Disclaimer: Final Fantasy and all related characters, locations, etc. belong to Square Enix.
Chapter 4: Fiends!
Tidus fidgeted in his seat as he watched the blitzers swimming about the sphere, passing and shooting several pastel-colored balls as goalies practiced blocking. He was quite jealous of them; he wanted to be out there with them, playing the game, feeling alive again. A decent-sized crowd had also shown up, and were cheering on their favorites. It brought back many fond memories for him.
"I think number eighteen has definite potential," Voight said.
Tidus scanned the sphere until he found the number "18", zigzagging along the sphere's surface. The number followed the person it identified as she swam around inside. Tidus focused on her and felt a slight tingle in his cheeks.
Celia was number eighteen. And as he watched, he could see her swimming circles around several of the other hopefuls.
"Wow," he said.
"Yeah," Voight replied. "I know it's early, but I'd say she'll definitely be on the team."
As they continued watching the players, Tidus' patience stretched to the limit. At one point, he practically jumped out of his chair and got ready to run toward the sphere. However, Voight grabbed his arm as soon as his backside left the chair. "Hey, cool it, Tiger. You'll get your chance soon enough."
Tidus groaned, smacked his fist against his thigh, and plopped back down in his chair. Voight chucked out loud, and turned his attention back to the players.
Finally, after Tidus, Voight, and the third judge had agreed on enough candidates for the second stage of the tryouts, Voight spoke into the microphone, "Okay, everyone, that's good for now. Everyone to the bench."
The players all complied, some confidently launching themselves from the water toward the bench while others demurely swam to the water's edge, grabbed the ladders, and climbed up to their spots in the open air.
Voight stepped onto a hoverpad and, grabbing his notepad, floated off toward them. "You've…all done…remarkably," he hesitated, absently flipping through pages on his notepad. Tidus rolled his eyes. He knew Voight was just dramatically increasing their suspense. "We've narrowed it down to twelve candidates, who will go on to the second phase of the trials. From there we will choose seven players who will join Tidus," he gestured to Tidus, who just waved modestly when everyone looked back at him, "as players on Zanarkand's new team, the 'Vibes'. And before I announce the names, I would just like to say that everyone has done well here today, and even if you don't get chosen, you should try out again next year. Or, consider trying out for any of the other league teams."
Tidus was very excited about this group, and that several of them would be blitzing on his team. When he had been paying attention to the players and not just his own desire to be in the sphere with them, he had seen quite a few of them doing well. He also noticed the ones that were obviously way out of their league, whether or not they could tell themselves. Still, he was glad they had had such a good turnout for the trials; seeing their passion for Blitzball strengthened his own. And who knows, even the ones that aren't very good now might get better. Look at the Aurochs…
He listened to each of the names, and as each one was spoken, the person matching it stood and moved up a few levels in the bleachers. Once all twelve names had been read and all the candidates had moved up, Voight gave a long-winded half-apology and half-motivational speech to those that remained. When he was done, those that had been passed over stood up, one by one, and walked away. Most left without a word and only hung their heads, but a few emitted some choice expletives before storming off. Some members of the crowd also shouted out when they realized their favorite didn't make the cut, but fortunately no one came after them.
Tidus shook his head. He loved the game, and was used to spectators behaving badly when their team was losing. But when players themselves took losing so seriously that they'd act like that, it made his blood boil. One thing he had been taught, not by his his father but by another man that had been very important to him over his life, was that you take your wins and losses the same way: gracefully, and with dignity. Not that he didn't like to celebrate a little after a win, he remembered with a light chuckle.
Once the last of the rejected players had left the arena, Voight said, "We want everyone back here at 4 o'clock for training. Don't get too confident, though. Only seven of you will make it onto the team, so you need to stay on the sphere. Then once we've chosen the team, you'll be expected to work even harder. Are we clear?"
Everyone gave his or her acknowledgements. "Good. See you all at four."
As the players got up and started toward the locker rooms, some of them looked up at Tidus, giving him gestures of support or waving and shouting at him. Tidus waved back and gave supporting comments, but couldn't keep his eyes from wandering toward one of them.
Number eighteen, Celia, looked as if she was doing all she could to avoid glancing up at him. When she finally turned her head his direction, even at the distance, he felt she was looking straight through his eyes. His heart jumped in his chest, but before he could do or say anything, she had turned down the stairs toward the lockers.
