Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Long Way Home ❯ Gippal ( Chapter 14 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Neon Ronin 
An Al Bhed reunion, and a look into the past of the Machine Faction's top gearhead.
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 07.05.2005 | Pages: 1 | Words: 3.5K | Visits: 219 | Status: Completed
An Al Bhed reunion, and a look into the past of the Machine Faction's top gearhead.
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 07.05.2005 | Pages: 1 | Words: 3.5K | Visits: 219 | Status: Completed
[A/N: I don’t own the characters, I’m just psychoanalyzing them. ^_^ Enjoy.]
The Long Way Home
Gippal
So there I was, back at Djose trying to sort out everything that had fallen apart thanks to the Vegnagun incident, when a very familiar crimson airship parks its nose outside and an even more familiar celebrity trio saunters in. Not that it was unexpected, mind you, I’d heard from them a few days before when they visited Noojster up at LeBlanc’s chateau. Even had a chance to talk with Lady Yuna’s main squeeze over the Commsphere before we met face to face, so I knew enough not to think it was Shuyin back from the dead all over again. I’d gotten most of the staff on hand to set aside projects that could wait, so my schedule was pretty free for a reception. Yep, had everything all planned out.
Except for the moment after the introductions when Yuna and this Tidus guy dashed over to the temple and Paine just up and vanished, leaving me and Rikku alone. For a moment all I did was turn in several directions, wondering what in the Farplane was going on; she was doing the same thing but with an annoyed scowl on her face. I couldn’t help but laugh inside once the initial shock wore off; it occurred to me that the others had planned this, the way they all split at the same instant. I’ll bet anything they were snickering the moment they were out of eyesight. Rikku started complaining right off the bat, “Nice going, you guys! Leaving me alone with this… BMYOPUO!!!” The minute she said that, she glanced back at me, and I guess something in the way I was looking at her calmed her down. The flush left her face and she actually smiled at me, and not one of those “who, me?” smiles either.
I couldn’t help but smile back… and at the same time, wince. Did she really think I was a playboy? Okay, so maaaybe I do flirt around on occasion, but it never really gets anywhere. Just ol’ Gippster having a little fun, is that so wrong?
Well… in some ways, I guess it is a bit wrong. I just don’t know that many other ways to act around girls.
Let alone the one I care about more than any other.
We’ve known each other since we were kids together on Bikanel, back when we both had to wear those stupid full-body suits as a mark of our age group. I’d known Brother first, since we were closer in age; he and I would get together when my old man would be in conference with Cid, and we’d go tinker with machina or pull a prank on one of the older guys or the younger girls. I still remember one time when the two of us dumped a bucket of sand down the backs of Cid’s boots; that got us in a whole load of trouble, but boy it was worth it to see the veins stand out on Cid’s bald head. (He was bald back then, too; not because it fell out, but because he shaved his scalp. Said it helped keep his brain cool on the hot days.) Then as we got a little older, Rikku started joining us on some of our pranks. Brother thought she was annoying and always told her to go home, but she could think up some really devious stuff… even if she was a bit of a klutz executing some of our jokes. Besides, I liked having her around with us; whenever there was a lull in things I could always get a laugh by saying something that irked her or embarrassed her. I think Brother started it when he said her pigtails made her look like a Divebeak; we must’ve been about seven or eight at the time. She jumped right up and called us both Shoopuf-heads. I responded by saying, “Aw, is widdle Cid’s girl upset that we make fun of her goofy hair?”
That was the first time I called her Cid’s girl, and I’ve never forgotten the reaction. She turned beet red and started a sand fight that ended up with all three of us exhausted, covered in sand, and laughing our collective butt off.
I asked her after the fight if she was mad at me. She said, “Nope… you gave me a reason to dump sand in your hair,” with a giggle. To this day, I still remember the grin on her face when she said that. I also remember the way I just stood there for a moment, with absolutely no idea what to say. That may have been the first time a girl actually left me speechless… and I did a LOT of ’tough-guy talk’ afterwards to try and cover it up. I had an image to maintain, after all- my dad was almost second in command next to Cid, so naturally I had this vision of making the big time myself someday. Gave me a bit of a swelled head, I guess, but I digress.
