HEY GUYS!!! sorry it took a while for me to write this chapter! its a LOOOONG chappie, by the way. plus, it isn't serious and moody like most of my others, but its still a good one with another massive battle and a devious plot. also, another clue as to who Auron's other child is appears in this one. PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!! ~~~sa~~~
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Ch.9 Cupid's New Apprentice
Rikku sat on the deck, staring up at the swiftly moving stars as the Celsius whizzed along. It had been a while since Gankee and Auron had left. Brother and Buddy refused to say where they had gone. She was pretty sure they were headed for Macalania still. She wanted to follow them, to see how Auron had anything to do with Gankee's quest. But, her duty was to the Gullwings and all of Spira first. Not to herself ever. Hugging her knees tightly, she thought of Gippal's open armed exceptance of her all of the sudden. After two years of not ever talking or seeing each other, he was back like nothing had happened. How could she just go back to him like there wasn't a problem? How could she ignore that fear of losing him again? The pain of losing him once was enough for a lifetime.
Behind her thoughtful figure, the door from the elevator swooshed open. Jumping, Rikku turned her head to see Paine's dark figure slinking towards her. "Hey. What're you doing all alone out here? Its pretty cold." Paine shivered and sat next to her usually ditzy friend. Rikku tilted her head back and stared at the stars. "Just thinking." Her answer was unusually pensive, but Paine wasn't surprised. The poor blonde had a lot on her plate with Gippal being around all the time. Paine sorta felt jealous since she was around Gippal a lot more than Rikku was for a while. But, she understood and wasn't about to intervene. The two of them had serious issues with communication. Just shoving her thoughts aside, Paine decided to talk about Auron and Gankee instead. "Where do you think they went?" The black garbed warrior asked. Rikku sighed, seemingly this struck a chord in her fragile heart. "Macalania." She spat as an answer.
Raising an offended eyebrow, Paine sniffed indignantly. "No need to get snappy. Just asking. Geez." She stood fluidly and turned to leave. Rikku, groaning at herself, leapt up and grabbed the more muscular arm. 'Wait! Paine, I need to talk to you." Paine, shaking off Rikku's gloved hand, turned back. Her curiosity always got the better of her. Rikku shifted nervously, staring at the brightly painted deck below her moving feet. "Um, do ya think Gippal, uh, do ya think he's serious?" Blinking, Paine voiced her confusion with her eyes. Groaning, Rikku wrung her hands and paced a little, something she had picked up from Yuna. "What I mean is, er, do you think he cares?" Paine crossed her arms, slightly amused at Rikku's discomfort. "Cares about what?" Her smooth voice made Rikku wanna scream. "Urgh! Do you think he honestly cares about ME? ABOUT ME!" The petite blonde screamed this at the tops of her lungs.
Flinching, Paine stepped back a little. Rikku's chest was heaving and her hands were balled into fists. Blinking, this time out of shock, Paine cleared her throat in an attempt to regain her composure. "Well, I'm pretty sure he loves you still. Yeah." This did NOT please Rikku at all. Scoffing, Rikku stomped a little and did her angry dance. 'Pretty sure? YEAH? What the heck's that supposed to mean? AH! You're just like him! Saying weird, vauge things that don't actually mean anything at all! AHH!" Screaming until she went hoarse, Rikku plopped down on the deck, exhausted. More than a little freaked out by this display of insanity, Paine pretended she had to go and hurried away. As soon as the door swooshed closed, Paine shook her head. 'I need to find a way to get those two back together and talking. Its time for some rough love, Dr. P style.' Smirking at her thoughts, Paine stepped off the elevator and launched a devious plan.
Tidus balked, his eyes huge and his mouth open. "You want me to help you WHAT?" Paine glared at him and covered his mouth with her hand. "Shut up! And yeah, I need your help if any of us ever wants to stay sane for very long." Tidus shoved her hand away angrily and shook his head. "No way. I've seen Rikku pissed and I don't wanna be on her bad side." He added a shudder and a grimace for effect. Paine rolled her blood red eyes. "Stop being a wuss." Tidus scrunched up his nose and stuck out his tongue. "I am not a wuss!" They were standing in the engine room where Tidus had been practicing some new blitz moves when Paine suggested her ludracris plan to him. He wasn't buying her "Rikku needs to be happy, too" speech or her "Do it for Yuna!" speech either.
Speaking of Yuna, she bounded in just as Paine was about to wring her scrawny boyfriend's neck. "Hey guys!" She chirped cheerily. Tidus squealed and ran behind her, pointing at Paine angrily. "She called me a wuss!" Yuna raised an eyebrow at Paine who rolled her eyes again. Crossing her arms, she glared at the pansy boy cowering behind dainty Yuna. "Yeah, and? You won't help me help Rikku." Paine knew this would get Yuna's attention. Perking up, Yuna hurried over to Paine's side. "Rikku's in trouble? What's wrong? Can I help?" Smirking victoriously and flipping a single finger at Tidus around Yuna's back, Paine began explaining her plan. "Well, she isn't in dire danger or anything but..."
Gippal sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair. His shoulders hurt from sitting in that god-awful chair all day. He had been working on an analysis of the time it would take for the energy, pyreflies, and mutated fiends to wipe out the rest of Spira. His computer spat out that they had a week. Not too bright and happy, if he were the one deciding things. Brother and Buddy were talking in low voices and shooting him angry looks. Growling under his breath, Gippal stood up and stomped out. He was tired of feeling like the outsider, the scapegoat around there. Everyone got angry with him all the time for no good reason. Well, there was that time he accidently re-routed the entire ship's power source to his computer, causing the ship to crash in the ocean. And the time he had simulated chocobos rampaging the cabin creating mass hysteria and chaos. Or the time he had, well, he did a lot of damage inadvertantly.
