Vendetta Extreme

A/N: Solike. Today I actually got this bright burst of inspiration and I just had to write. I went through about nine of my favorite pairings from fandoms all around, but this idea only worked with Aurikku. So, yea. Enjoy.

PS: Rikku is five in this. :o

One:

Being a prisoner wasn't really that bad.

The chains weren't tight, they didn't cut into her skin or weigh her down. She was fed twice daily on warm corn cake and cool, clean water. They let her use the bathroom-- while being accompanied with a Guard, of course-- and they gave her books and Blitzball Sphere's to watch so she wouldn't try strangling herself with the very chains that bound her out of boredom.

But the fact that she was being held a prisoner just made the whole thing unbearable to Rikku.

She knew the minute the Airship boarded onto Djose soil that she would not like the place.

For one, it was famous the Lightning Temple. That was mostly why she hated it. Secondly, the Templar's there were seriously devoted. Anything and everything on Spira was related to Yevon in some way just because to them.

It was no surprise to her when she had stares full of hatred and disappointment thrown at her. She was used to it. But when men dressed in brown and blue robes armed with guns forced her and Dad's hands apart, she knew something was wrong. She did what any five year old would do and screamed, but when the Templar practically whipped her down to the ground by her arm, she was shocked into silence.

Confusion blinded her for a few seconds, and Rikku stared blankly at the gravel on the ground, entranced in it, almost. She closed her eyes and reopened them immediately when she saw white spots blur her vision and then explode like fireworks.

She heard her name. It was Dad. She blinked slowly.

The man yanked her back up again off the ground-- making her snap her head back, breaking her from her confused state-- and whispered cruelly into her ear, "You've got a lot of nerve coming here, Girlie. At the same time though, its a good thing. You'll learn many things during your stay here."

Rikku made frantic glances to look for Dad (despite the horrible crick in her neck), her superhero who could rescue her from any danger, who protected her from the Boogie Man when it was too dark at night, only to see him lying limp in the arms of another Templar and being shoved in the direction of a Chocobo-drawn cage.

Rikku couldn't even croak out a sound as her Dad was heaved away. Her stomach was stuck in her throat and she feared the Yevonite holding her would stun her again if she spoke.

The man holding her arm pulled her roughly in front of him, covered her mouth with his free hand, and dragged her along the rocky trail silently and into the depths of the Djose Temple. It was a short, but at the same time, a traumatically long trip.

Every zap the electricity made as it met the end of the lightning rods placed along the inside the Temple was like reliving the feeling of having fire burn on the edges of her skin and still have the after effects of insanely painful warmth crackle along her nerves. Her knee's buckled. She whimpered. This agitated the Templar, and he increased his grip on her forearm.

Soon the terrifying sounds faded, and Rikku and her captor eventually came to a stop. A creak. A shove. A slam. Her eyes widened. She knew she was being trapped, and this increased her terror in levels.

"Don't make any noise, Girlie, if you know whats good for you." He laughed. It was a small laugh, but it had all the evil of the world concealed inside of its happy-sounding nature.

Figuring she had to talk now, or risk losing her sanity all together from the quick and sudden event, she summed up all her big-kid courage Daddy said she always had in her into one studdered, fear-dressed word.

"W-w-why?"

The Templar stopped, and gave her leering glance. He walked back to her little prison and slipped the bottom end of his gun through the bars. Rikku took a frightened step back, her mouth slightly ajar. What was he doing?

"Because, Missy..." He suddenly rammed the gun into her shoulder and sent her flying across the distance of the cage, landing hardly against the cement floor.

"You're you." He finished.

Rikku didn't move from her awkward position on the ground. Tears she thought would never come washed away her face to a pale color. Horror no child should feel made her stomach feel metallic, cold and hollow.

Because, after all, children should never know the dread of what some people are unwilling to accept, of how some people hate the different so much, they're willing to go to extreme measures to make people fit the scared and tight reality they fit in.

x

There was never complete darkness at Home. The lights of the machina shunned away shadows and hummed vibrantly, even through the night. During mid evening when everyone pulled off their goggles and wiped the sweat off their brows, they returned to their living quarters where homemade (the Al Bhed didn't make everything with machina) food aroma's filled the air.

