Ok sea monkeys! I'm here once again, with more evil stuff. I'm thinking I'll make it really demented. Yeah, sounds good! Let's see what my twisted mind can dream up.
Thank you too all you people that read my story! I hope you like this chapter!
I don't own FFX-2, but if I did, I would take a trip to the Ben and Jerry's Factory in Vermont!
Chapter 14: Evil Un-Done or Rare Cooked Psycho
Gippal was sitting on an up righted chair in the kitchen of the Sun Rose. Elizza was there, petting So Muja like her life depended on it. Raas was hovering near her, looking as worried as he ever did. Raas was not one to show emotions overmuch. Gippal just did not feel anything but frustration and anger. The anger was building, trying to gain control so that his body could express it in the most violent way possible. It was too bad this was someone else's home, or he would break something. Most likely the wall to start, then maybe break the furniture into fire wood. That would make a nice start.
"So Har didn't know anything, huh? Odd."
"Tell me about it. He said he'd keep his ears open, but I doubt he'll get anything." Gippal said, giving So Muja a glance. "Too bad cats can't talk. You know who took Rikku, don't you?" His words were bitter. Elizza had not recognized the man who broke into her home. He knew she felt horrible about not being able to help find Rikku, but that did not alleviate his anger. Nothing would, not until he found her. But how the hell am I supposed to find her? EElizza doesn't know who it was and the cat can't talk. What am I going to do if I lose her? Besides wallow in despair, I mean. Gippal's thoughts were interrupted by So Muja yowling at the top of her small lungs near the broom closet. He frowned at the cat, noting that she was looking directly at him. "What? You find a mouse or something?"
"Not in my kitchen, you won't." Elizza said huffily. The cat yowled again, louder than before. Elizza got up and opened the door, letting So Muja inside. She looked around and entered the closet, rustling something. Then what looked like a broom or mop handle fell out of the closet. "What are you doing, you silly kitten? Get out of there; you've had your fun." Elizza picked up the broom and replaced it in the closet. So Muja promptly knocked it down again, this time jumping out and yowling again at Gippal. "What's gotten into you? Stop being naughty. We have enough to worry about." Elizza put the broom away and firmly shut the closet door.
Gippal was still staring at the kitten when she ran up to him and jumped onto his lap. Her front paws were placed on his chest, and her claws were digging into his skin, causing sharp pricks of pain. He reached up to stroke her head but she would not relax the grip of her claws.
"What's the matter with you, cat?" he said, still stroking her head and neck. So Muja jumped down and went to the broom closet again, yowling and pawing at the door, trying to get inside again. "You're just going to knock something down again. What's so interesting about a broom closet?" She meowed and started shivering, just like when Rikku rescued her from the angry desk clerk at his former inn. The only difference was that she was not sopping wet. The desk clerk...no, that can't be it...can it?
"What desk clerk?" Raas had looked away from his wife and gave Gippal a very hard stare.
"The desk clerk...is that it, So Muja?" Gippal received a 'mew' in answer. "It is isn't it? That's who it is. You're a genius, cat." He turned to look back at Raas. "The damn desk clerk. He's the one who took her. And those other girls, I'll bet."
"So let's go get him."
"No, Raas. You can't leave Elizza alone. I'll get Har to go with me."
"You can't be serious! Har?!"
"He's more cut throat in a fight than I am. Why do you think no one bothers him? You stay and take care of Elizza."
It took little more than fifteen minutes to relocate Har and coerce him into helping. Har even knew where Mr. Helpful lived. He made it his business to know where the shady and not-so-shady characters lived. Mr. Helpful lived in an extremely old townhouse. The exterior was shabby, but not enough to make neighbors complain. The bushes on either side of the walkway needed a trim in the worst way. Weeds out numbered the grass in the lame excuse for a lawn that most city dwellings had. The window shutters needed new paint and there was not even a street number on the door any longer. The door had once been a vibrant red, but it had faded to a brownish color.