Tidus sat down and rubbed his forehead. The hell am I doing? Am I some kid with a crush or something? For a brief second he remembered that he was technically still a teenager. But it had been a long time since he remembered having felt like a teenager. Not after the things I've been through lately. C'mon, man, pull it together.
"She's a looker, ain't she?"
Tidus looked over at the other judge, occupying the chair on the opposite side of Voight's empty seat. He looked middle-aged, with a graying beard and a stomach built from a few too many sweetened pastries. "Yeah," Tidus replied absently.
"She's good, too. If, or rather," he winked, "when she gets on the team, a hot girl like 'er will really bring in the crowds. 'Specially the guys." The judge smirked. "Heh, and they were sayin' you'd bring in the chicks. Between the two of ya's, we got ever-one under sixty covered."
Tidus chuckled mirthlessly. That judge was, from what Voight told him, the new team's coach. The man obviously shared more of Voight's passion for Blitzball the business, than for Blitzball the game. Exactly the kind of coach Tidus had hoped not to get. "Great," he replied.
"Hey, T, you should be more excited," Voight said, appearing from behind him. "I've seen you looking at her, and she's been looking back, even when you don't notice."
"Whatever, man," Tidus said. Part of him hoped, even wished, that it were true. After all, she did kind of come on to me yesterday on the ship…
Just then another part would scold him for even allowing himself to feel that way. Yuna was the woman he loved. Yuna was the woman with whom he was truly connected. And she was the one that he'd travel a thousand years into the future, if necessary, to find.
*Tidus launched himself toward the top of the sphere, fluttering his legs rapidly. When he reached the surface, he drew in a big breath and looked down at his watch. Just under 10 minutes. Not bad, but it could be better.
"Hey, T!"
Tidus turned his head down to see Voight waving at him from the judges' booth. He ducked back into the water and then swam down toward that edge of the sphere. He stuck his head out of the water, treading laterally to keep himself stationary.
"It's almost 4," Voight said. "Most of the folks are in the locker room and eager to go. How about you?"
"I'm ready to go, man! Feels great to be back in here again!"
"Glad to hear it," Voight said as Tidus leapt out from the sphere and landed on the bench, splashing some water on the Blitz commissioner. "Ah, jeez…" Voight said, breaking his usually cool demeanor. He flung his hands in the air, trying to shake off some of the water.
Tidus laughed. "Hey, c'mon. You wanna stay dry, get out of the stadium!"
Just then, he heard loud, excited chatting from nearby. The candidates were filing back into the stadium, excitedly conversing amongst themselves. "Hey, you guys ready to blitz?" Tidus shouted. They all offered a resounding affirmative. "Then let's go!" With excitement, he leapt back into the sphere, blitzball grasped tightly in his hands.
"Wait a…" Voight started, his hands up. Before he could get out another word, the candidates gave war whoops as they followed Tidus into the sphere.
Tidus smiled as the candidates all swam in to join him. Once they had gathered around, he held up three fingers and pointed to the goal behind him. If they've been paying attention, they'll know I want three of them to guard the goal, he thought. To his delight about half of them swam toward the goal behind him. Oh well, seven's cool too.
He then pointed at three of the remaining candidates and beckoned them near. When they were close enough, he checked over his shoulder to make sure none of the defenders were spying over his shoulder. Then he gave each of the three volunteers hand signals telling them what he wanted them to do. They weren't official Blitzball signals; they'd have time to learn them if they were chosen for the team. Instead, he gestured to them where he wanted them to go, and what pattern to follow. An easy Glenns Rush, he thought. I learned this when I was nine.
They all nodded understandingly, and Tidus hoped they actually got it and weren't just humoring him. He clenched his fist, raised it, and pulled it downward, in his own gesture for "victory". As the rest looked on, the three with Tidus split apart and took their positions. Tidus studied the defensive line, feeling a sudden tingle in the pit of his stomach when he saw Celia directly ahead of him, glaring menacingly.
He grinned slightly at the soft-featured woman's game face. If he'd ever doubted that she'd be on the team, he was now convinced that she'd be there. He pulled his head back slightly and then launched himself forward, the blitzball tucked tightly under his arm. Out of the corners of his eyes, he saw his teammates launching into their own maneuvers, for the most part following his silent directions.
