A/N: Thanks as always to my awesome readers. You make my little world go round. : )

Jezzi: Thank you. I'm glad you like it.

Lttlwings: No worries. Plenty of GippalRikku fluff up ahead and more.

Tanya Takaishi: Oh wow. Thanks so much for that awsome review! That totally made my day. I'm happy you struck around. Trust me, I have a few more twists and turns up my sleeve that will hopefully keep you entertained.

Zaima: What else is there in life besides GippalRikku??? Hee hee. I'll try my best to not make the wait too long next time.

kingleby: Haha. The Nooj and Leblanc scene just popped into my head as I was writing so I decided to incorporate it into the chapter. Glad you liked it. : )

On another note if anyone is interested, this is how you pronounce some of the names that will appear in this chapter:

Eido: Ay (as in 'Jay' without the 'J') doh (pronounced like 'dough')

Lerii: Lair ee (kind of like 'Larry' with a longer 'ee' sound at the end)

Chapter Eight

As soon as she escaped the reception, Rikku made her way to her hotel room. She shimmied out of the pretty gown and ran her hand through the curls in her hair in a vain attempt to straighten the strands before they did so naturally. Why she'd agreed to get the perm in the first place was beyond her. She took a hanger out of the closet to hang the dress up so when she returned it to Lulu it wouldn't be ruined. Then Rikku started hunting around the room for her things so she could check out and be on her way. All the while, she found herself humming the last song that the Macalania (technically Guadosalam now) musicians had played.

She smiled to herself as she quietly reflected on Tidus and Yuna's union. The wedding had been nothing short than perfect. She was happy to see her cousin smiling for the first time in a long time like she really meant it.

And Gippal...that had been the best part, Rikku admitted to herself. While she'd known in advance that he'd be at the wedding and that they'd probably run into each other at one time or another, Rikku had been surprised when she felt her heart do a funny flip-flop at the sight of his easy-going grin. It wasn't totally unexpected, as she'd always had a crush on the brilliant, charismatic Gippal like most of the other girls. It didn't hurt that he was undeniably hot. Still, she'd thought that she would have gotten over her silly infatuation with him by now.

Sighing, Rikku decided not to dwell on the matter further. He still thinks I'm just a kid, the jerk. Ah well. No use worrying about it.

The thought didn't come without a pang of regret, though. The memory of being so close to him as they waltzed, of feeling his strong arms wrapped around her as the spicy scent of aftershave and faint traces of machina oil so uniquely Gippal filled her nose, was one she would not soon forget. Rikku shook her head to dispel the image of his cocky smile and pushed open the heavy glass doors of the hotel.

A good number of the wedding guests were still lingering in Luca so the main walkway was still crowded. Rikku eased her way through and headed towards the dock where she knew the Celsius was. She was on her way to retrieve the mysterious sphere from the Gullwings' newest addition and Shinra's replacement, Eido. A little before the wedding, she had dropped the sphere off to him, receiving an eager promise to do what he could with it in return.

Now as she walked past throngs of people either commenting to each other about the wedding they'd just attended, talking about the upcoming Blitzball season, playing Sphere Break, her thoughts drifted back to the journey she was looking forward to continuing. The question now was where to go next. Rikku mentally went down the list of places she'd compiled in her head. She was so busy mulling over the matter that she didn't hear her name being called until the speaker quite suddenly was standing right beside her.

Rikku jumped back. "Ah! What—"She let out a deep breath to calm her startled heart. Then she looked into the amused pale green eyes regarding her. "Scare a girl half to death, will you? Geez!"

A shy smile melting into dimples across the tanned face met her, "Sorry. I called your name a few times but you...well...ignored me and kept walking."

Rikku shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry. I was thinking about something." She perked up and gave him a bright smile. "You know, the funny thing is I was actually on my way to see you."

He laughed. "Small world. Here I was wandering around Luca looking for you."

