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.

I have populated the desert of Sanubia with plants and animals from our own
world, simply translating their names into Al Bhed, this is not meant to
take liberties with Spira, only to provide colour to Rikku's narrative. I
also took the liberty of normalizing the order of events within Macalania
temple, since it's back to front in the game, postulating that Seymour was
waiting in the antechamber of the fayth when the party confronted him.

Feedback is welcomed at tuatha@caloundra.net



A Secret Journey (Rikku's Story)

Part Eight


Yuna was not in the antechamber of the temple when we arrived. One of the
acolytes went into the sleeping chamber searching for her but emerged
instead almost hysterical. She'd found a sphere in Yuna's possession, and
when Tidus activated it we learned that Seymour had murdered his father in
cold blood. I couldn't understand why Yuna had agreed to marry him, to go to
him alone knowing this about him. Then one of the guado told us that she was
in the Temple of the Fayth, with Seymour.

Kimahri and Auron were first to race up the steps to the cloister, and we
all followed. I hoped Auron wasn't feeling guilty about the moments we stole
together outside. If something happened to Yuna while he and I...but there
was no way any of us could have known. My rationalisations didn't help, I
thought I would be sick just thinking about how I would feel if she was
harmed.

The cloisters were aggravatingly complicated, we had to puzzle our way
through a series of tests, unlocking hidden doorways and secret paths to
find our way. Usually we joked around, and enjoyed meeting the challenges
set for us, but this time all of us were impatient and worried. Tidus set
the final orb into place while Lulu muttered under her breath "Quickly,
quickly." Auron drew his sword and Kimahri readied his spear. When we
entered the secret antechamber leading to the fayth Seymour was there alone.

He said that Yuna was within, praying to the fayth and that set our fears to
rest for the moment. But when Tidus challenged him he began to rave,
revealing his delusory fantasies. Yuna emerged, and told Seymour she had
planned all along to stop him. He revealed the depth of his psychosis to us
then, proclaiming that death was Spira's salvation, and he would free us
from the pain of living. So we readied ourselves for battle.

Yuna cast null-spells on us all to neutralize his magic, and Auron and Tidus
both inflicted serious damage on him. I raced in and slashed him with my
weapon and rifled his pocket at the same time, dancing away with a valuable
elixir. After several attacks his face changed, and he raised his arms
calling out to 'Anima', he summoned a fiendish aeon.

It was the living dead, a mutated beast called forth from a forgotten
nightmare. It screamed in pain, then sent its nightmare into us with a
psychic blast. I collapsed to my knees while agony tore through my being,
leaving me blind and deaf, poison running through my veins. I knew nothing
more until Lulu chanted a quick healing spell over me, bringing me back to
myself.

Yuna had summoned one of her own aeons in response, an ice maiden who stood
eight feet tall but was still dwarfed by Seymour's nightmare creature. But
she stood firm between us and it, calling forth a blizzard with her breath,
freezing the creature solid then with a snap of her fingers shattering it's
flesh. It wasn't dead yet though, and it sent forth another blast of pain,
so Yuna released the aeon and summoned another, a mighty winged beast. A
dragon that landed with a tearing of claws and blasted Seymour's aeon with a
flare of heat and light so intense it threatened to melt the walls of the
temple. Seymour's aeon thrashed and moaned, fading out of existence.

After that Seymour fell easily, Wakka smashing him repeatedly with his
blitzball. He collapsed on the ground and Yuna ran to him. He accused her of
pity, which I thought was a strange thing to say. Crazy to the last I guess.
Yuna attempted to send his spirit to the farplane then, and that's when
everything began to fall apart on us. The guado burst into the room, took
Seymour's body and destroyed the sphere which documented Seymour's crime
against his father. We were all now officially traitors to Yevon.

We barely escaped from the temple, the guado chasing us back to the lake.
There they unleashed an oade, a fearsome beast which the guado had goaded
with magiks and mistreatment. The beast was insensible to any concept of
self-preservation, striking out with it's massive fists whenever any of us
were in range. Auron caused a great deal of damage to the creature, hewing
at it with his sword, and Tidus leapt into the fray with quick slashes to
finish off the monster. It fell like a giant tree, crashing into the ice
which began to crack ominously beneath our feet. There was no time for us to
run for the shore, all was overturned and we slid into the icy depths of the
lake.

