(Exty, thank you for agreeing with me. But I don't know what it's going to be like…. I'm all for any kind of pairing here! Just stick to species!)
Gippal practically forced the gullwings to let him on to the ship. He wasn't a wiz at everything like Shinra, but he knew machina well. They all knew that Gippal had to do this to surpress his rage… Shinra didn't even care that he was looking at it, incase Gippal turned on him instead. Finally, the time machine's workings beyond him, he gave up and stood staring out the large window in the cabin facing the temple.
"Gippal…" said Yuna. "… we're all trying our hardest. We miss her just as much as you do!"
"You don't understand," he said, a little angry, a little sad. "She was like sister to me… she was my best friend…"
"What about me!" Brother asked, his al bhed accent kicking in more than usual. "I was her Brother!"
"She was a great gullwing," said Buddy.
"And…" Paine started. Everyone turned to her, everyone surprised to see a few tears escaping her eyes, though she sounded usual. "And… aw, screw it!"
"What?"
"Well… she was my good friend too… I guess…" she said, having a hard time admitting that she had actual friendly emotions.
"No!" Gippal said. He rubbed the back of his neck. "You see… ah… never mind, it's too late now! She was just so…"
"Stop!" Cried Yuna, actually crying. "Stop using that word!"
"…what word?"
"Was… stop using was! It just makes it sound like… like…"
"Like she's really gone. And she isn't coming back," Paine said quietly.
Everyone stared distantly in a different direction, trying not to make eye contact with each other. Shinra crouched down and started to work on his machina again, and Yuna fled the room crying. Gippal followed a little after, and Brother went to the engine room to think. Paine just sat frustratedly on the floor, and Buddy came over to join her, not knowing what else to do.
Zanarkand
Rikku, Tidus and Travis sat in the living room of Tidus's house. Travis had non-stop questions, and it distracted Rikku and Tidus from their sadness… a little.
"So… in the future, Zanarkand is gone?"
"Well, not 'gone' in the sense it disappears…" said Rikku.
"It's ruins Travis. Trust me, I got to know them a little more than I wanted to."
"Well, what other cities are there?"
"There's Luca," said Tidus. "It's nothing compared to Zanarkand though. Really, it's beautiful though."
"And there's Bevelle! It's MUCH larger than Luca, but still nothing compared to this," Rikku added.
"Okay… so what's this about Mt. Gagazet? People live up there?"
"Well, not people exactly…" said Tidus, remembering the Large blue Ronzo that was Yuna's guardian as well.
"And Tidus knows how to wield a sword!" asked Travis, excitedly.
"Yup! And some magic, but Rikku is MUCH better with weapons than me. Not to mention machina…"
Rikku giggled a little, the first real laugh in a while. Travis and Tidus chuckled also, though Tidus half heartedly. Then Tidus thought of a question of his own.
"Say Rikku, what exactly did the gullwings do?" he asked.
"We hunted spheres! Some old spheres provided some really awesome information! And some could be used as garments for our garment grids!...and"
"Garment grids?"
"Well… it's like different clothes for different fighting styles… like… this!" Rikku stood and turned into a white mage. The two guys were in aw. Then, She turned back into a thief. "But as I was saying before. Yuna came to me first with a sphere she found… that looked like you. We thought it WAS you, but it was this creep named Shuyen or something who was trying to destroy Spira over his lost love Lenne… don't do that on me, okay Tidus? Don't go crazy?"
Tidus chuckled again. "I won't Rikku… I…" Tidus stopped in mid-sentence. He had a great idea! "Rikku! This is genious! You can find spheres from this time, right? Like, really old ones?"
"Yeah, they're normally pretty old when we find them… why?"
"Rikku, what if we leave Yuna a sphere! Maybe they'll look in Zanarkand ruins, and they could find the sphere! Telling her that you're alright, and I'm alright, and that we miss her and stuff!"
Tears joy crept to Rikku's eyes. "Tidus! You smart, smart idiot! Yes! Yunie! She'll find the sphere! Unless the monkeys get it first…"
