Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy X: Rikku ❯ Al Bhed Territory ( Chapter 2 )

Yeah. You know, I just realized that I never put a disclaimer in here. So, here it is: I do not own FFX creatively. But I am proud to say I bought it for $54 and something cents when it first came out and that 15 book guide thingy that this guy tripped over and so it is now in pieces. So I own it and yet I don't. Square Enix/Squaresoft/whatever the crap they call themselves now (I think it's Square Enix, Inc. …) does. OH YEAH! I don't own Gippal, they own him too. He makes a cameo appearance because he's cool. Soooooooo…….. like anyone read this, enjoy the story. Al Bhed Territory   Rikku immediately snapped her swirled green eyes open in alarm and snapped into a sitting position only to flip over into water. Popping out of the water, she shook the water out of her face and blinked. How long had she been asleep? She looked down at her watch and sighed in exasperation seeing that it was now broken. It must have stopped in the bridge explosion.... or maybe from that giant.... creature. Sin. Better yet, where the hell was it? Shaking off that thought, she looked back down at her watch and studied the damage. She then took it off and let it sink into the depths of the water. If the explosion or that monster didn't kill it, the water sure as hell did.   With a sigh, she gripped the ruin that she had fallen off of and took a look around. It was dark and looked as if it were about to rain. Definitely not something she wanted to be caught in while at some creepy ruins. She sighed as her mind wandered off to Auron. Where was the old fart anyway?   “Stupid Auron… I thought he said that I was going home.”   She jumped as lightening flashed, but still managed to catch sight of a tall structure standing in the distance. Groaning in exhaustion, she let go of the ruin and pushed off of it to give herself momentum through the placid waters and towards some barely visible stairs that she caught a flash of when that lightening flashed. While pushing herself through the water, she gave Chappu and Rei silent thanks for teaching her the basics of blitzball, of which included swimming for a long period of time. If they didn't, she was sure that she would have drowned after a few basic strokes. At least she was good at something in the water department. She swam on, not paying any attention to what she was doing. When she finally hit something with her hand, she stopped and felt a slow grin snake its way across her features.   Climbing out of the water, she flopped down on her back as sleep tried to take over her senses and let out a groan of annoyance. Not only were her sneakers officially un-wearable and were squishing her toes, but she was too unbelievably tired to do anything more. But there was definitely no way she was saying out in the dark ruins where anything could eat her. Sitting up, she untied her shoelaces and poked out her lip in a pout, giving a silent goodbye to her favorite sneakers ever. Even though she left them behind a rock and assured herself that she would go back for them, she knew it was highly unlikely at the unpredictable way things were going. As far as she was concerned, she was going to explore!   … Even if it meant stepping on sharp little rocks to do so.   She blinked as she saw something blue flash out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head completely, she saw that it was one of those odd spheres. Looking at her surroundings with suspicion, she shrugged and made her way over to it. “You’re one odd little…” she began to search for the right word. “… sphere thingy.”   Shrugging, she reached out a hand and touched it with her right pointer finger. Just like when she was with Auron (the stupid fart…), it seemed to heal her of any injuries and managed to clear her mind of the sleepy fog just enough so that she could concentrate on the situation at hand. Whatever the situation actually was. Besides the fact that she was unbelievably alone in an unfamiliar world.   Shaking her head, she began to wander around the large, open-spaced ruin and stopped when she came to a concrete arch of sorts. It looked like it could be a bridge. A bridge that could break under her weight at any given moment, but it was something. Taking in a deep breath, she placed a foot on it and pushed with her eyes closed. When nothing happened, she slowly opened one eye and then the other. Shrugging, she cautiously placed all of her weight on it and began to make her way across. So maybe she was wrong. Maybe it was pretty stable, considering. Ignoring the rocks poking into her feet, she made her way across the bridge. Once she was halfway there, she gasped as her bare feet caught on a small rock and almost made her fall over the side and into the water. Once she caught her balance, she leaned over and looked over the side. It was a city! A dark, creepy, ruined city of… ruins, but a city none-the-less.   