Chapter 18: A Day to Never Forget
Clearly troubled, Shuyin set the heavy backpack down on Lenne's sofa but lingered over it, hesitant to say what was bothering him. "I don't want you to go to Bevelle." He hadn't said one word about their discussion with the high summoner since leaving the temple, until now. Bahamut had been deposited safely back into the arms of his mother and his aunt. Zen was napping at the houseboat. So, Shuyin had offered to help Lenne carry her camping gear back to her apartment. The offer was partly an excuse to talk to her about the transfer, but talking about it in private was almost as uncomfortable as not talking about it while in the presence of others. "Zanarkand is your home. This is where your singing career is. You've got fans here. Your family is here. Everything you need is here in Zanarkand."
Lenne dropped her key-card into the basket on the table and closed her front door. Kicking off her shoes next to his in the entry, she sighed and padded across the living room to where he stood. "Everything, including you?"
Shuyin winced, knowing how this must sound, and his tone softened in apology. "I'm not asking you to stay for me."
Sitting on her sofa, she tucked a foot underneath her leg. "Then, I have to consider going where I'm needed. The summoners at the other temples are newer to the rites of summoning than the ones here in Zanarkand. Lord Yevon's been working with us most of our lives, but he's only set up the other temples within the last five years. He probably needs me to teach them how to summon the new aeons. And until they learn how to do that themselves, they'll need a summoner strong enough to do it for them. If that aeon is their only defense, should the temple be ..." She paused, not wanting to admit the element of danger involved in the promotion. "Someone needs to defend the defenders of Bevelle. If there are no summoners, the city will be overrun with fiends."
"Why does it have to be you? I don't like the way he talked about it."
She tilted her chin. "The way he talked about it?"
"The way he smiled and flattered you … The way he told me I could go along if you wished to take me, but then told me to otherwise get out of your way. He doesn't want me to go with you."
Lenne quirked a brow at this unusual complaint. "He wasn't flattering me. He was letting me know I did a good job on this assignment, so he trusts me to do another. And he was honest with you about the teamwork necessary between summoner and guardian when changes take place."
"It's just ..." Shuyin ran a hand over his head and paced as he tried hard to find the right words. This was important to her, so if he said the wrong thing, it would hurt. "It sounds suspicious, you know? Asking a summoner to be a guardian ... Didn't something about that creep you out?"
"Creep me out? This is High Summoner Yevon we're talking about."
"I just can't shake the feeling he's trying to take advantage of you."
She snorted in disbelief. "Shuyin, what planet did you just come from? He's old enough to be my father. And I'm going to be taking the trip with his daughter, not him."
He frowned in disgust. "Not that kind of advantage."
"Are you jealous?"
"No!" He shook his head in firm denial and dropped onto the sofa beside her. "Look, I know it's a promotion and an honor and all that, but you said it yourself. Summoners aren't supposed to be warriors. That's why you have guardians. As your guardian, I'm supposed to let you know when something feels wrong … right?" His brows rose with his plea. "And you're supposed to trust me."
She couldn't understand why he felt so opposed to this. "Would you go with me if I asked?"
"I'll go wherever you want, even if it means quitting the Abes. Just please don't take this position at Bevelle."
It bothered her he would feel so strongly about this without good reason. "I'll ask a few more questions before I make a decision. Okay?"
Folding his arms around her, he kissed her forehead and sighed with relief, but her answer didn't make him feel any better about it. "Take care of your back and get some rest. If you need anything, let me know, okay?"
She nodded, kissed him, and let him go as he stood.
Not knowing what else to say, and feeling horribly confused about his own sudden flux of emotion, Shuyin headed to the door, slipped into his sneakers, and let himself out of her apartment. As he took the lift down to the ground floor, he wondered if he was imagining things. As he walked to the "snake" station, he asked himself if maybe he was jealous. Yu Yevon was the most powerful man in Zanarkand—possibly all of Spira. Lenne clearly had a lot of respect for him. That was more than Shuyin had to offer with a sunny smile and a joke or two. As he took the invisible, high-speed transport from the mainland to the harbor, Shuyin questioned whether he was being selfish. Of course, he wanted her to stay in Zanarkand for his sake! But as he walked down the docks toward his home on the water, Shuyin knew that none of that was what truly bothered him. When Yevon spoke of Bevelle, something about those piercing lavender eyes raised the hair on the back of Shuyin's neck and tied his stomach in knots. And when they disagreed, the blitzball player felt as if the high summoner was looking straight through him.
