Sahrah: Maybe later I'll start working on chapter 9...
bloodredx: I thought you already started
Sahrah: um... ehehe...
bloodredx: hey, you said you were 1/4 way done!
Sahrah: maybe I am... lemme check...
bloodredx: It's my job to make sure you update frequently. Now get to work.
Sahrah: I don't remember if I started or not! I can't even remember what I had for breakfast!
bloodredx: I had waffles.
Sahrah: Like… Lulu's waffles?
bloodredx: Yup, and you'll be starting right about now.
Sahrah: Erm, right. Well, I don't own the characters (Squeenix does) and I don't own the music (which happens to be called 'Heaven's Drive' and it belongs to L'Arc-En-Ciel). So you know, the music is originally in Japanese, and this is the translation of it. Oh, and I will be putting in a timer for the characters to show how much time is remaining for them. Currently, they have nine hours.Tidus's Point of View.
Chapter 9: When Tomorrow's Gone
Nine hours left.
We took off running through the first room (even Lulu). The room was dimly lit, the floor damp with something. The room was obviously older than any of us were and the walls were stained with years of decay, as well as stale blood from an animal that had long since faced its death in the building.
Isn't this getting boring?
What do you want next?
Your lips get hungry without sinful sensations
Eating you down to the bone
Leave me alone!
At the end of the room we found two doors, between which was an old message board with a crisp piece of paper pinned to it. The note read: 'After the catastrophe struck, there was nothing left.'
"What catastrophe?" Rikku cried, glancing around anxiously.
"'There was nothing left…'" Lulu mused. "There's nothing on the left side of the door, so 'nothing left' must imply which door we are to take. If there's nothing on the left side of the door, we're supposed to go through the one to the right."
Rikku peeked through both doors. "They both have hallways behind them, Lulu! There's something behind the door on the left!"
"A dead end, maybe," I suggested.
"I say we go to the right," said Rikku. Baralai and Wakka nodded their silent agreement, so we took the door to the right.
The hallway we entered was well lit, almost hurting our eyes after the room we'd come from. There was only one door at the end, so Rikku ran ahead of us.
And she fell into a hole in the floor.
It's painfully intriguing
The way you love the sound of a panting voice
Playing with that lens-wearing snake
You're a prisoner of your own feelings
Rikku let out a loud shriek as her fingers grasped the edge she'd nearly fallen over. She was dangling over a deep black hole, and none of us could see the bottom.
"Fira," Lulu muttered, tossing the magic spell into the ground, illuminating the thousands of shards of broken glass.
"Oh my Yevon," Baralai hissed between his teeth, pulling Rikku up to the solid floor. "You'd die of blood loss in minutes."
Rikku shuddered and buried her face in the silver-haired man's shoulder.
"How do we get across? It's a bit too wide to jump," Lulu commented.
"Maybe we should go back to the other room and—" I was interrupted when a section of the floor behind us gave way, revealing another ditch filled with glass shards.
Take me up to speed
Beyond the breaking point
Leaving the world behind to burn
Ride on heaven's drive
When tomorrow's gone, we can just smile
And get on a brand new ship
"Great. Now we're stuck in the freaking room," grouched Rikku.
My cell phone rang, and I was unsurprised when I saw Marza's name on the caller ID. She was the only one who seemed to be calling me today.
"Confused? You read the first clue wrong," she said in her monotone voice. "The catastrophe was the hole in the ground that Rikku almost fell into. After the hole in the ground, there is nothing on the left side. Had you gone left, you would have continued with no problems. Although your thinking was quite clever, I'm afraid it was incorrect. Do you wish to continue? You'll forfeit another hour."
"Do I really have to answer that question, Marza?" I asked angrily.
She was silent for a moment. "I suppose not. Eight hours left. Farewell." She hung up, and the broken glass at the bottom of the pit disappeared under two doors slamming shut to complete the pathway.
Eight hours left.
Your body's full of poison
Ah... You're death's prisoner
The nightmares are swelling up and spreading
Until no one can hold on
Wakka gripped the door handle and pulled it. The next room looked like it had been a storage room, filled with huge, rusted storage containers, boxes and barrels littering the floors. Near the ceiling were some oddly shaped wire hangers; I think they were probably used to hang meat once it had been picked from the animal. Lulu shivered.
