Hey, it's me! I hate to leave you with possibilities, and I hope that this chapter fully explains what happened between Wakka and Lulu that changed her mind about him. Anyways, I don't want to say anything else, so without further ado, here is the story! (DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SQUARE ENIX! OR FINAL FANTASY FOR THAT MATTER!)

====*====

"He what?" Yuna asked, astounded by this new bit of information. "Wakka saved your life?"

"Yes, he did," Lulu said with a grin. "Now that I think of it, I never do think I properly thanked Wakka."

"You didn't thank him?" Yuna said, her mouth agape. "No offense Lulu, but that is a little rude."

"I did," Lulu said softly. "I just don't think I gave him a proper thank you."

Perplexed by this meaning, Yuna shook her head. "What happened? You have to tell me, Lulu!"

At that moment Rikku and Paine walked into the hut. "We've been looking for you," Paine said, all though she was unconcerned.

"I said I was going to watch the sphere," Yuna said. Paine shrugged.

"Rikku was freaking out. Did she eat too much sugar at dinner?" Paine said with a grin. Rikku popped up from the ground, smiling.

"I don't know," Yuna said with a laugh. Rikku scowled at Paine.

"Dr. P, why do you have to be so mean?" Rikku said with a smile. Paine's eyes narrowed into scarlet slits.

"Don't call me that," she said. Lulu turned to Yuna with a laugh.

"What're you guys talking about?" Rikku inquired, turning to Yuna and then to Lulu. "Is it about the sphere?"

"Yes," Yuna said, and held it up for Rikku and Paine to watch.

====*====

"Wow! That was Lulu?" Rikku asked, eyes widening. Lulu nodded with a grin.

"I was so naïve back then," she commented, shaking her head. Paine looked at her with a thoughtful look on her face.

"You were pretty uninviting, no offense or anything Lulu," Rikku said with a smile. "And who'd think you and Wakka would get married?"

"That's what we were talking about," Lulu said. "I changed my mind about Wakka after two things: Chappu's death and when he saved my life."

"He saved your life?" Rikku inquired, shocked. Paine was merely watching on the entire conversation. She didn't know too much about Lulu or Wakka, and didn't talk much around them, either.

"Yes," Lulu said. "I remember like it was yesterday."

====*====

It was the first day after a couple weeks when it hadn't rained, and in fact the sun had dried up most of the rainwater in just a couple of days. I remember that the boys went to go play Blitzball to celebrate the good weather, and after collecting up my three favorite dolls, I headed out to the beach alone. I knew that was foolish, as the fiends were naturally drawn out of their homes in the rain and liked to prey upon anything that wandered into their territory, including other fiends. However, the sheer bliss of watching Chappu play Blitzball was too great for a nine year old girl such as myself.

I was heading up the hill, thinking about what I would do with my dolls when I got to the beach when suddenly I heard something roar. I looked around, and saw nothing. Frightened, I began to run. Suddenly I realized the roar was not the roar of a fiend: it was the roar of the wind. Turning around and looking up, I saw that a Garuda was following me in close pursuit. I tripped when I was on the first bridge, and the Garuda was just about to attack.

However, Wakka didn't come – not yet. I turned around, closed my eyes, and held my three dolls: a Moogle, a Cactuar, and a Moomba, close to my chest and thought of lightning with all my heart. The Garuda approached quickly, and was in proximity enough to bite into me when suddenly a hot flare of lightning shot down from seemingly nowhere, hitting it right in the center of the skull. The voltage was powerful enough to shut down its brain functions, and so it exploded into a cloud of pyreflies. I will never forget that day because it was the first day I ever used Black Magic. Eventually I trained enough to be able to use it without having to think about what I was casting, but for now I had to stick with the basics. After all, I was only a preteen.

Frightened after that almost fatal encounter, I collapsed on the bridge, heaving and panting. However, I soon found out that I was in the territory of an angry Dingo pack, whose leader was a wrathful creature with a scar across his face. As I got up, I found the bridge surrounded by Dingoes, the foremost of them being the scar-faced leader. The leader lunged at me, striking me with sharp fangs in the leg. I flew backwards, and watched in horror as my Moogle doll went flying down into the water below. I got up, eyes narrowing.

I can remember the things I said, as odd as it may seem. "Moogi! Oh, you've asked for it!" I shouted, and then concentrated. I envisioned a blizzard striking again and again, whipping and lashing with ferocious, icy winds. I opened my eyes to find that my icy spells were successfully and repetitively striking my opponents, who were know fleeing because of the cold. The only one that was brave enough to stay was the leader.

"Get away from me!" I said. It rushed again at me, digging its claws into my dress and throwing me to the edge of the bridge. Frightened, I got up, sacrificing Tihpi, my Cactuar. With only Momo, my Moomba, left, I was pretty angry.

