And that's exactly what happened. Until I woke up, Yuna thought bitterly, pressing her forehead against the cool glass. She looked to either side at the sleeping forms of her friends. Rikku, twitching frantically even in sleep. Paine, looking eerily non-threatening. Brother muttering darkly in Al Bhed, with Buddy snoring raucously on the next bed over. Yuna shook her head violently, desperately trying to think up a diversion before the tears that were filling her eyes could spill over. She stood and wandered over to the elevator. She stared at it blankly for a moment before deliberately pushing the bridge button. Yuna stared at the dark hallway in front of her and shrugged off the feeling that she should be back in bed, listening to the chorus of nighttime sounds. She eventually got through the hallway, albeit she had to pause several times to remember exactly where she was going.
"Damn budget reports," Yuna muttered, fighting off the sluggishness that was so much stronger than she was. "Always make me feel zombified for so long after reading them." Yuna came to the stairway that she so frequently jumped, and instantly decided to use a more conventional method to get down them, this time at least. She lurched over to Shinra's desk and looked blankly at the screen. "Why're you lookin' at a commsphere that's underwater?" Yuna asked, wincing at how slurred her voice looked. Shinra gave her reflection in his computer screen a peevish look before retaliating,
"You can fight off Sin, an insane ghost, and the most powerful weapon in all of history but the sand man appears to be too much trouble for you." Yuna considered hitting him on the head, but then decided it required too much energy. "The commsphere's not underwater it's in the farplane," Shinra said in his annoying nasal voice.
"Then why is it all rippled?" Yuna asked groggily.
"That's what I'm trying to find out," Shinra snapped exasperatedly.
"Oh. I'm goin' back to bed-"
"I think you'd better."
Yuna finally managed to propel herself out of sleep. She sat up worriedly. There was something she had to do. Something imperative. Something that if she didn't do right now all would be lost. In a flash she remembered. She raced to the elevator and muttered under her breath at its slowness. She ran down the hall, and when she came to the stairway vaulted neatly over the railing to land square behind Shinra. She drew her hand all the way back and smacked the back of his head as hard as she could. It made a satisfying thud. She stepped back; knowing her mission was complete.
Yuna turned around, relatively surprised to hear a muffled fit of giggles from somewhere on her right. Rikku was doubled over with laughter, but desperately trying to keep it as quiet as possible, so the furious Shinra hopefully wouldn't notice her. Yuna decided the best way to go was to feign innocence, so she walked to the middle of the bridge and called,
"Good morning everyone. Where're we off to?"
"I think Djose is up to something. I'm getting all kinds of sphere waves from the temple. Want to see what's up?" Buddy asked, as always addressing Yuna instead of Brother, the self-appointed leader of their little group.
"Guys?" Yuna asked, knowing the answers almost before hearing them.
"Yeah! Let's go!" shouted Rikku, her fist accentuating each syllable. Paine grimaced at Rikku's behavior before saying in a monotone,
"Might not hurt. Maybe they have food there, considering someone forgot to give Barkeep the shopping list." She eyed Rikku testily.
"Hey, I forgot! I'm not supposed to remember everything are I?" Rikku whined.
"One shopping list is hardly everything," Paine snapped. "And stop whining!"
"I'm not whining!" Rikku cried in a voice that was halfway between a shriek and a whine.
"Thirteen respect points left," Paine warned.
"Oh, poopy." Rikku muttered, flinging herself into her chair. "I guess that means we're off to Djose," Yuna laughed. 'Yayyy!' and an indifferent shrug were the replies she received.
Yuna had finally decided. Out of all the other proposed theories she had deduced that someone must be spiking Rikku's food with caffeine. There was no other explanation for her being this hyper this early in the morning. She was laughing and skipping and generally running rings around Yuna and her other, more sedate companion. Paine stopped halfway up the temple's walk.
"That's strange," she muttered, looking around. "There's always people around." Yuna stopped and blinked in surprise. Paine was right. It was completely deserted.
"Maybe someone inside can tell us what's up?" Yuna suggested.
But there was no one inside either. All the 'machines' were deserted, and most of them were broken down.
"What the shoopuf?" Rikku whispered, or as close to a whisper as she can come. She ran her eyes around the deserted front room. Her eyes stopped on a drooping machina. "The poor thing!" she cooed, running to it. She squinted her eyes until they were barely slits, leaning back apparently to evaluate the problem.
"What are you doing?" asked Paine, sidling up beside her.
"Sh!" Rikku warned. "Don't distract me. This is very difficult..." She reached one hand between two menacing looking blades, while the other one probed the side of the machina. "Ah!" she murmured. "Interesting. Uncommon sequence." she muttered something else in Al Bhed but Yuna didn't catch what she was saying. "Just need to work my way up through here," Rikku was muttering, her tongue out in concentration. "Just a little more..."
"What the hell are you doing?" Rikku pulled away as if she had been hit and looked up into the furious eye of Gippal.
"Fixing the machina," Rikku, muttered, pouting, feeling it in her bones that she was about to get told off.
"You brain dead little-" Gippal shouted before switching to Al Bhed. Yuna, clumsy with the language at best couldn't even pick up a word here and there. "Don't touch anything," Gippal finished, his voice a menacing hiss. He strode off. Rikku turned around suddenly and kicked the floor.
"The big meanie! I wouldn't have hurt his precious machine!" She shouted. Paine began rolling her eyes with a sigh, but stopped mid-breath when she saw the trickle of a tear on Rikku's cheek. Paine promptly turned around and strode after Gippal. Three minutes later, he was back out, probably with a sword held to the small of his back. He apologized profusely to Rikku, who stood as if in a daze. "Just don't hurt yourself, okay?" Gippal said, placing a friendly hand on Rikku's head, his usual easy-going smile back in place.
"What was that all about?" One of Gippal's crew asked him once he was back in his not quite secret, but little known of workroom.
"Rikku was fussing with the LG-36," Gippal muttered.
"So? You said that even you couldn't fix it." Gippal smiled humorlessly.
"Oh, she could. Both she and Brother could fix that stupid thing, with little more than a thought and a flick of their wrist."
"But..." the worker began.
"They were trained by Cid himself. Trust me, she's the best there is."
