A/N: Seriously, I had no idea I still had this fic somewhere. I believe this is the very first FFX-2 fic I've written and I was genuinely surprised to find this. Of course, I made a few corrections since I believe my English has gotten better from the time I wrote this...

Warnings: Mild cursing, and that's all probably in Al Bhed. There are some mild references to a male/male relationship. Get over it, and review before you go, okay?

Disclaimer: Characters, places etc belong to Square Enix. But you knew that already, didn't you?

Al Bhed translations at the bottom of the page.

Befriending the Desert

“Well, since we're all here now, and we are going to be a team for a while, I guess we must give a brief introduction of ourselves and get moving,” announced the leader of the team. “My name is Nooj and I'm your leader. I expect you to follow my orders and complete the tasks given you. That is all you need to know about me,” Nooj turned to the very only woman of their group and nodded to her.

The silver-haired girl nodded back to him and lifted her sphere camera. “Paine. Your recorder.”

‘Gee, this is going to be fun... They're all boring’ thought a young Al Bhed man sitting on the sand of the Bikanel Desert. He looked to the man next to him who was the next to speak.

“My name is Baralai,” he started and turned to shoot a glare at the blond on his right. “And I’m a Priest of Yevon.”

The mentioned blond snorted. “Gippal’s the name...” he smiled bitter sweetly to Baralai. “And I’m an Al Bhed, in case you didn't already notice.”

Nooj nodded after the introduction was done. “Good, now we can go. And you two,” he spoke to Gippal and Baralai. “We are a team, so don't start a fight, neither a verbal nor a physical one.”

Gippal grinned. As if a pansy-ass Yevonite was going to kick his ass in a fight. “But of course not, Chief.”

“Let's get going, then,” said Paine impatiently, looking around her while she tried not to seem too nervous. She hated areas that were wide and bare, and the desert they were in definitely was one of them...

“Yes,” Nooj glared at Gippal and told him to stand up. “Everyone take your gear, we're leaving.”

After hours of walking – to a completely wrong direction, thought the certain Al Bhed, but no one had paid attention to his warnings – Nooj ordered them to stop and put up the camp. “It's getting late, we need to rest for tomorrow, it's going to be a rough day,” he explained.

Gippal looked around nervously. Heck, the so-called-leader was making the worst decisions possible... He had a feeling that the man knew nothing about the desert. “Fa cruimt hud cdyo rana... (1)” he mumbled more to himself than the others. It wasn't like they understood him anyway... He found the Spiran language someway disturbing, he wasn't even able to pronounce some of the words, so he decided to speak in Al Bhed whenever it was possible.

“You said something?” Baralai turned to look at him with a quizzical expression.

“Yes,” Gippal answered. “We shouldn't stay here... Definitely not... It's not safe.”

Baralai frowned at the Al Bhed's words, but shrugged it off. The guy seemed a little odd, and who in Spira would believe anything an Al Bhed would say?

So, the happy little party set up the two tents they had with them and Nooj told them to get some sleep. Only Gippal disobeyed his command. “I tell you that this is not a good idea, really. For the sake of our safety, we should look for a safer place for the camp...”

“You’re being paranoid,” Baralai said with a roll his eyes. Great, he was in the same team with a paranoid heathen... Just what was missing from his life... “Besides, everything here is, is sand, and all of it looks just the same. This is just as fine place to stay as any other.”

“Shut up, Yevonite,” Gippal snapped. “What do you think you know?”

“Guys,” Nooj interrupted the fight before it could properly start, glaring at the two young men. “What did I say about fighting?” Gippal turned to look away, mumbling something in his own language while Baralai merely snorted. “We're staying here. Gippal, I believe you can take the first watch.”

“Whatever, Mr. Leader.”

Nooj sighed, crawling into the tent he was going to share with Baralai and Gippal, since Paine had made her opinion about sharing a tent with any of them known. “Good night.”

“Don't blame me if you're killed in your sleep,” Gippal mumbled quietly after everyone else had gone to sleep.

Only an hour or so later, Baralai woke up to a weird feeling. He sat up, frowning deeply. Why did it feel like... something was moving under them? He couldn't help thinking what Gippal had said when they had set the camp up... maybe he had been right? Nah... just his imagination... He lay back down, trying to get a few more hours of sleep before they would continue walking. A loud rumbling of the ground made him sit up in alarm, and it seemed like the others were up as well.

“What the...?” Nooj mumbled sleepily, glancing to Baralai who shook his head, telling him he had no idea what was happening.

