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 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 , , and .
Author's Notes: Spoilers from FFX (if you haven't gotten to Bikanel Desert) and FFX-2 (if you haven't done the "monkey love" side mission) are in this story. I don't think it's anything too bad, but if you don't like spoilers than you have been warned.
SILVER WINGS 3: Back Into My Arms
by akksgurl
Chapter Twenty-Three: Good Morning Sunshine!
As time ticked on, Squall Leonhart began to have a feeling he wasn't accustomed to – worry. It had been almost a half hour since Rinoa had left saying she needed some air and she hadn't returned yet. Where was she?
"I'm going to go and check on Rinoa." Squall said to Zell Dincht who stood at his right. Zell nodded and Squall reciprocated the gesture before making his way out of the building. He was tired of the displays of emotions in that room anyway. Things were just too confusing for him. He wasn't stupid, not by any stretch, but he preferred things that were easy to understand. He was a military man and he wanted commands and orders – things he could understand. All this 'he's possessing him' stuff was getting to him. Maybe that's why Rinoa left? Maybe it was getting to her too?
Even if that was the case, though, he had expected her back by now. She hadn't been there when the reveal that some guy named Shuyin was possessing Tidus. She had been gone when the two Al Bhed guys when insane and practically beat the Shuyin guy senseless. She hadn't been there when they had dragged Shuyin off in handcuffs or when Yuna had left saying she too needed air.
His black boots kicked the dust up in the streets of Besaid as he made his way back toward the temple that everything seemed to be built around. It seemed like as good a place as any to start his search. Ignoring the looks he got from the residents, Squall walked into the temple door and looked around. It reminded him of the strange tower where they had received the Odin guardian force before meeting up with Tidus. It was just as dark and dreary but it also had statues of strange people surrounding the outer walls. Each person's statue was almost twice as tall as Squall was and seemed as though it was something to be worshipped.
"Lord Braska…" Squall whispered, reading the plate underneath the statue of a man with long hair and a tall stick, "Wonder what he did that made him so special…"
He continued his meandering around until he came to the final statue, "Lady Yu…" Squall shot his head up and stared at the familiar features of Yuna. Although her statue was bronzed, he recognized her instantly and cocked an eyebrow, "Why did she get a statue too?" he wondered aloud, "What did these people do?"
The sound of a door opening caught Squall's attention and as the door slammed shut again he recognized Seifer Almasy as the man who was exiting that door and coming down the stairs toward him. Seifer seemed lost in his own thoughts and barely noticed Squall until the brunette was practically upon him, "Holy Hyne, Squall!" Seifer cursed, putting a hand to his heart as if to slow its beating, "Sneak up on a guy, why don't you?"
"What were you doing in there?"
"Looking around, same as you." Seifer replied with a shrug, "What do you care, Leonha…" he stopped in mid-sentence and thought for a moment. Squall stared at him and then Seifer whispered, "Leon…lion…hmm…blind lion…"
"What are you mumbling?"
Seifer looked up again, "Don't worry about it. When I figure it out, I'll let you know."
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Squall shouted after Seifer who was already halfway out of the temple. He didn't even flinch at the words. Groaning his annoyance, Squall turned and followed the blonde out of the temple but Seifer was moving too fast for him and Squall gave up trying to catch him as he watched Seifer disappear behind a grove of trees just outside of the Besaid town limits. Spinning on his heels, Squall meandered around the corner of the temple and out toward the back, keeping his eyes peeled for a sign of Rinoa.
A crunch beneath his feet caught his attention and sent his eyes traveling downward toward his booted feet. He lifted a leather clad foot and saw something gleaming in the light. His outstretched hand lowered to retrieve it.
His Griever ring…
"Rinoa!" Squall shouted, retrieving the ring from the ground and walking with a new quickness in his step as he continued around the back of the temple, "Where are you? Answer me!" He heard his voice crack – the sign of his nervousness – but he was too worried to be embarrassed about it. Something was very wrong and he wasn't going to be okay until he saw her again.
