This Silent Kiss

Chapter 1- X-prologue

And it all started when I saw this sphere of You….

((((()))))

"PAAAAAAARTYYYYYYY~!" Brother and Rikku sang, doing their own little mix of the conga. Paine and I smiled; that was all we could do. Because if there was thing I was certain, it was that Al Bhed sure knew how to bring on a party fest.

But it wouldn't be a real party. Not without… Him. We saved Spira again. I… didn't think it would be possible, actually. Being without Tidus was like being without an arm. Even though I only knew him during the extent of my journey as a summoner, he was just as close to me as Rikku or Lulu or Kimahri or anyone else. I loved him. More than a brother, more than a best friend.

I love him.

Yet saying that over and over in my head will never bring him back. Seeing Shuyin and Lenne together after a thousand years gave me hope- but that was a thousand years. If I'm ever to see Tidus again, I don't want to have to be dead to do it. I want him to experience all the new things Spira has now. Take that darn tour set up in Zanarkand, only if it wasn't such a heartbreaker. But I can't. He can't.

Neither of us can ever do these things together again.

Rikku jumped up in front of me, a smile plastered to her always ecstatic face. "Yunie, let's go out and hunt that sphere!"

"…Sphere?" I asked, realizing I had just zoned out of a whole conversation. It's not that I mean to do it, of course, but when you're surrounded by so much randomness and ecstasy it sometimes overwhelms you.

I never hear silence now. Only sound of laughter and cheer, but it's lacking, because his voice isn't consonance with the others'.

But laughter is always better than silence; than the sound of so many tears. I live by that, and I pull through.

After all, it wasn't supposed to be. I'm real; he's a dream. It… wouldn't work out. Somehow, though, it did, didn't it? Like New Yevon, the Youth League, and the Machine Faction. All together again. Yevon and the Al Bhed. No longer enemies.

Wakka and Lulu. Vidina, there to symbolize them both and the life they would have had with their parents had Sin not murdered them.

So I can't complain. No one in the eternal calm can, and that's the best thing ever to happen to Spira! I should be happy, so, so happy, like Rikku and Brother.

I think I'll start being happy now.

I clapped my hands together, a smile widening on my face. "Let's do it!"

Rikku let out a "Yessssss!" and bounced over to where Paine stood, staring out our airship's windows, an uncharacteristic smile on her face. I also grinned. When Paine was happy, you too have to be happy. It was one of the many things I have learned.

Brother, Buddy, and Shinra all assumed their usual stations and prepared to head out to Luca, where the sphere was. I had never gone to Luca for a sphere was, and I had thought that it was impossible to keep something hidden for so long in such a crowded place.

Well, I guess you learn something new everyday.