11 Burning Death

Slowly, I woke, gradually gaining awareness of the world around me. As I found myself back in the real world, the dreams, dreams of Zanarkand, slipped from my grasp, fading images, until I didn't even remember what it was that I had dreamed about. As soon as I fully realized that I was awake, I sat up fast, hoping that it wasn't dawn yet. I had forgotten that I was in a hammock, and it flipped over, dumping me haphazardly onto the floor of the Kilikan hut. I sat up, rubbing my lower back, which I had fallen on. Wakka started to mumble something, though I wasn't sure what it was, and Lulu sat straight up in bed, though she managed to keep her balance, instantly alert, ready to fight. Then she realized that it was just me. "Oh, Yuna. What was that sound?" she said, her eyes sweeping every corner of the hut. Kimahri was curled in a tight ball, almost like a kitten, in one corner, while Tidus and Wakka each lay fast asleep in their hammocks. Wakka had his mouth open, and he let out a very loud gargling snore. I smiled at this, and the corners of Lulu's mouth turned slightly upward for a second, before returning to their usual, neutral shape.

"Nothing. I fell out of my hammock." The corners of her mouth twitched again, then, she carefully lowered herself to the floor, going over to Wakka's hammock. She smiled mischievously at me, grabbing his bright red-orange cowlick, and tugging it slightly. Usually, Lulu was way too serious. But then occasionally she would act like she did when we were all just kids. Back then the world seemed like a much better place.

Wakka's hands went up to his cowlick, as he slowly opened his eyes. He sat up, glaring at Lulu, and we all snickered, until all eyes went to Tidus' hammock. He was sitting up, staring at us, a blank look on his face, he almost looked mad. Lulu let out a slight cough, crossing her arms as she reverted to her normal self, and Wakka adopted Tidus' unhappy look, and I realized that we didn't have time for our temporary diversion from the pain in the world. I began to sink back into depression, though I didn't let it show on my face. I turned to wake Kimahri, but jumped when I saw him standing right behind me.

"Oh-Hi." I looked around the hut, meeting the silent gazes of each of my friends, then wandering out onto the dock. Beside the door, there was a basket of fruit, and I picked it up, while gazing at the night sky. The moon was low in the south side of the sky, though the sun had not yet risen from the north, the sky was still completely dark with the night. I walked back into the hut, carrying the basket.

"They left us food. Once we finish this, and let it settle, we will leave the village." I sat down, placing the basket on the floor. We all grabbed some, and I spoke between bites.

"We are still close to the mainland, we won't have to travel far before getting back into the jungle. We should go as far as we can in the cover of darkness, it will be easier when the fiends are still asleep."

I got silent nods as we all ate, knowing this may be our last peaceful meal for days. Once we finished, I lay back on the floor, closing my eyes, but then I sat up, blinking several times, shaking my head a bit, realizing that I had begun to doze off. I stood up, stretching, and then leaned on the wall, trying to stay awake. Kimahri stood by the door, arms crossed, tail twitching slightly. Wakka, yawned widely, saying,

"Lu, wake me up when we can go, kay?"

Lulu gave him an "I'm not your mommy." look, but nodded, a hint of a smile once again showing on her features. Tidus stood, and gloomily wandered out the door. Lulu sat with her back to the wall, eyes closed, but her lips were moving slightly, I think she was praying. After several minutes, when Tidus didn't return, I crept out the door, unnoticed by Lulu, though Kimahri watched me gravely from behind his permanent scowl.

I walked around the corner of the house, and found him leaning with his arm on the wall of the hut, forehead pressed against it. His shoulders were shaking slightly. He suddenly looked so young, so weak, so vulnerable… I quietly approached, and he jumped a little when I put my hand on his shoulder. He stepped backwards away from the wall, turning quickly away from me, wiping at his eyes.

"Are you okay?" He didn't answer me for a moment, still wiping at his face, but eventually, he turned around, frowning slightly, though it was not anger in his expression, it was sorrow. Even in the pale moonlight, I could see that his face was blotchy from crying, still moist with smeared tear tracks.

"I-it's just…I-I hate it here!" He turned around, looking towards the north, Zanarkand. "I just…just wanna go home…there's so much death here…so much pain."

