A/N: Thanks for the first reviews, everyone. I will refrain from answering some of your questions since they will all be answered in the story. It's difficult to set up everyone's personalities in just the first chapter, so if you think Rikku seems emotionless or something else, don't be worried just yet. I plan to put more emphasis on character development in this story.
Sorry that it took so long to get this chapter released!
Chapter 2: Spira Fantasy
Despite her apparent removed attitude the night before, Rikku felt awful. No, scratch that. She felt lost, confused, pressured, and frankly, going to class right now was the last thing she wanted to do.
She lay in bed dressed in pajama shorts and a shirt, an arm covering her closed eyes. It was 6 AM and engineering class started in two hours. She hadn't gotten a wink of sleep during the night either and had awakened before her alarm clock had even went off.
She paused, turning on her side as she gazed out the window, seeing the first signs of dawn.
What would happen if I ran away from here?
Her mind went over the list of things that would possibly happen if she opted for that route. Cid would eventually track her down. He'd yell at her until midnight of the following day after her capture, and would forever be disappointed in her.
Thoughts of Cid caused her to frown, her fists grasping the sheets beneath her with enough force to make her knuckles white. How dare he make a decision like this! The anger that she had been biting back before returned full force, and it made her feel even more terrible.
"No way am I doing it," she said angrily, throwing the sheets off.
Thirty minutes later, she emerged from her bedroom dressed in her school uniform and ready to go. It was strange style was becoming more and more popular again. The schools thought it was a great way to earn some extra money since it required students to purchase uniforms from them alone.
She glanced at Cid's closed bedroom door with scorn and headed quickly down the stairs and towards the kitchen. Grabbing a bagel from the container, she headed back into the foyer as she slid on her shoes, throwing open the door.
"Whoa, uh…morning…"
A very surprised Gippal looked down at her as she held the bagel in one hand, a chunk of it taken out and currently being chewed in her mouth. He had one hand raised prepared to knock on the door before she had flung it open instead.
Stepping past him, she pulled the door shut behind her. "What are you doing here?" she asked in a low whisper.
He shrugged. "Cid wanted me to start the job today."
"Right..." For some reason, his announcement made her feel even more rotten. She narrowed her eyes at him, shaking her head. "Wait a sec, I haven't even accepted this stupid marriage yet!"
Gippal shook his own head. "Listen, it doesn't matter. From this point on, people are out to get ya. You're not entirely free from people knowing who you are…unlike me."
She stared at him as if he had suddenly grown another head. "Like who? Who's out to get me?" Her voice sounded tiny even if her face was neutral.
He began walking down the path towards the campus with Rikku trailing behind him. She glanced at Gippal shortly and the expression on his face seemed like he was fighting against saying something. He kept looking from side to side with his one good eye.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"I'm not sure who might be out there, but my job is to protect you," he announced suddenly, ignoring her last question.
Rikku didn't say anything more after that. There were a lot of strange things about this entire situation. Along with the complete absence of any other choice but to marry the Yuveras' son, there was also the issue of Gippal.
Cid had mentioned that he was protecting her free of charge. Rikku wasn't stupid. There was obviously something else going on that she wasn't aware of.
She stopped walking, catching his attention.
"What's wrong? Why'd you stop...?"
She studied his expression for a moment. "I won't believe for a second that you're doing this job without getting paid," she informed him, crossing her arms tightly across her chest.
His mouth curved into a half-smile as he leaned most of his weight on one leg. "Then what do you believe, Rikku?" He let her name roll off his tongue carefully.
"What! No, don't turn this question around on me, Gippal!" she exclaimed, frustration getting the best of her. All that pent up anger from earlier this morning had reared its ugly head once again.
He was a little surprised at her outburst, noting the way her skirt had flown up slightly to show more of the tanned skin of her leg. One of his eyebrows arched and he fought to keep one side of his mouth from curving upwards. If he was going to be spending time with the spunky girl from this moment on, he figured that getting to know Rikku's spontaneous moods would help amuse him a bit…if he knew which buttons to press.
"So…I guess we're going to be seeing a lot of each other from here on out, huh?" Gippal spoke up, turning the subject around for the second time that morning.
Rikku shook her head. "No, we're not." He paused to glance down at her. "No," she repeated again. "My dad has no right to make a decision this big! I mean, marriage! What on Spira was that old man thinking!"
There it was again. The outburst of anger. He decided to try something different. Letting out a short sigh, he looked over at her.
"Alright, I'm going to put myself in your place for a minute." She paused at the statement.
He began walking idly up and down the path, Rikku's green eyes following his form. "If I were you, I'd be nothing short of pissed if I found out my dad arranged a marriage for me. I mean, damn. To think that all that pressure would be on me to say yes? And if I didn't agree? Who knows how the dad would react. I'd be disappointing him, there's no doubt 'bout that. Kicked out of the house even."