I looked around, searching for the next door in this labyrinth.
And then we were running. We bolted through the only exit available and ran, with me in the front, Rikku sprinting madly behind me, everyone else following us desperately.
We went through long hallways, short rooms, and places so dark we couldn't see. As crazy as it felt, each time there was only one door, and each door led into another room with only one exit.
"This is insane!" exclaimed Lulu, who was panting as we kept running. "There's got to be… something else!"
"Well," Baralai commented, "there's nothing in front of us, nothing behind us… so if we're not supposed to go forward, then it's either up or down."
As soon as the words left his lips, I stopped abruptly. Rikku slammed into me with enough force to knock the wind out of somebody.
"Hey, don't just stop like that! Warn somebody, why don't you?" she complained loudly. I ignored her; it was not the time for the Al Bhed girl's theatrics.
"Up or down?" I wondered out loud.
Wakka, who was the tallest, reached a hand up and felt his way along the ceiling, poking at the old tiles.
"The tiles are all loose, ya? I don't think there's anything up there," he decided.
"Then it's down," Lulu said.
Blindingly bright sunlight
Is what you're yearning for
To the point of blowing all else off
Ride on heaven's drive
I crouched down, examining the fraying carpet carefully. I pulled; the edges of the tattered fabric pulled back easily, revealing a hatch in the floor. I tried to pull it, but the metal door was too heavy for me to lift alone. Wakka and Baralai joined me, and with a loud, protesting creak, the open door slammed against the concrete floor.
The hatch revealed a staircase, made of concrete that looked smooth from years of use. There was no railing, and the sound of running water could be heard faintly from where we were.
"…Water?" Baralai had heard it as well.
"There is a small river nearby this building," Lulu said. "Part of the electricity in this place, originally, might have run by water. It makes sense that there's a river underneath the slaughterhouse."
With that, Lulu cast a small fire spell and held the flame in her hand, descending the stairs first. The darkness melted away from the fireball, and Lulu waited as the rest of us followed her into the inky darkness.
The ground was wet, and something smelled like rotten fish. We went through two doors (one of which was stuck and Wakka had to tackle it to get it open) and then we saw it.
The river was a violent waterway of furious liquid, roaring through the remaining parts of the basement (we assumed it was the basement) and drowning all the rooms.
It was such a loud noise that we had to shout to communicate.
"How the hell are we supposed to get past this?" Rikku screamed.
"I don't know!" Baralai shouted back.
I felt my cell phone buzz in my pocket. It was a text message, from Marza.
'I sent you a text because you can't hear me on the phone at current time. If you want to proceed, one and a half hours must be given up. Also, proceeding requires one person to not continue on. Who does not proceed is not a choice, which will soon become clear. Do you wish to continue?'
I rolled my eyes and answered: Why do you keep asking me questions that you already know the answers to? Please allow us to keep going.
Three minutes after I sent the message, the monstrous onslaught of water stilled, leaving more than half of the basement flooded in a silent ocean of freshwater.
Seven hours and thirty minutes left.
"Great," Rikku said sarcastically. "The river stops flowing like crazy, but it's still completely flooded!"
"We'll have to swim," I said.
"No problem, ya? Tidus, 'Lai, an' me, we can last for a looong time under water!" Wakka enthused. "Rikku, you're a good swimmer too, ya?"
Rikku nodded, then froze. "Wait… Lulu… Lulu can't swim!" We all looked over at the black mage.
"I can so swim!" she huffed. "Why wouldn't I be able to?"
"Because… someone's gotta keep casting water spells at that thing, or else we'll all be crushed by water." Rikku raised a shaking hand and pointed at a sign on the wall. And, of course, Rikku was right.
According to the sign, high-level water magic was the only thing that kept the river stopped for longer than a minute. Right below the sign was a large jewel-like thing, round and turquoise. It glistened in the dim light of Lulu's magic spell. It looked eager, too, to consume more of the magic art that only Lulu could perform.
