When I next came to, I was face down in a warm, sunny tropical water. I was face down in the sea, floating closer to shore. It was a good thing I literally couldn't drown, or else I would have been dead meat.
Just as I was getting acquainted with my surroundings, something hit me in the back of the head...something hard, and yet very familiar. I turned around and saw that it was a large blue and white blitzball, just floating there, happy as you like.
"Wh—Blitzball!" I exclaimed happily upon seeing it.
"Hey, you alright?" A guy with jet-black hair called from the shore. He was with what I could only assume was his team, since they were all wearing the same thing and were tossing blitzballs around. I don't know why, but I just got so excited at seeing something so familiar that I wanted to show off a little.
I dove underwater and positioned myself so the ball was directly over my head. I sprang out of the water, using my head to launch the ball into the air, then did a bicycle kick, shooting the ball back at the guys on the shore and nearly whacking the tall guy with black hair in the face. The ball caught the wind, and peeled away from his face just in time, revealing an utterly amazed expression.
"Hey Zack!" Someone not in a blitz uniform called out, drawing the guys attention away as I swam up to shore, where the rest of 'Zack's' team crowded around me.
Whoever the guys were that he was talking to walked off, and then he walked over with a cool smirk on his face.
"Hey so uh...you wanna try that move one more time?" He asked, and I nodded happily. Things were finally starting to look up. People who spoke my language, and who were fellow blitz players...I was in heaven.
I showed them how to do a Sphere Shot (the name of the move where you bicycle kick the ball while you shoot, giving you more momentum) and they all looked floored.
"You're no armature. Who do you play for?" Zack asked.
"The Zanarkand Abes." I spouted out proudly, forgetting everything that Sora had just told me. It just slipped out. I was excited, okay?
A bunch of the guys started whispering, and Zack crossed his arms, "What team did you say again?"
"Uh, I meant...Forget that!" I stuttered out, realizing my mistake. "I got too, uh...close to Sin, and my head's all foggy-like." I figured that was the best excuse I had. Hell, it was the only one I had. "So I don't know where this place is, or even where I came from."
"Sin's toxin got to you? Sucks man...but, you're still alive, right? Thank Yevon for that." They all bowed, then Zack turned back to face the rest of the team, "Alright you bums, back to practice." They all went back to what they were doing before, and Zack held a hand out for me, and formally introduced himself, "I'm Zack, coach and captain of the Besaid Aurochs."
"Besaid huh?" I said looking around at the white sandy beach and clear blue water. I could have really gotten used to this place. "I'm Ventus, but call me Ven."
"So Ven, do you—" He was interrupted by my stomach making whale sounds and gurgling. To be fair, even though my last memory was about Sora giving me food, I didn't know how long ago it was that I had eaten. My stomach on the other hand, decided that it was time for eating right now. "Hungry?" He smirked, "Come on, I'll get you something back at the village. Follow me."
He began to walk down a bath that lead away from the beach, and into a dirt road trail through some tropical looking forest. Before we got too far off the beach, I felt like I could trust this Zack, so I just had to ask.
"It's true Zanarkand was destroyed, right? 1000 years ago or something? So It's just a big pile of rubble now, isn't it?"
"A long time ago, there were a ton of cities in Spira. Big cities with lots of machina—machines—to run them. The people played all day, and let the machina do all the work. Then...well, take a look." He gestured up and around, where I could see ruins that look absolutely ancient...ancient and fairly similar in architecture to Zanarkand. "Sin came, and destroyed the machina cities, Zanarkand along with them. That was around a thousand years ago, just like you said. If you ask me, Sin's our punishment for letting things get out of hand...But what gets me is that we gotta suffer for what some goofballs did back then."
So it really was just like Sora had said. Zack and Sora couldn't both be lying. I mean, why would they?
Zack started laughing, and threw an arm around my shoulder, pressing his weight down on me, "But you, playing for the Zanarkand Abes? That was a good one."
My head dropped in depression and he chuckled again, "I'm not saying that team never existed, but you gotta figure, a team living in luxury like that'd be pretty soft, eh?"
I could appreciate the fact that he was trying to cheer me up, but at that time, all I could think about was everything that had happened to me—all this—started with Sin, and that maybe if I could find Sin one more time, I could go home. For now, I'd just live life until that time came. No more worrying about where, or when, I was. It was hard not to think of home, but I was starting to feel better already. A little better. Maybe.
