Disclaimer: Square-Enix Incorporated owns all copyrighted material this fanfiction may include. All other materials, such as characters, events, dialogue, et cetera, all belong to Zeshin-kun.

Author's Note: To Oblivia: Thanks for the review and yes, I also realised how long it had been since my last update. Apologies all around for that. xD However, I would never abandon this fanfiction as it has, in essence, become a continuity on its own for me. Originally, this fiction was to be a way of finishing off the Shuyin story I started in Eternal Love with a complete ending. However, this timeline has expanded into what came to be known as the Exigo Timeline and I do want to see it through to the end. Hope you enjoy the rest of this one, though!

So last time Shuyin rebuilt Zanarkand from the ground up only to take off on his own. So far, we don't know where he's gone or why. Before we get on that, though, let's take a look at how the others are faring in this resurrected city. For Yuna, this was what she's wanted since she met Tidus. However, before we forget, this Zanarkand is not his. This Zanarkand is Shuyin's, the true Zanarkand from one thousand years ago. How will it differ from the one Tidus knows? Will this affect their experience in any way?

Spira: The Eternal Discord

Chapter 43: Zanarkand's Prime II

Yuna

"Right, now we still have some time left before Sin arrives. I know how much this city means to some of you so why not take advantage of it while we can. Let's split up and rendezvous back at the entrance in say an hour?"

His words were meant for the group, but I couldn't help but feel they were spoken specifically for me. This city was everything I had wanted since I met him. It was where he promised to bring me before he disappeared. It wasn't how I thought the promise would be fulfilled, but it was amazing that it was.

When Shuyin walked into the ruins of Zanarkand and said those words to the pyreflies, none of us could have imagined what would come of it. I was astounded that they listened to him, began moving towards him, even though we knew all too well what power he had over them. When the first pieces of the city resurrected, I turned to him and he turned to me. He could take me to his city now. After over two years of waiting, of losing him and giving up this dream, he had come back to me and now the man he was created from had brought his city back to me.

I remember feeling defeated those two years. We had won the battle. We had beaten the sin that drowned us for centuries, but I lost him and that meant we were defeated. We lost the Aeons, the magic, the hopes and dreams. Then, there was only more pain and suffering, even though we gave up so much. I felt suffocated by it all and it just kept sinking me deeper into the darkness. Now, Zanarkand itself was returned to Spira; I felt we really could win this time. My hopes had returned to me as they all had. We weren't losing anymore.

"Can it last?" I whispered to myself as I watched Shuyin and Rikku take off.

"Don't know what he's on about, but I can't really vacation while we've still got work to do." Paine said, tossing the book she had in her hands back into Yu Yevon's office, "I'll be at the entrance to the city. When it's time, I'll contact you. See you later."

"Paine…" I started, reaching out because it seemed like she was pulling away again.

"C'mon, let me show you around." He said, taking me away.

"What about Paine?"

"I think she's actually got something else on her mind." He told me, "I don't think she'd be too happy playing third wheel to us, right?"

I smiled at him. He was right. Besides, I had always wanted this and we finally had the chance. I went with him and we explored this marvelous city together. He took me to all sorts of places, my beautiful living dream, and I reveled in it. I saw so many strange and new things, things I had only encountered in Luca during my pilgrimage, things I briefly glanced from the Machine Faction while sphere hunting, but nothing I saw then could compare to all that I could see now. Every building had functions and each function built to play its part together with the land under it. Still, what impressed me most of all was the stories behind each of them. I followed him as he spoke of them, of all his adventures in Dream Zanarkand as he grew. At last, I knew him in all manners just as he knew me. As he had been brought from his world to mine by Sin, so had I finally been sent to his.

Eventually, the tales he told led us to the Zanarkand Stadium where he used to excel at blitzball, beating the other teams within the dream. We walked by the Hall of Champions and I was able to see all the victories the Abes had, except that they were all of Shuyin's victories with them. This wasn't the dream that he had come from, but the real Zanarkand that was destroyed so many years ago. Despite it, we were able to pretend that this was his Zanarkand and he told me the truth behind it, that for him, it was only his second year with the Abes that night when he was brought to me. Before that was a gap, a void left by Sir Jecht when he disappeared ten years before. He reminisced about those years in front of one of Sir Jecht's victory portraits, recounting how bitter he had been that everybody continued to speak of him after he abandoned him and his mother for so many years.

All this time with him and to finally be in Zanarkand to marvel at it at his side, it was more than I could ever ask for. After all we'd been through, this was the greatest gift anyone could be given. And it wasn't enough.

"This isn't your Zanarkand, is it?" I found myself saying, my eyes staring into one of the portraits of Shuyin and his Abes team.

