Ten : Feels like magic

She let the piece of paper fall to the ground. Her body suddenly had turned ice cold and she started to tremble.

"Yuna."

She looked up at him, her eyes watering. "This is terrifying, Seymour... I'm scared..." she whispered. He stepped up to her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Go to my room and wait for me there. You'll be safe there, I promise." He kissed her on her forehead and she couldn't shake the feeling like he was saying goodbye to her.

"Where are you going?" she shakily asked, grabbing the sides of his coat. Her hands touched something hard and she identified it as a holder. But didn't you wear a holder when you were in the possession of a—gun? She withdrew her hands as if she got burned and backed away from him her face expressing pure confusion. Since when did he carry around a gun?!

Just when she was about to ask him about it he grabbed her by her shoulders and held her close to him. She felt his hand cover her mouth and muffle her cries.

"My fiancé has been emotionally shaken by this news... take her to my room." He quickly spoke to the girl standing silently behind them. Yuna stopped struggling and just kept herself silent. The maid nodded and approached.

"Let's go, Lady Yuna." She demurely whispered.

Seymour released Yuna and watched as she left with the maid. Yuna kept looking at him, her heart telling her that this man wasn't the man she had known as her lover, protector and friend. As he smiled and waved at her she turned her head and let the maid lead her to his room.

Arriving in the vicinity of the said bedroom, she dismissed the maid, saying that she wished to be on her own. Entering, she felt like the walls were coming on her. She closed the door, locked it and walked to the grant mirror standing on the other side.

Half on the way, she suddenly realised that she was crying. Looking at her reflection in the mirror she indeed saw the tears rolling from her cheeks. Seeing this, she felt the held back sadness come up as a sudden impulse and fully broke down in tears.

What was wrong with him? Why did he act so strange? Why did her heart keep telling her that it wasn't him...? There was only one of him... wasn't there?

"Seymour..." she whimpered, while shaking her head sadly and closing her eyes at the sting of pain she suddenly felt in her heart.

She abruptly heard the rustle of fabric that wasn't coming from her own clothes. Opening her eyes and looking at her reflection in the mirror, her eyes froze at what she saw.

She gasped and immediately felt a gloved hand cover her parted lips and another grab her waist, keeping her arms to her own body. Starting to scream from the top of her lungs, she hoped that her muffled cries would alarm someone outside the door.

"Shhh! Yuna... please, be quiet!"

Crying and shaking her head in resistance, she remembered the last time he had held her blocked like this.

"I'm not going to hurt you, please Yuna listen to me!"

Yuna frowned and slowly stopped resisting. She was scared to death of him and if there was a chance for her to be released unharmed from his grip, she preferred to just do what he wanted from her.

"Promise me he that you won't scream, please."

The gentle sound of his voice surprised her panicking mind and she slowly nodded.

"Ok..." he whispered and slowly withdrew his hand from her face but kept his other arm around her. She held herself silent like promised and expected him to hurt her again. He could do anything he wanted to her now. She waited and waited but he just let go of her and took a step away.

"W-what are you going to do...?" she shakily whispered, watching him in the mirror. Her heart was racing and she was starting to get worried for the health of the baby.

"I already told you: I'm not going to hurt you!" he whispered and turned around, facing away from her.

For a long time silence reigned supreme between them.

Yuna decided that she would be the first one to speak.

"W- Why did you kill Jyscal?" Keeping her eyes fixed on his reflection in the mirror, she watched him closely. His head shot up and he turned around, face in shock.

"Me?" he asked, "I didn't kill him!" he exclaimed, his eyes wide open in confusion.

"You didn't?" she sceptically asked, not believing a word coming from his mouth. She didn't know how it was possible to be afraid and at the same time feel terribly heated, but she was starting to feel enraged by the dumbfounded look he was giving her. "Are you going to kill me then, Tidus?" she viciously asked, still staring at him in the mirror.

He just looked at her, not believing what she was saying... "Why would I kill you...?" he asked innocently.

Yuna exploded at those words and turned around to face him, "I can't believe you!! Are you denying everything you did to us?!" she yelled.

"I don't even know what it is you're accusing me of!" he yelled back at her.

For a moment there she had thought seeing some sincerity in what he had just said. She fell silent and just stared at him, feeling her anger fade. "I don't believe you."

He shrugged and responded, "Fine, then don't!" He wanted to turn again, "But I want to know first if you've seen Seymour lately."

She looked away from him. "Why?"

"Jyscal has taken his body. And from the looks of it he's trying to frame me for the death of his own body. But I didn't do it, I swear!"

