DISCLAIMER: I do not own FFX, FFX-2, FFVIII or any of the characters and locations affiliated with it. I do, however, own the story "Silver Wings", "Silver Wings 2: 1000 Confessions" and all references to dialogue not originated by Square-Enix.
DO NOT COPY MY STORIES!!
If anyone wants to post my stories anywhere else, please just ASK and then give me credit for writing it. Email akksgurlyahoo.com with any requests.
PLEASE NOTE: "PaineOfBevelleSairysSkyeWind" is a fic stealer!! Watch out for her. She is also known as "Paine" and "Paine of Spira" I am sure I am not the only one she is stealing from so be sure to keep an eye out for my fics as well as others on other sites. She has been known to post on apocalypse.com, adultfanfiction.net, and nfiction.com.
Author's Notes: This chapter has some violence in it so be warned toward the end of the chapter. It's nothing too descriptive, but it is there. There is also some sensual dialog and action. Again, nothing descriptive, but it is there.
SILVER WINGS 3: Back Into My Arms
by akksgurl
Chapter Sixteen: Descent Into Nothingness
Gippal didn't know what he was doing. All he knew was that he was possessed by a desire to set things right between Tidus and Yuna so he now found himself walking quietly up to Tidus on the shores of Besaid beach.
The water lapped gently at the sands and Gippal barely came within feet of Tidus when the blitzball player asked, "Are you here to try and get me to forgive and forget?"
Gippal shrugged, "I just want to try and make you understand."
"There's nothing to understand," Tidus replied, turning to half face Gippal in the sunlight, "It seems pretty cut and dry to me."
"That's not true."
"How do you figure that?"
The taller blonde took a few steps further and stood next to Tidus with a few feet separating them. Both stared off at the lapping ocean waters before Gippal responded, "She didn't consciously cheat on you and that's the one thing you have to understand. I kissed her. She was upset and I took advantage of that. If you should be mad at anybody, it should be me."
Tidus chuckled, "Trust me, I am pissed at you." He stated firmly, "but you didn't force Yuna to kiss you back, or…you know…do that other stuff."
"True…" Gippal conceded, "but Yuna loves you and you know that. It never would have happened if she had thought you were still alive."
"Honestly, Gippal, this whole incident is just one in a line of incidents that…" he sighed, "…I just don't think I can trust her anymore."
"Are you talking about Shuyin?"
Tidus nodded, "Shuyin…Seymour…you…" he groaned and ran a hand through his hair, "Every guy that I know has spent more time with her than me! I mean, hell, I'm even jealous of Kimahri!"
"She hasn't done anything with Kimahri! I can promise you that!"
Tidus burst into hysterical laughter at that thought, "Oh…oh…oh…I know that! Trust me!"
"Good…"
A calm settled between them as they continued to stare into the ocean. Gippal didn't know what else to say. When he had kissed Yuna, he hadn't considered the fact that Tidus might come back from the dead again. All he had thought was that Rikku was furious with him for reasons still unknown and that Yuna was crying and needed to be comforted.
"You know what bothers me the most about it?" Tidus asked out of the blue.
"What?"
He took a ragged breath and whispered, "With Seymour, Yuna did what she had to do for Spira and we weren't involved so I had no real right to be jealous at all. I mean, besides, she didn't even do anything with Seymour besides kiss him. With Shuyin, she thought it was me…" he stopped and Gippal saw a tear drip from his eye before he said, "With you…she knew it wasn't me and she did it anyway."
Gippal was silent. What was he supposed to say to that? He agreed with Yuna that Tidus didn't have a right to be angry, but for the first time he was seeing that the man wasn't angry…
He was hurt.
"I didn't sleep with her." Stated Gippal, hoping to assuage Tidus' belief of that.
The blitzer nodded, "I know that." He replied, "But you would have had Rikku not interrupted. Am I right?"
Gippal was quiet, biting his lip and turning away from Tidus, ashamed of his answer.
"I thought so." Tidus said, nodding.
Footsteps echoed from behind them and both turned to face the intruder. Yuna's hair shimmered in the sun but her eyes were puffy and red from the stream of tears that had run since her argument with Tidus. Gippal took a step away from the duo to give them space but Tidus shook his head, "Don't bother Gippal. I have nothing to say to her."
"Tidus…" Yuna squeaked.
The blitzer frowned, his lower lip quivering as if he, himself, was going to cry as well, "I don't know you anymore, Yuna. I don't think I ever did." And with a nod in Gippal's direction, he walked off back toward Besaid town.
----------------------.
After another argument with Yuna about how he had messed up her life, Gippal meandered back to the Celsius with the intention of taking a long, hot shower – after, of course, locking the door.
This had been, by far, the worst few days of his life – except when Baralai had been murdered and he'd been framed for it – and Gippal just wanted things to go back to normal. Unfortunately, normal seemed to be a thing of the past. With Rikku acting so strangely, and Tidus' dream Zanarkand friends wandering around Spira things were bound to get much more strange.
With a grunt, Gippal shoved the door to the crew's quarters open and let it slam behind him. Making his way up the stairs, he pulled his shirt over his head and let it drop in a pile on the floor. He stripped out of the rest of his clothes as he walked into the bathroom and as soon as the hot water connected with his bare skin, he felt himself relax. Hot showers always had a way of calming him even when it felt like the entire world was going to shit around him.
He stood under the spray for several long moments until he heard something from the crew's quarters. The last thing he wanted was for Yuna to walk in on him again, so he quickly turned the spray off and wrapped a towel firmly about his waist to investigate the sound.
Cracking the door slightly, he poked his nose out, "Yuna? I just got out of the shower! Do not look!"
