• Sin destroyed my home world.

    I watched it happen, and couldn't do anything about it. When I found myself in a strange city, all lit up at night, I was confused. As a child, I was a hardcore Final Fantasy addict, to the point where I memorized everything in Final Fantasy: Crisis Core, as well as Final Fantasy X, etc. As such, anyone could imagine my shock when I wound up in Zanarkand, seemingly so long ago.

    Just before my home world was attacked, I was 22 years of age, and an assassin for the previous 4 years. So long as my client wasn't against my morals, and the pay was good, I would accept nearly any job.

    I looked up at the circle of friends surrounding the campfire. Rikku, Lulu, Kimahri, Wakka, and Auron: five of Yuna's guardians. I looked at the summoner's mismatched eyes and followed her gaze, my own eyes finding the final guardian, standing on a small hill of rubble. Having memorized the game, I could practically hear Tidus' flashback voice: "Listen to my story. This may be our last chance." As I recalled those words, my own mind went through the entire journey we've had together, starting with a game of Blitzball in Zanarkand from 1000 years ago.

    /////////////////////

    I sat in the audience of the completely filled up arena, waiting for the game of Blitzball to begin: the Abes vs. the Duggles. I didn't want to think of my dreaded past; how I, an assassin, stood by helplessly as my world was devoured by an enormous monster, surrounded by an even larger dome of water. Just as my world was devoured, I thought I would follow, but was dumped here, in Zanarkand.

    Stop it. You're going there again. I had to remind myself to avoid thinking of the tragedy, at least while the game was going on. Just stay calm.

    Hopefully, I would be able to use the game as a distraction. Fortunately, the commentator of the game interrupted my thoughts.

    "I was in a coffee shop, running away from home when I heard the news," the commentator said. I jumped. Oh s**t. PLEASE don't let this be that game! I'm not ready for another world jump! Personally, I think there's very little more frightening than a mentally disturbed (or paranoid) assassin.

    "Our hero, Jecht, gone. Vanished into thin air!" The commentator continued. "Heh, my dad must have been his biggest fan. I knew how sad he'd be. Heck, we all were that day. 'Zanar', I says to myself, 'What are you thinking'?" I scoffed mentally for his poor grammar, then began to feel a lot of remorse.

    I knew none of it was mine. Ever since I was born, I had a special talent: I could sense the emotions of anyone nearby clearer than I could read words in a book. If the feelings ran deep enough in the person, or if I was in a crowd (like now) sometimes I'd have trouble telling if these feelings were mine or not. Furthermore, if I was particularly close to someone emotionally, like a sibling, parent, or best friend, I could even hear their thoughts once in a while. When I was 6, my mother explained to me that this is my greatest secret, and no one can ever know. She told me that this... Gift... Is passed down through each generation, like a bloodline, from parent to second born.

    Personally, I've only found it a burden, though it does have its benefits, especially as an assassin. To this day, I've never told a soul what I can do. I've also housed one other secret, that hopefully no one will discover any time soon: I'm bi. That's right, I'm into both males and females.

    Anyway, over the years, I've learned to control my 'talent', able to put up mental barriers to stop myself from sensing other people's feelings. Although sometimes extreme emotions still slip through my barriers, like now.

    "I went running straight back home. We sat up talking 'bout Jecht all night," Zanar continued. Jesus ******** Christ, I came here to watch Blitzball, not listen to you ramble about that b*****d!

    "My dad and I never talked so much. Whoa... Didn't mean to reminisce, folks. Anyway... Ten years later, the Jecht Memorial Cup tournament is today!"

    "Finally..." I breathed. Normally I was much more patient than this, but between... Recent events and what I now knew was getting ready to happen... Well, I was on edge, to say the least...

    "The two teams that have won through to the finals are of course, the Abes from A-East, and the Duggles from C-South. I know there's a lot of people out there today to see the star of the Abes! In just one year, he's become the team's number one player! He's Jecht's blood, and the new hope of Blitzball! What kind of super play will he show us today?"

    Nothing super... I stood up, unable to stay any longer. "Pardon me," I said, walking through the crowd before, as I knew, all hell would break loose. "Excuse me, coming through."

