Disclaimer: Final Fantasy X and all related characters belong to SquareSoft. For more informartion, play the game and read the credits ;)




Chapter 1: The Dream is Over


Tidus slowly eased into consciousness, and began to hear the murmuring of dozens of voices and the scrambling of feet on a hard floor. He tried to open his eyes, but found one was covered with a thick bandage. As the other cracked open, it was immediately overcome by a bright light. He squeezed it shut again, feeling a dull ache in his head from the overpowering brightness.

He gradually worked his eye open again, allowing it to adjust to the light. As it adapted, he could just barely see blurry figures rushing past him in both directions. He then noticed a rhythmic beeping of some electronic device nearby him. He also heard a hissing that he found was perfectly timed with his breaths.

He took a shallow breath and tried to speak aloud, but his words only came out in a faint sigh. His jaw and tongue felt heavy and reluctant to move, as if he'd just had his wisdom teeth pulled and was still under the anesthetic. He tried lifting his head, but his neck was extremely stiff, and was being held down somehow. Realizing he was laying in a slightly reclined position, he glanced down his body with his available eye. Despite his physical weakness and the strange added weight of his arm, he was able to twist his left arm just enough to see the IV needle sticking in his wrist. The rest of his arm was covered with a clear cast filled with a blue gel.

That looks like a bone knitter, he thought. He'd last seen one just before a game a few months ago. One of his teammates on the Abes had broken his leg, and was wearing one as he cheered the rest of the team on from the sidelines, just before blitzoff.

But none of that was real, was it?

He scanned the rest of his body, and was only mildly surprised at what he saw. Both arms and legs had casts on them, and those casts were attached to cables that attached to something overhead. I've got two broken arms and two broken legs, and I'm in traction. Man, that sucks. How did I end up like this?

"Doctor, patient number 3505 is awake. The sedative is wearing off."

Tidus eye snapped up when he heard the nearby male voice. His vision was clearing, and he could see a muscular man standing over him, holding some kind of device. A moment later, a woman in a white lab coat arrived at his side. She gently laid a hand on his forehead and examined the side of his head.

"His wounds are healing nicely. He should be out of the knitters in a couple days." Then, she placed her face in Tidus' line of sight and said, "Sir, we're glad you're awake. We almost lost you. Do you remember what happened?" The doctor looked him directly in the eye, with her hand still on his forehead.

Tidus could hear her amid the noise all around. He hoped she'd be able to hear him, as weak as he felt. "I…I," he breathed, his jaw beginning to cooperate. I want to sleep longer, he thought. "I helped…beat…Yu Yevon…and…started to…disappear. Then…I was…in the Farplane…with my dad, then…I was…falling…and I woke up…in some wreckage somewhere." His throat was still dry, but it didn't hurt as much to talk as he thought it should. The wet blanket over his mind was beginning to lift, and he felt his mental acuity return gradually.

The doctor raised an eyebrow and looked up at the nurse, who flipped his device's display toward her. The doctor nodded as she read the data, and said, "Sir, you've sustained a lot of injuries, including a nasty concussion. But it doesn't look like there's any permanent damage. Maybe some minor skin scarring. You should be out of those casts in a few days, and hopefully walking in a week or two. The confusion should pass after we take you off the sedatives."

The doctor started to walk away, but Tidus said, "Wait."

The doctor stopped and returned to his side. "Where am I?" he asked.

"You're in Nobuo Memorial Hospital in Zanarkand," the doctor replied. "We were lucky to miss out on the attack, but we had to take in all the survivors after the main hospital…was destroyed."

Tidus looked down. Destroyed? In Sin's attack…right. That seems like forever ago. But, how can I be back in Zanarkand again?

As he was contemplating his situation, the doctor walked off to tend to another patient. He watched her go, and realized that he was one of dozens lying on cots or gurneys in what looked like a hospital's hallway. Staffers were running themselves ragged trying to help everyone, and responding to cries of pain from various people. He glanced at the different people lying in the corridor, and saw many disturbing images: full-body casts, people missing limbs or even entire sections of their bodies, and many bandages soaked with blood. Did all these people…survive Sin's attack?

