The next stop on the pilgrimage was the temple in Macalania. Yuna had a fierce desire to reach the temple, and give Maester Seymour her answer; she drove the group hard. By mid-day, they were still navigating the immense forest of Macalania, however. The Macalania woods were a dangerous place. Fiends were thick. In certain areas, the group could go no further than a few feet before they were attacked.
A particularly nasty fiend called a Spherimorph had attacked them just when the group was getting very tired. The battle had been long and hard. It had taken Lulu only a minute to adjust to the constant change of elemental magic attacks, but once she'd gotten the hang of the fiend's strategy, she'd let loose. The end result was that everyone was exhausted, and by the time Lulu stepped out onto the snow-covered path leading up to the temple, she could have shed tears of relief to see Rin's travel agency. She'd not slept well the previous night, and she was injured. Trading magic with a fiend was not her idea of fun. Gradually, she lagged further and further behind the group, until she had to stop and stand.
'I can go no further.' She thought. 'When did I become so weak? It shouldn't be like this. It wasn't that far...'
Weakly, Lulu bent, and braced her hands on her knees, much as a marathon runner would to regain his breath. The ebony braids swung forward, and swayed in the open air, trailing on the ground by her feet.
At the beginning of the pilgrimage...it had been so easy to go twice this distance. She'd had so much energy.
And she knew what had been draining it from her.
The damned Farplane. Guadosalam. Chappu.
'I'll never be free of you.' She whispered to herself. He'd only been dead for a little while. She still mourned him. He'd never let her go.
"Lu? You okay?"
The sound of Wakka's voice, heavy with concern startled her out of reverie. She straightened quickly, seeing Wakka rushing to her.
His sandals kicked up little clouds of snow as he ran to her.
"I'm...fine.."
But even as she said it, her body belayed her words. Dizzy, she stumbled a little. Wakka's strong arms came around her, and he squeezed her to him.
"Ya, you really look fine."
Funny. He was starting to sound like her in a way. The heavy sarcasm. Lulu digested that with a faint smile, and lay her arms about his shoulders to steady herself.
"Really. I'm fine. Just tired. I'll feel better with hot food and a bed."
"Well...okay. But I'm helping you walk there, ya?"
"That's fine."
Lulu didn't even feel well enough to argue with him right now. She was too tired. She felt too defeated.
She could think of a thousand excuses. But none were so true as she just wanted to savor his arms around her.
"Awesome! I got another rank in my Al Bhed!" Tidus screeched.
Since reaching Rin's travel agency, he and Rikku had been running around causing trouble. Auron leaned against the doorjamb and rolled his eyes at the young blond. Whoever's idea it was to turn Tidus onto the Al Bhed language should have been killed immediately. He'd only succeeded in alienating several helpful Al Bhed merchants along the way. Tidus's grasp of the language was improving, in all honesty, but he was a long way from being proficent.
"Wanker." Auron muttered to himself. He watched as Tidus and Rikku harassed the innkeeper.
"Kimahri think we sleep outside tonight."
"We will be, if the little wanker doesn't shut his mouth." Auron replied to the big blue Ronso. Across the room, Tidus had obviously uttered a social faux pas. The Innkeeper was turning purple with anger, and Rikku was hurriedly speaking to her. Most likely to save them from having to sleep on the group in the freezing snow.
"Auron want Kimahri go stop Tidus?"
Oh, it was so very tempting. It was soooo tempting to unleash Kimahri on Tidus. Truthfully, more than half the time, Tidus was very nearly unbearable. The boy was conceited, and had no sense of humour. Yevon's truth, he was also pretty slow at times. But he was decent-looking, and he was as devoted to Yuna as a puppy-dog, which was pretty much the only reason Auron saw to keep him around.
"No." Auron said. "We'll let him live today."
"Kimahri dissapointed."
A grin spread across Auron's face, and he had to pretend to be looking out the window to hide it.
But the smile that had crossed his face now dropped. It was replaced with a slight frown.
Outside, Wakka, with arms wrapped around her, was helping Lulu to walk to the Inn. Her head lay on his shoulder. Her face was paler than usual, and her eyes shut. A look of worry was on Wakka's face.
"What in Yevon's name...?"
Auron pushed himself away from the wall, leaving his massive sword behind. He shoved open the door, and jogged to where Wakka was approaching with Lulu.
"What's wrong?" He demanded.
"Lu's hurt." Wakka stopped, to readjust Lulu's weight. "She didn't tell me."
Auron had not noticed before that Lulu was clutching one arm about her waist. Now Wakka moved her hand aside, to show Auron a deep gash in her side. One of the Chimeras that wandered Macalania woods must have gouged her, and now Lulu was bleeding profusely.
