Moon Says: I don't know what came over me. Maybe it was the awesome review I got. I was suddenly inspired to write more. This is the Kilika trip. Next chapter will be Kilika, then Luca, then whatever comes to me. I had planned to finish Besaid in the last chapter, but I liked where I ended it. PLEASE BE AWARE that I did go back and edit all previous chapters along with changing her name. My smart self has spent to long away from FFX/X-2 that I forgot Shuyin was a guy...it looked similar to what I had named my character so...
CHALLENGE: Speaking of her name: the challenge is to figure out why she is named Emma! I can think of two reasons, really, but one of them was just thought of now. Figure out either one and you win! The winner gets a secret to the fic, or I can add something to the fic that they want. Or I could write anything really...oneshot or whatever.
Pages: 9 (not as long, sorry)
Words: 3, 782
Uploaded: 13 Feb 2015
~Intervention~
Chapter 3
As I leave the temple, it suddenly hits me that I've haven't really been myself lately. And it was scaring me. I was a man who looked on the bright side of things but could fall to my anger too. But now? There seemed to be no light in me.
I was going Dark. Something he had feared.
I used to know how to have a good time, throw a joke or two out. Never really be serious. That was always her. She was the Ice to my Fire. She was Dark and I was Light.
But without her…I was slipping.
Leaving my thoughts, I found myself on top of the hill that looked over the village.
I started to wonder as I saw the villagers rejoice that their Apprentice was alive and now a full fledge Summoner. Was this the right path? Was this dark man I was becoming a good thing?
I sighed, and looked up at the sky. It was twilight.
Would she still want me if I wasn't that man anymore? If I wasn't her Light? What if by succumbing to the Dark…I couldn't keep her from going too far down that path?
She was the one who always stopped me from falling into the Darkness; I never understood how I did the same for her. I remember she told me after what happened on Bikanel Island as she lay in my arms…
"I almost lost you today. Not just in body…you let your fear overtake you. You're anger took control. They told me what happened while I was…dying. This is why I embrace the Ice with everything I have. We're just alike. There's a Darkness inside of us that if we let free, the whole world would be consumed. We're just alike, my heart. We would end this world for the other," she chuckled. "The age old question: fire or ice?"
My thoughts stopped when I heard shouting and cheering. My eyes narrowed as I saw the new Summoner Summon her newly acquired Aeon as if it was a pet she wanted to show off.
I scoffed, my irritation and disapproval quite clear on my face. She was a child, then and now.
So…the past was repeating itself.
No. I was different. Now, I could see what was wrong before. We tried to coddle the girl, tried to protect her, tried to keep her with us, tried to make her happy…but that wasn't life. Life isn't always happy.
Emma and I had made mistakes. We tried to give her sister everything we didn't have. We tried to make her happy because we were gone all the time. Then, Emma wanted me to stay with her. But I just couldn't abandon my love. Yet, I always went along with her plans.
I wasn't that man anymore. I wasn't going to hurt the woman I loved but tried so fucking hard to keep her to myself. I was the same as Emma. We were afraid the other was going to leave us…but not this time.
I would try and be polite to the girl, whatever her name was, but she would never have any part of me.
In my determination to be free of the girl, I had come to terms with who I was now. I would never be the same. Could any of us be? I had destroyed the woman I loved, and in the process, I did the same to me, and the others caught in the middle.
But I wasn't the only one at fault. The sisters were just as guilty. I wondered if, when, I found Emma, could we move past it?
Turning away from the village and my eyes gazed on the other side of the cliff, I could see the sea. Looking out at the sea and seeing the water just continuing to move no matter what disrupted it…I knew that we could.
We had our second chance after all.
~Tidus~
That night I dreamed. I dreamed I was waiting on the boat, and the girl was there but so was my love. The girl who had Summoned her new Aeon and showed it around like it was a shiny new toy was trying to get me to love her, to go away with her, to leave the red-headed woman alone.
"She doesn't need you. She doesn't love you. Not like I do. Let's leave Zanarkand, you promised!" she whined.
Emma just stayed quiet as if she expected not to chosen. She was always like this; she always thought no one would want her.
I walked silently toward her, grabbed one of her hands, and pulled her to me. I held her close and whispered as my forehead leaned down towards hers.
"Never again…" I started. "It should have always been you and me…now, that's how it's going to be. Me and you forever. Just like it should be."
