Shadow of Darkness
I actually wrote this chapter at record speed- 2 days! And I have already started chapter 15- that's how exciting it's getting! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Fun SoD fact of the day: Effram's name was originally Hao.
Chapter 14:
Guadosalam had changed a lot since Sin's defeat two years prior. The Guado had been driven out of their home for fear of retaliation from the fierce Ronso- a justifiable fear, considering those very Guado destroyed most of the Ronso tribes. Following their departure came the Leblanc Syndicate and with it, a slew of humans. Then, just prior to the defeat of Vegnagun, Leblanc and her sphere hunting cronies moved out and the Guado returned to their home. And now…
"Ronso and Guado living together? How weird is that?" Rikku mused as she, Gippal, and Effram surveyed the area.
It was astounding. Two races, that were mortal enemies, were residing in the same town, actually getting along. She could hardly believe it, even though it was happening right before her eyes.
"Everything looks peaceful here," Effram commented. "I see no signs of the Plague."
It seemed to prove Rikku's theory of the plague's intended victims.
"Do you see Barthello around?" Gippal asked in a dangerously hushed voice.
"Give it a rest will you?" Rikku grunted.
"No."
And that was that.
"Come, let's look for clues." Effram motioned for them to follow him. "Let's start with Seymour's former chateau." He pointed to the elaborate scarlet door at the very back of the town.
"Good idea. Oh, oh! I just had an idea! We should check out Macalania Temple as well!"
"Rikku, the path to the temple collapsed," Gippal pointed out as Effram led the way to the chateau.
"I know, I was there. What's your point? We killed Seymour there the first time. He could still be haunting the place."
"We shouldn't even be here! For the last time, it's not Seymour!" Gippal exploded.
"Like you even know!"
"Enough!" Effram's shout caused the two of them to jump, and several villages to poke their heads out the windows and doors curiously.
Rikku flushed and pushed past the two men. Emphatically, she knocked on the chateau's door. A few impatient minutes later the door creaked open and an elder Guado stepped into view.
"Yes, can I help you?" he asked in the slow, careful Guado way.
"Tromell! Oh… uh… what a surprise."
"Hmm?" He looked at Rikku for a good, long time. She fidgeted under the scrutiny. "Ah, you were one of High Summoner Yuna's guardians, were you not? Come in, please." He stepped aside and she entered with Gippal and Effram flanking her.
"Whatever can I do for you? Would you care for some tea?" Tromell asked, slowly, slowly leading them through the foyer and into the dining room.
"No, ah… hmm." And she was stumped. How was she going to go about finding the answers she needed? Asking something as straightforward as "Hey, has your dead boss set loose a load of darkness in attempt to destroy Spira again from here, lately?" was out of the question. The Guado were sensitive on the subject of their evil, fallen comrade. Yet she had no idea of how else to put it.
Then Effram spoke. "Have you noticed anything peculiar going on around town?" Rikku gave him a relieved look. Count on him to come up with a perfect solution.
Tromell was quiet for a long time, considering the question carefully. Finally, he heaved a great sigh. "I'm afraid not. Is there anything I should be looking out for?"
"Oh, no. No, we're just trying to solve a puzzle. Thank you." He glanced around. "Say, this is a lovely place. Might we have a tour?"
"A tour?" The elder Guado blinked, as if this was the strangest thing he'd ever been asked. "Oh, I suppose I could do that." He stood and led them from the room.
"What's with the tour?" Gippal asked, arching his brow. He and Rikku fell into step beside Effram.
"It will give us a chance to check things out for ourselves. We might notice something that the Guado did not."
"Good idea," said Rikku.
Unfortunately, the tour proved less than fruitful. The only interesting things they came across were the portraits of past great leaders of the Guado of which Seymour's portrait was curiously absent.
"That was a waste of time," Rikku whined when they finally said goodbye to Tromell. "I was so certain we'd find something on Seymour, too."
"Well, we just have to keep looking them," Effram said. "We still have Macalania Temple- if we can get to it- and Zanarkand."
"Still…" She was so disappointed.
"Let's go."
"Yeah. I don't think Barthello is here either."
"Gippal!" Rikku and Effram shouted.
