Disclaimer: FFX plus SquareEnix does not equal mine. (Or should it be SquareSoft since that was what it was when Number Ten came out? I'm totally clueless…)

Author's Note: Hi all! Al Bhed Sweetie is back! This is my second fic, a one-shot that tells the story between Macalania Temple and back into the Woods through Yuna's eyes. Thought this would be interesting since I haven't seen anyone except one or two write about that part. SPOILER ALERT! AND FLUFF ALERT! ;D

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Am I Dreaming?

Something just isn't right.
I can feel it inside.
The truth isn't far behind me.
You can't deny.

The black void of darkness seems endless behind my closed eyes. I pray to Yevon that it could all be just a dream. I could wake up and simply be walking out of Macalania Temple with a new aeon at my call, continuing my holy pilgrimage to Zanarkand, and nothing at all were amiss.

I open my eyes to see my reflection in the tall mirror before me. The white dress ripples around me, falling to just above my knees in front and ending in a long train behind me, revealing my tall white boots. Gloves of white silk cover my hands. My russet hair is swept up at the back of my head, graced by a small silver tiara that holds my long veil. The earring of blue feathers and blue, yellow, and pink pastel beads that I have always worn has been taken from me. Were it not for my mother's silver necklace, I perhaps would not recognize myself.

Alas, it is no dream. If anything, it is a horrible nightmare come true. I, the seventeen-year-old summoner known as Lady Yuna, am getting married to the twisted Seymour Guado, maester of Yevon…who is supposed to be dead…by my own hand and the hands of my guardians.

The attendants appear—two Holy Sisters of Yevon, given the honored duty of preparing me for my nuptial hour. One kneels next to me, arranging my gown so that its folds fall perfectly. The other places the bouquet of moon lilies in my trembling hands and lowers the curtain of white gauze over my face. The veil is so long that it falls nearly to my knees in front and competes with the train of my gown in back.

I swear, I want to break down in tears right here and now—tears of fear, anger, confusion, and a myriad of other emotions. My throat tightens. But when I look straight into my own eyes in the mirror—one ocean blue like my father's and the other jade green which betrays my mother's Al Bhed blood, I think, Get a hold of yourself, Yuna. Mother and Father had to be strong to face their fates. So must you.

x-x-x

The bells ringing throughout the city of Bevelle in celebration sound more to me like a funeral toll. For a split second as I process slowly forward flanked by honor guards, I wish I were dead. I wish that huge monster that Tromell Guado's henchmen sicced on us at Macalania had killed me. But I banish these thoughts immediately. I keep my head level and my face in a calm expression. I do not look over at my intended husband, who is across the way to my right, processing toward the grand stair. I do not smile. It would be a crime to pretend any joy at this event.

At last I reach the converge point. Maester Seymour and I stand side by side as the priests make their reverences—the prayer that is the core of respect to Yevon. At the very top of the long stair, Grand Maester Mika waits to perform the ceremony. The priests back away and the procession continues. I begin the ascent to my fate.

As we climb, a shower of pyreflies falls from the bright blue sky. At first I think they are from fireworks. But then I hear a loud rumbling overhead. Maester Seymour and I stop and look around.

A small shape bursts out of the clouds and appears to dive towards the platform. As it comes closer, I see that it looks like some sort of flying machina…what is it called again…an airship? At the last second it swerves aside, missing us. My veil flutters away in the rush of wind. Could it be…?

"Come!" Before I can finish my thought, Lord Seymour seizes my hand and pulls me up the stairs toward Lord Mika. I drop my bouquet as I run after him, having no choice but to follow. He is quite eager for us to pledge our troth.

We reach the top. Old and bent, a smile graces the Grand Maester's wizened face to see the two of us. He is pleased that such a union is to be made. He makes the reverence to Yevon and begins the marriage blessings.

To me they are curses, dooming me to hell in the form of an unhappy life with an unsent murderer. I can hardly listen to the damning words. I hear gunshots and explosions behind me. I want to turn around and see what is going on, but I force myself to remain calm. I know Lord Seymour will turn me back toward the front, as is appropriate for a bride at her ceremony.

Suddenly the noise stops. I wheel around to find Wakka, Lulu, Kimahri, Sir Auron, Rikku, and Tidus on the landing just below us in defensive stances, surrounded by soldiers with rifles drawn. The bayonet blades take on a sinister glint in the sunlight. Maester Wen Kinoc himself has a gun leveled at Sir Auron's neck.

I have to stop this. Behind my back, my summoner's staff materializes in my hand. I step in front of Lord Seymour, holding it before me.

"How very brave, Lady Yuna," he purrs, "and clever. You would agree to a wedding, just for a chance to send me?"

I do not respond. Slowly I twirl my staff to perform the sending. Pyreflies begin to melt out of Lord Seymour's body and float up to the sky.

"Stop!"

I obey. The pyreflies stop their dance and fade away. I am surprised to see Lord Mika approaching me. He of all people should know that it is my duty to guide Lord Seymour's soul to the Farplane.

