I: i forget to sense i'm dying
Auron is 25 years old when he meets Death for the first time.
The young Ronso has just left for Bevelle, oathbound to deliver Yuna to Besaid. Auron has failed his summoner (in so many ways) but he knows that Kimahri will fulfill the promise he swore to Braska.
He coughs, barely able to turn his head in time to spit the mouthful of blood onto the forest floor. He leans back against the tree the Ronso kindly helped prop him against. Concentrating on simply breathing (every breath harder to take in than the last one), he doesn't hear the man approach.
"That's a nasty scratch you've got there, kid."
Auron laughs, a bitter sound that mixes with blood in his throat. Yunalesca nearly tore him asunder, his right eye is useless (if it's even still there), and, though he's fighting the possibility with all the strength he can muster, there is a good chance he's dying. "I've been better," he rasps. "Who are you?"
The man shrugs and Auron curses his newly diminished vision. He's finding it hard to focus.
"Yevon calls me Shi and I guess that's as good a name as any. I can't even remember my true name."
Auron blinks his one good eye and the salt from his sweat (not from his tears, he's too proud to admit he's been crying) makes it burn. "Death?"
"Yeah, kid." Death kneels on the ground to Auron's left side and wipes the moisture from his watery eye. "Hey, you got a dream?"
Auron shakes his head and groans at the pain the movement produces. All of his dreams are shattered, the pieces scattered from Zanarkand to the Calm Lands. He feels the man's hand move from his cheek to his forehead and he relaxes into the touch as the pain begins to dissipate. Then, through the fog taking root in his brain, he remembers that this is Death talking to him, Death soothing his pain. He jerks away from the touch. "Don't touch me," he grits through his teeth as the pain returns with full-force. "I do not intend on dying today."
"Guardians are such hassles," Death whines, wiping invisible dirt off his robe as he stands back up. "Your work is done. Sin's been vanquished for a little while, Spira is beginning to enjoy a new Calm. Your summoner would be proud of you for making it this far, I'm sure, but it's time to go."
Sin. Spira. Calm. Summoner. Guardian. Jecht.
He will not break yet another promise today.
"What happens if I refuse?" He's taking shallow breaths now.
"With no summoner to send you, your soul will remain on Spira. You'll become an unsent." Death narrows his eyes, trying to figure the young man out. "But that's what you want, I think. You've got plenty of spirit, I'll give you that. What do you intend to do?"
"Change the world." Auron shudders at the low rattle he hears in his own voice. "Keep my promises. Break the cycle."
Death runs a hand through his shaggy white hair. "It'll take more than a dead man to bring Yu Yevon's spiral down." It's a warning, not a condemnation. "You have a plan?"
Auron nods his head slowly, the simple movement draining all the life from his body. "Zanarkand" escapes from his dying lips.
Death stares at the dead man for a few moments then shakes his head. He wants to wait until the kid wakes up and offer him a second chance (the unsent never realise that dying is the easy part) but he feels the familiar pull of impending death. Giving the young man a cursory salute, he blinks out of the Macalania Forest.
He blinks into his destination and it takes him a good minute to realise where he is as his eyes adjust to the impossibly bright sunshine. "Bikanel. Just great," he gripes. The desert island is probably his least favourite part of Spira but, now that the Al Bhed have made their home in the Sanubia Desert, he visits often. (Sand gets into everything; Death finds it objectionable that it does not make an exception for his robes.)
"Brother!"
Death ducks into the shadow of a rock formation as he sees two children approach.
"Brother!" The smaller of the two children is running ahead of the other one, shouting as she runs toward the blue water of the Oasis. Rikku is 5 years old and her father has let Aniki take her to the Oasis by himself.
Rikku starts pulling off her protective outer clothing as soon as she hits the shore. Dipping her toes in the water, she squeals with glee. She looks back at her brother and waves before jumping in.
Brother is the slower of Cid's children and he's huffing as he reaches the Oasis. He smiles at his little sister's happy laughter as he watches her splash around in the clear water. Taking his goggles off, he rubs his eyes as the sun temporarily blinds him. Even though he can't see, he knows that something is wrong-- his sister has gone completely quiet. "Rikku?"
"Fiend!" Rikku is terrified. She's alone in the water and her claw (a birthday present from Pops) is under her pile of clothes on the sand. She watches as the glowing blue thing approaches and covers her face with her hands. She's too young to die!
