Chapter 9
"Paine? Are you back yet?" called Gippal, walking into Paine's room in the temple. "No…? Wow, I guess Paine and 'Lai are having a good time- it's 5:30 already… hey, what's this?" he bent down to pick up a tiny sphere. "Huh? It's already on? I'd better turn it off… and stop talking to myself."
But half a second before his hand reached the switch, he realised what it was and drew back.
Paine's Respect Points.
"Oh Unholy Fuck! She must have dropped it!"
Eagerly, he found his own name, hoping that Paine had been exaggerating about how low his score was- she hadn't. Minus thirty… ouch.
"Brother: -78… Rikku: -34… Le Blanc: 12!!! How the fuck did she get more than me?!" A little huffily, Gippal went on reading down the list, "Cid: 23… Vidina: 20… great! The baby has more than me! Hmph… skip to the top… Baralai? 105???????????? Oh for the love of the fayth, wait 'till I tell him! Oh! But Riks first!" he stuck his head out the door and saw Nhadala passing- they were back from Bevelle already, he guessed. "Hey, Nadi!" he called and she looked over.
"Yeah?"
"Where's Riks?"
"Rikku? I think she went to Bevelle- a place called Beyond Benevolence- to spy on Paine and Baralai- like it's any of her business. Hmph! Its an envasion of privacy-!"
"Thanks, Nadi! Beyond Benevolence is the only thing I need to hear!"
-
Baralai had taken Paine to what had seemed like a perfectly normal quiet little café… but the moment the clock struck seven- which it did because neither Paine nor Baralai were organised enough to wear watches- people started pouring in and the loud music started.
Beyond Benevolence could be considered a club any time past seven o'clock.
"Oh, Fayth," said Paine, looking up at said clock and standing, "the time… let's get back."
"No way, Paine," said Baralai, grinning. "Did you think I didn't know about this place? We're gonna go dance!"
"I hate dancing!" Paine huffed. "And I hate this song. And I hate clubs. And I hate-"
"I get the picture, Paine- out by midnight or your dressphere disappears, gotcha!"
"We are staying nowhere near midnight!" said Paine, sighing a little as she allowed herself to be half-dragged, half-led onto the dancefloor.
When she'd dropped the fame and glamour for life as a warrior this had been one thing she hadn't missed- the press of sweaty bodies, bathed in fluorescent lights, where anyone not intoxicated was either the police or the neighbours, both trying in vein to break up the party.
But it turns out that Baralai was just stalling.
"Okay, folks! It's time for KARAOKE! Any volunteers?!"
Paine laughed, a little looser now, "what kind of fool would readily admit themselves to such a thing? Never in a thousand years would I-"
"Paine!" Baralai called out. "Paine'll do it!"
Spotlights searched the room and finally fell on Baralai and the guy on stage laughed, "well if it isn't the Praetor of New Yevon! Who did you want to volunteer?"
Baralai grabbed Paine's shoulders and shoved her in front of him, "my friend Paine!"
The guy on stage baulked, "we've got a star in our midst tonight, folks! It's been years but here she is- PAINE KELLER!"
"For fuck's sake, Baralai!" snapped Paine, rounding on him. "Did you pay no attention to my open mockery?"
But the crowd was cheering and Paine found herself being pushed forwards onto the stage, stumbling a little as Baralai pulled her up the stairs. Paine tore her arm away and sighed, "I hate you, 'Lai."
"I know ya do, Painey- make me proud."
Paine glared at him and turned towards the audience. She'd sung in front of a crowd before, much larger ones too, but that'd been many years ago now.
Unbeknownst to her, Baralai had taken out a sphere and began filming the warrior girl on stage as she drew her songstress dressphere out of her pocket and changed.
"Now," said the host, "what'll you be singing for us tonight?"
"What back up tracks have you got?" asked Paine, trying very hard not to sound bitter.
"Well I could tell you," said the host "but I've got a better idea- why don't we ask the audience?"
The crowd roared and a list of songs was projected onto the wall behind them both. People started yelling out their favourites and the host picked out the loudest one, "so, Paine, do you know this song?"
Paine nodded. Everybody knew it around here.
She felt the microphone being pressed into her hands and searched for Baralai as the music started.
"Everybody's looking for that something
One thing that makes it all complete
You'll find it in the strangest places
Places you never knew it could be"
There he was, standing a little way off, filming a sphere. Oh. So it was a performance he wanted?
"Some find it in the face of their children
Some find it in their lover's eyes
Who can deny the joy it bringsWhen you've found that special thing
You're flying without wings"
He grinned at her, waving and Paine waved back, a small smile on her face.
"Some find it sharing every morning
Some in their solitary lives
You'll find it in the words of others
A simple line can make you laugh or cry"
"You'll find it in the deepest friendship
The kind you cherish all your life
And when you know how much that means
You've found that special thing
You're flying without wings"
That much was true- if anyone could make Paine laugh it was her friends, and cry as well, though she'd never admit it, and want to pummel them into the ground… but that didn't exactly fit with the song.
"So impossible as they may seem
You've got to fight for every dream
Cos who's to know which one you let go
Would have made you complete."
"Well for me it's waking up beside you
To watch the sunrise on your face
To know that I can say I love you
In any given time or place."
Love… why is every other song about love? What is wrong with being single? 'Stop thinking, Paine…'
"It's little things that only I know
Those are the things that make you mine
And it's like flying without wings
Cos you're my special thing
I'm flying without wings"
'Rikku would die to be here,' Paine thought, smiling a little at the idea. "Maybe if she was I wouldn't have to sing this ridiculously high…'
And you're the place my life begins
And you'll be where it endsI'm flying without wings
And that's the joy you bring
I'm flying without wings."'Okay,' Paine thought now. 'The song's over. If Baralai tries to stop me leaving this place now, I'll scream.'
"Wasn't that something, ladies and gentlemen?" said the guy with the microphone and the fake accent and the audience yelled some more.
'Don't their voices get sore?' thought Paine, sighing inwardly as she let a hollow grin pass over her face for the crowd's sake. Eventually, the applause and screaming quietened a little and she made her way down the stairs, but the first person she recognised nearby wasn't Baralai.
It was Rikku.
Glared, Paine placed her hands on her hips, "Rikku, a meteorite must have fallen from the Heavens and flattened Besaid because I know you ain't spying on me!"