"Hey, it's this way to the village." Zack called from up ahead, so I figured I had no choice but to follow him. He led me over to a short cliff, maybe 20 feet above a stretch of water that had cut into the island from the sea. It was really pretty looking, so I paused to take it all in.
"Would you look at that..." Zack mumbled, pointing at something in the water.
"What? What is it?" I asked, leaning over the edge to try and see whatever it was he saw. I was so busy trying to see anything that I didn't notice he was creeping up behind me. He pushed me, and I fell over the ledge into the water. He jumped in after me, a huge grin on his face, and his laughter echoing through the cavern.
"What's the big idea?" I complained, and he swam by me with a smirk.
"What's the matter, the Abe is afraid of a little swim an' a race?" His smirk widened.
It was so on. I showed him just how soft a Zanarkand abe really was.
After the race ended with me creaming him, and a while of what I thought was just aimless swimming, Zack stopped me.
"Hey, so listen...I've got a favor to ask you."
"Let me guess...you want me on your team?" I smirked, finally feeling like myself again.
"Yeah, well you see there's this big tournament coming up, all the teams in Spira will be there...It's gonna be huge, so I'm sure someone there will recognize you. Then you can go back to your old team. It'll be fun. Come on, what do you say?"
"Sure thing!"
"Sweeetttt, our team is going to rock!" He slapped the water happily.
I was beginning to think that Sin and Blitzball were the only two things that Spira and Zanarkand had in common. Which really isn't too far off either...
The waterway let out at the top of a huge hill overlooking a small village with a large temple overlooking the water.
"This is Besaid village, where I was born. I started blitz when I was around five. I joined the Aurochs at ten, a little more than a decade ago. Ten years, and we've never won a game."
"What? Seriously? But I just raced you, you had me running for my money."
"One guy doesn't make the team, you know?" He shrugged, then sighed, "Anyway, after least year's tournament, I quit the team. The time seemed right. But then, after quitting, even when I got a new job, every time I let my mind wander, it went right back to the game."
"Ten years without a single win will do that, I bet."
He chuckled, "I guess. My first match last year was my big chance, but something else was on my mind, and I couldn't focus." He looked a little down.
"Nice excuse." I hit him in the shoulder, mostly to snap him out of it.
"Hey, hey." He waved me off, getting his grin back.
"So, you want to win the next tournament, and go out with a bang?"
"That was the plan, yeah." He nodded.
"I see...So what's our goal?"
"I don't care how we do, as long as we play our best. We give it our all, and I can walk away happy."
"Pfffft, what? No, no, no, no, no...When I say 'what's our goal?' you say 'Victory!' When you play in a blitzball tournament, you play to win."
"Victory, huh? You serious?" Zack crossed his arms over his chest, getting a bit of a smirk to his face.
"Yup." I nodded, and he shook his head while laughing.
"You're something else kid." Then he made his way for the village at the base of the hill. Halfway down, we ran into those two guys who were talking to Zack before on the beach.
"Ah, the one from the sea. There are fiends on the road today, so be on guard. After your run in with Sin, it would be a shame for something to happen to you now." One of them said while the other paced around on patrol. They both walked off towards the village too, leaving us alone again.
"Who were they?" I asked.
"Cecil and Angeal. They're Crusaders."
"Huh? Crews of what?" I was only half listening, to be honest. I was pretty busy staring at how freakin' huge that Angeal guy was.
"What you forget that too?" He laughed. I deflated and he rubbed the back of his head, "Hey, sorry. Don't worry about it, I'll help you out."
"Cool. In return, come tournament time, I'll make sure we take the cup."
"Cool." He smirked, "Oh, and about the crusaders, you can ask them yourself. They have a lodge in the village, and they're used to talking to people who've been too close to Sin, so hopefully you wont be able to rattle them. But come on, the village is right up there." He pointed to the stonewall surrounding the small village of a few different huts. "Well here it is. Besaid Village. It's not much, but it's home."
"You got any food here?"
