Hello everyone out there! Just here to give you another chapter and wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR! I worked long and hard in order to bring you one final chapter this year and it looks like my work has paid off.
Tidus: What do you mean by 'long and hard'? You spent most of your time sleeping and playing video games. You just slapped this chapter out last minute.
V: But I still worked hard!
T: Sure, whatever… Have you made any New Years resolutions yet?
V: Uh… not yet… why?
T: I wanted to suggest one for you.
V: Let me guess… You don't want me to cause you any harm, right?
T: Well, basically, yeah.
V: Sorry but I can't make a promise that big. I can promise not to hurt you as much though.
T: -sigh- I guess that's the best I'll get, right?
V: Yep!
T: -sighs again-
V: Great. Now that's over and done with I can get back to this chapter. The group begins their journey through the many lands of Spira, starting through Mount Gagazet, it order to unite the whole troop. Now they face harsh conditions, blinding blizzards, and dangerous hazards on their journey.
T: Nice prologue.
V: Thanks! Enjoy!
Chapter 16: Winter WindsThe cold snow blew hard and the bitter winds stung the exposed skin of all the group members as they continued their trek up the steep mountainside. Auron led the others through the blinding blizzard as the team was forced to continue move.
There were many times when one of the group members, usually Zen or Rikku, who suggested the idea of stopping until the blizzard ended. The idea was always turned down every time it was made though. If anyone of them stopped now then they would be buried under the falling snow.
"I'm cold. I'm tired. I'm hungry. " Zen complained as he trudged along at the end of the group.
"Aw, stop complaining you big baby." Rikku put in as she walked just ahead of him.
"If you didn't want to be cold, tired, and hungry then you shouldn't have come." Tidus added in as he slipped back to walk beside his friend. "You came to experience new things, didn't you?"
Zen nodded his head slightly as he placed his hands under his arms in order to try and bring warmth back to them.
"Well, then you're getting what you wanted." Tidus couldn't help but smile when he saw Zen's sneer. "Hey, you don't have to worry. Things should get better the farther along we get."
"How would you know that?" Zen asked through chattering teeth. "You haven't been out of Zanarkand all your life."
Tidus just shrugged his shoulders. "Call it an inspired guess."
As the trek continued the blizzard became less and less intense. It was as if the group was traveling out of the storm. By nightfall they had clear and starry skies above them.
"When are we stopping?" Rikku asked as she ran ahead to stand in front of Auron. "My feet are starting to hurt."
"Soon." Auron answered as he slipped back into the lead. "We have to find a suitable place first."
"What's wrong with right here?" Rikku asked as she moved alongside Auron.
"Look up there." Auron said while pointing up to the cliffs that loomed beside them. "If anything goes wrong up there while we're sleeping down here then we'll all be buried under tons of snow."
"An avalanche?"
Auron nodded and started moving faster. "Go tell the others to hurry and make sure that no one makes any loud noises."
Several hours passed as the group continued on to find a safer place to make camp. The night continued to travel even with the darkness of night all around them. Only a small beam of light emanating from a flashlight that Auron held prevented them from wandering over the edge of any cliffs.
The walking continued late into the night until Auron had found a sight that he deemed safe. Everyone was feeling miserable and most fell asleep as soon as the camp had been set up. The only three who remained awake were Wakka, Tidus, and Auron.
"So what now?" Tidus asked as he stretched his arms above his head and lay down beside the small fire located near the center of the camp.
"We'll have to take shifts watchin', ya?"
Auron nodded his head in agreement. "Fiends still run rampant around places like this. There's no telling when there will be an attack."
Tidus pushed himself up onto his forearms. "Did you say 'when' were attacked?"
Both Wakka and Auron nodded. "We may not be attacked tonight," Auron started, "but it is inevitable that we'll have to fight fiends sometime during this trip."
"So, who's going to take the first watch?" Tidus asked with a yawn as he stretched again and lied down on his back.
"You tired?" Wakka asked as he looked across the fire to the blitzball player.