Celia and a muscular man that looked about twenty swam toward Tidus, intent on stopping him. Before they could reach him, forcing him to break, he passed the ball down and to his left. To his surprise, the teammate that had worked his way to the left side of the sphere caught the fast pass and skipped past a slightly dazed defender.
Just then, he felt something graze his arm. He glanced behind him and saw Celia looking back at him, her eyes much softer than they were seconds before. He realized that her bare arm had brushed against his, and that she had done it intentionally. As he watched her, he suddenly heard the buzz of the goal warning. He looked forward just in time to see the glow of the goal ring fading, and the goalie disappointedly retrieving the ball. He cursed himself for not paying attention to how his teammates had made the goal, but reminded himself that Voight and the other judge probably had watched and made good note of it.
He glanced back at Celia, who was suddenly ignoring Tidus once again as she swam past him toward her position. He raised his eyebrows at her sudden change, wondering if there was more to Celia than he knew. Mood swings or something? Or maybe she just really gets into the game?
One of his teammates tossed him the ball. As it sailed toward him, there was a loud crash, as if a wall of the stadium had been knocked down. The water amplified the noise, and everyone in the sphere threw their hands to their ears, wincing in pain. The ball that had been flying toward Tidus smacked hard against his arm and rebounded away, but he ignored the sting on his skin.
They all looked around for the source of the ruckus. Some of them started in shock, and then swam quickly away from their positions. Tidus squinted to focus on what had spooked them, and then just barely avoided expelling the air from his lungs in a cry of surprise.
Coming from the right side of the sphere were a trio of sahagin. They were amphibious fiends that appeared to be fish cross-bred with humans, and he remembered them to be particularly aggressive and territorial. Where the hell did those things come from? he thought frantically.
He held his position as he watched most of the other blitzers swim away madly, leaping out of the sphere onto the bleachers. A few, however, had been ambushed by the fiends and were unable to escape. He noticed Celia wrestling with one of the "fish men", trying to force it to release the foot of another player.
Dammit! I wish I had my…! Tidus heard a splash above him. He looked up, expecting to see more fiends descending upon him. Instead, it was a long white object, spinning end-over-end toward him. That looks like…
He held out his hand, and caught the hilt of the tool that had once helped him tremendously, not only to save his friends, but to free his father from eternal bondage.
It was his Caladbolg sword, as radiant and glimmering as it had been when he had first unleashed its powers. He didn't waste any time wondering where it had come from; he instead swam toward the sahagin, swinging the sword menacingly. The fiends, seeing him threatening them, immediately released their prey and swam toward him.
Oh, man, he thought. This is just getting too weird. Now facing down all three sahagin, he charged the fiend in the center, slicing it in half with an upward stroke of his blade. The fiend disappeared in to a dozen small points of light that floated up toward the sky.
One took a swipe at him with clawed fins, but Tidus deftly dodged and cut down that, and then the third, beast. Both vanished into pyreflies, just as more sahagin entered the water up ahead.
Where the hell are they coming from? he thought. He glanced around to see that the rest of the players had fled the sphere, except for Celia. She stared surprised at Tidus. He gestured wildly at her. What are you doing? Get the hell out of here! He signaled for her to follow him, and they both shot toward the water's vertical surface on the left side of the sphere.
The burst out of the water, flying in an arc over to the bleachers, and landing in just enough time to hear the roar of even more fiends out in the open air. Tidus scanned all around and saw various monsters attacking players and spectators as they attempted to flee. At that moment, he heard public warning sirens outside, alerting of the sudden incursion.
Too late for that, he thought.
"What the hell's happening?" Celia shouted. To Tidus, she sounded more angered than panicked. Tidus instantly admired her; he had only become brave against fiends by fighting countless numbers of them while in Spira. Before that, he probably would have fled like almost everyone else was doing. The judges' box and the bleachers were mostly empty.
He counted at least a dozen fiends inside the stadium, harassing and threatening any people that hadn't already escaped. "You better get out of here, Celia!" He started running toward a particularly large nidhogg, a lizard probably five times the size of a human, towering over a young man crouched down on a bleacher. The young man was feebly shielding himself from the creature with his arms. Others were not faring as well against the fiends.
