Love Through Jealousy
Natsue Arishima
Chapter Six: Forgive and Forget
She was... an Al Bhed...
His mouth hung open, eyes wide. The sight of her in the ring of men, small, alone, among others of her kind... Her damnable kind. The men who had created those... those things... those monsters... that had killed Chappu.
How could he have been so stupid?
He should have seen, should have known. When she had first come, it had been so coincidental, with the underwater machina and all. How had he missed that? It had been obvious. The way she fought, the items she used, the knowledge she carried about machines...
How could he have been so fucking stupid?
He didn't know how long he stood there, staring across the ice. It wasn't cold anymore. There was numbness in his body, in his mind. He just stared, not really seeing, as his brother's face flashed and then faded.
She caught his gaze, and he couldn't turn away, stunned by her dull emerald eyes. Pleading, begging. And fury boiled within him.
He turned away.
He couldn't believe himself. How he had actually pretended... actually played along... that he was in love with a blonde Al Bhed. It was all wrong. He had trusted her, depended on her. She told him that he was her friend.
And he had fallen for it.
---
Lulu eyed him, her crimson eyes colder, harder. They glittered like gems against the bleak background, ebony braids slipping over one shoulder. Her Onion Knight was motionless in her arms, gazing with its dark eyes.
Slowly, she closed her eyes, a strange sensation settling in her gut. What was it? It hurt, tugged at her air. Was it pain? But she wasn't hurt. Emotional pain?
Impossible.
But as she opened her eyes again, she realized that it really did hurt. Almost as if she was giving something up, giving away a part of her soul.
She examined his face silently, at his limp stance, hard eyes. He was in pain, she could tell. Over what?
Over one girl?
Such emotions she would never understand, even though she had tried. Even today, she had thought about them, and about why people would even bother with feelings, with love, when it broke them, crippled them. Even killed them.
Something nagged at her again and she turned, walking away. Away from his sorrow. She couldn't stand to see him like this.
Perhaps... if the two of them... Wakka and Rikku...
They had seemed so much happier together. Even though it had been odd, if not with a bit of secrecy behind it... still. He had constantly been smiling.
At first, she had been a little irritated, though she hadn't known why. And now, there was another emotion, one that she couldn't place. Impatiently, she shoved it aside.
There was no time for this now.
And then, behind her, a yell.
A pulse erupted in her side, and a flash of blinding light blinded her eyes. It had happened so quickly, so suddenly... the pain hadn't registered. The force of the hit sent her skidding backwards, but she caught her footing before she fell. Her arm was limp; a warm liquid was sliding down the pale skin. It was red.
Blood.
Something was clicking, whining. It took a while for her to realize that the ground was shaking as well. She spun around, clutching her Knight hard. There.
Machina.
Behind it, she could see Yuna and Tidus, both with shocked expressions, sprint towards her from the other side of the lake. There were faint footsteps from behind her as well, but she ignored them, eyes on the glinting metal of her accuser.
As it towered above her, closing in, she finally regained control over her shock. Shutting her eyes, she raised her hand over her head, a smooth and natural movement. Her right arm remained motionless at her side. Tendrils of hair slid onto her back as she stretched out her pale fingers, summoning her anger and spurring forth a fierce thundaga attack.
The sizzle of the lightning soothed her and her fury faded away. As she straightened up calmly, expecting to see a broken down machine, her eyes widened. The machina continued to run, though it had stopped its movement.
Her fury resumed, and, crimson eyes flashing, raised her arm again, counting and evening out her magic. The air around her grew hazy and unclear. She stood still like that for what seemed like en eternity, staring upwards, before finally letting out a secession of thundaga attacks.
Out of the corner of her eye, she turned just in time to see something small cut through the air, stopping squarely in front of the machine. What surprised her more was when her electricity pelted at it mercilessly. There was a flash and a rush. She remained upright, eyes narrowed as a gust of wind and ice whipped past her body. Patient, waiting...
The seconds passed as the white mist cleared. A small gasp escaped her lips.
The machina hadn't been harmed at all. In front of it, glinting in the sunlight, buzzed a small hovering object, swarming from side to side like an annoying fly. It was radiating sparks, her previous thundaga attacks sending currents of electricity through the small article.
Unharmed, and still heading towards her.
Dull, throbbing panic. Her mind was blank, thoughtless. Her Onion Knight jumped from her arms, scurring forward as she took a hesitant step back, belts clicking. The machina approached her, invincible and intact. And the deafening hiss of its approach...
The ground shook, and she slipped suddenly on the ice.
She fell back into a warm embrace, crimson pools in shock through a mass of smooth, dark braids. Wakka held her close to him, teeth gritted and cursing, glare fixed directly on the machina. His grip on his blitzball was tense, his knuckles shaking and white.
And his eyes, blazing with rage.
She found herself staring, stunned. He was so warm... Words clogged at her throat, thoughts swirled hopelessly in her mind. There was a small sound of impact — moments later, her Onion Knight jumped back towards her, sliding slightly on its way.
Her vision was blocked as Wakka, still clutching her close, chucked his ball forward, screaming, "Take that, bastard!" There was a loud, echoing blow as his weapon connected perfectly with the buzzing machina. It tumbled down with a high shrieked groan of metal on metal.
She was vaguely aware of the dull ache in her arm. Somewhere close to her, there was a clash and dazzling light — Yuna had summoned.
