CHAPTER FOUR: The Al Bhed
DARKNESS FELL ON THIS DESOLATE PLACE, where a massive ship sat on top of the vast black ocean. Round lights sent out beams of luminosity into the dim ocean.
On this very ship, floating on top of the ocean, Tidus laid still for hours. Finally, he started stirring, waking back to consciousness. He still felt pain in his joints and he knew he needed to stretch, badly.
He looked up to see the group of men standing with their backs facing him. So it really wasn't a dream. His vision was a little blurred, so the figures of the men seemed to echo, in a sense. The beams emitted from the small spotlights allowed Tidus a better look at the men. He was positive that they were the same ones from earlier.
Just when his vision had clarified, one of the men darted around and saw that Tidus was now standing up. He aimed his machina gun at him warningly and shouted, "Sit, captive!"
Tidus stumbled back onto the railing when the point of the gun nudged at him with enough force to send him backwards. He didn't have to speak their language to understand that last demand.
He slid down to his bottom and he sat on the surface of the ship deck. "Hey, that hurts!" he hollered.
Another man pointed his round gun at Tidus. "No moving, hear?"
"Whoa . . . Okay," he complied.
From behind those two men, a weird door opened and his blond savior walked through with another guy whose tattooed chest was not even half as odd as his hairstyle of choice: all of his hair had been shaved off, save for a long arc of thick blond hair that stood up in the middle of his otherwise bald head.
One of the men who had held a gun at Tidus turned to see the girl and her companion with the weird hairstyle and showy tattoos. Promptly, he bowed his head.
Tidus gazed at the girl intently as she and her tattooed companion approached him with a heavy stride.
The tattooed man spoke first in that same puzzling language. "Search him!"
The blond girl who now stood behind him helped Tidus to his feet.
The tattooed man in front of him started grunting and making weird gestures with arms. Tidus understood the beginning of it. He was trying to show swimming.
Tired, Tidus mumbled, "Right. Whatever."
The tattooed man made a few more gestures before he looked at Tidus curiously. "Do you not speak?" he asked Tidus and Tidus would have answered, had he understood the question. The tattooed man held out a technologically-stylized necklace in his palm and displayed it in front of Tidus. He pointed at it several times and made weird noises that sounded like he was about to wretch.
"I said I don't understand!" Tidus declared hotly.
One of the men thrust forward and held the sharp end of his bladed gun inches away from Tidus's abdomen. "Insolence!"
The girl came up closer behind Tidus and waved her hand at the men holding their guns. "Wait!" She turned to Tidus and said softly in a language he spoke as well, "He said you can stay if you make yourself useful."
Stunned, Tidus turned his head to the side to face the girl. "You . . . You understand me?" he asked. The upper half of his body fell forward when one of the men struck him in the back with his machina gun. "All right," he agreed. "I'll work!"
Tidus walked over to the side of the boat. "What's this?" he inquired. "Some kind of crane?"
The tattooed man yelled at him. "Hey, you! Get away from there!"
Tidus moved back. "All right, all right! You don't have to shout!" he resigned and then walked over to the girl when she began to speak.
"We found some ancient ruins right beneath us," she commenced, excitement bubbling her girly, merry voice. "It's not active now, but there should still be some power left. We're gonna go down there and activate it . . . and then we should be able to salvage the big prize!"
Tidus crossed his arms and murmured under his breath. After all, he had agreed to work.
The girl soared up her arms and chirped, "Okay! Let's get to work!"
"Roger!" Tidus whooped and then sprinted across the deck, hopped onto the railing, and with one final glance over his shoulder, he plunged into the icy water.
The girl signaled at the men behind her and followed Tidus into the water.
***
Tidus bobbed gently in the water, looking out at some peculiar structure in the very depths of the ocean while he waited for the girl to accompany him. She swam up behind him and he led the way.
At a closer look, he saw that they were some sort of underwater ruins with glaring red lights peering out into the darkness.
They approached the colossal structure embedded onto the rocks on the ocean floor. They entered inside the underwater ruins and traveled through the long corridor, which had rows of electric machina glowing on the sides.
The girl stopped and waited as Tidus swam up to a pitch black flat screen propped up on a table. In front of the flat screen podium looked like a squared door divided into three parts, marked by a glowing floral design.
He slammed his fist onto the flat screen a few times, and as he did so, the screen turned blue with life. Bright text appeared on the screen as he hit it.
Several punches later, the divided sections of the door slid into the frame and created an entryway for Tidus and the girl.
They swam into a large corridor, moving past rows of what looked like someone's ribcage. At the end of the passage was a huge piece of machina, with neon green tubes jutting from the center of the machina. In the center, encased within a cage, was the form of a lightning green crystal. Tidus approached the machina.
He punched the cylindrical cage until suddenly, the bottom of the cage flared to life with bright circular lights. The cage began to move, bouncing up and down, doing more than a mere rippling of water around them.
