To fanficlove2014: Yup me too, Tidus and Gippal just scream bromance! Haha yeah, I put a little hint about O'aka for you there ;) #thetruefansknowwhatsup

Enjoy!

Chapter 7 – Making amends

Seventh Stop: Guadosalam

They were invited to dine with Tromell, now leader of the Guados, and Yuna thought she was probably going to have to drag Tidus to the table. He did not trust that guy one bit, not since he had destroyed Lord Jyscal's sphere, and sent Guado soldiers after their team to avenge Seymour. Yuna tried to reason with him, explaining to him how sorry he felt afterwards, and how he had done everything in his power to better the relationships with the rest of the Spirans ever since.

Truth was, Rikku didn't have any interest in staying too long here either. She had never liked Guadosalam. Apart from the fact that it was dangerously close to the Thunder Plains, the atmosphere here was always so glum.

First off, it gave way to the Farplane. But if that wasn't enough, the entire city was buried in some kind of gigantic tree, and you could barely see the light of day passing through the climbing plants. And finally, Guados were pretty gloomy. Sure, sure, their ex-leader was a psycho who had killed his dad, had a weird obsession with Sin and had tried to kill off the Ronso species and basically all of Spira. But that didn't mean they had to be so depressed all the time. They lacked sunlight and Rikku was sure this was the very reason why they weren't happy. And it was getting contagious. She needed herself some sun.

As they entered, they were greeted by two young Guados who took their armors and weapons—Tidus reluctantly gave his. Gippal reassured him whispering he had two small guns hidden in his jacket, just in case.

Yuna was glad to see the Guados had taken back what was rightfully theirs. She hated what Leblanc had done with the place. It was a good thing her squat was over. They entered the big banquet room—where Seymour had asked Yuna to marry him, Tidus recalled, his eyebrows meeting. Yuna, as if reading his mind, took his hand there, and smiled at him sweetly. It efficiently calmed him, and he squeezed his hand in reply. It was all ancient history, over and buried—and so was Seymour.

- "Lady Yuna! What an honor! And Nooj, Commander Lucil, Gippal, young Rikku!"

But then his gaze fell upon Tidus icy blue eyes and he stuttered, embarrassed.

- "Ha! Tidus, was it? It is… nice to see you again. Please forgive us for…"

- "Trying to kill us all?" He finished, talking openly.

They all hold their breaths, looking at him expectantly. That very moment would shape the atmosphere of the entire evening. It was all up to Tidus. Yuna silently prayed, Gippal waited, curiously amused either way and Rikku was already eyeing the strawberry chocolate cake, not too far from her. She wondered if it would taste as good as it looked.

- "That's alright, Tromell. It's in the past." He finally said, extending his arm to the Mevyn of the Guados.

The team let out one big sigh of relief as Tromell shook it, smiling. All was well. Yuna caressed Tidus' arm, silently letting him know she was proud of him, and he kissed her cheek. The hell with the rest. They were together, and proudly so.

- "So…" Rikku started. "Shall we dine?" She clapped her hands, excited by all the food.

- "Is eating all you think about, fat-ass?" Gippal replied, when he already had a plate in his hand.

He used it as a weapon, and spanked her lightly around her low back area. She punched his arm, hard, and the plate fell out of his grasp, and exploded into tiny pieces that scattered on the ground.

Rikku and Gippal instantly looked at Tromell, the same innocent smile on their lips. They looked like two kids trying to cute their moms out of punishing them. Tromell just shrugged, handing them new plates.

They were made for each other, Yuna thought, laughing for herself, her fist in front of her mouth.

