I swam across
I jumped across for you
Oh, what a thing to do
Cause you were all yellow
I drew a line
I drew a line for you
Oh, what a thing to do
And it was all yellow
Your skin
Oh yeah, your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
And you know for you
I'd bleed myself dry for you
I'd bleed myself dry
-"Yellow" by Coldplay
We followed the same exact pattern of living for days.
We walked for miles and miles every day along the twisting paths of the forest, enchanted by the beauty, but still watchful of the fiends that jumped out every single time we relaxed. Then, just before the sun set somewhere, because it isn't like we could see it, we set up camp. I practiced my magic on sticks of wood, everyone else set up tents and cooked food that tasted like nothing but water and yuck and ew. Then, when everyone else went to bed, Auron would yell at me to go to sleep, and I would ignore him and pester him until I actually got tired, and then I would take a nap on his lap.
Nap on his lap. Wow, that rhymed.
And of course, I know there was nothing wrong with living like that, but there were certainly better things that we could have been doing. Dancing, tinkering with machina, exploding sand dunes... you know, stuff like that.
But no, Mr. Wonderful had to just keep pushing us on and on and on, even when I gave him my best puppy eyed expression and quivered my bottom lip, pretending to cry. He would just laugh, rub my shoulders a bit, and nudge me forward.
So, when out of no where, Auron started chopping at a bush on his right side, in the middle of the day, miles from where ever we were supposed to set up camp, I thought he just might have lost his mind.
"What are you doing?" I hissed at him, poking his back. He glanced over his shoulder, gave me a bit of a smirk, and then turned to Yunie.
"You need to see something. Come on."
So there we were, following Auron blindly through a prickerbush, just because he had to open his big, fat mouth. Auron went first, Yunie was next with Tidus right next to her, I was behind him, and Wakka, Lulu, and Kimahri were bringing up the rear. Sticks were swinging everywhere, and Tidus nearly took out my face with one. Grinning slightly, I slid my trusty sunglasses on my nose and pressed on.
"Bring it on, stick," I muttered, doing some kungfu move to slap the sticks away from my face.
"OUCH," Wakka yelped somewhere behind me. "That was my eye, Lu! Watch where you're throwing those sticks, ya?"
"Maybe you shouldn't have walked right into one, Wakka," Lulu said calmly, and I started giggling.
"Yeah, Wakka, watch where you're going!" I teased.
"Auron, did you even cut ANY of these?" Tidus called out after being knocked in the stomach by a particularly huge stick.
"Enough of them. Cut some yourself if you need more space," Auron said calmly, and I could see him moving through the prickers as if he was one of them. The sticks just seemed to part in front of his face, and I realized that I totally picked the wrong person to stand behind. But I could see that the end of the bushes was near, so I shoved Tidus a bit, just to move him along.
Unfortunatly for him and everyone else in front of him, I don't know my own strength, so one little shove resulted in Tidus tumbling into Yuna. Yunie, caught by surprise, lost her balance and knocked into Auron, who, for being such a graceful guy, ended up tipping forward just enough to fall, face first, into the grass at the beginning of the clearing that we were aiming for the whole entire time.
Auron stood up quickly, brushed off his coat a bit, and turned to give Tidus the scariest death glare that I've ever seen in my whole entire life. Oh, the boy was dead and he knew it, but in a last effort to scramble for his life, he opened his mouth to protest.
And suddenly, we all turned into a bunch of four year olds.
"Auron, Rikku pushed me!"
The glare went to me, and I gulped. "I did NOT!" I lied, screaming back.
"Well, Tidus shoved me," Yunie said calmly, standing up, and combing the branches out of her hair.
"And she pushed me!" Tidus screeched, his voice taking on a tone that I'm not even sure that MY voice could reach, pointing in my direction with one waving finger.
"I so did not Tidus, and you know it. You tripped," I said, taking Yunie's calm voice for myself, but I crossed my fingers behind my back.
"She's crossing her fingers!" Wakka yelled, and I turned back to glare at him, along with Lulu, who with her gleaming red eyes, caused Wakka's eyes to bug out of his head and his forehead to sweat slightly. "Uh... I mean, of course she didn't cross her fingers, ya? She had to itch her back slightly and uh... Lu, stop looking at me like that!"
"Like what, Wakka?" she said, her voice deadly calm but her eyes spitting fire. I decided not to even get into that, and turned back to face everyone else, and my eyes met another death glare meant for me.
"I was just trying to make him go faster..." I mumbled, looking at my toes. "I didn't know he would fall on his butt and cause such a freaking problem."
