Chapter Thirteen: Back to Home
Hey guys! Welcome back to the next chapter! =P I may using songs to make all of you readers to picture the upcoming chapters soon. Okay, have a nice time readin' this chapter.
Chapter Thirteen
I woke up to find the glaring sun shining into my eyes. The temperature had suddenly taken a major antipodean change as I turned to sense my surroundings. Looking around the area I saw mere dunes of brownish rough sand which gave me a sense of familiarity with the region.
'Luimt drec pa?' I thought to myself as I scouted the area three hundred and sixty degrees. Upon carefully searching for things in the sand I found one that made me recognize the area and made me relieved. 'Home. E's Home'
Trudging across the sandy ground I felt the piercing rays of heat bombarding upon my bare skin at the abdomen. In the distance my eye spotted a survival kit left by Home. I touched the kit's button as it sprang to life with a buzzing sound.
"Rikku!"
I turned to see who had suddenly called me out. Turning my head to the source of the sound I saw the one and only Lulu. She did not seem to be feeling warm judging from the thick black fur coat she wore. Coming up to me she took a deep breath.
"Do you have any water?" the black mage requested. "Sir Auron doesn't seem good to me." She pointed to her back which showed the slightly limping crimson guardian marching among the dunes of sand. I nodded in response and proceeded to manipulate the survival machina.
"Here!" I took out a seamless leather pouch that was 'vomited' by the survival kit. "Take it to him!" Lulu grabbed the pouch and ran over to the guardian's side.
'Ra'c puiht du navica...' I stared at the two guardian with one trying to help the other which resulted in the latter pushing the leather pouch away. Shaking my head I took a quick run to the two guardians.
"I'm fine," said the crimson guardian with a cold voice that could freeze the air around him and pushed away the water bearer for the umpteenth time.
"No you're not!" Lulu responded with his refusal, pushing back the pouch of water to him. "Look at you limping away. Please Sir Auron."
"There's no need," he gave another cold rejoinder. "Our main goal is to find Lady Yu..."
"Would Yuna want to see you in this state?"
Auron turned up to see the usual me-opposing-him I. His mouth had a desire to argue back but the elder guardian walked away instead. Lulu shook her head as she observed the guardian press on into the desert with a weak constitution. In a split second the crimson guardian had fallen onto the ground with a small 'thud'.
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"Lulu, is that all?" I asked the survival-expert guardian. Being on a double pilgrimage was enough to make the black mage one already. She came over to look at the lying guardian as he lay on the hard floor with the same pouch to support the head.
"He doesn't seem to be coming round," she answered while observing the unconscious old guardian. Giving him another full observation, Lulu turned back to look at me. "Loosening some of his clothing might be a good choice."
I looked at what equipment had been removed from the unconscious Auron: his giant sword, the most obvious reason for fainting; his jug of strange liquid, the heavy crimson coat which made Lulu and I pant upon carrying it. How on earth could this guardian possibly carry such material on his body? Removing the buckle on his dark belt I continued to look at his scarred face with the horrid gash 'adorned' vertically on his permanently-shut eye.
"...my...fault...to...blame..." Auron muttered some strange words as he made some movements in his unconscious state. Proceeding to return to Lulu I felt a large grip on my small arm with the obvious culprit.
"...don't...leave..."
I looked at Auron as he grabbed my hand. A pitiful expression wore across his face which made it rather different from the frequent stoic ones he wore per normal. The guardian was just like a frightened little child who would suddenly hold his parents' hands upon sensing danger around.
'Hmmm....Syopa E lyh bimm y zuga uh res,' a crazy idea began to generate within my Al Bhed mind.
I bended down to the man who was still holding to my arm. With my gentlest and sweetest voice I place my lips close to his ears. "Don't worry," I began with his grip loosening. "Sis ensures that everything's alright!" With that the crimson guardian gave a rare smile and released upon instance.
"That was strange, wasn't it?" I stood up to walk over to Lulu who was still observing the surroundings. We had initially brought Auron over to a shelter where the three of us had remained there to check for anyone familiar who would trudge through the giant sand dunes of the Bikanel desert.
"Perhaps," the black mage responded as she took a glance at the peaceful guardian at rest. "Sir Auron has a past that all of us are unknown of." I nodded as I observed how the legendary guardian could have had a secret hidden, possibly scarred past.
"Rikku, should we be searching for the others?" Lulu asked after a long while as we looked out at the glaring sandy landscape.
"There's a sandstorm out there," I replied. It would be dangerous to go out there in the middle of one powerful force of Nature possibly whipped up by Yevon as possibly believed by the people whom I was traveling on a pilgrimage with. However, in my mind were only worries for Yuna being out in the sand and not being rescued by my fellow men.
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"Rikku, he's coming round," Lulu beckoned to me as I turned to see the red guardian stirring from his deep slumber with her having a little trouble helping the legendary guardian up. Knowing that Auron had a strong big body, I rushed over to help the 'giant' up.
"We have wasted time," the crimson guardian gave a slight admonition upon standing up as he looked at us annoyingly. "There was no need to rest."
'Ihknydavim vuum...'
Auron continued to give his long harangues as he prepared his regular items and equipping his giant sword. Within moments he was exiting the shelter.
"Wait! Where are you going in this sandstorm?" I shouted back to him as he placed his large sword on his broad shoulders.
"Find the rest," he replied with Lulu looking back at me before returning to join the red guardian.
"Stay here Rikku," she ordered. "Come out when the sandstorm is clear." Following that the red and black guardians ran into the thick fog of the sandstorm, leaving a lonely me waiting in the shelter.
I picked and threw a piece of sandstone as I looked at the raging storm. It had probably being hours since they had left the area. As I looked around the area my eye caught a rock with an engraving on it. I took fits of giggling as nostalgia began to fill my mind.
