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Tidus saw the glance to Roxas, and Tidus nearly glared at her at her look and words. "No...It's our fight too...They're my friends...I can't leave them behind! I'm only leaving with Roxas so that we don't berden them for them having to protect us." Tidus explained almost angerly.

He hated this side of Rikku. Where was the happy Al Bhed that always was glad to have a new member in the group? Where was the girl that was always so cheery? The Rikku Tidus remembered seemed like a fake...just like him.

Tidus lowered his head, his voice dropped to a whisper only she could hear. "Rikku...Zicd cdub dnoehk du ujanbnudald sa." He told her in Al Bhed, knowing no matter what he said no one but him, her and Auron would ever know in this place. But either way, he didn't want Auron involved, which was why he lowered his voice.

Underworld, Main Cavern

Everyone seemed to be falling apart even as Lenne murmured her thanks to Yuffie. Watching as she went over to Demyx, she nodded at the pair of them, feeling like she was an intruder in their privacy. She didn't miss the look of near-hopelessness on both their faces, but there was nothing she could do about it, except... "We're heading out, guys....then we can see what we can do from there..."

Hefting the bag on a shoulder, the songstress headed to where Roxas, Rikku, and Tidus were.

A hand on Roxas' shoulder and a gentle smile, Lenne handed him the elixir. She didn't know how to stop him from falling into despair, but she knew she had to keep everyone together. It was a good thing that the Prince of the Heartless and Envy were now gone, but the thing was, where should they go to, now?

Pressing a white silk handkerchief into Roxas hand, more for him to wipe away those remaining tears than anything, she murmured. "It's not over."

Ever since her death almost a thousand years back, the songstress-summoner had maintained an almost stoically positive outlook on life - especially the new one she had been given. A life was too short to dwell on the negativity of everything; Shuyin and her were probably the only ones who were fully able to make that claim.

Shuyin... her heart sighed. Was he all right wherever he was? Quietly praying that Xeryim didn't decide to visit the place Shuyin was at, she took out another hi-potion from the bag. The young woman did not miss the conversation between the injured Tidus and Rikku, but decided not to interfere overmuch in it.

Blanching slightly at the way the Al-Bhed words seem to flow so easily from Tidus' mouth, her hand tightened slightly around the bottle. It wasn't that she hated the Al-Bhed, no. But the words always reminded her of that fateful day in Bevelle, where she had Shuyin had their lives taken away from them in front of the giant machina Vegnagun.

She wasn't as angry at the Bevellians as Shuyin was; Lenne had forgiven them long ago, but old scars never really healed, did they?

Now's not the time to think about this, a small voice in the back of her mind reminded her firmly. There were people to help, and they really needed to get out of here.

With a soft smile at both Tidus and Rikku, she offered him the hi-potion. "Here, Tidus, this should help your arm. Miss Rikku, do you need any potions as well?"

Underworld - Cavern

"Oh, thank you Lenne. But no, I'm alright." Rikku then turned to Tidus. She sighed. He was so angry at her one minute, and she hadn't trusted herself to talk for fear the tears would really start pouring out. Yet when Tidus asked her to help...it felt good. Things had still changed, but this time they seemed almost like they'd changed for the better. Tidus acted like he perhaps trusted her more, now that she had grown up.

"E's cunno," she murmured her apology. "E zicd...funno ypuid oui cusadesac."

Ignoring any questioning glances from the others, Rikku sat down next to Tidus and began to tend to his arm.

"Save that for later." She indicated the potion. "I acquired some handy-dandy new skills while you were away."

Underworld - Central Cavern

Words spun around Roxas aimlessly, never hitting a mark or making a point. He was in his own world living with his own fate. The only other person in this world was Despair.

His attention fully came back when Lenne rested her hand upon his shoulder. Roxas flinched at first out of surprise and uncertainly but nodded and accepted the elixir. He held the tiny bottle tight until she offered him yet another gift: a small handkerchief.

But he did not except it. He did not need it. … and he had done it.