'No one's perfect.' He thought defensively, pressing the button on the elevator controls to take him to the cabin. He needed a drink. A stiff one on the rocks. Barkeep was scrubbing down the already spotless bar when Gippal sat down and ordered moodily. Not asking questions, the hypello said "Coming right up!" in kooky hypello fashion and slid a drink down the bar to Gippal. He nodded his thanks and drank the tall cocktail in one gulp. Shaking himself, Gippal blinked. "Whoo! That was strong, Barkeep! You're alright." The hypello bowed and thanked him profusely. After a few more drinks, Gippal stood up unsteadily and thanked Barkeep with some slurred words. Just as he stumbled over to the door, Paine, Tidus, and Yuna emerged. They all had the same steely, determined look on their faces as they dragged him up to a bed. He passed out before he could ask any questions.
The next morning, after running fiend control detail in Luca, Besaid, Kilika, and on the Mi'hen Highroad, the crew all stumped back onto the airship exhausted. Flopping onto the ground near Gippal's chair, Rikku shouted something obscene in Al Bhed when she saw the clock. "Its not even noon and I'm sooooo tired!" She whined, shaking her head over and over again. Paine agreed, leaning against the wall huffily. "No rest for the strong I guess." Tidus stomped in looking dejected and tired for once. "Why can't everyone in Spira pick up a frickin' sword and fight! URGH!" He punched the wall while Yuna placed a pacifying hand on his shoulder. She seemed to be the only one of them that wasn't angry or tired or anything. Gippal limped in after her, glaring at the back of her head and sitting down awkardly. Rikku glanced nervously at his bleeding leg before looking back at Yuna. She looked like she had something to say. "We just need to keep going. We'll stop the fiends soon and then Spira can continue with the Calm. Nooj and Baralai are having their warriors fight this crisis, too. We're not alone."
As inspirtational as this should've been, all her friends had their own dismissive responses. Gippal snorted laughingly and turned back to his screen, ignoring the horrible pain in his leg. Rikku laid down roughly, sighing loudly. Tidus shook his head and threw his hands up in defeat. Paine closed her eyes and the pilot and navigator of the Celsius both pretened they were too busy to react. Yuna crossed her arms and glared at each exhausted Gullwing in turn before rushing over to the CommSphere to contact Nooj. She started voicing her concerns to him while the others went about their business. Rikku tried to convince Gippal to take care of his leg while he furiously typed on his computer. Paine and Tidus took note of the angry nature with which Gippal dealt with their teeny friend when he was busy. Trading meaningful glances, they both left the bridge. Not talking until they reached the elevator, they both started angrily shouting things about Gippal or Rikku at the same time. Laughing a little, Tidus told her to go first.
"Rikku's a little clingy and controlling sometimes." She stated plainly, much more calm then she had intially been. Tidus directed the elevator to the engine room before nodding. "Yeah. But, Gippal's too distant. He needs to open up to suggestion. Like me." He added this brightly, dreamily thinking of his Yuna. Paine faked puking as they arrived at the engine room. "Please! You'd jump off a bridge if Yunie-poo begged." Paine slunk off towards the pistons trailed by a blushing Tidus. 'Y-yeah. That's what love is sometimes." Paine nodded, pondering her plan and snapping her fingers with an idea. Tidus never had seen her so excited about anything the whole two weeks he had known her. "I just came up with a way to get them to notice their feelings again! Listen, first we have to..." Tidus listened attentively and agreed with the whole thing. "Perfect!" He cried, doing that fist in the air thing he always did. Grinning slightly maliciously, Paine rubbed her hands together. This was gonna be fun.
Yuna was discussing something seriously with Gippal when the two plotters returned to the bridge. Tidus bounded to his sweetie, hugging her when she was mid-sentence. "I have to tell you something!" With that, he dragged a surprised Yuna out into the hallway. Paine noted Rikku's absence curiously. She also noted Gippal's angry/brooding face as he turned back to his console for the millionth time that day. "Gippal, what's up? You seem a little, uh, angry? Tense?" Paine ventured in Al Bhed, leaning on the wall near Gippal, facing him. He glanced at her with his uncovered eye attempting to seem innocent. Shrugging his sore shoulders and flinching at the pain, he stopped working for a minute. "Well, it looks like Spira has a week to live, Rikku's mad at me again, Buddy and Brother won't talk to me, and I think Nooj is gonna take over the Gullwings the way Yuna keeps going to him for advice."
He spouted all of this and Paine digested it slowly, noting the defensive suggestion that something happened between him and Rikku while she was plotting with Tidus. At that moment Yuna and Tidus came back in wearing identical amused expressions. Winking at Paine, Tidus followed Yuna to Brother. The unique girl in black returned to the blonde guy sitting in his chair. His face was paler than usual and there were beads of sweat on his forehead. Noting his pained expression, Paine (AN: pained and Paine...hee hee) decided not to press the matter and let him get back to work.
Later that day, after some serious preparation on Paine and the crew's parts, the plan was ready to be put into action. Buddy and Brother were in on it, too, be imparitive to the part where the Celsius had to inadvertantly land twice. When everything was in place, Paine gave Tidus and Yuna the signal to get Rikku going. She was sitting in the cabin looking sadly out the window at the moving clouds beyond. Yuna immediately launched into the carefully prepared script for this little charade. "Rikku! Rikku! This is so horrible! You HAVE to come see this!" She hurried up the stairs while Tidus trailed her, nodding and looking panicky. Rikku jumped up, glad for the action so she couldn't ponder what she had been pondering. "What is it? What happened?" Yuna produced a sphere and handed it to Rikku, who watched it eagerly.