We started hanging around more and more as we grew older, and somewhere along the line Brother and me began drifting apart. I think he was pissed that his little sister was breaking up the Gruesome Twosome; we weren’t playing as many jokes as we used to, especially not some of the jokes we played on other girls. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed the odd prank, but usually didn’t go through with it unless Rikku was involved somehow. I dunno, I guess it was just something about her that made playing a prank more appealing. Maybe it was her smile, or her perpetually sunny attitude. Maybe it was the glare mixed with a smirk whenever I called her ‘Cid’s girl’, a line I never got tired of… childish, of course, but what can I say, I was a kid. Anyway, one thing led to another and at one point when I was 14, me and Brother had a big falling-out. He said I was snubbing him, my best friend. I said I had no idea what he was talking about. He replied that I was spending too much time with his idiot sister, to which I told him she wasn’t an idiot and if he’d ever shown up at Basic Gadgetry like he was supposed to he’d have seen some of her work with machina. He shot back that that was none of my business and stop hanging around with Rikku. I told him she was just as much my friend as he was and if he didn’t like it, he could shove that mohawked head of his right up his ass.
His response to that was his fist. In my face. My right eye, to be exact. Poked me pretty damn bad, too, never did heal properly. Of course, he’d left right after punching me so he didn’t have any idea what he’d done till he saw me the next day with a big bandage on my face. He apologized, of course, but still said he resented that I preferred hanging out with Rikku more than with him. I guess he meant well, but at the time I was plenty ticked off at him. Rikku was mortified; she must’ve apologized to me seventeen times after Brother socked me, even though it wasn’t her fault. I even told her that straight off, but she didn’t seem to believe it until a few days later when the bandages finally came off. That’s when the other shock hit, when I realized I couldn’t see out of my right eye anymore. It was still there, just… inoperative. Fact is, I hadn’t treated it right away like I should have, otherwise I might’ve been able to save it, but I was too steamed to think straight at the time.
Oh well, I said. Just another thing to cope with. Fashioned a quick patch to cover it up, and got on with my life. Me and Brother did eventually make amends, but we weren’t exactly on ‘best friends’ terms anymore. As for me and Rikku…
Well, at the time I wasn’t really sure what to make of it. I wasn’t sure if I liked hanging with her just because she was so much fun to tease, or if it was her smile, her energy or what. Sure, there were other people I hung out with, and I liked how some of the other girls told me my eye patch made me look ‘dashing’, but somehow it was different with Cid’s girl. She didn’t worry about appearances like some did, and she never gave the impression of a damsel in distress if she could help it. I don’t know… It was refreshing to be around her, I suppose. And as we got older, I started to notice how cute she really is, or the bounce in her step that’s there even when she’s standing still. I began making excuses to hang out, like a busted machina that I needed help with, or a hidden ruin I wanted to show her.
Of course, Brother was still steamed at me, so we wound up sneaking around a lot… especially after he told Cid about the two of us hanging out together. I don’t know what Brother told him, but he turned into ‘Super-Protective Dad’ and started giving me some pretty wicked looks. As if the two of us were off being ‘bad kids’ or something. Come on, it’s not like I was taking her out to the dunes at night for a roll in the sand every time we were together… though I won’t deny, the thought had popped into my head a few times. But the last thing I wanted to do was hurt Rikku. It was at that time I really began to feel strongly for her, and something told me she felt the same way. It was in her stance, in the way she looked at me… in the few kisses we’d shared in one of the corners of Home, praying nobody would see us and making jokes about Brother’s stupid hairdo.
I was sixteen when we parted ways. She’d heard of her cousin’s Pilgrimage attempt and wanted to try and stop her. I’d lost my father to Sinspawn and had decided to avenge him, and through some stroke of luck had been accepted into the Crusaders. I didn’t want Rikku to risk her life, and I know she didn’t want me risking mine, but both of us can be real stubborn so we knew better than to argue with one another. Course, the upshot of it all was a really awkward goodbye between us, a mumbled apology on my part followed by some smartass comment where I told her not to mess her operation up too badly. She socked me on the arm pretty hard for that… but we were both smiling when she did.
