Disclaimer: I do not own any characters featured in this story. They all belong to the inventive Square Enix.

Part II: Chapter Four

"Tidus? Tidus, please wake up. Please, I'm sorry. Oh man, oh man, I am so dead!"

That was the first thing I heard when I woke up. A girl's voice pleading with me to wake up and making apologies. It took me a few seconds to realize I recognized that voice, and connect who that voice belonged to.

"Rikku?" I croaked, opening one eye.

There was a squeal before a mass of blond hair was stuffed up my nose, and a great weight was suddenly on my chest.

"You're alive! It's a miracle! A dream come true!" she shrieked, making me wince. Could she be any louder?

"Rikku? Rikku, get off of me," I said, raising a hand to push her head away.

The blond retreated and helped me sit up before sitting on her knees in front of me. She watched me in worry as I cradled my head and groaned in pain.

"Do you want a potion? Some water? A bucket to puke in?" she asked.

"No. I'll be okay," I told her. The pain in my head was lessening enough that I could open my eyes to finally see the Al Bhed girl in front of me.

Rikku didn't look any different from the time I saw her. The only real change was that she was wearing clothes now instead of a wetsuit. She had on an orange shirt, lime green shorts, a weird weapon wrapped around her arm, and her blond hair was now fully visible.

"Rikku, you… you're okay," I said slowly. I had wondered ever since I woke up in Luca what exactly happened to Rikku and her shipmates. I was glad to see that at least she survived.

Rikku gave me a weird look. "Uhh, yeah. I'm not the one with a concussion here."

"Concussion? What concussion? Ho—" And that's when I remembered. The shoopuf. The Al Bhed. Falling into the river. Watching Auron drift away as I was pulled down. The fuzzy relief was now replaced with anger.

"You guys kidnapped me! Again!" I yelled, pointing at Rikku. "What the hell is wrong with you people? This is the third time that its happened!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't know it was you when we captured you. All we knew was that you were a summoner," Rikku wailed.

"What does being a summoner have to do with anything?"

"Well… see, it's kind of a long story…"

"Then start explaining," I said sweetly while glaring acidly at her.

With a huge sigh, Rikku did as I asked, and told me how the Al Bhed were capturing summoners around Spira to stop them from dying when they get the Final Aeon. She explained that her people didn't think it was right for summoners to have to die for something that wouldn't last very long.

"That's why we kidnapped you when you were passing through the Moonflow River," she said, finishing her story. "But I didn't mean for you to get hurt! If I had known it was you I would have told them to leave you alone."

"Why?" I asked, not getting her logic.

"Because you're going to defeat Sin once and for all, remember?"

"You still remember that?"

"Of course! That's not something you forget easily!"

I sighed and gave her a tired look. "Okay. Fine. Now that you know it's me and that I'm fine can you take me back to my friends? They're probably all really worried about me right now."

"Um, well, you see, that's kind of a problem," Rikku said, laughing nervously. "See, we're at an Al Bhed camp and everyone here has been ordered to make sure you don't leave."

I gave her a flat look. "You didn't tell them about my job did you?"

She shook her head. "Mm-mm. I wasn't sure if they would believe me or not, and if they did I didn't know what they would do to you."

"I see. So I'm being held prisoner at an Al Bhed camp because I was forced to be a special summoner to stop Sin permanently, only my 'protectors' don't know this, and think that in the end I'm going to die and Sin will only be destroyed for a few years. Does that pretty much cover it?"

Rikku nodded.

I bit the inside of my cheek and tried not to laugh. This was great, just great. I was trapped by people who were trying to protect me. Irony, anyone?

"Rikku you have to get me out of here," I said. "I can't stay here. I have a mission to complete that affects all of Spira!"

"I know, I know!" she cried, waving her hands in front of her defensively. "I have an idea but it might take a couple hours—"

"Why?"

"Because that's when the guards watching over you change," Rikku explained.

"Guards?" I repeated, staring at her.

