Author's Note: It has come to my attention that many long-time readers of this fic may have forgotten what has happened so far. In the interest of reminding you all what's going on so you don't have to go back and read my words again and go "Oh yeah, skip to the next chapter" thirteen times, here's a plot summary in 238 words. (Those who have followed this will understand that this is quite a feat.) After the plot summary, we will continue with Chapter Fourteen.

Plot Summary

After the defeat of Vegnagun, everyone in Spira's gender was spontaneously reversed -- men became women, women became men -- except for Baralai. Everyone assumed that this phenomenon was because of some lasting effect of Vegnagun, but through the discovery of several spheres from Baralai's past, it became clear that this was not the case. In order to get to the bottom of things, Nooj finally found death and has been roaming the Farplane looking for answers -- and discovered that Spira had been destroyed in its entirety. The world that everyone now lived in was, in fact, a parallel dimension where the only difference was everyone's gender. Baralai was exempt from this because, in this new Alt-Spira, he had died in his mother's womb. This, too, was an effect of Vegnagun -- Baralai's parents had bred him to be an extraordinary white mage, the one who would finally be able to destroy Vegnagun -- and so, when Vegnagun left Alt-Spira and went to Spira (the one we all experienced in the games), Baralai followed it. Now, in order to stop Vegnagun once and for all, Baralai is searching for the key, the thing he had been born to do -- and this is where we are in the story. Oh yes, and by the way, a side story is Gippal's process of dealing with his new femininity and current love affair with the world's savior himself, Baralai.

Chapter Fourteen

The investigation of the Vegnagun Documents was taking too long. There were too many little inconsistencies, too many things that were slightly off, and far too many things that drove Baralai crazy.

"All the records are slightly off, concealed with passwords that are just a few numbers different, records are a little odd and I always forget that people are the wrong sex, and everything's all wrong," Baralai muttered as he paced around the living room.

"Just calm down," Gippal tried to say helpfully, "you didn't expect this to be easy, did you?"

Baralai sighed and flopped down on the couch, his loose brown pants settling around him as he sunk into the cushions. "All that I can seem to find out is that my mother – no, my father, I guess, in this world – knew some sort of white magic spell that really sealed Vegnagun in. My father couldn't cast it strong enough to kill it, but he did cast it strong enough to capture it… and he kept studying, kept records of his research, trying to find a stronger spell to finally kill it. Finally…"

Gippal laid his head on Baralai's shoulder, trying to comfort him as he faltered in his explanation. "What did you find in the records?"

Baralai sighed and closed his eyes. "It says that my father decided to try to pass on his white magic abilities to a child – a son. There are all these records of him searching the world for a mother, for a wife, for someone who would create a more powerful mage with his contribution." He sighed. "There are spheres, of a celebration of pregnancy, of a boy who was supposed to be the one to destroy Vegnagun. There are even these notes of exposure directly to the machina, a synchronization of vibrations, in order to somehow make the child more in-tune with that which he was bred to kill."

Gippal was starting to see the connections. Baralai's parents conceiving someone who was supposed to kill Vegnagun… but then Vegnagun had escaped… and…

"Then, a few months before the birth of the baby, Vegnagun escaped," Baralai said, reading Gippal's mind. "And then, the baby died. The baby boy. Baralai. Me."

"But you didn't die," Gippal said, resting his hand on Baralai's chest. "You're here, aren't you?"

"Completely ineffective," Baralai answered, his voice low. "I'm no white mage. I don't know any magic that could kill that machine." He clenched his tawny fists. "I'm the one who allowed it to be operated – those were my hands that started it again!"

"Stop it!" Gippal intoned. "Just stop it. That's not the way it is, and you know it!"

"But I can't do anything to stop it. I can't do anything that I was supposedly born for in this alternate world."

"That's because you were living in the other world," Gippal said, grabbing a hold of Baralai's shirt for effect. "You lived there and you were automatically thought to be a failure just because of your sex. You were thought to be a girl, but then the very fact that you have a penis was a disappointment—"

"It still doesn't change that I couldn't learn white magic, that I am essentially powerless," Baralai replied, running his hand distractedly through his hair.

"But you could still learn the magic, couldn't you?" Gippal tried to sound hopeful. "There's still time, especially since you're here – maybe these people know something that people in Spira don't."

"Everybody who knows anything is dead," Baralai replied. "My parents, who are the only ones who can effectively teach white magic to children, are gone."

"Maybe you can still do something, though," Gippal said. "You can still try. You have to, if it's still out there, and if you're the child of this powerful white mage who captured it the first time, right?"

Baralai was silent for a long moment. "Right," he finally said, turning and looking at Gippal in the eye. "I suppose there's nothing else I can do. I have to study and learn what I can…"

Gippal grinned and kissed Baralai fully on the lips. "I knew you'd come to your senses," he said, nuzzling Baralai's cheek before placing his head back on Baralai's shoulder.

