Chapter 2: It begins \ An Unimaginable Truth

A week passes for the group inside their hideaway, but this morning; everything began to unfold slowly, but in a strange situation. Tidus woke up alright in the morning. In his good old cheerful mood, Tidus stretched his arms up to welcome the new morning sounds. As he settled, a strange feeling began to overtake Tidus. This was a feeling of Nausea.

"Ugh...Why is my stomach acting like this?...Guh..." groaned Tidus. Bartz opened the door to check on Tidus with the Chocobos behind him. "Tidus?...Oh, my Chocobos, what's wrong!" Bartz exclaimed.

"I don't know...Is this food poisoning, or is my stomach not actting right? I'm just...-" Then Tidus held his right, gauntleted hand to his mouth, as if he was going to throw up. Tidus then rushes to the bathroom and begins to regurgitate in the toilet. Boko was concerned, even Koko was worried. "Oh, gezz..." said Bartz. Basch arrives as well to check on Tidus, but notices he's not in his bed.

"Where's Tidus?" asked Basch. He then got his answer as Tidus gave a grunt in the bathroom from throwing up. "What happened?" Basch then asked Bartz.

"He said his stomach was acting up, then a few moments later, he rushed to the bathroom and threw up...Something is not right here..." answered Bartz. "Something is not adding up...Is it food poisoning, or is this something else we can't seem to pin point...This isn't making any sense...-" Basch's sentence was cut off short when he heard clacking of metal footsteps that sounded familiar to him. Walking through the doorway, the Judge Magister enters the room.

"Brother! Perfect timing!" said Basch. "What'd I miss?" asked Gabranth. Bartz and Basch explained the whole situation to Gabranth. He finally understood and then came up with a strategy. "Basch, don't leave Tidus alone til we get back...Maybe the Onion Knight might know what's going on. Boko, you and the Chocobos stay here as well...If anything happens, find me. Let's hope Jecht doesn't find out, for Tidus's sake," said Gabranth.

"Don't tell my dad, please...I don't want him to think I'm we-" Tidus's sentence was interrupted by a surge of Nausea and immediately threw up again. "We must hurry..Lets go, Klauser!" said Gabranth. Bartz knew that Gabranth's rank as 'Judge Magister' was high, so without detest, he follows as Basch moves to the bathroom, trying his very best to comfort Tidus in someway. After a few minutes, Basch carries Tidus out of the bathroom by supporting him up with his strength. Boko takes over and places Tidus in bed.

"Thanks, Boko...I don't feel so good.." groaned Tidus. Boko chirped and laid right next to him in comfort. Koko cuddles up too, including the chicks to comfort Tidus. Basch didn't leave the blitzer out of his sight. Tidus always wondered how Basch got that scar above his right brow. He wanted to ask about it, but since he didn't know him very well, except the fact that he's Gabranth's older brother; it wouldn't be a wise choice. After calming down for a few minutes; Tidus became even more curious about the scar. Just as he was about to ask, Basch somehow read his mind.

"Curious about this scar above my right brow, huh..." said Basch. "Sorta...I know this may be rude, but how did you get it?" asked Tidus. "In a fight, against my brother...It was Gabranth that caused that scar," Basch answered. Tidus was stunned, Basch's own brother? He still didn't know the events, but prefered to stay out of it...For now. After a few more minutes pass, Bartz, Gabranth, and Luneth arrive to Tidus's room.

"We're back!" said Bartz. "What's wrong with Tidus?" asked Luneth. As before, Bartz had to explain the whole situation. Basch told his side of the story as well to back it up. "Hmmmm...Maybe it could be food poisoning, or possibly other things like Indigestion, or a stomach bug. It has to work itself out if its a virus...Til then, we can treat only the symptoms," said Luneth. Tidus knew he was in good hands, so he calmed down. Over the course of a few days, word of Tidus ill spreaded like the Plague. Worse, it reached to Jecht, despite Tidus's plea to not tell him.