"Th-the river's flowing again!" Rikku cried.
Of course it was. We couldn't see it yet, but the ground beneath our feet was rumbling. Without thinking, Lulu cried "Waterga!" and sent a torrent of water at the turquoise gem on the wall. Satisfied, the gem glowed happily and the rumbling ceased.
"So then, Lulu's got to stay here and hold off the river," Baralai said quietly.
"…So it would seem," I answered.
Six hours left.
"So, then, should we… ah… dive?" asked Rikku.
"Yeah," I spoke. I looked at the water near my feet. Wakka walked towards Lulu.
"Lulu," he said, his voice thick with emotion. "You're… ah…"
"Be careful, Wakka," she said simply, only a hint of emotion left in her voice. "All of you. And if you don't come back… I'll bring you back and kill you myself!"
Before your fellow travelers take the punishment
I'll get on that brand new ship with you...
Looking for the light, no matter how far
...Go as far as you feel like going
anyway the world is born again
"Yes ma'am!" Wakka hugged her, and she stood up and gave him a lingering kiss before she turned to cast another magic spell, and the rest of us dove into the water.
The water was clear and cool, and there seemed to be a soft light coming from an unseen place. I soon realized that it was the same kind of water they used in a Blitz spheres.
Wakka and Baralai realized it too of course, and Rikku soon afterwards. We swam close to the ceiling, searching for the place we were supposed to surface. Soon, the ceiling separated from the water and we thrust our heads above the water, gasping for breath.
"W-we made it," stuttered Rikku, wringing her hair out.
"For now," Baralai replied. "Yevon knows what—"
Then, a shot rang out through the damp room. Standing in the doorway was Marza. She was holding a gun, the weapon now smoking from the last bullet fired. Her arm was trembling a bit, regret marring her pretty features.
Baralai screamed in pain, clutching one hand tightly to his right arm. Marza's bullet had hit about three inches above his elbow. Nothing vital had been hit, but he would surely bleed to death if he didn't get medical help immediately.
Wakka and Rikku turned quickly to our fallen friend, Wakka stuttering out bits and pieces of sentences, and Rikku crying something about not knowing white magic and being useless. Marza turned to the next room and tried to run, but I followed and grabbed her arm fiercely, refusing to let go.
I was angry.
She had shot my best friend, the one person who was able to talk me into chasing after Yuna all those years ago. The person I'd always trusted most (besides Yuna) and had grown up with. Baralai was my best friend in the world.
And she shot him.
"Marza!" I hissed through my teeth. "Why the fuck did you do that!? This was not something we agreed upon! What happened to fairness, you lying bitch!?" The words that rained out of my mouth were so cruel, I'll always regret saying them. "What happened to those words you said to me!? YOU'RE TRYING TO TAKE AWAY EVERYTHING FROM ME!? FIRST YUNA, NOW BARALAI TOO!? Aren't you the one who said that everyone would be led safely out of this awful place!? Led by you? You're a liar!"
She looked at me with periwinkle eyes full of regret and hurt. "I…" her voice braking as she spoke. "Ray told me… that… he didn't want you to win… He told me to shoot Baralai. He told me to k-kill Baralai. H-he aid that y-you were getting too cl-close to Yuna. But I wouldn't. I t-told him I wouldn't kill someone that important to you… so he told me t-to make him unable to continue… I… I'm so sorry!" The blonde woman burst into tears, pressing her hands against her face.
I relaxed my grip and turned to help my friend, wanted to leave the situation, but she threw herself at me, clinging to my shirt, hiding her face in my chest.
She reminded me so much of Yuna.
I felt a pang of sympathy.
"Marza, I've got to go help Baralai. I'm…" I was suddenly nervous. "I've got to go." I pushed her away and ran back to where my friends were.
"Baralai!" I exclaimed, kneeling beside my friend.
"I'm fine," he said. "Rikku used her headband as a tourniquet."
"Marza!" Wakka called to the next room where Marza was still sobbing. "You said you'd take him out of here to safety, ya?"
"Y-yes," she responded timidly, entering the room.
