Chapter 40 – Graceless Rescue

Rikku bumbled through the immense crowd of people in the market square. Only a few weeks prior did Maester Kinoc's fiends run amok throughout the city, slaughtering many innocent citizens. Parts of the devastation could still be witnessed from the debris piled up in corners and alleyways and the broken windows and damaged walls still unrepaired. Glancing up and down the streets, Rikku noticed work crews reconstructing the city in the background. Surprised that the city already returned close to its prior state, Rikku commended the resilience of Bevelle's people. The citizens of Bevelle still marched on with their lives, even in the aftermath of great tragedy.

Scanning the aisles of shops and stands, she thought to herself, Leblanc should stand out like a sore thumb—just like herself. Rikku felt utterly ridiculous in her goofy peddler disguise. The woolen sleeves were too long, the pants were too tight, and the leather shoes were patched together. For some reason, she knew Gippal got a kick out of the tight pants. Just about ready to give up, Rikku huffed to herself. Then she glanced at a stand near the end of the square.

There she spotted a squatly and fat man walking alongside a tall and lanky man. She instantly recognized them to be Ormi and Logos. Breathing a sigh of relief, she pranced over to them. Behind the two stood Leblanc in all her typical glory, flamboyantly dressed as ever. Rikku waved both her arm at them.

"Over here Leblanc," she shouted across the market. "I'm over here!"

Leblanc noticed the tiny Al Bhed peddler waving at her. She raised an eyebrow and smirked in Rikku's direction before walking over to her. Even Ormi and Logos both beamed with delight to see a Gullwing.

"You finally showed up." Leblanc grinned. "I'm glad circumstances are less grim this time around."

"Cute costume you have," snickered Logos.

Ormi scrunched his nose. "It looks itchy."

Leblanc swatted both of them with her fan. "Shut up and show some respect. We're here on business remember."

The two humbly nodded while Rikku emitted a little giggle. They all walked together to a secluded back alley in which the transaction would occur. Rikku felt devious because of all the sneaking around. Then again, feeling devious gave her a rush of adrenaline. Leblanc pulled a glossy red sphere from a pouch she wore.

"Here it is, the Crimson Sphere Gippal asked for," she declared.

Rikku smiled. "Great, then this is all we need."

Rikku grabbed for the sphere, but Leblanc quickly retracted it from her. Rikku shot Leblanc a confused look, who shook her head in return.

"Don't you know this is a mutual transaction?" she growled. "That means I get something for what I'm giving you."

Rikku still glared at her perplexedly. "Huh? But Gippal never gave me anything to give to you."

"That cheat! Who does he think he is?" she roared, scaring Ormi.

Rikku sighed. "You'd think Nooj would have been smart enough to remember a little detail like that."

At this, Leblanc instantly stopped her rant and perked up. "Nooj is here, did you say? Well, why didn't you tell me my Noojie-Woojie was here? Where is he?"

"Uh oh." Logos sighed, rubbing his nose.

"Um, they are over there waiting." Rikku pointed to the opposite side of the market square.

Much to Leblanc's confusion, nobody stood where Rikku pointed. Leblanc scratched her head, giving Rikku a perplexed expression. Then Rikku turned around and shrieked when she saw the empty space. She bolted out of the alley and darted around the market. Her eyes shot from storefront to storefront, with neither Gippal nor Nooj in sight. She felt her anxiety spike and her palms sweat. Beginning to panic, she ran back over to Leblanc.

"Hey Leblanc, they're gone!" she yelped.

Leblanc motioned for her to calm down. "Whoa there, Rikku. I'm sure they're around here somewhere. My Noojie isn't one to get lost."

Rikku shook her head. She was right, Nooj was intelligent enough to remain visible to her unless he absolutely had to disappear from view. Glaring around near where they were supposed to be, Rikku found an old man clerking at a fruit and vegetable stand. She sauntered up to him.

She tapped on the wooden sign next to the man. "Excuse me, sir. Did you happen to see where those two men standing over there went?"

He rubbed his chin for a moment, then spoke, "Ah yes, those two. I reckon you'd want to avoid them. Some guards came and escorted them away. They must be in some sort of trouble."

Rikku's swirly pupils shrunk from seething panic. She couldn't fathom that after all the struggle they endured evading capture, Gippal and Nooj got arrested in Bevelle. Holding her flush cheeks, Rikku had no idea what to do next. Leblanc put her arm around her and walked her away from the stand. Rikku looked up and saw a glimmering smile on Leblanc's face.

"Not to worry Rikku," she declared confidently. "We'll rescue Noojie-Woojie. Then I'll collect my gil from Gippal."

Rikku blew out a long stream of air and nodded. Relieved that she didn't have to spring them out all on her own, which would have been nearly impossible, Rikku steeled her resolve.

