Epilogue time! ^.^ This'll be the second to the last update to this fic, 'cause like I said I wanna do some Author's Notes. If anyone has any questions, ask them now.

Note: I'm having trouble with the ronso's names.. Biran and Yenke? O.o?

This may be the end of the fic, but this most likely isn't the end of my little universe. I might put up a few little sidestories, one of them being a Tidus/Yuna (TUNA! ^_^) and another being an Oryon/???.

They won't be very long, not like this.

Another Note: Some things in the description you hear from Yuna (sorta) are changed from the original game, especially things concerning Tidus.

Epilogue: The Perfect Eternal Calm

Yuna watched the trio of friends disappear behind a hut, giggling excitedly. What're they up to now? she asked herself, smiling as she recalled the mischief Sanya, Ruka, and her own daughter seemed to always get themselves into. A better circle of friends you would find nowhere else, but they had a knack for stirring up trouble. Her husband remarked that it made the way-too-peaceful Besaid a little livelier. Yuna agreed wholeheartedly. That was one of the reasons why their punishments were never too harsh.

Rikku laughed as she looked towards where her cousin was staring. "You know what they're talking about, don't you?" she asked. "The Crusaders are coming. They're all silly about that new Captain."

Yuna raised an eyebrow. "New Captain?" she asked curiously.

Rikku nodded. "Yep. Heard about it last week. Don't know who he is, though. Heard he's pretty young, like around twenty or so," she said.

Yuna smiled. That was good. Too many of the older people still stuck too close to the old Yevonite beliefs. It was better to have a young person with fresh new ideas. Her daughter and the other two emerged from their not-so-secret hiding place, giggling madly. Her daughter swished her long blonde hair over her shoulder, and, noticing her mother watching her, waved cheerfully. She had a bright smile, one so much like her father's. He was currently away helping to set up the Blitzball league for the year. Their daughter was to play for the Besaid Aurochs with Sanya, who was two years older than her, this year. Wakka was excited to finally be able to put her on the team. She had the natural skill and abilities of a true blitzer, another quality inherited from her father.

Wakka was talking to the trio now. He held a blitzball in his hands, a challenging look in his eyes. Yuna giggled. He was almost like a child sometimes. He tossed the ball at Sanya, who caught it expertly and began spinning it on her index finger. She answered her father with an equally competitive look in her eyes, and soon the four of them were running off towards the path that led to the beach.

"Aww, the kids are going to play," Rikku said teasingly as they left.

"Most likely the girls are going to make sure that they're there when the Crusader's new ship arrives," Lulu mused,

walking up to the two of them. "You know how they are."

"Yeah," Rikku agreed. They watched as the four 'children' disappeared.

There was a slightly awkward silence for a few moments. It was broken by Yuna. "Why don't we go down there with them?" she asked, smiling cheerfully. "It's so nice out here today, we should be taking advantage of it!"

"Agreed!" Rikku exclaimed happily. "Let's go!"

Yuna laughed as Rikku ran out of the hut giddily. She hadn't changed all that much over the years. She was still the same cheerful girl as she had been during the pilgrimage. Yuna sighed as she remembered that fateful journey. No doubt the children training on the Crusader ship would wish to hear about it tonight. It was a worldwide fact that Yuna's telling of the story was by far the best.

~*~*~*~

"It's coming!"

Sanya's voice rang out happily above the gentle swish of the waves on the sand and the jubilant laughter of the blitzers on the beach. All heads turned towards the dock. A great ship was coming their way, shaped like a dragon. Wakka looked at it confusedly. "They painted it," he remarked. "The last time I saw that ship, the dragon parts were all black, ya?"

"Like Bahamut?" Ruka volunteered as the great vessel neared.

"Ya," Wakka said. "Wonder why they changed it."

Yuna peered at the ship. Sure enough, all of the draconic parts had been painted a bright, beautiful gold. "I like it," she said. In her mind she pictured a golden dragon swimming through the waters of the sea gracefully. It was a magnificent image.

