Final Fantasy X: Journey
Tida and Chappu watched, stunned, at the image floating in front of them.
"What the—?" Tida gaped.
It was a man, dressed from head to toe in red and black, with a long sword—a blade—resting on his shoulder. He had on dark sunglasses, but Tida could still see the scar over his left eye. Her eyes fell to the jug strapped to his waist.
"Auron." Tida said quietly.
"Who?" Chappu asked, but Tida silenced him with her hand.
"If you're watching this, then I know Sin has been defeated and I have at last been sent to the Farplane. I also know that Tidus has joined me there, since he is a dream awakened.
"Whoever found this, please give it to Lady Yuna or one of her guardians. The rest of this sphere cannot be viewed until the correct answer password is given."
"Okay, so how do we get—"
"Who will be next?" Auron's voice interrupted Chappu, who glowered at Auron, who took no notice, him being in the sphere and all.
"I will." Tida said, raising her head to look at the sphere. Chappu gawked at her. "What are you talking—"
"Correct."
"Huh?"
"Then I know that it is Tida, daughter of Yuna, who is watching this sphere. I knew about you before. I wanted to wish you well on your journey. I can only pray for your safety on your pilgrimage. Fare well, Lady Tida, and that it is all I have to say. Good luck, and tell Rikku I said the Thunder Plains were fun." Auron broke off, laughing, and then the sphere went off.
Chappu raised his eyebrows. "Okay, he's weird. Can we go now? I'd like to test out my new blade."
"Yeah, sure. Just let me put this away," Tida said, putting the sphere in her pouch. She stood up and followed Chappu out the door.
The sun was warm and shining brightly down on them when they exited Djose Temple. Tida stretched, yawning while Chappu spotted a fiend and shot off after it, the Spirit Keeper held high above his head.
"You're mine, you little piece of a dead human!"
"Chappu! Come on!" Tida yelled, stamping her foot. She made a noise in her throat and then grabbed the reins on her chocobo, swinging herself onto its back.
"Chappu!" she yelled again. The black-haired boy turned, having vanquished the fiend, and smiled happily, strapping the sword to his back. He hurried over to her and jumped onto the other chocobo.
"Well, time to go to the Moonflow, and then on to Guadosalam."
* * *
BOOM! CRACK!
A flash of light shot across the sky as a lightning bolt struck a tower, but to those in the party with Rikku, her scream was much more louder than the thunder that followed.
"I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!" she shouted, jumping up and down, eyes closed and hands clasped tightly over her ears.
"Oh, Rikku," Yuna sighed while Wakka buried his face in his hands, stifling his laughter. Lulu glared at him, shaking her head.
"Come on, Rikku. The more we move, the faster we get across the Plains. We'll stop and rest for a while at Rin's Travel Agency, too," Yuna coaxed, prying Rikku's iron grip on her ears loose.
Rikku nodded uncertainly, and, not waiting for another moment or a bolt of lightning, shot off, streaking for the building at least a good couple of miles away.
Yuna sighed, and shook her head. "Well, let's go."
—
After a few violent calamities in which Wakka was struck by lightning three times and Rikku only once, they made it safely inside. Yuna smiled and approached the Al Bhed shopkeeper behind the counter.
"Hello. Do you have a room available?" she asked.
"Yes. One hundred gil, please," the woman said, holding out her hand. Yuna let out a breath of air and dug around in her sack before pulling the desired amount of gil out and handing it to the woman.
"Thank you! Have a nice stay!"
Wakka glared at the woman, nursing his many electrocuted—and still smoking—wounds. The only thing that couldn't really be fixed was his burnt flaming red hair. Damn it, he thought angrily, stupid lightning.
"Come on, Wakka, and I'll patch you up," Yuna said, leading the way into the room. Wakka hesitated, and then stopped.
"I am not spending the night with three girls in the same room," he said flatly. The trio of women stopped to look back at him.
"Wakka, grow up. We're not going to do anything to you. Right now," Rikku added in a wicked whisper to Lulu and Yuna, who grinned evilly at each other. Wakka missed this, however. He was busily digging a potion out of his pocket.
"So, what's the plan for tomorrow, ya?" he asked, yelping a little as he sat down. Lulu casting Firaga on him had been bad enough, he'd thought, but the lightning had seen fit to hit one more time on his unfortunate backside.
