Words left unspoken
Hey guys! My art exam has just ended and I have a week before my English ones start, so I thought I'd type up the chapter. I actually managed to write it within two days of posting up the last one, but after that I had no time to type it up. I'll get the next chapter up after my Philosophy exam, which is in less than three weeks.
Just a quick note: I haven't been able to check for errors, so please let me know if there's any. Also again the memories are just flashbacks and not Gippal's actual dreams. Also there is no Gippal thoughts at the beginning because he's asleep, so instead there's a flashback. Votes are:
In the absence of sight: 4
Three years of surviving you: 6
Tale of two Gippals: 4
Nox Fiorre: thanks for your support!
Asga: here you are!
Dark Heart: I do plan to, and I'm so sorry for keeping you wanting so long before I have. The chapter for angel of death is being extremely tricky, but I've almost finished it, and I've already written the next two chapters after that. So once I sort out the problem it will get posted, I promise!
Rikku-thief: thanks for the concern, all better now. My sister got it though, but she's better now too.
Violent: lol, glad you like! Here you go, before the end of 2005, lol.
Kairiyuna: thanks! Its great to have your support and understanding.
Shakai: Yep, you guessed it! The first one to guess about the Sin connection, feel proud . Muha! I'm not surprised he's your favourite! The chapter for angel of death is being extremely tricky, but I've almost finished it, and I've already written the next two chapters after that. So once I sort out the problem it will get posted, I promise!
Jen: thank you for understanding!
Arami Heartily: thank you! Good luck to you too!
Master Thief: good to hear, lol. Thank you!
Back of Beyond: lol, I try.
Green-eyed-blonde: erm…okay…
Thoughtless Sleeping
The shot went too far to the left and instead hit the kind Al Bhed woman. She was killed instantly. Gippal heard Rin stumble over to her side, but he himself didn't dare move from in front of Lance. There was more than one bullet in that gun.
"Hand over that sphere." The man commanded, Gippal quickly glanced behind and shook his head at Lance.
"Never." Lance said firmly. The man sighed and aimed the gun at Gippal's head.
"Give it to me or your new friend dies!"
"No Cameo!" Acacia cried out, beginning to grab the gun from him. Gippa took the moment to act while Lance began advancing towards the man. If he attacked him the gun could be set off, and another person would be killed. He had to do something.
"Give me the sphere!" Gippal yelled to Lance, who paused slightly in confusion. "Please, trust me." Lance shrugged and threw it accurately at him; then turned back to the struggling couple trying to gain ownership of the gun. No one was watching Gippal.
Gippal muttered a quick plead for forgiveness before moving towards the dead woman's corpse and stuffing the sphere down her top, covering up the weird lump by clothing her with a coat. He then grabbed a blank sphere he'd picked up in Guadosalam from his pocket and held it up in the air.
"Stop! Stop or I'll smash it!" The man froze and Acacia quickly claimed the gun, aiming it shakily in Lance's direction.
"You wouldn't dare boy!" The man declared confidently.
"Why not? You were just about to kill me, so either way I'm dead."
"Just hand me that sphere and I won't hurt you."
"What about them? You can't hurt them either." Gippal commanded firmly, fighting off a wave of weariness.
"Fine, we'll just slowly walk out and leave them be."
"After you." The man gritted his teeth at this, but did as he was told and excited the Inn slowly. Gippal began to follow; making sure his mother was in between him and the man. Once he was near the exit he quickly called back to Lance. "Thanks for everything; I hope that dead lady's present will help you." And then he stepped outside…and was instantly grabbed and thrown roughly to the ground.
"How dare you!" The man yelled, picking him up again and prying the sphere from his grip. "I will not be made a fool of by a six year old!"
" Duu myda." (Too late) Gippal smiled wearily.
"The Guado are coming." Acacia broke in. She had already thrown the guy away, much to the man's annoyance. "And the Al Bhed will come after us soon."
"We must reach the Macalania Woods." The man growled, picking Gippal up and sprinting towards the distant woods.
"Let me go! I want to stay with them!" Gippal yelled, loud enough for the Guado's to hear. Rin had sent a guide back to Guadosalam once Gippal had explained about the man, but it was still to be an easy escape from them if Gippal didn't do something. "I want to live!" He cried out loudly, hoping they would follow his voice. "I WANT TO LIVE!"
"Shut up!" The man hissed, and knocked him out using the sphere.
Rikku only just managed to change into her Gun Mage dressphere and cast Mighty Guard in time. The barrier would protect them…but the aftershock was sure to hurt.