Yuna couldn't keep up and held up a hand to stop his babbling. "Hold it! What are you talking about?!" She turned around and looked at him.

He sighed deeply and took his head in his hands, shaking it slowly. "I will tell you everything, but please don't interrupt me. We don't have much time."

She nodded, but kept her sceptical eyes on him. Quickly, she sat down on her bed to listen to what he had to say.

He stood in front of the mirror and looked at his reflection.

"I barely remember what happened. There are just bits and pieces of what Jyscal did with my body in my mind, but I can't put the ends together and I don't understand it all. But I know that he has harmed you and Lenne...I..." he sighed and fell silent.

It felt like her entire world was turned upside down. This was just so crazy! Everything was messed up... While she had been listening to his story she had felt the urge to scream out loud and yell to him that he should shut up. But she had heard his held back sobs when he had gotten to the part of him and his girl... Lenne. That's when she had known that he was telling the truth. It struck her to see how he talked about her... he loved her deeply and there was no way he could be faking that now, could he?

"How's she like?" the brunette carefully asked, slowly standing up from her bed.

He chuckled and closed his eyes, while resting a hand on his chest. He touched a silver hanger and took the pendant in his hand, taking the necklace off. Opening the pendant, he revealed a minuscule picture of Lenne. Yuna walked closer and stood beside him. He showed her the picture and softly smiled.

She gasped, "I know her!"

Tidus sadly smiled and nodded, "She has tried to approach you, hasn't she?"

"She just said that she needed to talk to me..."

"That's why Jyscal wanted to kill her..." he thoughtfully whispered, closing the hand holding the pendant. "For having a heart..." he then growled.

She just looked at him and felt bad. But she hadn't known that things had been as complicated as this...

"But she will be alright. Your sister Lulu is with her." He continued.

"Lu?" she gasped, "How is she? How come Lu knows her?"

He shook his head, "That brings me to the second reason of my advent. We need to find a way out of here and fast." He whispered when he heard a suspicious sound coming from the other side of the bedroom door. "As I thought."

"What is it?" she asked, lowering her voice unconsciously. "Why are we whispering?"

"He has put guards in front of the door to prevent you from getting out." He looked at her and his face had gotten extremely serious. "You told me earlier that you thought I wanted to kill you. But it isn't me who has that plan, but Jyscal."

Yuna gasped loudly and put her hands on her mouth, her eyes open wide.

"Shhh..." he shook his head. "Not so loud they might hear us."

She nodded and Tidus felt sorry for her when he saw a single tear escape from her left eye.

"Yuna... that man you took for your boyfriend is not himself right now... He wants to kill you!"

Mismatched eyes slowly closed and she broke down in tears. "Why?" was all she could bring out.

Tidus looked at her pregnant body and whispered, "He wants an heir to follow him up and nothing else. By marrying you the child would automatically become his too. As for you..."

"Oh god..." she whispered; now realising that Seymour had maybe wanted to spare that to their own child by refusing marriage...

"We will get through this, Yuna. I promise." He tried to reassure her. "I have a plan. Assuming that Jyscal thinks that I've left a while ago, we could just..." he whispered, but fell silent a he saw her violently shake her head.

"What about..." she whimpered, "the real...Seymour...?"

To her surprise he softly smiled and took her hand in his. "We will save him; it's all in the plan. At least that's what Lulu assured me. Come."

She wanted to ask more but he lead her to the window and opened it.

"What are you going to do?!" she loudly whispered as she saw him stepping on the window-sill. "We're four storeys high!"

"I know. Take my hand." He whispered and held out a hand to her.

She just stared at him thinking he had lost his mind. For a split second she hesitated and thought about maybe to stay after all. What if they didn't make it? What if it was impossible to save Seymour now? Her hope of seeing him again slowly started to diminish and she took a step back.

"Trust me, Yuna. Please." He pleaded and gave her a smile. She felt like it gave her the courage and consolation her heart needed. It was just when she took his hand that there was a loud banging on the door.

"Yuna! Yuna, darling, it's me, let me in."

"Jyscal!" Yuna frightfully whispered, while Tidus helped her on the sill.

"Hold on tight, Yuna!" he whispered. She nodded and embraced his waist and held him solidly to her. It was strange how she suddenly trusted this man with her life... She looked up at him and saw his face contracted in concentration. Closing her eyes, she just prayed that he knew what he was doing and that the baby would be alright.

The banging got louder and then stopped, the sound of an opening slot resounding. As the door opened, Yuna had just the time to recognise Seymour's features before she felt herself falling into the void beneath her feet.

"NO!"

He screamed in agony, only slowly realising what her act meant to him. Seymour's long legs carried him in a dash to the window and he looked down, hoping for the impossible.

