Chapter Two
There was an obnoxiously loud knock on his bedroom door. For some reason, he knew exactly whom it was and what he wanted to talk about. Gavin rolled over drowsily in his bed and pretended, futilely, that if he would ignore it long enough it would go away.
"Hey Gavin," the voice called out from outside his room. "You in there bro'?"
Gavin sighed, accepting defeat. He then raised up slowly out of bed and grabbed a shirt off of his floor. After a quick smell, he decided it was clean enough to wear. "Yeah," he grumbled, still dreary from his sleep and absently wondering vaguely what time it was. He then threw his shirt on and kicked himself out of bed. "Hold on Cadel,"
Gavin opened his door to find a sixteen-year-old muscular guy with short black hair standing in front of him. He was about three inches taller than Gavin and had eyes as dark as coal, something he takes after his mother. Probably the only thing he takes after his mother. He was wearing a blitzer's pair of shorts with a sleeveless shirt, showing off his large arms. He was also holding a blitzball in his right hand.
As soon as Gavin opened his bedroom door Cadel threw the blue ball at him. Gavin, although caught off guard, snatched it easily.
"I heard you quit the team," he said, obviously getting straight to the point.
"Yeah," Gavin said.
"Now why'd you go and do a thing like that for?" Cadel asked, crossing his arms in front of his muscular chest.
"Because I'm not as good as you," Gavin said, throwing the blitzball at him.
"Well," he replied spinning the ball on his fingertips. "Not many people are."
"Shut up," Gavin said, slapping the ball onto the floor. He then broke out in laughter as he watched it roll down the hallway and out the front door.
"Go get it," Cadel instructed.
"You," Gavin responded with a smile on his face. "It's your ball. And if you haven't noticed, Blitzball isn't really my thing anymore."
"Yeah," he replied turning and walking towards the front door. "What does your dad think about this?"
"Dad doesn't care," Gavin responded, following his friend down the hallway to get his precious blue ball.
"That I don't understand," Cadel started. "You've got a great blitzer as a dad, and he
was a good coach too. Everyone says you
have a great blitzer as a granddad too, even though that was a thousand years
ago. Heh, ya know, your blitzball
heritage goes back a century, and still you quit the team."
Gavin didn't respond to that. "Oh…."
Cadel started turning back around and stepping outside the door and shielding
his eyes from the bright Besaid sun.
"Sorry."
One of the many conversation these two friends has had before is that Gavin
doesn't really like his "heritage." Not
that Cadel doesn't have a prestigious heritage either, it just that it seems as
if he lives up to it, and Gavin doesn't.
Gavin and Cadel stepped out of the hut into the hot afternoon sun. "Where's my blitzball?" Cadel asked, looking around frantically.
"Is this it?" he heard a cool voice answer him from his right.
Gavin turned and saw a teenager named Vicks standing in a strange imposing manner. He was leaned up against a hut out of the sun's wrath. His black and red speeder was parked behind him, humming silently. He was holding the missing blitzball.
"Vicks," Cadel exclaimed. "Ya, that's it"
Vicks casually tossed him the ball without showing any signs of enthusiasm at all. Vicks was seventeen, two years older than Gavin, and a year older than Cadel. He had cold gray eyes and silver hair that he kept down to his shoulders. Gavin knew by experience that more often than not, Vicks was bad news. Although he never had any real problems with him, he had heard of others getting into scuffles with him. Vicks was always the loner, never depending on friends or family. He was also the most rebellious kid on the island, never heeding to authority or giving in to superiors. This, and his stubbornness had often caused him to get into fights growing up. He had always been like this, as long as Gavin can remember. The last conversation the two of them had, Vicks had expressed interest in "Getting off this damned island and going to Zanarkand, where the real world was," as soon as he turned eighteen. Gavin suspected there was something else keeping him here other than his "legal" age. Gavin also suspected he knew what it was.
"Hey Gavin," he said in his normal cold fashion, fixating his gray eyes on him. "I heard you quit the team"
"Yeah," he responded, with as little emotion as possible.
"Letting the family down aren't you?"
"Not really," Gavin replied, not feeling the need to go into the details.
"Speaking of family," Vicks continued. "Is Lex home?"
