Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ A Time for Reflection ❯ Question of a Lifetime ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter VIII: Question of a Lifetime

He didn't want to wake up.

Tidus, selfishly enjoying the attention Yuna was giving to his hair and face, pretended to be asleep for a while. He enjoyed the comfort, serenity, and beauty of the moment immensely. After a while, he finally decided to open his eyes and greet the morning.

"Good morning, sleepy head," Yuna said sweetly. Tidus sleepily grinned at her, basking in the feeling of being in her arms.

"Morning. Can I be honest with you, though?"

"Sure, honesty is good," Yuna said thoughtfully, slightly worried that he was going to say something to ruin their beautiful reunion.

Tidus smiled mischievously at her. "I woke up some time ago. I was, uhh, enjoying all the attention I was getting!" said Tidus, attempting to suppress his laughter.

Yuna giggled and smacked him on the arm playfully. "Well, I can see that you haven't changed a bit. I'm so glad to be able to see you smile again."

"Yuna… I did change a little. Six months of living on the Farplane changed my outlook on things, you know? Speaking of which, I really didn't get to tell you about my life there. If you want, I can tell you a little about it!" Tidus said enthusiastically.

"Well," Yuna replied, "From the tone of your voice, it seems like you didn't have such a bad time there."

"No, it really wasn't all that bad," Tidus replied nonchalantly. Auron and my old man were there. They kept me company. It was an amazing place, Yuna! It was just like Spira; same life style and everything! It's just that, well, I wanted to come back here to be with you."

Yuna smiled sweetly at Tidus, and he released himself from her grasp, stood up, and stretched. "Your father told me to say hi to you before I left. I talked to your mom too. She's a real nice lady.

"Wait. You… you talked to my father and mother?" Yuna asked happily. "What did they say?"

"Well, they said all sorts of good things about you, what else?" Tidus replied excitedly. "Your dad said that, heh, that I was good for you. I only hope I can live up to his standards… be perfect for you, you know?" Yuna stood up and turned around to face him.

"I'm positive you will be," Yuna replied lovingly. "I've never been so sure of anything in my life." Tidus smiled at her sweetly and nodded slightly.

"Umm, Tidus?" Tidus looked at her, wordlessly encouraging her to continue what she was going to ask.

"You... mentioned, my father and mother, Sir Auron, and Sir Jecht. Well… what about your mother? Did you get to see anyone from your Zanarkand?"

Tidus quickly turned away from her, standing breathlessly on the pier. Yuna, scared that she had said something very wrong, quickly put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Tidus didn't want to answer this question. It hurt him immensely to think about it, and he knew that Yuna would be completely devastated to know that the final destruction of Sin caused so many lives to be lost.

"I… I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong?" Yuna asked nervously.

"Yuna," Tidus responded sheepishly. "Can you promise me something?" Tidus asked softly.

His demeanor had changed. Everything about him had turned sullen, crestfallen. "Can you promise me that you won't blame yourself for this?"

Yuna looked at him nervously and nodded. "I… I promise," Yuna stammered, terrified of what his answer could be.

"Yuna," Tidus choked, "My mother… and everyone from Zanarkand no longer exist. When people in Zanarkand died, I mean, before we destroyed Sin, they… they disappeared. They faded into nothing Yuna! And when we destroyed Sin, Zanarkand and everybody in it faded along with the dream of the Fayth…"

"How… How can this be?" Yuna asked frantically, trying weakly to suppress her emotions. "We both saw your mother on the Farplane. Tidus, we saw her! Who told you this? Maybe they were lying to you!" replied Yuna fervently.

"Yuna, your father told me. I didn't want to believe him either! I saw her at Guadosalam too, you know? I figured that everyone from Zanarkand would be there. They weren't Yuna, none of them were, and my mom wasn't either! You're dad told me that since my old man and I went to Spira, we were special cases… we got to go to the Farplane," Tidus said miserably.

