I do not own these characters.

Italicised words are with the writers.

Chapter 10

Everyone was up and in the main hall of the temple before noon. Yuna hurried over to them and threw her arms around Tidus.

"You'll come to see me again, right?" she asked. "You won't die or something, will you?"

"What?" Tidus yelled. "Where did that come from?"

"I'm worried about you," Yuna said. She looked up at him. Tears were in her eyes, which worried Tidus. "I just have a feeling that something bad's going to happen to you, and I'll never see you again."

Tidus couldn't bring himself to tell her that she was being silly. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her and promised he'd come back to see her again alive and in one piece. After everyone said all their farewells, the group left Bevelle. Mateus sighed. He had been hoping for a quick adventure, one that didn't involve extras joining up simply because they felt like it. Admittedly, there were only four, including him, but he didn't want this to get out of hand.

"So, Marduk Thompson," he said. "Perhaps we should have asked where to find his family."

"You think?" Vaan said. He was walking beside Mateus, hands on the back of his head. He was looking at him from the corner of his eye. "Well, we could always turn around and ask. Or maybe one of the old people will know." Spotting someone, he ran in their direction. "Excuse me, do you know where we can find Marduk Thompson's family? We need to ask them something, but we don't know where he lives."

The old man looked at Vaan for a good long minute before responding.

"Young man, you shouldn't run 'round in that," he scolded. "You might be givin' people the wrong impression about you."

"What?" Vaan yelled. "No... I need to know if you can tell me where Marduk Thompson's family lives."

The old man was shaking his head saying; "Young people these days. Goin' 'round showin' everythin' to anyone who wants a look." Suddenly he looked up at Vaan's face. "Marduk's family? They're still in Cocoon last I recall."

"Thanks." Vaan ran back to the group. "They live in Cocoon. Anyone know how to get there?"

"Ooh, I know!" Zidane was jumping in place, waving his hand in the air. "We need to go through the Moon flow." His expression dropped. "Of course, we can't-"

"Then we must go to the Moonflow," Mateus said.

"We can't." At the scathing look Mateus gave him, he paused. "It's too dangerous. A few years back, some idiot scientist spilt some kind of toxic stuff into the water. The place's full of monsters and nobody goes near the place."

"Is there another way to Cocoon?"

"Well, there is one way. But that one takes us through an abandoned mineshaft under miles of land. That hasn't been used in at least a decade. Though I suppose you could count various monsters and freaks taking residence there as it being used."

"We shall go to the Moonflow. Which way are we going?" The tone left no room for arguments, no matter how much they wanted to.

Vaguely, Vaan wondered if Mateus had a fear of mines. Or, if he simply didn't care for anyone's safety. With a heavy sigh, he followed the others.

They arrived at the Moonflow hours later. Rather than the beautiful serene river Tidus remembered, it had been altered to what could only be described as a swamp. The water no longer sparkled in the sun. In fact, it was tinted purple. Large gnarled trees stuck out of the water in various groups with few leaves. More dead logs floated on the surface and the small bits of land that jutted out of the water no longer looked as though people could use them as stepping stones. There was an odd lack of buzzing insects, yet plenty of ribbiting frogs. Zidane and Vaan looked to Mateus as Tidus stared in horror at the swamp. Mateus observed the area with the look of a child seeing something new for the first time.

"Mateus?" Vaan started. "You sure you want to cross this? It looks-"

As he was speaking, a loud moaning started up from behind them. Zidane spun around, pulling his daggers out of their sheaths. Tidus and Vaan drew their swords and-

"Bartz! What the hell are you writing?" Cloud yelled. He had been writing when Bartz came up, peered over his shoulder, shoved him aside, and added onto what he had been writing.

"Adding more spice. Honestly, guys. You make it so boring."

Cloud left grumbling and Bartz continued writing.

-prepared for battle.

"Stay out of this, Mateus. We can handle it." Vaan had a determined look in his eyes. He would not allow any harm to come to the mage.

Mateus backed away from the horde, unsure of what he should be doing. A noise from behind grabbed his attention, and he turned. There, not five feet away, were more of the rotting things. The smell was unbearable. The mere fact that they could ambush them in the sorry state they were in said a lot about the comrades. Mateus moved back to the others, bumping into Vaan.

"It would seem they have us surrounded," he said. Vaan looked behind them and groaned.

"We gotta think of a plan, and fast!" he shouted.

"There." Bartz laid the pencil back next to the book. With a happy, contented smile, he wandered off.

"Well, well. Didn't think I'd see you guys in a place like this." The gruff voice was one they all recognized. Jecht was standing to the side. How the old gnarled branch could hold him was anybody's guess. "Looks like you need some help."

"We don't need any help from you!" Tidus yelled.

Jecht laughed. "You always say that," he taunted. "And you always need my help in the end."

Hefting the greatsword from his back, Jecht jumped down from the tree. He joined the fight, hacking and slashing away at the living corpses. Zidane and Vaan followed suit, glad for the help. Not to be outdone by his comrades, Tidus attacked as well. Mateus did the least fighting. If only because he was so useless. One of his flares had burnt away a portion of the zombies, doing more harm than good. The zombies had simply kept moving. Flaming, this time. A shout from Vaan and Mateus ceased trying to help. He only knew fire-based magic, after all. So he hung back and watched. When all was said and done, Jecht looked at the group.

"Now, I'll be havin' the mage back."

If his extended hand was meant to convince them to hand Mateus over, it wasn't working. Rather, they got between the two.

"You can't have him," Vaan said. "If we hand him to you, you'll just hand him off to someone who only wants to use his power to take over the planet. And you'll probably do it for money."

"Ha!" The amusement on Jecht's face was clear. "You tryin' to tell me you wouldn't have done the same? Poor thief like yourself, one would think you'd want to hand him over."

Vaan didn't know how to respond. He had been going to hand him over to Ultimecia, after all. Sure, he hadn't done it yet but...

"He's mine!" Tidus declared. Jecht laughed once again.

"Yours? Princess like yourself couldn't keep a map, much less a person."

"Princess?" Tidus's face had flushed in anger and embarrassment. "I'm male, you idiot. You should know that!"

"Ha! Princess suits you just fine. You ain't strong, and you can barely handle yourself." Tidus pouted at him. It was the same look that always brought out the softer side of Jecht. Unfortunately, he had never grown immune to it. With a sigh, he submitted. "Fine. Let's see how well you can do. I ain't show it much, but I do have some faith in ya."

Tidus's expression brightened. A smile replaced his pout. "Thanks, Dad."

Jecht allowed himself to appear flustered for a moment, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, your mother would want me to have faith in ya."

They both knew it was just an excuse. Tidus had caught on a few years back, when Jecht would use it all the time. Jecht gave the group a wave before setting off away from the Moonflow. Soon after, the group resumed searching for a plan.