DISCLAIMER:  I do not own FFX, FFX-2, FFVIII or any of the characters and locations affiliated with it.  I do, however, own the story "Silver Wings", "Silver Wings 2: 1000 Confessions" and all references to dialogue not originated by Square-Enix.

PAINE OF SPIRA!!!  DO NOT COPY MY STORIES!!

If anyone wants to post my stories anywhere else, please just ASK and then give me credit for writing it.  Email akksgurl@yahoo.com with any requests.

Author's Notes:  

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SILVER WINGS 3: Back Into My Arms

by akksgurl

Chapter Three: Dream or Reality

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"Tidus, are you okay?" Laguna Loire repeated.  Tidus stared at him, unable to form words and barely able to breath.  He thought his heart was going to beat out of his chest.

The strange little man next to Laguna groaned, "Vat is vrong vis zis one?"

"Tidus…" Laguna said, gently placing his arms firmly on Tidus' shoulders to keep the blonde from quivering, "What's wrong?"

Tidus didn't know how to respond.  Millions of thoughts were flying through his head but none were making any coherent sense to him.  How did he end up back here?  More importantly, where was Yuna?  Was she here too?

"Yuna…" he choked, sitting up forcefully, "Where's Yuna?"

Laguna seemed perplexed and turned to a tall black man that Tidus hadn't noticed before, "Kiros, was anyone with him when you found him?"

Kiros shook his head, "No, he was alone." He replied, smiling at Tidus, "I haven't seen you in a while, Tidus.  I'm glad you're okay."

"Where is Yuna?!" Tidus asked, more forcefully this time as he shoved Laguna's hands violently off of him, "What did you do with her?"

Laguna shook his head, "Tidus, we didn't do anything with anybody.  Kiros and Ward found you after the stadium was destroyed."

Tidus drew a sharp intake of breath.  The stadium was just destroyed?  How was that possible?  It had been destroyed at least three years ago – one for the pilgrimage and two for the time he was in the Farplane.  There was no way that it was just destroyed.  Auron found him afterward and took him to Spira…


"Auron!  What are you doing here?"
 
"I was waiting for you."
 
"What are you talking about?"

Right?!?!?!?!

Tidus felt himself on the verge of hyperventilation and tried to calm himself down but nothing was helping.  He gripped the sheets of the bed he was sitting on tightly until his knuckles turned white.  He was back in dream Zanarkand just like he had wanted to be so badly during Yuna's pilgrimage, but now he didn't want to be there.  He didn't want to be a dream anymore.  He wanted to exist.

"Shuyin…" he whispered, suddenly realizing who might be able to help him.  He jumped to his feet and smacked himself on the head, "Shuyin!  You in there?!"

Ignoring the odd looks he was getting from Laguna, Kiros, Ward, and the short little man, Tidus smacked himself again, "Shuyin!" he shouted, poking himself in the chest repeatedly whilst chanting the name in a mantra that threatened to continue until Laguna grabbed his wrist violently.

"What is wrong with you?!"

Tidus ripped his arms out of Laguna's grasp, "For your information, I am trying to talk to the man inside of me."

Laguna cocked an eyebrow at Tidus and then another and appeared about to respond when six people who appeared to be about Tidus' age walked into the room.  The one with a violent scar on his face spoke to Laguna, "What's going on?"

"Hey there!" Laguna said with a grin, "Been waiting to meet you guys!  You guys are the ones who were inside my head, right? Ellone told me.  It was like there were some kind of waves running through my head.  They gave us so much power during battle.  We thought they were some kind of faeries flying over us." He extended his hand, "So I'm Laguna.  President Laguna Loire of Esthar.  Pleased to meet ya." He pointed to Tidus, "This is Tidus."

Zell grinned, "Heard you survived the A-East destruction during the Cry." He said to Tidus.

Tidus was now more confused than ever.  What was the Cry?  Why wasn't Shuyin responding?  Had Shuyin planned this?  He had been very careful about not letting Tidus hear his plans and ensuring that he was asleep during most of the time after his confrontation with Yuna on the Celsius.  Was that when Shuyin had put this together?  But why would he?  He wanted to be with Lenne.  He wouldn't want to be in dream Zanarkand where Lenne didn't exist, right?

He barely listened as the six in front of him quizzed Laguna on his life.  Apparently they had all been inside of his head but he didn't know how that was possible and didn't really care.  They wanted to know how Laguna became president and what happened to Raine, but Tidus already knew the answers to those questions.  He could have told them the abridged version, but they asked Laguna which meant they would be listening for quite a while. 

"How do you two know each other?" the brunette called Selphie asked after Laguna finished his long stories.

Laguna replied, "Tidus is the son of Raine's sister, Brooke and her husband Jecht.  I guess you'd say that makes me his uncle although we've never been a tight knit family." He nudged Tidus slightly, "He always loved living in A-East and playing blitzball with the Zanarkand Abs."

