Hey guys. this is the edited version of Can't Stop the Rain. I spoke with a Sergeant who has been to combat and he pointed out a few details i forgot in the chapter. the changes are in the section where Tidus sees combat. with oout the additions, the chapter isn't all that clear as to what can happen in a combat situation. hope you enjoy the chapter!

I do not own the name of this chapter, it belongs to Cascada. i just thought that it would make a nice title. I also do not own anything related to Final Fantasy X-2. I only own the last names.

Chapter 7: Can't Stop the Rain.

Odaiba, Normal POV.

Tidus and Chris headed out to the motor pool for the 3rd Battalion and searched for their Humvee.

"Do you have any idea where they put it Tidus?" asked Chris, searching through the numerous military vehicles.

"I found it, they put it amongst Charlie Company's vehicles." replied Tidus, spotting the Humvee.

Chris chuckled heartily. "Must have been some dumb Private."

"Oh, you mean like you?" asked Tidus, grinning.

"Aw, come on T. You know I'm smarter than the average idiot." replied Chris. "Lets get the PMCS over with. (A/N: Preventative Maintenance Checks and Services)

"Alright, Private." said Tidus as he pulled out the checklist and started reading off the list. "Running lamps?"

"Check" said Chris as he checked the lights.

"Turn signals?"

"Check."

"Blackout lights?"

"Check"

"Hazards?"

"Check."

"Oil?"

"Give me a sec to open the hood." said Chris as he unhooked the hood latches. "Oil level reads full." he confirmed as he pulled out and reinserted the oil dipstick.

"OK. What about leaks?" asked Tidus as she stooped down to look at the rear differential.

"None up here on my end." replied Chris.

"None back here either." agreed Tidus as he checked leaks off of the list. "Alright, one last thing. Fire extinguisher?"

"Yep. We got it." Chris confirmed as he looked at it.

"What's its charge?"

"Full. We're ready to roll out anytime Sarge."

"Roger that. We'll head out at approximately eight hundred hours." said Tidus, looking at his watch. "That gives us thirty minutes to get something to drink before we set out."

"Sweet. I'm going to get one of those Jolt Colas I've heard about. They say the old recipe will keep you up for a good twenty four hours."

"Mm, maybe you don't need one then. Besides the temperature will peak at around one hundred forty degrees today." replied the Sergeant.

"Ah, good point. I'll get a couple of iced teas then." said Chris.

"When we get home I'll introduce you to Yuna's homemade iced tea." said Tidus as an after thought as he and Chris headed for the Post Exchange.

Back in Spira. Yuna's POV.

It was raining hard as I drove down the highway, headed for the house. I had reduced my speed from fifty five to forty. Lightning flashed as a weather bulletin came across the radio. High winds, heavy rain and hail were to be expected. I shuddered, praying to Yevon that the baby and I made it home safely. I also prayed that Tidus was safe. Yevon knows what I would do without him.

I pulled into the garage just as lightning flashed outside and hail started to fall. I closed the garage door and headed into the house. I called Daddy to let him know that we made it home safely. I set the phone back on its cradle and headed up the stairs to my room, pausing to look in Tidus' room. I smiled sadly, quietly praying that he was safe. I stepped in and turned on the light, taking a look around. I spotted some of his clothes that I had accidentally left on the floor. I scowled slightly; yes, I wanted his room to be just like he left, but I was NOT about to let dirty clothes linger on the floor for an entire year. That's where I drew the line. If he didn't like it, too bad. I picked up the clothes and threw them in the clothes hamper in my bathroom, just to give me something to do. Except for Tidus' room, the house was spotless. I must have cleaned the house about a dozen times since he left.

Satisfied with how his room looked, I left it in a lesser state of disarray. I went back to my room and noticed a letter on the dresser. "Oh, I forgot to open it. And I got it about two weeks ago." I chuckled to my self. I picked it up, sat down on the bed and finally opened the letter.

My dearest Yuna,

We made it safely to Odaiba. The plane ride was a little rough when we made our approach. We flew in under the cover of darkness, practically flying in blind. I figured that as soon as we were all off the C130 would take off again, but the pilots killed the engines. So we had extra time to get our things off the plane. So far, my office is only partially set up, and Chris and I still have to set up the supply vault. The only thing we issued was the rifles and 2 magazines each. I slept a little on the plane, but it wasn't the same as waking up in the morning and seeing your beautiful face.

