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I had this piece already written up, so I thought I just edit it and post it up. Hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy X.
It seemed unfair that after only ten minutes, he caught sight of very familiar group. Everyone was sitting around an open flame. Yuna was gazing into the fire quietly perched on a log. Rikku was sitting cross legged in front of the fire, various items and potions out to mix. Wakka was tossing and catching a blitzball, Lulu sat on a tree stump, sewing a rip in one of her dolls. Auron was sitting next to Yuna polishing his must-weigh-three-hundred-pounds broadsword. Kimarhi was the only one standing on guard. It was Kimarhi who first noticed him. Kimarhi watched him with those bright yellow cat eyes of his as he slowed to a walk to catch him breath twenty yards from them. He powered-walk the rest of the way. The Haste had faded just a few minutes ago, so time was back to normal. He was so happy to see them; he let the wash of relief fill his insides.
"Hey!"
Simultaneously, everyone looked up from what they were doing. Rikku's face split into a grin. "Hey, your late!" she said loudly. Wakka, Yuna, Lulu and
Rikku got up and surrounded him. "Where were you?" Yuna asked, a relieved smile on her face. "Ya, you get lost or somethin'?" To avoid any concern, he had changed into a different set of clothes right before Haste ended.
"Did you get lost?" The Al Bhed asked.
"Were you okay?" Yuna asked.
The concern of his immediate surrounding friends was evident, and he felt a small flush of warmth at the strength.
"No, no," he said, holding up his hands to wave off their questions. "I mean, I'm okay." he added hastily. "I don't know what happened. I just couldn't find you guys."
Gazing intently with her cherry-red eyes leveled at him, the black mage finally spoke, "What road did you take?"
Tidus stared at her blankly. "Huh?"
Puckering her eyebrows in annoyance, Lulu repeated, "The road? There's a fork in the path. Which one did you take?"
Looking down, Tidus scratched his head thoughtfully. "Uhh.... I can't remember. The left I think?" He looked at Lulu apologetically. "But I guess I took the right one."
Black material trimmed with white fur speckled with black hung in a thick, tight layer on the black mage. Drawing her long sleeved arms over her chest, she chided him silently with her eyes. "No, both roads lead right to the main road." she gestured behind him. Tidus turned his head, and sure enough, the road did split in two. They looked almost identical except the path that he just came out of was filled with more and thicker vegetarian.
"You should have taken the right one." Yuna said her blue and green eye alight in the silvery light.
Feeling a little lost at her conviction, he asked, "Why? What's the difference?"
"Not so many strong baddies on the road brudda." Wakka answered, setting the blitz on the ground. "More fiends, but a lot easier to kill. Left one doesn't have as many fiends, but the ones on there can kill ya easy."
Tidus groaned. "No wonder I couldn't find you guys. Do you know how long I was running?"
"Not long enough." Lulu said curtly, going back to finish her sewing. Tidus watched her go, a little taken back by her rudeness. "Relax brudda." Wakka pounded him on the back. Tidus tried not to think of the bruise that he was going to have. "She's just upset because we had to stop early." Shaking her golden tresses up and down, Rikku nodded. "Yeah, but I think we needed to stop early anyway. We've been traveling since dawn, and I'm tired." The blonde turned and resumed her alchemy. But even Rikku's happy nature couldn't stop the terrible feeling that he had inconvinced everyone.
No wonder Lulu was upset. He had held everyone up. Shamefaced, he turned to the summoner. "Sorry Yuna."
"Oh, it's okay," Gushing in her haste to reassure him. "I think we needed the rest anyway. Rikku was looking a little pale." Wakka snorted. "That's just the creepy light here, ya? Everyone looks pale in it." Tidus and Yuna broke out in a grin. "Well, it's still nice to sit down and relax a little." Yuna said.
Wakka gave a broad grin of his own. "Hey, you get no arguments from me, ya?"
Yuna and Wakka turned and sat back down. Wakka continued his toss-and-catch but Yuna pulled out a scroll that Tidus recognized as a spell book of sorts for white mages and started reading, shifting her body so she caught the light from a nearby crystal. Not knowing what else to do, he sat next to Rikku who chatted about the various potions and what to mix with what to get this. This continued for the next hour as Tidus watched her mix and put together new items, occasionally helping out. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Auron slow in his polishing to stare at him. His eyes were hidden by his black sunglasses so Tidus couldn't interpret his look, but it couldn't have been good. Auron eventually turned his attention back to his broadsword, turning it over to work on the other side.