Meanwhile Paine and Yuna were stood outside trying to get the machina's attention away from crushing the building.
"Thundaga!" Yuna cried out in annoyance. It was her fifth attack on the machina and still it was ignoring them.
"I don't think this is working." Paine sighed while throwing a grenade. "It's armour's too strong."
"But there has to be a way, the others are still inside." Yuna said desperately. She began to change back to a Gunner, searching for any bullets that could penetrate the armour. They didn't work. "What about the arms? Can't we get them off?"
"They're armour protected too." Paine sighed. "It's hopeless; we have to get the others out first."
"Already here!" Came Rikku's usual cheerful voice, but one that was now filled with worry. "Gippal still isn't fully aware; or awake for that matter."
"We'll have to keep him safe then." Paine grunted while throwing another grenade. "Whoever's not fighting should take him to safety."
"I'm fighting." Rikku said firmly. "I've had experience with machina my whole life."
"And we're already fighting." Yuna pointed out. "So the boys will have to take him."
"But…"
"No time for arguments! He'll be easier for you to carry anyway. GO!" Paine yelled at them over Rikku's 'Boo ya!' cry. Baralai merely nodded and grabbed Gippal again. Tidus had no choice but to follow.
"We'll come back as soon as he's in a safe place." Tidus promised; then headed towards Macalania Woods.
The man woke with a start. It was early and he'd slept restlessly, longing to know what was happening with his machina. This machina was more basic than the others and because of that he couldn't control it directly, couldn't watch the Al Bhed lovers struggle against it.
"Maybe I'll miss their deaths." He said to himself, but then shook his head. The armous was almost indestructible, but not quite. Any Al Bhed would know the secret to its defeat if they took a moment to realise it. But then again, if they were too busy fighting…
"Mountain not want you here." A sudden voice boomed, making the man jump. "When will you leave?"
"In a few days, when my son arrives here." The man told the Ronso with no fear present in his voice. "When he reaches your mountain, you must tell him to come here alone Garik."
"Then will you leave?" Garik asked. "Elder Kimahri says for you to leave now."
"Do you expect me to follow him as blindly as you do?" The man chuckled. "Just tell Gippal when he gets here, and make sure none of his friends hear the message. Do not even tell you Elder, only Gippal. After that I will leave for good."
"Owie!" Rikku complained as she clutched her foot. Berserker definately wasn't working; the armour was just too thick.
"I told you it was a stupid idea." Paine told her, now a Black Mage. Yuna had taken the role of Alchemist, but her attacks proved as useless as Paine's had been.
"There has to be a way to do this! Can't we use Gippal's dressphere and use his device to control it?"
"Only if you're willing to get your right eye poked out." Rikku told her, changing back to Gun Mage.
"The Inn will collapse completely soon, then it will attack us." Paine observed.
"Then why is it not attacking now? No one's in there anymore." Yuna asked. Rikku paused, thinking this over.
"It's running on a basic system. It's been given simple orders which it has to carry out precisely. I guess the man programmed it to destroy the building and then kill us. That mean's he's no controlling it directly like before! We do have a chance!"
"Care to explain." Paine said breathlessly.
"Okay, this machina is basic, so once we brake through the armours we just have to damage a bit of the inner goodness and then it will be useless!"
"You sounded just like Gippal then." Yuna laughed,
"So how do we break through the armour?" Paine asked, now thoroughly annoyed.
"Corrosion." Rikku said proudly. "Happened in the desert all the time."
"We don't have time for it to start to rust!" Paine yelled.
"There's a way to speed it up! All we have to do is…" But her voice was lost in a thunderous noise; the Travel Inn had finally collapsed.
"Phase one complete." The machina reported. "Phase Two commence." It finally turned its attention towards the three fighters."
"Oh no." Rikku croaked before an swung down and knocked her unconscious.
"What are you guys doing here?" Wakka asked the newcomers. It was seven in the morning and Lulu hadn't been happy when she'd been woken up by the animal. She had proven that much by shocking Wakka awake with a thunder spell and commanding him to deal with it.
"Well, you see…" Ormi began.
"…We slept through the Kilika stop." Logos finished. "We need to use the commsphere to contact the boss. And, well…"
"We're starving!" Ormi finished.
"Rikku!" Yuna screamed, beginning to pull out a phoenix down but dropping it when she had to dodge an attack. "Hey! That's cheating!"
