And Baby Makes Three
Chapter Fifteen - Of Force Fields and Reveries
By: Digi-Esca Girl
Standard Disclaimers Apply. (*sniff sniff* NOTHING'S CHANGED!!!!! WAAAAAAA!!!!)
***************************************************************
In the quiet, early hours of a normal, mundane weekday morning, all appeared to be silent in the newly built houses that held 30 teenage parents and their respective children. They were all still sleeping soundly, it being 4:30 AM, and the sun was just beginning to lighten the dark night sky with its first rays. The street lights slowly went out, and by 5:03 AM, more than one-quarter of the bright burning star could be seen over the horizon.
At exactly 5:04 however, the perfect silence that hung over every single house on the street was shattered by the abrupt wakening of a young woman, who rose from her slumber with such an urgency one would think she'd been literally thrown out of her own subconscious.
The dark, frightening images of her dream didn't fade away quickly like the others did, instead opting to remain in her mind and continue to plague her even after she'd fully woken. She reached up one trembling hand and placed it gently on her forehead, feeling the thin sheen of sweat that lay there. She pushed her bangs back behind her ears, and piled the rest of her dishevelled tawny locks on top of her head, so as to cool off her neck and help calm her down.
'What a terrible dream.And yet, I feel like it wasn't just a coincidence.' Yuna thought worriedly, throwing her covers off and stepping out of bed. She wondered briefly how she'd gotten to her bed when she clearly remembered falling asleep on the couch, but her mind was far too occupied with getting her to the videophone in the kitchen that she brushed the thoughts off and ignored them.
She padded through the hallway and down the carpeted stairs with almost inaudible sounds, turning on no lights as she went. There was enough sunlight filtering through the bay windows in the front of the house to brighten the entire living room area, and the windows in the kitchen flooded that room with light as well. Her mouth flew open in a silent gasp when her foot touched the tile floor, the sharp chill of the smooth surface shocking her half-awake system. She placed her other foot down beside it anyway, walking on tip-toes across the kitchen to the phone that hung on the wall.
She reached for the blue button with a trembling hand, pushing it hard with her index finger and watching as the screen flickered to life and prompted her to enter a number. She pressed the seven digits quickly, knowing them well, and looked on as the screen went blank except for the word 'Dialling.' blinking blue in the center.
After six rings, the colors of a dimly lit study melted onto the screen and the face she'd seen every other time she'd had bad news to give or receive, was there.
She gave an audible sigh of relief. "Sir Auron! Thank goodness I was able to reach you at this early hour."
Tired but alert eyes stared back at her, intimidating and reassuring all at the same time, from behind his ever-present blue sunglasses. "Yuna, I've already told you that you can call me anytime, day or night, if it is an emergency." Reaching up his hand and pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, Auron leaned back in his chair to listen.
"I've had a terrible dream, Sir Auron." When he looked sceptical, her eyes grew dark with worry. "And it's not the first time, either."
****************************
Some hours later, when the sun had almost completely risen, a young boy sat up in his bed, rubbing tiredly at deep Prussian eyes that would guarantee him girlfriends later on in his life. He let out a yawn, reaching his short arms into the air above him and pushing out his chest in a cat-like wake up stretch.
It was at this time that a pale lavender light emanating from his backyard caught his eye, and he sat up so he was on his knees, looking out his window. What he saw made his eyes widen, and he literally leaped off of his bed, dashing out his door and down the hallway towards his temporary father's room. He pushed the door open with as much frantic force as his tiny form would allow, and scrambled up onto the aforementioned teenager's bed.
Tidus was lying curled up in a ball on his left side, clutching a pillow to his chest and nuzzling his face into it. Kieran wasted no time in crawling on top of the older boy's unmoving form, situating himself on his chest before finally applying his patented, never-fail wake-up techniques.
He placed both his small hands on Tidus' shoulder, shaking it as vigorously as he could, hoping that this would be enough to rouse him from his slumber. It wasn't, which came as not too big of a surprise to the youngster, who'd had plenty of experience with trying to awaken the older boys in the orphanage, and having the same amount of success. For this reason he was not discouraged, and resumed his shaking with just as much energy as before, determined to wake the unconscious teen.
For all his efforts, all Kieran succeeded in doing was making the blonde blitzer groan softly and curl up into an even tighter ball. The boy sighed, ceasing his actions for the moment to allow himself some time to think of a new strategy that would actually work. Coming up with nothing that would surely work, Kieran simply rolled his eyes and resumed shaking Tidus' shoulder. All he got out of the teen after five tiresome minutes was a couple more groans and one softly uttered 'Go away Mom.'. Finally, he had had enough.
He rose to his feet, seemingly towering over the curled up blonde, and sucked in the biggest breath of the faintly cologne-laced air his small lungs could handle. He let it out in the form of a shout.
"DAAAAAAAAAADDY!!!"
Luckily for the now tired out boy, this last ditch effort paid off. Tidus' cerulean eyes shot open, and he sat straight up in his bed, his hands landing solidly on the bed on either side of him so as to steady himself. He looked wildly around, cursing the golden bangs that fell into his eyes before swiping them away with his right hand angrily. What he failed to realize at first was that by sitting up so abruptly, he had thrown Kieran off of the bed!
This was brought to his attention, however, when quiet laughter floated up to his ears from the navy-carpeted floor. His left eyebrow slowly went up, and he leaned over the side of the bed to examine what it was that was making those sounds. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly at what his eyes beheld.
