Disclaimer: FFX, FFX-2 – neither of them belong to me, I'm just a poor, starving fan : )

A/N: Yes - here it is, the long promised update! First off I just want to say a HUGE thankyou to everyone who has stuck with me through this incredibly LONG non-posting period - it was your support that gave me the incentive to finally finish this damn chapter : ) Secondly, another apology for the wait - I had no idea that university life was going to be so hectic and I've had a lot of other problems that have seriously eaten in to my writing time ... which unfortunately means I can't promise to keep to a weekly posting schedule like I did over the summer.

This chapter is dedicated to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and to those few, brave souls who hung around long enough to read this one!

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Rikku's Story

By: JoeyStar

Timeframe: Set a month or so after the 'perfect' ending of FFX-2

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Chapter 14

It had been ten minutes since the call to Gippal had ended and I was still sitting in the chair, gazing thoughtfully at the blank screen. All this use of the CommSphere network had given me an idea and I was working it over and over in my mind.

Unfortunately, I kept meeting the same stumbling block – the fact that I didn't even know if it was possible.

As if on cue, the door behind me slid open and I craned my neck around to see that Lreav was standing in the doorway.

"Have you finished?" he asked politely.

"No – I just like staring at blank screens," I responded tartly, inwardly wincing at my tone as I rose from the chair and walked over towards him. "It's all yours."

"Rikku – " he reached out and caught my arm as I made to walk past him. I froze and stared down at where his hand touched my skin; a movement that made him flush and release me.

For some reason though, this time I lingered and he seemed to take that as a sign that I was willing to listen to him.

"I know you're upset with me," he said in a rush, as if he was eager to get all of his words out before I cut him off again, "and what I did was horribly inappropriate considering what's going on between you and Gippal but ..." he paused and took a deep breath. "I think we need to put it behind us. If only for Gippal's sake. I mean, how are we going to be able to help him when we won't even talk to each other?"

I had to admit that he had a point. And in the grand scheme of things, Lreav's transgression had hardly been life threatening. I think the call from Gippal had just brought all my guilt to the surface and that was why I had acted so coldly towards Lreav.

And you know, if I told myself that I was doing this for Gippal, it made it a lot easier to stomach.

"Okay," I said finally, meeting his eyes levelly for the first time that day. "I guess I can forget about it. For Gippal."

Lreav looked relieved. "Thanks Rikku. And I can promise you – it'll never happen again."

"It'd better not," I told him warningly.

He smiled hesitantly and I found myself smiling back. It really was impossible to stay angry with Lreav, no matter what he'd done.

"So ... did you want to use the CommSphere?" I asked, feeling slightly awkward.

Lreav shook his head. "I was just coming to see if you wanted something to eat."

I thought longingly of the food that they had served back at the celebratory parties in Bevelle. Boring the parties might have been, but the food had been exquisite. Since coming onto the Melatha, I'd been stuck with dry, week-old rations which led me to wonder if Gippal ever restocked his ship.

"Is there anything less than a month old?" I asked hopefully.

"No, sorry."

I sighed gustily. "I should have known. This is Gippal we're talking about."

Lreav shifted guiltily. "Actually – it's really more my fault. I forgot to restock the last time I took the Melatha out."

"When was that? Three years ago?"

"More like three weeks," Lreav admitted.

I wrinkled my nose. "Then no thanks. I think I'd rather go hungry than risk death-by-rations."

"Well ..." Lreav looked as if he had more to say but then he shook his head and smiled wanly. "I'll leave you in peace then."

"Actually, Lreav?" It was my turn to stop him from leaving. "As you're here, could you do my a favour?"

"Sure!" His ready smile was back. "What is it?"

"Talking to Gippal got me thinking about the CommSphere network and I realised there's something there that we've been overlooking."

"Really?" Lreav sounded curious.

I nodded. "The CommSphere network itself! There is – or at least was – a CommSphere in Guadosalam; I know because I put it there."

Lreav looked doubtful. "But won't that have been destroyed by the blast?"

"Probably," I conceded, "but isn't a record kept of what each CommSphere has recorded? Like – a weeklong history or something? I seem to remember Shinra talking about something like that once ..."

"It's more likely to be a couple of days at best. To store more would take up too much space."

I refused to be deterred. "But it would still be worth a look, surely?"

"I –" For some reason, Lreav didn't seem too enamoured of my idea. "I'm not sure."

His attitude disappointed me. "Can't we just look? I'd do it myself but I'm not sure where the files are stored."

Lreav still looked reluctant. "I don't know, Rikku."

"Oh come on – what's the harm?"

"No, I mean I don't know where the files are."

