A/N: Here we are, my friends. THE FINAL CHAPTER!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy, Squeenix, or any of the affiliates.

Rikku, Sunday April 15, 1912, 4:20 a.m.

In the next moment Tidus was hugging Yuna to his chest like she was the last solid thing on Earth. His entire person was damp, but neither of them seemed to care. They just clung to each other, both crying, though Yuna was more like sobbing. Despite all this, they still kissed, small desperate kisses. Rikku watched their reunion for a moment before urgently turning back to the man.

"Please," she begged. "Please. Auron Masamune, please." She continued to plead with him as if that would make everything okay. As if that would deliver Auron safely into her arms. Tidus and Yuna stopped in their rejoicing, both falling silent as they awaited the news. It seemed to drag on for an eternity before the man looked up, eyes sad.

"I'm sorry miss. It's not here."

Both her father and Auron. Neither of them had survived, yet somehow Tidus had. She felt terrible for wishing otherwise. It was Yuna's happiness against her own, and she felt selfish.

"Why?" she muttered. She turned on Tidus with a low growl. "You were with him, weren't you? What happened to him? Why did you survive and he didn't?"

Tidus stared at her, his blue eyes sad. "I'm sorry, Rikku, I don't know. We were together. Right about half an hour before she went down, Captain Wakka informed us that it was every man for himself and encouraged all the crewman to live if we could. The major and I decided it would be in our best interest to stay on as long as possible, rather then jumping into the water to freeze to death prematurely. When the ship was sucked under, I lost him. There were so many people all around…I found something solid to float on. People all around were screaming for the boats to come back…why didn't the boats come back? Why did you all wait so long?"

Rikku couldn't say another word. She was completely numb. He had promised her. Promised her that he would survive. She had known as they spoke that it was a promise he couldn't even begin to keep, and yet she had held onto the hope that maybe, just maybe he would be all right. She knew now that she had been fooling herself. They'd been playing a part, the both of them. She should have never left Titanic. She should have stayed with him. Dying together with him would have been far better then living the rest of her life without. It had been a stupid, selfish thing she'd done, getting on the lifeboat. She should have stayed. She walked away and could hear Yuna calling after her and the man asking for Yuna's name behind her. She paid no attention, walking away briskly. She just needed some time alone. She needed time to think…or to time to not think, she wasn't quite sure herself. She had a feeling if anyone offered her words of pity she'd start screaming and never stop. Now she was just so tired and sleeping away all her issues just seemed like the best idea. Maybe she could escape her head and her thoughts. She doubted it, but it was worth a try. She could hardly believe that only three hours ago she'd been standing on deck of Titanic, clutching the man she loved. It all seemed so long ago.

She found a deck chair and collapsed onto it, not really caring what anyone might think as she fell asleep on top of it, huddled inside Auron's jacket.

She woke many hours later to find they had set sail and someone had covered her with a blanket. The sun had risen and was now high in the sky, making her believe the time was somewhere around noon. There were people milling about, many pale women sitting there numb with others around trying to calm them down or comfort them. They were obviously passengers of the Carpathia. They couldn't possibly offer comfort when they knew nothing of that pain. Rikku just wanted to yell and scream at everyone, though she knew it was stupid. Screaming wouldn't make them understand. It wouldn't help anything, but it might make her feel better. She didn't though. Instead, she stood, folded the blanket, and set off to find her mother. All their petty arguments had been so stupid, so wasteful. She hoped Arianna would realize that as well.

Rikku found her mother inside, a blanket clutched tightly around her shoulders, her eyes blank and empty.

"Mother?" Rikku said quietly, resting a hand on Arianna's shoulder. "Mother, are you all right?"

"Rikku…your father…" she spoke quietly. "Cid is…"

"Yes mother, I know. Auron is gone too," Riku spoke with a choked voice.

Arianna looked up and met her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I was foolish. He was a good man…he could have taken care of you. I just couldn't see past my own pigheadedness…"

Rikku shook her head and held up a hand to silence her mother.

"There is no point now, mother. He's dead," she said with finality. She didn't want to hear Arianna sing Auron's praises now that he was dead.

"You understand, though? That I shan't marry Gippal when we reach New York?" Arianna stared at her hard for a long time before nodding.

"Yes, Rikku. I understand that."

"I don't think I shall ever marry, mother," she warned. Arianna merely nodded again. "It would be unfair to ask such a thing of you. I don't think anyone could ask me to marry again after Cid. I loved your father, with all my heart and soul. I only wish now that I had told him that more often."

