Chapter 9: Just One Kiss
"What do you think?" Tidus asked, throwing his arms up, smiling.
What did she think? People were everywhere, on the streets, in buildings, in restaurants,
everywhere! All of them squealing or whispering excitedly as Tidus walked past.
She knew what was on her mind at the moment, however. Tidus enjoyed the attention he
was receiving. How would he ever want to go back to Spira with her? She decided not to think
like this, because she knew that if he could only remember...
Why didn't he remember? Yuna bit her lip, not meaning to have gone into such a deep
thought. Not only that, but how was she even going to get back to Spira? How could she even
be worried about Tidus not wanting to go back, when she herself didn't even know how to get
back?
"Just a little longer," she assured herself, "Tidus has to remember...He just has to! Then,
together we'll find a way back to Spira." She nodded, not noticing that Tidus had walked quite a
ways ahead of her. He hadn't even noticed that she had fallen behind.
Walking somewhat faster, to catch up with him, Yuna still couldn't help but stay in a
deep thought. How many days had she been in Zanarkand? Three? Two and a half?
Sighing, Yuna realized that she hadn't even been in Zanarkand that long. Still, she had a
part of her that wanted dreadfully to return to Spira. Perhaps it was hard being the only one who
even knew Spira existed.
Wait. Yuna stopped without even meaning to, as her thoughts swarmed around her. She
wasn't in the real Zanarkand. She was in Tidus' Zanarkand. She was in a place where Spira
didn't exist. Did she still exist?
"No," she told herself, "That's not it. Tidus must have known when he disappeared the
second time that he wouldn't remember me. I could tell by looking at his face that something
else was bothering him. There just has to be a way to make him remember."
"There is."
Suddenly everything seemed to stop. In fact, everything did stop. Suddenly, Yuna was
the only one moving.
"What's going on?" she asked out loud, and then turned around, to see a little boy whose
hooded shirt covered his face. She knew instantly who it was. It was the Fayth. Smiling, being
that it had been a while since there was something familiar, she said, "So you do have something
to do with this, right?"
The fayth nodded. "Of course. This is my creation, after all."
Yuna looked at the ground. "Yeah but...it doesn't exist."
"It does right now," the fayth said, "Tidus doesn't remember anything that happened
while in Spira. Of course, you've noticed that by now."
"Will he ever remember?" Yuna asked, and didn't realize how helpless her voice truly
sounded.
The fayth nodded. "After a kiss filled with love, he will remember."
Yuna smiled. So there really was a way! She was about to ask more, like how she would
return to Spira, and if Tidus would return with her, but everything started back up, and the fayth
disappeared.
"Hey, you coming or what?" Tidus had finally realized she was lagging behind, and
smiled at her, "What's up? You look like you're pretty into something!"
"Oh, it's nothing," Yuna said, taking one last glance at the area where the fayth had stood,
and then caught up to Tidus.
She smiled her own smile in return, but then thought of something. Tidus had kissed her
the night before, at the party. Surely that kiss had meant something? Why hadn't he
remembered after that kiss? Not only that, but how did she even go about asking him about why
the kiss didn't work...?
"You okay?" Tidus asked, and was giving her a strange look.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Yuna lied. Truthfully, she suddenly wasn't feeling too into the day.
Everything and everyone around her buzzed with excitement. Soon, they reached the stadium,
and Yuna asked Tidus if the before-party was being held at the stadium.
"Uh-huh, it is," Tidus said, "And then Zed and you will go to your seats. I get you the
best in the stadium!"
Yuna smiled, deciding that for now, she was just going to enjoy herself, and not worry
about anything else.
The party itself was actually quite stiff, being that members of both teams were there.
Each member of the teams would shake hands with each other, and then with the referees and the
coaches, and as they did this, Yuna stood with Zed, who had a strange look of longing in his
eyes.
"You wish you were there, doing that right now, don't you?" Yuna asked, not looking
Zed in the eyes, as she was too busy watching Tidus shake hands with the other team's star
player, raising his eyebrows ominously at the player as he did so.
Zed shoved his hands in his pockets, and said, "Yeah, I do."
"What happened?" Yuna couldn't help but ask.
"I'd rather not talk about it," Zed said, looking away from the many players.
