Truthfully, while Yuna was looking forward to seeing Caius again, she was also a little ashamed by how she’d handled everything since their last meeting. Their departure had been a little awkward to say the least—she had been fairly reproachful about him killing Darlene—but time had softened her stance on what had happened at the bandits’ underground base. Darlene hadn’t been the type of person who could be reasoned with. They likely would have had to have killed her just to escape, let alone to free the people being held hostage. It needed to be done. With that in mind, Yuna didn't think she could hold anything against Caius just because of his expression while he’d done it. Caius had protected her and Vordun, and she was grateful for that.

Anyway, Caius had far more reason to be mad at her if he knew how careless she’d been since they’d split off in Torensten. She wasn’t looking forward to telling him that she’d lost Aera, shared an odd moment of understanding with Ardyn, and confronted the witch who had attacked Torensten while alone in the mountains.

On second thought, maybe she would keep a few of those to herself unless asked. Yuna wasn’t sure that she could deny any accusations of having a death wish when confronted with all of that evidence.

Slipping into the tavern, Yuna shared a brief smile with the bartender as the bell over the door signaled her arrival before she scanned the clean, wooden interior. In the furthest corner, she spotted a head of long blond hair, and she moved over to join her friend, shooting him a warm smile as she slid into the booth across from him.

“It’s been a long time. I was starting to worry that something had happened before I got your letter,” she confided, doing her best to avoid peeking at what he had been sketching in his notebook. It didn’t feel polite to stare, after all. Still, she couldn’t help but notice that the circles under his eyes had become more pronounced since the last time that she’d seen him, and a slight frown crossed her face. “How are you? Really?” Yuna asked softly as she leaned forward over the top of the table. “I haven’t been back to Torensten in a while. Are things getting worse?”

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Yuna had thought that Caius looked a bit more wan and tired than he had when they had parted ways outside the bandit camp, but she hadn’t expected to immediately learn the reason why as he laid aside the battered notebook that he had been sketching in.

"Celes killed Charon."

“…Oh.” Her head tilted forward slightly until her hair partially obscured her face. “You found another lieutenant?” Sudden guilt settled over her. While she had been off tracking down Ardyn, she had left her friends to fend for themselves against the bandits. Had she really expected the threat to just stop while she was gone? The Dragonblades had already been a target, and that would only have increased after Caius had killed Darlene. She should have come back sooner. Maybe she could have helped.

Caius started to give her the outline of what had happened, and Yuna raised one hand to her mouth at the description of how they had massacred an entire village. She mostly stayed quiet and let him tell his story, but she wasn’t able to keep from commenting when he tiredly implied that Charon was Darlene’s father. “…Then it’s a family business?” The idea was distasteful, particularly when she thought about her own father. She couldn’t imagine someone teaching their child how to do the things that the pair had done together.

Caius finished his story by expressing clear regret that Celes had been the one to kill Charon instead of him, and Yuna shook her head before raising her head to look him in the eye. “It wasn’t your fault.” She hoped that he understood the double meaning in her words. This wasn’t, and Darlene wasn’t either.

“I’ve always wanted to think that everyone can be saved, but however much I want it to, the world doesn’t work like that. If…we didn’t kill them, then they’d never stop what they’re doing. And they’d try to hurt us.” She hesitated before leaning over the table slightly in earnest. “I’m sure that Celes saw that too, Caius. She wants to protect you as much as you want to with her. Don’t blame yourself.” He might anyway, but she hoped that her words helped alleviate at least a little of his guilt. At the very least, she hoped that it was clear that she didn’t blame him for Darlene after she’d had time to think over the situation rationally.

Leaning back against the chair upholstery, Yuna nodded when her friend said that they needed to be ready for a response. “Let me know if you hear anything else. I know I’ve been gone, but I’m here now. I want to help.” Hopefully she could make up for forcing her friends to deal with Charon alone.

Yuna was so focused on the bandit threat now that when the topic abruptly changed, she was left a little speechless as she stared at the blond man across from her.

“How long were you intending to keep your position from us, High Summoner?”

