Somewhere in Macalania, Wakka awoke.
One eye cracked open, just as the sun's rays started to creep over the horizon. Far away, in the distance, the light was glaring off of the icy walls of Macalania's temple. The resultant glare was almost as bright as looking into the sun itself.
It was sheer agony to wake up, to relinquish the hold sleep had over him. His body ached. His eyes burned. His skin felt greasy, and his mouth tasted like ass.
Wakka rolled over, and looked around the room.
Tidus lay sprawled in his bed, with his face turned to the ceiling, and his mouth open in a perpetual snore. The early morning sunlight painted patches of yellow on the walls. Wakka could hear the occupants of the Inn stirring.
'Dear Yevon. If I ever drink again, it'll be too soon...'
As if to punctuate his thoughts, when Wakka rolled off his own bed, he narrowly avoided crushing a wine bottle beneath his bare feet. Instead, he hopped over it, and immediately regretted doing so.
His stomach roiled, and Wakka lurched into the bathroom.
He retched so hard he felt sure that he had vomited up one of his blitzballs.
From the bedroom came the sound of grunting, and yawning. Tidus had not drank the night before. The only doing the heavy drinking the night before had been Wakka. Tidus had acted as a sort of buffer zone to ensure that Wakka did not storm out of the room, and into Lulu's room, where a fight was sure to begin.
Now Wakka lay prone, with his forehead resting on the toilet seat. His brow was in a cold sweat. His stomach still churned, but he wasn't nauseous any longer.
When Sir Auron had joined the pilgrimage in Luca, Wakka had been amazed, and in awe of the man. He was an idol to live up to, a pristine example of what a guardian should be.
And now...and now Wakka hated Auron with every fiber of his being.
And all because of Lulu.
There was no way he could tell her. There was nothing he could say to her. If Auron was who she chose to be with, then she had every right to choose him. Wakka had watched her wither after Chappu's death, and all he really wanted in the world was for Lulu to be happy again. He wanted her to smile, and to wear colour again. He wanted her to hum as she did her daily things, and to smile at the little trivialities of life, instead of grow impatient, and eventually, angry.
He'd just...always thought that it would be himself to bring that to Lulu.
Wakka's eyes began stinging, and he felt a couple of hot tears slip from his eyes, down the tip of his nose, and fall onto the floor.
He shouldn't cry. Sir Auron probably didn't cry. Especially over a woman.
Wakka couldn't help it.
Eventually, from the bedroom came the sounds of Tidus stirring and getting out of bed. Wakka wiped his face, and flushed the toilet. Before the young blond could come into the bathroom and question him, Wakka banged the door shut.
Ya, a hot shower is just what I need, he thought. Just what I need.
The Waterga spell hit Lulu like a tsunami. The force of the water hitting her hyperextended her back; she felt her wound stretch, and the cauterized skin beneath the bandage tear. Sudden warmth told her that she was once more bledding.
And then Seymour hit Wakka with Waterga as well, since Wakka had dashed forward and thrown himself in front of her.
'Damned fool.' She thought with a shade of concern. 'He's going to get himself killed. He doesn't have the kind of magical defenses I do.'
"Enough of this!" Auron yelled.
Their party was decimated. From Rin's agency, they'd made the trip across the frozen lake to Macalania temple. The day had been eventful. The Al Bhed had confronted the group first. And after that, a nosy snoop of a priestess had discovered Maester Jyscal's sphere amongst Yuna's things. And now, Lulu reflected, we are doing the unthinkable. We are actually battling a maester.
She wondered in the back of her mind how Wakka was taking this, just as she raised her arms in salute to Seymour. All in one day, he had found out that one of his fellow guardians was a hated Al Bhed, and now he was defying Yevon and battling a maester.
Just as Auron was dashing forward to unleash his Shooting Star attack, Lulu gathered her energy about her, and cast a round of Firaga on Seymour.
She bent, and sent the spell hurtling at him, and as she bent, she could see her Cait Sith doing the same.
'Thank Yevon Anima is out of the way.' She thought. 'Thank Yevon.'