Tidus heard a renewed beeping to his right. As he looked over, he felt a warming sensation flow through his left arm. He saw a device standing next to his cot, and traced a clear, liquid-filled tube from its source on the device to the IV in his arm. He tried to focus on the machine, but his vision started growing dim again. Getting… tired. What's…going…on?

Finally, he was able to lock his eye on the device, barely enough to read its label: "Sedative R-T43." The dull ache throughout his body was slipping away, and he felt a sense of giddiness take over. He could tell they were drugging him, but he didn't want to go to sleep. He had so many questions, but his awareness was fading fast.

How did I get here? was his last conscious thought before his eyes closed and his body went limp on the cot.

*

"Hey, brudda? You okay?"

Tidus opened his eyes and found himself staring at Wakka's stubbly face. He gasped, and then breathed a sigh of relief. Then, just as soon as his relief had come, he squinted against the sudden pressure in his head. "Oh, man," he said, bringing his hand to his forehead. "My head feels like it's about to explode."

"Well, 'at's not surprisin', considerin' how you looked when you washed up on the beach, ya?" Wakka grabbed a wet cloth and placed it on Tidus' forehead.

"I just had the weirdest dream." Tidus tried to sit up, but was hit by a strong wave of dizziness. That, coupled with the pounding in his head, sent waves of nausea up his throat. He collapsed back down onto the cot.

"Whoa, hey man, careful there. You gotta rest up so you can recover, ya?"

Tidus sighed. As bad as he felt now, he was glad that he was awake from that nightmare he was having. "I dreamed I'd ended up back in Zanarkand. My Zanarkand. I was in a hospital, and I was beat up real bad."

"No kiddin, huh?" Wakka said, crossing his arms.

"It was just weird, 'cause I know it wasn't real. That was all a fayth dream. Zanarkand was, I mean." He shook his head slowly, feeling another wave of dizziness come over him.

"Yeah, Yuna explained dat all to us."

Tidus squinted at his fellow Guardian. "How…did she know? I didn't even get to explain it to her. At least, I think I didn't…" he trailed off, trying to concentrate over the pain splitting his skull in two.

Wakka shrugged. "Anyway, it's over now. You're back in Besaid now, so you can relax." Wakka walked over to the door flap, pulled it open, and waved. "Hey, he's doin' better! Come on in and say hi, ya?"

Tidus felt sudden excitement, hoping it was Yuna that Wakka was calling to. However, the sudden sunlight pouring in the opened flap burned Tidus' eyes, and exponentially increased the intensity of his headache. He squinted his eyes, hoping he wouldn't suddenly go blind. He wanted to drink in every bit of Yuna's appearance, so he would know that, finally, he had returned to reality.

As Tidus gradually allowed his eyes to adjust to the light, he saw a tall figure in a robe standing a few feet in front of him. The imposing form had two horns that came out of its head and swept down parallel to its body. No…wait, he thought. Those aren't horns…that's hair?

"Hello, Tidus," said the man in a smooth, high-pitched voice. "It's good to see you alive and well."

Tidus gasped in fright, and scrambled away from the visitor. The returning nausea nearly caused him to retch all over himself; only his sudden shock kept him from allowing it to happen. "S-Seymour? What the hell are you doing here?" Despite the dizziness, his adrenaline forced him into full alertness.

"Hey, dat's Maester Seymour to you, pal!" Wakka pointed a scolding finger toward Tidus.

Seymour chuckled, waving Wakka off. "It's all right, Wakka. He's just pleased to see me. Aren't you, my dear fayth dream?"

"But…but…Yuna sent you! You went to the Farplane!" Tidus nearly shrieked in both fear and rage.

Seymour leaned toward Tidus menacingly, a smirk on his pompous face. "Do you really think something as petty as the Farplane can hold me back? After all, you little Al Bhed friend told you it's nothing but hallucinations brought on by pyreflies, did she not?" He then tilted his head. "After our…meeting…inside Sin, I decided to come back and make everything in my life right again. Just as things should have been." He raised his left hand, revealing a gold band on the third finger.

