10: She Knew No Sin
"She feared no danger, for she knew no sin." - John Dryden
Rikku shaded her eyes with her hand and looked back at the receding skyline of the city. "Finally," she breathed, letting a small smile of relief stretch over her face. They were leaving Bevelle at last, and the pent-up tension she'd harbored ebbed away with each step.
"Wow!" Yuna's gasp was accompanied by a pointing finger. "Is that Macalania Forest?" She tugged at one of the long strips of cloth that hung from Braska's helmet.
"Yes, it is." Braska grinned with a knowing look at the hopeful expression that crossed his daughter's face. "And no, you can't come with me there. The forest is full of dangerous fiends, it wouldn't be safe."
"But… !" Yuna said stubbornly.
Braska shook his head and bent over, depositing Yuna back onto the ground. "No," he repeated. "You have to leave with Beatrix now. It's time." He reached out and brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face.
"I don't want to go," Yuna whispered, her eyes bright.
Braska kneeled and cupped her small chin in his hand, his gaze never leaving her face. "Beatrix," he called out.
"My lord," the woman replied, pulling the unresisting girl away from her father.
Yuna shook herself free, but didn't try to retrace her steps. Instead, she squeezed her eyes shut and lifted her chin. "I'm not sad," she stated proudly. "My father's going be the hero of Spira, so I won't cry."
Braska smiled. "That's my girl." Rising to his feet, he turned to Auron. "I'm ready. Look after Jecht, please."
Yuna's face lit up at Braska's words, and Beatrix pulled the little girl even further away. Rikku watched Braska hoist his staff, and with a small "Oh!" of realization, scooted away from him as well. Auron approached Jecht, who was the only person not clearing a wide berth around the Summoner.
"Where's everyone goin'?" Jecht asked, scratching his head. Auron merely turned him around and shoved him towards Rikku. " 'ey, what's the big idea?"
"Father's going to summon!" Yuna told him, her eyes wide with anticipation.
"Summon?" Jecht asked, looking up from the little girl with the obvious question plastered across his face.
Rikku pointed at Braska. "You'll see. Just keep quiet and watch!"
Braska was poised, motionless but for the breeze which tugged at his clothes. Then, taking a deep breath, he began to dance. Rikku inhaled sharply; the Summoner's dance was impressive no matter who performed it. It was something she never thought she'd see again, the staff twirling and dipping as he spun around, robes flying in the unnatural wind that rose around him.
"What the hell…" she heard Jecht gasp as the sky darkened; the clouds roiled, pulled into a whirlwind that echoed Braska's movements. A distant roar sounded, and then the heavens lit with energy and color, spinning runes exploding overhead. He burst through the clouds, a blur of black sinew and golden claws, massive wings outstretched.
Bahamut the Wise, Lord of Lords, ruler supreme of all summons appeared before them, fully vested with all of his terrible, awe-inspiring glory. The dragon swooped from the sky, landing with a crash and sending clods of earth flying. Slowly he straightened and crossed his arms, his glowing eyes peering down at the Summoner as if to judge him.
Braska was frozen, his staff still outstretched. His eyes were distant and unfocused; he'd fallen into a Summoner's Rapture. It was a personal bond created between a Summoner and his aeon; a sharing of minds and senses that allowed Braska to control Bahamut's actions with finesse, at the cost of the control over his own body. It was also the primary reason a Summoner required Guardians for protection. Rikku never thought she would see that again in her lifetime, either.
"Where the hell did that thing come from?" Jecht asked, his eyes still fixed on the huge dragon. Rikku looked away long enough to see the his hands extended, fingers forming a small box through which he was studying the aeon. Then she choked and grabbed his wrists, slapping them out of the form.
"Are you nuts?" she hissed, though not quietly enough. Auron shot them both an annoyed glance and then blanched.
"What's the big deal? I just wanted to see what it was…" Jecht trailed off as the remnants of the Scan spell dissipated into the air.
"He cast at Lord Braska's aeon?" Auron ground out, turning to face the huge dragon and resting a hand on the hilt of his sword. To Rikku's dismay, Bahamut also noticed them, rumbling ominously.
