Chapter 6.
The New Lead.
Any normal person would struggle with the stairs that lead to the Mi'ihen Highroad. But not Tidus. They were a cinch. He was stood at the halfway point, overlooking Luca and the ocean. The few benches that were scattered around were occupied by locals; a mother with her child chasing a balloon, an older couple enjoying the morning sun.
It had been a week since Tidus arrived at Luca. Apart from his "almost" moment in the market, there was no sign of her. He'd shown people the sphere, the image paused on Yuna's face, and asked if people had seen her, with them saying they hadn't. This wasn't an easy task, but Tidus was excited to, hopefully, meet her.
Taking one last look at the horizon, Tidus set off up the remainder of the stairs. At the top, he spotted a Chocobo handler, trying to keep the large bird from taking the seeds from his pocket. Whenever he moved away, the chocobo would follow and take a nosedive in search of treats. It was comical, and Tidus couldn't help but laugh as he approached the struggling man.
"Need a hand?"
"Uhh-" The man looked agitated, elbowing the intruding beak, "I- I think I'm good. Will you stop?" He turned to the giant bird, who didn't expect the sudden change in tone. His head swung upward, eyes wide and feathers ruffled in slight fear.
Tidus learned that the chocobo was young, having only just left the farm to start his training as a ride along the highroad, hence the less discipline compared to the other creatures being rented out for the long walk. Giving the yellow feathers a stroke, Tidus couldn't help but feel some sympathy for the handler but chuckled at the hard time he was having from the creature.
"Guess we're both on an adventure huh?" Tidus quietly spoke, which resulted in a relaxed coo from the bird. "Anyway, I ogtta go. Good luck!" he called back to the handler.
The Mi'ihen Highroad was long and winding. There was an Al Bhed shop halfway, and Tidus figured he could stop to rest there. He spotted two small children playing with a Blitzball, and stopped, placed his bag next to a ruin, and played keep-ups with them to entertain them. They hadn't recognised him, but when Tidus got a little too excited showing the Blitz skills and executed The Jecht Shot, their parents came over, eager to talk to him. The children soon lost interest, taking the Blitzball and moving away from the grown ups to continue their game of pass, something they could easily do when compared to the Pro Blitz ballers' skills.
"When are you going back to Zanarkand?" One father asked, "The team isn't the same without you."
Instinctively, his shoulder twinged, and he moved his hand to his shoulder. "I'm taking a break."
"But you're so good!" The other father quipped, "Why would the team bench you? I'd say you're as good as your old man!"
At that, Tidus turned to pick up his bag, his shoulder suddenly aching. His face couldn't hide his emotions; his usual smile turned into a slight frown. He turned back to the men, thanked them for their support and whistled to the kids to say goodbye, and waved, returning to his long trek up the highroad.
There were many people on the highroad; families gathering for picnics, enjoying the sun on their faces, rented chocobos' flittering between a walk and a struggling fly, being that their wings were only big enough to master a glide through the air for a few seconds, couples with their dogs, guards from the Chocobo Knights were standing guard to defend from any fiends that were found wandering around. Tidus had stopped to talk to many people, showing the sphere of Yuna, paused on her face to see if anyone had recognised her.
"Say," an older woman quipped, "Didn't she pass through here not too long ago?"
"Did she?"
"I recognise her…"
At this response, Tidus' tired mood lifted slightly, eyes darting between the couple. "You've seen her?"
"I think so hon, about a week or so ago."
Tidus tried to not get his hopes up, his experience in Luca when he got too ahead of himself came flooding back. He remembered how happy he was that he'd seen her, only for it to be someone else entirely. He remembered how crushed he felt and didn't want the same thing to happen again. "You're certain you saw her?"
"Pretty certain. She was alone, but seemed like she was always looking for someone, you know?" The old woman turned to her husband, "You remember her, right?"
"I don't remember what we did yesterday…" The old man apologetically glanced to Tidus, a small shrug on his shoulders. Tidus could only glance at him, hope rising in his chest.
"Young man, you're probably best off asking at Rin's Travel Agency. They may know where she was headed."
"Thank you," Tidus whispered, placing the sphere back in his pocket. The sun was starting to set; the small waves on the ocean caused glimmers of sunlight to bounce back to the shore, creating a magical warm aura along the highroad. The old temple ruins in the water were shadowed by the sun, the sound of waves crashing on the cliffs below was relaxing to Tidus, and he'd consciously made the decision to spend time outside once he'd booked a room. He was only staying for a few days, not a week like Luca, before he planned to move on to the Mushroom Rock Road toward the Djose temple.
Once the room was booked, Tidus took his belongings and placed them on the bed, changing into this Besaid shorts and light cotton tee. He wanted to appreciate the calm mood of the early evening before the night turned chilly and there was only moonlight. When he got to the front desk, he ordered some food to go to his room, nothing hot so it wouldn't spoil.