The sphere showed a warbled image of Gippal being attacked by that mutated monster from the Farplane incident. It was snarling and wrapped its tentacles around Gippal's narrow waist, lifting him high above its head. In the background Rikku spotted the caves of Gagazet so the fiend must be inside the moutain. The recording broke off into snapping noises and a fizzly screen. Rikku dropped the sphere with a clatter and covered her mouth with her hands. "Rikku..." Yuna placed a comforting hand on her friend's slim shoulder. The shoulder was shaking with the effort to hold back tears. Blinking and shaking her head, knowing she had to save her man, Rikku nodded resolutely. "We have to go help him! Where was that sphere recorded?" She turned and hurried to leap off the landing on her way to the bridge. Tidus and Yuna followed, Yuna nudging her boy toy to say his line. "Oh, um, we had Buddy analyze it and he said it was recorded on the Zanarkand-ward side of Gagazet." Grinning at her blonde blitzer, Yuna hurriedly said her line. "Its Gullwing time!"
At that same moment, Brother was lowering the Celsius so Paine and an angry looking Gippal could leap onto the Calm Lands-ward slope of Gagazet. Paine had shown Gippal a sphere of Rikku being attacked by the mutant monster and he flipped, ordering the Celsius down to the slopes immediately. As soon as they hit the ground, Gippal took off running. He had this look of cruel determination on his face. Saving Rikku was the reason he had left her in the first place and now he finally got to do what he set out to do. Paine knew that was exactly what her friend was thinking and had played off of that emotion. Her plan was working perfectly. As soon as they reached the caves of the Fayth Scar, a hologram of that mutant fiend would start attacking either Gippal or Rikku in holographic form, depending on the side of the moutain. Paine still had to set up the whole thing and thus had to find a clever way to ditch Gippal before he reached the caves.
Spotting a snow drift, Paine dove into it, ignoring the searing cold on her bare skin. Gippal's voice crying out for her was muffled by the snow. He swore in Al Bhed and continued on. Apparently, Rikku was more important to him; Paine ignored her pain and waited a minute or two before hopping out of the snow and taking the teleporter to the caves. She rushed to the spot she picked for the sphere-projector Shrina had left on the airship. If she set up the two spheres she had stashed away right, when Rikku ran into the cave, she'd see Gippal being attacked by the monster. And vice versa for Gippal's entrance. Hopefully, if Tidus and Yuna hurried, the two Al Bheds would reach the cave at the same time and when they started to fight the hologram, would find the other person on the other side. If all went well and they reacted the way Paine wanted, they would be so overjoyed to see the other they'd forget the little stunt Paine pulled. Smirking as she set up her devious finale, she congratulated herself. 'They'll thank me later.' She decided, ignoring the lonely hollowness in her stomach.
Yuna and Tidus struggled to keep up with Rikku as the small girl leapt from rock to rock, desperate to reach the caves before that monster tore Gippal's head off. Neither of the conspirators had counted on the massive blizzard that had picked up the minute they landed. Shivering, Yuna transformed into Trainer (AN: It looks like the warmest dressphere!) and sent Kogoro to keep track of Rikku. Tidus trudged along, hugging himself to keep warm. All they had to do was make sure Rikku got to the caves at the exact same time as Gippal. Otherwise the plan would fall flat on its cleverly planned face. Yuna glanced over her shoulder at her shivering boyfriend. "Tidus, do you want to use my Garment Grid to keep warm? This Trainer dressphere is really toasty." Tidus nodded, eagerly equipping the dressphere and transforming into a male Trainer. A weird little white bear-thing made a squeaky roar and appeared on his head. Chuckling, the two Trainers hurried to catch up with Rikku.
Gippal didn't care that the ice in the wind was ripping into his skin or that his leg was still bleeding or anything. All he cared about was saving Rikku; his mind was completely filled with her. He kept remembering their whole life together, all the good times and the bad. He thought about how he had been acting towards her lately and realized that he tended to take her for granted now that they were back in the same airship all the time. Stopping for a mintue, he stared at the snow covered ground dejectedly. 'I suck. I can see why she doesn't really care about me anymore.' Struggling against the bitter tears that suddenly filled his uncovered eye, Gippal growled at himself and kept running. He could see the caves up ahead and intended to do some MASSIVE damage to that stupid fiend. Never once did he question how the hell the monster got to Rikku in the first place if she was on the airship the whole time.
Rikku didn't seem to think it odd, either, that Gippal had been kidnapped right from under her nose. She was nearing the Fayth Scar and could hear the roars of the monster. They sent a shiver down her spine, but she ignored her fear. All she thought about was how much she cared about Gippal. She'd do anything for him, even if he'd just write it off and ignore her all the time. Even if he deserted her for two years more. Tears streaming down her wind-raw face, Rikku kept climbing snow drift after snow drift, ignoring everything but the image of Gippal in her mind. As soon as she reached the caves and the wind slacked, she broke into a confident, sorta panicky run and spotted the mutant swinging its ugly tentacles around. Gippal was no where to be seen, but she ignored that. 'He must be on the other side.' She thought, preparing for battle.
