Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy X-2 or X.
I'll try and put more Leije/Rikku interaction in.:) And don't worry, there will be a lot more Gippal/Rikku later. As in, not yet... Yeah, you know what I mean v.v
Gippal leaned back in the recliner, rubbing his head continuously, in hopes of making the migraine disappear. Not working.
'No matter. Time to make that 'important' CommSphere call to a very mischievous man.' Gippal thought, mischievous and grim at the same time.
Just as he was reaching out for the CommSphere, he heard a very familiar voice humming a song outside of his door.
'Great, just what I needed to have: Cid's girl eavesdropping while I'm speaking with her dad.'
Gippal instinctively held his breathe until the humming got a little farther. It didn't get that far, unfortunately; Rikku must have stopped at the room next to his own. Which, in turn, was Leije's.
'This has got to stop,' Gippal thought, faintly annoyed. It was one thing to have random girls all over him, he was famous, after all. But this Leije wasn't; he just sort of appeared, no connections whatsoever, save for being Sir Auron's son. And what, after a month or so, Rikku is suddenly up in his room? Not cool.
Gippal connected with Cid's line, who immediately picked up. A grin was plastered on his face, which slowly faded when he saw Gippal on the other side.
"Hey, Cid. How you doin'?" Gippal started, casually enough.
Cid's features remained about the same. "Pleasant surprise, Gip. How's the Faction comin' along?"
"Eh, pretty good, last time I checked."
The older man's face wore a confused expression. Last time he.. checked? Didn't he, uh, work there? "Is there something you need?"
"Huh? No? I just thought it'd be nice to chat. You know, a man-to-man sort of thing." Gippal flashed a grin, an I'm-not-up-to-anything-old-timer sort of grin.
"I see." Cid eyed him, not sure of what to make of his 'grin'. "I take it you're not at the Faction right now, then?"
"Naw, we're havin' a meeting out in Bevelle."
"Oh." Cid paused. "My little girl is out there with you then, right?"
"Uh... Yeah." Gippal rose an eyebrow. 'It was kind of her idea to come here in the first place,' he thought, but didn't say out loud.
The older man looked serious. "Good. You promised me you'd take care of her. If anything happened to my little desert angel-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. She's going to be the next Al Bhed 'leader', right?"
Cid gave a hearty laugh. "The wife of the leader, you mean."
"Huh, is that so. Gonna arrange a marriage any time soon, old timer?" Gippal asked casually, attempting to look as disinterested as possible.
"I'll get around to it eventually. I'll 'probly announce it when I'm sittin' in my death bed," He gave another laugh, which eventually ended in a 'hearty' cough.
"Heheh, ehm..." Gippal cleared his throat. "Yeah, I wonder how Rikku will end up takin' the news when the time comes. It would be just like her, to refuse, you know, just to make your blood boil."
Cid frowned into the sphere. "My little girl listens to everything her daddy tells her. She wouldn't do that." His chest swelled.
"She would if she thought she was in love," Gippal quietly taunted, getting an immediate reaction from Cid.
"Wha'd you say, boy?"
"Nothin'," Gippal widened his eyes in an attempt to appear innocent.
"You sayin' my baby's in love? With who?"
"I didn't say anything! But, it'd be a little awkward if she fell for someone that wasn't Al Bhed."
"That won't happen. A non-Al Bhed can't lead the Al Bhed people; it's preposterous. It wouldn't even be possible-"
"Y'took the words right outta my mouth, old man." Gippal cut in.
Ignoring him, Cid continued. "A disgrace to the Al Bhed race-"
Cutting in again, this time a little more uncomfortable, Gippal chimed in, "Yeah, uh, so I take it you wouldn't approve of your only daughter being with someone that wasn't-"
"Of course not, boy!" Cid's veins were popping out at this point. "Have you lost your head? That would-"
Gippal faintly grinned, and hid it quickly. "Heh. Well, uh, I have to go. Talk to you later, old man." He shut off the sphere, not interested in hearing Cid's continuous ranting.