Gippal did not particularly care what the place looked like. All he wanted was to find Rikku, safe and sound. He and Har were spying through one of the front windows. The furnishings inside were as shabby as the outside of the house. Mr. Helpful was in for the night, sitting in an armchair that looked as if it would fall to pieces any minute. The chair was facing away from the window, so they could not see what he was up to, but that hardly mattered. Har nodded to him, and Gippal proceeded to pick the lock on the front door. It was ridiculously easy to do. Rikku was not the only thief in Spira.
They entered quietly, shutting the door behind them. Mr. Helpful did not notice them until Gippal spoke.
"Well, what have we here? One nut ball in a crappy chair." Mr. Helpful started to move, but Gippal pulled his gun on him. "I think not. Don't move unless you want to get shot where it hurts the most." Har was making his way over to the man in the chair, pulling a rope from an inner pocket of his coat. He proceeded to tie Mr. Helpful up, leaving no slack in the rope. The man winced, and both Har and Gippal noticed a blood soaked bandage on his hand. Once he was tied, Har stayed beside him, silent and observant. "Where is she?"
"Where's who? This is a criminal act! Get out of my house!"
"Where is Rikku?" Gippal advanced, gun cocked and very determined to kill the man if he did not answer him quickly. "Answer me."
"I'd answer." Har said, speaking for the first time. Mr. Helpful looked at him, surprised at the sound of his voice. "That man's not stable. I think he'll shoot you if you don't come clean. We know you took her, and all the other girls. Why not fess up, ease your conscience before he puts a hole in your head?"
"Wha-how do you..." Mr. Helpful shut his mouth abruptly. Then he started to laugh. It was the kind of laugh that unhinges the spine and makes the hair on the back of the neck stand on end. The kind of laugh one expects to hear come from the mouth of a demon, not a man. Combined with the state of the house, it made the atmosphere seem eerie and distressing. "I doesn't matter what you do to me." he said, giggling instead of laughing now. He sounded like a demented school girl. "You'll never find her. Or them. Mardoc has them now. You can't have her back."
"Who the hell is Mardoc? Another sick friend of yours?" Har asked, putting a hand up to stall Gippal from pulling the trigger.
"Mardoc?" There was another disturbing laugh. "Mardoc! He is the all powerful Sun God! Slayer of Tiamat! He will reign supreme, with me by his side! And you pathetic fools will all perish at His wrath!"
"Why does Mardoc have the girls?" This was Har again.
"He needs them, needs their souls. He can't come into this world without them. They will be his stepping stones to our plane of existence, and nothing can stop his coming! Nothing!"
Har shook his head. Gippal still had his gun trained on Mr. Helpful, wanting to put a hole in his head, like Har had threatened. Mr. Helpful started cackling again, and babbling about Mardoc. Gippal turned away, leaving the crazy man to Har. He started shearching, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Everything was falling to pieces; some of them fell apart when he moved them. The only thing that looked in good repair was the chair Mr. Helpful was occupying.
"Get him out of the chair." Har gave him a look, but did as he was told. Mr. Helpful began protesting, making his extraction from the chair as difficult as possible. Gippal pushed the chair aside, and found what he was looking for on the floor. A trap door.
Gippal pulled it open, and Mr. Helpful began screaming, trying to limp over to him. Har tugged the man back, causing him to cry out in pain as he fell on his side, attempting to clutch at his leg. Gippal ignored him, peering down into what looked like an earthen pit. Light flickered below him, indicating that Mr. Helpful had been down there recently. A rough ladder was carved into the foundation of the house, and extended below it for a few meters.
He looked back at Har, only to find Mr. Helpful gagged and wearing a noose around his neck. It was attached to the ropes binding his hands and legs. If the man tried to move more than an inch, he would choke himself to death. If he jerked, his neck would break.
"Going down?" Har said non-chalantly. Nothing seemed to faze Har, not even the ramblings of an insane man who thought a god lived under his house. Gippal wondered how he could listen to it so calmly. Although it was not Har's love that was in danger. Gippal might have reacted the same way if it had been anyone but Rikku.
"Yes. You coming? Or do you want to baby-sit the psycho?"
