A/N: I'm so sorry! I posted this as a Rom/Com and somehow the Angst has gatecrashed the party again! Never mind, there will be some better explanation given as to why Rikku seems a bit schizophrenic coming somewhere along the line, but at the time, it seemedlike a perfect excuse to bring on the fluffiness! Of course, the path of true love never did run smooth, so don't expect a happy ever after next chapter, this convoluted plot of mine has a lot more twists in it yet! Translation: Of course I'm gonna throw a spanner in the works! Things will be resolved however, but we're only on Chapter Two of the game yet!
-PSPhreak- Thank you sooooooooo much for reviewing, it means the world to me when you guys say you like what I write! I'm not discouraged at all though, 4 reviews is loads more than I ever expected, and I already have a regular! I did promise reviewers tin foil, but I decided that kinda sucked, badly, so instead, Rikku and I have managed to manipulate the delectable Gippal into really tight leather! Yay for leather!
-Star99- As my only constant reviewer, I've gotta give youthe dedication for the chappy, as well as cos you're so nice to me! Unfortunately, you'll have to share Gippal with PSPhreak, or you can have the tin foil, but I know which one I'd choose, even if I only got to have him Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, -giggles- I'll try and update as quickly as I can, but uploads may slow down when school starts again... -mutters- stupid education... Anyways, enjoy!
Chapter Four: Reveries, Revelations and Unforeseen Requirements... (So much alliteration... -head explodes-)
Halfway through watching that sphere I was seriously summing up my future options. Changing my name to Esmeralda and upping sticks to Luca seemed like my best bet, which wasn't really encouraging. Then again, it was hardly surprising, seeing as Yunie must have: Apocalypse, please! Tattooed on her forehead in invisible ink; either that or she was breaking out a placard with the same message emblazoned upon it each time I turned my back on her. Yup, Armageddon just seemed to be an everyday part of my life, which was really far too depressing to dwell on for long.
However, the thing that scared me the most was where 'he' was being held. It reminded me so strongly of the Via Purifico that I felt the icy water about my ankles. Suddenly I was there, in one of the dank cells, unnaturally lit by a single glyph that fluctuated between dimness and ominous black outside in the walkway, casting irregular shadows that were strewn randomly upon the decaying stones of my cell. The ubiquitous shades seemed to mutate around me, gorging on my fear and growing stronger for it, before lunging and dissipating with an angry hiss when the light returned.
Then, I bodily connected with the 'cleansing water', breath forced out of me by the choking, withered hands of the cold. My muscles were unable to aid me, so bound by this denizen of the dark that I couldn't even perceive, and my vocal chords were stilled by an icy hand of fear slithering down my open throat. The water stung my wide, fearful eyes as I sank, struggling to flounder back to the surface but unable to shake my limbs out of forced entropy. Ever since the accident at the Moonflow, I had become more afraid of drowning than I had of thunder, but no one was here to save me, because I remembered that I had been in the water for over four hours before I saw hide or hair of anyone else. Eyes beginning to flood with tears that eddied around on the tendrils of current, I resigned myself to hold my breath for as long as my body was able.
"Ifrit and hell fires! Breathe Rikku!" A worried voice screamed into my ear. My eyes snapped open and I gasped down a lungful of much needed air. As soon as my vision focussed I saw Gippal, looking very angry and very, very scared. "What in Yevon's name is wrong with you?" He bellowed, before throwing his arms around me so tight I almost heard ribs cracking. Lifting my head off of the nice resting place his shoulder presented, my gaze met Paine's, who looked more shocked at this development than I felt.
"Where did everybody go?" I asked weakly.
"Running after Yuna, who's in a bad way seeing as lover boy was asking after another girl." Paine answered sadly, feeling for her friend. I winced, but then shook off the doubt.
"Then it's not him. I had to spend a lot of time with the pair of them, whilst saving the world, and they were the ultimate pair o' lovesick fools. There is not a single person on Spira who could change that." I said sternly, ending the discussion.
"And you?" Paine asked, smiling softly at my vehemence and trust in my friends. "Any previous lovers of yours start asking after other women?" She asked slyly, causing me to blush and gibber incoherently. Gippal briefly released me to glare very hard at Paine, before going back to crushing my vital organs.
"It's in Bevelle…" I whispered softly, still seeing the glyphs on the walls, their light crawling viscously through the bars. They both turned to look at me seriously, comprehending the full seriousness of the sphere.
"Funny that, how all ultimate evils somehow have something to do with Bevelle." Gippal said with a wry chuckle, trying to dispel some of the fear from my face.
