Authors Note: My first fanfiction so any thoughts and criticism greatly appreciated to improve my writing. Figured I'd write something set in Vacuo since we usually get so little of it. Hope you all enjoy
Vacuo sucked ass.
This was Tidus' first thought as he sank deeper into the sea of sand. It was the undeniable truth. Vacuo was the only place on this godforsaken continent where his death could be this pathetic. Entombed beneath a mountain of sand and surrounded by some of the most infuriating people he had ever had the displeasure of meeting.
He fought harder to pull himself out. Calloused hands clawed to find anchorage in the silk like sand. Long legs kicked from below, but every second he found more of his dark brown skin encased within the desert's tomb. His mind raced as the sand surrounded his neck and crept up to his face. Where had it all gone wrong? He closed his eyes, thinking back to a far simpler time.
Like that morning. The day had actually started well in terms of Vacuo standards. The sun was only a light roast at forty-five degrees rather than its usual living inferno of sixty degrees. And the citizens could feel a cool breeze running through the city streets. If you were lucky, you'd find they filled only half your sandwich with sand rather than the whole thing. The perfect climate for a late morning nap. That's where his brother found him, splayed out under a tree with his hands behind his head, peacefully resting.
Although his idea of what was a suitable use of this 'perfect climate' appeared to differ from Tidus's. "Get up slowpoke," he punctuated the command with a light kick to the ribs. Tidus groaned on the floor as his eyes flickered open. His brown iris peered up at the emerald iris of the individual looming over him. "Earth to Tidus. Stop lazing about and get your ass in gear." Letting out a sigh, the young man sat up, rubbing his eyes as he adjusted to the sun above. "Good, I'll be waiting in the pickup. You've wasted enough time as is."
"Yeah, my bad." He rose from the ground, stretching out his long limbs. Reaching down, he picked up his slate grey long coat that had been serving as a makeshift blanket and dusted it down. Paying special attention to cleaning the dirt from the visage of a yellow dragon with its wings outstretched emblazoned on the back. He put it on and moved to fall in stride with his brother, idly playing with a strand of his curly raven hair.
"You're nervous." Cole didn't even need to look at his younger brother to pick up on his usual habits.
"Yeah." Tidus quit his fidgeting and shoved his hands in the coat pockets instead.
"Don't be, you'll do fine."
"Easier said than done. You know I'm not much of a people person, especially with strangers."
"Trust me. Once you get to Shade, you'll realise it's not too bad. Hell, I'm pretty sure you will enjoy it after a while."
"Hmph, I was enjoying the shade before, you know." Cole just looked at him with a frown. Tidus Countered with a smile and raised eyebrows, almost challenging the man to laugh at the wordplay. Cole just settled on sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Ok, if all your jokes are like that, I think you can worry about the what the others will think of you."
The two reached their home on the outskirts of the city of Vacuo. Their pick up truck awaited them, already packed with Tidus' sparse amount of belongings. Cole moved to get into the driver's seat, leaving Tidus looking around in confusion.
"Umm, where's mum?"
"At work." Cole already knew where this conversation was going.
"But if she's at work… Shit," realisation spread across Tidus' face, "You're taking me, aren't you?"
"That I am lil bro. Now hop in, time's wasting."
Tidus sighed as he climbed into the vehicle. Having his brother take him to Shade was a scenario he was hoping to avoid. He figured his best bet would be to just close his eyes and take another quick nap before they got to their destination. He could deal with the impending chaos of their arrival when that happened.
The nap didn't last long before he felt a pair of eyes on him. He cracked one open to eye his brother. The man was looking over with a giddy smile, causing a shudder to pass down Tidus' spine. It didn't help that all the superficial scars marking his brother's face made him all the more intimidating.
"Tidus, now that we're alone, I think it's time we have a little chat." The younger brother could feel fear build up within himself. "About what it means to be a huntsman and a man." Tidus' soul left his body at that very moment. How cruel the universe was to have trapped him with his brother and given him the two most agonising topics to be lectured on. Instinctively, he reached in his coat's inside pocket for his headphones. He only slumped further into his seat when he remembered they were in his luggage.
"Now I know that I've asked you this question before. But tell me, why do you aspire to be a huntsman?" Cole took on a more serious tone than he had before. The authoritative air he now exuded compelled Tidus to answer.
"I don't know, I guess I'm pretty good at it," Tidus' sharp features scrunched up in thought. "And it would be pretty cool if I could be better than you someday."
"Is that all?"
Tidus shrugged, "Probably not. I mean, you know I don't really have any specific reasons to become a huntsman. What are you even trying to get at, always asking variations of this question?"
"You'll understand in time. Anyway, on to a far more important topic. Being a man. Precisely being a man with women."
