Wow, I update alot, don't I?

Tales of an Al Bhed Princess

Chapter 3: The Party Continues…

Barkeep wouldn't let Rikku take anything out of the cabin. No matter how much she pleaded, he would always refuse. His first argument was that he was afraid of drunk driving.

"We're on auto pilot, Barkeep," Rikku answered reassuringly, "so fork it over."

"Yoo're shtill too young to drink, Mish Rikkoo," Barkeep protested further.

"The others aren't, though, and we're throwing a party. We need drinks!" Rikku complained. 'He has to give in,' she thought as she flashed him her affection winning pouting face. No one had refused it before…

"I'm shorry Mish Rikkoo, but I jusht can't allow it," Barkeep replied.

Rikku couldn't believe it. He had turned down her face. Her perfectly designed to get anything she wanted face had been rejected. This was unbelievable. 'Must not work on Hypellos…' she thought to herself.

"Fine, then. Can I rest, or am I too young to do that too?" she questioned.

"Of courshe not… Yoo can rest, but won't yoo mish the party?" he asked, confused.

"It's… not really a party, Barkeep. Besides, I have a lot to think about. I'm not in the partying mood," she replied, staring down at the counter. She walked sluggishly towards the stairs to make sure he thought that she was tired.

"Shleep tight…?" he called, which, for some reason, was worded like a question.

"Thanks, Barkeep," Rikku said softly as she walked up the stairs. She sat on the nearest bed she could find and closed her eyes. 'Why do I always act like such a nerd around you, Gippal? It can't be that I like you… not after all that…' She was growing really tired, now, so she laid all the way down.

'Not after all that…'

"Where's Gippal and Rikku?" Paine asked after nearly twenty minutes of waiting. Not only did she not really need all these people on the airship, but for some of those people to be on the airship and not show up for the original purpose of being there was just annoying.

"Rikku said she would get drinks, maybe he went to help her," Yuna called from where she was perched at the front of the airship.

"Knowing Gippal, he's probably not helping, just staring down her shirt…" Paine added. She knew him pretty well, although she did often over-exaggerate about his pervertedness

Both Yuna and Brother turned and stared at her in shock. She just shrugged. It seemed like something that could happen. Brother had begun mumbling something in Al Bhed about Gippal and his damned perverted habits. (Weird that he's talking about perverted habits, huh?)

"Would he really do that?" Yuna asked. Tidus was now looking at Paine, too. He really didn't need for Yuna to freak out because some random guy was looking at her cousin.

Paine shrugged again. "Honestly, it isn't likely that he's done staring at the engine. I give him at least ten more minutes of that before he tries to stare at anything else…"

"That's it, I'm going to get her," Yuna said in worry and anger. No one was going to take advantage of her younger cousin. But when she stood up, she noticed something. Something a little… off. She froze in her place and stared at the three small ship's following them.

"Yuna…?" Tidus asked. Worried by her actions, he decided to follow her gaze.

"Um, guys, you have any weapons?" he asked as the ships sped towards them.

"Yeah…why?" Paine asked. "You weren't planning on going after Gippal, were you? 'Cuz I might have over exaggerated."

"Not that," Tidus replied. "I think we have un-invited guests…"

"You mean Le Blanc?" Buddy asked. They hadn't landed anywhere yet, and Yuna had decided to go back to Besaid to pick up Wakka, Lulu, and Vidina first. He was beginning to fear for the new guy's mental health…

Suddenly, six guys in masks began climbing up the side of the ship. Each one was carrying a small weapon, like a pistol or a dagger.

"I don't think that's what he means…" Yuna said, pointing at the first man to make it to the top. Two more then climbed up on either side of him. The next three stood behind the first. The men looked at the group of people and realized that what they were looking for wasn't there.

"Who are you assholes?" Paine shouted as she reached for her sword. It had been lying on the ground next to her.

The first man spoke in a deep soothing voice," We're not here for you… if you just step aside we'll—"

"Screw that! Why are you here?" Paine asked. She was ready to seriously hurt these jerks.

