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Chapter 16: Epilogue (or, the Graduation Party)
Tidus' radio call had caught Cid, Lulu, and Wakka just as they'd made it to the Monster Rancher's base. They immediately went north, but at Lulu's insistence Wakka had run ahead. She'd felt an ominous chill, and wanted to ensure everyone's safety.
"And what possessed you to go into a cave like that, huh?" Wakka went on in his impressive lecture, berating Clasko and O'aka while holding Auron close. The poor tyke was sound asleep in his arms, worn out from all the frights. Rikku, too, slept as Kimahri carried her via piggy-back. "If I'd been five seconds later, you woulda been fiend soup, ya?"
Much to everyone's relief, he only said to Lulu and Cid, "Found 'em all safe as temples, not a worry!"
They all boarded the airship, even Clasko and O'aka with their two chocobos. Madame Tora the Witch needed another two days (or three? To Tidus it felt like all the days had blended together) to concoct the potion to restore Auron and Rikku, so the airship made its way back south at a leisurely pace, giving everyone their much-needed rest. The two children acted on their best behavior, which made Tidus suspicious on principle, but Rikku seemed to have exhausted her taste for wild adventures, and Auron just seemed exhausted.
As agreeable as Rikku tried to be, though, it took several earnest promises from Yuna that nothing bad would happen for Rikku to allow her and Auron to be led into Madame Tora's house. She was still convinced the Witch wanted to eat her and Auron, but with Kimahri's looming presence, Cid's firm hand on her back, and Yuna's sunny smile, Rikku grudgingly sat on a chair next to Auron at the kitchen table. They were both dressed in oversized robes, to accommodate their adult sizes.
"That's it?" Tidus asked Madame Tora as she ladled out two glasses of thick, green liquid from a large pot. Tidus was sure he could bounce a blitzball on the liquid's surface.
"Drink potion, returned be thy children to adulthood," Madame Tora nodded. She set the glasses on the table, frowned, then tapped a finger to each. With a poof the liquids became more fluid than jelly.
Rikku still made a face. "I'm not drinking that!"
Auron looked from her to the glasses, then folded his arms. "Nuh uh!"
Cid crouched down and looked his daughter in the eyes. "Rikku, you've been a good example to Auron, haven't you?"
"Yeah!" Rikku nodded. "The best!"
"Well, now you gotta be a good example one more time. The potion's good for you, Rikku. You need to drink it."
The girl's face set into a stubborn frown.
Cid scratched his head, then added, "Or else I'm givin' all your toys to Brother and makin' you do nothing but wash sand outta machina for the whole year."
Rikku gaped. A whole year? And all her toys?
She took the glass and gulped the entire contents down. Auron watched her dubiously, but didn't argue when Tidus helped him drink his.
"Well, did it work?" Wakka asked. All the adults watched the children closely.
Auron burped.
Three Days Later
Rikku thought if Cid went into another weepy nostalgia-trip over her return to childhood and how he wished he'd had just one more day with her six-year-old self, she'd have to take extreme measures. Like moving to Zanarkand. Or taking up residence in the Fayth's chamber at Bevelle.
It wasn't as though she remembered anything from the last week. Not that she minded, but she still thought it a capital crime against Spira that Yunie and everybody hadn't at least made a sphere-recording of three-year-old Auron for her. She would've liked the laugh and blackmail material. Cid had plenty of her embarrassing moments recorded for posterity and all the curious people.
Swiftly making her way through the airship and avoiding anyone resembling either Tytto or Brother, Rikku rode the lift up to the deck. She'd find some privacy there to get her mind back in order. Not having a week to account for messed with her head more than she thought it ought to. Her head hurt especially whenever Yunie or Tidus or Wakka started saying something like, "Oh, and that time when you and Auron were tossing Lulu's dolls off the airship…"
Rikku, quite honestly, was amazed Lulu hadn't fried her with Thunder magic for that. She would've done it on herself for the mage.