That, was what Gavin suspected was the real reason why he wasn't leaving the island so soon. Gavin had noticed that Vicks has spent a lot of their conversations asking about his sister, and it wasn't the general 'How's she been,' topic.
"No," Gavin responded. "She went to meet…" Suddenly a bad feeling swept over him, as if he forgot something very important. "Oh no," Gavin said, his head slouching forward. "She went to the docks to meet Aunt Rikku and Celeste."
"Hmm," Vicks said with an amused grin on his face. "It seems to me like somebody forgot something."
"Come on," Gavin said to Cadel as he turned and made a run for the beachhead.
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"Ya know," Cadel started after a few minutes of running side by side with Gavin. "You got good endurance," he said in between breaths. Gavin stepped to the side to avoid a tree limb that had crashed in the road. He then doubled his efforts, pushing his legs faster and faster towards the beach.
"Out of my way," Vicks voice called from behind him.
Gavin turned to see Vicks on his black and red speeder bike coming up the wide trail at an alarming speed. He was one of the few "fortunate" ones on the island who could afford to have one of those. It looked as if he was riding a black bullet up the sandy road behind them. The closer and closer he got Gavin noticed that he showed no intentions of slowing down. Within seconds he was right upon him.
Gavin jumped off of the trail into the woods on the right, rolling a few feet before stopping next to a tree stump. He heard the distinct sound of Vicks laughing and muttering some other words as he sped by him.
"Punk," Gavin said bitterly, slowly getting to his feet and wiping mud from his face.
"You alright over there?" Cadel called out to him.
"Yeah," he replied bitterly, "Just fine."
Gavin found his way back to the road and he paused to look over the crest of the hill. The road before them gave way to the beach, and much more of Besaid. Gavin often heard his mom and dad say that it wouldn't surprise them if the town itself actually extended all the way to the beach by the time they got old. It hasn't done that yet, but Gavin could see where it may go that direction.
He quickly strained his eyes off to the right. The old dock area had been completely overhauled and almost exponentially grown. Instead of one pier, there were ten. At the base, closer back to the trail was a large pad designated for Airships. Gavin casually glanced in the other direction, where he saw a huge Blitzball stadium sticking out against the blue sea background. It had been built shortly after the defeat of Sin, and every year it had been expanded due to the Auroch's success. A small knot appeared in his stomach at the sight of the stadium. He shifted his gaze back towards the airpad. He strained his eyes more and he saw the Rekfert had landed, with many people congregated around it. He also saw the black shape of Vicks' speeder heading that way.
"Lets go," Gavin said, running again down the hillside.
Gavin raced forward until he was about thirty meters away from the small gathering of people before slowing down to catch his breath and collect himself. His gaze fell on Vicks, who was eagerly talking away to his sister Alexis. Gavin swallowed hard and looked in the direction of the newcomers. He saw his dad Tidus, with his arms crossed in front of him laughing at some kind of joke. His mom Yuna was next to him, a big smile gracing her face as she was eagerly talking away. To her right was…
"Gavin," an excited voice called out. "There you are! I was just asking your mom where you were."
"Hey," he responded waving his arm at the Al Bhed as she was bounding down his way. "How's my favorite nephew?" Rikku asked as she rushed down the slope towards him and engulfed him in a big hug. "I think you've grown since I've seen you last," She said, not giving him a chance to answer her question. "Why I think you're taller than me now." Gavin noticed that he was indeed taller than his mother's cousin.
"And Cadel," Rikku said, turning her attention to the black-haired adolescence behind him. "You're looking more and more like your father everyday."
"Thanks ya," Cadel said, mocking Wakka, his father's, island accent. That drew a laugh from the crowd, the loudest voice coming from Wakka himself.
"Get up on here boy," Wakka said in the newcomers direction. "Join the party ya?"
Gavin found himself chuckling as he walked up to the rest of the crowd.
"Hey Gavin," a soft feminine voice trailed out.
He turned his attention to Vicks, Alexis, and a tall girl with long, shiny, blonde hair. She had been chatting with Lex most of the time, with Vicks only getting a few words in edgewise. This girl was Al Bhed, even though she didn't wear any of the trademark attire or eye goggles. She almost looked like a native of the island, except for her skin, which was outrageously pale compared to the tan of Besaid natives.
"Hey Celeste," Gavin called out.
