"Manda-bear."

I roll over, whimpering and I feel wet. I'm vaguely irritated because no one has called me that in over ten years. Everything is white and I don't want to wake up.

"Amanda, wake up."

The voice is somewhat familiar. I'm having trouble placing it. I know it but can't remember. Who's voice is it?

Manda-bear…the last person to call me that was…

"Mom!" I yell, sitting up.

The white flashes away and around me is the city, frozen in its destruction. But that doesn't matter because standing in front of me is my mom. She's staring at me with a slight smile, eyes happy. I have no doubt it's her. Blond hair like mine, blue eyes just like mine. Except she's taller than me but I guess I had to get something from my dad right? But that doesn't matter because she's standing there, after so long. My chest closes up and suddenly it's hard to breathe.

"Mama?"

She doesn't say anything, just keeps staring at me with her little smile. I want her to say something, anything. Just to hear her talk. I slowly walk up to her, so see her better. But when I get closer, it's not her anymore, it's me and I'm floating. But it's not me. It's me ten years ago. My hair is shorter, much shorter and I look impossibly sad.

"Hey, wake up."

There's another voice, neither mine nor my moms and I'm confused because I am awake. I roll over again and I feel myself get pushed back down. How annoying.

"Wake up!" I get shoved roughly and then suddenly I'm sitting up.

I open my eyes and look around me. The mini-me is gone. The city is gone. Instead, I'm at some other destroyed place with water everywhere. It's chilly and I pull my legs together to try and get some warmth. I look around me and I see pillars coming from the water, collapsed walls and fog. The sky is black and gray and lightning comes from the sky.

Something touches my shoulder and I tense up, ready to attack whatever it is, but the voice that follows makes me stop. "Are you alright?"

I look and see Tidus looking confused and concerned. "Yea…yea, I'm fine," I reply. My voice is weak and I know I sound a little defeated. Tidus though, looks understandably confused and as defeated as I sound.

"So um…" Tidus scratches his head and looks around. "We should probably find shelter or something."

"Good luck with that," I grumble as a stand up. Something feels odd around my waist and I look down and see my dagger still tucked away. Relief washes over me that I have something familiar but it's short lived because it's about as unfamiliar as anything else around me.

Tidus looks away and at our surroundings. I look down spot his sword, the one that Auron gave him. I quickly look up. "Where's Auron?"

Tidus lets out a heavy sigh and keeps looking around. "I don't know. Knowing him, he's probably seething we're not with him." I want to laugh but I can't. He's probably right. But something catches Tidus's eye and he points out to it, a small spark of hope lighting up in his eyes. "Hey, what's that?"

I take my gaze off of him and look to where he's pointing. Over in the distance, across from us and on a small island of rubble, is a small glowing blue circle. I squint at it, trying to make out what it is. "I don't know…"

"Let's go see what it is!" Tidus is like a little kid, excited and a little annoying.

I sigh and look at the water. It's cloudy and I have no idea how deep it is. "I don't know…I don't really want my clothes to get wet…"

But Tidus has grabbed my hand and is pulling me towards the water. I yelp and try to smack his hand off but he only grabs my other hand and pushes me in. The water is cold and I kick up to resurface. From what I can tell, the water is very deep and I have to keep myself floating. I come up sputtering with water going everywhere.

"What the hell?" I scream at Tidus but he doesn't say anything and just grabs his sword and jumps in after me. He makes floating with the thing easy and I curse him for being athletic. Wordlessly he swims off after whatever he saw and I have no choice but to follow him.

Tidus is an expert swimmer and I have a hard time keeping up with him but I somehow manage. We come up to the destroyed platform and climb up on to it. There are four columns on the right and on one of them is the blue circle. Tidus walks up to it and I stand back awkwardly, not know what to do.

"Something's written here," he says and leans closer to examine it but shakes his head just mere seconds later. "Nope, can't read it."

That catches my attention somehow and I come up next to him and gently touch his shoulder to move him aside. I examine the blue thing and notice it has a swirl inside it and words written:

Eh dra myht frana pumdc uv mekrd emmisehyola dra pmylgacd hekrd, fedr Macalania pareht dra vuindr bemmyn oui cekrd, mug hud uh dra mard pid uh dra nekrd.