As my hands went to touch the sides of her face, tilted it up, and my lips lowered to hers, I heard a voice I never wanted to hear again.
"Boy! What do you think you're doing? Do you really think she wants you? Like you can keep a woman. Remember what happened last time? You screwed everything up! Just like you always do! She needs a real man; one who knows what he wants and is willing to keep her."
It took all my self control to ignore him as I leaned down to kiss her. When I let go of her lips, I whispered, "me and you: always."
Jecht, the bastard, just wouldn't shut up.
"You can't do anything right. Do you really think she's going to believe you?"
I looked into her eyes, the black staring back at me always made me think they were the entrances to the Void. I knew I would jump straight in if she asked me to. She was always so different from her sister. Her sister had brown hair and brown eyes, but my girl took after her mother. For twins, they couldn't be more different.
The look in the black orbs told me exactly how she felt. She was scared, but she wasn't a coward. She embraced her fear and fought to make sure that whatever it was that caused it in the first place would never came to pass.
She closed her eyes and gave me a small smile.
"Find me…show me…stay with me this time…"
~Tidus~
As soon as I woke, I heard voices outside the tent. It was the female Guardian from before.
"He does look a lot like Chappu. I was surprised, too, the first time I saw him. But no matter what he looks like, he isn't Chappu. You shouldn't have brought him here."
"What was I supposed to do? He needed help!" Wakka countered.
With that, I left the hut. I hated when people were talking about me behind my back. I leveled a look that told the woman I was unimpressed with what she was sprouting from that mouth of hers. When she glared back, I raised an eyebrow.
She left. Works every time. No one can resist me. Whether they want to jump my bones or kill me. A gift, I must say.
I turned to Wakka. The guy did help me out a bit, might as well see if she didn't mentally abuse him or something. She looks and sounds like someone who got off on abusing people, verbally at least. What's with that doll anyway? "You okay?"
Wakka let out a sigh as he watched her walk away. "My little brother, Chappu, looked like you. He was with the Crusaders when they fought Sin last year. He didn't make it. I first heard on the day of the tournament."
That made sense. Wanting to become a Guardian and not having his head in the game.
"I know what it's like to lose people," I remarked. I had lost many of our Squad to various enemies throughout the years. Especially to war. It made me hate Yevon even more; he had the power to stop the war before it even happened. But he was power hungry and jealous of his sister and of me. "That why you became a Guardian? Hoping to be there to kill Sin?"
Wakka nodded. "That was the idea, but I'm more worried about a stupid game now than avenging my brother. Well, after the next tournament, I'll be a guardian full-time."
As we started to leave for the docks, Wakka stopped me. "Oh, wait. There was something I wanted to give you." He ran back into the tent, and the red-head came back with a rather remarkable sword. The blade was crystal blue…it was a elemental blade. Water at that. Huh. This would have been more for her than me. I'm a fire guy myself, but I'll take what I can get.
"Thanks, man!"
As we came up to Lulu, who was waiting at the edge of the village, her eyes fell to the sword Wakka gave me. Not wishing to listen to her, I went ahead. She was going to try my patience; I just knew it. I wonder if she would piss me off to the point I'd kill her? It wouldn't be the first time it's happened…
When I heard them talking about Yuna coming along, I knew I wanted to be at the dock before they were. I especially didn't want to be walking with them. With a few shortcuts, thanks to the faulty memory that loves to come and go, I was there at least ten minutes before they were even though I had gotten stopped by more fiends than that did. Apparently, the bastards targeted those in a group less than those by themselves. Go figure.
Once they got to the dock, the boat left quite quickly after that. Wakka came over to me, a bit bummed out that I had ignored him, especially the girl, and didn't walk with them down to the dock.
"Though I'm upset at you ignoring Yuna who's like a little sister to me, don't be getting any ideas." The man wearing yellow pants and no shirt warned me.
I scoffed. "She's not my type."
She never has been my type, I thought as I leaned over the rails staring at the water. Even though I have the intense need to protect someone and be needed, I don't particular like those who need protecting. Emma needs it in a different way. Protecting her physically isn't what she really needs, though it is required sometimes. No, she needs me to protect her heart, her soul, her mind.
Wakka made a grunt and went below deck. Apparently, this fearless warrior started getting sea-sick. That actually surprised me considering he played Blitzball. I've never met a player that got sea-sick.
