Declaimer: hey, there's no way the Squaresoft people can trace me, so why
use a disclaimer? Never again! HAHAHAHA *lawyers come and beat him with
sticks* OW!!! OW!!! STOP!!! STOP IT!!!!!!!!!! FINE! I don't own FFX!
HAPPY!?!?!?!?!? *they leave* Ow. That hurt.
Reluctant Visitor
Chapter 5
Your Average Spiran Day..Kinda.
Anthony slowly opened his eyes. "Oh man. again? Why a new place EVERY time?" His right hand came up over his eyes. He was in a circular room. All along the walls were items, either framed or simply hung. A picture here, a sword there, and a large piece of Besaid wood carved into a crest resembling a large J, or maybe a cursive T? Whatever it was, it was well carved.
"You up brudda?" Wakka's voice came from behind him. Anthony turned his head. Wakka was standing in the doorframe, with a blitzball under his arm.
Anthony wiped his face. "Yeah, I'm up. I think. Ugh. What happened? Last I remember, someone started yelling through my mouth without my permission, and I passed out. And where is this place?"
"You're in Tidus' memorial. It's actually a side room of the temple. This is all the stuff we though represented him, or reminded us of him. You better stay here for awhile."
"Why? I don't think I need to.oh. You still think I'm a bit nuts?"
"Uh, no man, It's just.ya, I do."
"Good, I'm not sure if I'm a hundred percent sane either. Maybe you're right about staying here." Anthony turned, letting his feet off the side of the cot he was on. He stood up and started to examine some of the items. Anthony was particularly drawn to a sword. It was a blade that seemed like liquid, it seemed to almost call out to him. He was about to reach out and touch the hilt when.
"Hey! Don't touch dat. That was his favorite sword. I gave it to him."
"What's it called?"
"Brotherhood," Wakka replied. "It was my brother's, and I gave it to Tidus after Chappu.well, ya know."
"Gottcha, no touching." He withdrew his hand and wandered around, examining a few other things. His mind, however, was still on the sword. ~Farplane~
Tidus was still angry. It had been about a day, but he was still mad at the guards. The faith was only supposed to be used in an emergency of epic proportions, like the world crumbling, but this was important. He'd had a chance. A chance to tell her. And he missed it.
"DAMMIT!" he shouted. He punched a wall next to him; he sat down, rubbing his knuckles.
"Upset?" The voice startled him. Auron was standing above him. His appearance still startled Tidus, as it wasn't the Auron he was used to seeing. Auron had returned to his more youthful self, the Auron who went on Braska's pilgrimage.
"You could say that."
"You will get your chance. Be patient."
"WHEN will I get that chance Auron? Yuna might come to the Farplane herself before I can tell her."
"It will come much sooner. You told them about the Path of the Dead?"
"Yeah. But the guy I spoke through, he seemed to be new; they seem to already doubt him. I didn't help to make him seem like the sanest guy around. They may not believe him." He turned to the right, so as to rest his back against the wall he had hit. "I still can't believe I never got to tell her." He leaned his head back.
"You were preoccupied; you -were- disappearing, if I saw correctly."
"You weren't there." Tidus said a bit angrily. "How would you know?"
"I could watch you. I was determined to see how your story would end that chapter; I have been following it for awhile now, haven't I?" Auron smiled.
"Hmm. I still could've said it."
"Don't dwell in the past. Prepare for the future. There is still a chance. The new one, I've watched him. He will do well as a guardian. Help him prepare,"
"What? How? I can't go and give him step-by-step instructions. And I can't even talk to him anymore, they sealed off the Fayth."
"I will tell you how." and he did.
~Spira~
Anthony lay back. He was getting bored of this room because he had been here for four hours. But, he had managed to prove, in Wakka's estimation, that he was sane.
"Man, I'm so goddam bored!" Anthony started to hop in place, to get rid of pent up energy.
"Well, you know.I do need to go practice--" Wakka started.
"So I can leave?"
"Well, yeah, but the way I seen you move, maybe you could learn to blitz, ya?"
"Uh huh, I don't know if you noticed in Luca, but I can't exactly hold my breath that long." Anthony said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Well, knowing Rikku, she'll have a machina solution. She did mention something that she had with her earlier, while you were sleeping, maybe that'll do trick, ya?"
