- - -
Wakka paused at the door to his hut. His eyes were fixed on the cloth door, but he didn't really see anything. He didn't want to go in… He didn't want to look at her.
"…Someone…there?" Lulu's weak voice called. The light from the door had flickered like it usually did when a person approached.
Wakka jumped away from the door and hurried off into the evening. He passed families sitting in front of their huts, cooking dinner outside as the sun sank into the ocean.
Wakka found himself walking very quickly toward the ledge above the river. It seemed like yesterday, the day he had taken a stranger who'd washed up on the beach here to swim to the village.
Dat where this whole thing started? Wakka wondered. With him?
Wakka sprinted and flung himself over the edge, landing on the hard surface of the water with an enormous splash! and the spreading of much water several feet in the air. Maybe he did need to lose a little weight…
A girl giggled from up above, among the bushes, endlessly humored by the sight of grownup performing a belly flop. She skipped off through the underbrush to tell all her friends and giggle some more.
Wakka, meanwhile, put his back towards the river bottom and let his body float along in a lazy fashion. He paddled halfheartedly with his feet, but mostly the current gently edged him downstream.
How was he going to face her? How could he, now? When it was his fault?
"Lu…I'm sorry," he mumbled, and he said the same thing over and over in his thoughts. "Dat stupid doctor, ya?"
Ya…stupid doctor. He remembered what had happened at the docks earlier that afternoon.
"At this rate, the odds that she will survive the birth are very slim. Her body has already been weakened, and she seems to get continually worse. I'm sorry…"
"Whaddya mean?" Wakka had growled, shaking a fist. "Whaddya mean, 'sorry'?" His face went red and he raised his hand a bit higher. "She's got no chance, dat what you're sayin'?"
The doctor, a young gentleman with dark brown hair combed over his prematurely balding forehead, shook his head sadly. "You had me examine her, and I've heard what she's been like the past two months…"
"Well, stop lyin', ya? Lu's stronger than you could ever know!" But it was anger and panic that fueled these words. Inside, he was beginning to doubt, ever so slightly…and it had started eating away at him since then.
"I understand why you're upset, but it's my job to report my honest diagnosis—if I lied, wouldn't you just be angrier?"
"You tell me she's got a chance, then! She'll live, ya?"
"I can guarantee her labor will be a hard one," the doctor said simply. "And I don't think she could take such an ordeal, not in her present state." He looked towards the boat waiting at the dock. "I really must leave now, forgive me. I need to get to Bevelle to see a patient…"
As the professional dove into some stupid excuse, Wakka just stared. He wanted to grab the small man by his shoulders and shake him. He wanted to scream, "You're lying, right? Tell me she'll be okay!" But he could not.
"I'll take care of Lu," the orange-haired man said, nodding and waving his arms exaggeratedly in order to be as convincing as possible.
The doctor climbed up onto the ship. "Take care of her, as long as you've got her."
"That'll be forever!" yelled Wakka, but confidence was not in his words, nor his heart.
Wakka twisted his neck back so that his face was submerged in the clear, cool water. What will I do if she…? That baby growing inside of her…it's because of me. And all her suffering…and now, if she…if she… That'd be my fault, too.
Lu, I… I'm sorry.
-
"Aren't we going to be a bit chilly on the way up?" worried Yuna.
"Hey now. It's summer, isn't it?"
"But Mount Gagazet is very far north…there's always snow, Rikku," Yuna groaned. "Speaking of that, how in the world did we get here so fast? Mount Gagazet is very far away from Besaid…"
"You know the world is round, don't you?"
"Oh…" Stupid question, I guess. We took a shortcut, Yuna realized.
They had been walking a great while when they finally arrived at a Travel Agency that had sprouted up right at the base of the sacred mountain. The building seemed slightly smaller than most of the others, but it also was shiny, and seemed like a nice resort as the winds from the sacred mountain were already howling down.
