Updated 1/3/04:  Thanks to Saranomy once again for betaing, and especially for the better ending for the scene with Basik!  This chapter has now been revised.  Hopefully that's cleared up some rough edges and stuff.  Next chapter is coming, but I'm stuck in a bit of a rut… 

I sincerely apologize for the delay. As it is, I'm posting this without Saranomy's assistance, though thanks goes out to Cheshire1311 for giving it the once-over. I'll probably repost the edited version once Sara returns from the dead. We miss ya, girl!

Also, I need to say: Thank you sooooo much to all who reviewed! You guys make my day and I can't thank you enough. The constructive criticism is very much appreciated; I put a lot of effort into drawing out this chapter and making it less rushed than the previous ones; I hope it's better. I also seem to have retrieved my long-lost sarcastic humor, and I delved a bit more into the characters' minds. Let me know what you think of this slight change in writing style. Keep those reviews coming!

Note to lynnxlady: Thanks for your reviews! ::huggles:: I've got you on my Author Alert, so no need to email me about your updates. Thanks for the offer, though!

Oh, yes, and before I forget: near the beginning of the chapter, I make a reference to a Dark Aeon. In case this seems unfamiliar to you, Dark Aeons (among other things) were an addition to the International and PAL (European) versions of FFX. They're extremely difficult and evil and a pain in the ass to deal with. ^_^ Sorry if it causes any confusion, but it seemed to fit the scene.

Al Bhed translations at the end, as always. Don't forget to review!

                                                            Shattered Dreams

                                                                    Chapter 4

                                                                     Breaking

            "Should we-"

            "No."

            "Just for-"

            "No."

            "Not even-"

            "No."

            Rikku scowled and kicked a loose stone with her toe.  It tumbled over the edge of the ravine and fell down, down, into oblivion.  "Why not?" she huffed.

            "Because the last time we went into that damned cave, a bloody ghost chased us out and summoned a freakin' Dark Aeon on us!  Five times!"

            "Well, Yunie got a new Aeon," Rikku pointed out brightly.

            "And we nearly got killed in the process."

            "But we did finally beat it," Rikku reminded him, "So it should be safe now."

            "Why'd ya wanna go down there anyways?" Wakka asked, raising an eyebrow.  "I thought you wanted to get to the summit as fast as possible."

            Rikku growled, a clear sign that she didn't want to discuss it.  Wakka took the hint and backed off.  For now.

            They continued their hike up the trail, getting sidetracked as they reached the first snow.  Rikku deviously hung back and whipped up a snowball, which was short lived as it met its end by connecting with the back of Wakka's head.  Hard.

            "Ow!" he cried, spinning around.  Rikku tried to appear nonchalant, but since she was the only one around, Wakka wasn't fooled.

            "You think you're so clever, ya!" grinned Wakka, packing down a snowball of his own.  Rikku yelped and dived behind a snow bank, but Wakka's impeccable blitzball aim caught her in the shoulder, despite her efforts.

            "No fair!" she shrieked indignantly, and pelted him with three more cold, wet grenades from behind the shelter of her snow bank. 

            "Oh, so that's how it is," Wakka laughed, and ducked behind his own snowdrift.  Soon a barrage of snowballs was flying through the air, leaving globs of snow littering the trail.  Despite their best efforts, neither opponent seemed to be landing any hits, so it wasn't long before they began to resort to dirtier tactics.  Wakka cast Aim on himself while Rikku cast Luck.  Wakka tried to add a darkness effect to his snowballs, and Rikku risked a few smoke bombs and sleeping powders, and once even a frag grenade, which caused a little more destruction than she'd intended.  Wakka retaliated with a heavy assault of blitzball-sized snowballs, all infused with Triple Foul.

            Rikku was digging around in her pouch for some status-ailing, non-damage-inflicting items to mix up when she realized the onslaught had stopped.  Frowning in confusion, she cautiously poked her head up from behind her snow fort, expecting to be hit with a volley of wet slush, but none came.

