Chapter 25: Unexpected Changes
They were both gone… Damu and Kai… We'd lost them. They were never coming back. "This can't be happening…" I stammered lowly, still staring at the distraught man in my arms. I couldn't believe what was happening. Everyone I loved was in jeopardy and I'd already lost two.
The next day, everything was rather silent. Areth wasn't talking to anyone except Trista. Obviously, the death of his best friend was killing him just as much as Damu's death was to Ju. They'd both lost their childhood companions. Would the same thing happen to me? I don't know how I'd react to Rothel's death. I couldn't even imagine it. If Bevelle ever took Rothel from me, they'd regret it. I promised myself right there that if Bevelle or anyone else tried to take my friends from me again, I'd make them suffer for each killed. Counting Damu and Kai, that already wasn't adding well for them. Of course, I'd still have to wait a bit before I could go back into the fray. With my wound still healing, I was rather helpless.
"How are you holding up, Shuyin?" Kirin asked, when I bumped into her somewhere in east Zanarkand. "I'm fine, Kirin. Actually, I should be asking you that. And how's Ju doing, too." I responded, looking to her with concern. "I'm okay… Ju's not doing so well though. All he does now is look at all the things he and Damu did as kids all the way to… you know…" Kirin said solemnly, a stray tear sliding down the side of her face. It was probably one of the only tears Kirin's ever shed. It was the hardest thing in the world to make her cry and Bevelle had accomplished it. They'd pay dearly for all the harm they've caused my friends.
The two of us walked on for a bit in silence, a rarity when it came to Kirin. It was killing me that her innocent and lively spirit was tainted to such a degree. "Hey, blitz season starts soon." I said loudly, desperately trying to lighten the mood. "Huh?" Kirin replied, "Oh… that's right. I'd forgotten." I wasn't about to give up. I wasn't about to let Kirin lose the thing I love about her the most. "Yea, I heard that the Al Bhed are really Psyched about it." I said with emphasis, hoping she'd hear the bad pun and at least crack a smile. To my fortune, I saw the slightest of grins take shape on her beautiful face. "Yea, they have that Naru and Tappa now, right? I heard they're pretty tough. What do you make of them?" She said, the sadness in her heart seemingly dying. "Well, Naru might not be so bad. I'm worried about Tappa. They say he's a great forward." I analyzed, thinking about what I'd heard. "You don't think Naru is gonna be tough? Why? Is it because she's a girl?" She questioned with a shove. My plan was working. Quickly, I took up a cross-armed, smug look and said, "Whatever do you mean? It's quite obvious that guys are way better blitzers than any girl could be." "Hmph! When Naru beats your butt, don't come crying to me!" Kirin replied in a huff. All I could do was hide my stupid looking grin. It wouldn't come off my face because I felt far too excited at my success to even keep up the act. A few moments later, a hand touched my shoulder and Kirin's voice said smoothly, "Thanks for that, Shuyin. I really needed it." "No problem."
