After Hermione left for class, Rikku took a deep breath. And then another one, to steady herself.
This was a really, really bad idea. Okay. So long as she knew that. She nodded and got to work.
First, an old blanket under everything so that she didn't stain the carpeting. Sheets over the window to make it darker. Candles. Chalk, to form the circle. Scribbled notes from books in the scary part of the library that made her head hurt. And some ingredients she had scrounged up here and there.
None of the books had had exactly what she was looking for. Bringing back the dead, sure, and all of them pointed out what a bad idea that was and why. Crossing dimensional space and gaps? Plenty of those, too. So what about someone who didn't die, exactly, just ... faded into nonexistence? But might still exist out there somewhere, in a different type of dimensional space? Not much on that topic.
And yet ... if you took half of that ritual and a little part of that one and a few pieces from that one over there? It really seemed like it might work. You added these bits and those bits and suddenly, she had found herself with a plan. One that had a decent chance of working. It might not, but it might. She'd never forgive herself if she didn't even try.
Last ingredient: blood. Of course. Another deep breath.
This was a bad idea. This wasn't just a bad idea. This was somewhere beyond a bad idea into the realm of, you'll be lucky if it doesn't kill you. There was still time to stop this.
She closed her eyes and saw Yuna's face. Yuna, standing on the edge of a pier, whistling for no one. Yuna, serenely consoling her over what they both thought was Yuna's imminent death. Yuna, wasting away on Besaid, pining for the memory of a dream.
A quick slash and her fingertip was bleeding. She couldn't watch the drops soak in; it made her stomach turn.
Rikku lit the candles in turn and waited.
A few moments later there was a cold breeze coming from ... coming from inside the circle. Okay, that was good, right? No going back now.
Incantations and sand. Sand that was kinda sticky with blood. Gross. She forgot to put a bandage over her finger. But the sand was going in the blood area anyway so it was probably all the same.
There was a ripping sound -- more fabric than paper -- and a smoky purplish-black cylinder rose up out of where the sand was lying on the blanket. And then whooshed outward. Rikku blinked ...
... And found herself sitting in an empty void. Everything around her was that same purply-black. The circle was gone with the rest of her room.
Okay. This was bad.
"Hello?" Her voice sounded muffled. "Is anyone out there?" She stood up tentatively, looking around.
That's when Rikku saw the leg.
It might have been an arm. It was dark and scaly and there were talons sticking out of it. It was clawing upward from another hole, newly formed, ten feet away.
Her heart dropped into her stomach. Reflexively she reached into her pouch, fumbling away at the plastic bags inside. Hannelore had tagged everything neatly, and she was sure that somewhere near the top ...
... was exactly what she needed. Rikku opened the baggie and pulled out an obsidian-black gemstone. She could have kissed it.
This monster might be the Tooth Fairy, here to rescue her, but she wasn't going to wait around to find out. Not when she'd found one of her Blessed Gems. She reached back and hurled it right to where the creature's head should be.
A circle of white lights shot out on impact, soaring upward and tearing through the velvety-thick walls. The lights shone out in brilliant rays, clouds and sky pouring in. Three ... two ... one.
The ensuing explosion sent her flying backwards with a thump. Rikku opened her eyes with a quick breath - and was astonished to find herself back in room 308, the candles still flickering.
Holy: the ass-kicker of all White Magic spells.
She blew out the candles quickly and tore down the sheet. Stupid, stupid, stupid! She was never, ever trying anything that crazy again. Not even for Yunie. Not for anything.
She threw open the window and hoped the smell of burning candles would blow away before Hermione could ask too many questions. The blanket she would just throw out, it was old and --
That's when she noticed Crookshanks, sitting on her bed, ears back, hissing angrily.
At what appeared to be a fist-sized hole in the wall.
Rikku leaned over with a gasp. Inside the hole were dark, twinkling stars ... and more of that purplish-black ether.
This was so very bad.
"Crookshanks, no. Get down. Get down!" She scooped up the orange cat and set him roughly on Hermione's bed, getting a yowl of protest in return.
Think, think, think. This was bad. This was expulsion bad. This was scream at her and never let her near the library again bad. This was make damned sure she didn't try that sort of thing again bad.
Which was fine, because she was never going to do anything that crazy again. Even if it should have worked. Even for Yuna. Even if ...
She picked up her notes distractedly, skimming until she saw the line she was expecting. Idiot. Even if she knew now what she had done wrong.
Great.
She sank down on her bed and tried to think, but her mind just ran in circles.
She needed time. She needed to decide what to do. She needed ... for no one to find out about this right away.
She picked up her pillow and held it against the wall, covering the hole. A few staples and she had ... a really ugly wall decoration, but one that would keep Crookshanks from being pulled into a dimensional gap, and that was better than nothing.
Maybe this wasn't as bad as she thought. Rikku headed off to the library, fairly convinced that it was probably worse.
[OOC: this is the start of the
broken reality plot. Establishy, not for interaction, and NFB. OOC comments welcome.]