Title: A Secret Journey  (Rikku's Story)


Summary: The story of the pilgrimage told in Rikku's words, and what she learns on the way. 
Classification: FFX fic, AU, Rikku/Auron relationship, story, romance
Rating: PG13, higher rating (up to R) for future instalments
Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to Squaresoft, but the story
is mine. (actually Rikku's, but you know what I mean. : )

Author's note: Rikku is an Al Bhed and sometimes her narrative slips into her native tongue. For this reason I am also including an Al Bhed primer at the end of each part, with
translations of the terms used.

Feedback is welcomed at tuatha@caloundra.net




A Secret Journey (Rikku's Story)

Part Six

"We're not lost. I'm not sure exactly where we are..." He looked around us
again as he spoke. "but the lake curves around to the south-west. If we turn
in a northerly direction we have to reach it eventually."

I found myself collapsing against him in relief. He looked at me with a
bemused expression. "What? You aren't afraid, are you Rikku?"

I turned my face away, shook my head quickly. "No, no, of course not." I
straightened up and let go of him, but missed the warmth of his hands as
they fell away from my shoulders.

"So, we should head that way?" and I pointed to illustrate what I thought
was a northerly direction. Auron frowned and paused to consider our options.

He looked up at the trees around us. "Do you think if I give you a boost up
you could have a look around?"

"A boost?"

"Yes, up into the tree." He gestured with his hands miming the action he
intended but I raised my eyebrows disbelievingly. I looked around for a
branch that looked sturdy enough to take my weight at the right height, then
I began a short run up, a hopping jump then sprang up and grasped the
branch, letting my momentum build into a graceful arcing swing. I brought my
legs up and then hooked my knees over the branch, letting go with my hands
and swinging upside down, watching Auron's face. I grinned at him. "Thanks
for the boost, I don't think I could have made it without you."

"You..." He growled, but whatever he was going to say next he thought better
of it. I swung myself back up and scrambled upright, hugging the tree trunk
while I looked around. The view was disappointing, all I could see was
whiteness in every direction. The trees around us all looked the same.

"Ohhhh, it's no good. I can't see anything."

I looked down to see Auron's face turned up to me. "It was worth a try
anyway." Movement caught my eye. I checked to be sure and there it was
again, a faint shadow, no two, and then a third one, hugging the ground and
heading our way. "Veahtc!"

"Fiends?" His sword made an ominous sound as he drew it. "Which direction,
Rikku?" I pointed but he was staring around at eye level. "One following our
trail. Two others flanking it left and right."

"Can you see what form they have taken?"

I stretched on toes and squinted at the at the swiftly moving shadows,
barely darker than the snow. The one following our trail was low to the
ground, nosing at our scent. "Wolves, I think."

He turned to face them with his back to the tree and I scrambled to reach
ground level before they reached us. In my haste my foot slipped on the
lowermost branch and I tumbled unceremoniously to the ground, landing in a
deep drift of snow, which helped to break my fall somewhat although I was
still winded from the fall.

Auron looked back at me and shouted something I think, but then the fiends
were upon us. He held his sword in a defensive position, moving to stand in
front of me while the creatures edged closer.

I sat up and drew my legs under me. "Can you run?"

"I think so." I wasn't sure, but I staggered to my feet anyway.

"Go then. I can hold them off." The fiends seemed angered by my recovery,
they must have thought me an easy meal since they had the advantage of
numbers over a sole warrior. One lunged at me, and I ducked too late, only
saving myself from its slavering jaws by flinging myself back into the snow
again.

Auron's sword arced over my head with a great whooshing sound, and a spray
of blood spurted out of the creature's side as he hacked it from sternum to
hip. The beast let out a blood curdling cry as it hit the snow from the
force of the blow. It crawled back toward it's companions, trailing blood.
The other two were now more ferocious than ever, lunging toward Auron in
unison, then leaping out of reach of his sword, wearing down his strength.

I think he thought I had followed his instruction, leaving him there to
fight alone, but I just couldn't leave him. I fumbled in my kit for a
grenade and frantically searched for something useful to mix with the bomb
fragments inside. Something flammable, but I didn't have time, one of the
beasts had latched onto his arm and he'd managed a glancing blow with the
flat of his blade which sent it circling back, but now blood was dripping
onto his hand.

Finally, I found a vial of machina oil, and poured it into the cavity. My
hands shook as I screwed the detonator mechanism back on carefully...then
pulled the pin and began counting. One. I moved forward and stepped
sideways, ducking under Auron's sword arm. Two...I crouched between his feet
and brought my arm up in a graceful arc. Three...too soon, I held for
another breath while I shouted a hoarse warning. "Get down!" Four. Resuming
the arrested motion of my arm, releasing the grenade at the apex of it's
arc, follow through...then I turned and rose...Five. I gave a mighty push
against his chest, not sure how I moved a man of his size and strength but
he was falling backwards, and I was following him down...the blast washed
over us before my mental count reached six, a roar of heat that singed the
backs of my legs and raced up my exposed back and arms. I turned my head to
see the result of my handiwork, although there was really no doubt about the
outcome. All that was left of the fiends were a few smoking pockmarks in the
snow where the creatures entrails had landed.

"Dead." My head fell forward onto his chest in relief. "I thought we were a
goner."

