It's short, if not necessarily sweet. I'm doing my best to keep the story up to it's standard, even though it is nearing the end. Two more chapters. Thank you, everyone, who's reading and especially who are reviewing!

Chapter 11

Nothing short of an explosion could have distracted us from our lips gently pressing, hands softly stroking, pulses racing wildly. . .

After what seemed like an eternity that lasted only a few rapid heartbeats, or a few rapid heartbeats that lasted an eternity, Rikku tore her mouth away from mine. . .

"Gippal!"

As if the shout wasn't enough to jolt me back to the present, it was accompanied by a hard blow to the back of my head that sent me reeling.

"What?" I demanded, after slamming my hand down to keep myself from smashing into the table. "I agree!"

"I didn't ask you a question," Sahden said, fixing me with a stern glare.

"Oh," I replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head. One of the papers we were working on stuck to my hand, then fell to the floor. I looked dispassionately over my shoulder at it, but made no move to pick it up.

"Oh for Spira's sake--" Sahden hit my arm this time with something that was halfway between a punch and a push. "--And for my sake as well, just go talk to her."

"What?" I stared at him in surprise. "T-talk to who?"

"You know who." Again, he fixed me with that paternally knowing glare. "I'm not going to get any work out of you when you're like this. Go to talk to her, and apologize if you must, or propose if you prefer, just resolve it."

"Propose?" I asked, but I was already half out of my chair. "Sahden, I think you're mistake--"

"Go!" my mentor shouted, and threw a pen at me. I ducked and dove out the door. I heard him laugh good-naturedly behind me as he added "Good luck!"

I waved at him, then, oddly emboldened by those words, strode off towards the Tilgmehks room looking for Rikku.

She wasn't there.

"I told her to take a break," Buddy explained to me in his patient voice when I demanded (a little irrationally, I'll admit) where she was. "She was pretty distracted."

"Really?" I asked, and suppressed a "Ha!"

She was thinking about the glade, same as me.

"Yeah," Buddy replied. "I think she went outside, but she didn't come back. I didn't see her at lunch." He turned to Brother. "Did you see her at lunch?"

"No," Brother answered, then glared at me, as though I might be the cause of her absence. "Maybe she's with Ryhcis."

I matched his scowl with my own at that. A thought suddenly occurred to me that made me feel like my heart had just been tied to a concrete block and thrown in an icy lake-- maybe the reason Rikku was so distracted was not because she was thinking about the glade. At least not with longing and happiness like me. Maybe she was feeling guilty, and horrible and-- my heart gave another wrenching lurch-- disgusted.

"I'll go check," I said, and practically stormed out of the room. I was ready to pound Ryhcis' face in if I found him, but he wasn't with the rest of his normal squad. He wasn't in the mess hall. He wasn't outside.

And neither was Rikku.

Feeling frustrated and angry and more than a little worried, I started to head back inside, fully prepared to get on the in-temple CommSphere network and demand to know where they both were, when I saw it-- a dark stain on the wood of the bridge. A dark stain that looked a lot like blood. That was blood.

I knew right away it was Rikku's. There was too much evidence to think otherwise. Rikku was missing, Ryhcis was missing, and there was blood outside my temple. Which meant Ryhcis had tried to hurt Rikku. Which meant he now deserved to die. Which meant Rikku might be dead already.

With a strangled cry, I practically fell back into the temple, shouting for someone, anyone. Shouting for help.

The next half hour passed in a red tinged haze where I was barely aware of anything except my total anger at how long everything was taking, and this deep dark fear I kept trying to force away that it was all someone how too little, too late.

I could sense all this movement and noise around me; all these people doing and saying things that I just couldn't make sense of. Sahden was the only one who could say anything that I half-understood, and even then my mind was still concerned primarily with Rikku.

Where was she? Why was she there? What was happening to her? Was she still alive?

Eventually I was aware of a lot a screaming and yelling between Brother and a Commsphere, and I concluded that Cid must have been contacted. I couldn't bring myself to go anywhere near that little blue orb, but thank Spira Sahden was there.

