Yuna's Story:
A long time ago, a legend was born called the Tell-Tale Heart. The Tell- Tale Heart was a locket, but this locket was different from all others. It had the ability to grant one wish to any one who could answer its three riddles. According to the legend though, anyone who tried to answer the riddles could only answer the questions wrong three times or else the locket would be gone forever and the wearer would be changed forever. In a large, dark, damp cavern stood a pedestal and on this pedestal was a centuries old cushion, worn and grey with an almost perfect condition locket on it. Yuna realized that the last two years of research and searching had paid off because she knew she stood in front of the legendary Tell-Tale Heart. Her dream of finding him, her true love had finally come. Now she just needed to answer three riddles and they would be together. Yuna slowly crept up to the pedestal and stood over it for a moment making sure there were no traps to end her dream prematurely. After a couple of minutes of careful observation she picked up the locket in her hand. Nothing happened. She waited. Still nothing happened. Maybe the legend was wrong, maybe it was that the Tell-Tale Heart was nothing more than a housewife's wandering imagination. In a fit of rage she raised her arm and was about to throw the locket across the poorly lit cavern but decided that she had worked too hard to walk away with nothing, so she put the locket around her neck. Her face went blank, and she stood motionless. Her mind was somewhere else, no longer in the world that she knew. Yuna stood confused in a blurred abyss, no longer in the cavern where she just was. Dazed and scared she started to run around to find a way to get out of this place to no avail. She collapsed exhausted. Out of nowhere a figure of a man appeared. Yuna couldn't see any detail of the man; it was almost like she was looking at a shadow of a man, a shadow of a man that was so close to her heart. "I am the Guardian of the Tell-Tale Heart," said the shadow in a silent, echoing voice. Once the blurred surrounding cleared she gasped for it was a place, a place so sacred, but it couldn't be, could it, it was Zanarkand, but Zanarkand of time once passed, a time before Sin. Yuna realized immediately what had happened to her, but never knew that this was the form the Tell-Tale Heart realm would take. "I am here for a wish, a wish that would heal my broken heart" said Yuna with determination in her voice. "Do you have any questions before we start with the riddles?" asked the Guardian, with his strange but familiar voice. "Yes, why is it that your realm seems to be the Zanarkand of time passed?" "This locket was pre-destined to display this place, the place of its origin, but it is now only a memory. This surrounding should have remained blurred to reveal uncertainty in the wearer. But the reason it cleared is unclear but I can tell your heart shows a strong relation to this place of a time past." "I do care for this place, and yes my feelings are strong, but even though I have more questions I want to pursue the reason I have come her, my wish"
"Are you sure of that?" "What do you mean?" "You'll soon understand" There was a brief period of an awkward silence while both the Guardian and Yuna seemed to be deep in thought. "The first riddle is: It cannot be seen, it cannot be felt, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, it lies behind stars and under hills, and empty holes it fills, it comes first and it comes after, ends life, kills laughter, what am I?" Yuna had to struggle with herself to bring the answer out into words for this was a great enemy all by itself. She knew from the first few words what the answer was all too well. "Darkness" said Yuna with a shaken voice "...Yes, as you should know very well." "What do you mean?" asked Yuna, already knowing exactly what the shadow had meant. She had lived a life where her heart was consumed by darkness, all the light she had in her left her long ago until one person opened a door in her heart to light her way. The darkened figure gave no reply and continued. "Second riddle: I never was, yet always will be, I am never seen, yet always come, I can carry nothing, yet hold much for some, what am I?" Yuna thought long and hard but the answer wouldn't come to her. "Umm... is the answer...life?" said Yuna with a hint of uncertainty in her