What Heroes Get
by PrettyGothGirl
All Disclaimers Apply
Summary: AU Spira/Crimson Squad: The Crimson Squad has just saved the day for the Al Bhed and everyone has had just a little too much to drink, enough to be forgetful or get over their fear and do things they shouldn't.
A/N: Add 4AM, to thinking about Firefly and a tangent off to Shanghai Noon... this is eventually what you get, especially when you're still taking what you can get out of your brain. One-shot.
He was drunk. He had to be drunk. Of course, it wouldn't be an Al Bhed party if he didn't have a drink or two or four. And it was all perfectly logical and acceptable. They were the heroes of the hour after saving this very village from an attack of rampaging Zu's. The Al Bhed were very charming and exuberant hosts and were doing their best to make all members of the Crimson Squadron feel welcome.
If he cared to glance over his shoulder, he'd see that Paine was being plied with drinks, though no one could wrench that camera from her hands. She had to still be recording. Gippal wasn't sure where Baralai had been shepherded.
He just had to be drunk. It wasn't the fact he knew quite a few of the people in this village and was surrounded by a few old friends catching up on news, life, girls and they kept making sure his glass was full. It wasn't the fact that among the dancers he could see Nooj stumbling about much to the amusement of the three girls dancing with him though was probably a clear indication that Nooj was drunk. Gippal had to be drunk because he kept seeing Cid's girl's face between the dancers and she hadn't come and said hi to him. Cid's girl couldn't be here and not say hi to him, her oldest friend for forever. No. He was just drunk, having wishful thinking for it wasn't a party without Cid's girl and thus, he was seeing things.
He was seeing things as she languidly walked out from between two other females, who just magically parted before her. The glow from the fire refracted off her hair and created a halo around her body. Chains dangled from her hands as they cupped a bowl. Her eyes were riveted upon him and she gracefully knelt at his feet.
Now this was a dream. Cid's girl wasn't that graceful nor would she ever kneel to him. His befuddled mind tried to figure out what was going on, as she took a long drink from the bowl. Because if this was a dream, since she wasn't here and this was wishful thinking then somewhere he'd gone to sleep and not noticed and he might as well enjoy this dream. Yet there was something else about this that seemed familiar or at least he felt he should know it. She offered the bowl to him. In fact, if he had been less drunk he knew he'd know it and that what was happening was something he should be wary of, but it was a dream. His actions didn't matter.
He reached out and took the bowl from her and drained it dry. He set the bowl down and to the side and she reached out, grabbed his hands and in a smooth motion transferred one of the chains to his wrist. She pulled him to his feet and laughed. He laughed with her. Why not? It was a dream and he wasn't particularly graceful while drunk. They stumbled into the dance together and he figured then that this dream Cid's girl wasn't exactly the most sober of creatures either. Their fingers interlocked as they twirled and it took them a few steps to find the beat and their balance. Her hair floated as they spun and moved about, braids rising and falling over the ponytail.
It was a dream. So what did it matter that her hands slid up his arms and wrapped around his neck and that his hands found her waist? In a dream he could do what he'd secretly wanted to do before he left, hold Cid's little girl. And if her hands pulled his head down and their lips met, what of it? Their feet moved them through the dancers and away from the fire towards the tents.
And wasn't it wonderful dream logic that the next thing he could remember was being inside a tent and all their clothes disappearing as they kissed and touched and explored each other until at last he curled up around her and closed his eyes falling into the black oblivion of true sleep.
He awoke and groaned. A feminine groan replied. He opened his eyes and instantly closed them again, the light unbearable. He tried to think. The pressure built up under his forehead wouldn't let him and he squeezed his eyes shut tighter.
"How drunk were we?" Cid's girl asked.
"Cid's girl?" He couldn't seem to come up with anything better. He seemed to recall her being a dream for some reason and that made no sense. She was a real as he was, pressed up against him, skin sticking to his.
"I have a name." She muttered smacked his side gently. Something cold hit his side from her wrist and he yelped and opened his eyes to glare at the offending object, a chain wrapped several times about the joint.
His eyes narrowed. "Rikku, what is that?" He sat up and looked around and finally seemed to notice their state of undress and the scent of sweat, stale alcohol and sex. His eyes widened as the pain of his headache faded against the distraction of their situation.
She yawned and sat up as well. "What's what?"
He grabbed her right hand with his and froze, for around his wrist there was a matching chain. He looked up and into her now very wide eyes. They hadn't but there was the very physical evidence that they had. He licked his lips and drew her closer. "I have a wife." He muttered. A few pieces fell into place from the night before.
Her eyes widened and she squirmed. "I can explain." She flushed but didn't pull away.
"Don't want explanations." He said and then kissed her again. She leaned against him, lips parting and her free hand cradling the back of his neck. He teased her lips with his and finally rested his forehead against hers and grinned at her. "Mine."
She slowly smiled back, until it reached her eyes and made them glow. "Mine."
He lay back down and pulled her with him. "My head hurts." He complained the obvious. Now that the distraction was over his head had decided to remind him it was in pain.
She put her head on his chest, brushing a kiss across the skin for good measure. "Go back to sleep. I am."
He decided it was wisest to follow her sensible course of action. He wrapped his arms about her to make sure she wouldn't leave and this would stay real, not turn back into a dream and went back to sleep.