This was truly some form of alternate hell Tidus was being subjected to. "Listen, if this is the birds and the bees talk, I don't need it."
"No worries, I know you're not at that level yet, so we're starting slow. Like how to talk to women." Tidus let his head fall into his hand out of despair. His brain was too overloaded to even comprehend the fact his brother had just indirectly said he had no game. Cole ran a hand through his slick backed raven hair before continuing. "Now I am very popular with the ladies. Just look at my face, defined with such sharp and noteworthy features. But as my brother, that means you are in luck…"
Tidus did everything in his power to tune out the talking. This was going to be a long day.
After the longest hour of Tidus' life, they finally reached Shade Academy. The two jumped out of the car, stretching before Tidus looked at his older brother and scowled.
"You are kidding, right?"
Cole looked at him in confusion. "What?"
"You're not wearing a T-shirt."
Cole waved off his complaint. "Don't worry, I'm wearing a coat instead." By wear, he just meant draped over his shoulders. Tidus sighed and took in the surroundings. Before them stood the imposing sandstone walls of Shade Academy. Now that he was actually here, his excitement was growing. The buzz in the air from the surrounding huntsmen and students only heightening it further.
Whispers and turning faces from the crowd, however, dampened his mood. Most of them centered on his brother. At one point, he almost jumped out of his skin when he realised a group of doe eyed fans had grouped behind him to ogle Cole. All this 'Cole is so this' or 'Cole is so that' was really rubbing him the wrong way. He thought that slipping away before the crowd realised the two were brothers was his best bet.
"Yo, Tidus! Come here, got your last two things." Well, there went that idea. Tidus mentally thanked the fact he hadn't left when the first item that was shoved in his hand was his weapon, Sky Piercer. He took the double crescent halberd and made a few test swings before inspecting it.
"The ribbons new." He said, pointing at a red ribbon tied at the top of the shaft.
"Mum put it on. It's your lucky charm, so you better keep it safe." Cole said, putting on a mock stern voice. Tidus chuckled and nodded, fastening the weapon to his back. "And finally, my going away gift to you." Cole put on what could only describe as his attempt at an award-winning smile and pushed a small potted cactus into his hands.
Tidus stared at the plant blankly. "This is my cactus."
"Yup."
"As in, I'm the one who grew it. I already owned it."
"Don't thank me too much, lil bro," He turned to leave. "Anyway, I'm off to find a special professor I've been meaning to catch up with. Have a fun first day and remember the Grimm are the evil creatures trying to eat you, so don't let them." With just a hand lift as acknowledgement, Cole left to go in search of this 'special professor.' A special professor that Tidus would guess is in the academy. But his brother's aimless meandering in the opposite direction but his own logic into question. The growing crowd of fans Cole had been amassing soon followed him, chatting excitedly. He would never understand some people.
One man, however, had stopped by Tidus' side and caught his attention. Dressed in a red form fitting tank top with orange tigers embroidered on it, he certainly cut a striking figure. Looking down on the man past his short light brown hair, a pair of burning blue eyes met him.
"So you're the little brother?"
Tidus' eyebrow quirked up, "The little brother?"
"Well, I guess you're not so little. I've been following the Dragon of Vacuo for a while. I heard he had a little brother and you must be him."
"The Dragon of Vacuo? Is that what they call him now?"
"Yeah! it's the coolest name yet, right?" The brunette said with a glimmer of admiration in his eyes. Tidus couldn't believe the man was so impressed by his brother. "The name's Ash, by the way."
"Tidus," he said, taking Ash's now outstretched hand and shaking it. "So you're also here to be a huntsman?" he asked after observing a pair of baton like weapons hanging from Ash's hips.
"That I am? Soon to be Shade Academy's top student. But with competition like you, that could be harder than I originally thought." Tidus couldn't help but chuckle at the other mans ambitious claims. "You're laughing now, but you haven't seen me in action." A sudden devilish smile found its way onto Ash's face. "In fact, how about I show you what I've got right now?"
Ash was certainly eager Tidus would give him that. "I'm certain we'll have plenty of time for that later. But right now, we actually need to get into Shade."
"I suppose you are right. To orientation!" Making a theatrical point to the entrance, Ash picked up his luggage and hurried through the gates. Tidus took a deep breath, now freed from the man's intense energy.
Yep, this was definitely turning into a long day.
Upon entering the academy, the two of them were relieved of their belongings and ushered farther into the building. The receptionist assured the young men that they would keep their possessions under special care and made sure that the two kept their weapons on them. Unlike the outside, the inside of Shade was quite advanced. It juxtaposed clean tiled floors with rough brown walls that included murals depicting the history of Vacuo and Remnant. It gave the winding corridors a mystique to them.
