Okay, I know I said chapter 4 and up should get really exciting, but in my opinion, this chapter was somewhat boring too. (Or maybe it's just me?) However, this chapter is pretty important for future events, so, enjoy!

Chapter 4: What the Fayth Says

"BLITZ OFF!" the excited announcer screamed at the top of his lungs, as the ball was thrust in the air. Wakka leapt for it, but so did the Kilika Beast's center.

Tidus found it pleasant to be playing in the ocean instead of in a sphere pool, but at the same time realized it was far harder to concentrate in the open air than in a closed in area. In fact, he was so focused on this fact, that he almost missed the pass that Wakka had thrown him.

He caught it, and, deciding it was time he stayed focused, began swimming toward the other team's goal, deciding that he would have to do something to cover up his daydreaming from earlier.

He kicked the ball hard, and the goaltender was lucky enough to have the ball hit off of him, but Wakka caught the rebound and was then able to throw it into the goal with little difficulty.

The Aurochs all excitedly swam quickly over to high-five Wakka, and Tidus did too, but Tidus was still a little too concentrated on trying to concentrate on the game.

Wakka shook his head knowingly at Tidus, and gave him the "Get in the Game!" look,
and then the Aurochs regained their positions, waiting for the next toss up.

Perhaps it was being in the open air, but Tidus was finding it incredibly hard to concentrate.
The ball came soaring up behind him then, as he swam in place in thought, and he caught it with some ease, and, snapping out of his daydreaming, swam off with it toward the Kilika Beast's goal. However, he had stood there with the ball too long, and already four of the Beast's members were on his tail.

They tackled Tidus, and managed to get the ball out of his arms. They then hurriedly swam toward the Auroch's goal, and made a goal.
The crowd cheered and the Beasts went crazy, as if they had just won the game.

"It's not over yet!" Tidus thought, and seeing the looks he was being given by his team,
decided to keep his head in the game full-time. The game continued, soon with the Aurochs ahead two to one. Soon the game was nearly over, with all of the Kilika fans on the edges of their seats, praying for the Beasts to win.

The Beasts now had the ball and Tidus was just about to make his game-winning tackle,
when something happened.

Tidus' vision suddenly went blurry and he couldn't exactly make out the players,
although he could feel the one he was about to tackle swim swiftly by him. He felt sick, as if he were going to pass out, and suddenly couldn't hear anything anymore. He couldn't hear the cheering crowds, or anything else.

"Protect your summoner..." A voice said loudly in Tidus' ear, causing him to try to find where it had come from, although he couldn't really see anything but blurry visions, "Protect your summoner or don't, she will still die...Soon, very soon."

Everything snapped back to life then, and Tidus could hear the horn go off telling that someone had scored. Judging by the way the Kilika fans cheered, Tidus guessed that it hadn't been his team. The final horn blew, saying that it was the end of the game.

The Aurochs all shook their heads at Tidus, and swam off droopily toward the locker rooms. The Beasts were still going crazy, as if they had just had their first win in years.
Tidus followed toward the locker room, although his mind wasn't on the game at all. He was too busy thinking of the voice, and what the voice had said. It was then that he realized who the voice had belonged to. It had belonged to the Fayth. His Fayth.

Tidus walked swiftly into the locker rooms, deciding that he was going to tell Wakka about what he had heard. However, Wakka, as well as the rest of the team, were all glaring at Tidus.

"We should've killed dem," Wakka said, shaking his head disappointedly at Tidus, "But we couldn't, 'cause Dreamerboy over dere couldn't keep his head in de game!"

"No, uh, I..." Tidus hadn't expected his team to blame the almost loss on him.

"Look, Wakka, I...I need to speak with you about something important!" Tidus said, as the rest of the team continued to look at Tidus angrily. Wakka didn't look very happy, but he followed Tidus out of the make-shift locker rooms that the Kilika Beasts had put up.

"You nearly caused us the game," Wakka said, looking somewhat angry at Tidus.

"I know, I know!" Tidus said, "And next time we'll be sure to kill 'em, but something happe–."

"If you can't get in the game, there won't be a next time for you!" Wakka roared, and it was then that Tidus realized that Wakka was more angry than he'd ever seen him before.

