Fade With Me
Chapter 10
"But Brother, we've searched all through the Djose Highroad." Buddy attempted to get his best friend to pay attention to him, but to no avail. "Was it...seven times already? I honestly don't think she's going to be there, since she wasn't there the last several times we checked. But I guess you never know…"
Brother wasn't listening to the navigator at all. He was messing around with the coordinate system of the Celsius jabbing in random destinations right and left. Pausing for a brief moment, he glared at Buddy angrily. "Shut up!" Then, he whipped back around to work on mashing buttons in again, and more likely than not, breaking a few things while he was at it.
Buddy sighed. It was a hopeless cause. Rikku had been missing ever since the Moonflow Mission a month and a half ago. The outcome of their never-ending search wasn't really looking too good for them…and they were more than just a little frightened to tell Cid about what may've happened to his little girl.
The tan Al Bhed strolled over to where their newest addition to their crew was working on all things electronic and technologic. "Hey, new kid. What're you up to now?"
The masked Al Bhed made an annoyed grunting noise, halting what he was working on for a moment so he could spare Buddy a quick glance. "Like I've already explained to you and dum-dum over there," he gestured to where Brother had now regressed to muttering unintelligibly to himself, "I'm working on installing my newest invention: Commspheres! I'm nearly done with it as we speak, but…" he trailed off, giving Buddy a pointed look.
"Hmm." Buddy scratched his chin in thought. "So, Shinra…once they're finished, we can utilize them by planting them all throughout Spira?" Shinra nodded slowly. "And that way, we can ask people if they've seen or heard anything about Rikku?" Shinra nodded again, that time even slower than the first one.
This kid was certainly good at making people feel like idiots, Buddy thought with a sigh. Shinra cleared his throat and angled his body towards the computer screen again. Buddy took the hint and walked back over to his own station. "I wonder where Rikku is…" he muttered to himself.
Everyone had refused to believe that Rikku was dead, washed up ashore somewhere after the Moonflow Mission. Brother and Buddy both agreed that something had gone wrong during the mission, but Rikku had been smart enough to haul tail out of there before she got herself hurt or something. So…now, they just had to figure out where she had hauled tail to.
"AHHH!" Brother let out a high-pitched shriek just as the coordinate system in front of him started to shoot off sparks of electricity at him. "OWWW!"
Buddy flinched at the sudden, loud noise. Shaking his head slowly, he walked over to help his friend out. "Brother, what happened? You okay?"
Brother stared at the coordinate system like it was possessed. He pointed to it with a shaky hand. "This thing is…EVIL!"
Slapping his hand to his forehead, Buddy resisted the urge to smack Brother upside the head. Throughout the last month and a half, he had managed to break several different things in his impulsive behavior, which is half the reason Buddy found and hired Shinra: to fix what Brother managed to break.
Muffled laughter made both Al Bhed snap their heads in Shinra's direction. He was turned around in his seat, head poking out above the top of it, and he was clearly laughing at Brother. "You break it again?" he asked slowly once his laughter had died down somewhat.
Brother balled his shaking fists. "YOU!" He charged over to where the kid was sitting with a furious scowl on his face. "Commspheres ready!?"
Shinra sighed heavily. "Gee. Calm down, Brother. My invention is complete." He turned around for a minute to pick something up. "Here it is---Hey be careful with it!" he shouted as Brother snatched the Commsphere from his hands. "They're fragile…don't break them, please!"
"How many did you make?" Buddy asked as Brother examined the Commsphere, clearly fascinated with the interesting invention.
"Just enough to scatter throughout all the major locations of Spira," Shinra stated matter-of-factly. "Will that be alright, you think?"
Buddy nodded, a smile on his face. "Yeah, that should be perfect."
---X---X---X---X---X---
"YUNA!" Brother exclaimed as he darted towards the High Summoner with a huge smile on his face. "In Besaid!?"
Buddy and Shinra let out a collective sigh, shaking their heads at Brother's antics. They gave each other a look that read, "Same old Brother, huh."
The ex-summoner looked genuinely surprised to see her cousin racing in her direction. "B-Brother? Hello!" she waved the three Al Bhed over to where she, Wakka and Lulu were standing. "What are you all doing here?" she asked once they had all reached her in front of one of the village's tents. Her forehead creased when she noticed how serious they all appeared to be. "Is everything alright?"
Brother shook his head, taking a Commsphere out of his pocket. He opened his mouth to explain, but Shinra beat him to the punch. "Rikku's missing. She went on a mission awhile back over in the waters of the Moonflow, but she never returned." Yuna covered a hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp.