Kieran was sitting cross-legged on the floor, his mouth cracked wide in what could only be described as a child's innocent grin that bared seemingly all of his baby teeth. His eyes were still closed in mirth and both of his small hands rested on his stomach, where he was bunching the fabric of his shirt in an attempt to quell the laughter-induced tightness that dwelled there. He was laughing like what had happened was the funniest thing in the entire universe, and not like he had just been thrown unceremoniously off of his 'father's' bed.
"What are you doing down there, kid?" Tidus asked after the boy's laughter had somewhat subsided. He was lying on his side, supporting himself on one elbow and resting his cheek in his palm, looking at Kieran with mild interest.
The question brought forth a short stream of fresh giggles, and when he was finished Kieran looked up at Tidus with what had to be the biggest set of blue eyes ever! "You pushed me off, remember? I woke you up, and when you sat up, I went WHOOSH!!" The young boy accentuated the sound he made by swiping his arms in a backwards arch over his head, indicating that he had tumbled backwards.
Smiling slightly and shaking his head, the blitzer moved to a sitting position, crossing his legs and placing his elbows on his knees. He then proceeded to drop his chin into his hands, thus supporting his head once again as he moved his gaze from his 'son' to the wooden bedside table on the left side of the queen-size bed. It was then that he noticed something that hadn't been there the last time he checked.
There was a framed picture standing upright in the middle of the table's surface, the highly polished, dark wood frame reflecting the early morning rays of sunlight that peeked through the curtains. The picture it held portrayed three people: a man, a woman and a small child who looked to be about six or seven. He knew, just with one glance, who the depicted people were.
The man with the dark chestnut hair and laughing eyes was undoubtedly his father, Jecht, and the woman was his mother Jalene. Her shoulder-length blond hair was flying around her face, creating a strange sort of halo that shone in the sunlight. Her deep blue eyes sparkled with mirth and mischievous secrets, and she had never looked more alive in a picture. The two of them were seated side by side, their respective left and right hands joined and resting on the soft grass at their feet. The blond child sat on the ground between them, grinning like the cat that caught the canary up at the person taking the picture. Tidus remembered very clearly that they had asked an elderly couple that was passing by to take the picture, and they had been more than happy to oblige.
Realizing that he had been staring silently at the picture for a few minutes, Tidus cleared his throat, replacing the picture and turning back to the boy who was now seated beside him on the bed, looking questionably up at him.
"So why did you come wake me up?"
"Yuna's outside in the backyard, but there's this weird purplish stuff around her and I dunno what it is."
Tidus' left eyebrow lifted ever-so-slightly. "Purplish stuff?"
"Yeah! It's like a..like a.force-field! Yeah, that's it!" Kieran's small brow furrowed for a moment as he thought, but once he'd come up with the answer, his innocent grin re-appeared immediately.
"Force-field, huh?" Tidus stroked his chin with his thumb and forefinger thoughtfully, looking upwards at the ceiling as if deep in thought. After a moment he glanced back down at Kieran, who was anxiously awaiting his response, and smiled a small smile just for him. "Maybe we should go check it out? You know, just to make sure it's safe and everything.right?"
Kieran nodded vehemently, his dark Prussian eyes seeming to sparkle with delight at the mere idea. He jumped off of the bed and, grabbing a surprisingly strong hold on Tidus' wrist, pulled the blonde out of bed along with him. "C'mon Dad! Let's go!" He pulled on him remarkably hard considering his small size, and Tidus made a mental note to involve the child in competitive blitzball at some point.
Realizing something quite important as he was tugged closer to the doorframe, Tidus spoke up. "Hey little man! Hold on a second; I need a shirt, don't I???" He had felt the cool morning breeze brush over his skin as it filtered in through his open window, and it gave him a slight chill.
Kieran's answer was surprising, yet not entirely unexpected, coming from a child. "Nah, you don't need one! It's just Yuna anyways!" He didn't even look back at the blonde, simply continuing to forcefully drag him out of the room and into the hallway.
Tidus sighed, bending down and scooping the child up into his arms. Kieran gave a squeal of delight as he was lifted to his perch on the blitzer's shoulders, and he held loosely to the sides of his blonde head to keep from falling, even though Tidus' hands held him firmly in place. He exited into the hallway, turning left and padding towards the stairs. He smiled slightly when Kieran whispered an awed, "Wow.It's so high.!" and an idea struck him.
He smirked, tightening his grip on the youngster's legs and pausing for a moment. He waited only a few seconds before leaping suddenly into a run and bolting down the stairs in what had to be record time for a forty-stair structure. Kieran shrieked again, holding tight to Tidus' jagged-cut locks in order to steady himself enough to be reassured, even though the blonde held him tightly. He laughed out loud, and seemed disappointed when they arrived quickly at the bottom of the stairs.
"Can we do it again? Pleeeeeeeease?" He whined, bending over the top of Tidus' head to peer directly into his eyes. Tidus didn't answer right away, catching his breath for only a few seconds after that burst of energy. He didn't know why he had done it, but for some reason seeing the smile on the boy's face was worth it.
He then shook his head, wondering why on Spira thoughts like those were even entering his head at all! 'I must be over-worked or something.Jeez.' He shook his head 'No.', and continued towards the kitchen, heading for the patio doors that were built into a wall there. His eyes widened slightly when his bare feet made contact with the cold tile floor, but he ignored it and quickly crossed the blue surface, stopping directly in front of the aforementioned doors.