I stepped forward, standing right beside him, but not looking at him.

"You…you could come with us…we're going to Zanarkand…" He looked to the side, towards me, excitement, and yet unbelief in his voice.

"Zanarkand?"

"Yes…but…it's not the Zanarkand you speak of…they say it's only ruins, that it's been that way ever since Sin attacked Zanarkand a thousand years ago…but…somehow…I hope-no, I think…you're right. There must be a living city there…you saw it, so did…Jecht…"

"My Zanarkand…ruins? Augh…I just don't understand this. Why did this have to happen?"

I was silent…my mind spinning, thinking of the supposed reasons why it happened, but somehow, I began to doubt it. "I couldn't come…Lulu hates me…"Suddenly, I got a feeling of rebellion. I knew that I was the summoner, I was the one in charge. I could invite anyone I wanted.

I turned to him, ready to ask him to be my guardian, but then there were footsteps on the dock, Kimahri, Lulu and Wakka approached us.I decided I would have to wait till later. "We're ready?"

Lulu eyed me warily, nodding slowly.

We were only a short distance away from the village exit, so we soon entered the jungle. Under the cover of the treetops, it was hard to see without the guiding light of the moon, but my eyes soon adjusted to the darkness. I could almost feel the Fayth calling to me, a deep whispery voice floating across the breeze. I followed it, letting it guide me toward the temple. After about half an hour of jogging, the jungle was beginning to brighten with the rising of the sun. I knew that as the sun rises, so do the fiends, so I slowed my jog to a brisk walk. We were already getting into the deeper parts of the jungle, where the villagers rarely went because of the dangerous fiends. I was in the lead, being the only one able to hear the call of the Fayth, and so I was the only one who knew which direction to go. As I was walking, I jumped a little as a small snake slithered from a bush across the path, but it left us alone, and it was just a normal animal, not a fiend. As we traveled on, Tidus walked beside me, looking miserable. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. We were all used to this, well, as used to it as anyone can get. But he just got thrown into this world without understanding why.

I glanced backwards to see where my guardians were. Kimahri followed behind us, searching the area in front of us for oncoming fiends, and Lulu and Wakka traveled a ways behind him. They were, as always, talking quietly while keeping their eyes constantly moving, searching for danger. Their voices where mere whispers, too quiet for me to catch more than a few words, "months…few…want to…why it had..."

I closed out the sound, focusing on the whispering fayth. I understood a few of the words floating through my mind, but not enough to mean anything. "…child…pray…dream…end" The words baffled me, I wondered what it could possibly mean, if he was trying to tell me something, or if it meant anything at all. As I was lost in my thoughts, suddenly, Kimahri shouted, "Get down!"

I snapped out of my thoughts, dropping to the ground, covering my head. I heard the loud buzzing noise of a group of bee fiends. I curled into as tight a ball as I could, hoping to be unnoticeable, and my guardians began to fight them. They were huge, for bees, the size of a large parrot. Their stingers were six or more inches long, sharp as spears, and tipped with poison. Needless to say, they were dangerous. There was a ruckus, shouting, Kimahri roaring, and the angry buzzing of bees, along with the screaming of pyreflies. The whole event lasted maybe thirty seconds, but it was all a blur. When the sound stopped, I uncurled myself, to take in the scene before me. Kimahri lay on the ground, spear in hand, with a wicked looking stinger in his shoulder. It was embedded deeply in the blue fur, green liquid mixed with the blood leaking from the wound. I ran up to him, and he let out a low growl as I grabbed the stinger, pulling it out in one, swift motion. His breathing was labored, I could feel the intense heat emanating from his body from the poison, his eyes started to flicker shut, but I prayed for healing, and within a few seconds, I could feel the pain in my own, already wounded shoulder. As it faded, Kimahri's breathing slowly returned to normal, the green poison dissolved as the deep wound closed itself. He nodded at me. "Kimahri thanks you."

My head was still spinning from the poison, but I nodded, unsteadily raising myself to my feet. I looked around, to see that all my guardians were fine. Tidus looked shaky, Wakka was breathing hard, and Lulu was dusting her skirt off. I did a mental once over of myself, making sure that I was uninjured, and my shoulder was complaining in pain from my previous injury, but other than that, I was fine.

