A/N: Special thanks to iridescentwings and Lenneia! Your reviews made me happy. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Chapter Five

The wedding was going to take place on one of the long, wide areas that was where—as Paine told him—the Gullwings had first met the Leblanc Syndicate and battled to get back the Songstress Dressphere that Leblanc had stolen. Gippal and Baralai watched as the final preparations were put into place. The empty, wide platform had been transformed: a white carpet had been laid to extend from one end to the other where a slightly raised stage was set for whoever was going to marry Yuna and Tidus. Row after row of white chairs were set up on both sides of the long white carpet. All around them were flowers from all over Spira, most of them gifts to the High Summoner in wishing her and her husband-to-be a happy marriage. All of this was on the backdrop of an endless turquoise ocean and a clear blue sky. It would be beautiful.

Gippal and Baralai were watching the final preparations of the wedding rehearsal from a small café that lay opposite to the wedding site. They'd had a nice, peaceful few hours of wandering Luca together. They'd gone to every interesting place and fallen back into their comfortable level of camaraderie even if their conversations got a bit awkward sometimes. After being thoroughly destroyed by some kids in a few games of Sphere Break, the two of them had decided to stop playing while they had coins left and decided to go have some tea together.

"An hour until show time," Gippal said after checking the time. Good. He was starting to grow restless with all of this waiting. There was only so much you could do to kill time.

"Is she here yet?"

He glanced up when he heard Yuna's voice. She and Paine were standing nearby talking. Paine shook her head. "No. She called from an airship on the CommSphere and said she was on her way. They had some problems but it's fixed. They're almost here."

Yuna smiled. "Good. It'll be good to see her again. It's been such a long time..."

Paine nodded, surprisingly smiling herself. "Believe it or not, I've missed her constant chattering too."

The High Summoner laughed. "Don't let her hear you say that. Or else you'll never hear the end of it."

"Oh I know. Consider this a moment of weakness. As soon as she gets here, I'll be annoyed all over again."

"You two talking about Cid's brat?" Gippal called out to them.

"She should be here soon," Yuna confirmed.

"Good," He grinned. "It'll be good to see the little chatterbox again. She been in touch?"

"Not really. She gives us a call once in a while. Just to let us know she's still alive basically. Then we don't hear from her for months at a time."

By the look on her face, Gippal knew this worried her. He couldn't blame her. He'd grown up with Rikku. Though she was capable, the thought of her out in the wide world on her own was not a comforting notion. A number of things could happen and they'd never know. That thought made his heart skip a beat.

"Paine, do you know where Mako is?" Baralai asked suddenly, rising from his seat.

"Last I checked, she was back at the hotel."

"Thank you. I need to talk to her about something. Excuse me."

The young Praetor smiled at them and left the table. Gippal scooped his teacup up and drained the rest in one gulp. "Well, ladies. Seeing as Baralai just ditched me and Nooj is off with Leblanc, I guess you're stuck with me."

"Oh. The joy," Paine deadpanned.

As it turned out, Rikku barely made it to the rehearsal. They'd waited for as long as they could but as the minutes ticked by, Gippal could see Yuna growing nervous. She couldn't miss her own wedding rehearsal, after all.

"Come on. Let's just go. When Rikku gets here, she'll find us easily enough," Paine suggested when they had a mere ten minutes left. She frowned disappointedly up at the sky and then turned. She really had been looking forward to seeing Rikku.

Yuna reluctantly nodded and began following her. Gippal started to do the same. Then, he heard it. Years of working with machina gave him the ability to identify an airship when he heard one. He turned and grinned when he saw the speck in the sky coming towards Luca, getting bigger and bigger as it neared. Could it be...?

It was. The airship swooped down low, hovering in the clear opening for a moment as the landing gear came into place. The bright white-blue flames of the thrusters could be seen shooting wildly from the bottom of the airship as they slowed the landing. Warm gusts of wind came hurtling past Gippal and the girls. He heard the whine of the engine as it lost power and came to rest.

"Right on time," Paine said at the distinctive little figure that was revealed to be standing behind the hatch door as it slowly lowered into a ramp. Even from the short distance in which they were standing, Gippal could see the sunny smile light Rikku's face. She was waving and all ready running towards them.

"Hey there!" She called ahead, dashing down the ramp. Yuna and Paine both surprised Gippal when they surged past him eagerly to meet her. Rikku laughed loudly as Yuna enveloped her in a hug. Paine was dragged reluctantly into it when Rikku grabbed her by the arm.

"Rikku! It's been so long!" Yuna said as she stepped back to look her cousin up and down. "You look...different."

Rikku blinked and took a casual glance down at herself before meeting her cousin's eyes again. "Do I? Well, I have grown taller from what my friend Amira tells me!"

"Still loud as ever," Paine blandly said but with a smile.

Rikku poked her in the arm, "Pimmo!" [Bully!]

"Well, well, well, look who it is!" Gippal cheerily spoke up as he sauntered towards them. Rikku looked confused for a second when she didn't see anybody but then looked over Paine's shoulder and her eyes widened.

