Disclaimer: I do not own the Final Fantasy series of the song
Beautiful Disaster - Kelly Clarkson
He drowns in his dreams
An exquisite extreme I know
He's as damned as he seems
And more heaven than a heart could hold
And if I try to save him
My whole world could cave in
It just ain't right
It just ain't right
I was awoken in the middle of the night to what sounded like rustling in some nearby bushes. I slowly and calmly reach for my blades hidden beneath my pillow ready to attack any incoming threat. Keeping my eyes closed but hands at the ready I listen for more movements to pinpoint the enemies location.
Then a whimper reaches my ears.
My eyes shoot open and I turn towards it's direction. It was obviously hidden behind a set of bushes. I wanted to ignore it and go back to sleep but the kind hearted nature in me insisted that I investigated. What if it was? What if it needs help? But the logical part of my brain told me it could very well be a trap a fiend created to lure out it's victims.
Ignoring my brain and following my instincts I slowly and carefully approach the bushes as silent as I could, careful not to disturb any of my comrades slumbers. As I reach the bush a quickly pull it away so I could see. A gasp escaped my lips as I saw Auron, slightly tossing and turning in a small clearing behind the bush. His brow was coated with sweat and his eyes were clenched shut almost painfully. He was having a nightmare At my gasp, his eyes shot open and before I could comprehend what is happening I feel the cold, steel blade if his Katakana. Frozen solid, I had thoughts of death run through my head.
Why me? Why now? There's so much I wanted to do. I'll never be able to save Yunie from her pilgrimage. I'll never get married, or have children and eventually be a grandmother - if I lived that long. Obviously I wont. Not if Auron's blade has it's say in the matter.
The sword was quickly retracted for range of my throat and I let out a huge breath of relief. Gasping for the breaths I had missed in the short time the sword aimed for my throat and the shock of nearly dying, Auron sat back down and discreetly swiped his brow with a handkerchief. After my breath had regained I sat a fair distance away from his but enough to be able to talk to him without yelling.
After I few seconds of silence, I can't bare it anymore. "Are you alright?"
He gives me a sideways look but his face displays no emotion. "Shouldn't it be I who should be asking that? After all, you nearly had your head skewered."
I 'Hmphed' and looked away from him, crossing my arms and pouting like an immature child not having their own way. Silence filled the air around us again and yet again, it was too deafening to my ears. Before I could speak though, he had beaten me to the punch.
"What were you doing sneaking around at night?" he asked, curiosity barely evident in his voice.
"You were having a nightmare." I answered without thinking.
I saw him tense ever so slightly that I barely noticed it. But with the trained eyes of a thief I caught it without any trouble.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I whispered silently.
He made a scoffing sound and the little hope I had of him to open up to me had vanished.
"Okay." I mumbled, so silently I doubt he even heard it.
I looked down at my fingers and picked at the imaginary grime on my finger tips, seeing as my attention span was so short. After I was bored of that I looked up at Auron again and was surprised to see he wasn't being completely still like I expected. His right hand was ever so slightly touching his scare over his right eye that forced it to forever remain closed. His open eye had a faraway look, as if he were reminiscing. Suddenly, I had an inkling on what his nightmare was about.
Bracing myself, wetting my dry mouth and breathing in as much air as possible I had enough courage to ask. "Auron, how did you get that scare?"
It suddenly seemed as though life ceased to exist, the world stopped spinning for a single instant as he turned around and looked at me. His brown eyes were dead and old but it also held something I had never thought I'd seen in it. Pleading. His face turned away from me and I felt an undeniable urge to reach out to him. I crawled towards him and placed my hand on his shoulder and gently turned his face to me. His eye locked with mine and they portrayed hope. I delicately ran my fingers down the side of his face, softly caressing his hideous yet beautiful scare. He shivered under my touch and I felt a shimmer of pride that I could make him feel that way.
"Rikku…" he whispered.
"Please, tell me how you got the scare." I begged.
He sighed and closed his eye, grasping my hand and forced me to continue trailing his scare. For a minute, he didn't say anything and I didn't expect him too. Soon, I was sitting comfortably in his lap stroking his face and his arm that was wrapped possessively around my midsection. His face was laid in the crook of my neck, inhaling my scent.
"Lady Yunalesca." he whispered into my neck.
"What about her?" I asked, forgetting my question in a moment of bliss.
"She gave me the scare."
Every muscle in my body froze. I looked at him with serious eyes. "What?" I asked.
That's when he told me. How he was on his pilgrimage with uncle Braska and Jecht, how they met Lady Yunalesca and she told them about having to sacrifice a guardian to rid of Sin and create the Calm for ten years. How he thought it was preposterous and initially refused but Jecht offered to be the final Aeon and Braska accepted. How he felt when his two best and only friends died for what he believed to be a pathetic cause. How, in a blind rage, he confronted Lady Yunalesca and was stuck down mercilessly by her. How he crawled to Mt Gagazet and met Kimahri and asked him to look after Yuna. How his will was strong enough to stay alive… His current state.
Unsent.
I swore to myself and to him that when we would meet Lady Yunalesca, we would kill her for doing such a thing to him. Auron, concerned for me suffering a similar fate refused to kill her unnecessarily. He said that just because she destroyed his chances at happiness doesn't mean she has to destroy mine.
But that's where he didn't understand. With her destroying his happiness by killing him… She had also unknowingly and indirectly destroyed mine.
We are far more damned then what meets the eye.
He drowns in his dreams
An exquisite extreme I know
He's as damned as he seems
And more heaven than a heart could hold
And if I try to save him
My whole world could cave in
It just ain't right
It just ain't right