After busy weeks and crushed confidence, chapter 4 is finally here. Enjoy the rest of the story!
*o*o*o*
"His mind is filled with thoughts of you but his feelings are directed elsewhere." Seymour said. Yuna didn't quite understand what he meant.
"Isn't that a good thing?" Yuna asked.
"What I mean is that he thinks of you because he is afraid of your power." Seymour said.
"But why? He knows that I would never hurt him." Yuna said.
"He is aware of the possibility that you might if you find him because, Lady Yuna, he is in love with Rikku."
Yuna felt a chill run through her body as Seymour's words rang in her ears. Seymour handed her the sphere and she took it with slow and shaky hands. Her eyes were filled with tears as she stared into the clear blue surface of the sphere and began to read the energy to confirm what Seymour said.
"I don't believe you!" Yuna cried. "Why would his feelings for her change in one day?"
"It's simple: they never did. He always felt that way about her." Seymour said.
Yuna was so grief-stricken that she couldn't concentrate and read the sphere's energy properly. She closed her eyes as the tears streamed down her cheeks and let the sphere slide out of her hands. It hit the wooden floor and rolled under the dresser.
"Now that you know the truth, is his life worth sparing?" Seymour asked.
"Fate will answer that." She said.
"You have the power to bring pain to those who deserve it." Seymour said. "I can teach you how. I can teach you things beyond what the temples know."
Yuna stopped crying and wiped away her tears. Her expression turned serious and angry.
"Think of it this way," Seymour said. "You could have the power to punish those who deserve pain. Will you let me teach you the secrets of magic?" Seymour asked and held his hand out to her. Yuna stared fixedly into his cerulean blue eyes.
"I don't want to waste any more time." Yuna replied and put her hand onto his. He led her out of the room and they went away. No one knew where they went that night.
*o*o*o*
At midnight, the four of them escaped from Via Purifico, dirty and tired, through a hole in the woods that Wen and Kinah made to get in. Near the hole was a locked chest that Kinah brought with her to keep her supplies. The key to the chest was her Special.
"Our airship is at the Calm Lands. We'll have to spend the night here because it's too dangerous to be roaming around now." Wen said.
"Start setting up a camp. I'll be at the lake." Rikku said, walking away.
"We'll be at the northern part of the woods." Kinah said and went to set up the camp with Wen. Just as they turned their backs, Tidus followed Rikku without anyone knowing. He wanted to be sure that she was okay.
Ever since the dark aeon injury, he blamed himself for not being able to protect her when she needed him the most. Tidus was determined to guard her, just as he guarded Yuna before.
When Rikku reached the lake she waddled into the crystal clear water and stood on the lake bed. The water reached up to her shoulders. She looked up at the luminous sky of the woods, deep in thought.
It wasn't the first time she had come to the lake. She often came to the lake whenever she wanted to think something through. Rikku had lots to think about ever since the Besaid incident. Her feelings for Tidus had come to surface in such an overwhelming way that she started to wonder if her own people would accept her.
Tidus waddled into the lake and stood beside her, making his presence known. They said nothing to each other for a long time. They both realised that it would be a long time before they would ever have peace and quiet. Rikku, being Cid's daughter and leader of the Specials, had always been used to a restless life.
Since Rikku was a child, she had to accept the fact that most of Spira hated the Al Bhed. She had be smart, agile and brave. She quickly learned that Spira has pity on nobody. Cid stated to take her on missions throughout the desert when she was only seven years old and by her teens, she went on missions all over Spira and learned to fly her own airship. To the Al Bhed, Rikku was a prodigy but all the while she felt as though she had been denied the right to peace. Being in the lake that night, in the still and mystical woods, fulfilled that even though it was just for a while.
Tidus, on the other hand, didn't know what work and responsibility meant until he came to Spira. In Zanarkand he spent most of his life playing blitzball and going out at night with friends. In Zanarkand he was adored by everyone but in Spira he was hated by almost everyone. He thought about Seymour and his latest ally, Yuna.
"I wonder where Yuna is. They're probably getting cosy together right now." He thought. He signed and let his body float on the surface of the lake.
"It's all my fault." Tidus said solemnly. "Us getting sent to Bevelle and you being attacked by that dark aeon is all my fault. I should have never let any of this happen."
"Would you rather be back in Besaid with Yuna right now, arguing?" Rikku giggled. "Things are never going to go back to the way they were before." Rikku said and got out of the water. "Us being together happened because, well, you wanted it to happen."
She headed back to camp without another word to Tidus. What she said made him realise that the reason why Rikku didn't worry so much was because she didn't depress herself over things that had already happened.
Tidus got out of the water and took his time to walk back to camp. He looked up at the sky and imagined what it would be like if he was honest about his feelings for Rikku before getting involved with Yuna. He would probably be at the blitz tournament with Rikku on his team. In the months before his engagement to Yuna, he had been training Rikku for blitzball because she was such a good swimmer. They had grown closer in those months. He smiled at that thought.
As he approached the group, he caught a glimpse of the camp and was shocked. Wen and Kinah were frantically packing their belongings into a backpack that had been in the chest. When everything was packed, Wen helped Kinah strap the backpack onto her back while Rikku cleared up any traces that they had been there.
"What's going on?" Tidus asked, completely clueless.
"The warrior monks are out!" Rikku whispered. Tidus paused for a moment and could hear faint footsteps, voices and rumbling in the woods.
"Where are we going?" Tidus whispered.
