A/N: AAAHHH! Whenever I sit down to write, I write really long author's notes and disclaimer and I
don't get around to writing the actual fic till the next time, so I will blab on about nothing AFTER the fic.
Ok? Good.
Disclaimer: ffx belongs to square. Not me, not you. Square. Well, theoretically, someone from square
could be reading this, but I find it very unlikely.
A/N: Ok, ok. One quick comment. It's really hard to write an ffx fic while watching the muppets, because
fozzybear keeps yelling "Wakka!" Ok, on with the fic.

A Few Die Hard Fans
Chapter 7
I Can't Sleep!

After Tidus bugged the old crone who kept yelling, "Stay away from the Summoner" for about ten
minutes, he retired to the cot in the crusader's lodge we had prepared for him. Wakka and I each left for
our respective homes, but Lulu stopped us.
"Why are you being so nice to that Boy?" She spat. She wasn't going to let us get a word in
edgewise.
"I shouldn't even have to ask. It's because he looks like Chappu. Chappu is dead, ok? Dead. He
does look a lot like Chappu. I was surprised too, the first time I saw him. But no matter what he looks like,
he isn't Chappu."
"Yeah but, he needed our help," Wakka replied.
"He would have died!" I cut in.
"Excuses again? I've had it with you two. Enough!" With that she left.
"She has a point, Wakka. No one can take your little brother's place." I whispered. Wakka looked
embarrassed. We headed into the Crusader's lodge to check on Tidus, but he was awake and had been
listening to our conversation.
"Scary. What's with her?" he asked.
"She's had a hard past." I said.
"Ah ha. So. Who's Chappu?"
"He was my Brother. He looked a lot like you," Wakka mumbled. He didn't want to cry in front
of Tidus, but I knew he was trying hard not to.
"Well, he wasn't blond. He had orange hair like his brother." I said, ruffling the blitz coach's hair.
He laughed. "Mission accomplished." I thought.
"He was with the Crusaders when they fought sin last year."I saw Wakka's eyes welling up with
tears.
"He didn't make it," I finished for him.
"I first heard on the day of the tournament."
"So that's what was on your mind."
"I became a guardian to fight sin."
"Revenge then?"
"That was the idea. But now I'm more worried about a stupid game than avenging my brother. I
know it sounds like I'm using you, but I'm not."
"It's ok. I mean, you've done a lot for me. What I mean is, thanks Wakka. And you too, Lora."
"Stop it, You're embarrassing me!" Wakka replied, blushing.
"It was the least we could do. Now get some sleep. You look like you need it." I said.
Finally, Wakka and I headed to our respective huts. I sat down on my bed. It was blankletless,
but not because I couldn't get blankets. There was simply no point. Besaid is tropical, so even though we
are famous for our weaving, none of us have blankets.
I kicked off my sandals, stretched out and tried to sleep, but my thoughts were too loud. My head
swam with ideas, plans, and problems. What if Wakka dies during the pilgrimage? What if Yuna won't
make me her guardian? And what of Tidus and Yuna? Tidus doesn't seem to remember that summoners
die at the end of their pilgrimage. What if they fall in love? What if Tidus really is from Zanarkand? What
will he think if and when he sees it destroyed? I tossed and turned. And the Blitzball team. Will Wakka
really quit blitz? What will the rest of the team think? I stood abruptly up and absent-mindedly walked out
the flap door of my hut. Even at night, it was still quite warm out. I didn't bother to put my shoes back on.
No point.
I walked the couple of yards to Wakka's house. I saw a flickering light coming from under the
door. I opened the door to see Wakka sitting up in his bed, the room lit with a single candle. I opened my
mouth to say "I can't sleep" But Wakka spoke before my mouth could form the words.
"You too, eh?" I nodded.
"Mm." I sat down next to him.
"You worried about the Pilgrimage?"
"Yeah."
"And the tournament?"
"Uh-huh. And Tidus and Yuna."
"Me too, ya?"
"Mm." I repeated. I felt tears forming behind my eyelids as I stared at the candle.
"What are you worried about the most?" he asked.
"Everything," I said as I fought back tears, "You." I whispered, turning towards the orange haired
blitzer. I let the tears escape.
"It's ok. It'll be all right." he repeated as he stroked my hair. He can be very comforting.
~~~~~~*~*~*~*~~~~~~
I must have fallen asleep on his shoulder, because I woke up in my own bed with Wakka staring at
me from the foot of the bed. I smiled.
"It's about time you got up, ya? The boat's about to leave!"
"The- The Boat!" I stammered as I leapt out of bed. I grabbed my shimmery pouch from my
bedpost.
"Wakka! Out!" I commanded.
"Huh?"
"I have to change!"
"Oh." he said while scratching his head as he always did when embarrassed, "I'll wait for you
outside."
As soon as he was out the door, I removed my old clothes and put on clean ones. Blue tank top, short
denim shorts with silver trim, silver cape. I attached the pouch to my belt, and checked to make sure none
of my jewelry had fallen off during the night. Necklace with dragon pendant and quartz crystal: check.
Charm bracelet complete with charms equipping both white and black magic: Check. Braided necklace
with wooden beads: check. I slipped my sandals back on and rushed out the door.
"Wait! My hair!"
I ran back into my hut and grabbed a hairbrush from my desk. I'll brush it on the way. Everyone
else was waiting outside.
