13 The Sting of Poison

I rolled my arm, feeling my sore, festering wound silently protest, confirming to me what I already knew. If someone needs to be sent, I would be unable to help, because performing a sending requires full concentration, and smooth, flowing movements. Because of the pain, I would not be able to accomplish either, no matter how much I wanted to.

I looked miserably at my friends, but then realized that the people of Spira aren't the only ones who need to see a summoner who still has hope, my guardians were normal people, too. I was afraid because I knew that only a few of many ever escape the trials on Kilika. More guardians die there than in any other. I felt my smile sagging at the thought of losing any of them…I looked at each of them as we took our last minutes of rest for the day. Lulu sat close to me on my right.

Lulu was like a big sister to me, and sometimes even a mother. She's such a good friend, and she'd taught me so much; both small and large things. She taught me how to cook, how to start a fire and sew. Tiny things like that, that Mother never had a chance to teach me. Lulu had taught me bigger things too. She was the one who first helped me to recognize my strong connection with Yevon, though she cursed herself for it later on, when I told her and Wakka that I would become a Summoner. And she taught me how to create the element of ice, which then I had finally mastered. My thoughts turned to Wakka, who was sitting unusually close to Lulu. I smiled. Wakka and Lulu had a very strange friendship. Sometimes they're like siblings. They've known each other since before either of them could speak, so sometimes they have a very sibling-like relationship. Other times, besides the way she looks, she could easily be his mother; sometimes he's very childish. I smiled at the treasured memories of his many blunders.

Kimahri stood nearby, but outside of the circle. As usual, he stood with arms crossed, keeping his eyes searching the nearby trees and bushes for signs of danger. Though at first glance, he seemed hard and unkind, even uncaring, he's simply the quiet type. He was like a father to me, though he could never replace my real father.

My eyes moved on the next, and last one in our group. Tidus. He sat, legs crossed, his head rested in his hands, with his elbows propped up on his knees. He looked tired and sad, and I didn't think any worse of him for it. I knew so little about him, though I'd spent the last nine days with him. He's a star blitzer from Zanarkand, his father was my father's guardian, and that was just about all.

He glanced up, saw me staring at him, and smiled weakly, before his eyes returned to the ground which he had been fervently studying. I wondering why his clothes had not been damaged by the flames. As I looked closer, I realized that the blitz uniform had also had nicks and small tears. Now though the blood stains remained, it was undamaged. I didn't understand. My healing had never fixed clothing before. It didn't make any sense. Clothes were not living things, so how would I be able to heal them?

Unable to think of a good explanation, I rose to me feet, deciding that we must continue on. Once I felt that I knew the direction to go, I walked on, everyone following in their usual formation. I noticed that Tidus seemed particularly stiff, his walking seemed almost strained. I also noticed that he had quite a number of unexplained scratches and cuts on his arms and legs. For the first time, I wondered why exactly he had been sleeping inside a bush…I looked backwards towards it, noting the branches which were bent and broken at the top…there was a tree above it, which looked like it had recently held more branches that it did now, and I noticed some littering the jungle floor below. My mind began to piece together a scenario, but it seemed to ridicules to even consider. I glanced back at Tidus, who was still walking stiffly, almost shuffling.

"Are you okay?"

"Wha?" He seemed to struggle to turn his head, but failed, resorting instead to turning most of his body towards me so that he could look at me without twisting his neck. Now, I was almost certain that I was correct. "You seem hurt. Are you okay?" "Hurt? Ah…a little sore, but that's all." "You…" I had to stifle a giggle, though it really wasn't funny, the idea itself was a bit absurd. "You fell out of a tree, didn't you?" My voice was hushed enough, and we were far enough away from my guardians, that they wouldn't hear what I said. If I was right, there was no need to embarrass him.

His expression turned sheepish, and he tried to nod, but grimaced a little at the pain in his neck.

"…Yeah…" "I can heal you…If we're attacked by fiends, it wouldn't be good if you can't move properly." He turned again to be facing the way we were walking, just in time to notice a root growing from the ground right were he was walking. He jumped over it just in time to miss falling, and winced even more at the shock from landing. "Uh…I didn't want to bother you over such a little thing…"

"It doesn't look like it's as little as you say…here, it'll just be quick." He stopped, consenting, and I placed a hand on the back of his neck.

"Yuna! What are you doing?" Lulu's question sounded more like a command, meant to say, "Yuna! Stop that right now!" I felt myself blush a little, realizing that it did look a bit awkward, and removed my hand, hurriedly explaining. "He-he's stiff, his neck hurts. I figured I should heal him now, so that in case of a battle, he won't be injured already, so he can fight at his best."

"Fight?" Lulu scoffed. "When was the last time you fought?" She directed the question at Tidus, who was studying a nearby tree's bark as if it was very interesting. "Uh…um…"

"Yuna, he doesn't fight. He's a BLITZ player." Wakka stood by, watching the whole scene, glancing back and forth between Lulu and me." Yes, but…" "What Yuna's try'in ta say is, she doesn't want any of us ta get hurt, guardian or not." Lulu gave Wakka a sharp look, but it quickly softened, and she waved her hand dismissively.

"Fine. We've wasted enough time." I replaced my hand, still feeling a bit shy, and tried to concentrate on praying to Yevon. After a moment, I felt an uncomfortable stiffness in my spine, but it quickly faded, and Tidus sighed in relief, rolling his neck back and forth, arching his back a bit.

"Wow. That feels a lot better! Thanks." I smiled, walking onward. "You're welcome."

The day went on as the past ones had, almost no talking, mostly for lack of any pleasant subjects, though partially from the fact that I knew if I tried to talk to Tidus about Zanarkand, which was the only interesting subject that I could think of, I didn't want to get Lulu mad, or embarrass Tidus, seeing as it seems as though I was the only one who even believed him. We'd all seen some strange things, so it was lost to me as to why they wouldn't accept him.

