A/N: Next chap! XD As always, Read and Review! Reviews make authors VERY HAPPY! XD Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, you guys are great! I'm taking a lot of liberties with this chap, because I really don't want it to just be a play-by-play of the game, because nobody wants to read that. lol Trust me, it is all for the best interest of the story! Enjoy! XD

Chapter Nine
Save The Day

Part One

Back on terra firma, and seriously hurting from that last struggle with Mr. Big-and-Nasty-Wyrm, Rikku was worn out, and a little fuzzy-minded from the poison that the dragon had so generously bestowed upon her. Pausing for a moment to imbibe an Al Bhed potion, she looked at the rest of the party and assessed the damage total.

Tidus had a nasty gash on his forehead from where Evrae had knocked him to the deck, and so Rikku drew upon her meager mana stash to cast a quick Cure spell one that Yuna had taught her upon his wound. He grinned at her in tired thanks, and she squeezed his hand reassuringly.

Sir Auron seemed no worse for the wear, so she moved on to Lulu, who was gasping with pain and propping herself up on Wakka's shoulder. "Lulu, are you all right?" Rikku asked gently.

Lulu managed a small but unconvincing nod. Rikku shook her head and handed her a Hi-Potion from her pack. "Drink," she said in a no-nonsense voice. The mage obliged and instantly righted herself.

Rikku looked at Wakka, who seemed to be all right, but she asked any way. "Wakka?"

He looked at her, or rather, looked through her. He didn't seem to really care what she had to say. "I'm fine, ya?" he all but growled.

Rikku gave a single nod of her head and looked toward the other end of the Highbridge. "Yunie!" she gasped.

Yuna and Lord Seymour, decked out in complete wedding regalia, were walking up the steps toward Maester Mika. "What is goin' on?" Wakka asked. "What's with the fancy clothes?"

Lulu shook her head. "It's called a wedding dress," she said dryly.

"What?" Wakka exploded. "Well, what are we standing here for, huh? Let's move!"

"Yuna!" Tidus called out, leading the charge toward her.

"That is enough!" a voice called out. It was that of Maester Kinoc, who motioned with his hand for the Bevellian guards to advance upon the group of guardians.

"Son of a …" Rikku muttered under her breath.

"Bitch." Without realizing or intending to, Wakka finished her sentence.

The barrels of at least a dozen rifles trained on the group. They looked at each other with unease. Yuna, however, had been awaiting an opportunity such as this, and produced her stave from behind her back.

She began the dance of the sending, and pyreflies began swirling around Lord Seymour. "Lady Yuna," Seymour said menacingly. "You would play at marriage for a chance to send me?"

Yuna held her head high and stared the evil maester coolly in the eye. "You play at marriage for a chance to use me, do you not?" she countered. Rikku had never known her cousin to have such an undercurrent of raw emotion coursing through her. She couldn't help but be proud of the summoner.

Kinoc shoved the barrel of a gun into Tidus' face at Seymour's command. "Do you not value your friends' lives?" Seymour said evenly. "Spare me, and protect them. Send me, and throw them away."

Head still high, gaze unwavering, Yuna released her grasp on the rod. "Wise choice," Seymour told her, placing his hands on her shoulders and leaning in to kiss her.

Rikku noticed that Yuna's hands balled up into fists and her expression was one of pure revulsion. The bells of the Palace of St. Bevelle began to chime, and the crowd cheered for what they assumed was a cheerful occasion.

Lord Seymour broke the kiss and looked to the guards. "Kill them," he said firmly.

Yuna gasped. "No!" she cried as a guard hit Sir Auron over the head with the butt of his rifle. "Let them go … Or else." Her voice was steely and cold. She backed away from the group, toward the balcony.

"Yuna, no!" Kimahri cried out. It was obvious what the summoner's intentions were, and he would be damned if he was going to allow it.

"Go! Leave now!" Yuna ordered her guardians.

"If you fall, you'll die," Seymour said, but he held up his hand, ordering the guards to lower their weapons.

Glaring, Yuna wiped her lips with the back of her hand, as if Seymour had left a bad taste in her mouth. "Don't worry." She smiled serenely at her friends. "I can fly. Believe." She stepped off the balcony, and began her free-fall.

Tidus started to run to her, but Kimahri held him back. "Yuna said leave, we leave!" he roared.

"Cover your eyes!" Rikku cried out. She threw a grenade, and shoved the closest person to her – Wakka – in the other direction. "Run!"

There was a blinding flash and an explosion.

"Break through!" Sir Auron yelled. Rikku followed behind him closely, praying that the others were behind them.