They soon arrived at the highest level, entering a spacious courtyard in the centre. The men looked in awe at the surroundings. They had packed plant life of all kinds around an artificial oasis. Seeing palm trees and flowers like these wasn't an everyday occurrence in the desert. Further in, they stopped behind a crowd of assembled people who all buzzed with excitement aimed towards a platform hovering over the water. Ash stood on his toes to get a better view past the sea of heads. When his toes became sore, he started hopping on the spot. After he became bored with that, he turned to Tidus instead.
"Hey, what are we supposed to be looking at?"
He glanced at Ash, as if the answer to his question was clear, and said, "Well, nothing right now." After a few seconds of silence, Ash started again.
"How about now?"
"Nothing still," he said, and calm followed for a few more moments.
"Now?"
"Dude, can you not see nothing is happening right now?" Tidus said. The energetic man's pestering was wearing his patience thin.
"You're one to talk. It's not like everyone is as freakishly tall as you."
"I am not 'freakishly tall'," Tidus responded dismissively. "I'm just… a little above average."
Ash opened his mouth to dispute before being interrupted by the whining of the microphone. "Well, it looks like your wish is being granted. You sure you don't want to sit on my shoulders so you can see what's going on?"
"Shut up. I can see just fine."
Tidus couldn't help but chuckle as Ash held back a smile while shaking his head. Now focused on the stage, Tidus got a clear look at the man now on the mic. He was undeniably eccentric. Being dressed like a cross between a teen and someones grandad was certainly a choice for a man old enough to be his dad.
"Welcome my new participants to Shade Academy. I am Theodore, the headmaster, and it is my honour to introduce you to our proud institution. First, I would like to tell you what it means to be a huntsman here at Shade…" Tidus could feel himself mentally checking out during the speech. Nurture talents, fight Grimm, protect humanity. It was all you would expect from a huntsman academy. It would surprise him if someone came this far without knowing that this was the whole deal.
"Now I believe I have bored you enough! I will now explain the initiation test." Cheers erupted from the eager crowd, and Tidus tuned back in with a piqued interest. Beside him, Ash also appeared to be reinvigorated. "You will be called to one of our Dust Clouds and taken above the desert. We have uploaded maps and coordinates to your scrolls that lead to caches out in the wilderness filled with relics. Each person is required to seize one and then return to an allotted pickup point. If you succeed, we will welcome you into Shade. As a final warning for those unprepared, Grimm infest the desert and they will stand in your way. We will prohibit communication via scroll, and neither I nor any other faculty members can intervene. I have the highest faith that you will succeed. Your initiation will begin with the buzzer sound. I wish you all the best of luck." With that, the platform floated over dry land and Theodore left the courtyard.
A sudden outbreak of conversation spread across the crowd. Failure in the Grimm infested desert without intervention would no doubt spell death. Now that many participants understood the risks and what was at stake, nervousness and doubt were spreading through the room. And with this being the last chance to leave, a few people had quit. Only adding to the apprehensive feeling that was gathering. Even Tidus himself, who had prepared for the potential stakes, hadn't expected the risk to be this dire. Right now, however, he had to push on. Tidus schooled his features and calmed himself for the task ahead.
They escorted the group to a new section of Shade that served as a hangar bay. Inside sat four dust clouds. The Machine was one of Vacuo's only air transit vehicles, earning its name from its awkward, lumpy appearance. Basically, being an adapted bus with air bags on the side. A buzzer sounded and participants were called into the Dust Clouds. With every second bringing him closer to what could be the most important event of his life, Tidus could feel his apprehension growing.
"Oh man, I can't wait!" Ash, however, was struggling to keep his excitement in check. How he could remain this eager with this nervous aura enveloping the room was beyond Tidus.
"Asher Novis" Tidus blinked as they read out Ash's name. Novis. He was trying to recall where he had heard that last name. Ash gave Tidus a thumbs up before starting towards the Dust Cloud. He exuded confidence with every step, his head held high and basking in the attention he received. Tidus kept thinking about the name Novis. It rang so many bells and struck a chord with many other participants as they whispered among themselves. He grumbled to himself at his inability to put two and two together.
"Tidus Raijin" That was his cue. He followed in Ash's footsteps to the dust cloud in front. Like Ash, his name seemed to have got people talking, most likely in relation to his brother. Just the thought of his brother made him antsy. Tidus let his head hang lower as the expectations of his legacy loomed over his head. Upon reaching the Dust Cloud, Ash jabbed him in the ribs before smiling to encourage him. At least one person appeared enthusiastic about this.
