"Okay, not to complain, but can we go somewhere that doesn’t hate us?" Tidus remarked.
"We could leave you here," Auron suggested.
"Hey, I wasn’t the one pissing off dead people, got it?"
Auron mumbled something, and Tidus ignored it anyway.
"Hey Yuna, how ya holding up, eh?" Wakka asked.
"You were right… he is dead…" she said, watching her feet, thought not very well, as she kept tripping on roots and rocks.
"So, where to now?" Wakka asked, only to be interrupted by Tidus yelling the obvious.
"Rikku!"
"Tid—owie! That’s till broken!" she yelped as he ran up and hugged her.
"Sorry," he said, scratching his head and letting go.
"You okay? I mean…um… anyone know how to tie a sling?" Tidus asked.
"Yeah, I think I remember from when Chappu taught me," Wakka said.
"Rikku," Yuna started. "I… you said someone saw him near Bevelle."
"Well, sort of… OWIE!" Rikku said, smacking Wakka on the head. "That hurt."
"Hey, I said I could tie a sling, not cut off nerves," Wakka complained.
"What does ‘sort of’ mean?" Yuna asked.
"Yuna…he’s gone. You can’t bring him back," Lulu said.
"I know."
"then why are you doing this to yourself?"
"The same reason I wanna get back to Zanarkand," Tidus said. "If it’s gone, it’s gone, but I wanna try. And I at least wanna see it, even if it’s all broken…What? Fine. Don’t believe I’m from there."
No one but Yuna felt the need or the comfort to say anything.
"You sure it was him?" Yuna asked.
"There," Wakka said.
"Let’s get moving," Auron said.
"Is there anywhere to stay that isn’t run by Al Behd?" Wakka complained.
"The ground around here’s soft," Auron said.
"Both of you cool it," Lulu warned them.
"What were Al Behd doing around Bevelle?" Yuna whispered to Rikku while Wakka was distracted with an argument.
"Um.. well… you see… we got lost?" Rikku answered.
"Speaking of lost, where are we going now?"
"Auron thinks we’re going to Macalania. I’m going to Bevelle," Yuna said.
"Yunie, it could’ve been someone else. Personally, I think he made it up entirely! I mean what would he be doing there?"
"I’m going to find out," Yuna said. "But I know he was there."
……………………………………………………
The good news was the arguing was cut short. The bad news was by what.
Giant fish that swan in the air, things that seemed to be made of light and bones, strange glowing blobs infested the woods, which were more unholy labyrinth than tree.
Most fights seemed to consist of fleeing and losing someone to unconsciousness from an attack.
All too soon, they found the only way through the monsters and the forest was to plow through.
"Hey, I found something," Rikku said, after a battle. No one seemed interested. "Fine, my sphere."
"Anyone else notice that we are missing a party member?" Auron asked.
"Of all the people we could’ve lost, you’re still here," Tidus whined. "No fair."
"We’re short one summoner," Lulu said.
"Yunie, you were s’posed to wait for me!" Rikku yelled, and ran off.
"Hey, you can leave me with these people!" Tidus yelled and ran off after her.
"We miss somethin'?" Wakka asked.
………………………………………………………………………
It wasn’t long for two to find Yuna. As she said, she was going to Bevelle. She’d taken of as the battle had started and was no on the past to the huge holy city.
"YUNIE!" Rikku yelled, running after her. "Wait for me!"
As soon as the Al Behd caught up with her cousin, she was greeted in a way she’d never expected.
"Why are you following me?" Yuna asked.
"Because I wanted to come to Bevelle with you."
"I’m doing this alone. Rikku, don’t you understand? He’s dead and I lost him! I can’t save him now, so there’s… there’s no point to it anymore. I’m just going to do what Wakka and Lulu and Auron wanted from me all along. I promised him and I broke that promise. I’m going to do everything the way everyone wanted me to. I’m going to make everyone else happy, and then I’ll be happy… don’t you understand?"
"Yunie, you can’t mean this."
"What are you going to do to stop me?" Yuna retorted. "What do you do to summoners you find? How is it any of your business to keep them from how they live or die? You can’t tell another person not to end their life! You have no right! I had no right! I had no right what I was doing! It was stupid to think I could catch up to him and we could defeat Sin together."
"But Yunie, you can’t just…"
"Why not? I shouldn’t be with him, I shouldn’t want him, I shouldn’t be friends, I shouldn’t want to be more than friends, I shouldn’t hope he survived, I shouldn’t find out what happened, so I’m going to shut up and do what I’m told. It’s what I should have done in the first place."
"But Yunie, you… It’s not fair! He should have listened and now… You suck!"
Rikku ran off, ignoring the path and crushing through and over and under branches and glowing orbs and all other strange and possibly sentient—definitely alive—parts of the forest.
Yuna whispered something, but Tidus didn’t hear it. She turned and started walking to Bevelle as she said she would, and Tidus was left wondering whom to follow, certain that he himself wasn’t an option.