AN: So here's the deal, writing this thing is a pain in the butt for us both and the whole distance thing isn't helping. At all. This will be the last update in a long time because we both want to focus on other fanfiction we have yet to finish. Not to mention Wai's got other pet projects that she wants to finish. So Zephyr's on hold. For who knows how long.
Wai: I'm posting this from the airport. Leaving for vacation and won't be able to go online for 6 weeks. So I'll tell you all now: Thanks for the reviews and hopefully we'll be able to start writing again by the time Aki and I return to our respective schools.
Zephyr
Besaid: Secrets
It was Auron, but the image shifted quickly, revealing the—for a select few—familiar view of Zanarkand, as it was a thousand years in the past. The four former Crimson Squad candidates watched the sphere with awe, yet both Paine and Baralai did notice a change in Tidus' face as he gazed longingly at the sphere.
But because of their obvious fascination, the sudden flash of light that the sphere emitted came as more than just a blinding surprise. The others stumbled backwards, trying to shield their eyes and failing to do so.
The three members of the newly formed sphere hunting team barely winced, having been exposed to the bright light before. But they were as shocked as the others at seeing the young boy standing in front of them, sphere held tightly in his hands.
All, save one.
Tidus moved forward, crouching in front of the kid. There was a small, almost nostalgic, smile on his face as he held out his hand. The young boy blinked, watching him suspiciously for a moment or two, but he must have found something in those mirroring blue eyes because he broke into a smile.
"Can I have the sphere?" Tidus asked. The boy nodded enthusiastically. "Thanks." He said, accepting the sphere from those tiny hands. The boy beamed when the young—not so young anymore—blitzball player reached out to ruffle his hair.
Before anyone could make head or tail of this little exchange, with another bright flash of light, the boy disappeared. Tidus stood straight, tossing the sphere from one hand to the other, contemplating something. He started, but didn't drop the sphere, when Yuna placed a hand tentatively on his arm.
"Are you OK?" She asked softly. He grinned at her, nodding his head. She knew most of his grins and can decipher them all, this was definitely the "I'm alright" grin.
"What was that?" Whispered Rikku, eyes trained on Tidus.
"I'm...not sure." He hesitated.
"How did you know what to do?" Rikku pressed on, obviously not buying Tidus' answer.
"I didn't." He replied with a shrug.
"Whaaaat?" Shrieked Rikku, eyes wide and mouth wide open, grabbing a hold of Tidus' arm. "You mean that could have been a...a...fiend or something and you just..."
"Hey, give me a break, alright?" Tidus rolled his eyes. "Besides, it isn't as if you guys haven't done something like this before. You went on ahead to face Shuyin and Vegnagun, not knowing for sure what's going to happen." Tidus pointed out. For a moment, Rikku was silent, thinking it over. When she started smiling sheepishly, Tidus knew he won this argument. Or so he thought.
"How did you know that?" Yuna asked softly, eyes fixed on Tidus. The blond in question's gaze shifted towards her and realized his mistake.
"Uh, didn't you tell me? You know, when you were telling me about what happened when I was gone." He said, hoping to fix his mistake.
"No, I didn't. I didn't tell you because I thought it would upset you. I thought you'd be angry at me for not thinking it through." Seeing the resolve in her eyes and knowing that she wouldn't accept anything but the truth, he finally gave in.
"I, well...you were all in the Farplane when you fought Vegnagun, right?" He sighed. "I know you must have heard Auron and my old man, Yuna. You must have heard your father too." Yuna nodded, though Tidus could see sadness in her eyes. "I could hear you too."
"You...what?" Rikku said, eyes widening. The hands that were on the back of her head dropped down to her sides and the amused grin she had was wiped away in a moment.
"Well you were in the farplane, you know. And you do remember that the souls of the dead exist in the farplane." Tidus pointed out.
"You spoke to my father?" Yuna spoke up.
"Yeah, I did." Tidus replied, voice solemn. "I spoke to Auron too. And my old man."
