The Side Effects of Unoriginality

Author's Note: I do not own FFX-2. I simply own the plot and grammatical errors.

This is the "rescue chapter," told from Gippal's POV, naturally. Having said that, I can admit that this was a very difficult chapter to write. I'm not a guy—so I don't know what sorts of things he'd be thinking about.

P.S. — There will be fluff!

Chapter 12: Fight or Flight

I found a nice little rock to sit on as we waited for the ship to return. Cid and Rosemary were cozied up against a rock similar to the one I was on. I found myself wishing I had gone with Rikku and Turrang. At least then I could be having some fun. Sighing deeply, I stared off into the rolling waves of green, wondering why I had never come to visit before. The Calm Lands were actually pretty nice, calm even. Ironic, I know. Relaxing on the rock, I stared up into the bright blue sky, trying to think nice, pleasant thoughts. To be honest, I don't know how I managed to not force myself onto that ship with Rikku. It was probably my fear of how she would react if she thought I was babying her.

A loud squawking above my head brought me crashing back into reality. Opening my eye irritably, I glared up into Dezba's bright golden face, pushing his beak away. Sitting up, I continued to glare at him, growling in my chest. He pranced about nervously, picking at my shirt, tugging me. I swatted him away, threatening to do more if he kept up. I don't know why Rikku would keep something better meant for carting things around. She's a strange girl.

"Payd ed, pentpnyeh," I growled, swatting at him again. (Beat it, birdbrain.)

When he squawked again, dipping his beak to clutch at my shirt, I tightened my hand into a fist and made to attack him. Damn bird is much faster than he lets on. I collided with the ground, but the bird took off at least.

"Cdibet pent. Niehat y banvaldmo kuut crend." (Stupid bird. Ruined a perfectly good shirt.)

"Gippal! Muug ujan drana! Drana'c csuga!" (Look over there! There's smoke!)

"Csuga?" I echoed softly, slowly getting to my feet. "Frana?" (Where?)

"Ed...ed muugc mega frana dra creb fyc raytehk," the man replied sadly, his arm dropping to his side. (It…it looks like where the ship was heading.)

Something in my gut told me Rikku was in danger. Being hardheaded—well, it never made listening to my gut easy. This time though, I wish I had.

As I raced to where the ship had last been seen, I held my breath in hopes that I wouldn't lose it later. Whenever Rikku was involved in something, there was simple means of handling it. No, with her, it was either complicated or non-existent. Sometimes, it was fun—saving the world was fun. But when it came to her livelihood—or lack thereof—it gave me pause. Cid and Rosemary, as well as those who had stayed back for technical support, were hot on my heels. I suddenly wished I had followed Dezba when he took off several minutes ago. That should have been my first clue that something was wrong, not the pillar of smoke smashing against the pristine blue sky.

"Cid, what's going on?" I heard Rosemary ask the man directly behind me. "What's happened to the ship, muja?"

If he was anything like I remembered him to be, he would purse his lips and not pretend to have all the answers. Try as he might, Cid was nothing but mud wherever his children were involved, Rikku especially. I couldn't blame him. Whenever I thought something was wrong with her, I cringed at the thought and tried to think of happier times, like when we were children.

Rikku was always in the middle of something. I just chalked it up as being apart of her nature. She was naturally curious and had the strongest sense of duty that I had ever seen before. She was devoted to a fault and valued the lives and happiness of others before her own. I suppose that's why we never worked out before. She was too busy saving the world to notice what I wanted for her, for us. I admired her selflessness, though, and that's probably why I went out and did my part. If I could help her come home sooner, then it was worth it. If she could see me the way I always saw her, then being shot in the chest was worth it…

"Oh my god..."

Smoke billowed up in thick, black pillars, splashed against the sky in an ugly contrast. Below this were the remnants of my ship, metal crunched together in ugly heaps, crinkled like paper. Yet, this was the least of my concerns. My men lay splayed out for all the world to see, in front of the smoldering remains of my ship. Blood spots littered their clothing, their faces, glass and metal shards covering what the blood missed. Eyes closed and mouths twisted with pain, they were the epitome of my lacking leadership skills. Because of my inability, they had suffered.

"We did what we could...it just wasn't enough."