"It's deep underground. It's old as well… I think it's the prototype of the Via Purifico…" I said quietly. Paine whistled between her teeth as she exhaled.
"So that's what it looks like… I've heard stories, but I've never met anyone who's survived…" She said, looking in awe at the structure frozen on the screen before her.
"That's because no one does…" Gippal said with a shudder. I continued to stare, enraptured, at the rotating prison cell, instilled with an emptiness, for a part of me had been taken by that awful place. I tried to plaster on a mega-watt grin.
"Don't be silly Paine, by my calculations you've met five!" I chirped, causing Paine to stare opened mouthed. Gippal wasn't having any of it though and looked at me pointedly.
"If one of those people is you I'm going to call up your father and yell at him for letting you escape from salvage…" Gippal grumbled and I had to smile.
"Now who's the one that's keeping tabs?" I asked, sticking out my tongue as he adopted a scandalised look at being caught. He tried to change the subject instead.
"So, as well as Sin, the Lady Yuna's taken down the Evrae Altana?" He asked in a kind of irritated awe. I scoffed at the image of Yunie underwater, cheeks full of air as she flailed pathetically with her staff.
"Seeing as she could walk on water, she never really got used to being under it." I said ambiguously. Gippal sighed with relief.
"Thank Anima for that. If she would've gone up against that then you certainly would've been along for the ride and I'd have to shout at you again." He said sternly. I rolled my eyes at his sudden surge of protectiveness but held my tongue. If I admitted to taking it out with only two other people he'd probably flip out and scold me.
"Not to worry, the only ass Yunie kicked was Isaaru's!" I chirped, remembering being told the story afterwards. "Apparently they had this massive Aeon battle while Wakka, Ti and I were stuck in the waterway!" I said excitedly. Gippal's face suddenly darkened and I made some repentant noise. Paine chuckled as she watched the interchange.
"So you're saying that you had to deal with the waterway with two allies? I knew you were slightly kamikaze before, but now?" She asked the open ended question with a small, knowing smile.
"I didn't exactly have much choice you know…" I started petulantly. "I was in my own in a cell for days, my only company being the guards who'd beat me cos I was Al Bhed as well as an enemy of the state. Then, I was flung in deep, icy water for four hours before I even found anybody else, struggling to keep my head above water because I had four cracked ribs and a broken hand. Then, this big unsent dragon monster attacked us, and I got petrified underwater. If Wakka hadn't distracted it at the last minute I would've been pieces in a watery grave, so don't talk to me about being kamikaze!" I shouted, before the words brought back the memories and I whimpered pathetically. It was Paine's turn to look truly repentant and she crouched to try and untangle my limbs from where I'd curled them tight under my chest. Gippal looked really overwhelmed, as well as torn between kissing and killing me. Much to my horror, I was quite fervently hoping for the former.
"How are you still so… happy?" Paine asked in a kind of muted bewilderment.
"So Yunie doesn't have to fake a smile anymore." I replied honestly. "From the look on your face this might get me some respect points!" I wisecracked, causing Paine to smile and some of the tension to dissipate.
"Fat chance," she said dismissively, before laughing at my puppy dog eyes. I pretended to pout and was just about to start a long wheedling session when Yuna returned, still looking shaken. Brother was no doubt somewhere else, preening for his big chance.
"Barkeep says some friends of his need some help finding musicians. Two of us will handle that in Macalania while another will be on bandit duty on the Moonflow." She said softly. I thought to myself about whether it would be a good idea to send my cousin to a place where her strongest memory of the man who'd just publicly jilted her lay.
"You and Paine hit Macalania, Gippal and I have the Moonflow." I decided, thinking that the small spring could only strengthen her resolve that their love meant something. Not that I'd seen the sordid affair, I'd been snoring like someone sawing a log in half according to Wakka, but Yunie had analysed it to the point where the words had ceased to possess any kind of meaning when we went over it, so I knew pretty much what had gone on… not far short of true colour resolution with surround sound… Yuna nodded uncertainly, before smiling slightly.
Brother instantly set course for Macalania first, because I wasn't high enough up on his list of priorities. This changed when I said Yuna would be with him longer if I was dropped off first and he'd have to see a lot less of Gippal. Blatantly, I won the argument and we were shipped off onto the banks of the river after waving cheery goodbyes to the rest of the Gullwings.
This was when I realised that Gippal hadn't opened his mouth in a ridiculously lengthy period of time, which for him, either signified that he was dead or that Paine had Silenced him while I wasn't looking. Surprisingly, neither was the case for as soon as the Celsius disappeared in a cacophony of sound and veritable mayhem, he turned on me like a Queen Coeurl with a toothache.
