New Life

The new airship was definitely a sight to behold. It ran a lot smoother than the old ship of Cid's and was twice and loud in colour. Really the bright red thing gave me an eye sore before we got on. Rikku got me to board the ship, not that I was leaving without some answers anyway. Still we were in the sky, flying around Spira, and I was still pretty much in the dark.

The bridge only had one familiar face on it besides the girls: Rikku's brother, Brother. Another man and a young child, both Al Bhed, were with us too.

Rikku had gotten a hold of the device and turned Yuna's outfit back to normal. She stood in the group, hands behind her back, swaying back and forth with a little embarrassment.

"You sure looked like you were enjoying yourself," Rikku teased.

"I was! It was like another person's excitement just took over," Yuna laughed. She still had a smile plastered on her face over the whole thing, regardless of embarrassment.

"That can happen when you use the Garment Grid; the emotions of the person recorded in the sphere pass to the user," the young boy said. And here I was, sitting without a damn clue about any of it.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Rikku asked. The boy paused for a moment before continuing whatever it was he was doing on the computers.

"I can't really say."

"But it's your invention!" The man said.

"I'm just a kid," the boy replied. At this point I stood up and walked into the group's discussion.

"Okay, this is great and all but would someone care to explain to me just what exactly happened back in Luca?" I said, getting an awkward pause from the group. Yuna turned her head away from me a little.

"Well, that woman stole Yunie's Garment Grid while we were on a mission," Rikku started. "Turned out to be a dud for her to get it, next thing we know Yuna's covering all the screens in Luca to promote some big impromptu concert. So the plan was to break in, get the Grid back, and hopefully blow her disguise in front of everyone."

"Rikku, that's great and all but that still doesn't explain what a Garment Grid is, why this woman wanted it, and why you two are sphere hunters," I looked at Yuna. "I got a letter from Wakka about you running off with Rikku. I know you, so there's a good reason to it."

There was further silence. Yuna clasped her hands in front of her and looked at Brother.

"I think we need to talk about this in private," she said. She nodded to Rikku and I and we followed her out of the bridge.

We went into the cabin area, where a hypello was behind the bar, and Yuna took us up to the upper level, which had all the beds. The lower level looked like a smallcafe with lots of tables and a small stage with music players set up. Where all the beds were there were large windows that looked out onto the skies we flew through. Okay the place was a fancier than I thought an airship could be.

"Okay, so care to tell me what's happened?" I asked, sitting on the bed. Rikku and Yuna sat on the bed opposite me, still keeping quiet about the whole thing.

"Well, Kimahri found a sphere up on Gagazet," Rikku started. "He showed me the sphere, and I showed it to Yuna because... we think it's Tidus."

"What?" I looked at Yuna, who nodded. "When was it taken?"

"We don't know. We're not even sure if it is him," Yuna answered. "But if there's a chance that he's out there... or he can come back... it's worth it, right? I just want to find answers, that's all."

"Yuna... I get it," I wasn't lying. She wanted answers so was looking for them. So was I. "We all just freaked out about you leaving so suddenly. I'm surprised Lulu's water didn't break from shock."

"Please, Lulu's so calm about everything," Rikku's hand waved dismissively and she smiled. "But seriously, we want to find out if there is a way to bring him back. And... does it hurt if we nab a couple more spheres along the way?" I couldn't help but laugh.

"I guess not," I said before standing up and hugging them both. "Probably should have started with this... it's been a while since I seen you both."

"It's good to see you, Christie," Yuna smiled. "So what have you been up to since you left Besaid?"

"I've been hanging about Djose a lot, learning more about the machines and all the parts. Part of me's been wanting to go to Bikanel to help excavate my the way my breathing's been, I'm waiting until it's better. Been getting more fluent in Al Bhed, though," I began. "But I was in Guadosalam when Wakka sent me the letter. The Farplane's becoming really unstable without the Guado there."

"I heard they fled to Macalania Woods when word spread about the Ronso wanting to attack. Good thing Kimahri's there to hold the reigns on them," Rikku nodded.

"You've been busy the past year," Yuna noted. I guess that was true but I was mostly sticking around the Machine Faction's base. I mean, the Youth League's base was nearby and I went there every so often. I tried staying neutral with all the new politics but with pretty much all of Besaid being aligned with them it ended up that some members would try update me on the situation and correspondence with the island. I know being Yuna's Guardian meant my word carried weight but I was only sixteen; I was in no position to make big decisions like that. I suppose that was part of the point of the group's name. Maybe I could have helped if other goals weren't taking priority.

"Guess I have been," I said. "It's been two years already... really makes you think about how fast time goes."

"Yeah, everyone's changed so much," Yuna nodded. "What do you plan to do now?"

"I was going to head back to Besaid once I found out what was happening in Luca," I said. "I mean with Lulu about to have the baby and Wakka losing his head someone needs to be around to let her have a minute of peace."

"We could drop you off, I mean if that's okay with you, Yunie," Rikku said and looked at her cousin. I'm sure Yuna would come back eventually when she was ready, whenever that would be. Before Yuna could say anything an alarm blared and I stiffened instinctively before Rikku's gestures assured me it wasn't a bad alarm.