I turned to the man who spoke. He was beaten up badly, but had suffered considerably less than those sprawled out on the ground. He held his side, cracked ribs probably, favoring his right leg as he approached me. Rosemary rushed past, taking the man into her arms, hobbling with him as he aimed for a rock to sit on. Rosemary and Cid helped him to get situated until he was able to sit without teetering.

"Fryd rybbahat rana? Damm sa ajanodrehk," I said, staring into his face, begging him for something like closure. "E haat du ghuf." (What happened here? Tell me everything. I need to know.)

"Y fiend yddylgat ic frema fa lenlmat ynuiht," he began, closing his eyes as though something pained him. I doubted that it had anything to do with his physical wounds. "Turrang yht Rikku tet draen jano pacd du gaab dra creb vnus lnycrehk. Pid ed fyc hu kuut. Fa fana aycemo ujanbufanat."

(A fiend attacked us while we circled around. Turrang and Rikku did their very best to keep the ship from crashing. But it was no good. We were easily overpowered.)

"Yht yvdan dryd?" (And after that?)

"E...E tuh'd ghuf," he stammered, tears swelling up in his eyes. "Ajanodrehk fahd pmylg. E's cina fa lnycrat." (I...I don't know. Everything went black. I'm sure we crashed.)

"Drah frana yna drao? Frana yna Turrang yht Rikku?" (Then where are they? Where are Turrang and Rikku?)

"E's cunno, Gippal, pid E tuh'd ghuf." (I'm sorry, Gippal, but I don't know.)

"I said where the hell is she?!" I practically yelled into the man's face. I tore him from the rock as I balled my fists into his collar, holding him at arm's length, above me. I shook him violently, anger surging throughout my body. I trembled with the mounting emotion. "Where is Rikku?!"

"Gi-Gippal..."

I cast about for Turrang, having heard his voice amongst the mounting song of chaos. Kicking aside metal sheets and glass, I found him, just as beaten as the rest, though there was something dangerously familiar in his eyes. It reminded me of the first time he admitted he had failed me. It had been so long ago that I nearly forgot. It had only ever happened once.

"Where is she, Turrang? Where is Rikku?"

He beckoned me closer with a flick of his wrist. Taking hold of mine, he stared into my eyes with something akin to agony echoing in the green depths of his eyes. It worried me, seeing him so brutally honest, so off-center. The shambles he was left in had little to do with the crash. I feared what he would tell me.

"It tore a pretty big hole out of the ship, Gippal," Turrang said, tightening his hold on my wrists, as though willing me to understand whatever it was he was trying to say. He coughed, blood leaking from the sides of his mouth. He wasn't in terribly bad shape, but he needed immediate attention. "She…she said you wouldn't be ha-happy about that…so she…she…"

Turrang's grasp on my wrists weakened until his arms hung lifelessly at his side. I shook him, trying to bring him back to the realm of consciousness. I needed to know where Rikku was. I had to know!

"She ran off…to find the fiend…"

It was Rosemary who spoke, holding what looked like Rikku's scarf in her hand; only the one clutched so tightly in her grasp was stained with splotches of blood. Her blood, I thought regrettably. The woman who was the closest thing Rikku had to a mother looked up to me with fear intermingling in the spirals of green akin to the Al Bhed. Like any good mother, her mouth puckered with fear, merging with the part of her mind that knew Rikku best.

Immediately, she formed terrible outcomes and all of the possibilities of her adventuresome daughter's lifestyle. Her tanned face crumbled with a dismal imagination of what possibilities had likely already happened—none of them fairing well for our missing girl.

Gritting my teeth, I pulled the scarf away from her, watching as she crumbled into an unusually silent Cid's arms. Shoving the soft fabric against my face, I found myself wondering—if only briefly—if I'd ever get a chance to return the beloved thing to her.

Somehow, someone managed to coerce me into helping return the wounded to camp. I must have been pretty tuned out of my mind to have been so easily commanded about. Of course, perhaps part of me knew that it was something Rikku would have done…had she been there. I wondered where she was. I wondered if I'd ever see her again. I soon realized that those aren't the sorts of things you should think about when the person you care the most about is unaccounted for.

"I can't just sit here and wait," I said, slamming my fist against a wall. Several people's heads snapped up and peered in my general direction. "What if she's hurt?"

"It wouldn't be the first time."

