Author's Note: I do not own Final Fantasy X or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

Ch. 10

After Tidus, Wakka and I had defeated the underwater fiend, we went back up to the surface and climbed onto the boat. I had hoped that our having injured its fin and killed its friend would have convinced Sin to turn away from Kilika, but my hopes were in vain. Instead, I was treated to a personal view of Sin's attack on the village.

The village of Kilika was quiet, peaceful, and unaware of the impending doom. With frightening speed, a massive tidal wave approached them. A couple of children playing with a blitzball didn't notice it, until the wave grew so high that it blocked the light from the sun. They looked up at it, and the other villagers did too. They tried to run away, but in seconds the wave hit. The entire village was swiftly engulfed in water. The force of the winds caused wooden houses to snap apart.

Above Sin rose a swirling cyclone of wood, rubble, and dead humans. More waves spread outward, until it finally stopped, and Sin turned to swim away. The decimated village was peaceful once again, but in the water a lone blitzball floated along the surface...

We all stood on the deck of the ship, taking in the destruction left on Kilika. Yuna looked ahead, her expression both determined and saddened. "I will defeat Sin… I must defeat Sin," she declared. I looked at her, both in sadness and in pity. The summoners were charged with defeating Sin, that way Spira could be at peace. They carried the weight of the world on their shoulders. I liked to consider Yuna a friend, and when I thought of the difficulty she faced, an idea began to form in my mind.

No… there's no way that would be possible. And even if I did ask, there's no way she would say yes, I thought to myself. I shook my head. This was hardly the time to ask such a thing. Maybe later, if I ever plucked up the courage I would ask, I would. Still it refused to leave my mind, enough to the point that I started with surprise when bumped into Kilika harbor.

Swiftly the gangplank was lowered, and we all filed off. A pair of old villagers came to us and Yuna walked over to them. "Greetings, I am the summoner Yuna. I have come from the isle of Besaid," she said. The old woman sighed. "M'lady summoner," she said. "If there is no other summoner present, please allow me to perform the sending," Yuna asked them. "Oh, thanks be to ye!" the old man said, and the woman added "Our loved one, we feared they would become fiends!" Take me to them," Yuna said.

They walked off, along with Lulu and Kimahri, but Wakka turned to look at me and Tidus. "We go see what we can do to help in town," he said, before he and the rest of the Aurochs ran off. I looked over at Tidus and raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you going to help them?" I asked. He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Actually, I want to see this sending thing. To be honest, I have no idea what it is," he admitted. I nodded in agreement, and we walked farther into the village.

We walk onto several people clustered around the edge of the pathway, with a set of stairs leading down to path the stretched to the water. Yuna was talking to the old man, and Tidus walked up to Lulu. "What's a 'sending'?" he asked. "Are we going somewhere?" She was silent a moment before sighing and looking at him. "You truly are clueless. Are you sure it's your memory that's the problem?" she asked. I raised an eyebrow at her rudeness, but she already looked back to the water and began explaining.

"The dead need guidance. Filled with grief over their own death, they refuse to accept their fate. They yearn to live on, and resent those still alive. You see, they envy the living. And in time, that envy turn to anger, even hate." Lulu looked back at us. "Should they souls remain in Spira, they become fiends that prey on the living. Sad, isn't it?" she asked. I nodded. "The sending takes them to the Farplane, where they rest in peace."

"Summoners do this?" Tidus asked, and she nodded. I looked over to see that Yuna was done talking to the old man, and she had begun walking toward the water. "Hey," I said, and they looked at me before noticing what I was looking at and looked at Yuna. She stepped onto the water, and to my amazement her foot didn't sink, and she took another one. She was walking on water.

She stopped a short distance out, and I could see a number of caskets beneath the water. A sudden impulse came over me, and without even thinking I began to sing. In my head I was thinking "Singing?! What the F am I doing?!" but I still did it, and the song as I was singing was the Hymn of the Fayth. "Ieyui…" Yuna began dancing, turning in a circle and spinning her staff above and around her body. "Nobomeno…"

A woman to my right began crying miserably. "Renmiri… Yojuyogo…" She raised her staff above her head and lowered it to her knees, bowing and taking a step back. Then suddenly, the some of the other villagers joined me. "Ieyui…" Pyreflies began to rise from the caskets, rising up through the water, drawn to Yuna as she spun her staff like in a circle.

