Sorry again for the long wait! Tennis season officially started, and I've been busy school shopping and such. (Not that I should give you excuses...Let's just say I've been feeling rather lousy lately...) Anyway, chapter seven is here and I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 7: Questions and Concerns
Tidus was beginning to grow extremely worried, and the evil laughter he was hearing continued. He couldn't think straight, and he was beginning to grow extremely worried. What if she was already, he gulped, gone?
"Don't think like that!" Tidus ordered himself, as he tried to stay calm. Where was she?
"Who are you looking for?" Tidus turned around sharply and felt his worries melt away, along with the laughter, as he saw Yuna.
"Yuna!" he cried, embracing her, "When you left, I heard the voice again, and..."
"You heard it again?" Yuna asked, breaking off Tidus' embrace.
"Yep. They told me...Well, they said that if I left you unguarded, it'd be easier for them, whatever that means, so, I assumed the worst, and came looking for you. I kept hearing this terrible laughter, and I couldn't find you...Hey, where were you, anyway?"
"Uh Tidus," Yuna said, looking around, "You're not even in Dona's hut!"
Tidus looked around the empty hut and blushed. He must have been in such a hurry that he had run in the wrong hut.
"But the Fayth didn't lay a finger on me," Yuna said, her voice sounding thoughtful as she grabbed Tidus' arm and led the way out the door, "Do you think the Fayth was playing games with us? Or, more with you?"
"You know, it couuld be possible," Tidus said, and he himself became rather deep in thought, "That wasn't very nice of them!"
"Yeah, so, let's head over to Bevelle right now and figure out what's going on!" Yuna said, taking Tidus' hand in her's, "I called my uncle too! He'll be here soon to pick us up!"
"Did you talk to Wakka?" Tidus asked, as Yuna pulled him toward the docks.
"Yeah. It took him a little bit of convincing, but he finally let in...Well, actually Lulu made him let in..."
"Great," Tidus said, but didn't say much else. Maybe he truly was worried that he was losing his touch to Blitz. After all, he had caused the team to play rather terribly at the scrimmage.
"Wait a minute!" Tidus finally said out loud, "I'm not carrying that team anymore!"
"That's great," Yuna said, and pointed up at the sky, "Look, there's my uncle Cid now!"
Sure enough, the airship had appeared, and was readying its landing. Yuna smiled, and boarded the airship quickly, and Tidus sighed and followed.
"There's my little niece!" Cid said, as he embraced Yuna as the two boarded the airship, "How you been?"
"Great," Yuna replied, and took Tidus hand, "You remember Tidus, right?"
"Right!" Cid said, "So, when's the wedding?"
"Uh, wedding?" Tidus said, wondering who it was getting married.
"Don't play dumb boy!" Cid said with a smile, "When are you two gettin' hooked?"
"Oh, uh..." Tidus said, and looked over to Yuna, who was looking annoyed with her uncle.
"We're not," Yuna just said, and took Tidus' arm and led him out of the area.
"But Rikku said—." that was all the two heard out of Cid's mouth as the two left and were now on the bridge, walking toward the elevator.
"What was that all about?" Tidus asked, as they were out of Cid's earshot.
"My whole family thinks that we're engaged and getting married like tomorrow," Yuna said, "Brother, Rikku, and even Cid."
"Oh," Tidus said slowly. He didn't care much for the topic of marriage. Sure, he loved Yuna, and he'd marry her someday...Someday far, far away...
"So just ignore them if they say anything," Yuna said, and shook her head, "They're all kind of...I don't know, old-fashioned."
"When do you see yourself getting married?" Tidus asked, curious to when it was she was expecting a proposal.
"Huh? Oh, I don't know," Yuna sighed, "I guess I haven't thought too much about it, know what I mean? Well, um, how about you? When do you see yourself getting married?"
"As far as I'm concerned," Tidus said, "Being married makes you seem old, know what I mean? So, give me a year or two...Maybe three...But when the time comes, you know who I'll ask to marry me, right?"
"I have no idea," Yuna replied, smiling.
Tidus gave a fake sigh and said, "Me neither. I had my eye on Dona, but she's busy with Barthello, and then Rikku's too young for me, and then Paine's not very friendly, and—."