Seeing his sister in danger, Aniki tries to remember what his father has told him about water fiends. Lightning! Their weakness is lightning! He casts Thunder (one of the few spells he actually knows), not realising that his sister is too close to its intended target.
Rikku's vision goes white as the spell misses the fiend completely and hits her. She screams out in pain as every nerve in her body reacts to the stimulus. She keeps screaming as Aniki pulls her out of the water, laying her on the sand. Her body feels like it's on fire and the coarse sand grates against her charring skin.
(Neither child notices the fiend suddenly still before bursting into pyreflies.)
Aniki is going out of his mind with panic when Death steps out from his hiding place. "Go get help," the man calmly orders him, his Al Bhed perfect and unaccented. Aniki wants to argue (he can't leave his little sister) but Rikku's crying now and he knows that he can't handle this alone. Aniki nods at the man and runs off.
Rikku is 5 years old when she meets Death for the first time.
Rikku's vision starts to clear and she gropes madly, her bloody hands grabbing hold of Death's robes. "Brother?" Her voice is barely above a whisper.
"He went to get help, little one. What's your name?"
"Rikku," she coughs.
"Everything'll be okay, Rikku." Death starts gently rubbing one of her hands and Rikku takes in a deep breath as it suddenly becomes easier to breathe. She's too relieved to notice that her hand is faintly glowing. Something is rippling under her skin, responding to the man's touch. "The pain's going away, isn't it?"
She nods.
"It's only going to hurt for a little bit longer." This is the worst part, Death thinks, dealing with children. "What you dream about, little one? What do you want?"
Rikku faintly smiles. "I wanna change the world. Make Sin go away."
Death pulls his hand away from her skin. What were the odds... Momentarily lost in thoughts of fate and coincidence, he doesn't hear the machina stop outside the Oasis but hurried footsteps break him out of his reverie. The Al Bhed child has returned with help sooner than he expected.
(An excavation crew had been on its way back Home when Aniki flagged them down. Their hover covered the short distance back to the Oasis in no time flat.)
An older woman clucks her tongue as she appraises Rikku. Plopping down in the sand beside the little girl, she begins to cast healing spells. Death can feel life rushing back into Rikku's battered body and he can't vocalise the unfortunate truth-- that it's too late to save her soul, that he has already stirred the latent energy.
A few minutes later, when Rikku is on her feet and grinning, he curses himself for his hesitation.
***
II: she's a child, young and willing, in a world that's unforgiving
Gippal is 10 years old and fast for his age but Rikku flies by him as they race around the outskirts of Home. Losing sight of her around a bend, he slows down and eventually comes to a stop. Slumping down against one of the rear columns circling the base, he smirks. Rikku won't know what to do when she reaches the main gate and he's not behind her. She'll be pissed.
When Rikku skids to a stop in front of Home, she doesn't even remember that Gippal is supposed to be behind her because she looks up and there he is-- her kiynteyh yhkam. He's standing outside the main gate and, even though it's been four years, he looks exactly the same as he did that day at the Oasis when he held her hand and told her everything was going to be okay.
Rikku is 9 years old when she throws her arms around Death's waist and gives him the biggest hug a little Al Bhed girl can give.
The sudden contact startles Death and he looks down at the thing that now seems to be attached to his hip. All he can see is a mess of braids and sand. "Hello?" He speaks in Spiran but the owner of the dirty hair looks up, flashes him the biggest smile he's ever seen, and Death sees a shimmer behind a pair of swirly green eyes. "Rikku." Death sighs, brushing a layer of sand off of the little girl's hair, and switches to Al Bhed. "How've you been?"
"I've been great! Pops lets me drive his hover now and Mom is gonna take me to Luca next month to watch blitzball! Oh, Mom'll want to meet you!" Rikku lets go of him and starts hopping around, on one foot and then the other. "She's always wanted to thank you, you know, for being there for me that day. I'd thought I'd never see you again but here you are!" Rikku stops, takes a deep breath then continues. "What's your name, mister? Mom calls you my kiynteyh yhkam but you've gotta have a real name, right?"
Death shakes his head. He can't tell her the truth, tell her that he's known as Death in Common Spiran-- not when she believes him to be some sort of guardian angel. "I don't have a name, not one I can remember."
