Chapter Ten
Collide
They were taking too long.
He had laid Rikku down in the softest grass he could find, and now all he could do was sit and watch her, and pray that she would wake soon.
He hoped the others were okay. He should be with them, protecting Yuna – he was her guardian, after all. But lately, it seemed like this little blonde – this girl – was the only thing that mattered in the world. It was wrong, and he knew it, but he didn't fear for Yuna like he feared for Rikku.
Yuna had so many people looking out for her, so many people willing to follow her till the end. What did Rikku have? A rootless father, a potentially crazy brother, and herself. Her brave, self-assured, fiercely determined little self. And that was all.
She was Al Bhed, and nobody – himself included – would ever have dreamed of putting themselves out on the line for her kind. Before Rikku, he'd thought all Al Bhed were the same, and that they were heathens, monsters, killers. She was none of those things – she was bright, funny, beautiful. And she was dying.
The death of Yuna, he could deal with. He wasn't happy about it, not by a long shot, but he had had time to come to grips with the fact that Yuna had chosen the path of the Summoner, and with that fact came certain inevitabilities. But he had refused to believe that she, or anyone else for that matter, would die before they reached Zanarkand. But now, Rikku was at Death's door, and he was absolutely powerless to stop it. He felt as if his insides were being ripped out.
Chances were good that Rikku had never known real, life-altering love. And if that were the case, then she truly was his perfect match. But what chance did a devout Yevonite and an Al Bhed stand? He'd never heard of anyone risking it before.
She shivered violently in her sleep every now and then, and made inhumane noises, and when he reached out to brush her still-damp hair off of her forehead, he noticed that she was burning up with fever. Shit! he thought to himself. Jumping up, he looked around for a stream or pond – any kind of water that he could cool her with.
He heard rushing water not too far off, and quickly scooped up the tiny girl and carried her toward the sound.
She convulsed again in his arms. The sound she made was a cross between a pained whimper and an angry growl. "Shh, Rikku," he told her in a soft voice. "It's okay, ya? I'll make it better, I promise."
"Wakka!" Her voice was pleading. Her eyes didn't open, and she didn't give any indication that she knew he was there. She seemed to be calling out to him from somewhere very far away.
"Rikku, no!" he cried. "Rikku, you gotta stay with me!" He laid her down on the bank of the small stream and dug in his pack for some kind of cloth to make a compress with.
"It hurts," she whispered. "Ed rindc!" He didn't speak Al Bhed, and he didn't know what she was saying. Her eyes flew open, but he knew she was not seeing anything. The emerald spirals that he had gotten so lost in before were now glassy and blind with delirium. "Sysy?" she whispered. "Dyga sa fedr oui! Ed rindc!" She was screaming now, in pain and in plea.
Wakka knew she was ready to go, but he wasn't ready to let her. "Rikku, Rikku," he said over and over again. "Stay with me, ya? Wherever they want you to go, don't. We need you here. Yuna needs you. I need you." He tried to keep the emotion out of his voice, but he did a terrible job, and his voice cracked.
Rikku's head turned and she was looking at him – at least, he thought she was looking at him. "E's cunno," she said quietly, her eyelids beginning to droop. "E's cu cunno, Yunie. E's cunno, E's cunno."
"No! Rikku, no! Dammit, wake up! C'mon! I don't know what you're sayin', ya? But you gotta wake up!" He was frantically sponging her forehead down, trying to break her fever.
"Wakka … E's cunno. E muja oui." It was the last thing she said before she drifted back into the darkness.
"Rikku! Rikku!" Her fever wasn't going down. All he could do was hold her now, and pray that this wasn't the end.
She had said his name – what had she said after? Why hadn't he paid attention when Tidus tried to teach him Al Bhed? Why had he been so damned stubborn? Now, what could be her last words for him – he would never know what she had said.
Fighting back tears that he was unaccustomed to – he had lost his parents and his brother, and had learned that Yuna was going to sacrifice herself, all with a minimum of tears. It was funny that a person who belonged to a race he despised would be the one to evoke such raw emotion from him.
But then, he'd never been in love before.
He carefully carried her back to the campsite, and set her down gently in the soft grass. He wanted to administer a potion – something, anything – to her, but he knew that he could not.
