Here it is, the epilogue. Thanks for hanging in with me for all this time, guys, and I'm sorry it took so long. Here's some notes: all Al Bhed will be translated at the end for you (in the order that it appears), the full lyrics of "Real Emotion" is available under Final Fantasy X-2 at http: (where I found them at), -- -- indicates singing/song lyrics, and the rest of the author's notes are at the very, VERY end. Thanks, and enjoy! --Jedi Ari
EDIT 2005.05.02: Due to FFnet's policy regarding song lyrics, I removed and tweaked some of this chapter. It doesn't have the same effect to me, but...;; I don't want to get my account closed. So, slightly revised, mostly the same. --Jedi Ari
"Gotta hurry, gotta hurry…"
Yueh's mom peeked her head in the doorway. "Paula, honey, where are you going?"
Yueh turned around quickly, putting her hands in her pockets. "Just to a friend's house, mom, I told you before." She ran out the door of her room and down the hallway. "I'll be back tonight! Bye!" She was out the front door in a matter of seconds and hid behind the house.
"Phew!" She pulled a small object out of her pocket, smiling. "Time to meet Arashi and the others…" Yueh poked at the mini save sphere, making a long menu pop up. "I'm so glad Arashi thought of these. Let's see, she said to meet in Djose, right?" She held her necklace's gem in her hand as she hit the menu choice of "Djose Temple." She quickly disappeared into the air.
"Hey, Paula, mom said—"
Her brother skidded to a halt, staring at the spot where Yueh had just been. He took a deep breath and put a hand to his forehead.
"I think I'm gonna go lie down…"
When Yueh opened her eyes, she was in the former Chamber of the Fayth in Djose temple, her hair back up in a bun and her clothes back to her old black mage's outfit.
"Heya! Right on time!" a familiar voice said. Yueh turned around, grinning, and saw Arashi, Atrah, and Niet all standing there.
"Glad I got the right temple," Yueh said, laughing. "When did you guys get here?"
"A few minutes ago," Atrah replied.
"We all traveled together," Arashi explained.
There was a flash of light, and another figure appeared.
"Hunter!" Yueh shouted happily. She gave the blitzer a hug. "It's so great to see you again!"
"You, too," Hunter said, returning the embrace. He looked at the others. "All of you, actually."
Before anything else could be said, there were two more flashes of light in rapid succession.
"I told you it was Djose," Gage said with an exasperated look. Mattian frowned.
"I could've sworn she said Kilika…"
"You came together?" Yueh asked.
Gage shook his head and pointed a thumb at Mattian. "No, I made the mistake of double-checking the location with him online, but he said Kilika. And when no one else came…"
"So what? We're all here now, anyway!" Mattian said.
"Same old idiot," Niet mumbled, rolling her eyes.
"C'mon, guys, let's head out! We need to hurry," Arashi reminded everyone. She and Atrah led the way out of the Chamber and through the temple.
"I still can't believe it took six months to organize this," Niet said. "I mean, its just a wedding."
"Double wedding," Arashi chirped.
"One that all of Spira will be watching, too, I bet," Hunter added.
"Why else would Tidus, Yuna, Wakka, and Lulu hold it in Luca and not Besaid?" Gage pointed out.
Arashi stopped just before the doors to outside the temple and looked at the assembled group.
"Okay, everyone, get ready for the 'fans,' and remember our cover story." The blond looked at Niet and Mattian. "Especially you two."
Yueh had to laugh as the two blushed. Their "cover story" for being in Spira but not Spirans had been concocted by Yuna and Arashi. They were from a "distant island" where Sin was only a legend, and the summoner and guardians that came from there had helped to bring the Eternal Calm. So, along with Yuna and the rest, they had become instant celebrities—leading to interviews over the sphere network.
"Hey, there were lights and a bunch of people, I was distracted!" Mattian proclaimed.
"You called Yuna and Tidus characters instead of people," Gage said.
