New chapter! Thank you very much reviewers! I love getting reviews, so keep sendin' um.
When I woke up, the sun had just risen, but you could hardly tell, because the morning was so dreary and foggy. I don't mind rainy days. Perpetual sun gets on my nerves, so I was actually quite pleased with it. I looked at my watch. It was only 5:15 am. I rolled over and closed my eyes, just lying there. Once I wake up in the morning, I can't fall back to sleep, but I just usually lay around anyway.
About ten minutes later, I felt a poke in my side. I knew it was Auron, because he'd been sitting up when I had briefly opened my eyes to look at my watch. "You might as well get up. You've been awake for a while now."
"Come on Auron," I moaned, rolling over again. "What makes you so sure I've been awake, anyway?"
"Well," he answered, in a soft voice so as not to wake up Ana. He needn't have whispered though. Ana can sleep through a nuclear war, then get up and ask what's for breakfast. I assumed Tidus couldn't hear anything over his terrible snoring. He sounded like someone turning on and shutting off a vacuum cleaner. "You opened your eyes a while ago, your breathing is shallow, you aren't disoriented, and you knew I was awake."
"Fine," I grumped. "I'm getting up." I painstakingly got into a sitting position. I shuddered. It was freezing. I reached over and grabbed my "Hershey's" sweatshirt, which was hanging off the back of my desk chair, and tugged it on over my head.
"Nice hair," Auron said.
"Shut up," I grumbled, and, getting up, staggered over to the mirror on my wall. My brush was on the dresser in front of it. I picked it up and looked at myself. My hair was all over the place, but I fixed that easily with a few swipes of my brush. "I'm going to eat breakfast now. You coming?" Auron nodded and followed me downstairs to the kitchen. I groped around for something to eat in the refrigerator, and found last night's leftovers.
"More pizza?" said Auron, as I sat down, handing him a slice on a paper plate.
"Breakfast of champions." I took a big bite of my cold pizza. "Why the hell'd you flush Wakka last night? I thought you guys made up."
"First of all," said Auron, sounding just a touch defensive, "I had no idea he was going to run right out of the bathroom." I just gaped at him. That sounded like something that belonged on one of those things Final Fantasy characters would never say lists. Somehow, Auron didn't strike me as a practical joke type person.
"But it was my fault. I was being childish. Just as Wakka has trouble letting go of the teachings, I have trouble letting go of arguments." That sounded more like the Auron I knew from 300+ hours of Final Fantasy X.
"I get that," I told him. I still felt quite groggy, so I poured myself a glass of Coke. "Want some?" I asked Auron.
"No, thank you," he responded. I came back to the table and sat down with my Coke. "Why'd you make me get up?" I groaned, taking a large swig.
"It's boring waiting for someone to wake up, and it can be especially infuriating when the person is already awake." He explained. "And we have to get going if we're to get to this Sam's house by seven-thirty."
"Good point," I muttered, "but it's only six o'clock." I threw my plate out and put my cup in the dishwasher. "That's where your reasoning all falls in, man. What the hell are we gonna do for an hour, assuming you don't want me to whip your ass in another video game?"
"I let you win," he answered, the corners of his mouth twitching.
"Sure you did," I retorted. I sat back down at the table.
"So, you believe you know everything about Yuna's pilgrimage," Auron said, changing the subject abruptly.
"Well, 300+ hours, dude, I definitely know something."
"Do you know how it ends?" he queried.
"Yes." I knew where this was going.
"Do you know…" he trailed off.
"Yes," I answered firmly. "And I swear I won't tell."
"Thank you," he said, and we lapsed into silence for a few minutes. Auron was an unsent. He was dead, but not gone. And until the end of the game, he's the only one who knows it.
"Well," I said, grinning, "with that said, would you like me to kick your ass in another game?"
He smiled back. "I'd like to see you try." And we played Mortal Kombat until Ana, Tidus, and Rikku came downstairs for breakfast.
"What are you guys playing now?" asked Tidus, coming to sit on the couch behind us.
"They're playing Mortal Kombat," answered Ana, pouring herself and Rikku cereal. "That game is nasty."
"Oh, come on, Ana. It's one of the only other multiplayer games I have," I groaned. "We have the blood off."
"Whatever," said Ana, but Tidus continued to watch, intrigued, until Wakka, Yuna, Kimahri and Lulu came down. "What happened to Robbie?" Ana asked.
"He's not awake yet. Man, that boy can sleep, brudda," replied Wakka.
"Shit!" I yelped, as Auron finally bested me two out of three.
"What? He can't have a little sleep?" said Wakka, sounding puzzled.
"No, sorry." I put down my controller and sat down at the table. "Auron just beat me in a match, and now I owe him fifty gil."
"How are you going to give him gil?" asked Lulu. "I thought you used different currency."
"We do. I beat him eight other times."
"You guys were gambling over a video game?" Ana said with a note of disgust. "Only complete nerds bet on video games." She groaned. "I'm surrounded by nerds and rpg characters. Should I fear for my sanity?"
"No," I retorted. "Cause you have no sanity."
Ana shrugged. "Good point." And she went back to her cereal. A few minutes later, we heard a big crashing sound as something came tumbling down the stairs. Robbie stumbled into the kitchen, moaning and rubbing his head. His eyes were slits, and his hair was sticking out in all sorts of odd directions.
"Good morning, sunshine," said Lulu, as Robbie knocked over his chair twice before figuring out how to sit in it.
"What the heck was in that pizza?" Tidus muttered. Wakka and Rikku rubbed their stomachs nervously.
