FIC: Crooked Wings -- FFX-- Chapter 6 -- T

[batsutousai]

Title: Crooked Wings
Author: Batsutousai
Beta: Shara Lunison
Rating: T
Pairings: Tidus/Seymour
Warnings: AU, major canon-fuckery
Summary: On that fateful day when Yunalesca faced Sin, only part of her died, and the part that stayed alive finds itself in Spira a thousand years later.

Disclaim Her: Ugh. Translating of Al Bhed. *stare* If it's bold, it's Al Bhed.

-0-
Every Clap of Thunder
-0-

Tidus woke to the feeling of hair tickling his nose and a warm arm wrapped around his waist. It took him a few tries to blow the lock of hair away, and by that point, memories of the night before had returned and he had a moment to flush in embarrassment before a kiss was pressed to his shoulder.

"Are you going to run away from me now?" Seymour wondered idly. It wouldn't be the first time that he had taken a lover, only for them to remember themselves the following morning and run for the hills, never to be heard from again.

Tidus scowled. "Should I?" he wondered a bit snappishly, twisting so he could face the older man. "I'm not afraid of you, if that's what you're implying."

Seymour was delighted. "Nothing of the sort," he promised, trailing the hand resting against Tidus' bum up his back, smirking at the resulting shiver. "It has simply been my experience that the passions of the night appear none-too-wise in the morning light, especially to those of lesser status."

Amusement sparked in Tidus' eyes. "Oh? Perhaps it's you who might flee, then?"

Seymour chuckled and drew the teen in for a kiss. He was fully intending to restart their activities from the night previous when a knock came at his door. He was pleased to note that he wasn't the only one groaning in displeasure, but duty called and he carefully disentangled himself from the boy on his bed. He grabbed his robe off the floor and pulled it on before opening the door. His eyebrow raised in spite of himself when he saw who was on the other side. "Lady Gina?"

The woman raised her own eyebrow back, then craned her neck around him to see the teen on the bed, who had flushed and was half-hiding under the covers. "Tidus, Rikku and I are off to explore the city a bit more. She saw a few things she'd like to try bartering for at one of the shops she visited yesterday."

"Yeah, okay," Tidus replied, slinking even further down under the covers at the obvious amusement in his summoner's voice. "What'd you tell Rikku?"

Gina smirked. "I told her to ask you. Come up with something believable," she suggested, then inclined her head towards Seymour, offered, "Your Grace," and left.

Seymour chuckled as he shut the door and considered his mortified lover. "An interesting development," he offered, half-hoping the teen would have an explanation. If anyone had thought to look for Tidus in his rooms, he would have expected it to have been Tromell, who was well aware of his tendency to entice interesting young men and women into his bed.

Tidus cleared his throat nervously. "Erm, Gina caught me back on Mushroom Rock Road, being a bit overly amused by you. She's been off and on supportive of my pursuing a relationship with you ever since."

Seymour was pleased. "Since Mushroom Rock Road?" he wondered, moving slowly back towards his bed.

"Yeah." Tidus narrowed his eyes a bit. "Why?"

Seymour smiled and paused only long enough to drop his robes before returning to the bed. "That pleases me," he allowed before distracting the teen with kisses and wandering hands.

-0-

Rikku and Gina returned in time for lunch. Upon finding Tidus and Seymour already at the table, Rikku forsook her previous seat at Gina's side to sit next to Tidus and tease him. "Good morning! Where were you at breakfast?" she asked, eyes bright.

Tidus smiled at her, a hint of mischief sparkling in blue eyes, and replied, "I'll tell you when you're older."

Rikku blinked, a bit confused. Across the table Gina covered a snicker while, next to Tidus, Seymour simply smiled faintly.

"Your food is going to get cold, Rikku," Tidus pointed out, still smiling.

Rikku narrowed her eyes. "Some of my cousins and brothers say that after they spent the night with their girlfriend," she commented. "Do you have a girlfriend, Tidus?"

Tidus shrugged. "Nope."

Gina was almost sad that she'd decided to let Tidus deal with Rikku. She sort of wanted to inform Rikku that Tidus had a boyfriend, not a girlfriend.

A throat cleared at the entrance to the hall and they all looked over at Tromell. "My lord, the Lady Yuna and her party are almost here."