A lot happened after that, what with training and being teamed up with a few new friends. Took a while, but eventually the four of us were operating like a well-oiled machina. I must admit, we made some real headway as a team… Baralai became more receptive towards machina and Al Bhed as a whole. Nooj loosened up slightly and stopped being such a hardass. Even Paine stepped out from behind her camera once in a while and opened up to us. Actually asked if I’d teach her to speak Al Bhed, though for what reason I didn’t know. Maybe she just wanted some new experiences. Yep, things were going fine.
Except for the mess that happened after the Den of Woe, of course. I’ve still got scars on my chest from where Nooj shot me… at least, I thought it was Nooj doing the shooting at the time, not some ghost playing him like a puppet.
I didn’t have much to do after that except try to make my way Home. And I was getting more than a bit fed up, too… with Yevon, Nooj, just about everything that had blown up in my face. I had my ears open at all times, to make sure I didn’t miss someone else trying to get at me; that’s how I heard about the Guado plot to capture the Summoner Yuna and kill her guardians. Heard that about the same time we ran across one of those guardians, oddly enough… and the guy seemed determined to stand out and fight regardless. Even with everyone in the world gunning for him, this lone swordsman wasn’t giving up. Couldn’t tell if he was confident or suicidal, but the way he marched off over the dunes spoke of true military dedication. Made me begin to think about making my own stand, instead of hiding from the Yevon cover-up squad that gunned the others down. And that’s when we heard about the assault on Home.
I could go on about everything else, but it all seems like one big blur. From that point up until the Vegnagun incident, things just didn’t register as being memorable, with a few exceptions. First, the destruction of Home- something I didn’t want to forgive Cid for, not for a long time. I was just too mule-headed to see that there was no way for us to salvage what was left, and if we just ran the Guado would’ve hunted us down all over again in greater numbers. At the time, though, I’d still hoped there was a chance we could save the place- even if it was just the one little corner where Rikku and me had hid and joked around when we were kids.
Second was the final destruction of Sin- who would forget something like that??? Third was when me and my boys first pulled together and decided to act, rather than hiding. With Sin gone and Yevon out of the loop, I figured it was high time we Al Bhed actually got out and did something to help the rest of Spira. I pulled together some of the finest gearheads I could find, began organizing new salvage runs… the rest is history. Of course, we didn’t have a base of operations at first, until one of my scouts reported Djose temple being abandoned and falling apart. Nowadays, it seems like a natural choice for the Machine Faction, what with the arcane lightning providing us with a constant source of electricity to recharge our mech’s batteries with.
It was in those early days that I ran across Rikku again. At the worst possible time, too. Supply problems were hitting us, we’d had several experimental models go haywire and I was just about fried to the bone from paperwork I didn’t want to be doing, and then she turned up. Great Ixion, she was still as adorable and perky as I remembered her. Said she was trying a new career, something called Sphere Hunting. Asked me how I’d been doing. Told me she missed me… and I won’t deny, I missed her too, but running on 3 hours’ sleep like I had been, my mind wasn’t taking in the fact that SHE WAS HERE, that she was STILL ALIVE. I still can’t remember exactly what it was I said, but I’m sure it had something to do with ‘busy with adult problems, no time for kid’s stuff’ and I’m almost certain I threw in a ‘Cid’s girl’ in there… but not my usual joking one. Long story short, I behaved like a jackass, she replied in kind, and we didn’t see each other for a couple of months after that. On the outside, I downplayed it, maintained my composed “professional” image and got on with life… but on the inside I was kicking myself.
Privately, I was really glad when she came back months later with her friends in tow. I was kinda surprised the hero of Spira was wandering around as a Sphere Hunter, let alone that she wanted a job digging. Another surprise was the fact that Paine was still alive- but I got the hint that she didn’t want the beans spilled, so I played along. I was hoping they might stay a little longer so that I could have a chance to apologize to Rikku, but that wasn’t the case. I didn’t have a chance to apologize any of the other times I ran into them, either- there was always something else going on, like the fiend invasion or when my old Squad mates disappeared. Or just the simple fact the two of us weren’t getting any alone time, so I’d resort to my old ‘cool guy’ image and joke around.
I know she was turning red as a lobster when I mentioned we made quite the couple, even though I said it in a joking tone of voice. Part of that was the kid in me… the practical joker that never really gave up. But another part of that was serious. When she’d last seen me, I was ultra-serious, curt, and more than a little ruder than usual. I guess I was trying to show her that the old me wasn’t gone, I’d just been on vacation that day.