"What?"
''''
The trip across the first half of the Thunder Plains was uneventful- even boring. It stormed and there was mud. Lots and lots of mud. Gippal was amazed (and disappointed) that Rikku overcame her fears of thunder and lightening. One less thing for him to tease her about.
Night had fallen- though it was difficult to tell on those stormy plains- but they stopped anyway at the Travel Agency for the night.
Rikku was stretched out on her stomach on her bed (in her own room, thankfully) after a tiring magic exercise with Effram. She was pleased with her progress. She ached less and less after each lesson and now she didn't even collapse. It made her feel as though perhaps she could take on the Plague Master. But only perhaps.
Reaching over the edge of her bed, she plucked her commsphere out of her bag. It was time for a call to Besaid.
"Hey Lulu," she said when the woman answered her sphere. Lulu's figure looked tired in the watery sphere.
"Hello. How is everything going?" she asked in a voice as weary as she looked.
"Not so well…" She proceeded to fill her in on what had happened: Marin's death; her own responsibilities to fix things; meeting Effram; the battles with monstrous fiends; and of course, the events at Djose Temple.
Lulu frowned. "This is terrible…" She sighed. "I feel awful that Wakka and I can't help."
"That's okay. You are helping. You're taking care of Yunie. Speaking of which… how is she? Oh, and Tidus," she added as a vague afterthought.
"Their conditions are the same. I managed to bring their temperatures down a bit more." Lulu sighed and glanced over her shoulder, nodded, and then turned back to Rikku. "However, there are several residents who have now fallen ill."
"Oh man…" And suddenly she thought 'Perhaps I could return to Besaid and fix Yunie now!' Her power was still developing but curing Nooj proved that she could do it.
Lulu cleared her throat emphatically.
"Oh, sorry… did you say something?" Rikku said sheepishly.
The older woman gave her a stern look. "I said that I know what you're thinking. And don't. We can take care of Besaid. Finding this… Plague Master is more important right now."
"More important than Yunie!"
"Yes. And I know she would agree. One life, though special and important, does not compare to many. You must stop this before anyone dies from this."
She sighed heavily. Lulu was right. She knew she was right. But she couldn't help her bias. She was certain that anyone else in her position would want to help close friends or family first. 'Look at Barthello. He stole an airship he couldn't fly because Dona is most important to him.' It was hard not to think that way. She sighed. Finally, she said goodbye to Lulu and stashed the sphere back into her sack. Her room was miserably quiet. It was strange- she didn't think she would actually miss it, but arguing with Gippal kept her from becoming bored out of her mind. And… and… she was forced to admit that he was pretty cute… when he wasn't talking.
"Ah, I guess I can visit the guys… yeesh, was that my stomach? I'm starving." She clambered gracelessly off of her bed and padded down the hall of the Travel Agency to the room Gippal and Effram shared. Hesitantly, she knocked.
"'S open," was the grunted reply.
She opened the door carefully and poked her head into the room. Gippal was sitting on the window seat, staring out at the storm. "Oh um… hi."
"Hey." No jibe. No rude comment.
She frowned. So unlike him. "Uh… you want to get something to eat?"
"No."
"Oh ah… okay." He still hadn't looked away from the window. She arched her brow. "Gippal, you aren't still mourning your airship, are you?"
"No! Dammit Rikku what do you want!" His fists were clenched tightly in his lap and his torso was rigid. Despite his outburst, he was exercising a surprising amount of self-control. She couldn't understand why.
"I just thought I'd visit, that's all. I'm bored."
"Well, be bored somewhere else. You shouldn't be visiting. It's not safe for you to be visiting."
She blinked. "What?"
"Hey guys, what's all the commotion?" Effram entered the room with a small sack of food.
"N-nothing." Rikku was giving Gippal a peculiar look.
Effram pulled a sandwich from his sack. "Here, this is for you. No onions or tomato."
She took the sandwich wordlessly.
"Gippal, will you join us?"
He simply grunted, stood up, and left.
Rikku frowned, tearing her sandwich into pieces and arranging it into little piles. "What's wrong with him?"
"I believe he is still mourning. He is very frustrated right now."
"About the ship?"
