To tiduskazurakitesora: Hey! Good guess at the meaning behind the Fates and the connection to Pandora. You're pretty close I'd say! I'd explain to everyone fully, but it'll only end up being explained soon enough anyways.
………………………………….
Yuna yawned. Emma glanced at her watch, and almost gasped.
"Guys! It's 3 in the morning! Why don't we continue this conversation tomorrow?" She suggested. Sora yawned too.
"Sounds like a good idea. Meet you guys here tomorrow." He stood up.
"Why don't the guys stay at the house? It's not like we don't have enough room." Paine noted. Rikku eyed her suspiciously.
"Why? Do you plan on being a fool again with Baralai? Hmm?" She asked accusingly. Paine started blushing and Melody giggled. Everyone looked at her.
"You…remember?" Yuna asked slowly. Melody sighed, getting a bit tired of the question.
"I don't know why it's funny, but it just is." She answered. Gippal nudged Sora.
"You didn't tell her about our 'adventures' in Luca, did you?" He asked accusingly. Sora turned a bit red and shook his head.
"No, I uhh, kind of left that part out…" He said slowly. Rikku grinned, trying to look innocent.
"If Yunie's having a baby, what must she have done?" She asked Melody quietly. Melody knew what Rikku was implying, but didn't understand what it had to do with Paine being called a fool, or Luca. The Al Bhed girl continued. "Well, she did it in Luca…and so did all the rest of us." She sat down, landing in Gippal lap, and grinned at him. "By the way, does this remembering mean I get to steal your boxers again? They're comfy." She giggled. Gippal raised his eyebrows, smirking.
"Well, sure, but what do I get in exchange?" He asked. Rikku smiled mischievously at him.
"Mmmm, well, what would you like?" She asked, barely in a whisper. They were getting awfully close. Melody watched, trying to keep from laughing. Paine looked utterly disgusted.
"Get a room." She ordered. Gippal looked at her, smirking.
"Okay, can we use yours?" He asked. Paine smacked him. Rubbing his head, he looked at Rikku.
"Come on Cid's girl, aren't you going to defend me?" He asked pleadingly. Rikku shrugged.
"Sorry, you deserved that one." She answered simply. "Besides, if you want me to help you, you shouldn't call me Cid's girl." She told him. Tidus smirked.
"She's right. Gippal's girl sounds better anyways." He added. Rikku glared at him.
"Tidus!" She shrieked. "You're giving him ideas!"
"Hmmm…" Gippal grinned. "You're right Tidus, Gippal's girl does sound much better." He said, chuckling. Rikku groaned.
"Well, it's late, we should be heading to bed. See you guys tomorrow then!" She said, desperate to change the subject. Yuna smiled.
"We'll meet you guys at the front doors tomorrow?" She suggested. Then Sora spoke.
"Wait a sec, I have class tomorrow. What are we going to do about school?" He asked. Then a new thought dawned on Melody.
"If I spent my life on Destiny Islands, then how can it be that I just one day woke up here with a family, friends, and a life?" She asked. There was silence. Emma shrugged.
"I think we have more pressing matters than classes right now. And as to how we ended up with families and lives here is going to stay a mystery until we can find someone who knows more about what happened than we do."
……………………..
Nine students sat lounging around the front doors to the library, none of them saying anything. Then Tidus stood up.
"What are we waiting around here for? Someone on this planet has to know how we could contact the Celcius." He said resolutely. No one else moved.
"No one on this planet is going to know what the Celcius is. And even if they did, they'd still think we were crazy" Baralai answered. Yuna sighed.
"I guess that means we'll have to find our own way off the planet. But how? The space shuttles here can barely get to Mars, never mind Spira or Fa'Diel." She said. Rikku was lying down on the bench, and Gippal was leaning over the back of the bench. She sat up very suddenly, colliding with Gippal's chest. She yelped, and sat up the rest of the way, a little bit more carefully.
"How here knows what the broadcasting distance of a cell phone is?" She asked suddenly. There was a long silence. She crossed her arms. "Well, I guess it wouldn't be far enough anyways." She said, lying back down. It took a moment, but then Gippal seemed to catch on.
