FicWad

"You gonna be okay?" Cid asked, pulling her off to the side while the others prepared to launch themselves at Bevelle.

"I believe so," she replied, sipping an ether to regain the magical strength she lost when battling Evrae. Then, after a moment's thought, she truthfully added, "At least, I hope so. I think that we, perhaps, could have put more thought into who should have fought Evrae. As Tidus, Auron, and I are the most capable of taking down a human with one attack, we're probably going to be doing most of the fighting in Bevelle as well, and we've already used up a great deal of our energy."

Cid looked troubled at that, obviously studying some of the worse cuts she'd gotten during the battle. "Ya shouldn't press yourself if you're injured," he said. "Hell, Rikku can practically throw together a bomb that'll clear the path for you out of a handful of screws and some mud, ya don't need to go all out."

"No need to worry about me. I know my own limits, and I'm not too proud to retreat if I hit them. /Tidus/, on the other hand...." She glanced toward the younger man and smiled slightly. "But, thank you for your concern."

He didn't seem convinced by her attempt at reassurance, but didn't press the issue. Instead he thumped his fist against a protrusion on the wall nearby, causing it to fall open and reveal a cache of medical supplies. He grabbed a few things then sat down on the floor beside her. "Here, let me see that arm," he said gruffly, then pulled it toward him and began treating the worst of her wounds without waiting for a reply.

"This really isn't necessary," she said, although she made no move to yank her arm away. "If any of my injuries were really bad enough to need treatment, I would have asked Rikku for aid. Has she told you that she's become quite adept at healing magic during the time we've been travelling together?"

"Is that so? Nah, she hadn't said anything about that. 'Course, we ain't had much time to talk; seems she's had better things to do than stop for a chat with her ol' dad." He finished bandaging the cut on her wrist, than moved on to one on the opposite shoulder, carefully unbuckling the sleeve from the collar and doing his best to push the fur out of the way without getting it any bloodier than it already was. Lulu was a little surprised that he'd figured out how to do that on his own; most people didn't realize that her dress was designed to become sleeveless in hot weather. Once he could get at the gash easily, Cid continued speaking, "How'd she get into that? Her brother was always the one with the interest in magic, Rikku's more like me: she just beats the snot out of anything that gets in her way."

Lulu laughed, and nodded. "That is true. However, she wanted to get to know Yuna, and Yuna's a very powerful white mage. Magic lessons gave them an excuse to spend time together, and it turns out that she has a knack for it."

"Huh," Cid muttered in a pleased tone. "Who'da thunk it? She must've gotten it from her ma's side."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Lulu said, meeting his eyes as he sat up to get at a cut on her temple. At the sight of his spiralled pupils she almost started, she'd somehow forgotten for a moment that he was an Al Bhed, but she caught herself before she could offend him and scrambled for her dropped thoughts. "If Yuna and Rikku are both talented at white magic, then it stands to reason that it comes from the shared relative. Especially since Lord Braska's skills ran more toward the offensive end of the spectrum, if I remember correctly."

"So you're sayin' I should go get a magic lesson or two instead of relying on these old first aid kits, eh?" he said, smirking slightly as he carefully taped down the gauze on her head. "There, that's the worst of them taken care of. Now, about Rikku..." He trailed off, turning to look at the young girl who was off saying something to Kimahri, giggling and gesticulating wildly while the Ronso looked down at her, seemingly completely unamused.

"Mmm?" Lulu murmured, drawing his attention back to her. She suspected that she knew where this was going, but waited to hear it from him.

"She's a good girl, but she can get a little... flighty at times, ya know?" He paused, waiting for her nod, then continued. "Well, you seem to have a good head on your shoulders. Would you mind keepin' an eye on her? I mean, I don't expect ya to babysit her all the time or anything, but just make sure she doesn't get herself killed doing somethin' that two seconds thought shoulda told her was a bad idea."

"I would be glad to," she said as she pushed herself to her feet, briefly using his shoulder for balance. "You don't need to worry; she's one of us, and we look out for one another. But I'll make sure to keep an especially close eye on her."

He accepted the hand she offered as he stood himself, saying, "That's all I'm askin'." He glanced at the others again, at Tidus and Auron who were already finding their grips on the thick wires that would be their bridge to Bevelle. "Looks like it's about time for you to get goin'."

"Yes. Yuna is waiting." She looked down at her hands, frowning thoughtfully, and smoothed the edge of one of her bandages with the tips of her fingers. "My time here, it was... enjoyable. If, when all this is over, we could have a chance to speak again, I would look forward to that."

"Speakin' of that," he said, digging around in his pockets for a minute before pulling out a small, thin, cylinder and handing it to her. "Here, I wanted to give you this."

"Ah, thank you," she said, examining it. It had small holes punched into one side, a button on the other, and nothing else that might give her some idea on it's use. "...What is it?"

"Oh yeah, forgot that you wouldn't have used one of these before. Look," he pulled another of the items out of his pocket. "It's a type of two-way radio. A machina that'll let you talk to someone on the other end. See, ya push the button on the back and talk into the front an' the person on the other end hears what you're sayin'." The last few words were spoken into his own device, and Lulu jumped when the one in her hand crackled and vibrated and repeated what he said. "If y'all ever need any help, give me a holler and I'll see if there's anything I can do."

She tucked the radio in with her other things and smiled at him, trying to ignore the fact that he had that pleased look on his face once more. She only hoped that if they spent much more time together, he'd stop acting as though she'd passed a test every time she did something the church wouldn't approve of. "Thank you. Hopefully we'll never need to use it, but I'll be glad to know that it's there." She looked at the others one last time, noticing that Wakka was on his way over to get her, and said, "It looks like I really do need to go now. I will see you again?"

"I'm sure that you will." He turned, and called out to Rikku, "Rao, Rikku, tuh'd kad ouincamv gemmat uid drana!"

Knowing a dismissal when she heard one Lulu walked away, ignoring the confused look on Rikku's face as her eyes darted back and forth between Lulu and her father.