Chapter 7: Vocal
a/n: Heres Chapter 7, Friday as planned, actually it's late Thursday night but is 12:48AM so technically speaking it's Friday.
WARNING: There maybe several spelling errors, I usually
spellcheck but because I don't have Microsoft word and use WordPad
instead I have to use the extremely unreliable www.spellcheck. net to
fix my errors, the site is temporarily screwed but I will fix
these errors within the next day.
I was so unbelievably indescribably happy right now, I had to stop myself from screaming with delight.
Mum was coming home ... and Brother and Fshea were going home.
I sat at the cirular table, jiggling my feet and drumming my knuckles on the wooden surface
"Stop it Neeka" Brother growled "One would almost think you is wanting us to leave"
"Sorry Brother" I apologised quickly, but then continued to drum my knuckles anyway.
It was a happy, happy day, and even Khan couldn't get that stupid grin on his face no matter how hard he tried to sulk.
Finally a hover pulled up, my heart skipped several beats and I bolted out the house as quick as I could, leaving the flywire door swinging madly in my wake.
The dust from the hover lifted dramatically revealing my mother, holding a suitcase and looking happier then I'd seen her in months.
Mum immediently engulfed me in a huge bone crushing hug, and pulled Khan into it as well. "oww mum" he cried slightly embaressed.
"E'ja seccat oui pudr cu cu cu cu cu silr" Mum sniffled, as her eyes begun to water slightly
I've missed you both so so so so so much
"Fa seccat oui duu sis" Khan said softly
We missed you too mum
"Oh Khan" Mum cried, and let go of me
"It's okay mum, we aren't going anywhere" Khan reasurred
"When did you get taller then me" She demanded
"Like a year ago" Khan answered confused
"oh poopie" Mum muttered
Suddenly the sound of Fsheas voice distracted us all
"Pull the suitcases Brother ... find the strength if your heart ... if the strength isn't in your muscle ... to PULL the suitcase into the hover ... HEAVE" Fshea cried dramatically
"I - AM - TRYING" Brother growled, heaving his, and Fshea's suitcases with determaination
"Whos she?" Mum asked bluntly with confusion
"Brother girlfriend, Fshea" I told her with a smile
Mum shook her head "rightio" she said, and smiled as well
When Brother finally heaved the suitcases into the hover, Fshea jumped up in down with delight "My strong man" She murmured as she kissed Brother
"Well thanks for staying with Khan and Neeks Brother ... and it's ... it's nice to meet you Fshea, you seem like an ... interesting woman" said Mumj
Brother hugged each one of us, told mum he would be happy to hunt Gippal down and cut off his - "BROTHER GOODBYE" she interrupted.
"I bid you farewell angry child" Fshea whispered to Khan.
"Ah yeah cya" Khan bidded
"Keep up with the meditation ... you may be prone to anger fits as well" Fshea warned me.
"Will do" I lied
Brother and Fshea stuck the key in the ignition of the hover ... and then they were gone.
"Well there ya go, won't be seeing them again till Khans 17th" said Mum happily
The family walked inside the house, as happy as I felt about mum being hope there still felt like there was something missing, and I couldn't shake off that dark empty feeling.
That night, when Khan mum and I were eating dinner around the wooden circular table I took a good look at mum and notice a few changes appearance wise, her hair and been cut a little shorter, left down instead of tied up, and color seemed to have returned to her face, but most noticably was her personality ... she seemed happy?
A month in the Moonflow seemed to do her wonders for her, but I didn't know exacly how I felt about that, like I didn't want her sulking around the house or anything but I didn't expect her to be so happy.
"So tell me about the Moonflow?" I asked
"Well, the funny thing is for the majority of the time I wasn't even in the Moonflow ... only for a week or so, after that week I got my thoughts together, visited some old friends I hadn't seen for atleast ten years, went to some nice places in Spira ... I cant believe how much I miss travelling ... we should do some travelling soon"
"Me and Jame are gonna travel around Spira when were eighteen" Khan piped up enthusiastically
"With what money?" Mum asked with her eyebrows raised
"We'll work"
"Who'll do your laundry?"