She nodded and pointed to the door off to right of us. "There are two Al Bhed men out there guarding the door to make sure you don't try to runaway. In two hours their shift will be over and two other guys will take their place. When they leave that's when we'll sneak you out."

I nodded. "Okay, sounds like a plan. By the way, how long was I out? Actually, how did you guys pull that off? I remember everything going dark, but I know I wasn't drowning because I can hold my breath for a long time."

"Oh, that. Yeah, we knocked you out since you kept fighting us. I think that was about… forty-five minutes ago," she estimated, shrugging.

I winced. My guardians had no idea where I was for forty-five minutes? Man, Auron and Belgemine were going to murder me when I saw them again.

The only door to the room slid open and in walked an Al Bhed man dressed in blue and brown clothes with goggles. He looked me up and down a few times before turning to Rikku.

"Neggi ruf ec dra cissuhan?" he said. (1)

"Ra'c ugyo. Y ped tecuntanat pid dryd'c ypuid ed," Rikku answered.

The stranger nodded. "Kuut, kuut. Tet ra dymg du oui? Fryd tet ra cyo?"

"Ra ycgat fryd fyc kuehk uh yht E dumt res fa fana kuehk du bnudald res. Dryd'c ypuid ed," Rikku said, shrugging

"E caa. Famm oui lyh ku huf. Ra fuh'd pa kuehk yhofrana. E drehg Pnudran ryc cusadrehk vun oui du tu," the man said.

Rikku nodded and flashed me an encouraging smile. "Nekrd."

I watched her get up from the bed and then both Al Bhed left the room. I was now alone and confused about what just happened. I had only gotten a little bit through the book Rin had given me so I still hadn't grasped much of the Al Bhed language. Everything still sounded like gibberish to me.

Alone, I looked around the room I was in and found nothing interesting. All there was was the bed I was on, a metal desk, and the door. No way for me to escape or even entertain myself. Greeeat.

Anima? Valefor? Ifrit? Ixion? Heeellllo? Anyone there? Anyone?

There was only silence in my mind. My fayth friends were apparently busy.

Defeated in every way, I could only lay back on the bed and wait for Rikku to come back.

My prison was six steps wide both ways. It also had fourteen rust stains on the ceiling, and three dents in the walls. There was also a screw missing in the wall next to the bed.

All in all, it was a very boring room. I was slowly going crazy in it. It didn't help that Rikku was late coming back.

I just began another round of seeing how long I could keep from blinking when the door (finally!) slammed open. I sat up and looked to see Rikku standing there huffing and puffing.

"Where have you—" I began but she interrupted me.

"No time!" she gasped, walking towards me and pulling me up by the wrist. "The camp in under attack by fiends!"

I stared at her in disbelief. "What?"

Rikku had lied. It wasn't an attack on the Al Bhed camp. It was a complete annihilation.

There were fiends everywhere. They poured in from all around like water to a sinking ship. Every time one went down five more took its place. There seemed to be no end to them.

"Dra nekrd! Dra nekrd! Red dras uh dra nekrd!" screamed an Al Bhed man near me, pointing a weapons machina at a flying fiend. (2)

"Red ed eh dra settma! Dra settma!" another yelled.

"Pareht oui!"

"Tea, paycd!"

It was like being in the middle of a war.

At my side, Rikku tugged desperately on my wrist. "Tidus, please summon an aeon! We can't defeat them all on our own!"

I nodded shakily. "Y-Yeah. Right. I will. Just give me a moment."

Tearing my eyes away from the gruesome scene, I focused on the powers inside of me. Anima, Valefor, Ifrit, and Ixion were all there; threaded together and to me. I focused on touching all of them and summoning their aeons to my aide.

Please come, please come, please come, please come, I chanted over and over, praying that they would hear me.

A moment passed and then there was a roar, a shriek, a moan, and a joyful cry from the Al Bhed.

I smiled. They had come.

