Here it is, the long awaited sequel to "Journey to Remembrance!" This chapter's a little dull, but
hang in there, it'll be getting pretty good soon, I hope! Enjoy!
Chapter 1: Hidden Feelings
"Something on your mind, Brudda?" Wakka shouted, throwing the Blitzball hard, as if
hoping the day-dreaming Tidus wouldn't be able to react fast enough to catch it. Tidus snapped
out of being deep in thought just in time to catch the ball, which he did with a little uneasiness,
being that he hadn't been expecting to have the ball passed to him.
Wakka, Tidus, and the rest of the Aurochs were standing on the beach in Besaid, and
Wakka and Tidus were both passing the ball to each other, along with Datto.
"Sorry," Tidus said, spinning the ball on his finger easily, "I was just thinking."
"We could see that," Wakka said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Thinkin' 'bout what?" Datto asked. Datto was constantly in Tidus' business, worse than
Rikku even.
Tidus wanted to say something mean to answer Datto's question, being that of late, Datto
had seriously been on Tidus' nerves, but Tidus resisted, answering with a casual, "I don't know."
Tidus stopped the ball and threw it up, bouncing the ball off of his head and toward
Wakka, who quickly caught it and passed it to Datto.
Datto caught it with some difficulty, being that he was one of the worst on the team, but
Datto quickly hid the difficulty, making it seem as if he had caught the ball quite at ease.
Tidus' blue eyes sparkled in the sun, but they were looking somewhat dim, and not as
bright as they usually were.
Lately Tidus hadn't been feeling right about something, but he couldn't quite comprehend
what was wrong. Something just didn't feel right.
It had only been a week and a half since Tidus' return, but already it seemed as if he had
been back for some time. He had easily managed to slip into life in Spira, finding it rather non-
difficult, actually.
However, the week had flown by, being that everything seemed to be so busy. Right
away Wakka had insisted Tidus join back with the Aurochs, being that they hadn't been doing so
well since Tidus' disappearance. Tidus had agreed, but to be truthful, he didn't know if he really
wanted to play Blitzball right away. After all, being that there was to be a tournament coming up
in only a week, the Aurochs had to practice furiously hard.
"Hey Tidus," Wakka yelled over to the zoned-out Tidus, "I got something to ask you!"
"What is it?" Tidus asked, running over to Wakka.
"I need to help Jassu with this trick," Wakka said, making a hand gesture, "But I
remembered I was supposed to go to the temple to help with something. Could you maybe do it
for me? The temple thing, I mean?"
"I suppose," Tidus said, deciding he'd rather take a break from Blitzball, even if it was to
do some silly temple errand.
"Ooh, can I go wit' 'im, cap'n?" Datto asked, much to Tidus' annoyance.
"Ya, the temple can probably get all the help it can get," Wakka said, "And you've been
practicing hard. Anyway, I'll see both of you bright and early tomorrow! See ya!"
Tidus rolled his eyes as soon as his back was turned away from Datto, and ran off toward
the temple, deciding that perhaps he'd get lucky and Datto would be unable to keep up.
"Hey Tidus!" Datto said, sprinting to catch up with Tidus, "How're things goin' for ya?"
"Fine Datto," Tidus answered with an annoying tone to his voice.
"How's it been goin' wit' Yuna?" Datto asked, and Tidus couldn't figure out if he was
teasing or if he seriously wanted to know. Just the same, why was Datto constantly up in Tidus'
business?
"If it concerned you, I'd tell you," Tidus said cooly, trying hard not to lose his temper.
"Is dat a good thing?" Datto asked, and Tidus wondered if he really was as clueless as he
seemed, "'Cause I hear Yuna's been gone a lot. You two gettin' along?"
"I told you, if it concerned you, I'd tell you," Tidus said again, trying extremely hard to
hide the annoyance in his voice.
"How come I never see you two together?" Datto now asked.
Tidus finally stopped his jog and turned sharply, facing the out-of-breath teammate of his.
"What's your deal?" Tidus asked, still trying not to lose his cool, "What do you want me
to say? Why do you even care?"
"Just wonderin'," Datto said with a shrug.
"What, you've never had a girl before," Tidus said, shaking his head, "So you think you
gotta know all about my life?"
"No, dat ain't it!" Datto said, as Tidus shook his head once more in disgust and started off
again.
"Whatever man," Tidus said, glad that the two had reached the village. He wondered
now what it was he was going to have to do in the temple, and he reluctantly made his way up the
steps, with Datto on his heels.
"Oh, are you two here to help?" a priest said, bowing to Tidus and Datto as they walked
into the dark, almost gloomy temple.
