Disclaimer: Final Fantasy and all related characters and indicia are owned by Square Enix. The author of this fanfic is making no money from the publication of this work.

Chapter 5: The Hero

Tidus elbowed the defender hard, knocking him out of the sphere into the stands. The crowd roared as he smirked confidently and then swam back to his position.

One of his teammates shot him the ball. He caught it and, using his head, ejected it out the top of the sphere.

They're gonna love this, he thought smugly. And I'll blow those Duggles right out of the sphere. He shot up after the ball, flying out of the water like a rocket. When he reached the ball, he kicked his legs, flipping over so his head was down and his feet were up, ready to kick the ball.

Then he completely forgot about performing his Sphere Shot. At the edge of the city he could see some giant object…it looked to him almost like a huge ball of water. Worse, there were bright beams of light coming from the thing, heading straight toward him! He gasped, and as he started falling, he grabbed frantically for an exposed metal frame in the stadium's open ceiling.

He cried out as his weight nearly broke his grip on the studded girder. Then, the girder shook under his hands, nearly locking him loose again. He heard hundreds of people screaming below, a second before the public warning sirens started wailing. He looked down and saw the stadium was starting to collapse, and that the sphere itself was breaking up.

Oh God oh God oh God, he thought, his heart racing. I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die!

At that second, another blast rocked the stadium. The girder from which he'd been hanging broke away from the roof and, with no handhold left, Tidus fell. His stomach flew up his throat, and he almost vomited.

Then he felt a sharp pain in his tailbone as he struck something hard. He yelped in pain and swallowed his stomach, just as he began to slide down the bent rafter on which he'd landed.

He grabbed for it wildly, but the smooth metal was slick from his wet gloves. He had only another second to contemplate his demise before he again fell.

This time, he fell for several seconds longer, but it was closer to an eternity to him. When he finally hit bottom, whatever surface he'd struck collapsed underneath him, slightly cushioning his fall. He cried out in pain, having felt the bones in one arm snap. He tried to focus his eyes, but a pain in the back of his head made it difficult. He turned to his left arm and gasped as he saw it lying at a strange, unnatural angle. He tried moving it, but that only caused it to explode with added pain.

He opened his eyes just in time to see a large chunk of ceiling, with a circular piece cut out of one corner, fall toward him. He screamed, fearing that it would crush him to death. Instead, fortunately, the ceiling piece fell so that it smashed his remaining arm and his legs, but missed his torso by inches.

That didn't matter to him. The pain was so excruciating that he couldn't even cry out. His throat ran dry as tears poured from his eyes. God please make it stop, he thought. Please just let me die God it hurts it hurts IT HURTS!

He forced his eyes open one more time to see even more ceiling debris falling toward him. The combination of intense fear and pain finally won him over, and before the debris could hit him, he blacked out.

There was a loud crash around him, but he could only hear it. He felt nothing.

VVVVV

Tidus gasped loudly and tried to sit up. A bout of nausea made him think twice, and he fell back onto the bed. His eyes fluttered open, blurry against the dark room. He was extremely tired, but he forced his eyes to remain open. He didn't want to be unconscious again. He didn't want to die this time.

This time? But…that wasn't how it happened!

He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his eyesight. He could barely see his body, but it was neither encased in scrap metal, nor broken into unrecognizable pieces. His body was draped in hospital bed linens, and didn't appear to be much worse for wear.

He wiggled his fingers, seeing them move at either side of his body. As he wiggled his toes, he could see the far end of the sheet move in time with his expectations. Aside from a peculiar numbness in his limbs, they felt fine.

His head was another matter. It was just starting to throb, robbing him of his strength and threatening to send his stomach's contents up his throat.

He looked over at the left bedrail. A small button glowed on it, and although he couldn't see clearly to tell what the symbol on it depicted, he instinctively brought up his hand and touched it with numb fingers.

A moment later, a young woman entered the room. "Mr. Tidus? Are you awake, sir?"

Tidus opened his mouth to reply, but found his throat dry and scratchy. He managed to breathe, "Yes" in a raspy sotto voce.

The room lights brightened slightly, but it was enough to force Tidus to squeeze his eyes shut. He heard soft footsteps approaching him, and a female voice said, "You've sure taken a beating these past few weeks, haven't you?"

