Questions
What
do you think you'd understand?
I'm not a boy, no, I'm a man.
You can't take me,
And throw me away.
And how can you learn what's never shown?
Yeah, you stand here on your own.
They don't know me,
Because I'm not here.
I'm Still Here
John
Rzeznik
With a groan, Sam's blue eyes flicked open, revealing the sight of stone walls. He was exactly where he had been before, nothing had changed. But, catching sight of the blue symbol which seemed to burn on the back of his left hand, he realised he had. He felt better, a lot better than he had in months. Looking deep into his mind, he felt a twinge of disappointment, his psychic powers had returned to their original level, but that was swept away as a surge of power filled his body. His body could feel the pulling and breaking of the waves, his mind could track an individual particle of water through his body. With a yell of euphoria, he spread his arms, absorbing the power of the primordial element until he was full to bursting. Then, as powerful as the pull to absorb more energy was, he stopped. His body, his mind, his soul, whatever it was that held this energy, refused to take more.
His chest heaving, Sam looked down, his gaze returning to the stairs he had been so valiantly trying to get to before. Bringing his arm up to steady himself against the wall, Sam looked at the staircase with longing. He wanted to see what was in the room above it, but he knew he could wait. With a sigh, Sam turned, heading out of the temple. The temple had been here for centuries, a few more days wouldn't matter.
Exiting into the main room of the temple, Sam stood tall, looking around. Various worshippers, praying to small statues, had stopped to stare at him. Giving them a reassuring smile, Sam slowly made his way down the stairs, oblivious to the stare of the High Priest as he passed him. Wondering if the newcomer had radiated this sense of wellbeing and power before, the Head Priest shook his head, swinging his arms around in a clockwise circle in the prayer of blessing.
Stepping out into the warm breeze, carrying the salty scent of the ocean, Sam closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying the sensation of the air current across his freckled skin. He was noticing things he hadn't before, and he revelled in the seemingly ordinary. He was happy, and that was plain for the world to see.
"Sam!"
Turning, Sam found Nick running up the stairs of the temple towards him. Slowing down as he approached Sam, Nick frowned, looking Sam up and down. "What's up with you?"
"Nothing." Sam replied, his eyes turning from Nick to the village. "Any idea where Yuna and Tidus are?"
"Yeah, they're in their tent. I went in there before, but I think they were asleep. Why's that?"
"I just need to talk to them is all." Sam murmured. "I had some stuff happen, and I think they're involved."
"Stuff?" Nick sounded suspicious. "What kind of stuff? Did you break something in there?" He pointed towards the temple.
"No, but... No, don't worry. I'll tell you later." Sam muttered, moving off towards the tent Yuna and Tidus had taken him and Nick when they had arrived in this world, leaving Nick looking after him with a thoroughly confused look on his face.
Entering the tent, Sam caught the eye of Tidus. Raising his eyebrow, Sam's sight flickered from Tidus's face to his right hand, currently running through his thoroughly tousled hair. An orange symbol glowed a vivid orange on the golden skin of Tidus's hand, a symbol that seemed to imprint itself on Sam's mind. In response, Sam's left hand began to throb with energy. Looking down at the crest on his hand, and then back to the one on Tidus's hand, Sam sigh.
"So it wasn't a dream."
Tidus shook his head, looking over at Yuna, who was currently rooting through a bag she had out on a table. Several small bottles were jumbled up near her, the pile growing ever bigger as she pulled more out of the bag. A white symbol could barely be made out on her right hand as it delved into the depths of the bag so frequently. "Um, what's she doing?
"Packing." Tidus said simply. "Or restocking, whichever you'd prefer. Whatever happened in that dream said we had an important task to do, so it's better of getting ready."
Sam arched an eyebrow again. "And you believed it?"
He received a bemused grin in return. "See, normally I wouldn't, but I recognised the voices of some of the creatures in that place. It's the only reason I'm jumping to, they never let Yuna, or me, down before."
"And this isn't just some really elaborate hoax?"
"Why would it be?" Tidus replied, looking confused. "I mean, I just came out of that place and already I feel more, I dunno, in tune, with everything. I know where everything seems to be on this island, it's weird."
Sam paused, thinking back to the chamber he had woken up in, the feeling of being connected to the waters of the world. "Well, I'm gonna need more proof before I go running off, Mew knows that I've done it before with bad results."
Tidus shrugged, about to open his mouth again when he was interrupted by shouting outside. "Lady Yuna! Sir Tidus!"
With a sigh and a roll of his eyes, Tidus looked over at Yuna, who had looked up with a frown at the mention of her name. "Keepa? What is it?"
