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Chapter 21
A Little Revelation
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Standing in the corner of the Celcius's yet unofficial hospital wing, Rikku was beginning to feel as though she should take up permanent residence considering how much time she seemed to be spending here lately. If she wasn't a patient herself, she was always here visiting someone.
Even if that someone is one of the last people on Spira I'd be worried about, Rikku thought with mild irritation. After she had shot Anje for what Rikku had thought was good reason, Gippal had shocked everyone by insisting that they take her back to the ship with them. Stunned at the turn of events, Rikku had merely followed as Gippal carried Anje back to the ship. Tidus, Buddy, and Brother, now accompanied by Maroda, Isaaru, and their little brother Pacce, covered their escape, drawing the soldiers deeper into the city where they had managed to slip out unnoticed. Now that Shinra had collected everyone, they all convened in the tiny space above the bar where Yuna was finishing her White Mage ministrations on Gippal's would-be assassin.
"I don't understand, what happened to you guys?" Yuna was now questioning the ex-summoner Isaaru and his guardian brothers. "How did they catch on to our plan so fast?" Isaaru gave a long-suffering sigh.
"It seems the Order of Yevon never truly trusted Maroda and me after all. What with Maroda being an ex-Youth League supporter and myself being a disgraced summoner, they were ready for us to be in contact with you."
"Commander Wilkommen was sure you'd try to come and rescue the Machine Faction leader," Maroda supplied bitterly. "Guess my promotion wasn't just a lucky break after all."
"I'm sorry," Yuna apologized sincerely. "I would never have asked if I'd known you'd get into so much trouble."
"Don't worry, Lady Yuna," Pacce wrinkled his nose at her. "I didn't like that place very much, anyway. The monks were always telling the Kinderguardians to stop running in the halls." Yuna giggled, but Paine turned to Maroda, probably figuring him to be the more serious of the three brothers.
"So you all managed to escape rather easily, not to undermine Brother's methods," Paine said with only a hint of sarcasm.
"Yeah," Maroda began, ignoring Brother's sputtering protests to Paine's comment. "After they used us to contact you, we were not considered such a big security threat. They just put us under house arrest, but we still owe you one for breaking us out." Maroda nodded to Tidus and Buddy, once again not noticing Brother's wild gesticulations that he was the leader to be recognized.
"It was nothing!" Tidus said with a lazy grin as he stretched. "At least, we didn't see as much action as the girls did. Anyone want to fill me in on why we're taking care of Rikku's kidnapper?" He nodded to where Anje lay on a nearby bed, fully conscious and glaring silently at everyone in the room. Gippal sat beside her looking wholly unconcerned with his arms behind his head and feet propped up.
"She helped me escape," Gippal said simply. Ruefully, Rikku could not help but notice that he had not so much as looked in her direction since she had shot Anje. This had helped transform her shock and regret for her shotgun actions to irritation and resentment for not doing it sooner, and she was privately thankful to Tidus for reminding everyone that Anje was their enemy.
"Yeah, after she tried to kill you!" Rikku couldn't help but voice her opinion. "Did you ever stop to think that maybe she was only leading you into their hands the whole time?" Gippal pretended to inspect his fingernails.
"I had it under control," he said. His passive answers only served to fuel Rikku's anger.
"She could have shot you in the back!"
"But she didn't. She shot Wilkommen instead."
"So you trust her?"
"Not really," and he paused to smile his trademark playboy grin at the scowling Anje. "But I just can't leave a lady in distress." This seemed to tip Rikku over the edge. She sent Gippal one last scathing glance before storming down the stairs.
"Fine!" she shouted over her shoulder. "The next time someone tries to kill you, I'll arrange for a wedding instead of a rescue!"
Paine glared at Gippal, though he was watching Rikku retreat and didn't notice the world of pain promised in the look she was giving him. Yuna cleared her throat pointedly. "Rikku has a point, Gippal. Your friend has some explaining to do." Anje had not yet spoken one word of gratitude to Yuna for healing her, and the look on her face did not indicate that she would start any time soon.
"I don't owe anyone an explanation," she spat out. "As soon as I can stand, I'm out of here."
"Why wait?" Paine asked, her lips curving into a small, mocking smile. "We're only several miles above the ground, and I wouldn't mind helping to throw you out the hatch." Yuna uttered a soft noise of exclamation while everyone else tried not to laugh at Paine's not-so-gentle admonition, including Gippal, who was biting his lips to keep from smiling too obviously.