"Um…what?" I say when I'm done reading it. "What the heck does that mean?"

"Beats me," Tidus says. "Let me see again." I'm pushed to the side by him and I let out another yelp.

"Hey!" I half heartedly say but something on the same platform catches my attention. I walk around some fallen pillars, water trailing behind me, and find a chest. "Oh sweet!" I say and run up to it and open it.

But I'm disappointed at what I'm greeted with. A few little metal coins with some strange writing on it. I look at them closely and see some strange form of English but it's hard to read. Tidus comes up behind me and sees them. "Oh, you found some Gil."

I blink, confused at first but then Jake's ramblings and my own past dealings with the Final Fantasy games come back to me. Gil…money…I pick them up and shove them in the pouches on my belt. It might come in handy.

I hear a splash behind me and see Tidus back in the water. I walk up to the edge of the platform and with a sigh I jump in after him. Might as well explore while I'm still wet, I think to myself.

Tidus takes the lead and he swims towards two large arch ways that lead through another platform and a narrow walkway. Having no choice, I follow him and we step on it. My clothes are dripping wet and I can feel an unpleasant amount of water in my boots so I quickly unzip them and take them off and dump out the water before following Tidus who's walking on the stone path way.

"Where are we?" I ask and Tidus shrugs although I wasn't expecting an answer.

We walk down the pathway and up some stairs before coming to another platform and a very narrow and very decrepit bridge that's barely holding itself up. Tidus steps onto it with no second thought but I stop.

"Oh no," I say, shaking my head, "that thing looks like it's about to fall over itself. I am not going across that."

Tidus looks back at me before shrugging again. "Suit yourself. I guess you could swim but we'd be split up…"

He lets his words linger in the air and I hear what he's really saying. He knows I don't like the swimming. He also knows that if we're split up, we'd be kind of screwed over. After a moments thinking, I sigh and kick a small pebble at my feet and follow him.

Weirdly enough, it stays up and doesn't creak or crumble under me and the tension I didn't know was in me eases up. Tidus takes off running but I slowly walk after him. I don't feel like falling off the thing or anything.

The fog has lessened up a little here and ahead of me, I can see the dome of what must be the main building of where ever we are. Holes are in it and a small stream of water is rushing in through one of the walls. Awesome…our only shelter in sight is being filled with water…

Tidus has run off to the side—on a branch off of the bridge and I look to where he's running and see another chest. A weird sense of hope beams in me as I wonder if it's money or something equally important. Or at least helpful.

He opens it and pulls out a strange bottle and examines it. Looking up to where I'm waiting for him he shouts, "Hey! I found a potion! Looks like it's better than the ones we have now!"

The ones we have now? I look in one of my pouches and see the Gil I found earlier and then look in the other one. Sure enough there's five neat little bottles. I wonder why I didn't notice them earlier.

I hear footsteps coming up next to me and I close up my pouch and see Tidus has come back and is running down the path in front of me. I follow him, walking a little faster this time and trying to ignore the annoying squelching my wet boots are making.

Tidus suddenly stops and, not noticing, I crash into him. I glare at him as he scratches his head in apology before he looks down in the water. Something has interested him and being curious, I look as well. Large air bubbles surface and something rushes by and I take a step back, a cold shiver that has nothing to do with my wet clothes rushes down my spine. Please don't let it be Sinspawn…

Suddenly the bridge gives a terrifying shutter and before we have time to react, it's collapsing under us and we land hard in the water. I force my eyes open, not caring about the murky water, and swim awkwardly out of the way as a huge chunk of the bridge comes down over me. Beside me I see Tidus racing towards the surface and I follow him, coming up with a huge gasp as I force air into my lungs.

I'm shaking and my lips are quivering and I'm trying not to be terrified. Lighting flashes over us and Tidus looks around, trying to figure out our next move. He still has hold of his sword and I'm glad.

Below me, there's a flash of green that breaks the murkiness and I scream as two large fish creatures jump out of the water and dive back in. I raise my head towards the sky and pray they don't get me and curse everything in the world for my being here.

"They're coming for us!" Tidus shouts and I whip my head around and see him kick himself out of the water and make a perfect dive back in.

