Chapter 2

The Farplane.

Rikku stood there, staring apprehensively at the glowing entrance as the others went on through. She noticed that Auron stayed behind, as well as Tidus. The blond teen with blue eyes walked up to Rikku.

"Hey, do you not want to go in?" he asked her.

"No, I don't like spirits and things like that."

"So… what is the Farplane, anyway? You can see the spirits of your loved ones who died?"

"Not exactly. The pyreflies read your memories and they form images of your loved ones. The images are just memories that can't speak to you."

"Hm, that's kinda odd."

"Yeah, but there are still spirits flying around everywhere." She shivered. "Gives me the heebe-jeebies."

"Alright, well, see ya."

Tidus was about to go on in, but stopped and asked Auron why he wasn't going in as well. The man said, "The Farplane and I don't really mix all that well. You go on."

Tidus shrugged and went on in. Rikku sat there on a rock near the stairs to the entrance, eyeing Auron. "So..." she began, digging her hands into her lap, "why don't you and the Farplane mix?"

"That is none of your concern."

"Are you scared of spirits, too?"

"No."

"Then why?"

"I said it is not your concern," he repeated.

She remained silent as she continued to stare at him, trying to figure him out. She recalled what happened a little while ago in the Guadosalam Manor. "Um, Sir Auron, what did Maester Seymour say to you in there, you know, after I left? I heard him mention the Farplane."

"He just said that the Guado have a keen sense for the Farplane."

"Why would he say that to you?"

"Don't worry about it."

She noticed him close his one good eye. He huffed in slight irritation. "C'mon, what was it about? Don't be so secretive."

"Rikku, don't worry about it, alright?" he said with an edge to his voice.

"Oh, alright, fine. But you own me an explanation later."

She heard him chuckle. "As do you."

"What?"

"What did Maester Seymour say to you in there?"

"I already told you in the manor."

"When you went back in. I knew Maester Seymour was still there."

He caught her in her lie. "Oh, well… why would you want to know?" He gave her a look. "See? I can play at that game, too."

He chuckled, and then the two became silent, and Rikku glanced at him several times until the group came out of the Farplane. Rikku gasped when Lord Jyscal suddenly appeared and Auron shot up from his seat and demanded that Yuna send him. She did, and the spirit left a glowing blue sphere.

"No time to look. Let's move on," Auron said, and left, and the group followed. Rikku stared after him, wondering why he didn't want to go into the Farplane, and why he was so hasty to get away.

"I guess I'll figure it out later," she surmised and followed the group.

They walked on a little farther and suddenly, a loud crack of thunder filled the air. Rikku screamed.

"Whoa, what was that?" Tidus asked.

"Thunder," Auron said. "We are nearing the Thunder Planes."

"Oh, I hate thunder!" Rikku exclaimed.

"Let's move on."

They all walked for a while longer down the forest path and soon loud cracks of thunder filled the air every few seconds. Rikku hugged herself, her body shaking with fear, the images and memory of being struck by lightning haunting her. The group stopped at the end of the forest and where the Thunder Plains started. Rikku felt the rain hit her face. She wanted to run back into the forest and back into the safe manor, but her friends walked on and she had no choice but to follow. She shivered, and not from the cool rain pelting her face, and the wind that went along with it.

"Um, you know?" she began and a few of them turned to face her. "I think I left something back in Guadosalam."

She about turned to go back, but Auron said, "Nice knowing you."

He walked on, and she stared after him. She bit her bottom lip, not wanting to get left behind, and not wanting that stern and serious man thinking she was a wimp. She took a large breath of courage and walked on with the group and stood close to Yuna. She heard Auron talk about the planes, and about how the man who built the lightning towers died from being stuck by lightning as he was building the towers.

You're not helping! She wanted to shout at him, but she kept her mouth shut as she trudged on, wanting desperately to get to that travel agency building as quickly as possible.

The group stopped at the very building. "We need to move on and not waste time," Auron said, and he walked on, and the group followed him, besides Tidus, who stood next to her near the door to the travel agency. He gave her a weary look.

"Guys, please!" she pleaded. "Let's stay here, okay? Just for a little while." They walked on, and she screamed when lightning struck one of the towers again. "Please?"

They still walked on, and she wanted to burst into tears. "Guys! Please!"

Auron looked back at her pleading green eyes as the cold rain hit her face and dripped from her chin. "Alright, alright, I can't take any more of her begging."

Relief washed through Rikku, and she bolted into the travel agency. Everyone came in after her as she stood off to the side and hugged herself, shaking. Tidus came up and gave her an apologetic look.