Yuna felt somewhat bad for asking, but figured she'd just get it from Tidus later. After
the game.
She didn't know why, but she could tell that Zed and her didn't get along, and probably
never would. She just didn't like something about him.
"So," she said, trying to make a conversation anyway, being that Tidus expected Zed and
her to get along, "Do you think the Abes will win?"
"They'd better," Zed said, "It's not like they haven't beat this team before."
"This isn't much of a party," Yuna said then, looking around at all of the stiff looking
people. She saw a man who was becoming somewhat grey and whose hair was thinning, who
was talking with Lea.
"Great," Yuna thought to herself, "That must be Lea's father. I wonder what they're
talking about?"
Then, smiling to herself, Yuna excused herself from Zed and walked up to Lea, deciding
that as long as she was there, Lea couldn't very well ask her father to make the Abes lose.
"Hi Lea!" Yuna greeted the blonde girl, deciding a friendly approach would be the best
one to do.
"Oh, hi Yuna," Lea said, not exactly returning the friendliness, but not exactly sounding
unhappy to see her, either.
"Uh, and hello to you," Yuna said, reaching out her hand for Lea's father to shake, "I'm
Yuna. I'm a friend of your daughter's."
Lea's father smiled and shook her head, and Lea glared angrily at Yuna.
"So," Yuna said, giving Lea a quick look of satisfaction, "Being that you're a ref, you
don't really side with just one team, do you?"
"Well, of course not," her father said, although he gave Lea a questioning look.
"That's good," Yuna said, acting cheerful and clueless, "I was afraid that you might side
with a team, you know, on accident, and then cause the other team to lose."
Yuna smiled, but Lea glared, and then grabbed Yuna's arm.
"Uh, excuse me Father," Lea said, still glaring at Yuna, "But Yuna here, and I, have
to...Discuss something.
"Goodbye Sir!" Yuna yelled to Lea's father as Lea dragged her to a corner of the stadium
where there were very few people.
"You little TACHE!" Lea screamed at Yuna, and Yuna had to recall that "tache" wasn't a
very nice word in the Zanarkand language, "What do you think you're doing, anyway?"
"I just wanted to make sure you hadn't said anything to your father," Yuna replied
sweetly.
"Look, I haven't said anything to my dad, but there's always half-time," Lea said,
crossing her arms, glaring angrily at Yuna, "If Tidus isn't mine by half-time, the Abes can say
"goodbye" to their victory, got it?"
"No worries there," Yuna said, crossing her arms and throwing on a disgusted look,
"Because Tidus and me aren't even a couple any more. It's...Uh...Zed and me now. I don't like
dating Blitzball players."
Lea looked at Yuna as if she couldn't believe her ears.
"Then why did you..." Lea seemed confused, and Yuna could guess that while rather
pretty and popular, Lea definitely wasn't too bright.
"So I don't know why you're wasting your time," Yuna said, with a hidden sigh,
"Because Tidus is as good as yours."
Lea gave a satisfied smile, and said, "He was too good for you anyway," and then gave
her hair a flip, and marched off, still smiling to herself.
Yuna couldn't help but feel defeated, even though for now she had won. She watched
Lea march up to Tidus, flirting with him. Tidus looked confused at first, and looked at Yuna,
and then back at Lea. Then, with an eye roll that Lea didn't see, Yuna knew that Tidus was
asking her to the after-party. Looking extremely pleased, Lea kissed Tidus on the cheek, and ran
off to who-knew-where.
"So, technically I'm dumped for now," Tidus said, as Yuna walked up to him.
"Yeah, but don't worry about it," Yuna said, and threw on a fake smile, "Just go out there
and win!"
"No worries there!" Tidus said, and then smiled at Yuna and walked out of the room,
toward the locker rooms. The so called "before-party" was drawing to an end.
"Wanna go find our seats?" Zed asked then, and Yuna nodded.
Zed led her through crowds and crowds of people, all while Yuna was amazed at how
large the stadium was. Not to mention how much machina there was in the stadium.
"Here they are!" Zed said, taking a seat, "Pretty incredible, isn't it?"
It was. The seats were definitely the best in the house, and the sphere pool could be seen
clearly.
