AN: Caution, this chapter details someone hurling. If you're eating, and have a weak stomach, I advise reading this later.

Chapter 12:It was a nightmare.

A woman was screaming. She sounded familiar, oh so familiar. And then Rikku was in a room in her house in Home. There was a sink, a freezing box, a stove, and a brick oven. Rikku wanted to go see what heated the stove, since there was no fire, but when she reached for the knob to turn it on, her stubby little fingers couldn't reach. She was confused at first, but then she was crying. She couldn't reach it, but she wanted it. She wanted it! She fell to the floor, her butt only stinging a little when she landed hard on it. Then her feet were kicking, pounding the ground with her fists… she was throwing a tantrum, and soon someone came to see what was the matter. It was a woman. She was short and thin, with strong arms from lugging babies and children around.

To Rikku, she was beautiful beyond all compare. Rikku had never seen anything that was like her. She was unique, perfect. Everything about her made Rikku want to hug her tight. Soon she calmed down, stopped banging her hands on the floor and reached up to the lady. The woman picked her up gently and asked what was wrong. While Rikku explained, all she could think of was the wonderful sound of that voice. It calmed her immediately, like the sound of ocean waves lapping against the sandy shores of Bikanel. It was soothing and smooth, but strong and firm at the same time. The lovely lady laughed when Rikku finished explaining. It sounded like tinkling glass. Everything about this woman was perfect. Perfect perfect perfect. And Rikku loved her loved her loved her.

Then there was more screaming, and Rikku found herself far away from the kitchen, in the house that she should recognize, with the woman hugging her. She looked all around for the woman, but didn't see her anywhere. All there was; a sickening puddle of blood in the middle of sand. The sand went for miles and miles in all directions, but the puddle seemed to follow her eyes, appearing in the center of the sand each time Rikku's eyes left the previous stain. Her hands flew to her head of a sudden. It hurt! Hurt so badly, the blinding pounding flash of color that flew through her mind at that second. Screaming, red, buildings, shouting people, bloody sand. And then a sickening sight that made her nauseous, unceasingly ill as she hurled her meal into the sand. The blood covered sand.

The most horrible part came next. "RIKKU!" Her name, shouted in a hoarse voice, ever concerned over her. Blood on her, on her hands, not just the sands around her. A final scream, bloodcurdling, sickening, horrifying. It was her fault, her fault, all her fault. And then her nightmare released her.

"Haaaah! Hah… hah, hah…hah……" Rikku woke panting, the image of red sand impaled on her eyes. She felt nauseous and scrambled out of her bedroll to run to some bushes nearby, releasing the contents of her stomach on the foliage. She held in the rest with her hand, the spew spurting through her closed fingers as she headed further away from the little circular camp made up of bedrolls and sleepers. Finally she stopped, far enough away to have privacy while she lost her last meals and more. She fell to her knees and leaned over, bracing herself on her hands as she puked, coughing and spitting the sick out of her and onto the grassy forest floor.

When she was done she stayed still for a while, waiting for the dizziness and lasting remnants of nausea to leave her before crawling over to a tree to lean against its trunk. She was shaking, as most do after retching, and she was very cold. Her skin felt clammy even to her, and she prayed it was only an aftereffect of her nightmare and not the telltale signs of her growing sick. She'd had the dream before, sometimes having these symptoms afterwards, but she never knew for sure whether she would really get sick or not.

When she calmed enough she thought about going back to the group, but when she tried to stand her knees buckled, and she shakily landed back on the ground. Leaning against the tree, she decided to wait until her legs no longer felt like noodles. Hopefully, no one had been awakened by her earlier sounds of retching, but at the same time she wished someone had noticed and would come help her back to camp. She'd just shut her eyes to the night sounds around her when she heard twigs snapping nearby. Then soft, padded footsteps. When she opened her eyes, she already knew who it was. He never slept, so she should have guessed he would notice her.

He picked her up, infinitely strong arms holding her gently. One hand pressed her head to his shoulder, and she gratefully took the headrest, noticing now how her head flopped about. He walked them back to camp, then spread her bedroll out for her before placing her back in it like a delicate sand dollar. Bringing her a spare blanket, no doubt because he could see her still shivering, he tucked her in and started to walk away, but Rikku stopped him.

"Thank you."

"Kihmari glad to help. Little Rikku have nightmares, she should tell someone." He moved again, then hesitated and turned to say more. "Rikku talk to Auron, he help when sick. Auron understand nightmares." Then he went back to his position next to Yuna, staring out at the surrounding forest. Rikku looked over to the red clad guardian, only barely being able to see him in the light of dying embers. For a second Rikku freaked, thinking Kihmari had meant that Auron was awake and had seen her, but when she looked at him, his eyes were closed and he seemed unmoving except for breathing. She sighed, grateful that her little crush hadn't woken to the sounds of her retching. She was also relieved to know he was asleep because it meant he had an excuse for not going to help her. Rikku would feel terrible to know that he had avoided helping her just because she was sick all over the forest floor. Finally, sleep took her over once again.

This time, she had no dreams.

AN: Luckily for everyone, I've had this chapter complete for sometime. So everyone who read my last cliffy and thought "Oh no, she's not going to post for another month!", well, here you go! Hope everyone enjoyed, or well, didn't enjoy, because of poor little Rikku pukin' all over the place…