There was a luminosity that blinded everyone in the small hall. Such glow irradiated from the young Al Bhed, which surprised and frightened Tidus. He would have attempted to reach her but the light was so blinding, only Rikku seemed unaffected, fascinated as she was gazing at her chest. It was a light of an intense blue, a watery colour that glowed and immersed her in a rush of power like she had never known. Then a sharp sound of metal tearing, and the gate was wide open to free them from their watery prison.
"What happened?" inquired Tidus, hugging the girl protectively when the glow had faded and he was allowed vision again.
"I think it was the pendant!" Rikku explained shocked and startled, gazing at her chest where the stone rested, escaped as it had from the safety of her shirt.
"Let's go yah!" bellowed Wakka with his thundering voice, motioning with his hand at the group to follow him into some kind of conquering war. The third class passengers rushed like an stampede away from the jail in which their misfortunate situation had locked them unfairly. Indeed, the ones who had little, would get even less advantage than those who had everything and yearned even more.
Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Yuna saw the havoc occurring on the ship from afar. She had managed to enter one of the lifeboats and saw the events from a privileged situation. The ship was highly leaned, the front was sinking rapidly and now she could see the propellers and the engines clearly. People could still walk on the deck, but being careful as not to slip or trip. She gasped when she saw one of the lifeboats, which seemed overloaded, toppling over. The people it contained fell into the water, where death had sharp fangs, and the ropes that sustained the lifeboat tore, letting the enormous thing fall with all its weight over the misfortunate people.
"Oh my goodness!" gasped a woman that was on the same boat.
Yuna gasped herself at the image. She knew that boat was weighty, and probably few would survive the collision. She stole a glance from a passenger which's eyes were sharp on her, vigilant and observing. It was her faithful Auron, so she tried to vanish by placing the hood of her cloak further down, attempting to hide her factions, and staring sideways to keep her features hidden. Yuna would not return, ever again, to the miserable life wealth had paid her with.
Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
"Come on!" called Tidus emerging on the deck, and racing towards the lifeboats, dragging Rikku as his hand firmly gripped her very own.
As the group reached the few lifeboats that remained still on the ship, they encountered various problems. The same police that had locked them like animals was there, hand to hand with other comrades, guarding a lifeboat that contained people dressed with brilliant clothes.
"Let us in!" bellowed Tidus angrily, stealing a glance from one of the passengers of the lifeboat. It was none other than Seymour himself.
"Sorry sir, but I fear you are becoming highly irritating, nobody from third class is allowed onto the lifeboats." The young policeman explained glancing at the couple.
"You can't do that to us, that boat is half empty!" Wakka walked forward and faced the young boy, towering over him.
"Orders are orders!" the policeman explained.
"To heck with orders, yah! COME ON!" Wakka yelled at the man, and then faced those in the same situation as himself.
A flood of people pushed their way towards the lifeboat like an stampede, pushing everything they could aside in their brutal attempt of reaching the safety of the small structures. Tidus pulled Rikku aside, it was pointless trying to reach the boat, they were likely to be stepped on by their mates. The couple separated themselves from the group and made their way towards the tail, searching for another lifeboat on the way.
A dry sound echoed in the distance, a shot. A gun had released the deadly bullet, and it had made collision, a vital one at that. Tidus and Rikku stopped for a few moments and turned around. A familiar red headed had stopped dry in his attempts of pushing his way through the policemen, he looked at his body, touching a certain spot, and collided to the floor, consumed. The young policeman had been the one who had shot him, and his face was pale with the outcome he had caused.
He was probably trying to keep the third class passengers at bay, but all he managed was to release their fury even more. The group bellowed and roared with savage fury, and slammed against him, pushing the young and inexperienced through the railing, toppling him down to the ocean. Facing the rest of the police, the group leap like a flood onto the lifeboat. The pair saw it swing and sway perilously, until it toppled over as it was predicted. The ropes had been badly damaged, so the structure collapsed against the group of people that tried to keep themselves afloat. Tidus and Rikku could not see the outcome, but knew many would have perished as the thing fell upon them. The two turned around and kept running, seeking their own safety.