"Then do it!" Wakka ordered, louder and more powerful than I was used to seeing him. She nodded silently and slung Baralai's good arm over her shoulder, lifted him to his feet, and helped him down a long corridor that shut behind them with a loud noise.
"It's kind of weird," Rikku commented, breaking the deafening silence. "Marza didn't seem like one to cry like that… Huh."
I nodded, cleared my throat, and took off at a run again, with my friends in tow.
Five hours left.
Eventually we came upon a room where the door was bolted shut. Rikku took a few cautious steps ahead of us, reaching for a hairpin to pick the lock.
What she received was the raking of claws across her back.
Take me up to speed
Beyond the breaking point
Leaving the world behind to burn
Ride on heaven's drive
When tomorrow's gone, we can just smile
And get on a brand new ship
"Augh!" Rikku screamed, whirling around to see a Coeurl grinning its catlike grin. "Stupid cat! You are SO going down for this!" Rikku drew out her twin knives and yelled for neither of us to get involved.
"Rikku! You're bleeding!" I called as soon as I caught sight of her scratched backside.
"Cuh-uv-y— E tuh'd lyna!! Crid ib!" The Al Bhed shrieked at me in her native language, bobbing and weaving around the large fiend, slashing at it mercilessly.
"Rikku, you're going to get really hurt!"
"E CYET CRID IB!"
"Jeez! We're wasting time!" Of course, though, Rikku wouldn't listen.
"Acutally, you're not wasting time," said Marza quietly from behind me. "I won't give you the key to the door until Rikku either defeats that thing or loses to it."
"…And if we try to help her?"
"You lose an hour," Marza replied.
"Right," I answered. At this point, asking was pointless. It seemed that Ray would do anything to eat away our time.
"And after this, Rikku will not be able to continue."
I whirled around. "WHAT!?" I hissed through my teeth, glaring at the blonde girl. "Why the hell not?"
"She's injured. If she wants, she could continue, but she'll die in that state. Look."
Of course, Marza was right. Also, it was obvious that, without intervention, Rikku was going to be killed by the catlike fiend.
"Look, five hours or four, it don't make no difference!" Wakka cried angrily. "Rikku's gonna die, ya?" With that, he threw his weapon expertly at the Coeurl, whacking the monster in the head and knocking it out.
Four hours left.
Rikku called, "victory!" and promptly fainted. Wakka and I rushed to her side, but Marza got there first and lifted the unconscious Al Bhed.
"You have four hours remaining. Please continue on," she spoke over her shoulder.
Ride on heaven
Now grab onto the key and run
Get on that ship
Get on
Wakka moved ahead of me and through the next door. I followed behind him, and soon we were running again. Room after room, we ran. We were already in the basement—there were no more hatch doors. The ceiling was cement- no going up, either.
Three and a half hours left.
Wakka ran ahead of me a bit to open the next door when a cage flew down from the ceiling. My phone rang—Marza, of course, was calling.
"What?" I asked harshly. "To get him out, do I have to give you another hour? This is getting old, Marza."
"So you release him then?" she asked calmly.
"No!" Wakka yelled from his prison. "You gotta go find Yuna, ya? Don't worry 'bout me. I'll be fine, ya?"
I looked at him sharply.
"Look, man, I told you to go! Why are you still standing here?" I glanced back at the phone.
"No," I said hesitantly. "I'm not releasing him."
"Very well, then. Goodbye for now." Marza hung up. With one last desperate glance at my friend, I ran past him and through the open door.
It really was a selfless thing of Wakka to do. I mean, I knew he was a good guy, and he really cared about his friends and all, but who knows how long Ray will leave the poor guy in the cage before releasing him?
Even at the start. Squall was so willing to fight a battle he probably knew he'd lose just to keep everyone else going. And the people who stayed behind… they weren't cowards at all. They stood aside so that Yuna could be rescued. Even though Raine, Gippal, and Paine (especially Paine) wanted to come along, they stayed behind without too many words.
Then Lulu had to stay behind, casting magic spells at the crystal in the wall. Waiting alone in the dark until someone told her it was okay to leave. Without any knowledge as to what was going to happen to herself, or to her friends.
Baralai came all the way from his home to help us, and as a reward, he was shot because someone else was jealous of me.