"I… I can't believe this Tidus, I won't believe it. Please tell me this isn't true! So many people lost their lives so Spira could be happy? This isn't right, it can't be right!" Yuna said in between fits of sobs.

"Yuna, I told you, this isn't our fault. We… we can't explain why something like this had to happen. I wish there was something we could do! I'm so sorry Yuna. I… I had to face this fact in the Farplane, along with not having you. It was so hard," Tidus said sorrowfully.

"Be strong, Yuna," he said weakly as he neared her.

She collapsed into his arms, tears once again flowing freely onto the pier. She didn't want to be strong. She didn't want to handle it. So many people died for Spira's salvation. All she could do was stay in Tidus' arms… his warmth emanated a small amount of comfort.

After some time, the crying subsided. Tidus gently reprimanded her for crying tears of sadness but conceded to understanding her sorrow. Yuna reluctantly released her suffocating grasp on Tidus, afraid that the lack of comfort from Tidus' warmth would lead to more tears.

"Yuna?"

Tidus looked at Yuna for a moment and continued what he was about to ask her. "If… If you don't mind, could we not tell everyone about this right now? I mean, this is supposed to be a happy time, right? I don't want to make everyone sad right now. I… I would've waited to tell you about this if you didn't ask me, but I didn't want to lie to you."

"Thank you for telling me. I agree that we shouldn't tell them about it yet. The… tears of sadness should be saved for later, right?" Yuna asked curiously.

"Right!" Tidus replied cheerily, attempting to lighten the mood a bit. Yuna, giggling slightly, proceeded to wrap her slender arms around Tidus' waist and lay her head on his well built chest. "It's so nice to do this again," Yuna sighed. "I love you."

"Love you too, Yuna," Tidus replied sweetly, completely satisfied at how easy it was for those words to come. Tidus lowered his head to kiss Yuna gently on the lips and looked at her for a moment. "Say, should we go back to the village?" Tidus asked, interrupting the romantic atmosphere of the embrace. "I, uhh, I'm getting kinda hungry!"

"Sure," Yuna replied sheepishly, breaking the hold she had on Tidus. She hated having to do that, especially for his belly. Talk about someone who knew how to ruin the mood!

Intertwining their hands together tightly, they headed away from the pier to the village of Besaid.

"Always thinking of his stomach… it's still the same old Tidus."

During the walk to the village, Tidus decided to break the uncomfortable silence with Yuna a little. "Say, Yuna… when I was gone, what'd you do all the time, well, besides staying on the pier?"

"Oh, nothing really," Yuna replied insufficiently. Upon seeing that Tidus was unhappy with her response, she reluctantly continued.

"I was, well, too depressed to do anything. Everyone in Spira wanted to make me a maestress, but I declined. I didn't think I could handle it. I made a lot of speeches, and I had a bunch of appointments. And those suitors…"

Tidus interjected loudly. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a minute! Suitors? Yuna, did they treat you bad? Did they bug you? Who were they, let me knock em' out!" Tidus said angrily.

"Tidus relax," Yuna said, squeezing his hand reassuringly. "For the most part, yes, they treated me well. They were so… persistent though. I turned away every one of them. You're the only suitor I'm interested in," Yuna said decisively with a smile.

Tidus flashed a grin and his anger subsided. Seeing how angry he got at the mere mention of her suitors, Yuna quickly decided that it would be best to not tell him about Roka for the time being.

Tidus' mind began to wander, shortly after the conversation about the suitors. He thought about how and when he would ask her to marry him.

"Should I even ask her tonight?"

He was no longer sure whether or not he should ask her right away. After telling her about Zanarkand, he didn't know if it was a good time. He quickly shook the thought out of his mind.

"I have to ask her! I need her to know that I want to spend my life with her."

Tidus' hand reached down to his pocket, looking for the chain with the ring attached to it.

"Oh crap!" Tidus exclaimed, writhing free from Yuna's hand and sprinting toward the village.

"What are you doing?" Yuna asked curiously.

