Part Two – Creating the Recto

Chapter Thirteen

2 Years 3 Weeks 4 Day E.C.

Gippal was beginning to doubt the wisdom of going into the Farplane with only a crippled man to accompany him. Sure, Nooj was still good in a fight but the fiends in the Farplane were unlike any they had ever experience before. With only a dinky little potion left, he'd sent Nooj on ahead and tried to get his bearings back.

And okay, the sight of watching Nooj having to make his way around the magical floatie stones had been enough of a show to make the pain bearable. He leaned his head against the surprisingly stable structure behind him. The potion had helped but not enough to convince him to try and stand. NO where near enough to try those ridiculous magical stones.

Off in the distance, he could hear the sounds of the other musical puzzle. The easier one. He didn't need two guesses to know who it was.

"Excellent. White mage."

Minutes ticked by before he finally saw them approach in the distance. Cid's girl was skipping for Spira's sake. It was a bit hard for a man to take knowing that his girlfriend…sort of…was a bit more of a badass than he was.

"Gippal!"

He winced, trying to stand a little but giving up. Instead, he watched as she ran to him at full tilt. He tried not to smile when he saw tears in her eyes as she dropped to her knees beside him.

"I got…careless," he breathed.

"Are you alright?" Paine asked as she reached him.

"I could use…a nap," he sighed. He squeezed Rikku's hand. He really just wanted to run off with her and forget the whole thing but that wasn't really an option. She squeezed back and he could feel her tensing with worry.

"Where's Nooj?" Yuna asked, concerned.

"He went ahead." He felt Rikku jerk, clutching his hand tighter, and looked up the path. He could feel her pulse leap and he knew she was waiting for a fiend to appear. Instead they found something worse.

"Guess she couldn't stay away."

Gippal sighed as Leblanc and her two idiots walked up.

"I never said where I would wait!"

"Well, then please, take care of Gippal."

He blinked. Since when did he need taking care of? By Leblanc of all people. He opened his mouth to speak but Cid's girl gave him the evil eye and he shut it again.

"You dare give me an order?"

Maybe he'd get out of it.

"Look, we'll tell Nooj you're waiting like a good girl and doing your part for the team," Pain said persuasively.

Leblanc flitted her eyes over to him then back to Yuna. "All right, I'm in."

He sighed. He'd fix that when the three of them went on. "Hey, Dr. P," He called, getting their attention. "A gift from Nooj." He pulled a sphere from his pocket and offered it to her. "It's from two years ago. Said it was inside the sphere camera."

She looked at it, hesitating. "I'll watch it later."

Yuna argued. "Hey. You should watch it now. Think about it. You know you won't be able to fight your best as long as it's on your mind."

Pain thought a moment before nodding ever so slightly. "You're right."

Gippal watched as the three girls crowded around the sphere. He didn't bother to try; he'd already watched it anyway. He also remembered the night in perfect detail, even if it seemed eons past two years ago. Still, he couldn't tear his eyes away from Rikku as she watched a scene between the only friends they hadn't ever shared. True, she and Pain were obviously close now, but he was willing to bet that she hadn't exchanged more than two words with Nooj or Baralai. She was good at leaving the talking to others.

HE wondered what she was thinking as she watched. Even to him it sounded like he was making plans to run off with another girl and not look back. He hoped she knew that'd never be the case but all the same, he knew he hadn't done much to prove otherwise. He should work on that.

"What happened to that Pain, I wonder?"

Her voice broke him out of his reverie and he focused on Yuna as she began to reply.

"She's inside you, sleeping."

"Well wakey, wakey! Time to set sail!" Trust Rikku to be cheesier than her cousin.

"Your captain and your navigator are waiting!" Or not.

All three of them turned to the crazy floatie stones that lay before them. Rikku paused, looking back at him, but he waved her on with a wink. He watched them go before turning to the only non-Al Bhed blonde he'd ever met.

"I don't know about you, but I have no intention of just sitting here."

Leblanc narrowed her eyes. "We're supposed to wait here. Nooj…."

"Nooj is an idiot. Especially if he thinks you are just going to wait around." She smiled a little. "Anyway, you guys know any white magic? Cause I could use a bit of a boost."

"And why should I waste it on you? We could always go by ourselves!"

"Because if you do just leave me behind, I'm sure Nooj will be upset. Especially since the girls are bound to tell him that you are here with me."

She stared at him for a moment and he could almost see the wheels in her head turning. "Fair enough," she said simplistically. "I only know low level white magic so that will have to do."