Lulu cried out then, wrapping her arm around her waist. Her wound was hurting horribly. Hot, scary pain, throbbing. She remained bent over, knees braced against each other weakly, her arm around her waist.
The others had strength, thank Yevon. Auron and Wakka were pounding Seymour into a bloody pulp. Kimahri was casting support magic; Auron and Wakka's courage and resolve seemed to climb by the second. Tidus and Yuna were attending to Rikku, who had been knocked out.
Lulu let her head droop. Her braids brushed the floor.
And just as quickly, her head snapped up. Seymour was screaming. Lulu had just enough time to see Auron drive his Murasame through Seymour's stomach.
Just like that. He was dead. Wakka retreated as Seymour slid off the end of Auron's sword. Seymour fell to the ground with a wet thud.
"Lu?" He turned, looking for her, and seeing her, he dashed to where she remained bent.
Wakka's strong arms slid around her, and propped her up against him.
"You would pity me, even now, Lady Yuna?" Seymour asked, his dying voice echoing in the vestibule of the Fayth.
Lulu and Wakka looked up, as Yuna stepped towards Seymour, as Auron backed away with sword dripping blood.
"He dies." Lulu whispered.
"We're in deep shit, ya?" Wakka confirmed.
The sound of feet hitting ice and stone behind them, in the Cloister of Trials made Lulu turn her head to look.
"Yuna, we have no time. We must leave." She said.
"I must send him!"
Yuna raised her wand, and began to dance the sending, but it was too late.
A herd of Guado, and temple officials stormed the vestibule.
"Lord Seymour!" Tromell cried.
"We had to! He attacked us!" Tidus piped up.
Shut up, shut up! Lulu thought. Tidus's big mouth was going to get them all killed.
"You did this!" Tromell gasped. "Traitors!"
And there was barely a moment after that word before the Guado attacked.
'Not again, please.' Lulu thought with dismay. She could have cried, her side was hurting her so bad. She sagged against Wakka
"I'll keep you safe, Lu. Just lean against me." Awkwardly, he tried to shift her weight, and ready his blitzball.
"Let me go." She commanded. She could cast her magic just as well from the floor as she could standing.
Reluctantly, Wakka did so, but Lulu was not blind to the way he stood just in front of her and to the left.
Tears stung her eyes in sudden tenderness, but she shook her head, and readied a Bio spell.
The battle was over.
Lulu did not remember it.
She did not remember anything.
But somehow, she knew the battle was done.
Vaguely, she felt strong hands snatch her up.
She felt her arms around someone's neck.
She felt hands under her knees.
She felt the jouncing as she rode piggyback on someone as they ran.
She heard yelling behind her.
She felt cold.
She understood, somehow, that their party was fleeing Macalania.
And she felt a sudden shaking of the earth.
And then unbelievable weightlessness.
Eh, what was it? What was happening? It was so cold, all around her. So terribly cold, in her hair, and down her back.
Stinging pain in her cheeks. She raised her arms in the salute of a Demi spell.
Rough hands restrained her wrist. Kept her from completing her spell.
"...lu...ke u..."
Go away! Let me be! I hurt, I can't...
"...lu...ammit...ow!"
No!
Again, her cheek burned, and a bright light invaded her darkness. The flash of two different shades of red near blinded her, and she forced her eyes shut once more.
She didn't want to be lucid.
A hand came down slapping down on her cheek, and yanked her into reality.
She came into the world screaming.
"STOP IT!"
There was the outrush of relieved breaths, and masculine laughter.
"You stay with her. I'll go find the others."
"Ya."
Warmth came around Lulu, and she knew that it was Wakka's arms, and his coat.
Fool, she thought. He must be freezing.
Dimly, Lulu fought to open her eyes.
"Take it easy, Lu. Don't try to do too much at once. You're hurt real bad, ya?"
"Where's Yuna?"
"Yuna's okay. Kimahri broke a leg in the fall. She's setting the bone and healing it now."
"The fall."
"Ya."
Wakka shifted, so that he was sitting, and dragged Lulu into his lap. They weren't sitting in the wet now. But her eyes still weren't working properly. She curled into Wakka's chest, and he cradled her, tucking his down coat in around her.