Cid stood idly by, something missing from his usually determined eyes. The man seemed lost, standing in a sea of his people. This was his natural playing atmosphere, and yet he looked as though he didn't know up from down. He stared helplessly as several healers worked, running around to tend to the newly opened wounds and the like. I couldn't blame him. His only daughter was out battling against the chill night air and whatever manner of fiend was out there. That thought alone must have torn his heart asunder…the same way it did mine.

"That girl's been gettin' inta trouble since she was a kid," Cid explained softly, all manner of gruff masculinity gone from him. "I don't see why I'm so su'prised, with her bein' out there like she is. But she's my little girl, Gippal. She's my only daughter."

"I know what you mean, Cid," I said, falling against the wall. I closed my eyes in memory, trying to envision her smiling, golden face on last time. Slowly, I sunk into the shores of my memories, drowning myself in their images.

I remembered Rikku—the smiling goofball with a passion for machina. She was the epitome of beauty and intelligence. She knew her way around a machina better than most men my age and she knew her way around me. Rikku was always just beyond my grasp, surrounded in a glowing aura. I could never touch her; all I could ever do was watch her float further and further away from me. Even now, when we were so close to one another, she was still just out of my reach. She was my goal; she was my happiness.

"I failed her…I should never have let her get on that damn ship!" I said, sinking to my knees. I trembled, the preamble to the tears that were sure to come. A heart-wrenching shudder rushed through my body, shoulders hunched forward for my weakness. "I was so stupid! How could I not have seen this? I…I should have done something for her!"

"If you don't stop blubbering, so help, I'll shove my foot in your ass."

Rosemary stood in the tiny doorway fuming, her arms crossed over her chest with an indignant flare. She stomped closer towards us, glaring before she snagged me by the collar. She shook her finger in my face threateningly, her green eyes glowing with passion.

"Sitting here complaining about her being gone isn't gonna bring her back," she said, casting her glare towards Cid before she focused on me again. "Aren't you supposed to be taking care of her, Gippal? Aren't you the one we left her with in the first place?"

"It's not like I made her get on that damn ship! Now she's gone. Now she's—"

"Shut up! Don't whine about things you can't fix. If you wanna do something half-assed, then so be it! That's all you've ever done, anyway. The minute something gets too complicated or too hard for you, you give up! It's time you cared about something with your whole heart. No more of this pussyfooting around, you understand me! You either go out there and rescue my little girl or don't ever come back into her life again!"

Rosemary's grip on my collar lessened, her anger dissipating into her true emotion. I stared into her swirling green eyes, sadness finally overwhelming her. She shuddered like I did, tears now streaming down her face. She used the back of her arm to wipe away the tears, trying to keep herself together. When that failed, she turned her back to me. Beneath her anger and her painful words, she was just a mourning woman wanting her daughter to return safely.

"You can't half-love something, Gippal," she said, heaving with emotion. "You either love her for all its worth…or leave her alone."

The Calm Lands were an incredible expanse that reached and rolled on for several hundred yards. The grassy hills and sparse trees made most fiends flee to cavernous holes dug into the sides of the mountainous sides. Of course, the occasional Great Marlboro was said to roam about, but everything else only came out of their caves when there was someone to eat. Luckily for me, I'm part machina so I escaped a lot of unnecessary fighting.

Overhead, the darkening sky looked like an ink-covered canvas, dotted with the occasional star. Purple clouds made their slow treks across the open night sky, going off to distant lands. I slowly began to wonder just how far Dezba had taken my Rikku away. When I found the little whelp, I'd punish him for taking her away from me. I smiled at the thought of how indignant she'd be. Surely Rikku would scold me and try to run as far as she could just to spite me, not knowing how tightly I'd hold her to me. But I could never deny her flight. Wherever she was, I would be. The sky was the limit…unless she wanted more.

The cry of a fiend alerted me that I wasn't alone anymore. Perhaps I had found Rikku in all of this spacious chaos. My heart leapt into my throat as I began racing towards the source of the sound. The unmistakable cry of a chocobo—Dezba was there, which meant Rikku was too! I don't know how it was possible, but I ran faster, smashing my feet into the ground as I propelled forward into the chilling night air. It stung as it pierced my skin, but the painfully throbbing lump in my chest wouldn't let me focus on such mundane things. Finding Rikku was my only priority.

