Believe

Chapter Four- To Believe in a Dream

Where we left off- Um, this is Amie. Last time we set off for Kilika, only to have myself, Rynna and Darian lost in what seems to be an abandoned temple. Even odder was when a young man appeared from the surrounding waters and asked Rynna if she was Yuna. Who is this person?

~*~

"Yuna, is that you?"

Rynna's eyes widened at the young man's question. "W-what?" she stammered. "What claim do you have to using that name?"

"Huh…?" He blinked, and looked at her more closely.

The young woman knew what he was seeing wasn't particularly impressive. Just a young woman with short brown hair, odd, mismatched eyes (one green and one blue), and a pair of blue leggings with a flower imprint on one side and a white short sleeved shirt. A darker blue sash around the waist finished the outfit, with her energy gun hanging on the sash.

He frowned. "Sorry. I thought you were someone else," he said.

"Obviously," Darian said.

The young man looked at the redhead, now even more confused. "What… you look like someone I know too!" he said. Then he saw Amie. "And…" His eyes became even wider.

Amie blushed and looked away. "Hello," she said quietly.

"What's going on?!" the young man demanded. "Who are you people? Why do you look like Yuna, and Lulu, and…" he trailed off, waving his arms.

"How would you know what High Summoner Yuna or Guardian Lulu looked like?" Rynna asked curiously.

"I'm one of Yuna's guardians!"

"What?" the group demanded.

He blinked, then became quiet. "Did… I say something weird?"

Rynna stood up, keeping one hand on her gun. "Yes, you did. Yuna….. has not been alive for over a century. She brought the Eternal Calm two hundred years ago."

The young man stared at her. Then he looked helplessly at Darian, who nodded. Then he finally turned to Amie, who was watching him sympathetically. He backed away, leaning against a nearby stone pillar. "Two… hundred years?" he asked weakly.

"Yes. Well, actually, the exact year is 204 EC."

"EC?"

"During the Eternal Calm."

"My… my God… this can't be true. I couldn't have been gone that long! I was only out for a year or two, maybe ten at the most!" the man said, closing his eyes tightly. His fists clenched, then relaxed. "This can't be…"

"Who are you, anyway?" Rynna asked. "You look kinda like someone I know…" She blinked. "You look like Alex in his ceremonial outfit!" she exclaimed.

"Hey, you know, you're right," Darian said, looking at the young man more closely. "What's your name?"

The young man didn't even twitch at the questions. He merely answered, "My name's Tidus. I am, or was, Yuna's guardian."

~*~

Tidus slowly opened one eye to examine the group's reactions to his claim. The girl who looked like Yuna was gaping openly at him, while the guy with red hair blinked, and frowned. The dead ringer for Lulu stared at him, only letting her eyes widen to show her surprise.

"You can't be, you died two hundred years ago," the Yuna look-alike said.

"No, just faded," he said. "Which is a lot worse than dying, by the way. If you have to pick one or the other, pick dying. Fading really sucks."

The girl frowned. "Faded? But I would know! I know my family's history, and the legends and history books all say you died in the battle for Sin! You and Lord Auron took deadly blows and-"

"Auron?" Tidus laughed wryly. "He was dead to begin with. He was an Unsent, like Seymour. Only he preferred the living to stay alive, at least until their time came naturally." He held out his hands to inspect them. "As for whether or not I'm alive…" He frowned slightly, then looked at Rynna. "See if I'm real or not."

"What?"

"If you can walk through me, then I'm really not back. But… I have a feeling I'm solid again."

Rynna frowned. "Solid? What, are you saying you could be a ghost? Make up your mind!"

"Will you just try to grab my arm or something?" he snapped back.

She blinked in surprise. Then she took a deep breath, and murmured, "Okay."

Darian stood up as well when Rynna rose and walked towards the former guardian. "Hey! Hey! What if he-"

"I think I can protect myself, Dar," Rynna said. "Don't worry." Then she turned her face towards Tidus', if that was really who it was.

The legends stated that Sir Tidus had had clear, determined blue eyes that seemed to pierce through all falsities. While she wasn't sure if this man could tell if she were to lie or not, she was startled by how intent their gaze was. The stories also mentioned that he had claimed to come from a land, known as…

"Zanarkand," he finished for her.

"What?!" she asked, startled.

"You said some story or other said I 'claimed' to be from Zanarkand. It's not just a claim, by the way, but true," he said almost casually. "About… how long is it now? According to you, I was there about twelve hundred years ago. I was the star of the blitz team known as the Zanarkand Abes. Do you believe me now?"

She swallowed, then said quietly, "Well, I'm not doubting you quite as much as I was two minutes ago."

Tidus closed his eyes. "I guess that'll have to do for now." Then he looked at her pleadingly. "Please, just see if I'm solid. I don't want to feel so transparent anymore," he said.

Rynna looked up at him, feeling sympathy overwhelm her. Then, she lifted a hand to his face, gently beginning to trace the line of his jaw, then his cheek, and nose.

The blonde closed his eyes once more, and grabbed her hand to push roughly against one cheek. "Dear God, I'm so relieved," he murmured.

The two stood there for a moment. Then Rynna began to get impatient. "Hello?"

Tidus ignored her. "It's been so long…"

"Can I have my hand back? Hello?!"

