WARNING! THE PROLOGUE – CHAPTER 5 HAVE BEEN EDITED AND NEW CONTENT HAS BEEN ADDED. IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THIS CHAPTER, IT IS HIGHLY SUGGESTED THAT YOU GO BACK AND REREAD THE REST OF THEM.
A/N: Alright guys, this Chapter means a lot to me. It's really where everything comes together with the most important part of my original vision for this story, and that is the perfect ending. In FFX-2, the perfect ending is ridiculously hard to get, and most people who want to see it don't have the time to get it. Luckily I downloaded it off the internet, but for a long time I've wanted to put it in a story. The dialogue from that scene is directly copied in this chapter, I am disclaiming it now. More on this at the end, but you should read the story before I ramble enough to give anything away.
Chapter 6: Breaking Point
Just as Tidus started to head back from the beach, a ship docked, and out came Rikku. She was a complete mess. Her face was red and splotchy, and she was bawling uncontrollably. He ran to meet her.
"Rikku! What happened?! Are you all right?"
"It's a-all my f-fault," she sobbed.
"What is?" he asked.
"S-su-sudran. When she d-died it was a-all my f-f-fault. If I h-h-had, if I h-had-hadn't gone to the ru-r-r-ruins she would b-b-be o-okay."
"Sudran… your mother?"
"Y-yeah."
"Rikku, I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but you were little when she died, right? I don't think she'd blame you for her death. You didn't know better than to do whatever you were doing. If she needed to protect you from the ruins, then that was her choice."
"Not the r-ruins. Ye-yevon."
"Still, she was protecting you, right? My mom, she died when my old man did. I loved my mom, but you know, I don't think she really loved me enough to stay behind. She left me alone, by myself. If it weren't for Auron, I… I guess what I'm trying to say is that you're actually pretty lucky. Your mom died because she loved you. You should understand. You became Yuna's guardian for the same reason, right?"
"Y-yeah. I g-guess I d-d-do. It's just s-s-so-s-so unf-f-fair. W-why h-her? It was my f-fault!"
Tidus reached out and wrapped his arms around his friend. He could tell she had been holding pain over her mother's death inside for a long time. Now that she knew how it had happened, it was all coming out. When his mom died, he had behaved much the same way. Only he took his anger out on his old man. Rikku, she was taking it out on herself.
For her part, Rikku felt his embrace and latched onto it like a lifeline. Hugging him back tightly, she sobbed into his chest. She wailed and cried until she made herself sick. Keening in the darkness like a wolf howling to the moon, Rikku cried herself to sleep in her good friend's arms.
Once he was sure she was asleep, Tidus carried Rikku up to the airship and tucked her into bed.
"What happened?"
He spun around in surprise. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
"It's not your fault," said Yuna, "I'm a light sleeper. So what happened to Rikku, is she okay?"
"I hope so. I found her as I was heading back. That's why I had to stay I think. I had one of those feelings of mine. When I saw her, she was crying."
"What about?"
"Her mom I think. Something about when she died, I'm not entirely sure why, but I think Rikku blames herself."
"She never really did talk about her mom. I guess that's what she had to see Uncle Cid about."
"Oh yeah. I had completely forgotten about that."
"Why am I not surprised?"
Tidus laughed.
"Stay in the airship with me tonight."
"How could you tell I wanted too?" he asked.
"You seemed sad."
"Well, Rikku made me think of my own mother."
"You miss her?"
"Sometimes. But I have you now, so I know I'll be alright."
Yuna smiled at his sweetness, and scooted over to make room for him under the covers. Climbing in next to her, Tidus wrapped his arms around her waist and fell asleep. Neither of them moved from that position until they woke up the next morning.
A shrill wail that could only belong to Rikku was the alarm clock of everyone aboard the Celcius the next morning. She ran to Yuna and Tidus, who were still half asleep on the bed, and shook them violently.
"Papers. Th-the papers!" she sobbed.
"Rikku, what?" asked Paine, getting up in the bed one to the left.
Rikku kept shaking Yuna and Tidus. "Fa'na eh dra bybanc. Muug, look!" (We're in the papers. Look, look!)
Being in the papers was nothing new to Tidus and Yuna. In fact, in his sleepy stupor Tidus half-believed he was still in Zanarkand, and the Abes had won their game. It was when the 'we' part registered that both Tidus and Yuna fully woke themselves up.
"We?" asked Yuna, taking the newsprint from her cousin. She read aloud, so everyone could hear.
Sir Tidus - team player
For some reason the title of the article did little ease her nerves.
In recent days the public has been alerted to the true nature of Yuna's lost guardian, and many have even seen him scoring goals for the Besaid Aurochs as the newest member of their team. But it would appear those aren't the only goals he's been scoring. While he's a fair player in the sphere pool, out of it he's a high suspect for foul play.
