Author's Note:

I'm not sure who's reading this, but if you are, I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer:

I don't own Final Fantasy X-2 or any of the characters I've used.

Redemption for a Weary Soldier

Chapter 2

"Paine, wakey wakey!" Rikku's too-cheerful voice split the calm of the morning as cleanly as any cleaver through fruit. Paine ignored the girl's insistent struggles to wake her and turned her body away from the annoyance.

"Come on, Paine, get up!" Rikku tried to wrench the covers from Paine's shoulders and earned a sound punch to the shoulder. "Ow!" Rikku exclaimed jumping back and sticking out her tongue at Paine as she gingerly rubbed the offended shoulder. "Meanie," she mumbled, but didn't give up her efforts. Instead, she picked up the decorative pillows stacked atop a silk lined chair and tossed them none-too-lightly right at Paine's head.

Paine made some noise of annoyance, and tried tossing the pillows back, but couldn't aim properly still being groggy with sleep. She gave in and rubbed her eyes as she sat up. "Why on Yevon's green world have you decided to wake me up when I obviously don't want to be woken?" she asked narrowing her quickly adjusting gaze on the perky Al-Bhed.

"We are going to go send Yuna off and if we don't leave soon we'll miss her. Besides, Pop's ready to shove off on the airship, and if we don't say our good-byes and shaky-shaky onboard, he will probably leave us behind and then we will have to walk all the way to the Calm Lands!"

"Do you always whine so much?" Paine asked drolly standing up and pulling the covers over the mattress. "No wonder Gippal broke it off, he probably didn't like the thought of being a mother at such a young age."

Rikku threw the pillow she was in the process of handing Paine squarely at the warrior's ear with all her might. "It was NOT like that," Rikku insisted a blush heating the whole of her face. "I don't even like that scum bag."

"Sure, and that's why you stayed in his room all night nursing him back to good spirits after his run-in with Tidus's bad spirits," Paine teased choosing her normal articles of clothing to go change into.

"I was just making sure that he didn't choke on his own vomit!" Rikku defended herself crossing her arms defiantly, but the blush grew stronger giving away her underlying feelings.

"Whatever," Paine muttered dismissing the subject. She was already disinterested with the topic.

She dressed and met Yuna and Tidus simply to please the rules of etiquette. In actuality she could have done without the goodbye at all. She absently watched as Rikku threw her arms around both Tidus and Yuna giving them both a hearty embrace and cheerful good tidings. When it was Paine's turn, she merely smirked and nodded.

Yuna didn't let that stop her from hugging the cold woman who only half-heartedly reciprocated the gesture. After several deep conversations with both Tidus and Rikku and having experienced her share of Paine's behavior, Yuna had made her peace with Paine's tendency to withdraw from painful situations. Why the parting, which certainly was not a permanent separation, was so hard on the woman, Yuna could only speculate.

"You take care now," Yuna whispered into Paine's ear as she withdrew her embrace. The older woman simply nodded and averted her gaze to a set of stairs perched beyond Yuna's shoulder. Yuna regarded her friend a moment longer before sighing and stepping back to join Tidus.

"Bye now," the blonde man waved a hand cheerfully and pointed at Rikku. "You make sure you watch that old drunkard," he said jokingly.

Rikku giggled and shooed the pair with her hand. "Go on. And don't worry about Gippal, he will be fine."

That seemed to satisfy Yuna and Tidus who turned and began their descent down the streets of Bevelle. Rikku turned back to Paine who was now looking at the ground. "Hey, you okay?" she asked lightly cuffing Paine on the shoulder. The warrior seemed to suddenly snap back into the real world and turned on her heel. "Hey! Where are you going? The airship's this way!" Rikku yelled to Paine's retreating back.

"I have to go attend to something," Paine replied elusively over her shoulder.

Rikku scratched the back of her head in confusion before placing both of her hands squarely on her hips. "Well, you'd better hurry. I'm not going to try stalling for you and if Pop's takes off without you…HEY! Are you even listening to me?"

"Do you always whine so much?" was Paine's reply before she rounded a corner and disappeared from Rikku's sight.

