Final Fantasy X and PlayStation are owned by Square Enix and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Final Fantasy X storyline (such as Rayne and Marcus) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.
(The First Game She Ever Played)
It was the locks fault. If it hadn't gotten jammed, Rayne wouldn't have gotten so rough with the key. And if she hadn't gotten so rough with the key, it wouldn't have broken in the keyhole. And, if the key hadn't broken in the keyhole, then Rayne would be able to get into the library.
The whole point of the lock on the door to the family's personal library was to protect the books, both from the combined destructive force of her brother's dog, Rex, and her caustic cousins, and also from the house itself, which swallowed whole every misplaced item that had been left alone for far too long.
Unfortunately, instead of the lock on the door acting to protect the books beyond the door, it was now trapping them; holding them hostage in retaliation for Rayne's previous abuse to the key and itself.
This left poor Rayne bookless and bored. It was all the stupid locks fault.
When Michael came upon his sister sulking in the hallway, her long brown hair hiding her face, he couldn't help but smile. "Locked out of your sanctuary?"
Rayne's head shot up and she pinned him with a piercing stare, her icy blue eyes flashing angrily. "Michael, don't even start."
He raised his hands, "Hey, don't take it out on me. You're the one who insisted upon all books in the house being placed under lock and key." He then smirked and quirked a brow. "Or did you forget that?"
"Whatever," She grumbled lowly, most certainly not forgetting her demand. She stood and brushed her pants off, sighing dejectedly, "Could you just please get the phone and call the locksmith?" She was depressed, and really needed to get inside and read something.
Michael, though, only draped his arm over his twin's shoulder and gave her a sympathetic pat. "Sorry, sis, but it's Sunday. Nobody's open."
"What about the hinges? Can't we pry those off?"
"Door opens inward, sis, so the hinges are on the inside. And I don't think we have the right kind of screwdriver for the handle. And, before you even suggest it, the window is way too small and way too high up. Sorry, no books today."
Rayne sighed again and brushed off her brother's hand. When he walked down the hall and into the living room, she followed like an abandoned puppy, desperate for companionship. And, heck, if she couldn't get it from a book, she was going to make damn sure that she was going to get it from her brother.
When he plopped onto the sofa and turned on the TV, though, she settled for sitting beside him and staring off into space, blocking out all sound from the flickering box.
"I wish Dad were here, he'd be able to fix it."
Not looking away from the TV, Michael replied, "He's on a business trip. And besides, he wouldn't know a Phillip's head from a flat head, and he sure as hell wouldn't know about the inner workings of a door handle."
Blinking at her twin's response, Rayne muttered a depressed response and zoned out again, disturbed only when he looked at her and waved a hand in front of her face. "What's wrong, Rayne?"
She let out an aggravated moan and jumped to her feet, "I am bored out of my mind, that's what's wrong! I have no books, no school work seeing as it's summer, we live too far from town to walk there, and my only companions are my brother, who rots his brain out on TV all day, and a dog, who hates me because I don't let him chew my books into cud!"
Michael, who was used to her outbursts after eighteen years, was unfazed as he stated, "Well, you wouldn't be so bored if you would just watch the TV."
"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" He didn't even blink as she ranted on, "Michael, you must be absolutely INSANE if you think that I would watch that… that…" He watched, vaguely amused, as she waved her arms in circles, trying to find a good word to describe the television with, but came up with nothing.
"Well then, dear sister," He began when he was sure that she had drawn a blank for words, "In light of your declaration, both said and unsaid, against watching TV, I would prefer that you didn't say anything else about being bored. You've brought this upon yourself."
He smirked when she stared at him, her jaw dropped, and then turned back to the TV, no longer interested in her ranting.
When she was done gawking, Rayne snapped her jaw shut and sat back down on the sofa, still refusing to look at the screen.
About an hour later, when Michael's program was on commercial, he stood and stretched, stealing a glance at his sister. She had her hair tucked behind her ears and was sitting cross-legged on the couch, facing the wall with her blue eyes dulled as she floated around in her thoughts and a small frown on her face.
Not liking to see his sister so down, Michael walked out of the room and down the hall, going to get something he thought would help.
Rayne didn't even notice him walk out, as she was mentally rereading one of the books she had memorized. She also didn't notice him walk back in with a white box and sit in front of the TV, opening it and removing the contents. After several minutes, Rayne had reached what she believed to be about page one hundred and fifty in the book when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
When she had snapped out of her reverie, she looked up to face her twin brother, who was smiling triumphantly. She quirked a brow, "Okay, you're obviously proud of something you did, so spill; what chaos have you wreaked?"
"Close you eyes and take my hand."
Rayne's quirked brow rose even higher, but she complied, closing both eyes and taking her brother's right hand in her left. He guided her off of the sofa and led her across what she assumed to be a good half of the room, where he stopped her and pushed her onto the ground.
"Alright, now take this," She felt him slide an oddly shaped piece of plastic into her hand and raised her other hand to grasp the other side, speaking as he went, "Right, now that you have that, we slip this into here," a faint and muffled click was heard, "and we open this and pop this into there," a pop, "and then we shut it," a faint click, "and then we hit this button right here."
A whirr, and then a loud sound that was obviously coming from the TV. Rayne's eyes snapped open and she found herself staring at the PlayStation logo. "NO!" She dropped the plastic, which turned out to be the controller, onto the ground and scooted away and stood. "I am NOT touching that!"
"Oh, come ON, Rayne! You said you were bored, and this will stop that! Games are fun!"
"NO, they only seem fun! It's only when you can no longer think for yourself or have a single creative thought that you realize the truth; THIS CRAP IS NOT FUN!"
As they continued to argue, the game ran through the opening scene three times before Michael picked up the controller again, accidentally hitting one of the buttons.
"Listen, Rayne, up until now, I've respected your hatred of various forms of entertainment, but enough is enough! You've never played a game before, so you really have no reason to hate them at all! You want something to do? Well, here is something! Now take the controller," he shoved it into her hands, making her press another button, "sit down," he shoved her onto the ground in front of the TV, "and play the damn game!"
Rayne was about to retaliate and throw the controller away again when a beautiful and depressing song started to play. She turned to the TV, where she saw the game had started playing, and saw seven very depressed looking people on the screen. Well… six people and one giant… blue… thing.
After a few seconds, one of the people, a blonde haired teen boy in weird yellow clothes, stood and walked away from the group, but not before pausing to place his hand on the shoulder of the girl who was sitting next to him. She had short brown hair and, when she looked at the teen's hand, Rayne noticed that one of her eyes was green and the other blue.
When the boy took his hand off of the girls shoulder, the scene faded back to the entire group, with the boy walking off to stand on a dirt mound. When he had reached the top, the scene focused back onto him, moving a bit sloppily as he looked off into the distance. Rayne was just taking note of the odd symbol on his necklace when a voice spoke over the music.
"Listen to my story. This… may be our last chance."