))((
Zen worked hard learning about teleportation magic at the temple during the days but joined the evening training sessions when Shuyin drove the boat to the beach. The ronso knew how to assess his opponents well and often learned how to mimic their battle moves. So he often sparred with Shuyin, sharing ronso tricks of the trade - in particular, how to use a well-grounded weapon as a tool for a variety of acrobatic maneuvers. Lenne fortified Shuyin with her magic during his mock battles and taught him a few basic spells to enhance his natural abilities. She introduced the ronso to her aeons, and he enjoyed testing his prowess against whichever creature she threw at him. There were still more losses than wins, but Zen and Shuyin learned how to work as a team to bring down some of the strongest ones.
As promised, Shuyin invited Zen into the sphere pool during a few Abes practices. The blitzball player was curious to see how much damage the ronso could inflict with a tackle in the water, but his tired, sore body regretted it by the time practice was done. Though Zen's cat-like face rarely expressed pleasure, he seemed happy to be among humans.
Time passed. Zen started taking trips home to demonstrate what he had learned in Zanarkand, and the ronso began their preliminary steps toward installing teleportation gates throughout Mt. Gagazet. Lenne had not heard back from Yevon concerning Yunalesca's return from Besaid, so she avoided discussing Bevelle with Shuyin until she had more information. And before Shuyin knew it, his first year as a professional blitzball athlete was nearly over. The Abes were favored to win the Jecht Memorial Cup finals against the Duggles. Expectations soared for the son of the man for whom the tournament was named. Contract negotiations for the next season depended on this win.
))((
On the night before the final game of the championship, Lenne came out of the houseboat after some intensive study on advanced summoning, and Bahamut ran to grab her hand. "Lenne! Lenne! You have to see Shuyin's new trick!"
"Did he defeat the last aeon?"
"Yep! But he's been practicing against other targets Zen set up for him until you could summon another. Zen showed him how to do this really cool thing with his sword and—"
"Okay, okay." She laughed, curious about what could spark so much fervor in her quiet little brother, and allowed herself to be tugged back to the beach where the ronso was standing a large driftwood log in the sand. A tired-looking Shuyin was volleying a blitzball. "I hear you have a new trick," she said, baiting him into showing off as she approached.
Shuyin bumped the ball once more with his head, caught it, and tossed it to her. "Throw it as high as you can." Casting a brief, simple spell on himself, he grabbed his sword and repositioned it, sticking it firmly down into the sand. "Aim for the area above and a little in front of the sword." Magic swirled around him as he backed away and waited.
"Well, at least you're asking to play fetch with a ball, instead of a stick," she teased.
"Just don't call me a Shih Tzu and threaten to put ribbons in my hair."
"Hm … I was thinking Maltese." She smirked and fluffed imaginary bangs over her eyes, imitating his.
He was humored. "Just throw the ball."
Lenne smiled as she backed away, but then paused to consider the strength and angle needed before throwing it as high as she could above the sword. As she released the pitch, Shuyin sprang forward and used the sword's pommel to vault after the air-born ball. She recognized the set-up for a sphere shot, but when he flipped into the phenomenal arc and kicked it, the ball exploded into the deadwood target, splintering it to pieces. When the initial smoke cleared, what remained was in flames.
As Shuyin landed on his feet, the ronso ran after the ball, checked it for damages, then pitched it back to him with a throw that nearly smoked his hand, too. Shuyin quickly withdrew his attempt to catch it, popped a friction-burned finger into his mouth, and jogged after it.
"Wow!" Lenne walked to the burning driftwood and stared at all the debris around it. "Wow, that was like a mini-fireball! Have you been learning elemental magic?"
