AUTHORS NOTE: I'm kinda surprised how quickly I'm managing to bring these chapters out! *pettles self* ^.^
Thankies time!
Ruki The Sake Fairy - Haven't heard from you in a while! *pokes* but thanks for reviewing again! ^.^
Rinny Leonhart / Rikku - Hmm, you'de think Auron and Rikku would get mushy down in that chasm.. but i dunno.. hmm ^.^
Era Yachi - *blush* You really like my ficcy that much? I'm flattered! *hug* ^___^ As if I'd kill off the two main characters in the first 5th of the story! XD Shame on you! ^.^ Do you THINK someone should be killed off? *ponders* Heehee, kidding o'course.
MeowMix - Damn, it's getting really hard to think of original comments to say here! XD So I'll just stick with a big friendly THANKS! XD
Blurry - Do i deliver or what?! ^.^ Ok, so it was a large amount of 'every few hours', but I did my best - hope you like the result!
AFTERMATH: Chaotic Wind - *Watches Aftermath lying on the floor unconcious after hyper-ventilating* Hmm, you should calm down! *pettles* And dear me! You thought Auron and Rikku were gunna be dead too?! XD This is quite humorous - I doubt I could find the same delight writing about just Braska and Jecht and the pilgrimage after the deaths of Auron and Rikku! Excitement overload! (that was sarcasm! Dah! XD). Anyway, thanks once again for all your kind words! I'm really happy that you feel inspired to write your own ficcy, although I have no doubt that you could easily make it as good as this - if not better! Have some faith in your writing! Look forward to reading your work!
DracusXero - heeeey, don't worry ok? I wasn't having a go at you with my last comment to you! I myself am looking forward to writing the 'zesty' scenes between A & R! XD I just find it fun to describe all that! ^.^ But yeh, the storyline and building of it takes priority - I can't ignore that. Anyway, just know it WILL come, okay? ^.^ *hugs*
Orrite! Now read and enjoy/fall asleep! ^.^ Ja w/ mwah's! -Berry x
***********************************************************************
The Power of Change
A Rikku and Auron romance
***********************************************************************
Chapter Nineteen: 'Unsure Outcome'
***********************************************************************
Stay in the rain
so that I think of you
and disappear into the stridently hitting sound of the rain
nostalgia of your warmth
will it likely be forgotten?
With the rain
Rain
days of gazing at each other smiling
already in recollection
still it rains
the tenderness that fell from the middle of my hand
even if I try to look, even if it is still somewhere
it will only leave me painfully wanting to escape
Stay in the rain
so I think of you
only the painful love that holds on tight
flows within my heart right now
is it likely to break
with the rain?
~"Stay in the Rain" by Klaha (translation)~
***********************************************************************
Rikku awoke from darkness with a shivering gasp. Although momentarily dazed and disorientated, the trapped air that seemed to wrap the whole chasm in a veil of iciness soon brought her to the present.
She remembered her desperation at not being able to save Auron when he initially fell, how her mind had been trapped in a cage of shocking disbelief. She'd just reached and reached - grasping nothing but thin air all the while. Then the ground of which she lay had caved in - and she'd plunged to the same fate as the dark guardian. Before she'd met the floor of the precipice the screams that where ripped from her throat where so alien to her own ears that she failed to realize it was her. The wind that ripped past as she fell - clawing at her fine blonde hair with its icy grip - wove such a powerful spell over her body that she simply had no control. She'd blacked out in mid flight.
Now as Rikku shifted into a less awkward position where she lay, she felt all manner of aches and pains emanating from various parts of her body - causing the Al Bhed to intake small portions of the surrounding icy air through clenched teeth. She felt terrible.
Strangely though, as she once again settled - feeling relief as the aching slowly dulled - Rikku came to notice that the spot on which she sat was strangely soft for a chasm floor. She guessed that she hadn't noticed sooner due to the terrible fatigue she was suffering - it had a way of clouding her perception - but now that she had she took the risk of irritating her injuries further to turn and stare at what she was sitting on.
A red coat.
No, a red coat attached to a pair of legs.