Still, the man ignored the summoner.

Rynna pulled her free hand back, formed it into a fist, and gave Tidus a punch in the nose.

"OW!" Tidus fell back onto the ground, holding his nose. "What was that for?!"

Rynna tossed her hair. "You don't go grabbing someone without permission," she said, and turned back towards the others. Darian looked mildly amused, while Amie looked confused about the whole thing. "Well then." She plopped back onto the ground, and gestured towards the man. "Join us, won't you?"

The blonde blinked, pinching his nose just in case it was bleeding. "Huh?"

"If you're really who I think you are…" She smiled sweetly. "Then it would be rude to not help one's elders, ne?"

"Oh. Uh. Okay… Thanks." He scooted over to where the others were. "I didn't catch your names…"

"I'm Rynna, a summoner," the young woman said, pointing at herself. "These are two of my guardians, Amie and Darian."

"Yo," Darian said, waving.

Amie merely nodded once, smiling slightly.

Tidus scratched the back of his head. "Um… hey, I don't wanna be a moocher or anything, but do you have anything to eat? It's been a couple centuries, y'know," he said with a forced laugh.

"Sure." Rynna pulled out some dried fruits and tossed them to him. "Say, Tidus… I have another question to ask you. If you can tell us, and tell us correctly, then I'll believe you, okay?"

"Sure thing," he said, picking up one of the fruits. He looked at it oddly, then took a bite. His eyes lit up and he crammed the whole thing into his mouth before moving onto the next. "Shoot."

"Okay, there are two parts to this question- where are we and is there a fayth here?"

Tidus blinked, his mouth filled with the fruits. Rynna rolled her eyes as he nearly choked on them all before managing to swallow the lot of them. Taking a deep breath, he said, "Well, by the looks of this place, I'd guess this is Baaj Temple. Somewhere to the north of Besaid, right?"

Rynna nodded. "It is to the north somewhere, though we're not sure. It's pretty much been an uncharted area for the past few years."

"Makes sense. The place does have a fayth, or it did when….. y'know…" He sat back, staring up at the walls with an unreadable expression.

"So…?" Darian said. "Don't make me hit you with a blitzball, bud. Talk!"

Tidus gave him a wry grin. "Yeesh, people these days." He stretched. "Well, the fayth was supposed to be majorly powerful- you ever heard of Maester Seymour? The bast- I mean, the guy who tried to marry Yuna?"

Amie nodded. "We did."

"Good. Well, he had this one aeon he used for fighting, um… I think it was called Anima. Anyways, it was said that this was the place where he got that fayth, or at least where it could be found." He shook his head and spread his hands helplessly.

"But….?"

"But we couldn't find it. We had to fight these incredibly powerful fiends, first off, to get there. We nearly got killed by this giant, fish-eating fiend… and then we were busy trying to solve this puzzle, and coming up against dead ends… Finally, Yuna said she couldn't feel the fayth anymore, we'd gone so far off track. We gave up, made for the first path skywards, and got outta here."

Rynna sighed. "So much for getting the fiend here."

"So do you believe me now?"

The young woman considered it. "Well, I dunno. I like to think I'm good at seeing how people are. And you don't seem to be a liar type." She looked at Darian. "Right?" The redhead shrugged and nodded. "So I guess that's a yes."

"Great. I hate being looked at so suspiciously." He grinned.

"Okay, so instead of going after the fayth, we look for the others tomorrow," Darian guessed.

"Yeah," Rynna said. At Tidus' questioning look, she said, "Brand and Alex. They're also my guardians, but we got separated in a storm on the way here."

"Oh."

"Let's settle in then," Amie suggested. "I'm guessing we will prefer an early start."

"Um… could I go with you all?" Tidus asked.

Rynna snorted. "Please. Duh, you're coming with us. You're Tidus, Lord Guardian of the High Summoner Yuna. Why wouldn't we want you? If nothing else, you'll be a kickass help with the fiends that'll no doubt be multiplying like monkeys, not to mention a fairly good guide through Spira for those of us who don't really know where the hell we're going."

He smiled. "Thanks. It would suck having to wait here until someone else showed up." He stretched once more before leaning against a nearby pillar of stone. "So…."

"Do we have to get up early again?" Darian complained. "I was good today, but…. Two days in a row?"

"Oh, come on, be a sport!" Rynna said, nudging him. "I wanna show off my grandpa to everyone else. What'll Brand think, eh?"

"Grand- …. Wait a second. Grandpa?!" Tidus asked, eyes widening in alarm.

"Yeah, didn't you know? Yuna had a kid eight months after she defeated Sin, but never got married. The kid looked like you, and Yuna's my grandma." Rynna shrugged, pretending not to notice the wild look in Tidus' eyes. "Speaking of which, would you prefer being called Papa, Grandfather, or plain old Gramps?"

Tidus just stared.

~*~

Next time: We take a look at what Brand and Alex are doing, as well as a peek at what some of the religious factions in Spira are currently like. Please let me know what you think! In advance, I'd like to say something- I realize Tidus is off. C'mon, he just woke up to learn that it's been two hundred years since he last saw the love of his life. I'd be a bit out of it, too, wouldn't you? Until next time, everyone….