"Abes…" Tidus corrected sharply, "Zanarkand Abes."

"No need to get touchy." Laguna said back.

Tidus glared at him, "I'll get touchy if I want to.  You still haven't told me where Yuna is."

Laguna groaned and ran a hand through his hair, "Like I told you, Tidus.  There wasn't a Yuna with you when you were found.  You were lying outside of the remains of the stadium alone.  Besides, we've gotta find Ellone before we worry about your girl."

"That is not possible!" Tidus argued, "I was with Yuna and Rikku and Gippal and Nooj and LeBlanc and they were trying to stop Shuyin and when he let me have control again, I somehow ended up here."

"Right…" Laguna said, brushing him off and turning back to the six teenagers, "Now I'll let Odine here explain the mission to defeat Ultimecia."

"Sorceress Ultimecia comes from ze future to possess ze sorceress of present

day.  Meaning she leaves her body in ze future and sends only her consciousness

here.  Does zat sound familiar to you?"

"It's like when Ellone sent out consciousness back to the past." Squall answered.

"You're a smart one!  My first guess was zat someone in ze future with an ability like Ellone was sending ze sorceress back here to our time.  But no! Zat is not ze answer." He grinned maniacally and Tidus shivered, "So how does ze sorceress come back to this time...?  You vant to hear now?"

The teenagers nodded in unison.

"Eghhhhhh!" Odine squealed happily, "I kept this a secret to surprise you...It iz because of me, Odine!  I researched Ellone's power long ago.  I made out a pattern from ze electric current running through Ellone's  brain.  Once ze pattern was determined, it was easy to mechanize.  It may only be a toy right now, but in ze time of Ultimecia, it iz an

impressive working machine!" motioning wildly he continued, "Which means there iz a machine which imitates Ellone's power. It iz I who made ze first model of zat machine.  I named ze machine 'Junction Machine Ellone'!  It iz a wonderful thing to know that my invention is used in ze future!"

"Junction Machine Ellone." Repeated Squall.

"That's about it." Laguna said.

"So Sorceress Ultimecia came to know about Ellone, from that machine.'

"And Elle became Ultimecia's target.  You can't blame Odine. It's useless." Laguna said with a shrug.

"You vant to go outside!? You vant to fisticuffs!?" squealed Odine, "Ok, we continue the story!  Let's see...There iz only one way to defeat Ultimecia. You must kill her in ze future.  There iz nothing we can do unless we go to ze future.  There is no way to jump to ze future under normal circumstances. But there iz still a way!" he said happily, "It iz because Sorceress Ultimecia plans to compress time. Compressing time with magic...Vat good will it do for ze sorceress to compress time? There may be may reasons, but it doesn't matter. Let's just figure out vat Ultimecia iz up to.  In order for Ultimecia to exist in this time, she must take over ze body of a sorceress from ze present.  But ze machine must have a limit. Ultimecia probably needs to go back further in time to achieve time compression."

He paused as if for dramatic effect before continuing, "Only Ellone can take her back further into ze past. Zat iz why she iz desperately seeking her.  We must take advantage of Ellone's power.  There are 2 sorceresses in our time. Sorceress Rinoa and Sorceress Adel.  Of ze two, Adel has not awakened yet.  Once regeneration is completed, neither Laguna nor I will be safe.  Sorceress Adel is probably in ze process of awakening inside Lunatic Pandora.  Ultimecia will want to possess Adel, if Adel wakes up.  Zat vill be a horrible event. Adel iz a horrible sorceress.  If Adel's consciousness wins over Ultimecia, Adel will first destroy this era.  So we must use Sorceress Rinoa to inherit Ultimecia's powers.  Zat's all for ze mission briefing.  First, go to Lunatic Pandora. Ellone's probably being held captive inside, so rescue her first.  Then kill Sorceress Adel before ze awakening process is completed.  Now, we're left with Rinoa as ze only sorceress of this era."

"Then wait for Ultimecia to possess Rinoa.  When Ultimecia arrives, it's Ellone's turn.  Ellone will send Rinoa back to ze past with Ultimecia.  Ellone will have to send Rinoa and Ultimecia inside another sorceress she knows in the past.  Edea or Adel...Zat's up to Ellone.  Once Ultimecia iz in ze past, she'll use ze time compression magic. We will

see some influence here.  I don't know vat kind of influence, but once Ellone feels it, she'll cut Rinoa and Ultimecia off from ze past.  Rinoa will come back to this world. Ultimecia also goes back to her own world.  Vat would be left is ze time compressed world.  Past, present, and future will all get mixed together.  You will keep moving through ze time compression toward ze future.  Once you're out of ze time compression, zat will be Ultimecia's world.  It's all up to you after zat."

Tidus burst into uncontrollable laughter at the serious expressions on the faces of each person in the room, "You guys actually buy into this stuff?"  he asked with laughter seeping out between each word, "You have got to be kidding me!"