Rikku gasped, ignoring her discomfort as she rolled to the side and viewed Auron's sprawling figure on which she'd lain.
"Oh... oh kucr!*" she whispered in shock, realizing that she must have landed on him when she'd fallen.
His eyelids where shut tight, his mouth closed and his face horribly pale.
"Oh no! Auron? Wake up!" She shook him gently by the shoulders, but received no response. "Come on, please, don't leave me here all alone!"
Strangely, the air in the chasm - which until now had lain stale and dormant around her - suddenly picked up into a rush of icy wind that left Rikku weak and wracked with endless shivering.
The gentle shaking of Auron's shoulders turned more intense as her desperation began to show, and when that still would not work, she took to pattering his face roughly with her stiff fingers.
"Come on! PLEASE... wake up already!! I don't want to die down here!!"
Then a thought occurred to her. What if... what if Auron wasn't responding because he was...
"NO!" She forced that horrifying possibility out of her head with a violent shake of her head, crawling closer to the dark guardian's unmoving bulk and wrapping her slender arms around him.
"You can't die you big oaf!" she cursed weakly, luke-warm tears dribbling down her face as she wrestled with keeping the tide of emotions that washed over her at bay. "You can't just leave me to live without you..."
Her small frame was wracked with endless sobs as she buried her face in the damp material of Auron's shoulder - unable to stop the pain she was feeling in her heart.
"I can't lose you again... I just can't -- I-I won't! Please... I don't want to lose you again... not again..."
A few hours passed by as she sat there, huddled against Auron and praying for his life. Tears that had once fallen against the hard, unyielding chasm floor having long since hardened into tiny crystalline deposits on her pale cheeks.
The temperate was steadily dropping as nightfall approached, and there was nothing the little Al Bhed could do but press closer against the dark guardian and hope above all hopes that things wouldn't end like this.
She knew that Braska and Jecht would never have abandoned herself and Auron - no matter how high the risk of them being found too late to be saved - but she had no contact with them whatsoever. A number of times she'd gathered together precious reserves of her energy to cast a desperate plea towards the chasm's skyward maw - but the call was so faint that it was whipped away in the passing draughts of air before it had even reached up halfway.
It was only as Rikku felt fatigue tighten its grip on her that she decided action had to be taken. If she stayed like she was then neither she nor Auron stood a chance at surviving.
Climbing shakily to her feet, the Al Bhed stood a moment to steady herself before leaning down towards the dark guardian's still figure. After strapping her Kaiser Knuckles to her hand Rikku began steadily hacking at the icy floor by his side- eventually satisfied when two rough indentations had formed there. Then, taking hold of one Auron's arms and wedging both heels into the footholds she'd created, she leaned back with all her weight and hung on.
At first not much happened - Rikku just lent there straining against the dark guardian's considerable balk for a time, fingers aching from the strain - but then slowly she was met with success, feeling her body slipping a little lower as Auron's lifted off the ground.
Suddenly she heard a low groan escape his lips, followed by a rasping whisper.
"L-leg."
Rikku nearly dropped him in her sudden over joy at finding he was indeed still alive, as she'd hoped, but at the last minute slowly lowered Auron back to the ground. She came to kneel next to him and wiped some strands of hair from his face. "Auron! You're okay!"
He wheezed a little and finally cracked open an eye. What Rikku saw as she peered up at him was a look of serious pain.
"You're hurt?" her stomach clenched as she spoke the words.
Auron slowly shifted to look down at the lower half of his body. "...My leg."
Following his darkly pained gaze, the little Al Bhed stifled a gasp.
The lower half of Auron's left leg was twisted at an unnatural angle from the rest of his body. She knew immediately what had happened.
"It's broken! Oh... I'm so sorry!" Rikku spoke, feeling terrible for causing him what must have been excruciating pain when she'd tried to lift him moments earlier. She hadn't inspected him closely enough to notice at the time - all she'd thought about was getting him out of that same position so he wouldn't freeze over as nighttime approached.
"Forget it." Auron rasped, his lidded eyes scanning her face quickly. "Are you hurt?"
"No, I mean… only a few aches and pains - nothing serious."