            She was instantly suspicious.  She checked to make sure her Victorious was equipped firmly, and then crept out from her stronghold with bated breath.  When Wakka failed to leap out from behind a snowdrift or pelt her with snowballs, she breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time became even more alert.  Wakka was obviously up to no good.  She crawled stealthily across the distance between their two snow banks, hoping to surprise him with an attack of her own.

            "Eat this!" she yelled, jumping up with a huge snowball in hand, but her words fell on an empty path.  There was no red-haired blitzer in sight.

            "What the…" Rikku muttered, but she didn't have time to finish her thought before she was tackled from behind.  She screamed and ended up with a mouthful of snow as both she and her attacker fell to the ground.  There was a brief tussle as Rikku kicked and squirmed, then suddenly began to laugh as she discovered she was being tickled.  She tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but she was breathless from laughing and struggling.  In a final attempt to escape, she lashed out and managed to twist onto her back, and suddenly found herself staring into a pair of deep blue eyes.

                                                            ~*~*~*~

            Wakka stopped tickling her when she rolled onto her back as he suddenly became distinctly aware of how close their faces were.  He had the sudden urge to lean down and…

            "Uh, Wakka?  It's been fun an' all, but could you get off me, please? You're crushing me!"

            He snapped back to reality and jumped to his feet, turning away so she couldn't see his face burning in a shade darker than his hair.  He suddenly became immensely interested in examining the snow around his feet, and briefly wondered if it might be a good idea to stick his face in a pile of it to help him cool down.  Then he decided no, he'd probably just melt it all, and Rikku would certainly notice if he did a nose plant into a snowdrift and then it all turned to slush before her eyes.  On the other hand, drowning would save him the humiliation of having to face her again…

                                                            ~*~*~*~

            Rikku eyed him warily from her half-sitting position on the ground.  She was waiting for him to offer his hand to help her up, but he didn't, so she sighed and scrambled up herself, brushing the snow off her shirt.  'Well, that's what you get for being rude last time,' she reprimanded herself.  She glanced at Wakka again.  He was still standing with his back to her, and was, as far as she could tell, deeply intrigued by the small mound of snow at his feet.

            "Wakka?  You okay?" she asked, tentatively taking a step forwards.

            He jumped at her voice and spun around to face her.  She couldn't help but notice he looked a bit flushed.  It wasn't that cold, was it?

            "I should kill you for that stunt you pulled," she informed him matter-of-factly.  She was expecting a "You started it!" retort, but to her surprise, Wakka simply looked back down at the snow again.  What was it with the snow?!  Honestly, it was just cold and wet and white.  Nothing amazing about it.

            "Whatever.  I'll get you later," Rikku muttered, put off by his lack of a comeback.  After a quick check to make sure everything was in place ("Pouch; hair; okay, we're good to go."), she marched past Wakka and up the path with all the air of one who's lost a battle but is determined to win the war.  Which, of course, she was.

                                                            ~*~*~*~

            Wakka continued to argue with his body about just how much blood should be pumped to his face in any given minute for a while longer before finally giving up and hurrying after Rikku.  She was already several hundred feet up the slope and contemplating exactly how much snow would have to lodge itself in Wakka's face before he'd get the hint and follow her already.  Luckily, he caught up before she had a chance to test this theory, and the duo continued on in silence for a while.

            Or at least, it seemed like a while to Wakka.  As far as Rikku was concerned, it couldn't have been more than five minutes, but she wasn't the one who had to ask the question.  She wasn't the one desperately trying to think how to phrase it without giving the wrong impression.  She wasn't the one wondering how strong her backhand was and if it was even worth trying to get out of the way.

            "…Rikku?" he asked tentatively, deciding that if he was going to be slapped it would be better to get it out of the way now.  That, or he might not have the courage to ask later, and if he didn't find this out he'd probably die of frustration and suspense.  He'd never been one for patience.

            "That's my name, don't wear it out!" sang Rikku.

            "Uh… um, I was wondering… about, um…"

            "Yeah?"

            "Remember, um, before?  You said, uh, you…"

            "Just spit it out, already!  I won't bite!" she cried exasperatedly.

            "Yousaidifyouwonyougottogoonadate," Wakka said all in one breath.  Then, more slowly, "And you won."

