Final Fantasy X-2 (Nooj/Gippal/Baralai) [week 3 - prompt 3]
Title: Moral Ground Author: Cadence Rating: PG Word Count: 400 Summary: They argue, of course. Author's Notes: Takes place postgame.
“I don’t like it. It’s too like old Yevon.” Nooj says, with a punctuating thump of his cane against the floor.
Calmly, Baralai responds, “We wouldn’t be restricting them because they’re machina, we would be restricting them because they’re dangerous and unnecessary.”
Gippal snorts dismissively. “Guns aren’t any worse than your magic or your staff, unless you’ve been lying to me all these years about your destructive capability.” Baralai allows that with a small smile.
“Guns are most effective against people, though. Fighting fiends usually calls for something else.”
“You are hardly unbiased, Gippal.” Nooj puts in, “considering they’re a substantial portion of how your faction sustains itself.” Gippal waves a hand.
“That’s not the important point,” he says. “There’s always new machines to be made.”
“That is a problem, too,” Nooj warns. “Making destructive machines for no reason.”
They go around in circles like this a lot. Baralai still can’t manage work up irritation over it. They are all arguing for what they think is right for Spira. More importantly, they are arguing, here in the same room. It’s so much different than before, when the tension of history and betrayal made them lead their organizations separately under the umbrella of slightly different ideals, and never directly address the others’ existence.
That tension is gone now, forced away with Shuyin. They’re not exactly like they were in the Crimson Squad, but that’s probably a good thing. Constantly training, fighting fiends, bone weary and on the edge of death isn’t how this should happen. When he thinks back to then, he sees how lost and close to breaking they all were.
Now they can argue late in the night and know that they actually have the power to change something. Now when they fall into a stalemate, exhausted, Gippal can touch Baralai’s arm and smile, and they both can turn to Nooj and break him out of his fugue as well, and they can all retire without the edge of impending doom.
That in itself is enough to make Baralai giddy. He’s fairly certain he sees it in the others as well. Perhaps someday, when the sheen of newness has faded from this, he will be more affected by their conflicts. But for now, Spira is sound and unthreatened. All of them are here, and it’s easy to let the smaller issues slide away under the touch of their hands.