DISCLAIMER: I do not own any locations, characters, or names associated with Final Fantasy X or Final Fantasy X-2. I do, however, own this story J
Author's Notes: I have decided to write Silver Wings 2 since I do have a few people interested. I'm starting to think about it's connections to this story as well as outline it a little bit. Hopefully it will turn out well. As for this story, this chapter is going to be another important section of the war as well as the last chapter before hell truly breaks loose.
Below is chapter 16. Leave a review and let me know what you think J
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SILVER WINGS
by akksgurl
Chapter Sixteen: Fanning the Flames of Hell
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For the second time in a month, Shuyin sat in the hospital to hear the status of someone he loved. Thankfully this time, it wasn't Lenne. Instead it was Bruttam. Bruttam was declared the only survivor of the explosion and the police used the term survivor loosely.
Bruttam was barely alive at all.
Shuyin had run out of tears and sat numb between Lenne and Zaon. Zaon, Bruttam, and Skirpa were like brothers to Shuyin. Skirpa was gone and that was a hole that would never be filled. Zaon was there, but Bruttam's life hung in the balance. Shuyin knew that he could lose his other 'brother' at any time. He didn't know if he could deal with that.
Vaguely Shuyin saw Maechen escorted from the mortuary in tears by police officers. Shuyin assumed Maechen had been called in to identify his brother. A shiver started in Shuyin's lower back and worked its way up his shoulder blades. He felt Lenne tighten her grip on his hand, "Are you okay?"
Shuyin nodded, although he wasn't sure if he'd ever be okay again. After his parents death, Skirpa, Bruttam, and Zaon were the only reason he hadn't given up. Now with one dead, and one almost dead Shuyin wasn't sure that he could keep going. Two of his best friends were out of his reach.
The doctor's footsteps on the lanolium surface caught Shuyin's attention and he sat up in the chair. Dr. Dryke Colthan was a thin man with thick glasses and an overbite. Dryke looked grim as he spoke to the quartet seated in the waiting room, "I'm afraid my diagnosis on Bruttam Sabal isn't good." He said as he pulled a chair over and sat down, "He has extensive trauma to the brain and swelling. We're trying to reduce it, but the damage has already been done. Not to mention the fact that he was pinned under almost a ton of rubble. It's a miracle he's alive at all."
Yunalesca wiped a tear from her eyes and Zaon squeezed her hand before asking the doctor, "Will he wake up?"
Dryke shrugged, "Honestly, I doubt it. He's in a coma and will undoubtedly stay that way," he laid his clipboard firmly on his lap before saying, "I don't think you'd want him to wake up anyway. If he did, he'd probably be a vegetable. Not to mention, due to the extensive damage to his spinal column, we're looking at paralysis. He'd probably be a parapalegic."
"What are his options?" asked Yunalesca.
"Well, I advise taking him off of life support and letting nature take it's course." Dryke replied, "but if you'd rather not do that, then leaving him on life support is all you can do. The machines are breathing for him now. His lungs were punctured badly so I doubt he'd be able to breath by himself."
Lenne asked, "What if I cast a cure spell on him?"
Dryke shook his head, "That's a wonderful idea, miss, but cure spells only work with external wounds. Bruttam's wounds are internal and very bad. Even the most powerful of cure spells couldn't help him now."
Shuyin shot up from his chair and shouted, "There's got to be something you can do! Bruttam is going to get up! He's going to walk out of here and we're going to play blitzball together again!" he spun around and looked pleadingly at Zaon, "Tell him!"
"Shu," Zaon whispered, "sit down, buddy."
"No! I won't sit down!" Shuyin shouted, "I won't stay here and listen to you all act like Bruttam won't make it! He's a fighter! He'll make it! He'll be fine! He will be!" Shuyin ran both of his hands roughly across his scalp, "You'll see," he hissed, more to himself than to anyone in particular, "Bruttam will be okay and this war will end. I'll see to that!"
He ignored the shouts from his friends. He ignored the stares from the nurses and doctors as he pushed passed them and out of the hospital. Shuyin Bacohl had one destination in mind and he'd be damned if anybody was going to get in his way.
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Yu Yevon's door burst open suddenly and the leader of Zanarkand turned to face his intruder, "Shuyin! What are you doing here?!"
"I'm sorry for the intrusion, Mr. President." Shuyin replied, "but I'm sure by now you heard about the blitzball stadium."
Yu nodded and motioned for Shuyin to sit down in front of the desk. Shuyin did so and Yu replied, "I'm very sorry but I'm also relieved to hear that you and Lenne were not inside at the time of the explosion."
