Disclaimer: FFX & (-2) & characters belong to Squaresoft. Or is it SquareEnix?

Chapter 1

"Hey! Zanarkand! Let's go to Zanarkand! Not the one in Spira, the one I'm from."

Yuna was baffled at first, but then something like a glow of understanding sparkled in her eyes.

"Yeah, we can all fly there. Everyone can go! Then we'll have a big party at my place!"

"And then we could see blitzball! Your Zanarkand Abes would play! We could all watch you play, in the stadium all lit up at night. I'd cheer and cheer till I couldn't cheer anymore!"

Tidus grinned. "Right on!"

"Well, what about after the game?"

"We'd go out and have fun!"

She looked at him quizzically. "In the middle of the night?"

"No problem! Zanarkand never sleeps! Let's go to the sea, before the sunrise. The city lights go out one by one. The stars fade... It's kinda rose-colored, right? First in the sea, then it spreads to the sky, then to the whole city. It gets brighter and brighter, till everything glows. It's really...pretty. I know you'd like it."

"I'd like to see it, someday."

"Well you can, Yuna. We can both go!"

A single tear silently dripped into the lake, causing ripples. Tidus looked up in surprise to find crystalline forming in her eyes.

"Yu...?"

 "I can't. I just can't!" She shook her head lightly in a feeble attempt to stop crying. "I can't go!"

Those words are soon followed by streams of tear. Tidus could only stand there, watching as Yuna's tear are slowly dripping into the lake. But not for long.

He held her shoulder gently, and softly called her name. Yuna looked up, and he softly pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was sudden and felt wet, but Yuna enjoyed it. And soon they were drifting and swimming in the lake, kissing and hugging again. He closed his eyes, embraced and kissed her again for the last time. But this time he felt that Yuna's breath reeks of alcohol and her upper lip are kinda—kinda bushy.

"Honey, since when you have mustache?" Tidus opened his eyes, and much to his horror, it wasn't Yuna that he's kissing.

It was his father.

Jecht.

Both father and son screamed to the top of their lungs, and soon coughed madly, trying very hard to forget what just happened. Tidus quickly got up from his bed and reached for his water jug, gulping all of its content at once.

"Oh my-, Yevon if you even exist, please tell me this is just a stupid nightmare." Tidus said between his coughs. "Old man, I never knew that you swing that way! Even if you did, do it with someone else! I'm your son, not-"

"You're the one who suddenly grab me and kiss me!" Jecht quickly cried out and brusquely wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I was just about to wake you up, when you pulled me in! I can barely breathe. Man… who are you dreaming about anyway?"

Tidus could felt that his ears grew hot. "It's none of your business, old man."

"Whatever…" Jecht scratched his head and grinned slyly. "It's Yuna, isn't it?"

Tidus looked away from his father. "I'm not gonna tell you. Why are you here?"

"Why am I here? This is my house, ya moron. We live together, remember?"

"I mean, why are you inside my room?"

Jecht crossed his arm, and looked up the ceilings. "Lesse… ah, that's right. The fayth wants to see you. Said he wants to tell you something very very important. Gotta go A.S.A.P."

****

"I can go back?"

The fayth nodded. "Yes. Vegnagun is destroyed, and Shuyin has finally ushered here. It's time for the happy ending."

"I can go back." Tidus echoed.

"You can go back." The fayth said again.

"To the real world."

"Yes. To Spira."

"Why?" Tidus asked curiously.

Even if the fayth was annoyed by Tidus' question, he doesn't show it. "Because she said she wants to be reunited with you. Is that enough for a reason?"

"No."

Auron, who was listening intently to their conversation, smacked Tidus over the head. Tidus fell over. "Could you just stop asking for his reasons? If people want to give you something, you take it, and don't ask for their reason."

"We have watched over Yuna's battle with Vegnagun and Shuyin. She should receive a small reward." Braska smiled.

Jecht gruffly interrupted. "Besides, you're no use here. You're always whining, oh, I can't go back to Spira anymore, I miss Yuna, blah blah blah. Your constant moaning for 2 years really hurt my head even when I'm already dead."

"Shut up, old man!!" Tidus gushed as he climbed to his feet, gingerly rubbing the back of his head.

"To be honest, I- We have a small request." The fayth said, drawing their attention back to him.

Tidus looked at him curiously. "And what is that?"

****

"Well, it's time for me to go. Bye mom." 

Tidus' mother sniffled, and hugged her son. "Bye honey. Don't eat anything funny, okay?"

