The third member of the Coven's 'Promise' division takes control. Mwa ha ha!
Damn. What a nightmare.
Yuna was sprawled out gracelessly across the hard surface, one arm draped across her tightly closed eyes, the other stretched out to the side. Never in her life had she had such a god-awful dream. That enormous friggin' monster destroying Zanarkand, waking up in those creepy ruins, nearly getting eaten…twice…that couldn't have possibly been real. That had to have been a dream. A very bad dream. She instantly decided that whatever moron had hit her hard enough to cause that dream was going to pay for it. With interest.
She sat up and opened her eyes, expecting to see the Zanarkand stadium around her. Instead, she was on—a ship? The hell…? And then a perky face surrounded by blonde hair popped up in front of her.
"Hello."
Yuna squealed a curse and jumped back. The girl who had rescued her from those ruins blinked, then grinned.
"Hey, chill out," she said, her tone far too cheerful for Yuna's taste. "I was just bringing you some food."
Yuna took the tray and examined its contents, unable to identify what she was looking at. Some kind of meat, a couple of veggies…? Whatever it was, it smelled really good. Throwing her wariness aside, Yuna picked up the spork-looking utensil-thing and dug in. "Mmmmmmmmmm."
"Can I ask you something? What were you doing in those ruins?"
"Freezing to death," Yuna replied dryly. "Almost getting eaten by big freakin' fish. If you hadn't come along when you did, I'd be dead. Where am I, anyway?"
The girl looked at her strangely. "You're on an Al Bhed salvage ship. Can't you tell?"
"I'm in whose bed?"
The girl giggled. "No, we're the Al Bhed. I'm Rikku. What's your name?"
"I'm Yuna." She straightened up proudly. "Star player of the Zanarkand Abes!"
Rikku blinked. "Zanarkand? But Zanarkand was destroyed a thousand years ago. Are you all right?"
Yuna stared at her, stunned. "But…I just came from there. It was during a game, this monster came and attacked, and I woke up in those ruins…" And she told Rikku everything about Zanarkand, blitzball, and how she had awakened here.
"Oh…" For some reason, Rikku seemed to understand. "I think you came too close to Sin's toxin. They say Sin does strange things to people's heads, makes them forget things. So maybe it was all a dream. Say, you're a blitzer, right?"
This girl's sudden changes of subject were making Yuna's head swirl. "Yeah."
"Well then, you should go to Luca! You're bound to find someone who knows you." She tilted her head to the side, smiling winningly. "I'll see if I can get the guys to drop you off there. In the meantime, uh…you'll have to help us with the salvage mission. It's the only way I could get these guys not to kill you."
"Okay," Yuna agreed instantly.
"Great!" Impossibly, Rikku's smile widened. "It'll be an hour or so before we start. See you then!"
Yuna watched her saunter away, her head spinning. Al Bhed? Sin? A salvage ship? Come to think of it, what were they supposed to be salvaging? This was going to be a very long day…
******************************************************
The people of Besaid greeted him on the dock, smiling and cheering and waving. He forced himself to smile back, even though he was inwardly seething. Hypocrites, he thought. If he was just an ordinary Al Bhed, they wouldn't give him the time of day. They'd be calling him names and jeering. In their eyes, the only reason he deserved any respect at all was because he was a Summoner.
He tightened his grip on his summoning staff. His people deserved so much more than what fate had handed them. One day, the Al Bhed would have the respect Yevon had denied them. He would see to that.
"Excuse me. You are Summoner Tidus?"
He blinked. The high priest of Besaid Temple was standing before him, his hands positioned in the Yevon prayer gesture. Out of courtesy, Tidus returned the gesture. You attract more bees with honey…
"Yes, I am Tidus," he responded, purposefully leaving the title of Summoner out of his name. He hadn't quite earned that yet.
"I will show you to the temple and introduce you to your guardians. Please follow me."
Tidus trailed after the priest, watching the villagers out of the corners of his eyes. Unlike the ones who'd met him at the dock, they seemed to be fairly quiet and unassuming. They watched curiously as he passed, unfailingly doing double takes at the sight of the sword strapped to his side. He allowed himself a small, amused smile, and his nerves unwound somewhat. Perhaps this place wouldn't be so bad after all.
****************************************
Yuna led the way through the tunnels, slashing at the occasional as they went along. She wished someone would just tell her where she was and how to get home. Knowing what they were looking for, that would be helpful too. These people were pretty tight-lipped, though. She skewered yet another piranha on her blade, idly wondering why they were so paranoid, and also marveling at how much easier it was to use a sword underwater than on land.
Rikku suddenly tapped her on the shoulder, motioning straight ahead. Squinting, Yuna saw what looked like a large computer panel of a completely unfamiliar variety. She looked blankly at Rikku, who rolled her eyes and indicated that Yuna should activate the panel. Shrugging, Yuna made a fist and started thumping on the panel, hoping that she would eventually get the thing going. As luck would have it, the monitor flickered and came to life, and a nearby door swooshed open. The two of them swam through the opening and up a long tunnel, at the end of which Rikku motioned for Yuna to activate another panel. Yuna did so, and the two of them traveled back through the tunnel…and into a fight.