"Do you not value your friends' lives?" he asks, his aged voice carrying the tiniest hint of malice.

How can he make me choose? As a summoner I am bound to send the dead to their final resting place. But now if I attempt to do so for Lord Seymour, my friends will be killed…just as if I had given the order for the soldiers to pull the trigger.

I know I cannot endanger them. I must be wise. My grip loosens on my staff. I hear it clang as it hits the steps, bouncing to the landing where my friends are trapped. I trudge back up the steps with Lords Mika and Seymour to finish the wedding ceremony. I have failed.

It's over… it's over, my mind whispers, drowning out the final benediction. My hands hang at my sides. I fix my gaze on my new husband, with a level, blank look on my face. If I did not think him insane right now, I would think him handsome for a half-Guado. Can he see my disgust, my fear showing through? He steps toward me. I begin to tremble inside when he reaches for me. I fight to keep it from showing. The long-fingered, claw-like hands come to rest on my shoulders. He draws one hand down my cheek, stroking his prize.

Then his lips mash themselves against mine. I close my eyes. The bells ring again, and dignified applause echoes in the air. They think I consent to this. They think wrong. I am absolutely disgusted. Here I am, being kissed by a dead man. His boldness infuriates me. My hand clenches into a fist, shaking with my rage. I wish I could push this sick man away and punch him. I force myself not to.

When at last he takes his mouth away, he holds me to him. I cannot see his face. My eyes are still closed, anyway. I am trying to calm my fury when I hear two words that cut me to the quick.

"Kill them."

A gasp escapes my lips. My eyes fly open. The backstabber! How dare he? I hear the clicks of the soldiers' guns being locked and prepared for firing. I wrench myself from Lord Seymour's grip.

I back up toward the edge of the platform. "Don't!" I cry. "Let them go, or else." I take another step back. It is apparent to all what I intend to do if my wishes are not obeyed.

"You're being foolish," my husband says in that arrogant tone that I have come to despise. "If you fall, you'll die."

I shoot him an angry look. Finally, he tells the soldiers to lower their weapons. They do so. He turns back to me, thinking that now I'll be reasonable and yield to him, I wager. He offers a hand to me.

Does he really think I'm that easy? That stupid?

Not bothering to hide my contempt, I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, wanting to remove every trace of Lord Seymour from my body. I take one more step back.

"Yuna!" Tidus calls to me. He begs me with his eyes not to do it.

"It's alright," I tell him, a calm smile on my face. "I can fly. Believe." With my hands folded in prayer, I close my eyes. I let myself fall.

The wind rushes by. The pressure of gravity hurts me badly. But I am composed. I feel ripples of energy surging around me as I silently call to the heavens. I open my eyes and hold out my hands to the creature diving toward me.

With a thud I land on the leathery breast of Valefor, my trusted aeon. I look into her eyes, telepathically thanking her for saving me. Lord Seymour was wrong. I fell, and I did not die. Valefor and I look back up toward the platform, where I can faintly see people looking down at us.

"Come, Valefor," I say. "To the Chamber of the Fayth."

Slowly she turns around to let me climb onto her back. Away we fly. I must continue my pilgrimage. There is a temple here. That means there is another aeon that I must acquire.

I may be a runaway bride, but I am still a summoner.

x-x-x

When I turn the lights out,
When I close my eyes,
Reality overcomes me:
I'm living a lie.

So here I am—married, in control of another new aeon, branded as a traitor with a bounty on my head, these scenes flashing across my memory endlessly. They will not leave me alone.

The events after leaving my husband at the altar are a blur. No sooner had I earned my new aeon from the Bevelle temple than I found myself imprisoned. My memory is blurred because I was in a daze after receiving the spirit of the fayth that held the aeon.

But it is mostly because I can hardly believe what I have learned: Yevon, which has served for centuries as a source of comfort and order for all who fear Sin…is a corrupt sham, controlled by unsent. Maester Seymour is not the only one who is dead. So is Grand Maester Mika. If I thought marrying Lord Seymour was a nightmare, this is even worse.

Maester Kinoc knew of it. "Enlightened rule by the dead is preferable to the misguided failures of the living," he said at the trial that I was subjected to for attacking Lord Seymour. But Maester Kelk Ronso did not know that the whole time he had been ruling alongside unsent. He could hardly believe it; the one Ronso who spoke our language properly was at a loss for words. He stormed out.

They accuse me of "rejecting the truths" of Yevon—believing the blasphemy that Spira's true salvation from Sin does not lie with the Final Summoning, or with Yevon, for that matter. "Those who reject these truths, they are traitors!" Lord Mika shouted at me.

To be a traitor is to practically commit suicide. The seven of us were sentenced to death in the Via Purifico.

We were separated, but I managed to find Sir Auron, Lulu, and Kimahri. When we found the exit, the summoner Isaaru blocked our way, intent to make sure there were no survivors. The two of us dueled with aeons, and upon Lord Isaaru's defeat, we escaped.

We reunited with Tidus, Wakka, and Rikku, who had been thrown into the watery grave that was connected to the Via Purifico. Maester Seymour and his guards also greeted us…and presented us with the body of Maester Kinoc…my murderous husband's most recent victim.

