Wreck Onboard the Airship

By PetiteCookie

A/N: We need to get our Aurikku back boys and girls.

Summary: The loss of something dear is always hard to overcome. Hard, but it is possible to overcome such tragedies. But how do you overcome the shock of losing your home, and your people, at the same time? Especially since you've always had to be strong on your own.


The Airship had many, many different storage rooms, for Machina parts, Airship fuel, food and ammunition. The latter generally being deserted, and packed the fullest, with towering castles of boxes reaching up to the ceiling, and small dens of opened, half filled boxes, waiting to be emptied. The fluorescent lights did nothing except cast dark shadows, almost making the room darker than before.

It was the perfect hiding place.

And so here she cried.

Rikku curled herself up into a ball in a small cave of crates and wept for her, and her people's, losses. The pool of sadness in her heart, made her mourn the demolition of HOME, caused by the destructive corruptness of the Guado. And the death of Keyakku, which hit her right where it hurt.

That was her sadness.

Her anger then surfaced when she thought of her loyal friends. Their heroic acts to save her people, made no difference, they still died in vain, her friends efforts amounted to nothing, when they should've made all the difference. Fate should've allowed them to save HOME, not make it another wreck, buried in the sandstorms.

A storm of emotions built in her heart yet anger conquered the sorrow, and the hurricane formed was made of pure anger.

How dare the Guado attack?
How dare they murder innocent people?
How dare fate make it so that the efforts of her people we in vain?

She lashed out impulsively. Bare skin colliding with the metal edges of the crates. She whipped her hand back in, wincing at the pain, but instead of becoming squeamish because of the dripping crimson river cascading from the cut, she curled her fingers into a fist and lashed out again. It didn't do much for the pain of her heart, and certainly didn't hurt the pain in the hands, but it did help with the anger.

But as her punches became wilder, crates around her head began to fall around her, and dodging them, she continued to fight enemies of boxes, as the falling weight pushed her down, and knocked her back, she persevered, getting up repeatedly, until her fist met something not quite as hard. A firm being, pulling her into a protective but forceful embrace, a calming aura putting out her anger, reducing her once more, to a sobbing wreck.

Although the stranger made no sound, from their rigid structure, masculine scent, and the fact they were almost twice the size of her, Rikku could tell it was a mystery man, not a mystery woman. Oddly, this comforted her more; she knew all the men on the ship, and all of them (with maybe the exception of Brother) made her feel safer than the deepest rooms of HOME. Or used to. HOME wouldn't be making anyone feel safe any time soon.

Feeling her knees buckle without permission, Rikku sank to the ground, her mystery man falling with her, cushioning her fall. Her forehead rubbed against a cheek with vaugley familiar stubble, but only just familiar enough to distinguish this man from her Father, making her feel more at ease, the last thing she needed was her Father discovering her like this. Besides, she could almost feel, or at least imagine, the beginnings of silent chemistry between them.

She lifted her head, to look at him, but found her hair was caught in a way that she couldn't. Lifting her hand, she gathered it was trapped in some sort of mechanism, a hinge. But before she could untangle it herself, a large, gloved hand got there before her, releasing the hair, then allowing his hand to drop, and rest on her cheek.

She longed so much to say something, anything, to entice a response from this man, to break the dense silence enveloping them, but there was nothing to say. So she just sat there, curled up in the arms of a man who'd said nothing but held her. He shifed slightly, the first movement he'd made since her fall, so his back was against the metal wall, making sure Rikku's head was supported by the hand on her cheek.

The pair stayed like that for what seemed like hours, until, embarassingly enough, pangs of hunger pains and loudly stomach growls disturbed Rikku from her rest. She looked up for the first time since the hair incident abd from her now-adjusted eyes, even in the dark, she could make out a very familiar collar and sunglasses and her jaw dropped in disbelief.

"Auron?" The question was barley a whisper, her hoarse voice still recovering from her tears. Her mystery man - Auron, looked straight at her, his eyes a silent answer to her qustion, but it was not enough for Rikku, she wanted an audible answer, one she could understand, one not-so cryptic. "Why are you here?"

Auron sighed, realizing he would have to speak, and leaned his head back against the crate, thinking about his answer, before he said something he may well regret. "Your Father was worried, and requested I find you"

Heart sinking, she nodded in response. Was it too much to hope that he was there out of care and thought? That he wasn't here because of Father, but on his own accord, because he noticed her absence and became worried about her safety? They sat there, again in silence, Rikku still shaking and clinging onto the coat, despite hunger, and Auron still cradling her soft cheek.

She marveled at this show of comfort. Never had she, or anyone, she supposed, seen anything like this, from the pepper-haired man. He was always so cold and uncaring, pushing the Pilgrimage along, despite protests. When they camped, he always took night shift, and when morning came and they awoke, he would still be awake, in the same spot, alert as ever. Not even when Yuna had fallen ill, had he shown affection.

It was almost... Nice. How she envisioned it would feel to be in the arms of a true lover, not like the hugs she'd get from Gippal, but deeper. As she sat there, she tried to banish all thoughts of hunger. While she knew it could never last forever, she could at least try, try to prolong this feeling of protection, of safety, and if she imagined hard enough, love. But as quickly as that thought had come about, just as quickly was it banished.

It was Auron, after all.

Meanwhile, as Rikku was busy engrossed in her train of thoughts, Auron was dealing with a set of his own.

Holding this young, -slightly psychotic- yet mature girl, no woman, was entirely different to the many times he had held Tidus, and the times he'd held Yuna as a little girl, both times, he'd felt like a proper Father-figure. This wasn't parental-driven, this wasn't because he'd been told to like he'd said. Yet, he hadn't intended to come here, to the storage room. Something had drawn him there, drawn him to the angry Al-Bhed.

To be sitting here holding her for this length of time wasn't in his place either, in fact, holding her at all wasn't, but when he reached out to her, instinct took over, and rational mind went on auto-pilot.

Reality came a-knocking soon after, bringing him back to harsh reality, and all it's glory. Whatever feeling this was, it needed to stop. Quickly. Not only was he only supposed to be here for the Pilgrimage, (Which should always come first) he was 35 and dead. She was 17 and alive. No matter what happened in their mixed up lives, the could never even get as close as friends.

Auron wanted to leave Spira with no more strings holding him back, he wanted to leave and not hurt anyone. To reach his eternal rest on the Farplane without wondering if someone was doing alright or not. And do do that, all social relationships must be strictly professional, devoid of any perverted thoughts Jecht would laugh at. Those thoughts especially, must be buried, buried in a hole deeper than a Shoopuff's grave.

He tried to move, forgetting about Rikku, and the fact that her weight would hold him back, and she herself tried to use that to her advantage, keeping her weight down, as she mumbled "Stay" against his red coat. In an alternate universe, he would've melted instantly.

But this isn't an alternate universe, and this was Auron.

So he shifted the weight of the young girl off him, stood up, straightend his coat, and smartly walked off without a word.


A/N: First chapter, new story, I'm on holiday, and determined to finish this one!

Leave a review? I haven't written AuRikku (or written) in a long time, so my style will have changed... Hopefully for the better.