AN: I'm going to be gone for a few days, so there will be no new chapters until I come back... but I promise I'll update as soon as I'm back! I have a feeling that some huge ideas are coming... Wink wink

Disclaimer: I am the queen of not owning a damn thing.

It was dark, murky in a way. It almost seemed as if the light had to fight past a brick wall to find it's way into the room. Shadows lurked in every corner, and I fought to keep my eyes towards the light.

I felt neither alive, nor dead. With that realization, I knew that I must have been dreaming. Either that, or I just became the king of the In Between, the space in between Spira and the Farplane. I hoped that wasn't the case, but knowing the odd things that have happened the past few days, I couldn't put the thought out of my mind.

I was floating, though. Somewhere near the ceiling, I had taken up my momentary residence, and I had the perfect birds eye view of the entire room. Using that to my advantage, I searched for any sign of life below me.

Then, luckily, I saw the gleam of some blonde hair leaning against a wall, in the corner of the room. I breathed a sigh of relief and floated my way above her, watching and waiting for what happened.

"Are you Lady Rikku, legendary guardian to the High Summoner Yuna?" a voice from the shadows called.

Rikku stood up to her full height and looked towards the person in the shadows. I could see that she was trying to shake her fear off, but it still reached her eyes. And just for that very reason, I wanted to mutilate these people for doing this to her.

"Yes," she said simply.

"Do you understand why you're here?" the voice asked again.

"No," she said as she shook her head. She wasn't speaking much, I noticed. I was proud though. It's always a good move not to speak too much until you know what your situation is.

"In that case, my dear, we cannot inform you anything. All that I can tell you is that you shall be here for awhile. Do you need anything?"

I saw fury flicker behind those deep green depths and I knew that the guard, solider, or whoever that was sneaking around in the shadows was in for it. "Do NOT call me "my dear," sir. You cannot keep me in this place against my will, so therefore, the thing that I need is to get out of here. Do you understand THAT?" she said sharply.

I felt the corners of my mouth turn up in a grin as I watched her address the person in the shadows. He must have felt some kind of shock, considering he hadn't been able to get more than one word answers out of her previously. I almost felt bad for him... almost. Suddenly, I heard the rustling of his clothes move and heard him mutter something under his breath.

A thunder spell came out of nowhere and knocked Rikku off of her feet.

I tried to rush over to her, catch her before she hit the ground, but I found that I lost all ability to move. I was a fly stuck to the wall, almost as if I had been sprayed with something.

I felt something soft brush past my face, and heard a whispering in my ear. "Auron..." it said, "You are only here to stay informed of the situation. Do not push your luck."

Focusing back on the scene in front of me, I heard the man snicker as Rikku layed on the ground, moaning and sniffling. "I fear, my dear, that you are the one who doesn't understand." And with those words, I felt him swiftly leave, disappearing into the wall behind him.

And all Rikku did at that moment was curl herself into a ball on the ground and cry.

Come on Rikku, I thought to myself. You're tougher than this. Then, I heard her words coming softly off of her lips.

"Oh, Auron..." she sighed. "I wish you were here."

. . . . . . . . . . .

I faded away without even realizing it, and landed into a completely different room. Confused, I glanced around, but I couldn't really put my finger on anything distinctive about this room.

Suddenly, I felt two hands brushing past my face, and I sighed with relief.

"Oh sweetie, I'm sorry you had to see that," Rachelle whispered. I spun, looking around for her and Jenae, but I couldn't see either of them.

"You're still passed out, Auron," Jenae said. "You got a pretty hard whack upside the head back there, and we used it to our advantage."

I nodded and said nothing at all, instead chosing to listen to what they had to say. I knew that if I was brought in their presence again, something huge had to be happening.

"We're not exactly sure how many times we'll be able to do that."

"But we're going to try damn hard to make sure that you're completely updated on the situation."

"Who are they?" I murmured. "Why did they do that?"

They both paused, and I had a feeling that if I could see them they would have glanced between them, small smiles on their faces. "We... well, we really don't know, sweetie."

"And if we did know, I'm bnaddo tysh cina that we wouldn't be allowed to tell you," Jenae laughed, lapsing back into Al Bhed for a moment.

"But, another journey is starting, are you ready?"

"A journey to save Rikku?" I asked.

"That, and many other things. Sweetie, you're going to have to save the world again, along with the rest of the guardians, I believe."

I shook my head, thinking of the peace that the other guardians were finally getting to reach. "I can't make them come."

"Oh, believe me, they're pretty tysh ready to get moving again. All this peace gets boring, you know?"

"Yuna, especially, is ready to get moving again. But if you wish to go alone..."

"I'll think about it," I cut her off. Both of the girls burst out laughing, remembering the last time I said that phrase, all of this trouble got started.

And with a snap of their fingers ringing in my ears, I woke up.