"Oh." I chewed my lip thoughtfully, my mind seeking an alternative option. The only one presented to me wouldn't have been my first choice but I really didn't see any other way of achieving my goal. "What about Elhandra?" I asked at last, feeling as if the words were being dragged out of me. "Would she know?"

"Maybe. Why don't you ask her?"

"I just might do that," I mused. "In fact, I'll go and do that now. See you later Lreav!"

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Asking Elhandra for help was as painful as I had imagined. However – rather surprisingly – she did agree to find the files for me, and without too much arguing. In fact, I got the impression that she was as eager as me to find out if the Guadosalam sphere might have recorded some trace of the bomber.

I think all her posturing and initial avoidance of the subject had been just for show – for my benefit, you know? It was as if she felt the need to act like that towards me to keep up the front she had been maintaining since our first meeting. Despite this, I was slowly beginning to see that there was a great deal more to Elhandra than initially met the eye.

And there was one more thing to be thankful for: apparently, Lreav hadn't said anything to his sister about what he transpired between us. I think if he had then Elhandra wouldn't have been able to contain herself – and there was no sign that her hatred of me had increased. In fact, she was the most civil she'd been in days – as long as I avoided the sore subject of Gippal.

By the time we returned to the bridge, Lreav had gone – presumably in search of some kind of food that wasn't ten days old. I was glad; things still weren't completely back to normal between Lreav and I and the last thing I needed was another awkward confrontation in front of Elhandra.

Elhandra slid into the chair in front of the CommSphere console, somehow still managing to look elegant and laidback as she quickly ran her fingers over the multitude of buttons, inputting a series of codes, each as long as my arm.

I tried to follow what she was doing but the numbers and letters dancing across the screen were threatening to make my cross-eyed and I looked away, blinking rapidly and hoping that Elhandra hadn't noticed.

"There," she said, voice heavy with satisfaction. My eyes returned to the screen to see that she had uncovered what appeared to be the CommSphere network history.

I ignored the smug expression on her face and focused my attention on the screen, scanning the list for the entry that I was seeking.

"That one." I jabbed a finger at the screen and waited expectantly.

Elhandra tossed her long, snake-like braids back over her shoulder and gave me a look that clearly said that I had pushed my luck too far.

"I'm not a performing Chocobo," she said tartly, "and although you're a complete failure in every other Al Bhed respect, I'm sure even you can manage to touch the screen and access the file."

Ouch. I'd obviously struck a nerve. I tried to think of something clever to say in response but my mind was blank and I settled on sticking my tongue out at the back of her head once she had turned back to the monitor. Childish? Perhaps; but it damn well made me feel better.

"Well I think you'll just about be able to handle things from now on." Elhandra slipped out of the chair and faced me with raised eyebrows. "Unless there's anything else amazingly simple that I can help you with?"

It seemed prudent to keep any suggestions I had to myself so I swallowed my instinctive sarcastic response and smiled back at her as best I could. I think my expression was somewhat sickly but come on, this was Elhandra. To be honest, I didn't really care what she thought, you know?

"Thanks for your help," I said grudgingly, sternly reminding myself that she had, in fact, helped me.

"Don't bother me again," she returned shortly, before turning and flouncing out of the room.

When I heard the door slide shut behind her, I breathed a sigh of relief. These mental wrestling matches that me and Ellhandra always engaged in were so exhausting. Do you have any idea how tiring it is, always having to be on your guard in case someone tries to slip a spiteful one-liner past me?

Determined to push Elhandra to the far rear of my mind, I turned my attention back to the monitor in front of me. I slumped gracelessly into the chair, braids flapping wildly, and peered at the screen.

It wasn't quite as self-explanatory as Elhandra had implied. At first glance I'd have even had said that the screen looked complicated. Numbers scrolled endlessly across the bottom; there was a mixture of brightly coloured boxes as far as the eye could see, and the flashing titles were beginning to give me a headache. Helplessly, I scanned the visual cacophony for the file that Elhandra had directed me towards.

After several long moments – not that I was going to tell Elhandra that when she no doubt asked – I seized upon the file and pressed the screen. My touch was rather too enthusiastic as the console began beeping angrily.

"Shush!" I begged the console, running my fingers across the surface, trying to soothe the machina as I might a small child. It was a completely ludicrous reaction but sometimes it does almost seem that the machina we Al Bhed surrounded ourselves with are alive, you know?

The loud peeping ended as abruptly as it had begun and when I glanced – slightly fearfully – down at the screen, it proudly showed a new file.

A smile danced across my face. I'd found the file! Ha – and another point goes to Rikku. Take that Elhandra!

