Final Fantasy: Revisited

Disclaimer: Well, I didn't own these guys the first four chapters, so what makes you think I'd own them now?!

Chapter 5: Acclimate

'Oh, no, not this again…' Bruce was back inside the void again. The same one that got him here. Once again, the nothingness that he felt after the first time. Once again, the feeling of nothing, save the cold of the darkness all around him. 'Oh, well, at least I know where I'll end up this time…' Trying to move ended with the same result, just the feeling of a thousand pounds on every inch of him. 'In the water, only to be chased by a monster that will be sure to swallow me whole.' It wasn't just coincidence Bruce hated the water. He was always freaked out by swimming in the same water as sharks, jellyfish, and other potentially dangerous animals.

That, and he couldn't swim very well.

'Maybe my insane dog paddle skills will render him useless…' If Bruce could, he would have chuckled. The void continued around him, ceasing all other form of life, save his thoughts and the bitter cold of the environment inside Sin. Or wherever he was.

A muffled sound was heard faintly. Bruce strained to hear it again, but as soon as it was there, it disappeared. Bruce stilled his thoughts, trying to listen intently to the sound, should it come again. After what seemed like an eternity, it came again, and much louder, but still as muffled as before. 'What the…' he thought, still dead silent as it came again. What kept doing that?

After hearing the same garbled noise again for the third time, he suddenly felt himself being violently stirred. Gasping, Bruce tried in vain to move again, feeling exhausted with every more attempt. His whole body felt the feeling of being shaken again, and that noise….that noise…it was so repetitive! Bruce grunted involuntarily, as his body told him to stop the rocking from the unseen force. He had to wake up. He had to…

"Wake up!"

Bruce's eyes opened up with a start, staring up at a darkened ceiling, worn with age and water damage. He was lying on the hard dirt floor, slightly damp from the water falling about the room. Around him was what could only be described as ancient ruins, with level after level cascading upwards until it was swallowed by the darkness. Water ran in rivulets down all of the walls, giving the whole area a peaceful background noise, somewhat ironically. Two doors were present, on either side of a larger door, which was apparently blocked, covered with the fallen second story walkway.

Something was tickling the back of his neck.

Shocked, Bruce bolted up quickly, feverishly brushing the back of his neck. 'Blech,' was the word as he grabbed the seaweed that made its temporary home there and discarded it with a weak toss into the darkness in front of him, landing softly. 'Man, it's quiet. I can't stand the quiet...'

"You scared the crap out of me!"

Survival mode kicked in almost instantly, as Bruce jumped up a full foot in the air with a yell before landing again, hitting the floor hard. His heart surged as he jolted to his feet, before he figured out who was talking to him.

Tidus was behind him, breathing heavy, with his hands on his hips, still apparently wet. His sword was planted into the ground beside him.

"Jesus, Tidus!" Bruce sagged, putting his hands on his knees as the adrenaline worked its way through his body. "You just don't go around, yelling like that! You could've given me a heart attack!" His chest rose and fell quickly as he rubbed his rear furiously to stop it from hurting.

Tidus scoffed. "Well, its not like you just got done falling down a crumbling path into water, then fighting a huge creature, then having to enter an unknown cave, only to be scared half to death by a guy seemingly passed out on the floor!" Truth be told, he was still wet, as drops of water were still coming down from his blond hair.

Sea blue eyes met steel gray ones for a long moment, only being interrupted by the occasional drop of water onto the dirt floor. Then, Bruce sighed. 'Gonna have to do something, this silence is killing me.' "Sorry about that, I was just freaked, you know?"

Tidus's defensive stance lessened, as well. "Yeah, well, it doesn't matter, anyways," he gestured to the ruins around him. "Cause I don't even know where I am, or if I'm even still alive." Of course, Bruce already had it figured out. Right next to Baaj Temple, 1,000 years in the future. And on dry land, to Bruce's luck.

"Well, since I'm still alive, and I don't see dead people, you're pretty alive to me," Bruce said, taking out the bandana from his pocket, and putting it back onto his head, hiding the dark locks from making their way into his face. As he applied it, he noticed the goosebumps beginning to gather on his arms. 'It's freezing!' he thought as he finished putting on the bandana, and he made his thought known to Tidus, who replied with a "yup."

