Okay, since I'm starting this the very day after I've posted the previous chapter, you probably all love me for that. Also because I pretty much know everything that's gonna happen in this chappy, dialogue, plot, beginning through the end. Wow, that's a first. A lot of the time, I end up makin' it up as I go along. You people are in for a treat because now I actually know what the freak I'm doing. Hehehe. Okie dokie, let me start now. I can't be held accountable for when this thing gets finished, though. Don't hit me. And as a final note, I have to say that the middle bits of this chapter, although both of them are on spring break, will be Tidus-centric so we learn about him that way.

Disclaimer: [The graphic content in this panel has been judged too sarcastic and too undermining to anyone who could possibly take offense from something that is meant to be offensive.]

Chapter 13:

Truths

"I don't believe it, ya? I don' believe it!" Wakka walked back and forth in his room as Tidus sat on the floor, rolling clothes up and putting them into a suitcase. "You go an' sign me up for a trip to Bikanel to stay with some Al Bhed heathens for five days—" suddenly a hand grabbed his shirt collar; Tidus had stood up and was now standing in front of him with a murderous look in his eyes.

          "Wakka, if you say 'Al Bhed heathens' one more time, I'm gonna find a new ball bag for your blitzball." he threatened in a low voice. "And you might just have to have colon surgery to retrieve it."

          "You're serious, aren't you?" He asked, suddenly very scared. "Look, I was jus' lookin' forward to spendin' some time with Lu over spring break, an' now we're off to Bikanel where we might be killed by some kinda ammunition!" He sighed. "I'm sorry, ya? You know I don' like the Al Bhed. Their machina weapons killed Chappu. I can never forgive 'em for that."

          "Wakka, Al Bhed machina weapons are used all over the place. They're exported and sold, they don't know where their weaponry ends up." He rolled up a pair of shorts and stuffed them into the suitcase. "Besides that, the girls are going to Luca. They already signed up for the trip."

          "I know, Lu told me. I hear they got a great blitz team up there, ya? I wanna go see it sometime."

          "We fly over it from the airport out of Kilika," the blonde pointed out. Since Besaid was such a small island, there was no airport. Instead, they would have to take a boat to Kilika, and from there they could take an airship to Bikanel. The trip even by air would take seven hours, and the trip back would be eight because of the time change. The difference in time from Besaid to Bikanel was five hours. Making phonecalls to Yuna in Luca to Bikanel would be difficult.

          Tidus stopped to think now about Yuna. He hadn't spoken to her since the previous afternoon because they both had last-minute things to do and suitcases to pack for their trips. Lately, whenever they were alone somewhere together they would never get anything done. Rikku hit the nail on the head when she said they were too busy exchanging tonsils. But they were all driving to the port to get to Kilika the following day, and then their airships out of Kilika-Besaid International were leaving at roughly the same time.

          "You gonna miss Yuna, too, huh?" Wakka asked, stashing a final shirt and pair of shorts into his bag and sitting on it to close it. Five days in the desert didn't seem like a lot but he packed extra clothes in case of emergencies.

          "Yea. I know Seymour's not gonna be anywhere near her because he can't speak Spanish or French, so he won't have any way to communicate with the people in Luca. But I just don't like the thought of not being around her." He sighed. He'd grown more attached the Yuna in the time they'd been dating than he had to any girl he'd ever dated.

          "I just thought 'a somethin', ya?" Wakka said suddenly, getting up off of his suitcase. "We don' speak Al Bhed. How're we gonna get along over there?"

          "Ah, don't sweat it. We'll be stationed in a camp miles from where all the shit's happening. They help the locals since the villages nearby aren't like the cities and the Al Bhed Home where most of the people live now. A lot of them still live in little isolated villages, which is why it's hard for them sometimes to fight off the Guado."

          "They speak Common up there?"

          "You betcha."

          "Okay, then I can live with that."

          Tidus took another look at the bag that Wakka had packed. He'd rolled all of his own clothing up tightly and managed to fit it all into a duffel bag, plus things that he was bringing on the airship with him in a backpack. He'd always known that it was best to have a carry-on bag in case he got separated from his suitcase on the trip, granted he could probably fit the duffel with him on the ship instead of in the baggage compartment.

          "Why'd you pack so much? It's not like we'll be gone that long. Plus we'll have another week here with the girls once we get back. Spring break is twelve days long and we'll only be gone for five."

          "Yea, another week with Lu," he sighed. "Dunno what we're gonna do, though."

          "Me either, but you can probably guess what me and Yuna are gonna end up doing."

          "Brudda, no matter where you guys go, you always end up swappin' spit!"

          Tidus rolled his eyes. "Geez, does anyone around here just call it 'kissing'? I mean Rikku said we were exchanging tonsils, you say swapping spit, Lulu says we're switching tongues—is there anyone who just says 'kissing'?"

          "I dunno. I don't think so."

          "Come on, we gotta get out of here soon! We gotta meet 'em at the port and our boat leaves in just over an hour!"

          "So what? The port ain't that far away, ya? Don' sweat it, Tidus!"

          "Don't we have to go through customs?"

          "Huh?"

          "They check out your bags and make you walk through metal detectors and stuff before they let you board—ah, forget it. You'll know once we get to the airport in Kilika. They always do customs when you fly really far distances. Just get your stuff into my car and we'll get outta here."

          "Why your car? Why not mine? What would the general public think if they saw two guys ridin' around in a little bug car? I mean, dat car is a total chick car!" He said. Tidus rolled his eyes.

          "Okay, we'll take yours."

          "What if someone steals it?"

          "Wakka, decide whose car we're takin' in the next fifteen seconds or I'm gonna have you swim to Kilika!"