"Then why not let her fix it?" "Oh, I've got other plans for LG our little friend. And for Rikku."
"Oh man I'm hungry," Rikku almost wailed.
"Well if you hadn't..." Paine began. Rikku cut her off.
"Hey! I bet we can get something in Luca. I think Baralai and Nooj are there for some sort of peace treaty." Rikku declared.
"But there hasn't been any fighting in weeks and weeks," Yuna exclaimed.
"It's a sham," Paine interjected. "If they don't go through a big show each sides followers will feel cheated. Right now they're probably playing a board game. If they're in the negotiations office at all." Paine added.
"All right! Let's go to Luca!" Rikku shouted.
"Weren't there some spheres we were supposed to find at Djose?" Paine asked, but neither Yuna nor Rikku heard her. They were already halfway down the road to the Moonflow. Paine sighed, and then raced to catch up with her very short-attention spanned friends.
"Yuna! Yunaaaa!" called a tiny figure in the distance, jumping up and down ecstatically.
"Uh-oh," said Yuna going from full sprint to dead stop in less than a second. The tiny figure was getting closer, but it wasn't getting much bigger.
"Yuna! How splendiferously splendid to see you!" Tobli yelped, jumping up and down like an insane toddler. Which was basically what he was, Yuna realized. "Yuna, guess what, it's the most suprising surprise you've ever heard!" Tobli cried, now running about in circles. Yuna gulped, fear in her eyes before asking weakly,
"What?"
"Oh you'll never guess, never ever, not in a million years!"
"Just tell her what it is," Paine growled, finally caught up to Yuna and Rikku.
"I've just had a letter from Leblanc-" Tobli began.
"Leblanc?" Rikku asked, her head swinging around. "Huh?"
"Yes Leblanc," Tobli said icily, giving the appearance of a chilling stare without actually being able to see his eyes. "And she wants you to sing at her wedding! She asked me to send you to Guadosalam as soon as I'd seen you."
"What?" Rikku asked skeptically. "I don't get it."
"What is there to get?" Tobli shouted animatedly. "Now get going! If you're not there soon she'll have my head. And if you see any Hypellans around ask them to come back here. Oh, the preparations!" Tobli gave an enraptured squeak and toppled over. Yuna sighed.
"Just one thing after another," she said.
"Well it's better than not doing anything," Rikku replied. "We gonna go to Guadosalam or Luca?" Yuna sighed again.
"I guess we'd better go to Salam."
"Wow. What's going on here?" Rikku asked, her eyes taking in Guadosalam with one sweep. Yuna agreed with her. Everything had gone white. All of the shops had white bows over them.
"Heh. I wonder what Leblanc's house looks like," Rikku mused.
"I'm sort of scared to ask," Paine said with a wince. She turned around slowly and took in the house. A look of disgust washed over her face. Yuna could tell why. It was entirely covered with white streamers and ribbons. No other color could be seen. And the guards at the doors were not the normal ones. Instead of guys, in their place were girls in frilly peach bridesmaid's outfits, the looks on their faces almost identical to Paine's.
"Wow," said Yuna weakly. "Dare we go in?" Paine gulped visibly.
"We better do something before Leblanc decides we're part of the scenery and starts throwing streamers on us."
"You really think she'd do that?" asked Rikku. Paine rolled her eyes.
"Yes, but first she'd cover us with papier mache, and put us in the oven to harden." Rikku's eyes got very big.
"Really? She must really be insane...oh, stop that Yuna I was just joking," Rikku pouted, responding to the look of horror on Yuna's face. She stomped to the door and walked through. Yuna and Paine followed slowly, glancing at each other worriedly. Rikku seemed to be in a bad mood, and when that happened, things were not good...
"Oh, loves! It's simply fabulous you came!" Yuna looked up to see a figure completely enfolded in a huge white dress. "Yuna, I have a favor to ask you. Do you think you could sing at my wedding?"
"Who are you getting married to?" Rikku cut in, her good mood back in place. It slipped away almost immediately as she was treated to the second icy stare of the morning.
"My darling Noojie-Woojie of course! So how about it?" she asked Yuna. Yuna shrugged.
"Well... okay I... I guess."
"Oh thank you! Darling girl! Here, let me fetch the music. Logos! The music for our guest!" A few seconds later a highly disgruntled Logos dressed in a white toga appeared and handed a highly crumpled sheet of paper to Leblanc, who then ceremoniously gave it to Yuna. Yuna uncrumpled the paper as best she could, and read a few lines. Leblanc apparently missed the look of utter revulsion that swept across her face.
"So, what date do you have the set for the wedding?" Paine asked.
"Oh, you know we have to organize the preparations a bit first, and the trifling little thing that he hasn't asked me yet, but I'm sure it will be very soon." Paine put a hand to her face and a strangled noise was emanating from her throat. It took Yuna a minute to realize she was stifling a burst of laughter, and when she had realized this she stared at Paine in disbelief for a while more.
"Yes, very soon indeed," Paine muttered, the humor still present in her voice.
"Now, I'm sure you want to get back to your ship and practice for the special occasion," Leblanc said with a girlish giggle. "I'll have the musicians sent to your ship via express." She chortled once more. "Ta-ta!" she called as the three companions walked out of the white-covered house.
"So what's the song like?" Rikku asked, skipping again.
"You don't even want to know."
"That bad?" Paine asked skeptically. Yuna silently handed the paper over to Paine. She made a gagging noise and quickly shoved it back to Yuna.
"Maybe you should make some, ah... 'artistic changes,'" Paine suggested.
"I'll have to if I want to avoid completely embarrassing myself. And Nooj," Yuna added as an afterthought. "So Paine, you know Nooj better than any of us. You think he's going to buy this 'white wedding' thing?" Paine chuckled to herself.
"Knowing Nooj, but more importantly knowing Leblanc... he won't have a choice."
"You honestly think Leblanc is in charge?" Rikku asked with a giggle.
"You could probably surmise as much yourself," Paine said in the particular tone of voice, which meant, 'I'm bored of this conversation. Let's move on now.'
"So, want to go to Luca now?" Yuna asked.
"Yeah!" Rikku shouted. "We could spill the beans on what Leblanc is up to!"
