17: Cold Hard Truth

Rikku sighed into her palm and watched the heavy stone door with half-lidded eyes. The silence was oppressive; she yawned loudly just to hear herself break it. Things were much the same as they had been in Bevelle's Chamber of the Fayth - Braska, secluded in the inner sanctum, was taking a long time. The rest of his entourage waited outside - bored out of their minds, Rikku added to herself. The hush of the temple put a damper on light conversation.

Auron weathered the wait with his usual stoic resolve; he could have passed for one of the statues, standing in the corner with his arms crossed and a solemn expression on his face. Jecht, on the other hand, sprawled lazily across the steps.

Rikku, for her part, waited a good distance away from the entrance to the inner sanctum, unwilling to subject herself to another seizure. She was sure something bad would happen if she tried to force her way into the summoning altar. The heavy feeling of being observed had returned when the door first opened, causing her to tense with anticipation. But she kept herself still, and as Braska passed through, the stone door had shut behind him without incident.

I just didn't want to end up convulsing at Auron's feet again while foaming at the mouth. That's why I didn't try finding a way in with Braska. Rikku tried to will away the small, inner voice that argued against her rationalization. It's not that I want to stay with these guys. Really.

Her conscience sounded suspiciously like one of Paine's exasperated sighs.

Head buzzing from her mental argument, Rikku pushed herself off the wall. I need a distraction. Digging through her pouch, she seated herself on the floor and pulled out an empty recording sphere, fiddling with the controls.

"Rikkma," Auron said as he watched her. "Braska is communing with the Fayth as we speak. You shouldn't -"

"Oh, stuff it," Rikku answered. "You know I don't believe in any of those hokey-pokey machina superstitions. How many times have you been recorded already, Auron? Looks like your soul's still here to me," she added, switching the sphere on and purposefully focusing on him. Auron flinched, but to his credit but didn't move out of the way. The sour expression he directed at her, however, made clear what he thought of both her recording and her behavior. With a twinge of guilt, Rikku turned the sphere around and aimed it at herself instead.

"Fine, I'm more fun to look at than you anyway." She winked at the glowing orb. Spheres are strange, she thought, studying the bubbling blue liquid it contained. Though filled with Macalania's purest water, they didn't ever reflect images, instead absorbing them for later viewing when properly charged. In a way, they could be seen as a rather vampiric devices - not that she was going to tell Auron that anytime soon, though. Fisting her palm against her chin, Rikku stared back into the depthless blue glow and quirked an eyebrow. "I wonder what I should do with you, huh? Keep a diary of our Pilgrimage?" Thinking about it for only a moment, Rikku shook her head. "No way. Those kinds of things always come back to bite you in the butt later on!"

"Why don't you use it to film me instead?" Jecht pushed himself off of the steps and sauntered over, feeling bored enough to bother her. "I'm a superstar! I'm used to all that attention!" He struck a pose, and Rikku giggled while rolling her eyes.

"Just for that I'm not going to record you at all," she said, keeping the sphere trained on her face and sticking out her tongue.

"But I'm bored!" Jecht whined as he crossed his arms. "Braska's takin' forever an' I don't even have a blitzball to keep me company here!"

"Thank Yevon," Auron muttered under his breath.

Rikku frowned as she watched Jecht pace. He did seem rather jumpy; on a good day, Jecht was hyperactive anyway. But she'd noticed him getting more twitchy, for lack of a better word, the longer they waited. He wasn't so restless when they were on the move, but here in the temple with nothing but silence and your own thoughts to occupy the time, it stood out all the more.

Placing the sphere on the floor, Rikku reached over and poked Jecht's ankle to draw his attention. She drew back in surprise when he spun around and glared at her. Whoa, nervous much? "Hey, are you okay?" she asked under her breath.

Rikku made sure that Auron wasn't watching them. Fortunately, he'd gone back to ignoring Jecht the moment the whining began. Rikku figured he was meditating with his eyes open, or some other warrior monk junk. Whatever he was doing, it worked effectively to block out any and everything that had to do with Jecht. Now, however, she questioned the wisdom of Auron's strategy, as a twinge of concern struck her. She suspected she knew the source of Jecht's problem, but it would've been easier to deal with if Auron showed even the barest flicker of interest.

"Just restless," Jecht finally answered her. He ran a hand over his face and then sent a look of envy towards Auron... or more accurately, Auron's jug. "Sure could use a drink right now, though," he added as an afterthought. "You think he'd loan me some of that stuff if I asked nice?"