I giggled at the cheesy line, but that is one of the things that I love about that man.

I haven't been gone for 24 hours, and I already miss you. But enough about me. How are you? Does that house seem kind of empty all of a sudden? When I get the chance I'll call home to see how you are. So until I hear back or I call, take care.

All my love,

Tidus.

It was a short letter, but that was to be expected since this was dated the day after he got there. "I'll write him a letter later tonight." I told myself as I turned n the TV. As per usual, it was on HGTV.

Odaiba. 09:54 AM. Normal POV.

Tidus and Chris were driving down a highway on their way to Camp Arrow in Northern Odaiba. They were the third vehicle in the convoy, behind a two and a half ton truck and a five ton truck. Each vehicle in the convoy had a driver, passenger, and a gunner, with two extra people in the Humvee, because the trucks could only accommodate three people at most whereas the Humvee could accommodate five. In Tidus' Humvee, the extra solders were Specialist Williams from Commo, Sergeant Hall from the medical section, and the gunner was Private First Class Sharp from the 1107th Military Police Platoon attached to Headquarters and Headquarters Company.

They had a portable CD player sitting between Tidus, who was driving and Chris, who was helping keep an eye out for anything suspicious. The current song that was playing was Rockstar by Nickelback. Everybody was singing along, with Sharp singing the deep part.

Tidus sang, "I'm through standing in line to clubs I'll never get in. It's like the bottom of the ninth and I'm never gonna win, this life hasn't turned out quite the way I want it to be." and he propped his arm up on the armrest on the door, almost like he was disgruntled.

PFC Sharp said in a deep voice, "Tell me what you want."

Specialist Williams sang "I want a brand new house on an episode of Cribs and a bathroom I can play baseball in, and a king size tub for ten plus me."

Once again Sharp sang, "Yeah? So whatcha need?"

Sergeant Hall Chimed in with, "I'll need a credit card that's got no limit and a big black jet with a bedroom in it. Gonna join the Mile High Club at thirty seven thousand feet."

"Been there, Done that." sang Sharp, waving his hand.

Chris picked up the next line. "I want a new tuned bus full of old guitars, my own star on the Zanarkand Boulevard, somewhere between Cher and James Dean is fine for me."

"So how ya gonna do it?"

Everybody sang, "I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame, I'd even cut my hair and change my name. Cause we all just wanna be big rock stars livin' in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars. The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap. We'll all stay skinny cause we just won't eat. And we'll hang-" but they were cut short from the fun they were having.

There was a deafening bang, and the vehicle was thrown suddenly,and the sound of scraping metal on pavement could be heard. Tidus blacked out, and when he came to he noticed that the Humvee was laying on its roof in a ditch on the other side of the four lane road they had been traveling on. He looked around, trying to figure out what happened when he saw a red substance on the front of his uniform.

Ugh, what the hell happened? He wondered. He looked at his best friend and battle buddy so see if he knew, but found him unresponsive, with the same red substance on him. Intuition told him that it was blood. "Chris?" he called. "Chris! Sharp?" he asked looking behind him where Sharp had been earlier.

There was no Private First Class Sharp, nor was Specialist Williams in the vehicle. Adrenalin kicked in. He checked Chris' pulse and barely found one. But one was there. "Oh shit. Hang in there buddy. Hall, can you try to stabilize Chris?" He waited for a response. "Hall?" he asked, turning his head to look at the other Sergeant. All he saw was Hall's lifeless body.

Chris had started to stir. "W-what happened Sarge?" he asked weakly. "Why are we hanging upside down?"

"No idea. I'm going to get you down." Tidus undid his seatbelt and dropped to what was now the floor. He crawled over to Chris, supported his body and helped him to the ground as he undid the seatbelt.

"My head. It hurts." said Chris, still weak.

"You probably hit your head. Everything's going to be all right."

Chris smiled weakly and said, "Tell Amy I love her."

"Hey don't say that. You're going to be alright. Remember, you two are getting married as soon as we get back to Spira." He then grabbed the radio mike and said, "This is HQ 4,medevac, medevac, medevac. We have casualties and a man down."

