Seraphim

AN: Welcome to the sequel to Shadow of Darkness! To returning readers, welcome back! I hope you enjoy this as much as SoD. To new readers, welcome! While I don't think it is necessary to read Shadow of Darkness I can't guarantee I won't make reference to the first story.

Disclaimer: I will only say it once for this story. I own nothing of Final Fantasy, Square-Enix, etc…The plot is mine, the Seraphim is mine, and any unrecognizable characters are- you guessed it- mine!

Chapter 1:

One month. It had been one month, down to the hour, since Rikku began working as Machine Faction Leader Gippal's secretary. She sighed, pulling her thick blond hair into a long ponytail. 'Secretary?' she thought. 'Ha! Jack-of-all-trades is what he should've called it.' She had been secretary of course. But then there was also mediator, mechanic, nurse- though she had no mediating or nursing skills to even speak of. It could not have been a more difficult job if Gippal had planned it that way. She paused mid-brush stroke. Maybe he had planned it that way. It certainly would be just like him. She shook her head.

"You're just stressed," she told herself. After all, he wouldn't dare do that to her, right? Right?

She gave her hair one final pat and headed out of the room she rented, crossed the temple grounds, and entered Machine Faction Headquarters.

"Hey, your highness!" a familiar voice shouted as she entered the ex-Djose Temple's main chamber. "Give me a hand with this, will you?"

She glanced in the direction the voice came from. Gippal was locked in stalemate combat with a bulky sentry drone. Rolling her eyes in amusement, she trotted over to him and clocked the machine over the head with her fist. It made a squawking noise and sank to the ground, sparking unpleasantly. "Too tough for you to handle?" She smirked.

Gippal grabbed a towel and wiped the grease from his hands. "Hell yes, when it creeps up on a guy like it did. Stupid thing mistook me for a fiend." He scowled menacingly at it.

Rikku snickered.

"Hey, this is your boss you're laughing at."

"Er… right." She grinned, still quite entertained.

He prodded the drone carefully, glaring suspiciously at it. "Well then, since you're so brilliant when it comes to the clockworks on these things, you can straighten out its little 'identity problem'."

"What!"

"You heard me."

She sighed tragically. "When are you going to get more help around here?" She glanced around the chamber, noting how few workers there were.

"Uh, when people get over the fact that nearly the entire Faction was murdered on these grounds not too long ago," was Gippal's gruff reply. He tossed the stained towel over his shoulder. "I've got a conference call for the next hour. Now get to work."

She made a face when the greasy towel hit her. "Oh honestly," she muttered under her breath.

She pulled a pair of goggles out of the hip pocket of the standard Al Bhed jumpsuit she wore- on Gippal's insistence. He wasn't too pleased with all the staring (and less working) she was attracting in her usual attire. She donned the goggles and seized a simple wrench from the toolbox Gippal left behind. "Okay buster, prepare to meet your doom!"

It took just over an hour for Rikku to dismantle the machine, figure out what was wrong, repair the damages, and reassemble it, and by the time she had finished, Gippal had three more lined up, waiting for repairs. It wasn't so bad. In fact, she was sort of having fun. It was far more interesting than office work.

"When you're done with this, I have some paperwork that needs to be filed," Gippal said after inspecting the first drone.

She pushed her goggles up. "And?" she prompted, certain there was more.

"And… nothing. For now." He started to cross the room, leaving her quite stunned. "Oh." He paused. "And keep your lunch break open."

A pair of needle-nose pliers fell from her hands. "My… ehh?" Did he just say…?

He glanced at her and smirked. "You will join me for lunch, won't you?"

She felt her face grow terribly hot. Hastily, she turned away. "Eh… whatever. Yeah… sure. Why not?" she squeaked.

"Good." His voice carried the tone of humor.

A minute later she heard the sound of a door clicking shut. Gippal had returned to his office. Now Rikku could comfortably freak out. She sank fully to the ground with a startled gasp. Gippal… and her… and lunch… Did this qualify as a… She gulped. But he was joking right? He had to be, right? She took a deep breath. 'Calm down. Colleagues eat together. He just wants to talk shop,' she told herself.

'Alone?' a small part of her asked.

"Oh be quiet!"

The sounds of tinkering that had echoed around the Temple stopped. Everyone stared at Rikku. She gave a nervous giggle and sank further behind the dormant machines. "Ooh boy," she muttered under her breath. "I really have been stressed lately."

Yanking her goggles back into place, she seized her tools and attacked the next drone with a vengeance.

…..

Lunch had arrived. Rikku found herself in an oddly built café, staring over a steaming bowl of the soup du jour at Gippal… and Nhadala. Part of her was extremely irritated. Another part of her was irritated that she was irritated in the first place! He really did want to talk shop. With Nhadala as well, it seemed.

"Three this week?" Gippal was saying, quite seriously.

"Three what?" Rikku asked blankly, glancing between the two of them. She had been lost in a daydream of Gippal choking on his sandwich.

"Casualties. Casualties, Rikku." Gippal looked faintly annoyed.

"Casualties?"