"Uhh, just meet me at Wakka's house! I'll tell you about it later, okay?" Tidus yelled, running to Wakka's hut.

Wakka, snoozing lazily on his bed, was rudely awoken by a very upset Tidus storming into his house. "Hey, what's goin' on?" he asked, startled by Tidus' unusual display.

"Wakka, please tell me you didn't wash my clothes!" Tidus begged frantically. "Where are they?"

"Hey brudda," Wakka replied sleepily. "Just cause your back and everything doesn't mean I'm gonna clean your stinky laundry. They're over there," he said, pointing to the messy pile on the other end of his hut. "Get them smelly things outta here, ya? They reek up my house."

Tidus ran to the pile and recklessly rummaged through his pockets, looking for the ring he was so afraid that he lost. "Oh thank goodness," Tidus said breathlessly. "It's still here."

"What's still there?"

"Yuna! Hehe, umm it's nothing," Tidus stammered, *praying* that she wouldn't press the issue any further.

"Well, okay," she replied pryingly. "But I think you're up to something… I know you." Tidus looked at her and shrugged. That was a close one.

"Would you like to come to my house?" Yuna asked. I'll fix you some breakfast." Tidus nodded in return, moving to the direction of the door.

"Oh Wakka, I'm sorry!" Yuna said apologetically. "Would you like to come too?" Wakka looked at her and shook his head and smiled.

"I'm gonna sleep a little more, okay Yuna?"

"That's fine!" Yuna replied cheerily. "If you want to come over later, just let yourself in. The door will be open." Wakka looked at Yuna and nodded. Upon noticing Tidus trying to sneak out of his hut without taking his clothing, he was rather incensed.

"Tidus! Get those nasty clothes out of here before I burn 'em!" Tidus scurried to his smelly clothing and picked them up reluctantly. With that, they walked in the direction of Yuna's house.

Upon entering her home, Tidus was astounded. It wasn't overly fancy, but it was beautiful. Yuna had decorated it wonderfully, and Tidus was very impressed. On their journey, Tidus never really received the chance to see Yuna as the woman she really was. It was all about fighting… and death. Her home basked in feminine beauty, but at the same time was pleasing to the male viewpoint of good décor. He could tell that Yuna had wonderful taste.

Yuna noticed Tidus staring at her elegant but modest home and slowly walked up next to him.

"You know," Yuna said softly. "When this house was first built for me, I really didn't know how I wanted to decorate it. I… in my girlish fantasies, I imagined that you would come back to me one day. So I decorated the house, thinking I would be with you again. I was hoping we could start our lives over again in this house. I was, well… I tried to make it where we both might like it. I hope you do."

"I love it, Yuna," Tidus replied warmly. "It couldn't be more us. It's really… pretty."

Yuna, upon hearing those words, hugged him tightly. She heard those words before, when Tidus talked about the sunrise in Zanarkand. He would never be able to show it to her now, and it saddened her. She scolded herself for her sadness and let go of Tidus grudgingly.

"Umm, sit at the table in the dining room, I'll fix you something to eat," Yuna demanded sweetly. Tidus obliged and sat at the large cedar dinner table. In the middle of the table sat a sphere, and Tidus picked it up and looked at it for a moment. Curiously, he decided to play it, and he immediately regretted his actions. Hearing Yuna inhale sharply from the kitchen, he turned it off quickly.

It was the sphere that he left her, when he knew he was going to disappear. He didn't tell Yuna that he loved her in it… how could he have been so naïve? Yuna walked to him and gently took the sphere from him. Kissing him on the forehead, she proclaimed that she didn't need it anymore and threw it in the trash. With no words spoken, Yuna walked back to the kitchen to continue cooking.

Tidus looked at her and followed her into the kitchen. Standing behind her, he wrapped his arms around her tightly. "Yuna, I'm sorry. There's so much that brings both of us pain, even now that we're together again. I… I wish that I could do something about it."