"Gullwings! Report to the bridge! We have a sphere to get!" Brother yelled almost at the top of his voice. He was certainly a lot louder than what I remember him being back when we fought Sin.

"Gullwings?" I repeated.

"That's the name of our sphere hunting group," Rikku answered and rubbed the back of her head. "Thing is... Brother's not going to make a diversion if we've got sphere data..."

"Then get your butts moving," I said, waving them to go. "I'll stick around here. If Brother doesn't like it... tell him he can try throw me off himself." The girls left down the corridor and back out. I suddenly felt very awkward and alone in the quiet.

I walked around the top floor, staring out the windows to see where we were going. Before I knew it I could see the summit of Gagazet and the airship went higher and higher. It stopped above the floating ruins above the mountain. I had heard about them; after the Fayth on Gagazet stopped dreaming the fogs faded and revealed the ruins. Naturally they were the target of many explorers but the Ronso were really strict on who they let up there. I suppose that's where the airship comes in handy.

I found myself smiling a little. I was glad Yuna was okay and enjoying herself. I hoped she'd come back just to even let Wakka and Lulu know she was fine. If she was looking for Tidus, or closure, then nothing was going to stop her. I could see it in her eyes, too, that she was having the time of her life. I was really happy for her and glad she was getting away from all that political bullshit.

After we defeated Sin I went back to Besaid with Wakka, Lulu, and Yuna. Kimahri returned to the Ronso to help rebuild while Rikku took an active role in teaching people about machina and how to use them now that Yevon had dissolved. Unfortunately that left a void of power, one that was filled by three groups.

New Yevon was mostly made up of older people, people who still believed in Yevon's teachings. They weren't as strict or as spiteful as Yevon but their name alone left a bad taste in my mouth. They were too familiar and too similar to the old Yevon for my liking, and it was like trying to fix an old wound with a new one. I didn't like them. Not after what Yevon did. Both the group and Yu Yevon himself. They were echoing the old ways too much for my liking.

The Youth League was the opposite but I couldn't say they were much better. A lot of the members were young, hence the name, but they were full of anger at Yevon's betrayal. They appeared not long after New Yevon did, trying to enforce a new way of life in Spira. Thing is that they picked a lot of the fights with New Yevon and they were only getting worse. Granted they weren't aggressive all the time; they helped rebuild Kilika and garnered a lot of favour with the people there. Still it's the bad things that crop up most in conversation.

The third group was neutral and provided technology for both sides. The Machine Faction was predominantly Al Bhed due to their expertise, though more and more non-Al Bhed members had been joining with gaining speed. They tended to stay out of the growing conflicts, not that they did anything to stop them either, mostly wanting to share and gain new knowledge of machina and rebuild the cities of old for Spira.

Unfortunately for Yuna all sides wanted her approval. The High Summoner actively declaring to be part of your faction? That was almost the exact same as handing the power to them. Yuna knew that it could even start more fights and she was fed up with people trying to use her, so refused any and all offers. I'll never forget one of the earliest offers New Yevon extended: they were already arranging for Yuna to marry the Praetor's son. I remember being absolutely livid at the messenger, and New Yevon, for even suggesting something like after what Seymour had done. Yuna was much nicer and politely turned them down. Think I frightened the messenger though. Then again a heavily scarred person who helped destroy a thousand year old terror yelling at you would probably scare a lot of people.

The burns I'd gotten from Angel weren't healed well since Oblivion had no time to cast a strong enough spell. It was enough to keep me alive but it left my face and neck heavily scarred. I couldn't feel my throat, or the majority of the left side of my face. The corner of my mouth was slightly scarred and my left nostril was left misshapen from the healing. The vision in my left eye was still there, barely, the lashes were just growing back and I was lucky not to lose the lids. The less dramatic damages were a small bald spot just above my ear and the tail of my eyebrow missing. All the scarring had turned a shade lighter than my olive skin. Every time I look at the burns I think to myself I could have had it worse; I could have died that day.

The first year was hard for me. I spent a lot of it going between inconsolably distraught and angry. I stayed on Besaid to adjust to what was now my new life and as well to recover from my injuries. When I was healing there wasn't much I could do; I struggled to breathe after exerting myself when I tried training to blow off steam. I couldn't help rebuild anywhere because the sawdust and the like would get caught in my throat and I'd cough so hard at times I'd cough up blood. The burns had scarred my wind pipe and it took months for it to heal to a reasonable condition. I still found it hard to breathe if I used large amounts of energy quickly, like back in Luca. So in order to pass the time during my recovery Lulu suggested I start recording spheres. Oddly enough it worked. I was able to be alone for long stretches of time, talking to myself about the things no one else understood. Most of it was about home. Maybe one day I'd show everyone else but for now the spheres were for me.

I went into my bag and pulled out my small sphere recorder, turning in on and starting to look around the cabin. I might as well do a bit of recording now until I can get back to Besaid.