One of the long corridors that Tidus and his comrade had passed through ignited into an eerie shade of blood red upon the activation of the machina in the other room. A creature swam past the room, its peace perturbed, and now detecting fine morsels in the underwater ruins.
***
Tidus left the room with the girl bringing up the rear. They swam through a hallway and returned to the room where they first began, seeing the purple tentacles of the creature. It was the first thing that Tidus noticed because it stood out against the darkness.
On top of the sinewy tentacles was a hard-shelled head. Tidus had only heard of this ocean-dwelling creature from his mother; he had never thought he would come face-to-face with it, the Tros.
Fortunately, the girl had a good supply of hand grenades that she chucked at the Tros, shaking its jelly-like body. Tidus hacked through the hard shell of its head with the same sword that had been his pride and joy thus far. For it had kept him alive. But would it work again?
The girl threw another grenade at it and it suddenly combusted into the water, mixing in with the liquid, and leaving only light spheres in its wake.
They gazed at the literally electrifying room that they were in, feeling the power of it surge through their own bodies.
The girl looked on in awe. She had found precisely what she had come here to look for.
***
On the surface of the underwater ruin, one of the spotlights lifted slowly up and then it was turned on, brought back to life, and its beam shone powerfully through the shadowy ocean water. Another light came on and another until all the lights surrounding the ruins had been activated and piercing through the darkness of the ocean bottom.
Tidus floated by one of the beams from the spotlight, an insignificant speck by the great beam of light. Now that there was light, Tidus could see what he and the girl had uncovered.
It was not exactly underwater ruins. They were certainly ruins, ancient and powerful, but they looked like the ruins of some vessel or craft.
Tidus and the girl emerged to the surface and swam back towards the ship.
***
The men approached the railing, still wearing their body suits and goggles.
"We found the airship!" one of them declared.
Another person said softly, "The records were right."
Tidus hopped over the railing and landed on his feet. He shook his body, drying himself off like a dog would.
The men headed towards the door that led into a boat. One of them asked, "Now, how to drag it up?"
Naturally, not knowing otherwise, Tidus followed them until they stopped in front of the door. One of the men turned to him and pointed across from them. In that same language, he shouted, "Oui, uidceta!"
Tidus did not move. He did not understand the command.
To help him out, the man who had just spoken to him slugged him on the shoulder. Tidus took a step back, but he nonetheless felt offended. "Hey, I helped out, didn't I?" he reminded them, but they ignored him.
They moved through the door and faced him as it shut, leaving him alone on the deck.
***
The beams of the lights swiftly moved across the black night sky. Tidus kept his vision on it; it was the only amusement he had at the time, but it wasn't enough of a distraction to keep him from the hunger rumbling inside his stomach.
He rubbed his stomach and groaned, "Uhh . . . hungry."
The night fell all around him, but it didn't help to ease his hunger pains. He tightened his closed eyelids and tried to focus on getting his stomach to stop rumbling. Back in Zanarkand, he had never starved. Whenever he needed food, it would always be there to nourish the star player of the Zanarkand Abes. And his mother, when she was alive she had always kept her only son well fed . . . that was, until, her depression after Jecht disappeared.
Feeling the fury overcome him more than the hunger itself, Tidus chose to focus on the empty pit known as his stomach rather than the emptiness he felt inside known as his life.
Absorbed in this concentration, Tidus did not hear the oncoming footsteps approaching him until he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder from a kick. His propped elbow came down and he darted his head to see the girl holding a tray of—food?
She set it down in front of him and for a moment, Tidus could only stare at the vivid, colorful hues of his salvation.
Finally snapping back to what he had in front of him, he whooped, "Whoa! Right on!"
He picked up the tray with his left hand and used only his right hand to dig into the food and bring the chunks into his mouth. His senses came alive with the tanginess of a meal much needed. He was wolfing down the food so fast that he had hardly any time to savor the spicy kick to it, or the sweet aftertaste flavor.
What he did have time to savor was the fact that the food was clogging up his throat. He paused and started to choke. He tried to find an airway for his lungs, but the delectable cuisine was making it difficult for him. For a moment, he was certain he was going to die, and there was some comedy involved in the way that he would die—not from the colossal Geosgaeno or from the lithe Klikk or even from the slippery, hard-shelled Tros; it would be from eating too fast and not chewing enough.
He pounded his fist against his chest, as if it would open up a clogged airway, and looked around the floor for something to help him.
"Hey!" the girl shouted before tossing him a flagon of water.
Tidus tore open the lid and swallowed nearly all the water in two breaths, hoping to force the food into the tubes that led to his stomach, and not to obstruct anymore necessary passageways.
When he felt the food slither down his throat, he exhaled a breath of relief. He had gotten so caught up in all his hunger that he forgot the number one lesson his mother had taught him: "Don't eat too fast, Tidus. I wouldn't want my little Blitzball player turning blue."
