Chapter 1
Explosions were everywhere. Bright lights bursting aloud in a formation that would have mistaken it as a festival meant for a king. The heat intense as each part of the underwater machina exploded into smithereens. Swimming quickly from the machina, the explosions seemed that they would never cease. Pyerflies and moonflow filled the sea while parts of the machina flew around me, whizzing around my body, hissing as they past quickly by my ear. I could hear my fellow members screaming for me to get out of the way, their voices completely being muffled out by the water. Still it wasn't enough time. The huge machina completely exploded from the heat, and the miscellaneous parts targeted me. I turned my head around to see how much time I had left before the complete destruction and at that very moment, my face encountered the machina's steel.
"Is she…dead?"
A voice mumbled in my head, around my ears, in my veins. Blackness seemed to have been my only sight, along with scattered images of different things in life. I turned my head weakly, trying not to get sick from the swirled pictures. I felt my body returning to me again, feeling my brain being able to function once more. The blackness was beginning to seep back into the corners of my head, making me aware of my surroundings. My eyes flickered slowly, still very weak from the horrible accident just moments ago. Finally I opened my eyes and coughed in pain, watching as the water left my mouth. I raised my head and asked myself where I was, seeing that I have been washed up onto dry land. Looking above me, I suddenly saw a blonde smile, my eyes still playing cruel jokes from my unconscious state.
I screamed in fear, not knowing whether it was a fiend or if I might have been hallucinating. Scattering to my feet in terror, I stumbled quickly to escape from the figure. I was still in a state of sleep, not exactly sure if this was the dream world or reality, which then only caused me to hit my head on a low branch. Still completely confused, I fell to the ground and held my head in pain.
"Aw man, that didn't exactly feel like roses."
I rubbed my eyes and sat there for a moment, trying to recollect myself. Once I finally felt strong enough to face reality again I open my eyes. I scanned the area and found the figure in front of me, causing me to grow the biggest smile on my face.
"Tidus!" I yelled happily, "It's you!"
"Rikku?" the boy said uncertain about who I was, "No way! It IS you!"
I quickly stood up and embraced him with a huge hug. It felt so good to know that he was ok after being thrown off our ship by Sin and sucked into a warp hole deep within the ocean. After Sin had attack my home ship, I thought I would never see him again. I thought for sure he was dead, and days after that, I felt utterly horrible about how I had lost him that night. Continuing to hug my lost friend, I started to ask him questions about what had happened to him after he got attacked by Sin. He explained to me that after he was attacked, and that he had been washed up on shore to an island where he met a blitzball player, just like him.
"See!" I said, "I told you that you would find someone! And did you believe me, noooooo!"
"Yeah, I know Rikku, you were right." he laughed and then stepped back to close our hug. Tidus and I began to talk again when something had interrupted our valuable moment.
Muffled between the breaking of twigs and the crunching of the dead dry leaves, footsteps were heard. My head instantly turned to the mysterious noise while I began to stand my ground. The young blitzball player also turned with me to the disturbance, placing his fingers gently on the base of his sword. The sound intensified, causing the young fighters to become more eager to attack the intruder. Just as we thought the sound was about to head into our direction, it stopped, letting the forest continue with its daily sounds of birds, animals, and water. I took a deep sigh of relief and held my hip, "Geez that was scary."
Tidus wasn't convinced though. His eyes were determined to fight whatever lied beyond the bushes. He was eager to fight and kill those poor defenseless creatures behind the shrubs. I turned my face to him and tilted my head, wondering why he was still focusing on the noise. "Yo, Ti, you alright?" I asked him, waving my hand in front of his face. It was no use though; his eyes were still and had deep concentration within them. I watched him wrapped his fingers around the base and slowly began walking up to the bushes.
"Tidus!" I yelled, "Where da heck ya think y'er goin?"
He walked faster towards the bush and without sudden warning, he let out a wild cry and jumped high into the air. I screamed in fear, not actually believing that he would attempt such a risk. Tidus raised his mighty sword and landed behind the shrubs, completely out of my view. I yelled out to him again, hoping that my friend would return to me; hoping that we would return in one piece. My hands huddled up against me and towards my mouth, not sure on what to do. Should I attack? Should I stay here? Should I run away? I began thinking of all these different conclusions and the more I thought of them, the more I felt afraid.
