DISCLAIMER:  I do not own FFX, FFX-2 or any of the characters and locations affiliated with it.  I do, however, own the story "Silver Wings" and all references to dialogue not originated by Square-Enix.

DO NOT COPY MY STORIES!!

If anyone wants to post this story or "Silver Wings" anywhere else, please just ASK and then give me credit for writing it.  Email akksgurl@yahoo.com with any requests.

Author's Notes:  Okay, this chapter is going to explain just a little bit about my idea for Silver Wings 3 and its connection to FFVIII.  Please don't flame me!  Haha!  This is a silly idea with the connection between X/X-2 and VIII, but I think it's an interesting one.    

~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~

SILVER WINGS 2: 1000 CONFESSIONS

by akksgurl

Chapter Twenty: Portal to Esthar

~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~

"LeBlanc?" Nooj called down the hall.  She had told him she'd be right back and that was almost thirty minutes earlier.  For a reason he didn't understand, Nooj clutched his handgun close to his hip as he crept down the hall toward the bedroom he and LeBlanc shared.

"LeBlanc?" he called again as he pushed the door open with his foot, ready to fire his weapon if he needed to, but the room was empty.  He lowered his weapon and frowned.  This was where she said she was going to be, "LeBlanc!  Where are you?" he called again, a deeper frown forming on his features. 

Silence answered him.

"Come in, Nooj!  Come in LeBlanc."

Following the sound, Nooj found LeBlanc's radio under a blanket on the bed and put it to his mouth, "Yeah, Rikku.  What's up?"

"Yunie's back.  Shuyin's up to something.  We're gonna have an emergency meeting."

Nooj sighed, "LeBlanc's gone."

"What do you mean, gone?" came Paine's voice over the intercom.  Nooj smiled a little at her voice.  It was strange to love two women who were so completely different from each other.  However, now was not the time to be thinking about that.  LeBlanc was missing and with a crazy ghost on the loose thinking she is his ex-girlfriend, things didn't look good.

"I mean, she said she was going to brush her hair and come right back and that was almost 45 minutes ago."

He could almost hear Paine's thought processes.  She was probably thinking about all the hundreds of ways LeBlanc was flighty and could have just left without even realizing she'd said she'd be back.  He waited for a sarcastic remark when he heard Gippal's voice, "Just get your ass over here, Nooj.  We've got serious problems.  The fayth is working with Shuyin."

"The fayth?!" he cried, "Why?  How?  For what purpose?"

"We don't know that yet." Gippal replied, "but we're at Home and need your help to go over the info Yuna has."

Nooj paused.  A glittering light caught his attention and he knelt to the ground beneath LeBlanc's dressing table. 

"Nooj?" called Gippal but his friend didn't answer.  He was too shocked to answer.

Rikku asked exasperatedly, "Nooj, are you coming or not?!"

He turned the object over and over in his fingers, staring at it, trying to make sense of it.  How could he have gotten in without the guards seeing him?  How could he have gotten out without them seeing him?  How could he have taken LeBlanc without him knowing it?! 

"Nooj!" shouted Gippal.

Nooj knew his voice hitched in his throat as he said the words, but he was past caring at the moment, "H…He's got LeBlanc."

--------------------------.

She had spent the night on the cold floor of the blitzball stadium in Zanarkand.  The dim light echoed in from the cavern entrance as she rubbed her sore head.  Memories flew back at her quickly of her night of terror with Shuyin. 

He'd thrown her head over heels onto the deck of the Celsius before roughly tying her arms to a bar and launching the ship into the air.  While it was on auto-pilot toward Zanarkand, he'd stalked over to her and kicked her hard in the side, "Sucks to be on the receiving end of revenge, doesn't it Allyn?"

She still didn't know who Allyn was or why he was calling her that.  Every time she had asked him, she'd received a smack in the face for her trouble.  Her jaw was still sore, and probably bruised, from the night before. 

She could see his back as he stood staring out at the sunrise with Tidus' sword slung at his side.  She knew in her heart that Nooj and her friends were looking for her.  She knew that they'd find her and she would be saved, but she didn't know how long it would take or what she'd have to contend with in the mean time. 

Her breath hitched in her throat as Shuyin turned toward her and stalked in her direction, an angry scowl on his face.  He seemed ten feet tall as he towered over her form as she lay helpless on the ground.

"Let me guess," he said gruffly, "You're wondering what I'm going to do to you?"

