Tittle: Melody
Author: Angel-chan
Catagory: Action/Adventure, Humor, Romance
Disclaimer: I do not own FFX/X-2 or Square Enix, nor do I claim any of it's characters. Basically,...anything you recognise from the game, is not mine, anything you don't recognise from the game, is MINE D ((oh, and also note: Keyakku is not made up. If your enough of a game freak like me, you've played the game a million times and know just about everyone in the game XDD )) nor do I own the lyrics in this chapter.
Contact Address: for character pictures, questions, comments, or even if you have any fanart! fanart is LOVED!
It was early in the morning when the Gullwings arrived at Bikanel desert. It was still cool out, and the sun had barely risen, but already there was a big hustle and bustle about the desert, and the Sphere Hunters just stood there and watched, trying not to get run over.
Cid had been up since three that morning, when the Machina Faction arrived, and building began on 'New Home', as they were going to call it. Steel beams were being set into place, and already you could almost make out the beginnings of a building. It was truly amazing what the Al Bhed could do when they got together and worked!
The Al Bhed leader walked to the Celsius and looked up at the oddball group who were still standing on airship,
"Get'chall tails down 'ere!" He said in a teasing manner, as Rikku finally jumped off the ship, and landed in front of her father.
"Wow! Let me guess, your FINALLY rebuilding Home?" She asked, bouncing on one leg, then the other, absolutely thrilled.
"You got it, Princess" Cid nodded, and looked out to the work going on.
Rikku pumped a fist into the air happily, "Awesome!"
Brother looked to his father, "So THIS is what you needed us here for?" he asked, thinking that if this was all, then he might as well have slept in. Both he and Rikku knew sooner or later thier father was going to rebuild their old Home, so why bring them here to see? unless,...
"You're not planning on making us work, are you?" He lifted a brow. Though he wouldn't mind the change, he didn't feel like getting trapped into it.
"That's not a bad idea,..." the balled Al Bhed rubbed his chin, as if he were thinking.
"No! No, no, no, not good idea!" Brother said quickly.
"Wow, so this place gonna be like the other one?" Tidus asked, wide blue eyes curious. He remembered very little of the time he had spent back at Home on the pilgramidge,...mostly because,...well it was rather traumatic!
"Yep, that's the plan,..only a bit more fancy!" Cid said, happily.
"Wow, that's amazing!" Yuna said. She had never gotten to see Home before, but from what Rikku had told her. She got a good idea, "I can just imagine!" The high summoner said, closing her eyes, trying to imagine what the structure would look like when finished,..but somehow the image of a large Djose just didn't seem right.
"The Machina Faction is helping you guys, right?" Paine asked.
"Yep. Our main construction workers to, besides some of the machina they've made to help the work along.
"Whooo, Impressive,..." Brother said, catching sight of some of the machina that his father spoke of.
"That means Gippal is here, too, right?" Rikku asked happily. Brother groaned, and Yuna couldn't help but stifle a giggle as she noticed the excitement in Rikku's tone. Even though she tried not to act like it, Yuna could tell Rikku had something for the guy.
"Who's this 'Gippal' dude?" Tidus asked.
"Gippal is the leader of the Machina Faction. An Al Bhed, and an old friend of Rikku and Paine's. He assisted in the defeat of Vegnagun too!" Yuna explained with a smile and a nod.
"Ooooh," the Blitzer nodded.
"Yeah, and a complete pain in the BEHIND!" Brother added.
Cid laughed, "yeah, I believe Phenix would agree with ya on that one, son!" Cid boomed. The others stared at him quizzically.
"Who is this, 'Phenix" you speak of?" Brother asked.
"Heh? Oh, Come with me, I'll introduce ya,..." Cid said, mentally smirking.
Rin had merely proposed the idea, but the initiation of said idea was ALL up to Cid. After all,...it wasn't like he didn't like the idea. Hell, might as well try! After having slept on the thought, he realised it wasn't really too bad of an idea.
The group made their way through the crowd, bumping into people along the way, and trying to avoid getting hit themselves. It seemed like they had gone across the entire desert, before they made their way over to one of the large steel structures. Up high balancing on one of the beams, while welding on another, Phenix stood, silhouetted against the rising sun. She wore the classic pair of Al Bhed goggles, and had added some leather gloves to her outfit from the other day. the sunburn on her back had gotten quite pink, and her paler skin was already beginning to get a little sun as well.
She had been up since three that morning, helping with the construction work, and after she learned how to work some of the various tools, she had made quite a dent in her assigned work.
"Hey, Phenix, get down 'ere!" Cid called up to the girl.