We continued walking, eventually ending up… at that place. "Oh, we must have made a wrong turn somewhere!" Kirin quickly yelped, realizing where we were. "I'm sorry…" It was my mother's old house, completely abandoned after her death because I wouldn't allow anyone to go near it, let alone move in. As I said, my mother's death was a rather painful one for me and emotional management is a skill I know very little of. "It's… okay… I guess it was due time I finally came back here." I started to say, tears starting to well up in my eyes from scars never truly healed. Kirin was my only reason for not crumbling into dust. The way she saved me from despair was distancing myself from my pain and allowing time to do the rest. Now, for better or worse, it at least got me through the following months until my heart finally let go of her death and moved on. That was why she had apologized, though. "Anyway, I owe you a lot of gratitude for what you did for me back then. It meant all of Spira to me that you talked to me, comforted me, and helped me to let go of this bit of sorrow. Besides, it's been nearly a decade. I think I should confront my past and completely seal off that wound." I uttered, trying to sound as apathetic as possible, but I knew I was failing miserably. The tears were sliding down my cheeks without end and I felt my entire body start to tremble. So much for my heart moving on. All it really did was cling to Kirin for dear life. "Shuyin… We should just get out of here. C'mon, let's go." She told me, grabbing my arm gently and trying to tug me away from the site. "No… I won't run away from my pain. I won't put all of it on you, not anymore. You've done far too much for me already." I replied, closing my eyes to let it all sink in. My mother died out of grief. Jecht, my father, had gone training for blitz one day at the beach and drowned due to a tidal wave. It broke my mother's heart to hear the news that he was gone and hoping against hope, she prayed that having not found a body, it meant he was still alive, somewhere. However, sooner or later, she realized that he wasn't ever coming back. After she died, many people, friends or family to both, tried to console me, telling me, "When a lovebird dies, the one left behind just gives up living so it can join its mate." I used to hate it when people tried to tell me things like that. I hated it so much because… because deep in my heart I knew it was true. Mom loved that… Jecht… so much that once he left her, she just lost her energy. "She left me to be with my old man and that's all there is to it. I can't change it now…" I mumbled, my voice shaking tremendously. Kirin quickly turned me to face her and grabbed onto my shoulders roughly, "She didn't leave you! Don't you ever think that! She loved you as much as she loved your father, but when your heart breaks… it's just… hard…" I couldn't handle it anymore. The tears stung my eyes and all I could do was shake my head and hold in my grief as best I could. "Let it out, Shuyin. You've held back those tears for nearly ten years. It's about time you let your feelings show. You're only human, after all." She told me, hugging me gently and patting me on the back. I didn't know whether to feel extremely grateful that she was still protecting me like this or extremely embarrassed at myself for being a nineteen year old crying over something that happened so long ago.
"Are you okay?" Kirin asked me as we left about an hour later. "I'm fine now. I think I've finally let go, for real this time." I responded, smiling as much as I could. My eyes still burned somewhat, having released so much pain all at once. "Okay… What about your other wound?" She said, accepting my words and changing the subject to talk about my still injured gut. "Heh, don't worry about that. It'll take a lot more than a stab wound to keep me down. I'll be back in full before the blitz season starts." I reassured my friend, patting the area lightly, but confidently. She shook her head and giggled a little, "Same old Shuyin."
Another hour passed and Kirin decided it was about time she headed to her actual destination. "So you're going to go see Ju? Give him my best. I really hope we can finish this damn war already and stop all this stupid killing. I'll see you later, Kirin." I told her, sending her off on her way. She smiled back before turning and leaving. I watched for a little while, seeing her form slowly disappear around a corner. I still needed to figure out what to do. After all, Bevelle wasn't going to stop murdering my people. I needed to find a way to end the war quickly so no more people would die, families suffer, friends put through such agony. There must have been some angle I wasn't looking at. We had machina and so did they. However, we also had summoners and they lacked that. Then again, their machina could easily cream both our machina and summoners. Lenne already had a few close encounters. It wasn't like her Overdrive worked on those mechanical monsters. As strong as her Aeons were, they can't take down cold, unflinching steel forever. In fact, Lenne, Larea, and Yunalesca herself seemed to be three of the very few capable summoners. For the most part, the summoners weren't all that gifted. Many of them still hadn't even gotten their Key Aeon, like Lenne did with Elumina. Actually, come to think of it, aside from Elumina, the only Key Aeons I'd seen were Larea's Magus Sisters, Trista's Yojimbo, and Yunalesca's Foricon. I'd been capable of blocking Foricon's axe even after Trista's Bahamut put those three huge gashes across my chest. I was also able to take down Trista's Yojimbo, though, the stupid thing didn't even attack me until she paid it, which made it pretty useless. If this was the best we could offer against Bevelle, we'd be finished in less than five minutes.
