*Note: After playing Final Fantasy X again and noting some things, I felt that this story was not true to what happened. My theories changed and I believe this rewrite will be more true to the real story. To anyone who has already read this story once, it is different now, and things are not the same. I suggest you read again. Thank you!*
Prologue
The wind whipped through her short honey hair as the airship cruised through the clouds. It had been a long time since she had been back to Home, as the Al Bhed called it. She wondered if they would even remember her there. More importantly, would they accept her?
She turned her head when she heard the footsteps approaching across the balcony of the airship. Raising her green eyes, they fell on a young man – smiling.
"It's been a long time," he said, raising his arms to offer a hug.
She smiled and accepted him into a strong embrace.
"It has been a long time, Jerand" she said. "Six years."
"Much too long to go without your pretty smile," he said, stepping away from her embrace and leaning against the rail of the ship.
"How have you been?" she asked, leaning on the rail herself.
"Some ole'," he said, running a hand through black hair. "You?"
"Well… a lot has happened in the last six years…" she said, looking into the clouds.
He sensed something in her. There was something she didn't want to say.
"What's happened?" he asked.
"After I left home," she began hesitantly. "I was married."
"Oh yeah, I heard you married a Yevonite." Jerand laughed and shook his head. "I said 'No way would Kiri marry a Yevonite! She's too good for that. She's got pure Al Bhed blood in her! She wouldn't mix with a Yevonite!'"
Kiri didn't speak for several moments, looking down into the sky as the wind tossed her hair gently. Jerand raised his eyes to her a moment, taking in her silence. He then lowered his head also; he had said the wrong thing.
"So… it is true?" he asked.
"Yes," she said. "That's why I didn't come back for so long. I didn't want my own people to think less of me."
There was a moment of silence on Jerand's end. He was trying to search for the right words. Kiri had been a dear friend once.
"I don't think less of you. But, you have to admit, it is kind of strange for someone as 'anti-Yevonite' as you to go and fall in love with one," he pointed out.
"I… changed," she said. "I had never really met a Yevonite before, but, when I met him, my whole perspective changed. He was… different from anyone I'd ever met."
"Geez… you must really be in love…" Jerand mused. "And with a Yevonite," he said, shaking his head. "It just comes off strange."
Kiri laughed lightly.
"It gets worse," she said. "He's a priest."
"A priest of Yevon, huh? What did your father say?"
"He and Cid were… very unhappy. Father died not too long after I left, you know. And Cid hasn't spoken to me since. I… don't know what I'll say to him today."
"Huh? This isn't you!" Jerand said. "What happened to the Kiri who wasn't afraid of anything? I've really got to see this guy who changed you so much!"
Kiri raised her hand to the large Al Bhed locket that hung from her neck. This elaborately crafted item had been given to her by her mother, as a wedding gift, though she had been unable to attend the wedding. Her father and brother had stood in the way of that.
Taking the locket into her hands, she opened it up and held it out to Jerand, who took it from her carefully and looked at the pictures inside.
"That's him," she said, pointing to one side of the locket that held a picture of Kiri and a man in a robe, holding close to each other and smiling.
Jerand looked down at the picture for a moment and then nodded.
"He's good-looking," he gave, to Kiri's smile.
She nodded and looked over at the picture herself.
"What's his name?" asked Jerand.
"Braska," she said.
"And… this little girl is your daughter?" he asked, looking at the other picture in the locket which contained Braska holding a little girl.
"Yes," said Kiri. "That's Yuna. She just turned five."
"She's cute," he said.
"She takes after her father," Kiri assured him.
"I thought she took after you."
The woman smiled, quite proud of her family.
"Well, this guy must make you really happy. Anyone who could keep you away from Home for six years must be really great. I approve."
"Thanks, Jerand," she said, opening her hand to take back the locket.
A sudden jolt to the ship sent Kiri forward against the rail harshly. The locket fell from Jerand's grasp and Kiri watched it, reaching out to grab it as it fell through the clouds, the gold chain barely slipping through her fingers.
"I'm so sorry, Kiri!" Jerand said, regaining his balance and helping her off the rail. "Are you alright?"
"I'm… fine," she assured him, trying to regain her breath.
"What's wrong in there? Doesn't he know how to drive?" Jerand yelled back to an Al Bhed man running out onto the deck.
"Sin!" he yelled. "Get inside!"
Kiri's heart filled with fear. Sin? No. Not now. Not today! She wasn't even with her family! What about her wonderful husband and her sweet little girl? She would not even be able to tell them goodbye.
A single tear rolled down her cheek as she turned her head to look out at the horizon. She saw the blasts cutting through the clouds and making tunnels of energy. All she could think about was her family – and how she would miss them.
Taking one last breath, she closed her eyes and accepted her fate. She would be one more: killed by Sin's everlasting quest for death. She said a short prayer to her husband's god before the ship was struck again and her body became limp against the rail.