"What the hell…?" Tidus spat.

Seymour then pulled out the other hand, which had been behind his back. In its grasp was a silver chain. On the other end of that chain were the bound wrists of petite, young woman.

"Yuna!" shouted Tidus. She was wearing the same wedding dress she had worn to her "wedding" with Seymour, only this time the gown was worn, stained and wrinkled. Her light brown hair was pulled back into the same tight hairdo from that event, but much of the hair was sticking out in all directions, as if she had not touched up the style for some time. Even in a disheveled state, the sight of her was beautiful to Tidus, but she had her head hung in defeat, tears dripping down from her eyes onto the hut's sandy floor. She didn't look up, or even acknowledge Tidus' call.

Tidus turned back to Seymour, a fire in his eyes. "Seymour! Let her go, you bastard! I'm the one you want! I'm the one that made everyone fight you!"

Seymour smirked audibly, and gave his all-too-familiar schoolboy chuckle. "I know, Tidus. I know. That's why I wanted to pay you a visit. Shall we say, a final visit?"

Seymour reached his left hand out toward Tidus. The nails on that hand began to stretch and thin out, becoming even deadlier claws than before. Tidus tried to defend himself, but suddenly found his arms tied behind his back to a bedpost.

"What the…? Hey! Wakka…Yuna…do something! Help me!" Tidus struggled against his bonds, but they were very strong and tore painfully into his wrists.

He looked frantically at Wakka, who just smiled cockily. "You on your own, Tidus. You gotta be more careful where you wash up, ya?" Wakka taunted, giving his overconfident laugh.

Tidus felt sudden burning in his throat as Seymour's hand wrapped around his neck. His air was immediately cut off, and he began to panic, thrashing wildly on the cot. He looked into Seymour's eyes, seeing hatred as pure as any he'd ever known.

And then, for a second, everything came to a stop. Seymour's hand stopped squeezing, Wakka froze mid-guffaw, and a tear falling from Yuna's eye halted in midair. A child's voice echoed, "Don't be scared of him. You have more power over your destiny than you think."

Tidus tried to speak, but his air was still cut off. What? Wait, is that…you? What the hell's going on here?

Then, without warning, everything began moving again. Yuna's tear made a puff of dust as it landed on the sandy floor. Wakka sounded as if he were about to split a gut. And Seymour's hand squeezed Tidus' throat even harder.

Despite the fact that his airway was closed off, Tidus drew in a breath and screamed.

*

Tidus screamed. It sounded to him like a hoarse, breathy moan, but it was the best he could muster.

His eyes popped open, and he surveyed the scene frantically. The hospital, he thought. I'm still here. That must have been a dream. His breathing slowed as he realized his life was no longer in danger from an enemy he'd helped kill several times.

He then realized that he now could use both eyes, but his neck was still immobile, and his body still in traction. That, coupled with the dull ache he felt everywhere in his body almost made him wish he were back trying to defend himself against Seymour, instead of lying here helplessly, and in pain.

"Hey, you okay, T?"

Tidus' eyes shot over to the space beside his bed. When he saw his visitor, he squinted hard, trying to focus on the person's face. He knew he should recognize the person, but he wasn't sure from where. His head still felt a little fuzzy.

"Where…how?" Tidus' breathing became heavy as he tried to speak, despite the fact that each breath brought a piercing pain to his ribs.

"Hey, man, calm down." The visitor placed a hand lightly on Tidus' shoulder. Tidus winced with a twinge of pain, and the visitor promptly pulled his hand away.

"Who…who are you?" Tidus squinted his eyes as he racked his memory. He wasn't in Spira anymore, he was pretty sure of that. He'd woken up a few hours ago in his own Zanarkand. Or, at least, something extremely close to it. Moments earlier, he'd only dreamt that he was back in Spira. Or, maybe he was dreaming now, too; he couldn't be sure of anything anymore. He remembered something about Zanarkand being a dream, but he couldn't remember how.