'Just relax now, Gippal. That guy doesn't have a chance, if he so much as touched Rikku, Cid would chew him up and spit him out in under a minute. Even if he happened to be part Al Bhed... Well, it wouldn't matter. You can't have a 'part' Al Bhed leader. What is Rikku even thinking? After all, I'm way more easy on the eyes than him, so why- What if she doesn't listen to Cid? And runs off with him?'
'Wait. Why am I thinking about Rikku at all?' Gippal paused, stopping his train of thought for a minute.
'Oh, shit.'
Bored beyond belief, Rikku aimlessly wandered the halls of Bevelle's guest quarters. Leije had gone out for some alone time, Gippal had decided to just randomly disappear, and everyone else was watching - you guessed it - Blitzball on the Sphere Screen. Really now, what was it with Spirans and Blitzball? Rikku enjoyed it as well; playing it, that is. She could only watch it for so long before her attention was lost (her having the attention span equivalent to that of a seven year old's, and all).
Humming the Gullwing's theme song, she glanced at each of the doors she passed. Paine's room. Yunie's. Gippal's. (Her eyes' lingered longer on this door; she involuntarily listened to see if he was in there; sadly enough, all was silent.) Leije's. Wait - was it open just a crack? How careless of him.
'Well, I'll just close it for him,' Rikku thought to herself, not a single dishonest thought running through her head. At least, not yet. When she actually reached the door, hand grasping the door knob, she was having second thoughts. Now that she thought about it, she didn't really know anything about this man. And she had told Yunie that she loved him? Auron's son or not, she'd like to know a little more about him before she accidentally proclaimed true love in front of her friends.
Yes, it was her right to look through his things. What was he interested in, anyway? In the name of Home, she didn't even know his favorite color. Or his birthday, for that matter! Yes, just a quick peek would be all right. No one would have to know...
The door creaked as she opened it to a width she could fit through; the noise went unnoticed since no one was around to hear it. Once inside, she took a good look around the room. Unlike her own, which was decked in stuffed animals, machina toys, and clothes strewn about the room, his was devoid of any personality. Yeah, that was to be expected; it was a guest room after all. But Yunie's was decorated, and her's was... Surely someone else would have taken the time to personalize their room too?
'Guess not,' Rikku thought glumly to herself. There went her chance of learning more about Leije.
A few papers cluttered his desk, a few pieces of cloth stuck out from his drawers. Rummaging through the paperwork, Rikku came across a number of burnt pictures, most featuring a young looking Auron, the Al Bhed woman who Leije claimed to be his mother, and a scrawny boy with a mop of dark brown hair.
Picking up a rather large looking document, Rikku skimmed through the first page. And the next. The one after that.
They were all different articles on Sir Auron, all written under different circumstances in different years.
"Wow, this kid's done his research."
Her hand hit something round. A very familiar texture, if not a bit worn down. A sphere.
"Finally, something interesting. Wonder what's on it?" Rikku spoke out loud, to no one in particular. Turning it on, the Al Bhed stared intently at the screen.
Blank. Then, static. Slowly, the screen cleared enough to make out the shape of a woman. The background and foreground were dark, misplaced items seemed to be scattered around the room. Squinting, Rikku managed to make out that the woman was Leije's mother.
Two other men entered the scene, recognizable enough: Yevonites. One of them was carrying a rather heavy looking club.
'Yevonite plus club equals not good,' Rikku thought as the man swung at Leije's mother; a loud crunch was heard as it hit her torso, and the woman crumpled to the ground. The two men started screaming; Rikku couldn't make out every word said, but what she heard was enough.
'..Dare live amongst Yevonites.. think you're worthy?'
'..like an equal?'
'..Sir Auron can do much better than this..'
'..Al Bhed scum..'
A small boy edged his way into the sphere's view; small, dark hair... 'Ahhh,' Rikku thought. 'The boy from the picture.'
