Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Final Fantasy x-2.

Chapter Ten

The march of the human mind is slow

"You've the brain of a damned Sin Spawn! No, that's not true—a Sin Spawn keeps its head tucked inside, while yours, Gippal, is aboveground and sticking out of the collar!"

Gippal eyed his dad with faint interest.

"Damn you, boy, what did you do to her?"

"I did nothing to my wife." He said finally, his voice as forbidding as the wretched cold water of the Oasis.

"Oh yes, you did." Chandos said, his eyes gleaming with fury. "Her maid told Frances, who just happened to let slip to Grunyon, who told me, as is proper, that there was blood on her bed sheets and that she was pale as a Ghost this morning!"

Gippal cursed very softly.

"Don't tell me your wife wasn't a virgin until last night?"

Gippal was silent.

"No, I can't believe that, not with you!"

Goaded, Gippal said: "No, no, she wasn't."

"They why blood, damn you? What did you do to her, you stupid idiot?"

"It's what I didn't do." Gippal said.

"And that being?"

Gippal walked to the long windows in the drawing room. "I didn't use any cream." He said over his shoulder. "I…forgot."

Chandos closed his eyes. Why the hell would a husband have to use cream with his own wife? It was absurd, unless he was rough with her and uncaring.

He looked over at his beautiful son. He was standing tall and straight, his eyes locked on a tree outside the window. The top part of his crimson and black armor gleamed in the morning sunlight that poured into the room.

"A husband shouldn't hurt his wife." Chandos said slowly.

"I didn't mean to." Gippal said, turning to face his dad. "I thought that if I left her to get the cream, she'd hide herself somewhere in this tomb of a temple."

"Well, that's kind of true. What are you going to do about it?"

"Me? Well, I'm going to work."

Chandos frowned, his most threatening frown. "You shouldn't, you know."

"Look, dad. If you're so worried about Rikku, why didn't you marry her yourself?"

"I did consider it." Chandos said frankly.

Gippal looked surprised.

"But, Gippal. I realized it wouldn't be fair. What young girl would want to be bound to an old man?"

Gippal threw up his hands. "Not just any old man, quite a rich one!" He said. "I'm sure Cid would've been soo pleased."

"I never believed…until this moment, that you had more of your mother's brain than mine." With those blighting words, Chandos strode from the room.

Gippal went into his estate room and closeted himself with his new steward, Carruthers. An intelligent young man, Carruthers felt his head reel with all the bits and pieces of gossip he'd heard since Gippal's return to the Machine Faction with his homely wife.

"Well?" Gippal asked as he seated himself behind the huge mahogany desk in his estate room.

Carruthers cleared his throat. He took his time gathering the appropriate papers. "Mr. Gippal." He began. "It's about the faction."

"Gippal'll be fine, Carruthers." He smiled at his flushed face. "What about it?"

"Oh…um…It's not being used. The Machine Faction's losing a good deal of Gil. Since you've been gone, no one has been in charge and no one has been able to continue with the work you've done."

"Well, I'm back now."

"You are, but we need more assembly's A and Z."

"I'll speak to Belvis about that problem."

Carruthers didn't say anything. He wasn't up to telling Gippal that Belvis, a crusty old Al Bhed and an excellent machina manager and creator had left Djose Temple some three months before, mumbling to Carruthers that there was nothing for him here, not anymore.

Their meeting continued for another hour, and by the end of it, Carruthers was quite in awe of how much Gippal actually cared about the Faction then he actually let on. He treated it as if the whole of Spira would be without life if it wasn't taken care of properly. And yet, he still didn't know about Belvis leaving.

"It's teatime." Gippal said finally, rising. "Right now, I'll be sharing this precious time with my…family. I'll see ya sometime tomorrow, Carru."

Carruthers smiled grimly as Gippal strode from the Estate Room.

Gippal found his dad and Rikku seated comfortable in a cozy chair in a room.

Rikku looked her usual self, perhaps even more so, for when she looked up at his entrance, she paled to the color of the white walls.

"G'afternoon." Gippal said, nodding to the two of them. He walked to the ornately carved fireplace and leaned his shoulder against the mantelpiece.

