Final Fantasy: Revisited

Disclaimer: Even though the idea of Rikku in my next birthday cake sounds appetizing, I can't do it! Cause I don't own her, or any other part of FFX.

Chapter 6: Emerald

"Ooh…" Bruce woke up in pain. His head was throbbing with a migraine that showed no sign of lessening up. It didn't hurt that the first things he saw were the bright lights above him, bearing down on him mercilessly. Immediately, he shut his eyes, already feeling the tears coming to his sensitive eyes. It took a while before he figured out where he was exactly, and why his head hurt.

Then, the last five minutes finally hit him, and he winced again.

'That guy hit me with a gun!' Bruce thought angrily. 'No one hits me! Why didn't Rikku stop him?' He opened his eyes again, this time downcast to the hard, metallic floor. 'Then again, I guess it had to happen…' He sat in the dark corner of the boat, getting his eyes used to the new darkness. 'Too bad they don't have anything for migraines here,' he thought. Lifting a shaky hand, he rested it on the box next to him for support.

Once his eyes readjusted, he looked at his surroundings. Yup, he was on the boat, all right. The gray sky above him gave the whole atmosphere a cool one, and the wind was hitting his face lightly. The Al Bhed that were in the ruins were there, all in a group about 10 feet away. There were also others that Bruce didn't see, who were stationed nearby, looking into the sea casually.

One of them was holding a weapon.

Bruce's face showed a mask of shock as he slowly moved his arm around to his back. His swallow wasn't there, as he expected. He'd get it back from that guy, though.

Tidus was there, as well. Only he was unconscious, sprawled out on the floor. His sword was laying next to him.

To Bruce's right, there was a staircase, leading to the front of the ship. Sitting on top was a massive machine, most likely a crane, based on how it looked. Various metal crates and boxes were scattered around the ship, all worn from years of use. They still looked in good shape, though.

The one next to him was different from all the rest, though. More rounded at the top, and wooden, based on the feel. Raising his eyes again, he looked over to his rested arm, and silently moved it back to his side. It looked like a chest.

It looked like a chest. Bruce would have paid it less mind, had his subconscious not kept repeating that inside his head until he clocked in. A chest. A chest…Bruce almost hit himself when it finally clicked in his head. It was a chest! 'Bruce…yeah…you're an idiot, you know?...yup, last time I checked…' Bruce said mentally, knocking his hand on his head quietly. 'Well, better open it.'

Before his hand could reach the front, Tidus started to groan. All of the Al Bhed moved into a circle around him, with Rikku next to him in the middle. Quickly, he lowered his hand. He didn't want the same attention Tidus was about to get.

Tidus sat up, and shook his head free of the fatigue. Looking up at the Al Bhed, he began to stand up, before one of them pushed him back down. Hard. "Ced, lybdeja!" He spat, regarding him like he would a stray animal. Tidus fell back with a loud thud, making Bruce wince from behind the chest. "Hey, that hurts!" He exclaimed, rubbing his butt unceremoniously.

"Hu sujehk, rayn?" The Al Bhed continued, moving his hand casually to his gun at his side, most likely a warning sign. Tidus caught it, though. "Whoa, okay." He held up his hands in a surrender motion, and then lay still.

Meanwhile, Bruce was still feigning unconsciousness, all the while with his eyes slightly open to see everything that went on. Luckily, no one even remembered he was still there. 'What are they saying? I don't remember the beginning well,' he thought, sneaking looks at everyone on board, mostly the one with his swallow. 'I need those primers if I'm gonna get the most out of this at all,' he thought, as they moved Tidus up and began to search him.

Rikku was looking straight at Bruce, with a faint smile on her lips.

'Shit!' was all he thought as he shut his eyes again, slowly moving back to an unconscious position. 'Maybe she won't notice…' He counted the seconds now, each one seeming like minutes until he would get roughed up. He heard grunting sounds in the middle of the circle, and Tidus was shouting as well. Bruce opened one eye slightly to see what was happening.