"What…happened?" Tidus asked, disorientation still weighing heavily on his brain.

"You don't remember?" asked the nurse, her voice concerned. "I'll have the doctor come talk to you and make sure that isn't amnesia."

He heard a beep to his left, and a warm sensation flowed through his body. His headache vanished almost instantly, replaced by a kind of euphoric contentment.

"Remember…stadium…coll…apse," Tidus recanted.

"The stadium collapsed?" asked the nurse, incredulous. "I heard there was a little damage, but not that it collapsed." Then, she clicked her tongue. "You mean the stadium in Zanarkand, don't you?"

Zanarkand? he thought. Zanarkand stadium collapsed. But I got out in time…or did I? He reasoned that whatever painkiller the nurse was administering must have been muddling his thoughts. I remember falling from the ceiling, but I managed to slide all the way down on a bent girder. I didn't fall hard on the ground, and I didn't break anything.

Then again, it had only been a couple weeks since he had been found, all four limbs broken, clinging to life, in a pile of rubble. But I escaped and went with Auron to…

To what?

We ran across the city, but got pulled in by Sin anyway. Yeah, that's what happened! I must have just dreamed what everyone here thinks happened.

"Head…feels…weird," Tidus slurred, his body not able to catch up with his mind.

"Well, you had a pretty nasty concussion, but now that you're conscious, you can get treatment for it." She stepped out of the room, leaving Tidus alone with his own swirling, disassociated thoughts.

Though his body felt numb, he easily remembered the horrifying pain. It sent twinges up his arms and legs just thinking about it. Amazing I survived that, he thought. Wait, no, it didn't happen, remember? He shook his head a bit, but that movement made him extremely dizzy. He shut his eyes to ease the disorientation from the spinning room.

Gotta…keep my head straight. Yuna. She was in…Spira. Sin attacked Zanarkand, took me to…

"Sir, I need you to sit still, all right?"

Tidus opened his eyes to see a man and a woman, both in white lab coats, standing over him. The nurse was at the foot of the bed holding an antigrav tray steady.

"Wh…wha?" he managed, the room still swirling in front of his eyes.

"I'm going to give you a mild stimulant," the female doctor replied. The male doctor had his hands on Tidus' shoulders, obviously trying to keep him still. Not that he had much energy to move anyway. "It'll keep you conscious while we fix the damage from the concussion."

He felt a mild prick on his neck, and then a warmth flowing out from it through his body. He opened his eyes wide, suddenly feeling more aware. The room was still spinning, but he was now more awake to witness it. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to keep from vomiting.

Then, he felt a cool device being placed on his forehead. As it hummed to life, he immediately felt the dizziness wash away. He opened his eyes, to see the two doctors looking down at him. A few minutes later, the device beeped, and the female doctor removed it.

"There," she said. "That should get rid of all the symptoms within the next six hours. We couldn't do it while you were unconscious, because there was the risk of it putting you into a coma."

The male doctor removed his hands from Tidus shoulders, and he immediately sat up. "Wow, that's a lot better."

The male doctor looked at the female, who gave him a strange look. Then, she smiled warmly and said, "Looks like you'll be just fine. Are you up to having any guests?"

Tidus sighed and laid back down. "Is it a guy with a beard?"

"No, it's a young lady, about your age."

Goosbumps covered Tidus arms. Celia was there? Had she been waiting the whole time?

"Do you want me to let her in?"

"Uh…uh, yeah, sure," Tidus stammered.

"If you need anything, just call the nurse," the female doctor said, and she, the other doctor, and the nurse left.

Tidus brought his hand to his forehead and felt it slick with sweat. Oh, man, I must look like hell.

"Tidus?"

He turned his head to the door. Celia was poking her head in, a cautious look on her face.

"Hey," Tidus said. "Come on in." He started to sit up, but when he realized his gown was wide open on the sides, and that he was wearing no underwear, he quickly covered back up.

"How are you feeling?" Celia asked, sitting down in the chair next to his bed.

Tidus shrugged. "Fine. Whatever the doc did helped a lot."

"That's good," Celia said, leaning over the bed. Tidus nervously slid away, but Celia insistently swiped away some of his hair to examine a spot on the top of his head. "Looks like the bump healed. I figured you had a concussion, with how you seemed a few days ago."

