The next day, Riku and Samara decided to roam around the beach, realizing that it was a very big island. "Gee, this place is so big. I wonder where we are." he said out loud.
She just stared straight ahead and continued to walk beside him but did not say anything. The hot noontime sun was already beginning to get into her nerves because she hated humid weather and the sun burning her skin, but she just kept all of her complains to herself. Riku, on the other hand, seemed to be so used to that kind of weather.
As they continued to walk, a small seaside village was slowly coming into view. It made her feel relieved, "Finally! Civilization!" she cheered, but she sounded sarcastic.
He just smiled in relief as he took her hand, "C'mon, let's run for it!" he urged before he started running. She hasn't run in a very long while, that's why it almost took forever before she got used to the feeling of running… and someone's dragging her. She could recall her twin brother dragging her along with him to a toy store or outside the ShinRa building to greet the chopper that just landed carrying their parents inside from Junon.
When they finally arrived at the entrance of the village, Riku had a pleased smile on his face even though he was panting lightly. Samara was panting lightly, looking around her new surroundings. "What is this place?" she asked out loud.
They saw that the people there still proceeded with their usual activities, as if they did not even notice Riku and Samara's presence in that place.
"What are we going to do here?" she asked him.
"Well… we haven't eaten in more than seven days already… so I think we should look for a place to eat. Besides, I'm already starving!" he told her as he pulled her along with him for a walk around the place.
"Well I'm not hungry." She said with a spoiled tone.
"You should eat. Look at your wrist; I could form a fist just by holding it!" he told her.
"I'm naturally like this, thank you very much." She snapped back at him before she pulled her wrist away from him and crossed her arms. "Besides, even if we do find a restaurant or a café here, do you think we have the money to buy some food?" she asked airily.
Silence.
"Well… I have a some 500 Gil here." He said with a serious look on his face as they stopped walking for a while to discuss about monetary matters.
"Why can't we just eat your Paopu fruit?" she asked curiously.
"Well… it's not really meant to be eaten now that I've given it to you," he told her quite embarrassingly. She narrowed her eyes on him, "What do you mean?" she asked.
"Don't worry about it, Samara. We'll share the 500 that I have and we can have a good meal." He said with a reassuring smile, deciding to just change the subject.
"What if their currency is not Gil?" she asked.
"I have Mickey Mouse money here!" he declared.
She stared unbelievably at him before scratching her head. "Hmf! I'm not even sure if I can use my authority in this place… I doubt if they even know what ShinRa is." She muttered miserably before turning around and saw a happy young lady passing by, jumping up and down with a pleased look on her face while holding a glass of mango shake. "Heehee! Thanks a lot for this shake, Paine!"
"Just drink it before you spill it again just like what you did the other day." The goth girl who was with her replied with a miserable look on her face.
"But we didn't buy anything for Yuna and Tidus!" the happy girl replied with a disappointed look on her face.
"Never mind! Besides, it's a birthday party so expect lots of drinks there." The goth girl replied.
"But why'd we have to buy our own shakes outside?" the happy girl asked.
"Coz they don't serve those there. C'mon, let's hurry." the goth girl said before hurrying up.
The happy girl walked faster while giggling happily.
Riku stared unbelievably at the happy girl. "I know her!" he declared before he grabbed Samara's wrist and dragged her along with him as he ran after the two young ladies, "Hey! Rikku!" he called out.
The happy girl with orangey-hair stopped running, so did the goth girl and turned around to face Riku and Samara. The happy girl smiled joyfully before handing her mango shake to the goth girl. She squealed excitedly, "RIKU!" and jumped up and down before meeting him, embracing him tightly.
Samara pulled away from him as he struggled to push Rikku away from himself because he could not breathe. "You both have the same name?" they heard the goth girl ask as she approached them.
Rikku faced her with a cheerful smile on her face, "Sorta… but I have a double K while he's got a single one. Heehee! Oh yeah, Riku, this is my friend Paine." She introduced cheerfully as she stepped aside, referring to her friend.
Riku nodded his head in greeting, "Nice to meet you, Paine." He replied.