Rikku wasn't looking at him anymore. Now, her attention was on Tidus, who was trying to understand the guy making the seemingly random gestures with his hands. He mimicked swimming, then pointed at Tidus, grunting each time. 'Oh, now it makes sense,' he thought.

The puzzled look on Tidus' face said it all, but he still responded with a "right, whatever." At this, the man's face turned slightly darker than usual, and the lines on his forehead could be seen easily. "Tu oui hud cbayg?" He said, somewhat icily, and once again started to reach Tidus, fishing a necklace out of his pocket and shaking it at Tidus, grunting incoherently.

Bruce looked on from the confines of his corner, watching now with both eyes wide open. He scooted forwards slightly, trying to get the blood flowing in his legs, now tingling with the familiar sensation of sleep. 'Man, I'm getting tired of sitting,' he thought, scratching his arms subconsciously. 'I'd rather be in the game than just watching it.' He kept watching.

Tidus was getting frustrated, though, and his eyebrows turned down slightly as he glared back at the man. "I said I don't understand!" he said, a little louder than before. The Al Bhed, apparently, had no tolerance for ignorance, as he picked up his gun and aimed it at Tidus. "Ehcumahla!" He shouted, pointing the gun at his chest, emitting a cry from Tidus.

'Now's my chance,' Bruce said, and quickly stood up. He thought it was quieter than usual, but suddenly five of the men were standing around him, guns drawn, and ready to fire. "Hey, I'm unarmed! Don't shoot!" he said, feeling his body temperature begin to swell. He tried to look them in the eyes, but the blade on one of the guns went to his neck, pressing in slightly.

There they were, both with guns to their chests, both unarmed, and both trying to understand the new language. The tension in the air was only increased by the sudden cease of movement all over the boat, as everyone was looking at the both of them. The only noise was the occasional wave hitting the sides of the boat, and the cry of a lone seagulls overhead. 'Well, if I wasn't close to messing myself now, this would be pretty cool.'

"Uh, Tidus, by the way, they said that if you helped them work, you wouldn't get shot," Bruce said, resulting in an extra hard poke by the knife into his neck. He hissed loudly, and was sure it drew blood then. He closed his eyes, unable to take the tension of the scene any more, waiting for the blade to make his way home into his neck.

"Fyed!" a girl's voice said. Like the sun cutting the night, her voice rang throughout the whole ship, and everyone jumped a little, including the gunners. After a few more intense moments, they reluctantly lowered their weapons, leaving Tidus and Bruce the room to move a little. Tidus readjusted his clothes, and Bruce leaned onto the chest, letting his heart drop back down from his throat. He put his hand to his neck, and indeed, there was a little cut that formed along his chin. Then, he looked up to the men, still with their guns in their hands. "You better show some respect, I'm going to be the one saving all your asses!" he muttered sarcastically, ready to take them all on at once. At least, before he remembered his swallow was in the hands of one of the guys at the far end.

Rikku turned to Tidus. "Your friend is right, you can stay if you make yourself useful," she said, moving casually to one of the near gunman and touched the gun, lowering it even further. Tidus was bewildered. "You…you understand him?" But before she could respond, a still seething Al Bhed moved behind him, shoving him roughly with the butt of his gun in his back. "All right, I'll work!" he said, still a bit pissed at the whole ordeal.

Bruce could only laugh. "Tidus, calm down, man, it's all good," he said, walking over to the boy and giving him a playful shove on his shoulder. "At least they didn't cut you, I wasn't as lucky," he said, showing him the cut on his chin. "But, hey, I'm still laughing. Just calm down, man!" He said, seeing Tidus soften up a little bit.

Tidus laughed a little. Then Bruce did. Then, they both erupted into a fit of giggles and playful punches that could only be described as insanity. Even though nothing was really funny about the whole thing, he needed to laugh. Why? Because he just avoided death, and it was his defense mechanism working overtime.

After the laughs died, they both looked over to Rikku, who was watching them intently. "You two are…" she put a finger to her chin, "odd." Then, she giggled a little bit before walking off, leaving both guys confused. Tidus began to walk over to the crane. "Uh, Tidus, I wouldn't…" Bruce attempted, but it was too late. He was already walking over to the crane, and Bruce could only watch.