She playfully punched him in the arm. The tall, fair-haired Al Bhed before her was the aforementioned addition to the Gullwings: Eido. He had joined a few months after Shinra left following the Vegnagun fiasco. It was only after Shinra's departure that the Gullwings realized how much they'd relied on the boy's incredible intellect, as all sorts of things just went wrong. Without Shinra it had taken them a lot longer to repair things around the Celsius. Plus, they were without his crazy, yet useful inventions so life wasn't as easy to get by with. A few times, Rikku knew that Buddy and Brother had almost flown straight to Shinra's parents' house on the outskirts of Sanubia Desert to beg for Shinra to rejoin.

Luckily, Buddy ran into Eido at a Blitzball game before the Gullwings hit that point of desperation. He'd proven to be a great asset too. While he wasn't as inventive as Shinra, Eido had made his mark with his unmatched expertise in Sphere technology. Privately, Rikku thought that he even surpassed Shinra in this field. Where as Shinra could mold a sphere into something incredible like a CommSphere (which he was using to rake in the gil nowadays) or a projective movie dome screen like he'd done two years ago in the Thunder Plains for Yuna's concert, Eido could create a sphere from scratch. And unlike Shinra, the shy, sweet teenager didn't brag on and on about his ingenuity.

"Ooh, you finished with the sphere, didn't you?" Rikku asked excitedly.

Eido nodded. "Sure did. I thought you'd want to be the first to watch it so I went out to find you."

"Great! Lead the way!" she cheered.

To her surprise, Eido turned and walked in the opposite direction instead of towards the port where the Celsius was waiting. She quickened her pace to keep up with him. "Hey Eido, where are we going? The Celsius is back that way."

"I know. But the sphere is back at my workshop," He replied.

She blinked as she fell into step beside him. "Your workshop?"

Eido nodded. "Yeah. I was working on it in the Celsius and I got a little claustrophobic and we were in town so..."

As the son of the legendary captain of the Al Bhed Psyches, it wasn't unusual for a fifteen-year-old to own his own workshop. Rikku had only been to Eido's workshop twice ever since she'd met him. Apparently a child prodigy like Eido needed a lot of space to work because the workshop was sizable and jam packed with all sorts of gadgets and gizmos that would bring any machina loving being to their knees. Well, that was how Rikku had felt the first time she'd stepped foot into Eido's workshop.

They slipped through the other people clustered about in Luca towards an offset of the main walkway. Eido led her down a set of stairs that laid half hidden by the railing. It spiraled downward into a shallow alcove. There, Rikku saw the cheerful bright red double doors that awaited them.

"You know, I think that sphere was the oldest one that I've ever seen," Eido said as they strode purposefully into through the doors. "From my analysis, it's about a little over a thousand years old."

She blinked. "How can you be sure? I mean, for all we know it could be a new sphere that some joker decided to rough up and use it to play a prank on some poor, unsuspecting Sphere Hunter."

"It could..." Eido said loftily as he walked right up to a large rectangular table where several spheres were placed, "but it's not likely. I checked, honestly. This is legit from what I've seen."

Rikku felt a surge of excitement. "So you're saying that we could actually have a sphere from Spira's past? It's true past?"

He nodded. "Well, at least some time around or before the Machina War anyway. I can't pinpoint exactly how old it is and the contents doesn't really tell us anything but I'm certain that it's at least a thousand years old."

The teenager walked over to the table and carefully began sorting through the spheres to find the one they were discussing. As he did, Rikku glanced around her to the cluttered, boyish mess that surrounded them on all sides. She smiled and picked up a journal with neatly scrawled words filling the page that lay open on a pile of other books.

"'Your hair is as fair as the sun, your eyes as blue as the sea. My heart beats upon seeing your face and all I want is for it to turn to me.'" She read and then threw a curious glance at Eido. "I didn't know you were into poetry, Eido."

"Hey! Rikku! Give me that!" He momentarily abandoned his search for the sphere. She wasn't surprised to see his face flush and his cheeks turn a deep pink as he scrambled around the table to snatch the journal away from her. Amused, Rikku evaded him and held the journal from his grasp as he futilely reached for it.

"Ohhhh...I see," Rikku teased playfully and ducked, darting around him under his arm, "Did my sweet little Eido finally meet someone?"

By now his face was beat red. He pouted at her as she continued to easily slip away from him, all the while keeping the journal safely out of his range. "Riii-kuuu!"