I firmly ignored the fact that I'd had to ask for her help to get to this point. That was hardly important, you know? After all, it had been me that had found the file.

Now I was certain that I was on the right page, I read the document carefully. I quickly realised it was the introduction to the 'CommSphere Archives', which were – as far as I could tell – the historical CommSphere Network records that I had been looking for.

"Yes," I exulted, quickly touching the screen so that I could continue reading. My excitement was understandable; the files I was about to read could quite easily contain some proof that would clear Gippal's name! It could be anything ... a scrap of evidence previously overlooked that appeared on the recording, or maybe a shot of the culprit!

Eager to prove my theory correct, I selected the file entitled 'Guadosalam'. Immediately, a list of dates and times filled the screen and I blinked, slightly overwhelmed by the sheer weight of the information contained within Shinra's invention.

Pull yourself together Rikku, I told myself sternly as the text on the screen danced in front of my eyes. After all, I was looking for something specific. It wasn't like I was going to have to wade through all of this information, you know? No – all I needed was one specific date and time.

One specific date and time ...

One specific date and time ... that I couldn't remember.

I slapped my hand against my head and groaned. I'd never been one for remembering important information but this was ridiculous! I knew how many days it had been since the attack but I didn't actually know what date it was today. Since the destruction of Sin, an official Spiran calendar had been introduced and nowadays, everything was judged by the calendar's terms and the Melatha's records were no different.

Not for the first time I cursed my cousin. The stupid calendar had been Yuna's idea – I think she'd had unity on the brain after we'd finally kicked Sin's butt out of Spira for good – and without its invention I wouldn't have been in this mess.

So close and yet so far, an annoying little voice in the back of my mind told my sagely – repeating one of the Al Bhed sayings that I'd heard a million times during my childhood. Irritably, I thumped the screen and jumped when the console peeped in protest.

Scowling angrily at the stubborn piece of machina, I sagged back in the chair and considered it through narrowed eyes. If I had all the time in the world then I could simply scan through every single file into I found then one that I was looking for.

Unfortunately, I didn't have all the time in the world. Every minute, every second I delayed only helped to prolonged Gippal's time in jail. And no matter how positive and buoyant he had acted during our meeting, I wanted him out of there as soon as possible. I needed his help with the investigation and besides, how in Spira were we supposed to progress in our relationship when he was in jail?

It was with a mild jolt of surprise that I realised I really did want to pursue a relationship with Gippal. In the light of everything that had happened, my protest over our budding relationship suddenly seemed stupid. And besides, there were more important things for me to worry about. I hardly had the time or energy to keep pushing Gippal away from me.

It's funny how quickly things can change in such a short space of time, you know?

No matter how happy thinking about Gippal made me feel, it hadn't solved my problem. I still needed to find out what the date was so that I could select the appropriate historical record.

As far as I could tell, I had two options open to me. I could ask Elhandra for help again – but that was something I didn't want to do unless I had to. Which left Lreav as my sole correspondent and while that would be by no means and easy conversation, it was far more inviting than once more disturbing her Highness.

Luckily, I knew more about using machina than Elhandra had given me credit for and to contact Lreav I wouldn't even have to leave the comfort of my own chair. Instead I leaned forward and tapped a small screen that rested above the larger, main one. A few more taps gave me the connection I had been looking for and I pressed the 'access' button.

The connection that formed was much like a miniature CommSphere network that only existed within the ship. To put things plainly, each room of the Melatha contained a connection to the central system and the call I had just put through would activate Lreav's connection and alert him to the fact that I wanted to talk to him.

It seemed that I was out of luck. Lreav didn't answer the call – which only compounded my problem because I meant that I had to brave the Dual Horn's den, otherwise known as Elhandra's quarters.

Sighing bitterly at the unfairness of it all, I keyed the connection through.

Elhandra answered almost instantly and when she saw that it was me who was calling, her lips curled into a snarl of displeasure. "What do you want?" she demanded rudely. "Found something else you can't manage to access on your own?"

"Oh please," I shot back grumpily, pushed passed the limits of my endurance by her continuing spite. "Is that really the best you can do?"

"An Al Bhed who can't operate machina?" Elhandra laughed nastily, revealing perfectly straight teeth. "You're a joke Rikku."

I couldn't understand why Elhandra was focusing so much of her energy onto my defeat at the hands of Shinra's invention. We both knew that if it came down to it, I had far more experience with machina than she had. And to top it all off, I'd helped to save the world – not once, but twice! Elhandra wasn't even in my league ... so why did she keep trying to make everything a competition between us?

"Look – all I want to know is the date. Then I'll leave you alone and you can think up new insults to use on me to your hearts content."