A few days? God, I'm spending more time knocked out than awake! "Well, I did. At least that's what they said. I'm feeling a lot better now."

Celia's eyebrows furrowed as she looked into his eyes. Tidus felt the goosebumps return to his arms. As he looked into her eyes, he suddenly noticed that, once again, one was blue, the other green.

"How long have you been awake?"

"Huh?" Tidus asked, mentally shaking off the hallucination. Celia's eyes returned to their normal blue.

"They said they saw you awake a few minutes ago, and they immediately gave you the treatment before you could go out again."

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Tidus replied. "What's wrong?"

Celia removed her hand from his head and leaned away slightly. "Well, nothing, I guess. Just…I never heard of anyone recovering from a concussion, even with a meningeseal treatment, this fast."

"Uh, yeah, what you said," Tidus replied, the word soaring over his head.

Celia gave a slight chuckle, her mood lightening. "That's a little device that they put on your head to force your body to fix any tears in the sac that protects your brain. They have to do it when you're conscious, because if you're not, it can shut your brain down even further and put you into a deeper coma. But it usually doesn't work this fast…" She trailed off, pursing her lips as if in deep thought.

I healed fast after I got pulled out of the stadium wreckage, too, Tidus remembered. How, though? That's gotta be proof of my magic, or something. Maybe if I…

"How does your stomach feel?" Celia asked.

Tidus instinctively put a hand to his abdomen, and realized suddenly that he was quite hungry. "Starving, I think."

Celia remained silent, but studied him up and down. In his thin hospital gown, Tidus felt very self-conscious being examined by a girl he barely knew, medical student or not. Especially since he knew he was probably emaciated from a few days' worth of not eating.

"You don't even look like you've been sick," Celia replied, as if reading his mind. "Most people that have a concussion like that, even after the treatment, still look pale and don't have much energy for at least a few hours. Especially after the meningeseal. But you don't even look like you've lost any weight."

Tidus shrugged. "Maybe I just ate a really good meal before I got in the sphere that day."

His levity only slightly curled up the corners of her mouth. "Oh well, I guess it's not a big deal. You look great."

Tidus rubbed the back of his head, a little embarrassed. Why was it that he had no trouble showing off to crowds of screaming girls, but this one always made him shy?

Celia sat down. "Thanks for saving me back there. I don't know how you did what you did, but when you healed me and made us move fast like that…you're really a hero."

Tidus chortled and turned away. "Yeah, I guess."

"Not just to me, you know," Celia continued. "To all those people you helped, and for everyone in Tifa. You stopped a lot of those fiends from wreaking more havoc on the city that they already had."

Tidus' eyes widened. "Oh yeah, I forgot! What happened to the town? Was anyone else hurt?"

Celia shook her head. "Believe it or not, you were one of a handful of people injured, and nobody was killed. Everyone's glad for that, especially since they think it was a Djose attack."

Tidus expression melted. "Bevelle let fiends loose in Tifa? Like Seymour did in Luca?"

"Sey…who? In where?"

Tidus bit his lip when he realized what he'd let slip. "Uh, never mind."

Celia examined him with a critical eye for a few seconds, and then shrugged. "Well, anyway, they failed, and a lot of people are saying it was because of you. There are a lot of rumors and tall tales going around, but I doubt people know that more of them are true than are exaggerations."

"Like super speed and stuff," Tidus replied wryly.

"Yeah, among other things. Don't worry, I didn't tell anyone what I saw you do," Celia winked. In that wink, Tidus could have sworn he saw a glimmer of something more than just gratitude.

"Anyway, people have been lining up when they found out you were being treated here. You've got a lot more fans. I couldn't even leave the building after I brought you in, because they might not have let me back in to see you."

See me?

Just then, the door opened and a nurse popped her head in. "Excuse me, Mr. Tidus? Since you seemed to be feeling better, I brought you something to eat." She held a tray on which sat several white plastic containers, a couple steaming, but each containing some type of mystery liquid.

"I'd probably best go," Celia said, standing up.

"No, you don't have to," Tidus protested, sitting up and holding up his hands.

"I should." Celia's face was, somehow, within a foot of Tidus'. "I have to find the Commission and let them know how you're doing. If I get a chance, I'll come back before you're released."

