Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters from FFX-2. I’m merely borrowing them.

 

 Author’s notes: The story takes place right after Yuna falls down the hole in Djose temple. Since

 in the game you get to see events for Yuna’s events, this takes place with the rest of the 

 Gullwing members. Special thanks to Heather-sama (Amazoness Duo) and Forever3330 for inspiring 

 me to write this fic. ^-^ Any comments/suggestions/flames/ e-mails saying how much my writing 

 sucks can be sent to ximengwang@hotmail.com. Enjoy ^.^

 

 I'll Always Be Your Guardian

 

 Phoenix

 

 Rikku paced up and down the bridge, glancing over at Shinra every few seconds. It had been hours 

 since Yuna had fallen down into the hole at Djose Temple. As time slowly ticked by, the usually 

 cheerful thief frowned with worry.

 

 “RUF SILR MUHKAN IHDEM ED’C TUHA? <How much longer until it’s done?>” Rikku leaned over the 

 shoulder of the boy genius, trying to see if the kid had made any progress.

 

 “RUMT UH… psshhh… E’S YMSUCD TUHA, <Hold on… psshhh… I’m almost done >” Shinra didn’t even look 

 up at the currently overemotional blonde girl. He turned the bluish sphere-like object in his 

 hand before turning his chair over. “There! It should be able to get us a picture.”

 

 “So we’ll be able to see Yunie with this?” Rikku bent over at the waist to get a closer look at 

 the commsphere. It didn’t look like there was anything special about the object other than the 

 fact that Shinra had been working on it for the past few hours.

 

 “Yes. That is if she’s still down in that hole.” The Al Behd boy stated as he wiped his forehead 

 with a suit-covered hand. The boy was about to set the sphere down gently when a loud screeching 

 voice nearly made him drop the invention.

 

 “Yuna has to be there! Gullwings! Full speed to Djose Temple!” Brother finally rose from his 

 laying position in the middle of the deck. He quickly turned around to face Buddy when he 

 realized they haven’t even started to move. “GO! GO! GO!”

 

 Buddy imput their destination into the Celsius’ computer before rubbing his ears. Sometimes he 

 wondered if Yuna, Rikku, and Paine had the easier job. Sure, he just sat in the Celsius while 

 the girls were out risking their lives but then he also had to deal with Brother. Come to think 

 of it, why was Brother part of the team anyways? The tattooed Al Behd didn’t seem to do anything 

 except complain about Yuna taking too long on her missions.

 

 “Are we almost there?” Rikku looked at the sphere in the middle of the ship. The Celsius was 

 probably the fastest machina in all of Spira but the flight seemed to take so much longer than 

 usual. The young blond went back to pacing around the deck, realizing there really wasn’t 

 anything she could do about it.

 

 

 The Celsius landed at Djose temple minutes later although the young thief had jumped off before 

 Buddy even got the chance to ‘park’ the ship. “Ohhh… Come on! Yunie needs our help! Let’s hurry 

 and throw the commsphere into the hole!” As she spoke, the Al Behd’s arms waved about, 

 illustrating her words.

 

 “I’m going to have a word with the Machina Faction. You guys go on ahead.” Paine’s words were 

 barely audible as she ran off into the tent. The rest of the Gullwing nodded then ran towards 

 the doors of the thunder cloud-like temple. They were used to this kind of behavior from the 

 more mysterious member of the team. Besides, Paine always showed up if something happens so 

 there really wasn’t much to worry about

 

 

 The team of sphere hunters gathered around the large hole in the temple as Rikku impatiently 

 looked over the shoulder of the much smaller boy-genius. She watched him throw the commsphere 

 into the hole with the fascination of a cat. Slowly, she stepped closer to the hole, peering 

 into it’s unending depths. “Yunie… please be alright!” She thought to herself as she 

 half-expected to hear a thud of some kind once the sphere hit the bottom.

 

 “Let’s see now…” Shinra mumbled to himself as he clicked a few keys on a computer-like box. He 

 watched the screen intently as he tried to get some kind of signal from the sphere.

 

 “So where is Yuna? I-WANT-YUNA!” Brother’s impatience got the better of him once again as he 

 yelled loud enough to even awaken the faiths.

 

 “So where’s the picture?” Buddy asked, his arms crossed across his chest. He raised an eyebrow 

 as static started to slowly appear on the screen. It was progress at any rate. Some signal is 

 better than none, right?

 

 “Is it working now?” Rikku asked, moving her hands in front of her chest like a cat scratching 

 on a door. The depression and feeling of hopelessness she had felt all day slowly started to 

 fade away as more static appeared on the screen. If Shinra’s invention works then maybe they’ll 

 be able to talk with Yuna! That is if Yuna were down there and well. Rikku shook her head to 

 clear her mind of those thoughts. Be optimistic! She told herself as she leaned closer to the 

 monitor.

 

 The screen slowly started to get less staticy as the picture cleared except for the fact that 

 all they could see was darkness. There didn’t seem to be any light coming from the dark abyss. 

