Chapter Three
Fueled by Flames
It turned out that by 'help me clean up,' Gippal had really meant 'watch me instruct the remaining Machine Faction members on how to clean up themselves.' Did you honestly believe that Gippal would do the job himself?
We were back on board the Celsius in no time.
The four plus one spread themselves throughout the bridge, which was starting to become overcrowded. Brother had returned to his position by now as well, and when he turned to see the new addition to their party, sparks flew.
"Oui pnuikrdGippal pylg fedr oui!" he shouted, jumping up from his seat and hurrying over to stand directly in the center of the bridge. "Fro tet oui pnehkGippal pylg fedr oui?" (You brought Gippal back with you! Why did you bring Gippal back with you?)
Rikku's hands flew to her hips and she stalked closer to Brother, placing herself directly in his face. "Ra ec lusehk du Bikanel fedr ic!" she stated, her tone of voice displaying her unwillingness to compromise. (He is coming to Bikanel with us!)
"E fuh'd ryja ed!" Brother folded his arms across his chest, huffing and puffing. He spun around, turning his back to Rikku, who in turn placed her palms on his back and shoved. Brother stumbled forward. "I said no! It's my airship, and I don't want this jerk riding on it!" (I won't have it.)
Rikku growled in response, however, immediately stopping when she felt Gippal's hand on her arm. She shook it free, shooting a warning glare in his direction. Gippal backed away, his hands going up in a signal of peace.
"Just trying to calm you down," he said, keeping his cool. Shrugging once, he turned to address Brother. "If it means that much to you, I don't have to go," he paused, a slight smirk crossing over his face, "but then everyone here can't go without me." Gippal's expression became blank, giving off a slight false sense of sympathy.
Brother started to nod and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Yuna had hurried to his side. "Brother, please," she looked at him with big, sad eyes, "I really want to see the temple."
A sound of uncertainty droning off his tongue, Brother looked from Yuna to Gippal and back to Yuna again. His hard expression melted at the sight of her. He couldn't be the one to make her upset, even if it meant letting Gippal, scum of Spira ride on his airship. He sighed in his defeat, throwing his arms into the air. "Fine," he swatted at nothing and turned to sulk back to his position at the front of the ship, but not without first making one last demand of Gippal, "but only if he rides out on the deck!" He turned his nose upward. "Dra csamm pudranc sa." (The smell bothers me.)
Gippal shrugged again, unfazed by the insults. "If that's the way you want it, chief." With those words, he left the bridge.
Rikku stared after him, her eyes ablaze. She pointed a finger at Brother. "Oui lyh pa cilr y sayhea, oui ghuf?" (You can be such a meanie, you know?)
"Eh," Brother made the sound as if he could care less.
Sensing the tension in the air, Buddy changed the subject. "Destination Bikanel Desert," he declared, switching some buttons on the console in front of him. He turned to look at the remaining party members from over his shoulder. "We should arrive in a few hours."
Sticking her tongue out at Brother's back, Rikku started to exit the bridge. "I'm going to go check up on Gippal," she announced and disappeared.
Tidus watched after her, starting to become slightly antsy. "What's the deal with that guy anyway?" he asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.
Paine stepped towards Tidus, remembering Gippal as a good friend to her. She remembered his cocky tendencies, of course, but she also remembered his kindness. Gippal was self sacrificing even if he didn't come across that way. After all, he'd wanted to protect Spira even when all of its people were against him and who he was, Al Bhed.
"He's arrogant," Paine stated abruptly and went on to add, "but he's not bad." She nodded once, her eyes appearing somewhat distant. A gruff and exaggerated sigh could be heard from somewhere in Brother's direction.
"Yeah," Yuna agreed, continuing Paine's nod, "his heart is in the right place."
"He was – " Tidus started, but his voice faltered when he realized Brother could hear him. Leaning in close to Yuna and Paine, he spoke quietly, "He was eyeing Rikku, back when we were fighting that machina. I saw him with my own two eyes!" Starting to get excited, his voice rose. "I knew that look. I mean I used to have that same look around hot – " he stopped, quickly glancing at Yuna, "around girls like Rikku."
Paine shook her head. "What do you expect?" she asked Tidus. "He's Gippal. He's a guy." Pausing, she placed a hand on her hip and pushed a strand of her silver locks away from her face with the other. "He looked at Yuna that same way when he first met her up close."
Yuna gasped, a hand rising to her petite yet now gaping mouth. "Paine!" she exclaimed.
Paine rolled her ruby eyes. "Yuna," she said pointedly, "you know he was."
A slight color rose to Yuna's cheeks, but this time she kept quiet.
Tidus shook his head, his dirty blonde locks bouncing with the motion. He sidestepped the sidetrack in their conversation. "I still don't know what to think about this guy. He makes me uneasy."
"Me too," Yuna breathed distractedly, but she soon brought herself back to the situation at hand, "but Tidus, really. I don't think Gippal would do anything to hurt Rikku. He's known her longer than you have."
