The brown-haired girl slept fitfully on the clean white sheets of the bed of an inn in Kilika. Next to her stood her two closet friends: the intelligent, long-haired Lenne and messy blonde haired boy, Tidus.
"I'm worried," Tidus said, "She may have a fever. I think I should get a doctor."
Lenne shook her head. "Don't she's fine. It's nothing to worry about really. It's just that the first couple of times the power manifests itself in one of us our bodies try and reject it. This is nothing compared to what I went through…" her voice trailed away after she realized she had said too much.
"But Lenne what is it that happened? I was stabbed. I blacked out and then I just woke up. That's all I remember. That and well there was this intense feeling of warmth. I can't explain it."
"All I know Tidus is that our little adventure just got a lot more complicated. I mean…" she looked down at her sleeping friend and stopped talking. "For now we must look after Yuna. After she's well again we can continue our search for her family if that's what she still wishes." Lenne stood up and went to look out the window at the majestic palate of colors that was the sunset.
Tidus also rose from his seat. "The others went out to gather information. They should be back any minute now." He looked from Yuna to Lenne and sat back down. "She's in a lot of pain isn't she Lenne" He asked silently hoping for her not to respond. Some things he'd rather not know.
Surprising Lenne laughed. "Who knows with Yuna. She's so unpredictable I couldn't even muster up a guess at what she's feeling and….. I went through the same thing myself."
Tidus yearned to dig deeper for answers from Lenne, but refrained. She wouldn't tell him anything else anyways. He'd just have to wait. In the mean time he'd do everything he could to help Yuna.
She was sinking through the water towards pure nothingness. It was warm yet he shivered. There were endless amounts of water yet she felt so empty. She opened her blue eye. She was all alone. "Where am I?" she said though no one not even her own ears could hear it. She opened her other eye. She was scared, no terrified. She couldn't breath. She was drowning. She futilely flailed her arms about in an attempt to stop her descent, but couldn't. She felt as though nothing could stop her. All hope escaped her. Then she saw a glowing figure before her. A women? "Mother…" Yuna called longingly. She reached out towards it, but it faded away and she felt her own hand being grabbed by another stronger hand. It pulled her up and away. Her head broke the surface and she saw him smiling at her. Tidus
Yuna slowly opened her eyes to fully reveal the unfamiliar surroundings to her. She could feel the sheets, wet from her sweating, against her warm skin. The room itself was dimly light with only a small window on the far wall. Someone stood in front of the window staring into the darkness.
"Yuna…" a voice spoke softly to her. She looked in the direction it came from and couldn't help but smile.
"Tidus…" she replied. She turned over to face him and propped herself up on her elbows. "Your okay," she said relieved.
"I could say the exact same thing to you." He said tears forming in his gentle blue eyes.
"What happened? After you know…" she asked weakly.
"Well when I came to you were fainted on the deck. Everyone was really freaked out except Lenne. She seemed to be expecting everything that happened. That man left. He got away on one of the life rafts leaving us in the middle of the ocean alone with no experience at sailing a ship. We argued for a couple of hours about what we should do. The guys went to see if they could steer the ship themselves, but they gave that up when they saw all the levers and knobs in the control room. Rikku suggested smoke signals and Paine took her frustration out on some unfortunate fish. At least we got dinner. By this time it was dark out. I moved you to the cabin. Back out on the deck everyone seemed to believe that we'd be stranded at sea forever. We had given up all hope when a small merchant vessel nearly smashed into us. The captain was a very kind man named O'aka who eagerly agreed to help us to the Kilika shore after he discovered we were just kids and you were so sick. Actually at first he was quite angry. He accused us of trying to steal his cargo. He let us aboard his ship and pulled the other vessel behind. We all agreed that he could take it since we shouldn't need it anymore and none of us could drive it anyway. Upon arriving at Kilika we immediately brought you here. That was early this morning."
"So the others they're all alright, too?" Yuna asked lying her head back down on the pillow. She was exhausted.
"Yeah everyone's okay. Thanks to you we all escaped." He replied tenderly stroking Yuna's face.
"But I don't even know what I did…" Yuna said quietly. Her eyes slowly closed and she fell back into a deep sleep.
"Yuna…" Tidus whispered. His gaze shifted from Yuna to the floor.
Lenne continued staring up at the night sky trying not to listen to her friends' conversation. After she knew Yuna had gone back to sleep, she turned to leave the room. Her footsteps sounded like gunshots echoing through the silence of the room. As she reached to open the door she was nearly knocked off her feet by an extremely excited Rikku. Tidus jumped up in surprise at the loud squeal Rikku gave off. When she saw Tidus, Rikku starting jumping up and down.
