Voices from the corridor drifted into Rikku's sleep. She drifted quietly with the soft drawls and mumbles as they led the way back to consciousness. One or two words spiked out of the haze like a sharp thorn only to vanish again. All of this in what, less than a week? A memory floated past of looking up through stinging dirt-clogged eyes into Yuffie's face as she lay cradled in her arms. How can it just be a week, it feels like forever. "Hey wake up! Wake up Rikku... they wanna talk to us. Sheesh, wake up wont you?!" Yuffie grabbed Rikku's shoulders and gave them a quick wriggle. Rikku's face stirred into a scowl. Yuffie suddenly found herself brushing Rikku's hair from her face, the heat from the girl's face seared into her hand and buzzed along her arm. Her mind considered the edge of the blankets that were tucked up under Rikku's bare arm and spoke to Yuffie in little giggling whispers 'If I just pull it down a little...just a little... she's only wearing that little thing... just a little...' Something tugged at her blankets. Rikku opened her eyes as Yuffie stumbled backwards. "Theywannatotalktousyouhavetogetupnowandmeetwithallthemlotoutthere!" "What?" Rikku forced herself upright and blinked at the fuzzy image of Yuffie as she staggered about the room throwing clothes at Rikku's bed. "Get Dressed! We're all going to the Island! I think. They were talking out there before. Harriet said to get dressed and we gotta meet them." Yuffie stopped her frantic organising and watched as Rikku clambered out of bed and stretched. She tried to ignore the sensations sweeping over her body and kicked at something on the floor. Rikku sighed and gathered her clothes up. "Well... I'm off to have a shower. I'll meet you there okay?" Yuffie nodded, halting the words 'no time for a shower, you better dress here' before they had a chance to slip out. ---------- Steiner stood behind a large sheet of paper, on which the drawing of the island had been supplemented with plans for their imminent arrival. He stretched out and drew, for good effect, another small dotted line showing where they planned to anchor the airship. "Of course we're going to be making numerous trips. We have to ascertain whether it's safe to land people there. We will also be awaiting advice from our medics as to your fitness, as you're both still recovering from the rescue." Steiner folded another sheet of paper out over the top of the first. It was a closer view of where the cave had been before it had collapsed. "This is where we will be excavating our entrance. This point here is accessible by land and we have three teams of five ready to work. Our equipment drops will be tomorrow landing the next day and two days hence. This... this is where we believe there to be the greatest risk, these... roots or something... according to the girls they were dormant but they've shown up at night glowing like a bonfire. We're confident at the moment that if we work during the day and camp in the airship at night we'll be able to excavate the entrance in around a week." Steiner looked back up at the Rikku and Yuffie; "You're linked to this somehow so we'll be asking you to assist us in exploring the cave system. Any further excavations will be carried out at your request." Rikku nodded. What else could they do but help. Yuffie shrugged, "We'll kick its arse." "We don't even know what 'it' is yet, so be cautious." Beatrix warned. She pulled a small sheet of paper from a pile on the table and sighed, "There've been more reports of people going crazy. We don't know how many are due to this, however..." Steiner stood upright and glared at the two girls, "You're training begins today, I'll show you to the training rooms. We have medics there to assess your skills. Please follow me." ---------- Eiko bounced up and down on her bed listening to the musical creaking of the metal springs. One arm was wrapped around a small pink cat plushie. "They're not taking you away kitten, no way no how yeeeeeaaaaahh!" Eiko sang to herself and hugged the toy to her face. It seemed to radiate a feeling of safety and kindness. ---------- A powerful stink of damp wood and creosote filled the corridor that led to the newly built training rooms. A big fire had been lit to warm the large rooms and to heat the saunas and the swimming pool. Rikku and Yuffie were taken to a room filled with an array of wooden blocks and posts, each one a different shape as though cobbled together by a child. The set was laid out in a huge grid on the floor. "What the heck is that?" Yuffie kicked at one of the blocks. It made a sudden rattling motion that sent Yuffie reeling backwards, "Argh! Yikes!" "You've discovered the secret to the training rooms, they're all run on steam and machinery. Each one reacts to your motions differently. To disable them you just have to hit them in the right places. Here," Steiner handed Yuffie a small metal staff, "Have a go, try and knock out as many as you can." "Hah, okay, I'll bust the lot!" Yuffie held the staff up and eyed the blocks with a determined leer. She swang at one of them and it rang out a dull thud, shuddering sideways. Yuffie grinned and opened her mouth to snap out a taunt but was stopped short as the whole array started to shudder into life. "Lookout Yuffie, they're all connected." Steiner said from the back of the room where he, Rikku and two fitness trainers. "Oh..." Yuffie watched as the array of blocks changed, each block seemed to grow and change shape, one of which had posts swinging out sideways. Yuffie ducked under them just in time and swung the staff low to hit the thing in the middle. Another block wobbled it's way towards her and she noticed the grooves on the floor that they were riding in like train tracks. She tried to guess its movement and missed. The tracks were clicking and moving with the