I'm not sure what happened then. I had a strangely lucid dream. We were all
standing at the bottom of the lake, the temple far above us, while green
light filtered down from above. The hymn of the fayth sounded sweetly from
above like a song from heaven. Yuna was lying motionless, while the rest of
us waited for her to wake from her sleep. Auron stood a little way off from
the rest of us, with his back turned. I think in my dream I placed the blame
on us both for Yuna's deathlike state, and I was afraid to approach him and
see in his eyes that he did too. My love lost to me I decided I would become
like Lulu, and in the strange way of dreams I felt a cold frost cover my
heart, to hide the pain and loss inside but Kimahri said I could never
become like her, no matter how hard I wished it, I would still be myself.

Then the hymn ended and all was quiet. Then my dream turned into nightmare.
We were not on the lake bottom as I had believed, but were standing on Sin's
hide. It had been calmed by the hymn but came deceptively to life when
silence descended upon us. I knew nothing more until I felt warmth on my
back and soft sand beneath me. I woke to find myself alone, lying at the
base of a sandy dune in the middle of nowhere.

It could have been mid-morning or mid-afternoon, I had no way of immediately
knowing which. I sat and brushed sand off my arms and legs then climbed up
the dune to look around. There was nothing but sand all around me,
shimmering golden in the heat haze. I began to walk keeping the sun at my
back, crossing from one dune to the next, on the lookout for any signs of
life. I thought I knew where I was, and my suspicion was confirmed when I
climbed my fifth dune and saw a marker half buried in the sand. I hurried
over and read the inscription. The signposts were placed throughout Sanubia
as a guide to our people. Written in Al Bhed, they offered directions and
also marked the locations of emergency supplies to aid lost travellers. I
began to dig through the sand below the sign and soon located the supply
kit. One box contained a tent, dried foods, a compass and sundry smaller
items. The other larger box was full of water.

After erecting the tent I sat within and drank an entire bottle of water,
rehydrating myself after having lain for an unknown time in the sun. There
was no danger in doing so since the kit contained more water than I could
carry and I needed to drink as much as I could in preparation for the long
walk ahead.

Al Bhed frequently visited these outposts and checked the supplies, if I
wanted to I could sit here and wait for someone to arrive, but I didn't know
what had happened to the others. If they had also been carried here and left
somewhere nearby they would have no way of knowing the significance of the
signs.

I decided I would take the compass and begin a spiralling search pattern
using this signpost as a base. Hopefully I would find the others before it
was too late. Satisfied with this plan I helped myself to some rations. The
sun was setting, so it made sense to wait until dusk to set out. At night
the desert became clearer without the glaze of heat and I would be able to
both see and hear better. I just hoped the others had the sense to rest
until the sun had set, so I would lose little by waiting here until then.

I was planning how much water I could carry and how far I could travel
before heading back for more supplies when I saw them. I waved, relieved
that they were alright, even if they hadn't been sensible enough to wait out
the heat of the day.

When they arrived I handed out water bottles. Everyone was here but Yuna,
but I had a feeling I knew where she was. I moved to sit inside the tent and
Tidus asked me what I was doing.

"We need to go find Yuna."

"I know where she is."

"Why didn't you say so?" Wakka exclaimed.

I was beginning to lose patience with them and I snapped at him. "If you'd
sit down and shut up for a minute I would!"

The tent was little more than a lean to, open at either end so any stray
breeze would cool its occupants. "You should all drink as much as you can."
I advised. I pointed at the box of supplies. "We'll take all the water we
can carry, so drink up."

"You know where we are?" Auron asked me. He sat facing me, and had thrown
off his cloak. He was still wearing his armour, and I thought he should
probably remove it, but I had a feeling he didn't want to be that exposed in
front of us all so I said nothing about it.

