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 Lenne's arms.
I couldn't believe this turn of events. First, Damusa… then, Kai. This couldn't continue. Bevelle's true form had erupted into being and with its terrible cry, two of my friends had become its tribute. Everyone I loved was in jeopardy…
In the following days, we were all rather silent. Areth wasn't talking to anyone except Trista, locking himself in her room. Obviously, the death of his best friend was killing him just as much as Damu's death had to Ju. They'd both lost their childhood companions and it was my fault. I should've realized Kai would pull a stunt like Damusa did. It was he who'd whispered to me at the start of Lenne's concert. It was obvious, but I couldn't take my focus off of her for just that one precious second, stopped Kai from sacrificing himself. Just like it was with Damu… If I'd been concentrating more on the battle, I wouldn't have missed Bevelle's surge of aggression and wouldn't have been caught while exhausting myself in making reparations. Because of me, my carelessness, two people I cared about lost their best friends. Would the same thing happen to me? I don't know how I'd react if Rothel was taken. I couldn't even imagine it; it was too unfathomable… If Bevelle ever took Rothel from me, they'd regret it. I promised myself then that I would make Bevelle suffer deeply if they took away any more of my loved ones. They'd bleed a gallon for every ounce they spilled. Counting Damu and Kai, that wasn't adding well for them. Of course, I'd still have to wait a bit before I could go back into the fray and exacting my revenge.
With my wound still healing, I was rather helpless. "But just you wait… I'll be back in full soon. Bevelle, I swear to you, you'll pay for my friends' sorrow… and you'll pay dearly…"
"How are you holding up, Shuyin?" Kirin asked, when I bumped into her somewhere in the eastern sector of D-North, the oldest part of Zanarkand.
"I'm fine, Kirin. Actually, I should be asking you that. And how's Ju doing?" 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. He keeps talking about what they've done, the memories they shared… he talks about it up to… well, 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. She was always the strength of joy that held the rest of us in the bad times. I relied on her power when my mother died. Her death had nearly cost me my sanity, but Kirin was there to help me come to terms with it. She stood strong and tried to lift my spirits despite how distraught I was. She'd helped Jurama in his earlier years, when the Black Magic was too much for him and threatened to overtake his will. She was there to hold his mind, to keep the magic in check. All that time, when we'd given up, lost our way, shed our tears, she had smiled throughout it all, comforting us with our problems even though her own heart was breaking. It was the hardest thing in the world to cause her to show her grief and Bevelle had accomplished it. They'd pay for that, too…
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 inquired, the sadness in her heart seeming to die down.
"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, though I really didn't care. My ploy was working. Kirin was regaining herself!
"You don't think Naru is gonna be tough? Why? Is it because she's a girl?" She questioned with a shove.
'Yes! She's coming back!' I silently cheered.
Quickly, I took up a cross-armed, smug look and exclaimed, "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 to hide my stupid-looking grin from showing was to bite my lip. It just wouldn't come off my face because I felt far too excited at my success to even keep up the act. Kirin, her vibrance had been returned to her.
A few moments later, a hand touched my shoulder and Kirin's voice smoothly whispered, "Thanks for that, Shuyin. I really needed it."
"No problem…"
We continued walking through D-North's quiet streets, 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 stated, my mother's death was a rather painful one for me and emotional management is a skill I have never excelled at.
"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, "It's been… it's been… ten years…"
Kirin was my only reason for not crumbling into dust in the days following her death. The way she saved me from despair was to distance myself from the pain and allowing time to do the rest. For better or worse, at least it got me through the following years until my heart finally let go of her death and moved on. That was why she had apologized, though. She knew I never really moved on, just that I repressed it, becoming angry if someone called me a bastard or silent if the subject of her passing came up.
"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 old wound. Wouldn't you say so?" 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 letting it go. All my heart 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.
I didn't budge. This had gone on long enough. I was nineteen years old, twenty in just a few more months. I had to confront the grievances of my past, "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."
Closing my eyes, I 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 an unexpected 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. Day by day she withered. Day by day she suffered. Though I had been glad to know that Jecht got what he deserved, I wished endlessly for the lout to return and bring my mother out of her living death.
After she passed, many people, friends or family to both, tried to console me, telling me that, "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 and my face contorting into a self-pitying smirk.
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, but it was a hopelessly losing struggle.
"Let it out, Shuyin. You've held back those tears for nearly ten years now. 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 superstar blitzer in his mature adult years 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 anguish all at once.
"Okay… What about your other wound?" She asked, accepting my words and changing the subject to talk about the other wound still present in my side, the one that was not nearly as harsh my ten year scar.
"Heh, don't worry about that. It'll take a lot more than a stab into my gut to keep me down. I'll be back in full before blitz season starts." I reassured my friend, patting the area lightly, but confidently.