"What is this, some kind of crane?" He asked, knocking on it with a gloved finger. An Al Bhed quickly moved in between him and the crane, almost just appeared there, making Tidus back away a little bit. "Rao, oui! Kad yfyo vnus drana!" The Al Bhed spat, shooing him away with his hand.

Shaking his head, Bruce looked away from Tidus, back to the chest that was sitting in the corner, taunting him. The wind was starting to pick up a bit, and a lot of the Al Bhed in towards the middle of the boat, so as not to get blown over into the sea. 'Better now than never, he thought, as he slowly dipped into his pouch, and fished out one of the coins he still had. He began to flip it nonchalantly, then catching it in his palm securely. Some of the Al Bhed noticed the faint ringing of the coin, and looked over to where Bruce stood. 'No biggie, just flipping a coin, no big deal,' he thought, as he tried his best to look casual as he kept flipping it, humming softly to himself. After a brief moment, they finally looked away, no longer interested. 'Bingo,' he thought, as he flipped it some more, each time more towards the chest, so that he had to step forwards to catch it. 'Always make it look natural,' he mused, stepping closer each time.

When he finally was within reach of it, he flipped the coin again, and let it slip through his hands, hitting the floor, bouncing, and then rolling to a halt in front of the chest. "Oops," he said casually. Looking around once more, he casually bent down to pick it up. As he was bent over, he slowly moved a gloved hand towards the front of the chest, where a rusted latch covered the opening. He flipped it quickly, and taking one more cautious look around him, began to open it. 'Money in the bank.'

"You're pretty good at that, you know?" Hand in the cookie jar.

At the first words, he shot upright, coin in hand tightly. 'I almost had it!' Slowly, he turned around to see Rikku, hands on her hips, and looking at him with a cryptic glare. Her goggles were on her head now, removed from her eyes. Did she see him? He decided to play along for a while, to gauge exactly what she saw. "Good at what?" He asked, thumbing the coin in his hand nervously. Steady, steady.

"At flipping the coin, silly!" She replied, still giving him that sideways glance. He tried not to sigh with relief, but his guarded stance gave way a little bit. There still was hope for that chest, after all. "Well, I suppose so," he said, moving away from the chest little by little, still clutching the coin in his hands. "I need something to do when not saving Tidus from something or other," he said, trying to lighten the mood a little.

Rikku smiled politely, and moved her hands from her hips to her sides. Her posture showed that she wanted to talk to him about something. He'd seen the same posture from his sisters. He gulped, and his apple bobbed up and down. 'Maybe I can get her to give me back my weapon! Worth a shot,' he thought, moving to sit on one of the crates, his ankles hanging over the edge as he peered at the water. To his surprise, she moved as well, and sat on the crate next to his. The wind blew her golden hair lightly as she gazed out towards the ocean, under the blanket of gray clouds.

She started to talk. "Tidus?" She asked. "You mean…the other guy you were with?" Bruce nodded. "I see…" she looked over to Bruce from the corner of her eyes. "Well, it's good to have you both aboard!" she said cheerfully, smiling broadly. Bruce looked over at her for a second, then back at the sea.

"Uh, thanks," was all he said, before they both were looking out at the sea in silence again. 'Maybe she still wants to talk about something?' he thought, as they kept looking out at the sea. 'Oh, I'm no good at this…' he cleared his throat softly, and looked over at Rikku. "So, uh, what exactly were you doing at the ruins?" He asked, already knowing full well of the answer. He needed to jump start this conversation.

Rikku looked over at him. "Well, we were in the middle of a salvaging expedition to locate some really old machina," she started, using her hands energetically to help explain. "And, we narrowed the location down to the general location. But then, Brother," she gestured over to him, who was busy with the crane, "wanted to stop 'cause his stomach was getting queasy. We rarely get on a boat, you know," she paused, waiting for Bruce's nod before continuing. "Anyways, we spotted some land in the distance, so we moved the boat over there and got off, and then we hear some shouting in the distance," she paused to take a sip of water in a canteen she had, then continued. "So, we decide to investigate, so me and some other armed guys entered a tunnel. Before long, we hit a roadblock, where some rocks blocked the entrance. So, I whip out one of my grenades," She flashed one at him before putting it back," put it at the entrance, and boom!" She made a wide gesture. "The rocks are gone, and we see you and…Tidus fighting the fiend." She took a deep breath afterwards.