"Yeah, we are," Tidus said, crossing his arms, "So, what are we here to help with?"
"Why, shining up the statues, of course!" the priest said with a smile, as he handed both
Tidus and Datto rags, "Now come on, get to work!"
"Great," Tidus sighed, as Datto and he made their way in front of a large statue and began
wiping it down, "No wonder Wakka sent us..."
"Cap'n Wakka sent us 'cause he figured we were right for the job," Datto said proudly.
"He sure has warped your mind," Tidus said, as he wiped hard at a spot that seemingly
did not want to come off.
"Hello, sorry I'm late!" a female voice said as Tidus turned around to see that it was Yuna
running in. She took a rag from the priest and made her way toward where Tidus and Datto was
standing, and gave a somewhat surprised look.
"I didn't know you helped out with the temple!" Yuna said, as she joined Tidus and Datto
in their scrubbing, "That was kind of you two to volunteer."
"Actually," Datto said before Tidus could say anything, "Cap'n Wakka told us that we
could come here, being that we've been doin' good in Blitzball."
"More like Wakka didn't want to do this work," Tidus grumbled.
"That so?" Yuna giggled as she bent down to wipe up a spot on the foot of one of the
stone summoners.
"You do this all the time?" Tidus asked her, to receive a nod from her.
"Yeah, I do. I don't know, it's a way to pay my respects, I guess."
"Where you been, Yuna?" Datto asked, and up until now, Tidus had completely forgotten
about his presence.
"I've been in Bevelle," Yuna said, giving Tidus a questioning look, as if to ask him about
Datto.
"Whatcha been doin' dere?" Datto asked, and now Tidus really wanted to hit him or
something, being that by now Datto was extremely on his nerves.
"Well, the Gullwings have been clearing a few things up," Yuna just said, again giving
Tidus a questioning look.
"Hey Datto, I think Cap'n Wakka said he wanted you to go and make the beds at the old
Crusaders' Lounge," Tidus said, feeling extremely annoyed with Datto. He was lying, of course,
but he hoped Datto would just go and do it.
"You sure?" Datto asked, "'Cause why didn' Cap'n Wakka tell me himself?" Datto
looked at Tidus somewhat suspiciously.
"Dunno," Tidus just said, shrugging, but that's what Wakka told me. And you wouldn't
want him to get mad at you, would you?"
"I guess not," Datto finally said in defeat, "I'll go and come back as soon as possible!"
"Take your time and do a good job now!" Tidus yelled to the fleeing Aurochs player,
wishing he'd come up with a job that would take longer to do.
"'Bout time I lost him!" Tidus breathed a sigh of relief as soon as Datto was out the door,
"All he does is ask me lame questions, like about our relationship, and he follows me
everywhere! "Hey Tidus, can I warm up with you? Hey Tidus, where you goin'? Can I come
too?" Tidus disguised his voice to sound like Datto, and he scrubbed away at a scuff mark
angrily.
"He must look up to you," Yuna just said thoughtfully, "So, how was your week? It's
been a while, huh?"
"I'll say!" Tidus said, wrapping his arms around Yuna's waist, "And man was it a tiring
week!" He leaned in to kiss her lips, but Yuna pushed him away.
"Tidus!" she whispered harshly, "Not in the temple!"
"Fine, fine...I know, I know, taboo and crap," Tidus said, returning to his scrubbing, "So,
how was your week?"
"Well..." Yuna trailed off, appearing deep in thought, "It wasn't necessarily something I
wanted to do. We had to go to Bevelle to help clear out the underground first, being that there
should be no fiends whatsoever in the temple. Then, I had to attend numerous boring meetings
about this and that...And..." Yuna trailed, as if she didn't want to continue on with what she was
saying.
"And what?" Tidus asked, stepping away from the now shining statue.
"And...It turns out Gippal, Baralai, and Nooj were asked by the people to become
Maesters of Spira," Yuna said, looking at the ground.
"That's great," Tidus said, and wondered what the new Maesters were like. He'd heard
plenty about them, but he hadn't actually met them.
"Well, there's someone else they want to be a Maester," Yuna said then, slowly.
"Who?" Tidus asked, not noticing how ignorant he was being.
"Me..." Yuna said slowly.
"You? But you're...You're..." Tidus was looking quite surprised.
"Yeah, me," Yuna said, almost regretfully, "We're supposed to give our answers at the
Blitzball game."
"What are you going to do?" Tidus asked.
"I have no idea! Rikku is totally against the idea, but Paine is all for it. I don't know if I
really want to spend my entire life ruling over Spira, but then again, it'd make the people
happy..."