Buddy nodded slowly. "Yeah, so Shinra here managed to create something that will help us find Rikku-"
"COMMSPHERES!" Brother interrupted, waving the device around in the air with a pleased look on his face.
"Careful!" Shinra shouted, obviously annoyed with the oldest Al Bhed. He jumped up several times, trying to take the invention from Brother's hands before something bad could happen to it. "You're going to break it!"
"Commspheres?" Wakka asked, scratching the back of his spiky red hair in confusion. He looked to his wife for help, shrugging slightly.
"How will the Commspheres aid in your search?" Lulu asked slowly, crossing her arms. "What do they do?"
Shinra huffed indignantly. "No matter where my ingenious invention is, it's able to send a transmission of its surroundings directly back to our airship-"
"MY airship!" Brother roared, but everyone ignored him.
"-showing us an image on my computer screen. The sound waves and the image pixels are transferred to the airship in a matter of seconds," he finished proudly.
Lulu nodded in understanding. "That would make perfect sense."
Shinra laughed all-knowingly. "Why thank you. I'm glad to hear someone appreciates what I do."
Buddy rolled his eyes. "So, Yuna. What are you doing in Besaid? I thought you were helping out in Bevelle."
Yuna sighed, tucking a stray tendril of hair behind her ear. "Well, yes…I was. I suppose I'm just taking a break." She looked to Wakka and Lulu for reassurance. "Like a vacation?"
Her childhood friends both nodded. "And she knew she was more than welcome here," Lulu stated.
"After all, she grew up in this village, ya?" Wakka grinned, ruffling Yuna's hair in a brotherly manner.
Yuna nodded with a small smile. Then her expression became serious again. "I'm worried for Rikku…and I wish I could help in some way." She paused for a moment. "Would you like me to take one of the Commspheres back to Bevelle with me when I return? That way, we can keep in touch and the other Bevellians can contact you if they hear anything about Rikku's whereabouts."
Brother squealed in delight, but again, he was ignored.
Buddy nodded in agreement. "That's a great idea. Good thinking, Yuna! That would really help us a lot."
She smiled shyly. "It's no problem."
---X---X---X---X---X---
"Uh, Brother?" Buddy murmured as his best friend set down the very last of the Commspheres. "You sure it was a good idea to put one here…?" He trailed off, looking around at the arid desert surrounding them. "What if Cid-"
"Rikku can show up here!" Brother cut him off with a wave of his hand. "…maybe?" He stood up slowly, brushing the sand off his suspenders.
Buddy nodded. "Yeah, you're right. There's just as much of a chance that she'd show up here as opposed to anywhere else." He scratched the back of his head in thought. "Let's just hope that your dad doesn't find out what happened-"
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOIN'!?"
Buddy's stomach plummeted to the sandy ground. "Never mind that idea…"
The bald man came into view a few seconds later, Shinra right behind him. He crossed his arms, glaring at the two Al Bhed men in front of him. "Where's Rikku?" He cocked an eyebrow expectantly.
"Vydran…Rikku-"
"You shut yer mouth! I already know what happened to my girl!" Cid barked, gesturing to Shinra. "This kid already filled me in on everything when I asked him what you guys were up to with that weird…machina!"
Buddy and Brother both glared at Shinra, who merely shrugged. "I'm just a kid," he muttered, taking a step behind Cid.
"Cid, we're doing the best we can to find her," Buddy tried to placate the irate leader of the Al Bhed with his calm words. "We've been looking for her for a month and a half straight."
Cid growled. "Then keep lookin'. If I find out that she's…hurt…there'll be hell to pay!" He shot his son one last look. "Got that?"
"Yes," Brother muttered as he watched his father walk away from them.
Buddy sighed. "That went better than I thought it would."
"SHUT UP!" Brother hollered, pushing Buddy to the ground before taking off in the direction of the airship.
Buddy shook his head slowly. "Man…he really misses his sister." He laughed grimly. "Not like he'd ever openly admit it, though…" He stood up, wiped the sand off the back of his pants, and followed Brother towards the Celsius. "We'll just have to keep searching. She's out there."
Shinra caught up with him. "Somewhere," the boy genius muttered.
---X---X---X---X---X---
A/N: I know this seems like a filler, but trust me…it's completely necessary. Rikku is missed! She can't just vanish off the face of that time period and have everybody else be fine and dandy! Plus, the Commspheres will play a major (somewhat) role later on…Guess you'll just have to keep reading to find out!!! ((evil laughter)) Oh, and thanks for all the reviews! They motivate me to keep goin!!!! XD