How long had it been? It seemed like hours, but in reality, it may only have been minutes. He sat beside her, holding her hand, brushing her hair off of her scorching forehead. There was nothing he could do now. If Rikku was meant to leave now, then she would leave.
It seemed like an eternity had passed before he heard the rustle of footsteps in the distance. He stood up and went to the small opening of the campsite. Relief flooded his body when he saw the guardians and Yuna – all safe, none looking any worse for wear – approaching.
Yuna entered the campsite first. "How is she?" she asked softly, kneeling beside her cousin.
"Not good," Wakka confessed. "She's got a fever, and – and I think she's delirious. She was speakin' in Al Bhed. She said 'E's cunno' a lot, I don't know what dat means." He was talking quickly, and pacing, and it looked to Lulu that he was fighting off tears.
"It means 'I'm sorry'," Yuna told him gently.
This seemed to strike him, and he sat down on a nearby log and put his head in his hands. "What about 'sysy'?" he ventured, afraid of the answer.
Sir Auron looked at him gravely. "She said that?" Wakka nodded miserably.
"It means 'mama'," Tidus said slowly.
Yuna looked away, blinking back her own tears, trying to remain steady and focused. She cast Esuna again, and then motioned for Tidus to pass her pack to her. "They were expensive, so we could only afford a few Holy Waters," she explained to Wakka. "Hopefully, it will be enough." She looked to Lulu. "Can you hold her head up for me, Lulu?"
Lulu nodded, and began making her way to the Al Bhed, but Wakka stopped her. "I'll do it, ya?" Lulu smiled sadly, but nodded her acquiescence.
Yuna looked up at the blitzballer and gave him an encouraging smile. "Are you okay?" she asked him quietly. He didn't answer, just watched as Yuna administered the sparkling azure liquid to the fading Al Bhed. "I'm going to give her two, just in case. They can take a while to take effect, so don't worry if nothing happens right away."
The group nodded, and Yuna finished the task. She reached out and brushed Rikku's golden bangs off of her forehead. "Her fever has gone down already," she said. "But that would be the Esuna at work, not the Holy Waters."
Wakka didn't let go of Rikku; he just let her head rest in his lap. She looked more peaceful now, and her breathing seemed less ragged. Her body was no longer feverish, and he had to hope that she would be okay in just a few hours.
"Did she say anything else while she was feverish?" Lulu asked some time later.
Wakka looked thoughtful. "Well, she did say something to me, but I don't think it was important. Just 'E's cunno' and then … 'E moja wee' or somethin' like that." He shrugged.
Sir Auron's head shot up, as did Tidus'. "E muja oui?" Auron asked gruffly.
"Ya, dat's it!" Wakka said emphatically.
Yuna's eyes had widened, and she turned to Lulu. Lulu didn't speak much Al Bhed, either, so Yuna whispered something in her ear, and Lulu looked shocked.
"Why? Is it bad? Huh?" Wakka looked worried. "Did she curse me or somethin'?"
"Or something," Tidus said softly, faint amusement sparking in his blue eyes.
Auron looked down at the still-sleeping Al Bhed, his brow furrowed. Hallucination or not, what Rikku had said had been very real, and very important. It really wasn't up to the rest of them to tell Wakka. She wouldn't remember anything she said in her state of unconsciousness, and if it was something she really wanted Wakka to know, she would tell him again sometime, so that he would understand what she meant.
A little while later, Wakka finally thought to ask about the fight with Seymour.
"Well, we won, again," Tidus said warily. "But who knows how much good that'll do. I mean, the guy just refuses to die."
"I'm sorry I couldn't help you guys out, ya?" Wakka said apologetically, but Lulu would hear none of it.
"Not important, Wakka!" she said firmly. "Someone had to be with Rikku, or else Seymour would have killed her. You were very important."
"Yeah!" Tidus piped up without thinking. "I mean, Yuna would have been crushed if something had happened to her cousin!" Too late, he realized what he had said. "I mean …"
Lulu shook her head at the boy. "Too late," she told him.
Yuna bit her lip as she looked to Wakka, wondering how he would take it. "Yuna?" he asked. "Your – cousin?" He looked down at Rikku and then back at Yuna.