"We finish crossing the Thunder Plains and then we're at Guadosalam," Yuna said, sitting down on the bed in the corner and undoing the laces on her boots. She yawned.
"All right. Good night," Wakka said, lying down carefully and promptly falling asleep.
Rikku was already curled up comfortably on the bed across from Yuna, thoughts of doing malevolent things to Wakka swept from her mind as she closed her eyes and joined Wakka in snoring. Lulu winced.
"How could anyone sleep with that?" she wondered aloud, sighing as she climbed into the final open bed. "Good night, Yuna."
"Night."
* * *
"Wake me when we get there," Tida mumbled, curling up on the seat in the box on top of the shoopuf. She closed her eyes, slipping quietly into the sweet and peaceful dreamland.
"I hate it when she does that," Chappu muttered to himself. He lay back in his seat and tried unsuccessfully to hold back a yawn. He tilted his head to study Tida, whose lips were slightly parted, hair blowing in the slight breeze.
She really was beautiful he had to admit, with those entrancing eyes and bright smile. Her long, smooth tan legs only added to the wonder of the sleeping girl. Chappu smiled and shut his eyes. It wouldn't hurt to rest for just a minute . . .
—
Tida opened her eyes and pushed herself up, stretching her arms over her head and yawning widely. She stood up, fixing her wrinkled clothes as best as she could. She looked up and saw Chappu asleep on the bed across the room. Tida was just beginning to wonder exactly how they'd ended up here when the door opened and a woman came in bearing a tray laden with two bowls and two glasses of something blue substance Tida was sure she wouldn't be drinking.
"Hello," Tida said. The woman stopped, startled and set the tray down quickly, bowing.
"I thought you were still asleep," she said. "Your friend over there had to fight a fiend last night to save you. That's why he's sprawled out like that. He was pretty heavy."
"A fiend attacked me?" Tida said in disbelief. "But I would have woken up!"
"No. It was a water fiend and it cast Sleep over you. The poor boy had to hit it with all he had to save you," the woman said, glancing over at Chappu sympathetically.
"Oh. Well, thank you for the food," Tida said, nodding. The woman smiled.
"You're quite welcome." The woman left, shutting the door quietly behind her.
Tida's eyes drifted over to Chappu, who rolled over in his sleep, sighing. Tida felt nothing but gratefulness to him for saving her. She really shouldn't have accepted his request to become her guardian. But in a way, she was happy she had. Otherwise, it would have been very lonely.
She sat down on the floor near the tray, lifted one of the softly steaming bowls to her, and sniffed, trying to identify the substance within. After a few minutes, she decided it was safe and slowly tilted the bowl to her mouth, the warm liquid sliding down her throat and filling her with warmth.
"Ah," Tida said, savoring the taste. She grabbed one of the glasses and swirled its contents around. Cautiously, she took a sip—and instantly knew what it was.
"Honeybeer!" she squealed, giggling like a two-year-old girl. "I haven't had this in years!" Tida drank all of the sweet juice in several gulps. She set the glass down and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, grinning.
"Hey, Chappu! Food!" she called, throwing a pillow at him from her place on the floor. Chappu bolted upright as the pillow hit him in the face. In one quick slash of the Spirit Keeper, he sent feathers flying everywhere. He was gasping for air when he saw Tida staring at him through the falling and floating feathers. Chappu dropped the blade, groaning.
"Oh, man!" he said. He sighed and sat down across from the uproariously laughing Tida. She was rolling on the ground, holding her sides and panting for air.
"That was—too—funny!"
"Shut up, Tida." Chappu grumbled, reaching for the second bowl. He drank it all down quickly and then reached for his glass. He sniffed it momentarily before swallowing the Honeybeer.
"Hungry?" Tida said, raising her eyebrows. Chappu let out a satisfying sigh as he sat the glass down. He looked at Tida.
"Yeah. I'm lucky to be alive with your cooking," Chappu said, ducking quickly to avoid the pillow she swung at his head. He grinned and jumped to his feet, snatching a pillow from his bed. Tida leapt after him, bringing the pillow down on his head. Chappu yelled and swung at Tida, who used her pillow as a shield and came around with another pillow, landing a hit in his gut.
