A/N: As a disclaimer, I own nothing 'cept my fishie, my DC's, and some eyelash curlers. Sue me, I dare you. I have a whole $1.56 to my name. And that will most likely be spent by tomorrow. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this.

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Summer heat glared, tangerine on her body. The warmth was more than inviting, and she turned to scan the sea before turning back to the abandoned temple. As far as effort was concerned, they were nothing shy of perfect, but the crew hadn't yet captured the image that Yuna and the others had in mind. She put her hands on her hips, a bracelet or two jingling on her wrist.

She looked over the outside, still almost as it was before the defeat of Sin, and the disappearance of Tidus. But the inside was changing. She walked in, feeling the cool rush at her in millions of tiny waves, splashed upon her body.

The main entrance, with it's high walls, glimmered majestically with words lining the surface, telling the stories of summoners past. Whether or not the carvers and artists and scholars caught the emotion of what they were dealing with, these temples, these monuments to truth, were helping to dispel the rumors and speculation of what was really going on in Spira, and what had happened, and why.

Besaid. Yuna had decided to return to her home temple last. Overseeing the rebuilding of a broken world so dependant on it's false religion was no easy task, so she decided to save home for last. After this was done, she could rest a while, perhaps. New government had been established, to keep the power of Yuna's high station in check, as well as to support and aid it in times of immediate need. Her first priority, she felt, was to inform everyone of the truth. After being blindly lead for so long, they had to learn the truth and feel for themselves.

Yuna walked around, reading the text on the walls. There it was, the truth. After so long. The people were shocked, appalled, enlightened, freed. Some who had devoted their lives to Yevon were still trying to figure out what to do with themselves. But all of the sudden there was a need and desire for occupations that there had never been before.

Technicians, inventors, machina specialists, architects. . . the list was endless. And so was Yuna's work. Speaking, building, rebuilding, destroying. . . Her hands were worn with work, and her mind ached from the labor. There was always another problem to discuss. Something else on her mind every second of the day.

She walked through the halls, and looked over the work. The scholars reading to the carvers, who slowly worked their letters into the aged stone. The back parts of the temple, the very rooms where she had first become a summoner were still untouched. She ran her fingers along the smooth surfaces of the walls, rejoicing in the distant echoes of carving and her own footfalls. She looked up and around her, dark corners filled her head with memories. Fond ones, sad ones, and some she'd like to forget. Then somewhere from deep inside the temple came singing. One deep, feminine voice as familiar to Yuna as her own, singing the hymn of the fayth.

Yuna joined in, singing as clearly and loudly as she could. She continued walking, hand grazing the wall. In some deep place in the temple, she found Lulu, sitting on the floor, staring at the walls.

They finished, and it might not have been the most gorgeous and in-tune rendition of the song, but it served it's purpose. Yuna looked down at Lulu and smiled.

"It's weird to think that everything we were taught was wrong," Lulu said, still gazing over the walls and thinking.

"Yeah, I guess so," Yuna sighed. "I'm just glad it's over now, and this place is going to some better use." She leaned against the wall, by Lulu.

"Education never used to be a priority," Lulu said, and Yuna wasn't sure what to make of the comment. She didn't look at Lulu, just continued thinking. After a few moments of silence, she spoke.

"Spira's different now. It has a different set of needs, including educated youth."

"You're really getting good at these public release answers," Lulu joked.

"You're training me for answering the public without my knowledge?" Yuna rolled her eyes. She was always being trained on what to say if some controversial question came up, or what to do if one of her counselors was being completely disagreeable. Government wasn't so stuffy and prejudiced as it used to be, but it was hard if Yuna had one idea, and her counselors were going the complete opposite way. They were rulers, too, and had powers on a different levels, so it frustrated her, sometimes, when she couldn't just say that they were doing it her way or no way at all. But that wasn't really her, that was usually the stress speaking.

"You're doing a lot better, though. I would never have expected you to do this well with so much attention aimed your direction," Lulu leaned her head back, thinking how nice it was to have her hair just down for a change. Yuna laid down on the floor and looked up at the ceiling.

"I'm not doing that well. There are so many more people who handle this job so much better than I do. Just because I defeated Sin, it doesn't mean I'm a great politician. Or ruler. Or whatever it is that you would call me," Yuna sighed, and looked up at Lulu. She felt so little sometimes, and Lulu knew it. In truth, Spira had no one better to look up to, and maybe that was because there was no one better to look up to. Lulu didn't know how to phrase it in words.

"You could give it up," she said.

"No I couldn't, the people insist that they need me," Yuna said, a bit frustrated.

"Tidus told you that you could've given up your pilgrimage, and I'm telling you that you can give up your leadership position. What's the difference?"

"Well, if I *had* given up my pilgrimage, where would Spira be?"

"You could still give up this."

"No, I can't. And since you're telling me to give it up, if I start crying will you try to kiss me?" Yuna said the last part of the sentence sarcastically, and they both started laughing. After a few moments of maniacal laughter, Yuna sighed. "I still can't believe I told you about that."

"You were lovesick and needed to talk. Lucky for you, I wanted to listen. And I still can't believe it happened. I almost died of shock when you said you loved him, although I shouldn't have been surprised. You always snuck glances at each other like cute little five year old's who *like-like* each other. Made me wonder what exactly went on at Macalania. Kimahri didn't tell us anything, just smiled and said that you two were okay. And I'd never really seen Kimahri smile, so it really made me wonder."

