(Update)
Ok, aplogies all around for those of you who've been waiting. Yes I know it's been almost a year (maybe longer) since I started this story and I'm sorry I've kept you waiting. Work, searching for work and writting too many stories at once are to blame. But! To make it up I've added three more chatpers with another one the way. mumbles As soon as I write it... Anyways, here it is, read it, enjoy it and review!
Chapter 2
Welcome to Besaid!
Nathan was fitful in his sleep, his room was the hottest in the whole house and he didn't have an AC to cool off, only a small fan that was prone to falling over. It wouldn't surprise him to wake up sweating, but he was starting to have some trouble breathing which often happened during summer. The wall next to his bed as cool at night, the layout of the house had the wall next to his bed being the other side of the wall to the living room. And directly across the living room was a window AC which meant cool air hit the far wall and cooled it. The result was that he'd often curl up and move as close as he could to the wall and have little air to breath.
But this was different somehow, he wasn't just having trouble breathing he wasn't breathing at all! His eyes fluttered open and as usual the darkness of his room greeted him but something was different here too. Normally the VCR on top of his TV gave off a small amount of light but in the pitch blackness of night it gave off enough to see his way to the door if he needed to get a drink of water or go to the bathroom. No, now the light source was coming from above him. Nathan looked up and blinked his eyes against the sudden sting and realized that the light was moving as if he were looking at it through water.
Water? He thought and looked at himself and very nearly panicked when he realized what was happening. I'm in the bloody OCEAN! With that, he swam as fast as he could for the surface, his lungs felt as though they were expanding to the point of exploding in his chest until he broke the surface. The gasp of air he took in was almost a roar as he fell back down, he'd swam so fast that he'd actually jumped out of the water but not all the way. He looked around wildly as he sucked in air through his mouth but he could make out very little, his eyes stung from the salt water and for the time being blinded him and without fresh water he couldn't clean them. The most he could tell was that it was night and the full moon was the light he'd seen from below the waves. The water wasn't cold, it certainly wasn't warm but it wasn't freezing, nonetheless he was soaked and having trouble staying afloat. Mentally he refused to take off his boots, mostly because of the way the laces were set up. In order to take them off he'd have to bend over and obviously that wasn't gonna happen here.
It was then that he realized that he still held his cell phone in his left hand, quickly he pressed a button then groaned when the screen didn't light up. Even blind as he was the light from his phone would have been bright enough to see like the moonlight. The damn thing isn't water proof…..even if it was, how in the hell am I supposed to let anyone know where I am? I don't know what ocean I'm in! And how the hell would I explain to the rescue crew that one moment I was in my bed and the next nearly drowning in the sea? They'd lock me up in the nut house before my socks had a chance to dry and throw away the key! Nathan sigh and closed his eyes for a moment. Well, I suppose the only thing I can do is wait. I can't see anything like this so I'll have to wait for the salt to clear from my eyes, besides it's the middle of the night. I couldn't see any islands or land masses in the dark anyways so I can't waste my energy swimming in a randomly picked direction. He hefted the water logged phone then hurled it away, hearing it skip once before it splashed and sank.
Nathan did his best to keep his head above water, remembering his swimming lessons from the YMCA as the moon slowly set. During the night, other thoughts occurred to him. What if there wasn't any land nearby? What if he truly was in the middle of the ocean? If that were the case then sooner or later he'd run out of energy and drown. Worse, what if he'd somehow landed in shark infested waters or jellyfish! Silently, he prayed that the moon would sink faster and the sun rise sooner and continued that prayer, muttering it a little louder whenever another thought of how he might die popped into his mind. When the sun rose, he laughed almost hysterically and made a silent promise to NEVER swim in the ocean again if he could help it. Yessir, nothing but nice clean, animal free public pools for him from now on.
By great good fortune, there was an island nearby and again he thanked God that he hadn't started to swim in a random direction. If it had come to that he'd have followed the moon which would have led him AWAY from the island! Even though it was only a few miles away, Nathan was tired from treading water all night and while he knew enough to get to shore he wasn't an Olympic swimmer. It took nearly three hours for him to swim the distance to the island, he suspected that he was farther away from the island when he first surfaced and that the tide had slowly pulled him closer.
