Notes and Warnings: Minor spoilers for FFX-2, as it is post FFX-2.
A Gippal/Baralai eventual slash, and romancing.
The 'do not sue me' Warning: I am (probably) ignorant thereof and don't own anything in the legal sector of ownership of: FFX, FFX-2, and all other things. It's ©2003 SQUARE ENIX CO, of course. And if it's not, what happened?
Personal Note: It lives! Or at least I hope it does. A long stretch of busy life kept me away, although now I hope to get back in the groove of things.
Satin Sakura:Oh, nice name. I like that handle a lot. Ah, the first sign of being famous-stalkers! Be my guest: now that I have a new laptop, I should be writing more frequently now.
Mai Hayami: I am part of the 'lets torture poor Baralai' club too. I know the characters seem off, but this is what they act like alone, not in public eye. Not to mention they've rubbed off on each other. In the physical sense too.. heh. And please, take any of my ideas you'd like-and improve on them. And yes, I do need to explore other characters..and unfold plot a tad bit faster, maybe. Heh, I love exploring the idea of cute Pacce. Little children are so fun to write.
Gysecune: One of theses days I'll get around to the love scene, I swear. Got any pet names for Baralai in mind? Gah! Thanks for being sweet and pointing out the errors. I need someone to hit me on the back of the head every once in a while and go 'duh, you missed the most obvious one!'.
XoxCabreraxoX: Yeah, year is a long time. But I seem to be bound to this fic…even though it gets nowhere slow.
Ying Ying 54 Tension is good. Ah, I'm so thrilled…eventually I'll write that love scene…
KarytaI bet you're more awesome than I am.
Samurai Bishie Queen: Well, really Gippal, you don't have to be so mean to Isaaru, he means well. Yay for Tsu and Hisoka's personal life. And an extra yahoo for baths- I agree.
Yonaka Niji:You're so welcome, I love writing for people like you! Aww shucks…you're so sweet.
kakashi-spughetti: Thanks for reviewing-I know it's oversaid, but authors really do live off of reviews.
Additional Comments: The whole chapter is Gippal, first person.
Enjoy Chapter 20: First Things First
I, the Gippal, cannot believe my outrageous luck. Or the lack thereof. Just when things were looking my way, the midget showed up. All something about a 'sleepover party' and the little scout snuggled himself right between us. I politely steamed and seethed on my side of the bed the rest of the night. I wondered which brother I had to plot to kill. Because they sent 'Paste', or whatever his name was.
Okay, so I knew the kid's name was Pacce. But that didn't make him any more likeable to me. Oh sure, he might be able to charm the princess Yuna off her soon to be pregnant rear-end, but the ruined mood and.. 'restless' night I had does not make up for his smiles and ingenuity. Not to mention Mr. 'Can't-touch-this' himself, walking around making friends with all my friends, when I know half of them are staring at his ass. Of all the times to wear normal, revealing clothes! Anything remotely looking feminine will be in danger of being harassed within a 15-meter radius of this place. Although my companions are more in check because he's mine, I can only hope Baralai can't hear everything being whispered about him.
I tug on my hair, hoping the pain would distract me from my growing headache. Only temporarily. I have my gorgeous boyfriend, who teases me-a lot- in view. But here I am, sitting at the conference table, supposedly looking over new machine blueprints. In my mind's eye I could just reach out, curl an arm around his waist and bring him in for a time-stopping kiss. That's right -not just a heart stopping one -but a time stopping one. Yes, it would b
e that good. And then with a grin, and nod to my friends, I'd whisk him away to my chambers, or office, for some good old fashioned frisking. I can hear it now.
"Hmmm... Mr. Praetor, you know our rules about contraband..."
"What rules? W-what in yevon's name are you doing!"
"I think a complete body search is necessary."
"Be serious, Gippal. I'm not carrying anything!"
"But just to be sure... ...Ah, how risky of you, 'Lai. To try and hide something in the last place you thought anyone would look. But obvious, I'm not just anyone."
"Ah...nnn...Gi...Gippal..."
"I think we'll have to keep you in solitary confinement as punishment. Only I will be allowed to see you. Too bad we don't have any extra rooms available. We'll just have to put you under lock and key in my room."
"Nnn...ah...Gippal! Y-yevon... Gippal... Gip.."
"..pal. Gippal. " Distracted from my fantasy, I look up to see the ultimate distraction himself. His hands are pleasantly warm, but not too warm, against my cheek. "Sorry about last nig
ht. All the tossing and turning Pacce did must have kept a light sleeper like you awake. Hn. You looked so dazed a minute ago."