Gippal stood, stretching out his newly healed muscles. They weren't completely back to normal but it was much better and would just have to do. Last time he wandered in dangerous places with a gimp. He looked at the somewhat comedic trio and gestured to the fiendish musical puzzle.

"Come on. Follow me. I know the order to this sadistic little test."

They spent the next several minutes jumping around like a bunch of morons (which Gippal actually found pretty amusing since Leblanc's minions were far from graceful) before they finally reached the solid path that led to Vegnagun. He could hear voices in the distance and gave Leblanc, finding that she too was trying to hear whatever was being said.

"'We had no choice.' Always 'we had no choice.' Those are our magic words. We repeat them to ourselves again and again. But you know…the magic never worked. The only thing we're left with is regret."

Gippal slowed as he listened. He was once more struck by just how hard it must have been on the High Summoner to sacrifice the aeons and to watch a friend and a lover disappear before her eyes. He knew it'd been tough on Rikku and she hadn't had nearly the relationship with them that Yuna'd had.

"No. I don't want this anymore." A pause stretched out and Gippal found himself glancing at Leblanc who seemed to be thinking of the perils for the first time. "I don't want friends to die, or fade away. I don't want battles where we have to lose in order to win. Nooj I know that what you say is what you mean to do. Give me your resolve. Believe in Yuna."

"Hmm. So you have a plan?"

At Nooj's voice, all four of them quickened their pace.

"Light?" Dr. P asked.

"That's plan B. But before that…. Hey Rikku. No matter how monstrous it looks, Vegnagun is still just a machina. So we can take it apart, right?"

"Uh…yeah…uh, maybe?"

Gippal rolled his eye at the hesitation in her voice.

"You never used to be the think-before-you-act type. What gives?"

Everyone turned to look at them, startled, and Gippal couldn't hide a smirk at surprising all of them. Nor could he resist letting it grow into a full smile at the relief he saw in Rikku's eyes when she saw him.

"Leblanc!" Nooj cried like a scandalized old lady.

"And I never was the wait-like-a-good-girl type. Isn't that right, Noojie?"

Gippal ignored his friend's woman troubles and turned to look at Rikku.

"Vegnagun can be destroyed. Abso-posi-you better believe it. Wanna know why?"

Rikku flourished under his expectant gaze, all doubt erased from her features. "Cause people built it!"

"Right!" Yuna agreed. "Everyone! It looks like we can stop that thing after all."

The platform they stood on shook as Vegnagun moved, as if reacting to Yuna's words.

"Buahahah! Now it's pissed!"

"Witless little widget, isn't it?"

"What about Shuyin?" Nooj asked.

"Plan B!"

"Oh?"

"Love."

"Noo puo," Gippal sighed. That could be interesting.

"The ultimate illusion," Nooj commented making him smile. He wondered how Leblanc managed to be so in love with the moron who didn't believe in it.

"It'll work!" the High Summoner persisted. "I've come this far to bring Lenne's feelings to Shuyin. I'm not stopping now."

"The power of love conquers all! So romantic! Count me in."

Seriously. She was the delusional one.

Vegnagun jerked violently, distracting everyone from the conversation. "Look!" Paine shouted. Heads turned and everyone watched as the giant machina woke fully and pushed back the platforms that made up the pathway they'd been standing on. They all lept out of the way of its massive body as it pushed them back. When they all made their way to stable ground again, Yuna spoke up.

"If we all attack at once, we can do this! We need to split up!"

"Leave the legs to us," Leblanc offered promptly.

"We've got the torso," Gippal agreed.

"Guess that leaves the tail," Cid's girl finished cheerfully.

"Okay, let's go!"

Gippal watched the Ridiculous Trio leave before eyeing Nooj who had turned to Paine.

"See you later!"

Gippal rolled his eye as the two made their way up to the massive torso. He couldn't help commenting. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you had a crush on Dr. P."

"I will kill you myself if you don't shut up."

Barely suppressing a laugh, he turned to the fight before him. The battle seemed to go on forever. He was exhausted and still sore from the earlier wound but he knew he had to continue. At one point, he'd even had to take a hit for Nooj, leaving him worse off than before. Just as he was wondering how much longer he'd be able to go on, he heard a cheerful voice behind them.

"Woohoo! No more climbing!"

He almost lost his composure at the trademark Rikku hilarity but instead fired at the torso. It immediately retaliated with its lasers, hitting he and Nooj hard. He looked back to find that Leblanc had appeared from somewhere and that he and Nooj was pretty much at his breaking point as well.

