Iah danced through the crowds, fingers sliding into pockets and snagging coin purses, to a rhythm that only he could hear. He didn't need to steal anything, as he had a place to sleep and food on the table, but it gave him a sense of normalcy. To Iah, picking pockets came as naturally as breathing; it was one of the few things that he knew in his heart of hearts.

Two months ago, Iah had woken up on a dock, staring up at a very concerned boy who was about his age. He remembered nothing but his name; no matter how hard he'd tried to think of something, anything of where he'd been before that moment, it was like staring into a twisting void. The boy and his family had chalked it up to Sin's toxin and took him in, giving him a home, however temporary it may be. They took the time to help him relearn everything, supplementing books and spheres with personal stories and minor corrections.

The family was Al Bhed, just like him, although he only remembered that most people hated the Al Bhed when an old hag of a woman spat at him one day. He was being sheltered by three siblings: Malik, the youngest; Isis, the middle-born and only girl; and Rishid, the stalwart oldest. But since they all had the blonde hair and green, swirl-pupiled eyes shared between every Al Bhed, Iah fit right into their little family. The Ishtars had been here in the city of Luca long enough that, as long as they kept their heads down, most people left them alone. Most. Iah noticed the few dirty looks, but for every person that stared him down, he saw another mark.

Because, despite his lack of memory on anything else, one thing persistently remained: people, especially the rich ones, never thought that thieves would actually come for them. He was happy to prove them wrong.

The city square of Luca was usually busy, but this week it was absolutely swarmed; blitzball season, Malik had told him somewhat excitedly. This was the time of year that teams from all over Spira would come to compete in a bid for even just a moment of peace and normality in a very not-peaceful world. But all Iah had heard was 'there will be plenty of easy marks'. People distracted by the thrill of the games and being in a big city, many for the first time, made for so many possibilities.

And Luca was, by Spira's standards, a big city. The second-largest in Spira, it stretched many blocks and quarters - it even had a dedicated theater and a massive stadium almost exclusively for blitzball. And it also had the advantage of being situated right on the sea; as a major port city, it saw its fair share of traffic, becoming a melting pot for people from all walks of life. It was easy for a newcomer to get lost and even easier to find that their gil had mysteriously vanished. All things considered, Iah could have washed up in worse places.

It was with that thought and the rush of pinching a rather hefty-feeling coin purse that he felt someone collide into his shoulder with a startled yelp. Iah fumbled, managing to slip the coin purse into his pockets before anyone could notice, and stood upright to stare down whoever had bumped into him so roughly. But any words he could think to say - angry, reassuring, indifferent - died as he looked upon a young man with snow-white hair and wide, magenta eyes staring back at him. "I'm so sorry," the man stammered. "Are you alright?"

"It's fine," Iah said a little too brightly, waving it off. "These crowds, right?"

The man laughed sheepishly, nodding. "Yeah. I forgot how busy it gets here during tournaments. Again, I'm really sorry!" Iah took a moment to eye up the stranger. He was dressed in a pristine white hakama with gold trimmings, light enough to maneuver but still quite ceremonial-looking. He carried a staff strapped to his back - a mage of some kind, clearly. He had a soft, sweet face, but his eyes had an almost intoxicating depth to them.

To say that Iah was instantly intrigued was the understatement of the century.

The man squirmed a little under Iah's scrutiny, and he asked, "A-are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah!" Iah said, having realized that he was staring. "I just - your clothes. Are you a traveler?"

The man relaxed a little. "A summoner. We're stopping through for the tournament before we continue on my pilgrimage."

Iah's eyebrows shot up. He'd only recently remembered summoners - a week or so ago, he and Malik had been in this very square when a summoner and his guardians had passed through, and Malik had patiently explained their purpose. "According to the teachings," he'd said, his voice mildly venomous on the word 'teachings', "only summoners can defeat Sin and bring the Calm. They're pretty well-respected."

"The same Sin that made my head not work right?"

Malik had laughed a little drily. "Yeah." Of course, there was much more to Sin than that; after all, if the only thing Sin did was mess up your head, people wouldn't be so rightfully afraid of it. Sin was a monster, a massive beast that could destroy entire towns in just a few minutes, a pure destructive force that kept all of Spira in terror just by name. And worse, even when killed, it was only temporary; ten years of Calm before it would return, beginning the cycle all over again.