          "Fine, we'll take my car," Wakka said. "No one'll steal it anyway. Let's pack up an' get a move on, ya? I can tell you wanna see your Yuna again."

          "Just as much as you wanna see your Lulu again," Tidus snapped back. "You're a bit more tolerant of Yuna now. She growing on you?"

          "I guess just cuz I know more about her now through Lu than I did before. She ain't scary but I'm still scared 'a her cuz she's a witch."

          "The correct term is a 'mage.' And you know Yunas' magic is called 'white magic,' because it all has to do with protection, healing, and restorative properties? Lulu has elemental-controlled magic."

          There was silence as Wakka loaded the bags into the trunk of the car and slammed it shut. "You know, I really hate it when you're right, ya?"

          "Wakka?"

          "Yo."

          "Just get into the damn car!"

          "Okay, okay, don't bite my head off."

          Despite it being spring traveling season, the port was remarkably empty. Yuna, Rikku, and Lulu were already there, holding backpacks and duffel bags and looking at a boat schedule to see when the last possible boat they could take was so that they could get to Kilika-Besaid International on time.

          "Hey, Lu," Wakka greeted his girlfriend first. "Hi Rikku. Yuna."

          "Hiya!" Rikku was the only one to answer. Her cousin and friend were busy looking down at the schedule to work out times.

          "Well, the twelve-fifteen gets to Kilika port at around seven tomorrow morning and our airship leaves the airship dock at ten-thirty. We'll have three hours to blow off before we have to get through customs. We could take the one o'clock boat, and get there at eight-thirty, but then we have to go right to customs and wait for the ship. What do you think, Lulu?" Yuna bit on her fingernails.

          "I think you guys should stop staring at that boat schedule and pay attention to us," Tidus said with an indignant kind of sound. "I mean, we haven't seen each other in an entire day."

          "Tidus, does your airship leave for Bikanel at ten-thirty or eleven?" She asked, completely ignoring him. "We have to figure what boat we should take."

          "Give me that!" He reached over and snatched up the paper from her hands. Now Yuna turned around and shot him a glare.

          "Give it back. If we don't figure which boat we're taking soon, we won't be able to get the tickets."

          "You're no fun when you're serious," he said with a sigh.

          "It's noon now, ya?" Wakka said, reminding them that he was in fact present. "Why don' we just take the twelve-fifteen boat outta here, get to KBI in the morning, have breakfast at the airport, an' from there we can just hang out at the gates until the airships take off?"

          "That'll work, Yunie," Rikku said. "Besides, I don't like running through airports like a madwoman. And since you guys are going to Bikanel, customs is gonna search you longer than us. More thorough searches the further you fly, ya know?"

          "We still have fifteen minutes before the boat leaves. What should we do until then, or does no one care?" Lulu asked, shifting the weight of her bag from one shoulder to the other.

          "You guys can all go find nice, safe coat closets and make out!" Rikku said before breaking out into giggles. Yuna grabbed her hand and crushed her fingers together and her mirth was immediately replaced with pained whimpers.

          "First things first, we need tickets. We'll figure things out from there," she said, picking up her bag. "Ticket office is over there."

          A little while later, tickets were purchased and all five of them were seated at the port, waiting for the boat to begin loading. The departure was scheduled for twelve-fifteen, but they all knew that they would probably be a few minutes late. There were still people rushing to the port and dragging heavy bags or screaming children behind them. Just as long as they stayed in separate places than the screaming children on the ship, they'd all be fine.

          Lulu and Wakka were talking quietly amongst themselves, their voices lost among the other voices in the port. Rikku had taken out here CD player and wasn't listening to anything that anyone was saying to her, and Yuna was leaning gently on Tidus' shoulder.

          "Do you know where you're staying in Bikanel?" She asked.

          "Small camp off of a few villages. It's like a medical facility for the ones who need it when local healers can't do much or enough," he said. "Like mortar fire and stuff. I figured I needed to teach Wakka a littler tolerance Al Bhed style."

          "You know, Rikku's boyfriend hangs around those camps a lot. Donates much of his salary to them so that they can keep the smaller villages and towns from being wiped out from the Guado and the religious extremists." She sighed. "It's sad. I wish people would stop doing this kind of stuff to each other. You know there's not another animal or fiend on the planet that kills its' own kind? It's one thing to run another herd or pack off of your territory because they're stealing game or mates, but to hunt each other like prey is lower than even a fiend would do."

          "All passengers boarding Liner 913 leaving from port seventeen at twelve-fifteen please board now." The voice over the intercom said in a very bored tone.

          "That's us, guys!" Rikku piped up, grabbing her bags and heading for the ramp that led up to the ship.

          "Come on, we gotta go get her," Yuna said, getting up, stretching, and picking up her own bags.

          "How come? Just let her go ahead."

          "No, I mean, I have her ticket," she said, flashing both tickets. "Come on, before they escort her off the boat."

          Wakka and Lulu had managed to squeeze past the crowds and get onto the boat before the rest of them. They were waiting at the room check because Lulu didn't want to share a room for the night with Wakka. Instead, she asked Yuna if the two of them and Rikku could bunk together, and they readily agreed.

          "Wait a second, you mean you're gonna stick me with Wakka? He snores!" Tidus had a look of false betrayal on his face.

          "So? It's just for one night and we'll see one another on this boat," Yuna said, hefting her bag on her shoulder. "How bad can spending eight hours with him be? Probably not even that, since we have to get up tomorrow morning at quarter-to-seven in the morning."

          "I guess that works," he said. Everyone else went ahead to check into rooms and get bags sorted out, but Tidus and Yuna stayed behind. His voice lowered, suddenly, and he took on a serious tone. "You gonna be all right in Luca by yourself? You know I worry about you."

