Yuna's Story

After being separated from Tidus, Yuna and Jecht wandered around the area, searching for clues as to possible routes which Tidus could have taken. Worry was written all over Yuna's gentle features as she moved around frantically in search of her lost boyfriend. Even Jecht, who would never admit with that foul mouth of his that he cared for his son, became rather grouchy in the fruitless search.

Suddenly, the sound of clanking weapons can be heard. First rather faintly, then it grew louder. Whoever was making the noise drew closer to where Yuna and Jecht stood, straining their ears to discern the source of the noise.

"Tidus!?" Yuna exclaimed as she ran towards the direction from which the sound of battles came. At her heels, the mighty Jecht followed.

A blonde haired youth can be seen fighting a group of aggressive manikins at the distance. But he was not Tidus.

"Cloud?" Yuna called out to him.

"Stay… back!" Cloud shouted back as he saw the summoner's petite form against a backdrop of twilight sky. The spiky haired blonde looked severely worn out, mustering all his strength to fight back against a group of at least half a dozen manikins. He swung his giant sword at a crystalline Kuja who was charging forward and the form burst into a thousand tiny splinters.

Something's not right, Yuna thought, those manikins look more aggressive than usual. Bracing her staff, she rushed forward to join the fray, followed closely by Jecht.

Delicate as she may look, in battle, Yuna was an opponent worthy to be feared. Her main strength lies in summoning powerful creatures to attack the enemies in her stead. She began the assault by summoning Bahamut, the king of dragons. A golden glyph formed in the air close to her and the upper torso of a fearsome black dragon appeared, releasing three black energy balls at the crystal herd. The energy balls found their targets and blasted back a crystal Kefka as well as bursting a crystal Bartz into glimmering splinters as the manikin Kuja did earlier.

Jecht too, summoned a large piece of rock, or rather meteor, and hurled it at the group of manikins, destroying a manikin of Terra and the Emperor in its blast. But the remaining manikins were not keen on retreating, even after four of its comrades were destroyed mercilessly in front of their very eyes. In fact, they let out a chilling war cry and charged forward with even greater ferocity than before.

Strong as they were, aggressive as they were, they were no match for three experienced Cosmos Warriors. Even with Cloud badly injured, he could still put up a fight. Within minutes, the remaining two manikins were annihilated and as the final manikin burst into glimmering shards, Cloud collapsed on the ground.

"Cloud!" Yuna cried as she rushed forward to his blood soaked form, "Oh no… His injuries are pretty severe." She reached her hand out over his limp body and pale greenish light began to form on Yuna's fingertips. The queer wisp of light glowed pale green and white as it transferred from Yuna's hands to Cloud's chest. Slowly, the nasty cuts, burns and lacerations on Cloud's body began to close up, and his breathing stabilized significantly.

"He's gonna be fine," Jecht said, assuring Yuna. "He just lost some blood and is deeply exhausted. Let's just let him rest."

Yuna nodded in comprehension and turned to Jecht and said, "Let's just rest here for the day then. I'll make some fire"

"Will do," Jecht agreed as he took up his massive sword and headed off, "I'll make a few rounds to make sure the area's safe."

"Right, be careful Sir Jecht." Yuna warned him gently.

As Jecht strode off in the approaching darkness, Yuna gathered several twigs and branches around the area and lit a small bonfire by magic. Left alone with her thoughts, she stared at the twinkling flames and wondered where Tidus was. Hugging her legs, Yuna placed her chins on her knees and let her chain of thoughts wander. Tidus, enemies, the war, manikins… That's right! She suddenly jerked up, remembering about the strange behavior of the manikins attacking Cloud. They were… different. If possible, they were even more beastly than usual. Besides, it looked as if Cloud was trying to escape them but was unable to shake them off. Sure manikins are merciless, but they are brainless, it should not be too hard to shake them off under normal circumstances. Making a mental note to ask Cloud about it when he regains consciousness, Yuna felt herself being overcome by fatigue and drifted off to sleep…

How long had it been since she fell asleep, she did not know. She was woken by a worried Jecht who had just come back from his patrol, shaking her by the shoulders and calling her name. The sky had turned black in the seemingly short while she slept and stars twinkled on the dark backdrop. The bonfire she made had almost burned out with nothing more than a tiny glowing ember left.

"I… I'm sorry, Sir Jecht…" Yuna stammered, trying to recall back her lost consciousness, "I must have dozed off…"

"Well I'm just glad you're fine." Jecht said with a sigh of relief, "Got me worried there Yuna, when I saw that the fire have gone out from the distance."

He threw a pile of fire wood on the remnants of the bonfire and with another blast of fire magic from Yuna, the bonfire came back alive.

"Yuna…? Jecht…?" Cloud had regained consciousness. Probably woken up by the noises of our conversation, Yuna thought.

"Ah, boy, see that you're awake. How're ya feeling?" Jecht warmly said to him.

"Much better. Thanks." He replied with his hand on his forehead as he seated himself up. A slight dizziness was still there, but his wounds did not hurt anymore.

"You should just lie back and rest some more." Yuna kindly suggested.

"No," Cloud shook his head, "There's no time. Those manikins… Sephiroth sent them. I don't know what he did to them, but they are like rocket missiles. Either they find their target or they be destroyed before they do."

"What!?" Yuna and Jecht both gasped in shock. They expected some new breed of mutant manikins, but the idea of a Chaos warrior making them relentless assassins is simply terrifying.

"Maybe we should warn the others?" Yuna spoke up after a momentary silence. The shock of the information still reverberated through her nerves.

"You should go and warn them," Cloud said as he got up, picking his gigantic sword and placing them on its sheath behind his back. "I'll tackle Sephiroth directly."

"What!?" Jecht exclaimed, "You can't go alone!"

"I'll be fine." Cloud said, trying to sound assuring, but his voice betrayed him. He knew that taking out Sephiroth would not be an easy task, but it was his responsibility. He must be the one to finish Sephiroth.

"Be careful then," Yuna said as she gave him an encouraging smile, "We'll warn the others for you." Cloud knew that Yuna detected his lack of confidence in his voice, but his heart lifted at the fact that Yuna trusted him to emerge victorious. With a grateful nod, he set off to search for Sephiroth.

As Cloud's lone figure disappeared in the darkness, Jecht finally spoke up, "Guess there ain't any time to waste. Let's get going." He got up from the ground and grabbed his massive sword, preparing to set off. But he suddenly stopped in his tracks when he found Yuna still stood rooted to the spot.

"Yuna?" He asked, concerned.

"Sir Jecht," Yuna said, hesitantly. "I'm worried about Tidus."

Jecht scratched his head, for a while pondering over what to say. But when he at last spoke up, those words gave Yuna all the encouragement she needed. "Don't worry about him. The boy's much stronger than I'd ever like to admit."

Smiling at the reluctant confession, Yuna finally got up.

"Let's go, Sir Jecht."