Disclaimer: Final Fantasy and all names, characters and events related to the aforesaid are the property of SQUARESOFT and it's affiliates. In other words, I'm giving you credit so please don't sue me!
Note: I didn't translate the Al Bhed text on purpose, you'll see why later…
Chapter 2
"The Millennium of Sin"
Bang! A clap of thunder exploded into Tidus's ear. He jumped up, roughly awakened from his sleep. Water poured all around him. He felt very disoriented and gasped for breath in fear. He looked around himself trying to figure out what had happened. Tidus had washed up on a rock in the sea near the ruins of a fairly large temple. It was very dark and cloudy, with rain and lightning dancing across the sky. It was a gloomy and sullen atmosphere, while being very cool and damp.
"Auron! Auron? Is anybody here? Hey!" Tidus yelled to the sky hoping to find someone, anyone. However, all Tidus had for company was a wet flock of birds flying above him.
Tidus looked forward, and saw the grossly run down remnants of a three-story temple. He looked around some more and realized numerous stone ruins surrounded him in the water. He looked ahead and saw steps that began in the water and led up to a stone passageway that led directly into the old temple, a sufficient shelter. The only reason Tidus could figure that there were stairs that led into the water from the temple was because it must have been used as a place to bathe by the temple's priests or priestesses. It was the best explanation he could muster at the time; however, such questions were trivial in the face of his current strife. He got out of the sea, climbed the steps, and began to make his way to the temple. About halfway across, the stone path started shaking and giving way under Tidus's weight. Tidus recognized the shaking underneath his feet and had undoubtedly expected what came next. With a splash, Tidus hit the water. He quickly put the blitzball breathing apparatus he kept in his pocket, and put it into his mouth to breathe. He looked around underwater trying to orient himself, when suddenly; three large fish with sharp teeth and fins came into sight from the watery blur in the dark sea. The large fish were about half the size of Tidus. He made his small but thick sword on his back ready, and coiled into a defensive position. Tidus easily sliced the first carnivorous fish that darted towards him. The blood of that fish sent the other two into a frenzy. One of the remaining two fish fed on the remnants of his former companion, while the other opened its mouth menacingly at Tidus. He tried to hack at this marine killer with his sword, but it was too swift for him. Tidus managed to just barely avoid its teeth, but in doing so, the fish's sharp back fin sliced into Tidus's leg. In agony, he dropped his sword and it sunk a few feet to the bottom. Looking up, he saw his untimely demise in the sets of sharp teeth aiming at him. Suddenly, the sea seemed to roar. Before Tidus's eyes was a creature inconceivable to humans; it was a giant aquatic sea monster who was as tall and wide as ten people. The fish who were about to devour Tidus now looked up in fear. This giant fish-like monster swallowed one of the smaller fishes whole and grabbed the other one in the clenches of its jaws and thrashed it around violently. It then eyed Tidus. Quickly, Tidus swam down and grabbed his sword. He happened to eye a small opening at the side of the temple and swam to it as fast as he could. The creature was swimming behind him in fast pursuit. The creature opened his mouth preparing to consume him.
"C'mon Tidus! Hurry up!" He thought to himself.
Though Tidus was swimming fast, the underwater beast was faster. Tidus was slowly slipping into the creatures gaping mouth. The mouth was about to clamp down. Thud! Tidus felt the concrete that now surrounded him vibrate ominously. He had just made it into the hole in the water-bordered side of the temple. The creature had banged against the side of the temple being way to big to even consider putting a fin through the small hole. Tidus looked around the dilapidated room. There was a long stone corridor which ended at where he was at, which seemed to be a small, one-man, boat dock. He started down the corridor; half of it had collapsed after it seems the wooden supports on the left side gave way. Though still stormy, the moonlight shined through in between the flickers of lightning. Tidus could not see much. It was dark and he felt very cold.
"I had made it out of the frying pan...and into the freezer. I felt cold, confused, depressed...and alone. I thought I was going to die in this place."
