Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy X or X-2.
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"Yuna, Buddy just called in. They say that the storm's passing on and they're on their way back now." Paine told Yuna.
The three stood in the base camp of the Al Bhed on Bikanel Island. Nearby stood Nadala yelling out orders when given the chance to when and where to excavate. But Yuna seemed to take no notice of Nadala's added tension with their arrival.
"Why didn't they call me?" Yuna twiddled her fingers nervously; she was too busy with other concerns to take notice.
Paine could only give a shrug as a reply, "They said they tried to contact you but they couldn't get through. Shinra suspected it got damaged in the storm somehow.
"Oh, I'll just have to have Shinra take care of that when we get back on board." Her anxiety couldn't have been hidden by even the greatest of con artists, "Did they say if they got any word from Tidus?"
Paine shook her head again, "Sorry Yuna, the subject didn't come up."
"Right," Yuna drifted away, standing by the nearest post of the wooden fence, the High Summoner stared out into what seemed and endless desert.
"Paine!" Rikku said exasperatedly as she ran to the warrior, clinging to her, "Look at her! Yunie's miserable! Couldn't we just give her a little hint? Giver her something to cheer her up?"
"No, it would make all this trouble pointless. But I have to admit," she paused for a moment and looked to where Yuna was standing. "Tidus was so wrapped up in his planes for Yuna, he forgot about her."
"How can anyone forget about someone but that's all the other person was thinking about?" Rikku then proceeded to strut side-to-side fiddling her fingers, trying to collect her thoughts, "Wait a sec, I think I'm confused."
Paine exhaled sharply, and crossed her arms, "It means that Tidus was so wrapped up in his plans about proposing to Yuna and thinking about her reaction, that he forgot about her right now."
"Huh? Wait a minute," the younger girl still showed no signs of understanding and the older of the two shook her head sadly. "let me see if I got this." Rikku continued to walk back and forth, side-to-side, not helping Paine's growing headache. "Tidus has been really busy about proposing to Yunie, and because he's been so busy, he forget to call on her and let her know, and oooo." Rikku sounded anxiously, "I know this! Tidus has been too busy and he forget to talk to Yuna at all, right?"
Finally hitting the x, Paine rolled her eyes and took a glance at her wrist, "Wow, it only took ten minutes."
A few minutes later, Yuna heard her cousin calling and heard a rumbling and the sight of the Celsius, "Yunie! Let's go!"
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"Yunie? You in here?" Rikku called out from the lift and entered the engine room, looking for signs of the sphere hunter but finding none. "I don't get it," she said quietly to herself, "where is she?" For the third time she checked in the cabin and for the third time Barkeep told Rikku he had not seen Yuna.
Paine was off on the bridge with the others, attending to the routine Gullwing business and Rikku was left to search for her half Al Bhed cousin. Rikku entered the lift again and wiped her forehead, "Jeez, looking for Yunie's a lot a work, I need some air."
The lift doors opened to the sight of the bridge, Buddy working to himself on his panel, Brother busy with "steering" the ship, and Paine, leaning over Shinra's station, turned to see who exited, "Find her yet?"
"No!" Rikku suddenly yelled out, "I've looked everywhere. I've talked to Barkeep three times and each time I get the same time as the first one. I say she's not on the ship!
The warrior thought for a moment and looked up at Rikku with no sign of surprise on her face, "Did you check the deck?"
Rikku anxiously bit her lip and didn't respond. Paine put on a small smirk as Rikku jumped up the stairs and back into the lift. The lift jettisoned upwards and when the lift doors finally opened, Rikku found the evasive High Summoner, well at least for Rikku she was evasive.
Her first reaction was to jump in front of Yuna and tell her how worried they all had been but saw her cousin sitting in a ball with her thoughts. "Yunie!" She waved, but Yuna didn't turn around to greet her. Rikku plopped down next to Yuna with her usual shipper attitude, "We were looking for you, well, actually I was looking for you, everyone else was busy. How come your up here?"
"You know, I saw Tidus down on the beach from here. I was so scared, and excited at the same time. I didn't really know if it was him or not, I remember I was running so fast to meet him in the water. When I finally jumped down from the ship, I knew it was him, I could see his wide grin as I ran toward him. Those comforting arms, I had missed him so much in two years. And he was in my reach."
Yuna breathed out and gave a forced, small smile, "Sorry about my ranting Rikku, I just needed some time to think, you know?" Yuna sighed as she said her thoughts aloud, "Am I really paranoid? I haven't spoken with Tidus in more than three days, for two years, I looked for him. My search throughout Spira, joining the Gullwings, I did it all because I thought I might be able t find him."
Rikku didn't know how to respond, she tried to put her hand comfortingly on her cousin's back but didn't seem to prevail, "I wouldn't know Yunie. I don't even know what it feels like to be really in love. Sure, I've liked someone, but I just don't know about these things."
Out of the lift came Paine, hearing the rest of Yuna's train of thoughts. "Am I just dependent on him or something? I just- I just don't know what to do."
Paine stood in front of Yuna and placed her hands on Yuna's shoulders and looked at her seriously, "Yuna, do you love him?"
"What?" Yuna asked, she broke away from Paine, her eyes glistening as she turned.
"Tidus, it's a simple question really," Paine responded, crossing her arms, "Tidus, do you love him as you say you do?"
