Hearts in Ice
Chapter Five: Dina
Summary
Shiva decides to do something she hasn't done since she traveled with Lord Braska, Auron, and Jecht. After a battle when Yuna sends her away, she leaps away and goes for a little swim in one of Macalania's many ponds for a while. But when she takes off her necklace, Shiva's image disappears and Dina appears. She takes notice of this and starts to worry, that is until Tidus comes to take a bath.
Note
Thanks for everyone's reviews! It means a lot! I have made this chapter longer for you guys! And for a special surprise...Tidus may get to sing! But of course it's going to be later on in the story, and I think I have the perfect song picked out. Have any of you heard Jeff Bate's song 'I Wanna Make You Cry'? Well, if you haven't, I will email the lyrics if you want. It's a beautiful song! Well, time for chapter five!
The party walked away from their most recent battle. The now dead Epaaj was fading into multi colored pyre flies by the time the group had started to move on. The bladed creature had certainly put up a fight. A long, tiring fight at that. Yuna's skirt and sleeve was badly torn, Rikku's shorts and shirt was ripped, and Auron and Tidus managed to defeat the creature unscathed. About an hour later, after walking by strangely familiar looking plants, Wakka stopped the group in front of a gigantic tree. Everyone sighed, they had passed the same tree six times already. Wakka had no sense of direction.
Wakka looked at the large tree, tapping his foot with growing annoyance. He folded his pocket knife back up and stuck it into his pocket. As they traveled, he marked the trees to tell if they had already been to that area. But someone, or something, has been marking all of the trees. Wakka flopped down on the ground, tired and irritated. Kimahri knew this was going to be a long night by the way everyone look, so he picked up his spear and headed into the woods.
"We're so lost." Rikku groaned, climbing on a large rock and making herself comfortable.
Lulu looked up at the night sky, growing darker with every passing moment. Her crimson eyes flickered over to Yuna, who was mending her torn skirt. Rikku dug into her bag and began sewing her own torn clothing.
"That fiend really tore your clothes up, didn't it?" Lulu asked Yuna, watching as she sewed her sleeve.
Yuna gave a small smile and nodded as the needle flicked in and out of the cloth. Kimahri came from the woods carrying some fire wood, on the end of his spear was a large, glistening fish. As if they were on cue, the party's stomachs growled. They hadn't eaten since that day at Guadosalam, but even then Rikku was the only one that managed to eat anything. Lulu took the fish from the head of Kimahri's spear and walked over to Wakka, her finger in the fish's mouth and through the gill.
"Wakka, let me use your knife so I can clean the fish." She asked, holding out her free hand to receive the knife.
Wakka went to hand her the knife, but as soon as she reached for it, a large Chimera appeared from the thick trees. The lion's jaws were open wide, dripping with thick saliva. The bull's head gave a low ominous bellow, the eagle gave an ear piercing cry. It lashed out with it's flaming claws, missing Lulu's abdomen by mere inches, charring the fabric of her dress. Wakka threw his spiked Blitzball at the Chimera, his blow didn't even phase the angry creature.
"I can take it!" Tidus's voice came , making the Chimera look up in a moment's distraction.
To any other fiend, that moment could have been fatal. Rikku lashed out at the giant monster with her sharp clawed weapon, ripping a small wound in the side of the Chimera.
"My claws won't work! Tidus, take him down!" Rikku yelled, jumping out of the way as the Brotherhood's blue blade came whistling through the air.
The Chimera grabbed the blade before it hit, and three pairs of eyes looked at Tidus with a deadly glare as the monster's tail, a giant snake, rose from behind the monster and opened it's mouth wide to reveal deadly fangs. It lunged for Tidus, who rolled out of the way in return. The snake lunged at him two more times, jaws wide and fangs dripping with thick yellow venom. But while he was concentrating on the snake, a flaming claw managed to tear a large wound in his side. He swore under his breath, but refused to quit until this thing was dead.