Home to many cavernous dwellings for fiends, the 'Calm Lands' was perhaps a precarious name for such a place. Maybe 'Fiend Basin' was a better designation for this particular region. Of course, I could see the dilemma Yevon would have had, trying to peruse Summoners into making their Pilgrimage through something so dangerous perception-wise.

I was sure the sound had come from one of the caverns. I just had to figure out which one of the many—

"Pyreflies?" I said to myself as a small bunch raced past me. Pyreflies meant fiends. And if I knew anything at all about Cid's girl, fiends meant Rikku.

Picking up my lost speed, I made a mad dash towards the source of the pyreflies. Standing in a battered heap of her once golden glory was Rikku, leaning against Dezba for support. Her legs threatened to give out beneath her, much like the rest of her body. The way she was barely holding onto her daggers told me she had been fighting for an awfully long time. She was ready to collapse.

"Rikku."

She tilted her gaze towards me, but instead of relief, as I expected to see, she paled visibly, backing away from me. Dezba squawked uneasily as I approached cautiously, backing away from me with his mistress. The two of them backed into the rocky mouth of the cave, Rikku trembling with something akin to fear. Her open eyes echoed nothing but screamed out in agony against my being there. I didn't understand. Didn't she want me to save her?

"Rikku—what's wrong?" I asked, reaching out towards her.

"Kad yfyo vnus sa!" she screamed, slicing at the air separating us. Any closer and it would have been me. "E's hud nayto du ku du dra Farplane! Hu! Hud oad, bmayca. E ryjah'd dumt res—" (Get away from me! I'm not ready to go to the Farplane! No! Not yet, please. I haven't told him—)

"Rikku! Kad y rumt uv ouincamv!" I said, lunging towards her. (Get a hold of yourself!)

On hindsight, I realize that probably wasn't the best idea to have popped into my head, especially since she was the deranged one waving the pointy daggers around. The sharpness of her blades was amazing, as was the ease of it slicing through my skin, embedding itself in warm, pulsating muscle. I fell into her tiny, trembling form, the sudden onset of pain dizzying up my sense of reality. Surprisingly, she caught me in her arms, though most of her strength had gone to fending off fiends.

"Gippal," she whispered, tightening her hold around me. Ed'c naymmo oui. Oui'na hud—?" (It's really you. You're not—?)

"Hu, E's ymeja, kiddo. Fuihtat huf, pid ymeja ymm dra cysa," I replied softly, nuzzling into the top of her head. (No, I'm alive, kiddo. Wounded now, but alive all the same.)

"E's cunno," she practically sobbed, burying her face into my chest. (I'm sorry.)

A heavy storm caught the three of us off guard. Traveling in such weather with her condition would only worsen it. Besides, I was too afraid to return Cid and Rosemary damaged goods. Cid was known to pack a punch and I was sure his lady friend was no pushover, either, if her tone was anything to go on. So I suggested to Rikku, once she calmed down, that we remain in the cave until morning, when it was safer to travel. She didn't argue, admitting that she wasn't entirely over her great fear of lightning. I didn't blame her. That stuff gave me the creeps, too.

While Rikku set about to setting up camp at the cave's entrance, I was on patrol duty. She had sent Dezba out to find firewood, making him promise to stay close to the cave. It's a wonder he understands her. but, knowing Rikku, she probably found him when he was young and went through the whole ordeal of teaching him how to understand her and vice versa. She was a people person, after all, and believed in justice and equality. It was one of her nobler qualities, not that they all weren't nice. I just preferred that one to some of her others.

As was to be expected, the cave stretched onwards and down, spiraling for a while before opening onto a stone altar. I suppose there was once some amazing treasure there. quirking a brow, I realize Rikku must have taken it. She would never settle inside a cave without have investigating it first. Growling, I marched back up the path, determined to give her a piece of my mind.

"Rikku, you little brat—"

Somehow, I forgot whatever it was I was about to say. Standing in front of me was a vision from whatever machina deity existed for me to have been privy to such beauty. Rikku was clad in little more than a wet shirt, which clung to her body rather befittingly. The red tinge to her cheeks and the coyness of her next movements reminded me of her purity. Trying to deny the urge I suddenly had to throw her down on the impromptu bed mats, I gulped loudly, casting about for something to distract myself with. Unluckily for me, all I could see was Rikku.

