Well, serial it is then...

Events of the game will be changed, only slightly, but changed. Just so you know.

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Darkness Falls

Chapter 2: What Am I?

Rikku awoke the next morning to find Tidus on a chair next to her, his head slumped over his hands. The first thought that came to her was; He's alive! She tried to stir the boy but found that she couldn't move her arm. It must have been strapped down or something. She was aware of a pain in her chest but ignored it. Must be cramp or something... She thought, and climbed out from under the covers to see where she was. She immediately hit her head on a big piece of wood. Only one place, she thought, has curved wall. Damn it! Why Guadosalam? Of all the places to wind up...

She walked out of her small room and saw a Guado standing near the doorway. He (I think...) looked across at her. His eyes opened wide and his mouth gaped. he ran out of the small room shouting in Guado for someone called Lulu. She frowned, surely she wasn't that ugly. She ached all over. What the hell happened to me? She asked, she went to rub her stomach with her hands and stopped dead. She was covered in bandages. Uh-oh. She began to panic.

Then she remembered what had happened.

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The Guado boy Lulu had asked to watch over the girl ran in babbling. Lulu looked up at him and arched her eyebrow. 'Hello, I hope you slept well. Now say all that again.' The Guado took a few deep breaths and began to tell her. Lulu's eyes widened. Awake? And walking around? Not possible... 'Are you sure?' She asked him. The Guado boy just nodded. Wakka walked into the room, having heard the conversation through the inn walls.

'What's up?' he asked sleepily.

'The girl is awake.' Lulu said simply. Wakka looked at Lulu questioningly.

'Already?' He asked.

'Apparently. Wake up the others. Auron said he wanted to speak with her.' Wakka walked off to rouse the others from their sleep. All except Yuna, who was sleeping so soundly it was hard to tell she was alive.

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No...

Rikku sat on the floor of the inn, hands wrapped around her knees.

No.

She looked at herself in the mirror across from her. Her legs, hands, and chest were wrapped in bandages. A long roll of it ran from sown her face from her right temple, down the right of her right eyes, and, from what she could feel, all the way down, like someone had folded and creased along an imaginary dotted line.

NO.

What am I? She asked herself. Her rational mind was screaming the answer at her but she did not want to acknowledge the truth.

'NO!'

Tidus woke up with a start, hand already moving towards his sword-handle. He looked across, scanning amateurishly for threats. He noticed Rikku sitting on the floor and his eyes immediately widened, in concern or shock she didn't really want to know.

I'm...

'Hey.' He said quietly. She tried to reply, but all that came out was a thin rasp.

'Hi...' She managed. He started to say something when the door opened and a woman in a long black dress wrapped with belt buckles walked in. Her eyes immediately went wide. what is it with these people? Have they never seen injuries before? She wondered, irritated. The woman walked over to her and looked into her eyes.

'How are you?' She asked.

'I'm...' Rikku began, but was cut off.

'Don't try and speak, your throat got damaged in the... whatever it was happened to you.' Rikku remembered the submarine, the sphere as it imploded and folded in on itself, in onto her. Possible. Rikku thought. Then the others came in. A man in a large red coat in sunglasses, a Ronso, a man in a yellow blitzba... You! Rikku screamed silently. A woman in a white dress... Yunie! Rikku silently thanked the other two for getting her out of harm's way. Even if...

I'm...

Yuna walked up to her and knelt down beside her. 'Who are you?' She asked quietly.

'Rikku.' She replied.

Dead...

'How are you?' She asked.

'Hurts...' She gasped, before another jolt of pain stabbed her in the chest. She doubled over even further, and Yuna went to catch her.

'You're going to be OK Rikku. The wounds will heal. There will be scars (You got that right... Rikku thought to herself), but everything will heal.' She stood back up and went over to Lulu, who was standing nearby, holding a potion in case anything untoward happened.

I'm...

Unsent...

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'You're not going to tell her?' Lulu said.

'She doesn't need to know yet.' Yuna replied. Usually cheerful, Yuna was completely serious now. Never a good sign.

'It's her body. You should tell her.'

'I don't know how...' Yuna said, biting her nails.

'Let me do it.' Lulu said.

'Later.' Yuna said warningly.

'OK. Look after her.' Lulu replied, just as serious. Just then a knock cam at the door, and everyone looked away from Rikku with the exception of Lulu. Another knock came.

'Enter.' Said Auron gruffly. The door opened and Tromell walked in.