Tidus shrugged his shoulders, giving into the two women for now. If they seemed to trust this Gippal, than maybe he could too. But nevertheless he was going to keep an eye on Gippal, one eye on Gippal and the other on Rikku. If Rikku was into Gippal, and Gippal was looking at Rikku with that one eye if his, there was no telling what could happen.
The hatch slid open, emanating a droning sound from the ship. Gippal, sitting at the deck's edge with his knees against his chest, looked over his shoulder to see Rikku reach the top of the stairs. She too stepped out onto the deck, her boots making a soft pattering sound as she jogged all the way down to where he was. The hatch clicked shut behind her.
"Brother kick you off the ship too?" he asked with a sly smirk.
"No, I – " Rikku paused, coming to a stop because she didn't even know the real reason for her being there. Well, she had a feeling. She had a feeling that the others were right and she really did still have feelings for Gippal. "No," she finally said.
Gippal squinted up at her, letting out a chuckle. "Okay then," he said still laughing. Once he'd caught his breath, he slid over on the deck, leaving some room next to him. "Have a seat, Rikku," he said, patting the metal that was the airship.
Rikku hadn't even registered what Gippal had meant. He'd said her name. Gippal had actually called her by her name, not Cid's girl, not Kid, but Rikku. He'd called her Rikku.
"Um," Gippal started, eyeing her oddly with his one good eye, "Rikku?"
He'd said it again, but this time Rikku was able to shake out of her thoughts. "Hmm? What?" she asked, snapping to. Rikku glanced at Gippal, her gaze trailing down his arm to the bare spot on the deck next to him. "Oh," she breathed, blushing, "yeah, sorry." Scrambling down onto the deck, Rikku tried to keep her cheeks from becoming even redder.
Gippal looked at her, seeing her flushed face. He wasn't so sure that he understood it, but in a way he welcomed it. "So," he began awkwardly, not exactly knowing what to say. He let silence reign for a while, when his mind finally settled on something that should be said. "Thanks for helping me out back there," he told her, beginning to tap his foot against the airship. Rikku smiled, happy at the fact that Gippal had gone against his own I-don't-need-anyone's-help-ever nature. "I mean," Gippal went on, "I'm sure I could have had the situation under control myself – "
Aw, Rikku thought, he should have stopped there.
However, Gippal went on, "but I'm glad you showed up at that second."
"Yeah," Rikku quipped, injecting a sarcastic comment into their conversation, "ugyo, frydajan oui cyo." She glanced at him through the corner of her swirling eyes and then proceeded to roll them at him. (Okay, whatever you say.)
"What?" Gippal caught her unwillingness to believe. "Do you have a problem with me or something? I'm sensing more hostility from you than from a practicing Yevonite back during the days of Sin." He kicked his foot down onto the airship, settling its tapping.
"No!" Rikku replied quickly. She didn't want him to think that she hated him, but she didn't want him to think that she liked him either. In fact, she wasn't sure what she wanted him to think. "Why? Is there a reason that I should?"
"No!" Gippal answered just as quickly as she had. He felt dumb now that he'd answered so fast and tried to regain his composure with a quick comeback. "If there had been I wouldn't have asked." He looked at her smugly, not allowing any evidence to reach the surface that he mentally cursed himself for dishing the weakest comeback ever.
Slowly his smug expression began to melt as he watched Rikku. Was he being a complete jerk? Hesitating, he wondered if he should drop the tough guy Gippal act. He turned his body sideways to face her. Still, even after a year of seeing her every so often, he couldn't believe how much she'd grown up since the days when he used to know her as a kid, as Cid's little girl. Since the days of Sin.
He supposed they'd both grown up since then. Maybe they'd matured as well. Sneaking a peek into Rikku's bright, still childlike eyes, he cancelled that last thought. No, they were both still awfully immature. Even still, Gippal couldn't resist thinking that things between them had changed a lot. And it wasn't just the time passing that changed them.
He remembered the day that he had told everyone at Home of his plans to try out for the Crimson Squad. He was only sixteen, and Rikku, she was still just fifteen. They'd grown up together. He would even have gone as far as to call her his best friend. Of course he wouldn't have admitted to any of the other Al Bhed boys that his best friend was a girl, but he would admit it now, to himself.
Rikku had hated him for leaving her, hated him so much that she took off with three of their other friends on an old watership that they'd salvaged together even with the ever-present threat of the lingering Sin. When she'd realized that she wouldn't be able to make him change his mind, Rikku had been determined to win, to be the first one to leave the other. The day she was to leave, she'd stormed up to him and told him that she never wanted to see him again. Then, she did something that remained in Gippal's mind as one of his clearest memories, a memory that he revisited now.
"Rikku," he said her name again, and she snapped to his attention. "Why did you do it?"
She stared at him blankly, clueless as to the subject of his question. "Do what?" she asked, shaking her head. "Gippal, you're not making any sense!"
