(Fanfic) Last Will & Testament (Chapter 1) (FFX, FFX-2, FFX -Will-)
Title: Last Will & Testament
Fandom: Final Fantasy X | X-2
Characters: Chuami, Kurgum, Tidus
Status: 1 out of 10 chapters, approximately
Rating: PG-13 (that ought to be the consistent rating)
Word count: ~1462
Summary: Three years after the defeat of Sin, Chancellor Baralai of the newly established Spiran Council sends two of his members to Besaid in order to meet with High Summoner Yuna and warn her about the current state of the world. Chuami and Kurgum meet Tidus, a blitzball star, on Bevelle's Stadium Road the morning of their departure.
Warnings: spoilers for the audio drama
Notes: Link to the Prologue, which provides context to the story.
This fanfic is an in-depth novelization of the audio drama, FFX -Will-, in which I will be writing original scenes throughout the canon dialogue.
Written for the GYWO challenge, 1500 out of 75,000 words (my personal word count pledge).
After making a quick stop to the pharmacy, they head out into the city, intending to pack a few days worth of clothes and other essentials for the trip. Kurgum had suggested shopping for clothes that leaned more towards the tropical weather and Chuami agreed, knowing frock dresses and winter boots filled up her closet, and so they visit Bevelle’s Stadium Road to check out this year’s selection of out-of-season summer clothes.
Sitting outside in front of a juice shop while Kurgum waited to pay, quick to make up her mind in contrast to her indecisive partner, she helps herself to a blueberry pomegranate smoothie, observing the hustle and bustle of contract workers hauling around heavy scaffolding and carts of churning cement throughout the street, sounds of construction echoing in the air.
This part of the shopping district used to be called Mika’s Road, after the late Grand Maester, where antique shops and boutiques lined the blocks along with high-end restaurants and fancy hotels. Although this tourist hotspot had always been a magnet for money, soon it will experience an even greater influx of people after the blitzball stadium’s completion. Some book cafes and tailor business have closed down except for a prosperous few, making way for hip new apparel stores selling the latest hot trends. Since the Church fell out of power and people began to move on from its strict, old-fashioned teachings, people live however way they want now. Chuami can’t complain when she sees the younger crowd start to trickle in, overshadowing the voices of the older generation.
Chuami stares at the stadium still bearing its skeleton and wonders: will the tournament really take place here? How will the Council take responsibility if it doesn’t? She gulps down the rest of her drink with an internal sigh. The Chancellor better have a contingency plan set in case the public starts hounding on his doorstep.
It does not really matter to her either way, since it holds no bearing on her personal life.
Still, thinking back on how Baralai chided her to remember her place as Kurgum’s assistant, knowing full well how she tends to boss him around, she scowls. Does he honestly expect her to wait on Kurgum hand and foot? That boy can’t do anything on his own, let alone think for himself. He has always hated confrontations, preferring more peaceful solutions to resolving conflict. Someone had to take charge, and it couldn’t be the sweet little boy who always cowered behind her whenever the bullies showed up.
Chuami has known Kurgum her whole life. It comes with the status of being childhood friends.
If all had been right in the world, Kurgum would have been a Summoner. But with things as they are now, on the cusp of a golden age, Kurgum ended up enlisting in the newly established Bevellian government as a Council-authorized “Sender” who ushers in souls to the Farplane. Chancellor Baralai had personally assigned her to Kurgum as his assistant, but anyone could tell just by looking at them who really served who.
Because they are always together, their teachers and school mates, and even the priests and nuns, often mistook them for sweethearts. Kids constantly teased them, mocking their close friendship with warped nursery songs to embarrass them. But that couldn’t be farthest from the truth.
Spotting Kurgum exit the store with a heftier knapsack, who catches himself from tripping over an empty potion bottle, Chuami knows without a doubt that their relationship will never amount to anything more than just friendship. Uncertain though the future may be, she knows this for certain.
If anyone heard her say that, they would laugh at her and call it an ironic lead-in.
Again, not a lead-in.
She stands to stretch her limbs, eager to move, proceeding to toss the remnants of her drink into the trash while Kurgum approaches her. Aside from Council-related responsibilities and the dubious nature of boy-girl friendships, the real issue that demanded her attention the most happens to be the growing crowd up ahead and the superstar shining in the midst of all his adoring fans.
