Hello nine reviewers! For this chapter, I use '...' for thoughts, and "..." for speech.
Disclaimer- All I own is...Darius, and some random other characters, and this fic. Please enjoy!
"Destiny Of A Not-So-Final Fantasy"
Chapter 2: The Beginning Of FATE
"Wake up, sir!" pleaded a childish voice.
Darius groaned (internally and externally) and turned on his stomach.
"Sir?" repeated the voice. "Are you okay?"
Darius groaned (actually, it was more like a "moan"than a "groan") again. "Rikku? Is that you?"
"Please wake up, sir!"
"Hey, don't call me 'sir'. . .call me Darius," grumbled Darius.
The distinct sound of flesh connecting with flesh erupted through Darius's ears. He jumped up, rubbing his stinging cheek. "OW! Who DID that!" Darius screamed, throwing himself into a fighting stance.
When everyone quickly turned the other way and started whistling, he sighed and noticed the HUGE city in front of him. "Dream Zanarkand," he said aloud, smacking himself (which really hurt, considering the fact that the boy had just been smacked two times in a row). What was going on?
A nasty-looking girl, probably about a head shorter than Darius, walked up to him and squealed. Others followed. "Are you Tidus?" she asked in a croaky, raspy voice.
Forcing a smile on his face and trying not to scream from the sound of her voice, Darius slowly shook his head. "Uhh, no. Do I LOOK like Tidus?"
"Oh, that's a shame," said another girl. "We all thought you were hot."
'Hmm,' he pondered, thinking deeply. 'This could be interesting.'
"I mean, YEAH I'm Tidus! I'm that blitzball guy from Final Fantasy X!" he shouted, waving his arms in the air. But then, seeing the confused expressions on their nasty-looking faces, he quickly regretted it.
"Umm, okay. . ." said a confused little girl, holding a blue ball in front of her face. "Anyway, can you sign our blitzballs?"
Darius hesitated and then said, "No."
"Why not?"
"I'm too lazy."
"Please?" she begged, on the floor.
Finally giving up, Darius sighed heavily (but hey, they all thought he was famous!) and snatched the pen from her, writing Darius—Uhh, I mean Tidus on the blitzball.
"Teach us how to blitz!" cried a trio of ugly boys.
'Wow. Maybe I should just tell these kids who I really am,' Darius thought, annoyed. But then he realized he could be getting a WHOLE bunch of hot and sexy girls by playing along with their little game. "Uhh. Maybe tomorrow?" he said, remembering what the REAL Tidus had said in the game.
The fourteen-year-old was just about to slip away from the crowd of rambunctious teens when a small boy with a purple hood pulled over his face slowly walked up to him. "You can't tomorrow," he said creepily.
"Oh, I mean the NEXT day," Darius quickly replied.
"You can't that day, either."
"Then, when CAN I?" he screamed at him, annoyed, because the fans were leaving.
"NEVERR!"
The fayth boy grinned evilly (Darius never liked him too much; he reminded him of The Ring. . .wow, was he obsessed) and faded into the night.
"HEYY! YOU COME BACK HERE!" Darius called after him. "I'M NOT THROUGH WITH YOU!" But it was already too late. All the "fans" were gone (they probably realized he wasn't really Tidus) and were now walking toward the blitzball stadium. The fayth boy had now completely dissapeared into the night.
Sighing, he walked on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and and ON, not knowing where he was going.
'Why in the crap am I in Zanarkand, anyway?' Darius thought bitterly. 'And why in the CRAPPY crap do people think I'm Tidus? And why in the DAMN crappy crap does that fayth child have to be so creepy? And what about Brie and Abby? What about my mom? What HAPPENED to everyone? What is going ON! DAMN YOU, YEVON, DAMN YOU!'
Fuming with anger, Darius stopped walking as he came to the blitzball stadium, and made sure no one was watching him.
