A/N: I'm sick. Ouch, my poor throat. Anyway, thanks for the reviews! They make me so happy. This story is almost done. But I'll probably drag it on longer than necessary, hehe…
Bandit's Hideout, Moonflow Pass
Rikku's eyes fluttered open, and she felt an ache that was traveling throughout her whole body. She moaned, closed her eyes, and scrunched herself into a little ball. Where was she? How had she gotten there? Where was…where was Gippal?
"Sunny! Sunny, she's awake!"
"What did I say about calling me Sunny, Liam? It's Boss."
"Sorry…Boss."
Rikku's spine went stiff as she heard the all too familiar voices. Her first thoughts were pretend to be dead. She couldn't exactly do that, so she pretended to still be unconscious. Rikku still didn't remember how she had gotten where she was. All she knew was that she could not trust Sunny, Liam, and Bilak.
"Poke her," Sunny commanded. Something that felt like a stick jabbed Rikku sharply in the ribs. She clenched her teeth, but didn't move her body. "You call that a poke, Bilak? For God's sake, stab her with the stick!"
Rikku felt an even sharper pain in her side, and she couldn't help but allow a quiet whimper of pain to escape through her lips.
"What a little actress," Sunny muttered, and Rikku heard someone stepping close to her. Then she was being jostled around, her whole head shaking rapidly on her shoulders.
"Get up, get up, get up!" Sunny cried in a sing-song voice. Rikku unwillingly opened her eyes. Then the night before came whirling around in her head, and she saw the net, she saw Gippal leaving her, she saw Wynter, and she saw…
"Sunny," she managed to spit out, glaring at him shakily. Sunny only smirked cockily.
"Hello Al Bhed Princess. Feeling strong today? Feeling ready for a fight?"
Rikku's pale, shaky hand automatically went for her thief blades – but there was nothing around her waist. She nervously glanced down to see her blades and belt with all the pockets taken away.
"We wouldn't want you attacking us now, would we?" As Sunny laughed, Rikku felt like crying. She had no weapons. She couldn't even fight these guys. If she could have, she would kick their butts in less than ten minutes. But instead of crying, Rikku sucked in her cheeks and acted brave.
"I don't need weapons to win, backstabber," Rikku shot at him. Sunny gave a mock gasp.
"You forgot to say hello just as kindly to Liam and Bilak!" He said, motioning over the two men, who were clearly trying to look anywhere but Rikku.
"Hello," Rikku said coolly, biting back the comment that was sitting on the tip of her tongue.
"Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to go make some plans. Try to get comfortable, sweetie. It won't last long. Soon you'll be headed to the Big Boss." Sunny cackled at his statement, whirling around and leading a quiet Liam and Bilak behind him.
"Don't call me sweetie," Rikku snarled, but Sunny didn't hear her, which was too bad.
Soon the trio were gone, and Rikku took this time to gaze at her surroundings. A chain was tied around her left ankle, and the peg was bolted to the wall. The weird thing was that the walls and floors were made out of a kind of stone, but Rikku could clearly tell it was strong. There was no ripping the peg out of the wall.
"I'm so stupid," Rikku moaned, sitting down calmly. "I missed Gippal. I didn't make it…" The memory of when she was younger floated through her mind, but she forced herself to stay calm and brave. "I can't show any emotions other than happiness. They'll be quick to judge. I need to escape. I need to go find Gippal, and tell him about Athilda. Augh, this is getting worse and worse…"
And then Rikku heard a shrill scream from down the hall Sunny, Liam, and Bilak had trotted down. Rikku gazed out curiously, a worried expression on her face. There was someone else here?
"QUIET, YOU!" Sunny roared at the thing, and then the sound of something like a stick being thrown echoed down the hall. Rikku brought her legs closer and hugged her shins, rocking slowly back and forth with her chin propped up on her knees. Someone was here, and they were being tortured! How cruel!
"We won't need heranymore soon, boys." Rikku heard Sunny's voice say quietly as they walked past Rikku's little area at the end of the hall, which was sort of like a crevice in the stone. "She's no use to us now, so we might as well kill her."
"Kill her!" Bilak cried, shocked.
"Boss, you never said we were going to kill her!"
"Hey, we left the two on the boat to die, remember? You didn't seem too worried then."
"That's because you planned it! We didn't have anything to do with it-"
Sunny cut Bilak off with a Look. "Quiet around the tool," he barked, and the other two went obediently quiet. They didn't start talking until they had passed Rikku's crevice.
Tool? She thought numbly. I'm a tool now, huh?
"Gippal…" She managed to mumble out. "I really miss you…"
………
"Welcome to Guadosalam!" A Guado said in a comfortingly slow voice. Gippal waved them away with his free hand, the other still clutched around Athilda's wrist. The two were sopping wet, having just run through the Thunder Plains at lightning speed, no pun intended. Macalania Woods had, once again, proved to be peaceful, except for Athilda's continuous sobs. Finally the two were in Guadosalam, and Athilda kept saying she needed to rest.
