Hey, everyone! What's going on? This is kind of fun...kind of short, but fun. Part two's the next installment after this second chapter to part one, so keep an eye out.

And Black Night Luster...tell me you aren't stalking me! T-T You always read all my stuff! I love it, don't get me wrong, but you've been reading it for so long, you know my writing habits. That's just creepy, my friend. Anywho. I thank thee, nonetheless. You're the only review I received! I can always count on your reviews to make my day if no one else does. (:3)

Now! Everyone else...if there is anyone else, enjoy this chapter after the disclaimer!

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING!! O.O

Part One

Chapter two: Aid

When he came to, Gippal found himself lying on a mattress in what appeared to be a tent. He groaned and rolled over onto his back, holding his head that was throbbing in pain. Where was he and how did he manage to end up here? His memory tried to go back, but everything seemed to be in a fog. He remembered being in Luca trying to get an application to join the Crusaders; but what happened after that? He could not recall. He opened his eyes to stare at the tent above him.

Wait.

Something seemed off.

He sat up and held his hand out in front of his face, trying to focus his gaze. Through his left eye, everything seemed fine; but through his right eye, he could not see anything. Shaking, he brought his hand up to touch his eye, but was blocked by a bandage that had been wrapped around it. He dropped his arm and hastily looked around the tent. There were a few items piled up in the corner and in the other corner sat some familiar objects.

His clothes lay folded, a bloody shirt on the top. The blood seemed to be faded as though it had been washed a few times and for a moment, Gippal just stared at them trying to figure out why there was blood on his clothes. His jerked his hand back to his eye as the memories came back.

"They won't allow you in with a disability."

He groaned and held his head.

That was right.

Some Yevonite guard practically gouged out his eye with a knife, leaving him to bleed and wander aimlessly about Luca in search of aid. Then he recalled: He never found that aid he searched for. He did not even make it to Luca Square. He had fallen unconscious near the number one dock. So how did he end up in a tent in the middle of nowhere?

"Ec ra veha?" a male voice spoke outside the tent.

Gippal adverted his gaze towards the opening. Did he just hear another Al Bhed speak?

"Hu. Ra'c cdemm byccat uid lumt," another voice replied, this time female. He rolled off the mattress and stood, walking to the tent entrance.

"Tuach'd cinbneca sa, druikr. Dryd fyc xieda y fuiht ra ahtinat," the male voice replied back. "Tysh Yevonites! Drao ryt hu nekrd...!" There was a sigh just as Gippal had grabbed the edge of the opening. The ruffling from the tent attracted the attention of the male Al Bhed that accompanied the female. "Ah. Muugc mega ra'c vehymmo lusa du."

The female turned around just as Gippal had stepped out of the tent.

"Oh! You're awake!" she exclaimed in Al Bhed. "It's about time. We were really worried about you," she continued as she put her left hand on her hip and her right on her head. "That was some wound you had. Had we not have been passing by, you might have died." She stopped when she saw Gippal's curious look. "Oh! I'm Rikku, by the way! And this is Brother," she said as she motioned towards herself and the man with her. "So, do you have a name or are you a mute?"

"Rikku!" Brother snapped and she gave him an agitated look as she stuck out her tongue.

"Well!" She turned back to the silent Al Bhed.

"It's Gippal," he said, looking from Brother to Rikku. He glanced around his surroundings, almost instantly recognizing his current location. It was Home. "How'd I get here?"

He focused back to the other two who had started arguing about something. She shoved Brother backwards and began pointing towards a metal door.

"Go get Pops!" she said and he protested, telling her that she should go fetch Cid. "Now!" He grimaced but finally gave in and ran to the door, vanishing inside once it opened. She sighed and shook her head before glancing back to Gippal and smiling nervously. "I'm sorry. What?" She rubbed the back of her head.

Gippal sighed but repeated himself, nonetheless.

"How did I get here?"

Rikku suddenly stopped moving around so much and brought her arm down, putting it to her side. She looked up at the sky that was showing above home and sighed before looking back to Gippal. She shook her head, her hair that was up in a ponytail moving strongly.

"We were in Luca when we found you, getting some supplies for some airship that Pops claims he found beneath the waters near Baaj Temple. Since we had to be indiscreet, we arrived by ship at dock three. We had already retrieved our supplies when we were walking back, towards our dock. We kept hearing people say something about some Al Bhed passed out near dock one. We figured it was nothing but still decided to check it out. From a distance, we didn't know if you were passed out asleep or because of an injury."