Some uncertainty flashed in Seymour's eyes, but he still inclined his head and ordered, "Why don't you see to it that they join us for lunch. I'm certain everyone would like a chance to catch up?" He smiled around at the summoner's party at the table already.

Rikku's eyes lit up and she practically bounced in her seat. "I told Yunie we'd meet again! Yay!"

"I'm a little surprised we ended up ahead of her," Gina commented, more to Tidus, since Rikku was so busy throwing a private party. "She was ahead of us, being at Djose while we were still a few hours out."

"I suppose it depends on how much they slept in," Tidus pointed out. "For all that we were behind them, more people left for the temple than stayed at the beach, and Yuna still needed to pray to that fayth."

"Hm. I suppose," Gina agreed, then turned to her youngest guardian as some guado started moving towards the table with the extra place settings required for Yuna's party. "Rikku, either move your plate and utensils over there, or come back here," she ordered. "I won't have the guado act as your servants when you're perfectly capable of seeing to yourself."

Rikku deflated a bit at that and shuffled back over to the chair next to her summoner. "But I wanted to know where Tidus was last night."

"I'm sure he'll tell you. Eventually." Gina smiled at her other guardian and Tidus smiled back.

"Hey! You already know! No fair!" Rikku poked Gina's arm. "Tell me, tell me, tell me!!"

"Maybe when you're older," Gina offered, eyes sparkling.

Tidus laughed at that. Next to the male guardian, Seymour smiled in amusement, and now that she was across the table, Rikku actually saw it, as well as how close the two were sitting to each other. Her eyes widened in disbelief and she turned to Tidus, whose smile had turned a bit uncertain.

"Oh! Hi!" Yuna's voice called from the entrance to the hall. She and her party had arrived, putting an end to any further embarrassing situations, though Tidus was certain Rikku wouldn't be letting this go.

Rikku shook her head, then jumped out of her seat and hurried over to Yuna and her party to hug her cousin. "Hi, Yunie! It's been forever!"

"It hasn't even been a week," Gina muttered drily, rising to meet their friends. Tidus did likewise and they took a moment to greet each other before Gina's party led the way back to the table to continue the meal. Auron settled in next to Tidus – much to the younger man's displeasure – but didn't touch his food. The teen frowned at that a bit, but was distracted by talk of what had occurred to the two parties while they'd been apart.

Once lunch was over, Seymour pleasantly offered to show them something of a project of his. "I'm sure you'll all enjoy it," he promised as they entered another large room with tables around the edges. Once everyone was within and the door had been closed, Seymour touched a globe off to one side and the entire room was thrown into outer space.

The endless stars morphed into a city that had Gina and Tidus migrating closer together, Gina reaching out to grasp her guardian's hand.

"This sphere is a reconstruction created from the thoughts of the dead that wander the Farplane," Seymour offered, eyeing Tidus and Gina a bit curiously. "This is Zanarkand, as it looked one thousand years ago." He smiled around the room at his wide-eyed guests. Auron appeared unimpressed, but it was Gina and Tidus who caught his attention, both pale, yet with longing sparkling in their eyes as they looked around, drank the sights in.

"The great and wondrous machina city, Zanarkand," Seymour continued, still watching the two who stood so close together. "She once lived in this metropolis."

"She, who?" Yuna asked, even as the image changed to a bedroom, an eerily familiar woman sitting on the bed. "Lady Yunalesca!" Yuna realised.

Gina had gone completely white and Tidus had moved to get between his summoner and the rest of the room, glowering as Auron turned sharp eyes on the two. Lulu, Kimahri, and Rikku had also turned to Tidus and Gina, suspicious and curious in turns.

As a man entered Yunalesca's chambers, Seymour commented, "You look rather much like the late High Summoner Yunalesca, Lady Gina." Yuna and Wakka turned to look towards Gina at that, surprised.

Gina let out a choked sound as the images faded back into the room they'd started in. "I...I need some air," the summoner whispered and practically fled, one hand over her mouth.

Auron made a motion, as if to go after the girl, but froze when Tidus' sword came to rest just in front of his face, the teen practically radiating fury. Angry blue eyes turned to the half-guado and Tidus spat, "Fuck you," before turning and stalking after his summoner.

Seymour swallowed against the sudden pain in his chest, but he pushed it away. He had needed to know, and the Lady Gina's reactions had made him certain: Gina was the Lady Yunalesca. Although, how she didn't smell like an unsent was anyone's guess.

