A/N: hey, did I keep my promise or what? Here is chapter three.I don't think it's my best, but I'll leave that up to you. Thank you for those who reviewed. It's worth every up date and me getting glared at in math class for writing (damn you Mr. Holmes!)

My forced shout out: to my betta reader (Lynn) who wants to be mentioned. There I did it.

Leon S. Kennedy-ec-rud: oh the plot thickens as more chapters come. So if you're drama hungry get your plate ready. Of course there's a love interest! I would never lie in my summary. But I will not reveal who it is. It's pretty obvious later on but I don't want to spoil it.

Keep-me-in-the-shadows: Thanks. You're cool and slamin! (sorry went a little 80's there) I hope this story will meet up to your standards in the end.

Insanely-Hot-4-U: Thank you so much! Your name is very cute. I'm glad that you are a part of the small following that this story is getting. I hope that this chapter will keep you interested.

Disclaimer: Does any one read these anymore? Oh, they do? Um…I don't own Final Fantasy X or X-2… not funny? Oh well, there's always chapter four.

Chapter Three: Living a Hollow life

The Shoopuf finally made its way across the Moonflow. The mother of two woke up her once bickering children from their short lived nap. I watched them stretch, yawn and rub their eyes. I smirked at their little innocence. They looked at me and their eyes almost bulged out.

"Hey! It's one of the Gullwings!" the little boy with short chocolate hair yelled. He and his little sister ran up to me. She had bronze skin and the same hair color as her brother but her hair was neck length.

"It's Rikku!"

I stood up and welcomed them. It was weird having two little kids attached to my legs.

"Now don't be rude. Rikku is probably on her way to some important business affairs" their mother put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot.

"It's ok really, they are so cute!" I giggled and patted their heads gently. They let go of my legs and looked up to me. I bent down to their level.

"So how you guys doing?"

"Can I have your autograph!" the boy asked before I could get a reply. I stood up and checked my pockets for my pen. All I found were some rare sphere break coins.

"Umm…I have these, if you like to play sphere break" I said taking them out. His expression lit up with happiness.

"Cool! And they're the rare Lupus coins. Thank you!" he said running to his mother. I looked down at his silent sister. I winked and bent down to her.

"Here I'll give you something even better" I said taking off my earrings. I brushed her hair back and found it odd that all of a sudden it was blond. After putting them on her, I saw that she looked like me. I blinked a couple of times but she was wearing the same Al Bhed gear that I used to wear only they were full of blood and dirt. She looked like me on that day.

"Thank you so much!" she squealed and hugged me. I was still a little shocked. She spoke in my voice. I watched her go back to her mother. I watched her skip, covered in death like if Sin's attack never happened.

"Thank you Rikku" their mother's voice broke me from my stare and I looked at her.

"You're welcome!" I chirped and smiled. I looked at her daughter again and suddenly she didn't look like me anymore.

"All aboards?" the hypello asked. I took at step but then realized that I didn't have my get back.

"Oh let them go first. I have to get my bag"

The woman and her kids got on the elevator and waved good bye.

"Bye! Have a great day!" I waved

"Bye" they said in unison. I turned and took my back pack and waited my turn to get on the elevator. When I got down to ground level I tipped the hypello and made my way past the sleeping man leaning on the billboard. I made it to the woods.

I thought I would have luck on my side when it came to walking to the entrance of Guadosalam. But apparently it was against me. I fought plenty of random fiend attacks and was tired when I got there. I decided it was best to catch my breath before going in. I found a huge moss covered rock and sat down.

I dug through my bag and took out my water bottle. I took two huge gulps of the warm liquid and burped. Putting it back in the bag I noticed that the journal fell out. I sighed and picked it up. I might as well continue with my story.

Journal Entry # 2

It was seven months after Sin's rare attack and home wasn't the same. The Dome was rebuilt. A summoner came and performed the much needed sending for our dead.