He reached up and lowered Kieran from his shoulders, placing him on his feet at his side before unlocking and pulling open the patio door. Kieran scrambled outside, looking out onto their backyard in what appeared to be awe from Tidus' point of view. He quietly closed the door behind him, and followed Kieran's line of sight until his own eyes widened, and his jaw dropped open slightly.
What was shimmering before his eyes was indeed the 'purplish stuff' the boy had mentioned, and Tidus could think of no better way to describe it than a force-field. The blonde however, knew just enough about magics and spells to be able to tell that what was in front of him was a very advanced hybrid magic; a blending of two powerful spells. The magics Protect and Shell had obviously been fused together, thus creating the purple colored dome that was currently over their entire backyard!
And right in the center of it, in the very middle of the entire thing, was Yuna. Her eyes were closed in concentration, and even though he couldn't clearly see it, Tidus knew just by looking at her that there was sweat on her forehead. She looked spent, and after watching for a few more minutes in silence, the two observing males found out why she appeared to be concentrating so hard.
She suddenly reeled back, spreading her arms out as far as they would stretch on either side of her, her face turned skyward and her bi-colored eyes wide open and unblinking. A bright white light, that would surely have been blinding were it not for the spell, shot out from her chest careening upwards in a circular motion. The spell took its form as eight balls of light, moving spherically and continuing to climb up. It was at this time that Tidus noticed that a fiend was clinging to the roof of the dome, and that the spell was heading right for it! When it hit, the resulting explosion of light was so bright that not only did Kieran cling to Tidus' leg to hide from it, even Yuna herself brought up her arms to shield her own eyes from the shocking brightness.
After a few minutes, Tidus cracked open his eyes and found that there was nothing left of the fiend but circling pyreflies. He sighed lightly, not even knowing fully why he was so relieved, and found himself looking around to see if anyone was peeking out their windows so see what that tremendous burst of light had been.
His attention was returned to something else very quickly. "Mommy!!"
Kieran's cry brought him back to reality, and his eyes snapped over to where Yuna lay, unconscious, on the soft grass.
****************************
The sound of an alarm going off at exactly 6:00AM roused the Besaidian blitzer from his dreamless sleep. He grumbled quietly, reaching over and turning it off before it woke the other two occupants of the house. He had called the Blitzball Stadium from his cell-phone last night, and booked the sphere for the Abes. He told Taylor to tell any other players that phoned that it was open to any of them all day if they wanted to practice at all for the next day's tournament.
He slowly got out of bed, awakening more and more with each passing second, and padded over to his bathroom. He turned on the warm water for a shower, stripped off his pyjamas and got in, letting the comforting water slide over his back and warm him up. After standing under the gentle pressure for a few minutes, he quickly washed both himself and his hair, taking only ten minutes in total to do it.
He got out, wrapped a towel around his waist, and proceeded to shave, brush his teeth and do his hair in its usual backwards style. Once all these routine tasks were accomplished, he stepped out of the bathroom, walking over to his closet and grabbing his practice uniform. It consisted of a loose fitting pair of navy blue pants that were stamped with the Abes' logo, and a simple navy and yellow T-shirt that also bore the familiar emblem. He then looked to the other side of the closet, where he kept all his blitzball stuff. He grabbed his "overnight" bag from a nearby shelf, opening it and stuffing his actual uniform inside, just in case other players showed up. He also snatched up his blitzball, his arm and shin guards and a specially made set of weights that could be attached to a blitzball for extra weight training. Once these items were also added, he pulled the zipper closed and slung the bag over his shoulder, heading towards his bedroom door. He exited into the hallway and made his way down the stairs, walking past the kitchen and stopping at the front door.
Just as he was slipping on his sandals, he remembered that he hadn't given Lulu any indication that he was going to be going anywhere today. He rolled his eyes and kicked off his shoes, the left one landing upside down beside his bag after hitting the wall and bouncing off. He stalked seemingly angrily into the kitchen, ripping a bright yellow Post-It note from its stack and grabbing a mechanical pencil from the utensil holder next to the note pad. He quickly scrawled where he was going and that he'd probably be gone all day, and left his cell phone number at the very bottom of the piece of paper just in case.
He sighed when he finished, pressing the note onto the fridge and waiting for a quick second to make sure it stuck. When he was satisfied that it was going to stay, he turned and made his way to the door again, flipping over the upside down sandal with his bare foot and putting it back on. Once he'd located and donned the other sandal, he fished his keys out of his jacket pocket as quietly as he could manage. Picking up his bag and replacing it on his shoulder, he opened and closed the door almost soundlessly, locking it behind him. He then quickly crossed the lawn, which was moist from the morning dew, and unlocked the doors of his truck with the push of a button.
He climbed in, turning the ignition and waiting a moment for the vehicle to ready itself. When he felt it was finished, he pulled away from the curb and drove off down the quiet residential street, not even noticing the bright purple light emanating from his best friend's backyard as he drove past.
Being as it was so early in the morning there was little to no traffic as Wakka drove down the usually crowded city streets, his favourite CD already in place and playing loudly. His fingers tapped the rhythm of the currently playing song on his steering wheel, and a small smile was set into his face. Even though he was a teenager, nothing made him happier than getting up bright and early and going to play blitzball, even if he was alone in doing so.