"Tidus! Guess what happened!" she yelped.
Tidus kicked her leg and said," Yuna's sleeping. Be quiet."
Rikku backed away almost scared by Tidus. "Sorry just thought you'd be interested to know that we got free tickets to the blitz game in Luca tomorrow! We all split up to search for clues. It was so exciting like a detective story! Gippal and I searched the docks and all the bars in the surrounding area. There was this really creepy guy who challenged Gippal to a drinking contest. Gippal kicked his sorry butt so hard. He gave me the tickets just like he promised." Rikku exclaimed without taking a single breathe. She showed him the tickets to prove her story.
Tidus grabbed them. He had always wanted to go the stadium in Luca. "Wait," he said, "don't you think that this a little too convenient?"
"No not in the least. You're starting to get paranoid. I knew we shouldn't have left you alone with Lenne all day." Rikku said.
"So you didn't find any leads?" Tidus asked a little disappointed.
"Nothing what so ever, but we did eat some really good fish and Gippal got so drunk he passed out." Rikku said. She noticed the displeasure in Tidus's eyes and ran from the room at top speed to avoid his wrath.
Paine returned next closely followed by Baralai. "How's Yuna?" They asked in unison pulling Tidus from his thoughts.
"She's alive," he replied, "just tried."
"Thank goodness," Baralai said.
"Any news?" Tidus asked them hopefully.
Baralai looked from Paine to Tidus. "I'll let her tell you."
"Really," Paine said defensively, "nothing happened. We went around asking people if any guys in life boats came in recently. Everyone either looked at us like we were high or told us hundreds of boats come in daily and they don't remember every single one of them. By the twentieth one I got frustrated."
"A little frustrated? You nearly took that sailor's head off." Baralai laughed.
"He was rude to me first. He deserved to be hurt." Paine growled at Baralai. "Anyway it was a good thing because we got arrested and were taken to the police station where we saw him. I'm sure it was the same person from the boat."
"What happened then?" Tidus said quickly.
Baralai shook his head. "Nothing that interesting. He glared at us. Trust me if looks could kill we would have been vaporized.
"I was going to teach him a lesson he'd never forget, but they moved him almost immediately after we arrived. We laid low until they let us out." Paine said.
Tidus slammed his fist into the wall. "Damn it! I can't believe this; he got away and left us with nothing except more questions and an injured friend." Tidus yelled.
"Chill out," Baralai said. "As long as we're all alive we can continue our search."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Paine asked. She drew her sword. "Next time no one will elude me. That's a promise."
"How about asking Lenne?" Baralai suggested, "She's been freaking me out ever since this whole thing began. She has to know something."
Tidus rose and headed for the door. "She does, but she wouldn't say. I know she does. Stay with Yuna. I'm going to make her talk. This isn't a game there are lives on the line here including our own." Tidus said very seriously.
"Let me come, Paine said, "I'm good at making people talk." She went to follow him, but Baralai stopped her.
"I'm so utterly confused," he said.
Tidus walk down the hall of the inn for a few minutes until he spotted Rikku standing outside a partially closed door. "Have you seen Lenne?" Tidus asked.
"Hello to you Tidus. I'm having a great night thanks for asking." Rikku said.
Tidus rolled his eyes. "Hello Rikku," he said.
"Nope not since she left the room when I came back earlier," Rikku answered. "She's such a spoil sport. She never likes to have any fun at all."
"Is she in that room?" Tidus asked trying to peer through the crack in the door.
"Umm…no and I wouldn't go in there. Gippal kind of crashed." Rikku said blocking Tidus.
"Thanks anyway," he said running off towards the entrance. The cool night air was refreshing to Tidus since he had spent the whole night locked away in the small room with the window closed. "Lenne," he screamed disturbing the silence. When no response came he ran off down the street. He was stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a lone figure gazing at the endless black sea. The moon shown on her making her appear to be a ghost, but he knew who it was.
"Lenne," he said approaching her slowly.
"Leave me Tidus. Go back home. If you really want to be helpful take everyone and leave as soon as possible. You don't know what you're getting into." She said. Her eyes burned with anger.
"I don't know because you won't tell us. Please it would be a huge help." He said.
"Nooooo! It's too dangerous. If I tell they'll kill me too. I'm nothing to them. I'm a failure." She drew a knife from her pouch.