"I don't know how the rest of them don't see through you but there is no way in heaven or hell that you're happy." He snapped at me. I blinked slowly in response, dredging up our past conversation from the scary recesses of my mind. "You can't suddenly switch from a frightened, traumatised child to a sugar-high, flaky ditz!" He cried, "It's physically impossible!" Realisation dawned and I sighed.
"Gippal, I may be seventeen but I do know about the 'greater good'. If I can motivate people to just carry on then it doesn't matter whether I'm happy or not. I can genuinely say that for most of the time I am actually content. I'm not complete, but I'll manage. I have fun, I'm doing something I love and I'm helping people in the process. The nightmares, the scars and the pain just seem like a fair trade." I stated patiently, determined to make him understand. "Wait a second… Flaky ditz?" I asked angrily.
"No one should collapse in a boneless heap and go into respiratory arrest just because of something they've experienced." He replied rationally, skittering around the issue of him blatantly insulting me.
"Meh… some people are like that with spiders!" I said dismissively, trying to lighten the situation a little. Gippal shot down the levity without a word. "That's the only thing that I can't push down all the time, that and snakes… but… everyone's got some weakness…" I said. Gippal looked at me for a long while before sighing.
"I know… it's just… I've always liked you Cid's Girl, contrary to popular belief." He stated uneasily. I grinned, totally misreading his meaning.
"But of course! I'm immensely lovable you know." I said smugly. He grinned back and shook his head.
"Even when we were kids you were cute… you'd just be so, vibrant and adorable. Being socially inept I decided that to flirt with you my best bet would be to call you names and mess up your hair, which is normal playground behaviour and something that's become too fun to break my habit of doing so. You'd always get mad at me, which would encourage me further cos you're exceptionally cute when you're angry, but also because you'd forgive me instantly. You're just… one of those people who don't, can't, hold grudges. Even though over many years you've finally become less than fond of me, you've never told me you hated me, which a lot of other people would have done for a lot less." He said embarrassedly, scuffing dirt with one large steel toecap. "I just don't like seeing you like that… I can't stand it if you're scared, or unhappy, especially if it's because of me…" He concluded, causing the Gil to drop, as well as my jaw. Gippal the almighty jerk had a crush on ME? I almost started to jump around in a merry circle, squeaking for joy, but I decided that would make me look totally un-cool, so I nodded slowly instead. Mentally I was of course going: EEEEEEEEE! And commencing with the retarded dancing, but externally I just looked mildly pleased. Gippal seemed to take this as a positive reaction nonetheless.
"Thank Ixion; I thought you were going to punch me." He said, voice full of relief. I laughed at his revelation and shook my head.
"When you're not being an asshole you're pretty cute yourself." I said sheepishly, staring at my feet and blushing.
"I therefore resolve to be as cute as is possible, though I'm beginning to wonder whether you've inherited your father's vocational skills…" He said wryly. I chuckled and crinkled my nose.
"It's hard not to pick up a few choice phrases over the years, but I must also confess that you're also pretty damn cute when you ARE being an asshole, so ignore the previous negative comment." I answered, shrugging at his smug expression.
"Just cos you're always looking for a fight." He said demurely, causing me to laugh.
"Of course, Brother doesn't make much of a verbal sparring partner…" I replied, rather redundantly, for everyone in Spira seemed to be aware that he was a few eggs short of a basket. Gippal laughed anyway and began to drag me down the embankment to the small travelling show.
"I'm actually pretty glad your old man finally lost his very last marble and made that harebrained scheme of his, otherwise I'd have remained a clueless jackass until you married someone else." He said with a warm smile. "Just think if I crashed the ceremony, probably drunk I'm afraid, to start proclaiming undying love before throwing up on your dress and collapsing on the groom." He said, grinning proudly at his potential inebriated antics.
"Ooh… nothing says undying love like vomit…" I said, mock starry-eyed, causing him to crack up. "You know, a week ago, if someone would've told me that I'd voluntarily accept a marriage proposal from you I'd have called them crazy and would then have found some way to get amnesia so as never to entertain the thought again. I mean, even then I couldn't deny to myself that you were utterly hot, but you just pissed me off so much that I just forgot to see you as anyone but Gippal the Wonder Jerk…" I said with a giggle, glad to have wiped the proud smirk off Gippal's face when I called him hot.
"Well, whilst being achingly beautiful yourself, I was too busy thinking up ways to piss off the spoilt airhead of a princess I was convinced you were." He replied, sticking his tongue out in a rare moment of puerility that rivalled my own. I pretended to look horrified at his rebuttal, adopting a trembling lower lip. Gippal didn't buy it for a second though so I dropped the waterworks and quirked an eyebrow instead.