People on the deck of the great vessel waved energetically at the small crowd on the beach. A few people who had been waiting on the dock stopped what they were doing and prepared to bring the ship in.

"Is that him?" Sanya asked no one in particular, standing on her tiptoes, waving towards the boat. "Or is that him? Which one is it, eh?"

The girls began talking excitedly. It was a well known fact that Sanya already had a boyfriend, but that didn't keep her from going crazy over cute guys, even if the other two playfully threatened to tell Nathan about her many crushes.

The ship had begun to come into the dock now. Yuna frowned. It was about three times as big as their tiny dock. Most likely a ship of such grandeur was used to docking in places like Luca and Zanarkand. She smiled. She and Tidus were planning on moving their small family to Zanarkand soon. They'd already chosen the house, one right next to the beaches and the sea. Yuna remembered looking out of the second-story window and watching the sun go down. Its brilliant light splashed against the waters, making the ocean seem like a never-ending bed of crystal against the pink sky. She smiled as she pictured that image. It had seemed perfect then, and she hoped it always would.

The girls laughed as the stricken dockworkers were doused with spray from the dragon ship. Yuna searched the faces for the Crusaders she knew.

Her eyes fell on one. He wasn't waving or anything like that, but he stood out amongst them all. He had a solemn face, with bright brown eyes that watched everything thoughtfully. He had long black hair that reached halfway down his back, tied so as to not have it blowing everywhere. A sword was strapped across his back, a katana by the look of it. He looked strong, especially for the age he appeared to be. He seemed to be only twenty or so.

But that wasn't the reason he stuck out to Yuna.

Auron! she thought with surprise. But it can't be..

He had begun issuing orders to the Crusaders that were rushing around the ship. They saluted him and got to the various jobs that were required for a full docking. Yuna was surprised. Crusaders usually kept to themselves when departing from ships and watched the crew do the work themselves. She looked again to the man, sure now that he was the new Captain she'd heard about. She smiled. He'd done a good job with them.

Yuna smiled and began walking towards the ship. She took notice of the beautifully painted golden letters on the side of the ship that told her that the ship's name was 'Guardian'. Guardian, she thought, watching the man through her blue and green eyes. The name fits well.

~*~*~*~

The junior Crusaders sat around the campfire, eyes wide as they listened to Yuna's wonderful version of her pilgrimage. They were completely enraptured as Yuna described every last detail, save one that Yuna shared with only one other person and a guardian who said nothing about it. She smiled as she tactfully skipped past it and continued on to the Calm Lands segment of her story. The children didn't need to know about what had gone on at the spring.

Yuna hadn't gotten a chance to speak to the Captain, as he was being constantly bombarded by hopeless Crusaders and swooning females. She had learned, though, that his name was Oryon. The similarity of his name to her former guardian's was uncanny. She smiled lightly. Was it possible that he'd come back? Auron was always like that. Maybe he felt that he hadn't fulfilled his promise to her father, Lord Braska, completely. Whatever the reason, Yuna knew that she had to investigate.

She had now reached the part of her story in which they'd been confronted by the Ronso of Mount Gagazet. They cheered as she described the battle between Kimahri, Biran, and Yenke, the battle that had defined Kimahri as a true Ronso warrior. She remembered her quiet guardian, who was now somewhere up in his mountain home with the Ronso children who called him 'Teacher'. He was an older Ronso now, his fur was fringed with white, but he still held the same dignified flare as he always had. He had two children, Taira and Kiro, whom he loved very much. They were very different from their father, being cheerful and silly, but they were both very intelligent. They'd been brought up well by Kimahri, who was a single parent since his mate Yimika had passed away when the two cubs were

very young.

In her tale they were now ascending the mountain, to where they would meet with Seymour Guado once again, and where she would learn that Sin wasn't exactly what she believed it to be. Everything past that revelation seemed to be a never-ending spiral of truths among the lies she'd been living for her entire life. From Yevon to Yunalesca, everything she had come to know was false.

With the defeat of Yunalesca, everything was drawing to an end in her tale. The children held their breaths as they imagined the whole world singing the holy song that calmed the human inside of Sin. Yuna began telling of the battle with the great beast, one of the final battles that she'd ever have to take part in.

