General disclaimer for the rest of the fic- I don't own Dissidia

Also general note for the whole fic- Some lines and portrayals of characters may seem a bit OOC. I haven't played the English version of Dissidia, therefore I don't know their speech patterns in English. I also only got the vague gist of their personalities when playing the Japanese version. Therefore I'm gonna go with how I see the characters, but I'm still going to try to keep them as in-character as I can.

Right in the middle of enemy territory, battered, beaten and bruised, surrounded on all sides by hidden traps, and dragging an unconscious and ridiculously heavy blond blitzball ace. This was not the situation Rikku wanted to be in. Sure it was a huge comfort and victory when she finally managed to find him after sensing his presence in the area, but she didn't think he'd be comatose when she found him.

"The things I go through. I swear, if Yunie didn't like you so much, I would've left you here long ago." Rikku grunted as she shifted her grip around his body. "Some star blitzball player you are, you can't even wake up and help me get out of here…"

It probably was a dumb idea coming alone to the enemy's doorstep, but Rikku jumped at the chance to try to save Tidus if she could. The war was dragging on and the Warriors of Cosmos were barely hanging on by a thread. Yuna was working tirelessly to heal the wounded, but Rikku could tell that her cousin was reaching her limit. If they had one more warrior, they might still have a fighting chance. If the warrior was Tidus, Yuna would feel at ease again.

Suddenly, Rikku felt something spark at her feet. Terror registered in her mind for a split second before she felt the full force of the electrical trap she set foot in. Pain seared in her body and she felt her blood boil. She held onto her friend as she shrieked from the pain. Soon, the bolts went away, and Rikku fell to the floor with a heavy thud, eyes full of tears pouring down her face. Of all the enemies she wanted to avoid with a passion, the Emperor was on the top of her list, solely because he used the power of thunder and lightning that she dreaded.

"Well well, look what I've got in my trap." Rikku vaguely heard footsteps coming towards her. She tried to raise her head, but her body didn't feel like listening to her mind, and her head remained bowed.

The Emperor chuckled. "I believe we've never met face-to-face. Could it be that you've been avoiding me? I wonder whatever for…" He summoned a small electrical current in his hand, and Rikku visibly flinched from the sound. "What's this? Are you afraid of lightning?" This time, the Emperor summoned a larger bolt that colored the floor with a tint of blue.

She let out a frightened whimper. 'This can't be real, this can't be happening. I finally found Tidus, why is this happening now?' She glanced at Tidus' face, blissfully unaware of the torturous situation they were in.

The Emperor noticed her slight movement. "Tsk tsk, it's important to pay attention to the person speaking to you, especially if that person is royalty." Without another word, he sent another electrical trap under Rikku's feet.

The pain she felt was tenfold. All of her nerves tingled and ached, her head was buzzing and felt like it was going to burst. Rikku screamed and screamed and felt her voice going hoarse.

"Such a pity we never met on the battlefield! I have never heard such delightful screams from my opponents! All the men insist on protecting the women, so I don't get to hear a scream so beautiful as yours." The evil monarch knelt in front of her, his face sporting a wicked smile. "Shall I play with you some more?"

Rikku gave the hardest glare she could. "Pycdynt…." she mumbled with a hateful tone.

"Hmph, insolent little child. I don't think I like your tone of voice." He let out more lightning and watched amusedly as Rikku suffered.

The pain was too much to bear, Rikku just wanted to curl up into a ball and die. But her strength was leaving her, and her body flailed like a rag doll as she kept getting shocked. She smelled her hair and clothes singeing and all her tears had dried up. It was getting harder to breath, and she couldn't let out proper screams anymore.

After what felt like an eternity, Rikku didn't feel anything anymore and fell to the floor with a heavy thud. She tried to take a deep breath, but it hurt to move and she couldn't get enough air to breathe.

This was it- she was going to die. How could this have happened? Not less than minutes ago she felt hope and relief from finding a comrade, and now all she felt was despair.

The Emperor let out a disgusted sniff. "Well, it was an honor defeating a Warrior of Cosmos, but I must admit, it was a bit anti-climactic." He turned his attention to Tidus. "You on the other hand, it seems like I can use you. The symbol on your pendant matches that of Jecht. This will be interesting…" With a flourish of his staff, he levitated Tidus' body and started to walk away.

He took one last glance at the girl by his feet. "Know that your death was not in vain, for you have aided Chaos in the war." And with a derisive laugh, he started to walk away. Rikku could only watch in defeat as he took her friend away.

'Tysh ed, why. Why did this have to happen now? We were so close to getting out.'

She tried to reach out a hand to the figures walking away, but only managed to twitch a finger.

'We were so close to seeing Yunie.'

She tried to call out to them, but she only let out the last of her breath.

'We were so close to ending the war.'

She tried to focus her gaze to where Tidus was, but her vision was blurry and dark.

'We were so close. So close.'

Slowly, her eyes drooped closed for the last time.

'Yunie, Tidus, I'm sorry…'

Al Bhed translations:

Pycdynt- bastard
Tysh ed- damn it