"Lenne you're scaring me now. I don't know what you're saying just come back with me. I'll protect you too. I'll take care of everything. Trust me." He said gradually closing the gap between them. She turned back to sea. A cloud masked the moon's light reducing Tidus's visibility dramatically.
"Tidus, no matter what happens you must protect Yuna. You must bring her to Zanarkand. That's where it all began and also where it shall end. If you live that long which you must." Lenne said as she cut the knife through the rope holding a small boat to the shore. She descended into it out of Tidus's sight. He didn't stop her. He didn't even try. He might have, but he was too horrified. The small boat floated away and out of Tidus's sight. He backed away and went back to the inn where he promptly went to sleep. Maybe that was dream and when he woke up none of it will have happened.
The next morning Rikku went around waking everyone up at the crack of dawn. "We got to catch a boat to Luca. They fill up fast. Let's hurry."
Yuna stirred in bed not wanting to be awoken so early. After rubbing the sleep out of her eyes she noticed Tidus sleeping by her side. She smiled and grabbed the pillow out from under him. No way was he going to get to sleep when she wasn't. He rolled over trying to get comfortable again and Yuna pushed him off the bed. "Ow!" he screamed, "what the hell was that for?"
"Its morning. Rikku made sure everyone in a mile radius knew that." She replied throwing a pillow at him.
"Hey," he said lunging at her. She jumped out of the way and straight into Rikku who had burst in at that exact second.
"Sorry didn't mean to interrupt anything," Rikku said jokingly. Yuna and Tidus exchanged looks.
"The only thing you interrupted was me sleeping." Tidus said. He got up and chased Rikku down the hallway.
Awhile later they all sat outside on the deck eating breakfast.
"Ugh…" Gippal moaned, "Do I ever have a headache."
"Feeling remorse," Paine asked with raised eyebrows.
"Not at all. Nobody challenges me and lives to tell about it." He said putting his head down on the table. Rikku slapped him.
"So where are we headed next Mr. Leader?" Baralai asked looking up from his cereal.
"Luca!" Rikku shouted out, "We can't let Gippal's sacrifice be in vain."
Upon being called leader all of the memories of yesterday flooded back into his mind. He lay his cup down on the table with a shaking hand and looked around for Lenne. She wasn't there. He started breathing heavily.
"Tidus are you alright?" Yuna asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine just great never been better." He said putting on a false smile. The last thing he wanted to do was worry Yuna any further.
"Where's Lenne?" Rikku asked as if she was reading his mind.
"She's so quiet I hardly missed her, but now that you mention it she's gone." Paine said. "What did you do to her last night Tidus?"
"Nothing, Tidus responded automatically. "She said she didn't feel well and she was going home. If she's sick it's for the better we don't drag her around the world." He said sighing. He was relieved that he had come up with such a story on so little notice.
"Like hell," Baralai said. "You beat her up and scared her off didn't you."
"I'm impressed Tidus. I couldn't have done it any better myself." Paine said slapping him on the back.
"Tidus what are they talking about? What did I miss?" Yuna asked her friend.
"Nothing," Tidus said innocently as he kicked Paine and Baralai.
"Tidus if you hurt Lenne…" Yuna said squeezing her hand into a fist and then slamming it down on the table causing all the dishes to clatter. "I know she has issues, but she's my oldest friend. I don't know what I'd ever do without her."
"How sweet!" Rikku exclaimed, "Now come on we have to hurry up so we're not late to the game. Its not like you get free tickets to a blitzball game in Luca everyday."
"Alright!" Yuna said jumping up knocking her chair over.
"Are we sure there is nothing here?" Baralai asked.
Tidus shrugged. "If not we can always come back after the game."
An hour later the group had packed up their belongings and where aboard a ship bound for Luca. Both Tidus and Yuna had successfully blocked out all thoughts the previous days. Yuna sat with Rikku and Paine on the top deck enjoying the fresh sea breeze. Yuna closed her eyes and let the wind blow through her hair. Rikku squinted off in into the distance trying to catch a view of the mainland. Paine cleaned the blade of her sword until it shone like the sun. Below deck the guys were playing darts. The trip was remarkably uneventful. They arrived at Luca in the late afternoon. The crowded city was as busy as ever.
"Wow, Baralai said, "This is incredible. Look at all the people and the stadium is huge." He pointed at the giant sphere that they along with half the crowd were heading for.
"Stop acting like you've never seen a person before and hurry up." Rikku said hopping in a circle around them. They made their way through the masses of people and into the stadium where they found their seats.