"Well, sure why the hell not? Let's go," Anthony ran past Wakka, out to the center of the town.
"HEY!! SLOW DOWN WILL YA?" Wakka said, running to keep up.
Rikku was in her hut, the one she stayed in when she was visiting Besaid. She had heard Wakka shout and had crawled out from the machina she was preparing for the temple. She saw the new guy, and thought, 'What was his name again? Anthony! That's it.Anthony. Weird name'. He ran in the hut, and Wakka hit him from behind, throwing him a foot forward.
"Hey! Watch it!"
"Maybe that'll teach you to slow down, ya?!" Wakka shouted back in a slightly mad tone.
"Um, hi. Why are you, you know, in my hut?" Rikku asked innocently. They both stared like they just realized she was there.
"Oh, I was gonna teach him ta Blitz, ya? Only problem is--"
"The whole breathing underwater thing" Anthony interrupted, stepping forward. "Oh, and we're even now, you asked why we were in your hut". Anthony said with a triumphant smirk.
"Hmm, well, I think I have something, wait. Ah! Here." She handed Anthony an object that looked like half a steel retainer. "Put it on your back teeth."
"You ever used one of these things?" Anthony asked staring at the object dubiously.
"Once, a prototype of this one," Rikku responded.
"How'd that go?"
"Passed out, and had a bleeding hole in my mouth for a week," Rikku said, rather casually.
"Just checking," Anthony said. He stuck it on his top molars. "Its not so.AH!!!!!" Anthony grabbed at his jaw. He felt a piece of metal slide back in his throat, slicing his soft pallet as it did. Anthony proceeded to scream what Wakka and Rikku took to be curses, but couldn't be sure, as Anthony never closed his mouth, and therefore, the words were slurred. Anthony felt a small piece of metal slide to the back of his throat and move in behind his nose cavity.
Wakka, who had hopped back when Anthony had begun to scream, was wide eyed in shock. By now, Anthony was on his knees spitting blood. Rikku handed the bleeding man a glass of water.
"Wash out your mouth, It'll help." Anthony then did just that. He managed his best glare at Rikku.
"Yoo couda waned meh." Anthony half mumbled. He closed his mouth, feeling the metallic tasting blood run down his throat. "Then I would have expected a GOD DAMN PIPE SHOVED DOWN MY THROAT!!!!!!!!!!!!." He screamed, spit and blood flying.
"Sorry. But it won't do that again, it has the measurements stored. You can breathe underwater now."
"I would hope so. Hate to think I went through having my mouth put through a cheese grater for nothing."
Rikku laughed as bit lightly. a little afraid of Anthony's reaction.
Wakka broke the uncomfortable silence that followed. "Hey, we gonna blitz or not?"
"Yeah, let's go," Anthony replied, giving a fake death glare at Rikku, and then smiling and winking at the nearly crying-in-fright Al Bhed girl.
Anthony and Wakka left the hut, and wandered to the large lake near the beach where they dove in to the cool, crisp water. Anthony, while expecting it, was shocked to find that he could breathe underwater as easy, if not easier than he had been doing not fifteen seconds ago on land. His eye caught some movement in the water, and he turned to see Wakka waving at him, and led him to a large, deep pool as large, if not larger, than the sphere pool in Luca, with rough goals at two ends.
Anthony and Wakka started to practice. Anthony had picked up the rules on the walk over to the lake, and he got started with the basics, like movement and basic passing. After around an hour, Wakka signaled him to the surface, when his head his head broke the surface, Anthony turned to speak to him.
"So? How am I doing?"
"Ya doin' great. I would say you'd make a good midfielder. You tend ta use your arms more than kick, most other players are the reverse, kicking often, only throwing for a pass. You throw constantly, make you a good passer, and a mid fielder does that most of the time, ya?"
"I guess so, anything I should work on?"
"Ya, accuracy would be nice!" Wakka shouted, rubbing his forehead where one of Anthony's rouge passes had come into contact with him.
"Heh, oops. Sorry about that." Anthony said, scratching the back of his head.
"Well, let's work on that now." Wakka said, right before diving under the water again.
They practiced for a few hours, until the sun dipped beneath the sheltering rocks of the cliff. They climbed out of the pool, and had started to walk back to the village, dripping with water, when a rather large and hard to miss observation hit Anthony like a bolt of lightning.
