Disclaimer: I don't own FFX tumdedum...
Chapter Six :: This is His World
by Kaeli Enfys
I couldn't stop marveling at his eyes until he shuffled uncomfortably before me. He scratched his head sheepishly and nodded towards the exit of the schoolyard. "Er, if you remember, we were suppose to work on the last page of our Al Bhed project today," he reminded casually.
I nodded and he turned around to lead the way. I followed, but I found myself staring at the back of his head. I didn't know why, but I suddenly felt like I had witnessed the most beautiful thing on the face of Spira. I gripped my earring tightly in my hands, frightened that it would slip away and break once more. I looked down at it and smiled widely, a real smile.
I hadn't smiled so wide in a long time. And he had brought that smile to me.
When I heard a distant beeping noise, I noticed that he had walked up to a yellow sports car parked near the school. I watched as he got in and looked expectantly at me. "Well? My place isn't as close as your place so we can't walk there."
I jogged over to the car and got in on the other side. He started the engine and we were off, down the street and past my apartment building. I watched as the scenery swept by, and I finally found the nerve to speak. "...Thank you."
He stopped at a red light, but didn't turn to look at me when he replied, "...No problem."
I smiled, more to myself then. "...Really. Thank you."
"...I heard you the first time," he mumbled.
"I feel like I owe you my life or something," I admitted with a blush.
He chuckled, "Hey, it's not that big of a deal you know."
"Yes it is," I insisted and turned to look at him just as the light turned green. "It's like you brought back the light into my life again. And...I don't mean to be mean or anything, but...you of all people...being the one to...to bring something so special back to me."
Tidus rammed onto the brakes suddenly, barely hitting a nearby jeep. It honked at us loudly before turning the corner. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! This is way too sappy for me. Cut it out okay?" He didn't say it in a mean way though. It was like... he was teasing me.
I laughed, something I had thought I would never be able to do anymore. But I did. All because of his...his good heart? My mind tingled. Tidus had a good heart? Oh, so many surprises...so much to learn about people around you... "I'm just saying what's on my mind," I explained.
"You do remember that it was me that stole it from you in the first place and gave it to Dona?" A tint of guilt was in his voice. "She told me about your earring...she liked it a lot. I guess I was trying to please her. Anyway...it was only right for me to fix it...seeing that you looked so distressed."
"You know...you never would have done what you did today for me. You...you hate me," I said softly.
He slowed the car down. I took a glimpse out the car window and realized we were by the ocean. I watched as the waves rolled in and out with gulls swooping low on the water's clear surface. "Hate you? That's harsh," he muttered. "What are you trying to do? Get me to say I like you?"
"No! No...not at all," I exclaimed hastily.
"Well, it's not like I'm inhuman or something," he opened the car door and got out. "I happen to have feelings too, and well...I hate to admit it but that look on your face when Dona broke that earring...it was scary."
I got out of the car. "Scary?"
"...Ya. Well, the whole thing was kind of scary," Tidus said as we walked up a stone path. "There was this look in your eyes. Now that was the scary part."
I looked at him with surprise. "Me? Scary?"
"Ya," he laughed. "But I knew we were going too far," his voice went softer and I could barely hear him from the distant sound of crashing waves. "It was that look in your eyes that told me we were...being plain--"
"Idiots?"
"Bastards," he corrected and I simply stared. "Well, we're here."
I had been so immersed in our conversation that I hadn't even realized where we were going in the first place. We had stopped in front of a big, white mansion that had lush green grass and a small garden of every flower you could imagine. A small pond was off to the right with floating lotuses of pink and white. I took this all in with awe as I hurried on ahead to get a better look.
"The door's this way," Tidus pointed jokingly and unlocked the double front doors.
I stopped at the doorway, marveling at the luxurious front hall with its massive chandelier and marble flooring. I didn't want to step into the room, fearing that if I did, it would all melt away at my touch.
"Don't tell me you think there are rats in here," Tidus was throwing his backpack on a black leather couch in the adjoining living room.
