Chapter 23
OMG! I updated!
Sorry about the horrible delay. I've gone through a lot of stuff here in real life, and I haven't been able to write another chapter. This one will be pretty short, but…oh well.
The airship jerked, and Ophelia tumbled over onto Auron, who fell onto Wakka, who fell onto Lulu, who fell onto Rikku, who fell onto Yuna, who fell onto a very disgruntled Kimahri. Ophelia disentangled herself and managed to stand and slip slide her way to her uncle, who didn't seem to have any problem at all staying upright, but, that was Cid for you.
"What's going on?"
Cid frowned and punched a few buttons on the panel in front of him. "Dammit, we blew a lift coil. Without it, we can't get to Bevelle."
"So, what does that mean, exactly?" Tidus asked, scrambling away from a snarling Kimahri.
"It means," Cid said, punching more buttons, "that we have to land and get this baby fixed. Unless you all feel like walking back to Bevelle."
"We can spare the time." Everyone turned and raised a brow, because for Auron, this was a very uncharacteristic comment. He said nothing else, but Ophelia caught the tell-tale sign of a dimple in his left cheek.
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They landed in the Calm Lands, and before anyone could stop her, Ophelia streaked off for the Al Bhed trading post, her pockets jingling with gil she had won in a card game with some of the Al Bhed crew. Auron watched her run off with a sigh, knowing that he would soon have to follow her.
"Whacha waitin' for, old man?" Tidus ribbed. Auron shot him an evil glare and shouldered his sword, starting to follow Ophelia. Of course they were all laughing at him, with him acting like a love sick school boy. He trudged on, ignoring Tidus's hoots and catcalls, smiling to himself when the boy let out an "oof" as Kimahri nailed him in the back of his head with one large ronso palm. He'd have to remember to thank the cat warrior later.
He finally caught up with Ophelia as the Al Bhed woman running the post was wrapping her purchases, and she turned and smiled, and he felt his breath catch. He was going to have to watch himself more closely. The thought of leaving her was already painful enough, but now, not spending every second with her was torture.
"Hey, grumpy. I got you something." She held out something, and, on closer inspection, it turned out to be a new bracer. "It's super neat. It has all kinds of wards and stuff on it." He took it from her and replaced his older one with it. It fit snugly, the way a bracer should. She had a good eye for such things.
"I thank you."
"Hey, no big deal. Yours was looking kinda…." She trailed off, gesturing, a smile pulling at her mouth. He nodded, and stuffed the old bracer into his pack. You never knew when you might need something…
"Well, let's get back to the others. There's a temple over there, and they're supposedly some forgotten aeons inside. It's worth a shot anyway. And Nasha," she said, looking in the direction of the Al Bhed shopkeeper, "said that there's races against wild chocobo's, and if you win, you're granted a map to find the eight celestial weapons, whatever they are."
Auron stroked his chin. "Yes, it is worth a shot. Come. We'll tell the others."
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Told ya it was short. Don't worry, Chapter 24 is not far behind.