He smiled. "I won't, I promise." Tidus let go of his mother, and stared at Jecht. His old man was acting very awkward indeed, as if he wanted to say something but can't say it out loud in front of many people.

Jecht finally stuttered out some words after an elbow nudge from his wife. "Good luck, kiddo. We'll be missing ya."

"Yeah…" Tidus scratched the back of his head uncomfortably, and shifted his eyes to Braska and his Al Bhed wife.

"Please take care of Yuna." Braska said.

"I'll protect her, I promise."

"Just don't attempt on a runaway marriage like we did, okay?" Yuna's mother smiled.

Tidus blushed. "O-okay."

"It's just a joke, idiot. What are you blushing about?" Auron muttered.

"What would I do without your cynical comments, old man?" Tidus said sarcastically.

"Be careful and stop sticking your head into suicidal cause." Auron said. "I'd hate to meet you so soon."

"Like I would!"

"Are you ready?"  Tidus turned around to see the fayth standing in the middle of the flower field. The ever enigmatic boy is looking at him with an invincible expression.

"Just a minute."

Tidus turned around again to have last look at his family. His sobbing mother, Jecht is giving him a thumb up, Braska and his wife are waving merrily at him (Are they that happy to see me leaving the farplane?), and Auron's expression is partially hidden by his collar and sunglasses. But Tidus could see that he's smiling. "Good luck up there."

Tidus grinned back at him. "Will do. Hey, old man? Can I have a small request?"

"What?"

"Can you say my name? Just once."

Auron shook his head. "Forget it."

"Dammit."

"Are you ready now?" The fayth impatiently asked.

"Okay, okay!"

The boy looked at Tidus from his hood. "Don't forget our request."

Tidus found himself at the Besaid beach not long after, gasping for air. He placed his fingers on his mouth, and whistled. As he began to walk towards the beach, he saw a red airship on the cerulean sky closing into him…

****

"Don't you have anything to do back home?"

Baralai looked around at Gippal's machina littered room. "Do you think I would come here if I'm busy?"

Gippal thought about this and said, "No. You would probably try being a sphere hunter. Or probably skirt chasing."

Baralai sighed. "Nice try, but you're not making me laugh."

"So what happened at Bevelle? As far as I know, they went into havoc the moment you disappeared." Gippal asked him out of curiosity.

"They actually did for a while." Baralai said. "I only left for quite some time, but they managed to find my substitute in my absence."

"Really?"

"It's the ex-summoner, Isaaru. Recently he worked as a tour guide at the Zanarkand ruins, but then business went down because monkeys suddenly filled the place."

"And he lost his job?"

Baralai shook his head. "Not really. He's quite the stubborn type. One that never liked change."

"Then why? Get to the point already!" Gippal exclaimed edgily.

"Apparently he found out about the turmoil in Bevelle. It's all thanks to our lady high summoner. She told him about my disappearance and Bevelle's situation through Commsphere transmission, and Isaaru went back to Bevelle lickety-split."

"Well, I still don't get it." Gippal scratched his head. "Shouldn't he resign once you got back to our old position?"

Baralai sighed. "He did. But the priests insisted that I took a week off for healing, and he continued working there. When I'm finally healed, you know, when we gave that speech at Luca?"

"Yeah?"

"I went back, and they are already sticking to him like super glue. It's always Sir Isaaru this, Sir Isaaru that. The last time they had a meeting, they forgot to call me. They held a meeting without the praetor. And did I mention that his brother Maroda, the Youth League member is helping out in Bevelle as well?"

"And that's why you came here." Gippal finished for him.

Baralai nodded. "Yeah."

"You, Praetor Baralai, got ditched by the New Yevon loonies because of a tour guide?"

"……"

Gippal stared at him with round, green swirly eyes. He covered his mouth, but began to chuckle, and soon were in the throes of hysterical, side aching laughter, earning him a cold stare from Baralai. "Thanks a lot for the support, friend." Baralai sardonically commented.

"I-I can't stand it. So-sorry." Gippal stifled out between his chortles. He finally managed to sit straight after a few minutes, but didn't bother to hide his smart-ass smile. "By the way… how did you get into Yevon after the Den of Woe?"

"Didn't you watch my sphere, Yevon's Secret?" Baralai said. "The guados are keeping it inside their treasure room."

"Ohh… well, sorry, but I was too busy chasing you into the Farplane, so I don't have the time to go to Guadosalam, wrecked open the treasure room door, snatched your sphere and watch it." Gippal sarcastically said.

"Too bad for you, because I don't want to talk about it. What did you do after the den of woe?" Baralai asked him.