"Jecht! If Bahamut doesn't kill us, I'm going to murder you!" Rikku squeaked, reaching for her own daggers. Quailing, she turned to Beatrix and tried to push her away. "Get Yunie out of here, now!" Not that it would help, she thought, considering the scope Bahamut's Mega-Flare could encompass.
"No," Yuna said, twisting out of Beatrix's tight grasp and standing her ground. "I'm not scared. That's father's dragon, he won't hurt us."
Bahamut lumbered towards them; the ground shuddered under his clawed feet, and everyone except Yuna stepped backward. He dropped to one knee before them and snorted, sending out blast of warm air that blew Yuna's bangs away from her face.
Then, wide-eyed, Rikku watched as the little girl reached for Bahamut's snout. He bent lower and let her tiny hand scrabble over his muzzle, emitting a noise that sounded suspiciously like a purr. Yuna giggled and redoubled her efforts, unphased by the rows of razor-sharp teeth that were centimeters away from her fingers.
"He seems to like you, Yunie!" Rikku said, wondering why she was even surprised.
"This is why we visit the temples," Auron told Jecht, recovering some of his composure. "A Summoner prays to the Fayth so he can call on their power in the form of an aeon."
"So… every Summoner can do this?" Jecht asked, still eyeing Bahamut's imposing figure with trepidation.
"The primary duty of a Summoner is to collect aeons during their Pilgrimage," Auron said, relaxing when the huge dragon stepped away from Yuna. "After Lord Braska has visited each temple, we will journey to Zanarkand for the Final Aeon and use it to defeat Sin."
"You mean they get even bigger?" Jecht gaped at Bahamut, who barely acknowledged their presence. "When I see that thing, I think you guys might actually have a chance." Then he grinned and cupped his hands over his mouth. "Glad you're on our side, buddy!" Bahamut tilted his head and didn't move. Jecht frowned and dropped his arms, looking annoyed. "Hey ugly, can you even hear me?"
Yuna giggled and Auron groaned. "A Summoner controls his aeon, Jecht. Bahamut will only respond if Lord Braska allows it."
"Let's hope he doesn't," Rikku piped in, nudging Jecht not-so-gently in the ribs. "I wouldn't go around calling things with that many sharp pointies on it ugly if I were you!"
"What, you scared?" Jecht laughed at her, and Rikku glowered.
"Yeah, right!" she shot back. Just to prove her point, she leaned forward, facing the dragon. "Maybe you look mean, but you don't scare me at all!" she shouted. "You're just a big soft mushball inside, aren't you?"
To everyone's surprise, Bahamut's head turned and his beady eyes glinted as they focused on Rikku.
"Oh, heh heh, I didn't mean it like that!" she laughed nervously. And then she fell quiet, meeting the aeon's piercing gaze. The sound and color of the surrounding world dulled and time slowed, though Bahamut remained as vivid and imposing as ever. This wasn't about her joke, she realized. "Why?" she asked. "Why did you bring me here?" she repeated, rancor giving her question strength.
Bahamut stared mutely; aeons couldn't speak, and the Fayth only appeared when they chose to. Even so, she could see the answer in his hard, unforgiving gaze. This is what you wanted. Rikku squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them again, the others were looking at her.
"You gonna have another one of them -" Jecht asked her, and Rikku jumped.
"No!" she yelled, angrier than she realized. Jecht jerked away from her in surprise. She took a deep breath and glared at Bahamut, suddenly infuriated by his presence. The dragon stood before them, impassive, but she knew better than to think he didn't notice her. No, he was purposefully ignoring her, and that was completely different. "That thing doesn't scare me at all," she ground out, clenching her teeth. "He can stand there and look as mean as he wants for all I care. It's not like he has enough power to defeat Sin anyway!"
"Rikkma!" Auron said sharply, and Rikku spared Yuna a guilty glance.
The little girl stared back at her. "That's why my father needs the Final Aeon," Yuna pronounced, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. They turned their attention back to the aeon as he rumbled.