"Hey Wakka, where's Yuna?"
"Oh. I was kinda hopin' ta distract ya. She's in her hut, in shock. She's thinking over the.Incident" Wakka said nervously.
'Great, "The Incident", now it's got a name besides "Dead guy using my body to talk to his girlfriend". It is catchier though.' Anthony thought. He rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "I didn't do anything wrong.did I?"
"No brudda, it wasn't you; she's just thinking this over, trying to make sense of it. She'll be fine in a couple' a days, ya?" Wakka said, though a bit to quickly for Anthony to believe him one hundred percent. By this time they had reached the village.
"Later Wakka. Practice again tomorrow?"
"Sure brudda. See ya then."
Anthony walked into his hut, sat with his feet over the edge, and fell back, asleep before his head hit the pillow.
~Farplane~
Tidus stood at the edge of a cliff. The cliff was the Eye, it allowed the dead to watch the living. A lone pyrefly circled him, moaning its mournful song. He held his right hand out, palm up, and the pyrefly landed on it, seeming to await something. Its song even changed, to a higher tone, almost questioningly.
'Auron, this better work' Tidus thought. He concentrated on the small round creature in his hand. It started to change, warp colors, and then, shine brighter than the others, the tail turning a pure sea blue. It started to float away, towards the part of the eye that was focusing on Besaid Island, passed through the invisible barrier that prevented the dead from returning, and was gone.
~?~
Anthony was sitting in a pure white room, not a door, not a window, just white, illuminated by an unknown source so bright he had to squint.
Then the room was gone, Anthony was sitting in air, above a street. A simple street with restaurants, shops, and planter with simple trees and bushes.
Would have been a great place if not for the destruction.
The street was littered with upturned cars, uprooted plants, clothing, and bodies. The sight made Anthony almost physically sick. The worst part was, he knew this place, he had been there only a few weeks before.
'My god, was it only that long?' he thought. The whole place was dripping with water. This didn't quite click until he saw the sidewalk café that he realized it. "Oh God, this is home. This is what happened after I left!" He balled his right hand into a fist and covered it with his left. He bit the knuckle of his index finger to keep from screaming. He tried to move, but couldn't. He looked straight beneath him. He saw her. She was lying like a rag doll beneath him.
He was in such shock he couldn't even bring himself to say her name. He was about to puke, when he saw her move. It wasn't more than a twitch, but she moved. He chocked on air. He wanted to reach out and help her more than life itself, but couldn't. He saw her, she was dying before him. This was what hell truly is. He screamed with such force his throat burned. He wanted to hurt something. He couldn't move from the spot he sat in, however, so he did the next best thing.
He punched himself in the leg.
~Spira~
Anthony awoke in a cold sweat. He was panting, sweating and his eyes were clouded with sleep. What he saw through the blurs was a sight however.
A small glowing ball with a blue tail was floating above his head, all the while singing a mournful tune. Anthony sat up, then hopped out of his bed, and faced the odd little thing.
"Well hello. What might you be?"
The pyrefly started to fly around him in slow, steady circles. It hummed and Anthony laughed. It just seemed to give off a familiar feel. Like a friend who hasn't been over for a long time. He smiled at the odd little ball of light.
Then the pace it circled him increased. It moved faster, up this arm, down the body, to that leg, until it nearly seemed to cover his body in its light. The whole time, it felt as though his body was being bathed in warm light. Then, the pyrefly's tail started to shift colors, until it was a pearl white, and then a silver color, and finally, like a soap bubble, changing colors depending on the angle.
"Whoa! That was weird. But a good weird", Anthony said to no one in particular. He felt a bit weird, sort of light headed. Then the circling pyrefly slowed down, circling his left arm. It then stopped on his forearm, until it started to slowly circle his wrist.
"Hey there. What are you up to?" It started to move a little faster, and its color started to shift again. He looked at it, and saw it disappear in a flash, leaving nothing but a silver bracelet, actually, a bracer, covering half of his left forearm. It was engraved with a silver bird of prey, wings out stretched. It was imbedded with blue jewels, and seemed to radiate the same feeling that the pyrefly itself had given off.
Anthony was quite shocked, and began to talk to himself.