Tidus glanced at the food tray, grimacing at the unpalatable, cloudy containers labeled "soup". "Well, if you do, can you bring me a cheesb…"

His request was cut short when Celia suddenly pressed her lips to his. His eyes widened again, and then closed. In the second that the kiss lasted, he felt an intense warmth flow through his body, filling him with a sense of contentment he'd been lacking for a while now.

Celia ended the kiss, pulling away. She opened her eyes slightly, as did Tidus. Then, before Tidus could even breathe, she came in for another, deeper, more passionate kiss. Tidus felt her tongue probe his lips, sending shivers down his spine. Yet he was so taken off-guard that he couldn't even think to return the gesture.

Once the second kiss ended, Celia quickly turned away and slid out the door. Tidus just stared at her back until it disappeared into the white corridor beyond.

When he finally looked away, it was to the nurse holding his food tray. She looked at him longingly with a combination of envy and disappointment, and set his tray down gently.

"Well, I guess that answers the 'girlfriend' question," the nurse uttered before leaving the room rather quickly.

VVVVV

Tidus stepped out of the hospital with Voight and his secretary, and immediately they were overtaken by the cheering crowd. Tidus waved at them, and then said to Voight, "Man, this is just happening too much."

"Well, next time," replied Voight with a sly smile, "don't rescue the city."

Tidus laughed as the crowd of people chanted his name. Police officers were holding them back, but several of them were even waving at him as they shouted their thanks.

The three barely made it into the limousine, and once the driver shut the door, the vehicles soundproofing cut off the clamor completely.

"You know, they're probably going to start begging you to run for office," Voight said as he pulled out a bottled water from the cooler.

He handed one to Tidus, who just shrugged. "Nah, I don't really like politics." He opened the bottle and took a sizeable gulp.

"Your popularity is soaring," Voight secretary, Jaina, interjected. "Before Tuesday's attack, your first five games were already sold out. Now it looks like the whole season will be gone before the end of tomorrow."

"And that's not all," Voight said, his eyes gleaming. In them, Tidus could almost swear he saw money symbols. "All the networks are begging for interviews, and they're willing to pay top dollar for them. And the merchandising…"

Tidus' attention slipped away from Voight's excited rambling. All this talk about merchandising and fame and everything was dragging down his mood. In a past life he would have been thrilled to death for this kind of popularity, but now it only served to depress him.

If he had to have fame, there was only one woman he wanted to share it with. And she was a thousand years away.

"Tidus."

He sighed. Things seemed to be moving on around him, and he was being swept along with them. It was like a huge river that he couldn't seem to pull himself out of.

"Tidus?"

It was a female voice calling him. He looked over, and his jaw dropped open.

It was Yuna, sitting in the limousine right in front of him. She was wearing a professional outfit, the kind an office worker in Zanarkand or Tifa would wear, but there was no mistaking her different-colored eyes and straight, light brown hair. She smiled warmly at him.

"Yuna? Is that you?"

"Tidus?"

"Yuna…how did you get here?"

"Excuse me, what?"

"How did you get here? There were only three of us…"

Tidus blinked, and Yuna was gone. In her place sat Jaina, Voight's secretary, staring at him with a furrowed brow, her mouth hanging open. Tidus turned to Voight, who likewise stared silently at Tidus. "I…I, uh…" Tidus stammered, unable to find the right words to explain himself. He didn't even know what to explain.

Voight pressed an overhead button. "Frader, stop at the office first, please."

They rode the rest of the way in silence. Tidus tried to speak up, but Voight raised a hand to stop him. When the limo finally landed, the driver came around and opened the door. "Jaina, please go check on that press release and make sure they have it ready in a half hour. Make sure they emphasize how Tidus heroically, and without any regard for his own safety, chased the fiends out of the stadium and away from the fleeing spectators. I want to have our press conference during the 5 o'clock news."

"Yes, sir," Jaina replied hesitantly, sliding out of the hovercar without looking back at Tidus.

"Freder, take us to Chuppa Beach and back. Don't stop there, just go for a drive. And take the scenic route."

"Yes sir," the driver said as he closed the door. Within thirty seconds, the car lifted off the ground and headed away from the Blitzball Commission offices.

"Voight, I…"

Voight raised his hand, stopping Tidus. Voight then said, "T, this isn't the first time you've done that. I know you, and I know better than to think you're playing some kind of game. You're hallucinating."

