Note: Uggh, sorry for the long wait everyone. I'm planning on finishing this fic soon so don't worry ^_^. Anywayz, whatever happened between Lulu and Auron? Curious? Well, you're going to find out here soon enough!



Chapter 6 - Danger After Another

She woke up with an aching back, but then again, she didn't need to complain, since she knew that her bed was made of granite and gravel. Lulu opened her eyes slowly, greeted by the lovely sun kissing her face with its warmth. She looked around, wearily. For one whole day, all she has ever done was sleep, while Auron did the hunting and the cooking. No matter how many times she told him he shouldn't do it anymore, because of his injured shoulder, he would just shrug it off and go out anyway. She couldn't do anything about it. After all, she wasn't his wife. She heard a slight moan from somewhere, so she averted her eyes to find Auron sitting on a small, flat rock, carefully dabbing a stick with its end burning with fire on his wound. Lulu watched him for a while, without him knowing, dabbing that same stick to get the infection out and when he was done, he bent down slowly to pick up the fresh new bandage from the floor and began wrapping it around his shoulder. He had trouble just wrapping it around himself with one arm and after a couple more tries, Lulu couldn't take it anymore. Auron was getting frustrated, something she hasn't seen on his face and he was getting impatient with the stubborn bandage always falling off when he almost had it. Getting up from her pathetic bed, Lulu walked over to him. Auron looked up by the sound of shuffling feet and noticed Lulu coming towards him, startled by her presence. Without a word, she kneeled down beside him, her long, dark, raven, unwashed hair falling to her eyes, with an almost eerie look. Her clothes, Auron noticed were tattered and torn and the fur that went around her shoulders, almost making her look naked, were full of muck and dirt. Her pins were no longer holding up the long stretch of hair that almost reached her ankles. The hundreds of belts that went around the skirt part of her dress were all gone, although leaving only one at least, one that went around her waist. The end of her skirt was worn out, leaving ripped edges that went zig zag around her legs. Although he couldn't see it, Auron could tell that the river they fell into had washed most of her dark make up off, revealing a pale, young woman with baggy eyes. Her lips did no look full as he thought they were, it looked as though it was drawn on by a thin, black pencil. The only thing that made her look the same, were her dark, soulful and expressionless eyes, that were focusing on the bandage as she did her work.

Calmly, Lulu began wrapping the bandage around his shoulder, careful not to touch his bare and wounded shoulder with her cold hands.

Auron turned away, putting his eyes towards the sun that was setting beyond the horizon.

Both were silent for a moment, until Lulu finally had the courage to speak up. She couldn't take the silence anymore. It was too much for her to bare. They shouldn't be awkward around each other. After all, they were both guardians, ones that were hired to protect the young Summoner through her journey to become a Summoner. They should both set an example to Yuna that there are no awkwardness between her Guardians. "Sir Auron, I just want to say thank you so much for everything." She waited until she noticed him turning around. Lulu made a neat knot of both ends of the bandage that ended up by his armpits. She repeated the process again to make sure it wouldn't fall out this time.

Auron turned his head back towards her, confused. "Thank me? For what?"

Lulu took a deep breath, one that was not of impatience, but of relief that they were talking again. She wanted to talk of something else other than whatever happened to her. She wanted to remind herself that nothing bad happened to her.

"Why should you thank me? I couldn't save you from that bastard, Lulu, I'm sorry," Auron spoke.

Lulu winced. So much for THAT. She said nothing. She finished the last round and tied the knots finally, then sulked further back on her knees and slouched her shoulders. She turned her head away from him, wishing he hadn't said that. "Why did you have to mention THAT?"

Auron pursed his lips together. He knew he shouldn't have said anything, but why does she even have to run away from it? She should resolve her problems and not run away from it. She should tell him about her feelings about it. She should...he wants her to. "Lulu, if that guy was alive right now, I could have easily killed him myself with my bare hands."