Arianna dissolved into tears and Rikku found that she couldn't stand there and look at her mother as she cried. She patted her shoulder half-heartedly and set off again, this time to find Tidus. She knew that she owed him an apology, though she didn't exactly feel like giving it to him. It wasn't his fault that Auron hadn't survived, but she couldn't help but feel resentment towards him. She didn't want to, but she couldn't help herself. Still, he would be her cousin, her family. She couldn't hate him.

It wasn't long before she found them, huddled together in a in a nice room, not speaking, merely watching those around them. Rikku was a bit pleased to see they couldn't look happy together, too bothered by the sad faces all around them. Again, that small bit of vindictive satisfaction made her feel guilty. Were they to suffer because they were alive? What kind of fairness was that? Rikku approached them slowly and she realized that they looked a bit nervous.

"I…am sorry," she said softly. "I spoke harshly earlier. I was…am…upset, but that is no excuse…"

"Rikku," Yuna spoke up softly. "We don't blame you. We know that it isn't fair, we do. But we can't do anything to change it."

Rikku nodded again. "It just…it makes me so mad, Yuna! If they had sent back the boats…if maybe we had stayed closer…he might be alive right now! So many more people might be alive right now!"

"That wasn't your fault, Rikku," Tidus sighed. "Yuna told me that you were lobbying to come back the entire time. They wouldn't listen to you, and that isn't your fault. They should have done as you told them, but they didn't. Hundreds are dead because of it, but that isn't your fault. This isn't anyone's fault, really. One too many challenges to God, I suppose. We were all so confident, and we were all proven wrong."

Rikku merely nodded and hung her head, wishing to cry. Tidus held out an arm and took her hand.

"Come here," he said softly. She settled on his other side, leaning her head against his shoulder and finally let herself cry. Her entire body wracked with sobs. Tidus and Yuna comforted her as much as they could, but it didn't really help. Nothing would really help. A lot of time passed and Rikku sort of slipped out of her body. She wasn't really asleep, but her mind wasn't really there. It was like there was a giant white abyss where she didn't have to think, didn't have to feel. She quite liked it there. It was nice. It was comforting. It was empty.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting there when a hand started shaking her roughly. She was pulled from her emptiness and a bit annoyed by that. She slapped the hand away and glared at Tidus.

"What?" she hissed. "Haven't I suffered enough for today? Couldn't you just have let me be?"

"If you think your experience was bad, try convincing a boat full of terrified women that letting you onto their lifeboat won't swamp them," a voice said dryly. Rikku's heart came to a stop and her eyes went wide. She wondered if she was dreaming, perhaps even dead. Maybe she really had slipped into oblivion. Slipped so far into her own mind that she could imagine that voice.

The blonde lifted her head and stared straight into those russet eyes, unable to react.

"Hello, Rikku," he said.

She let out a small scream and threw herself into his arms. Auron lifted her straight off her feet and hugged her tightly. She kissed every bit of him she could reach, tears pouring freely around her face.

"I told you I'd meet you here. I promised, didn't I?" She didn't answer him, just sobbed and nodded.

"I thought…I thought…" she choked.

"I know," he answered, voice soft. "I know, I'm sorry."

"Where were you?" she howled. "Why wasn't your name on the list? How could you let me think that you were dead?"

"After the ship went down, I stayed in place for a long while. I tried to keep calm, tried to think…but it was so cold. I knew I'd freeze to death if I didn't move. I swam to the nearest boat and convinced them to pull me in. I was told I lost consciousness not long after that. I just woke up hardly five minutes ago."

She hadn't known he was alive because he had been unconscious. If she had taken any time to actually search for him instead of just accepting that he was dead, she could have saved herself so much grief.

"I love you!" Rikku murmured. "I love you so much."

"I know," he answered. "I love you too. Marry me, Rikku."

"Yes of course. I promised, didn't I?"

Rikku suddenly had a new take on life. Just moments ago she had been utterly destroyed, but now everything was okay. Of course it was terrible that so many people had died. That her father had died. The fact that Auron was alive, though, that made everything better.

Titanic had been a tragedy that would forever live on in her memory and yet, it was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

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A/N: EL FIN! Yeah…so they both lived. In all honesty, I had been planning on killing Tidus off this whole time but I changed my mind last minute. I was like, "eh, screw it." Anyway, I really hope you liked it, despite the cheesiness. It took me forever and a year to write this, so do me a favor and review for me. Thanks a lot.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Number of times I watched the movie Titanic since I started writing this monster? 5. Yes. 5. That's like…twenty hours of Titanic. That's almost a complete day. Jeez, I love that movie. Again…review.