Ah. A window of opportunity. I stand up, offering my hand, and one of my most charming smiles. "Actually, I am kind of tired. I was thinking about taking a siesta. Want to join me?"
I watch with quelled hunger as I see those eyes light up in that spark that spells 'mischief'. Or in recent times: 'sex'. "Are you really going to be just sleeping?"
I pull him tight against me, his back pressed hard against my warm chest. "Of course, I am tired after all. But I might be able to fit something else in, that is, if you had something else in mind."
He leers discretely back at me. "Oh, I'm quite ready to go to bed. But oddly enough, not quite that tired..." I lean in to kiss those sassy lips when suddenly...
"Hey Baralai! Can you show me around the inner temple trials?"
I was surprised when he didn't pull away shocked, or embarrassed. Instead, he left his lips hovering before mine as he
softly spoke to his companion. "Of course, I'd love to."
His lips grant me a temporary reprieve from any ache in my body, although he pulls away much too soon. He smiles, actually looking in my eye, very, very disturbingly deep as he whispers sweet promises. He turns, addressing his fidgeting ...little brother. "Now we can go explore. But not too long; I need to tuck in Gippal for a nice long nap."
"Why can't he tuck himself in?"
"He can, it's just so much better if you sweetheart does it for you."
"Whatever. C'mon, let's go!"
I watched my lover get eagerly dragged away from me. At least the whole time he was smiling brightly at me. But as soon as he left, I had to collapse back down in my chair. Damn headache.
I had just finished my latest batch of amendments to recent machine blueprints and structural design for our newest 'Home'. Ehhh. Who know it would be my responsibility to re-create literal Al Bhed paradise? But it is about time we had a place to call home, a place to defend, and a place that reflects our ideals. We are a nation, right? So let's put our claim on our rightful land! And what a red-tape political pain-in-the-ass it is. Every other faction wants to know where all our resources are going, what we're up to... reports.. meetings.. councils.. blah blah blah... it never ends. Nooj, I wouldn't be surprised, sleeps with his eyes open during those meetings. I try to stay alert. Baralai is the only one ever contributing, and faithfully attending all these stupid press things. It is a miracle he hasn't died of boredom. I looked up briefly from my curling piles of paper, only to look up again, and be in awe.
He was waiting patiently outside the doorway, and wasn't aware of my gaze. Light filtered through the shrine, illuminating the dust that forever clung in the air, and putting a positively...beautiful glow on him. Time slowed down and I couldn't breathe. It was like the first time I really knew I fell in love with the guy. We were exploring these ethereal ruins, and there was a perfect point that where he was standing, I'd believe he wasn't of this world-some fallen creature that once graced the skies of a place much more beautiful than this. His hair in the sun made doves grey, and hues of blue and green on him made precious gems seem like commonplace rocks in your shoe. Yeah, I'm sure I'm love with him. If I can spout nonsense like that, it has to be love.
Time speeds up again I see him smiling fondly at me, apparently amused and flattered by my undivided attention. He moves closer, his features softening. It remains quiet and peaceful between us, something wonderful filling the air, only for us.
"You've got that look I've had when I watch you sleep."
I crack a smile. "Despite the sweet intention, that sounds a bit disturbing. You watch me sleeping?"
I watch, enraptured as the glowing white strands shifts as he tilts his head. "I've only been caught once. By Nooj."
"By Nooj?" I can't even imagine what his response to Baralai was.
"He looked at me, then you, back to me, and just stared
with a confused face. Then he went back to sleep."
Now I'm intrigued. "When did this happen?" As he stands over me, his hands gently work their way into my hair. I sigh. I can already feel that headache slipping away...
"Hmm.. I believe it was the second night before the crimson squad... before the cave incident." I noticed how Baralai paused at that word... it was a massacre. Hundreds dead, for nothing.
I looked up at him, a question always hidden at the back of my mind slipping from my tongue, unbidden. "Did you know? I mean, what was going to happen."
Baralai shook his head, the fingers in my hair temporarily pausing in their journey. "No, but at the beginning I had suspicion what they might do to those who got far, but failed the test. I didn't know they'd... and I thought we were one of the best... they surely wouldn't punish us..." I watched as my older companion swallowed dryly. "But they did...and to a proportion I never even had nightmares of."