"Loan?" Rikku sputtered. "What, like you'd give it back when you were done? How'd you plan on doing that, by yakking all over him?"

"Well, it'd be more interestin' than sitting around here on my thumbs," Jecht growled at her. Then he sighed. "Sorry. Just... all this hurryin' up to do nothin'... it gets to me sometimes."

Rikku kept silent, her brow furrowing. It wasn't the lack of activity that had Jecht tied up in knots - it was the lack of alcohol. She remembered the vague stories Tidus used to tell during the times he tried so hard to convince them - and himself - that he hated his father. There had to have been a grain of truth in them, for all of Tidus' theatrics.

Watching Jecht's nervous pacing, she wondered just how much he usually drank. Well, it doesn't concern me, Rikku thought. If I play my cards right, I won't even have the time to deal with Jecht's drinking problem. Still, she felt a pang of sympathy for his plight and decided to try to help by distracting him.

"Hey, why don't you join me down here?" Rikku offered, pulling a few coins out of their near-empty purse. "We can pass the time together. I'll teach you how to play Sphere Break!"

"Sphere Break? That some kinda game?"

"Uh-huh," Rikku said, laying out the coins in the appropriate pattern. She smirked; maybe it was unfair to challenge Jecht, a complete stranger to the game. She had won that embarrassing dressphere off of Shinra, reigning Sphere Break Champion, after all. "Sit down and I'll tell you all about it," she said with a twinkle in her eye.

It took more than a few tries to explain the rather complex set of rules. It wasn't made easier by the lack of "prizes" to offer for winning, something Jecht complained about loudly enough to garner even Auron's attention.

"What's the point of playin' if you don't win anything?" Jecht asked.

"It's supposed to be fun," Rikku shot back.

"Keep the noise down," Auron grunted with a long-suffering sigh. His eyes passed over the coins scattered across the ground with a look of distaste. "Sometimes I wonder why I even try."

"Then stop wondering and come play with us!" Rikku pouted.

"Or just stop tryin', you know we won't listen to you anyway," Jecht added.

Auron huffed, resuming his purposeful disinterest in their existence.

"Come on, Jecht. I can't play Sphere Break by myself! You're bored, I'm bored, what else are we gonna do here anyway?"

"Look, Blondie," Jecht replied, gesturing at the coins in the sample game Rikku had created, "if I understand the rules, part of the fun is thinkin' up a way to get all those extra prizes if you play your coins right. So you can't really play without a prize, see?"

Rikku sighed. He had a point, she was loathe to admit. "But I don't have anything to give you!"

"Huh," Jecht said, a sly smile spreading over his face. "I think you do. How 'bout this..." He pointed at one of the coins and leaned in towards her, lowering his voice. "This one's your lucky coin, you don't have to do anything if I get it. But..." And here, Jecht's hand hovered over the adjoining coin. "Ten of these lands me a smooch." He continued gleefully as Rikku's mouth dropped open in protest. "Ten of those other ones makes Braska the lucky guy. And..." Rikku dropped her head into her hand, already knowing what Jecht was going to say and feeling the flush of embarrassment creeping over her face. "Eighteen of these makes Big Red over there smile."

Rikku's head shot up. "Why does Auron get eighteen?" she squawked, and then flushed even more as Auron swung around to stare at them suspiciously.

Jecht laughed. " 'Cause he likes playin' hard to get!"

Auron raised a questioning eyebrow at her, and Rikku shook her head and pointed at Jecht in the hopes that it would suffice as an explanation. That seemed to work, as Auron grunted in exasperation and resumed his aloof meditation.

Relieved, Rikku put her hands on her cheeks and willed her blush to die down. It wasn't so much that she was embarrassed about the "prizes" Jecht had selected - more about her own reaction if he won some of them. But still...

"Eighteen?" she hissed furiously, narrowing her eyes at Jecht, who gave her a knowing smirk. At this rate, she might as well have a sign tattooed to her forehead that read "RIKKU LOVES AURON." Jecht and his stupid mind games! Weighing her options, Rikku gave in. After all, it was a toss-up: morose introspection while watching Jecht go through withdrawal, or having a chance to kiss Auron and blame the whole thing on Jecht later on. Glowering, she gave him a quick, guilty nod of agreement. "You'd better be damn good at math!" she warned, spreading the coins out before him. "Now solve this one in sixty seconds starting right now!"