Rikku turned her gaze to Samara, "Who's she?" she asked.
He turned to Samara and placed his arm around her shoulder with a proud smile on his face, "This, here, is Samara. She's a new friend of mine." He introduce.
Rikku smiled sweetly at the little girl. "Cool! I like your name! It's so pretty! Heehee!" she approached her and embraced her welcomingly. "My name is Rikku. I hope we can become friends too, Samzy! Oh, can I call you Samzy?" she asked happily as she withdrew from her.
Samara just stared unbelievably at her, remembering that her own siblings would call her by that nickname… and Rikku's cheerfulness and sweetness simply reminded her of her own younger sister, Lavinia. She just smiled slightly. "I… guess so." She said rather shyly.
"Awww, don't be shy! I'm a nice girl!" Rikku said frankly with a silly smile on her face.
"Oh, no she's not. She eats little girls!" Paine said jokingly even if she still looked serious. Rikku pouted, turning her gaze to Paine and eyeing her irritably, "No I don't!" she snapped.
Paine just smiled and turned to Samara and gave her a friendly smile. Samara just smiled shyly at her.
Rikku moved away from them, "C'mon, join the party! We're going back to Wakka's house now!" she said.
Riku blinked. "Why? What's going on in Wakka's house?" he asked.
"Today is his un-birthday! Teehee!" Rikku said cheerfully while jumping up and down and then went ahead of them.
Riku and Samara stared unbelievably at her as she ran off. Paine just shook her head in misery, "She's actually the one who planned that un-birthday party for herself yesterday, and Wakka found it amusing and fun so he wanted his own un-birthday… and that is today. And tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow… you know how it goes." Paine pointed out to them.
Riku just nodded, quite confused. "Yes… I guess…" he simply said, trying to remember Alice In Wonderland.
She just motioned for them to follow after her, "C'mon, let's get going. You guys look so famished. Don't worry, there's lots of food there. And I'll introduce you to the others." She said before leading the way.
Riku turned to Samara with a serious look on his face, "Let's go," he said.
She just nodded before walking with him.
"Whoa… so this is Junon in the daytime." Sora said in awe as he looked at the ocean and the nearby houses while standing in one of the balconies of the ShinRa residence in Junon. Kairi was also looking at the lovely scenery with a calm smile on her face. "The breeze is so nice here! Reminds me of the days when I was living near the sea." She said.
"It's lovelier during sunset," Rufus said, joining them. Cloud was walking after him.
Sora and Kairi turned around to see them. "Hey, dad! Hey President Rufus," Sora greeted cheerfully.
Rufus smiled slightly and nodded his head in greeting at Sora and Kairi. "Do you want to tour around Junon?" he asked.
"Well… I guess we could do that after we finish our business here." Sora explained.
They all arrived in Junon before midnight and they all went straight to bed. Sora shared a room with his dad while Rufus let Kairi just stay in Samara's room. Sephiroth has his own quarters since he is one of Rufus's officers from First Class Soldier. Squall and Seifer also got their own rooms in the guest hall.
While Kairi was inside Samara's room, she was not able to sleep at first because she thought she could feel her there. She decided to look around, studying the framed paintings on the wall. The framed paintings all seemed to have the same themes: sunsets, starry nights, dark forests with a well, and a woman with long black hair wearing white, and eyes that seemed to stare back at Kairi.
She also saw a photo album with pictures of Samara and the rest of the family.
Rufus turned to Cloud, "Well, your son sure knows how to interpret the saying duty before leisure." He said with a smug look on his face.
Cloud just stared back at Rufus.
"What is this part of the household anyway?" Kairi asked as she looked up at the ceiling of the balcony.
"Yeah, this house is so big… probably bigger than the one you have in Nibelheim, President Rufus," Sora said, looking at his surroundings.
Rufus flipped his hair. "Inside is the tearoom. This is the balcony of the tearoom. Come inside, we'll have some breakfast before we leave." He told them before leading the way inside.
Cloud motioned for Sora and Kairi to just follow. The two obeyed.
Rufus led the way to the dining area on the first floor. Seifer and Squall were already there.
