Still don't have a title for this. Well, that bodes well. I think I may call it Anywhere for now, the title being based off of the song Anywhere by Evanescence. However, if any of you have a better idea, feel free to let me know and I will certainly consider it.
Anywhere
Wakka motioned us into the circle of villagers as soon as we left the temple. Tidus, of course, immediately squeezed in right next to him, leaving no room for me in that area. I huffed and skirted around the circle until I found a spot where I could at least see the summoner through the people standing around. I was so fixated on finding out what the big deal was that I barely noticed I was behind the dark haired guardian until I was pushed almost into her by the excited crowd gathing around us as more and more people gathered. She shot me a look that could have been disapproving or completely indifferent just as easily, but I had no time to interpret it as the summoner spread her arms and looked up towards the heavens.
The... summoning was surely a sight to behold. The creature, this Valefor, excuded and aura of calm benevolence... In it's presence, I felt a tiny flicker of doubt in my own disbelief in the teaching of these people. Surely... there must be some spark of truth in it, for the Summoner to be able to call upon a creature such as this... right?
Anywhere
That night I talked to both of them for the first time.
"Hey, listen up." Wakka was spouting off to his team, "These guys wanted to get into the tournament so bad, I let 'em on the team." He wrapped an arm around both of our shoulders, "They both got some weird memory things, so if they say anything funny, you just don' mind 'em, okay?"
"Hi guys." Ever the charismatic team leader, Tidus immediately stood up a little straighter when all the guys looked at us, and I calmly stepped back. As I've said, he was captain of the Abes back in Zanarkand, and while I loved to Blitz, I was certainly not looking to be anything more than a decent player if there was someone better equiped to step up, and Tidus certainly was.
"So, what's our goal?" These little pep talks were not unfamiliar to me. We learned how to blitz before we could talk, and I'm pretty sure the only reason Tidus ever learned to talk in the first place was to make our toddler blitz-teams better. He was in his element, if only for a moment.
As I listened to the familiar speech I had heard a thousand times over, I felt the prickling sensation of eyes on me. I glanced around and found all of the team had fixed their gaze on my brother. The rest of the villagers had turned their attention towards the newly titled summoner. All, save the woman sitting next to her. The dark haired beauty stared intently at me, and even as I met her gaze, she didn't turn away, her look once again unfriendly but not completely hostile. After only second of our gazes being locked, I glanced away, back towards my brother to find the entire team around us cheering, the pep talk clearly over and quite successful as the group dispersed. When I looked back, the woman was already on her feet. I thought she was coming towards me, but she strode past me as if I wasn't even there and hissed to Wakka that she needed to speak to him.
When I glanced back towards the summoner, she was looking at the woman, but as I looked at her, she glanced over and met my gaze. To my surprise, she smiled and gave a small wave, almost seeming to invite me over, despite the crowd around her. My brother was still busy being fawned over by the awestruck aurochs, and after the stunt that Tidus and I pulled, no one else in the village seemed interested in being remotely friend, so I tentatively made my way over to where the blonde sat.
"You heathen!" Well then.
"Stay away from the summoner." If you say so lady, I was just trying to be friendly.
"You're a bad lady." Now that's a little harsh, don't you think? I sighed at the immediate onslaught from the people currently talking to her and held up my hands in surrender, taking a step back. To my surprise, the summoner actually looked at the three in what almost seemed like tentative reproach and got up.
"Lady Yuna, be careful!" The old man cautioned, obviously not happy to see the summoner talk to a "Heathen" such as I.
"But, it was really my fault to begin with." The blonde replied. The old man shook his head in disapproval as the blonde turned and walked away from the group.
"I'm Yuna." The summoner, Yuna, smiled at me, and it lit up her entire face as her bicoloured eyes glittered in the light of the fire. She bowed politely, "Thank you so much for your help earlier."
