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:  This is the chapter everyone has been expecting.  This is the chapter that Shuyin and Lenne get shot.  It is NOT, however, the end of the story.  There will be 3 more chapters after this. 

Below is chapter 18.  Leave a review and let me know what you think J

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SILVER WINGS

by akksgurl

Chapter Eighteen:  Savior and Sacrifice

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He tiptoed silently through the echoing halls of Bevelle's underground.  He'd heard from guards upstairs that all POW prisoners were kept under Bevelle and that was where he was headed.  Shuyin was unarmed which was a risk he'd decided to take.  He didn't want to antagonize the enemy and run the risk of having Lenne harmed. 

Taking a quick turn into a room on the far end of the narrow hall he was in, Shuyin found himself exactly where he needed to be.  The room held several cage-like prisons and inside the far one was his beloved Lenne.  She was curled on the floor of the cage asleep and Shuyin reached out tenderly to wake her up.  She was startled and jumped away from his touch but upon seeing it was him her face formed a smile, "Shuyin, what are you doing here?" she asked.


"I couldn't bear the thought of you in here." He replied as he dug into his pocket and pulled out a pin and began to pick the lock, "I'm here to save you."

Lenne kissed him through the bars and quietly urged him to move quicker, "The guards are going to be doing their rounds any minute now." She whispered.  The lock snapped open quickly and Shuyin helped Lenne from her cage.  The duo snuck back into the hallway and around a corner before making a dash toward the elevator that led back to the Bevelle Temple. 

It was a breath of fresh air Lenne never thought she'd have again as she and Shuyin dashed out of the temple and made a run for Macalania forest and their long walk home.  She was so grateful for Shuyin's help in rescuing her but at the same time she wanted to berate him for risking his life for her like that.  She decided to say nothing and instead followed him as they began the long walk back home.

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It was about 20 minutes later when the guards first noticed that Lenne was missing.  Nobody wanted to say anything to anybody for fear of what Benedict Cyton would do to them.  It was a losing battle, though, because in less than 10 minutes Benedict was there to check on Lenne himself. 

"Where is the summoner?" he boomed at the guards under his watch.  He ripped the surveillance sphere from the hand of the guard that offered it to him and watched with a sour look on his face as Shuyin Bacohl snuck in and stole Lenne Fetmar right out from under everyone's noses.  With an angry swing, Benedict dismissed his officers and shouted curses after their retreating backsides.  He shoved the sphere into his pocket and returned to his office with a somber look.  His meeting with Allyn wasn't going to go well.  It wasn't that he was afraid of her.  Benedict wasn't afraid of anyone.  It was the simple fact that Allyn kept offering him things and then taking them away just as quickly.  She was grating on his nerves with her promise of giving her body to him and yet always coming up with a reason to change her mind.  He'd done everything in his power to make her forget Shuyin for years and only recently had decided that the only way to get her was to help her gain the blonde blitzer.

Sitting down behind his desk, Benedict looked at his watch.  Allyn was always on time so he could expect her in 5…4…3…2…1…

The door swung open and slammed shut behind the form of Allyn Ackmard.  Allyn walked toward Benedict with a grin on her face, "I heard we took a POW last night…"

"That's true, Miss. Ackmard."

Allyn grinned and sat down on the edge of Benedict's desk, "So she's safetly stored downstairs?"

Benedict pulled the sphere from his pocket and handed it to her, "You might want to take a look at this," he said to her, "Things didn't go exactly as planned."

Allyn played the sphere and her face took on a sour and angry look.  The woman stared at the screen the small sphere formed and when the video finished she looked at Benedict with fire flashing in her eyes, "What are you, some kind of an idiot?!" she shrieked, "I give you and your men one simple task and you screw it up!  How difficult is it to make sure she stays as a POW?!"

"Allyn, I don't have to explain myself to you.  You aren't my boss.  I did you a favor."

"Yeah!" Allyn shouted, "And you fucked it up!  You're a total moron.  I'm going to have Daddy relieve you of your position!"

Benedict grabbed her arm and pulled her roughly toward him, "Oh no you won't or else I'll call up Shuyin and tell him what you've been doing." He hissed softly in her ear, "You're on dangerous ground, Allyn.  Tread carefully."

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Yu Yevon looked out of his office window toward the destruction that once was Nagi.  His eyes wandered toward the pile of rubble that once was the blitzball stadium and then he cursed to himself.  The war needed to end and of that he was sure. 

But did he want to use…Sin?

He looked over his shoulder at the summoning book that was laying open on his desk and then looked back out toward the destruction that lay just below his window and silently made up his mind.

Walking back to his desk, he lifted the large book in his hands and felt them tremble under the weight.  He had to do this.  This was his only choice.

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"I'm going back to the frontlines tomorrow, Shu." Lenne announced, "and you can't stop me!"

"I'll just end up going after you again!"

Shuyin and Lenne had been arguing from the moment they stepped back into his house.  She was determined to see her duty through and no amount of coercion from Shuyin was going to change her mind.  Shuyin was desperate to convince her otherwise but so far it wasn't working.

Lenne let out an exhasperated groan and turned her back to him, "You just don't understand."

"You're right," he agreed, "I don't understand!  I don't understand why you'll put your life at risk again!"