"I know how to wash clothes mum" Khan whined
"Whatever you say hunny bunny" Mum laughed
"Don't call me that" muttered Khan
"Sorry hunny bunny" Mum added with a smirk
It was just like old times, but without dad it still didn't feel right, and I knew then that was the empty void inside of me.
The next day I woke up with an extremely odd feeling, like everything was almost alright, but not quite.
The most eery part was breakfast.
I walked into the room and Khan and mum were seated around the wooden circular table, in the exact same positions they would of been a few months ago.
Khan was tinkering with some machina and mum was observing her clipboard with interest, sipping on a cup of tea
Khan seemed a lot happier, he was almost like his old self, but only almost.
Sometimes I caught him staring sadly into space, and holding the commsphere like he wanted to talk to someone ... but he never called that person.
I was moodily jabbing my cereal when a godsend knocked on the old flywire door
"I'm hungry and cold ... can I come inside?" Jame asked, playing the part of a small starving child
My heart skipped five beats, and my face flushed as I thought of my messy gravity defying hair and chocobo pajamas
"Come right in Jame ... Khan has left over bacon" Mum smirked
"Hey your back" Jame cried barging into the house and hugging mum "now wheres that bacon" he added
"Get away from my food mate" Khan growled, hovering his fork over it protectively.
"I was joking" Mum said, piling bacon fresh out of the pan on to Jame's plate
"See theres really is no reason to act like a Neanderthal Khan" he said, sitting himself down in the chair dad would usually sit in.
"G'day Gippals girl"
I cringed as mum loudly dropped something in the sink, the clang echoed around the kitchen but mum and I were the only ones who seemed to notice.
"Nice pajamas" he added with a smile, I couldn't tell if he was joking or if he really did deem yellow chocobos in a field of pink flowers cute, which I hightly doubted.
"Really?" I squeaked, I tried to make it sound cooler and slighty sarcastic but it came out more hopeful if anything.
"Just on you" He answered, and continued to eat.
Mum tried to conceal a laugh with a cough and Khan looked a little put out and informed Jame he was having a shower and wouldn't be long.
"Wanna go for a walk" Jame asked me
"Sure" I squeaked again
"C'mon" He said, leading me towards the door
"I have to get dressed" I reminded him confused
"We're in the middle of the Sanubian desert, no-ones going to see you" Jame smirked
Typical ... I had fantasised about something like this many times, but being in pink chocobo pajamas and having messy flyaway hair was not part of that fantasy.
So we trecked through the desert, getting my pajamas extremely dusty and the hot sun beat mercilessly against my tanned face.
"How ya been" Jame asked sincerely
"Okay" I lied
"Wanna tell me the truth?" He sighed
"No so okay" I admitted truthfully, and bloody hell it felt good
"Finallu, someone in this family is willing to admit weakness" Jame muttered
"Khan" I guessed
"Yeah, bit moody lately ... it's kinda worrying me, he wont talk about anything at all" Jame sighed, kicking the sand "maybe you could talk to him" he added hopefully
I couldn't pretend I wasn't slightly disapointed that he only wanted to talk about Khans stupid mood swings, but I suppose it showed Jame was truely a caring friend.
"Umm yeah sure I'll try" I promised
"Thanks Neeks" Jame said as we walked back towards the house.
When got inside the house Khan and mum were sitting at the circular table, mum was smirking and Khan looked confused.
"C'mon mate, we were meant to be at Kiyaks an hour ago" Khan whined
"Yeah yeah, lets go ... seeya Neeks, Rikku" Jame bidded, before leaving the house with Khan.
"SOMEONES GOT A CRUSH" Mum screamed
I felt my face turn every shade of crimson and I playfully hit her in my defence, then we chased each other around the house for some minutes when the commsphere begun to flash like it had purposely set out to ruin the fun mum and I were having.