"You are so mean!" Yuna said, putting a fake look of alarm on her face.
"I know, you're the only one left," Tidus said drowsily.
"Who says I want to marry you?" Yuna said, trying to conceal a smile.
"I do!" Tidus said, and leaned her over in his arms, causing her eyes to open wide in surprise.
"Okay, okay," Yuna said, as Tidus sat her upright, "I'll marry you..." She giggled then, and said, "Come on, we have other things to worry about than getting married."
"Yeah, we've got three, maybe four, maybe even five years to worry about that!" Tidus said, and Yuna just shook her head.
"You're such a goof," she said, wrapping her arm around his, "But I like you anyway."
Tidus didn't feel much like saying something back to her, so he just continued walking with her into the elevator, and to an area where they could look out the windows.
"It's been a long time since I've been on this ship," Yuna sighed, as if recalling memories.
"Yuna," Tidus said, "Can we go out on the deck."
"Sure," Yuna said, but didn't look too happy about it, "I guess we can."
"If you don't want to..." Tidus trailed, as Yuna nodded.
"Yeah, come on, let's go," Yuna said, taking his hand, as they rode the machina lift up to the deck. They walked out to feel the breeze as they stood there, staring at nothing in particular.
Tidus' eyes wandered the deck, and he appeared to be deep in thought, but Yuna herself was far too deep in thought to even notice Tidus was in thought.
"What happened, right after I disappeared?" Tidus finally asked slowly.
"I don't know," Yuna replied, "We all just stood there, I guess. I think I cried. I don't really recall. I guess, that's one thing I did my best to forget about."
"I'm sorry," Tidus said, for what seemed like the thousandth time.
"Don't be," Yuna said, although Tidus feared she'd begin to cry, "It wasn't your fault..."
"I shouldn't have just up and left like that," Tidus said, slowly again.
"You did what you had to," Yuna said, and then smiled at Tidus, "Don't feel bad about it. You know, I never thought about it until now, but it must have been hard on you as well. It must truly have been selfish of me..."
"What do you mean?" Tidus asked the smiling Yuna.
"Well, I always thought that you had left me and that it was selfish of you to have done that. But now I realize that it wasn't truly as if you wanted to go. It was just something you had to do."
Tidus nodded. "And besides, everything worked out for the best, right?"
"Right!" Yuna replied, and, linking arms with Tidus, "Well, we're almost to Bevelle."
"This trip to Bevelle better be way more friendly than my last!" Tidus said, and Yuna smiled, although Tidus knew that brought back painful memories as well.
"It will be," Yuna said, "Come on, I want to get off before Cid starts putting tons of questions on us!"
Tidus smiled, as Yuna dragged him through the doors leading outside quickly, before anyone even saw them.
The sun shone brightly in Bevelle, and Tidus took his time to look at his surroundings, being that the only time he'd ever been there before, he really hadn't been focusing on the surroundings.
"I like it here," he said finally, "It's kind of, I don't know, pretty..."
"I think so too," Yuna admitted, although she didn't seem happy about it, "But this place holds so many bad memories for me. If I choose to become a Maestress, I'll have to live here..."
"I like the city bustle!" Tidus said, happily, "Reminds me of...", he paused. He was going to say "home" as in Zanarkand, but then changed his mind, "Reminds me of Zanarkand. Kind of..."
"I can see what you mean," Yuna said, and pointed to some construction, "Look there! They're putting a sphere pool here! Can you believe that? In one-thousand years, Bevelle's never had a pool nor a team."
"Hmm..." Tidus said thoughtfully, "Well, if you had to live here, I guess I could always join their team whether Wakka liked it or not."
"Yeah..." Yuna just said slowly, and, as if wanting to drop the whole Maestress subject, said, "Come on, the temple's up ahead."
Yuna basically had to take Tidus' hand and drag him away, being that he was quite marveled with the construction of the sphere pool.
"It'll be really cool playing Blitz here!" Tidus said, as Yuna dragged him away, "I can't wait 'till it's finished!"
"Me neither," Yuna said, although she sounded kind of sarcastic, "You and that game..."