The battle after is something I remember vividly. Valefor—graceful and fluid—swooping down to pick off fiends and then gracefully dodging attacks. Ifrit—fierce and strong—ripped fiends apart and burned others. Ixion—who looked like an elaborate unicorn, and fought like one too—took out one fiend with his horn, and then disintegrated another with his lightening. And finally Anima—tortured, grotesque, beautiful Anima—obliterated all with a single strike of her power.

I watched it all in awe for a few minutes before I realized that standing there gawking was stupid; I should be helping them!

"Rikku!" I cried, turning to my awestruck friend. I shook her by the shoulders to jolt her out of it. "Rikku, my sword! Where's my sword?"

"Huh? Oh!" Rikku snapped back to the present, and began digging through her bag. "I have it here! Hold on its… no, no, no… what the heck is this? A tuna roll, oh, Brother, you slob… trash, potions, material… ah ha! Found it!"

Finally, beneath her piles of junk, Rikku pulled out Brotherhood and handed it to me. "Here ya go!"

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks."

"What are you going to do with it?" she asked.

"What do you think?" I asked, shrugging off my robe and hefting my blade up. "I'm gonna kick some ass!"

She cheered. "Right on! Let's do this!"

And so together we joined in the fight. We helped the aeons and the Al Bhed cut down as many fiends as possible. It wasn't easy; like I said there was a lot of them, and even with my aeons backing me up, I still had to fight them by myself. Since I was still an inexperienced swordsman this was a bit hard for me, but after awhile I got the hang of it, and was soon taking them out a bit easier. It helped that Rikku was there with me too.

Eventually they were finally all gone.

That was fun, I thought sarcastically, breathing hard and collapsing on the ground with my sword next me. My muscles ached, I was really tired and I had a few wounds, but all in all I was okay. At least I wasn't, you know, dead.

I ran a hand through my sweaty hair and took in the scenery around me. It was already late afternoon and the sun was beginning to set; casting the sky and forest in an orange and red light. It fit perfectly with the bloody battlefield around me.

I spotted my aeons gathered together and waved a hand at them in thanks as they all disappeared. I felt their power settle back inside me, and it gave me a little more strength. Made me feel a little more solid and real.

A few minutes later Rikku came to sit next to me. "Whoa! What a day, huh?"

"You said it." I watched as the Al Bhed began to separate the dead from the wounded and began picking up the remains of the machina scattered about. "I don't get it though. Why did so many fiends attack this one place?"

"I don't know. It's never happened to us before. I heard though that the blitzball stadium was attacked by fiends too recently. Maybe they're connected?" Rikku answered, biting her lower lip.

I frowned. This case was just getting weirder and weirder.

"Pek pnudran! Pek pnudran fyga ib! Bmayca, fyga ib!" (3)

Rikku and I turned to the voice yelling to see a boy a little younger than us crying hysterically over a dead man. A few others were trying to pull him away from the body, but the boy refused to let go.

"How many do you think died?" I asked softly, feeling a deep sadness settle over me.

"A lot. But not as much as there would have been if you hadn't been here," she answered, leaning against me. "Thank you, Tidus. You saved a lot of my people today."

But not everyone, I thought sadly. Death, death, death. Was there anything more to Spira than death? I think I saw more people die in the past two days than I ever did living for seventeen years in Zanarkand.

But not anymore.

"Where are they taking the wounded?" I asked Rikku, looking down at her.

"Inside probably. Why?"

"Take me to them. I think I can help with their recovery," I answered.

Rikku took me back into the Al Bhed camp down into the ground where their medical center was located. Their camp was a wide, iron building that extended down and out into the ground. It wasn't very tall and was heavily camouflaged to keep outsiders away. The Al Bhed were real anal about their privacy. Considering the way they were treated though, I couldn't blame them.

When we got down there I immediately got to healing as much Al Bhed as I could. I didn't want to see anymore corpses today.

Rikku played translator/defense for me whenever someone came up to us to ask what the hell I was doing. Once they understood I was only trying to help, they lightened up and let me do my job.

