Hello!! ::waves:: I'm sure some of you have seen me running around through reviews of anything that is Gippalai!!! Those of you who are unfamiliar with me, I am SakuraBubbles the Muffin Child, Child of Muffins. I look incredibly like FFX Yuna. I have a few pics of myself as Yuna (and, for that matter, pictures of Magenta_Fox as Baralai!). Um… I don't have much of an intro prepared for this story… it's an AU/Alternate Universe but still very Spiran. Bevelle is different… much different and the rest of Spira is relatively the same. The Al Bhed are still hated and the Al Bhed language shall pop up because I've memorized it. I won't be translating unless it's a long sentence.
Well, I hope that you will all enjoy this first chapter of this yaoi goodness of Baralai/Gippal… good... ness. Um, as for me, I have nothing else to say. Hope that you review!!
Disclaimer of Doom: I don't own any of the Final Fantasy X or Final Fantasy X-2 characters. They belong to Square Enix, who are rich pycdyntc. Don't sue. I'll buy your games!
Chapter One: Crash
He looked up suddenly as a shadow cast over his eye. He only realized that the shadow was a falling figure due to the fact that the shadow over him was slowly getting larger. His first reaction was to move, however, he didn't as he found that he was too scared to move. He hardly even swayed when he noticed that droplets of blood were flying faster down than the figure itself. Suddenly, things seemed to speed up very fast as the figure crashed into him, knocking him down, sand, blood, and feathers flying everywhere.
The man blinked and held the tan arms of the figure that fell down to him. He widened his one eye.
"Fryd? Ed'c… risyh? (What? It's… human?)," he realized. "Rao! Oui ugyo?" He paused, catching onto the fact that this human was not of his ethnicity, and certainly did not speak his language. He was about to try again when the figure moved.
"Uuuunn…."
The voice of the figure, even from a sound as small as that moan, was soft and throaty. The other man moved under the 'figure' and tried his question again.
"Hey, uh… you okay?"
The figure's brown eyes met with one green one. The green eyed man's other eye was covered in tape and gauze as if he had just lost it. The 'figure' flinched and spoke.
"… My wings…"
The one-eyed man glared to the other man's back where he once had two long white feathered wings. However, the wings had been severed unevenly, which explained the blood that had dripped as he fell. The one-eyed man gazed back to the tan man's face.
"They are…"
"Severed."
"You're from Bevelle?"
The tan man bit his lower lip.
"Y-yes… my name is Baralai."
"That's nice. Get off."
Bevelle was a city that floated high above the rest of the "unfortunate" people of Spira, the world in which they lived. Those from Bevelle thought highly of themselves and usually avoided all contact with lower Spira, as they called it. Those without wings were called "groundlings" and in the eyes of one from Bevelle, were ignorant and useless. They had even less views of one of the many races of lower Spira, called the Al Bhed. All Al Bhed were blonde and had green eyes with "hideous" black swirls. The people of lower Spira hated them as well, if only because it made the other races feel better about themselves.
"B-but!"
Baralai was pushed off of the nameless man and he winced not only from the Al Bhed's sudden harsh behavior, but also from hitting the side of the remainder his left wing. Being that the desert was full of sand, that action was not a good thing. But he ignored the pain—or tried his best to—as he glared up to the Al Bhed.
"When was it that I judged you?"
The Al Bhed turned.
"Shut up, will you? Your people did this to my eye. Your people banished us to this hell of a desert because our eyes were different and you like to think low of others. I don't need any crap from some Bevelle bastard with his wings clipped!"
Baralai got up weakly, almost falling.
"Please, don't go…" he begged. "I don't even know where I am--"
"Good! Get lost in the desert and see if I care. I'll be sure to dig you up some day."
Baralai narrowed his eyes again. That was rude. The Al Bhed walked off and Baralai did the obvious: follow. Both knew that nothing could stop Baralai from at least following. The Al Bhed didn't necessarily want to hurt him, per se, but he didn't like him. He knew from past experiences that people would sooner shoot an Al Bhed than tell them their name.
However, Baralai had told him his.
