Note: All right, I don't know when chapter 8 will be ready to post. I was going to hold onto 7 until I knew 8 was almost ready, but you all left such kind feedback, I didn't want to make you wait for this one.
Note 2: Any Aurikkus who are reading this fic - I am in no way trying to incite your wrath. The pairing Auron/Rikku doesn't bother me. But in this fic he's dead. He was ready for death and I wasn't going to take that away from him. The slight romantic twitches I give Rikku and Aldon are not meant to dominate the fic. My beta reader told me I should include more Aldon and to not fear the Aurikku community. So here is me being all fearless.
Yuna sat on the edge of a pier with her feet trailing in the water off Besaid's coast. She watched the waves and the light dancing over them. Cool spray speckled her legs and the salty smell of the sea intoxicated her. Yuna considered sliding into the crystal clear water and just floating.
Without warning, the sky clouded over and the sun disappeared. Clouds shouldn't be able to make it so dark. Then the water turned black and a sharp pungent smell filled the air. Yuna pulled her shirt up over her mouth and tried not to breath the foul vapors. A few feet away, a head emerged from the dark nasty water. Rivers of the black grease flowed slowly down over the cheeks and drained in a steady stream off the chin. Whatever color the person's hair had been it was slick wet and stained black by the horrible water. Yuna's breath caught in her throat. "Tidus?" Without another thought she slid off into the viscous water and swam the short distance to his side.
No hesitation, no fear, Yuna just threw her arms around him and laughed. "Tidus, I found you."
His beautiful blue eyes, still exactly the same amidst the grimy sludge around them stared down at her in confusion. "Who?" he whispered.
"I want to see her now!"
"You'll not go in while the lady's trying to sleep. I don't care who the blazes you think you are!"
Yuna opened her eyes slowly, her dream interrupted. That first bellow had been unmistakably Wakka. Rikku must have fetched him and probably Lulu too. Her heart sped up as she tried not to get upset. They had to understand. How could she make them understand what she'd done? It was wrong and selfish and probably more dangerous than she had any concept of, but it was her choice and the old woman Nual's choice too. The only person who hadn't been consulted was Tidus. He was the only person with the right to get mad.
Tidus! her dream, what did it mean. She knew Tidus wouldn't remember her but the water and the smell. What could they symbolize? Was Tidus in trouble or was it a clue about where he was? Then again, maybe it was just a dream. She shrugged aside any qualms she had about facing her friends and rolled out of the Hammock Ina had loaned her. She threw the door open on a glaring match between a short Jenquo sailor and Wakka. Wakka hesitated only a moment before breaking eye contact with the smaller Jenquo. He enfolded Yuna in a bear hug.
"You okay lady," he whispered.
Yuna nodded and pushed away from her burly friend. Not having seen herself before the nap, she didn't realize the improvement a few of hours sleep had made on her appearance. The dark circles were still there but less prominently, and her color was practically normal. "I'm wonderful, Wakka. I have to tell you what happened last night."
"No you don't. Rikku filled me and Lulu in. We know what you did." His face was drawn up in worry, but was he angry? Yuna couldn't tell. "Are you sure this was the right thing? I don't guess you can undo it now though, huh?" Wakka said.
Yuna dropped her eyes and shook her head. "I apologize, okay? It was selfish and wrong, and no, I can't undo it. But I don't want to undo it. I want to find Tidus. I want to be happy with him. I think it was fate, me and that Jenquo woman, coming together like that." She slipped past Wakka and hurried up the stairs to the main deck. "Don't you see? We can do this. Before there wasn't anything we could do. He was just gone. Now we just have to find Tidus. It's a miracle."
"A miracle, or an abomination," Lulu said. She was dressed in her guardian's clothes and her smile wasn't quite warm. "You know better than to toy with the far-plane. You're not setting a very good example. Summoners send souls to the far-plane, they don't fish them out."
"I'm not a summoner anymore, and it isn't my job to set an example for anyone. I've done what's right for my friends and for Spira. Now Spira is moving on with life, so are you. Kimahri's gone." Yuna glanced over her shoulder and smiled. "Wakka you're planning on restarting your family's farm. Rikku is the newest blitzball star in our midst." Yuna looked straight into Lulu's eyes. "I did my duty, and I lost my heart. Now that everyone's safe, I'm doing this for me and for Tidus. You should be able to understand. If someone offered you Chappu..."
Lulu held her hands up. "Just stop. I do understand. Better than you'll ever know. We're all just worried about you. You aren't the only one who loved Tidus. He was a friend to all of us."
"Don't worry." Yuna turned toward the horizon and the unending expanse of sea. "Tidus is out there. He did so much for us, now we - I, have done something for him." She couldn't seem to settle on an emotion: fear, joy, anticipation. Spira had never seemed so large.
A screeching whine of straining metal emerged from the engine room. "I can't let you do THAT to the engine!"
All eyes turned to Rikku as she emerged from below deck, streaked from head to foot in machine oil and carrying a couple of heavy looking pieces of machina. She tromped out of the engine room with a distraught Aldon following behind her. "I'm not going to sink your boat. I'm just going to give this old hunk of junk some speed," Rikku explained. She rolled her eyes and swung one of the devices she was holding at Aldon's midsection. He got his hands in front of it before it hit and caught the thing, but the air still rushed out of him in a pained whoosh.
"Jesus Rikki," Aldon hissed. "You think I'm going to help you mutilate my boat?"
Yuna's gentle laughter drew both of their attention. "Are we taking Aldon's boat then? When do we leave?"
