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Silver Wings 2: 1000 Confessions	By : akksgurl Category: Final Fantasy X > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 709 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2 and make no money from writing this story. Final Fantasy X and X-2 and characters belong to Square Enix.

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
- 5
~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~
Chapter Four: Concern for the Fallen
~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~
He
awoke a moment later, rubbed his head and stretched his limbs, using his eyes
to see as if for the first time. Yuna was
kneeling beside him with concern in her eyes, "Are you okay?"
He
let out a small smile and replied simply, "I'm fine."
"You're
fine?" repeated Baralai incredulously, "You
just hit your head against a doorframe and knocked yourself out. How can
you be fine?!"
"I
have a hard head," replied the Abes blitzer. Standing and dusting off his clothes, he
said to Yuna, "I'm going outside now."
"But
it's raining." She said, but that didn't stop him. He was already
halfway out the door by the time her voice reached his ears.
He
knew they were following him, but that didn't matter. It felt good to
have control again, although he knew it wouldn't be a permanent thing for a
while. He was pleased to see that most of A-East was intact. It
would make the rebuilding that much easier. Now all he needed to do was
figure out how to make the ghosts of the past into something real and
lasting.
"My
house." he whispered. There it was. It wasn't in perfect
shape, but it was still there and that filled him with joy. His car was
gone, but he could easily buy another one. That didn't bother him.
He
heard her footsteps behind him as she whispered, "Really?!" Her
excitement was evident in her voice. He nodded as he ran into the front
door and stood in the living room. The group followed him and she took
her place next to him as she said, "Is this really your house?"
He
scoffed, "Lennie, you know this is my
house."
Yuna thought that her heart stopped beating for a moment. He
hadn't even flinched when he called her that name. Nobody said
anything. All eyes watched him as he continued to pace around the room
and survey his surroundings. She was scared of the answer, but had to ask
the question, "What is my name, Tidus?"
At
the sound of that name, his head began to pound as the blood pumped in
his ears. He reached up and rubbed his temples in an attempt to fight the
pain that was forming, but it was no use. He couldn't hold out.
He'd have to visit again later, when he was stronger.
"What
is my name, Tidus?" Yuna
asked again as she took a step closer to him.
Tidus looked at her confused. He didn't know where he was for the
second time that day. He looked at her in abject confusion, "Your
name is Yuna." He replied, "And.uh.where are we?" he asked before dizziness overtook
him and he passed out again.
--------------------
Yuna stared at his handsome face as he slept soundly in the crew
quarters of the Celsius. The sound of his head connecting with the
doorframe still sounded in her ears as it had the entire time Baralai and Gippal struggled to
carry him back to the ship in the rain. Everyone had decided it would be
better to have Tidus awaken in a location he was
familiar with rather then have him wake up in an
unfamiliar place and practically kill himself again.
He
had called her. Lenne.
He
stirred a little and she moved the ice pack on the bump forming above his left
eyebrow, "Shhh." she whispered to him as he
opened his eyes slightly but shut them just as quickly and returned to his
world of dreams.
"How's
he doing?" came Rikku's hushed voice as she
climbed the stairs toward the beds.
Yuna shrugged and whispered, "He's still out, but that's a good
thing I suppose."
"Come
on," Rikku said, "We're going to have a
meeting about what happened." Yuna nodded
and placed the ice pack down on the table beside Tidus
and then followed her cousin down the stairs and out into the elevator that
took them to the bridge. The card table set out again and Gippal, Baralai, and Paine were
already seated.
"He
called me. Lenne." Yuna
whispered as she sat next to Paine, "I still can't believe it."
Rikku nudged her cousin as she took a seat next to her, "Actually,
he called you Lennie. There's a subtle
difference."
Yuna laughed at the sheer insanity of that 'subtle difference' but was
grateful for her cousin's sense of humor anyway. She wished she knew why
he had called her that. She wished she knew what was wrong with him!
"First
off," Gippal began, "Has he been acting
oddly before today?"
Yuna shrugged, "Not really," she replied, "Just a
little jumpy. He also said he's hearing voices."
"And
you don't think hearing voices is odd?" Paine asked sarcastically.
"I
just thought it was a side effect of the Farplane."
Yuna said.
Baralai nodded, "It might be. He's only
just been brought back. Part of him still could be connected to the Farplane."
"Did
he say who the voices belonged to?" Gippal
asked.
