Stepping out of the ethereal chamber, guided by the towering blue beast, the kimono-clad girl tottered down the steps, clearly struggling to maintain her balance after spending an entire day praying. Eventually she made it down and was able to greet the crowd that had assembled.

"You had us worried!" The sour-faced belt lady suddenly beamed with a smile as she pulled the sweaty kimono into a hug, ruffling her hair. Wakka was also grinning, puffing out his chest in pride.

"You sure took your sweet time eh? The rescue party jumped before we could stop them!" At this, the summoner managed to pull herself away from the hug, glancing at Rikku and Tidus.

"Rikku! How on earth did you end up here?"

"It's all this jerk's fault! He heard you'd been locked up in here for a day and couldn't stop himself! He had to come running in and be the hero!"

The summoner had a small giggle to herself, facing Tidus, who immediately felt a wild blush fly over his face. His heart was pounding in his throat, this girl was beautiful! He'd never had trouble talking to girls before but he felt like he was seconds away from becoming a nervous puddle on the floor.

"Hello. I don't think I've properly introduced myself yet. I am the summoner Yuna, it is a pleasure to meet you."

Her greeting was polite, her demeanor adorable. Tidus could only stand there, his words forming in slow motion.

"Uhh… Hi! I'm… sorry about bursting in here… I guess we weren't supposed to go crazy like that…" He hung his head, before suddenly remembering something important.

"Oh! I need to thank you! I heard you healed me before you went into the temple!" He bowed his head awkwardly. Taken aback by his reaction, Yuna suddenly seemed embarrassed.

"Oh no no… It was nothing, really…" She trailed off, flushed from a mix of exhaustion and the unexpected situation. An awkward silence hung in the air, lasting for a painful few seconds.

"Oh my god, she's not five minutes out of the chamber and you're already giving her a hard time! Give the girl some space!" Rikku pinched Tidus by the ear and dragged him to the side.

"Ow ow ow! I've only got two ears, don't rip one off!"

Yuna watched the spectacle with a smile. It appeared she gained more than just the blessing of the fayth today.

The group made their way outside of the temple. A crowd had formed, either from the commotion Tidus and Rikku had caused earlier or somehow word had got around that the summoner had completed her ritual. Either way, he noted that it wasn't a huge crowd, not like the ones he had experienced in Zanarkand. Though judging from the size of the village, this may be almost everyone who lived in Besaid.

"I know you probably wanna go straight to your bed Yuna, but there's one last thing to do ya?" Wakka cleared a way in front of her, with the crowd seemingly expecting something to happen. Wandering back towards Tidus, Wakka let out a cheeky grin.

"Watch this, gonna be epic!"

Yuna stood on her own, a staff at the ready. The crowd had retreated a fair distance away, making Tidus think something huge was about to happen. He could feel an electric excitement in the air, almost like waiting for the start of a Blitzball game.

"Go on Yuna, show us what you've become!" Lulu called from a distance. Yuna turned around with a nervous smile.

"Ok."

What happened next was nothing short of awe-inspiring. Yuna stretched her body with the staff elongated. A circle appeared around her feet, magical energy shooting from it into the sky. The few clouds floating around parted ways, and a gigantic winged creature came soaring towards them. It's torso was adorned with red feathers, it's wings somewhere between orange and brown, making Tidus think of a dragon he'd seen in a book somewhere. In fact, the whole creature reminded him of a dragon, albeit one that seemed gentler than most.

The creature landed in the gap between Yuna and the crowd, who were gasping at the sight of the winged beast. He noted that none of them seemed frightened by it, even though he was positively shaking out of pure shock. He'd fought monsters enough times by now that he figured he was over being shocked by anything but this world seemed to always find a way to surprise him. When the creature settled, Yuna tentatively wandered over to it.

"Hello… I am the summoner Yuna… Would you please lend us your strength?" She reached out a hand. Tidus was scared she was about to lose a limb then and there, but the giant bird seemed to sniff at it, as though confirming something, before allowing Yuna to stroke its face.

Looking around, he could see the crowd cheering and clapping. Wakka and Lulu appeared to be pleased as punch as well. Rikku on the other hand, seemed to be almost forcing a smile.

"That is what we call an Aeon." Lulu had appeared behind them both at some point, making him jump.

"An… Aeon?"

"An Aeon is the manifestation of power from the souls who gave up their lives to become Fayth. They sleep in each temple across Spira, and only a summoner can call out to the Fayth to receive their power." Lulu explained some more about the Fayth to Tidus and Rikku whilst Yuna was bonding with the Aeon. Suddenly, the dragon bird took off, soaring back into the sky.

"That was awesome!" Tidus caught himself with his mouth hanging wide open. He had never seen anything like it before.

