Rikku drew another deep breath through the pillow as she lay face down on her bed. Her headache throbbed waves of pain down her neck and stirred in her stomach. She could hear voices talking from the bedside, but couldn't hear the words over the rushing pulsing sound in her ears. "Eiko did get them, I remember Uncle Cid telling me about the headaches. He said... the doctor couldn't do anything for it. Then they went away. That was just before she... got..." Garnet stopped and looked up at Zidane. "It probably isn't the same thing. You should call a doctor anyway...I'm going to talk with Kuja. " He turned and left the room. Yuffie sat by the bed, for the last hour she had been holding Rikku's hand. "Someone just do something!" Yuffie felt Rikku squeeze harder, as the pain intensified, "Why can't we just get that man in the mirror to fix it?" Weak! Rikku heard that voice again, as clear as if he was talking from inside her head. Ha! You always were weak. Without your precious friends to help you you're nothing. Even then you only held them back, made them slower, led them to danger and what for? You even tried to stop them from fighting. You nearly ruined it all. You shouldn't even be alive. Rikku was powerless to stop the voice. She had no voice of her own. Her mind was like Bikanel's barren sandy desert, blown by the hot wind, empty and lifeless. Now that I can do whatever I like. I can kill that girl you know. I'll kill her... oh, but it will be you killing her wont it. Rikku took another breath. She was blocked out of her own mind; all she could do was breathe and listen and struggle to scream, to cry out... anything. Left stranded with no sensation, no sight or sound, she couldn't even tell if she was moving. She couldn't even think in words, just terror, curled up in a dark corner of her own mind where she'd been banished. So weak! ---------- "No response." Harriet flicked the torch over Rikku's eyes and shook her head. The doctor watched over her shoulder with a sullen expression. He wrote some notes in a small book and looked back at the crowd watching from the door. "Move her from this room to somewhere more secure. Keep her in a secure area. Lock the doors. Make sure she doesn't leave the area. Post guards to her door and bar any windows. Keep guards posted 24 hours. Post guards to the room and keep her under surveillance. Report anything more to me, especially anything she says while in this trance." He put the notebook in his pocket and waited for a reply. "What?!" Yuffie strode past the doctor and took Rikku's hand again. Rikku stared unblinking at the ceiling. Garnet was quick to guess, "This is something you're familiar with isn't it." The doctor nodded, "Just this week... two others the same. Three reports of the same thing from Treno... it doesn't appear to be contagious. It does however... pose a risk to the patient. We've lost every one of our patients so far... and I don't mean by death... literally every one of them has gone, vanished without a clue as to where. Mostly after a considerable amount of violence." "Why wasn't I informed of these events?" Garnet asked as the answer presented itself to her mind. With all that was happening it might well have. Reports of people getting sick and going crazy would score low on the list of things to report to heads of state. Especially when there are other things to be taken care of. "I think Eiko might have had the same thing. But she was cured. I think. Uncle Cid did say she was having headaches and fainting a lot." Garnet watched as Yuffie gently closed Rikku's eyes. The doctor glared wide eyed at Garnet, "Cured? How?" Garnet shook her head, "I don't know. Zidane took care of it." She didn't want to mention the mirror just yet. The issue of ghosts in people's heads would cause panic. But if other people were getting sick too then... "Cured. That would be a miracle. We don't even know what it is that causes the sickness." "It's ghosts! That's what it is. Stupid dumb ghosts," Yuffie yelled at Rikku, "Listen you ghost, you better leave my friend alone or I'll kick your butt good! You hear me ghost?!" "The condition does create mental instability in the patient but I really don't think you can just blame..." the doctor was cut short of his lecture as Garnet interrupted. "No. It really is a... like a ghost. Some kind of mind parasite. It was inside Eiko's mind too." Yuffie looked up, "Yeh but it was ripped out right? There must be a whole lot of them everywhere." ---------- Zidane looked into the mirror at Kuja. Their conversation thus far had been confusing at best. "And what does a mirror do?" Kuja asked. "It reflects stuff." Zidane answered. "Correct." ---------- Rikku gasped and sat up. She could see Yuffie staring into her eyes but her view was distant like staring through the wrong end of binoculars. Yuffie spoke; Rikku could hear only a distant mumble. Suffer, Rikku heard the voice say before her own mouth opened without her control. "Yuffie... can't you see I love you? I love you! Do you love me?" Rikku spoke, not believing the words as they emerged. Not like this, she fought for control, not like this please. Yuffie stared in silence at Rikku. Her mouth opened and closed once or twice. "She's in a trance, she might not be herself." The doctor stated. "She does love you, stupid child! Go on; tell her she's an idiot. Tell you her you don't love