The popular water sport was his life, and had been since he could remember. All he could recall thinking about as a younger boy was blitzball, and now it still occupied most of his mind. Another small portion devoted itself to school and girls, but right now it was as if neither of those things existed to Wakka. All he knew was that he was going to play blitzball, and even the fact that he was doing so in preparation of losing a tournament couldn't bring him down. He hummed the alternative rock song as it played, remembering the first time he'd ever won a tournament with the Abes.
It had started off as a normal enough day, the sun peeking through the sparse white clouds around 10:00 AM to warm everything up. No one needed warming up in the Blitzball Stadium however. The stands were packed with not a seat left empty, and nearly all the fans were pumped and ready for the annual tournament that was held in honour of all the summoners that ever tried, or were able, to defeat Sin. It was the first tournament that he and Tidus had ever played with the Abes, and everyone was looking forward to seeing how they would act under such pressure.
Wakka remembered every word of the pep talk Jecht and Auron had given to the team, and he had taken every syllable to heart. The games played out normally in the beginning, with Zanarkand beating Kilika with a score of 5 to 2, and moving on to defeat the Ronso team 4 to 3. It was when they got to the final match against Luca that things began to get interesting.
Tidus had gotten past their defensemen after a minute-and-a-half and had scored his first goal against the unsuspecting goalie, leaving everyone speechless for a few seconds before erupting into cheers. Even the commentators were quiet for a minute, needing the time to gather words for what they had just witnessed. Wakka felt immense pride at the moment, especially after seeing the look of total happiness on his best friend's face. It was at that moment that he decided that he was going to contribute to the game in the same way Tidus had, and no force on Spira or heaven was going to stop him.
Luca came back after that goal and scored three in a row on the Abes, the third slipping past their goalie Ayden just as time ran out on the first half of play. The team went to the locker room with sombre looks on their faces, expecting to receive the lecture of a lifetime for the way they played the first five minutes. They got no such thing however, as Jecht appeared to have no words and Auron never usually spoke anyway. There was silence until the mid-fielder, Damien, stood on one of the installed benches and spoke up.
He talked about how the Abes had never before let this trophy go to another team, especially Luca, and how just because they'd gotten an advantage over them in the first half didn't mean that they'd be able to do the same in the remaining five minutes of play. He spoke of how every single member of the team had individual strengths as well as weaknesses, and that the latter was even more necessary than the former in the way that weaknesses could be supplemented with the strengths of others. He concluded by talking about how even though they were all very different people, that they were united as a team, and there was no way to approach a challenge such as this without each other.
Even though the speech was short, it boosted the overall morale of the team through the roof, and they went back out onto the field with such renewed vigour that people in the crowd questioned if it was the same team. They were the same Abes, and they played such a phenomenal second half that it was still talked about many months after the tournament was over. Both Damien and Tidus scored goals, tying up the score with 45 seconds left on the timer.
Wakka did get his shining moment, but it came at a heavy price. He had positioned himself for a Sphere Shot and executed it perfectly, sending the blue and white ball careening at the net with remarkable accuracy and speed. On his way down from above the sphere pool, he was tackled from the side by one of the Luca forwards, the player's elbow slamming into his neck so hard it caused his vision to swim and blur. He hit the water just at the blitzball hit the back of the net, and the sound of goal buzzer rang in time with the bell that signalled the end of the game. Everyone noticed that the young Besaidian wasn't moving.
Tidus was the first to act, swimming over to his friend with as much speed as he could muster, and pulling him out of the pool towards the already positioned stretcher. They carefully extracted him from the water, noticing for the first time that his neck was bent at a very wrong looking angle. The fans drew in sharp breaths, watching on the monitors as he was lowered onto the stretcher and carried swiftly away towards an awaiting ambulance. Tidus had not allowed anyone to push him away, and stayed by his friend's side all the way to the downtown hospital.
When they arrived and doctors assessed his condition, they delivered news to the waiting team that the young man's neck had been cleanly broken. They would have to put the bones back in place, but the surgery this required put his life in danger, seeing as if they slipped up anywhere, nerves and blood vessels could be severed and he could bleed to death. There was also the possibility that his spinal cord could become torn, killing him instantly.
Wakka's mother, his only living relative left in the city, made the decision to have the surgery done anyway. There was no other possible course for her to take. Despite all the odds stacked up against him, Wakka pulled through the procedure, and was released from hospital after three weeks of carefully monitored recovery. Even with everything that had happened, Wakka couldn't help but be happy. He had won the game for his team, securing the trophy's place in their hall for another year, and he had had the entire Luca team come to him and apologize for what happened!
He went on living his life, and soon everyone forgot about the incident, choosing only to remember the young rookie player that had saved the day and scored the winning goal.
The sight of the very same stadium in the distance brought Wakka out of his reverie, and he smiled in spite of it. He was going to play blitzball, and one was going to be able to stop him.
****************************************************
Sorry for the boring chapter and for it's lack and several characters, but I had to get something out before you guys ate me!! Just kidding, just kidding.
Anyways, I hope that this was enough to satisfy you all for a little while; I will try my hardest to have the next chapter out soon! It will have Lulu, Jade, Carter, Rikku, and of course Tidus, Yuna and Wakka in it, and will most definitely have more character interaction that this chappie!!
Once again I apologize, and sincerely hope that I am forgiven!!