He completely took over the whole thing, and eventually formulated what seemed like a plausible idea that Rikku might be in Bevelle. I have no idea how he got to this, but I did manage to glean that it had something to do, not only with Ryhcis, but with Meyn.

And once I found that out, there was no stopping me.

I charged towards the back of the temple, throwing off the consoling hands of Derrick and Sahden and anyone else who tried to comfort me and 'make me see reason'. I had no time for seeing reason. All I could see was an image of Rikku, painted in my mind with over-bright colors and an immense attention to detail.

I could see her so clearly it was painful, but less painful than thinking about anything else-- mainly Ryhcis and Meyn.

Once I reached my destination of my very own airship, So Raynd, I started shouting for it to be prepared. Needless to say, I was a little irrational at this point, and it was unclear, even in my mind, who I was shouting to.

However, Buddy, Brother, and a few other of the Tilgmehks that had, I realized then, followed me with what seemed to be most of the Machine Faction, moved immediately in response to my commands.

So Raynd was unhooked and shaking gently by the time it took me to convince Sahden I had to go.

"I have to go!" I shouted at him.

"I know," Sahden said, taking my arm gently and drawing me aside. At the time, I was too upset and unreasonable to fully appreciate how incredibly he was handling the situation. "Just take a deep breath, Gippal, and relax for a moment."

"I can't relax--"

"Think," Sahden said, gripping my arm harder. "Is there anything you need to bring?"

"The ship's got it all," I said, practically straining against his hold.

"And the Faction?" Sahden wasn't letting me go that easily.

"You take care of them," I said, then stopped. "No, you come with me, on So Raynd." I glanced around. "Derrick can take care of the Faction."

Derrick looked at me with a mixture of confusion and abject horror.

"How about Csynkio?" Sahden suggested.

"Sure," I agreed carelessly, desperate to get going. Csynkio was another old friend who'd helped me set up the Faction in the first place. A sudden thought struck me, and I whipped me head around to stare at Sahden. "You're thinking about if I die--"

"Csynkio!" Sahden called, adding a long list of instructions in Al Bhed without looking at me. Finally, he turned to meet my eye and said "I'd be happy to accompany you."

"You--" I started, but turned at the sound of someone screaming my name.

"Gippal!" It was Brother, shrieking like a dying bird. What he was saying got lost amid his near supersonic noises and Al Bhed that was so rapid I even had a hard time understanding it, but the basic message was clear: Let's get the hell out of here!

I strode towards the airship and up the ramp, followed by Sahden. The rest of the Faction watched solemnly as it closed behind us, and we took off, rising steadily into the endless grey clouds of the sky.

The moment I entered So Raynd I felt better. The interior, painted in dark blue and purples, always seemed to having a calming effect on me. Sahden moved past me, heading towards the elevator, and though it bothered me slightly to not know who was piloting the ship, they seemed to be doing a fine job of it. I took a moment to rest my head against the cold metal wall of the loading dock and breathe.

Feeling a hand touch me almost tentatively on the arm, I turned my head and cracked open my eye. Brother, of all people, was standing there, an odd look on his face.

"Ryhcis," he said.

"No," I replied wearily. "I'm Gippal."

I paid for that with a painful blow to the arm. "Ryhcis," Brother said again. "He's got her somewhere."

"Yeah," I said, wincing a little and staring at Brother suspiciously. The last time we'd had normal conversation had been when we were probably about four.

"It has something to do with that Al Bhed Vun Spira?"

"Yeah," I said again, and was just thinking that for once in life Brother might be on my side when he drew back a tightly muscled arm and punched me in the face.

"What the hell?" I shouted, recoiling.

"How could you not have seen this coming?" Brother shouted back. "My baby sister is in the hands of those creeps-- you're supposed to protect her!"

"Since when?" I demanded, even though I had been thinking along the exact same lines. "You hate me!"

"But Rikku doesn't," Brother explained as though it were the simplest thing in the world.

I knew how stupid I'd sound even before I said it, but I still couldn't stop myself from going "Really?" and straightening up a bit.

Brother let out an extremely loud, exasperated sigh. "She's adored you since she was a kid, Gippal, and then we came to work here she was. . . anxious. About seeing you. And I much as I do hate you--" He glared at me as though to prove it, "I thought you'd take better care of her than this."