"I earned a wow." Shuyin grinned with pride as he came back to her, ball in hand, overhand, underhand, spinning ... "Strength enhancement and a few things Zen showed me for maximizing energy in motion. It's more of a fiend trick than true magic."
"That could do some serious damage to a fiend."
"What fiend? That's for the tournament."
Lenne laughed. "I don't think they'll allow a sword in the sphere pool."
Setting the ball on the sand and sitting on the ball, Shuyin exhaled and dropped his head for a moment of rest. Zen pushed over the burning log and used sand to douse the flames.
"You look exhausted." Lenne crouched before him and brushed the sweaty hair from his eyes. "You won't play well tomorrow if you burn out tonight."
Shuyin lifted his chin as the ronso and the boy drew near. "Everyone's going to want to see the Jecht shot. I mean, the tournament is named for him, for crying out loud. I tried doing it again, but … I just can't." He sighed in discouragement. "This is the biggest game of my life so far. I need something to take its place."
"All these years later and you are still trying to outdo your father. You are, without a doubt, the most stubborn person I know."
"They won't forget about it. How can I?"
Bahamut yawned, sat in the sand beside his blitzball hero, and picked up a piece of burnt wood. Stirring it in the sand, he started writing magic symbols. "You should do the one that rains energy into the ground. That one's really cool."
Shuyin had to think for a moment to remember which stunt he was talking about. "Nah, that one's definitely for fiends."
"Well, I think you should just keep doing what you've been doing. It's worked so far." Lenne straightened and tugged his hand, coaxing him to do the same. "Let's go home, so you can get some rest before the big game."
"You heard her. Back to the boat, so we can head home." Shuyin flicked the blitzball to Bahamut and shooed the boy toward the pier. The ronso left the charred, smoking log and followed behind the boy. Shuyin put out their campfire and retrieved his sword.
Lenne slipped an arm around his waist and lagged behind their other two companions as they crossed the beach. The breeze coming off of the ocean stirred the air with a salty scent, and a full moon lit their path toward the pier. She smiled, resting her head on his shoulder, and listened to the gentle waves lapping against the dock posts and the sides of the boat. "How about a drink? Something nice and cold?"
Crossing onto the deck, Shuyin pulled the plank back in to prepare for the drive back to the harbor. "Just water."
Lenne followed her brother and the ronso inside. "Zen, could you make sure he doesn't get sand on the furniture?"
The ronso hefted the small human boy to his shoulder and dusted him thoroughly, despite his squirming giggles, before depositing him back on the rug.
After filling two glasses with ice water, Lenne returned to the deck, where Shuyin was raising the anchor. "Bahamut's already talking about seeing those ruins on top of the mountain after the championship. Were you serious about taking him up there? That's kind of risky, don't you think?"
Shuyin drank the refreshing liquid without taking a breath between gulps, and when it was gone, he used the glass to cool his brow. "I gave him my word. I think he'd enjoy the challenge of going up there to see it, but I won't take him inside … probably infested with fiends. Some risks are worth taking, but I'm not that stupid." He stared at the empty glass in his hand for a long moment, then lifted his eyes to hers and gently drew some of her loose hair over her shoulder as he sat back against the rail. "You know, I've been thinking about this whole Bevelle transfer thing."
Lenne sighed, not wanting to talk about it. "You need to focus on your game tomorrow."
"Just hear me out. You asked me to be your guardian, but I can't protect you if you're not with me. You're back and forth between your place and mine a lot, but you spend most of your time here. Because you like it here … right? You can summon your aeons for my training and let your hair down instead of hiding beneath that ugly hat."
She laughed lightly. "I like my ugly hat, thank you."
"But if you lived here, you could do all that, have the sun and the water, and the boat could dock at any harbor near any temple. And then I could bring it back here for blitzball. So, wouldn't it be easier if you just ... lived here?"
Lenne's brows rose. This definitely wasn't the conversation she expected.
"I mean, I'll understand if you'd rather not. But it feels like something's missing when you go home. I guess I kinda have it in my head that this is your home now, too. Here … with me." Brushing a long, loose tendril of hair behind her ear, he smiled at the stubborn little strip in the middle of her forehead that always escaped because it was shorter than the rest. Eyes locked onto hers, he searched for an answer in her expression before she spoke.
