Author's Note: I apologize as this took longer than I wanted it to take. I've been sort of busy as well as stressed and I hadn't had time to work on this, this includes a lack of motivation to work on this. Eventually, I gained that motivation back and I was able to type up the rest of this chapter. Enjoy.

009. Independence

Yuna drifted in and out of her conscious, groaning lightly, toes and fingers curling. Her hands found something damp and leafy and she felt her nails scrape against dirt. Where the hell was she? The flowerbed at the church, she instantly thought of the flowerbed, she must've fallen asleep. Yet, she could hardly recall anything from beyond that. She struggled to get back up for a minute but managed to sit up; it was only then that she had a better look at her surroundings. She wasn't at the church, the sunshine that once showered her was gone, and she was left in nothing but darkness. There was a thick fog that covered her surroundings, preventing her from looking out much further, beneath her had been grass and flowers, stretching out far beyond the fog. For this, she came to the conclusion that she had been back at the Farplane. Yet the flowers surrounding her looked nothing like the flowers of the Farplane, instead they resembled the white and yellow ones back at the church.

Where am I?

The fog and silence encased her, leaving her feeling empty and intimidated. This felt familiar yet this felt different at the same time, it was a dreading feeling she couldn't quite find the words to describe. Almost like an imitation to her dreams. "No…no…" She shook her head, remembering her last visit to the Farplane, the darkness was pitch black and she was helplessly lost; no one came for her.

She couldn't go through this again!

"No, please, not again." The palm of her hands pressed at her face, her breathing grew hollow as her fear rose. She needed to keep calm, she got out once, and she'll get out again. "I can…I can do this." Yuna refused to waste any more time and she set out, forcing her way through fog and placing up mental barriers. Beyond, she saw nothing, behind her, she found nothing, and she immediately felt regret as she didn't properly mark her previous spot. She hurried to one side—"Hello!" She turned and hurried to the other side—"Can anyone hear me?!"

Nothing. Plain nothing, once again.

"This is…this is…!" Fueled by her frustration, she gained the urge to curse at the top of her lungs, something she would normally never do, but she kept her cool to her best. "No, I can do this. I can't give up." She just needed to find the proper path. Hands clasped together and she brought them up to her lips, gently pressing at her bottom lip with the nails of her thumb. She just needs something. A gentle whistle flew through the air, barely audible, but just enough to catch Yuna's attention.
"Huh?"
The whistle blew once more, a little louder, and carrying on a tune that Yuna could easily recognize.
"That's…"
The whistle was louder and clearer, coming at her at a distance; it was right in front of her! She felt overjoyed as she ran toward the distance of where she heard it; she knew who it was.

It's him, he's guiding me.

Her heart swelled like a balloon causing it to ache beautifully; she heard it again, and again, and again. Her cry to him left her in sob she desperately held back. "Tidus!" He wasn't there, that wasn't him, what she saw she did not expect. It was like glistening silk that flowed in a breeze that wasn't quite there, Yuna had noticed this silver hair, the rest of him was dark, real dark, and it wasn't just his wardrobe. The stranger's back was to her, giving her nothing but full view of his hair, and that's when she heard the whistle again. It was firm, clear, crisp, and obviously from the man before her. He used this whistle to call to Yuna, to lure her, and she couldn't help but to feel sick.
"Who are you?"
The figure kept his back to her and ignored her question.
"What are you doing here?!"
There was still no response; her stomach clenched.
"…What do you want from me?"
Long, silver locks flowed in the nonexistent breeze, dancing around him as he slowly turned back to finally face her; glowing, sinister turquoise eyes with pupils in thin slits had watched her, and she felt her breath catch at her throat, blocking any sound from escaping. And when the black foot of this intimidating stranger stepped forward, her heart rammed against her chest.

She's never seen him; never in all her life. Someone like him was so hard to forget. So why did it feel like she knew him somehow, why did he feel so familiar? Those eyes were definitely something she came across before; but from where? With her focus solely on the man's eyes she hadn't noticed anything else till something dark caught her eye, it spread and extended from behind the man. A wing, a sole black wing with many of its feathers came raining down. One particular feather floated down in front of Yuna, hovering over her as it did before. It's not till she held out her palm that the feather floated right onto it. Shivers ran down her body like an electric shock that was brought upon this touch, she closed her eyes and—
then it suddenly came to her and she knew. That name that the old man croaked.

