A/N: Auron and Lulu fans: I have just created a mailing list dedicated to this pairing! I am looking for active members, and I figured, if you're reading an Auron/Lulu fic, then you must like them! So please, please join! You can post fanfiction, fanart, or just discussions. Just snag the URL from my bio.
I don't know what other pairings besides Auron x Lulu I'll include, so I'll try and keep everything open for a while longer.
Disclaimer: I didn't own it last chapter, and I don't own it now. 'Nuff said.
Sweltering Forest Equals Hot Dreams
It was so hot! No—scratch that. Hot was much too feeble of a word…sweltering was more appropriate. Scorching would also work…as would blazing. In any case, the temperature was very high.
All around, trees pressed in closely, their feet lathered in undergrowth that also appeared confining. The close proximity was almost claustrophobic, and it simply added to the humidity and uncomfortable nature of the forest. The moisture caused bugs to buzz everywhere—to the utmost annoyance of all of the travelers.
Lulu in particular was having difficulties with the unbearable heat. Her dress weighed heavily against her body, keeping the damp heat trapped within. Her companions weren't much better off, either. Yuna leaned heavily against her staff as she walked; Rikku was breathing heavily, almost to the point she was panting (much to the mage's discontentment); Kimahri swatted almost sluggishly at the flies with his clawed hands; Tidus, Wakka, and Auron all sported streams of perspiration down their foreheads, the salty water dripping in their eyes. Auron, however, chose not to take off his red coat.
For a long while no one said anything. The silence that had fallen seemed alien and ominous. Never before had five minutes gone by without some comment from Tidus or Rikku. And now, the only sounds were the buzzings of flies, the occasional snap of a twig under some rookie's boot, and the sporadic grunt from the mouth of a progression member.
The absence of fiends was another issue of restlessness. There was no excuse for the company's undisturbed, empty traveling. This forest was abandoned and wild—a perfect hotspot that should have the surrounding area teeming to its figurative eyeballs in vicious fiends. But such beasts appeared nonexistent, and though this would have normally cheered them, now it only unnerved them.
Lulu was finding it hard to pick up her feet, which seemed to want to drag on their own accord. She still felt drained from her restless sleep, and the heat did nothing to help her state. In fact, the damp humidity made her movements practically lethargic, and she was grateful for the scarcity of enemies. It wasn't heartening, but it was welcome all the same. Even if they had come across fiends, Lulu doubted she would have been able to lift her hand to cast even a simple spell upon them.
'Auron was right,' she thought, self-disgust burgeoning within her. 'I am compromising Yuna's pilgrimage with my fatigue.' Not that anyone else was fairing any better than she was at the moment.
But somehow, they kept moving…and Lulu felt ready to drop.
Yuna was leading the group, being the summoner and leader. She set a slow pace, followed very closely by Tidus and Rikku. Kimahri was not far behind, keeping a close eye on the young humans in front of him. Wakka trailed slightly behind Kimahri, and would shoot occasional glances back towards the mage, who would gaze dispassionately past him. Behind Lulu was Auron, who always took up the rear of the group, making sure everyone was safely in front.
This times, however, the famous guardian did not take up the rear. Lulu's moogle doll stumbled along, trailing the group clumsily. Lulu had put the animated doll on the ground so it could walk on its own…and—quite obviously—it wasn't doing too well. After a particularly nasty trip, the Black Mage turned around swiftly, swaying as the action brought a dizzying blackness that swam through her vision. Once she could see straight she saw Auron had stopped walking, and was staring at her sternly. Turning away from him, Lulu walked towards the fallen moogle doll, picking it up and cradling it close to her chest, more in an act of defense than an act of protectiveness.
It was only a doll, after all. A very clumsily controlled one, at that.
Yuna stopped and turned around, pressing her staff into the ground and leaning against it wearily. At her ceased movement, the others turned and observed the cause of their halted travels.
"We need to keep moving." Auron's gruff voice broke through the steamy silence that had been following the troupe all day. He had turned his stare towards Yuna, who was looking back at the guardians with a firm expression.
"But I only stopped because I saw that you and Lulu has stopped, Sir Auron," she said, not looking for excuses, just stating a fact. The dark-haired woman sighed, glancing up at the summoner. Sometimes Yuna could be so difficult.
"It is my fault we stopped," she told them, and her voice sounded pathetic even to her own ears. The tone made her wince. "My moogle was doing a horrible job of walking on its own." She said nothing else, expecting that to suffice, and was surprised when Wakka spoke up.