"Or we could not," Paine said.
"Why not?" Rikku asked, disappointed her suggestion had been brushed off so lightly.
"Wouldn't it be more fun to let this thing grow a bit more, until everyone except him knows about it? And then watch when he finally finds out?" Rikku cocked her head to one side, considering this suggestion. A wicked grin spread across her face.
"Okay, let's do that." She said happily. "How about it, Yuna?"
"It's not very nice...." Yuna began. Then she began grinning as maniacally as the other two. "But that just makes it all the funnier. Come on! Let's go to Luca!"
"Well, now we know where all the people from Djose went," Yuna screamed to be heard over the dull roar of the crowds. "What's going on anyway?"
"The peace talk!" Rikku shouted.
"It's this public?" Yuna shrieked.
"What?"
"I said, IT'S THIS PUBLIC?"
"I guess so!"
"Come on guys, let's go inside. It might be less crowded in there," Paine whispered, somehow still managing to be heard over the crowds. Yuna and Rikku silently followed. It wasn't quite as hard to snake away from the throng as they had previously suspected. Most of the people, seeing Yuna, respectfully got out of the way to let her pass.
"Being famous does have its good points," Yuna whispered in her cousin's ear, who nodded fervently.
The closer they got to Luca stadium the less people they saw. In fact, as soon as they got to the information desk everyone had disappeared. Yuna looked around and shrugged.
"When it rains it pours, I guess," She muttered.
"Why are all the people over there?" Rikku mused. "You'd think they'd be evenly spread."
"I think the treaty-talks are just about ending," Paine said. "They're probably going to make their announcement somewhere over there."
"Why not in the stadium?" Yuna asked. "It seems like it would make more sense..."
"I'm board. Wanna go see why they're not holding it in the stadium?" Rikku asked. Paine shrugged.
"Don't see why not," Yuna agreed. They made their way up to the stadium.
"Hey, who's that?" Rikku asked, pointing to the far side where two figures could be seen.
"Lets go check," Yuna suggested. They made their way around until they came to... Nooj and Baralai.
"Hey, girls," Nooj said as they came up. "Nice to see you."
"Good to see you too," Yuna replied. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"Besides pretending to be writing up a peace treaty? We're looking at how the renovation of the stadium is going." Baralai said.
"What renovations?" Rikku asked, one eyebrow raised.
"That's the point. They haven't started yet. There's no way we could harvest enough energy to get this thing up to date."
"Why don't you talk to Gippal or Shinra?" Paine suggested. "Gippal would probably have some good ideas, and Shinra's a genius. Even if he is an annoying little twerp."
"We already talked to Gippal. He said he's working on a big project that should help. We tried to get in touch with Shinra, but apparently he's having his hands full from the repercussions in the Far Plane. Or something like that."
"Yeah," Yuna muttered. "It's looking really weird. Almost like it's under water or something."
"Mm." Baralai said.
"So, have you guys been in touch with Leblanc?" Nooj asked suddenly. Rikku gave a great hoot of laughter and had to be silenced by a glare from Yuna and a kick from Paine.
"Yeah, we've seen her," Yuna said, faking nonchalance.
"How is she?"
"She's okay," Paine said. "Still pining after you, but I think she's better now that she knows you're not wandering around the Far Plane."
"I didn't mean to worry her," Nooj said a little guiltily. Baralai rolled his eyes, and the YuRiPa exchanged looks. It was just such an un-Nooj-like thing to say.
"Well, I think you guys had better get going," Paine directed at Baralai. "I think that if you push your followers much farther they're going to riot." Baralai nodded.
"Nice seeing you all," he said, his gaze lingering especially long on Paine.
"Nice seeing you too," Paine told him. They watched until they had disappeared down the stairs.
"Oooh!" Rikku said to Paine. "Looks like Baralai has a little crush on you!"
"Just shut up." Paine said.
"Wow!" Rikku gloated. "Maybe you have a crush on him too?"
"I told you to shut up!"
"Mua ha ha!"
"Grr..."
"Ow! Ow! Okay! I give! Stop it! Hey? Where did Yunie go?" Paine looked up from the task at hand of breaking Rikku's arm in time to see Yuna walking slowly around the stadium. She stopped in front of the Away team's goal, before entering the Team Room.
"What's gotten in to her?" Paine asked. Rikku sighed and pulled a hand through her hair.
"She's remembering Tidus." She said sadly.
"Okay... I guess the thing I was really asking is, should we leave her alone or comfort her?"
"I don't know," Rikku answered sadly. "I hate it when she gets like this, because I don't know what to do."
"Come on," Paine sighed, dragging Rikku after Yuna. They opened the door to the room. Yuna had her back turned to them.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have wandered off."
"It's okay," Paine said in a surprisingly maternal voice. "You're still hurting."
"Still?" Yuna asked. "What do you mean, still? Instead of the hurt going away with time, instead it's just festering more..." Rikku and Paine exchanged glances.
"Come on." Paine said. "Let's go see if Buddy has any new information for us." Yuna nodded and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet.
"Sorry," Yuna muttered as they walked back out into the bright stadium. "I'm fine now." But even though she said it, she seemed to lean heavily on her two friends all the way back to the airship.
"Any more spherewaves?" Rikku shouted, leaning over Buddy's shoulder and fooling with the control panel.
"No." He answered. "But one of the Aurochs sent me a movie... wanna watch?"
"Sure." Rikku said. The screen, went dark, then the unmistakable soothing sounds of Besaid started emanating from the speakers. However, there was one small change. You could hear a child shrieking in the background. When the screen came up it showed a highly disgruntled Wakka trying to take a very fussy Vidina from Lulu. After watching for a few moments all of the occupants of the Airship were rolling on the floor with laughter.
"When did this happen?" Paine asked.
"Just a few minutes ago. Want to go see how it turned out?"
"Yes!" All three cried together.
"Okay. I think I'll come too. No reason to miss a perfectly good show."
When they got to Besaid, they saw that others had gotten the same idea. There were a few logs laid out in the background with numerous spectators sitting and watching the antics. There were even a few Hyppellans wandering around, selling useless trinkets.
"Man! I feel like I've been here for hours, ya?" Wakka shouted.
