I don't think I've ever been as cold in my life as I was the other night. I work as a security guard (night watch person) for this company that does the security for local coal mines… well usually I am stationed at this coal mine that has a guard shack (with heat and everything), the other night though there was kind of an emergency at another location and I was sent to the other location where there is no guard shack. Basically I sit in my car all night, without heat, and I didn't dress very warm. (If I had of let the car idle for the heat I would have been out of fuel before morning.)
Summary: What if Yuna chose the final aeon and Sin wasn't defeated? What if Rikku and the surviving guardians go on a new pilgrimage? What if Bevelle had claimed that Rikku had sabotaged Yuna's pilgrimage and was after her? This is that story. Rated T. Oh it will be Aurikku before the end, so if you don't like, you don't have to read. Characters may be out OOC.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy X.
Journey of the Hunted
Chapter 3: Seafaring
The next morning I awoke when a huge wave of water came crashing down on me. I was out of that bed and looking around for water fiends in less than a second, there wasn't any, just a smug looking Auron and Kimahri.
"Auron!" I yelled pointing my finger at him. I was ready to cast the strongest black magic spell that I knew at him. "You, you jerk!"
"Breakfast has been ready for three hours. First you'll eat, then we'll work on you learning Fira." Auron says before walking out.
"Hey you! Don't I even get a shower?"
"I think you've already had one." Auron says chancing a quick glance back in at me.
"Auron! I'll, I'll show you Fira!" I say running out of the room to catch up with him. "You! You big meanie! Slow down! Auron!" Finally I catch up with him in our small dining area. He's sitting there watching me with a grin on his face. "Auron at least let me get into some dry clothes!"
"What dry clothes?"
"Huh?"
"Rikku what did we bring with us on this boat?"
"Oh." I say realizing that in my rush to get off of Besaid I forgot to get most of our supplies from the cave. I sit down beside of him and start eating from the plate that is in front of me. "Maybe I could have Valefor get our supplies for us and bring them here?"
"Maybe." Auron says as he starts to leave. "I'll be on deck whenever you're ready."
"Duh where else would you be, meanie!" I shout after him. If it's the last thing I do I will get him back for casting a water spell on me while I was asleep! I eat quickly and then head up to the deck. Auron's standing there, leaning on his sword as usual.
"You finally decide to join me?" he asks sounding more than a little annoyed.
"What did I do now?"
"Let's get started." he says. After several hours of trying to cast a Fira spell and only managing to cast Fire spells I stop and lean against the railing. "Come on Rikku! Cast!"
"Give me a break Auron, I've been at it for three hours!"
"Rikku you can do it! Concentrate!" he commands.
"Okay." I say and keep trying.
After two days I still haven't managed to cast one. The third morning I lock myself in my bedroom hoping that Auron will leave me alone. He knocks several times that day but I ignore him. The day passes slowly. That night I sneak out of my room and find something to eat. Then I sneak up to the deck where I see Auron and Kimahri talking.
"Kimahri believes in Rikku. Sir Auron should too."
"I have believed in her. I would continue to believe in her if she would try. She gave up Kimahri."
"Kimahri think Rikku needs time." Kimahri says before leaving Auron alone. I sneak back to my room. He don't believe in me, hell I don't even believe in me now. I wait until I hear the door to Auron's room close and then I sneak back to the deck and find Kimahri.
"Rikku?" Kimahri says as I walk up to him.
"Hey." I say as I grab his paw.
"What's wrong with Rikku?" he asks
"Nothing." I say as I sit down. "Kimahri can everyone that tries to be a mage, be a mage?"
"Yes."
"Why can't I?"
"Rikku needs to try."
"I know Kimahri. I've tried to learn Fira for days." I say as I begin to cry again. "Kimahri, I can't do it."
"Rikku can do anything Rikku tries to do. Rikku just needs to concentrate." he says and puts his big furry paw on my shoulder. "Rikku can talk to Kimahri."
"Kimahri, we're going to Luca right?"
"Yes."
"Did Auron tell you why?"
"Yes."
"Kimahri, I know we could go on to Kilika and get the next aeon and then go to Luca, if we did that we could fight Sin sooner, but if we could make it to Luca before Sin gets there we could maybe help fight it off, and save a lot of people right?"
"Yes."
"What if Sin doesn't even go to Luca? What if I'm wrong?"
"Rikku shouldn't doubt herself."
