Lulu's Secret

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy 10-2 belongs to Square Enix.

The sky was darkening by the time Baralai dropped off the tired and anxious Lulu. He helped her down off the chocobo in front of her home. The lights were on inside the home, a New Yevon affiliate opened the front door. Lulus littlest was in the Yevon woman's arms and Kai was standing beside her, gazing out into the darkness and spotting his mother.

"Mom!" His young voice hailed, leaving the open doorway and rushing into Lulus awaiting arms.

"I was worried." He confided, feeling happier that his guardian was home safe.

"I'm sorry, I came back as quickly as the chocobo could carry me." She spoke soothingly, her hands busily tidied his unruly red hair. She noticed Kai looking up in awe at the animal he had only read about. Boldly he moved to touch the creatures yellow feathers, his short arm stretching till it made contact.

"Soft." He cooed, taken with the new and interesting creature.

"You like Chocobos?" Baralai asked, still in the saddle as he watched the child nod his head, the bright eyes full of fascination.

"Perhaps you'd like riding one, though it's too dark to do that tonight. Ask your mom about sometime visiting the stables. I'm sure Roger here would enjoy a young rider." He spoke to the boy, watching him light up with glee.

Lulu rolled her eyes, knowing that the young child would not stop pestering her until they found a day suitable enough to go out and ride the well mannered mount.

"Lets get you inside." Lulu started nudging her son towards the house, his face pleading as he kept gazing at the chocobo.

"Thank you, Praetor Baralai. Have a pleasant evening." She glanced at the man, watching him smile.

"And a pleasant evening to you and your children." He called to her, his body language telling his chocobo to move forward and towards the temple.

-0-0-

The morning came all to early for the still lightly sore body of Lulu. She moved about slowly as her hands busied getting Kai ready for school and feeding both her hungry children.

"Mom, can we go to the chocobo stables after I come home from school?" Kai asked for what felt like was the millionth time.

"I will talk with the Praetor, he's a very busy man and may not have the time for such an activity. Please try to have some patience, Kai." Lulu watched him jut out his lower lip, her mood becoming lightly irritated with his pestering.

Vidina giggled happily in Lulus arms as she held him, standing out the door with the lightly pouting Kai. The school hover was due at any minute.

"Pouting isn't going to make things happen, Kai. You need to learn that sometimes things take time. If you come home and still are pouting like this you're not riding any chocobo at all. Understand?" She said firmly. Her words only seemed to make him more stubborn, his arms crossing and his head bowed. The hover came shortly after, the annoyed mom watched her grumpy son march haughtily to the machine that would carry him to school. Lulu tisked to herself as she locked up her home and began walking to the temple with her happier son smiling in her embrace.

-0-0-

Baralai noticed his secretary was in a bit of a mood, her reply to any question or request curt. Her body language stiff and robotic almost in her tasks as she looked over files for him. Was she upset at something he had done? Was it her pent up worry about her ex husband? Either way he was concerned and wanted to know how to help Lulu work through her problem, whatever it may be.

"Would you like to talk?" He attempted to make her speak up about anything troubling.

"Talk? What do you mean?" She questioned, her eyes seeming to gaze through to his soul, making him slightly uncomfortable.

"I sense that something is bothering you, and wanted to offer a friendly ear. I would like you to feel comfortable enough to tell me anything that troubles you." Baralai waited quietly for her to respond, watching uncertainty play throughout her face.

"I suppose it started with my son badgering me non stop about that open invitation you gave, the chocobo ride? On our old island, we didn't have any and his favorite story book is about chocobo knights and so now he's incredibly excited." Lulu began, her eyes looking at some paperwork on top of her desk. It appeared easier for her to speak without having to gaze at the Praetor.

"I'm also constantly thinking about Wakka doing something terrible like kidnapping my children while I'm away, or coming to my home at night and doing Yevon knows what to me in his rage." Her eyes closed, tiredness apparent upon her beautiful face.

"That is a lot of stress for one person to carry. I did not mean for my invitation to cause your mind such a head ache."

"Please, don't apologize, it was really kind of you and my son would be happier than he's been in a long time by riding your chocobo. I didn't intend to come off ungrateful." She looked at him with an appeasing gaze.

"You weren't, I just feel empathy for your situation. I mean at least with a father figure about he could have bothered you less with his excitement." He kicked himself at the way he worded that sentence. Lulu showed no offense to the mention of having no father in their life, so Baralai went on to continue his words.

"If you like, I could try to have some sort of watchful eyes upon your home. A fail safe for the off chance that something did occur." He offered.

"No, I don't need people watching my family. I will handle things, but thank you for the kind offer." She bowed her head to him politely.

"Listen, I don't have any appointments this afternoon, how about you bring your son out to the stables? He'd stop pestering you as much." Baralai asked, watching her sigh and give a small chuckle.

"You might be creating a monster by introducing him to chocobo riding." She said in a teasing manner, making the Praetor chuckle lightly.

-0-0-

"Come on, Roger!" The young voice of Kai urged the gentle chocobo into a faster pace. He was confident enough now that Baralai wasn't leading him anymore. The boy was riding on his own and felt incredible living his dream. His face held a constant smile as he rode the animal around in an enclosed area.

Lulus heart was lightened at the scene, her irritation gone as her son rode along happily. She knew it had been hard for him moving away from their structured life, and returning to the place he had been orphaned in. This activity brought him joy, a joy that was hard to get out of him lately with the absence of Wakka. He had bonded with Wakka, called him dad even. Now he just had Lulu to bond with and for most of the day she was busy making a living by working for Baralai.

