Friday, Kraken Cabin, Woods, Campfire, and back again: Off to Save the World

[the_merriest]

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[the_merriest]

Rikku nodded. "Yeah. Okay. 'Cause I was kind of ..."

This was way easier to admit now that they were just outside Kraken.

"Jude? I kinda screwed up."

[dude_its_jude]

"Bra?" Jude asked, confused. He thought they had won.

[the_merriest]

Rikku hung on while they negotiated the complicated manuever of getting through the doorway to Kraken, dropping her voice since other people might be around now. "The ... fighting. I ... I screwed up kinda bad. This is all my fault. Me being stupid about my ankle and ... and whatever happened to Dean."

[dude_its_jude]

"What happened to Dean?" Jude asked in a similar quiet tone. "It's not your fault, whatever it is. It's the dude's fault. Not yours."

[the_merriest]

Rikku shuddered and squeezed harder. "I ... I had a chance, I thought I did? With the ... he was playing dead and I knew he was playing dead but I was also right there and I had my Godhand and I thought ... I thought ..." She shook her head. "Swoop, one clean shot and that'd be it, I could have done it, and I stopped thinking and I stopped watching and I totally missed my blind spot, I know better, maybe I don't, maybe I suck and I shouldn't be fighting at all and I can't believe it ..."

[dude_its_jude]

Jude didn't reply right away. He hurried the last few steps to her alcove, gently setting her down on the edge of her bed before turning to face her, his hands soothingly on her upper arms. "Rikku," he said firmly. "It is not your fault."

[the_merriest]

"My blind spot. I was watching the machete but not his other arm," she said in a low voice, pitching forward to rest her forehead on his shoulder. "He clocked me and I went flying and I almost ... almost landed right on my Godhand, the edge of it, I would've ... so I turned and that was just when my foot hit and it went snap and ..."

[dude_its_jude]

Jude wrapped his arms tightly around her, rubbing her back slowly. "Shhh, Rikku, no. You didn't know."

[the_merriest]

"I should've," she murmured, wrapping her arms around him. "I know better and Deadpool's gonna yell and ... and ... D-Dean came over all 'are you okay' and the guy came up behind him and just threw him and he hit a tree and I th-thought he was ... he's hurt really bad and it's ... it's 'cause ..."

She squeezed and let out a hiccupy little sob.

[dude_its_jude]

"And it's 'cause some psycho dude threw him into a tree," Jude repeated emphatically. "Look, he's alright now, right? Probably because you saved him. What would have happened if you weren't there at all?"

[the_merriest]

"He wouldn't have been thrown into a tree in the first place?" she sniffled.

[dude_its_jude]

"He woulda been out there alone," Jude corrected, rubbing her back a bit more. "He might not've gotten away at all."

[the_merriest]

Rikku snuggled in against his neck and sighed. "Feel like an idiot," she mumbled. "Supposed to be good at this, you know?"

[dude_its_jude]

"You are good at this. You're amazing." Jude kissed whatever patch of hair he could reach without pulling away. "It's over. Everything worked out."

[the_merriest]

Rikku nodded, staying close for a long moment, and then pulled back just a little. "Did you, uh. You wanted to s-see?"

She was totally being nice and offering, and not at all wondering herself how bad it was going to be. Or hoping he'd prop it up because it was getting tingly. Except maybe a little bit.

[dude_its_jude]

"Yeah," Jude nodded, drawing back. "Here, sit back a bit."

He helped maneouver her into leg-injury-pampering position before carefully starting to remove what was between him and the ankle. He was frowning in worried concentration.