Chapter Twenty-Three - To Besaid
Somewhere, very far away, someone was calling her name.
"...Rikku... Rikku!"
She didn't heed the voice. She was far too content where she was. Or at least, where she had been. Where was that again?
"Rikku!"
It was getting louder. She found it irritating. Now something was shaking her.
"Stop it, tysh ed!" she grumbled finally, surprised at how close her own voice sounded.
"What a relief, she's coming around!" The voice was very loud now.
She suddenly became aware that she was laying on something hard, and that she was wet. Very wet. With what felt like a great effort, she forced herself to open one of her eyelids.
Her vision was bleary at best. There were people leaning around her. The one closest to her was an old bald guy. He seemed strangely familiar, too. She squinted harder.
"Pop..." she muttered in recognition.
She was back on her father's excavation ship. How had they found her? She had been gone for days! She felt a stab of guilt when she realized her father must have been staving off heart attacks in worry of what had happened to her. But wait, how did she get here again? She suddenly felt very confused.
Her head was swimming with questions, but before she was able to figure out which one to ask first, Cid barraged her with his own inquiries.
"What were you DOING down there? Where the devil have you been!?" I told you one hour! ONE! You are in so much trouble, missy!"
Rikku recoiled. That vein in his forehead was popping out in a fashion that only occurred when he was really furious.
"Pop... Father..."
"Don't 'father' me, you know better than this!"
"But- "
"I don't want to hear a word out of you! You are THROUGH with this excavation, I am having the airship pick you up tomorrow and you are going STRAIGHT Home!"
"Yessir..." Rikku replied meekly, keeping her eyes downcast in submission.
Brother put a hand on Cid's shoulder, and interjected the lecturing.
"Ryc cra hud paah drnuikr ahuikr? Cra'c cuygehk yht aqryicdat, mad'c dyga ran eh pavuna cra kadc celg!"
Rikku silently breathed a sigh of relief. Brother to the rescue!
Cid forcibly shook Brother's hand from his shoulder, but he nodded. "I guess yer right," he said to Brother, and then to Rikku, "Get you hiney inside this minute!"
Not waiting for anyone to help her up, Rikku scrambled to her feet and scurried to her room within the excavation ship to rest. She was still very disoriented about how much time had passed in her absence, but she contented herself that she'd find out sooner or later, and that now was the time to rest.
It wasn't until she was settled into the top bunk of her bed that she remembered what had last transpired. She had seen Auron... in the Farplane! She could still remember the sensation of his spirit mingling with hers. It had been the most ethereal and wonderful feeling she'd ever experienced.
A sadness washed over her. But now she would never see him again... Until they met again in the farplane at the end of her days.
She remembered Auron's words... That perhaps someone should hear about their story, so that Rikku's memories weren't enslaved and unmourned.
She desperately wished Yuna was present on the ship with them. She was her best friend and closest of her family, she felt. But she was miles away in Besaid...
She sighed and willed herself to sleep until she was called upon. She must have needed it, for sleep claimed her moments after she shut her eyes.
It must have been hours later when she awoke to Brother knocking on her door before letting himself in.
"Yna oui ymnekrd? Oui naymmo syta ic funno..."
Rikku sighed. "Yes I'm alright... And I gathered from pops reaction that he'd been worried sick about me." She paused. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be practicing your English? You wanted to impress Yunie next time we visit, remember?"
Brother slouched but said, "Yes..." He cleared his throat. "I was sent to tell you... Airship will be here and you are to... make ready."
"Yeah okay... But can I ask you a couple questions? I'm kind of disoriented... I don't really remember much at the moment."
"Okay, ahead you go."
Rikku was tempted to snicker at his rough English, but instead continued with her question. "How long have I been gone?"
Brother paused, either because he had not expected the question, or because he was trying to find the correct English words to answer her. "Two hours."
She blinked. "What?! Dfu ruinc?!?!" she repeated in Al Bhed, sure that Brother had mistranslated and had meant two weeks.
Brother raised an eyebrow. "Yes, dfu ruinc. Two hours."
Her mind raced as she tried to piece the information together. So it wasn't that they had come back and found her, they had never left! The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. The time spent in the past in no way affected the time that had passed in the future. Auron had probably sent her back to the closest moment after her departure in her time.
Then she was angry. "The old man was upset about one measly extra hour?! Fryd y telg!"
"He acted over," Brother agreed in his rough English. "But it did feel a long time that you gone. Worry us not, Rikku!"
She sighed. "I'm sorry, really."
"Rikku... You find anything?" The sudden gleam of excitment that flickered in Brother's eyes told Rikku that he had been impatiently waiting for the right time to ask this question.
"No," she heard herself saying. She didn't even question herself as to why she was lying. The Highwind must not be excavated, she knew that much. Strangely, she didn't have any fear of them finding it after she left. Somehow, she knew the secret of the Highwind rested with her.
Brother's shoulders slumped in evident disappointment. "Well, still much sea to search," he said, then reminded her, "You make ready now, airship here soon!"
He left.
When Rikku had gathered her few belongings, she left the room to find Cid waiting for her, apparently to make sure she actually boarded the airship rather than try to stay behind.
As if she wanted to take any further part in this excavation, she thought.
"Behave yourself on the Fahrenheit," Cid lectured, as though she were a small child. "The ship will be stopping off at Besaid briefly to pick up some supplies, but you will be back on Bikanel Island within the day. Now git!"
Feeling less submissive than earlier, Rikku walked at a deliberate, leisurely pace as she boarded the ship.
For the moment Cid had told her of the Fahrenheit's stop in Besaid, Rikku knew it would be there, and not Bikanel Island that would be her last stop.
Here I come, Yunie!
A/N This may be the second-last chapter. I appreciate all the reviews everyone! 'x Kihana x', especially you, not just for that amazing mega-review you gave me on my last chapter, but for all your encouragement and support throughout the five years of me writing this!