Thank you for the reviews! :D They really help with motivation and all. Thinking I have a much better map in place for this thing. I hope you enjoy!

Rated T, Spoilers, I don't own FFX, AU, Seymour x Yuna

I wake, my eyelids heavy, my whole body feeling heavier than usual.

"Class starts in twenty minutes, m'lady." The voice startles me; it's a pale skinned Guado in the corner of the room. My eyes are fully open now.

I sit up slowly, and see that I'm still wearing the short blue dress from last night. That's when the whole night starts coming back to me… the dinner, the walk, the kissing… I need to talk to Lulu.

First, I've got classes.

I enter the lecture hall, the last door on the right in the Church, right on time… I think… everyone else is already sitting, maybe I'm a little late…

As I take my seat, I notice that Barthus isn't present. I suppose, that makes sense, after yesterday. He probably got kicked out of the program. Everyone seems to be more focused today. I suppose we got our excitement out yesterday.

Everyone is still serious after class is let out for lunch. I make my way out of the lecture hall, intending to find Lulu.

"I can't believe Barthus is gone," I hear one of the church patrons say as I'm walking. Gone? He's just out of the program, right?

"I know, so young." The other responds. My stride slows. He's just out of the program, right? I stop, and look over my shoulder at them. I want to say something, but I'm the last person to, right?

"What are you looking at?"

"I just couldn't help but hear-"

"That Barthus is dead?" I gasp. Dead?!

"He was my cousin."

"I-I'm so sorry to hear that, I-"

"Yeah, sure you are. Just go." I obey, turning to go.

I must find Seymour.

It wasn't too hard to find him after I found the Guado in the corner of the Church. We went to one of the healing rooms to talk.

"How was class this morning, my dear?"

"Less populated than yesterday," I reply.

"Oh, is that so?"

"Yeah, I heard that Barthus is dead. Do you know anything about that?" I ask accusingly.

"Well, it is part of my job to know such things, yes."

"How did he die?" I ask impatiently. He gives me a perplexing look, like he's thinking about how to answer. "Just tell me the truth, how did he die?"

My face fell as soon as he said his first word:

"We decided to eliminate him," I buried my face in my hands, "for the safety Bevelle."

"You killed him!" I'm crying, again. My husband is a killer. How could I have…

"Yuna," he puts his hands on my shoulders. For a split second I am back in bed with him, with him kissing my neck, my chest… I feel naked under his gaze, taking the breath out of me. I want to shrug his hands off but I'm so exhausted. "Think about it. What if it were someone else, someone who doesn't have Aeons, or guardians, or a Maester for a husband? What would a Priestess, with no combat training, have done?" I thought about it for a moment… I suppose…

"She would have been raped." he says bluntly. It takes me by surprise, but I suppose, he's right.

I sit on the couch.

"Was it… necessary?" I ask, more accusingly than questioningly. He sits next to me.

"Yuna… I saw you yesterday, you were… scared, your eyes were… well they were absent. You were having a panic attack, because he attacked you."

"He, he thought I was… pushing against him, when I was pushing away,"

"No, he knew what was going on. He continued anyway." I thought about it for a moment… I thought it was a misunderstanding, but maybe… "People like that, they don't… stop. They're going to hurt someone, no matter how much they're punished. Yuna…

"This is the largest city in Spira. There is crime here, differing opinions, etcetera. What would've happened in Besaid?" I thought for a moment. Nothing like that has ever happened in Besaid, to my knowledge. "Sin is enough crime for most of the small islands and towns in Spira. Here, Sin seldom attacks," never, according to my studies, "and there is a large population. Whenever there are a lot of people, there are different opinions, different beliefs, and they fight, and even war. This is a reality, you must accept it and handle it."

Lunch break is almost over, I know. I feel him readying to part ways, but I wish we didn't have to.

He stands up then, as if sensing my emotion… can he?

"Besides," he gives me a meaningful look, "You are my wife." And he exits.

So, regular criminals will die, should their crime involve me? That's… taking it a bit out of context. He kissed me, against my will, might have… raped… me. And Seymour loves me. That's not really fair, to take emotions to that level, but…

Is that why everyone was so quiet during classes?

Do people even get kicked out of this program?

"Is it possible, to be kicked out of this apprenticeship?" I ask the Priest when we return to classes.

