3. We Are All Connected

The next morning I woke up and I realized I was alone. I quickly shot up in bed and looked around me. I didn't know where I was and I was alone. I couldn't think of anything more frightening. I hopped out of bed in only my bra and underwear and ran into the next room as tears started to form in my eyes. Was it all just a dream? Was Tidus coming back to me just my imagination playing tricks on me?

Something grabbed onto my shoulders, and I yelped as I whipped around.

"Yuna, it's me!" It took me a second to see through my teary eyes to realize that it was Tidus. I wrapped my arms around him and I started to cry. I couldn't speak, tears only came. He kissed me on the top of the head to comfort me. "Yuna, what's wrong?"

"I thought you were just a dream." Tidus held me away from him and kept his hands on my shoulders. A smile came upon his faces and a chuckle escaped his lips. I was a little offended that he would laugh as I was crying in his arms, so I looked up at him. "What?"

"I am a dream." I had to smile as he spoke. He brushed my cheek with his hand to wipe away the tears that were flowing.

"Very funny, but that's not what I meant. I woke up, and I was alone. It made me feel as if...yesterday never happened. Like, I helped save the world, but I didn't." I wrapped my arms around him again.

"Well, I'm here, so you don't have to worry, okay?" He moved me away from him again and looked into my eyes. "See me?"

"Clear as day," I said with a smile. Finally the tears stopped flowing. I'm not really one to burst into tears like that. I think...the last time I did was when I sang in the Thunder Plains. However, I feel that was more of an influence of Lenne; those were her feelings, and I only related them to myself. Tidus wiped the remainder of my tears away.

"Are we done crying now?" I nodded and smiled. He returned my smile with one of his own. God, I love the way his eyes sparkle when he smiles. "Okay, I was making breakfast until I heard you freak our. I hope it's not burnt to a crisp now."

"Ha ha," I said sarcastically as I walked back into our bedroom to grab my robe, and then I walked into the kitchen area. I gasped at the sight when I entered. "Oh, Tidus..."

He went all out. He bought flowers and put them on the counters, he set the table with candles, a tablecloth, new china, (Hmm...someone went shopping! How soundly did I sleep?) and other things. Wine glasses sat next to our dishes half full of orange juice. Also, the thing that thrilled me the most, a perfect red rose was placed on my plate. I walked over to it, picked it up, and inhaled its perfume.

"So, you hungry?" I nodded as he moved my chair back so I could sit down. He pushed my chair in closer to the table and then walked over to the stove. He made enough eggs, hash browns, and pancakes to feed New Yevon and the Youth League. "I really hope you're hungry."

"Wow, I guess since you haven't eaten in two years you could eat an entire horse?" He smirked at me and brought the plates to the table. He placed a little bit of everything onto my plate and I started to eat. Honestly, I was surprised that everything tasted amazing. "You have been holding out on me. I never knew that you could cook."

"Yeah, it's a surprise to both of us." I looked up at him as he gestured to the pile of recipe cards next to the sink. I had to smile as he blushed a little bit. "I, um, had to run over to Lulu and Wakka's this morning after my shower and ask Lulu how to cook. So I really can't take credit for any of this."

"Well, I still give you full credit." We both smiled and started to eat. We were both so hungry that we didn't say another word to each other during breakfast. When we were done, I stood up to bring my dishes to the sink, but Tidus stopped me.

"And what do you think you're doing?" He took me by surprise so I just whipped around and looked at him. He walked up to me and took the dishes out of my hands. "Nope, you can go rest or something. I've got this."

"Ya know, if you weren't gone for two years, I would've asked you what you did to be sucking up to me, but..." I trailed off as I kissed him on the cheek. "I guess for now I'll enjoy it while I have it. I'll go take a shower."

When I came out of the shower, Tidus was lying down on the bed. His eyes were closed, so I jumped on the bed next to him. He jumped perhaps a foot and opened his eyes.

"Dear lord, Yuna!" He grabbed me by the shoulders, whipped me around, pinned me down on the bed, and started to tickle me. He is a lot stronger than I am, so he was able to hold me down even though I was squirming quite a bit.

"Okay okay okay! Stop, stop, stop!" I was giggling, so speaking was hard work.

"Are you ever going to do that to me again?" He was smiling, so I knew he was only being playful with me.

"I won't, I promise!"

"All right, then." He then sat down on the bed and I lied my head down on his lap. He started to run his fingers through my hair, and then moved his head so he could look me in the eyes. "So, I'm still kind of confused on how this entire thing started. You never were able to tell me the entire story. All you said was that it started with some sphere, right?"