"That girl is some piece of work," Rikku mumbled thoughtfully as she wondered what Paine could possibly be doing before shrugging nonchalantly and heading off to where the airship was docked on the outskirts of Bevelle.

The garden looked different in the daylight. The morning sunlight revealed a place of less mystery and more shrubbery than what had appeared to Paine from the night before. She found Nooj at the same place that she left him. He smiled as she approached him and her heart twisted a little. She ignored the feeling.

"Good morning," Nooj said in welcome.

"And the same to you," Paine returned cautiously. She clasped her hands and slightly bowed her head pondering her words. "I suppose I want to apologize for last night," she eventually said. "I was tired and perhaps a little harsh and…"

"Cranky?" Nooj raised his eyebrows in amusement.

Paine rolled her own in response and cracked a genuine smile. "In any case I am sorry, I would not want us to part on bad terms."

This time it was Nooj who was bemused. "Bad terms? I can think of plenty other terms to describe last night besides that."

"Such as?"

"Pensive for one," Nooj said. "Perhaps there was a tinge of remorse on both our parts for what maybe might have been…" he paused and regarded Paine who suddenly found the ground very interesting. "Sorrow on my part for my inability to save you."

"Yet you said yourself that I must save myself," Paine responded.

"Yes I did, but it is still frustrating," Nooj replied.

Paine chuckled softly, "Now you understand how I felt."

Suddenly Nooj's features turned more serious as he said, "Paine, I am truly sorry that I couldn't be for you what you wanted me to be. You carry a very special place in my heart, you must know that and I…"

Paine held her hand up to his lips and cut off his sentence. "I am fine," she said. "I don't want our last conversation to carry the knowledge that I was almost good enough but not quite."

Nooj was effectively silenced and he stood for a long while studying Paine. "Is this truly to be our last conversation?" he asked.

That caught Paine off guard. "Is there a reason that it shouldn't?" she asked.

"Yes, you are my very dear friend Paine, with whom I have shared many bonding experiences. Do you want to simply throw away the friendship that we have been crafting for years?"

"But, it isn't me who is throwing anything away," Paine replied with a puzzled look. "You and Le Blanc have a new life that you will become involved in and there certainly won't be any room for myself."

"Paine, that is ridiculous. I would never cut you out of my life unless you removed yourself from it. Are you saying that you don't want anything to do with me?"

Paine's eyes widened slightly, then she lowered her gazed and her shoulders as the realization hit her. "I have been pushing away my friends, not the other way around," she breathed. Nooj placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Perhaps I don't understand the concept of goodbye," she offered reflecting back on her fierce determinedness to make goodbyes as painless as possible.

"Maybe you don't understand that goodbye isn't necessarily everlasting," Nooj suggested and Paine nodded slowly in agreement.

She raised her eyes and implored Nooj with her gaze, "How can I change my emotions?" she asked.

"Perhaps, if the term 'goodbye' brings you so much trouble, you should say something else in parting, something positive like 'until next time.'"

A voice tickled the edges of Paine's mind. Baralai's intense gaze suddenly appeared within her mind's eye. "Until our paths cross again," she said.

"Now you're catching on," Nooj ruffled her hair and she playfully jabbed him in the ribs.

"NOOJIE WOOGIE!" a shriek suddenly filled the peaceful afternoon and Paine groaned under her breath. Maybe she is really a good person, but I just can't get over that voice, she thought turning to watch as the former sphere hunter approached the pair.

"Noojie, we really should be going soon love…who have we here? Oh, aren't you one of those dullwings, oh sorry dear I mean GULLwings. Isn't your name Ouch or something?"

"It's Paine," the warrior responded coolly.

Le Blanc burst into her squeaky peals of laughter, "I know love, I was only kidding!" She leaned into Paine who was slightly confused. "Between you and me, I always did enjoy our little sphere hunting competitions. You really were worthy adversaries, it's just a pity that the Gullwings are no more, unless I've heard incorrectly?"

"No, you heard right," Paine replied seeing Le Blanc in a slightly less offending light. She glanced at Nooj before saying, "We are just temporarily parting ways."