"The date?" My initial words caught her attention and I wondered whether she'd even heard the insult that had followed.

"Yes, the date," I repeated, growing weary of the conversation. As far as I was concerned, I'd already had my daily intake of Elhandra-bile. "I would have asked Lreav but he's not in his room."

"He went down to Guadosalam," Elhandra told me offhandedly, once again catching me unawares with the ease in which she gave the information away. Sometimes getting details out of Elhandra was as difficult as defeating a Behemoth with nothing but a Mascot Dress-sphere.

"So ... do you know the date?" I was forced to ask for a third time after several long moments of silence had passed.

Elhandra feigned an expression of surprise. "Oh, didn't I tell you?"

Don't try and kill her with the power of your mind. Don't try and kill her with the power of your mind ...

"No." I spoke as sweetly as I could through gritted teeth.

"My mistake." Elhandra turned away from the screen and made an elaborate show of looking through a series of papers. I'm quite sure she knew the date already but I bit my tongue and allowed her this little triumph. After all, there was more at stake here than just my pride.

"Ah – here it is." She proffered a random piece of paper triumphantly. "It's the third year, the fifth month and the sixteenth day after Sin was defeated."

3/5/16 AS – I ran my finger down the list of dates, looking for the corresponding file. My eyes scanned the monitor frantically. I was so close to finally finding something that would help Gippal – so damn close ...

And suddenly, there it was. A slim blue box holding white lettering that read: '3/5/16 AS – Guadosalam'. A triumphant smile blossomed over my face. "I've found it!"

"Well at least you've managed to accomplish one thing on your own," Elhandra remarked but even her usual sarcasm couldn't dampen my spirits. Instead I used my boundless happiness to infuriate her further.

I flashed her a sunny smile. "And I couldn't have done it without you, Lhan," I said solemnly, struggling to keep my face straight. "This was a real team effort, you know?"

Unable to think of appropriate response, she fixed with a disgusted look and abruptly cut the connection. It was just a well that she had done because in the next second, I burst out into helpless giggles. I hadn't realised before how much fun baiting Elhandra could be!

Once I had my humour under control again, I turned my attention back to the formally elusive file. I stared at it; the file gazed silently back and slowly, almost reverently, I leant forward and activated the CommSphere recording.

For a few tense seconds, the screen showed nothing but darkness. I began to worry that I had somehow ruined the file when a picture sprang into focus – one that I knew very well. It showed the front of Leblanc's Guadosalam mansion – or at least, how the manor had looked before it had been destroyed in the bomb-blast. This, coupled with the recorded date and time that was displayed in the top left hand corner, proved that the recording was the one I had been looking for.

I felt strangely nervous as the quiet scene began to play out. It was a strange reaction; I mean, nothing was happening on screen, you know? But somehow, I couldn't help myself. After so much disappointment, so much failure in our search to discover something that would prove Gippal's innocence, this file seemed much like a single Fire spell, shining in the darkness. While most of me was eager to find out what was contained within the recording, a small part of me wanted to leave it alone. I wanted to avoid the disappointment of being wrong, you know?

The recording played much like a movie sphere. I was able to scan forward, judging the time by the corresponding numbers at the top of the screen.

At first my search proved fruitless. It was frustrating, because I didn't really know what I was looking for. It wasn't as if the bomber was going to dance in front of the CommSphere with a large 'it-was-me' sign on their chest, you know? Which meant I had to watch almost ever part of the recording, waiting for that tiny glimpse which would provide me with the evidence I was looking for.

Watching the sphere ... was far more difficult than I had first imagined. In an emotional sense. I mean, there was Guadosalam, in all its formal glory; people walking past and hardly sparing the CommSphere a glance. I shuddered to think how many of those people now lay in the makeshift hospitals that had been erected around the edge of the city, suffering from not only injuries but the utter destruction of their home.

Everything just seemed so normal. It was weird – and it made me feel slightly uncomfortable. I found myself wondering what the actual explosion would look like on screen. Would it be a quick burst in which the CommSphere picture was reduced to static? Or would it be a long, drawn-out procedure? Would I have to watch the damage being done?

Pushing my doubts aside, I forced myself to continue watching the CommSphere recording. After all, I didn't really have a choice, you know? This recording was rapidly becoming my last hope of proving Gippal's innocence.

And so I slumped back in the chair and watched until my eyes began to hurt and my eyelids grew heavy and threatened to close.

Yet still I watched.

For Gippal, you know?

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Because I'm pushed for time, I can't do any review responses today (sorry!) If you have any pressing questions then you can always email me, or let me know in a later review, and I will try to address them : )

As always, read, review and enjoy : )