"To the airship." Rikku whispered back, pointing to the path that lead to the Calm Lands. As soon as Wen and Kinah were ready the group sprinted up the path to the Calm Lands, never looking back and trying to keep their footsteps in unison with their pursuers.
After several moments of tiresome running they reached the grassy plains of the Calm Lands. Wen went straight to the edge of the highland and jumped down to the path that lead to the abandoned temple. He assisted Kinah down and signalled for Rikku and Tidus to follow them.
"The airship is this way. We had to land at the temple's entrance to avoid being seen." Wen said. They all ran through the pathway where the airship was.
"Hey!" Rikku said, cheering up. She immediately recognised that the airship they had used was her own personalised airship, the Godhand. It was half the size of Cid's airship but faster with a long body and designed in a way that a group could live in it. Its silver exterior glistened in the moonlight as though it was new.
"Welcome back to the Specials."Wen said proudly as he dropped onto one knee and presented Rikku with the airship's access key. The key was Rikku's Special. Tidus hadn't noticed before that she wasn't wearing it because he didn't know much about the Specials until he met Wen and Kinah. Rikku never talked about them or revealed that she was the leader because, like most Al Bhed, they were seen as a huge threat to the temples.
Rikku took the Special with both hands and held it close to her heart. She was excited as she activated the airship and watched it's ramp roll out as if it were welcoming her. Just then, she heard voices not far off, arguing. The warrior monks were catching up.
The four of them boarded the airship and Rikku immediately got the engine started. The inside of the airship had long rows of seats against the walls and right in the front in the middle was were Rikku sat. On either side of her were two seats with sphere screens.
Wen pulled out a machina cannon gun out of a compartment from behind Rikku's seat.
"I'll stall them." Wen said, positioning himself on a passenger's seat by an open window. "We'll have to use non-lethal force."
"Why?" Tidus complained.
"If the temples hear about a monk massacre it'll start a war." Wen replied. Kinah dragged a box of metal balls from across the room to Wen.
"I need you over here, Kinah!" Rikku ordered. Kinah looked at the ammo and then at Tidus.
"Help Wen with the ammo." Kinah instructed. She showed him how to load the machina cannon gun for Wen.
"Don't load it too fast or it will backfire." Kinah said sternly before going to take a seat at the navigation station on the left of Rikku's seat. It had a large sphere screen with a digital map of Spira.
"We're not getting enough power!" Rikku said. A purple light beamed and an alarm rang.
"Kinah, I need you to run down to the engine room and check the core."Rikku commanded. Kinah jumped out of her seat and sprinted to the elevator. The elevator doors shifted apart slightly.
"There's not enough power for the elevator!" Rikku said. Kinah sprinted down the ship's emergency staircase and within seconds she was at the silver sliding door of the engine room.
Back upstairs, Wen was struggling to keep the monks away from the airship. Some of the monks had gone back to Bevelle and returned to the airship with reinforcements.
"I can't keep them off much longer!" Wen said. Moments later, Kinah came back upstairs.
"Everything should be fine now." Kinah said before realising how bad the situation had become. The ship was fine but outside there seemed to be more and more monks gathering.
Suddenly the engine gave off a loud bang and the airship began to soar through the air.
"Get in your seats!" Rikku yelled. Kinah got back to the navigation station and Tidus and Wen sat quickly and put on their seat belts.
The airship rose higher and got faster, cutting through the clouds until all they could see was the star-lit sky and the radiance of the moon. All the troubles of the day seemed to disappear as the ship began to position itself straight and glide through the air gracefully.
Rikku praised Kinah for her brilliant machina skills before setting the ship to auto pilot and getting out of her seat.
"How are you feeling?" Kinah asked Rikku.
"Tired." She replied, yawning. She went into the elevator and Kinah, Wen and Tidus followed and the silver doors of the elevator shut.
The elevator took them a floor up to the rooms. When the doors opened, they stepped into a long hallway with rooms on each side and at the far end was a large room which was Rikku's private cabin. All the rooms had private bathrooms and a compartment for clothes, armour and weapons.
Wen and Kinah went into their separate rooms and Tidus followed Rikku into the main cabin.
Tidus went straight to the large bed in the centre, not caring about anything else. He lay on his back, put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. He could hear Rikku shuffling about but was too tired to care what she was doing. Suddenly all the movement stopped. Tidus listened to the silence for a while and then heard Rikku giggling. He then felt a small figure on top his warm body and slender fingers playing with his hair.
"We're going to Home tomorrow." Rikku whispered.
"I know." Tidus said.
"There are some people you need to know about. You're gonna have to meet them pretty soon." Rikku said. Tidus opened his eyes and stared at her for a moment. She was wearing a long loose-fitting tank top and her golden hair was still lustrous even though the room was dimly lit.
"Should I be worried?" He asked. Rikku didn't reply. Tidus knew at that moment that there really was something to worry about.
"Don't worry about it." Rikku said, forcing a fake smile. She closed her eyes and put her head on his chest. She listened to his heart beat and wondered if it was the last time that he would want to spend the night with her like this. Tidus closed his eyes and put his arms around her and wondered if there was someone at Home that would come between them.
Clearly there was much to be worried about. Rikku only kept something a secret if it would hurt her or someone else. Tidus, unsure of what it was, braced himself for the worst.
He listened to her breathing and felt her heartbeat gradually slow down.
"Rikku, are you okay?" Tidus asked. She mumbled something very inaudible. After checking on her a second time, he knew something was wrong. He carefully moved from beneath her, and went to get Kinah.