"I think I can explain, Yuna," Gippal said finally. "I had some quality time with Commander Wilkommen just before his timely demise." He cleared his throat importantly, drawing the silent attention of everyone in the room.
"As far as I can tell, he had a serious grudge against us Al Bhed," he said, sparing a glance at Anje, who shot him a look to wither grass. "And he kept blathering on about 'the spiral of death–'"
"He was talking about the Order's plans," Anje interrupted bitterly. Tidus suddenly looked as if he'd been struck by a lightning bolt.
"Hey, I remember Paine talking about something like that!" he said excitedly. "Um, what exactly is 'The Order?'"
"'The Holy Order of Yevon,'" Isaaru said quickly. "They are the background leaders of Yevon, even higher up than the praetor and the old maesters."
"It's said that they make all the real decisions in Spira," Maroda added darkly. "Most people don't even know of their existence, because they prefer to use praetors and maesters as the face of Yevon."
"They're pretty stuck in their ways," Gippal said now, and everyone turned to look at him. "Yeah yeah, I know about them too. They fucking hate the Al Bhed."
"Because you're heretics," Anje added with distaste. "They were planning to use the Al Bhed as scape goats to start a war. By framing Gippal and sparking Al Bhed retaliation, they could use it as an excuse."
"To keep the 'spiral' spinning?" Yuna offered.
"To keep fueling the Farplane," came a voice by the stairwell. Everyone turned to watch as Shinra walked over, carrying a small sphere. "I've been doing a lot of research on the Farplane since we destroyed Vegnagun. I was right when I said it was a near-limitless source of energy– but it's the energy of souls."
"What?" Yuna gasped, horrified.
"It's a well-known fact that the souls of the departed convene in the Farplane," Paine said absently, as if she were turning the idea over in her head. "And if they can be used as an energy source..."
"Then the more souls, the more energy," Tidus finished grimly. "They wanted to start a war to send more souls to the Farplane."
"And then use the energy?" Yuna directed her question at Shinra.
"That's right. Like I said, with a little work, the extracted energy could be turned into a useable form..."
"To re-create the city that never sleeps..." Paine finished.
"Zanarkand?" Tidus asked.
"History repeats itself, I guess..." Paine shrugged her shoulders. "The war one thousand years ago may have been sparked for the same reasons. Maybe there was an energy crisis. We know Yevon definitely came to power after the advent of Sin."
"We can't let them get away with this!" Tidus said, jumping to his feet. "It'd be the end of the Calm!"
"It could spawn another Sin..." Isaaru said darkly. But Gippal shook his head.
"Don't jump to conclusions," he said as he stood up and stretched. "First things first– I need a drink."
"Gippal!" Yuna said, hands on her hips and looking distinctly mother hen-ish.
"Seriously, Yunie," Gippal said, earning a frown from Tidus for the use of the familiarity. "How many times are we going to butt heads with Yevon today? I think we all need to just take a breather and relax for a minute. They're not going to start a war today."
Paine snorted. "You think they're not going to use your escape as an excuse? Not to mention the murder of the Grand Bevelle Legion's commander..." Gippal merely shrugged before turning to address Anje.
"You just cool your heels a bit, okay? Yuna's a top-class healer but you're going to need to rest awhile."
"As if I had anywhere else to go," the assassin muttered, drawing the sheets up to her chin. "Yevon's after me too, remember?"
"Shinra," Yuna said, easily slipping back into her previous "Gullwing Leader" mode. "Can you hang around a while longer and man the commspheres?"
"I'm on it," Shinra said quickly as he ran back to the stairs. "I'll keep the sphere wave network open and listen for any disturbing frequencies." There was a smile evident in his voice as he turned to look over his shoulder. "It's good to be back," he added before scurrying down the stairs.
Buddy smiled and thumped Brother on the back, who had been blessedly silent throughout most of the conversation. "You ready for another fight, man?" he asked in Al Bhed. Brother only scowled.
"I will follow Yuna back to the ends of Spira if I have to," he muttered before striking a pose. "Onwaard!" he cried before running down the stairs after Shinra. Buddy merely shook his head as he followed in Brother's wake.
"Maroda, Isaaru," Yuna said, now turning to the brothers. "It looks like we're in this for the long run. Do you want to stick around?"
"Hey, don't forget me, Lady Yuna!" Pacce quipped. "I'm the captain of the Kinderguardians, remember? I can help, too!" Isaaru smiled down at his younger brother.
"It seems that Pacce has cast our vote for us," he said, turning to give Yuna the age-old Yevon salute out of habit. "You can count on us."