'Greetings, bear a message from Maester... My God!' he whispered, noticing Rikku. Auron stood in between them, shielding the nearly-catatonic Al Bhed girl from the old Guado's gaze.

'An accident. She will recover. Please continue.' Tromell just nodded and carried on as if he had forgotten the scene behind Auron.

'Maester Seymour wishes to speak with the Lady Yuna.' Yuna looked at him, eyes opened wide.

'A summons? Whatever could it be I wonder?' She asked. 'But I can't...' Auron took Yuna's shoulder and whispered in her ear.

'Lulu can take care of the girl, we must go.' Yuna looked around and saw Lulu bent over Rikku, whispering words of encouragement in her ear. She looked up, smiled, and nodded at her. Yuna nodded back, then turned to Tromell.

'Very well. Give me a minute please.' She looked at Auron, who got the hint immediately. Auron looked over at the others, and motioned after Yuna, and all save Lulu walked out and followed Yuna to the Maester's mansion.

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Rikku lay on the floor. She was aware on the edges of her consciousness of 'Lulu' talking in her ear, but she couldn't hear.

Unsent...

'What?' Lulu asked. 'What was that? I didn't hear...

'Nothing.' Rikku said, then louder; 'Nothing.'

'You were in the Al Bhed ship weren't you?' Yuna asked.

'Yes...' Lulu and Yuna both shivered, then had heard the explosion. To be trapped in a space barely bigger than yourself, underwater, with darkness all around, and then to have your metal vehicle collapse on you. Neither wanted to know what it was like.

'Who are you?' Lulu asked, ever the practical one.

'Rikku bein-Cid.' She replied. Yuna gasped.

'Cid is your father?' She asked.

'Yes.'

'The you're my...?' Rikku actually smiled at this.

'Yes...' Yuna sat back and looked at her.

'Why are you here? Why did you try to kidnap Yuna?' Lulu asked. Rikku looked across at her, begging her to understand.

'I don't want her to die! I want to protect her!'

'From who?' She asked.

'From Yevon!' She nearly shouted, and her throat burned, and she fell silent. Yuna looked at her, as if thinking, then she seemed to make up her mind. I can only imagine what it must have felt like, and you did it to try to protect me? All this, the scars, are because of me. Rikku, I'm sorry I did this to you.

'Rikku, there is another way to protect me you know...'

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'What'dya think they're talking about?' he asked Auron.

'That if their business, if we need to know, we will find out when they tell us.' he replied stoically. Just then Yuna walked out, and lulu walked out a few seconds later, looking noticeably even less cheerful, which was saying something. All eyes turned on them, and Tromell gestured towards the mansion, but Yuna raised her hand. Wait. the Guado merely nodded, understanding the unspoken command, and he walked away.

'I have decided... to make Rikku my Guardian...' She said. Tidus gasped. Auron merely looked resigned. Khimari showed nothing whatsoever.

'Are you sure?' Auron asked. Yuna nodded.

'Yes.'

'Fine.' Said Auron, and walked away towards Tromell.

'what happens now?' Asked Tidus. It was Lulu who replied.

'We wait. When Rikku recovers enough, we move on to the thunder plains.' She said. Tidus nodded, and walked off, following Auron and Tromell. Yuna followed. Lulu walked off, glancing back once to look at the in where the young girl stayed.

May Yevon send you rest girl. You're going to need it.

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What happens to me now? A guardian! Me, an Al Bhed1 This has gotta be a first! She smiled slightly at that. Pain shot through her body and she lay down on the bed.

What am I? What happens to me? Has this every happened to anyone before? As thoughts of death and rebirth ran through her mind, Rikku lay down and closed her eyes. She fell asleep almost at once. Falling asleep would never be a problem for her again. As she drifted off, she remembered Lulu's last words before she had woken out.

The wound in your heart... The metal spike, we couldn't take it out, it's too close, you'll have it 'till you die.

She fingered the wound as she drifted off. The events of the last two days. Dying, living again (How? She thought to herself), waking up among both old and new friends. She would carry the memories of this day with her forever. She felt over her chest and pressed down, ignoring the pain, and near her heart she felt a large shard of cold, unyielding metal.

She would also carry a more painful, physical reminder.

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Hmm. Expect less updates for this than for my other stories, I'm currently writing the Sequel to Diamond Dust right now, so I won't have much time to work on this. when I finish that, I'll really get stuck in to this one. ^_^