The girl squat down in front of him. "It's 'cause you eat too fast!" she echoed coincidentally, but then again, Tidus doubted if there were any such things as "coincidences" anymore. He had felt, from the moment that Auron had showed up in Zanarkand, that everything from here on out would be forever changed—and none of it would be pure luck either.
Tidus took one last look at the tray of food before he set it down and staggered to his feet, as if his weight was suddenly too heavy for him. He approached the railing of the ship and stretched out his arms as far as his limbs could protract. His muscles were long overdue for a good stretching. As an athlete, he knew that stretching after a game was as important as stretching before it. And he felt, that this was the beginning of one long game . . . and for a moment, he wondered how long this game would last and if he would survive long enough to stretch at the end.
The sound of the girl coming up behind him brought Tidus back to where he was now. "Hey!" the girl chirped.
Tidus spun around to look at the girl, the only familiar face he knew, and yet, for the first time, he realized that he still didn't even know her name, only that she had a knack for showing up at the right place, at the right time. "Hello there," he said with a warm half-smile. "What is your name?" he sought.
"Rikku."
Tidus's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets from being so shocked. He seized the girl's—Rikku's—hands and shook her excitedly with an amazing discovery. "Whoa! You really do understand!"
He raised her hands above her head, which Rikku found as the perfect opportunity to break out of his frighteningly ecstatic handshake. "Woo hoo!" Tidus yelped and turned away, laughing the breath out of his lungs.
He placed his hands on his hips and stopped laughing. The silence did not last for very long because Tidus had another question to ask of Rikku. He walked back to her. "Why didn't you say so earlier?" he wondered.
Rikku put up her hands as if to signify the beginning of her explanation. "I didn't get a chance to!" she exclaimed. "Everyone thought oui were a fiend."
Once again, Tidus had to curb that nagging impulse to scratch his heads. "Uh . . . 'we'?"
Realizing her mistake, Rikku clarified, "Oh, 'oui' means 'you'."
Tidus paused, uncertain of whether or not he understood that. When he didn't reply, Rikku turned and started walking away. Tidus half-turned to look at her and he asked the question that had been burning in his mind since they blew down the temple doors.
"Who are you guys, anyway?" Though he did not mean it to sound offensive, it came off slightly as so.
Rikku folded her arms on the railing and leaned against it, gazing in awe at the peering black ocean. "We're Al Bhed. Can't you tell?" She hesitated a little too late. She turned around to look at Tidus worriedly. "Wait. You're not an Al Bhed-hater, are you?"
Tidus replied honestly, "I don't even know what an Al Bhed is." This fact made him realize that he was far away from home . . . and he missed it.
"Where are you from?" Rikku asked.
Tidus looked around aimlessly and took a few steps forward. He halted briefly to answer Rikku's question, taking a step to his side, placing one yellow boot out in front of him, to direct his reply to her.
"Zanarkand," he told her and came up closer to her. "I'm a blitzball player." Tidus pretended to hold a blitzball out in front of him and to kick it. He made this motion so skillfully that it was obvious he practiced. "Star player of the Zanarkand Abes!" he glorified. He took pride in what he did and what he did best.
Concerned for him, Rikku inquired softly, "Did you hit your head or something?"
Tidus took a few steps forward, still leaving some space in between them as he reminded her, "Um, you guys hit me."
Sheepishly, Rikku spoke again, "Oh, right . . . Do you remember anything before that?"
Tidus walked up to the railing beside Rikku, placed his hands on the bars, and fixed his eyes on the endless vision of black. The horizon where the ebony ocean met the dusky sky was separated only by a dull gray streak.
"So I told her everything there was to tell about Zanarkand . . . About life there, blitzball, and Sin's attack . . . and about how Auron and I were engulfed in this light. I just said things as they came to mind. But then I started to wonder."
By the time Tidus had finished his story, Rikku's expression had taken on graveness. Tidus turned his head to look at her. Rikku had her back against the railing and she was looking off, somberly.
"Did I say something funny?" he asked.
Rikku tried to gather up an explanation. "You were near Sin," she started and Tidus could only nod in agreement.
Jovially, she turned to face him with new hope shimmering in her eyes. "Don't worry, you'll be better in no time," she promised him, although better from what, Tidus still pondered. "They say your head gets funny when Sin is near. Maybe you just had some kind of dream?"
It sounded reasonable.
"You mean I'm sick?"
"Because of Sin's toxin, yeah," Rikku rationalized.
"You sure?" —Because Tidus certainly wasn't sure.
Rikku gave him the details he would need to be certain. "Yeah, there is no Zanarkand anymore."
Tidus's heart exploded with alarm. Zanarkand? My home? Gone? No, it can't possibly be.
But Rikku went on, adding further to the credibility of her story. "Sin destroyed it a thousand years ago."
No, no, not a thousand years ago. Just a few days ago, maybe even just yesterday, Tidus denied and yet, he could not help the feeling that Rikku may be . . . right.
