.Archer. returns with yet another story that may or may not become a Saga. Hopefully though, I'll love this story enough to continue it as long as I can. Well, let's see what happens, eh? If I get enough reviews, I'll carry on. :)

Oh, and Tidus'll be somewhat OOC in the first few chapters, because he's all depressed.

The Journey of Three

A Story by .Archer.

Chapter One:

Beginnings

"Do you really have to go?"

"Yes."

"But... I can't... you can't leave me..."

"But Yuna," frowned Rikku, packing the last of her things in her backpack on Yuna's dining table, "You know that it's better for Kimahri if someone goes with him. He needs to find a way out of Spira, and he can't do it alone."

Yuna felt a hot tear slide its way down her cheek, and she spoke calmly, as usual. "Rikku... I understand that you want to help Kimahri, but it seems too much to leave Spira completely with him..."

"Yunie, I'm going. You can't stop me, and you can't talk me out of it. You have to stay here and carry on with what you're doing. Spira needs you, and I don't need Spira."

Rikku grabbed her bag and pulled it off of the table, turning and leaving Yuna alone in her hut. She turned, heading across the large circle in the middle of Besaid Village towards the Lodge, where she was supposed to meet with Tidus.

But something caused her to stop in her tracks. She almost dropped the bag when she heard what the voices in the little shelter to her left were saying, hidden from her view behind the Lodge. She listened intently, trying to figure out who it was talking.

"No, you can't go!"

"But I can't stay here! I can't watch you raise a child with someone else!"

"What, did you expect me to wait for you for two years? Sometimes you just gotta move on, ya?"

"I know... I'm not saying you should have waited. I'm just trying to show you how much it's hurting me to stay here. That's why I'm leaving."

A familiar redhead came storming out from behind the Lodge, his eyes red and puffy as he cried, walking quickly back to his hut. Rikku froze, she didn't know what to do, or what to say. She just let him pass her, sobbing softly.

She felt like crying herself. Her mind drifted back to just over two years ago, when they all vanquished Sin. It seemed like so long ago... and then came the end of their journey, when Tidus disappeared. Rikku remembered what Wakka was like then... he was destroyed without Tidus, the love of his life.

But then he turned to Lulu for support. They blossomed, and they fell deeply in love. They were married, and then along came Vidina. Rikku smiled weakly as she remembered that Wakka had named him after the word 'future' in Al-Bhed, since he'd managed to put his prejudice behind after meeting Rikku.

And then the worst thing happened for Wakka and Lulu's marriage; Tidus came back. Of course, everyone was happy to see him again, but Wakka was torn between the man he loved, and the woman he had a child with. In the end, Tidus forced him away, making him choose Lulu for the sake of their son.

That's why Tidus was coming with them. He couldn't watch Wakka live happily without him, and he couldn't stay near Wakka, in case Wakka gave in to temptation. He had pushed away the love of his life, and now he had to get away.

Rikku found herself again, standing by the lodge as Tidus cried softly behind it. She moved, running around and embracing him in a tight hug. He sobbed into her shoulder, and she felt her eyes watering herself. He pulled away and stood, nodding.

"Thank you... for everything, Rikku. You saved my life the first time I ever came to Spira, and then you brought me back this time with Yuna and Paine. There is nothing I can ever do to repay you."

"Don't talk like that," she sniffed, "I know you would have done the same for me. Heck, you have done the same for me. Together you and me, we found a way to keep my cousin alive when we fought Sin. That's enough to repay me."

He nodded, grabbing a small bag of things he had and following her around the corner, deliberately avoiding Wakka's hut as they made their way down to the beach. There Kimahri sat on the rocks with Lulu.

"Are you ever coming back, Kimahri?"

Kimahri Ronso slowly shook his head, rustling his white fur softly. "Kimahri cannot come back. Kimahri would die."

"But," Lulu paused, "The disease will fade out, once there are no Ronso to pass it on to you..."

"No," he repeated, "Kimahri will not come back. No Ronso left. No family."

Lulu nodded, slowly rocking Vidina in her arms as she looked up at the blue Ronso. "I see... We won't ever forget you, Kimahri. What you've done for us, we'll tell Vidina all about it when he's older. You've risked your own life for us so many times."

Kimahri smiled for the first time in days. "Kimahri thank Lulu. Kimahri never forget Wakka and Lulu and Yuna."

Rikku and Tidus slowly approached them, Lulu handing Vidina to Kimahri one last time as she stood to say goodbye to them. She hugged Rikku softly, "Goodbye, Rikku. I don't know if I'll ever see you again, but if we don't, we'll tell Vidina all the stories about his Aunt Rikku."

Rikku smiled and pulled away from her, walking over to kiss Vidina on the head softly. "Bye bye, baby!"

Tidus hugged Lulu tight, whispering softly in her ear. "Take care of him, Lulu..."

"I will," she whispered back, "I know what you did, Tidus... you made him come back to me. I'll never forget that... thank you."

Tidus nodded, giving her a slip of paper. "I trust you to use this well."

"What is it?" she asked, starting to unfold it. Tidus pushed her hands together, stopping her.

"No... not yet. If you need to use it, then you unfold it. It's something I picked up from Dream Zanarkand. Wakka will forget I ever existed."

Rikku and Kimahri stood silently as Lulu shook her head, throwing the paper to the sand and casting Firaga on it. It burned slowly in the sand, the charm on it breaking.

"I could never do that," she said softly. "You have just as much right to be in his memories as I do. You made him the man he is today, and I can't take that away from either of you."

Tidus smiled, tears coming to his eyes as he kissed Vidina goodbye on the head. "I never really got the chance to know you, but you're half Wakka and half Lulu. I can't imagine how that's going to work," he chuckled.

"If he's anything like his father, he won't listen to me anyway," he chuckled.

As if on cue, Wakka and Yuna appeared on the beach. Rikku had her own airship now, the Valkyrie, and it was waiting for them at the edge of the beach, where the cool blue water met the fine sand. Wakka was jogging, and he suddenly grabbed Tidus, holding him tight and kissing him deeply for one last time. Tidus ran his hands up Wakka's back, resting them there as he kissed him back.

They were both crying, and as Rikku looked around, everyone else seemed to be crying as well, everyone except Lulu. She was smiling, and Rikku knew that she was happy that Wakka and Tidus were over, but she was even happier that they'd found their places in the world, and they both understood what was happening.

They seemed to kiss forever, and after they stopped, they stood there in their embrace, heads resting against each other.

"I love you."

"I love you."

Rikku sobbed again, this time in happiness as they both said what was most important to them, and then everyone else seemed to move in towards them, forming a group hug of sorts, with Lulu and Vidina centered in the middle.

"This is the last time we'll all be together."

"I love you guys. Don't ever forget that, ya?"

"Aww, I'm gonna miss you all soooooooo much!"

"Kimahri say bye."

"You guys brought me here, and I'll never forget it!"

"Uhm... goodbye, everyone..."

They all broke up the group hug, and then the split finally happened. Six people were on that beach. Only three went home. The other three, well... it's a long story.

A/N

Yup, very sad. I cried writing it! But yeah, if I get a review for this, even just one, I'll carry it on. I want at least one review for each chapter for me to write the next one. Mkay?

:D

~Soul. x