The Girl From Zanarkand
"Hey," I had managed to sleep for what felt like five minutes, probably was, and still felt just as sick as I was before. "That girl's awake. I'm going with Brother to make sure he doesn't throw that guy overboard when we're not looking," I grunted a little and nodded. "You did say they probably couldn't speak Al Bhed," I gave the same response before being pushed slightly by Rikku. "Get up, will you? Lying here won't get anything done."
"Fine, pushy," I grumbled, getting another push. She was actually being a lot more gentle than if we were on land. She pushes really hard for someone her size. It was because I'd probably be sick or go out cold on the floor if I there were any sudden movements. Fucking hate boats. Rikku flashed me a smile before heading out, satisfied that I was awake.
I took a minute to focus myself, ignore the water, and headed off to Rikku's bunker. The girl was still there, I was hoping she was better. She didn't look any older than me. Although how Tidus was holding it together better than she was I didn't know, I suppose I should ask.
Rikku's bunk wasn't far from mine. I opened the door and saw her sitting in Rikku's bed, looking slightly better. Rikku must have given her an Al Bhed Potion, they were actually good against sea sickness and anxiety. The girl looked at me, her eyes were grey and tired looking. She was still unwell but getting better.
"How you feeling?" I asked to break the long, awkward silence.
"Fine," She answered, her voice hoarse. She coughed and cleared her throat. "Fine," She looked down again and we stayed in silence. Her accent was definitely different than any other one I've heard, and some Al Bhed have very thick accents, Rikku and Cid didn't though. She had a very different accent from the Al Bhed, though. "Where am I? What happened to Tidus?"
"The guy you were with in the ruins?" She nodded. "We've made a deal: we'll take you both to the mainland if he helps us in our excavation in the water," She nodded again, keeping quiet. I suppose I should make conversation with her, although Rikku was better at that than I was. "You were pretty bad when we got you and your mate there."
"He's a Blitzball player," She told me. "He's been trained to swim in cold water, I've heard the Blitz Sphere gets really cold in the later months, so he's more used to it than me." I shuddered at the idea of cold water but her head was down and she didn't see.
"Where are you from?" I asked. Her accent, I was starting to get an idea of where it could be from.
"Zanarkand," Oh, well I wasn't expecting that answer. "I lived in a care home there." She did? I looked in her eyes as she talked to see if she was lying but she, well she really looked like she was telling the truth but it didn't fit. Something wasn't right.
"How long were you there?"
"Six months... I think..." Six months. I've been in Bikanel for six months. Something definitely wasn't right.
"Do you remember anything before that?" She shook her head. "In Zanarkand... were you attacked by something called 'Sin'?" She looked confused. "Huge, grey, lizard-like beast thing? Blows everything up for no reason?" She seemed to realise what I was talking about now.
"Zanarkand was attacked," She nodded. "I was running away from the Blitzball Stadium when it happened. Then I ended up in the ruins with Tidus." So did she get hit by Sin's Toxin? That's what I was starting to think, anyway.
"What's your name?" I finally asked, hoping she at least remembered that.
"Christie Wilson."
"Lysander Adams," I suppose I had to break it to her about Zanarkand. "Listen, you're probably not going to like what I'm about to say but... Zanarkand was destroyed by Sin a thousand years ago," She looked even more confused and horrified. "It's revered as a holy place by Yevon. You've been affected by Sin's Toxin, it's making you forget things and your memories probably don't add up right." Christie just looked at me as if I'd grown a second head. I still felt as though something wasn't right.
"What?" She asked. "No. How could Zanarkand be destroyed? How could it be a thousand years ago?" Her voice was raising, getting more angry. "I saw it happen! You're lying!" I wanted to say sorry but it happened; it wasn't my fault she got pulled out of Zanarkand from Spira. I was more concerned about the Toxin.
Either way I left her alone in Rikku's bunker to calm down and waited for the salvage team to finish up.
Couple of hours later the team had returned. Well we got what we wanted, we found an Airship. It would take a couple of days to fully excavate it and store it within the ship, a week maybe, which was a week longer than I would have liked and it's going to take forever to get back to Bikanel. I honestly can't wait to get back to Home, which wasn't as fun because it had to be on a fucking island. Well Australia's just a big island and most places are at the coast so either way my luck was shit.
"So how is she?" Rikku asked during dinner.
"She's okay, I suppose," I shrugged, getting a quizzical look from Rikku. "She's got hit by Sin's Toxin. She only remembers her name, which is Christie, but she thinks she's from Zanarkand. I told her what happened to Zanarkand and she didn't take it well," Rikku's brow furrowed as I talked. "As I said, she got too near Sin. Probably the same with her friend," I looked around before looking at Rikku. "Where is he anyway? Please tell me he's still on the ship."
