When I Met You…

            Tidus—

            I wasn't there for your birth, your first steps, your first birthday… your first words.  So many things I missed.  I really wanted to be there but… I couldn't.  I wasn't even real.  Well, to Yuna I was.  You were too young to understand why your daddy wasn't there to have fun with you. 

            But I left my mark on you without even knowing it.  You were a miniature me with that blond hair, athletic stature and a seemingly never-ending supply of energy and enthusiasm.  You didn't think you got those from your mother, did you?  Of course not!

            I could watch you, yes, but I couldn't talk to you, touch… hold you.  I was denied all of those things because I was a dream.  But I was your dream.

            From the moment you turned four, you began playing Blitzball.  You wanted your hair short and you shunned the pretty lacy dresses Yuna and Rikku put you in.  If they even suggested you wear one, you stuck out that lower lip and glared. 

            One thing I really noticed was that you acted almost exactly like me.  You'd put one hand behind your head, or both, and cock your head.  You moved like me.  You even played Blitzball like me!

            I always watched you play even though I wasn't there in real life.  I'd see you swim through the water like it was a second skin or something.  You appeared to see a move coming before it even happened.  You were incredible and every bit as good as I am… was…

            And then it happened.  I watched that—that idiot come into your room just after your seventh birthday.  I was once again watching you sleep peacefully, still wishing I could be there and brush that stubborn strand of champagne-colored hair out of your eyes as you dreamed.

            Seething, I saw him take you.  You were too sleepy to fight back but yet you struggled as best as your small body could.  You even went as far as to bite him.

            And then I lost you.

            I tried and I tried to find you but it was if you had vanished.  I, like Yuna, refused to believe you were dead or that you had run away.  I never gave up hope.

            So I waited, for nine years.  I sadly watch my love slowly begin to accept the fact that you were never coming back but I knew you weren't dead.  You weren't with me, so how could you be?

            Your sixteenth birthday was coming up and all eyes were on Yuna.  She wanted to celebrate it and the rest of the people of Spira wished to commemorate along with her.  She agreed and even gave a speech.

            But my eyes were on Besaid.  I'd discovered this girl with short blond hair that strangely resembled mine.  And her eyes were different-colored and something was very familiar about her—especially the way she would stand sometimes with her hands behind her head and a smile gracing her lips, one yellow-booted foot cocked at the ankle.  A stance I clearly remembered as I myself did it.

            The moment she sat down at the Square for the story telling, I knew it was her.  I could feel it within every part of me.  I'd learned something new after all this time it was the fact that I could talk to people in their dreams.  I'd never tried it before but I knew I had to this once.

            She began falling asleep much to my pleasure.  Slowly at first, and then much faster.  As soon as sleep welcomed her into its warm embrace, I made my move.

            I moved into the dream, concentrating with all I had.  I transformed it into my own dream place…

            Zanarkand.

            She was lying out in the middle of the road—out of my control, I soon learned.  I couldn't tell her she was; she'd have to remember that on her own.  There were so many limits on what I could do in this Dream World.

            "Hey! Hey, kid! Wake up!"

"Wha . . .?" She pushed herself up and rubbed her eyes, clearing them of sleep. She glanced around, but no one was there. She let out a yell and leapt to her feet.

"Kid!" I called again.

She whirled around, her eyes darting left and right. She saw me out of the corner of her eye, at the end of the road.  I crossed my arms. She stared at me.

Then, suddenly, she bolted forward in my direction, racing toward me.  I knew all her thoughts were shooting through her head like lightning and it really was no wonder.  I'd just dumped her in Zanarkand when she'd been to the far south in Besaid.

When she was a few feet from reaching me, I strangely vanished and she crashed headlong into a stack of boxes. Groaning, she laid there for a few moments before hearing my soft laughter. She jerked upright as best she could and looked between her feet at me standing there.

"You . . . Who are you?" she said, frowning as she tried to push herself out of the boxes. Laughing, the I strode forward and extended my hand to her. Raising one eyebrow quizzically, she accepted my help and allowed herself to be pulled gently to her feet. She took a step away and slowly started to circle me.

"Who are you?" she repeated.

I only smiled and looked her over, watching her circle me. "So, were you some kind of bird of prey in a past life, or are you just waiting to make a kill?"

She instantly stopped moving, and faced me 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," I told her.

I stopped, looked at her closely, then considered, and spoke in Al Bhed, "1Oui ryja ouin sudran'c aoac, pid dra nacd ec sa." I chuckled. "2Ajah dra tnacc cdoma."

"What the heck are you saying?" she demanded, her different eyes widening. I still only smiled, and shook my head, looking at her what seemed to her, strangely.

"You . . . Your story begins here," I said, moving forward and poking her in the chest with my finger.  She obviously felt something new.

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 as I watched, silently praying.

            And the dream ended.

            She awoke.  Exhausted beyond words, I withdrew for a while before coming back.  There, I received the biggest news that had even been delivered to me.

            Seymour, that damned insane Guado, had somehow managed to escape the Farplane.  Part of me vaguely wondered how he'd done it and the other, larger part, knew he was going to try and destroy Spira again.

            I had to warn her.

            I readied for a new dream.  It worked easily enough.                                                     "Tida . . . you need to wake up. I need to talk to you."

Groggily, she forced her eyelids to open.  Tida moaned and pushed herself up to a standing position, rubbing her eyes so she could focus better. Yawning, she looked again at me.

