A/N: Yay, I finished at a nice round number! And thank you to all my reviewers: Wyvren Wing, bhfirewife, Throwing-Fire-Twice, Kathleen Dee, BeautifulxxDisaster, ffxlodgirl, Shirox, Gining, That Manx, AnimeBabe88, AshmandaLC, LordManyArrows, Ionai, bonzai, AbsintheJade21, xXHakaishaXx, GlassEmotions, Stardust44, Crimson, Kiriski, Catmunk, Kerushii-chan, Michelle Pruitt, a lucker, Silver Charm, Mariuslover22, AurikkuFan, Nasuki- Orihime Girl, Pikatsuko and Neko-Yuff16. You kept me on track to finish this as fast as I have, and I'm sorry if I left anyone out - thank you.

Chapter Twenty

Rikku was on her way back from the bridge – they'd just been to Remiem Temple – when it happened again. The same agonising pain in her chest. And despite her earlier decision to accept her death, she found she was terrified. This time there was no stopping it. How could you not know, Auron? "Yuna!" she screamed as another one hit her, driving her to her knees.

The door behind her hissed open. "Rikku!" Yuna knelt beside her and held her tightly. It was all she could do.

Rikku was sobbing. "I can't do it, I can't-"

Yuna's own tears began to fall from her eyes. "Paine, tell Brother to get us to Djose! Now!"

"No!" Rikku broke in, gripping Yuna's arms tightly. "Don't, it's not-" She took another wavering breath and tried once more to speak. "Don't! It's not fair on Auron."

Anger rose up in Yuna. How could her cousin be ok with this? "No, Rikku. I won't let you do this. How can you?"

"Because…" Another small scream of pain. When it was over, her breath came in ragged sobs. "I love him." She blacked out once more, sure that this time, she wouldn't be waking up.

---

It suddenly came to Auron saying his vows- but- there was something…

Something wasn't right. He had no idea what was wrong though. He was here, the priest was, Giia was. Giia. He looked at her, realising what was wrong. She was. After everything, after all this time... The realisation was...easy.

Simple as that.

But if not Giia, then who was it he should be with? He found that his heart was screaming the answer if only he listened. Rikku. He started laughing; he couldn't help it. It had been blindingly obvious from the very beginning. He didn't love Giia, he didn't want to marry her. "No."

She looked at him like he'd gone mad. "Honey, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he said, more to himself than to her. "More than fine actually. Great." Auron turned to the priest. "Thank you, Father, we won't be needing your services today."

The priest shot him a look, but then went. Giia rounded on him. "What the hell are you doing, Auron?"

"I'm sorry, Giia, but I don't love you. And I can't marry you."

Her face lost all beauty and went scrunched, ugly with rage. "Why not? Because of that bitch Rikku? Man, I should never have let her heal you."

He blinked; before he didn't want to think Tidus was lying, but didn't see how he could be telling the truth. He took a step forward, anger beginning to simmer. "Is the rest of it true as well?"

"What, you mean about me not loving you?" She laughed. "Of course it's true! I wanted to get back at that slut. And the fact I got her life into the bargain is just a bonus."

Auron had never hit a woman. He'd never felt the compulsion to. But right now the urge to draw his sword and watch Giia's head bounce from her shoulders was almost overpowering. Instead he glared at her. "I can't believe I ever thought I could love you. You are a bitter, twisted and pitiful woman, Giia." He turned away.

"So you're going after her?!"

He turned again. "She's a better woman than you could ever be. In fact you're not even worthy to talk about her."

Without wasting another word on her, he turned to leave the temple. Giia made an outraged noise behind him. There was no way this was happening to her. No-one left her. She had people around as long as they were useful, then she got rid of them. Without thinking that perhaps this wasn't a good idea, she dashed in front of Auron and physically put herself in front of the door. When she looked up at his face, she realised her mistake. Suddenly, where before there had been a dozen excuses and clever manipulations running through her mind, there was now nothing.

Nothing except a cold, total, paralysing fear.

That russet glare promised slow, painful death if she spoke more than two words. A very slow, very, very painful death.

She gulped, but tried – foolishly – anyway. "B-but, I-I…y-you can't just-"

Auron took one step forward.

Giia took two back.

"I'll make this clear," he said in a voice full of thunder.

Giia really didn't want to be around when the storm broke. "I have never used violence against a female before."

Another gulp. How was it she'd spent all this time with him and not noticed how huge he was? How large his hands were? One of them could snap her neck like a twig.