Yuna shook her head. Tidus hadn't told
her anything about the voices except that he was hearing them. They were
scaring him obviously, but he hadn't told her any details about them. He
didn't even know what they said to him. She frowned, "Also, two
times he's looked at me like he's never seen me before."
"Yuna," Paine said, "I think that is relatively
strange behavior. What about it doesn't seem strange to you?"
"None
of it, I guess," Yuna replied with a
blush. She supposed that the main reason she said that it didn't seem
strange was the fact that she wished it wasn't. She really wished that
his behavior could be explained away easily. Dealing with something
serious was something she didn't think she could deal with.
Gippal cracked his back against the chair and said nonchalantly,
"Well, since he came back after Shuyin
was defeated, he's probably just possessed."
"Oh,
is that all?!" Baralai said sarcastically, his
eyes flashing in the dim light.
"Yeah,"
Gippal replied, "No big deal. We just call
the Gullwing exorcists and we'll be all set."
Baralai's brown orbs were cast downward as he said,
"You really think it's that easy?" he frowned, "You're an idiot,
Gippal." He hissed as he stood and left the room
before Gippal could form a reply.
---------------------
Gippal just didn't understand and that realization infuriated Baralai. Gippal didn't get
that possession wasn't just this simple little thing that was easily
curable. Nooj had done things he regretted with
his entire being while under Shuyin's control - like
shooting Gippal, Baralai,
and Paine after getting out of the Cave
of Woe during their trial
for the Crimson Squad. Possession was the complete loss of control.
You knew what you were doing but were helpless to stop it. Baralai had done some horrible things under Shuyin's control and it was only with the help of his
psychiatrist that he was able to start putting these things behind him.
"Gippal is a moron, but he didn't mean to hurt your
feelings."
Baralai smiled to himself with his back to the
lovely Al Bhed that had joined him at his perch on
the roof of the Celsius. Rikku took a place
beside him and Baralai turned his smile toward her,
"I know that. He just doesn't understand."
"Gippal doesn't want to understand." Rikku clarified, "I've known him my whole life and
when he's scared of something, he tries to make a joke." She nudged Baralai playfully, "It's a dorky way to handle things,
but that's just Gippal. A big dork."
Baralai cast a sideways glance at his beautiful
counterpart whose eyes had focused back on the horizon. After Tidus hit his head, the group had retired back to the
Celsius but was still at their landing site near Zanarkand.
The stars always seemed brighter near Zanarkand for
some reason and even brighter to Baralai now since Rikku was there. There was something about the girl
that he really liked, but he didn't know what. Normally girls like her -
with their constant cheerfulness - drove him insane, but in her case he found
it oddly comforting. Maybe it was because he knew her perky nature hid a
very talented fighter. Then again, maybe he had just reached a point in
his life when perky was preferred to solid and stoic. He'd moved from his
desire for stoic - Paine - and onto his desire for cheerful - Rikku.
Thinking
about Paine made him blush a little under his tanned skin. She never knew
how he had felt about her, and if he had it his way she never would.
Looking at her now, he didn't understand the attraction, but back then she had
him completely flustered. It was the way she had looked at Nooj that had made Baralai more
determined then ever to win her attention, but in the
end he had failed. It sickened him, but he was partly happy that Nooj had shot her too. It had effectively ended her
infatuation with their long-haired leader.
Baralai let his eyes slowly caress Rikku as she continued to stare ahead of her. He
still couldn't quite place what it was that made him want to be around
her. He supposed it started when they had first met. Yuna had assumed for a moment that he was the Praetor's son
and that she had turned down his marriage proposal. Once that was
cleared up, Baralai had noticed Rikku
covertly for the first time. His astonishment at her beauty was short
lived when he saw Paine struggling to hide from his line of vision.
Rikku's red lips moved a little as she sighed and Baralai was overwhelmed with a desire to kiss her, but he
quickly squelched that desire as Rikku said to him,
"I don't think its possession anyway."
"Why's
that?" Baralai asked.
Rikku shrugged, "There aren't any pyreflies."
She replied simply, "When you were possessed there were pyreflies that floated out of your arms and legs.
That's how we knew. Tidus doesn't have any pyreflies."
"That's
very true," Baralai replied, "What do you
think it is then?"
Rikku grinned at him and spun to face him. Jumping in place like
an excited child on their birthday, Rikku grabbed Baralai's hand to turn him toward her and squealed, "I
was hoping somebody would ask me that, because I have a really good
theory!"
