Bah. FF.net's been down for too long. :L I've started another fic in its absence, but I can't abandon MoW. ^_^ It's almost over, and I plan to have it finished by the end of the summer. Oh, and if you haven't gone and seen Lilo and Stitch yet, do it. Do it now! You'll be missing out if you don't. ^_~ 'Course I have a thing for cute little blue guys.

Chapter Twenty-Two: The City of Lost Dreams

  The vision began to fade, and I was suddenly aware of my physical self. Droplets of rain were spattering against my skin repeatedly and cold stone was under my back. I was finally aware of the pain that was the result of the battle between Guardian and Bahamut. I winced as I sat up, blinking to clear my blurred vision.

  I realized that we were back in the destroyed Zanarkand, but everything didn't look as old and decayed as it had before. It looked as though it had been torn apart only recently. Guardian? I asked uncertainly.

  I'm here, the dragon grunted. A bit disgruntled, but I'm here. I felt my head swerve around involuntarily. Something doesn't feel right about this place. My body shivered. It's like I've been ripped in two. He hesitated and let me take control of my body again. This is Zanarkand.. but it seems.. younger..

 

  That's what I thought, I told him, running my fingers through my soaked hair. The rain continued unceasingly, soaking me through to the bone. I shuddered from the cold and stumbled under what looked to be a broken roof, formed into an almost perfect triangle by the circumstances. The rain belted against my temporary shield noisily. Sophia said that everyone else was here too, right? I asked Guardian after a long period of silence.

  I think so, Guardian said. We didn't speak after that. He seemed to be respecting the fact that my mind still needed to digest everything that Sophia's dream-vision had told me. I knew now why Guardian had never seemed to be just an aeon. He was a man stuck in a dragon's body, yearning for what he could no longer have. I sympathized with him, but my mind was jumbled by the whole situation. If Guardian was Tidus, what did that make me? Who was I, exactly? What had I been before becoming Destiny?

  "I'm tired of this!" I yelled, surprising myself. I hung my head. When will you tell me, Guardian, who I am? I asked the dragon plaintively. I have to know. I'm sick of all of this.

  Guardian hesitated. I've told you before, he said, you are me, and I am you. We are not two separate people, Destiny.

  I was silent for a moment, pondering what this meant. Was I Tidus too? That can't be right.. I muttered in my head. What if I was simply a dream, just as Guardian's self that had appeared on Spira twenty years ago? Was I just some vessel to be used at Guardian's whim? Was my only purpose to return him to what he'd been before?

  Don't think like that, Destiny. You're as real as anyone else, Guardian said reproachfully. The rain had begun to die down, decreasing to only a small drizzle. When it stops raining we should go and look for everyone else.

  I nodded my head to show that I understood. I sat with my knees pulled up to my chin and my arms around my legs, watching the rain fall and the gray clouds pass over my head. It was about a half an hour before the drizzle died down completely, and then I stood, stepping out from beneath the fallen roof and welcoming the sun that had begun to peak out from behind the clouds. Well, Guardian said, we should start looking. Zanarkand's a big place, you know.

  Right, I said. Zanarkand was slightly frightening, with the millions of pyreflies that flew lazily around. Pyreflies were a sign of death more than a sign of life. I shuddered and began calling out for my companions. "Ruka! Sanya!" I called. "Oryon! Yuna! Wakka!" I started down an apparently clear path. "Lulu! Rikku! Kimahri!" I hadn't realized how big Zanarkand was during our dream. "Taira! Kiro!" I called. No answer. I sighed.  I think we've got a long search ahead of us, Guardian.

~*~*~*~

  "Oryon! Yuna! Wakka!" I called unenthusiastically. We'd been searching for what seemed like forever.

  "Destiny?"

  I started. "Oryon?" I called again, hoping that I'd truly heard his voice. Sure enough, a moment later the Crusader came around a rather large piece of a skyscraper. "Oryon!" I cried happily. He smiled and came towards me. I felt like hugging him, but held myself back. "Where's everybody else?" I asked him as he approached.

