AN: I'm kind of annoyed that this chapter took me so long to write, but I have no one to blame but myself. I decided not to end the chapter where I felt like it should because for some weird reason I didn't think it was long enough, so I wrote the next chapter as well. Turns out that I'm just a silly head and it was long enough, so I had to shorten it. But it's here now and the next chapter is probably only an hour away from being posted as well.
Also, I've been playing with the idea of naming the chapters. This one would be 'Out of the Frying Pan', although I don't want to just copy what the main cutscenes are called. I don't think I'll give them names on here until I'm a fair few chapters through and it still feels right, but that's an idea.
As always, thank you so much for reading this. You are fantastic and deserve a lifetime of happiness. I really hope you enjoy. :)
3
The smooth stone beneath Tidus' face was cold. That was the first thing he noticed: the cold. Slowly, he opened his eyes. His whole body felt stiff. He tried to push himself up, but the stone was slippery, half of it immersed in water. Freezing water. This was definitely not where he'd fallen asleep.
It was still night time, he noted. Or perhaps it was night time again. There was no way to tell how long he'd been unconscious. He propped himself up to see that he was surrounded by water and what looked like ruined buildings. All he knew was that he had never been here before. His sword lay just before him, looking relatively unharmed. There was a strange type of bird sitting on the stone just before him, preening his feathers. Tidus cleared his throat.
"Anybody there?" he called out. His voice echoed off of the ruins, skipping like a stone across the surface of the water. The bird, disturbed by his yell, flew off. "Auron! Hey!"
There was no response. It was no wonder considering there was not a soul to be seen. Half-submerged walls dotted the area, pillars rising from the water like sprouting buildings. This looked like the type of place that would have been deserted long ago. Directly ahead, he could just make out a large temple-like structure looming in the misty dark. Around the ruins, the ocean stretched out into the distance. But there had to be someone around, didn't there? Perhaps if he made it to that temple he could find some help. He took his sword and tied it to his side with the straps from his blitzball uniform and slowly he slipped into the water.
Water felt like a second home to Tidus. He was a strong swimmer - he needed to be to play blitzball - and could hold his breath for over ten minutes at a time, but this was no blitzball game. He let his natural buoyancy hold his head above the surface as he lay back, letting the water ease his aching body.
A few moments passed and the cold of the water was beginning to soak into his skin. With that, Tidus began to swim over to the temple. The water tasted like salt, and he wondered how far away from Zanarkand he was. He didn't know of any ruins out in the ocean. After swimming a little way, something shiny caught his attention from up in one of the ruins on his right. He swam a little closer, finding a staircase to climb up, and got out of the water. Stuck to the side of a weathered granite pillar was a bright blue sign. It was still quite dark, but if he squinted he could just make out the words.
Eh dra myht frana pumdc uv mekrd
Emmisehyda dra pmylgacd hekrd
Fedr Macalania pareht dra vuindr bemmyn oui cekrd
Muug hud uh dra mavd pid uh dra nekrd
"What do we have here?" he asked himself, looking at the words over and over again. It appeared to be another language. He sighed. "Nope, can't read it."
Back in the water, he made a beeline for the temple. There was an eerie silence about this place, but he shook it off. Once he found people, he'd feel better. He reached a set of stone stairs leading up to a landing. The stairs were slippery under the surface of the water, so he climbed up on his hands and knees. The stone bit into his bare kneecaps, but it was better than being in the water. He may be a blitz player, but he could freeze just as easily as anyone else. Again on solid ground, he took the time to gather himself. The mist and darkness made it difficult to see anything, but the temple before him was hard to ignore. It stood several stories high, and while it paled in comparison to the buildings of Zanarkand, he felt infinitesimally small before it. Weathered statues stood on terraces, too wind-worn to look like anything. The wings of the temple stretched out to encompass the whole area, the condition of the buildings degrading the farther they were from the main structure. It occurred to Tidus that this place was a little too large to be just a temple. Perhaps this whole place had been a city once. The architecture was strange to him, but what if there was someone inside? Where there were buildings there were usually people.
Tidus passed under a crumbling arch, climbed another flight of stairs, reached another landing and looked across to the building. Between him and the structure was a large pool of water, and as far as he could see the only way to get across was via an unsupported stone path. There were a few of these precarious paths reaching like a dome over the pool. Tidus looked down into the water below. If he squinted his eyes, he could make out statues amongst chunks of fallen stone. Perhaps this had been the roof of another part of the temple? It looked as if the broken paths were all reaching to meet in the middle. Then again, it didn't really matter what this place used to be. What mattered was that Tidus found somewhere dry.
