Dream Pyreflies
By: Illuser's Gurl
Summary: This fic takes place during Chapter 5 of Final Fantasy X-2. This has the fight with Vegnagun in it, but if it were to be a cutscene. This fic has pairings that would give away the plot so figure them out for yourself. This summary hints at some. Paine, Gippal, Baralai and Nooj were old friends. That was all. Baralai disagrees, Paine's feelings for a certain Al Bhed grow and a whistle calls through the ages to reach ended but not forgotten dreams. Rated for mild language and sexuality. Warning, may contain spoilers.
Discalimer: FFX-2 belongs to squaregames. Not me. Any Oc's are mine, no one else's and Al Bhed translations are in parenthesis. Correct them if they are wrong please.
Chapter 1: Dreams of the High Summoner
The sphere oscillo-finder rang through the cabin coldly as Rikku threw her pillow over her head, attempting to continue to sleep. Paine stepped out of bed and changed into her usual Warrior dressphere. She walked up to Rikku's bed.
"If you don't wake up now I'm gonna hurt you, and dock respect points." She joked to wake her sleeping friend. Rikku sat up promptly.
"How many is that now?" She asked worried.
"Your still above Shinra so don't worry, then again, I dock points every time he says 'I'm just a kid.'" Paine started to descend the stairs. She turned, " Oh yeah, If you want breakfast, we won't save any if you go back to sleep" Paine walked into the elevator followed closely by Rikku, still in her pajamas. She put on her garment grid and changed to Theif as they exited the elevator at the bridge. Yuna came out onto the deck after them, in her pajamas. She looked weary. They left her alone as they picked up some breakfast from the tray in the doorway.
"So Buddy, what is it that the sphere oscillo-finder picked up?" Rikku asked anxiously.
"A Treasure Sphere. It's on Bikanel Island." He said. "But we'll need to pit stop at Djose Temple. That's where the Machine Faction is located. We need permission to dig for it before we can try to." He turned.
"Machine?" Yuna inquired quietly.
"It's just another name for a Machina." Rikku answered.
"The Machine Faction, huh? Guess it was bound to happen sooner or later." Paine mumbled.
"What was?" Rikku asked perkily.
"Nothing, let's go, Brother." (A/N: who names their kid brother? Was Cid on drugs or something when he named him?) Paine replied reclusively.
"To Djose!" Brother stepped on the gas suddenly and the entire airship jerked forward. Paine went to the elevator. She hit the door close button to keep Rikku from following her to the deck. She hit the button and stepped out of the elevator. She lay down near the edge. A sigh escaped her lips as she thought about seeing Gippal again. Yuna had told her to leave the past behind. How could she now? She had tried so hard to pretend the Crimson Squad never occurred, now the wall she had built was crumbling and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
A sudden jolt from the airship threw her from her thoughts, and from the deck. She screamed for a while then, realizing it would get her nowhere, changed into her mascot dressphere, hoping for a softer landing.
She had blacked out before she hit the ground.
Rikku came out onto the deck and looked around. Paine was nowhere on the airship. She'd even looked in the engine room! She reluctantly returned to the bridge and forced Brother to put the Celsius on auto-pilot. Reporting her news, Buddy began to narrow down where she could be. When they jolted, they had been above the temple in Bevelle.
"Rikku, Yuna, Paine most likely didn't survive. It may be YR from now on. Or at least until her wounds heal." Buddy's news sent Rikku to the cabin and Yuna just sat down. She sobbed.
"First I lose Tidus, now Paine too?" She sobbed until they reached Djose. Then slowly walked up to the Temple with Rikku. They summoned Gippal from inside and received the letter of acceptance. He looked at them one final time before they left.
"Hang on a second," He counted them, "Aren't there supposed to be three Gullwings? I only count two. Where's Paine?"
"She- She-" Rikku stuttered. Gippal's eyes widened. He could guess what she was trying to say; He nodded and turned.
"I'll keep my eye out for her." He walked back into the Temple.
Paine woke up aching all over and on Temple grounds in Bevelle. She tried to remember what had happened but finally gave up and lay back down. Baralai walked up to her.
"Are you alright?" Her mascot head rolled off. "Paine! We need a White Mage here! Immediately!" He shouted into his microphone. Paine looked up at him.
"I need to get to Djose Temple." She stared at him hard. "Yuna, Rikku and the Celsius should be there soon!" They stared at eachother until Baralai spoke.
"Fine, you need to heal first, then we'll send you over by hover." A white mage hurried over and began to heal her. "By the way, good to see you again, Paine." He walked into the temple and laughed silently. All was going as planned.