The dark guardian nodded, staring off into the distance for a moment. "Yevon, we've gotten ourselves into a real predicament."
Rikku's eyes had begun to overflow with fresh tears, and without warning she lent forward and wrapped her arms around Auron's shoulders - embracing him tightly. "I'm so glad that you're okay! I was so worried!!"
In response, the guardian merely wrapped one arm around her and patted her back. "Save your tears," he instructed quietly - a gentle smile crossing his serious features, "You'll need that energy to get out of here - Becoming emotional will merely sap it."
"You're right, as always." Rikku smiled with admiration up at Auron - it was amazing that even in their current desperate situation he still managed to stay level headed and calm, as if things really weren't as bad as they looked. "So what should we do?"
"You'd best try and eat a little for the moment. I'll think of something."
Pulling a small satchel of emergency rations from the items pouch strapped against her hip, she dug around in it and came out with some bags of dried fruit. "Hmm, these will do. Oh! Say, you're carrying that little oil lamp aren't you!"
Auron raised an eyebrow down at where Rikku sat beaming at him. "Yes, and?"
"We can light it and get warm and--"
"Not a good idea."
"Why not?!" She pouted with annoyance. "I thought it was perfectly brilliant one."
"Yes. So brilliant that it could cause some of the ice above us to melt and drop down upon us."
"...Oh." Rikku blushed crimson. "I didn't think of that."
Shrugging it off, Auron stared down at the food rations. "You have instant coffee too, correct?"
"Yes but..." she made a disgusted face, "I can't stand coff--"
"Rikku, I think the situation goes beyond what your palate does or doesn't agree with. You'll need the caffeine to stay awake - we can't afford to drop off at a time like this," he lectured.
She nodded weakly, but secretly was grateful that Auron was taking charge over them both - Rikku felt safe when he did that. It seemed that although the difference between their ages was so very minimal, in survival-knowledge Auron far exceeded her - despite her (secret) veteran status when it came to pilgrimages.
"Here, have an apricot." Rikku stated, poking some of the dried fruit against Auron's tightly-shut lips. He looked at her strangely.
"You couldn't just hand me it?" he chuckled, finally accepting the morsel she held.
"I prefer the direct approach."
"So I noticed," He mumbled, with a roll of his eyes. Rikku stared as she passed him the full bag.
"What's THAT supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. Never mind. Eat your fruit."
Rikku pouted - feeling like a little kid who was being dictated by a parent - but she shrugged it off with a sigh. Eventually her eyes found their way back down to Auron's crippled leg and she began to worry. "What are we going to do about your leg?"
"Nothing at the moment."
"Doesn't it hurt though?"
"That's currently irrelevant, I'm thinking of more important things."
Rikku had finished the dried food, leaving her with the prospect of somehow gulping down the cold, gluggy instant coffee that Auron had requested of her.
Sigh. The things I do for love! ...Oh yeh... and survival!
It tasted even worse then it looked, and she fought back the urge to hurl several times - much to Auron's amusement.
"Why are you smiling at me? It's not funny!" she protested, her face taking on another grossed-out expression.
"Of course not. Not funny at all." He grinned and patted her on the shoulder - which brought Rikku upon an idea.
"Hmm, well, seeing as I'm drinking this disgusting beverage - I don't see why you can't as well!"
Auron shrugged, accepting the cup she offered him and raising it to his lips. For a moment he smiled down at her as if he'd won some sort of little victory - but then ever so slowly the guardian's face turned an interesting shade of green. He spluttered the foul liquid onto the floor some distance away.
"Ah-HA!! See?!" Rikku gloated, grinning madly.
"Did it always taste this bad??" Auron gaped, staring down at the cup as if it were some alien substance.
"Yep, ever since I can remember! Oh! And you have to finish it off too." She smiled - her first little victory of the day.
Auron's face just paled a few shades. Sighing, he accepted the order and drooped his head. "I pity myself."
***********************************************************************
AL BHED TRANSLATIONS AND PRONUNCIATIONS:
----------------------------------------------------------
*kucr! (kukoo-ku-ra!) = gosh!
***********************************************************************
©Erica Runge, 30th of July, 2003. All characters, etc ©Squaresoft and FFX. ©Klaha.