"On what grounds am I an airhead?" I asked icily, causing Gippal to take a step back from our easy closeness.
"Oh… I don't know… the klutz attacks, the squealing, the bouncing, the ridiculously camp and archaic lingo that's apparently fashionable again, never thinking before you speak, flying off the handle cos it makes sense in your frightening little mind, sharing DNA with Brother…" He listed, counting off the insults on his fingers. I scowled and began to retort angrily.
"Ok, I can't do much about being as graceful as a shoopuff with three of its legs cut off whilst trying to ride a space hopper and I can't change the fact that I'm exuberant and saccharine to the point of nausea. Do not blame the sugar, because it's really the coffee that's responsible. The 'lingo' as you term it is, because, surprisingly, I am still relatively young and 'with it'. I don't think before I speak because my family doesn't listen to each other anyway so it's not as if you have to plan an acceptance speech for an award winning debut on the silver sphere-screen, AND, I do not fly off the handle… I just, have a notoriously short temper. Usually I'm all sunshine and light and then you open your mouth and I see red. Oh, and the Brother comment? You're lucky I like you enough to let you live…" I concluded pleasantly, poking Gippal in the chest for good measure. He seemed to be hiding a grin rather poorly so I fixed him with a displeased glare.
"Shoopuff on a space hopper?" He asked amusedly, causing me to sigh impatiently.
"It was creative, it came to mind, I said it. If you prefer I can alter my imagery; it can be any manner of animal with any number of limbs missing!" I said cheerfully, before cringing at how much I sounded like one of the crazies in Zanarkand. Gippal just began to laugh outright and only stopped when I threatened to hit him. "I take it back, I never ever had a crush on you and that means that I certainly did not obsess over you for the best part of three years." I said indignantly, causing Gippal to sputter in shock as he choked during his double-take.
"Wow, I never knew I had my very own stalker…" He said impishly, having recovered freakishly quickly from his wheezing fit.
"I did NOT stalk you." I denied vehemently, even though I did recall that when I was twelve that I followed him for six hours through the desert when he was having one of his moody, solitary strolls without so much as saying a word to him. In fact, I don't know how I managed it but he didn't even see me, which is a miracle, let me tell you, cos there aren't many cacti to hide behind.
You see, back in my messed up child's mind, Gippal was more divine than Yevon was to a Yevonite. Until he opened his mouth… so I'd follow him round like a little lost puppy, practically drooling over his adolescent sexy-ness and daydreaming about how wonderful he was, what with being a genius with machina and so confident and able and strong and… you get the picture, I was utterly deluded. However, the only reason I believed this was because I was too shy to talk to him, which was probably a blessing in disguise or I would've smothered him in his sleep years ago, consequences be damned.
"That's kinda cute in an utterly creepy way…" He cooed, playing with one of the beads in my braid. I tried to give him a nasty look but failed to do anything but giggle.
"I was a kid! A very foolish one at that as well, because I didn't find out you were a jackass until I was thirteen!" I said, still laughing.
"That long, huh?" He asked in surprise, making me laugh harder.
"Puppy love is blind, and you can have all the eyes in the world and still be buggered." I said, cringing at how very sad I was.
"I think less is probably more in that respect…" Gippal said pensively, before chuckling at some mental image.
"Definitely, seeing as I had a thing for pirates as well. Just, with hands, cos I tried to imagine having a husband with hooks for hands and it really didn't work out well." I said, interpreting another strange look from Gippal, for that was just another nail in the coffin of Rikku the mentally unstable cat throwing spinster. If I would have said that one out loud he probably would have taken off running and begged sanctuary from even Brother of all people.
"Well, thanks for the 'graphic gore fest' you've put in my head." He said amusedly.
"Meh, love isn't for the squeamish, but it definitely is for someone more thick skinned than I when it comes to hooks for hands." I said sagely, before cracking up. Gippal gave me another bemused look before laughing as well, shaking his head.
"Seeing as I'm a pirate, would that make you a buxom tavern wench or a wealthy heiress?" He asked slyly.
"Seeing as all of my pretty pennies now belong to O'aka and I'm about as buxom as an ironing board, I guess I'd be a malnourished street urchin." I replied, making Gippal grin, no doubt at a mental image of me in rags and a floppy hat with teeth missing and a Cockney accent.
"Then I guess I'd better fatten you up then, seeing as you'd never let me pay for your boob job." He said wickedly, causing me to slap him half-heartedly on the arm.