    Between my rush to get to a good waiting spot quickly, and my gift filling me with feelings of both intensity of anxiousness, starting to break my barriers (see why I don't do so well in crowds?) I knew I had to leave quickly.

    God damn, finally! I found myself thinking as I reached the exit. I looked up and saw a man with a red coat, with his left arm sticking out of the coat's headpiece, rather than the arm hole. He was holding a white canister, almost as if offering it to a growing... Tidal wave?

    Oh, shiiiiiiit... I saw small fireballs shoot out of the wave, toward the city and the stadium, which I ran back to, but stayed outside. I found a small pile of rubble to lean against as I gulped in fear. I saw the same man from a moment ago, leaning his back against more rubble right next to me, like he's waiting for something. I could now see that he wore black glasses. He also had a scar over his right eye.

    "Hello, Auron," I said. He looked at me with an expression even I couldn't read as he responded, "And you are?"

    "Jack," I said. "I know that, like me, you aren't from Zanarkand."

    His lips parted slightly, and now I could feel the slightest amount of shock from him. He raised an eyebrow. "How do you know?"

    I looked to the bridge I just returned from, and saw a monster, slowly floating toward the stadium. I shook my head as I pointed to it. "No time to explain; we've got company."

    "Auron! Jack!" I heard a voice behind me even as I sensed his presence. I turned and saw the same 'star player' that Zanar talked about. "What are you doing here?" The boy asked.

    "Waiting for you," Auron replied, walking toward the bridge and monster.

    "What are you talking about?" The Blitzball player demanded. I shook my head. "Tidus," I started. "Things are... About to change forever..." I gulped at my own words, privately wishing they could be proven false. Tidus shot me a look that just screamed confusion. I pointed to where Auron was walking. "I don't know how to explain it, but he may be our only hope." I looked at Tidus and forced a sad smile, trying very hard not to think about how cute he was, with his shaggy blonde hair and blue eyes...

    Wait, what was I about to say? Damn it! Oh yeah. "And I'll stand by and help as much as I can, too." I hoped that didn't sound weird to him, but he shrugged. We ran after Auron.

    We made it to the bridge, and Tidus started looking around, randomly confused. Through my childhood addiction to a certain video game, I knew that time momentarily froze around him. "What the...?" He said, then looked at me, then Auron. "Hey! Wait!"

    When we caught up with him, Tidus stepped in front of him to get his attention. "Hey, not this way!" Tidus placed his hands on his knees to catch his breath, which made me chuckle. Clearly, being able to hold your breath for 5-10 minutes at a time, while playing a contact sport like Blitzball, doesn't make you good at running for more than a few seconds at a time before you're out of breath. Right... ******** logic.

    Auron looked past Tidus. "Look."

    We followed his gaze, which met a giant sphere of water, likely a mile in diameter, making Tidus gasp. My hand closed into a tight fist, and my jaw clenched.

    "We called it 'Sin'." Auron said. I closed my eyes tightly for a second, pulling my assassin's bandanna to cover my mouth and nose. Sin... The monster that destroyed my home world. I'm so sorry I couldn't do anything to stop him, or even slow him down. Volke... My big brother, I'm so sorry.

    "Sin?" Tidus repeated, his voice pulling me out of my thoughts like fish on a hook.

    "Yes. Sin... The destroyer of worlds." I whispered, my words for the blonde's ears alone. He stiffened quickly. My eyes opened, full of vengeance; both mine and Auron's. We looked to a large tower, where a huge tentacle-like thing sprouted, human-sized shells flying from it toward the bridge we now stood on.

    Sinspawn... I pulled two daggers out of a pouch I always kept attached to the back of my waist, one weapon in each hand.

    As the shells landed on the bridge, they sprouted into giant, dark blue-green moth-like creatures. Four of them crowded each of us. The last thing I saw was Tidus trying to swat his group away before my attention was pulled to the freaks that now crowded me.

