A note from the Hime no Argh herself–
Ahh, isn't it great to have fanfiction.net back up? Yesterday I celebrated its return by uploading my previously-mentioned Samurai Jack ficlet. (Warning: shameless self-promotion.) I hope you'll read that if you're into SJ, it'd make me so happy.
Here's the next chapter of Waking Dreams for your reading pleasure. ^_^ I suspect that if I keep writing like I have been this story will be finished soon. I've gotten past a worrisome bout of writer's block and am now speed-writing my way through the story. There's a lot of chapters though so unfortunately you guys will have wait a bit for the end.
Well, I'll try not to dawdle too much. ^_^;; Please enjoy this chapter, and those to come.
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Chapter 11
Miralesca
The cages in which Tidus, Auron, Jecht, and Kimahri were locked seemed very much like the cages Tidus and Auron had found themselves imprisoned in during Yuna's pilgrimage. In fact, Tidus could have sworn they were the same. They were suspended next to a walkway above a sheer drop so deep that he couldn't see the bottom, locked in two round, barred cages that looked more like birdcages than anything else.
As before, Tidus and Auron shared a cage, and their guards shoved Jecht and Kimahri into another. Jecht was cursing Jeecan the court priest long after he and his squad had left.
Tidus slumped despondently on the floor of his cage. "Perfect," he muttered under Jecht's loud swearing. "This just had to happen. What the hell do they want with me, anyway?"
"I suspect they know who you are," Auron said calmly. "Shut up, Jecht."
Jecht stopped cursing, but kicked out at one of the bars of the cage he shared with Kimahri. "Stinkin' priests," he snarled. "Who the hell d'they think they are, lockin' us up like this?"
"How could they possibly know who I am?" Tidus demanded of Auron, ignoring Jecht. "It's been five years!"
It was Kimahri who answered. "Yuna and guardians famous. Everyone know us. Even know Kimahri."
Tidus blinked at him, mystified. "Really?"
Auron shrugged as though not at all surprised. "It makes sense. Why shouldn't people want to know the names of the ones who saved them from Sin?"
"Faces, too," Kimahri said.
Auron nodded. "Which would explain why Tidus was recognized."
"But we never came face to face with those guards, they just swooped in and captured us," Tidus pointed out.
Auron thought that over for a moment. "Someone else must have seen us, and reported," he said at last. "Perhaps someone at the inn in the Calm Lands."
"Well, whoever it was, I betcha they didn't recognize me," Jecht said dolefully. "I'm nothin' special, jest the guy who was Sin–"
Auron shot him a sharp look. "You'd better keep that quiet, especially around here," he snapped.
"Seriously, Dad," Tidus added quietly. "These Yevon people are crazy. Who knows what they'd do if they knew you were Sin?"
The look Jecht gave him was one of genuine surprise. "Since when were you worried about my safety?"
"Since you stopped annoying me," Tidus bit back. "That could easily change."
Jecht scowled at him. "Yer lucky yer not in my cage, kid, or I'd rip you a-"
"Stop bickering, you two," Auron interrupted. He removed his clay jug from his belt and pried on the cork until it popped open. "Here, have some. It'll steady your nerves." He passed the jug to Tidus.
Tidus gave him a disbelieving look, but took the jug and sipped. His eyes bulged suddenly as the liquid seared his mouth and throat, burning all the way down to his belly. He choked and nearly spat it up, but with a huge effort managed to swallow it all.
"Damn," he said weakly, eyes tearing. "You trying to poison me, Auron?"
"Of course not," Auron said calmly, plucking the jug out of his hands and taking a swig. "I'm guessing that was your first taste of sake. Congratulations."
Tidus coughed. "Sake? I thought it was water!"
"I refilled it at the inn," Auron said innocently. "Didn't I tell you?"
Jecht stared at them longingly from the neighboring cage. "Not fair," he muttered. "Givin' him a drink when I'm right here. That's jest dirty, Auron."
Auron shrugged. "You're the one who made that oath," he pointed out, taking another drink. "Something along the lines of, 'from now on, I'm only drinking shoopuf milk', wasn't it?"
"Do you only drink shoopuf milk?" Tidus asked curiously.
"'Course not," Jecht said impatiently. "There ain't enough t'go 'round. But I never drink, y'know, drinks." He stared broodingly at Auron's sake jug for a moment, then added abruptly, "'Course, now that I'm alive again an' all, maybe it's time t'take a new oath."
Auron shrugged again. "Your call. Reach over here and get the sake, if you want it so badly."
As there was at least ten feet separating the two birdcages, this was obviously an impossible feat. Jecht gave Auron a mutinous glare and sat down on the floor of the cage, turning his back.