"What the hell are you doing!?" I scream at him but I know it's useless. He's underwater and can't hear me…

My eyes follow him through the water and I see that he really is an expert swimmer. He swims away with lighting speed from the fish creatures and they follow him, just as fast. He then stops and faces them, sword at the ready and my eyes widen as I see that he's going to fight them underwater.

I tread in the spot I'm in, wondering what to do before making my way over top of where he is, take my dagger out and dive in. My swimming is nothing like his and it's a strain to keep from going back up to get some air. But I don't and instead swim as fast as I can towards a creature and plunge my dagger into it. It lets out a painful scream as a small amount of blood escapes it and it disappears in the same lights and colors that the Sinscales did.

Tidus gives me a nod for thanks and, with my lungs burning for air, I race back up to the surface and gulp down some more air. Tidus has taken out a few other creatures and I'm about to go after another one that popped up before it turns and starts swimming away. Not even halfway towards it, I stop swimming and stare after it confused.

A few seconds later, I know why it swam away as the largest creature I've seen yet comes busting out from behind some columns. My lungs are burning again but I ignore it as it comes into sight. It's about five times as large as me and has the body of the fish creatures but the throat of a bullfrog. Even in the murky water, I can make out entrails of past meals.

I gag when I see this and water comes in through my mouth. I'm suddenly aware of my burning lungs and rush up to the surface for air. Tidus is where I left him, still holding his breath and I want to know his secret.

The monster swipes at Tidus who manages to swim out of the way but not before taking his own swipe at it with his sword. From what I can see, Tidus's sword cuts through the monster's throat and blood bubbles up towards me and I remember I'm still up here, watching Tidus battle this thing with no help.

With a huge gulp of air, I swim back down and try to plunge my dagger into it but it does something weird. My dagger misses as it moves out of the way and starts glowing. It gives out a deafening growl and swims head on towards Tidus and I. Tidus pulls me out of the way as the creature crashes into the ruined building, bricks of debris falling into the water around us. It's an effort to avoid those as well as the creature.

I want to go back up for air and I think Tidus realizes this as he brings me back to the surface. We break through just as the monster reorients itself and turns towards us. I'm taking huge gulps of air again and Tidus looks around.

"There!" He shouts, pointing towards an archway. I hope it's shelter and, with one more gulp of air, I let Tidus take me by the arm and dive back into the water.

The monster, determined to catch us, swims after us and I know Tidus is handicapped by dragging me and his sword so I swim too, trying to get us some more speed. The monster is trailing us by inches and I feel my boot brush against its rough mouth. I shiver and swim harder. The archway is coming up and we're mere feet away from it when we feel the water around us being sucked away. All of my effort is shot and I'm slowing down. My arms are becoming weak and I can feel tears escaping my eyes but they are pointless against the water. I look to my left but all I see is the monster's mouth.

Tidus gives out some more powerful kicks and just as I'm about to give up, we make it through the archway and in the small chamber. But we don't stop. We're still swimming hard when we slam against a stair case, half underwater. The monster has crashed into the doorway and there's a mighty sound as the building collapses around the opening we came through. I'm breathing hard, staring at it. My body is shaking as I realize what just happened and realize that we're safe—if only for the moment.

Tidus is also breathing hard but he's standing. He looks up the staircase and touches my shoulder. "Come on, we should look around."

I nod, stand up, and follow him up the stairs. They're just as decrepit as the rest of the place and various chucks of the building line them and it's hard to not trip over it all. By now I don't care about my wet clothes or boots—I'm just happy to still be alive to notice them.

At the top of the stairs we come into a large room. I look up and recognize the dome I saw earlier and look around. It's large and circular with balconies lining the second and third floors. There's debris and chunks of building everywhere and water is running through areas of the ceiling like tiny waterfalls. In the very center, there are remains of a fire.

Just then, at the thought of fire my body gives out a tremendous shiver and I realize just how cold I am. I think Tidus has also realized his as teeth start chattering and his arms wrap around himself to try and keep him warm.

I do the same but walk to the center of the room. "We have to make a fire," I say. Tidus instead nods and runs from the room. I'm left by myself and, unsure of what to do, I turn and sit. My lips are quivering from the cold and I rock my body, trying to create movement and warmth.