Tidus exited the long corridor, and entered a huge room. The temple was built like a dome with the three stories circling around the inside of the dome. The main floor was painted in a beautiful mosaic of the sun. The only sound you could hear was the rain pelting or seeping through the ineffective roof. Tidus looked around and wondered what was worshiped here. He saw many statues circling the bottom (though most had fallen to the ground and broke into many pieces). The statues that remained seemed to be of people ceremoniously dressed. He saw an elaborate stairway lead to an ornate door, but to the dismay of his curiosity, the door was sealed. Near the stairway however, he saw an opened box of familiar looking leaves. It seemed to Tidus to be medicinal herbs based on their smell. He took one of the leaves, crushed it in his palm, and gingerly placed it on the wound in his leg. A cool relief rushed into Tidus's limb. Though he still slightly hobbled, he felt a great respite from the pain. He then looked in the middle of the decorated floor and saw the remains of a campfire. Someone or something had been here already, and not too long ago it seemed. He abruptly remembered how cold he was and looked for an un-drenched piece of kindling. He looked and found a withered bouquet of flowers laying at the bottom of a statues feet, un-touched by the rain's scorn. He also found two pieces of flint stone lying on the ground.
"C'mon, c'mon! Light!" Tidus yelled at the withered bouquet that lay at the abandoned campfire site. The fire finally lit.
Tidus embraced the warmth of the fire on the cold temple floor. He still felt very hungry. So, he decided to make up for what he didn't have in his stomach, to what he could have in sleep. He dozed off to the sound of the rain. He drifted into a dream…
Tidus was sitting in his floating house. The white hue of reality and a dream blur. He remembered now, this was no dream, it was a memory. He sat on the ground curled up looking at old pictures. Looking at or for happiness, does it really matter? The door unlocked, Tidus looked up and saw Auron. Tidus silently recognized him and looked back down at the photographs. Auron looked at him with discerning eyes.
"You made a bad call." Auron stated simply. "Your team lost because of you."
Tidus slowly looked up at him with anger and bewilderment.
"Did you come here just to say that to me? What are you hiding…what did you really come here for?" Tidus asked.
Auron looked to the side at nothing for many moments. All you could hear is the ticking of the clock. He finally looked at Tidus.
"Today is the anniversary. It's been… ten years since she died, your mother." He stated simply in his rough, dark voice. He stared at Tidus looking for words. "I thought you'd be crying."
Tidus stared up questioningly. Suddenly, memory and reality divided. The strange boy whom Tidus had encountered in Zanarkand seemed to stop time in the nostalgic dream. Floating around the boy were small glistening spheres of light. Only Tidus and the boy were in motion in the dream/memory. Tidus even felt confused in the dream. The boy in the black cut robe stared at Tidus.
"But you did cry. That night, you cried. Not just for what you felt… but for what you didn't feel." The boy said darkly.
Tidus shot up cold and frightened from the dream/memory. Everything in the dream went along with his memory until the break. That boy. Who was he, what is this? Tidus's emotion was bursting.
"What the Hell is happening to me?" Tidus cried out into the emptiness. All of a sudden, Tidus felt a cold blast of air blow out one of the windows to the side and heard the chattering of the glass hit against the hard floor. The fire grew weak and started to die.
"Hey wait! Wait! Please don't go out on me!" Tidus pleaded with the fire. "Not Now! Just please hold on! I'll find more wood…" His words were suddenly cut off and his breathe taken away.
He heard a loud noise on the open corridor on the second story above him. Walking along the circular, open hallway above him was yet another monster he had never heard of or seen in Zanarkand. It was a giant blue, bug-like creature with four sharp pincer-like legs. Its giant eyes were looking at Tidus and saliva dripped from its mouth. It quickly jumped and ran around the circular wall of the dome like temple, not falling sideways by quickly jabbing it's sharp legs into the side of the wall. Tidus's head was spinning trying to follow the bug-like creature running around the side of the walls, it was extremely fast. The creature finally detached itself from the wall and plummeted to the ground on its feet about one hundred feet from the air, landing only a few steps away from Tidus. It quickly pounced at Tidus. With his athletic training, Tidus quickly dodged the assault by falling to the ground and spinning for his sword. But it was too late. While Tidus was on the ground, the creature jumped and landed over his body ready to deal the killing blow. Tidus closed his eyes tight, preparing for the worst. The next thing he heard was a loud thud. This startled the jumpy creature to quickly move a long stride away from Tidus. The entrance door (though not the decorative sealed one) burst open. In the lightening, Tidus saw the Silhouette of four humans.