Well, you've gotta get over there somehow, he thought to himself. You might as well start crossing.
Treading carefully, Tidus slowly made his way up the stone path. It wasn't as narrow as he'd thought, so his confidence grew a little. He stepped a little heavier, moved a little faster, and soon found himself right above the water. As he neared the middle of the path, there was a loud crunch. He stopped moving, listening carefully. There was only the silence and the quiet lapping of water. He took another step.
The grating of stone against stone broke the silence and the path beneath his feet shuddered. Before he knew it, the path had fallen to the water below, taking him with it. With a great splash, they hit the water. The broken section of path dragged Tidus down a little way, but he kicked against the pull and emerged virtually unharmed. He shivered violently as he glanced around. There wasn't any way into the temple from this level, not as far as he could see. There were ledges just above the water level, however, and anything was preferable to the icy water. He swam over to one, his muscles starting to feel very strained from the cold.
Something brushed past Tidus' leg as he swam and he stopped dead in the water. Fear prickled his skin as he tread water, praying that it was only a stray leaf moving through the water. He felt something rush beneath him and twisted around just in time to see something scaly and green leap out of the water beside him. As it landed back in the water, another jumped up, then another, circling Tidus as if they'd separated him from his pack.
Not more monsters, he thought as panic began to set in. He remembered his sword tied to his hip and grasped for the hilt. Somehow the leather-wrapped handle eased his fear. He could take these things. After all, he'd already slashed through a slew of monsters before. Surely these things wouldn't put up much more of a fight. He took a deep breath, steeling his nerves, and dived deep into the water.
The creatures appeared to be some sort of fish-beast. Their scaly bodies were adorned with orange fins, one protruding from the back of their heads, another on their spines and then more on their tails. Their front fins looked more like arms, though, and unlike any fish Tidus had seen, they had very visible pointed teeth. He glared at them, their beady orange eyes glittering back at him.
He swam at the closest creature, slicing through its body with his sword. It jerked back through the water, shaking violently before dying. Those curious lights pushed out of the corpse and drifted up through the water. Tidus barely had time to contemplate them before one of the fish attacked him. It rushed through the water, fins flicking like the tail of a cat, and bit his shoulder. The pain was quick and sharp, but he quickly pushed the beast off and it subsided. The other fish tried to rush him as well, but Tidus kicked out of its path just in time to miss the gnashing teeth. He swung his sword around behind the fish, the blade cutting through its tail, and it quickly died. Confident in his ability, he twisted back around through the water to face the last monster.
The creature didn't swim at him, though. Its head nervously looked around the pool of water, almost as if it was hearing something that he couldn't. Tidus considered seizing the opportunity, but he was too intrigued by the sudden fear he could see in his opponent.
It was then that he felt the shift, the tremor that pulsed through the water. The fish turned to his right and began to slowly swim backwards. Tidus followed its line of sight. From a doorway in the side of this drowned hall, a large round creature was forcing its way out. It knocked a fallen pillar out of its way, smashing the stone as it swam past. It was like nothing that he had ever seen. Beside him, the fish darted around and raced through the water. The new monster roared, somehow audible despite the water, and chased it down. Its mouth, like a beak made out of the monster's hard shell, closed down on the body of the fish and crushed it. It didn't seem to see Tidus, so he quickly swam behind it.
On top, the creature had a hard greenish armour that tapered at its head and its back. Beneath, four yellow and white tentacles flexed luxuriously. It appeared to have two under-developed wings protruding from the back of its shoulders, and its overly large arms were covered in spiky fins. Much like the towering monster he and Auron had defeated on the high bridge, this new monster had tentacles with lighted ends growing out of its body.
Tidus gritted his teeth and swam at it, his sword connecting just underneath one of its shoulders. The beast turned around, swinging its right arm at him. It smacked him square in the stomach and he spluttered as the force of the hit pushed him back through the water. The beast turned back around, perhaps thinking it had finished him off. He had lost a fair bit of air with that punch, but this thing looked like it could eat him for lunch. If he were going to sleep on one of those narrow ledges, he'd feel a lot safer without this abomination waiting for seconds.
He swam at the beast again, this time slashing at the other shoulder. This time, when the monster turned around to punch him, he quickly tried to swim out of its way. He was just a tiny bit too slow and the hit connected with his leg. His calf throbbed, pain shooting up to his knee, and he lost more air as he tried to gather himself. The monster turned around once more and Tidus felt a white-hot rage take him over. This thing wasn't taking him seriously at all. He was a fly to be swatted. Tidus rushed the monster, hitting it once, twice, three times in the back. Take that, he thought smugly as it tried to shy away from his blade.