"Leave me alone!" I shouted again, and held up Momo as if to scare the leader off. He didn't budge; instead he lunged at me again, digging a single claw into my cheek. I fell down, dropping but quickly recovering Momo. I glared at the lupine creature, and then envisioned a scorching flame spiraling upwards from underneath his body, toasting him to a crisp. It wasn't to my surprise that I saw the vile wolf launch into the air, propelled by a spiral of fire. I watched as it flew over the ledge and landed with a splash in the water so far below.

I resumed walking, pretty shaken with the encounters of fiends on the bridge. However, the bridge began to make unforgiving creaking noises. I looked down, and to my dismay I found that the creature's weight and sudden movements had snapped a majority of the bridge's ropes. If I didn't move, I'd plummet into the water to meet my dolls below.

I took one step, and with a sigh I found that the bridge didn't break. Only five more steps and I would make it. Too bad I wasn't too good at jumping, as I could've easily made it to the other side. If I had even attempted, though, I would've broken the bridge and easily fallen to my watery grave. I took one step, and nothing happened. I took another, and nothing happened. I took one more, and to my relief nothing happened. Only two planks left before the land. I took one step, lost my footing, and the bridge snapped. I screamed as I clutched onto the plank, but to my horror it began to curl back with my weight. I screamed again as I plummeted downwards, landing at the last plank. It would be not only a long way up, but an almost impossible way to get up. I looked around, and suddenly I was consoled.

"Tihpi! Moogi!" I shouted, picking up my friendly dolls and holding them close to my body, along with Momo. I looked up, then backwards. "HELP!" I cried with all might. It was useless. I'd never make it back up.

I began to cry. I looked up, praying to Yevon that he would grant me enough mercy to spare my life. I felt the plank begin to curl with my weight, and I looked down. It would be a twenty foot drop into rocky rapids in front of a gushing, fifty foot waterfall.

"HELP ME!" I screamed over and over until my voice was raspy. I began to cry again, trying to climb up but only further weakening the plank I was gripping. Anymore moves would result in my fall into the rocks below.

Suddenly I felt another presence behind me. I looked around as best I could to see, of all people, Wakka. My eyes were full of fear, and I could tell he knew how dire my situation was.

"Hold on, Lu!" he cried, and attempted to run back to get help. Foolishly panicking as I was, I screamed out for him again.

"Don't leave me!" I shouted. Wakka looked back to the village, back at me, and sighed.

"What am I going to do?" he asked. I looked at him, eyes filled with fear and terror. Before I could suggest anything, he had leapt from the ledge onto a wet rock below. He hopped onto another rock on the opposite bank and pulled himself up on the ledge from which the bridge had not broken. He looked down at me, eyes wide and darting back and forth. He was trying to formulate a plan.

"Hurry!" I cried, feeling the wood begin to crack under my fingers. I screamed as I grabbed the plank above the one I had been clutching and watched it plunge into the water and rush down the waterfall. Wakka looked down at me, and suddenly had an idea.

"Lu, I'm gonna need you to be strong, ya?" he asked in his consoling tone. I nodded fearfully. "I'm going to pull out the rope on the right side. You'll need to grab onto the left rope, ya? After that, I'm going to throw it down to you and pull you up."

"You mean I have to let go of the planks?" I asked rather stupidly. He nodded. "Okay... I trust you, Wakka."

I grabbed onto the left rope as hard as I could, watching the plank I had just gripped crack and fall into the water. It was hard clutching onto the rope, as it burned as it dug into my hands. Soon I was dangling precariously as Wakka was hastily gathering up the rope.

"Lu, grab this!" he shouted, tossing down the rope. It landed two planks above me. He quickly lowered it down, and I placed one hand on it. "I'll need you to grab on as tight as possible, ya?"

"Okay," I said, and grabbed onto the rope, letting go of the left rope. It snapped just as I did so, and all the planks and the rope itself plummeted down the waterfall below. It was just the rope, Wakka, and I.

"Hold on!" he shouted, and began to pull me up. Luckily for him, the temple had rations for the orphans and I was quite slim. He began to pull me up, one inch at a time. After what seemed like an eternity, I reached from the rope and grabbed his hand.

"Thank you," I said, just as the rope slipped and I screamed, landing with one hand clutching the ledge for dear life. Wakka, startled, held down his hand.

"Grab on, Lu!" he shouted. With all my might I threw my other hand into his, and he finally pulled me onto the ledge, heaving and panting. He grabbed me by the shoulders, gazing straight into my eyes, and said, "You okay, Lu?"

Before I could stop myself I hugged Wakka. Wakka, alarmed, sighed as I embraced him. "Thank you, Wakka," I said. All though I never saw his face at that moment, I could tell he was smiling. And before he could move to his feet again, I kissed him on the cheek. He flared up as red as the strawberries we had picked a couple months before.

"Lulu! Wakka! What took you guys?" said a youthful Luzzu, running onto the scene. I looked at him.