"When did you learn magic?" asked Rikku, sitting on a table and swinging her legs as she watched me heal a man's broken collar bone.

"About a week ago. Belgemine—my guardian—has been teaching me how," I explained as I finished the spell. I stood up and scanned the rest of him to see if he was suffering from anymore wounds.

"Belgemine… she's your guardian, huh? Do have anymore?" she asked.

"Mm-hm." I noticed his left side looked awkward. I felt around and realized his ribs were broken. "Two more: Auron, the guy who watched over me in Zanarkand, and Gatta, a Crusader who joined more because he wanted to protect Belgemine than me."

"I see…"

"Why the sudden interest?"

"Weeelll, see, I was thinking… maybe I could go with you… maybe… as your guardian too," she replied carefully, dragging out her words.

I looked up from my work to arch an eyebrow at her. "Why?"

"Because you're my friend of course," she said innocently.

I raised my other eyebrow; silently telling her to try again.

"Okay, actually I want to help you defeat Sin. I feel so… so useless sitting around doing nothing while people keep dying out there! I wanna help, Tidus. Please let me help you!"

Rikku stared up at me with watery puppy dog eyes, and I knew then I was gonna give in. There was no way I could ever say no to that look.

"Oh fine, fine! Just stop looking at me like that!" I yelled, pointing a finger at her.

Rikku's look instantly cleared up into a happy one as she cheered. "Yay! Thank you, Tidus! I promise I won't let you down! I'll be a good guardian; one of the best."

I just grunted and went back to my patient. An Al Bhed for a guardian; the others were just gonna love this.

I healed as many as Al Bhed as I could before Rikku forced me to stop. She said I was beginning to look faint and tired. I don't know what she was talking about. I was perfectly fine! Sure the ground might have been tilting a little bit, but I'm sure that was just the floor's fault. Seriously. It was.

"Drink this," she ordered, handing me a cup of water.

I took it without complaint. I now know from experience not to argue with a woman when she thinks you're unwell. Belgemine had taught me that well enough with her own smothering.

"Dryhgc," I said after I finished it, and handed the cup back to her. I laughed when I noticed her stunned expression. "I guess I said that right then? I meant to say 'thanks' now."

"Y-You said it correctly. But when did you start speaking Al Bhed?" Rikku asked.

"A few days ago. I met an Al Bhed man named Rin who gave me this book, and suggested I learn the language. So far I only know a few words like hello, goodbye, thank you, you're welcome. You know, basic stuff."

Rikku cheered. "Oh this is great! I've never met someone who wanted to learn our language! Do you want me to help you?"

"Sure. You can correct me whenever I say something wrong."

"Yay! This is gonna be so much fun."

"Rikku! Ec dryd dra cissuhan oui'na dymgehk du?" (4)

Rikku and I both looked to see who had interrupted our conversation. It was an Al Bhed man who I recognized as one of the guys who was standing guard in front of my door earlier.

"Keyakku," Rikku greeted cheerfully. "Oac, drec ec Tidus. Fro?"

"Fa ryja pineat ymm dra puteac uv uin vymmah. Tu oui drehg ra luimt banvuns y cahtehk vun ic?" the man—Keyakku?—said to her.

"E tuh'd ghuf. Mad sa ycg res," she replied, and then turned to look at me. "Tidus, could you do a sending for our fallen?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I've never performed one before. But I guess I could give it a try."

"Good enough. Keyakku, ra cyoc ra'c hajan tuha uha pavuna pid ra'c femmehk du dno."

The man nodded. "Kuut ahuikr. Mad'c ku."

Rikku and I followed Keyakku—turns out that really was his name—up to the surface and then out into the forest where they had buried their dead. There were seventeen graves spread out in neat rows with Al Bhed men and women standing off to the sides with solemn expressions.

"This is it," Rikku said to me in a soft voice. I didn't have to look at her to know she was trying not to cry.