          "Tidus, I'll be fine. Rikku and Lulu will be with me. Seymour doesn't speak Spanish or French, and between Lulu and me, we'll be able to blend right into the scenery. I'm not worried. He's kept low since December."

          "I know, and that worries me. I think he might be planning something. You know, like waiting for you to let your pants down or something like that," he put his hand on her shoulder and stroked it gently. "I'd go berserk if anything happened to you, you know that."

          At this she hugged him. "Thank you," she whispered. The ships' horn blew, signaling that they were leaving the port soon. It ruined the moment when they both put their hands over their ears. They were standing right beneath the horn.

          "Come, my lady-love," he said in a very posh accent. "I shall escort thee to thy humble chambers."

          "Use all the accents you want—you're still rooming with Wakka!"

          Darkness had fallen. They had all eaten dinner and Tidus, Yuna, Rikku, and Wakka were in one of the rooms trying to play cards. Lulu was outside on the deck, looking up at the stars as the boat passed beneath them. She loved looking at them. They were mysterious, and so faraway. She inhaled the scent of salty seas and night air and closed her eyes.

          "They beautiful, doncha think, ya?" Came a familiar voice. Lulu's eyes snapped open and she looked next to her at Wakka. When had he gotten there? How long had she been standing with her eyes closed?

          "Yes," she answered simply. She looked back up at the stars, lost in them. "People long ago thought that the constellations were put there in memory of heroes, or great monsters that did the gods a service or were especially difficult to defeat," she said. "I know it isn't true, but it's nice to read up on. Just for the story behind it."

          "The only constellations I could ever find were the Big and Little Dippers and Orion, the hunter," he admitted.

          "Yuna hates it when people call them the Big and Little Dipper. She says it's better to call them by their real names."

          "What are they?"

          "Ursa Major, and Ursa Minor," she said. "Big Bear and Little Bear. It's how her dog got her name."

          "I seen that monster dog, ya? How she keep up with somethin' so big? That dog looks like he could snap 'er right in half, ya?"

          "She. Ursa is a girl dog. And she's well-trained. Wouldn't hurt anyone."

          "So what you doin' out here all alone, anyway?" He asked, turning and leaning back against the rail, arms crossed, looking at her.

          "I wanted… I wanted to be alone, I suppose. To clear my head. Something's been eating at my brain for a while and I needed to sort it out."

          "Sorry, I didn't know," he said, pushing himself back upright so that he could leave. "I'll go, ya, if you want me to."

          "No." Lulu quickly reached out and took him by the sleeve of his windbreaker. "Don't go." When she realized the pleading tone in her voice and the most likely pitiful look she had in her eyes, she dropped his arm and looked down at her boots peeking out from beneath her black dress. "Please, stay out here. Some company is nice."

          "I'm privileged, then, ya?"

          "Yes, I suppose." There was then a long pause. Lulu still gazed at the stars and Wakka was in turn gazing at her. "You've been seeing me since Homecoming," she said out of the blue suddenly. "I thought I was a date out of desperation. Was I?"

          Now it was Wakkas' turn for a pause. He said nothing for a few moments, then said, "No. I liked you. I just never said anything. You… you're a… a…" he couldn't spit out the word.

          "A BlackMage. A witch," she supplied for him. "Wakka, there is nothing about magic to be frightened of. Have I ever hurt anyone with magic?" She asked.

          "Not that I know of…" he looked nervous. "It's just… all my life I been told witches were Devil's toys, ya. And it's hard to change it now."

          Instead of answering, Lulu held up a hand. Slowly, a burning ember, the essence of Fire magic, gathered over her palm, growing into the size of a tennis ball and hovering gently over her hand. She held the hand out towards him. "Touch it."

          "What… is it?" He asked, eyes wide with awe and a little bit of fear.

          "Essence of Fire magic," she replied. "It won't hurt you. It can't. I didn't conjure it for that, I made it simply for light and heat." She held her hand out again. "Go ahead. Touch it."

          Tentatively, he reached out, brushing the orb with the tips of his fingers. On contact, he felt warm, like standing in a warm breeze despite the chill of the evening ocean air and the wind produced by the movement of the boat. With his right hand on the side, he reached and used his other hand to cup the glowing orb from the other side. Lulu dropped her hand, letting him hold it. She studied his face as he watched with childlike wonder as the orb floated above his hand.

          "It's hardly frightening, is it?" She said softly. "My magic is called 'Black Magic' simply because traditionally the power of the magical elements—Fire, Water, Ice, and Thunder—were used for battle. I have yet to strike a person with my magic, and I have had total control of it now for many years." On a humorous note, she added, "It works wonders when the power goes out."

          "It's beautiful," he said. "Like I'm holdin' a star." He broke the gaze on the fireball and looked at Lulu, letting his eyes adjust to the sudden darkness. "I wish I could carry it with me, ya know? Just to have while I'm gone the next few days."

          Lulu paused in though, absently digging one hand into her purse. "Maybe you can. I've read on this before—trapping elements of magic in a glass globe. I can try it, and see if it works for you," she offered. She withdrew her hand from the purse and produced a glass ball a little bigger than a golf ball. She made a fist around it as much as she could, and a tiny spot of red began to glow inside of it, growing bigger and bigger and bigger until it finally filled the entire glass ball. Then she handed it over to him, and he turned to leave.

          "Wait, Wakka."

          "Hm?"

          After a second of hesitation, she stood up tall and pecked him on the lips. "Goodnight."

"Flight 232 out of Kilika-Besaid International to Luca is preparing to board. Fligh 232 to Luca boarding now from gate D15." The voice over the intercom announced Yuna. Lulu, and Rikku's flight. Yuna turned away from the source and back to Tidus, who had abandoned Wakka at their own gate to come say goodbye to her.

