Title: Danse Macabre Undone

Author : Gatecrasher12

Word Count : 2244

Genre : Action/Romance/Drama/General

Game : Final Fantasy 10-2

Published Date : 01-12-10

Author's Note : Welcome to the second chapter of my fic! I haven't much to say but I will say this, I know how the game went, but I'm working off the "Good Ending" of Final Fantasy 10-2 so it'll be both an AU and a TT (Time Travel) fic. Also, be warned, this chapter contains a LOT of fluff. Now without further a due… enjoy!

Chapter Two: When The Dream Ends, All That Is Left Are Memories

"It's me again. I've been a bit neglectful in not recording my thoughts recently, haven't I? Sorry about that. I meant to record something sooner, but with everything that had been happening lately, I didn't have a lot of time.

I've got some good news, the Gullwings have finally solved the riddle that was Vegnagun and, thankfully, it's gone now.

Remember Lenne and Shuyin, I mentioned them before, well, we managed to lay them to rest. It was kind of sad to see such a tragic couple go, but I'm happy that they're finally at peace together after so long apart. Shuyin wasn't as bad as we all thought he was; he was just sad, angry and alone.

They… almost remind me of us in a way. Really, they do. Only, our love story never got its happy ending, did it?

Anyway, it's been about a month since then and the Eternal Calm is still holding strong. New Yevon and the Youth League are finally settling in with each other peacefully, Praetor Baralai and Myvn Nooj are working hard to make sure of that, and the Gippal's Machine Faction are taking on a more 'hands on' approach in Spiran politics."

"Awww! Aren't you the cutest little thing? Yes you are!" Rikku fawned loudly over a giggling baby Vidina seated in Lulu's lap.

Yuna looked up from the Recorder Sphere in her hands as she sat near the hut that was her home whenever she came back to her village. She had always put some distance between her and everyone else when she wanted a bit of privacy to recorded her thoughts. It was more like her private diary than the impersonal traveling journal she had originally intended it to be.

It had been nearly a week since the disbanded Gullwings landed on Besaid Island to visit for a reunion and three month since Shuyin's defeat/ Vegnagun's dismantlement.

"For a while, the Gullwings seemed to have drifted apart somewhat after the fight against Shuyin. But don't worry about us. After Paine set up our 'Last Mission' together at Yadonoki Tower, we've managed to keep in better touch with each other.

Rikku is still occasionally doing her odd jobs, going on one mission after another… I think she'd made a business out of it. Buddy and Brother seem to be in on it too since the Celsius is still flying all over the world. And guess what? She and Gippal have finally gotten together. Isn't it wonderful?

Paine hasn't settled down in any particular place yet. She's still wanders around Spira, but between you and me, I think Paine may have a thing for Baralai. She does visit Bevelle more than anywhere else.

Shinra has also been doing a lot with his time. Apparently word got out about his CommSpheres and now a lot of people in the major cities want them. He's been working on a new version. He calls them PHSpheres. That stands for PersonalHandheldSphere. He gave me and the rest of the Gullwings some prototypes we can use. They're really great!

As for me, well I've stayed put in Besaid for a while now. But I haven't really remained still like before. Sometimes I get so restless that I occasionally get up and go around, mostly between Besaid, Kilika, and Luca. …Maybe, I think, I'm waiting for something to happen. I hope it's just me, but I get the feeling something will happen soon. Everything's gotten so peaceful, I hope whatever does happen is good. I want the Eternal Calm to lasts as long as possible."

It was around sunset, the sun was falling over the far side of Besaid, staining the tropical sky a beautiful, vibrant display of pink, orange and yellow, and the whole Gullwing crew were not too far from the village square as the little rural community was finishing its nightly preparations for dinner. Wakka stood not too far from his wife and son, listening to Rikku coo over the infant with a proud smile as he started lighting the torches around the village, while Paine talked with Lulu. Buddy, Brother, Shinra, and Barkeep had come down from the Celsius for dinner; Buddy was helping the men of the village set up the bonfire as the cooks prepared the food with Barkeep, Brother had been with Rikku earlier trying to get Vidina to laugh, but ended up making the babe cry instead so now he was sulking on the opposite side of the bonfire wood, and Shinra was busy checking his Besaid CommSphere, upgrading it for better sound quality.

Rikku laughed along with Vidina as she tickled the baby's tummy. "You're just too adorable to be Wakka's kid."

"Hey, what's that supposed mean?!" the carrot-top Blitzer questioned.

Rikku gave her older friend an innocent look. "Nothing, Daddy! Just saying little 'Dina here gets his good looks from Mommy!"

Wakka wasn't quite sure if she was teasing him or praising Lulu, so he only gave her a suspicious look and said, "Of course he's good lookin', ya? Got a bit o' me and Lu in 'em." Wakka crossed his large arms in a huff when Rikku laughed. Lulu and Paine were also smirking at Wakka.

Yuna smiled as she watched her friends, ex-Guardians, and family creating and sharing a happy moment in time. But, deep inside, Yuna felt her heart clench. She had seen several scenes like this before, and each one had that special man whom she loved dearly in them. Yuna looked back down at her Recorder Sphere with a sad look.

"It hurts to remember you. To remember all we did together and not have you by my side.

But I'll continue my search for you a little while longer. So long as I still have Rikku and Paine and all the others helping me, rooting me on, I know I can keep moving forward. I'll find you, wherever you are."