"I don't think it likes turn taking." Paine told her. She tried to use a stash phoenix down, but everytime she had to dodge her concentration wavered from the task. "We need Rikku to tell us how to defeat it. Revive her while I distract it." She instructed and changed to her warrior dressphere, almost being flattened by an arm in the process.
"Paine!" Yuna yelled as the machina moved towards her. Paine sighed and drew her sword.
"Over here you piece of scrap metal!" Paine screamed, charging at the machina and earning its full attention back. The machina had just received a sword blow in one arm when Rikku was climbing back onto her feet.
"Ouch." She moaned, struggling to aim her gun up.
"Quickly Rikku! How do we defeat it?" Yuna asked.
"Firstly you need a Back Mage, Gun Mage and an Alcehmist…" But that's as much as she was able to say before the machina's other arm knocked her unconscious again.
"She must be the main target." Paine said as she dodged another attack. "Change into Black Mage Yuna! I can't be hitting this thing with a rod." Yuna nodded and quickly changed. She understood the plan, to change so they were ready, the revive Rikku to learn more of the corrosion technique. As long as they timed everything properly they should survive this encounter.
"Thundaga!" She cast, distracting it from Paine.
The young Gippal woke slowly, his head throbbing from where he'd been hit, his whole body aching from the events he'd been recently put through. Where was he? He couldn't tell.
"He's waking up."
"Good, he can take this stupid potion and then afterwards we're leaving. We should be okay until then, he Guados will take a while to cross the Thunder Plains."
"Here you go Gippal, drink up." Acacia told him, half forcing the potion down his throat. Gippal coughed a little as he drank, too weak to fight her off.
Would they really be safe here? No. They would never be safe as long as the man was close by.
"He'll be safe here." Tidus argued.
"No he won't, we have to get him into the woods."
"But…"
"They'll be okay. Please Tidus, the longer we delay the less chance we'll get to participate in the battle."
"How can he sleep now?" Tidus grumbled. "How thoughtless."
"How thoughtless of you accusing him of being thoughtless." Baralai countered as they dragged Gippal past the last lightening rod.
"Huh?"
"Phoenix Down!" Yuna yelled at last. It had taken ten minutes for Paine to receive the chance to transform into Alchemist. Apparently it had found Paine's choice of dresspheres more than Yunas.
"Fryd?" (What?) Rikku asked as she climbed to her feet, instantly receiving the full attention of the machina.
"Rikku! Tell us!" Paine screamed as she shot the machina to slow its progress.
"First I have to…"
"Just do it!" Yuna interrupted and powered up a distracting lightening spell. Rikku nodded and then prepared her attack.
"Bad Breath!" She commanded; everyone froze in confusion at this; even the monster seemed to pause in amusement.
"Are you insane! Bad Breath? It's immune Rikku!"
"Don't question me! Yunie I nned you to hit it with water, but only water, otherwise it will notice what we're…" The arm knocked her unconscious again and Paine cursed loudly. Yuna just shrugged.
"Water!" She casted where the toxin was still visible and to her surprise saw the armour surface turn duller. "It's working Paine!" But Paine had already noticed and changed into Gun Mage.
"Okay, let's break through this armour!"
"There, now let's go!"
"Tidus, it has taken us over an hour to reach here, maybe its better we wait."
"I'm not waiting! Yuna's in danger!"
"If we leave then the wood fiends could attack Gippal, and by the time we got back to the girls the battle will be over. We have to wait until he wakes up."
"Why?"
"Because he's the primary target, and that will give YRP the chance they need."
"I don't think it will rust much more, time to revive Rikku!" Yuna said breathlessly. After almost two hours of fighting she was growing exhausted. How much longer could they stand this?
"Okay, I'll…" But the exhausted Paine finally dodged back too slowly. The machina arm hit her right side painfully and she fell to the ground unconscious.
"Paine!" Yuna screamed, beginning to rummage for a Mega-Phoenix. The machina arm began to descend on her, and she knew it was all over.
Gippal woke up to the sound of screaming, a final scream from a dying Guado.
"What's going on?" He asked, instantly alert.
"Surrender!" The familiar voice of Tromell called out.
"Mum?"
"Stay back!" Came Acacia's voice, but she was speaking to the approaching Guados, not hearing her son's questions.
"We mean you no harm; we just have dealings with your husband."
"You can't take him!"
"He murdered a woman! How can you protect him?"