rest. Yuffie took a deep breath and swung again as something hit her arm. She cursed and leapt out of the way, already short of breath. Rikku felt her muscles reacting to the blocks even from the back of the room. She wondered if it was allowed to yell hints at Yuffie. One of the trainers, a beefy man with long green hair, commented to the other, "She's still weak. I heard her condition was quite bad when she was found." The other trainer, a fit young lady, scribbled notes on a clipboard. "She was quite weak with malnutrition. Skinny as a rake she is, look at her. Hardly anything on her at all." Rikku jerked forwards as Yuffie was hit across the back by one of the block's 'arms'. Yuffie gasped for air and staggered across the floor as though she were on the last of her legs. "Pull her out of there." Steiner ordered and pulled a lever on the wall down. The blocks shuddered to a stop. Yuffie staggered around a little more and looked back at the bystanders, "Hey!" she puffed, "I could... still... take them on... just..." she bent over and took some deep breaths. Biting pain in her side caused her to cry out "Ahh!" as she stood up again. "I'm fine!" she countered and clobbered one of the blocks. Steiner waved her back, "You're still ... recovering." He tactfully avoided using the word weak. Yuffie, panting and puffing, shook her head, "I was the best. I was the best! I was the best..." Steiner interrupted, "Yuffie these are our expert trainers, this is Elk and this is Skye." "How long had you been without proper food? Before they found you I mean," Elk asked. "Food? I was..." Yuffie shrugged, she'd been on her own for nearly six months. Sometimes food had been scarce but she could always steal something from somewhere. Her gaze fell to her feet, and she saw how skinny her legs were. Somehow it hadn't mattered back then. "You'll be back to the best in no time at all!" Rikku chirped, "You just need some more practise right?" Yuffie nodded without much enthusiasm. Skye shook her head, "Takes a long time to get back into shape from a condition like that. You should take it easy for a while." "Get lost! As if! I have to go fight and that's what I'm gunna do!" Yuffie swang the staff and attacked one of the blocks, scattering it across the floor. Steiner took the staff from her skinny little hand. "You have plenty of time Yuffie." He handed the staff to Rikku and ushered her out into the array. Yuffie huffed under her breath; Rikku was too much of a kitten to do any damage surely. Rikku eyed up her opponents as Steiner pulled the lever up. She steadied herself as they quivered with life. "Odd stance." Skye noted Rikku's queer posture, her knees almost knocking together. Rikku moved in a sudden streak and vanished. Yuffie gasped. One of the blocks scattered itself across the floor. Rikku landed on top of the next one and brought the staff down across the adjacent block, it crashed into the one next to it while Rikku leapt out of the way. She ducked, weaved and almost danced across the floor while the blocks did their utmost to avoid or hit her but none could get near her and none could escape. Yuffie pressed herself back into the wall as her knees grew weak and fought for breath. Rikku leapt into the air like a cat, slammed the staff down on another block and ducked under another that had snuck up from behind. Yuffie shivered and a cold sweat washed over her face, Rikku turned and crashed the staff into another block, then turned again and leapt over another as it jolted forwards. Yuffie shuddered again as a hot rush of blood sent the room spinning. Her legs were sapped of their strength with every movement Rikku made. Each time Rikku disabled another block it sent fire into Yuffie's heart and she watched with a helpless gaze that she couldn't break, caught out of the dark by the blazing light that Rikku's skill cast. Her breath rushed from her lungs in a shaky "Oh wow". "She's good." Skye noted. Rikku was lithe and faster than the highest setting on the dial that Steiner had turned all the way up. She weaved in and out with almost psychic ease, gracefully swiping everything in her way. She flicked the staff upwards under one of the blocks and sent one part flying into the air, "Whoopsie!" she squealed then turned to the onlookers and winked, flicking the staff across another block. She saw Yuffie staggering to the floor and stopped, ducked under a pole and ran toward her. "Yuffie? Are you okay?" Rikku knelt down beside Yuffie and placed her arm around Yuffie's trembling shoulders. Yuffie took a shaky breath, her shivering frame collapsed further as she gasped for breath. The room tilted and swayed. Rikku's arm pulled her close. The world disappeared and left Yuffie alone, overwhelmed by the feeling of Rikku's warm body, the smell of breakfast on her breath, the vivid image of her slamming the blocks into scattering debris, sparks collided in her mind and lost amongst them all Yuffie floated. Her gaze fixated on Rikku's face. "She's not fit to fight anything." Steiner commented. He sighed and turned the machinery off. "Who? Rikku?" Skye asked. "Yuffie. Rikku, you're good. You can help Yuffie recover her strength." Steiner sighed. "Okay." Rikku answered from the distant place she had drifted to, pulled away from the world by Yuffie's relentless stare. "Are you okay?" She hauled Yuffie up a little and propped her up against the wall. Yuffie curled her legs up and hugged her knees. The fire in her blood was white hot and it burned in strange places. "She might not need to fight physically... can she use magic at all?" Elk asked Steiner, who shrugged and flicked his eyebrows at Rikku. Rikku shrugged. "Yuffie?" "..." Yuffie blinked and Rikku's image stayed burned in her mind, leaping like a cat over the wooden blocks. She kept her eyes closed so she could replay the memory over again, it sent surges of hot and cold through her body, burning and aching that almost hurt. Rikku's eyes searched over Yuffie's body, her hands wrapped tight around her shoulders, "Are you okay? Do you need help?" Yuffie, still out of breath and shaking, opened her eyes and once again looked into Rikku's, enchanted by their colour, her face, the way the light caught her hair, her lips ...I never knew she was so awesome. Rikku felt all the words she knew float away as Yuffie stared, unblinking and silent. 