Zanarkand Night
By Kate Lorraine (elly@zanarkand.net)
Author's Note : This story has somewhat of a preposterous plot. If it clicks with you, great! If it doesn't, umm, go read something else. With that said, we begin.
Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.
-Zhuang Zhi
Chapter 1 – Daydreams
He was not sure how long it would last. But after all, who is the say how much a day, a minute or even a second beside her was worth? Hearing her story about how Shuyin waited a thousand years just for one embrace with Lenne reminded him of how sometimes minutes and hour give away and only the timelessness in one second remain.
"I screamed higher! And faster! And then, when we finally descended, that was when I saw you on the beach."
"And then what happened?" The night over the Calm Lands was black and starless. But in Macalania forest, the trees glowed with their own eerie light as though the entire forest was carved out of diamond.
"Then I jump out of the Celsius and I ran over to you with my arms out. . . . like this." Yuna outstretched her arms to help him better remember that day.
"And then?"
"I hugged you."
"Too hard to imagine. My imagination is all used up from visualizing all the stuff that happened to Shuyin and Lenne."
Yuna placed her arms on her hips and tried her best to look annoyed at him. She didn't succeed. Her mouth broke out into an unwilling smile and then she bursted out laughing.
She threw herself at him giving into the force that had been pulling them together ever since they started walking back from the Zanarkand ruins and squeezed him as tightly as her skinny arms could manage.
"Like this." She whispered against his chest. "And that's the end."
"The end?"
"The end of my adventure. . .of memories."
Tidus looked up at the trees and smiled. She was here in his arms, all of her, not a strand of hair missing, a bundle of warm soft Yuna. As long as he could hold her like this nothing could come between them, not Sin, not life, not death, not even the truth. But in the back of his mind he felt the illusion fade and fuzz out at the edges.
It was too perfect to last.
_______________________________________
The warm waters of Besaid were enough to wash away anyone's troubles. He had dreamed of being here too long. Now he was lying on the snowy white sand, on the peninsula that jutted out into the sea. It was easy to imagine that he and Yuna were trapped on a deserted island, together forever, unchanging.
"What are you thinking about?" Yuna asked in her soft girlish voice. Her voice had changed. There was lightness to her tone, unmingled with sadness that spoke of a happiness as pure as the blue waters lapping at feet.
She giggled. "You're smiling."
"I'm thinking about making the winning shot in this year's Blitzball Tournament. I'll hold up the Crystal Cup, like this" He wrapped his hands around Yuna's waist, "and I'll stick my tongue out at the Goers and say Ng ng ng."
"They'll be very mad." Yuna said seriously.
"Well, then I'll tell they can come visit it if they like. Only for a while though. People are coming from all over just to see the famous lady Yuna, anyway, who has become a professional savior of the world."
Yuna looked off into the distance.
"I wish they didn't come. I just want to spend my time here, peacefully. With you. For years and years. Until we both have grey hair and are as bent over and forgetful as Maechen."
"But everyone is counting on you, m'Lady." Tidus said imitating the slow drone of the eldery scholar.
Yuna broke out in laugher. She brought her hands up to hide her smile.
"That's awful."
"Come on." Tidus jumped to his feet and pulled Yuna up. "I want to show you a place not far from here."
"What? Really?!" Yuna clasped her hands together and jumped from foot to foot. It was a habit she picked up from Riku.
Tidus grabbed her hand and led her into the waters until it came up to their knees. The white and blue skirt of her gunner outfit was ballooning out into the sea.
"Ready?"
She nodded. "I practiced. I'm not sure how well I'll do though."
"Don't worry, just hold onto my hand. You'll be okay."
"Okay."
"Take a deep breath!" After seeing her cheeks balloon up with air, Tidus pulled her under with him. The water exploded across his face and he entered a quiet blue world. It was down here that he felt most at peace. He looked back to Yuna handing onto him, her eyes barely open as though she was cowering from something that was about to hit her in the face.
He gave her a thumbs up with his free hand and began to swim to the other end of the beach. He stayed close to the surface in case she needed to go up for air but she hung on limply, trustingly, as though his hand could make up for the air to fill her lungs.
They were close. He looked back at her one last time, just to catch the sight of her face in that eerie blue buoyancy with her hair all around her in a soft brown cloud. He wanted to hold that memory of her in his mind, here in this world that momentarily belonged only to him, her and the fishes of the deep.
They surfaced. He led her out onto the ledge that was a tiny indent into the walls of the cliff. There was only enough room to take three steps from one side to the other. But because there was nothing of any interest here, it was a perfect place to be alone.
"Whenever you get tired of being Lady Yuna you can come here to remember yourself."
Yuna kneeled down and brushed back her matted hair.
"I think this is . . .nice." She smiled at him.
"I had a place like this back in Zanarkand. There was a ledge outside my window where I used to sit just to be alone sometimes. Sometimes if I was really upset I would climb onto the roof and sit there."
"Well this can be your new place." Yuna suggested, staring at him. "Our place."
"Our place." He repeated. If only in dreams.
**more to come shortly