AN: Oh man, I loved writing this one, especially the end. This fan fiction has turned into my baby. I mean I'm on chapter 10! I can't believe it! And you guys who are following and reviewing, I love you so so much :)

Anyone a fan of Nooj, Gippal and Baralai?

Badewanne13 - You are so lovely! Thank you for your offer! It might be a massive job for you because this fanfiction is far from over, read and enjoy!

CupofTeaforAliceandHatter- Thank you for your review! You are so right, things are heating up between them, I can't wait for it to EXPLODE! And I promise you it will :D But there are plenty more twists and turns and angsty moments to come so keep reading and enjoy!

Chapter 10

Rikku was not prepared to deal with the interrogation that was about to be inflicted on her as she and her friends boarded the Celsius. She stood on the bridge and shook the static that clung to her limbs from the transporter. Yuna and Brother stood shoulder to shoulder in front of her with their arms crossed. Yuna spoke first.

"We thought you were in Macalania Woods."

"...I was."

"We thought you were fixing the sphere."

Rikku's gut clenched as she lied to her cousin. "I was fixing the sphere."

"Then what happened?"

Rikku shrugged her shoulders. "I got caught in a blizzard and stayed in O'aka's inn. Then I went to Bevelle to see if I could dig up anything about Vegnagun." At least that much was true.

"You look beat up." Paine joined them in the crossing of the arms.

"Did someone do this to you?!" Brother stuck his neck out at her and she resisted the urge to punch her sibling. She was feeling a little hurt that they were ganging up on her like this and started to pout. Yuna's stern look softened.

"Look, we know you weren't alone..." She tried to approach Rikku from a different angle. Rikku's skin prickled with shame - she'd been caught. "We all just thought that you had run off for a date or something...You looked so excited..." She looked at her silver haired friend for support. Paine rolled her eyes internally, annoyed that she was being used once again as back up. Watching their body language mirror each other she thought they looked more like sisters than cousins. It makes sense, she thought to herself, as she'd grown to feel like one of their sisters too.

"We know you're keeping something from us Rikku, and we're a little hurt." Yuna nodded encouragingly at Paine's words.

"It's that blinky thing you do. You blink like a hundred times a minute." Brother jumped around behind them and teased her, blinking like he'd just been shocked by lightning. Rikku made a mental note to get him back for that later.

She felt like she was getting backed into a corner and looked around for inspiration on how to get out of this without making herself look like an idiot or blowing Auron's cover.

"We could always check the sphere recording I got?" Shinra spun his chair around joining the conversation, his arms also crossed. "We were checking you landed safely and started picking up some strange waves." His muffled voice sounded disapproving through his body suit. "It's a bit fuzzy and the sphere's on it's side but you can definitely make out yours and someone else's boots." Rikku silently cursed Shinra's intelligence and wished at times like these he did what other kids his age do - play blitzball and sleep in for school.

"Well, lets put it on." Said Buddy.

Crunch time. It was now or never for Rikku. After six months on the road together, Yuna would instantly recognise Auron's boots and she had no idea how she would explain away that one so she opened her mouth and blurted the first thing she thought.

"No wait! I uh...was on a date?" Everyone turned in perfect synchronisation to stare at her, waiting for more.

"He uh... just doesn't want anyone to know about us? It's you know...the pressure of being with the Lady Rikku, 'one of the guardian's who defeated Sin'." At this she gave her best hair flick and Rikku-esque giggle hoping it was enough to throw them off. Paine looked at her sceptically but Rikku kept going.

"Being a hero can be a total turn off, you know. It's hard trying to snag a boyfriend." At this Brother buckled with laughter. Rikku took her boot off and threw it squarely at his head.

"Well...she does have a point." Said Buddy, his hand rubbing the back of his head awkwardly whilst he tried to catch Paine's eye.

"And besides," Rikku said earnestly, "I don't want Gippal to find out just yet...he'll just say I'm on the rebound..." Genius. At the mention of Gippal everyone shrugged their shoulders, looked away and returned to their stations. No one wanted to talk to Rikku about Gippal, especially not after the strop she threw when he dumped her a few months ago. She had turned the Celsius and everyone in it into her very own punching bag. The crew had spent weeks walking on egg shells for fear of waking the golden maned beast that had been rejected.