Tidus and Yuna ran up behind her, back in their normal clothes. Yuna gasped and Tidus stared in awe at what he thought was a hologram. 'Paine did an awesome job!' Tidus thought, nodding as he examined the realistic monster. Yuna was the only one who spotted the unconcious Paine and the smashed spheres near the feet of the monster. That thing was the real deal! Quickly transforming into a Dark Knight, Yuna slammed the thing with a stunning Black Sky attack. Rikku took the hint and transformed into a Samurai, planning on using the Mirror of Equity when her HP got low. Tidus pulled out the Brotherhood and rushed forward, dodging the tentacles skillfully. Yuna ran to check on Paine while Rikku was busy fighting the monster. Her cousin's cries and Tidus' battle calls echoed with the monster's roars and the distant sound of running water.
"Paine!" Cried Yuna, changing into a White Mage and casting Full-Life and then Full-Cure on her friend. Paine opened her eyes with a gasp, sitting up quickly. Spotting Yuna, she grabbed the girl's shoulders. "Yuna! The real mutant came and wrecked my-" She froze, looking over Yuna's shoulder to see Rikku and Tidus battling the angry Mutant. Gippal came around the corner just in time to see Rikku get thrown across the cave and change back into a Thief. "RIKKU!" He roared, firing some powerful shells at the monster. Paine stood up shakily, grabbing Yuna's arm for support. "I have to fight. This is all my fault." Paine growled, seriously disappointed in herself. Yuna, being a hater of self-pity (AN: Eventhough she's big on self-pity herself...), shook her head. "Paine, no, this isn't your fault. You were trying to help them get back together. You didn't know this fiend would show up." Paine turned her angry gaze to Yuna's placid, green-and-blue eyes. "No. 'Find a sphere and the fiends appear'. I knew the sphere screen would bring fiends, but I still used it. Damn fool..." She trailed off, transforming into a Beserker and losing herself to Beserk.
Yuna watched the battle for a minute before running to heal Rikku. The blonde leapt up, thanked Yuna hurriedly, and ran back into the fray. The first thing Rikku saw was Gippal crying out in pain and collapsing onto his knees. His leg was bleeding horribly and the monster had fired a spell of some sort straight at the offended appendage. "Gippal!" Rikku screamed, switching all of her dresspheres onto herself to get to her special one. As soon as the blue light filled her, she felt the incredible strength of the Machina Maw fill her, too. 'With this sphere, I can save Gippal! And all my friends!' She thought, waiting for the transformation to be over before speaking. "LET'S GO!" Rikku cried, shooting the Mutant with all she had.
Yuna still watched from the sidelines, casting curative spells when she needed to. Tidus was holding his own by slicing off the poisonous tentacles while Paine viciously attacked the head and torso of the massive mutant. Gippal struggled valiantly to keep fighting eventhough he was so badly injured already that he kept falling over from the loss of blood. Rikku tried her best to defend Gippal while attacking furiously. Feeling utterly useless, Yuna cast Regen on everyone before quickly switching dresspheres to become Flora Fallal. Giving a supportive call to each of her friends, she joined the fray by repeatedly cast her Flare ability. Eventually, it looked like they were wearing the thing out. Eventhough pyreflies kept flying into it from no where and giving it a boost, the group kept fighting. Each one had his or her own reason to fight and win. Gippal and Rikku were fighting to save each other, Paine was fighting to fix her mistake, Tidus was fighting to protect his new and old friends, and Yuna was fighting for all of Spira. She figured this fiend was the source of the other fiends and by beating this one, they could stop the crisis all together.
"Guys! We can do this! We all need to attack at once! Ready?" Yuna cried, casting Curaga on the tired party. Each one nodded, leaping back to prepare for their final strike. "Right!" They called, agreeing that they could take it down or die trying. However more likely the second choice seemed, each person yelled and rushed the Mutant one last time. "For Spira!" Screamed Yuna as the beast burst into millions of pyreflies, surrounding them in a whirling cloud of little glowing creatures. Transforming back to normal, everyone watched as the unkillable Mutant swirling away as tiny little pyreflies. Tidus yelled and pointed to a figure crouching in the center of the storm of pyreflies. Squinting, Yuna tried to see who it could be. Gasping, she covered her mouth and stayed where she was. Rikku crept forward, still not seeing who it was. Squealing, she ran backwards when she spotted the nauseatingly familiar blue hair, robes, and pointed face. "Seymour!" Cried Tidus, pulling his sword out again.
The last guado looked at Yuna pleadingly and mouthed "I'm sorry" before disappearing with the rest of the pyreflies. Blinking, Paine didn't even bother asking questions since Yuna ran to Tidus and sobbed onto his shoulder in her usual upset fashion. Rikku shook herself and whirled around, spotting Gippal lying on the ground. "Gippal!" She screamed, running to his side. Paine hurried over, too, staying a safe distance away in case either wanted to slaughter her for this stupid plan. Gippal was knocked out or had fainted, judging by the blood still soaking his pant leg. Sobbing loudly, Rikku cast a LOT of white magic on him until he opened his eyes. In the struggle, his eye patch had somehow fallen off, but to her surprise, there was no horribly wounded eye behind it. She leaned forward, curious about the eye as it opened. Gippal groaned and then smiled when he saw Rikku leaning over him. Noting the different (AKA NOT GREEN) coloration of his eye, Rikku made a mental note to ask him about that later. Right now she burst into tears and hugged him tightly. He sat up and hugged her back, stroking her hair lovingly. Paine smiled. Well, the plan hadn't been a TOTAL failure after all.