Yuna's party had turned to Rikku and Yuna quietly asked, "Rikku?"

"I don't know," Rikku said, holding herself stiffly. "And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. It's Gina's business, not any of yours." She turned to Seymour, disgusted. "We've been here an entire day. Couldn't you have found some other way to do whatever the hell that was." She waved her arm around the room, then turned away. "Whatever. We'll cross the Thunder Plains on foot." Then she hurried from the room, intent on collecting her friends' things to leave.

They'd lingered in Guadosalam long enough.

-0-

"You're sure you're okay with this?" Tidus asked after Rikku shrieked yet again.

The younger girl was walking in a crouch, hands halfway over her head. Angry with the maester on Gina's behalf, setting off across the Thunder Plains without any form of protection had seemed like a good idea, but now that they were out here...

"It's a little too late for second thoughts," Gina commented hollowly. She'd been almost listless since Rikku had caught up with her, but she'd brightened a little bit when Rikku suggested they leave, not even hinting at any interest in the secrets she so obviously held.

In truth, Rikku didn't care who her summoner looked like, or who she might, in fact, be. Gina and Tidus were her friends, had taken care of and befriended her in spite of what she was and the fact that she'd intended to kidnap them when they'd first met. She knew they both had their secrets, but she didn't want to lose their friendship over some sort of distrust, when she knew they meant her no harm.

"I suppose," Tidus agreed, glancing back towards the exit to Guadosalam. In truth, the hills that the city was grown from were long out of sight, but Tidus knew which direction they'd lain in. A part of him ached for the man he'd left behind, no matter how angry he was with Seymour, but Gina was his priority. There was no point getting attached, anyway, since he would be fading away at the end of their journey. Seymour had been abandoned by his father and, in a way, his mother; Tidus knew what that felt like, and saw no point in adding to the number of people who had just up and left. It was better they part now, than to wait.

Rikku flinched as another bolt of lightning struck a nearby tower, then squinted her eyes against the ever-changing light. "One of Rin's agencies is ahead," she commented.

Gina glanced over at the younger girl, her lips attempting a smile at the pleading look Rikku gave her. "Oh, very well." She glanced at Tidus, who offered her a tired smile. "I suppose we could all do with a bit of a rest."

"Not too long, though," Tidus cautioned. "Not unless you care to face Yuna and party so soon."

"Especially not tall, dark and grumpy," Rikku agreed, bouncing a bit as the agency came fully into view. "By the way, Tidus, that was awesome!"

Tidus smiled weakly. "Yeah, well, Auron would have just made things worse."

Gina glanced over at them, curious. "What did you do?"

Tidus flushed. "Oh, uhm, I might have threatened Auron. Just a bit."

Gina blinked, once, twice, then broke out into peals of laughter, reaching out and steadying herself on the arm Tidus held out to her without question.

Rikku bounced a bit more, clearly pleased with how things had lightened between them, in spite of the lightning.

They rested at Rin's shop only long enough to take a brief meal, tired out from dodging lightning and fleeing with such heavy hearts as they had. After a quick perusal through what the shop had to offer in the way of weapons and shields, they were off again, all feeling much better. Even Rikku's fear of the storm had abated somewhat.

They could just make out the towering trees of Macalania Woods when Gina said, "My name is Yunalesca Yevon."

Rikku paused, then jumped out of the way of a lightning bolt before hurrying to catch up to her summoner and fellow guardian, both of whom had continued walking. "But..." She cleared her throat, uncertain.

"I don't remember much of my fight with Sin," Gina continued, not looking back. She was comforted by Tidus' silent presence at her side, knowing that at least one of her guardians wouldn't leave her over the truth. "I know the 'Final Aeon' was my husband, Zaon, and from what Auron has told Tidus, it is custom to sacrifice a guardian to this end. In fighting Sin, that guardian's aeon is taken over by Sin after defeating the armour, which is made from a previous Final Aeon. The new Sin then attacks and kills the summoner before leaving to fully assimilate the aeon into new armour."

They reached the edge of the forest and all three settled on a couple of rocks. Rikku was enthralled, pleased to finally be learning some secrets, but in pain for her friend, who had borne them for so long. "So... Sin took Zaon?"