"Yes!" Tida let out a whoop as the pillow fight continued, each swinging madly at the other. Although Tida scored more hits, Chappu managed to knock her shield away.
Laughing, the two tripped and fell onto the bed, Chappu landing on top of Tida. For a moment, time seemed to freeze as they lay there, quietly staring into the other's eyes, searching. Tida released her grip on her pillow and felt her lips quiver.
Gently, Chappu's head dropped lower until their lips touched lightly. Tida's hand flew up, clenching into a fist on his shirt as Chappu moved his hands up, grabbing her shoulders as he deepened the kiss.
Tida's mind had gone blissfully blank as she welcomed Chappu's kiss with open arms. She bathed in his affection, wishing she could stay there forever.
* * *
"Yunie, do we have to go to the Farplane?" Rikku asked, staring warily ahead at the city of Guadosalam.
"Rikku, I just want to visit. You can see my parents, and . . . we can all see Tidus and Auron again," Yuna said hopefully. Lulu turned her head and Wakka looked at the ground. Rikku shot them dirty looks before slinging an arm around Yuna's shoulder.
"If it makes you happy, Yunie," she said, smiling.
"Thank you," Yuna said, nodding to Rikku.
"All right! Let's go!" Rikku ran ahead, her feet pounding away at the pathway leading up to the entrance to the Farplane. Lulu and Wakka followed, but Yuna went at a slower place, reminiscing.
This was where Seymour proposed, and Tidus confessed his love for me to Lulu, she thought, smiling. She wiped at a tear in her eye, scolding herself. "You can't cry anymore. You have to be strong, for Tidus, for Tida."
Yuna broke into a jog to catch up with the other members of her party, glancing back over her shoulder at the manor, suppressing a shudder at the sight of it.
* * *
"Come on, Chappu! Guadosalam's right in front of us!" Tida yelled, standing with her hands on her hips as Chappu climbed up the steep hillside after. Tida had called this Hellway a shortcut.
Shortcut my ass, Chappu thought, scowling up at Tida. It was amusing, though, to see her so excited. Then he remembered: Tida had never been to Guadosalam, or to the Thunder Plains—why she was fascinated with either mystified him. What was so great about them?
"Chappu!" Tida whined.
"All right, all right. I'm here. Let's go," Chappu snapped, pulling himself onto the ledge and chasing after Tida, who tore down the road at full speed.
"Crazy woman," Chappu muttered, then caught himself. Did he actually just call her a woman? She was still a girl, he reminded himself, and a very beautiful one, at that.
"I see it, I see it!" Tida cried, jumping up and down now. She pointed at the entrance to the city of the Guado, waiting impatiently for Chappu to hurry up.
Chappu joined her and they walked inside, Tida's eyes wide with excitement.
Guadosalam hadn't changed much over the years, but had grown in its population. More houses were spread around and the city had grown in size. Chappu spotted the entrance to the Farplane at the top, and wondered if Tida would mind if he visited his father.
Tida followed his gaze and smiled. "Go ahead. I wanna look around," she said, pointing to the merchants they could see through an open door to a shop.
"All right, but be careful and alert and stay away from heavy equipment," Chappu said, squeezing her shoulder gently before running up the path to the Farplane.
" 'Be careful and alert'. You'd think I was made of glass or something," Tida grumbled, walking into the nearest item shop. She picked up a bottle of a green mixture and looked it over carefully.
"Hn. What's an Al Bhed potion doing in the middle of a Guado shop?" she speculated aloud. Tida set the vial back down and glanced around, taking the shop in.
She picked up a piece of a broken mirror and turned it in her hand, studying it. Strange, she thought, it feels familiar somehow, but how could it?
"Oh, snap out of it, Tida, it's a part of a broken mirror!" she rebuked herself, setting it back down on the table with its corresponding pieces.
Tida turned around just in time to hear an ear-splitting scream echoed in the Guado city. Tida's trained ears picked up the sound coming from the Farplane and she took off at a run up the pathway. Her shoes pounded the passageway as she dashed as hard as she could.
Tida reached the stairs and jumped them two at a time. She flipped up the next set and entered the Farplane, stopping dead.
Disclaimer: All belongs to Squaresoft. Tida and Chappu are mine.