"Are we all okay?"Lulu, and Wakka gave each other glances before nodding at me, and Kimahri also nodded, crossing his arms, completely healed from his wound. My gaze turned to Tidus, who was unharmed, and not winded, just scared. I could tell he was trying not to show it, but it was hard not to notice. Obviously, he wasn't used to this kind of thing in Zanarkand. We've been simply forced to deal with so much, to just keep on living despite it, and so often we don't.

"Good; we will move on." I fell back into place, taking the lead, following the sound of the Fayth's whispering call.

After several minutes of walking, I looked back at my guardians. Kimahri was very alert, walking in a crouched position, tail twitching back and forth, clutching his spear, though Wakka and Lulu seemed more absorbed in their conversation than ever.

The two were getting close. They had been close for years, but I'd never seen them talk so much. I wished that I had someone to talk to like that.

I looked to the blond boy walking beside me. His head turned from side to side, watchfully taking in every bit of the surroundings. As I was looking at him, I tripped in some of the deep overgrowth that was beginning to replace the path, landing on my hands and knees. I let out a surprised shout, alerting my guardians to my blunder. "Yuna! You okay?" Wakka's anxious shout came from behind me. Tidus took my arm, helping me to my feet. I could feel my face reddening, wondering if he noticed me staring, and knew that that was why I had tripped. Concerned showed on his tired face, his expression asking the question for him,"What's wrong? Are you alright?"

I glanced back at Wakka, catching Lulu's annoyed expression before looking back at Tidus, my face reddening further when I realized that he was still holding onto my arm. I looked at the ground, pulling it away and hurrying forward. "I-I'm fine."

We walked on, stepping carefully through the thickening undergrowth. It was slowing our progress, and offered many hiding places for fiends. I could not help but feel a slight nervousness stirring in the pit of my stomach. Something just didn't seem right. It was so quiet… None of us spoke as we walked on, not even Wakka and Lulu.

I think we all noticed the quiet. There was no chirping of birds, no buzzing of bees, no sound at all, besides our panting breaths and our feet shuffling through the leaves and brush covering the ground. We traveled on, the heat continually increasing, sweat running down our foreheads. Half an hour passed, then an hour, then another.

Hunger was beginning to gnaw at my stomach, but I ignored it, seeing that there were no fruit trees around. Though the air was filled with moisture, my throat was dry, it was hard to swallow. As we walked, my eyes alternated between checking the ground in front of me to make sure I would not take another embarrassing fall, and sweeping the surroundings, looking for oncoming danger. I brought my arm up to wipe the sweat from my brow, and that was when it happened. Kimahri and Wakka both warned me with shouts, and Lulu let out a loud and frantic prayer. From behind the surrounding trees came several fire-bomb fiends, fiends that care nothing for their own survival, just as long as their victim dies. Extremely dangerous, because their attack causes an explosion of fire, which consumes the body of the victim, then lights its pyrefly on fire, an undying flame which consumes the wandering soul in agony for all of eternity. I screamed as chaos ensued, explosions of ice and fire going off around me, all in a blur of motion and screaming pyreflies.

"YUNA!" Kimahri's shout reached my ears, but not in time for me to move out of the way of an oncoming fiend. I screamed as it flew towards me, its body trembling in flight in anticipation of its final action. Then, it happened, too fast for my mind to even fully register it. Someone shoved me out of the way, just as the monster erupted as it collided with my rescuer. I felt the searing heat, the wave of hot air driving me further from the flames.

I heard an agony filled cry, no doubt the scream of the one who had just taken the attack for me. I rolled over, getting my bearings. There were more pain filled shrieks, and the frightened cries of my guardians, though no other sounds. The fiends had been vanquished. As I took in the sight, I saw Tidus rolling uselessly on the ground, trying in vain to put out the flames that were eating away at his flesh. In the bushes behind him lay Lulu, unconcious.

I screamed in horror, knowing that I could not help him. He would burn to death before I had a chance to heal him, I couldn't go near to him to heal him now, or I would catch fire also, and die with him. Wakka let out a bellow, but could do nothing, just as I couldn't. When Tidus was too weak to roll anymore, he raised his head slightly, his cries of agony ceasing, his eyes met mine before his head drooped in defeat.

TidusxYuna Always