"Rinoa!!"
"I'm right here…" he heard her voice from behind a small patch of trees to his right, "Don't get your panties in a twist."
"Rin…"
With the setting sun just behind her head, Squall thought for a moment that she had to be an angel. He felt a great weight fall from his shoulders as he sighed in relief and handed her the ring, "You dropped this…"
Rinoa took a step toward him, and another. She gently took the ring and replaced it on the chain around her neck and then stepped toward him again and placed her palms against his chest. He was surprised to see tears form in her eyes and she whispered, "It's been so long…"
Squall raised a questioning eyebrow, "Not really…just a few minutes."
"Believe me," Rinoa insisted, "it's been a long time." And to Squall's eternal surprise, she kissed him…
-----------------------.
"Are you coming or are you going to stand there like idiots?!" LeBlanc shouted at Ormi and Logos as her two servants struggled with her large trunk of luggage.
"Yes, boss." The two of them replied in unison. Logos took the upper hand of the trunk while Ormi took the bottom and tried to make their way up the plank of the Youth League airship with the most amount of finesse they could muster.
LeBlanc watched them with distain, briefly wondering why she bothered with them at all. They really were quite useless to her. A hand gently brushed wisps of hair from her nape and kissed her neck gently, "Why are you so mean to them?"
"Noojie!" LeBlanc turned and said with a smile. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his lips softly, "I'm only mean to them when they deserve it, love."
"And they deserve it now?" Nooj asked with a questioning eyebrow raised, "Somehow I doubt it. Struggling with your trunk of 'necessities' should warrant them a statue in their honor."
"You don't mean that!"
"Don't I?"
LeBlanc laughed heartily at him and shrugged, "Come on. We'd better get to Besaid. You want to be there when Gippal wakes up, don't you?"
Nooj nodded, "I still can't believe it's happening again…"
LeBlanc understood exactly how Nooj was feeling. When Cid had called to tell him of the attack on Gippal and Rikku in the crew's quarters, it was like a horrible feeling of déjà vu had descended upon them. The first thing out of Nooj's mouth was to ask if they were all right.
"Rikku is," Cid had replied, "but Gippal hasn't woken up yet and the Al Bhed doctor we brought won't work on him."
LeBlanc had heard it but still didn't believe it. Gippal was half Yevonite. Why hadn't he told anyone? Nooj hadn't even known. Did Paine know? Had Baralai known? Why wouldn't Gippal tell his closest friends about his heritage?
Then Nooj had asked the question that had been on LeBlanc's mind since the beginning of the phone call, "Where was Tidus when this happened?"
"Tidus is Shuyin again…"
And that was where they were. They had thrown some belongings in a trunk and fueled up their airship to fly to Besaid and be by Gippal's side – no matter the outcome. Nooj didn't want to let another of his friends die without being able to say goodbye.
LeBlanc just hoped for Nooj's sake that it wasn't the last time he spent with his friend. Loosing another might destroy Nooj. Although he'd held up well in the aftermath of Baralai's murder, she'd seen in his eyes a pain that had never been there before. Baralai, Paine, and Gippal were his family.
She prayed he didn't have to lose another person he loved.
----------------------.
The gentle rocking of the boat had sent Shuyin into a sweet world of dreams that he was reluctant to awaken from, but Yuna was persistent and continued to shake him violently until he finally cracked an eye open and then the other, "What…?" he whined, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"We're here." She replied, slipping the rope from the boat around a pole on the dock and securing it with a knot.
Shuyin gaped at the sight around him. He was certain he'd managed to travel back in time. Everything was as he remembered it. Well…almost everything. It was obviously not finished yet, but the progress that had been made astounded him. He sat up in the boat and smiled, "Zanarkand…"
Yuna grunted what sounded like a yes and hauled herself out of the boat and onto the dock, "Coming?" she asked Shuyin, placing a hand on her hip and extending the other to help him out. He took it gently and rose from the ship as well to stand beside her on the dock.