"I don't know if it will work," Baralai replied, sighing and laying his head against Gippal's. "But I can certainly try."

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After a few weeks, Gippal started to get worried. In his search for the key to defeating Vegnagun, Baralai had been out at all hours, seeking the white mages of the world, studying magic of all types. It had been a little over a month, and Baralai's studies grew more and more intense as each day went by.

However, Gippal had gotten sick a few days after Baralai set off on his quest to learn white magic. Every morning, Gippal had to crawl out of bed -- lost in a nauseous haze -- and throw up in the nearest toilet or garbage can. He also started to get incredibly sickened by the smell of salt and some oils, and those too made him vomit continuously for half an hour or more. He didn't understand why he was suddenly getting sick again, but he thought that maybe it was something like what Baralai experienced when they first got thrown into this alternate world. Or, he thought, maybe it was a lingering effect of that sick feeling he had gotten when he had first gone into the Farplane to find Nooj.

The more he thought about Baralai, the more he was astounded by the man and his circumstances. Suddenly everything really made sense – Baralai, the male, had been conceived in this world, Alt-Spira, but since he had been exposed to Vegnagun at such an early age… Gippal figured that Baralai had followed the thing he had been born to kill.

That's why it made sense that the sex of the baby in Spira had been wrong, like it had been changed at the last moment. It was Vegnagun's fault. Baralai and Vegnagun were intrinsically linked, which both thrilled and frightened Gippal.

It was even more of an ironic tragedy now that Baralai's hands were the ones to operate it toward the destruction of Spira. No wonder Vegnagun had allowed Shuyin in Baralai's body to get close and operate the machina – because Baralai and Vegnagun were familiar with each other. Their fates were connected.

Gippal heaved and vomited again. He wasn't certain which was better – vomiting every morning for the past two weeks, or still not being on his period. He hated being on his period, and he counted himself lucky that he had only experienced one of them in almost three months being a woman. But if the price he had to pay was this constant vomiting -- not to mention the weight he was gaining! – he wasn't sure he wanted one or the other. Couldn't he just go back to being male?

He heard the door click close, and he pulled himself up from his usual position over the toilet, intending to try to make himself look healthy for Baralai. Lai didn't need to be worrying about him on top of trying to learn white magic to save the world, and Gippal knew that. He closed the door to the bathroom and brushed his teeth, needing to rid himself of the taste in his mouth and what he might have smelled like. The toothpaste wasn't much better – the smell of it stung his nostrils, as though it was incredibly acidic. He wondered if it had gone bad, and subsequently wondered if toothpaste could go bad.

"Gippal?"

"Lai!" Gippal was so happy to hear his voice – he had been away for nearly a week, visiting with a white mage across the world. He just wished Baralai hadn't come home in the middle of one of his vomiting spells.

"You okay?"

"Just brushing my teeth," Gippal said, then spat the toothpaste in the sink. "Be out in a second!"

When Gippal came out of the bathroom, Baralai was reclined on the white couch, dressed in a long white and beige robe. Gippal went around behind the couch and embraced Baralai from behind affectionately. "How was your trip?" he asked.

"It was most enlightening," Baralai replied with a smile. "I've learned the secret behind the Life spells… I can do them now, most of the time, but the more I work, the more consistent I will be." He paused, looking up at Gippal. "Gippal, you don't look like you're feeling very well – have you still been sick?"

Gippal felt a stirring in his stomach. Baralai was already worried about him, and he didn't even do anything. "Yeah, but I'm sure it'll go away soon, I mean, it's probably just getting used to the body, right?"

Baralai blinked and set his lips in a straight line. "I'm worried about you, Gippal," he said, turning to face him. "Have you had your period yet?"

Gippal looked away. "No."

Baralai bit his lower lip when Gippal looked back at him. "Have you been… really scent-sensitive?"

Gippal didn't like the way that question sounded. "Yes… to salty things, mostly, but then there was that toothpaste, I think it's gone rotten—"

"Gained a bit of weight at all?" Baralai's eyes lifted to meet Gippal's gaze as he ignored Gippal's objections. "Your breasts, are they sensitive?"

"Yeah, but I've been eating a little more, and then, you know, I thought it was because you haven't been here and I miss you," Gippal stammered. He didn't like how this sounded. But… well, maybe Baralai knew what was going on, and knew of a way to fix it.

"Gippal," Baralai said, sitting up and taking Gippal's hands gently. "I… think I know what's wrong."

Gippal nodded. "What is it, Lai? I really just want to feel better… for this to all be okay again, you know?"

Lai bowed his head. "I know," he said, then he looked up again and smiled. "Gippal… from what you've told me… you missed your period, for a long time, right?"

Gippal nodded.

"You know what that usually means, right?"

Gippal shook his head.

Baralai smiled infectiously, his eyes glinting with excitement. "Gippal," he said, his voice nearly a whisper. "I think… you're pregnant."