Iah wasn't entirely sure why summoners were the only ones that could defeat Sin, but that made them practically celebrities. And now, he was face-to-face with one.

He eventually remembered that he was, in fact, in the middle of a conversation, and hastily recovered by asking, "Taking a break for the games, then?"

The man nodded, seemingly unaware of Iah's wandering mind. "Might as well! We needed to head to Besaid anyway; this is a bit of a roundabout way, but some of my guardians really enjoy blitzball season." Speaking of guardians… Iah looked around. No one seemed to be paying them much mind aside from squeezing past them to get to the stadium. "We're meeting back at the stadium in a bit," the man explained as he noticed. "I prefer to wander. What about you? Are you here for the tournament, too?"

"No - well, kind of," Iah explained, rubbing the back of his head. "I live here. You talk like you've been here before."

"Well, I was born here!" the man exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "I'm honestly surprised, it really hasn't changed that much."

"Why'd you leave?"

"As much as I love Luca, it gets… overwhelming." The man looked around at the bustle of the city square as if to make a point. "Speaking of which - at least three people have checked me with their shoulders while we've been here. Maybe…" He pointed off towards the stadium. "If you'd like to keep talking, we could go somewhere more quiet."

Iah nodded, leading the way through the crowds. He kept his hands to himself for once; he didn't dare risk swiping anything else while being actively watched, although it was tempting to. Eventually, they pushed through and ended up on the bridge leading to the stadium. The tournament had already started, so they had plenty of time, as the crowds were either already watching the games or shopping in the city square. The man sighed, leaning against the bridge railing and staring out at the open sea. "Much better," Iah said, leaning right next to him. "So, my lord summoner -"

"Ugh! No!" The man laughed, covering his mouth as he flushed. "Just… Ryou is fine."

"Ryou," Iah said, tilting his head with a grin. "I'm Iah."

"Nice to meet you." Ryou locked eyes with him, and there was an excited hesitance in his expression. Iah dared to hope that, maybe, he was intrigued, too. "How long have you been here, Iah?"

"A couple of months."

"And where were you before that?" When Iah hesitated to answer, Ryou's eyes widened again. "Oh, that was rude, wasn't it? I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay, it's just…" Iah turned to look out at the water. "I don't remember. Somewhere Sin hit. The toxins got to me, I guess."

"Oh." Ryou went quiet, chewing on the inside of his cheek for a moment. When he spoke next, his voice was saddened. "I understand. I just came from Kilika. It… have you heard?"

Iah tilted his head. "No."

"…Sin attacked it a few days ago."

Iah turned to look at him, his easy expression fading. Ryou didn't need to say anything else; the saddened tone in his voice told Iah that the destruction had probably been thorough. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely.

"Thank you. A summoner arrived just afterwards, so the dead are at rest, but -" Ryou shook his head. "I was just an apprentice when it happened, but it gave me the push I needed to finish my training. And now I'm a fully fledged summoner myself."

"Going to get your revenge, huh?"

Ryou pondered that for a moment. "Maybe," he said eventually. "For some of my guardians, certainly. But for me… I just can't stand by and do nothing."

"You're the type to jump into action? You certainly don't look it."

"Looks can be deceiving," Ryou said, a little playfulness returning to his demeanor. "I get that a lot, though."

"It's that pretty face of yours." Iah paused. Had he said the 'pretty' part out loud? The way Ryou stared at him, mildly shocked, before turning back to the water, his cheeks burning bright red, indicated that yes, he had. "Sorry, was that too forward?"

"No," Ryou said with a little laugh. "I get that a lot, too."

Iah laughed at his honesty, but it was cut short by the sudden, audible crackling of magic in the air. He stood upright, the hairs on the back of his neck sticking up, and he muttered, "What's…" But his question was soon answered as the stadium erupted into screams. Iah jumped at the sound and Ryou twisted around, eyes wide as he gasped and immediately raced off towards the stadium. "Hey!" Iah called after him, swearing under his breath as he followed.

