Anyway... I was hoping that I didn't stretch out my whole story thing here, but I was hoping that if I made it completly different from EverLong (i.e., not mushy romance for 8 chapters) then it wouldn't be so... boring.
Um... I'll stop talking now. So please, read, enjoy, and I hope you don't think it sucks and come after me with pitchforks and torches @.@.
Fear
+ Chapter One +
Yuna sat outside, watching the sun slowly break from behind the clouds and feeling the last cool drops of the summer sun-shower fall onto her head. Crystaline shimmers glinted in the sun on the blades of grass at her feet, and dew drops mixed with rain drops wound weaving paths across her feet and toes. In the distance, a chocobo let out it's shrill call as it woke in the late morning.
Gray clouds made their ways past the sun and Yuna began to hear the noises of the city come to life behind her. Awakening, beginning, celebration all reached her ears, reminding her. But, then again, there wasn't anything that didn't remind her. Every look, noise, face, memory, sensation all reminded her of the day six months ago. Something she never prepared herself for, that still stung even after time had dulled her memory of it.
'No use dwelling in the past,' Yuna thought, and got up from a marble bench under an overgrown weeping willow. The field was on the outskirts of Spira's capital, Bevelle, and her own private place, where she would come to think. Now, as the sun rose overhead, Yuna walked barefoot across the rain dampened grass towards the path that lead to the palace that house not only herself, but the government that stopped Spira from collapsing into chaos.
The Eternal Calm, as the time after Sin came to be called, had seen changes in the way Spira was ruled. Each region was not ruled by seperate Maesters, but instead sent two representatives to the council in Bevelle, which was headed by the High Summoner... Yuna. The people felt that with a Summoner overseeing the council, they would not be decieved again, like they had by the unsent Maesters. Because Sin was no more, and the souls of those who had died would not become fiends anymore, there was no reason to have Summoners... which worried Yuna, because she wondered who would lead all of Spira after her death, or if the tradition of Summoners would continue.
Yuna walked along the stone path through the trees, until she came to the entrance into the palace. A large hallway extended before her, decorated in red carpet and tapestries that depicted the famous High Summoners from Yunalesca on, through the last 1,000 years. Reluctantly, Yuna had posed for her own tapestry to be hung in honor among her ancestors, next to that of her father. She walked quickly past the image of her father, still finding it hard to believe that the answer was so clearly infront of them, and that her father had died needlessly. He could, should have, found the answer, not her...
She continued on into a hall decorated in the scheme of blue. The huge hallway was given an illusian of an even bigger room from the Gothic arches, and the light from stained glass. Yuna sighed, the huge room making her feel lonlier then she ever had before. She was mostly alone here... Kimhari, her lifetime companion had gone to help the Ronso's rebuild; Wakka and Lulu... she smiled at the thought. The two were trying to work their relationship out in Besaid. They both had feelings for each other, she knew, but Lulu still had memories of Chappu. Rikku had been moving between staying with Yuna and the Al Bhed's Home, hoping to have it rebuilt by the end of the year.
And Tidus... well, he was just all over the place, visiting everyone, and helping Rikku. But he never stayed alone with Yuna, probably because it was still slightly akward between the two of them. She still couldn't look him directly in the eye. She would never, never, admit it to anyone, but part of her world melted away with that day.
Yuna walked up the stairs from the Saphire Cathedral, as the hall was named, to the second floor. The particular hallway she stood in was narrow, and was actually a platform that connected the public side to the private side. The hallway's walls were made of glass, overlooking the city on one side, and the fields around it on the other. Yuna paused a moment, looking out into the city. The streets were busy with people going to jobs, wives shopping for their husbands, children or themselves, and children playing in the streets. Scattered about in the crowds, Yuna saw the occasional Ronso, Guado or small group of Al Bheds.
And on each one of their faces, was the apparant look of happiness.
While nothing made Yuna happier then the happiness of her people, the happiness had come at a price so dear to her. So many had died, everything Yevonites had believed in had crumbled around them, history and people's own pasts and futures had been changed, and her own life had been affected to greatly.
Yuna laughed quietly to herself. Had she always been this depressing? What happened to her old philopsophy? 'Always smile, and keep your emotions to yourself.' Maybe she was growing up, and starting to see the world beyond black-and-white, Calm-and-Sin. The world was expanding. Infact, there had been rumor that the Al Bhed had found another land to the east of Spira... that their own little realm was just one island out of many on a globe. Had that place been affected by Sin, too? Was there places that never felt the terror of Sin? If only Spira had been so lucky.
So caught up in her own thoughts, Yuna didn't notice the man behind her until he cleared his throat to get attention. She turned around, startled and gaped at the man. He was atleast half a foot taller than her, wearing a completly black outfit, a color rarely worn in Spira. He had dark, unruly brown hair that was pulled back into a short pony-tail, and the eyes to match. Over simple black pants and shirt, he had a black coat that reached the floor and collar that reminded Yuna of the one Auron use to wear to cover his scars, but not as big. At his side, was a plain silver sword in a black scabbard.
Yuna was both startled and confused, since she'd never seen a person like this in Spira before. "Um... c-can I help you?" he stuttered out, loosing her diplomatic dignity.
The man's eyes looked calmly into the distance, across the buildings and streets of Spira, and then looked down at Yuna. Yuna shivered as the dark eyes fell on her. "You are the one who leads the people of Spira?" he asked, smoothly.
Yuna nodded slowly. "Yes, that's me. My name is Yuna, and you are...?"
He seemed to hesitate about handing over his name but he finally decided to, his voice quiet and mysterious. "Roarke."
"Roarke," she repeated, nodding slightly at the odd name. "And how can I help you?"
"It's not how you can help me, but how you can help Spira."
Yuna lifted a brow in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Roarke smiled wryly, and walked down the hallway, stopping for a moment to look into the fields, and then continue on towards the doors on the opposite end. Yuna was started. "What.... wait! What are you talking about?" Yuna ran after him, and flung herself infront of the door, blocking his exit. "I am the High Summoner, and when I ask something, you answer me!" Yuna said, not yelling, but suprised at the force in her voice.
He laughed. "I was told you were presistant." He paused a moment, just smiling, then the smile faded. "I don't think you're ready for this. You've gotten to use to peace, The Calm. What would you do?"
"Tell me what it is, and you'll know," Yuna replied, getting more anxious and annoyed at the man for not telling her what was going on.
"Hmm. I've heard of your Sin. Well, would you believe that there's something worse than Sin? Would you believe that it alreayd controls my homeland and that an invasion of Spira is planned?"
Yuna slid to the floor, nearly fainting.