Glass Half-Full
(A/N: Hello, and welcome to 'Glass Half-Full!' Number one, thank you times 2,000 for checking it out in the first place! FFX was, sadly, the first of the Final Fantasy games that I was ever able to play, so the characters continue to have a place in my heart. (now go 'awwww') Though I've played many of the other games since then, I've been wanting to write a X/X-2 fic about my very fav. character, Rikku, from the beginning. Ergo, this story. I really hope you enjoy 'Glass Half-Full'. - Lindsay-)
Chapter One: M is for 'Marriage'...and 'Moron'
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"Rikku! Rikku wake up! Look what came in the mail!" Yuna shouted, storming up the stairs of the Celcius's cabin. Three beds sat on the upper level of this room, one which was occupied by a crumpled-up mass under some blankets. A very, very irritated mass with blonde hair and a tendency to be grumpy in the morning.
Yuna, on the other hand, was far too excited to heed her cousin's mood as she uncharacteristically launched herself on top of the heap; chain reaction being Rikku's growling as she tried to scratch her way through the comforter.
"Whaaaaaaaaaaat?" she groaned, poking her head over the top of it. Yuna's bi-colored eyes smiled back at her right before she was greeted with a small flier being stuffed in her face. Rikku hastily took it and sat up a little straighter in order to get in the right light for reading.
To the Dullwings,
You have been cordially invited to witness the exchanging of vows between the likes of Miss Leblanc and Sir Nooj on the twenty-fifth of February.
The two are to be wed on the bridge connecting most of Guadosalem to the Farplane, symbolizing the uniting of all Spirans. Immediately following the procession will be a reception at the Chateau Leblanc, where any gifts for the new bride and groom would be highly appreciated. Please present this invitation to any one of the ushers attending the wedding to earn a seat. Thank you very much.
Rikku's blonde eyebrows furrowed together in confusion as she finished reading the small piece of paper. Yuna still sat, all smiles, in front of her.
"Can you believe it? Finally, something interesting happening in Spira since the defeating of Vegnagun!" Yuna exclaimed, resting her chin in her delicate hands. She was snapped out of her reminiscing when a slight grunt of objection was heard from the bottom of the stairs.
"I mean besides you being released by the dream children and saving me from going insane!" she called down the stairs, correcting herself.
But actually, Yuna's statement wasn't completely false. It had been just over a year and a half since Vegnagun had been defeated, and mostly nothing new or exciting had happened. Everybody, Yuna, Rikku, and Tidus aside, had gone their own ways. Paine decided to stay with Baralai in Bevelle in order to wrap up loose ends with one of her closest friends, Gippal had wandered back to the Thunder Plains to expand the Machine Faction, Kimahri was settling things on Mount Gagazet, Wakka and Lulu were raising precious baby Vidina, Brother was helping Cid rebuild Home, and Tidus, of course, had returned to his Yuna after her long battle with everything Spira could throw at her. As if on cue, the long-term, spikey-headed boyfriend came bounding up the stairs.
"What's with everybody being so excitable today? I'm too tired to have your kind of energy." Rikku grumbled as she scratched her head, doing nothing for her already-tossled hair.
"That's what being in love does to you." Tidus dreamily stated, carefully draping his arm over Yuna's shoulders. Rikku made a gagging motion and dove back under the covers. Seconds later, Yuna finally spoke again.
"How absurd...we never even heard word that they were engaged. And now they'll be married come next weekend!" she observed, stroking her jaw pensively.
"Know why?" Rikku's muffled voice challenged from under the blankets. "'Cause the second the two got engaged, Leblanc booked a wedding and sent out invitations before Nooj could change his mind."
"My, my, my! Somebody is a little bit jaded when it comes to love!" Yuna giggled, ruffling where Rikku's hair would be under the blankets. "I'm not used to the upbeat and happy Rikku finding something to pout about."
The blankets seemed to sigh for a moment, and Rikku slithered out of them, wearing a yellow spaghetti-strapped tank top and some white cotton shorts. She stretched, gave her cousin a playful shove, and slowly sauntered down the stairs, mumbling something about somebody having to drive this piece of cred.
