Final Fantasy X: Journey
"Get back here, you little thief!"
Laughing, Jai sprinted away from the pursuing shopkeeper. Her long legs were swiftly eating up the ground and her voice rang with triumph.
"Catch me if you can!" she hooted, turning a corner and dashing along the alley happily, almost skipping. She jumped behind a cluster of boxes and crouched down, listening and waiting for him to run by.
Sure enough, he came wheezing by sluggishly. Jai heard him go on down the alley, still trying in vain to catch her even though he never would. That was the best part about the fat shopkeepers of Besaid—they were all slow and stupid.
Jai leapt out from her hiding place and began whistling, sinking her teeth into the sweet fruit she'd stolen. She walked back out into the street and looked up at the hill where the temple resided.
She didn't know why, but every time she went inside it, an odd feeling would grip her, as if she'd been there a long time ago. But try as she might, she couldn't remember. Her memories only consisted of becoming a thief in Besaid. That was all. Nothing before.
Really, all she could recall was a man who'd told her that he couldn't fulfill his mission in killing her. He'd apologized and had brought her to live in Besaid, promising she'd never be in any danger.
Yeah, right, Jai thought bitterly. As if living from day to day by stealing wasn't dangerous.
Sighing, Jai walked down past the different booths that lined the street on either side. People were yelling, merchants were bargaining, and here and there little children ran around their parents' legs.
Jai paused for a moment to watch. She cocked her head and raised her arms up, hands behind her head—a strange movement, considering it had been seen before. Briefly, she wondered what it would be like to have parents.
—
"No!" Jai awoke, screaming. Her breath came in ragged gasps, and a cold sweat lightly ran over her body. Sighing, she fell back onto the cot, part of her wanting to start crying, the other nagging her for still having nightmares.
Jai got up and went to look into the jagged-edged mirror. Her eyes were different color—startling to most people she actually took the time to talk to. She reckoned she was somewhere in her teens, mid to late. She had an athletic build, but was still thin and made with the right figure that said she was a still developing girl. Her hair was short and blond. She didn't know why it was so short—she just kept it that way.
Her clothes also seemed strange to her. But somehow, comforting. Yellow and black seemed to be the colors she picked most. She had on a yellow shirt/jacket, with a white hood and lining. Her shorts were black, somewhat of a "blitz style," some would say. Her hands were covered softly in black gloves, one of which Jai clenched and brought up to eyes level, eyes staring at it. She shook her head and looked down at her boots—yellow and black.
"I swear," Jai said, smiling at her image. Rolling her eyes, she turned away and walked outside to the three-foot square terrace they dared call a balcony. She leaned on the railing, looking out over the sea at the setting sun. Down below, people were setting up for the campfire where the elders would tell the story of the Eternal Calm. She'd heard the story enough times to know it all by heart.
But tonight was different. They would also tell of Lady Tida, the daughter of High Summoner Yuna. It was, after all, her 16th birthday and everyone in Spira was rejoicing that fact though sadly, since Tida had vanished shortly after her seventh birthday party.
Jai laughed then; one of the younger men had stumbled, dropping his load of wood and triggering the neat, larger stack to all come tumbling down, rolling everywhere. A few women screamed while the elders got a good laugh as well as Jai.
Some more men came and began yelling until all you could hear was screaming, some of the voices belonging to women and a couple to the elders. Jai smiled and moved away, spinning around and around back into her room. With a contented sigh, she fell backwards onto the bed, staring dreamy-eyed up at the ceiling.
Yes, life was perfectly wonderful.
But still, there was something or someone out there, meant just for her.
—
"Damn it!"
"Shut up!"
"Would everyone—"
"Move over!"
"Find your own seat, pal!"
"Please, it's—"
"Bring it on, bitch!"
"Oh, I got it!"
"I SAID, WOULD EVERYONE PLEASE SHUT UP!"
At once, the crowd all stopped yelling and chattering. All eyes fell, staring, to the huffing and puffing elder woman glaring around at them, ancient hands curled into fists of stone. Regaining composure, she let out a breath, and sat down, hands folded in her lap. "Thank you."
Jai rolled her eyes and watched the flames of the fire dance. She leaned down; elbows on her knees, hands supported her head. She let out a whoosh of air, blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes and back into place with the rest of her blond mane.
At last, on of the village elders arose from his seat and gazed around at everyone. "Our story begins here, seventeen years ago. Lady Yuna was just a girl of 17, and on her way to becoming a summoner. Everything was going well.
"Until a young man came to Besaid out of nowhere, with no knowledge of this place, or of Spira. It was the great Sir Wakka, guardian of Lady Yuna, who found him. He brought him into the village, and introduced him to Yuna . . ."
Jai's eyes suddenly dropped and she slowly began to fall sideways until she was lying down. Yawning, she curled up and drifted softly off to sleep.
* * *
"Hey! Hey, kid! Wake up!"
