"And I'm telling you she isn't a summoner! What are you talking about?! She's Zanarkand's favorite songstress, not a fighter! If you send her out there she is going to die! If you want help in your war then make her pay more taxes! Hell I'll happily pay more taxes if that means you fix this mistake!" Shuyin yelled at the officer.
"We have dozens of reports saying that Lenne has been seen with Aeons-"
"That's because she's been rescued by Aeons! Someone else in the city is a summoner and has been saving her behind! How she ends up right where the Beville attacks? I have no idea, but maybe if you actually put up a guard and stopped them then this misunderstanding wouldn't have happened!"
"It's been stated that she's been visiting temples-"
"To see fans! It was a tour! That's why she left Zanarkand for months, because she had a world tour!"
"She has magic!"
"Because her father was a summoner! Not her! He obviously taught her a few things to protect herself, which is why I'm telling you this is a misunderstanding!"
"THIS IS NO MISUNDERSTANDING! Lady Lenne is a summoner and she will be required to serve and protect the great city that has served and protected her! You're wasting my time with your nonsense and I won't have you wasting anymore of it! Guards! Take him out of here!"
"You're making a mistake! You're sentencing her to death, do you know that?! She's going to die out there!" Shuyin yelled at the top of his lungs trying to get his point through.
"Idiot boy, then why don't you sign up as well and protect her? We may not have power over the Zanarkands with money deep down their pockets, but summoners are fair game no matter how important they are. You should be happy really, you're girlfriend is going to help save our great city."
"FUCK THIS CITY! I WON'T LET YOU USE HER LIKE THIS! LET ME GO! GODDAMMIT LET ME GO!" Shuyin yelled as he started struggling.
He was dragged down the halls by several guards, more of them keep coming as he knocked the ones who held him down out, before finally getting thrown out of the government office. Shuyin yelled in frustration and slammed his hand against the concrete ground several times over until his knuckles started to bleed.
"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! AHHH!"
He couldn't lose her. Not when he realized how much he cared for her, not when he got used to having her around, living together, seeing each other every day. He didn't want to lose her. Not being able to see her anymore, to hold her, kiss her, hear her beautiful singing voice and her light laughs. He was her Guardian, he was supposed to protect her from everything.
He couldn't protect her though... Shuyin shivered as he got back to his feet and started walking down the street. He wasn't going to let them have her, he wasn't going to allow anyone to have her. She was his and his alone! Screw Beville! Screw Zanarkand! No one was going to harm her!
Shuyin slammed the door behind him close when he finally made it back home, kicking off his shoes harshly as he walked in. Lenne came running into the room he was in out of breath, tears in her eyes as she stared at him.
"Where did you go? I woke up and you weren't there and you're always there so why weren't you there?" She asked going hysteric.
"I went down to the army office to file a complaint, it couldn't wait. Those idiots though don't seem to understand that you're not going anywhere near that war, the same way you don't understand. So pack up, we're leaving Lenne and I'm not joking this time."
"Shuyin, why? Please calm down, please stop acting like this."
"If I have to kidnap and force you Lenne I will, don't test me and just listen to what I say."
"Shuyin, it's alright." Lenne whispered softly.
She walked over and hugged Shuyin, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder. He stiffened up, not dropping his guard at all as she held onto him.
"Everything is going to be alright." She told him.
"Nothing is going to be alright Lenne, you aren't going to make this out alive and where is that going to leave me? Huh?" Shuyin asked finally returning her hug and pulling her in close.
"I can't lose you, I won't. If you leave me I- I- I don't know what I would do." He started crying.
"Shuyin, everything's going to be alright." Lenne repeated stroking his hair.
"Do you love me Lenne?"
She stiffened up a bit, her breath getting caught in her throat as her fingers froze.
"Do you care about me more than Zanarkand? Because if you do then we need to go, we need to leave."
"Zanarkand is going to fall Shuyin; I don't want that to happen. I want to try and help." Lenne whispered.
"Help a different way! Don't go sacrificing your life for these people when they don't even deserve it! Why do you have to go save them?! If you weren't a summoner you wouldn't be saying these things! You wouldn't be willing to risk your life over this stupid war!" Shuyin yelled pulling her away.