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AN: so so so??? any thoughts on the second son??? any ANYTHING??? PLEASE R&R!!! i need some input here! alrighty, i'm working on chapter 10 as we speak, so you won't have to wait too terribly long for it. love you all! toodles! ~~~sa~~~
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Ch.9 Cupid's New Apprentice
Rikku sat on the deck, staring up at the swiftly moving stars as the Celsius whizzed along. It had been a while since Gankee and Auron had left. Brother and Buddy refused to say where they had gone. She was pretty sure they were headed for Macalania still. She wanted to follow them, to see how Auron had anything to do with Gankee's quest. But, her duty was to the Gullwings and all of Spira first. Not to herself ever. Hugging her knees tightly, she thought of Gippal's open armed exceptance of her all of the sudden. After two years of not ever talking or seeing each other, he was back like nothing had happened. How could she just go back to him like there wasn't a problem? How could she ignore that fear of losing him again? The pain of losing him once was enough for a lifetime.
Behind her thoughtful figure, the door from the elevator swooshed open. Jumping, Rikku turned her head to see Paine's dark figure slinking towards her. "Hey. What're you doing all alone out here? Its pretty cold." Paine shivered and sat next to her usually ditzy friend. Rikku tilted her head back and stared at the stars. "Just thinking." Her answer was unusually pensive, but Paine wasn't surprised. The poor blonde had a lot on her plate with Gippal being around all the time. Paine sorta felt jealous since she was around Gippal a lot more than Rikku was for a while. But, she understood and wasn't about to intervene. The two of them had serious issues with communication. Just shoving her thoughts aside, Paine decided to talk about Auron and Gankee instead. "Where do you think they went?" The black garbed warrior asked. Rikku sighed, seemingly this struck a chord in her fragile heart. "Macalania." She spat as an answer.
Raising an offended eyebrow, Paine sniffed indignantly. "No need to get snappy. Just asking. Geez." She stood fluidly and turned to leave. Rikku, groaning at herself, leapt up and grabbed the more muscular arm. 'Wait! Paine, I need to talk to you." Paine, shaking off Rikku's gloved hand, turned back. Her curiosity always got the better of her. Rikku shifted nervously, staring at the brightly painted deck below her moving feet. "Um, do ya think Gippal, uh, do ya think he's serious?" Blinking, Paine voiced her confusion with her eyes. Groaning, Rikku wrung her hands and paced a little, something she had picked up from Yuna. "What I mean is, er, do you think he cares?" Paine crossed her arms, slightly amused at Rikku's discomfort. "Cares about what?" Her smooth voice made Rikku wanna scream. "Urgh! Do you think he honestly cares about ME? ABOUT ME!" The petite blonde screamed this at the tops of her lungs.
Flinching, Paine stepped back a little. Rikku's chest was heaving and her hands were balled into fists. Blinking, this time out of shock, Paine cleared her throat in an attempt to regain her composure. "Well, I'm pretty sure he loves you still. Yeah." This did NOT please Rikku at all. Scoffing, Rikku stomped a little and did her angry dance. 'Pretty sure? YEAH? What the heck's that supposed to mean? AH! You're just like him! Saying weird, vauge things that don't actually mean anything at all! AHH!" Screaming until she went hoarse, Rikku plopped down on the deck, exhausted. More than a little freaked out by this display of insanity, Paine pretended she had to go and hurried away. As soon as the door swooshed closed, Paine shook her head. 'I need to find a way to get those two back together and talking. Its time for some rough love, Dr. P style.' Smirking at her thoughts, Paine stepped off the elevator and launched a devious plan.
Tidus balked, his eyes huge and his mouth open. "You want me to help you WHAT?" Paine glared at him and covered his mouth with her hand. "Shut up! And yeah, I need your help if any of us ever wants to stay sane for very long." Tidus shoved her hand away angrily and shook his head. "No way. I've seen Rikku pissed and I don't wanna be on her bad side." He added a shudder and a grimace for effect. Paine rolled her blood red eyes. "Stop being a wuss." Tidus scrunched up his nose and stuck out his tongue. "I am not a wuss!" They were standing in the engine room where Tidus had been practicing some new blitz moves when Paine suggested her ludracris plan to him. He wasn't buying her "Rikku needs to be happy, too" speech or her "Do it for Yuna!" speech either.
Speaking of Yuna, she bounded in just as Paine was about to wring her scrawny boyfriend's neck. "Hey guys!" She chirped cheerily. Tidus squealed and ran behind her, pointing at Paine angrily. "She called me a wuss!" Yuna raised an eyebrow at Paine who rolled her eyes again. Crossing her arms, she glared at the pansy boy cowering behind dainty Yuna. "Yeah, and? You won't help me help Rikku." Paine knew this would get Yuna's attention. Perking up, Yuna hurried over to Paine's side. "Rikku's in trouble? What's wrong? Can I help?" Smirking victoriously and flipping a single finger at Tidus around Yuna's back, Paine began explaining her plan. "Well, she isn't in dire danger or anything but..."
Gippal sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair. His shoulders hurt from sitting in that god-awful chair all day. He had been working on an analysis of the time it would take for the energy, pyreflies, and mutated fiends to wipe out the rest of Spira. His computer spat out that they had a week. Not too bright and happy, if he were the one deciding things. Brother and Buddy were talking in low voices and shooting him angry looks. Growling under his breath, Gippal stood up and stomped out. He was tired of feeling like the outsider, the scapegoat around there. Everyone got angry with him all the time for no good reason. Well, there was that time he accidently re-routed the entire ship's power source to his computer, causing the ship to crash in the ocean. And the time he had simulated chocobos rampaging the cabin creating mass hysteria and chaos. Or the time he had, well, he did a lot of damage inadvertantly.