She didn't say anything, her mind silently nodding at everything he was saying. Well, except the part about her dad telling her to get out of the house. The thought had crossed her mind quickly when she couldn't sleep last night, but had passed quickly. Would she get kicked out of the family? What exactly would happen to her if she didn't agree?
Gippal rested a hand on her shoulder, bringing her attention back to him. "You okay?" he asked.
Rikku nodded slowly. "Yeah..."
"So…what do you plan on doing?" he asked again after some time.
What did she plan on doing? Hell, now was not the best time to ask that. When she didn't say anything, Gippal simply nodded.
He looked down at this watch. "We better get going."
She nodded, finally arriving at the decision that she would tell Cid exactly what was on her mind that night.
Kai looked up as the classroom door slid open and the petite blond entered. He excused himself from the conversation he was in the middle of and began to weave between desks in her direction. His step seemed to lose its bounce when he spotted a young man following close behind her.
"Gippal, I think you don't have to hang around anymore," Rikku whispered uncertainly as she looked up at him. She didn't want to sound rude, but it still did no matter how she said it.
"Huh? Why?" He paused, not bothered by her statement. "Wait, don't tell me that you really aren't getting married—"
"Well what did you expect me to do! You didn't actually think that I was going to agree to the marria—"
"Morning, Rikku," Kai spoke up, glancing at Gippal momentarily. They both paused, looking up.
Gippal nodded feebly as Kai stopped beside them. He regarded Kai with his good eye for a few moments. "I'm not interrupting anything important, am I?" Kai asked Rikku with a short laugh.
She shook her head. "No, nothing important." Her eyes landed on Gippal for a moment. He met her gaze fully, as if silently telling her that he wasn't about to leave her alone.
"So uh, do you two know each other?" Kai asked, obviously referring to Rikku's relationship with the other Al Bhed.
"You could say that," Gippal replied quickly in her place, causing the female Al Bhed beside him to close her mouth. She had been ready to reply before he had spoken up instead.
"Weren't you the student who transferred here last week?" Kai continued on.
"That's right. I guess you could say that I'm the new kid around here," Gippal answered, one hand gesturing in the air. Rikku recognized the way his attitude had taken up its usual cocky air. He was partly joking, but at the same time, seemed to challenge Kai to speak up.
Kai looked intrigued. His attention turned to Rikku again for the first time in a while. "It seems like you two already know each other from somewhere else."
"Uh, ahaha…well, um, we actually do know each other from a while back…" Rikku agreed slowly. She tugged on a braid absent-mindedly, offering a small grin to the men. Gippal felt a corner of his mouth moving upward at the way Rikku had remembered their history together. She wasn't looking at him though.
"Really." Kai seemed even more interested in the conversation now, and Gippal couldn't help but wonder why exactly this guy still hadn't left. He was obviously attracted to Rikku, but anyone could have spotted that from a mile away. It didn't take Gippal long to realize that. He'd done the same with girls when he was younger. Just the way Kai had spoken to her, and the way he looked at Rikku was a dead giveaway.
Gippal watched as the two of them exchanged small talk for a little while as if he weren't there. He remembered what she had told him yesterday about Kai after class when he had walked her home.
"I guess I sorta think he's cute too…"
A part of him wondered if Kai was the reason why Rikku was so against the marriage. Perhaps she was also attracted to him. But obviously, she was the type of girl who wanted to do things her way at all times, so Kai wasn't the only reason she wanted to stay single for now. It was like that for a lot of people their age these days though. Making your own decisions and building your own life the way you wanted.
No, her unwillingness stemmed from much more than that. Something that he couldn't quite put a finger on yet.
He shook his head, realizing that his thoughts had drastically shifted directions. His job was to watch Rikku. Nothing more.
Clearing his throat, he brought their attention back to him. "Kai, if you'll excuse us for a bit." Gippal didn't say anything more, but began heading towards the door. She looked at him in confusion before his eyes had caught hers as he had turned around.
Man, what does he want this time?
"I'll be right back, Kai…" she smiled apologetically. Standing up, Rikku followed Gippal out into the hallway.
"What happened?" she asked, the moment he had slid the door shut.
He looked away from her shortly. "I asked you about Kai yesterday. You know, if he kept following you. Well, I think I know the answer now that I've seen you two."
Rikku laughed suddenly, much to his surprise.
"W-What's so funny?" Gippal asked, genuinely swamped with confusion. She was laughing at him?
"You're such a dork, Gippal. I mean, he obviously follows me around because he wants something from me," she stated, crossing her arms.
He had his mouth open, but shut it, scratching the back of his head. "Well, that's obvious, don't ya think?"
It was her turn to frown. "What?"
Gippal smiled sideways, trying to choose the right words. "Rikku, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but in case you don't know, someone like you would attract a guy like Kai. It's plain and simple."