"Is…is something w-wrong, Gi-Gippal?" she stammered, her face hot with innocence.

"Only the things suddenly coursing through my head," I said, before I realized it. When I looked at her face, she was petrified. "Ah, damnit, Cid's girl. I—"

"W-What sort of things?" she asked. She stepped closer to me hesitantly, my breath catching in my throat.

I didn't need much more of an invitation than that. I reached out and entangled her trembling body in my arms, bringing her against my warm body. She trembled in what I can only imagine as delight, if the soft moan she released was any indication. I bent down and gently nipped at the side of her neck, another moan following. When she didn't stop me, I trailed my tongue up to her earlobe, nibbling and suckling until she writhed in my arms uncontrollably. Taking the soft flesh between my teeth, I bit down softly, reveling in the feel of her body pressing itself against me, every curve and contour setting my senses ablaze.

Her fingers wound their way through my hair, something I had longed for since she found herself in Djose. I found her neck again, biting softly, sucking on the soft skin until it was purple and red with abuse. She tightened her grasp on my hair, moaning into the open air until I capture her lips with mine. The shocked sound she made swam into my mouth, my tongue into hers. I found her bottom lip and traced it, her body trembling, another moan finding its way into me. Tentatively, her tongue moved against mine, slithering into the warmer parts of my mouth. I paid the new feel no attention. I was too enthralled in the way she felt.

The warm crevices of her mouth were inviting and sweet with her innocence. I pulled away enough to take her bottom lip into my mouth, suckling and nibbling until her moans were breathy and unbalanced. I dragged my hands up her sides and her arms until I could cup her face, holding it between my hands to find her eyes staring at me with longing. As much as I wanted to take her, it wouldn't feel right. I could wait, right?

"Gi-Gippal," she murmured when I disentangled myself from her warmed body. "D-Did I do s-s-something wrong?"

I didn't exactly know how to answer her without hurting her feelings. I walked back towards her and captured her mouth in a passionate kiss, bruising her fragile lips with the force of the message I tried to convey. She melted as my callused hands traced her bare arms, finding her neck again. This time, I cupped her face and stared at her, watching the lingering sensation leave until she was without sexual ecstasy.

"I want you. But I also wanna respect you, Rikku," I murmured against her lips, watching her eyes come to life, her cheeks reddening from realization.

I left her standing there, lost in her thoughts. The perplexed tinge to her eyes was priceless. For once, I had stumped Rikku. It was a beautiful sight, her bruised lips and glowing, red cheeks. She was like that because of me and she actually enjoyed it. For some reason, I thought she'd laugh at me for even thinking of her in such a way. I suppose that she must have wanted something like that to happen, too, right? What other reason does a girl have for letting a boy kiss her and demand more afterwards?

Rikku went to stand beside the cave entrance while I began preparing the fireplace for when Dezba returned. I must have moved funny; the wound Rikku inflicted earlier screamed out and I was left to double over in pain. That girl could really pack a wallop.

"Gippal—what's wrong?" she asked, falling to her knees beside me. She touched my back, her other hand reaching for mine. She pulled back immediately when the warm blood oozed onto her fingertips. "You're bleeding? You moron!" she scolded.

Before I got another word in edgewise, she had flipped me onto my back. She pinned me there with a stern glare, one I knew better than to disobey. So I remained where I was until the familiar feel of down feathers brushed against my side. Dezba had returned, squawking sadly as he settled down beside me. I had to admit, for a chocobo, he was a pretty damn good pillow. Moments later, I felt the warmth of a fire beside my right arm, Rikku returning to sight. She settled herself atop of me, her legs straddling either side of my hips. The shirt she was wearing rose up her thighs and I had to fight the urge to push it up further.

"Hey! What are you doing?" I demanded when her fingertips brushed over my stomach.

"I need to have a look at your wound," she said indignantly, though I knew she was thinking the same thing I was. her touch was so gentle and so light. It was…intoxicating.

Rikku made quick work of my shirt, a bandage practically materializing out of nowhere. I could argue. Any excuse for her to touch me was welcome, even at my own expense. I noticed that my half-nakedness was having the same effect on her that her flashy show was on me. When she finished with the bandage, I could feel her muscles preparing to leave me. I took a hold of her wrist and held her in place, surprising both of us with my boldness.