Wakka walked up to Tidus, and presented him with a sword I recognized as Brotherhood. I was
shocked.
"Here. This is for you," he said.
"That's- That was-" I sputtered.
"That was the sword you gave Chappu." Lulu finished, glaring at Wakka.
"Well, he never used it," Tidus gave the sword a wave. Then, Yuna emerged from the temple
carrying an immense suitcase.
"You don't really need all that stuff," Lulu shouted.
"These aren't my things. They are gifts for the temples we are to visit," Yuna responded.
"This isn't a vacation, Yuna." Lulu scoffed. Yuna looked disappointed, but left the suitcase on the
stairs of the temple. We continued down the road. Tidus seemed eager to talk to Yuna. Lulu was still
muttering about me and Wakka. I was watching Wakka, and he seemed preoccupied with his feet. Yuna
seemed to be lost in thought. In any case, no was paying attention when the dingo attacked. Wakka, Tidus
and I took our places in the front lines.
"Why don't you try out that sword I gave you?" Wakka asked. Tidus struck the fiend, and it was
instantly destroyed. Before we could continue on our way, we were attacked by a condor.
"A flyer! My kind of customer!" Wakka exclaimed. he knocked the fiend out of the air with a
single hit of his blitzball. We all did our little victory dance thingies. I clapped my hands like the Aurochs
do to rally courage to blitz, or to celebrate something good, (A/N: Three claps, rest, Three more claps, rest,
seven claps, punch the air 4 times) and we continued on our way.
"When will you teach me to attack with a blitzball?" I asked Wakka.
"When we get to Kilika. Be patient, ya?"
"Hey, I can play blitzball, why am I not on the Aurochs?"
"I don't know. I thought you didn't like playing blitzball?"
"The Aurochs may need my help?"
"Fine. You are now an honorary member of the Besaid Aurochs. But don't expect to play! You're
on the bench."
"Works for me."
Another fiend. This time,a water flan.
"This looks like trouble." Wakka announced.
"Ha!" said the blond, "Watch this!" He struck the fiend, doing about 3 damage to the blob of goo.
"Told ya! You got to use magic to beat these ones. Lets have our black mage show you what I
mean. Lu! You're up!"
"Clueless, aren't you? Good thing I'm here." Lulu bragged.
"Hey! I can do magic too!" I exclaimed.
"Fine," said Lulu, "You can handle this one."
"If you can't beat the fiend down, you've got to use magic of an element it doesn't like." Wakka
explained.
"Magic? Element?"
"Fire fiends are weak to ice magic, and ice fiends are weak to fire magic." I explained.
"I get fire and ice, but what about lightning and water?"
"They are opposed, like fire and ice. This one's a water fiend, which means..." I cast a thunder
spell on the creature. It melted into a pile of goo. Victory dance again. What fun. (sarcasmsarcasm)
We reached the cliff overlooking the village.
"Take your time." Lulu told Yuna.
"What are we waiting for? Lets go!" Tidus said, impatient as always.
"We're gonna wait." Wakka told him. "Yuna was brought to this village 10 years ago. She's
been here ever since."
"I'm ready." Yuna said calmly. We continued down the road. We stopped a few yards later at the
shrine by the cliff side.
"What now?" asked Tidus, sounding more and more whiny as we went on.
"People leaving the island pray here for a safe trip." I explained as I knelt beside Wakka to do just
that.
"Chappu didn't pray that day. Said he'd miss his boat." Wakka said, looking up. Tidus shrugged
and followed suit. A few seconds later, we continued on our way.
I noticed, a few steps afterwards, that Tidus had been dragging behind. I alerted Wakka, and we
went to take a look. We found him brawling with Kimahri. Kimahri had to 'test' the newcomer.
"That's enough!" Wakka shouted, and Kimahri stopped his assault.
"What's with that guy? asked the attackee.
"He is Kimahri, of the Ronso tribe. He has learned the fiends way of fighting." Lulu explained.
"That's not what I meant."
Yuna laughed. "Sometimes we don't understand him either, but he has protected me since I was a
child." Tidus nodded.
Another fiend attack. This time a Garuda.
"A flyer! That's your department, right?"
"True, true." Wakka stated, "But lets have our summoner show us what she's made of." Tidus ran
a few steps backwards, and Yuna took her place in the front lines.
"Your first real battle! Lets see some style."
"Show us what your training has tought you, Yuna!" I encouraged. Yuna nodded, and summoned
Valefor. Even the second time, it was pretty impressive. Valefor made short work of the fiend, and we
continued on our way.
We crossed both bridges over the waterfalls, and were wet with the spray when we encountered
another garuda.
"Another one of those!" Wakka announced, exasperated, "Leave this one to me. Say goodnight,
birdy!" he said, as he performed Dark Attack on the arial fiend. With it close to blind, it couldn't hurt us,
and we finished it off fairly quickly. We encountered a few more fiends on the way to the docks, but
nothing we couldn't finish off with little or no trouble.
With a fond farewell to all our friends that had congregated at the beach so see us off, we set off
on the journey of our lives.

A/N: Finally done with that chapter. I can't believe that took me the entire thanksgiving vacation!
Anyway, don't worry. I won't do a play by play of all the fiend battles we encounter. Just the ones with
dialogue. Tuatorial battles, you know? Anyway, my good friend Kathy will show up in the next chapter,
only she won't stick around long. You'll see. Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, Review to tell me
what you think!