Chapter 5: What Else the Fayth Says
"We ridin' the airship home?" Wakka asked as he and the rest of the Aurochs gathered up their stuff. Dusk had fallen upon the village, after a long and rather boring day of listening to Wakka's new strategies.
"Ya!" all of the Aurochs, except for Tidus, screamed, "Airship! Airship!" They all ran out of the locker room, and Wakka smiled at Tidus and followed them. Tidus just stayed seated,
looking at his hands, which were folded across his lap. The twiddled his thumbs for a while,
deep in thought. If Yuna didn't care about what the Fayth had told him, then why did he? Of course he cared. If something were to happen to Yuna, even if it wasn't his fault, he'd still feel as if he were the one to be blamed.
"Damn this whole deal!" Tidus shouted then, slamming his fist into the bench.
"Ooh, did I just hear someone say a naughty word?" Tidus rolled his eyes. He knew who it was that had just invited herself in.
The Al Bhed ran in, looking at the angry Tidus.
"How come you're not with the rest of your team?" she asked, "I was just coming to tell them that Brother's back to take you guys. But you weren't there. Why're you in here?"
"I don't know," Tidus said, "I don't feel like standing up."
"Well, it's either go back now, or wait 'till tomorrow with Yunie and Paine."
"What?" Tidus asked, "Yuna's not goin' home now?"
"Nope. Her nor Paine. They're both stayin' overnight."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. They have some "important items of interest" that they need to take care of,"
Rikku said, rolling her eyes, "It all bores me, so I'm heading back with you guys, and Wakka's giving me private Blitzball lessons!"
"Sounds like fun," Tidus said thoughtfully, "But I think I'll just stay here. With Yuna."
"What? Come on! And miss out on the fun?" Rikku cried.
"Yeah..." Tidus said this slowly, trailing as he did so. He didn't really feel like telling Rikku about the voice he heard, even though he figured at least Rikku would probably take him seriously.
"Well, okay, but it's your loss!" Rikku said cheerfully, quite unaware that anything was out of order.
"Yeah, I know," Tidus just said, still staring at his hands.
"But you'd better make sure it's okay with everybody else first," Rikku said, "Although I don't see why they'd mind..."
"Yeah, okay," Tidus said, "I'll go make sure it's okay." He decided he wasn't really going to make sure it was okay. He could care less whether or not they allowed him to stay. He was staying whether they liked it or not.
He stood up and stretched, and said, "Go ahead and leave. I'll, er, make sure it's okay right now. I'm sure it'll be fine."
"Okay, but what if it's not?" Rikku asked.
"It will be. In fact, Yuna basically already said it was," Tidus lied.
"Well, if Yunie said it, but," Rikku laughed and nudged Tidus, "Not that I could see Yunie telling you no! Okay, I'll probably see you guys tomorrow then! Toodle-oo!"
"Bye," Tidus just said, and watched as the happy Al Bhed skipped out of the area.
Tidus finally stood up, deciding to find Yuna. He hoped she wouldn't be too angry that he hadn't gone back to Besaid. Why would she be angry though?
"Yeah, no worries," Tidus assured himself, "I'm sure they'll want you around. Who wouldn't?"
He marched up to Dona's house, although he wasn't even sure if everybody was still there. It was now dark, and he hoped he found someone soon.
He knocked, and the door was answered by Dona herself, who just stared at him with a smirk on her face.
"Can I help you?" she asked, and Tidus couldn't tell if her tone was annoyed or amused.
"Yeah, can you tell me where Yuna is?" Tidus asked.
"She's with Paine and Nooj," Dona just said flatly.
"Okay, where's Paine and Nooj?"
Dona rolled her eyes, "Where do you think they'd be?"
"I'm not in the mood for your games, Dona," Tidus just said, "If I knew where they were,
I wouldn't be asking you!"
"My, my, my, my..." Dona just mumbled, "They're in the temple. Where else would they be?"
Tidus just rolled his eyes and said, "Okay, thanks!" Then, he sprinted off toward the temple.
He ran on into the temple once clearing out of the forest, to see Yuna and Nooj, as well as Paine, standing there in the middle of the common ground talking with a priest.
"Hey guys!" Tidus greeted them cheerfully, running up to them.
"Tidus? Didn't you go with the rest?" Yuna asked, "Or have they not left yet?"
"Oh, they left. I'm stayin' with you guys, if that's okay and all."
Yuna kind of looked somewhat nervous, and she turned to Nooj, who to her surprise, was smiling.
"You're Sir Tidus, correct?" he asked Tidus.
"Yeah," Tidus said, shaking his hand, "But you can just call me Tidus. Nooj, right?"
"Right," Nooj said, "And of course you can stay. In fact, we could probably use your help."
"Sure, with what?" Tidus asked.