Laguna turned and stared at him with an indiscernible expression, "This is serious stuff, Tidus.  If you aren't going to help, then at least be quiet.  Lives are at stake here."

"None of us can die." Tidus said smugly, "None of us exist in the first place."

All eyes were on him and all looked at him like he was insane.  Laguna cocked an eyebrow at him, "How hard did you hit your head?"

"I didn't hit my head." Tidus replied, "It's true.  We're all dreams of the fayth...well, I'm not anymore.  Yuna's love made me real."

"Uh-huh." Selphie muttered.

Laguna stared at him, "Okay, I'll bite." He said, "What exactly do you think is going on?"

"It's not what I think…it's what I know." Tidus corrected before taking a breath and diving into the long story, "What just happened outside has nothing to do with that Ultimecia person and everything to do with Yu Yevon.  He created Sin and Sin attacked Zanarkand and destroyed it 1000 years ago.  The fayth preserved it in a dream – this place – and created people to live in it like you and me." He paused, "My old man was the first dream to venture from dream Zanarkand into the real world and he fought alongside Braska and Auron to defeat Sin and he ended up becoming that monster.  Then when Sin attacked dream Zanarkand I was taken to the real world by Auron and that's when I met Yuna.  I didn't know I was a dream right away and me and Yuna fell for each other during her pilgrimage to get the final aeon and defeat Sin and be killed herself.  But when I found out, we figured out a way to really defeat Sin permanently instead of just for a while and save Yuna's life in the process but I was sacrificed when the fayth stopped dreaming."

He sighed, "Then after two years Yuna asked the fayth to bring me back and he agreed and I was sent back to real Zanarkand but that was when Shuyin took over my body.  Shuyin is the guy who I was based on.  He was the star blitzer in real Zanarkand and he was killed by Bevelle soldiers after he and his girlfriend were shot.  She was killed right away and then they locked him in a cave and let him starve.  Yuna is her reincarnated and he took my body over and came up with this insane plan to turn Yuna back into his girlfriend so they could live happily ever after but at the last minute he grew a conscious and changed his mind but right when Yuna and I were going to be reunited the entire place we were in kind of exploded and I ended up reliving the last few hours of my time here in dream Zanarkand before I ended up here talking to all you guys." He smiled, "So the attack outside was just Sin attacking Zanarkand again and Auron isn't here to save me cause he's dead...well…he was dead to begin with but now he's in the Farplane."

Gape-jawed faces stared at him in stunned silence for several minutes after Tidus' long winded speech ended.  It was only as the minutes ticked on that Tidus began to realize just how ridiculous he had sounded.  Laguna stared at him for a few more minutes before he said, "Just how hard did you hit your head on the pavement?"

Tidus sighed, "I know it's hard to believe, I mean, I didn't believe it at first either," he admitted, "but it's true."

"Sounds to me like you had a pretty wild dream," the girl called Selphie said with a grin and a giggle.

"But it wasn't a dream!" Tidus insisted.

Laguna sighed and placed his hands on Tidus's shoulders, firmly planting the young man back onto the bed, "Tidus, you hit your head pretty hard and you were out for about three, maybe four hours." He said, "You just dreamed the whole thing."

"But…!"

"I know it seems real," Laguna continued, "but it wasn't.  There is no way that any of that is true."

Tidus scoffed, "Oh, and a sorceress from the future…that's real?!"

"Yes, it is."

"Yuna is real too!" Tidus insisted, "and Wakka, Lulu, Kimahri, Rikku…"

Laguna groaned, "Do you have any proof?  A picture, a letter, something to prove they exist?"

Tidus shook his head, "No, but I know they are real."

The handsome older man sat down next to Tidus and put an arm around the blitzer's sagging shoulders, "I know you want to believe that, but it's just not true.  It was a very vivid dream that felt real at the time, but now you are back in reality and you've gotta go on with life.  Now, we've got to go over more of the battle plans, are you going to be okay?"

Tidus nodded and watched as Laguna led the march of the stoic teenagers out of the room.  Once alone, he let himself fall backward onto the mattress and stare at the watermark on the ceiling from the last leak.  Had he dreamed everything?  It had seemed so real…

It was so real!

Yet…

Was it?

He wasn't even sure if he remembered what Yuna's voice sounded like, or the touch of her skin.  He couldn't remember whether it was her right eye or her left eye that was blue.  Why couldn't he remember?  Was the power of persuasion that powerful that he could be made to forget something so quickly if someone else suggested it wasn't real? 

Or maybe…

Maybe it really wasn't real at all.  Maybe he did dream up Spira and all the people in it. 

Tidus scratched his head and stretched his body across the bed.  He could still see Yuna when he closed his eyes, but she seemed to be getting further and further away.

Or was she ever there in the first place?