A/N: OMG! I'm soooo sorry this took so long ... my life is not so happy/good/conducive to story-writing lately. I really apologize to everyone who waited so long for an update. But here it is! XD Anyway ... the story is getting bigger now, there are a lot more elements coming into it. Before, it was just this happy little fluffy bunny Wakka/Rikku centric thing, and that is all well and good, but I have so much other stuff to add to this ... It's going to be a really loooooong story. So this chap is a lot of plot development, and moving things along, and it focuses a lot more on another character, who is going to be super-important in the whole scheme of things later on. And you may think you have this all figured out, but trust me, you don't. XD This is gonna be one helluva ride from here on out, so I hope you all bear with me and enjoy! Read and Review PLEASE! Reviews make me wanna write faster! Rhianna :)

Chapter Twelve
Beautiful Disaster

Part One

He bought her a coat. A big, long, ugly, bulky thing. Kind of like the one he always wore, only less "legendary guardian", more "little girl in a big ol' parka." And it wasn't the crimson of a warrior, either. It was green like grass. Green like a neophyte. Did he think of her as novice? But the gesture surprised her, nevertheless. He didn't seem the type to do random acts of kindness. But people had been known to shock her every once in a while. Sometimes even literally.

It had all been very unceremonious. The group had woken up inside the cave the next morning, no worse for the wear, and ready to continue their trek. Sir Auron announced that they needed to see a man on the other side of the plains because he was the only person in Spira who could sell them a special type of weapon.

Rikku balked. "What do we need more weapons for?" she asked sulkily. "We already have about a hundred apiece, and they are heavy."

Sir Auron turned to face her with a stony glare. "There are certain tasks that must be undertaken," he said coolly. "If you wish to continue this whining, then feel free to stay behind."

Rikku bit her lip and looked down, face reddening. "Sorry," she whispered. Wakka put his hand on her shoulder comfortingly, and shot Sir Auron a warning look.

Yuna smiled softly at her cousin and walked over to her. "It's okay, Rikku. Sir Auron is just a little cranky this morning. He did a double watch last night, so I don't think he got much sleep."

Rikku's brow furrowed. "Why would he do that?"

"Uh, 'cuz someone slept through her watch," Tidus said in a gentle, teasing tone, looking at Rikku pointedly, but not unkindly.

Her emerald pools widened in shame. "Oh, no!" She looked up ahead at the older guardian. "He's so pissed at me, huh? Well, why didn't he just wake me up?"

"Oh, and interrupt all that cuddling?" The older man snorted derisively, obviously having heard the conversation. "I wouldn't dream of it."

Rikku looked up at him, her eyes beseeching, imploring. "I'm so sorry," she told him in a soft voice. "I'll take a double watch tonight, I promise! Auron …" She trailed off as he looked at her darkly over his glasses. "Sir Auron. I am sorry."

"Hmph," was his only reply, and he walked off, ahead of them.

"Does that mean I'm forgiven?" Rikku asked, looking at the others hopefully. "Was that a forgiving 'hmph'?"

Yuna shook her head and laughed gently.

Rikku looked up at Wakka, and found herself looking into laughing brown eyes. She punched him on the arm. "You got me in trouble!" she hissed at him.

"Ah, but what a thing to get in trouble for, ya?" he teased. "Cuddling. Man, we just may have to get you into trouble more often, what do you say?"

Rikku blew out an exasperated puff of air and shook her head. "You're a big meanie, you know that? It's easy for you to say. Sir Auron doesn't want to slice you in two with that katana of his."

"I doubt he wants to slice you in two with it, either, eh?" Wakka said. "He's probably not too big on cleaning blood of the blade."

Yuna and Tidus laughed, and finally, Rikku grinned. "Shh, he can probably hear us," she whispered.

"Oh, but it'll be your fault, so the rest of us aren't too worried," Tidus said breezily, lacing his fingers with Yuna's.

"Ha ha, Tidus," Rikku shot back. "You're a real comedian."

Wakka turned to talk to Tidus, and Rikku's brow furrowed again. The past few days, Sir Auron had been so nice to her, and made her feel so much better about everything that was going on around her. Today, it was like someone had flipped a switch inside of him, and made him feel animosity toward her.

She wondered what it was that had set him off. And why the anger seemed to be directed at her. Mustering up all the courage she had, she turned to Wakka. "I'm gonna go see if I can smooth things over, okay? I don't want a legendary guardian mad at me the rest of the way to Zanarkand."

Wakka nodded and gave Rikku's hand a gentle squeeze. She felt a lot of strength return to her, and courage. Funny how one goofy blitzball player from Besaid could steady her like no one else in Spira. Funny, and wonderful. This love thing, it was good. She was glad, if for nothing else, that she had been able to experience it in her lifetime.

He heard her running to catch up with him, and he tried like hell to conceal his smirk. "Sir Auron?" she said meekly.

He turned his head only slightly, so as not to convey too much interest. "Hmm?" he asked her nonchalantly.

"You're not gonna make this easy, are you?" she asked him. No response. Rolling her eyes, she walked in front of him and planted herself in his path. The others, she noticed, were still a ways behind them. He stopped, even though he could have easily lifted her and moved her out of the way.

"Well? Say whatever it is that you have to say," Sir Auron said coolly.

"Hey! Stop being so mean!" she demanded. "Look, I already apologized once, and I don't even know why I'm doing it again, except that I don't want you mad at me the rest of the way to Zanarkand, and I really am sorry that I slept through my watch, but you should have woken me up!"

She looked so small, so fiercely determined, so absolutely repentant, that he couldn't help but laugh. A loud, deep, guttural laugh that nearly brought tears to his one good eye.