"I don't get it," Rikku pronounced as she boldly swung the door open and charged in. She twisted her neck to talk to Yuna directly. "It's midsummer in Besaid, but frozen up here."
"Weren't you here at Gagazet only a little while ago?" Yuna dusted the snow from her boots on the soft mat directly inside. She hopped to the side as the Al-Bhed boy (Rikku's 'subordinate'?), who was accompanying them up the mountain, dragged himself in, sagging with the weight of the large pack he was forced to bear.
Rikku frowned at the boy, who's named just happened to be Zysac. She wondered if she should have brought one of her brothers instead. Definitely, one of them would have been stronger. Still, they would have complained too much and tried to boss Rikku around.
"Maybe I forgot," Rikku replied to Yuna's earlier question. "Besides, I took a really long way to get here. I had to stop at New Home and get some supplies to fix up my ship. Then I had to go to Bevelle because…"
Yuna spaced off as her cousin slowly began to remember all she had done for the past several weeks, and explained it. The Summoner had gotten the idea. Besides, she was really quite cold in these flimsy, impractical Al-Bhed clothes. She, Rikku, and the boy—Zack, was it? No, something Al-Bhed… Well, whatever it was, they were all exhausted and freezing.
I can't wait to curl up in a warm bed, Rikku thought. This Gagazet place is worse than last time. Funny…
"Hello, hello," said a woman's cheerful voice. She had just emerged from one of the doors in back. Her goggled eyes fixed on the new customers. "Yr, Al-Bhed! Fryd y bmaycyhd cinbneca!"
"Hello!" Rikku said cheerfully in her native language. "Do you have some rooms available?"
"Always." The clerk winked. "I would kick out any other guests in order to service Miss Rikku."
The clerk was a young woman, maybe in her mid-twenties, like Lulu and Wakka. She had incredibly long blond hair that went freely down over her shoulders down her arms and back. She was wearing long black slacks and a fuzzy blood-red sweater. She also had on animal hide gloves of a tan color.
Finally, Yuna thought, an Al-Bhed woman who dresses practically. Yuna noticed that the woman inspected her curiously, but said nothing about it, and just continued making arrangements about the rooms.
Zysac was quiet, but he seemed relieved, the color rushing back into his face and his hands tingling with renewed sensation. His clothes were typical of his tribe. He had light tan baggy pants tucked in deep brown boots, a long-sleeved sapphire shirt with a black jacket over it, and dark blue goggles, black straps affixing them to his head, with a band across the forehead and a chinstrap coming down from the ears. His hair was short and so blond it was almost white next to his crimson ears.
"We run a nice little inn here, I'd like to think," the clerk was saying. "We have four rooms and a small dining area. Also, I have a large stock of many items you might consider taking on your journey up the mountain."
"Well, we'll be staying until tomorrow at least. Gotta get our game plan on, hmm?" She winked at her two companions. "Right now we could all use a little nap, though."
The clerk nodded. "No problem. If you need anything, the name's Myesa."
"That's a pretty name," Yuna said, and, without thinking, she did so in the common tongue.
"Why, thank you," replied Myesa in Al-Bhed, smoothing out the ripple in the flow of the conversation. She smiled and went to dig for something under her desk.
"C'mon," yawned Rikku, going through the rightmost door to a short hallway with a two doors on either side. "Zysac," she said simply and tossed him a small metallic object—a key, probably. Then she unlocked another entrance and collapsed on the nearest bed.
While Rikku sighed with happiness, Yuna came in a bit more slowly and shut the door behind her. She removed the goggles from her head and placed them on a small wood table that sat between the two low beds. She took her hair down, then struggled to untie the enormous boots, and finally let them stand up by themselves while she burrowed down into the thick, soft comforters.
"Yuna," Rikku said, stretching out on top of the uppermost quilt. "We need to call you something else. What about…Aore?" She was mumbling to herself, lost in thought, and her companion could hardly make out what she was saying.