Lulu kept her distance as did the Ronso that followed the girl Summoner around. Ah, so that was what his race was called. When I looked at him from the corner of my eye, it seemed like he was glaring at me. Cute. Just like a Kitten.
I got bored leaning on the railing, so I hopped up and sat. One of Wakka's players warned me to get down before I feel into the water. Like I'd fall. He didn't say much else; instead, he started gossiping with his buddy about the girl. Apparently, there are rumors she was someone called Lord Braska's daughter…thinking back, it sounded like the name of that unfamiliar statue the Priest was boasting about. So her father was the last High Summoner, huh. I wonder if she feels lost in his shadow and becoming a Summoner was her way of surpassing him.
About half of the way there, Yuna came up to me.
"So I hear you like Blitzball, do you remember what team you were on?" the tiny girl asked me Wakka can't keep his mouth shut if she knows this much.
I tilted my head. Should I tell her? Why the fuck not. Maybe it would make her leave me alone. Of course, it did the exact opposite.
"The Zanarkand Abes," was my short and curt reply.
She gasped. "Someone once told me that he was from Zanarkand and played on the same team. He said that the there is a great stadium, all lit up even at night! He said that great Blitzball tournaments are held there, and the stands are always full."
I snapped my head around to look at her. "And how do you know that?"
"A man named Jecht told me. He was my father's Guardian."
If my father was her father's Guardian, that would mean he was here ten years ago. Right around the time he disappeared. I hmphed. "So this is where the bastard went. Probably got tired of all his fans and the fame he had in Zanarkand and wanted more somewhere else."
By yet another gasp coming from her, I'd say little Yuna was shocked. Wonder if it was that I knew him or by my less than nice words towards him. Probably both.
"How did you know him? I take it you didn't like him." Yuna questioned me, all too interested about my life if you ask me.
"He was a sucky father," I answered and wished she would have left it at that.
Of course she didn't. "This must be fate us meeting! It must be a blessing of Yevon; maybe this is a sign for you to become my Guardian." Yuna not so subtly stated.
I was tired of the conversation, especially with where she was going with this. I bet next she was going to say since they were the best of friends we should get married and have kids.
Lucky for me, yeah I said lucky, the book started rocking.
"Thank Kami," I muttered, but my attention was soon distracted as the boat tipped and she fell.
Yuna started sliding down the boat heading for the water. I could have let her go, but instinct had me grabbing her hand and using the other to hold on to the railing. When I grabbed her, I hadn't got a good enough of a hold and she slipped out of my hold.
Lucky for the girl, the Ronso did some impressive jumping and grabbed her. This time she was held onto properly.
As the boat rights itself, everyone sees Sin coming out of the water. For just a spilt-second, I recognize the monstrosity. For just that one second, everything becomes clear.
What did we do? No wonder the Fayth said it was our job to destroy the beast.
Then the thought and revelation was gone, and I saw the sailors immediately go for the harpoon, but Wakka, suddenly okay with his sea-sickness, yelled at them.
"What are you doing? Don't stick a harpoon in it! We'll go down as it drags us under!"
I noticed something the sailors did that Wakka didn't: the beast was headed for Kilika. Damn. Us or the village? A part of me wondered why I even though the question. Of course we were going to try and stop the thing.
I knew the harpoon would be useless when it came to damage. All those two spears did was keep the boat right next to it.
I learned something new as Sin pulled the boat along: it was somewhat intelligent. It launched scales, off its fin, to attack us.
The Ronso stood by me and Yuna as we were attacked. As we returned our attacks, I realized just how useless Yuna was. The only thing she was good for was healing.
The little scales shot out a spike toward her and, after jumping in front of her because the Ronso was too busy defending himself to do it, I used my sword to block the attack. It took no time once we got around the attacks to kill the three scale things. Unfortunately, Sin sent more.
"Damn it. Yuna," I turned to her, thinking quickly. "Are Lulu and Wakka long distanced fighters?"
She nodded quite quickly as I blocked another shot from hitting her. Another bites the dust, I thought as I stabbed the exact one that tried to attack the useless one in our company.
"Get them over here," I ordered as I looked to the Ronso. "When Wakka gets over here, switch with him. We need to take out the fin. I'll take care of these scales. Keep Yuna safe in case we get hurt."
Both of them did as I said, and it didn't take long to take the damn thing out. Of course, Lulu called Yuna over.