I wasn't really the same afterwards. I played in my room alone. I didn't want to really talk to anyone. Pops felt bad for me because I didn't have any friends of my own to go out and play with. So he did what he thought was best. He took me to work with him.

Every morning I would wake up and pops would take me to work. I felt special because I was his little worker. I would help him deliver plans and notes to other workers. Sometimes we would go to sites or see his air ship get built. I was the best little worker. When pops worked on plans I would sit at my own little desk with crayons and do my own.

One day I was bored out of my mind. Pops told me to stay in his office and not touch anything, especially his desk. He had to attend a meeting about his new airship. I looked around the office looking for something that would grab my attention for longer than a minute.

I spotted the model of his airship. He put it up high on the top shelf. He did that because I was caught a couple times before playing with it. I was usually scowled for it and he would end up putting it in different place. But no matter where he hid it I would "accidentally" find it.

I got off my chair from my little desk and walked over. It was too high for me to jump. I looked around the circular room. I spotted some boxes full of old files. I pushed one all the way to the wall near the air ship. Then I took a chair and put that on top of the box. I emptied out another box by letting out all the files. The once neatly ordered files were now a sea on the floor. I took the now hollow box and put it on the chair. I repeated that step three more times until it was high enough.

Climbing up my wobbly tower I almost fell twice. But I finally got to the top. I snatched the model too fast and ended up on the floor. I looked up and saw my tower fall.

It was like a bad domino effect. The boxes knocked down the drawers, the drawers tipped sideways and knocked down the globe, and the globe rolled out and slammed his desk and knocked down the lamp, which caused his coffee to spill all over some plans on it.

"Oops" I said after the commotion was over. The model that was in my hands was broken in two. But it was the least of my worries. I scrambled up leaving the broken model behind, and I took some paper towels to clean the mess. The plans that were once white were now this yellow smelly color.

I threw the towels away and went to my desk and got my crayons. I knew my clumsiness made it bad but I was going to make it better.

I went to his chair and jumped on. I then sat on the desk and began drawing on the plans. I used blue, red, and pink. I then added some orange and purple. Green was the finishing touch and I was done with it. I also drew me, pops, and Brother in the corner. I didn't draw mom because I didn't want to upset anyone.

I put the waxy crayons back inside their box. I heard the door knob twist and I looked up to see pops walk in with two workers.

"Look pops!" I chirped "I made the plans even better! And look it's me, you, and brother!" I showed him the multicolored piece of paper. Pops growled and turned red. The workers who were with him paled and almost fainted.

A couple of days after that little incident, pops decided it would be better for me to be in the play ground.

"But pops I want to be with you!" I protested attaching myself to his right leg.

He sighed and peeled me off.

"You should be with kids your own age. Get some fresh air. Go and dig, I want you doing something." He bent down and faced me.

"But I don't have any friends"

"Then make some" he said in a cold voice.

My eyes were at the brink of tears. I looked into his eyes. He was still hurt that she was gone. He was a cold man looking at the reason why his wife was gone. My lip trembled but I didn't want to cry.

Pops shook his head, sighed and then picked me up.

"Little girls can't do what grown men do. It's better for you to be out there running and screaming, just doing what you do best."

"But…"

"Do you think that mommy would be happy seeing you not playing around and bothering Brother?" he asked.

"No" I responded sadly.

"Come on lets get you to the playground." He said.

We walked until I reached the digging grounds. I let go of his hand. I heard him speaking with the adult in charge but I couldn't make out their words. I looked all around and all the kids were either digging or playing with machina toys.

"Rikku." Pops' voice broke my attention from the playing kids. I looked up to see him looking down at me.

"What are you waiting for? Go play." he patted my butt so that I would get on my way. I looked around for some familiar faces.

I spotted Buddy, Gippal and Brother talking. A grin broke out on my face as I made my way to them.

"Hi!"

They turned around to my cheery voice.

"Can I play with you guys today?"

"No Rikku, we're doing guy stuff."

"But I'm a guy too!"