Laughing, Rikku stopped and flipped through a few more pages. Then she raised an eyebrow at him after seeing that most of the journal was filled with poems, suspiciously all about love or a girl. "Well?"

"Okay! Okay! I...she..." Eido fumbled to explain, biting his lip as he snatched the journal from Rikku. "Her name's Arala. I met her in Kilika. She's, um, kind of a romantic so I, well, that is to say..."

She took pity on him and gave him a reassuring pat on the back, though she couldn't help but to laugh at the expression on his face. "It's okay, kiddo. It's okay! Say no more. I know—"

"OH THANK GOODNESS!"

They both whirled at the sudden exclamation. At the doorway stood a young woman with a mop of pale straw-colored braids, decorated with various beads that clanked together when she moved her head. Her skin was a light, sun-kissed ebony and her eyes were a luminescent brown that usually shined with intelligence and fire. But today, her expression was not that of a placid serenity commonly associated with her. It was one of anxiety mixed with relief as she gazed wildly between the two of them. She was the Gullwing's other addition, also coincidentally Buddy's girlfriend.

"Lerii, what—"Before Rikku could finish the young woman was across the room, throwing her arms around the two of them to pull them into a hug.

"I'm SO glad you two are okay! When I got back to the Celsius, I thought the worst..." She trailed off and released them.

Rikku exchanged confused glances with Eido. Then she gave Lerii a wary look. "What are you talking about? The Celsius? What happened?"

Lerii blinked and quickly flicked her gaze between the two of them. "You mean...you didn't hear?"

"Hear what?" Eido demanded.

"There was a series of break-ins while Lady Yuna's wedding was going on. Several of the airships were broken into and a few people were hurt, one killed from what I heard. Luca Security is saying publicly that they think the culprits were robbers," Lerii explained in a rush.

Rikku frowned suspiciously at her words. "Publicly?"

Lerii nodded and spoke in a lowered voice, as if divulging a secret to them. "It might have been an attempt on one of the faction leaders' lives. Mako is looking into it."

"Oh wow," Eido said, eyes wide. "Did anyone get hurt on the Celsius? I know Brother said he was going to do a diagnostic before we left..."

"Yeah. He was the one that caught them as they were raiding the Celsius. He put up a fight. One got him really good in the head though."

Rikku was outraged. "THEY DID WHAT? Is he okay?"

She was already heading for the door. Behind her Lerii and Eido jogged to keep up and the other woman went on with her answer. "Oh, he's fine, Rikku! Just shaken up! Buddy's talking to Luca Security now."

The three of them hurried past the people that were flocking in the same direction. News of the break-ins had obviously spread. Rikku impatiently shoved her way through the curious onlookers that were being held off of the docking port by a few members of Luca Security. Past them, Rikku could see the line of airships being combed by Security, the olive green uniformed men and women walking in and out of the ships, talking to crew members and investigating the site around each airship.

"Hey! Please step back, Ma'am. I can't let you through," one of the Security officers said to Rikku when she finally managed to break from the crowd of onlookers.

"We're with the Celsius," Lerii told him before Rikku could react. Seeing her seemed to satisfy the officer and he stepped aside to allow them entry.

Rikku peered around anxiously for Brother and Buddy. The Celsius was the object of intense scrutiny. Not only were the Luca Security officers clustered around it. There were others in dark crimson and silver uniforms also present, swept up in the flurry activity that swirled so densely around the Celsius in particular. She recognized them. The Bevelle Royal Guard.

Then that woman with the white hair must be the Mako Paine told me about. Rikku thought when she spotted the tall, proud figure in the center of the activity effectively directing the investigation in a commanding voice. She looked at Lerii. "How did they get here so fast?"

Lerii shrugged. "I have no idea. All I know is that when Buddy and I returned to the ship, Mako and Luca Security were dragging some guy out and suddenly they just appeared." She pressed her lips into a thin line. "I'll bet Mako had them follow us. She doesn't trust the Al Bhed, you know. Especially not with her precious Praetor Baralai onboard and all the 'potential dangers' as she put it earlier."

She might be justified in the claim. I wonder what happened...? Where's Brother? Rikku continued to scan the scene for her brother.

As if reading her thoughts, Eido suddenly spoke up. "Hey, there he is! Over there with the healers."