            Rikku blinked at him as her mind slowly deciphered what he'd said.  Then, to his great annoyance (and embarrassment), she burst out laughing.

            "And I'd completely forgotten about that!" she giggled, "So that's what you're all freaked out about!"  She cracked up again at his indignant expression.  "I just wanted to see the look on your face!" she explained, "And it was soooo funny!  You should have seen it!  And then when I won…!"  She dissolved into laugher again, and it was several minutes before she was coherent enough for Wakka to understand.  When she finally composed herself, she grinned at him and added, "Don't worry, you don't have to go out with me now.  Didn't you notice?  I never said a date with you."  She punched his arm lightly.  "So you're safe."

            "Oh."

            Wakka looked at the ground.  The puddle of slush at his feet was calling him again.  He seriously considered taking it up on it's offer.  It was very tempting.  Drowning himself in half-melted snow suddenly sounded very appealing.  Of course she hadn't been serious!  C'mon, this was Rikku; she joked about everything!  No one in his or her right mind could possibly take her seriously.  (Of course, Wakka had never claimed to be entirely in his right mind.)  But still, there had been a small part of him that had been… hopeful…

            Wait, what?  Where the hell was this train of thought going?  He was sure it wasn't the one he was supposed to be on…  He supposed vaguely that he should be more careful about which trains he hopped in the future.  A new platform labeling system would probably help, too.  That way he could steer completely clear of the one marked "Hormones".

            Wakka was still contemplating what to do about this runaway train and, more importantly, how to reply to Rikku, when a huge furry paw clamed over his mouth.  Unfortunately, his captor didn't seem to realize that it's huge paw not only covered Wakka's mouth, but also his nose, and so Wakka suddenly found breathing (and thus coherent thought process) very difficult.  He struggled wildly, but his captor was far too strong.

            "Hey!  What d'ya think you're doing?" he heard Rikku yell angrily.  The paw released him and he dropped to the ground, breathing deeply.

            "Guardian Rikku," a deep baritone rumbled, "Basik apologizes.  Sin gone, no more pilgrimage.  Ronso not see humans for many months.  Not expecting visitors."

            "It's okay," said Rikku, helping Wakka to his feet.  The great beast nodded to him.  "Guardian Wakka."

            Wakka blinked dazedly at the Ronso a few times, then seemed to recover with a grin.  "Oh, captain of the Fangs, ya?  We really whooped your ass in the finals last season, didn't we?"  Wakka laughed. 

            Rikku elbowed him in the stomach.  Hard.

            "Ow!  Um, I mean, you guys played well, ya.  Great game," he amended quickly.

            The Ronso stared impassively at them.  Wakka shifted uncomfortably under his scrutinizing gaze.  "You climb Gagazet," Basik said suddenly.

            "Uh, erm, yeah," Wakka said, confused by the abrupt change in topic.

            "Bad storm come.  Not safe.  You wait."

            Rikku objected, "But we really need to reach the summit!  It's important!"

            Basik folded his arms across his chest and regarded her stoically.  "Bad storm.  Much snow.  Big wind."

            "But… it looks clear now," Wakka pointed out hopefully, "Not a cloud in the sky."

            "Ronso know storm.  Hit hard, hit fast," Basik said sagely.  "It comes.  Ronso feel it."

Rikku and Wakka looked at each other.  She raised an eyebrow; he shrugged in reply.  Looking up at the large beast before them, Rikku shook her head, "I think we'll be alright. Thank you for telling us, but we're in a hurry. We can get through a little storm, don't you think, Wakka?"

Wakka nodded his assent. Basik stared down at the two ex-guardians impassively, seemingly contemplating their decision. Finally nodding, he looked up at the clear sky, and snorted.

"Good luck, Guardian Rikku and Guardian Wakka. May you go with mountain blessing."

                                                            ~*~*~*~

            Wakka glanced anxiously at the petite blonde beside him as they trudged through the snowstorm.  Basik had been right, and the storm had hit not half an hour after they set out.  Progress was excruciatingly slow.  Wind whistled around them and snow came down so fast it filled up their footprints mere seconds after they had pulled their legs out of the snow.  At each step, they sunk to their mid-calves in the powdery substance, and it was just getting worse with each passing minute.