Overhead, the crescent moon shone in a silvery fever, adding light to an already glowing forest. The constellations shone in their ethereal beauty, higher than anything earthly. No clouds marred the heavens, no manmade light for miles to block out the beauty of the stars. Far below the beautiful sky, the Macalaina Woods had enhanced its silvery-blue glow. Tidus watched as Rikku packed up her alchemy, grabbing fistfuls of bottles and stuffing them in her bag. In his hands he held out four bottles. Rikku looked at the bottles and shook her head. "You keep them. I've got enough of those." Tidus examined the various colored bottles. "Are you sure? You never know when you might need one of these." Like now for instance. He discretely held an arm over his stomach. It had started to ache.
Slowly nodding, Rikku "Mumph-hmmm." as she finished adding the last Fish Scale to the bag. As soon as she snapped the bag shut, Wakka commented on the fire. "Hey, we're getting a little low on the wood, ya? Whose turn was it?" Tidus carefully set his new found alchemy in his pouch. It wasn't his turn to get the firewood yet.
"Tidus will get it." Auron grunted. Snapping his head up, Tidus glared the guardian. "What?" Auron had finished polishing his broadsword an hour ago in favor of a book. He now set the book-some sort of technique guidebook-down and stood up. "Isn't it Rikku's turn?" Yuna inquired to Auron's retreating back.
"No, it's Tidus's turn." Auron continued walking.
Lulu had finished her sewing and like Yuna, she had picked up a reading scroll. From the looks of it, it was one of Yuna's old scrolls, which faintly surprised him. Since when did Lulu read up on white magic? She glanced up at Tidus and Auron and deemed it wise to keep reading. Rikku set out one of her older weapon, a glove with sharp talons extended from the knuckles, to clean. She had mentioned that she wanted to sell it for some extra gil, though Tidus privately wondered why. The slender thief could steal enough gil from fiends if she wanted to. Rikku didn't even look like she heard Auron's unfair request, already polishing the knives with a rag. Wakka had somehow managed to snag a blitzball magazine and was too enthralled with the reading to give attention to the outside world. The only one who was watching him were Kimarhi and Yuna, the latter giving him a helpless shrug. Tidus's mouth tightened, but he got up and followed Auron.
His right foot tingled as he stepped on it. He hadn't felt the tingle that marked the start of his foot being asleep when he was sitting down, but he ignored it. He choose to focus on why he was even getting up. Probably his silent 'punishment' for getting lost. It wasn't that he was overly tired to bring back firewood, but it was the principle of the thing. They had what, two, three hours to sit around and read and polish swords while he ran half the terrain of this Macalania Wood and nearly died fighting that fiend.
Tidus broke off that thought uneasily. Died?
He reviewed the fiend's attack, the quick reflexes and the raw strength that belied the brittle looking limbs. And the talons. Tidus rubbed his hand over the newly acquired scars, surprised that no one noticed. The fight shot in his mind in slow motion, highlighting every detail, every speck of spit that spat out of the fiends jaws, the unnaturally long teeth that was unusual even for a wolf or reptile. Memories of muscles bunching under a smooth eggplant purple skin, the shock of white hair on its head, how white the talons were when they jumped at him and how bright red they shone when they ripped into him.
The fiends jumps, attacks, its ruthless tactic to take him down and tear into him. He was lucky the thing hadn't hit a major artery. As it was, he now had several scars that marked the closing of torn muscle.
If he didn't know how to cast Fire, or was just a little bit slower, or a little less focused...Tidus dropped his hand. It wouldn't do him any good to worry about it. It was over and done with.
But it still sucked that he had to get the stupid firewood when he came close to making an earlier visit to the Farplane then he planned. And what was he getting punished for? For getting lost? How stupid was that?
Scowling, he followed Auron deeper in to the forest. Auron had disregarded taking his weapon out. Probably worried he would get it dirty. Auron continued walking like he always did. Right arm in a makeshift sling, bright red coat flapping against his black boots as he took a step, confident that he would continue taking his steps no matter who or what stood in his way. Tidus snorted in disgust and rolled his eyes. Trust Auron would always be confident. He always knew what the hell was going on. The ground could split in two and they could all fall to a roaring pit of tar and Auron would sit calmly by and be secure in the knowledge that he knew this was going to happen and what was going to happen next. Especially if it involved a big fiend.
