Chapter Four
It was strange, being dead. Sometimes it was like you weren't dead at all; you were free to walk around, free to be. Your body felt solid, and you could almost breathe in the air, could almost step through the boundary and back into the land of the living. But other times you felt a strange feeling of floating, like you were just a light suspended in air. And others...
Other times death was water and you were swimming in it. Or maybe that was just for him, because he loved water so. It reminded him of blitzball. Yesterday he'd played, or was it the day before that?
He shook his head, blond hair falling across his face. He kept forgetting that he wasn't supposed to try to figure out time here. Time was endless, time was nothing.
Tidus looked around him. Where was Auron when you needed him? He tried to blink, but he was no longer in a solid like form. Now he was light.
Something nagged at the back of his mind, something he knew was important, extremely important. What had it started with? X, something? No...s, that was it s, something. Sssss...star? Sun? Snake? Snake, it was snake. Something concerning snakes.
And Yuna.
He couldn't forget her, never her.
Snakes and Yuna, that's what he had to talk to Auron about, but where was he?
Tidus found himself running a hand through his hair, and sighed.
It was going to happen, wasn't it?
~
Snakes are limbless, scaly, reptiles and more then often, treacherous people. They do not grow to be hundreds of feet tall, nor do they posses brilliant minds, so then why did she feel like this snake knew what she was thinking?
It hissed at her, diamond eyes boring into her skull.
"Nice, snakey," she told it.
It didn't agree with her.
Yuna slumped back against the wall. So the snake didn't like her, so what? She didn't like snakes much herself. That didn't give it a reason to go psycho on her and kill her...did it?
If it did kill her, then at least Alex wouldn't be able to complete whatever brilliantly evil plan it'd come up with. Yuna smiled slightly, amused.
What was with the giant snake anyway?
~
How had she known? How had that pityful child known that Celest Drega had died?
Alex beat her fingers against the wood before it. Obviously it had something to do with the link Yuna had with the farplane, or that other place...the place that didn't have a name...
All the plans Alex had made could disippate if Yuna found out about the link, or figured out how to use the link.
Too many possiblities, too many ways the whole thing could blow up. And then there was the problem of snakes. They had started to appear, started following Alex around, as if they were a pet dog, and Alex the master. But sometimes Alex felt, that they were the true master, and that Alex was just the follower.
~
Lulu sat in a chair. She hadn't moved for quite awhile, and her muscles ached from the lack of use. But she didn't heed the pain, all her attention was on the blitzball before her, as it spinned around and around and around...
If she wasn't in a state of total grief, she would have realized the oddness of the situation. Blitzballs do not spin by themselves, maybe on some skilled blitzers finger, but never by themselves, and certainly not in midair.
But she was too grief filled to think.
If only she would. If only she would snap out of the slump she was in and gather the pieces of the puzzle that were piled in the back of her mind. If only she would take those pieces and put them together...she would realize that magic was going beserk, that mere thoughts could make objects float, and lightning strike. And if only she would step outside her house and realize that she wasn't the only black mage with these problems.
Somebody had to realize that Spira was slowly unspiralling, that summoners and black mages were having slight problems when it came to their lives. Strange things were happening...
And who was going to notice?
~
Zeke grabbed his bag off the ground, slung it on his shoulder and turned to look at Rikku.
"Looks like its on foot from here," he said unneccesarily, with a huge smile.
She gave him an unbelieving look, "You still coming?" she asked.
He nodded, flashing a grin that had melted hearts in dozens of cities, that by the way, no longer welcomed him.
Rikku raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, you owe me for the chocobo. After all, it was mine and it ran away," he paused. "So I figure you owe me."
She started walking forward, "You stole it."
"And your point is?"
Rikku shrugged.
He fell into step beside her, and they trudged forward in silence for a couple hours.
Untill Zeke got sick of it all and spoke up.
"It's an awfully long way to the mountains."
Rikku didn't even glance at him, "I know."
She sounded worried.
They fell into silence again as they began to climb a small hill, the only sound the chirping of some bugs, and a slight whisper...
Zeke grabbed Rikku and drug her to the ground.
"That's the second time you've done this," she grumbled.
"Shhhh," he answered.
Zeke began crawling forward in the grass, hoping that when he looked over the hill, the people below him wouldn't look up.
Jackpot, he thought as he surveyed the small camp the group had set up. Two gaurds, three merchants, five chocoboos and two wagons. He grinned. Not even a challenge.
Before Rikku could figure out what he was going to do, he jumped off the hill, which was more like a small cliff, and with a small cloud of dust, landed on both feet, knees bent.
