Revelations for the team!

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Darkness Falls

Chapter 21: You're What?

Rikku dodged out of the way as the huge monster fell, neatly sidestepping it's tail as it crashed to the ground, eyes bloodied and shattered by the battle. She coughed and sat down on the floor, legs barely holding up from the curse that had been placed on most of them.

Yuna walked around the group, using all the medication and spells she dared to stop the group from collapsing around her. She sat at the battle out mostly, Aeons useless against the things hexes. She was trying to make up for it though. She was exhausting herself just running around the clearing where they sat.

Finally she approached Rikku and looked apologetic. Rikku stared at her for a few seconds, then figured it out.

"Sorry Rikku," Yuna said, out of holy water.

Rikku shrugged dismissively. "S'OK. Just as long as everyone is alright," she said breathlessly. Damn. Now she would have to live with this damn bad mood for the rest of the trip. Just great. Well, she was suffering from worse, every day. She gave a deep sigh and let her head droop; entirely happy to go to sleep there and then, Unfortunately Auron had other ideas.

Rikku felt a hand on her shoulder and she nearly screamed. Anticipating what the man was going to say she just stood up and got ready to move out.

"We rest on the borders of Zanarkand," Auron said, proving Rikku right.

"You have gotta be kiddin us ya!" Wakka exclaimed. "We just beat down that monster and now you want us to keep going?"

"Yes," Auron replied, and began to move along the mountainside. Rikku sighed in exasperation at the man and ran to catch up, adrenaline making up for what strength in her legs her lacked. When they got to Zanarkand she was going to collapse though. She saw him standing on a ledge overlooking something, and she ran to catch up with him. She opened her mouth to speak, but it just plain dropped open when she saw what he was looking at. Arranged below them was the Ancient Machine City Zanarkand.

Buildings lay broken and in ruins below her, roads and streets long since given over to decay and the elements. What beauty remained was in the higher buildings, ten-story towers with sharp peaks, seemingly the only things t survive destruction, and then still with scars. It was a damning sight, and depressing as the Farplane.

"It's so desolate," Lulu whispered behind her. Auron stayed quiet, just staring at the grim scene. Rikku lopped her hand into his, and he gripped back as if falling from a high building.

"Always the same," he whispered.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Nothing moves here anymore. This is Yunalesca's prison, and she will not allow change." There was a lesson in that, but its significance missed both of the figures standing over it.

Rikku heard a small gasp, and turned to see Yuna and Tidus standing together, hands also linked, staring out at the same scene, one looking at his broken and ruined home, the other staring at the place of her death. Rikku felt herself becoming angry. She was angry at Sin for causing all this, angry with Yevon for encouraging it, but most of all, angry at the world for believing it. She turned to Yuna. "You're not doing this," she said, voice calm, but seething on the inside.

Yuna turned to look at her. "What?" she said, not sure what she had heard.

"You can't throw your life away for this," Rikku said, indicating Zanarkand in particular and the entire Yevon theocracy in general.

Yuna blinked. Rikku's voice had an edge to it she had never heard before. Maybe it was just the effects of the curse. She really should have brought more holy water. "Rikku I have to," she said softly.

Rikku walked towards her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "No you don't!" she said, holding back tears. "There has to be another way!" She turned on Auron. "Why did you bring him here if there wasn't?" she asked, gesturing at Tidus. The boy swung around to look at them, suddenly drawn into something that hadn't seemed to involve him a second ago.

Auron turned to look at Rikku. "I brought him back here as a promise, nothing more," he said shortly, unwilling to say more, lest his real feelings escape. He had been through exactly the same speech with Braska and Jecht here, minus the bit about Tidus, obviously.

"I don't believe you people!" Rikku said, backing away. "You let one of your best friends die just because 'It Is Written'?"

"Rikku, calm down," Lulu said.

Rikku rounded on her. "No! I don't want to calm down! I want a second option!" she said.

"There isn't one," Yuna said, firmly but gently, and Rikku knew her argument was lost. She backed away from the others and went down the hill, walking towards the outskirts of the city. Yuna began to walk after her, but Auron put a hand on her shoulder and stopped her.

"Give her space," he said softly. "Let me talk to her."

Yuna just looked at Auron, then at where Rikku was disappearing into the distance, then at Auron again. She looked indecisive until Tidus wrapped his arm around her waist and nodded. She stopped pulling against them and sighed.

"It's best." Tidus said, as Auron walked down the mountain after the young Al Bhed. The others began walking also, but at a distance.

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Rikku walked down the mountain path in large strides, trying to get as far away from the others as possible. She knew Auron would follow her, but she had no wish to talk to him right now.