I don't know how long I sit there before I hear a rustling behind me and, afraid it's another monster-thing, I whip around with my dagger but I calm down when I see Tidus. He's standing in front of me with a withered bouquet of flowers and some large egg shaped rocks. I quirk my eyebrow at him but he just shrugs and sets the flowers down and smacks the rocks together. I feel stupid for a second when I realize they're flint and even smile a bit when a small fire engulfs the remains.

I don't ask where he got the flowers or the flint. I guess he just got lucky in his search. We don't say anything and Tidus lies down on his back. I don't blame him—I'm exhausted too. But I don't lay down. I stare at the fire, trying to sort out my thoughts. From my count I almost died…at least six times. That's more than I really want to go through and I feel a surge of anger at why this all happened.

"That damn kid…" I say under my breath. Tidus rolls his head towards me and looks at me questioningly.

"That stupid kid," I say again, angrier. "That idiot kid—why the hell did he bring me here? What the hell did I do to deserve this?" The words are just rolling off my tongue and I can't stop them. Tidus doesn't say anything, just stares at me as if he's unsure of just what to say.

I take a shaky breath and let it out again. "I just want to go home…" Something wet lands on my hand and at first I think it's from my still wet hair but I can feel my cheeks are wet and I know it's not that. "I just want to go home…"

At the thought of home, my chest squeezes up. How long have I been gone? I don't know the answer to that and that hurts even more. Everyone is probably looking for me or worse, they think I'm dead. I was touching the truck when the kid froze everything and I know it hit me. And Jake…he saw it all.

The thought of Jake makes things worse. I let out a silent sob as I picture him, face full of panic and fear. Why did I have to come here? If anyone should be here—it should be Jake. He plays the games; he knows what happens and how things work. I don't. I don't know anything…

I look over at Tidus and I see his eyes are closed. I snort as I see that he's fallen asleep in his attempt to give me space. Again, I don't blame him. Now that I think about it, I'm exhausted as well. Closing my eyes, I push my previous thoughts away and lie on my back and let the pouring water lull me to sleep.

I don't know how long I was asleep but it feels like only seconds. I'm woken up to Tidus shouting and I open my eyes to see him trying to save the fire. I sigh and close my eyes, trying to fall back asleep again.

"Just hold on! I'll get more wood," Tidus says then and I hear him stand up. I wait for his footsteps but they don't come. "Amanda, get up."

"Ugh, call me Mandy," I say groaning and sitting up. My eyes are open and I look over at Tidus who's staring at something with a twinge of fear in his eyes. My eyes look to where he's staring and I see yet another monster standing on the rail of a balcony. I scramble up beside Tidus and grab my dagger. "What the heck is that?"

The creature, which…I don't even know how to begin to describe, runs around the balcony before jumping down to meet us. It has long and sharp pincers which I'm sure could slash and cut through me. I'm not pleased with the thought but then again, I've survived worse—I'm sure I'll be fine now. I hope…

"Gimme a break," Tidus yells just as it lands in front of us and I couldn't agree more.

Without wasting anytime, Tidus jumps at it with his sword and slashes at it. It lets out an unpleasant shriek but I ignore it and slash at it with my own weapon. It jumps at us, swiping at Tidus with its large claws but he jumps out of the way just in time and gets with his sword again.

Hurt, and not wanting to risk going after Tidus again, it jumps at me. I'm not fast enough like Tidus and when he swipes my arm, I scream but unlike last time, I don't fall down. Instead, I dig through my one of my pouches and pull out a potion and yank off the top with my teeth and toss it in the air. It washes over me and baths me with a small white light and heals my wound. When I'm certain I'm fine, I run up to it and cut the same claw that got me with my dagger.

There's a sound outside of the large room but we ignore it. Tidus and I are staring at the creature, waiting for it to attack but there's an explosion on the other side of the room. Startled and thinking it's another monster, we look over and see a group of people wearing the strangest outfits I've ever seen. I thought Tidus and Auron's clothes were strange—heck, I thought my present out outfit was a little strange—but nothing compared to these guys with their goggles and jumpsuits.