"Gemm dra fiend!" A girl who seemed to lead the group screeched. Tidus saw she threw a small, cylindrical object at the creature. With the loud plink of metal hitting metal against the ground, the object fell at the feat of the monster. The creature froze in bewilderment. There was a suspenseful silence. In a furious explosion, fire filled the abandoned temple, and the creature was burned into oblivion. Though not injured, Tidus felt the fire blaze across his face. The girl had thrown a bulky grenade.
Tidus could clearly see his rescuers now. The girl was dressed in a tight, red and white wet suit wearing dark and bulky goggles. Her dangerous beauty stared Tidus in the face as a bushel of grenades dangled by her side. One of the three men with her was wearing a gas mask and brandishing an assault rifle with a sharp dagger by his side. Another man had a tattooed face full of various shapes and also had a tall, blonde mohawk haircut. He also carried a machine gun. The last man with the girl had a shaved head and also wore dark, and bulky goggles. Tidus smiled.
"You guys on my side? Cool. So there are other humans around here, huh? Ha Ha! Whew, that was close." Tidus's rescuers looked at him blankly and discerningly. Tidus stood up. The man with the dagger quickly ran to Tidus and grabbed him by his hair, and brought the dagger to his throat.
"What? Hey lemme go!" Tidus pleaded. The man pulled tighter. The others walked to Tidus.
"Fryd ec drec?" The man asked of his comrades in his strange language.
"Y fiend! Eh risyh teckieca!" The man in goggles stated.
"Oac! Ed ec cu!" The mohawk man said.
"Fa gemm ed?" The man with the knife asked of the other men.
"Fyed! Fryd ev ed ec risyh?" The girl piped up seeming to plead with the men.
"Drao yna dra cysa eh taydr." The man with the said as he pounded his fist on the emphasized words.
"E vunpet ed!" The young girl stated commandingly. "Fa pnehk ed fedr ic!"
The beautiful, young girl waved her hand and the man with the knife let go of Tidus. Tidus stood there disarrayed, staring at the girl. She slowly walked up to Tidus and put her lips next to Tidus's ear as if to whisper something.
"Cunno." She whispered softly into his ear. Suddenly, her hand violently punched into his stomach's side where she pinched a nerve that knocked Tidus unconscious as he fell to the cold temple floor.
* * *
A cool sea breeze spread across Tidus's face. His eyes opened quickly as he took a brief gasp of air, feeling very disoriented. He snapped out of his unconsciousness. He opened his eyes and saw only a clear sky with stars scattered about it. It was warmer than at the temple; it seemed to be a rather placid evening. Tidus heard an engine running and sat up. He looked around him and realized he was on a fairly large metal boat with a big crane on one side. He looked ahead of him and saw two of the men from earlier guarding him on this outside deck of the boat. It appeared to Tidus that not too much time had passed since he fell unconscious. He was ravenously hungry. Tidus's stirring alarmed the guards around him and the man with the gasmask turned around with an assault rifle in his hand and stared at Tidus. Tidus slowly stood up.
"Ced, lybdeja!" The man with the gas mask said as he pelted Tidus in the back with the butt of his gun, forcing Tidus to fall to the ground. It became apparent to Tidus that these people were not his saviors, but his captors and terrorists.
"Hey, that hurts! Hitting sore, hungry people who just regained consciousness hurts them!" Tidus said slowly and mockingly, as if to a child. The man looked at him and shook his head.
"Hu sujehk, rayn?" The man with the gas mask barked as he cocked his gun.
"Whoa… okay." Tidus said slowly as he put he put both hands into the air. A door suddenly opened that led to the outdoor deck of the boat. It was the girl and the man with a blonde mohawk.
"Caynlr res!" The man with the mohawk commanded of the other two men. The other two men began to pat him down and search him. After that was done, the man with the gasmask nodded at the man with the mohawk. This man began to act out what he desired of Tidus while making grunts and hand gestures. He initially pointed at Tidus, then at the sea, and then made swimming movements. Tidus looked at this man puzzled.
"Right… whatever." Tidus said casually.
"Tu oui hud cbayg?" The man asked quietly holding back his anger. He took a valuable looking necklace out of his pocket and pointed to it and then Tidus while grunting as he was merely trying to make some sort of vocalization.
