Disclaimer: Final Fantasy X, Spira, blitzball, and all related characters and locations are owned by Squaresoft, with the exception of a few original characters who will be noted as such. This is a work of fanfiction, meaning that it is both created by a fan for no purpose other than entertainment, and it is fiction, meaning that all characters and events are purely fictonal and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
See plot. See plot thicken. See mage resolve plot issues. See brilliant characterization. See lawyers staying far, far away.
Author's Note: The narrator of this story is Al Bhed, and some dialogue and idiomatic phrases have not been translated into English. Translations of all Al Bhed phrases can be found at the end of the chapter in which they appear.
Green Eyes in Overdrive
by flame mage
round 3: Ally
**********
"Bickson!" I cried as I slammed through the door to the apartment.
"In here," his voice called back from one side, and something in my chest gave an involuntary lurch--okay, so maybe I'm just a little sentimental. With a huge mental sigh of relief, I walked toward the sound until I reached the bathroom, where the door was hanging open. Bickson was standing in front of the mirror above the sink, twisting a ponytail holder into his red hair. Naaga was sitting on the edge of the bathtub with her entire makeup bag cradled in her arms, obviously waiting to use the mirror.
"What are you still doing here, green eyes? It's after six. Shouldn't you be down in the locker room doing warmups?" he asked, turning to look at me.
"I'm gonna have to cancel the game," I replied angrily. I was still a little out of breath.
"What? Why?"
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Naaga listening with interest. Great. Just what I needed, my kid sister getting all freaked out. Rin would kill me if it turned out I was wrong and I got Naaga upset over nothing. If I told her it was bee season, she would build a bomb shelter and refuse to come out for two weeks.
"C'mere," I ordered, grabbing Bickson's wrist and half-dragging him into the bedroom, where I slammed the door shut behind us. The walls and doors in his apartment are pretty thick. Naaga wouldn't be able to hear anything softer than a yell except with her face pressed against the keyhole.
"Whoa," he smirked, "you move pretty fast, don't you?"
"Shut up, sunuh," I rapped back. "Now's not the time. Two of my starting players are missing."
"Who?" he asked.
"Jassu and Letty." I flopped down on the bed, and he sat down next to me. "But that's not it. I was waiting for a shipment of stuff from Rin. Naida was supposed to get it here, and no one knows what happened to her. And then Zalitz was supposed to handle it at the docks, but he's nowhere to be found either."
"As fascinating as this is, I'm a blitzer, not the missing persons department. They're all adults. And you know Naida, chances are she's on vacation anyway. It's probably nothing to worry about."
"Are you not getting this? Jassu, Letty, Naida, Zalitz?"
His eyebrows creased into a frown. "The Spirals."
"Exactly. They're all going missing, Bickson. Four of them have already disappeared. I'm worried you might be next."
He looked at me seriously. I looked back, even more gravely.
"Linna," he asked slowly, "Have you been getting enough sleep?"
"What? What kinda question is that?" I demanded. "Stop patronizing me. I think the other Spirals are being kidnapped, and I think the temples are behind it."
"Look." His voice dropped, the way everyone's did when they were about to slam Yevon. "I'd be the first to admit that I think something weird's going on within the temples. But kidnapping? That's crazy. Why would anyone want to kidnap us?"
"Don't ask me. I don't even know who the hell would want you."
"Oh, come on, that was harsh," he complained. "I'm not the bad guy here. I seriously appreciate your concern, but--"
In the other room, Naaga screamed.
*****
It wasn't a short shriek of surprise. It wasn't a fangirl squeal, either. It was a long, loud, bloodcurdling scream. Both Bickson and I shot up and sprinted for the door at the same time.
She was sprawled on the floor in the living room, with her breath coming out in short, high yips of fear. Her green eyes, uncovered by goggles, were wide. She was clutching a plastic safety razor in one hand.
"Naaga, what happened?!" I cried, throwing myself onto my knees next to her.