Even so, they didn't speak for a long time and Baralai found that he didn't mind the desert. It was cold in Bevelle so the desert was a nice change. His usual intricate green coat had been taken from him, so he was left with a loose sleeveless light green shirt that was tucked into a circular item against his abdomen. The item was tied around his waist with a thick yellow ribbon tied perfectly in the middle of the object. The object was a charm of Bevelle given to those with high respect which meant Baralai was probably very important. He had a brown leather garment around his waist and groin sewn neatly up the middle. Under it were loose olive green pants, darker than his shirt but lighter than the charm on his abs. His pants were tucked into his boots by use of a cloth-like binding material wrapped around once or twice. The binding was a light tan color that mixed well with the sand below his feet.
His skin and hair were the oddest things about him, however. His skin was dark as if he should be the one prancing around in the desert all day. His hair was much different, conversely, as it was a snow white color and kept back by an azure headband. His hair was unruly and yet perfect and the kind of hair you'd want to continuously run your hands through.
His wings, or what was left of them, were yet another story. One wing was cut closer to his back than the other which could mean that Baralai lost them in a fight with flying fiends, though that wasn't very common. In fact, anyone from Bevelle losing their wings was extremely rare. But Baralai was proof that it was possible with his two bloody severed wings, walking through the desert, bits of blood and fragments of bloody feathers trailing behind him.
"Why're you followin' me?" the Al Bhed wanted to know, speaking for the first time in what seemed like ages. The Al Bhed was quite surprised that Baralai hadn't given up.
"Because y-you know where you're going," answered Baralai, his eyes narrow from exhaustion. The heat, pain, and slight loss of blood was getting to him at last. The wings weren't bleeding very much, but they still hurt.
"I liked it better when you were unconscious," the Al Bhed snapped.
"I liked it better when you w-were quiet," Baralai snapped right back. The Al Bhed didn't expect that, so he turned and Baralai walking, his head down, wobbling only slightly. He noticed that the Al Bhed had stopped to look at him, so he raised his head, trying to widen his eyes.
"… What?"
"You a white mage?"
"O-of sorts…"
"Can't you heal yourself?"
"I'd like to… but I'm afraid if I cast one spell…"
He silenced himself, thinking. The Al Bhed threw his arms up into the air and turned away again. He glared forward as a pair of Sand Wolves coming their way.
"Cred… you know how to fight?"
"Y-yes…"
"Got a weapon?"
"It was taken from me."
The Al Bhed tossed a gun over to him. Baralai caught it, looking at it.
"You have those down here, too?" he asked, surprised.
"Yeah, we Al Bhed made these. We're not as primitive as you believe," the Al Bhed replied as the fiends caught up with them, their hungry, fang-filled mouths hanging open.
"That's n-not what I meant…" Baralai tried to tell him, but the battle had begun. The Al Bhed took aim and shot at one, but it dodged and managed to get by with a shot to it's front paw. It pounced over, biting at his arm in a counterattack. The other Sand Wolf, however, was circling Baralai, smelling the blood on his feathers and back. Baralai waited, watching the fiend intently. He would rather have the fiend come at him than to shoot it first.
The Al Bhed looked over from his battle to watch as an Alcyone swept over, its beak long, wings draping tragically, and its talons sharp. The Al Bhed pondered over warning Baralai of the new predator and decided not to.
Later, he regretted his decision to feign ignorance.
Baralai yelped both in surprise and pain as the Alcyone's talons collided with his lower back, more feather fragments and a bit of blood landing on the ground. The Sand Wolf took this opportunity to jump forward and bite Baralai in the thigh directly above his knee. He turned his head and shot at the wolf, hitting it in the neck. It was dying slowly, so its teeth were still sunk into him. Baralai fell, gritting his teeth and trying to get the wolf off of him or to quicken the fiend's death.
"H-Hey… please…" he weakly begged of the Al Bhed. The blonde turned as his Sand Wolf burst into pyreflies, surprised that Baralai's was stubborn even in dying. He shot at the Alcyone which dodged and swept at him dangerously. He was clawed in the abdomen, the fiend's talons ripping through his white pink shirt and piercing the skin. He yelled out and swung at the flying fiend with his gun rather childishly, missing of course.