voice. "...NO!" A sudden pain struck Yuna, but not any normal kind of pain, it felt like the cold grips of the dark piercing into her heart, closing the light that now shone brightly. After a couple of seconds the pain subsided. "What was that?" asked Yuna with harsh tone in her voice. "You mean you didn't know? I thought you, the High Summoned Yuna, bringer of the Eternal Calm, would know all the rules of this test, for you studied the legend for quite some time" stated the Shadow sarcastically . "Answer my question, what was that!" "When you answer the riddles correctly, you get a wish, but if you answer the riddles incorrectly you are changed. Most people from good to evil or visa versa, but in your case, the darkness that once overthrew your heart is re-surfacing and trying to re-consume your heart." "So, you mean if I answer the riddles incorrectly twice more, I will be consumed by the darkness which I fought out for the last two years?" asked Yuna with a strangely fearful, yet curious voice. "Basically, yes." She accepted the situation and tried to solve the riddle in her head, but couldn't concentrate. Her head was only filled with thoughts of what her life was like when the darkness had scourged the depths of her heart and if she would see him tomorrow... "Wait that's it! The answer is tomorrow!" Screamed Yuna, with excitement. "...Correct". "So... if you do get your wish, what would you do then? Do you have a life to get back to?" Yuna was puzzled at this. "Oh that's right; you have spent the last two years searching for...him." Yuna was so surprised. She had nothing to go back to or even look forward to if she failed to find him. But know she didn't care she was willing to go through death to find him. She thought long and hard but even though the Shadow was right she didn't care, she wanted him to be real and not just another memory. She now felt more motivated then ever to find him.
"Give me the last riddle" said Yuna with a hasty yet mild tone. "Final riddle: A box without hinges, key or lid, yet golden treasure lies within, what am I?" Yuna thought long and hard still determined to get her wish, so she answered with the first thing that came to mind: "A sphere?" "...INCORRECT" The pain returned like before and it seared with more pain than before, stabbing her in the heart with even more intensity. "This is a very interesting situation. I really don't care what you do with your wish but you're fighting two battles right now, One with me, the battle to win your wish and one within yourself, the battle of trying to suppress that darkness which you so loathe. I'll give you a choice... there is yet only two answer and it can go either way but you must choose, you can give the answer that is in your heart, get your wish and yet still be consumed by the darkness or lose your wish and keep your heart bathed in the light." Yuna was intrigued by this new twist on things. But she would die to see him, for now he was a fading memory which she wasn't ready to let go of. It looked as if Yuna would have snapped right there as she started cursing and crying as she fought within herself. But yet she couldn't turn back now, she had to see what lay on the other side even if it risked having to live a meaningless life, a life that she couldn't go through living in darkness. "A heart" said Yuna, still torn. "What kind of heart?" asked the shadow sounding more familiar than ever, intrigued by the events that had started to transpire. "A heart... filled with..." "Filled with what?" said the Guardian now so curious he was coming out of the shadows from which he stood "............" "OF WHAT, SPIT IT OUT DAMN IT" "of love" At that very moment the Guardian, the man of the shadows stepped out of the shadows into light and revealed himself due to the pressure of his curiosity. Yuna saw him but, wish she hadn't; it was him but it wasn't him. It was as if he was there but not there at all. Shattered by this event Yuna felt her heart freeze in warm water, all light was shunned and the darkness consumed, the surroundings disappeared, she was all alone. There she lay as time went on with the locket still around her neck, still in the now darkened realm. But as everything seemed to slip away she felt warmth seeping into her cold, dark heart. It was as if someone was fighting to let the light, the light that bathed her and saved her when she met him, back into her heart.