"Ok.that was interesting.Is it normal in Spira for little creatures to turn into jewelry? Wait, maybe I'm still dreaming.either way, I'm going back to bed." He said. This was normal. When he was nervous or just bored, he rambled on, and usually ended up going to sleep. He lay back, and the dreams, even the nightmares, were welcome to take the driver seat in his mind.
~?~
"Anthony. Get up. Come on, get up. ANTHONY!" a voice shouted at him.
He stood straight up, and saw a man with a tan complexion, blonde hair, blue eyes, and a yellow and black blitz uniform.
"Hey, you're Tidus. What the hell are you doing here?"
"Good, you're up. I want to ask you something."
"Sure, shoot."
"Protect Yuna."
"Easy enough--"
"No, I mean PROTECT her. With every fiber of your being. Don't let her even get a scratch." Tidus stated with obvious urgency.
"Okay! Damn. Calm down. Wait.Why does she need protecting?"
"Just, do this. Please."
"Alright. I promise."
"Thank you. Don't forget that promise, or I'll find you. Dead or alive, I'll either hunt you or haunt you."
"Got it." Anthony gave a mock salute. "Can I sleep normally now?"
"Sure. Good night" and he faded, leaving Anthony to drift to sleep.
A.N. Well, this one took a while. Sorry about that. I'll try to get the next one up faster. Well, in response to you reviewers:
Qui-ti, (who I'm chatting with as I write this): well, thanks for the insane amount of encouragement. I owe some of the inspiration to you.
Ish-bob: I was wondering when you'd join in. And yes, I knew you could get drunk off of Chinese food. I've done that more times than I can count.
Zell-Fire: Thank you. And yes, Tidus is dead. He was touched by Sin and became REAL, well, real enough.
Evil Neko: Wow, coming from you this is great. I've been a fan of your fic for awhile. this is so.moving *sniff* thank you.
No One: thank you. Every one should thank you. This guy beta-ed this chapter twice. He is a god of fan fics and should be worshipped as such. Oh and I will shamelessly plug his fic now.
Akin To Sin A strange man literally falls into Spira. A brooding power struggle slowly escalates into war. Is this the end of Yuna's Eternal Calm?
This fic is godly. READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, if I forgot you, scream at me in a review.
Trashalanach!
~Target~
Reluctant Visitor
Chapter 5
Your Average Spiran Day..Kinda.
Anthony slowly opened his eyes. "Oh man. again? Why a new place EVERY time?" His right hand came up over his eyes. He was in a circular room. All along the walls were items, either framed or simply hung. A picture here, a sword there, and a large piece of Besaid wood carved into a crest resembling a large J, or maybe a cursive T? Whatever it was, it was well carved.
"You up brudda?" Wakka's voice came from behind him. Anthony turned his head. Wakka was standing in the doorframe, with a blitzball under his arm.
Anthony wiped his face. "Yeah, I'm up. I think. Ugh. What happened? Last I remember, someone started yelling through my mouth without my permission, and I passed out. And where is this place?"
"You're in Tidus' memorial. It's actually a side room of the temple. This is all the stuff we though represented him, or reminded us of him. You better stay here for awhile."
"Why? I don't think I need to.oh. You still think I'm a bit nuts?"
"Uh, no man, It's just.ya, I do."
"Good, I'm not sure if I'm a hundred percent sane either. Maybe you're right about staying here." Anthony turned, letting his feet off the side of the cot he was on. He stood up and started to examine some of the items. Anthony was particularly drawn to a sword. It was a blade that seemed like liquid, it seemed to almost call out to him. He was about to reach out and touch the hilt when.
"Hey! Don't touch dat. That was his favorite sword. I gave it to him."
"What's it called?"
"Brotherhood," Wakka replied. "It was my brother's, and I gave it to Tidus after Chappu.well, ya know."
"Gottcha, no touching." He withdrew his hand and wandered around, examining a few other things. His mind, however, was still on the sword. ~Farplane~
Tidus was still angry. It had been about a day, but he was still mad at the guards. The faith was only supposed to be used in an emergency of epic proportions, like the world crumbling, but this was important. He'd had a chance. A chance to tell her. And he missed it.
"DAMMIT!" he shouted. He punched a wall next to him; he sat down, rubbing his knuckles.