She attempted straighten up again only to slip on the same rock and fell on her butt. She sat still as she heard a crack and a few rocks fall into the water. Her green eyes widening, she pushed herself up and attempted to make her way across will the arch began to collapse under her small frame. She let out a small shriek, and took a deep breath before her body hit the water with a hard, loud crack. As soon as she floated back to the top, she groaned.   “Oh… that was painful… Owie.”   She shivered and shook off the eerie feeling of being watched. Trying to hold back a groan of frustration, she turned her body and swam in the opposite direction of the glowing blue sphere. If she was going to swim somewhere, might as well go all of the way across, right? She reached down to tug on her scarf only to find that her prized possession was no longer around her neck. It was the only thing around her neck when she was found and if it was a link to her past, she planned on keeping it. She grinned when she saw the bright-- no doubt heavy-- piece of fabric floating not but an arms length away from her. She reached out to grab it until it, oddly enough, began a quick descent into the dark waters. Taking in a mouthful of air, she dove in after it. It suddenly came to what she imagined to be a screeching halt. She reached out to grab a hold of it and wrapped it securely around her neck. Her mouth then dropped open into a surprised ‘O’ and she got her daggers ready. Swimming before her were… man-eating fish. Great.   She charged her way forward and sliced at one of the fish, bringing it to its rather quick death. She quickly jerked around and charged towards another one, sliced it open, and brought it toward the same doom as its friend. She jerked around again and brought her daggers up defensively as she saw the third fish getting ready to charge it’s way for her. Before she or the strange fish could react, the strangest thing happened. A fish at least five times the size of a full-grown man came charging out of nowhere. She watched in horror as it opened its mouth wide and closed its mouth around the green fiend. It was big. And ugly. And she so did not want to stick around.   Making sure that her scarf-- the cause of her being in that situation in the first place (or maybe it was all Auron’s fault; she wasn’t quite sure on it yet)-- was securely wrapped around her neck, she swam up towards the top of the water as fast as her legs could take her. She frantically looked around her for the closest patch of dry land she could find and her eyes locked on a hole in the wall of the building that was her original destination. Okay, so it was a doorway of sorts, but what did she care at that point? It was small enough for her and to small for it. It sure as hell wasn’t going to have her as its dinner.   She pumped her legs in time with her stokes, her lungs burning unbearably. It was the hardest that she’s ever done anything that she could remember. She clenched her teeth inside of her closed mouth and tried not to freak out. She knew that if she panicked, she would exhale and lose all of the air that was stuck, trapped, in her lungs. Time seemed to go agonizingly slow. She had to have been swimming for at least thirty seconds… but it felt like hours. As she was halfway through the cave entrance, she began to panic as she felt the pull of the fish’s mouth as it inhaled. Even as she felt the air leave her lungs at once, she kept pumping her arms and legs, not even bothering to worry about her stroke. She wanted to live, dammit! Her eyes widened as she felt her hand smack onto its… upper lip. And then the most amazing thing happened. The creature exhaled and sent her flying into the cave.   As soon as she slammed into the cave wall, she opened her eyes and watched in a daze as rocks began to crumble all around her. They crashed before the creature at the entrance, keeping it out and her in. She groaned and tried to push herself off of the ground, but her muscles didn’t seem to want to cooperate.   “Stupid fish…” she grumbled. Placing one had on the ground and reaching up for a piece of rubble, she managed to pull herself up. She groaned as her legs nearly gave out on her and forced herself to take a step. The last time she had done anything involving her leg and arm muscles, she had stretched before doing so.   Without any other muscular complaints, she managed to make it to a door. She tried pushing on it a little only for it not to move. With a sigh, she shoved all of her weight into it and managed to catch herself before she went crashing into the cold, unforgiving ground of the ruined building. It kind of looked like… a creepy temple of sorts.   “Ho-boy, Rikku. What have you gotten yourself into now?” she mumbled to herself.   She hugged herself to keep the warmth in as she looked around. In the middle was a black mark… it kind of looked like a fire pit. She slowly made her way to the center and nodded. She was right. She slowly turned around and observed her surroundings. There were at least three other visible doorways that she could see, one of which was blocked by an unbelievable amount of rubble. The other two were in rather good shape and next to one was another one of those… spheres.   Was this place attacked by that… Sin like Zanarkand was? Better yet, where was ‘this?’   As far as she was concerned at that point, it was Auron’s fault. “You big meanie…”   It was all his fault. Or maybe it was as much hers as it was his. She didn’t exactly have to follow him… but he was so intimidating.   Sighing in frustration, she made her way towards the blue sphere. Maybe the stupid thing would work the miracle of warming her up. Not likely, but it was worth a shot. She reached out and touched it and felt a second-- no, a millisecond-- of warmth and then nothing. She groaned and decided that the verdict was obvious: she had to make a fire.   She looked nervously at the door next to her. What if there was another… creature? She survived the giant fish; there was no way she was going to die now. Squaring her shoulders and ignoring her shaking hands, she pushed open the double doors and looked around the room cautiously. It looked to have been a bedroom or… something. Stepping forward, she went towards the broken desk in front of her at the center of the small room and opened the only drawer on it. She wiggled her bare toes in to get feeling in them, an old habit of hers when she was excited. In the drawer was wet paper, pencils, a rotted book and… rocks?   Shrugging off the strangeness of it (‘Who keeps rocks in their drawer?’ she wondered), she grabbed the rocks and figured she could attempt to make a fire. Like in those survival movies that she always went to see with Chappu and Rei where someone or other would be trapped on an island with the love of their life or whoever.   Tucking the rocks safely into the slightly damp pouch at her side, she turned and made her way out of the ruined room, closing the doors behind her. She turned around and faced the first room she was in and made her way across to where she saw the other, unobstructed doorway. She stopped and peeked her head in before stepping all of the way through. It looked safe. Well, as safe as a mostly ruined stairwell can look. She slowly made her way up the stairs (she so did not want a repeat of what happened with her weight misjudgment outside) and stopped, shivering, when something dry brushed her arms. She turned and quickly grabbed the dead flowers out of their vase on the wall. She jammed those into her pouch too and stumbled down the stairs, the cold rain blowing through the window, occasionally smacking her bare legs and feet.   Going to the fire pit, she set the dead flowers on the burnt log and began to try and spark a fire with what were possibly the only dry rocks in the whole building. She forced the rocks together with numb fingers and began to strike harder and faster when it began to spark. She then let out a yelp and jumped back as the bouquet caught fire and seemed to blow up in her face. She then grinned and huddled in front of the warm flames. Sitting down completely, she curled up into a ball and tried to keep as much heat to herself as was possible in the cold. She clenched her arms around her legs when she felt herself begin to shake uncontrollably. It didn’t help that the only thing she decided to wear to the blitzball match was a yellow bikini bathing suit and a short green skirt that were wet. Although, at that point in time, she was expecting to be taught more blitzball by Chappu right after the game, not going on another world that Auron claimed was her “home.”   “Oh… so hungry,” she mumbled to herself. Her eyelids became more and more heavy until she could no longer keep them open and she drifted off to a light sleep.   ·:· ·:·   “Keyakku (*)… frana yna fa kuehg?” (Where are we going?) Rikku asked with a grin on her face. Her grin turned into a frown when she no longer felt his presence next to her. “Keyakku? Hey! You big meanie!” She pulled the folded bandana from around her eyes and her mouth formed itself into a surprised ‘o’ in shape.   “Cinbneca!” (Surprise!)   She grinned when her father seemed to appear out of nowhere, his head as bald as ever. “Vydran!” (Father!)   He smiled slightly and kissed the short girl on the head as she began to bounce on the balls of her feet. “Rybbo vevdaahdr pendrtyo, Rikku.” (Happy fifteenth birthday, Rikku.)   ·:· ·:·   Rikku snapped up from her flat position on the ground and groaned out as her muscles tightened from the sudden movement. She hated the cold. It was definitely something that she wasn’t made for.   Shaking her head, she thought back on her dream. Or was it a dream? Was that the appropriate thing to call it? It all seemed so familiar… like she had been there before. Maybe it was a memory? Scrunching her eyebrows in thought, she thought back on the surroundings in the… dream. There was sand. A LOT of sand. And in the middle of it was an oasis of sorts. It was like a puddle of water in the middle of nowhere. A deep puddle, but a puddle none-the-less.   Shaking her head again, she leaned forward, trying to get closer to her source of heat. Her eyes widened in panic as the dying flames that she had started before came to her attention.   “Oh no! What is with my luck anyway?”   She got onto her hands and knees and began to desperately blow at the flames, wincing at the chills the ground sent up and down her body. Seeing that it was a hopeless situation (which she seems to keep finding herself in since she got to this strange world--stupid Auron…), she looked around at her surroundings for something dry to rekindle the fire with (that, too, was hopeless, if you asked her). She then jumped and held back a shriek of surprise when she caught sight of a bluish green monster of sorts looking back at her. It kind of looked like a spider, but it had half the number of legs. Gripping her daggers that Auron had given back to her, she glared at the creature while trying to hide her fear from it. Unless it could smell it… But behind her fear, she felt her adrenaline rush in excitement. Ignoring her rapidly beating heart, she kept her eyes trained on it. And then it began to crawl along the walls.   She jumped forward with a yelp as it attempted to jump off of the wall and onto her with a slashing leap. Without even thinking about it, she swung her dagger up and let the blade slash into its belly, cutting it open with a gut-wrenching, sloshing sound. She forced herself not to barf when the smell of its innards hit her nostrils. It was disgusting. Shaking it off, she slashed at it randomly while trying not to get hit or bitten by it. No matter how hard she tried to stop herself from getting hit, it would knick her in the side or the back every time it made a hit for her heart.   “Stupid monster… You’d think it’d go eat something that DOESN’T put up a fight,” she muttered to herself. “And I’m talking to myself again…”   She shook her head and tried to focus on the fight. Before she could even make a move, she threw herself to the ground with a shout of surprise as it threw itself at her, ending up going over her head. She stood up and turned to keep her sight on it, only to be thrown back down as a wall--or maybe it was a door--blew up. She watched in slight shock as some people walked into the room wearing wetsuits and goggles. She was then thrown forward as she was slashed in the back and was reminded that there was a creature that apparently wanted to kill and eat her.   Wincing at the slightest movement, she reached into one of the pouches at her hip and pulled out a potion. Drinking the bitter fluid down with another wince, she sighed as the gash closed up enough to stop the bleeding with a disgusting sloshing noise but did nothing for the pain. She knew it was going to leave a scar, but she could still feel the muscle try to mend itself together, and that, in-itself, was a painful process. She watched as someone from the group threw a small round object at it and the object blew up with a bright, warm blast. She ran up to it, jumped up, and, with a slight groan of pain, dug both of her daggers into it’s back and pulled her right up with a sudden, sharp jerk. That movement sliced its back open and it threw her off and onto her still painful back with a shriek (it was more of a clicking sound to her) of rage. When she tried to move her left arm, she couldn’t. She looked down and saw that the place where her shoulder and arm were supposed to connect weren’t connected anymore. Dislocated arm. She then looked at the still angry monster and saw that her other dagger was still stuck in its back.     “Uf, oui pek sayhea,” ::Ow you big meanie:: she muttered, rubbing her lower back while trying to blink the stars out of her eyes.   It launched itself at her and, as soon as she could see again, she watched in horror as it made its descent down on her, seemingly going in slow motion. She then watched a grenade fly through the air and land on its back before it blew up in mid-air. She closed her eyes in preparation of the impact of a dead carcass. Instead, she heard a clink of metal against stone and felt something warm. Wait… warm?   Opening her eyes, she saw balls of light glowing in different colors surrounding her petite form. Ignoring them for a moment, she looked down at where the clink came from and saw her dagger impaled in the ground behind her, too close for comfort. Grabbing it, she stuck it and it’s partner back in her holsters with her good arm. With a sigh, she grabbed a hold of the dislocated arm and grabbed a hold of it with her other hand. Somehow managing to stand, she let out a small smile of gratitude. “Thanks!”   They seemed to be looking at her in confusion, though she couldn’t tell through the dark goggles that they wore. The one with the Mohawk and many tattoos pushed to the front and peered at her. “Fryd?” ::What?::   “Oh… Oui cbayg drec myhkiyha duu?” The man grunted in response. “E druikrd E fyc dra uhmo uha…” she muttered. ::You speak this language too? … I thought I was the only one…::   It seemed as though he caught what she said. “Hysa?” ::Name?::   “My name… is Rikku.” She, then, fainted from all of the excitement.   ·:· ·:·   “Dryd ea hud ran!” someone shouted in what sounded like frustration. “Cra’c paah yd Home yht ihnacbuhceja vun dfu oyanc!” ::That is not her! She’s been at Home and unresponsive for two years!::   ‘Who’s not “her”? Who’s “unresponsive”? Heck, what does that even mean? Dead? Annoyed? Isolated??’   She then heard the voice of the man with the Mohawk from earlier. “Tysh ed, Gippal, E drehg E’t ghuf so ufh cecdan ev E cyf ran!” ::Damn it, Gippal, I think I’d know my own sister if I saw her!::   ‘Ah! I’m so confused! Rei! Chappu! Get me outta here!!’ she rolled over and let a small groan escape her lips.   She then took notice of something strange: she was warm. And not in pain. She shot up in the soft bed that she was tucked into, looked down at her arm (it looked well enough…), and looked around the room. It was a bedroom. It looked so familiar, but she just couldn’t place it. So maybe she was somewhere near Zanarkand! That had to be it. … Right?   Shaking her head, she stood up and stretched her sore muscles. She then turned her head and made her way towards the door and opened it enough to make her presence known. They paid no attention to her, so she took that time to study each man as they had a glaring contest. Her guess was right at least: the man with the Mohawk was standing there with another man that she didn’t see at the fight in the ruins, his goggles around his neck. The other man had an eye-patch covering his right eye and his short hair seemed to stand straight up in a strange way. But he was attractive. The thing that caught her by surprise was the fact that they both had green eyes with swirls in them, and she knew that they were like her.   “What… what am I?” she wondered out loud.   The man with the eye-patch looked at her and she watched his one eye widen slightly in recognition. “Cid’s girl?!”   She crossed her arms across her chest, feeling slightly uncomfortable. Her clothes, or lack thereof, didn’t seem to help her discomfort a bit. “Uhm… who?”   “Brother, E’s dammehk oui, dryd ec hud ran ev cra tuac’d ghuf ran ufh vydran.” ::Brother, I’m telling you, that is not her if she doesn’t know her own father.::   “Rao! Secdan! E’s hud tayv, oui ghuf!” ::Hey! Mister! I’m not deaf you know!::   “Gippal.”   “Huh?”   ̶ 0;My name. It’s Gippal.”   She peered at him and sighed. “Rikku. …You knew my father?”   “Knew? The old man’s alive and kicking!”   “Yeah… so… not to be nosy or anything, but who died? Or… whatever?”   He sighed and began to walk down the hallway.   “Hey! Sorry! I didn’t mean to offend you or anything!”   He stopped, put his hand on his forehead as if he had a minor headache building up, and walked back to her still form. “Her name is Rikku. She looks just like you. Something… happened to her two years ago. She’s with us, but she’s not with us. Unfortunately, we can’t take you directly to Cid. We found something and we have to get it working. It’s the whole point to out being out here. Then, we’ll go.”   “… Can I help?” she asked, rocking on her heels.   He grinned at her. “If you think you can handle it… Cid’s girl.”   ·:· ·:·   “So, how does it fit?”   Rikku zipped up the wetsuit that was given to her and grinned. “Comfy, believe it or not.” She then looked over the side of the ship and into the darkness of the ocean. She then turned and looked at Gippal. “It’s down there??”   “Yup.”   “Okay then.”   Gippal dove into the water and, popping on her goggles and taking a deep breath, she went in after him. She decided to just follow him down and noticed that they were swimming along a chain that led to… wherever they were going. She then looked up and a squeaked under the water as she ran into his back. Why did he stop?? She looked around him and he pointed ahead at two awfully ugly fish. When they swam by, not spotting the two figures, the two blondes began their journey along the chain once again.   After swimming for a while, Rikku marveling at the schools of fish that swam by in the ocean (even though she couldn’t see much at all), they came upon the “discovery” that Gippal was talking about. She then saw another one of those spheres. She swam over to it and carefully placed her hand on it. She then pulled her hand quickly back to her side as her adrenaline began to rush unnaturally fast through her veins. Shaking off the feeling, she squinted at it. It was an odd thing, but she definitely wasn’t going to ask questions about it. At least not while they were underwater.   Hearing a banging against the metal, she turned around to see the lights now shining brightly at her and Gippal waving at her so that they could swim through the small opening. She followed him in and looked around at the rather large room in amazement. She followed Gippal through what seemed to be a hallway of sorts, leading into another, larger, chamber. She bit back a yelp as one of the ugly fish came out of nowhere and bit her in the ankle. It didn’t hurt it was just… annoying! She saw Gippal pull out a sword that she didn’t notice before and found it to be logical since the bullet probably wouldn’t have much impact. Pulling out her daggers, she grinned and charged towards the fish.   If you asked her for her opinion, she would say that the battle ended awfully fast. She somehow managed to steal a few grenades from the creatures before she killed them and she didn’t really want to know how she got them and where they were kept. She was a natural born thief; she couldn’t really help it sometimes. She looked at the giant machine… wait, machina that loomed in front of her. She felt like grinning at the moment. She couldn’t help it. She felt the sudden urge to kick it. It worked in Zanarkand, anyway (stupid vending machines…). So, with all of her might, she sent her foot crashing into the metal. Stupid on her part, but it seemed to have worked. The place came to life and seemed to hum as the lights flashed on. Gippal sent her a look and she grinned at him sheepishly.   Turning, the two swam out of the chamber. Rikku felt a shriek rising in her throat, but held it down as Gippal pushed her out of the way. A crash resounded throughout the once quiet waters as something that resembled a squid crashed its head into the doorway. Turning around to stare at it while backpedaling through the water, she paled noticeably. The thing was huge. Her body head seemed to be the height of its head alone. She looked at Gippal to see that he, too, was rather pale.   Her eyes widened as Gippal left her side and she felt more blood flow from her face. ‘He left me! I can’t believe he left me! ThatstupidmeanieheissodeadwhenIfindyou!!!’ she then flushed as he appeared on the other side of the creature. ‘That stupid…! Gah! It’s coming for me!!’   