Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. They belong to Square Enix
Yuna walked slowly across the beach, leaving her footprints on the warm, clean sand. Barely paying attention to where her body was taking her, Yuna's mind drifted to the past, exactly two years ago on a day as beautiful as this one, when she gave her speech after defeating Yu Yevon.
As she walked, she became aware that her toes were wet. Startled, she realized that she was at the edge of the ocean. She looked to the horizon, amazed of the sea's vastness.
If only you were here with me…
Yuna blinked back her sudden tears and sat on the beach's edge, curling her arms around her knees. Then her mind brought her back to the time when she was also sitting on water's edge. She had been with…Him… that time, and He was telling her if she would like to give up her pilgrimage. How would life be right now, if she had chosen that path? He would still be here.
Yuna's lip trembled and she fought the urge to cry. She knew she was alone, and no one would see her, but she wouldn't allow herself to drown in her sorrow. Yuna was amazed of herself; she had always thought that she had no regrets, but sometimes, she wasn't so sure…
Taking a deep breath to stabilize herself, Yuna laid back on the sand and closed her eyes. The bright sun warmed her skin and the light breeze cooled it, making her feel normal and at peace.
"I need you," Yuna thought aloud, in spite of her willingness to move on. Still with her eyes closed, Yuna brought her fingers to her mouth and let out a long and soft whistle.
Quite suddenly, the sun's light didn't shine through her closed eyelids. Yuna opened her eyes and discovered the source of the sunlight's disruption. An enormous something was eclipsing the sun and darkening the beach, coming from behind her. Yuna sprang up and turned wildly on the spot. An enormous… who-knows-what… was flying towards her from behind one of the peaks. It flew closer, now covering most of this part of Besaid Island with its shadow, and graciously landed on the water, not far from the beach.
Marveling at the sight, Yuna stared at it. It kind of looked like an extremely oversized red motorcycle, some kind of airship. Did I do that? she thought about her whistling.
A booming voice came from the airship, making her small hairs at the back of her neck stand on edge. Tropical birds screeched out of their trees and took off in fright.
"YUNA!" it called to her. "YU—"
"Give that to me, Brother! Don't you see you're scaring her?!" a familiar voice interrupted. "YUNIE?"
Yuna couldn't believe it. Rikku?!
"SHINRA? CAN YOU LOWER THE VOLUME ON THIS OR SOMETHING?" Rikku's girly voice boomed ironically across the island.
"No, sorry," Yuna heard a boyish voice in the background from somewhere in the airship.
"BUT… BUT YOU KNOW EVERYTHING!" Rikku whined.
"I'm just a kid," the kid replied simply.
"Hey," someone Yuna didn't know interrupted the pair of them. "Shut off the megaphonic sphere. The racket we're making will wake up the pyreflies." Yuna couln't help but laugh at them all.
"OKAY!" Rikku agreed. "YUNIE, I'LL BE OUT IN TWO SHAKES!"
"Whoa!" Yuna exclaimed in awe as she looked around inside the airship bridge. Rikku had come out of the airship and ran excitedly towards her, pulling her by the hand into the airship.
"Yup!" Rikku said happily, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Recognize it? Same one as last time!"
"It looks wonderful!" Yuna agreed appreciatively.
"Hi, Yuna!" Brother greeted her.
"Hello, Brother," Yuna smiled at him as she tore her gaze from the view of Besaid from up here.
"This is Buddy," Rikku introduced an Al Bhed standing off to the corner.
"Nice to meet you, Buddy," Yuna said politely.
"Do you remember me, Yuna?" Buddy asked her as he stepped forward. "I was on the airship two years ago, when you fought Sin, remember?"
"Sorry, no," Yuna said truthfully.
"This is Shinra," Rikku continued excitedly. "He is a kid genius!"
Shinra nodded modestly at Yuna.
"Nice to meet you, too," Yuna grinned at him.
The doors behind them slid open and a young woman wearing a cool black leather outfit walked in. Her grayish black hair was cut short. Her skin was paler than anyone Yuna has ever seen, and her red eyes seemed to pierce everything they gazed at.
"That's Paine," Rikku said, and then added in somewhat of an undertone, "Don't know much about her."
"Hello, Paine," Yuna greeted her.
"Hey," Paine answered.
"Aaand," Rikku added enthusiastically with a wide smile, "we're the Gullwings!"
"The what?" Yuna asked, not catching it.
"The Gullwings!" Rikku repeated, still smiling broadly. "We're spherehunters!"
"Really?" Yuna asked interestedly. Yuna had heard about the spherehunting mania that had seized Spira but decided to turn away from everything and settle down in Besaid.
"Yup!" Rikku said, smiling yet more broadly. "And," Rikku continued, taking on a sad look which worried Yuna. It took a heck of a lot of misery to overturn the upbeated Rikku. "We found a sphere that you might be interested in."
Yuna turned her head to the side in interest.
"Shinra, if you please," Rikku told the Al Bhed kid.
Shinra then started to type in commands in a computer to the side at finger-breaking speed.
"Just a moment," Shinra said as his little fingers typed away, a blur.
The sphere then started to play and Yuna's jaw dropped in shock. Him.
After the sphere played, Rikku stared anxiously at Yuna. Yuna couldn't believe it. Not at all. Surely this would mean…
"I was wondering if you would like to join us, you know? To look for spheres? Maybe we could find out more about… you-know-who."
Yuna thought for a second then nodded.
"Yipee!" Brother exclaimed loudly, making Yuna jump in surprise. She had completely forgotten about the others.
"Yeah!" Rikku shouted, jumping in glee. "First, we have to get you out of those robes. They are sooo last Calm!"
Yuna looked down at her skirt. She was used to wearing that purple skirt and the white sash tied around her chest and waist.
"Really?" Yuna said, somewhat disappointed.
"Don't worry," Rikku urged, "I bought something perfect for you to wear!"
"I'm not too sure about this," Yuna commented uncomfortably as she looked at her reflection. The short-shorts and cut-up top were extremely revealing.
"Oh, don't say that!" Rikku said encouragingly. "You look incredible!"
"Are you sure?" Yuna asked uncertainly, trying to close the rip on the front of her top but was unsuccessful.
"Yes!" Rikku exclaimed, taking Yuna's hand and twirling Yuna around, making the half-skirt fly graciously around her.
"Okay! Okay!" Yuna said breathlessly as Rikku released her. Rikku was right, Yuna thought. She was already getting comfortable in the new outfit, and Yuna convinced herself that a little change of pace would help in the healing of… well… Him.
"Now that you are all shaked up," Rikku said leading them through the hallway to the elevator, "we have a mission to do."
"We do? Now?" Yuna asked as Rikku pushed a button that would take them back to the bridge.
"Uh-huh," Rikku replied.
At the bridge, the cousins met up with the others.
When he saw Yuna, Brother exclaimed something in Al Bhed, making Buddy and Shinra laugh nervously.
"Shut up!" Rikku shouted at him.
"What?" Yuna asked curiously. "What did he say?"
"Nothing!" Rikku and Brother answered quickly in unision.
Yuna then walked to the front of the airship, looking out at Spira.
"So," Rikku said to her uncertainly, "You ready?"
Yuna nodded. She wanted to find out what that sphere of Him meant, and she knew that this spherehunter thing was a good idea.
"Al-right!" said Rikku, jumping triumphantly into the air. Yuna had never seen her so happy. This, Yuna knew, was the start of some journey, and Yuna found herself smiling, too.
"Welcome to the Gullwings, Yunie!"