One of them—a girl—walks up to us and takes a battle stance. I only know it's a girl because of her blond hair and jumpsuit. Let's just say it's an interesting thing to wear…

"You're on our side?" Tidus suddenly asks and I realize that she's standing with us. "Cool!" I wish I could be as happy as Tidus.

The girl doesn't say anything and just digs through a pouch like mine that's attached to her belt and pulls out what I think is a grenade. In fact I'm pretty sure it's a grenade seeing as how she's pulling out the needle and lobs it at the thing.

Without having time to cover my ears, the grenade explodes and I look in horror as a chuck of a claw lands about five feet away from me. I ignore my gag reflex and concentrate on the battle in front of me.

It turns out that the girl is pretty good with fighting—better than me, although that's not very surprising. From quick glances over at her, I see that she has a claw attached to her fist and sometimes will run at the creature and swipe at it. Sometimes she'll even come back with more grenades though I don't know where she got them.

Thankfully no more potions are needed soon the creature is dead before our feet, disappearing in more lights and colors. In happiness, Tidus throws his sword up in the air and catches it. My heart skips a beat when I see this and thank God he didn't drop it and skewer himself. That would be bad…

We stand around awkwardly for a few seconds, us staring at the girl and her staring back. She tilts her head back though and takes off her goggles and I see, minus her green eyes, that we could almost be twins. There's something odd about them though…something I can't place just yet…

Before I can think too deeply about it though, Tidus sinks to his knees, breathing out a long awaited sigh of relief. "Whew, that was close."

Yea…close…Personally, I'm getting sick of almost dying…

The girl looks around at her group though and before we can react, they come at us and we're grabbed up—Tidus by a blond bearded man and me by another one in goggles. They pull my air and I let out a pained gasp.

The rest of the group pull their guns on us and cock them. My eyes widen at the sight of them and I can only stare at them, hoping they don't fire. The girl is standing off to the side, not saying nor doing anything.

One of them begins to speak but it's in the strangest language I've ever heard. Having grown up around English and even Spanish, and having heard several other languages in my time, I can't place it and I curse the kid again for bringing me to such a strange and hostile place.

Our captors bicker amongst themselves and all Tidus and I can do is stand there hoping they don't do anything. It isn't until one of them pulls a knife to Tidus's throat that the girl finally says something and stops them. She says something in the language and the guy with the knife takes it away from Tidus and points it at her. Relief floods through me when I see it's not against Tidus's throat anymore.

I'm suddenly pushed away and I stumble forward and look up to see that Tidus and I have been let go. Hope rises up in me as I think we're being left alone. But that doesn't happen. The girl walks up to Tidus and, getting close to him whispers something in his ear and punches him in the stomach.

My mouth drops open and I can only gap at her and Tidus's fallen form. I feel myself being dragged off while Tidus is picked up by some of the men. The girl just walks off.

"What the hell!?" I shout, struggling against the men who have me. "Let go of me!"

There's more arguing amongst themselves and one of them takes something out of his pouch and sprinkles it over me. I squirm more but my resists are futile and soon I feel incredibly sleepy and I can't keep my eyes open any longer.

When I wake up, I see stormy skies and feel cold metal under me. Through my eyelids, I see bright lights and, knowing I can't keep them closed any longer, I open them and let them adjust. I see I'm on a ship—it's made of metal and there are people all around me. The same people who pretty much kidnapped me. I look to my side and see Tidus—he looks as if he just woke up as well.

The group of people notice we're awake and come up to us with their guns pointing at us. One of them jabs Tidus in the shoulder and he scoots back a few feet.

"Hey!" He says, glaring at them. "That hurts."

I don't think they care. In fact, I don't think they understand us. I certainly can't understand them either. They're talking to us in the language again but stop when a large metal door behind them opens up and the girl from earlier comes out followed by another man with overalls and tattoos all over his chest.

The guy shouts something and the girl comes over and lifts Tidus and me up. I'm tempted to glare at her but I know it's useless. I turn my attention to Tattoo-guy and see him making these ridiculous mimes. He's grunting things out and I can only stare at him with a quirked eye-brow. What is he trying to say?