"We'll start sending out telespheres to some contacts around Bevelle," Maroda said, his tone instantly all-business. "Maybe we can help keep things calm on the front."
"Excellent!" Gippal clapped his hands together as the brothers departed for the bridge. "I'll send a telesphere to Cid... ah, does anyone know where he is, by the way?"
"He stayed behind at Djose," Yuna said. "After the fight, no one wanted to leave the temple, so he's holding down the fort."
"Okay, then," Gippal said, looking pleased with Cid's decision to keep the temple. "I'll give Djose the heads up. But first, I hear you have a full bar downstairs..."
Tidus shook his head as the Machine Faction Leader strode purposefully down the stairs and out of sight. "That guy really has a one-track mind, doesn't he?"
"He certainly does," Paine muttered as she walked over to stand by the railing that overlooked the bar below. "That's why he's walking straight past the bar to the elevator."
"Huh?" Tidus said, walking over to join her. They watched as Gippal disappeared behind the doors leading to the elevator's corridor. "Where's he going?"
"Rikku," Yuna murmured softly, smiling as she took Tidus's hand in hers. Paine only shrugged her shoulders.
"At least he's got his priorities straight," she muttered before heading toward the stairwell. Yuna immediately grinned.
"So you're okay with them, then?"
"Until he breaks Rikku's heart, that is," Paine's voice called up as she descended the stairs. "Then he'll have to answer to me." Tidus visibly shuddered and waited until Paine was out of earshot to murmur to Yuna.
"I don't think that'll be happening anytime soon."
"Why's that?" Yuna asked playfully as the couple walked over to the stairs.
"I don't think any guy would be in a hurry to drop Rikku with Paine glaring at him over his shoulder... That is one scary lady."
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Rikku paused in her angry pacing only long enough to stomp her foot on the ground in frustration. What was that jerk thinking? How could he be taking the assassin's side, after all the trouble she'd caused? Instead it was Rikku who was taking the blame for messing up, when she was only trying to protect him.
"Hmph," Rikku vocalized her displeasure. "I should have known that Gippal would forgive any girl wearing clothes that tight. She looks like an over-stuffed sausage in all that red leather!"
But that's not really it, Rikku argued to herself, feeling her anger ebb away and depression set in. She sat down at the front of the deck, right beside the gullwing hood ornament that Brother lovingly polished daily. It's because I really believed he cared about me. Every time I assume something, it turns out wrong...
Rikku's spine suddenly stiffened at the sound of the elevator doors hissing open and closed. She braced herself as the sound of booted footsteps approached, though she made no move to greet them. When Gippal finally stopped beside her, he merely stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, staring out over the perfect blue expanse of the sky. Rikku curled in on herself, drawing her knees up to her chest, not ready for whatever "talk" Gippal was about to bestow her. He spared her a glance.
"Feeling sorry for yourself?" Gippal asked in brisk Al Bhed. Rikku didn't answer; she dropped her forehead to rest on her knees.
"You should be," he said, returning his gaze to the horizon. Rikku squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself not to cry.
"Because if it had been me in your position," Gippal went on mildly. "I would have made sure I shot her in the head."
"...What?" Rikku looked up at him to see him looking down at her with a smug smile.
"I would have killed her, if I had been you. If I'd seen the woman who had kidnapped and tortured you sneak up from behind, I would have shot her dead without a second thought."
"Gippal..."
"Stop pouting. I'm not mad at you."
Rikku sniffed indignantly. "As if I'd pout over you," she lied. In truth, she had been very worried that Gippal would never forgive her.
"Come here," he said, grabbing one of her hands and yanking her to her feet. Rikku glared at him but refrained from yelling at him for pulling her around like a rag doll. He held on to her hands.
"I was afraid that you'd come looking for me," he said, now staring at her intently. Rikku swallowed hard.
"And I was afraid you'd do something stupid," she interrupted hoarsely. "Like try to escape Yevon on your own."
"Now why would I do something stupid like that?" he asked as he reached up to tuck an errant strand of hair behind Rikku's ear. She suddenly felt a little dizzy and closed her eyes.
"Because you are... stupid," she said haltingly. Gippal had closed much of the space between them and his face was mere inches from hers.
"I have something of yours," he said, his lips brushing lightly over her forehead. Rikku tried to suppress a shiver and didn't notice that he held something else in his hand. He stepped back slightly and opened his fist. Rikku stared at it.
"What is that?" she asked, squinting.