She shook her head and giggled a little, "Same old Shuyin."
"So, we had a nice cry, huh?" I joked after.
"Haha, you cried. I laughed, remember?" She returned with a giggle.
"Hey! That's not fair! I'm the one that got you that giggle back, dammit!" I grumbled.
To that, Kirin pulled me close and kissed me on my cheek, "Yes… you certainly did."
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 senseless killing. I'll see you later, Kirin." I told her, sending her off on her way.
She smiled back before turning to leave, taking a deep breath to absorb all the tension and help lift Ju's spirits like she did in the past. I watched for a little while, seeing her form slowly disappear around the next corner.
I still needed to figure out what to do. After all, Bevelle wasn't going to stop murdering my people by themselves. I needed to find a way to end the war quickly so no more people would die, families made to 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 in a heartbeat. Lenne already had a few close encounters. It wasn't like her overdrives worked on those mechanical demons. As strong as her Aeons were, they can't take down cold, unflinching steel forever, either. 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 should they come at us full force. We needed a good solid plan like Takuma always came up with. Maybe I could think up something like his "use their machina against them" tactic. Unfortunately, when I eventually did come up with that plan, it would already be too late…
"Tidus?" A voice called from behind. It was Areth's voice, though completely devoid of his former suavity.
"Oh… how've you been getting by?" I asked, offering my sympathetic tone of speech.
"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 eye.
"It's not that simple… He's gone, Tidus… Kai's gone…"
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 were the reasons why 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 for what they did to you!" 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 been taken just yet." I followed up, patting his arm with a comforting 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, sort of… he did crack a smile, that smile that creeped me out all the time, but it couldn't be helped. I wasn't going to be the tactless lout that discriminated a facial expression.
"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 and I was growing respect for her with each passing day. 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.
With them off to the Farplane Glen, I was left to my own devices. One series of thoughts remained ongoing in my mind: What could Zanarkand do to beat Bevelle? What could I do to keep Lenne safe? What could I do to end the death toll? How could I insure that Kai would be the last one of my friends to die? What…
"Yo, T!" Yet another voice called, breaking my concentration once more.
"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, though a part of me dreaded a day when I might have to bury him, treading the same path as Areth and Ju. "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 an' guess what? We gonna be takin' on the Psyches! We'll knock 'em out first an' the trophy's as good as ours." He exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Haru? Where'd he hear this from? That rookie's sure starting to get the hang of things." I returned, impressed by the progress he'd made. He'd started off roughly, trying to pull off my Jecht Shot and failing, but he was really getting into it.
"Nah man. He ain't hear it from nobody. He got us with the Psyches himself. Told me, everythin'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 I'd get the hang of how Naru and Tappa work.
"Kudos to the rookie then, eh?" I suggested, making a thumbs up.
"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 to demonstrate the snatching of Rothel's precious glory. 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, of course. Rothel? The Rothel, getting married? "What kind of a knot? Can I see?" I humored him, not thinking to take him seriously.
"No, he means we're… engaged." Larea replied straightforwardly, thinking all of our mockery was for real.
"Wait… you mean you really are… and… wait what?" I stuttered, baffled as I was at the news.
"Yup, ol' Rothie's tyin' the knot. Betcha never saw that one comin', right?" He responded, pointing his finger at my nose.
I still couldn't believe it until, impetuous as he was, he shoved his and Larea's engagement rings right in my face… literally. "Ah, get away!" I shouted, pushing back both their hands as the gems pressed into my cheek, "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 an' go in style." He told me with a casual wink.
"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. That way, we should have no regrets if the worse does come." 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." I told him, smiling my approval.
Yet, deep in the recesses of my mind, I felt fear sting my heart, fear of the reality that was losing Rothel to this war.
"What 'bout you and Lenne, ya know? Ain't you thinkin' 'bout the future, too? What you doin' out here anyways?" 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 despite our efforts? I guess if had to die, I might as well do so with the woman I loved. Maybe I should do as Rothel and marry Lenne. I knew I loved her. What was stopping me from going for it? While I considered this possible new destiny, my hand unconsciously grabbed the chain around my neck and I started to stare into space, lost in contemplation.
"Hey, T, ya alright?" Rothel asked, waving a hand in front of my eyes. As I returned to the present, I haphazardly nodded to him, thought the prospect of marrying Lenne still had me in its grasp.
I left Rothel and Larea after a while and wandered around on my own again. Really, what was stopping me from getting married to Lenne? Walking around for thirty minutes aimlessly ended me up standing in front of a jewelry store, staring into space as I continued to process the idea. I had bumped into Haru along to way and applauded him for scheduling the game and also asked for his thoughts on whether or not I should wed. He told me that I should just go for it and get a ring so there I was, being an idiot by staring at the glass pointlessly. I was fixed in front of the store, still unsure of whether or not to enter. I wanted to do this. I loved Lenne… but was it right to just marry her because I was afraid to lose her if we died?