"Why did you put 'im down in the first place?" the blitzball captain questioned, and he looked at Lulu suspiciously, who gazed back, not blinking. Wakka could be so irritating at times, and he had his perceptive moments.
"Sir Auron's right," Lulu told the company, if only for a change of subject. "We need to keep moving if we want out of this forest before nightfall." She moved to gain her place back in the line of travelers, stopping cold when Auron whispered:
"If you can handle it, Lulu."
The woman sped up her pace, regaining her position in front of the older guardian. She turned her head back, watching him out of the corner of her eye. His comment had chilled her insides, despite the overwhelming heat. Why did he have to be so damn observing?
"What is that supposed to mean?" she hissed quietly, her arms gripping around her doll even tighter. She stumbled, barely visibly, when her boot-clad foot hit a particularly treacherous rock. After regaining her footing, Lulu turned around fully in order to keep watch on the path in front of her. She could almost feel Auron frown from behind her.
"Just remember what I said earlier, mage," he whispered threateningly, and Lulu suddenly realized that he had come much closer without her aware of it, and his breath brushed against her ear. She leapt forward to distance herself, and made the mistake of bumping into Wakka. He turned and cast her a strange glance, in wonderment over her obvious lack of grace. She was normally much more refined.
"What's gotten into you, Lu?" he whispered over his shoulder, running the back of his hand absently over his forehead to catch a falling droplet of perspiration.
"It's just the heat," Lulu told him, her countenance carefully neutral, devoid of expression. "Everyone's been feeling the effects." Wakka apparently accepted these excuses, and with a slight nod he turned back around, facing forward once more.
"But you're feeling more than the heat," said a deep-set voice from behind her, and Lulu felt her muscles tightening angrily in response. Her violet nails gripped into the soft flesh of her moogle doll. She didn't reply, because she knew Sir Auron was correct in his observations, and he was also justified in his reprimands. She was compromising the pilgrimage with her exhaustion. This group could not afford to have such lack of dedication.
'But how am I supposed to stop these dreams from occurring?' Lulu thought wearily, struggling to take a deep breath of the sticky, heavy air. 'I am practically powerless in this situation.' Auron had wanted her to share with him what was holding her back, because he thought she was unable to handle it on her own. But what could he do to help her sleep peacefully? There was nothing for that, and she would have to deal with it on her own, no matter how hopeless it seemed. Some small, dubious part of her doubted that it was just the dreams hurting her. She slept, just not dreamlessly. Surely these nightmares shouldn't cause her to feel so…drained. It wasn't normal…it wasn't right.
Yuna stopped all of a sudden, turning around and facing her procession of guardians. The rest of the group stopped in accordance, looking towards their leader expectantly.
Tidus asked, "What's the hold-up?"
Yuna cast him a kind glance, before turning towards each member in turn. "I think we should get some rest. I think we're all weary enough to gain a sufficient amount of sleep." Rikku frowned, placing her hands on her hips.
"I'm not tired! And besides, we need to keep moving…it's barely even midday. We've barely gained any ground at all!" The Al Bhed girl kicked up a leaf negligently, ending her short tirade.
Wakka nodded in agreement in silent support of Rikku. "I don't wanna be anywhere near this forest when night falls, ya?" Kimahri let out a low growl to gain their attention, shaking his head slowly and deliberately when he had their gazes.
"We go too slow to make it out today," the Ronso said, folding his muscled arms across his chest. "Kimahri with Yuna." Auron, who was silent before now, spoke up and added his two cents.
"It's best if we wait for nightfall," he said dispassionately, his shaded eyes staring out into the forest thoughtfully. "We can travel under the cover of darkness." His tone implied that all arguments would be futile.
"Yes," Lulu stated in acquiescence. "And by then the day's prime would have finished, and the temperature would have cooled." To these points, no one could find a disagreement.
"Then it's settled," Yuna said with a smile, tilting her head to the side. "We rest 'til nightfall."
@-^--- ~*~*~*~ ---^-@
Lulu glanced around her warily, taking in the great, craggy terrain that littered the area. Huge rocks jutted haphazardly out of the ground, looming up way above the mage's head, and casting the all ready gloomy atmosphere into a deeper shadow. For reasons unknown to her, a sharp, petrifying fear totally encompassed her, and her body quivered slightly at the overwhelming terror. Her ruby eyes, wide and fearful, darted back and forth. She took a hesitant step forward…
…and stopped abruptly. A faint trickling sound was heard at her feet, and she gazed down slowly…in fact, everything seemed to be in slow motion.