"Why didn't you tell me you were not feeling well?" said Jecht. "Because I didn't want to be weak in front of you...I still want to be as strong as you, remember?" answered Tidus. Boko acted like a nurse, straightening his covers.

"Stubborn one, aren't you? You can't seem to learn..." sighed Jecht. "It has to be the food...There's no denying it...Where did you guys get the food anyway?" asked Balthier.

"We went to Hy-Vee...That's all we went to. Why?" asked Golbez. "Maybe it isn't the food...It could be from the punch," Fran suggested. "It can't be...The rest of us are perfectly fine, except Tidus...We made it just as the instruction told us to do, unless..." Gabranth collaborated.

"Unless someone tampered with it..." Basch finished. "Two minds think alike..." said Gabranth. "But who wanted to tamper with the punch? Who was the last one there?" asked Vaan. "Don't know...We better get to the bottom of this..." answered Firion. A week and three to four days pass, indicating it has been three weeks, Tidus was not getting better, but to the Onion Knight, he was starting to see a pattern.

'Hold on...Tidus's symptom of Nausea is worser in the morning...But is half better as the day goes on..That's a sign of Morning Sickness...The only way to have Morning Sickness is...No...This can't be, Tidus is a guy, there's no way! Is there...?' thought Luneth. A theory develops as everyone is out, except for Basch, Gabranth, Firion, Bartz, the Chocobos, Cecil, and Kadaj. He had to find out, one way, or another. Tidus slept on the bathroom floor throughout the morning, wondering when the surge of Nausea would hit. It didn't come. Tidus gets up and takes a couple TUMS to quell his stomach.

"Tidus? Are you in there?" asked a concerned Cecil, knocking on the bathroom door. Tidus gave out a sigh, "Yeah...What is it?" "The Onion Knight has formed a theory of what is going on, but he needs to run a test to confirm it.." answered Cecil. Tidus was relieved and then opened the door to head to the examination room, but as he did; he spots Kadaj right next to Cecil.

"You don't look so good...Lets go," said Kadaj, supporting Tidus down to the exam room. The Onion Knight retrieved an Ultrasound machine and prepared it for his test. "A sonogram? What does this have to prove?" Gabranth questioned.

"Have you noticed the pattern of the Nausea? Its bad in the morning, but half relieved as the day goes on. Does this indicate anything to you?" said the Onion Knight. Basch thought for a minute, then realized what the youth was trying to say. He whispers this to Gabranth and immediately he knew.

"Where's the proof?" said Gabranth. "Wait and see, then...Tidus! Over here!" said the Onion Knight. Tidus was alittle confused about why the Sonogram machine was there, but maybe this was the test both Kadaj and Cecil mentioned. The two lead him to the examination table and laid him down flat on his back, removing his yellow jacket, gauntlet, and the upper part of the straps that held his jacket in place and belt.

"Just relax a bit, Tidus...We're going to get to the bottom of this...This gel is going to feel cold for a bit," said Luneth. He grabs hold of a paint-like tube of gel and squirts alittle on the probe end, while squirting more on Tidus's stomach to make the machine more effective.

"Hahhah! That's cold!" said Tidus. "Told ya so...Can you stay still for me?" said Luneth. He uses it to peer inside Tidus's abdomenal cavity to find any cause to the Nausea. So far, nothing was detected.

"Its not Appendicitis...Nor other things...It has to be somewhere below...I have to check," said the Onion Knight to himself. As he directed the hand-held probe lower to the pelvic area of Tidus's stomach towards the center, a strange sound was picked up that went 'Swisha swisha swisha swisha swisha' at a fast pace. The others were puzzled.