"They really came a long way on this." He stated as he fell into step behind her on the wooden dock that lead to a cement walkway. Yuna grunted something indiscernible again and continued walking. Shuyin sighed and raked a hand through his hair, "You're angry at me, aren't you?"
Yuna stopped and spun around, glaring at him through her duel colored eyes.
Shuyin lifted his hands to ward her off, "Okay, stupid question. I admit it! I'll keep quiet now."
"You'd better…" Yuna finally hissed, spinning back around. Her long braid whipped with her and smacked him across the face but he kept his mouth shut, rubbing his sore cheek in silence. As they walked, Shuyin tried to figure out why Yuna was mad at him this time. He hadn't technically done anything wrong this time and she had to have believed him because she busted him out of jail. Maybe she was angry at him for that? But, he hadn't made her do that!
Groaning inwardly, he continued to follow Yuna along the road, focusing mainly on the ground he walked rather than her. He didn't want her to get angry at him for looking at her.
"We're here." She said to him. Shuyin lifted his eyes and gaped in awe at what was to be his 'home' until things could be figured out.
"Lenne's house…?" he whispered to himself, scratching his head. It looked exactly the same as he remembered it. He looked at the house next door and smiled. Zaon and Yunalesca's house was the same too. And up the hill, he saw his house sitting proudly under the setting sun.
"Yes," Yuna replied, "Lenne's house. Do you have a problem with that?"
"No…"
"Good. Let's go then." Said Yuna, walking up the front walk and opening the door quickly and quietly.
"No lock?" he asked, dumbly, not sure if he was allowed to speak again or not.
Yuna shot him a nasty glance over her shoulder, "Obviously not."
The inside wasn't nearly as clean as the outside. 1000 years of dust and debris still cluttered the floor and as Shuyin glanced around he noticed a rat run from one corner of the room to the other and then hide under a pile of broken picture frames.
Great…
"I see they were more concerned with outside appearance at this stage in the rebuilding." He muttered sarcastically, running a finger across a filthy wall in distain.
Yuna rolled her eyes, "You're dead. You don't need to be in the lap of luxury."
That was the last straw with Shuyin. He spun around and glared at Yuna, "What is your problem?!"
"You! You're my problem! You've always been my problem!"
"I didn't ask you to get me out, Yuna!" Shuyin screamed, waving his arms around for extra emphasis, "That was your own brilliant idea."
"And I wish I hadn't done it!" she shouted back, "Because now I put myself in danger for the man who didn't care whether I lived or died just a few months ago!"
"That is not true! I never wanted you to die!"
"You just didn't want me to live…" Yuna replied in a whisper, turning her back to him and stalking over toward the kitchen. Shuyin followed her silently and watched as she bent over to dig in the cabinets, "Looks like you need some utensils." She stated, as if completely forgetting that they were arguing before, but as she looked at him he saw in her eyes that she hadn't forgotten it at all.
"Yuna…I…"
"Don't." she interrupted, raising a hand to silence his comeback, "I'm going to go back to Besaid to get you some food. I'll be back when I can sneak it out again."
She brushed passed him without a word and was halfway to the door when Shuyin spoke again, "I meant what I said, Yuna."
"And what was that?" she asked, turning slowly to look at him, "That you didn't want me dead?"
"That's true, but that's not what I was talking about."
"Then what were you talking about?"
Shuyin took a step toward her, "Do you remember what I said to you when you were holding your guns on me? Right after you realized I wasn't Tidus?"
"You said a lot of things." Yuna replied, waving her hand as if trying to brush the conversation away, "What makes one thing any different?"
"It was the one thing you never wanted to have me say to you."
Shuyin stared into her cold eyes, searching for any hint of warmth. With a frown, he said, "You're so much like Lenne and yet so different. I was meant to be with you in this life and to love you in this life and – although it's later then the fayth had planned – our fate has been completed."