her!" Rikku yelled. "She hardly even knows me... but I don't blame her anyway." Yuffie said to the ghost, her head tilted to one side, eyeing Rikku over. Was it lies? "Oh but she burns for you, you should feel it, she wants to touch you, to feel your skin, to press her lips against yours, to run her fingers over your soft, naked body as you lie asleep at night." Rikku stated, tears forming in her eyes as her own mind fought to stop herself talking. "Well... I am pretty hot." Yuffie mumbled. She stared at Rikku and wondered how the ghost knew. The image of Rikku doing any of those things was making her skin tingle in very personal places. Her usual response to the advances of suitors had always been 'yuck'. However... "Well? Say something! Wait!" Yuffie looked up at Rikku and then down at the floor again. The words replayed again... 'wants to touch you'. Yuffie stroked at her own cheek while she thought. "No Yuffie it wasn't me! I swear I would never hurt you I swear I wouldn't it wasn't me!" Rikku broke free of the trance and sobbed as Yuffie stared with a blank unfocused stare. "Oh... so you don't then. Oh ... okay then." Yuffie shrugged, "It was just the ghost saying that ... right?" "Yes! It was just the ghost!" Rikku took a few deep breaths, back in her body. It ached like it had been punched all night. "So you don't really love me then." Yuffie mumbled, her eyes fell to the floor. "..." Rikku was stopped short. She looked at Yuffie, who frowned as much as to suggest she was ashamed at the thought but Rikku still couldn't say she didn't. "It's not that I don't ... I mean... we could just forget all of that right? I mean... you know..." Yuffie shrugged again. "Sure." She heard the words again. 'Its not that I don't'. A grin assaulted her face. She looked up at Rikku again, "So you do love me?" The grin spread. Her heart banged away so loud she was sure the room could hear it. Rikku looked into Yuffie's eyes and couldn't bring herself to say no. Yuffie was smiling. "She hates you!! She thinks you're a fool!!" the voice yelled from within. "You think I'm a fool?" Rikku asked, though she wasn't sure who had asked. Yuffie tilted her head to one side, grinning so much she felt she might start laughing, "Nahhhh! You're cool! I can't help it if I'm a babe!" Her stomach was twisting itself into a knot as she spoke, she wanted to laugh and cry and dance at once. Her hands wringing in her lap as she giggled and gasped for air. 'She hates you!' the voice almost pleaded now. ---------- "What do mean by that?" Zidane asked. Kuja gave him a serious frown, "Zidane. You have to let me go. I can't be here. The mirror is just a reflection of whoever is looking into it. I am here Zidane, with you, I never left. I am just your memory, twisted by your own thoughts." "In ... me?" Zidane stood up and tried to walk. His legs failed and he collapsed onto the floor. He closed his eyes. "I was here all along. But you believed in me and I could not hurt you. So I became something more than the other ghosts." "But..." Zidane felt the cold floor against his cheeks. "For me to stay would put you in danger. Please let me go." Zidane thumped the floor with his fist. He knew all he had to do was accept it and he would be gone. He understood. Just a memory. Just one memory had made all the difference. "I understand what you will lose." "You could have been..." Zidane cried out. He pounded the floor with his fist while the hot tears ran across the floorboards. "So much more. In real life I was not what I could have been, these are your memories. All I could have been, you gave to me." ---------- "It's Seymour. The ghost." Rikku sighed. She sat up and took another deep breath, "But he's dead... how is he in my head?" "Kick his butt! I'll kick his butt, send him to my head!" Yuffie punched at the air. Garnet broke free of her stunned shock and walked to the door, "I might go and find Zidane. He knows what this is all about." She left, giving Yuffie a quick puzzled glance as she did so. "Well I must say!" The doctor sighed. Harried nodded slowly. "I think," she said as she twisted her apron in her hands, "I think I might go and get us a cup of tea. Yes. That would be nice. A cup of tea. Yes..." "Who is this guy anyway?" Yuffie asked. "Just ... someone. He was... he was... evil!" Rikku scowled. She shook her head, "I don't wanna talk about him... it was a long time ago. We killed... well... or was he already dead?... I don't care! I just want him out of my head!!" "So ..." Yuffie wanted to ask again. Just one more time. Just to make sure. She looked into Rikku's frightened eyes and lost her nerve. Just a ghost. Who cares who Rikku loves? What does it matter? Why do I care? Rikku lowered her head and curled up into a ball on the bed. Yuffie watched again, helpless, as she sobbed. "Hey ... hey... we'll kick it's butt. We will." Yuffie mumbled. She swallowed the tears down as they emerged. Geez I'm turning into a sook like her now! "What are we waiting around here for!?" Yuffie yelled and stood up, "We're going to that mirror guy again and right now!! Or else!!" "Young lady, I think it's best we stay here until we are told." The doctor stated. Yuffie flicked him off and grabbed Rikku's arm, pulling her up. "Come on Rikku, we'll go get the guy to fix you like he did with the kid. If he doesn't I'll smash his stupid mirror! Come on!" She hauled Rikku into