"What in Archadia is that noise?" wondered Gabranth. Boko and Koko were confused. The sound seemed to scare the little chicks. Koko chirps to comfort them and laid down to hold them in her wings, telling them that everything is going to be alright. Kadaj was even more puzzled. Luneth thought it was the machine causing the sound, so he took it off Tidus's stomach, then putted it back. This revealed one thing: It wasn't the machine, it was coming from inside Tidus, but what is the question.

"Wait a second...Is that the sound of...A heartbeat?" wondered Bartz. Basch then immediately recognized the sound. "Yeah..It does sound like a heartbeat, but is it Tidus's?" he answered.

"What does it mean?" asked Firion. "I'm checking that out right now...Lets see what we can find here..." answered Luneth. Tidus was getting scared, he was wondering why that sound was from his own stomach, is there a strange creature growing inside him as a host? Is it an unknown object that was organic? What is it?

"What's wrong? Where's that sound coming from?" Tidus panicked. "We're going to find out, calm down, Tidus..." Cecil calmed him. Luneth took a closer look on the screen, then a look of shock showed on his face. He began to become pale with a shock look, sweating uncontrollably. "No way...That's impossible!" panicked Luneth. Tidus saw the Onion Knight's face, then asked, "What's wrong? Is it Cancer? What's going on!" Tidus began to panic. The Onion Knight double checked the screen, but there was no denying it...He was staring at the main culprit of Tidus's sickness.

"Tidus...I don't know how it happened, or how this is possible. I don't even know how to say this, but...Your...Pregnant.." said the Onion Knight. Everyone in the room was in shock. With his helmet on, no one knew if Gabranth was in shock or not. Basch removes the helmet, revealing a very shocked Gabranth with his eyes and mouth wide open.

"What? Are you playing a joke on me, because I'm not buying it...That was some trick-" "Tidus...That heartbeat sound isn't your heart, its something else's...Look for your self," said the Onion Knight. He then shows Tidus and the others the screen of some object that appeared to be floating in fluid and connected to something inside Tidus's stomach. Immediately, Tidus knew what it was: It was a human embryo, developing inside him. The Onion Knight was telling the truth, Tidus was expecting.

"No way...That's impossible...Men can't have babies! Can they?" asked Bartz. The Chocobos looked at each other in confusion. Tidus then went wide eyed in pure shock as he looked towards the screen as the sound continued. Outside near a tree on a hill, Seymour, Shuyin, Lenne, and Auron was sitting around, but Auron was slumbering in a nap. Seymour fiddled around with his staff as Shuyin and Lenne played around on a tree branch. Then deep in the horizon, Tidus's scream echoes through the forested area, causing the birds to fly out of the trees in panic.

"What was that? Was that Tidus?" asked Seymour. "Huh? What?" Auron asked as he woke up in a snort. Jecht heard that too and knew that scream from anywhere. He was near the hideaway and rushes inside to look for his son, the source of the scream. "Kid!" Jecht screamed in worry. Tidus heard his dad's voice, but wasn't very happy.

"Don't let him in here! I don't want him to find out! Please!" Tidus pleaded. "He's going to find out eventually...We have to tell him," said Cecil. "Nooooooooo! Don't tell him!" Tidus screamed at the top of his lungs, "Get that thing off me!" Everyone had to go to Tidus to calm him, trying to reason with him to soothe his distress.

"Tidus, calm down!" Bartz said as he held Tidus's head down, "Don't do this to yourself...Think of the baby.." Tidus then looked towards the screen in sympathy, would his panic cause harm to the embryo? "Don't put yourself through this...Everything is going to be alright...We'll get through this..." Bartz assured Tidus. Tidus began to calm down. Jecht rushes in and the first thing he said was, "What the heck is going on? What are you doing to my son?" Tidus began to cry to himself.

"Wait a minute? Where's that sound coming around?" Jecht wondered. The guys tried to come up with a way to explain this to Jecht, but the former athlete has heard this sound before. "Hold on a sec...I've heard this sound before...What is going on?" he asked. The only memory of this sound Jecht could remember was when Tidus's mother was pregnant with Tidus, going to a doctor's appointment with Jecht to see how the baby was doing.