"Nothing," I answered, before Ana could start biting anybody. "Robbie's just not a morning person. He's like this every morning, before he gets caffeine into his system." As if in response to this, Robbie loped over to the fridge, and started pouring himself a glass of Coke. He completely missed the glass, and ended up pouring it all over himself.
"Here, let me help you with that," Rikku said, and she headed over to Robbie and helped him pour himself some soda.
"Thanks," he croaked, and drank it all right then and there without even taking a breath. "I think I'll have some more." He poured himself another glass, and brought it to the table, looking better already.
"We should leave at about ten after seven," I said, referring to Sam's. "He lives nearby, but we're walking, so we should allow some extra time."
"I'll go change my shirt," said Robbie, looking a lot more alert, and slightly embarrassed.
"Well, do it quickly, it's seven already," said Auron.
"You have a train to catch, Auron?" Ana teased.
"What's a train?" asked Rikku.
"We had those in Zanarkand too!" Tidus squealed. "They ride around on tracks, and…"
Robbie better hurry up, I thought.
About five minutes later, we all headed outside. It was a chilly morning, especially for June. Robbie shivered. "I told you to bring a jacket," said Ana. "But noooo, Mr. Morning Glory has to be all macho."
Robbie blushed, and gave Ana the evil eye. "Hey, at least I don't snore as loud as a shotgun."
"No and neither do I," Ana retorted. "That was Tidus."
"I do not!" shouted Tidus.
"I thought that was Yuna," said Lulu. "She was definitely snoring."
"Tidus also," said Auron.
Wakka laughed. "You two are soul mates!"
"Hey!" said Tidus and Yuna. We all laughed.
"I'm gonna warn you guys," I said, as we passed my friend Hannah's house. "Sam isn't normal. He's really…Sam. You'll see what I mean."
Hannah was outside watering her plants. "Hi!" she called, and came over. "Hi! Umm, Rebecca, these relatives of yours or something?" she asked, eyeing the Final Fantasy gang.
"Uh…you could say that, I guess. Hannah, can we have a minute?"
"Sure," said Hannah, confused. "I'll just go water the stuff by the fence."
"Can I tell her the truth?" I asked urgently.
"You trust her, ya?" asked Wakka. I nodded. "Then I don't see the problem."
"Yeah," said Ana. "Hannah's cool, we can tell her."
"And she'll believe us," I mumbled, then called, "Hey Hannah!"
Hannah dropped the hose and came back over. I introduced everybody like you normally would. "Hannah, you know that game I love, Final Fantasy X?" I asked her.
"Yeah."
"Well they're from it."
"What?"
"They, uh, landed on my living room floor yesterday. Probably something to do with Sin…"
"Woa, that is so cool!" Hannah jumped up and down and clapped her hands. "I knew this kind of thing really happened, I just knew it! Wicked sword!" she said to Auron, whose cloak had blown off it in the wind. He hastily covered it again. "So, are you like, going somewhere? Can I come?"
"We're going to Sam's, to see if we can get the game to work in his PS2. It wouldn't work in mine, and we think that means something."
"Um, I'll pass on going to Sam's, but I'll see you guys at practice tomorrow! Call me when you get home, maybe I'll come over or something. So that was your babysitter running by yesterday. You have got to tell me how you got rid of her!"
"We should get going," said Auron.
"What've you got a train to catch?" taunted Hannah.
"Auron, I'll tell you what a train is!" Rikku exclaimed, looking excited. Then her face fell. "Wait, you've been to Zanarkand already, haven't you?"
"See you," I called, and Hannah waved and went back to watering her plants. We walked about six more blocks, random conversations ensuing all the way. Finally, we arrived at Sam's house. He was sitting out on his front porch reading a book and waiting. He jumped up when he saw us. "Ooh! It's Rebecca! Hi little 'becca." He came over and started rubbing my cheek. "And Ana banana! And, oh my God, is that Tidus?" he bellowed.
"Sam," Robbie yelled, just as loud. "Do you want the whole street to know?"
"Obviously, you both do," growled Auron.
"I am not seeing Auron in my driveway," Sam said to himself. He waved his hand in front of Auron's face. "Well? Disappear! Disappear!"
I waved my hand in front of Ana's face the same way. "These aren't the droids you're looking for," I joked. We laughed.
"How are you laughing?" said Sam, looking genuinely distressed.
"Sam," I said, managing to stop cracking up, "we need to try this game in your PS2. It wouldn't work in mine. It stopped working when they appeared, so I think the reason the game isn't working has something to do with that."
"What are you going to do if it doesn't work?"
"We're not expecting it to," said Lulu.
"I guess we'll go down to Gamestop and buy another one," I said.
"Well, come in." Sam gestured toward the door, and all ten of us trooped in. I handed him the game, and he ran into his family room to try it.
"Grrr," he growled, shaking his fist at the screen. "Wooooork." The PS2 went to the browser settings screen.
"I'm shocked," said Ana sarcastically.
"I'll bite you!" Sam threatened the TV, pressing reset. It still didn't work. "Oh well," he said, handing me my game back. "I guess you're just going to have to go buy another one. Wait, if you chased away the babysitter, how are you going to get there. Enlighten me." Auron, Ana and I looked at each other, horrified.
"I'll drive," Tidus offered. "I drove in Zanarkand.
"What about Auron?" asked Sam. "Can't you drive?"
"I have never tried," answered Auron.
"Well then," said Sam, strait out, no laughing, "If you die, can I have your controllers?"
"Sure."