Yuna swallowed nervously and clutched at her seatbelt as the compact air ship shuddered to life. She wished that Gippal would stop laughing, or at least make it sound a little less maniacal, as his fingers flickered over the buttons and switches like lightning. The Machina threw itself forward with a violent shudder, and then began to rapidly pick up its speed. Gippal slammed his fist down on a large red button and they were airborne, the lights and campfires of Bikanel desert shrinking to mere pinpoints of light far below.

It wasn't long before they were soaring above the clouds. Gippal whistled tunelessly and leaned back, controlling the steering wheel with his booted foot. Yuna chose to ignore that particular quirk and stared out the window instead, feeling somewhat queasy. The little airship was relatively fast but it wasn't as smooth or quiet as Celsius or Cid's airship.

After a good hour or so, Yuna decided that flying in the small airship was actually quite pleasant. Gippal's tuneless singing put her at ease, and besides, there was a kind of electric buzz that she got from soaring through the air in the small contraption. It was kind of like riding on the front of Celsius. Yuna quietly laughed at herself. She'd ridden on the front many times before, so why was she scared now? Outside the circles of her contemplation, Gippal flicked a couple of levers with the toe of his left boot and gestured to the window.

"Yuna, have a look at this."

Yuna leaned over and peered out the window. The ship dipped below the clouds, until it was flying just above the calm surface of the sea, and fine droplets of water were thrown up into the air. They glittered in the moonlight like a shower of diamonds.

Gippal smiled confidently.

"Now this is the life."

The former summoner, who was wrapped up in the picturesque surroundings, gasped in delight as a school of silver dolphins broke the surface and leapt out the water from underneath the moon's reflection. She giggled and began to fiddle with the lock on her window, in an effort to be closer to them. As the lock swung free, Gippal glanced at her.

"We need to keep that one closed, Hun. This baby needs to go too high to have the window open."

Yuna blushed and pulled the window back up. It wouldn't budge. She tugged on the handle a good deal harder. Nope, that didn't work. Finally she undid her seat belt and tugged with all her strength as the plane slowly ascended.

As the head of the lock slipped over the catch, there was a bright red flash on the right wing, accompanied by a rather loud noise that was quite similar to that of a firaga spell. A moment later and the airship veered briefly to the right hand side.

Gippal clutched the steering with both hands as Yuna picked herself off the floor, and managed to shut the window that had been knocked open by the jolt.

"Put your seatbelt on" Gippal said firmly.

"But the window..."

Yuna was cut off by another explosion. The plane began to rise steeply and pitched to the left.

"DO IT NOW!" Gippal screamed at her, a vein standing up on his forehead as he struggled with the steering wheel and additional controls.

A second later Yuna was in her seat and was vainly trying to fix her seatbelt with shaking hands, hardly able to see through the tears that had welled up in her eyes.

"G-Gippal, my belt it won't..."

There was another explosion that cut off the power cables and the ship shuddered violently once more, before going completely silent.

"Cred!"

The ship dove sharply and despite Gippal's efforts, it hit the water nose first.

Yuna opened her eyes and screamed with pure terror. She was winded and her lungs struggled for breath. She felt a few steady streams of blood flowing unchecked, from her head and stomach. It was totally black except for a few rebelling lights that blinked from what was left of the controls. When she looked out of the windows, it was increasingly impossible to see the sky. They were sinking quickly. Aching, Yuna tried to get up but found herself pinned down.

"Gippal! She yelled, struggling fruitlessly.

The Al Bhed groaned and pushed a pile of debris from his legs. He was bleeding too. He leapt over a pile of twisted metal, and began to tug on the beam that was pinning her to the seat.

"I'll get you out,Yuna!" he promised, through a gasping breath.

With a gut wrenching sound, Yuna's window flung open and the water began to pour into the small cabin. She screamed and began to struggle, crying and pushing at the metal that was holding her down. Gippal swore and worked harder to shift the load. Inexorably, the water rose higher and Yuna struggled to keep her head out of the water.

"Help me!"

"You have to hold on for just a moment!"

Yuna felt the salt water burn her sinuses as she accidentally breathed in as the salt water began to splash against her lips.

"Take the deepest breath you can, ok?" Gippal's voice was as calm as he could possibly manage.

The water was rising steadily.

The pressure in her lungs grew greater and greater. Finally she breathed in.

She's always had the remote fear of drowning in the back of her mind for some reason. Perhaps it came from growing up on an island. There was always water around. And sailors. They always horrified the local children with their terrible tales. She had always felt that actually drowning would feel somewhat different though. It was still burning, as Yuna struggled against it; trying desperately to remember all the training she'd done on holding her breath. She couldn't even begin to pull oxygen from the surrounding water, not while she was like this. Slowly her vision began to mist over, and her eyes closed involuntarily.

It's dark.

I can't see anymore.

Is this the end?

No, not yet.

Somewhere beyond her reality, she felt a burning pressure behind her eyes. She knew she was crying, even as the water claimed her body for its own. With a kind of final desperation, Yuna cast her mind back over her memories...

It can't be over.

I've tried so hard to do the right thing by everyone.

I can't let my friends down, not like this.

Lulu, Wakka, Rikku…

Tidus.

It was becoming a little harder to think now, but she still clung to her memories like a childhood toy.

He saved me.

Was it in vain?

Somewhere inside her, all the training from her Summoner years kicked in again. After a few moments the compulsion to fight began to fade away and Yuna felt calm and even peaceful.

No. He saved Spira as well.

We both gave so much to these people. Maybe I wish I could have done more for me... Maybe this is for me.

Within her mind she saw the faces of her friends, all smiling. She smiled back at them and felt a strange tearing sensation of regret.

Baralai?

She saw his face in her mind, smiling and glowing with the light of the fading sunset.

It could have been nice, right?

Yuna felt braver now. She'd reached a resolution to all of her problems. Her Summoner mentality completely took over. She was ready to die.