He laughed, "We'll get you something over there later. Take a look around first, yeah?" He said, pointing to what I could only assume was his house. "Let's see, the Crusaders' Lodge is right over yonder. Cecil and Angeal are usually there." He began to walk off to go fix up some food, but then he seemed to remember something and pulled me back behind the stonewall of the village, where no one could see us.
"What's up?" I asked, eager to go get some food.
"You remember the prayer, right?"
"I don't know any prayers..." I mumbled. Of course I had never prayed before in my life. Zanarkand wasn't really big into anything that didn't offer instant gratification. Not that he would know that.
"You...musta forgotten or something. Here, I'll show you." He lunged backwards slightly, and brought his hands in front of his chest, the left on bottom, and the right on top, with space between them, making a circle with his palms and fingers, then he bowed at the waist. "There, you try." He said, and I mimicked his actions. "Heh, not bad." He shrugged, then walked into the village, "Hey, now go present yourself to the temple priest. Don't be disrespectful, and don't say anything about Zanarkand. I'll have food waiting for you."
He walked off into the village, and I stared at him as he went. Any blitzball player would know that prayer. It was the blitzball sign for victory where I came from. Maybe Zanarkand really had become some kind of holy place...
I decided to see the crusaders first, thinking that at least they sort of knew about me.
"Hey, you. You were attacked by Sin right? Recently, was it?" The guy named Cecil asked.
"I think so." I shrugged.
"So Sin can't be that far...You're not hiding anything, are you?" Cecil crossed his arms and raised and eyebrow at me.
"Why would I?" I asked confusedly.
"If Sin is nearby, then it'll attack the island for sure." Angeal explained. "But it hasn't, and I can only wonder why."
"I'm sorry, I really don't know anything. To tell the truth, I don't even know what the Crusaders are." I found myself looking down at my feet in shame for the hundredth time today. Not knowing anything about anything was tiresome.
"You're kidding, right?" Cecil asked.
"Sin...the toxin." Angeal said, examining me closely. "Cecil, tell him who we are."
"Yes sir. The crusaders are sworn to battle Sin. We have charter all throughout Spira, accepting all who wish to join in our struggle. The hero Mi'ihen formed the Crusaders eight hundred years ago as the Crimson Blades. Later as the ranks grew, we called ourselves the Crusaders. We've been fighting Sin ever since."
"What? You've been fighting eight hundred years, and you still haven't beaten it?" I asked, probably a little bit arrogantly.
"Well, we steer Sin away from towns and villages. And that's all we can do. Nobody's ever been able to defeat it. Our mission as Crusaders is to protect the temples, towns, villages, and people of Spira." Angeal went on.
"So...then who's job is it to defeat Sin?"
The two looked at each other, and then Cecil finally asked Angeal, "Is Sin's toxin really this bad, sir?"
"It does seem rather bad..." Angeal agreed, then turned to me, "We could just tell you, but I think it better for you to try and remember. Go pray at the temple. Perhaps Yevon will help you regain your memory."
I decided it might be best just to go to this temple and see if it really did help with anything. At least it would get everyone to stop telling me to go there.
I walked into the stone temple, and saw there were statues and candles, and a hymn was being sung by inhuman voices.
It was then, standing in that place, that I began to realize just how different this world was from my home. The people inside praying all looked so natural, but I had never felt more out of place. I was just looking at the statues, not really sure what I was supposed to be doing, when I saw this statue that looked newer than all the others. A priest saw me looking at it and walked over.
"Ten years have passed since Lord Braska became high summoner. And finally we received our statute for the temple.
"What's a high summoner?" I asked dumbly, letting the question slip out. The people in the temple all turned away from what they were doing and stared at me. "I-I got too close to Sin's, uh, toxin, and I..."
"My dear boy." The priest said sympathetically, doing the same bow Zack had just shown me. It was funny hearing myself make the same excuse over and over again. Funny, and a little sad.
"The summoners are practitioners of a sacred art, sworn to protect the people of Yevon. Only a chosen few become summoners, who call forth entities of great power; the Aeons. The Aeons hear our prayers and come down to us. They are the blessings of Yevon."
So what he meant was that we should respect some kind of great men or something like that...I figured, anyway. It made about as much sense to me as Al Bhed, so I decided to leave the temple.
I went back to Zack's, and he told me to take a nap while I waited for the soup to finish cooking. I was bushed anyway, so I took him up on his offer.