Despite Rikku's sudden moodiness, the sun shone brightly in the deck of the Celcius that morning. Nobody was stationed at any of the seats, but it was nothing to worry about; Rikku had 'parked' the Celcius high above Kilika the previous night, so it was just running on auto-pilot and keeping itself afloat. As she sunk into the cockpit, she really did begin to wonder why she was being so hardened about people falling in love. It's not like she had any horrible experiences with men, mostly because if any of them had hurt her, they would flee before having the chance of meeting her wrath. Though small, Rikku could obviously pack a punch, seeing as she'd helped save Spira twice...
Nothing at all could have made her feel the way she did, so Rikku decided to blame it on her rude awakening and her lack of substance in her slim tummy. At that point, the second rude awakening was staring up at the spacey Al Bhed princess. When she finally looked down, Rikku realized that the gas gauge on the Celcius was nearing E. She let out a, "Vilg!" knowing that she had just enough fuel to run this sucker to Bikanel and fill back up. Rikku hastily typed in Bikanel's coordinates and punched a blinking red button, roughly shifting the entire ship. A couple of muffled yells could be heard from the cabin.
"Cunno!" Rikku shouted behind her as the Celcius straightened itself out and headed for the long stretch of desert. When all was calm, she breathed a sigh of relief and left to get ready for the day in front of her.
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As the airship slowly descended upon the desert nation, sand began to fly everywhere, causing people to dart behind pillars and old, broken-down pieces of machina. When the gargantuan Celcius finally landed, the grumpy natives were pleasantly surprised to see the High Summoner Yuna and her significant other, Tidus, carefully stepping off of the stairs. Even better, they saw their very own princess come bounding off of the ship in her signature bright and flightly clothes.
Yuna and Tidus politely waved while shielding their eyes, and Rikku happily beamed at the people she grew up around. Walking up to a tan, middle-aged man, she asked,
"Frana ec Pops?"
He ruffled her hair, a strange habit for everyone around Rikku lately, and nodded towards a large tent about 100 feet away. Before she could take a step, though, Yuna called her name.
"What's up?"
"Tidus and I are going to go with Nhadala to dig. I don't think I've shown him the Western Expanse yet, and it would be nice to try and find something for Leblanc's wedding gift. Wanna come with us?'
Rikku smiled but waved it off.
"Nah, I'm gonna go catch up with Pops and Brother. I haven't kept in contact as much as possible lately, so there's probably hell to pay in there." She motioned to the tent. "Good luck, though! Don't forget your water!"
With that, she jogged off to the tent, reminding herself to refuel the ship before she left.
"Rikku! Come here, girl! Where've you been lately, ya little brat!" Cid howled when his daughter slipped into the seeming sun-shield. He playfully put her into a headlock and sat her down across from his desk.
"Nice to see you, too!" Rikku joked with her father as she readjusted her braids. She, too, was smiling. Everybody in Spira thought that Cid was a little too rough around the edges, but his little princess thought that was more of a perfection than anything. His loud, commanding voice and his tendency to overreact just proved that the Al Bhed leader was as human as any other bull-headed Spiran.
For about ten or fifteen minutes, the two spoke mostly about Vegnagun, and a little about the rebuilding of Home. Cid was extremely proud of his daughter for having staved off two of Spira's greatest threats, but Rikku had a lot to be proud of her dad for as well. This was the second time that the Al Bhed people were attempting to recreate what they called Home, and it took an unbelievable amount of work. Not to mention, it was scary to think about what could possibly destroy it for a third time.
"P...uh...Pops?" Rikku stuttered, shifting uncomfortably in her chair. Her bald father, who at the time had been reclining in his chair, lifted his head to show that he was paying attention.
