Story: Lightest Shade of Darkness (chapter 6)

Authors: rock18903

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Chapter 6

Title: Chapter 5

[Author's notes:

woooow, this story is about 20 pages long on word

i'm so proud ><

]

 

Chapter 5

Auronaha opened her eyes and saw that the stone had teleported them in a random forest near the banks of a small lake.  After she looked around she saw that Rikku was still unconscious in her arms.  Blood was still slowly oozing out of her wound.

"My god!" Auronaha whispered in panic knowing if Rikku died, there will be next to no chance of her to living.  She desperately looked around to see if her magical rod was transported with them.  To her relief, she saw it stuck in a bush not to far away.  Auronaha reached over to grab it but she found that it was too far.  She looked around frustrated not knowing what to do.  Then she spotted a  sturdy, clean looking tree close by.   Not wanting to hurt Rikku even more, Auronaha braced herself and slowly started to drag Rikku's wounded body to lean against the tree.  She now saw that Rikku must have lost a lot of blood, but the wound seemed to be healing quicker than normal.  Fearing the worst, Auronaha thought that Rikku had already past on.  Hesitantly, Auronaha began to slowly take off Rikku's chest armor and put her head to Rikku's chest.  Luckily, Auronaha could feel Rikku's body heat pulsating trying to heal the wound and a fain but stable hart beat.  Relieved, Auronaha relaxed, got her rod, and sat back down near Rikku.

It was getting dark and Auronaha started to feel the coolness of the night air.  She was never taught too many useful elemental spells because she always practiced with light and healing.  Then she remembered one of her spell casting class when they learned how to make a small sphere of light that radiated warmth.  She focused her power and will into her rod and thought of light and being warm.  Then the orb on the top of the staff began to glow, a ball of light began to separate from the staff and floated in the air.  It came towards her and Auronaha could feel its warmth relax her sore and tired body.

When she was finished with the spell, she opened her eyes to see the forest more clearly.  Now that everything was calm and settled, she took a better look at the person who was with her.  Without her chest and shoulder armor, Rikku wore a black sleeveless, v-neck shirt.  She had two belts that crossed over baggy pants.  On her legs she had shin-guards and sturdy shoes.

It struck Auronaha just now that she and Rikku dressed like complete opposites.  Auronaha looked down at herself.  Not too much blood got on her light blue dress to her relief.  Her dress had slits on the side that showed her light, fair skin with a purple priestess' sash across her waist.  The top of her dress showed her shoulders most of her neck .  The sleeves came halfway down her forearm and faded from white into ocean blue which where almost matching her aqua-blue eyes.  Their hair was also completely different.  While Rikku had short, semi-spiky brownish-red hair with red tips, Auronaha had flowing, smooth blonde-gold hair that came down to her waist. 

Then Auronaha noticed that some of the markings on Rikku's face looked a lot like scars.  They ran down the left side of her body and down to her midriff where her shirt ended.

As the night grew darker, Auronaha felt the exhaustion of the day finally take its toll.  Her eyes felt very heavy as she lay against the same tree Rikku rested on and quickly feel asleep with her light sphere giving her warmth. 

 

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Rikku woke up with the brightness of the morning sun shinning through her eyelids.  She quickly opened her eyes, alarmed, and looked around.  She quickly stood up, but fell back down with great pain in her stomach.  She stumped back on the tree, wondering how she got there.  Then she noticed Auronaha curled up next to her, with a small ball of light hovering above her.  Just then, Rikku realized that she had never seen a real Elven Angel before.  The angel's ears were longer than her own and only pierced twice.  Rikku leaned in closer to realize that the stone was embedded into Auronaha's headdress.

Auronaha was mostly asleep and knew that morning had come, but was too tired to care.  She suddenly noticed that it got darker from under her eyelids and slowly opened her eyes to find Rikku right in front of her.  Auronaha let out a sharp yelp and jumped backwards, blushing.  Rikku also fell back in surprise also blushing deep red.

"Sorry." Whispered Rikku, still blushing and looking at the ground.  Then she felt that her stomach hurt and clutched it.