          "It's only for five days," she said, shifting her hold on her bag. "We'll be back before you know it. And good luck in Bikanel. I know you'll need it." Hesitating, she then dropped her bag and hugged him tightly.

          Jokingly, Tidus grabbed the long braid trailing from the back of her hair. "Maybe if I hold onto this I can get you to come with me," he suggested.

          "No, Tidus. You had a good idea, to teach Wakka a little tolerance Al Bhed style. Stick with it. Rikku told me I needed to get out more. Everything will be fine, don't worry."

          He nodded again, and dropped a quick kiss on her lips. "Here, I finally got a hold of the unit number we're staying at… you know, just in case." He handed her a piece of paper, which read in his unsteady scrawl, "D.M.A.S 9902-10, Northwest Temuk, Bikanel."

          "What does 'D.M.A.S' stand for?" She asked, looking quickly towards the doorway that led to her airship. People were boarding now, but Lulu and Rikku were waiting for her.

          "Desert medical aid station," he replied. "Now go on, before you miss your ship and you have to come with me!" He turned her about and gave her a little push and watched her disappear inside the door that went to the airship.

          "So, you two parted company, ya?" Wakka asked as soon as Tidus sat back down at their gate, waiting for their own airship to take them to Bikanel.

          "Yep. I'm gonna miss her," he admitted. "How are you so calm, anyway? I thought you said you'd miss Lulu."

          "I will. But she gave me somethin', ya?" He smiled a little and slouched even more in his seat.

          "Her virginity?"

          "No!" Wakka said very loudly, causing several people at the airport to stare at him. Lowering his voice, he whisper-yelled, "No! Nothin' like that! I swear!"

          "It was a joke, Wakka. What she give you?"

          "I'll show you later, ya?"

          "Wakka—"

          Fortunately, Wakka was rescued when the overhead voice announced that their own airship was leaving for Bikanel in fifteen minutes, and that they had to board.

          "I'll get it outta you, you know that, right?" The blonde said, picking his things up and boarding the airship. He had eight hours on the ship to try, anyway…

          Tidus was more than just slightly disappointed when he found out that all Lulu had given Wakka was a glass globe full of Fire magic. After their argument about it, Tidus managed to fall asleep sitting upright. After an eight-hour-long and excruciatingly boring trip over which they accumulatively had about four hours of sleep, the airship landed. As they reclaimed their bags, the noticed that a muggy, heavy air was blowing in from outside every time someone opened the door.

          "Man, it's gotta be at least ninety degrees out there, ya?" Wakka squinted as he looked out at an expanse of sand outside the airport. "You know where we're goin', ya?"

          "There's a corpsman that's supposed to pick us up outside of baggage claim," Tidus said, grabbing his duffel as it went by on the carousel. Wakka already had his bag, and they made their way out of the doorway from baggage claim. Right off the bat, they knew who they were supposed to go to—there was a man with light silver hair standing near the exit. He was wearing light cotton pants and a long-sleeved shirt that was unbuttoned to reveal an un-dyed cotton t-shirt. His skin was very dark tan and his eyes were dark despite his light hair color.

          "Are you here from Besaid?" He asked in perfectly unaccented Common.

          "Yea… you're a corpsman?" Tidus asked.

          "Yes. My name is Baralai Praetor. You are…?"

          "Tidus Reina," Tidus answered.

          "Wakka Hayden," was Wakkas' reply. He blushed at the sound of his own last name. He's always thought it sounded weird together so when he could avoid it, he didn't say his last name.

          "Right. I've got a jeep and we can be at the 9902-10th in about an hour and a half," Baralai replied.

          "That's a long drive. How far away is it?"

          "Around ninety miles," he said. "If we start now, we can be there by lunch—thought I don't recommend the camps' food. Most of the time, the staff and volunteers will go out and hunt animals to get decent, edible food."

          "Okay, lets' just go," Wakka said. "The sooner we start the sooner we can go home, ya?"

          "I take it he isn't excited about this, is he?" Baralai asked.

          "Not really, no," was the answer. "I figure he needs to learn a little tolerance, Al Bhed style."

          "Wise. Come on, the sooner we leave, the less likely we are to get hit—by anything."

          The cryptic message echoed in Tidus' head for a long time. The camp was many miles from the shelling that was taking place near the Al Bhed Home, but were they really in danger? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all, but there was really no turning back now, was there? They were already about halfway there.

          The flat, empty expanse of desert passed them in a blur of heat. There was no road, but Baralai appeared to know exactly where he was going. Finally, in the distance, there appeared a rather large oasis, surrounded by army-type tents of many sizes. Some of them looked like housing quarters for residents, others looked like meeting houses or mess tents. It grew closer and closer until finally Baralai slowed down and pulled to a stop near one of the tents.

          "You need to go check in," he told them. "Colonel Matz is in there, somewhere. If he isn't, just sign in on the paper. I gotta go sign this jeep back in."

          "You sure we gotta stay here the whole five days?" Wakka asked, wiping a mix of sweat and road grime from his forehead.

          "Yes, we do. If you don't stop complaining, I'll shave your head while you're sleeping."

          "You wouldn't!"

          "Wanna bet?" Tidus opened the door to head into the Colonels' office and collided with another young man, perhaps a little older than him. They struggled for a second, tangled up in each other before both sprung to their feet and stared at one another. The stranger had spiked blonde hair and blue eyes. Tidus noticed uncomfortably that he had an eye patch over the right one.

          "Rao, syh! Cunno!" ["Hey, man! Sorry!"]

          "Wha?" Tidus shook his head, trying to decipher what the young man had said. The only word he knew was "cunno," meaning, "sorry." Rikku had taught him, but not nearly enough and usually only really rude phrases.