Tidus was in heaven. "You can't imagine how long I've been waiting to come here." He said wide-eyed trying to take in all the sights.
"I'm going to go see if I can buy some cookies. I'm on a sugar withdrawal." Rikku said skipping off as hyper as ever. Paine rolled her eyes, but followed after her anyway. She wasn't the world's biggest blitz fan. In fact she thought Rikku was more preferable.
Yuna sat back in her seat. "I'm ready to see some hot blitzball players." She said. Tidus poked her in the shoulder.
"There's one right here." He said. He watched closely to the techniques the players were practicing. He was always interested in improving his own game. The game began. Tidus stared open-mouthed at the pool, Yuna played with her hair keeping one eye on the center from the Goers, Baralai drank his soda making as much noise as possible, and Gippal slept still recovering from the night before. Paine returned alone twenty minutes into the game.
"Guys we have a little problem," Paine said breaking the silence that hovered over the group.
"So do I. You're ruining the game for me." Tidus said blocking Paine's voice out and focusing on the commentary.
"Where's Rikku?" Gippal asked, "She hit the low that comes after the sugar high."
"NO!" Paine growled, "we were at the concession stand and a man in a black clock stole off with her. He left the back exit. We have to follow him."
Yuna jumped up and took off running in a randomly chosen direction. A few seconds later she returned. "Which way is that?" she asked out of breath.
"This place is a circle." Baralai said patting her on the head.
Gippal grabbed Tidus by the shelve and pulled him from his seat. "Rikku's in trouble!"
They all ran past through the stadium to the exit the man had escaped through. It lead to a pitch-black dock with a small craft preparing to depart from it. Yuna acted quickly. She fired her guns at the hull of the ship. The ship sprung a dozen leaks from bullet holes.
"We'll see how far they get now," Yuna said running up the ship. The plank that connected it to the dock had been taken in. They'd have to jump if they wanted to get aboard. Gippal pushed Yuna out of the way and leaped for the ship. His jump fell short and he just barely escaped falling into the water by grabbing the deck. He pulled himself up and charged ahead.
"Gippal!" Baralai screamed about to follow him when a fiend jumped at him. The cargo crates around them smashed and fiends completely surrounded them.
"Damn," Tidus whispered. His back was against a wall and there were monsters about a foot from him ready to pounce.
"Its playtime," Paine laughed slashing the fiends that threatened Tidus in half. Yuna fired rapidly at the monster that was on top on Baralai. It had a hard exterior and the bullets bounced right off and fell harmlessly on the ground next to him. Baralai rolled around desperately trying to evade the relentless attacks of the fiend. Both Tidus and Paine struck it with their swords, but the it's high physical defense saved it again. None of their attacks could even scratch the monster.
Gippal fought his way through the hordes of fiends that had showed up on the deck of the ship. He ran as fast as he could over the bodies of the defeated monsters and blasted down the door in his way to gain access to the cabin. He heard a banging noise coming from another door. He ran to open it, but was stopped by a bullet that struck the wall a few inches from his head.
"Not so fast." A voice said. The wooden floor creaked under his heavy boots. Gippal whirled around face the unknown shooter. He was clad in a long black cloak with a hood over everything but his eyes. The gun was aimed at Gippal again.
"What do you want with her? What did she ever do to you?" Gippal said scanning the cabin for an escape route.
"Nothing. None of you did anything except befriend her. You're simply the keys needed to unlock the power." The man said coldly. "I don't care if you live or die only that I capture her. But if you bring me Yuna maybe I'll let your other friend go."
"You bastard! How can do you this?" Gippal growled biting his tongue with rage. The man pushed past him and opened up the closet door. Rikku fell to the ground at Gippal's feet.
"Rikku," Gippal called picking her up in his arms. The man wrenched Rikku from his arms and put his gun to her head. "Bring me Yuna or this girl dies."
Gippal stood up and backed away from him. "Don't hurt her I'll go. I'll do whatever you want." Gippal begged.
"That's what I thought. I'll be waiting here and don't try anything. No weapons on either of you. If you do anything I don't like consider her dead."
Gippal gulped and ran for the door to the deck. The cloaked man's laughter echoed through the cabin behind Gippal.
Shion: Yay! Hope everyone loved it!
Taco: (attacks with 1000 needles) Thats for leaving us with a clif-hanger...
Shion: If I get looks of reviews I'll continue faster...
Taco: Please review...or you're next (readying 1000 needles attack)