With a rush of wind Bahamut leapt away from them, scattering into a myriad of pyreflies that dissipated into the clouds.
Braska straightened, rubbing his forehead. "That… was interesting," he said, looking surprised. Seeing the others around him, he refocused.
Yuna turned and smiled at her father, and Rikku dropped her head in shame. Everyone except Jecht knew what obtaining the Final Aeon really meant, and still Yuna smiled. Then she drew her hands together and performed a perfect bow. "Thank you, father."
Braska's face contorted, but he smoothed his expression and returned Yuna's bow just as deeply. "Auron, Jecht, Rikkma. Let us begin our journey."
And with that Braska was walking away, Jecht and Auron trailing after him towards the distant crystalline forest. Rikku hesitated before following after them, glancing back one last time at Yuna. She was cradled in the embrace of the older woman, but standing on her own, her unwavering eyes fixed onto her father's back. All traces of the little girl's smile were gone. She looked older; Rikku clearly saw the Yuna she knew shining through the youthful chubbiness in her young face. It was in her eyes; they were changing with each step Braska took. Unable to watch the transformation complete itself, Rikku whirled around and sprinted after the others as her throat clenched shut.
.x.x.x.
The small crystals which jutted out of the sandy ground with increasing frequency looked beautiful, but made the path leading into the forest a treacherous one to navigate. Though the glittering formations were delicate, they were also pointed and razor-sharp. Rikku wondered how Jecht managed to do it with bare feet; playing all that Blitzball must have given him soles tougher than a behemoth's hide. Braska was picking his way between the delicate, jagged crystals, and Auron, true to his nature, simply crashed through them, crushing the ones that got in his way under the heavy heel of his boots.
Rikku followed in the wake of the messy path Auron cleared; she didn't bother to chide him for the destruction he was causing because she knew the forest would regenerate in a few days, more dense than ever before. It made her happy to know that the forest itself was growing - still fed and renewed by Shiva's dreams. While she didn't miss Sin's presence in Spira at all, some of the sacrifices they had made to destroy it still hurt, and the gradual disappearance of Macalania was one of them.
The glittering forest was indeed growing thicker as they travelled towards its center; the twisting, reflective tree trunks closed around them, surrounding them with a quiet, chilled beauty.
"I never saw a tree made outta crystal before," Jecht said, catching her attention. She looked up to see him rapping a knuckle against one of the trunks, filling the air with a melodious ring.
Rikku smiled and jogged over to him. "They're not really trees," she explained, flicking a fingernail against the hard trunk. "They just look like them."
"Don't get distracted," Auron called out over his shoulder. "The heart of the forest is infested with powerful fiends. We need to get through here as quickly as possible."
"I see no problem with a short break." Braska stopped and made his way back towards Rikku and Jecht, prompting an exasperated sigh from Auron. Silently, Rikku cheered. His greetings were the first words he had spoken since he left Yuna's side; the depressing silence had been almost deafening. "Come now, Auron, it is not every day that we get to see a sight like this."
"You mean this ain't normal here either?" Jecht asked, clearing away a small patch of ground before seating himself against the tree.
"Travellers rarely journey through Macalania Forest," Braska told them, leaning on his staff. "A Summoner's Pilgrimage is by nature a reflective journey; that is why we must travel the Pilgrimage Road by foot. Most long distance travel in Spira, however, is conducted by sea when possible. It is truly a rare privilege to be able to be here at all."
Auron, who had pulled up next to them, shrugged off his sword and leaned it against the tree, his disapproving scowl still obvious. "The reason no one travels through here are the fiends," he reminded them pointedly.
"Will ya just relax for once?" Jecht groaned. "We ain't seen a single fiend since we started anyway!"
"Yes," Braska said, staring off into the forest with a troubled look. "That is odd."
"You mean lucky," Jecht insisted with a careless smile. Then he looked at Rikku. "Say, whadda ya mean this ain't a real forest?"
"Huh?" Rikku asked. She'd pulled herself up onto one of the larger trunks and was slouched on a high outcrop, swinging her feet as she enjoyed the sights. "Oh… well, see for yourself," she added, pointing at the trunk. "It's all just some kind of ice formation or something, you can almost see right through it! Of course it's not a plant."
