Chapter Eleven: Another Mystery Unfolds
Hi again! It's been a rather busy week, and that's my reason for the late submission of the next chapter. ;) I hope that all of you readers may appreciate this chapter, thank you.
Chapter Eleven
I hesitated for a moment after taking a step. This winged woman; I still felt suspicion to her. As her sharp-clawed hands beckoned for me to move forward, I stood there considering my decision.
"Don't go," I heard the familiar voice from behind. Surprisingly, Auron had come in front of me, drawing out his long and big sword and pointing it at the winged woman. "She's evil."
"But how would you know?" I asked him, but with no response. The red guardian had concentrated his gaze onto that of the creature in front of us.
"Leave this girl alone," Auron's thundering voice threatened the woman. The latter, shook her head, and began to chuckle.
"Poor poor thing," she exclaimed. "To think your puny weapon can even come close to me?" At instance, she raised out her hand to me again, giving an order to come. I hesitated again.
"If you won't come, here..." she raised her hand to form an apparition. As I looked at it, shock filled my entire body. It was Home, but a place in flames instead and everyone in it seemed to be in running away from something. "...then don't blame me when this happens."
Thinking about Home and about the survival of our denounced race, I had an impulse to walk forward to her. I took a long walk to her, coming closer to her every minute. It was not long before I heard a thundering sound. Turning behind I saw an Auron who had fallen to the ground; he must have chased after me but was deflected by this winged woman's mystical powers.
"Very well done." The woman smiled, but in a sinister way. She raised her arms and began to glow blue before turning back to me. "So it begins."
The next moment had that of the winged woman transforming into a blue apparition and shooting through my body, causing immense pain. Upon that moment, I fainted from the sudden event.
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"Hey, are ya' okay?" I heard an accent that was alien to Spira but reminded of one familiar person whom I had suddenly forgotten. I opened my eyes slowly, allowing the sunlight to fall on them gradually and my sight to clear from a blurry image. In front of me I saw the man who had always appeared quite a number of times in my dreams of late, the one that did not belong to Spira. "Say something, will ya?"
"I'm fine," I answered back to his question, returning a smile to him. Getting up from the floor, I looked around to see a rosy sunset and stood there for the moment. It was absolutely beautiful and magnificent too. I turned to see two somehow familiar faces, one with the looks of a summoner and the other man of his red crimson coat with his aloof face directing at something in the sky.
'Fryd ys E tuehk?' I wondered to myself as I remember having been previously attacked by the winged woman just minutes ago. Clutching my stomach, I noticed that there was no wound there as well. 'Fych'd E yd dra dasbma susahdc yku?'
"Something's wrong?" I heard the gentle voice of my uncle, Yunie's one and only summoner father. I turned to look at him, deducing that this was another crazy dream that I had been having about for the past few months that we spent on Yuna's pilgrimage. I shook my head in reply. "You should go and thank Auron; he saved your life earlier on."
'Cyjat so meva? Dryd nat syh ec dryd yhde-culeym kiynteyh uv yh eteud?' I looked at the young man in his red coat in shock. 'Cu ed fych'd y luhletahla dryd ra funa y lnescuh luyd...' I continued my gaze at the red man who had turned his look to me.
"There's nothing for you to look," I heard his cold reply which was supposedly warm during my previous 'dreams'. So this guardian was truly the man I saw in Yunie's pilgrimage. Feeling that there was something to do, I took small steps towards the towering man in the red coat.
"Er...Syho dryhgc,' I spoke slowly but proudly too. He gave a nod and turned behind.
"Never mind," he replied facing his back to me. This man was no doubt the Auron whom I saw in the real world; an Auron who was always cold and of little words. At the moment, I noticed that his body was edging to turn back to me but this guardian was trying to restrict his instincts.
"Turn back," I tried to interpret his mind. "There's no point trying to suppress your heart." Not a single reply came. Turning to my surroundings, I saw that everywhere had been frozen. It seemed like everything had came to a standstill.