          "Oh, you speak Common?" He asked.

          "Yea, apparently you do, too," he said. "Uh, can we check in here?"

          "If you're the guys from Besaid, someone called the camp about half an hour ago and said you were on your way. You've already been signed in and we're bunking you in mine and Baralais' tent. If that's okay with you?"

          "Sure. Can we stop in now and put our stuff down? I'm starting to lose the feeling in my fingers…" Tidus shifted his duffel to the other hand.

          "Sure. Follow me."

          "Tidus?" Wakka said softly as he held his friend back for a second.

          "Yea?"

          "I'm gonna get you back for this if it's the last thing I do, ya!"

Three days. Two long, hot days in a D.M.A.S in Bikanel. They were helping in the hospital and the recovery room with people who had minor ammunition wounds and had been sent to a hospital far away from where all the hell was happening. But today had been extremely quiet. Nothing much went on except that wakka, Tidus, Baralai, and Gippal were bored out of their minds. Over that last few days, because of their close quarters and the fact that they had to be together most of the time, they had become fairly close. Gippal spent much of his free time in camps similar to this one. Most of his paycheck also went to aid stations, relief stations, and refugee camps for the Al Bhed who were forced from their homes due to Yevon extremists.

          "Hey, Gippal?" Tidus asked, shuffling a deck of cards so he could play solitaire again. "Where do you live when you aren't on the road or at camps like this?"

          "Home. The Al Bhed Home, it's near the northeastern shore. Far cry from here. Sometimes I'll fly a small airship here because it's such a trip by jeep or by rail."

          "What do you most miss about there?"

          "Air conditioning," he said, deadpanned face. "Fresh fruits. Real food. Takeout pizza from Vinos' place. 'Course even when I'm there, I miss my girlfriend. She doesn't live here."

          "Well, where's she live?" Wakka asked, laying on his back and tossing a ball up into the air.

          "Besaid. Maybe you know her," Gippal said, a little spark of hope in his eyes. He had since taken off the eye patch because he needed both eyes around here.

          "What's her name, ya? Besaid ain't that big of a place."

          "Rikku," Gippal answered. "Rikku Meinach. Blonde girl with spiral green eyes. Kinda short. Real sweetheart."

          Wakkas' eyes went wide with shock. Cautiously, he asked in a low voice, "Does she know you're Al Bhed?"

          "She is Al Bhed," Gippal said. Tidus squeezed his eyes shut. That was it—cat was out of the bag. Yuna had told him that Rikku was an Al Bhed but she had told him not to tell Wakka.

          "Rikku's Al Bhed?" He asked, losing some of the color in his face except for the tan and burn he'd gotten over the last few days. "No! That's not possible, ya! She can't be Al Bhed, she's a perfectly good girl! She—how did—what—?"

          "Wakka, sit down," Tidus said, pushing down on his shoulder until his friend was forced to sit. "Rikku is Al Bhed. I've know. Yuna told me but she told me not to tell you because she was afraid of… well… this!"

          "What 'this'?"

          "Twenty minutes ago, she was your friend, wasn't she?" Tidus asked.

          "Ya. But then I didn't know that—"

          "What does Al Bhed or non-Al Bhed have to do with anything?" Gippal asked, looking more angry than anything else. "If Rikku was your friend then what does religion have to do with anything?" He glared with murder in his eyes. "Seriously. When she gets back, she's not gonna know that you know that she's Al Bhed and she's gonna try to be all friendly with you like she always is, and then she's not gonna know why you're mad at her and she's gonna beat herself up over it not knowing what's going on. And it's all because of her birth. That's just the stupidest thing I've heard. And I've met a lot of people like that."

          "But she lied to me…" Wakka buried his face in his hands.

          "No, technically you never actually asked, 'Are you Al Bhed,' because she probably would've just told the truth." Tidus had a legitimate point, and Wakka could not argue. When he said nothing, the blonde spoke again. "Wakka, seriously, are you gonna let something so trivial as religion come between a friendship like that?"

          "I don't want to."

          "Then don't let it," Gippal suggested nonchalantly. He'd recovered his normal cool and airy demeanor, letting everything just slide off of him.

          "Besides, what about Lu?" Tidus asked, hitting a soft spot.

          "What about her?" Wakka asked back, going from angry to worried.

          "Who's Lulu?" Gippal asked.

          "His girlfriend. One hell of a woman but—she's a BlackMage."

          At this comment, the Al Bhed fell off of his cot in a fit of hysterical laughter. He clutched his stomach and tears began to form in his eyes as he struggled to get himself under control.

          "You—you're worried about—about Rikku!" He said, trying desperately to breath, talk, and laugh all at once. "But—you're dating a mage! Gawd, that's the funniest damn thing I've ever heard! You know that five hundred years ago, the Al Bhed used to burn witches? Just like you Yevonites? Neither one likes magic and here you are dating a mage and—" he practically wet his pants laughing so hard.

          Baralai walked in through the wooden-framed door to the tent and almost tripped over Gippal. He looked down at his long-time best friend who appeared to be having an apoplexy, and deadpanned, "See, Gippal, I told you that there were some things you hadn't tried yet." To Tidus and Wakka, he asked, "So what actually happened?"

          "Father Teresa over here is dating a BlackMage," Tidus said, going back to the book he was reading before they had begun to talk.

          Baralai made a snorting sound as he tried not to laugh as Gippal was. Finally, the blonde Al Bhed calmed down and sat up, wiping his teary eyes on Baralai's long coat.

          "So what were you talking about before Gippal had a seizure?" Baralai asked, sitting down next to Gippal.

          "Girlfriends," Tidus said. "You have one?"

