Disclaimer: You know the drill by now, I don't claim to own anything, but Auron owns my heart totally! Sorry, I had to say that, well, hope you like the next chapter!
Chapter 3: Near Macalania Temple
Finally being out of the Macalania Woods wasn't very pleasing to Rikku, they were now walking through knee-deep snow. She silently cursed herself for not being smart enough to keep at least one pair of pants and a sweater with her. If she could have looked, she knew that she'd have had blue lips by now. It seemed that the rest of the group wasn't even bothered by the coldness of the area. But since they all had coats or heavy clothing on, she guessed that it didn't matter very much that they were in almost waist deep snow. Then to her surprise, they came upon one of Rin's travel agencies. Inside she was jumping with joy, but she couldn't jump at the moment, she was too cold and numb to jump.
Auron suggested that they rest there for a while before continuing onward to the temple. Everyone went inside and took off their coats; Rikku was the first one next to the heater. The snow melted off of her clothes and legs as she stood, shivering, by the side of the fire. Tidus noticed her and chuckled, "Hey Rikku, next time, you might want to try buying a jacket or something." She turned and glared at him, "That's not funny you meanie!" Yuna giggled and then walked over to her cousin and hugged her, "It will be alright Rikku, he's just playing." She nodded and then smiled at Yuna, "Thanks Yunie." Yuna nodded and then walked over to Tidus and Kimahari once more, the three of them in low conversation, just as Wakka and Lulu were doing. Again, Rikku felt left out, and lonely.
Glancing over, she noticed that the lone guardian was watching her just like he had at the travel agency in the Thunder Plains. It was kind of creepy the way he just stared at her all the time, but that couldn't be helped at the moment. With a sigh of defeat, she knew that he was the only one to talk with now, but she didn't want the others to know about her emotions for him. He took a few steps closer to her and then shook his head, "When your thinking about something important, you look upset, do you need to talk again?" She looked up into his one good eye and almost melted as she shook her head, "No….I'm just a bit tired…that's all…"
Suddenly she wished that she hadn't said that because the next thing she knew, she was being lifted up into his arms and carried toward a room. Yuna stood up quickly, "Sir Auron, is something wrong with Rikku?" Her voice was filled with worry as Auron shook his head, "She's just not feeling well, I'll put her to bed. Don't worry yourself Yuna." Tidus gently put his hand on Yuna's shoulder and nodded to her that it would be alright, Yuna nodded and then sat back down. Rikku watched all this, and silently, she was thankful that she was in his arms.
Upon entering the room, Rikku tried to get down from his arms, but he held her there gently. A look of confusion mixed with surprise crossed her face as their eyes met, "This is what you wanted isn't it Rikku?" She felt her cheeks grow red at his words, "W-what?" He chuckled and then put her down, "You look a little tired, get some rest Rikku. It's not going to be an easy task to confront Seymour at the temple." All she could do was nod and go lie down as he walked out of the room. Once he was gone, Rikku kicked herself mentally, it was bad enough that the sight of him now made her weak in the knees, but he had to go off and make her almost have a nervous breakdown. The man was impossible, simply impossible.
Tidus looked up at Auron as he came back into the lobby of the agency, something didn't seem right about all this. Just as Auron looked over at Tidus, he knew that he was going to be in for a long talk about something he would rather not discuss. The teenaged boy walked up to the guardian and crossed his arms over his chest, "Auron, is everything alright with Rikku?" Not wanting to even start this conversation, Auron remained silent and then walked away from him, going and getting himself a room to stay in.
In her room, Rikku was having a hard time sleeping at the moment. It seemed that every time she closed her eyes, Auron appeared in her thoughts. The rest of the night was restless for her as she tossed and turned in her sleep, dreaming of many different things. When it started getting close to dawn, her dreams worsened into nightmares about her friends, but most of all, Auron. She broke out into a cold sweat as her dream went on, never hearing the door to her room open up.