"Roger seems to be enjoying himself, Kai seems to be pretty happy as well." Baralai spoke to Lulu, the two were leaning against the fence, watching the youth ride in circles.

"You seem a little happier as well." He commented, watching with amusement as she raised a brow at him. "Am I wrong?"

Lulu humphed and turned her attention back to Kai. "Seeing him happy, makes me happy."

Baralai nodded in understanding.

"And what if I told you that seeing you happy made me happy, Lulu?"

Lulu played at being hard of hearing, not responding to the mans comment.

"It's my goal to see all of Spira happy. If I can succeed at that starting with you two, it makes me all the gladder."

"Happiness to all of Spira is a large goal, one young man alone such as yourself shouldn't attempt carrying the weight of such a trying aspersion. I should know, Yuna tried very hard pleasing the world during her pilgrimage. Even blocking out her own desires for the sake of Spiras happiness. I'd tread carefully while acquiring your goal, losing your own self along the way isn't worth it." Lulu spoke with a knowledge she had gained by living through the eradication of Sin. Baralai may be the Praetor, but that didn't mean he had to take on the world by himself. Yuna helped Spira by having friends and loved ones at her side.

"Lady Yuna has shown that there are different ways to bring Spira happiness, that concert she held brought together people who held grudges against their differences. I'd like to take from that example and try giving something to the people they'd find enjoyable." Baralai confided with the black mage.

"Did you have something in mind?" She inquired, curious about his ideas.

"Actually, I was mulling around the idea of holding a ball, we could use the roof of the temple, it would give a nice view of Bevelle at night."

"A interesting thought. Would you make a theme for this ball? What of the music and beverages?" She asked of him.

"You're certainly up on the things to consider when preparing such an event. Would you be interested in helping me, Lulu?" Baralai questioned, believing that he could make it a success with the secretary's help.

"Of course, you hardly need to ask. I'm your secretary after all." She lightly scoffed at the Praetors inquiry.

"Alright then, tomorrow we'll start working on the design and preparation." He smiled contentedly at Lulu, his eyes focusing back onto the young rider.

-0-0-

It was a dark evening in Guadolastrom, Wakka still remained in the town, his heart broken, his mind grief filled. Sleep would not welcome him, so he was walking about the town alone, in a grave like silence. His wandering brought him to the entrance of the Farplane. No one was guarding the opening, so he thought nothing of going inside. The thought of visiting his brothers spirit made his limbs quicken their pace, maybe he could find peace by seeing the image of his deceased sibling.

The Farplane held a strange feeling inside it, something left the sorrowful man feeling uneased. His skin prickled with goosebumps as he searched for the image of Chappu.

"Chappu, I need you, yeah? I never felt so lost, brudder." His voice rung out into the pyreflies shimmering among the sacred place.

Wakka started to witness the pyreflies taking the form of his brother, his heart aching. So this was all he had left, the comfort of a dead brother. Why was Lulu being so cruel, she didn't even want to listen to his side. She hadn't believed a word he'd said, how was marriage supposed to work without trust?

She'd been the only woman for him, and he'd never once held onto any rage or anger at hearing she had been intimate with Chappu. It had taken an evening on the beach to realize that it hadn't mattered, that love washed away any past mistakes she had made. He couldn't understand how she could be so stubborn. Hadn't she loved him as much as he loved her?

And seeing that man with Lu, touching her like he had. That had sent him over the edge! She was his wife, she had no business hanging out so chummy like with whoever that bastard was. It had crumbled him hearing her say that their marriage was annulled. He couldn't believe it, he still didn't. She might have just said that in anger, she was good at finding words to break him.

All his anger and sorrow were flowing off Wakkas body as he stared in thought at the form of Chappu. The negative energy was effecting the Farplane, it was developing into something. Chappu's image was beginning to alter slowly, not fast enough that Wakka would pay any mind to.

The troubled man was so deep in his private thoughts that it was an incredible shock for him when he noticed his brother was different. The dead Chappu held a look of anger, his once friendly and at peace stare was now ominous and frightening. His mouth was set in a twisted snarl, his teeth unusual, sharpened. The hands of this changed image were clawed, long dirtied nails scraped against his own thighs.

"What the?!" Wakka spoke, eyeing the anomaly with horror. Despite Yevon turning out to be a religion based on mostly lies and hypocrites, Wakka was still a very spiritual and superstitious person. The fact that he was seeing this evil manifestation made him pray, hoping for the grotesque image to disappear.

"Wakka." It spoke when it shouldn't be able to. His brother was not an unsent! What was happening?!

"You're sent, you can't be talking to me." He repeated over and over again, willing it to be true.

A clawed hand slowly reached towards Wakka, making the man jump and move further from the image. "Stay away!" He yelled, turning from the spirit to run, only to be confronted by the thing as Wakka turned.

"Wakka, let me help." It's coarse sounding voice seemed to growl out it's jagged tooth filled mouth. It snapped and grabbed the frightened brother, it's image able to actually touch the living. "Let me in, brother." It hissed, the body of Chappu beginning to weave with Wakka.

Wakka let out a shriek as he felt his mind and soul being forcefully entered by the evil force shaped like Chappu. The last coherent thing Wakka glimpsed was the smiling evil face of his brother.

-0-0-

A/N: Things are going to happen, bad things. If you're liking where this is going, let me know your thoughts by reviewing! I appreciate anyone who's still reading this story.