And Rikku, she was something else. Rikku had been terrified since the start, but she kept fighting. She fought because she loved Yuna. She loved Yuna as a cousin, as a sister, and as a best friend. And Rikku had fought for Yuna until she had nothing left.
All these people loved Yuna so much they were willing to put everything on the line. All these sacrifices left me standing near the finish line.
"Everyone," I muttered as I ran towards the next door. "Everything you've given so far… I won't let you down!"
But then I thought of Yuna. Oh Yevon, how much I loved her. I loved her laugh, her mix-matched eyes, and her smile. I loved everything about her. I loved her hands and how they fit so well in mine, I loved her pretty brown hair. Although now I'm sure I would miss pulling on her long braid, she was still so beautiful.
I loved her so much when we started high school. I though it wouldn't be possible to love her even more than then, but somehow, I managed it.
The things I had felt so quickly and fleetingly for Marza in that moment of weakness paled in comparison to everything I had for Yuna.
Three hours left.
The dim hallway I was running down gave way to light as I passed into a smaller room. Marza was standing there, watching her feet.
"What's the catch this time? Do I have to fight you? Are you going to shoot me?" I demanded.
She shook her head, and I regretted the harshness in my words.
"Then why are you here, Marza?" Slowly, she brought her eyes to meet mine. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and she was trembling. Wringing her hands in silent agony. "Marza? What's wrong?"
Her lips were moving, but her words were unclear.
"What?"
"What can I do, Tidus?" she asked miserably.
"Huh?"
"What words do you need to hear so that you'll turn around and take me with you instead? I can't… It's not fair!" She threw herself at me then, almost childishly, clinging to my clothing and hiding in the folds of my shirt.
"It's not fair!" she sobbed. "You love her so much! And she loves you! And I don't know what I'm supposed to do with these feelings!"
I looked at her in shock. Sure, I'd definitely felt something for this woman. She was so much like Yuna—vulnerable, carrying weight, trying to hide her weaknesses.
Maybe, just a little, drowning in herself.
"Marza," I whispered. Yes, there was no doubt that, in another time and place, I could have loved Marza. It would have been so easy to fall for her.
But anything I felt towards Marza couldn't hold a candle to how I felt about Yuna.
"Marza, I'm sorry."
"You… you remind me so much of him," she sniffled. "He was so handsome, and he always said the right thing. His eyes could see all the way to my heart. Elliot. But, I think… I think that you are so different from him, too. You'd do anything to keep Yuna safe. You'd try to never hurt her. You… fight for her."
"Marza, I can't…"
"I think, maybe… I love you! Isn't that horrible? It's horrible; because no matter what I do, or how hard I try, I won't be the person you're trying so hard to reach. Even if I call out to you, you'll always go to her first."
I felt a pang of sadness, knowing she was hurting.
"Marza… I think, if we had met in a different time, a different place… if Yuna wasn't there… in another situation, I'm sure that we could have been together. But, I just can't feel that way. Not for you.
"Yuna means everything to me… I love her so much." Marza tightened her grip on my clothing. "I need her to be complete… and I need her to survive. Yuna is… my life. And when we're done college, I'm going to ask her to marry me."
"Please stop," Marza whispered. But I didn't. I couldn't.
"I'm going to buy her a big house, and I'm going to make her happy."
"Stop," she croaked a little louder.
"And every weekend, we'll get together with all our friends and eat dinner at a local diner."
"Stop…"
"And if we have kids, and our friends have kids, they'll grow up together."
"Tidus, please…"
"And everyday, I'll wake up to see Yuna smiling at me. And she'll look as beautiful to me as she always has, no matter what day it is or how old we are. She'll always be—"
"STOP IT!" Marza fell down to her knees, still hanging on my shirt. "I can't take it! So you're going to be happy beyond belief! So you're going to have kids and stay madly in love forever! So what? Is that it? Are you going to leave me with Ray and Elliot? I know that I'm not your responsibility, but I can't help it! I love you!"
"But I… I don't love you," I muttered. I didn't want to hurt her. She was too much like Yuna. Her sad eyes, her mannerisms, the way her hands trembled as she tried to speak words much braver than how she felt.
