Chapter Eleven: A Man behind the Curtain
Tidus and Yuna left Besaid Island early and traveled to Kilika Island in just a matter of minutes.
Walking out onto the platformed areas, Tidus breathed in and was welcomed by the aroma of the Desega beans that were made into a rich fine coffee, when processed. It was intoxicating, made you delirious if you took in too much of it, but Tidus loved it.
Yuna smiled seeing him enjoying himself and took the moment herself to take in the air of the aroma.
"Well this is a surprise. I see the rumors are true."
Tidus opened his eyes and saw a dark-skinned woman walk down the platform to the landing where they were still situated.
Lady Donna of Kilika, former High Summoner.
She stopped short of Tidus, looking him up and down. "You have returned from the dead."
Tidus nodded. He never had really liked Donna. He felt she was too full of herself to be anything compared to Yuna, as far as the Summoning-thing went.
Donna turned to Yuna. "News travel fast between the islands. As does the news for your most recent quest, Lady Yuna."
Yuna, being as kind-hearted and polite as she was, smiled and nodded. "Then you must know of what we're looking for. Is there any place on the island that might be a likely place for one of these objects to be in?"
Donna smirked, "If I knew the existence of such an object still residing on my island, do you really believe I would let you have it?"
Donna, same as always. Tidus thought, shaking his head.
Yuna looked at her carefully. "I've always believed we had the same goal as Summoners and same goals as regular people, now, Lady Donna. You aren't petty, you believe in doing the right thing as much as I do."
Lady Donna's smile turned into a sneer. "Maybe, maybe not. To answer your question, I have not encountered nor have I been told of an object of such obscurity exists on Kilika."
Yuna nodded, "May we look?"
Lady Donna sighed and shrugged, "You may, for all the good it'll do you."
Yuna bowed, "Thank you, Lady Donna."
Lady Donna didn't return the courteous gesture; instead she turned and walked away, muttering something vulgar underneath her breath.
After getting materials, Tidus and Yuna went into the jungle, and found their road covered almost entirely in fiends. The further they went, however, nothing extraordinary or out of the ordinary occurred nor was anything witnessed by either of them. As they arrived at the temple where they had received Yuna's fire-aeon, Ifrit, their search was becoming less and less fruitful.
After coming out of the temple, Tidus sighed aloud, shaking his head.
"Nothing."
Yuna too sighed out of disappointment. "Looks like it."
The sun was setting over the horizon and the both of them had decided to head back to the village to get rest before making for Luca to meet with the others.
As Yuna was getting herself ready for bed in the room adjacent to their room, Tidus lay outstretched on the floor, looking up at the ceiling, deep in thought.
Closing his eyes, Tidus reflected with a smile of the past couple of days since his reunion with Yuna. All the days since that time seemed to stretch out to that particular moment. Recently, Tidus had been questioning on whether or not it had been a good idea to hold out as long as he had in getting back together with Yuna. However, those doubts faded away as the events that had unfolded reminded him the importance of his absence and why there was great importance of the mission they were on.
Tidus sighed, rolled to his side, and opened his eyes, reflecting more deeply on how grave the situation still is. Tidus' eyes soon set upon the small bag Yuna had been carrying with her that lay on the floor of the room. Curiosity over coming him, Tidus picked himself up off the floor and walked over and then knelt down as he opened the bag to find a number of glowing spheres inside the bag. Looking at the strange things, Tidus soon remembered Yuna using one when they were fighting, along with Wakka, against the crab-like fiend. She had changed outfits, as well as weapons, and had strange unique abilities. Tidus, once again, shook his head in marvel at how Yuna had changed since his absence.
Looking behind him at the door where Yuna was behind, still occupied in getting ready for bed; Tidus turned back to the small bag. He lifted one of the spheres, turning it slowly as he examined it in his hand. It was as light as air yet firm. Inside, it swirled with multiple colors and had a radiating glow. Its glow was becoming brighter and brighter the longer he held it and soon it engulfed the entire room with light.
"Tidus, the bathroom's read if you need-" Yuna began but stopped short as she saw Tidus shining brightly, his clothes coming off in sections and soon, as the light faded, new ones replaced the ones he had previously donned. Yuna held a hand to her mouth, chuckled, and then clung to the door as laughter erupted from her.
"What?" Tidus asked. He then looked down and his face went pale as he saw his clothes had been replaced and now he was wearing a bright blue dress that clung to his body. Sections along the sides of his legs were stripped as well as an opening going down from his collarbone to his navel. A red heart appeared in the middle of his chest. In his hand a pair of cards with the same suit appeared.
Yuna, after regaining her breath, wiped a tear from her eye. "I see you've discovered the Lady Luck Dressphere. Looks good."
"How do I change back!" Tidus looked all around at himself in sheer panic.
Yuna grinned, "I don't know, maybe you can't."
Tidus scowled, "Very funny."
Soon, Yuna helped him get back to his previous appearance and teased him some more before the two of them retired for the night.
The next day, with Tidus telling Yuna not to say anything to the others on where his curiosity led him last night; the two arrived at Luca to meet with the others.
At the Luca stadium, they soon found Shuyin, Lenne, Lucas, and Bern waiting. All of them didn't look any better than when Tidus and Yuna had left them at Mushroom Rock.
"No luck I take it?" Tidus said as they came up to them.
Lucas shook his head, "I didn't expect to find much at Bevelle and Guadosalem had nothing more to offer."
"The Ronso tried to help us all they could," said Lenne, "But a storm came in and we felt we searched as much as we could. Zanarkand didn't leave much clues, either."
Tidus sighed and nodded, disappointed.
"How about you two?" Asked Shuyin.
Tidus looked up and gave a cocky smile, "Well…"
Bern clapped her hands together and jumped up and down. "You found something! Didn't you!"
Yuna then dug through her bag and brought out the odd little golden object, she held it out for the four of them to see.
"What on Spira is this? Is it one of the three said items?" Lucas asked as he grazed the rim of the object with his finger.
Tidus shrugged as he sat down next to Bern. "We don't know. It could be."
"Well, hopefully the other four will have found something and then we can compare and see if this, what ever it is, connects to what ever they find, right?" Yuna asked.
Tidus nodded, "That's the plan, as of right now."
Unbeknownst to Tidus and the others, a Comm-Camera whirred and floated behind them.
On a viewing screen viewing the conversation Tidus and the others were having, a man veiled in the darkness of the room he was in, put a hand to his chin as he thought over what he had heard.
So, they have found one… A smile, then, crept on to his face. Little do they know that I have the remaining…
To be continued…
A/N: I know this one is short and, albeit, uneventful but I'm trying to get my composure back and find my flow with this story once more. Also, sorry to those who've been waiting on this for a long time. Rest assured, this story is at the top of my list of ones that I'm going to put a lot of more effort into, so, more to come! Q-n-P