Fifteen minutes later, Rikku had learned a couple of things about Jecht. The first was that he was terrible at math. The second was that despite this shortcoming, he was excellent at strategy on the fly - the mark of any good blitzball player, she figured. She was still two coins away from earning the responsibility - you mean the chance, her inner voice cheered - to kiss Auron. Due to Jecht's incompetence she already owed Braska one kiss, and was four perilous steps away from having to actually kiss Jecht himself. The last, however, might have been attributed more to his own perverse sense of humor rather than his mediocre mastery of Sphere Break.

Auron, for his part, was still blissfully unaware of his prize status, which was probably a good thing. Sphere Break wasn't a quiet game, at least it not when Jecht and Rikku played it. They both had a tendency to be boisterous, and when things got too loud Auron's glare would materialize, sometimes accompanied by the conspicuous clearing of his throat. After one too many arguments over the results, Auron pushed off from the wall and approached them with an air of barely-restrained annoyance.

"You both should know better than to gamble in a temple," he told them. "Even if you don't believe in Yevon, the least you could do is show the proper respect here." He scowled at the forgotten sphere that was nestled on the ground, eying its soft blue glow. "And turn that blasted thing off!"

"Oopsie!" Rikku reached for the sphere and deactivated it. This earned her another snort of disapproval, and she rolled her eyes at a smirking Jecht. "For your information, Auron," she said, "we're not gambling. We're just using the coins to play a game, not trading them." Auron didn't look convinced, so she shrugged. "Hey, it could be worse. We could be playing poker instead."

Jecht snorted. "Naw, that wouldn't happen. If ya want a real game of poker, you'd have a stiff drink and some fine lookin' women at your table, and as you can see, we're sorely lackin' in both." He grinned at Rikku and gave her a wink.

Rikku threw daggers with her eyes towards Jecht. "You know, I'm feeling a sudden need to practice my Gil Toss," she growled, gathering the coins into her hand. The quiet sound of rumbling cut off her threat before any bodily harm could be inflicted, and all eyes turned towards the stairs.

The stone door to the inner sanctum lifted. Rikku held her breath; after a few moments, Braska emerged from the darkness, his face damp with sweat. The fortitude potion she'd dosed him with had long since worn off, and he looked weaker than ever. As much as they helped in times of need, crashing from a mix high tended to be ugly - there was a reason the human body could only push itself so far, after all.

"I did it," he managed to say with a proud smile, stepping forward. And then he tripped, and everyone was scrambling to catch him.

Rikku, being the fastest of the group, made it to him first. She was, in fact, quick enough to catch a glimpse of the inner sanctum. There before her was the chance she'd been waiting for. She could slip through if she dove right now; nothing was stopping her. And then there was Braska, on the verge of losing consciousness, falling.

Afterwards, Rikku questioned her actions - why she didn't think clearly and take the chance that presented itself. But in the heat of the moment, there didn't seem to be much of a choice at all. She was Braska's Guardian - she was there to protect him, not herself. The air left her lungs in a gasp as Braska's body knocked into her open arms. For someone with a willowy build, he sure was heavy.

"Help!" Rikku wheezed as she fell backwards over the steps with Braska in tow.

"Whoa there, I gotcha," Jecht said as he caught them both and righted her carefully. Auron was there to ease Braska out of her grasp, slinging the other man's arm over his shoulder.

"My lord!" he said with concern as Braska blinked and looked around. "You should rest -"

"No!" Braska said, pushing himself away from Auron and wavering on his feet before regaining his balance. "No, I'm fine," he added in a more subdued tone. "I'm just... a little tired. Let's return to the main chamber. I wish to summon."

"Now?" Auron repeated with a note of concern. "Do you think that's wise in your condition?"

Braska shook Auron's arm off and gripped his staff. "I have only one condition, Auron, and that is my status as a Summoner. If I cannot perform my duty, then we should abandon this Pilgrimage here and now." He let out a shaky breath when he was done, and the room fell silent.

It was strange to see Auron expressing so much concern for Braska's welfare, when Auron was usually the one who drove the group to its limits. Rikku was starting to understand where his older incarnation's attitude had come from, though.

For all of Braska's gentle mannerisms, there was something hard and flinty underneath his kind smile; the same stubborn determination that pushed him to march out of the chamber on his own two feet, rather than relying on the help of his Guardians. He stopped to lean on his staff, and Auron's mouth thinned in silent disapproval, though he made no move to assist the other man.

Jecht was also watching the display with mild interest. " 'ey, Braska. You're tough, we get it. But even the best blitzers get winded sometimes. No shame in lettin' Auron over there help out, right?"