"Sir, can I help you with something? The salesgirl asked, 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 solid resolve in me to buy a ring.
Eventually, I suppressed my concerns and decided to go for it regardless of my doubts.
"Well, what do you want to look at?" She asked, still fidgeting around with something in her apron pockets.
"I wanted to look at some rings… Not that I'd know which to get… I'm a little lost here." I admitted, 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 offered me, finally looking up to scan me fully, "Oh my! Tidus! You… you… you're Tidus, star blitzer of the Abes! WOW!!!" She started breathing really raggedly 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 relaxed herself 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, so instead I told her, "A summoner. She's not someone you'd recognize. Anyway, her name is…" I started looking around for something to help me make up any dumb name, "…Violet."
I had found a vase with some flowers that the girl had on a shelf behind the counter and noted that specific one to call Lenne by.
"Oh, how lucky for her…" The girl responded with many hints of disappointment in her voice.
We looked at the 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 grumbled, starting to get a little frustrated since anything the girl showed me I always thought 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 for her." 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 pretty cute-looking flower-shaped one with a heart-shaped centerpiece. The petals were all pure diamonds and the heart was a rare pink stone, a FarGem, supposedly created from a crystallized form of pyreflies. It had a mystical glow to it, appearing to be resonating by my touch. It seemed to look like something Lenne would like so I got that one. I also told the girl that I'd like to add an engraving:
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 just had to say, "Aw!!!!! How romantic!"
I waited about an hour for the engraving to be completed. It was a good thing that it took that long because it gave me the chance to rehearse. I had to practice my line… over and over again, placing myself in front of the viewing mirror like I was trying to propose to my reflection.
"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 groaned to the mirror, ending up doing incredibly dumb skits in front of it because I got frustrated with being frustrated and then bored because my frustration wasn't getting me anywhere.
"I am so bad at these things." I grumbled at my image, finally giving up on my approach and settling on just shoving the ring in her face and hoping she knew which 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 be my wife?'" She said, mimicking my last approach.
"You heard all that?!" I whined.
There were actually two problems with this: First of all, I had said "Lenne" a few times when I told her that I was marrying a flower. Then, there was just the sheer embarrassment of having someone overhearing your goofy ways of 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 suggested, pondering the name of my true identity.
"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, "I think I just mashed up Shoopuff in my aggravation."
"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 velvet container bearing its highly valuable item within while thinking about that line the girl had liked.
"I love you with all my heart…"
It sounded mushy, but mushy was good for what I was about to do.
"I love you with all my heart… Lenne…"
I only walked for a few seconds 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!"
I quickly turned to look and, as I thought, the entire building was up in flames. One awful thought embedded itself into my mind: The girl that I was just talking to was back in that inferno.
"Are you okay?! Please answer me!" I screamed desperately, making my way towards the wreck.
After peering into the larger crevices, I saw her body, charred beyond recognition just like Damusa had been. Rage flushed through my systems. I burst back outside and wouldn't you know it, the Bevelle machina and a small squadron were right there waiting for me.
"You really didn't want to do this." I growled, unsheathing my sword and slicing at the first of them as he ran straight into me while I did so.
I wasn't going to let any of them get away with this. None would escape my wrath. That girl hadn't even been fighting. She was going through a normal routine day. She didn't deserve to die like that. No, Bevelle was pushing it too far. I dodged the machina's array of munitions and followed through each time by slicing through yet another soldier. I made sure to hack at them in the most painful places, the stomach, throat, or straight through the length of an arm and into the heart. Finally, all of their blood had spilled onto my sword, immersing it in a bath of warm life-sustaining crimson.
"Your turn you ugly piece of Bevelle shit!" I roared, charging up my Force Rain overdrive.
The energy engulfed the metal monstrosity and disintegrated it, leaving behind scorch marks from where my waves of energy had struck.
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 murmured, 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 and I would soon regret ever asking.
"What's wrong? What's on it?" I asked again, worried as to what was troubling her.
She still wouldn't say anything to me, extending her hand out ever so slightly as a sign that I should watch it for myself. I took the sphere from her and played it, not knowing why she was so upset over it, but knowing already that something bad was about to happen.
"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 exactly 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 breathed lowly, my mind at a loss from what I had just heard. I couldn't let this happen… I couldn't…
With tears finally freeing themselves from my love's eyes, she made a promise to me, her words breaking my heart into a thousand pieces, "I won't ever leave you, even if I don't make it back…"