Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Akirame Norwen ❯ Into the Airship ( Chapter 23 )

(a/n: First, I'd like to thank all my reviewers. I read every single review I recieve... and I feel like a star *_*... and I feel loved ^_^. Anyhow.. at this rate, this story is going to be exceptionally long.. possibly around 40 or so chapters... so I'd like to ask you... do you want me to keep making this story this long, or do you want me to find a way to cheat and skip to the ending? Please let me know in your reviews. By the way.... do you realize that I've written over 150 pages so far? Hehe.. surprise! Next... I thank you for bearing w/ me, as I am horrible at keeping track of details. This chapter will hopefully shed some light for you.) Now, for some suggested listening.. if you like instrumental rock-and-roll, check out Apocollyptica. *did I spell it right?* Thanks Nate!

Chapter 23: An unusually long chapter

The group exited the building and looked at each other as Riku opened the manila envelope and pulled out the wad of cash, noticing how his friends were practically drooling. "Okay guys," he began, waving the cash in his hand and watching his friends' eyes follow, "this is first to be spent on upgrading our weapons and armor as much as possible, then potions and sunscreen. After that, each of you should return w/ at least 500 gil left, got it?" he asked, making contact with the glazed-over eyes.

The group nodded and eager stepped forward to receive a healthy quantity of gil, just before rushing off and disappearing into the stores. Riku coughed as the small dust cloud settled, and saw that he was completely alone, minus... Jerdania? The sprightly girl gave him a huge grin, and Riku shrugged as he headed towards the weapons store. "Hey Riku... I've been thinking a lot about all the details we've gathered so far."

"Really? That's good."

"Yeah... I've been thinking, nothing makes much sense so far... for example, Sephiroth has been reportedly dead for like what, 30 years or so, just as long as Cloud strife. Plus... Shinra died out (haha, here's my first big mistake) about 20 years ago. Anyhow... what's Sephiroth and Cloud doing walking around? And why wasn't Laguna surprised when he heard Cloud's name? I think he knows something we don't."

Riku listened and nodded as he opened the door to the store and let her in. "Yeah, you're right. None of it does make sense, does it?"

The two looked around and spotted Akirame in a corner, testing a vicious crossbow that was designed to look like a dragon, and Irvine was beside her with a shotgun. The two spotted them and waved them over. "Hey Riku, isn't this crossbow awesome looking? I just got it updated." Akirame said, proudly displaying the large weapon.

Riku nodded and walked over to the counter with her, gently unsheathing his sword and laying it across the glass display box. The shopkeeper soon took the sword and returned later w/ a large, highly decorative sword made to look like a flame. "Wow, Riku, it's beautiful! Looks like its an elemental sword."

Riku lifted the sword, surprised when it blazed to life, engulfed in a flame. He quickly sheathed it, grateful when his leather scabbard didn't burst into flames as well. Jerdania herself turned in her daggers, and was surprised when she received what looked like a giant Chinese throwing star. After also upgrading their armor as well, they stocked up on potions and what-not. Done with that errand, they walked out of the store and went about their business of getting what they needed. Blah blah blah.. yadda yadda.. right, so anyhow...

A good hour or so later, the group gathered outside and began to idly talk and scuffle around as they waited for their ride to arrive. Soon, what sounded like the world's largest hairdryer caught their attention. They looked up at the sky and saw what looked like... a giant bubble blower of sorts, floating gently through the clouds and heading towards the outskirts of town. "I guess that's it." Riku said, slinging his duffel bag over his shoulder and setting off towards the landing airship.

Upon arriving at the airship, The group entered via a ramp that was lowered for them. The inside of the ship was rather comfy, and typical. Metal...metal... more metal... bright colors and the occasional Al-Bhed worker or jogging blitzball player. The ramp was raised again and the ship slightly shook as it took off. Two men, one with blonde hair held back by a pair of goggles, chewing on a toothpick, accompanied by a bald man in a mostly yellow suit, arrived to greet them. "Hey there," The blonde man said in a burly voice. "I'm Cid Highwind, and this is Cid Konnichiwa."

