I'll never abandon you, my tikku readers!! lol.
Chapter 4
"Did you find anything?" Paine whispered in the dark.
Paine and I were already inside the mansion. Nighttime came sooner than I thought, and Shinra was posted just outside the doors. Strangly enough, no one was walking at night, so we decided to use the front door to enter, and it was unlock.
"No, nothing." I whispered back.
The mansion was deserted. A few spider webs hung from the ceiling and the stairs. We looked in all the rooms and not a living soul was in the manor. But I remembered, back two months ago, there was another door leading to the sphere Seymour showed, only Paine and I can't find it.
"Are you sure it was here?" Paine asked, irritated. I ran my fingers on the wall, trying to feel something.
"I know it was here. Before there was a door. You can't miss it...it's like as if the door vanished."
"Do you think there's a switch somewhere?" Paine asked, but already walked towards the other side of the hall.
I whispered to no one. "Please, show us the door."
As if my plead was answered, a thin, white line glowed. A door frame came to view, and then a handle. Before our very eyes, the door appeared and swung opened by itself. My mouth was opened as Paine walked up next to me.
"That was cool." She mumbled. "Let's get going." And walked into the dark room. I bit my fingernails, hopping from one foot to another. Finally, I jogged after her into the dark.
"Wait for me!" I whined, feeling scared.
The moment I stepped in, the door behind me shut us in. I gasped, ran back, grabbed the handle and pulled, but the door didn't move.
"We're trapped." Paine growled. I heard her pulling out her sword. Then, I took a step forward and the floor glowed in dark blue light.
Just like two months ago, the whole room became the sky, with shooting stars and distant planets, as if Paine and I were floating in midair. And like before, I tried to catch the shooting stars, only to see that they went right through my hand.
"Here it comes." I said, anxious. Paine still held her sword out in defense.
Suddenly, the sky blurred, as if we were zooming across the sky. Then we slowed down, and below us was the magnificent city, Zanarkand. The towers and skyscrapers were jam-packed together, and the sky-walkways intertwine and criss-cross all over the city, like a giant maze. Massive waterfalls fell off buldings. The neonlights were in different colors of blue, and famous Water Walkway hovers over the city like a giant river.
"Whoa." I heard Paine whisper. "So this is Zanarkand..."
"Yeah."
Then, we plunged down, right into a busy street where people were walking right through us as if we were ghosts. Shops were right next to each other in the buildings. A few street entertainers were performing at a corner, and a couple of blitzball players were walking right towards us.
Blitzball players?!
I gasped as I watched a couple of boys, laughing and socializing, coming closer. Their clothes were black and yellow, and one of them, the star player, was spinning a blitzball in his hand. His smile was charming, and girls were squealing and waving at him.
I had my hands over my mouth to stop myself from screaming. Tidus was walking closer and closer, but he can't see me. Suddenly, he stopped and looked right at me, and smiled.
"Hi."
"Hi..." I mumbled.
"Can I have one scoop of cookie dough, please?" He continued.
"Huh?" I said, tilting my head.
Then a hand stuck out of me, holding a ice cream cone. Tidus reached out and grabbed the ice cream, and gave back some money. I wheeled around to see a woman selling the ice cream from behind me.
"Thank you. Come again." She said. I looked back at Tidus to see him smile again.
But it seemed like he was looking at me. He turned around and walked away with his buddies. I wanted to run after him, but I know he couldn't see or hear me.
"Rikku, use the gun." Paine said, standing next to me.
"Huh?" I said, still watching Tidus go.
"Wasn't that guy your boyfriend?" She asked.
I just blushed, and she took it as a yes.
"If he's here, then his soul is in this sphere then."
"What?!" I said, looking at her. "That's impossible. Seymour made this sphere without Tidus' soul. He was here with me when we first saw it."
"But Tidus was real then, wasn't he?"
I was quiet.
"But-" I started to defend myself, but she cut me off.
"Look. Remember what Shinra said? About how there's a chance that Tidus' soul is split in half?"
"Yeah."
"What if Tidus, when he was here two months ago, didn't had a whole soul. What if you saw was just...half of his soul." She explained. I stared at her, dumbfounded.
"No way! Tidus was real! He could talk, eat, sleep. I could hear him, see him, and..."