Rikku looks at the ground, toeing a swirl in the sand. "That's so sad, mister," she pouts. "I know I'd be sad if I couldn't remember my name."
Rikku is scratching her cheek, trying to think of a name for her poor nameless friend, when she hears the whirr of hovers. Grabbing the man by a hand, she pulls him away from the main gate. "C'mon! That's probably my parents! They'll wanna meet you!"
Death lets the little girl pull him, all the while wondering who is about to die. If it is her, he cannot let himself waver again.
Someone will die today.
And as two hovers approach, he realises that it will not be Rikku.
He is still holding Rikku's hand when the hovers park and a tall bald man steps off of one, holding the limp and bloody body of a woman. He gently squeezes it before letting go.
Death approaches the two adults unseen and gently brushes the woman's forehead. There is resistance, unusual for an Al Bhed, and he looks over his shoulder at the little girl beginning to cry. He leans down and whispers into the woman's ear. "Rikku will be okay. You've raised her well." The words must be of some comfort because he feels the resistance fade and Death pulls, freeing the woman's soul from her dying body. His job done, he blinks away from Home. Away from the tears of a now motherless child.
And, while Death returns to Bikanel frequently, he doesn't meet Rikku again for three years.
The Spiran flu is ravaging all of Spira but the Al Bhed are being hit particularly hard because of their isolation. Death is exiting a family's living quarters, leaving a teenage boy (with one eye) to grieve for his parents in peace, when she is suddenly in front of him. He notes with alarm that the shimmer behind her eyes has grown even fainter over the past few years.
"It's nice to see you again, Rikku."
Rikku is 12 years old when she kicks Death in the pymmc (as her pops calls 'em).
"You lied to me."
One of the benefits of being, well, Death is a largely incorporeal body but he winces, just to humour her. "And what do you think I lied to you about?"
"You do so have a name. Taydr-tayman." She puts a hand on her hip, proud of herself.
Death-dealer. Death grins; he hasn't heard that name in quite a while. "It's been a long time since someone called me that. How did you find out?"
"So it's true?" Rikku's hand falls from her hip and her fingers start fiddling with the hem of her shorts. "You're really him?"
"You were hoping I wasn't?"
Rikku nods. "I thought maybe when Mom died that you were just going to be her kiynteyh yhkam for a little while but I'm not stupid, you know. I've seen you since-- you were there the night Buddy's little sister died, the morning Elder Mela died in her sleep, and you're here now, you know? I saw you last night and I finally asked Pops about you and he told me a story about Taydr-tayman. He says you're even scarier than Sin!"
Rikku stands on the tips of her toes so she can get a better look at his face. Cocking her head to the side, she scrunches up her nose. "You don't look all that scary to me."
"Ah, it's more the idea of me that scares people," Death sighs, leaning back against the cool steel of the corridor. "I'm Death, Taydr-tayman, Shi-- everyone has a different name for me, a different idea of who I am, their own fears about what I do."
"Can I ask you something?" Rikku asks, her voice almost timid.
"Go ahead."
"What do you do? I mean, do you actually kill people or do you just take them to the Farplane or-- I only see you when someone dies but you're really nice to me so I'm not scared of you or anything, but I don't really understand what you do." Rikku pauses to catch her breath (when she talks fast, sometimes she forgets to breathe) and Death begins to answer her questions.
"I don't kill people, Rikku. I don't decide who lives or who dies. I try to comfort the dying in their last moments and, yes, I show them the way to the Farplane."
"But aren't people dying all the time? How can you be with everybody?" Rikku scratches her cheek, deep in thought. "And what about the Sending? Yevon says you have to be sent to go to the Farplane and it's not that I believe in Yevon, because I so do not, but it's just what people say-- and, oh, what about fiends? They say that the unsent become fiends, right?"
Death chuckles. "You've been thinking about this a lot, haven't you?"
Rikku nods. "Yep!"
"It's rather hard to explain the mechanics of it but, trust me, I am with everyone when they die. Those who are willing to accept their death are shown to the Farplane and its dreamscape. Not everyone is so happy to see me though. Summoners help me out a lot; they can sometimes coax the dead when I cannot. But, of course, there's always those stubborn fools who insist on staying."
Rikku is still nodding and Death looks at her quizzically, wondering if she was able to understand any of that.
