Disclaimer – I don't own FFX

Leviathan

By Crimson Skies

Chapter Two – Baaj Temple

The first thing Tidus became aware of was the bone-chilling feel of being soaked in cold water. The smell of seawater assaulted his nose. Groaning, he gradually opened his eyes. A dull throb lingered in his skull. The ache in his muscles instantly made themselves known. As soon as his vision cleared, he examined his surroundings. Grey was the most prevalent color to be seen. Both the overcast sky and the surrounding water were a similar murky shade. He was lying on a slab of brown rock, half submersed in the water. There wasn't a singe soul in sight. The only living creature he could see was a bird perched on a nearby stone.

"Anybody there?" he called, hoping for a response. "Auron!" Frantically, his head jerked back in forth in an attempt to find the man who seemed to be at the root of his situation. "Heeey!" The loud cry echoed over the water. The wind howled in a harsh mockery of his calls.

The bird, startled by his exclamation abruptly took to the air. It flew towards a towering building in the distance where others of its kind circled. Lightning flashed on the horizon, spreading blotches of blue and purple in the clouds at random intervals. It was obvious that the weather was taking a turn for the worse. Tidus felt a chill work its way up his spine. He had no problems with water, as he'd spent half his life in it. Lightening, however, was something to be wary of. Not wasting time, he took better stock of his surroundings.

All around him were the remains of what appeared to be an ancient ruin. The toppled columns near him had a familiar look to them. Tidus had a strong feeling that he'd been to this place before. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. This place harbored a strong air of desolation and regret. It bored into his mind mercilessly. Despite that, he couldn't quite place the location from broken remains alone. He quickly determined that the best course of action would be to head towards the structure in the distance.

Diving below the surface, he swam quickly until reaching a staircase rising above the water. As he set foot on the stone stairs, something caused him to turn abruptly. He gazed at the ruins behind him with awakening alarm. For a moment, he saw the place as it had once been. A labyrinth of stone stretched out before him, lit by a glow that was unnatural. Across the chamber was an arched door. It was blocked by something that resembled a lowered shield that was rising slowly. Once again his vision flashed and he saw what the room contained. The statue of an impressive serpent was stretched before him. He heard the words that were spoken to him there.

"…This is the only way… to end everything…"

"No," he whispered, voice cracking. For a moment, the strength in his legs wavered. He locked his knees viciously, refusing to fall.

Tidus knew exactly where he was now. The locks he'd placed on his memories had moved past corrosion and were actually falling apart. This place was Baaj Temple. He had indeed been here before. The area he'd awoken in had once been a stone chamber. Fate certainly had a twisted sense of humor. It would make sense that he would come to in the place he'd been put to sleep. Turning abruptly, he stalked up the steps. Survival came first. Later he would have time to find out who had brought him here, and why.

As he followed the crumbling path above the water, Tidus felt as though something was watching him. He eyed the water below him warily. A shadow in the depths darted out from concealment. Before he could move, the path broke beneath his feet. The blond tumbled into the water with a startled yelp. Mere seconds later, he was ambushed by monstrous fish that were eyeing him hungrily.

Though he'd only seen such monsters a handful of times, he recognized them for what they were. Tidus didn't hesitate to draw his sword. With fiends it was kill or be killed. He'd heard horror stories of what fiends had done, before the war had started. Of course, once the battles had started it had been people committing the atrocities. The fiends had simply faded into the background.

The three monsters were vicious in their attacks. Their eyes burned with an insane awareness, lurking behind the instinct to feed and the urge to kill. Whatever sentience they had was a moot point, however, as they would kill him either way. He dove forward to slice one apart. The other two surged forward, nearly gouging his unprotected side. Tidus whirled around with a curse, cutting through another of the creatures.

His only warning of the new threat was an ominous rumbling. Behind the last fiend, a much larger one emerged from the rocks. The small fiend attempted to flee, but its sudden movement attracted the giant's attention. It was snapped easily in two. The lunge the giant made sent Tidus tumbling through the water. He recovered in time to see the monstrous thing advance upon him. With surprising quickness, it slashed at him with a sharp fin. His continued survival now hinged on his ability to outmaneuver the predator. The blows he struck in return didn't even phase it. Escape or death were the only options.