"Wait, why can we rig it to get it to broadcast farther?" He asked. Rikku bit her lip.
"I guess we could, but we'd need a huge antenna." She answered. Gippal smirked.
"Leave that to me. You get your hands on a cell." He told her, before turning on his heel and walking away. Rikku sat up.
"Okay, so does anyone have a cell phone?" She asked. Yuna pulled hers out of her pocket and tossed it to her cousin. Rikku stuck out her tongue, prying at it. Everyone watched her, confused. Finally, Melody spoke.
"Do you mind explaining what you and Gippal were talking about?" She asked. Rikku shrugged.
"Would take too long. Someone help me open this." She ordered. Sora took it from her and inspected it.
"I'm sure there's something in the tech building that could open this. A screwdriver of something." He stated. Rikku nodded.
"Good, I need the tools from there anyways." She stood up, and everyone followed her as they walked over to the building where most of Sora's classes had taken place. It took them a little while, but Rikku did end up getting her hands on a screw driver, and pried Yuna's phone open. The exsummoner watched apprehensively.
"Uhh, Rikku, just what are you going to do to my phone?" She asked. Rikku looked a little sheepish.
"I think I'll be able to fix it after I'm done, but if I'm not, I'll get you a new one, k?" She offered. Yuna smiled slightly, rolling her eyes. Emma watched, having no idea what Rikku was doing.
"So, since we really can't help you out with the phone, is there anything else that needs doing for this plan of yours?" She asked slowly. Rikku shook her head, and then grinned, holding up the jumble of chips and wires triumphantly.
"Ha! I'm done! Now all we have to do is find Gippal and his antenna!" With that, they all piled out of the building, and crossed the campus back towards the library. They found him lazing on the bench. He grinned when they approached him.
"I was wondering what was taking you so long." He said offhandedly. Rikku ignored the comment.
"So where's this great big antenna?" She asked. He stood up, motioning for them to follow. They rounded a corner, and Rikku's eyes fell on a huge radio tower. "It's perfect!" She announced.
"I know." He answered with a hint of arrogance. "It's the old campus radio tower, they abandoned it last year when they got access to the one north of here. I had to kick in the door, though." He said, showing them inside. Other than the broken door on the ground, the place was in pretty good shape. He pointed to what looked like a fuse box on the wall, with the door wide open to reveal a bunch of circuits that Gippal had hastily rebuilt. Rikku set to work on connecting the phone to the box. In a moment, she sighed and sat down.
"Now we wait." She said. Melody cleared her throat.
"Wait for what?" She asked. Rikku smiled slightly.
"We wait for the phone to ring." She answered. Paine raised her eyebrows.
"That's still actually a phone?" She asked. Rikku nodded, grinning. Then, she pulled the case out of her pocket and pressed all the pieces carefully back in before closing it.
"There." She said proudly. However, as she spoke, the phone popped back open. "Someone find tape." She ordered, pressing it back together. Tidus tossed her some duct tape, and she wrapped it tightly, so that all that was left uncovered was the microphone and the earpiece. She grinned sheepishly at Yuna.
"So, do you want a new phone?" She asked. Yuna laughed.
"I'm sure Shinra can make me something even better than a phone when we get back." She answered.
…………….a day later……………
"We've now officially been here for 36 hours." Melody announced, looking at her watch. They'd come and gone, but someone always had to be there, waiting for the phone to ring, so they'd generally remained tied to the antenna house. The sun had set about an hour ago, and the stars were just getting bright. She went outside and climbed the ladder. It led to the roof, and was built so that adjustments could be made to the antenna. Melody lay down on the cool roof, letting the sky consume her vision. She heard the clunking sound that the ladder made against the wall when someone was climbing it. Looking over, she saw Sora clambering on to the roof.
"Whatcha thinking about?" He asked, sitting down next to her. She shrugged.
"I guess I'm still trying to get used to not remembering who I am." She said slowly. Sora frowned.
"Well, can you think of anything that might help you remember?" He asked. She shook her head.
"I guess it's a good thing that I can remember flashes of things that happened, but none of it means anything to me." She admitted sadly, sitting up.