"Well, she called Spira FFX!" Mattian yelled, pointing.
"I was just going off of what you said!" Niet shot back.
"You figure they'd have gotten over this already," Atrah said.
"Either way, get ready," Yueh said, trying to get the quarreling duo back on track.
"You all remember how to ride chocobos, right?" Arashi asked. When everyone nodded, she went on. "Good. Auron made sure we get the fastest chocobos available, so be ready for a quick ride."
Yueh took a deep breath as Arashi opened the doors. Soon a crowd of cheering people were surrounding them.
"Look, its Hunter!"
"Aah! I can see Gage!"
"Arashi and Atrah!"
"Yueh, Niet, over here!"
"Mattian, E muja oui!"
"Oui cruimh'd! Ra'c yh eteud!" Niet shouted back. Arashi simply chuckled, although Yueh (who still hadn't learned Al Bhed) didn't know why.
"Ari! Ari, over here!" shouted a familiar girl's voice. Yueh looked to its source and saw Rikku at the far end of the crowd, jumping up and down and waving next to Auron, who looked thoroughly embarrassed to be next to the exuberant Al Bhed girl.
"Ari?" Gage asked, trying to push a path through to the two Spiran guardians.
"Rikku's new nickname for me. She thought of it last time we were here," Arashi explained. She grunted as she was jostled amidst the raging fans.
Getting annoyed by fans as well, Yueh briefly entertained the thought of zapping the crowd with lightning. Luckily for the fans, Auron quickly ended things by simply glaring at the crowd and resting his massive sword's point in the ground, shouting, "Clear out! We have a schedule to keep!"
His voice was easily heard by the crowd, who quickly parted to create a clear path, much to Yueh's amusement.
The group of earth's summoner and guardians quickly made it to Rikku and Auron and the chocobos. After all nine of them had mounted the chocobos, the crowd began to close in on them once more.
"We leave! Now!" Auron shouted. His chocobos ran down Mushroom Rock Road at an alarming speed. Yueh gulped, and Arashi just laughed again.
"Onward! Hya!"
The wedding was a beautiful affair, with the two couples wed on the highest balcony in Luca, with all the Spirans watching. Yueh and the others had actually served as bridesmaids and ushers, right next to the betrothed on the balcony.
Yueh smiled when the two couples sealed their vows with a kiss. Looking up the line of bridesmaids, she saw Rikku grinning along with Niet, and Arashi crying happily. Yueh looked over to Hunter, who was already looking at her. The two blushed and turned back to the just-married couples.
After the wedding, the crowd stayed and the newlyweds were seated, watching as the blitzball field morphed slowly into a stage. Yueh, who was now seated next to everyone upon the balcony, turned to Niet.
"Is someone doing a concert for them?" she asked quietly.
"I dunno," Niet said, shrugging. Yueh went to turn and ask Arashi, but found she wasn't in her seat. She was instead at the entrance of the balcony, taking something from an Al Bhed man and bowing slightly. Before Yueh could call Arashi over, the blond was already back in her seat.
"What was that all about?" Yueh asked.
"A fan," Arashi said with a shrug. "He wanted to give us these." She held out three small, camera-sphere looking objects and handed one to Yueh, one to Niet, and kept one for herself.
"What are they?" Niet asked, inspecting her gift.
Arashi stared straight forward, and Yueh noted a small smile that played across her lips.
"Not a clue."
Yueh didn't push the matter any further, though, and put the small gift in a pocket. Niet and Arashi did the same.
"Oh! Is someone playing for Yuna and everyone?" Yueh asked, remembering her original question.
"I think so," Arashi said. She shifted in her seat to look at the other two. "Hey, remember that song I sent you guys from FFX-2?"
Yueh laughed. "You mean the game that didn't really happen here? Yeah. Real Emotion, right?"
Niet nodded. "Yeah! I love that song! I practically memorized it the day I heard it!" She began to hum the tune softly, moving her head to the beat.