The diner was going well. Tidus bonded with Tromell, Yuna learned a few things about Lucil, Rikku loved the food, and they had strategically made Gippal sit at the other end of the table, away from her and between two boring Guados so no diplomatic incident would be caused. Finally, Nooj silently ate, as usual. They talked politics, and how some Guados were planning to create a summer camp for Guados-Ronsos children. It was still in negotiation, but Kimhari the Elder had agreed, he just needed time to convince the others Ronso that this was the correct path, and that vengeance was not. This was either a very good, or a very bad idea. Tidus pictured a hundred little Ronsos wanting to fight to prove their strength, and a hundred little Guados, socially and physically awkward, though for the majority pretty smart. It was the popular kids Vs the nerds cliché all over again. It would probably be hard to make them get along. But maybe forcing them to get along wasn't the solution. Maybe the key lied in letting them grow and communicate together, to shape generations of more open-minded Guados and Ronsos. It was definitely a step towards a healthier relationship, that was certain.

The atmosphere was airy and lively, the leaf liquor, specialty of the Guados, and the music of the Macalania musicians aiding somewhat to lighten the mood. After diner, Tromell asked them to play a symphony, and he invited his guests to dance. Tidus, without hesitating, took Yuna's hand in his, and dragged her on the dancefloor, making her knee-long blue skirt bloom like a flower as he made her turn over and over again.

Everybody was impressed by his talent as a dancer, Yuna in particular. She didn't know he had it in him, and she absolutely loved it. He brought her closer to him, one arm wrapped around her waist. His fingers were intertwined with hers, and one swiftly calculated move after the other, he made her twist and turn, away from him and close again. Finally, as the cheery, rhythmic music was about to end, Tidus pressed his chest to hers, dragging both their upper-body parts down, his knee behind her low back, holding her in place. The final movement of their dance was very warmly applauded by the others. Their faces were close together, his blue gaze deep anchored in hers, her heavy breath mingling with his. She smiled at him, genuinely impressed. As he was about to bring the both of them back up, Yuna wrapped both her arms around Tidus' neck, and she kissed him passionately, in front of everyone staring. He responded to her kiss, losing his balance a bit under the force of her embrace. He distractively heard Rikku chanting "Woowoowooo!" and Gippal whistling, affectuously mocking them. Well, if they weren't official before, they certainly were now.

Tidus had set the ball rolling, and quickly, the other guests started to join them and dance as well. O'aka was the first one to make a move, and he asked commander Lucil to dance, much to Nooj's dismay. Dancing was stupid, anyway. Rikku, still eyeing the rest of the chocolate cake—the Guados were taking the rests back to the kitchen, she sadly noticed—was caught by surprise when she looked in front of her only to discover Gippal, bowing like prince charming, offering her his right palm.

- "May I have this dance, Milady Rikks?" He said in his famous seducer's smile.

Rikku acted as if she thought about it a bit, one finger on the edge of her lips, looking up at the celling, and then she said, dragging a Guado about her age—which was pretty cute, except for his big hairy feet—along with her:

- "No, good sir, you may not."

If he thought this was all it took, then man, he was more clueless than a black mage casting Firaga on a Flame Flan.

- "And you see this spot over there? That's where I would go to hang out with my friends and practice my blitzball skills!" Tidus pointed at some far away small square, just beside the water.

Tromell had dug up the sphere Seymour had shown them during their first visit in Guadosalam. From memories of the dead who had lived in Zanarkand 1000 years ago, it recreated the city as it once had been. The Guado had been nice enough to give it to them, as he had no use for it. So, after the rest had gone to sleep in the mansion, Tidus and Yuna had sneaked back downstairs in the big room to project the sphere, just the two of them.

- "Show me your house again!" Yuna said excitingly.

Tidus grabbed the sphere and tried to rewind the thing at the adequate moment. But as he couldn't find it, he started it again from the beginning. He couldn't get enough of it, anyway.

He grabbed Yuna's hand and helped her up. Suddenly, they were in space. Countless and countless shining white stars surrounded them, some bigger than others. No matter where they looked—up, down, right or left—all they saw was the infinity of the dark-blue space. A torrent of comets was flowing across the sphere, traversing them as if not minding their presence. Tidus wrapped one hand around her waist and they both looked in awe as they arrived directly from space to Zanarkand.