"What do we do first?" she asked Leblanc. "They could be anywhere in the city."

Leblanc flicked her fan a few times. "Well, I say we check out the temple first. That's the most likely place they'd be taken to."

Rikku agreed and followed Leblanc, Logos, and Ormi to the temple entrance. Sure enough, Rikku caught a glimpse of Bevelle guards escorting Nooj and Gippal into the temple. Rikku began to shout out and run towards them but Leblanc forcefully grabbed onto her. She put her finger up to her lips to hush Rikku.

"No! Doing that will just get you locked up like them. For now, we need to be stealthy." Leblanc's lips curled into a devilish smile.

She snorted at Leblanc. "Then what do we do? I can't just let them take them right in front of me!"

Leblanc shook her head. "Hold on. I don't like this any more than you do, but if you get caught, who will rescue them?"

Rikku halted her advance and sucked up her drive to rush off. Leblanc was right, and she knew it. Once calmed, Rikku began racking her mind as to the best way to save her friends. She doubted they would be taken below ground—at least she hoped not. They would probably be kept somewhere near where Baralai took her when she was injured underground.

"I bet they'll be up there," she stated while pointing to the upper levels of the temple. "So we need to sneak our way to the roof."

Ormi looked around nervously. "Maybe that's true, but how exactly are we going to do that without getting caught? We certainly don't want to be captured by the Yevonites. Who knows what they might do to us!"

"Nonsense! Don't be so cowardly. Leblanc never fears an opportunity to fight for justice and freedom. Besides, we have to save my Noojie-Woojie from the big bad temple," Leblanc stated, firmly placing her hands on her hips.

"Don't worry guys," Rikku chimed in with reassurance. "We can just climb up on the other side. There aren't as many people over there."

Ormi and Logos peered over to the adjacent building, which did connect to the main temple structure. Besides one old priest pacing back and forth, they saw no one else in the vicinity.

Logos nodded to himself. "It seems she's right, boss. This doesn't appear to be as hard now . . . I hope."

Rikku led them behind the connecting building. With no climbing gear, Ormi asked how did they expect to scale to the rooftop. Rikku's smile glimmered more than ever. She reached around to open up the small backpack which was part of her costume. She pulled a grapple and a rope from inside. Surprised to see Rikku pull out a trick like that, Leblanc smirked. Rikku chuckled and explained she only found it after she put her disguise on.

Logos shrugged. "Who cares how you got it, just that you have it."

Rikku extended the rope out to Logos. "You will probably be able to do this the best."

His confidence assured him he could, and he gripped firmly onto the rope. With a wild twirl, he flung the grapple high above him. The rope flew widely through the air, missing its target completely. The falling grapple bounced with a clang off of Ormi's head.

"Ow!" cried Ormi, rubbing his throbbing head. "What are you doing, Logos?"

Leblanc scoffed at her flunky's incompetence. "Here, let me do it!"

She ripped the grapple from his hands and shot it up like a rocket, latching it perfectly to the edge of the flaring rooftop. With a tug, she determined the rope was secure.

"Nice throw!" Rikku cheered as she grabbed onto the bottom of the rope.

"You two," Leblanc ordered. "Stay here and watch the perimeter for us. More than likely, we'll have to make a fast break."

They both saluted in tandem. "Got it, boss!"

Reaching the top first, Rikku poked her head over the lip of the roof. Glancing around while holding her breath, she scouted for guards or priests. Seeing no one, she leaped over the top. She turned around to help Leblanc finish her climb. They carefully tiptoed around the roof, making extra sure not to be spotted. An old man hobbling around the catwalk which connected the two buildings presented their only obstacle. Hiding behind a spire, they waited for the old man to leave. He continued to relentlessly pace back and forth, babbling nonsense to himself.

"Man, who is this wacko?" whispered Rikku to Leblanc.

Leblanc shared her frustration. "I don't know, but I'm about ready to knock him off the ledge."

After a couple of minutes, it became apparent that the old priest wasn't about to leave. Leblanc suggested they would have to come up with some other plan to get passed him. Tapping her finger against her lips for a few seconds, Rikku came up with a daring idea. Realizing she was still in her peddler outfit, she slowly crept up to the priest. His meandering back and forth continued as he jabbered on and on. When he came upon Rikku, he paused and looked up, a puzzled expression on his bewildered face. Rikku pierced his soul with her dazzling smile.

"Hello there," she greeted warmly. "Uh, would you like to buy something special?"

The priest peered at her for a moment, his eyes bugging out of their sockets. She took a step back, creeped out by the deep wrinkles on his face. For a moment, she watched his eyes browse her up and down. Her hands began to shake. The old priest took another step forward, and stretched his crackling back forward, putting Rikku in a very awkward bent-back position. She could feel his murky warm breath dampen her face.