The hover went slower than Paine would've liked but it was getting her there. When she arrived at the Moonflow she screamed in anger. She had to walk the rest of the way, she had told the healer she was fine but she wasn't. Her leg felt fractured in at least one place. She limped up to the shoopuf handler and onto the lift. The shoopuf was slow and loud but it was better than swimming through or walking around the river. She arrived on the South Bank and began to limp to the Temple at Djose. A Chocobo taunted her viciously as she went. Trying to walk normally resulted in worse injury. She looked up at the flightless bird.
"Hey there," She held out Gyashl Greens and stroked it's neck. "Do you wanna take me to Djose? I'll give you more of these!" The bird trilled and lowered it's back. Paine climbed on and let it carry her to the Temple in Djose.
Gippal stood on the bridge in front of Djose Temple handing a letter to new diggers as a girl rode up on a chocobo.
"Are the Gullwings here?" She asked.
"You just missed 'em, Paine." He looked at her. "You need to get that leg looked at." She looked at him.
"You always told me that my eyes said what I wouldn't." She joked and cringed at the pain in her leg. "Guess it's true after all." She breathed as she tumbled off the chocobo.
"You laughed. Looks like there's a leak in your cover-up persona." Gippal gave her a grin as he caught her unconscious body. Carrying her into the temple, he lay her on the bed. "What did you do to yourself?" He asked her motionless figure. An eye opened.
"Jumped off an airship. I landed on the spire of Bevelle Temple." She grinned as his eyes widened. "Could ya' be quieter? I'm trying to sleep. My leg got fractured in at least 1 place while I was in a mascot suit. It hurts. A lot." She turned. "I can heal myself when I wake and contact the Celsius to pick me up. I don't need a White Mage."
"Nhadala is back from the desert for a while, she can heal it while you sleep. No arguments!" He put a finger to her lips and left the room.
"Rao! Nhadala! (Hey! Nhadala!) " Gippal shouted up at the entrance to the Cloister of Trials.
"Fryd zc zd!? Gippal!? (What is it!? Gippal!?) " She replied, they were speaking Al Bhed. She only understood parts. She tried to translate. She only understood 'Hey' and 'What', no good. They were native speakers, she couldn't translate fast enough.
"Z haat oui du raym so vnzaht! (I need you to heal my friend!) " Gippal replied quickly.
"Fru!? (Who!?) " Nhadala's response was aloof and cold.
"Paine!" Gippal shouted back. Nhadala frowned.
"Fryd'c ran tysyka? (What's her damage?) " Nhadala's voice was dripping with malice. The Gullwings never had been very hard workers when it came to digging in Bikanel, unless it came to spheres. Paine could understand.
"1 vnyldina zh ran mak! Bmayca, Nhadala! (1 Fracture in her leg! Please, Nhadala!) " Gippal responded pleadingly. Unlike him, Paine shrugged.
"Vzha. (Fine.) " Nhadala's response came kindly this time. Gippal had gotten thorugh! And all he had needed to say was please. Nhadala entered the room with Gippal moments later and Paine faked sleep. The pain was unbearable but she remained silent. Gippal stood when she finished.
"Oui fana fnuhk, Gippal. Zd fyc vnydinat 7 dzsac. (You were wrong, Gippal. It was fractured 7 times.)" Nhadala commented and left the room. Only Gippal remained there with her and it made Paine very nervous. This was not good, he probably knew she had been awake the entire time.
"Paine, you're quiet as a mouse but I know you're awake." Gippal commented.
"Okay, I am, so what. I'm not hurting anyone. But if you continue to pry I will hurt you."
"Were you listening?"
"I only understood half of it. You said 'hey' she said 'what' those are about the only words I understood."
"It's okay if you were. What would I do? Set a machina on you?"
"Kunno, I was overreacting, I was trying to listen, it was hard not to, but I didn't lie. I only understood 'hey' and 'what.'" Paine looked up at him, and for a brief moment, thought they would kiss, he stood up, apparently not.
"I don't care. I just had trouble convincing her to heal a gullwing." He left. Paine stood.
"Brother? Buddy? Shinra? Yuna? Rikku? This is Paine. I'm at Djose Temple, undamaged." She went outside and looked up. The airship lowered so that she could board and rose with her safely inside. She took the elevator to the bridge nervously. No one had answered; they just picked her up. Brother normally always wants to hear his own voice enough to respond. She walked out of the elevator and down the hallway. The bridge door of the Celsius opened for her to reveal all of them just sitting there.