A new face had joined the crowd, one with serious auburn eyes and a solemn expression. He folded his arms across his chest and leaned against a palm that was standing a little ways away from the fire. He gazed into it, seemingly lost in his own little world, but Yuna knew that he was listening. She continued.

Seymour again. She had reached the fight that would prove to be the Guado Maester's demise. She remembered the relief she'd felt as she'd seen him finally disappear into a shower of pyreflies, just as every living creature did at their time of death. They had then continued on, deeper into Sin. The inside of the monster grew to be a labyrinth filled with fiends and wrong turns, and at the end was a man that Yuna had once known as her father's guardian.

The battle with Jecht was a painful one, especially for Auron, Tidus, and Yuna, who all knew him. Maybe Tidus hadn't had such a hard time, though. His memories were very scattered and mixed up from the amnesia he'd had upon arriving at Besaid. He remembered Jecht only vaguely, and not all of his memories were exactly good.

With Jecht gone, the final chore of her pilgrimage was to destroy Yevon, and with him her aeons. Valefor, Ifrit, Ixion, Shiva, Bahamut, Yojimbo, Anima, and the three Magus Sisters, each of them fell before their former master, giving their lives to save their world.

And then he had come.

For a spirit that had been worshipped for over a thousand years as the would-be savior of their world, Yevon wasn't very impressive. He resembled a tick, a parasite, which was suitable because that's exactly what he was. He'd been living off of the souls of others, his 'armor', ever since the war between Zanarkand and Bevelle. It was surprising that he should be one of the creatures to fall the easiest since the beginning of their long and arduous journey. They were receiving power from another source now, and nothing the ancient false god could do would destroy any member of their team. When one of them fell, it seemed almost as if an angel would come down upon them and give them new life.

Yevon fell, and all that was left for Yuna to do was send the shell that was Sin. The eyes of almost all of the listeners glistened with pride as they envisioned her beautiful sending dance, the pyreflies swarming around her as she twisted and turned gracefully.

One could only imagine the group's surprise to see Auron begin to fade away, his own group of pyreflies extending from his body and swirling around his failing form. Yuna had gasped and interrupted her sending, but was soon urged on by her guardian as he walked forward. He disappeared from the reach of the others with his last words, "This is your world now."

The world seemed to come to a halt for weeks after that day. Everyone was in shock. Something that had once been believed would never come had finally done so. Sin was gone, Spira was free.

~*~*~*~

The children talked excitedly amongst themselves as they were shooed from the campfire by the adults and made to go to bed. Yuna sighed and placed her hands on her laps. It was always a bit tiring telling that story, but it seemed to be everyone's favorite. She smiled. Her daughter and her husband could make up good ones together, though. She began to doze off as she remembered a certain one that her husband had compiled, the one that had given their daughter her name. He told her it had come from a dream he'd once had. It was a story about a girl, Destiny, who had come to arrive in Besaid at around the time that they were in now. She had long, blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes, and had come with complete amnesia. Yuna chuckled. The children would've loved to hear that one. She liked it herself, which is why she kept badgering her husband to make it into a book, but he, being head of the entire blitzball

league, didn't have that much time. She smiled. He was very devoted to his job.

She was startled out of her doze by a deep, gruff voice. "Lady Yuna?"

She looked up from where her head had been resting on her shoulder and into the eyes of the Crusaders' new captain, Oryon. "Oh!" she said as she stood up quickly and bowed. "Captain Oryon!"

He bowed to her and smiled back. "I've been meaning to talk to you all day," he said. "Unfortunately, until now I've been a bit busy."

"Understandable," she said politely. She motioned for him to sit down, and he did so obligingly.

"That's some story you tell, m'lady," he said, his brown eyes reflecting the sincerity of his comment.

She smiled gratefully. "Thank you."

Oryon was silent for a few moments. He looked down at the ground with a sort of troubled expression on his face.

Yuna watched him curiously. "Is there something bothering you?" she asked.

