Love That Will Not Die

Chapter 4

"YUNA!" Yuna woke up to the sound of Rikku's shouting. "Get up! Quick!"

"What is it?" Yuna asked, immediately getting out of bed.

"I went to check on Lulu," Rikku explained. "and when I got there--"

"Please don't tell me...she's dead..."

"No! It's not that! She's not in her bed. I went looking all over Besaid and couldn't find her. I started asking people where she was or if they had seen her and--"

"Yes?"

"Someone saw her leave Besaid!"

"What?" Yuna cried. "We have to go after her! She won't be able to live for long if she's out and walking around everywhere."

Wakka, at that time, had just made it to Thunder Plains. The weather was more intense than usual.

"Awfully bad weather, ya?" he said. "I better go back to Guadosalam and stay there for the night. This'll be the first time in a few days that I got a lot of rest."

He had just hoped that Lulu was still doing fine. Wakka got some sleep and headed across Thunder Plains that morning, when the weather was not so bad. It just about always rained in Thunder Plains. There was almost always a storm around too.

"What do you mean I'm not allowed through?" Wakka asked angrily when he had made it to the entrance to the Macalania Woods.

"Sorry." said a man. "It's closed because the storm last night caused some serious chaos to the woods. The trees have gotten in the way of the path through it."

"That ain't gonna stop me!" Wakka said, running fast, past the man and heading into the woods. The man chased after him. Wakka climbed over the large trees, which was rather hard to do. Once Wakka had gotten over the trees, the man could not get to him. While climbing over a huge pile of trees, he slipped, and hit his head on the ground. He became unconscious.

Wakka woke up much later. It was dark already.

"I must've been knocked out ya?" He sat up. "I gotta keep moving, though!"

The storm has caused more chaos to the woods than he thought. It was as if he was in a completely different place. With all the trees destroyed and all over the ground, he could not tell which place was which. All he felt that he could do was simply walk around.

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"This is crazy." said Yuna. "We've already made it to the Moonflow and there's still no sign of her."

"She sure does move fast!" said Rikku. "That's awfully strange though. She's so weak right now. How could she have possibly gotten so far?"

"Well, standing here and talking won't do us any good. We have to keep moving!"

"You're right!"

As they continued walking, Rikku had wondered if continuing to be positive would make things any better at this point.

"I've tried so hard to be optimistic." said Rikku. "But I feel like it's no use now. Do you think Lulu will even survive now that she's walking around somewhere?"

"I'm not sure." Yuna replied. "All I can say is she would have had a much better chance of living longer if she had just stayed in bed."

"Dammit! Why couldn't she have just listened to us?"

"But think of it this way, Rikku. If Wakka has already found the flower and is headed back right now, and he runs into Lulu, he can give it to her!"

"Yeah! That's a good way to put it."

"So for now, let's just think positively."

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Two more days passed and Wakka was still amazed at the fact that he was still in the Macalania Woods. He was almost positive he had just been going in circles. He was slowly beginning to lose hope. For all he knew, Lulu could be dead at this point.

"How the hell did it come to this?" he asked himself, and decided to sit down. "The woman who means so much to me is dying, ya. Why? WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE THIS WAY?" He slammed his fist into the ground.

There was a long silence until he finally spoke again. "I can't give up. I refuse to." He stood up and continued searching.

Finally, after walking a bit more, he came across a different path. It seemed like the storm did not cause any damage to it at all. He followed it until he came across a large spring.

"Looks like this place wasn't harmed at all, ya?" he said aloud, but mainly to himself. He looked down and gasped when he saw a flower.

Could it be the actual flower? he asked himself. It's gotta be! Only one way to find out.

He pulled out a small bag and then picked up the flower. He looked inside it and saw nectar. Then, now being pretty sure that this was the right flower, he poured the nectar into the bag.

"I gotta hurry back!" he said. He immediately ran through the woods, desperately trying to find a way out. It took about a half an hour, but he had finally found his way out.

The Thunder Plains did not have as bad of weather as it did the other night, however, it was still pretty bad. As usual, there was rain, lightning, and of course, the thunder. Wakka was not going to let that stop him. He just started running as if he did not have a care in the world. For a moment, he forgot about the lightning flashing, the thunder roaring in his ears, and the rain beating down on him. Only for a moment, he could not feel it. All that came to his mind was Lulu.

However, after that, he could feel it all again, and was exhausted. He stopped for a moment, and went to a small section that had shelter from the rain.

I should save my energy. he thought. Once I get out of here, I can find a convenient way to travel. Too bad the only way out of here is to walk or run.

When he went underneath the shelter, he sat down for a moment to rest.

"Is that...you...Wakka?" he heard a voice. He turned his head and was in shock to see that it was Lulu, sitting down next to him.

"Lu?" said Wakka. "What are you doing here! How did you--?"

"I rode every chocobo I possibly could, and rode on the machina machines as often as I could just to get to you."

"Lulu, I found a cure for you! There's a flower that--"

"That has nectar...I'm well aware of this, Wakka."

"Quick! Enough talk! Let me give it to you!"

"Wakka, it's not going to work."

Wakka refused to listen to those words. He did not do all that for nothing! "No. Just let me give it to you. Please? It'll work, ya!"

Lulu sighed and took the nectar. Wakka waited a few minutes for it to take effect.

"Feeling better?" Wakka asked.

Lulu simply shook her head. Wakka's face flooded with fear.

It...really doesn't work? Wakka asked himself. I did this all for nothing?

To be continued...