"But don't you see Shuyin? It's because I have this power that I want to use it. My father... my mother would always get mad whenever he left because she knew it might be the last time she ever saw him again, she hated that she fell in love with a summoner and couldn't understand what that meant. I think you're the same way; you don't understand that it is my duty to save these people and my pride as a summoner. My father died in a heroic way wanting to make a better world for my mother and me to live in; I want to do the same thing for you too and all my friends and all these people here in the home I love so much."
"If you were just going to die in the end why did you even know me?" Shuyin asked.
Lenne blinked and he dropped his hands, taking a step back.
"If you were going to die why did you befriend me? Why did you let me fall in love with you if in the end you were going to leave me? Was this all just a game for you? Were you just toying with my feelings?"
Lenne's face tightened with anguish, her heart clenching the same as she went to retaliate back, "how could you say such a thing?! My feelings for you are real, just as real as yours are for me."
"Are they? Because I would never die for anyone else but you Lenne, and you aren't dying for me. You don't have to die for me, what you're doing in selfish and I doubt if you ever held feelings for me in the first pla-"
Shuyin didn't finish as Lenne walked over and slapped him across his face. His head turned and Shuyin went wide eyes as tears filled Lenne's eyes, her breathings rugged as she tried to calm herself. Shuyin didn't say another world to her as he simply turned around and left out of their apartment without a second glance back. Lenne crumpled to her knees and started crying out, hugging herself as she wished he would take those words back, that he didn't mean them, didn't feel them. The door didn't open again though and wouldn't until she was asleep in their bed, dreaming about the times where they were happy.
"Why won't you talk to me?" She whimpered.
"Nothing to say to you." Shuyin responded, not looking up from his meal.
Lenne balled her hands into fists on her knees, "then why do you keep coming back if you have nothing to say?"
"Because I love you."
It didn't have the same affect like it always did on her and Lenne felt like it would never have it again. Instead of warm flufly feelings she felt guilt and sadness. Shuyin finished up his meal and stood up, dumping his dishes into the sink before he walked over and kissed her head.
"As long as you are willing to die for this city then I am willing to find a way to end this war... I'm sorry, about before, but I can't understand your reasoning Lenne. Maybe it was like how you called it though, a summoner thing..." Shuyin took a big inhale of her hair before sighing out, "I won't be back until late. Don't wait up for me."
He left without another word and Lenne stared down at her meal, not finding herself hungry anymore. She was hurting inside, so much worse than she imagined she would when she first received the news and got the letter. It didn't need to be this way; it didn't have to hurt this much if he could only accept and try to support her... if only she could turn her back away from her people. If only he could grasp how much this place meant to her. This is where she lived happily with her father and last saw him, this is where he was buried, this is where she lived happily with her mother, this is where she was buried, this is where Lenne first started her career and where she first felt something towards someone, where she first met him and- and...
Zanarkand was her home, her family, if she abandoned it, if she watched on the television the ruins and crumbles of it while she was somewhere safe in the world... she knew she wouldn't be able to handle it. It would be like losing another parent; she'd break. Then what use would Lenne be to him then? She'd be a part of something that once whole, one broke part of the full Lenne he fell in love with and he would leave her, not being able to deal and take care of her anymore. Lenne would then be truly alone and die in regret. At least this way she would die believing in something, trying her best to do some good in the world.
She wasn't going to die though, for Shuyin. She was going to survive, she was going to make it through until the very end and come back home to him. Shuyin didn't believe that because she hadn't shown him that yet, but she would. If she practiced her summonings as much as she practiced singing and dancing then he might have believed her...
Lenne used the beginning of her life dedicated to being a songstress, it was time she really lived out her father's promise and start dedicating her life to her Aeons. Lenne stood up and went to get her staff; pausing as she changed her outfit. She was a summoner, but also a songstress. She was both and she loved both. Lenne changed into her dressphere where she usually performed concerts in, hooking her staff on her back and pulling her earrings free from her hair.
She looked like her mother and her father at the same time.
Without another word she headed out the doors, planning on practicing her hardest or until she threw up and passed out. Shuyin, whatever he was doing, he was working his hardest for his goal; it was time for Lenne to start doing the same.
