the Onion Knight said. "They shouldn't be too hard to find."

"But I'm not... Very well. I shalll return before dinner." Cecil got up from his seat and left to follow his comrade's suggestion.

- harmony HQ, shortly after lunch-

Cecil had found a group of manikins. Upon his approach, they had all turned prepared for battle. For an instant he had wondered why Tidus got to have all the fun, then he was pulling out his sword. After a long, grueling battle, Cecil came face-to-face with a different kind of manikin. It was thinking that it was Bartz, and Cecil wasn't quite sure he wanted to fight the mimic right now. Not after those other manikins... The Bartz manikin looked at him, tilting it's head to the side. Cecil's eyes narrowed as he stared right back at the manikin. He tightened the grip he had on his weapon. Without a single potion, he knew he had only one choice. And who knew if it would even work? The manikin decided on it's first course of action, charging at Cecil with Zidane's dual knives in hand. Cecil dove to the side, moving to counter. Instead, he ended up being thrown back by the force of the manikin's next blow. If he didn't do something soon, he knew he was a goner. Cecil waited for the right moment, dodging constantly to stay out of the manikin's range. When it tried to use one of Cloud's moves, he knocked the greatsword to the side and countered, stabbing it with his spear. As soon as the manikin had been pierced, Cecil activated his Soul Eater move. His prayers had apparently been heard. Cecil could feeel the manikin's life energy seeping into him through the connection his spear had created. With each second, Cecil felt more energized. His wounds were healed, he felt better, but his spear wouldn't budge. As Cecil tried to rip the spear from the manikin, it started to change appearance. It's hair turned white, and it's skin looked more normal. The clothes were the last to materialize. The no-longer-quite-a-manikin of Bartz stared at him with blank eyes. Cecil stared back into it's eyes. His spear finally came out of the manikin's abdomen, though that was now the last of his worries. Without a second thought, Cecil grabbed ZombieBartz's arm and pulled him back to headquarters. He found the Warrior of Light first.

"Light!" Cecil hurried over, truly happy to see the other man. "I am unsure of what to do."

The Warrior of Light looked at Cecil's companion. After a few moments, he decided that it couldn't possibly be Bartz. He looked back at Cecil, who had been trying to say something to him.

"...and this happened. I don't know what to do with him." Cecil looked back at ZombieBartz. "I couldn't just kill him. He may have used to be a manikin, but he isn't now. Not really, anyway."

The Warrior of Light merely stared at Cecil, who seemed to understand what he wanted.

"All right. I won't tell anyone else about him. Just... don't kill him. He is sort of alive now." Cecil ran off and the Warrior of Light looked at ZombieBartz once again.

"I don't know how this happened, but I now just what to do with you," the warrior finally said.

ZombieBartz stared at him with his typical blank look. The Warrior of Light gently took his arm in his hand and led him around to the back of the castle. there, he opened the outside door to the basement. A little pull had ZombieBartz following him down the short staircase and into the small storage room. He led ZombieBartz to the back of the room, where he pulled open an old wooden door. Behind the door lay the biggest bedroom in the castle. A king-sized bed was pushed up against the wall, with a small table beside it. On the table sat a lamp. The walls were painted a light gray, and the fan in the middle of the ceiling had its light on. The Warrior of Light pulled ZombieBartz into the room. ZombieBartz looked around a little,then stood in place. The Warrior of Light let out a little sighbefore turning to leave.

"Just don't go anywhere," he said.

With those as his parting words, he left the room. He closed the door behind him, locking it to ensure that their new guest couldn't leave. The Warrior of Light went to his own room, hurrying over and moving a portion of his wall to the side. There, he found a monitor and started it up. Immediately, the screen was covered in panels showing the various rooms of the castle. Flipping a switch, and pressing some buttons, the Warrior of Light switched to only one panel. The basement's back room filled the screeen. The Warror of Light sat back to learn all he could about their guest.

-Discord HQ, the next day-

A small group of Discord's warriors were once again in the living room, still with nothing better to fill their lives with. Kafka's laughter filled the room, though nobody had the slightest clue as to what had set the clown off. He paused in his laughter, looked at Jecht, and said;

"Little Tidus is a girl now!" He then burst into another bout of uncontrollable laughter.

"What? I can't deal with a daughter!" Jecht was stunned. He knew Tidus was a little strange, but... well, he hadn't expected something like this.

"You couldn't deal with a son, either." Kuja sighed. He had been flipping through the channels for half an hour, and had yet to find a single thing that caught his interest.

"What was that s'pposed to mean?" Jecht turned to Kuja, glare set on his face.

"Only that it's any wonder you even considered having a child at all," Kuja remarked with a wave of his hand.

Before Jecht could come up with a response other than staring, his mind transferred back to the more important matter at hand.

Sephiroth came in, reading a book he had found yesterday. His eyes were glued the pages of the book. Kuja stared at him a few moments, looking utterly bored.

"He really likes that book." He turned to Kefka. "Do you know if it's any good?"

"Not at all. I do know that it's callled LOVELESS, and seems to remind him of something." Kefka had a thoughtful look on his face as he responded. Then, his face broke into that grin again. "Maybe poor Sephy once had a friend, and it reminds him of them!" He began laughing again. Surprisingly, it failed to snap the other two in the room out of their concentration.

"'Sephy'?" Kuja inquired.

"It's easier to say," Kefka said amisdt chuckles.

"My crybaby, a girl now." Jecht shoook his head.

"Why is this so familiar?" Sphiroth asked himself. He was confused. Something about the book woke some forgotten memories within him, though he had yet to make sense of any of them.

Kefka snatched Kuja up off the couch suddenly, smiling at him.

"Come on, Kujie! Let's go do something fun!" Without allowing the mage a second to protest, he carried Kuja off.

"Hmph. Little brat better not make me a grandfather," Jecht said.

"Three friends, a gift of the goddess, Genesis... Why can't I remember?" Sephiroth's voice was raised just slightly.

Jecht looked at the tall ex-general.

"Hey, Sephiroth! Snap out of it." Jecht gently slapped Sephiroth when speaking got no response.

"What?" he asked.

"Come on. Let's go find lunch."

"What?" Sephroth repeated his question. He didn't fully understand.

"Lunch. Come on. I know you haven't eaten either." Jecht started leaving the room, pausing in the doorway. "You're thinkin' too hard. Give your brain a rest."

Sephiroth sighed and followed Jecht. He had to admit, the other man had a point.

-Somewhere between Harmony and Discord HQ-

The Cloud of Darkness and Exdeath were standing in a barren field, finishing the last of their plans. A tower had been contructed in the field. It was perfectly suited for their plans. Now, all they needed was the boy.

"Shall you get him, or shall I?" the Cloud of Darkness asked.

"I will get him. Be sure everything is ready."

"Don't forget the note. It's the most important part of the plan."

Exdeath nodded and vanished. He reappeared in Harmony headquarters, directly behind the Onion Knight. He grabbed him and vanished before the boy could say a single word. The note the Cloud of Darkness had mentioned appeared on the Onion Knight's door.