Well, this is it everyone. 5 years in the making and Assassin's blood is complete. I want to thank each and every one of you for coming along with me on this journey and supporting me and my spotty writing. I've really enjoyed making this story and I'm glad there were some people out there who liked it as well. Thanks to anyone who ever, reviewed, followed, faved, or even just glanced at Assassin's Blood. I know the first chapters were rocky and there are some definite plot holes, but I was 15! _..Maybe someday I'll come back to the story and rewrite a few chapters to fit my current style and to adapt more with where the story ended up. Either way, I still love it, flaws and all!

Thanks again everyone :)

Please leave your final thoughts in the reviews.

Much love from Fuzz

"There's only us, there's only this

Forget regret, or life is yours to miss

No other road, no other way

No day but today."

-Rent

3 months later…

The incessant beeping from the Commsphere that sat on the central room's dining table, finally forced a reluctant Tidus out of bed. He staggered for a moment when he stood, struggling to gain his bearings.

Who in the hell is calling so early in the morning?

Angrily, he pulled on the shirt and shorts he had tossed aside in a passionate fervor the previous night. Yawning exaggeratedly as he left the bedroom, he turned the corner and made his way to the tableside, tapping the top of the Commsphere lightly to accept the incoming call. Fully prepared to release his anger, he paused when the grinning, eye-patched face of Gippal appeared in the murky, blue water of the sphere.

"Gippal?"

"Hey man! Nice bed head, whatcha been up to? It's been a long time."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Tidus said, running a hand through his wild hair in a feeble attempt to flatten it. "We've been busy trying to rebuild Besaid."

"Same goes for us here," Gippal said gesturing to the blurry background that must've been Bikanel. "You look awful, did you just get out of bed?"

"You're the one who called so damn early!"

"Dude, it's noon."

"Oh…."

"Anyway," Gippal waved a hand nonchalantly. "How's Yuna doing? You're still looking out for her right?"

Tidus nodded affirmatively, "She's ok…but she still has nightmares sometimes."

"Yeah well…Pretty sure I would have nightmares too if I'd gone through what she did."

Again, Tidus nodded in agreement.

"Well, just wanted to check up on you. So let me kn-Wha-?! Hey! Ow! Rikku!"

Gippal's face disappeared to be replaced with a magnified version of the young Al Bhed girl's.

"Tidus!" She squealed, sending a static wave over the Commlink. "How are you?! How's Yunie?!"

"I'm fine. She's fine," Tidus grimaced, rubbing his ears. "How are you Rikku?"

"Fantastic! Say, when are you coming back to visit?"

"Uhh…Rikku?" Gippal's voice floated in from the background. "Not sure he'll be allowed for a while. Cid's still pretty pissed about everything we did behind his back."

"Whatever!" Rikku said crossing her arms. "He's just being stubborn. If he was really mad he would've given us some stupid punishment like…washing all the airships by hand…Or sending us to the Western Expanse to dig for scraps like he did with Nhadala…geez, pointless!"

"Alright, alright," Gippal appeared in the frame again next to Rikku, clamping a hand over her mouth to quiet her, "Point is…Give it some time before you come calling, ok?"

"Got it," Tidus said giving a thumbs up. "But that doesn't mean you can't come down to Besaid to play a few games of Blitz, right?"

Gippal laughed, "Sure, man. Alright well—"

Rikku succeeded in interrupting again, "Hey, where's Yunie? I wanna say hi!"

"She's still sleeping," Tidus replied.

Rikku's expression was incomparable. Her eyebrows shot so far upwards that they almost disappeared beneath her bandanna, "Is she sleeping in your bed? Did you guys share a bed? Tidus, did you two—"

Gippal shoved her out of the frame, cutting her off again and saving Tidus from having to explain the blush on his cheeks, "Ignore her. I'll talk to you later, man. Take care."