"Is something wrong?" Paine asked uncomfortably.
"We thought you had died for sure." Rikku said monotone. "You landed on the Bevelle Spire."
"I changed to my mascot dressphere. I landed on the spire and was half-dead before Baralai found me and insisted medical aid. I managed to squirm away before they had healed the final 7 fractures in my left leg and got to the Moonflow by hover. I then crossed the Moonflow and began to limp to Djose until I met a nice Chocobo who gave me a lift and when I arrived there I fell off of the Chocobo and into Gippal's arms (loud sigh from Rikku, wishing it had been her) and was healed in the temple by a reluctant Nhadala." Paine was breathing hard by the time she finished, as she had forgotten to take a breath.
"That's all?" Shinra asked. "The commspheres picked up a bit more."
"What? Well I was unconscious for a while, but just till I got to the bed."
"Not of you, of Gippal and Nhadala." Shinra corrected. "I recorded it in case it got interesting." Shinra turned on the Commpshere recording and played it through. "See? Here is where Gippal brings you in, and then he leaves and talks to Nhadala. Their speaking in Al Bhed, I can't understand, after all-" The entire airship cut him off.
"Your just a kid, we know we know." They laughed.
"Anyway," Shinra continued, "All I can understand is pretty strange sounding, gibberish even, I'll have the computer translate." After about 5 minutes, the sphere was ready to play with subtitles. "Play sphere." Paine left. Rikku followed her to the deck.
"Don't fall off!" Rikku shouted from behind her. Paine turned.
"Rikku, I won't, Brother isn't driving." Rikku laughed.
"You never joke! Are you sure you're okay, Paine?" Rikku ran up and checked her forehead. "What went on with you and Gippal that you don't want us to see?"
"I'm not sure but I think, never mind." Paine looked down, "I think I wanted to pretend it didn't happen, so it didn't, in my mind at least."
"Yeah, right, but what happened in the first place." Rikku pryed.
"Like I said, I'm not sure but I think-" She was cut off.
"Rikku! Paine! Come here! NOW!" Brother's voice rang through the skies.
Questions, Comments and Flames can be put in reviews or e-mailed to me at miroku_is_hot@hotamail.com. The next chapter goes up soon, but if you want it, (points to the review button) I can write faster if you hit this button. A lot..
Illuser's Gurl
By: Illuser's Gurl
Summary: This fic takes place during Chapter 5 of Final Fantasy X-2. This has the fight with Vegnagun in it, but if it were to be a cutscene. This fic has pairings that would give away the plot so figure them out for yourself. This summary hints at some. Paine, Gippal, Baralai and Nooj were old friends. That was all. Baralai disagrees, Paine's feelings for a certain Al Bhed grow and a whistle calls through the ages to reach ended but not forgotten dreams. Rated for mild language and sexuality. Warning, may contain spoilers.
Discalimer: FFX-2 belongs to squaregames. Not me. Any Oc's are mine, no one else's and Al Bhed translations are in parenthesis. Correct them if they are wrong please.
Chapter 1: Dreams of the High Summoner
The sphere oscillo-finder rang through the cabin coldly as Rikku threw her pillow over her head, attempting to continue to sleep. Paine stepped out of bed and changed into her usual Warrior dressphere. She walked up to Rikku's bed.
"If you don't wake up now I'm gonna hurt you, and dock respect points." She joked to wake her sleeping friend. Rikku sat up promptly.
"How many is that now?" She asked worried.
"Your still above Shinra so don't worry, then again, I dock points every time he says 'I'm just a kid.'" Paine started to descend the stairs. She turned, " Oh yeah, If you want breakfast, we won't save any if you go back to sleep" Paine walked into the elevator followed closely by Rikku, still in her pajamas. She put on her garment grid and changed to Theif as they exited the elevator at the bridge. Yuna came out onto the deck after them, in her pajamas. She looked weary. They left her alone as they picked up some breakfast from the tray in the doorway.
"So Buddy, what is it that the sphere oscillo-finder picked up?" Rikku asked anxiously.
"A Treasure Sphere. It's on Bikanel Island." He said. "But we'll need to pit stop at Djose Temple. That's where the Machine Faction is located. We need permission to dig for it before we can try to." He turned.
"Machine?" Yuna inquired quietly.
"It's just another name for a Machina." Rikku answered.
"The Machine Faction, huh? Guess it was bound to happen sooner or later." Paine mumbled.
"What was?" Rikku asked perkily.
"Nothing, let's go, Brother." (A/N: who names their kid brother? Was Cid on drugs or something when he named him?) Paine replied reclusively.
