~Chapter 10~
Wakka lazily turned his head to the left and saw Tidus swimming towards him. He grinned, and gave Tidus a thumb's up. Something suddenly swam past him, and rather quickly.
Tidus stopped, and yelled, "Sinspawn!"
They were all over the sphere: huge, dangerous looking fish-like creatures. Wakka's eyes widened in shock. "Quick-we gotta get back to the locker room!"
The Goers had already bailed; Jassu was the last Auroch besides Tidus and Wakka to pass through the opening. The two swam like eels and managed to make it back to the locker room, wheezing and out of breath. Wakka had already opened his locker, as well as Tidus'. "Hey," he said to Tidus, and tossed him the sword. He grabbed his Blitzball and said, "Let's go."
Panic had completely taken over the stands. Giant bird-like creatures and dragons as large as horses were stalking the crowd. Everyone was running. except for one person.
Auron simply stood there, watching the people run past him. The dragon came stumping around the corner, spotted him, and growled. He smiled, and readjusted the huge sword over his right shoulder. He freed his left arm, widened his stance and stared the dragon right in the eye. Then, quicker than lightning, he lunged forward, bring the gigantic sword down on the creature's neck, severing its head and killing it. It exploded in an array of brightly colored lights, and just as Auron started to walk forward, Tidus and Wakka exploded from the locker room entrance.
"Auron!" They both yelled.
Tidus looked at Wakka. "You know him?" he asked in bewilderment.
Wakka nodded. "Sure. Best Guardian there ever was."
Tidus started to approach Auron at a walk, but suddenly, another dragon like creature appeared at their right, a wolf like creature was flanking their left, and a huge flying dinosaur-looking thing was hovering above them. The three of them stood back-to-back-to-back, facing their adversaries with shaky determination.
Up in the top box, there was little activity. Grand Maester Mika had been taken into safe hiding, and as of yet, the only person on the balcony was Maester Seymour.
Seymour surveyed the scene below with an expression of amusement playing at his face. He sighed, raised both arms into the sky, and began chanting under his breath. Suddenly, a black circle formed above him, and from this circle, a gigantic anchor shoot into the ground. Instead of making a crater, it seemed to be melding with it instead, causing the same black hole effect in the ground as in the sky.
The chain attached to the anchor suddenly reversed, pulling itself and an ugly, towering creature out of the ground.
The creature looked like it had risen from the lowest pit of Hell. It had long, thin arms-four, in fact. Two were crossed across the creature's chest; the others were holding the tight chains that bound it all together. These chains kept the creature from moving at all. It had the top half of its head wrapped in what looked like linen, with an eye hole cut for the right eye, which was apparently crying blood. The rest of its face was a huge hole filled with fanged teeth.
Seymour pointed to this creature, and then to the stadium before them both. At once, blood tears began leaking from the creature's eye at it shouted out in agony. The bird that had been floating over Tidus, Auron, and Wakka suddenly exploded into multi-colored light.
Again the creature cried out, and again, a fiend was destroyed. So went this strange ritual, until all the fiends in the stadium were desecrated, leaving the people dumbfounded, and Seymour grinning wider than ever. He placed his hands in front of his chest and bowed, and as he did so, the creature before him vanished.
"Astonishing. Simply astonishing," Lulu was muttering to herself later. She, Yuna, and Kimarhi were all standing on a balcony that overlooked most of the city's main circle. Lulu and Kimarhi had done an excellent job of hustling Yuna out of the stadium and into the safety of the city streets.
Suddenly, Wakka emerged from the stairway leading back down to the city. "Sorry I'm late," he said, "I was sayin' good-bye to da team."
"Oh, Wakka! You don't have to apologize for that!" Yuna said, smiling. She suddenly looked around. "Where's Tidus?" she asked.
"He followed Sir Auron out of the stadium-" Wakka started, but Yuna cut him off.
"Sir Auron? You saw him?"
"Yeah. He was fightin' the fiends with us. Tidus went after him after Maester Seymour called back his Aeon."
"That thing. It didn't look like any Aeon I've ever heard of." Lulu said.
"At least Maester Mika is safe," Yuna said, voicing the general idea on everyone's mind. She glanced down at the city, wandering where Tidus was, and what he was doing.
Dock 4 was the only dock that didn't have a boat, but it was filled with crates and oddments that hadn't been unpacked or shipped out yet. It was here that one could find Tidus, who had followed Auron out of the stadium.
"Hey!" Tidus yelled at his mentor, who kept his back turned. "Hey!" Tidus said again, this time grabbing Auron's shoulder and whipping him around so he could speak to his face.
