16. Crossing the Line Between Dream and Reality
Shuyin tapped his pencil against the pad of staff paper that he held on his lap to continue the piece he was writing. He knew the notes that he was hearing in his head, but that wasn't the only thing he had on his mind. He shook his non music thoughts out of his head as he scribbled a few notes down. He placed the book on the stand of his piano and put the pencil in his mouth.
He expertly placed his hands on the piano and played what he had composed so far. His new piece was haunting and mystical, but he couldn't get it out of his head. It ran through his mind at all times of the day lately, so he figured that he would actually write it down before his cranium exploded. In the middle of what he had down so far, he heard a knock on his door.
"It's open!" He heard the door open and footsteps approach. In the middle of a descending line of the piece, he looked up to see Lenne standing in the doorway. A miserable look was on her beautiful face, one that Shuyin rarely saw, so instead of finishing what he had written, he took his hands off the piano.
"Hey," she said softly as she walked over to where Shuyin was sitting.
"Hi," he said as he took the pencil out of his mouth. She stood next to the piano and rested her elbows on it.
"I like your piece that you're writing," she said as she looked at the messy notes that were scribbled down. "It's very dramatic and exciting."
"It's funny," he said as he stood up and wrapped Lenne in his arms. "I feel like that song is important or something. I keep hearing it in my head." He shrugged as she looked up at him. "Eh, maybe it's just the curse of being a composer."
"Yeah, maybe." She was very quiet and that worried Shuyin.
"Are you okay?" he looked at her in the eyes and tears started to form. "Oh, Lenne, what's wrong?"
"I, um, got a letter from the Grand Maester of Zanarkand today." She reached into her purse and handed Shuyin a small white envelope. It had a wax stamp with the Zanarkand symbol on it, proving that it was authentic. He gave a concerned look as he opened the envelope, unfolded the letter that was written on heavy parchment paper, and read it aloud.
"'Attention All Summoners; As you know, Bevelle and Zanarkand are battling in a war and reinforcements are needed. As a summoner who has excellent battle skills and strength, you are expected to report to the battle field to fight along side of the Zanarkand soldiers on the...front...lines...'" Shuyin trailed off, not wanting to read any more. He numbly handed the letter back to her and she placed it back in her purse. "Lenne..."
"Heh, I guess there goes my singing career," she said as she tried to smile. Shuyin didn't find any humor in it whatsoever, so he kept a grim look on his face as Lenne placed her purse on the piano. She tried to remain strong, but her façade was starting to fade and her fear was showing. She moved her hair out of her face with a shaky hand. "I'm, um, supposed to leave as soon as possible."
Without another word, she broke down and tears started to run down her face. She put her hands to her face to try and shield her face from him. She hated crying, especially in front of Shuyin. He was the one thing in this world that made her happy and to cry in front of him broke her heart as much as she knew it broke his. He wrapped his arms around her, gently stroking her back, hopefully comforting her somewhat. He took one of his hands off of her back and cupped her chin. He looked into her eyes with a loving smile and gently kissed her wet cheeks. He could taste the salt from her tears, and he was overcome with misery. His only love, sent to the front lines of the Machina War.
"I want to be married, I want to settle down. I don't want to be the one that everyone always counts on. I feel so used all the time." Her voice sounded as if she were lost. Much like a young girl who was in the middle of Macalania Forest alone.
"It's because people know they can depend on you." He was well aware that she would not return alive, but also was aware that Lenne knew she was going to lay her life down when she chose to become a summoner. He just tried to keep her hopes up that she would return home okay, but it wasn't possible to even think that way. Bevelle had such an upperhand in this war that it was quickly tightening the noose around Zanarkand.
"I don't want to be dependable anymore. I want to be able to have my own life and not have to fight in this war anymore. I don't want to die, I'm too young to die." It pained him to see the distraught look in her teary eyes. "I just want to be able to be with you, I'm sick of being a summoner." She then added in an almost inaudible whisper, "Don't let them kill me."
"Lenne, look at me," he said as he gently moved her face with his hand that was still cupping her cheek. She blinked a couple of times and with a quivering lip, she obeyed. He looked into her eyes and with a reassuring tone of voice said, "I won't let you die."
"Let's run away." She said quickly as Shuyin exhaled.
"Where will we go? There's nowhere to go where someone won't recognize you. You're the most famous songstress in all of Spira, so going anywhere unnoticed would be impossible." Lenne's heart fell at her lover's response to eloping, but she also knew he had a point. "As much as I would love to just run away from all this, I don't think that it's possible. The second that they found out that you were in a different part of Spira, or if Bevelle soldiers found us, they would kill us instantly for being traitors."
"We don't need to be here. This war is pointless and I don't want to be a part of it anymore! I can't die, I just want to stay with you." She was crying so hard that she was border lining convulsions. A mixture of feelings arose in Shuyin; sadness, fear, and most of all, anger. Anger at Bevelle, anger at Zanarkand, anger at pretty much everyone who wanted Lenne to be shipped off to battle.