 Just when they were about to give up hope, a small pyrofly flew across the screen.

 

 “YUNA! I WANT TO SEE YUNA! SHOW ME YUNA!!!” Brother once again started yelling. Now that it was 

 clear they could receive images from the sphere, he was more desperate than ever to see the girl 

 of his dreams, even if he wasn’t the man of hers.

 

 “LYMS TUFH! <calm down!>” Rikku snapped, at the idiotic ‘leader’. She had been fed up with his 

 whining ever since Yuna had fallen down the hole. It was bad enough that Yuna was gone but being 

 worried while hearing Brother’s high-pitched voice was not a combination Rikku wanted to try 

 ever again.

 

 After making sure the older Al Behd had calmed down, Rikku went back to staring at the small 

 monitor on Shinra’s invention. “Please Yunie… please show up!” She mumbled to herself in a whiny 

 tone of voice. She had been waiting for the boy genius to finish his sphere every since the kid 

 had suggested it but now she didn’t really know if finishing it was really a good thing. Before 

 she had at least been able to hope that Yuna was still alive but now… now she really didn’t know 

 anymore.

 

 A few more pyroflies flew across the screen then it was back to pitch black-darkness. Slowly, a 

 small clicking sound rang through the speakers. Rikku nearly pounced when her sensitive their 

 ears caught on to the sound. They sounded like footsteps! But who’s? Yuna’s boots usually didn’t 

 make the kinds of sounds that were being played by the speakers. The young blond leaned in closer

 to the screen, almost to the point of pressing her nose against the cold glass. There seemed to 

 be a shadow-like movement from the far horizon. Even in bluish pictures transmitted by the 

 commsphere, Rikku could still pick out the small movement.

 

 “Is it… Yunie?” she asked softly, her hopes rising higher than they ever had before. Maybe Yuna 

 was alive and well?

 

 “Let’s try to zoom in,” Shinra quickly pressed a few buttons on his invention as the screen 

 slowly started to make the shadow bigger and bigger. At the maximum magnification, the body was 

 still covered in shadows but it was definitely humanoid.

 

 The shadow slowly moved closer, taking it sweet time as if it’s sole purpose was to taunt those 

 who were watching it. Just as its body started to clear up, a haze of pyroflies flew across the 

 screen, knocking into the commsphere. The echoes of the deceased played across the speakers of 

 Shinra’s machine as the pyroflies kept on flying past until the screen returned to static and 

 the sound faded.

 

 “What happened? What happened?” Rikku asked frantically as she towered over the young boy.

 

 “The pyroflies must of have hit the commsphere. The receiver and microchip might of have gotten 

 damaged.” The young boy explained as he turned off his invention. He looked around at the rest 

 of the Gullwing crew. Brother had gone back to his fetal position while Buddy stayed calm and 

 collected as always. Rikku on the other hand seemed to look more worried than the young boy has 

 ever seen her in the two years they had been together.

 

 “Is there any way to fix it? That could of have been Yunie down there!” The blonde Al Behd looked

 almost on the verge of tears. Her last hope of contacting Yuna had just been shattered. All she 

 had ever wanted was to protect her dear cousin but now, like last time, she had failed.

 

 Shinra looked at Rikku for a moment before shrugging, “I’m just a kid…” His voice was barely 

 above a whisper as he grabbed his machine and headed towards the exit of the fayth chamber. 

 Buddy wasn’t far behind the child prodigy as he half carried, half dragged Brother with him.

 

 Rikku watched her other team mates leave one by one. Are they going to give up that easily? Are 

 they just going to leave Yuna down in that whole while she may still be alive, the odds were 

 slim but still possible. Yuna had done so much for Spira by risking her life to fight Sin but 

 now even those closest to her were leaving! The young Al Behd girl slumped to her knees as she 

 stared down into the bottomless abyss… but could anything survive if it fell down from there? 

 “If anyone can, then Yunie can! She may not be a Summoner anymore but I’ll always be her 

 Guardian!” The young girl slowly got back to her feet. She blinked her eyes a few times, making 

 the small tears that had formed at the corners of her eyes slowly run down her cheek before 

 landing on the temple floor. Taking a deep breath, the blonde girl took a few steps backwards 

 before staring back at the large hole. “I’m coming Yunie. I’ll be the one to save you this time!”

 Without further delay, the young thief started running towards the hole at full speed. For those 

 few seconds, only the one she loved occupied her mind. She would gladly die for the brunette if 

 she had to but if she couldn’t save the one she loves then at least she could die right alongside

 with her. And so the former Guardian ran. She was inches away from the hole when a voice rang 

 through her ears, making her heart melt with happiness.

 

 “Yuna here, reporting for duty.”

 

 Those simple words stopped the thief from her mission. Yuna was alive! She was alive and well! 

 Tears of joy threatened to spill from the Al Behd’s eyes as she turned around and ran back to 

 the Celsius. Except this time, she was running to get closer to her love in this life instead of 

 joining her in the farplain.