"So who's coming with me?" Seifer asked Rufus the moment they stepped inside.
Rufus thought for a while before saying, "You'll go with Sephiroth. I'll be with Cloud, Squall, Kairi and Sora. We'll just go by foot… I guess…" he said.
"Go by foot? Are you joking?!" Cloud exclaimed.
Silence.
"It seems like rich kid here likes to experience walking around while the mercenary likes to ride the chopper. Are you sure you didn't switch personalities?" Seifer asked with a sarcastic tone.
Rufus just flipped his hair before he sat down, "Alright, I'll drive." He declared.
"You? Drive for them? You can let Squall drive your car." Seifer told him.
Rufus clenched his teeth and smiled sarcastically at him, "Look, Seifer, I'm paying you guys more than 5 million Gil just so that we could look for Samara and Kuja. So please, stop pestering me… otherwise I might change my mind." He declared with an impatient tone.
"Happy un-birthday, Wakka!!!" The party people screamed as the un-birthday boy entered the room. Or rather, Rikku, Tidus and Yuna did; the others just awkwardly mumbled along with them.
"Heheh! Thanks for coming, ya?" Wakka said, happily scanning his friends' faces. His eyes fell on Riku. "Wow, and an unexpected guest, too! Where'd you come from, brudda?" He approached Riku and ruffled his hair before Riku could avoid him.
"Hey, quit it!" Riku whined, pushing Wakka's hand away.
"Hey, fo'give me, ya? Haven't seen you for a while! Oh…" Wakka then noticed Samara. She stared back at him, her eyes frostier than ever. He felt chills going up his spine during eye-contact. "So… you didn't… introduce me to your friend here, ya?"
Samara, unblinking, only continued to stare at the tall man as Riku introduced her. "Oh! Her name's Samara. She and I… uh… we were traveling together and Rikku saw us on her way here. We thought we'd drop by, you know… and…" He trailed off when he saw how uncomfortable Wakka was getting.
Rikku, meanwhile was oblivious to what was happening to them. "Heehee! The poor kids haven't eaten for days! Since you're a big eater, Wakka, I thought you'd have tons of extra grub in your party!" she said gleefully.
"Eheh?! Days without grub?!! How the hell did you live, Riku?!" Tidus suddenly shouted, running up to Riku and jokingly shook him frantically.
"Quit it!!" Riku said uneasily. Samara broke her eye contact with Wakka upon hearing Tidus' voice.
Tidus noticed this and said with a silly smile, "Hiya! You may not know me, but Riku did quite some time ago… I'm Tidus!"
Samara replied plainly, "You remind me of my twin."
"Eeeheheheheheh! Cool!" Tidus jumped happily. Seeing him so happy reminded Samara of Theodore even more.
"Anyway, enough of that, let's get this party started!" Yuna piped up, suddenly switching on the sounds. Nauseating FFX-2 music blared out of the speakers, making Samara dizzier than ever.
A bit later, Samara was feeling better because she'd eaten the Jamaican patties that Wakka was very good at making. While getting punch, her ears couldn't help but eavesdrop on Tidus, Wakka, Rikku and Riku's conversation.
"So, Riku, where've ya been all this time? We missed you, ya?"
"Uh… I've been to places… here and there… but mainly, I moved in with my parents and sibs…"
"Heehee! You know, I missed you, not everyday I find somebody with the exact same name as me! Well, not exactly exact… Heehee! So… where's Kairi, huuuh?"
"K-Kairi? What do you mean…?"
"Ehehehe! Oh, you know who we're talking about! The pretty red-head that you and Sora happen to be always fighting over?..."
"Ya! Kairi, yeah, I remember! So, you finally lost to Sora? Heheheh!"
"Geez, Riku, I thought you'd get Kairi cuz you were always better than Sora! Oh well, I've always thought that she liked Sora better than you, anyway…"
"That always burned you up! Eheheheheheheheh—"
"Aw, shut up you guys! I… I don't like Kairi in that way anymore, you know?..."
"Oh, so you like Sora now! EEEEEW!"
"HEY! I…" Riku began, but he stopped when the lights suddenly fluctuated and the ground began to shake for few seconds.