"You would move the boat to Bevelle?" The more that she thought about it, the more it seemed like the perfect solution. Lenne reached to his neck, drew him into a hug, and blinked back tears. "You have no idea how much this means to me. I'll bring all my stuff over after the game, and we'll celebrate—win or lose."
"All your stuff? All of it?" He pulled back with a playful wince, but then gave her a kiss and dried the tear on her cheek. "Day after the tournament. Something to look forward to, even if we lose." Straightening from his position against the rail, he embraced her again. "I don't care where I go, as long as I can be with you. I love you … Lenne," he added, speaking her name as if there was delicate magic in it.
))((
The atmosphere within the packed stadium on the day of the tournament was electric. People from all over Spira came to see Zanarkand's best blitzball teams battle it out for the Jecht Cup. Lenne, Shuyin, Zen, and Bahamut entered the stadium together and paused a short distance from the back doors to the locker rooms where scores of fans clustered awaiting the appearance of any player.
"Good luck. We'll be in our usual place. Run, before they recognize who you are." Lenne pursed her lips for a quick kiss.
Shuyin answered her request and slapped a high-five with Bahamut and Zen before jogging into the throng of blitzball fans. Dressed in a yellow-and-blue, long-sleeved T-shirt with a small Abes logo, and a pair of ordinary jeans, he almost made it to the door before people realized he wasn't just another face in the crowd. The minute he was recognized, shouts and excited screams turned the crowd's attention on him until he was surrounded. He appeased as many autograph seekers and sphere recorders as he could on his push to the entrance, but after his shirt was snagged by a few overzealous fans, he was glad to finally make it behind closed doors. He'd never seen that many fans in his life!
Exhaling with amazement at the sheer number of people attending, Shuyin headed down the hall and turned his focus to why he was here. It was time to put on his game face. Opening the Abes' locker room door, he went straight to his locker and hung his duffle bag from it. Kicking off his sneakers and placing them in his locker, he stripped down to his blue athletic shorts and tucked his street clothes into the locker for safekeeping to wear home after the game.
"Toma! He's here!" Naya called toward the back stairs.
"It's about time," Toma called from the top of the stairs where he was recording the pre-game activities near the sphere pool. "Hey, Jecht Jr. Since it's your first time up for the Jecht Cup, they've decided you're the one greeting the fans and throwing the ball into the sphere pool tonight—to honor your dad, and all that."
"Yeah, be careful not to throw out an arm giving that ball a toss, or we might just have to bench you," Kiryl sarcastically added from the stairs.
The other players chuckled.
"Well, in that case, I'll throw it in some sissy-ass, underhanded manner like you would." Shuyin smirked as he donned black shorts and a yellow hoodie. More laughter and a few "ooohs" rose from his teammates as they kidded their way out of their pre-game jitters. When he was finished dressing in his uniform, Shuyin checked his gameplay notebook and shoved it back in his locker. Then he locked the door and inspected his shoulder guard to be sure it was strapped on tight. With only a few minutes to go, he went to one of the shower stalls and stood under a stream of cold water for a few seconds, hoping the temperature shock would keep his nerves under control.
His coach approached and passed the blitzball to him, giving him a proud slap on the back. "No daredevil stunts up on the axis this time. Keep it clean and safe. You'll have plenty of opportunity for stunts in the pool." He paused before walking away. "Oh, um, you didn't happen to work on that little trick that we talked about, did you?"
"I can't do it." Shuyin turned off the water.
"Okay, no problem." His coach smiled but was subtly disappointed. "Just thought that would be a cool surprise to show off for the Jecht Cup finals if you could."
Leaving the shower and locker room, Shuyin climbed the stairs and waded through the calf-high water of the sphere pool's central axis to sit on the support bridge with a sigh. Tucking the ball between his feet and under the bench, he took one look at the distant signs of life surrounding him in the dark, enormous stadium, then he leaned his head back against the wall of the axis and closed his eyes to wait.
