-giggles- I figured that, instead of making a whole new one, I should just make it chapter two instead. I swear, though, it's going to end RIGHT AT THIS CHAPTER. Not that I have anything against it, since I really do feel like I did a good job on the first part, but I already have two stories in the works and I don't need another one. The space is, of course, since I wrote this while bored or stuck on other stories so it took me a very long while to complete it. Thanks to Jaymo for the 'threat' (yes, it was terrifying) and I hope you guys like the happiness!

By the by, I have indeed played FFX-2 but this is how I think things should've happened between Auron and Rikku. It bothers me that S.E. couldn't even grace his departure with an FMV, so I shall defy them! -laughs maniacally-

Warning: major fluff overload. Don't like, don't read.

Reminisce

A sob seemingly stuck in her throat, Rikku stared up at her love with wide eyes, her heart hitting the ceiling. "Auron… where… where did you come from?" she stuttered, hands trembling as she felt tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. He smirked a little, the collar normally shielding his face gone. As he stepped forward, her breath hitched and her heart began skipping beats. Painfully aware of how close he was, she gasped as he took one of her arms and pulled her closer with the smirk still clear on his face.

"Does it really matter?" Rikku had never been happier to hear his coarse voice, yet she was terrified of the thought that he might just be another illusion, another memory projected with the rare ability to speak. However, illusions didn't feel as right as this, as safe and as warm. So close now that she could feel heat radiating from his body, he slid one arm around her waist and the other slipped out of his cloak to rest lightly on her shoulder.

"Auron… is it really you?" she asked quietly, one hand reaching up to gently trace the scar on his cheek. With more tender grace then she expected, he reached up and pulled her hand away and began to bend down. This is it, Rikku thought, this is the moment I've been dreaming of for over a year. He'd come back… for a day, forever, it didn't matter. Right now, all she wanted was to take hold of him and never let go.

"Hello? Miss?" she heard: a female voice, not Auron. To her dismay, she felt him pull away and stare off into the distance. Impatience seizing her, she threw her arms around him and buried her face into his red, red cloak. "Wake up, miss." Gently slipping from her arms, Rikku cried out in pain as she watched him walk away from her. He cast one last sad glance, almost as though he wished he could stay, and with heavy steps moved away from her. A tear rolled down her cheek as she watched him explode into pyreflies and float away.

"Wake up!" she heard. Rikku sat up quickly, throwing the blanket covering her off the bed. Rubbing her eyes with the heel of her hand, she recalled the night before and remembered that she was in the Guadosalam Inn. The dream… had been so real. Then again, she'd had many dreams before. But… "Miss, are you feeling all right?" a kindly woman asked. Feeling another tear, Rikku furiously scrubbed at it with her fist. She'd promised herself that she wouldn't cry anymore.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thanks for waking me up," she said, trying to be as cheerful as she normally was. However, her strange dream had slightly spoiled her ruse. The woman bowed out, leaving Rikku to stare around at the room and gather up her small pack. It had been nearly a year since the battle with Sin, and everything had changed. You could see more people out on the roads, and Rikku hadn't heard from her father in a very long time. Having grown out her hair and revamping her wardrobe, most people wouldn't recognize her save for her emerald swirls of eyes and her carefree attitude. Even so, though she tried to keep it private, she visited the Farplane often to check up on how various people were doing. Her Al Bhed companions, especially Brother, looked down upon her for this and continuously told her that it was a waste of time. She never listened to him anyway.

Still, despite her constant efforts to keep it on her itinerary, the visits became more and more spaced apart. For a while, she practically lived in Guadosalam and spent an entire week there, thriving on the mere sight of her love. Then she left, coming once a month, then once every two months, and now it had been a whole five months that she hadn't shown up. It was on this visit, she promised herself with ferocity, she would say goodbye forever. He would never come back, and it would only hurt her if she didn't accept it.

Sliding the pouch onto her back and pulling out an apple, she took a bite and slipped quietly out of the inn. If necessary, she wouldn't ever come back to this town if it meant holding true to her promise. However, she just needed to see him one more time. Then, she assumed, she could go on with her life and return to being the happy-go-lucky girl she once was. With a brief stare at the mansion down the path, she walked towards the Farplane. Giving the Guado guarding the entrance a swift bow, she made her way through the hallways and up the strange stairs to pass into the realm of memories.