"Sephiroth?"

Then the darkness overtook her.

When her conscious began to return, she wondered if she dreamed the entire thing up, she wondered just how much of it had been dream and what had been reality. The feather she found at the beginning was probably just part of the dream too, in fact, everything, including Gaia and the journal, could've been nothing but a dream. But as her vision returned, as she slowly pulled herself back to reality, she saw that gray sky and she knew that everything else was indeed real. There was a brief tug to her boot that irritated her, she groaned in response and heard a harsh whisper.
"Shit, she's awake!"
"Shut up!" There was a harsher tug to her boot.

Yuna wasted no time on using all strength she could conjure up to shake herself from the stranger's grip, as she struggled, they struggled back, cursing as they realized she had finally awoken. "Leave me alone!" She screamed, twisting her body as she tried to sit up to face the perpetrators.
"Drop it and let's go!" She caught sight of two men, one who held her boot and attempted to yank it off her foot, and another that held onto her coin purse.
"H-hey!"
They heard her right away and bolted away, the other surrendering his need for Yuna's boot. The young woman stumbled right back on her feet and immediately went for her pistols—wait, no…they were missing. "They…they took my…!" Oh, those bastards would definitely get it. Tugging her boot back on, she bolted right after them, screaming at them, keeping her eyes locked right onto her target; they made their way toward an alley, and her stomach churned right then. They were going to do this, it seemed, but those were her weapons and her savings, she needed them to get by! She knew there would be a fight, and she would prepare, she would kick and scream if she had to, she refused to go down, and so she followed.
"I will not play games," she called to the dark alley, squinting and scanning every corner for where the thugs may have hid. "Don't underestimate me." At age seventeen, she was unknown to all the dangers, barely starting out in the world, barely surviving, depending on others every once and a while…but not anymore; she took a step forward. "Now give me back what is mine!" At age nineteen, she finally developed the craving for freedom and independence, she learned to be far more fearsome than she had been those two years ago, she kept her voice firm and strong. Yuna took two cautious steps forward, eyes peeled at the darkness; she had to keep her guard up. At age twenty-one, she didn't need anyone anymore, she could handle herself just fine, and she was a woman, not a child. She was a few steps in when one of the thugs came at her from behind—how in the world?! The other came from deep within the darkness, wielding a dagger in his hand, they both charged at her, laughing. Her body froze and her mind told her to dodge to the best she could, and she would've, if it weren't for the sound of rapid gunshots ringing in her ears. The thug in front of her froze as she did, the hand wielding the dagger stopped midair, and the other thug behind her cried out in pain. Yuna whirled around; the man fell to his knees, and flopped right on his front, crimson spots scattered on his back where the bullet holes were.

She remained at her spot, her guard dropping momentarily, she didn't even notice the thug behind her anymore, but he hadn't moved either, he felt too afraid. In front of her had been a large dark skinned man, dressed in a white vest, fishnet shirt, and green pants, his hairstyle was something strange to Yuna, looked like small braids but more attached to the scalp. The man's most notable trait, however, hadn't really been his large intimidating size, or the unfamiliar hairstyle he wore, it was the large steel gun attached to his right limb. The man scowled, holding out his right limb, looking as if he were aiming right for Yuna, but he wasn't, he was aiming for the thug behind her.
"Out of the way!" His gruff voice called out and Yuna dunked for the ground right away, hands covering the top for head.
Gunshots rang out once more, along with another pained cry, and a thud—the other thug was done for.

Yuna slowly removed the hands from her head and stared right at the large male, whose steel machine gun then extracted to the form of a hand. No words were exchanged yet, but the woman gulped, lowering herself to search the pockets of the thugs. Looting corpses wasn't really her style, and it made her feel real uncomfortable, no matter how fresh the body had been, but she needed her things. "Here we go…" She fished out her coin purse and her weapons, stashing them both away, and smoothing out her skirt as she stood back up. "…Thank you, by the way." She turned back, noticing that the man hadn't left his spot, but his sour expression remained.
"Don't you know better?!" He scolded. "What were you thinkin' comin' out here on your own?"
"I'm sorry but…they had something of mine, my gil and my weapons, I need them back!"
"You'd risk your neck for a couple o' stuff you can just replace?"
"N-no, this gil took me so much effort and time to earn, it's all I have to go back! These pistols…they're important to me, and I just can't let them go." She was just trying to look out for herself. "I'm sorry, I really am, it won't happen again, but please understand why I had to do this."

