May 3rd, 2006. Much like the previous chapter, I had this one about 80 written since June, but I finished it up today. It was actually rather difficult for me to finish it up knowing that the sequel to this fic, The Little Voice, has already been partly posted. I wanted to wait on it, but alas, I didn't. I really hope you enjoyed this fic, I had a lot of fun writing it, and I'm quite sad that it's finished now. I also hope that you continue to read the series, for The Little Voice is the final 'chapter' in it. It is much darker than the first three, the darkest project I have ever taken on actually, but it is fun to write Tidus in such a different way. (Plus, there is a LOT of foreshadowing from this fic that leads to The Little Voice!)
Again, thank you so much for reading my work!
Epilogue
I rested my head against my arms as I lay down in the grass. I have never been happier than I was at that moment. Hell, my entire family was alive and relaxing outside on a beautiful summer day at our home in Besaid. What could be better? Well, okay, I was relaxing and Yuna was trying to get Ari to go into the little pool that we bought for her. Ari was screaming and grabbing at Yuna's clothes in protest.
"I don't think she likes it, Yuna," I said as Yuna stood up and put Ariana on her hip. "You might as well give up."
"She loves water!" She exclaimed and walked over to me. "Well, she usually does anyway. I just don't understand why she won't go into a pool. It's like a bathtub, only bigger and outside."
"And pink," I mentioned with a smile.
"You're never gonna let me live that down, are you?" She asked as I shook my head and widened my smile. "I promise that I won't do that for her birthday next year."
"You can't promise that," I joked as she sat down next to me and put Ari on my chest. She squealed, crawled toward my face, and put her tiny fingers on my cheeks. "Hello to you as well, sweetie."
"Maybe only a little pink. Can I do that?" She asked and I had to smile at her. I picked Ari up off of my chest, sat up, and placed her on the ground. "I promise that I'll add different colors in there as well. It won't be solid pink. Maybe it'll be light pink, fushia, maroon, red…"
"Very funny," I stated, rolling my eyes. I knew she was kidding. At least, I hoped she was. I looked down at Ariana to see her pulling up pieces of grass in her fists. My eyes opened wide and I grabbed her hands to take the grass out of it. "Oh no, no, no! Ari, don't do that! Daddy likes the grass when it's connected to the ground!"
Yuna smiled at me and gave me a quick peck on the lips. "I'm so glad that we're home. I honestly didn't think we'd get here as a solid family."
"Did you honestly think I would've shot you?" I asked her in disbelief. She shook her head and rubbed the baby's back as she crawled closer to her. "I wasn't going to let anything happen to either of my girls. You're all I have."
"I hate Bevelle," she stated with an exhale. "Every time I happen to go there, it only ends in trouble. I mean, I get possessed or almost killed. But you're always there to bring me to safety."
"I'm your knight in blue jeans and a tee shirt," I stated, looking what I was wearing. 'Shining armor' didn't exactly cover it. She was amused though, so I guess I succeeded.
"I'm much happier here," she added and looked around.
"Me too," I agreed. "It's kind of hard to practice my blitz skills when there isn't a lot of water around. An island is a nice place to practice blitz."
"Yeah, because it's surrounded by water." Heh, leave it to Yuna to point out the obvious and make me look stupid. Oh well, she was just trying to keep me on my toes. "I'm glad I gave the recommendation to Paine and Baralai."
I picked up Ariana before she could wander too far and placed her in my lap before I continued speaking. "What recommendation? Living in Besaid?"
"Yeah. I mean, not only will they love it here, but I'm sure they'll be able to babysit a lot." I looked at her to notice her hidden meaning that was buried deeply in her statement.
I laughed at her and pulled her close to me. "Oh really? What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing," she replied coyly as she tilted her head up and kissed me on the lips. "It's just that we haven't had a lot of alone time since Ari was born and I kind of miss it. Okay, I miss it a lot."
"I'm just worried that Ari won't trust anyone since the last people she 'trusted' held her upside down and put a gun to her head." Yuna's face instantly fell and she put her head back down.
"Please, let's bring that up whenever possible," she said, the sarcasm dripping off her voice like water from a melting icicle. "I think she'll be fine. I mean, she knows Paine and Baralai. I don't think Zoram will cause her any permanent damage."
"The only person that will is Rikku," I quipped, causing Yuna to giggle. I'm glad I was able to cheer her up. "I love your cousin to death, but the second I knocked on her door and she answered it wearing lingerie…"
"What!" Yuna exclaimed through fits of giggles. "Not that I couldn't see her doing that, but when did this happen?"
"The last time she wanted to watch Ari," I informed her as I shuddered at the memory. "I just hope that I didn't walk in on her and Gippal doing anything. Dear Yunalesca."