"C-Come out you coward!!!" I yelled out to the area. To tell you the truth, I WAS the coward, and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. My voice trembled with fear as a huge monstrous fiend ran throughout my mind. I figured I had no choice but to walk right on over there and see what happened to Tidus. It was several minutes now and he still hasn't returned, or even made a single sound. As I rounded the bush, I clenched my fist and held it right up against my face, ready to strike. I counted to 3 to myself and on the third digit, I quickly jumped around the corner of the bush and swung my fist, screaming that the top of my lungs. After the humiliating attempt, I scratched the back of my head and saw the area totally empty.
"What the-" I said lightly and quickly shut my mouth to the sound of the trees rumbling in front of me. I clenched my fist again and prepared myself for the final battle. Suddenly, a figure jumped out from my left and tackled me to the ground viciously. As a quick reflex, I caught the figure in time to tumble to the ground and land on the unidentified as the victor. My one hand was raised in the air, ready to strike, while the other held the collar of the beast shirt.
Shirt?
The boy laughed uncontrollably while laying flat on the ground and holding the Al Bhed's fist from his face. "Whoa, Rikku, it's me, Tidus!"
I opened my mouth in complete surprise, "Tidus? Heeeey, you're a meanie!"
I stood straight up and kicked his side lightly, "Your gonna get it one day you dork!" saying it with my cute brat voice and sneering to him a little. As he lay on the ground, continuing to laugh, I decided I would just walk of my freight.
"Good things come to those who wait."
The voice had startled me and as I turned around to leave, I bumped into something red.
Something, big.
Defensively, I raised my fist once more and swung at the huge intruder. In the mitts of swinging my fist, I was instantly stopped by some strange force. Looking up to my wrist, I opened my mouth in surprise as I saw my small hand completely swallowed by this intruder. In total shock, I slowly looked at the face of this semi-giant. At that very moment, I felt the weirdest feeling deep within my skin.
His eyes were deep and hidden behind glasses that rested on the bridge of his nose. Looking beyond the metal frame, I noticed that on the right side of face, he had a deep wound that traveled straight down the top of his brow, to the beginning of his cheek bone.
The scar.
The scar must have been so bad, that it seemed to have permanently closed his eye. Looking up at him, I felt all the terror in my face evaporate into the air and the butterflies beginning to form in my stomach. Gazing down at his attire, I slowly lost all the fear within me while I felt an open mouth in the end. My eyes feasted upon his clothes, amazed on everything that was in front of me. Lying ever so gently around his body was a long red kimono.
The huge red jacket.
Upon his jacket on his left shoulder laid a gold metal plate which represented strength and a warrior. It was attached by several buckles and as the breeze flowed in the area, so did the feather strand connected to the gold plate. While the breeze gently moved his jacket, it also lifted up his hair.
The grey strands.
His hair was dark and neatly pushed back to his head. He had grey strands hiding underneath his hair, some more distinct then others. Several strands were placed above his ear, and as I thought about it, the grey hair was a bit unusual for a man like him who looked about 35 or so. They showed a long and devastating past, making my aware of the stress that he might have been through.
The man had his lower face covered, completely out of my sight. It had been covered by grey leather that acted as a collar which could detach if necessary. The collar had been connected right above his chest plate and onto his black shirt. The shirt appeared to be stiff around his whole upper body which indicated that he must be wearing some type of armor underneath.
Moving my eyes down to his torso, I saw that his right hand was resting in a sling type position within his jacket.
Had his hand been injured? Or perhaps maybe it felt comfortable to him?
My eyes wandered down his torso and to his pants. They were black and had been tucked into his boots, which had gold plates among the ankles. Feeling a bit embarrassed, I turned my head away from his lower section, my eyes catching a glimpse of his other half.
His other hand, the one which was gripped onto mine, was covered in a brown leather material that felt irresistibly soft against my hand. The red jacket had been tucked into a silver bracer and wrapped in buckles several times around his arm. Hanging on his belt on multi-colored beads, was a white gallon type jug. Looking beyond the jug and the huge man, I saw his huge weapon lying against the tree directly behind him.
The sword.
His katana was extremely huge. The length of the blade itself must have been at least 4 feet, while the width extracted to maybe 1 1/2 - 2 feet. My jaw instantly opened, simply amazed by this man's huge destruction.
"Quite the spirit aren't ya?" he said in a low, dark, mysterious yet gentle tone. Shortly after he broke the sudden silence, he chuckled to himself softly.
I stood there, completely amazed by his whole appearance. My mouth was half open, filled with words that I just couldn't seem to get out. I gulped in attempt to say something, to say anything! All that came out though was a bunch of vowels.
The man chuckled again to himself and turned his attention to our hands. The fingers gently released their tight grip and eased the immense pressure around my tiny wrist. My eyes were fixed on his, still so very insecure and vulnerable to this huge man's actions.