"Wha . . .?" Jai pushed herself up and rubbed her eyes, clearing them of sleep. She glanced around, but no one was there. Jai let out a yell and leapt to her feet.
This wasn't Besaid! There were tall, tall buildings and wide roads. There were no neat little houses and huts or sandy streets. This wasn't like anything she'd ever seen before in her life—not that she could remember seeing anyway. This was magnificent; this was spectacular, wondrous.
"Kid!"
Jai whirled around, her eyes darting left and right. Out of the corner of her eye, at the end of the road, she saw what must have been a house. Just in front of it stood a man, his arms crossed. Startled, Jai stared at him.
Then, suddenly, she bolted forward in his direction, racing herself as thoughts swirled in her mind, some angry, some confused. All that mattered was getting to him, and finding out what the hell was going on.
A few feet from reaching him, he vanished and Jai crashed headlong into a stack of boxes. Groaning, she laid there for a few moments before hearing soft laughter. She jerked upright as best she could and looked between her feet at a man standing there, this one different from the first.
"You . . . Who are you?" Jai said, frowning as she tried to push herself out of the boxes. Laughing, the man strode forward and extended his hand to her. Raising one eyebrow quizzically, she accepted his help and allowed herself to be pulled gently to her feet. Jai took a step away from him and slowly started to circle him.
"Who are you?" she repeated.
The man only smiled and looked her over, watching her circle him. "So, were you some kind of bird of prey in a past life, or are you just waiting to make a kill?"
Jai instantly stopped moving, and faced him fully. "I'd just like to know where I am and who you are."
"I can't tell you that; you'll find out some day, I promise. But for now, just live life. You seem to be at that—kinda like I was. I was an orphan, too. I knew my parents, though, unlike you. But you'll find them."
The man stopped, looked at her closely, then considered, and spoke in Al Bhed, "1Oui ryja ouin sudran'c aoac, pid dra nacd ec sa." He chuckled. "2Ajah dra tnacc cdoma."
"What the heck are you saying?" Jai said, her different eyes widening. The man still only smiled, and shook his, looking at her what seemed to her, strangely.
"You . . . Your story begins here," he said, moving forward and poking her in the chest with his finger. Jai suddenly felt something cold touch her skin.
She reached up to her neck and felt her hand wrap around a silver chain. Shocked, she yanked on it. The silver piece at the bottom of the chain smacked her in the face and with a cry, and she stumbled backward, and tripped.
She fell from the raised road.
* * *
"Hey, kid, you all right?"
Someone was shaking her. Jai opened her eyes and immediately wished she hadn't. The bright blaze of the fire nearly blinded her and her hands shot up to block it from her eyes.
"I—I'm fine," she said, sitting up and gazing around now. The crowd of people that had originally gathered to listen to the chronicle was now watching her, some concerned, some annoyed at the interruption.
"You sure, ya?" someone said. Jai wasn't sure who had said, but she nodded, hoping they'd seen.
"What happened?" she asked.
"You must have been having a bad dream. You started screaming during the part where the elders were telling about Seymour attacking Lady Yuna and her guardians on Mt. Gagazet. We thought for minute that it just upset you, but then we noticed you rolling, and then you fell off the seat. A good five feet to fall too, ya?" a man said.
"Oh . . . it was a dream," Jai said, casting her eyes to the ground. Was it a dream? It sure didn't feel like it. It was just too—too real. What other explanation was there for it?
"I—I have to go." Jai said hurriedly, pushing roughly to her feet and racing off. The people watched her. Who was this strange girl? What was her dream?
Jai didn't stop running until she'd reached the temple. She stopped, hands on her knees as her breath came in short, panting gasps. She raised her head to look up at the temple. Straightening, Jai frowned and walked inside, her footsteps leading her to the entrance to the Cloister of Trials.
Solving them was no problem; she'd done it before out of sheer boredom and part curiosity. But never before had she dared to enter where the summoners of the past had prayed to the fayth.
Jai stepped inside and dimly, could see the glass, slightly curved, over the hardened stone shape that had once been the fayth of the Besaid Temple. Jai crouched down, her hand on the glass, fingertips lightly pressing.
"Please . . . please, you have to hear me. I—I want to know . . . who I am . . ." Jai whispered, her eyes filling with soft, crystalline tears that held light's reflection.
From her neckline, the chain chinked, and from her shirt escaped the necklace, the Zanarkand symbol with it, to the bottom, swinging silently, rhythmically.
The flash that erupted from the chamber was violently dazzling and dancing.
1Oui ryja ouin sudran'c aoac, pid dra nacd ec sa means "You have your mother's eyes, but the rest is me."
2Ajah dra tnacc cdoma means "Even the dress style."
Back again. I know, I know. Oh, and I forgot to put something last time . . .
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy and its characters are in no way, shape, or form mine. So there!!!
Angel of the Faith