Turbulence

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Just to say…I'M SO SAD ABOUT THE NEW HARRY POTTER BOOK!!!!! GAHHHHHHH!!!! Since some people are still reading it (it took me a total of 5 hours to read it), I won't tell anyone what happens. WHY??????? I HATE THE ENDING!!! Some peeps MIGHT like it, but NO!!! I AM AGHAST!!! Thop….

Anyway. I'm not sure if anyone got the clue last chapter…but, sure…er, if you didn't you will now. Anyway. Again. Now the story twist HAPPENS.

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The stars were gone when she first cracked an eyelid to the open sky. It was so bright out, and her head rang irritably at the mere mention of the sun to her eyes. Thus carefully, and slowly, she focussed on the morning that was blossoming around her and filling her senses with the fragrance of dew-soaked grass. With the flooding scent came a daft memory of her conversation last night. That, and the following events.

"Ouch…so rayd." Rikku rolled over and stifled a whimper of sharp pain. Something was digging into her back, and it hurt.

Aggressively, she twisted her arm about and groped with her hand to discover that the sharp object was in fact, not so sharp in mortal description. She lifted a pair of familiar blue glasses and squinted at them confusedly. Obviously, they had been discarded when…well, she knew. To her relief, they weren't broken.

Well, time stopped for no…well, anyone. Rikku brushed her hair out of her eyes and sat up…

…only to squeak in surprise and lay again flat on her back. She eventually began to summarize the facts. First of all, she had a blanket on. Second of all, a blanket was not only something she had not known they had the night before, but it was also all she had 'on'.

"I believed those to be lost," came a rather awake and serene voice from above.

She pulled the blanket up to her chin, still clutching the glasses between her fingers. "Okay…where are they?"

"Hmm." Auron appeared above her and momentarily raised an eyebrow.

"You know what I'm talking about," she managed through a yawn. "I need to wear them, you know? Where are my clothes, you perv!"

Once again, his expression was undaunted. But he pointed righteously towards an unseen area. "There."

Then, he glanced over one shoulder and spoke as if he was discussing a missing gil, "And there."

Great. She glanced in both directions to confirm his claims, and confirmed them she did. "Um…well?"

The eyebrow went up again.

"Alright, let's pretend for a moment that you understand English!" she snapped, not knowing exactly why she felt bitter. "Seeing how you managed to wake up before me, get up before me, and not to mention get dressed before me…you wouldn't mind clueing in, would ya?"

"That depends," he said. "Would you mind returning what is mine?"

She rolled her eyes and offered him the glasses. "Like I stole them."

He took them and replaced them. "You did."

"Okay, okay!" Rikku emphasized her words with a stern gesture of an arm. "Please?"

He glanced her down for a moment, seemingly immune to the poisonous glare she was endowing him. Without much change of mind, he chuckled. "You are capable."

"Oh!" Rikku's face puffed up slightly in a look of sheer outrage and defeat. "Men!"

She stood up, internally frustrated that her only cover was big enough to fully wrap a three-year-old midget. Leaving it where it was, she stormed over to his first indicated direction and proceeded to gather her belongings.

He simply stood and watched with what possibly could have suggested mild surprise. In any case, he found it exceedingly difficult to look away. Whether she cared about his presence or not, she did not show, and dressed herself in an immune manner. About halfway through the task, she looked up at him and frowned.

"Having fun?"

Was he? "Yes."

"Great!" she exclaimed, finally finishing. "That makes one of us!"

Her own mood continued to puzzle her. It hadn't even occurred to her at that moment the position of the sun or what time of the day it might possibly be. But the look on his face hid something, as if he were discreetly hiding some act of invisible kindness he'd performed without her knowing. It drew her to wonder…

"Um, exactly what time is it?" she inquired hesitatingly.

There was a short pause before he answered. "Three o'clock."

There was no dew. It was rain -- the whole plain was soaked. As if she'd just opened her eyes to the truth, Rikku realized that in fact, he clothes were beyond damp but edging 'soaked'. No wonder it had been unusually bright -- the sun was slightly beyond its peak and relaying its normal course above the heavy sleeper.

Not realizing that she'd dropped her jaw, Rikku snapped it shut. "How long have you been awake?"

Another pause. "Nearly five hours."

"You just let me….sleep?" she squeaked. "We have to make camp again in four hours! We could've reached Mt. Gagazet by now, y'know?"

"No," he said quietly, slowly blinking his eye. "Mt. Gagazet will no longer be an asset."

She stared. "Huh?"

"The order of New Yevon," he replied. "Has the Ronso village under heavy guard. We cannot pass there."

She didn't know whether to feel relieved, or shocked, or angry. She wouldn't have to face the bitter coldness of the mountain again, of course, however…why did it have to come to this? Why didn't she think about it, first? Of course the pass would be guarded! No one was allowed to travel to Zanarkand anymore, with the ZA and its goal to restore it. She felt sheepish. Very sheepish.

"Oh…" she sighed. "Auron, I'm so sorry! I should have told you about them, but I…"

"There's more," he interrupted her, unable to omit his tone. "Perhaps you should sit before I begin."

Mildly, she obeyed and took a seat on a nearby rock. She was already beginning to feel afraid of this news, just by the sheer fact that it apparently affected him in this way. But she did not say anything.

He stepped closer, but would not meet her gaze. "Rikku, you wished to know how I came to be here."

A sudden bolt of imaginary lightning illuminated even the darkest and most fearful corners of her brain. Her eyes widened, but before she could respond he cut her off again.

"Do not stand up. This is not joyful news." Once again, he looked away. "The Farplane is…vanquished. I was expelled. As were many others."