Yuna nodded, smiling a little. "Cid is my uncle – my mother's brother," she explained.
"Your mother was Al Bhed?" Wakka asked, looking around the group, bewildered. "So Lord Braska … He married an Al Bhed?" He had stopped looking at the others and was now focused solely on the sleeping girl.
"Yes, Wakka," Sir Auron said, slight amusement in his voice. "The High Summoner married an Al Bhed, and the world didn't come crashing down at his feet. In fact, Braska's wife, Brynna, was much like Rikku."
Yuna looked hopefully at Wakka. "It's true. My father used to tell me stories of how he and my mother met. She worked for Rin, and one day, she happened to be in Macalania Woods, right outside of Bevelle, and my father saw her. She was young, around my age, maybe even a bit younger, and he was a little older than you are now. Anyway, he fell in love with her immediately, and soon after, they got married."
"The Temples didn't like that a young apprentice summoner had married an Al Bhed, so Braska was excommunicated," Sir Auron continued. "But he still continued learning the summoner arts."
"I was born less than a year after they married, and for six years, life seemed wonderful. And then Sin came back." Yuna's eyes grew sad. "Cid had been angry with my mother for marrying a Yevonite, and they had not spoken since. She was on her way to make amends with him when Sin attacked the airship carrying her to Bikanel."
"After that, Braska was bound and determined to defeat Sin, any way he could," Sir Auron explained. "I had recently been excommunicated myself, as you saw in the sphere, and so Braska took me along with him. He wanted to 'stick it to Yevon' as Jecht would have said." The legendary guardian chuckled a bit. "Braska and I found Jecht, the man from Zanarkand, in a Bevellian jail, and we got him out. The rest is history."
It was the most any of them had heard Sir Auron talk about his past, and it fascinated them, even Yuna, who had heard it all before. "And Lord Braska – he defeated Sin, and was celebrated." Wakka seemed deep in thought now. "And now, Yuna …"
Suddenly, the sleeping Al Bhed began to stir. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up from her makeshift bed, confusion all over her delicate features. "What – happened?" she muttered, sitting up.
"Rikku!" Wakka breathed, hurrying to her side.
Rikku placed her hand on her head, as if it hurt, but still managed to smile. "Hi, guys!" she said brightly. "What'd I miss?"
Part TwoEveryone was looking at her so strangely – as if she had died or something. And Wakka – well, he didn't seem to want to let her out of his sight, even for a minute. It was a far cry from his earlier behavior, that was for sure.
"How are you feeling, Rikku?" Yuna asked her, fussing over her.
"I feel fine!" Rikku chirped. "Why? Did something happen?"
"You almost died, ya!" Wakka exploded, jumping up. Suddenly, he realized that he couldn't look at her any more. Every time he did, that image of her – feverish and screaming out in agony – came back to his mind, and he couldn't bear to think of her like that, even though she seemed fine now. They had almost lost her – he had almost lost her. He hurried away from the campsite, and Rikku watched him go, her brow furrowed.
"I almost died?" she asked the others after a long pause.
Tidus hurriedly explained what had happened with Evrae, and how she had been attacked. He told her how they had been out of Holy Waters to cure her, and how Seymour had attacked them again.
"Wakka brought you here while we fought Seymour," Lulu told her in a low voice. "He stayed with you. He said you were feverish and you were calling out to your mother in Al Bhed."
Rikku looked down. "Oh," she said. "But – but why is he mad at me?" She looked near tears, and Yuna's heart went out to her.
"Oh, Rikku, I don't think that he's mad at all," the summoner said kindly. "He was so worried the whole time."
"Maybe you should go and speak to him," Sir Auron said calmly.
Rikku looked at him, and then nodded. "Yes, I think I will. But first …" She crossed the campsite to where Wakka's bag lay. Quickly, she sifted through it until she found the cloak that she had dirtied after they had fought at Lake Macalania. She was going to clean it, and give it back to him as a peace offering. From her own pouch, she pulled out a bar of soap, a towel, and fresh clothing.
"There is a small spring back that way," Yuna told her, pointing. Rikku nodded and headed in that direction. After she was gone, Yuna breathed a small sigh. Now that she knew Rikku was going to be all right, she could take some time to herself. She quietly headed off in the opposite direction that she had sent Rikku, to another spring. There was so much she needed to think about.