"Er... yeah... sorry about that..." I blushed, "I hear that that was kind of, you know... not allowed... Guess we kind of overreacted a little, huh?" I scratched the back of my head nervously, surprised at how fluttery my stomach was for whatever reason. Friggin pretty ladies and their making it hard for me to think.
"Oh no, I was... over confident." Yuna admitted, looking at the ground in shame. That could have been the end of the conversation, but I didn't want to stop talking to her yet, so I scrambled for another topic.
"So that... that whole Aeon thing was pretty cool." I stuttered, "I've never seen anything like it before."
"Really?" She asked excitedly, and then shyly continued, "Do you... Do you think I could ever become High Summoner?"
"Of course!" I didn't know what, exactly, being High Summoner meant, but... the way she smiled just made me want to giggle like a 12 year old with her first crush and I was nineteen for God's sake! But, that certainly didn't mean it was an unpleasant feeling by any means.
"Lady Yuna!" The little boy gave me a dirty look that was completely unsubtle, but his face was bright as soon as he turned back to the summoner, "Come play with us some more!" Yuna laughed and agreed, which unfortunately meant our conversation would have to draw to a close.
"So... tomorrow then?" She offered.
"Uh... what's tomorrow again?"
"We're going on the same boat, aren't we?" She giggled as my face turned red as I remembered that, oh yeah, I already knew that, "We can talk more then." She offered and then turned to go follow the children. Then, she stopped and turned around one more time.
"You can tell me all about Zanarkand." I half expected it to be a joke at my expense, but seeing the sweet smile on her face, I doubted she was even capable of joking at someone's expense, let alone something so tender.
"She's certainly not unpleasant to be around, is she?" I nearly jumped out of my own skin as the voice caught me off guard, but I managed to contain the shriek that wanted to escape, "And I'm sure the fact that she's beautiful doesn't hurt anything either."
"I mean... Yeah..." I agreed, surprised when I turned around to find that it was the mage talking to me and that, yes, she was actually talking to me.
"Don't get any ideas in your head. Yuna has enough to worry about without strange girls who claim they came from Zanarkand chasing after her." The glare and the ice under the tone was easily detectable. I gulped and nodded, looking at the floor as the woman towered over me somewhat physically with a good few inches and exponentially with her intimidating presence.
"Good. Your brother has already gone to bed. Between you two and the new crusaders, we don't have enough beds in the lodge, so we had to make you a bed elsewhere. I take it you're done socializing for the night?" I wasn't even given a chance to reply before she continued, "Good, then come with me." She set a rather quick pace towards one of the outlying houses of the village, I practically had to jog to keep pace with her.
The house that we reached was sparsely decorated, and as I looked upon the dark purples, reds, and blacks, it occured to me that I had probably been foisted off on her.
"You'll be sleeping there." She pointed to a cot on the other side of the room that seemed to have been set up just for my sake. If there's anything you need and you absolutely cannot wait until morning, I suppose you can ask," Her tone implied that unless I had gotten stabbed in my sleep and was bleeding out, I really shouldn't ask, "Otherwise, have a good night. I have to go finish up a few things before we leave. I should be back in less than an hour." With that, she turned to leave.
"Wait!" I called before I even realised what I was doing. She raised an eyebrow as she turned back towards me and waited.
"I um... I just wanted to say, I guess thanks for letting stay here... And I'm Dragon, by the way." I hurried in an introduction, realising that I didn't know her name and we would at the very least be on the same boat tomorrow.
"I know." She replied shortly, and then turned to leave. I was so disappointed at the rejection that I almost missed the fact that it actually wasn't, "I'm Lulu." And with that, she was gone. I blinked and, upon realising that she had actually replied, grinned and laid down. Thankfully, I was so tired that sleep actually came easily that night.
End
Suddenly, I feel like writing an absolute shit-ton, for the first time in literally at least seven or eight months. So, time to milk it for all it's worth, right?
As always, I hope you enjoyed, my lovelies, and feedback is much appreciate should you feel inclined to give it. Otherwise, I hope to see you in the next update. Goodbye!