Lenne didn't know how she'd make him understand that it was her job to defend her country.  It was her job to give her life if necessary to defend Zanarkand's people.  She sighed and began walking back toward the bedroom to throw some more clothes into a knapsack.  She could hear his footsteps behind her and she said, "I'm leaving in the morning.  Nothing you can say or do is going to stop me."  She paused and reached into a nearby drawer, grabbing a golden necklace.  She handed it to him, "I bought this for you a few weeks ago.  It's the Zanarkand Abes symbol but it's also a locket.  I put a picture of us inside.  That way you'll have me with you even when I'm far away."

Shuyin fingered the small picture inside.  Lenne sitting with a smile on her face while his arm was over her shoulder protectively.  Shuyin didn't want those times to end, "Lenne…I could activate the machina that Bevelle has and…"

"Stop it!" she shrieked suddenly as she spun around and put an angry hand over his mouth to silence him, "I don't want to hear it anymore, Shuyin!  I understand that you don't want me to go, but the fact is I am going!  Get used to it!" She slammed the door in his face and he heard the lock click in place.  She didn't want to deal with him and had locked him out of his own bedroom. 

Shuyin was furious and went back into the living room and sat on the carpet.  There had to be a way to stop this war and save Lenne.  He let himself fall backward onto the sofa and, in spite of how hard he tried, Shuyin's eyes became heavy and he fell asleep in the fetal position upon his carpet.  The rug dug into his cheek making indentations but Shuyin didn't notice.  His dreams were dark.  They weren't the vibrant colors that his dreams usually were.  They were in black and white and they were sad and scary.  In his dreams he saw the collasus.

"Vegnagun.  It's has enough firepower to wipe Zanarkand off of the planet.  I think that's the reason nobody wants to use it.  Vegnagun is infinitely hard to control.  Daddy acts like it has a mind of its own."

Sitting like a mountain in the Bevelle Underground, Vegnagun was capable of stopping the war.  If Shuyin could get to it.  If Shuyin could control it…

"See that keyboard?  You play the notes listed in the correct order and Vegnagun springs to life.  They made it so that only people with piano skills could use it."

Shuyin's eyes shot open.  Vegnagun was the answer.  He'd sneak into Bevelle and use Vegnagun to stop the war.  It was perfect.  It was foolproof.  To hell with Yu's secret plan, Vegnagun was going to help him. 

Shuyin scrambled to his feet and dug in his drawer for his recording spheres.  He'd leave Lenne a short note on where he was going and why so that she wouldn't worry.  Then he'd head back to Bevelle and end this madness once and for all. 

It was perfect….

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"Shuyin?" Lenne called a few hours later.  After falling asleep and having a fitful nap, the young summoner decided to apologize for her outburst.  She had been out of line to lock Shuyin out of his own bedroom.  Her feet padded along the carpeted hallway and out to the living room which was empty, save for a sphere sitting on the table.

Lenne pressed the play button and gasped as the blank screen formed the handsome visage of Shuyin Bacohl.

"Lennie, I know you won't understand why I'm doing this but I just have to try.  I've gone to Bevelle to activate Vegnagun and end this war.  Please don't be angry with me.  I want you to wait for me, Lennie.  I'll write you letters if I get arrested.  I'll be back as soon as I can.  I love you…"

"Damnit Shuyin!" Lenne shouted as she dropped the sphere on the floor and ran for the door.  She had to stop Shuyin from making a huge mistake before something terrible happened.  Grabbing Shuyin's keys, she turned on the ignition to his car and peeled wheels.   

The drive to Bevelle was faster than Lenne had expected and she made it there shortly before dawn and ducked into the temple without the guards noticing her.  She had heard talk of Vegnagun while she was held captive and knew that it was stored in the deepest underbelly of Bevelle and that was precisely where she was headed.  Creeping along silent as a snake, Lenne ducked behind a darkened corner when she heard a voice.

"You know, you're all I can count on to save Lenne."

Shuyin! 

Lenne looked furtively around to make sure there were no guards before dashing into the room.  Shuyin was still a few yards away and she didn't want to shout as he climbed onto Vegnagun and began to play the notes to activate it.  She ran as quietly as possible toward him before stopping and shouting, "You must stop!  That's enough!"

His blue eyes fixed on her as he spun to the sound of her voice, "What are you doing here?" he hissed as he angrily jumped down from the collasus an approached her, "I told you to stay at home!"

"This is crazy!" she cried, "Let's just…."

Footsteps echoed behind her and Shuyin's gasp caused her to spin around.  A barrage of Bevelle soldiers with machina guns were approaching them.  Shuyin felt panic take over and he grabbed her arm and began pulling her toward a side exit.  The soldiers followed suit.

Shuyin and Lenne ran and ran, turning this way and that in a futile attempt to lose the soldiers in their own base.  Before they knew it, the couple was back where they started.  They were standing in front of Vegnagun's eye – a piercing blood red eye that almost foretold certain doom.

The soldiers cocked their rifles and aimed them at the young couple.  Lenne looked at him with an unfortellable look in her eyes before she gave him a weak smile.  All Shuyin could think about what how he'd failed her.  He'd failed her…

The sound of the guns firing seemed to come from far away.  Her fingers tightened around his arms and he increased his grip on her but it was all for naught.  As the bullets pierced their skin, the force broke them apart.  Shuyin felt himself flying and he flipped in midair to land on his chest.  His beautiful Lenne was laying on her back with her head twisted to look toward him.  He reached for her as the pain caused tears to form in his eyes.  His hand moved to touch her outstretched fingers but she didn't move to return his grasp.  He could hear footsteps nearing them as he tried more desperately to touch her delicate fingers, "I…love…you." He gasped.

The last thing Shuyin remembered was a Bevelle boot slamming into his face and then everything went black.