Al Bhed translations at the bottom.
IV
Stand
The Rascal Flatts
When push comes to shove you taste what you're made of
You might bend till you break, 'cause it's all you can take
On your knees you'll look up, decide you've had enough
You get mad, you get strong
Wipe your hands, shake it off
Then you stand.
Everybody was treating her like porcelain. Rikku thought she might go crazy.
Yuna was back at Besaid, with Lulu and Wakka. Rikku had wandered aimlessly for a while, until Cid found her one day sitting at the campfire in the Zanarkand ruins, staring at the flames and trying to put herself back in that night. She tried to remember the way she'd felt – scared, angry, frustrated, but still somehow safe because these were the people she'd grown to trust more than she trusted herself – and then she'd begun to cry.
Cid carried her back to the airship like a baby, and from then on he'd reassumed his role as father. But he was acting weird – acting so careful and gentle that Rikku wanted to scream. It was touching, really. But Cid had always treated her like an adult, mature and strong and capable. Able to take care of herself. Now people tiptoed around her, as though if she saw something red or heard a word that began with 'A', she might just burst into tears and throw herself off the deck of the ship.
She'd had it.
It hurt. It hurt bad. If Rikku was honest, it felt like a knife twisting in her gut every time she thought of him.
But she was not a child any longer.
And so one night, she snuck into Brother's room, clapping a hand over his mouth and pinning him down with the other until he recognized her. Glaring, he stilled and waited for her to release him.
"Fryd yna oui tuehk eh rana?" he hissed. "E's denat."
"Tuh'd lyna," she answered dismissively. "Ruf fuimt oui mega du ku uh yh ytjahdina?"
"Fryd?" His voice was suspicious, but he was listening attentively.
"Nasaspan dryd yencreb fa tik ib mycd faag?"
She watched the slow grin spread over his face, and knew she'd won without even a fight.
They stole the newly-excavated Celsius that very night with Brother as Captain – because Rikku could fix an airship, but she sure as heck couldn't fly one! – and, standing on the deck with the wind raking through her hair, the night air stinging her bare skin, she let out a long, exhilarated shout.
It hurt. But she had a new airship, a new crew, and there was a new world out there, waiting to be discovered.
And she was free.
Al Bhed Translations:
Fryd yna oui tuehk eh rana? E's denat. – What are you doing in here? I'm tired.
Tuh'd lyna. Ruf fuimt oui mega du ku un yh ytjahdina? – Don't care. How would you like to go on an adventure ?
Fryd? – What?
Nasaspan dryd yencreb fa tik ib mycd faag? – Remember that airship we dug up last week?