Ever since she'd started coming, Rikku had established several rules with herself about what she thought about on the Farplane. Due to personal reasons and a wish to never hurt her cousin's belief that he might be able to come back, she never thought of Tidus or his father. Keyakku, her friend from so long ago, she never thought of either, mostly because she held on to the fear that he had more then likely never been sent. Therefore, the only people she ever really pictured were her uncle, her aunt, the Al Bhed sent by Isaaru and Dona, and the legendary guardian.

Today, she noticed as she set her pack by the entrance, the false moon up in the sky was tinted red. Did it have to do with her strange dream? Pushing the thought away, she moved towards the edge of the platform and took a seat, staring at the strange landscape. Almost without any thought at all, she saw her uncle Braska standing with his Al Bhed wife, her father's sister. A small grin on her face, she watched them smile serenely at nothing. They looked so… happy. Even if they were memories.

"Hello, Uncle," she said quietly. There was no one else in the Farplane to hear her, for once she was quite happily alone. "You seem to be doing well. I've come to you for a lot of stuff, huh? I always seem to be having the same problem, too. I can't get over anything. Pathetic, huh?" A few more moments of silence passed as she stared sadly at the remnants. That's all they were… merely remnants, shadows of a person that once existed. "I swore to myself this would be my last time here. Now that I'm down to it… it's harder then I thought it was going to be. I just want to keep you in my memory, just the way you are now… and then the hard part.

"I can't keep dwelling in the past, you know? If I do, all it's going to do is totally ruin me. People wanna see the happy, bubbly Rikku. They don't want to see me mope around, depressed and upset with the entire world. So, I guess… I guess this is goodbye. Thanks for listening to me… and say hi to everybody, okay?" Turning away, out of the corner of her eye she saw them fade away and were instantly replaced by a group of her old friends with a familiar face in the middle. "Keyakku?" she said, turning and looking at them with an incredulous face. "I… I guess you were sent. All this time… I was trying to avoid it when I could've seen you the whole time." Her resolve wavered again, heart shaking and threatening to explode. It was too bad that she find out now, she could've been just as prepared to leave. Feeling a tear dribbling down her face, she sniffed quickly and turned back for her bag, lifting out a metal plate. "We got this from the wreckage… I thought it'd be best if I left it here."

In all honesty, she was leaving it to get rid of the memories. For a long time, her backpack had been weighed down with things others called junk that held the weight of cherished moments or significant items that were for years something she barely noticed and now depended on them. Gently dropping the scrap from Home, she pulled out a flower she'd found at the Moonflow and set it on top. "I remember Pops telling me that you liked flowers," she said, an image of her aunt now floating beside Keyakku. Finally, she was brought to the most painful thing to let go. Blocking every thought from her mind, she pulled out Auron's sunglasses out of her pack and set them down, turning around without another glance at those who she was leaving behind.

"Goodbye," she said quietly. "I'll miss you all… even if you are memories." As she began to walk away, the ghostly wail normally associated with pyreflies grew louder and louder, almost as if they were calling her back. She ignored it, continuing her brisk walk as she heaved her bag onto one shoulder. With a single deep breath, she had turned her back on the place forever. Watching her walk down the stairs, the image of Keyakku gave a small smirk and turned around, staring up at the red moon. It shone more brightly then ever, and the pyreflies seemed drawn to it like moths to a flame. Braska, now standing by his wife, turned to smile brightly at a small, dark child in a blue hood. The child smiled back, a strange, dragonish smile though pure nonetheless. Nodding to each other, the Al Bhed exploded into the same fragments of light and life, floating up to gather over the bright moon. As others did the same, the moon slowly lost its coloring as a figure appeared at the very edge of the Farplane, looking down at the sunglasses lying upside-down on the ground. Tentatively taking a step, the figure passed through the invisible barrier between life and death and set foot on the strange earth. Relishing life again, the figure bent down and picked up the remnants Rikku had left behind and set off down the stairs to follow her.

Rikku was still biting back tears, clenching the straps of her pack with more ferocity then intended. She ran one hand along the wall, knowing that she would never see them again. In the words of one man, 'she did not belong there'. Feeling the rip stretching across her heart grow even larger, the hall echoed with her footsteps. However… now that she thought about it, there was more then one set of footsteps. Who was following her? Not strong enough to turn around and act like she had no cares in the world, she merely quickened her pace and screwed her eyes shut. The footsteps behind her grew faster as well, until finally she felt something catch her arm and whirl her around. Closing her eyes tighter, she made to get away and struggle out of her captor's grip, but her new preoccupation made her tears begin to slip down her nose. She hung her head, relaxing until the person dropped his grip on her arm.