Even so, I wasn’t able to be with her by myself long enough to tell her, I’m sorry.
Well… now that the crisis is over, Yuna and the others had just provided that moment by conveniently disappearing. There wasn’t a single person on the plateau, none of the workers, nobody.
We looked at each other awkwardly for a moment or two, at which point, I dipped my head and figured, hell with it, now’s the only chance.
“I’m sorry about before. I really was glad to see you that time a few months back… Rikku.”
She blinked a few times. “What, no ‘Cid’s girl’ today from the Great Gippal?”
“Well… there’s only so many times I can call you that before it gets irritating and you knock my lights out.” I shrugged, and then she did something I didn’t expect.
She giggled, darted behind me and jumped on my back, arms around my neck. “It’ll take a lot more than that to make me deck you, you crazy Shoopuf-head!!!” she laughed, and I started laughing too.
“I missed you a lot, you know…” she added. “I was afraid you’d gotten squished by Sinspawn after your letters stopped coming…” I winced at that; ever since the Squad had gotten together I’d forgotten to write to her. I hadn’t been putting it off, or sending her letters to someone in Luca, I’d just plum forgotten about writing. “It’s okay, though; I wasn’t anywhere I’d be able to receive them, anyway.”
A moment of silence passed between us, and I felt a need to say something. “Rikku… tu oui drehg syopa fa luimt dno ykyeh, yht du ramm fryd Brother un Cid drehg?”
At first she didn’t say anything; I couldn’t see her face since she was still hanging on to my shoulders, but I got my answer when she pulled closer and nuzzled her head against the back of my neck. “You’ve got a lot of lost time to make up for, mister High-n-Mighty!!” she giggled, that light infectious laugh of hers that she’s had since we were kids. I started laughing too… well, as much as I could with her arms restricting the flow of air to my lungs.
Sure, she’s childish at times, and a bit of a klutz, but I don’t really care about that. Hey, I’m childish myself. Pretty good match though, the princess of the Al Bhed and her knight in shining armor on his trusty machine steed, huh?
Just better hope Brother doesn’t decide to wreck my remaining eye cornea when he finds out we’re back together.
*****************************
[A/N: For those without a translator program, Gippal asked Rikku, “do you think maybe we could try again, and to hell what Brother or Cid think?” -Neon Ronin]
The Long Way Home
Gippal
So there I was, back at Djose trying to sort out everything that had fallen apart thanks to the Vegnagun incident, when a very familiar crimson airship parks its nose outside and an even more familiar celebrity trio saunters in. Not that it was unexpected, mind you, I’d heard from them a few days before when they visited Noojster up at LeBlanc’s chateau. Even had a chance to talk with Lady Yuna’s main squeeze over the Commsphere before we met face to face, so I knew enough not to think it was Shuyin back from the dead all over again. I’d gotten most of the staff on hand to set aside projects that could wait, so my schedule was pretty free for a reception. Yep, had everything all planned out.
Except for the moment after the introductions when Yuna and this Tidus guy dashed over to the temple and Paine just up and vanished, leaving me and Rikku alone. For a moment all I did was turn in several directions, wondering what in the Farplane was going on; she was doing the same thing but with an annoyed scowl on her face. I couldn’t help but laugh inside once the initial shock wore off; it occurred to me that the others had planned this, the way they all split at the same instant. I’ll bet anything they were snickering the moment they were out of eyesight. Rikku started complaining right off the bat, “Nice going, you guys! Leaving me alone with this… BMYOPUO!!!” The minute she said that, she glanced back at me, and I guess something in the way I was looking at her calmed her down. The flush left her face and she actually smiled at me, and not one of those “who, me?” smiles either.
I couldn’t help but smile back… and at the same time, wince. Did she really think I was a playboy? Okay, so maaaybe I do flirt around on occasion, but it never really gets anywhere. Just ol’ Gippster having a little fun, is that so wrong?
Well… in some ways, I guess it is a bit wrong. I just don’t know that many other ways to act around girls.
Let alone the one I care about more than any other.