"Lenne, as much as I would love to just run away from our problems, I'm sure there's another way. I promise you that I will find it." Lenne looked up at him to see tears of anger and sadness welling up. The look of determination on his face proved to her that he meant every word he said.
"Shuyin..." She brushed his cheek with her fingers as a rush of emotions washed over Shuyin. He pressed his lips gently against Lenne's and she succumbed to his kiss. He put one hand around her waist and the other hand he placed on her neck, bringing her body closer to him. She ran her fingers through his blonde hair as he parted her mouth so he could enter his tongue.
At first the kisses came slowly, softly and sweetly...but then the kisses became more passionate and more aggressive. He picked her up in his arms and, while he continued to kiss her, brought her into his bedroom. He placed her tenderly on his bed as he kicked off his shoes and joined her on the bed. She tossed off her shoes as he wrapped his arms around her and started to kiss her neck. She unbuttoned his shirt and carelessly tossed it aside and ran her hands against the smooth skin on his back. He took that idea and ran with it as he took off her shirt and to his delight, she wasn't wearing a bra. He lowered his kiss to her breasts, then lower to her stomach. His hands moved to her breasts as he unbuttoned her skirt with his teeth. He threw the skirt off to the side to reveal her lacy black underwear. She slightly moaned as he kissed around her pantyline and trailed his fingers on the outside of her long legs. He decided to leave her lower region alone for a few minutes and went back to kissing her lips again. The feeling of his skin against her bare chest was amazing and she felt as if she never wanted to move. His shorts on her legs were aggravating her slightly, so she took the liberty of taking them off for him.
Their pulses were now racing at the speed of light and they were slightly panting. Lightly dampened with sweat, Shuyin gently slid off Lenne's panties and took off his own boxers so he was now naked on top of her. Their hands roamed and explored each others bodies as they started to continuously moan.
Shuyin got into the right position to enter her and being as gentle as he could, he did. Her moans of appreciation and pleasure were enough to keep Shuyin going. She wrapped her legs around his waist as they moved as one. They were now both drenched in sweat and Lenne had to struggle to keep her legs around him as he thrusted into her. The pleasure was intensifying and their moans were increasingly getting louder. Shuyin could feel Lenne tightening around him and he knew that she was close to her climax as well as she was. After only a minute more of grinding, Lenne could feel four or five warm shots of juices into her and she and Shuyin both loudly moaned as they orgasmed.
/--/--/--/--/--/--/--/--/--/--/
My eyes opened widely in my hospital bed as I sat up straight with a gasp. I was heavily panting and drenched in sweat. I put my hand over my heart, but realized that there wasn't any clothing between my hand and my skin. I moved the paper thin blanket that was covering me to reveal the fact that I wasn't wearing any clothes at all. I quickly wrapped the blanket around me, embarrassed that I had an incredibly REAL sex dream. I felt that I could feel his breath on my neck, feel his kisses all over my body, and the creepiest thing out of all? I could feel him inside of me. I shook my head at myself because it was just a dream...right? I looked at my clothes that were strewn across the hospital room floor and I was thoroughly confused.
It's not that I've never had a sex dream before, it's just that I've never had one that extravagant. I never woke up naked the next morning! There was a tingeing pain in my hand, and I realized that during my hardcore sex dream I ripped out my IV. I figured I wasn't dead yet, so I would be okay without it. I went to lie back down and now that my eyes were adjusted to the dark room, I realized that something was on the blanket that covered me. It was a dark wet spot, so I quickly flipped on the lamp that was next to my bed and focused the light on it. I gasped at the horrifying sight.
Blood. MY blood. I moved the sheet off of me and realized that my entire lower body region was covered in it, along with the sheets and the mattress. It wasn't from my period, I had another good two weeks before I had to start. It seriously looked like I killed someone. I was thankful that my new moogle was thrown on the floor in the mix of my clothing and blood didn't stain that too.
I didn't know what else to do, so I pushed the button to page a nurse.
Just a note....the piece that Shuyin was composing in the beginning of the dream sequence is OBVIOUSLY Nightmare in the Den. (The piece in FFX-2 where Shuyin plays the piano type thing in Vegnagun that gets it moving....you know what I'm talking about!) Also, sorry for getting a little graphic with the sex scene...but I think it was still tasteful. Another thing...Yuna didn't notice the blood on the blanket when she checked to see if she was wearing clothes because her eyes weren't adjusted to the lighting in the room yet, okay? Also, she didn't move the blanket to see her lower region...she only saw that she wasn't wearing a shirt and she assumed that she wasn't wearing any more clothes. Seeing her clothes on the floor confirmed that she was naked. All right....hopefully I'll update soon!!!