"Are you nervous?" Toma asked, still recording.
"Nah, just thinking of what I'm going to rename that cup once it's ours."
Toma chuckled and headed back to the stairs to join the pre-game huddle and leave their star player alone with his pre-game thoughts. The noise of the crowd fell silent to Shuyin's ears until the only thing he heard was the beating of his own heart. Tonight, his game had to be flawless. Tonight, he had to be Jecht's son—just for one night. No ... His eyes opened as the axis machina started to hum. Tonight belongs to Tidus. I own this pool now, and I can win this thing if you stay out of it, Old Man. That's the only thing that matters tonight—a win.
The lights flashed on, and the music started, letting everyone know that it was time for the game to begin. The crowd roared as a water spell was generated in the center of the bowl-shaped arena floor. The vertical axis ring lifted as the cybernet activated, and the stadium dome split, unfolding and opening to the stars. On cue, Jecht's son stood from his resting place on the central axis and stepped up on one of the small, raised platforms within the machina ring. Blitzball tucked underhand, he was the center of attention to thousands of adoring fans.
The water spell finished forming with the dramatic flair of a fireworks display, the laser lines blinked on inside the pool, and the scoreboard lit up. Shuyin's introduction to the crowd was drowned out, but everyone knew who he was anyway, so it didn't matter. He waved to the packed stadium and searched for his friends' faces in their usual seating. Lenne and Bahamut cheered as enthusiastically as any other die-hard blitzball fans. Zen remained calm as he stood and watched, but his tail twitched in anticipation.
A loud whistle blew from the stadium speakers. Jecht, Jr. held up the ball for the whole stadium to see. With an impish grin, he waited for the cheers to turn into shouts encouraging him to throw it in. Then, he drew his right arm back and catapulted the ball into the sphere pool. The crowd went wild. He waited just long enough to be rejoined by his teammates on the central ring, before jogging toward the designated entry in the cybernet and punching through it to swim to his right forward position. Another whistle was blown, and the ball went into play.
))((
Lenne leaned toward her brother's ear to speak above the cheers. "What do you say that we take him to a really, really nice restaurant tonight if the Abes win, huh?"
Bahamut jumped up, engrossed in something that wowed the rest of the crowd, too. The star of the Abes had just broken free of a tackle and punched another player with such force that he went right through the cyber-net that held the water in its large, spherical shape.
Lenne gasped as a cold gush of water sprayed onto them, and the outcast player's back hit the concrete buffer between the balcony and the row below it. Looking back to the sphere pool and the Abes player's impertinent grin, the summoner frowned. This was why she never liked this game until she met him. Bending over the back of her seat, she helped the ejected player stand and quickly checked him for visible injuries. "I'm so sorry!" she loudly apologized over the cheers as she cast a couple of cure spells on him. "I'm sure he didn't mean it! He's a really nice guy when he's not playing this game!" The player seemed to think she was crazy but nodded his appreciation before limping back to the sphere pool. "Feel better soon!"
"Lenne!" Bahamut pulled her back around in her seat. "Stop being nice to the other team! It's embarrassing!"
Put in her place about her social etiquette being contrary to this sport, Lenne snorted in offense and folded her arms at her chest. But when the Abes scored the first point of the game, they both stood in their seats to imitate Shuyin's well-known victory dance. Zen remained as stoic as ever, but he did grin and let the small boy give him a big high-five.
Back in play, the ball was passed multiple times before someone shot it out of and above the sphere pool. Shuyin sped toward the surface and broke through the water wall like a leaping dolphin. As he soared high, arching backward in one fluid movement ready to dominate the impossible shot, Lenne yelled with excitement and anxiously awaited another goal for the Abes.
Suddenly, multiple explosions were heard above and around the stadium.
The summoner stopped dancing in her seat, took her eyes off of the game, and looked around in confusion. Whatever just happened, it was big enough to be heard above the roar of the crowd and the blaring music.
"Oh my god! The pool's collapsing! Run!" someone nearby shouted.