"Do you think we'll get out of here alive?" Tidus asked Auron quietly.
"I hope so," was Auron's less-than-reassuring reply.
After an hour or two of waiting, Tidus decided he may as well get some sleep while he was able to. He curled up on the floor and fell into a deep, dreamless slumber for another hour or so, then was abruptly woken by Auron's hand shaking his shoulder.
"We have company," the man murmured in his ear.
Tidus sat up, rubbing sleep out of his eyes, and looked around to see Jeecan and his squad crossing the walkway beside which their cages were suspended. Jecht and Kimahri were awake as well, watching as Jeecan stopped before their cages and nodded to his men to open them.
"It seems there has been a mistake," he said, adopting a smooth, oily voice. "We are to take you to the High Priestess, who shall apologize in person, then let you go."
Tidus blinked at him, but Auron's gaze was full of suspicion.
"We would hate to waste your priestess's time," he said quietly. "Why don't we just leave now and call ourselves even?"
"My lady insists," Jeecan said with a small smile, and indicated, with a wave of his hand, that they should walk before his squad.
Having no other choice, the four men headed down the walkway, up half a dozen staircases and through countless corridors, following Jeecan's directions. They encountered barely anyone but a robed and hooded priest here and there, all of whom stood silently and watched them pass with shadowed eyes.
"I don't like this," Auron muttered, gazing straight ahead.
"C'mon, Auron," Jecht protested, "at least they're lettin' us go."
"I'm glad you can be so optimistic," Auron shot back.
"Auron's right," Tidus added in a low tone. "You can't trust a word these priests say." Auron and Kimahri nodded fervently in agreement.
After what seemed like a very long time, they halted before a tall set of double doors engraved with the winged eye design, the same design prevalent in many Fayth temples throughout Spira. Jeecan stepped before their group and knocked twice on the doors. A moment passed, then the doors swung silently open.
They found themselves in what seemed to be an enormous, circular room devoid of any furnishing. The ceiling swept into a dome high above their heads, and carved into the stone wall were pictures of many fantastic beasts–no, Tidus suddenly realized, recognizing a carving of Valefor–they were aeons. Watery sunlight filtered through gilded windows along the section of the wall opposite the doors, lighting the large design of the winged eye, carved into the blue marble floor beneath them.
In the very center of the room, motionless, stood a woman in priestess robes of royal blue–an astonishingly beautiful woman with silvery-white hair and dark crimson eyes, her skin as pale as the snow on Mount Gagazet.
Jeecan walked forward and bowed to the woman, then turned to their group. "I present to you Lady Miralesca, High Priestess of the Yevon Order."
The name was like a slap in the face. Quite suddenly Tidus understood why the woman seemed so incredibly familiar.
"You are descended from Yunalesca," Auron said stiffly.
The woman's grave eyes turned to him, and her perfect lips curved into a small smile. "That is correct." Her voice was deep and quiet. "As you can see, Yunalesca's looks passed to me even through thousands of years." Her eyes glittered. "And am I not mistaken in assuming that you are Auron, the legendary Unsent guardian, he who died at the hand of my ancestor?"
Auron didn't reply, but glancing sidelong at him, Tidus could see his face twist into an unmistakable expression of anger.
"I see," Miralesca whispered. Her eyes traveled to all of them in turn, resting the longest on Tidus's face. He gazed back at her defiantly, unnerved as he was by her eyes boring into his, hardly blinking.
"Are you the one they call Tidus of Zanarkand?" she inquired at last, just as Jeecan had done.
"I am," Tidus said steadily.
To his surprise, Miralesca bowed low from the waist; when she straightened, her smile had broadened. "I hope you will forgive me. I am, of course, to blame for your capture and arrest. I did not intend it–indeed, my man Jeecan, while a good soldier, is far too zealous at times–"
Jeecan, standing motionless to their far right, made a small, resentful noise. Miralesca ignored him.
"In any case, my wish was to merely speak with you, not have you arrested and dragged here. So I extend my deepest apologies." Miralesca bowed again, and they all stared at her, slightly confused.
"Why would you want to speak to me?" Tidus asked at last, frowning.
The priestess's eyes found him again. "Isn't it obvious?" she said quietly. "I am not the only person in Spira who would leap at the honor of speaking to the legendary Tidus of Zanarkand–"
"Legendary?" Tidus interrupted, staring at her. "Me?"
"Of course," she replied mildly. "You are one of the guardians who vanquished Sin, are you not?" Her eyes glittered. "You are also the guardian who vanished for five years, are you not?"