"Jecht...You need to come and look at this...For Tidus's sake," said Cecil. "No...Please, no..." whined Tidus. Jecht was alittle puzzled and went to the sonogram machine and looks at the screen. He was in utter shock; then turned to look where the probe was, on Tidus's stomach. He repeats this a few times, then said, "No way...That's impossible...Men can't have babies...How...Kid...Now I get the Nausea thing...Oh, god..." Tidus began to cry uncontrollably, sobbing hysterically while looking away from his father. Through the course of seven weeks, the news about Tidus's diagnosis shocked everyone.

"That is Impossible!" screamed Garland, "There is no way...No how..Men can get pregnant!" "I know what you mean, Garland...It is both impossible, and highly inconceivable. Men can only aid to make offspring, not carry to full term," said Sephiroth.

"We don't need a biology lesson, Sephiroth...We already know that," said Cloud. "How did this happen? Something must've happened at that night during the party...It must've been the right timing in a weird way, but what?" wondered Zidane. Somehow, a possible mean of that morning after the party that could possibly happened to Tidus emerges in Bartz's head.

"Call me loco...But I think I know what happened that night..." said Bartz. "What?" asked Exdeath. "After the party that morning...Tidus said he woke up and sensed that something wasn't right. I believe...Someone must've drugged him while he was away. Tidus was the last to finish the punch, so he had to leave his drink unattended for a reason..." said Bartz. Tidus, now ten weeks along, listens carefully.

"Yes...Yes! It all fits!" said Kuja, now realizing the answer, "Tidus...What happened when you left your drink?" "Well...I forgot that my necklace somehow got off from around my neck and fell off. I had to come back down here to get it for a brief moment. I returned and finished my drink and almost immediately I felt dizzy and fuzzy; I was getting so tired..." Tidus explained.

"Well, there's the answer...But who would want to do that?" wondered Bartz. Gabranth had the answer by instinct, "It has to be someone that is close to Tidus. Who has access to his room other than him..." Everyone thought, then looked at Yuna.

"What? I would never do that to Tidus! I have my own room and I only ask permission to go into Tidus's room," said Yuna. Lulu was in shock, "She may be close to Tidus, but I know in my heart that she did not do this! You better take it back or there will be a devil to pay.."

"Yuna is right, it is not her...Who else is close to Tidus?" asked Sephiroth. The second suspect was Tidus's mentor, Auron. "Don't look at me like that, I would never. I'm only allowed in his room if he invites me," said Auron. Sephiroth's empathic abilities cleared Auron, making him not the suspect. They soon turn to Wakka, but was soon cleared of anything. Basch thought for a bit, but then came up with a great idea.

"Does anyone share a room with Tidus?" asked Basch. Yuna thought, then she remembered, "Wait...Jecht does...Hold on..Jecht is Tidus's father, they do kinda still have that tension between one another, but they're still getting along...That would mean.."

"Of, course...Jecht is also close to Tidus!" Just when Golbez turned to talk with their new suspect, the former athlete was no where in sight. This rose a bunch of red flags. "No...My dad wouldn't do that to me! Sure we don't get along sometimes, but he would never do this to me..." said Tidus, refusing to believe anyone.

"Then where is he, then?" asked Vaan. Tidus looked down, still sure Jecht would never do this to him. "Alright...We finally have the prime suspect...Lets search for him and make sure he doesn't leave this region," said Garland.

"I agree...Lets seek that former blitzer out..." said Gabranth. Everyone heads outside to search for Jecht. Tidus wanted answers as well, but as he was going to follow, Laguna stops him. "I don't think its a good idea for you to come with us. Being ten weeks along, it could be disastrous. Its best you stay here and rest til the first trimester is over with," said Laguna. Tidus was upset, but did as he was told, for now. Now outside, Garland summoned the four Elemental Fiends to aid in the search.

