FicWad

Note: Takes place at the same time as the last chapter, which was just posted yesterday in case you missed it!

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"I know a secret," Rikku said, plopping down near Brother's feet and beginning to sort through her pouches of supplies, separating smoke bombs, silent grenades, poison fangs, and small vials of musk from the rest. She, like everyone else on the bridge, ignored Wakka running around shouting like a lunatic. "A really good one."

Brother grunted absently, clearly not paying attention. Rikku fingered an ice gem, only resisting the urge to throw it at his head because she knew that maybe a giant fire fiend would suddenly pop up out of nowhere in just a couple of minutes, and maybe they'd run through all of their strength and items trying to defeat it until all they had left was that one ice gem, and maybe that one gem would mean the difference between the fiend finally falling and all of them being flame-broiled, leaving Spira tormented by Sin forever without even the Final Summoning left to give it a break.

It wasn't really likely, but it could happen.

So instead she just went on like he was hanging on her every word. "A really good one. A super fantastical secret!" She realized that her voice was getting too loud and glanced back at her dad to make sure he wasn't listening to them. Luckily he'd gotten into a fight with Wakka and wasn't paying much attention to anything else.

"Do you remember what this lever does?" Brother asked, pointing at a section of the airship controls. "I haven't had to use it yet, but if I'm ever supposed to, ahhh..." He trailed off, but Rikku knew what he was trying to avoid saying. If he ever needed to use it, they'd be crashing into a mountain with a boom that would be heard from the remains of Home to the Highroad before he manage to remember what he was supposed to be doing. Except he'd have probably put it in a way that made him seem like less of a complete doof.

Rikku frowned at the lever for a minute, going through her mental checklist of the ship's workings. "Oh! That's the one that controlled those blinky lights on the stern that we couldn't ever figure out the point of, remember?"

Brother smacked his palm with his fist. "Ah yes! I'd forgotten about those!" he said, clearly relieved. He finally turned his attention to Rikku. "Okay, what is this 'secret'?"

Rikku grinned. Now that he was curious, she knew he wouldn't let up until she'd told him what it was. "Say please," she said, uncorking a vial that had lost it's label, taking a whiff, then tossing it aside at the swampy smell of a Hypello potion.

He rolled his eyes at her. "Please."

"No no no no no!" She giggled as she finally pulled her supplies into her lap along with a bangle she'd gotten from Rin. "Say 'please, my super-smart and also totally cute little sister, tell me your secret!'"

Brother threw up his hands. "Bah! I'll just find out from someone else."

"Nobody else knows. Nobody who'd talk about it, anyway. That's what makes it a secret, dork." She could see Brother wavering, and pulled out her secret weapon. "It's about our old man," she whispered to him, her eyes quickly darting from her work to Cid to make sure he was still distracted.

That had him hooked, just like she'd known it would. Cid and Brother's relationship had always been on the rocky side, and the possibility of getting dirt on him would be too good to resist. "Fine!" he exclaimed, a grudging expression on his face. "Please, my super-smart little sister, tell me what you know."

"You forgot the cute part, but I'll forgive you. But before I tell you, you've gotta promise you won't blab to anyone."

He crossed his arms over his chest, and Rikku knew that if it was just a few years earlier he'd have been pouting instead of the glare he settled on instead. "Then what's the point of even /knowing/?" he asked.

"Because it's a secret! Isn't that enough?" Rikku stuck out her tongue at him. "/Anyway/, you oughta know about it too, if you can keep your big mouth shut."

Brother didn't look happy, but finally he nodded. "I promise."

"Weeeeeell," Rikku lowered her voice, leaning toward him conspiratorially. "Dad's got a girlfriend."

Brother's eyes just about bulged out of their sockets. "He does not!" he exclaimed, then realized his mistake and quickly quieted himself. "He does not," he repeated.

"Well, okay, maybe they aren't actually dating yet 'cause they're too busy being stupid at each other, but they're getting there." She wasn't totally sure that she should be telling Brother this, but after seeing the look on Cid's face when she'd dragged Lulu up into the ship she'd gotten the feeling that, whatever it was that was going on between the two of them, it was way more serious than she'd been assuming. If that was really true, Brother deserved to know what was going on with their dad.

"Father can't have a girlfriend when I still can't get one!" Brother said, but he looked worried. "...It's not Nhadala, is it?"

"As if! They'd kill each other or something!" She leaned in closer than ever, needing to be absolutely positive that no one else could overhear her. She'd be the dead one if anyone else on the bridge noticed what they were talking about, but because her brother was an idiot she couldn't just switch to the Yevonite language to keep her secrets safe from her people. "Were you watching him when I came back here earlier? What did he look like when he saw Lulu?"

"He looked like he--" Brother started, then choked on the words as he realized what Rikku was getting at. "That's... you're... no. She's a Yevonite! A /guardian/!"

Rikku smacked him upside the head, leaving a streak of musk smeared across the side of his skull that he didn't even seem to notice. "I'm one too, remember. You don't need to sound like you're talking about a plague!"

It was Brother's turn to glance around making sure nobody was eavesdropping, although he was so bad at subtlety that Rikku was sure anyone looking their way would be suspicious of them as soon as they saw the way he was craning his head around. "But that's just as bad as what he banished Aunt Kalna for," he hissed out.

"I know! You think I never thought about that? But..." Rikku bowed her head, frowning hard enough to make her cheeks sore. "It's not like there's anywhere left now that he could banish himself from, even if he felt like being like being that fair about it."

"Rikku, don't say things like that!" Brother said firmly. "We're going to make Home again. Rin's already getting money for it."

"I know that's the plan," Rikku said, then quickly shook her head, trying to shake away the sadness that she always felt when she thought about Home and the future of the Al Bhed. They were scattered to the winds again, spreading out further every day that Tidus and the others put off defeating Sin so Cid could have time to plan out a new gathering place. Her father managing to get all of the Al Bhed together to begin with had been the closest thing to a miracle to ever happen to them; how likely was it that he'd be able to do it again once they started finding places to settle? "Anyway, it's not gonna happen for a long time even if everything goes totally perfectly; plenty of time for people just to get used to her if they actually really start dating, right?"

Brother didn't look convinced, but Rikku thought that she couldn't waste any more time talking to him about it. The longer they spent whispering together the more likely it became that someone would start paying attention. Everyone always said that it was never a good thing when Cid's kids were plotting with each other.

"Anyway, I just thought you oughta know," she chirped as she hopped to her feet. "Now, I'm gonna chase down Yunie and eat with her and the others."

She pranced out of the room, acting for all the world as if they hadn't been talking about anything at all important. She stopped just once on the way out, pushing the shimmering bangle she'd been customizing into her father's hands. "A present for Lulu!" she said in Yevonite, not caring about who else might be listening. The only other person left in the room who could even understand them was Kimahri, and if there was one person in all of Spira who she'd trust to know when to keep silent about something it was him. "It'll make sure nothing like that happens to her again. You can take credit for having me make it if you want, I won't mind!"

Rikku laughed her way out the door at the way he sputtered in response.