Chapter Three: Kilika (this is not as innocent as it sounds)
After they packed, bought tickets, and boarded the ferry, it was already nearing noon. After lunch and the stowing away of bags, they all wandered around the deck, waiting for the Kilika shore to come into view. Tidus and Yuna stood together at the railing, staring out at the ocean and giggling to each other. Of course, they were always together, always making certain of the other's presence, so afraid of losing each other again. Wakka was lying in a chair, snoring heavily. Rikku rolled her eyes.
"I don't see how you sleep at night," she sighed. Lulu just grinned and picked up a pillow. She placed it gently on his face and instantly the noise was toned down considerably. Rikku laughed. Lulu showed a rare grin, Rikku's excitement rubbing off on her. Suddenly, the boat hit the dock and the captain shouted, "ALL OFF!"
Lulu shook Wakka awake and handed the bags to him.
"Why do I have to do it?" he moaned.
"Because I told you to," she informed him, walking right by him. Rikku followed her, laughing and sticking out her tongue at Wakka. He rolled his eyes and followed the two girls. Tidus and Yuna walked off last, hand in hand. As soon as they stepped off, someone cried, "It's the summoner!"
A group of young kids clustered around their feet. "I can't believe it's you, Lady Yuna!" one shouted.
"And it's her boooyfriiiend!" one of the girls teased.
Yuna just smiled.
"That's him," she heard someone whisper from beside her. She turned and saw no one there but a little girl with bright red hair, and brushed it off as he own wild imagination.
One of the kids tugged on Tidus's shorts. "Are you really dead?" he asked.
Tidus's eyes went wide. Yuna knelt down next to the kid, trying to control her panic. "Who told you a silly thing like that?" she asked. He pointed at someone who was walking away fast, someone with oddly familiar blue hair. "Oh, my God," she breathed. She stood up. "I'm sorry, but we have to go. Really." She pushed her way through the short crowd, clutching Tidus's hand. "It's Seymour," she murmured to him.
His aqua eyes grew furious and he stood on his toes for a better look at the crowd. "Where!" he hissed. Yuna pointed to a blue head making its way toward the temple. Tidus went barrelling after him, dragging Yuna with him. They passed Wakka, Lulu, and Rikku on the way, shouting, "Follow us!" The five pushed through people, trying to get to the half-Guado they'd already killed four times. They reached the temple and Tidus threw open the door. Seymour stood there, smiling annoyingly at them. "Where did you come from!" Tidus demanded.
"I am not alive, and yet not dead. I cannot leave. Remember?" Seymour giggled.
"Don't start with me!" Wakka warned. All his reluctance to hurting a maester had disappeared the second, or third…or fourth…or twentieth time they'd fought Seymour.
"What do you want?" Yuna cried.
"Why, the summoner, of course. For to be linked with the one who defeated Sin is to be loved once again," he said. Then he sighed. "Yevon is slowly dying, along with its maesters. And without that title, I am nothing." He smiled hideously at Yuna. "That's where you come in, my dear. You see, if you are my wife, then I will be restored to my former glory!" he said happily.
"What are you talking about?" Rikku burst.
"I get rid of the boyfriend, then you come running to me. Not willingly, of course, but…whatever it takes," he giggled. Yuna wanted to slap him, but instead squeezed Tidus's hand.
"You plan on getting rid of me by telling people I'm dead? Oh, that's gonna work!" he scoffed.
Seymour raised one eyebrow. "But if I tell, then all of Kilika will know. And you will go away, won't you?" He smiled, obviously feeling as if he finally had the upper hand. Tidus glanced at his fingertips, only to see that they were beginning to fade.
"Oh, my God!" Yuna gasped. Then she turned to Seymour. "I will never marry you! I don't care what you do!" she screamed.
"We won't let her," Lulu said, moving smoothly in front of Yuna to protect her. Wakka and Rikku followed suit, determined looks on their faces.
He sighed and let his head fall into his hand. "Oh, you will care. Because I am the only one who can produce a mind wipe large enough to affect the city. And if you do not agree, you may find that I will not be so ready to do as you ask," he told them, lifting his head and examining his fingernails casually.
In a sudden swirl of pyreflies, an old woman appeared in front of them. "Tidus, you blond fool! I told you if you told more than seven people my magic would wear off!" she screeched.