"Why didn't you tell me?" There was a tinge of betrayal in Yuna's voice, too soft because she tried to quench it down. But Tidus caught it anyway and he knew why. His eyes immediately softened and he reached out to touch Yuna's cheek.
"Because I knew it would only make you sad." He said simply. "And I promised your dad that I'd never make you sad." The other people in the room attempted to ignore the couple's tender moment, looking anywhere but at the two of them.
It was a couple of minutes later when they finally snapped out of their trance and realized they weren't alone. The identical blush on Tidus and Yuna's faces was enough to make them laugh again.
"Oh yeah, Gippal, Auron left a message for you." Tidus suddenly said, after the laughter died away and the couple stopped blushing.
"For me?" Gippal asked puzzled.
"Yeah." Tidus paused. "How did you know Auron anyway?"
"Sir Auron used to visit Cid a lot, just to tell him how Yuna's mother is doing without her knowing, so I met him when I was little." Gippal explained. "I met Auron more than a few times after that too."
"Hey, how come I don't remember any of this?" Asked Rikku. Gippal smirked, then sighed and shook his head dramatically.
"You were much too young to remember." He announced, barely missing Rikku's fist.
"You're only a year older, you freak!" She shouted over the laughter that followed. Gippal reached over to ruffle her hair, receiving a hard smack against his stomach instead.
"You know, I've been wondering about those two." Paine said to Yuna, purposely making her voice loud enough for Rikku and Gippal to hear. "Seems like there's history there. And I'm not talking about sibling bickers either."
"They do seem closer than that, don't they?" Yuna said, eyes twinkling with mischief.
"What did Auron say?" Gippal asked, ignoring Yuna and Paine's words as well as Rikku's cry of protest.
Tidus scratched his head. "I don't know what it means myself, but he said that you'd know what it means." Tidus paused, seemingly unsure. "He said that you're a jackass." The group fell completely silent, not knowing what to make of this message. But Gippal, whose eye widened and mouth fell agape, suddenly burst into uncontrollable laughter.
"Gippal?" Baralai said uncertainly, fearing his friend's sanity. Nooj raised an eyebrow, but he didn't look like he was going to do anything. Baralai looked at him for a moment, as if to ask what to do. Nooj shrugged, interested in whatever it was that had Gippal laughing so hard, he started coughing.
"What in Yevon's name is wrong with him?" Muttered Paine.
"Is that a good thing?" Tidus asked uncomfortably. Gippal managed to stop laughing for one brief moment to croak out,
"Yes." Even with Paine and Rikku and eventually, Baralai, attempting to "beat the truth out of him", Gippal refused to tell his story. Instead, the Al Bhed tried to dodge their blows and shaking his head. And the day continued.
Tired and frustrated at Gippal's resolve of not divulging his secret, Rikku and Paine went to have a quiet talk outside, where they didn't have to put up with Gippal's "I know something you don't know" smirk.
"I want to beat him up, just so he can stop smirking like that." Muttered Rikku. "Jerk.
"I'll hold him and then you'll beat him up, how's that?" Paine offered lightly.
"Yeah! That'll teach him!" Exclaimed Rikku, attempting to punch at the empty air, imagining Gippal.
"You and Gippal were close once, weren't you?" Paine asked slowly, a knowing grin on her face. Rikku squeaked, but she saw the look on Paine's face and decided to come clean.
"OK, OK. We dated. Not long, because Gippal broke it off and told me that he didn't want to lose his childhood buddy. Or something like that." The blonde said miserably.
"Ah." The older girl was silent for a moment. "So he values your friendship more than the relationship you two had. That's enough isn't it?"
"I suppose." Sighed Rikku, but Paine knew that tone of voice. Of course, she didn't say anything. Rikku would have to figure things out by herself. "Yeah, if only he wasn't getting married." Rikku muttered, under her breath. The blonde thought Paine wouldn't be able to hear her, but she was wrong.
"WHAT?" The blonde's eyes widened, slapping a hand over her mouth, staring at Paine with fear.
"Uh..."