Braska stiffened, but didn't turn around - either from pride, or more simple exhaustion. "It is not a matter of shame, Jecht." With that, he resumed his sedate pace towards the temple proper.

Auron frowned and trailed after the summoner, and Jecht let out a loud sigh. Then he glanced at Rikku speculatively.

"Oh no," Rikku said, shaking her head as she scooped the remains of their scattered Sphere Break game into her pouch. "What makes you think I could do any better at convincing Braska that he needs help than Auron? They're like best friends already!"

"Auron don't have boobs," Jecht replied, and Rikku rolled her eyes.

"Jecht, not every man's world revolves around ogling women," she snapped.

"Maybe so. But you don't got a choice, Rikkma," he drawled in response, folding his arms. "I won Braska a kiss, didn't I? So you have to do it. And I say you do it right now."

Rikku's mouth flapped open and closed for a few moments, but Jecht's somber expression remained fixed. "B-but... but... I'm not going to kiss Braska right in front of Auron! Are you trying to help me out here or shoot my non-relationship in the foot before it even starts?"

Jecht sighed. "Listen, I can handle Auron. I'll tell him about our game. Either he'll understand, or he'll be too busy beatin' the crap outta me to notice you lockin' lips with Braska."

Rikku closed her eyes and rubbed the crease that was forming on her forehead. "Jecht! That's not the point!" She glared at him and spoke very slowly, just in case his ears were as stuffed as his head seemed to be. "I. Do not. Want to kiss. Braska."

"Oh, 'cause you look like his wife, right?" Jecht drawled.

Rikku's flush deepened. "It's not that! Well, it is, kinda, but not how you think!" She smacked her palm into her forehead and groaned. "Why am I even having this conversation with you, Jecht? I'm not going to kiss Braska right now!"

Jecht stalked after the others, for once trying to keep his voice moderated as they caught up to Braska and Auron. "I didn't say you have to kiss him full on the lips. All you gotta do is go up there and help him out."

"He doesn't want to be helped," Rikku replied. If a tired Braska was anything like a tired Yuna on a bad day, she didn't want to be caught in the crossfire. "If you like the idea so much, go on up there and kiss him yourself!"

Jecht snorted. "Fine. You wanna play it hard, we can play it hard. If you don't go up there and talk Braska outta his fool idea, then you do have to kiss him. On the lips, with yer tongue, in front of your boyfriend, right now. Or I'll tell Braska all 'bout how you tried to blow him up earlier."

Rikku blinked. "Wait. Blow him up? When did I ever try to blow Braska...?" she trailed off, already regretting her word choice in the face of Jecht's guffaws. For the second time she felt herself gaping like a fish out of water. "That's- that's blackmail!" she yelped, and gave Jecht a deadly glare to which he only grinned in reply.

"Stop him from summonin', or kiss him. Your choice."

"Some choice," Rikku said under her breath as she darted past him. She winced as she brushed past Auron. He's not gonna like this one bit.

"Rikkma?" Auron asked. "Lord Braska doesn't wish to be bothered right now, as I'm sure you heard." He peered at her. "By that look on your face I can tell that you're planning something. Whatever it is, don't."

"Umm... no can do," Rikku answered. Jecht coughed behind her. "If anything... weird... happens, it's all Jecht's fault. So don't get mad, okay?"

"Weird?" Auron repeated, but Rikku ignored him and continued until she was abreast of Braska. She threw herself in front of him and walked backwards, trying to catch his eye.

"Rikkma. As much as I appreciate your carefree spirit, this isn't the best time for your games," Braska told her. "Please step aside."

"I'm not playing a game," Rikku replied. She watched him trip over some icy rubble strewn across the floor, and made up her mind. Maybe Jecht was right... Braska's being more stubborn than an angry chocobo. She situated herself at Braska's side, mirroring the position Auron had attempted to take earlier and looping one of his arms over her shoulders. "I'm going to drag you straight to a bed whether you like it or not."

Braska tensed beside her, but didn't pull away immediately. "As tempting as that offer sounds, Rikkma, I am afraid I must refuse. Besides... do you not wish to see the new aeon as well?"

Rikku rolled her eyes. Been there, done that seemed like the wrong answer to give. Instead, she settled for an exaggerated sigh. "So it's all about showing off, huh? Well, mister hot-shot, I think you've been hanging around Jecht too long. You don't have to prove anything to us, you know. You're a Summoner already, for cripe's sake! Take it slow! You don't have to save the world in one day."

Braska chuckled. "I thought you would be pleased to see the creator of Macalania's forests," he said. "I can feel her presence in my mind. She is very beautiful, I am certain of it."