"That's where things get fuzzy," Gina admitted, wringing her spear between her hands. "I remember being separated from Zaon, this indescribable agony, but then it all goes dark. I must have passed out." She glanced sideways at Tidus, who offered her a smile. "When I woke up, I was on that island you found us on, with Tidus. One thousand years in my future, and in so young a body to boot!" She glanced down at her hands, which were only just forming her once hard-earned calluses. "I don't know why or how, but it has something to do with Sin."

They were all silent for a long moment, Rikku assimilating everything, while Gina and Tidus watched her, waiting to see if she would leave.

Finally, Rikku looked up at them, focussing on Tidus. "And you? Were you with Gina, before, or..."

Tidus shook his head and pushed away from his rock. "We should keep on. I don't much fancy Seymour's pretty carriage catching up to us tonight. In those trees, he'll have to go on foot, same as us."

"And I'll bet we move faster," Gina agreed, standing herself.

Rikku didn't move, pouting a bit. "But, Tidus–"

"I will tell you on the way," Tidus offered tiredly.

Rikku nodded and hopped up to join her companions as they started their way through the trees.

"Before you can understand my origins, you must understand Sin," Tidus offered, glancing back at the youngest member of their group. "Sin was the last hope of the people of Zanarkand. They knew they didn't stand a chance against Bevelle, so they created a mass summoning, using the people of the city to call up a dream of their way of life. To keep that dream alive, they needed a summoner, and that summoner had to be protected, whatever the cost."

"That summoner was my father, Yu Yevon," Gina offered quietly. "He fashioned himself an armour of souls, which would stand against any attack. But he lost control of the armour, and it became Sin."

Rikku choked, stopping to stare in horror at Gina. The two from Zanarkand also stopped, content to wait her out.

Rikku moved again, after a good three minutes, and once she'd joined back up with Tidus and Gina, they continued on, Tidus again taking up the story.

"Yu Yevon still summons inside that armour, continuing a world that doesn't really exist. Now, I don't know the specifics, but I know that I am a part of that dream–"

"Wait, what?" Rikku hurried forward and poked Tidus' arm. "You're real!" she insisted.

Tidus smiled sadly. "I'm solid," he allowed, "but I am still nothing more than the dream of the fayth. Using Sin, they brought first my old man, and now me to Spira. Auron thinks it's to destroy Sin; I don't know why for sure, but I intend to destroy Sin, for good."

"No matter the cost," Gina murmured.

Rikku stopped, stomping her foot. "No!" she shouted. "No! I won't lose you just to get rid of Sin! I won't!"

"You're throwing a tantrum like a child half your age," Tidus chided her. When Rikku turned away, angry tears in her eyes, Tidus stepped forward and gently caught her face between his hands. "Rikku, sister, I don't want to leave either. I don't want to fade away, but I can't continue living, knowing that it means others will suffer in my stead. If I fade, I will do so knowing that Sin will be gone too. You, Gina, Yuna and them... All of you will have peace. Real peace, not a few months of downtime before you're all running again for the hills.

"All my life, I've walked in my father's shadow. I tried to catch my mom's eye, I played blitzball, I came to Spira, became a guardian... Rikku, this is my chance to be different, to finally be better. He helped bring the Calm by sacrificing himself, but I...I can bring you peace, forever! My life will finally mean something! I won't just be 'Jecht's kid' any more."

Rikku shook her head, tears trailing down her face. "But you'll die," she insisted.

Tidus smiled such a bitter smile. "I can't die, Rikku, I never existed to begin with."

Gina smacked the back of Tidus' head. "Don't you dare, Tidus!" she snapped. "Don't you dare start talking like that. You exist, if only as much as anyone can ever exist. What are we but bags of bones and memories? Are you any different from us?"

Rikku bit her lower lip, then launched herself into Tidus' arms, startling him, even as he secured his arms around her. "I don't want you to go," she whispered.

"He'll always be with us," Gina promised, "even if he's nothing more than a memory."

"A good one, I hope," Tidus joked.

Rikku pulled back and swatted his arm. "I'm going to remember only the worst of you," she promised, voice cracking with emotion, "you big meanie!"

Tidus chuckled, knowing better than to take his friend seriously, then glanced up into the treetops. "I wonder what time it is..."

"It's getting late," Gina offered. She looked towards the end of the forest, where Macalania City had once stood. "I'm uncertain of the layout around that lake, but I should like to get out from under these trees before we rest."

