Chapter 21: Twice The Love

A/N: Okay basically, both Tidus and Yuna are looking at the same scene from their point of view.

Tidus's POV:

Slowly I turned away from the direction that I was about to run through. My eyes reluctantly losing their sight on the gap that the girl had disappeared into.

I sighed and turned back to leave the celebration. My head was spinning from the confusion that I had just lived through for the last few minutes.

Something was trying to break through. The faces that I had seen were somehow so familiar and yet I couldn't place them. Then there was the girl. I knew that she wasn't just some random pick of the crowd. I had never done anything like that before. I would have never done what I had just done in the middle of a crowd like that. That was way too extreme, even for me. But I had felt something tonight and although it was so perplexing it was also so familiar.

This had all started when I put that stupid mask on.

I grew angry, reached my hand up to my face and was about to pull the mask off, when I remembered that I would be recognised soon after. I certainly didn't want to make a scene right now. I didn't want the people to think I was like them. I didn't want to look like a fool.

So I let my hand fall back down on my side and decided to get out of this place as fast as I could. People were getting in my way again and I was becoming irritated by most of the girls attempts to feel me up.

I wonder why I had called that girl Yuna. The blonde girl I had seen had said that Yuna was waiting for me. But who the heck was Yuna? Was it the girl that I had almost seduced in the crowd? Oh man! Why did I even do that? What had come over me? Why did she even let me do it? Was she just one of the girls in the crowd? No she couldn't have been. She was different. She was the one who stopped me from going to far. She had something different. It was like I knew her. But how? She had this scent that I recognised from somewhere. Those eyes…they were…it felt like I'd seen them before. No impossible. I never had time for girls, let alone recognise one.

I suddenly crashed into someone and I watched as they fell to the floor below. I then tripped over their legs and toppled over into the group of people in front of me. About five people in a row were sent crashing to the ground.

I lay on the ground, on my back for the second time that night and stared up into the sky above, waiting for my angel to come back to me.

But the longer I waited, the more I came to realise that she wasn't coming back.

Suddenly I was staring into the eyes of a much older man, and the look they were giving me was rather…disturbing.

The next thing I knew, I was being hauled up by the man so that I stood directly in front of him.

I looked at him curiously and yelled over the loud music, "Who are you?"

He frowned and began to drag me away from the crowd and somewhere near the entrance of the city.

"Where are you taking me?" I yelled, not having the slightest idea why I wasn't even scared that this man could possibly be an insane fugitive.

Finally we stopped just outside the main entrance and I leant down with my hands resting on my knees, trying to catch my breath.

"What…is going…on?" I finally gasped out, as I stared down at the two black boots in front of me.

He finally said, "I saw you."

I felt my blood suddenly start to pump rapidly and my heart was beating on overdrive. I gulped down a huge feeling of fear.

What exactly had he seen?

I looked away nervously and waited for him to continue.

"What do you mean?" I asked worriedly, after he didn't continue speaking.

"I saw you in the crowd doing the unthinkable." He growled angrily, sending chills up my spine.

I looked down and tried to make sense of everything.

Who was this man? What had happened to me tonight?

It was then that I suddenly felt a hand up near my left eye and the mask that I had been wearing was ripped off violently. My head started to spin rapidly once more, causing me to howl in pain. Everything was blurry; I felt my feet losing their balance and the next I knew, I had fallen backwards onto the hard asphalt road below.

"Arrgghh!" I cried as my spine hit the road. "Dammit…that caned."

I lay there for a moment with my eyes closed, until finally I felt the pain slowly seep away. I opened my left eye first and then my right and raised my hand to my head.

It had stopped throbbing and I watched as my blitzball attire transformed into my black pants, black shirt and black, gold-trimmed coat. Amazing glowing balls of light hovered around me for a moment and then slowly faded away.

I lifted my head up and for a just moment I felt that something had happened to me tonight…something that was just so right. But as my mind began to see what was real to me once more, I realised that I had absolutely no idea on what had occurred in the short amount of time at The Mask.

"Auron…" I trailed off, hoping that he could give me an explanation.

