Tuesday Afternoon: Dreamwalks, Doorways, and Dip: Finding an Old Friend

[the_merriest]

Rikku set Caladbolg carefully on the carpeting, placing the symbol and the sketch over it. It wasn't much, but it was the best she could do. Now she just had to hope it was enough.

She had cleared space for the four of them around the sword; there was room elsewhere for the others to sit. She looked around the room one last time, grateful for everyone's help and support, and took a deep breath. Still nervous. Still excited. Still scared.

"Is everyone ready? Last chance to say no."





Luke was sitting with his enormous bucket of onion dip. "I think I might have brought a little too much," he murmured.



Rikku laughed. "It's okay. Someone will eat it."

She didn't know why Luke bringing a huge container of onion dip made her feel better, but it kind of did.



Taking that as an invitation, Hamlet took a chip out of the bag, and scooped up some onion dip on it.

"I'm glad you did bring it," he said after eating the chip. "This onion dip is delicious."



Luke grinned. "Thank you. Artoo made it. I got to wield the cakensmoosher again, though."



"Did you sing the Bork Bork song?" Rikku said, smiling and relaxing just a little. "It's not really cooking until you sing the song."



"Artoo refuses to sing," Luke said, making a face. "If you want to, you can sing the song now. Maybe it works retroactively."



Rikku smiled. "It's okay. Don't think I could sing right now. But if the dip tastes funny and you need me to, I'll try."



Luke gave her an understanding smile. "Don't tense up," he said. "It doesn't help anything."



Rikku nodded. "I won't. And ... thanks." For everything, not just the advice, but she wasn't good with words right now. Hopefully he understood.



Luke's smile widened. "Any time," he said quietly, then moved to get out of the way.



Sam held on tightly to Dawn's hand, not willing to let her go just yet. "I guess it's a little late to ask, but you're still sure you want to do this, right?"



Dawn squeezed his hand back. She was a little nervous, but having Sam there helped. "Yes, I'm sure. You're sure you want to watch?"



"If I don't stay and watch, I'll just be freaking out from our room," Sam said. "At least here, I can watch over you. I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you. Or, to any of you, if I can help it."



"We appreciate that," she hugged him, "and I do especially."



Sam hugged her back for as long as she let him. "I know this is going to sound stupid, but be careful, okay?"



"As careful as I can," she promised, "and you'll...do whatever you have to do if things go wonky?"



Sam nodded solemnly. "Whatever I have to."



Dawn hugged him back tightly, "I'm sorry. I forgot how much it sucks to be left behind. I wish you could come."



"I wish I could too. But hey, you've had lots of time to stay back. It's about time you get to be Awesome Rescuer Girl."



"I'm just battery girl," Dawn corrected, still not in a big rush to let go of Sam, "Door and Isabel are doing all the awesome rescuing."



"Hey, without you, they couldn't do any rescuing," Sam pointed out. "Don't try to sell yourself short here."



"I'm not. Just noting that it's not really me being all action girl." Which was maybe okay with her.



"I still think you're amazing for agreeing to this," Sam said. "You'll be even more amazing when you come back safely."



"You so get extra points for that answer," she kissed him.



"I'm all about the extra points. I'm saving them for the next time I do something stupid."



"I'd say I don't think that's going to happen, but well, you have a history now," she teased, then squished him.



Sam squished her back, before finally letting go. "Okay, you should go before I turn into a crazy boyfriend and force you to stay."



"Right. I love you." She squeezed his hand before letting go and taking her place with the other girls.



Jude went over to Rikku and without caring about everyone else in the room, gave her a giant hug.

"Please don't die."



Rikku pressed her face into Jude's shirt and wrapped her arms around him. And squeezed. "I won't. I promise. I'll be extra careful. You won't even know I'm gone."

She leaned up for a light kiss. "Thank you. For ... for being here."