"That was fortunate, sir." Agreed Shuyin.
"So what brings you here and in such a … passionate fashion?" Yu asked as he motioned toward the broken door.
"I apologize for that, sir." Shuyin said as his face reddened slightly, "but Yunalesca said a while back that you were working on a plan to stop this war. Now that my entire team - with the exception of Bruttam - have died a senseless and preventable death, I'd like to know when you plan on implementing that plan."
Yu nodded, "I sent out our machina forces to battle Bevelle's machina near Nagi." He said, "I also have one other idea." With that, Yu rose from his desk to cross the room and close the door. The middle aged man rejoined Shuyin and reached into his desk drawer for a summoning book that he pulled out and lay on the desk in front of Shuyin. Flipping to the middle, he pointed to a page that contained a drawing and brief synopsis of the summon known only as "Sin".
"Sin?" Shuyin whispered, "What is it?"
"It is a legendary final aeon," Yu replied, "Final summonings are considered a myth. Just ask my daughter. She doesn't believe in them. I, however, know that they exist."
Shuyin couldn't tear his eyes away from the drawing. Sin looked like a gigantic blitzball but it obviously yielded great power if it was considered a 'final summoning'. Shuyin looked at Yu, "How does one get a final summoning?"
"A summoner has to have gained all the aeons that Spira has to offer by praying to every fayth in Spira. Only then can the summoner hope to call the final aeon." Yu smiled, "I am a high summoner and therefore have gained all the aeons in Spira. All I need to do is call this summon and the war will end."
"Then why don't you?!"
Yu shook his head and closed the book, "It's not that easy, Shuyin. Sin is an extremely volatile summon. It is impossible to control. It's not like other final aeons. Other final aeons are called forth from within the summoner. Sin isn't gained like that. The summoner who calls Sin becomes Sin and then becomes unable to stop Sin. Sin is destruction embodied. If I call Sin, there is no guarantee that Sin will just stop the war. It may end up destroying all of Spira."
"So you're saying that you won't use it?" hissed Shuyin, "You're just going to let people continue to die senselessly!"
Yu sighed exhasperatedly, "Shuyin! If I call Sin then more people will die senselessly than if I just let the war keep going the way it is!"
"That's just an excuse!" shouted Shuyin, "It was pointless coming here! I'll end this war on my own without your help! You'll see!" Shoving the chair violently out from under him and causing it to topple over onto it's back, Shuyin stormed out of Yu Yevon's office.
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"I can't believe I actually got a ticket!" came a familiar voice as Shuyin rounded the corner near the park pavilion. He recognized Maechen's frail frame and the wrinkled old man smiled through his tears as he said to Shuyin, "What a thrill to be able to shake her hand like that."
"Whose hand, Maechen? What's going on?"
Maechen pointed a wrinkled finger toward the pavilion. Lenne was onstage with her songstress dress on, "Your lady love decided to put on a tribute concert for the team."
"And they are selling tickets?!" Shuyin scowled at Lenne from across the park as he hissed, "That isn't exactly right!"
Maechen shook his head, "Oh no, young Bacohl." The elderly man replied, "The tickets are free but there needed to be tickets since the grandstand can only fit so many people." Maechin smiled at Lenne from across the way, "She is a wonderful young woman. She has really helped calm the panic with her lovely voice and kind words. I truly admire her."
"Yeah, Maechen," Shuyin agreed, "Me too…"
Saying his goodbyes to the elderly scholar, Shuyin crossed the park and joined Lenne who was taking a break from the performance. She rushed into Shuyin's arms and kissed him, "I was so worried about you. We didn't know where you had gone!"
"So you decided to put on a concert?" joked Shuyin.
Lenne smiled, "It worked, didn't it?"
Nodding, Shuyin whispered, "I love you, Lenne."
"I lo…" a blinding flash of light from behind Gagazet burst the sound system on the stage and caused those near the stage, including Shuyin, Lenne, Yunalesca, and Zaon to collapse on the ground.
Shuyin's knees were shaking as he stood and stared over the mountains, "Yu said that he sent machina to battle Bevelle near Nagi…"
"Holy fayth…" Yunalesca whispered, "That explosion…"
Lenne's hand gripped Shuyin's tightly, "Could that explosion have been….?"
"Everybody!" shouted a man that was running down the street from the direction of Myne Avenue which was the road closest to Gagazet in Zanarkand, "Holy fayth! Machina just blew up! Machina just blew up and took Nagi with it!"
