Set a little after the Epilogue of Our Eternity (not sure how long though).

Thank you for the follows/reviews.

italics = denotes thought or memory

Not Mine

Torn Page: Renewal

After Shuyin had been defeated Tidus had thought he would stop dreaming. He no longer yearned to consume the Aeons, no longer felt the need to destroy, or felt the Aeons calling out to him in pain. Which was why he was surprised when he opened his eyes and found himself staring out at the open beach of Besaid. He knew this was dream because Zanarkand hung in the background, lights reflecting on the water like stars. Above him the clouds moved quickly as if the fast forward button on a com had been pressed, the dark sky behind them remaining ever unchanging. As he looked out over his surroundings he heard a voice. At first it was faint, and he could not make out what it was saying but then he heard it again louder and bolder calling out across the sea - unknown, "I am waiting for you." It said.

Then he woke up.

Another night - the same as the first and another dream. The beach continued out in front of him, waves lapping on the shore. This time the voice came from inside of him. It bubbled up spilling out of his body like water, and it tasted pure and beautiful and female, "I am waiting for you."

"Who are you?" He called into the void.

But there was no answer. For he could not answer himself.

Sun greeted his vision as his eyes blinked upward at the dawn of a new day.

The next time there was a shadow figure on the beach. Curled into itself and hugging its knees. Tidus almost recognized it but could not say from where - perhaps a fever dream. The shadow uncurled and looked at him, white eyes unflinching and unblinking. It unnerved him, the way it seemed like it could stare down into his soul so knowingly. But there was also a comfort there, because the more he stared the more he realized that this shadow figure was part of himself, it had always been there and therefore of course it would know him better than most. The figure reached out and touched his chest, "I was born here." It said.

"I don't understand what you want." He told it.

"Don't you?"

He thought staring at it that he might, but the thought was fleeting and stolen from him.

Yuna's warm voice invaded his brain and he could no longer cling to the figments he thought he understood.

Four days passed with dreamless sleep. It should have felt like a blessing but instead he felt longing for that beach, and for the shadow figure that he felt so much comfort with. Yuna watched him oddly over the next few days but did not say anything. Sometimes she said he got this distant look in his eye that she wrote off as Yu Yevon or Sin problems, and did not pry. He was grateful to her for this, for he was not sure if there was anything she could do. Instead he walked the island, back and forth. He returned to the water hole that Wakka had once pushed him in and went for a swim. As he swam he turned over so that he was floating on his back and laying there he stared at the sky.

On the fifth night he finally dreamed again. This time the shadow figure burned red and Tidus knew where he had seen it before. But it wasn't him whom this memory belonged - it was Yuna's, who had shared it with him. She had wanted him to understand her grief then and Tidus had felt it too, strong and potent and alive under his chest. His tears had matched hers. The burning figure looked at him, a smile on its face, "Ah. You remember."

He did but he did not know how to go about fixing it, "I do not know what you want me to do."

"Cast out. As a fisherman casts out for fish." The figure told him.

He woke knowing what to do.

For five days Tidus meditated. On the final day the sun set and a full moon rose above the ocean.

That night he didn't dream. Instead he walked over to the beach and reached deep inside of him where the voice had lived only in his dreams. He pulled the voice out, laughing - and cast it flaming into the ocean. As it hit the water there was a immense splash, as if something large and heavy had been hurled into the sea. The ocean calmed, and the waves stopped - as if the moon had lost its pull. Then there was nothing - and Tidus's waited.

Finally a shaft of light came from the moon and it seemed to illuminate the water. Small bubbles began to float to the surface from the small patch of lit water, breaking up the still surface. Behind him he heard a small gasp and turned to see Yuna staring out the into the sea. She walked over next to him, "I' woke you." He said as way of apology.

"Not you. The laughter, and the splash." Yuna explained, "Is that why you are out here too?"

"Those voices were part of me. The part of me I could give back to you." Yuna looked at him quizzically, "Watch." He told her.

It did not take much longer but finally a face broke the surface. And then a body, gasping for oxygen. Next to him he could feel awareness slowly dawn on Yuna's face - and then with little regard for herself or her nightgown Yuna rushed forward into the waves, the water parting for her and not the other way around. Soon she was submerged and forced to swim, onward and forward until she reached the woman who had been birthed from the ocean as if a newborn. The two women embraced and Yuna, unashamed - begun to cry. Tidus could feel her tears even from where he stood on the shore. Inside he could hear Yuna clearly, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

A second voice joined hers and Tidus realized that he and Yuna would be alone no longer, "I am home. Father…. Mother." She said.

It was a welcome home Tidus realized, and as the woman spoke these words Yuna's voice full of mirth and joy and a breath of fear having been released, answered, "I feel too young for you to call me that."

"Is that not what you are?" The woman laughed clearly teasing.

"I would like to think myself a friend first and foremost."

"Why not both?"

"Hush" Yuna told her but there was humor in it.

They looked to shore where Tidus stood swaying a bit, but still attempting to give them their time alone. The woman grinned, "You should introduce us."

"I should." Yuna said.

Together they swam, and then walked ashore as if two drowned Chocobos. Yuna wrung her longer hair out and then the two of them together walked over to where Tidus had remained, waiting for them, "Tidus," Yuna said aloud, "this is my friend - Paine."

Tidus smiled, "Pleased to meet you."

But, as he stood there and watched them talk it didn't feel as if he had just met this woman. No, she had been part of him for so long - just finally set free.

A/N: Happy Holidays everyone! This chapter was always part of the planned story. In the original games Yuna got Tidus back, this was my answer to that. I think thematically it works very well. Now onward to the sequel (Soonish I hope) and more stories.