Nhadala nodded. "Two diggers were seriously wounded. One is dead."

"From what?"

Gippal clucked his tongue. "Weren't you listening? Nhadala didn't invite you here for decoration you know."

"Nhadala?"

"What?" The woman glanced at her, puzzled.

Rikku gritted her teeth. "Nothing." He wasn't even the one who invited her! Her nostrils flared. How dare he? Raise her hopes- she stopped her thoughts right there. Then she caught him staring at her. She blushed and took a deep breath. "Sorry. Haven't slept well lately. Been busy, you know…" She stabbed vehemently at a noodle in her soup.

"Uh huh…" Gippal arched a brow.

Nhadala simply looked at her knowingly. Rikku returned the look with a glare, indirectly telling her 'It's not what you think.'

Gippal glanced between the two women. "Right. Anyway. Rikku, we want you to oversee the investigation."

"Investigation? Where?"

He snorted, exasperated. "Where? Where!" he sputtered. "The Northeast Expanse of the freaking Sanubia Desert! Big yellow hot place covered in sand? The one on Bikanel Island, remember? What we were talking about. Have you totally ignored everything we've said today?"

She huffed loudly. "Don't yell at me!"

"I'm your boss, dammit! When you're not doing your job, what am I supposed to do? Give you a raise?"

"Well excuse me! I thought my lunch break was just that! A break! From work! Get it?" She shoved her seat back, stood, and swung her knapsack over her shoulder, giving him a satisfying smack over the head with it as she did. She harrumphed loudly. "Well, Nhadala. Nice seeing you. Now, if you'll excuse me." She whirled on her heel and stalked out of the café.

"Oh, I think that went wonderfully, don't you, boss?" Nhadala asked with a touch of amusement in her voice.

…..

Rikku stalked down the path connecting the Moonflow to Djose Temple grumbling under her breath. At first, she was angry- angry at him for tricking her about the lunch break; angry at herself for assuming that it wasn't strictly business; angry at him for yelling at her- though part of her admitted he had every right to do so. But as she drew closer to the Temple, she became increasingly more embarrassed. She had assumed that Gippal was asking her to lunch for… well… lunch's sake. She was appalled when she realized part of her- a small part, she insisted- wanted it to be true. And here she went and made a fool of herself when she realized Gippal really did only mean business. She felt her face grow hot with shame.

'I really have been stressed…'

She entered the Temple without realizing it and waved distractedly at the Al Bhed, on lunch breaks as well, who greeted her. Pulling a key from the neckline of her jumpsuit, she entered Gippal's office. There were three spheres on his desk requesting appointments with the Machine Faction's youthful leader. Well, it was something to do. With a sigh, she sat down at her own cluttered little desk, pulled out Gippal's appointment book, and set to scheduling. This was usually the part of the job she hated- sitting still, doing nothing but office work for perhaps hours at a time- but this time she welcomed it. The monotony would calm her down. Maybe.

It did. Half an hour later, when Gippal returned, she was quite calm. For Rikku. She was startled out of a reverie when he shouted her name.

"Finally," he muttered when she glanced at him. "I suppose you didn't hear a word I said?"

"Eh heh heh… sorry."

He rolled his eyes. "Rikku, Rikku. You've become so incompetent. What should I do with you?"

"Fire me, I guess."

"I could. I should."

She sighed. "Just get on with it, pinhead."

"Hey, watch it. I control your pay."

"Yes, yes, I know." She took a deep breath and smiled sweetly. "What is it, sir?"

"That's frightening…" he muttered. Sitting down, he told her of the situation in the Sanubia Desert. Two weeks after the Northeast Expanse of the desert was opened for excavation, strange things began to happen to those who chose to dig there.

"Four deaths and over a dozen injuries- most of them serious- and no one can explain what is going on down there. Now isn't that odd?" Gippal was pacing now, waving his hands now and again to emphasize a point. "All they can remember is- is feathers. And I doubt the chocobos are rabid.

"Naturally, this has become a major setback. First, few of our remaining diggers want to even think about that part of the desert, let alone dig there. And second, recruits are becoming less and less owing to the fact that they somehow got the notion they are going to die." He kicked the wall and continued pacing. "Don't know where they got that idea from," he muttered.

Rikku arched a brow. "Then why are we still digging there? If it's so dangerous?" Abandoning the area seemed to be the most obvious solution to her.

Gippal stared at her as though she'd grown a nose in the middle of her forehead. He even stopped pacing for a moment. "Why? Why?"

"This repeating thing is getting old."

He ignored her. "Because we're trying to learn as much as we can! There are so many mysteries to these 'machines'. Look at how much we've already learned through previous excavations!"

"But-"

"But nothing! There is a world to learn beneath that sand." His face lit up like a boy who just got the newest, greatest toy. "There is something incredible in that sand," he said breathlessly. "Something worth all of this effort, I just know it."

"But Gippal… how do you know? People are dying."

"I feel it. Call it intuition."

"Intuition?" Rikku repeated skeptically. This was a lot of work – and danger! - to base off intuition.

"Yeah. Gut feeling. A hunch." He smirked suddenly. "Maybe you've never experienced it."