Lord Seymour transformed into a monster and attacked. Kimahri sprang to our defense and told us to run. But I would not leave him behind. We ran back to fight with him.

When I took my fighting stance, Lord Seymour looked at me. "It is good to see you again, Lady Yuna," he purred, his voice echoing, "but you don't seem pleased."

"I'll only be pleased when you're gone to the Farplane," I retorted.

We ran after the last of the pyreflies had floated away from his defeated body. We sought refuge back in Macalania Woods. I was overwhelmed. I told everyone that I wished to be alone. Loyal Kimahri followed me to a nearby spring. He stopped at a discreet distance from the water, while I stepped into it and walked out until it was at my waist.

I am listening now to it lapping against my clothes and skin. I feel relief to be back in my summoner's robes. But the memories of what has just happened haunt me. Yevon has betrayed me.

I hear a little splash. Someone is coming in to join me. I know who it is. I don't know how I can so easily identify him, but I do.

We talk quietly. Tidus admits how ashamed he feels for telling me things we could do after reaching Zanarkand and defeating Sin. He did not know what would really happen to me in the process. "I hope I didn't make you sad," he says now. "I'm sorry. Forgive me."

"I wasn't sad," I reply. "I was happy." And I really was. Thinking about going places and having fun took my mind off the sacrifice I was making by traveling to Zanarkand.

Forget it, he tells me. Forget all about Zanarkand, defeating Sin...just live for myself, the way I want to. Maybe I could, but how would everyone else take it? Sir Auron especially would be hard to convince.

Then Tidus goes off on a tangent about going to his Zanarkand. We talk animatedly about the things we would do: going to a blitzball match—him playing, me cheering and cheering until I couldn't cheer anymore; having a party at his house; staying up all night; watching the sun rise.

I can see the ribbons of colored light clearly in my mind as he describes the sight of the horizon at dawn. "I'd like to see it…someday," I sigh.

"Well, you can, Yuna. We can all go!"

I bite my lip. My eyes are welling up. My head drops. He does not understand. What he speaks of is impossible for one whose destiny resides in the defeat of the scourge on Spira that is Sin.

"I just can't," I say, my voice cracking. I cannot stop the tears now. There they go, coursing down my cheek, plinking into the pool, making ripples as they join the water. I just stand there, crying my heart out.

I hear the water moving in his wake. It gets louder. He is approaching me. His hands come upon my shoulders. For an instant I remember my wedding, the way Lord Seymour laid his hands on me. I am disgusted all over again, and pained at all that I have gone through in the past several hours.

"Yuna," Tidus says gently.

I lift my tear-streaked face, my lip trembling.

He steps closer, his arms slowly wrap around me. I am startled to find his mouth on mine. My eyes widen. There is eagerness in his touch. Again I remember my wedding, when Lord Seymour kissed me. I wanted nothing more than to break away then, so revolted was I by his audacity. I knew well by then that he was only using me, and that the embrace was just for show. I felt defiled.

But Tidus's kiss is gentle, inviting. I close my eyes, feel myself melting. I wrap my arms around him. Locked in the embrace, the two of us slip beneath the surface of the pool.

The moon shines bright above. We dance in and out of the soft shafts of light shooting down through the water. Around and around we twirl, never letting go. I don't even know how to swim, but at the moment I hardly care. I don't even think about breathing. All I can think about is Tidus.

We float apart and then come together again. I look straight into his beautiful blue eyes, feeling myself flare up with the sweetest desire. He strokes my cheek with his gloved hand, and I let my own pale, thin hand do the same to him, feeling the lightest brush of his silky blond hair against my fingers. We close the distance between us with a kiss even sweeter than the first. I relish the feel of his soft lips pressing against mine. I can taste even more now of what I could in our first kiss: love. Pure, undoubted, passionate love—something completely new to me, but that I know I want. I feel it for him, too...feel it welling up inside, so much so that I could burst. All I can do now is show it, wholeheartedly returning the ardor of the embrace.

I swear, I wish I could just stay in this moment forever. This is a dream from which I do not ever want to wake up.

I don't want to fall to pieces,
I just want to sit and stare at you.
I don't want to talk about it.
And I don't want a conversation,
I just want to cry in front of you.
I don't want to talk about it,
'Cause I'm in love with you.

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There ya go! I know it might be confusing, being detailed about some events but not in others. I pretty much wrote it from my memory of the game—the scenes and dialogue that I could remember, just so I wouldn't have to go turn on the game, start playing from the beginning and make the fic wait till I got to the parts I was writing about. I loved writing it and didn't want to interrupt myself, even though I like to be accurate about what happens.

Please R and R! If you do, I'll write more stuff for ya! ;D

The short sections in italics are song lyrics, all Avril Lavigne stuff (sorry, all you Avril-haters out there). The ones at the beginning of the first and third scenes are from "Together." The end lyrics are from "Fall to Pieces." All other italics are characters' thoughts, as indicated in the telling of the story.