Yuna and Auron talk and Auron reveals something about himself. Then Rikku and Auron confront their feelings.

Other than a massive amount of editing for grammar/sentence clarity and a few new sentences added here and there this chapter remains mostly untouched. The decent in to AU continues at a rapid rate.

Thank you for the follows/reviews.

italics = denotes thought or memory

Not Mine

A Talk of Love

Yuna woke up in a cold sweat, one thought on her mind. She threw off her blankets and quickly changed, not noticing the silence in her mind - how quiet Tidus had become. She slipped on a pair of shoes and then marched down to Auron's room. She pushed the door open and found Auron waiting for her sitting in a chair next to a table, a glass of water already ready for her arrival, "I knew you would come." he said.

Yuna glanced at him and suddenly felt rather bashful for invading his room. That was until she remembered that he had been the one to invade her dreams. If they had even been dreams in the first place. She closed the door behind her and then sat down in a chair across from the guardian eyeing him warily. Finally the older man spoke again, "Well you come bursting in here, and now you're silent? Do you want to know what I have to tell you?"

Yuna regained her composure and looked at Auron, "That's right. What was that about? And how were you in my dreams?" she asked.

Auron gave a small smile and then stood up, She noticed that he had all his clothes on and then looked at him, "You prepared quickly for my arrival."

He looked down at her, "No. I did not sleep. I do not sleep." he paused, "Water?"

"No thank you." she told him.

That seemed to act as the catalyst for him to go on, "I must show you something, a memory if you will." he said.

Pyreflies started to swirl around him and Yuna's eyes became wide as she saw Auron for what he really was for the first time - an unsent. She looked up at the dead man and suddenly had a new respect for him. To stay on this plane for so long, to be like this without rest must be taxing. Then her thoughts turned to a young Al Bhed girl and she became worried. Would he be willing to stick it out for Rikku, she wondered. As the room fell away she found herself back in the temple Yunalesca once resided in.

A young Auron is slowing pulling himself down the steps of the temple Yunalesca made her domain. And Yuna can see that he's dying. It's a slow death, and he continues to crawl even as pyreflies circle his body - harkening to his coming fate. Finally he stops, body still - death having found him. She's walking towards the the younger dead Auron when his adult form looks at her, "Stop, stop and wait." he tells her.

They wait for a few minutes and then Auron's eyes snap open again and he stand up, the pyreflies disappearing. He seems to brush himself off and then walks down the stairs as if nothing has ever happened. The memory fades and she looks back at the seat that Auron is now sitting in, "Why?" Yuna asks.

Auron sighs, "I made a promise to a friend."

Yuna nodded, "Sir. Jecht right?"

Auron looked down, "Yes."

And suddenly everything makes sense, his not wanting to go into the Farplane, Seymour's comment about him and how he's not supposed to be there, his sudden ten year absence from Spira - and yet one thing vexed her, and caused her worry, "Rikku"

Auron looked at Yuna, taken aback by the lack of tact that her comment had shown. He rubbed his temples unsure of what to say. He had known that some how, she was going to bring up the bouncy Al Bhed that he had inexplicably come to care for over the long period of their first pilgrimage. Yet he hadn't expected her to be so open about it and so sure of herself, he turned to her and sighed, "About?"

Yuna looked at him as if he was stupid and for the first time he saw that Yuna, in the space of the short week without Tidus had grown up. She wasn't that sixteen year old girl who had started the pilgrimage - she had in some ways become wiser than him. What was it that Tidus had said? Oh right, "Being Sin does that to you."

And yet, Yuna wasn't really Sin was she? For all he could tell she was just connected to the hulking creature. And it was tearing her apart. He sighed and looked up at her, she was still staring at him, "What do you mean what? Do you know what you leaving will do to her?" she asked.

Now he did feel stupid. He was no genius when it came to matters of the heart, and he hadn't noticed anything off about Rikku lately, "What do you mean?" he inquired.