Before long, the Blitzers all swam out, and the crowd went wild. They screamed and
yelled and hooted, and whistled. They just went wild.
Yuna felt herself tense, as if worried about what would happen in the game. Right off,
the other team scored a goal. However, Yuna noticed Tidus just smiled.
"Why's he smiling?" Yuna practically cried, "The other team just made a goal!"
"He's smiling because of this," Zed said, with a smile on his own face.
Yuna watched to see what it was, only to see Tidus make a goal.
"See, he knew he was going to make one," Zed explained, "That's why he was smiling."
The game dragged on without too much action, and half-time came around, and the score
was still tied one to one.
"Great game, isn't it?" Zed asked, as people returned to their seats from the concessions.
Yuna was too nervous to answer. What if Lea knew what was going on? What if she
would make Tidus lose the game? What if without Lea, Tidus still lost the game?
There was nothing to worry about, however, as the Abes again made another goal,
making the score two to one.
Before long, there was little time left in the game, and the Abes fans were growing very
impatient, when the other team made a goal, tying up the game.
Now Zed began to look nervous, as did Yuna.
"Wow, I never expected it to be this close," Zed said nervously, "And the Abes are
lookin' a little tired."
They were. Even Tidus looked as if he couldn't take much more. There was only about a
minute left in the game, with the score being two to two.
"Come on Tidus," Yuna thought, "You can do it!"
Soon the game was down to seconds, with both teams fighting desperately to win.
"What happens if the Abes lose?" Yuna asked, now feeling incredibly nervous.
"I don't know," Zed admitted, not taking his eyes off of the game, "No one even thought
it'd be this close."
Soon it was down to ten seconds, and all of the fans were too nervous to even count them
down. Yuna saw Tidus' eyes go up to the scoreboard, as to check the time, and Yuna could tell
that he was feeling the heat. She could tell by the look in his eye that he didn't want to go into
over-time.
"They need this now," Zed said, looking almost frightened, "They won't last through
over-time. The other team has way more energy now."
Suddenly, the crowd began to count down.
"Three...Two...On–" Tidus released a shot, halfway to the goal. The buzzer calling the
end of the game went off, but since Tidus had kicked it before the buzzer, it was still good.
Everyone held their breath as the ball went soaring toward the goal. Without even
meaning to, Yuna closed her eyes, as if in prayer that it would go in.
The next thing she heard were screams and shouts, although she couldn't tell if they were
from the Abe fans or the other fans.
"We did it Yuna!" Zed screamed however, and she could feel him jumping up and down
at her side, "We won!"
Yuna forced her eyes open, and wanted to scream out of happiness. Lea hadn't gone
through with her plan. They had won!
The fans were going wild, throwing things, and the Abes were all swimming around, and
Yuna was afraid they were going to drown poor Tidus.
Everyone was hugging people, cheering, laughing. The Abes all went out, but Yuna
couldn't help but notice that Tidus didn't look too happy.
He was smiling, but it was only a little smile. He was still in the sphere pool, and then, he
finally seemed to shake it off, and he swam out.
"He doesn't seem too thrilled," Yuna expressed her thoughts out loud.
"Yeah, I noticed," Zed said, and then said, "Wanna go congratulate our big star?"
"That sounds great!" Yuna said, and decided that as soon as Zed was gone, and Lea was
out of the way, there would be a few things Yuna needed to clear up with Tidus. However, Yuna
knew that the clearing up would have to wait until the two of them were alone.
Zed flashed a badge, and led Yuna down some stairs. The place was packed with
cheering fans, all trying to get into the locker room area, and Yuna figured that Zed had a pass,
being that he used to be with the Abes.
"Wait here just one second," Zed said to Yuna, and she nodded and sat down on a bench,
as Zed disappeared through a door.
Yuna was sitting there, wondering how long she would be sitting there, when Lea of all
people, came around the corner, followed by a group of girls.
"What are you doing here?" Lea asked snottily. She wasn't even pretending to be sweet
anymore.
"Waiting for Zed," Yuna said, and was glad that she didn't have to tell a complete lie.
"Oh yeah," Lea just said, "Are you happy the Abes won?"
"Yes, I am," Yuna said, smiling, "The referees were quite fair, I must say."