"No! It's just...so...so clean," I finished stupidly and stepped into the mansion. I couldn't stop looking at the glinting chandelier until Tidus broke my concentration once more.
"We can work outside. There's beautiful view."
I agreed and we brought our papers and books to the balcony that overlooked the waters below. The glass doors were cool and smooth under my touch as I pushed them gently aside to gain access to the balcony. The wooden floor of it was painted a pale blue with plastic white chairs and orange umbrellas propped nearby. I closed my eyes and listened to the breeze and waves and took in the scent of salty water. Oh, it really was a beautiful place to live in.
Tidus coughed and I was forced to open my eyes and sit across from him on one of the many plastic chairs. He glanced up at me quickly and pointed a finger at a paragraph on the open textbook. "I'll do the top half, and you can do the bottom half."
I nodded and quickly set to work. I wouldn't idle about this time. As a matter of fact, I was ready to finish before him.
"Where the hell are you?! I heard you come in!"
Tidus winced and I looked up from my work. I tilted my head at him questioningly. "Who's that?"
"My old man," Tidus answered lowly and pushed back his chair.
"BOY, DID YOU HEAR ME?!"
Tidus sighed, "Damn him. I better go see what he wants before he screams the chandelier off."
I could only nod and slightly bite my lip as I watched Tidus enter the mansion and disappear down the hall. I didn't know if I should stay put or follow. I decided to stay put.
"Okay...frah dra cih cadc..." I wrote the words slowly and neatly and looked up to watch a gull land on the balcony railing. I smiled at it and it simply blinked and flew off. "Vmo yfyo...vmo yfyo..." I placed my pen on my paper and turned to look at the mansion again. I found myself pushing back my chair slowly and walking towards the glass doors glinting against the sun. "...Oh, but I bet it's private talk," I scolded myself out loud. "He expects me to stay put right here."
I heard a distant shout.
"...And yet I'm so curious to see his father," I blew a strand of hair from my face and took my mother's earring from my pocket and placed it on my left ear. The comforting weight was back, much to my delight. "The famous Sir Jecht..."
Another shout.
I flinched. "Doesn't seem so nice..."
Finally I could stand there no more and pushed open the glass doors and entered the sudden silent house. I abruptly thought how odd it was, two people living in such a big place. Didn't they ever feel lonely? I liked my small apartment because it was cozy, and small. Small made me feel not alone. There wasn't so much space to fill up...
I turned the corner to what seemed to be the living room. I looked behind me and wondered how I would get back to the front room but suddenly a loud, booming voice met my ear. I ducked behind the wall and peered cautiously around.
A middle-aged man with graying hair was looking furiously down at Tidus who looked equally mad. "Can't you be more polite when there are guests around?! She'll hear you screaming your fucking head off!" Tidus yelled.
"Are you forgetting your position in this household?!" The man shot back with a shaking finger. "I make the rules around here, get it through your thick, stupid head!"
"Shut up!"
"Don't talk to your father like that! And who's this...this girl?! Making filthy little friends...what happened to Dona? Now that's a fine girl."
Tidus groaned, "Just leave it."
"What is with you today, boy?! Snapping back at your father, disagreeing with me...and what is this? I got a call from Mr. Beclen saying you refused to participate in the blitzball game against Luca next Saturday? What the hell is that?!"
"I don't want to! Plain and simple! I have a history project due--"
"HISTORY PROJECT? Yevon! How many times have I told you that blitzball will be and is your life?! Just like me, but now I know you'll never be as good as me!"
I sucked in a sharp breath as I watched this scene. It was so...so awfully wrong. Father and son were suppose to be...happy. Understanding to one another. They were suppose to support each other, not cuss at each other. It wasn't suppose to be like this.
"SHUT UP ALREADY!" Tidus hollered.