"There's another one of Rin's shops on this side of the lake," Rikku offered. "If we can make it to there, we can rest."

"It's been a long day," Gina agreed, and they started out again. "Sorry, by the way, to have set such a pace."

"We all wanted to get away from Guadosalam, I think," Tidus replied, shrugging.

Gina glanced at her guardian uncertainly. "What are you going to do? About Seymour?"

Tidus snorted. "What's to do? He's an ass."

"You've been pining for him from the moment you met," Gina retorted, amused.

"You've got a crush on that creep?" Rikku demanded.

"Well..."

"It's a bit more than a crush," Gina teased.

"Oh, ew!" Rikku waved her hands in front of her face. "My brain! My brain!"

Tidus snorted, turning his gaze on Gina. "He's a jerk, just like you said back in Luca. I'm better off without him around."

Gina's smile turned sad. "He made you happy," she pointed out.

"He hurt you," Tidus retorted.

"You said you were going to live your life, go all out. You said you wanted to die happy."

Tidus shrugged. "And I will. I had one night with him–"

"EW!" Rikku pointedly shouted, although she looked sad for Tidus, just as Gina did.

Tidus smiled at her. "I had one night," he continued, "and that's enough. I'd rather spend this time with you two, than with a jerk who doesn't know better. Gina, you and Rikku, you two are what makes me happy." He looked between them, smiling. "You're my best friends. No stuck-up half-guado is worth the price of that. Especially not one who cares more for what he wants than for the feelings of others."

Rikku silently demanded a hug, which Tidus gave her, then ordered, "Let's get on, then. It's too late to be this emotional!"

Gina and Tidus laughed, and they all set out again, determined to reach the lake and get some sleep.

-0-

"Her kind isn't welcome here," the temple guard insisted, barring Rikku entrance.

"She is my guardian," Gina replied, glaring at the man.

The guard sneered. "Al Bhed aren't guardian material."

Tidus unsheathed his sword and idly swung it, letting it come to rest between the guard's eyes. He offered the man a cheerful smile. "Perhaps you didn't hear my Lady Gina, swine, but Dame Rikku is a guardian, and unless you want a pretty scar to show all the ladies how much of an ass you are, you're going to back up and let us by. Understood?"

The guard let out a faint whimper and backed up. The other guards all jumped immediately to opening the large temple doors for the party, letting them pass uncontested.

"What crawled up your ass and died?" Gina wondered, amused by Tidus' current bad-ass persona.

"Literally, or figuratively?" Tidus shot back as he put his sword away, pleased with his results.

"Aren't both the same thing?"

"Ewewewew!!" Rikku shouted, covering her ears.

Tidus and Gina traded amused looks, enjoying Rikku's refusal to think about Tidus having slept with Seymour. Although, admittedly, if she had caught that reference, she knew far more about sex than Tidus and Gina had assumed.

"So, where to after this?" Tidus wondered as they slipped past the wide-eyed priest at the bottom of the steps leading into the Cloister of Trials.

"Bevelle," Gina offered. "Then we're on to the Calm Lands, Mt Gagazet, and, finally, Zanarkand."

"And, with any luck, some real answers," Tidus commented, glancing around at the ice-covered path they were passing through. "I take it this is an ice-based aeon?"

Gina nodded. "The head of the temple back in Besaid said her name is Shiva." She glanced sideways at her guardian. "Ifrit is fire, while Ixion is electricity."

Tidus nodded, vaguely having recalled that from a previous summoning of Ifrit and a comment early on by his summoner about the aeons she already had. "And you have another one, too, right? The gil-hog?"

Gina giggled and slapped her hands over her mouth. "Yes, Yojimbo."

"Gil-hog?" Rikku wondered, watching her two friends with amusement. They'd both been rather quiet the whole morning and, assuming Rikku could read them right, amazed that she had stuck around. The moment on the steps had been the first real life she'd seen from either of them.

Gina nodded. "He requires a donation for him to do anything. The more you give him, the harsher he'll be against an enemy. I called him on the beach."

Rikku blinked, then said, "Oh, yeah. He kinda reminds me of Auron, with the tall, dark, and grumpy thing."

Gina snickered in amusement while Tidus just shook his head. He'd never seen the aeon before, himself, since Gina rarely saw the need to waste gil on him when another aeon or one of them were capable of handling a fiend.

