This is Icicle Streams, publishing after a very long time! I started this story in January, but I got a bit stumped with writing out some parts. So that's why I'm turning to you readers to help me improve parts and write a better story! And tell me who you reckon Rikku's mysterious love with be!
Bevelle. Rikku hadn't been there for more than a year. She'd never really liked the city, even with its beautiful buildings, splendor and wealth, and she always did her best to avoid travelling there. As a child, she knew it as the one place never to set foot in; there was no guarantee you'd ever come out. On Yuna's pilgrimage, she only entered because they were all traitors of Yevon together, not just her for being an Al Bhed. She trusted the others to protect her; she trusted them to get out safely. Even when she visited with the Gullwings, the city still creeped her out. Though the maesters and hypocritical priests were gone, she was still wary; corruption existed everywhere, especially in Bevelle. The clean, colourful streets were just a façade, and the spectacular temple just reinforced the sinister image of deception Bevelle had. She hadn't wanted to go, but Cid needed her to study some machina for her, and though she hardly ever got along with her father, she always helped family. She took after her sudran in how important family is; she always gave everything she had to her brother and father. Besides, she was certain there were plenty of spheres and ancient machina to find in the mysterious city.
"Rikku, let's go," said Paine lazily. She nodded towards the city impatiently.
Rikku smiled and bounced after her. Even though Yuna had left to live in Besaid with Tidus, Paine and Rikku still traveled the world on Brother's airship. It was a bit lonely, just being 'RP', but Paine had definitely been friendlier since she'd met up with the guys again after the whole Vegnagun thing. The old Al Bhed saying was right; the truth will set you free. Rikku talked the whole way to the city, and for once, Paine talked back.
They entered the palace and immediately fell silent. Things hadn't changed at all. Mist covered the ground and Rikku felt uneasy.
"Good morning, Paine, Miss Rikku," greeted Baralai politely.
Rikku blushed, embarrassed at his formalness. Other people had called her Miss, and sometimes Lady, but it just made her feel weird, as if she was supposed to look down on the other person. It just wasn't Rikku's way.
"'Lai, cut the crap and just say hey. And if you keep going on with this 'Miss Rikku' business, Rikku's going to faint from all the blood rushing to her cheeks," said Paine, rolling her eyes. Rikku wasn't the only one to blush this time.
"Ok, Dr. P. Are you guys going to stay at the palace? We have plenty of spare rooms."
Rikku hesitated. She'd rather stay on the Celsius or hire a hotel than stay in this creepy place, but she didn't want to seem rude. She glanced at Paine and let her make the decision.
Paine shrugged. "Here, I guess. I think Cid wanted Brother and stuff to go to help with the rebuilding of Home, so we can't stay on the Celsius."
"They're probably not going to go. Brother won't want to, and Buddy'll just to do whatever Brother wants," said Rikku quickly.
Baralai and Paine stared at her. Rikku started whistling and teetering on the balls of her feet.
"Even if they don't bother going to Bikanel, they won't want to hang around here," said Paine and Rikku's heart sank.
"So it's settled. You girls can stay here. It'll be easier and you won't have to go hotel hunting," smiled Baralai.
"Whoopee," murmured Rikku. She was definitely going to get a good night's sleep in this place.
Baralai woke with a start. At first he thought it was thunder from the storm outside, but then he realised; someone was banging on his door. Loudly. He glanced at the clock on his bedside table, and sighed.
1:47
Exhausted, he dragged himself out of his warm, cosy bed towards the door. He yanked it open and jumped back suddenly as a tall blonde man, who'd obviously been leaning against the door too much, fell forward.
"Gippal?" he asked sleepily and rubbed his eyes. He stared at a sopping wet Gippal, who was trying to look innocent and was managing it with his boyish charm, and then at the giant purple luggage bag sitting behind him.
"Man, I'm glad this was your room. I knew your quarters were along this corridor, but I couldn't remember which. Isaaru seemed pretty pissed when I knocked on his door… "
The one-eyed Al Bhed grinned sheepishly and brushed his wet blonde hair out of his face.
"Sorry it's so late, 'Lai, but the weather was bad, and then we couldn't get the engine to start, and when I finally got here, I couldn't find a room anywhere in the city."
Baralai stared at him.
