Chapter 9: Ocean Soul
The bright afternoon sun warmed the sand on Besaid shore where Trista lay snuggled against Vidina's bare muscular chest, watching the ocean waves as they crashed in the distance. It wasn't the first time she had disobeyed her parents—in fact, it had become almost a regular occurrence, lately. So why did she feel so guilty about it this time? The last thing she wanted was to go to class and put up a façade. Everything had changed last night. Her life would never be the same.
"Hey, whatcha thinkin'?"
Lifting her head, she gazed into her boyfriend's big brown eyes and smiled. He was so damn sexy. From the dimples on his cheeks to his perfectly gelled ginger hair, everything about him made her melt. But, his smile—oh, his smile got her to do naughty things she didn't think she'd be ready to engage in a year ago. And if her father knew, he'd kill him, especially since her father and her boyfriend's father, Wakka, had a strained relationship since before she was born. All she knew was it had something to do with her father joining the Goers and selling out.
"Tris?"
"Hmm? Oh sorry, I just spaced out."
"I can tell." Vidina gave her his famous sexy smile and ran his thumb over her bottom lip, making her heart flutter. "I asked whatcha were thinkin'."
"Before or now?" she asked, raising a brow.
He chuckled, moving his fingers from her lips to the knot tying up her halter-top at the back of her neck. "You're thinkin' dirty thoughts, aren't ya?"
"Is this your weird way of seducing me?"
"Is it workin'?"
Why did he have to be so irresistible? "C'mon we can't do this here. It's the middle of the day on a public beach."
"That hasn't stopped us before," he said, fumbling with the knot in her halter.
Trista grabbed his hand and gently guided it away from its task. "It was late at night in a much more secluded spot."
"I can always do like the last time and get us a room at an inn."
There were definitely perks of having a lover at the legal age of eighteen. It gave them options they otherwise wouldn't have. As much as she would love for him to bring her over the edge of ecstasy like he had done several times in the past few months, it wouldn't change what was ailing her at the moment. She had made the trip to Besaid for a reason. Yes, part of it was to spend time with Vidina, but mainly she wanted to practice summoning Leviathan. "I'll have to take a rain check on that offer."
"Aww, c'mon babe," he groaned, tucking a strand of her blond hair behind her ear. "We've made out on the beach practically all mornin'. Ya got me really worked up."
The tent in his brightly colored beach shorts made his claim rather obvious. Normally, she wouldn't deny him some time in between the sheets—after all, she had become quite addicted in the art of making love to him—but this wasn't the time or place. She had more important things to attend to. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't come all this way for a booty call."
Truthfully, she expected him to be irritated by her comment, but that wasn't the case. He looked almost wounded by her words, his face dropping along with the tent in his shorts. "I'm sorry if ya got the wrong impression. I'm not in dis just for sex. Y'know I love ya, right?"
"Is this some kind of guilt trip?" The moment those words left her lips she regretted them, realizing how insulting they had been. Judging from Vidina's sour expression, he wasn't about to give her the opportunity to apologize for them either. What was she thinking? Bah, she was just like her father. "Wait, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that—I just—I thought you were—I'm dealing with some heavy stuff and I'm not thinking clearly."
"I'd better go," he suggested, rolling on his side in an effort to stand.
"Wait—Vidina, I'm sorry!" Trista leapt to her feet as her boyfriend prepared to storm off and grabbed him by the arm, attempting to halt his quick retreat. "I know you love me and I love you, too."
"You better get back to class. Ya shouldn't skip school."
Ignoring his words which were surely meant as a jab at her age, she tugged on his arm more forcefully than before, determined for him to hear her out. "None of this is gonna matter if I don't find a way to harness this power I have!"
Now that got his attention. "Whatcha talkin' 'bout?" He frowned, yanking his arm out from her grasp.
"I can't tell you everything. It's kind of a family secret."
He looked at her with one eyebrow raised—an expression usually reserved for Wakka when he went off on a drunken rant. "What's going on, Tris?
Feeling cornered, she sucked in a deep breath and prepared to choose her words carefully. She couldn't tell him the whole truth, especially after agreeing with her family last night to keep a tight lid on things, but she had to give him something significant, or she may lose him forever. "Promise me, you won't tell anyone what I'm gonna tell you. Not even your parents, especially your parents."
His confused expression turned into one of concern. "Fine, I promise."
"I'm serious."
"Is my word not good enough for ya?"
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." She paused, hesitant to even give a vague explanation of what her father had revealed to her, worried it may still not be enough to satisfy her boyfriend's curiosity. "Spira's in danger. My family is in this deep. And I may be the only one who can save us all."
She half expected him to laugh it off as a joke, but from the way his mouth gaped open at her confession, she was certain he hadn't taken it that way. "You serious 'bout dis?"
"You think I'm lying?"
"I dunno what to think," he shrugged. "It's pretty out there. But I do remember my mother talkin' 'bout some strange spell ya cast the other day."
"You're right, it's pretty wild. But I'm telling you the truth."
"Then, ya need to tell me everythin'."
"I can't do that! I've already said too much. I may have put all of our lives in danger."