Jude kissed her back. "I'll go anywhere you need me, you know that," he said quietly. "Just . . . be careful. And don't die. 'Cause that would totally suck."



"I love you," she said softly. "I won't die. I promise. We'll be safe."



"I love you too." Jude just held her more tightly, because there's nothing else he knew how to do.



Rikku stayed in his arms for a long time, then eased back, pressing a finger lightly to his lips, smiling. "I'll come right back. Promise. Anything tries to mess with me, I'll tell it, 'Excuse me, I've got a Jude waiting, you're gonna have to step aside, buster.'"



Jude smiled back and kissed her finger. "Politeness. Totally a Canadian way to handle the situation."



Rikku nodded. "See, you're rubbing off on me. Next thing you know I'll be playing hockey and asking fiends nicely for their pocket change." And moved her finger away for a quick kiss.



Jude gave it to her, with a little squeeze. "Okay. Love you. I think I'm ready to let go now."



"Okay. I love you, too. And I'll see you soon." She stole one last kiss before stepping away with what she hoped was a confident smile.



Jude shoved his hands in his pockets to keep from grabbing her back.



Isabel's doing her impression of the little engine that could. "I can do this," she mumbled to herself.



Rikku bit her lip, and then reached out to rest a hand tentatively on Isabel's shoulder. "Are you okay? Thank you so much for doing this. For trying, even if it doesn't work."



"I'm fine," Isabel promised with a smile. "Just nervous. Not cause it's scary or anything like that. Just because I want it to work."



Rikku nodded. "Me too. I ... I'm just gonna try not to think about it. And if it works ... m-maybe I can introduce you to an old friend of mine." She smiled weakly, too nervous to let that sink in.



"Just be careful," Hermione says. "Does everyone have anything they might need?"



Rikku looked around nervously. "I think so. I wish we had more. I just hope ... I hope I don't screw something up again." She shook her head. "Get someone hurt."



"Don't think too hard about that. Just watch what you're doing," she advises.



Rikku nodded. "Right. We'll be careful. I'll make sure I don't do anything stupid or crazy or ... anything that would make you give me that look." And giggled a little, despite herself.



Hermione's not sure what look she's talking about. Because Hermione never sees herself do it. "Good," she says. "Good luck."



Rikku smiled. "Thank you." And moved to take her seat around the circle, hoping against hope that just maybe this was all possible.





Isabel took a deep breath and looked at Dawn, Rikku and Door. "Just get comfortable, put your hand on the sketch and close your eyes."



Rikku shifted a bit on the floor. "We ... we just go to sleep? Okay. I'll try." She nodded, hoping she could.



Door casts a speculative look at Isabel, then nods. "I suppose running about all tiny and sugar-happy this weekend should make it easier to fall asleep now."



"More then likely yes," Isabel laughed, despite the seriousness off the situation and her nerves about if she'd even be able to pull this off.



Rikku swallowed hard. "What if we ... can't sleep?" She shook her head. "Not gonna think about that. Okay."



"It's going to work. Think positive," she insisted, as she put her head down and closed her eyes.



Dawn closed her eyes, putting a hand on the sketch and stretching her other hand out towards Door, since physical contact seemed to help. "Right, of course. Sleep."



Rikku closed her eyes and stretched out a little, still holding onto the sketch. "Thinking positive. Sleep." She was starting to feel a little tired...

'Star player of the Zanarkand Abes! Didn't anybody tell you?' And then that showy kick and cocky grin ...



Door touches the sketch, then reaches out to touch Dawn with her other hand, before closing her eyes as well. It helps to think of falling asleep as just another doorway to open...





Rikku was the last to fall asleep, still not quite believing that any of this was happening ...

... and opened her eyes in a vast field of flowers.

"Whoa," she breathed, looking around slowly. There were waterfalls in a horseshoe around them, and hundreds of pyreflies zipped by, twining around one another.

She had never been here before, but she'd heard the descriptions from those who went to Guadosalam. This was ... it had to be ...