"That's because you have been," Said Lulu in her slightly disdainful voice. "You have to learn how to hold your son, even if he is teething."
"He's teething already?" Yuna whispered to Rikku and Paine. "Wow." Finally, Lulu got tired, and whipped the child out of her husband's arms. He quieted immediately, turned toward his mother and began sleeping.
"Don't think this is over. We're going to do this every day until you get it right." With that, she swept into the tent.
"Man, what's next? Diaper changing?" He muttered behind that. A vase flying out of the tent and hitting Wakka on the head made the ensuing, "I heard that!" completely unnecessary.
"Ugh. Must be that time of the month, ya?" Wakka muttered, holding his aching head. He immediately wished he hadn't spoken however. Lulu came sweeping out of the tent, and a few local women decided to follow her. Wakka's terrified screams could barely be heard above the laughter.
"Oh man," Yuna said, holding her sides from all that laughing. "What are we going to do now? We still have a few hours to kill."
"Lets see, we've been to Luca, Djose, Moonflow, Guadosalam, Besaid... where else can we go?"
"Not Macalania, not Thunder Plains, not Bikanel, not Highroad, not Mushroom Rock Road..."
"That leaves Kilika, Gagazet, and Zanarkand."
"I don't want to go to Zanarkand," Yuna said with such conviction it shocked Rikku and Paine.
"What, you do all that work on it, and then you don't even want to see it? Oof!" Rikku was silenced as Paine kicked her in the back.
"Why don't we just go home?" Yuna suggested.
"Yeah. It's almost time for dinner, anyway. Let's see what Barkeep has made..."
They spent a quiet evening. After dinner, they sat around and told jokes, and allowed Shinra to show them a few spheres. All through the evening however, Rikku and Paine shot worried glances at Yuna. She appeared to be enjoying herself, but it was easy to see her mind was elsewhere. Finally, she got up and went to the deck. Rikku, after thinking for a few moments, followed. She found Yuna sitting by the figurehead on the deck. She went up and sat beside her, thumping her legs against the metal.
"You might hurt the ship," Yuna rebuked, but her heart wasn't in it.
"Do you like the airship, Yuna?" Rikku asked suddenly.
"Of course I like it," Yuna said with surprise. "It's my home. Sometimes I do wish that it was a little bigger," she murmured.
"I see." Rikku said. "I'll try to do better next time."
"What?" Yuna asked.
"Didn't you know?" Rikku asked. "I designed the airship. You didn't think my no good Pop would just give me something like this, do you?" Rikku laughed. "He said that if me and Brother could build one, we could keep one."
"Didn't he think you could?" Yuna asked, surprised.
"No." Rikku answered. "He keeps forgetting he trained us. I designed it, down to the individual screw. Brother and Buddy built it. Gippal helped a little, too," Rikku added. Yuna nodded.
"I always knew that you were good with machina, just because you were Al Bhed. I didn't realize how good you were, though."
"Not many people do. They think that just because I'm a bit of a ditz it means I'm stupid."
"But you're not." Yuna murmured. Rikku shook her head.
"But I'm not." Yuna shot a sideways glance at Rikku.
"Just out of all curiosity, how good are you?" Rikku laughed.
"My dad is better then me. Gippal might be someday. Shinra is... I can't think of anyone else."
"Wow." Yuna said. "Imagine. Having something that you really love, you really excel at... you're really lucky."
"Hey hey hey! What about you? You're the high summoner!"
"That's just because I'm stubborn, not because I'm good. Besides, even if that was what I was good at, the aeons are gone. There's nothing left to summon."
"What about singing?"
"That was really just Len."
"Geez... you're never content!"
"I know," Yuna said, laughing. "But I still feel that way."
"Yeah, we all do sometimes. But then it gets chased away by everything else we have going on."
"Yeah." Yuna sighed. "Thanks Rikku."
"For what?"
"For cheering me up. For being here. For being my cousin." Rikku nodded.
"Same to you." Rikku stood up, and ambled slowly back inside. Yuna stayed a bit longer, pressing her head against the metal eagle.
"This was supposed to be our story," she said with a sigh, before sedately following Rikku.
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!" Yuna went down to breakfast the next morning to be greeted by a family fight.
"You did too! You went around and messed with the controls last night!"
"I didn't!" Rikku wailed. "Why would I? Why does everyone always blame me for everything?"
"Um, should we be doing something?" Paine asked, appearing behind Yuna's shoulder.
"Uh, maybe we should get Buddy to take us somewhere else for awhile. Al Bhed Family Feud tends to get messy."
"Hey Buddy. Know anywhere we can get breakfast?" Paine asked.
"Heh. I don't blame you for wanting to get out of here for a little bit. I here they're threatening to bring in the big guns."
"Big guns?" Paine asked.
"Uncle Cid." Yuna answered, with a small smile. "I don't know which would be worse, if he sided with Rikku or Brother..."
"I'll let you down in Kilika," Buddy said. "Though I doubt there's a place in Spira where everyone wouldn't jump to get the High Summoner breakfast." Paine nodded, but Yuna fell silent. Once they were safely on the dock she asked,
"What's eating you?"
"It's just that..." Yuna began. "I want to be known for something other than High Summoner. I don't want everyone to always feel indebted to me."
"You're never happy," Paine told her.
"Nope," Yuna laughed. "Never. Even Rikku agrees with you." Paine winced. "Hey, I think there's a food stall over there." They ambled over to the food stall and bought some hardboiled gull eggs.
"So," Yuna said, brushing off her hands. "What do you want to do now?"
"I dunno. Things have been pretty slow lately. There aren't too many spheres left anymore, no more crises, not even too many strong fiends left."
"I know. I almost wish for the hecticity of a big problem just to take my mind off things."
"What the?" Shinra muttered to himself, completely ignoring the screaming and fighting going on behind him. The ripples in the far plane were speeding up, and there were more of them. Then suddenly, they... stopped. "Huh?" Shinra asked, and typed in a few things at his computer. He stared at the figures that came up blankly. "I don't get it." He said. Unfortunately, he said that just as a lapse in the fight came. And everyone heard him.
"Whoa, Shinra admits to not getting something?" Buddy asked, jerking his head around sharply.
"It's the freaking APPOCOLYPSE!" Brother shouted.