The lift stopped, and Rikku took care as she adjusted to the wind. To her surprise, Auron sat at the prow of the ship, one elbow on an upright knee. He was drinking leisurely from his jug.
"Hey," she greeted, coming to stand beside him. He grunted, not bothering to get up. His glasses were high on his nose, all the better to protect his eyes. Rikku's own eyes were beginning to water, so she sat with her back to the wind. Hair fluttered around her face. "You remember anything so far?"
"No," Auron shook his head. He offered her the jug.
Blinking, Rikku took it carefully. She sipped, grimacing at the sharp tang of alcohol on her tongue. "I'm underage, you know."
"Al Bhed are considered adults at the age of sixteen, and therefore are allowed to drink alcohol," Auron said. He took the jug back and drank.
Rikku chuckled. "I didn't think you'd know that."
Auron shrugged one shoulder. "You pick things up here and there on pilgrimages."
They sat in silence as the ship roared around them, heading steadily for the Calm Lands once more, to drop Clasko and O'aka off with their chocobos. Rikku still couldn't believe Clasko and O'aka had been in charge of she and Auron for at least two days. She kept expecting some chocobo- or sales-speech to come pouring out of her.
"You know, the last thing I remember, before apparently we took a week off to relive the single-digit years, I was trying to get you to help me prank Dona," Rikku said slowly.
Auron set the jug carefully down by his other knee as he said, "From what I've heard, you wound up making good on that."
"Yeah, well," Rikku paused, wishing once again someone had had the sense to bring a sphere-recorder along on the trip; she would've liked to see Dona's face with mud dripping from her hair. "I was thinking ungrateful thoughts, back then, and I wanted to, uh… Apologize. For tempting fate and all."
He looked over at her from behind his tinted glasses, shook his head, and went back to staring at the blue skies. "I don't need your apology for that. Maybe there is destiny, and maybe the Fayth have some way of influencing events in the world. But I don't believe in fate, or 'tempting' it."
It was Rikku's turn to shrug. "They still weren't very nice thoughts. So I am sorry."
They continued to sit in silence, the wind howling around them. Auron said, "I will have an apology for the incident at Guadosalam, though."
Rikku blinked. Had he remembered something from the missing week? "What'd I do?"
"You started this whole mess."
Rikku realized he meant her game of Tag, and them accidentally knocking over Madame Tora. "I totally apologized to Madame Tora. You were there and everything. And if you'd just played like any other good-natured man, it wouldn't have happened at all."
"But if you hadn't stolen my jug, I would not have given chase and Madame Tora's pride wouldn't have been injured. Thus, it is your fault."
Squinting at Auron, Rikku could see the tiny smirk peeking up past his collar. "Jerk," Rikku chortled. "Fine. I'm sorry."
Auron nodded. "Apology accepted."
"You gonna apologize to me now, for not playing Tag with me?"
Auron tilted his head. "Mm. No."
"Zang." (jerk)
Cid's voice came over the intercom, announcing in Al Bhed their arrival at the Calm Lands, and he demanded that Rikku get down to the cockpit, now, before he sent a search party for her. She rolled her eyes and stood. "We're at the Calm Lands," she told Auron.
He rose as well, securing the jug to his belt. "Then let's go see Uncle O'aka and Clasko off," he started, then flinched. She saw his brows furrow.
For herself, she bit her tongue firmly. Knowing her luck, she'd laugh hysterically at his slip, embarrassing him, and make a mistake herself a hundred times more humiliating immediately after. "Right. C'mon, then." She walked away, fighting valiantly against the chuckles.
The wind carried Auron's sigh to her. "Go ahead and laugh. Before you combust."
"No!" Rikku shook her head, forcing her wide smile to vanish before she turned around. "No laughter here! I swear on my life, my dearest squire!"
They got onto the lift before Auron raised a brow at her. "Your 'dearest squire'?"
Rikku clapped her hands to her face with a groan as the lift doors shut.
The End.