"But I'm special, right?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm special 'cause I can see you, right?" Rikku slaps his arm playfully. "I can see you but I'm still alive so you must really like talking to me, huh?"
Leaning his head against the wall, he thinks for a moment on what to tell her. "I do," he says, deciding the truth would be best. "I haven't had someone to talk to like this for many years. It's unfortunate, though, that we often meet under such circumstances."
"Yeah," Rikku agrees, wrapping her arms around herself. She knows that she should be angry-- this is the man who took her mother and a bunch of other people she really loved away but, like Pops said, everybody is gonna die sooner or later. She's kinda glad that Taydr-tayman is so nice, maybe her mother wasn't so scared when she died.
"Rikku, who you talkin' to?" Gippal is rubbing his eye as he opens the door to his family's apartment. He looks up and down the corridor but the only person he sees is Rikku, looking like a fiend caught in a hover's headlamp.
Rikku looks at Death but he just gives her a little wave and walks off, so she turns her attention back to Gippal. She notices that his eye is red and his cheeks look tear-stained. (She remembers her reflection in the mirror the night they buried Mom; her eyes were tinted red for days afterwards.) Pushing her way into the tiny apartment, she thinks that maybe Pops is right. Gippal's all alone now and he can't blame it on Sin.
***
III: there's more to living than being alive
Rikku has just turned 15 when she meets Death again, walking the corridors of Home. She is frantic; the broken and battered bodies of the survivors from Operation Mi'ihen crowd the rooms but the face she is searching for is nowhere to be found. She is nearly blind with grief and does not recognise him at first.
"He's not here, little one, but don't worry." Brushing a few loose strands of hair away from her face, he continues, "I passed by your friend on Mushroom Rock Road yesterday. It was not his time."
"Really?"
Death nods and Rikku feels like her heart can beat again. Gippal's okay!
The intercom crackles and a loud voice with a thick Al Bhed accent is hollering, "Rikku, get yer ass up 'ere!"
"Oh! Gotta go!" Rikku wipes the tears from her face. "I guess I'll see you again, probably."
Death watches her disappear up the stairs before turning back to the young men barely clinging to life.
*
The next time Death sees Rikku ascend a staircase, he's milling about the lobby of Macalania Temple. He's observing the crowd, trying to figure out which of these people is destined to die, when everyone turns to watch a group of guardians enter. He recognises a few of them. The busty dark-haired woman had been one of Ginnem's guardians; what a pain in the ass that summoner had turned out to be. The blitzballers he remembers from the tournament in Luca; quite a few people had died that day but all anyone talked about days later was the improbable Aurochs victory. He'll never understand Spira's obsession with the game. He doesn't recognise the Ronso and that means something, considering he has a broken horn. You remember something like that.
Death is just about to turn his focus back on the crowd when the last two guardians appear. He can't help but smile.
This is the first time he's seen Rikku outside of Bikanel and she's with him.
Death wants to ask him if the plan has progressed any in the past ten years but then he watches the two of them and decides to hang back. He can barely hear their conversation over the din of the musicians nearby but their actions are speaking loudly enough to make up for it. Rikku's fingertips flit on Auron's arm as they talk and Auron's hand briefly rests on her back when they disappear into one of the side rooms with the rest of their group.
He watches with interest as the group storms up the stairs a few moments later. Waiting until the last of them disappear into the Cloister, he follows behind.
It begins.
*
Death hears her anguished cry and he wishes (not for the first time) that they weren't meeting like this. He is weary, there has been so much death in such a short time, but he sees Rikku running towards him and he lingers.
"Keyakku!"
Rikku sees Death kneeling beside her cousin and prays that she's not too late. She kneels down on the other side of Keyakku and, grabbing his hand, she feels a pulse. "Who? Who's attacking us?" He doesn't respond so she switches to Al Bhed. "Who did this to you?"
The young man is able to identify his killers right before he dies. As Rikku cries over his body, Death notices that Auron is staring at him. Death gives him a simple nod before standing up and heading into Home's core. There are still so many to attend to.
*
Death follows Kinoc through the halls of the Bevelle temple. Two Maesters are unsent, one has fled Bevelle, and-- it's a gut feeling coming from millennia of experience but Death believes that this Maester is not long for the world. He accompanies the man to the prison cages and watches silently as Auron and Tidus are escorted out of their cage.
