Chapter 6: Visiting Day

a/n: Heres Chapter 6

Two months ago, if someone had told me that I'd be sitting around the usual circular table with an increasingly moody Khan, a dim-witted Brother, his odd girlfriend Fshea while my father was at D'Jose Temple and my mother was currently crying her eyes out in the Moonflow ... I'd tell them they'd been hanging around Machina oil a little too long.

The nightmare was real though, over the last few days it sunk in, nothing was going to change that.

So everyday I had did the best I could, I even let Fshea push me into meditating with her, with was a big mistake because I am just one of those people incapable of sitting still.

So when your cooped up in such a miserable hole for several days, you feel an insane urge to leave the miserable hole in question.

So cleverly devised a plan to 'casually' walk passed Jame's house, of course just as I was about to walk out the door the Commsphere begun flashing for the first time in days.

I hoped it wasn't dad, I just didn't know what to say to him, and it would be hard to speak to him with an extremely angry Brother lurking about.

We were all very lucky he had his unatural calm girlfriend with him, you do not know true annoyance till you listened to Brother rant for hours on end.

Looking into the Commsphere, I saw the caller was mum and my mood came slightly out of the dumps.

Mum looking quite pale, but when she saw my face hers brightened up considerably.

At least she looked a little bit better, I thought gratefully, a smile broke through her depressed mask.

"Princess, how are you"

There were so many answers to that question

I was angry

I was hurt

I was confused and I was completely lost

but the simple emotionless words "I'm okay" slipped out of my mouth instead

"Good, thats really good" Mum said awkwardly, she looked as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.

"and Khan?" She asked desperately

"He's okay" I answered quietly,

A lie, his dark silent moods and endless brooding were not okay , I thought angrily.

"Listen ... I ... I just wanted to say sorry ... for taking off to the Moonflow like that"

"It's okay mum .. you needed time alone I guess"

I was beginning to get pretty damn sick of the word "Okay" but it still seemed to be the vocal answer to everything lately.

"Thanks, I'll be home soon okay?" Mum said with a reassuring look on her face

"Okay" I answered quietly

"Bye princess"

The commsphere flashed red, and then she was gone, just like a part of her now was ... and it was all because of him.

I needed to talk to him I decided, I knew it was without a doubt going to be one of the hardest things I ever did but it needed to be done.

My fathers door at D'Jose stood in front of me, I had been staring at it for more them two minutes fighting a battle deep within me just to get the courage to knock on the door.

I knocked once

No-one came to the door, no noise, nothing

I knocked twice.

A slight groan came from behind the door.

I knocked again, extremely hard.

"ALRIGHT, alright, I'm coming" I my dad shouted

I heard him make his way to the door and mutter be quiet.

Dad opened the door slightly, and he seemed surprised to see me.

"Princess" He said nervously, he looked very conflicted and he kept edgily looking around his room and back at me, never fully opening the door.

"Aren't you going to let me inside?" I asked, with a scathing glare.

"Ah, it's a little messy in there, just ... just wait a minute ... I'll be right out" Dad said awkwardly, before shutting the door.

There he was, insulting my intelligence once again.

So I did what any daughter suspecting her father really was shacked up with some secretary would do. I kicked open the door.

And there she was.

It's funny, in my mind I had pictured her to be some glamorous Lucan model, but she wasn't. She was quite averaging looking, just another face in the crowd, she had long mousey brown hair and a plain face and she was sitting on dads bed looking quite bored.

"This your kid Gippal" She asked casually

"Ah yes ... this ... this is my daughter ... who was meant to wait outside, umm Aera meet Neeka ..." Dad mumbled sheepishly

"Hello" I said coldly, so coldly my dad seemed to flinch and even though I couldn't see my face, I knew it looked dangerous.

"Hi Neeka" Aera said unfazed, while lighting up a cigarette.

Aera was too calm and collected for my liking, I wanted her to stutter and become a twisted bunch of nerves like dad ... she was a home wrecker, I wished she'd act like one.

"Ah why don't we get something to eat ... so I can explain"

"Why you cheated on mum and living with your secretary" I hissed

"Thats the spirit, I'm a personal assistant by the way" Aera said, blowing a ring of cigarette smoke.

Did nothing phase this woman? what was wrong with her?

"I'll be outside" I muttered with disgust

The coffee shop was crowded

I stirred my coffee waiting for an explanation while my dad stared at the table, thankfully Aera said she had things to do.

"I'm sorry" Dad said

I looked up from my coffee and stared dad straight in his eye

"For which bit? having an affair, destroying our home, making mum cry?

"All of it" He answered quietly

"Why would you do that to us ... weren't we good enough" I cried, emotion increasingly in my voice

"Of course you were! but your mother and I ... well we just had problems ... it never had anything to do with you or Khan"

"Why Aera, I mean mums prettier!" I cried

"You can talk to Aera, and with your mum ... well, it's just different now"

"If you couldn't talk to her then why the hell did you marry her?" I snapped

"Things change Neeks, people change" He answered quietly

In a reluctant kind of way I did understand what he meant ... but it still gave him no right, he had changed all of our lives forever ... this wasn't some insignificant thing that in a few years I would forget, this is something that would be permanently inked into the story of my life.

When I got home that night Brother and Fshea were slurping some spicy soup while Khan sat in front of the Spherevision, transfixed at the Blitzball game

"Where were you?" Khan asked, not taking his eyes of the spherevision

"With Dad" I answered quietly

"How is he" Khan asked, taking a deep breath, eyes still transfixed on the spherevision screen in an offhand kind of way, as though he was look straight through the box instead of watching it.

"Living with his personal assistant" I informed him bitterly

Khan gaze shifted from the spherevision too my face and his begun to clench his fists.

"What the hell did you say" He snarled

I felt myself slowly backing into the wall like a scared child

"He's ... he's living with his personal assistant ... Aera" I stuttered

"GOD DAMMIT" He screamed, kicking the couch angrily

Brother and Fshea came running out of the kitchen demanding to know what was wrong

"Dads gotta girlfriend" I said quickly, tears beginning to pour down my face.

Brother begun to curse every name under the sun while Fshea tried to calm Khan down.

"Calm down child" Fshea said softly, staring into Khans stormy eyes

"GET AWAY FROM ME" Khan shouted, pushing Fshea away from him ... and then he stalked off into his room, slammed his bedroom door and begun his latest brooding session.

"NEEKA GET TO BED" Brother said, and then started to curse some more ... while Fshea breathed heavily, and looked very edgy, obviously not used to such chaos.

I ran into my room and lunged for my moogle doll that had dried one too many of my tears lately.

I cried myself to sleep that night, real emotion had hit me like a tonne of bricks ... and Aera's face haunted my every nightmare.

a/n: Well theres chapter 6 for you, poor Neeks. I tried not to make Aera a cliche blonde bimbo, hope I pulled that off ... next chapter I have a feeling will be fairly long and it's gonna be called "Vocal" ... no hints what it's about, lol ... I think I may update every Friday at the latest, how does that sound?"

Review Replies:

oOoDancingQueenoOo:
I shall give no hints to the ending, lol, but it will be an original one ... I hope anyway

Randomcat23
yay, I always love your reviews, they make writing the chapters worthwhile!

FlyHigh4Life
lol, yeah he does deserve to have something cut off, unfortunately if Rikku were to have a little accident with him and a knife it would probably ruin the story, o well

Madmaz
Wow, your review completely blew me away. I seriously felt on top of the world after reading that, it gave me a hell of a lot of confidence and I cant thank you enough!

Jezzi
Thanks for taking a look at my fic, I love yours!