"That's sweet of you to offer me, but you're not really my type big boy." Tidus chuckled. The man stared at him seriously and pointed to him, the water, and then the necklace. Tidus stared up at him frustrated now.
"Listen! Once and for all, I'm tired, hungry, and I don't understand a word that you say!" Tidus yelled out.
"Ehcumahla!" The man with the mohawk (who was visibly stronger than Tidus) yelled out. He grabbed Tidus by the throat and began to squeeze. He then reached for his hand gun and placed the nozzle of it against Tidus's chest, over his heart. Tidus's hand instinctively wrapped around the man's hand, hoping to break the grip around his neck. Such an endeavor was futile.
"Fyed!". Quickly shrieked the girl who seemed to lead the group. She ran over to the man with the blonde mohawk and slapped him. He quickly let go of Tidus and holstered his gun. She turned and looked at Tidus.
"He said you can stay if you make yourself useful." The girl said in perfect clearness.
"You… you understand me?" Tidus asked incredulously while looking into the girls' eyes. Suddenly, after an unpleasant jolt to his back from a gun butt, he answered.
"All right, all right… I'll work!" Tidus growled angrily. He looked over at the girl who was putting her goggles on and tightening the wetsuit. She put a breathing apparatus in her mouth and tossed one to Tidus along with an underwater flashlight.
"Heh heh. Just like blitzball." Tidus commented. The girl looked up at him in recognition and smiled. As Tidus was getting ready for his watery decent, he noticed the rest of the crew assembled around a giant crane on the starboard side of the giant boat. Tidus walked over to the men gazing at the crane.
"What's this? Some kind of crane?" Tidus asked somewhat rhetorically.
"Rao, oui! Kad yfyo vnus drana!" The man with the mohawk said angrily while brandishing a knife.
"Okay, okay, you don't have to shout." Tidus said irritated. He looked back at the girl who seemed to be ready.
"We found some ancient ruins right beneath us." She said. "It's not active now, but there should still be some power left. That's where we come in; we're going to go down there and activate it! Then, we should be able to salvage it… It's an incredible find!"
Tidus was very confused (as he had been accustomed to feeling in these past hours). When she first mentioned ruins, he thought of an underwater city long forgotten. However, she seemed to be talking about a machine or something like that. Tidus figured he would know soon enough what he was salvaging. He looked at the and followed her lead onto the ledge of the boat. Then, he followed her lead by plunging into the cool water. They looked at each other in silent confirmation, and then they dove into the dark depths. Tidus looked around; even with the underwater flashlights, it was very dark. He would have been tempted to ask why they had not waited until morning to do this had he actually been above the water. He followed the orange wetsuit of the girl and finally, Tidus saw what they were going to salvage. Appearing out of the gray, watery depths, he saw what appeared to be a huge metallic vessel. Tidus immediately new what it was. It was an airship, only this one looked bigger than even the larger ones in Zanarkand and looked technologically more advanced. Tidus was perplexed.
"Why is this airship called 'ancient' and a 'ruin', it looks futuristic if anything!" Tidus thought to himself.
