A/N: Well, howdy ya'all! Are you guys ready for the next chapter? Hope so, cause here it is! It took me a bit longer that I would have liked it to, so I apologize. Anyhoo, thank you for the reviews, and here is chapther twenty-five.
Disclaimer: Peeps, I do not own Final Fantasy X.
Chapter 25: The Play From H-E-Double L
"So, what are we going to do today?" Rikku questioned, standing out on their private balcony. Well, it wasn't really private, seeing as how all of Bevelle could see you if they looked up from the sidewalk, but still, the brochure called it private.
Auron shrugged from his position in one of the lounge chairs. He was content just loungeing around. This was their last day; they might as well relax before they all had to pile back into the Navigator and head back to Besaid.
Rikku glanced down at the streets of Bevelle. It was another hot, sunny day. Not much different from Besaid weather, really. Maybe next time they'd vacation in Gagazet. Sighing at the muggy weather, she turned to her cousin. "What'da you wanna do, Yunie?"
From her position on Tidus' lap, Yuna shrugged her shoulders. Completely ignoring Rikku's question, she said, "Have you seen my beautiful ring?"
Rikku rolled her eyes. All she had been hearing about since last night was Yuna's ring and her 'perfect' proposal. Not that she really minded. She enjoyed her cousin's happiness. "I've not seen it for three whole minutes. I think I need to refresh my memory."
As Yuna and Rikku 'oohed' and 'awed' over the engagement ring -for the millionth time, mind you- Tidus puffed out his chest. "I did an awsome job on the ring, huh?"
From the next chair over, Wakka rolled his hazel eyes. "Please. If you want to see a ring..." Wakka let his voice trail off as he proudly displayed Lulu's ring finger.
"Then you can look at this," Tidus finished, holding up Yuna's hand.
"Yeah, well, mine's original."
"Mine's traditional," Tidus countered. "And, it has three diamonds, while your's only has one."
Wakka scoffed. "You may have three, but I believe mine's bigger than all your three combined, ya?"
"Well mines..."
Rikku shook her head and trotted over to where Auron was. Sitting down on the end, she said, "They're comparing engagement rings. Can you believe it?"
Auron nodded his head. "Look who were're talking about."
Rikku giggled at Auron's reply, though secretly she felt a little left out. Truthfully, she'd love to be over there right in the middle of the conversation, displaying her own engagement ring. She looked down at her bare ring finger, and gave a quick glance in Auron's direction. Maybe he would be the man to finally place a ring on that finger.
Unbeknownest to Rikku, Auron caught her quick movement and it immediately filled him with a small case of the butterflies. He knew that most serious relationships always ended up at the marriage road someday, he just wasn't sure if he was ready to travel to that road.
True, he was in love with Rikku, but could he spend the rest of his life with her? Though it was also true that he wasn't getting any younger, and Rikku did love him as well.
But if what if Rikku wanted children? Children were an entire different matter. Did he even want children? It had always been one of his dreams to settle down and raise a family, but that was before life had dealt him the hand of Guardian and Warrior Monk...
Rikku, still sitting on the end of Auron's chair, looked up at the older man with concern etched in her features. He had gotten very quite, and it was plain to see that he was whatever he was thinking about was really bothering him.
"Auron?"
Hearing his name jerked Auron's from his thoughts, and he silently cursed himself for allowing them to consume him. He hadn't even asked her to marry him, so why was he stressing over it?
"Auron," Rikku repeated again, reaching for his hand, "you okay?"
Sqeezing her hand, Auron nodded his hand. "I'm fine. Just...contemplating the future."
Rikku nodded an understandment and leaned back against his chest. She didn't say anything, but she hoped with all her heart that she was part of it.
On the other side of the balcony, Lulu had had enough of Wakka and Tidus' 'who has a better ring' arguement. At first she had found it amusing, but now it was just annoying.
"Enough."
That simple word spoke volumes, and it stopped Wakka in his tracks. He had heard Lulu take that tone of voice with him many times, and it never ended well. Of course after the millionth time, he finally figured out that when he heard it, it was just best if he shut up.
"Sorry, Lu."
Tidus arched his eyebrows. "You're whipped, man."
Wakka started to protest, but was silenced as Lulu kissed him soundly on the lips.
"Leave him be," she told Tidus, shooting him look that said she meant what she said.
The young blond rolled his eyes but said no more about Wakka being whipped. Instead he turned the topic of conversation to entertainment, seeing as how his had been ended.
"So, what are we gonna do today?"
0000
"I can't believe we're sitting here," Rikku said, her voice monotone. Her friends had dragged her to a bunch of places she would never set foot in, such as: antique ships, history museums, ballets, even orchestras. But this one took the cake. It was now official: She hated Yuna and Lulu.
Somehow, they had convinced them all to go see a play with them. But not just any play. A musical. She hated musicals! Now she was going to have to sit through this torture for at least two hours.
Turning to Rikku, Auron couldn't help but chuckle. She looked as though sitting here for two hours would be the death of her. "It will not be as bad as you think it will be."