"Oh my goodness! What's going on?!" Yuna cried out in surprise.
"Is there an earthquake?" Rikku asked in awe, holding on to a chair.
Silence.
"It… stopped…" Tidus had managed to say.
Silence.
"Whew… I'm glad it stopped." Rikku said with a look of relief on her face.
Silence.
"Anyway, as I was saying, Riku, maybe you'd get a much better girlfriend! Heehee!" Rikku said happily.
"She's not even my girlfriend in the first place!" Riku defended.
"But I thought you were his boyfriend!" Rikku nudged him teasingly while giggling hysterically.
Tidus and Wakka joined in the laughter when they saw the blushing Riku.
"Say, who'd you give the Paopu fruit to?" Tidus asked.
"Huh?" Riku asked.
Samara just focused her attention to one of the guests in the un-birthday party: LeBlanc. She was chatting with Yuna, Paine and Lulu in one corner as she continued to listen.
"Oh you know? Did you give it to Kairi?" Tidus asked.
The glass that LeBlanc was holding suddenly shattered, surprising everyone in the room when she screeched because the punch spilled onto her clothes.
Rikku, Tidus and Wakka didn't really pay much attention to LeBlanc, thinking she must've shattered it on purpose because of annoyance because they saw Nooj just seated in one corner like he's avoiding her or something… and began to tease Riku, "Riku and Kairi sittin' in a Paopu Tree. K-I-S-S-I…" The three stopped singing when they just felt sharp pains on their chests.
"Ow… what the…" Rikku reacted.
Riku's eyes widened upon seeing them cringing in pain and clutching their chests in excruciating pain. Realizing something, he instantly turned his gaze towards where Samara was, but she was already gone.
"Samara!" he called out with a worried look on his face.
Everyone fell silent.
The pain disappeared.
"Gee… must be heartburn." Wakka said.
"But… I swear I felt it in my heart, not in my stomach!" Tidus reacted in confusion.
Samara just kept on running, her hands clenched into tight fists. She stopped running when she reached the shore outside the village. She was staring angrily at the ocean as she fell onto her knees with an angry look on her face. She was pounding on the sand angrily, punching it angrily.
Not satisfied, she decided to unwind the bandages around her hands, exposing her flesh. Her hands were still pale… but her nails had grown back. Next, she got up angrily and threw the bandages at the sea before she reached for her pocket and got the paopu fruit that Riku had given to her. Angrily, she threw it to the ground and stepped on it, crushing it. "STUPID CRUDDY THING!" she screamed, her voice echoing throughout the beach. A few seagulls flew away in fear.
She was panting heavily already… and she watched with an evil smile on her face as dead fish began to wash up to the shore, but she was interrupted when she heard Riku's voice calling for her name from afar. "Samara! Where are you?"
She instantly turned away and ran off, continuing her way… but she stopped when somebody just grabbed her from behind, a finely-manicured hand covering her mouth so that she wouldn't scream. She tried to squirm away but the person behind her was too strong.
Kuja laughed smugly, "Good girl… what's the matter? Having a bad day?" he asked with a sweet but sarcastic tone.
She used her elbow to hit his stomach, but it seemed like he was not even affected by it. He laughed at her. "Be a good girl, Samara. Cooperate with me and nothing bad will happen to you." He said with a soothing tone.
She narrowed her eyes and stopped moving.
"There, there. That's a good girl," he said as more than 200 Heartless appeared all around them. She eyed each of those curiously.
"Alright, go forth and do what I've told you. I'll be expecting results." Kuja commanded. The Heartless instantly turned into thin air. Samara assumed that they teleported somewhere to get rid of something… but she wasn't really sure.
"Teleport… teleport… teleport…" she was beginning to let her mind function on its own. And as she closed her eyes, she felt so light-headed…
Kuja's eyes widened when she just disappeared. "What?! What the…" he began, but froze when he saw Riku holding his keyblade and staring angrily at him.
"Okay, Kuja, what have you done to Samara?" Riku demanded.
Kuja just smiled calmly. "Oh, what ever do you mean by that, brother dear?" he asked with a singsong voice.