"What business is it of yours?" Auron snapped.
Miralesca ignored him, which surprised Tidus–few people were brave enough or foolish enough to ignore Auron. "I always wondered what would happen if you returned one day–how the world would react, that is. I do not believe the summoner under which you served knows you have returned; I met her in Guadosalam just recently–"
"You what?" Tidus yelped, interrupting her again. "You met Yuna?!"
"Indeed," Miralesca replied in a tone that indicated she was enjoying the conversation. "In Guadosalam, as I said. I spoke to her very briefly."
Tidus hesitated for a moment. "Did she...did she look all right?" he asked tentatively.
Miralesca considered that. "Rather tired, I think," she said at last. "She was accompanied by an Al Bhed–"
"Rikku," Auron muttered, and Kimahri nodded in assent.
Miralesca, however, shook her head. "No, this one was male. A young man with the Al Bhed design tattooed in blue on his chest."
Tidus blinked and looked to Auron and Kimahri. "Brother?" he suggested.
"I suppose," Auron said slowly. "But what would Yuna be doing with Brother of the Al Bhed?"
They looked at Miralesca again as if she might provide the answer, but the priestess merely shrugged. "As I said, I only spoke briefly to your summoner." She gazed at them all for a moment. "Are you looking for her?"
Tidus hesitated to answer, feeling that this woman knew all too much about them already, while they knew nothing of her.
Auron seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "I'd like to ask something of you, Lady Miralesca," he said quietly, dangerously.
Miralesca nodded courteously to him. "By all means, ask."
"Is there any point to us being here?" he said shortly, rather rudely.
The smile slipped away from the priestess's lips, but when she looked at Auron her eyes glittered again in that strange, dark way. "None at all," she said with a short laugh. "You are free to leave anytime you wish."
"Then we will do so." Auron inclined his head to her–it wasn't quite a bow, but almost–and nodded to the others. "Let's go."
Jeecan's men opened the large double doors for them as the four trudged out silently. Tidus was the last to leave, and before he crossed the threshold of the doors, a call from behind him made him stop.
"Sir Tidus?"
Tidus blinked. It was the first time anyone had ever called him "sir". He glanced back to Miralesca and saw her still fixed in the very middle of the room, motionless. She gave him an enigmatic smile.
"Good luck finding your summoner."
"Thanks," Tidus said, confused, and followed his companions out the door.
* * *
Sometime during the night–she didn't remember how or when–Yuna made it back to her bunker and fell asleep. When she woke up the following morning, it was suddenly and unnaturally, as if something had woken her. Yuna sat up quickly, feeling the floor vibrating slightly beneath her, the walls almost humming. Brother was already on his feet–he had stayed with her during the night–and gazing suspiciously up at the ceiling.
"What is it?" Yuna asked him, not expecting a reply. Brother remained silent for a few moments, then abruptly knelt and shook Rikku's shoulder.
"Rikku. Fyga ib."
"Ku yfyo," Rikku muttered in her sleep, rolling away from him and burying her face in her pillow.
"Fyga ib!" Brother said sharply, shaking her a bit harder.
"I'm up, I'm up!" Rikku sat up, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. She focused first on Yuna, gave a huge yawn, and looked at Brother. Her brow furrowed in a scowl. "Fryd tu oui fyhd?"
"Dyga ouin vneahtc ib du dra cinvyla frah drao yna nayto," Brother ordered. "E drehg ra ed rana." With that, he gave a two-fingered salute to Yuna, jumped to his feet, and hurried out the door, stepping over sleeping Al Bhed.
Rikku blinked after him. "Who...?" She shook her head, then patted Lulu, still wrapped in blankets and fast asleep. "C'mon, Lu, better wake up. He wants us to go up to the surface level."
It took the three women about five minutes to be up and ready. As they hurried up the metal staircases it seemed as though the floor and walls were vibrating harder than ever. Yuna felt a twinge of apprehension as they dashed through Home's open doors, dazzled by the sunlight glaring off the desert sand.
Al Bhed were grouped all around–Yuna caught a glimpse of Brother in the crowd–staring up at a blinding light that was descending from the sky. The suddenly the glare shifted, and the three women found themselves gazing at an enormous machina, its hull painted in bright, vivid colors, banners flapping proudly in the wind. Rikku's eyes widened and she screamed in delight.
"It's the airship!"
* * *
To be continued.
* * *
Translations
Fyga ib – Wake up
Ku yfyo – Go away
Dyga ouin vneahtc ib du dra cinvyla frah drao yna nayto – Take your friends up to the surface when they are ready
E drehg ra ed rana – I think he is here