"People are growing incredibly rowdy here," Yuna explained, "We're trying to come up with a plan to calm them down."
"So far we don't have much," Paine said, "We're hoping that the Blitzball tournament, as well as the crowning of Maesters will help them to settle down."
"I see," Tidus said, even though he really didn't. Why did it matter to them if some people got a little out of hand? Big deal! Still, he could see that it worried Yuna, and she appeared quite distant, as she was in thought.
"They want to feel like they belong to something, obviously," Nooj said, thinking.
"I know, just start some clubs or something," Tidus said.
"A what?" Paine asked.
"You know, a club. Like, a Blitzball club, or a...Well, I've only ever belonged to Blitz clubs, but I'm sure there's others! You know, you choose a leader and people join, and you do things."
"Kind of like the Youth League and New Yevon," Nooj said thoughtfully, "I've got it! That's all I needed! Well, nothing more to worry about!"
"Nothing? But what do you intend to do?" Yuna asked Nooj.
"We just need to start groups that are friendly to each other. I mean, think about it, what did we ever do in the Youth League besides pick fights with the New Yevon Party? And what did the New Yevon Party ever do? We can start the two groups up again, to give them a place,
but join them together. How does that sound?"
"What if things just go back to before," Paine said.
"Then we'll put a stop to it," Nooj said surely, "I'll need to talk it over with Baralai, but there shouldn't be too much of a problem there."
Nooj started off back into the forest, and Paine told us she had something to discuss with him, and ran off.
"Maybe you should come with me more often," Yuna said with a smile as they were left alone in the dark, vacant temple.
"That's what I say!" Tidus said, although the smile that formed on his lips faded. He stared at Yuna, who was staring back at him, although Tidus didn't think she really was even looking at him. The look in her eyes was so distant.
"Hey Yuna, something on your mind?" Tidus asked, after noting her distant, almost vacant expression.
"Huh? Oh, no..." Yuna said, although Tidus could tell that wasn't true.
"Come on, I know you're thinking of something," Tidus said, "Why won't you tell me?"
"Because," Yuna said, looking away from Tidus' questioning glance, "It's just how I am."
Tidus tried to let out a little laugh, maybe to make the air around them see a little less stiff. Still, it seemed as if there was a thousand feet between the two, even though they were standing right next to each other.
Tidus finally shook his head, "I don't understand you! I know something's wrong, but you won't tell me..."
"I don't want to tell you until I'm certain upon it!" Yuna said, sounding angry, "Just let it go, okay?" She shot Tidus an angry look, although Tidus could see past it that it had a twinge of sadness to it, and then she walked past him and toward the exit of the temple.
"Hey, wait!" Tidus cried, grabbing her arm, "It's okay. If you don't want to tell me, it's no big ." He stopped however, as she turned and faced him and he saw tears streaming down her face.
"Uh, Yuna?" he just said, not really knowing what to say.
"I don't want to tell you, because I'm afraid, okay!" Yuna just said, "It has to do with that dream I had last night. And something else..."
"Well what?" Tidus asked, wanting terribly just to hold her and tell her everything would be alright. Yet, how could he possibly do that if he didn't even know what would be alright.
Yuna's bottom lip quivered and she stared at Tidus for some time, as if trying to determine whether or not she should tell him or not. Finally, she sighed and said, "The Fayth spoke to me, too!" Then, sobbing she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder. "The Fayth...The Fayth said that I was going to die, just like it told you. Then, the Fayth told me that I was going to die because of you. You were going to lead me to my death!"
"What?" Tidus said, "When?"
"While you were at your scrimmage," Yuna said, "I figured it was nothing, but then you told me what you had heard, and then I kept thinking about it, and the more it began to make sense."
"What made sense?" Tidus asked, even though he had a pretty good idea.
"My dream," Yuna just said, "You know, in my dream, I was sending someone. Well, I was sending you," Yuna bit her lip, in a hopeless attempt to stop her tears, "And then, after I was done sending you, I jumped off, and landed in flowers. Well, those flowers were the farplane. Being that I died. As in, you led me to my death. I don't know, I thought that maybe if I acted mad at you or something, then none of it would happen."
"Huh?" Tidus seemed confused, although he seemed to grasp what was going on, "So,
you're saying I'm going to die, and then you?"
Yuna nodded, and Tidus still saw tears glistening as they came from her eyes, "I'm afraid that is what's going to happen."
"You don't think it's going to be from suicide or something, do you?" Tidus asked, "I mean, like, I die, you kill yourself?"
Yuna looked at Tidus for a long time, as if in thought, and didn't answer.
"I mean, you wouldn't try that or anything, would you?" Tidus asked, to fill the silence.
"Well..." Yuna looked away from Tidus, and was now blushing, "Let's just say I wouldn't be here right now if I hadn't found that sphere back when we were in Zanarkand."