She recognizes the eighteen-year-old youth by his spiky mess of sun-bleached hair and his iconic black-leather, yellow blitz attire. His cardinal red headband whips in the sea breeze as he stops in the middle of what appeared to be his daily morning jog to greet everyone, and Chuami starts to wander off in that direction, forcing Kurgum to catch up.
“Hey, Chuami, not that way! We gotta hurry.”
She simply rolls her eyes at him. “Waiting on you, so we might as well just be late. Anyway, look. Isn’t that Tidus?”
“Huh?” He slows down to a stop beside her, following her line of sight. “Wow, it is him!”
She smirks. “Let’s go take a closer look.”
“Um, okay…”
“What, are you nervous?”
Kurgum laughs, caught guilty, opting to follow as she leads the way.
Chuami can understand why he would feel nervous, though. Not because of Tidus’s status as a blitzball celebrity, but for his reputation as one of the Legendary Guardians. Alongside High Summoner Yuna, he had literally saved Spira from annihilation. Even she cannot deny feeling nervous, her reason being that Tidus knew her father.
As the two approach, hovering behind the back of the crowd, the voices of his fans grow louder.
“We always root for you!”
“Go get ‘em!”
“It’s so awesome to finally meet you!”
“Hey! Thanks.” Tidus grins, waving to everyone. “Cheer for me, okay?”
A young man scavenges the courage to step closer, holding out a blitzball for him to sign. “Um, can I have your autograph?”
“Yeah~!” Tidus bellows his excitement.
“Thank you!” The guy looks about ready to spaz out from pure bliss. “Ooh, that’s so great!”
Tidus laughs, soaking up the overzealous attention. “Thank you, thank you!”
Now more people start congesting around him, tossing caution out into the wind as they scramble for items on their person, scraps of paper or a souvenir, even offering up parts of their body for a chance to receive his signature. Chuami cringes from the embarrassing display, and Kurgum blushes when certain women act bold enough to flash him a bit of their cleavage.
“Hey, shake my hand, man!”
“You’re my hero!”
“I’ve been your fan forever--!”
Tired of listening to everyone sing their eternal praises, Chuami gathers the nerve to shove through, giving them no other choice but to comply and throw her the stink eye as they must avoid the danger of her heels jabbing into their feet and ankles. Once close enough, she shouts out to him.
“Tidus! We’re rooting for you!”
“Yup, yup…”
And just like that, his cheery mask slips, and Chuami quirks an eyebrow, none too impressed by his lack of enthusiasm, but also concerned for the cause of it. Not only did his words ring hollow, but when she shook his outstretched hand, his grip felt weak and lifeless.
“Okay, well… I gotta get going.” Tidus says as an excuse to break away from the crowd, and before they can rise together in vocal protest, he departs with an energetic wave. “I’ll see you all at the stadium!”
And then he jogs away, taking all the energy with him. The crowd disperses, leaving Kurgum and Chuami standing alone in the middle of the road.
“Now that is what you call a star…” Kurgum mumbles in awe.
“That I cannot deny, but…” She trails off, pensive.
“What is it?”
“I think he’s injured. Or maybe he’s sick or something.” Chuami pauses, recalling how he acted normal on the surface (nothing looked wrong about him, as far as visible wounds go) so the latter theory holds more water. But she cannot be sure unless she had definite proof, so she drops the concern for now. “Hey, Kurgum, which team is favored to win it all?”
“Probably the Besaid Aurochs.”
“And after them?”
“The Al Bhed Psyches, maybe?”
“Okay. Let’s find a betting parlor. We might make a fortune.” Chuami grins, her eyes already in search of one nearby. In anticipation of the blitzball tournament and Bevelle’s grand new stadium, it would make all the more sense if all manner of betting pools have taken shop in this expanding district.
“Chuami, is that really… you know…” Kurgum’s face falls at her perfunctory remark, giving her another one of his insufferable looks. True to his goody two-shoes persona, he never approved of activities such as gambling, calling it a “sin of luxury facilitated by greed.” Given his steadfast devotion to lawful goodness, he can out-preach a Yevon textbook. “C’mon, let’s go.”
“Alright, alright…” She concedes, but only because the Chancellor expects them to do their job, and she does not want to disappoint him.