"GET UP YUNA"
"Who said that" said Yuna in a shaken voice
"GET UP YUNA, FIGHT IT" It was a voice oh so familiar she could not deny the fact that it was his. Yet she couldn't follow those last orders. She had lost all will. Then out of nowhere she saw someone running, running with a will, with a passion, she saw someone running to save her. It had to be him she thought. It was then when she heard the sound of someone whistling. It's strange but the sound of that whistle did something extraordinary, something so amazing happened that no one to date can explain it. She got up, she got up with such force, such a passion, the darkness around her and in her heart shattered like glass by the force of the love, the love for him coming from her heart. It brought her back to a Zanarkand of a time passed and just as it was left, there he was, the impostor, the memory who deceived her believing eyes. The lockets guardian stood there laughing, just laughing, laughing so maliciously it sickened Yuna to listen. She forced herself up and fought the Guardian. "YOU'RE NOT HIM, YOU'RE NOT HIM" "of course I'm him, aren't I " "SHUT UP" "why" "YOU'RE NOT HIM, YOU'RE NOT TIDUS" It was then she weakened the memory and it was as though the memory of him left the impostor , pyreflies were dispersed everywhere and all was left was a cold dark spectral.
"Very good, you are stronger than I thought" said the Spectral starring at Yuna who stood there crying, but not even her tears could mask the hatred in her eyes, the hatred she now showed for the spectral standing before her.
"...."
"your love for him brought you near death, yet I am puzzled, you survived because your love for him was so strong, your hearts were at one, he saved you."
"yes he saved me, he saved me once again..." said Yuna, still with the residue of tears in her eyes.
"you have fought against impossible odds to save this love of yours."
"..."
"your wish" Yuna was going to state her wish but she already knew the answer to what was too happened.
"I wish to be with him again"
"very well" "Good luck, may your search lead you to him. Goodbye." These final words from the spectral puzzled Yuna but she soon understood what they meant. Yet again she was in a new place but this place was unfamiliar but she didn't care for he was there standing there waiting for her. She ran, ran with a passion, with a will. When they met life in Yuna was rekindled. She didn't want this to end she wished she could stay with him, but as quickly as it came, it had gone. In that moment, Yuna was sent back to her body and the locket around her neck turned to dust and fell to the ground. Yuna took a second to look at the dust that was just the legendary Tell-Tale Heart and began to walk away to continue her search for him, yet this time she had a will to live, a will to find him with his last words in mind, "I'll be waiting here, here for you." Yuna thought to herself and reflected on his words.
"and I'll be there, there waiting with you, for you will always be in my heart"....
A long time ago, a legend was born called the Tell-Tale Heart. The Tell- Tale Heart was a locket, but this locket was different from all others. It had the ability to grant one wish to any one who could answer its three riddles. According to the legend though, anyone who tried to answer the riddles could only answer the questions wrong three times or else the locket would be gone forever and the wearer would be changed forever. In a large, dark, damp cavern stood a pedestal and on this pedestal was a centuries old cushion, worn and grey with an almost perfect condition locket on it. Yuna realized that the last two years of research and searching had paid off because she knew she stood in front of the legendary Tell-Tale Heart. Her dream of finding him, her true love had finally come. Now she just needed to answer three riddles and they would be together. Yuna slowly crept up to the pedestal and stood over it for a moment making sure there were no traps to end her dream prematurely. After a couple of minutes of careful observation she picked up the locket in her hand. Nothing happened. She waited. Still nothing happened. Maybe the legend was wrong, maybe it was that the Tell-Tale Heart was nothing more than a housewife's wandering imagination. In a fit of rage she raised her arm and was about to throw the locket across the poorly lit cavern but decided that she had worked too hard to walk away with nothing, so she put the locket around her neck. Her face went blank, and she stood motionless. Her mind was somewhere else, no longer in the world that she knew. Yuna stood confused in a blurred abyss, no longer in the cavern where