"What are you talking about?!"
"I'm saying that…I love you, Yuna."
"Do you remember?" he asked her again.
Yuna nodded stiffly and took a step back toward the door, "What about it?"
"I meant it." Shuyin said simply.
Yuna trembled visibly and took another step away, "Don't be ridiculous." She said, trying to sound as confident as possible, "You love Lenne."
"And you are Lenne…"
"No I'm not!" shrieked Yuna, "Maybe I used to be, but I'm not anymore!"
Shuyin shrugged, "Either way, it doesn't change that I meant what I said to you."
"Why are you telling me this now?" she asked, "What possible difference could it make now?"
Shuyin shrugged and turned away from her, "I just thought that you should know."
"Why?" she asked again, tugging at her short brown locks and letting out an exasperated sigh, "Did you want to make me more confused than I already am?! I don't know what I'm supposed to be feeling right now! I don't know what I should be thinking or doing! Ever since you came into my life, I've done things I never would have done under normal circumstances and I just don't understand…"
"You mean, the thing with Gippal?"
"How do you know about that?"
Shuyin shrugged, "Ultimecia told me that she had told Tidus about the whole thing. She seemed pretty convinced that he believed it."
"He did believe it…" whispered Yuna, but she quickly lifted her eyes to Shuyin and spat, "But Rikku is the one who told him because Rikku is the one who caught us together. Ultimecia wouldn't have even known!"
Shuyin lifted his hands up, "Hey, I only report what I was told."
Yuna rolled her eyes and turned away from him, stepping over a pile of tools that littered one section of the floor and making her way toward the door. She pulled it open and looked over her shoulder, "With Gippal out of commission the rebuilding has been permanently put on hold. You won't have to worry about any workers discovering you, but if a search party should come by you can just run next door to Zaon's and hide from them."
Shuyin nodded to her, but as she took a step out the door he spoke again, "Why did you…?" she turned and lifted a quizzical eyebrow. Shuyin sighed, "You know…with Gippal?"
Yuna shrugged and let the door shut again as she turned to look at him, "I don't know." She replied, leaning back to brace herself against the knob, "Lonely, I guess. Lonely and a little stupid…"
"It's gonna be okay, you know." Shuyin said, walking toward her and squeezing her left hand softly, "We're going to figure out what is going on and fix it."
"You'll disappear if we do that…" replied Yuna, not sure if she was happy or sad about that fact.
Shuyin grinned, "I shouldn't even be here anyway, but Ultimecia sure knew how to change that in a hurry."
Nodding, Yuna slowly retracted her hand from Shuyin's and made her way toward the remnants of what had been her furniture. What could be salvaged had been covered with plastic during the renovation, but she noticed that quite a bit was gone.
At least she still had a sofa…
And that was what Yuna sat down upon at that moment. She said, "Will you tell me what it is you think happened? Maybe we can make some sense of all this."
Shuyin sat down on the sofa next to her and leaned back. He scratched his head and said, "I'm not really sure."
"What do you mean?"
"Well…" he began, "I was in this really dark place. I'm not sure where. Occasionally, I'd hear what sounded like voices but they were always really muffled and I could never make out what they were saying or who they were."
Yuna bit her lip, "You must not have been in the Farplane then. Do you think that you were inside of Tidus all along?"
"Maybe…"
"But the merger said that you'd disappear. Why would you have been kept in limbo instead?"
"I don't know…" Shuyin admitted.
"Go on."
He sighed and leaned his head back on the sofa, "Well, the next thing I remember is waking up in the Celsius and finding out that Rikku was possessed by Ultimecia who just wanted to get my cousin back and she had hurt Gippal as some sort of means to an end."
"Your cousin?"
Shuyin nodded, "Yeah. You've met him…sort of. The dream version anyway." He grinned, "Squall Leonhart."
