I know! I'm horrible and it's been FOREVER. Like years, I think since the last update. Everyone was so sweet, thanking me for updating so regularly, then I go and pull that. I've bet all my readers hate me now, huh:)
Anyway, there was this big thing, and some other stuff that prevented me from updating in a while. Chapter 10 was partially written since pretty much then end of Chapter 9, but I just recently got around to finishing it. Chapter 11 has got a good start, and I swear I will try try try try TRY to get this finished soon. I think it will have 12 to 13 chapters.
Much love to everyone, and I'm so sorry. Life got in the way. :)

Chapter 10

I swore loudly and violently as I shocked myself for the third time that morning. I had already sustained two minor burns, and one very nasty looking cut that refused to stop bleeding.

Brother, who was working next to me, looking up in surprise. It was usually him who was spouting profanity and throwing things.

"Rikku," he said bemusedly. "Why in Spira are you so distracted today?"

"Nothing," I said. "I mean, no. I-- I'm not. I'm not distracted."

Brother gave me a look shrewd look that I had no idea he was capable of making. "Did--" He coughed, faltering a bit on the words. "Did something happen last night? Between you and--"

"No!" I practically screamed, and accidentally dropped a wrench on my foot. "Not at all! Nothing!"

Brother continued to scrutinize me, but then seemed to come to the conclusion that I was telling the truth. "Good," he said firmly. "Not that I'd think you'd sleep with Ryhcis, but--"

"What?" My voice got, if possible, even louder. It was my turn to look bewildered. "Ryhcis?"

"Yes." Brother looked up at me with furrowed eyebrows, suspicion creating deep lines on his face. "Who did you think I meant?"

"No one. Never mind," I mumbled, and turned back to my work. I had thought he was talking about Gippal, of course. Not that anyone knew what had gone on between us in the glade last night, but my mind still lingered on the incident, on Gippal soft but firm lips, his strong but gentle arms tightening around me, causing me to tremble uncontrollably with--

I dropped the wrench again as my hand began to shake and let out another fierce litany of swear words.

"Rikku. . ." this time it was Buddy, looking at me with that I knew was gentle concern, despite the fact that I couldn't see his eyes behind the goggles he wore. "Perhaps you need a break."

"Lunch starts in an hour," I replied, flashing him a smile that I hoped didn't look as fake as it felt. "I'll take a break then. Now, hand me that drill there."

I reached out my hand but Buddy didn't move. "No, Rikku," he said in his deep voice. "You take a break now."

"Buddy--" I gave him my best glare, but he didn't respond. I changed it to my best pout (the one that always works with Pops) but that didn't get a response either. I turned to Brother and tried both expressions on him, certain one would work, but he turned his head away and stoically ignored me. Finally I threw down my tools in a very childish gesture and stalked out of the room.

I decided to go outside, because if I was taking a break I might as well enjoy it, and, while I had grown quite found of the temple, I often found myself feeling a little closed in and longed to see the sky.

I stood under it now, in front of the temple (I wasn't going to the glade) letting the morning sun shine down in it's full brilliance upon my upturned face. I shut my eyes against the scorching brightness of it, letting the yellow-white light dazzle the darkness behind my eyelids instead. Wishing it would dazzle the darkness inside, as well.

I laughed to myself then, laughed at how very teenage-angst-novel that sounded. I opened my eyes again to take in the simple beauty of the unblemished blue sky, thinking that, despite it's teenage-angst-novel-ness, it was sort of true.

I mean, I didn't have darkness inside, for Spira's sake (come on, I was still Rikku. When was I ever dark?), but I certainly had confusion. And guilt, and worry, and the memory of Gippal's hands and-- oh, Spira-- mouth on me.

Suddenly shivering, despite the warmth of the sun, I moved over to the bridge and clamped my hands on the railing. I nearly fell off the edge a second later when I heard someone speak my name.