No answer…
"Is there anybody there?"
No answer…
Intrigued and just as confused, Gippal opened the door a little more and took a step out, startled by the sudden feeling of cool air against his still damp skin. Glancing down over the railing that looked over Barkeep's area, Gippal called out again, "Anybody in here?"
No answer…
Shrugging to himself, Gippal made a move to turn back into the bathroom when his foot caught on something on the ground. He looked down at what his toes had wrapped themselves around and gasped.
A bra…
That certainly hadn't been there before!
His eyes traveled further along the floor where they caught on a pair of panties and shorts, all leading to one of the beds along the far wall. His eyes flickered upward and stopped in shock on Rikku, laying on the bed provocatively with a grin on her face, "I was wondering when you'd notice me." She said.
"R…R…Rik…ku?" Gippal stammered, unconsciously pulling the towel tighter around his waist.
Rikku rose from the bed and sauntered toward him as if completely unaware of her lack of clothes, "Good to see you too, lover."
Gippal tried to focus on anything else besides Rikku but felt his body beginning to betray him as she came closer to him. He could feel her breath against his chest as her hands trailed along the muscular ridges of his torso. He straightened his back and took a deep breath, "W…what are you d…doing?" he stammered, still unable to completely make himself at ease.
"I'm really sorry about what a bitch I've been." She replied with a smirk, "I'm here to make it up to you."
"H…how?"
She grinned and, with a snap of her wrist, pulled the towel from his grasp and flung it across the room. His eyes widened in surprise and he backed away from her only to find himself pinned against the wall by her body as her mouth attacked his own. This wasn't the Rikku he had grown up with. His Rikku never would have done something like this. He wanted to stop her, but his mind was losing to his body as she trailed her hands down…down…
Down….
A daze descended upon him and all he heard was Rikku's lilting giggle as she whispered, "My, my, my. It's been a long time since you've been with a girl, hasn't it Gippal?"
Red suffused his face as he darted away from her and grabbed the towel from the floor, replacing it around his waist. He backed away from her approach until his back was bracing him against the railing of the stairs.
"I suppose Plan A is out the window for a while." She said with a smile as she began to gather her clothes from the floor. Gippal watched with barely concealed confusion as she began to dress again, stopping only a few times to make sure his towel was still secure.
"Plan A?" he managed.
Rikku nodded, "Yes, lover. Plan A was to seduce you and then after you fell asleep, I was going to clunk Yuna over the head and stick her in bed with you." She shrugged and stepped closer to him, "Unfortunately, I don't have time to waste. So my only option is to go with Plan B…a decidedly less attractive option for you admittedly, but I have no other choice."
Gippal swallowed hard and swerved to his right and took a step backward down the stairs, "You're not Rikku…" he whispered.
"Very good, lover." The woman wearing Rikku's skin replied.
"What do you want?"
The fake Rikku leaned in closer to him, "I need to weaken Tidus' psyche."
Gippal stared at her, "His what?"
"His psyche." Replied the woman, "His mind. His awareness, if you will."
"Why?"
"Well, that's for me to know and you to find out, isn't it Gippal?" she replied with a smile, "But now, I'm afraid it's time for Plan B." She took another step toward him as Gippal took another step down the stairs.
"What is Plan B?" he asked, trying to summon up all of his courage but failing miserably.
She smiled, "Well, I'll be happy to show you." And with a quick movement, she pushed hard against Gippal's chest until she felt his feet slipping from the stairs of his precarious perch. Gippal realized he was falling and tried desperately to stop it, but couldn't. His head smacked against the stairs a few feet down but he didn't stop. Instead, his feet went up over his head and he flipped down and then back over finally landing hard on his back at the base of the stairs.
He saw her approaching him, but the pain beating down upon him was more than he could bear and he couldn't focus on her. She came closer, straddling him and squatting down so that she was right in his face as she whispered, "Plan B has a part two as well. Except this doesn't involve Yuna naked next to you." She grinned broadly and hissed, "See, I have all of Rikku's memories and thoughts and an interesting detail came to my attention as I was planning my next move."
"W...w…wh…at?" Gippal gurgled, blood forming in his mouth and beginning to block off his oxygen supply.
"See…you were such a tough guy when they accussed you of attacking Baralai." The female grinned menacingly, "Do you think Tidus will be just as tough or do you think he'll just cave in immediately and give me what I want?" with a concescending pat on Gippal's head, she rose and stepped away from him, "I guess we'll just have to see, won't we?"
She rose from her perch over him and meandered toward Barkeep's bar, pulling a wine bottle from behind the counter and coming back over to him. Popping the cork, she chugged down for several moments before tipping it and dumping the rest down upon Gippal's face and neck, laughing as he coughed and spat up blood and wine, "What's the matter, Gippal? Don't like that?"
Gippal glared at her as the last drop of wine landed on his nose, "Wh…wh…why?"
"You helped me of your own free will when you kissed Yuna. That caused the break between Tidus and Yuna, but I need to ensure that it will remain there. I think Yuna would be able to tell that something is different with her lover – especially the second time around."
Gippal stared at her wide-eyed, "S…Sh…Shu…"
Nodding her answer, she shrugged and gripped the nose of the bottle hard in her right hand, squatting down next to him again, "I told you Plan B wasn't a more attractive option for you, but you just had to go and ruin Plan A so quickly." She shrugged and lifted the bottle high above his head, "Just hope that you die quickly, Gippal, because if you wake up and spill what I just told you then I'll make you wish you had never been born."
And darkness covered over him as the bottle connected with his skull and shattered around him…