Warm and relaxed, Rikku listened to the gentle chuffing of the airship. Wrapped in a blanket on a soft bed. Dim light snuck in through the open door. Yuffie appeared to be asleep on another bed. This was the sick bay. A nurse watched over them both as they drifted through sleeping and waking, over the dark land below. She couldn't begin to guess where the airship was going. Rikku felt her eyes tear up again as she wondered, how many more lucky escapes did her fate allow? Rikku closed her eyes. Footsteps faded from the humming of the ship and intruded the silence. A whispered voice, "Are they okay now?" The nurse whispered back, "Yes Sir." The footsteps faded away. The quiet gentle hum lulled Rikku's tired mind until only the sensation of the soft blanket on her skin and the warmth remained. And soon, not even that. Rikku gasped and jolted awake. So close to the edge of sleep and then 'will they know I am gone?' shoved out by worries of home, worries of friends and family. She sniffed and curled up a little more. Her heart steadied a little. Leave the worries. Sleep. Rikku sighed and opened her eyes; Yuffie was still in the same position. The nurse looked up from her chair between the beds, "She will be okay. Are you having trouble sleeping? Don't worry, this is normal. You are stressed." Rikku felt the nurse's warm hand on her shoulder. Rikku relaxed and rested her head on the pillow, cold and hospital crisp. The nurse turned her attention to Yuffie, placing a hand across her forehead. She stood up and left the room without a word. Rikku sat up and watched, panic rising like bile in her stomach. She heard a voice from the corridor. The nurse entered with another person. "Rikku? Would you mind at all moving over a little? Yuffie is still too cold, I will put her with you, it will warm her up." The nurse's words wafted into Rikku's frozen mind. She breathed out. She moved over while the nurse and her helper lifted Yuffie from her bed, limp and lifeless. Rikku's hand rushed for her mouth before she could cry out. In this light Rikku could see just how emaciated, sick and weak Yuffie really was. The tiny body was placed by her own, Rikku closed her blankets across Yuffie's cold limbs and rested her hand on Yuffie's forehead. Cold. "Please be okay." Rikku left her own worries alone for the time being and tucked the blankets in around Yuffie. The nurse added another blanket to the already heavy pile. Rikku rested her head next to Yuffie's and felt, for a moment, the brief waft of Yuffie's breath across her face. It eased a dozen fears. She closed her eyes and lay still, allowed herself to be lulled by the gentle wash of breath. She heard Yuffie breath a little sigh, just as she drifted into deep, black, dreamless sleep. ** ** ** ** ** Fade from black to blue. A voice. A groan. Something bangs. A door. Someone groans. Someone else talks. Fade from blue to red. Pain. Hurt. Sting. Ache. Legs. Arms. Chest. Head. Thoughts bubble up. Rikku kept her eyes close as she woke. She could hear voices but through the fog of her mind they were all just one long mumble. She was somewhere warm and soft. As her feeling returned she sensed delicate silk fabric against her skin. Bandages on her leg. Safe, she thought and overwhelming relief rose from her tired mind. As she slipped back to sleep she tried to pick out Yuffie's voice from the general hushed babble. A nurse's soft voice lulled her as she sank into the dark, "That's it dear, just sip it." Yuffie wrestled with the nurse for control of the cup of water. She drank like the desert drinks the first rains. The nurse smiled and filled the cup again, "You'll only be sick again if you gulp it sweetie." Yuffie couldn't even remember. Only vague thoughts and awful tastes in her mouth remained of the last days events. And her. Still asleep at the other side of the room. The colour had returned to Rikku's cheeks. The nurses said she would be fine. That was all that mattered. Yuffie looked over at Rikku as she drank. Too weak to talk. Funny. Strange. She'd felt fine up until this point. As though all the stress of the last year had only now taken its toll. All at once. Yuffie's eyes sank closed. "Try to eat a little dear, before you sleep again?" She felt something touch her lips. It was runny, sweet and tasted of honey. Half asleep and drained of energy she allowed the liquid food to trickle down her throat, a slight swallow. All she could manage. And just minutes ago she was sitting up, drinking from a cup. Whats happening to me? ** ** ** ** ** Yuffie lay on her side and looked through her almost closed eyes at the sleeping Rikku. In and out of sleep they'd drifted for what must have been a full day now. They'd fed her, clothed her and given her medicines until her head swam with their cures. Her mind, however, remained blank, exhausted and drained. Not even the ever-present voices from back home haunted her now. Rikku slept facing her. Her face was so calm and gentle while asleep. The look of resigned helplessness was gone while she slept. A wash of green flashed past