    I didn't bother waiting for these things to make the first move, which was unusual for me. I ran and slashed my left dagger into the first creature, getting sprayed with a green liquid, presumably its blood, as a result. I closed my eyes to stop the blood from blinding me, but that's when another creature stabbed me with a pincer in my right arm. Grunting in pain, I jumped back, my own blood flowing freely from my arm for the first time in years as I threw my knife into the 'face' of the creature that stabbed me.

    As I covered my wound to slow down the bleeding, I shook my head. That shouldn't have happened! Even as the thought crossed my mind, I knew what make me reckless: anger and fear, slipping from both Auron and Tidus into me, mixed with my own rage. I gritted my teeth and ran to catch up with my two companions, ripping my dagger out of the creature as I passed it.

    I cut through two more of the shell-things that were behind Tidus and Auron, my body now stained from head to toe with emerald green blood. I saw both of them now wielding swords almost as long as I am tall. Auron's was primarily black with a golden symbol on the start of the blade, the cutting edge silver. Tidus' was mainly red, with a curve and silver edge.

    Auron gave us the instruction to focus on running, and cutting just the ones in the way. Tidus and I nodded, our expressions matching (despite mine being covered) in determination. As we cut our way through five more, we ran past like there was no tomorrow. I risked a glance back to see 3 more shells, digging into the ground... Exactly where we just stood.

    As we reached a small hill that was simply a broken piece of the bridge, we stopped for only a second before continuing over it. We faced a group of no less than 7 of the creatures from earlier, as well as a tentacle identical to the one still sprouting out of the tower.

    "Damn it, move!" I shouted.

    "Get out of my town!" Tidus yelled.

    "Some can't wait to die!" Auron added before jumping fairly high. As he landed, he stabbed his sword into the ground, the force of impact creating a massive shock wave that shattered the shell creatures.

    Perhaps not wanting to be out done, the blonde ran towards the giant tentacle, doing a cartwheel and an acrobatic flip as he brought his own blade crashing down into it.

    "My turn," I said, dashing towards it, my arms crossed, daggers held backhand. As I approached it, I stabbed both my weapons into it, running around it until i was 'behind' it. When I reached the other side, I jumped, slashing through it as I returned to my companions. I turned back to the tentacle as we all ran toward it and cleaved our way through it. As we did so, we were splattered from head to toe (me more than the others) with glowing blue blood.

    We continued running across the seemingly endless bridge for about 15 seconds longer before we stopped to catch our breath. Tidus turned to me. "I've never seen you in a fight before, so your style is... Unique."

    I smirked and looked at them, planning my words carefully. "You mean my bandanna? Or my weapons? Damn, don't you know an assassin when you see one?"

    My response made both of them stare at me, mutual shock plain on both of their faces... Shock that I was barely able to block out and stop from becoming my own.

    "An assassin...?" Tidus asked slowly. I nodded, then blinked, realizing why I felt fear trickling into the blonde.

    "Relax," I said, holding up my hand and smiling. "I swear upon my life that neither of you will ever be on my hit list." I made a movement that had multiple meanings. I stepped back slightly with my right foot, my arms stretching out to either side. I then stepped together, bringing my hands nearly together, palms facing each other, one on top of the other, yet not touching. I bowed slightly.

    Tidus knew my movement as a Blitzball sign for victory. Auron knew it as a prayer, a sign of greeting, respect and honesty. Again, it was through my childhood gaming that made me know this so well.

    Auron made a "Hmph" sound and walked forward a little more, while Tidus turned to a building with a projection of a man with a smug smirk, red headband, and arms folded in front of him, making him look both amused and disappointed.

    "What are you laughing at, old man?" Tidus muttered at the projection of Jecht before turning back to the other man. "Auron, let's get out of here!"

    Without so much as acknowledging the blonde boy's words, Auron replies, "We're expected."

    I never could figure out what he meant. "Uh, what are you talking about? Hey, Auron!" I shouted when he just ran off without a word.

    "Gimme a break man!" Tidus and I responded simultaneously. I hung my head, knowing what was about to happen. We ran after him, then stopped in front of an oil tank surrounded by countless more shell-creatures.

    "Hmph, this could be bad," Auron muttered.

    "Naw, really?" I whispered sarcastically. Somehow, he heard that. "Shut it." He looked around, his eyes falling upon the oil tank. "That - knock it down!"

