A/N: I have another story in mind, but of course I'm gonna finish this first! Only problem is I don't know how... :p Warning! If your squeamish, you might like to read some parts of my story with your eyes closed! Like the part where Rikku gets stabbed in the back (No, literally!)
Paine carried Rikku back. The young blonde squirmed in her arms. Paine looked at her hopefully. But Rikku wasn't waking up. Her face looked disturbed. She must be dreaming. She was surprisingly light, but she was quite small, so it made sense. Paine dreaded the thought of telling Yuna. People turned and stared at her as she walked out of Djose. She glared at everyone who did. She walked along with her head up high and tried to pretend that she walked along with a girl near death in her arms all the time. Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought of her friend dying. She tried to push the thought out of her head, but it was there at the back of her mind, nagging her with every step she took. She walked up onto the Celsius. Brother came running first.
Brother held his head in his hands. Hot tears stung him. He felt the lump at the back of his throat. Cid felt a familiar feeling at the thought of his little girl dying. Her beat up body lay on the bed. Yuna, Paine and Tidus sat at the back of the room. Yuna stared at the ground. She didn't say anything, not even when Cid had arrived. It was too painful to speak. Rikku lay there, at deaths door, and none of them could do anything to help her. Every now and then she would turn or toss so violently that they would be sure she was waking up. But she didn't. In her dreams she was living out the painful battle, again and again, feeling the wounds open up each time anew. She could see everything she was doing wrong, everything he was doing right, and it was torture. She could taste the blood, feel it flowing out of her, and with every mouthful she spat out, she could feel more replace it. Every strike of his sword he made against her, she felt ten times worse than when it actually happened. That seemed so long ago now. She knew that she wouldn't hold out much longer. She knew she was dying. Dream Seymour laughed even horribly than he had before, knowing what was happening too. He was stopping her from waking up, from being all right, from living. She couldn't be in the real world until she beat him. And that wasn't going to happen any time soon. So she did the only thing she could do. She ran.
If someone told you dreams are just dreams, they're wrong. Every time Rikku was hit by dream Seymour, her wounds opened up. Blood seeped through her sheets. All of those in the room were asleep. Rikku started to kick her legs as she ran. Blood flowed down past her legs, making her slip. Her legs felt heavy, every part of her body was weak. Seymour was right behind her. His sword was swishing at her legs, cutting them each time. Her legs gave way and she collapsed. She looked behind her. Seymour smiled an evil smile. He raised his sword. Rikku closed her eyes and waited. His sword plunged into her back. She woke up with an agonising scream. Yuna leapt up and saw the blood spurting out of her back. Startled cries were heard by everyone on board. Except Rikku. Everything was just background noise for her. All she could hear was her heart beating, her ears pounding, her breaths failing. The blood covered the whole of the bed. She gasped for more air, but everything was stopping. She fell back against the bed and saw one last face staring back at hers. A face with an eye patch across part of it. Gippal grabbed her hand. But all feeling had gone out of it. The blood was all over her and she was lying in it. She tasted it in her mouth. She opened it and it blood came pouring out. She closed her eyes. She felt a rush of relief as the pain stopped. The blood stopped.
Rikku looked around her. All she could see was white. She looked down at herself. She stood out like a sore thumb. Still no one would see. If she was dead, which she figured she was, then surely she would be on the Farplane? But this was definitely not the Farplane. She looked at the white in front of her. Slowly, she put her foot out onto a patch and tapped it, to see if she could walk on it. It was solid. She could. She stepped out and began tiptoeing her way across. She was trying to get to another part, but it all looked the same. She felt lost. She began running. Still she got nowhere. If this is what it was like being dead, she felt very sorry for all those people. But then she thought that she was now one of them. She felt tears prickle at her eyes when this thought entered her Head. She sank to the white ground. Was everything here white? She was alone, she was lost, and to top it all off she was dead. What a fun day. And all this thanks to Seymour. Seymour? Did Yuna know about Seymour? No of course not, she hadn't told her. How was she gonna tell her, if she was dead? Anger built up inside her. If she didn't tell Yuna, the whole of Spira could be in trouble. Hmm. This seemed familiar. Once again Seymour was trying to kill them. "Oh well, at least he isn't trying to marry anyone this time" she thought. She had to get out of here, had to tell someone, anyone. "This is all your fault!" she screamed. There wasn't much point because Seymour wouldn't be able to hear her, but still, sometimes you just have to scream. She counted to three. Then she shrieked out the loudest scream she could. She closed her eyes and did it again. And again. And again. She kept on doing it till her voice was hoarse and her throat sore. She tired herself out. Her eyes felt heavy. She found herself sinking to the floor, lying down. She felt pain in her back. Her arms lost all feeling. She noticed that she had closed her eyes. The pain got worse until she was in agony. She had to bite her tongue to stop herself from crying out. She slipped further and further into unconsciousness, gradually. Soon enough she was gone.
Yuna looked at her cousin. Blood was pouring out of her, yet she looked peaceful. Gippal looked down at his hand. It was covered in blood from where he took hers. Paine stared at the blonde girl. Her eyes took in everything. Quite obviously she was bleeding from her back. Paine understood that. But what she didn't understand was why. How had she got hurt? They had been asleep, true enough, but they would have noticed if someone snuck in, wouldn't they? But how had she fallen asleep anyway? She wasn't even tired; worry should've kept her awake. But for some reason she fell asleep. They all fell asleep. It made no sense to her. She kept playing it out in her mind, but each time she just got more confused. It was so frustrating. She looked over at Cid. Poor guy. He was really taking it badly. And if he was taking it badly then Brother was devastated. Cid had his head in his hands and trying to hide the fact that he was crying. Brother couldn't have made the fact that he was crying more obvious even if he publicly announced it to the whole of Spira. Wearing Yuna's moogle costume. Paine had caught him trying it on a few times after Yuna had been wearing it. He was pacing up and down muttering various things in Al bhed that was hard to understand because he was sobbing so hard. But Paine didn't need to understand to know how much pain he was in.