"Shit."
Auron mumbled Without thinking, he slipped his arm around Lulu's back, and pushed Wakka away. Hooking his other arm around her knees, he swooped her up into his arms, and made for the agency at a run. Wakka followed just behind him.
Auron crashed through the door of the agency, startling Tidus, Rikku, Yuna, and Kimahri. At the sight of Lulu so pale, and the blood that dripped from her wound onto Auron's coat, the room came to life with activity.
"Quick! Upstairs!"
"I'll go get some hot water!"
"That's not necessary!"
"Yuna, your magic!"
"I'm taking her to a room upstairs." Auron decided. "Yuna, come with me. We've need of your white magic."
The girl bowed a little, face washed out with fright as she looked on her older sister.
"Yes, Sir Auron."
Wakka made to follow them as Auron and Yuna went for the stairs. Auron turned, and glared at him.
"Everyone else stays out of the room. Lulu needs air, and magic." He said. Wakka's face turned red with anger.
"Just a damn minute..." He started.
"Save it." Auron snapped.
In rage, Wakka turned, and stormed towards the door. With a hefty kick, he knocked the door open, and went outside. Tidus went trailing behind him, as Auron was climbing the stairs with Yuna at his side, and Lulu in his arms.
"Pompous, self-important...!" Wakka stormed a good distance away from the Inn, and flung down his own pack. Lulu's, he set on the ground gently. "Who does he think he is? Telling me I can't be with her!"
"Wakka! Wakka, chill!" Tidus followed the red-haired blitzer as he paced.
"You saw it. You saw the entire thing! Practically pushed me away!"
"Wakka, she's hurt. Auron had a point."
"Had a point? Brudda, I love ya, but sometimes you ain't got a fuckin' clue!"
Tidus stared at Wakka.
"What!" Wakka turned and glared at Tidus.
"Never heard you swear before." Tidus crossed his arms, and leaned against a nearby tree. His feelings hadn't been hurt by the profanity. He was used to hearing such things from other blitz teams. Instead, Tidus felt smug. Wakka may deny it from morning 'till night, but it showed just how much he loved Lulu, the way he was fussing now.
"I can swear plenty, ya?"
"Dude, it's so obvious. Why don't you just admit it?"
"Admit what?"
"You're jealous!" Tidus grinned, and spread his arms out.
"I'm worried about Lu, you idiot!"
"If you say so."
Now it was Wakka's turn to fold his arms. He turned away from Tidus.
"Just leave me alone, ya? I don't wanna talk to you right now."
A sigh escaped Tidus.
Now, his feelings were hurt.
Upstairs in the agency, in Lulu's bedchamber, Yuna finished bandaging up Lulu's wound. There was only so much that Cura could do. The wound had cauterized itself, and the bleeding had stopped immediately, but the skin would need time to knit itself back together, and until then, the skin would be raw and tender. Yuna had put some ointment on the scar, and taped a huge, soft piece of gauze over it. She wished fervently that she knew Curaga. Then the whole issue would have been moot.
Lulu slept peacefully. She'd passed out as she and Wakka had walked to the agency. She would stay as she was, lost in dreams, for a while.
From the doorway, Auron watched over this pale woman like a hawk. He wished that she were awake, so he could know that she was going to be better, but sleep was what she needed right now, and sleep was what she would get.
He watched as Yuna stood and approached him.
"She will be okay." Auron asked. The sentance sounded more like a statement, but Yuna interpreted it correctly.
"Yes, she will. She's so tired. She needs to sleep." Yuna bowed her head. "I didn't realize that last battle had taken so much out of her. I didn't mean to..."
"Mean to what? Subject her to it?" Auron shook his head. "Yuna, Lulu is your guardian. She's there to fight battles for you. This is her purpose. Quit punishing yourself."
"I still...I just..I should have made sure she was okay."
"If Lulu chose to hide her wound, then there was nothing you could have done about it."
Yuna's head bowed again. She looked sadly back at the bed. And then, still silent, she walked past Sir Auron, and left the room.
Auron was left standing in the doorway. He watched the rise and fall of Lulu's chest for a moment. Beneath her purplish lids, her eyes moved a bit in dream sleep. Auron looked at the time.
He might as well settle in anyway. In a couple of hours, he would need to sleep anyhow. And someone should stay in Lulu's room to make sure she was okay, to be there if she awoke and needed something during the night.
Auron elected himself for that duty.
His Murasame was leaned against the wall, and his coat was slung over the chair nearest the window.
As he removed his gloves, he settled into the chair, and leaned back against the wall, preparing for the long night.