The network was a curious thing, something Roxas would probably never understand. At first thought it was bad luck for Aros to speak with him yet again. He thought his soul and his heart would only deteriorate.

Then he remembered something.

Roxas remembered everything he had to live for that the Heartless would never have. He had his heart and with that came love. His love for Namine… his love for all his friends… That was why he would protect them. That was why he had to keep moving. No more anguish. Roxas had his light and he was not about to loose it to a pair of Heartless despite who they originally were.

The boy pushed the handkerchief back at Lenne and looked up at the woman, half smiling. “Thank you but I don’t need it.” Roxas slowly rose to his feet and stowed the tiny bottle away. With his arm, he wiped away the remains of the tears from his face and looked around. Xeryim had hurt more than just him. A pang of guilt shot through his heart. How could he just wallow in hopelessness while all of this happened? He was no better than the Heartless for doing such a lowly thing!

He was going to make it up to them.

“Hey guys,” his voice sounded strange. Roxas had not heard himself speak for some time now and the cavern didn’t make it any better. “What do you want to do? Do you want to hang around here or should we at least go upstairs and get out of this wretched Underworld?”

"Do you want to hang around here or should we at least go upstairs and get out of this wretched Underworld?”

Yuffie turned her head, still resting it on her boyfriend's shoulder, and smiled weakly at her younger friend. "I think.........I think getting out of here is our best bet. This place is way too emo.........and it's affecting everyone." Not to mention who knows when the assholes will come back.... She unconsiously shivered at the memory of the last encounter with the silver-haired fiend, and her neck seemed to throb just a little more at the thought. If they hurt Demyx........or the others.........Oh god, I don't want to even think of that.........

Choking back the tears, she squeezed her boyfriend tight for a moment, pulling away only when she knew she was strong enough to. "There isn't much more we can do here, anyway. Let's start loading up the gummi ship and get back to Radiant Garden."

Underworld -- Main Cavern

Lenne blinked, a little confused at the way the conversation was heading. Radiant Garden? Loading the gummi ship? That was some sort of machina, right, the gummi ship?

As much as she had released the past, Lenne knew that a lingering fear of machina, instilled so thoroughly by Yu Yevon, still existed, and it really didn't help that she had died by them. Even so, Lenne stayed silent, refusing to cause further trouble for others, especially when they looked so much better now.

Pushing away the tinge of apprehension, Lenne watched Yuffie with Demyx for a few more moments; they were so close, and so loving, and it reminded her of the person she stilled missed so sorely.

A thousand years spent apart - by leaving Shuyin to answer the call of duty, she knew that she had betrayed his love, just as he had betrayed her trust after their deaths; she needed his forgiveness that as badly as he needed hers, but that had all been over when they were once again together. A few days? A few minutes? She didn't know; time stopped when one was in the Farplane...

Perhaps the fates hated them, or perhaps it was something else, but they were torn apart again, and Shuyin had been livid. All the more reason not to show him how much their separation had affected her. Knowing Shuyin, he would probably reach new levels of anger and fury, and would probably take it out on the nearest possible person. And while his anger was acceptable, taking it out on others weren't.

Her heart filling with sad longing, Lenne turned away from Demyx and Yuffie, fighting the temptation to ask Yuffie if she could perhaps access Beast's Castle somehow, so that she could find Shuyin.

"Namine and I will head to Port Royal but there is still Neverland, the Pride Lands, and Beast’s Castle. Where should we all go?”

Yuffie furrowed her brow as she considered the possible options. Lenne wants to go to Beast's Castle..........better give that to her.....Sephiroth's in the Pride Lands........like hell I'm going there............Cloud, Aerith, Leon, and Rinoa are in Neverland....time to pay them a visit. She weakly grinned at the thought of seeing her old friends again. Besides......anywhere's better than this shithole.

Turning back towards Demyx, she offered a hand to him. "Hey, I'm thinking of going to Neverland to see some old friends of mine.........Would you like to come along?"