[ fearless ]
Rain pounded against her, sticking grainy sand against soaked skin. 'It's the desert for Yevon's sake!' she thought, cursing a god she didn't even believe in. The sky was darkened and showed no sign of letting up on the relentless onslaught of rain. Involuntarily she shuddered; her conditions were starting to take their toll.
She sat down in the sand clutching her bare legs to her chest racking her brain. "Okay" she spoke to herself "I'm sure I can find out where I am somehow…" she sat a moment in silence disturbed only by the downpour. "Aha!" she exclaimed leaping to her feet, "I'll get to the top of a hill and then I'll be able to see where I'm going. Rikku, you're a genius!"
She found the tallest hill in close proximity and began climbing its sandy slope. She reached the peak of her miniscule mountain but before she could scour her surroundings a bolt of lightning flashed through the sky. Startled she jumped and as her weight shifted so did the sand beneath her boots sending her rolling forwards. Sprawled shivering on the desert floor she found herself looking up at another blonde al bhed youth. "Gippal, why are you out here?"
"I could ask you the same thing" he responded and she stood shrugging with a sheepish smile. "Scared?" he asked, and she knew he had seen her cowardly display.
"No" she lied. However, fate was not on her side that day, a large bolt of lightning crackled through the sky illuminating the desert. This was more than enough for Rikku to huddle back into a small ball on the ground, head tucked into her knees. "Maybe."
To her dismay, he laughed. "C'mon" he persuaded kneeling next to her "we'll get you back to home." She peaked from her hiding place and her eyes met his, hesitantly she stood.
"How did you get all the way out here? It's a half an hour trip, and that's with machine transportation" he gestured to his mode of transport, if she hadn't been in such a state of fear Rikku may have noticed it was extremely similar to the snow machines they had found while on Yuna's pilgrimage.
He mounted the forbidden machina adorned with a new name and she knew she was to do the same. Her arms wrapped tightly around his waist securing them both onboard. As they motored across the vast desert he could feel water once saturated in her skin soak through his clothes into his skin. "You must have been out there a long time" he sounded genuinely concerned, "you look like a drowned rat."
"You meanie!" she teased pounding one hand against his back and sticking out her tongue despite the fact his vision was occupied by the road ahead.
As they progressed so did the storm. Lightning danced through the sky lighting the dreary desert and she clutched tighter to Gippal, hoping he didn't notice.
A loud sputter could be heard moments before they came to an abrupt halt sending Rikku flying into Gippal and them both into the sand. "Ah, beala uv cred!" piece of shit! he swore loudly.
Rikku spat out a mouthful of sand, "note to self, don't scream when being hurled into giant mounds of sand."
"Hm, it's a long walk back…" Gippal began giving the broken machine a kick.
"You mean…we're going to keep going? In this storm? With the lightning?" she asked, growing quieter with each question.
"I'm open to any suggestions," he offered
"Well…we could…um...we could…" she struggled to find an alternative, anything to get out from this lightning even temporarily; "we could find a cave!" she jumped at the idea.
"You serious?" he asked behind a cocked eyebrow and she nodded eagerly.
"When I was little I explored all sorts of caves and such around here! There just has to be one by us!" she grabbed his arm and began pulling him behind her "c'mon, please" she pouted
"Well it'll be drier than roaming through this thunderstorm" he gave in.
Rikku let out a squeal of excitement and hugged the arm she was pulling catching him off guard. "Lets go!" she pumped her other fist into the air.
It seemed Rikku hadn't been exaggerating about exploring the area when she was younger because she hastily found a small cave embedded in a small mountain of rock.
The rain and lightning raged on but Rikku seemed a bit more content under to cover of their small hide away. She sat in a corner far from the mouth of the cave, shivering, teeth chattering, no longer from fear but from sheer coldness. Her hands were wrapped in her long scarf and legs pressed against her exposed stomach aiming for some sort of heat but it was impossible, she was soaked through and through.
Gippal sat close to her, "I'd just give you my coat but I don't have one" he joked
Shivering she could still feel her cheeks burn red as his side pressed against hers, "I-its too bad we don't have anything to burn, I could start a fire"' she avoided looking at him.
Strange. She was acting so oddly. Gippal shook off the notion, she's just cold right?
"Y'know you never did tell me what you were doing out there," he asked.
"Oh just wandering, you?" she replied, eyes focused intensely on the dirt beneath their feet. Why was she feeling this way? Gippal had always been around, someone to joke around with once in a while but she'd never felt quite this way before.
"Same" he replied quickly. They sat in silence, breaking it. It was maybe fifteen minutes before Rikku willed herself to look at him. He lay there, sleeping. His visible eye was shut tightly and his chest rose and fell in tune with her own breathing.
She gazed upon him in his peaceful sleep before laying her own head against his chest snuggling beside him. And much to her surprise he wrapped his arm around her she looked up and him and with his eyes shut, he was smiling.
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Author's notes: Yay I did it! *cheers* it's a happy story, go figure. I haven't actually beat ffx-2 yet so this just takes place basically whenever. I just sort of got the Idea because when they went to the thunder plains for the concert Rikku didn't seem very frightened so I wondered 'how'd that happen, I don't remember her getting over it really in FFX' and then this happened ^^ 3 zeki
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