Lulu said nothing. She got up and sat back down on her spot on the rock. She didn't what to think about what he said. She would have killed him herself, but she was weak and defenseless by her foolish morals of forgiving him and her feelings of friendship towards the man she knew as a sweet boy she grew up with in her childhood. If she explained that to Auron, what would he say? It was easy to guess, really. He would say how weak and pathetic she was of letting Kai do what he did to her without her giving much strenght to resist his advances. Because of her 'ties' with the man, she held a lack of strenght in her body to push him away from her.

"I was weak," she retorted, after a couple of minutes of silence.

"Of course you were. He was stronger than you were and-"

Lulu slammed her hands down on her lap hard, startling Auron. "You don't get it Auron! He and I were in the same level of Black Magic. It would have been easier for me to kill him at that moment, but do you even wonder why I never killed him then?"

Auron was about to say something, when Lulu continued. "I WAS ENGAGED TO HIM!" Those words took a lot of strenght from her. Lulu took quiet deep breaths, her chest moving up and down with so much emotion, that her heart was ready to burst. She wanted to cry, wanted to slam her hands over and over again against Auron's chest to show that she meant what she said about her and Kai. She wanted to hit her head so hard against the rock wall behind her to tell herself how stupid she was for not refusing to marry Kai in the first place. If she could go back in time, she would have, but she couldn't do that. Time was against her. She looked up, wondering what Auron thought about this. She harbored no feelings for this man, whatsoever, but at that point, when Auron got up calmly, without a word, wrapping his arms around her small body, she wished she did. Lulu couldn't take it anymore. She collapsed in his arms quickly than she had thought and wept as hard as she wanted, listening to Auron's soft, deep voice soothing her. She felt his hand rubbing her back as she continued weeping.

He held her tighter, wishing this moment could last forever, but he shouldn't think that. He shouldn't take advantage of a woman who was falling apart right in front of his eyes. He felt her shiver against him- a sign that she needed warmth. Reaching slowly for his red coat behind him, Auron wrapped it around her shoulder carefully with all his strenght and wrapped his arms back around her, to make her warm.

Lulu mumbled a soft, 'thank you,' before looking up into Auron's eyes. His eyes were no longer hidden behind thick lenses. They were revealed for everyone to see, but for now, this revelation was for her and for her alone. His eyes were the deepest green she has ever seen and she could see the kindness and the compassion in them. She sniffed her worries away, forgetting everything about what had happened and looked deeply into his eyes. "You have nice eyes," she spoke, lost in them.

Auron just stared at her. His mouth grew firm and serious. Lulu furrowed her eyebrows curioously. "Auron? What is it-?" Her sentence was held when Auron pressed a finger over her lips, stopping her from speaking.

He looked at her. "Something's approaching..." Auron turned around, releasing his embrace from Lulu and grabbed his sword quickly laying on the floor. He could feel the ground rumbling, as if the world itself was shaking and could hear a snort coming from outside. The monster sounded big...and hungry. He glanced behind him at Lulu, who was preparing to fight with her magic. She wasn't sure if her magic was at its full power, but it couldn't hurt to try. "Looks like we have company."

Lulu nodded without saying a word as she watched Auron step outside. She could see a shadow looming ahead of him- a large one at that. "It must have followed our trail of blood from the river to here."

Auron nodded, keeping his eyes outside. The monster was approaching quickly. He gripped his hand tightly around his sword and took another quiet step. "It looks like it. And it sounds hungry...VERY hungry. Lulu, get ready to slap him with one of your ice spells when you see him through that door and I'll take his head off."

Lulu ignored the detailed words Auron said and nodded. Yes, she'd seen Auron fight monsters and she'd seen him cut their heads with his sword, but she has never seen him talk like THAT before. Usually, Auron would shut up about it and just fight without hesitating.

The monster took another step...

...then another.

The ground shook every step it took and Lulu, with her mind concentrated on her powers, prepared for battle. Auron approached it ever so slowly, simultaneously taking a step with the monster in order to drown out the noise from his own footsteps.

Another step...