"Aren't they always?" Lea just said, adding an eye roll, "Well, I'm here to see my
boyfriend. We're going to the after-party together."
Yuna didn't know if now was the time to tell Lea that Tidus and she were back together
or if she should wait. However, Zed answered her question, as he came out then.
"Tidus wants to see you," he said, and looked around at all of the people around Yuna.
"He wants to see me?" Lea said, with a fake surprised sound to her voice.
"Actually, he wants to see Yuna," Zed answered, looking rather confused, "Anyway,
come on Yuna."
Yuna smiled, perhaps a little too evilly, and followed Zed into the room. Or at least,
Yuna had expected it to be a room. It was a actually a long stretch that went all the way around
the sphere pool.
Players were here and there, and Zed nodded his hellos, and Yuna did the same, and they
continued walking all around.
"Where is he?" Yuna asked.
"Way down here. He said he wants to ask you something."
As they reached the very last stretch of the platform, Yuna saw Tidus sitting there, staring
into the pool.
"I'll see you two at the party," Zed said, and waved to some other players, catching up
with them.
"Okay," Yuna just said, and went over to Tidus, "You wanted to see me?"
"Yeah!" Tidus said, and looked up at Yuna. He was soaking wet, and gave his head a
shake, apologizing as he got some water on Yuna.
"Anyway," he continued, "I was just wondering if Lea was out there waiting for me."
"Yeah, she is," Yuna said.
"Oh, okay..." Tidus said, eyeing Yuna, "So...We can sneak out the back door, and then
get changed for the after-party quick, right?"
"Right!" Yuna said, and then decided to at least ask Tidus one thing.
"Hey Tidus, can I ask you something?"
"Like what?"
"Okay, when you won, you were happy, right. Because...This is the only tournament that
Sir Jech–I mean, Jecht, didn't win, right?"
"Did Zed tell you that?" Tidus asked, smiling.
"Yeah, he did," Yuna admitted, "Anyway, how come...How come you didn't seem too
happy?"
Tidus looked embarrassed, and in thought, as if looking for some sort of excuse.
"Fine," he finally said, "Wanna know the truth? All my life, I've dreamed of this
moment. But you know what? It's not nearly as sweet as I'd always thought it would be. I
mean, it's not like my old man's here so I can rub it in his face, know what I mean?"
Yuna nodded. She guessed she understood.
"That's all. I just...Always thought it'd be sweeter. Still, it is pretty amazing! Can you
believe I made that shot?"
Yuna laughed, and followed Tidus out of the secret exit. She had wanted to talk to him
about other things, as they made their way back to his place quickly, but he was too busy telling
her all about the game from his point of view.
The two made it to his place, and Yuna quickly tidied herself up and put on her dress, and
then was ready for the after-party.
Tidus came out, in a tuxedo, making Yuna want to laugh, even though he looked nice.
"Hey, it's not my fault this is a formal event!" Tidus laughed for her, and then smiled,
reaching his arm for her to take, "You ready? We're gonna be swarmed by the paparazzi!"
"The paparazzi?" Yuna asked, "What's that?"
"Cameras. Reporters. That kind of thing. Don't they have those in your district?"
"Yeah, we just don't call them by anything, that's all," Yuna explained.
"By the way, they can be nasty, so just completely ignore them, and smile at the camera!"
Tidus laughed, as if he had said something funny, and Yuna's hopes of talking to him were
smashed as soon as they walked out the door.
People were everywhere. Cameras were flashing in her face, and she looked up at Tidus,
wondering what to do. He had a smile on his face, and Yuna followed him. And here she had
wanted to be alone!
The two made their way slowly toward the after-party, which was also at the stadium, but
Tidus explained that it was in the party room. He explained while having cameras flashing him
that first he would shake hands with everybody, and then the coach would say some words, and
then he would answer some questions, and then the rest would be the same as a normal party.
Yuna sighed, as they walked into the stadium, and Tidus excused himself from her, going
back to shake hands and everything.
"Oh Yuna!" Yuna heard a familiar sweet voice as soon as Tidus was out of sight, "Now
you've really asked for it."
Yuna didn't even need to turn around to know who's nasty, almost too sweet voice it was.