When it lunged at him, he barely managed to get out of its way. Luck was on his side as the creature careened into the rubble. It didn't stop for long, however. The thing quickly caught sight of its prey once more. Tidus, realizing there was no way to kill this beast, raced for the surface. Frantically he searched for safety. With a measure of relief, he noticed an intact doorway onto the building. He made a break for it, desperation fueling his worn out limbs. Luck had managed to find him once again, for he tumbled through the opening even as he felt the monster's maw surrounding him.

Part of the ceiling caved in from the monster's impact, sealing Tidus into the building. The only choice left was to move forward. With a resigned sigh, the blitzer did just that. The rubble at the top of the stairs yielded easily to a minimal amount of force, revealing an exit into what Tidus recognized as part of the temple for public worship. He examined the room wearily. Now that the adrenaline had left him he could feel the cold settling into his bones. He was actually able to see his breath

"Need…fire." The blond spoke the words aloud, feeling the need to fill the oppressive emptiness. Spotting the remains of a campfire, he felt a shot of relief. The ashes didn't look that old, so therefore the place had been visited by people recently. With a short burst of energy, he set out to find materials necessary to light a fire.

After a short bit of searching, he was able to find a flint and a bit of tinder. During that time, he was assaulted memories of the place he was in. Tidus recognized what had once been the secondary priest's chambers. Even though he'd gotten chilled doing so, he poked his head out of a window on the upper level. Though the rain inhibited his view he'd been able to spot what had once been the guard barracks. It was disturbing to see a place he'd known so well in ruins. It was obvious that time had done its work on the temple. A shadow of the days before was all that remained now. Judging from this he concluded that the temple had to have been mostly abandoned for decades, if not centuries to be in the state it was. Temples built by the Order tended to withstand the elements with very little maintenance.

The things that puzzled him were the campfire and the withered flowered he'd found. Both the campfire and the flowers were newer than their surroundings. However it seemed as though they were left by different people. He supposed that someone visiting the destroyed temple would leave fresh flowers as a token of respect, but certainly those same people wouldn't have desecrated an area of worship by building a fire in the center. Of course the flowers could have been left to make up for the desecration, but where would someone have gotten them if they hadn't planned ahead? And if they had planned ahead, why would they have needed to make a fire in the center of the temple? Also, the fire's remains seemed newer than the withered bouquets. He could only determine that they were left by different people. It reaffirmed his suspicion that people still frequented this area even thought it was ruined.

After arranging the tinder in the half burned woodpile Tidus struck the flint together. He leapt up in fright when lightning flashed at that exact moment. The thunder came almost at the exact same moment. It crashed over the ruins. It took a moment to regain his calm state of mind and even longer for his heartbeat to slow. The sparks had lit the fire, which had grown in his distraction. He counted himself fortunate that it had started so easily.

With a relieved sigh he sprawled on the ground next to the source of heat. His comfort didn't last long as his stomach saw fit to remind him of its empty state. Even so, he couldn't work up the energy to go looking. The warmth had finally penetrated his bones, offsetting his exhaustion. Sitting up, he hugged his knees to his chest trying to stay awake. When sleep finally overtook him he wasn't able to stop it.

"What do you want?" Tidus watched himself ask from a curious viewpoint. He abruptly became aware that he was dreaming, though he wasn't sure how he knew. Auron stood in the doorway of his boathouse, watching him impassively.

"It was a bad call," Auron answered his dream self. "Your team lost because of you."

"You came to say that?" the blitzer snapped back, irritated. Tidus remembered that moment quite well. He'd already been irritated by his own blunder during the game, and he'd felt angry that Auron had seen fit to rub it in.

"It's been…ten years," Auron reminded him. "I thought you'd be crying." Tidus watched himself blanch. After being gone so long, and then that was all he had to say? Tidus almost felt himself become angry again. This memory was important because it served as a reminder.

"Who, me?" Right after the question was asked, he felt another presence. Glancing to the side, he saw the odd purple clad boy run onto the scene.

"You cried," the boy declared. It almost sounded like an accusation. Suddenly, with an odd twisting sensation, Tidus found himself in control of his own body once more. The background blurred a bit as the image of the boy became clearer.

"It's you, Jin. It's good to see you and all, but…what did you do? Where am I? How are you here? What happened to me?"

"So you remember me?" The boy, Jin, seemed for a moment to loose the look of ancient mystery. A smile lit the lower portion of his face.