"Recognize it? It's a compass." He turned the rusty hunk of metal over in his hand. "You gave it to me only about 100 years ago."
"Yeah, I bet," she said sarcastically. "It's broken."
"I know, you broke it," he said, smiling. "Here." He took her hand again and closed her fingers around the compass. She opened her palm again and stared at an inscription on the back.
"'Find your way...?'" she read aloud, and a dawn of understanding slowly rose to her mind. "This is..."
"I found my way, Rikku," he said, pulling her close again. "I found my way back to you..."
Rikku recognized it. It was her mother's heirloom that she'd lost long ago. Though she didn't quite recall ever giving it to Gippal, that seemed to matter very little as he leaned in and kissed her, his lips catching hers softly. "And now I'm never going to lose you again," he murmured. Rikku silently agreed as she sought to kiss him again, wrapping her arms around his neck and drawing herself as close to him as she could. They stayed like that for several blissful moments before Gippal pulled away.
"What is it?" Rikku asked as Gippal was now squinting at something intently over her shoulder.
"Do you hear that?" he asked, his grip tightening around her waist. "That buzzing noise..." Rikku turned around to see what he was staring at, and her heart suddenly leapt in shock.
"Airships?" she asked incredulously. "Those are approaching airships! Where did they come from?"
"I'll give you one guess," Gippal said, glaring into the horizon where a cluster of black dots appeared to be growing larger. "I was wrong. It looks like Yevon really does want to start a war today."
"Rikku! Gippal!" Yuna's voice called suddenly over the outdoor intercom. "Get back inside quickly! Bevelle's sent a battle fleet!"
"Come on!" Gippal grabbed Rikku's hand and ran for the elevator, dragging her along with him just as a hail of gunfire descended on them. "Looks like they want a fight!" Rikku nearly fell against the operating console in the elevator as the salvo rocked the ship, and hazard alarms started going off. Rikku pressed the button to take them to the bridge, but the elevator wouldn't budge.
"What's the matter?" Gippal asked as he made his way over to the console. Another wave of gunfire struck the ship.
"It's stuck!" Rikku grunted as she tugged on the emergency-release lever. "It must have locked up when the alarms were triggered!"
"Rikku!" Yuna's voice called over the intercom again. "You can't use the elevator!"
"Thanks for the update, Captain!" Gippal retorted.
"You have to use the emergency shaft," Yuna said quickly, sounding panicked. "Check the floor, Brother says there should be a hatch..."
"Oh, Brother says so?" said Gippal sarcastically. "Well, I sure feel safe now!" Rikku dropped to the floor and began groping around, searching for an indent. When she found it, she nodded to Gippal.
"You should be able to slide right down into to the engine room," Yuna went on as Gippal bent down to help Rikku pull open the trap door. "Once you're there, reset the alarm syst–" The intercom suddenly cut to static as a particularly heavy blow struck the side of the ship.
"Yuna!" Rikku cried out, but Gippal grabbed her arm.
"Come on Rikku, it's not safe here!" he said as the ominous grating sound of elevator brakes under pressure could be heard from underneath them.
"...kku," the intercom crackled feebly. "...an't fight now, too many of them... ...oing to try to run... ...old on..." The ship suddenly lurched forward, and Rikku collided into Gippal.
"You go first!" he said bracingly, turning her around to face the trap door. "Hurry!"
Rikku numbly stuck her legs through the hatch door and fumbled on the slanted ramp that pulled the elevator. When her feet found purchase, she shakily started climbing down. The ship was moving very fast by then, because as Rikku descended, she could hear the usually steady hissing of the engine pistons pounding furiously. She could already feel the heat rising up from the engine room.
Soon Gippal had started down after her, and not a moment too soon— another impact exploded above them, and Rikku looked up just in time to see fire spew over the top of the hatch. The elevator began to creak, and after a series of twanging snaps, Rikku saw the emergency brakes holding the elevator in place start to bend.
"Rikku!" Gippal shouted above her. "Slide!"
Rikku didn't need to be told twice. She turned on her side and slid the rest of the way down. Gippal followed suit and crashed into her at the bottom. He immediately grabbed her arm and thrust her toward the sealed door, where she glanced up just long enough to see sparks flying out from under the brakes of the elevator above them.
"Gippal, it's falling!"
Gippal was already at work on the fuse box next to the door. "Looks like the emergency power take-over blew the fuse to open the door," he said in a tone that suggested he had all the time in the world to figure out how to fix it. Rikku shoved her fingers in between the crevices between the doors and heaved with all her might, but they wouldn't budge.
