Chapter 3: Spira
He did not know how long he had lay unconscious. He only knew that a huge ball of white light had engulfed him after the battle with that strange monster. He felt himself get pulled towards into some maelstrom of a force, and that powerless against the current, he just let whatever it is take him, never letting go of Hyperion. Finally, he felt his surroundings settled down, and then into nothing. No pull, no whatsoever.
He felt nothing, at all.
He felt…as if…he's dead.
Am I…dead?
The pounding in his head started to clear slowly. He felt himself lying on something that felt like hot sand. He could still feel the hilt of his Hyperion gripped firmly in his hand. He could also hear the sound of waves crashing in the ocean.
And then it hit him. His entire body started screaming in agony. He cringed violently and an anguish groan escaped his lips. He laid still, letting the pain quaked through his life.
Great. He might have broken some of his ribs, where his chest had hurt the most. He started to swear silently.
Now he's left there to die. All strength were lost from him, wore out after that battle. He couldn't even think of the words to the healing spells. His brain felt dead. He couldn't feel a thing now. He felt…dead.
Just then, he felt something touched him lightly on his chest, and felt a surge of power coursed through him. It was soothing. Must be a healing spell. He no longer felt the intense pain in his injured chest, but his mind still throb like hell, like someone hammering his head inside. But slowly, the throbbing started to fade away. He felt a bit better already.
He slowly opened his eyes.
Harsh sunlight burned into his pupils. He quickly shut his eyes to reduce the pain and groaned again.
Should have known…stupid glaring infirmary lights.
Then he felt somebody shook him lightly on the arm. He heard soft voices.
He blinked his eyes open again, this time slowly. This time, he saw blue. And white. And a young girl popped into his view, her brown short hair framing her face, her bright eyes wide open looking down at him with full curiosity.
Correction: A pair of green-blue eyes wide open looking down at him. He blinked back in confusion.
"Who…are…you?" his voice asked hoarsely. He hated his voice. It sounded weak. He could see her lips move, but he couldn't hear her voice. His vision started to blur again.
"Where am I? Where's…Quistis? Quistis? Are you…there?"
Before he could question further, a huge wave of dizziness overtook his mind, and his tired eyes fluttered close, the darkness claiming him again.
* * *
The young summoner massaged her tired shoulders as she sat down on a wooden stool near the bed. Carrying him on the shoulder with the help of Lulu was just not sufficient; he weighted a ton. Add in the wet clothes and somewhat strange and heavy weapon with him, her shoulder felt it was about to break halfway.
Earlier, Lulu had helped her to bandage his huge chest wound, saying that he had a few broken ribs, but with some healing spells and rest, he'll heal and live. His blood-stained underclothes and coat lay on the sideboard together with his weird machina-ish weapon.
I should do something, she thought. Seeing his unconscious form lying on Wakka's bed, she grabbed a small towel from a drawer and soaked it in a basin of cool water on the table. Wringing it dry, she walked over to the figure, and gently dabbed at his warm face.
While doing that, she noticed a long gash of a scar cutting through his forehead diagonally from right to left, ending just near his left eye. Strands of his golden-yellow hair were caked by the wet sand on where he was found, at the beach of Besaid. She could see that he was some sort of a warrior from some faraway land, due to his strange clothing and the weird weapon he weld.
Could he be from the past, like Tidus? she wondered. But…he dresses differently from Tidus. Maybe not.
She went back to soaking the cloth again. Wringing it dry again, she repeated this routine a few times. He still lay motionless, but at least he was still alive. She saw his chest rising and falling gently in time with his breathing. Once her task is done, she pulled a wooden chair up next to the bed and sat down.
Pray to Yevon that he will be okay. She couldn't help wondering about who he is, where is he from, what is he doing here. She couldn't stop gazing at his face, where she'd stared into those deep-green eyes of his…
She stopped her thought in its tracks before it could continue. She shook her head.
NO! How could I be even wondering about this stranger? I barely even knew him! Oh Yevon…
Suddenly she felt him stirred. She heard him groaned softly before opening his eyes. Yuna paused and watched him laid up slowly on his bed before laying his eyes on her.
"What the-who are you?" his deep voice broke into her thoughts. She blinked and looked at the finally conscious stranger.
