A/N: Remember that short story I mentioned earlier? Well, I made this as a sort of middle-stage. It's WAY before the events in the Eternal Calm, but after Yuna goes home to Besaid (after her speech). Well, that, and I wanted to be able to thank you guys (and ladies). First off, it's confirmed. Frozen Wind WILL have a sequal. I don't care if I'm repeating myself about that, I just want to make sure that you reviewers know it. I hope that Winds of Hope isn't taken as a name, but I'm not posting it for some time. It's well underway right now, but it has a lot of bugs that I'm working out.

Thanks to all my reviewers, you're the lot who convinced me that my writing doesn't suck, and inspired me to make the sequal.

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The Beach, and the Oath.

Yuna sat quietly at the beach, her face looking to the sky, watching the moon. She looked down at the water, and caught the ghost of a familiar form swimming towards her, a broad smile on his face. She gasped… and then he faded. The last part to fade was his blue eyes, and a fringe of his hair that hung near the eyes.

Sadly, she looked away from the shifting waves, curling into a fetal position in the sand.

&&&&&

A pair of footsteps quietly approached her. Yuna looked up from her curled-up position, and her throat tightened. "Hi", she said weakly.

Luin, dressed in his typical black shirt / shorts, merely gazed at her, then sat down next to her. Yuna flinched, expecting something along the lines of 'cheer up', like Wakka and even Lulu had constantly said to her, but true to his form, he said nothing of the kind. Of all her guardians, she was… glad that he was one of hers. His past had been hellish, but it allowed him to be a source of comfort that she didn't have to worry about her image in front of.

He reached over, and laid one hand on her shoulder. Yuna met his gaze, and a tear trickled out of her eye. She said in a choked up voice, "The pain… it never stops…"

Luin nodded, his eyes becoming distant. "No, it never does stop. You hurt in some way for the rest of your life, if it was true."

Yuna hugged her knees to her chest, saying, "It was true."

He brushed away the tears on the right side of her face, and remained quiet. After a few moments, Yuna leaned onto him, and burst out in tears, sobbing into his shoulder.

&&&&&

Hiccupping slightly, her tears gone from being cried out, she pulled away. "I'm…"

He shook his head, smiling faintly. "You don't have to apologize." He smiled again at her, and Yuna smiled weakly in return. There was a brief silence, then he said quietly, "We all need someone to lean on. Whether it be a lover, a sibling, even a friend, we can't stand alone, especially not in grief. Yuna, believe me, I understand how it hurts."

Yuna nodded, as she realized she could see a few tear-tracks on his face, shining in the moonlight. He sighed, and closed his eyes for a moment, another tear leaking out of each eye.

Yuna said weakly, "I… I can manage without… you can go with Rikku, the next time she stops…"

Luin looked at her, a hurt expression flashing across his face. "No, Yuna."

&&&&&

Yuna stared at the waves. Luin had been digging around in his pack for something, and finally came out with it. She couldn't see it in the light, actually, it was just a vague shape in his hand.

"Yuna, could you give me your hand for a moment?"

Yuna looked over at him, a confused expression crossing her features for a moment. She shook it off, and held out her right hand to him. He held her hand in his left, then there was a sudden stinging sensation across the thick part of her hand. Before she could react, his hand was cupping hers, and she could feel a warm fluid dripping from it, intermixing with her own cut. She looked at her hand, then at him, confused for a moment. "What're you doing?"

He said softly, "Blood-oath. So that I'm… your brother. Nothing less, nothing more."

Yuna retracted her hand from his, staring at her bleeding hand. It wasn't leaking much blood, in fact, it was already clotting. Luin said slowly, "From now on, Yuna… would you trust me, like you would trust a brother? It's the only way I can help you… by being there."

Yuna nodded slowly. "I can tell you… my secrets, and you'll never tell?"

Luin nodded, his own cut hand cupped, the blood pooling in the center, but it too was clotting. "Yes. I'll take them to the grave, if I have to."

Yuna smiled, and hugged him. She whispered, "Thanks" in his ear, then let go, looking back out at the waves.

Luin remained seated next to her, watching the same waves striking the sand. He said to her softly, "The pain never truly goes away Yuna… but it fades, slowly, until it's only a slight pain in your heart. You'll never forget them, but you eventually can live again."

Yuna said in a teary voice, "I don't want to live again."

Luin remained silent, but there was a female voice that spoke to Yuna, saying gently, "Yuna, you might not believe me now, but if you believe hard enough, you can get him back… forever."

Luin reached over, and hugged her, blind to the sudden lightening in her heart. Yuna whispered to Luin, "Do you think he can come back?"

Luin remained silent for a moment, then breathed, "In his case… it's possible. I'm not Mewtwo anymore, I can't see the future clearly."

Yuna whispered, "Do you see us…"

She felt him nod. "I get fragments of visions. Keep this to us, ok? I'm trying to figure out how to tell Rikku this… I see you and him hugging, on a field of flowers. Sometimes, he's ethereal, other times, he's solid... but I don't know where."

Yuna's face became slightly shocked, before she wept into his shoulder, her dispair turning into hope.