Rikku grinned and saluted Yuna. "Within the hour captain."
"Hey, I'm the captain," Aldon said. "Rikku? You aren't touching that engine." Aldon eased the heavy machina part onto the deck and got in front of Rikku.
"If I don't touch it, who's going to put it back together?" Rikku made a passable effort at dropping the other part on Aldon's foot, but he jumped back, prepared for hostility. "I suggest you get with the other passengers and figure out where we're going. I'll make sure we get there as quickly as possible."
Aldon threw his hands up and looked around at their small audience. The handful of sailors seemed to be enjoying themselves. The lady summoner just seemed highly amused. "Fine. You sink this boat, and I don't care how big I owe you, there will be a reckoning."
Rikku made a curt little salute, plopped down, and attacked one of the parts with a metal file. "Yes, captain sir."
Wakka leaned in close to Yuna and Lulu. "I thought Rikku liked the Jenquo?"
Lulu smiled and nodded. "I detect some anger there. The poor fellow is getting the brunt of her frustration. She does bring up a good point though. Where are we going?"
"Tidus could be anywhere in Spira. I haven't got a clue where to start?" Yuna said.
Aldon coughed and waved his hand at all the empty docks. "I asked the other Jenquo vessels to head out to every major port in Spira and spread the word that we're looking for this guy, Tidus. Rikku gave each captain a long range Al Bhed communicator, so if they find anything, we'll be the first to know."
"Rikku had a dozen communicators just lying around?" Yuna said. "I'm impressed."
"Not exactly," Wakka said. "We've been getting things organized all day, while you were sleeping."
"All day?" Yuna winced. "I wasted a whole day sleeping?"
"Not wasted," Rikku called. "You look one hundred percent better and you'll be able to think better now."
"Think better, huh? Why can't I think of somewhere to start?" Yuna said quietly. The miracle suddenly seemed very far from accomplished.
"We start here and we follow you to Tidus, Yuna." The mother Ina, made herself heard from the ship's bow. "You're tied to him very tightly. I'd be very surprised if you didn't dream of him last night, if you're not thinking of him this second."
Wakka shot the woman a dirty look and grumbled under his breath. "Old stupih Jenquo woman started this whole mess. Knew they were trouble. Now she's going to..." Lulu remained impassive, except for a silent signal to Wakka to control himself.
The dream sequence from before flashed through Yuna's mind and she could almost smell the black water. "Maybe. I still don't know where to go," Yuna said.
"You don't have any idea?" Ina asked. Yuna shook her head. "Well, I've never done this before either. I'm not sure what we should do."
"I had an idea." Rikku didn't actually look up from her work with the ship's engine. "I talked to Dad, and every available Al Bhed is out beating the bushes. The Jenquo are out searching en force too. What can our little group really add to that? Not much." Rikku finally looked up. "I think we should sail out to sea. Blindfold Yuna, turn her in circles till she's dizzy and then let her steer." The less than friendly looks from Wakka and Aldon gave her pause. "It was just an idea."
"Not satisfied with wrecking her engines, you want to absolutely sink this ship to the bottom of the ocean," Aldon said. "I'm responsible for... I can't just let you recklessly endanger yourselves and my people and this vessel." He turned a slow circle, looking for support from the sensible people on deck. They should have been shaking their heads at that idea, but they weren't. They were standing around with damn contemplative looks, like steering blind was really an option.
"It wouldn't have to be reckless," Lulu countered. "We could stand watch and plot our course to be safe. Not that I think this is the way to go."
"Sounds like a good way to sail in circles to me," Wakka said.
"Does anyone have a better idea?" Ina asked. "Anyone? Because I like it. In my professional opinion, it might work. That said, if anyone thinks of something better, let us know."
Aldon threw his hands up. "Fine, we'll play this your way for now..." The air hissed out of him in a painful rush as Rikku launched one of the two pieces of the engine into his midriff again.
"Help me get this down to the engine room, all right?" Rikku said. She preceded him through the engine room door and out of sight.
"She keeps pushing him like that, and I don't care how bad he feels about what happened, that boy's going to retaliate," Wakka said.
Lulu nodded without cracking a smile. Yuna had moved away from them all and was staring off into the horizon. Lulu pulled Wakka close and whispered, "I'm afraid we've already lost this war."
"Lost the war already? What are you talking about?" Wakka said.
"What is there more of in Spira, ocean or land?" Lulu asked. Her face was inscrutable.
"Ocean, by a lot."
"How long can a man at sea last without water or sleep?" Lulu crossed her arms over her chest. "We don't have a lot of time. Baring a miracle, I think we're going to lose them both."
Wakka didn't answer right away. "You want to know something stupid Lulu? I believe in miracles. I think, maybe this was meant to be. One-in-a-million maybe..."
"Try a billion," Lulu said. She crossed her arms and cocked her head back.
"Maybe the happy ending will happen this time. You have to believe. Remember what Rikku said. We have to keep Yuna's spirits up, keep her fighting and believing."
"That's all well and good. Who's keeping Tidus's spirits up, pray tell? He doesn't even remember why he's here. This all comes down to us finding Tidus before death does, and death has the head start."
A loud growl erupted from the engine room followed by a puff of very black acrid smoke. Rikku and Aldon came running out coughing and sputtering. The growl quickly corrected itself to a steady hum, which vibrated the whole ship and the smoke gradually cleared.
"Let's hope those super-powered engines are enough to catch up then," Wakka said. "I don't much like to lose. I'm going for the victory here."
"At the very least, we'll try our best, right?" Lulu whispered.