I nodded. "I also think I know where Yuna is." I decided to be open about my
dilemma. "My people have taken her Home. The thing is, Home is a secret
known only to the Al Bhed. None of you would find it without my aid. I could
guide you there, but it is forbidden to do so. No outsiders."

I looked around me. They were all listening intently. "I can guide you
there, but if I do I will become a criminal to my people. To lead outsiders
Home, it is punishable by banishment." I sighed. In a place like this
banishment equals death, but they probably didn't realise that.

"So, we will have to find Yuna and then fight our way out. And I will only
do that if you promise on your life that you will never reveal our home's
location to anyone else."

Everyone agreed readily except Wakka. I didn't think he would betray us, but
he was still upset about what had happened at Macalania temple and wasn't
thinking clearly. I wouldn't budge though until I had his explicit promise.

Eventually the others brought him round and he agreed to abide by my
conditions. "Good." Tidus made to get up to leave and I stayed him. "Tidus,
wait." He turned and I gestured to his place. "We'll leave at sunset."

Tidus looked around and Auron nodded agreement so he sat down again. I
handed out more fresh bottles of water, and stowed the empty ones back into
the box. Then I unwrapped one of the parcels of food. There were tydac,
ybneludc and baylrac, all semi-dried but luscious and sweet, and strips of
lyldiyn, a fleshy succulent that was a staple in the diet of my people.
We feasted on this plenty and more of the water. It was cool and refreshing
due to being stored under the dune, out of the desert heat and I wanted us
to be full to bursting like the lysam, a beast native to the desert that my
people used for transport and as a beast of burden. These creatures would
drink their fill at an oasis, storing the precious water, and then be able
to travel for many days and nights without requiring more. We needed to do
the same.

Auron quizzed me while we ate. "How long will it take for us to travel to
your Home?"

"Three nights journey if we travel fast. On the third morning we should
reach Home." He chewed thoughtfully on a piece of baylrac, and I guessed he
was mentally calculating how much water we would need, how much we could
carry, and coming up short. I reassured him. "There are other caches between
here and Home. We should reach the next half way through our second night,
but should take all that we can carry from here anyway. To be safe."

"And what if someone has done as we have, and taken the supplies?"

"My people check these outposts regularly and restock them. If we have to
though we'll continue on to the next one after that."

Wakka was listening to our conversation and butted in. "Will we make it? If
we get lost out here and run out of water..."

He was under strain and showing it clearly, but I still found his doubts
obnoxious and became angry. "We won't get lost! And if we can't make it to
the next marker we'll just wait for the next Al Bhed group and get Home with
them."

I turned to Auron. "Dnicd sa, E ghuf ruf du kieta oui ymm cyvamo Rusa. E
bnuseca fa fuh'd kad mucd ykyeh."

He stared at me for a long moment. There was no warmth in his gaze, he had
become again the stranger I had first met so long ago beside the Moonflow,
thinking only of the pilgrimage and his role as a guardian. I had brought
this on myself. Auron had warned me, but I had been blind to his reluctance.
Now I had to salvage some pride.

"E bnuseca." I insisted.

I took a deep breath and let my mind return to practical matters. The azure
sky was deepening to a velvet hue as the sun dipped below the horizon.
Jahic, the brightest star now glowed brightly in the sky. It would set
within the hour but by then other stars would be visible and would guide us
on our way. It was time to go.

I distributed water and food among the others, and then pulled down the
tent, folding it with my share of the water to carry. I was worried about
Kimahri, and asked him whether he would need more water, but he shook his
head. "Ronso fur keep out cold, keep out heat too. Kimahri fine."

When we left I took the compass and various other items as well, I wouldn't
need most of them if everything went to plan, but one of the others might if
we got separated. I checked the sign once more then we set off for Home.



End of Part Eight





Al Bhed primer and translation guide:


oade = yeti
tydac = dates
ybneludc = apricots
baylrac = peaches
lyldiyn = cactuar
lysamc = camels
Dnicd sa, E ghuf ruf du kieta oui ymm cyvamo Rusa = Trust me, I know how to
guide you all safely Home
E bnuseca fa fuh'd kad mucd ykyeh = I promise we won't get lost again
Jahic = Venus
ajahcdyn = evenstar

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