"What do you mean?" Yuna poked her head out from her newly constructed nest.
"Your name is Yuna…"
"I know. My father named me because he idolized Lady Yunalesca…" …How terribly misguided my father was, just like all Summoners, she remembered, and she felt a small finger of pain plucking at her heartstrings.
"If you try and translate Yuna…it would be Aore," Rikku explained.
"What does that mean?"
"It's just nonsense, of course. But I can't just go screaming 'Yuna! Yuna!' everywhere, y'know?"
"Mmm." Yuna wrapped up into her covers. "Aore is a pretty name too."
Rikku sat up on the edge of her bed and began unbuckling and peeling at various articles she had on her person until she was just wearing her shirt and shorts. On the floor sat a pile of boots, goggles, grenades, belts, blades, and a dozen or so other items she always had at the ready. Now she crawled into a cozy little haven of her own. "Nightie-night."
"You too," Yuna said. She shut her eyes and tried to think of a calming sea, with the waves gently lapping up against a white sand beach. Her mind populated the beach with palm trees and small children laughing over a game of blitzball.
Yuna awoke from her nap, feeling fully energized, about two hours later. Rikku was snoring away, tossing and turning on the mattress.
Yuna smirked at her cousin's playfulness and let her sleep. She walked over to the curtained window and peeked out to see it was already dark outside on the mountain. It might not be too late, though. Just dark. The sun set earlier during Gagazet's winter—during the mid to late afternoon.
Yuna went to the table and managed to brush her hair back into a large ponytail on the back of her head. She pulled the goggles down and tiptoed out into the comparatively bright hallway. Her eyes, one blue and one green, instinctively blinked in order to adjust.
She jumped a little when the door opposite the one from which she had just emerged came creaking open, somewhat cautiously. The other person appeared startled as well, his green eyes coming open wide.
"Oh," Yuna breathed a sigh of relief. It was only Zysac. "Rammu," she said.
He just nodded in reply. He had yet to open his mouth before her.
Yuna nodded, too. She really didn't have any idea what else to do. Also, now that she looked at Zysac without all his headgear on, he didn't seem like such a 'young boy', after all. He was a bit short, but he looked like he was fifteen or sixteen. Younger than her, perhaps, but not young.
Yuna shrugged. He wasn't going to talk to her, and he just stood there blankly. Maybe he was just half-awake. She gave him a small smile, signaling her defeat, and turned to leave.
"No…you no go there."
Yuna turned around and raised one of her fine eyebrows. "What do you mean?" she responded. She was surprised he had spoken the common tongue, short and choppy as it was.
"You is…the Lady Summoner. No go. Please." He paused between each word, obviously groping into the depths of his mind to get his thoughts across.
"I do understand Al-Bhed…" she told him, a bit frustrated that he couldn't seem to grasp that.
"Come," he said, at last using language he was comfortable with. He took her into his room and shut the door. He had Yuna sit down on one of the beds as he lit a small lamp hanging from the wall.
"Would you please explain to me what you're talking about?"
"I went out earlier, and people have come. Strange people who hate Al-Bhed." He sat heavily on the mattress, as if his worries were almost too much to bear. "They are Yevonites." He seemed to scoff at the word, and it was of little wonder; Yevon had meant the demise of many, especially those of his tribe.
"Why would they be here?"
"It is dark, and a storm is coming. But me, Miss Rikku, and you, Lady, should stay far away from them. They are dangerous."
"Well, have you talked with them?"
"Earlier, I was trying to rest, but I heard yelling in the lobby. I went up the door and I could hear them insulting Miss Myesa. They said they hated to stay in a 'dirty Al-Bhed inn', but they had no choice because of the weather. They said it was dreadful—and they said something about a pilgrimage on the sacred mountain."
"Pilgrimage?" The word summoned memories from her heart. "Did you see what sort of people they were?"
