Disclaimer: I own none of the characters. Wish I did, but I don't. My friend and I shipped Rikku and Auron through the majority of FFX, and then when I got my hands on the new Official Playstation Magazine, where it shows the girls' costumes for FFX-2, inspiration struck. In Warrior dress, Yuna carries Brotherhood, the sword that Wakka gave to Tidus. Rikku carries a sword that looks suspiciously like one of Auron's blades. And the bunny was born. It's not as funny as the tagline makes it seem.

Dead Men Tell No Tales

"it's love. it's fate. woot."

I still can't accept that it happened. That he's gone, not coming back. I can't accept that any more than Yuna can accept that Tidus is gone.

I know it seems odd. But really, I didn't know that he was an Unsent. Older than me, strong, tough. He knew what he was doing.

And then…

I dream about the day that we beat Sin. Clear as my memory, I see Yuna start the Sending. And…

"NO!"

I sigh, sliding from the bunk and running along the hallway, onto the deck of the ship. The sun is just barely peeking over the horizon, spilling onto the water and lighting it like jewels. It's cold as I dive in, slicing beneath the surface and propelling myself down.

The bottom here is littered with debris from the battle. I've been here three days, looking for anything salvageable. So far, I've found nothing, but it's still a beautiful place, drowning in memory and pain, as well as triumph.

I swim down until my fingertips brush the sandy bottom. Something sharp cuts into my fingers, and I lift my fingers, watching blood trail away into the water. I move, brush dirt away from the metal.

The air rushes out of my lungs, and I have to propel myself back to the surface. The sun hits my face, and I throw my braids back, taking a deep breath. I couldn't have seen what I think I've seen. That blade, that sword, went to the Farplane with him. I take another breath and force myself to go back to it, following the dissipating trail of my own blood through the water and back to where the dirt of the bottom is stirred and murky.

I lift the sword from the dirt, swimming back to the top. The sun glints off the metal and I feel like my lungs are collapsing inside my chest. I swim to the ladder up the side of the ship, but I don't have the strength even to pull myself up.

I'm still floating in the water when my brother appears at the rail, and looks down.

"Rikku," he calls. I look up, the sun shining bright now, up from the horizon. He asks me if I'm coming up.

"No," I whisper, but I lift myself up the ladder and onto the ship.

"What's that," he asks me, in our own language.

I don't answer him. I can't. I don't want to put a name to it, say the words. Brother, wisely, says nothing else.

I take it to my cabin, and I carefully clear away nearly two years of accumulated barnacles and mud. I can hear the blood rushing through my body the entire time, barely breathing.

When the tears start splashing down onto the blade, I know that it is time to put it away.

I hid it away and cast it from my mind until Kimahri gave me the sphere. I took it out then, lifting it and running my fingers along the smooth flat of the blade. I think I made a decision then, if I couldn't have what I desired so much, I might help Yuna.

I took the sphere to her. I talked her into going on this quest, to find Tidus. I didn't show her the sword, not yet.

We began finding the dress spheres. So powerful, and when they were used…

I took up his blade, and I continued on, protecting my cousin.

He's not coming back, so I have to go on.

Dead men tell no tales, blind men don't lie, and sometimes, the only thing a girl has to hold onto is a memory.