Summary: Afraid of lightning? Not Rikku! Well, maybe just a little. But that will all change in one week… [set pre-FFX2] [Rikku's POV]

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy X-2 belongs to Square-Enix, not me.

Al Bhed Blues
Chapter One: The Sphere

It was just another ordinary day aboard the Celsius, or so I thought, but that was all about to change…

"Treasure sphere alert!" Buddy announced, leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head. Ordinary enough right?

"Alright!" I exclaimed as I punched my fist in the air and started my 'pre-victory' dance. "Time for some sphere hunting action!"

"Where is it?" Yunie asked, leaning in to get a better look at Buddy's screen..

"Hmm…" He punched some buttons. "Looks like the signal is coming from the Thunder Plains."

"W-what?" I stopped myself in the middle of my celebrating. "The T-thunder Plains?" I squeaked, failing miserably at disguising the rising terror in my voice. Okay, I'll admit the Thunder Plains have never been my favorite place in Spira. Everyone's afraid of something, right?

"What's wrong?" Paine spoke up, giving me one of her trademark icy looks. Sometimes I think she can read minds. It totally freaks me out.

"Eh heh heh… N-nothing!"

"You're not scared, are you?" There she goes with that telepathic thing again.

"N-no, of course not!" I gave her a shaky smile. Was she buying it?

"Then let's go."

Sold!

"Rikku." Yunie shot me a significant look. She knew how much I hated the Thunder Plains. "Paine and I can-" I had to stop her. She was going to say she and Paine could handle it, that I could stay behind on the Celsius, but I couldn't let her say that; she'd blow my cover! Paine would never let me live it down.

"Uh uh, Yunie," I shook my head vigorously. "I-I can handle it. In fact… I'll find that sphere myself!"

Silence greeted that extraordinary pronouncement. Ugh! I slapped myself mentally. Why'd I have to go and say a stupid thing like that? Me and my big mouth!

"What are you talking about, Rikku?" Brother questioned, flailing his arms. He is such a dork sometimes. Scratch that. All the time.

"I-I'm gonna find it!" Well, I had to keep going with this now that I started it and that's not as easy as it sounds. I'm totally petrified of thunder and lightning!

"But Rikku-"

"I say we let her do it," Paine said surpressing a smile.

"Next stop Thunder Plains!" Brother cried, pointing into the distance and toward my doom.

I stood inside Rin's Travel Agency, wincing at every crash of thunder. Why did I do this to myself? Why couldn't that sphere be somewhere nice, like the Moonflow? I shook my head. I'm a sphere hunter now. I've got to find that sphere, no matter how long it takes!

"Excuse me, miss?"

"Huh?" I spun around. The clerk at the counter was addressing me. "Yes?"

"We'll be closing in five minutes." "Five minutes!? Automatic panic mode took over. "C-closing? B-but I thought you guys were open all night!" She shook her head. "Not anymore, I'm afraid. Lord Rin decided we were losing too much money. We had to cut down on costs somewhere."

"O-oh?" I tried to conceal my disappointment. It was hard to restrain myself from falling to my knees and begging her to let me stay. I slowly inched my way towards the door.

I'm gonna do this! I reached for the door with a shaking hand. I'm gonna get that sphere! My hand touched the cool metal. Who's the best sphere hunter? I pushed on it gently. I am! The door swung open and I tumbled out onto the Thunder Plains.

"Hmm, t-this isn't so bad." I nervously looked around. "M-maybe I can do thi- AHHH!" A gigantic bolt of lightning struck the ground. Definitely too close for comfort. I was nearly fried! Needless to say, the next second I was back inside the Travel Agency, safe and sound. Who was I kidding? This was going to be impossible!

Maybe I better stop and explain the situation a little bit. When I was younger, I was attacked by a fiend while I was swimming. Brother was there, too, and he tried to ward it off by casting a spell. Sweet of him, right? Wrong. The nincompoop used a thunder spell and it missed the fiend and hit me instead, meaning… BZZZT!! Well, you get the picture.

"Rikku! Come in!" Brother's voice crackled through the transmitter.

"Roger!"

"No, this is Brother. Did you find the sphere yet?"

"Uh, no, not yet." I heard a loud groan in the background. "B-but I will soon. Very soon. Over and out."

I clicked off the transmitter with a sigh. Now there was absolutely no way I could get myself out of this. Closing my eyes, I desperately willed the lightning and thunder to stop, just for a little while. …It didn't work.

"Miss, we're closing now. I'll have to ask you to leave. Please come again."

The clerk shuttled me out the door, despite my many attempted protests. It swung closed behind me, banging louder than the thunder. It was locked. Believe me, I checked.

Lightning flashed.

"I-I can do t-this… I-I'm not a-afraid…" I shuffled a little farther away from the shelter of the agency. "I-it's just a part of n-nature, right?" I shuffled farther still. "N-nothing to w-worry about..." Shuffled farther. "J-just nature…" Shuffling…

Okay, where to now? I was staring out at the wide-open plains, flinching as the lightning struck as far away as possible from the broken towers. They really oughta get those fixed. I racked my brains, trying to find something useful, something that would help me survive. Where was the best place to set up camp? Not too near and not too far from the towers? Yeah, that sounded right! I dashed over to the nearest tower, stopping about three feet away.

Crash!

Eeep! Come on Rikku, you can do this!

"T-time to put up the tent."

I pressed a tiny red button on the transmitter and a small machina flew out. It made a series of beeps and clicks before transforming itself into a huge blue tent. Not bad, huh? One of Shinra's more useful inventions. I jumped inside, hiding under the heavy woollen blanket. Hah! Now who's safe?

The constant lighting flashes illuminated the inside of the tent, filling it with a strange blue glow. I'll admit, being inside a tent was a whole lot better than being outside alone, but not by much. I was shaking like a hypello!

The transmitter snapped on. "Rikku, you awake?"

"Huh? Brother, is that you? What are you still doing up?"

"… I was… worried about you…"

"Really? You were?" My Brother, the one responsible for my stupid phobia in the first place, was being thoughtful? Spira must be coming to an end.

"Yes! And the sphere. You find it yet???"

So much for brotherly love… "No…"

"Find it soon!" He paused. "Rikku, oui'na so cecdan... E muja oui…"

"E muja oui, duu, Brother…"

Al Bhed Translations:

Rikku, oui'na so cecdan... E muja oui… (Rikku, you're my sister… I love you…)

E muja oui, duu, Brother… (I love you, too, Brother…)

A/N: Aww, a nice little Rikku-Brother moment (no, not in that way!). I couldn't resist. Anyway, please review and tell me what you think so far. I'll get the next chapter up soon.