After managing to sneak inside, he took a back row seat and snatched away a bag of popcorn from a woman sitting next to him. Unfortunately, since he was sitting so far back, he had to watch the replay screen on the TV sitting a few rows ahead, instead of watching the LIVE game. 'Well, at least if the TV breaks, we'll all know who to call!' Darius pondered, thinking of Abby.
Munching happily, the teen cheered and waved his arms in the air as the REAL Tidus zoomed through the water (wait a minute, HOW do Final Fantasy X characters hold their breath that long? The game designers should have thought a little bit more on that one…I mean, really, we aren't fish. Or ARE we? Hmm…spooky…) and tossed the ball into the goal! 'Yeah! A point!' Darius thought, grinning.
Unfortunately, the grin faded into a deep frown as the woman next to him realized that he had stolen her beloved popcorn, and she snatched it away rudely. Of course, Darius was still hungry, so he decided to steal it back. Eventually, it turned into a game of tug-a-war, with neither of the two winning. 'Forget blitzball,' he thought. 'THIS is the REAL game.'
From the side, bodyguards and such heard all the ruckus and came stomping over to where Darius sat. They asked to "see his 'ticket' ", and . . . well . . . to make a long story short, he was thrown out of the stadium and landed out on the cold, hard street on his ass.
"Damn you, bitches!" Darius screamed at the guards (although they were IN the stadium, he wasn't).
Random people walking down the street gave Darius a strange look.
"And just WHAT are YOU looking at?"
"Your mom."
Darius threw a large rock at one of them.
After a little bit, the same rock came hurling back towards his face.
Darius dodged it just in time. "HAHA, YOU MISSED, YOU UNLUCKY BASTARDS!"
'Phew!' Darius thought, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
For a second or two, Darius sat on the cold ground, looking up into the sky peacefully.
All was silent and tranquil.
Then another rock came and smashed him into a trillion different pieces.
At the same time, Auron was just outside the blitzball arena, looking out over the city. It was HIS responsablility to watch him, and no one else's. Auron wouldn't ever forget the promise that he had made. Not now.
As a sudden beam of blue light flew into the stadium, Auron smirked to himself. "It begins."
(WHY Auron was so pleased when he saw the blitzball stadium collapse, I do not not know. I mean really, who LAUGHS at the sight of death? Other than me, that is.)
People from the stands of the stadium were already screaming.
From the impact of the attack, Tidus came crashing down on the street, ironically beside Auron.
"Auron!" Tidus shouted. "What are youdoing here?"
"I was waiting for you," replied the 35-year-old man, calmly.
Tidus didn't get it. "What are you talking about?"
The man didn't immediately respond. He instead looked upward and pointed toward a colossal sea-monster towering high above the city, rampaging about. "We called it 'Sin,'" he said, tossing Tidus a long, bloodstained sword.
"Sin? And what's this?"
"A gift from Jecht. I hope you know how to use it."
"SIN!"
RANDOM freaks screamed from inside the stadium (which was now crumbling) and ran outside wildly, stampeding all over Darius's back (who was still lying on the ground, recovering from the rock-attack).
"OWW! Ugg. . .ouch!" he groaned, "Hey, watch the HAIR, old lady! Ow, get offa me, AHW!"
Eventually, the stampede subsided and Darius was free to lay on the ground in peace.
Then, one last person came screaming, stepping all over Darius once again.
"HEYY! YOU'RE LATE!" Darius yelled after him.
After the freak left, he remembered what happened next in the game. "DAMMIT!" he shouted, struggling to stand up and follow the rest of the screaming mob. 'Sin!'
But before the fourteen-year-old could even get up, he was trampled on once again, but this time by a beleaguered duo of men. A dark blonde haired boy and a. . .gray-ish-brown-ish haired man. They were familiar to Darius. . .
"Auron? Tidus?"
The boy known as Tidus stopped and stared at the person who had called his name, frowning. "How . . . what? Who are you?"