Love you all, Digi-Esca Girl
laurie_22@hotmail.com
Standard Disclaimers Apply. (*sniff sniff* NOTHING'S CHANGED!!!!! WAAAAAAA!!!!)
***************************************************************
In the quiet, early hours of a normal, mundane weekday morning, all appeared to be silent in the newly built houses that held 30 teenage parents and their respective children. They were all still sleeping soundly, it being 4:30 AM, and the sun was just beginning to lighten the dark night sky with its first rays. The street lights slowly went out, and by 5:03 AM, more than one-quarter of the bright burning star could be seen over the horizon.
At exactly 5:04 however, the perfect silence that hung over every single house on the street was shattered by the abrupt wakening of a young woman, who rose from her slumber with such an urgency one would think she'd been literally thrown out of her own subconscious.
The dark, frightening images of her dream didn't fade away quickly like the others did, instead opting to remain in her mind and continue to plague her even after she'd fully woken. She reached up one trembling hand and placed it gently on her forehead, feeling the thin sheen of sweat that lay there. She pushed her bangs back behind her ears, and piled the rest of her dishevelled tawny locks on top of her head, so as to cool off her neck and help calm her down.
'What a terrible dream.And yet, I feel like it wasn't just a coincidence.' Yuna thought worriedly, throwing her covers off and stepping out of bed. She wondered briefly how she'd gotten to her bed when she clearly remembered falling asleep on the couch, but her mind was far too occupied with getting her to the videophone in the kitchen that she brushed the thoughts off and ignored them.
She padded through the hallway and down the carpeted stairs with almost inaudible sounds, turning on no lights as she went. There was enough sunlight filtering through the bay windows in the front of the house to brighten the entire living room area, and the windows in the kitchen flooded that room with light as well. Her mouth flew open in a silent gasp when her foot touched the tile floor, the sharp chill of the smooth surface shocking her half-awake system. She placed her other foot down beside it anyway, walking on tip-toes across the kitchen to the phone that hung on the wall.
She reached for the blue button with a trembling hand, pushing it hard with her index finger and watching as the screen flickered to life and prompted her to enter a number. She pressed the seven digits quickly, knowing them well, and looked on as the screen went blank except for the word 'Dialling.' blinking blue in the center.
After six rings, the colors of a dimly lit study melted onto the screen and the face she'd seen every other time she'd had bad news to give or receive, was there.
She gave an audible sigh of relief. "Sir Auron! Thank goodness I was able to reach you at this early hour."
Tired but alert eyes stared back at her, intimidating and reassuring all at the same time, from behind his ever-present blue sunglasses. "Yuna, I've already told you that you can call me anytime, day or night, if it is an emergency." Reaching up his hand and pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, Auron leaned back in his chair to listen.
"I've had a terrible dream, Sir Auron." When he looked sceptical, her eyes grew dark with worry. "And it's not the first time, either."
****************************
Some hours later, when the sun had almost completely risen, a young boy sat up in his bed, rubbing tiredly at deep Prussian eyes that would guarantee him girlfriends later on in his life. He let out a yawn, reaching his short arms into the air above him and pushing out his chest in a cat-like wake up stretch.
It was at this time that a pale lavender light emanating from his backyard caught his eye, and he sat up so he was on his knees, looking out his window. What he saw made his eyes widen, and he literally leaped off of his bed, dashing out his door and down the hallway towards his temporary father's room. He pushed the door open with as much frantic force as his tiny form would allow, and scrambled up onto the aforementioned teenager's bed.
Tidus was lying curled up in a ball on his left side, clutching a pillow to his chest and nuzzling his face into it. Kieran wasted no time in crawling on top of the older boy's unmoving form, situating himself on his chest before finally applying his patented, never-fail wake-up techniques.
He placed both his small hands on Tidus' shoulder, shaking it as vigorously as he could, hoping that this would be enough to rouse him from his slumber. It wasn't, which came as not too big of a surprise to the youngster, who'd had plenty of experience with trying to awaken the older boys in the orphanage, and having the same amount of success. For this reason he was not discouraged, and resumed his shaking with just as much energy as before, determined to wake the unconscious teen.
For all his efforts, all Kieran succeeded in doing was making the blonde blitzer groan softly and curl up into an even tighter ball. The boy sighed, ceasing his actions for the moment to allow himself some time to think of a new strategy that would actually work. Coming up with nothing that would surely work, Kieran simply rolled his eyes and resumed shaking Tidus' shoulder. All he got out of the teen after five tiresome minutes was a couple more groans and one softly uttered 'Go away Mom.'. Finally, he had had enough.
He rose to his feet, seemingly towering over the curled up blonde, and sucked in the biggest breath of the faintly cologne-laced air his small lungs could handle. He let it out in the form of a shout.
"DAAAAAAAAAADDY!!!"
Luckily for the now tired out boy, this last ditch effort paid off. Tidus' cerulean eyes shot open, and he sat straight up in his bed, his hands landing solidly on the bed on either side of him so as to steady himself. He looked wildly around, cursing the golden bangs that fell into his eyes before swiping them away with his right hand angrily. What he failed to realize at first was that by sitting up so abruptly, he had thrown Kieran off of the bed!
This was brought to his attention, however, when quiet laughter floated up to his ears from the navy-carpeted floor. His left eyebrow slowly went up, and he leaned over the side of the bed to examine what it was that was making those sounds. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly at what his eyes beheld.