For hours, we walked without incident, the sun was already sinking into the south when we encountered a strange and dangerous fiend which flew from in among the trees. It was a formation that looked like floating rocks, lit on fire, which can throw fire from itself to its target.

"FIEND!" Kimahri shouted, running over to hide me from it behind his large body, because these fiends are very tough, weapons do almost nothing to them. Wakka placed himself between Lulu and the fiend while she prayed. Tidus ran up to the monster, slicing at it with his sword, though it was not effected. Fire shot from the fiend down his sword when it made contact, lighting his glove on fire. He dropped his sword shaking his hand as Lulu shot a stream of ice at the fiend.

It dissolved into smoke and pyreflies, floating away harmlessly. Tidus managed to put the flames on his glove out before it burned his hand, but his glove was in bad shape. He pulled it off, looking disappointedly at it, for some reason, and then shoving it into his pocket, and picking up his sword with his now bare hand. "Idiot." Lulu growled. "You could have gotten yourself killed again." He scowled at her, for the first time actually showing her how he really felt about the way she treated him.

"I KNOW! I don't understand this world! I can't help it if I'm and idiot! You know what? I don't care! If I die, at least I won't have to deal with this anymore!"

He waved his hand towards her, and then swung it around himself, indicating the world around us. Then, he turned, and stomped off. It made me feel really sad when they fought, I just wanted to have as happy a pilgrimage as possible, to make some happy memories before losing my existence when I gave it up to summon the final aeon. I walked after Tidus, listening more for the fayth. I was beginning to get used to the lack of food, though I still felt the hunger in my empty stomach.

As we made our way further through the deepest part of the jungle, Tidus walked beside me, obviously still fuming, and keeping his eyes on the ground. I didn't know anything to say that might make him feel better, so I just let him work it out with himself. As dusk was fading into night, I noticed a group of bushes covered in berries.

"Look!" I exclaimed, seeing food, and suddenly feeling very excited at the prospect of actually having something to eat, and then having a full night's rest. Simple things which I used to take for granted were beginning to feel like huge blessings, now.

"There's some berry bushes!"

"Eh?" Wakka sounded glad, and we all moved quickly towards the bushes. Tidus finally looked up from his staring match with the ground, and got an expression on his face that I was growing used to from him and Wakka. It was the, "FOOOOOOOOOOOD!" Look, which stated excitedly that we were going to fill our empty stomachs.

We got down on our knees, grabbing the small, berries from the plants. None spoke as we hungrily consumed the food, except for a few sounds of disgust at the beginning: The berries were just about the most gross tasting thing I'd ever eaten. Much more bitter than the fruit we'd eaten this morning, and the seeds were like clumps of coarse sand in the centers. Still, we ate it, and ate it thankfully, knowing that we could not ever know for sure if we would get food any time soon.

When we'd finished, there was some to be desired, but we had cleaned all three of the bushes completely of their fruit, and that was as good as it was going to get. I began to realize that we probably should have left some for the morning, but I knew that it was too late now…

We all soon fell asleep, laying right were we were, to tired to even look for softer ground to lie on.

My eyes flickered open, and the sunlight was already beginning to filter through the trees. My friends were sprawled out haphazardly around me, all still asleep. I shook Lulu, who was closest to me, and she woke with a start, sitting up quickly, hands raised, ready to fight. I noticed this fondly, thinking that it was so much like her to be ready to fight the minute she wakes up, whereas the rest of us usually are tired and groggy when we first get up.

She took in the surroundings before acknowledging me. "Yuna, it's far too late. We must be going, now."

I nodded, agreeing, and went to wake Kimahri while she woke Wakka. I heard from behind me Wakka's peeved voice, as she apparently woke him up the way that we and Chappu would always wake him up when we were kids: Pull the cowlick. It was funny, and it always annoyed him, just slightly. I smiled at the memories, and then went over to Tidus as Kimahri got his bearings. He was curled up in a ball, a mournful expression on his face, hugging his knees.

He started to mumble something, and I tried to understand it, before I woke him up. I could only understand one word, "Mom!" Sympathy coursed through me, I knew what it felt like to lose parents. I gently shook him by his shoulder, waking him from his apparent nightmare. He frowned as he opened his eyes, and stared at me a moment before recognition came into his eyes.

"Oh…hi, Yuna." "Hi. It's morning, we need to leave." He sat up, looking around, his eyes widening, and jumping up. "Wow! It's late!"

We had lost a lot of time, and very soon, the fiends would be rising, so we had given up the time of peaceful travel for a few more hours of sleep. I knew there was no point in rushing, as that would actually work against us in the long run, as we would be too tired to get a full day of travel in, or worse, we would be to weak to fight a battle.

I kept finding myself yawning, and my eyes kept trying to droop shut. The lack of enough sleep was catching up to me. I think we were all tired. By the time the sun was at it's peak, we still had not encountered any fiends, but I knew our luck wouldn't hold out forever. I was right. By the time the suffocating air began to cool, we were attacked. We had stumbled across another hive of killer bee fiends, and they were mad.

They all attacked at once, and there was a flurry of movement, sizzling magic, the stench of burning flesh, and the screams of pyreflies. Before I knew what was happening, I felt something stab painfully into my back. I cried out, leaning backwards, falling on the bee that had stabbed me with it's poison tipped stinger, driving it further into my body. I heard more shouting around me, but everything began to fade, as the edges of my vision started turning green, and then black. I struggled to stay awake, but my attempt was futile, and I fell into an agony filled slumber.

TidusxYuna Always