a sitting position, "Yuffie I can hardly move on my own." Rikku shook with effort as she tried to position her legs. "I'll carry you!" Yuffie threw Rikku's arm around her shoulder and staggered up. "You can't carry her like that young lady!" the doctor yelled. "Bugger off you old fart!" Yuffie yelled back. "Well I never!" "Old Coot! Don't just stand there! HELP!" Yuffie ordered as she faltered under Rikku's awkward weight, she stumbled then fell backward as Rikku slid off the bed and pinned her to the ground. "I'm sorry!" Rikku cried and used what little strength she had left to push herself off Yuffie who lay still underneath her. "Can't you stand?" Yuffie sat up and put her arm around Rikku's shoulder and heaved her into a sitting position once more. "I'll try." Rikku took a deep breath, her muscles were jelly. She could tell it was Seymour's doing, his ghost was a heavy weight in her chest. ---------- Garnet pushed against the door to the storeroom, it was wide open. No-one was inside. The mirror reflected the other side of the room. She paused in front of it for a moment, contemplating the ragged young woman who stood before her. "Where is he?" she walked back out and closed the door, bolting it shut. As she walked away she thought, for a moment, she heard a little voice that almost seemed to be chatting away aimlessly to itself in the way of children everywhere. Eiko leaned her head against the cold metal bench and pushed the little toy train across the clean surface. It rolled a little way forward and then rolled back to her finger. She sighed and pushed it again. The cooks worked and ordered each other around as though she weren't there at all. Eiko allowed herself to drift half asleep as she relaxed her tired mind. It was nice not to have to worry. It was nice just to be bored again. Every so often she flicked her eyes to the ceiling just to be sure. Each time she studied the cracks in the plaster with renewed hope that she would soon not need to check. She flicked the train again, daydreaming of nothing in particular. She remembered what Zidane had told her after she'd been 'cured'. It was just a ghost of her memory. It wasn't real. It had power because she believed it did. 'That doesn't make any sense anyway... if I believed the train had power it wouldn't just make it have power... would it?' The train rolled slowly backwards due to the tilt of the bench. Eiko flicked it again, 'and what about me? What if I believed I had power? Or does it only work with memories? What about my other memories?' the train rolled to the other end of the bench and stopped. "Eiko, it doesn't work like that." The familiar voice of Mog echoed into her mind. "Mog! Are you a ghost?" Eiko sat up and looked about the room. "No." The voice faded. The train rolled back to Eiko. "Mog?" "Mog?" 'Be careful Eiko'. ---------- "Zidane," Garnet walked out onto the balcony, "there you are." Zidane was slumped over against the balustrade. "What happened?" Garnet placed a hand on his back. He was shaking. Garnet could see tears falling, catching the sun as they drifted down. Zidane coughed as he tried to speak, "... a proper... burial... proper... for ...". Garnet leaned into his body and hugged him tight. She closed her eyes and sighed. For the first time she understood, truly understood why he believed. He had little in the way of true family. Kuja was as close as he was ever going to get. Garland didn't count in Zidane's mind but Kuja had given Zidane a glimpse of someone who never got a chance to be. ---------- Beatrix watched the airship as it docked and watched a number of people disembark. They wore grim faces and white coats. "It's not good news." Aldebert stated as he watched by her side. "They came back with something again. They should leave those things where they are." Beatrix watched a couple of the men carry a large wooden crate from the ship. One of the white coats walked toward the couple. He carried a roll of paper under one arm. "The drawings." Beatrix stated. "The girls said it was all dead." "But still." He stopped and placed the roll on the ground and unfurled it, the end just reaching the tip of Beatrix's foot. The drawing was of the whole island, showing in clear detail the site of the old Iifa tree. As had been stated, it was all dead. "All dead." He repeated. The white coat approached. "It looks dead. Until you see it at night. And not every night mind. We got lucky the third night." He bent down and lifted the paper; another drawing underneath was black with a myriad of white streaks, like the roots of a tree, snaking around the island. "What..." Beatrix breathed and bent down to see closer detail, it had been drawn from the airship, "It's growing again?" "Only if it's growing upside down!" The white coat stated, "The picture really doesn't show the reality. It only glowed some of the time. It sort of pulsated. Just a few times. Then it went dead... well... back to ... I would assume a dormant state." "It does look like it's growing upside down..." Steiner added. "We don't think it's the same thing. To be honest, we really don't know." The white coat picked the end of the paper up and rolled it back across the ground. He picked up the roll and walked back to the couple. "Shall we inform his and her majesties?" "As if they need more troubles." Steiner sighed.
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