"You couldn't find a room… anywhere?"
"Well, nowhere I liked, anyway. So I knew you wouldn't mind me coming here."
Baralai ran a hand through his hair.
"I don't have any spare beds in here, but there's an empty room further down," he said, grabbing his keys and they set off down the winding corridors of the top floor. In his tired state, he almost unlocked the wrong room; he'd have a lot of scars and bruises in the morning if he burst into Paine and Rikku's room in the middle of the night.
"Hey, Gippal…" began Baralai, frowning.
"Yeah?"
"How'd you get into the palace? The guards lock up at midnight."
Gippal ruffled the back of his hair, something, Baralai noticed, he did when things weren't going well, or if he was guilty.
"Well, I kinda had to rewire the whole locking system…"
Tired as he was, Baralai couldn't help gaping at him. Gippal quickly started defending himself at the look on Baralai's face.
"I tried the intercom, but all I got were snores. Don't worry; I fixed it up once I was inside. It was hard work getting through the main doors though…"
Baralai decided he didn't want to know. All he wanted was to go back to sleep. He unhooked the key from the chain and handed it to Gippal.
"All right, penthouse suite! Thanks, 'Lai," said Gippal gratefully. He hugged his old friend.
"Don't mention it."
Gippal stared at her incredulously. What was she doing in Bevelle? And what the hell was she doing? He'd always known that Rikku could concentrate when she wanted to. Still, it was a surprise seeing her sitting in the middle of a pile of old books and scrolls in the temple library.
"Whatcha doing, Cid's Girl?" he asked, tapping her on the shoulder.
She jumped and struck him instinctively. He rubbed his tender cheek. He'd forgotten how hard she could hit.
"Eek! I'm sorry, you startled me, Gippal. Are you ok?" she said, trying to get a closer look.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm fine, Rikku!" he said, grabbing her by the shoulders to get her to stop bouncing around nervously.
She stopped and sighed with relief. She blew her hair out of her face, instead of using her hand like a normal person. He'd forgotten she did that too. It seemed that he'd forgotten a lot of things about her, even though they had been best friends as kids. He scratched the back of his head uneasily. He should have talked to her more in the last three years. It wasn't like she didn't want to talk to him; she'd sent messages every now and then. But he was so busy, and it took him longer and longer to reply, until they eventually stopped coming…
"So what're you doing in Bevelle, Gippal? You should've told me you were coming."
"It was kinda last minute. I'm here to check things out. We were thinking of starting a new Faction branch in Bevelle, but I don't think New Yevon's a huge fan of the idea… I was going to swing by next month, but plans changed and I ended up coming now. What're you?"
"Pops wanted me to research about their machina. He found a weird power converter, and it looked like the same style as Vegnagun. We need to know as much as possible, before we use it; we don't want anything dangerous," she explained.
"Cid sent you to research?" he teased.
She pouted at him. "Of course! I'm a brilliant researcher!"
Gippal smiled. She was a strong girl, outspoken, but in a good way. She was sweet though; she cared for other people.
"I haven't seen you much lately," he said quietly.
"Well, you know, the Gullwings call and all…" she trailed off. Deep down, they both knew it was his fault.
"Um," said Rikku awkwardly. "Sorry, Gippal, but I really need to get this done for Vydran, so if you're not going to help, then vamoose!"
She glared at him impatiently. Gippal hastily grabbed a manuscript and pulled up a seat.
Why was she here? Maybe it was the fact that Rikku's constant whining got annoying after a while, or that she couldn't resist visiting home, or that she was hoping to catch up with a certain Praetor. Too bad nothing ever went to plan. Rikku was bugging her more than ever, talking about her machina, or whatever mischief she got into with the priests or Gippal. Then it turned out that her parents were on holiday to the Moonflow, hoping to 'catch some sun and maybe some fish' as her father put it, or as her mother whispered quietly to her afterwards, much to her horror, 'to catch some sun and maybe some boys!' And to top it all off, Baralai was being Baralai and taking on far too much work than was healthy, so she hardly saw him except for at dinner. So she left Gippal and Rikku to their own devices (something involving ice and sliding down a hill?) and had hit the town.