"Well, they got you on a lot of drugs, and they said you were in pretty bad shape when they brought you in. I guess that'd be enough to make you forget your best friend." The man gave an unsteady smile.

The visitor seemed quite familiar to him; the name was on the tip of his tongue. The man was thin with a stretched oval-shaped face, had shoulder-length brown hair, and wore a black and gray travel outfit. I should know who this guy is, right? Why the hell can't I…

The name finally hit him. "Voight? Voight, right?" Tidus' memories flooded back to him now. This man had been his best friend and was once his blitzball agent. In his Zanarkand, anyway. But Tidus was still unsure how he'd returned to a place that really never existed, much less how to react to his friend.

Voight gave a small smile. "Yeah, glad to see you haven't completely lost your memory or anything. The EMTs said you were delirious for a while there. Kept murmuring about 'Spira' and 'Yuna'. They your new girlfriends?"

Tidus opened his mouth to explain, but decided against it. He didn't feel like discussing much of anything at this point, and he had a feeling that Spira would be a long story. Voight wouldn't understand, and Tidus was too tired to argue with a dream anyway. Instead, he said, "Where have you been?"

Voight crossed his arms pensively. "Well, the last time I saw you, I was on my way to Tifa for a draft conference. Then, I got called to Nostrana for an awards ceremony. I was eating dinner there when I heard about the…attack. I also heard that the stadium had been hit hard, and I knew you had a game that same evening. The air station was put out of commission, obviously, so I took the first ship I could find to get here. Had to pull in a lot of favors for that."

Tidus grimaced. "So I should be grateful you came to see me?" His reply sounded harsher than he had intended, and he looked away in apology.

Voight held up his hands defensively. "No, no, I just…I mean…I had to come see everything…for myself, and I wanted to know if you were okay."

Tidus sighed. "Sorry, it's been a bad day." He didn't want to alienate his first, if not only, link to this world. However, he vaguely remembered that he should be angry with this man. Why that was, he couldn't be sure.

Voight nodded. "That's an understatement if I ever heard one. And actually, I'd say it's been a bad couple of weeks."

"Couple of what?" Tidus opened his eyes wide.

Voight sighed. "Damn, nobody told you?"

"Nobody's told me much of anything," Tidus murmured.

Voight rubbed his chin. "Well, when they found you, you'd been missing for over a week. You've been sleeping here the rest of that time, I'd bet. It's been just over two weeks since the attack. I tell ya pal, the fates were smiling on you. From what I hear, you're the only survivor from either team." He lowered his head and his voice. "They said you were doing one of your famous Sphere Kicks and practically flew all the way to the top of the stadium. They said you managed to hold on to the dome's structural beams for a few minutes after the blitz sphere collapsed. You were the only player that didn't end up buried under the whole weight of the stadium roof. The rest of them were…" Voight trailed off.

Tidus didn't want to know. He'd heard all he thought he'd wanted to hear, plus much more. This can't be a dream, he thought. It's too real. The pain's too strong. But Spira…seemed so real to me too! And the fayth told me that this was all their dream, and once they were sent, all of it would disappear. Including me.

"What?"

"Huh?" Tidus croaked.

"You were staring at me," replied Voight.

"Oh," Tidus said. "Nothing. Just thinking. Everybody I played with. All the guys from the team, just gone. All the people that came to see us play…" He sighed. Somehow, it still didn't seem real to him. The pain was there, and his senses felt as sharp as they could be, considering the drugs he was being filled with. However, he couldn't shake the feeling of how surreal everything felt. He didn't want to think anymore. He wanted to hold Yuna in his arms again. That would make everything right again.

"Yeah," Voight replied solemnly. "There's gonna be a memorial service today for everybody that died in the attack, and in the aftermath. They're gonna read a list of the names, and you're just really lucky that they took your name off that list."

"Thanks," Tidus said grimly. At this moment, he didn't feel particularly lucky. His body was broken, attached to a hospital bed, and, if not for the drugs they were pumping into him, would be in even more pain. And, furthermore, he was living in a world that supposedly did not exist.