Nothing.

"Nothing...?" the question had already tumbled from his lips when he suddenly saw something that caught his attention.

It looked like a circle that usually appeared when you called upon a heavenly being... He hadn't noticed it before because it was fading and it was now barely distinguishable. He kept staring at it until it had completely disappeared.

"This is the work of a powerful mage..." he whispered, another evil smirk playing on his face. He turned around and legged his way out of the room. If there was one person that could help him on this one then it was her. He needed to talk to Yunalesca again.

Back in his office, he closed the door and called upon her. After a few moments he saw little white lights appearing and coming together. She appeared in front of him, a questioning look in her eerie yellow eyes.

"Why have you called me, Jyscal? I see that you've taken Seymour's body, so what else is there to discuss?" she asked sternly.

He chuckled and made a curtsy for her, "Yes, Lady Yunalesca and I can't thank you enough for it. But if I may, there is another issue that has come up and for which I need your help."

She walked over to his desk and sat herself on it. "Speak." She said with an air of paining boredom.

"I believe that there is someone who wants to nullify the spell you have cast on me, lady." He said, sitting himself down in his leather chair. "Could you do something about that?"

"Who? Only a powerful black mage can nullify my spell and I thought that there weren't any since the great war of Zanarkand 50 years ago. Besides, the use of magic has been prohibited ever since." She stood up again and crossed her arms under her breasts. "Are you sure of this?"

"Tidus escaped earlier with Yuna and I saw a teleportation circle on the place where they disappeared. There is no other explanation possible." He waited anxiously for her answer. He wouldn't let Yuna get away from him. If he had to, he would kill Tidus to get her back. She was of too great importance to him for she was carrying his future within her. "Well?" he asked while taking a pencil in his hands.

She cocked her head to the side and looked at him. He couldn't help but believe that she was feeling sorry for him. "What is it?" he suspiciously asked.

Shaking her head in dismay, she calmly spoke: "I will never understand you human beings. I have granted you an extended life at the cost of you own son's life. But it still doesn't seem to be enough for you, is it? Normally I don't feel empathy for you humans, but I must say that this is going too far. I will not give you my help, Jyscal. You are on your own."

And with that said, she turned around and walked away, slowly fading into nothing.

The pencil he had been playing with cracked between his fingers and he growled.

"No!" he suddenly stood up and wiped all the things that lay on his desk on the ground. "I'm so close!"

He sat down again and looked at the mess that he had created. He groaned in frustration and ran a hand over his face. "You will not win this... I swear it to you, you won't!"

Opening his eyes from their resting position, he immediately realised that he was underwater. His body had been accustomed to long stays in water thanks to Blitzball and he could filter oxygen out of the water to nourish his lungs if needed. He looked around and was happy to see that he had escaped safe and sound. But as soon as he realised that Yuna was no where near him he felt his heart skip a beat. He remembered her never being a great swimmer. Beating his arms and legs in a heated frenzy to find her, he soon saw her floating unconsciously in the stream a couple of meters further. He increased his speed and prayed with all his heart that she wasn't... that she was still... Grabbing her left wrist and feeling for a pulse, he was alarmed when he only felt a very weak response.

Instinct took the overhand and he approached his lips to hers to give her a little bit of his own oxygen. As he felt himself running out of air and her body responding a little due to the sudden purvey of air, he slowly started to kick his legs so they got to the surface.

As her head hit the surface, Yuna felt like her lungs had been ready to explode. She realised that there was something warm and soft pressing against her lips and that now and then she would get a gush of air blown into her lungs. Opening her drowsy eyes as she felt her lips being released and the cold air brush against it, she saw him looking at her with a worried face. Her first reaction was to push him off her, thinking that he wanted to hurt her again. But as soon as she did so, she felt herself sink back underwater. He grabbed her in time to prevent her head from disappearing in the water and helped her to stay above the surface by holding her tightly to him. Yuna resisted for a couple of moments and he tried to calm her down and to get her to snap out of it. When she suddenly stopped struggling, she started to tremble furiously.

"Yuna, hey! We're almost there! Don't do this now!" he huskily whispered, holding her tightly to him. She nodded and her lips trembled, she felt so cold. She looked up at him and saw his eyes full of worry. She kept staring at him and recognised those gentle and caring eyes he had once used to tell her that he loved her. This wasn't the man who had raped her so long ago, she knew now for sure. She looked back down as he gazed away from her. For some reason she couldn't help but think at the way their lips had connected earlier. He had done it before, back when they had been together and she had always thought of it as being a very intimate thing. Now she couldn't help but think that it maybe had done something more to her then just saved her life...

