Coast City Junon

When I think of coastal cities I think of Luca: wide open space, flocks of gulls overhead in blue skies, ships coming entering and leaving port, lots of people, noise, ocean breeze hitting your face, the smell of sea salt almost everywhere you go...

If Luca was one end of a spectrum, then Junon was the other side: the lower part of the city we entered into was like a smaller scale Midgar slum. It was so run-down, the upper city acted like a huge shadow, darkening the city, the air was thick and choked but was still clearer than the Midgar slums. It was noisy and bust, certainly, but the atmosphere was entirely different from what I was familiar with. I already knew just how different this world was from Spira... I suppose part of me hoped that somewhere wasn't as damaged by Shinra.

It was starting to hit sunset when we arrived, so the orange glow of the sun was hitting the city from the coast. Not that it seemed like much of a beach from a quick glance. This whole part of the city seemed quite small actually; there wasn't even a harbour. That was probably on the other side of the city and we probably had to access it from the upper part of Junon. All that remained was to figure out how to get there.

I wanted to explore this part of the city, and we needed to get an idea of the layout, so we split off to learn about the place more. Well, the others did. I actually headed straight for the beach to see the ocean.

When my boots hit the sand I did feel... I felt sad. The sand was soggy, dark, honestly half of the beach was just rock as well, the smell was awful: a salty smog that caught in the back of my throat. The water was a murky colour to match the sand, huge metal pillars sticking out of it to support the structures above. It was cold from the breeze, an icy chill that was almost cutting. I wrapped my arms around me, feeling the cold through my jacket.

It was just... so different. Different from everything I'd known. Besaid's beaches were so calm and beautiful. You could see the bottom of the ocean the waters were so clear, the sand was so white it almost reflected the sun. Everything was so fresh, full of energy, full of life... it was so different. People were always on the beaches, playing the water, practising Blitzball, fishing... there was always people. Always. There was no one here. There was no noise, no people, nothing. It was awful to see. I didn't realise just how much I'd be affected by this...

I know I was a world away from Spira. This planet was... the more I saw of it the more amazed and astounded and horrified I became. Progress changed landscapes but... there was no need for this.

"Ha!" The girl from the woods, Yuffie, near enough jumped onto my back after sneaking up on me. After we had settled down in the camp she appeared more open with us but I couldn't blame her for still acting a little guarded when we asked about her motives. When she jumped on me I gasped a little before smiling at her in greeting. "Caught you slacking."

"Yeah, guess I am," I gave a half-laugh and went back to staring at the ocean. Yuffie stood with me, stretching her arms. "I've never been to Junon before. Just wanted to see this."

"Yup. Gotta be proud of the Shinra, right?" Yuffie responded. She turned her head to me. "Where you from, anyway? I never seen you in Wutai." There it was again. I suppose there were some physical traits we both shared.

"I'm not from Wutai," I shrugged. "I'm... not from there anyway."

"Oh, so you're one of those 'dark and mysterious past' types?" Yuffie teased and jabbed my side with her elbow.

"Believe me I wish it was simpler."

"Well it's simpler if you just, you know... tell people?" She leaned over, a cheeky smile on her face. I laughed and shook my head.

"Well you can tell us what your plan for fighting Shinra is," I countered half-playfully. She was keeping her reasons to herself, mostly, all that we knew is that she was fighting against Shinra. Of course we hadn't known each for long but I was already acting weary around Angel, I really didn't want to be keeping an eye on another person. Still Yuffie was only a teenager, and seemed rather cautious of us as well. I did my best to talk to her and befriend her in the short space of time we'd known one another, since I pretty much brought her into the team anyway. Still she reminded me so much of Rikku.

We heard a scream from further out in the water and I squinted, seeing the water splash around frantically. The scream sounded young and panicked and I immediately knew it was a child. My head snapped to Yuffie and she looked just as shocked.

"Get help," I ordered and proceeded to sprint across the length of the beach and into the water.