He stared back at me with eyes of pure anger. I felt myself scramble back a bit on the ground below…somewhat afraid of what his next action would be. I just got this bad feeling…and somehow, I knew that my feelings always came true.

I lifted my body up off the road and stared into his eyes.

As it turned out I was right, because a few seconds later I felt a hard fist smash into my left cheek so powerfully, that it sent me collapsing towards the road below.

I lay there for a few short seconds, trying to take in everything that had just happened. Auron…my mentor had just punched the crap out of me.

I felt my hand wander up towards my cheek and rub it, as I tried to rid myself of the pain the blow had given me.

I then looked up at Auron, and saw that the look of anger that had been in his eyes before, had now been replaced by a look of worry.

I forced myself to get up from the ground without looking like a child, the way he had just treated me.

I was the leader of Zanarkand. Who did he think he was dealing with here?

"Auron…what do you think you're playing at here?" I growled furiously.

"I'm sorry master…I thought that I should snap you out of whatever you were in." He explained as he began to walk away.

"Wait, where are you going…what do you mean you tried to snap me out of…" I began, only to be cut off by him.

"Master if you will just follow me, I promise you…you will see all there is to know." He said calmly and walked off ahead again.

"What…Auron what's going on…why did you punch me for?" I yelled in confusion, not moving from where I stood.

He suddenly came to a halt and spun around to face me, inching his way closer to me slowly.

"Very well then, I will just have to show you here. I did want to make sure that no one would be around to maybe get a look at it. But seeing as you are the master…we shall do as you wish." He said sarcastically, as he thrust out his left hand and presented me with what looked like some sort of sphere.

I snatched it out of his hand and glared at him before looking down at it.

I inspected it for a minute and found that I didn't have the slightest idea of what it was.

"Um…Auron…what is it exactly?" I asked, as I turned it over in my hands to look at the entire surface of the object.

"It's called a movie sphere." He replied quietly.

"Huh?" I said looking up with a screwed up expression upon my face.

"It's what you record things with. Here let me show you." He said walking over to me and fiddling with the sphere.

Then all of a sudden the sphere fogged up and began to play a recording of something. As it zoomed in on different people and started to shoot out loud music, I realised that this had been recorded tonight…at The Mask.

It zoomed in around the partying people and everything seemed quite normal for a while…until I saw…

My eyes widened and I didn't want to believe it. There in the sphere, was an exact replica of me…or should I say…it was me. I was lying on the floor with a woman and it showed us…

I looked away and covered the sphere with my hand, not knowing how to turn it off. I didn't want Auron to see any more…although he most likely had already seen it…seeing as he was the one who recorded it.

There was an awkward silence that followed and Auron swiftly grabbed the sphere back out of my hand.

"Hey!" I yelled, as I struggled to get it back off him.

He however just slipped it back in his pocket and pushed me away forcefully.

"Hey give it back…what are you gonna do with it?" I said annoyed that he was defying my wishes.

I crossed my arms and waited for an answer.

"Young master…I don't think you realise just how serious this situation is." He began, as he walked over to lean against a wall.

Apparently we were going to be here for a while.

"Yes I do…that's me in that sphere and I don't exactly want you to have a clip of me and some girl…doing what we were doing…in your possession." I protested, as I felt my cheeks flush bright red.

I hung my head low and scratched the back of it, hoping that he didn't see my embarrassment.

"Hmph!" he replied.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" I asked getting annoyed with his arrogance.

"You are so naïve." He mumbled, as he looked away, putting his shades on over his eyes.

"Huh?" I said, as I screwed my face up in confusion.

What was he trying to get at?

"Do you have any idea who that girl was?" he asked, as he turned to face me once more.

I looked away and folded my arms and whispered, "No…I don't even remember doing…well what we did in the sphere."

"Aha." he said under his breath.

"Auron are you going to explain to me what exactly happened to me tonight, or are we going to have to put you on death row along with that girl as well?" I yelled, infuriated by his futile games.

I had now walked over to him, standing before him, until I was just inches away from his face, feeling my hands curl up into fists, ready to punch him out right then.

