The Calm Lands. Wakka had always wanted to see them. But not like this. Yevon was a sham… or at the very least incredibly corrupt. From what they had seen, Maester Kelk Ronso was the only ranking churchman with any faith or honor at all. He hadn't liked Maester Seymour from first meeting but… well; he was a Maester and therefore deserving of respect. Until he wasn't. Until he proved that he wasn't, and the rest of them weren't. And it seemed that the Al Bhed were. Like the rest of the people of Spira, he imagined some Al Bhed were not good people. But some were. She was. Rikku. And he had treated her so… so… shabbily. He had treated her as though she wasn't even a person. He had a lot to atone for, and he had to start with her. He sighed.
Rikku looked around at the vast land in front of them. It was huge and it made her feel very small by comparison. She checked their store of potions and the like. Wow, they were really low. Phoenix Downs all gone, a couple of Hi Potions and one Al Bhed Potion – those were all they had left after all the fighting at Bevelle. Had she not stolen enough to last them? Was it her fault they might die here on this plain? She sighed and motioned Lulu over.
"We'll just have to use them sparingly, Rikku. It couldn't be helped," Lulu said in an undertone. No sense in scaring the others, she thought, but they would need to be told soon… if there was no place nearby to rest... she shook her head – it didn't bear thinking about. She caught the girl's downcast look. "Don't worry. It's not your fault." She switched her focus. "Yuna? Go easy on the healing spells… and everyone be careful… we're running low on potions of all kinds." Yuna bowed quickly and said, "I will." The rest murmured agreement. Except Sir Auron, who just grunted. She wondered whether he had emotions; he was always so very calm. Then she remembered what he had said to Seymour about Kinoc having been his friend once, and she sighed. He had them. He just chose not to show them.
Auron looked out over the land. So many memories awaited him here. Lulu had many memories here too, if he was not mistaken. He looked over at the Black Mage, his eyes as always hidden behind his dark glasses. She was so… melancholy, even when she was smiling. She had had a rough time in her twenty-two years and he knew it. Of them all, Kimahri and Lulu were the only ones who seemed like adults to him. Yuna and the others were so young – literally children – and Wakka, although older than Lulu by a year, was so generally happy-go-lucky ("ya?" he thought to himself with an inner smile) that he seemed much younger than his age. Auron wished none of them had to be here at all, but it had to be hardest on Lulu. He sighed.
"Right," he said gruffly, "Rikku, I need you to steal as many healing items as you possibly can." She grinned cheekily at him and saluted. "Yuna, if you would, please save the Aeons until we absolutely need them." She bowed quickly again. "Lulu, you're on things that don't respond well to physical attacks, Wakka on flyers and the rest of us will take the ground fiends that want to get physical. All is as usual except for going sparingly with the healing. Let's go." They stared at him. For Sir Auron, this was a long speech. He raised a sardonic eyebrow and gestured toward the plain laid out before them.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
"Who called these the Calm Lands?" Wakka yelled over the noise of yet another group of attacking fiends, "They don't seem calm to me, ya?" Rikku laughed and said, "You're absolutely right about that, ya?" as she stole a – damn, not a healing item; it was another Grenade. She shrugged and Mugged the critter, getting – oh boy another Grenade – and dispatching it. She wiggled a little victory dance, but then sobered; Yuna was out of magic, the last potion of any kind was gone, and all she seemed able to steal were freaking Grenades.
CRASH!
"Oh no," Wakka thought. All the others had fallen in the last battle and were barely conscious. Only he and Rikku were still up and moving around, and he could see the resting spot from here. Just this one last fiend and they'd be safe, but they'd barely touched it and… and then she screamed, as the Coeurl hit her with a Thundara attack and she dropped like a stone. He shouted her name in despair and threw the Blitzball as hard as he could, sizzling with Water energy. The Coeurl went up in a cloud of pyreflies and he didn't even wait to retrieve the ball before he dropped to his knees by Rikku's crumpled form. "I'm so sorry, Rikku, so sorry. I didn't know, I didn't mean it, please don't die, you can't die now, ya? Please, please don't die! Rikku. Rikku!"
She opened her eyes, smiled weakly at him, and whispered, "Is Yunie safe?"He gathered her unresisting little body into his lap and whispered in her ear. "Yuna's fine, ya? Look, there they are, walking into the rest area now. Can you make it there if I help you?" She just sighed and snuggled into his chest, feeling safe for the first time in weeks. He lifted her (she was so tiny!) and carried her to the rest area, laying her gently on the ground next to the Save Sphere. She smiled at him and fainted dead away.