More silence between the two, before Bruce decided to take the initiative. "Well, there's a fire pit here, so maybe we could find some way to make a fire." Tidus's eyes lit up. "Okay, sounds like a plan! Uh…" he looked around, seeing the two doors on either side of the blocked entrance. "I'll take the right door, and you take the left, and, uh, well, we'll meet back here, okay?" Tidus looked expectantly at Bruce.

This guy is a freaking genius. "No problem, just look hard," he said, aware that it took him over ten minutes to find the stuff, even though it was sitting in front of him. Tidus walked over to the door and grabbed the rusted handle. With a grunt, he shoved the door open with a loud groan at the hinges, and then was gone from sight. Bruce followed suit, and pushed open the door on the left.

The first thing that Bruce noticed about the new room was that it was cluttered. Badly. Stone rubble was seen all over the place, marred to the point of disrepair, and the air itself was stale and overpowering. Water still flowed all over, and some splashed Bruce faintly as it tumbled over a rock above him. Hastily, he moved onwards into the area, boots crunching with every step.

'And I thought my room was bad, at least there was tv there,' he thought as he continued to climb up and down various rubble clusters, all the time being lightly splashed from water all around him. 'This place must have been really cool before everyone decided to go all 'banana' and split.' He smiled, adding a carefree 'nyuk nyuk' as he made his trek deeper in.

After moving for a couple more minutes, he was met with another blockade of rubble in front of him. "Great," he mumbled, "I missed it." Scratching his arm, he turned around, and was met with something new. Under a pile of rubble sat a wooden desk, worn from the water, but still intact. Based on the placement of the stone around it, it would have been missed, had it been seen from the front. The rubble made a sort of cave for it. Bruce scrambled around the hallway, until he was facing it. Opening the drawer, Bruce found what he was looking for. Two egg-shaped rocks, Tinted green at the edges, but gray in the middle. Grinning, he put them in his pouch and made his way back to the room, avoiding the water as much as possible.

Grunting, he pulled the door open by the handle, and it groaned open. Stepping through, Bruce saw Tidus, sitting with his arms crossed in front of him. He was facing away from him, and he seemed to be lost in thought. Bruce walked up to the fire pit, sitting across the fireplace from him. "Hey," Bruce waved to him as he softly landed on the hard dirt. Tidus blinked, clearly startled. He must have been thinking, real hard. "I got some flint stones we can use," he said, taking out the stones with a click.

Tidus smiled. "Great, and I got the tinder we need," he said, gesturing to the dead flowers, now sitting in the middle of the pit. Bruce went into a squatting position, and hastily began to strike the stones together, emitting sparks.

Click, click.

After the third click, the sparks caught, starting a tiny fire at the end of the withered bouquet. Bruce stared at the tiny flame, making sure it caught, then sat back as it began to spread about the whole bouquet, dancing quietly around. As the flame began to grow, Bruce looked again at Tidus, who was once again lost in thought, staring at the flame as it lit up his eyes. 'Should I try to make conversation with him? Sure beats just sitting here, waiting for Rikku to show.'

Bruce cleared his throat. "So, what are you thinking about?"

Tidus looked up at him. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, you appear to be deep in thought, just wondering if Sin has anything to do with it."

Tidus sighed, moving his hands back to prop him up. "Well, it's not just Sin. I mean, I'm just worried, I guess. I went from star player of the Zanarkand Abes to monster killer in the span of an hour. And now," he looked up at the ceiling, "I don't even know where I am, or for that matter, how I got here. I didn't ask for this." He put his head down, and his voice became quiet. "I didn't ask for my city to be destroyed. It just…isn't fair, is all. I don't understand why it had to happen."

Bruce leaned back, resting his head on the floor and drawing his knees up. "Well, I like to think that all things happen for a reason. And, I know that there has to be a reason why Sin attacked, something that is a lot bigger than you think."

Understatement of the year.

Tidus's eyes glinted with determination. "But at the expense of a whole city? At the expense of my friends? A whole town was decimated!" His voice grew louder, carried by his anger. "Just swallowed up like it was nothing! And you, me, and Auron are the only ones to survive? How can there be a reason for so many to be killed?!" Tidus's voice echoed sharply throughout the dome.