"Uh, hi Cid... and Cid." Riku said, looking to the two burly men.

"We two are the captians of this here airship. If you got any questions, just talk to my daughter here, Rikku." Cid K. Said, nodding his head to the blonde girl beside him.

"Rikku? Wow.. two Cids, two Rik(k)us, this is gonna be fun." Sora said, folding his arms.

"What, there's another Rikku?" Rikku asked in her high, girly voice, leaning slightly to the side, causing the two blue ribbons attached to the back of her tight pink shirt to sway.

"Yeah, our leader is Riku." Sora informed, pointing to his taller friend.

"Oh really, hi there! Dad, should I show them where everything is?"

"Go ahead, me and Cid'll head to the cabin to set off."

"All right then."

"And so I said, `but blow up the ship and all go down together." Rikku said, causing the group (Minus the usually quite Riku and sober Red) to burst into laughter. "And here are the rooms you'll be staying in."

"What? How long is it gonna take us to get to the Kashkabald?" Akirame asked, looking in one of the rooms and admiring the set-up.

"Oh, that's where you're going? In this dinky airship, at least three days." Rikku answered.

"Three days, huh? I thought this was an airship, man! These things are supposed to go like, way fast! I figured we'd be able to get there in like, a few hours." Sora complained, putting his hands behind his head.

"What do you think this is, the Ragnarok? Jeez, we have to go over an entire ocean to get to where you guys want to be." Rikku chastised.

"Well, whatever. If that's the case, I want to unpack now and get a sandwich or something. I get dibs on this bed!" Sora shouted, running into the open room and throwing his bag on one of the beds. "Come on, Riku! You can be with me!"

"You heard him, Erik, the kid wants you." Riku said, shoving the blonde into the room.

"Woah, I thought he said he wante-" Riku shut the door and opened another, walking into the differently colored room, dragging Akirame with him.

"Hey, Riku, why me?"

"You're the only one out of all these people I can actually stand." He said, shutting the door after him. "Plus, being near you helps me sleep."

"Oh, thanks, I think. Well... I was stuck with you in the hotel, I guess I can handle it again."

"And I could really use a nap right now, and afterwards you and I can head back to the observation deck and check out the view." He announced, flopping onto his side on one of the double-sized beds, then patting the spot in front of him.

"I..don't really think so, Riku... I, uh..." she stood there awkwardly holding her bag, trying to think of something snappy to say.

Riku sighed and got up to stand in front of her. He took the bag out of her hand, placed it on her bed, and then bent over to scoop her up. "I told you, being around you helps me sleep. Do me a favor and give me just a mere thirty minutes of rest, alright?" he asked her, dropping her onto the bed and sitting with his back to her as he took off his denim jacket and laid down next to her.

Akirame sighed and rolled onto her side as he snuggled closer and put an arm around her waist. "Riku, you'll pay for this someday, you know that?" she warned him as she turned off the lamp on the stylish bed stand.

"Is that the best you can do? Before you were pushing me off trees and hitting me with shoes." Riku teased her.

Akirame rolled her eyes and realized something. She really was loosing her reason to be as resistant to him as she used to be. Was she actually starting to enjoy being around him like this? If she had rolled over, she would have seen the smile, the real, genuine smile, on Riku's face. Instead, she closed her eyes and tried to think of ways to torture him when they woke up. But maybe just this once she would stay with him and not try to sneak away when he fell asleep, just a little guilty pleasure. When she woke up, she would allow the Snow Queen to regain her rightful throne and whip herself back into shape. Riku gently squeezed her and nuzzled the back of her neck. At this rate, her only hope was for the Snow Queen to become a communist dictator. Hmm.. maybe she would lure Riku into the airship's kitchen and then take a frying pan to his head. That would teach the boy a lesson. She tried to stifle her laughter as she thought of him falling over and a huge bump rising on his head.