"I bet," Rikku mumbled uncomfortably. Pausing, she separated herself from Braska long enough to push open the heavy double doors that sealed the entrance of the Cloister off from the main hall. As she made her way back, she caught Auron's eye. Was he going to be jealous? Was there even anything for him to be jealous of, after that conversation they had in the Cloister of Trials? The nervous butterflies in her stomach died down as Auron gave her an imperceptible nod of approval, and she propped Braska against her side once more.

"I see my Guardians are conspiring against me," Braska noted, allowing himself to be led out. "While I am pleased to see the three of you working together so well, I wish it was not at my expense."

Rikku clucked her tongue in annoyance. "We're not conspiring against you. We're guarding you, since you aren't guarding yourself." She tugged him towards one of the adjacent resting rooms, prepared especially for the visiting summoner parties, but stopped when she felt Braska lean away from her.

"Tell me... why did you think you would have any more success at dissuading me than Auron?" Braska asked.

"Because I'm a girl?" Rikku hedged, trying to tug him towards the chamber once more. Jecht is so dead, she thought to herself.

Auron stepped into view, "Is there a problem?"

"None," Braska replied blandly, extracting his arm from Rikku's iron grip with a brief look of warning. "I just need a moment to gather myself before I summon."

"Really, now?" Jecht's voice was a little too loud, breaking the hushed silence of the temple as he strolled towards them. "And here I thought you were gonna take a break." He grinned toothily at Rikku, who cringed.

"Braska -" she mumbled. To her surprise, he turned towards her with a look of weary understanding.

"Rikkma, I truly appreciate the concern you and the others are showing for my well-being. But I am not doing this to show off. I must summon this aeon . I must prove that I am strong enough to defeat Sin for myself." He gave her a faint smile. "It is a test, and the duty of every Summoner. I cannot back away, and I cannot fail."

Rikku sighed and dropped her head. She knew the look in his eyes; no matter what Jecht thought she could do, nothing was going to stop Braska. Nothing short of his own death, if that was what it took. "... do you want another potion?" she asked.

"I must succeed on my own," he answered, holding out his staff. "Please, tell the others to get back."

Rikku worried her lip. "Aren't you scared that you'll hurt yourself?" she tried one last time.

Braska tilted his head, one of his trademark half-smiles gracing his features. He looked fragile in that moment, more like a life-sized porcelain doll rather than a man. But his voice was steady when he spoke.

"Of course I am worried. Believe me, it is not a lack of fear that drives me to do this now. But there are things which I believe in that are greater than the sum of my own fears. Things that we all must believe in. A world of peace. A world free of Sin. Such a world, brought forth by the Summoner's sacrifice." He gave her a measured look. "I know you understand, Rikkma."

She knew a lost cause when she heard one. With a slight nod, she moved away from Braska, giving him the space he would need to dance. So stubborn, she thought to herself. Then, hesitating, she darted forward. "Wait! At least let me give you this," she said. Ignoring Braska's surprised expression, she leaned in and planted a gentle kiss on his cheek. "For luck," she explained as he stared.

After a moment of hesitation, he returned her smile and gave her a slight nod. "Thank you."

Rikku turned away from him and jogged over to Auron and Jecht, motioning them to move back. "I couldn't stop him," she explained. "He's still going to summon her." Her shoulders drooped. "I'm sorry," she mumbled to them under her breath.

"I can't believe you really did it! You kissed him!" Jecht exclaimed. "Oww!" he added when Rikku punched him in the arm.

Auron's expression was closed; he was in his Ignore Jecht mode again, eyes trained on Braska.

"You and your stupid bets," Rikku mumbled, turning around to watch the show.

Braska had already begun the summoning dance; if his steps were a little slower than usual, or his movements less graceful, no one commented on it. Indeed, there was nothing to be said as the swirl of magic surrounded him, spiralling around the staff in his hand and lifting upwards in a spray of color. The tinkling of crystal became louder; the first few shards of ice fell from the ceiling. Massive chunks of it exploded out of the floor, and then silence reigned as the silvery, almost-liquid form of the aeon descended from above.

"Whoa," Jecht breathed, his eyes wide as Shiva formed, blasting away her prison of ice with an air of haughty disregard. Even Auron seemed speechless for the moment, enraptured by the large aeon's beauty.

