I'm back everybody. Let me go ahead and thank Insane Child and Xmaster for reviewing. I'm not going to bore everyone to tears this time, so let's just cut to the chase, shall we?

Chapter 16: Confessions

Auron led his three companions to a small clearing just off the road leading from Macalania to the Calm Lands. "Does this place look familiar, Rikku?" he asked with a slight smile.

The Al Bhed looked around for a long moment. "Hey, this is where we stayed after we escaped from Bevelle, isn't it?"

Auron nodded. "It is, and it looks like we'll be using this place again tonight."

The four of them set up camp and after starting a small fire, they sat down to rest. The ruby light of the flames mingled with the crystalline blue gloom of the forest, and everything glowed in soft lavender light. "Well, it looks like the rumors are true: Seymour Guado has returned," Auron closed his eye and sighed.

"He's the one who screwed everything up. He killed my family. Why couldn't he just stay dead?" Ria growled under her breath.

"You know, I don't think that he's become an Unsent again," Bob told them. "I think that he's either still in the Farplane or in someplace close to it."

"Well, the Zanarkand ruins were a lot like the Farplane when we went to see Yunalesca," Rikku said.

"Maybe that's why he appeared there, but that still doesn't explain the corrupted pyreflies," Auron doubtfully replied.

"When that reflection thingy put that nightmare spell on all of you, he said that your despair would increase his master's powers, so maybe the pyreflies have something to do with that?" Bob suggested.

"Of course!" Ria smacked her forehead. When her friends gave her a bewildered look, she told them, "There are all kinds of stories back on Earth about how various things can increase someone's magical powers…"

"But I thought you didn't have magic on Earth, Ria," Rikku interrupted.

"We do, but it's all spiritual in nature. Anyway, three of the most potent ways to raise power are through blood, death, and sex. Now, if Seymour isn't an Unsent, then he wouldn't really have a solid form, so that leaves sex out, but if he found a way to control the pyreflies, then he could easily cause lots of pain and death. Now that just leaves two questions: how is he doing it, and why is Earth involved?"

Nobody had an answer for that, so the four of them fell into a ponderous silence. Rikku dozed off several times, but she kept waking up and shivering with fear. "Man, I can't seem to shake that stupid nightmare," she grumbled to herself.

"Well stay awake, then," Auron told her.

"Hey, Auron?" Ria touched his shoulder.

"What?"

"Do you still have any sake in that jug?"

He gave her an incredulous look. "Why? I thought you didn't drink."

"I don't all that often, but right now, I'm in the same boat as Rikku, so let me have some."

He passed the white jug to the sorceress, and she took a long pull on it. "Jesus Christ, that stuff is NASTY!" she cried, making a face.

"You didn't have to have any, you know," the swordsman replied with some amusement.

A couple of hours passed in more silence, until Bob sighed, "You know, I don't really want to be the Tonberry King."

"Why not?" Rikku wanted to know.

"I…don't think that I'd make a good leader, that's all. I'm not strong, or fast, or brave, and I'm a flake, so I'd always forget something important, and…"

"Bob, you are one of the bravest people I've met!" Ria told him. "You could have run away and left us to die when Seymour attacked us, but you stood up to him and saved us all! If that's not courage, then I don't know what is!"

"But I was scared to death…"

"Yet, you still defended us, Bob. Standing up for what you believe in, even though you're afraid, is a sign of true courage. I didn't thank you earlier, so let me say it now: thank you, Bob, you're a truer friend than you realize," Auron gravely saluted the little fiend.

"And you're smart!" the thief chimed in. "You can be faster than the wind, or stronger than Sin, but it doesn't really help you if you're as dumb as a rock."

"Gee, I had no idea you guys felt that way…" the Tonberry was astonished.

"Yes, we all love you very much, Bob," the sorceress said, her voice now subdued.

The silence reasserted itself, and they added some more wood to their little campfire. Finally, Rikku broke the quiet and said, "I have something I want to tell you guys."

They all watched her for a moment and nodded a mute assent. "Go on, what is it?" Ria prompted.

The thief traced a pattern in the dirt with her finger. "Well, when I first joined Yuna's pilgrimage, I was kind of upset that he was paying so much attention to Yuna. I mean, I saw him first, and…well…"

"You were jealous?" Ria smiled.

"Just a little, and only at first, but I felt so bad about it. I mean, I didn't know if we were going to be able to save Yunie, and I wanted her to be happy, so I never said anything about how I felt in the beginning. I was afraid that I was going to lose her, so I left them alone for the most part. Then I had that dream…and everyone was dead, and it was my fault, and I thought it was because I wasn't a good friend, and…"

"Rikku, it was just a dream. It can't hurt you unless you let it," the sorceress told her.

"I know it shouldn't bother me, but I'm so afraid that I'm not going to see Yunie again to tell her that I love her…and that I'm sorry," the girl's spiral eyes filled with tears.

"Yuna knows that you love her," Auron said, carefully keeping his voice neutral. "Jealousy is perfectly natural, as long as you don't let it run away with you. You didn't do that, so you have nothing to be ashamed of."

Ria gave the guardian a long, speculative look. Her face took on a pained expression, and she closed her eyes and sighed, "Well, since everyone else seems to be making confessions, I guess I will, too."