"Don't you run away from me! All of this-being in Spira, being sucked up by Sin, it's all your fault, all of it!"
Auron simply stared at him. Tidus let him go, and he once again turned around.
"You knew my old man," Tidus said.
"Yeah," Auron responded.
"And you knew Yuna's father, too," Tidus growled.
"That's correct."
".That's impossible! It can't have happened like that!"
"There's nothing 'impossible' about it. Ten years ago, Braska, Jecht, and I defeated Sin. Then I came to Chicago, where I could watch over you."
Tidus looked at Auron. "Why?"
"Jecht asked me to."
"Is he still alive?"
Auron finally turned, casting a dark look at Tidus. "That depends on what you mean by "being alive." But then, I felt something of him, that night in Chicago. Especially around Sin itself."
It took Tidus a few seconds to register what Auron was saying. When he finally did, it felt as though someone had just punched him in the stomach. "No. It can't be."
"It is. Jecht is Sin," Auron said. He said it in a flat, nondescript tone.
Tidus, still shell shocked, made his way over to a crate filled with Blitzball goal posts and quickly sat down, resting against it. Auron turned to watch this, before he turned back to face the blue sea. After a while, Tidus spoke.
"Auron," he said in a small, helpless voice.
".Yes?"
"Will I ever get back to Chicago?"
Auron worded his answer carefully. If he said anything too straightforward, Tidus would only be angry with him later. "That's up to Jecht," he said finally.
Tidus thumped his head against the wooden crate. "What're you gonna do?" he asked his mentor.
"I am going to offer my services as a Guardian to Yuna. It would be wise of you to follow my lead."
"Why?"
"Do you wish to know the connection between Yuna, you, and me?"
"I already know that."
"But you do not know how. And I can assure you that that is the greatest part of the puzzle, one that I myself am still trying to piece together. Unlike you, however, I have a better grip on the situation at hand. I believe that all the pieces will fall into place when all involved are united. So, come-unless you wish to remain here as a nameless lad claiming to come from Zanarkand."
Tidus looked up sharply. "You haven't said that word in a long time," Tidus said, referring to the time in his life when Auron first showed up, and kept calling Chicago "Zanarkand".
"Indeed." Auron said. He brushed past Tidus and stepped off of the dock. However, Tidus knew Auron. He didn't want to talk about this "Zanarkand"-and Tidus was very interested to know why.
"They sure are taking a long time," Lulu huffed, pacing in front of Yuna and Wakka. "I hope they're not just wasting time."
"I can assure you we are doing nothing of the sort," a deep voice said.
He appeared at the head of the stairs: Sir Auron. He seemed to radiate a certain command for respect, though he seemed indifferent to it. He walked with a sure steady step, and he was powerfully built; they could hardly see the glum Tidus shuffling along behind him.
"I have come to offer my services as a Guardian to you. Do you accept?"
Yuna was nearly speechless. "Why?"
"I promised Braska I would."
"You told my father..?"
"Do you not accept?"
"Oh no," Yuna said quickly. "We would be honored to have you with us, Sir Auron."
"And," Auron continued, "he comes, too." With that, Auron pushed Tidus in front of him, so he could face the crowd. "Uh. Hi guys."
"I promised Jecht I would watch over him as well."
"Is he still alive?" Yuna asked excitedly.
"Can't say. I haven't seen him in ten years."
Tidus sent Auron a sharp look, and saw that he was beckoning for him to come over.
"Why didn't you tell Yuna?" Tidus asked.
"I will tell her when the time is right," Auron responded, gazing out at the city. "What about me?" Tidus asked again.
"Keep to the same story; you're under the effect of Sin's toxin, and you don't remember where you come from, but you think you live in Zanarkand."
"What's the whole big deal with this 'Zanarkand' place, anyway? I mean, its just Chicago-"
"I know its Chicago. You know its Chicago. Know one else does, or will believe a place like that ever existed. The Al Bhed discovered the ruins first; they were the first to refer to it as Zanarkand, since Yevon denounced the word 'Chicago' as an Al Bhed word."
"So what's the deal with the Al Bhed? Why doesn't Yevon like them?"
"They use machines to do their work. 'Machina' is what they call it. And, according to the teachings, Sin first appeared 1,000 years ago and destroyed the machina cities-Chicago along with them. That's the puzzling part, though-for if our Zanarkand is your Chicago, then are you in a different world, or merely a different time?"
"Anyway, the first Summoner Spira had made her journey to the Zanarkand ruins to defeat Sin. Again, the teachings say that Zanarkand is a holy place, so that is where the final showdown took place. However, Sin came back.and it kept coming back."
"So Yuna's going to Zanarkand to defeat Sin."