Kieran was sitting cross-legged on the floor, his mouth cracked wide in what could only be described as a child's innocent grin that bared seemingly all of his baby teeth. His eyes were still closed in mirth and both of his small hands rested on his stomach, where he was bunching the fabric of his shirt in an attempt to quell the laughter-induced tightness that dwelled there. He was laughing like what had happened was the funniest thing in the entire universe, and not like he had just been thrown unceremoniously off of his 'father's' bed.
"What are you doing down there, kid?" Tidus asked after the boy's laughter had somewhat subsided. He was lying on his side, supporting himself on one elbow and resting his cheek in his palm, looking at Kieran with mild interest.
The question brought forth a short stream of fresh giggles, and when he was finished Kieran looked up at Tidus with what had to be the biggest set of blue eyes ever! "You pushed me off, remember? I woke you up, and when you sat up, I went WHOOSH!!" The young boy accentuated the sound he made by swiping his arms in a backwards arch over his head, indicating that he had tumbled backwards.
Smiling slightly and shaking his head, the blitzer moved to a sitting position, crossing his legs and placing his elbows on his knees. He then proceeded to drop his chin into his hands, thus supporting his head once again as he moved his gaze from his 'son' to the wooden bedside table on the left side of the queen-size bed. It was then that he noticed something that hadn't been there the last time he checked.
There was a framed picture standing upright in the middle of the table's surface, the highly polished, dark wood frame reflecting the early morning rays of sunlight that peeked through the curtains. The picture it held portrayed three people: a man, a woman and a small child who looked to be about six or seven. He knew, just with one glance, who the depicted people were.
The man with the dark chestnut hair and laughing eyes was undoubtedly his father, Jecht, and the woman was his mother Jalene. Her shoulder-length blond hair was flying around her face, creating a strange sort of halo that shone in the sunlight. Her deep blue eyes sparkled with mirth and mischievous secrets, and she had never looked more alive in a picture. The two of them were seated side by side, their respective left and right hands joined and resting on the soft grass at their feet. The blond child sat on the ground between them, grinning like the cat that caught the canary up at the person taking the picture. Tidus remembered very clearly that they had asked an elderly couple that was passing by to take the picture, and they had been more than happy to oblige.
Realizing that he had been staring silently at the picture for a few minutes, Tidus cleared his throat, replacing the picture and turning back to the boy who was now seated beside him on the bed, looking questionably up at him.
"So why did you come wake me up?"
"Yuna's outside in the backyard, but there's this weird purplish stuff around her and I dunno what it is."
Tidus' left eyebrow lifted ever-so-slightly. "Purplish stuff?"
"Yeah! It's like a..like a.force-field! Yeah, that's it!" Kieran's small brow furrowed for a moment as he thought, but once he'd come up with the answer, his innocent grin re-appeared immediately.
"Force-field, huh?" Tidus stroked his chin with his thumb and forefinger thoughtfully, looking upwards at the ceiling as if deep in thought. After a moment he glanced back down at Kieran, who was anxiously awaiting his response, and smiled a small smile just for him. "Maybe we should go check it out? You know, just to make sure it's safe and everything.right?"
Kieran nodded vehemently, his dark Prussian eyes seeming to sparkle with delight at the mere idea. He jumped off of the bed and, grabbing a surprisingly strong hold on Tidus' wrist, pulled the blonde out of bed along with him. "C'mon Dad! Let's go!" He pulled on him remarkably hard considering his small size, and Tidus made a mental note to involve the child in competitive blitzball at some point.
Realizing something quite important as he was tugged closer to the doorframe, Tidus spoke up. "Hey little man! Hold on a second; I need a shirt, don't I???" He had felt the cool morning breeze brush over his skin as it filtered in through his open window, and it gave him a slight chill.
Kieran's answer was surprising, yet not entirely unexpected, coming from a child. "Nah, you don't need one! It's just Yuna anyways!" He didn't even look back at the blonde, simply continuing to forcefully drag him out of the room and into the hallway.
Tidus sighed, bending down and scooping the child up into his arms. Kieran gave a squeal of delight as he was lifted to his perch on the blitzer's shoulders, and he held loosely to the sides of his blonde head to keep from falling, even though Tidus' hands held him firmly in place. He exited into the hallway, turning left and padding towards the stairs. He smiled slightly when Kieran whispered an awed, "Wow.It's so high.!" and an idea struck him.
He smirked, tightening his grip on the youngster's legs and pausing for a moment. He waited only a few seconds before leaping suddenly into a run and bolting down the stairs in what had to be record time for a forty-stair structure. Kieran shrieked again, holding tight to Tidus' jagged-cut locks in order to steady himself enough to be reassured, even though the blonde held him tightly. He laughed out loud, and seemed disappointed when they arrived quickly at the bottom of the stairs.
"Can we do it again? Pleeeeeeeease?" He whined, bending over the top of Tidus' head to peer directly into his eyes. Tidus didn't answer right away, catching his breath for only a few seconds after that burst of energy. He didn't know why he had done it, but for some reason seeing the smile on the boy's face was worth it.
He then shook his head, wondering why on Spira thoughts like those were even entering his head at all! 'I must be over-worked or something.Jeez.' He shook his head 'No.', and continued towards the kitchen, heading for the patio doors that were built into a wall there. His eyes widened slightly when his bare feet made contact with the cold tile floor, but he ignored it and quickly crossed the blue surface, stopping directly in front of the aforementioned doors.