Riku, however, was already on the verge of dreams, his heart practically bursting at his first success of getting Akirame to actually do something he wanted. "Mission accomplished." He thought to himself. "At last, the girl I love in my arms. I could die like this and be just fine. Then again, she'll probably take a skillet to my head after this." But, as could be presumed, he could have actually cared less what she used to render him unconscious in her unreasonable fury. Frying pan, skillet, or any other cooking ware, none would keep him from relentlessly loving her.

Sora dragged Erik out of the room and headed off towards the kitchen. "Man, I'm sooo hungry." He said, his growling stomach concurring.

"Sora, I watched you eat like, twelve pancakes this morning. I only ate four, and I'm still digesting them. How in the world do you do it?"

"Twelve, nah. I had sixteen." Sora replied, not stopping his run until he reached the kitchen's metal door.

Inside they also found the others sitting around a table together, munching on sandwiches. "Hey Sora! Figured you'd show up sooner or later. You ought to try one of these, they're great." Irvine suggested, tearing another bite of his ham-and-cheese.

Sora quickly ran over to table where the plastic-wrapped sandwiches lay, and grabbed about six before sitting down with his friends. "So Sora, Riku ditched you for Akirame, huh? Tough break." Kairi said, patting her boyfriend on the back.

"Yeah, I know. What's so special about the chick anyhow?" Sora complained, hastily unwrapping a sandwich and venting his anger into eating, viciously tearing a huge chunk out of the defenseless turkey breast and wheat bread.

"Hey, hey, hey! Sora, calm down with your eating, buddy. The sandwich has feelings too, ya know." Erik said, gently taking a bite out of his own.

"It doesn't now." Sora stated, shoving the entire thing into his mouth and chewing.

"Man, the boy eats like a vacuum. Why ain't he big as a barn?" Irvine asked, raising an eyebrow as Sora made short work of his second victim.

"A question that has dumbfounded mankind for years." Kairi said, amused by Sora's overstuffed cheeks. "Breathe, honey." She said, pulling the third sandwich away from him and forcing him to take a break.

"I don't want to breathe, I wanna eat. Give me back my sandwich, Kairi. Man, if I could, all I would do is eat. Jerdania, you would be my personal slave-chef, and you would cook all day in the kitchen while I feasted."

"Don't doubt it. Wonder how Jerdania would feel?" Kairi asked, giving up the sandwich.

"I'd kill him." Jerdania simply said, looking Sora directly in the face.

"Woah, really? How?" Erik prodded for details.

"Easy. Slip a little poison into his food, completely tasteless and devoid of odor. Knock the boy over halfway through his meal."

Sora blinked and gulped before putting his half-finished sandwich down. "Um... you were teasing, right?" He nervously laughed, trying to get her to put away the dead-serious look on her face.

"I don't know, what do you think?" The crimson-haired girl asked, her honey eyes unnerving him.

"I'm finished now, uh.. I'm gonna go see what Riku is up to..."

"Aw, leave him and Akirame alone for now, Sora. How about you and me go for a walk?" Kairi asked, standing up with him.

"Sure, I guess. Man, Riku just ain't like he used to be. He and I were like, best friends, always him and me..." Sora started as he and Kairi exited the room. "And then all of the sudden he drops me for Akirame? Since when did she get the star treatment?"

"Uh... Riku? First of all, you kinda forgot about Riku when you and I started to really get close, remember?" Kairi reminded him.

"What? Wait....yeah, that's right. But still, I think that-"

"You ever try seeing it from his point of view? It's so obvious that he's loved her for a long time. I think you should not worry so much about yourself, but whether or not Riku is happy, hmm?"

Sora chewed on the idea for a minute, as if the thought had never occurred to him before. "Kai, you're a genius, and that's why I love you." He told her. "But if I actually cared about Riku's happiness, I wouldn't have ditched him for you in the first place." He joked.

Kairi sighed and rolled her eyes. "Sora, you really are a big, dumb goofball."

"A big, *cute* dumb goofball." Sora corrected her, putting an arm around her shoulder and making her smile.