Silently, I walked over to stand over the graves. Belgemine had explained to me that sendings were usually done with a staff but didn't always have to be. Just like summoning an aeon, a sending was about focusing on your connection to the fayth to communicate your will to send the dead to the Farplane. The only reason most summoners used a staff was because it strengthened their connection to the fayth. I didn't need that though because my connection was strong enough as it was. I could hear them in mind; I think that was proof enough.

"Performing a sending is simply dancing with the spirits of the deceased. Think of it as a way of encouraging them to rise up from the ground and leave this world behind," is what Belgemine had told me. So that's what I did. I danced while sending my feelings and thoughts to the Al Bhed who had died hours before. I sent them my wish that they would move on to the Farplane where they would be safe and happy. I sent them with my hope and the thoughts of their loved ones. I danced with all the feelings and thoughts I had in me until all the swirling pyreflies had drifted up and away. And you know what? Through it all I only tripped over my feet twice.

Huzzah for me.

At the end of it I collapsed to my knees. All the remaining strength I had left was put into that sending. Now that it was over my body felt like it was three times heavier than it usually was. I didn't even think I had the strength to blink.

"Tidus!" Rikku was at my side not a second after I hit the ground. I leaned against her as she wrapped her skinny arm around my shoulders.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

I grunted.

"Is that a yes or a no?" she asked again.

"It was a yes," I muttered. "Rikku?"

"Yeah?"

"You got anything to eat? I'm really hungry."

She laughed. "Yeah, we have food. Come on back inside, and I'll make you something to eat."

In the end I needed both Rikku and Keyakku's help to make it back inside. They took me to a huge room where other Al Bhed were all sitting on long tables eating and talking and celebrating their victory. I was sat down near the front between Rikku and Keyakku and forced to eat the strange, but tasty Al Bhed food.

"What is this called?" I asked, poking a strange fish looking thing.

Rikku looked at my plate. "Syre."

"Oh. What's that?"

She shook her head. "You don't wanna know."

I stopped asking about the food after that. Instead I tried to communicate with the Al Bhed man sitting next to me.

"I'm Tidus," I introduced, smiling.

Keyakku just stared at me blankly.

"Tidus," I said, pointing to my chest. Then I pointed at his chest. "Keyakku."

His expression brightened in understanding. "Ur, oui'na dammehk sa ouin hysa! Ti-dus?" (6)

I nodded though I had no idea what he just said. I just recognized my name. "Tidus."

"Tidus," he parroted. He looked around the table before picking up his cup. "Lib."

"Lib," I repeated. "Cup."

"Cup." Then he pointed to his hair. "Ryen. Ryen."

"Ryen," I said slowly, trying to get the pronunciation right. "Ryen. Ryen. Hair."

"Hair?" he repeated, looking confused.

I nodded, and touched my own blond locks. "Hair."

"Tidus, hair," Keyakku said, smiling proudly. "Keyakku, ryen."

"Keyakku, ryen," I repeated, and then laughed.

Maybe speaking Al Bhed was going to be easier than I thought.

I learned twelve new words that night. Including the first two from Keyakku, I also learned eye, food, night, floor, table, flower, chair, plate, water and nose.

I was in the middle of trying to pronounce the word for nose ("Hucaa?" "Huca.") when my long-lost guardians finally made their appearance.

"Tidus, there's someone here to see you," Rikku told me, tapping me on the shoulder.

I looked at her in confusion. "Who?"

"Us," answered a familiar baritone voice.

I didn't even need to look to know who it was. "Auron. You found me. About time."

"Hmp. Sorry I didn't get here sooner, but I was a bit preoccupied trying to figure out where you were in the first place," my guardian retorted, walking through the door with my other two guardians following behind.

"Tidus!" Belgemine cried out in relief, rushing to my side. She forced Rikku out of the way so she could sit down next to me, and gently touched my face. "By Yevon you're a white as a cloud! What have you done to yourself?"