Lulu felt like her heart is about to jump out of her skin and into the monster's dinner plate. Why was she so scared all of a sudden? She's fought monsters as big as this one! Why is she scared now? Maybe she knows she can never fight it this time, now that her soul was bleeding with despair. She usually fought with confidence and calmness surrounding her and alongside people she knew and loved. Right now, it was just her and Auron, protecting each other and fighting to survive.

Danger...

One after another...

What more can they possibly need?

************************************
She woke up with a start. Her eyes searched the room with curiosity, her mind still unaware of the fact that she was taken in by Auron's friends and treated for injuries. It took her a couple of minutes, until she realized that and as she sat up from bed, she winced when a pain in her side caught her by surprise. There was a clean bandage around her torso, one clean one that was wrapped around neatly. She could tell it was the work of a woman, by the looks of the neatness of it all. When a man wrapped a bandage around a naked woman's torso, their hands usually start to shake nervously at the sight.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Cess waited as the doorknob twisted and the door slowly opened to reveal that same young woman who was talking to Auron earlier. She was dressed in almost a cloth of some kind wrapped around her body, attached to a long, white skirt, with no sleeves, but only a flowing one that was stitched from her elbows to her knuckles. She wore brown, comfortable shoes and one piece of thick strand, that was longer than the other parts of her tresses, was braided and it rested on her right shoulder perfectly. Her short, brown hair reached upto her shoulders and her eyes, very rare ones at that, were both blue and green. Her right eye was green, while her left was blue. She looked to be around seventeen, but the look of her baby face. She was carrying a tray with odd looking food on it that Cess couldn't quite tell what it was.

"I'm glad you're awake," she spoke softly, setting the tray down on a table at the far wall to Cess' left. "I brought you food, just in case you were hungry."

Cess attempted to sit up again, but the pain only brought her back down on the bed.

Yuna turned and noticed the woman trying to get up. She shook her head and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You shouldn't get up. You had a very large gash on the side of your body and another one at the back. You need to rest in order for you to regain strenght."

"Who are you?" Cess whispered. She never met someone like her before, though she reminded her of someone.

"My name is Yuna Reska, a friend of Auron's."

"Reska...Reska..." Cess chanted. She heard of that name before. No it can't be! The woman looked up and furrowed her eyebrows curiously. Yuna...she's Braska's daughter? "You're...you have the same last name as Braska."

Yuna nodded. "He was my father."

"Was?" Cess noticed Yuna removed her eyes away from her, so she shook the question away and looked down. "Oh," was all she said when she realized what the girl meant.

Yuna looked back up, her sadness now replaced with a smile. "Hey, you should eat first." She got up and fetched the bowl of soup from the tray, then went back to her spot on the bed and handed the soup to her. "Here, this is a special Al Bhed soup made by a friend of ours."

Cess looked down at the soup offered to her. It looked green, almost the color of the swamps in the Besaid Marshes and it had dark green pulp swimming around it. Also floating inside were large chunks of 'things,' maybe meat eyeing her and when she remembered something that she had to do, she looked up and shook her head. What was she thinking, wanting to eat right now while Kai was still alive? "No. I must go back to where Kai is and kill him!"

Yuna looked at her curiously. "What are you talking about? Kai's dead. We saw his body there."

The woman frowned, using her arms as lever and looked closely at her. "He's not dead, Yuna. Only another Black Mage can easily kill him or my special magic I have with me can. No sword or fists can beat this man. He's a Black Mage, engaged to a Black Mage and when he is, he will stop at nothing to claim his prize."

The girl's eyes widened, realization kicking in. "Wait a minute... what are you talking about 'engaged?' He was after Lulu. Are you telling me that..."

Cess nodded. "When they were children, with the information I was given, they grew up together. In Black Mage law, when a boy and a girl are good friends, they quickly become engaged, with the support of the parents."

