I

Chapter 5

She slowly walked back to the stadium's backstage, along with her guardians. The crowd behind them was wild. And good reasons they had to be like that; Sin was dead, forever. This time, it was not a temporary solution, a two or three years calm. This time, it was forever, eternally... Some people already called it the "Eternal Calm".

- Hm!... Fools...

Marckus, Josh and Celia were sitting at a table in a bar around the stadium, looking to the monitor. They were the only people there, since everyone was inside the stadium or at the streets, celebrating. Celia seemed angry with all that was happening; Josh a little disturbed, Marckus was just emotionless, lost in his own thoughts.

- How long do you think this would be? Two years? three?...

- Bah! The usual... It's always the same!

- Do you think so?... I don't know... this is weird, like...

- What? Don't tell me you believe in this shit! "Eternal Calm"? Come on! We already saw for ourselves that there is no such thing!

- Yeah, but,... the summoner did came out alive and...

- That must have been some smart trick she did. There's no way this is true.

- Well...

- She is right. - Marckus suddenly woke up from his thoughts.

- Of course I am. - and she gave Josh an "I-told-you" look

Marckus wasn't the leader, they had no leader; they acted as a team. But somewhy, maybe because he was the older, maybe because he was often right, Josh and Celia respected him as a leader.

- We already saw what moves Sin, and what makes him come back. Do you remember? Sin, Yevon, it's all a big lie. And I'm sure this "Eternal Calm" think is a big fake as well. This summoner,... Yuna, I think, she just must have found a way to make a deal with Yunalesca. Or maybe she could manage a way to stay in Spira even after her death.

- Are you suggesting that she is an unsent? - now Josh was getting really confused.

- Yeah.

- Then what should we do?

- Do we have to do anything? We can do nothing! - Celia was still with an angry pose - We could never do anything! We can't defeat Sin forever, we can't beat Yunalesca, we are useless! Everyone is useless in this world!

- H-hey, calm down... I know that. I was just wondering... You see, what the summoner Yuna is doing, that's just cruel. You know, now the people of Spira really think they can be free. What will happen in a couple of years when they find out that this is all a fake?

- I don't know. Does it matter? But I wonder... why is she doing this? Fooling an entire population, for what?

- One word: - Marckus drank a bit of his beer before he continued - Power. Do you see the way the people idolatrize her? She will soon be at the top command of Spira's government; and no one will even think about saying "no" to her. He was the one who supposedly defeated Sin, after all. And there is nothing we can do really... And even if it was, there was no use. Spira is already ruled by unsent people... This Summoner is just another power-thirsty dead person...

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- Maaaan! You got the crowd to go wiiiiiild! Look at'em!

- Great speech Yunie! How did you manage to improvise those last lines? They weren't on the text we had written. Hey, where are you going?

- I just... need to catch some fresh air.

- Hmm, yeah, sure. - Rikku was getting confused "Isn't the Stadium already at open air?" Yuna was walking fast and haven't raised her head since she got out of the podium.- Are you feeling alright?

- Y-yeah. I'll be right back.

And said this she entered some door.

- Hey, if you want to catch fresh air you are going in the wrong way! Yun...

- Stop that!

Lulu seemed pissed. Suddenly the room went silent for some seconds.

- Something wrong, Lu?

- Yes! Do you realize what you are doing?

Again, silence.

- You don't understand, do you? She isn't in the mood to care about the crowd right now. And I'm sure she doesn't want to listen to your comments about the speech. Give her some space.

Wakka and Rikku were totally dazed.

- What do you mean?

Lulu sighted. "Why do I even try?"

- Okay, I'll be direct with you: she isn't happy. She doesn't care about ...

- Hey, how come she ain't happy? Did ya saw her there? Did you saw her yesterday? She seemed pretty well!

- Yes, I saw her yesterday. She surely seems well. But don't you know her? She hides her feelings better than anyone. But she is all but happy. I... I talked to her yesterday, at night... I checked on her room to make sure everything was alright and to give her good luck for today... But, guess what? It was not alright. She is only acting like that for us not to worry about her. She saw us and the other people so happy about Sin's death, that she didn't want to ruin that moment; so she pretended to be happy too.

Riku and Wakka looked to each other, embarrassed.

- Did you forget about Tidus?

- Damn, no!

- Then why do you pretend you did?

- We can't keep thinking about that all the time, Lu. It costs a lot to know Tidus is no longer with us, but I, and all of us, have already lost people in the past... our parents, friends...

- Home...

- Yeah, Rikku lost Home,... Damn! But we keep goin' with our lives! Just, try not to think about it too much, and ya'll get over it!

- That's the point. She can't do that. She can't stop thinking about Tidus like we do... - "The same way I still think about Chappu..." - Yesterday, she worked hard as hell in this speech, you know why? She was trying to get her mind busy, so she didn't have to think about other things. Like, thinking about Tidus.

- Wait a second! How do you know Yuna fells that way? - Rikku was getting annoyed with all that. - Since when you read people's minds?

- I don't. But I know that she spent an entire day crying for him, and yesterday she fell asleep crying again. I was with her, I saw how she really feels.

Now a tense silence invaded the room.

- Man... you're probably right... I hate this! Why couldn't he stay? Why did he die anyway? Fuck it! - Wakka gave a furious kick in the little trash basket and gave a long sigh - What can we do now? You know, to make Yuna feel better?...

- Right now, I don't think we can do a lot. Just give her some space, and try not to make her feel worse...

- Hey, you said she pretended to be happy because... we were happy, right? Maybe we should show her we miss Tidus too... – Rikku looked to the floor - I miss him too... Then, maybe she wouldn't feel so alone... I don't want her to have to pretend something she is not, not with me!

- That could be a good start.

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"What the hell is this?! Am I nothing? No... I'm thinking, right? Then I must be something. But... aawww... Damn! If I am nothing, how am I here thinking about being nothing? Why should I be nothing anyway?"

"Should there be a reason? You are nothing because you were never anything, that's all"

"What? Anyone there? Who is there?"

"Here is no one. Just another piece of nothing... just like you, boy"

End of Chapter 5