“Guys! Get out of the tents, now!” They heard Gippal's voice, and in an instant exited the tents.

The Al Bhed was standing a few meters away from them, looking around. “Gippal, what is it?” Nooj asked, but the Al Bhed shushed him.

“Shh! Don't move, if we're lucky, it hasn't noticed us yet.”

The other three exchanged frowning looks, but decided to stay still and quiet anyway... What was there to lose? Beside their sanity, thought Baralai. He was sure he could feel the ground shaking... For a while, nothing happened. Gippal was listening to whatever-it-was that he was hearing, and the others were fidgeting nervously.

“Here it comes,” the blond Al Bhed mumbled.

Again, it was quiet... until suddenly a huge wave of... something washed under them, making everyone but Gippal, who had been expecting it, gasp.

“I'll give you a useful piece of advice: don't move. Unless you hear a 'crack', that is, then I'd suggest you jump,” the Al Bhed said dryly.

“Gippal, what was that?” Paine asked.

“A Sandworm,” the Al Bhed told him. “A nasty creature. Its eyesight sucks, but it can feel its prey moving on the ground, locates it and then... well, good-bye.”

Baralai fisted his hands and bit his lower lip, almost drawing blood. He was too young to die! “And you, uh, suppose it's after us?”

Gippal turned to grin at him over his shoulder. “Scared?”

“Yes,” Baralai answered truthfully, and Gippal's grin softened into a small smile.

“Don't worry, I think if it really wanted to eat us, we wouldn't be talking here right now.”

If that was meant to make them feel better, the attempt failed miserably. Baralai was just about to ask why they were still standing there, but a loud cracking sound gained his attention. He looked down to his shoes, noticing that the ground was starting to break from under their feet. “Dear Yevon,” he mumbled. The ground began to shake, revealing a rapidly opening crack.

“Guys, watch out!” Gippal shouted and shoved Baralai forward while Paine and Nooj leapt to the other side.

Baralai gasped as he stumbled onto the ground, shielding his head with his arms. For a while, the noise was deafening, making him cringe, but when it sounded like it started to calm down, he turned to look over his shoulder, but all the sand in the air blocked his view. The cracking had stopped and it was awfully quiet... “Guys!” he called.

“Baralai? Are you okay?” A female voice.

“Paine!” he called back. “Are the other two there?”

“I'm here,” he heard Nooj's voice and sighed in relief. “Isn't the Al Bhed-guy with you?”

Baralai's heart jumped into his throat. “N-no, he isn't...”

“Oh, great...” Nooj groaned. “We'll have to wait for the dust to clear down. Don't move, you don't know how close the edge is to you.”

The Priest nodded, not really realizing that the others couldn't see it. They waited and waited, and finally the dust began to clear. Baralai noticed that he was merely half a meter from the edge of the crack and he glanced down. Now he could see Paine and Nooj, too. They were on the other side of the edge, calling the Al Bhed's name, but received no answer.

Baralai swallowed thickly. It was his fault if Gippal was dead, the Al Bhed had saved him from falling into the crack and fell himself... He was just about to ask if the others could see Gippal, but that was the moment they heard a voice. The three glanced to each other quickly before turning to look down again. A series of various Al Bhed words reached their ears, and even without knowing the language at all one could easily tell that the speaker of those words wasn't exactly happy... They all sighed in relief.

“Gippal!” Paine called. “Are you okay?”

On the bottom of the newly opened crack, Gippal was examining himself. “Umm... I guess my arm's broken... Cred (2)!” He stood up, holding his right arm. “There's no way I can get up, the wall's too—“

Suddenly Gippal went quiet and Baralai was sure that his heart stopped for a while. “W-what's wrong?”

“I-it's coming back!”

“Wh-What!?” Paine shrieked, looking at Nooj in alarm. This was not something she wanted to record! “What are we going to do?”

“Hell, get me up from here, I'm too young to get squished under a Sandworm!” Gippal shouted, panic evident in his voice. He didn't have time to die now, he had to pass the damn training so that he could finally be an official member of the Crimson Squad...!

“Do we have a rope?” Baralai asked, her eyes scanning the walls of the crack.

“Of course we have a rope, but it's not like he could take a hold of it with his arm broken!” Paine snapped.

“Gippal, do you know how deep you fell?” Paine asked. “We can't see the bottom, there's still a lot of sand in the air!”

“Uh, well...” There was silent for a moment. “About six or seven metres... C'mon, it's about seconds! I don't want to die!”