Thankies time!
Ruki The Sake Fairy - Haven't heard from you in a while! *pokes* but thanks for reviewing again! ^.^
Rinny Leonhart / Rikku - Hmm, you'de think Auron and Rikku would get mushy down in that chasm.. but i dunno.. hmm ^.^
Era Yachi - *blush* You really like my ficcy that much? I'm flattered! *hug* ^___^ As if I'd kill off the two main characters in the first 5th of the story! XD Shame on you! ^.^ Do you THINK someone should be killed off? *ponders* Heehee, kidding o'course.
MeowMix - Damn, it's getting really hard to think of original comments to say here! XD So I'll just stick with a big friendly THANKS! XD
Blurry - Do i deliver or what?! ^.^ Ok, so it was a large amount of 'every few hours', but I did my best - hope you like the result!
AFTERMATH: Chaotic Wind - *Watches Aftermath lying on the floor unconcious after hyper-ventilating* Hmm, you should calm down! *pettles* And dear me! You thought Auron and Rikku were gunna be dead too?! XD This is quite humorous - I doubt I could find the same delight writing about just Braska and Jecht and the pilgrimage after the deaths of Auron and Rikku! Excitement overload! (that was sarcasm! Dah! XD). Anyway, thanks once again for all your kind words! I'm really happy that you feel inspired to write your own ficcy, although I have no doubt that you could easily make it as good as this - if not better! Have some faith in your writing! Look forward to reading your work!
DracusXero - heeeey, don't worry ok? I wasn't having a go at you with my last comment to you! I myself am looking forward to writing the 'zesty' scenes between A & R! XD I just find it fun to describe all that! ^.^ But yeh, the storyline and building of it takes priority - I can't ignore that. Anyway, just know it WILL come, okay? ^.^ *hugs*
Orrite! Now read and enjoy/fall asleep! ^.^ Ja w/ mwah's! -Berry x
***********************************************************************
The Power of Change
A Rikku and Auron romance
***********************************************************************
Chapter Nineteen: 'Unsure Outcome'
***********************************************************************
Stay in the rain
so that I think of you
and disappear into the stridently hitting sound of the rain
nostalgia of your warmth
will it likely be forgotten?
With the rain
Rain
days of gazing at each other smiling
already in recollection
still it rains
the tenderness that fell from the middle of my hand
even if I try to look, even if it is still somewhere
it will only leave me painfully wanting to escape
Stay in the rain
so I think of you
only the painful love that holds on tight
flows within my heart right now
is it likely to break
with the rain?
~"Stay in the Rain" by Klaha (translation)~
***********************************************************************
Rikku awoke from darkness with a shivering gasp. Although momentarily dazed and disorientated, the trapped air that seemed to wrap the whole chasm in a veil of iciness soon brought her to the present.
She remembered her desperation at not being able to save Auron when he initially fell, how her mind had been trapped in a cage of shocking disbelief. She'd just reached and reached - grasping nothing but thin air all the while. Then the ground of which she lay had caved in - and she'd plunged to the same fate as the dark guardian. Before she'd met the floor of the precipice the screams that where ripped from her throat where so alien to her own ears that she failed to realize it was her. The wind that ripped past as she fell - clawing at her fine blonde hair with its icy grip - wove such a powerful spell over her body that she simply had no control. She'd blacked out in mid flight.
Now as Rikku shifted into a less awkward position where she lay, she felt all manner of aches and pains emanating from various parts of her body - causing the Al Bhed to intake small portions of the surrounding icy air through clenched teeth. She felt terrible.
Strangely though, as she once again settled - feeling relief as the aching slowly dulled - Rikku came to notice that the spot on which she sat was strangely soft for a chasm floor. She guessed that she hadn't noticed sooner due to the terrible fatigue she was suffering - it had a way of clouding her perception - but now that she had she took the risk of irritating her injuries further to turn and stare at what she was sitting on.
A red coat.
No, a red coat attached to a pair of legs.
Rikku gasped, ignoring her discomfort as she rolled to the side and viewed Auron's sprawling figure on which she'd lain.
