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.
(Chocobo?!)
Once again, Rayne woke to find herself in Spira, but she wasn't as disturbed by it as she thought she ought to be. Actually, she was really rather happy to have awoken in Spira on that particular day. When she had sat up and looked around, her breath caught in her throat at the sight of the rising sun.
As the sun peeked over the flat plain, its rays shone through the grass and gave it a golden hue. Everywhere that there was an old piece of city, light danced across their old and faded surfaces, almost acting to renew the color and restore it to its former glory. The most amazing part, though, was the sky. When she looked straight up, it was still dark purple, and slight hints of stars could be seen. But as she moved her gaze back to the horizon, the purple became lighter and lighter until it was sky blue. The area right around the sun, though, was a beautiful and striking blood red.
"Wow…" She breathed when the scene was fully washed over.
"Nice, isn't it?"
She snapped around to see Jecht staring at the scenery as well, standing and stretching out his sleepiness.
Rayne turned back to the scene and nodded, "Yeah. There aren't that many sceneries like this back home."
"And where exactly is 'home'?" Asked Braska, who had woken (along with Auron) when Jecht spoke and was now looking at Rayne with peaked curiosity.
Not in much of a lying mood, Rayne continued to stare at the sun and replied in a quite voice, "Far away from here, Lord Braska. Very far away."
She didn't see it, but all three of them exchanged glances and Jecht stared at her with a knowing look in his eye.
"Too far to get back to?"
Rayne closed her eyes and sighed, "I hope not."
An oppressing silence settled over the camp and was drug out through breakfast and when they packed up. When they stood at the edge of the road, Braska turned to Rayne and smiled.
"Alright, Rayne, we're heading to Luca. If we happen to get into any battles with any fiends, just stay behind us."
She shuffled her feet nervously, suddenly feeling the weight of herself as a liability, but nodded nonetheless, knowing from what little she already knew from the summoner that he wasn't going to allow her to do anything else. While Jecht and Auron warmed up for the battles that were fast approaching and Braska checked his healing and holy magic, Rayne took it upon herself to gather and carry the supplies, determined to do something useful.
When they were all ready and had double-checked the campsite for forgotten items, they set off on their merry way down the Highroad. Other than a few small fiends, they faced little opposition, and it was nearing high noon when they noticed that they were starting to see people wandering the road.
"We must be getting closer to Luca."
Rayne nodded slowly to whoever made the observation, a bit distracted by something she noticed in the tall grass a bit ahead of them.
"That means we'll be able to find your brother."
She nodded again, not really hearing, the something in the tall grass getting closer. It looked a bit like a big box…
"I've fallen madly in love with you."
She nodded again; taking note of the brown coloring that was now standing out from the box in the grass. It looked a bit like one of those things from the game; a treas… wait a minute!
"WHAT?!"
She stopped dead in her tracks, looking between the three men in front of her with wide eyes. Auron rolled his eyes, Braska chuckled and shook his head, and Jecht had broken out into wild gales of laughter.
"Kid, you are just too much! Honestly, you can make some of the greatest faces."
Rayne felt the heat rising onto her face as even Auron laughed a bit, and she quickly turned back to the grass to hide it.
"Sorry, I just saw something in the grass is all. It looks like a chest." Without waiting for their reactions, she walked off into the grass and towards the treasure chest. She returned a minute later to find that all three of the men had recovered and were patiently waiting for her. She raised a brow and looked at all of them. "Done laughing?"
Jecht nodded, coughing back another laugh, but Braska looked at the bag in her hand with interest. "What was in the chest?"
Rayne lifted the green velvet bag and shrugged her shoulders, its contents jingling a bit. "Coins, I think." She handed the bag to Auron, who pulled opened the red drawstring and reached inside, pulling out a handful of gold coins.
He dropped them back in and rattled the bag a little, "Probably about 4000 Gil." He threw the bag back to Rayne.
She stared at him oddly, then turned to Braska and held out the bag to him. He looked down at the offering and smiled, pushing back into her hands. "You found it, you keep it. Besides, you might want to use it for something."
Rayne looked at the bag a bit hesitantly, then, remembering her clothes crisis, shoved the bag into her pocket. The closer they got to Luca, the fewer fiends there were and the more nervous Rayne became. What was she going to do when they got there and there was no Michael in sight? She was so distracted by her worries that she hardly noticed the giant animal in front of her until she ran right into it.
She blinked rapidly when she found herself sitting on the ground, staring at a pair of huge scaly legs. There was a squeak, and when she raised her head she found herself staring at a feathered and beaked head, along with two huge blue eyes. Rayne had run right into a chocobo.
Braska ran forward to check on her, Jecht and Auron walking behind, and they all paused when they saw her trembling. The summoner knelt beside her and patted her shoulder, "Rayne?"
"It's… it's…"
There was a tense silence, broken by the chocobo's squawk when Rayne launched herself at it and wrapped her arms around its soft, fluffy neck.
"So cute!"
If it had been an anime rather than a game, everyone except Rayne (the chocobo included) would have preformed an anime fall. But, since it was a game, everyone except Rayne (the chocobo included again) stuck with face faulting.
"Um, can my chocobo have his neck back?"
Rayne looked at the male rider and a sweatdrop formed on her head. "Uh… yeah, sure. Sorry about that!" She then hastily jumped backward and lowered her eyes to the ground.
"Uh… no problem." And the rider and the chocobo were gone.
After another moment of silence, Rayne turned down the road and started walking, calling over her shoulder, "C'mon, boys! We're almost to Luca!"
Braska and Jecht exchanged glances, then shrugged and walked after her. Auron looked at the company, turned to catch one last glance at the chocobo before its rider steered it out of sight, and then back to the company again. He shook his head and chuckled, quickly reverting to his deadpanned face afterwards and walking after the group.