"That's your cousin?!" squealed Yuna, sitting up straight as an arrow and staring at him, "But…but…but…I just…I don't…I thought your cousin was Sidney!"
"She was, but so was Squall. Sidney's my mom's niece. Squall's my uncle's nephew. Laguna's his brother. Anyway, Ultimecia told me that the real Squall died after defeating Sin the first time with Zaon and Yunalesca, so I suppose it would have been a little bit after you and me. This guy is just a dream. I don't know what Ultimecia wants with him or what she needs me for."
Yuna was having a difficult time wrapping her mind around what was going on. Nothing was making any sense. If Shuyin's cousin was Squall and Tidus was based on Shuyin then that would make Squall Tidus' cousin too. But Tidus didn't seem to know anything about that. And why would the real Rinoa Heartilly want to have the dream Squall back? Why not the real Squall? And what was going to happen to the dream Rinoa Heartilly? It was all these questions that Yuna voiced to Shuyin and to each one he simply shrugged and said, "I don't know."
"Well, did she tell you what she wanted from you?"
"No…just that I'd find out in good time."
Yuna sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "There's got to be more that you're not remembering. Some trigger that she used to bring you back."
"Like what?"
"I don't know…something…anything." She looked into his eyes, "Try and remember. What was happening before you woke up on the Celsius?"
Shuyin groaned. He didn't remember anything. There was nothing to remember. He had been stuck in a dark place since he'd given Tidus his body back. It was like that cave when the darkness came and he had to sit in the dark and hear strange noises from rats and fiends around him as the gnawing hunger ate at his insides like a disease. All he could do then was thinking about Lenne and how he'd failed her and all he could do while sitting in his most recent darkness was think about Yuna and how he hoped that he had made up for all the failings he'd done to her in the past. All he ever heard was muffled sounds. Sometimes he could tell what Tidus was feeling, but only when it was a powerful feeling like…
A thought came to him like a bolt from the blue and he looked at Yuna, "He was scared…"
Yuna's eyes widened, "He was scared?! Of what?! What was happening to him?!"
Shuyin bit his lower lip pensively as he tried to remember more. He had heard muffled shouting and then nothing for a while. He assumed that Tidus was alone. Maybe he had been walking to the Celsius at that time? Then Shuyin remembered hearing muffled voices again. He closed his eyes and squeezed them tightly, trying desperately to remember something…anything. He wanted to know what was going on as much as she did.
Possibly more…
Fithos…
Shuyin's eyes popped open and his jaw dropped to the ground.
Lusec…
"What is it?" Yuna asked, excitedly, "Do you remember something?"
"Fithos, lusec, wecos, vinosec." Stated Shuyin, his excitement growing until he started giggling idiotically.
Yuna stared at him questioningly, "Fithos what…?"
"Fithos, lusec, wecos, vinosec." Shuyin replied, "That's what I heard before I woke up! She was chanting it and it kept getting louder as I started to feel myself being pulled up."
"What does it mean?" asked Yuna, playing absently with her long braid that she draped over her shoulder, "I've never heard it before."
Shuyin sighed, "That's just the thing. I don't know what it means either. It sounds like another language maybe." He took in a sharp breath and leaned toward her, "Is it Al Bhed?"
Yuna shook her head, "No…it sounds more like Latin."
"Latin?" Shuyin wrinkled his nose, "How would you know Latin? It's been dead for ages."
"It's a secondary thing that all summoners had to learn in Zanarkand. We still do to a degree now, but it's even more unimportant. Learning the art was more important while we had Sin to combat but back in Zanarkand there was more time for studies."
"Why Latin, though?"
Yuna replied, "Latin is the root of all magic – at least, that's what we were taught. It's the original language of the original fayth that populated Spira." She grinned, "I think we may be onto something. The original fayth were lesser beings known as…sorcerers."
"So Ultimecia is a fayth?!" Shuyin practically shrieked.