Rikku drank in the sight of the much-missed aeon. Shiva had always reminded her very much of Lulu - besides the obvious parallel of being ridiculously stacked, both were also calm, cool and put together - what was, in Rikku's mind, the perfect ideal of feminine beauty. She let out a tiny sigh of content, then stiffened as the summon turned to regard the source of the disturbance in the otherwise silent temple. More correctly, to regard her.

Rikku couldn't notice anything but the aeon as she stared at her, Shiva's delicate features giving her look an eerily almost-human quality. The gaze sent a chilled jolt through Rikku's body and she wrapped her arms around herself. No - Shiva wasn't anything like Lulu, Rikku amended. Lulu, for her frosty exterior, still had compassion and feelings for others, the basics of what made a person human. Shiva was, all puns aside, much more transparent. She was the incarnation of ruthlessness, the remains of a consciousness that had shed every last ounce of humanity in order to transform herself into the perfect machine.

As if she could hear Rikku's thoughts, Shiva smirked. Her eyes remained cold and unforgiving, her gaze unblinking. You do not belong here, the aeon seemed to say, though she didn't appear to be surprised.

Suddenly, Rikku knew. She knew with a terrifying, absolute certainty, that this was how it would be for the rest of the Pilgrimage. No amount of planning, of clawing or scraping to gain access to the inner sanctum of a temple would change her situation. Shiva tilted her head as if satisfied, and with a toss of one thick braid, leapt away, disintegrating into graceful swirls of pyreflies. Rikku didn't notice, her throat dry and her eyes wide.

They won't help you. You chose this, her inner voice supplied in the face of her mute shock.

Give up, her thoughts whispered traitorously. Forget the Rikku you were, and become the Rikkma of this era. There's no going back anyway. The small whimper stuck in Rikku's throat. She was here, in this past, unstuck in time forever or until she died - which would happen pretty soon, if Braska completed his Pilgrimage as he said he would. It'd be easier to forget anyway... to pretend that this is your second chance, your time to be with Auron. Just let go, isn't that what Auron himself told you to do?

Rikku clenched her fists at her side. Give up? Just like that? She shook her head, breaking out of the trance she had been thrust into on seeing ice maiden. So what if Ixion or Ifrit wouldn't help her? Heck, if she paid Yojimbo enough money he'd probably open the gates of time for her personally. And if that wasn't an option, there was always Valefor. Yeah, Valefor, Rikku thought to herself with an increasing amount of hope. Valefor was gentler than any of the other summons she had ever remembered meeting; the aeon had shared a unique bond with Yuna, and it had even comforted Tidus during his time of need. If there was Fayth that could possibly be called compassionate, it would have to be the winged wonder of Besaid.

With that bit of rationalization, Rikku's sudden wave of panic subsided. She stubbornly refused to think of what would happen if her plan didn't work - she couldn't abandon hope. My story is not going to end in the past! Another thought struck her, and Rikku stifled a groan. Wait a second - Besaid is all the way on the other side of the world! Valefor is going to be the last aeon Braska picks up on this trip! "Great," she breathed aloud.

"That's the understatement of the year," Jecht piped in, recovering from his own shock. "Why didn'tcha tell me those aeons could be babes? That thing had legs all the way up to her neck!" He let out a low, appreciative whistle, and both Auron and Rikku winced.

"Don't be disgusting, Jecht." Rikku growled. "Shiva isn't even human!"

"She got it where it counts," Jecht replied with a lecherous grin. Ignoring the incredulous stares of his companions, he sauntered towards Braska. "Hey man, nice job! You look beat. I think you earned a rest, huh?"

"Indeed," Braska replied, this time leaning easily into the proffered arm. "Thank you - all of you - for fulfilling your own duties, so that I could fulfill mine." His eyes lingered on Rikku, and with a sinking feeling, she wondered if the impulsive kiss she had given him had been a mistake. A quick glance over her shoulder at Auron stilled those fears, even as a new set was raised.

Auron, too, was looking at her, and she realized with a jolt that he had seen. He'd seen Shiva staring right at her! She opened her mouth, scrabbling for an explanation, and then closed it as she caught sight of Braska.

He was dead on his feet, the last of his strength robbed by the summoning, and an unfamiliar feeling surged through her and quashed her uneasiness. Whatever it was that passed between Shiva and herself had to wait; Braska needed her help now. Some things were just more important. "Things which I believe in that are greater than the sum of my fears," Braska had told her.

I'm not going home, not anytime soon. I'm a Guardian again. She straightened her shoulders and smiled at Braska. Auron's questions had to wait - they had a job to do first, and a few frosty looks from an aeon wouldn't change that.

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