His eyes widened in what appeared to be shock, but relaxed again as he said, "Master…master you wouldn't do that."

"Wouldn't I?" I yelled, as I brought my fist up, getting ready to smack him right between the eyes.

"You can't…what would you do without me? This Moonshine Mission wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for me." He said calmly, as he moved away from the wall, brushing past me.

The Moonshine Mission…The Moonshine Mission was not something I greatly valued, but Auron seemed to think it was the most important thing in Zanarkand. I was sick of hearing about it.

I stood there staring at the wall and finally let my anger loose.

"Arghh!" I screamed, as I slammed my right fist into the hard wall.

I stood there for a few seconds and then realised what I had done. I felt the pain shoot through my wrist and run up my arm.

"Oh dammit!" I cursed, as I held my hand in agony.

Dammit, why thein the name of Zenitdid I do that?

Laughing from behind suddenly broke me from my thoughts. I spun around still holding onto my hand, only to see Auron laughing at my stupidity.

"What are you laughing at?" I cried, as I began to run off.

"Young master wait…I haven't yet told you…"

I didn't hear the rest of his words because they had faded as I ran out of the entrance to the city. I didn't know where I was going; I just knew that nothing seemed right at the moment. Auron was supposed to help me in times of confusion, not laugh at me. I didn't have a clue about what happened to me tonight, I just knew that something wonderful had happened. That girl in the sphere had given me something I had remembered feeling once before.

What was it? What was happening to me? The dreams…the visions of people I felt connected to somehow. I wanted to find out what was going on now.

"Arghh! What the…" I exclaimed, as ran into something in front of me and fell backwards onto the grass below.

I shook my head, letting blonde hair fall over my eyes. I squinted through my hair and looked upwards to see a girl. She seemed shocked, as she was covering her mouth… and her eyes…

My eyes widened…those eyes…

I felt myself begin to leave the ground below and stand to my full height. She was directly in front of me, wearing what seemed to be some sort of gunner outfit or something.

She looked away and began to leave, only to be stopped by my hand grabbing onto her arm. It was then that I felt the pain shoot through my arm once more and I released my hold on her.

I held onto my wrist and looked down at it, closing my eyes as I felt them begin to water.

It was then that I felt the most soothing touch find it's way onto my wrist.

"Huh?" I whispered, as I opened my eyes.

Suddenly a glowing white light illuminated around my arm. I stood there just staring at the light and the place it was coming from.

Two beautiful hands were resting gently upon my arm, and releasing the energy it held from within.

I looked up at the face in front of me and saw that the girl's eyes were closed. She seemed to be concentrating, so I didn't say anything. However I didn't stop myself from watching her. She was truly beautiful. Never in my life had I seen anything like her.

Or had 1…

Suddenly my head began to spin and I could do nothing but wait for it to stop.

I knew that I was going to enter another dream of some sort. So if I let it come…then maybe it would be easier on my mind. If I didn't fight it…

Flash Back

"Hey have you thought of anything yet?"

"Huh?" I asked turning around to see a blonde girl talking to me.

Hey, she was the one I saw at The Mask…the one in my visions.

"Hey…you're um…uh…who are you again?" I asked scratching the back of my head, hoping that she wouldn't laugh at me like Auron did.

"Gee…Sin's toxin musta really got to you huh?" she said, as she rested her hands on her hips, giving me a worried kind of look.

'Hey my clothes…they look like the clothes I had on at The Mask,' I thought to myself as I looked down.

"Are you listening to me…hello…it's me Rikku…over here!" she shouted, as she jumped up and down energetically, waving her arms around.

"Huh?" I said once again, as I looked up from the ground to stare at her.

"Oh boy…it seems like we're gonna get no where with you day-dreaming all the time." She sighed, as she began to walk off ahead.

"Hey wait…where are we?" I called out after her.

She stopped and faced me with a look of confusion, "We're almost there. We're at Mt Gagazet. That's why I was asking if you had thought of anything yet. We haven't got much time left before…" she trailed off, with a sad look in her eyes.