"Tidus?" A voice called from behind. It was Areth's voice, completely devoid of his former suavity. "Oh… how've you been getting by?" I asked. "He hasn't. He's been crushed. I… I don't even know what more to do." Trista said, coming up from behind him. The man was utterly pitiful to look at. His hair was a mess, his shoulders dangling, and not a single bit of life could be found in his eyes. "I know it hurts. Believe me, I know how painful it can be to lose someone that close to you. You just need to let it out. Cry if you have to. You can't bury your feelings inside of you and let it eat you alive. I made that mistake ten years ago with my mother." I told him, trying to get him to lift his head and look me in the eyes. He simply couldn't be helped. Kai was his closest friend and his own hometown had been the cause of Kai's death. I guess, unlike me, when depressed, Areth just sinks. Perhaps that was a better reaction. My anger and hatred was the reason it took me ten years to finally have the maturity to let go. "You know Areth, Tidus is right. You can't let Kai's death eat you alive like this. You have to just let it go. Look to the future. We'll squash Bevelle into the ground!" She said, holding gently to Areth's sagging shoulders. "I… It's just… Kai… He was… He was the only family I had left. My parents died a while back because of some fiends and… Kai was the only person… He was the guy that supported you to the end when you were down… Now he's gone… I just… I don't even know…" He mumbled, lost in his own train of thought. "You've still got me. I'm not going anywhere." Trista said lovingly, putting her forehead to his. "Listen to her, Areth. Kai's gone… There's nothing any of us can do to change that… The thing is… you haven't lost everything yet so instead of sulking about things that are out of your control, remember that you can still do something to safeguard the people that haven't died yet." I followed up, patting his arm with my hand, "So mourn now, but come back with a fury later, 'kay?" I smiled at him sincerely, hoping he'd do the same. Thankfully… well, sorta… he did crack a smile, the smile that creeped me out all the time. "Well, we've got to go pay a visit to someone, I think." Trista spoke up. "Yes… I think I should just get it over with, let my mind be at peace." Areth returned, nodding to her. "Going to see Kai?" I asked humbly. They nodded and I moved aside to let them pass. This was a good idea that Trista had. If Areth could just see Kai again, even if it was his spirit, it would still be good for him. Actually, that was another thing I hadn't done in ten years.
I continued to think: What could Zanarkand do to beat Bevelle? What could I do to keep Lenne safe? What could I do to end the death toll of friends with Kai? What… "Yo T!" Yet another voice said, breaking my concentration. "Rothel! Hi! Oh, and hey there Larea." I said happily, seeing my best friend and his girl. "Hey bro. This season o' blitz is gonna rock! I can't wait 'til we get in that ol' Sphere Pool and kick some ass!" He replied, loud as ever. I couldn't help but smile at him, "Hey, who are we facing first in the pre-season anyway? I heard it was either the Guado or the Al Bhed." "Heheheh, that's the best part! Haru talked to me a little bit ago and guess what? We gonna be takin' on the Psyches! We'll knock 'em out first and the trophy's as good as ours." He said enthusiastically. "Haru? Where'd he hear this from? That rookie's sure starting to get the hang of things." I returned. "No man. He didn't hear it from nobody. He got us with the Psyches himself. Told me, everything's gonna go accordin' to plan." Rothel corrected. So Haru scheduled the game with us versus the Al Bhed Psyches himself? That was quite a bit of good thinking on his part. If we could take out the Psyches in the pre-season, they'd be far less ready to partake in the actual season. Not only that, but facing them in the pre-season meant we'd get to know their strategies and, not only that but, I'd get the hang of how Naru and Tappa work. "Kudos to the rookie then, eh?" I said, making a thumbs up with my hand. "You got that right. Anyways, how's the gut? You gonna be in the startin' line-up wit us or are you gonna let me get all the glory to myself? I could get used to that, ya know." He asked with a slight snicker, patting me on my wound. "Don't you even think about it, Rothel. I'm planning on stealing all of your glory." I joked back, grasping quickly at the air like I was trying to snatch Rothel's glory as a solid object. Following suit, he raised his fist and shook it at me, while pretending to look angry. "Anyway, what are you guys doing out here today?" I asked. Rothel snickered yet again, "I'm tyin' the knot." I thought he was kidding. "What kind of a knot? Can I see?" I joked, not taking him seriously. "No, he means we're… engaged." Larea replied shyly, thinking all of our mockery was for real. "Wait… you mean you really are… and… wait what?" I said, baffled as I was. "Yup, Rothie's tyin' the knot. Betcha never saw that one comin', right?" He responded. I still couldn't believe it until, impetuous as he was, he shoved his and Larea's engagement rings in my face… literally. "Ah, get away!" I shouted, pushing back both their hands, "What brought on this decision?" "Bro, this war ain't goin' nowhere. I figure, if I'm gonna die, might as well be hitched to this hunny and go in style." He told me. "We both decided that if Zanarkand loses this war, at least we will both be bonded in marriage and know exactly how we feel for each other." Larea added, probably thinking I'd need a translation for Rothel's street talk. "Wow… I never thought I'd see the day you were more of a romantic than I was." I told him, smiling my approval. "What about you and Lenne, ya know? Ain't you thinkin' 'bout the future, too? What you doin' out here anyway?" He asked. I wasn't out here to think about marrying Lenne, that was for sure. The thought hadn't even occurred to me. What would I do if Zanarkand did end up losing anyway? I guess if had to die, I might as well do so with the woman I loved. Maybe I should do like Rothel and marry Lenne. I knew I loved her. What was stopping me from going for it? I grabbed my necklace unknowingly and started to stare into space. "Hey T, ya alright?" Rothel asked, waving a hand in front of my eyes.