Jecht poked at the trunk he was leaning against with surprise. "Ice? But it ain't even cold!"
"It's a summoned forest," Rikku said, leaning back against the trunk and crossing her hands behind her head. "The Fayth in Macalania Temple made it. I guess when Shiva isn't kicking butt as an aeon, she spends her time gardening." She turned her head when she heard no response, and saw all three men staring and nearly slipped off of the trunk in surprise. "What?"
"Shiva?" Jecht asked.
"The Fayth which resides in Macalania Temple," Braska answered absently. "Rikkma, that is an interesting theory you have, but no one really knows how or why Macalania Forest was created. How did you come up with that idea?"
Rikku scrunched up her nose. "It's not a theory. The locals told me!"
"People live here?" Jecht repeated, looking even more surprised. "I thought there were fiends."
"There are fiends. That's why no one lives here," Auron agreed, suspicious.
Rikku sat up, filled with indignation. She might have learned the truth of the forest well after Sin was gone and the demi-humans were forced to flee from their crumbling homeland, but that didn't change the fact that they had always lived in Macalania Forest. Everyone knew that. No, the problem was that most other races didn't think of the demi-humans as people; that was why they didn't count in Auron's assessment of the forest's population.
"You know, if you Yevonites would actually listen to your musicians instead of just telling them to shut up and play, maybe you'd figure out this stuff too," she huffed. "They're the ones who told me, for your information. They know this forest better than anyone else!" She noted with satisfaction that Auron fell silent after her sharp rebuttal, looking surprised.
Braska, too, had gone quiet. "I had always suspected there was more to those creatures than they led us to believe," he mused. "Strange, though, that they would share this knowledge with a human like yourself. They seem to prefer to keep to themselves."
"Yeah, well…" Rikku trailed off; the truth of the matter was the demi-humans probably wouldn't have given her the time of day if not for their disappearing forest and Tobli's constant meddling. "I'm well-travelled!" she explained. "And who can resist this face?" she added with a cute pout.
"Would you like a list?" Auron replied. Ignoring the face she made, he addressed Braska once more. "We should move on, my lord. This lack of fiends is… worrisome," he said uneasily.
Braska nodded once, leaning over and helping Jecht to his feet. "Yes. We can discuss our theories about the forest when we are closer to the safety of the temple," he agreed.
Rikku shimmied down the trunk. When she hit the ground, it trembled and shook underneath her, and she flung her arms out in surprise before tumbling.
"Whoa!" Jecht yelled, also trying to catch his balance. "How much do you weigh anyhow?"
"It's not me!" Rikku leapt to her feet and pulled out her daggers.
"Something's coming," Auron said tersely, and that was the only warning they had before the crystalline trees splintered and flew apart. Rikku covered her head and winced; the atmosphere felt heavy and deadened. Most unnervingly of all, everything was quiet except for the crash of the splintering trees. Then she heard it: a low hiss, the sound of something slicing through the air.
I know this music, Rikku thought. She lowered her arms and squinted through the rain of splinters that were falling around her. Jecht had thrown Braska to the ground for protection, and Auron stood over them, his sword a blur as he hacked apart the larger chunks of crystal that flew in their direction. Beyond him, behind her, all around them, she saw what caused the explosion, and her stomach churned.
"We're bein' attacked by fiends?" Jecht asked, fumbling for the handle of his sword.
"No," Rikku moaned, springing to her feet and spinning her daggers. She rushed at the nearest pod, striking it before it could burst open and send its creation tumbling out. "This is Sinspawn!"
The deadly shower thinned out, but as the dust settled the cause of the explosion became visible; a greater Sinspawn, ugly and black, pulsed in a clearing only a few steps away. It spewed pods into the their surroundings over its waving tentacles. While huge, it was thankfully alone; there was no sign of Sin itself in the area. Not that this was very reassuring; the spawn alone was already the size of Bahamut, and it was still belching eggs in every direction.