He saw the girl go up to one of the sides of the airship and take something out of a small bag she carried down that was now floating next to her. Tidus moved closer. Suddenly, Tidus saw a sleek laser beam stream out of a silvery object she held in her hand. She drew a large circle with the laser beam and in moments, Tidus and the girl would penetrate the mass of impeding steel. Once they were inside, they swam through various corridors. To Tidus's shock, there indeed was some power in the airship! Though dimly lightened and flickering on the inside, there was enough to see around the corridors and navigate the rooms clearly. Tidus could not understand how something so new looking that still has power could be considered "ancient" or "a ruin". Finally, they swam into the engine room. This was by far the most commodious room in the vessel Tidus had seen thus far. However, shortly after Tidus and the girl entered the room, they realized they were not alone. Erupting from the bottom of the ship came a defining growl. Tidus and the girl looked at one another; both of them were garnishing a worried look. Suddenly a swift, yet huge creature came swimming with its gaping jaws aimed towards the girl. Tidus did not have time to react. The girl was going to be devoured. In fear she thrashed out arm and curled into a ball. Tidus stared on helplessly as the jaws, in slow motion it seemed to Tidus, curled around this girls body. Suddenly, a blast of light and sound erupted from the creatures bowels, severing it in two. There was no blood however. Instead, all that spewed from the creature were glistening spheres of light that floated away leaving a sparkling, but short lived tail behind them as they quickly ascended into the indefinite space above them and even through the vessel. Tidus looked for the girl and saw that she was still curled in a ball as the jaws of the creature (whose lips had nearly curled around the girl) now floated helplessly to the ground. The girl smiled and motioned inside one of her side-packs. She pulled something out of it to show to Tidus. It was a grenade. Tidus smiled; he realized that when the girl flailed her arm out towards the creature, she was really tossing a grenade down its throat. They decided to move on. They swam to central core of the ship in the engine room and the girl examined a small, electronic control panel. The girl looked at it perplexingly. She then motioned for Tidus to look at it. Though it looked slightly more advanced technologically from a Zanarkand core module, Tidus was still able to easily figure out how to activate it. He was confused as to why this girl, who seemed to be able to operate many computer-like on the ship, could not activate a simple module. Upon activation the ship lit up brilliantly and everything on board started to function (though it could not move because it was underwater. Tidus and the girl got out of the vessel and attached the ends of the crane Tidus had seen earlier to it. They ascended delicately right along with the vessel until it was safely connected to the end of the girl's ship.
* * *
Tidus watched to the side as the girl and her companions celebrated while speaking their strange language. He heard things like "Fa vuiht dra airship!" and "Dra naluntc fana nekrd!" Tidus felt very tired; he felt it must have been very late at night by now. Sadly, he was even hungrier than he was tired and indeed, he was very tired. His senses suddenly danced with delight as he smelled food and saw that everyone started to get off the deck and enter the ship while smiling with delight at the smell from inside. Tidus made his way over. However, before he entered the cabin, the man with mohawk turned around and stared at him sternly. He grabbed Tidus by the collar and shoved him to the ground outside the entrance.
"Oui, uidceta!" He exclaimed will closing the cabin door and locking it behind him.
"Hey! I helped out, didn't I? You idiots couldn't have activated the simple control module if I wasn't here!" He exclaimed while pounding on the door; he and his stomach growled with anger. Tidus eventually gave up and just walked to the side of the ship to stare at the oceon. It was a beautiful, temperate night. He looked out at the seemingly unending ocean as he enjoyed the pleasant scent of the sea air blow around him. After about thirty minutes on the deck, Tidus heard someone behind him. He turned around and saw the girl with a hefty plate of food and drink. Tidus smiled.
"Whoa! Right on!" He exclaimed spiritedly. He ran over to the food and started cramming as much food as he could down his throat. It was very good.
"Wow, you're quite the fast eater" The girl giggled. Suddenly, Tidus began to make a hacking noise and started to choke. The girl quickly handed him some of his drink. Tidus graciously accepted the beverage and began to chug it. He then let out a noisy sigh of relief. The girl laughed.
"It's 'cause you eat to fast!" The girl said cheerfully. Tidus laughed and nodded his head in concurrence. After regaining his composer, he looked towards her.
"Well, now that I see your not going to bash my head in again or whatever… what's your name?" Tidus asked. The girl smiled coyly.
"Rikku." The girl answered.
"Whoa! You really do understand me!" Tidus exclaimed and laughed almost deliriously. He was finally accepting the fact that he was now with someone who could understand him and who seemed to treat him somewhat kindly.
"I'm Tidus." He continued. "Why didn't you say so earlier? That you could actually understand me?"
"I didn't get a chance to! I was busy trying to convince everyone you were not a fiend! They would have killed you in the temple if it wasn't for me! Get it? Oui'na y fiend?" The girl explained
"Uh… 'Oui'na y fiend'?" Tidus asked.
"Oh, yea… that just slipped in. It's our language." The girl said.
"Who are you guys anyway?" Tidus asked. Rikku smiled
"We're Al Bhed. Can't you tell?" Rikku looked at him curiously. She suddenly looked worried. "Wait. You're not an Al Bhed hater, are you?"
"I don't even know what an Al Bhed is!" Exclaimed Tidus. This response only made Rikku look even more worried.
"Where are you from?" She asked curiously.
