Chapter 16: The Musings of Someone About to Die

She sat there, her eyes closed, not truly knowing what she was going to do. She wanted out, and she knew the best way to get out would be to take the easy way out...

A single tear slipped down her cheek, for she knew she couldn't cry any more. They just wouldn't come out.

"I just want to die," Yuna said softly, "I don't want to live any longer."

She was mumbling to herself. The musings of someone about to die.

"We weren't meant to be," she said, looking into nothing, "That's just how it is. If you weren't meant to be, then I wasn't either."

"Yeah you were." His voice. As if talking to her. As if telling her to be strong, to carry on. But she couldn't. She had given up living moments ago.

Her eyes were still closed, and she refused to open them. She knew that when she opened them, everything came back. But when they were closed, she could still feel him there.

His strong arms wrapped around her, his head rested on her neck, his soft breath brushing against her. It made her tremble, but he wasn't there. He wouldn't be there again. Ever.

"Don't leave me." Her words, but for some reason, in her mind, it was his voice saying it to her, "Don't leave me."

"You left me, remember," Yuna said softly to the imaginary Tidus.

"No I didn't. I'm right here."

She swallowed. He wasn't right there. It was all just a figment of her imagination. It was finally time to get that through her head.

"Yuna, just open your eyes."

"You'll disappear then. I know you will," she wasn't speaking from her mind. It was her heart saying all the words. She'd been through it plenty of times.

"But I'm here now."

She felt his lips brush against her cheek. "But I'm here now..."

Her eyes flashed open. She looked behind her, expecting him to be sitting there. Of course, he wasn't. It was all just a strange vision. She must have dozed off.

His arms wrapped tightly around her, him kissing away her fears, him just being there with her. It was all gone.

"I barely got a week with you," she moaned to herself, "Why can't we just be together? Am I cursed? Am I..." She allowed her voice to trail. It didn't matter any more. Nothing mattered anymore.

She stood up, biting her lip and scrunching her eyebrows together, as if trying for once to hold back her tears.

She was snuffling, trying anxiously and without any luck to hold back her tears. Now she didn't want to close her eyes. She didn't want to feel Tidus. She didn't want anything to do with him.

She was in the Besaid forest, an area that very few people ever went into. The fiends were too thick, as they said. Yuna hadn't run into a single fiend, although she greatly had wanted to.

There was a small pond, and Yuna could only sit there and stare at her dark reflection in the pond.

She wanted something murky to match her emotions.

She closed her eyes again, taking a deep breath as she did so. She felt his arms wrap around her waist, same as always, but this time, something about it was different...

Her eyes flashed open, and she turned around quickly to see Tidus standing there, his blue eyes staring straight into hers.

She let out a gasp, and turned around quickly, almost falling into the murky pond, only to have Tidus' strong arms keep her from going.

"But you're..." Yuna couldn't finish, for the giant lump in her throat finally burst, and she began to tear.

Tidus pulled her into him.

"Sh..." he said soothingly, "I know, I have a lot of explaining to do."

"You sure do!" Yuna cried, not knowing what to think. As far as she was convinced, this was just another one of her strange dreams.

"I know," Tidus just said, and rocked her, "You weren't planning on doing anything drastic now, were you?"

Yuna just swallowed.

"Nothing I would have gone through with," she said softly, allowing more tears to spill, "How can I even know you're real...?"

"Easily," Tidus said, pulling her away from himself, looking her in the eyes. He kissed her cheek, and brushed her tears away. "It's a long story..."

"But to make it short, we weren't meant to be together?" Yuna just said flatly. This was different than most of her dreams, but she was feeling too utterly confused to believe that it was anything other than a dream.

"It wasn't Lea and Zed," Tidus said softly, "It was all the Fayth's doings. I wasn't real."

Yuna closed her eyes, as Tidus pulled her into him again. She just allowed him to rock her back in forth, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"But I am now."

"What happened?" Yuna asked, still believing that she was dreaming everything. Had she killed herself and not noticed it?

"The Fayth...Tested us," Tidus said slowly, "By sending Lea and Zed. They were all a test. Just like when you were transferred to Zanarkand. It was all just a test. The Fayth wanted to make sure I was worthy to you, I guess."

