Source Of Light

Chapter II

By Drifting Moomba

..~**~..

He awoke on a hard moist ground. His head didn't feel as dizzy but he felt like he had just woken up. He got up onto his feet and opened his eyes.

He was taken from being in a world of darkness and nothingness. He was freed from his prison of uncertainty. It hurt his eyes, to see actually see something. All the colour…the shapes…

He couldn't believe it. He could see trees. Large overgrown trees with moss growing all over the ground and around the roots. Light green vines wound around the base of the tree and down into some small shrubs. He guessed he was in a rainforest. He blinked a couple of times and pinched himself to see if he was dreaming. Nope not dreaming. He then checked his voice. Nope voice still not registering. He still couldn't believe that he could see for the first time in nearly 3 years! His happiness was slightly shattered when a hard metal object hit him across the head. He jolted forward and fell down onto his knees rubbing his head.

"Oh no! I am so sorry! I didn't realize that you were a person; I-I just thought you were a monster before I saw you! I am so sorry!" Squall tilted his head up, stood up and turned around. He saw a young lady behind him. He guessed she was the same age as him. She wore a long purple skirt and criss-crossed white shirt. On her arms were long white and pink sleeves and she had a yellow piece of material that separated her white shirt and her skirt. In her hand was a large metal staff, which he guessed she had used to hit him with.

He smiled at her and waved his hand. Seeing that he was not angry she smiled back. "My name is Yuna. Here, let me take you to my camp and meet my guardians" She led him through the forest, but stopped before she reached the campsite. "What's your name?" She asked. Squall didn't answer, he couldn't. Instead he just looked pointed to his throat and shook his head.

 " Oh...you can't talk..."

Squall nodded his head. " Don't worry" She took him into the campsite.

The campsite was a small clearing in the forest. Four long logs circled a campfire. The fire was huge and was lit by a log that had been chopped in half. There were four others there. On the log closest to him, was what Squall thought, looked like a blue lion with armour on. On the log next to the blue lion was a lady. She had a large purple dress with the front cut out to reveal hundreds of belts. On the log next to that, were two people. One was a young girl that looked slightly younger than him and Yuna. She smiled and winked at him. The last person there was sitting next to the young girl; he was a guy about the same age as Squall and Yuna. He waved at Squall and smiled.

 " Ok" Said Yuna, " This is Kimahri" She pointed to the blue lion. " This is Lulu" She pointed to the dark lady. " This is Rikku, my cousin" She pointed to the young girl with the perky blonde hair. She smiled and winked at him again. " Hiya! Nice ta meet you!" She said. She seemed very bright and bubbly. A  Selphie... " And last, but certainly not least, is Tidus!" The guy next to Rikku looked up and waved up again. " Hey, nice to meet you to man, um, what's your name?" Squall remained silent and looked at Yuna.

 Yuna nodded at Squall and turned to her friends. " He can't talk, but we can still try and find out his name though" She said. Tidus spoke up. " Hey can we guess! We'll turn into a game, the person that guesses his name gets 50 Gil, ok?" Yuna looked at Squall. " I'll be the judge! But first you have to try to tell me your name, so I know, what do you think Squall?" Squall nodded his head at Yuna and they both turned their backs to the group. " Ok so what does it start with?" Yuna asked. Squall made an imaginary S in the air. " S! Ok, next letter" Squall then made a Q in the air. " Q! Yay! I'm getting good at this!" Squall finished spelling his name out. " Is it Squall?" Squall smiled and nodded his head. She smiled back and they both turned to the group. " Ok Tidus start guessing!" Yuna and Squall walked over to the empty log and sat down. Tidus put his hand on his chin. " Is it...Tidus Junior!" Squall looked up in completely shocked.  "No way!" Yuna yelled. " Ok, Ok so it's not that..." Tidus said.

"Definitely not" Yuna sighed.

A short while later after Tidus had guessed over 100 names and was still guessing. A man dressed in large yellow pants and a colored top with straps walked into the campsite. Yuna pointed to him. " This is Wakka!" Squall looked up at him and smiled. " Hey good ta see ya! How long have you been here, ya?" Yuna looked back up at Wakka. " He can't talk... I found him in the forest" Wakka sat down next to Lulu " Don't worry man...even though you can't talk...we'll get along fine!" Squall smiled back at him, happy that they all welcomed him. He still wondered though, where he was. Yuna told Wakka about the game and he decided to join in. " Oh and Wakka, its definitely not Wakka Junior" Yuna said.

