Chapter Three – Distracted By Him (Jecht)
That kid, Frioniel. What was with him? He had a far off look on his face every so often. It was happening almost every day for the last week. I was still wondering what he was concerned about. He seemed like a nice guy, even if he was a strange guy, what with his stories of roses and stuff.
"Kid." I put my hand on his shoulder, trying to exude caring. Dunno if it worked. He still jumped a little. "You're looking out of it. What's up?"
"Uh, nothing." He answered, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture. "I'm just a little preoccupied."
"With what? Something ain't nothing, kid."
"Right, uh, well…" He looked a little dodgy for a sec there. "You know, uh, I think I'll be going. Good talking with you." He turned away, looking for all the world, busy thinking.
"Frioniel." He glanced back. "You do realize…I'm actually…ugh, I'm no good at this. You know, what are you thinking of? Home? A girl you like? A guy you gotta beat? Spill it." He put his hand to his head.
"I'm not really in the mood to talk right now. I'm sorry." His eyes were downcast.
"Right. It's a person, isn't it?"
"…" Awkward silence. "Well, sure. Think what you will."
"Someone important to you?"
"More like to you." What? "Er…you know Tidus?"
"Right, my…that crybaby." I just couldn't say "my son."
"Sure…"
"You think he's annoying?"
"Not exactly."
"Weird?"
"Yeah."
"Different. Right?"
"Pretty much. We were talking. He was…interesting."
"You do get that he's a Chaos warrior. A Chaos pawn."
"He's also your son." An equally impacting statement.
"I know."
"…It was just one talk. Why am I still thinking about him?"
"You know, he saved us. Is it about that? Do you feel like you need to repay him or something?"
"Well, I just think that...yeah. That's it."
Glad I had solved his problem, I slapped his back. "Then go talk to him. Repay him. Then come back, and fight the war with us."
As he stepped away from me, I called, "Hey, Frioniel! Tell him…uh…tell him he's…still a crybaby, huh?" I laughed heartily. "Sorry, Frioniel. I'm no good at this!"
A/N: I know, I write a lot of these, and if you don't like these, I guess, you're not obligated to read them. But, this was kind of a wordy chapter. A lot of dialogue, I guess.
Poor Jecht doesn't really know how to help Frioniel or compliment Tidus.