Soon, however, the Alcyone burst into pyreflies after being shot at from the side. The Al Bhed looked down to see Baralai with his gun aiming up to where the Alcyone once flapped its small wings. The Sand Wolf had finally faded away, leaving Baralai's leg a bloody mess. The Al Bhed held his abdomen where he got struck and knelt down.
"Now will you heal yourself?"
"If I cast one spell, I…"
"Fine--I have some potions."
"Y-you do? Why didn't you use them before?"
The Al Bhed was silent as he pulled out a bottle of thick aqua liquid. Baralai looked at it.
"Those aren't--"
"They're special Al Bhed made potions. It's the weakest of its kind, but by far the most useful in our types of wounds. You lather it to the wound and it forms a barrier, healin' all the while. Like… instant bandage!"
The Al Bhed lifted his shirt slowly, gazing at the few gashes in his stomach.
"Because of that, I couldn't very well lather it to your wings. It wouldn't have been any better."
He poured some into his hand and then gave the bottle over to Baralai, who gazed at it.
"Just… lather it on?" Baralai wanted to make sure.
"Yep, right over the wounds," answered the Al Bhed, demonstrating on his abdomen. He winced as the cold liquid met with his open wounds. It ate up all of the blood with a light foam and seeped over the wounds, hardening. He wiped the rest of the potion onto the cuts on his arms and looked to Baralai. The dark man blinked.
"U-um…"
"What?"
"I don't…"
"All right… I'll do it."
The Al Bhed took Baralai's leg into his hands. Baralai protested, kicking his leg away, no matter how much it hurt.
"N-now wait just a minute! I don't even know your name and you--"
"It's Gippal."
He grabbed for Baralai's leg again, then snatched the bottle from his small hands. Gippal poured the liquid into his own hand and attempted to free Baralai's pants from his boots in order to get to the wound. Baralai kicked again. Gippal eyed him.
"Either pull 'em up or pull 'em down."
"J-just… rip the fabric apart where the bite is… it'll be m-much easier. And it'll be like instant shorts!" replied Baralai, using Gippal's terms and way of speaking. Gippal caught on.
"Why are you stutterin'?"
"I'm in a lot of pain."
"S-so y-you d-don't usually d-do it?"
Baralai glared and all Gippal did in defense was flash a grin. He ripped apart the pants where the wolf had already started to rip at when he bit him.
"It's sorta cold," Gippal warned as he lathered the potion onto Baralai's open wound. The man from Bevelle twitched and gritted his teeth as Gippal continued.
"You shave your legs?" asked Gippal suddenly, a laugh tracing his words. Baralai closed his eyes and let his head drop back, his face up toward the sky.
"My hair is white. It looks odd on my legs."
"It's natural?"
"Since birth."
"Tan, too?"
"My dad's side of the family."
"Is that an oddity up in Bevelle to be born with shock white hair and a darker complexion?"
"Ye-yes!!" Baralai suddenly yelped. Gippal looked to his eyes.
"Somethin' wrong? I already told you it was cold…"
"It's not th-that… unn… m-move your…"
Gippal looked down at his lathering hand. It apparently had a mind and will of its own, for it had somehow lathered itself up Baralai's thigh, inches away from his crotch. He retracted the hand and looked away shamefully and embarrassedly. There was a visible blush on his face.
"Cunno."
"Come again?"
"Sorry. You have wounds under your wings, right?"
"Yes."
"Do you mind--"
"As long as your hand doesn't find its way to my ass, sure."
"Oh, I might be too weak to resist you," said Gippal with a smirk, his left hand raised in front of his chest ((a la Nooj!)). Baralai smiled.
"S-so… am I still a bastard from Bevelle?"
Gippal answered by beginning to lather the potion over the few wounds on his back. Baralai straightened, closing his eyes.
"How'd you lose your wings?" Gippal wanted to know. Baralai hesitated.