"That's right," I answered as I took his hands in hers. I still was worried that he wasn't real, so I wanted to feel him as long as I could, just incase he would disappear again. "Kimahri found the sphere on Mt. Gagazet."

"But, the thing I want to know is, when was it recorded?" I only smiled at the sound of his voice. He realized I really didn't comprehend what he just said, so he spoke up again. "Yuna, ya there?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Tidus." I realized that me being in his arms was way too distracting, so I sat up straight and looked at him. "It's just that I haven't seen you in so long that I almost forgot how good it felt."

"How good what felt?" Tidus asked me.

"Love. What it was to be in it, what it was like to have it surging through your heart at every moment." I looked at him right in the eyes, and we both smiled. Of course, right at that moment (without knocking!) Rikku and Paine walked right into the bedroom.

"Whoa, I really hope I'm not interrupting anything." Rikku said as Tidus and I both whipped our heads toward her. How we didn't hear her come into the house.

"I guess that proves that I didn't lock the door after I came in after my cooking lesson with Lulu." Tidus said as I smiled at him. Rikku's eyes lit up as she comprehended what Tidus said. She looked over at me.

"He cooked for you, Yunie?" I nodded and she seemed impressed. "Damn Tidus, that gives you some major points. Anyway, the reason why I came here—and thank god I didn't walk into anything disturbing—Wakka and Lulu wanted to know if we could watch the baby for a little bit because they want to go on a 'romantic getaway.'"

"We tried to explain to them that there aren't any romantic spots in Spira, but they didn't listen to us and decided to go anyway, leaving us with the babysitting duties." Paine said as she crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame.

"Nah, it's okay. He's a cute little guy, I don't mind." Tidus said as he stood up and stretched.

"Actually, can you guys handle Vidina for a little while?" I said to Rikku and Paine as I stood up next to Tidus. I reached my hand out and held Tidus' hand in mine.

"Why?" Paine asked simply.

"I really would like for Tidus and I to be alone for a little bit." Rikku raised an eyebrow and smiled at my reply.

"Oooh, I see who's got it goin' on!" My jaw dropped at the rash implication from Rikku, although I knew it was true. "Go on, go ahead. You can probably get Brother to take you somewhere on the airship."

"Yeah, I was thinking about asking him if he and Buddy weren't busy. Either that, or Tidus and I can just go to the shore." I started to lead Tidus toward the door, but Rikku stood in front of the doorway.

"What is that? Like your secret hide-a-way area lately, Yunie?" I chuckled at Rikku and waited for her to move away from the door. Of course, she didn't move.

"Um, Rikku, could you let us through?" I asked her as nicely as I could. I was about ready to push her out of the way, but I thought I should ask first.

"Yeah, but I want to know where you guys are going." Rikku bounced on her toes in excitement. "I love romance."

"Go find Gippal then, Rikku." Paine said as she pushed Rikku out of our way. Rikku looked at Paine in astonishment.

"Hey!" I couldn't help but giggle at Rikku's reaction. No matter how much Rikku tries to tell Paine and I that nothing happened between her and Gippal, we can see right through her. Gippal himself told us that they were together a while back. However, Rikku hasn't spilled the info on that one yet, and she's not one to hide secrets well. One day she'll break and spill the goods. Just the way she talks about him...She even said that she wanted to help rebuild Home so she could be with him. I don't think she realizes what she says sometimes. I looked over at Tidus and I could see that he was completely lost in the dark.

"I'll have to explain it to you," I said as he nodded at me. I sighed as I had to recap the last two years of my life in my head....wow there was a lot to tell. "I'll have to explain everything." I realized that now was as good of a time as any to start with my story, so I grabbed Tidus' hand and we started to walk out of the house. We both looked over our shoulders and there was Rikku, jumping and waving frantically to us. "Oh, Rikku."

"She sure hasn't changed," Tidus said with a laugh after we were out of earshot.

"No, she's still the same Rikku. I love the girl to death though." We exited Besaid and start to walk toward the beach, hand in hand. "The three of us, we all had a lot of fun while trying to unravel everything that happened."

"Okay, now that I have you alone without anyone to interrupt you, I wanna hear everything."

"Well, it all started when I saw this sphere of you." I had to giggle at the fact that that is pretty much the only information I have given Tidus about my journey since he's been back. I think that's the furthest I ever got in my story, and I have started the story about eight times.

"Yes, we all know this part and that Kimahri found it on Mt. Gagazet." Tidus smiled at me to reassure me that he really wasn't pissed off at me for being so repetitive.