"Let's get to shore. Hold on to me, Yuna." He turned around and put her hands on his shoulders, breaking her stream of thoughts.

"Wh- where are we, T-Tidus?" she shivered, and looked in front of her. She saw a beach that she recognised as being—

"Besaid, Yuna." He responded and started to swim full-force towards the white sands awaiting them.

"Open your eyes, Yuna... time to wake up..."

She recognised the voice being that of her sister and she smiled first then opened her eyes.

"Good afternoon, sis. How are you feeling?"

She sat up carefully and threw her arms around Lulu, hugging her tightly to her. "I've missed you so, Lu!" she whispered then let go of her, "There is a lot that you need to explain to me, you know." The younger sister chuckled.

Lulu smiled at her and tucked a strand of hair behind her sister's ear. "Everything in due time, Yuna. The baby is fine; I've had time to check up on you. It's a real survivor you've got there."

Yuna smiled, "Thank you Lu..."she said almost absently and put her hands on her belly. "Thank you so much."

The older sister could tell that there was something troubling her younger sibling. Not that it surprised her... "What is it?" she asked.

"Why didn't you tell me?" the little brunette asked, "Why didn't you tell me that you knew how to use magic, Lu?"

The black haired woman took a deep breath and smiled at her. "If I had, you could've gotten in more trouble." She spoke sadly.

"But you are my sister. I would've never told anyone about it!" Yuna exclaimed. "And besides it is not such a big crime to be able to practise magic? Is it?"

Lulu chuckled sorrowfully. "It's prohibited by the law, Yuna. You can get sent to the Omega-island for it."

"But you used it to save... me..." Yuna whispered, her heart beating anxiously in her chest.

"Jyscal won't be so forgiving." She calmly spoke and sighed, "But I couldn't just leave my baby sister in his hands." She raised a hand and touched Yuna's right cheek. "The upcoming times are going to be difficult for all of us. We are going to need all the help we can use, and I will use my magic again, if needed."

Yuna just looked at her sister and felt blessed to have such a strong woman by her side. She hugged her again.

"I love you, but don't talk like you're going to die, alright? I don't want that." She whispered next to her ear. Lulu chuckled.

"We need to stop Jyscal, Yuna. We don't know what to expect, you have to be prepared for anything." The mage whispered back.

Deep down the younger brunette knew she was right, but she just didn't want to think about it.

They were still in each other's embrace when a red-haired man came in the room and cleared his throat.

Lulu let go of Yuna and turned around to look at the unexpected visitor. "Wakka!" she whispered and stood up.

"Hey, Lu." He greeted and came closer, kissing her on her cheek. "How are you?"

She kissed him full on his lips and nodded. "I want you to meet my sister Yuna, Wakka."

Wakka took a step away from Lulu and walked over to the bed Yuna was lying in. "Nice to meet you. I've heard so much about you, Lady Yuna." He took her hand and kissed it.

"Same here." Yuna giggled and looked at Lulu with an impressed face. The mage rolled with her eyes and smiled.

"Now that Wakka is here, we can discuss about a battle plan." Lulu said, approaching the two of them. "Tidus and Lenne are waiting in the other room. Let's go meet them."

The redhead helped the pregnant Yuna on her feet and led her out of the room, Lulu following closely behind.

Tidus and Lenne looked up from their conversation as Wakka and Yuna entered the room. They were both sitting at a wooden table in the living room.

"Hi, Yuna." Lenne stood up and walked over to her. "How are you feeling?" she worriedly asked.

Guilt struck the brunette as she looked at this beautiful girl standing in front of her. She truly was lovely and as kind as Tidus had described her to be. If only she had accepted to talk to her that day...

"I'm feeling alright, but how are you? Tidus told me that you got injured."

She smiled a radiant smile and looked at Lulu. "Your sister gave me an amazing healing potion. I'm practically healed, thanks to her."

"I'm glad to hear that." Yuna whispered, smiling and took a seat next to Lenne's. She noticed that Tidus was gazing at her and when she turned around to give him a smile, he turned his head to help Lenne to sit on her chair. Lenne kissed him and whispered a thank you in his ear. Quickly, Yuna faced away and looked at her hands on her lap. What was she thinking?

This wasn't the time to start regretting what happened in the past. She looked at her belly and felt like crying. How could she even think about him... in that way...now...

She reassured herself that it was just momentary and that she wouldn't feel this way anymore once Seymour would be back in her arms. He was the one she loved, this thing she was feeling was just affection for the man who saved her life and nothing else. Yeah that was it.

Just affection.

ToBeContinued...

-BDP-