"Well, just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it isn't there," Bruce replied, glad that he took that psychology class in high school. "I mean, who knows, there might be some good that comes out of this. Granted, many people died, but you lived. Therefore, there must be some reason why you are still alive." Bruce sat up again, looking at Tidus in the corner of his eye. "Who knows, maybe you'll get answers, once we get out of here." Subconsciously, he looked at the blocked door, waiting for the expected arrival.

"Well, how are you so sure we'll get out of here? I mean, we can't swim out, cause of that huge…thing, waiting for me, and the only other exit is blocked." He resumed to glare at the fire, now going strong. "If you ask me, we've just jumped out of the frying pan, and into the fire."

A long silence followed after, with both of them just staring into the blaze, lost in their own thoughts. Bruce's was on the path ahead of them, while Tidus was still dwelling on the attack just moments ago. Then, Tidus decided to speak.

"So, where are you from, anyways?"

Bruce's eyes shot up to meet his, wide. "Uh…I'm not…from around here," he said finally, after a brief silence. He knew that Tidus wouldn't take that, and he didn't. "Not from around here? What, you mean Zanarkand?" Bruce grabbed that opening. "Yeah, even if I told you, you wouldn't know where it was. It's…kind of hard to find." He concluded, using his truth-stretching skills as well as he could.

The next question, however, he was completely unprepared for. "So, is there Sin where you come from?" Bruce lowered his eyes to the ground in front of him, becoming very interested in his boots. "Well, yeah, a lot of people there know about Sin, and what it does. They know its power, and so, they try to stop it." Save number two.

Tidus kept going, though. "So, how did you get here? Why are you away from there?" Bruce chose his words carefully now. "Well, Sin took me away from my home, and somehow I ended up in Zanarkand, on the outskirts of the city, just as the blitz sphere began to fill up with water. Once inside, I met Auron, and we met you, just as Sin attacked." Bruce smiled inwardly, pleased at his ability to work on the fly.

Tidus nodded lazily, and Bruce saw that he was very close to sleep, his head rested on his knees. Bruce yawned noisily. 'Not a bad idea,' he thought, as he moved to his stomach, and slowly drifted off to sleep, watching the fire dance wildly in front of him.

It seemed like just moments later when he woke up. He hadn't had much sleep at all, and his eyes stung from fatigue. 'I can't even get a good night's sleep in another world.' Rubbing them with a gloved hand, he slowly pushed himself up onto his side. He yawned again, stifling it with his hand, then glanced at Tidus, who was still sleeping.

The once-blazing fire was now just a tiny flame, ready to go out at any time. No fire meant no protection. No protection meant…

Bruce heard a clicking sound traverse the top of the dome. 'Crap,' he thought as he shook the fatigue from his bones quickly and went over to Tidus, giving him a shake. "Tidus, wake up! Wake up!" Tidus woke with a start. "Wha…?' Then, he noticed the fire. Almost knocking Bruce over, he jumped over to it, as if he wasn't asleep just moments earlier. "Hey, wait! Wait! Don't go out on me! Just hold on, I'll get more wood!" Tidus sprang up to go back into the doors, but Bruce placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

"We don't have time for that now, Tidus!" He said to him, still listening to the click-click on the walls, now moving on the walls. "Get your sword, we've got company." Tidus looked at him oddly, giving him a once-over. "What do you mean, company? I don't see…" he trailed off, and Bruce saw his face get pale, then his eyes widen.

He was looking past him, at something over his shoulder. By where he was looking, it was pretty big. The clicking stopped, too.

With no other warning, Bruce immediately pushed Tidus backwards, while he dove to the right. Suddenly, a sharp pain entered his side as he was moving, emitting a cry from Bruce as he landed, somersaulting over to face the thing that attacked him.

Bruce came face to face with another fiend, towering over him by about four feet. Red, tough skin surrounded it, and it walked on four sharp blade-like legs, each one clicking with every step. His head also had a blade sticking out of it. A tail completed it, which waved threateningly behind it. One of the legs were outstretched, with blood at the tip. Had Bruce not moved, that would have pierced his heart, instead of his side.

It let out a hiss, much like a snake, as it skittered to face Bruce. Dark hollows for eyes followed his every move, giving Bruce the creeps a little. It was ready for battle.

