Alrighty, this is my first ever fanfic... I started writing it a while ago, so have a number of chapters, but I thought I'd put it up to see what kind of feedback I got. Oh and as some of the chapters may very well extend beyond a single post... I'll put <><><><><><> at the end so it's clear... Anyway, about this fic, I normally I don't like the whole idea of crossovers, but this idea struck me and I think it works. So without further ado...
“Weddings are happy occasions… so smile.” Rikku forcibly reminded herself as she perched on the foot of High Summoner Braska… or his statue anyway. Leaning casually against his left leg, she scanned the happy faces in the crowd as they chattered and danced beneath garlands of silken flowers and the twinkling golden lights that decorated the hall. Her seat put her at just the right height to see everything that was going on. That certainly made a change. As Rikku watched, a single pearly petal broke off and floated gently to the ground only to be crushed beneath the foot of a stumbling guest. Actually, most of the people crammed into what was once Besaid’s temple to Yevon had not been invited at all, but rather had come to crash the party. They all hoped to catch a glimpse of high summoner Yuna, the woman who had saved Spira not once but twice, and her new husband, Tidus, who was not only her guardian when Yuna undertook that not-so-final-after all journey, but was also a blitzball all-star, the finest player in a thousand years. Spira always did love their celebrities, and the marriage of such a pair, even without the romantic story behind it, well, Rikku supposed it wasn’t a wonder that so many people had traveled all the way to Besaid just to see it. Yunie had welcomed them all, even though she had really wanted a private wedding; just another sacrifice for the joy of Spira.
Yunie would do well to be a bit more selfish… Like, well, like Rikku supposed that she herself was being. Normally Rikku loved a party, especially when it was celebrating the marriage of two people she adored. She had even helped Yunie plan the whole thing, though admittedly Yuna had decided against incorporating some of Rikku’s more flamboyant and decidedly Al Bhed suggestions. This was how Rikku found herself wearing a long demurely cut sea foam green dress instead of the bright purple one she had originally been planning on. Rikku suspected that the blue and green dresses of those in the ceremony had been planned for the sole purpose of matching Yunie’s eyes. Yunie was surprisingly devious in that way, and since Rikku wanted Yuna’s perfect wedding to go, well… perfect, she had even forgone stringing her hair with the beads and ribbons that usually adorned it, letting her below-waist length blonde locks swing free. She didn’t even look like an Al Bhed anymore except for the eyes. You could change their habits, and change their dress, but you couldn’t hide the Al Bhed eyes… except with a blindfold of course…or goggles… the point Rikku, the point… and hers were particularly distinct, the emerald green ribbon running through their depths forming a particularly hypnotic pattern around the irises. They were how Auron had known when Rikku had forced him and the others to take her on as another of Yunie’s guardians, though she supposed the fact that she had been climbing out of a large machine was pretty much of a tip off anyway. Rikku glanced down at the gown, smoothing it with a slight frown. Her appearance was just a surface indicator of what was to come, and through all the planning and knowing that Yunie was getting married and going off with Tidus, only today had it truly clicked that everything had to change.
Before, everything had been for Spira, and ok, she’d admit it, maybe making a little extra gil on the side, but now when for the first time there wasn’t some threat looming over all their heads, Rikku found that she didn’t really know what to do. They all lived happily ever after she supposed, but for Rikku “ever after” seemed a terribly long time. This wedding just marked an ending point in her life, and no new beginnings in sight. Death at least was absolute, but this uncertainty about… well, everything, she just couldn’t take. Rikku scowled for a moment as she saw Paine walk through the crowd with Baralai at her arm. This was all her fault.