"Jett Masters" A young man started towards them, a swagger in his step and a cocky glint in his amber eyes. As he drew closer, Tidus took notice of a pair of ears poking out the top of his head. Barely visible through dirty blonde hair that remained unnaturally spiked. He also caught Tidus's eye with a Spartan-style blue breastplate with silver embellishments he wore.
He finally arrived next to Ash, giving Tidus a chance to compare the two. They both carried themselves with similar confidence, with Jett only being an inch taller. The sun had bronzed his skin, which was in contrast to Ash's unusually pale skin for the climate. Jett then turned to Ash, revealing a pair of goggles hanging from his neck.
"Long time no see Ash" he gave a mock two-finger salute to Ash, who stood dumbfounded.
Ash's mind finally caught up with him and he slapped Jett's arm. "Jett, my man! You actually got into Shade. I didn't think you'd make the cut," Ash said with a hearty laugh.
"Yeah, well, you know I'm… Wait what? You thought I wouldn't get in!" The mans cool demeanor fell as rage seemed to cloud his features. Before Jett could bite back at Ash's accidental slight, the vehicle doors closed. The Dust Clouds' insides glowed a sickly yellow hue from a few dull lights, deprived of the light from outside. A buzzer sounded and there was a sudden lurch as the machine moved.
"Hell yeah, finally some action!" Ash cracked his knuckles in anticipation.
"C'mon dude, we've not been here that long," Jett began to stretch and limber up, seeming to let the previous insult slip. "But I suppose that's just you and your utter lack of patience talking."
"Wait, so you two know each other?" Tidus asked, pointing back and forth between the two.
"Yeah, we go way back, and he somehow hasn't changed since day one."
Tidus nodded as he turned to question Ash. "Forgive me for prying, but your last name sounds kinda familiar. You reckon I would know it from somewhere?"
Ash looked over at him in surprise, raising an eyebrow before laughing. "I'm surprised you don't recognise the name. Does the name Apollo Novis ring any bells?"
"You mean councilman Novis? You're his son?"
"That I am. You surprised by that?"
Tidus thought about it for a second. "I guess I am a bit. Haven't heard of any people related to councilors getting into this line of work."
"Don't sweat it. I'm just like any other guy." Ash's response, however, lacked the passion he had carried himself with so far. The sound of a second buzzer put them on alert and reignited the man's fire. "Anyway, eyes on the prize."
Emotions in the Dust Cloud were reaching a peak as the participants waited for the vehicle to stop and the doors to open. But to their surprise, it wasn't the doors in front of them but the entire floor of the vehicle that opened. Without windows, no one had known how high up they were before it unceremoniously dropped them from the transport. The deserts first rain in months was not water but people.
Like many other participants, Tidus found himself at a loss. The ground was drawing closer, and he had no way to slow his descent. He silently cursed himself as he passed a few parachuting participants. He had seen some on the Dust Cloud but hadn't thought of grabbing one. Ultimately, he closed his eyes and resigned himself to his fate. The crash wouldn't kill him, but it would break his aura. It would more than likely knock him out and, at that point, the outcome of lying unprotected in a desert full of Grimm was clear to see. It seemed his huntsman career would end before it had even started. At the hands of gravity, no less.
A sudden updraft of wind slowed his descent. Tidus' eyes shot open in surprise and he surveyed his surroundings. He discovered a man brandishing a ringed saber, slashing fiercely to impede both their descents. Each gust of air steadied their speed until Tidus almost felt like he could stand on the wind at his feet. He stumbled on the landing, collapsing into the sand below. At least he was alive.
His legs felt shaky as he rose, but he collected himself, taking in large gasps of air. A voice cleared their throat behind him. Tidus turned, coming face to face with his saviour. Before him stood a man who looked more fit for the military than being a huntsman. He brushed his silver hair back into its comb over before standing rigid as a board, hands behind his back.
"I am Kai Blackwood." He placed an arm across his chest and bowed, causing the immense amount of armour he wore to clatter as he moved. "But you may call me Kai. At your service." The mans voice had an odd softness that still managed a commanding presence. Tidus could only manage a feeble nod before he collected himself further. After a few seconds of awkward standing around, he mimicked Kai with a bow of his own, unsure if he was expecting one in return.
"If you are not prepared to die here, I suggest you head back."
Tidus couldn't help but get annoyed at the man's suggestion. "Don't worry, now we're on the ground. I can handle myself". Kai's face remained set in stone, betraying no hint of his thoughts or feelings. He settled on giving him a nod before leaving in search of his cache. Tidus dusted himself down before opening his map and orientating himself to his own cache. Now, walking out into the desert with the unbearable heat of the sun beating down on him, he could only grumble to himself.
"Fucking long day."
