This is not going to be a Seyku if I can help it...
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Darkness Falls
Chapter 5: Metal and Lightning; Not Good Bedfellows!
Ten minutes later, Rikku was regretting her statement as lightning barely missed her for the tenth time. Tysh it! Why does this place have to be so flat? She ran along to the next tower. So far the entire thing was like a more deadly version of a relay race, the team running to one pole one after another, then gathering strength before running to the next one, and Fate help them if they got caught in a battle halfway across. Now she knew why all the fiends here were made of metal, bones, or could fly. At least they had some sense. She cringed as lightning struck the place where she had been standing a second ago, and ran under the next tower. She sat down, her back against the wall, ignoring the metal groove running down the side. She drew in a deep breath and sighed. Regardless of what Seymour had told her, she still felt as if she should keep up at least the pretence of life, and breathing was one of those things people noticed by its absence. She lay her head against the wall and was surprised to see that Khimari was already here, watching her. She gave a small wave, and the Ronso nodded slightly. She smiled, and closed her eyes again, trying to ignore the crashes of thunder around her while the others caught up. Then suddenly a voice broke her feeble attempts at relaxation.
'Beautiful isn't it?' Rikku looked around and saw an old man dressed in green standing next to her. She got up and slowly and, out of view of the person, withdrew her spiked glove from it's thigh-sheath.
'Who're you?' she asked curiously. The man looked slightly nonplussed.
'You travel with the Lady summoner, have you not heard of me?' he asked.
'Sorry pops, never seen you before,' she replied cheerfully. The man grunted slightly and drew himself up.
'I am the scholar Maechen, I travel Spira in the search for knowledge,' he said grandly, then turned to look out at the Thunder Plains. 'There is a story behind these towers, would you care to hear it?' Rikku shrugged, and nodded. The man seemed to like the sound of his own voice, and the others weren't here yet. Why did the damned towers have to be so far apart? She listened as Maechen told the tale of the man who had built the towers, and his scorched end at the largest tower, near the exit. 'Killed, by the very event that he was trying to prevent,' Maechen finished pompously.
'How ironic,' Rikku replied, seeing if he would catch the sarcasm. He didn't, and looked across behind Rikku.
'Your friends approach,' he said simply. Rikku inclined her head to see Yuna running full-pelt toward the tower she stood under.
Ran out of whatever it is those Null spells use for power cous? Rikku asked her silently. Yuna reached the tower and leaned against it, breathing heavily. 'You OK?' Rikku asked. It took Yuna about a minute to get her breath back and answer.
'Tidus keeps getting shocked,' she said, 'Wakka and Lulu are helping him across.' Yuna looked around. 'Where are Khimari and Sir Auron?' she asked, concern in her voice. Rikku jerked her thumb ahead, to the form of Auron waiting at the next tower, talking to Khimari. Rikku had hardly noticed them leave. Yuna narrowed her eyes slightly, and Rikku could almost see her thinking; How does he do that? Yuna turned as a voice spoke behind her.
'Sorry about dat. The boy got hit again,' Wakka said, approaching with Lulu, and a worried looking Tidus behind. 'I swear that hair conducts lightning or something.' Lulu giggled slightly, and Tidus looked annoyed.
'At least mine doesn't need a kilo of gel to keep it up,' he said.
'Hey! This is natural!' Wakka complained. Lulu shook her head.
'Boys? Could we go on now?' she said testily. Tidus and Wakka looked downtrodden.
'Yes ma'am,' they both said in unison. Rikku laughed, and they all looked at her.
'You seem all right for a girl who's terrified of this place,' Wakka said.
'I have you guys to take my mind off it,' she replied, and now it was Lulu's turn to laugh. She heard footsteps, and turned around to see Auron walking back towards them. He arrived without incident, and this time, all of them were wondering how he did it.
'We have no time for talk,' he said, 'we press on. Rikku, are you recovered?' he asked. She waved at him.
'Give me a few more minutes,' she said. Actually, she just needed to steel herself to leave the safety of the tower. Auron grunted, and gestured towards the others, they nodded, and one by one made a dash for the next tower, leaving Rikku alone with Auron.
'We will wait for you at the shop,' he said, and Rikku blinked. Somehow she had thought that they wouldn't stop there. She just nodded, and Auron walked off (How!? How does he walk through this place without any lightning coming near him?! she wondered), leaving Rikku alone under the tower. She looked back at the rapidly departing shaped of the others. They wouldn't have left her unless they knew she could take care of herself she knew, and she was grateful to Auron for leaving her to her own thoughts for a bit. She leaned back again, closed her eyes, and thought about what Seymour had told her.
He said the pain would get worse. That thing in Guadosalam was bad enough, but it gets worse!? The soul wants the mind to join it in death, does that mean I have no soul? He said he had seen other lost souls come and go. Am I the first one he's actually talked to? He seemed so... honest... And he helped me when Yuna sent that Guado back. What about the other unsent? Did they stay in Spira? Did they go back to the Farplane? Did they get killed by fiends? Wait a minute... A horrible thought occurred to Rikku. Fiends are people who aren't sent, and get angry at living people because they want to live.