"We're on the Farplane."



Isabel looked around, delighted that they'd actually managed to get somewhere. Of course the question was, where was Tidus? If this was going to work like her usual dreamwalk, he should be around there somewhere.



Rikku looked around, fascinated. "It's ... the Farplane is where souls go after they die. I'm pretty sure that's where we are," she explained. "All these pyreflies ... the colors ..."

She shook her head. "This is where Yunie sent the fayth. That's - that's good, right?"



"It's beautiful," Door says, looking about in wonder. She can't help taking a moment to hope that her family is someplace like this, even if it's not exactly the same place.



Dawn was also looking around, "Yeah, this looks a pretty good place, Rikku."



"I guess we're a step in the right direction," Isabel said carefully. "But he should be here. At least if this were a normal dreamwalk."



Rikku took a deep breath. "Maybe ... maybe the spirits are happy here. Maybe he doesn't want to meet us, then. Or maybe he doesn't exist any more and ..."

She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and turned quickly. Not Tidus. The figure fading in was a small boy wearing a dark purple hood. She stared. "It's you," she said softly.

The fayth.



"Are you lost?"

Was the little boy concerned? Laughing at them? Asking a rhetorical question? It was hard to tell.



Rikku knelt down in front of him. "Yes," she said simply. "C-can you help us?"



"You're looking for him, aren't you."

It was a statement, not a question, and his tone was very hard to read.



Rikku nodded. "She misses him. I miss him, too. It's ... it's not fair."

She closed her eyes, losing hope. "He's not here, is he? He's ... gone?"



"What happens to dreams when the dreamers fade away?"

Way to answer the question, kid.



"Cryptic much?" Isabel muttered before finally stepping forward.

Considering Rikku was kneeling, Isabel did the same, not wanting to unwittingly offend anyone important. "Is there any way to find him?"



The Fayth looked down at them and shrugged. "There is always a way. Nothing good can be lost forever."



Rikku's head snapped up sharply. Hadn't he just said that ... didn't that mean ...

"Will you help us? Please? F-for Yunie. For him?"



"He lives on, in the hearts and minds of everyone he touched. Because of him, because of her, because of you, we are free."

The kid smiled at Rikku. "Do you want to see him again?"



Hearts and minds? As a memory or as something real? Was he doing this on purpose?

Rikku cleared her throat and nodded. "Yes. Please?"



"Close your eyes."

After a brief pause, whether they closed their eyes or not, the Fayth waved his hand, the ground shimmered, and suddenly, all of the Farplane faded out.





Rikku still didn't know what the little kid was talking about, but the ground shimmered, and suddenly, all of the Farplane faded out. Everything was empty, and yet something was moving?

Light poured back in. There was a bright blue sky, and they were falling through it. And before Rikku could open her mouth to scream, they splashed down in the middle of an enormous sea.



Isabel coughed as she broke back through the surface of the sea and started threading water. "That wasn't me! Honestly!" Looking about, she tried to make sure everyone could handle themselves in the water.



Rikku swam over to Isabel. "Are you okay? I don't know what that was. I don't ..." She looked around nervously, then shook her head with a sigh. "I don't know where we are, either."



"I'm okay," she said. "For now. But if the creepy music starts to play? Or I see a fin. I'm outta here." Of course Isabel hoped getting out of there would be as simple as waking up.

"Door? Dawn? You guys okay?"



Dawn surfaced and fountained water out of her mouth, "I should have brought a swim suit."



"Dawn! Are you okay?" Rikku asked, still treading water. "I'm sorry, I don't know what's going on." She turned around, not seeing land in any direction.



Door coughs for a moment when she pops out of the water, but catches her breath soon enough. "Well. That was... refreshing..."



"Sorry, sorry." Rikku was still flustered. "I don't know what's going on. Is this his idea of a joke? 'Here, go take a b--'"

She stopped abruptly, noticing pyreflies deep within the water. Swirling around ... "No way."