Tidus seems to be pretty much done with the whole ordeal. "Right, whatever," he says in a bored and completely uninterested voice. I resist the urge to laugh. Tattoo-guy seemed kind of annoyed and mumbles something in his language before pulling out a pair of goggles and miming something else. Tidus and I just stare at him.

"We said we don't understand you," I say, trying to make him understand. This is a bad idea though since the other guys around us point their guns on us again. Luckily, the girl shouts at them and they lower them.

"He said you can stay if you make yourself useful," she says in a cheerful voice.

My mouth flies open at this. I am not the only gob smacked person and, after blinking for a few seconds, Tidus whips around to the girl. "You—you understand us?"

He's yet again thwacked by someone and, holding his head, he gives in. "Alright, I'll work!"

I sigh, hoping they don't hit us again. I sigh too because of what Tidus has just agreed to do. But this seems to please the people since they nod and walk away, standing at various places around the ship. Tidus looks at me and I shrug, unsure of what to do. Tidus shrugs too and walks up to the girl. I follow, hoping she'll talk to us and maybe, just maybe help us out for real.

When we come up to her, she snaps her figures together as if remembering something. "Oh! Almost forgot." I have no idea what she's talking about when she pulls out something—a strange board of some kind filled with notches and strange writing.

"This," she says handing us both one, "is a sphere grid. It's used for fighters to gain abilities and experience and stuff. You fill these notches up with spheres and you become more powerful and are able to do more advanced stuff!"

She's explaining it to us in great detail and is weirdly excited about it. From what I can tell, it ties into a person's being and is well…bonded with them somehow. It's all very confusing to me and only makes a little sense when she takes a tiny little red sphere and fits it into a notch of my board. Deep down, there's a weird tingling feeling and I can feel some sort of strange energy inside of me.

"That helps your speed," she explains and I nod, taking the board from her and studying it more. She fits Tidus's board with a sphere and then stands up. "We found some ancient ruins right beneath us," she says, going all business but still sounding cheerful.

Tidus and I stand at attention, listening to what she's telling us. My sphere grid is safely tucked away in one of my pouches and I think how weird it is that it fits perfectly.

"It's not active now," the girl continues, "but there should still be some power left. We're gonna go down and activate it and then we should be able to salvage the big prize!"

Tidus nods but I shake my head. "Wait…you mean…swim down there?" She nods and I shake my head again. "Sorry, but I can't hold my breath for that long."

The girl just shrugs. "You can stay up here then, it's no biggy. Now," she says, thrusting her fist in the air. "Let's get started!"

"Roger!" Tidus says before running to the rail of the ship and diving in. I'm beginning to think that Tidus rushes into things without thinking them through. The girl takes no time to follow him and dives in herself.

I'm left standing on the deck of the ship by myself. Awkwardly, and without knowing what else to do, I walk over to a corner by the large metal door and the rail and sit down. There are people going about their business, ignoring me but that's fine.

I look around and some feet away, I spot my dagger on the floor, its red sheath glimmering in the spot lights. I go over and pick it up and return to my corner. I look it over and see on the hilt a carving of a dragon. It's golden and looks fearsome. I remember Auron saying it belonged to my mother and I examine it more, trying to find something that could be her.

I shake my head though, and set the weapon down. It can't have belonged to her. She's gone, gone ten years ago. The kid wouldn't even have been old enough to bring her over! I look at the dagger again, trying to picture her using it but I can't. Something happened to her to the day she left but it wasn't her coming to this place. It wasn't, it wouldn't be…

I feel my shoulder being prodded and I roll over groaning. My head feels groggy and I cover my face with my hand. When did I fall asleep? I guess I'm just that exhausted…

I force my eyes open and standing in front of me is the girl holding a tray of food in front of me. I take it after a moment's hesitation and set it on the floor in front of me. To my left I see Tidus also has a tray of food and is going at it like nothing else. I stare at him for a second before a painful growl in my stomach makes me take a bit of the food which is this weird meat/noodle combination. I hadn't realized how hungry I am…

I hear a choking beside me and I look over and see Tidus waving a hand in the air, his other clasping his throat and coughing. I blink and just watch. It's kind of amusing actually…

"Hey!" The girl giggles at Tidus before tossing him a water canteen. Tidus is obviously grateful for this and chugs it and for a second I think he's going to choke on that as well. But he doesn't and just lets out a sigh of relief when his throat's all clear.

