14 Sleeping in Death

As the evening faded into darkness, I was beginning to look forward to a full night of rest, to retreat into my dreams, back home, back to Zanarkand. The only place my Zanarkand seemed to exist anymore was in my dreams…

But now, we seemed to have disturbed a hive of bee fiends. They all swarmed towards us at once, buzzing furiously. Yuna crouched, covering her head with her hands, and I grabbed open air, the sword Wakka'd given me materializing in my hand. It was still a strange experience, but I was getting used to it. Lulu reached out her hands, placing them on the blitzball Wakka was offering her. There was a flash of sparks, and then Wakka drew the ball back, and with near perfect aim, nailed one of the bees. I never thought a blitzball could be such a dangerous weapon.

I positioned myself in front of Yuna, trying to block the fiends, which seemed particularly attracted to her. Two were flying at us at once, and I reached out the sword, stabbing at one, and then swinging it to the side, hitting the other. Lulu pointed from one bee to the next, bolts of lightning shooting from her fingers, savagely zapping the creatures. They fell to the ground, their bodies quickly dissolving into pyreflies, leaving behind an awful stench of singed flesh. I swung around, barely blocking another fiend from attacking Yuna, but three more where coming. Kimahri thrust his spear at one, and Wakka's ball bounced off another, but the last one stabbed it's huge stinger deep into Yuna's side. She let out a scream, and I shouted in chorus with Wakka and Lulu, "No!"

I sliced the bee in half before it even had a chance to try to fly away. Lulu vanquished the last one, and we all gathered around our fallen Summoner. She curled around herself, beads of sweat forming on her forehead, whimpering softly, before going completely silent, and limp. What I was thinking then was that she couldn't die, she just couldn't die, because she was meant to save the world.

I dropped to my knees, placing my hands on her shoulders, rolling her onto her stomach, to get a better look at the stinger, which was sticking out of her back. Wakka looked on in silence as Lulu fingered it.

"We can't pull it out. If we do, she might bleed to death." I knew she was right, I had heard that this was true, in Zanarkand, but my natural reaction was to want to pull it out, right now. There was a bit of blood along with green goo, poison, oozing around the wound. I felt sick. It was simply horrible. I wanted to know why she had to go through all that just to defeat a big monster. I wanted to know why there wasn't an easier way. It just wasn't fair.

Lulu rose from her kneeling position, by Yuna's side, an air of decisiveness in her voice, she seemed unshaken by the delicate circumstances. "We must hurry to the temple. If we cannot get her to a healer, she will die." I was astonished, wondering how in the world Lulu could be so calm about what she was saying.

Kimahri pushed me out of the way, leaning down and carefully lifting Yuna's limp body, before continuing on in the direction we had been going before. He walked quickly, faster than we had been going previously. I didn't have to know or understand this world to see that this poison was serious stuff.

I could already tell, her skin was taking on a sickly green tint. I had to jog to keep up with the blue beast's gait, glancing at Yuna every few moments, though she didn't wake. We kept moving on, I assumed, towards the temple. I was thankful that it was now cool, the sun almost completely hidden beyond the horizon, because I knew that jogging would have been exhausting in the day's heat.

I gave the girl hanging limply in Kimahri's arms another glance, hoping that she could hang on until we got there. It felt like there would be no end to our journey through this awful jungle, and the night got darker with each passing hour. Yuna didn't show any signs of consciousness, and though we kept on almost all night, I saw nothing that showed that we were near civilization.

I could hear Lulu and Wakka's exhausted, panting breaths behind me, and I looked at them, just to see how they were doing. They both looked like they were about to fall asleep while they were still going. Wakka's feet barely left the ground, they only raised high enough to put one foot in front of the other. Lulu looked even worse.

I was now very thankful for my vigorous blitzball training in Zanarkand. Without that, I would never be able to make it. Also, I was used to staying up all night with my team mates, celebrating our wins. Our favorite place to go was the amusement park. We'd ride all the fastest, scariest rides all night, and have so much fun, people would scream when we walked by…I missed those days. I feared that I would never be able to go back.

I looked again at Yuna, and suddenly felt so selfish. All I wanted was to go home, so I could have fun with my friends, and get squealed about by girls, but she was risking her life to save her world, with seemingly no thought for her own pleasure… "Kimahri, We must rest."

