ACT II: CALM BEFORE THE STORM

"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."

— Loren Eiseley


Chapter Four

Ceres took a calming breath and shifted her position. The sheets moved around her as if predicting her path. The rocking motion did its best to lull her back to sleep. She could feel a presence hovering above herself.

"Yna oui yfyga, oad?"

Reluctantly, she opened her eyes and found herself staring into a set of swirling, green and black orbs.

Surprised, her body vaulted out of its slumber and her head collided with another.

"Ah!"

"Uilr!"

Her body became tangled in a mess of fabric, her foot ensnared by the covers. She fell forward and dangled at the side of the bed.

"Cunno, teth'd sayh du cdyndma oui..."

Ceres allowed her body to sink further into the floor in order to escape the sheets. The cold metal was a little dingy and well...cold. The cover finally released her and she knocked into the floor. She immediately noticed her braids were a little damp and her boots were gone, now barefoot.

Crouching on the ground, she worked to pull herself up, but the room went from horizontal to not-so horizontal and she went flying.

"Shit!"

Hands caught around her arms and steadied her against the wall. Ugh, the room was so damn dizzy.

"Pa lynavim, oui'mm ryja cusa luhviceuh."

The response was a blank look accompanied with, "Are you...speaking gibberish, by chance?"

"Fryd?!"

"I don't know what you're saying."

Ceres finally got a good look at the girl. She seemed young, with a slightly tanned complexion, blond hair in a high ponytail, and green eyes...That were swirling.

Yeah, swirling.

The girl wore some strange bodysuit that covered every inch of her body. Despite that fact, there was still something kind of sexual about it. The suit was pale yellow, red, and green. It did have some sort of armor built on it, visible on her legs. She wore long, pointed toe boots that reminded Ceres of a clown except a clown couldn't have pulled off that look. Now that Ceres looked a bit closer, the whole suit was interesting to look at. What was it's purpose?

Wait. She should probably figure out where the hell is she.

The girl blinked at her, watching thoughts run through her mind. She seemed to be waiting for something. Looks like she decided.

"Ced," she said, pointing to the bed.

Ceres perked up at the word, finally hearing a word she knew.

"Oh sure, I'll sit on this here bed. Who knows whom it belongs to, or where it's been."

The girl blinked at her, seeming annoyed before turning to the side where a small table sat. There was a tray of what looked like some kind of chunky meat covered in a reddish-brown paste like sauce. One of the pieces was purple. The girl picked up the tray and tried to hand it to Ceres, who flinched at it.

"Um, what is this?"

"Ayd."

Ceres went to protest again when the tray was pushed into her hands, but she did feel a bit peckish. She stared down at the dish, trying to decipher the ingredients from its scent, but it was unlike anything she'd ever smelled. Not pleasant, but also not mouthwatering.

The girl stood up to leave.

"Wait, wait!" Ceres called out, almost dropping the food. "Please, where am I?"

The girl pretended to not hear her and kept walking toward the door.

"No, don't leave!"

But she was stopping for nothing. The heavy door opened into darkness, no lights. Then it shut behind the girl, latching shut.


That was typically how their interactions went for the next three days. Ceres tried to chat up her captor, whom she has started calling Katherine. The girl would roll her eyes or flat out ignore words. She brought her two meals each day and kept her pitcher full of water.

In her annoying questioning, Ceres was able to learn that the food she had was referred to as a 'curry', not even sure what that means. But it had different kinds of meats in it and it was spicy! Ceres had never been a fan of spicy food, but with no other options she had grown accustomed to the dish in the last few days.

Ceres also noticed that whenever she awoke, she would have a new pitcher of water waiting for her, or sometimes a new bandage on her hand. Most of her queasiness and bleeding had seized.

Her hand surprisingly didn't hurt as she thought it would, which makes her think maybe she'd been there for several days before waking. She suspected Katherine was tending to her at her least annoying hours: when she was sleeping.

She could tell Katherine didn't like her very much, but what could she expect? She was basically a prisoner here and had no clue what had happened.

She had some theories. She could be dreaming. But never had her hunger been so vivid in her dreams in the past. Sometimes, she woke ready to eat enough for a whole tribe.

Or maybe she'd had a nervous breakdown during the match at the stadium and Dravon finally had her admitted. Ooh, he would love that.

Wait, what happened to Tidus and Auron? Had they been a figment of her imagination? Was it all made up in her head? Is she still engaged?

Ceres glanced up to the corner where Katherine was busy collecting Ceres' old dining tray. She'd stopped her actions as Ceres announced her thoughts out loud.

"Katherine, can't a girl converse with herself in peace?"

The girl slammed the tray back down on the table, clenching her teeth.

"My name is not Katherine!"

The outburst surprised Ceres.

"My name is Rikku! And you're annoying!"

Silence.

"What. the. hell. You mean to tell me you've understood me this entire time?!"

"Yes!" She stood with her hands on her hips. Her voice was the most passionate Ceres had heard thus far. It carried a more youthful tone. "You were annoying so I was gonna keep speaking my language. But then you kept calling me Katherine."

Ceres blinked. "You didn't tell me your name."

"You never asked," Rikku quipped back.

"Well Katherine—" Rikku jumped up.

Oh yeah. Such a strange name.

"Sorry, Rikku. You didn't ask for my name. I think that's pretty poor for a kidnapping," she smirked, crossing her arms. "I could be an heiress of a large fortune, for all you know."

The girl pouted and sheepishly began bouncing on her feet.

"Aw, you think you're a prisoner?"

"Well yeah. I'm stuck in this room where you feed me spicy meat and ignore me. I mean, there's a tiny washroom, which is nice, but I don't know where we are or how I got here so...you kidnapped me...Or I'm dreaming."

Rikku sighed with a hand on her hip, shaking her head. "Dryd eteud, I told him we should've just let you leave after waking up."

"Who?"

The girl sighed again. "The captain. We found you floating on driftwood then reeled you in. You tried to attack one of the crew when you saw where you were so I knocked you out." She sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Which explains your mild concussion."

Ceres furrowed her eyes and touched where there used to be a knot on her head.

"I'm sorry, by the way! You were a mess when we found you."

"So why not find out what's wrong with me by asking?"

Their hostility seemed to be gone as Rikku moved to sit on the bed at least half a foot away from Ceres.

"We have a strict policy for when we encounter Spirans." From the look on Ceres' face, Rikku figured maybe the concussion did more damage than she'd thought.

Reluctantly, she elaborated. "'Cause you know, we're not from Spira...We're Al Bheds if you hadn't noticed."

Al-y-beds? Is that a club, or something?

"I'm sorry, I have no idea what words you're saying."

Rikku went from nervous to shocked. "You really don't know?"

"What is there to know? What's a spear-ah and why does it matter?"

Rikku moved back a few inches, surprised. "Gosh, it got you too, huh?"

Before Ceres could ask, Rikku got up and went to the door.

"Wait, I thought we were bonding!"

"I'm coming right back. Be back in a jiff!"

Ceres waited not even two minutes before Rikku came back through the door. She didn't realize she'd been holding her breath, hoping that girl came back. She felt like she was just now getting to the bottom of things.

"Here, take these."

Rikku handed her a small bag and what looked like some clothes. The small bag clanked in her hands as she juggled it.

"Don't worry about the bag for now, you can leave that here."

Ceres reluctantly put it back down, shifting her attention back on the clothes. "Come on, we're gonna get you squeaky clean. Just follow me!"


A/N: I love Rikku, but my character is supposed to be unlikeable sometimes so bad first impressions... but as you see, that's okay!