"Oh... oh kucr!*" she whispered in shock, realizing that she must have landed on him when she'd fallen.
His eyelids where shut tight, his mouth closed and his face horribly pale.
"Oh no! Auron? Wake up!" She shook him gently by the shoulders, but received no response. "Come on, please, don't leave me here all alone!"
Strangely, the air in the chasm - which until now had lain stale and dormant around her - suddenly picked up into a rush of icy wind that left Rikku weak and wracked with endless shivering.
The gentle shaking of Auron's shoulders turned more intense as her desperation began to show, and when that still would not work, she took to pattering his face roughly with her stiff fingers.
"Come on! PLEASE... wake up already!! I don't want to die down here!!"
Then a thought occurred to her. What if... what if Auron wasn't responding because he was...
"NO!" She forced that horrifying possibility out of her head with a violent shake of her head, crawling closer to the dark guardian's unmoving bulk and wrapping her slender arms around him.
"You can't die you big oaf!" she cursed weakly, luke-warm tears dribbling down her face as she wrestled with keeping the tide of emotions that washed over her at bay. "You can't just leave me to live without you..."
Her small frame was wracked with endless sobs as she buried her face in the damp material of Auron's shoulder - unable to stop the pain she was feeling in her heart.
"I can't lose you again... I just can't -- I-I won't! Please... I don't want to lose you again... not again..."
A few hours passed by as she sat there, huddled against Auron and praying for his life. Tears that had once fallen against the hard, unyielding chasm floor having long since hardened into tiny crystalline deposits on her pale cheeks.
The temperate was steadily dropping as nightfall approached, and there was nothing the little Al Bhed could do but press closer against the dark guardian and hope above all hopes that things wouldn't end like this.
She knew that Braska and Jecht would never have abandoned herself and Auron - no matter how high the risk of them being found too late to be saved - but she had no contact with them whatsoever. A number of times she'd gathered together precious reserves of her energy to cast a desperate plea towards the chasm's skyward maw - but the call was so faint that it was whipped away in the passing draughts of air before it had even reached up halfway.
It was only as Rikku felt fatigue tighten its grip on her that she decided action had to be taken. If she stayed like she was then neither she nor Auron stood a chance at surviving.
Climbing shakily to her feet, the Al Bhed stood a moment to steady herself before leaning down towards the dark guardian's still figure. After strapping her Kaiser Knuckles to her hand Rikku began steadily hacking at the icy floor by his side- eventually satisfied when two rough indentations had formed there. Then, taking hold of one Auron's arms and wedging both heels into the footholds she'd created, she leaned back with all her weight and hung on.
At first not much happened - Rikku just lent there straining against the dark guardian's considerable balk for a time, fingers aching from the strain - but then slowly she was met with success, feeling her body slipping a little lower as Auron's lifted off the ground.
Suddenly she heard a low groan escape his lips, followed by a rasping whisper.
"L-leg."
Rikku nearly dropped him in her sudden over joy at finding he was indeed still alive, as she'd hoped, but at the last minute slowly lowered Auron back to the ground. She came to kneel next to him and wiped some strands of hair from his face. "Auron! You're okay!"
He wheezed a little and finally cracked open an eye. What Rikku saw as she peered up at him was a look of serious pain.
"You're hurt?" her stomach clenched as she spoke the words.
Auron slowly shifted to look down at the lower half of his body. "...My leg."
Following his darkly pained gaze, the little Al Bhed stifled a gasp.
The lower half of Auron's left leg was twisted at an unnatural angle from the rest of his body. She knew immediately what had happened.
"It's broken! Oh... I'm so sorry!" Rikku spoke, feeling terrible for causing him what must have been excruciating pain when she'd tried to lift him moments earlier. She hadn't inspected him closely enough to notice at the time - all she'd thought about was getting him out of that same position so he wouldn't freeze over as nighttime approached.
"Forget it." Auron rasped, his lidded eyes scanning her face quickly. "Are you hurt?"
"No, I mean… only a few aches and pains - nothing serious."
The dark guardian nodded, staring off into the distance for a moment. "Yevon, we've gotten ourselves into a real predicament."