We’ve known each other since we were kids together on Bikanel, back when we both had to wear those stupid full-body suits as a mark of our age group. I’d known Brother first, since we were closer in age; he and I would get together when my old man would be in conference with Cid, and we’d go tinker with machina or pull a prank on one of the older guys or the younger girls. I still remember one time when the two of us dumped a bucket of sand down the backs of Cid’s boots; that got us in a whole load of trouble, but boy it was worth it to see the veins stand out on Cid’s bald head. (He was bald back then, too; not because it fell out, but because he shaved his scalp. Said it helped keep his brain cool on the hot days.) Then as we got a little older, Rikku started joining us on some of our pranks. Brother thought she was annoying and always told her to go home, but she could think up some really devious stuff… even if she was a bit of a klutz executing some of our jokes. Besides, I liked having her around with us; whenever there was a lull in things I could always get a laugh by saying something that irked her or embarrassed her. I think Brother started it when he said her pigtails made her look like a Divebeak; we must’ve been about seven or eight at the time. She jumped right up and called us both Shoopuf-heads. I responded by saying, “Aw, is widdle Cid’s girl upset that we make fun of her goofy hair?”
That was the first time I called her Cid’s girl, and I’ve never forgotten the reaction. She turned beet red and started a sand fight that ended up with all three of us exhausted, covered in sand, and laughing our collective butt off.
I asked her after the fight if she was mad at me. She said, “Nope… you gave me a reason to dump sand in your hair,” with a giggle. To this day, I still remember the grin on her face when she said that. I also remember the way I just stood there for a moment, with absolutely no idea what to say. That may have been the first time a girl actually left me speechless… and I did a LOT of ’tough-guy talk’ afterwards to try and cover it up. I had an image to maintain, after all- my dad was almost second in command next to Cid, so naturally I had this vision of making the big time myself someday. Gave me a bit of a swelled head, I guess, but I digress.
We started hanging around more and more as we grew older, and somewhere along the line Brother and me began drifting apart. I think he was pissed that his little sister was breaking up the Gruesome Twosome; we weren’t playing as many jokes as we used to, especially not some of the jokes we played on other girls. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed the odd prank, but usually didn’t go through with it unless Rikku was involved somehow. I dunno, I guess it was just something about her that made playing a prank more appealing. Maybe it was her smile, or her perpetually sunny attitude. Maybe it was the glare mixed with a smirk whenever I called her ‘Cid’s girl’, a line I never got tired of… childish, of course, but what can I say, I was a kid. Anyway, one thing led to another and at one point when I was 14, me and Brother had a big falling-out. He said I was snubbing him, my best friend. I said I had no idea what he was talking about. He replied that I was spending too much time with his idiot sister, to which I told him she wasn’t an idiot and if he’d ever shown up at Basic Gadgetry like he was supposed to he’d have seen some of her work with machina. He shot back that that was none of my business and stop hanging around with Rikku. I told him she was just as much my friend as he was and if he didn’t like it, he could shove that mohawked head of his right up his ass.
His response to that was his fist. In my face. My right eye, to be exact. Poked me pretty damn bad, too, never did heal properly. Of course, he’d left right after punching me so he didn’t have any idea what he’d done till he saw me the next day with a big bandage on my face. He apologized, of course, but still said he resented that I preferred hanging out with Rikku more than with him. I guess he meant well, but at the time I was plenty ticked off at him. Rikku was mortified; she must’ve apologized to me seventeen times after Brother socked me, even though it wasn’t her fault. I even told her that straight off, but she didn’t seem to believe it until a few days later when the bandages finally came off. That’s when the other shock hit, when I realized I couldn’t see out of my right eye anymore. It was still there, just… inoperative. Fact is, I hadn’t treated it right away like I should have, otherwise I might’ve been able to save it, but I was too steamed to think straight at the time.
Oh well, I said. Just another thing to cope with. Fashioned a quick patch to cover it up, and got on with my life. Me and Brother did eventually make amends, but we weren’t exactly on ‘best friends’ terms anymore. As for me and Rikku…
Well, at the time I wasn’t really sure what to make of it. I wasn’t sure if I liked hanging with her just because she was so much fun to tease, or if it was her smile, her energy or what. Sure, there were other people I hung out with, and I liked how some of the other girls told me my eye patch made me look ‘dashing’, but somehow it was different with Cid’s girl. She didn’t worry about appearances like some did, and she never gave the impression of a damsel in distress if she could help it. I don’t know… It was refreshing to be around her, I suppose. And as we got older, I started to notice how cute she really is, or the bounce in her step that’s there even when she’s standing still. I began making excuses to hang out, like a busted machina that I needed help with, or a hidden ruin I wanted to show her.