Celeste was Gavin's cousin-once removed, or something like that. Her mom and his mom were cousins, even though they often acted like sisters. He wasn't exactly sure what relation that made Celeste to him, if anything at all. Celeste looked remarkably like her mother Rikku in the face. The biggest difference was her height. She was a good six inches taller than her mom, taking that aspect after her father.
Shortly after peace was restored to Spira, Rikku started dating Judda, the star athlete of the Psychs. It seemed like a good match on the surface, a star athlete and a high ranking politician. However, after a quick marriage, the honeymoon turned sour quickly. They had a child, Celeste, and they soon thereafter split. Judda had started drinking more and more since the Psychs were losing more and more. That made her uncomfortable with an infant in the same house. Even to this day Rikku says that her ex-husband is a guy "who thinks that he's 25, good-looking, and a star athlete, even though he is far from all three."
Tidus has seen Celeste's father a few times this year. The more and more he thinks about it, the more that he sees similarities to his own father, back in the Zanarkand years. Just that thought makes him feel some sort of pity towards Celeste. Celeste still loves her father, but his continued drinking makes her feel uncomfortable to even visit him. Even though she does love her father, she loves her mother more. Not only are Rikku and Celeste mother and daughter, they are best of friends, often relying on each other in the tough years that have passed. They even look more as if they were cousins, more maybe aunt/niece than mother and daughter. Most of that is due to Rikku, who doesn't look a day past twenty-five, when age has seemed to creep up steadily on everyone else.
"I heard you quit the Aurochs," Celeste's voice trailed to him as he walked their way.
"Yeah," Gavin said looking down. Why does everyone in Spira say those exact same words? he thought to himself. "I just didn't get any better over the off-season.," he continued, tripping over the words.
"Because he doesn't want to be on the team next year when I join," Lex corrected. "And everybody will know I'm better than he is"
"Yeah," Gavin said sarcastically. "That's it."
"Don't do something you don't want to," Celeste remarked.
"It's because he's weak," Vicks
chipped in, with a smirk on his face.
Nobody paid any attention to that remark, as Lex turned and grabbed Celeste's
hand. "Come," she said starting down
the path. "I've got this new blitball
that's just so awesome and you just have to see it,"
"Where are you two going?" Yuna asked as they continued to walk off.
"We'll be around," Lex replied. She then quickened her pace so her and Celeste could get away from the "old folks" and their "boring talk."
"Shame you quit ya?" Wakka said looking at Gavin, who did not meet his gaze. "You coulda been good, maybe even betta than ya ol man here," he said, putting a hand on Tidus' shoulders who was standing next to him.
"I don't think so," Gavin responded slowly.
"Yeah," Vicks said, stepping towards his speeder, his obligations ultimately done here now that the girls were gone. "But at least you could've tried." He then hopped on his speeder and turned it on, smiling wickedly as he felt the humming of the bike. He accelerated a bit before stopping and turning back.
"You still coming tonight?" he said. Gavin was about to ask him what he was talking about when he heard Cadel answer behind him.
"Uhh," the athlete said, suddenly nervous. "Yeah, I'll be there man."
Vicks then turned around and gunned the engine, flying down towards the beachhead and back to town.
Gavin was about to ask a question, but Wakka took it right out of his mouth.
"What was dat about?" he asked, looking at his son.
"I, uhh, we're just gonna hang out some tonight," Cadel said as calm as he could.
"Even wit company in town?" Wakka said, his disappointment showing through.
"Uh," Cadel stammered. "We won't be long."
"Alright, just stay outta trouble," Wakka said, giving his consent. Lulu, however, was still reluctant.
"What are you two going to do?" she said, her cold eyes piercing straight into Cadel.
"I don't know," he stumbled, acting defensively now to his mom. "We're just gonna hang out and make it up as we go."
Lulu then placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head, as she remained unwavering. After a second's hesitation, she finally gave in. "Alright, but do as your dad said and stay out of trouble."
"Alright," he replied, acting even more irritated and defensive. "Come on," he said, turning to Gavin. "Let's go."
What the hell? Gavin asked to himself.
"Alright," Gavin said, taking a few tentative steps backward. "See you back at the village." He waved at his family before turning around and following Cadel down towards town.
After Gavin was sure that he was out of earshot of his and Cadel's parents he suddenly blurted out "What the hell was that about?"