"I…I'm not…" Tidus started, but he couldn't finish. He knew he was hallucinating, but it hadn't happened in a while. Like the aftereffect of a bad dream, he thought it had just faded away.

"T, you've been keeping something from me. Something you probably want to tell me, or at least somebody, but you're afraid to. Well, I want you to tell me. Not just as your Blitz commissioner, but as your friend." Voight stared intently at Tidus, his eyes almost pleading.

"You wouldn't believe…"

"Try me," Voight interrupted firmly.

Tidus sighed. He supposed there was no way out of this. "Okay, all right. You're not gonna believe me, but I guess I wouldn't either." He took a deep breath. "On the night we were playing against the Duggles, Zanarkand was attacked. But I didn't go through what you remember. It wasn't Bevelle, or Djose, or whatever the hell you call them. It was a creature. Huge, almost as big as a city. Called Sin."

Tidus described his entire experience to Voight, from his initial assimilation into Sin, to his pilgrimage with Yuna, Auron, Wakka and the others. He explained his discovery of how he had been a dream of the fayth based upon a person that had existed in the real Zanarkand, and how the attack from Bevelle had destroyed the real Zanarkand and changed its people into the fayth. He told how they destroyed Sin, how he began to disappear when the fayth were sent to the Farplane, and how he passed through it himself before waking up underneath the rubble of the Zanarkand stadium.

Voight listened intently to the entire monologue, not interrupting or looking away at any time.

"And then I woke up in the hospital, and met you," Tidus finished.

Voight watched him intently for a few seconds, making him uncomfortable. Finally, the commissioner nodded and said, "So what you're saying is, we're all dreams?"

Tidus shook his head in frustration. "No, I told you, all the dreams were based on real people that lived a thousand years ago. I mean today…now. And that's where I think I am. Inside the body of the Tidus that really lived."

Voight crossed his arms pensively. "But if what you're saying is true, then shouldn't Zanarkand have been completely destroyed, and everyone killed, in Djose's attack?"

"Well, I don't know, they probably didn't know exactly how everything went. Maybe there's another attack coming, and that's the one that…"

"But you mentioned," Voight interrupted, "that they said Zanarkand was a city of summoners and wizards. T, I've never heard of anyone named Yunalesca. From what you've said, I should have."

"I…I…I can't explain that," Tidus stammered. "I don't know."

Voight sighed. He reached into a cabinet under his seat, pulled out a shot glass, and peeled off the sealed lid. Then, after quickly downing the amber liquid contained therein and examining the glass, he said in a low, flat voice, "Tidus, I'm going to suggest something, and please don't think I'm dismissing you, or that I think you're crazy or anything. But have you considered the possibility that…maybe that was all a dream you had when you were lying, injured, underneath the rubble of the stadium?"

"No!" Tidus retorted right away. "It was real!"

Voight set the shot glass down on the armrest. "T, think about it please. Which sounds more believable? That this world is all a dream of some wizards that lived a thousand years ago, and the real world is some idyllic, nature-loving world terrorized by a huge flying creature with godlike powers? Or, that you were severely injured, dying, and having a dream about all that, and you were rescued and are now living in the real world?"

Tidus opened his mouth, but could find no words. Voight was wrong. He had to be. Spira was real. He knew it.

Magic, he thought. I can use magic! Where did that come from, if it wasn't Spira?

"I want you to take a few days off from practice," Voight ordered, before Tidus could reply. "You need to get some rest. You've been through so much the past couple weeks that I think it's getting to you."

"Voight, you were my friend, you gotta believe me!" Tidus pled.

"Were?"

Tidus' mouth hung open. He hadn't meant to say it in the past tense, even though that's how it was. It just slipped out. It was the truth, but he hadn't meant to…

The car jarred slightly as it set down. Voight steepled his fingers and pressed them to his lips. "I am your friend, T, and that's why I want you to get some rest. Clear your head. Go back to Zanarkand if you want. Get comfortable in your new houseboat."

The driver opened the door. "But I'm also talking as a Blitzball commissioner," Voight continued, "and if you start hallucinating during practice, or even worse, during a game, your fans will start to think you've lost it. Everything you've built up over the years, trying to get out from your father's shadow, trying to bounce back from your injuries, all that will be gone. And I won't be able to get it back for you."