Of course, Brother was still steamed at me, so we wound up sneaking around a lot… especially after he told Cid about the two of us hanging out together. I don’t know what Brother told him, but he turned into ‘Super-Protective Dad’ and started giving me some pretty wicked looks. As if the two of us were off being ‘bad kids’ or something. Come on, it’s not like I was taking her out to the dunes at night for a roll in the sand every time we were together… though I won’t deny, the thought had popped into my head a few times. But the last thing I wanted to do was hurt Rikku. It was at that time I really began to feel strongly for her, and something told me she felt the same way. It was in her stance, in the way she looked at me… in the few kisses we’d shared in one of the corners of Home, praying nobody would see us and making jokes about Brother’s stupid hairdo.
I was sixteen when we parted ways. She’d heard of her cousin’s Pilgrimage attempt and wanted to try and stop her. I’d lost my father to Sinspawn and had decided to avenge him, and through some stroke of luck had been accepted into the Crusaders. I didn’t want Rikku to risk her life, and I know she didn’t want me risking mine, but both of us can be real stubborn so we knew better than to argue with one another. Course, the upshot of it all was a really awkward goodbye between us, a mumbled apology on my part followed by some smartass comment where I told her not to mess her operation up too badly. She socked me on the arm pretty hard for that… but we were both smiling when she did.
A lot happened after that, what with training and being teamed up with a few new friends. Took a while, but eventually the four of us were operating like a well-oiled machina. I must admit, we made some real headway as a team… Baralai became more receptive towards machina and Al Bhed as a whole. Nooj loosened up slightly and stopped being such a hardass. Even Paine stepped out from behind her camera once in a while and opened up to us. Actually asked if I’d teach her to speak Al Bhed, though for what reason I didn’t know. Maybe she just wanted some new experiences. Yep, things were going fine.
Except for the mess that happened after the Den of Woe, of course. I’ve still got scars on my chest from where Nooj shot me… at least, I thought it was Nooj doing the shooting at the time, not some ghost playing him like a puppet.
I didn’t have much to do after that except try to make my way Home. And I was getting more than a bit fed up, too… with Yevon, Nooj, just about everything that had blown up in my face. I had my ears open at all times, to make sure I didn’t miss someone else trying to get at me; that’s how I heard about the Guado plot to capture the Summoner Yuna and kill her guardians. Heard that about the same time we ran across one of those guardians, oddly enough… and the guy seemed determined to stand out and fight regardless. Even with everyone in the world gunning for him, this lone swordsman wasn’t giving up. Couldn’t tell if he was confident or suicidal, but the way he marched off over the dunes spoke of true military dedication. Made me begin to think about making my own stand, instead of hiding from the Yevon cover-up squad that gunned the others down. And that’s when we heard about the assault on Home.
I could go on about everything else, but it all seems like one big blur. From that point up until the Vegnagun incident, things just didn’t register as being memorable, with a few exceptions. First, the destruction of Home- something I didn’t want to forgive Cid for, not for a long time. I was just too mule-headed to see that there was no way for us to salvage what was left, and if we just ran the Guado would’ve hunted us down all over again in greater numbers. At the time, though, I’d still hoped there was a chance we could save the place- even if it was just the one little corner where Rikku and me had hid and joked around when we were kids.
Second was the final destruction of Sin- who would forget something like that??? Third was when me and my boys first pulled together and decided to act, rather than hiding. With Sin gone and Yevon out of the loop, I figured it was high time we Al Bhed actually got out and did something to help the rest of Spira. I pulled together some of the finest gearheads I could find, began organizing new salvage runs… the rest is history. Of course, we didn’t have a base of operations at first, until one of my scouts reported Djose temple being abandoned and falling apart. Nowadays, it seems like a natural choice for the Machine Faction, what with the arcane lightning providing us with a constant source of electricity to recharge our mech’s batteries with.