She stubbed her toe as she walked down, but hardly felt it, engrossed in her own angry thoughts. Everything was going wrong. Unsent, dead, unable to prevent her friend from committing state-encouraged suicide, and now she was… but that thought was to horrible to think about.

She reached the bottom and sat down on a rise in the hill, chin rested on her hands, silently weeping.

How did things turn out this way?

"I wish I had never me Yuna."

"Don't think that," Auron's voice said from in front of her.

Rikku looked up at him. "If I hadn't been in that craft, none of this would have happened," she said simply.

"Yuna would still die," Auron argued.

"But I wouldn't have been around to care!" Rikku said angrily. She felt Auron sit down next to her and she leaned in to him, accepting his comfort as he wrapped his arm around her.

"We would have missed you," Auron said.

"No you wouldn't, 'cuz you would never have met me in the first place," Rikku said through closed eyes.

"I would have missed you," Auron whispered.

"No, because…"

"Can a man not make any romantic and dramatic speeches anymore?" Auron butted in testily.

Rikku got up and stared at him. "Did you just make a joke?" she asked.

"Maybe," he said grudgingly.

"That's two! I'll make a human of you yet!" Rikku said cheekily. She wiped the tears from her eyes, with the help of Auron's jacket.

"Hey!" he said.

She quickly jumped up and ran from him before he could grab her. She stuck her tongue out at him, "Missed!" she said. Auron made to stand up and chase her, but looked over her shoulder and instantly flipped his internal switch from 'human' to 'cold emotionless legendary guardian'. Rikku sighed and turned around, seeing the others walk towards them. Wakka looked angry.

"We camp here for the night," Auron said, before anyone else could. Tidus looked relieved, and just sat down on the nearest clean stretch of ground. Yuna did likewise, as did Lulu, but Wakka seemed to have something to say. Auron noticed it to.

"Spit it out," the older guardian said.

Wakka seemed glad to have a forum for his worries, and instantly rounded on Rikku.

"You've been talking about us not caring. Well, we care! Just because we don't say anything, you think we're willing to let Yuna die ya? Well you're wrong! We love Yuna, and there's nothing that we wouldn't do, but she chose to do this, and she knows the risk, and… hey, are you listening?" he asked.

During the tirade, Rikku had picked up Wakka's discarded Blitzball and had begun to try and spin it on her finger. "I'm listening," she said, eyes on Wakka.

He shivered. She was doing it perfectly, with one hand. Freaky. He shrugged it aside and went on. "We tried to talk her out of it, but Yuna wouldn't listen, and if it's here choice we'll follow her to the ends of Spira and back if it's what she wants!" Wakka said. He then drew a deep breath.

Right, her turn. She threw the ball to Wakka, who raised his arms and caught it. "If you care so much why are you not trying to find another way? I haven't figured anything out yet, and neither has Tidus, but at least we're trying! Has Yevon brainwashed you so much that you can't even consider another option?"

Wakka threw the ball back and Rikku stumbled back as she caught it. The man threw hard. "Maybe the reason you haven't thought of another reason is because there isn't one! Maybe the Yevon way is the only way, and that's why people use it!" he said.

Rikku threw the ball back, the other watching the system. Whoever didn't have the ball seemed to be the one allowed to speak at that minute. It was like a public debate. "That doesn't mean you should stop trying! Sin just comes back, and if anyone had bothered to investigate then I bet someone would have found a way now!"

He threw the ball to her. "You got no proof! Yevon's way has worked for centuries! Why change what works?" he threw it back.

"How many high summoners are there? Four? In centuries, it only worked four times? How many people died trying to fight for something that would have only killed them anyway and not worked in the long run? Summoners might as well shoot themselves in the head and save themselves the journey!" She threw the Blitzball. The others just looked on. No-one tried to interfere.

Wakka caught it. "What do know about sacrifice? You Al Bhed always go on about the wonders of machine, but you never cam up with an alternative to the Final Aeon! You talk about them dying, but what do you know about dying for a cause?"

She threw the ball, and her eye narrowed. The temperature in the clearing dropped several degrees. "More than you do," she said, and something in her voice made the others focus on her, and the scar down her body. Tidus remembered their first meeting, on a blood-soaked beach by the Moonflow.

Wakka threw it back. "Then tell us ya? What do you know about it, Al Bhed, that makes you such an expert on death?"

She caught it, and this time only prepared to throw it. She didn't raise her voice, but spoke the next sentence calmly and without hurry.

"Because I'm dead." She threw the ball.