"Anyways...it's time I had a bath!" Rikku turned to leave, taking this opportunity to end the discussion. She skipped away, grinning insanely. Paine subtly watched her go, and when no one was looking, she turned to Shinra.

"The sphere recording. Show me it."

Shinra laughed. "Doctor P. is on the case." he said and flicked on the screen.

Rikku lay back in the bath, wriggling with delight at the warmth lapping at her tired muscles. She could hardly believe she had spent only one night off the ship, she felt like she had been travelling with Auron for weeks. Now that she had a moment to herself her brain kicked in and she started analysing the time they had spent together, her toes curling with longing to see him again.

During the pilgrimage they had barely spoken to each other, and when she felt brave enough to approach him it had usually ended in a short bark from Auron, quickly concluding what they had been talking about, or blown up into a pilgrimage stopping argument about how irritatingly childlike she was for a guardian or how obnoxiously stuck up and mean he was for a guardian. But she had never felt real anger towards him, just the desire to get closer and to know him. He seemed so distant and untouchable to her which, for someone as outgoing and friendly as Rikku, was totally alien to her.

And then there was his looks, his squared fighting stance and the intense brooding in his eyes and shoulders. They were the cause of her confusingly illicit teenage dreams that had left her feeling loose and thirsty come morning.

She reached out from across the bath to her belt that was thrown on the nearby sink and searched about in the pouch for the glowing minisphere. She started rolling it along her knuckles as she had done before meeting him and jumped suddenly when someone knocked on the door, dropping it into the bath with her.

"Rikku, we have to talk."

There was no mistaking the tone in Paine's voice.

"Uhhh...could you give me a minute? I'm almost done!" Rikku scrabbled in the water scooping out bubbles in a desperately comical attempt to find the sphere. She prayed that Auron didn't tune in when the sphere was rolling around her in her bath.

"Sure, I'll be on the deck when you're ready." Rikku shuffled around some more before closing her her hand on the sphere and thrusting her arms in the air for victory, showering the bathroom with floral scented bubbles. Her celebration was short lived as her heart sank to the sound of Paine's boots walking away.

Nothing gets past that girl, she thought to herself as she wrapped a towel around her head.

Auron had reached the Farplane, and he was instantly reminded of where he was supposed to be. It took all his strength just to hold himself together and prevent the pyre flies from breaking him up into energy. Standing on the efflorescent shelf surrounded by luminous waterfalls he felt himself torn. To eternal rest on the Farplane where he would reconnect with those he had lost and faze back into the moving current of spiritual energy, or to Spira, to answers for his questions about life and death, to physical companionship that could be measured by laughter, touch and heat. Had he not relived it for a brief two days, his answer would be simple: Defeat Vegnagun and return to the Farplane. But something that lived inside him had woken and was seeking someone he had done his best to ignore and push away. He should never have sought Rikku's help.

He buried those thoughts as he had always done when it came to Rikku and raised an arm to catch a near by pyre fly. It settled calmly on his outstretched fingers and focusing his energy, he asked for the Fayth to show themselves. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, the voice of a child called out from behind him. He turned to see two spirits, a hooded boy and girl holding hands. He couldn't make out their faces but he knew them instantly.

Sir Auron, Why have you summoned us?

The boy spoke first from beneath his purple hood.

"I seek your help"

How may we help you?

The girls face was turned away from him but her hair shone the colour of a glowing sunset, one he had only ever seen on the shores of Besaid Island.

"I wish to destroy Vegnagun. He is in the Farplane, I must find him."

You lack the power to destroy Vegnagun.

"I must try, for the sake of Spira."

You do not have to save Spira, there are those on that plane with the means to destroy him. High Summoner Yuna and her guardians.

"Those are the people that sacrificed their own hope and happiness for the sake of others to defeat Sin and bring the Eternal Calm. They deserve the chance to live a life without loss and fear of sacrifice, to live life with freedom from duty."

Are you not one of those guardians, Sir Auron? Do you not deserve freedom from duty? Freedom and happiness wait for you on the Farplane.