She nodded. "Yeah, Gippal, I know that all he wants from me are test answers. It's pretty obvious."
He paused, realizing that they had been talking about two completely different things. Holding up his hands in defeat, he turned away slightly to hide his smile.
"…No, I actually didn't mean that…"
"Huh? Then what did you mean?" Rikku asked, raising an eyebrow.
Letting out a long sigh, he shook his head in amusement, raising a hand to pat her head.
"Nevermind, Cid's Girl. Nevermind…"
Rikku stood outside her house, knowing that Cid had already been home for hours. She took a deep breath and nodded once, telling herself that if she didn't do this now, there wouldn't be a better opportunity.
School had flown by quickly that day. Much faster than she was ready for. Just like yesterday, Gippal had walked her home. Neither of them had talked about the marriage, but she was grateful for it. He waved goodbye to her as she stopped in front of her house, and here she was now.
Gripping her bag tighter, she took long strides up the stairs to the porch, letting one hand hover over the doorknob. She noticed that her heart was beating faster and her breathing had increased. Steadying herself one last time, she opened the door and stepped into the house.
"I'm back!" she called out.
"Rikku, would you come here for a bit?" came Cid's reply from the study. She paused. There was tension apparent in his voice as he used her first name again.
Setting her bag down in the chair near the front door, she took off her shoes and made her way down the hall, her mind going over all the things he could have possibly wanted to speak with her about. Naturally, the only logical topic was for Cid to ask her about her decision to marry.
She opened the door and stepped inside the office.
"What's up, Pops." She wasn't smiling, and her voice had lost its youthful cheer. Cid noticed this in her almost immediately. He couldn't begin to imagine the amount of pressure he had placed on his daughter, and he could see it on her face and hear it in her voice.
"Rikku."
There it was again. That odd foreboding that his voice carried whenever he used her name.
"I received a call from the Yuveras this morning," Cid continued. He looked up in time to see the glint of interest that passed over Rikku's face. "To make things short, they want to meet us for dinner tomorrow night."
"Wait, but I haven't given an answer yet…" she paused as her father spoke up again.
"Yeah, but they'd like to talk about other things with me, so along with you getting a chance to finally meet their son, I have some business to take care of," Cid explained, resting his elbows on the desk.
Rikku chewed over this information for a moment. She had lost some of her gusto from earlier about telling Cid that she wasn't going through with this marriage.
"Am I really needed to make New Home possible?" she decided to ask instead. Cid didn't seem surprised nor angered by her question. A heavy silence passed over them for a long time.
She waited before he spoke up.
"Listen, I…" her father began. He took a deep breath. "The only reason this whole marriage thing came up was because I wanted you to marry into their family. That at least would help us out financially…"
She froze.
"What…? Are you saying that you could have easily just sold the plans to the Yuveras without me getting involved!" Rikku exclaimed. She took a few steps towards Cid's desk.
He looked away. "You're damn right I could have just sold these plans for Home to them. But think about it." His eyes turned to her, as if pleading. "If you married into their family, that'd be a good life for you. You wouldn't have to worry about—"
"Is that the only thing you're thinking about! Money? What in Spira is wrong with you?" Her question caused Cid to stop.
"I want you to really think about your future. If you want a stable one where you can live comfortably, the Yuveras can give you that."
She shook her head at that. "No, Pops. I want you to listen to me for a second." That seemed to catch his attention, and she felt stronger. "There's nothing I can't do on my own. Who said I wanted to have everything fall magically into place for me? I want to do things on my own. Not have someone give it all to me."
Her explanation came out a little differently than she wanted to, but it said everything that was on her mind. She always knew that her father was old-fashioned, wanting her to settle down early. That's the kind of life her mother had lived with her husband before passing away. Cid had given her everything.
Rikku never dreamed that her father would be willing to convince her to abandon independence completely to marry some rich guy.
"I guess it never even crossed your mind that I didn't even know this Yuvera guy either," Rikku added.
Cid remained silent for a long time after that. He opened a folder in front of him, and looked through some of the papers there. They were the blueprints for the original Home. After it seemed like he was finished with her, Rikku headed towards the door, pausing a bit.
"…What time is the dinner, anyway?" she asked.
Her father looked up. "Huh? What, you're going?" He seemed very surprised.
She crossed her arms and realized it was the best thing to do.
Maybe I can find out more about what's going on here.
"Yeah, I'm going. But I'm not changing my mind, y'know! I'll only show up to see what this family is like and so that you can talk about how you're going to sell your plans."
The way his daughter said it made Cid close his mouth and stop whatever it was he was about to say. He glanced up as she opened the door to leave.
"Rikku."
She paused, not turning around.
"7 o'clock tomorrow night."
End of Chapter 2
It's time to introduce the Yuvera's son in the next chapter! But who exactly is he?