Perhaps relying on Rikku’s ebullient mood over Yunie’s wedding celebrations to ward off any tantrums, not that she had them— Paine had chosen that very morning to break it to her that she was quitting the Gullwings and moving to Bevelle to be with Baralai. That certainly gave Rikku some pause as she hadn’t even realized there was anything going on between the pair, and Rikku always looked for that sort of thing. She should have seen it coming, but as the both of them together probably emoted about half as much as a wooden plank, she couldn’t be too critical on herself. Yunie hadn’t known either. Besides at least it wasn’t Nooj, now that would have been scary. Still it posed a problem. Rikku had known that Yunie was leaving the Gullwings, but now Paine as well… She wasn’t entirely sure why this prospect bothered her so much, as most of the time Rikku was positive that Paine was entertaining thoughts of throttling her in her head, and the sphere market was declining anyway. After the Vegnagun fiasco, everyone was more then ready to let things stay buried lest yet another machine of apocalyptic design be revealed. Besides did she really want to cruise around in the airship with her addled older brother? Not to mention one who was disturbingly heartbroken that Yunie had married someone else. Rikku looked around trying to find him among the interlopers, but eventually gave up. He was probably off drunk and crying somewhere. It was at times like these that Rikku really… really prayed that he was adopted, or a foundling, one who had been unsurprisingly left in the desert by his parents… related to a cactuar perhaps. That would certainly explain things.
Rikku sighed, she didn’t see her brother, but she did find Gippal, looking both handsome and rakish with his eye patch, and surrounded by his usual bevy of adoring women. Admittedly, Rikku had also once been one of the smitten lot, and she and Gippal had an off again on again relationship over the past few years, but that all changed when she caught him cheating, and with one of those Leblanc syndicate drones of all people. Rikku decided she’d rather not to think of what that said about her if Gippal considered one of them a step up. Anyway, Rikku and Gippal were over for good now. This meant of course that even though the Machina faction was just about the only group of people that remained still interested in spheres, machina, and other reliquaries of the past, since Gippal led the organization, joining them was most assuredly not an option.
As Rikku continued to survey the room, she noticed that she was not the only one to remain aloof from the celebrations. A man leaned in the shadows just beside the door, his arms crossing his chest, having somehow managed to find a space clear of people. He had an odd air about him as he watched the newlyweds, a blank expression on his face. His pale blonde hair, almost silver, fell across his forehead obscuring one of his eyes, but the other she could see even from across the room was a vibrant blue that almost seemed to glow from the shadows. The man wore all black and his outfit was casual, which was strange for a wedding and though many of the men carried ceremonial type swords in decorated sheathes, the one the man wore looked old and unadorned. It was an odd shape as well… intriguing. Rikku got the distinct feeling that he was waiting for something. As if sensing her attention, the man turned his head, his hair falling away from his face as he met her gaze directly. She was caught in the act. Shoopuff… Eyes locked, they looked at each other from across the room almost as if they were engaged in a childish staring contest, like the ones she always lost to Paine… only this time, Rikku couldn’t seem to look away.
Of course, that went out the window when only a moment later they both broke off at the sound of a clearly drunk man who began a bumbling monologue about the wonderfulness of the occasion, the two people who had been brought together, and the fineness of the food and drink… emphasis on the drink. Rikku cringed slightly before breaking into an amused smile. Yep, that was her Dad alright. When Cid’s speech had declined irrevocably into a half-jilted bawdy Al Bhed bar room song, Yunie stepped forward managed to escort him to one of the built in benches that lined the hall, still retaining complete dignity and grace. Rikku suppressed a smile, she didn’t think Yunie’d be able to keep that composure if she actually understood what he was singing, and in fact, all the Al Bhed in the room were laughing hysterically. This was actually for that reason that Rikku didn’t go lead her dad off her self, the whole thing was just too funny. By the time Yunie had returned to Tidus’s side in the back of the temple, someone else started up their own speech, then another, and another. As they all droned on in turn, Rikku reined her thoughts back to the problem at hand and by the time she remembered the strange man, he was gone.