"So . . . no one plays blitzball there," Rikku concluded and walked away.
Tidus cocked his head to see her, his face full of astonishment. "What do you mean, a thousand years ago?" He refused to allow himself to believe this. It just wasn't possible . . . or was it?
"But I saw Sin attack Zanarkand!" Tidus insisted. He had to admit that at times, he was often as headstrong as his old man. He stalked over to where she now stood, frozen to the marrow at his vehement conviction. "You're saying that happened a thousand years ago? No way!"
"You said . . . You play blitzball?"
With a nod of his head, Tidus verified it with an "Uh huh."
"You know, you should go to Luca," Rikku suggested. Even though she had helped him severely in the past hours, she still felt like it wasn't enough, now with the knowledge that Tidus did not even know—or understand, it seemed—about the destruction of Zanarkand.
Seeing the puzzled look on his face, Rikku added, "Someone might know who you are, or you might find someone you recognize."
Tidus repeated, "Luca?" What kind of a weird name is that? It sounded like the name of his only uncle.
Rikku sighed, exasperated. She shook her head and paced around in the trail of an oddly-looking shape, almost a figure eight. She swung her arms and took a glance at the powerful vessel she stood on.
With charged hope, she stamped up to Tidus and tapped his shoulder. "Okay, leave it to me!" she pledged to him. "I'll get you to Luca, promise! . . . You'd rather stay here?"
"Uh uh." It was difficult to understand his two-word repeated comment, but it was an agreement.
Tidus knew that he should feel comforted by Rikku's enthusiastic pledge, but he didn't feel that going to Luca would somehow resolve all his problems. If anything, they would only add onto them. He just didn't know what to do, or where to go. Stay on an Al Bhed ship or go to some place that reminded him of his goofy uncle from his mother's side of the family. Either way, both options did not seem very promising, but at least he wouldn't be stuck in a frying pan or a freezer.
"Okay, I'll go tell the others. Wait here."
Just as she began to leave, Rikku slowly turned around again. "Oh, and one thing. Don't tell anyone you're from Zanarkand, okay? Yevon says it's a holy place. You might upset someone."
Yevon?
Although, Tidus did not understand, he murmured in compliance, "Oh . . . uh huh." Tidus watched Rikku leave and when she did, he returned to the railing and placed all of his weight there.
"My Zanarkand, some kind of holy place? Yeah right, I thought. Since when? Yevon? Sin? Luca? I thought Sin just took me to a faraway place, that I could go back in a day or two. But a thousand years into the future? No way!"
He was so frustrated. He didn't know what to do. All he knew was that he hated this sense of helplessness.
He moved away from the wall he was leaning against and turned to look at where one of the Al Bhed had instructed him to come near earlier, the crane area.
Tidus stared long and hard at it, as if it would provide some answers. How did this all start? Why me?
His mind flashed back on thoughts of his beloved Zanarkand, on the blitzball tournament that his team was winning, and on Sin's fashionably late appearance that had disrupted the game and destroyed his home. But what his mind fell upon was an image of Auron, who had been waiting for him at the broken entrance of the stadium.
Auron . . . The man he had been like a father to him for ten years. But now, Tidus's blood boiled at the knowledge that Auron played some part in all of this.
If he could only get his hands on Auron now . . . It didn't matter that Auron was way older than him and physically stronger, Tidus would use all the power in his six-pack body to wring Auron's neck.
His desire to wring Auron's neck came across as a thrust kick to the crane area. His high thrust kick landed him on the ground after tumbling back and hitting the railing.
The ground underneath Tidus suddenly started to shake and a deep, roaring rumble sounded in the calmness of the night air.
In the distance of the ocean, some form or object skyrocketed out of the ocean, taking the water with it.
On the deck, the ship continued to quiver, becoming more violent with each second.
The door at the deck that Tidus was not allowed entrance to flipped open and two of the Al Bhed soldiers came out with their machina guns—as if that would help.
One of the soldiers toppled onto the ground when the ship trembled again and shook it off, proceeding to rise. The other Al Bhed darted across the deck only to see this tower of pure white water torpedoing towards the ship.
"Sin!"
That much Tidus understood.
"Sin is come! Under us! Under us!"
Tidus rose and stood at the railing, looking out into the ocean, trying to spot this creature that had caused him so many problems. Water sprayed out in front of Tidus and he bolted away, only to find that the water was emerging all around the ship. He stood and stared at it, meeting its challenge.
The water rushed onto the ship, covering the deck and leaving moisture in its path. The force of the water shoved Tidus up and over the railing.
With a cry, he fell overboard.
As he did so, he looked up to see some of the Al Bhed members and Rikku even peering at him from over the railing, but they were helpless to do anything.
Sin would have its way.
A tempestuous whirlpool, the size of perhaps the whole ocean, disguised in the raging waters swallowed Tidus. His mouth was wide open, but no sound came out.