"Correct." "Like her father.and my dad.and you."
Auron bowed his head. "Yes. This is what troubles me the most."
"Why?"
Auron changed the subject. He nodded at Yuna. "Go to her. You two have more in common then you will ever realize."
Yuna stood over the balcony overlooking the city, just standing and thinking. Suddenly, she saw Tidus standing next to her. "Hi," he said, scratching the back of his head.
"Hello," Yuna said back.
For a while the two said nothing. Tidus looked around. "Ya know, I feel like my head's about to explode."
Yuna looked at him. "Um. What?"
Tidus quickly shook his head, remembering that Auron had told him to stick to the story. "Nothing," he said. Yuna smiled.
"Hey," Tidus said, "Don't take this the wrong way, but how do you always manage to smile? Even when you're surrounded by death and destruction, you always squeeze out a smile."
"It is hard," Yuna said, "but I must be like a light in Spira. I carry all the hopes of all the people. I cannot show them that I am sad, or upset."
"Sounds like tough work."
"It is," she said. Then, brightening, she said, "OK. Now you try!"
"What?" Tidus asked.
"Try smiling, even though you feel sad. Come one. you can do it."
Tidus tried to be sad and smile, resulting in a grimace that looked like he had to smell something unpleasant. Yuna burst out laughing, something that Tidus followed in, smiling for real this time.
"Good," Yuna laughed, "Now I can teach you how to laugh."
"What?" Tidus asked, still chuckling.
"Just laugh. You'll see."
Tidus looked out at the city below him. He put both hands on his hips, and bellowed:
"HA HA HA HA HA!"
It wasn't a laugh so much as it was a toneless yell, but he repeated it just the same.
"HA HA HA HA HA!"
Tidus took a deep breath and started to do it again, but noticed that Yuna had also put her hands on her hips, and was ready to bellow with him.
"HA HA HA HA HA!" They both yelled, and the ridiculousness of it all made them burst out laughing again, pointing at each other, and laughing again. They turned, and saw everyone just staring at them. "What?" Tidus asked.
"We just wanted to make sure you two hadn't gone crazy or somethin'," Wakka said.
"Oh."
"Let's get going," Auron said.
"Where are we going?" Tidus asked.
"The temple at D'Jose. We will travel there by taking the Mi'hen Highroad."
"OK," Tidus said, "then let's go!"
Wakka lazily turned his head to the left and saw Tidus swimming towards him. He grinned, and gave Tidus a thumb's up. Something suddenly swam past him, and rather quickly.
Tidus stopped, and yelled, "Sinspawn!"
They were all over the sphere: huge, dangerous looking fish-like creatures. Wakka's eyes widened in shock. "Quick-we gotta get back to the locker room!"
The Goers had already bailed; Jassu was the last Auroch besides Tidus and Wakka to pass through the opening. The two swam like eels and managed to make it back to the locker room, wheezing and out of breath. Wakka had already opened his locker, as well as Tidus'. "Hey," he said to Tidus, and tossed him the sword. He grabbed his Blitzball and said, "Let's go."
Panic had completely taken over the stands. Giant bird-like creatures and dragons as large as horses were stalking the crowd. Everyone was running. except for one person.
Auron simply stood there, watching the people run past him. The dragon came stumping around the corner, spotted him, and growled. He smiled, and readjusted the huge sword over his right shoulder. He freed his left arm, widened his stance and stared the dragon right in the eye. Then, quicker than lightning, he lunged forward, bring the gigantic sword down on the creature's neck, severing its head and killing it. It exploded in an array of brightly colored lights, and just as Auron started to walk forward, Tidus and Wakka exploded from the locker room entrance.
"Auron!" They both yelled.
Tidus looked at Wakka. "You know him?" he asked in bewilderment.
Wakka nodded. "Sure. Best Guardian there ever was."
Tidus started to approach Auron at a walk, but suddenly, another dragon like creature appeared at their right, a wolf like creature was flanking their left, and a huge flying dinosaur-looking thing was hovering above them. The three of them stood back-to-back-to-back, facing their adversaries with shaky determination.
Up in the top box, there was little activity. Grand Maester Mika had been taken into safe hiding, and as of yet, the only person on the balcony was Maester Seymour.
Seymour surveyed the scene below with an expression of amusement playing at his face. He sighed, raised both arms into the sky, and began chanting under his breath. Suddenly, a black circle formed above him, and from this circle, a gigantic anchor shoot into the ground. Instead of making a crater, it seemed to be melding with it instead, causing the same black hole effect in the ground as in the sky.
The chain attached to the anchor suddenly reversed, pulling itself and an ugly, towering creature out of the ground.
