Chapter six Drifting off

As awareness slowly came back to him, the first thing Tidus realized was that he was floating on his back in water. Alarmed, the young man bolted up and examined his surroundings. 'The sea? What am I doing here?' he asked himself, even though he didn't know the answer, but then, all of the events that had occurred started to come back to him.

"Yuna!" the young guardian shouted, hoping to hear an answer. None came. That made him panic even more. 'Where are you?'

"Yuna, where are you!" he cried out loud. After awhile of calling out to her and hearing no response, he began to wonder: 'Is she alive?' Tidus thought. He knew that Yuna wouldn't swim up to him and besides he had to try to find shelter somewhere; he swam off. As time passed on and no cities or islands could be seen, the young man started to loose hope.

"Well, isn't that wonderful…first: I loose Yuna, then, I'm in the ocean, in the middle of nowhere!" he said to himself angrily. He then allowed himself to float on his back looking at the evening sky. However his peacefulness was soon disturbed when his back hit something…

"What the hell!" the guardian cursed as he positioned his back up right. He turned around to try and figure out what he had hit but nothing was in sight. He sighed heavily.

"Now I'm having hallucinations…"

Tidus then decided to continue on swimming. Soon it was dark and Tidus got colder and colder. It was so dark, that the only things he could see were the stars that were beginning to disappear as clouds appeared. Tidus blinked and looked down at the agitated waters, he could see a light…no, four lights and it appeared that they were coming upwards. Tidus quizzically stared at them as they made their way up, but then realized that something bad was happening: the form of an enormous fishlike creature could be seen. With that, Tidus took a deep breath and dove into the depths of the cold ocean. Watching his prey come down, the fiend waited for him to swim closer so it could strike. At only a few meters apart Tidus examined the fish's 'lights' shining brightly on both of it's sides(it uses these to attract it's prey, Oh and the reason Tidus can see what he is doing is because of the fish's lights ). Obviously hungry, the fiend struck at Tidus so quickly that the boy barely had time to shield his face with his arm. The fiend bit into Tidus' armed arm so strongly that its fangs pierced the metal gauntlet that sheltered his arm.

This left Tidus stunned: he could feel a warm liquid penetrating his literally, freezing body. With all of his might he ignored the bizarre feeling in his body and closed his eyes, pyre flies gathered near his other arm and formed a sword. The guardian hastily swam towards the fish and swung his sword forwards hitting its side violently and letting the bright red, blood pour from its wound. The fiend opened its mouth, allowing his large fangs to be seen once again, and it slithered towards Tidus with great speed. Then, he quickly swam under the beast, ready to attack; Tidus then struck the creature's belly. The young fighter retreated from his place and swam back in front of the monster, his weapon clutched tightly in his hand.

The fiend opened and closed its mouth, repeatedly as blood oozed out of its gut as well as flesh. It then turned on its back and burst into pyre flies.

Tidus smiled slightly, but the lack of oxygen in his lungs was starting to make him light headed, also, the pain in his arm was starting to come back, so the young boy headed for the surface.

Back at the surface the air was cool, which made Tidus' arm burned in pain, the boy cringed as the wound stung.

"The bastard must've injected me some poison."

The young man looked from his injured arm to the sea…but, he could see lights, was it a city?

"A city!" he shouted with delight as he started to swim hastily forgetting the pain of his wound. Sometime later, he arrived at what he thought to be a city; it was a small village. He then climbed on the dock and entered the town. 'Maybe I can find a healer…' Tidus thought as he stared at his injured arm in the village's lights, allowing him to explore the damages. The gauntlet was torn apart and his arm was bleeding profusely. As he concentrated on the injury, Tidus noticed that another liquid started to pour down his arm; it was black. 'That must be the poison…' as he thought that, the liquid started to burn his arm. He groaned weakly and clutched his arm tightly. He slowly lifted his head and noticed that the majority of the villagers were staring at him with odd looks plastered on their faces. Tidus then blushed slightly, embarrassed before saying:

"Howdy, do you have some kind of a healer?"