LeBlanc nodded and pulled her legs closely to her chest as if in self defense.  The wild look in his eyes was scaring her.  The sword glistening in the light was scaring her.  LeBlanc didn't like not being in control.  She wasn't used to it. 

He patted her cheek condescendingly, "Don't you worry about that, Allyn." He replied with a smile, "I'm letting you go home.  Granted, it's not exactly your home, but it'll just have to do."

She opened her mouth to ask him who Allyn was again but instantly thought better of it.  Her jaw was screaming for some respite to his attacks and she didn't want to give him the excuse to smack her again. 

A light appeared behind Shuyin and in that light was a beautiful brunette wearing a blue and green dress.  She appeared to be in her early twenties and gave him a guarded smile, "So you're Shuyin…"

He stared at her, "And who are you?"

"I am the Zanarkand fayth that is going to help you succeed in your plans.  Bruttam sent me."

He grunted at her, "Aren't fayth supposed to be kids?  You look a little old to be a fayth."

The girl shook her head, "The fayth that dreamed up Zanarkand are in the form of children.  I am a fayth that lives in Zanarkand so I have to fit in."

Shuyin looked at LeBlanc over his shoulder and snorted to the fayth girl, "We'd better discuss this elsewhere.  Don't want her to hear about this until the special unveiling."

-----------------------.

Shuyin and the fayth girl met outside of the stadium well out of LeBlanc's hearing range and he stared at her for a few minutes before grinning, "I know who you are."

She cocked an eyebrow at him, "And how do you know that?"

"The merger is working in my direction now.  I've got some of Tidus' memories, and you're in some of them."

The girl stared at him, "Well, if that's the case then you'd better hurry.  When the fake soul gets the memories, then the merger is almost complete."

"How long do you think I have?"

She thought for a moment, staring at him with intense eyes, "If I were you, I'd get your evil plan complete tonight because I don't think you have a tomorrow."

Shuyin growled low and dug his hands into his pockets, "I was planning on getting this done tonight, El…."

"Don't use my name." she said sharply, "I don't want to hear my name coming off of your lips."

"Fine," he said, grumpily, "So, when is the portal going to open?"

"They will open it at sunset."

He glared at her, "That'd doesn't give me a lot of time."

The fayth girl shrugged and grinned at him, "Well, that's not really our concern, is it?  We're helping you, we didn't say it would be easy."

Blue eyes pierced her, "How did you die?" he asked, suddenly. 

She seemed surprised by his question and was quiet for a moment.  She averted her brown eyes and sighed, "The Sinspawn killed me."

"And how did you become a fayth?"

She stared at him, "Are you looking for a job?" she asked sarcastically.

Shuyin shook his head, "No." he replied, "I'm just interested."

The girl frowned, "In life, my mother had died without my step-father by her side.  I wanted to change that.  I tried so hard to change it in dream Zanarkand." She sighed, "I just wanted them to be happy with my brother and me, but it didn't work.  Some things are fated, I guess, and my mother died again in dream Zanarkand."

"Then you know how I feel." Said Shuyin, "I just wanted to change what happened to Lenne and I and get another chance."

The girl smiled, "I know where you're coming from Shuyin, but that doesn't make it right." The light bathed her and she pointed toward the remnants of the blitzball stadium, "The portal will be opened in the chamber of the fayth at sunset.  He will fall back into dream Zanarkand exactly where he left it, just outside of the stadium in the capital Esthar."

Shuyin grinned, "Excellent." He whispered, more to himself then to her as she vanished.

-------------------.

Nooj rushed into Home like a man being chased.  The journey to Bikanel Island had been long, seemingly longer because of his worry for LeBlanc.  He hoped with all his soul that Shuyin hadn't hurt her. 

"Where is he?!" he shouted as he threw the door open and barged into the meeting room, "I'm going to kill the bastard!"

Gippal shook his head and put a firm hand on Nooj's chest, "No you're not.  We're going to calmly go to Zanarkand and get LeBlanc.  Shuyin won't be in control much longer, then this entire thing will be over."

Nooj's chest heaved with each furious breath he took.  The thought of Shuyin hurting LeBlanc, or killing her like he killed Baralai was making a hot flame of anger grow into a bonfire in his stomach.  He balled his fists at his sides, "Then let's get going."

Yuna rose from her seat a few feet away from Nooj.  He had barely noticed her there as she sat playing with her fingers like a frightened child.  The wide, blood-shot eyes that stared into his told him that she was a frightened child who had seen pure evil and was truly terrified of its return.  She took a few steps toward him, "The fayth is working with Shuyin.  I'm not sure why.  I don't know what they're doing." She whispered, grasping her guns tightly in each hand, "but I won't lose Tidus again.  If you attempt to hurt him, I will kill you."