Lulu's voice was raspy and the words were gasped out, clearly, she was not used to being up jogging all night. "Lulu right. We rest." Kimahri stopped, gently laying Yuna down on the decaying leaves covering the jungle floor. "It's gett'n close ta sunrise. We gotta have someone stay up ta watch for fiends…"

Wakka plopped himself down, his head drooping involuntarily towards his lap, before her jerked it back up, struggling to stay alert. Lulu sat down also, her eyelids sliding shut, before she blinked them open again. Now that I looked closer, I could tell that Kimahri was no better off than his comrades. Though I didn't have the excitement and thrill of an amusement park, I knew that I could stay awake much more easily than the rest of them.

"I'll watch…" I cringed at the look Lulu gave me. Man, this woman was so tired she could hardly keep her eyes open, and yet she was still able to find the energy glare at me. I guessed that the reason she was upset about my statement was the fact that she continuously rubbed in that I was not a guardian. But then, she seemed to change her mind, giving one simple word.

"Good." With that, she promptly fell asleep, and Wakka toppled into his own lap, beginning to snore. Kimahri nodded at me. "Protect Yuna." he commanded, before curling up like a kitten right next to her, and letting out a purr before drifting off to sleep. I stared at the group, all sleeping, too tired to stay awake if their lives depended on it. I imagined snidely saying to Lulu how there were some advantages to having a pro blitzer with them.

I actually smirked at the sleeping woman, but then wanted to hit myself, wondering how I could possibly smile, in such a dire situation. Then again, for some unexplainable reason, Yuna smiled a lot. I walked in circles around the group, half to keeping myself awake, and half to make sure I saw every inch of the surroundings. I hoped badly that no fiends would come. Every snap of a twig, every rustle of leaves made my skin crawl. Just thinking about the agony from almost burning to death made me want to pass out. It was worse than anything I could ever have imagined. I wondered if I had to do it again, if I would, if I would take the flames for Yuna.

I looked over at the girl lying on the jungle floor, her body weak and frail, her skin shriveled; she was getting worse. I thought about how she was trying to save the world, and about Kilika.

Chills of horror ran down my spine as memories of the recent tragedies flowed through my mind. All I was trying to do was get home, but if it happened again, she could heal me, but no herself. If she burned, even if Lulu put the fire out, she'd die, and lose her chance to defeat the monster, Sin.

My head was spinning with thoughts. Never in my wildest dreams…no, nightmares…had I ever imagined anything like this happening to me. If someone back in Zanarkand had told me this would happen, I would've said they were drunk. Very drunk. And yet, here I am. I pinched myself, once, twice, but it didn't help, just like it hadn't helped the dozens of times of times before. I was actually starting to get sleepy, and the sun was just starting to change the night into day. My eyes were sore and tired, but I kept them alert, knowing that with every passing moment, as the sun rose, so did the fiends with it. I kicked at a branch lying in my way, which I had walked passed more than two hundred times since the others fell asleep.

When we first got to Kilika, I had decided I'd do anything to help those people. I wasn't so sure now. I had made that decision from shock. Then again, what was it worth? If I could help them, would I really forgo that, just to get back to my life of fame and fun?

I didn't have a chance to decide. That's when I saw them. Three bomb fiends came from three different directions, slowly closing in on their target. Yuna. "Fiiiiieeend!" I screamed, unable to control the fear that was clawing at my gut. My palms started sweating, I could hardly hold onto my sword, my head felt fuzzy, but I struggled to maintain concentration.

Kimahri and Lulu both leapt up, ready for action almost the second they did. Kimahri ran towards one of them with no concern for his own safety, stabbing it straight through with his spear. There was an explosion of heat and fire, throwing him across the jungle floor, and knocking Lulu over just as she was extending her hands towards another in prayer. Wakka stood up, but was basically useless without Lulu. He started to help her up, as the whole thing unfolded around me, almost in slow motion.

I had to make the decision: run away from the danger, or save Yuna's life, and possibly many more in Spira, and probably lose my own. I ran towards the monster closest to Yuna, stabbing at it with my sword, slicing into its leathery outer layer, and causing an explosion of blistering heat to fling me across the ground, my skin stinging, but not burning.

I tried to shake the stars from my vision, but I couldn't see anything. There was a sound like glass breaking, and ice crystals rained down on me, slicing into my skin, but not hurting me badly.