'So that's how it goes,' Bruce thought. He's knew why they were there, but he always wondered why they blew it up to begin with. "So that's how you got there," he replied, moving his gaze back towards the sea slowly. "Well, it's a good thing you did, or else who knows what would have happened," he said, feeling Rikku's gaze on him. "So, uh, thanks." He nervously began to flip the coin again, waiting for the scrutiny to stop.

She deftly grabbed the coin in mid-flight, breaking Bruce's concentration. His eyes followed the path of her hand, now extended in front of him, up to her face. She was looking right at him. Her eyes…that was the first thing that came to his mind. Even though the clouds took most of their luster away, he did notice the green spirals there. They were stunning. Almost enchanting, seeming to pull him in the more he looked at them, like two precious gems. "Why are you thanking me?" she asked quietly, holding the lock their eyes were in. "I almost died in that cave, but you saved me." Bruce widened his eyes slightly, and opened his mouth to speak, but she interrupted him. "I know you didn't have to, but you still did, and that means a lot to me."

Bruce shook his head slightly, putting a gloved hand on his forehead. He never took compliments well. "Nah, I know you're a lot tougher than to let a little poke like that kill ya," he said as he poked her shoulder with his hand, emitting a smile from her in return. He had to diffuse this moment, he was starting to get nervous. "I just had the potion on me, and I didn't have any use for it. Also…" his grin widened a little bit. "…I couldn't bear to watch someone with such pretty eyes get hurt," he finished, with a hint of mischief apparent on his face.

Rikku's mouth opened slightly, clearly shocked, and it was clear that she understood the compliment, because her face began to blush furiously. "Uh, hmm, I, uh…" she stammered, trying to hide her burning face with her hands. "We'd better get started," she finally let out, before turning away from Bruce and walking over to where Tidus was sitting. Bruce was wearing a full-on 1000-watt inducing smile as he got up from the crate to join her.

'I better be careful, or I'll start to actually like this girl.'

Author's Notes:

Well, here's a little bit of some relief for those who have been waiting for an update. I am truly, truly sorry, but there were several factors that stopped me from posting. For starters, I was locked in a heated debate on what to include and not include in the story. In the end, I decided to take the aspects created for the game style of FFX, i.e. Save Spheres and Sphere Grid, and toss them. I know, lots of you are waiting for those things, but hear me out!

The story is not that Bruce gets stuck in the game, moreso that the lines between reality and fiction were intertwined, and he was caught in the crossfire. Long story short, it didn't seem 'real' to have him put a sphere in a grid and have him instantly learn a move. Nor did it seem 'real' for him to be able to live again after he was killed. As the voice said at the beginning, there was a chance he could be killed, and the Sphere Grid would've contradicted that. So, the Sphere Grid and Save Spheres are gone. However, more realistic ideas, such as learning a language through the Al Bhed Primers, seemed more likely, since it would have been just like picking up a book on Spanish or French in the real world.

Yeah, it's confusing, but don't worry. The story won't suffer from it. There will still be the aspect of people's skills getting better as the game goes on, I just won't be using the Sphere Grid to do it. So, with the extra long segment of Author's Notes draws to a close, I would like to thank your devotion to the fic. I was experiencing some serious writer's block, and each paragraph seemed forced for a while, which was why it took a while to finish it. Also, the story ran too far, so I just decided to cut it halfway here. The second half is a few days away, so keep on looking for it! I need to know if any of the characters are OOC at all, cause I want this to be as close as I can get, so anything that doesn't settle right with anyone, feel free to ping me on it. As always, criticism is always appreciated (even though I haven't got any yet, I'm not that good, guys 8v)) and your reviews are needed, you are just as important to the advancement of the story as I am! Keep spreading the word!