"Let's stop at the hotel…"
"No," Gippal snapped.
"Please?"
"NO."
"But…I'm so tired…"
"That's what you get for lying and backstabbing people," Gippal growled, knowing it didn't make much sense. "Now hurry up, we're almost at the Moonflow."
Athilda immediately rooted her feet to the ground, shaking her head back and forth uncontrollably. "No…no. No. No, No. No, No…"
"Shut up and move!" Gippal cried, exasperated. But Athilda wouldn't budge. Gippal wasn't even sure if the spy had heard her. He sighed, rubbing at his forehead wearily. "All right. You asked for it."
In one swift movement Gippal had Athilda's small body overtop his shoulder. She began to scream in protest, pummeling his back with her fists, tears streaming down her face. The Guado only watched helplessly as Gippal strode past, anger clearly visible by the smoke emitting his ears.
"I told you be quiet, so this is what you get for not coming of your own free will!"
"It was never my free will, you've been dragging me along this whole time," Athilda snapped in a tone not often heard from her. Gippal only answered her with silence, praying that Rikku had stayed in Djose.
"So tell me more about why you became Saleed's spy. Did he pity you? Did he promise you things you've always wanted? Like being normal? Did he actually give you something? What was it? And why does he want Rikku?"
"I thought you knew," Athilda barely mumbled.
Gippal ground his teeth together. "So Saleed told you that I knew why he wanted Rikku, eh?"
Athilda merely shrugged. "Maybe."
"Well, why did you become his spy, then? You still haven't answered that question."
"Maybe I don't want to."
"And maybe I don't want you to keep living. Maybe I'll just throw your little traitoring butt into the waters of the Moonflow and drown you. And truth be told, I'm not afraid to kill someone, even if they are a girl." Gippal was glad to see his speech caused a small whimper to escape from Athilda.
"I – he – just don't…don't let him hurt her."
"Rikku?" Gippal gave a sharp laugh as Gippal strode quickly through the wooded path towards the Moonflow. "I doubt you care about Rikku-"
"NOT RIKKU!" Athilda finally screeched. Gippal was a little surprised by the intensity of her voice. She took a deep, shuddering breath. "Just – just let me down and I'll tell you."
Gippal hesitated, knowing every second would cost him. "I'm still walking, no matter what," he snapped. Athilda nodded.
"Drag me by the wrist, I don't care, just please let me down."
Gippal did so, dropping her rather ungraciously onto her bottom. He grabbed her wrist and yanked her up about a nanosecond later. "Okay, you're off, now tell me." Gippal began walking quickly down the path, and he knew it was taking all Athilda had to keep up. He could hear her footsteps skittering on the ground, her feet tripping over each other out of pure exhaustion.
"If I don't help him, he'll hurt…her."
"Who's her?" Gippal asked, his voice not as menacing as before.
Athilda answered him with silence. "I can't…I'm afraid she may already be dead."
Gippal stayed silent, wondering who could be so important to Athilda. "What did he do to her?"
"He – he took her. He said he had heard of me, and knew my magic could be of…of some sort of use. That's what he told me later. So he took the only person in my life important to me. The only person who still cared about me, no matter of my strange magic."
Gippal was getting curious in spite of his anger and hate towards Athilda. "Who was she?"
"Who is she," Athilda corrected. Gippal sighed and rolled his eye.
"Fine, who is she?"
"She – she's my sister."
………
Rikku sighed, rubbing at her eyes tiredly. She grabbed the chain that was keeping her leg tied to the pole in the wall, and began yelling at it.
"You stupid hunk of metal! You weren't made to hold people hostage! Lemme go! Please? I wanna go home. I wanna see Gippal. I promise to be good if you just please, please let me go?"
The chain, of course, didn't answer. Rikku sighed again. She was going delirious. She had only been kept hostage for, at the most, two days. The only reason she was going crazy was because she didn't have her weapons to protect her, and she could hear Sunny down the hall going on and on about how the Big Boss was coming to inspect Rikku. And Rikku really, really didn't want to meet the man. She was afraid it would be Saleed, and if it was Saleed, that would mean she was going to die.
Rikku's ears perked, and she listened for any noise. Rikku had made a plan in her mind earlier that day to investigate the mysterious screamer. Bilak had passed her earlier to tend to the person, and Rikku desperately wanted to know whom it was.
"Sunny?" She called. No one answered. "Bilak? Liam?" She paused, and no one answered. No rustle of movement or anything down the hall opposite of the Screamer. "I'm free, guys! Look, I'm running down the hall to freedom!" Rikku giggled at her own stupidity, but thankfully no one answered. Time to investigate.