Ryhcis was walking towards me from the temple. Beautiful Ryhcis, with his tan skin and pale blond hair and so very very intense eyes. Body slim and willowy and graceful, movements quietly assured. So different, yet so similar, to Gippal-- tall and muscular, spiky hair the color of straw, one good eye that flashed with anger and sparked with humor, movements blatantly and obnoxiously confident.

Ryhcis was the sweet wine sauce that you only got once or twice a year because it was so expensive, but which you absolutely adored and listed as your favorite food. Gippal was the cheap but spicy salsa that burned your tongue and gave you indigestion, but that you ate anyway because tasted so damn good.

Oh Spira. I just said Gippal tasted good. He did taste good. And now I'm admitting it!

Something of my wild thoughts must have shown on my face, because Ryhcis moved forward and ever-so-gently touched me on the arm.

"Rikku?" he said in the lovely, velvety voice of his. "Is everything okay?"

"Fine," I replied, forcing another smile. "No reporters."

Ryhcis smiled shortly at that, his long fingers moving to encircle my wrist in a gesture that was slightly possessive but infinitely tender. "Is your injury still bothering you?"

I had almost forgotten about my wounds. Al Bhed potions were miracle drugs. "No, they're not. I mean, I'm fine."

"You talked to your father recently, didn't you?" Ryhcis asked, turning to place a hand on the railing like I was doing, keeping his other on my wrist.

"Yeah." I had actually talked to Cid just that morning, on the Commspheres. "He was his normal self-- ranting and raving and fully determined to get in his airship and fly on over here. He would have too, except for the fact that he's the leader of the Al Bhed and he's got responsibilities and his advisors wouldn't let him."

Ryhcis smiled, but his grip on my wrist had tightened slightly. "Did you tell him not to come?"

"Yeah," I said, with a little laugh. "No sense in having him fly all the way over here just to see that I'm perfectly fine. He'd show up all red in the face, shouting and blustering, and I have to calm him down." I laughed again. "And by calm down I mean shout back. And then Brother get all into it too, and--"

I happened to glance up at Ryhcis face then and was shocked by what I saw. "Ryhcis!" I squealed. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said, forcing a smile and deliberately erasing all traces of the emotions I had seen. For a second there, his face had been twisted into a kind of tortured grimace, like the one I always used to wear whenever I had to clean my room or take a bath or do any of the things I hated as a child.

For a second there, his eyes, normally so intense, had been deep with sorrowful. For a second there, I had caught them looking at me with something very akin to regret. For a second there, I had thought I'd seen them shimmer with tears.

"Rikku," Ryhcis mumbled, removing his hand from the rail and sliding it up my arm, turning me more fully to face him. "Rikku. . ."

He leaned down and kissed me, gentle and tender and sweet as always, but with a sort of insistence behind, a sort of plea. His hands still held my arms, preventing me from wrapping them around him. I wasn't sure I wanted to, however.

The kiss felt good, don't get me wrong, and Ryhcis was wonderful and everything, but I kept seeing Gippal's face in my mind, feeling his arms holding me close, tasting his lips on mine.

Ryhcis spared me from deciding what to do by removing his lips from mine and taking a step closer to me so that our bodies were pressed firmly against one another.

"Rikku," he whispered in my ear, and the grip of his hands suddenly tightened alarmingly. "I'm sorry. So sorry."

With an incredibly painful jerk, my arms were wrenched up behind my back, held in firmly in place by an iron grip from the hands that had once stroked my hair so tenderly.

"Ryhcis," I gasped. "What are you--"

He didn't answer, but whirled me around, one hand keeping my arms pinned behind me, the other snaking around to cover my mouth.

"Please," he said in that velvety voice of his, as though simply asking me not to eat the last cookie or something. "Don't scream."

"Don't scream? What the hell are you doing? Let go of me!" That's what I would have shouted, had his hand not been over my mouth. I tried, but all that came out was a lot muffled squeaks. So I attempted to plunge my elbow into Ryhcis' stomach.

