A/N: AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! Not another story from Skye's Rain! You can't get rid of me, can you? But I'm straying a little from my normal category, Kingdom Hearts, so don't shoot me if it all sounds a little OC for a while. Ahem:
I APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE FOR THE FOLLOWING:
Scaring and/or disturbing you from within my author's notes. They are a little fun, I must admit.
Typos. Kudos and a dedication in the following chapter for any reviewer who finds a spelling error within my story.
Confusing you. I'm known for complex plots, so if it's weird or doesn't make sense, I'm sure it will be explained later. I think.
Not replying to reviews. I will get around to it eventually, but I have two fics going right now and will be a little slow as far as replying goes.
Not updating for a while. Again, I won't forget about it, but writer's block may stop me for a while. A nice review might put me on the right track. ;)
Sorry about that. Just had to put that out there, for anyone who actually reads my author's notes.
Pray for Rain:
Prologue:
The bell announcing the ship's arrival from Luca was loud, shrill and continuous, ringing, ringing, ringing throughout the whole island of Besaid. The day was pleasantly warm, the sky was clear, with not a cloud in the sky to threaten the beautiful summer day.
The afternoon sun was reflected on the ocean, a vast blue to match the sky. The seaside wind whipped through the air, running through the hair of a certain High Summoner.
Yuna sucked in a breath of the salty sea wind as the ferry pulled into the dock, the bell still echoing through the air.
"Nervous?" Came a voice from beside her. She turned to see Tidus, her former guardian turned fiancé. He was smiling softly to himself, obviously realizing he had her figured out.
"I'm not sure…" She trailed off, not the least bit surprised to see that he had followed her here. "I don't know why I should be."
Putting an arm around her, he said in a reassuring voice, "You haven't seen her in a year. And after all, she's married now. It's a big change. She's kinda like your little sister." Chuckling slightly, he continued, "And you have always seemed to avoid change, Yuna." She smiled guiltily back at him, knowing what they were both thinking of. Tidus had had to ask her three times if she would marry him before she said yes, and each time she had sobbed, saying she wasn't ready.
"I guess you're right. There should really be nothing to worry about. She's just my cousin." She sighed. "I mean, Rikku has good intentions, but she's a little, well, implusive."
"Does this have anything to do with her running off and marrying Gippal?" Tidus asked, seeing right though Yuna's words for the second time in their seaside conversation.
"I don't know, really. It did seem a little, out of the blue, if you ask me."
"You're afraid she'll get hurt? Don't worry, Yuna, Gippal's a good guy. He'll keep Rikku under control. They're good for each other, you'll see." He replied, as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"I can't help but worry about her sometimes, though."
And it was at these words that Rikku dashed forward off the boat and pulled Yuna into a loving, bone-crushing embrace. "Yunie!"
"Rikku!" Yuna replied, with slightly less enthusiasm than the blonde in question, as her cousin released her and looked her up and down.
"Well, someone's settled down, haven't we?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" But in all truth, Yuna had settled down. After reuniting with Tidus in the aftermath of Vegnagun, she had abandoned her skimpy sphere hunter outfit in favor of something more conservative. She had placed herself on Besaid, determined to carry out a normal life.
"You've changed, Yunie." She replied, smirking to herself. "And I'm a hundred percent sure it's his fault." Without turning, she pointed to Tidus. After winking at Yuna, she said, turning her head to face him, she said, "Oh, and by the way, nice to see you, Tidus."
"Nice to see you too, Rikku."
Immediately following these words, Gippal stepped on the beach, his step swaggering with his normal abundance of self-confidence. "This really is a nice island," he said, facing but momentarily ignoring his wife, her cousin, and his wife's cousin's fiancé.
"Can't believe I've never been here before."
Rikku walked back to meet him, and Yuna noticed a spring in her step that she hadn't seen in a while. Not for a long time, she decided.