“Alright, I'm going down there,” Baralai offered. “I can heal his arm and help him up.”

Nooj sighed. As the leader of their group, he was between a rock and a hard place. He had to make a decision and soon, otherwise it might be the end for them all... “I... guess we don't have a choice...”

“Do what you've gotta do,” Paine nodded to the Priest encouragingly.

Gippal fidgeted nervously down on the bottom. “Argh, just what the hell are they up to?” He glanced around, hoping that the others would come up with something... something that would actually work...

“Watch out,” he suddenly heard a voice above him. He gasped as he found Baralai by his side, smiling to him warmly. How was he able to smile in a situation like this!? “Scared?” The Priest asked with a slight grin.

“Hell yes!” Gippal snapped at him.

“Don't worry, we'll get you up from here,” Baralai cast a Cure spell, the same gentle smile on his lips. “Now, let me help you, we must get up.”

Nooj and Paine pulled the injured Al Bhed up, and immediately reached to help Baralai. The Priest climbed up with haste and then they all rushed farther from the crack, due to Gippal's command. Paine was recording now, and Gippal pointed a direction to shoot. There was loud grumbling of the ground, and a flash of yellow that went past them, sand flying everywhere.

“What in Spira...?” Nooj frowned, coughing the sand out of his lungs.

“We need to find a place where there are a lot of cactuses,” Gippal told them and stood up, holding his hurt arm. He let out a string of curses in Al Bhed, and then continued, “The worm's not finished yet. It knows something fell into its hole.”

The other three glanced at each other. “Um... what about our stuff...?” Baralai then voiced the unspoken question hanging in the air.

“Take what was saved. The nights here are cold as a blizzard, we can't throw anything useful away.”

Nooj frowned deeply. Why, he was sure that he was assigned as the leader of their team... Maybe he should have done a little research before leaving to the desert. To be ordered around by an Al Bhed... He sighed. This was wonderful.

Gippal looked around, scanning the sand dynes and cactuses around them. They had to find a Shelter, and soon, otherwise they'd freeze to death. He glanced to his left, frowning. Hell, he had been sure there was one nearby... “Syopa paryeht drec (3)” He mumbled to himself.

“Um... What are we exactly looking for?” Baralai asked, rubbing his sides. He could never have guessed a desertcould be that cold!

The Al Bhed ignored the question and continued to look around. “Vuiht ed (4)!” he then exclaimed happily.

Nooj blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Baralai, give me that stick of yours!” Gippal turned around to face his comrades, an excited glint in his eyes.

“It's a staff...” Baralai mumbled, but handed the piece of equipment to Gippal anyway. He yelped when the blond broke the other end of the staff off. “Why you...!”

Gippal smiled. “It's going for a good purpose, don't worry!” He turned away from them and ran a little further.

“That guy sure is a weird one...” Paine sighed, and Baralai agreed with her.

Nooj, however, shook his head. “He has my respect. Without him we would probably be dead already. He may be... a little... goofy, but he's not an idiot.”

“We can stay here for the night!” Gippal shouted to them cheerfully. “It's Sandworm-free area, c'mon I'm freezing my ass off!”

In the middle of the night, Baralai woke up from a nightmare. His eyes shot open and he sat up to observe his surroundings. Where was he? There were two people in the tent with him... Nooj and Paine, he realized, once his memory came back to him. But where was the fourth of their group? Baralai crawled out of the tent as quietly as possible, trying not to wake the others up. He clutched his coat around him tightly after realizing that he could see his breath and that the night air was damn freezing. Once he spotted Gippal sitting near a cactus, he approached the Al Bhed and sat down next to him.

“Why aren't you sleeping?” Gippal asked as he noticed the Bevellian.

Baralai shrugged. “I woke up. A... disturbing dream, I'd say.”

“Oh, really? I haven't had dreams since I was a kid.”

Baralai decided not to voice a comment. He clenched his teeth to keep them from clattering, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop shivering.

“Cold, eh?” Gippal smiled. “I have lived half of my life in the desert, and I think you should go back into the tent.”

“It's nothing, I'm fine...” Baralai said stubbornly. He jumped a little as he felt Gippal's arm sneak around his shoulders, the Al Bhed was sitting... way too close to him for his comfort. A faint blush rose to his cheeks as Gippal pulled him closer.

“Body heat,” explained the Al Bhed, grinning as he caught a look of embarrassment on Baralai's face. Quite cute, in fact... A moment was spent in silence, both of them thinking their own thoughts.

Baralai huffed. “I hate deserts...”