The two Yevonites noticed him a split second after Rikku. The club-wielding man swung, aiming for his head. A loud crack was heard as the club came in contact with the little boy's neck. He fell limp, body slamming against the ground, face turned towards the sphere. Blood was gushing from beneath his chin; the little boy didn't appear to be breathing.
A new man entered, grasping - what was it? A torch? Rikku gasped as the man bent down and lit the woman - Leije's mother - on fire. Giggling like a madman, threw the torch at the floor, letting it catch fire to the furniture. The men prepared to depart, priding themselves and their accomplishment.
She could still hear the Yevonite's distant laughter as the screen went blank. Outside of the room, Rikku heard movement.
'Cred. Time to 'shakey-shakey' my way outta here, eh?'
Comfortably seated on a sofa, Baralai frowned as he watched Gippal pace back and forth in the common room. He sensed that something was bothering his old friend; probably the same thing that caused him to drink away that one night.
"Is there something wrong, Gippal?" Baralai finally got the courage to ask up. His normal political mask was gone; 'Lai's voice was filled with concern. "You seem to have been a little out of it as of late. And the drinking-" Baralai was cut off as Gippal started chuckling lightly to himself, back facing him.
"Heh. Well, aren't you the perceptive one, Baralai."
Baralai shook his head. "Look, if you need to get something off of your chest, I'm here. It must be serious; keep it in much longer and you'll end up running around like a chicken with its head cut off."
Gippal glared at his friend. "Me? Loose my cool? Like hell."
The white haired praetor just sighed. "Fine, don't spill it." He shifted in his seat and reached for the Sphere Screen Controller."
"...It's about Rikku," Gippal said quietly.
"I knew it!" Baralai hissed, eyes wide with interest.
"You knew? What the hell?"
"I mean, uh..." Baralai stuttered. Gippal just folded his harms across his chest and rose an eyebrow.
"Just continue. I'm all ears." Baralai urged him on.
"Continue?" Gippal looked exasperated. "I told you already! Whew, what a load off." He let out a dramatic, content sigh of relief.
"Yevon, Gippal!" 'Lai threw up his hands. "What about Rikku?"
His Al Bhed friend stared at the wall opposite to him. "She's driving me insane. And it's really starting to piss me off."
Baralai stifled a laugh. "And how has she managed this?"
Gippal sat down on the sofa, resting his elbows on the table, head in his hands. "She won't get out of my head!"
"Uh... What?"
The one-eyed Faction leader glared at 'Lai. "I said, I can't stop thinking about her."
Baralai finally let his laughter tumble out. "That's it?" He asked incredulously.
Gippal immediately stood up, anger etched across his face. "What do you mean, 'That's it'?"
Baralai quickly regained his composure. "Well, I-I just thought it would be something, you know - important."
Gippal nearly snorted. "Important? Since when is my sanity not important?"
Gippal, chill out."
"Alright, alright..." Gippal ran his hand through his fine blonde hair and took a seat. "But... It's just - I don't want to see her get hurt. And I really don't like the way that Leije guy looks at her-"
"What are you talking about?" Baralai interrupted. "Leije is a very amiable person, not at all a-" He stopped and looked at Gippal in an odd way. "I do believe you're jealous!"
"Fryd? Bullshit!"
Baralai ignored him and continued, well, basically laughing his ass off, occasionally snorting. Not very praetor-like. "Right. Whatever you say."
"That is so far from the truth; I'm not even going to dignify it with a response."
Pause.
"I have almost every female Al Bhed drooling over me, why would I care about who Cid's girl is in love with?"
Baralai gave him that 'I-know-all-of-your-secrets'kind of look. "Don't know. Why don't you tell me?"
"...Screw you, Baralai." Gippal sneered, rising from the sofa and heading towards the bar. He could hear Baralai's laughter even as he slammed the door shut behind him.
Review please -puppy dog eyes-