He wouldn't say anything, no, heaven forbid he give out information he thought Tidus wasn't ready for. Auron had the strong, silent type aura which made it a pain to wheedle anything out of him. The man was so damn secretive. Even in Zanderkand, Auron kept to himself. But he always had an answer for every question that Tidus had. Sure, sometimes it was in riddles, sometimes he refused to answer outright, but he always had an answer. Why couldn't the man just tell him what was going on? How many more secrets did he keep locked down in his silent skull? What else was he keeping from him? Was it too much to ask him to trust him with the truth? Tidus blinked, and let out a breath that dissolved his anger, surprised at the heat of the uncharacteristic surge of anger that had gripped him. 'Calm down,' he told himself. 'It's just been a really, really long day.'
They had lost sight of camp several minutes ago when they spotted a fallen trunk. Auron kneeled next to the dead wood and ran a hand over it. "It's dry." He said tersely.
Drawing out one of his blue broadswords, he gave the tree a few well-placed hacks that split the wood into enough pieces to last the next night over. Tidus watched him handle the sword. Logically, no one should be able to lift that thing. It was as tall as Tidus, and he was pretty sure a lot more heavier than Auron. Auron did give out signs that it was heavy though. He always carried it on his broad shoulder, never taking the weight off until he was ready to attack. It took a second longer for Auron to lift the sword than your average swordsman with a longsword, but when he brought it down, the damage was catastrophic.
I guess that's what makes Auron the strongest. The weight of the heavy metal, the strength of a man who could wield it would be enough to make any one or fiend unwillingly to pick a fight with him. Tidus mused silently. The snow on the road simmered in the silvery glow, making the dark green grass all the darker.
When he was finished, Auron slid the Broadsword into his pouch and gestured for Tidus without turning. Feeling a flush of his original annoyance, Tidus stepped closer and knelt down to pick up the pieces, avoiding Auron's eyes. Macalania wood burned slow and bright. Just a handful of logs would last the night. Tidus grabbed two large chunks of woods, finding it awkward, set it down, and tried to add more wood to the pile to avoid the chance of having to come back.
"You didn't keep up today." Auron said expectedly. Tidus turned his head to look at him. Auron was leaning against a tree watching him. The annoyance Tidus felt earlier spiked in him, and he turned his head so Auron wouldn't see it and comment on it. "I got lost." he told him, determinedly picking up pieces of log and examining them. This one was okay. What about th-? No, all sorts of rot. This one? Eww, bugs...
"You got lost?" Tidus couldn't see it, but he just knew that Auron raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, Auron, I got lost. You left me behind and I got lost, okay?" Tidus snapped, throwing a good piece of wood on top a small pile a little harder then necessary.
A moment of silence, then, "Did you look at you map?" Grimacing, and not because of the rotting piece of wood he was holding, Tidus said tightly, "No." He prepared a defensive speech; the unexpected abandonment made him worried, how much energy running took, how bad he felt that he did get left behind, but Auron just grunted.
More silence, except the 'clunk' of wood hitting wood. He was almost finished. "Part of being a guardian is being prepared for the unexpected." Jumping to his feet and spinning around to face the red cloaked guardian, Tidus gestured openly with his hands. "Look, I didn't plan on getting split up. It just happen-"
"We lost three hours of daylight because of you." Auron cut in sharply. "We had discussed the roads well before we came here, and Yuna had even gone so far to list the paths on everyone's map. Your inattention to detail was what got you separated from the group, and could have gotten you killed." Tidus opened his mouth to argue, to tell him, maybe he did run into trouble, maybe he did run into something that should have been fought with more than one person, but that would have just proved the guardian right. Auron stepped away from the tree he was leaning against and walked back to camp. His back to him, "You have only yourself to blame."
Red-faced out of anger and humiliation, Tidus turned back to the firewood. Fine! He didn't need him anyway. If all he was going to do was just drag him out here for a lecture, let him go. At least he wouldn't have to put up with his sour company the rest of the way back. Tidus scrapped the stack of firewood into his arms, but pieces kept dropping. Angrily, he gathered the small pieces and tried reaching for the larger piece but he was forced to set the bundle down when it proved too awkward. He glared at the wood. How was he going to do this? Maybe he could tie it together? No...
A thought struck him and he grinned. Grabbing the largest pieces, he stuffed them in his pouch, curious if it would work. The lip of the pouch stretched out and doubt struck Tidus when it swallowed the pieces of tree. Ha! He grabbed the smaller pieces of wood in his arms, mightily pleased with himself and started off back to camp. Who said he lacked detail?
Auron was already out of sight, which was fine by him. Arms full with the dark blue wood, he made the trek back.