"We have to throw a party!" Rikku squealed.
"No, I'm serious," Shinra said. "Come look at this. It's really freaky." They all crowded around his computer.
"I don't see anything wrong," Rikku pointed out.
"I know. That's the thing. The pressure that ghost caused in the farplane caused a disturbance in the material/celestial boundaries, causing the place where they come together, the farplane, to ripple. Because of the disturbance, temporarily the lines got redrawn. Theoretically, what would have happened is either the ripples would have settled, and it would have gone back to normal, or, far more likely, they would have speeded up until they were moving at about a millionth of a kilosecond, making the boundaries not really set, more of just a theory. Which means that there wouldn't really be much of a difference between something living or dead. It would be like the unsent, just a lot bigger, a lot scarier, and quite possibly a lot gooier. However, to get back into the material world, a fiend would have to jump out at just the right time. If it didn't, and it jumped when the lines where in the celestial boundaries, it would get nowhere. But, if it even managed to get partway through when the lines where in the material boundary, the vibrating would stop until it got through, and then when they started again they would probably be slower."
"Okay, that doesn't explain why there are no vibrations."
"The only possible way there could be no vibrations is if a very big, very powerful fiend got partway through, and the lines halted to let it past. However, a fiend that big would require energy to get the rest of the way through, because going from one plane to another requires energy. So, it must have sucked the power that the lines were using to ripple from the celestial to the physical plane, and since it now doesn't have enough energy to finish the ripple, it's stuck."
"Will someone explain that to me again, in English please?"
"He's saying that because of Shuyin the farplane started allowing fiends to come back out here. And now, a big fiend went through and essentially put a doorstop in. The farplane is stuck open, at the mercy of anything that wanted to get in or out."
"Thank you," Rikku said. Then, "Wait, how did you get in?" she asked Gippal.
"The door was unlocked," He said. "Anyway, I came to ask a favor, but it looks like you guys have problems of your own."
"No, what is it?" Rikku asked hurriedly.
"I was actually going to ask Shinra for help. You know how Baralai and Nooj want to redo the Stadium for some reason. Well, they can't quite harvest enough energy to do the job. I was actually thinking about using the energy in the farplane that's allowing it to be all wacko. I was thinking that if we snatched it at the right time, we could seal the lines back into the celestial boundary, killing two birds with one stone. Fixing the farplane and getting the energy for the renovations," He added, in case someone hadn't yet figured that out. "But Mr. Big Bad fiend stole the energy, so now I don't know quite what to do."
"Well, how was this thing going to work anyway?" Shinra asked. Gippal whipped out the blueprints, and soon they had their head together over them, not paying any attention to anybody.
"By the way, Rikku, does Nooj know that he's engaged yet?" Gippal asked, popping up just long enough to ask the question.
"No." Rikku said with a smile. "We figure it will be better if he finds out for himself."
"And funnier?" Gippal asked.
"Bingo."
"Well, what if we changed the coordinates..." Shinra said. Gippal ran a hand through his hair.
"Rikku! Get over here!" He called. Rikku nodded and went over to crouch beside him.
"Would this work?" he asked, pointing to a little scraggly drawing in the corner. She looked at it for a moment, before replying calmly,
"No."
"Why not?" Gippal asked.
"The power isn't nearly big enough to fuel something of this magnitude."
"But there's a backup to get it started."
"Oh, is that what that squiggle was? I thought it was an arm. Well then. It probably should, as long as you don't turn on all the features at the same time. But, wasn't this for the farplane?"
"Yeah, but the same rule should apply, right? Just suck the energy out of him."
"Well, maybe, but, this thing is set for coordinates of something that isn't quite in either plane, not something that is definitely in the physical plane, just drawing on power from the celestial plane. And besides, now that it has the power, it might have converted it."
"Whoa, slow down there Rikku. I was just asking if it would run."
"Yeah, it'll run. But I think that maybe you guys have the wrong idea."
"How so?" Gippal asked, raising one eyebrow.
"I think it's foolhardy trying to get the energy from the fiend. It would make more sense to try to get the energy from the pyreflies. For one thing, pyreflies aren't constantly threatening to bite off your head. I think what you should do, is wait for someone to kill the thing, and then suck the pyreflies and all the energy they haven't eaten into the machine."
"Wait a minute!" Brother shouted. "Pyreflies eat energy?"
"Yeah, what did you think they did?" Shinra asked disdainfully. "I'm pretty impressed that Rikku knew, though." Rikku just shook her head.
"I'm only stupid when I'm not working on a project," she informed him.
"Okay, so you're saying that after you and Yuna and Paine beat the crap out of this thing, we should just essentially vacuum the pyreflies up."
"Yeah."
"And you think it'll work?" Gippal asked.
"It probably will," Shinra said in a long-suffering voice. "It's too stupid not to."
"Well, we'll see how this goes," Gippal said, gathering up his work. "Thanks for the help." He turned on his heel and was gone. Rikku blinked twice.
"Did I just get suckered into killing this thing?" she asked.
"Yep." Shinra, Buddy, and Brother said at the same time.
"Oh no!" Rikku squeaked. "Paine is going to kill me!"
"So you're telling me that you volunteered us to take on a monster that was strong enough to make the farplane stick?"
"Yes," Rikku said very quietly.
"You imbecile! What were you thinking?" Paine screamed.
"Hey! All I said to Gippal was it would make more sense to suck up the pyreflies and the energy after the monster was dead! Then he said something about us killing it, and I didn't realize what he had said until he was gone!" Paine took a couple of very deep breaths. "Besides, if we don't fight this thing, who will?" Rikku asked in an even quieter voice. This seemed to hit home with Paine. She swung herself into a chair and put her hands over her eyes.
"We're going to die." She said calmly.
"Maybe," Yuna said. "But we've thought we were going to die before. And it's for a good cause."
"No it's not!" Paine yelled. "It's for a stupid stadium!" Yuna blinked.
"I thought it was to fix the farplane," she said. "Rikku?" She asked. Rikku turned to look at her.
"I don't know what he's going to do with it." She said at last. "I don't think he even knows. Once we have the energy, that's one thing. But how to convert it into a usable form, that's something else."
