Children of Legends, Pt. II: Dreamboy
For as long as Vidina could remember, Brecht was good at beating him. He was the pride of Besaid, the son of High Summoner Yuna, and a fine blitzball player to boot. Tidus played for the Besaid Aurochs for a while, but his heart ached for familiarity. When Zanarkand started gaining settlements, he made it his mission to rekindle the glory of the Zanarkand Abes.
Of course, doing that from Besaid was hard. Not to mention that him and Aunt Yuna adventured well into their thirties because, honestly, it was in their nature to help others.
None of that held Brecht back. He packed a bag at the age of sixteen, moved to Zanarkand, and never looked back unless forced to by his mom or the occasional tournament.
Thinking of the game only made the fact that Brecht and his brother Bahamut were leaving the center fire — exactly as Vidina and his mom came towards it — that much worse.
"Aunt Lulu," Brecht said once they couldn't avoid each other anymore. "You look as lovely as ever."
Without even a smile, she said, "Be back before nightfall. I know every cavern and beach on this island, and how to find which one you're at." And with that, ambled towards the other adults.
Brecht seemed unimpressed. But Bahamut stayed put when his brother tried to force his arm. "I just remembered Dad asked me to go do something. Can't keep him waiting."
"Coward." Brecht turned to Vidina.
"Race you?" Vidina grinned confidently.
"On the count of three — three!" Brecht laughed as he shoved Vidina off balance, giving himself a good lead.
Vidina wasn't upset. After all the cheating and pushing, he'd figured out a shortcut down to the main beach. Without hesitation, he slid off the stones down an embankment. While Brecht ran over the bridges along the cliffs, Vidina charged haphazardly along the waterfall rivers, until it twisted towards the beach. One final burst of speed guaranteed his victory as he jumped out of the bushes before the narrow entryway to the sands. Brecht startled. It gave Vidina an obvious lead.
Silently, the two jogged out to the shore. As the sun turned the sky orange, the waves calmed Vidina's mind the way the always did.
And as always, Brecht had to stop just a little farther, and just a little closer to the water. Vidina didn't care. He watched the idiot's stupidly long hair, which was the color of mud, blow in the seabreeze.
Growing up, a lot of people mistook them for siblings. He and Brecht both had similarly brown hair and blue eyes. Since Vidina wasn't quite as tan as his dad, most assumed his olive skin came from day after day in the sun, even when Brecht's skin didn't tan the same way.
It was nice at first, being mistaken for the eldest child of the High Summoner of the Eternal Calm. Then he thought it meant no one valued him as Wakka the Guardian's only son.
He went out of his way to remind Besaid whose heritage he was truly proud of. Styling his hair in the typical Besaid style instead of what was fashionable, even wearing slightly more traditional islander clothing. Soon he became the face of Besaid's tradition and slow-changing ways. But Vidina wanted more than that.
Now his hair was ear length, flat and supposedly beautiful — or so the mothers of Besaid said often. It tickled his ears more often than not and needed to either grow faster or get cut. He wore a more outdated headband, similar to his dad's, except it hung around his neck. His clothes were similar to pro-blitz players, gray and blue in color.
In contrast, Brecht wore the familiar yellow and black of the Abes, with their logo emblazoned on his bizarrely traditional Besaid headband. His hair was long, he was as pale as ever, and Vidina liked that they were so visibly different.
"Are you still mad at me?" Brecht asked.
"You mean what am I not mad at you for?" Vidina chuckled. He put his hands behind his head and lay down, enjoying the warmth of the sand against his bare arms.
After a moment, and a few sputtering attempts at protest that were so like his dad's, he sighed. "Leaving you here, I guess."
"Yes."
"Ditching you in the cove?"
"A little."
There was another pause. This time Brecht glanced at him, since he was still sitting upright. "Demi?"
"Yeah, you're better off not adding anything to that."
"Still?"
"What did I just say, Braurecht?" Vidina knew that would do the trick. Brecht hated his full name, and for good reason. It sounded like Tidus found a way to shove every single name of all the important people in his and Aunt Yuna's lives into one monster of a word. At least his brother, Bahamut, and sister, Belgamine, all got better deals. Vidina never could figure out Tidus's obsession with names that started with B, though.
"No, seriously." Brecht stood up, frowning. "Still?"
"You can't judge, since you don't have to live here anymore," Vidina said.
"So that's what this is really about, isn't it?" He groaned. "Stop being an idiot and join up with the Abes already. You're more than good enough."
"Yeah right. Admit it, you just want to lord your star player status over me all the time."
"Is that what you think I want?" Brecht asked.
Frustrated, Vidina stood up and crossed his arms. "Don't pull that Mr. Dreamboy crap on me. It only works on your idiot fans."
In true Brecht fashion, he stomped off, pouting, without another word. Vidina sighed and, refusing to watch him leave like a hurt child, made his way up to his favorite isolated cliff, up in the machina ruins.