"Why aren't you with your dad?" Gippal asked scratching his head.

"Umm…" I looked at my feet and tried to think of a reason.

"I know what you did!" Brother said arrogantly.

"You were never there!"

"You're always doing something!" he said pointing at me.

I thought about the broken model and plans. I pouted and put my hands on my hips with out a word, my silence informed them of my defeat.

"Look we're sick of this play ground, we're going to work with real machina" Gippal said.

"Can I come?"

"No! You're too young! Stay here with the rest of the babies" Brother sounded like he was already annoyed with me.

"I'm not a baby!"

"Rikku just stay, play with some other kids" Buddy said.

The adult that was supposed to be watching us was sleeping. They made sure that he wouldn't wake up and snuck out of the play ground. I turned around from the view of the entrance and looked around. I was looking for anyone that would at least want to play with me.

I located three kids that were digging in the sand. They looked about my age. The boys of the little group looked like twins. The girl had golden pigtails.

"Hi! I'm Rikku!" I almost shouted nervously.

They awkwardly said hi to me and resumed digging.

"So what are you guys looking for?"

I sat down next to them. I didn't want them ditching me too. I started digging with my hands hoping that what I was doing wouldn't annoy them.

"This is fun right!" I whispered a little too loudly.

Their faces scrunched up at the high pitch of my voice. I decided that keeping quite was the only way I could keep these new friends. My fingers dug deep into the creamy texture of the said. I gripped a hand full and it easily escaped through my fingers.

I kept removing sand from the neat hole I created until I touched something solid. I looked at it and kept digging until it was half submerged in the sand. It wasn't a machina part. It was shiny and red. I finished digging it up and found that it fit perfectly in my little hand. It looked like a gem.

"Hey guys look what I found!" I said showing the kids the ruby object. That red glow of the gem got their attention.

"Hey what's that!" the girl asked.

"I don't know but it's pretty!"

Little curious fingers left their imprints on the clear crimson gem. They were in awe at my discovery.

I beamed at my sudden popularity.

It came back to me. I put it to the sun and I could see it reflect a red ray. It made my eyes retract to their lids.

"Maybe we should give it to the grown up"

"But then we'll never get it back! I'm going to keep it!" I said standing up. I dusted myself off from the sand and walked away from them. I wanted to show the guys. I was thinking of the possible locations where they could have gone.

"Wait, I want to see it some more Rikku" the girl yelled before I made it to the other half of the play ground.

"Ok catch!" I threw the girl her arms reached the sky. What happened the next second I didn't see clearly.

The explosion and heat knocked me on my back. I was dazed. I didn't hear anything, my ears stung from the explosion. My body hurt. I sat up and saw that all the kids were running around screaming and crying. The adult was trying to evacuate everyone.

I looked at the spot where my new friends were and there was a blackened spot. I stood up. Everything around me seemed to go in slow motion. I walked up to their bodies or what was left of them. The twins were huddled together blackened with ash. It seemed like if someone touched them they would blow away in the wind. The girl was gone. Tiny chunks of body parts littered the floor. The sent of over cooked human meat filled my nostrils with a sour smell of death.

My eyes glazed over with tears. I hurt them. I killed them. I heard Sin's roar in my mind.

"Noooo!" I screamed holding my head and collapsing on the ground. It roared again. It was taunting me, it mocked me. It knew what I did. I had killed. I had shed blood just like it did.

I blinked and let the tears come down. I saw my mother with her gaping hole pointing at their dead bodies

"Rikku what have you done?" she hysterically asked. I saw right through her hole and saw blood drip down creating a waterfall of burgundy droplets.

"You hurt them! Now their dead just like me!"

"Noooo!"

I curled up into a little ball and tightly shut my eyes. I wished I could be alone. Away from everything. But darkness took its hold on me.

I woke up startled. I was in my room. The play ground was gone. Sin was gone. Mom was gone. My new friends were gone.