she just was. Dazed and scared she started to run around to find a way to get out of this place to no avail. She collapsed exhausted. Out of nowhere a figure of a man appeared. Yuna couldn't see any detail of the man; it was almost like she was looking at a shadow of a man, a shadow of a man that was so close to her heart. "I am the Guardian of the Tell-Tale Heart," said the shadow in a silent, echoing voice. Once the blurred surrounding cleared she gasped for it was a place, a place so sacred, but it couldn't be, could it, it was Zanarkand, but Zanarkand of time once passed, a time before Sin. Yuna realized immediately what had happened to her, but never knew that this was the form the Tell-Tale Heart realm would take. "I am here for a wish, a wish that would heal my broken heart" said Yuna with determination in her voice. "Do you have any questions before we start with the riddles?" asked the Guardian, with his strange but familiar voice. "Yes, why is it that your realm seems to be the Zanarkand of time passed?" "This locket was pre-destined to display this place, the place of its origin, but it is now only a memory. This surrounding should have remained blurred to reveal uncertainty in the wearer. But the reason it cleared is unclear but I can tell your heart shows a strong relation to this place of a time past." "I do care for this place, and yes my feelings are strong, but even though I have more questions I want to pursue the reason I have come her, my wish"
"Are you sure of that?" "What do you mean?" "You'll soon understand" There was a brief period of an awkward silence while both the Guardian and Yuna seemed to be deep in thought. "The first riddle is: It cannot be seen, it cannot be felt, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, it lies behind stars and under hills, and empty holes it fills, it comes first and it comes after, ends life, kills laughter, what am I?" Yuna had to struggle with herself to bring the answer out into words for this was a great enemy all by itself. She knew from the first few words what the answer was all too well. "Darkness" said Yuna with a shaken voice "...Yes, as you should know very well." "What do you mean?" asked Yuna, already knowing exactly what the shadow had meant. She had lived a life where her heart was consumed by darkness, all the light she had in her left her long ago until one person opened a door in her heart to light her way. The darkened figure gave no reply and continued. "Second riddle: I never was, yet always will be, I am never seen, yet always come, I can carry nothing, yet hold much for some, what am I?" Yuna thought long and hard but the answer wouldn't come to her. "Umm... is the answer...life?" said Yuna with a hint of uncertainty in her voice. "...NO!" A sudden pain struck Yuna, but not any normal kind of pain, it felt like the cold grips of the dark piercing into her heart, closing the light that now shone brightly. After a couple of seconds the pain subsided. "What was that?" asked Yuna with harsh tone in her voice. "You mean you didn't know? I thought you, the High Summoned Yuna, bringer of the Eternal Calm, would know all the rules of this test, for you studied the legend for quite some time" stated the Shadow sarcastically . "Answer my question, what was that!" "When you answer the riddles correctly, you get a wish, but if you answer the riddles incorrectly you are changed. Most people from good to evil or visa versa, but in your case, the darkness that once overthrew your heart is re-surfacing and trying to re-consume your heart." "So, you mean if I answer the riddles incorrectly twice more, I will be consumed by the darkness which I fought out for the last two years?" asked Yuna with a strangely fearful, yet curious voice. "Basically, yes." She accepted the situation and tried to solve the riddle in her head, but couldn't concentrate. Her head was only filled with thoughts of what her life was like when the darkness had scourged the depths of her heart and if she would see him tomorrow... "Wait that's it! The answer is tomorrow!" Screamed Yuna, with excitement. "...Correct". "So... if you do get your wish, what would you do then? Do you have a life to get back to?" Yuna was puzzled at this. "Oh that's right; you have spent the last two years searching for...him." Yuna was so surprised. She had nothing to go back to or even look forward to if she failed to find him. But know she didn't care she was willing to go through death to find him. She thought long and hard but even though the Shadow was right she didn't care, she wanted him to be real and not just another memory. She now felt more motivated then ever to find him.