Indeed, it was Brother. He was sitting slumped against a Medi-Hover holding what appeared to be a bag of ice to his head while a healer busily wrapped his other hand with some white gauze. A worried looking Cid hovered over them, his stubborn jaw taut with concern. Rikku hurried to join her father and brother.

"Brother! Yna oui ugyo!?" She demanded. ((Are you okay!?))

Brother winced and half mumbled, half whined, "Hud cu muit, Rikku!" ((Not so loud, Rikku!))

"Cunno. Fryd rybbahat?" ((Sorry. What happened?))

"What happened? I'll tell you what happened!" Cid broke in. "Them no good thieves around these parts broke in and tried to steal, that's what! I told this knucklehead to get a better security system put on the Celsius but does he listen to me? Nooooo! Now look at him! More beat up then a Blitzball in a season closing!"

"You're horrible! I'm wounded and you can't even stop complaining!" Brother barked accusingly.

"It's true, boy, and you know it! If you'd listened to me, this would have never happened!" Cid shot back.

"You don't know nothin', old timer!"

The two of them went back and forth. Rikku sighed and waited for them to finish. She knew it was their way of normalizing the situation. She could tell that Cid was worried and trying not to show weakness by expressing it. Brother knew this too but his need for lavish attention and manly pride did not allow him to accept Cid's gruff approach.

"There's Buddy and Mako. Let's go see if everything is okay," Lerii suggested when it was clear that Cid and Brother wouldn't be finished for a while. Rikku and Eido followed her to where the Gullwings' navigator and co-pilot was standing beside the white-haired woman.

"Buddy!" Lerii called to her boyfriend. "I found them. Any news?"

Buddy shook his head. "Not yet. It doesn't look like sabotage but they're checking the entire ship to be sure."

"Is anything missing? They're saying robbers, right?" Rikku asked.

"We're speculating," Mako said coolly as she regarded Rikku with a measured, distrustful look. Rikku met her gaze and was surprised to see the family resemblance this woman had to Baralai, in exception to the fact that while Baralai's eyes were warm, these brownish-gold eyes were unreadable. Cold. They flicked from her face to Lerii. "Didn't I say NO ONE outside of the crew was to enter the scene?"

"She's apart of the Gullwings," Buddy said in defense of his girlfriend, who seemed intimidated by Mako's frosty look. "Rikku is Brother's sister and one of the founding members. She has a right to be here as anyone."

Mako narrowed her eyes at him, and then glanced back at Rikku again before simply replying, "Fine."

Geez. What is her deal? Rikku thought.

Eido broke the tension with a tentative question, "May I check my work area to see if anything is missing? It could lead to a clue as to why the airships were broken into."

Mako nodded. "Go ahead. Just don't get in their way. They're still checking for bombs and tampering."

"I won't," Eido promised and started for the Celsius' ramp.

"How many ships were broken in to?" Rikku asked. She turned her head to look at the line of the other airships.

"Seven including ours," Buddy answered.

"Did many people get hurt? I heard someone got killed."

He nodded a grim confirmation. "Yeah. The third airship. It was a mechanic. Whoever it was must've snuck in while he was busy and just snapped his neck from behind. Luca Security found his body right after we caught the guy on the Cel-"

Rikku cut him off with a startled question, "What? You caught one of them? Where is he?"

"In custody," Mako bluntly slipped in, making Rikku turn to look into the expressionless amber eyes again. "The matter is being handled. You need not concern yourself."

Rikku's eyes narrowed as she held the other woman's gaze unflinchingly. She wasn't stupid. She could read between the lines. What she means is 'It's none of your business.'

She could almost hear the sneered Al Bhed being added to the thought. Well, two could play at that game.

"I'm not sure about that," Rikku coolly replied. "After all, this involved the Celsius, my brother's ship. So it IS my concern. I hate the thought of putting you through all of this trouble when I'm sure you're eager to get back to Bevelle."

This isn't any YOUR business, lady. This is our ship.

The slight smile Mako gave her was tight and forced, her eyes like the narrowed slits of a Queen Coerl's. "Your concern is appreciated but I would feel much better knowing that this was only a...shall we say, false alarm? Everything is under control."