Seconds later, the machina exploded, fragments of it whizzing through the air. Wakka raised his arm, shielding Lulu's face and body. Several cuts formed on his forearm where small flecks of metal whizzed past. The main part of the giant machine crumbled to the ground, a dark pillar of smoke rising towards the sky. And in the thinning fumes stood the silhouette of Rikku, bent over and panting. Uncountable fragments of used bombs lay around her.
And behind her stood Auron, a ring of unconscious Al Bhed lying around him. His dark eyes were narrowed. He was staring not at Rikku, but at Wakka.
---
Silently, Wakka stepped onto firm ground again. The even thrum of the snow mobile behind him died as he walked away from it, footsteps crunching on the snow. He could sense the eyes of Rikku on his back. She had been staring at him, pleading, for the entire ride.
Yuna was in front of him, looking extremely pale in her thin clothes. Tidus was just behind her, breath coming up in wisps and frantically rubbing his hands together. The summoner had sent questioning glances towards the strangely silent redhead several times but hadn't spoken. Wakka was secretly thankful.
He had been lost in his own thoughts on the way to the temple, where Yuna was planning to obtain another aeon — Shiva.
He was feeling a little guilty about his reaction to Rikku being an Al Bhed. Had he been fair? She was his friend after all. They had helped each other, aided one another in battle. So by ignoring her... was he acting too thickheadedly?
And was that even a word?
Wakka groaned, slapping himself in the face. Way to go with that train of thought.
But... Another fact that bothered him was that Lulu hadn't spoken a word to him either. Just stood up and walked away. Her Onion Knight had looked at him almost painfully.
Damn! Why were female emotions so hard to understand?
He suddenly yelped loudly as a hand was placed on his arms. Spinning around, he found himself face to face with Rikku, who quickly hid her smile. The sight of her, the same Rikku, with the same swirling eyes and childish personality... Nothing had changed, nothing except the fact that she was now Al Bhed.
Was she really still the same? The two of them had gotten so close... she was almost like a sister to him...
"We need to talk," she whispered.
---
The temple was soothingly warm compared to the bleak and desolate outside. Rikku's limbs began to thaw immediately, creating a peculiar sensation throughout her body. Shivering and letting out a tiny sneeze, she headed over to one of the two rooms in the temple, a bit jerkily.
The second set of footsteps behind her faltered slightly before following — she could tell Wakka really didn't want to talk to her.
They made it to the room without any suspicions from Yuna and her guardians, who were all gratefully basking in the warmth. Once inside, Rikku quickly shut the door, which, to her great irritation, didn't close completely, not even after she kicked it hard with her foot, receiving nothing but a dull throb and tingle through her leg. Whimpering, she fell down next to the single lamp.
Wakka remained by the door, arms crossed.
An awkward silence stretched. Rikku squirmed uncomfortably. A part of her was furious at Wakka's stubborn attitude. Another part of her was curious as to why Wakka despised Al Bhed.
Finally, she sighed and looked down. "I'm sorry."
He didn't respond.
Rikku's hands curled into fists, but she kept her anger in, even though she had a slight notion that the act was turning her face into a vivid shade of purple. Slowly, she stood up and nearly fell over again in surprise when Wakka did speak.
"Don't expect me to still be friends with ya, Rikku." The corners of his mouth twitched, but he was staring hard at the ceiling. A small smile found its way to Rikku's face.
"Don't expect me to be friendly to you either," she snapped, hands on her hips. "After Auron's mine, you're history." She wagged her finger at him, approaching the door.
"Any funny machina stuff and you'll be the next target of my blitzball, ya?" Uncrossing his arms, he looked at her, face twisting horribly in an attempt not to grin. Rikku giggled; he looked like mohawked monkey.
She was now squarely next to him. Raising her hand, she gave him a light slap over the cheek. "You're such a meanie. I can't believe I actually agreed to go out with you!" They stood like that, noses almost touching as Rikku mock glared at the redhead, until they both burst out laughing.
It was... nice.
Rikku plopped down onto the floor, stretching. Wakka settled himself a bit more gracefully, but fell over when Rikku's foot connected with his face. Twitching violently, he dragged himself into a sitting position away while Rikku smiled angelically at him.
"So... heard Lulu mauled you pretty badly, huh? Me-ow. Then again, with your pathetic charm, every woman would."
"Not like you did any better with Auron," Wakka snapped, pretending to look hurt. He denied the fact that Lu really had shot him down pretty badly.
Rikku laughed, playing with one of her braids. "That's what you think. He did me a pretty big favor by knocking out the group of Al Bhed that were threatening to pop my eyeballs out."
Wakka grinned, punching her playfully. She smacked him back. It was just like before again, surprisingly. She was exactly the same as the old Rikku — playful, witty, and supplied with endless energy.
"So..." she drawled, leaning forward and tracing little designs on his chest. Wakka raised at eyebrow. "What happened... you know... between you and... well. Why do you hate us so much?"
Wakka sighed, but he had to give in to her pleading expression.
Had he been paying attention, he would have noticed a dark figure by the slightly open door step away.
There was a clicking of belts.
---
A/N: Meh... I'm finally back! Yay! chucks balloons I'm so sorry for the horribly long and tedious delay... dodges tomatoes But hey! Tennis season is over, so now I'm back to writing! I'll try to update at least one of my stories once a week, so bear with me!
I have decided on the pairings of this fic. The main ones shall be... Lukka and Aurikku! But for all you Wakka x Rikku fans, don't fret! There should be plenty of action between them. I hope... Anyhoo, thanks again for waiting! I'll try my best to update as quickly as possible.
- Natsue Arishima