"Oh..." Yuna spoke. She got up and put the bowl back on its tray, then stood there staring at the wall, her back to Cess. "I...I'm quite confused really..." She turned around to face Cess again, but by the time she did, the woman was already gone, leaving the door open. Yuna ran out the door, hoping she was still there, but once she was out of the room, there was no sign of her.
*******************************
Cess ran as fast as she could through the woods, clutching at her injured side. She had to get back to that same place where he was found 'dead' and stop him before he wakes up. "Dammit!" she swore under her gritted teeth. She couldn't risk letting him go like that. She has to make sure he's dead or hell will break lose again. Her mind went back to Auron. "Auron, I hope you're not injured, because he's coming for you," she said to herself. She pushed a branch out of her way and ran faster through the bushes. There was no time to think things, she had to get there fast!
**********************************
His shoulders hit the ground hard. Auron cried out in pain and looked up as the monster lifted up its large legs and hovered it over him, ready to crush him with its large feet. Weakly, he quickly rolled to one side, avoiding the monster's attack and grabbed his sword that fell on the ground beside him. Lulu was firing as many ice spells as she could, damaging only little to the Cerberus. It kept its attention on Auron, seeing how tasty Auron was than Lulu. It extracted its claws and aimed right at Auron's head, but the man just dodged that as easily and got up quickly, slashing his sword as the Cerberus once again attacked with its claws. It cried out in pain when his sword made contact with its hand and it jumped back in alarm.

Lulu closed her eyes, chanting another ice spell its way. The monster quickly gave up on its snack and decided to go after Lulu. It roared as loud as it could and charged towards the unsuspecting Black Mage. Auron looked up, aware of the whole situation and ran towards the charging monster.

"Lulu, watch out!" he yelled, running faster this time.

The Black Mage looked up, noticing the monster coming right at her. She was neither shaking in her knees, nor gulping nervously. Lulu seemed calm. She closed her eyes again and continued to chant.

Suddenly, a blinding light engulfed the woman. Auron stopped and watched as the light grew brighter. The monster, though how blinding the light was, continued on forward and when Lulu felt it was close enough, she opened her eyes and opened her mouth to say, "METEOR!" She pressed her palms towards the sky and waited until she saw a red light surrounding her, her face towards the heavens. She looked back at the monster and smirked.

Cerberus was unaware of the risk it was taking as it continued to charge at her.

The red light grew darker, almost a black color and when it was enough, Lulu jerked her palms towards the direction of the monster and fired Meteor right at Cerberus. Auron moved out of the way quickly, watching in awe and amazement as Meteor blasted through the large monster. Cerberus roared in pain as its skin began to melt from the heat. Auron could hear the searing heat of Meteor, the power cutting through Cerberus like it was nothing. A large blast surprised both him and Lulu as he ran to her side, watching the scene unfold before them. Meteor blew up right in front of them, taking Cerberus' soul along with it.

Then... all was silent.

Lulu breathed a sigh of relief. She dropped on her knees and tiredly closed her eyes. Before she could stop herself, she collapsed on the ground with a loud, 'thud!' Auron quickly ran to her and checked her pulse. Luckily, she was alive. She had given so much power that her body could not handle that much pressure. She was a Black Mage yes, but Black Mages had their limits. He grabbed his sword from his side and slowly, he picked her up in his arms and carried her away. Not back to the cave, but back to the depths of the forest.

"We have to go find a village somewhere before more of them come for us," he spoke, mainly to himself. He walked into the darkness and they disappeared quickly than the Cerberus had. It would be days or even weeks before they could find a village in a secluded forest like this, Auron thought, walking through a puddle. Normally, he would care if his pants were dirty, but at this point, he didn't. If they don't get out of the forest soon, they will end up being the preys for many of the Cerberus' in the forest or be wasted by the Rangers who roam the forest, waitin for a 'catch.' Lulu would be in more danger than he was if she was all alone here. He curses those who would dare touch her again like HE had! "Don't worry, Lulu," he whispered in her ear. "I'll get you out of here soon enough."
GoodGurl: Yah yah good? Yah?! LOL Anywayz, hope you like this chapter! See ya!