It obviously belonged to Lea.
"What do you think?" Tidus asked, throwing his arms up, smiling.
What did she think? People were everywhere, on the streets, in buildings, in restaurants,
everywhere! All of them squealing or whispering excitedly as Tidus walked past.
She knew what was on her mind at the moment, however. Tidus enjoyed the attention he
was receiving. How would he ever want to go back to Spira with her? She decided not to think
like this, because she knew that if he could only remember...
Why didn't he remember? Yuna bit her lip, not meaning to have gone into such a deep
thought. Not only that, but how was she even going to get back to Spira? How could she even
be worried about Tidus not wanting to go back, when she herself didn't even know how to get
back?
"Just a little longer," she assured herself, "Tidus has to remember...He just has to! Then,
together we'll find a way back to Spira." She nodded, not noticing that Tidus had walked quite a
ways ahead of her. He hadn't even noticed that she had fallen behind.
Walking somewhat faster, to catch up with him, Yuna still couldn't help but stay in a
deep thought. How many days had she been in Zanarkand? Three? Two and a half?
Sighing, Yuna realized that she hadn't even been in Zanarkand that long. Still, she had a
part of her that wanted dreadfully to return to Spira. Perhaps it was hard being the only one who
even knew Spira existed.
Wait. Yuna stopped without even meaning to, as her thoughts swarmed around her. She
wasn't in the real Zanarkand. She was in Tidus' Zanarkand. She was in a place where Spira
didn't exist. Did she still exist?
"No," she told herself, "That's not it. Tidus must have known when he disappeared the
second time that he wouldn't remember me. I could tell by looking at his face that something
else was bothering him. There just has to be a way to make him remember."
"There is."
Suddenly everything seemed to stop. In fact, everything did stop. Suddenly, Yuna was
the only one moving.
"What's going on?" she asked out loud, and then turned around, to see a little boy whose
hooded shirt covered his face. She knew instantly who it was. It was the Fayth. Smiling, being
that it had been a while since there was something familiar, she said, "So you do have something
to do with this, right?"
The fayth nodded. "Of course. This is my creation, after all."
Yuna looked at the ground. "Yeah but...it doesn't exist."
"It does right now," the fayth said, "Tidus doesn't remember anything that happened
while in Spira. Of course, you've noticed that by now."
"Will he ever remember?" Yuna asked, and didn't realize how helpless her voice truly
sounded.
The fayth nodded. "After a kiss filled with love, he will remember."
Yuna smiled. So there really was a way! She was about to ask more, like how she would
return to Spira, and if Tidus would return with her, but everything started back up, and the fayth
disappeared.
"Hey, you coming or what?" Tidus had finally realized she was lagging behind, and
smiled at her, "What's up? You look like you're pretty into something!"
"Oh, it's nothing," Yuna said, taking one last glance at the area where the fayth had stood,
and then caught up to Tidus.
She smiled her own smile in return, but then thought of something. Tidus had kissed her
the night before, at the party. Surely that kiss had meant something? Why hadn't he
remembered after that kiss? Not only that, but how did she even go about asking him about why
the kiss didn't work...?
"You okay?" Tidus asked, and was giving her a strange look.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Yuna lied. Truthfully, she suddenly wasn't feeling too into the day.
Everything and everyone around her buzzed with excitement. Soon, they reached the stadium,
and Yuna asked Tidus if the before-party was being held at the stadium.
"Uh-huh, it is," Tidus said, "And then Zed and you will go to your seats. I get you the
best in the stadium!"
Yuna smiled, deciding that for now, she was just going to enjoy herself, and not worry
about anything else.
The party itself was actually quite stiff, being that members of both teams were there.
Each member of the teams would shake hands with each other, and then with the referees and the
coaches, and as they did this, Yuna stood with Zed, who had a strange look of longing in his
eyes.
"You wish you were there, doing that right now, don't you?" Yuna asked, not looking
Zed in the eyes, as she was too busy watching Tidus shake hands with the other team's star
player, raising his eyebrows ominously at the player as he did so.
Zed shoved his hands in his pockets, and said, "Yeah, I do."
"What happened?" Yuna couldn't help but ask.
"I'd rather not talk about it," Zed said, looking away from the many players.