"Nobomeno…" The flames in lanterns around us turned blue, and Tidus and I looked in surprise. "Renmiri… Yojuyogo…" The water beneath Yuna erupted into a pillar that rose into the air, Yuna still dancing on top of it. She spun completely around with her staff held high before she brought it back down to almost touch the water. "Hasatekanae…" I looked over at Tidus to see he was staring intently at the spectacle. "Kutamae…"

The woman from before fell to her knees, filled with grief. "Hasatekanae…" Yuna spun again, her hair fanning out around her. "Kutamae…" I finished singing, and Yuna stopped dancing with her staff pointed down. The pillar of water slowly lowered, until she stood on the surface, and the pryeflies faded from existence, from this world to the Farplane beyond.

Yuna went over to talk to the elderly villagers. "It must be tough, being a summoner," Tidus commented. "Yuna chose her own path. She knew, from the beginning, what it meant. All we can do is keep her safe. Until the end," Lulu said. "Until the… end? What's the end?" Tidus asked. The villagers all turned to stare at him, and I blinked in surprise. What had he said? Lulu sighed and held up her hands in exasperation. She walked to Yuna, saying "Until she defeats Sin." Yuna walked over to Lulu and said "I hope… I did okay." Lulu put her arms around her. "You did very well. They'll have reached the Farplane by now. But… no tears next time, hmm?"

It was then that I made a decision. Summoners truly were the most selfless of people. They dedicated their lives to the people of Spira, and their ultimate goal was to defeat the indomitable Sin. They made sure the fallen would be able to rest in peace, and they all did it without any kind of expected reward. But while they traveled they would need someone to protect them.

They would need a guardian.

xxx

After the sending had taken place, we all retired to a village inn. Each of us had been given a different room free of charge, thanks from the villagers for sending their loved ones to the Farplane. However, I wasn't able to sleep. Ever since I had made m choose after the sending, I had been unable to calm my mind. What would Yuna say? Would she say yes, or would she reject me?

Eventually I groaned in frustration and got out of bed. I had heard of there being a jungle nearby with a good number of fiends. That good be a good place for me to blow off steam. Strapping Selini back to my side, I walked down the steps of the inn and out the door. At might the sky in Kilika played host to a sea of stars, and for a moment I was actually enraptured by them until I snapped out of my thoughts and pressed onward.

I walked past the area where the sending had taken place, and just when I reached the edge of the village I saw Yuna sitting on the edge of a pier, swinging her feet over the edge. "Yuna!" I called. She looked back me, surprised, but then she smiled and said "Sofia!" I smiled as well and walked over. "Couldn't sleep?" I asked. She nodded, and I sat down beside her. "I couldn't either. The wreckage from the attack was kind of shocking." Yuna's smiled faded, and she said "Yes, the attacks on villages like that Sin commits, they're horrifying."

Despite the grim subject, I had to ask "Yuna, we're friends, right?" She nodded, looking out to sea. I sighed; now was the time to ask her. It was now or never. "I have something I want to ask you," I said. She looked at me and asked "What is it?" "This is the kind of destruction that Sin always brings on villages in Spira. Summoners are the ones charged with defeating it, aren't they?" "They are," she replied.

"Yet, despite the impossibility of the task, they still go through with it. And they succeed, don't they? Like your father for example." Yuna nodded again, and I continued. "But they were never able to do it alone, were they? Even your father, they always had guardians there. To keep them safe, right?" For the third time Yuna nodded, and I took a deep breath before sighing. "Yuna… what I want to ask is, after the whole thing with Wakka, and the blitzball tournament… I would like… to be your guardian." I looked at her. "Would that be okay?"

She blinked and made a minor gasp of surprise, and despite how fearless I was on the battlefield I instantly worried if I had gone too far. "You don't have to say 'yes' if you don't want to," I hastily added. She was silent for a while, and I waited, tied between relief that she hadn't said "no" and anxiousness that she hadn't said "yes".

Eventually she took a deep breath, and looked at me with both of her yes, one blue and one green. "I honestly cannot answer that now. The only guardians I've ever had were Wakka, Lulu and Kimahri. To accept having a brand new one, even if it a friend, is something that requires some thought," she told me. I nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to make a decision now. This can wait for a moment if you need some time. You don't have to tell me until after the tournament."

She nodded. "I will give the matter some thought," she promised. I smiled and said "Thank you." We were silent for a moment, before I stood up and dusted my jeans off. "Well, I think I'd best be turning in to bed. Good night Yuna," I said. She looked back at me and said "Goodnight Sofia," before turning to look across the night sea.

I walked back to the inn where we were staying and climbed the steps to a set of rooms. Walking into my room, I unstrapped Selini and set it against the nightstand next to the bed and took off my coat and dress shoes, leaving me in my jeans, shirt and socks. I climbed into bed, but one last thought remained in my mind. Would Yuna accept my request?

Then sleep over came, and I drifted off into its depths.

xxx

Well, now we know the decision Sofia has chosen to make. But will Yuna let her become a guardian? And what else will occur? Read to find out!

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