A/N: It's time for the villain! Giia is pronounced 'Jai-ya'. But first let's reunite our lovers, shall we?

Chapter Six

Rikku threw up. Lots. She ran over to the trees at the edge of the tents and hurled. Once she was done, her whole body was shaking, and she wiped her mouth numbly. Then took a deep breath and turned around.

Auron was standing there as if he'd never left; hushed and grave, waiting for her. "Hello, Rikku."

"You're supposed to be dead," she breathed.

"I know," he responded simply. It was all he could say.

"And you're not." Her voice still hadn't risen above a whisper.

"No. The fayth brought me back."

I waited for you! I waited for you and you didn't come back! How could you not come back?! Inside her head she was screaming at him, but the roar of the silence stretched out. Then she moved, and put her hand to his face. She flinched as her fingers met his cheek. Tears filled her eyes. "You're really here."

He nodded once and then pulled her into his arms, feeling her shape tremble against him. He had no idea if she wanted it, or if she still felt the same way, or anything about her anymore. He didn't know if she was still the same Rikku. Tidus and Yuna were behind him, hand in hand and nervously watching her reaction. He couldn't quite bury a twinge of nervousness himself.

She shook her head to try and rid herself of the intoxicating scent that enfolded her. Then she pulled back a little. "I…I waited for you…"

He didn't say anything, just nodded once. She hadn't said she was still waiting for him. She just said she had been.

For her part, Rikku was feeling dizzy; despite throwing up a lot of the alcohol, she was still more than a little drunk, and now with Auron here…she recognised what the darkness eating away at the edge of her vision was just before she fainted. Auron caught her, knowing that no matter how he'd turned up, this would still have been her reaction. He sighed, then lifted her into his arms, feeling her shape against him with mingled longing and remorse. He turned to Tidus. "Where can she rest for the night?"

"This way, Sir Auron," Yuna said, leading him into an empty hut. "She can sleep it off here."

"Alright."

Walking inside, he laid her carefully on the bed. Yuna by this time had made herself scarce – she wasn't sure exactly what was between her eldest and youngest guardians, but she was sure it was something she shouldn't be privy to. Once Auron had slid a blanket over Rikku, he stood and sighed. What happens now? He supposed it didn't matter right now, since Rikku couldn't answer anything while she was unconscious, and he had a feeling that once she did wake up, she wasn't going to be feeling her normal bouncy self. He'd never seen anyone with a hangover be glad about it.

Deciding that it wouldn't do any good if he just sat there, Auron got up and walked back outside into the tropical night.

Tidus grabbed him almost as soon as he did. "Come join the party, old man! Don't get all…"

"All…?" Auron asked dangerously.

"Auron-y. C'mon, there's gotta be something you want to do."

A drink sounds really good right about now, he thought. "Not really. I have no idea why I'm here."

The blond frowned. "Well whatever the reason…it's good that you are," he said after a pause. "I mean it, man. You're valued here. Don't think you're not."

Auron didn't really have anything to say to that. He plumped for, "Hm."

"And, hey, if you're stuck here, go mingle. See if there are people in the world you don't hate being around," Tidus joked.

"I don't-"

Yuna's voice called to Tidus, and he disappeared with a cheerful grin. Auron couldn't blame him – he hadn't been the most effusive company on the Farplane. Auron's attitude – in a not entirely unfriendly way – was that he'd dealt with it for ten years and it was Jecht's problem now. Somehow the bond between father and son had been much strengthened once neither of them existed anymore. Auron was fairly certain that Tidus might actually miss Jecht. Not that he'd ever admit to it.

Sighing, he headed toward where all the booze seemed to be coming from. There wasn't any left, and he vaguely recalled Rikku having a bottle of sake while she was sitting by the fire. He wondered why sake was her drink of choice. He wondered why she felt she had to drink in the first place. Was it because of him? Was it all because of him? From not wanting to return to Spira at all half an hour ago, he now began to think that possibly he hadn't been back soon enough. A week? The fayth saw everything. Why on Spira had they waited a week if they knew what was happening to her? What she was going through?

Damn it, now he really did need a drink. He walked to the fire.

"Ooph!"