I hung my head in shame, Brother voicing exactly what I was thinking. Still, the fact that Rikku had been anxious about seeing me. . . "Hey," I looked up, a though suddenly occurring to me. "What about you? You're her big brother."

Now it was Brother's turn to looked ashamed. "I failed," he muttered.

"Me too." I found myself sympathizing with him, which totally baffled me. After a few moments of awkward silence, I decided my anger of earlier was a safer emotion than any pity for Brother, or worse, anything Rikku's name conjured up in me.

Brother suggested heading up to the deck, and I seized upon that, leading the way almost proudly to the elevator. I enjoyed the feeling of it being my ship, and under my control, but I was happy to find Buddy seated confidently at the controls, piloting the ship fairly effortlessly towards Bevelle. My hands seemed to be shaking a lot at the moment, and I didn't know how well I'd do steering. I'd be tempted to just crash straight into Bevelle, then jump off the deck, guns firing.

That reminded me-- guns. Sahden at asked if I thought I needed to bring anything along with me, and I told him the ship had everything we needed. I was thinking of the fully-stocked weapons compartment, which, I saw as I turned around, Sahden had already emptied.

The full reality of the situation struck me at that moment, and I burst out in hysterical laughter. Here we were, a whole group of Faction members as well as the Faction leader, flying practically across an entire continent to rescue our nation's leader's daughter, who'd been kidnapped by a independent radical group, fighting for rights for our own race. It sounded like something out of book, not my actual life, and because of that I couldn't stop laughing.

"Gippal." Buddy was trying to talk to me. "Gippal." His deep, calm voice cut through my insane laughter. "Gippal, we just received a message from Cid. He's says he's on his way to Bevelle as well."

I couldn't manage more than a muffled "mmphff" at the moment, still trying to suppress my giggles.

"He's been contacted," Buddy continued. "By Meyn."

That shut me up pretty quick.

"What did he say?" I asked, all tension and worry and anger returning to me with a force that was almost like a physical blow. I resisted the urge to leap over the pilot's seat and grabbed Buddy by the collar to make him talk faster. "What did he say?"

"He said he's got Rikku and she's relatively unhurt," Buddy began.
"Relatively?" I didn't even recognize my voice as my own, it was so close to a shriek. "Relatively?"

"And that they'll be contacting Cid shortly with their conditions for her safe return." Buddy didn't even turn in his seat, calmly steering the ship through a cloud bank. I could tell he was upset though, by the rigid set of his shoulders. "Cid's supposed to meet them in a Bevelle in an hour. He says he's counting on us to go in before that, and get Rikku to safety. We're supposed to be as discreet and quiet about it as possible, unless, of course, Rikku is in danger. And--" Buddy did turned around now, looking at us through his dark goggles. "If we fuck up, he'll kill us."

"Excellent," I said, striding over to the pile of guns Sahden had laid out on the deck. "Full speed ahead."
---

When we reached Bevelle, there was a heated argument about who would actually leave the ship and go in search of Rikku, and who would stay behind. I had to hand it to others for arguing with me, especially since I was pissed and wielding a rather large amount of machina fire power.

In the end, it was decided that just I, Brother, and Buddy would go into the temple where Cid said he thought Meyn's communication had been coming from. Brother came up with an incredibly elaborate plan of a sneak-attack involving suspension cables, roller skates, and spoons, but I had crushed his dreams by saying it'd be a lot simpler, and a lot less suspicious, if we just walked right up to the front door.

Buddy handed the controls over to another Tilgmehk who carefully maneuvered the airship near the temple, making it look like he was an inexperienced flyer who was having troubles holding his height. Buddy, Brother and I slipped easily over the side, landing as inconspicuously as we could in the streets. We watched the airship sail over our heads-- weaving and bobbing to fit the pilot's clever ruse-- in the direction of the official Bevelle landing strip. Once they landed, they were going to send a few others over to station themselves as backup, in case we needed it.

I hoped we didn't.