"It's cool but…" Rikku's face wore a grimace. It seemed like she wasn't a fan of the Aeon. She didn't get a chance to finish her thoughts though, as Yuna came over.

"So… What did you think?" Tidus opened his mouth in response to her question but got himself elbowed out of the way by Wakka before any noise could formulate.

"You did amazing! 'Atta girl!"

"You've done really well Yuna. We're both incredibly proud of you!" Lulu pulled the girl into another hug. Tidus noticed that she really seemed to enjoy pulling Yuna into hugs and fluffing with her hair. It was like watching two affectionate sisters looking out for each other.

After a while, Lulu released Yuna from her hug and allowed the exhausted girl to get some rest. Tidus and the others helped prepare a celebration to celebrate Yuna's ascension to a full-fledged summoner. By the time everything had been put together, night had fallen, with the Besaid Aurochs, the resident Blitzball team for the island and one that Wakka was a captain of, were flexing around a huge bonfire they had helped put together.

With a belly full of food, a drink of something that reminded him of a soda in one hand and a melancholic look in his face, he dazily looked at the fire in a trance. He was lost in thought, thinking of Zanarkand and Aeons and god only knows what else, when he suddenly felt himself nudged on the side. Rikku had plonked herself down to sit next to him, looking like she had drank from the same potion of melancholy that he had.

"What's up with you?" He questioned the pouting girl, who was glaring at her plate of food as though it had offended her. A few seconds of painful silence followed, before she suddenly started to mutter.

"This world sucks."

He was honestly this close to bursting out with laughter, but managed to hold it back before he offended the teenager.

"I sort've see some of the reasons why, but it looks like today added something new to upset you?"

"Not really new… It's a thing that's been a problem for a long time now. But…" She faltered off, not having really explained anything he could define as useful information. She sighed before continuing.

"I imagine after this, we might be going on a journey. A long journey. And along the way, you'll get more answers to even more questions that'll pop up along the way.
But honestly, it's probably better that you find out gradually, instead of me or someone else dumping everything on you at once.
The best I can do for now is say that I really love my cousin, and I want to support her and one day I want Sin to disappear and never come back. But I can't…" She glanced towards the temple, a flash of anger dancing across her eyes, enlightened by the fire dancing in her peripheral vision.

"I can't bring myself to trust Yevon. I'd go as far to say that I hate Yevon. But I can't say that to anyone here. The teachings of Yevon keep the people going, it gives them hope. Everyone prays that one day, Yevon and its teachings will someday vanquish Sin and stop it from coming back. And for someone like me to go around saying that I can't trust Yevon would be social suicide…"

"Why can't you? Trust Yevon I mean…" Tidus tentatively asked.

"It's complicated…" He figured she would give an answer like that. "It's one of the answers that'll make sense as the journey goes on but I can't tell you. Not right now." She glanced over to the crowd.

"I'm surprised he hasn't kicked up a fuss yet…"

"He?"

Rikku gestured over to Wakka. Tidus wasn't sure what she was getting at, but just as he felt like he was about to figure it out, another voice spoke from behind, causing him to jump.

"Wakka isn't a fan of the Al Bhed. For many reasons, of which many are personal to him. Which is why I'm also surprised…" Lulu had appeared. She looked at Rikku curiously.

"I came over to sate my curiosity but… Would you have any idea why that is? Judging from your conversation, you wouldn't have much more of an idea than I would…" Rikku shook her head.

"I know Wakka from reputation and from Blitz games. A nice, good-natured man but a temper, especially concerning Al Bhed and machina. The second he saw my eyes, I was expecting him to flip, but he didn't…"

"That's not all… Lately I've been noticing that something seems a little different about him as well. I can't quite put my finger on it, something just feels… off…" Lulu said quietly.

Tidus didn't know what to say. He had more or less just met the guy, he didn't know diddly squat what Wakka was normally like. First impressions was a Blitz nut like him with a bit more muscle. Possibly not the sharpest tool in the shed but a friendly enough guy who was fairly religious. But with the way the girls were talking about him, you'd think Wakka would straight up murder an Al-Bhed if he ever spotted one.

Before anyone could figure out the conundrum, their meeting was interrupted, this time by Yuna. Looking straight at him, she smiled.

"Do you mind if we had a chat?"

It's. Been. FOREVER.

I am so sorry!

Apparently I last updated this December 15th, 2012. That was over TEN YEARS AGO!

Nuts.

Anyway, any semblance I had to a plot back then has more or less gone out the window from the erosion of time, but I came back to this a little while ago, reread it and realised I really wanted to finish it. So here's hoping that works out.

I'm going to update my profile more regularly with updates, as well as links to where I post my stuff and how you can support me. Keep an eye out for those as hopefully you'll find some exciting stuff there.

Lets see if we can finish Bittersweet before the end of 2024!