            Rikku, especially, was looking worse for wear.  She was really not dressed for this sort of thing, and was shivering uncontrollably even as she sweated with the effort of making each step.  Wakka could hear her teeth chattering from where he stood, even with the noise of the wind and the raging storm.  He reached out and touched her arm.

            "Do you wanna turn back?"

            She shook her head stoically, determination written all over her features.  "We've come this far.  We can't go back now!"

            Wakka nodded, but continued to watch her with growing apprehension.  He really didn't like the way her knees buckled at each step, and he was certain her lips weren't supposed to be that shade of blue.  On Lulu, maybe, but not on Rikku.

            He caught her as she stumbled and fell, struggling to stand upright by herself.  "Are ya sure you're okay?" he asked.

            She pushed him away and nodded.  "I'm fine," she mumbled, "I'm getting used to it."

            "Rikku, don't!  You should never get used to being too cold!"  But even as he spoke, she swayed and collapsed, unable to support herself any longer.  Wakka carefully picked her up, holding her close to his chest in a feeble attempt to warm her up.  He marveled briefly at how light she was and hoped she was getting enough to eat, but quickly quelled these thoughts to make room for more important ones.  Such as, "What now?"

            "That's it, we're goin' back," he growled, and attempted to turn around.  Key word being "attempted".  The storm had worsened, and was now so bad that one couldn't discern the ground from the snow spiraling down around them.  It was impossible to tell left from right, north from south, backwards from forwards.  Wakka quickly realized this, and it was followed up even quicker with a nasty sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

            They were completely and hopelessly lost.

                                                            ~*~*~*~

            After nearly an hour of, well, really the only way it can be described is "moving," because he wasn't really walking or running or doing anything normally associated with traveling using the human feet, but he was moving, as in "going somewhere," although he was going there very slowly, and it is rather unclear where "there" was, as he wasn't entirely sure himself, this being due to the fact that he was lost, and… Ahem.

            Anyways, after nearly an hour of moving in a completely random direction, Wakka had come to the conclusion that Rikku was not as light as he had previously thought.  His muscles ached and he, too, was very cold.  He found himself longing to simply lie down where he was and sleep.  For a very long time.  As it was, the only thing keeping him going was the girl nestled in his arms.  He glanced down at her again, and was surprised to find her eyes half open.  She had been asleep ever since he'd picked her up.  Somewhere in the back of his mind, he vaguely registered some knowledge of cold, sleeping, and bad, but he couldn't remember why it had any importance or why he was thinking of it now, so he pushed it aside and focused on the matter at hand; namely, Rikku.

            She stared up at him now, frowning slightly, as if she were trying to remember something basic but couldn't seem to grasp it.

            "Wakka?" she murmured, sounding unsure of the name.

            "Ya?"

            She relaxed visibly and snuggled deeper into his arms, mumbling, "E tihhu frana E ys, pid ed'c y jano hela tnays." 

            "Um," Wakka said intelligently.  He decided it probably didn't matter, and shrugged for the effect.  Or at least, he tried to.  It's rather difficult to shrug when you've got one hundred and ten pounds of dead weight in your arms.  He struggled onwards.

            Rikku continued to talk into his chest, but her ramblings were all in Al Bhed, so Wakka mostly ignored them.  He heard his name once or twice, but she didn't seem to be trying to talk to him directly, so he brushed it off and continued plodding ahead in hopes that he might stumble upon some form of shelter before they both froze to death.

            "Some form of shelter" appeared to him in the shape of a gorge through which the mountain path ran.  The trail had previously (he assumed) been out on the open face of the mountain, but now it felt the need for some change of scene and so wound itself through a great cliff face, resulting in an almost tunnel-like crevasse along the bottom of which Wakka now, um, moved.  The great stone walls towering up on either side of him provided excellent protection against the howling wind, and although snow still came down rather heavily, it no longer swirled and danced and threatened to knock him over and run him down with a steam roller.