"You could at least go see how they're doing." A man said.
"We can't interfere. It's a rule." Zack replied. I was still half asleep, but I can remember them talking.
"But, it's been nearly a full day..." their voices got quieter, and I began to drift off.
"It's been nearly a day already..." The coast guard was saying to mom.
"You can't just give up on him..." She pleaded hopelessly. I remembered this. It was the day after dad disappeared.
"People are searching for him now, I'll double the watch, but that's really about all I can do, ma'am.." The coast guard said, and then he walked off to return to his duties.
"Who cares whether he comes back or not?" A child-version of me said bitterly, crossing my scrawny little arms to seem tougher, when really, I was on the verge of tears.
"But he might die." Mom said, bending down to be on the same level as little 9 year old me.
"Fine, let him!"
"Do you...do you really hate him so much?"
"More." I replied stubbornly.
"If he dies, you'll never be able to tell him how much you hate him."
It was a strange thing to say, thinking back on it, but at the time, it helped me to keep it together...somehow.
I sprang upright, waking roughly from my dream. Zack was nowhere to be seen, so I decided to head outside to look for him. A woman outside told me he went into the temple, and I found him in there, talking to the same priest I was before.
"Is something wrong? I asked, afraid maybe Sin had struck again while I was napping.
"The summoner hasn't returned from the trial..." Zack said, seeming rather sad about it.
"Eh?" I shrugged.
"Well, apprentice summoner, really." He rubbed the back of his neck.
"I still don't get it."
"There's a room in there," He pointed to a sealed door at the top of some stone steps, "called the Cloister of Trials. Beyond is where the apprentice summoner prays. If the prayer is heard, the apprentice becomes a fully-fledged summoner. Remember?"
"So someone is in there, somewhere, and they haven't come back out. Got it."
"A day's already gone by..." He sighed.
"Is it...particularly dangerous in there?" I asked, seeing that this was clearly upsetting him.
"Sometimes. I've heard it can be."
"Well why don't we go in and help?"
"There's already guardians in there. Besides, it's forbidden." He looked at his feet, and I suddenly realized just how upset he was. I ran up the stairs, thinking that if he wasn't going to do something I would.
"But what is something happens? What if the summoner dies!?"
"The precepts must be obeyed!" The priest yelled at me as I charged up the stairs.
"To hell with your precepts!" I said, prying open the door.
"You can't say 'hell' in a temple like that!" Zack scolded, then the priest smacked him for saying it.
"Like I care." I rolled my eyes and slammed the door closed behind me, hoping that they wouldn't come after me. But once I got inside, I got to thinking that maybe this wasn't such a good idea. It was literally a maze in there. The passageways were all blocked, there were glyphs on the walls, and the only way to open them was by placing these little spheres into the various slots around the chamber. But which sphere went into which slot? I couldn't tell you.
After maybe an hour of running around like a Chocobo with it's head cut off, I finally came across something called a destruction sphere.
There was a doorway that refused to open, no matter what I did to it, and eventually, I began to get a little bit frustrated.
"Maybe this is why they've been in here for a day!" I shouted at no one, spiteful at not being able to figure out the puzzle. I threw the sphere down on the ground in frustration, and it exploded on impact, shattering the doorway I was trying to get through.
"What are you doing!?" Zack fussed, running up with a horror struck look on his face.
"Um...Nothing." I rubbed the back of my head and kicking around some of the rubble I just made.
"Only summoners, apprentice summoners, and their guardians can enter here. It's tradition, so it's importan—Did you blow that up? Is that what that sound was." He pointed at the bits of the door that were just handing on the hinges.
"No! Yeah...kinda. Maybe."
"You idiot." He smacked me on the back of the head.
"Hey, you're in here too, Mr. 'It's tradition'."
"Me? I am a guardian."
"Really?" I taunted him, and he huffed, then grabbed a sphere and put it into a slot, opening a pathway that lead to a lift. "Huh. Lucky break." I shrugged, and he whacked me in the back of the head again before stepping on the lift. I joined him on it, and we went down.