The creature looked like it had risen from the lowest pit of Hell. It had long, thin arms-four, in fact. Two were crossed across the creature's chest; the others were holding the tight chains that bound it all together. These chains kept the creature from moving at all. It had the top half of its head wrapped in what looked like linen, with an eye hole cut for the right eye, which was apparently crying blood. The rest of its face was a huge hole filled with fanged teeth.
Seymour pointed to this creature, and then to the stadium before them both. At once, blood tears began leaking from the creature's eye at it shouted out in agony. The bird that had been floating over Tidus, Auron, and Wakka suddenly exploded into multi-colored light.
Again the creature cried out, and again, a fiend was destroyed. So went this strange ritual, until all the fiends in the stadium were desecrated, leaving the people dumbfounded, and Seymour grinning wider than ever. He placed his hands in front of his chest and bowed, and as he did so, the creature before him vanished.
"Astonishing. Simply astonishing," Lulu was muttering to herself later. She, Yuna, and Kimarhi were all standing on a balcony that overlooked most of the city's main circle. Lulu and Kimarhi had done an excellent job of hustling Yuna out of the stadium and into the safety of the city streets.
Suddenly, Wakka emerged from the stairway leading back down to the city. "Sorry I'm late," he said, "I was sayin' good-bye to da team."
"Oh, Wakka! You don't have to apologize for that!" Yuna said, smiling. She suddenly looked around. "Where's Tidus?" she asked.
"He followed Sir Auron out of the stadium-" Wakka started, but Yuna cut him off.
"Sir Auron? You saw him?"
"Yeah. He was fightin' the fiends with us. Tidus went after him after Maester Seymour called back his Aeon."
"That thing. It didn't look like any Aeon I've ever heard of." Lulu said.
"At least Maester Mika is safe," Yuna said, voicing the general idea on everyone's mind. She glanced down at the city, wandering where Tidus was, and what he was doing.
Dock 4 was the only dock that didn't have a boat, but it was filled with crates and oddments that hadn't been unpacked or shipped out yet. It was here that one could find Tidus, who had followed Auron out of the stadium.
"Hey!" Tidus yelled at his mentor, who kept his back turned. "Hey!" Tidus said again, this time grabbing Auron's shoulder and whipping him around so he could speak to his face.
"Don't you run away from me! All of this-being in Spira, being sucked up by Sin, it's all your fault, all of it!"
Auron simply stared at him. Tidus let him go, and he once again turned around.
"You knew my old man," Tidus said.
"Yeah," Auron responded.
"And you knew Yuna's father, too," Tidus growled.
"That's correct."
".That's impossible! It can't have happened like that!"
"There's nothing 'impossible' about it. Ten years ago, Braska, Jecht, and I defeated Sin. Then I came to Chicago, where I could watch over you."
Tidus looked at Auron. "Why?"
"Jecht asked me to."
"Is he still alive?"
Auron finally turned, casting a dark look at Tidus. "That depends on what you mean by "being alive." But then, I felt something of him, that night in Chicago. Especially around Sin itself."
It took Tidus a few seconds to register what Auron was saying. When he finally did, it felt as though someone had just punched him in the stomach. "No. It can't be."
"It is. Jecht is Sin," Auron said. He said it in a flat, nondescript tone.
Tidus, still shell shocked, made his way over to a crate filled with Blitzball goal posts and quickly sat down, resting against it. Auron turned to watch this, before he turned back to face the blue sea. After a while, Tidus spoke.
"Auron," he said in a small, helpless voice.
".Yes?"
"Will I ever get back to Chicago?"
Auron worded his answer carefully. If he said anything too straightforward, Tidus would only be angry with him later. "That's up to Jecht," he said finally.
Tidus thumped his head against the wooden crate. "What're you gonna do?" he asked his mentor.
"I am going to offer my services as a Guardian to Yuna. It would be wise of you to follow my lead."
"Why?"
"Do you wish to know the connection between Yuna, you, and me?"
"I already know that."
"But you do not know how. And I can assure you that that is the greatest part of the puzzle, one that I myself am still trying to piece together. Unlike you, however, I have a better grip on the situation at hand. I believe that all the pieces will fall into place when all involved are united. So, come-unless you wish to remain here as a nameless lad claiming to come from Zanarkand."
Tidus looked up sharply. "You haven't said that word in a long time," Tidus said, referring to the time in his life when Auron first showed up, and kept calling Chicago "Zanarkand".
"Indeed." Auron said. He brushed past Tidus and stepped off of the dock. However, Tidus knew Auron. He didn't want to talk about this "Zanarkand"-and Tidus was very interested to know why.