"It's okay," Yuna replied kindly. "I know the pain will go away, as long as we have each other, right?"

Tidus nodded slightly and turned her around to face her. Yuna looked at him questionably, searching for a reason as to why Tidus was staring at her so lovingly.

"I… uhh," Tidus said shyly. "I've never told you that I think you're, well, beautiful. You're so pretty. Your eyes… they're really cute."

Yuna burst into immediate laughter. "You… you, you think my eyes are cute?" Yuna stammered in between riotous laughter.

Tidus looked very confused, and after Yuna's laughter faded, she explained. "It's just that I've always hated my eyes! They look so… weird. I think it's funny that you like them." Yuna and Tidus chuckled slightly at this, and their loving gaze found each other once again.

"I… think you're beautiful too," Yuna said, blushing brightly.

"Great… she thinks I'm beautiful."

What about handsome, or sexy? However, the realization that this wasn't Zanarkand came to him. Maybe the girls in Spira had different compliments? Whatever the case, he decided to take it as a flattering remark.

Yuna interrupted his thoughts. "I don't care what you think… you have the best looking eyes out of the two of us. Mine shy in comparison," Yuna said in between giggles, the blush on her cheeks growing brighter by the second.

Tidus smiled in return and quickly placed his lips to hers. This kiss was different from the other kisses they shared… it was passionate, and they both enjoyed it immensely. Tidus brought his hand up to her face and stroked her cheek lovingly. Breaking the kiss, he looked at her, softly telling Yuna of the love he had for her. He couldn't say it too much to her… he wanted her to know, forever, how much he cherished her.

Yuna, although enjoying the loving attention she was receiving, decided nothing was getting cooked with Tidus distracting her. He was resistant, but Yuna prevailed at kicking Tidus out of the kitchen. Regardless of his poorly acted and very humorous pouting, he grudgingly left without too much fuss.

Yuna finished the food shortly thereafter, and brought a plate to Tidus. "Hmm, what do we have here?"

Yuna looked at him and smiled. "Scrambled Chocobo eggs… eat up," she said nicely, and Tidus faked his best smile.

"Uhh, Yum!" he replied as nicely as possible, and started eating. It wasn't that Yuna's cooking was bad. Actually, the eggs were very well made. It's just that his old man never had anything but chocobo eggs to eat. The fact that he was sitting down with Yuna and eating a meal with her was more important than anything though.

Yuna proceeded to get her a plate and started eating with him. After finishing, Tidus yawned loudly and thanked Yuna profusely for the food.

He was tired… the voyage from the Farplane to Spira had taken a lot out of him, and it was starting to show. Yuna looked at him carefully for a moment.

"Go to sleep love," she insisted, noticing his weariness. "You can sleep on my bed until I make one up for you in the guest room. We can spend some time together tonight, okay?"

"Sure thing, I'm really pretty tired. Hey, when is everyone getting back from the Thunder Plains?" Tidus asked questioningly.

"They should be back tomorrow. They'll be shocked… and happy to see you, I'm sure. Come on, you need some sleep." With that, Yuna led Tidus to her bed and kissed him gently on the lips. Upon leaving, Tidus sighed heavily and drifted quickly to sleep.

Yuna lay on the couch, restlessly trying to sleep. She was tired, but sleep wouldn't claim her. She felt… alone, and she desperately needed his touch. Deciding she wanted to see him, she walked to her bedroom quietly. Opening the door, she saw him sleeping soundly on her bed and smiled inwardly.

Casting all her fears aside, she crawled boldly into bed with him, hugging him tightly. She wanted the comfort she felt on the pier this morning. Tidus' eyes opened slowly, and he grinned at her semi-consciously.

"Tidus," Yuna said, stirring his senses. "I was lying on the couch, and I… I was lonely. I want to be with you. Can I stay here for a while?"