"I was just speaking to Rikku of bridal visits. Your neighbours'll want to meet her, of course."

The horrified look on her husband's face was enough to make Rikku thrust up her chin and declare: "I'd love to meet everyone, sir."

"Not." Gippal said very slowly, and very precisely. "Until you do something with yourself, Rikku."

Rikku gave him a long, squinting look, rose, and walked out of the room, her back ramrod straight.

"She's still wearing that same rag." Gippal said to no one in particular. "Twenty years out-of-date if it's a day. And that cap! It should have been burned before it was sewn."

Chandos wanted to plant his beloved son a facer. He'd tried to speak to Rikku before Gippal's belated arrival, but hadn't gained much ground. In fact, he hadn't gained anything. He hadn't known what to say to her.

"What d'you plan to do, Gippal?" he asked finally, waving a cup of tea toward his son.

Gippal walked to his dad, took the tea, and downed it in one gulp. "Do, dad? I plan ta get my wife pregnant A.S.A.P."

"And then?"

"After I finish up the work here, I'm goin' to Luca."

"That's what you said yesterday." Chandos said. "More or less."

"Yeah." Said Gippal, pouring another cup.

"Belvis is gone, left some months ago."

Gippal blinked at his dad. "What? But why? Carruthers didn't tell me."

"You probably had the poor young man quaking in his shoes. I told you because nothing you do or say makes me quake."

"Right…"

"Belvis isn't someone to lose lightly."

Gippal leaned back in her chair. "I know. But I'd get him back."

Chandos rose. He was a meddler; he freely admitted it to himself. He wondered if it wouldn't be for the best if he left the two of them alone and returned back to his property.

No, he couldn't do it. He had to get the truth out of Rikku first.

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Rikku pulled her shawl more closely about her shoulders and escaped through the front doors, walking briskly toward the bridge. She felt a wave of homesickness and sank down under a very old, gnarled oak tree, leaning back against the rough bark. She closed her eyes and saw her husband, and heard his hateful words play over and over in her mind.

Well, what he said is only the truth. You look really, really horrible. Do you expect that he'll want to introduce you as his wife?

She was on the point of pulling off her spectacles and taking the cap from her head when she saw Gippal striding toward the bridge with the electric rocks floating behind him. His head was lowered and he appeared lost in thought. His thick blonde hair stood on ends from the electricity coming from the temple. She let her eyes rove down his body, looking at him with complete objectivity.

He's a handsome man. There. I'd give him that. But that's about it.

It was as if he sensed her presence, for in the next moment, he whipped about and stared at her.

"Rikku." He said.

"Mister." She said.

"Gippal."

"Ah Huh. If that's what ya want."

He looked at her, raking his fingers through his hair. "Look, Rikku. I'm really sorry for what I said to you. After all, it's not your fault that you…"

"Yes?" she pressed in a very sweet voice.

"Well, a bit of it's your fault."

"How about, all of it is my fault? But it doesn't matter, at least to me."

"I don't get it." Gippal said slowly.

Rikku shrugged, not looking up at him.

"Rikku, I'm sorry about last night. I swear I won't do that again…"

She shot him a look of undiluted relief. "You won't touch me again? You're leaving Djose Temple, then?"

"Not just yet. What I meant was that I won't ever approach you again without some cream. I seriously didn't mean to hurt you."

Cream, she thought dully. She found herself looking at his firm mouth for a moment. He'd never kissed her.

"Tomorrow evening, we're gonna guests for dinner, Rikku."

"What? Guests? For dinner?"

Gippal frowned at the sound of her set voice. "Why not? I haven't had guests here in ages, and it's about time for some. If you're interested, you can ask Frances about the menu." He didn't tell her that he wanted some sort of way to apologize properly to her and decided a dinner with a few guests would be fine.

"Okay." Rikku said, coming gracefully to her feet. "Yep, I guess I should. Another wifely duty."

"You'll come down to dinner this evening, won't ya?"

"I haven't decided." She said over her shoulder.

Gippal watched her stride back toward the temple—like a damned man. Not a feminine bone in that body of hers. But her body was very soft, her skin smooth and sweet-smelling. He clearly remembered the feel of her thighs, their slenderness, their long, graceful shape, and the softness of her between his thighs. He found himself wondering about her breasts.