Auron didn't say another word, he just stared at me for a few more seconds, and then turned away. "Yuna, this is where spheres are formed," he said, walking towards a beautiful pond that none of us even noticed before.
Yunie sucked in breath and walked closer to the pond. "It's beautiful!" she exclaimed.
We all stared for a few minutes, smiling in a daze at the pond. It seemed like our whole group suddenly got calm again, which was pretty surprising considering how loud we were screaming earlier.
That was, until I noticed a clear blob floating up from the middle of the pond. "What the..." I breathed.
"Of course, it draws fiends also," Auron said calmly, swinging his katana onto his shoulder and tapping it slightly.
"Oh, NOW you tell us," Tidus screeched again, causing my head to rattle in pain. God, the kid really needs to learn how to tone down that high pitched screaming...
"If you could just lower your voice a notch, it would make all of our heads feel better," I said quietly, rubbing my forehead. "Now, what are we going to do?"
"Kimahri, Wakka, come on," Auron said, stepping forward.
"Why me..." Wakka grumbled, stepping forward, spinning his ball on his fingers. "Take that, sphere... thingy!" he yelled, and threw his ball with all of his might.
Trouble was, when you hit a spherethingy with something solid, it doesn't really like it very much.
"AAAAH!" he yelled in pain as a thunder spell came crashing down on his head, singeing his hair slightly. "Lu, trade me!"
"Gladly," she said, pushing him out of the way. "Waterga," she breathed, sending a splash onto the fiend.
The battle went on like that for more than an hour, someone hitting the spherethingy with their sword, getting blasted by magic, and someone else casting the counterspell in response. I still hadn't jumped in, and I was itching to do something.
Finally, my chance came, with Yunie waving me forward and her stumbling back. "You know some magic, Rikku," she called. "Just try and use it!"
Auron was to my left, Lulu was to my right, but they were both getting tired. "I'm just about out," Lulu said quietly. "But I have enough to protect you if you need it. Have any potions?"
"Yep!" I smiled, and I threw her a Megapotion, and she tossed back to me to give to Auron. "Drink this, please," I whispered, handing it to him. He nodded slightly, and took a big gulp. Sliding it back into my pouch, I stepped forward, and took a glance at the fiend. "Here goes nothing..." I said, jumping forward and digging my hand into its rubbery skin.
I pranced back, waiting for the blast of magic to hit my skin. The fiend drew back slightly, and started to cast Blizzaga. I closed my eyes and steeled myself for the cold...
But to my surprise, I heard everything, but felt nothing. I opened my eyes to find Auron breathing hard in front of me, leaning on his katana. "No..." I breathed, reaching into my pocket for the rest of the potion that I saved.
"Just go," he grunted, pushing me forward.
I was furious. Absolutley, positively furious. Which, I suppose, I used to my advantage a bit.
Closing my eyes, I spread my hands out in front of me. "You are so going to pay for this," I whispered, then started the chant for Fire. But, instead of just casting Fire, like I thought I was going to, I breathed a different word instead.
"Fira..." I screamed, shoving my magic out with my fingertips, feeling the blast come from top of my head to the bottom of my toes.
The fiend screeched in pain, and started to shrivel up to nothing in front my very eyes. "Holy canoli," I breathed, clutching my fingers to my chest and tapping my feet from side to side in an odd version of a happy dance. "I did it! I really did it!"
"Yes you did, Rikku," Lulu said proudly, smiling at me from where she stood.
"Go Rikku!" Tidus screamed out, jumping up from his spot next to Yunie. "Good job!"
But all of their voices fell away from my ears, as I turned away from the pond and faced my protector. His eyes shone with pride from where he kneeled, his breathing labored. I collapsed to the ground next to him. "You're hurt..." I said quietly, reaching into my pocket for the potion.
"No," he shook his head. "I'm fine... Don't worry about it."
"But you need..." I tried to say, but he put his hand against my mouth, shutting me up.
"Shhh... I'm fine. Give the potion to Yuna, or someone else who needs it."
"Oh Auron," I whispered, and threw my arms around his neck. "Thank you, thank you, thank you for protecting me..."
He smiled slightly. "I told you I would," he said, and then he wrapped his arms around my back, collapsing me into an embrace that I would remember forever.
AN: Less sappy, and more funny this time, I hope. Regardless, the time of Seymour is fast approaching. Next chapter, I'm thinking... So you won't have to wait much longer! Thanks for my reviews everyone, they're really awesome and I love you and all of that good stuff. Have a lovely day and hope you had a good Easter!