"DON'T SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT!" The man stormed over towards him and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him from the polished wooden floor of the living room. "LISTEN TO ME BOY! YOU WILL GO TO THAT GAME NEXT SATURDAY AND WIN. SCREW HISTORY," the man flung him against the nearby wall, not caring that the young man had hit the counter holding an expensive looking vase that briefly crashed to the ground.
I gasped and shut my eyes until I heard silence. Slowly, I cracked open one eye at a time and saw only Tidus sitting at the foot of the counter, panting. Still slightly shaken, I crept out from my hiding spot and tentatively approached the fallen young man.
"You're bleeding," I stated, almost squeakily as I spotted the crimson liquid oozing out from his right arm, scratched by the shards of the vase. "...And that vase--"
He looked up at me, startled that I was here and not back on the balcony. "You...you saw all that?"
He seemed flustered. I attempted to smile at him as I crouched down in front of him. "...Hey, it's alright," I took his right hand slowly and placed it on my lap. "This won't hurt," I assured gently and raised my other hand over the wound. My eyelids fluttered as a warm white light emitted from my palm and onto his wound. It glowed briefly before fading, showing a non-scratched arm.
Tidus raised his arm slowly and inspected it. "...Nice trick," he looked back at me with weary blue eyes. I didn't see the usual shine of confidence in them, nor the usual glow of...of perfection. So...so his life was not perfect at all. Tidus of all people had his downs in life too. I took in this new information slowly. I had been so childish to think he had a perfect life, even if he did dislike his father.
I never knew it was like this.
"Hey, I don't like that look in your eyes," Tidus cut in with a warning tone. "Are you pitying me?"
"What?" I blinked back, surprised. "No! No...I mean, it's not good that your...wait, that was your father wasn't it?"
Tidus shrugged, "I guess he is."
"Oh..." I couldn't find anything right to say.
He sighed and stood up slowly. "Damn him...if he wants me to play blitz so bad, he wouldn't throw me against the fucking wall," he groaned as he rubbed his back. I bit my lip thoughtfully and clasped my hands together out of nervousness.
"You...you want me to take a look?"
He looked at me, slightly taken aback but grinned sheepishly nonetheless. "Sure. I know you want to take a look real bad, dontcha Yuna?"
I flushed ten shades of red. I wasn't sure if it was because of his comment or because he had called me by my first name. But then again...he had called me my real name back at school, under the big oak tree. I concluded that it was probably because of his comment.
He laughed, "I was just kidding."
I managed a stiff nod as he turned around and raised his blue muscle shirt to reveal a severely bruised back. My eyes widened as I placed a hand on it. His back was hot under my touch. "This...this isn't the first time," I said it as a statement more than a question.
I saw his head bob up and down to confirm my remark. I said no more as I concentrated on healing the bruises. It took slightly longer than the cut on his arm, and when I was done, I was left slightly breathless. I had never used so much magic at once.
"Are you okay?" He turned around quickly when my hand left his back.
"Yes," I held onto the wall for support. "Just...a bit tired."
Tidus watched me carefully and suddenly took one step forward and picked me up. "Whoa, you're light," he commented.
"What are you doing?" I squeaked, trying to hide the blush on my face.
"You look exhausted," he explained and carried me through the house towards a set of stairs that went down. We arrived at what looked like the basement and he promptly placed me on a yellow squishy couch. "This is my room," he announced proudly.
I craned my neck around to take in the slightly messy, but huge room. It was a typical room of a seventeen year old, with blitz posters and a desk, computer and stereo. He had colourful lava lamps lighting up the area and a yellow and blue beanbag on a darker blue rug. "You have the whole basement?"
There was even a pool table.
He nodded, "I want to be as far away from my old man as possible."
"Oh," I understood immediately. "It...it must be hard."
"Hard?" He blinked while plopping himself down on the bean bag a few feet away.
"Well...having a father that...doesn't appreciate you," I couldn't quite piece my words together and had to rack my brain to not say something blunt or stupid.
Tidus sighed deeply and crossed his arms across his chest. "My old man...wasn't always like this."