"So
what is it?" Baralai asked with a laugh as he
squeezed Rikku's fingers tenderly. Neither
removed their hand from the other and neither seemed overly concerned with it
either.
"Well,
I had been thinking about why Tidus looks like Shuyin and it hit me," Rikku
began, "Tidus is Dream Zanarkand's
version of Shuyin. He's not exactly like
him, but he's close just like Dream Zanarkand is
close to the real Zanarkand."
Baralai nodded, "Makes sense."
"So
I think that after Tidus faded and was in the Farplane, everything was cool until we defeated Shuyin and sent him there too. This was the first
time both had been near each other," Rikku
smiled, "It screwed Tidus up in the head since
he was near the real star of the Zanarkand Abes and he's just confused right now, but he'll be better
soon."
Baralai squeezed the small hand he still held,
"That is brilliant, Rikku. It makes
perfect sense."
Blushing,
Rikku grabbed Baralai's
other hand with her free one and said, "Gippal
would have just thought I was stupid."
"Well,
we have determined that Gippal's an idiot." Baralai joked.
Rikku laughed and impulsively stretched out on her toes to kiss Baralai on the cheek when Gippal's
voice came from behind them, "I hope I'm not interrupting
anything." The Al Bhed's voice came out
harsher then he had intended, but he hadn't expected to see Baralai
making a play for Rikku. He noted how quickly
the former priest dropped Rikku's hands once he
realized that Gippal was standing there and Gippal relaxed a little. He didn't appreciate the way
Baralai was looking at Rikku
as of late. Gippal had always considered Rikku his girl even though they had never had a real date
and now knowing he had competition for her affections brought out his natural
Al Bhed competitiveness.
If
Baralai wanted her, he'd have to fight for her.
Baralai stepped away from Rikku
a bit, embarrassed about being caught but not entirely sure why, and he said to
Gippal, "Rikku was
just telling me about her theory on Tidus' strange
behavior."
"I
want to hear it!" Yuna cried as she and Paine
joined the trio on the roof. She looked at Rikku,
"What do you think is wrong with him?"
So
Rikku explained her theory and waited as they mulled
it over in their minds. Gippal was actually
impressed with her theory. Rikku had never
seemed like the sharpest pencil in the box, but maybe he just hadn't given her enough
credit, "I like that idea, Rikku." He said,
"Now we just need to see if it has as much validity as I think it
does."
Yuna looked at Gippal with confusion in her
eyes, "How do we do that?"
"LeBlanc,"
Baralai replied, knowing exactly where Gippal was headed, "She likes stuff concerning the Farplane. It's a hobby of hers."
"What
a depressing hobby." Rikku muttered to herself
and then giggled at Paine's nod of agreement.
"Who
has a depressing hobby?" Tidus asked.
After awakening, he went in search of his friends and figured that if they
weren't in the ship, they must be on the ship. He was surprised at
their looks when he came toward them. All of them looked like they'd just
been caught doing something terrible. Tidus
cocked an eyebrow and asked them, "Did I say something funny?"
Yuna shook her head, "No. We were just talking about going
to see Nooj and LeBlanc today."
"Oh."
Tidus said with a smile, "Sounds like fun.
Let's go."
------------
"Noojie, I'm bored."
Nooj looked up at his girlfriend, LeBlanc, who was sitting
cross-legged on his desk directly next to his pen. He pushed a strand of
brown hair from his eyes and gave her a half smile, "Why don't you read
that book about the Farplane that you insisted I
spend my Gil on?"
LeBlanc
smiled and leaned down toward him, letting her loose fitting robe hang low,
"I already read it." She whispered seductively in his ear, "And
I was hoping we'd do something a little more.physical."
"As
much as I'd love to," Nooj replied, running his
thumb along her exposed skin, "I really have to finish up this report for
the next meeting in Luca."
LeBlanc
pouted, "But Noojie-Woojie!"
"No
buts, LeBlanc." Nooj said more firmly this time,
"This is important. I'm sorry."
LeBlanc
heaved an aggravated sigh and pushed herself off of Nooj's
desk. Sauntering out the door, she bumped firmly into Ormi
and shoved the short and chubby little man out of the way, "Move you
idiot! I'm not in a good mood!"
"Yes,
boss." Ormi said obediently as he and Logos
stepped out of LeBlanc's way. They didn't want to face her wrath.
There
was a knock at the door and LeBlanc screamed furiously, "Logos! Get
that!" She could hear Logos' feet pattering across the marble floor
of the former Youth League Headquarters that she now called home.
