Tidus sat up and scratched his head. The Farplane always seemed so terrible after dreams. All he wanted was Besaid, and Yuna. He stood quietly and wondered when he was going to get chided by his father or Auron for holding on to the world of the living. Instead all he heard was the voice of a young girl, around six or seven. She had brownish hair and large blue-green eyes. It was a girl Tidus had never met before.

"You like Yuna, huh?" she said in that little girl voice. She looked up at him innocently, pigtails swinging a little. He looked down at her puzzled.

"Hello, what's your name?" he smiled, trying not to let his puzzlement continue to get the better of him.

"Ceres. Your Tidus, huh? You liked Yuna a lot," she said shortly and knowingly. Tidus wondered a little how she knew so much, and wondered what had caused her to die at such a young age. The answer, he already knew, was Sin.

"Well, Ceres, how do you know about me and Yuna?" he asked, crouching down to look eye level with her. It kind of made him sad, thinking about the way he'd always wanted to be a father but never had gotten the chance.

"Every time you sleep, you say her name. Not very loud, but I know you're saying it," she stayed completely innocent, as though she didn't know exactly how deep things like that went.

"I'll try to be quieter next time, then," he said cheerfully, standing up and ruffling her hair a bit. She smiled big and he noticed that a tooth was missing, a sign of her young age and innocence. As he turned to walk away, she caught his attention once more time.

"If you like her that much, you should be with her. You should go back." But when he turned to ask her more, she was running off with other young children to play a game of blitzball. He stood, dumbfounded.

"I can't feel beautiful without you. . . without you. . . . Tidus, I need you! . . . need you. . ."

There was her voice again, echoing around his love struck mind like he was in a canyon too big and vast and utterly empty for him to even begin to understand.

"Yuna. . ." he whispered her name quietly and frustrated-ly. It was so terribly hard for him to know of her to hurt, especially knowing it was his fault. He wished he could have just stayed and never ever left. Sometimes he selfishly even wished that he wouldn't have defeated Sin, and just stayed. But he hated thinking that he wanted to take away all the hope that Spira had. All the peace they'd ever know.

"You really liked her, huh?" Jecht's voice came from behind him. Tidus hoped he wasn't going to get chewed out for holding on to the living girl when he was so far gone. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Yeah, dad, I really liked her," his voice was a combination of sincerity and sarcasm. Either way, he thought that his dad could have picked that detail up by then.

"That little girl was right. You should go back to her, then. If I had the chance, I would've gone back to you and your mother. I never meant to leave." Tidus said nothing, so Jecht continued speaking as Tidus' gaze dropped to the ground. "I would have quit fighting Sin in an instant. I kind of wanted to raise you, you know? Maybe show you some blitzball moves or at least take you to a game sometimes." There was another moment of awkward silence. "What I'm saying, is although I kind of don't want you to leave, you should go back to her."

Tidus looked up at him wondering what kind of miracle could show him the road back to Yuna. "What are you saying? I can't go back, there's no way to leave the farplane," he said helplessly and skeptically.

"Umm, err, Tidus, just go talk to the council. They'll explain things better than I can. Besides, they'll be sure to listen to you. You know, you being the big hero around here and all."

With that, Jecht disappeared. That last part about being the hero meant more to Tidus than he could have expressed. He said nothing, though, and pondered the idea of this council.

* * * *

Yuna walked down through the warm morning sand of the beach. The tide slowly and lazily rolled closer to her unsuspecting feet. She just looked at the sky and tried to focus on being happy. It was hard sometimes. But she had always smiled, even when it hurt so much. She continued to follow suit now, smiling even though it was dishonest, empty, and hurtful. There was somewhat of a bitter sweetness to it, though. Even though the thoughts of him left her mouth feeling sour, she remembered all of the good times. The little ways he always said he loved her, although he never had vocalized it.

It was hard to think about, because her lips still wished for his. And her ears longed for the sound of his voice, and her eyes wanted nothing more than to see him in his sweet perfection.

"You look sad, ya?" Wakka ran up behind her, smiling concernedly and holding a blitzball in one arm.

"I'm fine, really," she said quietly, smiling and trying to look honest about it.

"You're sure?" Lulu asked, walking up on her other side. Lulu was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, looking a little more comforting and less distant. Yuna smiled.

"Yeah, nothing I can't get through," she smiled again and shrugged. Lulu looked at her, unconvinced. But she decided not to say anything.

"Hey Wakka, you were going to show me that new blitzball move, right?" Lulu looked at him expectantly, as if to drop him the hint that Yuna needed some space.

"Oh, that's right. Yuna, don't stay out here too long. You can come join our game, ya?" Wakka said invitingly, kicking a little sand up. Yuna just smiled yet again.

"Talk to you later, Yuna," and with that, the two were off toward another game of blitzball. Yuna sat in the sand. She liked to watch blitzball, but playing it was different. Every time she played, she felt sort of weird. It wasn't the fact that she wasn't very good, it was more of the fact that blitzball was a part of Tidus. A part of someone that was a part of her. Half of her.

The feeling had scared her when he was still with her. The way that she was only half of herself. That she was so dependent on him. But really, she didn't mind so much. Falling in love really was like that. It was the fact that she couldn't be with him that she did mind. The part she hated.

So she decided to go buy a book and watch the water instead of playing a game that she wasn't very good at, and one that hurt by bringing back all those memories.