Bruce felt the pain still, now a dulling ache in his side. Wincing, he moved his left arm up to the button, feeling the stretch of the cut in his side. He pressed it, giving his whole body a shake. Grabbing the swallow with his right, he released the button, and went into his stance. His side hurt, though. A lot.

Klikk charged, moving at Bruce at a moderate pace, but with a dangerous sort of motion, left a little, right a little, making Bruce unsure of where he would hit. Bruce looked at each foot as it moved closer, with the clicking sound now all he could hear.

Click, click, click. It moved to the left.

Click, click, click. It moved to the right.

Click, click, click, click. One too many.

Bruce immediately ducked, just dodging a lightning quick poke with it's right leg. Using the swallow, he knocked the outstretched leg away, forcing Klikk to rebalance himself with the other three. Running under it, Bruce quickly slashed under it, giving it a minimal scratch under it.

This was gonna be harder than he thought.

Bruce ran through the legs of the fiend, who hissed in retaliation to the scratch. He slowly began to turn around, having to reposition each leg as it moved. 'Wait a minute, he can't pivot! I gotta remember that,' he thought, as he ran towards Tidus, who was grabbing his sword from the ground.

"Bruce, next time, be a little more easy with the pushing," he said with a grunt, pulling the sword out from the ground. "But, thanks." Tidus looked at the monster, now halfway turned around. "Wow, I guess there was someone there, huh?"

Bruce opened his pouch, and searched inside it for a potion. 'If there was some money, I'm sure there's some health stuff…' He wrapped his hand around several vials. 'Bingo.' Withdrawing his hand, he saw the blue liquid that he was accustomed to, as well as one with green liquid, and another with purple in it. Hastily, he put the potion in his teeth, and placed the other two back in his pouch with a clink. Pulling out the cork, he drank about half of it before placing the cap back on. The chill was still odd, but at least he was still standing when it happened. His temperature dropped as well, and Bruce shut his eyes, clearly uncomfortable. After his body returned to normal, Bruce reopened his eyes, with a new vigor, ready to attack. "Tidus!"

"Yeah?"

"Try to get on the opposite side of him, it takes him a while to turn around!"

"Got it!" With that, they began their assault. Tidus moved in front of Klikk, while Bruce sneaked around it, then slashed it in the side. Then, Tidus slashed it when it was facing Bruce. The battle lasted for a good ten minutes, with both sides showing considerable fatigue. 'Where is she?' He asked, after dodging a quick poke from the fiend as Tidus jabbed it in the back.

No sooner as he thought that, the blocked doors blew open with a loud boom, with debris falling all over the place. The monster hesitated for a moment, and this gave Bruce the edge he needed. He went under it again, now fully healed, and tried attacking the underbelly again, where it cut deeply. Klikk hissed loudly, losing its footing for a moment before moving around to face Bruce.

Bruce, however, wasn't interested in the fiend after he came out from under it. 'Excellent,' he thought as he saw the Al Bhed standing at the doorway. Rikku was in front, clad in her wet suit, red shoulder pads and yellow front, black sleeves, and red boots. Behind her, stood four men, all with strange guns.

Tidus, in the meantime, was unsure of who these people were. "Uh, who are you?" he asked, with most of his attention on the fiend, now fully turned around, hissing loudly and froth dripping from its fangs.

Rikku turned to the other Al Bhed, who immediately turned their eyes towards her. Clearly the leader, she spoke to them strongly. "E'mm ramb draca dfu. Cdyhtpo ihdem ed ec tayt." She said. The Al Bhed lowered their guns while she jumped next to Bruce, assuming her fighter stance, one arm hanging loosely, crouching slightly.

Bruce expected some sort of greeting from the girl, but she was now fully interested in Klikk, so he turned back towards Klikk, who was beginning its assault again. He had to tell her the weakness. "Okay, so, the thing is, he is only lethal if you attack from the front. It takes him a while to turn around, so attack from the rear as much as possible." She didn't reply. "Oh, my name's Bruce, by the way," he continued before assuming his stance towards the monster. 'Okay, whatever. Not the time, anyways.'

Tidus glanced from the girl, to Klikk, then back to the girl. "You're on our side? Cool!" he said, moving to attack Klikk from the back.