Auron immediately reached to steady the woman he'd bumped into. "My apologies."

She flashed a pretty smile. She looked to be about twenty five with quite pale skin and shoulder-length dark hair. Attractive, he noted in an uninterested way. "No, I'm sorry, it was my fault. Not looking where I was going."

"Both of us, then."

She nodded, then hesitated a little. "You're Auron, right? You were one of Yuna's Guardians?"

"That's right."

Apparently not at all perturbed at his identity, she held out her hand. "I'm Giia."

He shook it, then decided to take Tidus's advice, especially if he was going to be here permanently. "How do you know Yuna?"

Giia grinned. "I'm, uh, her competition. Or I was, anyway. I don't know how much you know of what Yuna's been doing since the Calm?"

It was quite a tactful way of asking if he had been dead or not, Auron thought. "Not much, I'm afraid."

She nodded and looked over at Yuna, now sitting on her boyfriend's lap, playing tonsil hockey. "Well as she looks too busy to tell you, I could, if you like?"

He nodded. "I am a little behind on Spira's recent history, I admit."

She smiled again. "To be honest, I won't be able to tell you much about exactly what the Gullwings did with Vegnagun-"

"The Gullwings?" he interrupted.

"Oh, the name of the group of sphere hunters that Yuna, Rikku and Paine belonged to."

"Sphere hunters?"

Giia smiled. "I'm coming to that. Since Yevon's collapse, and the truth about Sin came out, people started to wonder what else the church had been hiding. What else about Spira's history that we didn't know."

"Hence Vegnagun I suppose?"

She frowned. "How do you know about Vegnagun?"

"I used to be pretty deep into Yevon," he answered.

"Oh ok. Well there were a lot of groups looking for spheres that showed Spira's history. Turns out the Gullwings and the LeBlanc Syndicate – that's LeBlanc, my boss, she's over there – were in almost direct competition with each other. We found more spheres, or course," she added with a little smirk. It faded wonderfully as she carried on. "But I can't pretend that our methods were…all that pure. I left the Syndicate just before Vegnagun happened. Since then I've been getting on better with Yuna."

Giia was telling the truth – Yuna had invited her here as somewhat of a peace-offering, which Giia naturally privately scorned, and she had left the Syndicate, taking quite a few goons with her. But she'd left because she missed the bad old days, when if someone had something you wanted you simply beat them up or killed them, then took it. LeBlanc used to be like that until she met Nooj, and then it just got boring. Giia had a special reason to hate the Gullwings – especially Rikku. Besides the fact that she was a petty, vindictive woman in herself, it had been her Syndicate uniform that Rikku had stolen in order to infiltrate LeBlanc's mansion. Walking semi-naked through the desert to throw herself on the mercy of Al Bhed scum that she eventually stumbled across had solidified Giia's dislike of Rikku into unadulterated hatred.

Now Rikku was a hero (again), and Giia was still stuck as a nobody. She'd made it her personal vendetta to bring the young Al Bhed down, and had made it her business to know everything about Rikku that she could – what weapon she preferred, how powerful and fast she was in battle, her past history with Yuna's Pilgrimage. But like the rest of Besaid village, Giia had seen Rikku's reaction when she saw the man in red, and she'd wanted to laugh. The girl was in love with him. Totally, completely, eyeballs deep, never-to-be-broken, eternal love. But Giia had also seen the uncertainty in Auron's face. He had no idea about what kind of reception to expect or what Rikku thought or felt.

But however much Auron couldn't read Rikku's open features, much to Giia's annoyance she couldn't read him. But it looked as though she'd found the little blonde whore's Achilles' heel. Suddenly the problem of how to use Rikku's relationship with Gippal to bring her down didn't seem so much of a problem. She smirked, taking another assessing look at the man next to her. True, there was the age thing, but he was good-looking enough aside from that ugly scar, and it wouldn't have to be for long. Just as long as it took to break Rikku's heart. Just maybe, if she got her depressed enough, Rikku might even kill herself. Now that sounded promising.

Giia gave a little shiver of delight at that idea, and decided upon her plan. She couldn't have known that events would turn out unexpectedly in her favour.

A/N: What do you think of my OC then? Review and let me know!