“Hey, all you've gotta do is be friends with it.”

“Be friends...?” Baralai asked in disbelief. “With the desert?” Gippal nodded, and it actually seemed like he was serious. “Care to elaborate?”

“Sure. You see, you've gotta just... you know, listen to it, find out what it's telling you.”

Baralai lifted his eyebrow in amusement. “I see... So you're out of your mind, after all...”

“No! I was serious!” Gippal rolled his eyes. “If you don't know what the desert's tellin' you, you know, fiends, sandstorms and such, you'll be dead in no time. And the desert doesn't like people who just ignore it.”

The Priest nodded slowly, obviously thinking that the Al Bhed was a total weirdo. They fell silent again, but then Baralai started to speak again, “Umm...” He shifted a little uncomfortably. “May I ask you a question?”

Gippal shrugged. “By all means.”

“What is it you Al Bhed have against Yevon?”

How unpredictable, thought Gippal. “I, uh...” he started, paused to gather his thoughts and continued, “Well, it's about what happened in the past,” he explained with a slight frown. “But then again, it's not only about that. We just don't understand what good it has even done to anyone, you know, to pray and such. I guess we're such a stubborn race that we don't want to depend on something like that. You see, it's a sign of weakness if you can't take care of yourself. Constantly depending on others is not good. And besides, I like to think that I can choose my own fate, if you know what I mean.”

Baralai nodded slowly. “I... see your point, but personally I think that it's... comforting, in some way, to know that even if everyone turns against you, you have someone to turn to. Yevon may not hear my prayers, but... it gives hope.”

“Yeah... I guess so.”

A small smile crept onto Baralai's lips. Who could have thought this would happen someday... He was talking deep with an Al Bhed!

“Is everything all right?” Gippal asked after noticing that his companion had fallen into his thoughts.

“Yes. Yes, of course.”

The answer sounded a little hesitant, so Gippal decided to continue talking. He hated awkward silences, and he bet one of those would occur if he didn't make up something to talk about. “So, uh... what were you doing before you came here?”

“I was an apprentice summoner.”

Gippal twitched. A summoner apprentice...

“I even became a summoner, but... gave up after I realized I couldn't do it on my own, I had no guardian,” Baralai shrugged. “No matter how hard I wanted to do something for Spira... I knew I couldn't do it alone. It's pathetic, really.”

“Yeah. Pathetic,” Gippal mumbled and stood up. “Go to sleep, it's getting cold...er.”

Baralai watched the Al Bhed walk further in confusion. Was it something he said...? “Wait!” he called after Gippal, but got no answer. He huffed and stood up, catching up to Gippal. “What, don't tell me you have something against summoners, too?” He lifted his eyebrow. And just when he thought he understood this Al Bhed, at least a little...

Gippal snorted, crossing his arms across his chest. “It's a suicide.”

“Better one life lost than a million!” Baralai argued. “I'd gladly give my life if it just saved Spira from the grief Sin has been causing, all the summoners feel that way!”

“Oh yeah?” Gippal turned to look at him, silent fury in his single green eye. “What about your friends, your family? Don't you guys think about the grief you cause by what you're doing?” he asked. “Hmph. I guess you don't. You're just a bunch of selfish bastards, I...” He closed his mouth as his voice started to crack. Dammit. This wasn't supposed to happen.

“Selfish?” Baralai asked in disbelief. “My father was a summoner before me, and my great-grandfather before him. My grandfather thought just the way you do, he didn't become a summoner even though he could have,” he shrugged. “All the women of our family have always supported them, but... now they're all gone. I'm the only one left of my family, Sin took everyone else in one way or another. I want to spare other children from that feeling – I don’t want them to know what it feels like when you're completely alone,” he whispered and sat down onto the sand. “If you call that selfish...”

Gippal looked down to his shoes, clearing his throat. “I'm... sorry...” he said quietly and sat down next to Baralai. “I...” He sighed. “There was this guy, an Al Bhed from his father's side, but a faithful follower of Yevon. He became a summoner and his family was really proud of him. I... wanted to become his guardian, but he objected. Said he didn't want me to get involved, but I wanted to get involved 'cause I wanted to protect him from everything, even give my life for him if it was needed,” he said, not sure why he was telling all this to a Yevonite. Maybe because he wanted to be understood. Maybe he just wanted to talk about it to someone, no matter the person was a Yevonite he barely knew. “He... he was so important to me, I...”

“You were in love,” Baralai said, trying not to think about the fact that they were talking about a malesummoner who Gippal had been in love with. It was, after all, forbidden, at least to those who followed Yevon.