Dammit, he thought. I've gotta be faster! Then, on a hunch, he shouted, "Haste!" Suddenly, as a yellow light surrounded his body, everything slowed down around him. The roars of the fiends and the cries for help all lowered in pitch as everyone's movement decelerated.
Everyone's except for Tidus', that is. He found himself still moving at normal speed. He shook his head incredulously. My magic still works? Not wasting any time, he swung his blade and slashed the nidhogg just as it was about to bite down on its prey. It reared its head back in slow motion, and then fell onto its side, vaporizing into pyreflies before it hit the bleachers.
Without delay, Tidus sprinted toward another fiend, this one a raldo that had just rammed a young woman into the wall. As she crumpled down in agony, he thrust his sword into a joint in the creature's thick armor, immediately inflicting a fatal wound. Thank God Kimahri showed me that trick, he thought.
Once he'd yanked his sword out of the dying monster, he skidded to a halt next to the fallen woman. Another young man had stopped his flight to help her, and was kneeling over her.
Her eyes were rolling around in her head, and her eyelids struggled to stay open. He could tell she needed immediate medical attention. Tidus asked the man, "Can you get her to a hospital?"
The man looked up slowly at Tidus, and, drawn out and low in pitch, asked, "Whhhaaaat?"
Tidus bit his lip. If his magic worked once, it ought to work again. "Curaga!" he shouted. White energies surrounded the woman, and were quickly absorbed into her skin. Her eyes stopped lolling and gradually focused on him. Not wasting another second, he said, "Haste!" As yellow magic surrounded the man, his movements suddenly sped up, coming into sync with Tidus'.
"What the…?" the man started.
"Get her to a doctor!" Tidus implored. "Just go!" As the confused man picked up the young woman, Tidus spun around to choose the next person that needed his help.
What he saw shocked him. Celia, moving sluggishly like everyone else, was hurling a blitzball at a bandersnatch fiend that had cornered one of the players. The fiend turned its attention to her and swiped with its razor-sharp claws. Celia took a hit in the forearm, but was undeterred as she struck back with a kick to the fiend's chin.
"Are you nuts?" Tidus shouted to her. Then, cursing under his breath, he shouted, "Haste!" He hoped his magic could cross the distance between them.
More yellow energies leapt from the ground and surrounded Celia, and she instantly began moving at Tidus' speed, easily dodging the now slower swipes from the wolf-like creature.
"Celia!" Tidus shouted over the roars and screams. "Help everyone else get out of here. And be careful!"
Celia, showing surprise over the sudden change in her surroundings, nodded apprehensively. "O-okay! Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Tidus replied as he beheaded another bandersnatch that was stalking a young boy along the lower levels of bleachers.
*Tidus burst out of the stadium just as his Haste spell wore off. He was just in time to see dozens of fiends swarming all about the local district Tifa, and dozens of police and military guards fighting them off. He remembered that fiends didn't usually venture into the cities, and when they did it had always been only one or two of them at a time. This time, though, it appeared there were far more than the defenders could handle.
"Oh, man," he muttered. "And I sent all those people out here! Shit!" After refreshing the Haste spell on himself, he sprinted toward the nearest herd of beasts that had so far fought several police officers to a standstill. He was able to take out the smaller, quicker fiends without much trouble, and then seriously injured the larger, more armored ones. Then, hoping the cops would be able to at least hold their own against the wounded animals, he headed on toward the street where more fiends were pouncing on people.
As he worked his way away from fiend to fiend amid human screams, beastly roars, and gunfire (all slowed to half-speed), he continually watched the situation around him unfold. His actions seemed to be helping, and he was glad for it. He just hoped that the monsters were concentrated in this area and weren't infesting the whole city.
I don't think I can fight that many, he thought grimly.
"Tidus!"
It was a female voice coming from the direction of the stadium, but it sounded at normal speed to him. Spinning around, he saw Celia running toward him, still carrying the blitzball she'd earlier used as a weapon.
"Hey, Celia! Where's everyone from the stadium?" He switched his sword to his left hand, giving his right a short rest.
"The locker rooms." She skidded to a halt next to him, catching her breath. "It's pandemonium out here, so I took them down there and barred the locker room doors shut."
Tidus sighed in relief. "Okay. I don't know what the hell's happened, but I'm trying to help them beat these things." He held up his sword, now streaked with the blood of multiple fiends.
"Where did you get that, anyway?" Celia asked, reaching out to touch the red-stained blade.