Lenne looked up. There was a long, low creak of impending doom from the machina supports and girders overhead. The cross-axis rings that formed the boundaries of the sphere pool shook and tilted. The magic spells that held the cybernet in place had dissolved, and the sphere pool's bottom began to fall apart. The water from the large pool formed a tidal wave that bore down on everything below it, instantly flooding the ground level, but then a wall of water from the sea crashed down on the stadium, as well, crumbling it to pieces and washing away everything in its path.
"Shuyin!" Lenne looked to the sky, but he was no longer there. She had not seen him hit the ground with the sphere pool and all the other players. With water rushing around her shoulders, she was forced to swim for the entrance with everyone else escaping the doomed building. "Shuyin!" she screamed once more before turning to look for her little brother and their ronso friend. Both were present and near, but the water was rapidly rising as the stadium sank into the sea. Bahamut started to slip under when Zen reached for the boy and pulled him onto his back above the water level.
Another explosion rocked the stadium. This time flames and waves of blistering heat billowed out from the remains of the stadium's ceiling, and the open sky revealed the arrival of warships. Zanarkand was under attack.
"Shuyin!" Lenne screamed for him one more time, hoping to see his head bobbing above the water among the people struggling to escape.
"Shuyin good swimmer!" The ronso reminded her as he held tightly to Bahamut. "We go to safe place!" Zen grabbed Lenne's arm and pulled her behind him, pushing aside anything that got in his way.
Against her will, Lenne was dragged out of the sphere pool arena to seek solid ground outside the stadium.
))((
Shuyin had seen the missiles fired and witnessed the towers erupting in one explosion after another until the tidal wave from the attack crashed down on the city in a macabre attempt to put out the flames with a flood. He saw it because when the sphere pool collapsed, he was above it. And when he started to fall back down, he caught hold of the vertical axis high above the open arena. As he struggled to hang on, Zanarkand began to crumble and wash away right before his eyes. Lenne was down there! War with Bevelle was inevitable now.
When the second bomb struck the stadium, it jarred his hold enough that his fingers slipped. The blitzball player fell, plunging into the cold, dark water that had flooded the stadium. Visibility under seawater at night was extremely low. He was barely able to see the bodies of the other players and hundreds of spectators on the ground level, but some of the stadium lighting had not blown out yet. Had he not done that sphere shot when he did—had he fallen only a few seconds sooner—he would have died with the rest of them. Frantic with concern for Lenne, Bahamut, and Zen, Shuyin swam toward the submerged section where they were supposed to be seated. The stands were littered with the bodies of drowned or otherwise injured victims. He didn't see his friends among them, but that hardly eased his mind about their safety.
Leaving the grisly scene, he swam for the exit where a multitude of people pushed and shoved to escape the flood before lung capacity failed them. Making the most of his underwater advantage, Shuyin pushed between them and began grabbing drowning spectators in whatever hold he could manage to rush them to the surface. As soon as one victim was gasping for air, he dove for another, but there were simply too many people for one person to rescue before time and air ran out. Some drowned in his arms before he could get them to the surface. Others could not swim after he took them up there. Eventually, none of the bodies visible under the surface struggled anymore.
Exertion and panic stressed his own lung capacity to the limit. In despair, Shuyin surfaced to cough up seawater and catch his breath. While treading water, he watched the tip of the Zanarkand stadium sink beneath the sea and turned to scan the faces of the survivors that swam or floated among the wreckage. He didn't see his friends among the living, but he couldn't accept that they might be somewhere out there among the dead. He couldn't bear to lose anyone else dear to him. He just couldn't.
"Shuyin!" someone shouted.
Seeking the source of the distant cry, he spotted three heads bobbing above the cold water. One of the silhouettes had cat-like ears, and another was small enough to be a child. Overwhelmed with relief, he swam toward them as fast as he could.
"You're alright!" Lenne sobbed, latching onto him the minute he was close enough to touch. "I'm so glad you're alright!" Burying her face into his neck, she clung to him as if he were a life vest.