The man just watched her with the same face, but he sighed, and shook his head; it was then his expression softened. "What's yo' name?"
"Yuna, my name is Yuna. Yours?"
"Barret. Hey—wait a minute! I heard of you!"
"H-have you?"
"Marlene mentioned someone named Yuna comin' to the bar the other day, said you looked kind of funny." Yuna made a face, a cross between a frown and a nervous smile.
"Are you talking about the little girl? The one with the pink ribbon in her hair?"
"Yeah, that her! So you met Tifa, right?"
"Of course! Y-you know her as well? You're friends?" Suddenly this world didn't seem so large then, and she felt quite relieved to meet up with someone who knew her other friends, she didn't feel so alone and scared anymore.

"Come to think o' it, I think Cloud mentioned you too."
"He did?" Now that was a surprise, she felt her heart hop in her chest.
"He couldn't find you… looked through the whole damn ruins but you weren't around."
"I, er, I meant to find my way back but…" The guilt set in in no time, she truly wanted to meet up with him, but that strange and frightening incident happened, and she still pondered if it was all real or not. "Nevermind, are you alright with me heading back to the bar with you? I should apologize to him."

Cloud had to admit, he was quite surprised to see her walk through the door with his tough friend, even more so when she smiled at him, and hugged him the moment she saw him, hearing her apologizing profusely to him. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to…I got lost…I almost got mugged…"
"You almost got mugged?" His hands firmly grasped the younger woman by the shoulders, pulling her away from the embrace to get a good look at her face.
"Its fine, I'm fine, Barret helped me." Yuna gingerly grasped the hands that held her, then looked back to the larger male that. "And he told me that you were asking for me."
"He did?" His glowing blue eyes left Yuna for Barret, whose lips almost curled up to a smirk. "You said you would wait for me, but you weren't there, I was just worried—
"I know! And I apologize, I am really, really sorry." There she went again, expressing her remorse, smiling nervously but trying her best to keep it warm; her arms re-wrapped themselves around his waist and she pulled him back for a hug.

There was a clear of throat from behind Cloud, and Yuna pulled away, the two turning their attentions toward the front of the bar; Tifa had just stepped out.
"Yuna, you're here."
"Tifa!" Yuna immediately greeted her with a smile and Tifa smiled back, though there was a lack of feeling behind it, as if she smiled simply for Yuna's sake. "Uh, Barret brought me here."
"She almost got her ass mugged."
"What?!" The forced smile on Tifa's face dropped, and suddenly there was genuine emotion in her eyes. "Are you alright, Yuna?"
"I'm fine! It won't happen again…" If it weren't for their friend, she might've actually been killed, the thought almost sent shivers down her spine, but no, she had to acknowledge her mistake, she had to be more careful, had to defend herself better. And her mind wandered to earlier that day, when she found that feather and the old man, and then there was that strange dream. Her gut grumbled, something was up, and she knew she had to put up her guard better.

"Anyway, it's fine now, I have my things back and I wasn't hurt," Yuna reassured. "Should we start heading for Cosmo Canyon then?" The question was directed toward Cloud, she had turned back to him, but Barret piped up.
"Cosmo Canyon?! Spikey, why didn't you tell me you were goin' to Cosmo Canyon?!" Barret released a hearty laugh. "I was just thinkin' 'bout going there. It been a while."
At first, neither Cloud nor Yuna knew what to say, Yuna thought it would only be a personal trip, and Cloud…well, he knew Barret, knew how enthusiastic the man could be about the place that founded AVALANCHE, and he had hoped this would only be a quick trip for Yuna's sake.
"Now that you mention it…we haven't seen Red XIII in a while, haven't we?" Tifa asked. "I think it would be nice for all of us to visit."
"Wait a minute…" Cloud began to protest but Tifa simply clapped her hands together and smiled.
"I'll close the bar early!" Then she whisked away.
"I'll find someone to watch Marlene n' Denzel while we gone," Barret chuckled once more and then proceeded out the front door.

Yuna stood by with Cloud, the two were the only ones left in the room, and she smiled gently. "I like your friends!" They were reminded her a little of her own friends back at her home.

Next stop, Cosmo Canyon.