"Before what?" I asked.

"Look I'm not saying it again…I explained it to you once already…" she trailed off.

"Hey come on…I'm so confused…tell me." I pleaded, as I walked closer.

"We don't have much time before she…before she dies…" she whispered, as she wiped away tears from her swirly green eyes.

"Before who dies?" I asked, becoming a little freaked out.

"Yunie who else?" she shouted, as she ran off after a bunch of people up ahead.

"Huh?" I said to myself.

'Yunie…that was pretty close to…Yuna. Hey wait a minute…'

End Flash Back

I opened my eyes and found that I was lying on the grass once more, except this time I had something on top of me.

"Mmm." I mumbled, as I rubbed my eyes to get a closer look at what was on top of me.

Hey…it's that girl. She looks like…she looks like.

Small visions of her face flashed before my eyes, smiling faces, sad faces, and scared faces. But they were all of her.

Where had I seen her before?

Suddenly I felt something enter my body…it was like a sudden rush of feelings. It began to feel warmer as it adjusted to my body and then…

Yuna's POV:

No…that wasn't the way it was supposed to go. That wasn't what was supposed to happen. I was supposed to tell him what I feel. Not to express it the way I did. But I suppose he did start it. But I should have stopped it sooner. Now it's going to be so much harder to leave. What we just did, proved that he still knew me.

But I thought that Seraph said that The Mask was a time to forget who you were and be unknown to one another. It was quite the opposite actually. When we put on those masks, we turned back into our old selves from two years ago. Although I don't think that he was fully aware of what he was doing. It was more like…he was still the man that didn't know me, but his old self was desperately trying to break through. He was probably really confused. He most likely thought that what we were doing was right, but then…he didn't know why it was right.

I'm confused myself. It was like we just let go for a while and revealed our true selves to each other through actions.

But I still wanted to tell him the words that are still buried deep down in my heart. The words that never seemed to reach his ears whenever we are near. Maybe just simply saying them wouldn't be enough. Maybe if I expressed my words in a way that could make the world know of my true feelings, then maybe he would understand.

"I could help you with that." Came a calm voice from out of nowhere.

"Who's there?" I gasped, as I stopped running towards the forest and stood my ground.

"I'm here." Came the voice again.

I spun around and removed my mask, revealing my gunner's attire, as Seraph had put it. I wanted to get a clearer view of what was around me.

Suddenly my hand flew towards my chest where my heart beat rapidly.

"Silly. I can't be seen. I'm within you." The voice came again.

I became scared and I figured that the voice knew it.

"Who are you?" I whispered frightfully.

"That's not what we're here for. We're here to find out who you are." The voice replied.

"But…I know who I am." I said, sounding rather unsure of myself.

The voice laughed and said, "No you don't. If you know who you are, then you wouldn't be sounding so unsure of yourself right now."

The voice, which I was assuming, was a 'she', practically read my thoughts. I actually found this voice familiar. I had heard it before. If I was correct, I had spoken with this voice in my mind before going tonight. It was the voice that had persuaded me to go to The Mask tonight. However, now it was speaking out aloud.

"Yes I was the one who spoke to you tonight. I told you to go." She said once again reading my mind.

"What do you want with me?" I said feeling quite panicky.

This voice was coming from inside me. There was no escaping it.

"I only want to help. I want you to do what you must. I know how much you want to tell him you love him. I can feel your love and your pain. I have felt the same. You are much like me." The voice whispered.

"How long have you been with me?" I asked, as I felt her tears coming from within, causing me to cry as well.

"I have been with you since you came here." She said, as she stopped crying.

"Then you were with me in the cell?" I questioned.

"Yes." She replied.

"So you helped me escape from the guards that night? That's how they didn't see me?"

"Yes." She replied once again.

There was a long moment of silence.

"So it was you who told me to die for Tidus?" I asked, with sadness in my voice.

"No I didn't. That was something I cannot explain right now. It is too complicated and I don't want you to worry." She explained, clearly stating that the conversation on the subject was over.

