Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ A Knife in the Dark ❯ Part One ( Chapter 1 )

A Knife in the Dark - Part One

a.n: ...In case you wonder what spawned this insane idea, you might want to check out the short point-of-view pieces that can more or less be seen as prequels. to this, "Not Without Doubt" and "Rude Awaking". Eh...more like "Rude Awaking", really, since "Not Without Doubt" really doesn't fit in with this storyline. [that shouldn't stop you from reading it, though. ^ ^;] both can be found in my collective of short stories, "From Hell". This can be considered your usual "Tidus Revival" stories that are just so popular in the final fantasy X fandom, but in many ways, it is NOT your usual story. for one thing - Tidus comes back twenty-five years after the events of final fantasy X. another thing - Yuna's married. And there's a new threat in Spira that has NOTHING to do with Sin and/or Yevon! [...yeah, I'm shocked too.] Except more of parts coming soon, but do NOT expect a happy ending. ^ ^;;

~*~

"You insane, boy?"

He's an average man - about forty, a fisherman from Besaid who thinks that the Aurochs were never the same since Sir Wakka left.

"You don't know when Lady Yuna got married?" He usually sits with his drinking buddies all night, arguing with a random stranger that Sir Wakka was a better blitzer than that blond kid that showed up a few years back, while getting too drunk to find his way home.

"...Actually, I do." What he doesn't know, and never know, is that blond kid is right in front of him now. Despite being the Auroch devout that he is, he'll never recognize the one-time player that he's currently conversing with - he KINDA looks like him, but this one is skinnier, smaller, frailer. Younger, too. He'd die if he tried to play blitzball.

"...You get hit in the head or something?" He says, shaking his head at the pathetic sight in front of him. "Weird kid. You really should go to a doctor or somethin', once we get back on the main land..." His gaze flickers downward, and he quickly disguises the involuntary snicker as a cough. "And get some pants, too."

I scowl, then turn towards the shrinking island in the distance. Besaid was always beautiful - it was just so different than the Zanarkand that I knew. Everything - the land, the people - they were polar opposites, and I think I liked that. If things had been different, I definitely would have chosen to stay there.

I came in just the way I did before - from the sea. It didn't take me long to figure out what had happened - it was twenty years in the future, I was still the seventeen-looking-fourteen year old I was when they met me, they were old enough to be my parents, and my entire existence was only a forgotten fairy tale.

...Even to her, I bet.

"So, you wanna tell me what you were doin', swimmin' naked in the middle of nowhere?" I have no idea what I'm going to do now. Hell, I didn't intend on doing anything. In case the guy couldn't tell, I wasn't exactly swimming out there.

"Not really." He laughs at this, then grins at my offended expression. "You're just lucky you're still alive!" Lucky...yeah, right. "You looked dead when we found you. You're just lucky my daughter was here!"

"...Daughter?" If I'm lucky, an Al-Bhed girl will walk out here, and introduce herself as Rikku, this guy as Cid, and the whole epic adventure that took place twenty years ago, apparently, will all be a dream.

Then, I could have another epic adventure, with her...except this one as a happy ending. The right ending.

But I'm not that lucky.

"Yep," He says, his pride in his daughter obvious. "Best white mage in all of Spira! Her name's Kururu." His face darkens. "They won't let her practice her magic anymore, though. Accordin' to them, she ain't pure enough to cast white magic. Obviously, they've never seen her in action."

"...Them?" As far as I know, the Yevon religion is dead and gone - but, then again, they probably came up with a new god in twenty years. He looks at me, then snorts.

"The magestry! You really did hit your head', huh?" I glare at him, then turn away. I've only spoken to him for five minutes, but I can tell - I hate this guy.

"Man...you sure are a stiff. Hope you don't get seasick - we're gonna be settin' off pretty soon." He begins to walk off, then stops. "If you want some company, Kururu will be out in a few." Now it's his turn to glare at me. "If I were you, though, I would put somethin' on before even thinking about talking to my daughter."

I don't care about his daughter. I don't care if he thinks I'm a stiff. Hell, I don't care about ANYTHING now.

...The only thing that matters is that I'm back. I'm back, to what I thought was a living Hell, but turned out to be Heaven. This is what I wanted. Another shot at life, a REAL life, and here.

But dammit, things weren't supposed to be...like this. I wanted - needed - not just to be here...but to be here with HER.