We ran out to the summit as fast as we could. What we found really wasn't what I had expected. Orange light covered the entire side of the mountain; the skyline was trapped in a perpetual twilight. Auron was more grim than usual.

"It comes!" A gigantic winged beast appeared before us. This must have been what she sent, I thought. It didn't take long for us to bring it down and it occurred to me that we had come a long way from Besaid Island.

"Hey! Can't we rest a little?" Rikku wined cutely.

"No need," Auron said in a soft voice. "We reach the summit soon."

"I know, that's why I want to stop for a bit, soon means that… there's not much time left." Rikku sat down and curled up in a ball, I wanted to do the same. I wasn't ready for any of what was to follow either, but a man does what he has to do.

"Rikku…" Yuna said with a small sigh.

"Fine, I'll think on the way." It was the first time I'd eve heard real anger in her voice, and I think it was the last. I didn't want to go… I guess that feeling was all over my face.

"Hey, come on. Lest go," Wakka said hanging back with me. I still didn't know how to react to the things we had spoken about in Gagazet but I felt like I needed him then, even if we didn't talk about anything at all.

"We are… almost there, aren't we?" he put his hand on my shoulder and the warmth radiated all the way across my back.

"We've come a long way," he said while gently guiding me forward with his hand. I heard Auron chuckle ahead of us.

"What's so funny?"

"You remind me of myself." Auron said, "Before, the closer I came to Zanarkand, the more I wondered… when we arrive, Braska will call the Final Aeon… He will fight Sin, and then die. I thought my mind was made up long before. But when I stood here, my resolve wavered."

"Huh, never would have figured. Legendary guardians choke sometimes too, ya?" Wakka said with a grin. Auron let out another short laugh.

"Legendary guardian? I was just a boy, a boy about your age actually. I wanted to change the world too, but I changed nothing. That is my story." Auron walked off slowly, Wakka and I looked at each other for a long moment and then we followed. We reached the summit, and I saw it for the first time.

A city dead for a thousand years, a city I had to see with my own eyes. The end of Yuna's journey, and the last chapter in my story. My thoughts, they kept floating up and then slipping through my fingers, slipping away before I could pin them down with words.

"Yuna, I say no. If we go down there you'll…"

"Rikku, you're a true friend and I thank you, but… I must go down to Zanarkand." Yuna said staring down at her wand.

"I'm not saying we shouldn't go, but… Shouldn't we think about it a little longer? There's got to be some way we can save you, Yuna!"

"All my life, I knew this moment would come." The certainty in Yuna's voice filled my heart with sadness.

"Yunnie…" Yuna stepped forward, hugging Rikku and dropping a sphere recording.

"Thank you Rikku. Thank you for everything."

"Don't say that Yunnie! It's not over yet!"

"Tell Cid thank you." Rikku shrank at her words.

"No… you can tell him yourself."

"Please…"

"Yunnie don't say that because we're going to see each other again okay?" I thought I was going to start crying and I knew that Rikku was already there.

"Kimahri lets go," Yuna said softly. After everyone had turned the corner I stopped to look at her sphere. I listened to it for a long time; I could hear the wind blowing in the background.

"Sir Auron," Yuna started in her recording. "Kimahri told me… when my father wanted me taken form Bevelle to Besaid… It was you who told Kimahri, right?" I could see the lodge on Mi'hein Highroad but Yuna was nowhere in sight, it was only her voice. "I had always wanted to meet you some day. I am truly glad that I had a chance. Having you as a guardian was so great an honor I don't know how to thank you. Perhaps, if I defeat Sin, that will be my thanks to you. That's what I'll do. Yes, I will challenge Sin. I will defeat Sin. If you are all there watching, then I guess Sin is already gone. And so am I, I suppose. Anyway I just wanted to say: Sir Auron, I thank you. Kimahri… do you remember the first day we met? I was only seven. My father had defeated Sin, and all Bevelle was celebrating. Everyone was saying what a hero my father was. I was so happy, but when night came, it occurred to me. My father had defeated Sin and now he was dead. Now I was alone. I couldn't sleep, so I wandered into town, away from the celebrating crowds. I stood on the bridge in Bevelle where my father and I had parted. Standing there, alone, I could see the fields where he had fought Sin. Then you appeared Kimahri. You said you were looking for the daughter of Braska, remember? At first, I was so scared… until I realized what a gentle person you are. You weren't used to talking to children. When I told you that I was Braska's daughter… you said you would take me as far from Bevelle as you could. That it was the wish of a man facing death, I think… I cried then. Because that… that was when I knew my father was dead… and I would never see him again. You just held me, without saying a word. I cried after we got to Besaid, too. When you tried to go after leaving me in the care of the temple… I held on to you crying 'don't go, don't go!' and you listened Kimahri, you stayed. Kimahri thank you. Thank you so much. And I've always liked your broken horn.

Wakka, Lulu: I'll never forget my days spent with you, growing up in Besaid. We always played together, us and Chappu. That's why I was always so happy, I think. And when you refused to let me become a summoner and I did it anyway… I'm sorry. I've always wanted to apologize. You know, when you tried to stop me then—really, I was happy. You were like my big brother and sister. What else… I love watching you play Blitz ball Wakka! I even love it when you scold me Lulu! Really. I guess that leaves my newest guardian… the star player of the Zanarkand Abes. You are… I am… I'm glad that we met on Besaid. We haven't even known each other that long, but… it's funny. So this is what it feels like. It's a much more wonderful feeling than I ever imagined. Wonderful… but it hurts sometimes. I wonder. I just… I just want to thank you for everything… maybe that's why it hurts. I think about us never being together again… I'm afraid. No, I shouldn't say that. I'll do that part over. Um…" I heard my voice in the recording and then the sphere was over.

I entered the Ruins trying to catch up to everyone else. I recognized the beings imbedded in stone. But then, I guess I had never really seen them to begin with. When I finally made my way down the slope, everyone was all bundled up around a meager camp fire. I guess… no one was ready to go yet. I looked at our weapons all stuck in the ground together, it felt like a prophecy with the pyre flies lingering around. I thought 'this is it' and honestly, it was. Rikku knelt by the fire with her hands on her temples. She wouldn't give up no matter what. Wakka and Lulu sat close together, whispering back and forth. It was so quiet, nothing like my Zanarkand at all. I wished… I wished I'd never known that none of it was real. That I wasn't real, but there I was, wasn't I?

Auron and Kimahri sat staring at each other, I couldn't take it. I got up and gave Yuna a kiss on the cheek before I left. I slowly made my way back up the summit and as I looked over the ruins of Zanarkand I thought about what I was going to do, how to support Yuna, how to support everyone… What I would do in my last few days on Spira. As I thought, everything came together. Listen to my story, this maybe our last chance.

I closed my eyes when I got back to camp. I wanted to talk, and we all talked over our journey until it was dark, and we all had to scoot closer together. And as I heard all the words of our journey, I felt like there should be more. Like something was missing.