"Temporarily, huh? Well, whenever you all decide to get together again, why don't you call me up and we can have ourselves a little sphere scramble, what do you say?"

Paine nodded in affirmation and sighed. "I suppose you two need to be going?"

Le Blanc studied Nooj. She placed a hand lightly on Nooj's arm and spoke a bit more softly, definitely easier on the ears. "Well, if we want to make it through the Thunder Plains by nightfall we should really be going, but you take all the time you need dear."

Paine watched the tender moment transpire between the pair. She saw how encouraging and supporting Le Blanc was, and how tenderly she stroked his arm. And Nooj soaked up her gaze like a starving animal. His own stare was engulfed in warmth. Paine suddenly felt a feeling akin to a deep peace stir within her soul. So they really were in love…

"Actually, I'm due on the airship right now. According to Rikku, her father will blow a fuse if we don't lift off soon. I just wanted to stop by and say," she looked directly at Nooj now, "that I look forward to the time when our paths cross again."

Nooj nodded and Le Blanc looked a little confused as she saw there was obvious meaning behind the words. She still beamed nevertheless. "You take care love, and tell that blonde Al-Bhed man to tone it down a bit on the dramatics," Le Blanc said of Brother and Paine snorted under her breath. Like Le Blanc was one to talk about histrionics…

Nooj reached over and ruffled Paine's hair again. "I want you to take care of yourself, understand?" Paine nodded and he leaned back on Le Blanc. "Until we meet again?"

"Yes, when we meet again," Paine replied.

The scene Paine walked in on upon entering the bridge of the airship could only be related to chaos. Rikku and Cid were yelling at each other, Brother was doing jumping jacks in the middle of the pair, Shinra was practically hunched over his computer screen obviously trying to ignore the tiff, and a lone Al-Bhed blitzballer ran laps around the deck stopping occasionally to lean over and stretch out his muscles. Apparently he had confused the bridge for an exercise room. Paine took a place a little left of the door and settled down to watch the ensuing battle.

"It wasn't his fault!" Rikku insisted waving her hands wildly in the air to give her declaration emphasis.

"How the hell can you say it isn't his fault when he's the one with a hangover? What, are you going to tell me someone tied him down, pried his mouth open and poured the drink down his throat?" Cid responded in his boisterous tone.

Ah, so they were arguing about Gippal. This should be interesting, Paine thought to herself.

"Tidus tricked him, he said that he would give Gippal a million gil if he out drank him!" Rikku said frantically.

"AHA! So you admit that Gippal drank in a competition, therefore wasting himself and costing our mission his skills as a map reader!"

"Oh, get off it Pops, it's not like he's out for good," Rikku snorted crossing her arms.

"He-ey!" Brother shouted hopping in between the confrontation. "Hey! This is my ship and so this is my mission!"

"SHUT UP!" both Rikku and Cid yelled in unison.

"Who's to say he won't pull a stunt like this again?" Cid asked resuming his argument with his daughter.

"But Tidus isn't here, so Gippal won't have an incentive to drink!" Rikku reasoned.

"Like hell he won't have a reason!" Cid retorted throwing his own arms in the air.

"THIS IS MY SHIP AND I ORDER BOTH OF YOU TO LISTEN TO ME!" Brother jumped in circles now reminding Paine of a hyper active dog.

"SHUT UP!" Cid and Rikku shouted with shuch force that Brother shrank back.

"There is no need for all this yelling," he mumbled before harrumphing and stomping back to his "captain's" seat at the helm.

Already bored with the tittering, Paine stepped down the stairs to the center of the bridge where the illumination of a sphere cast a blue glow on the floor beneath it. White lines circled the globe and tiny pinpricks of various colored lights danced around the surface. Upon closer inspection, Paine read the ghost of an inscription written in Al-Bhed flashing around the middle. It said, "Spira," and a part of the world was boxed with another label reading "Calm Lands." Paine touched the Calm Lands box zooming in on the point.