            In his exhausted and very cold state of mind, Wakka figured this was probably the best shelter he was going to get.  Finding a little niche under a half-broken pillar, he began to set up camp as best he could.  He quickly discovered that, due to their earlier decision to "travel light," he had very little at his disposal.  A single blanket, which he draped over Rikku's shivering form; some random status-healing items; various targes and armguards (none of which, he noted with disgust, were equipped with Nul-Frost); many strange bits and pieces Rikku used for customizing her claw; a small collection of feathers (he had no idea what Rikku intended to do with those); his blitzball; and some driftwood he'd been accumulating under the delusion that he'd carve 'stuff' out of them and present them as gifts on the various birthdays he usually forgot until the very last minute, and thus never had any presents for.  So he'd thrown the wood into his knapsack and conveniently forgotten about it until now.

            Now the sight of the dry branches sparked hope in his chest, and he immediately set to work creating the teepee-like base for a fire, arranging the pieces of wood so that they stood upright in a circle, joined at the top.  He grabbed some of Rikku's feathers and gently pushed them underneath the formation, grinning to himself.  At least he'd learned something useful from Auron during the pilgrimage.  He sat back and surveyed his handiwork.  Very nice indeed.  And then he suddenly realized something, and the thought sent all hope scurrying back to the black hole from whence it had come and throwing itself fervently into the night.

            He had no black magic.

            Of the two of them, Rikku was the one who knew black magic spells (albeit only the most basic) and therefore could light the fire.  And she was out of commission.  He sighed helplessly.  'C'mon, Wakka, there must be something you can do!  You ain't beaten yet, ya!' he thought to himself, brainstorming frantically.  The answer struck him like a tsunami, it was so obvious.  Or it might have, if he'd known what a tsunami was.  But he didn't, so the answer struck him more like a stampeding shoopuf.  Anyways, after he had slapped his hand to his forehead and finished berating himself for being so dense, he began rummaging through his pack, mumbling to himself.  At length, he triumphantly drew out a small, red, pin-like gem.  Grabbing his blitzball, he pried out the aquamarine one currently imbedded in its side, and replaced it with the red one, pushing it in firmly. 

            "There.  Firestrike," he said in satisfaction.  The ball burst into flame.

            It is of some interest to note that although the flames burned and licked his arms and hands angrily, he did not seem to be at all affected by them.  The tinder, on the other hand, was a completely different story.  He held the ball precariously over the small pile of wood, and the effect was instantaneous.  It ignited with a huge 'fwoosh' and crackled cheerfully, the warmth beckoning him closer.  Wakka savored it momentarily, then moved to Rikku's side and brought her closer to the fire, hoping it wasn't too late.  He remembered someone once telling him about 'frostbite', and he thought it sounded like a very nasty ailment indeed, and one he seriously doubted he could cure.

            How many hours he sat, staring at the fire with Rikku's head resting in his lap, he couldn't be sure.  But it was a very long time before she stirred, or showed any signs of life other than her painfully shallow breathing.  She had stopped shivering after he moved her next to the fire, but he was uncertain whether this was a good or a bad thing.  Absentmindedly, he stroked her hair, letting his thoughts wander, chasing each other in circles until he eventually drifted off into an exhausted, dreamless sleep.

                                                            ~*~*~*~

            Wakka awoke with the worst headache he had ever endured in his life.  It was a result of hours of sleeping in an upright position with his head hanging forwards, causing a painful crick in the back of his neck.  He jerked his head upright as he woke and winced upon hearing a nasty 'crack'.  Gingerly, he massaged his neck before remembering exactly why he had been sleeping in an upright position with his head hanging forwards, causing a painful crick in the back of his neck.  This memory caused him to jerk his head upright again, resulting in yet another nasty 'crack', at which point Wakka decided that he really didn't need to deal with all this and it was more important to get up and get on with life and whatever it was he had remembered. 

            Oh, yeah.  Rikku.

            The Al Bhed in question was currently asleep, her face buried in Wakka's stomach and her arms wrapped tightly around his waist.  A faint smile played upon her face.  Wakka blushed to the roots of his hair, and about the same color, too.  He carefully disentangled himself from her arms and shook her gently.  "Rikku.  Rikku, wake up, ya.  Are you okay?"