Finally, he opened his mouth, exposing his yellowed teeth. "Such an entrepreneurial young woman. Tell me, what is it you are selling?"

Rikku mustered all her might to smile. "Heh, well, something shiny and beautiful!"

She motioned for Leblanc to come over. Her mouth agape, Leblanc appeared from her hiding spot and reluctantly walked over. Rikku immediately snatched the Crimson Sphere from her pouch and showed it to the man.

"See, this is one-of-a-kind. It's, uh, the greatest luck charm in Spira!" she declared.

She immediately felt stupid, believing the old man would never fall for such an obvious trick. Rikku could see the red glimmer of the sphere reflecting in the old man's bulging eyes. A trickle of saliva ran down from the corner of his lips. He grasped the sphere out of her hand and examined it close to his face.

"Yes, this is lovely. How much for it little lady?" he asked eagerly.

Rikku looked over at Leblanc for some help. Leblanc cringed and thought for a moment. Fed up with this charade, she tapped the old priest on the shoulder.

"Could you please just move two steps to your left?" she asked him.

The old man gazed at her oddly but complied. Leblanc grabbed Rikku's hand and zipped down the catwalk with her. The old man shouted back something but then went back to admiring his pretty new jewel. Meanwhile, Leblanc didn't stop running until she found a door leading inside the temple.

"That was the stupidest thing I have ever done!" she huffed, kneeling down by the doorway

Rikku just nodded, as she was still disturbed by the scary face of the old priest. Leblanc placed her ear against the door. After listening intently for a few moments, she slowly opened it, peeking her head inside to search around. Shadows hid much of the room, except for a staircase on the opposite side revealed by the outside light.

The two girls made their way downstairs, careful not to step too heavily on the creaky wooden stairs. Rikku recognized where they were. She saw the same green door where she rested when she was injured in the Bevelle underground. Although unsure if they might be imprisoned here, she motioned for Leblanc to follow her. Rikku tried the green door room first. The bed she laid in had been remade with new sheets, and the wrappings for her wound had long been disposed of. She noticed a small splattering of her blood still evident on the floor by her feet. but it appeared to have remained unoccupied since she last left the room.

She tried the door across from that next, but it was also empty. Nooj and Gippal did not turn up in the following room either. She led Leblanc down the remainder of this hallway and turned the corner, spotting a pair of passing guards. She instinctively compressed herself against the wall, listening intently to the footsteps clattering on the floor until they faded away. Relieved that they weren't seen, Rikku continued down the other corridor. She eventually came to a red door with two guards standing stationary on either side. The two soldiers weren't typical New Yevon soldiers.

"Well love, I bet this is where they are," snickered Leblanc.

Rikku sighed. "Yeah, it has to be. I guess they can't make it any more obvious, huh?"

"These guys look tough," said Leblanc. "How are we going dispose of them?"

Rikku tapped her finger against her lip again for a moment. "Leave that to me!"

She remembered one last surprise she had kept for the journey. From her backpack, she pulled out a lavender-colored grenade. Leblanc glared uncomfortably at her.

"Just what are you going to do with that?" she questioned harshly.

"This? Um, well, it's a grenade with sleeping gas in it," Rikku answered. "It's time for those guys to go nighty night."

Leblanc shrugged, satisfied with her response. "I'm sorry for doubting you."

Rikku continued, "I need you to lure them closer. Then I'll pop the pin out and put them to sleep."

Leblanc crinkled her nose. "You want me to do what? Don't you see the big guns they're carrying?"

"Don't worry about it," Rikku retorted, waving her hand in the air. "I just need them a little closer. When I shout, just hurry up and duck back here."

Blowing out some air, Leblanc closed her eyes. After a moment, her expression turned to a bright smile and she glided out from the corner. She waved her fan at the guards.

"Oh, boys! How are you doing today?"

The two guards, half-startled by her sudden appearance, pointed their guns at Leblanc. They yelled for her to halt and state her intentions. Leblanc kept her cool, but only barely, and continued to flirt with the guards.

"Now now," she led on cautiously. "You boys must be tired of standing here all day carrying those big, heavy guns."

The two men looked at each other in puzzlement but relaxed some. They were, for some reason, dazzled by Leblanc's ploy. Coyly she penetrated their eyes with hers and blew them a kiss. Rikku couldn't believe this trick might work. The two guards, entranced by Leblanc's appeal, started walking closer to her. She gave them a wink, and they began to look at her with puppy dog eyes.

"Now!" Rikku yelled, and Leblanc dove back behind the corner.