"Well first I was fighting fiends with all my aeons; then I healed a whole bunch of Al Bhed; and finally I just performed my first sending. And now I'm eating and learning some new Al Bhed words," I answered honestly, taking a bite of my bread. I handed it out to her. "Want some?"

"I do!" cried Gatta, leaning over to take my bread.

"What were you fighting fiends for?" asked Auron, giving Keyakku a look that had him giving up his seat to the older man.

"A whole bunch of them attacked the Al Bhed's camp here earlier. I had to summon all my aeons just to fight them all off."

"All of them?" Belgemine was horrified. "Oh Yevon, you need to rest. Get up; get up right now. You are going straight to bed."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because your body has used too much power in a short amount of time; power it is still trying to adapt to. You shouldn't even be able to sit here right now!" she said before looking over to my first guardian. "Auron, please help me get him up and to a bed. He needs rest before he faints."

"Where?" he asked, looking around the dining room pointedly.

"We have a room you all can use," Rikku said, standing behind Belgemine.

Auron looked over his glasses at her. "I don't think I trust having the brat sleep in a room provided by his kidnappers."

"And while we're on the subject, who are you exactly? And why did you kidnap Tidus?" Belgemine interrogated, turning to loom over her.

"I'm Rikku. I'm Tidus's new guardian. Right?" she answered, beaming.

I nodded. "Yup. Rikku is my new guardian. And my kidnapping was an accident. She didn't know it was me at the time."

Auron and Belgemine stared at me while Gatta reached over my shoulder to steal more of my food.

"What?" asked the female summoner.

"Rikku is my guardian now. She asked and I agreed. Don't worry; she knows my story. She was the person who first saved me, remember? I told you guys about her," I explained.

Belgemine stared at Rikku with narrowed hazel eyes. After a few seconds Rikku began to fidget nervously while shooting me 'save me!' looks.

"Belgemine," I called with a sigh. "Leave her alone. I promise she'll be a good guardian."

"That's right. I promise I won't let Tidus get hurt," the Al Bhed girl pledged eagerly.

Belgemine ignored us both and looked over to Auron. "What do you think, Auron?"

"I think it's a stupid and pointless decision," he answered bluntly. "But it's Tidus's decision to make. Not ours. If he wants her to come along then she's coming."

She sighed in defeat. "Fine. But I'll be keeping an eye on you, girl. You better make sure you keep your promise or I'll send you to the Farplane posthaste. Got it?"

Rikku nodded quickly. "Y-Yes, ma'am."

"Great. Now that we're all acquainted can I get back to eating here before Gatta steal all my food?" I complained, smacking the brown hand sneaking towards my blueberry muffin.

"Yes. Hurry up and eat so you can go to bed," commanded Belgemine, looking over my head at the Crusader behind me. "You eat too, Gatta. But make your own plate and stop eating from Tidus's."

"Yes, ma'am," Gatta muttered, moving to sit next to Auron.

"So how'd you guys find me?" I asked, eating the rest of my salad.

"Your battle was loud. We could hear the shrieks and machina from miles away," answered Auron, trying to pretend like he wasn't eyeing up my brownie like a dog with a bone.

I rolled my eyes and pushed it towards him. "Here, take it. I doubt I'll eat it anyway."

He took it without complaint.

"How'd you guys get past the Al Bhed guarding the entrance?" Rikku asked.

"We asked for Tidus and told them we were his guardians and they let us through," replied Belgemine, watching me impatiently. "Are you done yet?"

I sighed and nodded. There was no way I was going to be able to eat in peace now with the mother hen clucking over me. "Yes, I'm done. Rikku, can you take us to our room now?"

"Hey, I'm not done eating!" protested Gatta.

"You can still eat. It's just Tidus who needs sleep."

"I'll go with him. Belgemine will stay here with you to also eat," Auron commanded, standing up.

My teacher looked ready to argue with him, but he just looked at her and she backed down. That's Auron for you. Scaring people with just one look.