"What was that?" Wakka asked her a little while later, forgetting his vow of silence for a moment.

Rikku blew her sweaty bangs out of her forehead and tried to look nonchalant, when really, her heart was soaring. He talked to me! He actually addressed me first! "A flash bomb," she explained. "Pretty useful in these kinds of situations." She flashed a quick grin and then started running again.

After what seemed like miles of running to Rikku, they reached the front of a building. "Where's Yunie?" she demanded.

"Where else?" Lulu asked.

"The Chamber of the Fayth!" Tidus exclaimed. "Let's go!"

The group entered the temple, and found themselves at the top of an extremely long and winding staircase. Rikku frowned and walked over to what looked like an energy panel. "Strange," she muttered to herself as she began entering different combinations onto the keypad. "This is a Yevonite temple, right?"

Suddenly the machina gave a lurch and the stairs seemed to disappear one by one, starting from the bottom on up, until there was a single sliding platform at their feet. "What's a machina doin' in the temple?" Wakka spat.

"It's probably pretty handy," Rikku supplied brightly.

"No, Rikku, the teachings!" Wakka cried. "Machina – they're forbidden by Yevon, ya? So what are they doin' here?"

Rikku shrugged, her expression pained by Wakka's sharp tone. Here, things had seemed to be okay … Wrong again, Rikku.

"Oh, who cares?" Tidus cried, stepping onto the platform. Rikku smiled her thanks at him and joined him. The rest of the group was quick to follow, even Wakka. Rikku avoided looking at him. If he was just going to go back into that whole "Al Bhed are evil, Al Bhed should burn" routine, that was just fine with her. Asshole.

They reached the bottom of the interminable staircase a few minutes later, and found that the door was locked by yet another machina. "Another one?" Wakka muttered. "Man oh man."

Rikku walked over and began examining it. "So, this is Yevon's true face," Auron commented. "They betray their own teachings."
"And after all they did to us …" Wakka began. He tossed his blitzball against the wall angrily, and Rikku jumped. "They treated us like dirt."

Part Two

Wakka's head hurt. It hurt a lot. In the past several hours, so many new developments had come to light, and not one of them did anything to alleviate the uneasiness he had begun to feel in the last week or so.

Everything he had believed in so strongly was crumbling at his feet. Seymour Guado had murdered his own father, and wanted to use Yuna to destroy Spira. The Maesters of Yevon were unsent. Spira was nothing but an endless spiral of death and destruction.

And now, he and everyone he cared about in the world had been sentenced to die down here in this watery tomb. It didn't make sense to him. He had walked the path of righteousness his entire life, had never done anything to shame Yevon, the teachings, his family … and now he was to die, for he was now a traitor of his faith.

He didn't know where anyone else was – where was Yuna? The one he was supposed to be guarding, and he had lost her twice now. Some guardian I am, ya? He almost wished that he wasn't a blitzball player, and that he didn't have such amazing underwater stamina, because at this point, he really just wanted to die.

He didn't want to leave Yuna behind, but for all he knew, if she'd been thrown in here as well, she was already dead … No, no, can't think things like dat, eh? Won't do anyone any good …

He couldn't call out to anyone either – being underwater as he was. He wondered if he should just sit and wait to see if anyone found him. He noted a small air pocket several hundred feet away and swam toward it, hoping to regain enough oxygen to buy himtime to formulate an escape plan.

He was sucking in oxygen when a blonde head popped up next to him in the narrow pocket. Rikku smiled at him uncertainly. "Mind if I borrow some of this?" she asked, her voice small and breathy as she gasped for air.

"No prob," Wakka said easily. "I guess we're in this together, eh?"

Rikku nodded a little. "I guess so." She took several deep breaths to expand her lungs and then went back under the water. She swam in easy circles for a while, searching for any kind of exit.

Wakka watched her surreptitiously, Why's she have to be so damned pretty? And it didn't help that he knew things about her now – things that no one else on the pilgrimage knew. Things that he probably didn't even have a right to know, to be honest. Especially considering the way he'd been treating her lately. Things like the way her skin felt, the way her mouth tasted, the little noises she made in the back of her throat when he kissed her …

He was going to drive himself crazy down here with her if someone else didn't show up soon.

Rikku paused and looked back at Wakka, her expression bemused. He seemed to be watching her, which usually, she might take as a good sign – but after everything that had happened, she didn't know how to take it. Was he scrutinizing her, sizing her up? Was he blaming her for their situation? She wouldn't put it past him, the big meanie.