Gippal stared at him. "Uh, Nooj shot us, remember?"

"I mean after that."

"Didn't you watch my sphere, Jackasses?" Gippal mockingly said. "If you managed to pin Rin as the culprit of Mi'ihen highroad mayhem, he'll give it to you. But careful, because you won't get an episode complete that way."

Baralai, knowing that Gippal is too stubborn to give him a straight answer decided to gave up. "So what does your Faction actually do?"

"Go ask outside, we have a PR."

"He told me you're excavating the machina for research, but recently quit the military research and plan to focus your studies on other fields."

"That's right!"

"So you mingle a machina with parts of here and there from the excavation?"

"Yup!"

"And what do you do with the final result?"

"They made something in my absence, I heard that it's a fabulous invention that could defeat even Vegnagun, but the lady high summoner busted it up."

"You make machina so people could bust it up."

"It's machine, Baralai, not machina."

"And you pay your excavation worker 100 gil for every successful dig."

Gippal shrugged. "They could apply for a raise next door."

"So you actually don't gain any gil from this." Baralai concluded.

"I have a financial backing. We shared the same concept, so-" Gippal suddenly stood up. "Since you're unemployed now, would you like to dig?"

"Play in the sand?" Baralai said.

Gippal scratched his head. "We always need more diggers, but the recent fiend attack had decreased the applicants greatly."  

"No thanks. It's enough spending one summer there for training."

"Ow c'mon, even the high sum-" But whatever Gippal's going to say next was cut short by a loud commotion outside his room. They heard shouts and the sound of people running.

"Oui lyh'd caa res huf!" (You can't see him now!)

"Ur, crid ib!" (Oh, shut up!)

The door to Gippal's room swing open in a not-very-nice way, since it gave a loud BAM! An angry looking Rikku stepped in, and soon Paine is at her back, stoic as ever.

One of the frantic Al Bhed workers at their back quickly said, "Cunno, pid cra zicd vunlat ran fyo drnuikr!" (Sorry, but she just forced her way through!)

"Ed'c ugyo..." (It's okay...) Gippal turned his attention to Rikku and crossed his arms. "That's a very unladylike way to enter a room, you know. Has Cid's little girl gone crazy?"

"Stop calling me with stupid nick names!" Rikku angrily yelled at him. "I have a name, I've told you so many times, call me Rikku!"

"Sorry, but I always found it hard to remember your name..." Gippal grinned. "Garbage hunter."

Rikku gasped involuntarily, and turned to Paine. "How could you-?!"

"I didn't tell him." Paine shrugged.

"You should be, after busting up the machinas in Mi'ihen highroad like that. Is it fun picking up chocobo feathers?" Gippal asked her.

"Chocobo feathers are NOT garbage! Tell Rin that the next time you see him." Rikku said. "But I didn't come here today to argue if chocobo feathers are garbage or not."

"Well, go ahead, I don't have all day." Gippal smirked even wider.

Rikku felt like she was ready to tackle the smart ass to the ground, but Paine had gripped on her shoulder.

"Don't." Paine said.

Rikku breathe in slowly to got her composure back. She began to speak slowly. "I just want to know… Is it true that you rejected Pop's order to rebuild Home?"

Gippal looked at her and placed one of his arms at his hip. "Yeah, I did. So what?"

"HOW COULD YOU?!" Rikku snapped, her beaded strands of hair rattling against her face. "It was your home too! Father-"

"Cid blew up Home two years ago." Gippal interrupted. "If he's thinking of rebuilding, it's already too late. Why build a home the Al Bhed no longer need? The other Al Bheds are too busy finding themselves another place they could call home. "

"Th-that's what Rin said…" Rikku stuttered out.

"I share the same idea with Rin. We don't want to live in the desert forever."

"But-"

"Maybe you found your daddy's idea exciting, but I found it impossible. Trust me, only a few Al Bhed will be keen with the idea." Gippal said, dismissing her with a flap of his hand. "Go home and tell that to your Vydran."

Rikku sighed, and to Gippal's surprise her eyes brimmed up with tears. She shrugged dejectedly, and ran away from the room. "Sorry for bothering you." She choked.

Paine looked at Gippal, shook her head, and walked to the exit. Both men could see from the wide open door, Paine is chasing after Rikku, the latter probably sobbing uncontrollably outside.

A long and awkward silence fell inside the room.

"You know-" Baralai said, breaking the silence.

"Don't say a word." Gippal muttered, guilt rising in his chest.

TO BE CONTINUED

A/N: Comments, Critics, and corrections are welcomed