"Lich! Marilith! Kraken! Tiamat! The Fiends of Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind! Aid us in our search for that so called 'Great' Jecht!" called Garland. From the upper levels of the earth, a cloaked skeleton with a helmet rises from the dirt. From the fiery depths of the earth, a half-snake, six armed woman rises as well as the first. In a lake, a caped multi-limbed Octopus rises to the surface. From the sky, a six headed dragon drops from the sky, wondering who had summoned them.

"Not them again..." groaned the Warrior of Light, who had to deal with all four of them. Golbez then summons the four Arch-Fiends that bear the same element as the other set of Fiends. "Scarmiglionne! Cagnazzo! Barbariccia! Rubicante! The four Arch-Fiends of Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire! Aid our search for the former blitzer, Jecht and aid the Fiends that share the same elements as you!" called Golbez. In the opposite side of Lich's location, another undead rises from the ground with a zombie-like appearance with four bones sticking out as spikes. A demonic turtle with a human like image rises with the water right behind Kraken.

Through the wind, a long green haired woman with pure white skin that appeared tribal in some aspects arrives along side Tiamat. In a burst of fire, a cloaked Fire demon appears near Marilith. Cecil, as a Dark Knight, nodded in disbelief. "Not those four again...Brother.." sighed Cecil. The eight then searched through their own elements with the others joining. After a few hours of searching, Bartz on Boko scans the hillsides. Knowing of his fear of heights, Bartz didn't look down unless it was necessary. Boko chirps.

"I don't see him, yet, buddy...Huh?" Bartz then spots a man sitting on a hill top, "Hold on..." He squints his eyes to make out the features to the man. The identfication was confirmed: It was none other than Jecht himself. Carefull, Bartz and Boko made their way down the hill towards where Jecht was sitting. Arriving at the top, Bartz dismounts Boko and approaches Jecht armed, in case he attacked.

"Put your sword away...I don't want to fight," said Jecht in sadness. "What is going on? Was it you that drugged your own son? I want answers, Jecht...I don't care if you was used as the Final Aeon, I'm not afraid of you," said Bartz.

"You should be...I could use heights to defeat you, ya know..." said Jecht. "Just answer me...Did you drug Tidus? and why you did that...I want to know," Bartz demanded. Jecht gave out a sigh, then told the truth to the mimic warrior.

"Yes..I did. It was just a joke I wanted to pull on Tidus. Without harm, of course...So while he went to get his necklace, I drugged his drink. Afterwards, I went to check on him and he was out like a light, and...A week later this began," said Jecht. Bartz was in total shock. This whole time, it was Jecht.

"When I first found out that the kid was expecting...I could not believe it..Its impossible, but it happened somehow...I realize that my prank has gone too far...I shouldn't have done that..." said Jecht. "Your saying...Your the dad, despite being Tidus's dad?" said Bartz. They soon hear a loud gasp behind them. Boko quickly turns to face the person that gasped. It was Tidus. Holding a capped bottle of water, it slips from his left, gloved hand in total shock. Not taking Laguna's advice, Tidus wanted to know the truth, but in the process, wrecked himself.

"Tidus!" cried Bartz. "Kid...Please...I didn't mean for any of this to happen," said Jecht. With his gauntlet hand, he places his hand over his stomach were the unborn child was growing. "You may not wanted it to happen, but its a blessing to me. Why did you do this to me? I didn't want to believe it, but now...I do...How could you...What kind of a father are you?" Tidus questioned Jecht.

"Kid...Hold on..-" "No! I don't want you near me! You never was a good father to begin with! Look what I had to go through. Do you see what causes the tension between us? I don't want you near me, or the baby in me...You self centered old bastard!" Tidus yelled out as Jecht began to move towards him. He turns around and runs off with the bottled water, to get lost into the forest, or to go to another place. Realizing what happened, Jecht knew what he had to do.