Below this there were two pictures, side by side. One of him holding Yuna at the beach, and one of him hugging Rikku. Yuna felt violated. Exposed. Reporters were there that evening? They saw her in her personal time? What else had they seen?
Paine got out of bed to look over her shoulder. The papers were greedy as Yevon. Maybe worse.
The caption for the pictures read, Sir Tidus with Lady Yuna, and an hour later, with Lady Rikku.
Yuna continued reading.
While publicly playing the role of our beloved Lady Yuna's partner, it would seem that secretly, he has had other interests. Surprisingly, not an hour after Yuna left Tidus, her own cousin, Lady Rikku came running from a ship into lovers awaiting arms.
Yuna stopped, the next word on the page was suddenly darker. Now the picture of her face had a spot on it. Then Tidus was darkened, then Rikku. Then it dawned on Yuna that she was crying. She couldn't stop.
"Yunie, I d-didn't d-d-do it" sobbed Riku, "We d-didn't-"
"I know," Yuna choked out.
But Tidus' concern was still etched deeply in his face. He held her hand, and unexpectedly Yuna flung her arms around his neck. She began to sob, wail like a small child. Caught up further in the spirit of things, Rikku added her shrill noise to the air.
"Cry, cry, that's all you're good for."
Tidus could hear his old man's voice in his ears. But for once he didn't heed it. He didn't need to worry about his father, because he had something stronger to stop his tears. Yuna. He knew that right then, he had to stay strong for Yuna. He held the girl he loved tightly and rubbed soothing circles on her back, like his mother had done for him as a child. He knew in this moment, what Yuna needed was a protector. What Yuna needed was her guardian.
She was a warrior. Paine took in the scene before her. It was eight o'five in the morning, and here were her best friends in shambles. A seething hatred boiled up within her. A rage so strong -- stronger than she had felt for Shuyin and stronger than she had felt for Sin -- took hold of her body. Her fist trembled with fury. She hadn't known fists could do that.
"These papers," she hissed through barred teeth "No better than Yevon. Selfish as the temples." The strongest people she knew were curled up, in tears. "No more. I won't allow it!" Paine stormed out. She didn't leave the ship. She went to the bridge. She dropped into Buddy's seat and drove as fast as she could go. She reached Luca. She dived into the dock recklessly and would have slammed the doors on her way out if they weren't automatic.
Paine didn't know how long it took to get there, and frankly she couldn't see how far she had walked because tears blurred her vision. But she got to the main office of the Chocobo Press. She kicked her way through the double doors, prompting the secretary to hide under her desk in fright. Paine walked past the desk without a glance. Up the stairs. One flight, two, seven, it didn't matter. She reached the top. Editor in Chief the door read. She kicked it open.
O-O-O-O
Hunched over in front of the desk was a man in a tweed jacket, hunched over and scrambling with papers. They had to go in his brief case so he could leave. He needed to scurry faster.
BAM!
Down went the door. Paine marched forward and grabbed the man by the collar of his Jacket and slammed him against the wall. Charlie read the nametag. "I warned you to stay away from my friends!" She gritted out. It was all she could do. She was so tense her teeth would not part. Charlie stood petrified, and Paine threw him to the ground.
"You think messing with people's lives like that is ok?!" she screamed, suddenly full of raw, released energy. This man, this scum, this louse, he was no better than the leaders of the crimson squads. Using people for profit. Let them die in caves, we don't care! Where did he get off?! What made him think he had the right? "Yuna didn't do a thing do deserve this shit!" The only thing Yuna had done was save a world full of asses. Twice.
Charlie pushed himself up from the floor and made for the door. Paine was faster. Her arms formed a blockade.
"She's not my concern," he stated, then again made to exit. Paine shoved him back to the floor. "You made her cry." She said solemnly. "You made my friend cry. Don't you have anything to say for that?"
Charlie had had enough. He picked himself up off the floor, picked up his suitcase. He straightened out his back and stood like a statue. Then Charlie the statue promptly cracked.
"You think I wanted those stories to print? They weren't mine! In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a field reporter, not Editor in Chief! I don't get to decide what goes into the paper. My boss makes me change things up! If I print the truth, refuse to do what they say, I get fired!"
"So get fired then!" Screamed Paine.
"I ALREADY DID!!!"
Charlie stormed past her and slammed the door shut on his way out. Suddenly Paine felt awful. This man was a puppet. A victim. No less a part of the machine than she had been.
"Excuse me, can I help you?" asked a man. He had opened the door that Paine stood staring at. Paine looked at him. "No," she said. Then she left the editor in chief to an office in disarray.
She left the building of the Chocobo press to search for the reporter. Her search was selfish she knew, because she still did not plan to apologize. She just needed to know. She stood in the center of town for a good ten minutes, scanning the crowd, before it struck her that irrational people generally head straight for the pub. So that's where she went, and where she found him. He was thoroughly plastered already, holding onto his fifth little glass of vodka. Paine walked up to him.