"Oh good! You're still alive! Praise be to Yevon!" Yuna said as she stood up and swept her hands into the praying gesture. When she finished, she saw the stranger looking at her with a perplexed frown.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Huh? This is the gesture of prayer." She paused and looked back at him. "Did you…lose your memory or something?"
"Of course not!" he suddenly snapped. "And where is this place you've brought me? Where the hell am I?"
Yuna was a bit taken back by his…reaction. But she boldly answered him. "You're in Besaid. The isle of Besaid. Right here in the village." The blond went silent as she watched him frowned. "You were unconscious. At the beach. So we brought you back here."
The stranger paused before adding, "Great…I must be dreaming. I'm stuck in this stupid dream, and I'm still in it."
Yuna shook her head. "This is not a dream. This is reality."
"Shut up and leave me alone." At that, he lay back down on the bed and turned his back on her. That infuriated Yuna.
"Oh fine! I'll leave you alone!" She stood up, swept roughly apart the heavy flap-door and strode out of the hut in anger.
How could he treat me like that after all that I've done for him! She stood against a huge wooden pole that supported the hut and breathed in and out a few times, trying to calm herself down. She pondered over her actions. Maybe I should not have overreacted-
"Hey."
She turned to find the blond guy, the same one who had enraged her earlier, standing right next to her, leaning lazily against the same pole she was leaning on. Catching her by surprise, she staggered but regained her balance in time as she faced him.
"You're not supposed to-" He stood back up but he stumbled halfway through, groaning in pain as he clutched at his chest wound. She quickly reached out to him and helped him back up.
"Are you alright?" she asked. She saw him smirk at her and said, "Looks like you still care for me." She felt her entire face heat up.
"Come on…you're injured and you can still walk out here!" she said as she helped him back to the hut again. She felt his warm body leaning onto her as she carefully lay him back down on the bed again.
"Okay…so I'm not dreaming. The pain is real," she heard him say.
Silence in the room. Awkwardly, she asked, "Somehow… you don't seem to be from around here. Where are you from?"
"Balamb Garden." Yuna's eyes widened as she stared at him. The blond saw her expression and said, "You know, Balamb?" Yuna shook her head.
"Dollet? Trabia? Galbadia?" he tried again. "Earth?"
"Nope…I've never heard of such places. I'm sorry." The blond sighed and said, "So I'm stuck in another…world…entirely?"
Yuna nodded. The knight went silent as he tried to piece all this information together. The room fell into silence again.
Awkwardly, Yuna stood up and casted a few more healing spells. After checking his wound and making sure that he had settle in, she wearily headed for the door, albeit hesitantly. She felt like her feet were somewhat heavy, like lead.
Like she was somehow refusing to leave him.
"Hey." She turned back to face the knight. "Since I'm bound to be here for some time…what's your name?"
"Yuna," she answered. She felt her face burned up again. She looked down, fingering her necklace. Then forcing herself to look up, she asked, "And you're…"
"Almasy. Seifer Almasy."
* * *
"Almasy. Seifer Almasy." A ringing laughter rang out loud. The ball of water disappeared into thin air in wafts of clouds.
"You think it's a good idea? To bring him to Spira?" asked a feminine voice.
"It's all because of our new little brother," said the young one who had laughed earlier.
"Well...when there's light, there's darkness. When there's darkness, there's light," quoted the older one. "It's all the same."
"However, it's not us who bring him in," said the younger one. "Blame that on the fayth who tried to escape our Farplane." She giggled. "Besides, we need somebody to balance the Heavens."
"And who have you sent, sister?" spoke a masculine voice as a red-haired figure materialized in front of the sisters. He blinked his amber eyes at them.
"Ah. You'll see, little brother," said the older sister.
"Let's just hope Hyne don't hunt us down for him," said the younger sister, her sea-green hair glimmered brightly.
"As you wish. I shall take my leave as of now, my sisters…," he said, and left the Farplane in a burst of pyreflies.
"Good luck, little brother," said the young one and laughed her bell-like giggle.
"Now we'll just sit back, and watch the show," said the older one, and the sisters giggled again, their laughter ringing out loud in the entire Farplane.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It's good to note that people are finally acknowledging my story *clears throat*
So far, so good. Seifer was warped into Spira and there he met Yuna. (hey, it rhymes…) But who was the mysterious purple lady and sea-green kid? And who's the brother of the sisters? Questions, questions…
More will unfold in the next chapter…that is, if I get enough good response…