"When are you going to start worrying about yourself?" Tidus asked, sighing as he did so,
"Now Yuna, it's totally up to you. I'm not really for it, but I'm not against it either." Now Tidus
was feeling torn apart. What did he want? Did he want Yuna to help the people of Spira, or
would he rather she did the selfish thing and turned them down? Naw, it wasn't selfish for her to
turn it down necessarily, but it would be somewhat selfish for him to tell her she couldn't do it,
just because he wanted her all for his own.
"Well, I have some time to decide, right?" Yuna said, throwing a smile onto her lips.
Tidus threw one on his, too, although for once he didn't truly feel like smiling.
The two continued the tedious job of cleansing the statues in silence, not saying much,
even though there was plenty they wanted to tell each other. It had, after all, been a week since
they'd last seen each other.
The two had just returned from Luca, when Rikku told Yuna about their mission in
Bevelle, which Yuna just couldn't turn down. That's when Wakka had told Tidus about the big
tournament also. So basically, the two had been on their own for the past week.
"All done," Yuna finally said, smiling, as she stood out of her crouched position and took
Tidus' rag from him, heading off toward the priest.
Tidus smiled, incredibly relieved that the boring job had been finally finished. He
followed Yuna, who was now discussing something with the priest.
"It will be too incredible when you become the first female Maester of Ye– er, I mean,
Spira!" the priest said, bowing to Yuna.
"Well..." Yuna started, as if not knowing what to say to the priest.
"She hasn't become one yet, so just hold your breath," Tidus said, hoping he didn't sound
quite as nasty as he had intended it. He knew things like that would convince Yuna to do
something she didn't want to do.
"Oh, of course," the priest said, looking somewhat startled at Tidus' words. Yuna shot
Tidus a sharp look, but then she just shook her head, and bid farewell to the priest, and with her
boots clinging as she walked across the temple floor, toward the exit.
Tidus sighed, worried that he'd said the wrong thing, and he then ran after her.
"Hey Yuna!" he yelled, as he squinted his eyes in the wonderful sunny weather. When
wasn't it sunny in Besaid?
"Tidus, that was rather rude," she just said, and continued walking.
"I'm sorry Yuna. I just don't want people like him making your decisions for you. You
know it makes you feel awkward!"
"Look, it's okay, really..." Yuna just sighed, "But don't say anything more about it right
now, okay?"
"Well, okay..." Tidus just said with a shrug, "I can do that, I hope..."
Yuna smiled at him, and said, "Things sure have been busy around here, haven't they?
And...Well, I'm leaving again tomorrow."
"What?" Tidus asked amazed, "But I've waited a whole week to see you, and now you're
leaving again!"
"I'm sorry," Yuna said, "But you'll be busy practicing for the tournament anyway, won't
you?" She gave Tidus a pouting look and took his hand, as if trying to say she was sorry that she
had to leave again already.
"Where are you going this time?" Tidus just asked slowly.
"Lucil needs some help fixing up Kilika. Dona comme-sphered me today to tell me about
it and asked for the Gullwings' assistance."
"How long will that take?" Tidus asked, wondering when things could settle down. He
really had been looking forward to some alone-time, with just Yuna and he. He sighed, however,
as he realized more that never that his hopes for time alone with her weren't going to come true
yet.
"Hopefully not long," Yuna said, standing on her tiptoes to peck Tidus lightly, "But I'd
expect to be gone for a day or two at least."
Tidus sighed again, and said, "Well, I guess at least Blitzball will keep me busy, right?"
"Right!" Yuna replied, taking Tidus' hand, "Now come on, let's go back to the airship
and hangout or something. Or, do you need to get back to practice?"
"Hanging out in the airship sounds fine with me!" Tidus said, deciding that even if Rikku
was there, and maybe Brother or Paine, he would still at least get to spend some time with Yuna.
"Ooh, can I go too, Brudda?" Tidus quivered at the voice, knowing who it came from.
"Uhm, Datto..." Tidus said slowly, turning and looking at his anxious looking teammate,
"I...Uh..."
"Sure, no problem!" Yuna said cheerfully, causing Tidus to give her a surprised look.
"Great!" Datto said, and then said to Tidus, "Oh, and by da way, da beds were already
made."
"Oh, right," Tidus just said, as Yuna smiled and started up a lively conversation with
Datto, as the three made their way toward the airship, "Just great..."
Okay, yeah, this chapter wasn't the longest, and it was kind of boring too. It's kind of like an
introduction, just so you kind of get the feel for what's going on. Hopefully more interesting
chapters on the way!