"Don't worry, Belgemine. I promise I'll go to sleep," I promised her as I stood up. I gave her a kiss on the cheek in reassurance, patted Gatta on the shoulder, and then followed Rikku with Auron to my room.

The room Rikku took us to was a lot bigger than the one I was in before. It had six beds, a few tables and a few chairs. But like the last one it was all metal and iron with no windows and only one door.

I immediately claimed the bed nearest to the door. "Mine!"

Rikku giggled and took a step back. "I guess I'll leave you to sleep now. I'll go get the bossy lady and your friend."

I waved a hand at her as she left the room; closing the door behind her, and leaving Auron and me alone.

"She's quite the character, huh?" I commented, turning to look at the man sitting on the bed next to mine.

"She's young. A bit too young," he said, shrugging off his coat and making himself comfortable.

"Yeah, but she'll be a good guardian. I trust her," I said confidently.

"Hmp." Auron pulled up his black leather sack to change the brace on his arm. Seeing it reminded me of my own bag. Where the hell was it? I would have to ask Rikku later.

"Man, I'm beat. I can't believe how many things I did today. Rode a shoopuf; got kidnapped by some Al Bhed again; killed a bunch of fiends; performed my first sending. You know what would make this day complete?"

"We are not going to see the moonlilies," he said flatly, seeing right through me.

I pouted. "Aww, why not? It's nighttime and we're right next to it. Pleeeease?"

"No. We all need to rest so we can leave early tomorrow to make up the time we lost today thanks to you."

"You make it sound like it was my fault I got kidnapped."

"I didn't say that—"

"Your tone implied it. You were using your 'I'm not going to say it out loud but I'll be thinking it,' voice. Don't deny it, Auron. We both know I'm right.

"… You know, I was going to give you something, but I changed my mind. Now I think I'll just throw it away."

"Present? You got me a present?" I sat up quickly and turned to face him while holding my hands out. "Gimme!"

Auron raised a teasing eyebrow. "Why should I?"

"Because if you don't then it will just go to waste," I said seriously. I got up and moved to sit down on his bed near the end. I crossed my legs and stared at him eagerly. "Okay, let's see it. What'd ya get me?"

"Nothing big. Just…" he trailed off while reaching inside his coat's inner pocket to pull out three purple flowers with pyreflies dancing around them.

I gasped. "Those are moonlilies! Where'd, why'd, how'd—?"

"I picked them back before we got on the shoopuf. You looked so pathetic when I told you we couldn't stay to see them that it actually made me feel sorry for you," Auron explained, handing the flowers to me.

I took them and held them carefully in my hand like they were made of glass. The pyreflies twirling around them made them shine brighter than any star I had ever seen.

"Auron… thank you," I whispered, giving him a soft smile.

He shrugged, acting all dismissive but I could tell he was pleased. "You're welcome. You can be my good deed for the month now."

"You're a real saint," I replied, staring back down at the moonlilies. It was funny. Three picked lilies were hardly what I was expecting when I envisioned the Moonflow River earlier. But somehow, I felt that if I saw the river now, it wouldn't even compare to the light of those three flowers.

Footnotes:

1) "Rikku how is the summoner?"

"He's okay. A bit disordered but that's about it."

"Good, good. Did he talk to you? What did he say?"

"He asked what was going on and I told him we were going to protect him. That's about it."

"I see. Well you can go now. He won't be going anywhere. I think Brother has something for you to do."

"Right."

2) "The right! The right! Hit them on the right!"

"Hit it in the middle! The middle!"

"Behind you!"

"Die, beast!"

3) "Big brother! Big brother wake up! Please, wake up!"

4) Rikku! Is that the summoner you're talking to?"

"Yes, this is Tidus. Why?"

"We have buried all the bodies of our fallen. Do you think he could perform a sending for us?"

"I don't know. Let me ask him."

5) "Keyakku, he says he's never done one before but he's willing to try."

"Good enough. Let's go."

6) "Oh, you're telling me your name! Ti-dus?"