I left Rothel and Larea after a while and wandered around on my own again. Really, what was stopping me from marrying Lenne? Walking around for thirty minutes aimlessly ended up with me standing in front of a jewelry store, staring into space. I had bumped into Haru along to way and cheered him for scheduling the game and also asked for his thoughts on whether or not I should marry. He told me that I should just go for it and get a ring so here I was. "Sir, can I help you with something? The check out girl said, actually coming out of the shop just to get me to stop loitering. "Oh, I'm sorry. I was just… thinking…" I told her honestly, having still no resolve in me to just buy a ring. "Well, what do you want to look at?" She asked, still fidgeting around with something in her pockets. "I wanted to look at some rings… Not that I'd know which to get… I'm a little lost here." I said, laughing at my own idiocy. I never bought a bit of jewelry in my entire life. Even my earring was done at home by Kirin. She thought it'd look cute so I just let her. Then, the only other piece of jewelry I had was my necklace and that I got from Lenne. "Well, we've got quite a selection and I can always help you find one." She said to me, finally looking up to look at me fully, "Oh my! Tidus! You… you… you're Tidus, star blitzer of the Abes! WOW!" She started breathing really haphazardly and waving her hand to fan herself. "Yea, I know. But… could we just keep it down a bit?" I said, trying to calm her down by putting my hands on her shoulders, but that only riled her up even more. "Wow, Tidus has his hands on my shoulders. I'm actually being calmed down by Tidus! This is so great!" She squealed, causing me more aggravation with each passing second. Finally, after a few more minutes of squealing, jumping up and down, and begging me for an autograph, she calmed down enough to help me look for a ring. "So, who's the lucky lady?" She asked, most likely having day dreams that I'd reply with a, "Why you of course." If I'd said Lenne, no doubt the girl would explode on me again, "A summoner. She's not someone you'd recognize. Anyway, her name is…" I started looking around for something to help me make up something, "…Violet." When I said that, I was staring at some flowers that the girl had in a vase behind the counter. "Oh, how lucky for her." The girl said with many hints of disappointment in her voice.
We looked at rings for around a couple of hours, me being the dope that didn't know an engagement ring from a toe ring. "I really have no idea what she'd like. This is so not my forte. Why does this have to be so complicated?" I said, starting to get a little frustrated since anything the girl showed me I'd always think wasn't good enough for Lenne. "You know, it's only hard because you love her. It shows how much she really means to you that you'd spend this long finding the perfect one." The girl informed me, swooning over the fact that I could be so much like her image of the perfect romantic. I kept looking and eventually, she pointed out this cute looking flower-shaped one with a heart-shaped center. The petals were all diamonds and the heart was a rare pink diamond. It seemed to look like something Lenne would like so I got it. I also told the girl that I'd like to engrave: For love that lasts an eternity, I will always be by your side. –Shuyin. Of course, when I told her I wanted that message engraved, she had to say, "Aw! How romantic!"
