16 Calm Before the Storm

My heart felt like it dropped into my stomach. I could hardly breathe. Had we really come this far just for her to die? "What?" My voice squeaked, even I could hardly even hear what I said. "You must try!" Lulu seemed to be losing her constant calm as well. "I told you, I can't." The woman's words were low and annoyed, she sounded ready to blow.

I just hoped she wouldn't take it out on Yuna. "Fine!" The woman relented, turning back towards us, stomped up to me, and placed a hand on Yuna's forehead.

"Yevon, heal her! Please." Hope rose in my chest, along with dread. This was Yuna's last chance. When nothing happened, the woman jerked her hand back, and went back to the room she'd appeared from, her body builder guardian following. "I told you." She stated, as she disappeared into the doorway. I clenched my teeth, my eyes stinging, and I fought the tears, but they came anyway.

I just stood there, numb, feeling dizzy with hunger, my injuries aching, and with a dying girl in my arms. I didn't know what to do; I was lost. I shook myself out of my stupor, turning to Lulu, knowing that it was no use to try to hide my tears. She stood there, her face an empty mask, as though she had expected this, and prepared.

When she spoke, though, her voice betrayed her true feelings, sounding weak and desperate, though it was clear she tried to keep it strong. "Wakka. Our only chance is to take her to the fayth, perhaps-" She turned around, and her mouth dropped open when she caught sight of the other two guardians, passed out at the top of the stairs. "What?" She frowned, walking over to the two.

I ignored them all, looking down at the girl who might have been the savior of the world, if it hadn't been for that one, single bee. I couldn't help it. I shut my eyes, and screamed. "AAAAAAAAAAAHH!" I knew people were staring at me, but somehow, I didn't care what they thought of me. When I opened my eyes, there was a young girl standing in front of me, looking shy and nervous. She leaned on a makeshift crutch, really, it was just a branch with a small blanket wrapped around the top. She looked up at me, not saying anything, while I stared at her through blurry eyes. We stayed like that for a moment, before a woman ran from within the temple.

"Karina! Come back here!" The girl turned, still silent. The woman stopped short, seeing Yuna in my arms. She covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes shifting between Karina, and Yuna. "Karina, baby, come here, you can't, you might…" Karina went over to the woman who was now kneeling, arms outstretched, tears running down her weathered cheeks. The girl placed a tiny finger over the woman's lips, and in the softest, most innocent voice I could imagine, she said, "I must."

The woman shook her head, but didn't move to stop the girl. She slowly hobbled up to me, and just stared at me with huge green eyes. I wasn't sure what she wanted, so I just stared back. Her eyes fell to Yuna, lying in my arms, barely breathing. I began to realize what she wanted, and I knelt down, gently lowering the summoner onto the stone ground, letting her head rest in my palm.

"No, please don't!" The woman's faint, tear filled voice called out from behind the young girl, Karina, who placed a hand on Yuna's forehead. My heart was pounding like a bongo drum; my mind was telling me that the girl couldn't do it, but my heart was telling me that she could, that she had to.

Time seemed to slow, every second felt agonizingly long, but eventually, the girl gasped, started breathing hard, and then stood up quickly, pulling her hand away from Yuna, whose face was quickly draining from all its color, turning from the dead, green color, to pale, lifeless white.

"No! What did you do?!" I raised my face to look at the green eyed, red haired girl, who was clinging weakly to the woman. Then I heard a quiet sound, and looked down. Yuna's eyes flickered open, a healthy pink color slowly returning to her cheeks.

"Y-you're alive!" I shook my head, blinking, wondering if I was even awake anymore. It all seemed so surreal. One minute, she's practically dead, and now, she's awake, alive, and getting better by the second. I laughed out of relief, and leaned down, hugging her tightly for a moment, before realizing what I was doing, and pulling back quickly, chuckling with embarrassment. "Ahh…sorry…" I habitually scratched the back of my head. "It's…okay." She smiled, trying to sit up, but was still too weak. I helped her letting her lean on my arm.