She rolled her eyes. Men. "So, why are you telling me this? Oh, by the way, Nooj wants you to okay an upgrade to his sentry drones," she pointed out, glancing at his appointment book.

"Again?" Gippal sighed. "I told him I'd do it when I could. He knows I'm swamped." He shook his head. "Anyway, I'm telling you all of this because I want to you investigate the situation."

"Me? Are you nuts? I'm not a detective! And I don't want to- to die!"

He tilted his head, watching her. "Are you saying- are you saying that you don't want to know what's going on down there? Not interested in the slightest bit?"

She opened her mouth to protest and then snapped it shut. He was appealing to her curious nature. And, damn, it was working. Of course she wanted to know! People didn't normally get injured from feathers!

"Why me?" she whined, though both knew she had been defeated. She was going.

"Because you're… you. You have a weird way of looking at things. You won't overlook something I might." Though he was appealing to her vanity as well, he looked triumphant.

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Nice, eh?" He chuckled. "Besides," he seized his appointment book from her hands and pointed to it, "as you know, I'm busy for the next several days and won't be able to look into it myself."

Rikku stared at him for a long time. Finally, she sighed. "All right. When do I go?"

Gippal grinned gleefully. "We head out tomorrow morning, first thing."

"Okay." That was doable. She could pack later that evening and- wait a minute. "We? What do you mean we?"

He laughed, looking quite pleased with himself. "I have a lot of work to do at Bikanel too. Which means you and I can spend a whole mess of time together."

"Are you serious?" she protested.

"Oh, the lady doth protest?"

She scowled. "Gippal, you do this on purpose, don't you?"

"Mostly," he admitted baldly.

She made a startled squeak.

"Oh, and uh, Nhadala wanted me to tell you to get over your denial."

Rikku's cheeks flared red. "What? Denial! What is she thinking? I'm not in denial!"

…..

By the time Gippal and Rikku reached Bikanel Island, they weren't speaking to one another. It had happened an hour prior to their arrival, the incident that led to this smoldering silence.

Gippal had put his new airship, the Guardian Avenger (named, apparently, as a vow to get revenge on Barthello for destroying his previous ship), on autopilot so he could take a quick break in the bathroom. He and Rikku had crossed paths when the airship hit unexpected turbulence. The airship bucked violently. They stumbled. Gippal's hands flew out to grab the nearest thing to stabilize himself- that happened to be Rikku. The convenient placement of his hands led to a well-aimed blow to his head and a furious argument where he pleaded an innocent accident and she screamed guilty as charged. They only quieted down the last fifteen minutes of the journey when Rikku chose to ignore anything more that Gippal said. Which was just fine by him because he was tired of apologizing to her anyway.

Nhadala was there to greet them when they disembarked. "Hey guys, you're right… on time." She glanced curiously between the two. "Okay, what's wrong?" The tension between Gippal and Rikku was raging.

"Nothing. Except she is overreacting, as usual!"

"I am not!"

"You are so! It was an accident!"

"Accident? You grabbed my chest! How is that an accident?"

"Because it was!"

Behind them, Nhadala began to snicker. This was what one got when a teenaged boy was the leader of an organization such as the Machine Faction, no matter how mature he could be. The two teens stopped bickering and stared at her. Hastily, she shook her head. "Nothing, nothing. Rikku, there is a hover and an investigation team ready for you in the Vencd Section of the camp. The pilot will take you to the site. Gippal, there has been some concern among the diggers that I think you need to address…" They disappeared into a stout office tent.

With a sigh, Rikku headed in the direction Nhadala had instructed. Finally, she had some time away from that one-eyed, nattering blond moron- Gippal, naturally. She glanced around the familiar worksite as she trudged through the hot sand. It was a lot more subdued than usual.

'Well of course. People are dying and stuff, after all. They get scared and a lot of them leave. And,' she had to admit to herself, 'if I was normal, I'd be leaving too…' But Rikku had a curious nature that would not allow her to rest until she found out what was causing this unsettling series of events.

"Rao Rikku! Kuhhy bycc fedruid y rammu :Hey Rikku! Gonna pass without a hello?"

She glanced over her shoulder with a start and saw that she had just passed the pilot. "Oh, sorry Zanno." She laughed slightly, backtracking. "I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing."

"No surprise there," he teased.

"Hey!" She nudged his shoulder lightly. "What's up?"

He shrugged. "Heard you got promoted to Gippal's lackey."

"Yeah. Unfortunately. I think it's punishment for something I did in another life."

Zanno laughed. "So, you're heading…?"

"To the Northeast Territory."

His smile vanished. "You serious?" he asked worriedly.

She frowned as well. "Of course. That's why I'm here."

He shook his head. "Didn't know that you were going to head the investigation… Don't you know how dangerous that place is?"

Rikku lifted her chin boldly. "Yeah well… I'm not scared!" She climbed onto the hover and her search team did the same. "Come on, we've got an investigation to do!"

Zanno muttered under his breath about a bad feeling, but climbed in next to her. With the roar of an engine, they were off.