Another Day

Rikki sat on the ground with her legs crossed Indian style. She was supposed to be hearing about Klaud later. She had to shut her mind down though or else she would begin to worry too much for her own good. Lenalee had sent her to the training room since she was only getting in the way in the Science Department. She felt bad about it, but she was always gittery and nervous when she was about to hear about Klaud.

Her breathing slowly became deeper and even. She was finally slipping into the meditation after about thirty minutes of trying to keep her mind absolutely blank. Her prayer before she began meditating was that Lavi stayed far away from the training room. With her luck he would be barging in soon after she got into the meditation.

A golem fluttered beside her head. She was only half aware of it now, but she did know it was there so that she would hear from Komui as soon as Klaud reported. She also had it in case a certain baka usagi decided to come mess with her. She would use it to get in contact with the nurses in the medical room. Lavi would be needing their care and attention. She wouldn't put it past Lavi to enterupt her meditation. He usually stayed away when she was training but never when she was meditating.

Lavi leaned on the entrance and crossed his arms on chest. He watched Rikki as she was trying to meditate, and when she finally succeeded, he sneaked inside and soundlessly sat in front of her, following her example and sitting down in Indian style. The redhead just sat there and observed Rikki's still body. He hated meditating. It was stupid to him. He didn't see the point of it. The whole thing brought the memories of Panda's torturing with meditation. Oh, how he despised those countless hours of torture. The granps would make him sit on some meadow with him in silence, ignoring his tries to make a conversation. And if the redhead became really annoying, it would only lead to severely wounded body. Heh, damn, how boring that was. Lavi wanted to poke Rikkim but was kind of afraid that he wouldn't get back his hand in one piece.

Rikki's Mind:

Rikki looked around. She was laying down in a field. She could see stars above her, but it wasn't night. She didn't see the moon. She sat up with her eyes still glued on the sky. There were stars, but no moon. It was light out, but there wasn't a sun. She sighed and looked around. She was in a clearing. Around her were tall trees with black leaves and grey bark. She shivered slightly and focused on the ground. She immediately regretted it since the ground was full of blood color flowers. Her breathing became quick and labored. The image suddenly changed to the dessert from when she was little. The sky was the same, but she was now standing in the sands. She could see blood everywhere. The wind howled, but she couldn't feel is or the heat. She could see a small child walking toward her. The child looked like a younger her, but she figured it was Rena. "Are you ready to die now, Rikki? Or do you still want to save them?" the little girl asked before breaking out in manical laughter. Rikki's eyes widened, and she fell to the ground as a sword appeared in the girl's hands.

Rikki began shaking, but she was still deep in her meditation. She wasn't even sure if it could be considered meditation anymore. She had gone so far into her unconscious brain that she was reliving the nightmares that used to haunt her when she was little. The nightmares she had when she first arrived at the Order. Her shaking increased in intenisty with each passing second. Rikki didn't know though. She was trapped in her worst nightmare.

Lavi's eyes widened as Rikki started shaking. He's seen many people meditating for hours, not moving a muscle. But he's never witnessed something like this. He stretched out his right arm and reached for Rikki. Lavi wanted to grab her for her shoulder, but when he almost reached her, he stopped, hesitating. After a few seconds, the redhead pulled his hand back and stood up. He knelt down in front of Rikki and gently shook her stiff shoulders.

"Hey, hey." Lavi whispered. "Rikki, what's the matter? Calm down." the green eyes anxiously searched her face. The redhead completely forgot about all Rikki's threats about killing him if he even thought about interrupting her meditation, but this just felt wrong.

Rikki's Mind:

The ground began to break apart. Rikki began falling. Falling into an abyss that had no end. She could hear the little girl's laughter above her. She watched with wide eyes as the girl let the sword fall point first toward her. She screamed before she was pulled out of the dream.

Rikki's eyes snapped open, and her shaking increased. She couldn't even see Lavi even though he was standing in front of her. Her mind was locked on the girl. The girl who had tried to end her life only seconds before. Tears streamed down her face, but she didn't notice them. Her breathing was ragged and labored.

Lavi's eyes widened as Rikki started crying. The redhead held his hands on Rikki's shoulders for a moment longer, and then automatically hugged her.

"Hey. It's alright. Everything's okay." he said, his voice low, meant only for Rikki's ears. Lavi couldn't deny it. He was worried about her. She was his friend, no matter what Rikki thought about him, or did to him. This was the first time he'd seen her like this. He didn't know what to do or say exactly, so he just held her in hug.

Rikki's eyes widened slightly. She was suddenly brought back to the world. She could hear her own sobs, Lavi's voice, and the wing beats of the golem. She slowly breathed out, "L-lavi?" She was still shaking, and she could now feel her tears. She could also still she the sword falling down... pointing at her heart.

Lavi moved away from Rikki just enough to look in her eyes - they were full of tears and confused and scared. The redhead frowned slightly and gritted his teeth.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly, still holding her shoulders. "Do you want me to walk you to your room?" the redhead asked hasitantly. The truth was he was afraid to leave her alone in that state, but he knew how tough she always acted and Lavi of all people seeing her so vulnerable wasn't very comfortable for her. At least that was what he thought. Maybe she wants to be alone.

Rikki just shut her eyes and shock her head. She didn't want to walk through the halls of the Order. She hated when others saw her crying. She hated when others were concerned about her. The only other person who had seen her so broken was Cloud. Her tears still cotinued to fall as her mind went back to the last time she had broken down. She could easily see Cloud's face in her mind. The only difference was that the sword was still visible. Still falling toward her.

Lavi nodded and, slowly, moved away from Rikki. The green eye watched her for another moment before asking anything.

"What happened?" the words were spoken, with concerne in his voice. He continued to watch her wet face, and then hesitantly asked, "Do you want me to leave?"

Rikki shock her head and took a few deep shuddering breaths. "I'm not really sure what happened. One minute my mind was blank, and the next I in a field. Before I knew it I was in the dessert. A little girl came out and was talking. I don't remember what she said, but then the ground gave out. She was holding a knife, and she dropped it. It was falling toward me. I woke up after that," Rikki said with her eyes glued on the ground.

Lavi looked away, thoughtfully. "Interesting." he said more to himself, and then to Rikki "Did something like this happened before?" redhead turned his gaze back to the girl, his voice a little louder than a whisper. "This isn't something that happens to people while they're meditating." Lavi paused and slightly arched his left brow. He pulled out a tissue and handed it to Rikki. "Here."

Rikki let a faint smile appeared on her face. She took the tissue from Lavi and quickly whiped her eyes. She hated crying in front of other people. She felt it made her appear weaker than she was. She then remembered Lavi's other question. "Oh... Happened before? ... Hmm... It has. I used to dream about it when I was younger," she finally managed to whisper out in her cracked voice.