"No, no. His friends and employees. Back at Djose."
"But I thought-"
Effram shook his head. "The ship was more of a coping mechanism. Certainly, he was upset about the crash- I would be too- but he put all of his anger and frustration into that ship's demise. To lose a ship is a lot less emotionally straining than to lose a person."
"Oh…" Rikku gave him a sad little smile. "You're so smart, Effram. I thought he was just going crazy.
"Ah, well, that is a valid theory as well." Effram smiled and squeezed her shoulder. "Don't worry about him. I'll make sure everything is okay."
"I'm not worried. Not about him, I mean," she grumbled, finishing her sandwich.
Again, he smiled. "Whatever you say. Why don't you go to bed, hmm? You look like you could use some sleep."
She nodded. After saying goodnight, she headed back to her room. She wasn't worried about Gippal. And how dare Effram suggest that he thought otherwise!
''''
In the morning, Rikku didn't even bother with a shower. The Thunder Plains provided one for her. The moment the party set foot outside the Travel Agency, they were drenched.
"I hate the Thunder Plains," she muttered as they trudged down the muddy path in the direction of Macalania Woods. After only a few minutes, she was forced to walk barefoot- the rain kept filling up her boots!
Effram stuffed her shoes into his back and they moved on.
"Have you figured out how we are going to get to Macalania Temple?" Gippal asked Rikku.
She shrugged. "I'm working on it."
"Well work faster, we'll be there in a few hours."
"Don't talk to me like I'm stupid," she said grumpily.
"You are stupid."
"I am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"What, are you guys four years old?" Effram said with an aggravated sigh. It seemed no one was in a bright mood that morning.
There was a tremendous clap of thunder and Rikku shrieked.
"I thought you weren't afraid of thunder anymore," Gippal taunted smugly.
"I'm not." And that was when Rikku tripped over something squashy and fell flat in the mud. Whatever she tripped over let out a surprised yell. A mountain of mud moved. "A fiend!" she shrilled, clambering to her feet, looking like a muddy fiend herself.
"Fiend! Fiend, where?" The mud mountain could speak.
She frowned thoughtfully, which made her face look terribly warped as rain washed bits of mud away. "Barthello?"
The rain cleared away some of the mud on the mountain. It was Barthello. There was no mistaking that hulking mass of muscle.
"Huh? Oh, hello." He bobbed his head. And then Gippal tackled him to the ground.
"You bastard! You stole my ship! Worse still, you couldn't even fly it! You crashed it! Tell me why I shouldn't kill you!"
"I'm sorry! I just wanted to help Dona!" he wailed.
Rikku rolled her eyes. "Gippal, you dummy! Get off of him! I can't believe you!" It took a moment, but he seemed to heed her words because he climbed off of him. She reached down and tried to pull Barthello to his feet. "Are you- ugh, are you okay? I'm sorry about him."
"It's okay." Barthello heaved a great, tragic sigh. "I deserved it."
"Damn straight you did."
"Gippal, knock it off!" She turned back to Barthello. "Uh, what were you doing sleeping out here anyway? You could've gotten sick and died!"
"I had no money to stay at an inn or even to buy supplies. I'd been awake since before the crash. I guess… I guess I was so tired I collapsed right here to sleep.
"That was brilliant."
"Gippal!" both Rikku and Effram shouted.
What?"
Rikku rolled her eyes. "Would you like to join us for a while? Until you can get passage home, at least?" she asked Barthello.
"What good will this great lug do for us?" Gippal hissed at her.
She had the same thoughts, but she simply glared at him. "C'mon, it'll be fun."
Barthello considered it very briefly and nodded vigorously. "That would be wonderful- I accept!"
Gippal groaned and Effram slapped Barthello on the shoulder. "Welcome."
"Now come on, we have to get to Macalania Woods," Rikku said impatiently.
"You do realize that we're going to freeze in the snow out there, don't you?" Gippal asked.
"If we dry off and run, we'll be fine," she replied.
"Your sense of logic frightens me."
She stuck her tongue out at him as the party finally continued their trek across the rainy plains.
''''
"Fyns yen! Fyns yen! :Warm air! Warm air:" Rikku proclaimed through chattering teeth as they burst into the former Travel Agency now run by the merchant O'aka.