The water itself got incredibly deep suddenly and I was swimming as fast as I could to reach the child. It was a young girl and she was losing consciousness quickly. I had already noticed something lurking under the water, circling us. I grabbed the girl quickly and backed out to shallow waters, the creature coming after us. It was some huge fish-like beast that rose out of the sea and screeched as we hit the shallows. I dragged the girl to the beach and gained enough distance to keep her safe but she had already passed out. I turned my attention to the beast that had forced itself to the shore to attack.

I took a breath and focused on my materia. It glowed in my pocket and the magic travelled up my body and into my left hand. I fired the Matra Magic at the beast, directly hitting its face. It reeled back and gave me enough time to go and throw a couple of punches into it. It was pretty slow in the shallows so I could get around it as it flailed around, shifting its weight to hit me. It managed to throw itself into me, knocking me back and I quickly fired another load of Matra Magic at it. That seemed to knock it back, so I shouldered it back, throwing some of my life force into for a bit more kick.

A bolt of lightning shot out from behind me, hitting the creature, and a round of bullets were fired into it. Afterwards a large shuriken stuck itself into it before Yuffie darted past me and yanked it out, flipping back and backing off. Cloud ran in and struck it with his sword while Barret kept his distance and fired his gun arm. Between the four of us we made short work of the creature as it was already the the disadvantage of being out the water.

Once we had taken care of it, I circled it to make sure it was definitely dead. That was when we heard someone yelling. It was panicked, older man. We turned to see him rush towards the unconscious girl. I was already making my way towards them.

"Priscilla!" He cried, dropping to his knees and propping the girl up in his arms. He leaned over her, ear over her heart. He then hovered his hand over her mouth for a few moments. "She's... she's not breathing! She's not breathing"

"Calm down," I knelt beside them and stared the man in the eyes. I tried to be reassuring and calm and it seemed to work. The man still looked fearful for the girl's life but nowhere near hysterical. "Let me see her." He nodded slowly and carefully passed me the girl. I held her and moved my fingers to under her nose. No breath. I checked her pulse on her jugular vein. I couldn't feel anything.

I rolled her head to the side and watched her nose and mouth for any water coming out. Once I was certain it had drained I placed her flat on her back and started to perform chest compressions. I practised this far more than I had actually performed it on people; Blitzaball training required that you knew how to resuscitate someone in cases like these. Honestly it was more common during training and when players were practising to hold their breath than it ever was during a game. In cases like that the offending team risked disqualification. It was why training always had to be supervision. I spotted Yuna a couple of times when she started to learn, before I started to travel Spira again, before she ran off to join the Gullwings.

I continued the compressions and opened her airways, breaking to give her breaths of air and then continuing. I checked for her breaths and doubled checked her pulse until, thankfully, she cough harshly but remained unconscious. I waiting a moment, feeling shallow breaths. I looked over to the man, his still still coloured with worry.

"She's breathing. Where does she live?" I asked. The man nearly collapsed in relief.

"Oh thank you! Thank you!" He said. "Please, bring her this way! We don't live too far from the beach."

I lifted the girl up and started to carry her off the beach. We arrived at a little house that felt not too far from the shores, small and already crowded feeling. The man directed me to her bed and I laid her down, making sure she was wrapped up warm.

"Check her regularly," I rhymed off. "When she's awake, make sure she's drinking water and make sure she gets plenty of rest. Don't let her jump out of bed or anything she might get dizzy or sick."

"Of course, thank you again. Thank you so much for saving my granddaughter," the man nodded, grabbing hold of my hands and shaking them.

"I did what anyone would have done," I said.

"You still saved Priscilla. If there's anything we can do to repay you-"

"You don't have to do that," I insisted. Then a thought hit me. "The only thing I'd like to know is if there's a place my friends and myself can stay the night?"

It actually surprised me just how close the community was here. It didn't take long for everyone to find out about what had happened on the beach and start asking questions about Priscilla's well being and wanting to know why our group was in town. We were offered a few rooms at the inn that we gladly took as it gave us a place to settle for the night.