"HELLO? Anybody there?" Tidus had asked us, his head crammed in between us. He grew irritated and grunted to himself and again asked if anyone had heard him.
My eyes were glued to his, fixed upon this stunning man. I felt so many feelings awaken deep within me, feelings like I have never felt before. These feelings staggered my breath and made me tremble, not sure if these emotions were supposed to happen. I was completely amazed by him, amazed by his voice, amazed by his eyes. They seemed to have trapped me in a world far from my own. Making me seem distant with myself and zoning out of my true state of consciousness and into an internal bliss.
As to think that this wonderful pleasure would never leave, it unfortunately came to an end. The melancholy man loosened his grip around her hand causing it to instantly fall to her side. Although it felt like 3 million minutes have filled between us, intoxicating us from this cruel and obscene world, only 2 minutes have elapsed. Once his hand fell to my side, the dream world ended and brought us back to reality. Clearing his throat as he lowered his own hand, he continued to keep his attention upon me. Then he became distracted at the sight of Tidus very close to his own face, invading his personal space.
Tidus smirked a bit and then stepped back a couple of feet and scratched his head while putting a hand on his hip. "Did I miss something?" he asked with concern and confusion running through his mouth.
"No," Auron answered him rather quickly, "it didn't concern you."
Auron then glared down at Tidus as he usually did with his hawk like stare, "Did you gather the others?"
"Hello, NO!" Tidus screamed, waving his hand to his side, "Don't you remember you almost killed me!"
"Goes to show that you still need more training." The man and the boy grew silent as the anger inside Tidus intensified with each second. Auron grunted silently and then turned away from him, turning away from me.
"Go get the others." he said to the young man.
Tidus' jaw dropped and he flung his arms in the air in complete disagreement, "What? Why?!"
The silent man walked to his sword and as he heard Tidus begin to complain, he stopped and turned his face in his direction, "We are ready to go, now go get them."
The young man had absolutely nothing to say and as he sat there in complete confusion, I couldn't help but laugh. Tidus grunted out a couple more words before he headed off into the village's path. Once gone, I let out my small chuckles. "Cemmo puo*." I said in my native tongue, remembering Tidus' adorable pout.
"Al Bhed I see." the man had finally spoke, acknowledging his presence. Before I knew what had even happened, my eyes widened and my hand covered my mouth.
Oh lnyb*, what am I to do? What would he do to me know that he knew I am an Al Bhed?
I hope he doesn't harm me.
What should I do? I have to get out of here!
My mind wandered and raced with thought and slim conclusions on what I should do in my predicament. I began to think of how I should just run away, run deep into the forest and out of their sights. I began getting scarred and I lowered my head in shame and then I raised it to find Auron leaning against a tree. Watching him as I walked closer to him, I could see that his eyes were focused on something in the distance; they were not supervising my every move like he was doing so before. I turned around and rested my back against the tree next to him, hoping to start some kind of conversation.
I turned my face to him and stood straight up from the tree, extending my arm out and a huge smile slapped on my face, "I'm Rikku, nice to meet you!"
Auron chuckled lightly and reached over to shake the generous hand in front of him. Shaking it gently he also announced his name.
After the names had been exchanged, I began to think of how nice of a man he was. He had not been rude to me once, which was sort of confusing for someone who always expects these types of things. I continued smiling, thinking of how cool it would be if I could venture around Spira with my buddy Tidus and this mysterious man. How cool would it be to finally do the things I want to do, go to the places I want to go and not have to answer to a father or an older brother? I smiled again and scratched the back of my head, lost in my happy thoughts of my future. After thinking for a little while I rested against the tree again and looked in the man's direction. Just as I moved my face to his, he turned his head to me and looked at me. To my surprise, I was amazed to see a small smile escape from the side of his mouth, creating a small yet pleasant smirk.
My first response was a smile, completely baffled by his sudden action. I thought a man like him would keep to himself and not show any sort of happiness from within. Auron was different though. He was completely different from what Tidus had told me when he was aboard my ship. He had told me many stories about this man and how he was strong, demanding and said few words but they always seemed to mean something important. Auron kept to himself and always looked after Tidus from a distance, never comforting him when he was alone, never showing him any signs of affection. He wanted to teach this young boy how to be independent and show him the true world in which he will one day hopefully survive in. Now I watched this same man, this quiet gently giant stand next to me and smile directly at me. I was overcome with joy, and all I could do then was smile back. To this day, I will never be able to thank him for that small happiness.
* Cemmo puo = silly boy
* Lnyb = crap