A/N: I don't own anything that relates to Final Fantasy X or Square Soft/Enix unless you count the game disc.

Guadosalam. The lair of Maester Seymour, and home to the Guado. A town submerged in lies and secrets. The gateway to the Farplane, where the living and the dead merge like an Unsent. The pull of death is everywhere and the feeling of sadness weighs down like a blanket of fog. Even Rikku, the most cheerful of us all, can sense something is terribly amiss. But standing in the ten feet between Tidus and Yuna is more strangling than a noose.

"Just don't fall in love with her, Tidus." I find myself suddenly over by the teenage boy sitting on the low railing.

"Why?"

"Because. I'm not saying this as someone who doesn't trust you. I'm protecting you both."

"But why?"

"Because Yuna knows what waits for her in Zanarkand. You'll find out soon enough, but not now."

"Fine. But I think it's too late to be warning me."

"I see."

So Yuna is going to marry Maester Seymour. He's up to something, I can tell. I leave Tidus and walk up by the Farplane, not noticing someone following me. I stop in front of the archway leading to the stairs and start to climb them. When I get to the top, I sigh before going in. Suddenly, a deep voice speaks up behind me.

"Why do you keep returning to the Farplane?"

"Sir Auron… Pardon me, but I didn't think you the type to stalk people."

"I'm not stalking. I'm just merely curious as to why you keep coming here."

I don't know why, but the pull of death is always stronger around him. There seems to be a cold aura emanating from him at all times, keeping people away. "And I'm curious as to why you don't already know."

"I didn't go inside the Farplane."

"Why not?"

"That's my business."

"You're getting weak. You're leaning against the wall like you were when we all came here."

"That doesn't mean anything."

"Be that way then. But if you're hiding something, I'll find out about it."

"You do that."

I walked into the Farplane, and imagined something I had seen a little over ten years ago. I was in Luca with Chappu when we heard Lord Braska had arrived. We went to the pier, and, sure enough, Lord Braska descended from the boat along with his two Guardians, Sir Jecht and Sir Auron.

Looking back on this memory, something struck me as particularly odd: Auron was twenty-five and looked about eighteen, but now he's thirty-five but looks about sixty. No one can age naturally like that in ten years. Not even the most stressed person in Spira can go from what he was ten years ago to what he looks like now.

Of course, I'm not saying he's not handsome anymore, it's just strange.

I remember thinking that day in Luca, "What would it be like to have someone like him by my side, even for just a moment?" And I remember feeling remorseful for never having thought Chappu half the man Sir Auron was. But the truth was, he wasn't, and he never would be.

After Chappu died, I found myself turning more to my training. I wanted to be a Guardian. I wanted to be like Sir Auron and do what Chappu never could rid Spira of Sin if only for a little while.

So, when Sir Auron joined us in Luca, I found myself drawn to him. We often talked and the rest of the time we would just walk quietly, side by side, like friends.

And friends we were. We understood each other to a certain extent. There were still secrets, but we were aware that they needed to be kept that way. After a while, he wasn't so cold. Once he even asked me to drop the title, a habit I haven't been able to fully drop.

I opened my eyes to see Chappu flickering in and out in front of me. If I concentrated on him, he'd be clearer; if I didn't he'd fade again. Then I had an idea.

I focused on the twenty-five year old Auron in my mind. I opened my eyes, and there he was, floating in front of me. The Auron I had come to know so well was dead.

I left, shaken. He didn't know that I figured him out, but I knew I'd keep his secret for him, at least until everyone else needed to know.

He stood up when I walked past him on the stairs. I turned to face him, and he looked at me curiously. "You don't need to keep going there. It hurts him too much."

"You can feel what he's-"

I was cut short by a curt nod.

My breath caught in my throat, and tears that I didn't know were threatening to fall were now flowing freely. I felt two arms around me as Auron hugged me from behind and pulled me down to sit next to him on the stairs.

I couldn't believe it. I was crying in front of Sir Auron. And he was sitting here next to me, hugging me, worried about me.

Sitting here with him now, it's clear we should have been more than just friends. But, in the end, the dead are not meant to walk with the living outside of the Farplane. So, for now, I'm all right, although…

I'll miss him when he's gone.