"Are you kidding? This is my prime time to stay awake." Tidus stated. "I'm just watching the stars."
"Well, I guess that means you're going to take the first shift." Auron said.
"Yeah, sure." Tidus muttered with a slight wave of his arm.
"Ah, I wish I was that age again." Wakka sighed as he stood up to find a place to sleep.
"It's not all it's cracked up to be." Tidus replied as he sat up.
"Yeah, alright. I'll wake ya when your turn is over." Wakka said as he settled in to catch a few hours of sleep before his shift.
As time slowly passed the night became colder and colder. Tidus pushed himself closer to the fire but it didn't help much.
"Why didn't I dress in warmer cloths?" He mumbled to himself while rubbing his bare arms with his hands.
He sat up and brought his legs up to his chest to try and hold what remained of his heat. The fire began to die down but Tidus wasn't paying much attention to it. He wasn't paying much attention to anything. He wasn't the type of person to sit around and do nothing. All it did was make him tired.
He stood up and started walking around what remained of the fire in an attempt to warm himself up and keep himself awake. It soon became clear to him though that all of his moving was going to wake someone up when he just barely avoided stepping on sleeping Rikku.
"When is Wakka going to get up?" Tidus asked himself when his eyelids started feeling heavier. "I don't think I'll be able to stay up much longer."
He would have fallen in a deep sleep a moment later but a slight sound pulled him from his slumber. He lifted his head and looked over the dying fire to see Yuna slowly coming closer.
"You do know you'd be warmer if you kept the fire burning." She said as she moved around the fire and sat down beside him.
"How long have you been awake?" Tidus asked as he reached into one of the bags that had been carried and pulled out a few small sticks to throw on the embers to try and bring the flame back.
"Just a few minutes." She answered as she moved closer to him. "You make a lot of noise when you're trying to be quiet, did you know that?"
"I woke you, didn't I?" Yuna nodded slightly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to."
"It's alright. I would have woken up soon anyway." She said. "It was so cold where I was sleeping."
Tidus reached over and placed an arm around her shoulders. "Oh, you're freezing cold."
Yuna slowly removed his hand and stood back up onto her feet. "You're colder." She slowly started walking away. "Don't worry," She started, "I'll be back in a minute."
Tidus watched her slip around all of sleepers until she came to where she had been resting. Carefully, she picked up her blanket and folder it over her arm before starting back towards Tidus.
"This should help keep us warm." She said as she wrapped the thick blanket around him and herself. "Oh, I've been meaning to ask you something. Why were you still up? You seemed to be one of the most tired of anyone when we set up camp."
Tidus just shrugged his shoulders and pulled Yuna closer. "Wakka and Auron set me up to stay up as a guard when they found out that I'm a night person."
"And how did they find that out?" Yuna asked as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"I, uh, sort of, uh, told them."
"Then there's nothing you can complain about." She replied.
Tidus just smiled. Having Yuna beside him made the watch much more then bearable and the rest of his shift passed by quickly.
"Hey kid, times up." Wakka said as he approached. "Go get some sleep before…"
He paused when he noticed that there was someone else beside the blitzball player. As he came closer he saw that it was Yuna sitting beside him.
"I should of known." Wakka muttered as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand. He sighed and moved around to the other side of the fire in order to look at the couple.
"You two should be gettin' off to get some sleep." He said.
"Aw, that's alright." Tidus said. "We're both comfortable right here."
Wakka just sighed and started away, not wanting to be a witness to the two sharing their affections.
Both Tidus and Yuna started drifting off to sleep staying as close together as possible.
"You know, we still haven't had any alone time yet." Tidus whispered in her ear.
Yuna just smiled and placed a hand on the side of his face. "Yeah, but we'll have to have it later. We should really be getting some sleep right now."
Tidus just nodded and eventually fell into a deep slumber.
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"Hey, come on Zen." Tidus said as he tapped his friend with his foot. "Get up. You've had more sleep then anyone else here."
Zen slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position and started rubbing his soar muscles. "Uh, do we have to start moving now?"