"We gotta back out," Paine said, with finality in her voice.
"I'm going." Yuna said.
"What?" Paine and Rikku asked in unison.
"Are you out of your mind?" Rikku yelled.
"Are you trying to get killed?" Paine said, cold rage in her voice.
"I'm just tired of feeling useless." Yuna said quietly.
"Being dead is going to make you a lot more useless then you already are," Paine pointed out.
"I promise I won't get killed. I'll just see how strong the thing is. If I'm in any real danger I'll run."
"Hey, what are you talking about?" Rikku asked. "Where do you thing we're going to be while your doing this?"
"In the airship, I assume. I thought you guys didn't want to."
"Well, we don't, but we don't want you to do it either!" Rikku exclaimed. Seeing the grim resolve in Yuna's eyes, Paine asked quietly,
"Is this what you really want to do? Are you sure that you want to be driven to this by your grief?" Yuna nodded slowly.
"It's just... I want to be doing something. I really will be careful. I'm not Nooj. If I'm in any danger at all, I promise I'll get out of there."
"We don't even know how strong it is," Rikku begged.
"I'm going," Yuna said, before disappearing off to the cabin.
"What was that?" Rikku asked Paine.
"I have no idea. It's not like Yuna to act this way. Not at all. And I have the feeling that if we volunteered to go, she'd refuse."
"I have that feeling too." Rikku muttered. "And she doesn't really want to get killed, I could tell."
"Yeah... maybe she really is just doing this to make sure that the people of Spira are safe from a dangerous Fiend."
"Once a High Summoner, always a High Summoner." Rikku said.
"I think so."
Yuna lay awake in the cabin. Why did I do that? She asked herself over and over. It wasn't like her at all. She wasn't the type of person to rush into battle by herself without knowing anything about what she was facing. Even with Shuyin and Vegnagun she had had some background information. However, each time she asked herself that question, she always came up with the same answer: because I have to. For some strange reason, she felt like it was the right thing to do. Like no matter what else had happened, she had to do this. Like it was unchangeable. She shuddered a little. She didn't like that thought. Finally, she drifted off into fitful sleep. The next morning she was confronted by Rikku and Paine.
"If you're going, we're going too." Paine informed her.
"We're the YuRiPa." Rikku answered. "We stick together." Yuna looked at them, trying to find a way to express her thoughts. But she couldn't. So the only thing she could do was accept.
The morning that the plan was to be carried out finally came. The three left the airship, and were left in the middle of Bikanel Desert.
"Where's Gippal?" Yuna asked.
"A few miles away. The fiend should come to us, and he doesn't want to get crushed." Rikku answered.
"It's that big?" Yuna said in awe.
"Sh... there it is," Paine whispered, pointing a little ways away. It turned out to be a long ways away. They waited patiently as the monster got closer, closer, and impossibly bigger.
"I think we're going to have to run," Yuna murmured.
"Yeah." Paine answered. Finally, the giant monster came to a stop a few feet away from them. It was a huge, faceless, shapeless, color and texture- changing blob. And it was the scariest thing any of them had ever seen in their lives.
"Time to run?" Rikku asked, sounding close to tears.
"Yes!" Yuna and Paine yelled at the same time. They turned to run, but they never got farther. The monster sent two arms around them, until they were completely circled by it.
"ohshitohshitohshit," Paine was muttering under her breath, as the three stood back to back.
"What's this?" Shinra asked suddenly, as he was looking musingly at the farplane.
"What?" Buddy asked.
"The farplane snapped back in place!"
"What? How is that possible?"
"The only way that's possible is if something even stronger then the previous monster, that could generate it's own energy, and was already halfway into the material world went through to unstick it."
"So... do you know what it is?"
"No. I have no idea. Hey, look at this. There's still a loophole."
"A loophole?"
"Yeah. I don't really understand it... something about the two planes coordinating and then moving... it's much more complicated then anything I've ever seen before."
The monster sent out an amazing blast of power. Rikku fell like a stone. Paine was next. Yuna crouched on the ground next to her friends, waiting for the swish of power that would signify her death sentence. But it never came. She heard nothing. Except for the swish of fabric. A clink of metal. Then, a snap, and the monsters screams. Yuna clenched her eyes tighter, not knowing what was going on. Then, a hand, cold as ice, touched her cheek.
"Are you all right?" Came a strange, musical voice. Yuna opened her eyes, and looked up into... Shiva's face.
"How is this possible?" Yuna asked. "Am I dead?"
"No. If you really want to know what happened, ask the little one. But... the aeons are back. We tried to go away, to leave this world to it's present inhabitants, but... we are the life of this place. And without us, it will die."
"Wait!" Yuna cried, an idea hitting her. "If you're back, that means you can dream again, right?"
"Yes, we can. But... we have a new dream now. Go to the farplane. Don't worry, we fixed it. Go to the farplane, Yuna. It's time you saw something." Yuna nodded, but let her head hang. Her tears briefly moistened the sand.
"I'll go." She whispered. She saw her friends lying in a heap in the desert sun. "Will they be all right?" she asked hoarsely.
"Yes." Shiva said. "Help me carry them to your airship." Shiva waved a hand, and Paine began floating through the air in front of her. Seeing that, Yuna couldn't help but laugh.
"I'm sorry, it just looks funny," She apologized to Shiva, before picking up Rikku by more conventional methods.
"My god, Rikku, are you okay? Hey who's that AH!" Brother screamed, seeing Shiva.
"It's alright. She helped us out of a very tight spot." Shiva followed her to the cabin. They laid their charges down on the beds.
"They will be fine. Go, Yuna." Yuna nodded, and with one more hesitant look at her friends, left.
"What the Hell do you mean you let them try to take down the fiend?" Baralai screamed at Gippal. "Do you know how dangerous that was?"
"Yeah, but... they made it out okay." Gippal said brightly.
"You idiot!" Baralai yelled. "Come on, we're going to go see if they're hurt. I swear, if Paine..."
"Paine?" Gippal asked. A sly, slow smile spread across his face. "I thought you were acting weird! You have a crush on her, don't you!"
"Shut up." Baralai said, and refused to pay any attention to his friend all the way to the airship.
Baralai and Gippal entered the airship just when Rikku and Paine began stirring. Paine woke up first.
