It might be nice to go read the rest of the story again if that last thing you read was chapter 13, aeons ago when I last updated. Chapter 1 has been changed, and in a celebratory mood at finising this story, all other chapters will be re-uploaded very soon.

So. I started this story over a year ago. I thought this summer that I'd be able to finish it, but obviously that didn't happen then. And then I started school and suffered through some pretty tough stuff which left little room for my life, much less any sort of pleasurable occupation for my time. But thankfully that's mostly done now, and I've been able to get my butt back in a gear and finally FINISH THIS BITCH!

I'm so sorry to anyone who's been waiting since chapter 13, if any of you are still left out there. I wish I'd finished this earlier, both so you didn't have to wait so long and so you wouldn't have any huge expectations for it or anything. I would almost suggest you go back and read the whole thing over again so you remember why you might have liked it in the first place (and forget how mad at me you are for not updating). But I'm sure if this ending will live up to the rest of the story. It's been a long time for me, too. I tried though, because I do love this story. I never expected it to be so long or be so well received, but I'm glad it has been. It's one peice of work that I'm am incredibly proud of.

So, many many apologies for the wait, and I hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing this and getting your responses. :)

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Chapter 14

"She's been through a lot."

It was these words that woke me almost a day and a half later. I didn't open my eyes right away, but I didn't have to. I could tell that I was nestled safely in my bed back at Djose, and that my now-familiar and comfortable room was filled with people. I felt sleepy and numb, but even so, I had a pretty good idea who these people were.

"So I don't want you boneheads upsetting her!"

Yes, that was definitely my dad. And if I wasn't mistaken the retort would not be long in coming--

"It'll be you that upsets her, you senile old man. Did you forget your hearing aids again, or are you shouting that loudly on purpose?"

-- from Brother.

"I think she's waking up."

This voice, soft and serious, would have been almost foreign to me had it not been the one I was most hoping to hear.

Gippal. I opened my eyes.

I was indeed back in my bed in my room in the Djose temple, rolled comfortably in layers of blankets and wearing my favorite, coziest pajamas. It didn't occurred to me until later to wonder how that had come about, since the people in my room were all guys; Brother, Cid, a heavily bandaged Buddy, and Gippal.

Brother was perched on the end of my bed, looking as he always did, slightly anxious and more than a little hyper, like young soldier about to enter his first battle. Buddy sat in a chair near him, beaming around his goggles and bandages. Cid seemed to have abandoned a chair by the door, taking to pacing the small room instead. Gippal sat in a chair right next to my head. He wasn't smiling. For some reason this made me nervous, and I found I couldn't look at his grave expression for long.

"Buddy," I croaked instead, turning to look at my friend and companion of so many adventures. "Are you okay?" It suddenly occurred to me how selfishly I had acted. I felt my cheeks heating up as I blearily remembered my reaction to Ryhcis's-- Spira, I could barely even think it-- death.

"The others. . ." I stammered around my embarrassment, starting to make an attempt at sitting up. "Are they okay?" More memories came back to me, broken images smeared with the stain of those final moments in the temple. "Someone got shot. . ."

"He's okay," Buddy assured me, even as Gippal stoically pushed me back against my pillow. "Your father and his people got there in plenty of time. They're all okay."

"And you?"

"I'm fine." He flashed me another bright smile, though I sensed something a little sad behind it.

"And. . ." The name stuck in my throat. To my continued embarrassment, I felt tears spring to my eyes. I turned my head to hide them from Gippal, who continued to sit there, staring at me like I was nothing more interesting than a rock. With something gross on it. "And. . Meyn?"

"He was taken into custody yesterday," Cid answered. He reached forward to tousle my hair affectionately, a rare gesture that me feel like I was six years old again. "That--" he switched briefly to the common tongue to let off a litany of swear words and insults that during any other circumstance I would have found exceedingly amusing, "--won't be bothering anyone again."

I tried to say "Good" but all I managed was a sort of mangled squeak. I nodded instead, and the room fell silent. Brother absentmindedly patted my foot.

"Why?" I asked at last, looking up from my lap to sweep my reddened eyes around the room, albeit avoiding looking at Gippal.

"Why what, chickpea?" Cid asked warily, throwing in one of his old nicknames for me, like a farmer waving some shiny trinket to distract a crow from what it really wanted.

"Why did he do it?" My voice was monotone-- it was the only way I could keep it from cracking with all the confusing emotions swirling through my head.

"He was crazy, Rikku," Brother said. "He was insane. You heard it yourself from. . . well, you did. Meyn wanted to be ruler of the Al Bhed. He wanted to covert all of Spira into Al Bhed, so he could rule over them too. He just wanted power." Brother's explanation started speeding up as I began to shake my head, his normally rapid Al Bhed word's blurring together. "He was reckless, Rikku. He didn't care about anyone. He would've shot any-- I mean--" He trailed off, his words careening into another deep ravine of oppressive silence.