"Well, Rikku showed it to me because she got it from Kimahri. You see, Rikku, Brother, and Buddy were all part of the Gullwings before I did. She befriended Paine, and I really didn't know much about her at first." I scrunched my nose as I thought about Paine for a second. "As a matter of fact, she and I have only had a few heart to heart talks since we met."

"Yeah, she doesn't exactly seem like the talkative type." Tidus said. "I have observed this from the few times I've seen her in the last like twelve hours."

"She's a very nice girl though. She went through a lot." I sighed as I continued, "I guess...I guess I can understand and respect her decision not to say anything. She even told me once, 'the hardest person to know is yourself.'"

"I can see where she gets that, because it is true." Tidus stopped at the precipice that looks over the entire city of Besaid. "I still can't believe I'm back."

"I'm not complaining, so you shouldn't either." I said as I walked up next to him.

"I'm not complaining in the least bit. Hell, I'm back here with you." He cupped my chin with his hand. "It's almost hard for me to hear that you spend so much time trying to find a way to get me back."

"Don't let it be hard for you to hear. I love you, Tidus. You were, and still are, my true love, and a love like that isn't just one of those things that you can toss aside and hope that it goes away. It aches inside of you until you can't stand it anymore. When people break up, they have to realize that that is the kind of heartbreak that you have to get over. It's not easy, but the timing wasn't right, or the feelings weren't there or something. In my case, my love was ripped away from me. I didn't even get a chance to prepare myself for the heartbreak..." I trailed off and Tidus put an arm around my shoulders. I leaned up against him and held back the tears that were starting to form again. (Wow, I have no idea what is up with me being so emotional lately!) "However, you're here now, and that is the best thing that could've happened to me."

"Hey, it's not nice to lie." He knew very well that I wasn't lying, but Tidus isn't one of those guys that have an easy time accepting a complement. He likes to kinda play hard to get. "Kay...finish with the story now."

"First of all, you know very well that I'm not lying. Okay, I'll really explain everything to you now. But first...Race ya to the beach!" Before Tidus knew what had happened, I ran off toward the beach. It took Tidus about a beat to realize what I just did, and then raced after me. His stride is much larger than mine, so he was able to catch up to me as I reached the shore. He picked me up in his arms into a hug.

"You can't get away from me that easily!" Tidus said as he put me down. He kept his arms around my waist and leaned in toward my face. I couldn't help but smile because I wanted to kiss him ever since he got back. I honestly have no idea what the hell we were waiting for. I closed my eyes and puckered my lips a little bit...and then before I knew what happened, he picked up off of my feet and threw me into the water. I let out a scream as I hit the water, and I could hear him laughing at me. I surfaced with a gasp; that was NOT what I was expecting. As I started to swim toward the shore, Tidus sat on the beach, still laughing his ass off at me.

"Hey!" I got out of the water and sat next to him. "That was NOT was I thought you were going to do. Teasing is bad." I cleared my throat as a hint, but he only smiled at me. "Okay, now that we're calmed down...and a little wet...I think I can finish my story now."

"Yeah, I think you're a little wet there, Yuna." I playfully splashed him with water for the comment, and we both laughed. He then inched closer to me and put his arm around me again. I put my head on his shoulder and he put his head on mine. "Okay, so finish."

"Well, after finding the sphere of you, and talking to Rikku about it, I decided to join the Gullwings. I was thinking that I might find more spheres like it. And throughout my journey, I did find more, but in one of them, you were looking for a way to save a girl named Lenne, which made me really pissed off and jealous. It was like you left me and moved....on..." I trailed off as Tidus moved his head off of mine. It was not exactly the reaction that I was expecting...I honestly wasn't expecting a reaction at all because I was only kidding about being jealous. Well, okay, I was jealous until I found out that it was actually Shuyin and not Tidus, but I didn't get to that part in my story yet. I picked my head off of his shoulder and looked up at him. He just sat there, looked straight ahead, and pressed his lips together. I was confused by the look, so I moved his face with my forefinger to look at me. "Questions? Comments?"

"Lenne," Tidus said as he moved his head so he looked away from me. If that wasn't bad enough, he moved arm. I backed away a little bit in surprise and he wrapped his arms around his knees. "Lenne."

"What is it?" Tidus wouldn't even look at me. I moved so I could look at him, but he just stood up and started to walk along the shore. It was really starting to freak me out, so I stood up and watched him. "Tidus, what is it?"

"That name..." Tidus said in almost a whisper. "I know it."