People were scrambling out of the stadium, desperately trying to flee as creatures poured out from the stands. Dog-like creatures, giant draconic lizards, and horrible, two-headed beasts - they both stopped short, watching in horror. "Fiends?" Ryou muttered, aghast. "Here? But…"

Iah noticed almost too late that one of the dog creatures - a fiend - had turned its attention to them. He swore, grabbing Ryou's hand and dragging him towards one of the many docks. The stadium guards were doing their best to hold back the tide, but Iah could hear one of them scream from behind them, the sound cut short with a sickening crack. Ryou cried out in horror, but Iah pulled him along, looking for any place to hide or -

One of the lizard fiends stalked out onto the walkway from the dock ahead of them, and Iah skidded to a halt with a curse. They couldn't very well go back; he could hear fighting from behind them as well. The fiend noticed them - not that it was hard, as they were standing out in the open - and reared back as a fire ignited in its throat. Iah tackled Ryou onto the ground of the nearest dock, the flame breath missing them by inches.

Something glinted on top of a crate just before them. Iah launched himself back up to his feet, grabbing at - daggers! Perfect! Iah turned to see the fiend charging at them and grit his teeth, launching himself up to roll over its back, stabbing at its throat in the process. But the daggers couldn't pierce the thing's thick hide, and he landed on his feet with a grimace. The fiend turned to him with a menacing growl.

Behind it, he could see Ryou stand, unlatching his staff from his back and nodding at him grimly. Iah returned the nod, turning back to the fiend and yelling, "Come on!" The fiend charged him again, and Iah rolled out of the way. His daggers, while welcome weapons, would have a hell of a time piercing that thing's hide, but maybe they didn't need to. Ryou had looked at him with determination - he had a plan, surely, so maybe Iah just needed to buy him some time.

He dodged another flame blast, swiping at the fiend's legs to keep its attention on him - and received a claw to the face for his trouble. He didn't have time to scream, adrenaline filling his veins, but blood pooled in his eye, leaving him partially blind. He parried another swipe, but then the fiend headbutted him into the barrier of the dock. He bent backward over it painfully, rolling to avoid being completely shoved over into the sea by a mere second.

And then, there was a roar, a blast of heat against his body, and the sickening sound of claws ripping through flesh. Iah froze, confused, as he didn't feel any pain or any sign that he'd been further injured at all. He looked up to see a horrible beast impaling the fiend with its long, wicked claws. It was massive, with four horns curling back over its head as flames licked at its quadruped body. The beast tossed the fiend aside and it hit the wall of the stadium, exploding into shimmers of light - pyreflies.

The beast then turned to Iah, and he felt his heart stop in terror. It regarded him for a moment; there was intelligence in its eyes as it shook out its orange mane and huffed, shifting aside to let Ryou pass by and take Iah by the shoulders. "Your face -" he gasped, pressing his hand to the wound and muttering a quiet prayer.

Iah hissed, putting his hand over Ryou's to pull it away. He was about to play it off, say that it was nothing, when he felt a gentle light fill him. The burning in his eye slowly faded, vision returning as he could feel the wound closing, and he stared up at Ryou in mild awe. "White magic," he observed dumbfoundedly, even though it was obvious in retrospect.

"I try, at least," Ryou said weakly, pulling away and turning back to the horrible flame beast. "Thank you. You can go now." The beast bowed its head and pushed off of the ground in a blast of fire, fading into pyreflies mid-air. Ryou turned back to Iah, examining his face with a little grimace. "It's not perfect - it'll leave a scar, but at least you won't go blind."

But Iah was more focused on that beast and the ease with which it obeyed Ryou's commands. "That… thing… that was you?"

Ryou smiled, but before he could explain, a woman cried out, "Ryou!" They turned to see a group of four run onto the dock, three men and a woman, and the woman threw her arms open to hug him. "Oh, praise be to Yevon - we've been looking everywhere!"

"What happened?" Ryou asked, accepting the hug for just a moment.

"We don't know. One minute, the Aurochs are kicking the Goers asses and winning the tournament -" One of the men started.

"Biggest comeback of the century!" Another added.

"And then all of a sudden, fiends are everywhere! Maester Seymour took care of most of them, but - are you hurt at all? We saw Ifrit."

Ryou shook his head. "I'm okay. Thanks to him." He turned to gesture to Iah, who was still leaning against the barrier, dumbfounded. "He gave me the time I needed."