Kinoc is talking to Auron, more for the pleasure of hearing his own voice than anything else, so Auron ignores him and glances to his side. Death is walking beside him. He doesn't ask why, he doesn't want to know who Shi is here for.
"She's okay." When Auron raises an eyebrow in response, Death smirks. "Well, the summoner's fine too but I wasn't referring to her. Anyway, how's that plan of yours going?"
Auron tilts his head, nodding towards the boy in chains behind him. Death looks the kid over and shakes his head. "Good luck, Auron. You're going to need it."
*
Death watches the summoner and her party approach Gagazet from his perch high up on the mountain. He can't hear anything but the howling wind until the Ronso begin to sing the Hymn of the Fayth. He can feel what's to come, the enormity of it, and he finds it comforting that they're singing the Hymn in defiance of Yevon, as it was originally intended.
There is time still so he turns away from the Ronso and watches the summoner's party climb the mountain path. Rikku is trailing behind and he can tell why, even from this distance. Rikku was born in the desert and, more critically, was dressed for the desert. He feels helpless as he watches her shiver violently but then he relaxes as Rikku disappears into a red coat. She's too short to be seen from the top of the coat but he watches their feet. Rikku matches Auron's steps; they move up the mountain as one.
The cacophony of battle brings Death's attention back to the base of the mountain. Jumping down from his perch, he lands in the middle of a war between the Guado and the Ronso. He works as fast as he can to free the proud Ronso of their pain and refuses to make eye contact with the bastard who refuses to die.
***
IV: and who will tell me how it ends and how it all begins
Rikku is 15 years old when she meets Death for the last time.
He is waiting inside Sin and leans against the airship as the group files out. She knows he's not there for Yuna, Yuna will not die today. Sir Jecht, Yu Yevon, Sin itself will die today. She waves shyly at him, trying not to attract anyone's attention. She fails utterly because Auron catches the movement out of the corner of his good eye and Auron equally fails to hide his horror. Death sees him blanch as he realises who Rikku is waving at.
Watching them disappear into Sin, he pushes off the airship and follows behind.
*
Everyone is tired after the final battle with Seymour. (If any of them still believed in Yevon, they'd be praying that it was indeed the last time they'll have to face the psychopath.) As they begin to trudge through the City of the Dead, Auron's declaration surprises them.
"We rest."
Auron is approximately 35 years old when he meets Death for the last time.
While everyone else rests, healing their wounds and eating a light meal, Auron takes the first watch. Checking the perimeter of their campsite, Auron finds Death wandering around inside Sin.
"Got a question, Sir Auron?"
"Why?"
"Why is the sky above Luca blue? Why is the water in the Moonflow sometimes green? Ask a better question." Death smirks. "Oh, sorry. I forgot. You never did like to play my games. I'm assuming that you're asking why Rikku can see me."
"Yes."
"She reminded me of you. I'm sure you remember the day we met. You denied me my rightful claim, insisting that you had promises to keep. You told me you wanted to change the world. I left you there, your body still warm, and found myself called to the desert. I asked a little girl, dying of electrocution burns, what she dreamed about." Death gazes off in the direction Auron had come from. "I've stolen the last breaths from thousands of children, millions of people, and I always ask the same question. The answers are never anything unusual. But this little girl-- she looked at me with the clearest eyes I've ever seen and told me that she dreamed about changing the world too. And I hesitated, just long enough for the healers to arrive."
"So she is alive?" Auron doesn't even try to keep the relief out of his voice.
"As alive as you are," Death sighs, "in a manner of speaking. Your spirit lives on though your body is dead. Rikku is the exact opposite. Her body is strong and healthy yet her spirit fades, what's left of her soul is nearly gone. It's so strange how this all worked out. You two shall die on the same day again."
Auron has come inside Sin to kill Yu Yevon, knowing that he will also be dooming Tidus to a similar fate. He has accepted that; he knows that Tidus and Jecht want Spira to be a world free of Sin forever, no matter the cost. He is also prepared to die, his promises kept, his rest finally earned. But must Rikku die as well, so full of life and hope that it's practically contagious?
"It's too late," Death shrugs, drawing Auron's attention away from his increasing despair. "You are both on borrowed time and it's nearly up. You should be getting back; they'll come looking for you in a minute. Make the most of the time that's left."
Death starts walking further into Sin before pausing. "It'll be a death worthy of a legendary guardian. I'll make sure of that."