"Shut up!" Riku snapped.
Kuja stared at his younger brother for a while before laughing mockingly at him, "Hahahahaha! Don't tell me you are going to fight me? You can't even beat Dante or Skurai in a swordfight, do you think you can even beat me?" he teased as he came closer to Riku, strutting on his way.
Riku thought that Kuja looked funny while strutting, and he recalled Dante telling Kuja once, "You walk like a girl!" and then pushed him down a puddle of mud… and Kuja cried like a girl and nobody gave a damn except for Jill and Riku who tried to help him but he just pushed the two away.
"… After all I've done for you, saving you from Dante and Skurai… and taking the blame whenever it's your fault that something bad's going on so that daddy won't kick you out of the house… this is what you're doing?" Riku demanded.
"Life is unfair, brother dear… as much as Kairi's dad says so." Kuja replied as he flipped his hair and snapped his fingers.
Riku's eyes widened when around 50 Heartless appeared around them.
Kuja laughed mockingly at him. "You'll have to get through them first before you could fight with me, brother dear." He said.
"What did we ever do to you?!" Riku demanded in confusion.
"Oh it's easy… it's just that, daddy loves you more than he loves me." Kuja explained.
Riku's mouth dropped open upon hearing that.
"…and he also loves Dante, and Jilly, and Skurai… and mommy… but not me. I'm always the bad guy around the family, huh? Only grandma and mommy appreciate me… but not daddy! But I don't recall doing anything bad, right? Here's a scenario: I'm sitting in the living room giving myself a manicure when Dante enters from a day's training and demands that I make him a sandwich. Then I refuse. And he tells dad. And dad gets mad at me!" Kuja continued with a frustrated and hurtful look on his face.
Riku raised an eyebrow. "Kuja, Dante also orders me around like that!" he reasoned.
"Hell yeah! But daddy doesn't get mad at you when you refuse! Oh, why oh why is my life like this!" Kuja said dramatically. It was Riku's signal that Kuja's guard was down, so he instantly charged at him, regardless of the Heartless coming at him. He swung his keyblade towards Kuja's bare abdomen, hoping to hurt him really badly, but then a force of some kind froze his action just before he hit Kuja… because he saw the crushed Paopu fruit on the sand. He gasped.
Kuja followed Riku's gaze and stared strangely at the crushed Paopu fruit. "What's that doing there?" he asked.
Silence.
The Heartless also became curious and looked.
Riku felt a lump in his throat. "She did that…" he thought as Kuja laughed out loud. "OH! Those Paopu things you're so obsessed about! So, the one true love that you gave it to… rejected you. How sad. HAHAHAHAH!!!! Reminds me of a soap opera that I was watching with Jill before I left home…"
Riku sniffed, but just kept his eyes on the crushed Paopu fruit.
Kuja rubbed his own chin with a pondering gaze, "Aha… who's the unlucky girl? Is it Kairi?" he asked inquiringly.
Riku snapped and growled at him, "FOR THE LAST TIME!!!!!—." he stopped when Kuja slapped his face.
Silence. The Heartless gasped upon seeing that.
Riku froze.
Kuja sneered, "You are so pathetic!"
Riku dropped his keyblade and just jumped up at Kuja, strangling him. Defending himself, Kuja also tried to strangle his brother while trying to push him away from himself, and they were already busily fighting, rolling across the ocean, ending up in the middle of the ocean and trying to drown one another.
They just stopped when they saw all the Heartless floating on the air and staring down at them.
Kuja and Riku looked up at the Heartless.
The Heartless just charged at Kuja without any warning, leaving Riku in awe and confusion. "What the…" but it was a chance for him to get away, so he swam back to shore, panting hard as he finally got out of the water.
He picked up his keyblade, but when he got up again, he froze when he saw Samara standing before him, her hair covering her whole face and the crushed paopu fruit on her palms.
He stared unbelievably at her. "Sam… Samara…" he began.
She did not say anything. He does not even know whether she's looking at him or not. He did not even know how to start talking to her… but his thoughts were interrupted when he heard Kuja growl his name angrily. "RIKU!!!!!"