Iah waved a hand, still breathless. "All in a day's work," he joked weakly. "The guardians, I presume?"

The woman straightened up, bowing her head to him. "Yes. I'm Anzu - thank you for your help."

"What can I say? Right place at the right time," Iah said. At that moment, his legs collapsed out from under him as the adrenaline rush wore off. Ryou's healing had taken the edge off, but a dull ache still coursed through his body. Ryou came to his side to prop him up, fussing over him slightly as he muttered another healing spell.

"To hold your own against those things is pretty impressive." The third man finally chimed in, and Iah had to have been hallucinating because he could swear there was a monkey perched on his shoulder. "Come on - let's get inside. You can rest up there."

Anzu reached down to help him up, supporting him on her shoulder as they headed back into the stadium. As they went, Ryou's guardians introduced themselves. Jounouchi, the warrior; Honda, the gunner; and Yugi, the beast tamer. "And this is Aaru," Yugi said, reaching into his bag to pull out some kind of nut before handing it to the monkey on his shoulder. Aaru snatched it up, not even bothering to give Iah any attention.

"I'm Iah," he said, groaning as Anzu helped him sit on a bench. "Ow. Uh, I'm a… me."

Ryou laughed gently, sitting next to him and pressing his hand on Iah's shoulder to channel some more healing magic. "You're capable. I'd dare to say you've fought before."

"I guess so," Iah said. Yes, battle instincts had come to him very quickly; he'd known exactly where to aim his daggers, even if they hadn't been sharp enough to cut through the lizard fiend's hide, and his reflexes had let him dodge the worst of the fiend's attacks.

"You guess so?" Jounouchi pried.

Ryou gave him a look, but Iah beat him to the punch. "Sin's toxin," he said simply. "Amnesia. It's a thing."

"Oh." Jounouchi had the decency to look humbled. "Sorry."

"It's fine. Honestly, it doesn't bother me much. If I had any family or friends, they probably would've come looking for me." Iah shrugged, glancing back down to the daggers he'd set on the bench. Using them had felt as natural as breathing, so he must have had some combat training at some point.

"Iah!" A voice called out from the entrance to the stadium, and he looked up to see Malik rushing towards him. Iah braced himself as Malik threw his arms around him. "You're alright!" He drew back, looking at Iah's eye and paling slightly. "Are you alright?"

"As alright as I can be, meddma." To call Malik 'little' was a joke, one that Iah knew was only funny to him; Malik was the youngest, after all. Iah raised his hand to touch his eye, realizing that he hadn't seen the extent of the damage yet. He felt the skin raised in an almost straight line down his face and frowned.

"What happened?" Malik asked as Isis and Rishid rushed up behind him, relieved to see Iah safe and sound.

"Fiends," Honda answered for him, shaking his head. "They came from out of nowhere."

"Fiends?" Isis's eyes widened in shock. "In Luca? How -"

"No idea. But it was…" Anzu shook her head, hugging herself. "A mess."

"Are you Iah's family?" Ryou asked politely, stepping forward.

"Close enough," Malik said, looking him up and down and taking particular note of Ryou's attire. "You're…"

"My name's Ryou. Iah here saved my life." To drive the point home, Ryou smiled down at Iah, his eyes glittering with pure gratitude. Iah looked away, mildly embarrassed to be called out like that; and in doing so, he missed the look Ryou gave to his guardians. "Would you excuse us for a second?"

Ryou and his guardians wandered off towards a corner of the atrium, and Iah took the opportunity to look up at Rishid, gesturing to his face. "Okay. I know you'll be honest, amtan. How bad is it?"

Rishid appraised him slightly. "It's not as bad as mine," he said. Although, if Iah was honest, that wasn't saying much; Rishid had been attacked trying to protect Isis and Malik many years ago, and half of his face was covered with thin lines and knots of scarring. "It's a miracle you didn't lose the eye."

"Yeah. That'd be a damn shame, wouldn't it?" Iah winked with the injured eye, making Malik snort quietly in laughter. "They're such nice eyes."

"Well, you're taking it lightly," Isis said with a little humor in her voice. "So you'll clearly live."

Ryou and his guardians returned, and Ryou had his hands clasped in front of him as he smiled nervously. "Iah…" he started a little sheepishly. "I'd like to ask you to be my guardian."