"Yuna!" Lulu heard me, rushing over to hug Yuna. Yuna just sat there, and then when Lulu pulled back to survey her, she looked around slowly, concern coming into her features. "Kimahri, Wakka…are they…" She frowned, clearly, her mind was still foggy from the effects of the poison, her speech was slurred and labored. She couldn't see the two guardians, past my body, which was blocking her view of them.

"They're wounded, and passed out, but we're at a temple, they can be tended to." "Please, um, m'lady, may I help?" The woman who had gone to get the other summoner had returned again.

"We are injured. If there is no one to heal, we need food, rest, and bandages." Lulu seemed a bit confused. "Yes Ma'am." The woman spoke with two other young women dressed similarly to herself, and one of them entered the center temple doorway, the other went into the room to the left. The first woman returned to us.

"This way, please." I smiled awkwardly at Yuna, before carefully lifting her, and avoiding eye contact with her as I carried her into the room on the right. Lulu followed, and I noticed her glancing back at the other two guardians lying at the head to the stairs. As we entered the room, I saw that it was not fancy, but far more comfortable than the jungle outside.

It was a circular room, with a table in its center, and several doors branching off at intervals around the room. "Please," she said while gesturing towards the nearest doorway.

"Lady Yuna can use this room."

I nodded in thanks, carrying Yuna into the darkened room. The woman followed me, lighting a small lamp by the bed, and then backing out. I heard a muffled conversation between her and Lulu, who sounded more concerned than I had ever heard her, and I briefly heard Wakka's name. I carefully laid Yuna on her bed, taking a moment to take in the dramatic change the tiny girl's healing had done.

Though her face was tired, she looked healthy and strong, at least for someone who hadn't eaten in days… She smiled weakly up at me, her eyelids drooping.

"You gonna be okay?" I wasn't sure I wanted to hear the answer, but I was pretty sure if she made it through that, she can survive just about anything. "Hm, thanks." Her eyes slid shut, she was obviously too tired from fighting off the poison to stay awake a moment longer. I blew out the lamp and quietly left the room, suddenly realizing how starving and exhausted, and hurt I was, having been completely distracted by the fact that I was carrying around a girl who was just about to die.

When I got back to the circular room, Lulu and the young woman were already gone, and so I headed back into the courtyard, wondering what we were going to do with Wakka and Kimahri. As I was closing the door behind me, one of the other young women almost ran straight into me, letting out a shout of surprise, nearly dropping the contents of her arms all over the ground.

"O-oh, I'm sorry, Sir!" That almost brought a smile to my face, but not quite. If there was one thing I wasn't, it was a Sir.

"It's okay. Can I have some of that?" I said, referring to her armload of food, and the flasks of what I hoped was water, hanging from her shoulders. "Yes, I was just bringing it for you and your summoner and her other guardians to eat." It dawned on me that she thought I was a guardian.

"Thanks…" I grabbed a particularly large fruit and some piece of something that looked like it might be dried fish, and proceeded to stuff my face. Her eyes widened a bit, and I realized that I must look like a barbarian, but I really didn't care anymore, I just needed to put something in my stomach.

I somehow managed to reopen the door for her, despite my full hands, and she placed the food on the table, sliding the flasks off her arms. I grabbed one, washing down my mouthful, and before she left, I felt compelled to explain to her that I wasn't a guardian, somehow, I thought I probably shouldn't go around lying to these people. As she turned to leave, I spoke before I gave myself a chance to really think about it.

"Wait." She turned back, a look of curiosity on her face."I'm not a guardian." The curiosity changed quickly into confusion, and she frowned, her eyes shifting towards the doorway to Yuna's room. She pointed slightly to it, her jaw opening a bit, but no words came out for a moment.

"Ah…you're not? I mean…um…oh." She blinked, clearly perplexed, before turning abruptly around, and leaving without another word. I wondered what the big deal was, perhaps it was unusual for summoners to travel with people who weren't their guardians, or maybe it was something else, but whatever it was, I was too hungry to care.