I took his wandering hand in mine, and looked genuinely in his face, and without my usual wisecracks, flirting, or business professionalism. I looked at him like I did what seemed like ages ago. "You look beat. And I'm definitely ready to sleep off these reports."
He smiled, breaking from his reverie. "Yes, Pacce has much more energy and curiosity than I'm sure I ever did."
I stood up, smiling as my back cracked in a very satisfying manner. "Hey, you've always been mild. If I didn't know better, Pacce is going to be the next Gippal."
Baralai looked at me, without his usual guarded expressions. It made him much younger looking, and his smile warmer. "Perhaps, but he doesn't possess your Al Bhed charm."
"True, then give me a couple of days." We walked hand in hand across the hot temple interior, and walked into my dim, cooler room. Baralai quirked a smile, giving me a questioning look as I quickly peeled off my shirt. "Its hot out. You might want to take you shirt and boots off too."
Suspicion and mischief twinkled in his eyes, beyond the dulling chocolate swirls of tired emotion. As I toed off my boots, I watched him roll up the already short sleeves, and kneel down to unlace the intricate footwear. I padded over, reaching out to rub my closed fist against his back. He rose, slipped out of his boots and leaned into my touch. I couldn't help the small smile.
"Is this bribery?" he asks playfully.
"No, it's supposed to be seduction," I respond, and smile as I come closer to him.
He turns, looking into my eyes. "No matter how lovely this is, I am worn out. Sleep first, then whatever you want, later."
Is this that 'golden opportunity' that people keep talking about? "Anything?"
He smiles in return, curling up on top of my bed. "Anything you want."
I lay down next to him, draping my arm over his waist. "Then you'd better be here when I wake up, 'cause all I want is you."
I see my Baralai smile softly, and his eyelids droop as sleep tries to overtake him. "Very, very sweet of you to say," he mutters, lying flat and shifting so his face is under mine. I smile, lean down and take those waiting lips. I feel the hand return to the nape of my neck, raking gently through the hair there. I grin against his lips as I feel the pressure of his tongue at my lips. His tongue dips inside, always cool and soothing to the ferocious taste of.. hunger.. in my mouth. My hunger for him. It always was a smooth, silky, slow exploration with Baralai. It was a controlled passion that slowly leaked into me, calming my restless spirit, but feeding the flames of my undying love and passion for him.
He withdrew, and I felt a fleeting touch against my cheek. I pulled back, watching him as he lazily opened his eyes, only to close them once we made eye contact.
"Goodnight Gippal. I'll be here when you awake." Lying down next to him, I was falling into a deep sleep in no time.
A murmur of awe drew my attention away from the bleak interior. "Mmm, so ancient, so wise…so powerful." I watched as the second oldest of us became completely enraptured in the walls of the freaky cave. Despite my unusual bold nature in things and people not Al Bhed, I have not still gotten over the usual Al Bhed fear of pyrefly ruins. We stick to machines; usually this keeps us digging in the coldest ocean, or hottest deserts. Which makes me wonder just how different the landscape had to be centuries days ago, that would put the most fantastic cities hundreds of feet below the surface of our oceans, hiding the secrets Al Bhed are always trying to solve in it's deepest shadow.
"We're here to complete the mission, not admire cracks in the wall." Ah, Nooj's ever approving voice.
"We are here to find valuable spheres-they could be hidden in vaults along the walls." Paine always was the one who unbiasedly kept us from killing each other.
I turned to watch the usually quiet Bevellian- we haven't spoke that often, our biases make any unnecessary conversation rather awkward. Not that he's normal or anything. He doesn't have that telltale Bevellian snide look when he saw me, or meet the few other Al Bhed in the area. I remember, the first day, I thought he'd be a push over, and quit by the end of the week. Or be dead. Not only did he survive, he kicked my butt, and compounded my ego breaking my healing me afterwards. For looking like a rebellious rich kid, he sure was poor and great fighter. I caught little bits of information of his life from his talks with Paine: those two became-not friends, but companions. He always talked proper and spoke curtly with Nooj- he liked that. For me, we didn't talk. He'd just sit by me, in complete silence, which I found to be more welcome and touching than anything I could remember someone doing for me back home. It's like we just talked with our souls.
"There are many secrets hidden in this temple."
"This is a temple?"
"There aren't any altars."
"Things aren't always what they appear to be –time is the ultimate confidant of secrets." Our healer brushed his fingers against the wall, keeping his eyes closed, walking along the length of the caves. Quietly, we followed, myself amused and Nooj decidedly not. A good couple hundred meters later, he stopped with a smile, his hand disappearing through the wall.