She peered over the wall of her crevice so her head was poking out in the hallway. About twenty feet down the hall was the Screamer's crevice. At least, that was Rikku's estimate.
"Hello?" She whispered down the hall. She was greeted with silence. "Well, hi anyway. My name's Rikku. Sorry to bother you if you're sleeping or something, but I'm also being held captive, and I'm about to be murdered in a day or two by the Big Boss, as the trio over there like to call him. Actually, they don't seem to be here right now, that's why I wanted to talk to you. What's your name? Actually, you don't have to tellme that, it's probably too personal and you're probably a little freaked out enough by Sunny, Liam, and Bilak. Yes, I know them. Oddly enough, they used to be my best friends." Rikku let out a short laugh, realizing how much her life had changed. "Yea, me and them went on a big diving journey, got separated, and that's when they turned evil. Now they want me for something, and they keep calling me a tool. At least, that's what they called me on the boat back when I was still with Gippal, the Machine Faction Leader. Well, actually, it was on a little piece of paper, and someone had called me the tool…"
"Stop," a hoarse voice answered suddenly. Rikku clamped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide with shock. She hadn't actually thought someone would answer her babbling.
"Okay," Rikku answered meekly.
"You…you talk too much," the dry voice said, and then it gave a dark chuckle. Rikku's eyebrows rose up past her bangs.
"Er – you okay?" She had a feeling she was dealing with a mad woman. At least, it sounded like a woman. She couldn't be sure.
"Okay? That's the understatement of the century," the voice said darkly, and Rikku was getting a little nervous. "After all," the voice continued, "I've been tortured over the past number of months, forced to give information about things I don't even know about. They barely keep me alive, but I'm here to keep…someone working for them. I'm the bait on the hook. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be here, Lady Rikku. I'm – I'm pretty sure of that." Then the voice chuckeld again, and Rikku felt something like pity deep in her heart.
"What's your name?" She asked again. The girl didn't answer at first.
"My name is…is Karren."
Rikku pursed her lips. Karren. That name sounded vaguely familiar, but she didn't press the girl.
"So…how come I'm here because of you? That seems a little far-fetched."
"It's actually not because of me. The three evil men use me as bait for my…my little sister. She's a little different, and they torture me and hurt me just so they can send messages to my sister telling her about all the horrible things they do to me. The worse she feels, the better she'll do the job they assigned her. I…I was the only one who still looked at my sister when she was little. Everyone else loathed her because she was different, but I loved her with all of my heart, and I went with her when she went to go find help. But they…they didn't take her in. Bevelle…they didn't take her." Karren coughed and then Rikku heard another sardonic chuckle. "Sorry if my sister…if my sister lied. She's only hurting you because she's…she's trying to save me."
Rikku's eyes widened. "Karren, who is your-"
"I'm telling you Bilak, the Auroch's will win the cup this year, now that that Tidus character is a main team member!"
"But without Wakka, they'll be in terrible shape…"
Rikku paled, and she drew her head back into the crevice, trembling with anxiety. Bilak and Liam were coming down the hall. She prayed they hadn't seen her, and she kept her legs tucked in, and she tried her hardest to look like she had been isolated for the longest time.
I wish I could make myself cry, she thought nervously. Someone's head peeked in, and Rikku tried her hardest to look like her whole body ached. She turned her neck an inch to the left to see who it was.
"Liam," was all she said, and he nodded slightly.
"Hello," he said, and Rikku could clearly tell his eyes were nervous. And then he was gone.
At least I learned quite a bit about that Karren girl, Rikku thought, biting the nail of her thumb in thought. I wish I knew where her name was so familiar though…I mean, she's talking about her sister. I've never even MET her sister, that's just too crazy…
"Wait," Rikku whispered to herself. She lifted her head, her memory buzzing as she closed her eyes tightly. The name. It was coming back to her…when she had heard it in…in Luca Harbor!
"The only person who has ever cared for me was—was my elder sister, Karren. She came with me when my mom had gotten rid of me."
"Karren!" Rikku whispered. "Her little sister must be Athilda!" And then the huge plot, all the evil and drama headed in Rikku's direction this whole time started to make a bit more sense. Just a bit more sense.
………
"Your sister?" Gippal asked incredulously, and Athilda nodded slightly. Gippal hadn't stopped moving, but his pace was a bit slower when he heard that bit of information. "You mean…?"
"Saleed is keeping my elder sister prisoner."
Gippal cringed. "Wow. That must suck."
"Just a bit. You see, that's why I've been working against you and Lady Rikku. I really, really didn't want to, but if Rikku had been captured and you couldn't do anything about it, wouldn't you do what they told you to?"
Gippal shrugged, knowing the answer was yes. "Maybe," he said quietly.