"We must destroy it!" Braska twirled his staff around in the summoning dance. It was a harsh first test to flex his fledgling Summoner's muscles on.
Rikku didn't bother to reply, rushing another pod and trying to burst it before it could hatch and release the insect-like spawn hibernating inside. She only managed to hack through the hard shell halfway before it burst open on its own, nearly severing her arm in the process. The lesser spawn inside spilled out and snapped at her viciously. She buried her dagger between its shining eyes up to the hilt, and the thing twitched spasmodically before dissolving into pyreflies. To her dismay, she saw the other pods bursting open, releasing dozens more into the forest.
"You've got to be shittin' me," Jecht groaned, rushing at one of the creatures with his sword and cleaving it in two.
"This is no joke!" Auron hacked through the hissing creatures; a trail of pyreflies followed his motions, and Rikku realized he was driving towards the larger Sinspawn. "Clear a path to the mother!" he yelled at Jecht, carving his way through several more of the insects.
Rikku positioned herself at Braska's side, narrowly managing to kick away one of the creatures as he completed his dance. She heard Bahamut's roar echo, then winced as a burst of light cut through the forest, destroying both the remaining trees and several of the spawn in its path. The dragon landed in the smoking clearing and grappled with the huge Sinspawn, roaring in fury. Rikku half-turned and saw Braska holding his staff out, his expression distant.
"Oh no," she moaned, skirting around him and flicking her daggers about, trying to keep the smaller creatures away from him. "Auron! Jecht! We're in deep pickles over here!" She batted away another spawn and then sending a Fire spell hurtling behind her with a quick mumble.
Rikku knew she was fast, but she wasn't that fast, and there were just too many to take on alone. "Auron!" she yelled again, flying towards another fiend and slashing at it. It was no good; her light hits weren't killing any of them, simply enraging the insects and making them swarm even more densely than before. "Braska's in Rapture! He can't move!"
What's keeping them? Rikku thought, panicking as the spawn encroached on the small haven she maintained around Braska. She grimaced and took a deep breath; casting high-level magic beyond her natural means from the grid always felt uncomfortable, but it couldn't be helped. She had to cut down their enemies before they were overwhelmed.
Fixing one hand on her grid, she spread her palm out towards the thickest concentration of fiends and closed her eyes. The sibilant words tumbled out of her mouth, spoken in a language she didn't know, with a finesse that she didn't possess. Power flowed through them, forming into a pinpoint in the palm of her hand; she gathered it, feeling the rush of an unnatural breeze as the casting glow surrounded her, then let the magic fly.
It wasn't the most powerful of spells; while Rikku could have cast a stronger elemental attack, completely obliterating only one of the insects wouldn't have helped very much. Instead she cast gravity magic, letting the crackle of dark energy descend over the entire writhing mass surrounding them. The Demi spell drained the creatures and sent more than a few of them skittering backwards. There were even a few injured ones which collapsed on themselves, pyreflies leaking out of the wounds her daggers had already inflicted. Rikku smiled grimly; not the best solution, but it had bought them a little time.
"Will you guys get over here!" She turned to search for the familiar red flash of Auron's coat. Then she froze, her words caught in her lungs. He was there, a few feet before her, fighting desperately. His sword was nothing more than a flash of dark metal surrounded by swirling pyreflies as he eliminated the fiends surrounding him. But he wasn't moving towards her or Braska; he was trapped. Trapped into defending, not attacking - and what he was defending was the motionless lump on the ground.
"Jecht!" The large man was unconscious, a small trickle of blood leaking from his mouth and a gaping wound oozing from his abdomen. Despite Auron's lessons, he really didn't know how to handle his sword yet. Auron was doing a magnificent job of defending his fallen comrade, but he couldn't stop the steady flow of blood that was leaking from Jecht into the crystalline ground and keep the insects at bay at the same time.
Rikku reached for her pouch and cursed when she found nothing; I knew we needed supplies! There was no time to think; she rushed the nearest fiend and gritted her teeth, then drove her hand through it. It shuddered and gave way beneath her probing fingers; she reached in and searched, pulling through its body for anything that might help.