It was in those early days that I ran across Rikku again. At the worst possible time, too. Supply problems were hitting us, we’d had several experimental models go haywire and I was just about fried to the bone from paperwork I didn’t want to be doing, and then she turned up. Great Ixion, she was still as adorable and perky as I remembered her. Said she was trying a new career, something called Sphere Hunting. Asked me how I’d been doing. Told me she missed me… and I won’t deny, I missed her too, but running on 3 hours’ sleep like I had been, my mind wasn’t taking in the fact that SHE WAS HERE, that she was STILL ALIVE. I still can’t remember exactly what it was I said, but I’m sure it had something to do with ‘busy with adult problems, no time for kid’s stuff’ and I’m almost certain I threw in a ‘Cid’s girl’ in there… but not my usual joking one. Long story short, I behaved like a jackass, she replied in kind, and we didn’t see each other for a couple of months after that. On the outside, I downplayed it, maintained my composed “professional” image and got on with life… but on the inside I was kicking myself.
Privately, I was really glad when she came back months later with her friends in tow. I was kinda surprised the hero of Spira was wandering around as a Sphere Hunter, let alone that she wanted a job digging. Another surprise was the fact that Paine was still alive- but I got the hint that she didn’t want the beans spilled, so I played along. I was hoping they might stay a little longer so that I could have a chance to apologize to Rikku, but that wasn’t the case. I didn’t have a chance to apologize any of the other times I ran into them, either- there was always something else going on, like the fiend invasion or when my old Squad mates disappeared. Or just the simple fact the two of us weren’t getting any alone time, so I’d resort to my old ‘cool guy’ image and joke around.
I know she was turning red as a lobster when I mentioned we made quite the couple, even though I said it in a joking tone of voice. Part of that was the kid in me… the practical joker that never really gave up. But another part of that was serious. When she’d last seen me, I was ultra-serious, curt, and more than a little ruder than usual. I guess I was trying to show her that the old me wasn’t gone, I’d just been on vacation that day.
Even so, I wasn’t able to be with her by myself long enough to tell her, I’m sorry.
Well… now that the crisis is over, Yuna and the others had just provided that moment by conveniently disappearing. There wasn’t a single person on the plateau, none of the workers, nobody.
We looked at each other awkwardly for a moment or two, at which point, I dipped my head and figured, hell with it, now’s the only chance.
“I’m sorry about before. I really was glad to see you that time a few months back… Rikku.”
She blinked a few times. “What, no ‘Cid’s girl’ today from the Great Gippal?”
“Well… there’s only so many times I can call you that before it gets irritating and you knock my lights out.” I shrugged, and then she did something I didn’t expect.
She giggled, darted behind me and jumped on my back, arms around my neck. “It’ll take a lot more than that to make me deck you, you crazy Shoopuf-head!!!” she laughed, and I started laughing too.
“I missed you a lot, you know…” she added. “I was afraid you’d gotten squished by Sinspawn after your letters stopped coming…” I winced at that; ever since the Squad had gotten together I’d forgotten to write to her. I hadn’t been putting it off, or sending her letters to someone in Luca, I’d just plum forgotten about writing. “It’s okay, though; I wasn’t anywhere I’d be able to receive them, anyway.”
A moment of silence passed between us, and I felt a need to say something. “Rikku… tu oui drehg syopa fa luimt dno ykyeh, yht du ramm fryd Brother un Cid drehg?”
At first she didn’t say anything; I couldn’t see her face since she was still hanging on to my shoulders, but I got my answer when she pulled closer and nuzzled her head against the back of my neck. “You’ve got a lot of lost time to make up for, mister High-n-Mighty!!” she giggled, that light infectious laugh of hers that she’s had since we were kids. I started laughing too… well, as much as I could with her arms restricting the flow of air to my lungs.
Sure, she’s childish at times, and a bit of a klutz, but I don’t really care about that. Hey, I’m childish myself. Pretty good match though, the princess of the Al Bhed and her knight in shining armor on his trusty machine steed, huh?
Just better hope Brother doesn’t decide to wreck my remaining eye cornea when he finds out we’re back together.
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[A/N: For those without a translator program, Gippal asked Rikku, “do you think maybe we could try again, and to hell what Brother or Cid think?” -Neon Ronin]