003 - Fireworks

There was this one night that Yuna wanted to be alone.

Couldn't blame her, not with all that was going on. With Sin being on a rampage, Yevon being rotten to the core, Seymour stalking us with his crazy plans, but the final blow came when she had learned that Sin could never truly be destroyed. That was something she had believed in all her life. Learning that was a lie would shake anyone's faith to the core.

After we left Zanarkand we traveled the world to gather ourselves for the final fight that was ahead. Still though, there was this one last trip to Besaid that Yuna wanted to do. We couldn't enter the village because of the commotion that Yuna believed she would cause. So, we all decided to avoid it and camped out in a secret part of the beach, near the dock where she had left at the beginning of her journey.

She had said she wanted to be alone for the night. I know Auron and Kimarhi had no problem with this, Wakka wanted to say a few things but Lulu had shut him up. Rikku also tried to ask her if that was what she really wanted, but Yuna didn't want any form of company.

Good thing I wasn't the kind of person to listen, especially when I knew pretty well in the short time I was around her.

I found Yuna in a small cove, all by herself. She must have thought she was totally alone because when I got her attention she jumped a bit. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"It's alright...I was caught off guard," she said. She sat down in the sand, the violet skirt of her robes getting a thin layer of sand on it. She then looked up into the sky, and it was a really cool sight. The stars were many, and the moon was shinning bright, giving the sky a serene feel.

I sat down next to her, and for a few long moments we didn't say anything. I knew she had said she wanted to be alone and I hadn't listened, so I figured she was upset with me for that. But there was no way I was going to leave her alone for any reason. She didn't need to be alone anymore.

"Are the others here too?"

I fell back in the sand, "Nope, just me. I had to sneak off the airship to get here," I said, remembering that I had to truly sneak around Lulu and Wakka and avoid Kimarhi. Rikku was nowhere to be seen, but I had heard her talking to Cid earlier about trying to cheer Yuna up somehow. I had thought she would be on the island before me but I was surprised-but grateful-that she wasn't.

Yuna looked down at me, "Thank you for coming." She tried to smile, but even to do that it must have been hard for her. There were few reasons for her to smile anymore. Still, it was reassuring when she did. She hadn't lost all hope, or at least I wanted to think like that.

"No problem," that was all I could really say for the moment. I usually had trouble keeping a conversation going with others, but since I had been in Spira I should have been used to it by now.

Yuna's gaze returned to the sky, "I've been thinking about things."

I sat up and leaned on an elbow, "About what?"

"The final battle for one. If we succeed, will Sin truly be gone forever? What if it just comes back again later even after all we did?"

I could see where this was going. Sort of. "We'll beat it, I can already see how the world will react to when we win."

Yuna turned to me again, "How?"

I sat up fully this time, and kept the optimistic beat in my voice, "Well, first of all, you'll end a stupid cycle of endless sacrifice. And instead of a Calm that will last ten years, it will be an Eternal Calm. One that lasts forever. History will remember you as 'the summoner who truly saved the world'!" She tilted her head a bit, and I scratched the back of my head, almost embarrassed with the amount of enthusiasm I had shown just then. "Sorry. I got too excited there."

Yuna giggled, and that was even more refreshing than when she smiled before, "It's alright. It's just...I never thought of that sort of future before. Never dreamed of anything short of defeating Sin...and not seeing the results of my 'victory'." She stood up, brushing the sand off her skirt as she did, "A future where all I could see people smiling. All my friends beside me, smiling too."

I stood up as well, "See? Just keep that in mind, and we'll defeat Sin for good."

I saw Yuna's hands come together in front of her, like she was contemplating something she wanted to say.

The heaviness in the air suddenly returned, almost like I was dreading what she was thinking.

"But if we-no, when we defeat Sin, what will happen to you?"

I sort of saw this coming. I crossed my arms over my chest, and the words the Fayth gave me in Bevelle rang loudly in my mind. 'If we wake, the dream will fade.' This meant that by defeating Sin, the Fayth would wake up and...

I shook my head, "Yuna...I don't really know what will happen."

That wasn't a lie, but it sure felt like one. Yuna's eyes were unconvinced. "I know what the Fayth said...but if that is my future, I'm not sure I want a part of it." She looked right at me, "A future without you...would be unbearable."

My heart sank, lower than it had ever been before then. Her words pierced the ugly truth of the situation. The fact that I could-and would not-answer her meant that she had hit the mark.

She slowly turned around, her back to me, and she looked back up at the sky.

I wasn't sure how to react to this. Luckily though, a break came in the form of a colorful explosion from the same sky in the horizon. A bright green firework blew up, followed by a red one, then a yellow, and so on through many more colors to follow. The colors were bright, and almost calming.

Yuna, as well as me, were caught by surprise.

I didn't say anything, but I had a funny feeling this was all a part of Rikku's grand plan. Still, that thought left me as I felt my feet moving on their own. Or maybe it was because I was following what my heart wanted me to do.

As Yuna was partially mesmerized by the fireworks, I got up behind her.

I was able to put my arms around her shoulders while I had my cheek in her hair, and all I got in response was she put her hands on my forearm.

We watched the fireworks together for a long while, all without saying a word. Her grip on me didn't lessen either, like she was desperate to not let me go.

The fireworks went on, and somehow I wished Rikku could keep it going for as long as she could.

Eventually though, the silence between Yuna and myself was broken.

"Promise me."

I opened my eyes, "Yeah?"

Her grip on my arm tightened, "No matter what happens, you'll come back to me. Promise me, okay?"

Such a simple sounding promise, one I wasn't sure I could keep, and yet I answered, "I promise."

Little did I know that that promise was, in the end, fulfilled in the future.

A/N: I started playing the remaster of Final Fantasy X and I was blown away by the experience. It was all better than the last time I played it on PS2.