Tidus dropped his head. He felt betrayed, worse than he ever had before. He'd managed to alienate the closest thing he had to a friend in this world; the fact that the friend was Voight only depressed him further. And if Voight didn't believe him, who would?

"Drop him off at the hotel," Voight told the driver as he got out of the limo. "T, please get some rest, try to sort things out. There's a ship back to Zanarkand tonight and another in the morning. Take a week if you need to. The team can train fine without you, and you'll be back in plenty of time for the first game. Don't do it for me, do it for yourself. Okay?"

Tidus shrugged. "Whatever."

Voight stepped away from the car and the door closed. As the limo lifted away from the office building moments later, Tidus watched the buildings begin to move past him outside the window.

He pounded his fist into Voight's seat. I know I'm right. Voight's only interested in his cut. I'm interested in my life. And I'm not going to give up.

No matter what he or anyone else says, I'm going to figure this all out.

VVVVV

Tidus sat on the bed and stared at his image the large mirror on the opposite wall. He looked exactly the same as he had weeks before. Same hair, same clothes, but completely different place.

He was in his own time, but he felt like a stranger in his own home. Or was it even his home? He couldn't be sure any more.

The visions of Spira had slowly subsided since he'd woken up in the hospital, up until that one in the limo. Voight and his secretary both thought he was a lunatic. Now even Tidus' blitzball career, which he had spent years of grueling training to build up, could be in jeopardy.

As he watched the mirror, he scratched his head. The image in the mirror did the same, but a half-second later.

Tidus dropped his hand to the bed, and the mirror image followed, again delayed by a half second. He stood up, staring at the mirror. "What the hell?"

Then, to his surprise, the image of himself winked and tilted its head toward the door. At exactly that moment, there was a knock at the door. He turned his head just as his heart leapt into his throat, but when he looked back, the mirror stared right back at him. He raised his hand, and the image did the same at exactly the same time. He lowered it, and again the image did the same in perfect sync with him.

There was another knock. "Uh, just a second," Tidus called, nearly tripping over his shoes as he headed for the door.

When he opened it, his breath jammed in his throat. There before him stood a young woman, light brown hair falling around her head with a slight curl on her left side. On her right, a handful of strands were drawn into a series of beads and rings. Her right eye was green, her left blue, and she wore a white, flowing top over a black bodysuit. Covering her legs was a blue traveling dress over black boots.

Just as he'd remembered her.

"Hi," Yuna said in her normally shy manner, her hands folded in front of her. "Can…can I come in?"

Tidus blinked at her for a second, unable to believe his eyes. Finally, he stepped aside and said, "Uh, oh yeah, sure!"

Yuna stepped inside slowly, and Tidus followed, closing the door behind him. Yuna looked around the hotel room and giggled at the clothes and personal effects strewn about.

"Heh, sorry 'bout the mess. Had trouble finding my toothbrush." Tidus rubbed the back of his head.

"It's okay," Yuna said. "My room was always kind of messy too."

They stood there in uncomfortable silence, neither really looking at the other. Tidus in particular felt uncomfortable, because he'd half-expected Yuna to grab him in an embrace as soon as she'd seen him. But maybe she felt as uncomfortable with him at this moment as he did with her.

Or maybe it was just another hallucination.

Finally breaking the ice, Tidus asked, "So, uh, how'd you get here?"

Yuna looked at him with a smile, shrugged, and said, "How else?"

Tidus nodded, not understanding at all, but not wanting to break the tenuous reunion. After a few moments, Yuna said, "Look, um, about the hospital…" She broke off, not finishing her thought.

Before he could ask her to continue, Yuna flung herself on him, gripping him in a tight embrace and pressing her lips hard against his. His eyes opened wide for a second, and then closed as he wrapped his arms around her.

She felt exactly as he had remembered: demure, yet so desperate for the human feelings that she'd denied herself that she threw all of her being into the embrace. Tidus was more than happy to comply. All he had wanted since he had first woken up in the hospital was to see her face, hear her voice, feel her touch.

He lost his balance a little and backed into a wall, making the lithograph prints jingle against the plaster. Yuna broke the kiss and looked into Tidus' eyes, a great sense of relief radiating out from her. She then slid her head to the side of his, caressing his cheek with her own.