"Zanarkand." Tidus responded. "I'm a blitzball player. Star of the Zanarkand Abes!" He added as if completing his title. Rikku looked at him like she didn't know how to respond.
"Uh… Did you hit your head or something?" Rikku asked.
"Well, you guys sure hit me in the head!" Tidus exclaimed. Rikku blushed.
"Oh right… Do you remember anything before that? Before the temple?" She asked.
"So I told her everything there was to tell about Zanarkand; about life there, blitzball, and Sin's attack… and about how Auron and I were engulfed in this light. I just said things as they came to my mind; I sort of began to ramble. But then, as I looked at her face, I began to feel uneasy."
"Did I say something funny?" Tidus asked as he stared at Rikku. She seemed to take half a step back.
"You were near Sin." She said as her usually bright face went pale. She looked very serious but then smiled again. "Don't worry, you'll be better again in no time. They say your head gets funny when Sin is near. Maybe you just had some kind of dream?"
"You mean I'm sick?" Tidus asked incredulously.
"Because of Sin's toxin, yeah." She answered.
"What? You sure?" Tidus said.
"Well… yeah, there is no Zanarkand anymore." Rikku said. Tidus' eyes widened.
"What?" Tidus burst out.
"Sin destroyed it a thousand years ago." She smiled sadly. "So… no one plays blitzball there anymore."
"What do you mean, a thousand years ago?" Tidus asked. He felt all the more lost and confused. "But I saw Sin attack Zanarkand! Your saying that happened a thousand years ago? Screw that!" Tidus felt a mixture of anger and confusion, not towards Rikku, but himself. Tidus turned away from her to collect his thoughts. Rikku tried, though somewhat awkwardly, to change the subject.
"So… You said you play blitzball?" Rikku asked. Tidus remained stolid. "You know, you should go to Luca. Someone might know who you are, or you might find someone you recognize." Rikku said. Tidus was surprised that blitzball apparently still existed in the future… if it truly was the future.
"Luca?" Tidus questioned her. Rikku nodded.
"Mmm Hmm. Okay, leave it to me! I'll get you to Luca, promise!" Rikku was her same, perky self again. Tidus looked at her still somewhat timidly. "What? You'd rather stay here?" Rikku asked smiling. Tidus smiled back. "Okay. I'll go tell the others, you wait here." Rikku said. She started to walk away but then stopped and turned around. "Oh, and one more thing. Don't tell anyone you're from Zanarkand, okay? Yevon says it's a holy place. You might upset someone, and I'm sure that's the last thing you'd want to do now isn't it?" Rikku said laughing. Tidus could only stare back at her all the more baffled.
"My Zanarkand, some kind of holy place? Yeah right, I thought. Since when? Yevon? Sin? Luca? I thought Sin just took me to a faraway place, that I could go back in a day or two. But a thousand years in the future? No way! I wouldn't, no, couldn't believe this. How could my life, my entire past be some dream born from some weird toxin. My past memories, my existence nothing more than an elaborate fantasy? I could believe Sin took me to the future, but only 'cause I saw what Sin was capable of in Zanarkand. But this?"
Tidus walked over to the crane and kicked and pounded his fist against it to let out his frustration. He quickly stopped when he heard a low rumbling noise. He noticed that the wind had stopped. All that could be heard was the ominous rumble. The crew of the ship suddenly burst out of the inner decks and looked around at all sides of the ship in fear. Suddenly, something of mammoth proportions burst forth out of the sea. Tidus tried to see what it was, but it was still very dark outside. It seemed to be gargantuan. It was unfathomable in size for most of it was still underwater.
"Sin!" One of the crewmen cried. "Sin ec lusa!"
"Ihtan ic! Ihtan ic!" Another one cried running for armaments.
Tidus was looking over the railing trying to get a better look at this thing. Suddenly, the thought occurred to him.
"Could it be…?" Suddenly, the ship was dealt a heavy blow. The ship began to swing back and forth violently. In the quake of the blow Tidus fell overboard. He looked up at the ship trying to swim in the violent waves created by this quake. Rikku stared on helplessly. All of a sudden, Tidus felt himself being pulled underwater. A whirlpool had been created right below him with a faint glimmer underwater. He was violently consumed by the whirlpool and all, once again, faded to white.