Rikku's eyes had begun to overflow with fresh tears, and without warning she lent forward and wrapped her arms around Auron's shoulders - embracing him tightly. "I'm so glad that you're okay! I was so worried!!"
In response, the guardian merely wrapped one arm around her and patted her back. "Save your tears," he instructed quietly - a gentle smile crossing his serious features, "You'll need that energy to get out of here - Becoming emotional will merely sap it."
"You're right, as always." Rikku smiled with admiration up at Auron - it was amazing that even in their current desperate situation he still managed to stay level headed and calm, as if things really weren't as bad as they looked. "So what should we do?"
"You'd best try and eat a little for the moment. I'll think of something."
Pulling a small satchel of emergency rations from the items pouch strapped against her hip, she dug around in it and came out with some bags of dried fruit. "Hmm, these will do. Oh! Say, you're carrying that little oil lamp aren't you!"
Auron raised an eyebrow down at where Rikku sat beaming at him. "Yes, and?"
"We can light it and get warm and--"
"Not a good idea."
"Why not?!" She pouted with annoyance. "I thought it was perfectly brilliant one."
"Yes. So brilliant that it could cause some of the ice above us to melt and drop down upon us."
"...Oh." Rikku blushed crimson. "I didn't think of that."
Shrugging it off, Auron stared down at the food rations. "You have instant coffee too, correct?"
"Yes but..." she made a disgusted face, "I can't stand coff--"
"Rikku, I think the situation goes beyond what your palate does or doesn't agree with. You'll need the caffeine to stay awake - we can't afford to drop off at a time like this," he lectured.
She nodded weakly, but secretly was grateful that Auron was taking charge over them both - Rikku felt safe when he did that. It seemed that although the difference between their ages was so very minimal, in survival-knowledge Auron far exceeded her - despite her (secret) veteran status when it came to pilgrimages.
"Here, have an apricot." Rikku stated, poking some of the dried fruit against Auron's tightly-shut lips. He looked at her strangely.
"You couldn't just hand me it?" he chuckled, finally accepting the morsel she held.
"I prefer the direct approach."
"So I noticed," He mumbled, with a roll of his eyes. Rikku stared as she passed him the full bag.
"What's THAT supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. Never mind. Eat your fruit."
Rikku pouted - feeling like a little kid who was being dictated by a parent - but she shrugged it off with a sigh. Eventually her eyes found their way back down to Auron's crippled leg and she began to worry. "What are we going to do about your leg?"
"Nothing at the moment."
"Doesn't it hurt though?"
"That's currently irrelevant, I'm thinking of more important things."
Rikku had finished the dried food, leaving her with the prospect of somehow gulping down the cold, gluggy instant coffee that Auron had requested of her.
Sigh. The things I do for love! ...Oh yeh... and survival!
It tasted even worse then it looked, and she fought back the urge to hurl several times - much to Auron's amusement.
"Why are you smiling at me? It's not funny!" she protested, her face taking on another grossed-out expression.
"Of course not. Not funny at all." He grinned and patted her on the shoulder - which brought Rikku upon an idea.
"Hmm, well, seeing as I'm drinking this disgusting beverage - I don't see why you can't as well!"
Auron shrugged, accepting the cup she offered him and raising it to his lips. For a moment he smiled down at her as if he'd won some sort of little victory - but then ever so slowly the guardian's face turned an interesting shade of green. He spluttered the foul liquid onto the floor some distance away.
"Ah-HA!! See?!" Rikku gloated, grinning madly.
"Did it always taste this bad??" Auron gaped, staring down at the cup as if it were some alien substance.
"Yep, ever since I can remember! Oh! And you have to finish it off too." She smiled - her first little victory of the day.
Auron's face just paled a few shades. Sighing, he accepted the order and drooped his head. "I pity myself."
***********************************************************************
AL BHED TRANSLATIONS AND PRONUNCIATIONS:
----------------------------------------------------------
*kucr! (kukoo-ku-ra!) = gosh!
***********************************************************************
©Erica Runge, 30th of July, 2003. All characters, etc ©Squaresoft and FFX. ©Klaha.