Yuna woke up in the middle of the night. Guadosalam was surprisingly pleasant in the evening, even with nothing covering the windows.
That wasn’t what was on her mind, now.
She pulled the covers over her, but they did little to chase away her goosebumps.
What was that noise? She definitely heard something out there.
Something was creeping around out there. A spy? An assassin? For her? For Seymour? Should she stop them? If Seymour died then she’d be free. She could go back to Besaid for her nightclothes and clean underwear and see people who liked her and eat real food.
But what if they were after her?
Someone wrecked everything on purpose. What if they knew about her and wanted her out of the way? What if they didn’t just want chaos, but war?
There it was again; the strange throaty sound. It was coming closer.
If only to silence the voice in her head, Yuna got up. She grabbed her weapons from the nightstand and opened the door.
Her thief outfit would hardly scare anything that wasn’t blind, but that was a moot point at the moment.
There was indeed someone dangerous, even murderous, out in the hallway.
There were bloody hand and knee prints on the floor of the hallway. Seymour held his side and tried to crawl on his knees and one hand. His face was to the floor, but Yuna could make out the blood dripping from his mouth.
He didn’t notice her. He seemed to be concentrating on holding his side and breathing, which was rattling in his lungs and he obviously had to put effort into keeping it fast enough.
He stopped and fell to the floor. One hand was still on his side. The other was at his mouth, trying to cover the spray of blood as he coughed and spasmed.
She hesitated about it, but she finally changed to her white mage attire and cast a spell.
Considering the disputes they had had today, Yuna decided what happened next was for the best. He fainted.
The hallway was silent save for Seymour as he breathed, sending the last of the blood from his lungs.
Yuna backed away. What would she do now? Who would help her? She couldn’t stand him up, let alone carry him to a bed.
"Anzi!" Yuna yelled, and ran down the hallway, leaving Seymour to whatever silent force had been the cause of this.
………………………………………………………………………………
"Lulu?" Rikku called out as Paine carved a path through the Besaid jungle.
"Lu?" Wakka called out. "Holler if you’re there, ya?"
"Wakka, we’ve been calling for hours. I think she disappeared on purpose," Rikku said.
"Well, we’re going to find them if I have to hack this whole jungle apart!" Paine said.
"But why’d she take Vidina with her? And my little brother…?" Wakka asked, not liking the idea that came to his head.
"Maybe he went to look for her," Paine said. "That means we need to find him."
"Don’ think so," Wakka said. "He knew this jungle better than I did. If anyone could find her, he would. He always knew where Lulu was, too. Some sort of sixth sense."
"Wakka," Rikku said. "What’s Chappu afraid of?"
"I’d say Sin, but that’s not true. When he joined the crusaders, he was the most confident of all of ‘em. Even more than Luzu. I think he’s most afraid of somethin’ happening to Lu."
There was silence save for Paine slicing through a vine.
"Lulu!" Rikku yelled.
"Lu!" Wakka yelled.
"Look out for monsters!" Rikku yelled.
"Lu, don’t let anything happen to ya, ya?"
…………………………………………………………………………….
"Please," Lulu whispered under her breath, holding her baby to her chest.
Chappu wanted to hold her, wanted to wipe away the tears from her eyes. He’d never seen her cry before. He wanted to take the baby and run.
He couldn’t do anything. Lulu couldn’t do anything. Wakka and the two gullwings were too close.
If either of them moved, they’d make noise brushing against the dense foliage. They couldn’t even grab a rock to throw to distract them.
"Lulu?" Rikku yelled, coming closer.
"Lu! Answer us!" Wakka yelled, his foot knocking a leaf into Lulu’s face.
"Go away," she whispered.
"You hear something?" Wakka asked Rikku.
Lulu wished she could curl up tighter.
"I think Paine’s sword hit another rock," Rikku answered.
Lulu let out a sigh she didn’t know she was holding.
"Okay, what was that?" Wakka asked.
"Let’s check," Rikku said.
"Wait for me," Paine said.
"No!" Lulu screamed.
"Lu?"
"Lulu!" Chappu yelled, as Lulu stood up.
"Don’t!" Lulu yelled. "Don’t take him away!"
"Lu, he died," Wakka said, reach for her arm to calm her down.
"Lulu, it’ll just become a fiend," Rikku said.
"He’s my baby!" Lulu yelled, still crying.
"He’s not anymore," Wakka said. "He deserves to be sent."
"No!" Lulu cried, and backed away from them all. "No, he’s still my baby. Just look at him. You can’t take my baby away from me."
"Lulu, what are you saying?" Rikku asked. "Don’t you understand?"
"You don’t understand!" she yelled, and took off running.
Everyone turned to Chappu.
"I thought you went to find her!" Wakka said. "What are you thinking?"
Chappu looked in the direction Lulu had taken off in, then at Wakka. "Lulu!" he yelled, running after her.