Still cursing in her head, she backed up as fast as she could, still managing to get hit anyway, and then charged for the monster. It let out a loud roar as she sliced at one of its eyes, rendering it blind. Before it could even attempt to attack her, Gippal was slashing at it from behind, trying to distract it. She quickly dug into the pouch on her hip and pulled out two items. Two grenades. Shrugging it off, she sent both flying at the squid and it, once again, roared in rage. With a look of fear, Rikku turned and swam to the right has it turned and charged blindly at her.   Swimming to Gippal’s side, they both waited tensely for the creature to turn around and look at them. Looking at each other, they nodded and went charging at it. Taking one of her daggers, she pulled her arm back and threw it at the other eye and kept swimming at it. With Gippal right next to her, they both sliced at its head and she yanked the dagger out of its eye in one swift motion. Gippal yanked her out of the way when it smacked at her only to hit itself in the head with a tentacle. It let out another roar of rage. Taking a chance, Gippal aimed and threw his sword at its gut. This time a roar of pain was let loose, yet it continued to charge at the pair. Without missing a beat, Rikku pulled out what looked to be her last grenade, pulled out the pin and threw it at the charging monster. This time it stopped in its tracks and seemed to slowly deflate, it’s life draining out.   Just like the bug-like creature in the ruins, it burst into warm balls of light and flowed around her form. Gippal gave her a peculiar look, but seemed to shrug it off. He pointed at a hole in the wall on the other side of the large chamber and swam for it. Giving a shaky nod, she followed him as fast as she could. Taking one last look at the glowing chamber, she turned and swam through the hole.   ·:· ·:·   “Fa vuiht dra airship!” ::We found the airship!:: (1)   “Dra naluntc fana nekrd.” ::The records were right.:: (1)   “Huf, ruf du tnyk ed ib?” ::Now, how to get it up?:: (1)   Rikku shook her head at the excited chatter and happy smiles on the faces of the crew as she made her way out onto the deck and had to smile with them. She didn’t understand what was so special about finding an airship, but their happiness was just contagious.   With a sigh, she leaned against the railing of the boat and looked up at the stars that sparkled happily at her from above. She couldn’t remember seeing so many all at once. You didn’t really get that pleasure in Zanarkand…   ·:· ·:·   “Rikku! Oui uit rana ykyeh?” ::Rikku! You out here again?::   The blonde haired 15-year-old looked away from the stars and turned to see Brother behind her. “Oui tuh’d drehg ed’c bnaddo?” She paused and looked back up at the night sky. “Ed’c uha uv dra vaf drehkc ynuiht rana dryd ynah’d naymmo yvvaldat po Sin. Pacetac, drao’na naymmo pnekrd duhekrd, oui ghuf?” ::You don’t think it’s pretty? It’s one of the few things that aren’t really affected by Sin. Besides, they’re really bright tonight, you know?::   He stepped up until he was right next to her and looked up at the stars as well. “Oayr…” ::Yeah…::   ·:· ·:·   Jumping, she was pulled out of her slightly sleepy haze by a hand on her shoulder. Behind her was Gippal with Brother, a tray of food held in the hand of the 18-year-old. In the hands of the strange man with the tattoos and Mohawk was a pair of boots. Pulling the shoes out of the man’s hands, she sat down on the deck and tried them on. “How’d you know my size?”   “My… s… sister,” Brother said, stumbling over his words.   She looked down at her shoes and felt her eyebrows furrow. ‘Weird… she has my name, my shoe size, my looks…’ “You brought food too!” snatching the tray from Gippal’s hands, she began to scarf down what she could in the most lady-like manner that she could. She was brought up to act like a lady. ‘I think…’ “Wait… Brother, you know Common?”   “Little.”   “He knows the basics. He can understand and say some things, like greetings. Not good for much else.”   Brother growled and smacked the younger blonde upside the head. “E tuh’d ghuf fryd oui cyet, pid ed fyc, hu tuipd, pyt. Pa kuut. Pudr uv oi. E’s kuehk du pat.” ::I don’t know what you said, but it was, no doubt, bad. Be good. Both of you. I’m going to bed.::   Rikku grinned and waved at him. “Kuut hekrd, Brother!” ::Good night, Brother!:: After the overly-tattooed man left, Rikku and Gippal stood in silence, Rikku looking at the stars and Gippal staring down at the water. Suddenly, Rikku broke the silence. “Can I ask you a question?”   “Go ahead, Cid’s girl.”   “It’s Rikku, oui sayhea. … What was that thing?” ::…you meanie.::   “Ah. Tros. I didn’t think that we would run into one while we were down there. But, thanks for helping out.”   