"You're accusing us of. .. That?!?" Yuna asked, mouth wide open, half-laughing.

"I'm sorry, but to me, Tidus kind of seemed like the type who would take a girl for all she was worth. I guess I didn't really give him much of a chance when he first showed up. I was kind of bitter and cynical, wasn't I?" Lulu asked. She looked down at Yuna, who was still smiling absent-mindedly and giggling a bit.

"You still *are*, and you just didn't give him a chance because he was cute. I know how much you hate cute boys, you think they're all airheaded jocks," Yuna made a face, and Lulu laughed.

"He *was* just another airheaded jock. But he grew up a lot during the pilgrimage, I will give you that much," Lulu smiled. All truth be told, Yuna grew up a lot herself. It was kind of odd, to see her now. It was like she was all dressed up with nowhere to go, she was ready to give herself whole-heartedly, yet she had no one to give herself away to.

Presently, Yuna stood up and wiped herself off, looking around the room. Lulu looked up questioningly, suppressing a yawn.

"And where are you going?" Lulu asked, giving her a suspicious look. Yuna wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.

"They told me the library in here got finished this morning. Didn't want to go without you. They said they'd found tons of books on every subject, so I figure there's got to be something interesting to read, right?"

Lulu smiled, and reached out her hand for Yuna to help her up. They both walked in relative silence through the rooms of the temple, looking around in awe at the monuments that had been built so long ago. They walked toward the front of the temple, and into a huge room. The walls had been bare before, and the shelves had been carefully constructed in the exact same stone as the walls. And now they were filled, books of every kind lining every possible space on the shelves. Toward the top were ancient books, thick and old and musty. Te bottom shelves were housing more modern books, and books full of stories for children. The room now had a rug and chairs and tables; Yuna looked around in awe. This was how things were supposed to be, there should always have been time to read and study and learn. Lulu grabbed a ladder and started looking through all the old volumes, pulling a few from the shelves and glancing inside them. Some she kept under her arm, some she put back.

Yuna ran her fingers over the children's books, looking absent-mindedly at the shelves. Lulu stepped back down the ladder and set some of the books down on a table, and took one with her to sit in a chair.

"Well, that's looks like some interesting reading," Yuna said a bit sarcastically, nodding at the book in Lulu's hands. It was some book on magic, and health, and things like that. Lulu just smiled and continued reading, flipping through pages, looking for something, but nothing in particular.

Yuna picked up one of the books that Lulu had left on the table and started flipping through the age-worn pages. The words sped by, and nothing interesting came into view. Silently, then, she flipped through the pages on life and death.

The book had apparently been written by a challenger of Yevon, because it blatantly questioned every basic principle of his religion.

"What are you reading, Yuna?" Lulu asked, finally looking up from her musty book.

"Just one of these books you pulled of the shelf. It's basically about. . . it answers all the questions that have come up, what with Yevon's disappearance. Plus it answers more," Yuna never looked up, and it was obvious that she was more than heavily intrigued by the writings. Here eyes kept looking over the pages, as though she were trying to soak the words into her brain.

"Sounds interesting," Lulu said half-heartedly. She was truthfully much more interested in exactly what it was that so captivated Yuna. Considering her lack of interest in the most subjects, it had to be extremely relevant to Yuna's own thoughts and pondering's for her to be so completely immersed.

"Err, Lu, have you ever heard of someone coming back from the dead?" Yuna asked quietly, trying to hide the hope in her voice.

So *that* was it. That's what had so fiercely caught Yuna's attention. Lulu smiled.

"No," she sighed, "I'll bet that book is just full of myths." After three months, Yuna still had hope that she could get her Tidus back. 'What a faithful, faithful girl,' Lulu thought. 'A hopelessly faithful girl.'

Yuna continued, though, hopeful that miracles could happen. For special people, at special times, at the very least. "Not even for a little while, like a day or two?" She'd never give up.

"Yuna, what are you reading and what kind of silly ideas is it filling your head with?" That may have come out a little bit harsher that she had truly intended it to, but Lulu didn't think if was good for Yuna to get high hopes just so she could fall all over again.

Yuna shut the book violently and let out a deep breath. She tried not to let Lulu see the way her eyes were glistening. "I guess you're right, I shouldn't fill my head with this type of stuff. It'll just make me feel worse, in the end." She stood and dropped the book back onto the table she had picked it off of. "I'm going to see how the rest of the temple is coming along."

Lulu watched as she walked away, pretending not to notice the tears in her eyes. Lulu thought she did too much, especially after she'd already done so much. And after she'd had so much taken from her. Yuna always tried to smile and hide her pain, but it was clear as day to Lulu.

Out of sheer curiosity, she picked up the book Yuna had been reading, and started flipping rhgough pages. She saw a chapter heading on life and death, and started reading. There were pictures of people with wings, and a gate that was well-shined. The gate to heaven, it was called. Lulu sighed and closed the book without reading any further. It seemed like Yuna was ready to believe anything, so long as it meant that she had hope of Tidus's return.

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Okay, this one is definitely not going to be updated as often as Never Too Far, but I plan on putting a huge amount of time and effort into it. So I think it might be worth the wait. Review, please?? Cuz reviews make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And if you don't, then, well, you're just a big meanie-head and I don't like you either, so *nyaaah*