Wakka didn't catch it. For a second he looked like he hadn't believed what he heard. Instantly everyone's heads except for Auron's snapped up and stared at her in disbelief. The only noise in the clearing was the Blitzball as it fell to the floor and rolled away, making a metallic noise that was deafening in the silence that surrounded the blonde Al Bhed and the orange-haired Blitzer.

"What?" Wakka said.

"I'm already dead," Rikku repeated simply. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to find Yuna staring into her eyes.

"This is a joke right?" the summoner said.

Rikku shook her head slowly. "I'm an unsent."

Yuna jerked back as if physically struck. The had thought she was dead before, but this… and they never suspected… Though now it seemed obvious. Talking fiends, talking to fiends, it was so obvious.

Lulu sat at the edge of the clearing, eyes closed, thinking. She looked up at the Al Bhed. "When?" she asked.

Rikku turned to her. "Does it matter?" she asked softly.

"It matters to me!" Wakka said, a look of panic on his face. Rikku knew what he was thinking, and she stopped it before it consumed him with guilt.

"In Bevelle, when I went missing. I woke up and I just knew…" she said. Wakka risibly relaxed. Rikku looked to her left, and saw that Tidus had done the same. She heard sobbing and turned to see Yuna crying. She went over to her. "Don't cry Yunie, it's OK," she said, trying to comfort her. "I'm OK, really."

"No you're not!" Yuna said through tears. "Why didn't you tell us?" she nearly screamed at her. Rikku hugged her, and felt tears fall onto her shoulder. "Why not…?"

"Because I was afraid," Rikku said, truthfully.

"You never had to be," Yuna said softly.

Rikku felt tears run from her eyes and wiped them away with the bottom of her t-shirt. She felt as if a burden had been lifted from her back. She looked across the clearing, seeing the looks on the others faces. "Guys…" she started, then her words caught in her throat, and she couldn't go on. Something gently pushed Yuna aside, and Rikku felt strong hands guide her to a nearby rock. She didn't complain as Auron sat down next to her, she just put her head in her lap and fell asleep within seconds.

The others looked at each other and Rikku, each thinking more or less the same thing: What do we do now? Did they carry on as normal? No-one knew what do to. In their souls they knew that Rikku was still Rikku, but their minds told them something else branded into them by centuries of Yevon teachings. Except for Tidus.

"So what's the big deal?" he asked. The others looked around at him as if he was deaf.

"Did you even hear what she just said?" Wakka asked incredulously.

"Yep. So?" Tidus went on. Yuna stared up at him first in confusion, then love as she realised that he really didn't care about the girl's condition.

"What do we do with her?" Wakka asked.

"Think about what you're going to say before you open your mouth next time," Auron said, cradling Rikku's head in his lap and staring at Wakka dangerously.

He got the hint instantly. "But what if she turns into a fiend? You do remember the cavern don't you?"

"Yes, we do," Lulu said.

"Then what if she…"

"She will not," Auron hissed at him. Wakka closed his big mouth. That was the first time any of them had seen him really lose his temper. "I will make sure of it," Auron finished. "Now, I think we all need some sleep, we have a long day tomorrow, especially you Yuna," he said, and closed his eyes. Wakka's face said that the argument wasn't over yet, but he didn't try to push his luck. One by one, the group fell asleep, lying under the eternal shadow of Zanarkand.

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Rikku yawned and stretched her arms. Funny, I had the weirdest dream…

Her eyes slammed open and she stood up, looking around at the others.

"Morning Rikku," Tidus said, also yawning.

"Erm Tidus?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"Did we have an almighty argument last night and I said something about me?" she asked.

"Yup!" he said cheerfully.

Rikku groaned and sank back into her pillow, which promptly stood up and shoved her off. "Hey!" she said as Auron stood, and nearly sent her falling to the floor.

"My apologises," he said, making no secret of the fact that he had meant to do it.

"Meanie!" she said. She sighed and shook her head clear. "Tell me I didn't tell everyone I was unsent last night?" she pleaded with him.

"You didn't tell everyone you were unsent last night," Auron replied.

"Did I?" she asked.

"Yes."

She growled at him and punched him on the shoulder. "Don't do that" For just a second there I thought… forget it. Lets go," she said.

The others were already waiting for the two. As the group walked to Zanarkand, and the end of their journey, Auron grabbed Rikku and waited until the others were out of earshot.

"Why didn't you tell Wakka and Tidus…"

"That it was their fault?" Rikku finished for him. She waved her hand in his direction. "Look at us, we're barely hanging on to what cheer we have left, I couldn't to that to them." She turned to look at Auron.

"They must never know. Never."

Auron hesitated, the nodded, and the two linked hands, walking towards Zanarkand, and the end of their journey.

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Ahhh, another chapter, another… erm… help me out here guys!