"Use your Aeon!" the dark haired woman urged.
Did she want to overkill it? I didn't expect that; Sin launched more of its scale things. Wakka and I quickly killed them so they wouldn't target Yuna.
Even if I was pissed with Valefor for choosing Yuna, the Aeon was strong.
The backlash from the Aeon's attack and Sin going down was enough to knock us off our feet. I tried to grab the railing, something to keep me steady, but I couldn't. Not with the position I had been in as the fin was defeated. As I went overboard, I noticed the Ronso had jumped back in to hold Yuna in place.
Sin wasn't done with us yet, though. As I gained whatever balance I could in the water and stopped sinking, I was attacked by more of Sin's scales.
I killed them just as Wakka joined me. Just as we were about to launch ourselves to the surface, a giant jellyfish looking thing attacked us. The magic around it matched Sin, and it had some helpers with it—more scales. Yay.
I threw my body toward it, trying to cut the damn thing in half, but it moved out of the way. The scales didn't, fortunately, and I sword swiped them in one blow (after quickly correcting my type of attack). I turned around toward the Sin-Jellyfish and Wakka was distracting it. It took one swing to cut off most of its tentacles. That stopped the bastard from attacking Wakka or me, as I learned when it used one of the ones in tacked to hit me even though I was behind it. Then, in a pretty good combo move, Wakka and I attack it's brain-head thing. I stabbed it, and Wakka's ball pushed it further onto my sword.
As soon as it was dead and nothing else was coming at us, we headed for the surface. The others on the ship's deck helped us back on just in time to see the destruction Sin caused as it made its way to Kilika.
It was then I knew that I would never go back to the fake-Zanarkand. I don't know why the Fayth put me there, because, really, who else could it have been? But being there was only temporary. They had brought me into the future; my Zanarkand was the one destroyed over a thousand years ago.
By Sin.
A mistake that never should have happened.
After seeing the destruction it had caused so close, I knew that bringing me back, bringing me into this time, was not just for Emma.
As my mind realized this, I grew bitter. The only reason they needed me was because they believed I could somehow become a catalyst in making Emma do something about Sin. They knew that the two of us together could perhaps kill the abomination for good. If what I thought was true, they were upset that she hadn't done something yet.
Valefor said Emma had had enough time to think of something. Were they pissed that in a thousand years she hadn't done something? Why now? Why bring me a thousand years after the world I loved was destroyed? I, currently, was seventeen years old. They must have stuck me in the fake-Zanarkand before Sin attacked and destroyed it.
So bring me out now and not nine hundred and seventy-three years ago? Did it take those missing years to repair me from whatever damage had been done to my body after everything when to hell? Did Yevon do so much damage to my body that it needed that much healing? What the fuck happened to me?
I realized as my thoughts took this turn, hearing the screams of the survivors, and feeling the magic of the death that I honestly knew nothing about the situation they had thrown me into.
The Fayth always claimed they cared for her. That they wanted to help her. But after remembering everything that had gone wrong and seeing all this death…I wondered just what they were doing. What games were they playing? Valefor, it seemed, already seemed to be repeating what had happened.
My eyes closed and reopened. I had no doubt they had hardened. I would speak to my…the Fayth who had Chosen me. I would demand to know what was going on. What did they want from me?
I had always respected the Fayth, especially those who had volunteered for the service. They lived for centuries watching and caring for those under their protection. They had to wait frozen in time forever watching the death of those they come to feel for. But this? It made me remember. It wasn't just us doing missions for those in power of different cities and villages. We did missions for the Fayth too. We tried to bring balance to the world. That was what the Squad was about. That is what Lord Zalon created it for. We were to help and make sure that if something horrible happened that we couldn't or didn't prevent, we would avenge it. And just like then, the Fayth didn't feel so inclined to tell me shit about what they dropped me into.
They shove me into some fake-Zanarkand, I get pulled out, and shoved right into the middle of a battle that's been raging for a thousand years. I was tired of this. I was tired of being a pawn. I won't deny that we played a part in what Sin has become, but we weren't the only ones. Those fucking Fayth were the ones who started it all. More than those words, I had no idea what had happened. Fucking memories.
Was this some attempt to use their tools to clean up their mess?
I never thought so low of the Fayth before. I always respected them and so did Emma. But I can't help but feel in my gut that they are using us, and after it's over, we're going to be the ones that are fucked.
Just like always…