The girl turned to Auron, her face obscured by the richness of the colour of her hair. She skipped toward him and grasped his hand with hers. He shuddered.

"My duty is to protect Spira, that is my happiness."

Perhaps it is that your happiness exists on Spira, and that is why you cannot find rest on the Farplane without her.

She moved around him, swinging her arms over her head and twirling like a fairy.

"Perhaps." He looked to the floor. How was it the Fayth could see something he could barely understand himself?

We are all linked, Sir Auron.

The boy's voice answered him, weighted like it had lived for a millennia.

"I cannot return to the Farplane. I have too much to learn. And to learn I must save Spira." Auron said, failing to hide his true intentions.

We cannot help you.

The children said in unison.

"But you must know if Vegnagun hides on the Farplane?"

It is not the duty of the dead to save the living.

The children stood firmly together, their eyes glowing.

"How can you say that! After everything we did for you!" Auron felt anger rise in his gut, the same anger that had cost him his life with Lady Yunalesca.

Do not forget where you belong, Sir Auron.

"But without the living there can be no dead!"

That may be so.

And they vanished as quickly as they had appeared. Auron swung his sword through the cascade of a nearby waterfall, the force of the shower echoing his anger and frustration. He paused for a moment, collecting his emotions and cursing himself for ever asking the Fayth for help. He set off further into the spiritual realm, sensing the currents of energy as he went and following them.

He did not expect to come across anyone living.

On a floating meadow further ahead stood two men: an Al Bhed wielding a huge machina gun and a crippled man leaning on a walking stick. Rikku had told him of them: Gippal and Nooj. Auron jumped down to a ridge in the cliff face just below them to observe the vortex they were standing before and to listen to their conversation unseen. It was not, however, about Vegnagun.

"Gippal, I've told you before, I intend to die once this is over."

"How can you say that Nooj!?" Gippal was waving his arms frantically at his friend. Nooj didn't respond.

"I mean, what about Paine, or me, or Baralai!? Once this is over we can go travelling again, it'll be just like old times. You're my friend, I'm not going to just stand there and let you say you want to die, because I know you don't!" Nooj raised an eyebrow.

"And what makes you so sure, Gippal? I shot you all, or did you forget that too?"

"Dude, that was way in the past, and it wasn't even you so shut up." Despite using a walking stick, Nooj was fairly agile. He marched towards his comrade and ripped open his shirt causing Gippal to shriek.

"Look Gippal, look at your scar. Every time I see it I'm reminded of what I've done. You, Baralai and Paine. You all haunt my dreams." He prodded ruthlessly at Gippal chest before turning to walk into the vortex. Gippal grabbed his shoulder stopping him from disappearing.

"Look, once we save Baralai, you can look him in the eye and apologise. Then we'll find Paine and you can get your resolution. Fixing you is on my list of things to do when we're all out of this mess. That and getting back with Rikku." At the mention of her, Auron gripped his sword.

Nooj laughed at him. "You are so one track minded, Gippal. I thought you chucked her for Paine."

"Yeah well, I reckon Baralai is after her."

"Is that so? I always thought he had a thing for High Summoner Yuna?"

"Yeah but come on, I know Baralai's a gentleman with the ladies, but could you imagine dating the girl that brought down Sin? Talk about pressure!" The two men looked at each other and laughed. "Plus she's still crazy about that guy that travelled with her, the blitzballer. I heard Sin got him. Baralai's got no chance." The comrades sat in companionable silence together. Gippal stood up.

"Come on, lets get this thing." He said, pointing at the vortex. "I've got a lot of making up to do before Rikku'll let me anywhere near her again so I better go and make myself look good and destroy Vegnagun... Hey, what was that?" Auron had slammed his katana into the cliff wall, causing some debris to loosen from above and fall on Gippal.

"It seems Vegnagun's presence is making the Farplane unstable." Said Nooj. "Lets go."

Auron waited before following them in, giving himself time to sneak in unseen and also to stop himself from teaching them a lesson of respect. But there was something else he had to contend with for the first time in his existence: pure, unadulterated jealousy.