"Kai…I wish there was something I could do…." He said quietly. Without realizing what he was doing, he slipped his arm around her. He realized after a moment, and was about to move it, but she leaned against him, smiling a little sheepishly.
"I guess there's only really one reason that I believe everything I've been told about all our adventures. More than that stunt with the pencil in the library, more than so many people being a part of this sudden revelation, more than even trusting my friends to tell the truth about important stuff like this." She sighed, pausing, blushing a little. "I know I should only barely know you, but I think it's only my mind's memories that I can't remember." She laughed a little in spite of herself. "I guess this sounds kind of dumb, but even if I just met you, I feel like I've always been in love with you." She said, her voice getting quieter as she grew more and more unsure of what she was saying. He smiled kindly, looking almost relieved.
"I'm glad you remember that, at least." He answered, touching his lips to hers. She pulled herself closer to him, her arms going around his neck and burying her fingers in his crazy hair. His arms tightened around her waist. When they broke the kiss, both off them were breathing raggedly, both of them were smiling slightly, and both of them were blushing a little. Hearing a clunk, they turned around and saw Rikku scrambling to her feet.
"I uhh, I didn't see…." She said quickly, stuttering and scrambling down the ladder. She stopped, admitting to herself that her attempt to act innocent didn't work.
"Come up Rikku." a voice ordered. Rikku peeked over the edge of the roof, looking cautiously at both of them and cleared her throat.
"Umm, so, do you remember?" She asked sheepishly. Sora glanced at the girl still settled comfortably in his arms. She sighed.
"Not really…" She answered. Rikku frowned, climbing the rest of the way up onto the roof.
"But that's how me and Gippal remembered." She answered. Sora grinned.
"You guys only just met. Why was it so much easier for you guys to admit how much you liked each other this time around? I heard it took years back in Spira." He answered. Rikku frowned.
"Gippal asked me the same thing." She said slowly.
Meanwhile, Yuna and Tidus, who had been sent to collect some food, were walking down the street towards a little 24-hour grocery store. Inside, they were gathering all the stuff that was written on their list, but Yuna kept asking for weird things.
"Hey! Let's have strawberry iced cream!" She suggested happily as they walked past the freezers. Tidus stopped, raising an eyebrow.
"We don't have a fridge at the radio tower, never mind a freezer, it'll melt." He answered. Yuna crossed her arms, grinning.
"Then we'll just have to eat it really fast!" She answered. Tidus rolled his eyes. Yuna looked pleadingly at him. He sighed, a little exasperated.
"Are you sure you're okay? First you say you wanted pancake mix to make pancakes, then you said you wanted pickles and cherries, now this." He said, crossing his arms. Yuna, who was holding onto the basket, put it down, turning a little bit red. She smiled slightly.
"You know, you've caused me a great deal of stress this past week." She told him. Tidus blinked.
"But you didn't even remember me for the first half…" He said, utterly confused. Yuna shrugged, still half smiling.
"Exactly."
"…huh?"
"Well, about a week ago, I went to the clinic to find out why I was so late." She said, hinting. Tidus stared dumbly at her.
"Late for what?" He asked, confused. She was looking really nervous, unsure of whether he was really so clueless, or whether he didn't want to believe was she was going to tell him. She bit her lip.
"Before I remembered everything…I didn't think I'd ever…slept with anyone before, so when I found out…" Her voice trailed off, her throat felt like it was seizing up. Tidus' eyebrows furrowed.
"Did you get a disease or something? I'm sure there's something we can do to treat it, so don't be upset, I can't stand it when you're sad." He told her quickly. Yuna almost laughed. He really didn't have any idea. She took his hand and placed it over her stomach. He paused, as if to process what she was meaning. She bit her lip, smiling a little.
"I'm having a baby, Tidus. We're going to be parents." She whispered. He blinked again, drawing circles with his thumb over her stomach. Then, a grin spread across his face, and he kissed her gently.
"I guess I need to get daddy tips from Wakka when we get back then." He said. Yuna grinned slyly.
"Can I have my iced cream now?"
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Sorry that took so long guys! With driver's ed, school prep, moving the computer and my bro's crazy obsession with this machine, I've not gotten much of a chance to write. I hope this relatively juice piece makes up for it?