"But Wakka! I have something imp–." Again, Wakka interrupted Tidus.

"If you really think you're gonna be the big star player of dis team, and den play like you just did, you can forget being on our team. We practiced and practiced, not for you, but for de other members, and dis is how you repay them!"

"Wakka, it's not like we lost!" Tidus argued, and in his mind decided that perhaps it was better in this case also, that there had been no loser.

"We didn't win, either!" Wakka snapped back at Tidus, "And, and you know what? It would have been okay, but some of us didn't play our best, either! Now, go run three laps around da forest, with no complaints. And as for Yuna, you'd better find a way to balance your love-life and Blitz. Now GO!"

"But Wa–," Tidus moaned, but Wakka still wouldn't hear him out.

"Go, now!"

"Okay, okay!" Tidus said, forgetting the voice for a bit, as he started off in a slow jog toward the forest.

"If you aren't back in less than eight minutes, you can forget being on this team!" Wakka shouted angrily at Tidus, as if hoping he'd pick up his speed.

Tidus just shook his head angrily and slowed down even more, deciding he might as well tick Wakka off a little more while he was at it.

"See if you guys can even think of winning without me," Tidus thought bitterly to himself as he reached the forest.

He ran around in one circle, thinking that at least Wakka could have punished him. These laps may have been hard for anyone else on the team, but not for him.

As he ran, he began to think of the voice again. It had to have been the voice of the Fayth, and apparently, as far as he knew, he was the only one who had heard it. The Fayth's words were driving him nuts, however. His summoner...Obviously Yuna...Was going to die...Soon?

"Hey Tidus! How did the scrimmage go?" Tidus heard a perky voice say as he continued his running. Soon, Rikku was running at his side, and she said, "Why are we running?"

"I don't know why you are," Tidus said, as he then completed his second lap, "But I'm running 'cause I got in trouble."

"Ooh, what did you do? Did you beat someone up?" Rikku asked, her green eyes sparkling as she waited for Tidus to tell her.

"Naw, I couldn't get my head into the game," Tidus said blandly, and disappointment shone into Rikku's eyes.

"That stinks," Rikku said, "And after all of our work earlier, I was expecting something exciting!"

"Yeah, and we tied," Tidus said drearily.

"What, we didn't win?" Rikku moaned, looking disappointed.

"Hey Rikku, Yuna around?" Tidus asked then, deciding that he should probably tell Yuna what he'd heard, even though he wasn't exactly sure how he was going to tell her.

"Yeah, she's discussing something with Paine and Nooj, but she's around. Want me to take you to them?"

"Uh, sure," Tidus said, abandoning his third lap and following Rikku, "So, why aren't you with them?"

"I got bored," Rikku said, "So I left. Here, they're right in there!" Rikku pointed to a little hut, "That's Dona's place. She's in there too."

"Great," Tidus said, shaking his head, "I kinda needed to talk to Yuna alone."

"Ooh, about what?" Rikku again looked extremely interested.

"Just something important," Tidus replied, and, taking a breath, walked into Dona's hut.

Dona noticed Tidus first as he walked in, and her eyes opened wide.

"You?" she said, almost disgustedly, "I figured you were dead!" Yuna turned around, as did Nooj and Paine.

"Is your scrimmage over already?" Yuna asked.

"Uh, yeah," Tidus said, rubbing the back of his neck, "Uh, sorry to interrupt and all, but,
uh, Yuna, I kind of have something I gotta tell you."

"Right now?" Yuna asked, now giving Tidus a kind of warning look.

"Yeah, it's kind of important," Tidus just said, feeling somewhat as if he knew he shouldn't be where he was.

"Go ahead Yuna," Nooj said, but Tidus noted a tone of annoyance in his voice, "We'll wait."

"I'm sorry, I'll be right back," Yuna apologized, and followed Tidus outside, where Rikku was still waiting.

"Okay, okay, I'll leave," Rikku said, and she went into Dona's hut.

"Tidus, you can't just come on in and interrupt me like that!" Yuna said, "It's just something that can't be done. We're kind of in the middle of something."

"I know, it's just..." Tidus trailed wondering how he was going to tell Yuna. He tried to picture her reaction, but couldn't quite picture it.

