Illusions of Life and Death

Chapter 15
More Than An Illusion. Reality

"The village sleeps peacefully through the night. The echoes of slaughter whisper from within the forest. Beyond this world lies freedom. Or will it be consumed by sleepless death? I know in my heart that the answer lies to me. Reality is a false cruel illusion. But we mustn't part from that illusion. Because when they are gone, we may still exist, but we would have ceased to live." Lenne spoke as she stared out the window from her room. "It's a full moon out tonight. It's as red as blood, for many have died on this night."

Soon after, a housemaid knocked on her door and entered. "Lady Lenne…"

Lenne turned to the woman, seeing the overcast look upon her face.

"Lady Lenne. The night has gone quiet."

She then stood up. "Then the battle is over." Walking towards the maid, Lenne then walked past her, leaving the room and entering Rikku's. Taking a seat down next to the bed, she then placed her hand on Rikku's forehead. "Her fever is dissipating." Next observing her neck, Lenne watch that the bite mark had quickly healed itself.

Within moments, Rikku tiredly opened her eyes. Lenne smiled down at her as she turned her head and faced her. "Lenne? But…what happened?"

"The battle has ended. The vampires have been beaten."

"Ah, truly?" Rikku spoke, sitting up. "Where is everyone? Lulu and Wakka…Auron…Shuyin…… Yuna? But what happened to Tidus then?"

"Everyone will be here shortly, dawn has arrived. As for Tidus…" She looked away. "I am not sure. We will know once Yuna returns."

Meanwhile back in the forest, many of the hunters were celebrating. The vampire race had been destroyed after centuries of suffering and fear. Gathering up the wounded and getting them back to the village was the first priority.

That was of course what everyone did, except for Shuyin. Knowing that Yuna was in the cave, he wanted to go after her but knew in his heart that he shouldn't. So without choice, he had to wait for her own return, whether it as to be with or without Tidus.

Deep within the cave, Yuna helped Tidus walk by placing one of his arms around her shoulder for balance. He was incredibly weak and his breathing was calm with short in and outtakes.

"I can see the entrance up ahead." Yuna spoke to warn Tidus to prepare himself for the outside world that was in daylight.

"Yes…"

As the neared the entrance, Yuna became more and more nervous. She didn't know what was to happen once Tidus would step out into the light. As much as Tidus was prepared for this, Yuna was not. But she had to look past that and do this. She had to. For Tidus.

Finally the moment of truth came. Exiting the cave, both Shuyin and Auron looked over to see the two come out.

Yuna took in a deep breath and stepped outside with Tidus. The moment the sun hit his skin, he looked up at his surroundings. Yuna carefully parted his arm from her shoulder so he could stand.

But the moment she did, he fell to the ground, weak and in pain from the sun's harmful warmth.

"Tidus!" She shouted, kneeling down to his side.

"Its…its okay…"

But by the continuous groans of ache, she knew that it wasn't okay. He wasn't going to be okay. He continued to scream in pain as the sun continued to burn his skin until finally a black substance began to lift out from his body and up into the air.

"Tidus…" Yuna softly mumbled seeing him in such pain and not able to do anything to help him.

"…Yuna?" Tidus spoke, trying to look up at her. But before doing so, his eyes closed and within seconds, his entire body fell to the cold ground.

"Tidus…? Tidus!? …Tidus!!"

There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.

From the very first moment I met you that day in Luca, three passions have governed my life: The longings for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable suffering of people.

Love brings happiness and relieves loneliness. In the union of love I have learned that what's meant to be will always find a way. Love will never leave you. It will guide your heart to what you truly desire.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of your kind…vampires. I have wished to understand your heart. Because I know that I cannot change time. I can't change how our destinies had entwined with one another. And I don't regret meeting you. It's because of you that I learned more about myself and about life.

Love and knowledge had also led me to suffering. I had lost many close people that I loved dearly. My family, my friends. Cries of pain reverberated in my heart knowing that I wasn't strong enough to save them. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot. And because of that I too suffer.

This has been my life. With bad came good. And I found it all worth living for.

It has now been just over a year since all that has happened. Life on Besaid and the rest of Spira had finally gotten back to normal. To most, the sun has never shined brighter before then how it does now. And they all owed everything to that one brave half-breed vampire.

Lulu and Wakka remained the same, brining up their two year old son together on Besaid. Rikku as well remained on Besaid for the time being, spending time with Yuna and the others before setting off to journey Spira and its many wonders.

After finally silencing the vampires, Shuyin returned to Luca for a short time to resign his position as a vampire hunter. Now he was finally able a chance in life that didn't involve killing and hunting, which made him happier then ever.

After parting from Yuna and the others, Lenne to returned to her home in Zanarkand where she remained at the temple to continue her work. After the many months since the vampires had been slain, Lenne had made a memorial documentary on Lord Braska's studies as well as the extinction of the vampires, which overall received great support from Spira. Finally finishing her work, she left Zanarkand and journeyed to Luca where she and Shuyin were reunited with one another. The two shared many good times with one another and, the two being quite taken with one another, didn't take long for them to express their feelings of affection.

They remained together and before you knew it, they had decided on moving in together. One sunny summer afternoon as Lenne was unpacking her things, Lenne had stumbled across Braska's Journal. She had almost forgotten that for the documentary she did, she borrowed it from Yuna.

Deciding the take it out so that next time she was to visit Besaid to return it to Yuna, a small piece of paper fell out from the journal. Bending down and picking it up, she noticed it was a small passage that was ripped out from one of the entries. Reading it, Lenne then knew exactly where it was suppose to go.

It was one of the very last passages of the journal. And finally the last piece of the puzzle. How to convert a vampire back into a normal human. Unfortunately, there is no way for that to be possible. Once a vampire, always a vampire. That is, for one exception. A half breed. If done properly, a half breed can be saved and can be reverted into a human. The only way for this to be done is to firstly make sure that no human kills the—and that is where the passage was torn from. Smiling, Lenne placed the small torn part of the passage back on the page to that it could be continued. The only way for this to be done is to firstly make sure that no human kills the lead vampire. The vampire must be staked in the heart by the hands of only a half breed. As the vampire perishes, the human DNA in the half breed will overpower the vampirism, thus turning it pure once again.

It was certainly the final piece to the puzzle. Placing the journal on her desk, she then walked over to the window and stared out towards the ocean and Besaid in the far distance. Thinking about Besaid and Yuna, Lenne knew that this is indeed what Yuna wanted…

After having a whole year of peace, Yuna's heart was at ease. She had left the Hunter's Manson like many before her to start a new life. A life that would be her own. A life where the threat of vampires didn't exist anymore.

Walking up to towards the tallest cliff on Besaid that overlooked the entire island and the water in its surroundings, she took a seat down in the grass and closed her eyes. The wind was fresh and strong, a gentle spring breeze that was warm and soothing on her skin, rays of sunshine shined, warming her skin as she watched as the leaves fell from the trees, birds flying from one branch to the next, and the squirrels running up and down the tree trunks.

She was finally at peace.

Opening her eyes once more, Yuna stood up and gazed out at the scenery. It was truly beautiful. Not having to fear for being alone on walks or passing through the nearby forests. This was her true peace.

Finally hearing the footsteps of an approaching individual, Yuna turned around and a smiled peeked out at the sides of her mouth. Laughing, she ran up to him and they embraced.

This was her life now. Her illusions were mere distractions to her true want in reality. Being in the arms of her loved one. And she found it to be all worth living for.

The End

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