"I know, but what if we go to Luca and nothing is wrong, and what if going to Luca just postpones the pilgrimage and Sin kills more people because of my stupid dream?"
"If going to Luca only postpones the pilgrimage at least Rikku tried to do the right thing."
"Thanks." I say and hug him. I pet him on the head before I leave. Did he just purr? I walk out to the part of the deck we practice on and sit down. Kimahri is right. I can do anything I try to do, all I have to do is try my hardest. Like Pops used to say 'If the Chocobo throws you, get back on and try again!'. And even if going to Luca does result in us loosing time we're still going because there is a chance that Sin is going to Luca. If it does go to Luca we may can save a lot of lives. If it does go to Luca we CAN save a lot of lives. I have to remember we CAN do it! I stand up and begin trying to cast a Fire spell, a fire spell shoots out over the water and dies. I stare out and think of fire, and then I think of a lot of fire. "Need a light?"
A huge blaze shoots out over the water and dies. I think of a lot of fire again, "Need a light?" Another huge blaze shoots out over the water. Oh hell yeah! I cast Fira several more times before stopping. I bet if I learned Thundara tonight also Auron would be really pleased. I concentrate on Thunder and cast a small Thunder spell first. It still gives me the willies but I'll get over that, sooner or later. I concentrate on casting a Thundera and after a few seconds several bolts of lightening comes out of the sky. "Don't look so shocked!"
A couple of hours later I have learned all of the medium level black magic spells and Cura. I run downstairs and knock on Auron's bedroom door until he opens it and I throw myself at him. He stumbles back before catching his balance.
"What's wrong?"
"Auron! Auron! Guess what! I just learned Fira, Thundara, Watera, Blizzara, and Cura!"
"That's good." he says trying to pry me off of him.
"Auron, come on let me show you!" I shout as I grab his arm and drag him out of his room. He follows reluctantly. Once on the deck I dig in my pouch for an Ether. "Uh Auron we only have 35 Ethers left."
"We'll find more." he says sitting down. Kimahri walks over to him and sits down. I cast each spell for him, and receive an applause after the final one.
"Rikku's Magic Show is copyright to Rikku the Great!" I say and bow, "Anyone want an encore?"
"I'm fine. Good job, Rikku." Auron says before walking off with Kimahri. Huh! Where are they going? Men! As tempted as I am to follow them I don't, instead I sit down and look up at the stairs. Its very pretty tonight. I lean back until I feel someone sit down beside of me. I look over and see Auron sitting there looking at the sky. "Tonight's a good night to be on the water."
"Yeah."
"Very pretty isn't it?" he asks
"Sure is." I say
"Kimahri says you were feeling down?" he asks
"Yeah." I say
"You can tell me about it." he says
"I had tried and tried to cast Fira Auron, after trying and failing so much, I began to doubt myself. I didn't believe I could do it. Auron, I didn't think anyone believed in me. Then I overheard you and Kimahri talking…
"Rikku… I, I do believe in you. I would not have become your guardian if I didn't. What I told Kimahri isn't true. Rikku, sometimes you can be… the most annoying person on Spira, but Rikku you are one of the most determined people I've ever known. Rikku I was frustrated at you when I was talking to Kimahri." he says
"Auron, sometimes I wonder if I'm strong enough to be a summoner. Sometimes I wonder how the Fayth will react to me being Al-Bhed. I know Valefor didn't care, but what if one of them cares?"
"Rikku, do you want to defeat Sin?"
"Yes."
"That is all that matters for one to be a summoner. The Fayth, even if there is any prejudiced against the Al-Bhed, should accept you for that. Rikku, you can do this."
"Thanks Auron." I say as I lean my head over on his shoulder.
"Rikku, what are you doing?"
"I'm using you as a pillow." I say.
"Alright."
"Auron, does Bevelle really have a Navy?"
"Yes."
"Tell me about the Bevellian Navy."
"Okay. The Bevellian Navy was created a thousand years ago, when many of Spira's youngsters started disappearing at sea and becoming pirates. When I was a Warrior Monk, the Bevellian Navy had a fleet of over a thousand war ships…
"A thousand?"
"Yes."
"Whoa!" I say and Auron chuckles. "Auron why doesn't many people know about it?"
"Rikku, Bevelle has many secrets."
"I know but what's the big deal about everyone finding out about their Navy?"
"Rikku, what would people want Bevelle to have their Navy doing if people knew?"