But what got to her even more was that she couldn't help but to remember things – things that kept creeping into her mind at the most inopportune moments – they were in a dire, life-threatening situation, and yet, she found herself thinking about how sweet and gentle he had been last night – had it really been only yesterday? – on the airship … the way he had brushed the hair off her forehead and kissed her so gently, as if he were she were something to savor … The way he had treated her like a priceless treasure, like what they were sharing was completely miraculous … Maybe it had been …

Shaking her head to rid herself of the almost painful memories she looked back at him and gave him a small, sad smile. Too bad the person that she cared about more than she had ever cared about anyone before was so far above her. She wasn't good enough for him, and she knew it … but it didn't mean that she couldn't dream.

Just when Rikku was about to abandon all hope, Tidus swam up. If she could have breathed a sigh of relief, she would have. Instead, the three of them swam to the air pocket. There was barely room for the trio to all congregate there at once, but they managed to finagle it long enough to discuss options.

"I think I know the way out!" Tidus told them optimistically. "We gotta find Yuna!"

"Well, we'll follow you, brudda," Wakka told him. Rikku nodded her concurrence.

Tidus led the way through the submerged maze. They had gone around several corners and Tidus was motioning that they were nearly there. Rikku was relieved. She hoped that Yuna and the others were okay, and that they would have also found their way out of the labyrinth.

They rounded one of the final corners, and came face to face with Evrae – at least, it looked like Evrae. Something seemed a little off, though …

Rikku looked at the men on either side of her. From their expressions, she could tell that they had noticed the slight difference too. He seemed to be – sort of green. Kind of sickly looking. Shrugging, she motioned that they attack.

Tidus nodded, and even though Wakka looked unsure, he agreed. They swam toward the beast, and Tidus noticed a lever located behind the creature. While Wakka pummeled the dragon with his blitzball and Rikku robbed it, he swam around it, unnoticed, and struck the lever with his sword until it released.

A gate opened, and Tidus swam through it. Seeing the opening, Rikku and Wakka followed. Unfortunately, so did Evrae.

The fiend was unnatural – not that fiends were particularly natural to begin with, but this one seemed to thrive on pain. What the hell is wrong with this thing? Rikku wondered.

Evrae swung his mighty claw at Tidus, and knocked him out. Cred! Cred! Rikku thought frantically, and dug in her pouch for a Phoenix Down. She tossed it in Tidus' direction, but the current of the water and the movement of the monster diverted its course, and the Phoenix Down hit Evrae instead.

Evrae screamed in pain. Rikku's eyes widened. Zombie! It's a zombie! She motioned for Wakka to revive Tidus, and dug around for another Phoenix Down. She found one and was preparing to launch it at the fiend, when its talons reached out and tore through her flesh.

Pain seared through her body and everything began to spin. The world around her turned a putrid shade of chartreuse. She tasted decay and rot, and in desperation to get rid of the taste, she opened her mouth.

Water filled her lungs and she felt like she was drowning, and then the watery world around her faded from her sight.

Shit! Shit! Rikku! He saw her get slashed by Evrae, and he noticed the sickly shade of green that the girl was beginning to take on. Her mouth opened and water entered, he saw her cough, and then pass out. He grabbed the vial out of her hand – a Phoenix Down, and administered it to her, hoping to save her.

Her body spasmed when the liquid touched her skin, and her coloring worsened. Shit, it's zombie! he realized. I just made it worse! Rikku, Rikku, please wake up! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. We have to get out of here – we have to find Yuna! She's got the Holy Waters…His mind was racing, frantically trying to come up with a way to save Rikku.

Tidus had already figured out that Evrae was a zombie, and was launching Phoenix Down after Phoenix Down at the dragon-wyrm. Evrae finally convulsed and exploded into pyreflies. Tidus opened up the next gate with his sword, while Wakka scooped the dying Rikku up into his arms.

The two men swam through the tunnels as quickly as they could until they emerged on the other side. Tidus crawled out of the water, and reached out to take Rikku from Wakka.

Wakka hoisted himself onto the ledge and quickly took Rikku back in his arms. "C'mon, we have to find Yuna!" Wakka cried.

Tidus nodded. "Right!" He looked at Rikku. "Uh, is she okay?"

Wakka shook his head. "No. She's dying."

"Well, can't we give her a potion or something?" Tidus asked, suddenly very concerned.

"Evrae zombified her," Wakka said, practically sprinting down the long hallway. "If we give her a potion, it will kill her, ya?" His voice was more emotional than Tidus had ever heard it before.