Her feet were covered in blood; she had stepped into a pool of blood. The puddle leaked off into a trail of the crimson liquid. The trail meandered in a healthy measure, before turning sharply and disappearing behind a large crag. Unable to tear her gaze away from the rock, Lulu began following the trail. Her eyes trained to the ground, she turned the corner of the rock to find…
Nothing. The blood just suddenly stopped, with no source whatsoever. The woman sighed slightly in relief, frowning when apprehension rose over her. She felt a slight drip on the back of her neck, feeling the drop slide down her neck, following its curve and turning towards her front. It itched along her collarbone, dipping down between the curves of her breasts. She gazed down, her breath catching in her throat…blood was dripping on her!
Fear gripped her heart in its icy grip. She turned frantically to the rock, feeling her stomach turn at the sight. Tidus was tied to the rock, bloody and broken. His throat was sliced, and his eyes gaped open at her, unseeing. Lulu produced a strangled, choked sound, taking a step away from the limp body above her.
Suddenly, Tidus's head slid clean off his neck, smashing into the ground where Lulu had stood seconds before. His neck was completely severed. Her stomach did a dangerous flip, and she tore her stare away from the head, and up towards the body.
Instead of a headless body, she was appalled to discover Chappu gazing down at her, his head atop Tidus's body. She backed away from the sight, still watching the body closely. Chappu's face grinned down at her toothily.
"Where are you going, Lulu?" the head asked, his voice sounding strangely distorted. Unable to face the image, the Black Mage turned and fled.
Her feet kicked up rocky sand as she tore across the terrain blindly. She still felt that heart-wrenching, gut-turning fear that had overrode her emotions when she saw the bloodied body. The feelings seemed to consume her; she couldn't think straight!
'Come on, Lulu,' she thought to herself sternly, trying to calm her overworking nerves. 'It's just a dream. Snap out of it!'
~No!~
Another voice, this one stronger and more commanding, forced through her feeble attempts at restoring peace within herself.
~This is real.~ The voice insisted. ~Everything is real. You can feel it.~
Once again, the emotions overwhelmed Lulu, and she cried out as she tripped over something, bracing herself for the hard impact on the harsh ground. Instead, she landed against something not as hard as rock…
She looked up, finding herself thrown against a body. The man underneath her was none other than her fellow guardian, Auron. Lulu froze, letting out an almost inaudible sigh of relief when she noticed that his chest was rising and falling. He wasn't dead like Tidus and Chappu were. In fact, he was staring at her from over the rims of his sunglasses. Lulu began to feel her fear subside, almost like an ocean wave subsides in low tide.
Then two things happened.
One, Auron wrapped his arms around her waist, flipping so that she was trapped beneath him. This would have been surprising in itself, but then there was a second thing she noticed.
His clothes had vanished, and so had hers.
A totally new emotion began to crash down upon Lulu. Her head was spinning from the abrupt change—both physical and emotional. She could barely sort out her rapidly fleeting thoughts, as she was too busy concentrating on Auron's warm skin against hers.
He lowered his head towards hers and she couldn't help but anticipate…
Lulu couldn't control it...her sharp awakening. She shot upwards quickly from her reclined position, breathing heavily and feeling her heart thud rapidly in her chest. One hand rested against her flushed face, and her other hand pressed against her chest, as if trying to muffle the sound of her own heartbeat. She relaxed her seated position slightly, trying to soothe her overburdened emotions. She felt her energy slowly draining away from her, leaving her exhausted, though she had just slept. The soft snores around her told her that her companions were still sleeping.
The sun was slowly lowering, leaving a blood-red twilight in its wake. The procession would soon return to their weary travels. Lulu pressed both of her palms against her forehead, resting her elbows on her knees.
'How long can I keep this up?' she asked herself silently, feeling fatigue tug at her eyelids. She felt like she could sleep all day and still feel ready to drop. And this dream was different…this dream wasn't all fear. At the end, with Auron…she hadn't felt fear.
How could she ever look at him straight again? Then again, it shouldn't be too hard. As long as she didn't let her weariness show, no one would question her. After all, they were just dreams.
But Auron had all ready begun to question her. He suspected something was up.
But neither Auron nor Lulu knew just how bad the situation really was.
@-^--- To Be Continued ---^-@
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