          Pause. Baralai had to think about that one. "I dunno if I could call her my girlfriend," he admitted. "She could be going out with me because she likes me but it could also be because she feels sorry for me."

          "Where'd you meet her?" Wakka asked.

          "I've known her for years. Her father was a friend of my parents. They worked over here for something but I don't remember what. But we saw each other all the time when we were kids, then she went off to Bevelle for schooling when she was fourteen, and we didn't see each other much after that. Until about six months ago. There was a party at the Home, there was a celebration for something. But I saw her there for the first time in months. And… she was wearing a dress. Paine never wears a dress. But there she was. She came with someone else, though. A guy from the Al Bhed Psyches—the blitz team. But she took one look in my direction, and…" he trailed off.

          "What happened?" Tidus asked.

          "I got down on my knees and begged her to go out with me."

          "Oh, how the mighty have fallen," Gippal said with an eye-roll. "And she's your first real girlfriend, too. The only one that's dated you and not wanted to get to me."

          "No need to rub it in!" He yelled. He hated being so close to Gippal of the Machine Faction. Band members split up when they weren't on the road and they went to different camps, but one thing that every diehard fan knew was that Baralai and Gippal were inseparable. Attached at the hip. Girls often pretended to go after the more vulnerable Baralai to get to their ultimate goal—Gippal.

          "What about you, Tidus? You got a girlfriend?" Gippal asked.

          "Yea. Not my first, though. I feel a little more experienced than you guys are," he said with a cocky grin. Technically, Yuna was the first girlfriend that he had been attracted to for something other than her bust and legs. And she'd lasted longer than three weeks. "Okay, the first girlfriend I actually have feelings for."

          "Shallow," Wakka snapped.

          "I'm not as bad as you think, you know," he said in his own defense. "Just because I was a star in Zanarkand doesn't mean I had no morals and went out getting laid when I was thirteen."

          "You ever gotten laid before?" Gippal asked.

          "Hey, ya, stop talkin' about this! Doesn't anyone wait 'til they get married anymore?" Wakka snapped.

          "Wakka, virginal marriages are rare for one party. Even rarer for both. I mean—who wants to have a wedding night with someone who has no idea what they're doing?" Tidus said, making a legitimate point. "And I'm not answering your question."

          "Why not? Where was your first time? Was it that embarrassing?" The blonde Al Bhed asked.

          After a pause, Tidus decided to answer. "In the back of a pickup truck on top of a pile of smelly old blankets," he said. "Just me and a dirty magazine I swiped from my friend. Truck went through a pothole and I was in heaven."

          "I meant with a girl, man, not going solo!" Gippal screamed. "Hell, that's something I don't wanna hear!"

          "Ask and ye shall receive," Baralai said. "Whether you like it or not."

          "Yuna's the only girlfriend I've had who doesn't dress like a slut and isn't a cheerleader. I dunno what the hell I ever saw in those other girls."

          "Bust, legs, and a short skirt?" Gippal suggested.

          "Most likely."

          "Come on, lets get some sleep, ya?" Wakka said. "Tomorrow's the last day we're here and we gotta pack up."

          "Yep," Tidus said, closing his book and laying back. "We all know how much you're gonna hate leaving this place."

          "Yea, I'm really gonna piss pissin' in the latrine and getting splinters in my butt," the islander said with much sarcasm. "And thank you so much for making comments when I just asked you to help me pick 'em out."

          "No problem, Wakka," Tidus yawned. "No problem at all…"

          [A/N: If you want to read all about Tidus' life, then read ahead. If not, skip this part and I'll tell you when he's finished talking. I happen to think it's interesting, but then again—I wrote it. Still hearing about his life from me would be a little more boring than hearing it from the horses' mouth… so to speak…]

          The next morning dawned hot and humid. Nearby, an orphanage had had to evacuate because some fiends had invaded, and the twenty-some-odd children in residence were all staying at the D.M.A.S until the fiends could be taken care of. By three in the afternoon, they were all there, and broken up into groups so that they could all get somewhere safe. Tidus was put in charge of a small group of them, only five, but he had to bring them somewhere that the fiends couldn't get at them. Fiends were seen heading towards the camp, and they would be dangerously close in a mere hour. Inside a building was their best bet.

          Not wanting to bring them to the tent where he, Gippal, Wakka, and Baralai were staying, he decided on one of the supply areas, where they would not only be safe, but would also have supplies in case they were stuck there for a while. He closed the door behind him and locked it with an axe handle through the handles.

          "I don't suppose anyone here speaks Common," he said after he'd ushered the children away from the door. They all just stared blankly at him, not understanding what he said. "Crud. I speak a little bit of Al Bhed, but just enough to get slapped." He sighed. What was he going to do? Someone would come around once it was safe to come out again, but he had no idea how long that would be. He was going to go mad if he had to sit here in silence for hours on end. He decided that the best remedy for this was to keep talking so that he didn't fall asleep.

          "Sorry about this. I'm new in town, you know? I'm from a little Kilikan province—Besaid. Ever heard of it?" He asked, receiving only blank stares in reply. A few of the children were smiling just because of the way he was talking. They were relatively young children—none of them older than ten, and if he fell asleep then there was no telling what would happen…

          "Actually, I wasn't born Besaid. I was born in Zanarkand. That's a huge machina city way up north. It's a great place. They had every kind of person there—every nationality, every religion. Mages, Al Bhed immigrants, some of the more liberal Yevonites—and me, Tidus Jecht Reina, blitz ace, student, boy-next-door, and… well… orphan." He sighed. "I guess we've got that in common, huh? My parents are dead, too. My mom died when I was two. Hit by a truck and was brain dead for a week before they pulled the plug on her…" he trailed off, trying to gather himself so he wouldn't cry. Somehow it was easier to talk to these kids than it was to talk even to Wakka about it. Perhaps it was because they looked at him with total innocence, and unbiased and not injecting comments about Yu Yevon and God. They just listened. Granted he had not yet approached the subject with Yuna.