He could tell she was weary from trying to stay afloat, but he was also tired. Holding onto each other would only put both of them at risk. Shuyin looked to Zen for help, but the ronso was struggling to help the boy. The closest available surface was a fallen building that lay across one of the floating bridges. Both were in danger of sinking, but they would do for now. Signaling Zen to follow, Shuyin found the strength to swim to it.
Having a little more energy and a little less weight to carry, the ronso swam ahead and pushed the human boy up onto the ledge of broken concrete. Then, he pulled himself out of the water and helped Shuyin draw Lenne over the edge. When they were safe, Shuyin clasped onto the ronso's arm and was lifted out of the sea, as well. Then, he knelt before Lenne and pulled her into his arms, holding her for a moment, just grateful he had not lost her.
"What's happening?" Bahamut coughed and cried.
"Someone attacked the city," Shuyin quietly answered. Lenne drew her brother into her arms so that the three of them huddled, shivering on the concrete island amid the burning flood. "The whole team's gone," he reported, finally allowing himself to feel the overwhelming loss of life. "Naya, Luperis, Shaft ... every one of them. Coach ... The fans ... I tried to save some, but ..." His voice broke, and he stopped talking to try to control and wipe away the tears.
"How do we get home?" Bahamut cried. "Is Mom okay?"
Shuyin paused in his lament, sniffled, and lifted his eyes toward the harbor. His houseboat was gone, and for that matter, so were the piers. The buildings beyond the port now looked like broken ruins. "We have to make our way to the mainland. Can you swim to that thing sticking up out of the water over there?" He had no idea what the thing used to be. With everything sunk, collapsed, crumbled, and on fire, he hardly recognized Zanarkand any more.
"I think so." The boy shivered, cold and wet in the night air.
Shuyin looked to Lenne. "Can you make it, or do you need me to carry you?"
"We can't leave yet." Lenne shook her head as she clung to him. "People are still trapped underwater and in burning buildings. They need your help, Shu. You're the best swimmer out here."
"I don't want to leave you," he protested.
"I'm fine. But more people will die without your help."
Shuyin reluctantly compromised. "If you take Bahamut home and check on Meri, I'll stay here and help as many as I can."
"Shuyin take drowning people to shore," the ronso spoke. "Zen take Lenne and Bahamut home. Take injured people on shore to temple."
Lenne wiped at her tears and nodded in agreement. "The temple will be full of people needing help. I'll meet you there after I take Bahamut home. But I don't want you out here doing this alone." The nearly drowned summoner rose to her knees. Spreading her arms, she summoned her wand. The magical wards that came together at her call formed a large, blue bird of prey with long red and purple feathers. "Help us! Please!"
As the aeon took flight, Shuyin dove into the water. "Make sure they're someplace safe before you come back to me," he called back to Zen, hating to turn his back on them. But he would honor Lenne's request to keep looking for survivors. After all, that could have been her out there, trapped and desperate for help.
Hindered by lack of light, cold temperatures, and no tools, Shuyin searched the harbor's wreckage. As he found survivors and brought them to whatever stable surface was available, Lenne's phoenix scooped them up and flew them to the mainland. But the violent events had disrupted the fiends lurking in the depths, so a new danger quickly threatened an already nearly impossible task. Without his sword, all Shuyin could hope for was to outwit them or out-swim them. So, it wasn't long before he was forced to abandon his submerged rescue efforts.
Hopping on the phoenix's back, he scanned the city from above, looking for people trapped on rooftops or in burning buildings. He was bringing an elderly man out of some rubble when the warships returned and fired on the phoenix. The aeon was more concerned about getting the victim to safety than defending itself, but in the process of trying to save the man's life, it lost its own. Shuyin watched in frustrated dismay as the aeon melted out of the material realm to return to the plane of magic.
More missiles fired—this time toward the east water gardens. Wasn't that where Lenne said the spirits of her aeons resided?
"No!" Shouting a string of curses at the Bevelle warships, Shuyin pitched a rock at their overhead pass. His return to the elderly man who survived the fire was too late. Spitting more curses and brushing off more tears, he pulled the man's body into the rooftop stairwell. But then climbed down the fire escape and continued his search and rescue mission alone, making his way on foot through the razed city toward the temple.