"Tidus! The bull head! Watch out!" Came Yuna's voice, only a moment to late.
The young Blitzball hero was still too centered on the snake to realize that the bull was about to plunge it's horn into his shoulder. Sharp horn pierced tender human flesh, Tidus cried out in pain and sunk to his knees clutching his wounded shoulder. Blood rushed from the wound, dying the yellow material of his shirt a deep crimson. Suddenly, cold air rushed over everyone as Shiva leapt from what seemed out of no where. She stood before the Chimera, her blue eyes emotionless. She raised her hand, summoning a large ice stalagmite to crash down on the beast. All four heads let out cries of pain, then charged at the Ice Queen who leapt out of the way and landed behind the Chimera. She sent another spear of ice to shatter on the creature, causing another roar of pain.
She grabbed the snake and ripped the serpent like tail away from the main body and hurled it into the depths of the woods.
Auron and Wakka moved Tidus away from the violent battle between the dangerous fiend and the icy Aeon. Tidus opened his eyes to see Shiva slashing the lion head with her sharp nails, then hurling yet another sharp ice spear through the eagle's skull. Auron looked down at Tidus and sighed. He knew that he was in love with Shiva, and nothing could change his mind now except for Shiva herself.
The bull tried numerous times to gorge Shiva, but the lady was too agile for the bulky half dead creature. She jumped on the Chimera's back and took the bull's head between her hands, and pulled sharply up, then left. Yuna cringed when she heard the monster's spine snap, but was grateful when it fell to the ground with a dead thud. Shiva walked towards her master, pyre flies flying around in a giant cloud behind her.
"Will you be needing my services again tonight, Lady Summoner?" The Aeon asked, knelt before Yuna.
"No, but thank you for what you have done. You saved Tidus." The half Al-Bhed Summoner gave a sweet smile.
Shiva's blue eyes flew open at the sound of that familiar name. She had recognized Auron that day in the Ante Chamber, but Tidus couldn't have been there. She looked around and saw Auron and another man with gravity defying orange hair bandaging up the same handsome blonde haired boy that she had first seen in the Ante Chamber. Yuna caught notice of Shiva's gaze and followed it to where Wakka and Auron were working on Tidus's wounds.
"That's the boy that you saved, Your Highness. We are very grateful." Yuna bowed to her and walked over to help the two older men work on Tidus.
Shiva leapt away, but didn't return to the Ice Palace. She wondered into the woods until she came to a sparkling pond. Small silver fish darted away as Shiva's reflection came across the surface of the water. She looked at her reflection with a painful look in her eyes. Shiva let her fingertips graze the ice on her left cheek and down to the necklace that the original Shiva had given her when they joined. She took the necklace between her forefinger and thumb and caressed the crystal beads that adorned it, ice sparkling in their depths. She pulled one of her thick braids over her shoulder and began to undo the tie that bound it. Soon, she had her hair down and was brushing it out with her fingers.
Her hair had thin silver streaks through out it, making it shimmer slightly in the moonlight. She smiled to herself and stood, spinning around to let her now free hair spin around her and whip around her ankles. She collapsed in the thick green grass, her face alight with joy. Shiva got up once more and took off her bracelets, arm guard, and her necklace. She immediately felt something change in her. She looked down at her hands.
They were the color of normal human hands.
Her nails were no longer long, sharp, and blue, but a nice normal length and looked unpainted. Her hair was now only to her waist and was a deep brown. And she wore what appeared to be a blue swim suit. The tail like attachment to the silver and blue bathing suit bottom she usually had was gone, so was the skirt that stayed on her side. She ran over to look at her reflection on the pond's surface. Dina looked back at her with shocked blue eyes. The ice on her body was gone, she was Shiva no longer.
"I'm...Me again." Dina spoke, the echo in her voice still present.
