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Tales of an Al Bhed Princess

Chapter 4: Beginnings of the Painful Sort

Rikku blinked in disbelief. She stared at Gippal like he was a complete idiot. 'Well, he is pretty much the stupidest person I've ever seen…' she thought to herself. Then she thought: 'Liar! You're stupider than him!', which was followed by: 'You're both stupid. Stupidest isn't even an actual word in most people's opinions!'.

'Um, guys, we have to get out of here…' Rikku reminded her own thoughts. She was so confused. She almost never argued with herself. So why now, in a time of crisis, why imagine little versions of yourself verbally sparring with each other?

'I knew you hated me!' one of the mini-Rikkus screamed as she faded away.

'Oh, do shut up!' the other yelled before disappearing as well.

'This is just too weird… (Not to mention totally random!)' Rikku thought. She had no idea of the strange looks that had been crossing her face during the mini war.

Gippal, on the other hand, noticed. He wasn't sure what had been going on. First, she was looking at him like he was totally dumb. Then she got this look like she was arguing with her brother or something. Then she just looked extremely angry. He probably would have burst out laughing had the current situation been happier.

"You okay in there, Cid's Girl?" he asked, waving a hand in front of her face. Rikku's eyes widened as she was brought back into reality. When the first thing she saw was a very confused Gippal standing in front of her, she nearly screamed.

"What do you want?" she said instead.

"I want to know what was going on in that weird little brain of yours," he responded, raising a brow.

"It's not little!" Rikku defended. She punched Gippal in the arm for being so cruel to her.

"Easy, Cid's Girl, I just wanted to know if you guys had any parachutes or somethin'," Gippal said, rubbing his arm. "Did you have to hit me?"

Rikku ignored his second question, and instead answered his first. "Why would Brother be prepared for anything? Of course we don't have parachutes."

Gippal frowned. "Okay, so, answer me this, if you don't have parachutes, why did you recommend jumping off the ship?"

"Well…" Rikku tried to think of something other than "Wouldn't it be fun?". So she came up with, "Why not? Brother does it all the time!"

"So, that makes it a good idea?" Gippal thought skeptically.

"No, that makes it an awful idea, but it's the only one we've got. Besides, you already agreed…"

Gippal was taken aback by Rikku's answer. He had agreed, hadn't he? Why would he agree to an awful plan like that? 'You know you can't resist that,' he thought as he looked at the triumphantly grinning Rikku. 'You jus watch me resist that.'

"Well, do you have anything that would work as a parachute, then?" he asked. He didn't even want to think about what his mind was hinting at. It was just too wrong to handle.

"We have sheets…" she replied. Her answer was so stupid. She immediately smacked herself mentally for saying that. Gippal actually did smack himself on the forehead. Was this really the only person he had to work with?

"Never mind, we'll just jump," he said. "You have some potions and stuff, right? Ya' know, just in case…"

"Only a few, but I could go steel some from the cabin before we head up to the deck," Rikku answered.

"Why would we go to the deck?" Gippal asked. Now it was his turn to be humiliated by saying something stupid.

"To… jump off?" Rikku replied. If she was losing her mind, and he was losing his, how where they supposed to escape?

"Couldn't we just jump off here?" he asked. Yet another stupid question…

"Gippal, the protective shield is on, and I no longer have the code. How are we supposed to jump through a freaking force field?" Her voice was so full of disdain and sarcasm that even Paine might have been shocked by the harshness of the sound.

Gippal almost blushed he was so embarrassed. But his male ego wouldn't allow him to do that. So he let all of his feelings out with one simple word: "Oh."

Rikku smiled at him. To think, just a few minutes ago she was fearing for her life. Now, she was actually smiling. He had made it all go away. He had saved her, though she would never let him know it. Things were just like they used to be…

The whooshing sound of power being turned on interrupted her happiness. She and Gippal both stared at the elevator, panicking.

"Do you think that was them?" she asked, stepping closer to Gippal for protection.

"Not a doubt in my mind it was them…"he replied. How were they going to do this, those guys were probably already in the elevator… Unless it took all three of them to reboot the power…

You see, there are a lot of things that Gippal can't do. There are a lot of things he doesn't know. Machina, though, he did know, and he could use. Some people said he alone could do things that it would take four people to do otherwise. So there was a chance that they could get to the elevator first.

"Run," he said, grabbing Rikku's arm and pulling him behind her. She just followed, assuming he had an idea. When they reached the elevator, the first thing he did was push the call button.

"What are you doing? You'll lead them right to us!" she shouted.

"No, I won't…" he said with confidence. The door slid open. Gippal half expected to see those men in there, guns raised, and put a bullet through his head. Nothing happened. He smiled at Rikku, who had just barely begun to lift her head and open her eyes.