When the speeches had ended and everyone had gone back to their dancing, Rikku decided that she’d had enough. Glancing over to the right at Yuna and Tidus, she only had to look at them as they danced with one another to know that it was unlikely that either would notice her absence. As she struggled to carefully to climb down off the statue and onto the nearest bench, Rikku saw another person move by dressed all in black, though he was not the man from earlier. He had red hair. While she was focused on redhead, Rikku forgot to pay attention to wear she was stepping and as her foot came down on the end of her dress, she was jerked off of balance, and stumbled forward off of the bench. Immediately Rikku put her arms up to protect herself from the fall, but instead of hitting the ground she was caught by a pair of strong arms. Arms attached to a chest donned in black… Rikku looked up swiftly into the brown eyes and smirking face of yet another stranger, this one a man with sandy blond hair, cut short in the back and long in the front. It wasn’t the hair that caught her attention though, but the small black tattoo on the side of his neck, just below his left ear. It looked like a curvy M that almost joined together at the bottom, but not quite. She had only a glimpse though before the man steadied her, she was about to thank him when he spoke, an odd gleam in his eyes.
“You should be more careful, or you might get hurt.”
Rikku sighed. Why does everyone always tell me that? Still, she did not get a chance to respond, for he turned swiftly, the creepy smile still playing across his face as he pushed through the crowd and further into the temple. Shaking her head at the rudeness of strangers, even helpful rude ones, Rikku began to slip through the crowd, using her small size to get there more quickly as she ducked under arms and twirled through gaps. She was really quite adept at it. Still, ultimately, the encounter had relieved her a bit, she was obviously wrong about the oddity of the silver haired man’s attire, maybe black was some new wedding fashion trend. Finding the press of the crowd increasingly claustrophobic, Rikku realized that outside it was only slightly better. She wanted to get away from all of it. Moving away from the ring of blue torchlight that illuminated the pavilion, Rikku walked out into the darkness having decided to head down to the beach. She could think better there, and wouldn’t be casting a dark cloud on Yunie’s wedding with her troubled thoughts. Rikku was so intent on getting away, that she did not notice when someone slipped out into the darkness after her, quietly following as she made her way down the path.
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Chapter One: The Wedding Party
”Eat,drink, and be merry… for tomorrow there’ll be Sin…”
-- An old Al Bhed proverb, from Al Bhed Customs and Folktales, translated by Maechin
“Eat, drink, and be merry… for tomorrow there’ll be… Vegnagun!”
-Toast of an unknown and inebriated Al Bhed of the Machina Faction
Eat, drink, and be merry… for tomorrow…Tomorrow…
- Graffiti found in the Zanarkand Ruins.
Chapter One: The Wedding Party
”Eat,drink, and be merry… for tomorrow there’ll be Sin…”
-- An old Al Bhed proverb, from Al Bhed Customs and Folktales, translated by Maechin
“Eat, drink, and be merry… for tomorrow there’ll be… Vegnagun!”
-Toast of an unknown and inebriated Al Bhed of the Machina Faction
Eat, drink, and be merry… for tomorrow…Tomorrow…
- Graffiti found in the Zanarkand Ruins.
“Weddings are happy occasions… so smile.” Rikku forcibly reminded herself as she perched on the foot of High Summoner Braska… or his statue anyway. Leaning casually against his left leg, she scanned the happy faces in the crowd as they chattered and danced beneath garlands of silken flowers and the twinkling golden lights that decorated the hall. Her seat put her at just the right height to see everything that was going on. That certainly made a change. As Rikku watched, a single pearly petal broke off and floated gently to the ground only to be crushed beneath the foot of a stumbling guest. Actually, most of the people crammed into what was once Besaid’s temple to Yevon had not been invited at all, but rather had come to crash the party. They all hoped to catch a glimpse of high summoner Yuna, the woman who had saved Spira not once but twice, and her new husband, Tidus, who was not only her guardian when Yuna undertook that not-so-final-after all journey, but was also a blitzball all-star, the finest player in a thousand years. Spira always did love their celebrities, and the marriage of such a pair, even without the romantic story behind it, well, Rikku supposed it wasn’t a wonder that so many people had traveled all the way to Besaid just to see it. Yunie had welcomed them all, even though she had really wanted a private wedding; just another sacrifice for the joy of Spira.