Gippal let a faint smile stretch his lips and he nodded. “Yeah, I was. I... loved him more than anything...” he whispered, drawing some random lines onto the sand with his index finger. “I was... mad at him for leaving me like that even though he knew how I felt about him,” he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, not wanting his tears to be visible to the Yevonite next to him. “Then, one day, I was told that he had been killed by Sin when it had attacked their ship. He had given his life for nothing...” he said quietly, drawing his knees up to his chest and leaned on them. “I... didn't know what to do...”

Baralai was struck speechless, he tried to open his mouth and say something... but what? In the end, all he managed to say was a quiet “I'm sorry.”

Gippal shook his head and wiped his eyes again. “No, I'm sorry that I bothered you with this, I know that you want to bring the Calm to the people of Spira, but...”

“Don't,” Baralai smiled gently as Gippal was about to burst into another rant. “I understand. But... I wish you'd at least try to understand us, I mean...” He frowned. “You were ready to protect the summoner with your life, right? You were mad at him when he didn't let you become his guardian, but maybe he felt the same as you: guard the one you love with your life,” he smiled faintly. “I didn't know this person, but as a summoner, I'm pretty sure that he just wanted to protect you, taking you with him would have put you in great danger,” he told Gippal and turned to look at him. “You see?”

Gippal nodded slowly. “I... guess I never thought about it that way...” He said quietly, looking up to the sky. “Thanks,” he smiled to the Priest and turned to look to the desert again. “I'm glad I could finally talk to someone about it...”

“Of course,” Baralai said and lay down onto the sand. “But one thing is for sure: I'm going to continue my pilgrimage once I'm out of here. Since I thought I couldn't become a high summoner, I wanted to be able to do at least something, so here I am, trying out for the Crimson Squad...”

“Hmm...” Gippal lay down onto his stomach next to Baralai and propped himself up onto his elbows. “If you're gonna become a full-time summoner, I guess you'd do something with a volunteer guardian?”

Baralai turned to look at him in surprise. “What? Do you mean...?”

Gippal shrugged. “If you just think an Al Bhed will make a good guardian for Your Grace,” he grinned and sat up. “So, whaddaya say? You want to continue your pilgrimage and kill Sin while I need someone who I can protect with my life so that my past mistakes won't be repeated...” He smiled sadly and started to draw onto the sand again. “Besides, I think we're starting to understand each other. We'd make a good team, right?”

“Yes,” Baralai agreed with a smile. “I guess we would.” It was strange. He had never been fond of the Al Bhed, never understood the way their mind seemed to be working, but now... he had an Al Bhed who promised to be his guardian on his pilgrimage, and he was damn happy about it.

“Well then...” Gippal stood up and offered his hand to Baralai. “Shall we go back to the camp, My Lord?” He laughed as the Bevellian rolled his eyes and pulled him up. They walked back to the tent and Gippal told Baralai to go in. “I'll keep watch, you go to sleep.”

“All right,” the summoner whispered, watching Gippal go back to the cactus a little further away. “Gippal!” he called and bit his lip. Was it the first time he had called the Al Bhed by his name..? “Thank you.”

Gippal flashed him a bright smile and flopped down onto the sand. “You're welcome, My Lord.”

Baralai huffed, crossing his arms across his chest. “Please don't call me that.”

“Why not?”

“Because... I say so!”

“Ah, so your command is my law?” Gippal grinned. He tilted his head a little, observing the summoner's face. “Everything all right?”

“Sure, I just think that it's a bit funny... we have known each other barely for a day, and my opinion about you has totally changed in just a few hours,” Baralai explained. “At first I didn't like you at all, forgive me for my prejudice, but now I'm happy that we met.”

“Yeah, can't say I liked you either, you seemed like someone had shoved a stick up your ass,” he laughed, cursing in Al Bhed as his back hit the cactus.

Baralai found himself laughing too. He shook his head a little, deciding that he might as well go back into the tent. “I believe I'm starting to try and befriend the desert tomorrow. Good night, Gippal.”

“You'd better!” Gippal grinned. “Night, Lai.”

'Lai?’ Baralai lifted his eyebrow, and then finally went back into the tent to get some sleep. The next day was, after all, going to be a draining one...

Gippal smiled after him. He had a feeling that they'd experience many, many adventures together...

- THE END -
(for now...)

Al Bhed translations:

1. We should not stay here.
2. Shit
3. Maybe behind this...
4. Found it!