No go on that one either. Not only did he have rock hard abs (something I had noticed before, just in passing), but he was holding me in a way that made any sort of movement difficult. All my struggles did was reopen the cut I had on my arm, making sticky blood snake down my arm and drip onto the bridge.

I began to panic slightly as Ryhcis started dragging me backwards, across the bridge. First I kicked out with my legs, thrashing wildly, then dropped to a dead weight the moment he stopped to try and contain me.

"Rikku," his voice was still soft,and slightly pleading. "Don't be like this."

The one hand moved away from my mouth and I took the opportunity to suck in a great lungful of air (he'd been making it rather difficult for me to breathe), preparing to scream. Before I could get out even so much as a peep, something else was slapped over my mouth, something wet and slimy.

I tried to scream again simply from the grossness of it, and ended up inhaling some of it's sickly sweet smell. Instantly, I recognized what it was.

Cmaabehk Tnik, a potent Al Bhed drug used for putting people to sleep. The cloth has been soaked in it, and already I could feel it's effects taking place. My mouth became fuzzy and my head spun. All the fight left my limbs and Ryhcis began dragging me backwards again. My skin erupted into cold chills, but whether this was from the Cmaabehk Tnik, or the fact that the person who I had almost considered my boyfriend was kidnapping me.

Kidnapping me. My head spun even wilder at that thought. Ryhcis was kidnapping me. Why in the hell was Ryhcis kidnapping me? Why--

Why was it all dark? Did I close my eyes? I hadn't meant to close my eyes. Was I sleeping?

No, not yet. But Ryhcis wanted me to. He had drugged me. Because he was kidnapping me.

Kidnapping me. Ryhcis was. . . He couldn't. . . I needed. . .

Gippal. . . .
---

When I woke up, it was dark, I was cold, and there was water near me. I registered the water first, both from the sound and from the fact that it was slowly seeping into my t-shirt (a dark color, thank goodness) and my jeans. That's probably why I woke up in the first place. I mean, everyone knows wet jeans are just about the grossest thing in the world.

I sat up, wanting to move away from the water, and was surprised to find myself unbound. I hadn't forgotten what Ryhcis had done to me, and had expected at the very least to wake up tied to a pole in the middle of a lake of man-eating alligators, or stripped to my underwear and dangled over a fire pit to be cooked, or bound to a rock to be used as a sacrificial gift to the gods. Any of those things made more sense than the fact that Ryhcis had kidnapped me.

I looked around, wondering slightly fearfully if he was there, but I didn't see anybody. It seemed that, wherever I was, I was all alone.

It was dark, and I was now slightly damp as well as cold. The floor seemed to be made of stone, as did the walls, and there were faded symbols that I could just make out carved into the rock. I had a sudden memory of Via Purifico and wondered if that's where I was. Possibly not that deep or in the dungeons, but at least somewhere below Bevelle.

I was just beginning to formulate a plan (starting with gathering up the courage to explore the dark room) when a door opened, seemingly out of the blank stone, and someone stepped into the room, framed from behind a flickering orange light.

I withdrew quickly into the shadows, opening my eyes wide to absorb as much of the light as possible so they could get used to it and I could see who this person was. Once I recognized him as Ryhcis, I wasted no time.

Leaping forward from my shadowy hiding space, I kicked out ferociously with my foot. Since I had already established that his abs were not the best place, I aimed lower and was rewarded with a rather undignified moan. I darted towards the door, having no idea was out there but intent on escaping, and collided with Meyn.

"Why Princess," he said in a voice I had never heard him use before. "It's nice to see you, and so eager to be off. We were just coming to fetch you."

"I bet," I snarled, trying to twist out of his grip so I could pop him one as well and keep on running. Let me tell you though, for an old guy he was strong.