Vidina dug his heels into the sand where he stood and let out a long breath, suggesting he was more stressed out than normal. "You said ya came out here to do somethin' important. What was it?"
Well, she had come this far. She might as well disclose this part to him, since he would most likely be sticking around for the show. "I came here because this island isn't very populated. And I needed to be near the sea to summon a primal."
"Summon a what?"
The stunned look on his face as he staggering back a few steps almost made her giggle. "A primal called Leviathan."
"Ya can't summon anythin' without the fayth and they don't exist anymore."
If he only knew. "I'm not a traditional summoner. I'm not using the fayth. I'm summoning it through sheer will."
"Now dis I gotta see with my own eyes."
"You and me both," she muttered.
"Wait, so ya never actually seen dis thing?"
"No."
"So, how do ya know you can summon it?"
"I know—bah, just trust me! I can summon it. And I intend to do it today."
No longer interested in engaging in the back in forth with her boyfriend, she stormed off toward the edge of the beach where the sea met the sandy shore. He had distracted her entirely too much already and she needed to continue with the task she set out to do in the first place.
"I'm here for ya, babe." Vidina stood beside her and gave her a reassuring smile.
"Just stay quiet while I do this, please."
Focusing her attention on the sea, she concentrated on a strange feeling inside like she had done before. This feeling was somewhat foreign to her. It was like a longing coupled with sorrow and little bit of rage. She wasn't sure where it was coming from, but nonetheless, it was there. And so, she surrendered to whatever force was churning her emotions into tumultuous waves.
The sea sloshed around like before, but something was different this time. It looked as if it were bubbling to a chaotic boil. In a matter of moments, the water shot up at least twenty feet into the air accompanied by a loud wail. When the water receded, an enormous blue serpent towered over them, flapping a giant pair of fins as though they were wings. Captivated by the summon, Trista studied how the droplets of water slid down the scales of its dragon-like head and how its long whiskers gently swayed in the summer breeze.
"Holy shit," Vidina said in awe. "That thing is huge!"
Mesmerized by the unique looking creature, Trista unconsciously stepped into the sea and began wading through the water toward the majestic serpent.
"No—Tris, stop!"
Vidina's desperate plea snapped her out of her trance-like state. She stopped dead in her tracks, now realizing she was up to her waist in water. "It's okay! It won't hurt me!" she hollered over her shoulder, refusing to tear her eyes away from the primal.
"You don't know that!"
"You're so beautiful," she whispered.
Leviathan lowered its massive head toward the water, stopping inches away from where she stood. She could feel the serpent's warm breath against her skin. In a way, she understood why Vadina was all but freaking out about her being near this monstrous creature. To the average person, she was no doubt, standing next to a gigantic sea serpent. However, she sensed this primal would do her no harm—in fact, she sensed its protective nature toward her.
"Why me? What makes me so special?" she asked, reaching out to pet the creature's scaly snout as if it would somehow answer her question. "You're gonna help me defeat the realm keepers, aren't you?"
In a surprise response, the blue serpent let out a strange, soft sounding, grunt.
Trista chuckled in reply, carefully caressing the summon's rigid surface. "I'll take that as a yes. You better get going before my boyfriend back there has a stroke. We'll meet again, my friend."
With that promise, Leviathan pulled back and shot up into the air before plunging back into the sea several feet from the shore.
Beaming with pride from her monumental accomplishment, Trista returned to the beach with the bottom half of her body soaking wet and leapt into her lover's warm embrace. "That was amazing! I really did it! I summoned Leviathan!"
"You sure did," he replied, squeezing her so tightly against his chest it began to hurt her ribs. "And if you want your loved ones to live, you'll use it against Zanarkand's keepers."
Her heart froze and her muscles tensed. She knew something was off about the way he was clutching her when she returned to shore. This was clearly no longer her boyfriend. "You're not Vidina. W-Who are you?"
The strong arms gripping her eased as whatever force was possessing her boyfriend's body pulled back to look her in eye. Her blood chilled when she was met with a pair of black soulless depths. "Your father knows me as Bahamut. We're aware of his plot with Zanarkand's keepers."
Meeting one of these beings was certainly unexpected—not to mention, terrifying. Battling the fear gripping her soul, she struggled to find her voice in an effort to protect those she loved. "H-He's not siding with them anymore."
"Good. As long as he keeps his word to us then people won't start dying. But, if he doesn't, then your precious lover will be the first to go. Remember, Trista, no one in Spira has to die."
Before she even had a chance to respond, the black callous eyes invading her boyfriend's sockets rolled back into his head as he sank to the ground in a heap beside her feet.
"Vidina!" Trista knelt beside him and carefully rolled him onto his back. Her heart pounded wildly. Those vile creatures were threatening to harm people she loved. They had even less time than her parents had calculated. She couldn't lose Vidina.
Her boyfriend looked up at her with his big beautiful brown eyes, confused and clearly in pain from the way he was wincing. "What happened? Did that Leviathingy attack me?"
"No," she said defeated, knowing she would now have to tell him everything if she wanted to protect him. "You're no longer safe. You have to come back with me to Luca. My parents need to know what happened. I'll explain everything to you once we get there, but we have to leave now."
