Chapter 4 – Twisted Past, Twisted Emotion
Paine threw the boat keeper a line to their airboat. The three girls arrived back in Kilika none too happy. With their sphere a resounding disappointment, the girls decided to go party in Kilika for the rest of the day. Rikku felt they deserved a break, with Paine nominally agreeing. The girls walked down the pier and into town. Evening approached, and the denizens were closing shops and heading home for the night. Coming out of a large building down the road, Brother and Buddy signaled to the girls.
"I hope they found a decent place for us to stay," expressed Rikku, waving back to Brother and Buddy.
Brother immediately walked up to Yuna. "How did your search go, Yuna?"
"Uh well, not so good," she replied dismally.
"Oh, what went wrong? Didn't you find a sphere?" inquired Buddy, seeing the disappointment equal in Rikku and Paine's eyes.
Rikku started, "No, we found a sphere . . ."
". . . but it isn't worth a gil," finished Paine.
Brother folded his arms. "Drat! And I spent so much time getting us accommodations. I guess I will cancel."
"Oh no, we're gonna party our letdown away in Kilika tonight!" exclaimed Rikku, strutting around Brother.
"What!" grumbled Brother. "Just don't spend all our gil. I'm not—"
"Made of gil, we know," Paine replied sarcastically.
"Crid ib! Tuh'd sulg sa!" yelled Brother, who once again did his famous sulking away act.
Yuna chuckled. "Poor Brother."
"Hey, I have an idea," Rikku blurted out randomly.
"I'd start running now." Paine further encouraged with a flick of her hand.
"It's not like that," argued Rikku. "Since we're here, why don't we visit Dona?"
Yuna smiled. "Oh, Rikku, that's a great idea! I wonder how she and Barthello are getting along?"
Rikku shrugged. "Hopefully better than they were the last time we were here."
Yuna and Rikku laughed, and even Paine cracked a smile. Dona lived just a couple of houses from where they stood. Although Yuna insisted it was a good measure to knock first, Rikku went ahead and barged into Dona's house.
"Rikku? Yuna?" Dona said, surprised at their sudden intrusion. "Don't you know it's prudent to knock before you enter someone's home?"
"Sorry," apologized Yuna, pointing to Rikku. "You can't really control this one."
Rikku grinned widely at Dona, who rolled her eyes. She motioned for the girls to have a seat.
"Since you're here, tell me what brings the Gullwings to Kilika again?"
"We picked up a sphere signal on an island near here, and we came to investigate," explained Yuna, while sitting on one of Dona's big, comfy chairs.
"Hmm, did you already look for it?"
"Yes, but the sphere isn't very useful."
"Aw, sorry to hear. But, since you're in Kilika, you might as well enjoy yourself."
Rikku nodded vigorously, thinking back to the image of a sulking Brother. "That's why we're still here!"
"Also, since we are here," continued Yuna. "We thought we would come and visit."
Dona smiled. "I'm glad you did. Ever since the situation between New Yevon and the Youth League diffused, things have been monotonous as of late."
Yuna chuckled. She recalled the chaos that ensued when the fiends burst out of the temple. The Youth League accused New Yevon of hiding secrets in the temple. They were about ready to start a war. Poor Barthello, as much as he loved New Yevon, he loved Dona more. It was sad, but kind of funny in a way.
Yuna's CommSphere started buzzing with the sound of Brother's voice. "Yuna, are you there?"
"Go ahead, Brother. What is it?" she asked.
"Shinra says you should come back to the ship. He discovered something about this sphere you found today."
Puzzled as to what Shinra could have possibly found out, she signaled back to Brother that they would return shortly.
"What was that about? Is Brother being a nag again?" asked Rikku curiously.
"No, no," she replied. "He says Shinra found some kind of information out about the sphere we captured earlier today."
"No kidding," replied a perplexed Paine. "I can't believe he actually found something interesting out of that thing."
"I don't know, he just said to come back to the Celsius," she said, then looked over at Dona. "I apologize for cutting our visit short. Perhaps you'll want to meet us again later tonight?"
Dona bobbed her head. "Sure, no problem. Maybe I'll even drag Barthello along if he shuts up about New Yevon long enough."
Yuna nodded and got up from the chair, the other girls following suit. She still couldn't figure out what in the world Shinra could come up with from that sphere. Maybe he figured out who that woman was. Her name seemed so familiar as if Yuna had heard it before. It agitated Yuna that she couldn't place the name.
Into the Celsius and up the lift, the Gullwings went straight to the bridge. Truly intrigued as to what Shinra had discovered, each of the girls laid out their hypothesis. Upon entering the bridge, they were greeted by Brother flapping his arms.