"The summoners go on a pilgrimage to pray at every temple in Spira." He explained as the lift took us further and further down. "Their guardians protect them along the way. Just so you know, the guardians in there now...you might want to avoid tangling with them. One of them has got a short fuse, and the other one has an even shorter fuse, and who knows what the third one is thinking. But, we've come this far. So might as well go all the way, yeah?" He sighed, knowing that we were in for a real treat.
"What are you doing here?" A woman wearing a gray dress with fur lining the top, and a skirt made of belts asked, sounding pissed. "Didn't think we'd be able to handle it?" She stood up glaring daggers at Zack.
"No, it's uh, it's just..." She began to walk over and Zack sighed, "See? Told you she gets mad easy."
I looked at the other guy, trying to figure out if he had the short fuse or the shorter fuse. He had silvery hair, though he couldn't have been any older than I was. He looked at me, crossed his arms, scoffed, and looked away. I was guessing he was the shorter fuse.
In the corner of the room, there stood a tall blue creature that looked almost like a cat, with white hair and a broken horn coming out of his forehead. He wouldn't even look at me, so I figured that he was the one nobody could figure out.
"Is the summoner alright?" I asked once the lady was standing in front of Zack. She must not have seen me until then, because now she looked really pissed.
"And just who are you?"
Before I could answer however, a door at the top of the stairs on the far side of the chamber began to raise up into the ceiling, revealing a girl. A young girl. A very, very beautiful young girl...who at the moment looked a little out of it.
She seemed completely exhausted, and her hair was stuck to her forehead as little beads of sweat rolled down her temples. She had to hold the wall for a second and take in some breaths to compose herself. She walked up to the top of stairs, and wobbled a bit before taking a step down. Everyone seemed to take a hesitant step forward, not sure if she was going to be alright, when her knees finally gave out and she fell. She probably would have tumbled down the stairs, landing very painfully on the stone steps or floor, but the guy with silver hair sprinted for her, catching her torso in time to save her from a very painful fall. Her knees still took a beating, landing on the corner of the stone, but she didn't seem to care, or even be thinking about it.
"I did it." She said to him weakly, but excitedly.
"That's great. Can you stand?" He asked gently, standing her upright again. As soon as she was up, she walked over for the woman, hugging her tightly.
"Lulu...I'm a summoner." She said, pulling back and looking at her with a huge smile. The girl made to move for Zack, but in her exhaustion she stumbled over to me by mistake, nearly collapsing into me. "I...did it." If I hadn't been holding her up, she surly would have fallen to the floor, having completely lost consciousness. The blue cat person, who I now know is a Ronso, rushed over and grabbed her while shoving me back.
"Hey, I could help, I mean, I know some healing—"
"Pick spot. Sit down. Shut up." The Ronso growled, picking the girl up like she was a ragdoll and carrying her over to the steps, where he sat her down, allowing her head to rest against the silver haired guy's shins. That reminded me, I really needed to start asking for names.
"What now?" I whispered to Zack, the only one who wasn't either trying to glare at me or rip me to shreds with their cat-person claws.
"We wait until the summoner wakes up." He shrugged.
"I really do know some—"
"It's alright! I'm up! I'm so sorry!" The summoner sprang up, only to dizzily fall back down for a moment. She was finally up on her feet again with the silver bullets help. One of her arms was around his neck, and Zack walked over to take her other arm. The woman, Lulu, walked over to them and took out a small cloth from a pocket and wiped at the younger girl's forehead, and helped to fix her hair.
"Are you ready to go out?" She asked.
"Yes, let's get some food...please, I'm starving." She smiled, and Lulu shook her head and sighed.
After a few more minutes, she was able to stand and walk on her own again, then she led the way out of the Cloister.
We walked out to the temple front, where everyone was waiting. The girl bowed for them, then ascended the steps. You would have never of guess she had just been having trouble standing on her own with the show she was putting on out here for the people.
Man was I surprised. And here I was, thinking that all summoners were old geezers. The summoner and her guardians all walked out of the temple to tell the village of her success, while I hung back awkwardly. The priest grabbed me by the ear, and told me that my transgressions would be overlooked while the village celebrated the birth of a new summoner, but that I would be thrown out of the village if I acted up again.
Outside the temple, Zack was waiting for me and called me over to the center of the village, where he grabbed me and pulled me through the crowed.
"Wait till you see this." He told me, then looked at the summoner. "You ready?"