"But if you don't get out of my sight, right now, never to enter it again, then you'll be dead before you draw your next breath, I promise you that."

Giia couldn't have taken a breath right now if she tried.

"Understood?"

She nodded; or it could have been that her entire body was trembling. She flattened herself against the wall of the temple. "Y-y-"

"Goodbye, Giia."

He walked out of the temple to find it was raining heavily. He didn't care; he was feeling lighter than he had for months, his whole being tingling with excitement – and fear. He had to see her. He had to tell her how much of an idiot he'd been. That he was sorry. And that he loved her. Right on cue, there came a rumbling sound from the sky, and a few moments later, the Celsius crashed down among the puddles. He was running up the ramp before it was even down properly. He collided with Yuna coming the opposite way. Instead of moving away after she'd stopped, she hugged him tightly. "Auron, thank Heavens!" He was too stunned that she hadn't used his formal title to say anything. "Tell me you haven't married her," she whispered.

He shook his head emphatically. "I couldn't."

Yuna looked like she'd pass out from relief. "Thank the fayth."

He gripped her shoulders. "Yuna, where is Rikku?"

"This way!" She sprinted back the way she'd come.

His – Rikku's – heart stopped when he saw her. Paine was with her, holding Rikku's head up from the floor. She was unconscious. She looked dead. In less than a second, he was at her side and scooping her into his arms. Automatically, his hands went to check her pulse. After a second of searing panic, he remembered that there wouldn't be one to find. Instead he hugged her close to him and kissed the top of her head, cursing his own stupidity. He looked up at Yuna. "Where's her room?"

"This way," Paine said, looking very composed considering her friend had nearly died.

He picked up Rikku. She'd never felt so frail, and seemed to weigh nothing at all cradled against him. Where had the weight of her spirit gone? He laid her on her bed carefully, brushing her golden hair from her face. "How long was she unconscious for…" he spat the last part of the sentence out, "last time?"

"At least twenty-four hours. We think more, though."

He nodded. "I'll stay with her."

Yuna seemed thankfully to be sticking to her new thing of just calling him by name. "Auron, it could be days before-"

"I'm staying with her. It's the least I can do after what I've put her through."

They both nodded, then left. He didn't notice, all his attention focused on the one person in the world who had never abandoned him. Granted, that had annoyed the hell out of him for most of the Pilgrimage, but even after that, even after the Sending, she'd broken with all Al Bhed tradition to go to the Farplane. Just to visit him – or at least the visible part of him, anyway.

The fayth had never said why it was he was resurrected, but knowing what he knew now, there could really only be one reason. He had been wrong to think that the teenage crush would fade. It had gone, but had been replaced by something much deeper, more mature, and tougher than bedrock. The girl had become a woman strong enough to make the ultimate sacrifice, knowing that it would lead to her death. And she'd done it anyway.

And he'd let her down. He sighed, the scar on his face aching, as it always did when he felt guilty. "I'm so sorry," he whispered hoarsely. He didn't know if she could hear him or not, but it needed to be said anyway. He moved and knelt by her pillow, taking her hand. "Rikku, I'm so sorry."

---

It was more than three days after that when Rikku finally opened her eyes. Despite his protestations, Auron had finally given in to the sleep demon and gone to get a little rest, leaving Yuna and Tidus with Rikku. Unlike the first time, she sat bolt upright, gasping, and causing Yuna to almost jump out of her skin. Tidus let out a tiny yelp, but managed to turn it into a slightly more macho cough. Rikku was still breathing like she'd just run a mile, a hand to her chest. She realised it didn't hurt, nor did she feel as mentally drained as she had. In fact she felt wonderful, if physically tired. Wait a minute. She felt. Emotion – wonderful, blinding, glorious emotion! Tears started immediately, trickling down her face through sheer joy.

"How are you feeling?" Yuna asked kindly, misinterpreting the tears.

"I'm…fine. Actually I feel great. Wonderful. Fabulous. Phenomenal." All such amazing words. Words that she'd forgotten.

They exchanged a look.

She sat up a little more. "What's happened? Something's changed, I know it has!"

"Uh, yeah, it has. Well, don't get too excited, Rikku, but Auron broke up with Giia." Tidus said it as though he expected her to leap up and run to wherever Auron was so that she could launch herself on him.