Chris didn't respond. Tidus didn't know if he heard him or not. Tidus pulled Chris out of the overturned vehicle and laid him against the side. Chris' head hung low, almost like he was sleeping. Tidus prayed that he was just unconscious. As he straightened up to see where help was, he felt a sharp pain shoot through his shoulder, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of AK47 gunfire. "I need a medic over here, we got a soldier down!" yelled Tidus. Shielding Chris with his body, Tidus grabbed his M16 assault rifle, set the function to full-auto, and returned fire one handed, setting the hand guard of his assault rifle on a nearby concrete barrier. Several more soldiers joined him at his side and provided cover fire as a team of medics came and took Chris away on a stretcher. Tidus yelled "Fire left, fire left!"

Tidus knew better than to run at the enemy, that was suicidal. Besides, he thought, I'm about to be a father soon. Yuna would kill me if I didn't return home to help her take care of the baby.

"Sergeant, you're bleeding!" said Specialist Williams.

Shuyin hollered from the other side of the vehicle, where he was taking cover. "Tidus. Let the medics take you back to Base to get patched up. It won't do any of us any good if you bleed to death."

"Does it look like I give a fuck right now? They shot at us, Chris is injured, and I'll be damned if I just lay here and let them get away with this!" Tidus yelled at him.

"Yevon dammit Tidus! That's a Yevon damn order!" The Company Commander yelled. Tidus stopped firing, and collapsed.

A while later, back in Camp Talon Medical building. Tidus' POV

I awoke with a headache from hell. At first, things were fuzzy. I could see people in white coats wandering about, but I couldn't tell any faces. I started to move my right arm to shield my face from the light, but could barely feel it. I looked to my right and saw that it was wrapped and in a sling. On the bed next to me I saw a figure. It was the same shape as a person, but it was all white. A woman with short black hair walked up and checked my pulse. She turned and said to someone, "Doctor, he's awake."

I noticed things start to go dark, and wondered what the hell was going on. Why was I in the hospital? When the doctor came up, I asked.

"Your convoy was attacked by a group of insurgents operating in that area. Your vehicle was hit by an IED. (Author's note: Improvised Explosive Device. Also known as a roadside bomb.) Here in a few hours, you are being taken by a military jet to Bevelle." he said. After that, my head fell back onto the pillow and everything went black.

Besaid. Yuna's POV.

The phone rang around eleven thirty in the evening. I had dosed off watching some movie. It had ended a while ago and infomercials about spray on hair was playing. I looked at the caller ID, wondering who could be calling this late and saw the now familiar DOD. I grabbed the phone and answered excitedly.

"Hey sweetheart." I said, grinning that my fiancé had finally gotten to call me back. "I've got some great news."

The voice on the other end of the phone cleared his throat. "What's wrong baby?" I asked.

"Lady Yuna, this is Shuyin." said the person on the other end of the line.

Then it was like I hit right in the chest, knocking the wind out of me. I knew something wasn't right, though I didn't know what. I just had to ask.

"What happened exactly?"

Shuyin took a deep breath and said, "On our way to Camp Arrowhead, the convoy came under attack. Tidus' Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb and flipped."

I took a sharp breath, expecting to hear the words that no one wants to hear.

"The vehicle rolled into the ditch on the other side of the road. When our medics got there they found one fatality-" tears started to fall at those words. I knew it was him. "and Tidus crawling out of the vehicle pulling Chris. Using his body as a shield for Chris, Tidus took a bullet and promptly returned fire. Tidus collapsed as the adrenalin wore off and was brought to the hospital on base. He is stable, but we are sending him to a military hospital in Spira."

That got my hopes up. "Which one?" I asked as tears flowed.

"I'm sorry Lady Yuna, but I don't know. If I find anything out, I'll let you know." he said gravely.

"Call Daddy's. I-I'll be over there." I said as I willed my self not to break down. "Thank you Shuyin."

"Anytime. Goodnight." he said before he hung up.

He'll be ok, I just know it. Yevon PLEASE don't make me wrong. I don't know what I would do without him. I told myself, before picking up my car keys and heading for the garage. I got in my BMW and headed straight for Bevelle. I cried the whole way there.

When I arrived at the house I saw mom and Daddy's bedroom light on, as well as the living room and parlor lights on. They must have seen me pull into the driveway, because just as I was getting out of the car, Daddy was standing in the front doorway, looking concerned.

"Yuna? Is everything ok?" he asked. All I did was run up to him sobbing. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"It's T-Tidus Daddy. He's b-been injured in Odaiba." I said as I broke down, sobbing hysterically.