The Fayth's Promise
Higher

A little girl cried, "Yuna!"

"I'm not doing anything!" yelled a young boy.

Yuna opened her eyes. She yawned sitting up. "Vidina, leave Lily alone..."

When dreaming I'm guided through another world
Time and time again
At sunrise I fight to stay asleep
'Cause I don't want to leave the comfort of this place

"Lily! Leave Yuna alone!" called a young mother. A pretty brunette walked into Yuna's room. "Sorry Yuna. I let my guard down for a minute and the two of them disappeared!"

"It's okay Calli. I shouldn't have slept so late anyways," Yuna smiled. She pushed back her longer than shoulder length hair from her eyes. [i]"Ten years today since I defeated Sin. Ten years since Tidus..."[/i] her thoughts stopped. She didn't want to seem sad. It was a happy day. There was going to be a picnic with the kids then after they went to bed, the adults would have a party.

She looked at Lily, a little girl with long brunette hair like her mother, Calli. Lily was barely two years old. Calli and Clasko had nearly gotten married. They had been dating for a year or two and when Clasko found out that Calli had gotten pregnut... well they stopped talking for a while. So Yuna helped Calli take care of Lily a lot.

Her vision wandered to a red-head boy who was almost eight years old. Vidina, Lulu and Wakka's first child, was just like his father.

"Vidina!" Lulu called. The former black mage walked into Yuna's room. She held the hand of a small girl who was a little more than a year old. She had black hair and plenty of her mother's traits. "Sorry Yuna," she looked at her son. "Vidina, your father needs your help. Come on." Lulu took her children from Yuna's room.

Yuna smiled. She helped everyone bring all the food to the beach.

"Hey Yunie!" a familiar voice yelled. A big blue airship was parked

'Cause there's a hunger, a longing to escape
From the life I live when I'm awake

Yuna turned around. Dressed in a canary yellow tee shirt and denim shorts was her cousin Rikku. Rikku had gained a little weight since she had last seen her over a year ago.

But what really surprised Yuna was the infant that was cradling in her arms. "RIKKU! YOUR A MOMMY!" she exclaimed.

Rikku smiled brightly. "And that makes you an auntie!"

Gippal walked off the airship, grinning. "Nice to see yah Yuna!"

Yuna punched him in the arm. "I'd punch you too Rikku but I don't wanna hurt the baby. I can't believe you didn't tell me you were pregnut!"

"Well..." Rikku bit on her lower lip. "I was sort of afraid you'd be mad. After all, I'm two years younger than you and you still haven't even looked at any guys since... well the reason we're celebrating here today."

Yuna's smile dimmed a bit. "I know..."

"Hey Yuna!" called Lily. Yuna had decided to watch her. Calli really needed a break. She was going to visit Clasko.

Yuna picked up the the toddler. "Hey Lily!"

"That's Calli and Clasko's daughter right? Where is Calli?" asked Rikku.

"Mommy went to go see Daddy. She says that Daddy doesn't want to see me..." Lily said. Tears formed in her eyes.

"That's not true Lily," Yuna comforted. "Daddy's just a little insecure. He'll come visit soon. Don't worry."

"Okay. Yuna, can I ride a chocobo?"

"There's no chocobos in Besaid. Sorry. Maybe we'll go to the Calm Lands and ride one. Your Daddy knows all about them."

"Yay!" Lily cried happily. She gave Yuna a big kiss on the cheek and ran off to play with the other children.

Yuna smiled brightly. "She's a sweetie. So who's this little one?" Yuna said, looking at Rikku's child.

"His name is Ashton," Gippal replied, taking the baby from Rikku's arms.

Can you take me higher?
To the place where blind men see
Can you take me higher?
To the place with golden streets

Yuna smiled. "Well I gotta go help. Stick around. Tonight we can get together. Calli and a few others are going to babysit."

Rikku and Gippal nodded, following Yuna into the party.

Yuna played with the kids, mostly in the water. They finally got out to play with a blitzball when another unexpected visitor stopped by.

A young woman with cropped silverish black hair surprised everyone. "Hey Yuna!" she called.

Yuna stepped back. It took her a moment to recognize her. "Paine...?" she said in awe. She hadn't seen her friend in over three years.

"You've changed a bit too!" Paine laughed, tugging on Yuna's long hair.

"Wow Paine! I'm so glad you could come!" Yuna grinned, hugging her friend. "Go see Rikku!"

"Why? I already heard that she and Gippal and married. Surprise suprise..."

"No. Rikku's a mommy!"

Paine's jaw dropped. She ran into the small crowd to find her old sphere hunting friend.

"Rikku a mother?" said a silver haired man. "Interesting..."

Yuna turned around. "Well hi there Baralai!" she laughed. "Everyone's showing up... well almost everyone..."

Although I would like our world to change
It helps me to appreciate
Those nights and those dreams

"LOOK OUT!" cried Vidina.

Yuna turned her head to get whacked with a flying blitzball. "OWWWW!" Yuna yelled. Her hands flew to her cheek. "Careful!" she scolded.

"Sorry Yuna..." Vidina said. He grabbed the ball and ran back to Wakka.

"You okay?" Wakka called.

Yuna nodded, "I'll be all right!"

"Hey Yuna!" Rikku ran over to her cousin, Ashton in her arms. "You should watch out for those."