"I t-t-told you we would free-freeze!" Gippal said, rubbing his arms vigorously, hoping the long sleeves on his shirt would create decent friction. Crystals of ice showered off of his shirt.
"Welcome to O'aka's!" crowed an overjoyed voice.
"Oh, hello O'aka," Rikku said, wincing at the loud tone of his voice.
"Oh, it's been so long since I've had any customers, yes it has! Welcome, welcome! What can I do for you? Supplies, weapons, armor, repairs?"
"Actually, we'd just like a place to stay for the day," Effram said. "We need to make a plan for what we're going to do about reaching the Temple," he explained to Gippal and Rikku when they gave him puzzled looks.
O'aka looked very disappointed as he checked over his books. "Yes, we have some rooms available." Obviously.
"How much?"
O'aka named his price and they had no choice but to go with only two rooms. Rikku managed to claim one room as hers alone after a heated argument with Gippal- "You just want to see me naked again, don't you, oui banjand! :you pervert:- which left Barthello, Effram, and Gippal to share a room.
After settling in, they gathered to discuss the Macalania situation.
"None of us have checked- perhaps the hole in the path has frozen over again," Barthello pointed out, a part of the conversation though he had no idea what was going on. Unfortunately, no one bothered to try and fill him in either.
"Effram nodded. "That is true. But if it hasn't, then what?"
"We could walk carefully around the edge of the hole, maybe?" Rikku offered.
Gippal snorted.
"What was that? Do you have a better idea, perhaps?" she asked crisply.
"No. I just don't see why we're going to all this trouble when it's not Seymour," he said grouchily.
"How would you know?"
"Will you knock off this argument, please! I'm tired of hearing it! We're here to plan, not argue," Effram said, massaging his temple.
"Ooh, ooh, I know!" Rikku said, waving her hand excitedly. Already she had forgotten the argument. "We can repair the hole! I know some ice magic!"
"That's a good idea."
"I do too," Barthello said. "I could help."
"Even better." Effram looked satisfied. "We have some workable ideas started."
They "discussed" for a few more hours- with lots of shouting and childish behavior- but those three ideas were the best they could consider. Finally, out of sheer annoyance, Effram called their meeting to an end.
"Let's just sleep on this, okay? We'll talk again in the morning."
It was one of the few things they could all agree upon.
''''
Rikku was typically a heavy sleeper, but this evening was strangely different. She woke with a start. It took her a moment to realize that the sound of someone opening her door was what roused her. She stifled a yawn. "Wha… Who is it?" She squinted and made out the figure in the faint moonlight filtering through her window. "Oh, Gippal. What do you want?" He didn't answer. Cripes, was he sleepwalking? "Giiiippaaaalll…"
There was a loud clink and Rikku found herself staring down the barrel of a tremendous gun.
………..
Yes! A cliffie! And what an intensely exciting one! Will I make you wait? Bwahaha… ah, the possibilities are endless! -
The Al Bhed Known as Amaria: Ah yes… men and their machines. Tis so hard to cure them of such things -
LotisMasterBrit: laughs That is true, this is not Alice 19th. But I am glad you still like the story
Green-eyed-blond: You are right! A chocolate chocobo for you! And I'm flattered you love my story! Thank you
Fighter-chick: laughs No complaints! This is the most I've ever updated any story of mine! I'm so glad you continue to enjoy the story
Lems: laughs Men are weak, don't you know that? - Nah, the men will get there digs in! Rikku just has the advantage of being the heroine -
Cutekitty: laughs Does he seem older? Sometimes I think so too, but then sometimes he seems younger. And yep, he is Al Bhed- I think (I hope anyway laughs) that it was in an earlier chapter, when Effram first joined the party… or something like that
OooDancingQueenoO: laughs Well, there is a reason Gippal acts like a baby about his airship- which I hope this chapter illustrated.
Jen: Thank you for such an in depth review! And I'm glad that you thought Chapter 13 was sad, as that was the point laughs It becomes key later in the story. And I'm glad you are so into it (I am so into writing it!)
Pikachu: Pika-piiii! ahem Anyway Is this update soon enough? -