"Upset?" The voice startled him. Auron was standing above him. His appearance still startled Tidus, as it wasn't the Auron he was used to seeing. Auron had returned to his more youthful self, the Auron who went on Braska's pilgrimage.
"You could say that."
"You will get your chance. Be patient."
"WHEN will I get that chance Auron? Yuna might come to the Farplane herself before I can tell her."
"It will come much sooner. You told them about the Path of the Dead?"
"Yeah. But the guy I spoke through, he seemed to be new; they seem to already doubt him. I didn't help to make him seem like the sanest guy around. They may not believe him." He turned to the right, so as to rest his back against the wall he had hit. "I still can't believe I never got to tell her." He leaned his head back.
"You were preoccupied; you -were- disappearing, if I saw correctly."
"You weren't there." Tidus said a bit angrily. "How would you know?"
"I could watch you. I was determined to see how your story would end that chapter; I have been following it for awhile now, haven't I?" Auron smiled.
"Hmm. I still could've said it."
"Don't dwell in the past. Prepare for the future. There is still a chance. The new one, I've watched him. He will do well as a guardian. Help him prepare,"
"What? How? I can't go and give him step-by-step instructions. And I can't even talk to him anymore, they sealed off the Fayth."
"I will tell you how." and he did.
~Spira~
Anthony lay back. He was getting bored of this room because he had been here for four hours. But, he had managed to prove, in Wakka's estimation, that he was sane.
"Man, I'm so goddam bored!" Anthony started to hop in place, to get rid of pent up energy.
"Well, you know.I do need to go practice--" Wakka started.
"So I can leave?"
"Well, yeah, but the way I seen you move, maybe you could learn to blitz, ya?"
"Uh huh, I don't know if you noticed in Luca, but I can't exactly hold my breath that long." Anthony said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Well, knowing Rikku, she'll have a machina solution. She did mention something that she had with her earlier, while you were sleeping, maybe that'll do trick, ya?"
"Well, sure why the hell not? Let's go," Anthony ran past Wakka, out to the center of the town.
"HEY!! SLOW DOWN WILL YA?" Wakka said, running to keep up.
Rikku was in her hut, the one she stayed in when she was visiting Besaid. She had heard Wakka shout and had crawled out from the machina she was preparing for the temple. She saw the new guy, and thought, 'What was his name again? Anthony! That's it.Anthony. Weird name'. He ran in the hut, and Wakka hit him from behind, throwing him a foot forward.
"Hey! Watch it!"
"Maybe that'll teach you to slow down, ya?!" Wakka shouted back in a slightly mad tone.
"Um, hi. Why are you, you know, in my hut?" Rikku asked innocently. They both stared like they just realized she was there.
"Oh, I was gonna teach him ta Blitz, ya? Only problem is--"
"The whole breathing underwater thing" Anthony interrupted, stepping forward. "Oh, and we're even now, you asked why we were in your hut". Anthony said with a triumphant smirk.
"Hmm, well, I think I have something, wait. Ah! Here." She handed Anthony an object that looked like half a steel retainer. "Put it on your back teeth."
"You ever used one of these things?" Anthony asked staring at the object dubiously.
"Once, a prototype of this one," Rikku responded.
"How'd that go?"
"Passed out, and had a bleeding hole in my mouth for a week," Rikku said, rather casually.
"Just checking," Anthony said. He stuck it on his top molars. "Its not so.AH!!!!!" Anthony grabbed at his jaw. He felt a piece of metal slide back in his throat, slicing his soft pallet as it did. Anthony proceeded to scream what Wakka and Rikku took to be curses, but couldn't be sure, as Anthony never closed his mouth, and therefore, the words were slurred. Anthony felt a small piece of metal slide to the back of his throat and move in behind his nose cavity.
Wakka, who had hopped back when Anthony had begun to scream, was wide eyed in shock. By now, Anthony was on his knees spitting blood. Rikku handed the bleeding man a glass of water.
"Wash out your mouth, It'll help." Anthony then did just that. He managed his best glare at Rikku.
"Yoo couda waned meh." Anthony half mumbled. He closed his mouth, feeling the metallic tasting blood run down his throat. "Then I would have expected a GOD DAMN PIPE SHOVED DOWN MY THROAT!!!!!!!!!!!!." He screamed, spit and blood flying.