for a moment. Yuffie closed her eyes and waited. A voice whispered from somewhere near the door. Yuffie heard faint footsteps walking past her and the door closed with a gentle click. She opened her eyes again and watched Rikku sleep and then looked up at the bedside end table, a little vase of colourful flowers had been placed there. Inexpertly arranged. A tiny card lay beside it. Yuffie closed her eyes. No energy to even pick up the tiny offering. Back to silent black sleep. ** ** ** ** ** Rikku woke from dreams of nothing more than soft pink light to the sensation of someone holding her wrist. A hand wiped across her forehead. "Sorry to wake you dear. just checking on you both." Another nurse. Rikku felt her mind bubble up from the black. This must be a hospital. Life sizzled into her limbs and she stretched out. "Well you're coming out of that quite nicely dear. your friend might take longer, mind." The nurse chatted as she fussed about Yuffie. Rikku rubbed at her eyes and rolled over onto her back. A window on the other side of the room showed. either a sunrise or a sunset. Rikku had no way to know the time. She took a deep breath as her body woke. It escaped in a loud sigh. "How are you feeling dear?" asked the nurse. A blurry image leaned over Rikku for a moment while her eyes adjusted. Rikku tried to talk; it came out a cough. "Here you are, have some water." Rikku pulled herself into a sitting position and took the glass. She looked around the room for the first time. Large, ornate, creamy beige walls, dark red wooden cabinets, long red curtains, just two beds. Yuffie was sound asleep in the other. The bedspreads were also dark red, quilted, ornate designs like flowers embossed onto them. Lush burgundy carpet. Rikku squinted at the nurse. "Where am I?" "You're in Alexandra Castle dear, in a guest room. You've been here a night and a day and well looked after if I do say so meself." The nurse beamed. Rikku bit at the rim of the glass. "Where?" The nurse sighed and walked to the door, "Just relax and let yourself wake up a bit more love, it'll come to you eventually," she said and left the room. Rikku could hear voices chatting outside the room. She looked back the other bed and noticed the little bedside end table with the vase of flowers. A card. It had a picture in bright paints, blue sky, yellow sun with a happy face. Painted by a child but in a painstaking neat manner. Bright green grass and little flowers. A rainbow. She opened the card to find, in neat but childlike lettering, a message 'Please get well soon. Best wishes, Eiko' Rikku smiled and put the card back down. A castle where? Did she know royalty? Yuffie might know. The doorhandle squeaked. A few moments of silence floated by and it squeaked again. Rikku watched as the door opened with glacial slowness. For almost a minute it crept open inch by inch. Halfway down a child's head poked through, under scruffy dark brown hair wide, dark rimmed eyes peered into the room and spied Rikku peering back. The little face quickly retreated and the door crept closed again. Rikku heard a whispered voice, then another, then the unmistakable whine of a child who's been told to do something they don't want to do. ** ** ** ** ** Rikku continued to just take in her surroundings. A little while later the door opened again, a nurse popped her head around the door, "Would you like us to draw you a bath dear?" she asked. A child's voice squealed with laughter from behind the door. The nurse looked back and put her finger to her lips before returning her attention to Rikku. Rikku nodded and the nurse nodded back. The nurse's head disappeared behind the door again, "Yes yes very funny dear." "Let me show her!" Eiko darted into the room before the nurse could stop her. In a flurry of green pyjamas she scurried to Rikku and held out a piece of paper. It had a drawing of a bath on it. Rikku smiled. It was the smile of one who does not wish to smile and yet does not wish to disappoint a child. She took the paper and smiled again, "That's really funny!. oh thanks for the card. and the flowers." "I picked them from the new garden. The one with the fountain like a doggy. dog." Eiko corrected her own kid talk as though she was ashamed to have said it. Rikku was lost for words. The kid didn't look much older than seven or eight. She also looked ill. Tired and dark eyed. "Come on now Eiko. time for your dinner soon, go and wash up." The nurse beckoned from the door. Rikku watched her leave. Something was different. Out of place perhaps. Eiko turned just as she got to the door, "Are you having dinner?" Rikku squinted at the girl's face as she shrugged. What on earth is on her head? The nurse ushered the child from the room, "Someone will bring you some dinner. And her too I expect." The door closed again. Voices talked in muffled tones. Rikku relaxed and lay back. Even the ceiling was ornately decorated. She turned her head to Yuffie and wondered if she was asleep or unconscious. There was colour in her cheeks at least. Rikku pulled herself up again