"Don't struggle, Rikku," Ryhcis said softly, coming up behind me and putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" I shrieked, and arch my back wildly, throwing myself from Meyn's grasp. I hit the floor hard, but I didn't care. I was up again in a second, and ready to keep on fighting until I found a rifle shoved into my face.

"Ryhcis may do whatever he wants," Meyn said coldly. "You are in no position to issue orders. Cid may be bargaining for you life, but he has no way of knowing if that life is terminated or not."

"Cid?" I asked, frozen by both the rifle and the calculating ice of Meyn's eyes. "My dad?"

Meyn didn't answer, but moved around behind me and jabbed the rifle into my back. Ryhcis took my arm and began leading me down what turned out to be a hallway, also of stone, and lit with torches mounted on the walls.

I had guessed correctly, we were beneath Bevelle temple, but after going up several flights of stairs and reaching the main hall, I realized we hadn't been very deep. Evidence of destruction was apparent in the small piles of rubble laying about between the pillars, and large section of one wall missing. I remembered talking with Sahden about the murders and explosion in Bevelle, but didn't have time to ask about anything before I was shoved into a small waiting room with a couch and two chairs. Ryhcis was handed the rifle and Meyn disappeared, saying he'd be back in just a moment.

"Don't try anything, Princess," he advised, then shut the door behind him. I shot a glare at Ryhcis, then, not knowing what else to do, flopped down unhappily on the couch. It didn't occur to me to be scared then, not really. Mostly just annoyed.

"Rikku," Ryhcis said. "Please, don't be like this. . ."

"Like what?" Okay, so annoyed and angry. "You freakin' kidnapped me, and now I'm supposed to what. . . be grateful?"

"We're just holding you for a little while." Ryhcis sounded sad. Almost pleading, though his graceful Al Bhed was as flawless as always. "Just until your father meets out demands."

"What demands?" I was starting to feel a little more frightened now. I did not like people threatening my family. "If you're planning on hurting him--"

"No, no, no," Ryhcis was shaking his head. "You're not understanding. We have you in our power." He was moving closer to me, and the rifle was dropping slightly. "You are the one we will be threatening to hurt. Cid will be the one giving up his power to save you."

"His power?" I asked. My skin crawled with every step Ryhcis took, but I was trying not to let my revulsion show on my face. The longer he talked, the lower the rifle got.

"Yes." Ryhcis' voice was soft and silky, just like the first time he'd kissed me, but instead of making me shiver with delight like I'd done then, it made me want to throw up. "Your father will hand over his throne to me and Meyn, and we'll take charge of the Al Bhed."

"He doesn't sit on a throne," I said, and couldn't help the sarcasm. "He's a leader, not a king." I refrained from adding ëdumbass'. "And why would you want control of the Al Bhed? From what I've heard, they're an unruly bunch--"

"Rikku. . ." Ryhcis actually sank down on the couch next to me with this, the rifle touching the floor. I gave a small, involuntary twitch when his leg touched mine, but I don't think he noticed. "I thought you of all people would understand."

"Understand?" How had I never noticed before that this guy was utterly and completely crazy? "Ryhcis, you kidnapped me and are threatening my family so you can exile them from their position of power, and you thought I'd understand?"

Ryhcis chuckled, and put a hand on my knee. It took all of my willpower not to scream and punch him in the face. "No, Rikku, I thought you'd understand why I'm doing all of this. Aren't you the princess? Don't you want to be leader someday? You've tasted power. Don't tell me you don't like it."

"That's different," I said, not really concentrating on what I was saying, but trying to find a way to escape his touch without drawing too much attention to myself. "I don't have a choice. I never kidnapped anyone for it."

"But I didn't have a choice either," Ryhcis said, as though it were the simplest thing in the world. "The only way we could get enough power and support for Al Bhed Vun Spira was to get power over all the Al Bhed, and to do that we'd need either to kill Cid and all his children, or get him to hand it over willingly--"

"Wait!" I leapt up from the couch and practically fell across the room to the opposite wall. I wanted to be as far from Ryhcis as possible. For some odd reason, I could feel tears pricking at my eyes. My mind was jumping around crazily, and I blurted out the first thing that it settled on. "Al Bhed Vun Spira?"