"Rao Rikku!" he had called out to me as we ran across the sandy landscape. We had escaped from a giant worm which could have nearly turned us into pulp for its dinner. Panting onto a rock I looked as he came back to me. "Cusadrehk'c ihnekrd?"
"Hudrehk," I replied as we looked at the rock with its weathered surface. "Braf! Teth'd aqbald ic du nih vnus dryd ypusehydeuh!"
"Rikku, fa yna pudr milgo," he patted my shoulder. "E ghuf! Mad'c ahknyja cusadrehk uh drec nulg." He picked up a smaller but sharper stone and began to engrave his writings on it.
"Dryd'c buehdmacc!" I responded to his balmy idea of engraving on a rock that was often weathered from the strong sandstorms that raged frequently. "Ed femm jyhecr." Before I could know it my eye caught the words: 'Pacd Vneahtc Vunajan!'
"Rao, Dryhgoui!" I gave him a warm hug in the desert before we proceeded to return back in the direction of Home.
I returned back to the real world from my world of memories. Noticing that the sandstorm had been cleared I got up to exit the area to find Lulu and Auron. I walked to the old rock as its weathered engravings had endured the test of nature and remained there. Touching the rock for the last time, I turned to the direction of their movement and ran across the sandy landscape of the desert, avoiding any monster plants along the way.
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"Oh!" I ran to meet all of them after trudging through the sand for a long while and failing to spot Yunie along the way too. "Hey guys! Where's Yunie?"
"Gone," came Tidus' soft reply to me. They had looked like a bunch of people who had just encountered some battles.
"Gone...some guardian I am," Lulu lost confidence as she berated herself for the loss of Yunie. She looked happy awhile ago in the shelter but had now lost all confidence from Yunie's disappearance. At this point I knew that there was only one place where Yunie could have definitely been sent to.
"Umm..." I began to speak, forcing the secret of our people closed so tightly within me to be disclosed. "There's something I wanna tell you, but promise not to say anything."
Wakka gave a slight angry look at me judging that his sudden prejudice against me had not been cured yet.
"No glaring either!" I replied back to make myself calm. "I know where we are. We're on Bikanel Island," I continued as I disclosed the Al Bhed secret residence. "There's a place us Al Bhed call Home near here," more words of the forbidden secret shot through my lips. "Yunie's there, I'm sure of it!" I exclaimed and told where Yuna could most likely be. "Other Al Bhed must've come and rescued her!"
"Rescued? You mean kidnapped?" Wakka butted in.
"What does it matter as long as she's safe?" Tidus rebuked his fellow blitzball player.
"That's right!" I was secretly praising Tidus' unbiased view of people. "Anyway, I will take you there if you promise..." a deal began to form in my mind. "...that you won't tell anyone about it."
"Especially not Yevonites, okay?" I asked for their cooperation while looking at their expressions with Wakka's expression being the only bitter one. "You know they don't like us Al Bhed. Who knows what they'll do if they knew?"
"Gimme a break," Wakka began to argue back. "What are you accusing Yevon of this time?"
"Yevon did something really bad to us before."
"Well, you Al Bhed must've deserved it," he replied coolly. The next sound I could hear was a sound of irritancy from a frustrated Tidus who was about to go insane without Yuna around.
"Can't you guys...talk about this later?" He emphasized the urgency to find Yuna.
"Just promise you won't tell anyone about this island." I gave an ultimatum and stretched my little finger. "Promise?"
"Wakka, come on!" Tidus persuaded.
"All right, I promise," agreed Wakka reluctantly as we crossed little fingers. "Lead the way."
"You got it!"
"Hey, Auron," I ran back to him as we met in battle with a monster plant that blocked the way. "You okay?"
"It doesn't concern you," he replied coldly walking to battle. Feeling irritated at his attitude again I pulled back his crimson coat. "Disturb me no more."
"Auron, Legendary Guardian of Lord Braska!" I tugged at his coat. "It is very rude of you to ignore a simple question given to a concern fellow guardian of yours!"
"And it is childish of you to do that," he turned his head back slightly. "Let go."
"Rikku," Lulu suggested. "Perhaps our main goal is to find Yuna and not for you to flirt with Sir Auron." I looked at the black guardian with disbelief, releasing my grip on the crimson coat instantly. Following that Auron turned his hand behind to withdraw his humongous sword and to aim it at the monster plant.
"I'm not flirtin' with Auron!" I argued back with Lulu at her sudden profanity at me. I was beginning to feel that I had once again become childish.
"That's your choice," she answered frigidly. "But let's go," she pointed to the dead plant which had just been slain by Auron's heavy-damage sword moves. I agreed as I ran to the front to lead the way to Home by habit.
"Over here!" I signaled to the group as I ran up the sand dune. My enthusiasm was short-lived as I saw a horrible sight that made history repeat at the top of the sand dune. "Aaaaaa!"
"Rikku!" Tidus came up to me share the horrid sight.
"What? Yuna's down there?" Wakka asked in shock at the sight of Home being destroyed. Auron remained silent as he came up with not a single sign of expression on his face.
"Of all the places...Let's go!" Lulu gave us a sense of urgency to save Yuna as we raced down the sand dune to a burning Home.
Okay! End of Chapter Thirteen! It's not much of an AU, but I guess it'd do! =P Anyway, if you do find the English translations of Al Bhed a little strange, I'd say that I had modified some words purposely to make the language more unique rather than some crazy exact 'alter-ego' of English. This chapter is mainly on the real story and you must be wondering why my story title has got to do with the real story. The answer is that more will be unfolded in future so be prepared for future chapters as the plot thickens further. [By the way, the plot has not thickened much yet!] Okay, end of my chatter, bye!