"Oh you know," Cadel said. "We're just gonna hang out, me and some of Vicks friends."
"I didn't know Vicks had any friends," Gavin said with a hint of spite in his voice.
"Eh," Cadel replied. "It ain't important. Anyway, can I uh, ask you something man?"
"Sure"
"You think," Cadel started. "Well…" He paused for a few minutes before starting again. "You think that you could you know, talk to Celeste. I know she's your cousin or something like that and all, but I kinda think she's cute."
Gavin suddenly stopped in his tracks, with his eyes focusing ahead.
"I mean," Cadel said hurrying his speech, sensing a change in demeanor in his friend. "I know she's like your cousin and if you think that I shouldn't well…"
"What is that?" Gavin asked concisely staring ahead.
"What?" Cadel asked.
"That," Gavin said, pointing his finger on the road ahead.
Cadel turned his head and saw a dog-like creature stumble onto the sandy road. It was staggering, hopping on three legs as if one was broken. It was gray-colored with red eyes with long sharp fangs protruding from its mouth.
"I don't know," Cadel said, taking a tentative step forward. "It looks hurt."
"Think it's dangerous?"
"It don't look dangerous," Cadel said, now stopping only a few feet away. "It looks like somebody's pet."
Gavin still couldn't shake this feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Think it could be a fiend?" he said, still confused at the animal before him.
"A fiend?" Cadel said, turning back to his friend. "There hasn't been any fiends for years. I don't ever remember any fiends. And besides," he said, turning his attention back to the creature. "I always thought fiends were you know, bigger? More dangerous? And I also don't think that..."
For Gavin the next few seconds seemed to take place in slow motion. The animal pounced on Cadel, lunging for his throat. Cadel, being taken completely off-guard, could only raise his hands in front of his face as fast as he could. Gavin's feet pushed forward, seemingly moving on a mind of their own. By the time it had taken him to cover three steps the beast had its fangs open, and its mouth going in the direction of Cadel's jugular. Gavin pummeled his shoulder into both Cadel and the animal, sending all three in different directions and spiraling towards the ground. When Gavin raised up he saw the beast had now turned its attention to him, snarling and showing its razor sharp fangs.
Gavin's heart felt as if it had stopped, anticipating the worst. The animal hunched up and tensed its body as if it were going to attack. Suddenly a fist came in and struck it right behind the head. It let out a whelp as it turned and scampered out of the way. The attacker, Cadel, then lunged his foot and caught it square in the ribs. The beast twisted sideways and backed off a few feet. Although it was injured, it still had some fight left in it. It leapt at Cadel, only to meet the sandal of his foot as he kicked it in the sternum. The animal then let out a last cry and ricocheted off into the bushes.
"You alright?" Cadel asked as he watched Gavin get up. His gaze was still entranced on the animal, expecting it to get up and keep fighting at any moment. "Yeah,"
Cadel started laughing as he walked over to examine the now thoroughly dead creature.
"What are you laughing at?" Gavin asked, not taking any steps toward it.
"That was the first time I got to use any of my training," he said. "I guess it finally paid off, huh?"
Behind them Wakka's voice trailed upwards. "What you two doin' huh?"
Gavin tore his gaze from the dead animal to see the group had decided to walk to the village anyway, and were now not too far behind him. "There's some kind of animal," he responded.
"What?" Tidus asked, quickening his pace a bit.
"It attacked us," Gavin said.
"But we took care of it," Cadel said, obviously proud of the moment. "I used my training dad."
"We'll I guess that martial arts stuff did pay off den'," he said taking a step towards the dead animal. Suddenly what was left of the carcass exploded in a pyreflies. Gavin was entranced in the bright yellows, blues, and white lights floating above his head. He had never seen anything so mystical or entrancing in his entire life.
"What…" he asked slowly, still mesmerized by the moving lights.
"Pyreflies," Tidus answered him. "That means that what you defeated was a fiend."
"A fiend," Yuna said, concern overtaking her. "Are you alright?" She then placed an obligatory hand on his shoulder to look him over.
"Yeah," Cadel answered for him. "We handled it."
"Yep," Rikku chipped in. "You guys have guardian blood running through you alright." Gavin didn't tell them that it looked particularly wounded in the first place. He also had a suspicion that Cadel wouldn't let that fact slip either.