"You!" she yelped, tripping over her own feet and landing on her rear on the grass.

"That definitely didn't come from me."

Tida pushed herself up, staring disbelievingly at me standing before her, just a few feet away. Struggling, she found her voice.

"Dad?"

I smiled at my daughter; who would have thought she'd make this far? I crossed my arms in front of my chest—something I'd picked up from my own father.

"Hey, kiddo," I said, smiling. Tida's knees went weak, but I could see she refused to go down. She took a shaky step; I knew she wanted with all her might to run to me, hug me, even for just a moment.

"It's okay, Tida," I told my daughter, moving to her and wrapping my arms around her, my chin resting lightly on the top of her head. Tida began to cry; it seemed to her that was all she could do now. I kissed her forehead; this was the first time I'd ever held her—and now that she was all grown up.  But it still wasn't real.

"Dad . . ." She pushed back enough to look up at me. "Why did you go away? Why didn't you stay with me and mom?"

"I didn't exactly have a say in the matter. I was—am—a dream of the fayth. They wanted to sleep, so when we killed Sin, they were finally able to sleep. They'd been dreaming for over a thousand years." I explained gently.

"So they did take you," Tida spat out bitterly, looking down at the ground, her anger turning once again to the fayth of Spira.

"Oh, Tida. If they hadn't started dreaming in the first place, I wouldn't have been able to met Yuna or fall in love with her. If they hadn't dreamt, you wouldn't be here," I told her.

"I don't care. They took you away."

I sighed and ruffled her hair, smiling ruefully. "I guess you've got your mom's will. Once she set her mind, it was hard to change it."

"Dad, why did you come here?" Tida asked me suddenly. I slapped my forehead with the base of my hand.

"Damn it! Stupid Tidus!" I cursed. "I almost forgot (Great, I'm turning into Rikku.)! I came here to tell you that Seymour managed to escape the Farplane. I don't know how he did it, but he did. You have to stop him, and send him for good."

"Seymour . . ." Tida's eyes clouded and I pulled away from her, cocking one eyebrow.

"Uh, Tida? Huh?"

I waved his hand in front of Tida's eyes. "Tida? Tida? Tida!"

Tida blinked, the clouds disappearing from her eyes. Instead her green eye blazed with an emerald fire and her blue burned with a sapphire loathing.

"It was him," she said, barely above a whisper. "Seymour hired that man to kill me, but he didn't. He saved me from Seymour, but he took away who I was."

"Tida, that doesn't matter right now. Your fight isn't with him; it's with Seymour! He's out, and he's after Yuna—and the rest of Spira! You have to stop him!" Desperation was in clear in my voice as I pleaded with my daughter. Tida looked at me and nodded.

"I will stop Seymour."

            I delivered her back into the real world, hoping things would be okay.

            I began working on my own plan, working tirelessly on gathering information for my use.  I wouldn't be here much longer, something told me.  I had to be ready.  I still had Caladbolg, and I could still use it if need be.

            It had been some months since I had last seen my daughter when Yunalesca visited me.  She gave me the news of what was to happen with the Aeon of Light I'd discovered.

            She told me about the trials and before she could leave, the fayth of Bahamut appeared and gave me the news that I was leaving the Farplane—for good, or at least until I actually died.

            I took on the trials, braving them for my daughter.  It was hard, I'll admit, but still my resolve didn't fail.  I was doing this for Tida, and no one or no thing was going to make me fail for her.

            It was done.  Fate had been sealed.  I was real.

            And so it was when they arrived at Zanarkand Temple I was there, waiting.  The doors began to open and I stepped out, a broad smile on my face as I took in the sight of Yuna, Tida, her guardians—who was the boy?—and Rikku.

            Yuna fell to her knees. Rikku, too, went to her knees. But Tida, on the other hand, burst into tears and raced forward as fast her legs would carry her.

"Dad!" she cried, throwing herself into my arms. I caught my daughter up into a tight, warm, loving hug, the first I had ever shared with this girl who was my blood. Yuna managed to get to her feet and dash forward, grabbing me like she would never let me go. I hoped she wouldn't, either.  I smiled and held both my girls, rocking them as they soaked my shirt with their tears of happiness.

Rikku touched her cheek at the scene and pulled it back to discover it was wet with her own tears. She turned around to look at Chappu and Zeoron and almost started to laugh.

Zeoron had grabbed Chappu's shirttail and was bawling into it; Chappu was looking down at her with a look of disgust on his face.

Tida finally pulled back, her tears spent. "Dad, why…how…?"

I smiled as Yuna pushed back as well, studying my face. My smile widened, my white teeth fully showing. "The fayth decided that they would keep us separated no longer. They felt enough pain had been inflicted on our family and agreed that enough was enough."

Tida swiped away the rest of her tears and turned, facing Yunalesca. "Lady Yunalesca, I am ready to accept the Aeon of Light and defeat the Shadow and Seymour and free Spira from their terror once and for all! I will restore the Eternal Calm my mother once gave Spira. I will preserve it!"

Yunalesca nodded and held her hands up above her head. A rainbow of light engulfed the room and everyone but Tida shielded their eyes from the flash.

            And so it was.

            Oh, Tida, I miss you so much my baby girl.  You're always in my dreams at night, you little terror.  I love you.

            Disclaimer:  All belongs to Squaresoft.  Tida, however, is mine.