"Huh?" She looked down to the group gathered below, and pulled her goggles down to her neck. She scanned the group that Cid had brought with him with wide curious eyes,
"Ya wh-wha-WHOAAH!" She started as she began her fall off of the beams, only to land unceremoniously on the sand below. Damn did that hirt,...even if it WAS sand that she landed on.
She looked up at everyone sheepishly, a blush on her cheeks, and an unsure chuckle. She brought a hand up to her brow in a salute-like action, "uh,..Hiyaum,..." She got up and dusted the sand off of her, "Sorry,.."
In the distance the laughter of a certain Al Bhed rang out,
"Good one Phee! Nice trip?" It was Gippal,...now,..Phenix wasn't one to dislike people for their first impression,...but usually she didn't meet people at three in the morning either. And Gippal's first impression to Phenix was, 'annoying-idiot-who-wants-in-any-woman-he-sees-pants.' Her second impression of him wasn't much better, and in the few hours the they had been constructing New Home,...oh boy, was Phenix ready to kill him.
Phenix looked over her shoulder to Gippal with a glare, "Shove it where the sun don't shine, Gippal" She said coldly, picking up a wrench the had fallen with her, fully prepared to throw it.
"Gippal, quit being a meanie!" Rikku said, waving a fist into the air before Phenix could take any, potentially harmful, action.
"He's always been like that,.." Paine said to Phenix, offering an understanding nod, as she returned the look with a nod and a grin.
"Hey,.." Gippal said, sauntering over, but stopping midway when his eyes landed on Tidus. The first thought that ran through his head,..was 'Shuyin'. Tidus squirmed under the Al Bhed's one-eyed gaze. Yuna linked arms with him, as she noticed his unease. This left, not only Tidus confused, but Phenix as well.
"Huh?" The two said in unison, as Phenix looked from Gippal to Tidus,
"Eh,..I'll,...catcha later,.." Gippal waved and turned the other way, but not before casting a questioning glare to the Shuyin look-alike..
Rikku seemed disappointed, but also angry, and covered it up with a shout,
"What's YOUR problem?" before blowing a raspberry his way.
"Wow" Phenix said with a grin, once the initial tension left the area,
"I need to keep you around,..your a good Gippal repellent." Phenix said with a smirk, hopefully to lighten what had become of uneasy mood.
This remark got a good chuckle out of everyone, before Cid spoke up once more.
"Eh, well guys, this is Phenix,...and eh,..I guess know you know what I mean,.." He said, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.
Phenix looked up at him quizzically, as if to ask, 'why have you been talking about me?' but didn't say anything, as Cid left to go back to his job, 'supervising'. She'd make a note to ask him later though,...
Brother had stayed silent through most of the ordeal. He continuously looked the girl up and down,...why hadn't he seen her before? After all,..most Al Bhed knew everyone, and everyone knew eachother, even if they were still a bit scattered. Lucky for him though,
dear Rikku voiced his question,
"He-ey, I don't remember ever seeing you before,.." Rikku poked at the slightly older girl with playful curiosity.
Phenix laughed a gentle laugh, "Hehe, I blame my parents,..." She offered a gentle smile.
"Who's your parents?" Yuna asked. Phenix immediately recognized the High Summoner, and smiled. All the times she had been so near the Summoner,..the past two years she had been working with her father,..and when she had lived in Luca, and yet she somehow had never gotten to meet the Lady Yuna.
"Rin is my father an-" Tidus cut her off.
"Rin? Like, travel agency, merchant, dude, Rin?" He said, almost disbelievingly. Phenix had expected this,..sort of. After all, just about anyone who traveled around Spira knew Rin,...
"One in the same,..but I stayed with my mother for most of my life,...in Luca."
She nodded, "I wasn't allowed out much,...you know how Luca used to be,..." she said, turning her eyes to the ground. Before Yuna brought the Eternal Calm, her mother and she did work for the Sphere Theater, as well as helping with maintenance and upkeep of the Blitzball stadium, back when such things were some of the few things that an Al Bhed was allowed to do in the large city.
Phenix, despite being as talkative as she was with the group, was indeed feeling quite out of place now. She was a loner by nature,...mostly because she had never really had many people to talk with, and while she could carry on a conversation in her mind for hours, now that she had the chance, it was like she was frozen, but she did make note of everyone that was there, and eventually got all their names. She looked over to Brother, who was leaning against a steel column, deep in his own thoughs.
"Brother has been acting,...sorta normal,...I'm a bit worried about him," Rikku said, making sure that he didn't hear her.