Tidus wasted no time in following her.
Part ThreeRikku reached the spring and knelt down at the water's edge. She knew that no one would follow her. They all had their own lives to think about.
She slipped off her boots and undid her hair, letting it fall in a golden waterfall down her back. She slipped her shorts and shirt off and tossed them across the lowest branch of one of the nearby trees. She was in only her bra and underwear now, and she quickly removed them and waded into the water until it covered her shoulders.
She bathed quickly, the water a perfect warm temperature. She crawled out of the spring and dried her long hair as best she could with the towel before drying off her body with it. She got dressed quickly, a little nervous about being "walked in on."
She then sat down on the bank then and set to work on the cloak, scrubbing at it with the soap as if her very life depended on the cleanliness of the cloth.
Wakka had gone back to the camp and had not been surprised to learn that Yuna and Tidus were gone. He had been a bit shocked to find that Rikku, too was missing. "Where's Rikku?" he asked Lulu sharply.
Lulu looked up at him, her irritation evident. "She wanted to be alone," she said in a steely voice. "And no wonder, after that little stunt you pulled."
"I'm not the one who almost died, ya?" Wakka said defensively.
Lulu gasped in disbelief. "As if that was her fault!" she shot back. "Honestly, Wakka. Hasn't she been through enough because of you?"
Wakka hung his head, knowing that yet again, Lulu was right. He was afraid now, though. Afraid of what Yuna and Sir Auron had told him – if Lord Braska had truly married an Al Bhed, then there was no good reason why he and Rikku couldn't give it a go. Unless of course, she really didn't want to, like she had said before.
He was terrified of setting himself up, only to have her reject him. He was absolutely paralyzed with fear at the fact that if he was ever alone with her again, there was no telling what he would do. She had almost died; he had almost lost her forever. If he ever had another chance with her, he was going to kiss her until she was dizzy with her want and need for him, just like he was for her.
Mainly he was just scared because he'd never known that feelings could be so intense. He had never been more frightened than he was earlier that day, when she had been feverish, and in agony, and there had been nothing he could do to stop it. Knowing that if she died, he might not be able to breathe properly ever again chilled him to the bone.
But not having the chance scared him even more. "Where did she go?" he asked Lulu.
"Wakka, I don't think that's a good idea," Lulu began slowly.
"I said, where did she go?" Wakka's tone was steely; Lulu had never known him to be so forceful. She knew all to well what happened to a person when they lost someone they cared a great deal for – had Wakka cared for Rikku that much?
"She went that way," Sir Auron said from across the campsite, gesturing with his thumb. He looked to Lulu. "He needs to go to her," was all he said to the black mage.
Wakka walked in the direction Sir Auron had sent him, and stopped when he entered the clearing with the small spring. Rikku was at the water's edge, her blonde hair loose and damp and hanging down her back. She was barefoot, and on her knees, scrubbing something with an old bar of soap. Taking a few steps closer, he saw that it was his cloak.
Frowning to himself, he walked even closer. She should be resting, not doing his laundry! "Rikku!" he called out.
Rikku jumped, the bar of soap flying from her hand and landing with a soft plunk in the spring. Glaring, she picked up the cloak and hung it over the tree branch. "Did ya have to scare me like that?" she asked him, pushing her wet bangs out of her eyes in frustration. "That was my last bar of soap."
"I'll buy you new soap," Wakka told her, walking toward her.
She stayed put and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "What're you doing here, anyway?" she asked him.
"You should be resting!" he exclaimed. "Not washing my clothes."
"But I got it dirty," Rikku told him pitifully. "It was my fault, and I wanted to clean it for you." She looked down at the dirt at her feet. "I was going to give it to you as a peace offering."
"We don't need a peace offering," he told her sardonically.
"I made you mad, though," she said meekly. "I'm sorry that I messed up back there and got attacked and almost died, you know? I really should have been paying more attention."
"I wasn't mad," Wakka told her, getting more frustrated by the second. He was so close now that he could smell her hair – that wonderful sandalwood, cinnamon, and roses mix that made his head spin – and all he wanted to do was take her in his arms.
