Chapter Eighteen

Two days later…

The island of Besaid is far more crowded now than it has ever been, at least in Yuna's memory.  She looked around at the assorted villagers, Ronso, and Al Bhed that were scattered around the campfire as dusk started to descend.  It's getting dark, her mind thought.  It's about that time.

She hurried quickly towards Wakka and Lulu's hut, passing a group of Al Bhed refugees huddled together on the ground.  She immediately felt a pang of sorrow for them.  After all the Al Bhed has been through, now they have to live on an island far away from their home.  She sighed and continued walking.  When she stepped inside the hut doors she was surprised at the number of people that were scattered inside.  Wakka and Lulu were sitting on their couch in front of their small instant sphere.  Behind them, against the wall were Tidus and Kimahri.  Abel was sitting in the floor next to Rikku, with brother a few feet behind them propping his back against the wall.  Cid was sitting next to him, Indian-style and whispering something in Al Bhed.  There were a couple villagers in too, sitting around and waiting.  Her eyes drifted to Tidus leaning in the back.  He was smiling charmingly at her, gazing directly into the depths of her soul.  She returned the smile and walked over to him.  "Hey," she said, still looking into his bright blue eyes.  She wanted desperately to lean in and kiss him, but she restrained herself.

"Heya," he replied.  "You about ready for this?"

"I guess so," she replied.  "Even though we know what's about to happen."

"Yeah," Tidus replied.  "But it's really not going to matter come tomorrow now is it?"

"I guess not…" she said hesitantly.

"Hey," Wakka said, cutting them off.  "It's starting."

Everybody then turned their attention to the small screen in front of the hosts.  Yuna looked outside and saw many people huddled around similar devices.  She and Tidus made their way to the front and knelt down beside the couch.  The image she was looking at made her blood want to boil.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer began.  "The Grand Marshall of Spira, Lord Luzzu."

A stream of applause rippled through the small speaker.  Luzzu was all smiles, waving to the people in the crowd. 

"Thank you," he said into the mic.  Another roar of applause erupted and Luzzu had to step back in lieu of the support.  He flashed his charismatic grin and gestured to the audience. 

"Thank you," he repeated.  "My fellow citizens of Spira.  I appreciate your good graces.  As great as it is to be here and accept this praise, certain circumstances have risen that prevent me from enjoying this as much as I can.  As many of you now already know, the Assembly's flagship, the Alexander, was fired upon four days ago.  I was on board, and I must say that without the crew of the ship, her captain, and the Crusader Guards that were on board, I may not be standing here today.  They all proved excellent just like the citizens of Spira are supposed to perform. 

He paused before continuing.  "Well, most citizens of Spira."

"The ship that attacked us, was the Rekrfeht.  As you know, that is the ship for the Al Bhed sector.  Now over the past two years, we have outreached to the Al Bhed with open arms.  Under the structure of the Assembly, we have included a seat for the Al Bhed society.  Many felt that it was an irrational move.  However, those people still were believers in the Yevon religion.  That religion says to not trust the Al Bhed because they use machina that is forbidden by the teachings.  Although that religion is now corrupted and dead, some can't help but wonder why Yevon chose to outcast the Al Bhed in the first place.  Maybe, just maybe, the lies of Yevon were based on some shreds of truth.

"After all, if we can't go on a routine stop to the Isle of Besaid, under a flag of peace without being attacked, unprovoked I remind you, then why should we trust their race at all?  Sure, some people may believe that they are still misled.  But even so, after all we, the rest of Spira, have done for them…" he paused.  "No, after all I have done for them, extending a seat to their culture and granting them access to a seat in the Assembly, for them to do this type of action gives me no choice but to say one word.  That word my friends, is 'treason.'

"Forty-one people," he continued, weaving his masterful web of deception.  "Forty-one sons and daughters of Spira died that day protecting me, the crew of the Alexander, and a part of Spira in that attack.  Forty-one.  These were Crusaders, crew, and civilians.  These could have been your co-workers, your friends, or your family.  It could have been anyone.  They died by a ruthless attack that was unprecedented and without cause or circumstance.  For this, I mark the Al Bhed and their supporters accountable of treason, and hold them traitors to Spira, and their citizens, which includes you my friends.

"Yes, dear citizens of Spira, I hold you responsible now.  If you see an Al Bhed, report it to the Crusaders or other authority.  They will handle the situation.  If you see anyone helping the Al Bhed, report him or her as well, because they are betraying the rest of Spira.  Do it for yourself.  Do it for the future of Spira.  Do it for someone's brother or sister or child who was killed that fateful day.  Do it for our own children, so they wont have to live under the shadow of a future Al Bhed attack.  But most importantly, do it for yourself.  Thank you, and good night."