He nodded. "They finally stopped insulting Miss Myesa long enough for her to give them a room—I think the one next to mine—and well, I heard them coming to the door and I tried to get outta the way. This Guado girl came in first, with frizzy red hair. She just rushed past me. But then this guy in a warrior monk's outfit came through and took me by the collar—" He pulled away the top of his shirt to show her a red line all around his neck.
Yuna gave a small gasp.
"There were a few others, but I didn't really see them, because the warrior monk guy shoved me into my door and started swearing at me. But I didn't understand him that well..."
"Why, that's awful!" exclaimed the woman. "Did anything else happen?"
"I don't know. Once he let me go and he stormed off into the room with his friends, I ran back and locked myself in my room." His face was wrinkled with lines of concern. Obviously, the experience had not been pleasant for him.
"What happened next?" Yuna was on the edge of her seat.
"They came through about an hour ago, and then later at least some of them went back out to the lobby or whatever, I'm not sure. And then I heard your door open, so I was worried they might bother you, too, since you're dressed as an Al-Bhed, Lady Yuna."
"You're supposed to call me 'Aore', now, I think," she informed him. "My codename." She tried to show him a bit of sparkle in her eyes, even with the goggles. The two of them sat there for a bit, processing thoughts silently in the flickering lantern light.
"How do you know they're Yevonites?" Yuna wanted to know. She asked quietly and timidly, as though speaking in a normal tone might shatter the silence explosively.
"I know…" he said simply, his face grave. "I just know."
-
When Wakka arrived home, there were two plates of food laid out on the table: one was full, and one had the food mixed around, with a few bites' worth missing.
Lulu was comfortably dozing on one side of the room, in the large bed that they shared. It was dark and cool; the fire in the middle of the hut had gone out without anyone to watch it.
Wakka felt the guilt swell up inside of him. Lulu had endured the heat of an inside fire only to make a meal he didn't share with her. Tomorrow…tomorrow he would make dinner.
Wakka sat down to eat his food. There were bits of meat cooked inside the rind of a spiky vegetable that was grown in many families' gardens. A sauce made with stock and a few spices was ladled over the entire plate. A few greens sat in a small pile to make a salad.
The food was much better hot, and now a bit of the flavor seemed to have evaporated into the humid air. Wakka took a spoon and gobbled everything down, even scooping out the rind until it was a flimsy dark green shell. His stomach hurt afterward, but he knew that sitting and picking at the meal would have been worse.
There was a jug of fresh water in the middle of the table that he himself had fetched in the early hours of that morning. He used about half of it to quench his thirst and wash the bitter tastes from his mouth. Still, he found that he tasted something even pure water wouldn't wash away.
Wakka wondered how late it was. When the cool night winds began penetrating the door, he became a bit chilly. He peeled off his clothes until he was left with just his dark pants. He even removed his headband and coarsely combed his hair down with clumsy fingers.
He stumbled over Lulu to the side of the bed next to the wall, and pulled the few coverings over his body.
Lulu was motionless. She was lying flat on the bed, her hands folded over her belly with the rest of her lined up in a straight line. Her black hair was loose, mostly to her left side, and it was long enough to come down off the bed to touch the floor of the hut.
It was a bit chilling to see her like that. She already had pale skin, and now…
Wakka sat about halfway up, leaning on his elbow and looking down at his lover. He kissed her forehead, and was a bit nervous until he felt warmth beneath his dry lips. Thank goodness, he couldn't help but thinking.
Lulu stirred, blinked her beautiful enticing eyes open, and smiled at him simply, without a word. 'You're home,' was what her eyes said.
"I'm sorry, ya?" he mumbled, kissing her on the edge of her cheek, right near her ear. It was his favorite spot to kiss her, but he wasn't quite sure why. "I was…thinking."
Lulu looked at him curiously. "About what?" she asked. From the look on his face, she had her suspicions… But maybe, just maybe—hopefully, even—she was wrong.
