- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
They had just defeated Sin and Yuna was performing a sending. Tidus looked down in shock as he saw pyreflies rise from his now transparent hands. Rikku looked as well and cried, "Look!" Everybody turned to see what the matter was and gasped.
Yuna stared at him. "What.. what's happening?"
"I'm fading away... just like they said I would..." he said as much to himself as he did to Yuna.
"You aren't leaving me... are you?" Yuna asked.
Tidus replied, "I have to." He stepped towards the edge of the ship, ready to jump.
"No!" Yuna cried. She ran towards him, ready to grab him, but instead she fell right through him and landed on the deck of the ship. She just laid there for a moment, weeping. *How can this be happening?* she thought. *Aren't we enough to keep him here... aren't I enough? Why won't he stay?*
"Yuna..." Tidus said.
She stood up with her back to him. Tears continued to fall down her face... she had a look of defeation. There was only one thing to say. "I love you."
Tidus walked up to her and put his arms around her the best he could. She just stood there, unmoving. After a moment he let go, and made a running leap off of the ship.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
She stood on the end of the dock in Besaid, whistling with all her might.. hoping Tidus would come running. She couldn't stop thinking to herself, asking why it had to be this way. *He said he'd be with me always. And he promised he'd always come running at my whistle. Yet he isn't here now... why not? Why did he break all of his promises to me? Please come back to me Tidus... please come, I need you.*
Lulu walked up behind her. "Yuna, it's time." After one last glance to the sea, Yuna followed her.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Yuna looked out onto the crowd that filled the Luca stadium. So many people awaiting her speech... she took a deep breath and began. "Sin has been defeated, and he's never coming back! Spira is ours again!" She waited for the crowd to stop cheering before she continued. "We can now rebuild our homes. It will be hard, and it will take time, but we will do it." Once again, the crowd cheered and she had to wait for it to die down. "Just... one more thing. We have all lost friend and family, hopes and dreams. Your loved ones that have been lost," her voice falls to a whisper, "or dreams that have faded..." A memory of her and Tidus in Lake Macalania comes to mind. How he held her, comforted her... kissed her. Oh, how she missed him already. She was barely able to hold back the tears that the thoughts brang. "Never forget them."
She quickly turned and ran down the stairs and the tears started to pour down her cheeks once again. Wakka looked after her sympathetically but doesn't know what to do. Rikku started to run after her, but Lulu stopped her. "She needs time to herself right now."
Rikku waved her arms around emphatically. "But her being alone is the problem! We have to help her."
"What can we do to help her? Tidus is gone for good, ya? There's nothing we can do about that," Wakka said.
Rikku started to object, but knew he was right. What could they do? "I just... hope she's okay."
"She will be, in time," Lulu assured her. But even she wasn't sure it was true....
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Tidus was watching all of this from the Farplane, using a sphere. "It isn't fair! I get pulled out of Zanarkand and thrown into a world I don't know, and just when I find something to hold on to, I'm ripped out of that one as well!"
"Life isn't fair," Auron said.
"Why are you always like that?" Tidus demanded.
"Like what?"
"You always say something that sounds like it should mean something... but it doesn't mean anything!"
Auron shook his head at Tidus' emotional outbursts. Tidus turned back to the image of Yuna to find her crying on her bed. "Yuna...." He can't help but start to cry himself.
Jecht decided this is a perfect time to chime in, "Still a crybaby, always a crybaby. Why don't you ever act like a man and stop crying for once?"
Tidus glared at him, "Shut up, dad."
Auron said, "What he means is that at some point you have to stop holding onto the past. It's pointless to want something you can't have. You can't go back, so you might as well move on."
Jecht snorted. "Yeah, something like that."
Tidus didn't give in. "But what if there is a way back?"
Auron gave an exasperated sigh. Won't this boy ever give up and accept the truth? "There isn't one."
"But what if there is? I can't just sit here and do nothing when there might be a way. Everybody said Sin couldn't be defeated without the final aeon... without Yuna giving up her life. But we proved them wrong! We did everything the way everybody said not to, and look where it got us. Sin is gone for good, and Yuna lives on."
"But you don't. Nothing comes without a price. You are that price."
"Maybe not. We've yet to find a way to do something when we really needed to. How is this any different? There must be a way. Where there's a will, there's a way, right?"
Auron shook his head again. This was going to take some time...
Suddenly Tidus' face lit up. "Oh, I've got it! I know what to do!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hope you've enjoyed it so far!