"Sorry. But it won't do that again, it has the measurements stored. You can breathe underwater now."
"I would hope so. Hate to think I went through having my mouth put through a cheese grater for nothing."
Rikku laughed as bit lightly. a little afraid of Anthony's reaction.
Wakka broke the uncomfortable silence that followed. "Hey, we gonna blitz or not?"
"Yeah, let's go," Anthony replied, giving a fake death glare at Rikku, and then smiling and winking at the nearly crying-in-fright Al Bhed girl.
Anthony and Wakka left the hut, and wandered to the large lake near the beach where they dove in to the cool, crisp water. Anthony, while expecting it, was shocked to find that he could breathe underwater as easy, if not easier than he had been doing not fifteen seconds ago on land. His eye caught some movement in the water, and he turned to see Wakka waving at him, and led him to a large, deep pool as large, if not larger, than the sphere pool in Luca, with rough goals at two ends.
Anthony and Wakka started to practice. Anthony had picked up the rules on the walk over to the lake, and he got started with the basics, like movement and basic passing. After around an hour, Wakka signaled him to the surface, when his head his head broke the surface, Anthony turned to speak to him.
"So? How am I doing?"
"Ya doin' great. I would say you'd make a good midfielder. You tend ta use your arms more than kick, most other players are the reverse, kicking often, only throwing for a pass. You throw constantly, make you a good passer, and a mid fielder does that most of the time, ya?"
"I guess so, anything I should work on?"
"Ya, accuracy would be nice!" Wakka shouted, rubbing his forehead where one of Anthony's rouge passes had come into contact with him.
"Heh, oops. Sorry about that." Anthony said, scratching the back of his head.
"Well, let's work on that now." Wakka said, right before diving under the water again.
They practiced for a few hours, until the sun dipped beneath the sheltering rocks of the cliff. They climbed out of the pool, and had started to walk back to the village, dripping with water, when a rather large and hard to miss observation hit Anthony like a bolt of lightning.
"Hey Wakka, where's Yuna?"
"Oh. I was kinda hopin' ta distract ya. She's in her hut, in shock. She's thinking over the.Incident" Wakka said nervously.
'Great, "The Incident", now it's got a name besides "Dead guy using my body to talk to his girlfriend". It is catchier though.' Anthony thought. He rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "I didn't do anything wrong.did I?"
"No brudda, it wasn't you; she's just thinking this over, trying to make sense of it. She'll be fine in a couple' a days, ya?" Wakka said, though a bit to quickly for Anthony to believe him one hundred percent. By this time they had reached the village.
"Later Wakka. Practice again tomorrow?"
"Sure brudda. See ya then."
Anthony walked into his hut, sat with his feet over the edge, and fell back, asleep before his head hit the pillow.
~Farplane~
Tidus stood at the edge of a cliff. The cliff was the Eye, it allowed the dead to watch the living. A lone pyrefly circled him, moaning its mournful song. He held his right hand out, palm up, and the pyrefly landed on it, seeming to await something. Its song even changed, to a higher tone, almost questioningly.
'Auron, this better work' Tidus thought. He concentrated on the small round creature in his hand. It started to change, warp colors, and then, shine brighter than the others, the tail turning a pure sea blue. It started to float away, towards the part of the eye that was focusing on Besaid Island, passed through the invisible barrier that prevented the dead from returning, and was gone.
~?~
Anthony was sitting in a pure white room, not a door, not a window, just white, illuminated by an unknown source so bright he had to squint.
Then the room was gone, Anthony was sitting in air, above a street. A simple street with restaurants, shops, and planter with simple trees and bushes.
Would have been a great place if not for the destruction.
The street was littered with upturned cars, uprooted plants, clothing, and bodies. The sight made Anthony almost physically sick. The worst part was, he knew this place, he had been there only a few weeks before.
'My god, was it only that long?' he thought. The whole place was dripping with water. This didn't quite click until he saw the sidewalk café that he realized it. "Oh God, this is home. This is what happened after I left!" He balled his right hand into a fist and covered it with his left. He bit the knuckle of his index finger to keep from screaming. He tried to move, but couldn't. He looked straight beneath him. He saw her. She was lying like a rag doll beneath him.