Scurrying over to the chocoboo's he drew his sword and swiftly cut the rope, before the merchants even realized he was in the camp.
People can be so blind, he thought.
Jumping onto the bird, he dug his heels into it, and with a squak it began running through the camp. The merchants weren't blind to that.
Within seconds the merchants had the gaurds running straight at Zeke, swords raised.
He jumped off the chocoboo, one had holding the reins, the other his sword. He blocked a slash at his head, and kicked the first guard in the stomach. The other came at him with a twirl of blades that was meant to intimadate, but Zeke laughed in his face and knocked him off his feet with a punch in the gut.
With both gaurds down, and the merchants shivering in their boots, he sheathed his sword and jumped back onto the chocobo.
"Hey, Rikku!" he yelled out, and began riding away. "We won't get holes in our feet after all!"
The merchants watched him leave, then turned and let out their anger by yelling at the fallen guards.
~
After being watched by a giant snake for probably a day or more, Yuna had made up her mind about one thing. She didn't just hate snakes, she loathed them. Them and their scales and their ability to slither everywhere, hissing at everything...
Yuna glared at it, but it was looking at the door, not at her.
Where had Alex gone? Alex never disappeared for this long before. Yuna smiled. Maybe one of the snakes had realized what a worthless freak Alex was and bitten its head off. Maybe...
She realized she should sleep, that she hadn't slept for more than twenty-four hours. But she didn't want to sleep. Yuna shivered. Seeing the Farplane in her dreams was not bliss, nor was it healthy.
I just might be insane, she realized. Giant snakes and dead people, and a figure with just a name. A stupid name too.
She glanced at the door, and the snake followed her gaze.
It heard the footsteps just as well as she did.
Alex flung the door open, saw the snake but didn't say anything, just a glance.
The snake didn't move. Yuna took that as a sign it didn't take orders from Alex. Was that good or bad?
"So you hide from sleep?" Alex asked, but it really wasn't a question. "Sleep is important. It keeps you alive. You should sleep."
And with that, Yuna slept.
~
A/N~ So people, whatcha think? Keep on writing or put it in that little bin in the corner of the computer screen? If you don't review then we won't know what to do...And what is with the snakeys anyway? Mayhap in the next chapter the secret of the giant snakes will be revealed...
~Zoheret and Dove~
It was strange, being dead. Sometimes it was like you weren't dead at all; you were free to walk around, free to be. Your body felt solid, and you could almost breathe in the air, could almost step through the boundary and back into the land of the living. But other times you felt a strange feeling of floating, like you were just a light suspended in air. And others...
Other times death was water and you were swimming in it. Or maybe that was just for him, because he loved water so. It reminded him of blitzball. Yesterday he'd played, or was it the day before that?
He shook his head, blond hair falling across his face. He kept forgetting that he wasn't supposed to try to figure out time here. Time was endless, time was nothing.
Tidus looked around him. Where was Auron when you needed him? He tried to blink, but he was no longer in a solid like form. Now he was light.
Something nagged at the back of his mind, something he knew was important, extremely important. What had it started with? X, something? No...s, that was it s, something. Sssss...star? Sun? Snake? Snake, it was snake. Something concerning snakes.
And Yuna.
He couldn't forget her, never her.
Snakes and Yuna, that's what he had to talk to Auron about, but where was he?
Tidus found himself running a hand through his hair, and sighed.
It was going to happen, wasn't it?
~
Snakes are limbless, scaly, reptiles and more then often, treacherous people. They do not grow to be hundreds of feet tall, nor do they posses brilliant minds, so then why did she feel like this snake knew what she was thinking?
It hissed at her, diamond eyes boring into her skull.
"Nice, snakey," she told it.
It didn't agree with her.
Yuna slumped back against the wall. So the snake didn't like her, so what? She didn't like snakes much herself. That didn't give it a reason to go psycho on her and kill her...did it?
If it did kill her, then at least Alex wouldn't be able to complete whatever brilliantly evil plan it'd come up with. Yuna smiled slightly, amused.
What was with the giant snake anyway?
~
How had she known? How had that pityful child known that Celest Drega had died?
Alex beat her fingers against the wood before it. Obviously it had something to do with the link Yuna had with the farplane, or that other place...the place that didn't have a name...
All the plans Alex had made could disippate if Yuna found out about the link, or figured out how to use the link.
Too many possiblities, too many ways the whole thing could blow up. And then there was the problem of snakes. They had started to appear, started following Alex around, as if they were a pet dog, and Alex the master. But sometimes Alex felt, that they were the true master, and that Alex was just the follower.