"When you're raised with Blitz and nothing else," Tidus said, almost sadly, "It kind of becomes that way. I don't know anything but Blitz. People in Zanarkand called people like me "Blitzheads". I guess we kind of were..."
"Maybe some day, they'll rebuild a sphere pool in Zanarkand. One with three pools, like your stadium in Zanarkand," Yuna put in to try to cheer Tidus up, "I mean, you never know, right?"
"Right!" Tidus said, forcing himself to sound enthusiastic, although he wasn't feeling too much that way.
"Here's Bevelle Highbridge!" Yuna said cheerfully as the two made it to the well-known bridge leading to the temple.
"This place brings back a few memories," Tidus said, and looked angrily, "'Can't believe I agreed to marry a widow."
"I am not!" Yuna cried, punching him in the arm, "You are such a MEANIE!"
"I know, I know," Tidus agreed, shaking his head at Yuna, "How much you hang around Rikku, anyway?"
"Enough," Yuna just replied, smiling.
"Hey, why are all these people doing that prayer thingy, anyway?" Tidus asked, as many people began to either bow their heads or give the Yevon pray as the two walked past.
"Some people have a lot of trouble letting Yevon go," Yuna said, "They're paying their respects to me."
"Naw, I think they're paying their respects to me!" Tidus said, and started bowing back to them, "'Not everyday you see a handsome hunk like myself!"
"Tidus!" Yuna said, dragging him along, "Don't bow back!" Yuna giggled then, "You look stupid when you do that prayer."
"And you don't?" Tidus just said, and bent down in the prayer again to a lady.
"Seriously!" Yuna cried, as the lady stared at Tidus confused, "Stop it!" Yuna was trying to be serious, but she couldn't help but laugh. All of the many people on the Highbridge were staring at Tidus with confused faces, as if not figuring out what he was doing bowing back to them.
"It's about time they just figured out how lame they look!" Tidus said, and now led Yuna, looking rather proud of himself.
"LADY YUNA!" a little voice could be heard, as a young child ran up to the two, "Can I have your autograph?"
"Why sure!" Yuna said, and bent down to the small child, taking a piece of paper and pen from him.
"THANK YOU SO MUCH!" the child screamed, and smiled and ran off.
"Why aren't you popular!" Tidus just said, smiling at Yuna, "You have people giving you the prayer, and asking for autographs, and how much more!"
"I'm not liking your sarcastic tone!" Yuna said, although she smiled, and then said dreamily, "What can I say? I'm just an instant hit!"
"Hey, no going and getting any of my ego!" Tidus said, pointing to her, "That's my job to be full of myself!"
"Don't think so!" Yuna said, laughing, as she walked ahead into the temple, "There's not much for you to be full of!"
"You...MEANIE!" Tidus laughed, and followed Yuna in, "Wow! Look at this place! It's machina meets old fashioned!"
It was true, Yuna could see exactly what he meant. Little bits and pieces of machina were all over, and yet priests of all sorts walked back in forth.
"Come on!" Yuna just laughed, dragging Tidus onto the hover with her, "We have a job to do, remember?"
"Oh yeah," Tidus said slowly, "I kinda forgot."
"What would you do if I wasn't here to keep you in line," she just said, shaking her head. The hover reached the bottom, and Yuna quickly led the way to the chamber of the Fayth, but paused outside of it.
"Okay, I admit it," she said suddenly, and Tidus wondered why she had stopped, "I'm kind of afraid of what we're going to find here."
"Me too," Tidus said, giving her hand a squeeze, "But don't worry. I'm not the least bit worried about myself. I'm here to stay. I don't care what the Fayth says."
"You're right," Yuna just said slowly, "Well, are you ready?"
"Are you?" Tidus just asked back.
Yuna took a breath and nodded. "I'm ready." And with that, the two cautiously entered the chamber, not knowing what to expect...
A/N: I'm going to end it there, even though I'm not quite sure if that's the best place to end it. Oh well. Well, let me know what you think! I'll try to get back into the swing of updating. (Back in the good 'ol days, I used to update every other day!) By the way, if you were wondering why most of my chapters kind of leave you hanging, it's because then I'm a little more likely to want to update quicker, so that you aren't hanging too long! Again, hope you enjoyed it, and look out for a new chapter soon! Yay!