"Well, Saleed took me after he took my sister, and showed me her cell in this dank, dark cave. She was so sad, and already there were marks on her body from where she had been…been abused. Saleed told me this was my motivation, and if I wanted Karren, that's my sister, to be freed, I had to listen to him and whatever he said. Naturally I did, and he said that my strange magic, first of all, would help him locate his much needed tool, as he called it. He told me to close my eyes and concentrate, and so I did, and I could feel my magic doing something, but I didn't know what. Then he told me to open my eyes, and that was it. I don't know what my magic had done, but I was sent to come and find you and Rikku and give you two a phony note. That's why I was so…so nervous. And then I was supposed to keep an eye on you two so Saleed knew what was going on and could get me to try and prevent anything that might get you away. Then, one day I got a note from him that said I had to try and split you up in the Moonflow. That's why I kept telling you it was smart to send Rikku to Djose. I succeeded, but now you're bringing me back. Karren will be killed for sure now!" Athilda let out a little sob, but Gippal didn't stop.
"I'm sorry that everything was so hard for you Athilda, but my life isn't really peachy either at the moment. So instead of seeing me as your enemy, how about we try and work together to defeat Saleed? Then you're sister will be free, and Rikku will be safe. You know all about how Saleed works, and I – I can kill him," Gippal muttered, his eyes burning with anger once more.
"Ride zee shoopuf?" A Hypello suddenly asked, stepping into Gippal's way. Gippal hadn't realized they were over here already.
"Er – yes please. To the South Moonflow. And fast."
"Okays, jush wait pleash," the Hypello said slowly.
"So what do you say, Athilda?" Gippal asked, turning to look at the girl. He was a bit shocked to see her the way she looked. Her hair was tangled and messy, her skin was dusty and her eyes were red from tears and exhaustion. She looked terrible, but Gippal guessed he looked just the same.
"But he'll kill her," Athilda mumbled.
"Not if we stop him first." Gippal sighed. "Look Athilda, you should be happy I haven't killed you yet. I can see your reasons for wanting to listen to him, but you still ruined my life, and you're putting Rikku in danger. Even if your sister is saved, Rikku will die. That's not much better, if you think about it. So please, even though I'm not one hundred percent happy with you, we still have to work together, all right?"
Athilda was silent. "Fine…but on one condition."
"What?" Gippal asked, as the two were led by a Hypello onto the back of a shoopuf.
"You accept my apology for all the pain I have caused you and Lady Rikku. I know I'll never be able to fix it, and I know you probably still hate me…but please just accept my apology. I'm terribly sorry. Truly, I am."
Gippal sighed. "Fine, fine, I accept it, blah, blah, the end. Hey, can we hurry it up here?" He called to the Shoopuf Driver.
"Shoopuf have one shpeed only, Shir!" the Hypello cried back. Gippal growled and set his face in his hands, tapping his foot nervously. "I can't let her get in danger," said Gippal, unknowing to the danger Rikku was facing just a few minutes away from where Gippal was himself. "I just can't…"
………
Rikku was tugging at her hair, mind racing with new thoughts and revelations. Everything made sense now. Well, except for the little missing thing that told her why in all of Spira Saleed wanted Rikku. That would probably help.
Another scream. Rikku cringed. She couldn't stand it. Not after talking to Karren. Not after knowing her story. Karren was the bait…Karren was here because of Athilda's magic. Rikku was here because of Karren. Athilda must have been the tracking device for Saleed, and that's how they found Rikku, and then she must have told him they split and Rikku went to Djose or something…
Another shriek reverberated off of the stone walls. Rikku's mind exploded. "STOP!" She finally screamed. "STOP RIGHT NOW! NO ONE DESERVES THAT! NO ONE…NO ONE…"
Rikku went silent as she heard an unfamiliar voice in the back. Her spine shivered at its cold hardness. It was almost like nails on a chalkboard.
"Was that...her?" it asked hoarsely.
"Y-Yes, Sir," Sunny answered. Rikku was surprised at how timid he suddenly seemed.
"Lead me to her," the voice croaked.
"But…sir, she isn't ready-"
"LEAD ME TO HER!" It demanded, and it gave off such a feeling of power and evil that Sunny had nothing to do but listen.
"Y-Yes, Sir. This way."
Rikku immediately stood up, ready to fight even without weapons. She could handle anything these guys threw at her! The steps grew louder, and Rikku knew they were coming to her crevice.
"In here, Sir."
"Excellent…"
Rikku balled up her fists, ready to punch the "Sir"…
But she wasn't prepared for what he – or it was. Not prepared at all.
A/N: Eek! It's a boring chapter, I know. I really, really wanted Rikku and Gippal to get together in this chapter, for a certain reason I guess you'll see in the next one. I hope it's starting to make a bit more sense. If not, I'll try to explain things better later on!
Please, please review! I seem to have lost plenty of my reviewers. Sniff.