Yunie would do well to be a bit more selfish… Like, well, like Rikku supposed that she herself was being. Normally Rikku loved a party, especially when it was celebrating the marriage of two people she adored. She had even helped Yunie plan the whole thing, though admittedly Yuna had decided against incorporating some of Rikku’s more flamboyant and decidedly Al Bhed suggestions. This was how Rikku found herself wearing a long demurely cut sea foam green dress instead of the bright purple one she had originally been planning on. Rikku suspected that the blue and green dresses of those in the ceremony had been planned for the sole purpose of matching Yunie’s eyes. Yunie was surprisingly devious in that way, and since Rikku wanted Yuna’s perfect wedding to go, well… perfect, she had even forgone stringing her hair with the beads and ribbons that usually adorned it, letting her below-waist length blonde locks swing free. She didn’t even look like an Al Bhed anymore except for the eyes. You could change their habits, and change their dress, but you couldn’t hide the Al Bhed eyes… except with a blindfold of course…or goggles… the point Rikku, the point… and hers were particularly distinct, the emerald green ribbon running through their depths forming a particularly hypnotic pattern around the irises. They were how Auron had known when Rikku had forced him and the others to take her on as another of Yunie’s guardians, though she supposed the fact that she had been climbing out of a large machine was pretty much of a tip off anyway. Rikku glanced down at the gown, smoothing it with a slight frown. Her appearance was just a surface indicator of what was to come, and through all the planning and knowing that Yunie was getting married and going off with Tidus, only today had it truly clicked that everything had to change.
Before, everything had been for Spira, and ok, she’d admit it, maybe making a little extra gil on the side, but now when for the first time there wasn’t some threat looming over all their heads, Rikku found that she didn’t really know what to do. They all lived happily ever after she supposed, but for Rikku “ever after” seemed a terribly long time. This wedding just marked an ending point in her life, and no new beginnings in sight. Death at least was absolute, but this uncertainty about… well, everything, she just couldn’t take. Rikku scowled for a moment as she saw Paine walk through the crowd with Baralai at her arm. This was all her fault.
Perhaps relying on Rikku’s ebullient mood over Yunie’s wedding celebrations to ward off any tantrums, not that she had them— Paine had chosen that very morning to break it to her that she was quitting the Gullwings and moving to Bevelle to be with Baralai. That certainly gave Rikku some pause as she hadn’t even realized there was anything going on between the pair, and Rikku always looked for that sort of thing. She should have seen it coming, but as the both of them together probably emoted about half as much as a wooden plank, she couldn’t be too critical on herself. Yunie hadn’t known either. Besides at least it wasn’t Nooj, now that would have been scary. Still it posed a problem. Rikku had known that Yunie was leaving the Gullwings, but now Paine as well… She wasn’t entirely sure why this prospect bothered her so much, as most of the time Rikku was positive that Paine was entertaining thoughts of throttling her in her head, and the sphere market was declining anyway. After the Vegnagun fiasco, everyone was more then ready to let things stay buried lest yet another machine of apocalyptic design be revealed. Besides did she really want to cruise around in the airship with her addled older brother? Not to mention one who was disturbingly heartbroken that Yunie had married someone else. Rikku looked around trying to find him among the interlopers, but eventually gave up. He was probably off drunk and crying somewhere. It was at times like these that Rikku really… really prayed that he was adopted, or a foundling, one who had been unsurprisingly left in the desert by his parents… related to a cactuar perhaps. That would certainly explain things.
Rikku sighed, she didn’t see her brother, but she did find Gippal, looking both handsome and rakish with his eye patch, and surrounded by his usual bevy of adoring women. Admittedly, Rikku had also once been one of the smitten lot, and she and Gippal had an off again on again relationship over the past few years, but that all changed when she caught him cheating, and with one of those Leblanc syndicate drones of all people. Rikku decided she’d rather not to think of what that said about her if Gippal considered one of them a step up. Anyway, Rikku and Gippal were over for good now. This meant of course that even though the Machina faction was just about the only group of people that remained still interested in spheres, machina, and other reliquaries of the past, since Gippal led the organization, joining them was most assuredly not an option.