"Wakka, it's okay. She'll be all right," Tidus said, trying to be reassuring, even though he wasn't too sure himself. Rikku looked terrible. Her coloring was getting more and more green by the second, and she was barely breathing at all. There was a horrible stench radiating from her body – Tidus could only assume that it was the smell of Death.

"She won't be if we don't find Yuna soon!" Wakka exclaimed.

"But what can Yuna do – if curative spells won't work, and potions won't work …" Tidus began.

"She's got the Holy Waters," Wakka explained. "It's the only thing that can save Rikku. Yevon, I hope we didn't use them all on somethin' stupid."

A light dawned on Tidus' face. "That's what those are for? I heard Sir Auron say that he hoped we never had need of them when he bought them."

Wakka looked at Tidus grimly. "It's gettin' worse. She's barely breathin' now. If anything happens to her …"

Tidus looked at Wakka questioningly. "Wakka?"

"She can't die, all right?" Wakka exclaimed. "I need her to be alive, ya? I don't think I can do this without her."

Tidus understood that Wakka wasn't really talking to him any more. He seemed to be praying to whatever higher power was listening to spare Rikku. What confused Tidus the most was that it didn't seem as though Wakka was praying for the life of a friend … It seemed more like he was begging for the life of someone that he …

Nah. He couldn't possibly – she's Al Bhed! He hates the Al Bhed!

But the way Wakka carried her, the way he kept looking at her, the way he was so dead set on finding Yuna … Tidus wondered if maybe they had all missed something.

They reached the end of the seemingly infinite hallway, and found the rest of the party. "Oh, thank Yev …" Lulu began, until she saw Rikku. Her red eyes flashed with horror.

"What happened?" Auron exclaimed, his usual indifferent tone replaced by one of extreme anguish when he saw Rikku.

Tidus explained about fighting Evrae again under the water, and that the creature had been a zombie.

Yuna raced forward. "Put her down, Wakka," she said gently. Wakka did what Yuna asked, lying Rikku down gingerly on the stone floor of the corridor. Yuna tried to hide the tears in her eyes as she looked down at her half-dead cousin.

"You have Holy Waters, ya?" Wakka asked, trying hard to keep the fear and emotion out of his voice, afraid that if he said too much, he might break down and cry right then and there.

Yuna looked up at him, her eyes hollow. "We used them all – for customizing," she said softly.

"Dammit!" Wakka cursed, kicking the wall. "Well, do something! We can't just let her die!"

"I can do Esuna," Yuna said softly. "It takes a lot of mana, and it's not as effective, but it might keep her alive until we can buy some more supplies."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Wakka cried. "Do it!"

Nodding, Yuna closed her eyes and called upon her magic. A soft orb of bluish-white light formed in the palm of her hand, and she carefully guided it over Rikku's limp body.

Almost immediately, the greenish color left Rikku's skin, and the rancid smell evaporated, but the young Al Bhed did not wake up. "Why didn't she wake up?" Wakka demanded.

"Esuna can only do so much, Wakka," Lulu said gently. "Our main focus now is to get out of Bevelle and find someone to buy supplies from as quickly as possible."

"How much time will Esuna give us?" Tidus asked Yuna.

The summoner took a deep breath. "A day, maybe two, if we're lucky. But we need to go now."

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," said a menacing voice from behind the group. "But I don't think that will be happening any time soon."

The party turned around and saw Seymour standing behind them, holding the lifeless body of Maester Kinoc before him. "Kinoc!" Auron exclaimed.

"You killed him!" Tidus growled.

"No, I have saved him," Seymour said simply.

"You're nuts!" Tidus cried out.

This can't be happening! Wakka thought to himself frantically. We don't have time to fight him again … Rikku!

Kimahri, sensing Wakka's distress and also wanting to end this battle quickly, charged at Seymour. He planted his spear squarely into Seymour's chest.

Seymour grimaced slightly. "How unpleasant," he stated. "Very well. I shall grant you your death. You seem to want it so." The party watched in horror as Seymour transformed into a great white creature, clad in purple armor.

"Wakka!" Auron hissed. "Get Rikku out of here! Now!" His tone left no room for argument. "Take her back to Macalania – wait for us at the campsite."

"But – but Yuna," Wakka stated, clearly torn between what his heart was telling him to do, and his loyalties to his summoner.

"Yuna will be fine, I swear it to you. But if Rikku stays here, like that, I guarantee you that Seymour will end her," Auron told him. "Now, go!"

Wakka didn't need to hear more. Deftly, he scooped up Rikku into his well-muscled arms, and ran as fast as he could for Macalania Woods. As he neared the city gates, he paused and said a prayer for his summoner and her other guardians. He hoped that they would all be together again soon.