"You bet." The girl nodded, she was standing in the middle of everyone, and then held her arms out. Lights shone out all around her, and then a great bird fell from the sky, and landed right in front of her, and extended its neck for her to touch. Sure, it was huge, and a little scary, but I could feel a slight...gentleness coming form it. Zack abandoned me in the crowed and ran up to her to congratulate her. She really had done it. Though I didn't really know what 'it' was, or what it really meant.
I remember...that night, we talked for the first time. I didn't know it then, but after that night, everything changed. For everyone else, and for me.
The village threw a big party, and lit a huge bonfire, where lavish foods I'd never seen before were served. Most people were still a little angry that I barged into the temples sacred Cloister, and they didn't even know I blew part of it up yet...that being said, I tried to stay close to Zack that evening, since he was the only one I knew, and because he was the only one who didn't glare at me every time I passed by. Eventually, the Aurochs came over, and Zack introduced me to them, making up some story about how I begged him to let me on the team so I could play in the tournament.
He told them to be mindful that I was still a little fuzzy from my run in with Sin, and that they shouldn't mind me if I said anything funny, which stung a little, but was probably for the best. I spent the better part of an hour trying to convince them that our goal wasn't 'to do our best', but to win. Then I noticed her looking over at me.
She had slept a little since earlier, and brushed her hair. She was sitting with some of the village elders and the shorter-fused silver haired guardian. I tried to walk over to her to apologize for barging in on her...summoners test, or whatever, but the elders shooed me away.
"You heathen!"
"Stay away from the summoner!"
They practically hissed at me, but she just smiled and stood up.
"It really was my fault to being with.
"Be carful Lady ≈≈≈≈≈≈≈." An old woman advised her as she walked over to me.
"I'm ≈≈≈≈≈≈. Thank you for, uh...your concern, earlier."
"Uh, yeah. So sorry about that. Wasn't that...wasn't I not supposed to...I guess I...kind of overreacted."
"No, no. Really, I was...overconfident. I thought I was ready for the trials, but...obviously I needed a little more time."
"But, hey! You got through it." I tried to cheer her up.
"True, but it took so long I made everyone worry..." She bit her lip and looked around at all the villagers who she felt she had let down in some way.
"Hey, a few minutes in the...sphere maze or whatever it'scalled, and I was going insane. No one should blame you."
"Yes, I heard there was a slight problem with one of the doors." She was obviously trying to hold in a laugh. "Well, at least it wont bother anyone anymore."
"Zack tell you that?" I crossed my arms.
"He's got a pretty big mouth." She shrugged, smirking slightly at my obvious embarrassment over the whole...'Cloister of fucking stupid Trials' incident.
"Um, hey, I saw that aeon thing. That's amazing!"
"Really?" She gushed, her eyes lighting up. "Do you think that...maybe someday, I could become high summoner one day?"
"Yeah, easily." I nodded and her smile grew even wider. I didn't even know what that meant, but it made her happy, so I'd be sure to say it again sometime.
"≈≈≈≈≈≈≈, come back to the fire, you're not dressed warmly enough to be out there." The silver haired guardian scolded her, and she sighed contently.
"That's Riku...you should be careful around him for now...he's a little mad about your surprise appearance in the chamber." He looked over her shoulder at where he was sitting, and called back, "Just a second."
"Riku...got it. I'll steer clear." I said, noticing how he glared at me when her back was turned. "Way clear..."
"Well, then..."She paused, embarrassed to find that she didn't actually know my name.
"Ventus...oh, but, please, call me Ven."
"Goodnight, Ven. I'll see you tomorrow." She dipped her head with a smile.
"Tomorrow?" I repeated, not sure what was happening tomorrow.
"We're going on the same boat, aren't we?"
"Oh. Really?
"Yeah. We can talk more then. You can tell me all about Zanarkand." There wasn't a trace of sarcasm or doubt in her tone, like she really believed me and my story. Zack had told her earlier when he was trying to explain who I was to her, Riku, the Ronso, and Lulu, who was still too mad at me to come out and talk to me.
"She's cute, right?" Zack asked, walking over and elbowing me.
"Yeah." I agreed, watching as she walked over to Riku and sat down next to him as the elders began to ask her more questions.
"Yeah, well don't go getting any ideas."