Her threat was quiet but more deadly then any threat Nooj had ever received.  He saw in her eyes the determination to follow through on her words if she was crossed. 

"Hell hath no fury…" he murmured under his breath.  He nodded his agreement, "I'll leave him to you, Yuna.  I just want LeBlanc returned safely."

She gave him a half smile, "Then let's go."

A light bathed the room suddenly and the fayth child, Bruttam appeared to them.  Weapons were drawn quickly even as the fayth smiled, "I know you think I have betrayed you, but I am here to say that isn't true."

Yuna glared at him, "Then what are you here for."

"To help you find Shuyin."

Yuna stared at the fayth with skepticism in her eyes, "Where is he then?"

"I can't tell you exactly for I have made a pact with him and fayth cannot break their promises," he said, "But I can give you a hint."

"A hint?" Rikku squealed, "What's that going to do?!"

The fayth smiled and stared into Yuna's eyes, "This is my story.  It'll go the way I want it, or I'll end it here." Her eyes widened and the fayth's grin widened with it, "That is my hint to you.  Use it well."

The light bathed him again as he disappeared and Yuna clutched her heart in anxiety.  Gippal groaned, "What the hell was that?  How is that a hint?"

"I know where they are." Yuna said, breathless.

Rikku nodded, "Me too!"

The cousins looked at each other with broad grins, "The Chamber of the Fayth!"

---------------------------.

Shuyin stalked back into the stadium and threw LeBlanc over his shoulder, carrying her back into the Chamber of the Fayth with him.  She didn't struggle much with him as he strode passed mating monkeys and up a flight of stairs that led into a large chamber with a platform. 

"Where do I go now?" Shuyin wondered out loud.  Back when he was alive, his blitzball stadium didn't have elevators and wild puzzles to solve and it most especially didn't have a "Chamber of the Fayth" hidden in its depth somewhere. 

"Yuna... We're here."

"The hall of the Final Summoning."

"Go."

"Yes."

Shuyin watched in confusion as a vision of Yuna walked through him and stood on the small platform.  Several other visions appeared by him, standing and watching as Yuna descended on the platform.

"So that's where I go…" he muttered to himself as the visions vanished and he found himself still standing in the same location with LeBlanc slung over his shoulder.  Taking a few tentative steps, Shuyin stood on the platform as it came to life and lowered him to the level below.  The door was behind him as he turned and walked into a tiny room.  His eyes were drawn downward inexplicably and he cried out, almost dropping LeBlanc in the process. 

"This isn't a fayth. It's just an empty statue."

"That statue lost its power as a fayth long ago.  It is Lord Zaon, the first fayth of the Final Summoning.  What you see before you is all that remains of him.  Lord Zaon is... his soul is gone."

"Za…" Shuyin started, letting LeBlanc slide carefully to the floor so that he could run his hands gently over the glass that enclosed the body of his best friend, "Za…on…"

Shuyin's eyes flashed and he stared at LeBlanc who was cowering like a scared girl.  He hit her until she was unconscious and then grabbed her ankle and pulled her toward him without saying a word.  He didn't bother to lift her this time – dragging worked just as well.  Through the mystical wall curtain he and LeBlanc went until he found himself in what appeared to be the end of the world.  It looked much like the Farplane except with a lack of spirits haunting its walls. 

"Is it true?  Is she really the High Summoner?"

Shuyin spun around and stared at the female behind him.  She hadn't changed at all.  Her blonde hair still hung so long that it nearly touched the ground and her eyes still seemed as haunted as they had been the last time he had seen her.  He smiled, "Hello Yunalesca."

"Is it true?" she asked again, stepping closer to him.  He could see light from above shining through her on the ground.

She was a ghost.

He nodded, "Yes, it's true."

Yunalesca looked down at the ground and sighed, "I thought there was something familiar about him when she had defeated me two years ago." She admitted, "but I was more interested in the boy with her that looks oddly like you do now."

"It's a long story." Shuyin said with a shrug.

"I know all about it." She said to him, "Bruttam told me what you're doing.  That's why I'm here."

His eyes flashed, "So you're going to try and stop me too, huh?"

Yunalesca shook her head, "I'm here to help you Shuyin.  They took away my purpose and I've been wandering around without a reason since.  I've committed some atrocities since my death and I can't be with Zaon because of it.  My only way of atoning was taken from me when they decided to throw away the Yevon teachings."