"Oh really?" Rikku said sarcastically. "You only yelled at me and then stormed out of camp like – like you couldn't even stand to be near me any more!"
"I wasn't mad, Rikku," Wakka said evenly. "Back there, at camp, before anyone got back … I've never been so scared in my life, ya?"
"Scared?" Rikku whispered. "Why?"
"Because I thought you were dyin' on me!" Wakka cried out. He reached out and put his hand on her upper arm and caressed it gently. "I couldn't take it if you died," he said in a voice barely above a whisper.
"Why do you even care, Wakka?" Rikku asked him, looking first at his hand on her arm, and then at his face. There was a strange glow in his chocolate-brown eyes, and a tenderness on his face that she didn't recognize. "Huh? Why do you care? I thought we Al Bheds were just heathens to you, just machina-using …"
He cut her off by placing his hands on her shoulders and kissing her soundly on the mouth. Her eyes widened at the sudden movement, and she pushed him back, but he pulled her closer to him and deepened the kiss. She made that noise again in her throat, and only then did he break the kiss and look deep into her emerald eyes.
"If you'd just shut up for a second, I'd tell ya," he told her, satisfaction twinkling in his eyes as he saw her befuddled expression.
"Fine, tell me," Rikku said, bound and determined to keep her wits about, even though he had just kissed the hell out of her.
"First of all, you can't expect to just use a guy like you did back there on the airship and have him be okay with it," Wakka told her sternly.
Rikku bit her lip and looked down. "Oh. I see. So … you wish it never happened, huh?" She didn't want to let him see her cry, but it was hard. She had known it was a bad idea, she had known he was too good for her …
"I didn't say dat!" Wakka said, tilting her chin up with his forefinger.
"Well, then, Wakka, what are you saying?" Rikku asked, trying to keep the edge out of her voice. "Look, I'm sorry, I never meant to 'use you.' I just figured, it would be okay, you know? Good for both of us?"
"I love you."
Rikku froze and looked up at him, her eyes wide. "What?" she gasped out.
Wakka rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Ah, dammit, I love you, you cursed girl!" he said again, pulling her into his arms.
Rikku's face lit up and she smiled at him. "You do?" she asked.
"Would I say it if I didn't mean it, huh?" Wakka asked, grinning back at her like a fool.
"But – but why?" Rikku asked.
"Not exactly what you wanna hear when you confess your love to someone, ya?" Wakka joked.
Rikku shook her head and laughed a little. "Sorry … I'm just … shocked."
Wakka looked at her, seriously this time. "Is that all? Just shocked?"
"Well, I mean, it's been a busy day – first I almost died, and now this guy who swore he hated my race is telling me that he loves me." Rikku giggled. "Which works out pretty well, since I happen to love him too."
Inwardly, Wakka breathed a sigh of relief. He reached his hand up and ran his fingers through her golden hair, and then brought his mouth down to hers.
There was no hesitation in their kisses now, no worrying about the next day, or the day after that. They didn't know what lie ahead on the journey, and they didn't care. Maybe they would all die when they reached Zanarkand … but at least they could live for the moment with each other now.
Kisses became insistent, hungry, and needy. They fell to the soft ground together and took their time. Time was one thing that they still had right now … maybe the only thing left.
And across the way, in another forest spring, another couple was learning the same thing …
A/N: I didn't put the Al Bhed translations at the beginning of this chap because I didn't want to give anything important away. I think from the context, you can figure it out. Also, I don't really care about the ACTUAL story of Yuna's parents I wrote it out to fit my story, this is the way it worked for me. It's never really discussed too much in game, so I figure that it is open to interpretation. XD
It might seem like this is the last chap, but it's not. This story is going on until the end of the game and a little bit beyond. You know, what seems nice and cut and dry is not always the case with me. evil grin Anyway, I should have the next chappie up soon. Here are the translations, just in case anybody really wants them:
"Ed rindc!" "It hurts!"
"Sysy? Dyga sa fedr oui!" "Mama? Take me with you!"
"E's cu cunno." "I'm so sorry."
"E muja oui." "I love you." (I'm highly sure that most of you know what this means already.)
READ AND REVIEW! See you next chappie! Rhianna XD