"What is this; the spill your guts hour?" Bob asked with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

"Very funny!" the sorceress' voice dripped with sarcasm. "Anyway, Auron, do you remember that problem you kept asking me about back in Discovery? The one that I said I would get over on my own?"

He nodded, and she continued, "Well, the trouble is, I haven't gotten over it. If anything, it seems to have gotten worse."

"What, you're not dying, are you, Ria?" Rikku looked worried.

The mage smiled. "No, it's not anything like that. I don't have any other way to say this, so I won't beat around the bush…Auron, I love you."

Rikku and Bob gaped at her, completely flabbergasted, while Ria's face turned a lush crimson. "At first, I thought I just felt this way because you saved my life, but now I know that it's more than that!" She closed her eyes and sighed gustily. "How do I put this into words? Auron, you have got to be one of the grouchiest men I've ever met…"

"Thanks a lot," he dryly replied.

"And you're infuriating, and a little arrogant, and so overpoweringly macho it makes my head hurt! But under all of that lies the most compassionate and noble soul I've ever seen." Her voice took on a kind of quiet wonder. "You're very good at hiding it, you know. Your face hides your feelings well, but then I look into your eye and what I see touches my heart. I don't love you as the Guardian, I love you as the man that you are, and everything that goes with it."

Auron stared at her, his expression obscured by his dark sunglasses. When he said nothing, Ria sighed, "And I've just made a fool out of myself."

The sorceress got up and walked away, leaving the group to stare after her in a kind of daze. "Well?" Rikku asked, looking at the swordsman expectantly.

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to go after her?"

"Why? She clearly wants to be left alone."

"She just said that she loves you! You need to go tell her something," the Al Bhed was becoming aggravated.

"What am I supposed to say, Rikku?" Auron's tone was testy.

"Tell her how you feel, you dolt!"

"But…"

"No buts!" Rikku stood up, stamped her foot, and pointed in the direction that Ria had gone. "Now get your ass moving, or I swear I'll disown you!"

Auron looked up at her, but the thief's expression was adamant. "Fine, have it your way," he muttered.

The guardian left the camp and searched for Ria. He found the sorceress standing next to the crystal lake. The water and the trees were gilded silver by the light of the waxing moon, and the scene looked like something from a dream. "Ria? Are you okay?"

She turned around and smiled at him, but her eyes glittered with tears that she, in her pride, refused to shed. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Ria, I…"

"No, its okay," she stopped him. "I understand that you don't have the same feelings for me that I have for you, and it's all right. I'm just being foolish, and after all this is over, I'll go back to Earth if I can, and leave you in peace…"

Auron didn't have the words to say what he needed to say, so he interrupted Ria by pulling her close and kissing her deeply. Surprised, the sorceress froze, but soon returned the kiss with all her heart. It lasted for only a few moments, but felt like an eternity, and left the two of them breathless. "Oh, my…" she blushed again, but only slightly.

"I just did the first thing that came to mind," he smiled. "Ria, I feel the same way. I just don't have the words to express my feelings." He kissed her again, not as long, or as deep, but it was just as loving as the first.

She returned the kiss, put a pale hand on his cheek, and smiled sadly. "It's just a shame that this is all we can have."

He continued to hold her close, and after a while, said, "You're right: it is sad, but we have something else we have to finish, before we can be more than what we are."

Ria took his hand, and together the two of them walked back to the camp.

"They've been gone for quite some time," Bob said, peering into the darkness beyond the campfire. "What do you think they're doing?"

"I don't know," Rikku replied, nibbling on a piece of traveler's bread. "I haven't heard any screaming, so I don't think they've been fighting."

"Is human mating always this complicated?" the Tonberry asked.

The thief spat out the mouthful she had been chewing on. "WHAT?" she shrieked.

"You know, when Tonberries feel that way about each other, we just go off and…"

"Bob, you're a pervert!"

"What's a pervert?" he asked curiously.

"Never mind."

Ria and Auron returned to the camp, and from the lack of cuts and bruises, they definitely hadn't been fighting. "So…are you two mated now?" Bob asked archly.

"BOB! What do you think you're doing?" Rikku hissed, as both the swordsman and the sorceress blushed.

"No, we're not!" Auron's voice sounded strangled.

The little fiend shrugged, "You must've been doing something wrong, then." He turned to Ria and asked, "What's a pervert?"

The sorceress turned redder. "What?"

"Rikku said that I was a pervert because I think that you two are taking too long to become mates, and…"

"Don't worry about it," Ria told him.

"But, I…"

"Enough!" Auron roared. "That's it; we've got a long journey ahead of us tomorrow, so we need to get some sleep."

They put out the fire, and finally managed to doze off, even though Bob was snickering in the darkness. Ria started to say something, but decided against it, and fell asleep.

This was the first time I've ever tried to write a love scene, so if it came out weird, I apologize. For all of you perverts out there: this story is PG-13, and anyway, Auron seems like a proper sort of person, and Ria is not one of those types who develop helium heels just because someone whispers sweet nothings in her ear. They're still going to argue, because they're both strong-willed people, but I'm starting to ramble (again), so I'll leave you all alone now.