Touch him.
"But when we first met, you told me that he was only a dream."
"Well," I mumbled, watching Tidus stop and give an autograph to a fan girl. "I-"
"If he was real, he wouldn't have disappeared." She pointed at Tidus. "His other soul half is right there."
"That's not him! When I first saw him, Tidus was real!" I stomped my foot. "How else am I pregnant?"
"Okay, then." She said, sounding irritated. "If you're so confident that your precious boyfriend's half soul isn't right in front of us, use the gun."
"But-"
"Like you said, if that hologram isn't really him, you should have no trouble sucking up the soul." She said, crossing her arms.
I gulped and pulling out the machina. What if what Paine said was right? What if Tidus was just half a being when I met him? But then where was his other half? I was watching Tidus giving out more autographs, smiling that smile I know so well.
Then, I pulled the trigger...
"Bad news, guys. They found out we're here!"
"What?!" Paine and I shouted at Shinra.
"A mob is coming towards the mansion. We need to get out another way." He said, sounding scared.
"Let's go upstairs." Paine ordered, and lead us to the second floor.
Soon, I heard a murmur from outside. The Guado Mob was coming closer, and growing louder.
"Hurry! In here!" Paine said, entering in a massive suite. She turned on the light switch, and the grand chandiler was lit, filling the whole room in dull lights.
"Whoa," I whispered. "This must be Seymour's room."
"There's a window." Paine said, pointing at a tall window. Shinra ran forth and tried to open the window..
"It's suck. Paine, help me with this." He said, and together, they pulled the handle.
I was more intrigue in the room than helping open our escape. While Paine and Shinra heaved on the handle, I walked around the room and looking at the dresser.
There were numbers of bottles, maybe perfumes and cologne, sitting on the table. The huge mirror was almost as tall as me, and the frame was heavily detailed with designs. I walked pass the dresser and looked down at a desk.
It was covered with papers, files, feathered pens, ink bottles, and more scrolls of paper. I picked up a file and read it. The file was all about managing Guadosalam and the trading business.
"Being a Maester doesn't just mean sitting around doing nothing, huh?" I mumbled to myself, dropping the paper. But then my eyes wandered to a thick file folder. The letters "Zanar-" caught my attention.
I quickly moved the papers away, some fell on the floor, and picked up the folder. The big, red letters made my heart beat. But then, I realized the noise was coming from downstairs. The mob had entered the mansion.
"Rikku! Hurry up!" Paine yelled. Shinra and Paine managed to opened the window.
I ran towards her with the folder in my hands. Shinra was already out the window, climbing his way down with the tree branches. I climbed down after him, and Paine followed me.
Once we landed on the ground, we kept to the shadows, and made our way back to the front entrance, where the mob was already inside the mansion.
"Let's head back to Djose, fast." Paine directed, and led us out of Guadosalam.
"So, we got more than what we wanted. A mission well-done." Shinra said, as we rode on chocobos we bought at Moonflow.
"Does it say anything interesting?" Paine asked, sounding bored. Shinra was sitting behind me, and I heard him flipping through the pages, mumbling.
"I think he's busy, Paine." I said, since Shinra didn't reply.
"The kid's got no manners." She grumbled.
"I heard that!" Shinra said.
"Well, we got the souls, and a file about the sphere." Paine said, looking up at the morning sky. "After Shinra gets his time portal to work, anything could happen."
"Rikku, can I see the gun for a second." Shinra spoke. I pulled out the gun and Shinra handed the folder back to me. "Thanks." He said, and started tinkering with the machina.
I opened the folder and tried to read the notes and slanted handwriting. Most of the notes were digits, and graphs drawn. None of it made sense to me.
"Anything could happen." I repeated, closing the folder. "Let's just hope nothing bad happens."
"From what the title of that folder says, I highly doubt it." Paine said.
I gulped and read the big, red letters again.
Project
Zanarkand/ Scattered Memories
hey, sorry that it's a short chapter. i just had to get this chapter out of the way. there's probably errors since i was in a rush, cuz i wanted to post this chapter up. OH! and if you're confused of the whole half soul, was tidus only half a person thing, don't worry. future chapters will explain in detail. and gippal wil come back too!.Now the real things are about to happen. just hope that i update soon...