A choking silence overwhelmed her. She didn't feel she could respond even if she wanted to.

"Many sent are now unsent, those who became fiends are fiends once again." The cold, hard truth. Was this what he was telling her…? "The accelerating rate of fiend appearances are the effects."

Some of it, she was able to absorb. "…you…"

"I was fortunate. I was given the disguise as an Aeon -- something Yunalesca would not recognize as a threat."

"Yunalesc-" Her eyes snapped open. "What the ramm does she have to do with this!?"

"Enough. There is one more thing."

She blinked away the tears of realization. "What? I already know! Y'know, considering…the fact that you didn't even…come back because…"

He'd assumed this would be her first reality, to blame him for the closest, most personal catastrophe of the day. What it was that stung the most…she was correct. "Whether or not my intentions involved you, my thoughts did."

She said nothing.

He'd merely given her the facts. The real news was yet to come, and it was steadily becoming clear that he would not be able to tell her in this condition. She apparently didn't care to believe him -- her emotions were bruised enough for another week's silence. Regardless, was it not only unbearable that he had to go on, but sad, too?

"Rikku, look at me."

She did, but it was not as willingly as he had hoped.

"Home is…" The ronin directed his attention elsewhere. "Gone."

Everything drained away. Her lungs felt as if they had curled around her stomach and knotted tightly in mental defense. "Wh…what do you…"

"Sin destroyed it."

The word rang inside of her head. Above all else, she gasped a singled question that flew from her mouth on the simple mention of mass destruction. "Dad!"

"That, I do not know." He was speaking lowly now, but gently. Her distress - however beyond that it might be - was not something to ignore.

She began to shake her head at once, clinging her arms together. "That's stupid. You're lying! Sin's dead! You saw it happen, you-"

No, he did not see it happen. He would have felt indifferent to that fact had someone else but her mentioned it. She evidently wanted to withdraw the comment, though, and he allowed her to take it back in complete and peaceful silence.

"There isn't…there's no way. Even Yu Yevon was…" She had stopped shaking her head, but denial was evident. Eventually, it began to dawn on her. "Yu Yevon…is back, isn't he?"

He nodded, but it was empty.

The facts were not making sense to her. "No…no way, still…the Aeons are gone! You're the only…"

Auron was staring at her. It was not cold, but in the fashion he displayed his honesty she was failing to grasp the simple concept that Sin was dead, and that Home could be…

She swallowed. "W-when?"

"It happened this morning, after midnight."

When her face changed, morphed into a recognizable array of quarreling emotions, he started forward. She had already stood up, gazing mindlessly at the ground as the dead information took hold of her mind. This morning, this morning…it urged the missing brass minutes on her heavy heart. This morning. While everyone she knew and cared for were battling off Sin, dying, bleeding, suffering, she had…

She felt him seize her shoulder. She lifted her head, staring directly into her face. However, as if his touch burned her, she threw off his hand and backed away with an enraged countenance. "Y-you…we shouldn't have…because you…it's your fault!"

He could not fathom this, nor could he find himself to move. Only when her voice drifted away, and her tensed limbs fall grudgingly to her sides did he know that she had given up. She started to cry, and he started forward once again.

"Auron…I'm…I'm sorry." Her shoulders were shaking now, and she lost her strength. Her head against his chest, closed eyes directed at the ground, she continued to sob quitely. "I mean…it's not…y'know…"

"Nor is it yours," he said softly. She lifted her head once more, and drew a more confident breath.

"I don't know…" he groaned dreadfully. "Auron…we have to go…at least back to Bevelle? For a little while…at least."

He knew they could not. Then again, compared to how much he wanted to comfort her now, did the term 'could not' stand a fair chance? It wasn't likely. He knew why she requested it, and it surpassed the simple fact that they 'could not'.

She knew this by his lack of any response. Usually, he agreed with things without actually saying anything. Understanding this, she lowered her head and closed her eyes. "Thank you."

He did not say "your welcome" or even acknowledge the fact that he had confirmed her desire at all. She wanted to turn back, perhaps return to Bevelle to meet up with the others before the news hit the big city. It did normally take a few days for the news to spread around such a heavily populated area, which game them time. Very prying time, that laughed and scorned them for every moment they would take to reach the foot of the grand civilization.

There was one more thing. Something he could not bring himself to tell her after the news he'd slapped in her face already. In a moment's decision, he told her without so much as adding the shocking precision that it centered.

"Rikku, we must continue to Zanarkand."

She looked up at him, less surprised than before. "Yeah, I know. It'll be…kinda hard…"

"There is a way," he informed her. "The order of New Yevon has one exception for passage through the Ronso village."

She was beginning to realize this. "You mean-"

"With new Sin, comes new summoners."

Her eyes widened, "But-"

"There are five fayths, with possible exceptions, that I know of. They are our priorities now."

Rikku glance from one side to another, unsure of what to say. "I see."

"We need a summoner, Rikku."

"Yeah…" she sighed. "I don't suppose Yuna'll be going anywhere after…well…"

And then she remembered.

"Oh!" Auron's eye traveled towards he as she exclaimed this. Rikku managed to smile a bit and stepped forward enough to prod him demanding in the very center of his chest plate. "I think I know someone."

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I know. It's a bit short, but I think we get the general idea. Um…yah, see…here begins a very long and complicated (yet humorous is its strange little way) journey with you-know-who and her guardian. Nope, I'm not talking about Rikku and Auron! (Well, it IS an Aurikku, of course it's STILL about them) Hehehe…oh, the fun of making you readers guess! *cackles evilly*