Yuna floundered for a moment at the unexpected question before a sad smile finally crossed her lips. “Oh. You’ve been talking to Declan.” It wasn’t really a question. She had met the boy inside of the Dragonblade headquarters after all, so it would have been odd if Caius hadn’t run across him while he was joining up. “I…wasn’t trying to keep it from you. I don’t even really know if it’s true,” she admitted, clasping her hands in her lap as considered the grain pattern across the tabletop. “I’m still having memory problems. I remember being fairly new in my journey as a summoner, but I also know that can’t be right, or I wouldn’t be able to summon Shiva.” With the path that she was taking, the ice aeon should have been one of the final Fayth that she called upon before travelling to Zanarkand. She thought that she had been barely used to Ifrit before coming to Zephon, but nothing about that added up.

Yuna hesitated, wondering if she should share why she really had doubts about Declan’s story, but Caius had been so honest with her about Charon that she decided to be open as well. “And high summoners…they die.” She twisted her hands in her lap a bit before looking up again. “I know that I told you about Sin. High summoners are those who gave up their lives to defeat it. So for him to say that I defeated Sin and lived…” Yuna shook her head with a faint smile. “I know I’m missing parts of my life. But no one’s done that in a thousand years.”

She kept to herself why she thought Declan might have been lying. She didn’t think that he was being malicious—entirely the opposite actually. A part of her worried that something terrible had happened to Spira, and that he was trying to comfort her by letting her live a fantasy. She did desperately hope that he was telling the truth—she just wasn’t entirely able to believe it yet.

“…Thank you.” Yuna gave Caius a small smile when he said that her enemies were theirs. “Summoners don’t usually have enemies outside of fiends though. With the church and the people on their side…” Still, even as she spoke, Yuna had a spark of doubt. She’d been trying not to think about the image of Maester Seymour dead on the ground that had flashed in her mind during their escape from the bandit’s prison, but it was something that was hard to forget. Why would she have attacked a maester of Yevon? Did the fault lie with her? Or with the church?

“…It’s possible,” she admitted sheepishly, contradicting what she had just told him. “I’ll keep you updated. I promise.”

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Yuna didn’t know if her words helped Caius feel better or not, but she wasn’t able to resist a small laugh when he said that Celes would be mad if she knew how worried he was about this. “You’re right. She’d only tell you that she could handle herself…”

Still, her smile faded again as Caius seemed to be trying to find the right words to explain why this was bothering him so much. He spoke about the blonde woman’s past--Yuna had known that Celes was a general who came from a ruined world, but she hadn’t thought about what revisiting that time might be doing to the woman. Yuna’s eyes softened as Caius fumbled his words while explaining that he just wanted Celes to be happy. His guilt made far more sense to her now. He clearly cared for the co-founder of the Dragonblades more than he had words for. With how clueless Caius tended to be about these things, Yuna suspected that he might have even been in love with her, but she didn’t want to stick her nose in that too early. That was something Caius needed to come to his own conclusion on.

“No, that makes complete sense. You really care about her, so you don’t want her to do anything that might bring up bad memories.” She hesitated before briefly reaching out to lay a hand on his arm. “Maybe you should talk to her about that? I don’t think she’d be mad if she knew that the reason you were upset wasn’t because you thought that she couldn’t handle it…”

Celes was a proud and capable woman, but it was always nice to hear when someone cared. Yuna thought that the general might appreciate it even if she wouldn’t admit it or didn’t know how to respond. Really, they were perfect for each other in that way. They were both a little clueless, and Yuna had to fight back a giggle as she thought about it. She didn’t want Caius to think that she was laughing at the serious situation, after all.

Yuna sat back in her chair as the topic returned to her past, and she adjusted her silk sleeves, feeling troubled as Caius pointed out that some people who arrived in Zephon claimed to have been dead in their world. “That’s true…” Could she have died facing Sin? It would make the most sense, and it could even explain why her memories were muddled, but Declan had seemed adamant that Yuna was alive. She wasn’t sure that she could bring herself to believe that she’d found a way to defeat Sin for good though. It seemed too beautiful a thought to be true when no other summoner had ever managed the task. Still, she couldn’t help the grateful smile that she gave Caius when he expressed that he had no doubt that she’d managed it.

“Thank you. I hope you’re right at any rate.” Still, if she had found another way...that suggested that she’d ignored the teachings and bypassed the final summoning, didn’t it? Her thoughts flashed again to Caius’ question of whether or not she had enemies, and Yuna twisted her ring around one finger as she wondered what the church of Yevon had thought of her method. Once again, she recalled that flash of Maester Seymour, seemingly dead on the ground in front of her, and she was grateful for the subject change when Caius said that he had two things left to discuss with her.