In a dazzling sound and light, buildings and houses appeared all at once. They were followed by a second flash of light, that painted the atmosphere over the space sky. Tidus and Yuna were now above ground, seeing the complex modern edifices, along with big crystal tunnels and arcs within which ran waters.

- "What were those for, again?" Yuna asked, pointing at a gigantic watery arc.

- "We would transform water into energy, to power our machinas and our houses." He said as he kissed her hair. He was behind her, both his arms circling her waist. Her hands were on his and her head was perfectly placed on the hollow of his neck, fitting like two pieces of a puzzle.

The view changed as they seemed to move across the skies, and they could see some small buildings, shaped like domes, constructed on water, and others, way bigger, from witch water poured down off. In the middle of it all stood a huge waterfall. Everywhere, the city beamed of lights, shining like a colossal star in the midst of darkness.

As they seemed to go down again, towards the ground, Tidus, dragging Yuna's hand with his, pointed at some distant spot in front of them, towards the water. He placed his chin on her shoulder, lowering his view to hers, and closed one eye:

- "See that building shaped like a weird boat over there, by the shining arc? That's my place." He whispered in her left ear.

At that moment, a woman began appearing, followed by a guy and two little girls. They penetrated in what looked like an empty mall, full of people. Someone was speaking on the microphones, but they didn't listen. Tidus grabbed the sphere at Yuna's feet and pressed the pause button.

- "So, Lady Yuna, shall we do some shopping?"

- "What's 'shopping'?" She asked, puzzled, tilting her head to one side.

Tidus laughed, a soft smile on his lips. His world was so different than hers, he tended to forget it sometimes.

- "It's when you want to buy something. You go to a mall—which is this place full of different shops—and we call shopping the action of buying all sorts of things. Like clothes, for instance."

- "You would buy your clothes already made?" Yuna began, surprised. "In Spira everyone inherits them, or they sew them themselves. Especially in Besaid, Wakka, Chappu, Lulu and I learned to make our own as we were kids. Why waste Gils to buy things you could make for yourself?"

- "Well, people in my town got lazy, I guess. It was easier and faster that way."

- "I see." Yuna nodded, looking at a window display showing dresses and suits. "But then people all dressed the same, didn't they? That's no fun!"

- "Yeah, I guess they kinda did. But that way, everyone who'd buy the prettiest items was in style guaranteed."

Yuna nodded again, strolling across people, looking at their pieces of clothing, their faces, waving in front of them. She came to stand in the middle of the mall and looked up toward the celling. It was open, showing off the starry purple blue and black sky.

- "This is so big!" She let out, both her arms open wide, jumping a bit.

He came to grab her by the hand, and they pretended to walk amongst those people for a bit. It felt so good being back here. He hadn't realized how much he had longed to see his Zanarkand before this. He unpaused the sphere, and they were back to seeing the city from afar, going further and further by the minute, like a spaceship floating across town, going back towards space. Once they were back in the never-ending starry skies, they knew the sphere had reached its end. But instead of stopping, it would show the last image indefinitely. They would stay stuck in space, stars shining all around them, until they'd turn the sphere off.

- "How did Tromell knew we'd be interested in this?" Tidus asked, looking at Yuna.

- "Well", she replied, "I figured you'd like it, so I asked him for it myself in a letter, a while ago."

- "You did?" Tidus said, touched by her gesture. He grabbed both her hands so she would stand in front of him and he placed them on either sides of his neck, his still resting on them. "That's the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me."

She caressed his cheek and kissed him, slowly and softly. Her eyes still closed, Yuna stayed there, inches away from Tidus' mouth, focusing on his breathing, on his smell that resulted so familiar to her now, and taking him in, enjoying the jolts of electricity that being close to him provoked in her body. He did the same, caressing the tip of her nose with his, and he sighed, his breath meeting hers.