Tidus nodded. "But I didn't-" he started.
"Uh-uh! I don't want to hear it! You've got one week to mind wipe all those people, or it's back in the box for you, Pandora!" And with that, she disappeared, leaving only the faint smell of overcooked cabbage and cats.
Yuna stared at Tidus. "You're going to leave me again?" she cried. She didn't think she could take that.
"No. We'll find a way around it," he soothed her, hugging her close. Seymour was now very interested in the hem of his blue robes. Tidus glared at him.
He looked up at the group and grinned. "Here are my terms. Yuna marries me, you little oddities go back to wherever it is you came from, and the boyfriend lives on. But you'll never see him again, so it won't really matter," he said happily.
"Never," Yuna whispered.
Seymour shrugged. "Suit yourself." He spun and walked up the steps, humming to himself.
Yuna looked at Tidus, silently begging him to tell her it would be all right, like he always did. He just smiled at her, but his eyes betrayed his feelings. She laid her head against his chest and closed her eyes, feeling the tears brimming to the surface. Wakka and Lulu stayed quiet, not being able to think of anything to say. When Yuna finally pulled away from Tidus, Rikku hugged her cousin tightly.
"I'm so sorry, Yunie!" she cried.
Yuna nodded and took Tidus's hand. She wiped her eyes with her free hand and smiled at her friends. "Well, we might as well make the best of it," she said resolutely.
And with that sentence, her friends knew she had given up all hope. Painfully and slowly, in a effort to ease as much of the hurt as possible, she gave up all the dreams that had been rekindled when Tidus reappeared: the big wedding surrounded by her friends, the house in Besaid, the walks on the beach with her husband, a lifetime of happiness. All gone with one little sentence from Seymour. She retreated within herself, trying to hide from all the pain love brought to her. She looked up at her friends, but she wasn't there anymore. The Yuna they knew was gone.
Tidus led her into the crowded streets of Kilika, but she didn't feel the people pushing past her or Tidus's firm grip on her hand. –This is interesting,– she thought, with mild curiosity. It was like watching a movie about some other girl's miserable life. She didn't feel the pain that still lingered in her soul from her father's death, nor the loss of her beloved Tidus. She felt…nothing. An empty hole where her feelings used to be.
The rest of the day passed in the same fashion. They checked into a hotel, people crowded around her, desperate to hear her tale again. And she told it, exactly like she had dozens of times to hundreds of people. But she was not speaking the words. The unknown force that took over her body was controlling her mouth, making her speak. She just watched, looked into the eager faces of the young bare-footed children. But their delighted smiles did not make her smile back, as they normally did. They didn't affect her at all.
Nothing did.
Tidus led her up to their room and turned to her. He said something, but Yuna didn't comprehend. Part of her wanted to know, but the rest of her cowered away in fear of what those words would bring. It wasn't until she saw Tidus reaching out for her did she realize that she had actually physically shrunken away from Tidus, as if he was about to hit her. He stared into her eyes and took her by the shoulders. He was shouting at her, his fingers digging into her flesh. –Ow! That hurts!...I think,–she thought.
"Yuna! Wake up!" she heard Tidus bellow. The first sounds she'd heard, really heard, all day. In her world, tucked away inside her own soul, sound meant nothing. Wakka, Rikku, and Lulu walked in to see what the shouting was about. Yuna sat down on the bed and peered at them. Tidus was talking to them, gesturing at Yuna.
She smiled a little, not understanding. –They're talking about me. They're worried about me! I've got to say something, tell them I'm all right,–she thought, suddenly concerned. But she could not make her lips open, could not force her mouth to say the words that ached to come out. She was starting to get frustrated with herself. She sat back and contemplated. –I know my eyes are working. I can see things. And I suppose my brain is working again, because I can think. But why can't I make anything else work?–She was mentally banging her fists against her skull, her consciousness trying to get out again. –I didn't know going back out again would be so hard! Retreat was so easy. Why is it so difficult the other way around?– She stared at her own hands, willing for her fingers to twitch, to show that she was still in control of her body. Nothing happened.
It is because you have left that behind, a familiar voice said inside her head.
–Dad?–she cried mentally.