"They were cut off."
"Oh, really?" Gippal sarcastically inquired. "What, were you attacked by fiends in midair? You weren't falling fast, otherwise we would have both been crushed on impact."
"Yeah, you could say that," answered Baralai, opening his eyes to the sky. Gippal ran a finger between the wings in front of him. The man who owned them tightened his back.
"Aah…" came a breath from Baralai. "What was that for?"
"To soak up the blood there."
"… How bad are they?"
"Your wings?"
"Yes."
"Well, I don't know much about having wings, but the feathers look as though they soaked and dried up a lot of the blood. The bleeding has slowed… do you think you lost a lot of blood?"
"Not sure. I think if I had, I would have f-fainted by now."
"Still stutterin'?"
"Still in pain."
"What attacked you?"
"… A fiend."
"Must've been a big fiend… a Zuu or somethin'," said Gippal, getting up. "We should hurry in case it's still prowling around."
He held out a stretched hand to Baralai. After staring for a tiny bit, Baralai grasped it and Gippal pulled him up. Baralai thanked him, and then asked, "So, where are we going?"
"Home."
"You live in this desert?"
"Duh. I'm Al Bhed. I told you earlier--you Bevelle guys and lower Spira banished us here."
"Wasn't that ages ago?"
"Not quite. I'm sixteen so it's been in effect for nearly eleven years."
"You're only sixteen?"
"'Only?' What are you, twelve?"
"I'm eighteen."
"Rumo cred."
"Pardon?"
"You have such a baby face!"
Baralai's face reddened only slightly.
"I look a lot older than you," he informed him, triumphantly raising his arms. Baralai flashed white teeth.
"But I'm so much cuter."
"I don't think so."
"I do. Can't look cute without a face like mine."
Gippal put his hands on his hips, turning suddenly and leaning into Baralai, causing the dark man to lean back in surprise as his personal space was invaded.
"Hmm… never been this close to a baby face before."
A soft chuckled lining his words like candy, Baralai replied, "That's nice…"
Gippal straightened, grinning.
"I could get used to this."
Baralai walked forward, passing him.
"Let's not. We should go to this 'home' of yours."
Gippal jogged ahead of him with a faint smile.
"All right, follow me."
Well, super long chapter one special!! The next chapters won't be as long… unless you want them to be. It's up to you, folks!!! SakuraBubbles signing out. ::bows and runs away::
Well, I hope that you will all enjoy this first chapter of this yaoi goodness of Baralai/Gippal… good... ness. Um, as for me, I have nothing else to say. Hope that you review!!
Disclaimer of Doom: I don't own any of the Final Fantasy X or Final Fantasy X-2 characters. They belong to Square Enix, who are rich pycdyntc. Don't sue. I'll buy your games!
He looked up suddenly as a shadow cast over his eye. He only realized that the shadow was a falling figure due to the fact that the shadow over him was slowly getting larger. His first reaction was to move, however, he didn't as he found that he was too scared to move. He hardly even swayed when he noticed that droplets of blood were flying faster down than the figure itself. Suddenly, things seemed to speed up very fast as the figure crashed into him, knocking him down, sand, blood, and feathers flying everywhere.
The man blinked and held the tan arms of the figure that fell down to him. He widened his one eye.
"Fryd? Ed'c… risyh? (What? It's… human?)," he realized. "Rao! Oui ugyo?" He paused, catching onto the fact that this human was not of his ethnicity, and certainly did not speak his language. He was about to try again when the figure moved.
"Uuuunn…."
The voice of the figure, even from a sound as small as that moan, was soft and throaty. The other man moved under the 'figure' and tried his question again.
"Hey, uh… you okay?"
The figure's brown eyes met with one green one. The green eyed man's other eye was covered in tape and gauze as if he had just lost it. The 'figure' flinched and spoke.
"… My wings…"
The one-eyed man glared to the other man's back where he once had two long white feathered wings. However, the wings had been severed unevenly, which explained the blood that had dripped as he fell. The one-eyed man gazed back to the tan man's face.
"They are…"
"Severed."
