A/N: Still no owning of the FF.

Here is were it gets more actiony than fluffy, at least for a while, but the pace moves a little faster when this portion is done...Just needed to set the mood right, I guess. ^_^

Thanks so much to all of you who reviewed, I can't tell you what that means to me.

More is coming!

~Raggy

Chapter 6

His gorgeous brown eye opened, and he managed a slight smile. "I would never."

He reached out for my hand, and all the bandages and potions were forgotten as his hand touched mine. He wrapped his fingers over mine, and held it close to his chest. "I promised."

I lost it. Again. Tears poured out of me, and I sobbed uncontrollably as I laid my head on his broad chest. I couldn't believe how close I'd come to losing him...The thought was simply unbearable. Auron was as a much a part of me now as my own heart...I knew I'd never be able to let him go.

"Don't...Don't ever scare me like that again..." I sobbed into him. All of a sudden, I began to feel dizzy. I brushed it off, just thinking it because I was crying. Until it got worse, and worse than that, my arm began to hurt really, really bad. Looking down through my tear-filled eyes, I saw a gash in my claw's arm sheath...and it was red with blood.

There was a piece of Evrae's claw stuck in my arm...That's why I felt dizzy. My hysterics had worked the claw deeper into the wound, and Evrae's poison had begun to spread.

"Ohh...That's...No good..." My words sounded right in my head, but they came out funny when I spoke them. At least, that was the last thing I remember before my eyes closed and I fell onto the deck.

Later...Wasn't paying attention to the time.

"Mmm...Something smells nice..."

I woke up in my own room, to see Auron standing there, fully bandaged, with his good eye bright and small smile on his face, holding a large cup of steaming tea. "Here. Drink this." He handed me the mug.

Taking the tea, I took a deep sip, and immediately felt better. I felt warm all the way to my toes...Even more interesting, most of the pain in my arm was gone.

"What happened? This is great, by the way. What is it?"

"It's a special tea...made from Moonlilies. It's fairly good for most toxins, as well as being a great muscle relaxer. Tastes pretty good, too. And what happened is why you were worrying left and right about me, an experienced and 'legendary' warrior," He scoffed a little as he said it, "You didn't realize Evrae lost a bit of claw in your arm and you only worked it in deeper trying to save me from a few scrapes and scratches!"

That was new. Auron was yelling at me. It was strange, a little more exciting than I'd care to admit, and kinda scary. My eyes got larger the louder his voice got.

"You could have been killed, carelessly, simply because you thought I needed you to-" He stopped, realizing what he was doing. Throwing his hands up, he began to laugh senselessly, a deep, baritone belly laugh. It was, honestly, the strangest thing I have ever seen in my life. Here was a man, known totally and completely for being calm, collected, even cold, for his entire life, laughing and shaking like a large, gorgeous, beat-up man-child. I was more than a little shocked.

"Why am I bothering? You're Rikku. You're going to do exactly what you want when you want to, and Yevon be damned if I think you shouldn't. How can I be mad at you for the very reason I love you?"

That made me smile. I knew what he meant, finally. Patting the spot on the bed next to me, I tucked my finger into a "come here" gesture, and lifted the covers for him. Still shaking his head, he came over and tucked himself into the bed, reaching out to grab me around my waist and pull me to him, tucking his chin into my shoulder while his hand slowly rubbed my stomach.

"I was worried sick about you...The thought of you killing yourself to save me was unbearable. I nearly broke half the doors in the ship getting you here. Kimahri thought I'd gone berserk. I guess I did, a little. You told me not to scare you like that again...Do the same for me, okay? I couldn't bear to lose you."

I only heard half of what he was saying, but I understood most of it. I'd fallen back asleep by the time he was done.

Later. Again. I can't tell time, okay!?!

"Bevelle...They're going to be in quite the uproar about Evrae."

"That's why now is the best time. We have to attack...Catch them as off-guard as we can. As long as Yuna is compliant, she will be safe...But the moment they see this ship, they're going to regroup, and fast. We must be quick."

There were no more questions. Everyone knew what we had to do...We had to save Yunie.

Had to.

We were still a couple hours' flight from Bevelle, we'd managed to meet Evrae right on the border of Bevellian territory. We agreed to get ready, and meet at the deck in two hours. Then...We save Yunie.

I was in my room, fixing the gash in my claw and re-tightening the screws that held the whole thing in place, when Auron walked in. I still couldn't get over how handsome he was.

"Auron..."

He crossed the distance between us faster than I could blink, and he was pressing his lips to mine before I could blink again. Not that I found it unpleasant, but certainly unexpected. Before long, my claw was long forgotten, and I'd managed to wrap both arms around his neck as I moaned around his mouth. Just as I was really getting into it, he stopped.

"Rikku..." He started to say, over my whimper of displeasure.

"I was enjoying that. Did you start talking just to remember my name?" I gave him my best "Not-in-trouble-'cause-you-love-me" smile.

He laughed. "No." He kissed me along, long and soft. When he finally pulled away, he pulled me back onto my bed with him, cuddling me close. "I just wanted to tell you...I love you."

I tucked my face into his chest, trying to wrap myself in him as much as I possibly could. "I love you too."

And that's how we spent our couple of hours, just wrapped up in my bed, him holding on to me like I was the only girl in the world, me holding on to him like he was the only boy who made her smile. It was perfect.

All too quickly, my Dad's voice came over the comm, "Well...Here goes, boys and girls. Get yourselves onto the deck. We'll be in Bevelle City in two minutes."

I glanced at Auron. He'd heard all too well. Sighing deeply, he got off my bed, pulling me to my feet and into his arms.

"I guess it's time. I don't want you to worry about a thing...I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."

I smiled at him. " I know you won't. And I won't let anything happen to you." I poked him in the chest. "But we better get up there. Operation Rescue Yunie Go!"

He smiled at me. "Indeed."

On the deck.

"Okay Cid...We're ready. Let's go!"

"Roger!" The airship zoomed forward, and coming through a particularly puffy cloud, there it was.

Bevelle Terrace. The seat of power in Spira, where the Maesters themselves decided the fate of the public.

And here we were...Crashing the wedding of the daughter of the High Summoner and the unsent guado maester who tried to kill us. Classy.

"Let's go guys!" Tidus called out. In no time, bullets and rockets and all other sorts of strange machina were flying at us. How were going to get down there?

"Hold on!" Dad's voice called out. Two giant cables snapped out of the ship, rocketed towards the platform, and stuck.

"Slide on down! You can do it!"

Oh boy.

Taking a deep breath, I jumped onto the cable, sliding my booted feet down and down towards Bevelle Terrace. All the while bullets were flying at me, and giant machina with huge legs and ones with huge cannons waited for us.

Fun fun.

Somehow, we all managed to make it down in one piece, Tidus calling up an "All set!" when we were all safe and...Well, on the Terrace, anyway.

And boy, did Seymour not look happy to see us.

"Good Guardians..."The traitorous Maester began. "What bring you here?"

"Isn't it obvious?"Tidus asked. "We're here to bring Yuna with us."

"Home."