"Show me your face," she heard. Breath hitching, she froze. She had not just heard… could she have? "Look at me," the gruff voice stated. Rikku didn't dare to open her eyes, but just to test him, she lifted her head and turned it to face the direction she assumed his head was. To her embarrassment, she felt a sob rising in her throat as the tears still flowed down her face. The voice chuckled, a deep and throaty sound that not many people had heard. "You are supposed to open your eyes." Feeling a strange material brush her face, she finally let them slide open a bit and, gasping, stared at what she saw. In front of her directly was a black glove, using a few fingers to push strands of hair out of her face, and the glove belonged to a hand, and that to an arm. Following the path upwards, over the red cloth material and past the collar hiding his face, Rikku was, for the first time, truly looking into Auron's face.

"…An illusion," she said quietly, though her heart didn't believe a word of it. "You're not really here, and I'll wake up from this dream in a while." While she spoke, she let her hand trace everything she found familiar about the legendary guardian: his armor, the trim on his cloak, the snaps on his collar, finally taking the position it had in her dream.

"You don't seem to think so," Auron said bluntly, feeling her drag one finger down his cheek as gently as she could.

"I never said anything to you… but…" she looked into his eye, sunglasses clenched in his hand rather then on his face. "You knew the whole time, didn't you?" He nodded, looking almost pleased with himself.

"You aren't incredibly difficult to read." She giggled a little, sounding almost exactly like her old self. "…There," he said quietly. Cocking her head, she stared up at him with a puzzled expression. "I watched you whenever you came here… every time. Each time you came, you never smiled. I only saw these." He cupped her cheek gently, thumb wiping at what remained of her sobs. Closing her eyes when he touched her face, she leaned in to his gentle caress and cherished the moment as her heart skipped beats.

"It… it really is you," she cried, throwing her arms around him and pressing her face against his chest. In that position, she could feel his chest heave as he sighed deeply and put his arm around her, embracing her as best he could from his height. Rikku, absolutely loving the sound of his breathing, started a little as she heard a few snaps and something fall to the ground. Assuming it was her pack, she closed her eyes and snuggled in tighter. "E muja oui," she said quietly. "E ymfyoc tet." Eyes flickering open, she gasped as she heard the last thing she expected echoing out from his chest. He took advantage of that, his left arm slipping out of his cloak to stroke her cheek.

"I don't speak that language, you know," he said with a small smile. Drawing her closer, he tilted her head upwards for her to see that it was his collar that had fallen onto the ground; she could clearly see his entire face. "I may not speak it," Auron whispered, lowering his head so they were only inches apart, "but I understood everything you said." With that, in the middle of Guadosalam in the early morning, even Rikku's wildest fantasies were blown away with a single touch of lips. Nothing could compare, even every good feeling she'd ever experienced, to that moment. She threw her arms around his neck, now knowing that he truly was back. His touch was proof enough, and the look in his eyes before he kissed her, but only one thing had truly proven what she was feeling now wasn't a simple dream that would fade away come morning. She pulled away lightly, staring happily up at him.

"Something on my face?" he asked with a smirk. Shaking her head, Rikku was overcome by a wave of fevered passion and pulled him back down for another kiss. The action was addictive, yet perfect in every way. She could only imagine the others' reactions when she showed them that the legendary guardian had returned, and for good this time. Even after they left the town, fingers entwined, the pure and perfect sound of Auron's heartbeat rang in her ears. If nothing else, that rhythmic sound had truly shown her that he was here and here for good. In her opinion, she thought as he pushed the sunglasses back on his face and snapped the collar back on, stroking her hair all the while, to her there was no better sound on Spira.

Told you.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed and stuff, I'm glad I wasn't set on fire because of the really controversial pairing (flames. Who needs 'em?), and I really would like to say that I have no idea what possessed me to write something so… cute. Hope I kept Auron in-character (since that is much harder then it looks) and things like that; thanks again to the reviewers! I'm sure, this probably isn't as good as the first one, but I tried writing something happy and if it came out like chocobo dookie then I apologize. If need be, you can completely ignore this chapter and pretend it never happened. M'kay?

About Rikku's dream, since I didn't put it in the story, it was a sort of preliminary way for Rikku and Auron's spirit to connect before he finally found a way to come back. XD I've been wanting him to come back forever, but since Square isn't gonna do anything about it, then I will! Hooray for determination!

Grieverwings

Al Bhed

E muja oui- I love you

E ymfyoc tet- I always did