"He said he was sorry," I whispered at last.

"Meyn?" Cid, ever tactful, practically shouted.

"No, not Meyn." I was near crying again. "Not Meyn."

"Ryhcis."

The name feel heavily from Gippal's lips. I looked up at him at last, my vision blurring. He looked back at me, solemn and serious. "Ryhcis said he was sorry."

"Yes." My voice was barely above a croak. "He did."

Gippal continued to look at me with that inscrutable expression. The room practically crackled with all the suppressed emotions sparking through it. I alone was trying my hardest not to burst into loud wails, or start screaming and throwing things, or just rolling over and dying on the spot. Then Gippal did something that completely crashed through every single one of my efforts to control myself. He nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "He meant it, too. You should. . . you should forgive him, Rikku."

My only response was a little gasp as I lurched to a sitting position. As confused and groggy as I felt, I didn't miss the significance in Gippal's words. By telling me to forgive Ryhcis, he was telling me that he had already done so. He'd made his peace with Ryhcis and he wanted me to do the same, to let go and just be free again, free to fall. . .

I threw my arms around Gippal's neck. "Thank you," I whispered in his ear. I would have whispered more, but it wasn't the time. I needed time, but I knew he was going to give it to me. He held me gently, tenderly, not saying a thing. He'd said it all.

After a few seconds of our clinging embrace, I felt another pair of arms go around my back. Buddy had moved over to join the hug, supporting me soundlessly as well. Then Brother added his tightly muscled arms to the huddle. I heard Cid cough discreetly in the background and knew he was watching us, slightly uncomfortably, possibly putting a hand on Brother's back in an attempt to show he was engaged without it becoming too strange.

I felt myself drifting back towards sleep as I lay nestled in the protective embrace of the people closest to me. Had Tidus and Yuna been there-- and maybe Paine and Kimahri and Lulu and Wakka too-- it would have been perfect. As it was, it came damn close, and I was able to slip back into oblivion feeling strangely liberated.

I did not see Ryhcis in my dreams that night, nor the day after in which I continued to sleep on and off-- until Tidus and Yuna did actually show up, after which point all bets of sleep were off-- but I knew that if I had, it would have been okay. It hurt to think about him for quite some time, but it wasn't that bad of a hurt. It was like a bruise that kept getting prodded, but that eventually healed up until it was nothing more than a memory of pain.

Just as Gippal had advised me, I forgave Ryhcis. And somewhere, somehow, I knew that he forgave me too.

----

"I am not shirking my responsibilities!" I yelled in response to the garbled Al Bhed insult Brother had just shouted at me. "It's my break, and if I want to go outside, I can! That's what a break means!" Shaking my head and turning away from whatever Brother's shrieked in reply, I took a step towards the door and nearly knocked Yuna over.

"Sibling problems?" she asked with one of her beautiful, soft smiles.

"Oh no, Yunie." I smiled back, bright and broad and almost entirely genuine. "We're just working. Well, not me since right now I'm on my break!" I threw the last words over my shoulder, just for Brother's benefit.

"I see." Yuna smiled again. "Well if you're looking for something to do Tidus and I are packing the last of our stuff, and we'd love extra help. . ."

"Sure, Yunie." I gave her a quick hug, wanting to make my escape now before the slightly concerned crease in her forehead developed into anything more. "Maybe if I get really really bored, and it's a choice between that and pulling out my own hair for entertainment."

Yuna laughed, but seemed as though she wished to add something else. Something serious. I didn't let her, but darted towards the front door and outside into the watery sunlight that was just starting to emerge from the afternoon clouds.

There were a quite a few people outside, workers on their breaks like me, Spirans come to visit the Faction for whatever reasons, Al Bheds on shipping or delivering missions.

I waved to a few I knew, nodded to some I didn't, and made my way to the bridge where I was generally out of the way. It had been two weeks since our sojourn at the temple in Bevelle, and in that time I had been doing a lot healing. Surprisingly, I had felt little compunction about going on the bridge again, and after a few days of my being out of bed it had once again become my spot of solace and refuge. The clearing was a slightly different story, though now I had reached the point where I didn't mind going there on my own, but I refused to go in with anyone else.

I considered hoisting myself up on the railing and sitting there with my back to the bridge to better enjoy the view. I'd just put one foot up when I heard someone call my name. Well, sort of my name.

"Hey, Cid's Girl!" Gippal was striding towards me, a bit of anxiety not quite hidden behind his normal swagger. "What are you doing?"

