Disclaimer: Disney. Squaresoft. Own my world. Yeah. This time, it's Tidus, due to a request I received. Hopefully it's up to par. Angsty, I know.

Let's Play Pretend

She's weirder now.

Not that Selphie's ever been…normal, but lately she's lost her mind. Just standing there, jumping rope like nothing's changed, like Sora and Riku aren't gone. Like everything that has happened in the last few months just…didn't.

But it did. It feels like a dream now, but I know it happened.

The scars on my arms are more than enough proof. Somehow, being a hero wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. China was rough before the Heartless, from what I had heard. Afterwards…well, it was awful.

And then, poof! It was over, and I was back here with Selphie and Wakka. Ling, Yao, and Chien Po- gone. No sign of the mountains, of the Huns, nothing at all.

Just me and this stupid, fake sword.

Kairi's told us a lot of stories about Sora and Riku and all the brave things they've done. Saving worlds, trying to destroy worlds- that surprised me. I mean, everybody knew Riku's a loose cannon, but commanding hordes of darkness?

Kairi swears it's not his fault. That he didn't have a choice. Bull…crap, if you ask me. If there's anything I learned the entire time I was gone, it's that you always have a choice.

But that's just Kairi's way. Riku and Sora walk on water, and the rest of us…

That's not nice. The old Tidus wouldn't have been so mean. The old Tidus wouldn't be afraid to find out what his friends were going through in the war, because he wouldn't worry about reliving his experiences. His first kill, the first time he saw a body…

The old Tidus would be jumping around on the beach, waving the toy in his hand like he could actually do some damage with it, and pretending to be the great hero, who saves the beautiful Princess Selphie from the clutches of the Dread Pirate Wakka.

The old Tidus was a little kid. He didn't know anything about war. He was happy. And now, he's dead, and I'm here, going through the motions in his place. But who am I?

His biggest dream was for Selphie to notice he existed, and maybe to beat Sora in a swordfight.

My biggest dream? I don't know if dreams exist for me anymore. Funny, I'm thirteen, and I feel so old sometimes. I do know that nightmares exist. And that they can come true.

I don't know if I can ever be him, ever be the old Tidus again. But I can pretend, and maybe that will chase the shadows away.

So let's play pretend.

A/N: Wow. This was so...un-Tiduslike. But I wanted one of them to be drastically changed after KH, and he was the lucky one. Next up? Throw me a bone.