He reached up and lowered Kieran from his shoulders, placing him on his feet at his side before unlocking and pulling open the patio door. Kieran scrambled outside, looking out onto their backyard in what appeared to be awe from Tidus' point of view. He quietly closed the door behind him, and followed Kieran's line of sight until his own eyes widened, and his jaw dropped open slightly.
What was shimmering before his eyes was indeed the 'purplish stuff' the boy had mentioned, and Tidus could think of no better way to describe it than a force-field. The blonde however, knew just enough about magics and spells to be able to tell that what was in front of him was a very advanced hybrid magic; a blending of two powerful spells. The magics Protect and Shell had obviously been fused together, thus creating the purple colored dome that was currently over their entire backyard!
And right in the center of it, in the very middle of the entire thing, was Yuna. Her eyes were closed in concentration, and even though he couldn't clearly see it, Tidus knew just by looking at her that there was sweat on her forehead. She looked spent, and after watching for a few more minutes in silence, the two observing males found out why she appeared to be concentrating so hard.
She suddenly reeled back, spreading her arms out as far as they would stretch on either side of her, her face turned skyward and her bi-colored eyes wide open and unblinking. A bright white light, that would surely have been blinding were it not for the spell, shot out from her chest careening upwards in a circular motion. The spell took its form as eight balls of light, moving spherically and continuing to climb up. It was at this time that Tidus noticed that a fiend was clinging to the roof of the dome, and that the spell was heading right for it! When it hit, the resulting explosion of light was so bright that not only did Kieran cling to Tidus' leg to hide from it, even Yuna herself brought up her arms to shield her own eyes from the shocking brightness.
After a few minutes, Tidus cracked open his eyes and found that there was nothing left of the fiend but circling pyreflies. He sighed lightly, not even knowing fully why he was so relieved, and found himself looking around to see if anyone was peeking out their windows so see what that tremendous burst of light had been.
His attention was returned to something else very quickly. "Mommy!!"
Kieran's cry brought him back to reality, and his eyes snapped over to where Yuna lay, unconscious, on the soft grass.
****************************
The sound of an alarm going off at exactly 6:00AM roused the Besaidian blitzer from his dreamless sleep. He grumbled quietly, reaching over and turning it off before it woke the other two occupants of the house. He had called the Blitzball Stadium from his cell-phone last night, and booked the sphere for the Abes. He told Taylor to tell any other players that phoned that it was open to any of them all day if they wanted to practice at all for the next day's tournament.
He slowly got out of bed, awakening more and more with each passing second, and padded over to his bathroom. He turned on the warm water for a shower, stripped off his pyjamas and got in, letting the comforting water slide over his back and warm him up. After standing under the gentle pressure for a few minutes, he quickly washed both himself and his hair, taking only ten minutes in total to do it.
He got out, wrapped a towel around his waist, and proceeded to shave, brush his teeth and do his hair in its usual backwards style. Once all these routine tasks were accomplished, he stepped out of the bathroom, walking over to his closet and grabbing his practice uniform. It consisted of a loose fitting pair of navy blue pants that were stamped with the Abes' logo, and a simple navy and yellow T-shirt that also bore the familiar emblem. He then looked to the other side of the closet, where he kept all his blitzball stuff. He grabbed his "overnight" bag from a nearby shelf, opening it and stuffing his actual uniform inside, just in case other players showed up. He also snatched up his blitzball, his arm and shin guards and a specially made set of weights that could be attached to a blitzball for extra weight training. Once these items were also added, he pulled the zipper closed and slung the bag over his shoulder, heading towards his bedroom door. He exited into the hallway and made his way down the stairs, walking past the kitchen and stopping at the front door.
Just as he was slipping on his sandals, he remembered that he hadn't given Lulu any indication that he was going to be going anywhere today. He rolled his eyes and kicked off his shoes, the left one landing upside down beside his bag after hitting the wall and bouncing off. He stalked seemingly angrily into the kitchen, ripping a bright yellow Post-It note from its stack and grabbing a mechanical pencil from the utensil holder next to the note pad. He quickly scrawled where he was going and that he'd probably be gone all day, and left his cell phone number at the very bottom of the piece of paper just in case.
He sighed when he finished, pressing the note onto the fridge and waiting for a quick second to make sure it stuck. When he was satisfied that it was going to stay, he turned and made his way to the door again, flipping over the upside down sandal with his bare foot and putting it back on. Once he'd located and donned the other sandal, he fished his keys out of his jacket pocket as quietly as he could manage. Picking up his bag and replacing it on his shoulder, he opened and closed the door almost soundlessly, locking it behind him. He then quickly crossed the lawn, which was moist from the morning dew, and unlocked the doors of his truck with the push of a button.
He climbed in, turning the ignition and waiting a moment for the vehicle to ready itself. When he felt it was finished, he pulled away from the curb and drove off down the quiet residential street, not even noticing the bright purple light emanating from his best friend's backyard as he drove past.
Being as it was so early in the morning there was little to no traffic as Wakka drove down the usually crowded city streets, his favourite CD already in place and playing loudly. His fingers tapped the rhythm of the currently playing song on his steering wheel, and a small smile was set into his face. Even though he was a teenager, nothing made him happier than getting up bright and early and going to play blitzball, even if he was alone in doing so.