DARKNESS FELL ON THIS DESOLATE PLACE, where a massive ship sat on top of the vast black ocean. Round lights sent out beams of luminosity into the dim ocean.
On this very ship, floating on top of the ocean, Tidus laid still for hours. Finally, he started stirring, waking back to consciousness. He still felt pain in his joints and he knew he needed to stretch, badly.
He looked up to see the group of men standing with their backs facing him. So it really wasn't a dream. His vision was a little blurred, so the figures of the men seemed to echo, in a sense. The beams emitted from the small spotlights allowed Tidus a better look at the men. He was positive that they were the same ones from earlier.
Just when his vision had clarified, one of the men darted around and saw that Tidus was now standing up. He aimed his machina gun at him warningly and shouted, "Sit, captive!"
Tidus stumbled back onto the railing when the point of the gun nudged at him with enough force to send him backwards. He didn't have to speak their language to understand that last demand.
He slid down to his bottom and he sat on the surface of the ship deck. "Hey, that hurts!" he hollered.
Another man pointed his round gun at Tidus. "No moving, hear?"
"Whoa . . . Okay," he complied.
From behind those two men, a weird door opened and his blond savior walked through with another guy whose tattooed chest was not even half as odd as his hairstyle of choice: all of his hair had been shaved off, save for a long arc of thick blond hair that stood up in the middle of his otherwise bald head.
One of the men who had held a gun at Tidus turned to see the girl and her companion with the weird hairstyle and showy tattoos. Promptly, he bowed his head.
Tidus gazed at the girl intently as she and her tattooed companion approached him with a heavy stride.
The tattooed man spoke first in that same puzzling language. "Search him!"
The blond girl who now stood behind him helped Tidus to his feet.
The tattooed man in front of him started grunting and making weird gestures with arms. Tidus understood the beginning of it. He was trying to show swimming.
Tired, Tidus mumbled, "Right. Whatever."
The tattooed man made a few more gestures before he looked at Tidus curiously. "Do you not speak?" he asked Tidus and Tidus would have answered, had he understood the question. The tattooed man held out a technologically-stylized necklace in his palm and displayed it in front of Tidus. He pointed at it several times and made weird noises that sounded like he was about to wretch.
"I said I don't understand!" Tidus declared hotly.
One of the men thrust forward and held the sharp end of his bladed gun inches away from Tidus's abdomen. "Insolence!"
The girl came up closer behind Tidus and waved her hand at the men holding their guns. "Wait!" She turned to Tidus and said softly in a language he spoke as well, "He said you can stay if you make yourself useful."
Stunned, Tidus turned his head to the side to face the girl. "You . . . You understand me?" he asked. The upper half of his body fell forward when one of the men struck him in the back with his machina gun. "All right," he agreed. "I'll work!"
Tidus walked over to the side of the boat. "What's this?" he inquired. "Some kind of crane?"
The tattooed man yelled at him. "Hey, you! Get away from there!"
Tidus moved back. "All right, all right! You don't have to shout!" he resigned and then walked over to the girl when she began to speak.
"We found some ancient ruins right beneath us," she commenced, excitement bubbling her girly, merry voice. "It's not active now, but there should still be some power left. We're gonna go down there and activate it . . . and then we should be able to salvage the big prize!"
Tidus crossed his arms and murmured under his breath. After all, he had agreed to work.
The girl soared up her arms and chirped, "Okay! Let's get to work!"
"Roger!" Tidus whooped and then sprinted across the deck, hopped onto the railing, and with one final glance over his shoulder, he plunged into the icy water.
The girl signaled at the men behind her and followed Tidus into the water.
***
Tidus bobbed gently in the water, looking out at some peculiar structure in the very depths of the ocean while he waited for the girl to accompany him. She swam up behind him and he led the way.
At a closer look, he saw that they were some sort of underwater ruins with glaring red lights peering out into the darkness.
They approached the colossal structure embedded onto the rocks on the ocean floor. They entered inside the underwater ruins and traveled through the long corridor, which had rows of electric machina glowing on the sides.
The girl stopped and waited as Tidus swam up to a pitch black flat screen propped up on a table. In front of the flat screen podium looked like a squared door divided into three parts, marked by a glowing floral design.
He slammed his fist onto the flat screen a few times, and as he did so, the screen turned blue with life. Bright text appeared on the screen as he hit it.
Several punches later, the divided sections of the door slid into the frame and created an entryway for Tidus and the girl.
They swam into a large corridor, moving past rows of what looked like someone's ribcage. At the end of the passage was a huge piece of machina, with neon green tubes jutting from the center of the machina. In the center, encased within a cage, was the form of a lightning green crystal. Tidus approached the machina.
He punched the cylindrical cage until suddenly, the bottom of the cage flared to life with bright circular lights. The cage began to move, bouncing up and down, doing more than a mere rippling of water around them.