The girl kneels down beside him and smiles. "It's cause you eat too fast." I don't say anything—I just keep eating my food.

Tidus though is done with his and stands up and stretches. I watch him half heartedly and the girl stands up as well. "Hey," she says again.

Tidus stops stretching and turns around to her. "Hello there, what's your name?" He's talking like she's five years old and I snort from my spot.

But the girl just smiles and puts her hand on her hips. "Rikku." I nod, taking note of this. Her name is Rikku. Tidus though is overjoyed with her answer.

"Woah!" He exclaims, taking her by the hands. "You really do understand!" He jumps up a little and lets go of her hands, laughing all the while. I want to smack him for being so stupid and it looks like Rikku is a little bit put off. But Tidus doesn't seem to notice and when he's down laughing he turns around again. "Um…why didn't you say so earlier?"

I look up at this, interested. Rikku just puts her hands up in defense. "I didn't get a chance to," she says earnestly. "Everyone thought we were a fiend."

I blink, sure I'm losing some grammar in what she said. 'We were a fiend'? What? Tidus is also confused.

"Uh…we?"

"Oh!" Rikku says, as if remembering something. "Oui—O-U-I—means you."

Tidus and I are having trouble figuring that one out. My brain is working double—trying to figure out some language where I come from that says that. I know the French oui is yes but I'm pretty certain it doesn't mean you...

"Um…" Tidus says, deeply confused as he turns around to where Rikku is now against the railing of the ship. "Who are you guys?"

"We're Al Bhed, can't you tell?" Rikku says this like it's the most obvious thing in the world. And I remember her eyes. Now that I can see them up close, I see they have swirls. It's kind of odd to see and I wonder for a second if they're contacts but I don't ask.

By now I'm done with my food and stand up with them, tucking my dagger in my belt. Rikku turns around then, a worried expression on her face. "Wait…you're not an Al Bhed hater, are you?" Tidus and I look at each other and shrug.

"We don't even know what an Al Bhed even is…" I say.

"Where are you from?" Rikku asks, leaning against the railing.

I don't answer, afraid that where I am doesn't exist here. Tidus though says a place called Zanarkand. He says it in the most nonchalant way, as if it's only an hour's drive out. Rikku stares at him blankly.

"I'm a blitzball player," he says when she doesn't say anything. When she still doesn't say anything, he demonstrates a kick and I roll my eyes. "Star player of the Zanarkand Abes?"

"Um…" I chime in, unsure. "I'm with him," I finish lamely.

Rikku though looks mildly concerned. "Did you…hit your head or something?" I snort and Tidus looks at her pointedly. "Oh right…" She has the grace to look ashamed. "Do you remember anything before that?"

Tidus takes a deep breath and walks up to the railing beside her. I take sit back down on the floor and stare out into the ocean. Tidus tells her everything about where he came from, from simple childhood memories to when it was attacked. He even tells her about what his house was like and the stadium that he played in. And he tells her about being sucked away with Auron.

He tells her everything and she just listens, never interrupting him once. I can tell he's becoming unsure about his stories and so am I. I saw it all with my own eyes—well just Zanarkand being destroyed but still—she could say something…right?

"Did I…say something wrong?" Tidus asks her this after being silent for a good five minutes.

Rikku doesn't answer him right away. "You guys were near Sin!" She says this wonderingly, as if realizing something. I want to know what it is. Tidus just nods and Rikku puts on a smile. "Don't worry! You'll be better in no time. They say your head gets funny when Sin is near. Maybe you just had some kind of dream?"

She says this like it's a question, like she's not sure herself. But I know. I know it wasn't a dream. That little kid told me himself I wasn't dreaming and it was far too real, too painful, to ever be a dream.

But Tidus doesn't think about that. "You mean we're sick?" He says this like it's the stupidest thing in the world. I have to agree…

But Rikku nods sagely. "Because of Sin's toxin, yea…"

"Are you sure?" I pipe up. They whip around and stare at me like they forgot about me. But Rikku just nods.