"Gippal!"

"How ya' doing, Cid's girl?"

She smiled. "I have a naaammmeee!"

He grinned and pulled her into a friendly hug. She DID look different, though not by much. Even as her lithe, little body was pressed against him, he could feel the taunt, wiry strength of her arms squeeze his waist. She had filled out a little more in the two years she'd traveled Spira alone from the looks of it. There was no trace of the awkward little girl going through growth spurts and puberty anymore. And she'd cut her hair a little, which surprised Gippal. As a child, Rikku had always wanted to grow her hair as long as she could.

She had blossomed beautifully in that short span of two years, he noted with a smile.

Rikku thumped him on his arm and stepped back. He felt a quick flash of disappointment for some reason but grinned at her as she spoke. "I see you haven't changed. It's good to see you too, you big meanie."

Then she turned her attention back to Yuna and Paine. The three of them began talking animatedly, Rikku demanding details of the wedding and of the others while they in return asked her more about her journey, where she had gone, what she had done. The four of them hurried to the wedding rehearsal talking the entire way.

Most of the guests were already in their chairs and waiting. The platform was abuzz with activity. Nooj was sitting ramrod in his seat as an adoring Leblanc had her hands all over him. Ormi and Logos were behind them. Gippal spotted Baralai and Mako in their seats nearby as well. He wondered vaguely if Mako had scouted the site yet to make sure that there weren't any booby traps or bombs planted that might harm Baralai.

"Look who decided to come back and visit, ya?" Wakka cheerfully said in a loud voice as he spotted them.

"Wakka!" Rikku waved enthusiastically and ran forward to greet him and Lulu. She immediately saw little Vidina in his mother's arms, "Oh my...is that Vidina? Wow, he's grown!"

Lulu chuckled. "You've grown yourself."

Each time some old acquaintance of Rikku's ran into her the conversation ran along in the same lines as greeting, gushing of how she'd changed, 'good to see you', and so forth. Gippal found himself watching her as she daintily chatted with each and every person that stopped to say hi. Of all the things he'd expected when seeing Rikku, he had not expected this...older version of her. In his mind, he still saw the little girl whose pigtails he used to pull and whose face would scrunch up into a pout as he teased her. He wasn't sure how he felt about this yet.

"TIDUS!" Rikku hollered suddenly and tackled the Blitzball player and soon to be groom when she spotted him.

Laughing, Tidus let himself be taken down and gave the energetic Al Bhed a hug. "It's good to see you too, Rikku! Whoa! Down girl!"

"Get used to it. You're going to be related to her soon," Paine bluntly said.

"Just what I wanted...my very own Rikku!" Tidus laughed and started tickling Rikku, who started laughing uncontrollably at the treatment. Yuna and Paine even traitorously helped him for a moment before they let her up. Gippal watched in amusement as she stuck her tongue at them.

"Grrr," Rikku playfully growled, wiping the tears that had sprung into her eyes from her hysterics.

Tidus fell into step beside Yuna and slid an arm around her waist. Rikku smiled widely while she looked around, "This is looking awesome! So what's the plan?"

"Hey now!" Wakka interrupted suddenly, squeezing between Tidus and Yuna to separate them. "None of that yet, ya? The rehearsal should be starting soon so you two love birds need to get into your positions."

Gippal chuckled to himself and slid into his seat beside Baralai and Mako. Lulu, Yuna's maid of honor, had whisked the bride and her two bride's maids off to prepare. The plan—from what Gippal knew--was to have the rehearsal, then the traditional day of separation for the bride and groom where the rest of the wedding arrangements would be completed, and then the big day. Weddings weren't exactly the most exciting things in Gippal's book, but it gave him a brief vacation from his work as the Machine Faction Leader so he was all too happy to be there.

He slumped down in his seat slightly as the orchestra began strumming the first chords of the music that would undoubtedly be playing throughout the upcoming wedding. It went by surprisingly fast and painlessly. Paine had informed him that a former Yevon priest would be the one blessing Yuna and Tidus' marriage. Apparently he was an old, trusted friend of Yuna's father Lord Braska. He'd been the only man that had cared for the young Yuna in the period following Braska's death and Kimahri's arrival to take her to Besaid.

Gippal stood, stretching his arms, glad to be able to move after sitting in the chair watching as the wedding director—a short, plump woman named Ereia—scurried about telling this person to go here, how that vase of flowers was too far left, the music was too slow, or...the list went on and on. Yuna took a moment to thank everyone for their patience and bid them to have a good time in Luca. The wedding was only a day away now. He saw the High Summoner smile gently to her soon-to-be husband and grinned in spite of himself at the display. He wasn't much of a romantic but those two...it was strangely heart warming to see the aura of sadness that was usually associated with Yuna be dispelled by the blond Blitzer.

"So, what are your plans for the day, Gippal?" Baralai asked.

Gippal shrugged. "Haven't thought about it. Probably gonna' go check on our little present to the lovebirds to make sure everything's good. Why? What are you going to do?"