"I think I'd better stay up here, don't want him to pull something. You watch it down there. Can't get paid if you die."
"True. I'll be back."
Gippal descended the ladder carefully, not wanting to dislodge it. It seemed like a longer trip than it should have been. The flickering lights became brighter and steadier. When he reached the bottom, he found an un-even dirt floor and a short hallway leading to a room. The light was coming from the room, so that was where Gippal went.
It was roughly circular, with what looked like a shrine at the end opposite the entrance. The light came from candles; hundreds of candles. All of them were lit, dripping wax onto their holders or on the shrine itself, and surrounding some kind of statues. On closer inspection, they revealed themselves to be female, every one with some distinguishing feature. One had hair that was nearly as long as her entire body. Another had eyes significantly better carved than the rest of the body. He found one with waist length hair and a beautiful smile. It was Rikku. He would know that smile anywhere.
Gippal felt anxiety well up inside him. There were no other rooms, no hallways. Nothing changed, except for the angle of the floor and the colors of the dirt walls. Since there were no other rooms to explore, he studied the walls. Most of it was uniform brown, with some red clay mixed in every once in a while. Only, one part looked, well, different. The dirt seemed freshly disturbed. The rest of the walls had not been disturbed in some time.
He felt the patch of wall before him, finding it slightly damp to the touch. He pushed on it, and found it pliable, like stretched out bubble gum. He pushed harder, which created a hole large enough for his hand to fit inside some kind of cavity. Gippal grabbed a candle from the shrine and used it to peer into it.
A glint of something gold colored caught his eye. It was the color and texture of Rikku's hair. His heart started racing, feeling like it would pound its way out of his chest. His desire to rip open the cavity was overwhelming, but he was terrified of what he might find. Gippal pulled more of the soft dirt away revealing a very still Rikku. Too still. He could not tell if she was breathing, she was so still.
Gippal nearly had a heart attack when her head jerked toward him, green eyes wide open. He just stared for a moment; his relief at finding her alive was over whelming. With a savage cry, he tore open the hole in the wall and pulled Rikku out of it. He found her tied, hands and feet together, with a dart in her neck, just like Elizza. He pulled it out carefully, throwing it to the ground. He then cut the ropes binding her arms and legs. Mobility returned to her, but her eyes remained wide open and un-blinking.
"Rikku? Rikku, baby, it's me, Gippal. What's wrong, so raynd?"
She did not answer. Gippal took another look at her eyes, and cursed under his breath. The normally spiraled pupils of her eyes were so dilated that the iris seemed totally greenish-black. There was only one thing that could do that to an Al Bhed's eyes: Ojai. It was a very powerful stimulant that would allow a person to overcome any obsticle. The only thing that would stop an Al Bhed on Ojai was death or the antidote. It was one or the other, nothing in between.
Rikku must have seen Mr. Helpful drug Elizza, and taken the Ojai in an effort to counteract the drug he would try to use on her. That explains why she turned around after stabbing him. It also explains why the kitchen was such a mess. The Ojai must have been effective against the drug in the dart for at least a little while, judging by the destruction she had caused trying to fight him off.
Gippal cursed again, and started digging in his pocket. All Al Bhed carried Ojai and its antidote. Getting caught in the desert alone was not what anyone wanted to do. One could travel all day and night, never feeling the heat or fatigue after taking Ojai; all so one could reach safety. He found the small vial of antidote after what seemed like an eternity. The liquid inside was purple. He unscrewed the cap and tilted Rikku's head back slightly, pouring the liquid down her throut, forcing her to swallow it. The antidote was not pleasant to taste. Nor was the effect of the Ojai being purged from the body.
It took effect almost immediately. Her eyes bulged slightly, and she rolled over on her own strength, away from Gippal. He stayed with her anyway, holding her shaking body and her hair out of her face as she emptied the contense of her stomach, and then some, onto the dirt floor. A long series of dry heaving followed. Her body was removing the Ojai; the drug stayed in the system, but not in the blood. That was the reason the Al Bhed used it. Once the need for it was over, it could be purged from the body.