He was in such shock he couldn't even bring himself to say her name. He was about to puke, when he saw her move. It wasn't more than a twitch, but she moved. He chocked on air. He wanted to reach out and help her more than life itself, but couldn't. He saw her, she was dying before him. This was what hell truly is. He screamed with such force his throat burned. He wanted to hurt something. He couldn't move from the spot he sat in, however, so he did the next best thing.
He punched himself in the leg.
~Spira~
Anthony awoke in a cold sweat. He was panting, sweating and his eyes were clouded with sleep. What he saw through the blurs was a sight however.
A small glowing ball with a blue tail was floating above his head, all the while singing a mournful tune. Anthony sat up, then hopped out of his bed, and faced the odd little thing.
"Well hello. What might you be?"
The pyrefly started to fly around him in slow, steady circles. It hummed and Anthony laughed. It just seemed to give off a familiar feel. Like a friend who hasn't been over for a long time. He smiled at the odd little ball of light.
Then the pace it circled him increased. It moved faster, up this arm, down the body, to that leg, until it nearly seemed to cover his body in its light. The whole time, it felt as though his body was being bathed in warm light. Then, the pyrefly's tail started to shift colors, until it was a pearl white, and then a silver color, and finally, like a soap bubble, changing colors depending on the angle.
"Whoa! That was weird. But a good weird", Anthony said to no one in particular. He felt a bit weird, sort of light headed. Then the circling pyrefly slowed down, circling his left arm. It then stopped on his forearm, until it started to slowly circle his wrist.
"Hey there. What are you up to?" It started to move a little faster, and its color started to shift again. He looked at it, and saw it disappear in a flash, leaving nothing but a silver bracelet, actually, a bracer, covering half of his left forearm. It was engraved with a silver bird of prey, wings out stretched. It was imbedded with blue jewels, and seemed to radiate the same feeling that the pyrefly itself had given off.
Anthony was quite shocked, and began to talk to himself.
"Ok.that was interesting.Is it normal in Spira for little creatures to turn into jewelry? Wait, maybe I'm still dreaming.either way, I'm going back to bed." He said. This was normal. When he was nervous or just bored, he rambled on, and usually ended up going to sleep. He lay back, and the dreams, even the nightmares, were welcome to take the driver seat in his mind.
~?~
"Anthony. Get up. Come on, get up. ANTHONY!" a voice shouted at him.
He stood straight up, and saw a man with a tan complexion, blonde hair, blue eyes, and a yellow and black blitz uniform.
"Hey, you're Tidus. What the hell are you doing here?"
"Good, you're up. I want to ask you something."
"Sure, shoot."
"Protect Yuna."
"Easy enough--"
"No, I mean PROTECT her. With every fiber of your being. Don't let her even get a scratch." Tidus stated with obvious urgency.
"Okay! Damn. Calm down. Wait.Why does she need protecting?"
"Just, do this. Please."
"Alright. I promise."
"Thank you. Don't forget that promise, or I'll find you. Dead or alive, I'll either hunt you or haunt you."
"Got it." Anthony gave a mock salute. "Can I sleep normally now?"
"Sure. Good night" and he faded, leaving Anthony to drift to sleep.
A.N. Well, this one took a while. Sorry about that. I'll try to get the next one up faster. Well, in response to you reviewers:
Qui-ti, (who I'm chatting with as I write this): well, thanks for the insane amount of encouragement. I owe some of the inspiration to you.
Ish-bob: I was wondering when you'd join in. And yes, I knew you could get drunk off of Chinese food. I've done that more times than I can count.
Zell-Fire: Thank you. And yes, Tidus is dead. He was touched by Sin and became REAL, well, real enough.
Evil Neko: Wow, coming from you this is great. I've been a fan of your fic for awhile. this is so.moving *sniff* thank you.
No One: thank you. Every one should thank you. This guy beta-ed this chapter twice. He is a god of fan fics and should be worshipped as such. Oh and I will shamelessly plug his fic now.
Akin To Sin A strange man literally falls into Spira. A brooding power struggle slowly escalates into war. Is this the end of Yuna's Eternal Calm?
This fic is godly. READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, if I forgot you, scream at me in a review.
Trashalanach!
~Target~