"Glyphs," Paine pointed out to the glowing symbols that appeared through the overgrown roots.
Looking back with an almost smug smile, our exotic friend walked right through a glowing wall. Ehh. Temples give me the creeps. You can just feel that something isn't right about places like these.
"Will these have aeons?" I am not quite sure if I want to face any of those.
The tan face turned at my voice, the collar obscuring his lips. He looked at me, and then shrugged. "Although up kept temples are the one with aeons in them, that doesn't mean there are temples that haven't been lost over time…" The solid eyes turned sad, and he sharply faced forward, continuing hurriedly down the steps. The guy was kind of weird like that –he got all emotional about the past. Not his past, I meant the past-past. Like he knows something we don't. A little freaky. Although, we have a one of the prettiest girls I ran across, who fights, walks, sleeps, and probably bathes with a sword twice her weight. Then we have the suicidal tactical genius. Sadly enough, I'd have to say that me, the one-eyed 16-year-old Al Bhed who tried out for the crusaders, is the most normal person in this group. And don't even bother trying to touch Paine's sword. She gets pretty defensive about her precious hunk of metal.
I barely register Nooj saying something about 'covering more ground' before he and Paine were gone. I keep following the silent Bevellian, and find that cavern walls are turning into clean, smooth slate, which turned into bright marble. Despite the fantastic changes in the interior, I found my gaze increasingly drawn to the figure in front of me. I remember the curve of his lips, how red and full they would be after eating or drinking, or how is straight posture was ridiculously old-fashioned, but ever an eye candy. How he looked the few times I've caught him with his hair down, how is face looked so handsome in the flickering firelight, or how is eyes changed at when he was looking up at the sky at night.
I found myself walking a little closer to him, eyes soaking in extra details. Instead of excited about the prospect of spelunking as he was earlier, his bright countenance went somber with the discovery of these trial rooms. I made the decision that I liked him better smiling.
We were against the wall in no time, and his eyes were wide with surprise, but he didn't utter a word, not even a groan at the rough handling. I swear, sometimes I could believe he was mute.
"Say something –smile." My own smile faded as his eyes only turned glassy, and his he turned his face perpendicular to mine. I growled. "I can't believe it. Why are so damn cryptic with me?" I got no response. "Well, maybe you just need some encouragement."
My fingers curled around his chin, and I forced eye contact. I crushed my lips against his, and finally I got a response –a tightening of his perpetually loose and ready-for-action body, against mine. He fought against me; I squeezed his jaw, trying to force his mouth open, but it remained shut, and the Bevellian grimaced through the pain. He worked hand up between our bodies, and harshly shoved my face back, turning to spit on the sacred ground. I stumbled, but quickly regained my footing. What froze me were his words.
"How dare you go showing your hate me this way! It's ridiculous that old prejudices are what is driving our time apart. I know you only tolerate my presence- that's all I ask. But you have gone too far. I will not be a conquest!"
Laughter, from nowhere particular, builds up inside, and causes a grin to form on my face. "Okay, so perhaps I wasn't so tactful, at all, in my previous actions. Allow me to reiterate with words that you aren't a conquest-you're a temptation."
Mildly pissed and confused, he stays near the wall, but he seems ready to bolt if I so much as move. That just means I have to the quicker one. In a blink of an eye he's against the wall again, and I am positively glowing with fortune. Destiny and chance seem to be on my side today. He fights me less than the time before, and I am complacent with only moving my lips against his. My left hand grows restless and roams his side, as I already think of a thousand ways to reveal the expanse of his perfect skin to my eyes. His hands make their way up to my face, and I mentally prepare for one brutal beating.
Instead, I feel shaking hands frame my face, and his mouth tentatively open up to me. I managed to mangle with his shirts and tug on his loose pants, so my right hand strokes the bared flesh of his left side and hip. The heat between us intensified to a stifling degree as I plunged my tongue in his mouth, and snaked my hands beneath layers of fabric, sliding down to the goal between his legs. I have to stop kissing him, if even only for a second just so I can see his face.
The heavy blush along the high cheekbones is so dark I'd dare call it burgundy. The usually solid brown eyes were liquid, barely retaining any previously hidden emotion. His small mouth was barely open, panting hot breathes into the stale air, and to top it off, his hair was messed and falling before his eyes. In other words, an image no one would lightly forget.