Tidus stood on deck. Shinra and Buddy were beside him. None of the three said anything, didn't have to. They were in shock mostly. But the breeze of the cold night air felt good on Tidus's face. It helped clear his head. He didn't want anything bad to happen to Rikku; she was like a little sister to him. But there she was, bleeding to death, and there was nothing he could do to help her. His hair flew about his face, getting in his eyes. He couldn't be bothered to brush it away. Buddy felt cold, but he liked the fresh air. He couldn't stand the sight of blood. And oh boy was there a lot of blood. Thinking about made him feel sick. He almost was sick. But he ran out here, and it helped. If he closed his eyes he would see her face in pain. He could hear her grasping breath. This made him feel worse than all that blood. As for Shinra, well he was just a kid. Tidus had taken him out here, saying even a wunderkid shouldn't see that. Shinra had no complaints. Even though his voice remained emotionless, you could tell he was worried by the little things he did. Tidus was sure if he took that mask off his face would show his emotions. Did Shinra ever take his mask off he wondered. He had never seen him. Tidus realised what he was thinking and scolded himself for not being worried about Rikku. For letting himself get distracted. Still, it made him feel better. But he did feel guilty that they were all in there, worrying about Rikku, while he was out there, getting a bit of air. But Buddy and Shinra were with him too. That made him feel a little less guilty. But only a little. Rikku opened her eyes. She could see all the whiteness. But it was blurry this time. She couldn't focus on anything. Not that there was anything to focus on. She blinked a couple of times. To her surprise the white world subsided into a different place. She could just about make out people, but couldn't tell who they were. They just looked like blobs to her. Still they didn't seem to be paying much attention to her, so she didn't disturb them. Her eyes felt heavy still. She lay back and gave a sigh. The blobs turned to look at her now. She blinked trying to get her eyes to stop being so fuzzy. She lifted up her arm and rubbed her eyes. This was really hard to do. She closed her eyes. She realised that the blobs were speaking. She tried to listen to them, but was like a whole other language. She opened her eyes and found they were focusing a little better. They resembled people better now. But she couldn't work out their faces. She squinted at one of them. She could tell this one had brown hair. That was it. The people were yelling now, and three more came in. "Why wont they let me rest?" she thought. "Why are you yelling?" she croaked. She couldn't work out the reply. She closed her eyes again and tried to sleep. But she found herself rudely being shaken.
Cid took her by the shoulders and shook her awake. He wasn't having her sleeping all day again. They had to talk to her. "Fyga ib!" (Wake up) Rikku blinked and stared at the man who held on to her. "Vydran?" (Father) her eyes scanned the room. She could make out the faces clearly and now recognized them as her friends and family. Framily. She could hear too. That shake must have done it. "Fryd rybbahat du oui?" (What happened to you) Gippal asked her. "Fryd rybbahat du sa?" (What happened to me) "Oh! Dryd'c fryd E haat du damm oui!" (That's what I need to tell you) She noticed Tidus and Yuna looking confused. She would have to really teach them Al bhed one day. Properly, not using Al bhed primers. They couldn't keep up.
He looked at their faces. Shinra thought they looked happier when Rikku was dying. He couldn't understand it. According to Yuna they had beat up Seymour again and again. He wouldn't tell him he didn't understand though; he was a genius after all. It wouldn't look good for him. He noticed Gippal looking a bit confused and walked over to him. "Ec ed dryd pyt?" (Is it that bad) he asked quietly. Gippal nodded and smiled. "Afraid so." His expression changed to serious. Yuna started pacing. Rikku hated it when people did that. Yuna chewed her lip and turned to her. She opened her mouth then closed it again. She looked like a fish. She frowned and then opened her mouth again. Then closed it again. Paine sighed and turned to Rikku. "Are you sure that you were in the cave fighting him?" she asked for Yuna. Yuna nodded enthusiastically. Rikku rolled her eyes and nodded. They had checked up on every detail of what she told them so far. If they didn't believe her she wouldn't bother next time. Tidus looked thoughtful. "That is where you said you found her, so it would make sense, wouldn't it?" he asked. Rikku raised her eyebrows at them as if to say, "See!" Yuna thought about it, then finally said, "Are you completely sure it was Seymour? It wasn't someone who looked like him?" "Ur vun lnoehk uid muit! Yes I am sure!" (Oh for crying out loud) Yuna looked out the window. She sighed. "Well, I guess the only thing to do is go down there and..." "Kick some ass?" Paine said helpfully. "Something like that." Yuna grinned at her. Cid frowned. "Well, sorry Yuna, but I don't think I'll take part in this one. If you don't mind" he added. Rikku smiled. "That's ok pop. You're getting to old anyway!" Gippal smiled. "She's got a point, gramps." Cid glared at them. "Fydlr ed oui dfu!" he growled. (Watch it you two)
Hokey pokey! What's gonna happen next time? Are they going to go down to the cave and kick some ass? Of course the are! Read my next chappie and you'll see!
A/N well this chapter is definitely longer! I'm going on holiday tomoz! So you'll have to wait till Friday for me to write anything! But what do you think?