Tidus was waiting calmly for the healer to arrive, he thought about when he asked the villagers if they had a healer; they all hurried and escorted him to the white mage's house. Now he was sitting in a wooden chair, drying up, but suddenly, the wounded boy thought's wondered off to Yuna, was she even alive? Tidus let his head loll down as a tear ran down his wet face 'Why did I have to do that to her? Why?' he asked to himself agonized. Tidus then heard footsteps approaching and lifted his head. The healer was there; she had white hair but looked like a young woman.

"So…you're the one with the poisoned arm?"

"Sure am," Tidus replied letting go of his thoughts. The healer took a quick glance at the injury and told him: "Alright follow me, please." Tidus did as told and followed the man. They crossed a large hall with shelves, dusty jars installed on them. Tidus also noticed pictures of people put in golden frames hanging on the opposite wall. Tidus realized that they were all holding beautifully designed staffs. They soon arrived in a small room with a table made out of marble and wooden chairs.

"Please sit down," the white mage told her patient, gesturing him to do so. As he sat down he explored the small place: shelves with herbs and such were hung on the wall and also other pictures of people clutching staff. The young healer noticed Tidus' expression and asked: "Are you okay? As she said those words, he snapped out of his thoughts and replied: "Yeah, yeah…just thinking."

"Okay then let's start!" she exclaimed cheerfully. Tidus had to admit that he felt surprised; even with Sin around, some people still stayed cheerful. The healer put a small bucket on the table and poured a clear green liquid in it.

"Put your arm in it," she ordered him. Tidus reluctantly put his bloody arm in the liquid and to his amazement it didn't burn him.

"Now we wait a few minutes…" the white haired girl instructed him. For a moment they stayed silent, but the young man broke it, wanting to know about the people in the pictures: "Who are the people in the pictures?" he asked her curiously. The girl turned around and explained: "They're people that were in my family; then they became summoners," she paused "me and my brother are the only ones left… our parents became Summoners about a year ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that…" Tidus apologized as he bowed his head in respect.

"My brother, he left Kilika a month ago and nobody knows where he is…" she told him, her eyes clear blue glistened with tears. Suddenly, this reminded Tidus of the summoner he failed to protect.

"Yuna…"he murmured absently.

"I'm sorry?" she asked. Tidus shook his head.

"No…it's nothing, tell me: do you know anything about Sin's attack at Luca." He demanded. The white mage then had a shocked expression on her face.

"Yevon yes! Everybody knows!" she basically shouted, making Tidus jump slightly.

"Well… do you know about the summoner who was at Luca?"

"Um…yes I think I heard somebody mention it."

"Have you got the any idea where she?" he asked nervously, hoping to be answered conveniently.

"No…I'm sorry, but you may want to ask around first."

Tidus nodded. The white then ordered Tidus to take out his arm and bandaged it for him.

"There…you'll have to keep the bandage on for a few days," she told him. Tidus smiled slightly and nodded: "Will do! Oh, and what's your brother's name?"

"Cirrus," responded the mage.

"I'll try to find him and tell him to come back to you, ok?" he proposed her. She smiled gleefully at him.

"Really! You would do that for me?"

"Yep!" he told her. She ran over to him and did the prayer of Yevon.

"I need to ask you a question first."

Tidus turned around.

"What is it?" he demanded her.

"Where you related to the summoner?"

He nodded slowly. The white mage gave him an apologetic look.

"Well, all I can do is pray for you to find her and my brother…"

The guardian forced a smile on his lips.

"Thanks."

"Oh, and by the way my name's Ruika."

"Mine's Tidus," he introduced himself.

Tidus then left the store and looked for a place he could rest at. Luckily, the young man noticed a still open inn and walked over to it. Yep, it was open indeed; Tidus walked over to the counter and asked for a room. Soon, he was able to relax a little as he got under the warm covers of his bed and whispered: "I'll find you Yuna, I promise…"