No more boats were seen, all of them floated lazily over the waters of the ocean. Tidus and Rikku were trapped on a terrible machina that would do all it can to drag as many people as possible underwater. As if those thoughts had been read by the miserable being, the ship shattered in half, tearing down and leaving the tail alone. Tidus and Rikku fell hard against the floor as it vanished, leaving them on the air. The two saw the head filled with water vanishing, swallowed by the darkness of the ocean, illuminated by nothing but a pale reflection of the stars, and the pregnant moon.
"Come on!" Tidus urged Rikku on, making her stand up and pulling her along.
"Where to? There is nowhere to escape!" Rikku argued back, she was pale, frightened and commotion for what was occurring.
"There is always a last chance!" Tidus explained, not looking at her but running on.
The tail was being quickly filled with the liquid that had given life, and so easily could take it back. It leaned dangerously, threatening to stand completely vertical on the water, for its path was such. Tidus and Rikku leapt forward, grabbing themselves from the railing, the same Tidus had once nearly fallen over to take a hold of a suicidal woman.
"Whatever happens, don't let go." Tidus said, climbing onto the other side and holding tightly, helping Rikku along as the ship leaned in more and more.
Rikku nodded, watching the horrors that happened around them. People couldn't hold on for longer, too exhausted, or perhaps simply tired of running for something that was only a mere spark in a room filled with sombre shadows and darkness. They let go, they fell down, collapsing painfully against chimneys, decks, railings and whichever item was attached to the ship.
"When I say now, start swimming!" Tidus explained, staring at the girl, his hand gripping her very own so comfortingly, his eyes smiling so lovingly.
"Ok!" Rikku gasped frightened, smiling at the boy weakly, feeling so unsure of the future.
The remains of the ship, now full of water, began to sink like a rock, releasing an enormous, absorbing current that pulled everything it reached towards the depths. Tidus yelled in the very second they were about to penetrate the warmth of the tropical waters. Rikku felt her body being sucked in by the strength of the ship, and began paddling as wildly as she could, trying desperately to push her body through the surface. So near, yet so far, for she was static in the same place, contradictory forces that kept her still.
She looked down, and saw Tidus struggling until exhaustion, giving in second by second, letting his body sink towards the depths. His eyes sparkled with a farewell and a good luck, and Rikku swore she was crying, but the wetness that surrounded her wouldn't let her assure it. She did feel two terrible pains, a heart ache from her shattering soul at the vision of the one she loved the most, and her burning lungs about to burst, reclaiming oxygen with all their might.
Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Swords clashed and gleamed into the sunlight, sparkling with rays of death and a noble art. A Hyundai Sonata, the colour of wine passed by, and the driver, a young girl around her twentieths with gleaming, curly, dark red hair and grey eyes honked furiously, and bellowed angrily at someone manoeuvring incorrectly. That would have startled the two fighters, but none flinched. Two Katanas placed in a steady position, touching and rubbing metal against metal, but not moving an inch after the initial assault. Eyes the colour of ice observed the dichromatic of water and nature itself, startled and shocked.
"Hello Yuna, I'm also glad to see you!" the man said in his, always passive and calm voice.
"Sir Auron!" Yuna gasped, retiring her own Katana rapidly and staring at the man with shock. She knew he had survived, he had been with her on the lifeboat, but still was startled to have seen him in a city as large as this one.
"Assassin I see, nice twist of jobs, from a Summoner to help people to an Assassin to pursue and kill them, how did it happen?" question Auron lowering his very own sabre and staring at her calmly.
"That was the very last time I would ever see them!" Yuna said all of a sudden, referring to the time the ship had sank, when Tidus and herself departed, taking their own paths. "I was not going back, never, I wanted a new life, so I began as thief, soon I had caught the attention of a Don, and he hired me as his personal Assassin." Yuna explained the story with brief traces, omitting the remorse and the terrors she had to cross and to overcome to be here.
"You heard about Tidus and Rikku right?" Auron said calmly, smiling gently at the woman.
"Yes, I did!" Yuna nodded vigorously, smiling sweetly and almost proudly, letting her happiness for the two become visible in her, now, hard features. "Tidus became star player of the Zanarkand Abes, and Rikku is a prolific designer of those new cars, what are they called? Hyundai!" Yuna finished delighted, with a broad smile on her cherry lips.