Rikku leaned out and whipped the grenade at the floor underneath the soldiers. A thick stream of pink gas burst with a circular trail from the spinning grenade. The guards started to gag and their eyes watered. After a few moments of staggering, they dropped silently to the ground.

Leblanc let out a huff. "That was entirely too dangerous."

"I don't know Leblanc," teased Rikku delightedly. "You were pretty good at that. Do that sort of thing often?"

Leblanc scoffed and gave her an evil eye. "How dare you insinuate that I would degrade myself like that regularly. Why my reputation would be ruined."

Leblanc stuck her nose in the air and marched over to the door. She reached down and picked up a set of keys from one of the sleeping guards' pockets. After trying two or three of them, she unlocked the door. Kept inside sat Gippal and Nooj.

"Noojie-Woojie!" shouted Leblanc happily.

Only a lit candle on a table beside them provided any illumination to the room. The two men, stunned to see Rikku and Leblanc, startlingly shot their sights over towards the doorway. A snug rope secured them on the chairs they were sitting on.

"Boy are we glad to see you," cheered Gippal.

Nooj added, "We were getting worried you might have gotten captured, too."

"That was because I was here to lead her," Leblanc said to her own delight.

Rikku took out one of her curved blades and cut off the ropes from around Gippal's waist. Once free, he gripped her by the arm and she fell onto his lap.

"Did I ever tell you that those peddler pants fit you well?" he asked with a wink.

Rikku scoffed and smacked him upside the head. A blaring alarm roared throughout the temple. Rikku stuck her head out of the doorway to canvas the hallway. Leblanc helped Nooj out of his ropes, and they all darted out of the room.

"I doubt we'll be able to go out the front door," Gippal announced before letting out a sharp sigh.

"Why don't we just leave the way we came," suggested Rikku, pointing back down the hallway.

Bullets shot up the wall behind them as they ran for their lives back to the rooftop. Up the stairs, they ran, desperately trying to stay one step ahead of the contingent of armored soldiers racing behind them. While Nooj and Gippal were completely lost in the fact as to why they were on the roof, Rikku and Leblanc did not stop. As they made haste over the roof, the old priest still paced around, admiring his sphere. When Rikku passed him, she grabbed the sphere out of his age-spotted hands. She was still disgusted by the floppy wrinkles on his face. Nooj and Gippal merely looked puzzled when he smiled tantalizingly at them. Logos and Ormi were still waiting for them at the bottom, their faces relieved when they saw their boss unharmed.

Securing the reclaimed sphere in her backpack, Rikku climbed down the rope first, soon followed by Leblanc. Nooj slid down next, with Gippal on top of him. Rikku helped Gippal finish his descent just as a trio of soldiers peered down off the roof above. One of them fired a shot, the bullet missing Rikku by inches.

"You made it! We're so glad," expressed Logos.

"We gotta get outta here! There are guards everywhere now!" Ormi belted, his whole body shaking nervously.

Taking advantage of the confusion and panic, they were able to sneak out of the city. Even in the distance of Macalania, they could still hear the alarms sounding from the city. Although embarrassed to have caused such pandemonium, Rikku felt happy to not be rotting in a dungeon far underground. Next to the spring, she plunked herself down on the ground.

"It seems nobody wanted to go down into the underground, so they kept us upstairs," said Nooj.

Gippal cracked a smile. "They were all too scared of the fiends."

Rikku handed Gippal the Crimson Sphere from her backpack. With all ten, Nooj explained, they could now enter the Den of Woe. Extending her hand out, Leblanc waited impatiently, tapping her foot. Gippal scratched his head, not sure of what she eluded to.

Leblanc glared at Gippal. "Ahem! My payment, Gippal. I'm waiting."

Gippal looked dumbfounded at her, rubbing the back of his head with a silly grin on his face. Nooj stepped up to Leblanc, flashing her a rare, genuine smile.

"This is on me. I'll owe you one, Leblanc," he offered straightly.

At this gesture, Leblanc blushed. She put her hands on her face to cover up her rosy cheeks. Her flaring demand for payment transformed into childish giggling.

"I hope you three can handle things from here," said Leblanc.

Nooj nodded. "Yes, we have what we need for the next step in our plan. Thank you again."

Leblanc blushed. "Of course, anything for you. Ta-ta!"

Retreating to her place in Guadosalam, Rikku found herself again with only Gippal and Nooj.

"Better rest up kid," encouraged Gippal. "Tomorrow's gonna be a big hike."

Rikku stuck her tongue out at him. "Whatever, I'm a big girl, remember?"

He walked over, kneeling down beside her. He placed his finger under her chin. Everything, including the gentle rippling of the spring behind her, faded from her mind. Rikku instantly got lost in the dreamy swirl of his emerald eye.

"Yeah, you are. Thanks."