"You're from Bevelle?"
The tan man bit his lower lip.
"Y-yes… my name is Baralai."
"That's nice. Get off."
Bevelle was a city that floated high above the rest of the "unfortunate" people of Spira, the world in which they lived. Those from Bevelle thought highly of themselves and usually avoided all contact with lower Spira, as they called it. Those without wings were called "groundlings" and in the eyes of one from Bevelle, were ignorant and useless. They had even less views of one of the many races of lower Spira, called the Al Bhed. All Al Bhed were blonde and had green eyes with "hideous" black swirls. The people of lower Spira hated them as well, if only because it made the other races feel better about themselves.
"B-but!"
Baralai was pushed off of the nameless man and he winced not only from the Al Bhed's sudden harsh behavior, but also from hitting the side of the remainder his left wing. Being that the desert was full of sand, that action was not a good thing. But he ignored the pain—or tried his best to—as he glared up to the Al Bhed.
"When was it that I judged you?"
The Al Bhed turned.
"Shut up, will you? Your people did this to my eye. Your people banished us to this hell of a desert because our eyes were different and you like to think low of others. I don't need any crap from some Bevelle bastard with his wings clipped!"
Baralai got up weakly, almost falling.
"Please, don't go…" he begged. "I don't even know where I am--"
"Good! Get lost in the desert and see if I care. I'll be sure to dig you up some day."
Baralai narrowed his eyes again. That was rude. The Al Bhed walked off and Baralai did the obvious: follow. Both knew that nothing could stop Baralai from at least following. The Al Bhed didn't necessarily want to hurt him, per se, but he didn't like him. He knew from past experiences that people would sooner shoot an Al Bhed than tell them their name.
However, Baralai had told him his.
Even so, they didn't speak for a long time and Baralai found that he didn't mind the desert. It was cold in Bevelle so the desert was a nice change. His usual intricate green coat had been taken from him, so he was left with a loose sleeveless light green shirt that was tucked into a circular item against his abdomen. The item was tied around his waist with a thick yellow ribbon tied perfectly in the middle of the object. The object was a charm of Bevelle given to those with high respect which meant Baralai was probably very important. He had a brown leather garment around his waist and groin sewn neatly up the middle. Under it were loose olive green pants, darker than his shirt but lighter than the charm on his abs. His pants were tucked into his boots by use of a cloth-like binding material wrapped around once or twice. The binding was a light tan color that mixed well with the sand below his feet.
His skin and hair were the oddest things about him, however. His skin was dark as if he should be the one prancing around in the desert all day. His hair was much different, conversely, as it was a snow white color and kept back by an azure headband. His hair was unruly and yet perfect and the kind of hair you'd want to continuously run your hands through.
His wings, or what was left of them, were yet another story. One wing was cut closer to his back than the other which could mean that Baralai lost them in a fight with flying fiends, though that wasn't very common. In fact, anyone from Bevelle losing their wings was extremely rare. But Baralai was proof that it was possible with his two bloody severed wings, walking through the desert, bits of blood and fragments of bloody feathers trailing behind him.
"Why're you followin' me?" the Al Bhed wanted to know, speaking for the first time in what seemed like ages. The Al Bhed was quite surprised that Baralai hadn't given up.
"Because y-you know where you're going," answered Baralai, his eyes narrow from exhaustion. The heat, pain, and slight loss of blood was getting to him at last. The wings weren't bleeding very much, but they still hurt.
"I liked it better when you were unconscious," the Al Bhed snapped.
"I liked it better when you w-were quiet," Baralai snapped right back. The Al Bhed didn't expect that, so he turned and Baralai walking, his head down, wobbling only slightly. He noticed that the Al Bhed had stopped to look at him, so he raised his head, trying to widen his eyes.
"… What?"
"You a white mage?"
"O-of sorts…"
"Can't you heal yourself?"
"I'd like to… but I'm afraid if I cast one spell…"
He silenced himself, thinking. The Al Bhed threw his arms up into the air and turned away again. He glared forward as a pair of Sand Wolves coming their way.
"Cred… you know how to fight?"