Down below them in the deep blue water, curled tightly in a ball, a boy waited, or maybe slept. In the Farplane it was hard to tell.



"Wha?" Dawn asked, still treading water and trying to figure out what Rikku was looking at.



Isabel's still looking for sharks, but then she noticed the pyreflies in the water. "Is that him?"



Rikku pointed. Or tried to point, but doing that while treading water is hard.

Her heart ached. He was really there. She could make out the colors and his hair and why was he just sitting there, hugging his knees and not moving, and what did that mean and what was she supposed to do now!?

"It's him," she managed at last. "He's - down there. It's him. I gotta ... I'll be right back." She popped up slightly, taking a big breath into her lungs, and prepared to kick down.



"NO!" Dawn grabbed for any part of Rikku she could reach, "You can't! You don't know what's down there!"



"He's down there!" Rikku flailed a bit, panicking. "He's down there but he's not moving and what if he drowns even though he's dead already? Is that really him and how do we ..." She cut herself off to lean down over the water.

"Up here!" she shouted, knowing it was useless. "Please!"



"I don't think he'll drown," Door says, swimming closer to Rikku and trying to peer down herself. "But you might."



Rikku closed her eyes. "You're right. You're right. Okay. No swimming off." She tried to calm down. Tried to think.

"How do we ... anybody have any ideas here?" She looked between the three of them hopefully. "How long, uh, how much time do you guys need for the portal thing, anyway?"



Dawn looked to Door and stuck both arms out towards her, "It's your show. I have no idea how long it will take."



Door ... okay, shrugging while treading water? Ahahaha. After she's finished sputtering and rolling her eyes at herself, Door says, "It's a door; I find it and I open it. There's no set time for that. Though... it might be hard to keep it open for a long time."



Rikku nodded. "Isabel? We're not going to suddenly wake up, are we?"

And stared back down into the water. "Tidus!" Shouting was stupid, but she didn't have any other ideas right now.



"Not unless we want to," Isabel said. She left off the I hope, fairly certain they'd gone beyond a simple dreamwalk.



At the sound of his name, he stirred, a faint shrugging of his shoulders that displaced the water around him. Bubbles caught in the folds of his clothing dislodged and floated upwards the only sign.



Rikku nodded to Isabel. "Okay. Good. Then we ..."

She stared at the water. "Did ... did you see that?" She was imagining things. He was asleep and gone and that's why the fayth had brought her here, to see that he wasn't real any more and she should move on and --

Rikku leaned over and yelled, as loudly as she could: "TIDUS! YUNA NEEDS YOU!"



His name... and hers. She needed him? He could go to her?

It was like waking from a good night's rest, sighing as he stretched languidly, then looking towards the sound of the voice. It was someone he knew, right? Maybe...

Kicking off, he swam up to the light, a grin spreading across his face.

He was going home.



He was...swimming up? "This is a good thing? Right?" Isabel asked.



"This ... this is a very good thing," Rikku said. Once she could talk. That took a few seconds right there.

She turned to Door and Dawn. "Portal! Can you? We need - he's - he's coming!"



Dawn kept kicking in the water, hoping she wouldn't drown while this was going on. "Take whatever you need," she offered to Door.



Door takes Dawn's hand, unsure how exactly this is going to get them back. Physically? Or will they just wake up? But what about Tidus, then, this boy who's been sleeping in a dream?

There's no doorway, not even a flat wall, out here in this wide sea, so she just stares into the water and looks for a door.

Dawn's power rushes across her, strengthening her voice as she murmurs, "There you are. You want to open for us, don't you? You want to take us home."

And there it is, hovering half in and half out of the water, a doorway-shaped hole filled with bright green light.



Isabel swam through the door, hoping like hell she wound up back in Fandom.



Almost there ... almost there ... the hell with it.

