The Torn Heart
Disclaimer: I don't own the girls, please don't bother my legally
Ch.5: Ghosts of a Distant World
"Rather you sensed it or not, I'm not from this world Yuna." Cirrus begun, his voice held a light quiver as if it hides deep emotions. He went on, "My home world is much different from Spira; we had an amazing array of technology, our cities sprawled all over the planet, built in the name of one massive company. This massive company made its riches by siphoning the very essence of the planet; they gradually drained the planet of its very life for profit. This essence of the planet is called lifestream, supposedly, when one dies, he returns to the planet as a part of the lifestream, thus allowing new life to be born. But to protect the many riches of the Company, they formed an elite group of soldiers by exposing them to the very lifestream of the planet. From this elite group came a man, he was the best of the best, skilled, powerful, and cunning, his name was Sephiorth..." Cirrus paused for a second, "You've met him just a little earlier Yuna. One day, after a dark revelation he had while checking a reactor next to my hometown, he simply went insane." Cirrus's voice grew shaky, as if the memory was an unpleasant one, "He burned down my hometown, killing most of the people. But in his arrogance, I managed to sneak up behind him and bring him down by throwing him deep into the reactor's pumps, he plummeted into the lifestream. After the match, I fainted out of exhaustion then, I was no match for Sephiorth, it was only by luck I survived.
"I'm not too clear on what happened next, but a scientist working for the Company took me in as an experimenting subject..." Cirrus's voice shuddered, "I don't remember what he did, or how many times he did it. All I know is that when I woke to myself years later in a slum of city, I had lost the majority of my memories, my hopes, and my dreams, I simply could not recall any of them, that scientist had taken away my very soul, I became nothing by a worthless puppet. I worked as a mercenary in the slum city, there I met a man while on a job; he employed me to help him to protect the planet's lifestream by assaulting the Company's reactors. Along the way, we discovered, to our surprise, the Company was not the planet's greatest threat. Sephiorth, the man who burned down my home, was still alive. And in his madness, he had planned to attain godhood by destroying the planet and siphoning its lifestream. We knew we had to stop him.
"Along the way, we met many people who joined our party to help us, an arrogant pilot, a young ninja, even a spy sent by the Company who eventually came to believe in our cause. It is also where I met her, again..."
"Her? Who?" Yuna asked, a certain element of surprise was detectable in her voice; she was disturbed by it, why should she care who he met?
"She was an old friend from my hometown, she was a good natured and lively girl with a fondness for whistling..." He paused, somehow realizing it would not be prudent to elaborate on her any longer, "She slowly helped me find my soul, ending that inner turmoil within my spirit. With my mind at peace, we managed to find Sephiorth and finally defeat him, we managed to save the planet, but the price we paid was high, so many had lost their lives..."
Yuna caught herself thinking what Cirrus's "old friend" was like, but she quickly stopped herself, after all, what did it matter to her? Instead, she turned to Cirrus, she could see a shadowy outline of him against a slowly lighting eastern sky, she asked, "So, how did you get to Spira?"
Cirrus's sighed lightly, and resumed, "After the battle with Sephiorth, we all decided to return to our homes. I was on a boat with her-" He had a way of saying that word that made Yuna slightly uncomfortable, "heading back to our hometown with a dozen of other tourists; suddenly there was a distant rumble in the ocean. A massive tidal wave was bearing down upon our boat. When the wave hit us, she flew overboard into the wave, I dove in after her, but the rushing waters quickly knocked me out. When I awoke, I found myself within a massive field of flowers and mist; a huge waterfall was at my back, while millions of wisp like spirits wafted around me. I wandered about the meadow of flowers looking for her, I called out her name, I whistled, I did all I could, to no avail. One day, I saw a doorway standing before me, seeming out of thin air. I walked through the doorway, into a new place I haven't seen before. There were people here; Guadosalem the people called their cities. I asked them if they had seen a girl with long black hair pass, although they had said no, I just went on searching. I've been scouring every corner of Spira for her ever since. In my travels, I learned that tidal wave was actually a monster named Sin. I heard of the Summoners and their sacrifices for the Spira to kill Sin temporarily. Then I learned of a summoner and her guardians had managed to finally rid Sin of this world..." He paused, then he turned to look at Yuna with those mesmerizing green eyes, "But I've also heard a rumor of a dream that has faded..."
The last part caught Yuna completely off guard, she had no idea anyone knew of her feelings for Tidus except for a few of her former guardians. "How...??" Yuna couldn't even stammer out the question properly."
Even in the meager light of the dawn, Yuna could see a little smile creep across Cirrus's features, "I heard your speech that day in Luca's Blitzball stadium. That young man with the blond hair wasn't there with you, unlike your other guardians."
Yuna looked down at the ground, she and Cirrus still sat on the broken elevator platform, and in a quiet voice Yuna said, "So I guess you know what happened."
"I don't know the details," gently, he touched her chin, and he tilted Yuna's head until their eyes met, with his eyes full of compassion and empathy, he said in a soft voice, "I share your pain Yuna, I understand how you feel, one day you'll find him."
Once again, the words caught Yuna off guard, she had half expected for him to launch an unwanted kiss on her, but instead... Instead, he gave her hope, hope that she would find Tidus one day, he had given her a sense that she wasn't so alone anymore. Yuna felt her eyes water, she quickly threw her arms around this distant stranger that no longer seemed to be strange or distant. Hugging Cirrus's, she softly whispered, "Thank you."
Then, almost as if done purposely to disturb them, Brother's voice blared out all across the Celsius, "Yuna!! Where...Are...You?!"
A.N. Here we are again, at the end of another chapter. And just out of curiosity, I would like to ask the reader what you think of Cirrus, please include your response in the review. Thank you for reading; I'll update the next chapter soon. By the way, my chapter limit is two pages on Microsoft Word®