My first fanfic that I"ve actually decided to put up on the internet… Just a note to make it easier to understand. The story format's a little weird; it switches between Rikku, in the present, to Ku, in the past during her pilgrimage. The present is a year after FFX took place, and the past is a year before FFX. The chapter name will usually tell whether it's in the present or the past.

Another thing. Rikku, Brother, and Cid are all speaking Al Bhed. It's just too complicated to write all their lines in Al Bhed and then translate them. If there are people who speak English, then I will write lines in Al Bhed if that's what certain characters speak, and I'll put the translation afterwards. Also, I'm assuming Brother can understand most English, but can't speak a lot.

Home, in Ku's time, has already been destroyed once. It's still being rebuilt during her story. In the present, they're rebuilding the 3rd Home. (It gets destroyed a lot…)

Finally, I'm just gonna assume that Braska's Calm is over. I'm also gonna assume that Summoners have to have a little training beforehand, so that's why Yuna isn't already on her pilgrimage. I've tried to make the story as accurate as possible, but there are probably a few things that are off… Plus, all the FFX main characters make cameos! Anyways… review, ok?

Kirei na Kanjou

"Hehehehe…"

Rikku snickered evilly as she opened the door to the dark room. The sign posted outside swung accusingly, revealing the message that had been scrawled into it:

Brother'c Nuus
GAAB UID!

"Keep out, it says. Like I'm gonna listen to that!"

Now, the Al Bhed girl would have listened to that sign any other day. In fact, she probably would have ignored the sign and gone on with her normal life. However, today was different. It was very different. Her brother, Brother, had stolen something important from her. And she wanted it back.

She quietly entered the room and closed the door gently behind her. "Now, let's see where he hid my Cactuar doll…"

Rikku walked over to a pile of paper and shuffled through it. "Nothing…" Next, she moved to a small metal desk, about waist high. Opening it, she found nothing. "Erg… Brother, you stupid meanie! Where'd you put Cacty?"

Squeak.

"Huh?" Rikku turned around to face the direction of the noise. "Who's there?" The sound had come from underneath her brother's bed. "Uh… Cacty? Is that you?" She peeked under the bed, praying that a ghost or other unwanted supernatural being would not pop out at her. Instead, she saw Cacty.

"Cacty!" The little Cactuar doll was being crushed by something that looked like a blue dome. Rikku grabbed the doll and stood up. She squeezed it.

Squeak squeak, went the doll.

Rikku smiled widely, a smile that soon turned into a pout. "How mean of Brother to stuff you under his smelly bed with that stupid sphere!" The girl took a minute to think. "Sphere? What's he doing with a sphere?"

She crouched down again and reached for the sphere. "Well, it's time for me to find out!" Sitting down on the bed and placing Cacty beside her, she pressed a bright green button on the sphere.

::PLAY::

"Brother!" an off-screen voice called. The sphere bounced a few times from the holder's running. "Brother!"

A boy in his late teens was now shown on screen. The blond mohawk, numerous tattoos, and green eyes with swirled pupils were instant signs that he was an Al Bhed. He looked curiously at the sphere holder. "Ku? Fryd ec dryd?" (Ku? What is that?)

Ku, the one holding the sphere, came into the screen's view, one arm still holding the sphere. She was wearing a robe, similar to what a Summoner would wear, except it appeared to have been influenced by the Al Bhed style. "It's a sphere! The guy at the counter said you could record things on it. So I got one to remember our journey!" She turned away from him. To the sphere, she said, "This is me, Ku, and Brother, my first guardian." She moved the sphere to show a large city surrounded by ports. "We're in Luca right now. Brother bought some tickets to go watch the blitzball tournament!" The camera turned back to Brother. "You might not know it at first, but he's really good at blitzball! In Kilika, he-"

The sphere shook violently as the Al Bhed grabbed it from Ku. "Ku, ruf silr tet drec lucd?" (Ku, how much did this cost?)

Ku's face went red as she looked down at the ground in guilt. "Well… I figured we wouldn't need that much money…"

"Ruf silr?" (How much?) Brother repeated.

"Ha ha… only 5000 gil."

The sphere started shaking again from the holder's movement. Shouting could be heard in the background as the screen faded to blackness.

::STOP::

"Hmm…" Rikku said thoughtfully. "I didn't know Brother did anything like this. Wonder why he never told me? I mean, it's gotta be important to him if he's kept this sphere and everything. Right, Cacty?" She turned to the little doll beside her and picked it up.

Squeak squeak, it said.

"Yup, I thought so too! But… we can't really ask Brother about it. Then he'll know we've been in his room! Um… who else can we ask?"

Squeak, Cacty said.

"Ask Dad? Hmm… I guess it's worth a try. Let's go, Cacty!" Rikku picked up the toy by the stump that was its hand and ran out of her brother's room.

"Dad!!" Rikku jumped out of the corridor into the frame of her father's door.

Cid, the leader of the Al Bhed and also Rikku's father, jerked back from the window, startled. "Aah! Oh, Rikku, it's just you. Damn, someday you're gonna give yer poor father a heart attack!"

"Hee hee," Rikku laughed. "Sorry 'bout that! Cacty and I were just wondering about something…" The blue sphere was hidden behind her back.

That damn Cactuar doll… Cid thought. Why'd I let them Al Bhed Psyches give her that thing from Luca? Now she's got it everywhere! Bet it's some evil little…

"Dad?" Rikku had come closer to Cid and was peering at him oddly. "You ok?"

Cid was knocked out of his reverie by his daughter's question. He jumped back again from seeing the button eyes of the Cactuar doll looking at him. "Um… Yeah! I'm fine. So, what's this thing you wanted to know?"

Squeak, went Cacty.

Cid shivered involuntarily.

"Well, we found this in Brother's room." She took the blue sphere from behind her back and showed it to Cid. He took it from her and examined it closely. "We watched some of it, and there was this girl there. I think her name was Ku."

Cid's thoughts were taken from Cacty to the name mentioned by Rikku. "Ku… I thought he'd forgotten 'bout her by now."

"Wait!" Rikku shouted in surprise. "So you know who she is?"

"'Course I know who she is. Don't ya remember her?" Rikku shook her head. "She was that girl we found in the desert. The one that summoned Leviathan?"

Rikku faintly remembered the incident. It had something to do with Sinspawn. "Did it have something to do with Sinspawn?"

"Yeah, it was when some Sinspawn attacked that she did it. Then she decided to be a Summoner 'cause of it. Said she came from Zanarkand. We all thought she was crazy, but who knows now…"

"Huh?" Rikku was confused. She had only met Ku once or twice, and had barely talked to her. Plus, Cid had just said that Ku had come from Zanarkand, like the boy she had met a year ago, Tidus. She ignored her father's wistful look and asked, "What happened to her?"

Cid looked at his daughter briefly, then turned back to the window he had previously been at. "You'll hafta ask your brother 'bout that one. He'll know more than me."

Rikku hugged Cacty close to her. "But, Dad! Then he'll know I was in his room, and he'll-"

"You'll hafta deal with that yourself!" He laughed, which at the moment seemed very cruel to Rikku, and pushed her and the doll out the door.

"Ohh…" Rikku sighed. "Guess we gotta go ask Brother now…"

---

Finally, the prologue is done. I'm so pathetic… it takes me so long just to write that. Oh well.

Cacty reminds me of Plank from Ed, Edd, and Eddy. I hate that show. I don't think I'll ever get a Cactuar doll…