As he got closer, he struggled not to waste his energy with frantic swimming to get there faster. That and if there were sharks in the water, frantic movements meant a wounded animal which in turn equaled free lunch. Once he got within half a mile he started to slow, his energy beginning to give out and he had to let the tide carry him in the last hundred yards or so. Once he felt land, he used the last of his energy to haul himself up on all fours and crawl slowly from water, after all if he'd let himself collapse there then there was a good chance the surf would drown him or even carry him away again.
Tired as he was, something about this beach tickled his memory as if he'd been there before or perhaps seen it. But he couldn't be sure, with Nathan if you showed him a picture of a beach then put him on it he wouldn't know it was the same beach from the picture. The same could be said with any place in a picture, the only way this place could seem familiar was if he'd either been there before or if he'd seen it hundreds of times before in pictures rather than once or twice. But none of that mattered to him now, he no longer felt the water washing over him and with grateful sigh he left himself collapse to the sand and drifted off into exhausted sleep. His last conscious thought was I hope some crab doesn't decide to use my mouth as a cave……that would really suck……
He wasn't quite sure just how long he'd slept, was it a few hours or a few days? However long it was, it wasn't enough as his muscles screamed in protest when he pushed himself up and rolled over. My clothes are still wet but not soaked and the sky is blue. I remember it was still rose colored from dawn when I got here, wherever here is. He blinked once then again, but when his eyelids went down, they stayed down and again he slept. When he woke again, some two hours later he guessed, he felt a little stronger but only a little and his muscles still screamed at him as he sat up and looked around slowly. Something about this beach was familiar…but what? There was a dock nearby, some fishing boats near small huts and fishing nets set up next to the boats. A blitz ball sat near the door of one of the huts and he could clearly see a box that curiously reminded him of a treasure chest….. Wait a minute……a blitz ball? That can't be right….
His head swung back to the hut in question and his eyes bulged, ready to pop out of his head. It…..it IS a blitz ball……Oh my God……I'm on Besaid Island…..I'm…IN Final Fantasy X! "C'mon now Nathan…." He said to himself, his voice somewhat raspy since his throat was parched. "This has to be some kind of weird dream, it has to be. I mean come on, me? On Besaid?" But in your dreams you never felt pain or fear, even in nightmares. Remember that dream where you fell from the top of the ferris wheel? You didn't feel a thing when you landed. So why then did you feel like you were drowning? Why did your eyes sting from the salt water and why are you exhausted now? AND why did you appear dressed as you were when you fell asleep? You and I both know that you never look at yourself when you dream and you never know what you wear. This CAN'T be a dream. "Damn it….." He muttered. "I hate it when that little voice is right……"
Slowly he pushed himself to a stand and realized why he didn't recognize Besaid before, in the game he'd always seen the beach during the day with the sun overhead. He'd first seen it here in the pre-morning light and from a different angle. "I've got to try and get to the village…….wait…who am I kidding? If this really is Besaid Island and not some messed up dream then there's fiends about. I'm in no shape to fight and even if I was, I don't know how to." Nathan turned slowly to watch the ocean he'd just come out of and half expected to see Sin staring at him, how else could he have been brought here? But there was nothing there except the water. "A good thing, I suppose." He said softly and refrained from speaking until he could find some water. Otherwise this poor little island would be torn apart….besides….Sin doesn't show up at Besaid. Now then, since I can't get to the village on my own the only thing I can do is wait for the Aurochs to come and practice. I'd better watch out for stray…. His thought was cut off when a blitz ball suddenly smacked him in the back of the head with enough force to knock him down. Tired as he still was, it was more than enough to daze him and make him see double. He almost didn't hear the person who'd kicked the blitz ball speak to him. "Sorry about that, I didn't think anyone was down here yet. Hey….you ok? Hey, hey! Cap'n Wakka! CAP'N WAKKA!" After that all went black.