"They sure are taking a long time," Lulu huffed, pacing in front of Yuna and Wakka. "I hope they're not just wasting time."
"I can assure you we are doing nothing of the sort," a deep voice said.
He appeared at the head of the stairs: Sir Auron. He seemed to radiate a certain command for respect, though he seemed indifferent to it. He walked with a sure steady step, and he was powerfully built; they could hardly see the glum Tidus shuffling along behind him.
"I have come to offer my services as a Guardian to you. Do you accept?"
Yuna was nearly speechless. "Why?"
"I promised Braska I would."
"You told my father..?"
"Do you not accept?"
"Oh no," Yuna said quickly. "We would be honored to have you with us, Sir Auron."
"And," Auron continued, "he comes, too." With that, Auron pushed Tidus in front of him, so he could face the crowd. "Uh. Hi guys."
"I promised Jecht I would watch over him as well."
"Is he still alive?" Yuna asked excitedly.
"Can't say. I haven't seen him in ten years."
Tidus sent Auron a sharp look, and saw that he was beckoning for him to come over.
"Why didn't you tell Yuna?" Tidus asked.
"I will tell her when the time is right," Auron responded, gazing out at the city. "What about me?" Tidus asked again.
"Keep to the same story; you're under the effect of Sin's toxin, and you don't remember where you come from, but you think you live in Zanarkand."
"What's the whole big deal with this 'Zanarkand' place, anyway? I mean, its just Chicago-"
"I know its Chicago. You know its Chicago. Know one else does, or will believe a place like that ever existed. The Al Bhed discovered the ruins first; they were the first to refer to it as Zanarkand, since Yevon denounced the word 'Chicago' as an Al Bhed word."
"So what's the deal with the Al Bhed? Why doesn't Yevon like them?"
"They use machines to do their work. 'Machina' is what they call it. And, according to the teachings, Sin first appeared 1,000 years ago and destroyed the machina cities-Chicago along with them. That's the puzzling part, though-for if our Zanarkand is your Chicago, then are you in a different world, or merely a different time?"
"Anyway, the first Summoner Spira had made her journey to the Zanarkand ruins to defeat Sin. Again, the teachings say that Zanarkand is a holy place, so that is where the final showdown took place. However, Sin came back.and it kept coming back."
"So Yuna's going to Zanarkand to defeat Sin."
"Correct." "Like her father.and my dad.and you."
Auron bowed his head. "Yes. This is what troubles me the most."
"Why?"
Auron changed the subject. He nodded at Yuna. "Go to her. You two have more in common then you will ever realize."
Yuna stood over the balcony overlooking the city, just standing and thinking. Suddenly, she saw Tidus standing next to her. "Hi," he said, scratching the back of his head.
"Hello," Yuna said back.
For a while the two said nothing. Tidus looked around. "Ya know, I feel like my head's about to explode."
Yuna looked at him. "Um. What?"
Tidus quickly shook his head, remembering that Auron had told him to stick to the story. "Nothing," he said. Yuna smiled.
"Hey," Tidus said, "Don't take this the wrong way, but how do you always manage to smile? Even when you're surrounded by death and destruction, you always squeeze out a smile."
"It is hard," Yuna said, "but I must be like a light in Spira. I carry all the hopes of all the people. I cannot show them that I am sad, or upset."
"Sounds like tough work."
"It is," she said. Then, brightening, she said, "OK. Now you try!"
"What?" Tidus asked.
"Try smiling, even though you feel sad. Come one. you can do it."
Tidus tried to be sad and smile, resulting in a grimace that looked like he had to smell something unpleasant. Yuna burst out laughing, something that Tidus followed in, smiling for real this time.
"Good," Yuna laughed, "Now I can teach you how to laugh."
"What?" Tidus asked, still chuckling.
"Just laugh. You'll see."
Tidus looked out at the city below him. He put both hands on his hips, and bellowed:
"HA HA HA HA HA!"
It wasn't a laugh so much as it was a toneless yell, but he repeated it just the same.
"HA HA HA HA HA!"
Tidus took a deep breath and started to do it again, but noticed that Yuna had also put her hands on her hips, and was ready to bellow with him.
"HA HA HA HA HA!" They both yelled, and the ridiculousness of it all made them burst out laughing again, pointing at each other, and laughing again. They turned, and saw everyone just staring at them. "What?" Tidus asked.
"We just wanted to make sure you two hadn't gone crazy or somethin'," Wakka said.
"Oh."
"Let's get going," Auron said.
"Where are we going?" Tidus asked.
"The temple at D'Jose. We will travel there by taking the Mi'hen Highroad."
"OK," Tidus said, "then let's go!"