"I…I don't…I'll explain later. Look, I've got experience fighting these kinds of things, okay? Just go somewhere safe and stay there," he pleaded, despite the nagging feeling in the back of his head that she wouldn't listen.
Confirming his instinct, she replied, "No way. I don't know how you made everything move slow like this, but I'm gonna help you!"
Before Tidus could argue, something suddenly leapt up from behind Celia. Although it was only moving at one half its regular speed, the flying fiend still rose quite rapidly and caught Tidus by surprise. He grabbed her shirt and pulled her down just one second before razor-sharp wings sliced the air across where Celia's head had been.
She was startled but recovered quickly. In a fluid movement, she rolled onto her back and flung her blitzball at the beast. The ball sailed through the air faster than the fiend could glide away, and struck it directly in the abdomen. The fiend listed to the side, flapping its wings feverishly, trying to recover its equilibrium from the blow. As it did so, it slammed into a building, shattering several windows in slow motion and denting the metal framework. The barbs on its back dug into the building's metal and held the fiend fast, despite its continued twisting and wing flapping.
"Hey, good shot!" Tidus shouted. He turned back to Celia, and noticed her movements had slowed down dramatically.
She slowly turned her eyes to him and started, "Tttthhhhaaaatttt wwwwaaaassss aaaa cccclllloooosssseeee…."
Tidus did not even have a second to contemplate refreshing her Haste spell before he was struck hard from behind. He flipped over Celia and landed on the rigid asphalt face up. Stars jumped across his field of vision, and he was stunned both by the suddenness of the blow and the new pain in his head and back.
"Ttttiiiidddduuuu…" he heard, and then a muffled thump. Straining to move his head, he saw Celia now lying on her back and a Chimera fiend leaning over her, its lion and snake heads each baring their fangs while the eagle head cried out at her.
"Nooo!" Fighting the disorientation and nearly crippling pain in his entire body, Tidus jumped to his feet and slashed wildly at the monster, immediately severing the snake head. The fiend cried out from both remaining heads just long enough for Tidus to slash at the monster's chest, pouring his entire being into a single blow.
The force of his strike flung the monster away from the prone Celia and into a pair of bandersnatches that had wandered nearby. As he stood over her, he shouted, "Curaga! Haste!"
Beams of light surrounded Celia, and as they disappeared, she blinked and turned her eyes to him. "Thanks," she breathed nervously.
Tidus collapsed to one knee, barely keeping himself from falling face-first onto the asphalt by leaning on his sword. The world was starting to spin, and Tidus realized with dread that he had probably suffered a concussion. He'd gotten them before, and knew they were serious.
"Are you okay?" Celia asked, immediately rising and trying to prop Tidus up.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he lied, trying to push himself up to his feet. The motion caused his head and spine to throb, and he felt stomach acid boil his way up his throat. He did all he could to swallow it back down. Yeah, it's a concussion. "Curaga," he murmured.
Nothing happened. He felt a familiar tingling in his fingers that often happened when he tried to cast a spell but didn't have enough energy left to do it. Dammit, I'm out, he thought, just as his legs started to give.
Before he could fall, Celia caught him in her deceivingly strong arms and propped his arm up over her shoulders. "C'mon, I gotta get you to a hospital," she grunted, leading him away from the police-fiend battles. Tidus just barely held onto his sword, dragging it noisily on the sidewalk. Celia looked down at it. "Give me that." She held her free hand out.
"No, I gotta help…" he started, before the pounding in his head shut his mouth for him.
"You've done a lot," Celia replied, taking the sword from him. She held it up, both to defend them against any stray attacks and to admire it. "So where did you get this, anyway? Or learn to fight like that? Or get those powers to heal people and slow everything down and stuff?"
I can't think straight right now, Tidus mind chastised her. I don't have time to explain. And… "You wouldn't…believe me…if I told…you…" He felt himself beginning to grow drowsy. He fought that urge with every ounce of strength he wasn't using to will his legs to move him forward. He didn't want to slip into another coma, and he knew that was probably what would happen if he let himself doze off right then.
"Stay with me," Celia commanded as she practically dragged him down the sidewalk, fortunately managing to avoid any fiend battles they came across. "Just hang on, I'll get you out of here."