Yes. We don't have much time. They're talking about taking you to the local witch doctor, and that would only make things worse, Braska told her. She nodded mentally and waited for instructions from her adored father. You have abandoned your feelings, because they hurt you too much. With that, you have surrendered control of your body. To regain this control, you must embrace your feelings with all your soul, he ordered her, gently but firmly.
–I can't. It hurts so much… –She didn't want the pain to come back.
Yuna! Now! Braska insisted.
She hesitated, then dove into her memories, trying to feel the emotions attached with each. The moment she realized her father wasn't coming back, when Kimahri had come to take her to Besaid. When Wakka and Lulu forbade her to become and summoner, and she did anyway. When Tidus first showed up in Besaid, lost and confused. When she'd mentally taken him into her care, then when he'd surprised her and ended up guarding her when she thought she would be mothering him! When she'd defeated Sin, the triumph that she'd conquered the enemy of Spira. When Tidus had left her standing in front of the forest, crying into the wind. When she'd been reunited with him, when he'd come back to her, sitting there on the beach and falling asleep in his arms again. When Seymour told her Tidus was going to disappear, then the moment when she'd let her dreams go.
She suddenly burst into tears. Sound exploded in her ears, from Tidus, Rikku, Wakka, and Lulu's loud talking to the squeak of the dessert cart outside the door to the music someone in another room was playing.
Tidus spun. "Yuna!" he exclaimed.
He sat down next to her and she sobbed into his shoulder, crying as she'd never let herself cry before. She cried for the loss of her parents, she cried from the stress of the pilgrimage and all the aftermath of Sin's vanquishing, she cried for the loss of Tidus twice over, then she just cried because she was crying. When the sobs finally stopped, she wiped her eyes and sniffed, her head throbbing painfully.
Rikku sat down next to her and smiled sympathetically. "You okay?" she asked.
Yuna nodded, then looked at her friends. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me…" she began.
"No need to apologize. It's all right," Lulu interrupted.
Yuna nodded again, then stood up. "Anyone hungry?" she asked.
The others glanced at each other then, realizing that the plan was to pretend like nothing happened, nodded. They walked out of the room, rode the elevator down, and were just about to exit the hotel when a girl in green robes came running up. Yuna recognized her as Shelinda, a young priestess who had been made captain of the guard last year. She ran up to them, gasping and clutching the stitch in her side. Tidus rolled his eyes and Yuna poked him a little with her elbow.
"My Lady Summoner!" Shelinda panted. Yuna smiled. Shelinda gave her the Yevon prayer and Yuna returned it, wondering exactly where Shelinda was going with this. "Lady Yuna, there is trouble on the shore! You must come quickly!" Shelinda begged. Yuna frowned and nodded. They followed Shelinda to the coast of Kilika. Yuna gasped when she saw what was waiting.
An enormous serpent-like creature, its scaly tails curled under it in the water, sat there, peacefully blinking its sea green eyes at the crowd on the beach. When it saw Yuna, it lifted its head slightly and its eyes seemed to waver between blue and green for a moment.
"What is it?" Yuna asked Shelinda.
"No one knows! Most think it is a leftover aeon!" she explained.
Yuna nodded and surveyed the creature. It was as long as Sin had been, but much prettier. Its diamond-hard scales were sapphire blue, shining iridescent in the setting sun. It had a row of translucent green spikes running down its back and two diamond horns on its head. It lowered its head until it was staring Yuna full in the face, its bright green eyes intelligent and, oddly enough, not particularly angry. For some reason, Yuna found herself bowing to this immense creature.
It bowed its head in return, taking care not to hit anyone. "High Summoner?" the creature asked. Yuna nodded. "I've been looking all over for you!" the creature exclaimed, sounding amazingly like a teenage girl. "My name's Arianna and I've been trying to find you for ever! You know, for a famous chick, you're awfully hard to track down," she continued. Then she paused. "Of course, it doesn't help when everyone you see runs away before you can ask them a question." She laughed a little, showing long white fangs. Tidus was gaping at Arianna, unable to pull together the mental capacity to for an entire sentence, much less a word. "Oh, don't look so horrified, Tidus. I won't eat you, I promise," the creature chided. Tidus just opened and closed his mouth like a dying goldfish.
"Do you know him?" Yuna asked.
Arianna nodded slowly, trying not to whack her head against anything.
"He's my brother."