"Not exactly," Yuna explained, "She's not as powerful as a fayth and she certainly doesn't look like a child, but this would help explain why she could bring you back so easily."
"But why would she need me to bring back her boyfriend if she's that powerful?"
Yuna shrugged, "Maybe he's here on Spira again…like me?"
"But if that's the case, then who?"
"That's what we need to find out." Concluded Yuna as she stood and brushed herself off. Making her way to the door, she stopped again and looked at him, "I'm going to see if I can find out what that chant means. I'll be back with food and information as soon as I can."
Shuyin jumped up, "Wait! Just where are you going to find information on an ancient chant that may or may not be Latin?"
Yuna smiled, "I told you, it's taught in some minor summoner basic training."
"So…? You also said that it was secondary to learning the art since you had to defeat Sin."
"Just trust me…" Yuna replied with a grin, "I know who just might have the information we need."
----------------------------.
Everything ached, but especially his face. It felt like he'd been hit with a two ton machina right on the nose. He'd never felt this way in his life. It was difficult for him to open his eyes but he did so slowly anyway. The light blinded him and his vision was blurred…
Had the glass hurt his eye?
No…things were starting to clear now. The first thing he noticed was that he was alone in the room. He recognized it as Wakka and Lulu's hut in Besaid. The second thing he noticed was that he was using both his eyes to look around.
Where was his patch?!
He sat up quickly and then immediately regretted it as a surge of agonizing pain shot down his back and he let out a cry that he tried his best to stifle, but it was obvious that someone had heard it. Footsteps were approaching him now.
"Thank goodness. You're awake!" Paine said with what appeared to be almost a grin as she closed the distance between them and sat down on a chair next to the bed, "We've been so worried about you."
"How long have I been out?" whispered Gippal hoarsely. His throat was parched and his voice came out in a ragged whisper.
Paine poured him a small glass of water from the pitcher on the table next to him and handed it to him as she replied, "A couple of days. It only seemed longer to us."
Gippal self consciously put a hand to his brown eye, "Where's my patch…?" he asked.
"Over here." She replied, reaching into a drawer and retrieving it to him. Gippal quickly replaced it on his face, carefully avoiding the bandages that lined his cheeks and chin, "Why didn't you tell us?"
He didn't respond as he saw a perky blond head running frantically into the room. He could still see her eyes dancing down at him as the bottle slammed into his face. The thought made him shudder.
"You're awake!" she cried, excitedly, as she rushed over to him and kissed him on the forehead gently, "I was so worried about you!"
"You were…?"
"Of course I was!" she replied, "Even though you didn't tell me about the whole brown eye thing! Didn't think I could handle it?"
Gippal shook his head, "It wasn't that. It was just that I would have been seen as a traitor to the Al Bhed if I had revealed it while we were still at odds with the Yevonites," he explained, "and after not saying anything for so long, I realized that I couldn't because if I revealed it now than your pop and everybody would wonder why I had hidden it for so long…"
"Well, Pop already is wondering." Admitted Rikku with a shrug, "But let him wonder. Everybody knows that we can trust you. No question about that!"
"I'm just going to leave you two alone." Stated Paine, standing and starting to walk out.
Rikku grabbed her arm, "Nah, keep him company. I'm going to get Mr. Sicky here something to eat." She grinned at him and kissed his forehead again, "You stay here and be good and I'll be right back." And with a quick wave, she darted out of the hut again.
"She's not mad at me anymore…?" Gippal asked quietly.
"I think she came to the realization that one little mistake shouldn't ruin what you guys have. It's too special…"
Gippal stared at Paine, "What we have…?" he asked, feigning confusion. Was he being that obvious about his feelings? He'd have to be more careful in the future.
"Oh please," said Paine, rolling her eyes, "You know what I'm talking about." Gippal watched as Paine stood and walked to the far end of the hut and then back again. She seemed troubled by something as she glanced at the small clock on the wall and then back at Gippal, "Yuna's been gone for a while. I wonder where she is."