Although she still owned Chateau LeBlanc, she rarely spent time there.
LeBlanc collapsed on the chair situated in the room she and Nooj
shared and let out a huge sigh. Nooj was always
obsessed with his work and now that he, Baralai, and Gippal had taken to running Spira
he was busier then usual. Mainly because that
damned Al Bhed and that former priest were out with Yuna trying to rebuild Zanarkand.
LeBlanc thought the entire thing was a fool's errand. Yuna
should be focusing her attentions on that boyfriend of hers.
LeBlanc
became thoughtful for a moment. There was something about that Tidus person that didn't sit right with her. She got
a bad vibe from him when they'd first met and she really hoped that she never
would have to see him again. Just seeing him made her feel like someone
was walking over her grave.
"Boss?"
came Ormi's timid voice through the crack in her ajared door.
"What
is it?!" LeBlanc answered sharply. She hated it when she was
interrupted.
Ormi opened the door a bit more and said, "You have guests,
boss. Lady Yuna and her friends say that they
need to speak with you."
LeBlanc
stood and straightened her robe and hair. Although Baralai
and Gippal were losers when it came to running a
country, they were nice to look at. She hissed at Ormi,
"Well, take me to them!!"
The
tall blonde female followed her short servant to the foyer where he'd left
their unexpected guests. She smiled at them all and said, "Yuna, love. To what do Noojie
and I owe the pleasure?"
Tidus stared at the woman again. It was that same feeling that he
knew her but it seemed stronger than before. She gave him an odd half
smile and said, "Can I ask you something�before you leave?"
The girl in front of Tidus was no longer
LeBlanc. It was another woman who looked similar and yet completely
different. This girl's hair was long, almost down to her hips.
Though the same color as LeBlanc's, this girl's hair was shinier and had a wave
in it. Tidus couldn't hear the end of LeBlanc's
question to him. All he could hear was the conversation this woman was
having with the man inside of his head.
"What is it?"

"This may not be the most appropriate time to ask this, but
I'm curious anyway. If Lenne wasn't in the
picture, would you come back to me eventually? I'm not hoping she'll die,
mind you. This is strictly hypothetical. Like, if she left tomorrow
and I was still around."

"Probably."
And
as quickly as it happened, the girl was gone and LeBlanc was left standing
there with an odd expression on her face, "Are you going to answer me,
love, or are you going to keep staring at me like that?"
Tidus stammered, "I.uh.I'm sorry.
What was the question?"
"What
did you do to your head?"
"Oh,
this?" Tidus asked as he touched the black and
blue bump on his head, "I hit my head on a doorframe."
A
sudden sleepiness overcame Tidus at that moment and
he let out a huge yawn and stumbled a little where he was standing. Yuna was by his side in a moment, "Are you okay?"
"I'm
just really sleepy all of the sudden," Tidus
said, yawning again. He looked at LeBlanc, "Is there a place I can
lay down?"
LeBlanc
cast a worried look at Yuna before she said to Tidus, "Sure there is." Craning her neck to see
around him, she shrieked, "Ormi!
Logos! Take Tidus to the guest room to let him
sleep."
"Yes
boss." The duo said in unison as each took one of Tidus'
arms and led him down the hallway.
Once
they were gone, LeBlanc ushered them all into Nooj's
office. Nooj looked up, annoyed, when his door
was flung open but quickly quieted his comment when LeBlanc motioned for Yuna and her friends to follow. Placing his papers
into a folder on his desk, Nooj reached for his cane
and slowly rose from behind the desk to greet his friends, "Hello
everyone. What can I do for you?"
"There's
something wrong with Yuna's boyfriend, love.
They came to ask us some questions."
Nooj's eyes took on a note of concern, "What's wrong with Tidus, Yuna?"
Yuna didn't know where to begin. The more she thought about his
behavior, the more she realized that something really was wrong. She just
didn't know what it was. Tidus didn't even seem
to know and that's what scared her most. Sighing, Yuna
went into the long and sordid story starting from the day she first met Tidus up until the present and when it was finished,
LeBlanc said, "Well that is one complicated tale."
"Tell
me about it." Rikku said, "I was there
during all of it and I still don't believe it."
Baralai smiled at the pretty Al Bhed who was seated between himself and Gippal.
Nudging her playfully, he said, "Why don't you tell LeBlanc your
theory."