and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Dinner? Must be getting late. So it's a sunset out there, not sunrise. Shades of pink and orange streaked the sky. Rikku hauled herself up careful and slow, finding more strength in herself than she expected to be there. The carpet was so soft she sank into it like sand. As she walked to the window she noticed she'd been dressed in a pink nightie. Ugh of all the poxy colours. Thick red curtains were parted just a little over the large window panes. The view made Rikku gasp. A castle like she'd never even heard of. From here she could see a long stretch of rooftop patio and the side of an enormous brick tower just to the right. To the left more of the castle, walls and windows, a maze of alleys on different levels. A little garden and a tiny fountain were a long way below. In the far distance, beyond a canal covered in makeshift bridges, masses of rooftops. Tiny houses, rows and rows all painted different colours. They looked... different. Old fashioned. It was nowhere recognisable. A town out of a story book perhaps. Just like the castle. Rikku found herself imagining what the proverbial princess would be like. Tall, graceful with long, long blonde shiny hair. With a tall dark handsome prince no doubt. Her name is probably something like 'Lillandria Elizabeth Catherine' or something and her prince would be some awful pompous git like they always are. She probably spends all her time darning his damned socks. Rikku had little fondness for those stories. They always end up with a prince. It was enough to make her want to spit. Someone knocked on the door. It opened and a nurse holding a pile of towels said "Your bath is ready my dear." Rikku walked over and saw that through the door was a long corridor filled with more doors. "So uh... who owns the castle?" Rikku asked, knowing that would give her a clue to where she was. "Well that'd be Her Majesty Alexandros of course." The nurse said, leading Rikku to a door at the end of the corridor. "I know this is a dumb question but who is that?" Rikku wondered if she'd get hanged for not knowing. The nurse beamed at her and sighed. "You'll get your memory back soon enough don't worry. It's Garnet ... Dagger... uh Sarah ... oh I do wish she'd make her mind up already. honestly changes her name more often than I change me pants." "Oh." Rikku didn't recognise any of the names. And what kind of 'majesty' went around calling herself Dagger? The nurse stopped and looked at Rikku, "Do you remember your own name dear?" Rikku smiled, "Rikku." "Well nice to meet you Rikku, I'm nurse Harriett. What about the other one?" "Oh Yuffie?. I don't really know much about her. We only just met." "Well you can tell me all about it later, and her maj. I mean Sa.. Garnet would like to talk with you also. But like I said dear, when you're both feeling well." ** ** ** ** ** The bath was luxurious. Hot, soothing and scented with oils. The steam rose in long wisps that carried Rikku's thoughts away as they dissipated into the warm air. Rikku sighed from deep within her weary mind, stress seemed so out of place here. She stretched her sorest leg out and noticed the wound wasn't nearly as bad as she'd imagined it would be. Just badly bruised, the few cuts she had were healing so well the bandages weren't really needed. They lay slung over a chair with her clothes. Rikku closed her eyes. The water seemed to soak into her very soul, like a gentle massage. Rikku slid down a little further. Don't fall asleep, she told herself as her mind floated out of her submerged ears. It swam out into the depths of the bath, surrounded by the ambiguous watery glogs and clinks that made up a landscape of floating noises. Voices from outside the bathroom became vague sound shapes, gliding past like silver fish. Footsteps rang out echoey gongs from below. Rikku allowed all her thoughts to escape until she was aware of only her own breathing. Feint laughter, dappled by water, floated into her mind. She listened. The laughter was familiar somehow. It sank into the depths of the water and Rikku breathed out. The laughter returned in a sudden rush, louder, clearer. She held her breath a moment more. Heart beats thudding in waterlogged ears. The laughter surged into her head as a voice she knew, arrogant and calm, slammed her soul like a shark from the depths, "You will die." Rikku's breath escaped in a yell as she jolted upright. Water splashed over the edge of the bath as waves ricocheted off the sides. The canon thumping of her heart pounded earthquakes through her chest as she gasped for air. Her shaking hand clamped over her mouth. Rikku took a deep breath, telling herself to relax. He's dead. I'm not going mad. It was just a bad dream. I was just nearly asleep that's all. She gripped the side of the porcelain bath to stop her hands shaking and relaxed again, easing herself down while she listened to the sounds of dripping water, distant voices and her own breathing. Its just stress. That's all. Just stress.
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