Marching confidently up to the temple door with my normal swagger, I threw the guard a contemptuous look, as though I barely considered him worth talking to. "I'm here to see Baralai," I said, without bothering to introduce myself. I spared a half-glance behind me to Buddy and Brother, not waiting for a response as I began pushing open the door. "They're with me."

The guard stammered something which I completely missed, then the door swung shut behind us and we were immersed in silence. Too much silence.

The temple was cold and had a dead sort of feel to it. It gave me the jitters, and I felt a little of my resolve wavering. Then I remembered that Rikku might be being hurt, lying in pain someone in this creepy temple. This was a lot more serious than poisonous sand ants or overzealous reporters. This time I really did need to be a knight in shining armor to Rikku, who had always been my princess, whether I recognized it or not. I needed to find her as fast as possible so I could gather her up in my arms and whisk her back to Djose and. . .

But there was a slight bit of a problem in finding her. Where to begin?

My dilemma was solved a moment later when a gun shot rang through the eerie silence of the temple.

"Stay here," I commanded Brother and Buddy, and dashed towards the source of the noise. It had come from out left, and after a quick scan of the area, I located two possible doors. Picking one at random, I threw it open and stepped in, gun raised and cocked.

I had absolutely no idea what to make of the scene that met my eyes.

Both Rikku and Ryhcis lay on the floor, an Al Bhed rifle between them. If either of them had been anything less than fully clothed, I would have started shooting right then and there. As it was, Rikku looked fairly unharmed, except for her slightly matted hair and some wetness on her t-shirt and jeans. She scrambled up from the floor after realizing who I was and flung herself towards me with something very close to a shriek.

"Gippal!" For a brief moment it was heaven as Rikku's arms twined around my neck, her body pressed to mine and her breath soft and warm on my skin. I caught her in a sort of one-armed hugged, keeping the gun trained as Ryhcis the best I could at the same time, despite the fact that I would have liked nothing better than to hold Rikku properly with both arms and really express how happy I was to see her alive and well.

That's when I noticed that Rikku was attempting to squirm out of my embrace, pulling-- regrettably-- away from me and moving-- inexplicably-- towards Ryhcis.

"Rikku," I started to say with some confusion, her flowery metallic smell filling my nostrils and clouding my mind. I raised the gun again. "Get away from--"

"Don't shoot!" Rikku cried, and dove for the floor.

"I'm not going to--" I was utterly bewildered until I saw her scoop up the rifle and retreat away from Ryhcis again, who was slowly rising to his feet.

"Don't move," I growled, feeling uncontrollable anger rising up in me again. Again, I jabbed the gun forward. "I have absolutely no problem with blasting your lying ass off."

"Don't worry," Ryhcis sighed, sounding tired and beaten but not particularly worried. "I believe you." He turned towards Rikku. "Are you alright?"

I expected Rikku to spit venom, or at the very least favor Ryhcis with one of her withering stares, but she simply looked at the ground and muttered "Fine."

It was not 'fine' as far as I was considered, however.

"What did he do to you?" I demanded, turning first to Rikku, then to Ryhcis. "What did you do to her?"

"Gippal, please." To my surprise, I found Rikku's slim fingers curling around my arm, pushing the gun down towards the floor. Away from Ryhcis. Her luminous green eyes were wide as she stared up at me. "Is my father here?"

"What?" I was totally caught off guard by her attitude, unable to comprehend the fact that Ryhcis didn't seem to be Rikku's biggest priority at the moment.

"Is my father here?" she repeated, a twinge of desperation in her voice. "Did he come with you?"

"No," I said, and Rikku breathed a audible sigh a relief. Ryhcis started forward and I jerked the gun back up.

"Rikku," he said in what was unmistakably his best reasonable and calming tone. "I wouldn't have hurt your father."

Besides letting out a little squeak, Rikku seemed unable to answer him.

"You just. . ." she managed at last, and to my fury I saw tears welling up in her eyes. "You just said. . ."

"There would be no need if he'd cooperate," Ryhcis continued in his mellow voice, as though they were merely discussing the weather. "I told you, if he'd willingly hand over his title to me and Meyn, then--"

I leapt forward before Rikku could stop me and smacked Ryhcis hard across the mouth, knocking him to floor. Rikku half-shouted, half-sobbed my name and seized me by the arm, but I wasn't paying attention.