"Jumping," I said calmly, putting my other foot up on the railing. Had it been a month ago, Gippal would probably have replied with something like "Oh, doing something good for humanity for a change?" but as it was he reached up and yanked me back to the ground.

"I was kidding," I said, somewhat defensively.

"You shouldn't," he retorted shortly.

"Never ever?" I challenged.

"Never ever," he agreed solemnly, but I caught the twinkle in his eye.

"Oh that'd be no fun," I said, twirling back to the view. "Then I'd have to act like some old, dried up curmudgeon. I'd have to act like-- you!"

"I'm only a few years older, girly," Gippal mock-growled, grabbing me around the waist to spin me back to face him. "It makes me mature and wise. You're a little kid."

"Yeah?" I pretended to struggle in his hold. "You're a man-slut!"

"All the ladies just like me."

"Well I'm cute!"

"You are." He let go of me then, and our playful jeering dissolved into awkwardness. This was not the first time. Ever since we had returned from Bevelle, Gippal and I had been struggling to find a balance between us. For awhile he had played the supportive, comforting friend, but now that I was no longer lying in bed all day and crying at the drop of hat things had been forced to change again. We tried to go back to the easy friendship we'd had before, but it wasn't quite right. It seemed the comforting sensitive Gippal and the arrogant bantering Gippal couldn't exist at the same time, possibly because there was always something underlying it all. . .

It was kind of like that with Tidus and Yuna, though without the underlying weirdness. We'd be joking and laughing one moment, then the next I would fall silent, and then Yuna would be asking me if everything was okay. I never knew what to tell her. Of course it wasn't okay, but that wasn't the point. The point was I usually wanted to pretend it was. There were only a few times when I really wanted to talk about it, and those times I would be the one to bring it up.

Realizing Gippal and I had been standing there in silence for a few long moments, I searched for something to say.

"Tidus and Yuna are leaving tonight," was the first thing that popped into my head.

"Good," was clearly the first thing that popped into Gippal's, since he looked a little surprised at himself for blurting it out.

"You said it was okay for them to stay," I argued-- well, almost whined to tell the truth. Spira were things strange between us. "When I asked before, you said it was fine. And you like Yuna--"

"I know," Gippal cut in hastily. "And I didn't mean it like that. I do like Yuna. It's just. . . it's good to know they're going home, you know, so they can go back to being. . ."

"Happy couple one-oh-one?" I asked. Gippal laughed.

"Exactly," he said. "They're a little too perfect sometimes, in my opinion."

"Tell me about it." I put one foot on the railing behind me, leaning back on my elbows. "It doesn't help that you hate Tidus."

"I don't hate him!" Gippal's indignation was a little too forceful to believed. I snorted.

"Like hell you don't." I tossed my hair, adopting a look of mock-concern. "What is he, competition? ëFraid you're not the prettiest boy in Djose anymore?"

"Yes," Gippal said seriously, then half-laughed and shook his head. "No, not the pretty stuff-- I'll always hold that title--" He laughed again as I shoved him, then grew serious once more. "But the other stuff. I've been wanting to ask you. . . did he ever. . . I mean did you. . . were you and he. . ."

Suddenly catching on to his meaning, I let out a giggle. "Oh," I said, trying to hide my smile behind my hand, but not doing the best job of it. "I get it."

"I'm not saying I'm jealous," Gippal said hurriedly. "I didn't mean competition for me necessarily. I mean I don't really care, I was just wondering."

"Okay." I was smiling again. Mischievously in fact. "Well if you were just wondering then I'm sure you won't mind if I don't answer your question."

That stunned him into silence for quite some time, allowing me to look over my shoulder at the view as I quietly savored my victory.

"Fine," Gippal snapped at last. "You got me. I'm jealous. Now will you answer the question?"

"Oh, I don't think so," I said in a singsong voice, on the verge of giggling again. "We've covered your jealousy before. It's something you need to work on, remember?"

"Yeah," Gippal said, quietly. "I remember."

I didn't know what to do with such a deep and serious response to my attempt at serious-reponseless teasing, so I fell silent.

"Sorry," Gippal said at last, squinting at some vague point about my head. "I know you don't want to talk about him--"

"No." I reached out to touch his arm. "I mean, yes it's hard sometimes but I really don't mind as much as everyone seems to think I do, or should. I'd. . . I'd rather talk about him than pretend he never existed, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Gippal agreed. "I kinda felt the same way when my dad died a few years back. Everyone was either avoiding me so they didn't have to talk about him, or singling me out so they could spend all day asking me how I felt. If I wanted to talk about it, I would, but other than that I just wanted them all to act normally again."

"Exactly." My hand stayed on his arm. After a moment he put his broad fingers over mine.