A chubby man busted into the tent, puffing and almost knocking Sam over. "A message from Lady Rikku, Grand Summoner. An intruder was found in Bevelle, and something about the Chamber of the Fayth. Lady Rikku said to hurry."
The look Yuna and Tidus exchanged was much more potent this time, Yuna's surprised, Tidus's resigned. Leaping to her feet, Yuna bustled out of the tent, followed by Tidus, Sam and Keepa.
The roaring Sam had previously thought was the ocean had become much louder in the past few seconds, manifesting into the form of a large, red object floating in the sky. Looking up at it, Sam frowned. It looked vaguely like a Crawdaunt, but it appeared to be a strange mixture of an aeroplane and a space ship.
"Brother? What's wrong?" Yuna's quiet and calm voice broke through Sam's thoughts. Wondering who she was talking to, Sam jumped as a loud and brash voice called out around Yuna. It seemed to be muttering unintelligible things, breaking into squawks and yells regularly.
"Yuna! We have a red alert from Bevelle. Guards found a young girl in the Chamber of the Fayth. The Praetor gave us a heads up, but some of the old timers are calling for her execution. They seem to remember what Shuyin did very clearly. And if that doesn't sound bad, it gets worse. The girl was abducted by some weird fiends that are immune to swords. We better check this out." Blinking from the long explanation from such a calm voice, Sam eyed the airship warily. Oddly, he didn't think it was verified to fly by any organisation.
"I'll be right up Buddy." Yuna replied. "I've got two passengers, Tidus and someone else."
"Roger that Yuna. I'll teleport you three up in a second."
Sam looked at Yuna. "When he says teleport, does he mean psychically, or with a mac-?" He was cut off as a roaring filled his ears. His stomach dropped out and for an instant, all he could see was white. When it was over, he was on his knees, desperately trying not to throw up.
"Guess he doesn't like the teleporter." Tidus's voice said, sounding like he was very far away.
"Set course Buddy!" Yuna called. "Full speed ahead!"
"Yay Yunie!" A yellowish blur appeared in front of Sam's watering eyes, wrapping itself around a white figure he guessed was Yuna. Blinking a few times, his suspicions were confirmed when he saw Yuna being hugged by a younger girl. Looking from Yuna to Sam, the girl beamed, her face breaking out into a smile. "Who's this Yunie?"
"This is Sam. He arrived in Besaid earlier, and we don't have a clue where he comes from." Tidus answered, crouching to help Sam up.
"Oh well, that's easy. When a mom and a dad love each other very, very much, the-."
"I know that!" Tidus replied, looking flustered. "We just don't know where he actually came from. Check out the clothes for one."
Eying Sam, her head cocked to the side, the girl looked puzzled. "Wow, you're right. What's that?"
She was pointing to Sam's wrist. Looking down at his Pokétch, Sam frowned. "This?"
"Yeah, it looks like a machina, but it's so small! What does it do? Can I look at it?"
"It's a machine, called a Pokétch, it's got a lot of different functions, like telling the time and stuff, and take a look." He held out his wrist. As the girl grabbed it, cooing over it, Sam exchanged a bemused look with Yuna.
"Sam, this is my cousin, Rikku." Yuna offered by way of introduction.
"Oh, hey." Looking at the girl closely, Sam quirked his mouth. "There's not much family resemblance, is there?"
"YUNA!" Almost levitating on the spot, Sam whirled, his right hand settling on Zeus's Pokéball. A man covered in tattoos stood there. He was dressed in a pair of overalls, and that seemed to be it. Following the line of tattoos down, Sam gulped, focusing back on the man's face. His overalls were definitely the only thing he wore.
"Yuna! Who is this strange person?" The man demanded, pointing to Sam. Looking over her shoulder at the man, Rikku rolled her eyes.
"Ignore him Sam. This is Brother, my brother."
"You have a brother named Brother?"
"Tidus." Brother looked at Tidus, nodding in way of welcome, his jaw clenched. He didn't look impressed to see Tidus there at all. As Tidus nodded back, Rikku turned around.
"Lralg ed uid! Ra ryc cusa naymmo luum sylrehy!" She said. Shaking his head, Sam's fingers flew up to his ear-ring, tapping it slightly. When it beep softly in his ear, he frowned. It was working, which meant it simply didn't know the language Rikku was speaking.
"Fryd? Mad sa caa." The man walked forward, grabbing Sam's hand to look at the Pokétch. "Frana tet oui kad drec?"
As Sam looked at him, puzzlement clear on his face, a voice spoke out over some speakers. "Ok, course set, here we go!"
As everyone shuffled into a different position to stand, Sam looked around, then, with a yell, went flying back as the ship took off, to Bevelle and to this newest mystery.