This time, when it turned to face him, it didn't raise its arms. Tidus stopped, watching as the monster started to shake. Where its chest would be, there looked to be a cage made of bone. He wondered if it kept its food in there so it could save it for later.
The monster roared at Tidus, its voice vibrating the water around him, and began to swim straight for him. His bravado disintegrated and he kicked off in the other direction. If he wasn't quick, he'd find out first hand what that cage was for. He was swimming straight for a wall so he made a hard right, deftly escaping the creature's jaws. Luckily for him, the monster's size made it slow to manoeuver through the water. Tidus frantically looked around the flooded hall for an open door, even a crevice to hide in. The monster was gaining on him now. He could feel its eyes boring holes into his back.
He needed to distract the beast, needed just a few moments to survey his surroundings. As he closed in on another wall, Tidus quickly changed direction and swam up out of the monster's path. It couldn't stop in time and barrelled straight into the wall. The whole room shook with the force of the collision. Already partly-collapsed pillars fell, trapping the beast beneath a pile of granite and marble. Tidus was pushed back through the water, but the creature wasn't going anywhere as it struggled to free itself and he now had those vital seconds he needed.
All of a sudden, his lungs began to scream at him and he realised that the fight had taken more breath out of him than he'd thought. He glanced about him, looking for some sort of air pocket in the ruins. The beast finally shook the stone from its back and turned around. It looked straight at him. There was no time left.
"Whoa!" he gasped, releasing the last of his precious air. He floundered in the water for a second, trying to turn around, and sped towards the surface. The monster was in hot pursuit. Tidus wasn't sure what would be worse, drowning or being eaten. The surface was so close but his body was crying out for oxygen. He just needed to kick a little more, just a little more...
Tidus' head emerged from the water and he gave a loud gasp as he hungrily gulped down air. It was crazy how relieved he felt, even though the monster was right behind him. He glanced around the hall and spotted an opening. Without a second thought, he splashed off, swimming straight for the half-submerged doorway. The crash must have knocked the stone loose, he thought thankfully. Behind him, he heard the monster break the surface, reminding him that he was still very much in danger.
He dived back into the water, trying desperately to outrun the creature so he could safely get through the door. The monster was his right on his tail. Tidus swam around a fallen pillar, but the monster just crashed through it. Apparently it wasn't taking any nonsense from him this time. He emerged once more, taking one last deep breath before swimming straight for the open doorway. The near-drowning left Tidus' legs feeling sluggish. He tried to speed up, but the beast was gaining on him. There was no hope of surviving this. He'd be eaten, crunched up like the fish-thing and he'd never find Auron and he'd never get back home. The door seemed to be getting farther and farther away the harder he swam. He'd never play blitzball again, he'd never get to go on that date.
And then he stopped thinking. The monster was right behind him. As he kicked, his foot knocked the bony beak of the beast. There was no more room for panic in his body. The door was just there, just out of his reach. His legs were now kicking inside the monster's mouth. His arms reached inside the doorway.
Just a little farther...
Tidus was thrust through the door as the monster crashed into the wall. The whole building shook, the water carrying him forward like a wave. He smashed into a submerged staircase, the collision knocking the wind out of him. Outside, the monster thrashed against the wall again. The old architecture couldn't take the stress and the roof began to collapse over the doorway. Tidus, still gasping for air, turned away from the falling stone, shielding his head with his arms.
Eventually, the rubble stopped falling. Everything was still. It was silent except for the constant drip of water. Tidus dragged himself up a few steps and out of the water. Exhausted, he sat on the stairs, his whole body shaking. At first, he thought it was the adrenaline. Apparently the adrenaline was only masking the true nature of his trembling - the cold. Tidus drew his knees up to his chin and huddled up, hoping that he could warm himself up using his own body heat. He was wrong.
AN: By request from a reader, I'll be translating the Al Bhed at the bottom of each chapter where Al Bhed is present. Here are the translations for this chapter:
In Al Bhed:
Eh dra myht frana pumdc uv mekrd
Emmisehyda dra pmylgacd hekrd
Fedr Macalania pareht dra vuindr bemmyn oui cekrd
Muug hud uh dra mavd pid uh dra nekrd
In English:
In the land where bolts of light
Illuminate the blackest night
With Macalania behind the fourth pillar you sight
Look not on the left but on the right