And then, as if Tidus couldn't take it anymore, he crushed his lips on hers hungrily, passionately. He grabbed her legs and wrapped them around his waist, bringing her closer to him. His fist grabbed locks of her hair at the back of her head and he pulled a bit, both breathing in from their loss of physical contact, positioning her soft curved lips perfectly on his. She returned his kiss just as powerfully, needing him like she had never had before.

And they turned around each other, in the middle of the stars, as the Moon and the Sun, finally meeting and merging, alone in their very own galaxy.

- "Are you sure you guys don't want to go to the Farplane with us?" Gippal asked.

- "Positive!" Yuna replied.

Tidus hadn't actually decided anything, but he didn't really care either way. They would just walk around Guadosalam in the meantime.

- "Why didn't you want to go?" He asked as the others had left, curious. "Don't you want to see your mother and father?"

- "No, I'll go see them some other time. Where do you fancy going?"

She was clearly avoiding the subject, and he wasn't sure why. From what she'd told him, she would often go, just to see their faces—one of her biggest fear was forgetting what they looked like—so why not today? She was hiding something.

- "Yuna, what's wrong?"

- "Nothing, I just don't feel like going, that's all."

He gave her a look, blocking her the way. She was going to have to get used to the fact that keeping things to herself was a big no-no.

- "Please?"

She sighed, looking away. It's not that she didn't want to tell him, she just didn't want to say it out loud, period.

- "It's stupid."

- "I won't laugh at you. Tell me?" He bended over, trying to force her to meet his gaze.

- "I'm scared of what would happen if you went." She finally blurted out, blushing. "I'm not… I'm not risking to see you disappear on me again."

He started at her, stunned. She couldn't look at him, and her cheeks were as red as Auron's outfit once had been. He took her in his arms, kissing the top of her head.

- "I'm not going anywhere. You hear me?"

She nodded, joining her hands in his back. He squeezed her harder, rocking her from left to right. She was so heartbreakingly cute. If she didn't want them to go, then they wouldn't go. He had just wanted to know why.

- "You're staying too, Rikku? What's the matter, you scared?" Gippal teased.

He had been teasing her nonstop ever since they had woken up. He always did, really, but this morning, it had been different. He was meaner, rougher with her. At breakfast, he had told her that she shouldn't go to the Farplane, because she looked like death warmed up and maybe they would mistake her for an unsent and not let her walk out. Talk about harsh.

-"I don't like this place."

- " Why not?"

- "It's just illusions, you know? Not the real thing."

Gippal sighed, scratching his neck. He was kinda mad at her for yesterday. It had been a bit rude, even coming from her. But he would never ever let it show, because that would mean he had cared. And he hadn't, because of course he hadn't. It had just been another joke. Had she accepted, he would have slipped his hand through his hair, and said something like "Ups, changed my mind, I'll invite someone else, you're not worthy". Definitely.

- "Fine then, wait for us here, alone." He blurted out as he caught up with the others.

Rikku looked at him, half smiling. She had been a little rough on him on the day before. But he had completely caught her off guard and she had not felt prepared. He was obviously a little upset about it, which she found very cute. She would make it up to him, somehow.

She sighed and sat up on the half-wall framing the stairs. She was better waiting for the rest here than being the third wheel of Tidus and Yunie, that was certain. Rikku couldn't understand why people wanted to go up there so much. She thought it did more bad than good. Honestly, the last time they had been there, everybody had come out of the Farplane with such long faces she could have written the complete story—early origins included—of the Al-Bheds on them twice.

Why would one deliberately want to inflict this to himself? You would go there, think of your special someone, and the pyreflies would create an illusion of them, and then you would just talk to it while it silently floated in front of you. It couldn't reply, it couldn't even listen, it wasn't even there! She shook her head, trying to respect that her friends thought differently. Maybe Gippal was right, maybe she was scared. Scared of her reaction if she thought of her mom there, and if she appeared—or worst, if she didn't. After all, she had died when Rikku was still quite young, who knew if she remembered her enough to summon her face? She'd rather keep her memories inside.