"I seem to recall knowing a kid who I teased about his height." The blitzer smirked at boy, who snorted. "But you're not the same, are you?"

"Yes and no," Jin answered. "For being such a blockhead, you were always remarkably intuitive." His form began to fade once more. Jin's head turned suddenly, as though he was listening to someone calling. "I'm so sorry. We had no right, but you are needed here," he said as he vanished completely.

"Wait! I need answers!" he called, but the apparition was already gone.

The blond awoke with a start. His head snapped around wildly until he remembered where he was. Burying his face in his arms, he felt a wave of despair. He'd never been one to get depressed, but this was pushing him to the edge. Fighting off the dark feelings, Tidus took stock of his situation. He'd been dreaming, that much he knew. He could remember that he'd been sealed, somehow, and had continued to exist in a dream world. It was a world based off of his memories of life before the war. After a set amount of time had past the dream recycled itself, beginning with him as a child and ending during his blitz career. In that never-ending loop, he'd been unable to remember anything of his previous existence.

Now he was wide awake and completely confused. He was alive, that was clear. Tidus also was aware that a great deal of time had passed. He felt a sudden chill. Glancing up, he saw the flames were beginning to die. A wave of panic took him.

"Hey, wait! Wait! Don't go out on me!" He leaned over the fire, pleading. "Just hold on. I'll get more wood!" he promised it. He'd only taken a few steps when he became aware of something watching him. Lightening flashed again. Turning, he saw the eyes of a fiend flash. It was a hideous creature, all spindly limbs and sharp edges. It raced around the edges of a balcony, building speed until it leapt at him. He wondered how long it had been watching him. This creature had a burning intelligence lurking underneath the insanity. The hiss it produced sounded suspicious. The blond would have sworn the thing had just called him an abomination.

After the first attack, the fiend discovered its prey had a sting. Tidus had managed to score a couple solid hits within the first round even though he sustained injuries as well. They eyed each other warily. Just before the fight renewed, both man and creature were distracted by a sealed door blowing inward. Standing in the new opening was a group of strangely dressed people. They carried patchwork guns a far cry from the quality that Tidus was used to seeing. Even so he recognized the designs. The lead individual, the only woman in the group, seemed to assess the situation quickly. Not wasting time, she jumped into the fray with no word of warning.

"You on my side?" Tidus asked. "Cool!" His spirit leapt at the rescue. The girl lobbed several low-powered grenades at the creature in response. Tidus, using the cover of smoke to his advantage, leapt in to deliver a finished blow. The creature finally succumbed, its body disintegrating rapidly in the way of fiends. After the victory, the two unexpected allies studied each other. The girl snapped off her goggles and Tidus was shocked to see her eyes had a curious spirals in them. She seemed friendly, despite her oddness. Tidus finally allowed himself to relax. He bent over, stretching out his sore limbs. He could feel the shallow cuts from the monster smarting. He'd definitely have bruises.

"Whew! That was close." His voice betrayed his relief. It took him completely by surprise when one of the men came up to him and grabbed him by the hair. He was jerked roughly to a standing position, head held back at an awkward angle. "Hey, lemme go!" he protested loudly, struggling. He abruptly still when his captors surrounded him, training their guns on him. They began to converse in a language that he didn't even recognize. Even so, he understood the tones and didn't like the implications. When a knife was held to his throat he began to wish that he'd been left alone with the fiend. He tilted his head farther back, trying to distance his neck from the edge.

The girl, at least, seemed to protest their treatment of him. It seemed she was in command, for they released him. He wasn't sure what to think when she approached him. Leaning over his shoulder, she whispered a word in his ear. He didn't have time to puzzle over it as she punched him in the stomach, hard. Dropping to his knees, his vision blurred. He clutched at his middle in a futile effort to dull the pain. He blacked out as he hit the ground.

ENDCHAPTERTWO

Well, how is it? Anyone know where I'm going with this yet? Anyway, I hoped you all liked it. This chapter was…difficult, to say the least. I hope I wasn't repetative. I managed to clean it up some, but it might still give that impression. It's hard to try and make certain parts interesting when they mimic the game. It's especially hard to describe battle scenes, as I don't want to leave the important ones out entirely.

Thanks to:

Puppet in the Corner, risse, Meanae

For reviewing.