"Leave," he returned, pausing and then jumping into an entire accusation. "Yell at me for wanting to leave, wanting to save Spira, wanting to help – to do something selfless for once. You yourself even used to complain how I only did things for myself, and then the one thing I wanted to do for everyone else in the world, even though most of it hated who I was, who we are. That one good thing, you hated me for it." He turned away, staring out into the oncoming sky. He heaved a gruff sigh and pushed himself to his feet. Now with his back to her, he spoke again. "Rikku, why did you kiss me?"
Rikku's jaw dropped as she gaped at his back. She hadn't even thought he remembered that. After all, it was three years ago, and it wasn't anything really. She'd loved him, sure, but she'd gone through life watching him date the other older, prettier Al Bhed girls. And she'd been somewhat okay with that, as long as he was in her life as her friend, her best friend. She winced painfully, knowing that Gippal had thought she hated him. Well, she had, or at least she had convinced herself that she did. For the sake of chocobos, he had wanted to leave Home, to leave her. At the time, she'd thought he was going off to some unknown destiny where he'd probably get killed. She couldn't bear to lose him, and he hadn't even cared about what she thought about it. No one ever thought about Rikku. She was just this happy-go-lucky little blonde Al Bhed girl. What about Rikku? She wanted to scream it out loud. Rikku has feelings too.
Scrambling to her feet, Rikku ran up to Gippal and jabbed an accusing finger into the small of his back. Jumping, Gippal spun around to face her. "Hey, pal," she started, glaring at him and still waving her finger at him. "I left because I wanted you to know how it felt!" she shouted, her voice far surpassing the noise of the airship and the noise of the clouds whizzing by them. "I yelled at you because I would have done anything to make you stay!" She stomped her foot, feeling the same feelings that once existed in her rising again. Inhaling deeply, she went on further into her explanations, "and for that same reason, I kissed you. I thought maybe if you knew I really liked you, you would stay." She now pulled her finger away, holding it behind her back with her other hand. "And, you big, dumb shoopuff, I didn't hate you!" she blurted. "I liked you, okay? I liked you." Her voice quieting, she looked away. "I thought you would have known that."
"Well I didn't!" Gippal yelled in frustration, matching Rikku's previous volume.
"Even after I kissed you?" Rikku demanded, placing her hands on her hips. Only now did her eyes return to view his face. He seemed flustered, definitely not cool.
Gippal rolled his head backward and threw his hands up at the sky. "Well, I kind of started to wonder then!" Sighing, he tried to settle down. Sometimes dealing with Rikku was difficult, too difficult for him to handle. "Why didn't you tell me before that? If I would have known …" His voice trailed off, and he wasn't sure of how to finish his sentence.
"What?" Rikku wanted to know. "What would you have done?" She shook her head at him, being her same as always stubborn self. "You wouldn't have done anything differently, Gippal," she spoke his name as if it were a curse word, "because you didn't think about me that way. You never did, and you never will."
"You don't know that," he sneered back at her, questioning her readiness to pretend she knew him. How could she speak for him? How could she know? She couldn't, and she didn't.
"Oh yeah?" Rikku wrinkled her nose and narrowed her eyes at him. "What would you have done then?"
"I … I – " Gippal's words failed him for once in his life. "I don't know!" he exclaimed, his voice breaking. "Maybe I would if you'd given me the chance."
"Tuh'd keja sa dryd!" she exploded, spinning in her place and running across the deck, away from him. Now standing at the opposite edge of the airship, she pulled her eyes closed. (Don't give me that!)
Gippal growled, frustrated beyond belief. He wondered how she could do this to him, and he couldn't decide how it was possible that she brought him to a point like this or how she did it so easily. But he didn't have long to wonder, as Rikku suddenly gasped.
"Gippal!" she shouted. "Gippal! Gippal, come here quick!" He turned to look at her tiny form. She was jumping up and down waving her hands at him frantically. Fear was grasping every feature on her face.
It was amazing how he'd been so angry with her seconds beforehand, and now, all he wanted to do was run to her rescue.
"What?" he called back, hurrying to her side. "What's wr – " He stopped, dropping his voice as he stared off the edge of the airship and down into the desert which now flew below them.
Fire sprang up from various machina. Every single hut in this gathering of the desert was on flames. This section of the desert wasn't the one that they were headed for. In fact, it was no where near that part, but Gippal recognized this area as one of the Machine Faction's other camps at Bikanel. It was located just near an oasis, and he could see tiny figures running to and from the oasis, probably getting water to attempt to put out the flames. Though, he couldn't see that as being any help, the fires were just too large and too out of control.
"Everyone to the bridge!" they heard Buddy's voice crackle over the ship's intercom.
Brother's voice followed. "Not Gippal! Everyone except for Gippal!"
A thwomping sound, then a thudding sound and a groan were heard, and Buddy's voice returned. "No, Gippal too, especially Gippal."
Everyone else had seen the fires too. You had wanted to help the people down in the camp, and Gippal agreed. No one understood how the fires had started, and all we knew was that we could help get everyone out. So, that's what we did.