Tonight, I'll satisfy my curiosity on that one.

That evening at dinner, Rikku said nothing. She listened to Chandos relating tales from bygone days; scandals of that Summoner or that Maester, Gil won or lost at the gaming tables.

When he'd come into the drawing room, Gippal had taken one look at her and become as silent as she.

Chandos carried on manfully. He knew well enough when the battle was well lost or not.

Rikku excused herself at the first moment possible and returned to her room. Viola was seated next to the fireplace stitching one of Rikku's impossible jumpers.

"It's okay, Viola. You don't need to do that."

Viola brightened. "You're expecting new clothes, Lady Rikku?"

"Nope," said Rikku. "But Viola, you can rest now if you want to."

Rikku was wide-awake when she heard the adjoining door slide open two hours later.

"Rikku."

"Yes." She said. "Gimme a second, sir, I'll raise my night gown for you. There."

Gippal felt a frission at those empty, dull words. He plowed his fingers through his hair. "Rikku, look, I—

"I understand, sir. You want me to conceive. I'm ready. Please, just get it over with."

He didn't want to, but he knew he had to. After what had happened last night he wasn't sure if she'd lie willingly down. He still felt like a damned rutting bastard for hurting her and wanted so badly to rewind the clock.

After a few minutes, he'd finished his job. He didn't hurt her, for the cream eased his way. She didn't move, nor did she say another word. He finished quickly, and retreated to his own room.

He realized later as he lay in his own bed that he hadn't touched her breasts.

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The small dinner party with Chauncey and Delaney could have been worse. Chauncey, bless her sweet heart, had been most kind to Rikku, once she'd gotten over her shock. As for Delaney, he was a man who could charm the meanest fiends, if he chose. Chandos had been in fine form.

Rikku had been so quiet that she might as well have not been there. Gippal found himself wondering during the lengthy meal how Sister or Rielle would have responded.

They'd have been delightful and well-dressed and lovely.

But he'd married Rikku. And she hated him.

Why couldn't she try, just a bit, to make herself more presentable?

He sighed, dismissed Grunyon, and stripped off his clothes. When he quietly opened the adjoining door, he heard Rikku say in a weary, bored voice: "Again? Aren't you tired?"

"Yeah, I am." He said. "But that doesn't matter."

"Okay..." She said.

He heard her moving about in the bed, and could picture her pulling up her night gown.

This ain't right. Life shouldn't be like this.

He sat down on the edge of the bed, his hands clasped between his knees. "Why can't things be easier between us, Rikku?"

"Why can't there be anything between us, sir?" Rikku said.

"Are you homesick?"

"Yes."

"Dammit. But…"

He heard her draw a deep breath. "Yes." She said quietly. "There's always a 'but', isn't there? I'm really tired. Can't you be done with it?"

"I'm sorry Rikku…" He said, his voice curt.

It relieved him that he was able to enter her immediately. He had an awful fear of impotence with her. That would demolish him utterly. He heard a muffled sob, and froze. He closed his eyes, even though the room was in complete darkness. He hadn't hurt her, had he? She was very small, and he had thrust deeply into her, repeatedly. He started to ask her if she was alright, but he couldn't bring himself to. He could just hear her flat, emotionless voice telling him a lie.

He pulled out of her quickly, feeling her flinch as he did.

Rikku didn't move. She heard him stride quickly from her room, heard the door slide close behind him.

It isn't so bad. It doesn't hurt. But it was so empty, so cold, so…inhuman.

She suddenly saw her life laid out before her. It was all loneliness and darkness. It was a man who was her husband who would visit her when he was forced to. She rolled over and buried her face into the soft pillow. She wanted desperately to go home. She wanted desperately to be free again, to be herself, to laugh, and visit all the Bikanel expanses, to swim in the Oasis, to continue digging.

Don't be weak, Rikku! Your whole charade was made to have him leave. And its working, yes it is. He can't even bear to look at you!

Soon she'd be free again. Soon he'd be gone.

And then what'll you do?

She awoke the next morning with no answer to her question.

TO BE CONTINUED…