During the summer when the days were longer, combined with the smoke and already thick odor of the Desert, you couldn't escape the enticing and lulling smell. When the year neared its end and the nights became colder, Home smelled sharp and pungent. Not enough to sting your nose, but enough to make you actually taste the air. Home smelled of life.

And Rikku loved it.

Sometimes she would just walk up to her quarters balcony and just breathe. When she came back down, she would be half-lidded and smiling softly, swaying on her feet, as if if she stayed on one foot too long, the force of her little feet and toes would shatter the perfect world she lived in.

And really, it would. Home was delicate and fragile, albeit it was placed in one of the most Harsh environments on Spira. Home was an almost literal diamond in the rough. Rikku knew this, even though she was still very much a child.

Apparently though, her Father thought the opposite about Home's beauty when one day he approached her as she sat in her room, drawing idly on a piece of scratch paper.

"Rikku, how would you like to go to Spira Mainland with me? I have a cargo shipment to deliver, and I thought it would be nice for you to get a breath of fresh air, since all the toxins the machina give off can't be good for you..."

At her age, Rikku rarely got to go to Mainland. So this opportunity both excited and saddened her. For leaving for Mainland meant leaving Home. Leaving Home meant leaving a small part of herself here. Quietly, she contemplated the choices, her fist balled up tightly and placed at her chin (like how Dad did it), and scrunched up her face, like she was thinking very deeply.

"How long will we be there?" She said after a few moments, looking up with a bright and huge grin.

Her Father flashed a grin back, "Two days, tops."

When they boarded the Airship, Rikku poured herself over the Grid, like the complicated map was going to talk to her and tell her exactly where they were headed (her Father wouldn't say where they were going, to her disappointment).

Finally, after awhile of exploring the Bridge, she wandered off to look for more compact places she might not have seen yet. She ran into other Al Bhed, who smiled and patted her head as she passed, and Passengers from all over Spira.

Those people she didn't talk to. Her Dad warned her that some of the people were very important and did not want to be bothered during the ride. Rikku followed this warning, like an angel, but when one strange Passenger smirked disgustingly down at her, she couldn't help herself.

"Somethin' wrong, Mister?" She asked with schoolgirl manners. "'Cause if somethin's wrong, my Daddy can fix it!"

"Do you know who you are...?" The Passenger said slowly and calmly, like a snake.

That was a stupid question. Of course she knew who she was! Before she could answer though, the man shook his head sympathetically, and sauntered off. Rikku, baffled at the strange mans antics, decided to ignore the whole thing and not tell Father about it, for fear of punishment.

She went back to the Bridge anyways, to avoid anymore of those queer people, but kept quiet through the rest of the ride.

x

Rikku rolled her head to the right, eye's half-closed. She couldn't stuff another second of over-exaggerated "And he scoooooores!" down her throat, and she was never that interested in Quantum Physics anyways.

She smoothed out the wrinkles in her blue capri's for what seemed like the millionth time. Now, after what she kept track of, two weeks, they were dirty beyond reason, and she smelled really strange. Her once kept and smooth blond hair was matted and tangled. Her wrists and ankles stung with every move she made because of chafing from the chains.

She wondered if they were going to keep her here forever, and why she was even here in the first place. She didn't want to think about Dad. Horrid thoughts filled her head whenever she thought of him and made her head feel heavy and pounding.

She was about to surrender herself to sleep when suddenly, she heard the door open. She kept her eyes closed, figuring it was just the guard putting down her day meal.

"Head up, Child. Its time to start your Interchange Training."

x

A/N: Finally finished... after about a week. Phew.

Hope you enjoyed this somewhat. Yes, I know, no Auron. I plan for Aurie-poo to enter during the third chapter. I am going to torture you all and drag this out. Nice 'n long.

Nyaaaah! P

I plan to update sometime during the next two weeks, so keep your hopes up and stuff.

The Eighth Adjutant