    "What?!" Tidus yelped; he knew that would mean destroying a large portion of Zanarkand. Because of that, I felt a little more fear from him, and even a hint of hesitation from Auron.

    "Trust me. You'll see." Auron responded. I gulped: my knives wouldn't be much help for that, and I wasn't that strong either; at least compared to the other two.

    "Damn it, do it Tidus!" I shouted, my eyes closed to help me both yell and focus. "I'll keep you guys covered, but just do it!" I felt more hesitation and fear from Tidus, well compelled me to add, "You want things to ever be able to return to normal?! I told you earlier, didn't I? Things are about to change! Trust me!"

    He nodded, the fear and hesitation not gone, but bottled up. My jaw clenched under my bandanna. I lifted my already blood-soaked daggers with sore arms, and stood between the monsters and my companions, who were going to work on the oil tank.

    "You won't get passed me, ********," I whispered.

    For the next minute and a half I stood, stabbing and cutting the creatures without so much as slowing down. One of them finally got smart; it fell back and fired a barrage of needles from its wings. I blocked the three lethal ones that would've otherwise penetrated my heart and throat with my daggers, while the rest of them entered my arms. I hissed in pain as the needles sank further into my flesh, and almost stopped moving from the pain when they touched my bone.

    I knew I had enough vitality for one more move, and had to make it count. Sticky and heavy from the blood that I was now covered it, and tired from my efforts, I managed to jump onto the back of one of the creatures, jabbing my daggers into whatever passed for its brain. Immediately, it started to spasm, then ran like crazy into its kin. Indeed, the only thing that kept me on it was my death grip on my daggers. Screw horse riding, s**t just got real!

    Another 30 seconds in which I was able to steer the creature in the directions I wanted to go, and the two swordsmen finally knocked the oil tank off the bridge, causing a massive explosion when it reached the ground. The largest building in Zanarkand fell forwards... Toward us.

    I yanked Tidus onto the creature I was still riding before wrenching my daggers to the right, causing it (and us) to run out from underneath the incoming building, which we narrowly avoided being crushed by. He got off the creature, nodded his thanks, then looked around for Auron. I stayed on the creature and started pulling the needles out of my arms, which were going numb from the pain and exertion. Each one pained me even further, my flesh protesting every movement I made, and I briefly wondered if I popped a blood vessel or severed a vein. I looked to my left, and I saw Tidus and Auron running toward a cliff. The jumped, Auron landing on the surface; Tidus clinging for dear life on the bridge.

    Oh ******** no! I better not get left behind!

    Still able to control the creature, I rode it swiftly toward the cliff, jumping off as I reached it, barely landing next to Auron.

    Completely derived of energy, I collapsed on my back, and saw something to shock me. I've seen it before, but only once this close. A tan... Thing floated above us, wrinkled from age, I figured, with a circle of orange light pulling us in. I vaguely heard Auron's voice. "You are sure?"

    I looked over, still struggling to catch my breath, and saw Auron reach down and pick Tidus up by the scruff of his neck. "This is it," the scarred swordsman told the blonde. "This is your story... It all begins here." I could no longer see him as the light engulfed all three of us, yet I heard Tidus scream.

    My last waking thought was, I hope Tidus will be okay...

    /////////////

    So, what do you guys think? When (if) I make it to the other parts, each part will have its own pairings, so if you have a suggestion, thought, random comment, feedback, etc. etc., don't hesitate to send me a PM. smile I'll also post the next chapter, too, so you can check that out before you submit your thoughts.

    As far as legal rights are concerned: Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy X nor any other references that will be made in this fic/series. I'm only doing one per part, so take notice. Furthermore, if you happened to read this same copy on the FanFiction website, IamMe2525 is me, both on Gaia and FanFiction. Thank you.

    Finally, announcement: this is eventually going to be a 5-part series, should I finish it. The part I'm on is Final Fantasy X. Then I'll make the prequel in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Then I'll make part 2 in classic Yu-Gi-Oh, part 3 is Kid Icarus, and part 4 will be Final Fantasy XIII.