" Damn..." He replied.

After what seemed like half an hour, Tidus and Wakka decided to give up. " Ok fine we give up. We've told you every single name we can possibly think of " Said Tidus. " Ok, Ok his name is Squall" Said Yuna. Wakka and Tidus both nodded.

Lulu looked up to the sky. It was nighttime and there was a new moon. "Yuna, Rikku it is best that we go down to the river now, then I suggest we all get some sleep" Yuna and Rikku both followed Lulu into the forest, towards the river. Wakka explained. " Whenever we get the chance to stop by a river the girls go to wash their clothes and have a rinse. So basically, don't go down to the river just yet"

Yuna, Rikku and Lulu were down at the river. It was a long river that stretched through the forest and trailed off into a waterfall at the edge of the forest. The three girls had put their clothes on some branches and were in the water having a rinse. " Yuna where did you find Squall? Was he alone in the forest? What was he doing?" Lulu asked. Yuna ran her fingers through her wet hair as she spoke. "Well I found him in a clearing in the forest and yes he was alone, but I don't know what he was doing because I accidentally hit him with my rod...I-I did not know it was person I thought it may have been a monster!" Rikku giggled slightly as she stepped out of the water to get changed. " Well he may as well travel with us until we can find out where he came from" Said Lulu. " Yuna all of your clothes are dry except your top, sleeves and bow, maybe you should take them down to the camp and let them dry by the campfire" Said Rikku as she tried to get her clothes on but failing and falling into the dirt. " Damn nylons..." She muttered. Yuna smiled and shook her head at Rikku.

Kimahri, Wakka and Tidus had fallen asleep. Squall sat in front of the fire. He watched the flames licking the sides of the black logs. The coals beneath the logs glowed with radiance and made a sizzling sound when something fell on them.  Sparks flew from the flames, glided up towards the trees and disappeared into the night. He kept thinking about where he was. The last thing he remembered was getting onto the Ragnarok...after that his memory went blank. Maybe all this was a dream, just a crazy dream...but he couldn't shake the feeling that this all seemed so real. Slowly he began to feel sleepy and walked over to where the others lay. He lay down and fell asleep hoping to wake up in his dorm.

Yuna, Rikku and Lulu came back to the camp. Everyone was asleep. Yuna hung her clothes up near the fire while Rikku and Lulu gathered moss to make a bed. Once the bed was made they laid down and slept.

Everything was quiet. The only thing he could hear was his slow and steady breathing. The ground beneath him began to shake. Flashes of light beamed into the atmosphere making the skies light up with radiance. He tried to shield himself from the light. His head hurt and he was no longer breathing. His lungs began to burn and his head throbbed with unknown pain. Everything went blank. Suddenly darkness turned to light. Street lights. His hands were on a steering wheel. In the revision mirror he could see her. In the back seat. Laughing, talking smiling. Images swam into his mind. He lost control of his body. His mind began to swim, turning throbbing. The piercing sound woke him from the nightmare.

"Aaaaaaaah!!!" Help! Aaaaaaah!! Get it off! Get it off! Aaaaah!" Squall awoke suddenly to Rikku screaming. A scorpion the size of a lion was on top of her, it's stinger ready. Everyone else was now awake.    " Rikku! Stay calm! Don't move!" Pleaded Lulu. With one swift movement Wakka threw a ball at the scorpion. It tumbled off Rikku and fell into the bushes. The scorpion got to its feet and scampered off. Rikku began to sniff and shake slightly from fright. Kimahri walked over and picked her up. Yuna scrambled over to her.  " It's okay Rikku, its gone now I promise" She said gently. Rikku nodded slowly and grabbed onto Kimahri tightly. " I suggest we pack up and continue on to the Shumi village" Lulu said "Its not much more further to go from here, if we leave now and keep up the pace, we will be there before midday" Everyone agreed.

In single file, the group walked through the forest. An old track wove through the trees and undergrowth. The path was once used for traders to come from the large cities to trade with other villages and the great city of Bevelle. A new path was made through the mountains and it was no longer used. Just the reason why they wanted to use it.