"You shouldn't move so mush," Auronaha said as she scooted towards Rikku, "It could start bleeding again."

There was a long moment of silence, then Rikku asked "How did we get here?"

Auronaha looked around again and said, "I think this stone did it," as she light touched the stone.

"So now you know how to use it, right?" asked Rikku lifting an eyebrow.

"Well, kind of," admitted Auronaha.

"That's good," said Rikku, then she leaned against the tree again clutching her stomach in pain.  Auronaha moved closer to Rikku  and moved her hand away from her stomach.  Then Auronaha put her own hand on Rikku's wound and closed her eyes.  The stone glowed and light began to pulsate out of Auronaha's palm on to the wound and Rikku could fell the pain melt away.  Rikku looked down in surprise that the wound was no longer there and the pain was now totally gone.  After the wound fully healed, Auronaha pulled her hand away from Rikku.

"Thanks," whispered Rikku as she touched her fully healed stomach.

"No problem," Auronaha panted.  She just remembered how tired and hungry she was.

"You shouldn't have done that without any energy," said Rikku knowingly.  Then she stood up and went to the lake.  Auronaha tried to keep her eyes open as she watched Rikku, but she closed her eyes and let the darkness take over.

When Auronaha regained consciousness she smelt a fire.  She opened her eyes to see fish on some sticks roasting on a fire.  When she sat up she saw Rikku laying I the sun near by.  Rikku heard Auronaha get up and opened one eye.

"Help yourself to some food," then she closed her eye again and added, "Sorry it's not a silver platter."

Auronaha stopped before she took a bite and said with annoyance, "What's that suppose to mean?"

"Nothing," said Rikku, "Nothing at all."     

She then suspiciously took a bite of the fish.  It was one of the worst things she had ever tasted.

"This tastes horrible," muttered Auronaha wanting to spit it out.

"It may not be restaurant food," said Rikku getting up and walking over to Auronaha, "but it's the only thing we have right now and you need your energy."

Auronaha realized that Rikku was telling the truth and gingerly finished chewing.  Then the thought hit her.  Why did Rikku care weather or not she lived?  Rikku was on the Hordge side, the exact opposite of the Trinity.  The two sides have hated each other since the beginning of time, and yet, Rikku helped Auronaha.

"Why are you helping me?" Auronaha asked after she ate.

Rikku ignored her question and started to walk off into the forest.

"WE should leave before they find you."  Her voice was somewhat colder than before, like Auronaha hit a touchy subject.  She followed Rikku and continued her questions.

"It's the stone, isn't it, you want the stone for yourself." Auronaha said in a harsh tone.

"If I wanted the stone for myself," said Rikku in the same harsh coldness, not turning to face Auronaha, "then I could have killed you, just let you die, or" Rikku paused, " I could have killed you in your sleep."

Auronaha never thought about that, but she knew that Rikku was still avoiding her questions.  She decided that pushing the questions more would be a waste of time.

"Thank you for not taking the stone," whispered Auronaha after a long silence.  Rikku stopped when she heard the other girls voice, then without looking back she continued walking.

After walking for what seemed like the whole day, the pair didn't see any other people, but Rikku still pressed forward.  Auronaha tried to keep up as long as she could, but sometimes fell behind.  When she did Rikku would walk back to her and help her along.  When night came, Rikku finally said they could stop.

"We should make camp and find some food," said Rikku starting to gather sticks.

Auronaha, on the other hand, was so tired that she just leaned against a tree and nodded. Rikku saw that Auronaha was very tired so she quickly gathered sticks and made a fore with her magic.

"Sorry we couldn't stop, I just wanted to make sure that we weren't being followed." Said Rikku truthfully.  "I'll hurry and get some food," and she ran off into the woods.  Auronaha gazed at the fire, as her eyelids grew heavier, then finally closed.

A short while later, Auronaha was awoken by soft tapping.  She opened her eyes to see Rikku sitting next to her with some food.

"Sorry, but you're going to have to wake up to eat something," said Rikku with care.