She pointed to the ground behind him and just as his eyes connected with it, the earth began to rumble.  He heard LeBlanc scream as she covered her head from the falling debris and he did the same thing.  The ground began to open until a perfectly formed circular hole appeared behind him that appeared bottomless, "What the hell?" he asked Yunalesca.

"Behold the portal to Esthar, capital of Zanarkand." She said, lowering her hands to her sides, "The time has come, Shuyin.  It is sunset and they approach rapidly.  When you are ready, have him stand directly in front of this hole which will not be visible to anyone but you and I." she grinned, "I'll handle the rest."

As she disappeared, Shuyin suddenly began to have second thoughts about his plan.  He didn't want to have anyone else die and with Yunalesca 'handling' the rest, he was relatively sure that death was a pretty valid option for the do-gooders that were charging his way. 

"Oh…my head…" muttered LeBlanc as she slowly came to.  Shuyin instantly forgot all about his doubts.  He could hear the footsteps of Yuna and her friends gaining on him and he knew he had to act quickly. 

Just as they ran through the door, Shuyin grabbed LeBlanc by the throat and held her in a vice like grip a few inches off the ground. 

"Shuyin!" Yuna cried, "Let her go!"

Shuyin shook his head, "I won't let our murderer get away with it, Lenne." And with a grin he stared at the rest of the group one at a time, "I want all weapons on the ground where I can see them or I snap her neck."

LeBlanc wheezed in the little oxygen Shuyin was allowing her to gain.  He didn't want to kill her, but if he was pushed, he'd do what he had to. 

"Shuyin…"

"Shut up, Tidus!  It's not your turn yet!  I'm not done here." He shouted, slamming LeBlanc up against a nearby wall, forcing tears out of her eyes due to the pain. 

"Shuyin…"

He turned his head and saw that Yuna had advanced on them slowly.  With her guns on the ground behind her, she was completely unarmed but didn't seem afraid. 

"Get away from me, Yuna!" he shouted, tightening his grip on LeBlanc's neck. 

Yuna continued her slow assault, taking tentative steps forward, "Shuyin," she whispered, "LeBlanc didn't do anything wrong."

Shuyin had never hyperventilated before, but he was pretty sure he was at that moment.  He could barely breathe; the tears seemed to be choking him as much as his hands were choking LeBlanc.  He wheezed, "I know…I know that!  But…but she's Allyn and she killed us!"

"And that was 1000 years ago." Yuna said gently, "I've forgiven her.  I think you should to."

He slammed LeBlanc against the wall again, loosening his grip on her neck and tightening it on her shoulders as he slammed her once again, her head connecting with a sickening crack. 

"Shuyin stop it!" cried Yuna, trying desperately to peel his arms from LeBlanc but with a swipe of his hand Yuna found herself sprawled on her back. 

"You stupid bitch!" he shouted at LeBlanc, "You just couldn't leave me alone, could you?!  You just had to fuck up my life!"

"I…I don't….know…what…you're talking…about…" LeBlanc sobbed, struggling weakly to get away from him. 

None of the others dared to move, afraid of what he'd do to LeBlanc of they all went after him.  For now she appeared to be as safe as possible and Yuna rose to her feet again and tried to gently talk to Shuyin, "She doesn't remember being Allyn." She explained, "LeBlanc isn't evil."

Shuyin didn't listen to her.  His mind was focused on LeBlanc and his ability to get revenge for the torture that was heaped upon him for 1000 years.  He barely remembered why he was there.  He didn't remember the portal or Yunalesca.  All he remembered was the piercing pain of the bullets, the agony of starvation, and the desperation to just touch Lenne's soft skin again. 

"Why could you just leave me alone?!" he shouted, slamming his fist into the wall next to LeBlanc, "You kept saying you loved me, but you didn't!  You left me!  I didn't leave you!"

"Shuyin…" began Yuna.

"SHUTUP!!!!" he shrieked so loudly that it echoed against the walls.  Turning his attention back to LeBlanc he stared coldly into her eyes, "You didn't love me.  You never loved me!  If you had loved me, you would have let me be happy with Lenne instead of going on that selfish crusade!  You would have…."

He stopped, frozen in the realization of what he had said.  His hands started to tremble and he unwittingly released his captive but he didn't care, even as he watched her run from him into the waiting arms of Nooj.  His breathing quickened and he thought his heart was going to beat out of his chest.

"If you loved me, you'd let Tidus go!  You'd forget this damned merger and let me be happy with the man that I love instead of going on this selfish mission!"