"Oh, Linnie!" She dropped the razor and threw her arms around me, crying. "I was so scared. He came in through the window and asked me where Bickson was, and I didn't want to tell him--"
"Who came in, Naaga?" She sobbed into my shoulder. I tightened my grip on hers. "Naaga, baby, I'm sorry, but I need to know who came in."
"I don't know!" she choked in a burbling half-sob. "He was wearing long robes. Green and red and white, with a big black collar."
"The kind of robes the Yevon priests wear." Bickson's voice was almost a gasp.
"What happened then, Naaga?" I asked, ignoring him.
Naaga sniffled. "He shook me and tried to make me tell, but he sounded so mean. I didn't want to say because I was scared he'd try and hurt Bickson. I got away from him and got back into the bathroom and grabbed the razor. I told him if he grabbed me again I'd cut him."
At this point she broke down again for a few minutes. I rubbed her back in slow circles and waited for her to calm down. When she finally continued, it was in almost inaudible Al Bhed. "Ra lysa yd sa, yht E cdilg dra nywun uid yd res. E cmelat drnuikr cusadrehk yht lid res, E drehg. Yvdan dryd, ra oammat yht nyh pylg uid dra fehtuf."
"What?" Bickson asked.
"She says she cut him and he ran away," I translated.
"How?"
"The window."
"We're nine stories up. How, exactly, does someone run out the window?"
I walked over to the open window and leaned out slightly. Silhouetted against the setting sun was the dark shape of a Zu. I could just make out the tiny figure on its back.
"A fiend. They used a trained fiend to get here," I said.
"So what's this?" I looked over to see Bickson holding up another piece of thin white string, with wooden beads dangling from it. More beads were spilled on the floor.
"Prayer beads," I breathed. "She must've cut the string with the razor." I picked it up and experimentally slashed it through the air. "It's tough to cut anything with this, but if ya had the right angle, ya might be able to do it."
"But I don't get it. I mean, I've had crazy fans try to get to me before, but sneaking in a ninth-story window? Why not just wait until I got into the arena?" he wondered.
"Because the place is already packed. Everyone's already in the stadium. If you wanted to kidnap someone, no one would even notice."
"Why would anyone want to kidnap me?"
"Don't know, don't care. But if they're willing to hurt my little sister to do it, I'm not sticking around here." I smoothed Naaga's hair back behind her ears. She had stopped sobbing and was now making small snuffling noises into my sleeve. I made a mental note to get it washed before the next game. If there was a next game.
"Can't say I blame you," Bickson sighed. "There's probably one last ferry back to Besaid tonight. Get down to the lobby and cancel the game while I pack your stuff. If you hurry, you can make it."
"I thought you didn't believe my conspiracy theories," I said as I headed for the door.
"I don't. But I'd have a horde of angry Aurochs fans trying to get at me in more aggressive ways than sneaking through my window if I let anything happen to their star forward. I'd get going if I were you."
*****
Twenty minutes later, Naaga and I were making our way through the now-deserted ring of docks to number three, at the very back of the arena, from which point our ferry was scheduled to leave in another ten minutes. We were hurrying, heads down, and if I thought praying would do me any good I would've been praying that no one would see we were Al Bhed and jump us.
This was a possibility, one that seemed more and more likely. It wasn't just the blitzers fighting. Mi'ihen was still fresh in everyone's minds, and the crime rates against Al Bhed were up. I knew I'd better be prepared for a fight with any Guado that crossed our path and recognized us. Where the hell were the dock security people? Why were we here alone?
The docks were dimly-lit. There were no people around anywhere. Naaga pressed close to me, and though neither of us said anything, I could taste the fear hanging thick in the air like the smell before a storm.
I felt the swoosh of wind against my face before anything else. It was a stilly, muggy night, and the heat and humidity were making my hair frizz. But the breeze stopped me, and after that I heard the footsteps. By the time the knife rushed past me, I had already jerked Naaga aside and gotten my blitzball out of my gear bag.