Yuna sighed as if she was explaining this all to a two year old, "Rikku cares about you. A great deal. I'd go as far as to say she's fallen in love with you. If you leave after this is over, you'll cause her a lot of pain."

His shock was standard at this point to Yuna, "She loves me?" he asked.

"At the very most." she answered.

It was about this time that the silence that Yuna hadn't noticed in her head disappeared and the noise she felt while being connected to Sin came back in full force stronger than she had expected. Coupled with how exhausted she was, what happened next wasn't unexpected. She looked at Auron before promptly pitching over and fainting in his arms, ending the conversation. He grabbed her as she fell and quickly rushed her to the medic's room aboard that ship. Conveniently or not so conveniently, that room also happened to be Rikku's since she was the only one whom Yuna had taught all of her healing spells. Seeing her brought back the conversation that he had just had with Yuna and he found himself speechless, Rikku sighed and looked at him, "What happened?"

"Fainting spell. She's been overworked recently."

"Well don't just stand there! Get her over on the bed!" she gripped at him.

He nodded and brought Yuna over to the bed where Rikku had started to set up a small medic's area. Laying Yuna down he looked at her, she seemed so peaceful despite what had just happened to her, "It might have been Sin's influence too." he confessed.

Rikku nodded and cast a quick cure on Yuna and then set about putting a warm cloth on Yuna's forehead. Then she turned to Auron, "Will she be okay?"

Auron nodded, "She's a strong girl. She'll be fine" he said.

Rikku smiled, "good."

Silence enveloped the room as they both sat there trying to think of something to say. After their conversation in the bar and him sharing his jacket they had found a comfort in the silence of not saying what they truly wanted to say. Auron didn't want to be the one to break the silence but it was killing him, and the words were itching to come out, "Yuna says you care for me on a deeper level than most."

Rikku was taken by surprise, and glance up at him. She laughed and looked down at the unconscious Yuna, "When did she say that?"

"Today. Tonight, we were talking." he answered her.

She started play with her pant leg and taking bold steps, leaned against him, "Would it be so bad if I did?"

He glanced down at Rikku and awkwardly put his arm around her shoulder. She looked up and snuggled into his arms more emboldened now that he was allowing it, "I think I may like you too." he told her.

Rikku beamed at that and leaned up to kiss him, just as she did so Yuna's eyes fluttered open and she groaned, "Tidus?" she said aloud into the open space.

"Yeah I'm back. Listen whatever you do don't look to your right." he attempted to warn her.

This of course prompted Yuna to look to her right and find Auron and Rikku snuggled up trying to disentangle themselves and make it so they very much didn't look like they had just been about to kiss. Yuna eeped and turned her eyes away from the couple, "Note to self, listen to inner voice that sees everything."

"I told you."

Yuna looked at Rikku and Auron, both who had untangled themselves finally. She smiled and then her looked turned serious, and she stared at Auron, "Don't hurt her, and don't leave. Even if you want to, if you do I will hunt you down."

Auron knew that she meant it and smirked as a way of showing that he understood, Rikku suddenly looked down at Yuna, "Are you okay?" she asked.

A strange look came over Yuna's face and she looked up at her worried cousin, "To be truthful? No, not really. But that's nothing I can help. Sin's just part of me, and I have to accept that."

Auron sighed and underneath his collar you could see that he was frowning, "We're going to have to kill him." he said.

"I know." Yuna whispered softly so that the two other people in the room had to strain to hear it.

Rikku looked confused at the two people she now cared about more than anything else - since the part about Auron was now out in the open. She glance between the two of them trying to figure out who they were talking too. And found she couldn't, "Who?" she asked.

Yuna looked up at her cousin sadly, "Tidus."

At that Rikku remained silent. For what could one say when you found out that your cousin and best friend was going to have to kill the love of their life?

A/N: Sad things into happy things into instant depression - that's just how I roll. I think next chapter is the one that starts me down the path from this story is already AU to holy shit this story is REALLY AU.