"Protecting them from Sin?"
"Yes."
"So why doesn't Bevelle have their navy to protect people from Sin? Isn't protecting people from Sin more important than hunting down Pirates?"
"It should be. Bevelle doesn't care about the people as much as they lead everyone to believe…
"Duh!"
"Bevelle has many secrets that have been lost by ships at sea over the years. If pirates were to find these secrets then that would be it for Yevon."
"Oh." I say. "Are there still pirates?"
"Yes."
"Auron, are we pirates?"
"Yes, you can say we are pirates."
"Aye! Bevelle can kiss me little arse!"
"What?"
"Dasn't ye get 't ya big meanie?"
"Rikku!"
"Oh okay I'll stop!" I say, "You said we are pirates so… I was just trying to talk like a pirate."
"I've noticed."
"Auron every time I try to have fun you scold me."
"I'm sorry. Go talk like a pirate to Kimahri."
"But your shoulder is too comfortable." I say and close my eyes. "Why can't I talk like a pirate to you?"
"Rikku?"
"Yes."
"Go to sleep."
"Okay. You are a party pooper." I say. After a few minutes I feel an arm go around me. He's not so bad once you get to know him. When you first meet him he can seem cold, distant, and even scary, but after three years I kind of know him. There is still a lot of stuff that I don't know about him, but I'm learning more as I go. I know he's been through a lot, more than most people could probably take, I guess that's why I'm always trying to make him laugh. If you think him loosing his best friends, being killed, and then seeing his best friends children killed by the same thing that killed his best friends is bad, then you haven't heard what he went through to become a Warrior Monk.
Last year we were stowaways in the back of wagon that was hauling goods from Macalania to Quadosalem. It took the wagons three months to get through the Thunderplains, sometimes the wagons would stop and camp somewhere. After everyone was asleep we would sneak away and fight fiends. Once after we had got back in the wagons I asked Auron about his Warrior Monk training.
"Auron, what was it like to become a Warrior Monk?" I asked him. At first he didn't answer. "Auron you can tell me."
"Rikku, they send 40 men to this island miles from Bevelle. Once there I was shown a room full of beds. We were instructed to keep our barracks extremely clean. Everyday we were awoken early, we had to eat breakfast, and then if we had time to shower we could. After that we would clean our barracks for inspection, if we passed inspection we could go for our morning run."
"What happened if you didn't pass?"
"We were made to move everything out of the room in ten minutes."
"Did you ever have to do that?"
"Yes. A man from Macalania left his locker door open, and we were made to do that."
"What would happen if you couldn't do it?"
"We would have to carry everything back in, and try again."
"Oh. Did you ever get it done?"
"No, the few times we had to do it, after hours of moving the furniture the one who had made the mistake would call our superiors out. They would put him in lock up for 24 hours while he would decided whether he wanted to continue training or not."
"Did you ever get put in lock up?"
"Yes."
"What was it like?"
"The cell was small, and the floor was cold. There was no beds, and every hour someone would come in and pour water over the floor. When they would let you out of lock up for a few minutes if you were in for over 24 hours, you would have to run circles around your escort. Sometimes your escort would make you march like a duck, while quacking like a duck. While in lock up you didn't eat."
"Okay. Did you ever have to march like a duck?"
"Rikku!"
"Okay. Sorry. What else?"
"At the end of every week while in training we had to do a march while carrying sandbags. At the end of week one it was ten miles and 40 pounds, week two 40 miles and 60 pounds, week three 60 miles and 90 pounds…
"Okay. How long did it take you all to do these marches?"
"The marches was not timed. We marched at 88 paces a minute."
"That's kinda slow isn't it? I mean the Al-Bhed's military march is like 120 paces a minute."
"Yes its slow."
"Auron…
"Someone's coming." he says and covers my mouth. We crawled under the bags of goods and waited until whoever it was that came to check the goods left. After that Auron decided I had heard enough about that and talked me into going to sleep.
"Auron, you never did finish telling me about your Warrior Monk training."
"I know." he says, "Now is not the time. Rikku you better try and get some sleep."
"Okay." I say and get up to go to my room.
"Sir Auron, Rikku come quick!" Kimahri suddenly shouts as I make it to my room. I turn around and race back up to the deck when suddenly the boat is hit by something causing it to rock violently. I am thrown against the wall and I fall down the steps. What's happening?