"Of course." Ryhcis stood, moving towards me. I bit the inside of my lip hard, and tasted blood. "We had begun formulating our plans even before the attack on Home three years ago. We thought that maybe Cid might die in all the chaos and confusion--"

Yeah, I was definitely starting to cry now, despite my best efforts not to. How could this delusional, rilfe-wielding man talking casually about killing my father be the same guy who kissed me so tenderly and told me the sunshine suited me?

"-- but that didn't work out. I stayed underground with Meyn during the blast, and that's when Al Bhed Vun Spira really got started. You see, we were just so angry. . ." He moved toward me again. "Home was attacked again. We were forced from our home again. Again, we had to beg for refuge from the world that has done nothing but shun us for most of our history.

"Everyone always seems to think they can take advantage of the Al Bhed-- ridicule us, murder us, drive us from their cities, but still use our machina and depend on us to keep making more."

I was pressed as hard against the wall as was probably humanly possibly, my vision blurring from my tears but fixed unwaveringly on Ryhcis. I was barely taking in what he was saying, but I could almost understand. That was, until he touched my arm.

"They're pigs, Rikku," he whispered. "They're all pigs. All the self-righteous, self-serving bastards who looked at the Al Bhed, at all our intelligence and machina and civilization, and sneered."

"You're--" I began, but it came out as a croak. Ryhcis' eyes seemed to be hypnotizing me.

"I'm right, aren't I?" Ryhcis breathed. "You're father just doesn't understand. Sure, he's work for a better future for the Al Bhed, but only within the Al Bhed. He just couldn't grasp the idea that if the rest of Spira were to be assimilated in our ideas, and our ways, then discrimination would end. Completely."

"But that's--" I still couldn't quite get my voice to work.

"It's the only way, Rikku." Ryhcis was grasping my arm now, his body very close to mine. "Once Al Bhed Vun Spira manages to convert the rest of the world to our ways, we will be the dominate group, and we will be respected, not ridiculed."

"You're--" I swallowed hard. "You're just like Yevon."

"What?" Ryhcis' voice lost all it's softness, and his fingers tightened on the rifle. I didn't repeat what I'd said, but it seemed I didn't need to. Ryhcis leaned forward to put his lips to my ear and whispered "No, Rikku, we're not. Don't ever say that again."

He pulled back, his eyes staring into mine as though he was going to kiss me. I simply stood there, sagging against the wall, shaking, with tears trickling down my face. The room was too small, Ryhcis was too close, and I couldn't take in everything he'd said and done. My head was beginning to ache, and my arm was throbbing. I felt faint, and attempted with little success to pull away from Ryhcis.

He was muttering something, but I couldn't understand it. Bile rose in my throat. Ryhcis wanted to kill my family. It kept going through my head. Ryhcis is a killer. He wanted to kill my family.

In desperation, I lashed out at Ryhcis, headless of the rifle, catching him in the shin and sending him sprawling. Unfortunately, his grip on my arm dragged me along as well. Ryhcis hit the couch, while I fell over one of the chairs. The rifle hit the floor, and went off with a tremendous band. We both threw our arms over our heads and lay there, immobile.

Then Ryhcis whispered my name and the door burst open.
-
--
---

Okay, so I know it may seem like this has taken a totally random and weird turn and all, but trust me, this has been planned for awhile. If it seemed predictable or cliché or whatever, I'm sorry. The story's kinda been writing itself. I know it may seem like a lot of other fics other but we are writing with the same characters, same beginning story line. Go figure.
Next chapter is Gippal's POV and I hope to get in some really good drama. Good luck me.
Thanks to all the readers/reviewers, like always!