"Enough of this!" The man's voice interrupted them a gun in his own hand. "We are leaving and if you try to stop us I will kill the rest of you! You will never have the sphere back!" The man held up the sphere in his free hand and grinned. Gippal groaned quietly and began to move away from the scene unnoticed.
"Do you take us for fools?" Tromell asked in an amused tone. "That sphere is a blank, there's no playback button, anyone can see that! Hand over the real sphere or…" A loud noise interrupted, the noise that all dreaded to hear in this age of Spira.
"Sin is coming!" One of the Guados cried out, terrified. Some of them turned and fled, but others, including Tromell, stayed put.
"A blank?" The man muttered, astonished. Gippal felt himself begin to shake with fear. This was it, he was going to die. "That thing tricked me?"
"Surrender or we'll fire!" Tromell warned.
"I'm going to KILL him! HOW DARE HE!" The man yelled, spinning his gun to the spot where Gippal had woken up. "WHERE IS HE?"
"Run Gippal!" Acacia yelled just as a fire was shot. It hit the tree Gippal was hiding behind.
Gippal began to run as fast as he could, only once glancing back at the scene. Tromell had fired the man's old gun, but hit Acacia instead.
"Mum." Gippal whispered, pausing for a second as Tromell made his escape and the man knelted by Acacia's still form. Gippal swallowed a sob and continued to run. The man wouldn't be delayed by grief long. He'd come after Gippal next.
Thirty seconds after Yuna had been knocked unconscious Gippal opened his eyes, all sleepiness gone.
"Frana yna fa?" (Where are we?)
"Now can we go?"
The machina instantly sensed when the primary target was considered a threat and began to move towards it. Macalania Woods. The machina didn't compute the Phoenix Down Yuna had dropped at the start of the battle, or the fact it had just been broken under it's weight and showered the contents on the second target. The primary target was all it would focus on now.
The machina was down the slope and entering the second section of the Thunder Plains when a bullet broke the rusty armour area and damaged its systems. But the bullet had missed the main functioning systems; it only hit the programming system.
"Opps." Rikku muttered when the machina turned back around and headed towards her. The breach in the armour was facing away from her now, she couldn't aim for it. "Whoa!" She dodged an arm and accidentally dropped her gun. "Cred!" She began to run back towards the crumbled Inn, not knowing where else to go. There was no time to change dresspheres; she had to find another weapon.
The machina was catching up easily to her and Rikku looked back to realise just how close it was. her feet tripped over part of the Travel Inn wall and she fell on the ground. Hard. But her right hand was on top of something, which in the rush to get out of the Inn had been forgotten. But the machina was facing the wrong way.
"Rao! Fa'na ujan rana oui clnybrayb!" (Hey! We're over here you scrapheap!) Gippal's voice rang out. Rikku was too cautious to take her gaze off the machina, but she could imagine Gippal's grin in place anyway.
The machina was debating, going through what systems remained. One battle-weary enemy. Three healthy ones. Exterminate the biggest threat first. And so it made a wrong calculation for the very last time; it turned to face the guys…
Wakka sat watching the two failed messengers eat their fill, then go on to tell him all about their 'amazing' boss. Wakka sighed, gazing longingly in the direction of the beach where Lulu and Vidina has made their escape to.
Why did he have to be the one that was stuck listening?
"You should have seen it Yuna, she jammed the weapon halfway through the hole and set off the mortar attack. The pieces went everywhere! TIdus told the now revived Yuna. "One bit hit Baralai on the head."
"I'm glad someone could find my pain so amusing." The praetor grumbled darkly.
"It was pretty funny when you screamed." Gippal insisted.
"Not as funny as you drooling when you were asleep. And you were muttering something in Al Bhed. What were you dreaming about?"
"I don't dream when I'm drugged up." Gippal said easily. "You must have imagined it."
"Let's just get out of here, I'm getting cold." Paine complained.
"We can't leave Rikku." Yuna pointed out. "She's still trying to find her Gun Mage weapon."
"She shouldn't have dropped it in the first place."
"Ec Dr.P cuin palyica cra seccat dra mycd bynd uv dra yldeuh?" (Is Dr.P sour because she missed the last part of the action?)
"Crid ib, tnuum puo." (Shut up, drool boy.)
"Found it!" Rikku called cheerfully, holding up her gun like a trophy. "Now let's get going!"
"Gladly." Came Paine's reply.
The man watched the Ronso leave with a hidden smirk, fool. Ronsos were so easy to manipulate.
"Not long now, they will come. And my masterpiece will be ready for them. Nothing can stop me now."