But Auron shushed Tidus, looking Darius up and down. "You're . . . Raishad, aren't you?"
"Nooooooooooooooooo," Darius said slowly, rolling his eyes. "I'm SpongeBob."
Silence.
"Okay, well," began Darius, "if you're not going to say anything, I guess I should to get gooinngg . . ."
But Auron was still eyeing him suspiciously. And Tidus was busy fixing his hair. Finally, Auron spoke up, just in time to stop Darius from literally getting up and leaving. But then again, where would he go? An angry fish was attacking the city at the very moment, and Darius (although he already had played Final Fantasy X before—well, part of it anway) wasn't quite sure how to get back home. (Hey, if you were missing a Teen Titans episode, you'd want to get back home, too.)
"If you leave," Auron warned, "You will die."
"Are you THREATENING me?"
Tidus, now thoroughly finished with his hair, frowned. "Auron, who is this guy?"
"I have a name, you know."
"You already told us: SpongeBob," Tidus exclaimed.
Unfortunately, all three of them had completely forgotten about the attack that was occuring at the moment.
"My name isn't Sponge—"
"There's no time," interrupted Auron, FINALLY speaking up. "You must come."
"And just WHERE am I 'coming' to?" asked Darius. "And will you STOP talking like a drone!"
"Your fate lies in your hands. You must choose between life or death. Truth or lies. Fate or misery. Love or hate," the old man (who looked WAAY older than his true age, 35) stated.
'W.T.F.?' Darius thought. Hadn't he heard that sentence before?
Nevertheless, Auron began to leave, Tidus right behind him. Darius, realizing that he had no other way of getting home, decided to follow.
Everyone—especially Darius—was dashing too fast, all lost deep in thought, to notice the raiding monster had just released its spawn out on the town. Auron was the first to sense it. He stopped moving, for everyone was suddenly surrounded by a bunch of BUTT-nasty (no, not "butt-ugly", "butt-nasty") fiends. They caved in slowly.
"Split up!" Auron barked at Tidus, pointing to the right half of the fiends. "I'll take these, and you and Raishad take the others!" With that, he flung Darius a long sword.
Tidus nodded and looked at Darius. "You DO know how to fight, right?"
"No."
"Oh shit. We're doomed."
Nevertheless, Auron, Tidus, and Darius lurched toward the buttnasty fiends, slashing, bashing, and gashing them with all possible effort.
"DIE, YOU BASTARDS!" Darius eventually cried, wacking five spawns at once with his ALMIGHTY strength.
But there were too many.
"Screw this," Tidus finally exclaimed. "I'm running!"
Auron and Darius were right behind him, the fiends following.
Darius was running as fast as his feet could possibly carry him, panting like a dog. When all you do is watch TV, play videogames, and review fanfictions (especially one entitled, "The Not-So-Final Fantasy, by Shadray (hint, hint, wink, wink, nudge, nudge)), you don't get much exercise. So Darius was one whooped teen by the time the fiends almost caught up with him.
Suddenly, Darius stopped running.
"Wait a second, my shoe's untied!" he yelled.
Time paused as Darius bent down to tie his shoe.
"Okay, done!"
Time suddenly continued.
Darius was sprinting for his life when he suddenly looked ahead of both him and Tidus, and gasped.
Auron, who was now in the lead, had came to a dead end and suddenly stopped running. His leg was purposely stretched out to the right side, therefore tripping both of the young men running behind him.
Tidus and Darius fell through the air, kicking and screaming. Okay, so Tidus was the one kicking, and Darius was the one screaming, but whatever.
It felt as if the two were floating down into everlasting hell, as Sin (itself) opened its huge, wide mouth just in time to catch both Tidus and Darius.
"AURON, YOU STUPID BASTARD!" yelled Darius. "I'LL GET YOOUU!"
Everything went white. AGAIN.
'Shit.' was Darius's last thought as he and the blonde boy next to him blacked out.
-S