I don't care. I don't trust any of you. This could have been an assassination attempt.

"No, I insist. Maybe I could be of some help, you know?" Rikku answered trying not to glare at this woman. Who the hell did she think she was suspecting the Al Bhed of trying to kill Baralai?

I don't give a damn. I'm staying, like it or not.

Mako nodded stiffly, clearly displeased, "All right then. If you'll excuse me, I need to oversee the Luca Security's investigation of the other airships. A pleasure to meet you."

I'll be watching you.

"Nice to meet you too."

Likewise, lady.

With that, Mako glanced quickly at Buddy and then swept off like a gust of wind, her wine red and black cape billowing dramatically in the breeze after her. Rikku watched her retreating form and felt her thoughts whirl at the first encounter she'd just had with the calculating, strangely hostile woman who was adamant on keeping the secrecy of her investigation. More secrets. It seemed Bevelle had not changed their ways much after all.

"Uh...you okay there, Rikku?" Lerii asked hesitantly.

Rikku snapped out of her reverie and turned, putting a smile onto her face. "Huh? Oh, I'm fine! It's just...that woman is just...geez!"

Buddy smiled. "Yeah, we know. Believe me, we know. But that's the commander of the Bevelle Royal Guard and she's in charge of keeping the Praetor safe. Plus, she saved Brother's life, believe it or not."

This surprised Rikku. "What?"

"Yup, it's the truth," Lerii piped up. "Buddy and I were just getting back when we saw some strange men running out from the Celsius. By the time we realized something was wrong and got inside, we found Brother unconscious on the bridge and Mako duking it out with one of the goons that broke in. She was actually protecting him. That's how they caught that guy."

"Hmm..." Rikku simply answered in a noncommittal tone. Then she looked at Buddy. "Speaking of the Praetor, where is he? Nooj? And...Gippal?"

Buddy said, "They're fine. When we found out about the break-ins, Mako had them sent away from the Celsius. You see all those guys in red?"

"Bevelle Royal Guard?"

"Yeah. She had them shadowing us here. Can you believe it? She said that it was a 'precautionary tactic to ensure the safety of three of the most influential leaders on Spira'." Buddy rolled his eyes. "That's why they're being so thorough in checking for evidence of an assassination attempt."

"In other words, to keep an eye on us untrustworthy Al Bhed," Lerii frowned. "The Bevelle Royal Guard is escorting the leaders home. They didn't want to take any risks so they took the airship they used to follow us. Paine went with them. In a way, I guess it's a good thing she had them follow us. Luca Security is kind of at a loss as to what to do since they've never dealt with this kind of thing before."

Rikku took a moment to absorb all of this. She ignored the wave of relief she felt when she heard that Gippal (and the other two leaders of course) was safe. Then, she ruefully said, "And here I was thinking we'd actually have a nice, peaceful day for Yunie's wedding."

"Nice?"

"Peaceful?"

Buddy and Lerii feigned puzzled looks and asked in unison, "What's that?"

Rikku giggled and the tension of the situation seemed to deflate just enough for things to feel relatively normal again. They were interrupted a few moments later when Eido rejoined them. He looked a little upset and confused.

"Hey Eido," Rikku asked gently. "Is everything okay?"

He gave her an odd look. "To tell the truth, I'm not sure."

"What do you mean?"

"Okay, I did a quick check of the ship while I was in there. Nothing seems to be missing. Then I got to my station and it was completely trashed. They went through everything, even a box of old tools I had under the seat. But there wasn't anything missing. Not even the stash of gil I had sitting on the console as plain as day."

The three older Al Bhed stared at him. Buddy ventured, "That doesn't sound like any robbers I know of."

"There's more. You know that sphere data we had saved on the computer from all of the spheres the Gullwings found? Someone broke through my safety protocols and copied them. I found the console on when I got to the bridge so I checked to make sure. How do you like that?" Eido gave them each a mystified expression.

"That's weird. What do you think they were after?" Rikku wondered aloud.

The younger teenager shrugged. "Who knows? But I can't help but to think...I was in there working on that Sphere of yours earlier, Rikku. If I hadn't decided to move my work to my workshop..." He shuddered a little.

