Phantom Voices
By Ariana Aislinn

My first foray into FFX/X2 fanfic. This is just a retelling of the ending of X-2, but when I retell things, I always try to add in things that weren't said in the game - how the characters are feeling, how they react, what they're thinking. I wrote this because I was absolutely intrigued and delighted by the voices Yuna hears throughout the final battles and the events leading up to them, and I wanted to explore that further. Please let me know what you think!

Standard disclaimer: Final Fantasy X, X-2, and their characters are the property of Square-Enix, not me.

Yuna stood, looking from Paine to Nooj. She could see the hurt in her fellow sphere hunter's eyes, staring at the man she had once looked up to, the companion she had once traveled with. Nooj was a deathseeker, and it was nothing new for Paine to hear him talk about dying - but that clearly didn't make it any easier.

Had it made it any easier for Yuna, or for her guardians? Knowing that, as a summoner determined to defeat Sin, she was destined to die - that she knew the cost and paid it willingly - had it made it any easier for them to accept? How was this any different?

Certainty welled up inside her. It wasn't any different, was it? Pain and bitterness washed through her, and she couldn't bear it any more. Two years of doubts, regrets, and might-have-beens suddenly brought a steely determination to her eyes. "I don't like your plan. It sucks."

The others turned to look at her. Nooj's expression was enigmatic, as always, but Rikku and Paine were surprised - not just at her words, but at her tone of voice. It was not like Yuna to talk this way, but she meant every word.

Yuna met Nooj's eyes and would not look away. "Your plan is awful. Think about it. It's no different than what we did two years ago. We destroyed our own allies. We destroyed the aeons who had fought together with us, at our side. We didn't have a choice then. We believed that was the only way we could save Spira." Yuna tilted her head slightly to one side, as if bowed down with the burden of regret she had carried with her these last two years. "Do you know what it felt like to watch them die? Right before my eyes? It was the only thing we could do. It was the only choice we had. I gave in, I accepted, I believed. I allowed it to be true. I thought I'd be able to go through with it without ever doubting myself. But I..." She paused, looking down. "It hurt so much." Yuna's eyes met Nooj's again, and she wondered if he understood.

This was very, very personal. Yuna had never shared these feelings with anyone - the only ones who could understand already knew, and nothing more needed to be said. She and Rikku never talked about it. Once in a while they would exchange long, silent looks, remembering together, and Yuna knew that Rikku understood, but they never said anything. Still, Nooj needed to hear this. Yuna had no intention of keeping these feelings secretly bottled up inside, not now. They were harsh realities, but Nooj needed to know the cost of a plan like his. He needed to know that it was not worth it. I'm sick of martyrs, Yuna thought to herself.

Forgive us.

Yuna recognized the voice that had greeted her on the road down toward the Farplane. The aeons had died, and the fayth whose souls they represented were gone now, sleeping on the Farplane. Vegnagun had dragged them down, waking them from their slumber and taking control of the long-dead aeons. Perhaps Shuyin had done it as a way of gaining access to the Farplane. A soul like his, so embittered and filled with hatred, probably could not reach the Farplane any other way. The fayth, the little boy whose aeon had been called Bahamut, had come to Yuna to tell her what happened, and to apologize. What is there to apologize for? she wondered. I'm the one who could not protect them. Yet the fayth had asked for forgiveness just now. Yuna gave it readily, and always had, even without being asked. Despite the pain and hurt of two years ago, the aeons had sacrificed themselves to save her world. Yuna's feelings for the aeons caused her so much pain when they died, but her love for Spira was even greater. It had been the aeons' choice, and although she hated that it had happened, she could never blame them for those choices.

No one else had thought the price too great to pay. Yuna continued to speak, remembering. "Everyone was so happy. 'Great job, Yuna. You did it. You saved us all.' There were too many smiles to count. And I know that I was smiling, too. But now...when I look back..." Her voice trailed off sadly, and she looked away, then forced herself to meet the others' eyes once more. "The people who should be here aren't. The ones who should be smiling with me aren't here." Images flashed through her mind, and she pushed them away. That one smile in particular…she couldn't let herself think about it now, or she might not be able to go on.

We had no choice.

That was not a fayth. Yuna paused - the voice was so familiar, gruff and cocky. Had she really heard it? …But no, she couldn't have. Besides, it was only another distraction right now, and if she did not keep speaking, she didn't know if she would be able to finish saying these words that had been left unspoken for so long. Those words, though…whatever the voice was, whether she had really heard it or not…

"'We had no choice.' Always 'we had no choice.'" The words spilled out in a rush. "Those are our magic words, we repeat them again and again, but you know… The magic never worked." A bitter edge touched her voice, which caught slightly. "The only thing we're left with is regret."

Yuna had to pause. There was a tightening in her throat, and she waited for it to go away.

Yuna, I'm sorry. Again, that voice broke the silence. Was she really hearing it? It sounded almost like…Sir Jecht? But it couldn't be. If it had all been true, he had been nothing more than a dream, and his spirit would not have lingered, any more than… Yuna had to stop that line of thought before it went any further. Pain welled up in her heart.

Yuna's voice was sad, and she spoke almost to herself. "No. I don't want this anymore." She looked at the ground.

Nooj shook his head, as if wondering what use her protests were.