"It'll probably be worse."
"Oh, Rikku. This will be fun," Yuna chirped.
Yeah, fun. This was not what Rikku classified as fun, and this was not how she had planned to spend her last day in Bevelle. But instead of protesting, she asked, "So what's the name of this thing?"
Lulu picked up a brochure and scanned it. "It is called When Fiends Attack. Here," she handed Rikku the pamplet so she could see for herself.
Holding the small piece of paper, Rikku's fears were confirmed. The picture next to the bold lettering reading 'Awsome fun' showed a handful of people wearing fiend suits and prancing around. "This is it?"
Yuna nodded her head. "The other play was sold out."
Rikku flipped the paper over and saw the title Maesters: The True Story. Fiends or Maesters. Such interesting choices. She thrust the paper back in Lulu's direction. "Take it."
Auron chuckled once again. She sounded utterly disgusted. "Give it a chance, Rikku," he said, pushing his sunglasses up higher on the bridge of his nose.
Leaning back in her seat and making herself as comfortable as possible, Rikku replied, "I just want to get this over with."
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One and a half hours later, Rikku sat in her seat, staring up at the stage in disbelief. This was what the brochure called 'Awsome Fun'! People singing about being fiends? The only thing that had been even close to 'Awsome Fun' was when one of the actors had gotten choked and messed up the words!
Shaking her head, she turned to Auron. "Can you belief that we paid thirty gil for this?"
No response.
"Auron?"
Still nothing.
"Auron?" Rikku repeated. Either he was really enjoying this, or he was totally ignoring her. "Hey," she whispered, giving him a slight shake.
This time, he jerked with a start and looked around frantically. "What? What's going on?" He instictively reached down to his side, trying to find his katana, but felt nothing but the plush seat of a theather chair.
Rikku had to place a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out load. "Were you asleep?"
Auron felt his face flush. Yes he had been asleep, and in his arousal he had been rather loud, and had earned quite a few glares from other members of the audience. "What did you want?" he asked gruffly.
At the sound of his voice, Rikku giggled. He was embarrassed! How cute! "Hey, if I have to watch this, so do you."
"Humph." He felt Rikku snuggle up against his shoulder, and his irratation began to subside. "What have I missed?" he whispered, draping his arm across her shoulder.
"What was the last thing you remember?"
"Uh, there was a Thunder Flan on stage."
"Wow, you've missed a lot. Well, the only thing interesting that happened was when one of the Dingo's got choked and messed up his line."
Auron sighed. This musical was horrible. "I'm going back to sleep."
"Oh no you're not. You have to suffer through just as I do."
Auron was getting ready to protest, but a loud clatter interrupted him. He immediately turned his attention to the stage before him, and found out just what had made the noise.
Two of the actors, both wearing an ogre suit, had been in the process of fighting with their clubs when the props broke, each landing in the floor with a crash.
"Ha! Did you see that!" Rikku cried, giggling loudly.
"Rikku!" Auron hissed. "People can hear you!"
"I'm sorry." She looked up to see the two actors on stage glaring daggers at her. "Please, continue," she added, waving her hand at the actors.
"Rikku, please, try to contain yourself," Yuna said softly, watching as the play resumed. She turned to Rikku with a small smile. "That was funny, though."
"You know," Tidus began, watching as two more men came onto the stage and started dancing and prancing around, "it would be pretty if somebody fell down or something."
"It sure would liven this stupid thing up, ya?"
"Shhh! People can hear you," Lulu whispered harshly.
For fifteen minutes things progressed smoothly. The musical went according to plan, and there were no more outburst from the crowd- namely Rikku. But after those fifteen minutes passed, everything went to the dogs.
On stage, two women had joined the two dancing men, but their part was to mostly just to spin in circles. The two men were leaping from one end of the stage to the other, each passing each other in mid-leap. On the third leap, the pair came dangerously close hitting each other, and on the fifth leap, the two smashed into each other, each ending up in the floor.
"Did you see that!" Wakka cried, doubling over from laughing.
"That was great!" Tidus added, joining Wakka in his laughter.
Yuna and Lulu each buried their face in their hands, wondering why they had attempted to bring Wakka and Tidus to anything cultural, while Rikku and Auron stared at the stage in disbelief.
Rikku started laughing, but quickly buried her face in Auron shoulder, trying to muffle her laughter. She didn't want to embarrass anyone, but how could you not laugh?
Auron had to supress a chuckle himself. He had never seen anything this bad. But, it only had fifteen minutes left, so how could it get any worse?
He found his answer a few seconds later.
The two men on stage had recovered from plowing into each other and had returned to the rehearsed number. They were at the part where they were supposed to pick up the two twirling women, so they attempted to do so.
Attempted was right, because one succeeded in doing so while the other failed miserably. The one that failed ended up in a heap on the floor, the women who was supposed to be above him on top of him.
Rikku heard laughter around her, and not just from Tidus and Wakka. Auron, along with Lulu, Yuna,and a few patrons from the crowd were laughing as well. She looked up from Auron's shoulder and asked, "What'd I miss?"