Yuna ran to her cousin's side and shook her gently, "Rikku, wake up!" A moment later, Rikku sat straight up with a gasp of surprise as warm tears flowed down her cheeks. Yuna looked very worried as she pulled her cousin to her and comforted her the best way she could. Lulu walked to the door along with the others, all of them looked confused and a bit worried except for Auron. It appeared that he had no interest whatsoever in the girl's problems, but Tidus knew better, Auron was more worried about her than even Yuna was, he was sure of it.
It took Yuna a while longer to get Rikku calmed down enough so she could breathe properly. The teenage Al Bhed had whispered everything about her dreams to her cousin while crying on her shoulder. Now Yuna finally understood what had her cousin so upset, and she was going to have to do something to keep her from thinking about it. Yuna looked at the girl and wiped some more of her tears away, "Rikku, if you ever need someone to talk to…I am here for you." A small smile found it's way to the girls lips as she nodded, "Thank you Yunie…"
Now that Rikku was settled down, or at least was acting settled down, they were about to get on the move to the temple. Tidus stocked up on supplies and then walked outside with the rest of the group, he hadn't taken two steps when that eerie Tromell Guado guy appeared practically out of nowhere. The sight of him sent a shiver up Rikku's spine, she didn't even hear what he was saying to Yuna since she was too absorbed in thinking about her dream.
The next thing she knew, she heard Yuna's scream, and then the whirr of a familiar machina. Oh no, this was not good, how could her brother be so stupid, she'd have to settle this right now. Without thinking twice, she ran ahead of the group to where Yuna and Tromell were being surrounded by her people. Her brother spotted her and looked angry, " *Neggi, fryd yna oui tuehk rana?" Her mouth fell open, was he that stupid, or that blind, right now, she didn't have time to think about that.
Rikku ran a few steps toward her brother, " *Pnudran, fro yna oui tuehk drec? E ys Oihy'c kiynteyh. E femm bnudald ran, cu cdub drec huhcahca!" Wakka's eyes looked as if they were going to pop out of his head as Rikku yelled back at him, she was an Al Bhed, and no one had told him. Brother just shook his head and yelled back, " *Oui'mm hajan tavayd dra Lnyfman yht Hakydun, ouin Cissuhc yht sykel yna uv hu ica! Drec ec kuutpoa Neggi." Her heart felt like it was torn out of her chest between the two people who she loved the most, but she couldn't turn her back on Yunie, not now.
The battle started out with Tidus, Wakka, and Kimahri on the front lines. Wakka was attacking the negator while Tidus and Kimahri concentrated on attacking the crawler. It wasn't long before the negator was destroyed as Wakka switched places with Lulu, and Kimahri switched places with Rikku. She smiled and then started mugging the thing left and right, getting all kinds of items before she turned to glance at Auron. With a nod of her head, she switched places with him, as they passed each other up, she pushed a Hi-potion into his hand.
Rikku sat on the sidelines and watched the battle, it was almost the same pattern as every other major battle, heal, attack, magic. Her mind wasn't really on the battle though, it was on the red and black clad guardian on the front line. It was so fun to watch him fight, and the way he used his giant sword amazed and confused her at the same time. Something so big was so easy for him to handle, and so easy to kill with. She looked at her own weapon, it seemed so minor to everyone else's weapons. Shaking her head she took her mind off of that before she started crying again. When she looked up again, the battle was over, but this ordeal was no where near over.
A/N: Sorry about this chapter….I couldn't think of a thing to write so I apologize if it sucks. I welcome all reviews and even flames, to a point. I'll try to make the next one better, I promise. If you have some ideas, or something you'd like to see happen, just tell me and maybe I'll put it in the story!
* Rikku, what are you doing here?
* Brother, why are you doing this? I am Yuna's guardian. I will protect her, so stop this nonsense
*You'll never defeat the Crawler and Negator, your Summons and magic are of no use! This is goodbye Rikku
p.s.: I know that isn't exactly what was in the game, but I don't care, I wasn't trying to be exact!