Tidus' heart was beating rapidly now, so excited was he. He could smell her, God, he could smell her. He filled his lungs with the aura of flowers that always seemed to surround her, even when she'd been soaked with her own sweat after emerging from a Cloister of Trials. His breath caught in his throat when he felt her breathing on his ear. She whispered, "I've been waiting so long for this."

"So have I," he replied, barely able to keep his speech straight. He felt her hand pull the front of his shirt out of his pants, and then her silky soft touch on his bare chest.

His hands caressed her bare back, sneakily sliding underneath her bodysuit. She felt so warm, so alive, so real.

Yuna pulled back just enough to look Tidus in the eyes. Hers were so full of longing, of desire, that they made his own desire intensify dramatically.

"I've loved you so much," she said, before drawing him into another deep kiss.

I've loved you since I first saw you, Tidus thought, though he couldn't find the voice to say it. Instead, for the first time since he'd left Spira, he let himself go.

VVVVV

Tidus awoke slowly, peacefully, his world finally complete. Somehow, Yuna had found him. Across a thousand years of time, she had come back for him. Even if they couldn't get back to Spira, he could at least live happily now that Yuna was with him.

And he would never let her go.

As she lay on his chest, he felt the warmth of her skin press against him, drawing him into a chi of protection that no mythological creature, no hostile army, no swarm of fiends could break.

He heard a yawn and looked down. It was the middle of the night, but the moonlight coming in through the thin opening of the curtains gave just enough illumination for him to see her silhouette. At this moment, he felt he could do nothing else but stare at her for the rest of his life, and he would be happy.

She purred, nuzzling against his chest. Tidus ran his fingers through her hair, thanking whatever God was out there that He had finally brought her to him.

"Hmmm, hello," she said. Her voice sounded a little different to him, but it didn't surprise him, as she was just waking up.

"Hi," he swooned, kissing the top of her head.

Just then, the phone rang.

"Oh, now who's that so late at night?" Yuna breathed, starting to get up.

Tidus groaned, "Probably Voight. He's the only one that'd call me this late." He reached over for the phone, but couldn't find it with his hand. "Can you see the phone?"

"No," Yuna replied, getting off the bed. "I'll get the light."

A second later, he heard a switch click, and he squeezed his eyes shut against the sudden brightness. "Yow, that's bright!"

"Sorry," Yuna replied. He heard her pick up the phone, and she said, "Hello? Uh, sure, he's right here. It's for you."

Trying to force open his eyes, Tidus reached out. Yuna placed the receiver in his hand, and he put it up to his face. "Hel…w-wait." He pulled the receiver away from his face as a sinking feeling entered the pit of his stomach.

As a male voice on the phone said, "Hello? Hello? T, you there?" he realized a sickening truth. There were no telephones in Spira!

"Yuna, how do you know how to use a phone?"

"Huh?" he heard both from the phone and the woman standing before him. Then, the woman asked, "Wh-who's, uh, Yuna?"

Tidus gasped and froze. Despite the uncomfortable glare, he opened his eyes wide. Standing there before him, fully naked and with a confused, crushed expression on her face was the blonde, blue-eyed Celia.

Tidus' hand went slack and the cordless receiver fell onto the bed, bounced off it and the nightstand, and came to rest on the carpet. He stared, his stomach twisting in knots, at Celia's face.

Did…did I…did we just…oh my God…

"Who's Yuna?" Celia asked, a lone tear running down her cheek.

"Oh my God," Tidus muttered. "Oh my God," he repeated, louder. He jumped out of the bed, to which Celia shrieked. She backed off, grabbing a bedsheet and hastily wrapping it around herself.

"D-don't…don't hurt me please…" She held up one hand to defend herself.

"Oh my God oh my God oh my God," Tidus repeated, quickly snatching up a pair of shorts and a t-shirt from the top of the dresser. "Oh my God I'm so sorry I didn't mean to…to…"

Finding himself without any more words, he threw on the shorts and shirt and ran out of the room. He didn't care that it was his room he was fleeing, or that he was barefoot. He just needed to get away, quickly.