One of the long corridors that Tidus and his comrade had passed through ignited into an eerie shade of blood red upon the activation of the machina in the other room. A creature swam past the room, its peace perturbed, and now detecting fine morsels in the underwater ruins.
***
Tidus left the room with the girl bringing up the rear. They swam through a hallway and returned to the room where they first began, seeing the purple tentacles of the creature. It was the first thing that Tidus noticed because it stood out against the darkness.
On top of the sinewy tentacles was a hard-shelled head. Tidus had only heard of this ocean-dwelling creature from his mother; he had never thought he would come face-to-face with it, the Tros.
Fortunately, the girl had a good supply of hand grenades that she chucked at the Tros, shaking its jelly-like body. Tidus hacked through the hard shell of its head with the same sword that had been his pride and joy thus far. For it had kept him alive. But would it work again?
The girl threw another grenade at it and it suddenly combusted into the water, mixing in with the liquid, and leaving only light spheres in its wake.
They gazed at the literally electrifying room that they were in, feeling the power of it surge through their own bodies.
The girl looked on in awe. She had found precisely what she had come here to look for.
***
On the surface of the underwater ruin, one of the spotlights lifted slowly up and then it was turned on, brought back to life, and its beam shone powerfully through the shadowy ocean water. Another light came on and another until all the lights surrounding the ruins had been activated and piercing through the darkness of the ocean bottom.
Tidus floated by one of the beams from the spotlight, an insignificant speck by the great beam of light. Now that there was light, Tidus could see what he and the girl had uncovered.
It was not exactly underwater ruins. They were certainly ruins, ancient and powerful, but they looked like the ruins of some vessel or craft.
Tidus and the girl emerged to the surface and swam back towards the ship.
***
The men approached the railing, still wearing their body suits and goggles.
"We found the airship!" one of them declared.
Another person said softly, "The records were right."
Tidus hopped over the railing and landed on his feet. He shook his body, drying himself off like a dog would.
The men headed towards the door that led into a boat. One of them asked, "Now, how to drag it up?"
Naturally, not knowing otherwise, Tidus followed them until they stopped in front of the door. One of the men turned to him and pointed across from them. In that same language, he shouted, "Oui, uidceta!"
Tidus did not move. He did not understand the command.
To help him out, the man who had just spoken to him slugged him on the shoulder. Tidus took a step back, but he nonetheless felt offended. "Hey, I helped out, didn't I?" he reminded them, but they ignored him.
They moved through the door and faced him as it shut, leaving him alone on the deck.
***
The beams of the lights swiftly moved across the black night sky. Tidus kept his vision on it; it was the only amusement he had at the time, but it wasn't enough of a distraction to keep him from the hunger rumbling inside his stomach.
He rubbed his stomach and groaned, "Uhh . . . hungry."
The night fell all around him, but it didn't help to ease his hunger pains. He tightened his closed eyelids and tried to focus on getting his stomach to stop rumbling. Back in Zanarkand, he had never starved. Whenever he needed food, it would always be there to nourish the star player of the Zanarkand Abes. And his mother, when she was alive she had always kept her only son well fed . . . that was, until, her depression after Jecht disappeared.
Feeling the fury overcome him more than the hunger itself, Tidus chose to focus on the empty pit known as his stomach rather than the emptiness he felt inside known as his life.
Absorbed in this concentration, Tidus did not hear the oncoming footsteps approaching him until he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder from a kick. His propped elbow came down and he darted his head to see the girl holding a tray of—food?
She set it down in front of him and for a moment, Tidus could only stare at the vivid, colorful hues of his salvation.
Finally snapping back to what he had in front of him, he whooped, "Whoa! Right on!"
He picked up the tray with his left hand and used only his right hand to dig into the food and bring the chunks into his mouth. His senses came alive with the tanginess of a meal much needed. He was wolfing down the food so fast that he had hardly any time to savor the spicy kick to it, or the sweet aftertaste flavor.
What he did have time to savor was the fact that the food was clogging up his throat. He paused and started to choke. He tried to find an airway for his lungs, but the delectable cuisine was making it difficult for him. For a moment, he was certain he was going to die, and there was some comedy involved in the way that he would die—not from the colossal Geosgaeno or from the lithe Klikk or even from the slippery, hard-shelled Tros; it would be from eating too fast and not chewing enough.
He pounded his fist against his chest, as if it would open up a clogged airway, and looked around the floor for something to help him.
"Hey!" the girl shouted before tossing him a flagon of water.
Tidus tore open the lid and swallowed nearly all the water in two breaths, hoping to force the food into the tubes that led to his stomach, and not to obstruct anymore necessary passageways.
When he felt the food slither down his throat, he exhaled a breath of relief. He had gotten so caught up in all his hunger that he forgot the number one lesson his mother had taught him: "Don't eat too fast, Tidus. I wouldn't want my little Blitzball player turning blue."