"Sure, Yuna," Tidus replied. "I'll always be here when you need me. You know that, right?" Yuna nodded, and snuggled closer to him. Together, they reveled in the warmth and love they shared for each other. They slowly drifted off into peaceful slumber, lying in each others arms.
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Hours later, Wakka found himself outside, aimlessly wandering around the village. He was bored, and he couldn't believe how long he had been asleep. Because of Tidus' return, he hadn't slept very well the night before, and it was well past noon. Deciding that he should see how Yuna and Tidus were doing, he walked in the direction of Yuna's home.

Upon reaching Yuna's home, he opened the door and walked inside, as Yuna directed him to do this morning. He groaned when he saw Tidus' dirty clothes in the corner of the living room.

"It's gonna be a long, smelly day."

Looking for Tidus and Yuna, Wakka called out to them, but received no reply. Scoping out the house, he decided that they may have gone for a walk. Then he walked passed Yuna's bedroom. The door was open, and he saw Yuna and Tidus wrapped in each others arms tightly, sleeping soundly. Wakka chuckled softly.

"I wish I had a sphere for that one… Lulu would throw a fit!"

Deciding to leave them alone, Wakka left Yuna's home and went to the beach to play some blitz ball. It certainly was going to be a long day.
________________________________________________________________ < p>Some time later, Tidus awoke from his slumber. She was by his side, sleeping peacefully in his arms. He barely remembered her crawling into bed with him, but he knew that he slept much better with Yuna next to him. It was the very epitome of comfort, and Tidus tightened his grasp on Yuna's slender frame. There was no doubt about it… he was going to ask her tonight.

Tidus stayed that way for about a while longer, playing with Yuna's soft hair and kissing her softly on the forehead.

"This… is perfect."

It couldn't have been closer to the truth.

Shortly thereafter, Yuna's eyes fluttered open, and she was greeted with a warm smile from Tidus. "Good evening… you sleep well?" he asked happily.

Yuna bolted upright in bed, looking around frantically. "It… is it night already? We slept that long?"

"Yeah," Tidus replied. "Well, late afternoon, actually. Actually, you slept that long. I've been awake for a while." Yuna got up and walked to the mirror on her dresser. Confident that she looked like crap, she decided she would take a bath. Running water certainly was a luxury, and Yuna was the only one in Besaid that had it.

"I'm going to take a bath, okay?" Tidus nodded, and Yuna walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

Deciding that he had been lazy enough, Tidus decided to get out of bed and clean himself up a little as well. First, he had to do something with his clothes. Wakka was right, they did reek.

He walked to the pond that he had bathed in last night and proceeded to scrub his clothes. After the task was complete, he hung them on a tree limb to dry. Making sure that no one was looking, he took off the clothes that Wakka had loaned him and slowly submerged himself in the cool water.

While wading carelessly in the water, Tidus had some time to think. He really didn't want to tell Yuna about Zanarkand that morning. He wanted to tell her later, but he couldn't lie to her. He wanted her to experience nothing but happiness, at least for just a little while. He silently swore to himself that he would do everything in his power to make her happy. He owed her that much.

After a while, Tidus emerged from the pond and changed into the semi wet clothing he had just washed. Whistling happily, he walked back in the direction of Yuna's house. "I wonder where Wakka is?" he asked himself thoughtfully.

His question was answered when he walked into Yuna's home. Wakka was sitting on the couch in the living room, casually talking to Yuna. Yuna had finished her bath and had a towel wrapped around her head. To Tidus, it was rather humorous, reminding him of how his mom would do that. Yuna and Wakka didn't notice him, so he decided to make his presence known.

"Hey Wakka, it's good to see you again. Still mad at me about my clothes?"

Wakka looked at Tidus and laughed. "Naw, not any more. I see you washed them… Yuna'll be glad that you don't smell like a wet shoopuf, ya?" Tidus walked up to him and put him in a fake and painless headlock.

"Yeah, whatever," he replied, amusement written all over his voice. After Tidus released Wakka from his grip of death, Wakka started talking again.