'She's scared and too proud to admit it.' ---------- "Come on Eiko where did you get the toy?" Garnet jolted sideways again, Eiko jolted the other way on the bed. She hugged the kitty toy close, "Mine! Mine mine mine mine mine! One of the cooks gave it to me! The nurse did! It was ..." Eiko dodged her mother again, Garnet leapt across the bed and collapsed. "Eiko, we just want to make sure you're safe... sweetie please." "There's nothing wrong with Kitten." Eiko hugged the toy again. The more she hugged the more it felt like something was hugging her back - hugging her very soul. Garnet stood up and saw Eiko's teary little eyes, "You poor little dear." Of course it must be hard for her...she doesn't really think of me as her mother. Poor little thing, never had a childhood did you Eiko. ---------- Rikku sat by Yuffie's side while the trainers checked her over, she watched from a distant corner of her mind safe from confusing emotions. A place she knew well. 'See, it's easy to forget about love.' But even to think the word sent a little twinge of pain behind her eyes. A little bite out of her heart every time she thought, 'It's not like it would ever work out. The next snappy bloke to come along and she'll be all over him. Better to get it over with and go home. If I can ever get back home. Not that I want to go back home. Although I do.' "She's fine." Skye pronounced. She scribbled in her clipboard again. "Can you set up a schedule, I'll go and see how the others are doing loading the airship." Steiner said. Skye nodded, "Sure." "I'll say goodbye for the time being then ladies. Good luck with your training. I'll be back in three days to see how you've gone. Don't overdo it." Steiner saluted the girls and strode toward the exit. "Um bye!" Rikku waved back as he left the room. "Yeh... bye." Yuffie waved absently and smiled at Rikku again, a smile that seemed to just... appear there on its own. She's so cool. ---------- Eiko hugged her little kitten toy and looked back over her shoulder. She squeezed her eyes shut and blinked. She counted to three... but when she looked back the little ghost was still there. Eiko tilted her head and watched the little ghost for a moment. Why aren't I scared? "Dat's my Kitten," the little ghost, a girl younger than Eiko, pointed at the toy cat. "I found... how come you're here?" Eiko turned the toy over and over in her hands. It seemed real enough. Why would a ghost girl have a toy cat? "You can keep her for a bit if you want. She's magic, she makes the nightmares go away." The little girl stood up and brushed out her frilly pink dress. Eiko screwed up her nose at it and squinted at the girl. She had just appeared there after Garnet had left, in the corner of the room, picking her nose. "I think I'm sick. I don't feel very good." The little girl pouted and twisted a lock of her long brown hair round her finger. Eiko huffed, "Don't be silly! You look fine to me. How come you're here ... or are you really in my head?" The girl shook her head and looked around Eiko's bedroom, "Your room hasn't got many toys. How come you don't got many toys?" "I don't ... I do... I did but they took them away." "How come? Were you bad? Mum just puts me in my room when I'm bad. I got lots of toys. I got a hundred toys. I can count to a hundred. I can count past ten!" The girl sighed and folded onto the floor. Her head rested on her arms as she sprawled out on the carpet. "I feel sick!" "How come? I'll get a doct... I'll ... do ghosts get sick?" The little girl closed her eyes and curled up into a little ball, "I'm scared!" Eiko hesitated and then took a couple of steps forward. The girl whimpered a little and Eiko took a step back, her heart racing. What if it's a trick? Who is she anyway? "You can have your kitten back," Eiko took a few quick steps toward the little girl and thrust the little toy into her shivering arms. The girl hugged the kitten close and sniffed, "Fanks." "Who are you?" Eiko stepped back again and looked the girl over. She was unfamiliar in every way. The girl took a deep breath and sniffed, "the bad dreams is coming to get me." Eiko stepped back again, her back met something soft. She turned and fell backwards as a large black and indistinct figure pushed past. It wafted like a shadow and sent the hairs on Eiko's neck standing on end like static. She froze, stuck without a scream to break the sudden dead silence. The little girl lay motionless as the shadow approached her and stood at her side. Eiko swallowed and tried to inhale, her chest was heavy and the floor pulled her down like a magnet. The shadow leaned over the girl and drew from itself a long silver sword; it swung through the air in silence and stopped just at the girl's neck. The girl whimpered and clung to her little kitten. The sword dug a little way into the girl's skin... and there it stayed for countless seconds. Then the shadow sighed and pulled the sword away. The little girl began to sob as the shadow walked away, fading into nothing... Eiko gasped, coughed and clawed at the air for breath. She looked at where the girl had been lying, she'd vanished with the shadow. Eiko crawled up onto the bed and wrapped her arms around the blankets on which a rain of hot tears made little dark spots.
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