He pulled her in. "Take us to the deck," he demanded.

"What about the-"Rikku began to ask, thinking back to the potion issue.

"No time." Gippal interrupted.

Rikku frowned. 'He's so mean when he's panicked…' she thought as she started the elevator and directed it to the deck. That's when she remembered about the party. The others would be there. They could help them get rid of these guys. They could be safe…

But safety wasn't what she found. When the door opened, when Rikku ran out, she didn't see the sight she wanted. She didn't see Yuna and Tidus sitting together staring at the sky. She didn't see Paine glaring at Buddy and Brother as they talked about picking up chicks. She didn't see Barkeep doing… whatever he did. She didn't see anything.

No one was there.

She stopped in her tracks as all her hopes were instantly dashed away. She was so sad that her friends weren't here. Maybe they weren't even alive… Rikku fell to her knees. She was so sad that her fear was gone. But that sadness turned into anger. She clutched her daggers tight. These men were going to pay…

Gippal, on the other hand, was expecting total gore. He was glad that wasn't what they found. He wondered what Rikku had expected, because what she saw was obviously not the right image.

When he saw her fall to her knees, he felt this pain in his heart. He thought back to when they were a couple, and he could have numbed all her pain. He could have held her and told her that it would all be better. He knew that he couldn't do that anymore…

Rikku was crying now, shaking violently with each breath she took. 'I'll make them pay…' she thought angrily. 'I'll make them pay for all this.' Suddenly, she felt someone's arm around her waist. She smiled slightly, glad that Gippal was there with her, if no one else was.

But then, who was that shouting in the background? That familiar voice, the same one that saved her before…

That's when she realized that Gippal wasn't the one picking her up. He was the one shouting. He was the one telling her to run.

He was being restrained by two really big guys. No matter how much he struggled, these guys just wouldn't let up. Now Rikku was being taken by two others, while one spoke into his communicator, and another just sat by, gun in hand, ready to fire.

Finally, Gippal was tired of being held back. He kicked one of the men in the back of his knee, causing him to fall instantly. The other guy held a dagger to Gippal's throat. This guy wasn't very smart, though. You see, he had a total of two daggers. He was only holding one…

Gippal grabbed the second dagger and stabbed it into the guy's arm. Shocked and in pain, he foolishly let Gippal go. He ran to go help Rikku, who wasn't doing so hot herself.

Rikku was kicking and screaming as the two men tried to hold her down. She was slashing away with her daggers, but none of the hits connected. She had heard screams and figured that she had lost one more friend, and lost the bulk of her focus. As she thrashed around, she could see someone running towards her. 'Gippal!' she thought in excitement when she saw he wasn't dead. She kicked one of the men in the "danger zone" and cut the other's chest all in one swift movement.

The first man let go of her instantly, but the second kept fighting. Rikku wrapped her arms around the guy and closed her eyes. 'Please forgive me…' she thought as she pounded her fists against the man, stabbing both her blades into him in the process. His eyes opened wide and instantly turned glossy and far away. Blood came from his open mouth as he fell.

"Don't…ever… hurt me or my friends…" she said through clenched teeth.

Rikku stood up and pulled her daggers from her victim's flesh. Suddenly she felt this horrible pain in her chest. She looked down and saw the wound. It was no where near her heart, so she knew she would live, but that didn't stop the pain.

'Why didn't I hear the gunshot?' she thought as blackness began to take over. She fell silently to the floor. 'Why didn't I…'

Rikku didn't feel it when the man picked her up. She didn't hear all the yelling and screaming. Nor did she feel his body shake as he ran as fast as he could toward the edge of the ship. And she didn't feel the impact of the landing…

Sorry, 'nother cliffy... I bet you guys just hate that. Well, lucky for you I'm double posting. Aren't you proud of me? Just a warning, the next chapter is pretty much random fluff and sarcasm, but it will help you understand the rest of the story to come...

Shadray: Yes, I can't help it. I'm a total review whore... You should see some of my friends... anyways, glad you like. I did finally review your story. I hope you're happy... (not trying to sound mean)

Mistay: Yay! My second best friend to read and actually like it. One question, tho: Why'd you let Mr. Bacon Bits review? He's annoying and I wish he never read my story... stupid fat pig.

Kingleby: I'm so glad you thinkI'm funny! If it weren't for the humor, my story would be too serious. My characters are in character? That's good. I'm not sure about this chappie tho... By the way, I started reading 'Words Left Unspoken'. I love it! I haven't reviewed yet, but it's comin'! Who knew I'd be the fan of a fan?

Icewolf9: I lurve that you lurve my story! Thanx fer bein' a fan! My first fan, actually. Wow, I owe you alot... huggles Icewolf9 I took your quizzes, too. Needless 2 say, I'm insane...