"Nothing important," he said with his heavy island accident, altering his th's and modifying a few other letters.
"You're not worried about me, are you?" The woman sounded a little angry.
"I…I…" He scratched the back of his head. "'Course not!"
"You're lying," she knew. "Wakka—"
"It's nothing, ya? I'll take care of it," he told her. I'll take care of you.
"Hmm," she replied, with supple lips closed.
"Anyhow, you didn't eat your dinner, did ya?"
"I wasn't hungry." She saw his mouth start to open and added hastily, "I'll eat it later."
Wakka wore a half frown. "I… I dunno. You gotta eat for you and the baby, right? Or what?"
"Of course, Wakka. I know that."
He was just a tad thickheaded.
Wakka slid his hand behind her neck and raised her head so that their lips met for a slow kiss. It was the lazy sort of kiss that one relishes for a long time, just happy to have the opportunity to share the affection, not rushed or hurried or anything. Wakka hoped they could have the opportunity for a lot more of these.
Lulu's finely defined lips curved into a smile under the weight of the man's thicker, more calloused ones, and she wrapped her slender arms around his neck. His skin was warm and soft to the touch, even if his stubble scratched at her tender face.
Wakka sighed and buried his face in her neck, coming down from his elbow so that he could lie right next to her, as closely as was possible. One arm wrapped around his unborn child, and the other wound down beneath the small of the woman's back.
Lulu shifted to make herself comfortable. She folded both hands on her belly and entangled her fingers with Wakka's so that they both held the baby. She wondered to herself if the three of them would get to be together like this after the baby was born.
Unknown to Lulu, Wakka was thinking the same exact thing. Tears stung at his closed eyes, but he fought them. Don't cry. You gotta be strong for Lu… She's been the same for you.
A few years ago, when Sin had killed Chappu, it was as if Wakka's wits and reason just flooded out of him in a rush and he became a lonely, angry shell of a man. From then on, especially at that time, Lulu had been the one to knock some sense into him. She had growled at him when he was unreasonable about the Al-Bhed, scolded him when he tried to find Chappu in Tidus, and consoled him on cold nights when he was all alone. She had made him whole again, even with her sarcastic and sometimes condescending manner.
It had taken Wakka long enough to realize how seriously Lulu had grieved during that time, too. Probably a lot worse than he had. She stopped wearing colors, and took to black and grays (a habit she had yet to break). When Lulu had had any time at all, she threw herself into studying magic much more seriously than before. Her focus became the dark arts, and she gave up healing magic altogether. She was always trying to test a more powerful spell than before.
Wakka squeezed Lulu's waist tightly with the arm that went under her. He pressed his nose into the warm flesh of her neck. I want this forever, he thought about the warm, secure feeling he got when he was so intimate with Lulu like this.
Again, Lulu shared in his sentiments.
- - -
Author's Notes:
Just a word of caution… My long-term boyfriend recently broke up with me, and I'm pretty stressed/sad about that, so don't count on this being a very happy story. =/ It might get a whole lot more depression, or just stay all angsty and stuff. I'll try to insert a bit of humor if possible.
I know the story skips around a lot from person to person and from past to present. I hope readers can follow it well enough…really, it's just how my style works it's *magic*. This is my first FFX fic, so I hope everything works out. I'm trying to put insight into things that happened a) before the game, b) during the game, and c) after the game (which is all mine to play with! Hahaha!)
I don't know how big a role original characters will play in this story. I think they'll be at least one or two very major ones; three at the most. Sometimes I can get too carried away with original characters that I slack off in terms of focusing on the staple characters that everyone knows and loves. Whoops ^^;;
Well, thanks for reading so far! I'd appreciate reviews… Already, Noelle pointed out a mistake about Yuna's earring (I thought it was part of her hair, whoops…) Who knows what mistakes I'll make next O.o I'm trying to keep with what was shared in the game, so if there is a discrepancy between what I've written and what was explained, do tell. Thanks again ^^