She didn't. Instead she fell back against the pillows, a dreamy smile on her face as relief flooded her entire soul. Tidus and Yuna exchanged a surprised glance before Rikku carried on. "Did he say why?"

"No, he didn't."

"Where is he?" she asked, unable to disguise the eagerness in her voice.

"Sleeping," Yuna said. "He's been watching over you for the past three days."

"You- you didn't tell him why I was unconscious did you?"

"No, we didn't," Tidus said. It wasn't a lie. Not exactly.

She nodded, then couldn't contain it anymore. "I need to see him." She got up, but swayed almost immediately and fell back down on to the bed.

"You're not going anywhere until you've rested."

Rikku got frustrated. "But I've spent seventy two hours in bed, Yunie! I need to see Auron!"

"I could always tranquilize you."

Rikku pouted, but it had no effect. "Fine. But only until he wakes up, and you have to come get me the minute he does!"

"Ok. I'll be back in half an hour, so make sure that you're in bed again by the time I get back," Yuna said on her way out.

"Don't you trust me?" Rikku complained.

"Erm…no, I don't. Go to bed!"

Once the door was closed, Rikku got up out of bed; simply unable to stay still anymore. She started pacing, looking out the window only to look at the door again longingly, then back to sit on the edge of the bed, biting her lip nervously. She was on the seventeenth cycle of this when there was a knock on the door. Rikku huffed. It hadn't been half an hour yet. She got up.

"Yunie, for machina's sake, I said I was going to…" When she opened the door, she found she was not speaking to Yuna, but to a chest. A very broad, familiar chest. "…sleep."

"Rikku. We need to talk."

Her mouth fell open. "About what, Auron?"

"Tidus told me everything. Yuna confirmed it."

Damn it, Yunie! "Oh. Maybe you should come in." She moved out of the way, then shut the door with trembling hands. "So, um, do you want a drink or something, 'cause I've got some-"

"Just sit down, Rikku."

"Yessir." She sat down, but didn't look at him, finding something on the floor fascinating.

"Rikku, look at me."

She raised her head and met the same russet gaze she'd fallen in love with over four years before. He lifted her chin, keeping eye contact. "Is it true?"

For the first time in her life, Rikku found herself breaking a promise. She nodded. "It's true."

He sighed, then dropped his head. "Why didn't you tell me?"

She shrugged. "Because it was the only way Giia and her goons would let me heal you if I promised I wouldn't. And I didn't want you to feel that you owed me something because of it. If you wanted to-" she cut off, biting her lip and looking nervously at him.

"If I wanted to what?"

Rikku took a deep breath, the decided to go for it, so blurted it out as fast as she could. "If you wanted to be with me, then I wanted it to be because you wanted to be, not just because I'd saved your life. I…"

"Rikku, it's the only reason I was with Giia. Of course I want to be with you. I always have."

She couldn't speak, couldn't believe that it was real. Well, it can't be real. It's not possible. "But…but…"

Auron ended all thought of any further argument by leaning over and pressing his lips to hers. Rikku felt herself melt as he did, losing all sanity in the kiss. Her arms went up and wrapped around his neck; he broke the kiss and closed his eye, then pulled her flush against him. As soon as his lips left hers, she pulled him back again. He chuckled slightly, but wrapped her in his arms more tightly, never planning on letting her go. She kissed him until she ran out of breath to kiss him with. The she pulled away. "I hope you understand, I'm never letting you go."

He just kissed her again and then spoke into her hair, his voice pained and hoarse with emotion. "I'm so sorry, Rikku. For everything."

She gave another one of those smiles that twisted his heart. "It's ok. The-"

"How can you say that? You almost died because of me! Twice!"

She put her fingertips to his lips. "Auron, shut up," she said gently. "There's no way you could have known, and the only thing that matters is that I'm not dead. And that you came for me, and we're together now."

He sighed. "You are the most extraordinary woman I've ever met, you know that?"

"I know," she said, fake preening. "But you might want to save nice things like that for after."

"After what?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

She grinned and took his hand, walking to where her bedroom beckoned invitingly. "What do you think?"

---

Whether Yuna had come to the door, heard the noises and left again, Rikku could never be sure. She could be sure that she didn't care – since nothing interrupted that long, wonderful afternoon of sublime pleasure. She'd spent most of her life smiling – and she'd never known happiness like the thrill that jolted through her when they came undone together, heard the hoarse calling of her name in her ear and felt his release deep inside her. They were one; so intensely joined that she didn't think they'd ever be able to come apart, and as she wrapped her arms around him, smelling and tasting the salty tang of his sweat and feeling his hot weight above her; almost crushing her – and she wouldn't have moved him for the world.