The sliding elevator began to pick up momentum. Rikku was too panicked to notice as Gippal reached into his pocket and extracted a gil, which he placed in the slot behind one of the fuses. The small coin conducted the bypassed electricity, and there was a spark. The doors hissed open. Rikku, who had been pressing herself flat against the door fell face-first onto the floor. Gippal lunged after her, and the elevator slammed into the space they had previously occupied. Rikku didn't even try to move as she lay on the floor panting. Gippal rolled over beside her and propped his head up on one arm.
"You owe me a gil," he said with a smirk. Rikku groaned and squeezed her eyes shut.
"I'm so tired of nearly dying every other day," she moaned piteously as Gippal stood and tried to pull her to her feet.
"Well come on, Princess— we're not out of the woods yet." In truth, the sounds of gunfire were muffled around the constantly mashing sounds of the pistons in the engine room, though Rikku certainly did not feel safe down here. The engines were expelling copious amounts of steam (or at least more than usual), and the room was boiling hot.
"Geeze, if I didn't know any better, I'd say Yunie sent us down here to be cooked!" Rikku said, sparing a moment to switch into her minimally-clothed Thief dress sphere. Meanwhile, Gippal was grimacing at the pistons.
"Ixion, when was the last time Brother did maintenance on this?" he said, eyeing the machinery critically. "I mean, I can expect it from Brother, but Buddy really knows better..."
"Ahem!" Rikku interrupted, hands on her hips. "Could you worry a little bit less about the machina and more about our lives, please? That's just like an Al Bhed man to go all soft when it came to his machines."
"All right all right, but if this ship makes it out of this battle in one piece, I'm confiscating it for a tune up at Djose," Gippal said after picking at a flake of rust on the engine.
"Considering the elevator just fell and nearly crushed us to death, I think it's safe to say that it's going to need some work done anyway." Rikku fanned her face with her hands in a futile attempt to cool down. "Now what are we supposed to be looking for down here, anyway?"
"Alarm mechanism," Gippal said, now groping along the walls, trying to see through the thick steam. "Look for a control panel or flashing buttons or something."
Rikku bit her lips as she moved in the opposite direction, feeling her way along the wall down the stairs near the hatch door. "I don't remember every seeing anything like that..." she said, just as her hand slipped over a large button. A step away, the floor began to lower like a ramp, and steam was sucked through the opening hatch to join the atmosphere outside.
"Rikku, what are you doing?" Gippal called from somewhere deeper in the cabin. "Did you just turn on a fan?"
"I opened the door!" she yelled back. The wind rushing through the open hatch added to the cacophony of the moving pistons, and Rikku felt as if cotton balls had been stuffed into her ears. She carefully started to move away from the open hole in the floor as she felt her way back with her hands on the wall. Suddenly, the ship pitched to one side as another explosion struck the opposite wall. Rikku was immediately thrown away from the wall and fell sprawling down the ramp. One leg slipped over the edge and dangled in the open air.
"Rikku!" Gippal yelled. Rikku looked up dazedly from where she lay on the floor to see Gippal half-running, half-sliding down the ramp towards her. He grabbed her hand and started pulling her to her feet.
She stumbled, clinging to his hand when the ship heaved again— this time the strength of it felt like a whole other ship had collided with them. The force knocked Rikku completely off her feet, and she pulled Gippal with her as she fell out the door. Gippal slid half-way out the hatch before he stopped their descent, with Rikku clinging only to his hand as she dangled over the edge into the sky below them.
"Gippal!" she screamed, her fingers slipping through his sweaty hands.
"Rikku, hold on!" he yelled, grasping her arm with his other hand. He pulled himself into a crouch on one leg and then the other as he began to heave Rikku back in. A series of explosions behind him told them that the pistons had blown, and choking black smoke now billowed down at them. The airship began to lose altitude, and for the first time Gippal noticed the long expanse of desert flying beneath them.
Gippal kept pulling Rikku upward until he could grab her other arm. He shifted his grip to wrap one arm around her back, and her flailing foot finally found purchase on the very edge of the ramp. In the one second he had to look over her shoulder, he saw the incoming enemy ship just before it hurtled itself one last time into the side of the Celcius. Gippal lost his balance, and he and Rikku plummeted through the air to the land below.
Disclaimer: I did not create nor do I own the rights to Final Fantasy X-2, its characters, plots, locations, etc. It all belongs to SquareEnix and company, and obviously I'm not making any money off of this. I'm just a day dreamer with no originality to speak of!