"What's gonna happen with the new Home? I mean, the threats in Spira seem miniscule now, but this is the way it was after the Eternal Calm, too! Until Yunie, Paine and I figured out about Vegnagun. What do we have to protect ourselves from this time?" she asked, nervously fidgeting with her hands. The evacuation of Home was a terrible memory for her to recollect. The dying of many, many good people, Keyakku included. Nobody had deserved to die that day for such a stupid reason. They were only trying to help!
Much to Rikku's surprise, Cid smiled at her.
"That very question brings up a whole new subject with you, princess. You see, I'd racked my brain with that question, yet I'd kept it to myself for a very long time. That is, until your Brother confronted me with it and proposed to do something. Something that would change the future of his life and especially yours." he slowly spoke, and Rikku's heart rate began to rise. Whatever this proposition was already made her nervous. What could possibly shift who she was?
"Yuna taught Brother a great deal of English, so much that he is practiced enough to fluently speak both languages. After he returned from Vegnagun's defeat, he grew weary of staying in the desert and no longer traveling." Cid continued, but stopped when Rikku started giggling.
"I'm sorry, it's just that...hehe...Brother's normally so lazy. Now he can't sit still?"
Cid laughed with her and nodded.
"It's strange, but it appears that everybody is beginning to grow up now. Anyway, he wants to use his bilingual talents to travel and be sort of...an ambassador between Home and the rest of Spira."
Rikku cocked a blonde eyebrow.
"Yeah, but I can speak both languages too, ya know!"
"But could you spend the rest of your days making boring, diplomatic decisions and solving arguments without throwing a punch?"
Pops had a good point, Rikku thought. She thought herself to be pretty diplomatic, but it usually did involve jumping in the middle and making somebody bleed. She sighed and shrugged, wiping a strand of hair out of her face.
"So how does this affect me?" she questioned, practically dreading the answer. If Brother's job was going to be boring, hers was bound to be torture.
"It affects you because that would put your brother out of the line of succession."
Rikku's heart plummeted into her stomach.
"That means...?"
"That you'll be the...Queen? Queen of the Al Bheds...?" Cid let it roll off of his tongue a few times.
"It sounds weird..." Rikku practically whispered. She was still in complete shock of knowing that the desert nation would be hers one day. It wasn't that she was ungrateful. She was just scared.
"Well, how about Duchess? Or President of the Al Bhed?" Cid joked, wrinkling his eyes and rubbing the back of his head. Rikku smiled back, laughed a little, then replied,
"How about 'Princess?' Like it's always been?"
She stood, believing that it simply was the end of the discussion. Raising a hand to wave good-bye to her father, she began to tread towards the tent's exit until she was abruptly stopped by her father's voice again.
"So you'll never marry?" he curiously called after her. She wrinkled her nose in confusion and slowly turned around.
"I just...I never really thought about it. And who would wanna marry me?" the athletic Al Bhed nervously laughed, giving her father one more wave good-bye, and slipped out of the tent. Outside, Yuna and Tidus were chatting with about four or five Al Bhed at the Celcius's entrance. Tidus held a large paper bag under his arm.
"Hey! I'm gonna fill this thing's tank and we're heading out, okay?" Rikku called over the people. Yuna and Tidus nodded. As quickly as she could, Rikku pulled a long hose out of a pillar and stuck it into a slit-shaped hole in the side of the airship. In roughly two minutes, the hose clicked, signaling that the tank was full. Yuna ran up to her as she was putting the hose back, pulling something out of the mysterious paper bag.
"Look what we dug up! It was so beautiful that I had to save it for you!" she exclaimed, placing it on Rikku's head. Tidus soon joined his girlfriend in looking at the ancient, yet beautiful tiara on Rikku's head, and said, without thinking,
"Fit for a princess, right?"
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(A/N: Yayyy! End of Chapter 1! I've had the concept of a Rikku story in my head longer than any other story idea I've put out there to date. You could say it's sort of my baby. Haha. Anyway, I'm doing everything I can to make this story the best that I can make it, bringing out personalities and giving a good mix of dialogue and story. But I won't give anything away quite yet! You have to stay tuned! Please, please, please review...I live for those things. :grin:)