Rikku kicked off, diving under the surface and closing the gap between them in a few short strokes. She stretched out a hand and grabbed onto him, marvelling that he was real, hoping this was going to work, wondering what he thought of all of this, and turning around quickly to change directions.



Tidus' grin widened and he twisted his hand to grip her wrist, adding his own propulsion to hers as they headed towards the green light. Rikku - Rikku! - passed through first, still pulling him along, and he had no time to wonder how they were even there before he was swallowed up by the door as well.



Dawn was feeling lightheaded from holding the portal open, and hesitated a second before taking a deep breath and swimming through it, worried as she was released from Door's hold.

As she swam through, she felt the portal pulling at her, coaxing her back to her beginnings on bright streams of energy, trying to reabsorb her essence.



"No," Door mutters, also feeling the pull, though not at her, nor does she have any idea what it is, just that it shouldn't happen. She follows Dawn through and closes her eyes as she does. "Time to close now. Go back to--" Sleep.





The people who were still awake had put a pretty decent dent in the onion dip.

"Next time, someone should bring chicken wings, too," Luke decided.



"And some take out pizzas," agreed Hamlet. "The dip is excellent, but there should be more variety at the next party."

He poked at one of the unconscious people on the floor. "And possibly a good movie to watch while everyone else is zonked out."



Sam was finding it hard to be as worried as he thought he'd be with Luke and Hamlet around, and he figured that had to be a good thing. "Pizza would have been a good idea. We'll have to remember that. I don't know what kind of movie would be appropriate though."



Jude munched thoughtfully on a chip.

"You could always go with slumber party movies. Like Sneakin' Out. And Sneakin' Out II: The Sneakening."



"We'd have to get both," Luke said, "because you'd hate to miss the important plot...things...between the first and the second movie."



And then, where once there was nothing, there was suddenly something - like the universe decided to make room for one more body, unexpectedly.

Of course, it made room for this body in the space above four boys and a bucket of onion dip. The only warning was a pop and a foreshortened yell, like "AAAH---!" before a blond-haired boy fell quite heavily on the gathered guardians.

Luke got soundly thwapped in the head by a gauntlet for his trouble, which Tidus might feel less bad about when he found out who'd brought the onion dip in quantity.



"Oww!" Luke cried, tipping into the body next to him, "what the hell?"



Sam let out a similar noise as the extra person and Luke both crashed into him. "Ugh. The hell?"



"Whoa! Sorry," Tidus said automatically, flailing as he tried to get off of the helpful strangers-cum-landing-pad.



"Solar plexus . . ." Jude croaked, curling into a little ball on his side.



Sam ducked just in time to keep from getting a gauntlet to the face, but couldn't avoid getting kicked in the side as he tried to roll out of the way. "Ow! Watch where you're...ugh, I think I just landed in dip."



Hamlet had gone from enjoying the chips to suddenly finding his lap full of mystery-boy-from-space legs. And onion dip, which would take forever to wash out.

"Maybe we're lucky that we didn't have any pizza or hot wings as well," he muttered. "What just happened here?"





Rikku woke up with a gasp and jumped to her feet. "We ... is there ... did ..."

She saw the pile of boys and clapped a hand over her mouth. "Sorry! Are you guys okay?! What ha--"

Her eyes stopped on one boy. The one who, by all rights, shouldn't be there. Wearing his weirdly mismatched blue-and-yellow outfit, covered in onion dip, disentangling himself from the heap of bodies.

It took her a few moments to be able to speak. "T-Tidus?!"



Tidus got a foot under himself amidst the tangle of people and stood up, trying to find a clear spot to stand. "Oh, man," he mumbled, half stumbling before he cleared the mess and looked up, still dazed. "--Rikku?"



"You ... you're ..." She didn't realize she was crying until she felt a tear slide down her cheek. She shook her head. Words were stupid anyway.

She lunged forward and barreled into him, tears coming harder now. If she squeezed any tighter, she might just crack a rib.