But I couldn't lie to her, either.
That would be the worst betrayal of all.
"I know!" she bawled. "I know you don't! I know you can't! But I can't do anything except for try! Because if I don't try, then I'll still be trapped here! No matter what, I've lost!"
"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'm so, so sorry. But Yuna is the only one I've ever wanted to be with. Did you know, Marza? You say I'm like Elliot… did you know, though, that you're just like Yuna?"
"I don't want to be," she cried.
"I know… but you are. Your eyes both have the same hidden sadness. You've both lost pieces of your heart to the cruelties of this world. You're both gunners. You both protect whatever you have with all your heart. That's why you are here, isn't it? You're protecting your own feelings.
"But, unlike her, you are willing to let whatever is told to you become the truth. Are you sure that whoever this 'Elliot' is happens to be wherever you think he is? Are you sure that Ray isn't bluffing to keep controlling you?
"Are you sure that you can't beat him instead of listening to him?"
She looked up at me.
"I…"
"I'm sure, Marza, that you can take down whatever or whoever Ray throws at you. I'm sure that you can make your own story a happy one, by no one else's hand but your own. You don't need me."
"But I… I want…"
I hugged her. I couldn't help it. She was aching for someone, anyone who could give her a hand.
It wasn't a romantic hug, I just didn't have that kind of feeling for her.
"And right now, Marza, I have to go find Yuna and make our own happy ending."
She nodded and released me hesitantly.
The blonde woman stepped aside as I ran past her, through the door. I ran faster than before—I knew I was getting very close.
I burst through one final door, and there she was.
My angel, my life, my princess. My everything.
My Yuna.
She looked up, probably expecting Marza. Her eyes widened, and in one smooth motion she was on her feet running towards me. She threw her arms around my waist and refused to let go.
"I knew you'd make it," she whispered contentedly.
"Of course," I murmured into her hair. It had not even been a day since we'd been together, but it felt like a long and painful lifetime.
I breathed in her sweet scent, took in how well we fit together, felt her fingers on my back, holding on to everything at once.
"Oh, Yevon," I whispered, unable to stopper the tears that started falling from my eyes. "Yuna. I love you. I love you so much."
"I love you, too," she answered, reaching up to wipe away my tears. "Don't cry, Tidus. We're together again, right?"
"We are…"
"So that means tomorrow is still going to come."
Then we heard it. The door creaked open. We weren't going to leave here without one more last shot from the enemy that just refused to die.
Ray stood, looking angry. In one hand, he held a sword. In the other, he held a knife. And he was not happy.
Oh, no. We weren't going to be able to leave until one last string of fate was pulled mercilessly from the fabric of time. I could almost smell the blood about to be spilled. I tightened my hold on Yuna.
End of Chapter 9
bloodredx: this was a fun chapter to edit. I'm so lucky to get to be the first one to read the chapters. ((insert evil grin here))
Sahrah: Oh, yes. Well, cliffhangers are oh-so-fun, aren't they? Muahahahaha. You'll all just have to wait… something BAD is going to happen! As if it could get any worse! See, Marza's crappy life just got crappier, didn't it? I told you bad things happen to characters I control. It's just the way things are. Oh, that's right… my birthday is on Monday, July 30th. I'll be turning 15. Just putting it out there.
bloodredx: Also, an announcement. Sahrah and I are writing a story together. It will be called A Drop of Sound (acoustic version) and since I'm working with Sahrah, it's bound to be awesome. Lots of awesome music, romance, and cruel twists and turns… everything you'd expect when my dear friend and I put our heads together. So, review this chapter, and by the time the next one comes Sahrah can probably direct you to chapter 1. By the way, it will be a Prêtear fanfic, and it will be coming from our joint account Bloody Leonheart
Sahrah: (Why are you using my fanfic to advertise...?) Yes, absolutely check it out! With my talent and her talent combined, the possibilities are endless. And they result in a lot of talent! Be sure to keep your eyes out! And, more importantly... see that little button in the lefthand bottom corner? It's a review button. And it's looooonely. I think you should push it.