"Run!" I yelled at my little sister, who obediently fled. I turned and followed her.
The footsteps followed.
With the kind of involuntary yell that comes with a release of energy, I lobbed the ball back over my shoulder. There was an angry howl of pain, and then the ball was back in my hands and I was running for dear life.
*****
"This," Bickson announced, like we hadn't already figured it out, "is bad."
We were slumped around his kitchen table in varying states of stress and depression. Naaga had her head buried underneath her arms, and I could hear her murmering to herself in Al Bhed. She was shaking. The chill from her clammy skin was coming through the pile of blankets wrapped around her, and it made me uneasy. Bickson didn't look significantly better. His red hair was flattened on one side where he'd been balancing that side of his face in his hand. I was showing more signs of life than either of them, but this was probably due primarily to the fact that I was gulping down my third cup of coffee like Wakka chugs his beer. In a few minutes I'd probably be shaking too. At least, I thought sardonically, if I ODed on caffeine I wouldn't need to worry about being kidnapped or anything.
Bickson was looking at me like he wanted an answer. "No shit, genius," I snapped. "I don't know how we got dragged into this, but it bites."
"Forgive me. Next time I'm about to get kidnapped, I'll make sure you two aren't in my apartment," he replied sarcastically. "Look, seriously, I agree that it bites, but bitching at me doesn't do any good. We need to figure out what to do."
"What do you mean, we need to figure it out?" Naaga cried. Her voice was muffled. "We need to hide."
"Great. Brilliant. Where?" I asked.
"The airship?"
"I don't even know where they are, and they're definitely not gonna come here just to pick us up."
"Besaid?"
"Oh, right, of course!" I smacked my forehead. "Run straight to the ONE PLACE EVERYONE IN SPIRA KNOWS WE HANG OUT FIVE DAYS A WEEK. Why didn't I see it earlier?"
"Who do we know that we can impose on?" Bickson asked.
I ticked names off on my fingers. "Rin...no. Tidus...no, don't even know where he is. Miyu...hey, Miyu."
"We crash at Miyu's place until we can find out who's trying to kidnap me and what happened to the others?" Bickson paused a moment, then pronounced, "I like it. Where's she staying these days?"
"Guadosalam." As soon as it was out of my mouth, Naaga's head immediately shot up, sending her ponytail swinging. Her eyes locked on mine. She didn't like the idea any more than I did. "Okay, so maybe Guadosalam's out too," I amended.
"Wait a minute," the Goer protested. "I know you and the Guado aren't exactly on good social terms these days, but this is probably more important than your personal problems. It's obvious they know who you are, and that means they probably know that the last place you'd hang out is Guadosalam. Therefore, that's the first place we should go."
"You have a point," I admitted. "Unless, of course, they decide that Besaid's too obvious and realize they should look in the *least* likely place first."
"Now who's being the flip one?" I had put my face in my hands, but I felt his eyes on me and I looked up. He continued seriously, "Look, Linna. I can't tell you what to do, and I'm not stupid enough to try. But I think we need to stick together. If you take off, they'll be after you anyway. At least if we stay together, I can protect you."
"You? Protect me?" I snorted. "Somehow I'm not that worried about myself. And just for that, I should leave you here and take the next ferry to--" I stopped. Naaga had her head down again, and I could still feel her shaking inside all those blankets.
I thought about Rin's words on the airship. Him telling me to come to Luca to protect Naaga. I could gamble with my own life, but I'd busted my ass for ten years trying to raise my little sister. No way were some fanatical creeps gonna hurt her just because of some stupid long-dead conspiracy.
"All right," I told him. "Guadosalam it is."
**********
Translation:
sunuh - moron
"Ra lysa yd sa, yht E cdilg dra nywun uid yd res. E cmelat drnuikr cusadrehk yht lid res, E drehg. Yvdan dryd, ra oammat yht nyh pylg uid dra fehtuf." - "He came at me, and I stuck the razor out at him. I sliced through something and cut him, I think. After that, he yelled and ran back out the window."