Yuna gave a small, sad smile, wiped her tears and node, "I do Paine, I love him."
"Then trust him Yuna. If you love him, then you trust him deep down."
The former summoner could only nod dumbly, "Thanks Paine, you're right."
"Hey!" Rikku suddenly interrupted, "how come Paine gets all the good advice to hand out?"
Yuna gave the first smile in the past few days, "Sorry Rikku, you were a great help to, listening to me." She hugged her younger cousin and the three laughed.
Yuna's spirit rose considerably as the three talked of things that had happened to recently, or replaying past, amusing stories, a voice broke the friendly conversation overhead.
"Uh, guys? We're getting a call from Gippal at Djose Temple. They need to see Rikku."
Before Rikku was given a chance to respond, Brother spoke, "Ignore the message! Gippal is nothing but trouble!" Paine's eyes widened as she realized that Brother was the only one who wasn't informed that Paine and Rikku would be 'leaving.'
The young girl squirmed before she yelled back at the pilot, "Crid ib!"
"Oui!" Brother retorted, his voice growing with anger.
"I hate to break up the family feud, but when did Gippal say they needed Rikku?" Paine asked.
Buddy answered although a struggle was heard over the comm. system, "Gippal says they need Rikku now. They keep saying it's really important."
Yuna looked to her cousin and shrugged, "I guess we could go."
Buddy's voice intervened again, "Sorry Yuna, but Gippal is stressing that it only be Rikku."
"Ooo," Rikku said, anxiety dripping off every syllable, "all right." She looked around nervously and bit her nails.
"Don't over do it." Paine said bluntly, Rikku's eyes widened.
"Over do what Paine?" Yuna asked curiously.
Realizing her slight slip but showing no signs of it, Paine shook her head, "Rikku seeing Gippal. We've worked with him before. It's nothing to worry about."
Meekly, Rikku smiled and started for the life. "Right, well, see ya later Yunie!" Rikku gave a final wave and a slight wink before stepping into the lift, as Yuna pondered on whether or not Rikku had actually winked, it could have been a trick in the light.
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Hours had passed since Rikku's departure. It was getting late and the sun would soon cease to grace Spira with its presence. High Summoner Yuna lay on her bed in the cabin as she looked up at the ceiling.
An hour or so after they dropped Rikku off at Djose, Baralai had called on Paine do to an urgent 'Crimson Squad' matter. Apparently, something they thought they should not include Yuna in.
Yuna pondered on the peculiar actions of the crew the past few days, how when Gippal called we just happened to be by the end of the Mi'ihen Highroad, close by the Djose Temple, Rikku's wink as she entered the lift, and when Baralai called, they were hovering above the Macalania Woods.
Thinking back even farther, Yuna remembered Tidus' visit to Mt. Gagazet and finding him with Kimahri, but on the other hand, it could just a former guardian catching up with another former guardian.
Yuna suddenly sat up as she looked out her window and noticed the sky showed signs of tiring, she gave a tiny, soft smile remembering a memory in which she and Tidus shared. "Uh, Yuna?" Buddy's voice suddenly broke overhead."
"Yeah? What's up?"
"You mind heading down, we thing we're getting some reading of a sphere down below."
"Sure, where are we anyway?" Yuna asked, walking to the window and trying to get a glance down but she only saw the ocean.
"Over Zanarkand. Sorry, but I don't think any of us can go down with you. Shinra's too busy with his new invention, not that he'd help much in fighting off fiends. Brother's having an argument with Cid over the comm. and I am sorting out all these files that have been piling up in the database for coordinates."
"Oh," Yuna quickly thought for a moment, "how come we didn't pick up these readings before? We already got a sphere from Zanarkand right? The half."
Yuna waited for a few moments before finally getting a response, "I'm not sure why. Maybe something was covering it and the sphere-oscillo finder couldn't pick it up. But it shouldn't be too hard. Sin, Vegnagun, Zanarkand shouldn't be too much of a deal for you right?"
She laughed good-naturedly, "Yeah, right."
Yuna took the lift down to the engine room and Buddy, who was still working up on the bridge, lowered the ramp and was ready for her to leave. As she jumped down, her first step on the dirt and Yuna immediately shielded her eyes, after adjusting, she lowered them slowly, here eyes becoming more and ore accustomed.
She walked to the top of the hill and leaned against the old ruins. She watched as the sun seemed to hit the ocean's surface and saw its reflection ripple with the waves. Time seemed to move less and less slowly as she watched the sun and its light disappear, Yuna really didn't mind, she liked the pace.
That's what she thought of, when she was trying to defeat Sin, that's what drove her, the slow pace that Besaid offered. Of course at the time, she didn't know that Tidus was going to disappear from her life. Tidus, her thoughts drifted to him.
Soon, all that was left in the sky was darkness, bright stars, and a bright quarter moon. The quietness engulfed her and she basked in it. Unconsciously, she began to sing to herself, "I know that you're hiding things. Using gentle words to shelter me. Your words were like a dream, but dreams can never fool me, not that easily."
"Yuna, I can't tell you how sorry I am."
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I'm a horrible person. Both for putting off the chapter for so long, and putting up a cliffhanger. HAHAHAHA goes and laughs maniacally Well, I am sorry that I put it off this ling, but I have good news, one more chapter to go until the end. I'm contemplating for and epilogue and a sequel, hmm, I wonder how people would react to that........
You could always tell me in a review.