Arashi grinned. "Cool."
The lights in the stadium dimmed, and spotlights shone on the stage. From beside Yueh, Niet laughed excitedly.
"Where's the singer?" Yueh asked after a few moments. Arashi took a deep breath and jumped up suddenly, pulling Yueh and Niet out of their seats. Before either of the latter could do anything, Arashi had pulled the two onto a hover and to the stage, straight into the glowing spotlight.
"I'm glad you memorized the song, Niet," Arashi said, grinning wildly. "It'll help." Yueh's face crinkled up, confused, while Arashi looked off stage and shouted, "Red ed!"
"You speak Al Bhed?" Niet said, her eyes wide.
Suddenly, Yueh felt her body tingle, and looked down to see her clothes shimmering and morphing into a different outfit that distinctly reminded her of something from FFX-2, especially the rather short skirt she now had on. She blushed heavily.
"You can thank our Al Bhed friend for the dress spheres later," Arashi said as a small microphone appeared in her hand and her own outfit changed from a long skirt and blouse to knee-length khakis and a small tank top. Niet's outfit had changed as well, to something with quite a few straps and buckles, and a matching microphone had also popped into her hand.
As a microphone materialized into her own hand, Yueh heard music begin to play, and Arashi sang one short sentence:
"What can I do for you?"
When she heard those words, Yueh finally figured out what was going on.
"No way! I am not—I can't sing—"
Niet's brown eyes were even larger. "We're the singers!"
Arashi laughed as the intro continued and said with a smile, "It's showtime, girls!" She held her microphone up high and began to wave to the now wildly cheering crowd. "Here we go!"
Yueh and Niet looked at each other behind Arashi's back and shrugged.
I guess we don't have a choice, do we? The two gave lopsided smiles to each other and began to cheer along with Arashi and the crowd.
Arashi started the trio out, singing at the top of her lungs, "Somewhere in the hazy borders of my heart, I could see a place, that's something like this--"
"Every now and then I don't know what to do," Niet went on. She looked at Yueh with another shrug.
Yueh grinned. "Still I know that I, can never go back!"
Soon, the three were engulfed in the song, singing and dancing better than they ever had before. Yueh had lost her worries and her fears and let the music take her away. When she looked into the audience and saw Hunter cheering her on, she began to sing even louder.
The song began to end, and Yueh could only smile when she realized one simple thing—this was the perfect ending to her story.
The End
Dra Aht
Al Bhed Translations:
"Mattian, E muja oui!" "Mattian, I love you!"
"Oui cruimh'd! Ra'c yh eteud!" "You shouldn't! He's an idiot!"
"Red ed!" "Hit it!"
Full Song Lyrics for "Real Emotion" by Jade:
Available at http/www. animelyrics. com under FFX-2 (remove the spaces).
End Author's notes:
I can't believe it. Almost two years and 200 pages later, I'm done with this, my longest fanfic ever. Heck, my first/previous fanfic was barely a few pages, I'm sure. Thanks for sticking with me for all this time, even through all the really slow parts and bad writing and writer's blocks. ;; I'm sorry it took this long. When I started out, I never, EVER thought it would end up being anywhere near this length, nor this complicated. From now on, I think I'm going to finish writing the fic before I start posting it, LOL.
This fic is dedicated to all who are in it--you know who you are, or at least you'd better. And special thanks goes out to all those who reviewed and to the people who made FFX and FFX-2. There'd be no fic without them!
This is especially dedicated to UA, who gave me the original inspiration/idea for the fic, although I can't quite remember how. ;; Me and my memory...
Forgive me for the clunky ending, but thanks for sticking with me all the way through it! I'll see you guys again some day--if not in a sequel (oi, God forbid at this point Oo), then in my next fic (that will be much shorter, I promise. ).
Hugs to everyone!
Jedi Ari, signing out...