As Rikku continued to survey the room, she noticed that she was not the only one to remain aloof from the celebrations. A man leaned in the shadows just beside the door, his arms crossing his chest, having somehow managed to find a space clear of people. He had an odd air about him as he watched the newlyweds, a blank expression on his face. His pale blonde hair, almost silver, fell across his forehead obscuring one of his eyes, but the other she could see even from across the room was a vibrant blue that almost seemed to glow from the shadows. The man wore all black and his outfit was casual, which was strange for a wedding and though many of the men carried ceremonial type swords in decorated sheathes, the one the man wore looked old and unadorned. It was an odd shape as well… intriguing. Rikku got the distinct feeling that he was waiting for something. As if sensing her attention, the man turned his head, his hair falling away from his face as he met her gaze directly. She was caught in the act. Shoopuff… Eyes locked, they looked at each other from across the room almost as if they were engaged in a childish staring contest, like the ones she always lost to Paine… only this time, Rikku couldn’t seem to look away.
Of course, that went out the window when only a moment later they both broke off at the sound of a clearly drunk man who began a bumbling monologue about the wonderfulness of the occasion, the two people who had been brought together, and the fineness of the food and drink… emphasis on the drink. Rikku cringed slightly before breaking into an amused smile. Yep, that was her Dad alright. When Cid’s speech had declined irrevocably into a half-jilted bawdy Al Bhed bar room song, Yunie stepped forward managed to escort him to one of the built in benches that lined the hall, still retaining complete dignity and grace. Rikku suppressed a smile, she didn’t think Yunie’d be able to keep that composure if she actually understood what he was singing, and in fact, all the Al Bhed in the room were laughing hysterically. This was actually for that reason that Rikku didn’t go lead her dad off her self, the whole thing was just too funny. By the time Yunie had returned to Tidus’s side in the back of the temple, someone else started up their own speech, then another, and another. As they all droned on in turn, Rikku reined her thoughts back to the problem at hand and by the time she remembered the strange man, he was gone.
When the speeches had ended and everyone had gone back to their dancing, Rikku decided that she’d had enough. Glancing over to the right at Yuna and Tidus, she only had to look at them as they danced with one another to know that it was unlikely that either would notice her absence. As she struggled to carefully to climb down off the statue and onto the nearest bench, Rikku saw another person move by dressed all in black, though he was not the man from earlier. He had red hair. While she was focused on redhead, Rikku forgot to pay attention to wear she was stepping and as her foot came down on the end of her dress, she was jerked off of balance, and stumbled forward off of the bench. Immediately Rikku put her arms up to protect herself from the fall, but instead of hitting the ground she was caught by a pair of strong arms. Arms attached to a chest donned in black… Rikku looked up swiftly into the brown eyes and smirking face of yet another stranger, this one a man with sandy blond hair, cut short in the back and long in the front. It wasn’t the hair that caught her attention though, but the small black tattoo on the side of his neck, just below his left ear. It looked like a curvy M that almost joined together at the bottom, but not quite. She had only a glimpse though before the man steadied her, she was about to thank him when he spoke, an odd gleam in his eyes.
“You should be more careful, or you might get hurt.”
Rikku sighed. Why does everyone always tell me that? Still, she did not get a chance to respond, for he turned swiftly, the creepy smile still playing across his face as he pushed through the crowd and further into the temple. Shaking her head at the rudeness of strangers, even helpful rude ones, Rikku began to slip through the crowd, using her small size to get there more quickly as she ducked under arms and twirled through gaps. She was really quite adept at it. Still, ultimately, the encounter had relieved her a bit, she was obviously wrong about the oddity of the silver haired man’s attire, maybe black was some new wedding fashion trend. Finding the press of the crowd increasingly claustrophobic, Rikku realized that outside it was only slightly better. She wanted to get away from all of it. Moving away from the ring of blue torchlight that illuminated the pavilion, Rikku walked out into the darkness having decided to head down to the beach. She could think better there, and wouldn’t be casting a dark cloud on Yunie’s wedding with her troubled thoughts. Rikku was so intent on getting away, that she did not notice when someone slipped out into the darkness after her, quietly following as she made her way down the path.
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