"Hurry up before we leave you behind." Tidus said as he started walking away. It was just an idle threat, of course, but it had the desired effect.
Zen bolted up as quickly as his soar body would allow and followed Tidus to the rest of the group.
"Well, I see ya finally got him up." Wakka said as he started following Auron who was again leading the troop through the mountains.
"Just make sure he doesn't lag behind." Auron put in.
"Hear that?" Tidus asked his friend with a slight smile.
Zen just frowned and nodded his head in reply.
The trek this day moved along much faster then the previous day and the distance traveled was almost twice as far. The warmth of the sun occasionally shone through the thick clouds, warming the faces and spirits of the traveling companions.
As the sun began its decent the skies filled with bright shades of orange, red, and pink. The colors in the sky slowly shifted to purple before settling into a deep blue as the group set up camp for the night.
"Picked first to watch again, right?" Yuna asked as she approached the dosing Tidus.
Tidus slowly nodded his head as he rested it against his knees. "It was a majority vote against me."
"You don't seem to be doing a very good job either."
He shrugged his shoulder. "Never said I was very good at it."
Yuna settled beside him before wrapping a thick blanket around them both.
"We still haven't had our alone time yet." Tidus whispered as he slipped closer to her."
"Persistent, aren't you?"
"Come on, can't we have it now?" Tidus muttered as he nuzzled against her hair.
"Aren't you supposed to be watching?" Yuna asked, thinking that this wasn't the best place or time for the showing of affections.
"Technically, I am watching something." Tidus said as he looked into her blue and green eyes.
"I was thinking more on the lines of fiends."
Tidus sighed slightly as he tried to think of any excuse to quit his watchers shift. "What are the chances that fiends will come tonight? The odds are even less with the time until someone else's shift." He slowly started kissing her cheek and neck. "Come on. Please."
Yuna slowly became more and more relaxed with all of Tidus's affection and soon gave in to his pleas. "Alright." She whispered as she pulled the blanket up to their necks in order to keep out the cold wind. "For just a little while."
Tidus paced kisses all over Yuna's face and neck so quickly she never had a chance to catch up. He wrapped his arms around her and slowly started pulling her closer.
Yuna's eyes opened as she tried to fight her urge to be with him. She brought her arms up and pushed him almost a foot away.
"No." She panted as she tried to catch her breath. "I'm sorry but this isn't a good time or place."
Tidus cupped her chin in his hand and slowly tilted her head up so he could look into her eyes. What was that he saw in those eyes? Fear?…Worry?…Concern?
He didn't know what it was but he knew for sure that it shouldn't be there.
"Yuna," He started, his voice barely a whisper, "I won't do anything your not comfortable with doing."
Yuna smiled slightly but she knew something was wrong. His expression showed concern for her but there was also something much deeper. He wanted to please her. Wanted to show his love for her in some way but she kept rejecting him.
"I don't mind kissing." She said.
A smile found its way to the corners of his mouth. "Kissing sounds fine to me." He whispered just before placing one on her lips.
The two lovers pulled the covers tightly around each other and decided to continue kissing until Wakka woke up for his shift. They were so focused on their affections toward each other that they didn't notice the slight crunch of snow as padded feet slowly approached and surrounded the small camp.
V: Romantic, isn't it?
T: Kind of ended on a cliffhanger though.
V: I know! I just love cliffhangers.
T: Why? What's the point of having so many of them?
V: Two reasons: 1) It keeps the reader guessing on what's going to happen
2) It makes sure that most readers will read the next chapter.
T: Oh. That makes sense.
V: Yeah but I don't think there are many readers who appreciate it.
T: They wouldn't. Not with your random postings.
V: Hey!
Bonk!
T: Ow! –rubs fresh bump on head- I thought your resolution was not to hurt me so much.
V: Yeah but the New Year hasn't arrived yet.
T: Darn it.
V: See you all next year!
T: Yeah. I'll see you all if I'm still around by New Years.
End Transmission