Rikku woke up to an amazing sight. Yes, there was Tidus's face next to hers, but this was not the amazing sight she was thinking of. They were at the temple, and a temple it was. It appeared to be ancient and crumbling to bits, possibly not even a shrine to Yevon at all but some other ancient civilization.
"Are we here?" she whispered in Tidus's ear.
"Oh, hey, you're up."
Rikku squinted, focusing her vision from her short rest upon Tidus's shoulder. She finally released her grip on him and stood on her own feet for the first time, slightly wobbly. She began to tip sideways and Tidus grabbed her in a warm embrace, keeping her held upright.
"Is it safe for me to let go?"
Rikku slowly leaned out of his arms, despite her heart telling her to stay, before standing up straight, perfectly balanced. "I'm good now," she smiled.
"Watch your step," Auron said, marking the beginning of his usual 'stay on guard because we don't know what to expect' speech. "Stay on guard. This is a new location that no one else even knows about, so we don't know what to expect."
The others nodded and cautiously proceeded inside. It was dark, dank, and had a strange smell. Lulu generated a light spell, but looking to an area farther than three meters away was like being blind.
They all happened to be staring into the distance when suddenly Kimahri, always alert with his catlike night vision, suddenly shouted "Stop!"
He said it just in time for the group to pull Wakka back from a will covered in holes. Flames began to jet out of the holes and Wakka looked down to find a broken string at his feet, one end leading into each wall.
"Everyone, watch your damned step!" Auron said with a bit of irritation in his voice.
They began their journey ahead, keeping eyes on the floor, ceiling, and behind them. Eventually they came to a central chamber, a sort of 'lobby' room. There was a veiled door and a variation of the song of the Fayth could be heard from within. So it was real after all, a secret temple for summoners only.
Yuna proceeded inside and the others waited calmly, albeit Rikku who couldn't stop exploring every crevice of the place.
Yuna shortly emerged, weary as usual. It fell silent, however. A deathly silence; the singing had stopped.
"Why you think it got so quiet alla' sudden?" Wakka asked, a small hint of paranoia in his voice.
Suddenly, the room began shaking. Lulu fell and the only source of light flickered about all over before the room went dark. Rubble began to fall from the ceiling, getting progressively larger by the sound of things. "Run!" Rikku yelled finally, the danger and darkness getting to her last nerve almost as much as thunder and lightning.
A crash was heard down a hallway, echoing throughout the room, followed by a scream. Lulu finally restored the light, shining it in the direction of the scream. Rikku was on the ground, her leg pinned by a large chunk of rock. The floor was splitting below her.
Tidus stared in shock and awe before screaming, "Rikku!" He charged down the hallway, frantically trying to unpin her ankle from the floor. The rock shifted slightly and then the entire floor shattered beneath them.
They both hit the bottom, Auron shouting down over the chaos, "No floor… can't exit… different route… back…"
Tidus's world began to spin before everything went black.
The two of them regained consciousness at around the same time. Tidus sat up with his head spinning. Rikku woke up shouting in pain and sheer fear.
"Rikku!" Tidus yelled over her cries, hearing her extremely nearby, "Where are you?"
She stopped for a moment and seemed to be glad to hear that she wasn't down here alone. "Here!" she called, still in pain.
Through a few moments of tense shouting back and forth, Tidus finally found her general location. It was pitch black and they needed a source of light to do anything.
"I think my arm's broken," she cringed, "reach into my pouch and grab a flare. It's an Al Bhed device that lights up a room."
With a bit of feeling about and vague descriptions of a 'flare', Tidus finally found it and followed Rikku's directions. They could now see each other clearly in the bright red light of the flare.
Rikku's leg was, surprisingly, relatively unharmed. Her arm, however, was another story. "I think I landed on it coming down," she began, trying not to move it. "I don't know much about broken bones, but we'll have to set it. I can't do it myself. Tidus, I want you to do it."
The mere thought of it made Tidus cringe. Her lower right arm was slightly swollen and bent at an odd angle, but thankfully neither of them appeared to be bleeding at all. However, just looking at it was painful.
Rikku sat up on her good arm and held the damaged one out to Tidus, who stared at it with a look that was a good mixture of fear, revulsion, and pain. She closed her eyes and turned away before whispering, "Go."
After staring for a few brief seconds to analyze how he would go about doing this, Tidus quickly grabbed the arm and shifted it into the proper position with as much speed as possible and a sickening pop. Rikku screamed louder than anything Tidus had heard before and tears began to stream down her face, but the arm did look better.
Turning on his male instinct, Tidus quickly sat down beside her and held her in his arms, stroking her hair in an attempt to soothe her pain. As she lay on him shivering, Tidus slowly and carefully undid her scarf.
"What are you doing?" she managed to finally ask.
Tidus wrapped it around his neck, letting a large loose section dangle in front of him, before nodding and removing it. "Here's a sling for your arm."
She nodded and he got behind her, slipping it behind her neck. She gently rested the arm in it. Tidus slowly wrapped his hands around her midsection, pulling her back against his body. The place was deathly cold, and with Rikku's injury and lack of long clothes, Tidus felt the need to keep her warm.
She rested against him, lip quivering slightly but keeping her eyes shut tight. "I just want this to all end," she said. "I don't like it down here, I don't like any of this mess. I just like you, Tidus. I'm glad you're stuck down here with me. I'm glad that I'm not down here alone."
Tidus only half-listened and nodded before kissing her cheek lightly, which seemed to be enough comfort for her to stop talking for a while. Tidus used this opportunity to take his turn and go into shock. They sat there together, flare slowly burning out, and Tidus decided to deal with the entire issue later. This was too much.
Rikku reached up with her good arm and placed her palm on Tidus's cheek. "We need to find an exit," she said, pointing out one of the more obvious issues in their predicament.
Tidus got up and bent to pick up the flare.
"No!" Rikku shouted suddenly. "That's really hot!" She didn't want him to burn both his hands in the same day.
"Then how are we supposed to see?" Tidus asked with frustration as he kicked the flare across the chamber.
It skidded across the ground and came to stop in front of a large circular disc resting up against a wall.
"What's that?" Rikku asked, her curiosity piqued.
"I dunno," Tidus answered, walking over and examining the object. It was about twice Tidus's size and made of stone. He leaned up against its side and the thing shifted. A small bead of light came through the new opening.
"A way out!" Rikku yelled with joy.
"Help me move this thing!" Tidus said, suddenly putting all his strength into rolling the boulder out of the doorway.
They joined together and pushed, opening a passage into a short hallway that led out into a gigantic field of white and yellow roses…
(A/N: I know there wasn't as much fluff in this chapter as the others, but as you can probably guess by the rose field there should be plenty to make up for it in the next update!)