"A fiend," Lulu pondered. "I haven't seen one of those in about five years."
"You know," Tidus said as they continued walking toward the village. "When I first arrived in Spira, this trail was littered with fiends."
"I know," Wakka said. "Er'yone had to learn how to fight ya? Even at a young age."
"Yeah," Yuna said absently. "I guess times have changed on us."
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Gavin was sitting in a corner on the floor. Part of him was enjoying this, but another part of him didn't want to be here. It was well after dark as he was sitting inside the den in his house. All the adults were sitting around casually talking after an extravagant dinner that Yuna had fixed for what seemed like half the village. Celeste and Lex had retreated to Lex's room, "to do some girl talk about boys," being the official reason. All of the adults gathered in the den, with Gavin crunched in a corner in the back. Conversation had been going on for the better part of two hours now. Part of him didn't want to be here, but he had no idea where Cadel was and he really didn't feel like hanging out with any of the team tonight.
"So what's this I hear about Avenger?" Rikku asked him directly.
"What?" Gavin asked in reply, having no idea what she was talking about.
"Yeah," Tidus said, shifting in his seat. "They mentioned something about that name at the meeting last night, what is that?"
"I have no idea," Gavin said with a blank look on his face.
"Supposedly," Rikku started, "There's some kind of youth movement in Besaid against what's happening in Kilika. A bunch of kids calling themselves Avenger."
"Really?" Yuna asked, her curiosity showing.
"Yeah," Rikku replied. "Ever since Kilika dropped out of the Assembly, they've been going over there and doing stuff."
"What kind of stuff?" Lulu asked, now interested this part of the conversation.
"Kids stuff really," Rikku said. "Sabotaging government machina, putting sand in the fuel tanks of government vehicles, stuff like that. They always paint a red 'A' somewhere, to kind of mark their work."
"That's interesting," Yuna said. "You sure it's kids?"
"We'll," Rikku started, "About Gavin and Celeste's age I guess. That's what some eyewitnesses have said."
"Hmmm," Yuna said, putting her finger to her lips. "That says a lot if a bunch of kids, ahem, teenagers are willing to step up to the Kilika oppression."
"A bunch of kids wanting to play heroes," Tidus said aberrantly.
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Yuna replied. "Weren't we all a bunch of kids wanting to play heroes once?"
"Yeah but that's different," Tidus said.
"Ya," Wakka agreed. "Time's different now. Kids can be, well, kids can be kids ya know? Don't have to be worrin 'bout fightin' and stuff."
"I agree," Tidus said.
At that Gavin stood up and yawned. "Tired?" Yuna asked him.
"Yeah," he replied. "I'm think I'm going to bed."
"Goodnight," she replied, smiling at her son as he walked out of the room.
"See everyone tomorrow," Gavin said as he trudged down the hallway. As he passed Alexis's door he could easily hear the girls talking eagerly about something. That prompted him to remember what Cadel was trying to say before the fiend showed up. He laughed to himself as he thought about Cadel trying to hook up with Celeste.
Where did he go, he absently asked himself as he entered his room. What are he and Vicks doing tonight? Whatever it was, Gavin was sure that he didn't want to be involved. With that in mind he shut off his light and crawled in bed.
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Author's notes:
1.Whew. Okay, this is probably the worst chapter for the readers (ie, all of you guys.) I introduced FOUR characters in one chapter. If you have any questions about them, let me know and I will try my best to answer them. I only merely introduced them, loads of character development will come soon so you wont get lost. But rejoice! I only have one more character to introduce, and then we can move on to actiony stuff. (Such as blitzball, fighting, death, dismemberment, and war! Yes kids, there's gonna be another war! *Smiles evily*)
2.To answer a question: SG, how good of you to point out my flaw! Haha. Actually there was a reason why I referred to Tidus as a great blitzer primarily. This is from Gavin's perspective, who has to live up to Tidus' reputation. Since he himself is (was) a blitzer, there is more pressure on him on THAT aspect of Tidus, instead of the hero thing. But that pressure will build on him too.
3.Squaresoft own it all, except my characters. HAHA, take that Square!
4.Just so you know, good to see everyone back from Fallen Heroes! Thanks much everyone!