"Y-yes…"
"Got a weapon?"
"It was taken from me."
The Al Bhed tossed a gun over to him. Baralai caught it, looking at it.
"You have those down here, too?" he asked, surprised.
"Yeah, we Al Bhed made these. We're not as primitive as you believe," the Al Bhed replied as the fiends caught up with them, their hungry, fang-filled mouths hanging open.
"That's n-not what I meant…" Baralai tried to tell him, but the battle had begun. The Al Bhed took aim and shot at one, but it dodged and managed to get by with a shot to it's front paw. It pounced over, biting at his arm in a counterattack. The other Sand Wolf, however, was circling Baralai, smelling the blood on his feathers and back. Baralai waited, watching the fiend intently. He would rather have the fiend come at him than to shoot it first.
The Al Bhed looked over from his battle to watch as an Alcyone swept over, its beak long, wings draping tragically, and its talons sharp. The Al Bhed pondered over warning Baralai of the new predator and decided not to.
Later, he regretted his decision to feign ignorance.
Baralai yelped both in surprise and pain as the Alcyone's talons collided with his lower back, more feather fragments and a bit of blood landing on the ground. The Sand Wolf took this opportunity to jump forward and bite Baralai in the thigh directly above his knee. He turned his head and shot at the wolf, hitting it in the neck. It was dying slowly, so its teeth were still sunk into him. Baralai fell, gritting his teeth and trying to get the wolf off of him or to quicken the fiend's death.
"H-Hey… please…" he weakly begged of the Al Bhed. The blonde turned as his Sand Wolf burst into pyreflies, surprised that Baralai's was stubborn even in dying. He shot at the Alcyone which dodged and swept at him dangerously. He was clawed in the abdomen, the fiend's talons ripping through his white pink shirt and piercing the skin. He yelled out and swung at the flying fiend with his gun rather childishly, missing of course.
Soon, however, the Alcyone burst into pyreflies after being shot at from the side. The Al Bhed looked down to see Baralai with his gun aiming up to where the Alcyone once flapped its small wings. The Sand Wolf had finally faded away, leaving Baralai's leg a bloody mess. The Al Bhed held his abdomen where he got struck and knelt down.
"Now will you heal yourself?"
"If I cast one spell, I…"
"Fine--I have some potions."
"Y-you do? Why didn't you use them before?"
The Al Bhed was silent as he pulled out a bottle of thick aqua liquid. Baralai looked at it.
"Those aren't--"
"They're special Al Bhed made potions. It's the weakest of its kind, but by far the most useful in our types of wounds. You lather it to the wound and it forms a barrier, healin' all the while. Like… instant bandage!"
The Al Bhed lifted his shirt slowly, gazing at the few gashes in his stomach.
"Because of that, I couldn't very well lather it to your wings. It wouldn't have been any better."
He poured some into his hand and then gave the bottle over to Baralai, who gazed at it.
"Just… lather it on?" Baralai wanted to make sure.
"Yep, right over the wounds," answered the Al Bhed, demonstrating on his abdomen. He winced as the cold liquid met with his open wounds. It ate up all of the blood with a light foam and seeped over the wounds, hardening. He wiped the rest of the potion onto the cuts on his arms and looked to Baralai. The dark man blinked.
"U-um…"
"What?"
"I don't…"
"All right… I'll do it."
The Al Bhed took Baralai's leg into his hands. Baralai protested, kicking his leg away, no matter how much it hurt.
"N-now wait just a minute! I don't even know your name and you--"
"It's Gippal."
He grabbed for Baralai's leg again, then snatched the bottle from his small hands. Gippal poured the liquid into his own hand and attempted to free Baralai's pants from his boots in order to get to the wound. Baralai kicked again. Gippal eyed him.
"Either pull 'em up or pull 'em down."
"J-just… rip the fabric apart where the bite is… it'll be m-much easier. And it'll be like instant shorts!" replied Baralai, using Gippal's terms and way of speaking. Gippal caught on.
"Why are you stutterin'?"
"I'm in a lot of pain."
