AN: School is here, so I'll probably be updating a bit less than usual. But, no worries, because I finally got my groove back! NEW IDEAS YAAAAAAAY!

I really thought the last chapter I wrote was my best one, but I only got a few reviews... Are you guys just reading through and not reviewing? Or have you just stopped reading all together? It made me feel kinda bad, but I got some big ideas, so I'm still going to be posting.

Big smooches to my happy reviewers, you always make my day.

Disclaimer: As much as I wish I did, I don't own a damn thing.

Through the night we were waiting for a sign

Maybe rendered in the darkened sky

Drawn by imaginary lines

Connecting radiant points of light

(Please don't go...)

Cause you showed up with your hair down

And I might not sleep tonight

- "Walking Downtown" by Copeland

I gazed down at her beautiful face in shock. "Rikku... What.. What are you doing here?"

Her blonde locks glinted in the lamplight as she detangled herself from my arms. She sat back on her heels, staring at me with her wide, green eyes. She kept her hands in her lap, playing with the black, satin ribbon holding her cloak together at her neck. Then, her lips parted and she spoke.

I held my breath.

"Well... A lot has happened lately, Auron," Rikku said simply. She then stood up and started pacing back and forth around my cramped room. Back and forth, from the window to the doorway. Her hands were clenched at her sides as she paused, gazing out the window. "My dad... Cid... well..." she sighed with tears in her eyes. "Something bad happened to him."

I started to get a bad feeling about what she was implying, but I had to ask. "What happpened?"

She continued to glance outside at the sky, almost as if she wasn't really in the conversation. I moved from off of the floor closer to her, but she shook her head, keeping me at arms length. Slighty hurt, I sat on my bed, waiting for her reply.

"While you were... well, wherever you were, there was an Al Bhed revolution. I didn't realize how bad it had become until yesterday, when I was kidnapped. Apparently, the dnyedunc broke into my father's airship a few days ago. They planted... Well, they planted a bomb..." she hiccuped then, trying to hold back her tears.

"Oh God..." I breathed.

"... and they killed my dad."

Time seemed to stop. I couldn't breathe. I jumped up off of the bed and ran towards her, pulling her into my arms. The flood broke loose, and she cried into my chest, grasping at the material of my shirt, soaking my skin. I mumbled words of love and comfort into her hair, but I knew that she couldn't hear my voice.

Her mind was lost somewhere in the horrors of the past few days.

"And," she sobbed, "they came after me because I'm the next one in my family to lead my people. I was trapped in a dark room but I paid a guard to let me sneak to a proper bathroom for a few minutes, and I escapted out of a window. When I hit the ground, I realized that I was just outside of Luca, and came here to find you."

Every word that she said was imprinted into my brain, but there was one thing that didn't seem to make sense. "Rikku," I whispered. She nodded into my chest, waiting for what I had to say. "You're now the leader of the Al Bhed? Queen, so to speak?"

She leaned back to look at my face. "You could say that," she whispered.

I held her for ages, stroking her hair and praying for just one moment of peace. Here was my beautiful Rikku, sobbing her eyes out because some assholes decided to take over her people. It wasn't fair that she was caught up in the middle of the politics, especially since she didn't ever seem that interested in them.

And, because of something she wasn't even interested in, she lost her dad.

She stirred a bit, moving out of the circle of my arms. Sighing, she gazed back out of the window, her hand splayed against the glass. I stood back, letting her get her bearings.

"Everything will turn out okay, Rikku," I said, trying to comfort her.

She sighed in a way that made my heart break for her. "I highly doubt it."

We were silent for what seemed like hours. "What are you suppposed to do now that you're the new leader?" I wondered outloud.

She turned back towards me, her eyes still pointing towards the ground. "See... that's the thing. I honestly have no idea what I'm supposed to do. My dad," her voice broke for a second, "... he had Sin to worry about. How we were going to survive Home being destoryed, numerous times. But, all I have is the fucking revolution," she growled, her eyes squinting in fury. "And, I have to worry about being killed by the same dnyedunc that killed my dad."

Dnyedunc... Traitors... That's what she meant...

Her shoulders tensed up as she spun back towards the window, refusing to look at me. "And Brother... What is he supposed to do? He was supposed to be the real leader, not me. But, he decided to give it up years ago, and the stupid job was passed on to me. How am I supposed to do this, Auron? How can I deal with this?"

I cleared my throat. "Rikku... As hard as it may seem, you have to get past this." I stopped for a moment, and tried to think of things that I used to tell her on the pilgrimage. "Dwelling in the past is futile. You must concentrate on the task at hand, and hope for the best."

She stopped for a moment, hurt and shock covering her delicate features. Then, a mask covered her face, and I knew that I had said the wrong thing.

"That's all well and good for you to say, Sir Auron," she hissed. "Noble stoic... That's you to a T."

I felt myself step back away from her, trying to sheild myself from the tone of her voice. I opened my mouth to say something... better, I guess. Something much more suitable than what I had just said, but she kept speaking before I could get it out.

"Why did I even come here for anyway?" she whispered. "I should have just dealt with this alone."

I shrunk back as if I had been slapped. I was only trying to help, but as usual, I screwed that up, didn't I? I spun around and started walking towards the door, swiping my coat as I walked past. The door clicked open, and I turned back towards her.

Rikku's emerald eyes were covered with tears. "No... wait..." she choked out.

I stood silently, waiting.

"I'm so sorry... I didn't mean it, honest. Please don't go," she whispered urgently, wringing her hands in front of her. Tears slipped down her cheeks as she pleaded with me. "I need you so much... Please don't leave me again..."

"Oh, Rikku," I breathed. I dropped my coat, let go of the door, and quickly went back to her side. Her lower lip quivered as I wrapped my arms around her in an embrace. My hands stroked her hair as I kissed the top of her head. "I won't leave, I promise you. I swear to you that I'll never leave you again."