"Ya, we fell through the ice at the lake of Macalania. Who would have thought, the water was all gone? It's just a few inchs at the bottom. And there's ruins too, but man...when we were doing battle on the ice above...the whole thing was hollow!"
"Shut up." Lulu whispered. His rambling was making her head hurt. She leaned her icy brow against his chest, and reveled in the warmth.
"I was real worried about you." Wakka whispered back to her.
Lulu sighed. He wasn't going to shut up. He was just going to talk softer. She supposed she could deal with that.
"I'm okay." She replied, her voice cracking. She was getting chilled.
Wakka's lips brushed her forehead, and rested against her cheek.
"You ain't made a' steel, Lu. I know you think it sometimes, but you're not."
Lulu had no response for that. She only nestled closer to him. Wakka...her rock. He was always there.
"Why you make me worry about you like you do?"
"I don't make you worry. You choose to."
"Silly woman. 'Course you do."
"How?" She closed her eyes and had to restrain a yawn. She was so cold. She was so tired.
Wakka surprised her by slapping her cheek. Lulu came away instantly.
"How dare you!" She cried.
"You make me worry, doing stuff like dat. You know you can't sleep right now. You know if you do, you'll die from the cold."
Tears suddenly stung Lulu's eyes, and overflowed down her cheeks. She was so tired. She knew she was getting petulant. She knew she was becoming cranky and irrational.
Wakka folded her closer to him, and stroked her hair.
"Shh. Just lay here. But don't go to sleep."
For a long moment, she just remained there, cuddled in his lap, cheek against Wakka's chest, and listening to his heartbeat. Eventually, her tears stopped. Wakka rocked her back and forth.
"You've got to be freezing." Lulu said to him at length.
"I'm okay. I'm used to the cold from the blitz spheres. 'Dis is nothing."
We're going to die down here, Lulu suddenly thought. How far is it to the ice above? How cold will it get at night? Yevon's not going to send anyone to rescue the traitors.
Speaking of...
"Why are you so calm?" Lulu asked Wakka.
"I dunno." He tilted his head, eyes focusing on a piece of machina laying ruined in the water. "I can't explain it. I just dunno. Sir Auron says that we're going to continue on the pilgrimage."
Lulu remained silent. She could think of nothing to say. She couldn't think of why Wakka would be calm either, but he was. Thank Yevon for small blessings.
Wakka continued.
"Sir Auron said dat it's not the temples and the hierophants who give Yuna the Aeons, it's the Fayth. He says dat Yuna's going to complete her pilgrimage, even if we have to storm every temple so that she can do it."
"Are you ready for that?" Lulu asked, softly.
Wakka did not reply. His lips pressed together as if he wanted to say something, but didn't want to. Instead, he hugged her closer to him.
"I was worried about you." He told her again.
"I know." She replied.
Again, it seemed as if Wakka wanted to say more, but he only pressed his lips together again, and held his silence.
For the longest time, they sat there, huddled together. They could hear, echoing in the massive emptiness around them, Tidus and Rikku screeching back and forth. They heard Kimahri's quiet rumbling, and then Tidus's laughter. The ankle-deep water lapped gently at the ruins of the machina city all around them. The haze of fog swirled through the marble and steel. Eventually, Lulu saw that Wakka had drawn them up on a ruined wall that jutted up out of the water. He leaned back against another ruined wall that joined it's brother.
She was so tired. Lulu leaned her head against Wakka's shoulder once more. Her little view around them had sapped more strength from her than she thought possible. But she did not sleep.
In silence, they sat. Wakka shifted his legs once more twice, and arranged Lulu's skirt so that her legs were completely covered from the cold. He slipped the hood on his coat up, over her hair and hairpins, and she was grateful for the warmth of the cocoon.
Wakka's lips came down, and he left a big, sloppy kiss on her cheek.
Lulu was not shocked; he had done this before. And she did just what she had always done before.
Her own lips came up, and she kissed the tip of his chin.
Eventually, the others came and joined them. They all sat on the machina ruin, and Yuna conjured a Firaga spell to keep them warm. They spoke little, and had a cheerless dinner in the cold.
The waiting game began.