"Well how can you help me?" I asked, remembering her first words to me.

Suddenly I heard a noise from behind. I spun around and noticed that it was…'him'.

He kept walking towards me, apparently deep in thought. I thought that he would see me, but he just kept walking until it was too late. He crashed into me and fell backwards onto the grass below. I just stood there, trying to keep my balance and raised my hand towards my mouth in shock, feeling my eyes widen, as I stared at him.

He lay there and shook his head, letting blonde locks fall over his eyes. I then saw him squinting through his hair, gazing up at me with those amazing ocean deep eyes that I was so in love with.

His eyes widened too and I watched as he began to stand up from the ground below.

He was now directly in front of me, and I noticed that he was now wearing his black gold-trimmed cloak once more.

I looked away and began to leave, only to be stopped by his hand grabbing onto my arm. It was then that he let go, flinching from what seemed like pain in his arm.

I watched, as he tried to keep the tears of pain from leaving his eyes.

I felt myself reaching out to him, knowing that I could help him.

"Huh?" he whispered, as he opened his eyes.

I then began to release the energy from inside, forcing it to heal him from the pain.

I was concentrating so hard, because I hadn't done anything like this in a very long time…

"Oh…" I moaned as I rubbed my forehead.

I was so tired.

Well at least when I fainted I had fallen on…

Suddenly I felt my eyes flutter open abruptly. I was lying on top of someone. I was lying on top of 'him'. I could feel his chest breathing in and out slowly and serenely and it made me feel like I was home.

I suddenly came back to reality.

Trust me to pass out after performing a simple spell like that.

I was about to get up, but was stopped by a feeling of emotions engulfing me; forcing me to stay where I was until my body was completely overridden by something completely out of the ordinary. I didn't feel in control anymore. I was still partly conscious of what was happening around me, but it felt like…like someone else was with me.

Finally I found my feet and removed myself from his body and saw that he too was awake. I waited for him to rise, holding out my hand for him to take.

He accepted and rose to his full height and stood just centimetres away from my body.

Suddenly I felt the most wonderful feeling wash over me and as I closed my eyes I felt myself feeling somewhat different.

I opened my eyes…I looked down and noticed that my attire had transformed into the outfit I had on in my dream.

"What's happening to me?" I breathed, as I trailed my fingers over the white ruffles on my top.

Slowly he reached up and delicately glided his fingers across my cheeks, causing me to flutter my eyes shut peacefully. I felt him move down a little lower, trailing along my neck and before I knew what was happening, a pair of warm lips met mine and his arms wrapped around my waist gently. I slid my hands up his upper arms; slowly making my way up to his neck and then falling down over his chest, where I let them rest for the longest time. This was the most beautiful moment right now. It didn't feel like it was just him and me. It felt like there was someone else. Like we had twice the love running throughout our bodies.

Suddenly he pulled away gently and as I opened my eyes, I saw that his outfit had changed into a different style of blitzball outfit.

We both stood there for a moment and he seemed rather confused. I waited for him to say something like, "I have come to tell you that you're to be taken away."

But all he could do was stare at me in amazement.

"Lenne you're back." He exclaimed.

I gave him a look of confusion and hurt, "I'm not Lenne."

He frowned and walked towards me and said, "But you must be. You look like her and you are wearing the same clothes. You have the same spirit."

It was then that I realised that he thought I was Lenne because, the voice within was Lenne.

I closed my eyes sadly and repeated, "I'm not Lenne."

"Why do you say such things?" he asked confused.

"Because they are true." I whispered.

"It's okay…now we can be together." He soothed.

"But I'm not Lenne…I'm…" I trailed off, as he kissed me again.

A/N: Well I'm back again. Okay you have my permission to flame me for not updating in ages. I am not abandoning this story. No way. Too much work has gone into this to give up now. It just might take a while to update…now that I am back at school. But I hope I made up for it by making this chapter extra long. Enjoy.

P.S. Hay Rikku (Kitty2211). Thanks for the great review. So you're my cousin now hey? Sure I'll read and review your story. Just tell me when you post it.

Yunie Tidus