Disclaimer: Other than this Propel Fitness water thats helping me stay awake this morning and the other songs that I just might use in this story , I really don't own a damn thing.

After settling down a bit after my dream, I glanced up at the clock above the couch.

Hmm. Four o'clock in the morning. I should have known I could never sleep in.

I looked around the hut for a second, trying to regain my bearings. Yuna was laying on her bed, her white tank top and blue cloud pajama pants twisted up so much that I was surprised that she could breathe. But breathe she did, because you have to breathe in order to snore, and Yuna was snoring loudly. How come she never seemed to snore on the pilgrimage?

Leaving that question for another time, I decided it was time for me to get up. I crossed the room quietly, reaching for my crimson coat hanging above the door. Putting it on, I moved to her kitchen, grabbed a piece of fruit, and walked out of the door.

The island was quiet this morning, barely any life moving through the village. I strolled leisurely, realizing that I never had a moment to just walk around the last time I was alive, and when I was in the Farplane, the only time I walked around was to walk to the bar and walk back home. My feet picked their own direction and I started off towards the path out of the village.

Fiends were few and far between on Besaid these days, I noticed as I walked through the woods. The path trailed by the waterfalls, near cliffs, and finally I started walking on the sand near the beach. The moon was still above me and the sun wasn't even beginning to rise yet, but I decided to sit around and wait for it to come. There were a few boats and airships docked off to the side of the beach, but I decided not to pay any attention to those. Instead, I took off my coat and laid down on the sand.

Thoughts of Rikku came over me as I smiled up at the stars. I wondered what she was doing right this second, whether the spirals in her eyes still lit up the same. I wondered if she still spun in circles to entertain herself, or if she still huddled in to a ball and cried during a thunderstorm.

I wondered if she still felt anything for me.

I knew that the likelyhood of Rikku still being in love with me was slim to none. There were so many guys younger, who had more money and could take care of her better. What would she want to do with someone like me?

"I came here to be alone, Rikku," I said sternly.

She paused for a moment, sheilded by the trees deep inside Macalania Woods. Then, shaking her head slightly, she moved forward, passing me by slightly to stare at the small lake I had taken up residence near. "I don't care what you came here to do," she said slowly. "I came here to talk to you, and I intend to do it."

Sighing with exasperation, I shook my head. "Go back to camp."

"No!" she shouted. "I want to know what you're not telling me. You're holding something back, and I know it's important, and I know it can make or break us. You act as if I'm a small child who can't figure out things on my own... well I can, and I know that something is wrong." She started shaking, and her head dropped into her hands. "Something is wrong..." she mumbled.

Before I even knew what I was doing, I was up on my feet and walking towards her. Glimpsing her eyes for only a moment, I took her into my arms and rocked her back and forth. "I would tell you if I could," I whispered.

What would she do if she knew I was unsent? The thought penetrated my mind, but all I could really focus on was the girl trembling in my arms. She was like porcelain in my hands, beautiful and breakable, and I knew I had to tread carefully.

She sucked in air through her lungs and clutched onto my coat. I could hear the tears in her voice as she started mumbling softly into my chest. "Stupid, stupid me," she whispered as I stroked her back. "I should have known better..."

"Better than what?" I said carefully, wondering what she meant.

"Better than to fall in love with the one person who would never love me back." With that statement, she let go of my coat and stepped away, backing into the shadows.

"Wait..." I whispered as I held my hand up to stop her.

She paused, then turned away from me, wrapping her arms around herself, trying to keep the feelings inside. "I should have known better..." she whispered again as she left me in her wake, eyes closed and shaking, hands still reaching out to touch her.

I sat up, hands closing into fists as I remembered that night. She showed her pain so easily, and I turned her concern away. Oh, if only to have that one night back... I could have done things so differently.

She fell in love without knowing my secrets, and now, after she found out, I wondered if she still could find it in her soul to love me. It's been two years, but maybe I could convince her somehow. Maybe I could find something in me to touch a bit of her soul again.

Or maybe I couldn't, and I would just fade away again.

. . . . . . . . . . .

I could feel the hum of the airships in the ground, starting their engines before the day began. The sky turned a gorgeous shade of pink and the sun started it's daily trek up to the clouds.

And all I could do is smile at my memories.

I remembered the way she would sit at the fire, the way that light would attach to her features and make her look like an angel. I remembered the way she would tell us all the latest song she had fallen in love with, and scream them as she spun circles around me. Her eyes would be closed, her hair would come undone, but she didn't care.

I heard something different off of my right shoulder, and I instantly turned, looking for the source of the sound. Someone else was sitting in the sand, and they were also looking at the sunrise. Feeling friendly, I stood up and made my way farther down the beach towards them.

I paused in my tracks though at the sight before me. The person, a girl of no more than 18, had her head in her hands, crying. Feeling a bit of dejavu, I stepped slowly, but paused when I heard her whispering.

"Whatever words I say... I will always love you... I will always love you..."

I stopped short and gasped, hearing the words of my song come off of her lips like it was meant to be. I caught her attention by doing so, and she jumped off of the ground, drawing two blades in midair, and landing just in front of me.

I couldn't breathe. It wasn't possible. "It can't be..." I whispered.

Blonde hair done up into so many braids it stuck up from the top of her bandana... A skimpy bikini top and skirt... The very same green spirals that haunted me in my dreams...

"Auron..." Rikku breathed as she dropped her weapons to the ground. Then, very much to my surprise, she bolted off in the direction of the airship, without even a second glance back.