She turned and looked at him, sending a small smile before looking back up. “No problem.” There was another moment of silence before Rikku, once again, broke it. “What exactly am I?”   “A human being.”   She felt like scowling, but instead, she shook her head. “Haha, very funny. You know what I mean. How come I know this language that no one else seems to know besides the people on this ship?”   “Wait. Pause and rewind. You’ve been with Yevonites for the past two years?! And didn’t get lynched or anything?!”   “… Yevonites?”   “… Where did you say you’ve been?”   “I never told you, you nincompoop.”   “Well, I’m asking now. Where have you been?”   “Zanarkand. Say, do you know how I can get there?”   “Z… Zanarkand? That place…”   “St… st… stutter much?”   He sent the girl a glare and rubbed in between his eyes like he had a headache in the making. “That place has been destroyed for over a thousand years. It’s deserted. Destroyed by Sin. A pile of rubble. …A holy place, if you will.”   “Zanarkand? A holy place? Right, and I’m the savior of the world.” She rolled her eyes and then focused on his face for any sign of a lie. “So… that big blob that destroyed by home of two years was Sin?”   He sighed in frustration and ran a hand through his already messy hair. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Look, this is your home. You belong with your people. The Al Bhed.” By then, he was pacing around the deck while she sat on the ground, looking amused and yet unable to force a sound out of her mouth to stop his little speech. He then stopped and focused on her with his visible eye. “Rikku, you… you can’t be real. The real you... the Rikku I know is gone. Technically speaking, the you I know are dead. Brain dead. Augh!” He groaned and clutched his head in frustration. “I don’t know how to explain it without coming off as crazy. Maybe if you see….”   She sighed and looked down at the metal ground. “I don’t remember anything before I was fifteen, if that’s any help. Family, friends, nothing. All I had was Rei and Chappu. They took me in and took care of me. And now…. Now I don’t know what to believe.” She looked over at him. “I want to see it. I want to see my… or her… or whoever’s body it is. I want to know the truth of what’s going on. There’s got to be a reason that I was dragged over a thousand years into the future…” She paused and began to fiddle with her scarf. “You’re telling me that my dad is alive… I believe you… so… how is he?”   “Who, Cid? Like I said, the old man is just great. Bald as ever, but still great.”   She stood and looked out at the water. “Good.”   “So… do you seriously want to--”   Before he could even finish his thought, there was a bang and the ship began to rock shakily on the water. Rikku yelped as she fell on her bottom in a painful heap. “Owie! Oh!”   She began to slide towards the other side as the ship tipped threateningly. Gippal made a grab for her and caught her leather-clad hand in a loose grip. When he attempted to shift his grip on her hand, the boat lurched again, making him lose what little grip he had. He watched in horror as she slid over the edge of the boat with a startled scream and into the dark, swirling sea.   “Tysh ed! Keja ran pylg!” ::Damn it! Give her back!::   He stood and grasped the railing and looked over the edge of the ship. He couldn’t see her. At all.   “Gippal! Frana’c Rikku?!”   Turning around with a hard look, Gippal saw Brother standing behind him.   “…Sin.”   ·:· ·:·   Author’s Notes (7/12/2004): Okay, this story can take a while, seeing as to how I’m forgetting a lot of stuff and had to replay the game. This is going mostly by the strategy guide though, since I haven’t even finished the game. :P I may need help when I get to a certain point (but, whatever). I dunno. I’ll tell you when. OH! And tell me if some of the Al Bhed is wrong. I found the script and solved the alphabet doing that. So… REVIEW! :P This is the longest chapter that I have ever written in my life. 3,000 something words. Nine pages. Later…   Author’s Notes 2 (8/2/2005): Okay. I completely forgot about this story and promised this chapter a little under 3 months ago. O.o hm… I thought I had posted this chapter, but I guess not! : ) I’m a bit rocky on ideas at the moment, so sorry if the plot or whatever gets a bit shaky. I’ll just go back and edit it again. If you find grammar mistakes or whatever, review or e-mail me or whatever. I SHALL SEE HOW MANY PEOPLE FOLLOW THROUGH! WOOT! : ) Right then. Peace. REVIEW!