I suddenly found myself surrounded by pyreflies and floating above Spira, making my way back over Macalania Woods, the Thunder Plains, and finally reaching Guadosalam. I was going to the Farplane.

Just outside the barrier between Spira and the Farplane, I was stopped. I looked around me, wondering what could be blocking my path, and then stepped back in shock. Through the barrier, in a familiar purple dress and white cloak, walked my wife.

"A… Alex?" I asked.

"Hello, Auron," she said, smiling. "It is good to see you again."

I nodded and stepped closer to her, closing the gap between us. "You're every bit as beautiful as I remember." I caressed her cheek with my hand.

She placed her hand on top of mine. "As are you, my love," she said softly.

"Are you here to take me in?" I asked. "To spend the rest of eternity with you?"

She lowered my hand and shook her head. "No, Auron. I'm here to tell you that it's not yet your time."

"Not yet my time?" I asked.

"No," she repeated. "You still have tasks to complete in the realm of the living, Auron. Promises to keep, people to protect."

"I've protected enough," I protested. "The only people I want to protect from now on are you and Paine. How is she?"

Alex smiled again. "She's not here, Auron."

I shot her a confused look. "Not here?"

"She must not have died in the Sin attack," she said excitedly. "Auron, our daughter lives. If for no other reason, go back so eventually you can look for her."

"Eventually? What would I do first?"

"If she is still alive, it means she has found caretakers," Alex explained. "They must be treating her well, otherwise she would be here. There is a boy, however, whose only remaining parent's life force is quickly fading."

"Who?"

"He lives in Zanarkand."

"Jecht's boy?" I asked. "But… how should I get to Zanarkand?"

"First, you must return to your body," she said. "You will heal quickly, and in fact, you'll be stronger. Then, you must go to the sea northwest of the Calm Lands. You'll see where to go after that."

"But then I have to leave you," I whispered.

"Nothing you haven't done before," she shrugged.

"But I love you."

"I love you too, Auron," she said. "But it must be done."

"But I don't want to!" I protested. I pulled her close to me. "I just want to stay here, with you."

"I know," she said, wrapping her arms around me. "I want you to, too. I wish you could."

"Why not?"

"You know as well as I do."

I did. I just did not want to admit it. I had not held her in over six years, and nothing had changed; she was still just as warm, she was still just as beautiful… she even smelled the same. I did not know how I was going to be able to leave her again.

"Come with me to the Calm Lands," I begged. "Please."

"My place is here," she said. "I'm sorry, but I cannot leave it."

"I have to do this without you?"

"I'm always with you, Auron," she said, finally breaking our embrace. Tears were running down her cheeks, and I could feel them slipping down mine, too.

"I know," I said. "It's just… so hard sometimes."

She nodded in understanding, and wiped the tears from my cheeks before brushing her wet fingertips across my lips. "It is for me too," she whispered. "I miss you all the time. You and Paine, and Braska and Yuna too."

"I miss you too," I assured her.

She lowered her hand to my chest. "You'd better get going. The sun is setting."

I leaned into her and kissed her with all the emotion I'd been feeling for the past six years. I wanted to tell her—to show her—how much I loved her, because I did not know when I might get another chance to. I held her close, and I never wanted to let her go.

Finally she pulled away from me, only to have me kiss her again.

"Auron," she tried.

"No…" I replied. I broke our kiss, but kept her close. "I can't—"

"You can," she said. "You're strong enough."

"Just a little longer?"

"We're always going to want just a little longer," she said. "Think of it like this: the sooner you get going, the sooner you can come back."

"All right," I relented. "But that'd better be very, very soon."

She smiled sadly. "I love you, Auron."

"I love you too, Alex. Always." I kissed her one last time before finding myself suddenly back inside the Travel Agency. I quietly got up, not feeling the pain of my wounds any longer, save for my eye, grabbed my bag, and slipped unnoticed out the front door.

"The northwest sea," I murmured, looking around the vacant plains in the steadily diminishing evening light. I began to run northwest, still thinking about my encounter with my wife. Leaving her a second time… I felt my heart breaking all over again.

I reached the edge of the land, where only a few inches in front of me, the grass became a near vertical cliff that dropped down to the cold water below.

Well, now what? I wondered.

As if it could read my mind, a creature appeared before me. It felt somehow soothing, despite its appearance: large hands with metallic talons for fingers, strong armor-covered arms, and an otherwise very sharp appearance—literally. It then turned just so, so that I could see its chest. Etched within it was an insignia I had seen before.

"Jecht?" I asked. "Jecht?"