He turned and stared at Yuna and she back at him for the longest time until he finally spoke in a hushed whisper, "You were right.  I am being selfish."

Tears formed in her eyes and he brushed them away gently, marveling at the fact that she didn't recoil at his touch.  She smiled slightly at him, "I understand why you did what you did."

"Thank you for that, Yuna." He said with a smile, "That means a lot to me."

"Now what?" Tidus asked.

"Now, I let you have your life back." Shuyin replied to his question as he took a step back from Yuna and said, "I meant what I told you, Yuna, on the ship.  Now I'm going to prove it."

Blue eyes rolled up into the handsome blitzballer's head and he stumbled backward, positioning him directly in front of the hole that none YRP and their friends knew was there.

Yuna lurched forward, "Shuyin?"

The blonde didn't respond as he seemed to regain his control and motor functions.  He stared at his feet, then his hands, and then his eyes connected with hers, "That was a rush."

"T…Tidus?" Yuna stammered, hope forming in her heart that burst into sheer glee when he placed his fingers in his mouth and a loud piercing whistle echoed against the walls.

Yuna made to run for him when the earth started to shake and she was thrown to the ground.  Her duel colored eyes shot upward to see Tidus struggling to remain standing even as the ground started cracking beneath their feet.  Flames shot up from between the cracks and she felt Gippal's hands on her shoulders, pulling her back, "Back up Yuna!"

She struggled away from him, "No!  Not without Tidus!" she shouted, crawling forward until she could climb to her feet.  She saw him then, struggling against the flames to make his way toward her.

"Yuna!" he screamed, reaching out for her.  He was a mere two yards away and yet it seemed like miles as Yuna tried desperately to avoid falling rocks and debris to reach her love.  The flames shot up unexpectedly as shouts from her friends begged her back but her heart called her forward.

It seemed to happen in slow motion.  Their fingers grazed each other as the earth cracked between them and flames shot up around him, forcing her backward to tumble head over heels.  She could hear his cry get fainter and fainter until it died out and, just as quickly as it happened, the earth stopped moving and the flames vanished leaving silence in their wake. 

She scrambled to her feet and made her way over the remaining rocks and boulders that had fallen to where Tidus was last standing.  Panic rose in her chest as she scrambled on all fours around the area, searching desperately for the blue eyes she could get lost in, for the smile that made her feel giddy, for the hands that were so tender.  Searching for the man she couldn't live without…

"Tidus!" she shrieked as she saw sword lying under a pile of rocks and boulders that had formed behind where she'd last seen him.  She pulled and tugged at the rocks and boulders, oblivious to the pain as each ripped at the delicate skin on her hands. 

"Hold on, Tidus!" Rikku cried as she in turn joined Yuna, followed by the others – except Gippal, all digging frantically through the rubble to reach him. 

Gippal wandered over to the only fire still burning, a small bonfire ignited at the center of the chamber.  His eyes caught on something fanning those crisp, clean flames and he felt vomit forming in the pit of his stomach, "He's not over there." He managed to mutter.

Yuna turned and stared at Gippal, "What are you talking about?  How do you know that?"

He pointed a shaking finger at what had caught his attention; a pair of sneakers – Tidus's sneakers, some cloth from his clothes, and his Zanarkand Abe's necklace that he never went without.  Each glowed brightly in the flames as Yuna stared, her hands shaking at her sides.  She took a cautious step closer to the flames and as she did an explosion rocked the chamber again and the flames burned higher and brighter then before, practically destroying the shoes and cloth before Yuna truly had a chance to realize that they were, indeed, Tidus'. 

"Yunie…" Rikku began but Yuna violently threw her cousin's tender hand off of her shoulder and made a mad dash toward the flames.

"TIDUS!!!!!!!!!!!" she shrieked, the name ripping from her throat and her heart like a demon.  A terrible pain formed around her heart and she dimly thought she was having a heart attack, but she quickly realized that this pain was familiar.  It was the feeling she'd had two years before when she had lost Tidus.  It was the feeling of her heart breaking.

Her knees felt weak beneath her and she stumbled slightly, catching herself almost barely just before she hit the ground.

"Stay with me until the end.  Please."

"Not till the end.  Always."

She dimly thought she heard his whistle, but before she could be sure Yuna fainted.

--------------------------------.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  The first chapter of Silver Wings 3: Back Into My Arms is posted.  It will be the last in the Silver Wings trilogy and I hope that everyone likes it.  It's a little bit of a stretch with the FFX/FFVIII connection and I know that so please don't flame me J.