He sprinted down the hall, muttering incessantly to himself, "Oh my God Yuna I'm so sorry I didn't know I thought she was you oh God what have I done I'm so sorry I'm so sorry…"

He skidded to a halt at the door to the stairs. He threw himself through the door and bound down the steps, not even caring how fast he went. A thousand thoughts rushed through his mind: how he'd betrayed Yuna's love, how he'd just destroyed Celia, how he'd just given himself to someone without stopping to think who it really was, and how much he wanted to die at this moment.

Suddenly, he felt as if his wish had been granted. His foot found a wet spot on the tiled steps, and he slipped, flying through the air. He fell face first toward the landing, half hoping he wouldn't be seriously hurt, and half-hoping he'd break his neck. In the space of a millisecond, the latter seemed preferable to him.

The floor seemed to approach him in slow motion, and as it did, events of his life flashed before his eyes. How his father taunted him and his mother practically ignored him during his childhood. His stardom in Zanarkand, his rescue by Rikku and her Al Bhed crewmates, and the game at Luca. His moonlight meeting at the pond with Yuna, and the final battle with his father inside Sin. Interspersed with those images flashed pictures of Yuna's face, so filled with desire, and Celia's, washed over with hurt feelings and fear.

With a crunch, his face struck the floor

VVVVV

He practically jumped out of the bed with a shriek. Hyperventilating, Tidus looked around him, expecting to see yet another hospital room.

Instead, it was his hotel room. The twilight sun peeked through the curtains, adding illumination to what was already provided by the bedside lamp. He looked himself over and saw that he was fully dressed, just as he had been several hours before.

He looked around the room, and saw only his own clothes and personal items spread about. The bed underneath him was made, although slightly ruffled from his having thrashed about on top of the covers.

Tidus turned back to the mirror. Suspiciously, he waved his hands around. The image in the mirror made the exact same movements at the exact same time. He dropped his hands to his side and took a deep breath, trying to calm the pounding of his heart in his ears.

Was it all a dream? Yuna…Celia, I mean, all of it?

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Tidus jumped so hard he fell on the floor. Once he was able to gain his bearings, he stood, headed for the door, and opened it.

There stood Celia, her hands folded in front of her, with a look of trepidation in her blue eyes. Instead of her normal Blitzball outfit, she wore a long flowing blue dress, a necklace of some exotic gemstones, and gold-trimmed sandals. "Hi, Tidus."

"H-hi," Tidus managed. His mind was moving at such a breakneck pace he was afraid he'd pass out. Did I see the future? Is this what was supposed to happen?

"Can I come in?"

"Uh, I, uh…" Tidus stammered. "Uh, I don't think this is a good time. I, uh, just threw up." It was not a complete lie, as he felt like he was about to do that right in front of her.

"You threw up?" she asked, worry in her voice. "They shouldn't have released you! You're all pale! Let me take a look at you." She reached for his face, but he backed into his room, closing the door. Celia's fingers barely pulled away before being crushed between the door and the jamb.

"I-I'll be okay," he managed as he bolted the door. "I just need to be alone for a while."

"Tidus, why are you shutting me out? Is it because of what happened at the hospital?"

Tidus leaned against the door, trying desperately to keep the contents of his stomach down. He squeezed his eyes shut, tears threatening to drip from them. Please just go. Just leave, Celia. This is too much for me.

"I want to help you!"

Please. Please please leave. Please go away. Please.

He waited there for a few minutes, leaning hard against the door. He heard no more voices from the other side, the eerie silence only broken by the faint sound of leather insoles lightly ripping from bare feet, repeating at a slow pace. When the sound was long gone and he was finally satisfied that she was nowhere near, he slid down onto the floor, clutching his knees to his chest.

"What's happening to me?" he asked the empty room, burying his face between his knees. The only answer he received was the light blowing of cool air from the floor vents.

He was afraid, very afraid, that he was losing his mind. Was Voight right? Was Spira all just a dream he had while he was buried under tons of steel and concrete, his body broken and his mind trying to keep him from experiencing the madness of waiting to die a slow, painful death?

Then where did the sword come from? Or the magic I used against the fiends? Were those hallucinations too?

Or will I wake up tomorrow and find out that those fiends were all just a dream, too?

His exhausted mind could make no sense of anything anymore. Tidus just sat there, his knees pressed against his face, wishing he could make some sense out of anything.

At this point, he couldn't even be sure that anything was real.