Strength, Yuna, she told herself. There was a purpose to these words, these feelings. She smiled, a strange sort of peace touching her eyes. "I don't want friends to die...or fade away. I don't want battles where we have to lose in order to win." Memories washed through her. Fading away… She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, gathering the strength to continue. She opened her eyes again, looking at Nooj with firm determination in her gaze. "Nooj, I know that what you say is what you mean to do. Give me your resolve. Believe in Yuna."

Perhaps not all of her words had gotten through, but the confidence in her voice must have had an effect. "So you have a plan," Nooj said. Yuna's heart rose. He was willing to listen.

"Light?" asked Paine, referring to their conversation with the fayth on the road to the Farplane.

"That's Plan B," Yuna told her. Lenne's feelings would have to wait until they could get close to Shuyin. "But before that…" She turned to the third Gullwing. "Hey, Rikku. No matter how monstrous it looks, Vegnagun is still just a machina. So we can take it apart, right?"

Rikku put her hand thoughtfully to her chin. "Uh, yeah…uh, maybe?" She eyed Vegnagun's bulk apprehensively. After all, even if it were just a machina, it was still huge, and it could still sense their hostility. It wasn't going to go down without a fight.

They heard footsteps behind them, and Rikku turned to look as Gippal arrived, followed closely by LeBlanc and her lackeys. He seemed to have recovered somewhat from the beating he'd taken earlier. "You never used to be the think-before-you-act type," he told Rikku, grinning. "What gives?"

"And I never was the wait-like-a-good-girl type, isn't that right, Noojie?" interjected LeBlanc. Nooj just sighed.

"Vegnagun can be destroyed," Gippal said, his voice filled with confidence. "Abso-posi-you better believe it. Wanna know why?"

"'Cause people built it!" Rikku declared triumphantly, dancing on her toes. Gippal's confidence was certainly infectious.

"Right!" Yuna surveyed the group. "Everyone, it looks like we can stop that thing after all."

Vegnagun suddenly stirred to life, the ground shaking as it moved its massive bulk.

"Bwahaha!" Ormi guffawed. "Now it's pissed!"

Logos shook his head. "Witless little widget, isn't it?"

Nooj would not be distracted by the others' enthusiasm. "What about Shuyin?" he asked, eyeing Yuna.

"Plan B!"

"Oh?"

Yuna grinned. "Love." She knew it sounded cheesy, but she didn't care.

Gippal sighed and shook his head. "Nuu puo." Yuna knew just enough Al Bhed to recognize the words for "Hoo boy" - Rikku said it often enough when Brother annoyed her.

"The ultimate illusion." Nooj gave a cynical sigh.

Yuna shook her head defiantly. "It'll work! I've come this far to bring Lenne's feelings to Shuyin. I'm not stopping now."

LeBlanc clasped her hands together with a dramatic sigh. "The power of love conquers all! So romantic!" She snapped her fan decisively. "Count me in."

Nooj carefully ignored LeBlanc, Yuna noticed. A moment later, however, they were all distracted as Vegnagun moved again.

"Look!" cried Paine.

Strange lights glowed on Vegnagun's head, and Yuna could just make out a small figure - Shuyin - moving as if playing at a gigantic keyboard. Eerie, thundering music sounded from the huge machina, and energy swirled around the platform on which it stood, filling the creature. It flailed its legs, roaring and shaking the ground on which they stood.

Ha! It's just bluffing!

This time Yuna was sure she recognized Sir Jecht's voice in her head. But was it just her imagination? Memory? No - something about it was very real. She could almost feel the conceited blitzball player's presence.

This relic's getting rusty.

Yuna's eyes went wide. That voice she knew, too, and far better than Sir Jecht. Sir Auron had traveled with her for nearly all of her pilgrimage, and she had come to know the gruff warrior quite well. Well, why not? She had sent him herself, and his soul now rested on the Farplane - where she was. Yuna's heart soared, feeling Auron's protective presence nearby.

Yuna, you have your friends.

Another memory - another voice, but one that almost drove Yuna to tears. Father…? she thought, remembering his calm, gentle presence. It had been twelve years since she had last seen him. All three voices were easily familiar to her, however; she often got out the spheres they had left behind from their own journey, reminding herself of those who had gone.

They weren't the only spheres she watched, either. She did not have many from her own journey, but there were a few. Those were the spheres she watched late at night, when Paine and Rikku were asleep and there was no one to see her tears.

No time to think about that now, however. Yuna had to rally her forces. "If we all attack at once, we can do this! We need to split up."

"Leave the legs to us!" LeBlanc said confidently.

"We've got the torso!" Gippal exchanged glances with Nooj, who nodded.

Rikku jumped eagerly. "Guess that leaves the tail!"

"Okay, let's go!"

At Yuna's prompt, LeBlanc and her followers took off in one direction, and Gippal in another, with Nooj following at his own, slow pace, leaning on his cane. He stopped, turning to look at Paine. "See you later," he told her, waving.

Paine nodded to him, as if acknowledging a promise.

Yuna turned to her friends as Nooj followed after Gippal. "Ready?" she asked.

Rikku grinned. "Let's kick some tail!"

Paine groaned, and the three Gullwings hurried up the pathway toward Vegnagun's monstrous, mechanical tail.

This seemed like a good place to cut it off. At least one more chapter will probably be forthcoming, but this is just a short story that will go no further than the end of the game, so I wouldn't expect it to be more than three, four chapters tops.