Gippal walked passed her and stood, arms crossed, back to her as he stared at the ground. Rikku looked down at the ground as well, still continuing, knowing that he still wanted her to continue, though not verbalizing it.

"Brother was the one to notice blood on the ground in front of you and when we got closer, we noticed blood was everywhere. All over your clothes, your hands, and, mostly, your face. We dropped the supplies to see where the blood was coming from and immediately saw that it was your eye." She paused and turned towards the other Al Bhed. "Sorry, but the entire bottom of your shirt had to be torn so we could use the cloth to slow down the bleeding." She shrugged and watched him nod again. "As soon as we were back on the boat, we didn't bother with detours and immediately came back to Bikanal Island and get you medical attention. You've been out of it for a while…at least two days."

There was a moment of awkward silence before Gippal finally turned back around to face the fourteen-year-old female.

"So I guess it's you two I have to thank for saving my life." He went into a small bow and Rikku put her hands behind her back.

"Oh, please. Just helping out a fellow Al Bhed." The door behind them opened and Rikku turned around. "Speaking of fellow Al Bhed."

The male named Brother walked towards them with an older man in tow. The other man was quite tall and bald. He walked up to Gippal who uncrossed his arms and took a half step backwards. The man put his hands on Gippal's shoulders and seemed as though he was studying the young teen. Seeming satisfied in whatever it was he was looking for, he stood straight and smacked Gippal on the back, quite roughly – hard enough to make him stumble forward and have his breath knocked out of him.

"Good to see you've come around!" the man laughed, his voice somewhat hoarse.

Rikku side stepped towards Gippal and put her hand on the edge of her mouth, whispering to the older teen. "This is Cid, by the way. Pops can seem a little like a senile old man at times, but he's cool."

"Senile, eh?" Cid said, looking at his daughter. "You forget this 'senile old man' is the same one who found Home." Rikku only shrugged and put her hands behind her back again, swaying back and forth on her heels. Cid cleared his throat and looked back to Gippal. "Hear you had quite an injury on ya," he said, eyes focusing on the bandage across Gippal's right eye. "Glad to see you're all right. You have family?"

Gippal shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

"Not that I know of. Sin killed my parents when I was still little," Gippal said as he subconsciously rubbed the bandages on his left eye.

"Hm…I see," Cid muttered. "Sorry to hear that. Well," he slapped Gippal on the back again, causing the same reaction as before. Rikku could not help but laugh. "You're in good hands now, uh...." Cid trailed off.

"Gippal."

"…Gippal!" Cid laughed again as he repeated his action. "I like you, kid."

Rikku stepped up and put a hand on Gippal's shoulder. "Well, Pops, there won't be much left to like if you break him!" She looked at Gippal and motioned towards the door. "Come on. You must be starving!"

"Like I could eat a shoopuff," Gippal said as the two vanished inside the door.

Cid and Brother watched them exit and Cid placed his hands on his hips. He shook his head. "That wouldn't break him," he said as he looked at Brother who shrugged. When Cid went to pat his son on the back, Brother jumped back from him.

"Oh no! My shoulder blades are cracked! Uh…I have…spinal tissue…something…damage!" he cried out as he dashed off inside, leaving Cid to stare after him.

Cid adverted his eyed to stare at his hand. "I don't hit that hard, do I?" He thought about it for a minute before shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets and walking inside after the others.

He entered the dining area right after his son to see the recovering Al Bhed with a tray full of food in front of him. He tore a piece of bread off with his teeth, chewed and swallowed it as Cid nodded, seeing that the recovery was coming along fine. Though, Gippal continued to rub the bandage that was over his missing eye. He had to get used to not being about see out of his right eye, now. Cid turned and left the room once he saw that Rikku was taking care of him.

Rikku just watched him eat for a minute before she ever said anything. She wanted to ask what happened, but was not sure if it was the right time. Of course, he would be in much better shape after eating – or at least she hoped that would be the case. The only thing she did find out from him was that he had never seen Home, only heard about it. She could not help but wonder how long had Gippal been on his own before now? It did not seem as though he minded. He was a little conceited…very conceited and slightly arrogant. She smirked at the thought that he had a reason to be.