Dina sighed, she was still and always will be Shiva. She turned to pick up her necklace, and stopped short when a limping Tidus was coming through the woods. He was free of his shirt and wore only his shorts. His side and shoulder were stitched up and still were bloody. He started to turn his gaze towards Dina, who quickly dove into the water.
Tidus smiled when he notice the beautiful girl dive into the water. He sat his towel down and started to make his way towards the water himself to wash the blood off of himself. He hissed when the chilly water greeted his wound and cursed himself for defying Auron and going on ahead to bathe. Auron told him that the bull's horn had missed all major nerves and organs, but he needed bed rest for a few days. But after the katana wielder fell asleep, he headed to the pond. And now there was this beautiful girl here too. Tidus saw her surface a few feet away from him, so he gave a friendly smile and waved.
"Hello there!" He called, swimming out towards her the best he could with an injured shoulder.
Dina froze, she couldn't leave now or he would suspect something. So she stayed and replied back.
"Hello, what are you doing here?" She asked, her voice cracking from nervousness.
Tidus laughed and found that he could stand in the current depth of the water.
"I came to get this blood of off me. What are you doing here?" He asked, moving slightly closer to her.
Dina swallowed hard, trying to think of a story that would satisfy his ever curious mind. She smiled, and decided to tell him the truth...Well, not exactly the whole truth.
"I came for a little swim. I am a priestess for Macalania Temple." Dina said, pushing her hair over her shoulder.
Tidus looked at her oddly, tilting his head to the side slightly.
"That's strange, I didn't see you there." Tidus moved closer to her as if examining her face.
Dina backed away, then noticed blood flowing through the water.
"Hey, your wound has opened again!" She cried, pointing to Tidus's bleeding shoulder.
Tidus groaned in pain and grasped his shoulder, blood seeping through his fingers and running down his arm. Dina quickly helped him up out of the water, and had him lay in the grass while she took his towel and cleaned up his wound.
"There is some supplies there to...Fix my wound. Do you think you-"
"Of course, just relax." Dina said, grabbing the needle from a small pouch.
While she stitched, Dina tried to think of something to say to him.
"How did this happen?" She asked, pushing the needle through his skin and tugging on it slightly.
Tidus gritted his teeth, then exhaled loudly when she finished that stitch.
"A Chimera attacked my friends, I tried to stop it, but you see what happened."
Dina couldn't help but smile, she moved to his side and started the painful process again.
"Well, did you manage to beat it?" She chuckled, because she knew very good and well that she was the very one that had beat that evil beast. But she need to hear it from him.
"No, my friend Yuna is a Summoner, and she summoned Shiva to finish it off." He let out a sad sounding sigh, and Dina finished patching up his wound.
"Well, I best head back to the temple. I hope your wound heals soon." She got up to leave, but Tidus grabbed her wrist.
"You said you were a priestess, can you tell me something?"
Dina swallowed hard, a frantic look entering her eyes.
"Yes, I suppose I can...What is your question?"
Tidus smiled and let go of her wrist.
"Can you tell me anything about Shiva? Anything at all?" Dina's eyes softened, and she smiled.
"Just this one thing. Shiva could never learn to love." She bowed slightly and moved to leave again, but Tidus called to her again.
"What is your name, priestess?" He stood, picking his things up off the ground.
Dina turned to see him approaching her and smiled slightly.
"Dina. My name is Dina."
He gave a gorgeous smile.
"The name's Tidus."
Dina acknowledged him and picked up her bracelets, necklace, and arm guard. She started down the path that led from the pond.
"Will I see you again?" Tidus called from behind her.
She sighed and turned to see his boyish face outlined by moonbeams.
"If the Summoner wishes it."
Tidus watched as Dina disappeared into the woods, confused. What did she mean?
Dina stopped after she was sure she was far enough away from Tidus that he wouldn't see her change back. She put the necklace back on, and felt that comforting chill come over her. Shiva smiled to herself, and went back to the Ice Palace for a much needed rest.
END- Ok, this chapter sucked major butt, but I have no more ideas! See you guys later!