"Well, anyway," Voight said, adjusting his position in the chair, "I heard that you've only broken your arms, legs, a few other little things, and cracked a neck bone. Nothing permanent. They said you went into shock, but that's passed now. I'd be willing to bet you'll be blitzing in a few weeks, after some physical therapy."

Tidus closed his eyes. Blitzing had been his life, but it wasn't the first thing he wanted. What he wanted was to know was that Yuna was safe, and to be with her. He would even spend the rest of his life in these casts, if necessary, just so he could be with her. "No stadium, remember?"

Voight shrugged. "The stadium will probably be the first thing they rebuild. A lot of places were destroyed, but the stadium will give everyone a diversion. Plus, we can use it to help raise money for the Reconstruction. We gotta show those Djose sons of bitches that they can't keep us down."

"Djose?" Tidus remembered one of the EMT's mentioning something about Djose attacking Zanarkand, but he knew that wasn't right. It had been Sin that attacked them. He knew what he saw during the attack, and it was not anything built by human hands.

"Yeah. There've been some tensions with them over the past few weeks, but nobody thought they'd sneak-attack us like this. But our army's trouncing 'em good on their own turf." Voight gave a small reassuring smile. "We're getting them for you, and for everyone that was hurt or died that day."

Tidus grunted. He didn't like the idea of war, and was especially concerned because, in his Zanarkand, he never remembered a country named Djose, especially not one at odds with Zanarkand. "You sound like an army recruiter."

Voight laughed for a second, and then cleared his throat. "Well, actually, I did just find out…I just got promoted to the Blitzball Board of Commissions. Publicity Officer."

Tidus raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Well, it was sort of a promotion," Voight replied. He lowered his voice again. "You know I was interning for the Board. Well, several of the Board members, uh, died in the crowd's stampede during the attack. Since they had to fill the positions, they offered one to me." Voight straightened his shirt stiffly. "Hell of a way to get promoted, but I guess they figured I was the right man to bring Blitz back with a vengeance."

Tidus rolled his eyes at his friend's pride. "How do they know Sin won't come back and attack again?"

"How do they know…what?" Voight furrowed his brow. "'Sin'?"

Tidus stuttered, "I-I mean…uh, Djose…"

Voight stared at him, apparently awaiting Tidus' explanation of "Sin". Fortunately, Tidus felt a warm sensation begin to spread through his body at that moment. He heard a rapid beeping, and glanced over at the IV machine to his right. It was dispensing another dose of sedative. Good, 'cause everything hurts like hell again. And I'm tired of talking. He began to feel his mind swim, as if he were becoming drunk. A sense of well being swept across his body, and he quickly felt much better.

"Yeah, well, while you were messing around here, I became a summoner's guardian and helped her destroy Sin." Tidus felt the words flow out of his mouth, no longer sure if he'd intended to say them or not. Not that he cared anymore.

Voight opened his mouth, but quickly closed it again. He then glanced at the IV machine, and his expression softened. "Yeah, I bet you did a hell of a job too."

"Excuse me, sir?"

Voight turned his head toward a small woman behind him. Tidus squinted, and then blurted out, "Yuna!"

Voight turned to look at Tidus, and then back to the nurse. "No, I'm Herlene," she said. "I don't mean to interrupt, sir, but we need visitors to clear out now. We're going to be moving Mr. Tidus' to a room that just came available." She smiled politely. "You can come back tomorrow morning, if you want. Things should be a little more organized by then."

"Of course," Voight said, standing up. He placed a hand lightly on Tidus' shoulder. "Listen, T, you hang in there, okay? When this is all over, you're gonna be Zanarkand's hero."

"Sure Auron, whatever you say." Tidus felt his consciousness slipping away fast, his eyelids becoming lead weights on his face. He started to lose himself in the soothing hallucinations brought on by the sedative. Finally, he gave in fully to the drugs coursing through his veins and allowed them to take him away from the pain and the confusion.

This dream's pretty interesting, he thought, but I really can't wait to wake up and see Yuna again. As soon as he had that thought, the world blacked out once more.