Yuna grunted as something slammed her back into the wall. In her peripheral vision, she saw Rikku go swirling through the water, having been whacked by the same creature. Yuna waved frantically to get the girl's attention, making a "let's split up" gesture with her hands. Rikku got the point, and soon they had the monster trapped in the small room at the end of the tunnel. Rikku tossed some of her grenades at it, and it exploded in a weird swirl of colored lights.
Yuna and Rikku looked at each other, their eyes wide. Finally, Rikku pointed to a hole in the wall, her hand trembling ever so slightly. With a shake of her head, Yuna swam through the hole and up toward the surface, where the Al Bhed ship was waiting.
"I hope you found what you were looking for," Yuna snapped, her heart still racing from the encounter with the underwater beast. "It better be real valuable, because we nearly died for it."
"That ship will change my people's future," Rikku said quietly. "It was worth our lives."
Yuna blinked. "Huh?"
Rikku hoisted herself up and over the side of the ship, tossing a rope down to Yuna. The blitzer clambered aboard and looked at Rikku, meaning to ask her what she was talking about.
"SIN!"
Yuna spun around, her eyes widening as she saw the ball of water gathering near the ship. No, not again—!
A huge wave crashed over the ship, hurling Yuna across the deck and straight over the railing. With a shriek, she fell into the water, out of reach of the ropes the Al Bhed were tossing toward her. She turned to her right, and Sin was there, its many spider-like eyes regarding her passively.
She smiled. Sin came closer.
And then she saw nothing but darkness.
*************************************************
"Summoner Tidus, allow me to introduce your guardians, Sir Wakka, Sir Kimahri, and the Black Mage Lulu."
Tidus grinned stupidly, uncertain how to greet them. Was the Yevon prayer appropriate? It was for them, of course, but he wasn't a Yevonite. Bloody hell, I should've paid closer attention to my etiquette teacher!
"Um, hi," he said at last.
Lulu regarded him with one cold eye, the other hidden beneath a cascade of wavy black hair. Her skirt was made of belts. That was weird, and it revealed enough to make Tidus blush. Lulu raised her eyebrow and glanced at Wakka, who was grinning.
"Hey, brudda," he beamed. "I remember you. Star forward for the Psyches, ya?"
Tidus grinned again, but it was a real one this time. "Yeah, that's me. How're the Aurochs doing this season?"
"Ah, not so good. We keep losin'." Wakka shrugged. "They're doin' their best, though, and I'm retiring after this season's tournament anyway. Gonna be a full-time guardian."
Tidus raised his eyebrows. "Wow. That's some dedication."
"Just seems like the right thing to do, ya?"
"Yeah." Tidus nodded, then turned toward Kimahri. "I'm curious, how'd you end up becoming a guardian?"
Kimahri simply looked down at him—way down at him; Ronso were really big—and didn't say anything. Tidus was about to make a comment about Kimahri's being a man of few words when the temple doors burst open and a guy in an Aurochs uniform rushed in. He was carrying an very unconscious, very soggy girl in his arms.
"Cap'n—found a girl—" The man flopped down on the floor, somehow managing to lay the girl down without cracking her skull.
"Where?" Tidus asked, rushing forward.
"Washed up on the beach. She don't look too good, ya?"
Tidus placed his head on her chest, listening as she breathed. No water in there…that was a good sign. Just to be safe, he raised his staff and cast a Cure spell, sighing with relief when she started to wake up. She tossed and turned a bit, mumbling something about bad dreams and—Sin?
"Hey," he said gently. "Hey. Can you hear me?"
The girl jerked violently, her eyes snapping wide open. She sat straight up, and Tidus caught her by the elbows. Their eyes met, and time seemed to stop as they stared at each other, her mismatched blue and green gaze piercing deep into his soul.
************************************************
Yuna gaped at the guy in front of her, scarcely able to breathe. The tan, the windswept blond hair, those gorgeous baby-blue eyes with the weird swirly pupils…Whoever this guy was, he was hot.
Or maybe it was her stomach talking. She hadn't eaten, and she'd nearly drowned, and she just was not feeling very good. Great. I finally meet a guy…
"Hi," he said gently, looking as entranced by her eyes as she was by his. Well, he probably was. Not many people had eyes of two different colors.
"Hi," she choked out.
"I, uh…I mean, are you okay?"
"I think so." She looked around, confused. "Who are you and where am I?"
"My name's Tidus. I'm a Summoner." He motioned toward his surroundings. "This is the temple in Besaid."
"Um," she said, confused. What the hell was a summoner? "Okay.
The goth-woman in the weird dress crouched down next to her, concern etched on her face. "Can you tell us your name?"
"Yuna. I'm from Zanarkand. I mean…" She scratched the back of her head, feeling quite awkward. "I got too close to Sin's toxin thing, or something like that."
The guy with the crazy hair nodded knowingly. Yuna sighed with relief. At least she wouldn't have to do a lot of explaining. It was painfully clear that nobody was going to believe her story anyway. She couldn't blame them. Looking back on her experience to this point, she had to admit, it sounded like the plot from a game or a movie or something.
"Can you stand up?" Tidus asked.
"I…don't think so. I'm feeling a littly…woozy…"
She lowered her head, suddenly unable to stay awake any longer. The last thing she saw before she passed out for the second time that day was those eyes, those captivating blue eyes, piercing deep into her soul.