I'm not sent!
Her train of thought would have continued down this road if it had been interrupted as lightning chose that exact moment to hit the tower. Lightning travels to the ground by taking the fastest route, through any surface that can conduct it. The bolt flashed through the air and hit the top of the tower Rikku was resting under. It immediately started to travel down the metal groove carved in the side. This wouldn't have mattered if Rikku hadn't been leaning against it. And lightning jumps. It saw a small piece of metal leading right to the ground, and it was even connected to a mass of water, which lightning loves, and it leapt the small gap between the groove and the shard of metal resting near the young girl's heart.
Rikku's eyes slammed open as the bolt ripped through her body on her way to the ground. Her back arched involuntarily and she gasped for breath as liquid fire travelled through her veins. As soon as it had arrived, it left, and Rikku collapsed back against the ground, eyes open and staring into space. She lay like that for more than five minutes until she gained control of her vocal functions again, and made use of them by screaming.
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Seymour smiled as he heard the girl's cry from the entrance to the thunder plains, and smiled slightly. He didn't like doing it, but he needed the girl to trust him. He was still a damned good Black Mage, and his Thunder spells were top notch, even over long distances. He put his staff back into his robes and began to walk towards the tower Rikku lay under, his shields protecting him from the errant lightning bolts.
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Rikku lay under the tower, hands bunched into fists, head pounding. She couldn't move, the pain had passed but the shock still remained. She tried to move her arms, but found they were shaking too hard to do anything more than scrabble in the dirt. She couldn't even relax them, much less make them support her weight. She tried anyway, and was rewarded with a stinging sensation as her palms hit the hard ground. She was about to scream again, when she heard a familiar voice calling her name. She raised her head and saw...
'Rikku!?' Seymour shouted, advancing on her position. He knew exactly where she was, but Rikku hadn't known that.
'Seymour?' she managed to croak. The Maester saw her and breathed a genuine sigh of relief.
Mabe using Thundaga was overdoing it. I only wanted to cripple her, not fry her skull. 'What happened?' he asked. Rikku's eyes glared at him in annoyance. What did he think had happened? Rampaging Iron Giant maybe? He kneeled down next to her and leaned her back up against the tower's side, this time well way from that evil little groove. 'I told you I would help you,' he whispered, and Rikku smiled. He had. She tried to speak, but he shushed her. 'Don't. Here, this will help,' he said, drawing his staff and touching her on the forehead. Immediately, white light surrounded her body, and Rikku felt healed. He was obviously much more advanced a mage than Yuna. Rikku heard a dull thumping noise, and turned slightly to see Auron running back to her. Alone. Seymour let go of her and stood.
'What happened?' Auron said without stopping. Seymour acknowledged the man and turned to face him.
'She was struck by lightning, I was making my way to Macalania and saw her here,' he said reasonably.
'Alone? Even a Maester doesn't walk alone through this place,' he said suspiciously. Seymour gestured behind him, and Auron turned to see two more Guado warriors running up to them.
'As you can see, I am faster than my guards. I merely got here first.' Auron stared at him for a few seconds, then turned to Rikku, now trying to stand.
'Can you walk?' he asked, ignoring all evidence to the contrary. Rikku glared at him, and Auron accepted the ridiculousness of his last question. 'Take my hand,' he said, and without waiting for a reply looped her arm over his shoulder and began walking off. He heard Seymour's voice and turned back.
'Sir Auron! Has Yuna decided?' he asked.
'She will tell you herself, when she is ready,' he replied simply, and walked off again, his strange ability to avoid lightning bolts serving them both well until they reached the inn.
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Seymour smiled at the departing forms of Rikku and Auron. Everything was going according to plan. She trusted him, he was sure of it. He turned to his guards 'Come, we must reach the temple before they do,' he said. They nodded, and began to lead the way towards Macalania. Rikku's 'accident' would delay the summoner's entourage just long enough, he guessed.
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Heads turned towards the door of the inn as Auron walked in, still supporting Rikku slightly. Tidus walked towards them, concern in his eyes. 'What happened?' he asked. Rikku waved the question off, but Auron decided to stick his foot in it.
'She got hit by lightning. There were complications,' he said. Rikku glared at him, but he didn't seem to notice. His eyes swept the room. 'Where is Yuna?' he asked. Tidus went red slightly.
'She's... erm,' he began.
'Sleeping,' Lulu finished for him. Rikku wriggled her arm free, and walked off to the direction of the rooms, only to be interrupted by the owner of the shop.
'I'm sorry girl, there are no more beds left,' he said apologetically. He shrugged, and Rikku knew better than to curse him. She walked slowly over to the softest-looking wall in the shop (which still wasn't saying much) and lay her head against it. She was asleep in seconds. It had been a long day.
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I'm gonna work on this fic for a while now, so don't expect massive delays like for the first three.