First, he gave her an update on where he stood with researching the Original Sin, and Yuna nodded seriously when he talked about the slavers and the buyers that he’d managed to report to the authorities. “If I can be of any help, then let me know.” The thought of people being put up for auction still made something in her blood boil when she thought about it, so she was a little caught off guard when the subject switched to Ardyn.

“The...man who killed Aera? He’s here?” The thought wasn’t a good one. Ardyn was a problem enough on his own, but it seemed that his sadism must have run in the family if his brother was also a murderer. Yuna gave Caius a slightly disapproving look when he said that he had wished death on the man to his face, but she supposed that she couldn’t really blame him given the circumstances. Yuna had rather liked what she had seen of Aera. She couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to harm the well-spoken Oracle.

“I’ll be on the look-out for him then if he might be causing problems too. Does he look anything like Ardyn?” Ardyn was such a threat on his own that it was odd to think that the red-haired man had been the victim in his brother’s schemes, losing both the throne and his fiancee to the man’s blade. She wondered if that was why he had seemed so sad and so bent on vengeance against the gods the night that she had last encountered him. The thought reminded her that she unfortunately had something else to report to Caius.

“Ardyn is...still here. In Provo. I saw him going into a local tavern. I followed thinking he might try to hurt the other patrons.” She smiled a little sadly as she folded her hands together in her lap. “No one was hurt, but he...somewhat implied that he would turn the entire building to daemons unless I sat and had a drink with him. Truthfully, he seemed sad and not really in the mood to fight.” It had been the scariest and strangest encounter of her life, but she wanted to voice her honest opinion to Caius. “I think I pity him,” she admitted quietly. “But I know what he did to your world. And what he’s done to people here. It won’t stop me from what needs to be done if we ever get the chance. I promise.”

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Caius seemed to be trying to consider his words carefully after Yuna suggested that he should talk to Celes about his feelings, and eventually he explained that he was worried about giving her the wrong idea. “Oh.” A slight smile tugged at her lips as she mulled his point over. “You do put your foot in your mouth a lot…” Yuna had never really minded much. It was honestly a little charming in its own right, and it reminded her a bit of her guardians. Caius somehow had all the tact of Tidus with all the stoic brashness of Auron. Still, she could see how that might clash with someone as hot-headed as Celes.

“I can talk to her if you want. Woman to woman.” Her smile this time was a little teasing even if she was serious. She didn’t want Caius and Celes to be on awkward terms over a misunderstanding, after all. Especially when it was clearly weighing on her friend so much.

Yuna nodded when Caius said that he thought he had the situation with the Original Sin pretty under control. “I know. Just...be careful. I’m sure the other two leaders have it out for you. And I want to be there for you when they make a move.” She still felt a little guilty about leaving him and Celes to deal with Charon, but nothing could change that now.

Caius gave her a little more background on Somnus, who she hadn’t heard of until now, and she was frowning by the end of it. “You’re right. He sounds as bad as Ardyn. Worse maybe if he started everything…” She did her best to memorize his titles and physical appearance, though she couldn’t help the faintest smile when he said that Somnus was nearly the twin of Noctis. “I hope I don’t attack your king by accident then,” she said, though it was mostly a joke. She wasn’t the type to attack without asking questions first, and she was sure that Caius knew it. “I’ll keep an eye out up here then. I have a feeling that a meeting between the two of them might be fairly destructive…”

Ardyn had nearly demolished an entire hospital trying to kill her on their first meeting after all, and that was only because he thought she was an Oracle. She hated to think what he would be willing to destroy in order to hurt the man actually responsible for his suffering.

Shaking her head, she smiled more genuinely at Caius when he said that he didn’t blame her for having some pity for Ardyn. It appeared that he did as well, which must have taken a huge amount of strength given what the man had done to his world. Yuna imagined that it would have been a bit like her feeling empathy for Sin.

“I understand.” She sat forward a little as he spoke about how it wouldn’t stop him because he’d do whatever it took to protect his new life. “Honestly...I was pretty lost on what I wanted to do in this world until I joined up with the Dragonblades. But you’re right, I have people to protect here now, even if I can’t return to Spira. So if I can help, then say the word, and I’ll be there.”

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