            She opened her eyes and looked around blearily.  "... dra ramm?  Frana ys E?" she slurred, still half asleep.  She looked up and saw Wakka.  "… the hell?" she repeated.

            "You okay?" Wakka asked concernedly, "You were freezin' cold, ya.  I thought I was gonna lose you."

            Rikku considered this.  "What happened?" she asked, when she found she couldn't remember.

            "You passed out.  I carried you up here and got a fire goin'."  Wakka scratched the back of his head.  "You really gave me a scare, ya know?"

            Rikku blinked and shook her head.  "Sorry," she mumbled.  She looked around again.  "Hey… the storm's let up!"

            Wakka looked up as well.  "Whoa, no way!  I thought it would never stop, ya?" He glanced at her again.  "You feel ready to go?  Can you walk?"

            She climbed to her feet unsteadily and took a few tentative steps.  She wobbled a little, but didn't fall.  "I'm good," she said cheerfully, "Thanks to you."  She leaned against a pillar for support while Wakka packed up.  It was a big pillar.  Stone, and a blockish, square-y I-shape, with interesting blue patterns along the top.  It seemed vaguely familiar…  "Yo, Wakka!  How'd we get here?  I couldn't see a thing in that storm!"

            Wakka looked confused.  "I dunno.  Where is 'here'?"

            Rikku pointed.  All along the sides of the canyon were pillars similar to the one Rikku was leaning against.  Some were broken, others remained completely intact, but all radiated a sense of déjà vu that irked Wakka no end… Then it hit him.  "That is just too weird," he mumbled, shouldering his pack and following Rikku down the path.  They rounded a corner, and there, stretched out in front of them, lay the Fayth Cluster.

                                                            ~*~*~*~

            For once in her life, Rikku was speechless.  Nothing she had ever seen, not even the destruction of her own Home, could possibly compare to the horror before her.  She couldn't even begin to explain why it was so awful, because in appearance, it didn't seem like anything horrendously evil.  She only knew that she felt a deep sense of foreboding, a chilling understanding and a dread of something yet to come.  The picture painted before her loomed with all its silent, hidden malice and something in her mind screamed, "This is not right!"

            The cliff face that held what once had been Fayth had turned a dark obsidian black, making each figure held captive in the rock barely distinguishable from the next.  Rikku seemed to remember that the iridescent, watery substance that used to flow over the Fayth had 'crusted over' and hardened when Yunie sent the Fayth, but she was certain it hadn't been such an ominous color before.  Just looking at the black wall sent shivers up and down her spine.  But that wasn't what disturbed her.  No, what disturbed her, what scared her beyond justification, were the cracks.

            Just like the eternally full moon hung low in the Farplane's chocolate sky, the wall of the Fayth was riddled with cracks, huge crevasses and gorges and enormous gaping holes that reeked with some unidentifiable power.  They laced through the rock, creating intricate patterns of no particular design.  Some stretched the entire width, others the entire length, others simply existing.  Several were large enough that it seemed one could waltz right in, and indeed, the feeling emitting from the place was that it went far, far deeper than one could possibly imagine.  It was like there was a whole other world behind that wall, and the cracks were the only way through.  They beckoned Rikku, they called her, but she knew she could never bring herself to step into that darkness.

            Rikku couldn't tell how she knew it was evil.  She just knew.

She grabbed Wakka's hand, and she could tell by the way he clutched at hers that the exact same thoughts were running through his head.  All Rikku's mind could register was that this was bad.  This was very bad.  And they had to get to Yunie.  Now.

            She tugged his hand, and together they turned, wanting to run, to run and never look back, but it was reaching for them, it wound itself around their legs, holding them back.  Rikku tried to scream, but no sound came out; her throat was hoarse and yet she hadn't said a word.  The darkness clung to her, choking her, dragging her backwards, and she tightened her grip on Wakka's hand, determined not to lose him.  Then the darkness engulfed her, and she knew no more.

********

Translations:

"E tihhu frana E ys, pid ed'c y jano hela tnays."  =  "I dunno where I am, but it's a very nice dream."

"... dra ramm?  Frana ys E?" =  "... the hell?  Where am I?"