"Yea…there is no Zanarkand anymore. Sin destroyed it a thousand years ago. So…no one plays Blitzball there…"

That statement knocks the wind out of my lungs. Tidus's mouth is dropped open and I jump up from where I'm sitting. My hands are shaking a bit but I don't care because from what Rikku just said, I've transported one thousand years into the future. Tidus blinks for a few seconds and I stare at him, willing him to say something.

"What do you mean, a thousand years ago?" I ask when Tidus doesn't say anything. Rikku has left the rail and is standing a few feet from me. "But I saw Sin attack Zanarkand—I, we, were there!"

I can feel myself panicking just a bit but I tell myself not too, to let Rikku explain or something. I can't really be in the future…I'm barely having enough acceptance for being in a different world. I can't do this—I…I have homework I need to turn in!

Tidus comes from the rail and stands by Rikku. She looks unsure of what to say and finally some words come to her. "You say…you play Blitzball?" I want to scream out because this is no time to be talking about sports. I need to get home…

"You know," Rikku continues, oblivious to my plight, "you should go to Luca. Someone might know who you are or…you might find someone you recognize."

Oh, I think. It all comes together with great clarity. Rikku thinks we're crazy. Awesome…

"Luca?" Tidus asks. He doesn't know the place anymore than I do and Rikku groans at that.

Rikku then turns and walks around the deck, moving her hands around in front of her. I know she's thinking and I wonder about what. I hope it's not about how to get us to a mental hospital…

But she just claps her hands and smiles. "OK!" She says, determined, "leave it to me; I'll get you to Luca, promise."

Tidus and I look at each other again and she laughs. "You'd rather stay here?" With another look, we shake our heads no and she claps her hands again. "OK, I'll go tell the others, wait here."

She starts to leave and then stops, as if remembering something. "Oh…one more thing…" She points her finger at us both and glares a little. "Don't tell anyone you're from Zanarkand, k? Yevon says it's a holy place, you might upset someone." Tidus nods and when she's satisfied, she walks through the large metal doors.

I blink again and Tidus leans against the rails, a confused look on his face. I know he's thinking the same thing I am: Yevon? Holy place? Nothing makes sense. Sure, nothing made sense to me in the first place but…damn, now I'm blind and deaf in a completely metaphorical sense. Why couldn't I have fallen into the game that I actually played…?

But there are more pressing matters at hand. Like my being one thousand years in the future. I wonder how that could be…Where did I start in the first place? I know there's my time, where I live but…where did Zanarkand fall? In fact, where do I fall now? My brain is hurting and I just want someone—like that kid—to come and give me the answers…

"No way," Tidus suddenly says and he turns around and kicks the ship. Before I can even ask what he's doing, the ships starts rocking violently and Tidus falls over and rolls to where I'm standing by the rails. I grab his arm and pull him up and he nods his thanks. To my left I see his sword lying on the floor and I wonder how I didn't see it before. I point to it and he picks it up and straps it to his back.

Suddenly, behind us, something erupts from the water and Al Bhed start running from the inside of the ship. Tidus and I whip around to see what's going on and we see a large burst of water coming towards us.

"Sin!" One of the Al Bhed shouts and I get a cold shiver down my spine at that name. It's the first thing I've understood by them and it's a terrible universal word. Sin is here, it found us and dear God, we are going to die.

Water shoots up before us and Tidus and I look around, not knowing what to do. I hold onto his arm and the rail, trying to get some support with all the rocking and tossing of the ship. Many Al Bhed have fallen to the floor and some are holding on for dear life.

But my attempts are useless. A huge wave comes crashing up the side of the ship and before we can do anything, Tidus and I are swept up by it and carried into the sea. I scream and dig my nails into Tidus's skin, trying to hold onto something. The water disorients me and I can't see, I can't breathe. The Al Bhed ship is above us and the Al Bhed themselves stare on helplessly as we are carried away by the sea.

A/N: Heh…I didn't mean for this chapter to be so long but whatever. And poor Mandy, she doesn't understand anything. Hopefully that'll change in coming chapters.

Thanks guys for reading, reviewing, whatever the last two chapters. It was nice to wake up and see them lol. Now while you tell me what you think about this chapter, I'm going off to an Incubus concert.