"No promises there, big guy." I rolled my eyes and he shoved me a bit. "Well what if she comes onto me?" I shot back to his grim look.
"That's not going to happen." He crossed his arms.
"Why, you call dibs or something?"
He shoved me again, this time harder. "No. Not me."
"I see, so then this 'Riku' guy—" before I could even finish the sentence, he shoved me again.
"She's a summoner now. She wont be seeing...or 'coming onto' anyone. She has other responsibilities now. So don't distract her from that. Now come on you, you've caused enough trouble tonight. I had a bed made up for you in the crusaders' tent. Boat leaves in the morning, so get some shut eye."
I wanted to go speak to ≈≈≈≈≈ more, but as the Ronso and Lulu sat down beside her, I realized I would be better off just going to sleep for now, and try again tomorrow on the boat.
Ah, boats. Good old boats. Confining spaces where people are kind of forced to talk to one another. Tomorrow would certainly be interesting...and hopefully not in the same way that last night and today was 'interesting.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What a day it had been. 36 hours really, but who's counting? It's a little funny, because the last time I got a little tired and headed off to bed, in my room, in my house, in my city, and in my time. Now, I'm in the Crusaders' lodge/tent thing, in a strange village on a strange island, full or a bunch of weirdo's and one pretty girl, 1000 years in the future. As I tried to close my eyes and sleep on the hay mattress, I wondered if maybe I had just been elbowed in the head during a game, and this was just some...strange concussion endued dream. Of course, Zack and Lulu talking outside pulled me out of those thoughts, reminding me that this really wasn't a dream, and that be being here was all too real.
"He's dead. Okay? Dead. Both of them are." Lulu said. I always pegged her as kind of...cold, but that just seemed cruel, "He does look a lot like Roxas. I was surprised too, the first time I saw him. But no matter what he looks like, he isn't Roxas. You shouldn't have brought him here in the first place."
I decided to get out of bed, and peek through the front of the tent at them, and saw that most everyone had gone home to go to bed. It was just the two of them out there by the fire, talking just loud enough for me to overhear.
"Yeah, but, he needed our help..." Zack deflated, sounding a bit hurt as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"That's it. No more. Enough, Zack."
"Yeah, but..." She turned on her heel and stormed off, leaving him there alone. He sighed, then noticed me and started to walk over.
"Oh, you're still up..." He said, walking into the tent.
"So...who's Raxus?"
"Roxas." He corrected, then sighed, and walked back to the beds to sit down. "My younger brother. Adopted brother, really, but still. He and his real brother Cloud...both their parents were killed by sin, same time as mine were. Cloud and I were good friends at the time, and decided that we would be each other's family."
"And they're...dead?" I asked tentatively. I wanted to know, but it couldn't have been easy for him to talk about.
"Last year, they took off to join the Crusaders...Their platoon went missing after an attack."
"Well then they might still be alive. You never know."
"Not many who face Sin head on like the Crusaders do survive. Holding on hope that maybe, against the odds, those two made it out of there unscathed? It just makes it harder to accept that they didn't make it."
I wanted to say something, but I really had no right to. When I lost my father, I was just so angry at him for leaving me, for leaving my mother, that I wasn't even sad about it. I hated the man, and was...relieved when he was gone. But Zack seemed really broken up about it, even now, a year later.
He went on, "I first heard, the day of the blitz tournament."
"Oh...so that's why..." I mumbled, thinking back to when he said he had been 'distracted' on the first day of last years blitz tournament.
"Yeah...Right after, I became a guardian to fight Sin."
"For revenge?"
"That was the idea...but I'm more worried about a stupid game now than I am about avenging my brothers." He sighed, seeming disgusted with himself, then shrugged. "Well, after the next tournament, I'll be a guardian full-time. I know it kinda looks like I'm using you...but I'm not."
"Don't worry. I mean, I owe you a lot. You really helped me out, you know? What I mean is; thanks, Zack." I held out my hand for him to shake, it just seemed like the right thing to do, and he looked like he was going to go for my hand, when he chuckled, and scratched his cheek.
"Aw, stop. You're embarrassing me." He stood up and stretched a little, "Now get to sleep. We have a long day ahead of us." He left the tent, and I began to feel just how tired I really was.