"To Djose!" Brother stepped on the gas suddenly and the entire airship jerked forward. Paine went to the elevator. She hit the door close button to keep Rikku from following her to the deck. She hit the button and stepped out of the elevator. She lay down near the edge. A sigh escaped her lips as she thought about seeing Gippal again. Yuna had told her to leave the past behind. How could she now? She had tried so hard to pretend the Crimson Squad never occurred, now the wall she had built was crumbling and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
A sudden jolt from the airship threw her from her thoughts, and from the deck. She screamed for a while then, realizing it would get her nowhere, changed into her mascot dressphere, hoping for a softer landing.
She had blacked out before she hit the ground.
Rikku came out onto the deck and looked around. Paine was nowhere on the airship. She'd even looked in the engine room! She reluctantly returned to the bridge and forced Brother to put the Celsius on auto-pilot. Reporting her news, Buddy began to narrow down where she could be. When they jolted, they had been above the temple in Bevelle.
"Rikku, Yuna, Paine most likely didn't survive. It may be YR from now on. Or at least until her wounds heal." Buddy's news sent Rikku to the cabin and Yuna just sat down. She sobbed.
"First I lose Tidus, now Paine too?" She sobbed until they reached Djose. Then slowly walked up to the Temple with Rikku. They summoned Gippal from inside and received the letter of acceptance. He looked at them one final time before they left.
"Hang on a second," He counted them, "Aren't there supposed to be three Gullwings? I only count two. Where's Paine?"
"She- She-" Rikku stuttered. Gippal's eyes widened. He could guess what she was trying to say; He nodded and turned.
"I'll keep my eye out for her." He walked back into the Temple.
Paine woke up aching all over and on Temple grounds in Bevelle. She tried to remember what had happened but finally gave up and lay back down. Baralai walked up to her.
"Are you alright?" Her mascot head rolled off. "Paine! We need a White Mage here! Immediately!" He shouted into his microphone. Paine looked up at him.
"I need to get to Djose Temple." She stared at him hard. "Yuna, Rikku and the Celsius should be there soon!" They stared at eachother until Baralai spoke.
"Fine, you need to heal first, then we'll send you over by hover." A white mage hurried over and began to heal her. "By the way, good to see you again, Paine." He walked into the temple and laughed silently. All was going as planned.
The hover went slower than Paine would've liked but it was getting her there. When she arrived at the Moonflow she screamed in anger. She had to walk the rest of the way, she had told the healer she was fine but she wasn't. Her leg felt fractured in at least one place. She limped up to the shoopuf handler and onto the lift. The shoopuf was slow and loud but it was better than swimming through or walking around the river. She arrived on the South Bank and began to limp to the Temple at Djose. A Chocobo taunted her viciously as she went. Trying to walk normally resulted in worse injury. She looked up at the flightless bird.
"Hey there," She held out Gyashl Greens and stroked it's neck. "Do you wanna take me to Djose? I'll give you more of these!" The bird trilled and lowered it's back. Paine climbed on and let it carry her to the Temple in Djose.
Gippal stood on the bridge in front of Djose Temple handing a letter to new diggers as a girl rode up on a chocobo.
"Are the Gullwings here?" She asked.
"You just missed 'em, Paine." He looked at her. "You need to get that leg looked at." She looked at him.
"You always told me that my eyes said what I wouldn't." She joked and cringed at the pain in her leg. "Guess it's true after all." She breathed as she tumbled off the chocobo.
"You laughed. Looks like there's a leak in your cover-up persona." Gippal gave her a grin as he caught her unconscious body. Carrying her into the temple, he lay her on the bed. "What did you do to yourself?" He asked her motionless figure. An eye opened.
"Jumped off an airship. I landed on the spire of Bevelle Temple." She grinned as his eyes widened. "Could ya' be quieter? I'm trying to sleep. My leg got fractured in at least 1 place while I was in a mascot suit. It hurts. A lot." She turned. "I can heal myself when I wake and contact the Celsius to pick me up. I don't need a White Mage."
"Nhadala is back from the desert for a while, she can heal it while you sleep. No arguments!" He put a finger to her lips and left the room.
"Rao! Nhadala! (Hey! Nhadala!) " Gippal shouted up at the entrance to the Cloister of Trials.
"Fryd zc zd!? Gippal!? (What is it!? Gippal!?) " She replied, they were speaking Al Bhed. She only understood parts. She tried to translate. She only understood 'Hey' and 'What', no good. They were native speakers, she couldn't translate fast enough.