"Hey brudda, everyone will be back tomorrow. I think they'll fall on the floor when they see you! We're gonna have a big party and don't even try to get out of it!" Wakka said happily.

Tidus shrugged, and Yuna looked at him curiously, deviating from the topic of the party. "Tidus, you could have used my bathroom after I was done. You didn't have to walk all the way to the pond. I promise my bathroom won't bite!" Yuna said jokingly. She giggled at him, and he was beginning to feel like it was pick on Tidus day.

Wakka looked at their unscrupulous flirting and decided to make his exit. "Hey, uhh, I'm going to leave you two alone. Tidus, we can catch up at the party, ya?"

"No problem!" Tidus said enthusiastically, waving his friend goodbye. He was happy to see his good buddy again, but tonight he wanted to be close to Yuna.

It was almost dark, and Tidus decided he wanted to take her to the beach. He would ask her there, under the moonlight.

"Yuna, you wanna come to the beach with me? I thought we could see the sun set tonight."

"I would love to." Yuna responded ecstatically. Tidus smiled, and encircled his arm around hers. They talked a little more about themselves on the way to the beach. It really was amazing how much they didn't know about each other. On their pilgrimage, it was hard for them to get to know each other. They were making up for lost time, and they discovered that their personalities fit each other well. As they continued to talk, Tidus became more convinced that they were meant for each other.

Upon reaching the sandy seashore, the sun was about to set. Yuna was once again reminded of Tidus' eyes, seeing the beautiful blue water. It didn't matter anymore; he was with her. Sitting down on the soft sand, Yuna hugged Tidus tightly, overjoyed with the love she felt for him.

Tidus looked at her and kissed her hair gently. He was going to ask her, he had to. He reached the conclusion that he wasn't going to get on his hands and knees to ask her, as was the custom in Zanarkand. He was going to ask with her in his arms. It was the only way he wanted it.

They sat together a while longer, holding each other comfortingly. Tidus interrupted the blissful silence. "Yuna, I… well, I wanted to show you something." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the gold chain, with the brilliant ring attached to it. Hiding it in his hands, away from her view, he unclasped the necklace and removed the ring from the chain.

"Yuna, right before I left the Farplane, my father gave this to me," Tidus said, showing the necklace proudly to Yuna.

"It's beautiful," Yuna replied. "It has such a simple kind of beauty to it. Did it belong to your father?" she asked curiously, noticing that it looked a little too feminine to belong to Tidus' father.

"No," Tidus replied simply. "It was my mother's. My old man wore it on the day he came to Spira. There was a big game that day, and he took it for good luck. He gave it to me, to give to you."

With that, Tidus sweetly brushed Yuna's hair away from her neck, and gently put on the necklace.

Yuna swooned at the gift. "I… I don't know what to say, Tidus," Yuna stuttered, completely flattered that Sir Jecht thought she deserved it.

"Yuna, that's not all. My old man, he gave me something else to give to you. He said you were completely deserving of it. This," Tidus said informatively, opening his hand and showing her the diamond encased ring, "was my mother's also."

Tidus gently put it on Yuna's left ring finger. Yuna's eyes widened with shock, and Tidus pressed on.

"Yuna, it was my mother's wedding ring. My father, he wanted me to give it to you, well… when I ask you to marry me."

Yuna had lost all concept of reality. Complete astonishment enveloped her, and she searched frantically for some words to say.

"Yes! Say it Yuna, yes!"

She wanted to, more than anything. "I… Tidus," Yuna stammered, but he interrupted her, trying to finish what he was going to say.

"Yuna, will you… be my wife? I've never been so sure about anything in my life. I… I know it's soon, but I know this is right. It feels right. Yuna, marry me. I swear, I'll always be there for you."

"Yes…" Yuna proclaimed nervously. "Of… of course I'll marry you."

They embraced, kissing each other passionately. For both of them, it was the question of a lifetime; it was simple, really. They would wed and share their lives together. Words had no definition for their moment, but the look painted on their faces, and the love they shared for each other, spoke volumes.