Tidus hugged her tightly, not yet in the realm of realizing what had happened except that he was somewhere there was a friend who was glad to see him. Also that it wasn't a beach, and that breathing was slowly becoming more difficult. "Rikku? ...Rikku?"



"You're here," Rikku said softly, still crying. Still squeezing. Still not believing it. Okay, he needed air. She reluctantly let go and stepped back a bit to wipe at her eyes ...

... and then suckerpunched him right in the stomach. "Don't you ever do that again!"



"Ooph--" Tidus doubled over, clutching at his stomach as he tried to mentally catch up with what seemed like a runaway chocobo of a conversation so far. "Wh- whoa!" He sucked in a deep breath as he straightened hesitantly. "What was that for?"



"You didn't tell us! You just faded out! It would serve you right if I left you there, you big meanie! That was totally not fair!" She gestured emphatically, and then grabbed him for another hug. "You stupid jerk," she added, voice already wibbling.



"Rikku," he began, just as she hugged him again, and then he sighed and gave in, hugging her back. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "I had to."



"We could have found a way," she mumbled. "Like with Yunie, you know?"



"Not without keeping the fayth of Zanarkand waiting," he said, squeezing her more tightly a moment. "Is she... Is Yuna okay?"



"She ... she misses you a lot," Rikku said, wiping at her eyes again and not caring that she was crying this time. "She d-doesn't know I'm doing this, so if ... if we just pulled you out of somewhere you were supposed to be, then yell at me, not her, okay?"



He shook his head. "I went because I had to-- do you think I wanted to?" Tidus pulled away, looking at Rikku plaintively. "It had to be done, so Sin would be gone for good," he said, voice soft but certain. "I wanted to be with you guys, with my friends."



Rikku shook her head. "You'd never leave Yunie. I know. I just ..." She laughed softly. "I can't believe things are okay, this time. That you're really here and everything's okay and the world didn't blow up and ... wow, that's a long story."

She fussed with her hair nervously, turning away from him. "Is ... is everyone back? Is anyone hurt? If anyone sees a big hole in the wall, uh, lie to me and say it's not there?"



"It's all good Rikku," Isabel smiled. "It's all good."



Rikku broke out in a huge grin. And hugged Isabel. She couldn't help it; people were going to be getting hugged for the next day or two solid. And wow, she had to introduce people and make sure everyone was all right and see if Tidus - Tidus, unreal - was going to be okay but right now she just gave Isabel a hug and said, "Thank you. So, so much."



Isabel blinked awake, half surprised to find she wasn't wet. Pushing up to a sitting position, she smiled when she saw Rikku and Tidus together.



Luke wiped onion dip out of his hair with a grimace. "It worked?"



"Apparently," she grinned. "We had some help in the end. But yeah, we got him back."



Door coughs and looks a bit chagrined. "Sorry about the pileup? When you have to make a door in the middle of the ocean, it's hard to tell exactly where it's going to come out."





Dawn was laying on the floor, eyes closed, breathing shallowly.



In the midst of getting smushed by the falling body, Sam had been just distracted enough to take his eyes off of Dawn. But when he heard the girls starting to wake up, he pulled himself out of the body pile and headed straight to her side.

"Dawn?" he said, giving her a gentle shake. When he noticed her breathing, the shaking became a little more than gentle. "Hey, it's time to wake up now, come on."



Sam. Somewhere in the portal, Dawn remembered what--and who--she was. She fought hard against the appeal of the energy and swam through, opening her eyes to see Sam looking down at her.

She blinked, then sat up and clung to him, tightly, and not quite ready to talk yet.



Sam was more than happy to cling back, rubbing his hand in slow circles over her back as he let out a sigh of relief. "Hey. I thought you were going to try to not scare me like that."