"But why?" Yuna asked, beginning to kind of understand. Who else but the Fayth could possibly be capable of everything that had happened?

"Zed and Lea went kind of...Nuts. They really wanted to kill you. They really believed that's what was supposed to happen. Then, they tried to, and successfully killed me instead. So I was given another chance, and then just to basically give it up to save you. So, in the end, the Fayth decided I was worthy, or something like that, and brought me back. This time for real."

"So now you're real," Yuna said softly. As if she believed that.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Tidus asked with a small chuckle.

"Not the slightest bit," Yuna said.

Tidus kissed her cheek again.

"That's okay," he said, "I barely believe myself."

"I never got to thank you," Yuna said softly, looking up into his eyes, "I was always too worried about myself. To thank you, that is. I love you."

"I love you too."

Her dreams always ended when their lips met. But as their lips met this time, Yuna knew quite well that for once, perhaps this wasn't a dream. Perhaps Tidus was telling the truth.

He kissed her deeply and passionately, and then softly.

Then, he leaned his forehead against hers, so that their noses were touching, and stared into her eyes yet again.

She knew it, but she couldn't accept it. Then, with tears streaming down her face, she wrapped her arms around him again and embraced him.

"This isn't a dream, is it?"

"No, it isn't," he said, as he kissed her again softly.

She smiled, and said, "I always did like the serious side of you."

"Oh yeah?" he said, smiling wider, his eyes sparkling in the twilight of the stars, "They you probably won't like this!"

He picked her up quickly, causing her to squeal, and dropped her with a splash into the pond.

"Hey!" she cried, as he dove in as well.

"Go ahead, I deserve it," he said, floating on his back, not taking his eyes off of her.

"Go ahead with what?" Yuna asked.

"Come on, I know we promised never to say the word again, but..."

"You're a Meanie!" Yuna cried, laughing and splashing him.

He stood up, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissed her again, and even though her eyes were closed, she knew he was back. And this time for good.

"Hey! Hate to bring it up, but you two need to get a room!" Rikku and Wakka could both be heard, and to Yuna, it sounded like they had even rehearsed the line.

"And you Brudda," Wakka's voice was heard, "Rest up! Big game tomorrow, remember?"

Yuna concealed a smile, as they listened to Wakka and Rikku continue, all while not breaking up their kiss.

"Fine, we'll get a room," Tidus said, taking Yuna's hand and pulling her out of the water, "As for resting up, we'll see about that, Big Guy!" Tidus laughed as Yuna and he passed Wakka, and Rikku stuck her tongue out at them.

Lying her head on his shoulder, not caring what Tidus had in mind, the two continued walking back toward the village, without really a care in their minds.

"By the way," Yuna heard Tidus whisper to her, "If you want, we can get married in maybe two years, 'stead of three."

"Oh, thanks," Yuna said sarcastically, although by now, she really could care less about when they would wed.

Then, hand-in-hand, the two disappeared into a hut, leaving behind the star-filled night, knowing that while their pasts may have been troubled, their future was just as bright as the wonderful stars that glittered throughout Spira...

A/N: Okay, I know. The only meanie here is me! I wanted you all to think that my last chapter was the ending, but really it wasn't! (Well, I hope you all liked this ending better!) Thank you everybody for reading my stories, and I hope I didn't let you down! Thanks again everybody!

By the way, in case you didn't get it, the whole voice thing and dream thing started out with the Fayth testing the two, but when Lea and Zed became involved, it got kind of ugly. Lea was overcome with jealousy towward Yuna, and Lea has kind of this thing over Zed. Anyway, not only that, but Tidus and Zed hadn't been getting along lately...(Had to do with arguements over Lea that weren't really important to the story!) Anyway, in the end, Zed wasn't really controlled by his hatred or by Lea anymore, so he basically helped a lot in saving Yuna. Then, Lea and Zed both died, and so did Tidus. But the Fayth had decided that Tidus passed the test, so then Tidus was brought back! Okay? I hope it made sense! (In my little brain it made perfectly good sense...!) Again, I hope you enjoyed the story, and sorry if the story was a little rushed....