          "My dad died about seven years ago, but I never liked him. Well, he never liked me, either, you know? I think it's because I look so much like my mom did, at it was hard for him to have a reminder of her around when she wasn't. So he kinda shunned me. He wanted me to be a blitz ace, but I was never much good at it when I was little. I was clumsy. Had no balance. 'Course it didn't help that the ball was bigger than my head. But just before he died, he told me that I'd never be a blitzer. He told me I'd grow up to be a safe little suburban desk jockey with a wife and 2.4 kids and a dog and a cat and a minivan. Man, that pissed—sorry, language. I don't want you guys repeating anything I shouldn't be saying. That ticked me off pretty bad when he said that, you know? I guess I took up blitz because I wanted to prove him wrong. Then once I figured out how to play it, I really liked it. But I don't know if I wanna be like my old man and make it my career. I think I actually wanna do something that'll help people. I'm not sure what, though. Rikku said that I could probably be a psychiatrist since I'm so easy to talk to—but I guess you guys wouldn't know that because I'm not listening, I'm talking my brains out."

          He glanced at his watch. The time read 4:30 pm. How much longer would they be there for? He sighed. "If feel like my entire life is sitting on my tongue and knocking on my teeth and trying to escape through my lips. You ever feel like that? Once you start talking you can't shut up?" He received no answer. He didn't expect one. They kids were beginning to play with one another or talk quietly. Outside he vaguely heard someone yell, "Heads up! They're comin' this way!"

          "So, anyway, after my old man died his best friend Auron was appointed my guardian. I dunno what they saw in each other. Jecht was a heavy drinker, ya see, and he kept getting busted by the police. He was there so much that they became friends, I guess. But Auron's so different! He's like… Mister Conservative. He's so serious but he's really got a sense of humor like you wouldn't believe. And he never cracks a smile even though he knows what he's saying is gonna make everyone in the room wet themselves for laughing. He's a great guy. I more or less think of him as my father, or a father figure, more than Jecht. He was never there for me but Auron is, even when I don't wanna talk. I guess it's because he actually likes me.

          "Oh, lordy, what else can I talk about? See, I got about three hours of sleep last night and my brain is telling me to shut my big fat mouth and go to sleep, but I can't go to sleep because I'm afraid that if I fall dead asleep here, I'm gonna wake up in a graveyard somewhere six feet under. But that's morbid. Don't wanna talk about that. But blitzing, man, I love it. Auron calls it the 'epitome of testosterone-sports,' but I can't think why. I mean half the Abes team was girls. I guess it's because their uniforms were a little tighter and shorter than the boys' uniform was. Oh, yea, gotta love swimming around with girls in little shorts and tight tops. What could be better? Maybe Yuna in little shorts and a tight top. But I'm not gonna talk about her just yet. Blitz, blitz, get back to blitz. Anyway, I was offered a contract to play professionally with the Abes when I was fifteen, but I turned it down. It was my own choice but Auron got a lot of hate-mail telling him that he shouldn't make the decision for me until I stormed out the front door in front of a news camera one day, yelled that it was my choice and that I wanted to finish high school before I made any major choices about my career. After that no one bugged me anymore.

          "Anyway, I went back to school full time and started concentrating a little more on my studies than on blitz. Before that my grades were pretty low, and by my last year at Yunalesca, I was taking honors courses. I even stopped trying to use the telescope on the roof to look into the all-girls private school across the street. I actually wanted to do something with my life. And I wanted to do something worthwhile. I could be a highly paid blitzer and play games for a living and most men or guys my age would jump at that chance, but it'll just make me feel like I was turning out like my old man. I don't want that. Kent, and old friend of mine, called it 'soft.' Then he went on to take the contract and I haven't seen him since. It really sucks."

          There was some yelling outside as men began fending off fiends that invaded the camp. It seemed that whomever had yelled before that they were coming was right. From the sound of it, there were a lot of them, too. The kids hugged ach other and stared at the door. Then they all looked back up at Tidus, hoping that he would say something. Even though they understood nothing he said, the tone in his voice and his facial expressions were comforting to them.

          "Anyway, you know, the best think about living in Zanarkand was? I got to see all the great shows for cheap before they went onto Broadway in Bevelle. That's where all the good plays tried out. Yea, I'm a theatre guy. I like musicals. So shoot me. I saw the cool ones there, too. You know—'Mama Mia,' 'Movin' Out,' 'Sound of Music,' 'Lion King'—all of 'em! Saw a couple of huge flops, too. There was this one I saw a few weeks before we moved. I don't even really remember the name, I think it was something like, 'Magical Moments.' I can only remember one song from it and it gets stuck in my head easy." He screwed up his face. "Actually, I just remember the beginning of the song. It's the first song. 'You talk to me, a song begins. You speak and I hear violins, it's magic…'"

          Outside, either a wolf or canine fiend howled.