With those last few sentences, Yuna switched off her sphere and placed it in her travel pack on her hip.

"Hey Yunie!" Rikku called, waving an arm wildly. "Get over here and come play with me and Vidina already! The little ankle bitter wants his Godmommy!"

"Rikku, stop flinging you arm everywhere!" Paine snipped. Rikku whined at the cold reprimand.

Yuna laughed as she stood, dusting her half skirt as she made her way over to the others, a smile lighting up her face. "I'm coming! I want to hold the baby!" Today was the last day for the Gullwings on Besaid, and Yuna planned for it to be as peaceful as possible, because tomorrow, whether she realized it or not, a new journey would begin.

She could feel him. His Pyreflies swarmed all around her. Yunalesca smiled in happiness she had not experienced in a thousand years as her husband's Pyreflies caressed her battered body all around with their phantom's touch, soothing the ache of defeat handed to her not long ago by that girl, Summoner Yuna, and her friends.

When the first High Summoner and the last High Summoner had crossed paths for the second time within the Via Infinito, they met each other with great and open hostility. To the older woman, Summoner Yuna had truly become a heathen and a delinquent. Completely casting off the word of Yevon and forsaking the teachings established a millennia before in her father's name. It was because of that girl did Yunalesca lose her purpose.

While she wandered through the Farplane for a time, searching the near infinite land of the dead for those she loved and not finding them, meeting Seymour Guado in the processes, she had managed to force her way back into the living world through the gate in the empty city of Guadosalam, ultimately causing it to become violently instable. She made it though the Thunder Planes in as little as three days, noting the Al Bhed were working on recalibrating and repairing the lightning towers, and a day and a half through Macalania Woods, vaguely caring about the obvious degradation to the once breathtaking and mysterious forest, the cause she knew stemmed from both the absence of the fayth of Aeon Shiva and the siphoning of the Core Sphere energy. She had made it to the temple of St. Bevelle in a little under a week, never stopping nor resting because she had no need to.

Yunalesca immediately began her search the underground labyrinth for her astray husband.

Two months into her exploration, she had come across and dispatched many fiends and met several other spirits, a fool of a man named Wen Kinoc, and anguished Jyscal Guado, and a most recently met cowardly Yo Mika, left unsent and wandering the catacombs. It was on the eightieth floor did she meet with Yuna and her companions and fought. Yunalesca had lost most of herself to her negative emotions and urge to kill the three wenches that stood before her, and so the former Summoner has become a fiend, a Basilisk named Chac.

Yunalesca lost the battle, Yuna had scattered her Pyreflies, but she had not let herself be denied her one remaining longing. With what little strength she had left, Yunalesca resummoned her Pyreflies, resisting the greater call of the Farplane, and laboriously made her way further down the remaining cloisters. By the time she made it to the hundredth and last cloister, her body was ready to give in and return to the Farplane. The room was empty save for a hoard of floating Pyreflies and mostly looked no different than any of the higher rooms above with the exception that the room's floor was covered with mounds of broken shards of different colored spheres.

The silver haired woman, in a fit of sorrow and heartache, let out a broken wail as she fell. She laid in the center of the room, sobbing, tears that had been left over one thousand years unshed rushed forth as the single-minded stubbornness that drove her finally gave out. Yunalesca began to let herself go.

It was in that moment half of the roaming Pyreflies began to accumulate and swirl around her, responding to her presence.

Yunalesca's tear ridden eyes snapped open as she gasped at the presence she had not felt and longed for in many years. Seconds later, he appeared in a flash of light. Kneeling in front of her was the one man she would sacrifice everything for, Zaon. His battle armor was chipped and cracked, his helmet was missing, allowing longish brown hair to fall around his shoulders, his robes and cape were torn, and he was sporting a few bruises and bleeding cuts, she herself was hardly any different, but it mattered not to her. He was still as handsome as the day they met.

"… Zeon," She murmured as she reached for him.

The long unsent man took her hand and pulled her into his arms, hugging her close against his plated chest. "Yunalesca… my wife… how I have longed to see you again." his baritone voice was like a soothing breeze as it washed over her.

" Oh, Zeon, I've missed you."

"And so have I. …Come, dear wife. Let us fade together, as we should have all those centuries ago." he said as picked her up bridal style and stood.

Yunalesca's pale skin took on a pink flush as she looped her arms around Zeon's neck. Only he had the ability to fluster he so easily. "Yes," she answered without hesitation. The thought of her still missing father's spirit had been overshadowed by the both the exhaustion in her body and the jubilance in her heart. As their Pyreflies began to disperse, one thought did, however, cross her mind. "A moment! I need but a moment longer."

Zeon gave his wife a questioning look as she held her arm out. With great concentration, Yunalesca preformed an art she had not done in many, many years. Zeon noticed the summoning circle flash briefly before it disappeared.

"A reward, for someone who helped me in my search for you." She explained when she saw his inquisitive stare. She then nestled into his chest. "Let us depart this plane now. My journey has left me so drained."

Zeon nodded. "… then let us take our leave." The two lovers glowed brightly before dimming as Pyreflies diffused from their silhouettes.

And so the last two remaining citizens of the fallen city of Zanarkand left Spira after one thousand long years, leaving behind the precursor that would usher in a new era. An epoch of ruin thought left behind. The second coming of SIN

"The time has come…" Seymour Guado looked up, a smirk adorning his face as Pyreflies and dark mist began to envelope him. "Let my reign as the new SIN… begin!"