Glancing around the empty side street, she spotted a small olive-green shop with 'The Fig Tree' emblazoned on an old-fashioned sign in gold cursive. A stuffed moogle holding a teapot and a large, bizarre purple pistol sitting on the counter caught her eye. The bell on the door tinkled and the rather effeminate-looking man cleaning glasses at the counter looked up.
"Paine?" asked the brunette, sweeping his long fringe out of his eyes.
She smirked and pulled up a barstool.
"You finally ended up starting it, Dyrran?"
Grabbing several bottles of various shapes and colours, he grinned and began mixing them with expert skill.
"That's right. You didn't think I could do it, did you?"
Paine clinked her glass with his and gulped down half of the amber liquid. She could taste apricot and mango, with a slight bitter tang and fiery blast as it went down her throat.
"I knew you had the talent," she said, thinking of the hand-made moogle in the window. "But I thought you'd be too spacey to end up doing it."
"All those hours at academy I spent doodling and designing stuff? They'd be wasted! And the lashes for wasting class time?" he shuddered at the painful memory.
"As soon as I met you, I knew… you were the most creative person I knew, and I knew you'd do great things."
Dyrran flicked his head to the left, making the brown hair fly out of his eyes to the side.
"Wow, you could tell all that when you were eight? That's pretty crazy."
They laughed and finished their drinks.
"At least you managed to do it," said Paine, admiring the elegant mural on the wall. The tree's branches wove around the corner of the room, its silver and gold leaves glistening. The painted Bahamut seemed to leap out at you, so detailed and lifelike, yet somehow… so surreal.
"You make me and this little place sound so great! What about you, traveling around Spira with the High Summoner and helping save the world from Vegnagun?"
She raised an eyebrow at him.
"You know about…. that?"
He smiled, almost pityingly.
"Paine, you of all people should know that secrets don't stay secret for long. Everyone knows about Vegnagun. And so they should. Enough with the secrets. That's one of the reasons I left the priesthood."
"You were training to be a priest?" she asked, staring at her childhood friend incredulously.
"What did you think I was doing while you were trying for the Crimson Squad? Just sitting around, painting and perfecting my art? I mean, I still did it, but I had to help fight Sin too and protect Dahlia. I can fire a gun decently-"
"Dyrran, you're the most accurate shooter ever," interrupted Paine.
"You flatter me, Paine, but that's only at close range. I was never a good warrior; I could never serve the Crusaders. So I went to the temple and started my training."
He laughed at the shocked look at her face and pulled a delicious-looking cream cake on an exquisitely hand-crafted plate from the glass display counter.
"How long were you at the temple for?"
Dyrran paused to think.
"Well, I joined a month or two after you left. Then Lady Yuna uncovered everything and brought the Eternal Calm…"
"So you, of all people, managed to follow all the strict orders for a year?"
"Three actually, but after eighteen months, I became a mentor for young priests, so I was the one giving orders."
"Why'd you stay with New Yevon after all the scandal?"
He smiled and Paine saw a glint of fierce determination in dancing in his amber eyes.
"That's why I stayed. I would have left after a while, once the Eternal Calm started, and begun my artistic career, but I was the apprentice of the guy who looked after all the old records and infospheres, so I was in the perfect position to do a little snooping. There's more ancient machina hidden in Bevelle besides Vegnagun and-"
He stopped abruptly, and his eyes focused on something behind her. He walked towards the front door and bolted it. Paine turned and saw him staring out the window, moving his head to get a better view from behind the grey curtains.
"What's wrong?" she asked, grabbing the hilt of her sword.
"Don't worry, it's nothing," he reassured her.
Not believing his pleasant smile, she looked out the window next to him. Two tough-looking Al Bhed men with large guns were leaning against the brick wall on the other side of the street. She wasn't sure because of their dark goggles, but she was pretty certain they were staring back at them. Dyrran leaned over and closed the curtain, obscuring her view.
"They're just some rowdy guys who always cause trouble here," he said carelessly in answer to her questioning look and changed the subject.
Paine was sure that he wouldn't have bolted the door if they were just customers, but sipped her drink and said nothing.
So what do you guys reckon? Any thoughts about the new guy? Constructive criticism would be great- I'm always looking for ways to improve my stories!
And thankyou to LittleAlBhed for pointing out that error of 'YP' instead of 'RP'! :D