Final Fantasy: The Chronicles Of Paine Chapter Seven
"Paine, wake up!" Yuna's outline faded into view. "Paine, please....."
Paine opened her crimson eyes, squinting through the dimly lit cockpit of the Celsius.
"What happened?" Paine managed to groan.
"The ship crashed. Gippal thinks it was sabotage," Yuna said, guiding Paine to her feet. The front windshield of the airship was destroyed, and sand had flooded inside. The only light that filled the room came from Shinra's computer screen, though it flickered slightly.
"What do you mean sabotage?" Paine queried.
"Gippal found pieces of a bomb near the engine. Turns out it wasn't the fuel line," Yuna sighed.
"Do we know who put it there?" Paine asked.
"We're not sure. It's been hard to figure out anything with it being so dark in here, and Gippal and Cloud are in the engine room with the only flashlights onboard," Yuna said.
"We need to find a way out of here, and then we can ask the Al Bhed for help," Paine declared.
"How? We're under Bikanel!" Yuna said.
"So we dig. Beats the hell out of dying down here," Paine said, moving toward the front window. "We can dig our way out of the ship. From there, we'll need to find somebody to pull the Celsius out. Get upstairs to the cabin and see if Barkeep has anything we can use to dig."
"I'm on it," Yuna ran to the elevator and went to the cabin room. Paine walked over to Shinra's computer and tried to use it. To her amazement, she managed to access a network.
I can call Cid for help, she thought. She accessed her account and typed up a small message for Cid:
"Cid,
I'm with the Gullwings, and we've had some technical difficulties with the Celsius. Actually, we've crashed into Bikanel Island, and are trapped beneath the sand. We need all the help we can get on getting this thing back in the air. I'm not sure of the exact location, so just look for a crater or something. Everyone is ok, but we won't be if we don't get out of here. Send help ASAP.
-Paine"
Paine clicked send. In a matter of hours, Cid would be here, and he could tow the Celsius out of the ground with his airship. Until then, they would be sitting ducks.
Yuna entered the bridge, carrying an arm-full of shovels and dumped them on the floor in front of her.
"Nice work," Paine said, snatching one up in her hand. "Now go get everybody else to come help us out." Paine went back over to where the sand had leaked in and began to dig. She had to break away some of the windshield, because the hole would not be suffiently large enough to crawl out of. She had dug several feet up, and became frustrated when the tunnel kept caving in.
"Fuck," she muttered softly under her breath. Yuna returned once more, being followed by Cloud, Gippal, Brother and Buddy.
"We should let the men do the work," Yuna said, handing a shovel to each of the four guys. "You shouldn't have any problems, because you're big strong men," Yuna giggled. Brother grinned from ear to ear.
"Except you, Brother. You're a pansy. Now get to work,". Brother sadly shuffled over to the digging site along with Cloud, Gippal and Buddy. Paine dropped her shovel and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
"I sent a message to Cid," She sighed. The room fell silent.
"Cid?" Yuna asked.
"Yeah, so?" Paine looked at Yuna quizzically.
"I thought father died!" Brother started to cry.
"No no no. Cid had to fake his own death, just like me, before he could start this spy team. You are not to tell anybody I told you. Do not worry, he's going to be here later to get the Celsius out of the ground. Brother had the oddest look on his face. He seemed to be angered and saddened at the same time.
"Does Rikku know he's alive?" Brother asked quietly.
"No, I must tell her when we meet her. Do not say anything about this before I do," Paine ordered. Brother returned to his digging.
"I guess I never told the everybody about what you are doing..." Yuna said darkly.
"So what happened after I blacked out, anyway?" Paine asked.
"Mm, well, a support beam hit you in the back of the head when we crashed, and then you fell to the floor. I guess everybody was pretty rattled from the impact. You were out for about forty five minutes, and when Shinra came to, he sent out an SOS beacon. Obviously, nobody got the signal with us being trapped under all this sand," Yuna said.
"So anyway, why do you think someone would want to sabotage the ship"? Paine asked.
"I don't know," Yuna sighed, apparently deep in thought.
"It could have been that man who's chasing me," Paine guessed.