"You don't know where she went?"
Paine shook her head, "She said she was going to get air, but it appears that she left Besaid. I just hope she didn't do anything stupid, like going to confront Shuyin."
Gippal's mouth gaped open and he stopped breathing for a fraction of a second. He slowly raised himself to a more straight sitting position, "Shuyin…is back?"
"Oh no…don't tell me you have memory loss." Paine said, sitting down next to Gippal again, "We were counting on your testimony at his trial."
"Testimony…? Trial…? What did he do this time?"
Paine put her head in her hands and sighed, "You do have memory loss."
"No I don't." retorted Gippal as he scratched his head thoughtfully, "I just don't know what Shuyin did. Why is he back? What happened to Tidus?"
Paine said, "If you don't have memory loss, then why can't you remember what Shuyin did to you?"
Gippal was simply dumbfounded. He sat there for several minutes thinking about what he remembered. Rikku had been intent on seducing him and when that didn't work she shoved him down the stairs and beat him with a bottle.
Where did Shuyin fit into this…?
"Shuyin didn't do anything to me." Gippal said to Paine.
Paine seemed a little surprised, "But we found him in the room with you and you were practically dead!"
"But he didn't do anything to me."
She sighed, "Then who shoved you down the stairs? Who broke a bottle over your face? Who would have done something so heinous?"
Gippal bit his lower lip until it started to bleed, then he stared into Paine's crimson eyes, "Rikku pushed me…"
---------------------.
Cid was angry. He stormed into his office at Home and slammed the door behind him, but that only caused the ceiling to crack and more curses to fly from his mouth. Home wasn't completely rebuilt yet and there were definitely things the Al Bhed were going to have to look into…
Like the shoddy workmanship on the ceilings.
Cid sat down in his chair behind his desk and slammed his fists down on the wooden object before him. If only there were fiends prowling around. He could take his anger out on them. Or maybe Zanarkand…but Yuna had told him off about that and the monkey's now ran it.
He didn't have anything to take his mind off what was happening.
The boy he'd thought of as a son for almost 20 years had been lying about what he was for that same amount of time. Cid had always felt sorry for Gippal. His mother had told them that his father had died before the two of them had moved to Home. Cid had taken care of Gippal and his mother, Cubrea, like they were his family. He'd even fancied himself in love with Cubrea after Rikku's mother had died, but had only been on, what the Yevonites called, the rebound.
And in all those years, neither had told him of Gippal's heritage! They'd gone about pretending that Gippal was a full-blooded Al Bhed when he was nothing more than a Yevonite's bastard child!!
And now Cid's own daughter was madly in love with the ingrate and Cid himself had let it happen when he thought that Gippal was the best Al Bhed he'd ever come across. The best person in Spira.
"Shit!" cursed Cid, slamming his fists into the desk again until his knuckles cracked and began to bleed softly. For years he'd let Gippal in on secret Al Bhed information thinking that he was one of them and for years Gippal let him spill classified information. The damned fake had probably run the information right back to the Yevonites! Maybe that was how the Guado found where Home was!
"I'll be damned if I let him get away with helping the enemy!" Cid shouted, "Treason is against the law!! He'll pay for this!"
The door to Cid's office opened slowly, "Excuse me, Cid." Whispered the young Al Bhed woman, "You have a phone call from Luca."
Cid grunted and the girl walked out. Grabbing the receiver roughly, Cid hissed, "What…?"
"Sir," came the voice on the other end. The man sounded strained, "My name is Maurice Vengo. I am a guard at Luca prison."
"Yeah, what about it?"
"I just wanted to inform you that your prisoner escaped several hours ago."
Cid's head just about exploded. He shot out of the chair and leaned over his desk as if doing that would make things better, "What?! How the hell did that happen?! He was supposed to be heavily guarded!!!!!"
"He was sir, but he had help in his escape."
"Who?!"
"The High Summoner, Yuna."