"Hard luck, you'll just have to make do with these just the way they are." I said, indicating my chest the way a sales assistant would.
"Aw," he cooed, eyes never rising above my neck during the exchange, "I'll name you Doris and Pearl." He said like a proud father, making me shriek with embarrassment and utter rage.
"You can't NAME them!" I cried, blushing beet red and making Gippal laugh harder.
"Doris and Pearl are identical twins who go to an all girl's school in the country. They wear skimpy little uniforms and have pillow fights regularly." He narrated, as if he were telling a child a bedtime story. The rest I managed to drown out by clapping my hands over my ears and singing the song Leblanc had performed as Yunie at the top of my lungs.
Real Emotion was brought to a screeching halt, however, as I tripped over a small duck man that honestly had NOT been there two seconds beforehand. Gippal was still telling of the antics of my breasts, snorting with laughter in random pauses, until he noticed that my singing had stopped and his gaze fixed on my form sprawled over that of whatever obnoxious midget had gotten in my way. He proceeded to laugh like a squirrel on crack.
However, he did regain some brownie points by helping me up, but lost them shortly after when he inquired after the wellbeing of Doris and Pearl. I then deigned the poor little creature still catatonically sprawled on the earth worthy of my attention.
"Hey, you alive, Duck Man?" I asked sceptically. Gippal again cracked up at 'Duck Man', but part of me knew that he would and that was why I said it.
"Oh!" He cried shrilly, before springing upright freakishly quickly. "I'm fantastically fantabulous! My musicians are here!" He cried excitedly, running around in a dangerous circle of death at breakneck speed. His Hypello helpers just watched on passively, which was to be expected.
"The Chief ish, excited, yesh?" One of them asked me, though for the life of me I couldn't tell which.
"He sure is…" Gippal said after whistling low in admiration. "I never thought there'd come a day where I found someone more hyperactive than you…" He said to me, smiling slightly when I started to grind my teeth.
"Well, he's definitely… hyped up to his eyeballs on java… sweetheart." I ground out, causing him to crack up again, deliberately ignoring my pathetically veiled threat. The 'Chief' seemed to have completed his spasmodic ritual and was looking at me intently through his goggles.
"Spectacular! Superbly spectacular! My show is now complete!" He cried cheerily. I smiled back fearfully until realisation hit with all the force of a speeding airship.
"Musicians? Us?" I squeaked, absolutely terrified. I couldn't perform! I got stage fright in the shower!
"Of course you are! I heard your sublime melodious melodies carried across the waters of the Moonflow!" He chirped, though somehow I was given the impression that he DARED me to prove him wrong. Wow, he must've been really desperate…
"Well, I do play a mean electric guitar." Gippal purred into my ear. I jumped, unaware that he'd suddenly gotten far too close for comfort and took a step back. Then my mind started to supply me with treacherous images of Gippal the rock star in impossibly tight leather trousers. Common sense utterly overruled and overloaded, I decided that if I could con the man into those, I just might do it, but the scary bird creature started to usher me to the wagon anyway before I could confirm my own decision.
"We're here to get your Hypello back!" I squeaked, internally agonising over the death of the dream of Gippal in tight leather trousers. The little man if anything looked even happier.
"Musicians AND warriors at that! Oh, joyous, fortunate day!" He shouted, before working himself into a frenzy again. Gippal, for once, seemed to be controlling his cruel impulses and only watched the bizarre creature with evident, but silent, amusement.
"That's us…" He answered, smirking as I fixed him with a death glare. Personally, I was hoping he felt each individual dagger pierce his irritating hide, but I was torn between strangling him and joining the duck man in his ritualistic dance of celebration. My mind seemed to be chanting like a really happy mantra: Gippal in leather trousers!
"How do I let you get me into these things?" I moaned pathetically.
"I'd tell you, but then you'd make me stop…" Gippal said apologetically, before grinning like a little kid that's found a dead, exceptionally large and hairy bug, and the sincerity of the statement vanished. Gippal then turned his demonic smile to the Chief and hooked an arm through mine. "Well then, boss, we'll be finding your Hypello now!" He said courteously, causing me to snort indignantly.
"Oh, heavens, heavens, call me Tobli, yup-yup!" He squeaked, still looking at us in that scarily intense way of his. I think it unnerved me more because I could feel his stare when I couldn't even see his eyes; either that or I was beginning to process the fact that he did indeed look like a small child with a beak strapped to its face.
"Sure thing Tobli… We'll be back in a jiffy… yup-yup…" I said weakly, plastering on a fake smile. Gippal saluted his new employer smartly before pirouetting me round and dragging me bodily down the path with him, arm in arm.