"This thing just keeps on ticking."

"We'll finish it," Pain stated calmly, wounding his masculine pride a bit to know that he couldn't finish a fight when the girls had already won two (assuming they'd had to finish off the legs for Leblanc).

"Do it," Nooj agreed.

They made quick work of the torso making Gippal wonder if they'd given up a bit too soon. The Giant machina began to slow before the head of the monstrosity crashed down on the platform they'd gathered on. For a moment, nothing happened.

"What now?" Pain asked in the ensuing silence.

"Uh…maybe we're finished?" Rikku offered tentatively.

"Finished indeed."

"Baralai!" Nooj shouted, voicing everyone's shock at the ghostly image of the shade not quite contained in Baralai's body.

"All of Spira is finished!"

At his words, the remnants of Vegnagun came to life once more as Shuyin/Baralai began once more to play the musical control panel.

"He's got a plan B!" Rikku cried.

"This is it everybody! Stay focused!"

Which was easier said than done when a massive barrel began forming out of Vegnagun. Gippal knew it was bad news if they didn't stop it as did everyone else. Immediately, the girls rushed into battle. Time stopped or sped up. Gippal wasn't entirely sure. Whatever the case, all the previous damage done had taken its toll and the battle didn't last long. Vegnagun was completely defeated.

They watched in silence as the shade possessing Baralai descended from the now disabled head. Out of the corner of his eye, Gippal saw the flash of light that signified a change in those strange dressphere things. When he looked, he found Yuna in the same outfit she'd worn earlier in the meadow. He also saw Rikku only a foot or so from him. He reached out and pulled her to him. She clutched at his hand, not taking her yes from Yuna and Baralai.

"Shuyin."

"Lenne?" the shade asked, uncertain, as if seeing something that the rest of them couldn't.

"There's something I must tell you. Words left unspoken for a thousand years." Gippal was lost. What was Yuna up to? "I love you. And I'm grateful that you stayed with me until the end." Gippal stared, completely confused. When did Yuna have anything to do with the guy?

"But I couldn't save you!"

"It doesn't matter. Please don't go on grieving alone. Rest." At the last word, Yuna's voice changed, or rather it was as if more than one person were speaking.

As Gippal watched, the shade stepped out of Baralai's body and Gippal lurched forward to catch him as he fell, unconscious.

"We can finally fade…together?' it asked before stopping short. "No."

"Wait!"

"You are not Lenne!" Angry, Shuyin began to attack her. Rikku and Paine rushed to help her as he struggled to drag Baralai out of the way. The fight didn't last long and when it ended Gippal almost felt bad for the guy. Waiting so long for someone he would never see again.

"Shuyin…" Yuna began.

"Don't try and tell me you understand."

Yuna's body jerked and a figure stepped away from her body.

"Lenne?" Shuyin asked, ache and awe filling his voice.

She reached out and held his hand with a soft smile.

"Lenne."

"Hi there."

"A thousand years, and this moment is all we get?"

"This moment's enough. I don't need anything else. Just knowing how you feel is enough." She smiled at him. "Shuyin, let's end this. Let's go home."

"Can we?"

She reached out and put her hands on either shoulder, smiling down at him sadly, yet with hope.

"That was all a thousand years ago. We've come too far to look back now. Rest, Shuyin. Rest with me."

Shuyin stood and pulled her into his arms, holding her desperately.

"Let's go. I have a new song for you," Lenne spoke softly. She turned her face to Yuna. "Thank you."

At those words, they faded away before their eyes. Everyone looked around at each other before silently gathering themselves to leave. Gippal stumbled a little, wincing at the pain in his side. Suddenly, an arm wrapped around him and he looked down to find Rikku draping his arm around her shoulders. She smiled up at him tiredly. He smiled back before looking over to Baralai's prone form. As he watched, Paine and Yuna pulled his arms around their shoulders to carry him between themselves. Midway through the motion, he woke. Still weak, he leaned heavily on Paine but was mostly able to walk on his own.

No one spoke as they left the Farplane. He and Rikku didn't need to. He wrapped his arm around her back, holding her as much as his wound would let him. It was enough.

I do not own these characters.

AN: I really, truly, could not resist Gippal's constant internal dialogue. This was the chapter that actually delayed the entire story. I didn't want to write it because most of it would be game script and not my words and that just feels too ugh to me. I hate trying to interpret someone else's work and put it in my words. So...insert weird commentary.

It is probably one of the worst chapters in the story in terms of writing but...again...i tried. The rest should be better!