A note from the Hime no Argh herself–
Welcome yet again to Waking Dreams, the fic that just goes on and on! Or does it? ^^ In terms of writing this story I'm pretty close to the ending, though still not quite there as far as posting goes. But stay tuned, because the next chapter is going to be along soon.
Read, review, and above all, enjoy!
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Chapter 23
Dawn
After their talk with Miralesca, Tidus and Yuna were escorted numbly back to their cell. The moment the guards had left, O'aka jumped to his feet.
"So what 'appened to you two? Geez, I'm so glad you're all right. I thought for sure that priestess was gonna kill you or something–"
"She is," Yuna said softly.
O'aka stared at her. "What?"
"She's going to kill us at dawn," Tidus said flatly. "That's what she told us. Unless we agree to 'repent' and join the Yevon clergy, she's going to kill us."
O'aka gaped at them. "B-but she can't!"
"Try telling it to her," Tidus said bitterly.
"Then you 'ave to join 'er clergy!" O'aka cried. "Do what she wants you to do!"
Yuna shook her head. "I don't think we can. It would go against everything we believe in."
"Who cares?! This in't some damned tea party! We're talking about life n' death 'ere! Do this repentance thing, or whatever she wants, don't you see that you can escape later? You can't just let 'er kill you!"
"We can't," Yuna repeated softly. "Don't you see, O'aka? We just can't."
O'aka sat back on his cot, staring at them. "You're really gonna do it. You're gonna just–just die tomorrow."
The two of them nodded miserably. There was a long silence.
"'Ey!" O'aka yelled suddenly, loud enough to be heard down the corridor. "'Ey, you stinking priests!"
A guard came charging down the rows of cells. "What's the ruckus?" he demanded irritably.
"I want to be moved," O'aka said promptly when the guard reached his cell.
"What nonsense is this?" the guard demanded. "You can't just request to be moved, you damned idiot!"
"I want to be moved!" O'aka insisted. "These two–" He jerked his head toward Yuna and Tidus, "–are gonna be killed tomorrow thanks to your 'igh-and-mighty priestess. They deserve some privacy."
The guard scowled at him. "You watch, or one day that tongue of yours is gonna be cut out." He turned to walk away.
"I'll sing Lord Mi'ihen the 'Igh if you don't move me!" O'aka called. "And I got a terrible voice, I can tell you that!"
"Go roast your head."
"Lord Mi'ihen the HIIIIIIIIIIGH and his band of knights–"
"Oh, all right, all right!" The guard came stomping back. "I'll move you, just shut your damned mouth!"
"Thanks, lad," O'aka said cheerfully as the guard unlocked his cell. Once outside he paused beside Tidus and Yuna's cell. "Listen...err...thanks for all you've done for me. It really–you have no idea 'ow much it's meant to me just to–just to know you."
Yuna looked up at him and smiled. "Goodbye, O'aka."
"Bye," the man said miserably as the guard escorted him away.
There was silence for quite a long time. At last Tidus said, "We're doing the right thing, aren't we?"
"Do you want to repent?" Yuna murmured.
"No! But...I shouldn't let you throw your life away like this."
Yuna was quiet for a moment. "I need to think about it," she said at last.
That seemed like the wisest course of action at the moment, so they both fell into silence. After a while Yuna drifted off to sleep, her head resting on Tidus's shoulder, and dreamed.
She dreamed she was in the presence of Sin, the Sin that she remembered, a gigantic, whale-like creature with dozens of eyes. They faced each other, Yuna somehow at eye-level with the enormous creature.
"Hello," her dream self said to it. The thing cocked its head and looked at her rather quizzically. Yuna felt herself smile. "I'm not afraid of you anymore."
Sin looked at her for another moment, then it turned and began to walk away. Yuna opened her eyes back in the dank, cramped cell.
"I've decided," she said quietly.
"Hm?" Tidus stirred at her side and looked at her.
She met his eyes. "If you want to repent, I don't blame you. I don't want to see you dead, after all. But I won't. I can't."