"Z haat oui du raym so vnzaht! (I need you to heal my friend!) " Gippal replied quickly.
"Fru!? (Who!?) " Nhadala's response was aloof and cold.
"Paine!" Gippal shouted back. Nhadala frowned.
"Fryd'c ran tysyka? (What's her damage?) " Nhadala's voice was dripping with malice. The Gullwings never had been very hard workers when it came to digging in Bikanel, unless it came to spheres. Paine could understand.
"1 vnyldina zh ran mak! Bmayca, Nhadala! (1 Fracture in her leg! Please, Nhadala!) " Gippal responded pleadingly. Unlike him, Paine shrugged.
"Vzha. (Fine.) " Nhadala's response came kindly this time. Gippal had gotten thorugh! And all he had needed to say was please. Nhadala entered the room with Gippal moments later and Paine faked sleep. The pain was unbearable but she remained silent. Gippal stood when she finished.
"Oui fana fnuhk, Gippal. Zd fyc vnydinat 7 dzsac. (You were wrong, Gippal. It was fractured 7 times.)" Nhadala commented and left the room. Only Gippal remained there with her and it made Paine very nervous. This was not good, he probably knew she had been awake the entire time.
"Paine, you're quiet as a mouse but I know you're awake." Gippal commented.
"Okay, I am, so what. I'm not hurting anyone. But if you continue to pry I will hurt you."
"Were you listening?"
"I only understood half of it. You said 'hey' she said 'what' those are about the only words I understood."
"It's okay if you were. What would I do? Set a machina on you?"
"Kunno, I was overreacting, I was trying to listen, it was hard not to, but I didn't lie. I only understood 'hey' and 'what.'" Paine looked up at him, and for a brief moment, thought they would kiss, he stood up, apparently not.
"I don't care. I just had trouble convincing her to heal a gullwing." He left. Paine stood.
"Brother? Buddy? Shinra? Yuna? Rikku? This is Paine. I'm at Djose Temple, undamaged." She went outside and looked up. The airship lowered so that she could board and rose with her safely inside. She took the elevator to the bridge nervously. No one had answered; they just picked her up. Brother normally always wants to hear his own voice enough to respond. She walked out of the elevator and down the hallway. The bridge door of the Celsius opened for her to reveal all of them just sitting there.
"Is something wrong?" Paine asked uncomfortably.
"We thought you had died for sure." Rikku said monotone. "You landed on the Bevelle Spire."
"I changed to my mascot dressphere. I landed on the spire and was half-dead before Baralai found me and insisted medical aid. I managed to squirm away before they had healed the final 7 fractures in my left leg and got to the Moonflow by hover. I then crossed the Moonflow and began to limp to Djose until I met a nice Chocobo who gave me a lift and when I arrived there I fell off of the Chocobo and into Gippal's arms (loud sigh from Rikku, wishing it had been her) and was healed in the temple by a reluctant Nhadala." Paine was breathing hard by the time she finished, as she had forgotten to take a breath.
"That's all?" Shinra asked. "The commspheres picked up a bit more."
"What? Well I was unconscious for a while, but just till I got to the bed."
"Not of you, of Gippal and Nhadala." Shinra corrected. "I recorded it in case it got interesting." Shinra turned on the Commpshere recording and played it through. "See? Here is where Gippal brings you in, and then he leaves and talks to Nhadala. Their speaking in Al Bhed, I can't understand, after all-" The entire airship cut him off.
"Your just a kid, we know we know." They laughed.
"Anyway," Shinra continued, "All I can understand is pretty strange sounding, gibberish even, I'll have the computer translate." After about 5 minutes, the sphere was ready to play with subtitles. "Play sphere." Paine left. Rikku followed her to the deck.
"Don't fall off!" Rikku shouted from behind her. Paine turned.
"Rikku, I won't, Brother isn't driving." Rikku laughed.
"You never joke! Are you sure you're okay, Paine?" Rikku ran up and checked her forehead. "What went on with you and Gippal that you don't want us to see?"
"I'm not sure but I think, never mind." Paine looked down, "I think I wanted to pretend it didn't happen, so it didn't, in my mind at least."
"Yeah, right, but what happened in the first place." Rikku pryed.
"Like I said, I'm not sure but I think-" She was cut off.
"Rikku! Paine! Come here! NOW!" Brother's voice rang through the skies.
Questions, Comments and Flames can be put in reviews or e-mailed to me at miroku_is_hot@hotamail.com. The next chapter goes up soon, but if you want it, (points to the review button) I can write faster if you hit this button. A lot..
Illuser's Gurl