"Vivi. Yes, he's apparently been out to get you. I'm not sure who he's working for though. I checked the history on his phone calls on his cell phone, but he was wise enough to get rid of it,"
Paine said nothing. The four men kept digging away the sand, and became excited when they noticed some light fading through. They frantically dug the tunnel so it became wider and soon they had a bright beam of sunlight flooding into the ship's control room. "Let's go," Cloud grunted, wiping some sand from his blonde spikes of hair. The guys managed to clamber out of the hole, and found themselves standing in the middle of the Bikanel Desert, and conveniently right near the Home construction site. Paine, Yuna and Shinra followed after Gippal, Cloud, Brother and Buddy. They were about to start walking away when they heard a familiar voice echoing behind them from within the ship.
"Pleashe don't leave me inshide the Shelshiush!" Barkeep cried. He came to the hole, but was too short to climb out.
"Let me help you," Buddy grunted. He reached down into the hole and grabbed the Hypello by the paw. Straining, he managed to pull the creature from the sandy hole.
"That'sh much better," Barkeep let out a sigh of relief.
"Ok, so what do we do now?" Cloud asked, looking around.
"We need to find Rikku," Yuna said.
"Now don't forget, we're parked under the giant mound of sand," Paine muttered. The Gullwings walked toward the giant Al Bhed structure of Home. It had really evolved since the time Cid leveled it five years before.
"I sure hope they have a place to eat in there," Brother complained. The team thought they heard a fiend sneaking up behind them, when really it was his stomach growling. They continued on until they reached the construction site.
"Good day to you. We are the Gullwings, and we're looking for a girl named Rikku. Do you know her?" Yuna asked a worker.
"Yeah, she's in that tent over there," The man pointed to a worker's tent that was evidently used for sleeping and other stuff.
"You guys just wait here," Yuna said. Her and Paine walked into the tent and saw someone sitting at a desk. The person's back was turned to them, and they couldn't see the worker's head because they were wearing a hood.
"Rikku?" Yuna tapped on the person's back. The person whipped around to face them. The person's face was hidden in shadow, and they could not tell who it was.
"What do you want?" The person spoke in a dark and moody tone.
"Are you Rikku?" Yuna asked nervously.
"Hmm, if you like. At least that is what some people call me," The person spoke in a cold manner. The person grabbed her hood and pulled it down. Yuna and Paine gasped at the sight.
"I guess you're here to judge me as well?" Rikku asked quietly. Rikku was no longer the sweet blonde everybody loved. She had changed alot over three years. She no longer had beautiful blonde hair. She had coloured it a silvery black, much like Paine. She also wore contact lenses, because she no longer had bright vibrant green eyes. Now, her eyes were an icy blue. They were so frigid that they seemed to freeze the pit of one's soul.
"Rikku, what have you done to yourself?!" Yuna asked, starting to cry.
"I know that my father is alive. I know he did not really die. It is because he has left me and Brother to live on our own that I have become depressed and unwanted. The only people who care for me are the people here at Home. Father left Brother and I when we needed him the most. And then, I find out that he's faked his own death, as if to say, we are a burden to him, and so he must make us forget about him," Rikku said darkly.
"Rikku,.....Your father, Cid, faked his own death so that he could become a spy. What he has done may not have been right, to leave you and Brother, but he is helping make Spira a better place. I know, because I work with him. I can understand why you feel this way, because my parents died because of Sin when I was very young. I was raised by many people. I knew I could not go on, fighting my emotions and hating the world and being selfish. I knew I needed to move on. Yes, it is because of my life that I've become the way I am. You know, dressing this way, and having a negative attitude. But, that was my choice, not because of my parents' death. Cid cares about you and Brother, very much. He became a spy so that he could protect Spira, along with you two. And I know he had regret, and that it broke his heart to do that, but it wasn't necessarily the wrong thing to do either. I chose my lifestyle, and so can you. You are who you want to be,"
Rikku wiped away a tear in her eye.
"And what you need to do," Paine continued, "Is change your lifestyle habits. The old Rikku was so happy-go-lucky, and never let anything get her down. But now, you are living in a dark and deep hole of despair, and it will only get darker if you allow it,"
"If that's true, then why don't YOU change?" Rikku asked.
"Because this is me, or rather who I have become. You are wearing a disguise. You aren't fooling anybody, and it will only make you feel worse if you stay this way. I think what you need is to get out of the desert for a while. Yuna and I are investigating some things having to do with Sin, and we could sure use another hand," Paine offered.
"I need to think about this for a while," Rikku sighed.
"That's fine. You have lots of time anyway, because we need to get the Celsius fixed up before we can fly again," Paine said, wiping some sand off her pants.