I waited about an hour for the engraving to be done. It was a good thing that it took that long. I had to practice my line… over and over again, in front of a mirror like I was proposing to myself. "Will you marry me, Lenne? No, that sucks. I want you to be my wife, Lenne. Yes, and after that, I shall run your life! Bwahahah… I really suck at this." I said to that mirror, ending up doing really dumb skits in front of it because I got incredibly bored and frustrated with being frustrated. "I am so bad at these things." I grumbled at the mirror, finally giving up on my approach and settling on just shoving the ring in her face and hoping she knows what words to put in my mouth. "Aw, you aren't so bad. I think that last skit you did was pretty good. I love you with all my heart. Please marry me?" She said, mimicking my last approach. "You heard all that!" I whined, thinking about two problems with that. First of all, I said Lenne a few times when I told her that I was marrying a flower. Then, there was just the sheer embarrassment of someone overhearing your goofy ways on asking someone to marry you. "Oh don't worry. I didn't even catch the first, like, five or so. Anyway, I really think you should go with that last one. Oh, but don't do the girl part of the skit. By the way, who's Shuyin?" She told me. "Uh… Shuyin's just some name I came up with." I lied, blushing over the fact that she had heard the entire skit, even the part where I impersonated Lenne accepting. "Oh? You make up names, do you?" She joked, "Well, Shuyin, here's your ring." She winked at me before skipping back to the backroom to clean up. "Thanks! Wish me luck!" I replied, leaving with ring box in hand.
I stared at the box with the incredibly valuable item within while thinking about that line. I love you with all my heart. It did sound mushy. I only walked for about a minute when suddenly, an explosion thrust me forward to the ground. As I shook the stars from my head, I realized that the explosion had come from behind me meaning… "The Jewelry Store!" As I quickly turned to look, the entire building was up in flames. I thought of only one thing at that point: The girl that I was just talking to back in that inferno. "Are you okay? Please answer me!" I screamed desperately, making my way towards the wreck. After peering into larger crevices, I saw the body, charred beyond recognition just like Damusa had been. That ticked me off. I burst back outside and wouldn't you know it, the Bevelle machina and soldiers were right there waiting for me to hack to pieces. "You really didn't want to do this." I growled, unsheathing my sword and slicing the first of them as I did so. I wasn't going to let any of them get away with this. They'd all cause their families pain tonight, I'd guarantee it. I dodged the machina's array of weaponry and followed through each time by slicing through yet another soldier. I also made sure to cut them in the most painful places, the stomach, the kidney areas, throat, etc. Finally, all of their blood was on my sword. "Your turn you ugly piece of Bevelle trash!" I roared, charging up my Force Rain overdrive. The energy engulfed the metal monstrosity and disintegrated it, leaving behind scorch marks from where my beam had hit.
I decided I should get back to Lenne as fast as I could just to make sure she was safe. When I got to her house, I realized something… "The RING!" I shouted aloud, searching frantically for it, but unable to find it. I must have dropped it when the store was destroyed. Before I could even gather my thoughts, the door opened and Lenne walked out slowly. "Oh Shuyin! I wasn't expecting you." She said, sounding somewhat distracted. I would have said something about the ring, but then I noticed that Lenne was holding a sphere in her hand. "What's that?" I asked, nudging my chin over to her left hand. That question seemed to have gotten her flustered quite a bit. "What's wrong? What's on it?" I asked again. She still wouldn't say anything to me, extending her hand out ever so slightly as a sign that I should just watch it myself. I took the sphere from her and played it, not knowing why she was so upset over it. "Summoners are all to report to the military encampment located on the Calm Lands side of Mt. Gagazet in exactly one month from today. Repeat: All summoners must report to Mt. Gagazet in one month from today." The voice of Yu Yevon commanded. I couldn't believe it. Did that man truly think that sending all the summoners to do battle with Bevelle was the solution? C-South and the newly created Duggles stadium had already been destroyed by their forces and he thought sending Lenne in would stop that from happening again? "Lenne…" I said lowly, my mind at a loss about what I had just heard. With tears finally freeing themselves from my love's eyes, she said, in the most heartbreaking tone, "I won't ever leave you, even if I don't make it back…"