Tidus merely nodded. "I thought that was what you would decide."
The night wore on very slowly, as if time knew these few precious hours were there last. Sometime during the night Yuna remembered something.
"Tidus? On the beach earlier, before they captured us–what were you going to ask me?"
"Oh." Tidus hesitated for a moment, blushing faintly. "Seems kind of pointless now, but actually, I was going to ask you...to ask you to marry me."
Yuna looked at him. "Really?"
"Yeah. Don't know if it really matters now."
Yuna hesitated, then said quietly, looking at the floor, "I don't know if it really matters, but I...I would have said yes."
For a while they looked at each other, wordless, sharing thoughts and emotions through merely a glance. "I won't let them kill you," Tidus said at last, determinedly. "I'll find a way. Somehow."
Yuna looked away into the distance, watching something only she could see. "I'm not afraid to die," she said softly. "Death...it was something a summoner had to learn to accept willingly. It would inevitably come, one way or another. I've been prepared to die since the day I began my pilgrimage, all those years ago. Death just never came to claim me before now." She turned to look at him, smiling. "I'm not afraid. I have never been afraid, and I never will be afraid. I'm only sad that our lives together were so short. But if I die by your side, then I have no regrets or fears."
"Yuna–" Tidus wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, burying his face in her shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Yuna. I'm so sorry I can't save you."
She ran her hand through his hair and held him close. "Don't be sorry. It isn't your fault. I'm not sad as long as I can die with you."
"Stay with me," he entreated her, his voice muffled against her shoulder. "Stay with me until the end."
"Not until the end." She drew him away so that she could look into his eyes, smiling. "Always."
They kissed one last time, desperately.
Dawn came.
* * *
An escort of guards came for them just as the sky outside their window grew pale gray, suggesting the coming of dawn. For once the guards did not taunt them, handle them roughly, or even speak. They merely escorted them to a balcony on a cliff high above the sea, a balcony with no railing, where a squadron of warrior monks were waiting.
Yuna and Tidus knew immediately that this was the place they were to die. They were going to be pushed off the balcony, broken on the jagged rocks in the sea below. Sure enough, their guards bound their hands behind their backs and left them just a few feet from the edge of the open balcony, facing away from the drop.
Miralesca soon appeared in her deep blue robes. She stood in the center of the balcony, once again establishing her authority, and faced Yuna and Tidus.
"This is your last chance," she said quietly. "Do you choose to repent for your sins and join the Yevon clergy, or do you choose to die?"
Yuna, gazing levelly at the priestess, replied, "I can appreciate what you are trying to do for the sake of Spira, Lady Miralesca. However, I do not agree with your methods. You cannot frighten people into being good. That desire must come from within a person's heart. They must genuinely want to live honestly, otherwise honesty becomes false and goodness is merely a lie. I once abandoned Yevon and searched instead for truth, and my search led me to this Eternal Calm. I would that people are never again frightened into false virtues, but rather followed the honest desires in their hearts."
Miralesca waited until she was finished, then nodded as if unsurprised and looked at Tidus. "And you?"
"I agree with Yuna," Tidus replied steadily.
"Then you both choose not to repent?" Miralesca asked.
Tidus and Yuna nodded.
"Very well. By the authority of Bevelle and Yevon, I am forced to declare you traitors and order your death." She nodded to her guards. "Push them off."
"Wait!" Tidus demanded. Miralesca looked at him. "No one needs to push us," he said firmly. "We'll back off on our own."
Miralesca nodded. "Don't dawdle."
"Thank you," Yuna said gratefully to Tidus as they backed in unison toward the open air. At the edge, they hesitated instinctively. Wiggling her heels, Yuna could feel that they were on the very edge of the balcony.
I love you, Yuna told Tidus silently, and she knew in her heart he was telling her the same.
She closed her eyes, leaned back, and fell into open air. With her eyes shut and the wind buffeting her, it felt almost as though she were flying.
* * *
To be continued.