Rikku grinned, "Okay." She said, "I think that the
reason Tidus is acting so weird is because he's dream
Zanarkand's version of Shuyin
and when Tidus and Shuyin
came in contact in the Farplane, it confused Tidus."
"That
makes sense," LeBlanc replied, "since it was the first time the two
souls came in contact with each other."
Yuna tried to listen to the conversation that was revolving around
her, but her mind kept wandering to Tidus. She
was very worried about him and stood to excuse herself from the group when she
saw a shadow go past the door and out toward the foyer. Rikku had seen it too, as did Paine who said, "Was
that Tidus?"
Everyone
at the table looked at each other, each seeming to know what the other was
thinking. He wasn't looking for them. He'd walked right past their
room without a second look. He was up to something.
With
Yuna in the lead, the group followed several yards
behind him. He followed the stone walkways down to Mushroom Rock Road and it seemed to Yuna that he was heading toward Djose
but a sudden turn stopped that thought in its tracks.
"Why
is he going down there?" Baralai asked, his
voice tight with fear. All eyes watched as the blonde they tracked slowly
climbed down into the gulley below Mushroom
Rock Road. There was only one thing down
there and Yuna couldn't imagine why he would go
there. All she knew was that she was bound and determined to find
out.
He
was at the entrance to the Cave
of Woe for several minutes
before his followers reached it. Hiding behind several boulders so as to
stay out of view, they watched him.
He
stared hard at the door in front of him as if thinking that the power of his
stare would cause it to open. Putting a frustrated hand on his hip, he
cursed, "Well this is just fucking lovely. How the hell am I
supposed to get in there with this damned door in the way?"
Yuna felt a tremble forming in her spine that traveled the length of
her back as she watched the man wearing Tidus' form
struggle with the door. Whoever that was, wasn't Tidus.
Tidus didn't talk like that. She couldn't
remember a time when he cursed at all.
The
blonde took the sword he had hung in his belt loop and stuck it in between the
two doors. Tilting it back and forth several times, the door was pulled
open far enough for him to be able to push it the rest of the way by
hand. With fresh air being able to circulate the cave, he smiled to
himself and slung the sword back into his belt, "Stupid thing comes in
handy for something."
With
his move into the cave, the group snuck out from their hiding place and crept
in quietly behind him. It was dark in the cave so they hugged the walls
in order to remain relatively invisible to him. Once he reached the back
of the cave, he dropped to his hands and knees and started digging around in
the dirt, "Where the hell is it?" he cursed to himself as he threw
rocks out of the way since they were baring his search, "I can't believe I
lost the damn thing. It's big! It's not like it should be that hard
to find!"
He
looked out the cavern door at the sun which was rapidly beginning to rise and
he swore, "Shit." Climbing to his feet, he brushed the dirt from his
legs and shorts, "I'll just have to come back later. If they find
him missing, there will be hell to pay."
The
group dared not even breathe as the blonde man made his way out of the cavern,
deciding to leave the door open so he didn't have to struggle with it
later. Once they were sure he was out of earshot, Gippal
dared to speak, "So now he refers to himself in the third person.
This is more serious then I thought."
"That
wasn't Tidus." Yuna
said, almost to herself, "Tidus doesn't curse
like that."
"I
was thinking the same thing, Yunie." Rikku agreed. She elbowed Gippal
in the side, "What do you think he was looking for?"
Baralai took a step toward Yuna,
"Are you sure he doesn't curse like that? Maybe he just doesn't
around you."
"I
suppose that's a possibility," Yuna admitted,
"but he even looked at that sword like he'd never seen it. Wakka gave him that! It belonged to Chappu! Tidus loves that
sword." Yuna noticed Paine staring at
something strangely and followed her line of vision. The sight was so
crazy she had to laugh. Gippal and Rikku were crawling around on the ground near where Tidus had been, while digging through the dirt and trying
to find whatever it was that he had been looking for.
Gippal's hand brushed something and he recoiled
quickly, "I found something, and I hope it wasn't what Tidus
was looking for or else we got more problems on our hands."
"What
is it?" Rikku asked as she climbed to her feet
and dusted herself off.
Gippal made a face as he reached for the object again and brought it
into the light. Rikku shrieked and spun around
only to bury her face in Baralai's chest. Gippal frowned but still rose to his feet.
In
his hand, was a human skull.
Author�s Notes: No, I don�t own the song although I
wish I did since I just love it. This chapter basically just dives more
into character relationships.
- 3
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- 5
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Silver Wings 2: 1000 Confessions