"What do you mean?" Tidus asked.
"I was...Er...Trying to kill myself. You know, drown myself..."
"Seriously?" Tidus asked, "Over me?"
"Yeah..."
"Damn Yuna! Why would you do something like that!" Tidus said, trying to sound calm. The last thing he wanted was for Yuna to die because of him. Especially in that sense. "It's not like I did it!" Yuna countered, sounding somewhat angry, "But I did try to, I guess. I mean, I don't know if I truly would have gone through with it, but..."
Tidus sighed. "Okay, look, promise me right now, that no matter what happens, you will not inflict harm upon yourself over me. Okay? It's not something I want you to do! As for what the Fayth said...You protect me, and I'll protect you. We'll just have to watch our backs."
Yuna nodded. She smiled then, glad to see Tidus so serious. She kind of liked this side of him, not that she didn't like the carefree side either, but the serious side was kind of nice for a change.
"Right," she agreed with him, "And yes, I promise not to inflict harm upon myself over you. It's just that I..." "Just that you what?" Tidus asked, feeling somewhat eager to hear what it was she was going to say.
"It's just that I kind of love you...A lot..."
"Doesn't everybody though?" Tidus said, causing Yuna to frown playfully.
"I don't know, sounds like Wakka wasn't very glad you guys didn't win because of you!"
Yuna teased, "Now come on, Paine and Nooj are probably wondering what's keeping them."
"Yeah, and it's not as if the Aurochs didn't spread enough rumors about us today!" Tidus said, taking Yuna's hand and running out of the temple with her.
"Oh, Yuna," Tidus said, stopping, "I don't think I tell you this enough, but it's...Hard for me, I guess..." Tidus rubbed the back of his neck, acting somewhat embarrassed.
"What?" Yuna asked, as if she didn't know already.
"Well, I...Er...I love...You," Tidus finally managed out, and smiled, "A lot!"
"Good," Yuna said, kissing his chin, "Because you're not the only one!"
"Right, there's probably hundreds of Yuna fan clubs, right?" Tidus asked sarcastically.
"Yep!" Yuna said smiling, and said, "And Brother's the president."
"What's up with that guy, anyway?" Tidus asked.
"I don't know," Yuna said, "Even Rikku doesn't know!"
Tidus smiled, glad the air around them seemed a little less stressed. He thought it truly was odd how one second they acted like complete strangers, the next like the lovers they were,
and then like complete strangers again.
"We're really stupid," Tidus said, "You know that?"
"What do you mean?" Yuna asked, looking at Tidus questioningly.
"We just are," Tidus said, "I mean, you know, one minute we act like we can't stand each other, and the next we act like we can, and then the next ."
"Okay, I get it," Yuna said, smiling.
They had reached the village by now, and Tidus began to feel tired, actually feeling the impact the day had had on his alertness.
"So, where we stayin'?" Tidus asked, yawning.
"You're staying in the hut next door to Dona," Yuna said, "I'm staying in the upstairs of Dona's hut."
"What? We're not staying together!" Tidus pouted, "I thought last night was how we would be spendin' the rest of the nights! 'Course, we could do more than just sleep..."
"You wish," Yuna said playfully, "But not tonight. It'll hurt...Uh, my image."
"Oh, sure," Tidus just said, but was truly feeling too tired to care anyway, "It'll hurt your image to be seen with me. I get it."
"I didn't mean it like that!" Yuna said, worried she'd said the wrong thing.
"No, I totally get it," Tidus said, shaking his head, "It's fine. No worries. I'll see you in the morning."
"Okay," Yuna said, "Goodnight."
"Goodnight," Tidus replied, and gave Yuna a quick peck on the lips, "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Right."
"Just say goodnight already!" the two heard Dona's voice yell, "It's getting late!"
"Hey, you spyin' on us?" Tidus yelled.
"Someone has to keep you in line," Tidus just heard Paine's emotionless reply.
Yuna laughed, and said goodnight once more to Tidus, and then walked inside Dona's hut, while Tidus went inside the hut next door.
He was greeted by snoring and saw that there were two beds, and in one slept Nooj.
"Good thing I'm used to snoring," Tidus just sighed, and crawled into bed. He barely closed his eyes and he was fast asleep.
A/N: Wow, I'm terribly sorry if this story is just beginning to grown tedious. I've got a slight case of writer's block, and for some reason it makes me just ramble in my stories! (Oops!) Okay, I've FINALLY figured out my complete plot, but I'm having trouble with fillers. You know, I have a perfectly good idea of what's going to happen, but I don't really have anything to happen to lead up to it! So, if you guys have any ideas or things you think will be good in this story, let me know! By the way, your reviews are so highly appreciated! Thank you so much!