The man in the front smirked. "You three handle this, I've got someone to find…" With that, he and two of the others ran past the un-expecting people and into the elevator. Yuna ran to the doors, but the invaders had jammed them shut. As the other three men began to circle around them, all Yuna could think was: 'I hope Rikku's okay…'

A flash of lightning, a crying girl, and the sand. That was all that Rikku could remember. Flashes of images that she had wished had never been brought back. The images, however, were only so bad compared to the words that accompanied them.

"Forget everything about me. I can't exist anymore. I'm sorry, I can't explain why, but you have to…"

Rikku's eyes shot open as she sat up and panted for breath. Why had she been dreaming about that? She could hardly remember anything from that moment, she had indeed forgotten, but something brought it back…

She looked at a nearby clock. She was surprised to find that she had been asleep for a full thirty minutes. 'The others are probably wondering where the drinks are...' she thought sleepily.

"Hey, Barkeep, anyone come in here complaining about lack of beverage?" Rikku called. No reply…

"Barkeep? Hello?"

Feeling a bit anxious, Rikku stood and stared down at the bar. Barkeep was nowhere in sight. Was he hiding from her? Suddenly, she heard the cabin door open. A single masked man walked in. Rikku gasped and froze in terror. What was going on?

Hearing the noise, the man looked up at where Rikku was standing. She instantly wanted to run, but her body wouldn't obey. The man just stared at her, and then spoke two simple words into his headset communicator: "Found her…"

Rikku's heart was racing. She kept her eyes on the man as, slowly, he walked closer to the stairs. She noticed that his hand was resting on the Hollister of a gun. She wanted so badly to scream, to run, to help her friends. But she had the horrible feeling that her friends were already dead. It was way to quiet. The only sound was that of the masked man's footsteps growing nearer and nearer…

As the man reached the top of the stairwell, Rikku felt her fear rising. She backed away until she was standing next to an end table. Acting on an impulse, she grabbed the vase sitting on the table and threw it at the man. He covered his face to keep the glass from stabbing his eyes. Rikku took this opportunity to run toward the edge of the upper level. If she jumped off here, she would be able to get to the door…

That's when she saw two others in the doorway. One of them had his gun raised and aimed straight at her. She jumped to the floor just as he fired. Rikku could hear they're footsteps as they ran for the stairs.

The sound of a gun loading… Rikku whipped her head around to see the first man aiming his weapon at her now, anger in his eyes. She rolled under the nearest bed to avoid the second bullet. She searched for a weapon or some kind of defense. What she found was a trap door…

Having no other ideas, Rikku opened the door and crawled in as quickly as she could. She found herself in a tiny crawl space leading in only one direction. She closed the door above her and went through the space as fast as she could.

From above she heard a loud crash, probably someone tipping the bed. She pushed herself to go faster still. The voices sounded so distant, but she could still hear.

"Where'd she go?" asked one man with a booming voice.

A smarter one must have found the door, because Rikku heard a calmer voice saying, "Smarter than I thought she'd be… Apex, follow her. We'll search the rest of the ship."

"Yes, sir," said a third voice, belonging to the one called Apex.

Rikku heard the door opening and someone jumping in. She looked back, just to make sure he wasn't directly behind her. Then she felt herself falling down a small hole.

Rikku felt pain where her body had hit the hard ground. There was another path, leading to some sort of door. Rikku ignored her pain and went forward, hoping that she had found an escape…

Gippal was about to leave the engine room and join the others when he heard the sound. This particular sound was something like rats in the walls or animals in the duct work. He shrugged it off and began walking away. That's when he heard a different sound. This time, it was the sound of pounding on metal.

"Hello?" he called in confusion. More pounding…

Gippal followed the noise, which was coming from the bottom of a small stairwell in the engine room. It was so close now. What was causing it? 'Maybe they're ship's haunted…' he thought to himself sarcastically. Just to be safe though…

"Anybody here?" he called. This time he heard a new sound, a gasp. A rather familiar gasp, actually. It was coming from the wall straight ahead.

'Walls don't gasp, so what's going on?' he thought. He looked at the wall and saw a small panel. Was someone in there?