"Hello Rikku," I heard a voice call out my name from one side. Turning to the source of the voice, I saw a girl of not more than twenty-five with short brown hair and a green scarf wrapped around her elbows. "Don't be afraid, I'm responsible for everything."
"How did you manage such a feat? Did you freeze time?" I asked with query, confused that that this girl could do such magic.
"I was born with it," she replied, giving a mild smile and advancing towards me. "I made you dream in the future."
"Future?!?" I was confused at what was going on. "So...this is the future? But Braska is Yunie's father." The girl came forward to give me a pat on the shoulder.
"You'll know in due course," she responded to my confusion. "It's still too early to find out about anything. But you'll eventually discover the truth. Now we must return."
"Return?"
"Back to your original place," she answered. "The place where you had fainted previously." At once, she closed her eyes which made me faint from a strange dizziness in my head.
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I stirred to find myself on the floor. In front of me were Yuna and the rest of them bearing worried looks. I got up to notice that Seymour was just beside me, his hand grabbing my arm. Attempts to pull myself away from him was futile. "Seymour!" I heard Tidus' voice. "This has nothing to do with Rikku; leave her alone."
"Before I die," he gave a sinister response, grabbing my arm tighter by the minute. "She will be sacrificed to Yevon." He turned to me and came close, whispering into my eyes, "Prepare to meet the mistress."
'Cyja sa, Auron!' I pleaded for help in my mind, hoping that the stoic guardian would come to my rescue. 'Ed'c hud so dinh du tea oad!'
"Die, wretched Al Bhed!" he cried out, clutching at my throat tightly with his other hand. I gasped for air as I inhaled less and less air. The grip tightened on my throat, making me dizzy from the lack of air. I closed my eyes to say goodbye for the last time but somehow felt the grip loosen.
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"Rikku! Rikku!" I heard several words that were familiar. I opened my eyes to see Tidus' and Lulu's faces, relieved that they had saved me from Seymour's evil.
"Yuna...you would pity me now?" I looked to see that Seymour had fallen on his knees. Upon saying the few words, he looked at me. "You will pay for this, Al Bhed!" With that the grand master collapsed to the ground dead, his eyes staring blankly at me eerily. Yunie came over to close them, making me a little relieved.
"Lord Seymour!" I heard a familiar voice in the temple. Tromell, the servant of Seymour, had burst into the room with two other assistants to see the commotion. "What happened here?"
"What...what have I done?" Wakka stammered as he took steps back shocked with grief that he had killed an important figure in the Yevonite hierarchy.
"Wait a minute!" Tidus butted in, declaring Yuna's innocence. "It's not our fault at all! Seymour struck first! He's the bad guy!"
Tromell stood up to look at us with an angry look on his face, especially with the blaming directed at me. "Who did this?" he ordered angrily.
"Yuna," I heard Auron's cold but sensible advice. "Send him."
"No, stop!" Tromell pushed us back. "Stay away from him, traitors!" Yunie dropped to her knees as Seymour's body was carried out by the two Guado servants.
"Traitors?"
"We're finished," Wakka wailed irritatingly.
"Now just hold on a minute!" Tidus interrupted, obviously trying to lift our spirits. "Seymour's the bad guy, right?" He tried to help the shaken Yuna. "We'll just explain to everyone what happened!"
"It won't be easy..." Auron trailed off. "Let's get out of here," he responded by exiting out of the room.
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"Gimme a break!" Tidus moaned as the bottom of the tunnel vanished beneath our feet. It was to no avail; we had to complete the cloister of trials before the problem could be solved. Lulu only shook her head in reply before preparing to initiate the cloister of trails.
How was it? I hope it ain't too boring! =/ Okay, looks like I'm bad at writing AU and I guess I've got to improve on writing fiction too. See ya' soon! And I apologize again for the long wait!