The Civilian

XXI

Words were fuzzy, memories were blurry, but the pain was so real. You were feeling cold every time a breeze came by, your hands wrapping around fabric underneath your fingers to curl tighter around your body. The room was dark and there was a dripping sound that seemed to be far away.

There was noise but it sounded far away without being too far. Your body was aching so badly it reminded you of period cramps but all over instead. Then there was the sound of footsteps, cracking your eyes open you could see feet walking toward you. A sliver of light coming from far away across from you. It was hard to tell if you were in some type of cell or what.

The feet crouched down in front of you so that you could see someone's knee. Dragging your eyesight up you came face to face with a handsome man he looked maybe five years older than you. Something was off about him, something in your body was raging against the pain.

Something was telling you that this person wasn't alive.

Fingers brushed away strands of [colour] hair that was clinging to your damp face. "When the Lifestream said that they were delivering something.. I didn't expect it to be a person." The Lifestream, you rarely heard that word since you attended the Academy.

The Lifestream was everything, the influence for the world to thrive. The reason why the grass was green and how the seasons came and go with the help of the world's rotation. The Lifestream is where all souls go to rest, everyone comes from The Lifestream and will return to The Lifestream.

You wanted to speak but your body hurt so bad that you couldn't bring yourself to do anything. The man, if you would consider him to be one simply smiled. "I didn't think that my father's men would shoot kill him, honestly."

That's when your [colour] eyes widened, a flash in your mind showed you the haggard man from the Port but here was his son "How?" He spoke aloud your question.

Blinking once, you agreed to the question.

"The Lifestream brought him home, both of you, home. My name is Zaon, the man you tried to spare was my father, Zoan." He explained, you could see the small resemblance between the men. Spira's the only continent that had a literal connection to the Lifestream - The Far Plane.

Zaon looked down at you with pity in his eyes then all of a sudden there was a sound a loud roaring sound coming from somewhere above. Flickering your eyes up you listened and realized that it wasn't a roar of an animal but rather a crowd. The commander's son smiled and followed your gaze up. "We're under a stadium believe it or not. Spira has these wells where The Lifestream pools, this one happens to be under a Blitzball Stadium."

He couldn't contain his chuckle and even if you couldn't laugh along with him you could smile. Zaon frowned a little bit before moving toward you his hands began to move you into a sitting position. The pain was unimaginable but you knew that eventually you had to be moved.

"It isn't going to feel great, but we need to get you out of here." He spoke lowly and got to work. Moving from a sitting position to suddenly standing even with his support still made you feel terrible.

You made a mental note to ask him another time to ask how he knew about this. Shuffling along the dark damp area until there was some strange circular stonework with runes carved into them. The minute that you stood over it the rune grew a soft white light before being pushed upward somehow.

When it came to a head there was a small door that Zaon nudged open slightly to look beyond it. Following his gaze you saw a lot of gold and red with posters up all around. There were a couple of people walking around but not a huge crowd like it sounded.

Stepping out from the tiny ass hallway the door closed behind the two of you only to merge back into the wall acting like a door was never there. It was only then out and in the light that you realized the fabric wrapped around you. It had been your father's long red cloak. It was huge on your body but it felt right.

Zaon attempted to make the two of you appear small as could be. Luckily he was wearing simple civilian looking clothes and your red cloak blended in with the red accents in the Stadium.

Glancing up you saw a large flat screen tv showing what was happening in the center of the stadium. Unintentionally you put on your brakes to look up at it. Zaon followed your gaze and he couldn't help but smile. "You've never seen Blitzball before have you?" You were able to hear the smile in his voice.

Smiling a little bit yourself you nodded just a tad. Blitzball was a known National Sport in Spira. It looked like fun, but you were mostly amazed by the idea of swimming in a gigantic sphere of water. Though how they could continuously keep their breaths held was beyond you.

You felt a tingly feeling in your hand and slowly you brought up your left hand, crumbled up was a photo. The one that Zoan gave you before being killed. Zaon looked down at the photo slowly opening your hand with help to see it. You saw the bittersweet smile on his face. "Dad gave you this, huh?"

In the photo was Zoan along with a dark skinned man with a huge black chest tattoo. Zoan was wearing traditional looking military attire even though his entire expression and posture was quite the contrary. Then there was your father without his red cloak. No gray in his hair and no matching father-daughter scar. He appeared stoic as ever but you could note his hidden smile.

Zaon smiled just like his father had been. "The man with the tattoo, his name is Jecht. 'Semi-Retired' Blitzball all star." You watched Zaon roll his eyes in mock yet you could see the obvious disdain for someone who was once his father's friend apparently. "One of his son is in the game too that's who's playing now," Zaon directed your attention to the screen to a player who had a wicked shot into the other opponents goal.

The camera had zoomed to his face with a cocky looking smirk being sent at it. "Tidus, his brother though is in the army. Shuyin was held back.. Thank Gods." Zaon sighed with a off look smile. "C'mon, can you walk on your own now?" He looked down at you and breathing in slowly you decided to stand by yourself.

Smiling you decided to open your mouth as well. "Yeah, I'm good." You managed to croak out, your entire voice was hoarse and scratchy sounding. This was your first time in Spira and somehow someway, The Lifestream had brought you to it. Zanarkand was huge and full of lights. So many sounds and smells that you didn't think could exist.

Standing close to Zaon you were amazed to find how crowded it was. The sky was the only cloak you could use at that point and it was dark, middle of the night? "Zanarkand never sleeps," Zoan pointed out to you, people walking all smiles and full of life. "Maybe an hour, it's mostly for keeping track of money and restocking.

"Do you know a lot about my dad?" You asked him while mindlessly grabbing for his hand as the crowds became busier and bigger. You knew only as much as your mother told you, otherwise everyone that knew Auron lived in Spira. This was your chance to get to know him.

The gentleman took a minute to make sure you could shuffle up the incline before doing anything else. "I know a lot about Auron," Zaon whispered as the two of you shuffled up to a platform, small carts were attached to a heavy and thick wire. There were more people getting off rather than on at this position. "I promise I'll tell you but first we should get you to Jecht's. They were closer than you would believe." Zaon smiled slightly as the two of you got onto one of the cabs. He pressed a button that was a station.

A small lunge/jerk forward and the mall cab began to head toward the station closest to Jecht's house.

Your [colour] eyes glimmered from the lights of Zanarkand... you only wish your mom and Denzel could be there.