"Did you think you could leave us out?" As Yuna turned, she saw Lulu, Wakka, and a nearly two-year-old Vinida standing over by the forest. Vinida was clutching his mother's leg, as if to protect himself from all of the strangers. It was an adorable sight, to see such a happy family all together.
"Of course not, Lulu!" Yuna said, smiling.
"Good. Good to see you, Rikku, Gippal. How's Bikanel?"
"As good as ever!" This time, it was Gippal who replied.
"If you don't mind," Lulu began, "I need to put little Vinida here down for a nap."
Vidina, still half-hidden by his mother's leg visibly scowled at the mention of a nap. His little brown eyes narrowed as Lulu picked him up and held him over her shoulder. Rikku, smiled slightly, letting out a small, "Aww..."
As Lulu and Vidina retreated into the forest, Wakka and Tidus immediately began discussing the eminent Blitzball season, a conversation in which Gippal also chose to join into, leaving Yuna and Rikku to catch up.
"Soooo Yuna," Rikku began, desperately drawing out her words for emphasis, "I heard about the engagement."
"You did?" It caught Yuna slightly off guard, but the statement also reminded her that news traveled fast in Spira, especially about the resident High Summoner. Yuna looked up at the vast blue sky, remembering how blue it had looked when she had bade her goodbyes to this place, more than three years ago. But still, still the sorrow of leaving her childhood home had been burned into her memory, a feeling to always remind her of her past.
"Well, of course I did. It's not every day a celebrity like you gets engaged. And you wouldn't believe how fast news travels in Luca." Both turned their heads to see the three men out in the ocean now, Tidus gesturing wildly to Gippal, possibly to demonstrate an element of the game.
Yuna and Rikku shared a momentary laugh. And Yuna herself couldn't deny, that from the way Rikku watched Gippal and could laugh so freely, that she was very much in love. And thus, she realized that as immature as she appeared, Rikku had enough common sense to tell who she was really in love with, and she was just going to have to trust Rikku not to get hurt.
"Rikku, I have big news."
"Other than the engagement?"
"Yeah. Other than the engagement. Rikku, a representative from Bevelle has asked me to be ruler of Spira."
"Why Yunie, that's wonderful!" And she pulled Yuna into another hug, showing her pure unpredictability by reacting exactly opposite of how Yuna had imagined it. As she had waited for the ferry, she had played it through in her head a million times, but something deep inside had said that Rikku would be jealous of the offer. Maybe she was. But the important thing, Yuna decided, was that Rikku didn't let her know that she was jealous. If she was.
"Yunie, guess what!"
"What?" Yuna said, her curiosity set alight.
"I'm going to have a baby!" Rikku said, and it became apparent that she had been bursting to say this the whole time.
"Do you have a name?" Deep inside, Yuna had known this was coming. From Rikku's undeniable happiness, the spring in her step, this had been coming all along.
"Nyeh, I think."
"The Al Bhed word for rain?"
"Yeah."
"Nyeh. Hm." Yuna tried out the name, and a feeling arose from deep inside. Something she had never felt before. No, wait. She had. In this very same spot. More than three years ago. It was the feeling of fate, pressing on her, crushing her, stealing the breath from her body. She wavered on the spot, her hand to her forehead. As she lost consciousness, she fell to the ground, hitting the sand.
"Yunie!" Rikku promptly kneeled beside her, and yelled her name again. "Yunie!"
Tidus took off running through the ocean to meet Rikku on the sand, to examine his unconscious fiancée. "What happened?" he asked Rikku.
Rikku, who was now in tears, simply stated, "I don't know. She just—she just fell."
Tidus took Yuna's hand, and the feeling washed over his senses, slowly taking his vision, and in the end, all he could do was hear Rikku shout his name as well as he and Yuna disappeared.
A/N: My goodness. I wonder how many people I lost or confused with that prologue. I promise, it will all make sense eventually. Just keep reading, please! And yes, Vinida will be the center focus in the next chapters, and for the rest of the story. Well, he will be part of the center focus. He'll have to share the spotlight with my OC. Hahahahaha.