Through the whole journey to the Shumi village, no one spoke. Silently they each thought to themselves of how much they missed the people they were leaving behind. Yuna thought of the people of Besaid and the small children that she would play with and the elders she'd do jobs for. Wakka thought of the people of Besaid as well and his home. He adored his home. He had all his posters of famous blitzball people and little feather charms he used to make. Lulu thought of Chappu. He had died on that dreadful boat accident that had killed the whole crew. Kimahri, strangely, thought about bacon. Tonight he would kill a wild pig to sell to the village for money to give to the group. They needed more potions. Rikku kept thinking about the scorpion. On top of her it had looked twice as big as it really was. Tidus thought of Zanarkand. He wondered if he would some day get back home and that Sin was going to pay for what had happened to him. He clenched his fists at the thought. Squall thought of what had happened last. In the dorm. Talking to Cid. Got into Ragnarok. Get hit over the head by Yuna. It didn't make sense.

Just as Lulu had said, they made it to Shumi village by midday. As soon as they arrived they were greeted kindly and given a room to stay in at a motel.

As he had wanted to, Kimahri killed a wild pig and sold it for 200 Gil. Bacon was popular in the Shumi village. With the Gil they bought potions, strength raises and remedies.

Night quickly came. Yuna had bathed and dressed out her usual clothes into a purple kimono. She looked out of her window and saw Squall and Tidus standing at the on the jetty looking out into the ocean talking.

"You know, one day, I'm gonna buy a big boat and travel all around Spira! I'll be exploring cities and discovering new places and I don't know...but maybe Yuna might wanna, kinda, come along too...what do you reckon? Do you think she wanna do something like that, with a guy like me?" Squall thought for a moment. It was obvious that Tidus had the likes for Yuna. He wasn't so sure if they suited each other or not.

 Even so he nodded. Tidus smiled happily and looked out into the ocean. " I guess you and me are the same huh? We both don't know where we are, how we're gonna get home and when!" Sadly... " You know back in Zanarkand, everybody's dream was to have the most Gil, a big boat and a really hot looking wife" Yep, the same thing goes in people's minds where I come from too sadly. " But here, I bet everybody's dream would be for Sin to be destroyed and everybody to live happily ever after." Sin? What? Who's Sin?? " Hey man, I'm just curious, but, how did you lose your voice?" Squall banged his two fists together. " A crash? Damn, I feel sorry for ya" They stood in silence for a while. " Hey you two! Come inside! I wanna talk to you!" It was Yuna. She was standing on the front porch of the motel yelling. " Listen, even though you can't speak, I like ya and I've had a great chat with you. We should talk more often eh? Well let's go see what the drama queen wants"

They walked over to Yuna " Yeah? What's wrong Yuna?" Yuna shuffled a bit on her feet nervously. " Well everybody is asleep and I don't really want to go to sleep tonight. I want to practice my magic skills and using my rod. Could you two come out to the grass fields and help me?" Tidus answered straight away. " Yes mam, no problem!"

Yuna carefully tip toed upstairs and got dressed into her usual, newly washed clothes, then came down with her rod. " Okay let's go"

As they walked onto the grass fields the only light was the dimness of the street lamps from the village. The first thing they saw was mini-dragon. It was a red mini-dragon with glowing white teeth. Tidus took out his sword, Yuna took out her summoner rod and Squall took out his Gunblade. In two minutes it was dead.

After killing more than thirty monsters they were laying in the grass, exhausted. Yuna noticed bright lights, like stars, swimming around in the sky, coming closer. " Look Tidus, Squall! Fireflies!" They looked up at the lights. "Umm, Yuna? I don't think their fireflies..." The lights got bigger and brighter. The three of them stood up and looked at them curiously. Their vision blurred slightly as the brightness got too intense. In a flash, they were gone.

Author's Scribbles: Thankyou sooo much to everyone that is reading!

The paradox: Thankyou soo much! You're my first reviewer…ever! I'll always hold a special place in my heart…erm…writing for you!

Karla3: Thanks! And also thankyou for helping to write the scene at the start. Thank you so much!

Karla helped me write the bit where Squall opened his eyes so he could see for the first time. Thanks Karla.