Finally, it was all over. Rikku wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She was shaking so badly she could not support herself. Gippal pulled her against him, holding her close, murmuring into her hair. Relief flodded through him like a tidal wave. Silent tears slid down his face and into her hair. Nothing else mattered to him at that moment except the Rikku was alive and in his arms.
Eventually, Rikku stopped shaking so violently, and she shifted so that her arms were wrapped tightly around his neck. She did not try to move again for some time. When she did, it was to pull away slightly so that she could look at his face.
"Gippal..." Her eyes were back to their normal color, but the usual happiness was replaced by fear. Her voice was harsh and dry. Rikku stroked his cheek, brushing away tears with her fingers. "Why..crying.."
"Because I thought I'd lost you..."
"I'm...harder to...lose than...that, silly."
"Yeah, I guess I should have known better." he said, marveling at how she was trying to comfort him when she had been buried alive and left to rot by a psychotic desk clerk. "Are you hurt?" he asked, fearful of what her answer would be.
"No. He didn't...seem to want to...even touch me. Kept saying 'Mardoc will have you' and threw me...in there." Rikku shuddered, not wanting to remember how terrifying it was to be aware that she was more than likely going to die. "Can we leave? Please...I don't want to be here..." Her voice was small and pleading, like a child.
"Absolutely. Can you hold on to me up the ladder? I don't think you should try to climb it right now."
"Anything to get out of...here." was her response. Gippal picked her up and carried her through the circular room and down the narrow hall way. She did indeed hold onto him all the way up, though barely. Har helped to pull them both up at the top of the ladder. Rikku blinked at Har, not knowing who he was, but not really caring at this point. All she wanted to do was be some place safe with Gippal next to her.
"Bout time you came up, Machine Man. I was starting to worry, what with all the noises down there."
"So sorry. I was a bit busy."
A muffled scream came from the floor near the fireplace. Mr. Helpful was nearly frothing at the mouth with rage. They could not make out his words, but Rikku shrank against Gippal, wanting very much for him to act the over-protective-male at that moment. He did not dissapoint her. She felt his muscles tense, and he held her closer against him.
"One of the neighbors started getting nosey. I expect the authorities will be here soon. Should we leave him like that and waltz on out of here? Or do you want to be a good, honest citizen?" Har asked. "He won't get out of those ropes unless he kills himself. We could just give an anonymous tip that all the missing girls of Luca are in a secret room under his house."
"Sounds good to me." Gippal said, and then turned to Rikku. "Unless you really want to hang around here and be questioned relentlessly about the same thing over and over and over again..."
"Let's go. I don't ever want to see him or this place again." she said, burying her face against Gippals shoulder. She did not want to see Mr. Helpful.
"Then let's go. Maybe he'll put himself out his misery for us." Har said, starting for the door. Gippal carried Rikku outside, and heard the sounds of guards coming around the bend, quickly.
"Har. Get out of here. You've helped enough. We'll deal with this."
"You sure, Machine Man?"
"Yes. Now leave, before they see you."
"Alright. I'll be in touch." He turned to Rikku and nodded. "Glad you came out alright." Then he was off, a shadow among the shadows.
"I'm sorry, baby. You'll have to go through this after all."
"It's alright. So long as you stay with me."
"I'll never leave you anywhere again. You're going to travel everywhere with me. And So Muja, too."
"Good. Cause I don't want you to go away ever again. Although I like you being my hero and all, I don't want to go through that again."
"I'll kill anyone who harms you, so raynd." Rikku just looked at him, and a slow smile spread on her face. It had the unique Rikku-happiness in it. Gippal smiled back.
"That's so sweet, Gippal."
They both started laughing, while the authorities looked on, perplexed.
I bet you all thought I was going to make Cid do it, didn't you? At first I was, but then changed my mind. Mr. Helpful was just such a bastard for trying to hurt So Muja, I had to make him the villian.
Anywho, please r&r! I like reviews. They make me giggle like a little girl with an entire box of cookies all to herself that she stole from the top of the fridge. Hehe.