Yuna felt somewhat bad for asking, but figured she'd just get it from Tidus later. After
the game.
She didn't know why, but she could tell that Zed and her didn't get along, and probably
never would. She just didn't like something about him.
"So," she said, trying to make a conversation anyway, being that Tidus expected Zed and
her to get along, "Do you think the Abes will win?"
"They'd better," Zed said, "It's not like they haven't beat this team before."
"This isn't much of a party," Yuna said then, looking around at all of the stiff looking
people. She saw a man who was becoming somewhat grey and whose hair was thinning, who
was talking with Lea.
"Great," Yuna thought to herself, "That must be Lea's father. I wonder what they're
talking about?"
Then, smiling to herself, Yuna excused herself from Zed and walked up to Lea, deciding
that as long as she was there, Lea couldn't very well ask her father to make the Abes lose.
"Hi Lea!" Yuna greeted the blonde girl, deciding a friendly approach would be the best
one to do.
"Oh, hi Yuna," Lea said, not exactly returning the friendliness, but not exactly sounding
unhappy to see her, either.
"Uh, and hello to you," Yuna said, reaching out her hand for Lea's father to shake, "I'm
Yuna. I'm a friend of your daughter's."
Lea's father smiled and shook her head, and Lea glared angrily at Yuna.
"So," Yuna said, giving Lea a quick look of satisfaction, "Being that you're a ref, you
don't really side with just one team, do you?"
"Well, of course not," her father said, although he gave Lea a questioning look.
"That's good," Yuna said, acting cheerful and clueless, "I was afraid that you might side
with a team, you know, on accident, and then cause the other team to lose."
Yuna smiled, but Lea glared, and then grabbed Yuna's arm.
"Uh, excuse me Father," Lea said, still glaring at Yuna, "But Yuna here, and I, have
to...Discuss something.
"Goodbye Sir!" Yuna yelled to Lea's father as Lea dragged her to a corner of the stadium
where there were very few people.
"You little TACHE!" Lea screamed at Yuna, and Yuna had to recall that "tache" wasn't a
very nice word in the Zanarkand language, "What do you think you're doing, anyway?"
"I just wanted to make sure you hadn't said anything to your father," Yuna replied
sweetly.
"Look, I haven't said anything to my dad, but there's always half-time," Lea said,
crossing her arms, glaring angrily at Yuna, "If Tidus isn't mine by half-time, the Abes can say
"goodbye" to their victory, got it?"
"No worries there," Yuna said, crossing her arms and throwing on a disgusted look,
"Because Tidus and me aren't even a couple any more. It's...Uh...Zed and me now. I don't like
dating Blitzball players."
Lea looked at Yuna as if she couldn't believe her ears.
"Then why did you..." Lea seemed confused, and Yuna could guess that while rather
pretty and popular, Lea definitely wasn't too bright.
"So I don't know why you're wasting your time," Yuna said, with a hidden sigh,
"Because Tidus is as good as yours."
Lea gave a satisfied smile, and said, "He was too good for you anyway," and then gave
her hair a flip, and marched off, still smiling to herself.
Yuna couldn't help but feel defeated, even though for now she had won. She watched
Lea march up to Tidus, flirting with him. Tidus looked confused at first, and looked at Yuna,
and then back at Lea. Then, with an eye roll that Lea didn't see, Yuna knew that Tidus was
asking her to the after-party. Looking extremely pleased, Lea kissed Tidus on the cheek, and ran
off to who-knew-where.
"So, technically I'm dumped for now," Tidus said, as Yuna walked up to him.
"Yeah, but don't worry about it," Yuna said, and threw on a fake smile, "Just go out there
and win!"
"No worries there!" Tidus said, and then smiled at Yuna and walked out of the room,
toward the locker rooms. The so called "before-party" was drawing to an end.
"Wanna go find our seats?" Zed asked then, and Yuna nodded.
Zed led her through crowds and crowds of people, all while Yuna was amazed at how
large the stadium was. Not to mention how much machina there was in the stadium.
"Here they are!" Zed said, taking a seat, "Pretty incredible, isn't it?"
It was. The seats were definitely the best in the house, and the sphere pool could be seen
clearly.