"Quit laughing at me!"

This only made him laugh harder.

Rikku made an inhumane sound and threw up her hands in capitulation. "I don't understand you!" she cried out, spinning on her heel to turn away from him.

He grabbed her arm with his hand and she stopped and looked at it. His hand was so big – he could encircle her arm with it, easily. She looked up at him, and saw that he had stopped laughing, and his face was serious.

"You don't have to understand me," he told her in a low voice. "Just understand this … this may be Yuna's journey, and I may be here as a favor to Braska and Jecht, but it's become more. More important than anyone here can imagine. This isn't just about Yuna or even Tidus any more. It's also very much about you."

Rikku blinked. "Me me? Or like, the rest of us me?"

"Rikku."

That word, her name, spoken by him, gave her a sudden sense of clarity. "But what's so special about me?"

Auron started to walk again, and Rikku scampered to keep up. This conversation was starting to remind her of the one she'd had back in Macalania Woods, with Yuna. "Auron! Tell me!" He stopped, and she recoiled, knowing that she wasn't supposed to address him so informally.

Surprisingly, he didn't say anything about it. "Why do you think you are here, Rikku?"

She shrugged. "For Yunie, of course," she said noncommittally.

"Is that the only reason?" His gaze was intense.

"I don't know! I'm not in charge of all that stuff! I go where I'm needed."

"Look around, Rikku. There are five other guardians. Do you really think you are completely necessary to this plight?" Auron asked her.

She felt tears pricking the back of her eyes, and she avoided his stare. "No, I guess not," she said softly.

"Rikku, look at me," Auron said. Sighing, she looked at him. "Now, look at the others. Tell me, why are you here?"

Rikku looked back at her traveling companions, studying them each one by one. Her eyes lit on Wakka, and her countenance brightened. "For him," she said quietly, smiling softly to herself. The hand on her shoulder made her look up, her brow furrowed, her expression puzzled. "And … for you?"

The legendary guardian squeezed her shoulder gently. "Doesn't make sense right now, does it?" he said.

She shook her head. "No. Is it supposed to? Am I missing something?"

"If you are, then I am as well," Auron said honestly. "I thought I knew it all. Braska told me to watch out for you."

"That's strange," Rikku said. "Back in Macalania … Yuna said … she said that her father, that he was trying to tell everyone something about me." She shook her head. "I don't understand! I'm just a little Al Bhed girl! What could I possibly have to offer anyone?"

The rest of the party had caught up to them by now. "I guess we will know when we are meant to know," Auron told her. Without any ceremony or ado, he handed her a folded green coat. "It gets cold on Mt. Gagazet," he told her simply.

"Thank you," she said, mostly to herself, looking down at the coat.

Part Two

She was exceptionally quiet after her talk with Sir Auron, Wakka noticed. He hoped she was okay, but if she wasn't, he was fully prepared to have his own little chat with the Legendary One.

The party bought the special capturing weapons from the owner of the Monster Arena, and Tidus and Wakka were anxious to try them out. Sir Auron agreed to allow them to spend another night in the Calm Lands before heading on toward Mt. Gagazet.

He needed the rest, anyway. It seemed that the closer they got to Zanarkand, the more tired he felt. And why shouldn't he be tired? He was dead. He had no right to start feeling alive again, and not now, especially. His job was almost done. Soon he'd be allowed to finally rest in peace. But that thought afforded him little comfort. There was obviously something here, something on this plane of existence that he was missing.

Braska wanted him to find it; he could feel it in his bones. Every time the wind whistled by him, he could hear Braska whispering something to him. It seemed to have something to do with Rikku … but that didn't make any sense. What could that girl possibly have that was so important?

A matter of life and death …Braska had said to him before, in a dream, months ago, before he'd even met any of them. Getting Rikku and Wakka together was a matter of life and death. Well, that was done! And they really hadn't needed his help with it, anyway. They seemed to find each other of their own accord. So why did it seem like there was more?

As the party sat around the campfire that Lulu had conjured up that night, Auron walked away from the group, hoping for some peace and quiet. He stood at the edge of one of the cliffs and stared out over the chasm as the canyon wind blew his hair and coat back.

"Braska!" he said. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do here any more. I feel like I am finally going crazy. All this time, all I've wished for is death and rest … and you give me this mission. And with it, you've given me hope and light and joy." Auron hadn't felt pain like this in a long time. Not since the death of his two closest friends ten years ago.

What is wrong with hope and light and joy?

"It's … it's not for me," Auron said, anguish in his voice. "You made that perfectly clear before."

Not for you now, perhaps?

"Not for me at all!" He looked back at the camp, at the people he had been traveling with for the past months.

There was the Summoner, beauty and truth and goodness in the form of a steel-willed young woman.

The Hero, full of nobility, honor, and duty to people he barely even knew, in a world he didn't belong in.

The Mage, cool, and calm and steadfast, fiercely determined to be with her Sister till the very end.

The Protector, a man of a different race who had never known true family until he found Yuna, ten years ago.

The Loyal, the man who had been so pious and righteous for so much of his life, determined to do the right thing, determined to avenge … destined to love the wrong girl.

And of course, there was the Girl. She didn't fit into any mold, didn't have a set course. She came in mid-action, and sent the pilgrimage spinning on its heels in a totally different direction than had been originally planned. She was supposed to be so important to them all … to have an impact on everybody's life, even though no one really knew what it all meant just yet.

Least of all her.

There is a plan, Auron. And it's already in motion. Be patient. Wait. All will be revealed in time.

"I don't have a lot of time left," Auron muttered, taking a swig from his flask.

You have all the time in the world …