Oryon hesitated, but nodded. "Yes," he said. "It's something I heard from your husband."

Yuna looked surprised. "You've met Tidus?"

He nodded. "We stopped in Luca before we got here." He smiled. "A lively man, your husband."

Yuna smiled. She could just imagine. A picture of his grinning face formulated itself in her mind as she thought of him. She asked the Crusader Captain, "What did he tell you?"

"It was.. just a story, but I can't help but be a little bit bothered about it," he said in an unsure tone. "How often do you have yourself described to you as a character in a fictional story?"

Yuna racked her brain to remember which story had had a person that resembled Oryon in it. "Which one was it?"

"A story about a girl and her dragon Guardian," he murmured. "Tidus told me that he thought of it when he saw what I'd done with the old 'Draconis'. He thought maybe it had been inspired by someone who'd told me, but I'd never heard that story before Tidus himself told it to us." He sighed. "I painted the 'Draconis' golden and renamed it 'Guardian' because I'd had a dream about a golden dragon with the same name."

Yuna frowned. That was exactly how Tidus had gotten his inspiration. It was more than a little ironic, especially considering the thoughts that she'd been having about Oryon earlier that day, and the part that the character Oryon had played in her husband's tale. Her mouth went dry. Was there more to this than just coincidence?

Oryon excused himself soon afterwards, leaving Yuna to chew on her thoughts alone beside the dying fire. She sighed and stood, resolving to sleep on the confusing issue.

~*~*~*~

A dragon stared at Yuna, his blue eyes watching hers with a bit of amusement twinkling in them. His draconic face held a familiar grin. On his back sat a girl, one who resembled her daughter in a remarkable way, and yet Yuna knew that she wasn't her daughter. The girl smiled and slid down from the dragons great scaly backside and landed perfectly on her two feet. "It's been a long time, Yuna," she said. The dragon nodded its agreement.

Yuna gasped as a realization hit her. "Are you.. Destiny?" she asked a bit shakily as the dragon sat up on its haunches and yawned.

She nodded. "So you do remember!" she said happily. The dragon's grin widened.

"Oh, I- No, you see I only know about you because of what my husband told me," she said.

Guardian's grin grew wider, until it seemed to split his reptilian face in two. "So it worked," he said in his rough, rumbling voice.

"It?" Yuna wondered.

Guardian nodded. "It would be difficult to explain it to you, Lady Yuna, so I will only tell you that we are a memory, preserved in the deepest crevices of your mind. It's possible that you'll forget this dream entirely tomorrow morning."

"A memory?" Yuna said confusedly.

Destiny answered her, "Yeah. We sort of live on in the back of everyone's heads, even though we exist elsewhere in the true reality."

Yuna raised an eyebrow. "Where are you now?"

Guardian snorted. "Wherever our body is," he said, and Yuna could tell from the look in his cerulean eyes that she wasn't going to get much more out of the humongous beast.

Yuna watched the two of them. Everything about them seemed so familiar, and not just because she'd heard their story so many times. She felt like at one time she really had known them. They reminded her so much of her husband, and a litte of her daughter. They had identical eyes and the same grin, and Guardian's skin even appeared to be the same shade of yellow as Destiny's long hair. She reached forward, wanting to touch them, just to make sure that she was dreaming. They looked more realistic than anything she had ever seen in a dream. She took a few steps forward and stopped, unable to go any further. A hazy mist had begun to come between Yuna and the two joined souls. She cried out in surprise and ran forward, confused about what was happening. Guardian nosed the barrier and said comfortingly, "Don't worry about us, this is just a dream, afterall."

~*~*~*~

Yuna awoke to a ray of sunlight in her eyes. She blinked, clearing her blurry vision and wishing that she could do the same to her jumbled thoughts. She could only barely remember the dream she'd been having. She remembered the dragon and the girl, but the rest was shrouded in the same hazy mist that had blocked her path to the two of them. She sighed and leaned back against her pillow, willing her sleepy body to fall back to sleep.

"Mama!"