"We'll that's it ya?"  Wakka said slowly, turning off the sphere.

"Yeah," Yuna replied, her voice cracking slightly.  "I guess that's it."

A fog of perpetual silence descended upon the room.  Tidus glanced around to see the expressions upon the many faces in the room.  He looked at Rikku and then quickly glanced away.  That was the first time he had ever seen the young Al Bhed cry.

"Listen," he said, softly at first.

"All of this is old news," he started.  "We all knew that this was going to happen.  And you know what?" he asked to no one in particular, still glancing around the room.  "This changes nothing."

"What is going to happen tomorrow, is still going to happen.  I want you to know that regardless of what that man said, we all know it is lies and it changes nothing.  And regardless of what he believes he can do to us, he is still our enemy.  And by this time tomorrow we will have taken care of him and reclaimed Spira as a free world."

Now as Tidus looked around the room, he saw expression changed from desperation and sorrow to something else.  He saw a flash of hope in everyone's eyes.  "If you're going to lead this end of it, then you must be a pillar for them to look up to," Auron's voice surfaced in his mind, still fresh from four days ago.  "Being a leader isn't easy, you should know that by now," it persisted.

A smile crept across Tidus' face as he continued.  "Now tomorrow, we're going to find him, hunt him down, and take him out!"

The mood of the room changed again, this time from hope to confidence as cheers and random applause erupted from across the tent.  His gaze went across the room and stopped at Wakka, who gave him a thumbs up.  Tidus pumped his fist in front of him, as he has a tendency to do. 

It's starting to get interesting now, he thought to himself.

---------

Seven hours later…

Tidus was lying on his back on the sandy beach, staring up towards the sky.  It seemed as if a piece of black velvet had over a million pinpricks in it as was held in front of a bright light.  It was beautiful.  Although he had given up looking at the stars along time ago, his gaze was still fixed.  By now his mind had drifted far, far away from the stars.  He was so entranced that he didn't even hear the footsteps coming up behind him.

"Hey," Yuna's voice trailed to him.

"Ahhhh!," Tidus yelled as his body rose 6 inches off of the ground in shock.  He quickly turned his head to see who the guilty party was that jarred him out of his daze.  His expression quickly turned to a peculiar grin as he noticed that his girlfriend was the culprit.  Yuna was smiling back at him, still extremely amused at the situation.

"You should warn me before you do that again!" Tidus said jovially. 

"Sorry," Yuna replied, walking his way.  "All I did was say 'Hey.'  How am I supposed to warn you of that?"

"Uhh…." Tidus started, reaching his hand up behind his head.  "I don't know, but I'll figure it out.  And then I'll tell you."

"You do that," she replied as she sat down next to him.  "Do you know what time it is?"

"Not really," Tidus asked.

"It's almost dawn," she replied.

"Hmm," he mumbled as if it didn't surprise him at all.

"Couldn't sleep?" she asked.

"No.  I tried," he started.  "I guess I'm just too nervous," he admitted.  "I have a lot on my mind."

Yuna sighed before saying anything.  "I didn't want you to be the leader," she finally said.

"What?" he replied.

"I didn't want you to lead this," she repeated.  "I didn't want you to fight my battles."

"Your battles?" Tidus asked, with a confused look on his face.

"Yes," she replied.  "If I had done the right thing a long time ago, then this would not be happening.  There would not be any bloodshed tomorrow.  There wouldn't be a chance that…"

"Yuna," Tidus said softly, reaching for her hand and cutting her off.  "This isn't just your battle."

"It should be.  If I had done the right thing…" she said, tapering off at the end.

"What is the right thing?" Tidus asked hesitantly.

"I should never have stepped down as Grand Marshall," she answered.  "That was my position.  I gave the position to Luzzu.  This is all my…"

"This isn't your fault," Tidus said before she could finish her statement.  "How were you to know that he would be corrupted?  How were you to know that this would happen?"

"I don't know," she started.  "If I could have just done things differently then, people wouldn't have died.  Then Garvis wouldn't have…" suddenly she burst into tears.

"Yuna," Tidus said gently while putting his arm around her.  "Yuna," he repeated.  "What's wrong?"

She wiped away her stinging tears and struggled to get the words out.  "The…" she started, trying to find the words. "Luzzu…he killed him."

"Who?" Tidus asked softly.