"Ow," she muttered, sitting up.
"Paine! Are you okay?" Baralai asked hurriedly, pulling her into a tight hug. Gippal, half expecting to see Baralai end up on the floor with a sword at his throat, was very surprised when Paine hugged him back.
"Wha..." Rikku said, as she, too, woke up.
"I think I'm dreaming." She muttered. She looked over and saw Paine and Baralai, and a look of utter disbelief crossed her face. "Okay, now I know I'm dreaming." She said, shaking her head emphatically.
"Hey, don't do that." Gippal warned.
"You'll knock around the few brains you have."
"Gippal!" Rikku cried.
"How ya' doin, squirt?" he asked, sitting next to her.
"Did it work?"
"Yeah, it worked." Gippal said with a smile. "Just don't put yourself in danger again." Gippal warned.
"I would rather have you alive and the experiment not work then you dead and the experiment work."
"That's nice." Rikku murmured. "But if we had died, the experiment would have failed anyway. Hey, where's Yuna?" She asked suddenly, a touch of panic in her voice.
"She's gone to the farplane," a whispery voice said, causing them all to jump. Shiva came out of the shadows. "There was something she had to take care of."
"Shiva!" Rikku cried. "You were the one who saved us, weren't you?" Shiva inclined her head regally.
"Why?" Paine asked.
"We have a debt to repay," Shiva said. "To the True Summoner."
"You were thanking Yunie for making Sin and YuYevon go away?" Rikku guessed. Shiva again, nodded.
"Perhaps, in a few moments, when you are feeling better, you might want to join your friend at the farplane." Shiva murmured. "She may need you there."
Yuna stood in the farplane. Slowly, she drudged up memories of Tidus. She clenched her eyes up tight, hoping that when she opened her eyes the farplane would still be clear. She opened her eyes. She took a sharp breath, halfway between a gasp and a sob. She sank to her knees in front of the image of Tidus.
"I kept telling myself you weren't here." She said. "That I'd find you some day. But I was wrong... huh?" Behind Tidus had appeared the image of Auron. Except, instead of the normally stationary images, Auron was moving. Yuna stood up, wondering what was going on. Was the farplane still broken? Were the pyreflies having a fit? Auron gave a sharp push to the image of Tidus. "Ow!" Yuna yelled, as he landed on top of her. Tidus scrambled up, and glared at Auron.
"Hey! What was that for? Dad! What's going on?" Jecht appeared beside Auron.
"What's going on?" He asked Auron.
"Your son has ADD or something." Auron informed him. "And he's really starting to get on my nerves. I asked the aeons and they said that they would fix it so he could go back without being unsent."
"The aeons?" Jecht asked skeptically. "I thought they were dead."
"No, they're not." Braska said, appearing behind both of them, causing them to jump. "Hi sweetie!" He called, waving to Yuna. "No, they're not, I was just talking to them." Yuna looked around her dazedly.
"I must be dreaming." She said. "The farplane isn't supposed to act like this... and you," She said turning to Tidus. "I've dreamed that you came back to me so many times... it can't be real, it just can't be..."
"Yuna," Tidus said, and tears came to her eyes. He came over to her, and pulled her chin up until she was looking at him. "It's real." She looked at him, and saw all the minute details that had never been in her later dreams, because she had slowly started forgetting.
"You're real." She said. "My god, you're real!" She hugged him tightly, and allowed herself to be twirled around. "Hey, where did the others go?" Yuna asked. Tidus shrugged.
"I don't know. Probably back to their house."
"They have a house in the farplane?" Yuna asked, raising one eyebrow.
"Sure." Tidus said. "It's pretty nice too."
"I just can't believe that you're back! After three years..." Yuna muttered. Suddenly, she turned away from Tidus.
"Yuna, what's wrong?" Tidus asked, reaching out to her. She turned around suddenly, and slapped him in the face. Hard.
"You jerk!" she yelled. "You made me wait three years for you! You made me search for you for three years, never knowing if you were alive or dead, if you had disappeared, if you were real enough to still be here..." She rested her head against his shoulder, sobbing, spilling the tears she hadn't let out for three years.
"Yuna, are you okay? What the hell?" Paine asked as she entered the farplane assuredly.
"Shuyin?" She asked blankly. Rikku, right behind her took one look at what was going on and screamed,
"Tidus!" She ran over to him. Tidus looked at her like he could almost recognize her, but he just couldn't tell from where.
"Don't you recognize me?" she asked with a fake pout.
"Holy crap, Rikku!" He said, recognition in his eyes. He looked her up and down. "You grew up," he said impressed. Yuna punched him in the arm, Rikku not far behind.
"Hey... you don't look any different!" Rikku said surprised. "I figured you'd look as different as us."
"No," Tidus said. "You don't really grow much in the farplane."
"Hey, that means Yunie is older then you!"
"What?"
"She's nineteen now. You're only eighteen."
"Hey, you're right!" Yuna said with a smile.
"Hey, who's she?" Tidus asked Yuna, nodding towards Paine. She came forward.
"I'm Paine. Pleased to meet you," she said, holding out her hand for him to shake.
"Hey, what's going on?" Baralai called. He, Gippal, Nooj, and Leblanc had just entered the farplane.
"Who's he?" He asked Yuna, pointing at Tidus.
"Hey, he looks like that deranged ghost." Nooj pointed out.
"What deranged ghost?" Tidus asked Yuna.
"Shuyin. From a thousand years ago." A frown crossed Tidus's brow.
"I thought you said that there were no real people in the aeon's dream."
"As far as I know, there's not." Yuna replied.
"Was Shuyin in the Aeon's dream?" Rikku asked disbelievingly.
"Yeah. He was my great-uncle. He did look a lot like me. Hey! I just remembered something. His wife, my great-aunt Len, looked a lot like you, Yuna. Pretty freaky, yeah?"
"Just out of all curiosity, was Len a summoner?"
"No, she was a songstress. She was really popular, actually." Yuna breathed out.
"They really did try to make everything better."
"Why? What happened to them in real life?" Tidus asked.
"Len was a summoner, and was sent to the front ranks in the machina war. Shuyin tried to save her by activating a very dangerous weapon that would have destroyed the world. Len stopped him at the last minute. But they were found by Bevelle guards, and killed."