  He shrugged. "I was hoping you could tell me," he said.

  I sighed. "Well, at least I found you."

  The sky was darkening and the sun had begun to sink in the horizon. We'll be lucky if we find anyone else before night, Guardian commented.

  "I know," I said out loud accidentally. Oryon smiled.


  "Talking to the Dragon?" he asked.

  There's no use hiding it now, Destiny, Guardian said grumpily. We put on quite a show in New Zanarkand.

  "Yes," I replied to Oryon.

  Oryon leaned against a section of a building. "Does he talk often?"

  I laughed. "Yeah."

  We talked for a while longer, and I explained everything to Oryon. The man nodded. "I knew I recognized that beast. So he was the 'fiend' I saw two years ago?"

  "Yeah," I said. "That's Guardian."

  Oryon looked into the sky, his eyes seemingly far away from his body. "I know exactly what you're going through," he muttered. "He speaks to me too."

  "He?" I asked.

  Oryon nodded. "Auron, the Lion, whatever you want to call him. I don't know if he speaks as often as the Dragon does, but he does." Oryon stopped and sighed. "He's been with me for a year now. He told me to stay near you when I first met you." He chuckled half-heartedly. "He told me to keep Ryuu away from you. To protect you as if you were my summoner, and I your guardian." He smiled. "Not that you needed it, eh?"

  I smiled reassuringly and took his hand. "It was nice having you along for the ride anyways, and I thank you," I said. "You've been a good friend." We both turned our eyes to the sky and the stars that had begun to dot it. The pyreflies danced around us, seeming to welcome the darkness. They glew in the dim light and their colors made Zanarkand seem almost inviting. They were a sign of life and a sign of death, they were what made up the world, they were our memories. I wondered silently whether or not a pack of pyreflies existed somewhere that held all of my lost memories. I smiled determinedly. I would get them back someday, I promised myself this.

~*~*~*~

  The clanking of metal awoke me that night, disturbing my surprisingly good dreams. I surveyed the ruined landscape, looking first at Oryon, who slept on, and then at the many mangled buildings, roads, and machines. "Yuna? Wakka? Rikku?" I called. "Taira? Kiro? Sanya?" No answer. "Ruka? Kimahri? Nathan?" Muffled footsteps could be heard not far away. "Who's there?" I asked.

  It has to be one of them..  Guardian muttered. I don't know what kind of a Zanarkand we're in, but not many people make the trip here.

  I stood up silently and peered through the darkness. "Hello?" I asked. I could swear that I could hear whispering, but it was very faint. I began tiptoeing in the direction that it was coming from.

  Guardian snorted. It's probably just Ruka and Sanya playing some sort of dumb joke on us.

  I leaned over the edge of a jagged metal structure, searching for the source of the noise.

  "Gotcha!"

  I gasped as a hand closed over my mouth and forced my body upright. Guardian!

  The dragon hissed inside of my head and began trying to summon himself. He was silent for a few moments, and then he cried out in pain. What is this?

  I was forced around and found myself looking into the eyes of a man. He had tousled brown hair and bags under his eyes. He looked like a young man who'd aged incredibly in a short time. He was wearing a white jacket, signifying that he was a scientist of some sort. He looked me over. "You don't look like a summoner," he growled. "Who are you?" He edged his hand off of my mouth enough for me to speak.

  What do I do, Guardian? I asked. Images flashed through my head faster than I could take hold of them. Guardian?

  A roar reverberated through my mind. It can't be! He roared again.

  Guardian! I cried.

  The man had grown tired of waiting for my answer. "Well, if you won't talk then I have no choice but to take you down below. I'll let the chief decide what to do with you."

  Not there..

  The man dragged me to a section of Zanarkand I hadn't noticed before, one where the pyreflies gathered in large packs, twirling around us and emitting their soft noises. Do you know where we're going, Guardian? I asked him softly.

  Guardian sighed. Hell, as far as I'm concerned.

~*~*~*~