Suddenly the blue shifted from one solid shade of blue to various shades, which Paine instantly recognized as variations in the level of the land. Hm, Paine pondered lightly tracing one finger over the lines formed by the many crags scattered along the Calm Lands' surface. This must be the spot where the Al-Bhed rest area is located…and this must subsequently be the area where the Cave of the Stolen Fayth lies…but I wonder what all of these different colored lights are?

Bringing her hand thoughtfully up and resting her chin along her knuckles, Paine thought, Well, the lights lie in the same spots where the fiend games are located…could these lights be an indication of the different levels of fiends? Paine frowned thoughtfully as she considered the spot where Clasko's chocobo farm emitted a tiny orange glow. Is it people that the lights are indicating? she wondered and then frowned seeing more lights in the canyon between the main Calm Lands and the peninsula where the Cave of Stolen Fayth was. As far as Paine knew, that area of land was uninhabitable, and even if there was the odd hermit down there, she doubted that a whole colony of people lived down there as the brilliant red dot indicated. Well then, what do both fiends and people share?

She released her gaze from the map and glanced outside into the cloudy morning. The morning sunlight hit the cloud in just a way that they emitted a radiant array of colors along the edges of the glass of the airship. The display reminded her of a cloud of pyreflies…

"Oh," Paine murmured quickly switching her focus back to the screen. So the lights are different levels of pyreflies…why would the Al-Bhed want a map showing how many pyreflies are concentrated in one area?

Suddenly the piercing shriek of a whistle shattered Paine's thoughts as Buddy strode on deck. "What is going on here?" Buddy asked of the still bickering crew.

"Those two are trying to take over MY ship!" Brother suddenly snapped over the backrest of his seat and pointed an accusing finger at Rikku and Cid who both glared at him.

"Well, she is trying to defend that drunk ass, sorry excuse of an Al-Bhed for failing to do his job!" Cid retorted sticking his own finger in Rikku's direction.

"And HE is trying to throw Gippal off the ship for something that isn't even entirely his fault!" Rikku argued jamming her own finger into Cid's barrel of a chest.

"Okay, okay, let's just calm down here," Buddy waved an exasperated hand over the pair. "Brother, you know that Cid was just lending us the airship for the time being," Buddy addressed Brother first who suddenly donned a crestfallen face and huffily turned back around in his seat, making a big show of plopping back down. "Cid, you know that we need all the help we can get, you can't afford to completely get rid of Gippal."

"So I'm just supposed to pansy on up to him and say, 'Oh don't worry about shirking your responsibilities boy, just go on back to your duties and don't let it happen again?'" Cid's face became red with boiling anger, "And then what, am I just suppose to give him a light slap on the hands and a small pinch on the butt?"

"I am not saying that," Buddy responded hardly affected by Cid's growing temper. "You have every right to punish him, just don't completely throw him from the job. Make him do hard labor or something, you know how Gippal likes to believe that he's above digging in the dirt, he'll hate every minute of it."

The thought of lowering Gippal to the status of any other low wage amateur digger seemed to appease Cid's anger. "Maybe…" he sulkily replied.

"But, who will read the maps?" Rikku interjected on Gippal's absent behalf.

Everyone turned expectant eyes over to Shinra who was still hunched over his computer frantically typing away. When he felt the eyes of everyone in the room on his back, Shinra froze in his task, and slowly swiveled around in his chair. He gazed out onto the faces with his eerie one-way stare behind his odd looking mask. "Don't look at me," he said with finality, "I'm just a kid."

Everyone facefell at that until Buddy said, "Well, I don't think we'll need Shinra after all, it looks like we've got ourselves another map reader here already."

Everyone switched their gaze to the map in question and found one Paine engrossed in thought as she studied its surface, lightly touching some places and going back to her thoughtful frown.

Feelings the multiple eyes on her back, Paine looked up with and glared at the conspiring gazes focused on her. "Hey, Dr. P, can you actually read that map?" Rikku asked stepping closer to Paine and bending down looking sideways at the stoic warrior.

Paine took another nervous look around at the greedy eyes of the people in the bridge. "No," she lied.

Rather badly.

Feel free to email me with any comments or whatnot. Actually, if you don't have any comments feel free to email me anyway. I need an email buddy.

…so

…lonely…

Oh, and please leave a review!