Despite being a first-rate thief, Rikku hated stealing from fiends. She hated it more than she hated lightning. The principal was fairly sound; fiends were formed from the malcontent of the dead, and occasionally the dead were kind enough to bundle their hatred into a form solid enough to pull from their bodies. Usually it was a remnant of their former life, a wish, hope or dream they once had while still human. It didn't change the fact that doing it felt disgusting to her. It took a special state of mind to steal from a fiend: telling yourself over and over again that it wasn't real, that it wasn't leather and bone and cartilage you were shoving your fingers through, but pyreflies-pyreflies-pyreflies. Sometimes it didn't work, and the unlucky thief ended up smashing his fingers against the very solid skin, fur or scale of the disgruntled and unforgiving fiend; the lucky ones came away from those failed attempts with all of their limbs intact.
Sinspawn was worse; though still pyreflies, there was nothing human at all left in them, unlike the fiends. When she attempted to steal from spawn, more often than not she came away with the oddest things; rusty blades, a razor-toothed comb or odd, unidentifiable gem that flickered in the light. This time was no different; when she sprang back, the object in her hand was a twisted rosette of metal; she had no idea what it was, or what it would do if she attempted to use it.
Not good! she thought, panicking as she chopped at another one of the insects that circled Braska. A loud roar made her glance up; Bahamut seemed to be winning against the largest creature, which meant that Braska might be able to come out of his Rapture soon. It was a gamble with Jecht's life, however, and a risky one at that. There was only one way to be certain. It was something she had been hoping to put off until much later, like never, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Rikku only hoped none of her companions were voyeurs. Then she corrected that train of thought and gave a silent whisper of thanks that Jecht was passed out.
The fiends backed away from her when she began to glow. Even Auron faltered and turned to look, his eyes widening in shock. And then the sphere took over; it wasn't just a change of outfits, but a change of personality, as Paine had once described it. She was still herself, of course, they all were, but there was something extra that was added: a phrase or two, an attitude, an unconscious gesture of the hand. The personalities recorded in the spheres never completely disappeared, no matter who used them. And while Rikku had created the Alchemist dressphere herself, it was still like adding oil to a lit fire. Pride, self-confidence, and an unbelievable amount of fury filled her as she raised her hands and let the gun form in her arms.
Useless? An embarrassment to all of Spira? How dare they treat us like this!
Rikku's lips curled back into an ugly snarl and she unleashed her anger onto the surrounding fiends, spraying them with a smattering of bullets from her machine gun. "No more Mr. Nice Guy!" she yelled, shoving her way through the insects and blasting those that were too foolish not to move point-blank with her gun. A few of them managed to score her armor, but thankfully her outfit came with much more protective padding than Braska's loaned gift of travel clothes had. Ignoring the small scratches she earned, she reached into her now-bulging pocket and pulled out the potion that conjured itself into her possession. It wasn't enough to save Jecht, but if she gambled right… "Not knowing is the fun part!" she smirked, dumping the potion over the small lump of metal in her hand before lobbing it at Jecht.
"… Rikku!" she heard Auron yell in confusion, and then the rosette hit Jecht's chest and exploded into a corona of light.
It was better than she could have hoped for. Jecht's wounds curled in on themselves and knit together with unnatural speed. His eyes flew open, full of surprise as the rosette continued to flare and disintegrate. Rapidly whirling discs of color surrounded him and burst outwards; they encompassed Auron, Braska and even herself. She noted with satisfaction that the wounds on her own body were healing at the same time the artificial speed kicked in.
"Woo-HOO!" she screamed, levelling her gun at a few more fiends and blasting them away. "I'm gonna show you guys how to party like only we can do it!" She charged recklessly into the enemy swarm, firing several bursts from her machine gun.
Auron and Jecht doing much the same with their respective weapons; the explosive protective and regenerative properties that her unknown mix granted them swayed the tide of the battle in their favor. Bahamut landed the finishing blow on the source of their troubles, and it wasn't long before they managed to do the same to the few remaining sinscales scattered through the rubble. When it was over, the four of them stood panting amidst a circle of pyreflies and the ruins of smashed trees.
