Ronsos, Snowy Mountains, and an Old, Dead City (NFB - distance, and backdated)

[the_merriest]

In retrospect, Rikku should probably have warned Jude that 'Ronso' meant 'enormous blue warrior cat-person with a sharpened horn and an attitude problem.'

"You didn't ask," she said later with a shrug. "You guys don't have Ronsos?"

They were scaling the base of Mount Gagazet when they first encountered two of them, standing guard before the pathway.

"None may pass except Ronso!"

Rikku set her chin determinedly. "Well, I'm gonna pass. I'm here to talk to Kimahri."

The other narrowed his eyes at her. "Elder is busy. Elder is not to be disturbed for puny Al Bhed girl."

"Oh, really?" Rikku put her hands on her hips. "Does Kimahri know that? He's too important for his old friends? Man, Yuna's gonna be ticked at him for that one."

The first glared again. "You are friend of High Summoner? High Summoner is friend to Ronso."

"I was totally one of her guardians. We came through here on the pilgrimage! Your memory must suck." She folded her arms. "You gonna keep me waiting?"

The two Ronso looked at each other, conferred for a minute, and then decided. One headed back to base while the other watched them. After a few minutes, he returned with a third Ronso, whose horn appeared to be broken near the base.

"Rikku." He bowed his head slightly. "Kimahri is sorry for confusion."

From the way she bounced forward to give him a hug, he could probably tell that she didn't mind.


Mount Gagazet was cold. Cold, and snowy. And then more snowy, and more cold.

"H-h-how are you not f-f-f-freezing?!" Rikku asked, shocked.

"Canadian," Jude reminded her gently, carefully settling his toque on her head.

"Al Bhed," she said with a grin. "Great with deserts, bad with snow." Rikku pulled the toque down over her ears. "Ooooh, this is nice! I need to get one of these."

"I'll knit you one next time I'm bored at work," he assured her gravely.

Rikku grinned. "Really? You knit? ... Whoa, are you in that class, with the Frost lady and, uh ..." She flailed a bit.

"No!" Jude said quickly, blushing. "I uh, Dean the Tick! But I knew how before!"

Rikku put a hand over her face, giggling. "Hermione sent some back home. She thought they were socks."

"Awww, geeeeeeez . . ."


The top of the mountain turned into a series of caves, opening out over the side of an ancient ruined city.

"Zanarkand," Rikku said, stopping for a moment to look down. "This is ... it's where everything started. Sin. Yevon. All those stupid deaths and the hatred and the pilgrimages and everything else." She bit her lip for a long moment.

"Okay. We gonna board or what?"

"Totally, bra," Jude said with a little smile. He stole a swift kiss before taking off with a loud "WAHOOOOOOOO!"

Zanarkand, it turned out, was an excellent place to board.


Near the heart of the city was an old, delapidated stadium, similar to the one in Luca. "C'mon," she said, entering eagerly. "All kinds of neat stuff in here. Plus I got ... something I gotta do."

Beams had fallen over haphazardly on one another, creating peaks and ramps. Rather a nice place to board as well. Kept you on your toes.

Past a long hallway there was a small room with a floating piece in the center, circled by a series of glyphs. Standing on it made it drop down to the lowest floor, a huge antechamber with a cracked stone embedded in the floor. At the end of it was a doorway.

Rikku looked at Jude for a long moment. "I'm ... I have to go through there and do something. It's not scary! I mean, it was, but we got rid of her." She shook her head, rambling again. "You ... you don't have to come. You can just stay here."

"O-okay," Jude said uncertainly. "Do you want me to come?"

"I ..." Rikku stood for a long moment, considering. "You don't have to. It's kinda ... but I wouldn't mind. If you did?"

"Then I'll come," Jude said, taking her hand.

The doorway lead to a platform suspended in open space. Stars circled lazily.

Rikku stood for a long moment, pulling Jude's arms around her and shivering. "Okay, it's a little scary," she said softly. "I kinda ... almost died here. Not like with the drowning. For real, I mean."

She didn't need any encouragement for his arms to tighten around her and his sadface to appear, but he didn't say anything.

"I remember Wakka taking this bad hit and then he fell over and Lulu freaked and ... that's it. I don't even know what happened next. Something hit me. Boom."

After a few minutes, she drew a deep breath and walked out to the center of the platform, kneeling down. Again she pulled a white rose out of her pouch. "I'm sorry," she said. "I know it wasn't here but I didn't know where else. And ... I guess you died long before I even met you, but I'm still sorry. Thank you, for protecting her. And I still say you could take Deadpool."

She stood up slowly, walking back, and then turned around again abruptly. "And you. She Sent you and you'd better stay Sent, and I know I'm supposed to forgive people and move on and all that but I hope you're miserable somewhere for what you did."

Rikku walked back to Jude, shivering again. "Let's ... let's get out of here. Please."

Jude didn't understand what had just gone on, but he was okay with that. It happened a lot. He took Rikku's hand and led her away.


That night they curled up in front of a campfire and watched the pyreflies sing by in the sky. "Pops will be here, in the morning, and then it's back to Fandom." She snuggled in. "Did ... did you have a nice time? Seeing things, I mean."

"Yeah," Jude said decisively. "It was . . . cool." He kissed her temple. "Thanks. Not just for showin' me everything, but for . . . you know. Letting me in."

"I'm ... I'm glad. That you liked it." Rikku closed her eyes with a smile. "It's so weird, being back here again after having been gone. You see it all so differently, you know?"

She considered. "And ... thanks for ... I don't know. Wanting in? Not freaking out at all this? I was hoping you'd ... I don't know. Understand. You're good at that."

"I don't . . . understand all of it," Jude said carefully. "But I'm trying."

"No, I mean ..." Rikku shook her head. "I know it's weird. I'm not good with words. I just mean ... this is what I know. Fandom's kinda strange for me. No one dies, for one. I like that. A lot."

"Me too," Jude said with a small smile, wondering where she was going with this.

"That's why ... with Bayla. I don't mind that she grew up in Toronto. Her friends didn't die. Nobody called her a s-sand monkey." She dipped her head slightly. "But this is why ... I can fight. I kinda had to. You know?"

"Yeah," he said quietly, nuzzling against her. "I know. I'm . . . sorry."

"It's okay." She nuzzled back and gave him a light kiss. "I mean, I like being who I am. And I like kicking butt, too. I just ... wanted you to see that, I guess." She brightened a little. "Plus all the cool stuff. Like the Moonflow and Macalania. And blitz."

"Blitz was awesome," Jude said emphatically.

Rikku grinned and bounced a little. "It was! It's the best! Except, uh, hockey. They can tie?" She giggled. "Man, if you hadn't liked blitz, I was gonna be so down."

"No worries, bra. Blitz is totally awesome. And you're pretty awesome, too."

"You're pretty awesome yourself." Rikku leaned in for another kiss. "And thanks."

And if he didn't realize it by now, she really would need to find parts for those damn awesome detectors of his.


(OOC: the last of these! As usual: cowritten with dude_its_jude, who rocks the hizzy, NFB, not for interaction, backdated, and OOC is love.)