"I'm sorry," she said, taking huge gulps of air and trying not to cry as she buried her face against his shoulder. Dawn really hoped they'd found Rikku's friend, because there was no way she could fight that pull twice in one day, and she'd hate to tell Rikku that she was too scared to try again. "Please tell me we did it?"



"Don't be sorry, it's okay," Sam said reassuringly, pulling her in a little tighter. "Is Rikku's friend a blond guy? The kind who could cause some bruising if he landed on someone? 'Cause if so, I think it worked."



Oh, no. Oh no. Rikku noticed Sam holding Dawn and her heart dropped into her stomach. She knew it had been too easy, she knew something would go wrong, oh no, Dawn.

She knelt down next to them, looking back and forth quickly. "Is she ... are you ... I'm so, so, sorry. D-dawn?"



Dawn gave her a small smile over Sam's shoulder. "Did we win?"



Rikku nodded quickly. "Yeah. We ... we, uh ..."

She motioned him over and bit her lip. "D-dawn? I want you to meet an old friend of mine. Tidus? This is Dawn."

She didn't add that she was pretty sure that Dawn had risked a lot more than she'd let on for her, or that she was grateful in ways that she couldn't do justice in words. She hoped he'd figure some of that out.



Tidus walked over at Rikku's wave, brow furrowing a little at what seemed to be a much less cheerful gathering around the girl on the floor. He glanced from Rikku to Dawn, giving her a smile and a slightly awkward half-bow. "Hi," he said. "Um, thank you." He looked apologetic, not knowing exactly what happened yet, but sensing she deserved more than just a greeting.



"Hey, and you're welcome," Dawn smiled at him, too, relieved to see him, "Welcome back. Unless we yanked you out of Heaven, in which case I'm really, really sorry, but fyi, sleeping with vampires isn't the way to solve any disassociation issues."



Rikku smiled at both of them, still concerned. Not entirely sure what had happened or why it had made Dawn sick. "Are you ... are you hurt? I didn't ... I'm sorry."



"Don't be sorry," she brushed off the concern, though still not so much with the sitting up. "How're Door and Isabel?"



Door moves over to her. "I'm fine. Are you sure you are?"



"Oh, yeah." Mostly. "Is it okay if we don't do that again?"



"It better be," Sam said, shooting everyone else a look when he was unable to keep from sounding a little pissed.



"I'm sorry," Door says. "That didn't happen before, when it was just on the island. This was... different. To say the least."



Rikku swallowed, hard, and looked over at Sam. "I ... I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

Which wasn't good enough, wouldn't have meant anything if whatever had hurt Dawn had done worse, but it was all she had.



Tidus looked around at everyone, wilting a little as he realized that, whether intended or not, they'd been at great risk while dragging him back.

"Thank you, all of you, for what you did," he said earnestly. "I owe you guys for this, as much as that's worth anything. I'll make sure to not waste your generosity." He looked at Sam and Dawn especially, resting a hand on Rikku's shoulder and squeezing gently. "Rikku's obviously made some really good friends here."

Wherever "here" was.



Dawn smiled at Tidus. "She's really good to us, too. And enjoy what you've got, okay?" She leaned again Sam and yawned, resting her head on his chest.

(OOC: Preplayed with (deep breath): tatooine_doofus, ihatedenmark, psychic_wonder, lilpunkinbelly, dude_its_jude, izzyalienqueen, smartestone, notajar, sarcasm_guy (playing Bahamut's Fayth) and behindeyesonly (playing Tidus), who are infuckingcredible. Thank you all so, so much for all of your help and support, and thank you as well to those of you who've helped with this plot (either IC or OOC or both) but didn't get to hop in for the finale. This post is OPEN, both for the people already in 308 to have a chance to chit-chat and for anybody who wants to overhear the commotion and pop their heads in. Tidus will be hanging around Fandom for the next couple of days, feel free to say hi. Please wait for OCD. Minimal OCD up, just to keep things straight. And as always? OOC comments are love.)