His teeth clenched, and he turned slightly away, trying to conceal a whimper in his throat as I massaged the stiff flesh expertly. He was so terribly exotic like this, especially looking at me out of the corner of his eyes, a lidded gaze born of a mix of surprise, contempt, and passion.
"I can't think of anything more beautiful," I murmured, admiring my soon to be lover.
"You can't think of anything more beautiful? Why Gippal, you're too sweet."
A voice registers to me in my sleep. Baralai. I open my eyes immediately, grinning sleepily at him, who lay across from me, head resting on the palm of his hand. "When did you wake up?" I sleepily ask.
Baralai chuckled, and I had a feeling it was in a condescending manner. "I woke up when you shoved your hands down my pants are started biting the back of my neck."
"Biting?" I question, none of that being in my by far, best dream ever.
He turned, pushing back his hair, revealing the red teeth marks on his nape. Oops. I grinned triumphantly. "Now that you're awake, I thought we'd move on to the pleasantries, but in your case, you seemed better off asleep."
I smiled smugly, and pulled him close, despite the almost uncomfortable heat our bodies created. "I was just dreaming about the past, that's all."
I watched as Baralai's lips twitched into a smile. "Oh? And what past conquest were you dreaming of?"
"You."
He always frowns so sexily. "When was I one of your conquests?"
"Well, you see, there were added details in my dream…" I didn't bother to elaborate, instead I leered, gazing down the length of his body. I saw him raise an eyebrow-he got the hint.
"So, what was this thing about the past, then?"
I shrugged. "I dreamed about our first couple of weeks together, when we found that abandoned temple. I forget how quiet and shy you used to be-guess I rubbed off on you," I smiled proudly.
"In all the wrong ways."
Ouch. "Oh?"
"Now I talk too much, which isn't good because Rikku has the knack for zoning out on the important conversations in life, but hearing your little sighs and mumbles. She picks up on all the stuff I don't want her to pick up on."
I grinned. "Yep, she's special like that." I thoughtfully considered just how many secrets of mine she knew about. She knew so much she had to be my friend, for my safety, anyways. "So in what ways did I change you?"
His praetorness shifted, making himself more comfortable before listing off all my faults. "I talk too much now, am too bold, I think I know everything, I try to do everything on my own, and if we spent anymore time together, I'm sure eventually I would have been chewing on our charcoal map pencils."
"Hey! It was a nervous habit, okay?"
"It was gross."
"Whatever. Anyways, I remember that day when we found those ruins, you were all excited as we explore a pitch black cave filled with monsters, but was suddenly not happy when we actually found trial rooms. What is with that?"
"It's a personal thing Gippal, not many people understand. Besides, "Baralai gave me a look under his lashes, "I thought we were going to…talk about something else?"
"Try me." I watched Baralai as he sighed moved to lie on his back, talking more to the ceiling than to me. In any other situation I'd be insulted.
"Not a lot of people know the history of the.. aeons. Do you?"
I shook my head.
"Well, let's start at the very beginning then. Yu Yevon, who we found out to 'Sin' himself, was a powerful and influential politician. After a near death experience, he was convinced that Spira needed to change her ways, and in immediate and drastic manners. Religion was dying in the great mechanized cities, and faith was virtually non-existent as everyone had everything that they could wish for. He was determined that we needed to rid ourselves of these hindrances. Suffering himself out of public eye, his voice went unheard, and he was claimed a heretic and madman even by the most pious of the ages. The rest of his life is only told in scraps of rumors.
'He spent his time digging through the dark arts of magic and even managed a sort of…" Baralai paused, "…I'd hate to call it a religion. More of a cult."
"A cult?
My older friend nodded, sort of distraught. "I don't think you have a word in Al Bhed for it. It's like practicing a religion but the practices are often extreme and thought of… quite poorly to civilized people. Brain-washing techniques, death, and other bad things."
"Oh." Okay, that's creepy.
"So Yu Yevon found the deepest magic-but it took sacrifices. To create the first Sin, that did so much damage…I don't know how many died."
"Well wasn't Spira practically wiped out?"
Baralai's voice became distant. "Yes, it almost was. But how many people had to die to create Sin? Yu Yevon's spirit just inhabited the body of Sin. Every action was his own."
There isn't much you can say to that.
"I'm going to skip around a bit, so bare with me, as it will be confusing. But it I think it will be much clearer if I tell you the events in this order. "
I nodded. And I thought I was confused now.