See plot. See plot thicken. See mage resolve plot issues. See brilliant characterization. See lawyers staying far, far away.
Author's Note: The narrator of this story is Al Bhed, and some dialogue and idiomatic phrases have not been translated into English. Translations of all Al Bhed phrases can be found at the end of the chapter in which they appear.
Green Eyes in Overdrive
by flame mage
round 3: Ally
**********
"Bickson!" I cried as I slammed through the door to the apartment.
"In here," his voice called back from one side, and something in my chest gave an involuntary lurch--okay, so maybe I'm just a little sentimental. With a huge mental sigh of relief, I walked toward the sound until I reached the bathroom, where the door was hanging open. Bickson was standing in front of the mirror above the sink, twisting a ponytail holder into his red hair. Naaga was sitting on the edge of the bathtub with her entire makeup bag cradled in her arms, obviously waiting to use the mirror.
"What are you still doing here, green eyes? It's after six. Shouldn't you be down in the locker room doing warmups?" he asked, turning to look at me.
"I'm gonna have to cancel the game," I replied angrily. I was still a little out of breath.
"What? Why?"
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Naaga listening with interest. Great. Just what I needed, my kid sister getting all freaked out. Rin would kill me if it turned out I was wrong and I got Naaga upset over nothing. If I told her it was bee season, she would build a bomb shelter and refuse to come out for two weeks.
"C'mere," I ordered, grabbing Bickson's wrist and half-dragging him into the bedroom, where I slammed the door shut behind us. The walls and doors in his apartment are pretty thick. Naaga wouldn't be able to hear anything softer than a yell except with her face pressed against the keyhole.
"Whoa," he smirked, "you move pretty fast, don't you?"
"Shut up, sunuh," I rapped back. "Now's not the time. Two of my starting players are missing."
"Who?" he asked.
"Jassu and Letty." I flopped down on the bed, and he sat down next to me. "But that's not it. I was waiting for a shipment of stuff from Rin. Naida was supposed to get it here, and no one knows what happened to her. And then Zalitz was supposed to handle it at the docks, but he's nowhere to be found either."
"As fascinating as this is, I'm a blitzer, not the missing persons department. They're all adults. And you know Naida, chances are she's on vacation anyway. It's probably nothing to worry about."
"Are you not getting this? Jassu, Letty, Naida, Zalitz?"
His eyebrows creased into a frown. "The Spirals."
"Exactly. They're all going missing, Bickson. Four of them have already disappeared. I'm worried you might be next."
He looked at me seriously. I looked back, even more gravely.
"Linna," he asked slowly, "Have you been getting enough sleep?"
"What? What kinda question is that?" I demanded. "Stop patronizing me. I think the other Spirals are being kidnapped, and I think the temples are behind it."
"Look." His voice dropped, the way everyone's did when they were about to slam Yevon. "I'd be the first to admit that I think something weird's going on within the temples. But kidnapping? That's crazy. Why would anyone want to kidnap us?"
"Don't ask me. I don't even know who the hell would want you."
"Oh, come on, that was harsh," he complained. "I'm not the bad guy here. I seriously appreciate your concern, but--"
In the other room, Naaga screamed.
*****
It wasn't a short shriek of surprise. It wasn't a fangirl squeal, either. It was a long, loud, bloodcurdling scream. Both Bickson and I shot up and sprinted for the door at the same time.
She was sprawled on the floor in the living room, with her breath coming out in short, high yips of fear. Her green eyes, uncovered by goggles, were wide. She was clutching a plastic safety razor in one hand.
"Naaga, what happened?!" I cried, throwing myself onto my knees next to her.