The dead were dead, she thought. It was better to leave them at peace and try to go on living without them then to go back and muddle up with memories of the past. That would certainly mess you up. Rikku was sure they would come out of it all depressed and silent for the rest of the day. What a perfect mood to enter the Thunder Plains. She shivered at the thought. Man, she hated that place.

- "Did you find him?" A deep, dark voice said, so calmly you could sense the tension behind it, threatening to explode at any second, like a timed-bomb.

Since the response was negative, the man only dared to move one step closer to his boss. It wasn't even his fault, but that man definitely looked like the kind capable of killing the messenger. So he said nothing, literally shaking. That little bastard had escaped, and he owed them money. Well, he owed him money.

The atmosphere of it all didn't help him feel any safer. They were deep inside a cave, everything was dark and quiet, except for a red fire crackling in the big, rock-made chimney. Partially hiding its light, the scary man stood on a chair. The visitor could only guess his silhouette. He couldn't see his face, and maybe it was better this way. No one would see his face, ever, which made him even scarier. Was he scarred? Had his face been distorted beyond recognition? Were his eyes really two dark holes, instantly aspiring your soul if you ever looked into them, like he had heard? The thing was: it seemed no one had lived to tell the story.

And maybe it was just his way of advertising, pretending to be so scary because no one had seen his face, when really, he was just a plain looking guy. Yes, he liked that idea. It was a much more pleasant thought.

- "Do you truly wish to see my face, boy?" The profound voice asked, creepily amused.

Could he… Could he read his mind? No, that wasn't possible. It must have been a coincidence. Maybe he asked this to every person who ever came to see him. After all, the myth of Bonecrave was well known around mafia people. He was the one man known to have survived a direct Sin attack. Or had he survived? Was he an unsent? Either way, he was probably not human anymore. Had he ever been?

- "You are very curious, aren't you? I like curious people." The man said, standing up.

He began casually strolling, his hands—at least he had normal, although huge, looking hands—behind his back. The young man gulped. He felt like his life was this fragile, little thing the man was toying with, much like a puma playing with its prey before crushing its soft neck and drinking out his blood, eating its flesh. His fate lay in his dark, colossal hands.

- "Do you know why I usually like curious people, boy?"

The visitor shook his head, too scared to speak. Why had he accepted this job again? He should have listened to his mom and gone with his aunt to sell her ointments in Kilika. But no, he had wanted to do something on his own, to prove that he could make something for himself. He shook his head again, this time to bring himself back to reality. His mind unconsciously kept trying to send him away in thoughts, because he was so scared he couldn't handle facing this situation being fully aware.

- "Because usually, they are good at digging up secrets and finding what I want them to."

That's the second time he had said "usually", which couldn't be good. Even though he thought the young man was curious, and he liked curious people, he did not like him. That was probably going to be a problem. Plus, it was an especially bad day for him to stay here any longer than necessary. He couldn't be late. You see, he had to be back home early, his mom wanted him to help him cook a pie for the two elderly neighbors. And he was such a bad cook, he was going to need time, to do the recipe a couple times before doing it right. What time was it now? He was probably already late.

Boncrave chuckled, his horrible, unsettling, husky laugh echoing across the cold, humid room.

- "You sure have a lot of thoughts, for someone dumb enough to come back here empty-handed."

Ok. So He probably could read his mind. But the young man refused to panic. He breathed in a shaky breath, and closed his eyes, praying. After all, the man he had to bring back to the boss was only a mere merchant, and he didn't even owe him that much money. Well, it was a lot of money, objectively. But considering who he was talking to right now, this probably was nothing for him. A mere tip. He meant no disrespect, of course. He knew the man was impressive, and he respected him a lot. Damn, that was a way too suck-up thing to say/think. And he was probably reading his mind now. Which meant he could hear him in that very moment. He had to stop thinking. But how did one stop thinking?

- "Let me show you how, boy. It's pretty easy," Bonecrave growled, the disturbing sound coming from deep within his throat.

A gust. He yelled. And then all turned black.