"Alright, this is the history of aeons. Yunalesca was a pure temple maiden, who was devoted to her duties. Before the second coming of Sin, people came back to their old ways of coming to the temples, and performing rituals that was associated with the fareplane. I…I don't have the heart yet to tell you what the fareplane really is. Even I don't like thinking about it."
Baralai took a shaky sigh, his voice rough as if to hold back tears. "Anyways, that's not that important anyways. So, Yunalesca found Yu Yevon in traces of texts, who seemed to have prophesied Spira's end. She devoted herself to the study of Yu Yevon, and eventually her spirit was so entwined with his teachings, that her soul called out to the spirit of Yu Yevon. He promised her power beyond belief. She followed him until it was too late, and she was blind to everything around her accept power and Yu Yevon. She became a powerful priestess under Yu Yevon's care. Believing that Spira could only be saved by its destruction, Yunalesca sought out to find the next body for Yu Yevon. She found a select group of people from the powerful mainland. In a great slaughter, she cast her magic destroying their bodies and enslaving their spirits to create the next Sin.
'So Yu Yevon possessed the form, and attacked Spira once again, leaving only the strongest and luckiest in his wake. We were simple folk, fighting for the survival of our race again. Yunelesca was the powerful leader who survived, and soon she came up with a plan to keep Spira from self-destruction.
'This is where the creation of aeons came from. First common people sacrificed, but Yunelesca found the created aeons, versions of Sin, to be too weak. Soon she began to take powerful warriors and mages from all over Spira. Bahamut, a powerful warrior and black mage from Kilika stepped up, sacrificing his life after the 4th attack of Sin. Shiva volunteered herself, a powerful, self-righteous temple maiden known for her icy exterior and extensive magic gave herself too to save Spira. Three powerful sisters who guarded the sacred temple hidden in the plains-the only temple to continually withstand Sin's attacks decade after decade. The three sisters together were very powerful and guarded the palace with their lives. They gave their lives, believing that they could protect Spira more as aeons that would live eternal. The last is the vengeful Yojimbo. A mercenary, who still, in death, will not fight without money, was last to sacrifice. Even after the final death of Yu Yevon, he still haunts his frozen body, terrorizing anyone who would happen near it."
"I don't get it, frozen bodies? I thought they died."
"Just like the Fayth, their bodies were frozen in time. Do you ever wonder why so many try to become summoners, but fail?"
I waited for him to continue. A breath later he started again.
"Summoners must have a strong will, and must not have a shadow of doubt in their minds if what they are doing is right or not. Do you know why summoner's go alone into the chambers? It's a battle of wills. The summoner convinces the person's spirit that this is the cause to fight for. Then they pull out the spirit from the body- these people were condemned to a lifetime cycle of hurt and pain, never to be released again. Once the spirit is free, it takes on a form of an aeon. It… a part of a summoner's spirit is taken and sealed in the aeon too-that is what compels the aeons, the ancient people, to obey the summoner. Sin would let himself be killed knowing that Yu Yevon would have another aeon to possess again when a summoner made it to Yunalesca."
"I thought… isn't she dead by now?"
"Now…yes, she is dead now because of Yuna's success. But when she was going to die, she sought to immortalize herself by becoming an aeon-of-sorts herself. It is a very complicated, twisted story." Baralai took a breath, his brows dipping down in thought. "What was your question?"
"Umm.. I think you answered it in a way more than I wanted to know."
"Sorry." Baralai didn't sound too apologetic, almost sarcastic. "It just…you're going to have to realize when you ask a simple question, all this extra… cred…is going to spill out, I really can't help it." I watched as he sighed with nervous energy, a shaky hand running through his loose hair.
I risked asking the question. "What is it that you can't bring yourself to say?"
I was startle by the choked sob. "Don't you get it? The largest religion, that has had the most wars and deaths over, isn't real! When you go to the fareplane…Thousands of people stare helplessly into a group of pyreflies that personify the last emotions of the corpse. Pyreflies feed off of emotional distress of the alive and dead…it was never real; it was all a dream that deluded the helpless. There is no fareplane… the sending is a spell that literally kills pyrelfies. "
I stayed silent, watching as tears slipped down from under his closed eyes,
"Gippal, don't you understand?"
I remained silent- answering rhetorical questions gets no one anywhere, especially in this mood,
"Gippal…there is no hope. None. There isn't even enough faith…. "
"Baralai…"
"Gippal...my life…it's a hypocrisy.