'No one's perfect.' He thought defensively, pressing the button on the elevator controls to take him to the cabin. He needed a drink. A stiff one on the rocks. Barkeep was scrubbing down the already spotless bar when Gippal sat down and ordered moodily. Not asking questions, the hypello said "Coming right up!" in kooky hypello fashion and slid a drink down the bar to Gippal. He nodded his thanks and drank the tall cocktail in one gulp. Shaking himself, Gippal blinked. "Whoo! That was strong, Barkeep! You're alright." The hypello bowed and thanked him profusely. After a few more drinks, Gippal stood up unsteadily and thanked Barkeep with some slurred words. Just as he stumbled over to the door, Paine, Tidus, and Yuna emerged. They all had the same steely, determined look on their faces as they dragged him up to a bed. He passed out before he could ask any questions.
The next morning, after running fiend control detail in Luca, Besaid, Kilika, and on the Mi'hen Highroad, the crew all stumped back onto the airship exhausted. Flopping onto the ground near Gippal's chair, Rikku shouted something obscene in Al Bhed when she saw the clock. "Its not even noon and I'm sooooo tired!" She whined, shaking her head over and over again. Paine agreed, leaning against the wall huffily. "No rest for the strong I guess." Tidus stomped in looking dejected and tired for once. "Why can't everyone in Spira pick up a frickin' sword and fight! URGH!" He punched the wall while Yuna placed a pacifying hand on his shoulder. She seemed to be the only one of them that wasn't angry or tired or anything. Gippal limped in after her, glaring at the back of her head and sitting down awkardly. Rikku glanced nervously at his bleeding leg before looking back at Yuna. She looked like she had something to say. "We just need to keep going. We'll stop the fiends soon and then Spira can continue with the Calm. Nooj and Baralai are having their warriors fight this crisis, too. We're not alone."
As inspirtational as this should've been, all her friends had their own dismissive responses. Gippal snorted laughingly and turned back to his screen, ignoring the horrible pain in his leg. Rikku laid down roughly, sighing loudly. Tidus shook his head and threw his hands up in defeat. Paine closed her eyes and the pilot and navigator of the Celsius both pretened they were too busy to react. Yuna crossed her arms and glared at each exhausted Gullwing in turn before rushing over to the CommSphere to contact Nooj. She started voicing her concerns to him while the others went about their business. Rikku tried to convince Gippal to take care of his leg while he furiously typed on his computer. Paine and Tidus took note of the angry nature with which Gippal dealt with their teeny friend when he was busy. Trading meaningful glances, they both left the bridge. Not talking until they reached the elevator, they both started angrily shouting things about Gippal or Rikku at the same time. Laughing a little, Tidus told her to go first.
"Rikku's a little clingy and controlling sometimes." She stated plainly, much more calm then she had intially been. Tidus directed the elevator to the engine room before nodding. "Yeah. But, Gippal's too distant. He needs to open up to suggestion. Like me." He added this brightly, dreamily thinking of his Yuna. Paine faked puking as they arrived at the engine room. "Please! You'd jump off a bridge if Yunie-poo begged." Paine slunk off towards the pistons trailed by a blushing Tidus. 'Y-yeah. That's what love is sometimes." Paine nodded, pondering her plan and snapping her fingers with an idea. Tidus never had seen her so excited about anything the whole two weeks he had known her. "I just came up with a way to get them to notice their feelings again! Listen, first we have to..." Tidus listened attentively and agreed with the whole thing. "Perfect!" He cried, doing that fist in the air thing he always did. Grinning slightly maliciously, Paine rubbed her hands together. This was gonna be fun.
Yuna was discussing something seriously with Gippal when the two plotters returned to the bridge. Tidus bounded to his sweetie, hugging her when she was mid-sentence. "I have to tell you something!" With that, he dragged a surprised Yuna out into the hallway. Paine noted Rikku's absence curiously. She also noted Gippal's angry/brooding face as he turned back to his console for the millionth time that day. "Gippal, what's up? You seem a little, uh, angry? Tense?" Paine ventured in Al Bhed, leaning on the wall near Gippal, facing him. He glanced at her with his uncovered eye attempting to seem innocent. Shrugging his sore shoulders and flinching at the pain, he stopped working for a minute. "Well, it looks like Spira has a week to live, Rikku's mad at me again, Buddy and Brother won't talk to me, and I think Nooj is gonna take over the Gullwings the way Yuna keeps going to him for advice."
He spouted all of this and Paine digested it slowly, noting the defensive suggestion that something happened between him and Rikku while she was plotting with Tidus. At that moment Yuna and Tidus came back in wearing identical amused expressions. Winking at Paine, Tidus followed Yuna to Brother. The unique girl in black returned to the blonde guy sitting in his chair. His face was paler than usual and there were beads of sweat on his forehead. Noting his pained expression, Paine (AN: pained and Paine...hee hee) decided not to press the matter and let him get back to work.
Later that day, after some serious preparation on Paine and the crew's parts, the plan was ready to be put into action. Buddy and Brother were in on it, too, be imparitive to the part where the Celsius had to inadvertantly land twice. When everything was in place, Paine gave Tidus and Yuna the signal to get Rikku going. She was sitting in the cabin looking sadly out the window at the moving clouds beyond. Yuna immediately launched into the carefully prepared script for this little charade. "Rikku! Rikku! This is so horrible! You HAVE to come see this!" She hurried up the stairs while Tidus trailed her, nodding and looking panicky. Rikku jumped up, glad for the action so she couldn't ponder what she had been pondering. "What is it? What happened?" Yuna produced a sphere and handed it to Rikku, who watched it eagerly.