"Garvis," she replied.  "The intern Al Bhed Representative.  He was covering for Rikku while she was with us.  He….they killed him in Bevelle.  It just came in."

Tidus didn't verbally respond, only holding her tighter.

"It could have been Rikku," she continued.  "It could have been her, only if things had turned out differently."

"Maybe," Tidus said staring forward.  "But you can't hold yourself responsible for these things.  If you had known, then maybe.  There was no way of knowing that any of this would happen."

Yuna's only reply was to wipe away another set of tears.

"Now come on," Tidus said getting up.  "Don't think as if it's your fault.  And if you said it is really near dawn, then we really should get some sleep"

"Yes," Yuna said using his hand to rise up.  "I guess we should.  After all, we have a war to fight tomorrow."

Tidus didn't hear the last three words she was saying.  He was too busy gazing at her in the soft starlight.  He was too enthralled by her hair, the way she moved, and her face in the faint light.  When she finally turned her head toward him, his eyes locked onto hers.  At that moment nothing else mattered to him.  Not blitzball, or his friends, or Zanarkand, or his nervousness, or what he had really been thinking about, or the battlefield that was waiting for him and his friends outside Bevelle tomorrow.  The only thing that mattered to him was Yuna. 

He slowly leaned forward, and their lips met.

A few seconds later they broke and Tidus withdrew a little bit.  His eyes were still locked on hers in that same loving gaze.  "I love you," he said.

"I love you too," Yuna said.  "I…"she started again.  "Promise me that you will be alright after we fight this last war."

"I promise to try my best," he said.

"That's not good enough," she replied looking down.  She had a new set of tears trailing down her cheeks.  "Promise me."

"I promise," he said taking her hand up and kissing its backside. 

"Thank you," she said.  "Thank you," she repeated as she hugged him.

"I told you that I would be with you always," Tidus said.  "Remember?"

"Yes," she responded.  "I could never forget."

"Yuna," Tidus started after a few seconds, emotion coating his voice.

"Yes?" she responded.

"You know I love you," he asked, even more nervous now.  What are you doing, some back part of his mind voiced out.

"Yes?" she said again.

"Will you marry me?" he said.

Yuna was crying again as she opened her mouth.  The word she wanted to say was the one that she couldn't.  She tried again but emotion took control again and no words surfaced.  She looked up into his bright blue eyes and shook her head "Yes."

"Yes," she finally said, after a long struggle with her vocal chords.  ""Yes," she repeated.  "Yes Tidus I will."

She jumped forward into his arms and they kissed again under a canopy of a million stars.

~*End of Part Two*~

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Author's notes:

1—Guess what?  We're now on the eve of destruction, war, and general action.

2—Squaresoft owns everything.

3—Alright, thanks are in order.  Evil Neko:  I'm glad you've enjoyed this, even if you've been a closet fan for a while, thanks for reviewin'.  Arwen, thanks for the support.  I may have lost some older fans because of time, but it seems as if I've already gained a few more.  That really makes this story worthwhile to me, which in turn makes me push myself to write the best that I can, which makes it worthwhile to you kids.  SG, I owe you my thanks for the beta.  Your influence on this chapter is big, especially with the complicated ending and which direction to go.  For everyone else, the ending of this chapter could have been REALLY complicated and probably not-so-good without SG's help.  Target…you're all-powerful now?  Man, I have been away a while.  Anyway, thanks for still having interest in the story. GG Crono 4, thanks for still bein' there…or here…or whatever.  Ichabod, thanks for still checkin up on this.  You've been one of the longstanding people too.  Yeah, the escape scene was the only part that I didn't write before my departure from the world of FFNet, so I had to do a fast arrangement and it shows.  Rose, you flatter me.  That is one of the best compliments in the world that my little fic could inspire you to write.  Reasons like that is the most rewarding reasons to write.

5—As I plan this out, I'm seeing maybe 4-5 more chapters plus an epilogue.  Yes this thing is coming to an end.  It's been one hell of a trip, and we still have a war to fight! 

6—On a side note, I beat Kingdom Hearts.  I thought it was okay even though it was a game that wasn't necessarily geared to an audience such as myself.  It had its moments though.  The reason I began playing it was because of a file called Deep Dive that supposedly is a teaser for KH2.  I would recommend people watch that even if you have no desire to play KH.  I didn't, then I saw that teaser, and I suddenly had a desire to beat KH.  Deep Dive is bad-ass if anyone hasn't seen it, go to www.ansemreport.com and check it out.  Anyway, I'm rambling.  Until next time, keep out of trouble, or just don't get caught.