"Alright, enough with the suspense," barked Rikku, almost overcome with anticipation. "What is this amazing discovery Shinra made?"
Shinra looked at Brother, who hung his head. "It isn't that important, but I've made some fairly interesting finds."
"Eh?" yelled Rikku. "That's it—fairly interesting? Brother made it sound super important."
"Sorry, I thought it was important!" exclaimed Brother, trying to defend himself.
"Anyway, since you're all here, I might as well explain what I found," spoke Shinra. "First, the place you viewed from the sphere is not the island where you found it."
"Oh, it wasn't?" asked Yuna.
"Nope. See here," continued Shinra, bringing up a frozen image of the sphere. "The architecture of those buildings in the background matches that of Bevelle a thousand years ago."
"Whoa really? How do you know?" asked Rikku, leaning her head uncomfortably close to Shinra.
"I looked it up in a book," he replied dully, getting a smug look back from her. "Therefore, how this sphere, and that machina for that matter, got to the island is a real mystery. From the data I saw on the sphere, that machina looked like a rare defender model. Probably used to guard something of value. Not sure why it was on the loose in Bevelle after this woman."
"Speaking of her," inquired Yuna, who couldn't help herself. "Did you find out anything about her?"
"I was getting there," Shinra replied, clearing out his throat. "Allow me to show you, or rather, allow me to allow you to listen to who she may be. You've heard her name before."
The girls just gave Shinra a blank look of puzzlement. They had no idea what he was talking about.
He signed. "Somehow I'm not surprised. Here, just listen!"
After a few screeches and zaps, the sound of the unseen man's voice played again, this time much clearer.
"Please come here! Don't go down that way! Lenne!"
"That was a high-resolution version of what you listened to. Anything sound familiar now?" questioned Shinra, looking straight at Yuna.
"Could it be . . . it sounds like him. Is it Shinra?" Yuna asked in exasperation.
Shinra didn't say anything and simply played a clip from his database.
"You know, you're all I can count on to save Lenne."
Yuna gasped. That's where she heard the name before. It was from him, the man who could be Tidus. Why did he know her? Then the real question popped into her mind: how did he know her? If she truly did live 1000 years ago, she had long since died. Still, he clearly called her name.
Shinra spoke once again, jolting Yuna out of her haze. "Comparing the voice from the Crimson Sphere, and the voice from what I'll call the 'Tonberry Sphere,' I'd say they're a 75% match. It seems they may have been spoken by the same person."
"Is that possible?" asked Paine, finally speaking.
"I have no idea," Shinra replied, honest to his incomplete understanding. "I can't give much of an explanation."
"I don't get it at all, "mumbled Rikku while rubbing her chin. "What do you think, Yunie?"
But Yuna was not there to receive her question, to Rikku's surprise.
"Huh? Yunie, where'd ya go?"
Everyone looked around, completely dumbfounded as to where Yuna had vanished to. Yuna had heard enough of this Lenne, whoever she was. She was long gone, now relegated to an image on a sphere. The sound of his voice calling her name continued to echo in Yuna's mind.
A mix of feelings stirred inside her, creating a raging tonic too hard for her to swallow. She walked off the ship and down the pier the Celsius was docked at. Her head hung low, and her hands were behind her back. Nearly nighttime, a crowd filled Kilika's with raucous activity. The remaining sliver of sun held heavy on the ocean's horizon, casting ripples of yellow and orange against the dark, blue water.
She walked until she found an empty pier at the end of the docks. Darkness cast a shroud over her where she could hide alone. While she normally liked to talk with others, and especially about other people's problems, she struggled to express her own. Sitting down at the end of the pier, Yuna removed her boots and paddled her feet in the water. Even at night, the water warmed her skin.
Staring down at the dimly lit water, the image of Lenne haunted her. Yuna pondered about who she could have been, and how the man she believed was Tidus could have known her. Jealous of this mystery woman, Yuna couldn't filter Lenne's image out of her mind. The flow of Lenne's long, brown hair complemented her beautiful brown eyes perfectly. Although she was fleeing for her life, all Yuna witnessed was the elegant motion of her swaying body.
Yuna clenched her hand into a fist. In reality, she had nothing to worry about, of course. Once again she paddled her feet in the water, gazing at the hazy slice of the sun disappear from the horizon. The ripples of purple, pink, orange, and blue paralleled the ripples of the ocean waves. A tear fell from her eye. She brushed it aside, but another soon followed.
She sniffled and whispered to herself, "I will find you Tidus. I will find you.