"No, this is his." He told me, walking up behind me to put his arms around my shoulders.

"I keep forgetting that. I keep forgetting that your Zanarkand was never really real. You were never really real." I said, feeling my voice crumbling.

"Yuna?"

"The fayth, they brought you back to me. But they never said. They never promised it would last." I could barely get all the words out as the tears came.

I felt him, his arms tightening around me as if that would help. Taking my shoulders in his hands, he turned me around so he could look into my eyes. The hurt I saw in them made me regret what I had just said, but I couldn't help myself. These were valid fears, fears that were too close to truth now that we were confronted with the threat of another Sin. Last time there was a Sin in Spira's skies, it took so much from us, too much. It took him.

"What if it's like that again?" I asked, not sure if I was even asking him.

"I won't let it." He stated confidently.

"How can you say that? How can you make this promise when you couldn't hold up on it last time?"

"Yuna."

"Honestly! Last time we faced Sin, we gave up everything to stop it. My Aeons, all of them were taken. Sir Auron died. And you… And you…" I struggled to say.

"… made you a promise that I'd save you." He said, finishing my sentence, "I never promised you back then that I'd be safe after saving you, Yuna. I didn't even give it a thought. All I cared about then was protecting you and that's all I care about now, too."

"But then!"

"And to care about Yuna now means I have to live through this. Yuna, I swear I won't leave you this time."

The tears wouldn't stop pooling from my eyes just like the fears wouldn't stop consuming my mind. I wanted to believe his wonderful words, but it wasn't going to stop them from enveloping my thoughts. It was impossible to promise that. None of us could even guarantee that we'd make it through. This time, Sin wasn't just another Sin for another summoner on another pilgrimage. The days of pilgrimages had long since passed and this Sin was much more powerful with a conscious Yu Yevon inside of it to make sure it was well protected. How could I conceive of pulling through without any losses?

"Did I ever tell you, I didn't win my first games. I sucked." He started to say, breaking me out of those thoughts.

He was standing before yet another portrait of Shuyin and the Abes celebrating another of their victories. Taking a deep breath, he took a step to his left to look at just the Shuyin part of it. Turning away from it, he walked back over to me.

"I hated dad so much and I wanted to pay him back, but I couldn't. That first year, I was still learning the ropes. I didn't even figure out his special until the boat to Luca. Not that I couldn't, you know, but I just didn't yet and after Sin took me to Spira, Luca was my first chance."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Yuna, we've been through a lot now. Back then, yea, maybe that's all we could come up with, sacrifice all your Aeons, make you cry. But now, you've managed to do so much without somebody dying in the process, why can't we beat Sin without me leaving this time? I say bring it on! We can score a clean win and send Yu Yevon packing!"

"I just don't know."

"Then, it's a good thing you've got me here. Just because I had to go before doesn't mean I have to go each time. I lost those first games, but after that, I was unstoppable. That's what we can be now: Unstoppable!"

I knew his intentions were good and we did need confidence for the coming battle, but that's all those words were, confidence boosters. It was still too foggy to see what lay ahead in the future. Maybe we would all make it out, but maybe not even a single one of us would. This battle was bigger than anything we'd encountered before, big enough that Shuyin thought to recreate Zanarkand to face it. If Shuyin needed to smother his doubts, just how difficult was the road ahead? No, forget how difficult the road is. Forget the possibilities of coming to a bad end. This was my story and I said it'd be a good one. I planned to keep that promise.

"I won't lose you." I said to him, placing my hands upon his chest and gazing up into his eyes.

"And I won't leave you." He told me, gazing lovingly back before moving closer.

His lips pressed against mine and I felt my fears melting away. The warmth he provided filled my heart with love that drowned away the doubt and despair. Though it was still no guarantee, it was enough. I knew I shouldn't ask for more and if I wanted to make sure he wouldn't leave, I needed to take care of it myself. There was no way I'd spend another two years away from him, away from this wonderful feeling.

"C'mon, let me show you around a real stadium." He said later, taking my hand and having me run with him to the Sphere Pool.

His stadium was nothing like the one I knew in Luca. This one was tremendous. There had to have been seats for billions and there were decks and lower level seating and rooftop seating and just about anywhere you could imagine a chair, there was one. The balconies were also remarkably structured and emanated strength, durability, and safety. Everything was mechanised and automated. As he would tell me, there was even a machina to hold a drink and lift it for you if you wanted it. However, there was no Sphere Pool. In the center where one would usually be, there was nothing but a vacant space.

"Um, shouldn't there be a big ball of water over there?" I asked, pointing.

"How do you know we don't use this place for other stuff, too, like Luca does?"

"Because you took me to the Grand Hall already." I answered with a smile.