It didn't last more than a few hours and the sounds of an Al Bhed village invaded the thing walls of the tent. Children shrieked, dogs barked, metal clattered. Gippal muttered under his breath and tried vainly to block them out. It was not to be as Rikku moaned and tried to bury her head in his chest.
"It's too early," she moaned.
Gippal cracked his eyes. "It's almost noon."
"Still too early."
He stroked her back, teasing the ridges of her spine with the tips of his fingers. She sighed. The clattering went on and they both jumped as something made an especially loud clang near the walls of the tent. He glared at the walls and she muttered things under her breath that he knew were anatomically impossible. He smirked and kept holding her. Soon, his sense of responsibility would make him get up and report to his commander-
He frowned. "Damn it," He hissed. It appeared his conscience as going to make him get up before he wanted to.
"What?"
"Oh, I just remembered I'm not sure about the Crimson Squad regulation on spouses." His forehead furrowed. "Yevonites are so different and difficult on things like marriage. I don't even know if they have a regulation about them."
Rikku sighed. "Means you're leaving me again."
He involuntarily wrapped a leg around hers. It'd almost broken him to leave her last time. He'd put it up to leaving the Al Bhed as a whole, but the portion of his brain that niggled harsh truths at him had mocked him for days about what he really was missing and why he was so afraid to go. Who knew who might come and steal her away, claim her heart? "Mine," he whispered.
She wiggled up until she could look down into his face. "Gippal?" She trailed fingers along his cheekbone.
"I don't want to leave you." He said and cupped her face.
"Good." She said and giggled.
"Ever." He added.
She grinned at that. "You might change your mind at some point."
His eyes narrowed. "I said I don't want to, doesn't mean I won't have to."
"Just long enough to report and ask questions because you would choose to be in the military." Rikku wrinkled her nose at him.
He smirked back. "Hey, I protect helpless little girls like you from big nasty fiends."
"A hero?" Her eyebrows rose.
"Yeah." He grinned. He liked the sound of that.
She closed the distance between them. "Let me show you what heroes get." She murmured before fusing her mouth to his. His conscience knew a lost cause when it saw one. It could wait a little while.
The sun was high in the sky by the time Gippal stuck his head in the mess tent. He stepped inside quick enough and looked about and over the slumped and quiet Crimson Squad Members. Some nursed drinks or their heads in their hands. No one talked over a murmur and even then for some it was too loud.
Gippal knew the feeling all too well. He located Nooj, Paine and Baralai in a corner. Nooj was pinching the bridge of his nose, glasses on the table in front of him. Baralai's head was between his arms and he rested it on the table. Even Paine seemed a little tight around the eyes. He smiled. Nooj glared at him.
"You look far too happy."
"Lookin' for the commander, seen him?"
"No." Baralai groaned. "I don't want to either, not looking like this."
"He's talking to the Al Bhed Elder." Paine reported.
"Cid?" Gippal blinked. Not good.
Paine frowned. "That's his name."
Gippal scratched the back of his neck. "Right, talking to Cid. Great." He looked away. There was no way to be casual about this. "You wouldn't by any chance have the sphere you made last night, would you?" He turned back to Paine.
"Still in the recorder, nothing to record this morning." She nodded towards the machine sitting on the table.
Gippal's lips twitched. "Just consequences." He reached out and grabbed the machine, stubbornly ignoring the chain around his wrist. He took the sphere out, pocketed it. "Do you know exactly where the Commander is talking to Cid?" He asked. Paine snorted. Gippal fiddled with the sphere and sighed. "All right then."
"Where are you going?" Nooj asked.
"To report to the Commander."
"We don't have to, day of leave since everyone's pretty much worthless." Paine crossed her arms.
"Well, I need to talk to him." Gippal took a step backward. "It's important, came up in the night and all that. Good thing he's with the Elder, two birds, one stone. You know, that type of thing." He spun about and strode out.
"Gippal!" Paine spoke in a normal tone, which in the quiet of the tent sounded like a shout. He opened the tent flap and almost ran into the Commander. Gippal halted and stiffened into an appropriate posture.
Behind him he could hear everyone climbing to their feet and emulating him. The Commander's eyes traveled over his shoulder. "As you were, ladies and gents." More noise as everyone settled back down. The Commander returned his gaze to Gippal. He didn't quite relax. "May I be the first to offer congratulations, soldier?"
Gippal felt the back of his neck and his ears turning hot. "Thank you, sir."
The Commander smiled. "Unlike these layabouts, you get three days leave and then you and your blushing bride better be back here to take orders, understood."
Gippal heard mutters.
"Yes sir. Both of us sir?"
The Commander smirked. "Cid's most proud of his daughter's abilities. So, I've decided to test her reputation." The Commander reached out and squeezed Gippal's shoulder. The gleam in his eye told Gippal what the Commander couldn't say aloud. It wasn't proper to admit that the Commander and Cid didn't want to separate them.
"I'll be sure to warn her." He paused and felt he had to address the unspoken. "Thank you, sir."
"Get going, before you make me soft and these fellows behind you fall over trying to tease you first. And before you two take off, check in with your father-in-law. He's going maudlin over grandchildren."
"He would." Gippal grinned. He heard an uproar behind him. It seemed that a few people had forgotten their sore heads. In the din and confusion, he made his escape.
And thus, Rikku married Gippal and became part of the Crimson Squad and they had many many happy adventures together afterwards before settling down… forming the Machine Faction (LLC) and having lots of children. The End. Cheese! Okay, so I didn't know how to end this. Blah. reviews are love, love me?!