"You never told me," I said.

"Told you what?" she squeaked.

Pulling her down, I nuzzled the top of her head with my cheek, the blonde tresses soft and familiar. I would always remember Rikku's hair. It was different from all the others I'd ever met. Her hair was golden to their pale blonde; even my hair paled in comparison to the glimmer of her hair. She was golden like the beloved desert we Al Bhed called Home.

"When you saw me, you freaked out. You said you couldn't go because you hadn't told him. I'm obviously 'him,' so what didn't you tell me?" I asked, tightening my arm around her lower back. The other remained lying across her upper back, my hands digging into the wildness of her hair. "Rikku?"

"I never told you how happy I was being with you in Djose. I should have told you a long time ago…what it's been like. I felt like I was home, Gippal, because you were here with me. We could have been anywhere…as long as you were there, it made things easier," she said softly, her voice saturated with emotion.

This was the side of Rikku I hadn't seen in years. She was usually too aloof to be real; she didn't want to admit that she cared about anything too much for fear that it would be taken from her. So she distanced herself, the same as most Al Bhed. The only difference was she had to shoulder the entire weight of Spira on her shoulders not once but twice. She endured their pain and made it her own so that she would never have to admit that she had lost people, too.

"You didn't have to tell me, kiddo," I said, kissing her forehead. "I knew…I felt the same. Djose wasn't my home until you made it yours."

"I'm gonna kill 'im! That pycdynt is sleeping with my daughter!" (bastard)

"Muja, relax. You're overreacting, again…" (love)

"Overreacting? The hell with that!"

Whoever was bickering really needed to keep it down. If I remembered correctly, Rikku was sleeping and she needed her rest. Whoever it was making all the noise was gonna wake her and then they'd have to deal with me. I opened my eye, the sun blaring into it angrily. I immediately closed it, but realized that I had seen two distinct shades in the sun's brightness. Those had to be the two people yelling.

"Hey, do ya mind? I'm kinda in the middle of keeping Cid's girl warm. She needs to rest. If she wakes up, you'll be dealin' with me," I grumbled, trying to sound intimidating. "And for you Al Bhed out there, gad mucd. Fa'na cmaabehk rana!" (Get lost. We're sleeping here!)

"Why you little punk!" one of the two people said, sound way more intimidating than I did. I opened my eye to figure out whether it was friend or fiend.

"Cid, don't you lay a finger on that boy!"

Yup. Definitely a fiend.

Slowly, I got into a sitting position, Rikku pooling in my lap, sleeping soundlessly. Last time I saw her, she was a light sleeper. For all of the noise not to have bothered her, a number of things had to be true. First, the two arguing were Cid and Rosemary. The sound of parents fighting never wakes up a child, especially when the child is used to that sound. Second, seeing as the first was practically confirmed, if my face being in tact was any indication at all, we had been found out. And lastly, Rikku had to be exhausted. Nudging my leg beneath her, she only groaned and shifted into a more comfortable position. Great, I'm gonna be skewered while the Princess Brat sleeps through it all.

"Gippal—any last words before I kill ya, son?" Cid demanded angrily, heaving as we finally locked eyes.

Rikku shifted again, murmuring something as she did so. I stared down at her, leaning back on my arms. When she moved for the third time, she position herself so that her head was resting against my chest, her face tilted upwards as though she wanted to kiss me. It was only then that I heard what she had been whispering.

"Gippal…save me…" she murmured, pressing her lips against mine while she shifted.

At that moment in time, I couldn't have cared less what Cid wanted to do to me. Waking up to Rikku cradled in my arms and hearing her say my name in the breathy groan could hold me over for all eternity if need be. Ignoring to the two ogling people, I reached out and brushed a strand of golden hair from her face, cupping her cheek as I did so. The slight touch, surprisingly enough, roused the sleeping girl from her sleep. She yawned, her bright eyes fluttering open.

"Good morning, Gippal," she murmured, tightening her arms around my neck. She tilted her head to the left, staring at me quizzically. "Is something wrong?"

"Nope," I said. "I'm all good. I could die a happy man now."

Author's Note: Fluffy good? Fluffy bad? Constructive criticism is welcomed!

It would mean the world to me if you would review and give me your honest opinion. Thank you.