"Sorry that you're so scared. Why are you scared, anyway?"

"Some years ago, I was playing at the beach when a fiend attacked me," she explained, and noticed that Auron was looking at her as she spoke. "My brother used a lightning spell to kill it, but… he hit me instead!" Thunder cracked again and she screamed. "I hate thunder!"

"Yikes," Tidus enthused. "That sucks."

"Yeah, I know."

He went on to talk to the others, and Rikku stayed huddled there near the door. Her limbs shook and tears fell from her eyes at the horrible memory that she just told Tidus, and remembering the pain that resulting from getting struck by lightning. She wiped the tears away, hating the fact that everyone had to see her vulnerable side. A loud crack sounded again, shaking the building this time, and Rikku wailed, and ran for the hallway. She had to get out of the front lobby. She went up some stairs and sat in a hallway that had a few doors lining it on one side. More thunder cracked and she wrapped her arms around her legs and dug her head into her knees.

"Please, make it stop..." she whimpered.

She sat, huddled there in a ball against the wall for a while as the thunder cracked every few seconds. Her chest hurt from the pain of the sobs erupting out of her, and her eyes stung from the tears spilling out of them onto her knees. She screamed when one loud crack of thunder shook the whole building again.

"Please..." she pleaded again, then heard footsteps near her. She quieted her cries abruptly.

"You're really afraid of thunder," the person commented, and Rikku froze, knowing that voice.

"Yeah..." she managed to say, and wiped the tears away again. "I hate it."

"I heard why," he said and took a step nearer. Her nose took in his spicy earthy scent, and she saw a glimpse of his boots as she still held her head down.

More thunder cracked, and Rikku, desperate for any relief, flung her arms around his legs and held tight, and whined the red material of his long cloak.

"Hey, what…?" he began, but stopped.

"Please, make the thunder go away!" She screamed again as another loud crack of thunder passed. He tried to free himself from her grasp, but she clung to him as tightly as she could. "Please…"

He sighed loudly in frustration and stood there as Rikku held fast to him. "Rikku, get off. We have to get going."

"I'm not going out there again. You're not making me!"

He tired to release himself again, but to no avail. More thunder cracked, and more tears spilled out of Rikku's eyes. "Rikku, c'mon..."

"No! I'm not going to get struck my lighting again! I almost died!"

"You're not going to get struck by lighting with those towers there."

"You never know."

He sighed long and hard again, and she held fast to his legs. She felt them move slightly, and then something pressed down on her shoulder. It was a hand. "Rikku, really..."

He took hold her arms and finally pried them off of him. "No!" she protested, but Auron's strong grip kept her from clinging to him again. He knelt down to her level, still grasping her shoulders, and she gasped when his face suddenly faced hers. She gulped back the salty tears.

"We have to go," he said sternly. "You won't get struck by thunder, alright? I promise."

"How… how can you promise?"

"I just can. Now stop fearing for your life. You will be fine."

She stared at his scarred eye, as well as the normal one, through his tinted glasses. She saw sincerity in its depths. Her body began to ease a little.

"Okay," she finally said. "But I hope you're right."

"I am. Now stand up."

He helped her stand up, but her wobbly legs could not support her weight. She fell against him, and his scent and warmth suddenly overcame her. The horrible ache in her chest subsided, and her whole body relaxed as the tension oozed out of her. She sighed in contentment as her cheek rested against his cloak.

"Hey," he protested, but she didn't move. Her hands clung to the material of his cloak.

A loud crack of thunder jolter her back to reality, and she suddenly stepped out of his grip.

"Um, sorry, I just…"

Her cheeks heated intensely and she looked down at the floor, not wanting to look at him out of embarrassment. Did she really just let herself be like that in front of him? She folded her arms over her chest.

"Come," he said. "Let's go back down to the others."

"You go first. I'll be right down."

He left, and she remained standing there, all too focused on her speeding heart and her emotions running a muck through her whole body. Never has she felt like this before. It was very new and scarier than the thunder cracking outside. And why? Because she wanted to continue being near him, feeling his nearness and warmth, his strong hands gripping her shoulders in way that made her feel safe and protected… made her feel like that thunder outside could not touch her.

"What's going on with me?" she wondered aloud and heard her new friends talking downstairs. She took a breath and headed down, but stopped as soon as she came to the front lobby.

Auron stood there over by a bookshelf, staring off at nothing. Rikku put a hand to her hot cheek. The thunder cracking outside no longer phased her.