"How the heck a fire gem got into a playground! First the machinas go haywire now this!" pop screamed.

I crawled out of bed and went to my door to listen.

"I want the daycare dug up and excavated for any other gems. The machinas that went haywire earlier, I want them destroyed. Do you understand my orders?"

From the lack of response I guessed he was on the phone. I moved away from the door and got on my bed. I rested my elbows on the window and looked out side. The way the blue eternal sky kissed the vast desert. It was beautiful to anyone's eye.

I stood up on my bed and crawled out the window. The vines that grew on the wall were my latter to the ground.

I landed with a thud, got up and dusted off my butt. I headed to the oasis.

I made it fiend free thanks to my charm bangle. I slowly walked to it and sat on a rock. I looked down at the clear water. The tip of my foot made ripples in the water. They seemed small at first but then got bigger and bigger and bigger. One small pat on the water's surface can create strong lasting effects. Little did I know that the ripples predicted my future.

"Rikku"

I snapped out of my thoughts. I looked up and recognized Gippal's voice. I heard his foot steps approach me. I turned around. He had a big white bandage over his right eye. He sat down next to me.

"Hi" I said weakly smiling "What happened to your eye?" I asked.

"Me and the guys decided to fix a piece of machina. It went crazy on us and well this" he said pointing at his bandage. I looked away and back at the water again.

"Are you ok?"

The images flashed back to my head. The charcoal twins, the chunks of cooked flesh. They didn't deserved what I did to them. My eyes felt heavy with tears.

"I killed my new friends" I cried into his shoulder. He held me tight and touched my head comfortably .

"It's not your fault, it was an accident"

I cried so much that my head hurt. I knew better. If I agreed, then I would be denying their deaths. They were gone because of me. They suffered because of me.

He was patient. In silence we held each other because it was the only thing as kids we could do.

I heard foot steps coming towards me. I looked up and there was no one. I raised an eyebrow. It was probably my imagination. I took the journal and slid it in my bag and put the pen in my pocket. I stood up and dusted off my skirt.

"That was a pretty journal" A soft voice said. I turned around with my back to the entrance of Guadosalam and faced the owner of the voice.

It was an elderly woman. She had a smile on her face. Her short stature was due to the fact that she was hunched over a bit. Her hands were behind her back.

"Thank you" I smiled politely at the snow haired woman.

"When I was young, I used to keep one. I would write in it every day to keep my memories alive."

I was a little curious as to how she got here. I wanted to ask exactly why she was talking to me. But instead of asking those questions, I decided to make her day and play along.

"Do you still keep one?"

"No, I don't remember much of what I do anyway. My adventures in my youth are over. But your journal must be full of those adventures you had with the high summoner." Her eyes looked at my body. They explored taking in every curve and line. I couldn't help but feel a little violated, finally they reached my eyes.

"I just helped a little. I'm just a person in this world like everyone else." I said shaking my head turning away from her. I didn't like her gaze. She wouldn't blink.

"Yes to the world you are one person. But to one person you are the world."

I didn't respond to that over used pick up line. I shrugged.

"Maybe…but I'm not looking for love" my face went serious in my reply.

"Then why do you run from it?" She asked like a curious child.

"What do you mean?"

"You keep running away thinking that distance will make things better. Instead you make it worse on yourself. The answer to all your problems is there. You're just too blind to see it"

"You don't know what you're talking about…you don't know me" I said turning from her and taking my back pack. She was pushing my buttons and I was mad at my self for letting her get to me.

"He will understand. Love understands all"

"What do you mean he will understand? Who's he!" I turned yelling angrily.

She was gone. I didn't see anything but some pyreflies. Where did she go? Was she real? The moon flow and the far plane would explain the pyreflies. But…would pyreflies travel this deep into the forest?

A/N: yeah, the old woman is mine, and what!…sorry got carried away there. If she was confusing in any way don't worry, she has some purpose later on. Now that you read chapter three tell me what you think about it by leaving a nice review….please?