~
Lulu sat in a chair. She hadn't moved for quite awhile, and her muscles ached from the lack of use. But she didn't heed the pain, all her attention was on the blitzball before her, as it spinned around and around and around...
If she wasn't in a state of total grief, she would have realized the oddness of the situation. Blitzballs do not spin by themselves, maybe on some skilled blitzers finger, but never by themselves, and certainly not in midair.
But she was too grief filled to think.
If only she would. If only she would snap out of the slump she was in and gather the pieces of the puzzle that were piled in the back of her mind. If only she would take those pieces and put them together...she would realize that magic was going beserk, that mere thoughts could make objects float, and lightning strike. And if only she would step outside her house and realize that she wasn't the only black mage with these problems.
Somebody had to realize that Spira was slowly unspiralling, that summoners and black mages were having slight problems when it came to their lives. Strange things were happening...
And who was going to notice?
~
Zeke grabbed his bag off the ground, slung it on his shoulder and turned to look at Rikku.
"Looks like its on foot from here," he said unneccesarily, with a huge smile.
She gave him an unbelieving look, "You still coming?" she asked.
He nodded, flashing a grin that had melted hearts in dozens of cities, that by the way, no longer welcomed him.
Rikku raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, you owe me for the chocobo. After all, it was mine and it ran away," he paused. "So I figure you owe me."
She started walking forward, "You stole it."
"And your point is?"
Rikku shrugged.
He fell into step beside her, and they trudged forward in silence for a couple hours.
Untill Zeke got sick of it all and spoke up.
"It's an awfully long way to the mountains."
Rikku didn't even glance at him, "I know."
She sounded worried.
They fell into silence again as they began to climb a small hill, the only sound the chirping of some bugs, and a slight whisper...
Zeke grabbed Rikku and drug her to the ground.
"That's the second time you've done this," she grumbled.
"Shhhh," he answered.
Zeke began crawling forward in the grass, hoping that when he looked over the hill, the people below him wouldn't look up.
Jackpot, he thought as he surveyed the small camp the group had set up. Two gaurds, three merchants, five chocoboos and two wagons. He grinned. Not even a challenge.
Before Rikku could figure out what he was going to do, he jumped off the hill, which was more like a small cliff, and with a small cloud of dust, landed on both feet, knees bent.
Scurrying over to the chocoboo's he drew his sword and swiftly cut the rope, before the merchants even realized he was in the camp.
People can be so blind, he thought.
Jumping onto the bird, he dug his heels into it, and with a squak it began running through the camp. The merchants weren't blind to that.
Within seconds the merchants had the gaurds running straight at Zeke, swords raised.
He jumped off the chocoboo, one had holding the reins, the other his sword. He blocked a slash at his head, and kicked the first guard in the stomach. The other came at him with a twirl of blades that was meant to intimadate, but Zeke laughed in his face and knocked him off his feet with a punch in the gut.
With both gaurds down, and the merchants shivering in their boots, he sheathed his sword and jumped back onto the chocobo.
"Hey, Rikku!" he yelled out, and began riding away. "We won't get holes in our feet after all!"
The merchants watched him leave, then turned and let out their anger by yelling at the fallen guards.
~
After being watched by a giant snake for probably a day or more, Yuna had made up her mind about one thing. She didn't just hate snakes, she loathed them. Them and their scales and their ability to slither everywhere, hissing at everything...
Yuna glared at it, but it was looking at the door, not at her.
Where had Alex gone? Alex never disappeared for this long before. Yuna smiled. Maybe one of the snakes had realized what a worthless freak Alex was and bitten its head off. Maybe...
She realized she should sleep, that she hadn't slept for more than twenty-four hours. But she didn't want to sleep. Yuna shivered. Seeing the Farplane in her dreams was not bliss, nor was it healthy.
I just might be insane, she realized. Giant snakes and dead people, and a figure with just a name. A stupid name too.
She glanced at the door, and the snake followed her gaze.
It heard the footsteps just as well as she did.
Alex flung the door open, saw the snake but didn't say anything, just a glance.
The snake didn't move. Yuna took that as a sign it didn't take orders from Alex. Was that good or bad?
"So you hide from sleep?" Alex asked, but it really wasn't a question. "Sleep is important. It keeps you alive. You should sleep."
And with that, Yuna slept.
~
A/N~ So people, whatcha think? Keep on writing or put it in that little bin in the corner of the computer screen? If you don't review then we won't know what to do...And what is with the snakeys anyway? Mayhap in the next chapter the secret of the giant snakes will be revealed...
~Zoheret and Dove~