Nodding to me, he went over to an open room with several monitors and controls of some kind. Looking over them, he began pressing a few switches and pushing a few buttons. Suddenly, the walls turned into machina and I could hear a strange sound coming from the empty space at the center of the arena. As the sound grew louder, I started to see blue streaks of what I could only guess had to be lightning. Little by little, the streaks expanded and wavered and I was finally able to see that they were not lightning but globs of water within lightning. It was an amazing sight to be sure, but I couldn't understand any of it. Within seconds, the globs of water became an entire Sphere Pool, the remaining energy cast off into us, causing a current of wind.

"What was that?"

"That's our Sphere Pool." He said, looking out into the water.

I could tell he was remembering the life he lost when Sin brought him to Spira. He had lived there his whole life and then he was taken from it into such a backwards world. It must have been hard for him the first few days. It must have been hard for both of them. The Spira I was born to was nothing compared to the Zanarkand that was.

"Do you regret leaving this city?" I asked him.

"I did. When I first got to Spira, I wanted so bad to go back. Then, I met you." He said, turning to me, "When I tried to rescue you down in Besaid Temple, I started to let go of Zanarkand. After a while, Spira felt like my home. You were in it. Zanarkand became the place I wanted to show you because it was my past."

"Your past looks a lot better than our future."

"No, this place is long gone. Besides, it stopped feeling like a home a long time ago when my mom died. I didn't have any real family until I came along on your pilgrimage, Yuna. Spira's my home and I'm going to protect it for our future."

Tears flooded my eyes when I heard him say that even though I knew he would. I guess there was always a part of me that wondered if he really accepted his fate, being stranded in a world so dwarfed by his own. To hear him say what he did, it only added to the confidence I regained just before.

"Hey, let me show you something." He said abruptly.

We left the stadium after he turned off the Sphere Pool, another feat I found amazing. Just as quickly as the waters had appeared, they flickered out of existence and the arena was empty again. Once we were outside, he took me in the direction of the harbour. The journey was quite short. The stadium itself had been located near the shore, after all. However, I still didn't know why he had wanted to go to the harbour.

"Bet you've never seen a house in a boat." He told me once we were there.

If he hadn't said it, I would have never guessed, but all the boats in the water were actually houses. Looking into one of the windows, I found a complete dining hall and full kitchen, the likes of Home. Nothing on Besaid looked as fancy, but by his words, this was modest housing. He pulled me along to one of the boats and opened the door. This one was caked in dust. At first, I wasn't sure why he had taken me here, but he acted as surprised about the appearance of the house as I was.

"This isn't right. This is my house. Why is it so rundown?"

Once I got my head around it, I put my hand on his shoulder and said, "Remember, this isn't really your house. This would really be Shuyin's house. Maybe this is how he kept it."

"Yuna, does it look like anyone's lived here for a while?" He asked.

"Well, to be fair, none of these houses have been lived in for a long time."

"Huh, but it looks like everything that should be here is."

"What do you mean?"

He handed me a picture frame he had dusted off, "My mother and me."

We browsed the house from top to bottom, while he told me about everything and all the little stories that happened in each corner. It would have been better if it didn't look abandoned like it did, but hearing about his history made up for it. It was midway through the upper level that he picked up one last picture frame and furrowed his eyebrows. Showing me the picture, he would tell me that every one of them only showed him when he was a child, before his parents' death. It was confusing to him why, though it would seem that Shuyin abandoned the home after losing his parents whereas he stayed, probably because of Sir Auron. After we finished upstairs, we slowly made our way back down. Our time was almost up and we didn't want to keep disturbing a house that hadn't been lived in for relatively a decade.

Just before I reached the bottom step, the door flung open and, standing there gasping to catch her breath was my cousin. She struggled to stay on her feet and I could tell she'd been running some distance now. Rushing over to her, I held her steady and rubbed her back to help her calm down. She was drenched in cold sweat and looked completely unnerved, but she was too preoccupied with catching her breath to explain. Ten or so minutes later, she'd finally calmed enough, taking in one last deep breath. Then, she grabbed me by the shoulders and looked at me with so much worry in her eyes. It almost felt like two years ago when we first reached Zanarkand and she was terrified I wouldn't make it. I looked back at her and reassured her just as I did back then, but this time she had more on her mind. Trembling, she took in one more quick gulp of air.

"Yunie! He's gone! Shuyin's gone!"

Author's Note: Poor Yuna, she's been through a lot. At long last, she's been given a small gift to help her along, but is it really enough?

So the end takes us back to last chapter where Shuyin had gone missing. Next chapter will show just where he went off to and why. ^_~ Til then!

PS: Eternal Love anniversary update! w00t! =p