          "I think the fiend is better than I am. Well, you know, when I was sixteen, just before I turned seventeen, Auron got canned. You know how he broke the news to me?" A few of the kids giggled at his antics. He was becoming very animated, talking with his hands, pacing back and forth, sitting down, getting up, walking, turning, and all the while talking almost nonstop. "He came to me one day and said, 'Tidus, would you like to see where I grew up? A little island down south—called Besaid.' He'd mentioned Besaid before but I never really knew much about it. I said sure, why not. And he said, 'Good, now go pack up. We're moving in a month.' Is that any way to break the news to me? He never actually directly told me he got fired, I hadda guess myself! I still don't know for fact what happened but I do know that there was a fight and some guy hit him in the knuckles with his nose. Or that's the theory, anyway. So, we up and moved to Besaid. I think that was the most spontaneous thing he's ever done in his entire life. But I really should thank him. I mean, since I moved to Besaid I've met two of the closest friends I've ever had. Rikku and Wakka. Man, it's been one school year and I feel like I've known 'em forever. You guys ever get that feeling? You feel like you've known someone your entire life when really it's been seven months. Well…" he began counting on his fingers. "August, September, October, November, December, January, February, March, and a few days in April… that's… eight months and change. Wow. Not even a year and I feel like I could tell these people anything."

          Now he stopped talking for a few minutes, just so that he could catch his breath and check the time. He's been talking, pausing, walking, and talking for about two hours. It was 5:30, and his stomach was beginning to growl. There was a little bit of food in the tent—bread, cheese, a little fruit, and bottles of water. The kids were beginning to hold their stomachs.

          "Bet you guys are hungry, huh?" He asked. They just stared at him. He groped for the word. "Uh… vuuf?" He managed to find the Al Bhed word for what he hopped was "food." When the children nodded, he figured he'd nailed it. He pulled down a box that contained dry ice and the food all packed neatly inside. He split it as evenly as he could among the kids and there was very little left for him. He made sure that they all ate and drank before he munched on the stale bread and the apple he'd managed to scrounge for himself. Even after, it seemed like he was even hungrier than before. And he was getting quite tired. He had to keep walking around and talking or else he'd fall asleep. He didn't want to leave these kids alone when there were fiends outside.

          "You guys all look like you feel better. I'm glad. I just wish that there was more food around here or I'm gonna faint before I get the chance to fall asleep. I just gotta keep talkin', that's all. A guy at a party told me that, once. I'd hit my head on a ceiling fan and I wanted to pass out. He was a huge guy, he must've weighed almost two hundred pounds, and he just grabbed my shoulders and he said, 'Just hold on! You gotta stay awake. Keep talking. Keep moving. You'll be okay, but you gotta stay with us!' Then I threw up on his shoes. I don't remember one damned thing after that. Oh, sorry. Man, you guys have to promise me that you won't repeat anything that you hear me say in here, okay? Ah, what the heck. It's not like you know what I'm saying anyway.

          "But what was I talking about before? There was something important—oh yea, Wakka and Rikku. Two awesome-est people I know. But then, there's Yuna. Gawd. If it weren't for Seymour I think she'd be a little less shy and a little more adventurous. This guy, Seymour Guado—" at the mention of "Guado," the children all grimaced. "No, no, it's okay. There's none here. If there was, he'd have to answer to me. But this guy, Seymour, he's freakin' blackmailing her into living with him. She hasn't caved yet but he keeps hinting that he's gonna let the cat outta the bag. In Besaid there's a lot of Yevonites, so anyone Al Bhed isn't looked upon too kindly and Yuna's half Al Bhed. She's also a WhiteMage but anyone with powers is considered a Demon of some kind. She doesn't wanna let anyone know but about nine-tenths of the school knows she's a mage but her magic is all restorative so you'd think they'd at least like her for that, you know? But she's just so scared all the time. I know I probably shouldn't be saying this but she's gotta tell someone, sometime, and I've been telling her for a while that she should tell Auron. At least that way we can get the show on the road, you know?

          "Yuna… I've never met anyone like her. Ever. In my life. She's… amazing. She wants to go into art, and I say she should. She's a damn good artist. You know the first time we went out was Homecoming. I saw her in a dress. Gawd, she's beautiful. I just… I dunno. I've never been someone to believe in 'love at first sight,' but once I got to know her, all I wanted was to be there for her. I'd tell her that I love her but I'm afraid she'll turn tail and run back into her little rabbit hole and never speak to me again. She's too level-headed for that. She just thinks that some things take time. Some do. But some things happen all at once."

          The kids were getting tired, and he put them all safely hidden away from anyting that might enter the tent. He wrapped them in blankets and get them pillows so that they could sleep. The desert was cold at night, just as all deserts were. One little girl about nine years old wouldn't let go of him when he tried to stand up.

          "Listen, honey, I'm taken. Yuna, remember? I gotta stand up, too, or you're gonna give me a permanent ducking position." He sighed, prying her hands away from around his neck. "Come on, honey… go to sleep." He hummed softly as he made sure she fell asleep. It was a lullaby he remembered a woman sang to him just after he found out that his father had died. "Bye-lo, baby, bye-lo, baby. Bye-lo, baby—bye-lo baby, bye. Daddy still loves you, Daddy still loves you. Daddy still loves you, though he's gone to war. Bye-lo, baby, bye-lo, baby. Bye-lo, baby—bye-lo, baby, bye…"

          The door rattled and Tidus' jerked to a startled stop. His conscience was eased when he heard Gippal's voice from outside.

          "Hey, is anyone in here?"

          Immediately, he yanked the axe from the handles. "Gippal! It's me! Hell, you couldn't've come at a better time…"     

Wow. Okay, again, I have to break this chapter before the original end. Originally I was planning on having Tidus and Yuna go to Gagazet and there would be much fluff involved, but this is fifteen pages! It was Deplora's idea. She saved my sanity. Anyway, I would muchly love reviews, and do tell me what you think about my rendition of Tidus' story. I thought it was a creative way to do it. I know the idea has been done somewhere before, the idea of just talking to stay awake, but I can't remember where, exactly. Maybe it was a bunch of places. I dunno. But anyway, the Gagazet chapter will be up by next weekend, so be prepared! I know everything that's gonna go on in that! Bye, my precious reviewers.