FicWad

Tidus's lungs were beginning to burn, the length of the channel they'd been thrown in enough to strain even his blitzballer's lungs, when Wakka suddenly shot upward in front of him. For a second he was worried that something was wrong, until he looked up after him and noticed that the ceiling looked further away and more distorted by the water than it had been the whole time they'd been swimming.

Wakka had spotted the surface.

Rikku was already heading up by the time he started following, kicking his legs with more energy than he'd have thought he had left in his body just a minute before. The pain in his lungs felt worse than ever now that they knew air was close, but he ignored it. It wouldn't matter for long anyway.

He gasped deeply the moment he broke the surface, and for a long while none of them did anything but concentrate on breathing. Then Tidus rolled his body into a back float and took a look around. "Hey," he said, "I thought there was gonna be an exit here. What gives?"

"Nah, this is only the halfway mark," Wakka replied. "Like a rest stop."

Tidus made a face as he absorbed this new bit of information about the increasingly confusing puzzle that was Yevonism. "Wait, why would they let you take a pit stop in a prison? That doesn't make sense."

"'Course it does! It's showing honor to Yevon. No one could get this far unless he decided to bless them with a little extra time, ya? So, when they make a make like this, they put somewhere to rest halfway through, to show Yevon they have faith he knows what he's doin'. Never really studied much 'bout these old prison mazes--never thought I'd need to, you know?--but I knew if I just kept an eye open I'd be able to find this place for us. No way Yevon ain't on our side."

"Oh, I get it! That's why there's gonna be an exit somewhere, right? Because, if we can get all that way, it'll show them that Yevon thought we were innocent and they need to let us go free!"

Wakka looked troubled, "That's the way it's supposed to be, but I don't know 'bout now. If things've gotten so bad we have unsent maesters, I don't know if they're gonna follow the traditions. Ah well, we just gotta have faith that Yevon'll keep us safe." He turned toward where Rikku was floating across the area from them and called out in a teasing voice, "Even if you're a heathen Al Bhed, you hear?"

It was Rikku just making a distracted noise instead of yelling right back at Wakka that let Tidus know something was up with her. "Hey, Rikku, you okay?" he asked.

"Mm?" she hummed, than seemed to realize what he'd asked. "Oh! I'm all right! I'm just kinda worried about Lulu."

That got Wakka's attention. "Eh? Somethin' wrong with Lu?"

"Not really!" Rikku said, waving her hands in front of her for a second before she had to splash them back down to help herself tread water. "I mean, I fixed her enough so she'll be okay until she sees Yunie again. But... she kinda went all crazy on the guards when they came to get us!"

"Lulu went..." Wakka started, then, to Tidus's surprise, trailed off into a laugh. "That's Lulu! Seymour and his lot'll be sorry they got on the wrong end of her temper."

"I don't know if that's really it," Rikku said. "Something's up with her and my pop, I know it! She said she was doing it because he asked her to help me, and that sounds like something the old idiot would do when he starts thinking I can't take care of myself, but I don't know why he'd trust Lulu enough to ask her if nothing's up!"

"Lulu and Cid?" Wakka asked, then laughed again but this time it sounded uncertain. "You're talkin' crazy, Rikku. He's Al Bhed. Uh, no offense."

"And I don't think dad would do anything with a Yevonite either. I mean, that's why he kicked Auntie Kalna out of Home. But I still think something's up."

"So? Lulu's making friends with your dad. What's it matter?" Tidus asked, confused. It wasn't like Rikku seemed to have the problems with Cid that he had with his dad.

"So, Lulu's my friend! It'll be weird if she starts hanging out with my pop." Rikku rolled her eyes like that was the most obvious thing in the world. "Anyway, that's not what's really important! Lulu got shot, but she still didn't want me to come back and help her. I know her arm'll be okay, but I hope she will."

Wakka's eyes widened. "Shot? You mean with one of those damned machina?"

"Don't you mean 'one of those blessed machina,' considering who's using them?" Rikku asked, unable to resist the dig. "Anyway, yeah, what else would I mean?"

"Than what're we hanging around here for?" Wakka asked, turning to swim back into the main channel. "If something's up with Lulu and your old man, it don't matter now. If Lulu's hurt, that's what matters, ya?"

Tidus and Rikku exchanged a look then went after him. Tidus privately thought that if Rikku was right about Lulu being all right than getting more rest was more important, but even more important than that was making sure Wakka didn't get himself killed by fiends trying to make his way through the prison on his own.

And so the swim began again.