It was dark.
Rikku shrieked as yet another lightning bolt struck the ground near her, and Lulu gave her an exasperated look. "Would you stop that? It's the Thunder Plains."
"I'm scared of lightning!"
"You've mentioned that. Not that you need to." Lulu picked up her pace and caught up with Wakka, who walked ahead with the blue of his blitzball/weapon underarm. With a smile, he greeted her- they obviously liked one another. Far too cheerful for Rikku, in her current mood. The next time a bolt of lighting struck, she simply hugged herself tighter and lowered her head to face the rock-hard ground, despite the nearly constant rainfall.
"You okay, Rikku?" Tidus drew up beside her, and Rikku didn't even try to give him the visage of a smile.
"No-o," she said, her voice quivering. "I wanna go home." She bit her lip hard as thunder sounded off to her right, behind the shadow of a lightning tower. Auron walked briskly up ahead, and she gave his back a sour look, both jealous at his bravery and angry at his rejection of her hopes.
"What's wrong?" Tidus tilted his head, his scruffy blond hair tossing around his cheeks. He was handsome. And he obviously cared about her- more than Auron, anyway. She recalled the conversation when they first emerged from Guadosalam into these accursed plains.
Oh no, she had said, quivering under the shadow of the cave's mouth. We're here. Lighting had struck, and she had screamed, burying her head in her bare shoulder. She'd been hoping that Auron's apparent animosity toward her would have caved when he saw her fear, but he was as stony as he had been when he sat away from her on the stairs of the Farplane. Hoping to lighten the mood, she said, I think I forgot something in Guadosalam.
Nice knowing you. Auron had barely looked at her as he began walking into the endless storm before her. Indignant at his careless treatment of her, especially after their exchange on the stairs of the Farplane, she determined to cross without fear. However, as soon as she stepped onto the unforgiving ground- so unfairly called a plain- her fear nearly controlled her. Her naturally light-hearted nature became almost giddy with fear. She could barely stand it as she followed the red coat of the man she had hoped in across a forsaken path that wove between twisty towers.
"I'm scared of lightning," she said briefly, determining anew to be brave, like Yuna needed her to be. Speaking of Yuna… "Hasn't Yuna been awfully quiet since we left Guadosalam?" She changed the subject, peering childishly over at her cousin, who walked slowly but purposefully beside the huge shape of Kimahri, her blue skirt swinging freely around her thin legs.
"Yeah, she has," Tidus mused almost to himself, touching his chin as if stroking an invisible beard. "I wonder what's going on?"
"Do you think something happened in Seymour's place?" Releasing her deathgrip on her sides, she took on a conspiratorial look. In Tidus, she had found a kindred spirit of rebellion against this insane pilgrimage… she thought. One minute, she thought he knew everything there was to know- then, in the next, she thought him totally ignorant.
"I dunno. Maybe we should just ask her."
"I-" Lighting struck again, cutting her off. She stopped dead in her tracks, and Tidus moved ahead of her, still musing, but Rikku's min stopped working. Vaguely, she heard Tidus say they were almost out.
"Eh heh heh heh," she heard herself saying.
"Hm?" The rest of Yuna's contingent turned around to face her.
"Eh heh heh heh…"
"You okay?" Wakka sent a funny look her way, but he seemed a long way off in her spinning vision.
"Eh heh heh… you're giving me the creeps!" Tidus sent her a half-angry, half-worried look.
Another bolt of lighting struck, and she was on the ground. Holding still for a second, she realized no one was coming for her, so she crawled in spurts toward them. She heard gasps and groans from various people in the group (though none from Auron, she noted). When she dared to peer up, she saw the bright yellow of Tidus' shoe, and grabbed a tight hold of his leg.
"I wanna go home! I hate lighting! I hate thunder!" She looked up into Tidus' face in a desperate plea. "Let's rest over there. Please…?" She pointed in the general direction of a dark building. Peering through the rain, she could just make out the sign that read, in both Al Bhed and normal speech, "Travel Agency."
"This storm never stops. Better to cross quickly." Auron turned around and kept walking, spurring her stubbornness. How could he be so heartless? Did he think she was faking it?
"I know, but… just for a little while?" The rest of the party turned and kept going with him, but Tidus stayed beside her as she stood, a tiny figure in the grayish-blue landscape. He looked at her and shrugged, but still not moving.