Phenix offered her assistance, "Allow me to speak with him," She whispered to them with a reassuring smile and a nod, and they slipped off, as Phenix walked over to Brother.
---
"Hey,.." She clasped her hands together in front of her, as she looked up at him. He was a good bit taller than her, but then again most people were.
Brother had watched her approach, and looked down at her, giving her an awkward grin before running a hand through his mohawk, perhaps a tad bit nervous,
"Eh, Hiya,..." it wasn't every day some girl he didn't even know came up to talk to him.
Phenix decided to get right to the point, "Ouin cecdan ec funneat ypuid oui. Cra cyoc dryd oui'ja paah xiead mydamo,...yht fyhdat sa du dymg du oui ypuid ed,..."
(( "Your sister is worried about you. She says that you've been quiet lately,...and wanted me to talk to you about it,..." ))
She said nervously, "E druikr,...syopa oui't veht ed aycean du dymg fedr cusauha fru oui tuh'd ghuf,..."
(( "I thought,...maybe you'd find it easier to talk with someone who you don't know,..." )) she continued, sitting down next to where he stood, pulling her knees to her chest, and hugging them there.
Brother looked down at Phenix, and crouched down beside her,
"E ir,..famm, E's hud tabnaccat ev dryd'c fryd cra drehgc."
(( "I uh,..well, I'm not depressed if that's what she thinks." )) he grinned. He didn't know exactly how to explain how he felt.
"Duu silr fung? Rikku cyoc oui icat du pa roban yht yhhuoehk,..fryd'c lryhkat?"
(( "Too much work? Rikku says you used to be hyper and annoying,..what's changed?" )) Yeah,...Phenix,..the Al Bhed version of Dr. Phil. Heh
""E fyc 'roban' yht 'yhhuoehk' palyica E fyc dnoehk du esbnacc dra Lady Yuna. Huf cra ryt Tidus yht E tuh'd ryja du dno du esbnacc ran yhosuna, ec ymm"
(( "I was 'hyper' and 'annoying' because I was trying to impress the Lady Yuna. Now she had Tidus and I don't have to try to impress her anymore, is all" )) Brother rolled his eyes, and explained. It was a plausible excuse, and Phenix nodded.
"I see,..and you tried so hard to be someone you aren't that now you don't know who you are. You were always one way, then you were another way, and now that things have changed, you don't know how to act,..correct?" She looked up at him with questioning eyes.
"Exactly!" He said, looking at her rather surprised. This girl,...she understood how he felt.
"Wow, you actually understood that!" She chuckled. Most the time when she went on like so, the person she was talking to would be left like, 'huh?'
"Well,...I guess the only thing I can tell you is,...find something you used to really enjoy doing before,...do something that makes you happy, and your personality will blossom from there,..."
"How,..do I do that?" Brother asked.
---
The two sat and talked for a long while, like longtime friends. To Brother, it had been a long time since he had gotten to carry on a conversation like that. To Phenix,...it was the first time she had ever gotten to carry on a conversation like that, and she could only hope that her advice would be of some use. The two stood from their places in the sand, and dusted themselves off. Phenix had to get back to work before she got griped at, heh.
"Well,..I best get back to work. This place isn't going to build itself, you know!" She said with a smile, as she hopped onto a now HOT steel beam.
Brother nodded and waved and headed back to the direction of the Celsius, where he saw the rest of the Gullwings seated in it's shade. Various 'oooh's and whistles came his way, and he furrowed a brow,
"What?" He asked, confused, and slightly annoyed.
"I didn't think I would that yall THAT long to talk!" Rikku said, nudging her brother in the stomach.
"Gah!" He caught her neck under his arm, "Rikku is not supposed to think!" He said, while playfully giving his sister a noogie.
"Well, Rikku, there's your annoying, hyper, Brother back,..." Paine said, nudging the Al Bhed girl with the toe of her boot.
"I am NOT annoying!" Brother said as he boarded the Airship, and everyone filed in behind him.
Brother would certainly try and take Phenix's words to heart. They were true, he had been one way before the Eternal Calm, then for the past two years another, when he was trying to impress Yuna. Now, with the Eternal Calm, and no need to take everything so seriously, or like a life-and-death situation, and no Yuna to impress, he didn't know how to act.
"That's exactly it, Brother,..your ACTING,...be natural,..." Phenix's words ran through his mind at that moment.
'I don't know how, but I'll try,...' He said, hopping into the Pilot's seat, only to get knocked out of it as he was about to declare their destination. Paine had bumped him out of the seat. Brother must have forgotten,..today was PAINE's day to drive!