Before long, the Blitzers all swam out, and the crowd went wild. They screamed and
yelled and hooted, and whistled. They just went wild.
Yuna felt herself tense, as if worried about what would happen in the game. Right off,
the other team scored a goal. However, Yuna noticed Tidus just smiled.
"Why's he smiling?" Yuna practically cried, "The other team just made a goal!"
"He's smiling because of this," Zed said, with a smile on his own face.
Yuna watched to see what it was, only to see Tidus make a goal.
"See, he knew he was going to make one," Zed explained, "That's why he was smiling."
The game dragged on without too much action, and half-time came around, and the score
was still tied one to one.
"Great game, isn't it?" Zed asked, as people returned to their seats from the concessions.
Yuna was too nervous to answer. What if Lea knew what was going on? What if she
would make Tidus lose the game? What if without Lea, Tidus still lost the game?
There was nothing to worry about, however, as the Abes again made another goal,
making the score two to one.
Before long, there was little time left in the game, and the Abes fans were growing very
impatient, when the other team made a goal, tying up the game.
Now Zed began to look nervous, as did Yuna.
"Wow, I never expected it to be this close," Zed said nervously, "And the Abes are
lookin' a little tired."
They were. Even Tidus looked as if he couldn't take much more. There was only about a
minute left in the game, with the score being two to two.
"Come on Tidus," Yuna thought, "You can do it!"
Soon the game was down to seconds, with both teams fighting desperately to win.
"What happens if the Abes lose?" Yuna asked, now feeling incredibly nervous.
"I don't know," Zed admitted, not taking his eyes off of the game, "No one even thought
it'd be this close."
Soon it was down to ten seconds, and all of the fans were too nervous to even count them
down. Yuna saw Tidus' eyes go up to the scoreboard, as to check the time, and Yuna could tell
that he was feeling the heat. She could tell by the look in his eye that he didn't want to go into
over-time.
"They need this now," Zed said, looking almost frightened, "They won't last through
over-time. The other team has way more energy now."
Suddenly, the crowd began to count down.
"Three...Two...On–" Tidus released a shot, halfway to the goal. The buzzer calling the
end of the game went off, but since Tidus had kicked it before the buzzer, it was still good.
Everyone held their breath as the ball went soaring toward the goal. Without even
meaning to, Yuna closed her eyes, as if in prayer that it would go in.
The next thing she heard were screams and shouts, although she couldn't tell if they were
from the Abe fans or the other fans.
"We did it Yuna!" Zed screamed however, and she could feel him jumping up and down
at her side, "We won!"
Yuna forced her eyes open, and wanted to scream out of happiness. Lea hadn't gone
through with her plan. They had won!
The fans were going wild, throwing things, and the Abes were all swimming around, and
Yuna was afraid they were going to drown poor Tidus.
Everyone was hugging people, cheering, laughing. The Abes all went out, but Yuna
couldn't help but notice that Tidus didn't look too happy.
He was smiling, but it was only a little smile. He was still in the sphere pool, and then, he
finally seemed to shake it off, and he swam out.
"He doesn't seem too thrilled," Yuna expressed her thoughts out loud.
"Yeah, I noticed," Zed said, and then said, "Wanna go congratulate our big star?"
"That sounds great!" Yuna said, and decided that as soon as Zed was gone, and Lea was
out of the way, there would be a few things Yuna needed to clear up with Tidus. However, Yuna
knew that the clearing up would have to wait until the two of them were alone.
Zed flashed a badge, and led Yuna down some stairs. The place was packed with
cheering fans, all trying to get into the locker room area, and Yuna figured that Zed had a pass,
being that he used to be with the Abes.
"Wait here just one second," Zed said to Yuna, and she nodded and sat down on a bench,
as Zed disappeared through a door.
Yuna was sitting there, wondering how long she would be sitting there, when Lea of all
people, came around the corner, followed by a group of girls.
"What are you doing here?" Lea asked snottily. She wasn't even pretending to be sweet
anymore.
"Waiting for Zed," Yuna said, and was glad that she didn't have to tell a complete lie.
"Oh yeah," Lea just said, "Are you happy the Abes won?"
"Yes, I am," Yuna said, smiling, "The referees were quite fair, I must say."