"Oh, nothing," I fibbed. Wakka looked at me, and I winked. He nodded. Luzzu turned and pointed at the bridge.

"What the heck happened to the bridge?" he asked, pointing a finger. I laughed, and so did Wakka.

====*====

"Wow..." was all Rikku had to say. Yuna stared at Lulu, eyes wide with amazement. Paine was smirking a bit, but otherwise she was affected as dramatically as Yuna and Rikku were.

"What ever happened with the bridge?" Yuna said. Lulu gazed into the former summoner's multi-colored eyes.

"Wakka and I lied about a Dingo stampede," Lulu said with a laugh. "It was a miracle the priests believed us."

Rikku laughed. "I can't believe you gathered up those dolls when you were stuck, screaming for dear life," she commented with a chuckle. Lulu smiled.

"You don't believe me?" she asked.

"No, I do believe you!" Rikku said with a grin. "It's just that... Well... That's not really like you, to get all emotional about something inanimate like that."

"I changed," Lulu said. "After that, I never took Tihpi, Moogi, or Momo to another Blitzball game down on the beach. In fact, I never took them to the beach ever again. And I always had second thoughts about that bridge, too."

"So no one ever knew about it, except you and Wakka?" Yuna asked. Lulu nodded.

"I never told anyone," Lulu said. "Not even Chappu."

"Wow, it was that secret, huh?" Rikku chimed in. "That's really something."

"Yes," Lulu said with a smile. At that moment a sleeping Vidina began to cry. Lulu walked over to the sobbing infant and cradled him softly in her arms. He was quickly soothed, and she laid him back down in his crib.

"See, Tihpi, Moogi, and Momo have come to play," she said playfully in her strange maternal way. Vidina giggled, grabbing the three dolls and poking them with a curious finger.

"I bet they're waiting for us," Lulu said, and YRP nodded in unison and headed out of the hut. Lulu kept a wary eye on Vidina as she left, then smiled a bit to herself.

"Yuna!" Buddy shouted, running over to her. Yuna nodded, sensing something urgent. "We're getting crazy sphere waves from Bevelle!"

"Do we have to go?" she asked, and Buddy nodded.

"Shinra and Brother are all ready back in the Celsius. I was just looking for you guys," Buddy said.

"Here, take the sphere," Lulu said, handing Yuna the sphere. Yuna stared into her former guardian's eyes, then smiled and nodded.

"The Celsius is at the beach," Buddy said. "Let's go!"

"What about him?" Rikku said, pointing to Tidus who was talking next to the bonfire with Wakka. She began to giggle.

"Come on," Buddy said, turning to Tidus.

"See you later, Wakka," Tidus called out to a chuckling Wakka as he ran back to Yuna.

"Let's go," Buddy said, and he led TYRP to the beach. Yuna smiled as she crossed the first bridge.

====*====

The beach was quite cool, and it was nearing midnight quite alarmingly. Buddy ran up into the Celsius, followed by Rikku and Paine, however Tidus and Yuna took a short stroll outside Nooj and Leblanc's hut.

"Oh Noojie-Woojie," was enough to get them moving away from the hut. With a slight laugh, Tidus took Yuna's hand and ran with her up the clicking and clacking metal runway back into the Celsius, which sped off almost immediately. Yuna began to recollect the dream – no, the nightmare – she had about Tidus and herself in Lenne and Shuyin's positions. It was not a pleasant dream, she knew that much.

The starry sky was beautiful in the deck of the Celsius; however the Gullwings were at work. Shinra busily tapped away at the research screen. Brother busily tapped buttons and dragged routes across the virtual map, and Buddy read the detailed version of the reports about the sphere in Bevelle.

"I suggest you guys take a nap," Buddy said. "By the way I see it now; we are going to be plenty busy with spheres in Bevelle."

Rikku groaned and nodded, and TYRP headed to the cabin. Calli was all ready asleep, snuggled up with the Chocobo in a warm blanket. Barkeep was gone from his post, obviously taken away by Darling.

Rikku collapsed in her bed, and almost immediately began to sleep. She hastily pulled her covers over her body as she snoozed into dreams about getting lost in the Bevelle Labyrinth, with, of all people, Gippal, who had her father's voice.

Paine began to immediately sleep as she landed on her bed, excited with the aspects of finding spheres but not with the aspect of being stuck down in the Bevelle Labyrinth. For a reason she could not explain, she was excited – almost overly so – about getting to meet up with Baralai.

Yuna fell asleep instantly on her bed, forgetting to even get in the covers. Tidus lay down next to her, wrapping an arm around her sleeping form and covering the couple with a fleecy blanket before closing his eyes. However, he couldn't sleep. He never could.

Soon Shinra began to snooze in his chair, and Buddy did in his cockpit. Brother smiled. The Celsius was all his now. With a silent whoop he shot into the air, spinning and turning so quickly you wouldn't have noticed the movement at all.