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Yuna laid on her bed, crying. Thinking about Lake Macalania had been too much for her. It had been a moment so perfect, where she had forgotten how harsh the world really was. Now she would never have another one like it... or another one with Tidus at all, for that matter. She looked at the ocean through her window. The waves, which were usually so calm, now looked as trouble as she felt. She thought about how much more peaceful she would feel if she jumped into the waves and let them take her. She burst into tears again, as she knew she could never do something like that. She would just have to live alone. All she could do was cry and cry until she fell asleep.
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The sun shone upon Yuna's eyes. She squinted and rolled over to try to squeeze in a few more minutes of slumber. She then noticed a presence above her. "Tidus?"
"Tidus gone. Kimahri here," Kimahri reminded her.
It all came back to her then... How Rikku shouted for them to look, and then she saw his translucent hands. She remembered falling through him... then he jumped. She shook her head to chase the memory away. "Of course. I had.... forgotten. Thank you Kimahri."
Kimahri looked worried... as worried as a Ronso can look, anyway.... so she faked a reassuring smile. This seemed to please him and they walked downstairs. Rikku was cooking everybody breakfast... or more accurately, burning it. Lulu was standing next to her, trying to salvage what she could. They could hear her attempts at instructions.
"Rikku, you need to turn the french toast over now. Carefully!"
"Like this?" Rikku flipped the french toast into the air... and it promptly landed on the stove.
"Rikku.."
"No, no, I've got it! See? Oh, hot!" Rikku said while trying to coax the french toast back onto the spatula with her fingers. Lulu sighed and concentrated on keeping the sausage edible. Wakka was leaning against the door frame, laughing at the both of them.
"Hey sleepyhead! 'Bout time you got up," Wakka said.
Lulu cast him a warning glance and he quickly added, "I just meant you're missing the show. Rikku trying to cook breakfast should be entertaining, ya?"
Rikku, oblivious to the conversation, asked Lulu, "Hey, Lulu, are the eggs supposed to look like that?"
Lulu directed her attention to the scrambled eggs and muttered an, "Oh my."
Wakka chuckled and turned back to Yuna. "How you doin'? Feeling better, ya?"
Yuna struggled to hide a look of despair. "Yes, Wakka, I'm fine. Thank you." Her eyes drifted to the sea once again and she just stared, lost in thought. Would she ever be able to say that truthfully, she wondered.
Upon seeing Yuna's vacant look, Lulu gave Wakka another glare. "Why don't you three go put dishes on the table?"
Wakka gave one last chuckle when Rikku started poking at the eggs while Lulu's back was turned and headed for the dining room. Kimahri, Wakka and Yuna started placing dishes on the table. Uncomfortable with how quiet Yuna was being, he asked her, "What do you want to do today?"
Yuna was silent until she realized the question was directed at her. "I thought I would just... stay here. Rest up a bit. The last few days have been a bit... hard." She hadn't meant to let the sadness creep into her voice, but it was there just the same.
"Wouldn't you rather go out and do something? Get your mind off of..." Wakka trailed off, knowing it was the wrong thing to say. "We could watch a blitzball game. You always liked blitzball, ya?"
"Blitzball.." *Tidus. He loves blitzball. No... he loved blitzball. Past tense. How can I be thinking about him in the past tense?* She began to tremble and shook her head. "Why don't we just... go for a walk by the dock. And maybe..." She tried to think of something -- anything -- to do besides watch blitzball. Something that didn't remind her of... him. "We could have a picnic!"
Kimahri mistaked her desperation for excitement. Anything she was excited about was good, he thought. "Kimahri think picnic good idea."
"I think so too. A picnic.. that'll be fun, ya?" Wakka said.
"Hm." She gave a slight nod and was lost in her own thoughts again.
Just then Lulu and Rikku came in carrying pans of food. "Everybody out of the way, master chef coming through!" Rikku warned.
"Rikku, not on the bare--" Before Lulu got the chance to finish, they all heard the table sizzle when Rikku set it down. "Table." She grabbed some hot pads and slid them under the pans.
"Hehe, oops!" She bounded into her chair while Lulu served everyone. "What are we going to do today? We've spent all this time planning everything around defeating Sin... but we've done that! And to think we never planned for afterwards." She started shoveling food into her mouth.
Lulu looked over at Yuna picking at her food. She knew Rikku was wrong... somebody did have plans for the afterward. But now she could never live them.
Wakka replied to Rikku, "Yuna suggested a picnic by the dock."
"Ooh, a picnic, that's a wonderful idea, Yunie! Mmm, this sure is good, isn't it?" Rikku had half her plate clean by this time.
Lulu looked down at the slightly burnt eggs and crispy sausage and couldn't help but laugh. "Yes Rikku, it's wonderful."
Wakka nodded in agreement as he scarfed down his own serving. Kimahri had little to add to the conversation, as usual. Yuna continued to pick at her food until she noticed everybody else was done. "I'll clean up." She quickly stacked everyone's plates on top of hers, hoping they wouldn't notice she had barely touched it. While she was scraping them into the trash Lulu came up behind her.
"I noticed you didn't eat anything... you really miss him, don't you?" Lulu asked. She knew what it was like.. she knew how badly Yuna must be hurting.
Yuna set the plates down on the counter. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes again. Would they never stop coming? "He can't really be gone.... can he? He wouldn't do that to me. He'll find a way back to me, he must. He always said he'd be with me always. He'll come back... won't he?" She looked up at Lulu's face and could tell she didn't think so. She burst into tears all over again.
Lulu put her arms around Yuna and held her. "I'm sorry, Yuna. I wish there was something I could do." After her sobs died down, Yuna just shook her head and smiled. Lulu knew it was forced, but what could she say? She just put her hand on her shoulder. "I'll get the picnic stuff ready."