*As the workmen in Tidus' head continued beating his brain with their sledgehammers, Celia tried several different office buildings up and down the street, looking for some refuge. Most doors that hadn't been smashed down were locked and/or barred tightly shut, any occupants ignoring her knocking and shouts for help.
Finally, just as their Haste spells wore off, they happened across a building entrance set further back from the sidewalk that wasn't locked and appeared intact. "Pray there aren't any fiends in there," she muttered to Tidus as she pulled the metal-and-glass doors open. Spotting a sofa inside, she led him there and laid him down. Then, she ran back to the door and jammed Tidus' sword through the door handles, and subsequently rushed behind the abandoned reception desk opposite the door.
"Come on, come on," Tidus barely heard her over the blood pumping through his ears. "Yes!" she shouted. She leapt over to him, a small red and white case clutched in one hand. She popped it open on the floor and removed a small vial of liquid. After breaking the cap off, she held it to Tidus' lips. "Come on, Tidus, try to swallow this. It'll help with the pain and get you through until we can get you a doctor."
His physical strength having all but left him, only sheer willpower allowed Tidus to comply. The liquid was bitter and, gagging, he nearly choked on it. He forced it down his esophagus and made it stay in his stomach, amidst coughing spasms that radically increased the pain in his head. Once he was sure he wouldn't vomit it back up, he asked, "What…was it?"
"Acetophenylacetate 25," Celia replied. "It's a pain killer and general healing agent."
Tidus' drooping eyes gave her a questioning glance.
"I'm in medical school," Celia replied. "Well, at least I was, until it was blown to pieces."
In the attack, I bet. "Sorry," Tidus breathed.
Celia shrugged. "Nothing I can do about it. That's why I came here. I transferred to the med school here in Tifa just before I came on the ship with you. I can't start classes until I can pay for them, though."
Tidus remained silent, focusing every bit of his strength in just staying awake.
"Hey, uh, I'm, sorry that I've been kind of avoiding you," Celia said. "It's just, I had a scholarship to the Zanarkand School of Medicine, and when the school was gone, so was my scholarship. They didn't have enough scholarships at Tifa for me, and I didn't have a job, but since I played Blitz in my old school, I figured I might be able to afford my new school here if I got a position on the team. And when you told me you were judging the trials, I just didn't want to do anything that would risk my being disqualified. Like fraternizing with one of the judges or something like that."
Tidus nodded slowly, only half-comprehending her words. Either the concussion or the drug was drawing his mind away and making it harder for him to stay conscious.
Her voice grew a bit quieter and more cautious. "But, maybe if, you know…"
Just then, there was a roar that rattled the walls. Celia jumped up and gasped. Tidus tried to lift his head, but being unable to do so, instead aimed his eyes at the door. There was some kind of large creature outside the metal and glass doors, and it looked like it was pressing against them, trying to get in.
Tidus raised his hand and muttered, "Sssswoorrd."
"I can't get it, it's barring the door," Celia replied nervously. "Gotta be something around here…" She ran around the room, searching for some kind of weapon. Tidus, on the other hand, was spending all his energy trying to sit up. If this fiend was going to tear him to pieces, he didn't want it to happen while he was lying down.
As the fiend clawed noisily at the door, he tried to shout out to Celia. Get out of here! Don't worry about me. Just go! But his voice wouldn't work. Realizing his body had nothing left, he lay back down and allowed his eyes to close, taking some solace that, even though he was going to die, he'd be unconscious when it happened.
As he felt himself fading away, he heard a loud crack, like gunfire. The scraping of the fiend's claws ceased immediately. Then, a few seconds later, there was a rapping at the door.
Celia gushed, "Oh thank God!" He heard her light footsteps on the carpet moving toward the door. Metal scraped against metal, and a door squeaked open.
"Is anyone else in there with you?"
"Yeah," Celia replied. "He's over there, and he's injured. I gave him a dose of APL 25, but he needs to get to a hospital now."
"I'll call for a medic, but it might take some time to get here."
"No, he needs to go now, if you can help me. He's got head and spinal trauma and multiple lacer…Tidus!"
With extremely detached senses, he felt a hand slip underneath his head. "Tidus, don't go to sleep! Stay with me, okay? Stay with me!"
He poured all his strength into one final effort. He opened his eyes just enough to see a fuzzy silhouette of Celia's chest, before his fatigue finally won out and he slipped out of consciousness.