"If someone's there, it's all right," he said." I won't hurt you for spying on me and all my sexiness…"

"Gippal!" a voice whispered through the wall.

"What, Cid's Girl? What are you doing in there?" he asked.

"No time," Rikku said, fear everywhere in her voice, "Just help me open this, would ya?"

"Um…sure," Gippal replied, unsure of what to say. He wrapped his fingers around the side he figure was the opening and pulled. 'Dude, this is tough,' he thought to himself as he yanked at it with all his strength.

He heard Rikku gasp and wondered what was going on. "Hurry, Gippal, please…" she begged, sounding like she was about to cry.

"Don't worry, Cid's Girl, I've almost—"the door swung open with on e final tug. "GOT IT!" he finished.

Rikku began to crawl out when suddenly something grabbed her ankle and pulled her backwards. She grabbed the edge of the opening and screamed in pain and surprise.

Gippal jumped back in shock. 'What the hell is going on?' he thought as he watched the Al Bhed girl be dragged back into the tunnel. Then, finally realizing something was horribly wrong, he grabbed Rikku's wrist and tried to pull her forward.

It took Rikku a moment to realize that Gippal was trying to help. She was so grateful he was there, or else she probably wouldn't make it… But she didn't have time for that now. She glanced back at this Apex guy and, with her free foot, kicked him as hard as she could in the face. She went flying forward as he dropped her ankle. She landed right on top of Gippal.

Standing up quickly (and trying not to blush!) Rikku Pulled Gippal to his feet and ran up the stairs.

"What the HELL is going on?" Gippal shouted as they rounded the corner and headed up more stairs.

"No time, we just have to get out of here…" Rikku replied.

The entryway opened before they got there and two men holding guns stood there, aiming at the young Al Bheds. They shot at Rikku, who was lucky that Gippal had pushed her out of the way in time. She regained her footing and ran past them before they could reload and shoot again. Gippal was right behind her.

Once they were both in the elevator, Rikku pressed a series of buttons that would take them to the bridge.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" Gippal urged as Rikku kept typing.

"I'm trying…" she said, frustration and fear flowing from her voice.

The two men turned around and fired again. Rikku covered her head and ducked while Gippal hid around a corner. The two men began to run toward the elevator, ready to shoot once again. Then, suddenly, the doors closed and the elevator headed up to momentary safety.

Rikku was gasping for breath. Gippal had slid to the floor and was now staring at her. He had never seen someone that scared in his life. Not even in the Den of Woe…

"You okay?" he asked kindly. She just shook her head in reply.

"Do you know what's happening?" he asked instead. She shook her head again. That's when he noticed she was crying.

"Cid's Girl…" he whispered, trying to comfort her. But when she looked at him, he realized there was nothing to say.

The door opened after just a few seconds of silence. Rikku walked out of the elevator and onto the bridge.

"Come on, we have to find out what's going on."

With that, she walked over to the control center, Gippal following close behind.

"Since when were we going to the Calm Lands?" Rikku asked looking at where the auto pilot was set. She also noticed that the speed levels were higher and that they were over Mt. Gagazet, which was nowhere near Besaid, where they used to be headed. Those jerks had even changed the passwords and controls so that Rikku couldn't change the settings.

'Those jerks are pretty good…' she thought as she turned to Gippal and shrugged. He had successfully cut off the elevator's power, so they would be safe for now.

"So what do we do?" he asked. There was no way out of here…

"We'd have to jump…" she answered, staring out at how far away the land was.

"You're joking, right?" Gippal said bluntly. She shrugged again as she looked down.

"It's the only way…" Rikku replied. Her voice was so flat and dull. This was not the same Rikku everyone knew and loved…

After a minute of complete silence, Gippal gave his response.

"Let's do it…"

Oooo, scary! Anyways, this is where it get's interasting. What's gunna happen next? Well, I'm not really sure, but I'll know soon. Keep on readin'!

Rayne-Shadow Goddess

Jinx: Yay! You reviewed! Glad you like it! Hope this was fast enough, you impatient little psycho...