I stared at him with curiosity and he continued. "No one knows this...partly because no one ever questions it or asks...but well...my mother passed away when I was six." I held in my surprise and let him go on. "My old man loved her alot. He hated everything when she died from a car accident on my sixth birthday. She was driving to go pick up my birthday present or something...and all I remember is that she never came back."
"...I'm sorry," I whispered.
He shrugged, trying to make the atmosphere around us lighter but I could see a glimmer in his eyes. Were they tears? I didn't know.
"I can't really blame my old man for hating me since," Tidus chuckled. "If it weren't for me and my stupid birthday present..."
"Don't say that..."
"Or maybe I just remind him too much about mom," Tidus thought out loud. "I have her hair colour and she was always so carefree and light-hearted...nothing could bring her down."
"Like you?"
"Naw," Tidus shook his head. "My old man can bring me down with a couple words..."
"But you're still strong," I insisted and sat up on the couch. "Strong to stick up for yourself against someone as big and scary as that."
Tidus laughed whole-heartedly. "You think so?"
"Absolutely."
He smiled, "Well ya...my old man only wants me to be a star blitz player like him...for whatever reason. Maybe he just wants me out of his life or something."
"...Maybe he has good intentions," I suggested hesitantly.
"Him? Good intentions? Yeah right!" Tidus spat bitterly and composed himself. "Well whatever his reasons are, I don't want to give my whole life away for blitz. Sure, it's a great sport and all, but as a career? I'm not that keen..."
"Then follow your own path," I piped in. He glanced at me through strands of blonde hair. "It is your life you know..."
He looked thoughtful and fell back, spread eagle onto the bean bag. "And so I thought. But you saw him...and how he gets...a bit...violent."
I didn't know what to say.
Tidus' face was out of sight, so I could not tell what his facial expressions where. I could hear his distant breathing though, and I idly laid back down on the couch and simply waited for him to say more.
My eyes were getting heavy when he finally spoke up again. "...And you know...I felt really bad when you told me that earring was your mother's."
I smiled to myself. Him feeling bad?
"I know what it feels like to have something really special. I would die if I ever lost what my mother gave me."
"Oh? What is it?" I asked with interest as I closed my tired eyes.
"...Er, something," came his voice in a more higher-pitched tone.
"You can tell me you know."
I heard him shuffle around before answering timidly, "...A stuffed moogle."
I giggled uncontrollably. "Wow. The great Tidus and a stuffed moogle!"
"Hey! I thought you weren't going to laugh at me!" His voice seemed offended but he was laughing lightly.
"I never said I wouldn't laugh," I reminded and rolled over onto my side and fell into a more comfortable position on the couch. I stifled a yawn but failed.
"Er--okay, now you probably think we're buddies or something--"
"Ya...ya," I cut in lightly and yawned once again. "We'll be back to our rightful positions in school..." I trailed off tiredly.
I didn't hear him reply, but that didn't matter. It was so comfortable and warm on the couch and my eyes were so tired and slightly swollen from the crying I had done hours ago. There was a nice smell to the couch, whatever the smell was. It only made me drowsier until I suddenly remembered why I was here in the first place...
"...our project...outside...balcony..." I mumbled and felt darkness closing in on me. But it was nice darkness...it wasn't like the usual darkness that met me when I was falling asleep, knowing that I was alone no matter where I turned.
It was such a comforting darkness that I accepted it wholeheartedly and before I knew it, I was drifting away into dreamless sleep.
...maybe for once I didn't need to dwell in them. Just once...once...
"...Thanks for listening to me," I heard a distant voice whisper soothingly. "Maybe...maybe we can be friends..."
Friends...friends...thank you for listening to me too Tidus...thank you for everything....
For once, I fell into peaceful slumber with a smile on my lips.
AN: *squee* A little bit more on Tidus' life...a bit more of a similarity between him and Yuna. Ohohohohoho....welpz, thank yee all for the support! Please review and leave your mark =)