They entered the large, cavernous room between the trials and the fayth in good spirits. Just outside the door to the fayth, Gina stopped and turned to smile at them. "You'll have to stay out here, I'm afraid. Fayth have been known to be difficult if you crowd them."

"Yeah, okay," Tidus agreed, then turned to Rikku. "Want to teach me some of those tricks of yours? Might be nice to have two of us able to use your healing mixes."

Rikku nodded. "Sure! Will you teach me that spell you always use?"

"Haste?"

"Uh-huh."

"Sure thing."

Gina nodded at them. "Okay. Don't blow anything up," she cautioned, knowing how dangerous some of Rikku's mixes could get, then she turned and went into the fayth's sanctum.

Rikku and Tidus traded slightly evil grins before staking out a corner and getting to it. They'd heard, from Yuna's guardians, that praying to the fayth could take a long time, depending, so they planned for the worst and acted as though they were in for the long haul.

Rikku taught Tidus a couple of potion and elixir mixes, as well as some protective ones and a medium-level ice mix, passing over what materials he didn't already have for them. Tidus taught her how to cast Haste, as well as Slow. He'd offered to teach her the Cure spell, which he'd learned from Yuna out of necessity – he was the only one in their small group who had any knowledge of white magic, and Yuna had offered – but Rikku didn't care so much about that sort of magic.

"Though, if you ever figure out that one white spell, Holy? I'll totally learn that one," Rikku had added.

Tidus rolled his eyes, amused. "You just like to blow things up."

Rikku shrugged. "It's a skill I have."

The door to the fayth's chamber opened then, and both guardians jumped to their feet and rushed over to meet their summoner, who stumbled a bit, but seemed mostly alright.

"Sorry," Gina whispered, pausing to lean against an icy wall. "Shiva and I have contrasting personalities, so it's going to take me a bit to adapt."

"We can wait," Tidus assured her. "We're not in a mad rush or anything."

"If we run into anyone we'd rather not talk to on our way out, Tidus can always wave his sword around," Rikku agreed, green eyes bright.

"As a deterrent, it actually works pretty well," Tidus pointed out. "I mean, it even worked on Auron, even though he can kick my butt six ways to Sunday."

"I think you surprised him," Rikku replied, rolling her eyes. "He didn't have time to threaten you back before you'd run off."

"Must be getting slow in his old age."

Rikku and Tidus grinned at each other while Gina laughed at them and pushed away from the wall. "Alright, let's get out of here."

"Bevelle, here we come!" Rikku called, bouncing a bit.

"Wait to blow anything up until we're ready to leave," Tidus cautioned the younger guardian. "That way, we can escape in the confusion."

Rikku's eyes lit up. "Ooh. I should."

Gina covered her eyes, a little afraid of what her guardians were planning, but equally pleased to see them so chipper.

The good mood lasted all the way out to the lake proper, where they came across Seymour and Yuna's party. The bunch of them had been held over by a band of Al Bhed, which were distracting them, but there were no ways past them other than going straight through.

"We could wait them out, or run now and hope to avoid any damage," Gina pointed out.

Rikku sighed. "Dammit, Brother."

"Either option is going to suck," Tidus commented. "On one hand, they're distracted right now, so we might be able to escape before they can corner us. On the other, going after means there's no chance of getting caught up in this."

"I say we run for it," Rikku decided, glancing up at her friends. "I think our chances are better if we just go now."

"Yeah, I sort of have to agree with that," Tidus agreed.

Gina nodded and they took a moment for Rikku to mix together some protective shielding, then darted into the melee. The shielding ended up being a good idea, since they caught their fair share of misaimed attacks.

The girls were both completely free of the fighting when Tidus, who had lagged behind a bit, just in case, got caught around the chest by an unnaturally strong arm. "Let me go, Seymour!" he shouted, struggling against his captor.

Seymour didn't say anything in response, just shot off a spell at the machina the Al Bhed had set on them. Honestly, the maester wasn't quite certain why he'd grabbed the teen; Tidus had run within his reach, and Seymour's arm had reached out and caught him before he'd even thought of it. Although, if he was honest with himself, it probably had to do with the heart-in-his-throat sensation he'd been suffering ever since he'd found out that Tidus had left Guadosalam without a word.

Gina and Rikku had turned at Tidus' shout and started running back as soon as they saw his predicament.

