Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy X-2 or anything Square Enix does

Chapter One: Where 17 Years Have Lead Us

It was roughly 17 years since the day Tidus returned. Seventeen long, long years. Happy years, stressful years, years of fighting, years of romance. A peaceful time filled with hectic lives. About a year after the defeat of Shuyin, Rikku and Gippal were married, and ten months later Rikku gave birth to Laralyne, their only daughter. She looked much like Rikku did when she was younger. Now, 15 years old, Laralyne wore her hair just as Rikku had when she was her age, and had mastered the art of double daggers, claws, and guns. However, she was the image of defiance, and her persona was like a flaming torch balancing on the tip of a ledge, one wrong movement and it fell to the ground, engulfing all before it in flames.

But her parents loved her, and she was quite adored by all the Al Bhed, being known mainly as 'Gippal's Little Girl'. Laralyne hated it. So what if her father was basically the leader of the Al Bhed? So what if her parents were the two most famous Al Bhed there were? That didn't mean she had to be raised like a doll, only for show, constant lessons from her mother on her manners and her etiquette, always meeting new leaders of Spira like a pretty jewel her parents loved to show off to all their friends.

She couldn't understand how everyone said Rikku had been such a lively, free-spirited young girl, when now all she seemed to be was a fiend that preyed on any sort of entertainment or independence on Laralyne's part, until her daughter's entire life was virtually fun free. Life at Djose, which had become a small city, was definately not what she would have picked for herself. There was only one perfect thing in Laralyne's life. Aaron.

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After 17 years, 17 hard, wearying years, Paine had one solid, concrete example of everything she had accomplished. That one thing, was her son. Paine had married Baralai, to no one's surprise, about a month before Rikku had married Gippal. Her son had been born three days before Rikku's daughter, to Yuna's delight. Not to Paine's though. And certainly not to Rikku's.

In fact, Paine hadn't spoken to Rikku in over 16 years. Well that wasn't true. There were a few instances where Paine had gotten into a very inappropriate arguement over their children. But never once had anything friendly been said between them, in those long 16 years.

Rikku had started dating Baralai the same week Vegnagun fell, and it seemed as though they were doing excellent. Gippal had gone to work with Cid, moving out to Bikanel Desert to work on the rebuilding of Home. Even though the Al Bhed no longer neaded a safe house, it was good to have a place where they were all welcome, a place that was like a fully Al Bhed community, without leftover predjudice from earlier times.

And so Rikku had come crawling to Baralai, probably looking for someone to fuck in the meantime, in Paine's opinion, and it had set her off like she had never been set off before. She had stormed into Baralai's apartment in Bevelle, luckily while Rikku was away, and convinced Baralai to get rid of Rikku.

"Do you love me Baralai?" She said. It was the first thing off her lips when she walked through the door. He answered yes. "How long will you love me?" Paine had asked, her eyes flickering with lust, love, and jealousy. And he said he would love her till he died. "How long have you loved me?" She said, her final question. "Since I first saw you." Baralai answered. And it was enough for Paine.

It was true, Baralai had always had a thing for Paine. But when she had made it apparant she had no feelings for him, he had moved on, even to the point of dating Yuna's younger cousin. But when Paine had showed up, a fiery lust in her eyes, he had returned to the days of the Crimson Squad, where he would watch her every movement, entranced by her grace.

It wasn't completely unaccurate to say Paine had taken advantage of Baralai, but manipulated was a better term, even to her. She knew how to take everything from Baralai but his fascination by her, any other feelings, his honor, his dignity. She was like a siren, able to drawhim to her, captivatinghim until it was too late.

Once she had the passionate love Baralai had for her rekindled,she knew she had succeeded, and just so that Baralai could not revoke the vows he made her, she screwed him, making his descision final. Rikku would not think highly of Baralai once she found out that he had screwed her best friend in the bed that they too had shared. Rikku had arrived just as Paine was making out with Baralai on the porch, her way of saying goodbye to him.

Rikku was screaming insults at them both from the street, gazing at them with hatred. Paine turned, an innocent, but oh so evil smirk on her face. "All's fair in love and war. Tough luck, tootse, you seem to be yesterday's news." She said, before walking right past her and hopping onto the lift, blowing a kiss to Baralai, who stood, rather embarrassed, before Rikku.

And that had been the end of that. Rikku had walked away from Bevelle, and a bloody-nosed Baralai, leaving behind her past, her past melting into her future as she rewrote her personality sub-consciously, taking out most of the immaturity and replacing it with the silent knowledge she had desired since her childhood.