"Oh he is," She nodded. "They just won't let him inside," How nice of us. "Hey you should take some food down to Christie then and I'll take some to... actually I haven't asked him his name yet, I haven't had the chance." Before Rikku got up I got her by the arm.
"Why do I have to deal with the girl?" I asked.
"Well you're the one who said to bring her inside because she was sick," Was the answer. "So she's your guest now. Have fun." Thanks Rikku, you just want to get close to pretty boy Tidus out there. Still that Christie might be hungry, so I got some food and left to Rikku's bunker. I hoped Christie hadn't gotten pissed off or anything being alone, or maybe she went back to sleep. I knocked on the door to make sure but I didn't wait on an answer, I just knocked and then went in. Christie was sitting on the floor, picking at her nails.
"Hey," She looked up at me, shrugged, and went back to picking her nails. "I got you some food, in case you were hungry." I handed her the shallow bowl and cutlery. She took it and poked about the food for a moment before looking at me.
"What is this?"
"Fish mostly," I replied. "Not sure what kind and don't even ask what the spices are. There's rice as well. It's not that bad, really," Even though it was what we had pretty much every fucking day because we were on a boat. "Sorry if there's bones in it, that happens sometimes. And the powered spice can get caught in the back of your throat too, sometimes."
"Thanks anyway," She said and started eating. I just sat on the bed and waited for her to finish. In awkward silence, cursing Rikku silently. I had a feeling, a strong feeling, that she would end up saying that we looked cute together. Then I'll bang my head off the wall or nearest flat surface at the time. "Is Tidus okay?"
"Yeah, Rikku's getting him food as well," I said. "Rikku's my mate, she and her brother are running the salvage operation we're on."
"So what do you do here?" Christie asked.
"I'm a marksman and bomb expert," She looked at me in questioning. "I shoot things and blow things up, pretty much. I'm one of the best at it."
"Modest."
"A bit of pride never hurt," I grinned. Christie ate a bit more before asking more questions.
"So is this common?" Oh, here comes the 'Al Bhed' talk.
"Not really, Al Bhed get a lot of shit for doing this," Christie looked more confused. "Pretty much everyone on this ship is Al Bhed. They're like the outcasts of Spira because Yevon forbids Machina... machines, we call machines Machina."
"Are you Al Bhed?"
"Nope, you, me and your pal Tidus are the only people on this ship who aren't Al Bhed," I told her. "All the Al Bhed have green eyes, spiral pupils and blonde hair. They have their own language as well, I can speak it though. I work with the Al Bhed, they found me six months ago," I kept out the part about Bikanel to protect the others. Christie sat up on the bed beside me, having finished her food. "What's up?"
"Just... you said six months," She said. "I've been thinking. Sex months ago... I can't remember much before then," Sin's Toxin was causing that. "But I remember my family."
"Your family?"
"Yeah. My mum died when I was five," She started. "I've got an older brother called Andrew and a little sister called Bethany and... my dad's called Arthur," She looked down at the empty bowl. "But it doesn't make sense. They're all alive but I don't remember them being in Zanarkand," That really didn't make sense. "I don't remember them at the care home. Why was I at a care home if my dad's alive?" She looked confused to the point of tears. "I don't understand, I don't know what's going on."
"It's Sin's Toxin," I explained. I really didn't know how to explain the entire situation to her without freaking her out. "It'll clear up and it'll make sense then," She kept quiet and picked her nails. "Hey let's go see Tidus, he's probably worried about you." She nodded and I took her outside the boat, something I was dreading. Ugh how people liked sea air, it just made me sick.
"Hey Christie!" Tidus seemed pretty happy to see her. "You look pale, what's up?"
"You both got hit by Sin's Toxin," Rikku stepped in. "She just took it worse than you," She smiled and held out her hand to Christie. "Pleased to meet you, I'm Rikku. I'm sure Lysander's told you nothing about me," I rolled my eyes which Rikku noticed but ignored. "Hey I'm going to try get you and Tidus to Luca. There's a Blitzball tournament soon so maybe you'll see someone you know?"
"Sounds like a good idea," Christie nodded. Rikku nodded happily.
"Okay, I'll go tell the others," No sooner was Rikku away than the ship started to rock in an unsettling way. Obviously Rikku hadn't gotten far and had ran back out for us. "You need to get inside! Now!"
"Oh shit," I mumbled, my body frozen on the spot. The others came out to try drive off the beast that had arrived. Sin rocked the boat to the side and we fell over. "Shit! Get inside now!" Christie was gripping onto the rails for her life as the boat rocked to the over side, Sin threatening to turn us over.
"Christie!" Tidus yelled and went to grab her. The boat got hit and he lost his balance, as did I, both of us sliding down to the side of the boat. I started to panic and tried to grab onto something. I was too late and I had passed out from panic before I had even hit the water.