"Rikku." There was no mistaking the dangerous edge of Paine's voice. Or THAT particular look.
"Oh poopie." She muttered, relenting. "See, I heard from Nhadala that the reason Gippal came up with this whole sphere hunting gig is because he wanted to spend more time with you...because he's going to get married."
"Marry?" Paine whispered. "Gippal?" Rikku nodded, smiling slightly at Paine's shocked stare.
"That's what I thought when I heard it too. But this is Nhadala, she's like...Gippal's confidante or something! So...it can't be a rumor, you know?"
"Yevon." Whispered Paine. How's Baralai going to react to this? And why the hell didn't Gippal tell us about this?
"So what's this I hear from Rikku about a marriage?" Paine's direct question startled Gippal out of his thoughts, whirling around at the approaching pilot. The girl sat down next to him, red eyes watching him intently. For a moment, Gippal wondered if throwing himself off the airship was an option.
Apparently Paine was able to read his thoughts from just looking at him, because she grabbed his shoulder and squeezed, causing the Al Bhed to yelp and move away.
"Hey!" He cried, indignantly. But there was no smug smile to meet his cry of protest, which meant that Paine was dead serious. They sat there, staring at each other for a long moment. Paine glaring at Gippal, ordering him to speak with just her look. Gippal, on the other hand, looked at his teammate warily.
"What do you want to know?" He finally asked, sighing in defeat.
"Well, whose idea is it?" Gippal managed a weary grin.
"So you figured that part out, did you?" Paine snorted, nudging his shoulder lightly.
"I know you." She stressed. "There is no way you would jump into a commitment like that. Especially when you've got your eye trained on someone already." She paused, gauging his reaction. And indeed, Gippal's eye widened for a moment, staring at her incredulously.
It was Paine's turn to smile wryly. "Give me more credit than that, OK? You guys are pretty obvious." At this revelation, Gippal groaned, covering his face with his hands.
"Does he-"
"No."
[Thank Yevon.] Gippal muttered.
"The old man, I owe him a lot, you know?" Gippal began, his voice quiet, quite unlike him. "He helped me get the Faction started. Nhadala helped out too, so I owe her as much as him."
"So, this arrangement it's Cid's idea?"
"Yeah." Paine snorted.
"Cid always did have the worst ideas."
"But I can't say no to this one, Paine. I owe him." He paused, sighing. "Of course, the fact that I dated his daughter didn't help things any bit." Paine laughed, the sound was soft and not at all mocking.
"I had my suspicions, especially after how Rikku sputtered so much when you teased her."
"Guess she wanted to keep it a secret." Gippal said with a fiendish grin. But when the amusement faded, there was only silence.
"What about Baralai?" Paine asked carefully, afraid to hit a nerve on a subject so sensitive.
"I don't know." And it was that quiet voice again. The voice of a lost boy, who seemed to have everything he ever wanted just outside his reach.
"I just thought, you know, we'd have this one last time together, all four of us." Gippal said, with a wistful smile. "Before I go off marrying the next Al Bhed woman Cid wants me to marry." There was a distinct sound of broken glass, shattering both the silence and the perfectly framed picture that Gippal managed to hang.
Gippal and Paine turned at the exact same time to see the shocked expression on Baralai's face. Apparently, he had been present to hear the last bit of their conversation and nothing before that.
"Baralai," Gippal started, but was immediately cut off.
"I-I just wanted to check on you two." He faltered, taking two steps back. "I...have to go." And he turned around and ran back into the airship, the last thing he heard was Gippal's voice, frantically shouting his name.
YES! End it with a definite clichéd moment! takes a picture See? Kodak moment! That's all for now folks. Seems rushed? Maybe. But you finally know this piece of angst that's been hiding in our arsenal since day one. Yup, we had this in mind ever since the series started. Perfect way to torture the characters AND it's a cheap way to throw in more angst.
Oh and the kid? He's going to make another appearance. If and when we actually write the next chapter...
Final Fantasy X-2 and its affiliates (c) Square-Enix.