"Ick." Tidus said.
"Yeah."
"Will someone please tell me what is going on?" Leblanc practically shrieked. "Who is he?" Leblanc asked as Tidus asked "Who is she?"
"Perhaps we should make the introductions somewhere else," Nooj suggested. "Leblanc, if you're willing."
"Of course! Everyone follow me." They all slowly filed out of the farplane. Once they were all accommodated in Leblanc's house, Tidus looking around edgily, not quite comfortable in a place that had once been inhabited by Seymour.
"Everyone, this is Tidus, my sixth guardian." Yuna introduced
"Make your own theories based on the way she was holding on to him earlier!" Rikku called cheekily.
"Yes, well," Yuna said, eyeing Rikku icily. "Anyway, this is Nooj, head of the Youth Squad, a new organization started to battle New Yevon, run by Baralai over there." Tidus eyed Baralai, until Yuna said, "It's not that bad, Tidus. It's not like normal Yevon all that much. And then, Gippal is the head of the Machine Faction. He takes old machina and makes them into better 'machines' so people don't get dithered up about the name. That is Leblanc, Nooj's Fiancée," Nooj turned a startling shade of pink, "And owner of another sphere hunting corporation."
"What's a sphere hunter?" Tidus asked. Leblanc snorted. "Hey, I've been dead for three years, cut me some slack," he snapped.
"You should still be able to figure it out," Leblanc shot back.
"I was a dream for eighteen years before that," He muttered, glaring at her.
"A sphere hunter is someone who tries to find old spheres that document Spira's past," Yuna explained.
"Ah."
"And... that's everyone."
"Yeah," Tidus said. "I think my head is going to explode." Yuna giggled. "Anyway, how is everyone?" Tidus asked.
"Wakka and Lulu are married, and they just recently had a little baby boy, named Vidina. They're back at Besaid. They're doing very well. Rikku is part of the Gullwing's with me; we're sphere hunters. Kimahri is doing well. He just settled a major Rhonso dispute. That's all I can think of now..." They lapsed into slightly uncomfortable silence.
"Hey Tidus! Want to see where your girlfriend lives?" Rikku asked brightly and dragged Tidus and Yuna back to the airship, Paine trailing behind.
"What took you so long?" Brother asked, but then stopped short when he saw who was behind Rikku.
"Uh... hi," Tidus offered lamely.
"Who's he?" Shinra asked, and they started a whole other round of introductions.
"So, I guess you're staying here, 'cause you have no other place to go!" Rikku suggested, in a lapse in the conversation. "Yuna, can I speak with you?" She asked suddenly. Yuna nodded, perplexed. Rikku led her to the elevator. She took a small key from her pocket, turned it into an impossibly hard to see keyhole, and pressed the extra button that had appeared on the control panel. When the elevator door opened, they looked at not the familiar hallway, but a small room. It had two chairs, a bookshelf and a big window in the side.
"Where are we?" Yuna asked.
"Under the engine room. I told you I designed the ship, right? Look, there are the blueprints hanging on that wall. You can go see what I have this room labeled as." Yuna walked over, took a look at it, and gasped.
"How did you know?" She asked.
"I didn't. I guessed. I figured that you care about him enough to keep searching until you find him."
"That's the only reason why you named it 'Yuna and Tidus's room'?"
"Yeah. And don't look at me like that, Yuna. When I made it I didn't mean for it to be a master bedroom or anything. I figured that you two would never get a moment's peace, so I made you a room where you can talk that no one knows about. Well, except for me of course. But I'm giving you the key, so I can't come down here any more, anyway."
"Rikku," Yuna said. "You're so sweet it's almost painful. Thank you so much. For this, for cheering me up, for believing in me. You're the little sister I never had." Yuna's voice broke, and she simply hugged her little cousin fiercely.
"You okay now?" Rikku asked. Yuna nodded. They went back up the elevator. "Hey, Tidus, come here for a minute!" Rikku said as she skipped inside, dragging Tidus to the elevator.
"Look, Rikku I really appreciate your enthusiasm in seeing me, but I really want to spend some time with Yuna," he muttered to her under his breath. "Huh?" He asked as Rikku waved cheerily goodbye to him as the elevator snapped closed.
"Hey, Rikku," Paine called. "Do you know where Yuna and Tidus went to?"
"Of course I do," She said. "First I leave with Yuna, come back without her, Leave with Tidus, come back without him. What do you think I was doing?" The door snapped open behind Rikku again.
"Sorry we keep coming in uninvited," Baralai said with a small smile, sitting down next to Paine. Gippal chose a seat next to Rikku.
"Hey, Rikku," Gippal muttered, blushing a slight pink. "I was wondering if you wanted to go see Tobli's concert in the stadium with me."
"Are you asking me out?" Rikku asked cheerily, fluttering her eyelashes at him. He swiped at her, and missed.
"Yeah." He said finally, blushing darker.
"On two conditions," Rikku said finally. "Paine and Baralai come too, but sit far away from us. And... what's behind your eyepatch?"
"What?"
"What's behind your eyepatch? It can't be that horrible, I would have heard about it from Pop if it were..." suddenly, lightning quick, she reached out and pulled Gippal's eyepatch off his head, to reveal... another eye. Everyone stared blankly at him for a second. Then, Gippal began chasing her around the cabin.
"Why do you even wear it if you don't need it? Hey, stop it! That's no way to treat a lady!"
"Come back here you little thief!"
"I take that back... that's no way to treat your girlfriend," she taunted, running faster.
"Wow, I never knew Rikku had it in her," Paine gasped between bursts of laughter.
"Yeah," Baralai said. "I've never seen him so angry..." seeing Paine's strange look, he said,
"Oh, he was being unreasonable then, not angry. I think they suit each other well," Baralai said, watching as Rikku ran rings around Gippal. "He's so good at everything he does. He needs someone who can infuriate him easily."
"I agree with you there," Paine said, and allowed Baralai to put his arm around her. "This is going to be some story," Paine said, imitating a figure of speech she had heard Rikku and Yuna use.
"Yep. I wouldn't miss it for anything," Baralai murmured.
The End