After a moment, though, of kissing her neck until she stopped trembling, Auron moved off her, pulling Rikku with him and determined that he wasn't going to let her go for at least another twelve hours.

She put her head on his chest, hearing her own heartbeat. She kissed his skin just above it. "So that's where I left it."

He smiled. "It's always been yours even when it was mine," he murmured.

She raised an eyebrow. "Did that make sense?"

He shrugged. "I don't really know. I just know that I love you."

A massive grin spread itself over Rikku's face, and she began kissing him again, peals of joyous laughter coming from her mouth. He met her lips gladly, and while they were absorbed in each other, neither of them noticed the tiny spark of light that began in Auron's chest and spread to Rikku's. It wasn't until the waves of climax had washed over them both that she noticed how fast her heart was beating. Wait a minute. How is it even there to beat?

She sat up abruptly. "Auron?" she said, her voice quavering.

He heard the tremble and sat up too. "What is it? Are you alright?"

She nodded slowly, her eyes wide. "Tell me if you can feel this," she said, taking his hand and putting it to her chest.

He raised an eyebrow as his hand enclosed her left breast. He opened his mouth to say something, then realised what she was getting at. There was a heartbeat thudding there. "Rikku, how-"

"I don't know!" She leaned down and pressed her ear against his chest once more. "You've got it too! How is that possible?"

He smiled. "Maybe it's because I finally realised what an idiot I've been."

She nodded vigorously, grinning. "Damn straight you've been an idiot."

Her body was pinned against the bed underneath Auron's in less than a second, holding her arms above her head easily with one hand. "You're not supposed to agree, Rikku," he growled, devouring the skin on her neck. She couldn't hold back a whimper as his teeth nipped at her skin. Is this real? No-one wake me up if this is a dream. His other hand stroked her flesh, barely touching her and driving her crazy. She pushed her body up, trying to make him touch her properly. He gave a soft chuckle against her neck, then carried on. She let out a growl of her own, finally breaking his hold on her wrists and pulling him up to her lips.

Auron got his wish and more – he didn't lose contact with her for another sixteen hours after that.

---

When the morning came, Rikku woke up with a smile on her face. She was lying in Auron's arms, her head laid on his chest and his heartbeat in her ear. His slow, steady breathing matched hers perfectly. She shifted slightly so that she could look at his face properly, and she couldn't help planting soft kisses all over his face. Once she was done and every inch of his face had been kissed, he'd woken up laughing. "Rikku, what are you doing?"

"Sorry," she grinned. "Couldn't resist."

"Nice way to wake up," he commented, smiling. He pulled her into his arms, making sure the only place he got kissed was his lips. "I love you," he murmured.

"I love you," she replied, for once serious and quiet and unRikku-like. She didn't have to perform with him. She could just be. She moved on to her back, head on his shoulder and looked at the clouds racing past, the feeling in her heart too much to express, and she wasn't sure she would if she could. At least not to anyone else except Auron, and he knew without her needing to elaborate. "This is how it should be," she sighed after a while.

"If you'll let me," he said, "I'll make sure every day is like this."

She turned on to her side, her heart leaping in her chest. Oh my gods. Is he actually going to say it? She stayed quiet, every nerve on edge and her entire body surging with excitement.

He took her face in his hands. "I'm not screwing this up again. We've been too long apart. No more. From now on, I want to wake up next to you every morning. Marry me." It wasn't a request; it was a command from his soul to hers.

She didn't say anything or move for at least five seconds, instead feeling the utter euphoria rise in her. He was starting to worry that she wasn't going to say yes, then he was being flying-tackled out of the bed, by a madly giggling, wonderfully happy Rikku. "Is that a yes?" he asked through being assaulted with kisses and rolling around on the floor in a Rikku-Auron-Rikku-Auron mix.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes! About a million times yes!"

That full-bodied, rich-as-chocolate laugh that had made her realise she was in love burst from him. "See now, that's a relief."

She leaned back a bit. "As if I'd say no!"

He grinned. "I'm still happy."

She raised an eyebrow and glanced down his body, looking up with a playful smile. "I can tell."

A/N: How could I not have a happy ending? I hope you enjoyed reading my first foray into Aurriku as much as I did writing it – and thank you thank you thank you to all my reviewers!