He instantly grabbed her hand and dragged her along with him, running away from the beach, deciding to go back to the village… but when they arrived there, he saw that the whole village was already burning.
He froze in terror and confusion. "NO!" his thoughts were screaming at him. He stared at the fire consuming the whole village with too much shock and denial in his eyes…
Samara slowly lifted her gaze up at the fire, but only one eye is exposed. She was about to say something but she stopped herself when he instantly grabbed her shoulders and shook her rather violently while demanding from her, "Why?! Why did you have to do this?!"
She stared in awe at him but she wasn't able to say anything.
His grip tightened on her shoulders, eventually hurting her. "YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO BURN THE WHOLE VILLAGE!" he shouted angrily at her. The anger in his bluegreen eyes made her heart sink as she bit her lower lip and tried to squirm away from him. "I… Riku… I… I didn't do it!" she stammered.
"STOP DENYING IT!"
"I AM NOT DENYING IT!!!" she screeched at him. "I didn't do it, okay?! I was just around the corner while you're fighting with Kuja! Be thankful that I decided to help you by controlling the minds of those Heartless and making them drown Kuja instead of you!" she snapped impatiently at him.
He just pushed her away from himself. Since she was not able to keep her balance, she fell backwards on the ground in a sitting position, the flames almost hitting her back and her arms.
Riku was about to leave her there, but he froze when several Heartless just emerged from the fire and surrounded them. It was at that moment when he realized that the Heartless were the ones who started the fire and not Samara.
He slowly looked back at her with horror in his eyes. "I…"
She just bowed down her head and slowly got up. "…it doesn't matter anymore…" she told him.
'We're gonna die…'
They just stared blankly at the fire, listening to the people screaming as some of them died in flames. Riku tried to block out all sounds so that he could concentrate on that horrible moment.
Then, a sound he can't avoid hearing came to his ears; the sound of a giant machine. And somebody's voice. "Riku! Samara! Over here!!!"
They both looked up in awe as an airship larger and definitely more high-tech than the Highwind floated in the sky, slowing towards them. Rikku was hanging by a rope ladder, reaching out her hand. "Come on, you guys! Before the fire and the Heartless reach you!"
Snapping out of his trance, Riku grabbed the rope ladder and climbed up. He saw out of the corner of his eye that Samara was having a hard time climbing up the ladder herself because she was weakened by using her 'gift' too much, but he didn't feel like helping her anymore.
He tried to avoid seeing Samara fall down hard on the sand.
"HEY?! What the hell are you doing, Riku?!" Tidus screamed above the noise and jumped off the airship. He managed to get Samara on the airship just before the Heartless started chewing on the ropes in an attempt to attack them both.
The airship was pretty quiet on the inside, but nobody noticed. Riku was panting as he tried to calm himself down. When he did manage to calm himself, though, Rikku slapped him on his cheek. Hard. "You idiot! You saw Samara collapse there! Why didn't you do something?!" she yelled. Riku flinched at her frantic, high-pitched voice.
"Hey, don't yell at me! I don't have to rescue her; she tried to kill me back there!" Riku yelled back angrily. "You don't know anything that happened…"
"Yes I know something! I heard you arguing! You blamed Samara for burning Besaid! How could you think that she'd do that?! She's not evil, she even tried to help you!"
"She wants everyone to suffer. Maybe it's hard for you to understand that, but it's a pretty clear message for me…" Riku mumbled.
Rikku shook her head in annoyance. "See, that's the point. She's a misunderstood girl, you know? She has a better reason for doing the things she does. You're the only one so far who's been able to understand her. Don't you understand? Samara needs you."
Yuna cut them off by clearing her throat. "Excuse me, you can fight later, but I need to heal Riku first. He's pretty beat up," she said calmly, and cast a cure spell on him.
Riku felt a lot less exhausted physically after the spell, but his mind was still in turmoil. Yuna sighed. "You know, Riku, Rikku's right. You better think about what she's said. She made perfect sense… this time," she added, and Rikku mumbled a "Hey!"
Riku just bowed down his head. "Hmf…" he grunted miserably.