The sphere showed a warbled image of Gippal being attacked by that mutated monster from the Farplane incident. It was snarling and wrapped its tentacles around Gippal's narrow waist, lifting him high above its head. In the background Rikku spotted the caves of Gagazet so the fiend must be inside the moutain. The recording broke off into snapping noises and a fizzly screen. Rikku dropped the sphere with a clatter and covered her mouth with her hands. "Rikku..." Yuna placed a comforting hand on her friend's slim shoulder. The shoulder was shaking with the effort to hold back tears. Blinking and shaking her head, knowing she had to save her man, Rikku nodded resolutely. "We have to go help him! Where was that sphere recorded?" She turned and hurried to leap off the landing on her way to the bridge. Tidus and Yuna followed, Yuna nudging her boy toy to say his line. "Oh, um, we had Buddy analyze it and he said it was recorded on the Zanarkand-ward side of Gagazet." Grinning at her blonde blitzer, Yuna hurriedly said her line. "Its Gullwing time!"
At that same moment, Brother was lowering the Celsius so Paine and an angry looking Gippal could leap onto the Calm Lands-ward slope of Gagazet. Paine had shown Gippal a sphere of Rikku being attacked by the mutant monster and he flipped, ordering the Celsius down to the slopes immediately. As soon as they hit the ground, Gippal took off running. He had this look of cruel determination on his face. Saving Rikku was the reason he had left her in the first place and now he finally got to do what he set out to do. Paine knew that was exactly what her friend was thinking and had played off of that emotion. Her plan was working perfectly. As soon as they reached the caves of the Fayth Scar, a hologram of that mutant fiend would start attacking either Gippal or Rikku in holographic form, depending on the side of the moutain. Paine still had to set up the whole thing and thus had to find a clever way to ditch Gippal before he reached the caves.
Spotting a snow drift, Paine dove into it, ignoring the searing cold on her bare skin. Gippal's voice crying out for her was muffled by the snow. He swore in Al Bhed and continued on. Apparently, Rikku was more important to him; Paine ignored her pain and waited a minute or two before hopping out of the snow and taking the teleporter to the caves. She rushed to the spot she picked for the sphere-projector Shrina had left on the airship. If she set up the two spheres she had stashed away right, when Rikku ran into the cave, she'd see Gippal being attacked by the monster. And vice versa for Gippal's entrance. Hopefully, if Tidus and Yuna hurried, the two Al Bheds would reach the cave at the same time and when they started to fight the hologram, would find the other person on the other side. If all went well and they reacted the way Paine wanted, they would be so overjoyed to see the other they'd forget the little stunt Paine pulled. Smirking as she set up her devious finale, she congratulated herself. 'They'll thank me later.' She decided, ignoring the lonely hollowness in her stomach.
Yuna and Tidus struggled to keep up with Rikku as the small girl leapt from rock to rock, desperate to reach the caves before that monster tore Gippal's head off. Neither of the conspirators had counted on the massive blizzard that had picked up the minute they landed. Shivering, Yuna transformed into Trainer (AN: It looks like the warmest dressphere!) and sent Kogoro to keep track of Rikku. Tidus trudged along, hugging himself to keep warm. All they had to do was make sure Rikku got to the caves at the exact same time as Gippal. Otherwise the plan would fall flat on its cleverly planned face. Yuna glanced over her shoulder at her shivering boyfriend. "Tidus, do you want to use my Garment Grid to keep warm? This Trainer dressphere is really toasty." Tidus nodded, eagerly equipping the dressphere and transforming into a male Trainer. A weird little white bear-thing made a squeaky roar and appeared on his head. Chuckling, the two Trainers hurried to catch up with Rikku.
Gippal didn't care that the ice in the wind was ripping into his skin or that his leg was still bleeding or anything. All he cared about was saving Rikku; his mind was completely filled with her. He kept remembering their whole life together, all the good times and the bad. He thought about how he had been acting towards her lately and realized that he tended to take her for granted now that they were back in the same airship all the time. Stopping for a mintue, he stared at the snow covered ground dejectedly. 'I suck. I can see why she doesn't really care about me anymore.' Struggling against the bitter tears that suddenly filled his uncovered eye, Gippal growled at himself and kept running. He could see the caves up ahead and intended to do some MASSIVE damage to that stupid fiend. Never once did he question how the hell the monster got to Rikku in the first place if she was on the airship the whole time.
Rikku didn't seem to think it odd, either, that Gippal had been kidnapped right from under her nose. She was nearing the Fayth Scar and could hear the roars of the monster. They sent a shiver down her spine, but she ignored her fear. All she thought about was how much she cared about Gippal. She'd do anything for him, even if he'd just write it off and ignore her all the time. Even if he deserted her for two years more. Tears streaming down her wind-raw face, Rikku kept climbing snow drift after snow drift, ignoring everything but the image of Gippal in her mind. As soon as she reached the caves and the wind slacked, she broke into a confident, sorta panicky run and spotted the mutant swinging its ugly tentacles around. Gippal was no where to be seen, but she ignored that. 'He must be on the other side.' She thought, preparing for battle.