"Gee thanks Rikku. I'll keep that in mind," she said sarcastically.

Baralai walked over. "Sin- no problem! Vegnagun- easy as pie! But a blitzball- beats up the poor Yuna!" he teased.

Yuna scoffed. "You wanna take a hit?" she laughed.

Baralai planted a wet kiss on her cheek. "Nah that's okay!"

"Eww!" she cried, wiping her cheek with the back of her hand. "Baralai germs!" she giggled like a kid.

The rest of the day was just fun. The sun was beginning to set. The kids were getting a bit whiny.

"Come on Lily," Yuna said. She picked up the crying toddler. "Mommy has a surprise for you back in the village."

"Yuna!" Baralai called. "Are you going to drop Lily off?"

"Yeah. I'll be back in a few minutes, okay Baralai? Calli says she managed to catch a C-H-O-C-O-B-O for the kids to play on while we go out tonight," Yuna said, smiling.

She began to carry Lily to the village.

The small girl cooed and giggled as Yuna told her stories about chocobos. "I wanna see a chocobo!" Lily laughed.

"Well maybe you will someday," Yuna smiled, a mischievous look in her eyes. She carried Yuna into the house where Calli lived.

"Mommy!" Lily shouted, running to her mother. She stopped suddenly and gasped. There in the room was a big yellow bird. "A CHOCOBO!" she cried.

Yuna laughed waving to Calli. She walked back up the hill and stopped at the shrine. Here people used to stop to pray for guidance on a journey. "We stopped here," she thought to herself.

"Ten years... and his image still haunts my memories..." she said softly.

"Can they... not be memories anymore?" she heard someone speak

"Who's there?!" Yuna yelled, pulling out a small dagger. Her eyes searched the area for who had dared to listen into her thoughts.

"You might not believe me," said a young man. He stood up, his hands in the air. His blonde hair waved in the wind. She knew it was him. Tidus.

So let's go there
Let's make our escape
Come on, let's go there
Let's ask can we stay?

Yuna dropped the dagger. "Oh gods... It's him..." Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open. "It... is it really you?"

Tidus nodded. "I'm sorry."

Yuna ran to him and threw her arms around his shoulders in an embrace. She held him tightly, and never wanted him to go again. "I knew... someday you'd come back."

He pulled away from her embrace, his hands resting on her shoulders. He took one hand and gently ran it across her face.

How she had longed for his touch, for the feeling she felt when she was with him... Tears freed themselves from her eyes and fell down her cheek. "Thank you..." she thought to the Fayth.

"Yuna..." he said. She noticed he, too, was crying.

"I knew you'd come back," she repeated.

"But... Baralai," he said.

She cocked her head to one side, confused, "What about him?"

"And Lily?"

"What about them?" she wondered. "How long has he been around?"

"They are your family."

Yuna began to laugh. "You think they are my family? Like my husband and child?" she giggled uncontrollably.

"But that guy kissed you and you were always carrying the kid around and you said 'Mommy has a surprise' to her!" Tidus argued.

"What have you been stalking me or something?" Yuna demanded. "Baralai is a friend. He kissed me on the cheek because I had gotten hit there by one of Vidina's flying blitzballs. He was just playing around. And Lily isn't my kid. Lily is Calli's daughter."

"Oh. Sorry."

Yuna shook her head. "It'll always be okay. As long as you are with me." "It's okay," she smiled. "I have you back. I'll be okay." A slight blush played across her face. "Tidus..." she whispered. Even though she had gotten taller, she still had to raise her calves to reach his face. She pressed her lips against his, and memories of the time they kissed in Lake Macalania sprang to mind.

Yuna felt Tidus' arms around her waist as their kiss deepened. After a moment they parted. She smiled.

"YUNA!" screamed Paine.

"Oh... uh hi Paine," Yuna said, feeling her face turn bright red.

"What are you doing?!" she demanded.

"This is Tidus," Yuna replied. "Right. Paine wasn't around ten years ago."

Paine smiled, "See!" she said, punching Yuna in the arm. "I told you he'd come back. Just like Shuyin and Lenne."

"Except we only had ten years of wait. Not a thousand."

Tidus looked at Paine. "What...?"

"Ten years is a long time," Yuna laughed.

"Ten years without you was like hundreds of years with..." he paused thinking of a word, "like hundreds of years with Seymour."

He gasped, wagging a finger teasingly. "Kissing other guys when you are widowed. What kind of person are you?" he chuckled.

"How could he say something like that?!" Yuna thought, her jaw falling. "WHY YOU!" she chased him around in a circle. Finally she caught him, knocking him down to the ground. She kissed him again. "I missed you." "Terribly."

"I missed you too," Tidus said.

Together, they went to the party. They had a great time. And Yuna just felt... happy.

Up high I feel like I'm alive for the very first time
Up high I'm strong enough to take these dreams
And make them mine

When she was with Tidus she felt... higher.

A/N: This is Yuna's point-of-view. It's related to my other songfic "With Arms Wide Open." I thought this song, "Higher" by Creed, fit perfectly because it's talking about wanting to stay in this dream world where everything is perfect. And it just... fit. Heh. Anyone like this one? And does anyone know what you do with an airship? I just guessed you park it... like a car...