"Indeed, I wonder how the escaped from the ship when it sank?" Auron wondered himself aloud, casting a stray glance into infinity.
Yuna smiled to herself, she had seen their escape towards safety, and she couldn't have felt prouder for the young Al Bhed, not even now that she makes a kind of vehicle that is rapidly climbing into the most famous group.
Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
"Tidus!" Rikku would have screamed, had it not been due to the fact that water was bound to penetrate her mouth and lungs. There, getting darker and dimmer, Tidus sank with a pleased look in his eyes. His hand was making the palm face her, a farewell.
"No!" Rikku thought miserably, feeling her weak boy being released from the current that had desperately tried to pull her in.
"Oh please, help me, someone please help me and save him!" Rikku prayed with all her might, all her hopes and will, hands clenching the blue stone, eyes closed with concentration, a frown of effort crossing her face.
It responded, and the magick and power contained within the gem was released. A bright blue glow irradiated, and a beam shook the water, staying still at a point where it accumulated more and more light, growing and become some kind of definite shape, serpent shape. As the glow faded, it revealed a dragonish, sharp face, a slim, snake like body and a crest of fins, followed by four larger, more fleshy fins that resembled rows. The green and blue creature gazed at the woman with his gentle, crystal silver eyes.
"Help me!" the girl pleaded in her mind, hoping the beast would get the message.
Indeed, the animal surrounded her and swam below her, making it such that the Al Bhed was riding steadily on the junction between the head and the neck, holding firmly on the animal's horns. Leviathan then dived until the sun was nothing but a spark in the distance, like a star sparkling feebly on the dark, night sky, a very solitary star. The beast reached the boy, who was still not unconscious due to the fact that he was a Blitzball player. That was possibly the reason why he could save his life, for as soon as the beast slithered next to him, he gripped the girl's waist and sat onto the glossy, slimy neck. The beast swam, approaching the surface with careful movements, not simply diving up, in order to keep the two beings in relative safety, considering the water pressure and other factors that could damage them irreversibly.
Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Tidus and Rikku crawled up to the shore, clawing the soft, pale sand with their wet, wrinkled fingers. Both coughed, for the trip had been shaky, fluctuating constantly between fresh air and the need of holding their breath as the beast swam, sometimes hiding from possible enemies. Nearing the shore, Leviathan retired back to the comfort of the gem, which began shinning and sparkling with the serpent that slithered and swam inside it.
Now, the two looked up in time to see buildings of the most unrealistic features towering before them. Spheres that were homes sustained in a single post, big enough to bear an elevator. Cars running back and forth noisily, people gazing at the two curiously. It was like living in the future, or in a science fiction movie, for the whole parade was very unrealistic. Rikku was staring as if it was just a dream, some fantastic dream about people living in harmony with machina, in complete symbiosis, for the people used machina for their living, like machina used people for their maintenance. She smiled delighted, beaming greatly from her lying position at the wonderful world portrayed before her.
"Rikku!" Tidus said holding the girl's hand strongly, securely, his eyes piercing the whole vision with an illuminated, sparkling gaze of pride and recognition, "Welcome to Zanarkand!" he finished, his smile growing wider and broader as he admired that which had once been his home, that which was his home once again.
Tidus knew, and so did Rikku, this was where they belonged.
The End.
AN: Well, it IS finished, I can't believe I finally got through my terrible block and finished the story. Well, did you like it? Didn't you like it? Most of the things were last hour changes that I thought appropriate, for example, Rikku and Yuna don't become friends, but Rikku steals the pendant. I thought it was better this way. Well I just hope you liked it and review to tell me about it. Now I'll get working on Human Spirit, and Genetic Fox, and hope to finished them before the summer ends. Thank you all for your attention, and a special thank you to the reviewers:
8mile
scorpion05
bbychrangel
skyelight
kyritawuv
fireball20
mandyfanforevr
tidusforever
luv2game
yuna-elena
tangledweb
irritating
dreamyone
uragiri
msadrienne
rhoa
kingleby
boameda
countesscarmilla
Thank you to everyone!