Unforunately mum answered the commsphere and unfortunately it happened to be dad on the end of the line.
"Hello Rikku ... your back" dad said, completely caught of guard, but he recovered quickly
"Sure am" Mum replied coldly
There was an uncomfortable silence, it looked like both had many things to say, but they remained unsaid.
"Neeka your fathers on the commsphere" said mum calmly, although the word father seemed to be more spat then said.
"Thankyou Rikku, have a nice day" Gippal replied grittily
"Oh you too" mum bidden quickly before gliding off into the next room to eavesdrop.
"Hey princess" Dad said, his face brightening up
"Hi dad ... sorry I should of pre-warned you" I apologised quietly, I heard mum "hmph!" loudly in the background but dad either ignored it or didn't hear.
"Its her house now" Dad shrugged, "damn right" I heard mum mutter quietly.
I didn't exacly know what to say to that ... so I said nothing.
"So ... Khans seventeenth is coming up really soon" said Dad, changing the subject
"Yeah widdle Khan will finally be seventeen" I smirked
"Seems like only yesterday I was teaching him the 10 basic commandments of a screwdriver" Dad sighed
"Are you going to his party still?" I asked hopefully
"Of course I will, he's my son too y'know" Dad snapped suddenly
"Sorry, I just thought things will be uncomfortable ... because of Mishaai and all"
I don't really know what made me say it, maybe it was because he had snapped at me seconds before and I wanted to get on his nerves, maybe I needed some sort of revenge for Aera, I don't know but I said it and I couldn't take it back.
"What about Mishaai" Dad asked suspiciously
"He's like mums date or whatever to Khans 17th" I lied quickly
"She cant do that! it's a sacred event, it's our sons bloody birthday" dad cursed
I wondered if he was jealous, but then I decided he probably wasn't, his reasons were pretty justified
I saw no way of changing the subject except for asking dad if he would like to speak to mum about it.
"No ... no, it's fine" Dad said quickly, almost calmly like the wheels had begun to turn inside his head
"I have to go now Princess, bye sweetie"
I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye before the commsphere flashed red and Dad was gone.
Mum came out from behind the shadows "NEEKA" she screamed "HOW COULD YOU", she looked half amused, half enraged. It was an interesting thing.
"It just kind of slipped out" I argued
"Do you know what you just done" She whispered dramatically
"What?" I asked with interest, curious to see why it was such a big deal, I mean couldn't she just say Mishaai couldn't make it to the party on the day?
"I am being forced to bring Mishaai to Khans birthday party because if I don't it will give your father some sick satifaction because now he will most defintely be bringing his girlfriend along, which will make Khans birthday very enjoyable wont it?"
I suddenly understood and the full extent of what I had did hit me like a tonne of bricks
"poopie" I muttered
"poopie indeed" mum mimicked, falling back on to the couch and sighing with exhaustion.
"I'm sorry mum" I whispered
"It's okay" Mum lied, but atleast I felt slightly better
Sometimes later Khan came home, he was in such a good mood a didn't want to let the information slip that is seventeenth birthday party was going to be the battle ground for mum and dads mind games.
It seemws mum couldn't tell him either, so we both stayed silent about it over dinner.
Keeping true to my promise to Jame, I knocked on Khans door later that night in an attempt to talk to him about his 'feelings' which was going to be a painful thing to do.
"Khan" I asked, while knocking on his door loudly
"Your not borrowing my tools sissy, go away" he answered
"How nice, I just wanted to talk"
"Well commsphere Jame then" He snapped
"Get over it Khan, we were just talking ... can you open the door please"
"Fine" Khan muttered, opening his door and letting me inside the holy abode.
Of course it was messy. Tools and engine parts littered the floor, it spelt like machina oil and blueprints decorated the walls.
"What would like to talk about sissy" Khan asked, lying on the dirty gray sheets of his bed
"Uh ... how are you like ... feeling?" I asked hopefully
"What?" Khan answered stupidly
"How are you feeling ... what are you feelings and such?"