"S-so y-you d-don't usually d-do it?"
Baralai glared and all Gippal did in defense was flash a grin. He ripped apart the pants where the wolf had already started to rip at when he bit him.
"It's sorta cold," Gippal warned as he lathered the potion onto Baralai's open wound. The man from Bevelle twitched and gritted his teeth as Gippal continued.
"You shave your legs?" asked Gippal suddenly, a laugh tracing his words. Baralai closed his eyes and let his head drop back, his face up toward the sky.
"My hair is white. It looks odd on my legs."
"It's natural?"
"Since birth."
"Tan, too?"
"My dad's side of the family."
"Is that an oddity up in Bevelle to be born with shock white hair and a darker complexion?"
"Ye-yes!!" Baralai suddenly yelped. Gippal looked to his eyes.
"Somethin' wrong? I already told you it was cold…"
"It's not th-that… unn… m-move your…"
Gippal looked down at his lathering hand. It apparently had a mind and will of its own, for it had somehow lathered itself up Baralai's thigh, inches away from his crotch. He retracted the hand and looked away shamefully and embarrassedly. There was a visible blush on his face.
"Cunno."
"Come again?"
"Sorry. You have wounds under your wings, right?"
"Yes."
"Do you mind--"
"As long as your hand doesn't find its way to my ass, sure."
"Oh, I might be too weak to resist you," said Gippal with a smirk, his left hand raised in front of his chest ((a la Nooj!)). Baralai smiled.
"S-so… am I still a bastard from Bevelle?"
Gippal answered by beginning to lather the potion over the few wounds on his back. Baralai straightened, closing his eyes.
"How'd you lose your wings?" Gippal wanted to know. Baralai hesitated.
"They were cut off."
"Oh, really?" Gippal sarcastically inquired. "What, were you attacked by fiends in midair? You weren't falling fast, otherwise we would have both been crushed on impact."
"Yeah, you could say that," answered Baralai, opening his eyes to the sky. Gippal ran a finger between the wings in front of him. The man who owned them tightened his back.
"Aah…" came a breath from Baralai. "What was that for?"
"To soak up the blood there."
"… How bad are they?"
"Your wings?"
"Yes."
"Well, I don't know much about having wings, but the feathers look as though they soaked and dried up a lot of the blood. The bleeding has slowed… do you think you lost a lot of blood?"
"Not sure. I think if I had, I would have f-fainted by now."
"Still stutterin'?"
"Still in pain."
"What attacked you?"
"… A fiend."
"Must've been a big fiend… a Zuu or somethin'," said Gippal, getting up. "We should hurry in case it's still prowling around."
He held out a stretched hand to Baralai. After staring for a tiny bit, Baralai grasped it and Gippal pulled him up. Baralai thanked him, and then asked, "So, where are we going?"
"Home."
"You live in this desert?"
"Duh. I'm Al Bhed. I told you earlier--you Bevelle guys and lower Spira banished us here."
"Wasn't that ages ago?"
"Not quite. I'm sixteen so it's been in effect for nearly eleven years."
"You're only sixteen?"
"'Only?' What are you, twelve?"
"I'm eighteen."
"Rumo cred."
"Pardon?"
"You have such a baby face!"
Baralai's face reddened only slightly.
"I look a lot older than you," he informed him, triumphantly raising his arms. Baralai flashed white teeth.
"But I'm so much cuter."
"I don't think so."
"I do. Can't look cute without a face like mine."
Gippal put his hands on his hips, turning suddenly and leaning into Baralai, causing the dark man to lean back in surprise as his personal space was invaded.
"Hmm… never been this close to a baby face before."
A soft chuckled lining his words like candy, Baralai replied, "That's nice…"
Gippal straightened, grinning.
"I could get used to this."
Baralai walked forward, passing him.
"Let's not. We should go to this 'home' of yours."
Gippal jogged ahead of him with a faint smile.
"All right, follow me."
Well, super long chapter one special!! The next chapters won't be as long… unless you want them to be. It's up to you, folks!!! SakuraBubbles signing out. ::bows and runs away::