"He dropped her," Auron replied, pointing to the stage.
Rikku followed the path he had drawn out and began giggling all over again. The couple that had succeeded in the dance move was trying to help the couple that had failed up, and in the process had knocked down a couple of stage props. Needless to say, the musical was a disaster.
After finishing the fiasco that was When Fiends Attack, the gang walked out of the theater to find that it was dark. The began making thir way to the Navigator, talking about the train wreck that they had just witnessed.
"That was the most horrible thing I have ever seen," Lulu sighed, wondering why in Yevon's name she and Yuna had thought it would be good.
"But it was funny," Wakka retorted. At first he had thought that it would be touture sitting through the thing, but towards the end he had come to love it. He just never wanted to see one again as long as he lived.
"Good for some laughs," Tidus agreed, taking Yuna's hand in his.
"Yeah, even Auron laughed," Rikku agreed, elbowing the man playfully in the side.
"How could you not?"
Rikku shrugged her shoulders and propped herself up against the Navigator, which they had finally reached. "So, where to now?"
"Home," Yuna replied, throwing open the passenger door. She was about to step inside when Tidus grabbed her arm.
"This is our last night in Bevelle. We are not going to spend it at home."
"Then where do you propose we spend it?" Lulu questioned, folding her arms across her chest. She was with Yuna, she wanted to go back to the hotel.
Tidus grinned. "We are going to party."
"No were not. We're going back to the hotel," Yuna said, preparing to hoist herself into the Navigator. There was no way in Spira that she was going to go back to some loud club.
Once again, Tidus latched onto her arm. "C'mon Yuna. We don't have to get drunk or anything. I just wanna have a good time tonight."
"We can have a nice time at the hotel," Lulu said, standing behind Yuna. She didn't want to go anywhere either.
"Ah, come on, guys. It's our last night. Can't we just go for a little while? Please?" Rikku begged. The idea of going out and having a good time sounded like fun to her.
"Ya, come on, Lu. You had fun last time," Wakka added, hoping to sway Lulu's discission.
"But, we'd have to go back to the hotel and change and-"
Tidus cut his fiance off. "So? Come on, Yuna, please?"
Yuna felt her resolve quickly dimenishing. Why did Tidus always do that her? "All right, fine. I'll go," she sighed, giving in.
"Yes! What about you, Lulu?" The young blond turned to the mage. "You know you want to."
Lulu looked from Tidus, to Rikku, to Wakka. Her gaze lingered on the red-head, and she knew she'd go because he wanted her to. And, she had had fun last time, perhaps tonight would be no different. "I'll go as well."
"Yes!" Tidus repeated, pumping his fist in the air. He turned to last one they had to convince. "What'da about you, Auron?"
The older man shook his head. "I don't want to, but-"
"Please Auron? It'll be fun! Please?" Rikku said hopefully, bouncing from leg to the other.
"If you would have allowed me to finish, I was going to say that I don't want to, but I will."
"Yeah!" Rikku cried, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him on the cheek. "Let's go!"
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Replay to my wonderful reviews...
GiGgLyGaL: You don't hate me! Yay! Yes, he finally proposed. Took him long enough, eh?
Chibi-Sorrow: Thank ya! Oh, about the cut scenes...I like to do that to, so don't feel bad.
Dstar504: Pop up suck, but I have a pop up blocker, which totally rocks. But, I am glad that my fic makes pop ups a little less annoying.
The Dr: The World is a big place, and yet you still think my fic is the best. Thank you.
Al Bhed Sweetie: Love it. -grins like a crazy person- Yay. Thanks for the review.
Tidluv: I'm awsome? Goodie! You know, Tuna stuff is kinda hard for me to write...Weird, huh?
Akimalynn: Well, I will probably write a sequal about the weddings. Especially if you all want one.
tidusXyuna637: That proposal was something, huh? Really fun to write...
Darkestsoul: Well, I'm not to sure how it was perfect either. Ha!
Xmaster: I'm probably gonna write about the weddings, but I have no clue what else will wind up in it.
Rikku Highwind: Hiya! I see you're back again. About the chapters, I plan on there being two left, but I don't know how that will end up. You live in Tennessee, huh? That's pretty cool. I live in the corn state, a.k.a. Indiana. Heh. What part of Tenn. you from? We stayed in Pigeon Forge, but we ran all over the place. That my family for ya. Even on our vacation we run all over the place.
But, anyways, thanks for the review.
Terroroz: Everythings lost! That's gotta suck. I'd cry if I lost everything...
Hikaru-Chan: First fic you ever read? Hope I made a good impression. Hope ya review again! Oh, and by the way, you have a great first name.
Rinny Leaonhart Rikku: Thank you!
A/N: I finally got this chapter out. Took me longer than I would have liked it to. This chapter was actually supposed to be longer than it is, but I wanted to get something up, so it's kinda like an introduction to the next chapter. Well, I hope you enjoyed this one. Please leave me a review and let me know what you thought of it!