Auron said nothing, which worried me, so I raised my head to look at him.
His chest was rising and falling rapidly beneath me, but his eyes, his eye,
was closed, his face expressionless. His breath stirred my hair, a warm
current of air that ebbed and flowed. His eye opened slowly, and he huffed
in my face. "Do you think you could give me a little more warning next time
you pull a stunt like that?"

"What?" I practically squeaked. "I saved your life, you great oaf, and don't
you forget it." I waggled my finger in his face as I spoke, until he grabbed
my hand in his and then winced quickly letting go again. "I owe you one,
then."

I recalled the beast that had lunged at his arm while I was on the ground.
"Oh, your arm! Let me see." I studied the injury. The creature's teeth had
torn a jagged rent in his forearm, but the blood was flowing more slowly
now, and I thought it would be okay if we could bind it with something. I
had some potion, which would help a little to reduce the blood flow, and
prevent infection while it healed. I sat up beside him, and rummaged in my
kit until I found the right vial, plenty of time to do so now, then I poured
its contents gently over the wound. While I worked I recalled how he had
stood sentinel over me when the fiends would have surely torn me in two if
he hadn't stood between me and them. It seemed he owed me nothing after all.

When I looked up he was watching me, but his gaze skittered away, somewhere
up into the trees. I was abashed by the fact that he hid his feelings for
me. I was already in love with him, but I still seemed to be falling, and I
suppose it was as plain as day on my face. If he didn't want me to love him,
then I was just making a fool of myself. I tried to keep a rein on the
disappointment, proclaiming brightly "There. All better."

I moved away, my turn to hide from him. With my back to him I couldn't see
his face, but his voice was gentle when he spoke my name. "Rikku." His hand
came to rest on my back, then he sat suddenly, his hand moving over me
urgently. "You're soaked through."

I shivered but didn't answer. Despite the grenade blast my clothes still
clung wetly to me, but I hadn't really thought about it until he brought it
to my attention. "You'll freeze out here."

I shrugged. "If we keep moving I'll be alright." I stood, waiting for him to
be ready, but I was already starting to shiver in my boots.

"Don't be ridiculous. You're turning blue already." He'd picked his sword up
from the snow and now rammed it point first back into the ground. "Take off
your clothes." His hands moved to his belt, unbuckling it, and I gaped at
him with surprise. "Now."

My mind had taken a twisting slide into a dark dream, thinking for a second
that we were both going to undress here in the snow, and then...but then I
realised he was removing his coat, for me. To give to me. I covered my head
in my hands, wishing I could erase the thoughts that had just run through my
mind. It was shameful, terrible, and the most shameful and terrible part was
that it excited me too. What he would think of me if he knew frightened me,
so much that my heart rate had trebled. I began to peel my top off with my
back to him, hoping he wouldn't want to look at my face and read what was
written on my countenance. When the top was free of my shoulders he took it
from my hand and then I felt the soft drape of his coat over my shoulders.
My shorts quickly followed, falling heavily into the snow. I stepped out of
them, and he leaned down swiftly and gathered them up too. My belt was freed
from the loops and he leaned around me, his hands bringing the belt around
my waist to fasten the coat. I looked down at his hands, encircling me. He
was looking down too, over my shoulder, and saw me the same way. The coat
draped me loosely, exposing my breasts to view, my body bare all the way
down to my toes. I shuddered and pulled the coat around myself while his
hands moved methodically, carefully, buckling the belt. I thought he would
pull away from me again, but instead he reached up to caress my face, his
other hand found my shoulders, drawing me around towards him. I kept my head
low, unwilling to look up at him after what he'd seen. "Are you crying?"

I didn't want to pretend that what I was feeling wasn't real, not any
longer.

"E muja oiu." I whispered.

"I know."

I nodded miserably. I had tried to hide it and only drawn attention to
myself. Of course he knew. "But you don't love me back."

"Look at me, Rikku." His hand held my chin, drawing my face up to his, just
like that first day. My eyes were screwed shut, not wanting to face him, but
he commanded me. "Look in my eyes."

So I did. Looked into him and saw a love so painful it couldn't be borne. It
was my own love for him reflected back at me. "No good." I whispered.

"No good at all." He replied, brushing away the tears on my face with a
gentle touch.

I reached up, and gently traced the scar on his face, brushing my fingertips
lightly over his sealed lashes, examining him with all the intensity I felt.
My hands wandered across his brow, down his cheek, and came to rest
quivering against his lips.

He stood silent under my ministrations, but then shuddered and seemed to
come back from the silent world of feeling into which we had drifted. "This
is crazy. I wanted to stop you falling in love with me, you know. It will
only hurt you."

"It doesn't matter. E'mm muja oiu vunajan, yhofyo."

"It sounds so beautiful in your language, Rikku, but you musn't. We have to
put this behind us and go on."

"We will. We will go on. But tell me you love me first."

"Rikku...Rikku. E muja oiu."

His arms tightened around me with the force of his spoken emotions. "E muja
oiu, vunajan"

His lips met mine. We kissed forever, in a white dream of falling snow.




End of Part Six


Al Bhed primer and translation guide:

Veahtc! = Fiends!
E'mm muja oiu vunajan, yhofyo = I'll love you forever, anyway

A = E
B = P
C = S
D = T
E = I
F = W
G = K
H = N
I = U
J = V
K = G
L = C
M = L
N = R
O = Y
P = B
Q = Z
R = H
S = M
T = D
U = O
V = F
W = X
X = Q
Y = A
Z = J


tua
tuatha@caloundra.net

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