Tidus waved as the Commsphere blinked off. He stood staring at it for a few moments longer, chuckling lightly and shaking his head at the folly of his Al Bhed companions.

Returning to his room, he snuck quietly to the bedside slipping easily between the sheets so as not to wake its current occupant. Yuna lay with her back to him curled into a tight ball, her light brown hair splayed across the pillow. He reached out, tenderly running his fingers along the dozens of raised, red scars that stretched across her bare back. The injuries were a source of insecurity for her, anytime something came into contact with them she shied away, whether it be a friendly pat from a friend or a stray tree branch that hung too low. Tidus was the only one she would allow to touch the scars; in fact, his caress seemed to be the only thing that assuaged her. He was grateful for the trust she placed in him as he still considered it his own fault that she had accrued those wounds. It made him ache when he tried to image the pain she must have endured while she waited for him. He spread his fingers across her back, drawing them in again slowly, memorizing the way the rough, puckered scars felt against fingertips. The gentle touch began to rouse Yuna and she mumbled something lightly before rolling over to face him, blinking blearily.

"Morning, sleepyhead," he grinned teasingly.

She pursed her lips at him before closing her eyes again and shuffling across the bed to snuggle against his chest. Slipping one of her legs between his own, she wiggled her toes to tickle his calf. Chuckling, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer and relishing the warmth of her bare skin against his own.

"Who was it?" Her voice was muffled against his chest, but he managed to catch her question nonetheless.

"Just Gippal and Rikku calling to say hi." He paused. "Hold on, you were awake too? Why didn't you get the call?"

She titled her head to peek up at him, her bi colored eyes squinted in a smile. He couldn't even try to be mad at her when he saw that. Over the past couple of months, Yuna had blossomed into an entirely new person. Without the constant threat of death hanging over her head she had quickly become more exuberant, teasing, and cheerful. Tidus had known that those qualities existed within her all along, but it was a wonderful feeling to see them in person each day. There were still bad days of course, when the memories of her past left her shaking and sullen. But Tidus had continued to abide by his promise to be there for her whenever she had need of him and each time he succeeded in drawing her out of her terrors, it only served to strengthen their growing bond.

She hid her face in his chest once again, breathing a heavy sigh as she did.

"Are you seriously going to sleep again?" he asked. "It's already noon, you know?"

"I don't care," came her muted response. "I just want to stay here today. With you."

He felt her lips ghost enticingly across his collarbone and struggled to stifle the gleeful shudder that went through him. It was this type of contact that had gotten them into bed in the first place the night before.

"Alright," he pretended to sigh exasperatedly, attempting to lighten the situation before his anatomy got the better of him. "But you're gonna have to explain to Lulu that you spent the whole day groping me when we should've been out working on the docks."

She laughed stretching upward to kiss him lightly while her hands worked their way down his chest. She drew away suddenly to examine his face and Tidus could see that there was something more she wanted to express.

"OK, fine," he conceded, after the unexpected silence between them had lasted a bit longer than he would have liked. "I'll tell Lulu that it's because I was groping you. Then the blame's on me! All good, right?"

She smiled again at his jest, but reached up to touch his cheek, her expression still serious.

"You ok?" he asked quietly as her fingers caressed his face.

"I love you."

He didn't even need to think; as she finally said the words he had been waiting for so long to hear, the response was already at his lips, "I love you too, Yuna."

The danger was gone, the sins were past, and ahead of them lay only a bright future.

"Thank god this moment's not the last…"

Thank you so much everyone! Please expect more FFX fanfictions in the future. I am currently planning on doing one that is a twist/reboot of FFX-2. If you like my writing and wanna try out from FFX OC's, I have a current story on my version of FFX3 featuring TidusxYuna's daughter. However, fair warning, it is heavily OC based(which some people don't care for, understandably) and there is a canon character death in the first chapter. But if you want to give it a shot, reviews are welcome! SHAMELESS PLUG!

See you all in future stories! BYE!

Fuzz out...