"No. Once one is approved to enter the apprenticeship, there is no exiting. We determine one candidate at the closure." He answers me. Gee, was I wrong, this morning.

After that class, we are let out for the day. I stroll the city then, partially looking for my guardians. I find Lulu, Rikku, and Kimahri attending a black magic class. I wait, watching, maybe trying to learn something, but it's all over my head. So I take the time to think, while watching them. It seems appropriate.

They're training, for combat. They're training, to hurt and to kill. This training, black magic, swordsmanship, spears, projectiles… combat training dating back thousands of years, before Sin, before large populations of fiends, because?

Because people fight, people war. People can be evil. And evil people can't be stopped.

That is reality, I have to accept it.

It's… Well it's not easy to fight fiends, they're not really monsters, they're souls of the departed. The thing is, it can't be helped. There's no way to send a fiend, you have to kill it. That makes it easier, knowing there's no other way. With people, it feels like there is a way. I believe there is a way. Seymour seems to believe there is not.

Well, Barthus is dead. There's no changing that, whether he was evil or not. A part of me wants to pay respects… but I don't think I would be welcome.

So, Seymour believes that evil people won't stop, and that's important. He had Barthus killed, with good intentions. I still think him wrong, but it's not that he's a stone cold killer. He's just… a little mixed up. He goes to extremes, thinks he has to go to extremes. Maybe I will try to talk to him about it, see what makes him do that…

Maybe I should be mad and hate him.

I don't know if it's patience or exhaustion that makes me so calm about it, this time. This time. Because this has happened before, isn't that messed up? This is… the second time that a Maester has decided someone should die to protect others, the second time that Seymour has gone to extreme lengths to protect someone.

Maybe I'm sensitive. Maybe this is what it means to be a Priestess. These are the kinds of things that are talked about.

We waited ten years for a statue of my father in Besaid. They're already drawing up blueprints of my statue, here.

The others are finishing up class. Rikku shakes the man's hand vigorously, while Lulu prays, her black braids falling around her shoulders. Kimahri is stoic, of course. I see their faces change as they notice me.

"Hey, how was class?" Rikku asks enthusiastically, wiping a few beads of sweat from her forehead.

Hey, how was class? Terrible.

"It was alright. What about you guys? Seems you're learning quite a bit yourselves."

"When in Bevelle," was Lulu's bassy reply. So, how do I bring up what I want to bring up?

"Lulu?" She makes an inquisitive hm sound. "Are you free to talk?" I guess that's how. Rikku smiles goodbye to me as she pats me on the back while walking past.

"Hey Kimahri, let's go over those stances some more! I know Lulu's got them down."

"Is everything alright?" Why ask that? Why not just, what's on your mind? Or, how was your date with Seymour? Or something. Not that. Cause no, nothing is alright.

"Yes, I wanted some… advice, from my big sister… if possible."

"Of course, anything."

"Well, Seymour and I had our date last night. And, it went really well. And we went back to the manor together and… we kissed, a lot." We started walking towards and sat on a nearby bench. "It was really nice… but I feel…

"How do I stop that from happening again? What if I… can't stop myself?"

"Well why should you?"

"We've always been taught to practice abstinence," Lulu put her hand on her hip when I said this.

"Hm, well, you are married to him, that no longer applies to you."

I thought on this for a moment, looking at her perfectly powdered purple lips. They seem a bit more scrunched than normal… did I say something weird? I feel like everything I'm saying is weird.

"Ok… if something does happen… how can I be… not so weird?" I looked at her pleading. Her face softens then, and she smirks to her eyes, and brings that wide sleeve up to cover her chuckles. Hey!

"You do need to freshen up on your conversational skill. Let's spend some time together," and with that we were off, strolling through the bright city, making our way through large and small crowds. We grabbed something to eat in another adorable café, and continued strolling through Bevelle. We even found a public courtyard with some beautiful flowers and plants. Lulu particularly liked one that looked like a black flower… I've never seen a black flower before! Neither had she.

Eventually we went to the inn they were staying at, so we could talk more privately.

Oh, it was awkward.

For me.

But she's my big sister, so it didn't stay awkward forever. It took a little while to get comfortable with certain… words and… images… but mostly just talking about them with someone. I'm just glad it's my big sister.