"Oh, Linnie!" She dropped the razor and threw her arms around me, crying. "I was so scared. He came in through the window and asked me where Bickson was, and I didn't want to tell him--"
"Who came in, Naaga?" She sobbed into my shoulder. I tightened my grip on hers. "Naaga, baby, I'm sorry, but I need to know who came in."
"I don't know!" she choked in a burbling half-sob. "He was wearing long robes. Green and red and white, with a big black collar."
"The kind of robes the Yevon priests wear." Bickson's voice was almost a gasp.
"What happened then, Naaga?" I asked, ignoring him.
Naaga sniffled. "He shook me and tried to make me tell, but he sounded so mean. I didn't want to say because I was scared he'd try and hurt Bickson. I got away from him and got back into the bathroom and grabbed the razor. I told him if he grabbed me again I'd cut him."
At this point she broke down again for a few minutes. I rubbed her back in slow circles and waited for her to calm down. When she finally continued, it was in almost inaudible Al Bhed. "Ra lysa yd sa, yht E cdilg dra nywun uid yd res. E cmelat drnuikr cusadrehk yht lid res, E drehg. Yvdan dryd, ra oammat yht nyh pylg uid dra fehtuf."
"What?" Bickson asked.
"She says she cut him and he ran away," I translated.
"How?"
"The window."
"We're nine stories up. How, exactly, does someone run out the window?"
I walked over to the open window and leaned out slightly. Silhouetted against the setting sun was the dark shape of a Zu. I could just make out the tiny figure on its back.
"A fiend. They used a trained fiend to get here," I said.
"So what's this?" I looked over to see Bickson holding up another piece of thin white string, with wooden beads dangling from it. More beads were spilled on the floor.
"Prayer beads," I breathed. "She must've cut the string with the razor." I picked it up and experimentally slashed it through the air. "It's tough to cut anything with this, but if ya had the right angle, ya might be able to do it."
"But I don't get it. I mean, I've had crazy fans try to get to me before, but sneaking in a ninth-story window? Why not just wait until I got into the arena?" he wondered.
"Because the place is already packed. Everyone's already in the stadium. If you wanted to kidnap someone, no one would even notice."
"Why would anyone want to kidnap me?"
"Don't know, don't care. But if they're willing to hurt my little sister to do it, I'm not sticking around here." I smoothed Naaga's hair back behind her ears. She had stopped sobbing and was now making small snuffling noises into my sleeve. I made a mental note to get it washed before the next game. If there was a next game.
"Can't say I blame you," Bickson sighed. "There's probably one last ferry back to Besaid tonight. Get down to the lobby and cancel the game while I pack your stuff. If you hurry, you can make it."
"I thought you didn't believe my conspiracy theories," I said as I headed for the door.
"I don't. But I'd have a horde of angry Aurochs fans trying to get at me in more aggressive ways than sneaking through my window if I let anything happen to their star forward. I'd get going if I were you."
*****
Twenty minutes later, Naaga and I were making our way through the now-deserted ring of docks to number three, at the very back of the arena, from which point our ferry was scheduled to leave in another ten minutes. We were hurrying, heads down, and if I thought praying would do me any good I would've been praying that no one would see we were Al Bhed and jump us.
This was a possibility, one that seemed more and more likely. It wasn't just the blitzers fighting. Mi'ihen was still fresh in everyone's minds, and the crime rates against Al Bhed were up. I knew I'd better be prepared for a fight with any Guado that crossed our path and recognized us. Where the hell were the dock security people? Why were we here alone?
The docks were dimly-lit. There were no people around anywhere. Naaga pressed close to me, and though neither of us said anything, I could taste the fear hanging thick in the air like the smell before a storm.
I felt the swoosh of wind against my face before anything else. It was a stilly, muggy night, and the heat and humidity were making my hair frizz. But the breeze stopped me, and after that I heard the footsteps. By the time the knife rushed past me, I had already jerked Naaga aside and gotten my blitzball out of my gear bag.
"Run!" I yelled at my little sister, who obediently fled. I turned and followed her.
The footsteps followed.