"Give me the last riddle" said Yuna with a hasty yet mild tone. "Final riddle: A box without hinges, key or lid, yet golden treasure lies within, what am I?" Yuna thought long and hard still determined to get her wish, so she answered with the first thing that came to mind: "A sphere?" "...INCORRECT" The pain returned like before and it seared with more pain than before, stabbing her in the heart with even more intensity. "This is a very interesting situation. I really don't care what you do with your wish but you're fighting two battles right now, One with me, the battle to win your wish and one within yourself, the battle of trying to suppress that darkness which you so loathe. I'll give you a choice... there is yet only two answer and it can go either way but you must choose, you can give the answer that is in your heart, get your wish and yet still be consumed by the darkness or lose your wish and keep your heart bathed in the light." Yuna was intrigued by this new twist on things. But she would die to see him, for now he was a fading memory which she wasn't ready to let go of. It looked as if Yuna would have snapped right there as she started cursing and crying as she fought within herself. But yet she couldn't turn back now, she had to see what lay on the other side even if it risked having to live a meaningless life, a life that she couldn't go through living in darkness. "A heart" said Yuna, still torn. "What kind of heart?" asked the shadow sounding more familiar than ever, intrigued by the events that had started to transpire. "A heart... filled with..." "Filled with what?" said the Guardian now so curious he was coming out of the shadows from which he stood "............" "OF WHAT, SPIT IT OUT DAMN IT" "of love" At that very moment the Guardian, the man of the shadows stepped out of the shadows into light and revealed himself due to the pressure of his curiosity. Yuna saw him but, wish she hadn't; it was him but it wasn't him. It was as if he was there but not there at all. Shattered by this event Yuna felt her heart freeze in warm water, all light was shunned and the darkness consumed, the surroundings disappeared, she was all alone. There she lay as time went on with the locket still around her neck, still in the now darkened realm. But as everything seemed to slip away she felt warmth seeping into her cold, dark heart. It was as if someone was fighting to let the light, the light that bathed her and saved her when she met him, back into her heart.
"GET UP YUNA"
"Who said that" said Yuna in a shaken voice
"GET UP YUNA, FIGHT IT" It was a voice oh so familiar she could not deny the fact that it was his. Yet she couldn't follow those last orders. She had lost all will. Then out of nowhere she saw someone running, running with a will, with a passion, she saw someone running to save her. It had to be him she thought. It was then when she heard the sound of someone whistling. It's strange but the sound of that whistle did something extraordinary, something so amazing happened that no one to date can explain it. She got up, she got up with such force, such a passion, the darkness around her and in her heart shattered like glass by the force of the love, the love for him coming from her heart. It brought her back to a Zanarkand of a time passed and just as it was left, there he was, the impostor, the memory who deceived her believing eyes. The lockets guardian stood there laughing, just laughing, laughing so maliciously it sickened Yuna to listen. She forced herself up and fought the Guardian. "YOU'RE NOT HIM, YOU'RE NOT HIM" "of course I'm him, aren't I " "SHUT UP" "why" "YOU'RE NOT HIM, YOU'RE NOT TIDUS" It was then she weakened the memory and it was as though the memory of him left the impostor , pyreflies were dispersed everywhere and all was left was a cold dark spectral.
"Very good, you are stronger than I thought" said the Spectral starring at Yuna who stood there crying, but not even her tears could mask the hatred in her eyes, the hatred she now showed for the spectral standing before her.
"...."
"your love for him brought you near death, yet I am puzzled, you survived because your love for him was so strong, your hearts were at one, he saved you."
"yes he saved me, he saved me once again..." said Yuna, still with the residue of tears in her eyes.
"you have fought against impossible odds to save this love of yours."
"..."
"your wish" Yuna was going to state her wish but she already knew the answer to what was too happened.
"I wish to be with him again"
"very well" "Good luck, may your search lead you to him. Goodbye." These final words from the spectral puzzled Yuna but she soon understood what they meant. Yet again she was in a new place but this place was unfamiliar but she didn't care for he was there standing there waiting for her. She ran, ran with a passion, with a will. When they met life in Yuna was rekindled. She didn't want this to end she wished she could stay with him, but as quickly as it came, it had gone. In that moment, Yuna was sent back to her body and the locket around her neck turned to dust and fell to the ground. Yuna took a second to look at the dust that was just the legendary Tell-Tale Heart and began to walk away to continue her search for him, yet this time she had a will to live, a will to find him with his last words in mind, "I'll be waiting here, here for you." Yuna thought to herself and reflected on his words.
"and I'll be there, there waiting with you, for you will always be in my heart"....