"Well, I--" Baralai broke off when Mako abruptly stepped from beside him and halfway in front of him. It was a discreet, almost casual move, but Gippal knew that it meant something was making her uncomfortable and this was a way to ensure Baralai's safety. Gippal blinked at the sharpened, suspicious expression that had suddenly appeared on her face. It took a few seconds to realize that she wasn't glaring at him but at something behind him.

He craned his head around to find a raven-haired, scantily clad woman marching very purposefully towards them. Flanking her were a small group of men wearing identical navy uniforms sporting a silver-lined insignia. She smiled, not so much as a friendly one but a vicious one that reminded Gippal of what a gleeful fiend looked like before it devoured you.

Now he knew why Mako was suddenly so tense. It was Malokness, the second in command of the Lockheart Coalition. The Lockheart Coalition was a political faction that had been recently making waves throughout Spira. Though it had been formed during the time of the Machine Faction, Youth League, and New Yevon, it had not started getting much attention until now. Their leader was a man named Malakai that made appearances so rarely that it was rumored that he did not even exist. In any case, the Coalition was starting to turn heads with their tireless campaigns to 'rebuild' and 'cleanse' Spira, whatever that meant.

For whatever reason, the Coalition did not agree particularly with New Yevon. It was a strong suspicion that it had been this very secretive organization that had been behind the assassination attempt on Baralai. But there had been no evidence whatsoever to prove this. The Lockheart Coalition had even offered to help in the investigation to bring the culprits to justice despite their conflicts with New Yevon. They had sent their sincere condolences for those who'd been killed in the unfortunate incident.

In any case, it seemed to Gippal that Mako didn't give a damn about the Coalition's "sincerity" at the moment. She seemed to be resisting the urge to reach for her gun, safely tucked in its holster at her waist. She was one of the many who believed that the Coalition was responsible.

"Greetings! Praetor Baralai, it warms my heart to see you up and about again!" the woman purred as she approached.

Gippal saw Baralai gently place a placating hand on his sister's arm for a second as he stepped around her. "Good afternoon to you, Lady Malokness. You are most kind."

"I am glad to see that you were able to take time off to attend Lady Yuna's wedding," Malokness continued airily. "A most deserved vacation, I'd imagine, seeing as you've done SO much for New Yevon, young praetor."

The tiny trace of sarcasm in her last statement would have probably resulted in Mako very justifiably separating the woman's head from her body had Baralai not smoothly shifted his weight so that he were standing directly in front of her. Gippal saw his friend nod stiffly and give a tight-lipped smile. "I do what I can, milady. I am sorry that not all agree with how I try to run business in my faction."

"Oh well you know how it is...no one can agree on anything these days," she said as she examined a perfectly manicured hand. "But you know the saying: bad leaders make bad decisions. Something you don't have to worry about though, I can assure you. I mean, there's more than enough good leaders on Spira for you to talk to..."

"Is there really?" Mako spoke up at last, not even bothering to hide her dislike of the woman. "Well, why bother the 'good leaders' when they can send their lowly lapdogs in their stead?"

Malokness' eyes flashed dangerously and her guards were clearly displeased. "You'd dare..."

Again, Baralai interrupted before this exploded into a fight. "Forgive her, Lady. Mako has a vicious sense of humor. Not many people, uh, grasp the humor part. She means no harm. Now if you'll excuse us...I'd like to have a few words with the bride..."

"Of course," Malokness said tightly, eyes locked with Mako still. The animosity between the two women was like a stifling white-hot anger that choked the atmosphere. Gippal half expected one of them to attack even with Baralai physically acting as a barricade between them.

"I suppose I will leave you then, Praetor Baralai. Good to see you again," Malokness' voice oozed with honey. She bowed ever graciously and with a cold look in Mako's direction, swept off with her guards. Through out the entire exchange, she had not even glanced in Gippal's direction at all. It was not a rumor that the Lockheart Coalition despised the Al Bhed; it was a fact.

"Pedlr," Gippal grumbled. [Bitch]

The three of them watched her stroll down the crowded carpet of Yuna's wedding and make her way through the throng of guests. Baralai's pensive face made Gippal frown. The young praetor was unnerved by the encounter.

"You know," he heard Mako murmur to her brother, "we wouldn't have this problem if only you'd let me--"

"NO, Mako," Baralai said in the sternest voice Gippal had ever heard him use and turned away.

Mako submitted with a nod but still muttered, "I fail to see the loss it would be to Spira..."

Gippal couldn't agree more. Every encounter he'd had with Malokness had been less than pleasant. Shrugging the little confrontation off, he pushed it to the back of his mind and focused on enjoying the rest of his stay in Luca. He didn't want to have his mini-vacation ruined by politics and people like Malokness and her damned Lockheart Coalition.

Too bad this wouldn't be the last time Malokness popped up to make his life turn to hell.

A/N: On a side note, if any familiar words or names come up from other Final Fantasy games, it's on purpose (Like Mako, from FF7). I'm trying to keep to Square Enix's tradition of reusing names in creative ways. Thanks! R/R!