"What is it?" Yuna asked, and Tidus felt kind of hurt as he realized she wasn't even giving him her full attention. He wondered if something was bothering her as well, something she wasn't going to tell him right there. Maybe something she'd never tell him.

"It's just that today, while I was playing Blitzball, I heard the Fayth's voice."

"You heard the Fayth?" Yuna asked, and was now giving Tidus at least eighty percent of her attention.

"Yeah, and...well, the Fayth told me some rather unpleasant news."

"Like what?" Yuna asked, and Tidus thought she was going to jump on top of him, as if she thought it was bad news about him.

"The Fayth told me to watch over my summoner, because...Because she was going to die soon," Tidus told the wide-eyed Yuna.

"What?" Yuna just asked, "Are you sure?" Yuna gave her head a shake, "Why would it tell you? I...Oh, Tidus, that's ridiculous!"

"But it's the truth. In fact, it caused us to tie with the Beasts..."

"You tied?" Yuna asked, her eyes glowing happily, "I'm glad."

"You're the only one," Tidus just said, feeling somewhat stupid. He had expected Yuna to be at least somewhat startled by the news. Maybe cling onto him, telling him not to let her die,
but that's not what had happened.

"Anyway, I have some business to attend to. Okay? I'll see you later," Yuna said, and turned toward the hut.

"But Yuna!" Tidus said, grabbing her arm, "Did you not hear what I just told you? The Fayth said you were going to die! Don't you care?"

"Right now, I'm almost better off dead!" Yuna just said, and Tidus was amazed at how angry she sounded, "I have to go. I'll see you later." Tidus reluctantly let go of her, and watched as she reentered Dona's hut. "

Oh!" Tidus just said loudly as Yuna was now out of sight.

"Hey! Have you finished those laps?" Tidus turned around to see Wakka standing on the road beneath him, "You better have!"

"Wakka! Yeah, I did," Tidus lied, as he ran down to him, "But I have to tell you something!"

"Do I look like I care?" Wakka just said, and continued to walk. It kind of made Tidus want to laugh. He'd never seen Wakka act so angry over a Blitzball game, but he knew it wouldn't last.

"You would if it had to do with Yuna!" Tidus said, running up to Wakka, "Today during the game, when I was about to tackle that guy and keep him from making a goal, the Fayth spoke to me."

"The Fayth?" Wakka asked, "But they're all gone. To the farplane."

"Yeah, I know, but the Fayth spoke to me!" Tidus said, "And they told me to watch over Yuna, because she is going to die soon!"

"And you're sure of what you heard?" Wakka asked, and Tidus could tell he was no longer angry, "Did you tell Yuna?"

"I'm sure of what I heard," Tidus said, answering Wakka's first question, "And yeah, I did tell Yuna."

"What did Yuna say?" Wakka asked, looking up at Dona's hut.

"She said that right now, she's probably better off dead," Tidus said, "And she sounded kind of angry."

"What's going on up there, anyway?" Wakka asked, still looking at Dona's hut.

"Don't know," Tidus said, "But that Nooj guy and Dona are there too. And Yuna seemed kind of into whatever it was that they were discussing. Paine was there too, but Rikku wasn't. She said it was boring. But now she's back up there."

"Hm, I wonder, ya?" Wakka just said, "Poor Yuna, she thought she knew what she was gettin' into when she chose to become a summoner, but I don't think she was expecting this!"

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Tidus said.

"Well, let's go practice some, or something," Wakka just said, and turned around,
heading back toward the locker rooms. Tidus lingered a little longer, staring up at Dona's hut. He couldn't help but want to hang around, to make sure nothing happened to Yuna, but if she didn't want his help at the moment, then Tidus would just have to give into her wishes.

Swallowing, Tidus followed Wakka to the locker rooms, having no idea what was in store for him, or for anybody else, either. Not only that, but he didn't really even want to think about it.

Feeling somewhat defeated, and surprisingly tired, Tidus entered the locker rooms, not even really caring that his team was still glaring at him, with the exception of Wakka. He just sat on the bench, and pretended to watch Wakka as he explained their new strategy.

He hoped the day went by fast, but he had no idea just how long it really was going to be.