The popular water sport was his life, and had been since he could remember. All he could recall thinking about as a younger boy was blitzball, and now it still occupied most of his mind. Another small portion devoted itself to school and girls, but right now it was as if neither of those things existed to Wakka. All he knew was that he was going to play blitzball, and even the fact that he was doing so in preparation of losing a tournament couldn't bring him down. He hummed the alternative rock song as it played, remembering the first time he'd ever won a tournament with the Abes.
It had started off as a normal enough day, the sun peeking through the sparse white clouds around 10:00 AM to warm everything up. No one needed warming up in the Blitzball Stadium however. The stands were packed with not a seat left empty, and nearly all the fans were pumped and ready for the annual tournament that was held in honour of all the summoners that ever tried, or were able, to defeat Sin. It was the first tournament that he and Tidus had ever played with the Abes, and everyone was looking forward to seeing how they would act under such pressure.
Wakka remembered every word of the pep talk Jecht and Auron had given to the team, and he had taken every syllable to heart. The games played out normally in the beginning, with Zanarkand beating Kilika with a score of 5 to 2, and moving on to defeat the Ronso team 4 to 3. It was when they got to the final match against Luca that things began to get interesting.
Tidus had gotten past their defensemen after a minute-and-a-half and had scored his first goal against the unsuspecting goalie, leaving everyone speechless for a few seconds before erupting into cheers. Even the commentators were quiet for a minute, needing the time to gather words for what they had just witnessed. Wakka felt immense pride at the moment, especially after seeing the look of total happiness on his best friend's face. It was at that moment that he decided that he was going to contribute to the game in the same way Tidus had, and no force on Spira or heaven was going to stop him.
Luca came back after that goal and scored three in a row on the Abes, the third slipping past their goalie Ayden just as time ran out on the first half of play. The team went to the locker room with sombre looks on their faces, expecting to receive the lecture of a lifetime for the way they played the first five minutes. They got no such thing however, as Jecht appeared to have no words and Auron never usually spoke anyway. There was silence until the mid-fielder, Damien, stood on one of the installed benches and spoke up.
He talked about how the Abes had never before let this trophy go to another team, especially Luca, and how just because they'd gotten an advantage over them in the first half didn't mean that they'd be able to do the same in the remaining five minutes of play. He spoke of how every single member of the team had individual strengths as well as weaknesses, and that the latter was even more necessary than the former in the way that weaknesses could be supplemented with the strengths of others. He concluded by talking about how even though they were all very different people, that they were united as a team, and there was no way to approach a challenge such as this without each other.
Even though the speech was short, it boosted the overall morale of the team through the roof, and they went back out onto the field with such renewed vigour that people in the crowd questioned if it was the same team. They were the same Abes, and they played such a phenomenal second half that it was still talked about many months after the tournament was over. Both Damien and Tidus scored goals, tying up the score with 45 seconds left on the timer.
Wakka did get his shining moment, but it came at a heavy price. He had positioned himself for a Sphere Shot and executed it perfectly, sending the blue and white ball careening at the net with remarkable accuracy and speed. On his way down from above the sphere pool, he was tackled from the side by one of the Luca forwards, the player's elbow slamming into his neck so hard it caused his vision to swim and blur. He hit the water just at the blitzball hit the back of the net, and the sound of goal buzzer rang in time with the bell that signalled the end of the game. Everyone noticed that the young Besaidian wasn't moving.
Tidus was the first to act, swimming over to his friend with as much speed as he could muster, and pulling him out of the pool towards the already positioned stretcher. They carefully extracted him from the water, noticing for the first time that his neck was bent at a very wrong looking angle. The fans drew in sharp breaths, watching on the monitors as he was lowered onto the stretcher and carried swiftly away towards an awaiting ambulance. Tidus had not allowed anyone to push him away, and stayed by his friend's side all the way to the downtown hospital.
When they arrived and doctors assessed his condition, they delivered news to the waiting team that the young man's neck had been cleanly broken. They would have to put the bones back in place, but the surgery this required put his life in danger, seeing as if they slipped up anywhere, nerves and blood vessels could be severed and he could bleed to death. There was also the possibility that his spinal cord could become torn, killing him instantly.
Wakka's mother, his only living relative left in the city, made the decision to have the surgery done anyway. There was no other possible course for her to take. Despite all the odds stacked up against him, Wakka pulled through the procedure, and was released from hospital after three weeks of carefully monitored recovery. Even with everything that had happened, Wakka couldn't help but be happy. He had won the game for his team, securing the trophy's place in their hall for another year, and he had had the entire Luca team come to him and apologize for what happened!
He went on living his life, and soon everyone forgot about the incident, choosing only to remember the young rookie player that had saved the day and scored the winning goal.
The sight of the very same stadium in the distance brought Wakka out of his reverie, and he smiled in spite of it. He was going to play blitzball, and one was going to be able to stop him.
****************************************************
Sorry for the boring chapter and for it's lack and several characters, but I had to get something out before you guys ate me!! Just kidding, just kidding.
Anyways, I hope that this was enough to satisfy you all for a little while; I will try my hardest to have the next chapter out soon! It will have Lulu, Jade, Carter, Rikku, and of course Tidus, Yuna and Wakka in it, and will most definitely have more character interaction that this chappie!!
Once again I apologize, and sincerely hope that I am forgiven!!
Love you all, Digi-Esca Girl
laurie_22@hotmail.com