Auronaha took the food; witch looked more like meat, and ate it happily.  Even though it wasn't the best thing she had eaten, she was very glad for it.  And Rikku.

"Do you have any idea where we are?" asked Auronaha after feeling a little more energized.

"Well, kind of." Said Rikku looking up at the stars while on her back.  "The stars are sort of showing me the way."

"The stars show you the way? I didn't know you could read stars." Said Auronaha shocked.  Did the Hordge teach her?

"I'm not really good at it, but I remember that the Reund star line points north and the Unsif constellation is westward.

"You're lucky," said Auronaha also laying back looking at the stars, "they don't teach us anything like that at the schools in the Trinity Kingdom," then Auronaha added, "they only teach is stuff like math and history.  The only thing I like in school is the writing part."

The two lay silent for a while gazing at the night sky and taking in the beautiful scenery in the sky above them.

"So, where are we going?" asked Auronaha breaking the quietness.

"I want to see a informer and ask him some questions about the king," sighed Rikku closing her eyes.

"What do you need to know about him?" continued Auronaha feeling more confident.

"Just some stuff," Rikku said not totally answering the question.

"Well, I don't think he knows a lot about the stone, if that's your question.  But he gave it to me because the mage-teachers said I was very gifted with magic."  Then Auronaha paused and looked at Rikku whose eye's were still closed and hand s behind her head, "I don't know if that helped any, but I hope it answered some of your questions."

Rikku didn't answer, so Auronaha thought she was asleep.  She turned closer to the fire to get more comfortable.

"Why do you want to help me?" asked Rikku suddenly.

Auronaha opened her eyes and saw Rikku looking at her.

"Well... I guess I owe you because you saved my life." Auronaha said unsure of her answer.  To tell the truth, she didn't know why she felt so open about herself with Rikku.

"Thank you, Auronaha," whispered Rikku suddenly.  Auronaha turned to looked at Rikku with question and was about to ask her for what, but Rikku turned away from her and fell asleep, and thought to her herself that this was the first time Rikku said her name.

Auronaha was awoken by the sound of splashing water.  She slowly opened her eyes to the morning sun, somehow sensing Rikku near by.  Strangely, Auronaha realized the more time she spent with Rikku, the more she felt safe.  The fire from the night before had long burned out and she noticed that she was closer to it and the place Rikku had slept the night before.  Curiously, Auronaha looked around for Rikku.  She Quickly spotted her standing near the lake.  Then, to Auronaha's great surprise, Rikku began to take off her chest armor, then her shirt.  Even though she was embarrassed, Auronaha couldn't stop staring at Rikku firm, toned body.  Auronaha noticed that all across Rikku's back and her left side were demonic markings.  The markings looked like symbols that Auronaha recognized as a regeneration spell.  The markings encircled her left side and upper back, finally stretching down to her claw-like forearm.

Auronaha, realizing that she was gawking, embarrassed and red faced, looked the opposite was y of Rikku.  She waited for what, to her, seemed like forever for Rikku to be done, cursing herself for thinking of Rikku like that.  Then a strong wind blew over her making her shiver, then all of a sudden,  Auronaha sneezed.  Quietly, but a sneeze none the less that could be heard.

Rikku was in the middle of washing when she heard the sneeze.  She stiffened, then summoned fire to encircle her body to quickly dry it, then she quickly put on her shirt and chest armor again.  When Rikku started to walk towards the fire, Auronaha could teel that she was still blushing.

"Maybe you should wash up while I go umm....go scout ahead,"  Rikku said not being able to look at Auronaha straight because of her blushing.

Auronaha thought about it and looked down at herself.  She was kind of dirty, but it wasn't anything a little of her magic couldn't fix  Auronaha stood up to go to the lake shore and noticed Rikku staring at her.  She turned to face Rikku witch made Rikku blush even more.

"Well, I'm going to ummm...yeah; go," Rikku stuttered staggering backwards into the forest.

Auronaha watched her companion leave, and to her surprise was lonely again.

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