Outside the travel agency, the mood was better than he'd hoped for. The sun was closer to the horizon, creating orange, red and yellow bursts to scatter across the clouds. There were crickets chirruping in the warmth, singing their song to add to the scene. Tidus walked to the edge of the cliffs, the view of the temple clear and in focus. He removed his shoes, feeling the grass between his toes and took a deep breath. There was a small scent of citrus fruits mixed with jasmine night blossoms.
"You're coming back here with me…" Tidus whispered to himself.
The next day rolled around sooner than Tidus wanted, with the early morning sunlight beaming through the partly closed curtains. Cursing himself for being late to bed the night before, he stood and abruptly closed the material, creating a warm cave like room. He flopped back into bed, grabbing some more rest before he would have to get up.
The night before, as the moon was rising in the sky, Tidus was still outside by the cliffs. The owner of the travel agency, Rin, had bought a few tables out to place a few food samples for the agency's tenants and played some music spheres over a sound stage to create a small gathering. The food Tidus had ordered for his room was bought out for him to eat by one of the workers. Hours had passed, and Tidus, yawning and stretching, hadn't realised the time. Deciding bed was best, he picked up his trash and placed it in the nearby bin, went back to his room and collapsed in bed.
Now, however, matter how much he tried to, sleep wouldn't take over his mind. He tossed and turned, trying to achieve some comfortable positions, but it wouldn't work, his body was awake. Accepting his fate, he slowly rose, grabbing a clean set of clothes and went to shower.
Once he was clean, fed and set to go, he approached the lady working on the front desk and asked if she knew of Yuna and, if she did, where she was headed.
"Yeah, she stayed here for one night," the woman replied, "but I don't think she told us where she was going." She scratched her head then, as if that would help shake any more information. "To be honest, she looked scared? Kinda like she was hiding from someone, you know?"
Yeah, ok." Tidus sighed, at least he knew he was on some sort of road toward her, but was he going the wrong way? "Thanks for your help."
Once he'd left the travel agency, he headed to the other end of the Mi'ihen Highroad. There were more people about, familiar faces he'd already approached and questioned about Yuna, and new faces he hadn't seen before. No one was really interested in helping, and those that were hadn't seen her. After a long day, he decided that he would go back to the travel agency for some proper rest. There were clouds in the sky, so spending the night out would be a bad choice. He headed to his room once he'd ordered some food, musing over whether to head towards the Djose temple, or to head back to Kilika.
Spira was big, huge, and Yuna was only one person. The hope that he would find her was slowly depleting, and Tidus could only dream what he would find her, save her from Seymour, and treat her how she deserved to be treated. This was a wild goose chase. He was getting nowhere and fast. He could go back to Zanarkand; it was a big city, and Seymour wouldn't know where to look for him.
"Except for when I'm playing Blitzball." he stated, matter-of-factually to himself. He was the star player of the Zanarkand Abes! The most successful team in Spira. It wouldn't be difficult for Seymour to find him. No, if he had to fight, he'd rather fight for Yuna, with her by his side.
The next couple of days went by pretty much the same; Tidus would wander along the Mi'ihen Highroad, ask people about the girl in the sphere, be disappointed when they would negatively respond, then move on to the next leg of his journey. He'd made it to the Djose temple, with Mushroom Rock Road not showing much promise as there were only armed guards and a few stragglers.
He'd explored what he could of the temple, having now been transformed to the Machine Factions base of operations and housed its leader, Gippal. Tidus was friends with him, he'd stayed in Zanarkand for a while to help renovate some of the stadium there. He knew that if anyone would've spotted her, it would be him. Tidus was sat outside the temple, munching away at some salted crackers when he heard his name called from across the way.
"What's up my man?" Gippal called, his purple and silver jump suit covered in small patches of grease. It looked like he'd been getting down and dirty to fix some machina.
"Gippal!" Tidus stood, wiping off the small salt granules from his pants.
"How long you been out here?" Gippal queried, standing on one leg, and raising an eyebrow.
"Not long," Tidus replied, "I was just taking in the sights."
"A beauty, isn't it?" Gippal asked, turning to admire the sight of the temple. He stood for a few seconds before turning his attention back to his comrade. "I heard you were asking for me. What's up?"
"Uhh..." How could he word it? "I'm looking for someone." He reached into his pocket and dug out the sphere. He went to hand it to Gippal, but when he saw the black smudges on his hands, he quickly changed his mind. "I'll hold it, if that's ok?"
"Hey, no problem." Gippal raised his hands to show willing, "Would probably slip and break anyway."
Tidus decided that he would play the whole sphere, not just show the paused image of Yuna's face. Gippal inspected the round object as close as she could, the glow of the magical liquid reflecting on his face. Once the sphere had stopped, and the closeup of Yuna's face was still before cutting out, Gippal leaned back, placing one hand on his chin, the other on his hip.
"That who you're looking for?" Gippal asked, looking Tidus square in the eyes.
"That's her." Tidus replied and placed the sphere in his Besaid backpack he'd purchased from Luca. Gippal, who was adjusting his eyepatch, made a face of small recognition.
"I know her."