Just before the two women reached Seymour and Tidus, Auron delivered the killing blow to the machina and Brother let out an angry, wordless shout before turning and fleeing the scene with his Al Bhed friends, not even sparing a glance for his sister.

"Let me go, you jerk!" Tidus shouted, drawing the attention of Yuna's party.

"He's a maester–" Wakka started, disconcerted by Tidus' lack of respect. Others in the party made to move closer to Tidus and Seymour, a couple looking past them towards Gina and Rikku, who had both frozen in indecision.

Seymour motioned to a couple of his guado guards and they immediately moved to usher Yuna's party towards the path to the temple.

Gina and Rikku relaxed at that a bit and took a couple of steps closer to Seymour and Tidus. "What do you want, Seymour?" Gina asked, dispensing with all hint of formalities; after their last meeting, she saw no reason to play at diplomacy.

Seymour loosened his grip on Tidus, letting the teen go, and said, "I only wish to talk."

Tidus jumped back towards his friends, not quite pulling his sword out, though he wanted to. "So talk."

"Out here?" Seymour wondered, waving his hand around to include the whole area.

"It wouldn't be the first time you decided to try making a private point in public," Rikku shot back. "If you're going to be a jerk again, we might as well have an easy escape route."

Seymour sighed and came a few steps closer, pointedly not reacting when Tidus drew his sword to hold it at his side. "I thought you said you wouldn't run," he said to Tidus.

Tidus snorted. "I said I wasn't afraid of you, not that I wouldn't leave. You were an ass, so I left."

"You moved pretty quickly to just have been leaving."

"Are you trying to tick me off?" Tidus wondered, a hint of anger in his voice. "Because you're well on your way to doing so."

"Make your point, Seymour," Gina called. "You may have all day to dally, but we have places to be."

Seymour didn't respond, too distracted by the glaring contest he was having with Tidus.

Finally, Tidus got completely ticked and stabbed his sword in the ice at their feet. "You said you wanted to fuc– Whoa!"

Having already endured one fight, the ice was weakened just enough that Tidus' sword shattered the spot they were standing on, dumping them all through the ice.

'This was not how I envisioned going,' Tidus thought as the icy ground rushed up at him.

-0-0-0-0-0-

-0-0-0-0-0-

A/N: One chapter, I finally get them together, and the next I rip them apart again. I'm beginning to think I'm some sort of sadist. XD

So, I'm sort of bullshitting my way through the sphere grid, there, with the spells Tidus learned/taught Rikku. I cheat at this game and fill in the grid at the start, so I honestly don't know where the party should be on the grid at this point.
Anyway, don't take the spells as rote. It just sounded pretty.

~Bats ^.^x

Chapters:
1 - Otherworld ||| 2 - Neither Friend Nor Foe ||| 3 - Sometimes Good-Bye is a Second Chance
4 - Heaven Sent a Hurricane ||| 5 - My Secrets Become Your Truth ||| 6 - Every Clap of Thunder
7 - Throw Your World Away (For Love) ||| 8 - Poisonous Drugs of Hate ||| 9 - Wisdom, Justice, & Love
10 - Turning on a Dime ||| 11 - Kings and Queens of Promise ||| 12 - Stepped Into a Cruel World
13 - ???
Incomplete

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Comments

[hekelachan.livejournal.com]

I hate it when you leave cliffhangers. really sucks. But I am happy you've been updating this. I haven't been reading the other two you've been working on because I want to know about Raidiata Stories before I finish reading it, and I want to avoid the dramaz the other is apparently causing for a bit.

And because I want to see what you are going to do with Seymour. Cuz I honestly have no clue.


and I wanna know how you cheat to get the grid filled out in the beginning. If I can do that I might even use Kimari for once.

[batsutousai]

Wait until chapter eight. XD
Xerosis has drama? I suppose. Sailor Moon and some flames. XD

I'm not sure what I'm doing with Seymour. He's sort of turned into a pansy-ass. *sadness* Ah, well.

LOL. I use an Action Replay MAX. It lets you basically start the game with however many items, sphere grid movements you want. So you can, technically, jump off the Al Bhed ship to get the airship up and running with max everything and knowing however many abilities you want. (It takes something like two-four hours to fill in the entire sphere grid the first time. Closer to seven if you delete all the crappy stat boosts that are already on there and fill it in with the best of everything. Tedious, but worth it.)