"Ah ... I'm feelin the urge to hit you with my Osirius engine if you don't start explaining to me what your talking about"
"You've just been moodly lately"
"Because my father has run off with his secretary"
"Personal assistant actually ... is that all?" I wheedled
"Is she ugly?" He asked
"Plain, average"
There was a few second silence before I realised Khan wasn't going to say anymore
"Okay i'll just go now -" I bidded
"Bloody hell how could he!" Khan started angrily, interrupting me "I mean he has a family, he was like my hero, everyone knew that, he's exacly the sort of person I want to be ... and he goes and does that!"
"He said it because him and mum don't -"
"Who cares what he says, he's a liar and i'll never forgive him!" Khan swore.
I tried to think of something to make him feel better before I realised I couldn't.
Khans image of the perfect person, the person he aspired to be was tarnished.
"Sorry sissy, I just cant talk about this right now" Khan muttered, leading me out of his room.
I left Khans room and decided to just go to bed
As I made my way to say goodnight to mum I heard her speak on the commsphere, so I automatically begun to eavesdrop ... it seemed to be a habit lately.
"A friend of mine recommended me to you, best divorce lawyers in Luca " said Mum quietly
The word divorce echoed around in my head and I felt like vomiting
"Yes me and Gippal agreed it was for the best" I heard her say
"Can we plan a meeting a few weeks from now, I'm trying to wait till after my sons birthday"
"Okay, thankyou ... I'll contact you sometime before then ... goodbye"
The commsphere flashed red and I ran to my room as quickly as possible before collapsing on to my bed and clutching my moogle doll.
I couldn't sleep at all that night, at first all I could hear were the crickets outside, and the mosquitos humming ... then I thought I heard a sneeze ... till I realised I could hear crying.
I somehow knew it was mum, so I crept into her room.
The white blankets of the large empty bed looked like a drowned corpse in the moonlight.
It was indeed my mum who was crying,
So I climbed on to the bed and hugged her.
Hugging my own heartbroken mother completely crushed me.
I slept in her bed that night.
I wish Spira could see the "Perfect Al Bhed" family now.
a/n: I feel kind of sad right now, do you feel sad? that last bit there was hard to write for me because I speak from experience there. The chapter was called "Vocal" because it was based on communication, lol, credit goes to Madmaz for the idea of getting inside Khans brain a bit, it was a good idea. Next chapter will be called "Heres to Seventeen" you can probably guess what that will be about. Thanks for reading folks, really appreciate it and please review! I love them so much
Review Replies:
Madmaz: Yay, trust me I value your opinions! if you have something to say, defintely tell me okay? that goes for all of you because you can only help me improve my fic right?
oOoDancingQueenoOo: lol, I get that feeling while writing it, i'm not trying to make it one-sided but it's hard sometimes
FlyHigh4Life: Brother threatened to cut "it" off in honour of you, lol, yay, I'm on a favourites list, it's such a great feeling
randomcat23: whoo hoo! I was hoping someone would comment on Fshea, I liked her as well, she was fun to write. I'm glad you find Neeka life like, i've been trying to make it as realistic as possible. Yeah Khan is a bit angry, but don't be too rough on him, i still love him to bits
Jezzi: Goodo, you relate to it? sorry about your dad, I was in a simular sitution with my own. It's never a nice thing :-(
PSPhreak: Yeah I was happy with how Aera turned out, she defintely worked I think, so i'm proud of that, thanks for reviewing!
Jen: It is a bit sad isn't it? I tried to make this chapter happy but it ended on a sad note. Your compliment about my writing really boosted my confidence, thank you so much for your review!
dontbehatin: You think it's amazing, i'm seriously in awe here, Reviews never cease to blow my mind. I never really expected to get such good feedback for my first story. I've caught the fanfiction bug so there will be many more stories after this now. I've been worrying about keeping my characters in character, it's been really hard but i'm trying my best. As for the Cid Quote, it just seemed like something he would say lol.