With the kind of involuntary yell that comes with a release of energy, I lobbed the ball back over my shoulder. There was an angry howl of pain, and then the ball was back in my hands and I was running for dear life.
*****
"This," Bickson announced, like we hadn't already figured it out, "is bad."
We were slumped around his kitchen table in varying states of stress and depression. Naaga had her head buried underneath her arms, and I could hear her murmering to herself in Al Bhed. She was shaking. The chill from her clammy skin was coming through the pile of blankets wrapped around her, and it made me uneasy. Bickson didn't look significantly better. His red hair was flattened on one side where he'd been balancing that side of his face in his hand. I was showing more signs of life than either of them, but this was probably due primarily to the fact that I was gulping down my third cup of coffee like Wakka chugs his beer. In a few minutes I'd probably be shaking too. At least, I thought sardonically, if I ODed on caffeine I wouldn't need to worry about being kidnapped or anything.
Bickson was looking at me like he wanted an answer. "No shit, genius," I snapped. "I don't know how we got dragged into this, but it bites."
"Forgive me. Next time I'm about to get kidnapped, I'll make sure you two aren't in my apartment," he replied sarcastically. "Look, seriously, I agree that it bites, but bitching at me doesn't do any good. We need to figure out what to do."
"What do you mean, we need to figure it out?" Naaga cried. Her voice was muffled. "We need to hide."
"Great. Brilliant. Where?" I asked.
"The airship?"
"I don't even know where they are, and they're definitely not gonna come here just to pick us up."
"Besaid?"
"Oh, right, of course!" I smacked my forehead. "Run straight to the ONE PLACE EVERYONE IN SPIRA KNOWS WE HANG OUT FIVE DAYS A WEEK. Why didn't I see it earlier?"
"Who do we know that we can impose on?" Bickson asked.
I ticked names off on my fingers. "Rin...no. Tidus...no, don't even know where he is. Miyu...hey, Miyu."
"We crash at Miyu's place until we can find out who's trying to kidnap me and what happened to the others?" Bickson paused a moment, then pronounced, "I like it. Where's she staying these days?"
"Guadosalam." As soon as it was out of my mouth, Naaga's head immediately shot up, sending her ponytail swinging. Her eyes locked on mine. She didn't like the idea any more than I did. "Okay, so maybe Guadosalam's out too," I amended.
"Wait a minute," the Goer protested. "I know you and the Guado aren't exactly on good social terms these days, but this is probably more important than your personal problems. It's obvious they know who you are, and that means they probably know that the last place you'd hang out is Guadosalam. Therefore, that's the first place we should go."
"You have a point," I admitted. "Unless, of course, they decide that Besaid's too obvious and realize they should look in the *least* likely place first."
"Now who's being the flip one?" I had put my face in my hands, but I felt his eyes on me and I looked up. He continued seriously, "Look, Linna. I can't tell you what to do, and I'm not stupid enough to try. But I think we need to stick together. If you take off, they'll be after you anyway. At least if we stay together, I can protect you."
"You? Protect me?" I snorted. "Somehow I'm not that worried about myself. And just for that, I should leave you here and take the next ferry to--" I stopped. Naaga had her head down again, and I could still feel her shaking inside all those blankets.
I thought about Rin's words on the airship. Him telling me to come to Luca to protect Naaga. I could gamble with my own life, but I'd busted my ass for ten years trying to raise my little sister. No way were some fanatical creeps gonna hurt her just because of some stupid long-dead conspiracy.
"All right," I told him. "Guadosalam it is."
**********
Translation:
sunuh - moron
"Ra lysa yd sa, yht E cdilg dra nywun uid yd res. E cmelat drnuikr cusadrehk yht lid res, E drehg. Yvdan dryd, ra oammat yht nyh pylg uid dra fehtuf." - "He came at me, and I stuck the razor out at him. I sliced through something and cut him, I think. After that, he yelled and ran back out the window."