Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy X

Thank you everyone for reading until now, but unfortunately this is the end! Well, I'll update again one day, but I've gotta move on to other projects for now.

For the final time —

Enjoy!

012. Guardian

I was supposed to be her guardian, but I knew less than she did. In this world, the swirling spiral of endless death that they named Spira, I was just the newest Dream of the bunch - and I would be their deadliest. I was the one that she loved, the one that was supposed to make her happy… Some guardian I was.

I was so clueless and naïve at first - even I started to believe that maybe I had just been influenced by Sin's toxin at one point. I wasn't fit to be anyone's guardian, I was almost out of my mind, crazy with the confusion I felt and the emotions I refused to feel. She deserved so much more than I was, especially at first.

In a way, she shielded me. I was completely ignorant of this world, of what a summoner's job really was. I'd said so many things that just couldn't happen, that could never be - we'd never all go back to the Moonflow together. Not even now that we know how to save her from Sin. I had wondered, for a while, if Sin had sent me now, at this time, to jolt me out of my old life and into the real world - to teach me a lesson. I thought I knew so much back then, I was practically king of the world - but here I knew nothing. I still know little. I still don't understand how they make that tin fly - it's nothing like the aircrafts I once knew.

But then again, I am a guardian of something now, something to do with her. There's a truth that she doesn't know, and I'm guarding it against her. Auron and I discussed what would happen when it was all over - if our plan worked out. I suspected that he had a hold tying him to this world beyond his own will to fulfil his promise, but I didn't say anything. It wasn't my place; not anymore. I think that he was hiding his own truth from someone too.

I saw as her face crumbled when I started to glow the ethereal colours of the pyreflies in the burning sky. She knew it would happen - they all knew it would happen - but none of them truly expected it. I didn't, not really. In that moment, I needed Auron to give me a stern nod of approval that I was doing the right thing, that guarding her against what I knew was a good thing to do. That she'd be happy, for the eventual discovery. I couldn't stand to look into her eyes though, as the tears gathered and began to fall like rosy fruits from a tree. I couldn't stand to listen anymore as, when I was just a shade standing on the fire-shaded dock, she said that she loved me. No one had ever said that to me before, and I felt humbled by her presence and ashamed of guarding her against the truth for the hundredth time over. I did love her, and I didn't have the corporeal form to say it any longer.

So I jumped.

And I waited.

I waited in the darkness, the lonely, cold darkness until I heard a voice. The same boyish voice that had started all of this so long ago. I think he asked me if I wanted to see her again, and I think I heard a woman's voice and whistling. I think he asked me if I wanted to go back, and I think that I replied in some form. I just remember the warmth and the comfort and nostalgia that went with it.

And I swam, up and up, following that shimmering, fuzzy, blue-tinged light as it grew brighter and brighter and like so long ago, I broke the surface of the warm water, looking out over the almost derelict beach of the warm, tropical island that I'd loved and grown on.

And there she was, just as beautiful as I remember, with a great deal more fire in her eyes. I knew then, as I always had done really, why I was her guardian. To guard her against the truths that damaged and batter her, and protect her from all harm, so that when the time came, I could make her smile again.

I looked over the beach and saw that three of my past companions had gathered there - Lulu and Wakka with a small ginger-haired baby, and Rikku, looking older, more tired, and a great deal happier upon seeing me. So he wasn't lying when he said that was the end for him.

I looked into Yuna's eyes, the bright eyes that I never wanted to see cry again, and nodded. I'd been her guardian, from all that would harm her. Now it was time to guard our friends from the very same pain. And this time, I was equipped to guard her - my niece in kind, from a life without a father.

So uh... please read Red Velvet and Swirled Eyes if you're missing my writing (well that's bold of me lol) or just want my take on Aurriku...? Or if you've got a spare ten minutes...? I don't know - just please check it out if you're so inclined; I'm pretty proud of that one!

Please review if you've got time, follow for future updates, and favourite if you enjoyed reading. Thank you and goodbye for now!