Of course she had run straight to Gippal, and they had dated, Gippal growing a hatred for the people who had hurt her so, causing her to change so drastically, and yet so little. And that had been the start of the feuding. It had created much tension between the Yevonites and the Al Bhed, but this time the people did not discriminate against Al Bhed, or the Yevonites, but were always aware of the battle that constantly raged throughout the land that had seen so little calm in the last millenium.

And, no matter how much they mentally denied it, it was all because of an immature fight over a praetor between two former friends.

But Paine had Aaron to think of now. He was 15 now, tall, handsome, smart, and strong. He was still learning to weild the sword and the staff his father used. Somehow he seemed less adequate with them than Paine would expect, as he practiced with them day and night.

That is, when he wasn't sneaking out to see that damned Al Bhed wench. Rikku's daughter. For some reason he could not comprehend that she was below him. She and her bastard parents. There were plenty of pretty New Yevon Daughters, as their group had come to be called. They were the daughters of the high-ranking New Yevon officials, all smart, lovely girls, unlike the wild Laralyne. They didn't have anger problems that usually resulted in them getting into fights with knives and guns. No, they were all polite, respectful girls.

But Aaron had a tendency to be drawn to the vixenish Al Bhed, and he would escape the city one way or another, always finding that god forsaken girl on the Thunder Plains. Paine always knew when her son had gone when she found his rain soaked clothing in the laundry. And no matter what Paine did, she couldn't stop him. She had sentenced him to practice the sword for a week at the academy, gaurded by soldiers, but somehow he eluded them at night, coming back by dawn and practicing his sword again, sleeping hardly at all.

He just couldn't see that he was so much better than Laralyne.

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Yuna's life had gone well, she had been married to Tidus six months after he returned, and she bore twins three years later, a boy and a girl. She named them Lenne and Shuyin, in honor of the memories she held. The sight of them brought tears to her eyes, her love for them so over-powering she had fainted before when they had walked into the room. She never thought she could love anything half as much as she loved Tidus, but the devotion she had towards her beautiful children made her believe she couldn't live a second should one of them fall to death.

Surprisingly, they grew to look eerily like the real Lenne and Shuyin, and they were 14 now, only 3 years younger than the lovers had been when they died, and the resemblance shocked a great many who knew of them. The only thing that confused their parents was how Lenne was born with brown eyes, considering Yuna had blue and green, Tidus had blue, Yuna's mother had green, her father had blue. They supposed it was from Tidus's side of the family, but it seemed odd all the same.

I fact, it was Tidus who insisted they name the boy Shuyin, after Yuna had decided she would name her daughter Lenne. It may have seemed odd, having a brother and sister named after two lovers, but the children loved their names, taking them as a symbol of the memories of the people, of all the people who fought for Spira. They were amazingly well behaved children, even though Yuna and Tidus encouraged them to be free spirited. They new well Spira's tragic history, the suffering their parents had endured, and the ones they were named for. They new the suffering of the people. Somehow it seemed, fragments of emotion, not memories, per say, but the memory that accompanied memories, those of feelings, had poured into their souls.

They were truly incredible children.

As for the argument between Rikku and Paine, Yuna was fed up with it. Even after all she had sacrificed, after all the pain, the grief that gone into making Spira a place of peace and calm, they insisted on sabotaging eveything she had strove to create, ruling Spira from the bedrooms like tyrants, insisting on pulling the rest of Spira into a 17 year old feud over teen love. She had visited them each a few times, their conversations strained. She didn't support either of them. She was angrier at them than she was at the men who carried out their wills, but nothing she did would quell their anger.

Though their children seemed decent enough. Their natural opinions supressed by the presence of their parents, but she could tell that they saw the pointlessness in the struggle caused by their parents.

Perhaps Yuna's fault in all of this was the forgiveness she lacked. She no longer tried to break the conflict between her friends, and instead separated herself from them. She gave speeches still, encouraging peace in Spira, and was still adored

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Wakka and Lulu's son Vidina was the oldest of the children born to the old friends, being seventeen now. He had a younger sister, Aerella, who was almost 14. She was a very docile girl, with long black hair like her mothers, unlike Vidina's orange hair he kept spiked. They seemed to grow up a lot like their parents had, then new generation adapting a lot of their parents' traits, Vidina with a little less of his father's cluelessness, and Aerella a little more social and sparkling than Lulu. It was just the way it was.

The children were both really good friends with Lenne and Shuyin, who lived with their parents in Luca. They however, stayed on the beach in Besaid. Yuna and Tidus came to visit them often, bringing their children with them. And often, and the insisting of Vidina and Aerella, Wakka and Lulu would let them board a ship to Luca, to stay with Lenne and Shuyin. It was something they adored, spending time with their 'cousins'. Perhaps more went on there then the adults knew of. Not romantically, but it seemed that these visits meant more to the children than was natural. And it was. It meant far, far more to them then anyone knew.

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