"Haven't you bothered me enough?" he asked when she spun him around.
"Why were you fired Charlie?"
"I didn' wan'em to say'ee was 'avin a fling. 'swrong I said. They took m' notes 'an publish'd it b'hind m' back. Put m'name onnit 'n ev'rythin. 'N then I was fired."
Paine couldn't bring herself to tell the man she was sorry. She reached into her pouch and pulled out 1000 gil. "For his drinks" she told the bartender. Then she left.
"Will you look at that?" said the bar tender as he picked up the cash, "no tip!"
"Shu'up!" yelled Charlie to no one in particular. A bizarre mixture of sleep deprivation, stamina potions, and alcohol was starting to cause him to hallucinate. He took one more swig of vodka, then declared loudly "I'm not goin' on yur shtupid advenshure!" before promptly passing out.
Meanwhile, Rikku had gone back to bed, intent on sleeping the day away, and Yuna had finally calmed down.
"I'm sorry," she told Tidus, "I guess it's just, I thought that once we spoke to them, they'd leave us alone. And those pictures…"
"I know," he soothed.
"There's just so much to think about."
"Where can we go that doesn't have people around?" Tidus mused.
"A place just for us…" Yuna echoed, a new idea forming in her head. "Tidus," she told him, "let's go to Zanarkand."
They went to the bridge, not really caring or remembering that they were leaving Paine in Luca. Tidus took the Pilot's seat and Yuna stood beside him. The Celsius was off to Zanarkand.
Tidus was stunned to find the place looking exactly the same as it had two years ago. He said as much.
"For a while it was really bad," Yuna told him, "tourists were everywhere. A lot of them were sphere hunters, searching the dome."
He remembered the apparitions they had seen there. The Summoners and their Guardians. Seymour as a boy. But they were only pyreflies. Tidus looked down at his hands. He was still solid, still in one piece. A weight he didn't know he had been carrying fell off his shoulders. As though coming here and here alone could finally allow him to reconcile his past -- to absorb it.
"I remember," he began, "the night we first reached these ruins, we all sat around the campfire," he jogged to a small mound of land. "Right here, we sat, and shared all our memories of the pilgrimage. And I remember, I climbed this hill and stared at the dome for ages after."
Yuna smiled. "Memories are nice."
Tidus climbed his hill and stared out at the old blitzball stadium. So many memories were at home in that old ruined building. "I got a theory," he told her. "I think the faith gathered up my thoughts and put 'em together to bring me back." He stretched his back out as though testing his theory. "Maybe, something like that."
Yuna was surprised. He hadn't ever wanted to talk about this before. It scared her. But somehow it relieved her as well. Because she had already been afraid of him leaving her for so long. That she would wake up, and one day he wouldn't be there anymore.
Tidus looked back down at his hands, seeing through them to the deck of Cid's airship. "Or maybe, I'm still a dream."
At first Yuna had been afraid because of what he was.
"Wait," she asked, "so you'll disappear?"
It had been her only concern. Yuna knew that everything she had dreamed of could fall apart at any moment, for any number of reasons. Even now, in the back of her head, the dream was reason one.
Tidus sighed at Yuna's inquiry. Being back in this place, it made him realize something she didn't.
"Cherish me Yuna" he told her, "And I'll cherish you."
Because even if he was a memory of a man from some long forgotten place, memories were something to be treasured. Printed stories could be nice or they could be dreadful, but that's all they were. Memories could do so much more than the Al Bhed thought. Two people could share one memory and even after years apart, that memory could unite them.
"All right? We gotta stay together. That's what we have to do."
Yuna complied literally. She ran up to hug him from behind. "Is that what the faith told you?" She asked.
"Nah," Tidus answered truthfully, "but I like it."
Yuna smiled, and then laughed. Even in the midst of so much confusion, Tidus always managed to make her feel like everything would be alright. She placed her hands on his back and shoved him into the water. He sputtered.
"Hey, that's not cherishing."
Yuna smiled. For the first time in years it felt like she was free to live. Just for a moment.
"You didn't disappear."
Tidus lifted his hands into the air and stared at them in wonder.
The memory would last a lifetime.
A/N: While a large part of this chapter is dedicated to character development, the development really focuses on some of the key issues in our hero's lives that make them act and think as they do. This chapter is as much a milestone for me as it is for these characters. It allows me to see how I have grown as a writer. When this fic was first written, everything that came from my fingers was instinct. It was what sounded right. Now, on top of that, I'm making conscious artistic decisions, and exploring the themes presented in game based text. Writing up the 100 ending really made me realize some of the key themes not only in my own story, but in all of the Final Fantasy X universe. I not only recognized the themes, but I purposely emphasized them using all sorts of things that usually only get named in commentaries for English class. So I really hope you enjoyed this new chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, because what I did in it makes me very proud.
P.S. Did anyone catch my little reference to a well known flash video? I know it was corny, but I couldn't resist.