Buddy patted him comfortingly on the shoulder. "It's a good thing you did then, man. Brother was just at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Eido glanced at him. "Is Brother okay?"

"Yeah. Don't worry about that knucklehead. He's got a head harder than a rock. He's going to be just fine. He's over there if you want to talk to him. I'm going to go check out the Celsius for myself. Gotta' make sure my baby's okay."

"I think I will," Eido said and walked away towards where Brother and Cid were still sitting. For some strange reason, Eido looked up to Brother. It was something Rikku didn't understand to this day. However, her brother seemed to appreciate the admiration and treated Eido like his own little brother.

"You coming, Rikku?" Lerii asked as she and Buddy made their way to the Celsius.

"Hmm? Oh! Yeah, right behind you," Rikku jogged after them.

They made their way past uniformed Luca Security officers and Bevelle Royal Guards busily checking every nook and cranny of the Celsius. The only reason the three of them were being allowed onto the ship was because an initial scan had already been done on the Celsius by a device that would track explosives and no evidence of a bomb or a booby trap had been found. It seemed Mako liked to be thorough, as her men were still searching.

They took the elevator to the Bridge. Buddy immediately dashed for his station. Lerii went to the pilot's seat and plopped down into it, quickly going to work on checking the controls and assessing any sort of damage report. Rikku hung back for a moment. She had her hands unconsciously planted on her hips while she surveyed the room from the tiny balcony between the two staircases leading into the actual Bridge.

Eido hadn't been kidding when he'd said his station had been ransacked. Drawers were haphazardly pulled open, their contents obviously disturbed and sticking out wildly. Boxes full of tools and gadgets Eido usually kept meticulously organized beside his console were strewn out and spread around, all open with their contents on display or lying scattered randomly nearby. The screen of the computer console was alight with low humming sound.

Man. They really let loose in here. What the heck were they looking for? Rikku absently wandered through the area, careful not to step on anything that had been displaced from the boxes. Her eyes scanned the console area for any evidence of the unusual event, as it seemed to be the only place on the Bridge that had been searched.

Hmm...it's like Eido said. Nothing looks missing. She even saw the small pile of gil he'd mentioned sitting beside the keyboard. What kind of thief would leave that behind? Or some of the expensive parts Eido had stored in the boxes for that matter? From personal experience, she knew a thief would not miss these things. Which meant...

It wasn't a thief. Someone was here looking for something. Now the question is what...hey now... Rikku kneeled down beside the console when something caught her eye. In the small space under it, a strange silverish mechanism was almost hidden from plain sight. "What's this?"

She reached into the narrow space and grabbed the object, then held it between both hands to inspect it. It didn't look like a spectacular piece of machina but Rikku had not seen something like it before. It resembled a flat silver mechanical pad with a domed screen on it. On the top of the pad in the center was an outstretched rod with a small glowing sphere that seemed to pulsate rhythmically as the light in the sphere flared constantly. Under the domed screen were three unlabeled buttons all set apart in equal distances.

Rikku stared at the device. She had no idea what it was but she was certain that the Gullwings didn't use anything like this. So, she walked over to one of the Bevelle Guards that was carefully scanning the walls of the Bridge with an explosive tracker.

"Hey, does this thing belong to one of your guys?" Rikku asked.

He turned to see what it was she was talking about. When he saw the device in her hands, he frowned and shook his head. "Nope. We don't use anything like that."

Rikku's instincts started to tell her to be careful, "Well, it doesn't belong to us..." She showed it to Buddy and Lerii and they confirmed her suspicions with shakes of their heads. Wary now, Rikku was about to suggest the Guard check the device when something happened.

Suddenly the small sphere on the rod began to glow with a blinding light that emanated from the constant glow within it. It flared brightly and seemed to stem out further and further like an explosion of luminance. Rikku nearly dropped the object when a shrill, sharp beeping sound came howling out of the built in speakers. Then the light of the sphere seemed to reabsorb into the rod and trickle down into the dome screen, making it come to life with a bright flash.

"What in the..." Rikku peered down into the dome screen, her mind working furiously to grasp what was so clearly being shown to her. She looked up to meet the equally astonished faces of Buddy, Lerii, and the Guard and blurted out the only words that came to mind. "It's Spira!"