Pg-13 for swearing.
I don't own anything related to Final Fantasy. I'm just a writer and I don't own much of my own…but I still don't own Final Fantasy. Righto…
" Hey who's there?" Despite the stillness of the woods around her, Rikku still seemed to hear voices in the various shadowed places lurking in the corners. Get it together girl…
She resumed her walk and re thinking the events of the past day.
A new clan had risen in Spira. She didn't yet know the name of the clan, but rumors had spread about a certain kidnapping taking place in Bevelle. A group of worried townspeople had come to Besaid asking if the Kanome clan could investigate. Someone said they saw the kidnapped in Macalania Woods. So this had led Rikku to investigate, on her own, but nonetheless investigating. She knew Yuna was at the crevasse between the calm lands and the end of the woods and Paine was wandering around somewhere. She thought of Paine to be…independent…so she had let her go on her own.
Frana yna oui…She shook her head and took out her mini computer. She typed her location into onto the small screen, pressing save, and slid it back into her belt. A chilly breeze blew past and she felt the familiar prickling sensation that she knew as being, cold. Oh well, it doesn't matter. Father did say to cover up…but what does he know? He's a guy, an old guy. He wouldn't know. Her neck was aching and she was almost sure no one was here. How could anyone be here? The Macalania Woods wasn't exactly a place to get badly lost in. Each and every path led to same destination, the crevasse. And each path, no matter how many there were, eventually brang you to center and that at least had directions. Okay I have got lost here on my own but I didn't know the forest so well… Apparently the kidnapped was supposed to know his way around here and she hadn't heard any word from Yuna or Paine so unless he was deaf, which she hadn't been informed of, he just wasn't in here.
" Ok…I'm in the right mind to go back to the ship and plan a new search. I don't know…maybe in Luca or something. So if you don't come out right now…I'm leavin!"
She almost swore she heard a cricket chirp.
" Fine!" She packed her gear away and headed for the crevasse. She was almost at the dividing path when all of the sudden she was jolted forward by something pulling at her leg. She fell forward heavily, smacking her head on the ground. Painfully she tried to sit up, but whatever had grabbed her advanced even further by pulling her back and hoisting her up in mid air.
When she looked up she noticed she had been sprung by a trap and now saw herself hanging from a tree branch by a rope. She resorted to her only and last option. " LEMMI GO! LEMMI GO! YOU'LL REGRET THIS! YOU WILL!…I…I SWEAR YOU WILL!" No reply answered. So maybe screaming at the top of her lungs wasn't the best approach but it did promise at least one result…didn't it?
" YUNIE! PAINE! HELP!…HEEEEEY!…come on please…just lemmi go" When still she had no answer she gave up began swinging her body in an attempt to grab onto the branch. She was small enough to get herself a get a swing. Despite how much her head hurt from the blood that was now rushing into her head.
Swing…miss " Damn…" Swing…miss. " Oh come on!" Swing…gotcha! She grabbed hold of the branch and, thanks to her flexibility; she hoisted herself up into the tree.
* CRACK *
That's not good…
Unfortunately for her…the branch was not the most stable in the woods. The tiny line spread across the branch in front of her, signaling the cause of the sudden crack. She sighed to herself and didn't deny her fate. The branch snapped and plummeted to ground with her on it. She wasn't sure how high up she was, but when she hit the ground…it hurt. The last thing she remembered before she blacked out was someone jumping down from the trees above and landing soundlessly in front of her.
..~**~..
" Did you get him?" The gruff man received no reply. His anger increased as he watched the nervous young man in front of him, shuffling his feet. " Well?" He asked again. " Did you get him or not!" Being as tough as the small man up front thought he was, he jumped at the loudness of his boss's voice. His voice however, came out as a mere squeak.
" No…we found someone else, snooping around. I think she might have been looking for him too sir"
The man sitting in desk before him slammed his fist down on the hard surface, clearly fuming. " Bring her in"
..~**~..
" Oof…" Rikku sat up straight, rubbing her now aching forehead. Her eyes were not yet adjusted to her surroundings. She rubbed them furiously but in vain. Clearly she had a concussion of some sort and felt slightly dazed. From what she actually could see, she could tell she was in some sort of a cell, surrounded completely by shining metal walls and only one door at the far end.
She still wasn't sure how her voice was so she didn't bother yelling out to anyone. But instead she laid her head back down on the cold ground and closed her stinging eyes.
Her pain was overcome by a feeling of peacefulness and she drifted into sleep.
Sitting down on the wharf, she breathed in deeply, watching her brother attempting to catch what remnants of fish there was in the clear beach water. Never before had she ever felt so relaxed! Just the sound of the waves and the breeze hitting her wet skin…it was like a dream she was longing to feel.
" Rikku!" Damn her brother, damn him for ruining her peace. She looked in his direction, shooting daggers at him with her glare. He didn't notice and pointed to the water. It was her turn to yell. A fiend!
A harsh pain ripped her side. Groaning, she woke from her sleep. The man above her kicked her for a second time in the side. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to block out the pain. The man spoke.
" Get up, he wants to see you"
She sadly complied, pulling herself up from the ground, keeping her eyes closed. In the mans eyes, her actions weren't fast enough. He kicked her once more in the same spot yelling to her, " I said get up!" It was too much for her. She fell back down and clutched her side. Gasping for breath she opened her eyes to look at the man responsible.
He was tall and bony, extremely scrawny and didn't look as if he even had much muscle on him! She could easily beat him to a pulp. How dare you! But she was in no condition, so instead of doing what her inner self told her to do, she stood up straight this time and glared at the scrawny intruder.
..~**~..
" What do you mean she's gone? She was in the woods with you two!" Yuna threw a hand to her forehead, noticing Paine do the exactly the same. They were having trouble trying to control her uncle, who was clearly distraught about Rikku's sudden disappearance.
" Cid, we told you" Paine whispered, " We searched every where for her, she's been taken" Cid shook his head. " You've no proof she was taken!"
Yuna glumly shook her head. " We do. Near her last known location we found a broken branch lying in the path. Tied to it was, what looked like, a rope trap" Yuna looked down to the ground. " I'm sorry" Cid turned away looking out the window of the giant ship.
" Damnit…" He muttered. " We go searching for one person and end up getting one lost in the process!" He thought for a moment.
" Have you contacted Besaid?" Yuna and Paine both shook their heads. " No, we wanted to make sure we told you first, we'll get in contact with them once we've searched the Macalania Woods better" Yuna looked over at Paine. " It's all we can do"
Cid nodded and turned to face the two girls. " I want to back up here at…15:00 hours ok? No longer. We can call some people in to help us out. Oh, and did you get that rope?"
Yuna turned around, heading for the back, and retrieved a long, thick piece of rope. She handed to him. H e examined it carefully. Tracing his fingertips over the intricate patterns and right down to end where a simple loop was tied. " It's a rope trap all right…ok you can go now" Both girls looked downcast for a moment before running off the main deck and back into the woods.
" She's a smart girl," He whispered. " She'll find her way back"
With a shake of his head he sat down, still holding the rope and attempted to figure out whether or not the kidnappers had left any type of signature.
..~**~..
Author's Notes: Please R&R! This took me ages to write actually! Please leave a review for me! P.s, thankyou to Bridget for helping me out!