The battle wore on for many more moments, until soon, Klikk was shaking steadily on its legs, just barely getting attacks in. Its hisses became shaken, and it began to attack wildly, slashing from all directions. "Almost there…" Bruce yelled, preparing another attack.

Rikku ran towards it instead, with her arm claws ready. She began to make a series of wild slashes, seemingly wanting to end the battle then. Bruce looked on as Klikk went down with each attack, closer and closer to its demise. Tidus came in from the back, and slashed sideways at it, resulting in a severe blow.

That was all that it took. Klikk let out a piercing cry, stopping Bruce in his tracks. Letting out a shrill hiss, Klikk began to thrash about wildly, attacking with all its legs as pyreflies began to come out from its form. "Whoa!" Bruce said, dodging the various stabs before retreating to a safer part of the ruins. It stabbed some more, then became slower and slower, as more pyreflies ascended into the air. It never stopped struggling, even as the last of the pyreflies left, leaving only a memory of it in its wake.

Sighing, Bruce wiped the sweat off of his face as he holstered his swallow. 'That was easier than the last one. Maybe I'm ready for this after all,' he thought to himself, dusting off his shorts. Tidus was beaming, as well. "All right! Score one more for the good guys!" He gave Bruce a high five, then looked around. "Uh, where's the new girl?"

Come to think of it, he hasn't seen her since she attacked the last time…. He looked around, then saw her…

Laying where the fiend disappeared, holding her heart in pain. Her gloves were damp with blood.

Terror seized Bruce as he ran towards her. 'Crap, she can't die this early. Then again, she can't die at all!' He knelt down in front of her, lifting her up to a sitting position before fishing in his bag for the rest of that potion. She was biting her lip, and trembling, clutching her heart weakly. Blood seeped through her fingers as Bruce found the vial in his pouch.

Popping the cork, he gently used his hand to lift her face toward his. Her goggles were still on, so he couldn't tell if she even saw him, but he still had to try. "Here, drink this, you'll feel better," he said, moving the vial to her lips, with the liquid ready to go down. He slowly lifted it a little bit, to be sure she would swallow. A moment went by, before she finally registered it and the liquid began to flow towards her throat. Bruce poured the rest down, careful not to go too fast, and soon, the rest of the vial was empty.

Rikku suddenly shuddered, the effects of the vial going through her. She moved both her hands to her chest, giving a small grunt. "Don't worry, it's just part of the potion, it'll be gone soon." He said, giving her a sympathetic pat on the back. 'So, after, this, we get taken onto the ship. But, I don't wanna be knocked out, so I better make a good first impression,' he thought as he rubbed her back soothingly.

Soon, she stopped shivering. Bruce stood back up, leaving her to get up on her own. She hesitantly looked down at her clothes, still stained with blood, but with no wound. She flexed her hands a couple of times, then sprang to her feet, with an energy that Bruce knew was pure Rikku. She turned around to look at Bruce, who nodded politely. 'Too bad her goggles are on, her eyes are cute,' he thought. She walked up to him slowly, somewhat hesitantly. Bruce read her body language easily. "Hey, I'm not your enemy, okay? I'm a friend. So is Tidus." She kept walking towards him, and stopped, just a foot in front of him, eyeing him strangely. "Uh…" He cautiously took a step back. He never was good with the whole closeness thing. "Thanks again for helping out."

"Kad yfyo vnus ran, veaht!" He heard someone say.

As he turned around, he came face to face with the butt of a gun. Hard. Blinding red filled his vision as he sank to the floor.

Then, everything turned black as the void returned once again to claim him.

Author's notes: Okay, got this one cranked out finally.

The Al Bhed parts aren't very important to know, and I assume that you figured out when Rikku spoke, she told them to stand down, since they lowered their guns. Oh, and before Bruce got knocked out, he heard "Get away from her, fiend!" Yeah, I'm not entirely sure on how to do the Al Bhed parts hereafter, so tell me what is ideal for you in your reviews!

Thanks to everyone for reviewing. Some of them gave me a whole lot to think about (i.e. Kitrice) and others just gave me reason to keep writing. More are always needed, so please make sure to tell your buddies to read as well! I will be adapting the reviews so that anyone can review it, so I can get more of a perspective from the non-authors out there. As always, constructive criticism is always appreciated, cause I need pointers, too! Thanks for reading!