The Truth Beyond the Dream (A Final Fantasy X/X-2 Fan Fiction)

Chapter 12: Troubled Waters

The brilliant glow of the afternoon sun had dipped below the horizon, giving way to pink and purple ribbons of light in what looked like paint fanned across an artist's canvas.

Tidus checked his blind spot before changing lanes to the first off-ramp exit to Luca. They had made it back to the city in what he considered to be record timing. For the most part, the drive home was shrouded in awkward silence, which he suspected was attributed more to the revelation of his lineage than anything else. They had briefly discussed a battle plan and how long they should wait before confronting Spira's keepers, but Yuna had made no mention of his relation to Nymeia the entire ride. Honestly, he wasn't surprised by her silence on the matter. Even he was still having difficulty processing that piece of information. He could only imagine what his wife was thinking. But nevertheless, they had to discuss it at some point.

"Yuna?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't think we should tell the kids about... Well, you know...how I'm related to a god."

"They'll need to know at some point. But for now, I agree. We should keep this just between us."

Her response surprised him a little. He really hadn't expected her to go along with his suggestion so easily, especially when she detested keeping secrets ever since it landed her into trouble on her pilgrimage. "So...why are you in agreement with me on this?"

"Plausible deniability. If one of those keepers gets to Trista or Zak, them knowing of your connection to Nymeia could botch the entire operation and even put their lives in danger. We can't risk that."

A smirk crept up on his lips. It had been a long time since he had seen this side of his wife. She was thinking strategically, but in a much more competent way than she had in the past. Then again, Yuna was no longer a naïve teenager. She had come a long way since the days of her pilgrimage. "How do you feel about all this?"

"What? How you're related to a god?"

"Yeah."

"I'll admit, it's a lot to take in. This doesn't change how I feel about you, if that's what you're hinting at. For the longest time, I thought you were a dream. If I can accept that scenario then this should be a much easier potion to swallow."

He chuckled at her words, finding them quite amusing. "Yeah, I guess."

When they finally arrived home, Tidus expected everything to appear somewhat normal with Rikku stretched out on the sofa, watching the spherevision and his teenage kids hiding out in their respected rooms—fate, however, had other things in mind. Instead, he was faced with the chaotic scene of his wife's cousin kneeling beside the couch, looking spent as the bright light of healing magic poured out of her hands into Vidina's writhing body.

"What the hell?!" Tidus boomed, hurrying over to the sofa. "What's going on here?"

Rikku slumped back on her legs, breathing heavily. "That's what I'd like to know."

His children traded conspiratorial glances as they stood by the coffee table hugging their arms, clearly nervous about responding to his question.

"It's complicated." Trista lowered her gaze to the floor.

From the stern look on his wife's face, he could sense she was equally displeased with their daughter's response. "What's Vidina doing here? And more importantly, what happened to him?"

"We were just hanging out," Zak explained. "Then outta nowhere he started screaming about pain in his head and feeling hot. That's when Rikku showed up. She's been using healing magic on him for the past two hours."