Chapter 5: The Zanatorium
"Look the girl has obviously lost her mind. She ran away from you, when all you were trying to do was help her." A distant voice commented as I came in and out of consciousness.
"Mmm. Yes she does seem a bit… how should I say…different. But does that mean she has to be locked up?" another voice which was just as distant asked.
"Well we can't very well have her roaming around the city when she could most likely be a threat to our people." The first voice replied.
"You say that as if she is a foreigner sir." The second voice stated questioningly.
"Well she may very well be. Have you ever seen her before?" asked the first voice becoming irritated.
"Well no I haven't but…you are forgetting who is in charge here sir Auron." Said the second voice growing aggravated.
Sir Auron? Sir Auron was here. He would help me. Wait am I in the Farplane? Because Sir Auron has been long since dead. Maybe it was another sir Auron, because if I were in the Farplane I wouldn't be feeling as horrible as I do right now.
Should I speak up or keep quiet? It sounds like they perceive me as a threat.
The voices however kept talking and I longed to listen to their strange theories about me.
"The blood results show that she is not of this world master. You even saw for yourself that she has two different races flowing through her veins, which we have never even come across before." The first voice argued.
I thought it was strange that the first voice, which seemed clearly older then the second, was calling the younger voice 'master'.
"Yes I know, but must we always be afraid of what's different?" the second voice replied in a very composed manner.
"No sir, all I am suggesting is that we must be careful. I don't want this city to fall into the clutches of evil." The first voice said calming down.
"Neither do I. You should know that Auron. But I think we need to hear this girl out before locking her up and scaring her. What if she decides not to respond to us if we use that method?" asked the second voice which now began to sound like the voice who had found me and brought me here in the first place. It was also the voice of the person who was fixing up the machine next to my bed.
"I know what you're saying master. I respect your decision. I just hope this doesn't mean the end of Zanarkand as we know it." Said the first voice becoming quieter as the owner appeared to leave the place I was in now.
I desperately wanted to see the person, who had so far saved me from the harmful rays of the scorching sun and had stuck up for me and given me a fair chance.
So I opened my eyes cautiously to see his back facing me. I didn't want to bring any attention to myself for the moment, so I just lay there and watched as he played with some buttons, which were built into the wall.
I decided to look around. I was in the same room again. I gazed up at the roof and saw that it was lit this time.
"Oh, you're awake." Said the voice.
I felt panic run through my body and my heart pumped furiously in my chest, which was now hooked to yet another machine.
How would they have known what was wrong with me?
Now facing the man I realised why I had fainted the first time since being here in this room. His face resembled an uncanny look-a-like to 'him'.
Perhaps it was 'him'. This was after all 'his' hometown Zanarkand, if I had heard correctly. But if it was in fact 'him', how come he did not seem to know her at all, and referred to her as 'she' when talking to the other man?
Thinking that it was most likely a coincidence that he looked like 'him' and lived in the same place as 'him', I decided to answer his question, which was more of a statement.
"Yes I am." I replied trying to hold back the sudden rush of happiness, thinking that I had finally found 'him'.
"I'm guessing that you heard most of the conversation I just had with my mentor?" he asked smiling as he sat himself down in a chair at the end of my bed.
"Uh…yes…sort of." I replied meekly.
"Well, it's nothing to worry yourself about really. Just standard procedure." He said reassuringly, like the Tidus I knew, used to do.
I didn't really know what else to say or do, so I just nodded understandingly.
But the question of where I was and what had happened to me popped into my head once again.
"Um…where exactly am I?" I asked looking around the strange room.
"Your in the Zanatorium." He answered gently looking away wincing, almost as if he expected me to lash out him, for some unknown reason.
"What is that?" I asked, not having a clue what that was.
He lifted his head up to face me and looked rather confused and asked, "You've never heard of the Zanatorium?"
I looked at him just as confused and answered, "No…should I?"
"Well yes. I mean it's one of the most famous psycho wards around. Not that you're a psycho…that's not why you're here…it's just…we thought it was safer here for you…that's all." He stammered with a look of worry upon his face as he began to leave his chair.
It was almost as if he was afraid of me.
"Hey it's okay. I'm not crazy if that's what you're thinking." I said trying to calm him down, with a smile gracing my lips.
Weird. Me trying to calm him down, when I was the proposed lunatic.
"No of course not." He said sitting back down, feeling a little more relaxed. Probably realising that I wasn't about to start clawing him to shreds with my long fingernails.
I was then struck with the thought that I should have been wondering about all along.
This man had exactly the same resemblance to 'him', he acted like 'him', he even sounded like 'him' and yet I wasn't screaming or jumping for joy like I should have been. I had always pictured the day for two long years, of how I would react when I first laid my eyes on 'him' again. I used to picture myself running towards 'him' and watching 'him' running towards me and when we met halfway, we would embrace in a long-awaited hug. Then we would hopefully share a kiss and tell each other how much we missed and loved each other, never to let each other go again.
"Are you alright miss?" the man said interrupting my thoughts.
I looked up realising that I had left my body on the bed sitting motionless, while I drifted off into my world of thoughts.
"Oh…yes I'm fine…just thinking that's all." I replied politely, with an apologetic look on my face.
Then the strangest feeling came over me. It was as if it had been bottled up inside of me all this time, and my body had been immune to it. I suddenly felt the urge to just cry my heart out. But I kept the lid on this bottle, daring not to cry in front of this man, which I so desperately wanted to hug.
That's it I can't take it anymore.
"Sir do you happen to know a man by the name of Tidus?" I blurted out not being able to hold it in anymore.
I was kind of hoping that this man would jump up out of the chair and say, "Yes Yuna it's me. I have been waiting so long to see you. I love you so much." And then embrace me in a loving kiss and a warm hug.
But what happened next was far from what I expected.
He frowned and said, "How do you know my name?"
Yes it was 'him'. After all this time. I had found 'him'.
But I didn't like the way he looked at me. It was sort of…scary.
"Um…I guess…I have a sixth sense." I lied quietly, feeling that now that I had mentioned his name, everything wouldn't be as pleasant from now on.
A/N: Oh boy. What's to become of Yuna? What will Master Tidus' next action be? Now read and review if you dare. No really it's okay to review. Oh go on. You know you wanna. Look am I gonna have to post myself my own reviews? Okay if you insist.
Okay for real now. What did you think? I'd appreciate it if you'd review me on how well I'm doing. Because I'd really like to know if I'm keeping everyone satisfied or not. Oh and I finally mentioned Tidus' name. Well Yuna did anyway.
All constructive and helpful reviews are welcome.
P.S. You know how I mentioned the 'Zanatorium' where Yuna is staying? Well I didn't just make it up. It is a mixture of 'Zanarkand' and 'Sanatorium.' 'Zanarkand' being the place they are living in, and 'Sanatorium' being a hospital or institution. I just replaced the 'S' in 'Sanatorium' and added a 'Z' instead. So you end up with 'Zanatorium.'
Am I good or what? (Not being modest).
Tidus' girl Candy