"I guess I haven't been acting very normally, have I?" he said with one of those quirky little smiles that always made my heart start going twice as fast.

I swallowed. I hadn't come out here for this kind of discussion, and I had tried to dodge it with my play at lightheartedness, but now that we'd started I didn't want to stop.

"How do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean before you got stolen away to Bevelle and everything, you and I. . . we had something. Or we were starting to."

"Yeah." I was staring at his fingers, curling so protectively over mine.

"I know you were with Ryhcis--" Now that I had sort of given my permission, the name barely caused a reaction. "--but we still. . . At least I. . ."

"Me too," I said quickly, fighting the urge to laugh at how ridiculous our ëserious' conversation was. "I. . . I couldn't help myself."

Gippal chuckled low and took a step closer. "Did you want to?"

"Sometimes," I answered, finally raising my gaze from our hands to his face. What I saw there made me feel as though I'd never be able to look away.

"Me too," Gippal echoed my words of earlier. "I never planned to fall for you Cid's Girl. Not back when we were teenagers, and certainly not now."

"You didn't fall for me when we were teenagers," I murmured, suddenly aware of how very close we were standing. For once, though, I had no desire to back away.

"Like hell I didn't," Gippal growled in response, moving even closer. His hand came off mine and moved to cup my cheek instead. "I fell so hard, I think I've been climbing back up ever since. It made it so easy for me fall again this time. This time, it was like. . . a free fall."

"You told me you'd never been in love before," I breathed, slightly overwhelmed by his sincerity and the fact he remembered that conversation from what seemed like so long ago. It was rather un-Gippal like. I felt confused and disoriented like I always seemed to be feeling, but this time it was in the nicest way possible. I had taken a step closer to Gippal as well; our bodies were now touching one another. A shiver ran through me.

"I lied," Gippal said, leaning forward to press his cheek to mine so his breath tickled warm in my ear.

"Gippal. . ." I found my other arm had curled around his waist. I was practically clinging to him.

"Just say the word, Rikku," he replied softly. He was simply holding me, not nuzzling or groping in the slightest. Just holding me. "Say the word and I'll leave you alone."

"No." I was clinging to him now. My legs didn't seem to be able to support my own weight, and my body had gone oddly jelly-like, molding itself to his. "I don't want you to. It's just going to take time. . ."

"I know." He feathered a few kisses on my temple. "And I'm willing to wait. I'll wait forever, Rikku."

"You don't have to do that," I said, and pulled back. "I just wanted to let you know. I'm not used to falling and it's going to take me sometime to get adjusted to the feeling, you know?" Gippal nodded. We stood there staring at each for a short eternity.

"Well then," I said at last, adopting my cheery attitude of before. "Are you going to kiss me or what? ëCause I can tell you one way you've have been acting normally, and that's the arrogance thing. If you think I'm going to ask again, you've got another think come--"

My words were swallowed up as Gippal grabbed me by both arms, bent his head with the most delicious smile I've ever seen and covered my lips with his own.

It was heaven. Finally, there was no guilt, there was no second guessing, there was just Gippal and I finally able to open ourselves up, to accept what we really had known all along. I had at last come to the edge of that cliff as I stood there on the bridge with Gippal, his arms wound around me and his tongue teasing it's way into my mouth. I was ready to spread my arms and fall forward into the long drop of the unknown, almost positive it would be as Tidus described, that Gippal would be waiting for me at the bottom--

A sudden memory flashed in my mind and I drew back from Gippal, or at least drew back as far as I could with his arms clamping around me the moment I moved.

"What?" he asked, a bit of the old Gippal shining through in the irritated squint of his eye and the way he leaned forward, clearly upset to be interrupted. But there was also a bit of the Gippal I was just starting to get to see in the worried tightening of his arms and the concern lacing his tone.

"Nothing," I replied. "Just wanted to ask what that was for."

"Because you asked me to, you idiot." Seeing it was nothing serious, old Gippal took over completely, pulling me back-- I offered little resistance-- and lowering his face to mine once more. "And I wanted to."

"Good," I said happily, then surrendered completely to the warm safety of his electrifying kisses. Closing my eyes, I took a leap. And Gippal was waiting, with open arms.

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Yes, there is one more chapter. I know. But you've stayed in this long. Hopefully you'll be up to one more.

I apologize if Rikku's greif seemed short lived, but I felt there was enough of her reaction over Ryhcis's death in the last chapter that there didn't need to be much more in the rest of the story. I really hope this ending is as good as everyone seemed to think the rest was.

And sorry for grammar/word/spelling mistakes. I was so excited to get this up, I didn't proof read it as much as I should.

Thanks to anyone who has stuck around this long, and anyone who is reading this for the first time.

Review please.