Note: Capter 10 needs some serious tweaking, so it will probably be a couple of days before I send it out. :)
A dark corridor lit by bare yellow electric lights stretched out in front of Yuna. She turned slowly. There were men, dark and dirty everywhere. The smell was rank with unwashed bodies mixed with the rotten smell of the water in her last dream. "Hey Vern." Yuna spun around looking for the owner of the voice.
Instead she spotted Tidus. "Tidus? Yevon, help me find you." The man who had spoken took Tidus by the arm and pulled him back. Neither man took note of her. "Tidus, can you see me?"
"You ready to get out of here?" the man asked.
Yuna moved close to the two men. Tidus looked tired, strained, almost lost. She reached out, but her hand passed through him.
"Hershey?" Tidus said. "I thought you were asleep?"
"This is real. Isn't it?" Yuna whispered. "You're living this." Ina had told her that her dreams could be helpful. Yuna started looking for something, anything to give her a clue about where he was. "Help me find you."
"My plan is ready for action. Well, you like mining or you want out of this hole?" Hershey said.
Yuna froze. "Mining? What are you doing at a mine?"
"Have we been going in circles?" Rikku asked. She craned her neck and tried to get a look at the plot sitting in front of Aldon. Her smile was full of hope and suppressed anticipation..
"Surprisingly enough, we're not. Yuna lists off one direction or another when she's behind the wheel, but she always comes back to a relatively straight line," Aldon said.
Rikku grinned. "I can't wait to tell Wakka. He said we'd be back in Besaid in two days."
"I hate to burst your bubble. We may not be going in circles, but we aren't actually going anywhere," Aldon said. "We're headed straight for the Southern Violet Ocean. There isn't any land to speak of down there until you hit the ice cap."
"Are you sure that's where we're headed? What's the nearest island on our line? We have to be headed somewhere." Aldon shook his head. She hadn't even considered what would happen to Tidus at sea. "We'll just have to hurry."
"If we go faster, we risk shooting past him." Aldon massaged his temples. "We just have to hope he's close." He dropped his eyes. "If this doesn't work out..."
"Don't go there, Aldon. This is going to work out," Rikku snapped.
The door to the captain's cabin burst open and a rumpled Yuna burst in. She shoved the arms on her pale blue pajamas up and took the nearest seat. "I think I have a clue about where Tidus is. I know you aren't telling me where I've been steering because you don't want to bias things, but maybe we'll come with a real destination." Yuna paused and smiled shakily. "I had a dream. Tidus was at a miners' camp and he couldn't get away." Yuna waited expectantly. "Ina said I should pay close attention to my dreams. She said I might dream something useful."
Aldon shrugged. "I don't know about any mines where we're headed. It would have to be an Al Bhed operation. Mining in the ocean isn't a low tech undertaking."
Yuna and Aldon immediately turned to Rikku. "Don't look at me. I'll have to contact my dad," Rikku said. She smiled at Yuna. "The dream, it was real, like really real? Tidus was okay?"
Yuna shook her head. "He was alive, but he didn't look good. He was dirty and tired, and I know he was confused."
"Alive though. That means everything." Rikku pushed her seat back and saluted. "I'm off to the radio. My dad will get us the info quick." She crossed her fingers. There had to be a mining station in their path. It would mean that they really had a chance. She waved to Wakka and Lulu at the bow. Now those two were spending a lot of time together.
Wakka waved at Rikku as she passed through. Lulu didn't even bother. "Hey, you mad at Rikku now?" Wakka asked.
"No." Lulu stared over the dark ocean. "I'm not mad at anyone. Not anyone I can get my hands on anyway."
"Ah, so just taking it out on those of us in range." Wakka took a little piece of wood and threw it as hard as he could. Lulu snapped her fingers and it burst into flame a moment before it would have struck the water.
"No littering," Lulu said. She smiled dryly and shrugged. "Believe it or not, I'm hopeful. It's impossible to be around you naive optimists and not start to believe a little."
"Naive optimists?" Wakka laughed and pulled himself up to sit on the railing. Hopeful? Lulu was pretty when she bothered to smile. She hadn't smiled nearly enough for a long time though. Sometimes he wanted to shake her, to tell her it was okay to be happy. Chappu wouldn't have wanted to take her smile. "I like that. Better than being a jaded pessimist anyway, right?"
"Are you insinuating that I'm jaded and a pessimist?" Lulu asked. The sharp look she shot him practically dared him to make the accusation. She'd had her share of optimistic dreams and naive fantasies. Just because she knew enough not to count on happy endings, did not make her jaded or even a pessimist. She was a realist, a hopeful realist.
"Did I say that? Worst I ever said about you is you get mad easy," Wakka said. And I'm the world's champion at making you angry...
"Hey, you two," Rikku called. "Group meeting, we may have a destination!" She waved a printout and headed into the captain's cabin.
Wakka jumped down and started across the deck. "Score another one for the naive optimists. Wonder what's changed?"
Lulu shrugged. "Last I checked, we were headed straight nowhere." She paused at the entrance to the lower deck. "Should we tell the mother Ina?"
Wakka shook his head vehemently. "I don't think so. She creeps me out something fierce." He allowed Lulu to pass first and followed her in. The small room was cramped with five people so Wakka stayed back in the doorframe. Yuna was perched expectantly on the edge of her seat and Rikku was spreading her printout in front of Aldon.
"I knew it!" Rikku cried. "It's right in the path!"
"What is?" Lulu asked.
"The Alathian Mining Co., provider of G3 grade sludge to Al Bhed refineries everywhere," Rikku said.
Aldon nodded. "Assuming Yuna really has been steering toward this fellow, Tidus. This is the only possible haven, and better yet, it's close."
"How close is close?" Wakka asked. "A day? A hour?"
Aldon cut his eyes at Rikku. "As long as Rikku's modifications to the engine don't sink us? Less than a day."
"Don't worry," Rikku said. "Like I'd sink your boat. Anyway, Dad called ahead and told the owner, Orcha Lee, to expect a Jenquo ship making a supply run for him instead of the regular vessel. He didn't act like he much cared for this woman, Orcha, and wanted to make sure we didn't get turned away out of hand."
Yuna nodded. "If her mine is anything like the place I've been dreaming of, she's despicable. It is foul and degrading. I can't stand the thought of Tidus trapped there alone and confused." Yuna's hands were twisted together in her lap.
Rikku smiled resolutely. "Remember, though. Less than a day and we'll be there. All this can end happy. Tidus and you can be together." The old mother Ina's warning about keeping one's spirits up and the danger of negative emotions nagged at Rikku. Tidus was in an unpleasant situation... He'd just have to hold on a little longer. Losing to death now was not an option.
Wakka and Lulu exchanged similar expressions of concern. What if death beat them to Tidus? What then? Yuna would be sure to follow quickly, and their spirits would be lost forever in Hell, alone.
Yuna sat quietly for a moment, waiting for the other shoe to drop. They were all hiding something. She could feel the lie thick in their glances and exchanged stares. She could feel it in the way Aldon wouldn't meet her eyes and the way Rikku smiled, too determinedly. "I wish you would all just tell me what has you so scared. It can't be any scarier than not knowing. Stop protecting me, and treat me like an equal. Wakka? Lulu? Rikku?"
No one spoke for a long moment. Finally Rikku shrugged. "Everyone just wants this to work out. No one is hiding anything. Why would we hide something?"
Yuna watched the others nod their silent assent. She sighed and rested her head in her hands. "Fine. You don't have to tell me. Just let's hurry. We're so close."