"So where are we going?" he heard Nooj ask.
"Anywhere but here…" Lulu muttered with a miserable look on her face.
As Riku was trying to organize his thoughts, he heard a bald old man announce to the whole ship, "Okay people! Our next destination's Midgar! It's gonna be a long trip though, seeing as it's in another dimension! Ha-ha!!"
"Who's he?" he muttered for no reason at all.
Rikku suddenly switched her mood to a brighter one. "Oh, he's my dad, Cid. This is his airship. Like it? It's a pretty old machina, but it's still pretty. And reliable to boot."
Riku grunted in response. He thought through his next line carefully, "Say… where's Samara?"
She clapped her hands together in glee. "Aaaaw! You're gonna say sorry to her, aren't you?! Heehee! Too bad I don't know where she is. Ask Tidus…"
Riku face-faulted before he decided to just turn away and ignore everyone.
Tidus was staring strangely at him before whispering to Auron, Lulu, Rikku and Nooj, "He's starting to act like his dad…"
Nooj stared strangely at him, "Why? Who's his dad?" he asked.
"Only Sephiroth." Tidus replied.
Silence.
"WHAT?!" Rikku exclaimed.
Riku heard that and he silently began to wonder, "Gee… my dad really made a good reputation for himself… I wonder what he did…" he thought silently.
"Who's he?" Nooj asked curiously.
"GAWDS! You don't know Sephiroth?! He's the ultimate villain you could ever face! He's insane and he's like a psycho and he's…" she trailed off when she noticed Riku looking at her.
"Oh… sorry…" she mumbled sheepishly.
Riku turned away from her and just continued to sulk, contemplating about the things that had happened to himself…
"Riku," Rikku began, interrupting his thoughts. He did not move at first, pretending not to have heard her, but she still proceeded, "We're stopping over at one of the islands before we go to Midgar to gather some supplies and some food that we need."
He just stared at her and then looked away again. "Go away…" he muttered miserably.
She sighed heavily, "Alright… but you just stay here inside the airship while it's parked, okay? We'll all be going down. Just guard it, okay?" she asked before turning away.
Moments later, they landed on the island that Rikku was talking about. After everyone had gone out, Riku got up from his seat and began to roam around the airship with a deep frown on his face that just disappeared when he stumbled upon the area where Tidus had to put Samara. He saw that she was unconscious, breathing irregularly. And his heart just sank when he saw that she was still holding the crushed Paopu fruit in her hand. Turning away from her, he immediately left the airship, going down to the beach. He had never felt so disturbed in his entire life before… and he felt like going crazy already.
But he stopped himself when he realized that they had landed in a familiar place…
"… Destiny Island?" he asked out loud.
He remembered that the place had been destroyed by the Heartless the night he left the Island, but Kairi told him that it had been restored. He didn't believe her, though.
"I wonder…" He found himself retracing familiar steps towards the elevated part of land across the shack; the one where a bent Paopu Tree was planted.
"Man, I missed this place," he thought, leaning against the spot that he used to lean at. He sighed, pleased, reliving pleasant memories from the island. And just as he was thinking quietly, "Maybe I can take Samara here someday… or even show mommy this place! Yeah, she'll like it here! And even Jill… maybe she and Carlos can have a picnic under this tree… and Skurai… oh never mind Skurai, he might cut it down with his Talatsu. Oh, and maybe Dante could get some fruits and give them to Trish." A Paopu fruit fell on his head.
BONK!
"Ow!" he reacted in pain, rubbing the top of his head. He looked at the Paopu fruit that fell from the tree, bounced on his head and landed on the sand. "Hmm… a fresh one." He muttered as he picked it up and sniffed it. He smiled before looking up at the tree. "Thank you," he said, as if talking to it.
Another one fell, but he avoided it before it could hit his eye. "Hahah. Good one, Tree!" he cheered sarcastically before walking away and went back to the airship. He saw that everyone has returned already while he was gone.
"Oh there you are! We've been looking for you! Where have you been?" Tidus asked him.
Riku hid the Paopu fruit inside his pocket. "Just… looked for a bathroom." He fibbed.