I reached for more food, before remembering that Wakka, Lulu, and Kimahri were all still outside. I felt stupid, and my mind was muddled from tired hunger, but I put down the food, once again leaving the room and entering the courtyard.

I gazed around, and didn't see the others anywhere, just some blood at the entrance, and some more dripped and smeared across the ground, leading into a small door which I didn't notice before, on the far left. I approached it, knocking, and then leaning my ear against the door, to make sure I could hear the people inside, to tell me to enter, or not.

I almost fell forward when the door opened, and I righted myself, scratching the back up my head embarrassedly as Lulu looked at me."Come in." She said, concern knitting her brow. As I stepped in, she returned to the side of a cot, kneeling next to Wakka, and reaching into a bucket of water, pulling out a rag and proceeding to clean his wounds. He was staring at the ceiling, and apparently had awoken. His arm had already been bandaged in a dull, off-white cloth, but he still had many minor wounds.

Kimahri lay on another cot, though most of his legs hung off it, and yet another young woman knelt beside him, cleaning his wounds. The woman looked up, her eyes going over me for a moment, pausing at the torn flesh on my face and the ragged tears in my uniform, revealing several shallow gashes in my stomach. She nodded her head to a doorway in the back of the room.

"In there, there is another nun. She can help you." She then returned to studiously cleansing Kimahri's injury. For some reason, it looked more serious when it didn't have leaves and dirt caked all over it. I cringed at the open wounds, but was surprised to find that after only a couple weeks in this place, I was already getting used to it…somewhat.

I peeked into the doorway, seeing a particularly young girl, no older than thirteen, dressed in similar, modest garb to all the women who had been helping us since we got here. "Ahh…" I wasn't exactly sure what to say, but when she heard me, she turned around. She immediately noticed my face, and beckoned me in. "Here, let me clean that for you." She reached for a bowl, filling it with some water from a barrel, grabbing a rag, and sitting down at a table.

As I walked in, she saw the rest of me, and noticed the injuries on my stomach. She didn't seem phased at all, as if she was completely and entirely used to this. Which, she was. I sat down in a chair adjacent to her, and she started wiping at the dried blood on my face. It hurt, and I grimaced, but didn't complain. I didn't want to look like a ninny.

The water was cool and refreshing, and it reminded me how terribly thirsty I was, but I waited until she was done. I looked around the room from the corners of my eyes while she worked, noting all the supplies that were stocked up here, dried food, barrels of unknown substances, and many cabinets, which were labeled in a language I couldn't read. She placed the rag back into the now very dirty water, her eyes lowering towards my stomach. I stood, stuttering,

"Uh, no, I think I can clean my own stomach." I said. She smiled an indifferent, empty smile at me, before getting another bowl and a fresh rag, and handing it to me. She left the room via another door, and I went back into the room Wakka, Kimahri, and Lulu were in. The young woman was in the process of wrapping up Kimahri's entire torso in a bandage, while Lulu had finished with Wakka, who was now sleeping, while Lulu was now cleaning a few minor injuries on herself.

"I'm going to my room. Uh…is it okay if I eat now?" I wasn't sure what the customs were, if guardians all had to wait for each other, or for their summoner, or what, but I had recently avoided eating the food I found until the rest of them were there to share it with me.

Lulu nodded tiredly, and then I returned to the first room. As soon as I saw the water flasks, I grabbed one, and emptied in in a short moment, enjoying it, even though it was rather warm. I got a little more food, not caring about my filthy hands, and then peeked in the doorway of the room next to Yuna's.

It seemed unoccupied, so I went in and cleaned my stomach wound. Since I was alone, I took the liberty of whining a little at the pain…just a little. When was just about finished, I thought I heard voices in the other room, so I went out to check.

Wakka and Lulu were eating ravenously, while Kimahri was nowhere to be found. I wanted to check on Yuna again, but found myself to tired to take more than a few more steps, so I went back into my room, collapsing on the thin mat on the floor, letting my dreams take me back to were I really wanted to be right now. Zanarkand.

TidusxYuna Always