*
Yuna is sobbing by the time she summons the last of her aeons and Rikku cries a little too because she's grown attached to Yojimbo's little dog over the past few months. She regrets never getting the chance to pet him.
The battle progresses much like all the previous ones: Auron and Tidus attack while Rikku heals (Yuna wants to be in the fight but Al Bhed Potions work faster and time is of the essence). Daigoro attacks but she can tell that his heart really isn't in it because his attacks barely break skin. Yojimbo's knives are just as ineffective and, as Auron and Tidus take turns wounding the aeon, she thinks that Yojimbo is too proud to let Yu Yevon use his most powerful attack, the one Yunie always has to pay good money for.
She's wrong.
As the portal appears in the ground, Rikku panics but there's nowhere to run. All she can do is close her eyes as Yojimbo executes Zanmato.
*
Rikku coughs up blood when she regains consciousness.
"You're lucky to be alive, ya?" Wakka helps her lean to the side to spit the blood from her mouth. "You okay?"
Her chest hurts something horrible but she's alive so she nods. She pulls herself into a sitting position and fumbles through her pouches for an Al Bhed Potion. There is only one left and she drinks it down quickly, making a face as it works its way down her throat. Her chest still hurts though and, looking down, she discovers the reason why. Her orange top is torn above her stomach and the gash looks bloody and deep. She frowns, not at the pain but at the loss of her favourite shirt.
*
She pouts when they don't let her join in the final battle with Yu Yevon but he's so pathetic and weak that she really isn't needed anyways. As he's defeated, she wishes she felt well enough to do a little victory dance. Sin is gone and Yunie is alive!
*
Rikku waves goodbye to the aeons as Yuna dances. The pain in her chest is worsening but she knows that she'll be okay once Yuna finishes dancing and they get back on the airship.
"It's too late, little one." She hasn't seen Death since they left the airship but he's beside her now, his hand on her shoulder. She feels the pain recede as a comforting wave of numbness washes over her and she closes her eyes, losing herself in the painless bliss.
Yuna's shocked gasp brings her back to reality. Death's grip tightens on her shoulder as Yuna drops Nirvana, halting the Sending. Rikku realises that Yuna isn't upset about sending her aeons (not anymore). No, Yuna is looking back at them, her face ashen.
"Yunie?"
"Don't stop."
Auron feels like a puzzle that's being pulled apart as pyreflies break free of his unnatural shell but it's a welcome sensation. It's a peaceful feeling, a release ten years overdue.
"But I--"
Rikku wants to ask Yunie what's wrong but her thoughts are fuzzy and, anyways, nothing can be wrong because they've defeated Sin and they're all still alive.
"It's all right. It's been long enough."
Auron nods to Wakka and Lulu, thumps Kimahri on the chest (he was never able to thank him enough, he realises), but his pace slows as he reaches the final two. He can't look at Tidus; he can hear him softly whimpering and Auron curses the fayth for their cruelty. (Tidus has lost Jecht and now Auron and will soon lose himself; that's how the fayth will repay the boy's kindness.) And he can't take his eyes off Rikku. She's standing with her back to him and Death is beside her. Auron watches as her knees start to buckle and he knows that their time is up.
Yuna starts to dance again.
"Go with Auron," Death whispers in her ear and Rikku nods. She'd follow Auron anywhere. But where are they going? She turns to ask him but he's already gone and Auron is there. Her eyes are starting to lose focus and something in her brain is screaming that this is so disasterrific but Auron holds out his gloved hand and it's always amazed her how perfectly her hand fits into his.
Auron is taking her somewhere and she trusts him so she doesn't look back, keeping her eyes on him. He's talking, not to her, to someone else but all she can hear is the Hymn. She closes her eyes again and lets the peaceful melody carry her away.
This is your world now.
Author's Notes:
Shi can be translated as death in Japanese, which is why I chose it as Yevon's name for Death. Aniki translates to Brother in Japanese but I like to think of it as his given name while Brother is the nickname, at least in the English part of the FFX fandom. I use them interchangeably. The personification of Death is really non-fandom specific, though I owe Dead Like Me a hat-tip for inspiring the bits about Rikku's soul. And I'm afraid the Aurikku relationship comes out more implied than anything else, but they're together in the Farplane. (Authorial intention and a little bit of wishful thinking...)