"I also remember how long it took Wakka to convince Vidina that it wasn't right to scream whenever he sees Rikku," Yuna added, laughing even harder. I could see the tears brimming in her eyes from laughter, which always causes me to laugh. "'Vidina, that's not right, ya?'"
I love when Yuna tries to impersonate Wakka—it is the funniest thing in Spira. She never manages to get the accent down pat, but always adds a lot of 'ya's' and 'ya knows' at the end of sentences, resulting in her thinking that she does it perfectly. "Yeah, something like that." I chuckled and gave her shoulders a tight squeeze. "I really hope that Rikku doesn't teach that to Ari as well though. Maybe something a little more sane."
"Don't get your hopes up," she stated, calming down her laugher. After a few minutes of her simply resting her head against my shoulder, she inhaled then slowly exhaled. "Tidus," she began as I looked down at her in question.
"What is it?" I asked, picking up Ari and placing her in my lap.
The look on her face had a trace of worry in it even though she was smiling, so that caused me to be concerned at what she was going to say. "Do you think Spira will ever be completely danger-free?"
"Heh, good question," I stated with a shrug of my shoulders. I didn't know the answer to that question, but then again, no one could accurately answer it. "Who knows, ya know? I mean, we all thought that danger would end after the defeat of Sin."
"It's like, the bad keeps coming back and getting stronger." She looked off toward the horizon, the wind gently whipping her hair. Brushing it out of her face, she chuckled. "I don't know why I'm even thinking this way, but I never want to be so nonchalant about something like this again."
"Oh, I see where you're going with this," I said with a rather large grin. "Go on, say it."
"Say what?" She blushed, so I knew I hit it right on the dot. "I'm just babbling incoherently, don't listen to me."
"No, you're thinking something." I gave her a slight push and now she started to giggle. Yuna can't ever lie to me; she giggles. It's a definite giveaway. "Don't keep it inside! Say it!"
"All right!" She exclaimed in defeat. She looked away from me and mumbled something so quietly that I couldn't hear her.
I chuckled as I put my hand up to my ear and leaned in closer to her. "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. It sounded like, 'mmmmm hmm hmmm hmm.' What was that?" She mumbled the same thing again so I gave her a stern look. "Come on, Yuna. I can't hear you!"
"I said that you were right about the entire situation and I should've listened to you!" She cried, throwing her hands up in the air.
"Thank you," I replied with a cocky smile. I crossed my arms across my chest then leaned over and kissed her. "Besides the fact that you just stated the obvious, I know you were only looking out for the well being of our family."
"I'm waiting for you to say, 'but I was still right.'" She made another face at me as she tapped me on the nose with one of her fingers.
"Well, I was," I said with another proud smile. "Okay, I'm done bragging now. I seriously wish you would've told me, but I'm over it, really. Everything worked out fine, but there is one thing that I do have to ask."
She blinked at me and then muttered, "What?"
"You weren't really going to go off and marry some old priest, were you?" I was serious, but I still managed to smile and make a joke out of it.
"I… wasn't sure what I was going to do, to be honest with you." She rested against me and tucked her forehead against my neck. "I guess that's the reason why I didn't tell you about it for so long; I was trying to figure everything out in my mind. You know, the solution that would be the less harmful and keep everyone alive. It's just, all the letters threatening your life and Ari's… I couldn't have anything happen to either of you." With a small clicking sound with her tongue, she sat up and hugged her knees. "I didn't want to marry him, if that's what you're asking. I know that if I was to do so, he would've just killed me so he could be in charge."
"Bastard," I mumbled under my breath before reaching out and holding her again. "Trying to kill my beautiful wife."
"Well, he was evil," she said, glancing back at me. "Not to mention creepy. Some of the letters that he wrote were just… well, evil and creepy. I think we should have a bonfire later and get rid of them all."
Pasting on a smile, I said, "ooh! I think we have marshmallows!" She chuckled at me and gave me a gentle shove. "In all seriousness, Yuna, I do understand where you were coming from, really. Acting too rash on it could've resulted in one of us getting killed."
Yuna brushed Ari's hair with her fingers and then gave a small nod. "Yeah, but I shouldn't have waited so long. I was too careless and tried to ignore the problem, hoping that it would've just gone away. I don't want to be that way next time. I want to be ready. And not get shot."
Kissing her on the top of the head, I sighed. "I hope there isn't a 'next time,' but if there is, we'll handle it."
"Yeah," she whispered, resting her head against my shoulder again and shutting her eyes. "We'll be all right."
Letting a small smile appear on my face, I rested my cheek against her hair and said, "Yeah. We will be."