"Listen," I growled down at Ryhcis. "I am not kidding with you." I jerked him to his feet and threw him at one the chairs in the room. He managed to half catch himself and collapse into it. "And from now on, you don't look at her, you don't think about her, and you certainly don't talk to her. Got that, you delusional prick?"

"Gippal, please." Rikku was still pulling at my arm. "He's not worth it. We can hand him over to the authorities. Let's just get out of here."

"Where's Meyn?" I demanded of Ryhcis, barely hearing a word Rikku was saying. "Where are the rest of your psychotic Al Bhed Vun Spira cronies?"

"Around," Ryhcis answered, spitting some blood from his mouth.

"Do you have any way of contacting him?"

Ryhcis didn't seem ready to answer until I practically shoved the gun down his throat.

"No," he responded sullenly. A sudden thought occurred to me, and I tightened my grip on the gun as a cold stab of fear shot through me.

"And Baralai?"

"Unharmed." Ryhcis gave me a strange look. "He was conveniently called away, just like during the explosion. We have no reason to hurt the praetor. Yet."

The way he said it, in that calm and relaxed voice, made my blood run cold. "You had no problem hurting Rikku," I accused.

"That's not true." The my utter surprise, Ryhcis paled and glanced in Rikku's direction with wide eyes. "I didn't hurt her."

My eyes narrowed, and I snarled "The explosion--"

"It was meant for Brother," Ryhcis cut across me, and if I wasn't mistaken there were actual tears in his eyes. "Not for Rikku. She shouldn't have installed the mechanism." His cool exterior cracking, Ryhcis pushed himself from the chair, fixing us with an earnestly pleading gaze. "I didn't want to hurt her at all, ever. My assignment was to observe Cid's children, and if I saw an opportunity, take it, but I didn't hurt her." His voice broke on the last word. "I didn't hurt her!"

It was painfully obvious, even to me in my anger-tinged haze, that he was being sincere. Still, that didn't stop me from shoving him back into the chair with a growled "I didn't say you could move."

"Gippal." Rikku was still clinging to my arm. "Gippal, please." Feeling her body trembling against mine, I took my gaze away from Ryhcis long enough to glance down at her. Her green eyes were still immensely wide and swimming with tears. "Please, let's just leave."

It was unlike her to be this meek and scared. I had known Rikku for almost all her life, and I had never thought of her as someone who cried easily or who couldn't handle herself in a crisis. This new, emotional attitude was strange and unexpected, and kicked my protective instincts into overdrive.

"Okay," I said. "Listen, Buddy and Brother are waiting out in the main room. You go on out to them, and I--" I started moving towards Ryhcis but stopped at the look on Rikku's face.

"Don't hurt him," she said.

"Rikku." I couldn't restrain a small noise of exasperation and disbelief. "This guy was going to kill your family. He would have killed you as well if he had to--"

"I know," Rikku interrupted. "But please. Promise me you won't hurt him."

"If he needs to be subdued--"

"He won't." Rikku sent a brief glance towards Ryhcis, but she didn't appear to be able to look at him very long. She turned back to me. "I'll be with you."

"Now, Rikku. . ." I was about to protest, about to tell Rikku that I was only thinking in her best interest, that I didn't want her anywhere near Ryhcis ever again, and that those moments when she was missing and I didn't know if she was even alive were the single scariest moments of my life.

However, the words didn't come out. All I could think as I looked at her--standing there with her golden hair messy and down, eyes red-rimmed with lashes stuck together from tears, plain t-shirt and jeans mussed and dirty-- was that she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, and I was going to be damned if I let her out of my sight again.

"Okay," I said. I jerked Ryhcis out of the chair, holding him by the arm and jabbing the gun in his back. "We'll go together." The smile Rikku sent me was grateful and exhausted and utterly lovely. It made me feel as though everything was going to be all right.

Boy, was I wrong.

----

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Next chapter is written. I'll post it tomorrow, if not today.
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---anyone who had played Resident Evil 4, check out my new fic, Scars.---