Once the food was gone from his tray, Gippal rubbed his missing eye again before saying thanks. Rikku was just about to ask him how the whole incident happened when she noticed that blood was starting to seep through the bandage. She grabbed Gippal's wrist when he went to rub it again. He gave her a slightly accusing look.

She shook her head.

"No, your eye's bleeding again!" she said as she pointed at it. "You keep rubbing it, it won't have a chance to heal. Come on and I'll change the bandage."

He shrugged. "All right. Sorry about that. It's just the damn thing itches."

Rikku sighed. "That's because it's trying to heal. Keep that up and never will!" she said as she stood and put her hands on her hips. "So, come on. We need to go back to the recovery station and get new bandages."

Gippal stood and followed her out and back to the tent that he woke up in. When they were inside, Rikku started rummaging around before letting out a triumphant yell, holding up a roll of gauze. She faced Gippal and told him to sit down. When he did, Rikku went up to him and began removing the now bloody gauze. It was strange. He did not know why, but he had a feeling that he would be able to see once the bandage was removed. He knew it was idiotic to think such a thing, but it was the only thing that kept his hopes up. However, that was not the case and when the gauze was removed, from reflex, he went to rub his eye again.

Rikku stopped him half way and shook her head.

"Stop that!"

"Sorry!"

She threw the used bandages away and unraveled some from the clean roll. Once his eye was covered again, Rikku tossed the roll back where she found it and sat back on her heels.

"There! Rub it again and your eye won't be the only thing missing, buster!"

He held up his hands defensively. "I said I was sorry."

Rikku sighed. "How'd you manage to lose your eye, anyway?"

Gippal hit his fist on the ground, trying to keep him from rubbing at the bandage. He looked up at the hyper fourteen-year-old female in front of him and shrugged. What was there to say? Some jackass guards gouged it out so he could not be a Crusader? That would fly over well…not. Rikku blinked twice.

"Care to talk?"

"This was my uh…reward for wanting to join the Crusaders."

She cocked her head to the side before shaking it. "Wait. Al Bhed aren't allowed to join the Crusaders, anyway. Why would you even try?"

Gippal shrugged and leaned back. "Figured if I kept going at it, eventually they'd let me in. Imagine my luck when a guard gouged my eye out," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "'They won't allow you in with a disability.'" He snorted and Rikku blinked again. "Bastards."

"People just don't like us very much, now do they?" Rikku asked rhetorically as she held up her hands and shook her head. "So what do you intend to do now?"

Gippal shrugged. "Dunno. Figure I'll find something. Remember hearing something called "The Crimson Squad" a while back. They're saying that they accept even Al Bhed." He looked off to the side and muttered to himself, "Definitely need to check that out."

Rikku sighed and leaned back before poking him in the chest.

"Well, if you decide to go and run off and get yourself killed, at least make sure that you're well enough to. And don't come crawling back to us when your other eye goes missing!"

She gave a stern look and Gippal could not help but laughed. He waved his hand and shook his head.

"I'll remember that."

"Yeah," she muttered. "You better."

I know this seems like it's going towards Gippal/Rikku, but I assure you, it is Baralai/Gippal. (:3) But, Gippal had a past relationship with Rikku and since this is telling everything about Gippal's past, I have to include that, too! Sorry to all the people that are like: "Straight pairings?! OH NOOOOOOOEEES!!" Ha ha. I love you all.

So...is anyone out there? -knocks on glass- Hello? -hears echo- -pouts- Now that's not funny!! T-T

Let's just up your all's Al Bhed.

Ec ra veha?: Is he fine?

Hu. Ra'c cdemm byccat uid lumt: No. He's still passed out cold

Tuach'd cinbneca sa, druikr. Dryd fyc xieda y fuiht ra ahtinat: Doesn't surprise me, though. That was quite a wound he endured.

Tysh Yevonites! Drao ryt hu nekrd...!: Damn Yevonites! They had no right...!

Ah. Muugc mega ra'c vehymmo lusa du: Ah. Looks like he's finally come to.

You know...there are some advantages to putting Al Bhed in here when I could just put what is being said in Al Bhed in italics like I did with Rikku and Gippal's conversation. For instance, I could confuse the hell out of you guys! But that wouldn't be very nice, so I decided not to. (:3) Don't you love me?