The girl squat down in front of him. "It's 'cause you eat too fast!" she echoed coincidentally, but then again, Tidus doubted if there were any such things as "coincidences" anymore. He had felt, from the moment that Auron had showed up in Zanarkand, that everything from here on out would be forever changed—and none of it would be pure luck either.
Tidus took one last look at the tray of food before he set it down and staggered to his feet, as if his weight was suddenly too heavy for him. He approached the railing of the ship and stretched out his arms as far as his limbs could protract. His muscles were long overdue for a good stretching. As an athlete, he knew that stretching after a game was as important as stretching before it. And he felt, that this was the beginning of one long game . . . and for a moment, he wondered how long this game would last and if he would survive long enough to stretch at the end.
The sound of the girl coming up behind him brought Tidus back to where he was now. "Hey!" the girl chirped.
Tidus spun around to look at the girl, the only familiar face he knew, and yet, for the first time, he realized that he still didn't even know her name, only that she had a knack for showing up at the right place, at the right time. "Hello there," he said with a warm half-smile. "What is your name?" he sought.
"Rikku."
Tidus's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets from being so shocked. He seized the girl's—Rikku's—hands and shook her excitedly with an amazing discovery. "Whoa! You really do understand!"
He raised her hands above her head, which Rikku found as the perfect opportunity to break out of his frighteningly ecstatic handshake. "Woo hoo!" Tidus yelped and turned away, laughing the breath out of his lungs.
He placed his hands on his hips and stopped laughing. The silence did not last for very long because Tidus had another question to ask of Rikku. He walked back to her. "Why didn't you say so earlier?" he wondered.
Rikku put up her hands as if to signify the beginning of her explanation. "I didn't get a chance to!" she exclaimed. "Everyone thought oui were a fiend."
Once again, Tidus had to curb that nagging impulse to scratch his heads. "Uh . . . 'we'?"
Realizing her mistake, Rikku clarified, "Oh, 'oui' means 'you'."
Tidus paused, uncertain of whether or not he understood that. When he didn't reply, Rikku turned and started walking away. Tidus half-turned to look at her and he asked the question that had been burning in his mind since they blew down the temple doors.
"Who are you guys, anyway?" Though he did not mean it to sound offensive, it came off slightly as so.
Rikku folded her arms on the railing and leaned against it, gazing in awe at the peering black ocean. "We're Al Bhed. Can't you tell?" She hesitated a little too late. She turned around to look at Tidus worriedly. "Wait. You're not an Al Bhed-hater, are you?"
Tidus replied honestly, "I don't even know what an Al Bhed is." This fact made him realize that he was far away from home . . . and he missed it.
"Where are you from?" Rikku asked.
Tidus looked around aimlessly and took a few steps forward. He halted briefly to answer Rikku's question, taking a step to his side, placing one yellow boot out in front of him, to direct his reply to her.
"Zanarkand," he told her and came up closer to her. "I'm a blitzball player." Tidus pretended to hold a blitzball out in front of him and to kick it. He made this motion so skillfully that it was obvious he practiced. "Star player of the Zanarkand Abes!" he glorified. He took pride in what he did and what he did best.
Concerned for him, Rikku inquired softly, "Did you hit your head or something?"
Tidus took a few steps forward, still leaving some space in between them as he reminded her, "Um, you guys hit me."
Sheepishly, Rikku spoke again, "Oh, right . . . Do you remember anything before that?"
Tidus walked up to the railing beside Rikku, placed his hands on the bars, and fixed his eyes on the endless vision of black. The horizon where the ebony ocean met the dusky sky was separated only by a dull gray streak.
"So I told her everything there was to tell about Zanarkand . . . About life there, blitzball, and Sin's attack . . . and about how Auron and I were engulfed in this light. I just said things as they came to mind. But then I started to wonder."
By the time Tidus had finished his story, Rikku's expression had taken on graveness. Tidus turned his head to look at her. Rikku had her back against the railing and she was looking off, somberly.
"Did I say something funny?" he asked.
Rikku tried to gather up an explanation. "You were near Sin," she started and Tidus could only nod in agreement.
Jovially, she turned to face him with new hope shimmering in her eyes. "Don't worry, you'll be better in no time," she promised him, although better from what, Tidus still pondered. "They say your head gets funny when Sin is near. Maybe you just had some kind of dream?"
It sounded reasonable.
"You mean I'm sick?"
"Because of Sin's toxin, yeah," Rikku rationalized.
"You sure?" —Because Tidus certainly wasn't sure.
Rikku gave him the details he would need to be certain. "Yeah, there is no Zanarkand anymore."
Tidus's heart exploded with alarm. Zanarkand? My home? Gone? No, it can't possibly be.
But Rikku went on, adding further to the credibility of her story. "Sin destroyed it a thousand years ago."
No, no, not a thousand years ago. Just a few days ago, maybe even just yesterday, Tidus denied and yet, he could not help the feeling that Rikku may be . . . right.