Tidus and Yuna ran up behind her, back in their normal clothes. Yuna gasped and Tidus stared in awe at what he thought was a hologram. 'Paine did an awesome job!' Tidus thought, nodding as he examined the realistic monster. Yuna was the only one who spotted the unconcious Paine and the smashed spheres near the feet of the monster. That thing was the real deal! Quickly transforming into a Dark Knight, Yuna slammed the thing with a stunning Black Sky attack. Rikku took the hint and transformed into a Samurai, planning on using the Mirror of Equity when her HP got low. Tidus pulled out the Brotherhood and rushed forward, dodging the tentacles skillfully. Yuna ran to check on Paine while Rikku was busy fighting the monster. Her cousin's cries and Tidus' battle calls echoed with the monster's roars and the distant sound of running water.
"Paine!" Cried Yuna, changing into a White Mage and casting Full-Life and then Full-Cure on her friend. Paine opened her eyes with a gasp, sitting up quickly. Spotting Yuna, she grabbed the girl's shoulders. "Yuna! The real mutant came and wrecked my-" She froze, looking over Yuna's shoulder to see Rikku and Tidus battling the angry Mutant. Gippal came around the corner just in time to see Rikku get thrown across the cave and change back into a Thief. "RIKKU!" He roared, firing some powerful shells at the monster. Paine stood up shakily, grabbing Yuna's arm for support. "I have to fight. This is all my fault." Paine growled, seriously disappointed in herself. Yuna, being a hater of self-pity (AN: Eventhough she's big on self-pity herself...), shook her head. "Paine, no, this isn't your fault. You were trying to help them get back together. You didn't know this fiend would show up." Paine turned her angry gaze to Yuna's placid, green-and-blue eyes. "No. 'Find a sphere and the fiends appear'. I knew the sphere screen would bring fiends, but I still used it. Damn fool..." She trailed off, transforming into a Beserker and losing herself to Beserk.
Yuna watched the battle for a minute before running to heal Rikku. The blonde leapt up, thanked Yuna hurriedly, and ran back into the fray. The first thing Rikku saw was Gippal crying out in pain and collapsing onto his knees. His leg was bleeding horribly and the monster had fired a spell of some sort straight at the offended appendage. "Gippal!" Rikku screamed, switching all of her dresspheres onto herself to get to her special one. As soon as the blue light filled her, she felt the incredible strength of the Machina Maw fill her, too. 'With this sphere, I can save Gippal! And all my friends!' She thought, waiting for the transformation to be over before speaking. "LET'S GO!" Rikku cried, shooting the Mutant with all she had.
Yuna still watched from the sidelines, casting curative spells when she needed to. Tidus was holding his own by slicing off the poisonous tentacles while Paine viciously attacked the head and torso of the massive mutant. Gippal struggled valiantly to keep fighting eventhough he was so badly injured already that he kept falling over from the loss of blood. Rikku tried her best to defend Gippal while attacking furiously. Feeling utterly useless, Yuna cast Regen on everyone before quickly switching dresspheres to become Flora Fallal. Giving a supportive call to each of her friends, she joined the fray by repeatedly cast her Flare ability. Eventually, it looked like they were wearing the thing out. Eventhough pyreflies kept flying into it from no where and giving it a boost, the group kept fighting. Each one had his or her own reason to fight and win. Gippal and Rikku were fighting to save each other, Paine was fighting to fix her mistake, Tidus was fighting to protect his new and old friends, and Yuna was fighting for all of Spira. She figured this fiend was the source of the other fiends and by beating this one, they could stop the crisis all together.
"Guys! We can do this! We all need to attack at once! Ready?" Yuna cried, casting Curaga on the tired party. Each one nodded, leaping back to prepare for their final strike. "Right!" They called, agreeing that they could take it down or die trying. However more likely the second choice seemed, each person yelled and rushed the Mutant one last time. "For Spira!" Screamed Yuna as the beast burst into millions of pyreflies, surrounding them in a whirling cloud of little glowing creatures. Transforming back to normal, everyone watched as the unkillable Mutant swirling away as tiny little pyreflies. Tidus yelled and pointed to a figure crouching in the center of the storm of pyreflies. Squinting, Yuna tried to see who it could be. Gasping, she covered her mouth and stayed where she was. Rikku crept forward, still not seeing who it was. Squealing, she ran backwards when she spotted the nauseatingly familiar blue hair, robes, and pointed face. "Seymour!" Cried Tidus, pulling his sword out again.
The last guado looked at Yuna pleadingly and mouthed "I'm sorry" before disappearing with the rest of the pyreflies. Blinking, Paine didn't even bother asking questions since Yuna ran to Tidus and sobbed onto his shoulder in her usual upset fashion. Rikku shook herself and whirled around, spotting Gippal lying on the ground. "Gippal!" She screamed, running to his side. Paine hurried over, too, staying a safe distance away in case either wanted to slaughter her for this stupid plan. Gippal was knocked out or had fainted, judging by the blood still soaking his pant leg. Sobbing loudly, Rikku cast a LOT of white magic on him until he opened his eyes. In the struggle, his eye patch had somehow fallen off, but to her surprise, there was no horribly wounded eye behind it. She leaned forward, curious about the eye as it opened. Gippal groaned and then smiled when he saw Rikku leaning over him. Noting the different (AKA NOT GREEN) coloration of his eye, Rikku made a mental note to ask him about that later. Right now she burst into tears and hugged him tightly. He sat up and hugged her back, stroking her hair lovingly. Paine smiled. Well, the plan hadn't been a TOTAL failure after all.
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AN: so so so??? any thoughts on the second son??? any ANYTHING??? PLEASE R&R!!! i need some input here! alrighty, i'm working on chapter 10 as we speak, so you won't have to wait too terribly long for it. love you all! toodles! ~~~sa~~~