"Aren't they always?" Lea just said, adding an eye roll, "Well, I'm here to see my
boyfriend. We're going to the after-party together."
Yuna didn't know if now was the time to tell Lea that Tidus and she were back together
or if she should wait. However, Zed answered her question, as he came out then.
"Tidus wants to see you," he said, and looked around at all of the people around Yuna.
"He wants to see me?" Lea said, with a fake surprised sound to her voice.
"Actually, he wants to see Yuna," Zed answered, looking rather confused, "Anyway,
come on Yuna."
Yuna smiled, perhaps a little too evilly, and followed Zed into the room. Or at least,
Yuna had expected it to be a room. It was a actually a long stretch that went all the way around
the sphere pool.
Players were here and there, and Zed nodded his hellos, and Yuna did the same, and they
continued walking all around.
"Where is he?" Yuna asked.
"Way down here. He said he wants to ask you something."
As they reached the very last stretch of the platform, Yuna saw Tidus sitting there, staring
into the pool.
"I'll see you two at the party," Zed said, and waved to some other players, catching up
with them.
"Okay," Yuna just said, and went over to Tidus, "You wanted to see me?"
"Yeah!" Tidus said, and looked up at Yuna. He was soaking wet, and gave his head a
shake, apologizing as he got some water on Yuna.
"Anyway," he continued, "I was just wondering if Lea was out there waiting for me."
"Yeah, she is," Yuna said.
"Oh, okay..." Tidus said, eyeing Yuna, "So...We can sneak out the back door, and then
get changed for the after-party quick, right?"
"Right!" Yuna said, and then decided to at least ask Tidus one thing.
"Hey Tidus, can I ask you something?"
"Like what?"
"Okay, when you won, you were happy, right. Because...This is the only tournament that
Sir Jech–I mean, Jecht, didn't win, right?"
"Did Zed tell you that?" Tidus asked, smiling.
"Yeah, he did," Yuna admitted, "Anyway, how come...How come you didn't seem too
happy?"
Tidus looked embarrassed, and in thought, as if looking for some sort of excuse.
"Fine," he finally said, "Wanna know the truth? All my life, I've dreamed of this
moment. But you know what? It's not nearly as sweet as I'd always thought it would be. I
mean, it's not like my old man's here so I can rub it in his face, know what I mean?"
Yuna nodded. She guessed she understood.
"That's all. I just...Always thought it'd be sweeter. Still, it is pretty amazing! Can you
believe I made that shot?"
Yuna laughed, and followed Tidus out of the secret exit. She had wanted to talk to him
about other things, as they made their way back to his place quickly, but he was too busy telling
her all about the game from his point of view.
The two made it to his place, and Yuna quickly tidied herself up and put on her dress, and
then was ready for the after-party.
Tidus came out, in a tuxedo, making Yuna want to laugh, even though he looked nice.
"Hey, it's not my fault this is a formal event!" Tidus laughed for her, and then smiled,
reaching his arm for her to take, "You ready? We're gonna be swarmed by the paparazzi!"
"The paparazzi?" Yuna asked, "What's that?"
"Cameras. Reporters. That kind of thing. Don't they have those in your district?"
"Yeah, we just don't call them by anything, that's all," Yuna explained.
"By the way, they can be nasty, so just completely ignore them, and smile at the camera!"
Tidus laughed, as if he had said something funny, and Yuna's hopes of talking to him were
smashed as soon as they walked out the door.
People were everywhere. Cameras were flashing in her face, and she looked up at Tidus,
wondering what to do. He had a smile on his face, and Yuna followed him. And here she had
wanted to be alone!
The two made their way slowly toward the after-party, which was also at the stadium, but
Tidus explained that it was in the party room. He explained while having cameras flashing him
that first he would shake hands with everybody, and then the coach would say some words, and
then he would answer some questions, and then the rest would be the same as a normal party.
Yuna sighed, as they walked into the stadium, and Tidus excused himself from her, going
back to shake hands and everything.
"Oh Yuna!" Yuna heard a familiar sweet voice as soon as Tidus was out of sight, "Now
you've really asked for it."
Yuna didn't even need to turn around to know who's nasty, almost too sweet voice it was.
It obviously belonged to Lea.