"So . . . no one plays blitzball there," Rikku concluded and walked away.
Tidus cocked his head to see her, his face full of astonishment. "What do you mean, a thousand years ago?" He refused to allow himself to believe this. It just wasn't possible . . . or was it?
"But I saw Sin attack Zanarkand!" Tidus insisted. He had to admit that at times, he was often as headstrong as his old man. He stalked over to where she now stood, frozen to the marrow at his vehement conviction. "You're saying that happened a thousand years ago? No way!"
"You said . . . You play blitzball?"
With a nod of his head, Tidus verified it with an "Uh huh."
"You know, you should go to Luca," Rikku suggested. Even though she had helped him severely in the past hours, she still felt like it wasn't enough, now with the knowledge that Tidus did not even know—or understand, it seemed—about the destruction of Zanarkand.
Seeing the puzzled look on his face, Rikku added, "Someone might know who you are, or you might find someone you recognize."
Tidus repeated, "Luca?" What kind of a weird name is that? It sounded like the name of his only uncle.
Rikku sighed, exasperated. She shook her head and paced around in the trail of an oddly-looking shape, almost a figure eight. She swung her arms and took a glance at the powerful vessel she stood on.
With charged hope, she stamped up to Tidus and tapped his shoulder. "Okay, leave it to me!" she pledged to him. "I'll get you to Luca, promise! . . . You'd rather stay here?"
"Uh uh." It was difficult to understand his two-word repeated comment, but it was an agreement.
Tidus knew that he should feel comforted by Rikku's enthusiastic pledge, but he didn't feel that going to Luca would somehow resolve all his problems. If anything, they would only add onto them. He just didn't know what to do, or where to go. Stay on an Al Bhed ship or go to some place that reminded him of his goofy uncle from his mother's side of the family. Either way, both options did not seem very promising, but at least he wouldn't be stuck in a frying pan or a freezer.
"Okay, I'll go tell the others. Wait here."
Just as she began to leave, Rikku slowly turned around again. "Oh, and one thing. Don't tell anyone you're from Zanarkand, okay? Yevon says it's a holy place. You might upset someone."
Yevon?
Although, Tidus did not understand, he murmured in compliance, "Oh . . . uh huh." Tidus watched Rikku leave and when she did, he returned to the railing and placed all of his weight there.
"My Zanarkand, some kind of holy place? Yeah right, I thought. Since when? Yevon? Sin? Luca? I thought Sin just took me to a faraway place, that I could go back in a day or two. But a thousand years into the future? No way!"
He was so frustrated. He didn't know what to do. All he knew was that he hated this sense of helplessness.
He moved away from the wall he was leaning against and turned to look at where one of the Al Bhed had instructed him to come near earlier, the crane area.
Tidus stared long and hard at it, as if it would provide some answers. How did this all start? Why me?
His mind flashed back on thoughts of his beloved Zanarkand, on the blitzball tournament that his team was winning, and on Sin's fashionably late appearance that had disrupted the game and destroyed his home. But what his mind fell upon was an image of Auron, who had been waiting for him at the broken entrance of the stadium.
Auron . . . The man he had been like a father to him for ten years. But now, Tidus's blood boiled at the knowledge that Auron played some part in all of this.
If he could only get his hands on Auron now . . . It didn't matter that Auron was way older than him and physically stronger, Tidus would use all the power in his six-pack body to wring Auron's neck.
His desire to wring Auron's neck came across as a thrust kick to the crane area. His high thrust kick landed him on the ground after tumbling back and hitting the railing.
The ground underneath Tidus suddenly started to shake and a deep, roaring rumble sounded in the calmness of the night air.
In the distance of the ocean, some form or object skyrocketed out of the ocean, taking the water with it.
On the deck, the ship continued to quiver, becoming more violent with each second.
The door at the deck that Tidus was not allowed entrance to flipped open and two of the Al Bhed soldiers came out with their machina guns—as if that would help.
One of the soldiers toppled onto the ground when the ship trembled again and shook it off, proceeding to rise. The other Al Bhed darted across the deck only to see this tower of pure white water torpedoing towards the ship.
"Sin!"
That much Tidus understood.
"Sin is come! Under us! Under us!"
Tidus rose and stood at the railing, looking out into the ocean, trying to spot this creature that had caused him so many problems. Water sprayed out in front of Tidus and he bolted away, only to find that the water was emerging all around the ship. He stood and stared at it, meeting its challenge.
The water rushed onto the ship, covering the deck and leaving moisture in its path. The force of the water shoved Tidus up and over the railing.
With a cry, he fell overboard.
As he did so, he looked up to see some of the Al Bhed members and Rikku even peering at him from over the railing, but they were helpless to do anything.
Sin would have its way.
A tempestuous whirlpool, the size of perhaps the whole ocean, disguised in the raging waters swallowed Tidus. His mouth was wide open, but no sound came out.