"I'm scared of lightning!" She begged, desperate now, shuffling toward the door. She felt like crying, but she knew it would only make her seem more pathetic.
"Come on, guys," Tidus said suddenly, showing some support. "It couldn't hurt to stock up on supplies."
Yuna, who'd been slowing down, and Lulu, who had been waiting for Yuna, stopped and began to come back. Wakka groaned and came to follow Lulu, and the other two came grudgingly later. They all stepped inside, into the light and warmth.
Rikku sat on the floor of the Travel Agency's small lobby, her back against the bookcase, trying not to listen to the sky's anger outside. Yuna had quickly retired to a room, and Tidus had been pacing around, worried about her ever since. Auron stood on the far side of the room, crossly searching through the books for something interesting to him. Not surprisingly, he hadn't found anything.
The other guardians stood around quietly, but for some reason, Lulu stood close to her. Rikku had been watching and listening to her all through Guadosalam, admiring her maturity and wisdom. She could see a happiness behind her gloom-and-doom black looks, braids, and black magic. Someday, she wanted to be just like Lulu.
"Are you that scared?" Tidus suddenly asked her, taking pause in his pacing to speak to her. She appreciated his care for her.
"When I was little, a fiend attacked me while I was swimming at the beach. My brother tried to beat it back with a spell." Horrible memories came back to her, and she shuddered as another boom of thunder echoed around the small building. "But he missed and hit me instead! It was a Thunder spell- bzzzt!" She saw Tidus' laugh at her sound effect. "I've been scared of lighting ever since."
"But… it can be effectve." Lulu made a sudden comment, facing the younger girl with her interminable eyes. "Magic is effective against marine fiends."
Rikku quickly nodded in agreement. She probably would have agreed if Lulu said that it wasn't raining outside. "My brother said that too."
"You should learn some spells, too."
Rikku's young heart leaped when Lulu took notice of her. She grinned broadly and nodded. "Will you teach some to me?" Lulu was about to answer when another thunderbolt came, rattling Rikku and making her shrink into a cowering little girl again, hurt on the Bikanel beach.
"Maybe later," Lulu said, with an ever-so-slight smile.
"I'd like to learn," she said, biting her lip with embarrassment. She wanted to impress Lulu, but had totally failed so far to appear as anything but what she was- a young, immature girl with little experience of normal Spira's life.
"Watch the next time we run into a fiend here. Sometimes, the fiends cast magic too."
"Okay," she said, suddenly distracted as Tidus slipped into the back where Yuna was. She felt like she was starting to like Tidus, even though he obviously had feelings for Yuna, and didn't want him to get hurt. Especially if Yuna said yes to Seymour. She stuck out her tongue at the thought of the maester's venous forehead.
Suddenly, she heard chuckling, and snapped back to attention to find Lulu and Wakka quietly laughing at her expression.
"It's not stopping, is it?" Rikku stood near the door of the Travel Agency, which stood open to the cruel elements. Yuna was awake now, and they had to go. But her fear anchored her feet to the floor.
"Don't tell me you were hoping it would." Auron moved past her, his brawny shoulder brushing hers in the narrow doorway. She shied away from the flash as a bolt struck the ground near the agency, causing the light to fill the scene outside. She heard Auron's exasperation in his sigh.
"Fine. Stay here." Callously, Auron moved past her and into the rain and dark outside. She watched the rain course down off of his olive skin, and she suddenly felt like she needed to earn his good opinion. Not for his sake, but out of spite, to prove she wasn't as childish as he thought she was.
"All right, already." She straightened, staring hard after him, fear be condemned. Enough was enough. She was furious at Auron's constant rebuking and apparent carelessness. She'd show him. She'd prove it to him. "But… you don't have to say it like that, y'know! You could be more comforting or something!" All her confusion and rage launched out at him. "You know, try to cheer me up or something? Hey, are you listening?" Another bolt of lightning struck, sending the shadow of the man before her flying into the doorway, stretching nearly to her feet. After cringing, she realized how pathetic her fear was. "I'm not scared…" She bit her lip, taking one step in blind, childish stubbornness. "I'm not scared, you hear?" Bursting through the door, she pushed past him, her brain laced with adrenaline, walking off into the storm.
But as she brushed past him, she could have sworn she heard him chuckle.