I rolled over onto my back, sitting up, and tried to make sense of the jumbled figures dancing in front of my vision. Slowly, it all came into focus. Kimahri was standing over Yuna, arms crossed, Lulu was kneeling by her, sweeping her hair from her face, and Wakka stood next to her, leaning over Yuna, his hands on his hips, blitzball tucked underneath his right arm. I struggled to my feet, stumbling over to them. "Is she okay?"

Lulu gazed up at me, a with look of gratitude that I had never seen from her. "She is fine. Thank you." She seemed almost ashamed to show gratefulness. "Brudda…if ya didn't stay awake ta warn us…we wouldn't be alive right now…Yuna might never have lived to finish her pilgrimage. We owe ya our lives." He gave me a hefty, but friendly pat on the back, which I had not been expecting, and sent my toppling towards Yuna.

I shouted in surprise, tucking my head and pushing forward with my feet, flinging myself over her, and into a roll, finishing a few feet away from her, having successfully evaded falling on her, and injuring her, and also a possible death-by-Lulu as a result. "Hehe…sorry brudda…" Wakka scratched the back of his neck self consciously. I stood up, rubbing my head, and then suddenly, we were all business. Lulu rose, gesturing towards Yuna.

"Kimahri, we must leave." Kimahri grunted, lifting Yuna and taking wide, quick strides, onward in the same direction we'd traveled all night. I raised my hand to stop them, knowing that after the adrenaline wore off, I would be exhausted from not sleeping for and entire day and night. That's when I saw Yuna's eye lids flicker, and she let out a pained moan. I clamped my mouth shut, telling myself to just do it. I gave myself a little pep talk, silently telling myself that I was the star of the Zanarkand Abes! A little lack of sleep wasn't gonna hurt me!

Despite this, and much more encouragement I gave myself over the next few hours of slow jogging, my body was shouting at me, that I desperately needed rest. My legs ached, my eyes burned, and every time my one of my feet hit the ground for another step, the shock ran up my leg into my spine, up my neck, giving me a bad headache. Regardless, I kept on going, though I kept catching my eyelids trying to droop shut.

I heard an ear-splitting screech as an oncoming bird fiend made a deadly mistake, alerting us to its presence as it flew towards Kimahri, carrying Yuna. He quickly spun around, blocking Yuna with his back. He curled over himself, ducking just a little too soon, giving the bird a chance to change its course, instead of flying over his head, as he had clearly planned. He roared as its beak stabbed deep into his side, just as Lulu finished praying, and at the same time that I reached it, and slashed at it with my sword. I was too late to save Kimahri, and by Lulu's prayer, it froze in a block of ice, sending a painful jolt up my arm when my sword hit the solid material.

The ice was quick to do its job, the bird dissolving into pyreflies which escaped the ice as it melted, floating into the treetops. No one said anything, but Kimahri growled in pain as he set Yuna on the ground, clutching at the badly bleeding wound with his clawed hand.

He growled even more as he stood up, letting out a low, pained roar. "We go! Wakka carry." "Got it." Wakka picked up Yuna as Kimahri walked ahead, leaving a trail of blood behind him. "Kimahri, wait. I'll seal it with a flame. You cannot keep going for long with that wound."

Kimahri turned around, his permanent frown twisted into a look of pain, but he merely grunted in response. Lulu placed a finger about a half an inch from the wound, whispering under her breath, and her little flame ignited. She pushed it towards the wound, searing the raw flesh, closing the blood vessels. There was a rumbling sound, and I would have said that Kimahri was purring, if I didn't know any better.

As soon as Lulu was finished, she withdrew her finger, and Kimahri stepped forward, faltering a bit, but quickly regaining his composure, and continuing on. The adrenaline from the battle wore off very quickly, leaving me more exhausted than ever. I was thankful that we weren't going so quickly anymore, and yet I worried, wondering if Yuna was going to be able to make it much farther.

I tried to step up the pace, but tripped, nearly falling headlong into the bushes. I managed to right myself, and kept moving forward, settling with walking, rather than nothing at all, falling asleep right were I was, which is what my body wanted me to do.

When darkness settled over the jungle, and the sounds of the night replaced the day's, the relief from the heat brought an even stronger desire to rest, but the others were still going. Wakka was obviously tiring from carrying Yuna, and he and the her guardians had still only gotten a few hours of sleep earlier this morning.

The dark jungle started to spin around me, and I could hardly keep my balance, the edges of my vision darkening further, until it was pitch black. I felt a dull pain, all over my body, as if I had been hit by a giant mallet, and then I felt nothing.

TidusxYuna Always