"Holy shit," Jecht managed to say, propping himself up on his sword. "I thought I was a goner!"
"Braska?" Auron asked, helping the Summoner as he sunk to the ground.
"… quite an experience," Braska said, pulling off his helmet. His hair was damp and matted underneath it and his skin was still a few shades paler than normal, even for him. "I'm fine, Auron." He waved the other man off and looked at Rikku. "But what happened to you?"
Rikku rolled her eyes and leaned on one hip, hefting her gun onto her shoulder. A tiny voice in the back of her head whispered that she should probably disengage her garment grid and return to her normal attire, but the rest of her told that voice to shut up and stick it. Instead she opted to stare back at the other men in defiance.
"I made myself comfortable," she answered, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Why, you Yevonites got a problem with that?" She stared Auron down as she spoke, daring him to make a comment.
Auron frowned in return, his eyes travelling to her belt, where the garment grid was still shining with energy. The sphere and the path she had manipulated to activate it glowed against the stone plate, and his brows drew together. "That is more than just a belt buckle," he observed.
"You catch on pretty quick for a fool," Rikku responded acerbically, and the three men stared at her in shock. "What? I just call 'em like I see 'em," she added, letting her eyes drop onto Braska. "This whole Pilgrimage is a sham, and people who believe all that junk that Yevon spews really are the fools." She did drop her head as she spoke, guilt niggling at her conscience. "Sorry, Braska," she muttered almost unwillingly. "But it's the truth!"
"The truth?" Auron said, his face tight with anger. "You lied to us about who you are and what you can do." His grip on his sword shifted, and he glared at her. "You've changed, and I don't think I like it."
Rikku made a rude gesture in Auron's direction and shrugged. "Who cares what you think?" she fired back. "You're just another brainless follower of Yevon, as blind and stupid as the rest. I don't need you or your church's blessings!" She crossed her arms and turned up her nose. "Boy, you jerks sure have a crappy way of thanking me for saving your butts, by the way."
"Hey, slow down there, Blondie!" Jecht said, towering over Rikku. "Auron ain't my favourite person in the world either. But he's right, and I'm gonna make ya pay for forcin' me to say that. What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked.
"Ooh! Not you too!" Rikku fumed, clenching her fist and stalking away from him. She paced back and forth before them, angry and restless at everything she had been robbed of. Her life, her Home, her respect… everything was gone in the blink of an eye, crushed under Yevon's iron-fisted rule, and she couldn't do anything about it. It made her want to just blow stuff up.
Rikku's pacing came to an abrupt halt as an obstacle presented itself in her way; with a start she realized she was face-to-face with two clear blue eyes, both of which had her trapped under their steady gaze. Braska's hands were on her shoulders; when did they get there? Her uncle, the only Summoner that had ever been truly worth saving, with the exception of Yuna, and in the end the only one they couldn't save. He was practically one of them, she thought with a guilty conscience; he was family.
"Rikkma," he said. "This isn't you."
"But it is me!" she protested. "It's in my eyes and my hair and my beliefs and my blood! This is who I really am!" She made a half-hearted attempt to shrug herself out of his grip.
Braska shook his head, refusing to release her. "Let it go, Rikkma."
Rikku blinked away the unexpected tears that rose in her eyes. "But I'm Al Bhed," she repeated stubbornly.
"No," Braska corrected her. "You are more."
Rikku reached for her garment grid with shaking fingers and deactivated it, and when the flaring light faded, the vicious, bubbling fury disappeared with it. The bitter pride and the sadness that had brought it about didn't, though, and she let herself crumple against him in exhaustion, sobbing out her loss.
edited 6/16: fixed an inconsistency concerning Summoner's Rapture; aged Yuna's dialogue
Abilities used or mentioned:
Mega Flare is Bahamut's special attack.
Conflagration Grid [Rikku]: Demi
Alchemist Dressphere - Mix: Super Mighty G - Shell, Protect, Haste, Regen on all allies