Yuna winced. Her daughter, the early riser of the family, had not failed to realize that she was awake. She was over her mother in a second. "Get up, Mama!" she said. "Everyone else is already down at the beach!"

The planned 'breakfast at the beach' came back to her. "Why didn't anyone wake me up earlier?" she asked.

Her daughter grinned teasingly. "You just looked so peaceful," she said, "that nobody had the heart."

Yuna smiled and shook her head, yawning. "Give me a few minutes and you and I can go to breakfast together," she said, rising from her bed.

"'Kay Mama," her daughter said, wandering out of their cluttered home.

Yuna dressed herself and brushed down her messy hair before washing up a bit, wanting to present herself well. She walked outside of her family's hut and stretched, blinking the sun out of her eyes. The seagulls called their morning greetings, wheeling through the bright sky on their white wings. She smiled. It was going to be a good day, she could feel it.

She followed her energetic daughter to the beach, where delicious smells wafted around everywhere. The sand and the waters were both packed with people, islanders and Crusaders alike, enjoying the blessings that this beautiful day had brought to them so far. Wakka and Lulu waved the mother and daughter pair over, calling out to them, Wakka holding two trays in his hands, both complete with what he knew the two of them liked for breakfast. "Yuna! Destiny! C'mon, or you're not gonna get anything, ya?" he called.

Yuna trailed over to Wakka and his family, Destiny skipping a bit ahead of her, grinning cheerfully. She plopped herself down beside Sanya and Ruka, who were both just finishing their own breakfasts, and and grabbed one of the trays Wakka had saved for them. Yuna sat down besides the adults, minus Rikku who was already out in the water. Wakka held out her tray and she took it, bowing thankfully and beginning to eat. The dream and the things Oryon had told her the day before were bothering her. Lulu noticed this quickly. "Thinking about something?" she asked, her smooth voice suspicious.

Yuna sighed and nodded. "Have any of you met Oryon yet?" she asked. Wakka and Lulu both nodded, but it was Sanya who spoke up.

"He's so cute, ya?" she said in a dreamy sort of way. "That long hair, those muscles.." She giggled and blushed. "He's only a bit older than me, ya?"

"Hey!" Ruka said. "How come I always have to remind you that you're already going out with someone?"

Sanya blushed even more and Destiny laughed. "Save some for us, lovergirl," she said.

Yuna smiled. He was handsome, but she could never think of him in the way they did. He reminded her too much of her older ex-guardian. She scanned the crowds for him, but the beach was too condensed to tell if he was anywhere near. She sighed. "He was telling me that he'd met Tidus before," she said.

Lulu chuckled. "Almost everyone in Spira has met Tidus before," she said amusedly. "What did he tell you about him?"

Once again, Yuna thought, Lulu has seen right through me. Out loud she said, "He told me that Tidus had told him the story about Destiny and Guardian, and just before that he'd had a dream about the two of them, not to mention that he was surprised to find that one of the main characters was almost exactly like him."

Wakka raised an eyebrow. "That is sorta strange, ya? I had a dream about those two yesterday too.. weird, eh?"

Sanya looked up, "You too, Pop?"

"Strange.." Yuna murmured. Destiny crossed her arms over her chest.

"Okay, how many people other than me didn't have a weird dream last night?" she asked. "Let's see a show of hands!" When no other hands raised, she faked a pouty face and said, "Great, now I'm all left out."

This earned a laugh from the group, even one from Yuna, who was now staring out into the sea with a very faraway look in her eyes. She half-listened as Destiny told her two best friends about her dream, which had focused on a certain long-haired Crusader.

The words that Guardian had spoken to her before she had awoken came back to her briefly, breaking through the haze that seemed to guard her against the details of her dream.

"Don't worry about us, this is just a dream, afterall."

But how could so many people have the same dream, and why wouldn't her daughter? All of them had heard the story. She had the sudden urge to ask her husband about it, but he was in Luca. She sighed. It would have to wait until he got back.

So many questions, so few answers..

~*~*~*~

THE END.. I think.. O_o

~*Her memory lives on in us.*~