Disclaimer: same as before. I still don't own anything aside from this story. Lol =)

Chapter Two: A Second Chance

She walked slowly up the hill, becoming more and more unsure with each light step. The sight that met her eyes was just as amazing as it had always been, just now in an entirely different way. The young woman sat down at the very top of the hill and examined everything with her big eyes.

"Everything is so different now," she said to herself. "I don't know what to do. I don't know where my home is," she began to despair. "This cannot be Zanarkand! It cannot be..." her sad eyes began to fill with cool tears as she lowered her head to her hands, beginning to sob. "Now I am truly alone."

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The water felt colder and darker than he remembered, but it did seem like forever since he'd been in the water. *Wait a minute! What am I doing here?* He swam quickly toward the light, and when he broke the surface of the water, he did not know where he was. He swam toward the shore once he had located it, and stood when he reached the shallow waters.

He ran a hand through his hair and tousled it a bit as he walked into the ruins laid before him. "This is insane!" he shouted, his voice echoing off of all that was left of the once marvelous city. "This cannot be. not really." He walked through the ruins with mounting uncertainty, touching stones and fallen walls, trying to place them in his mind, praying for evidence that he was not where he knew he was.

That's when he saw it, and if not for the mounting anger that he felt, he might have cried. Before him laid the ruins of the greatest blitzball stadium a blitzer could ever dream to play in. He walked through it slowly, still in utter disbelief, and sat down where he knew a row of expensive seats had one been. He could almost hear the screams of the crowds and the insanely loud music playing. Her could almost hear *her* voice. The energy was still alive in this place.

Even after a thousand years.

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She rose slowly from her perch on top of the hill and wiped her eyes dry from the remnants of tears that had only moments before been flowing from her heavy brown eyes. She walked down the hill even slower than before, watching each step as she made it.

Then it happened. Her heart skipped a beat; something it only did when. "No. It couldn't be." She looked around the ruins of the city and saw a small could of dust coming from near the center of her plane of sight. The girl had a sudden urge to see what was causing the commotion, but felt very unsure with all the tourists gaping around, and she was already receiving questioning stares because of her now red and swollen eyes.

"What have I got to lose?" she said aloud and began to make her way toward the center of the city, and toward that cloud of dust that was making her heart race. "If I'm here, there's a slight chance her could be, too. And if it's only a fiend, I'll take out my frustration on *it*," she said, faintly smiling. She began to run where she felt her heart was leading her.

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"God-Damned-son-of-a-bitch-freaking." he stormed around the ancient stadium kicking and throwing anything that was loose, obscenities flowing from his angry soul. "How?!..." It was as though he had no memory of where he had been for so long. He knew how long he had been gone. he just didn't know where he had been! He wished he could remember, but his mind only felt more in the dark with each piece of wall he threw.

Then he made the mistake of kicking a piece of wall that was anything but loose, and collapsed to the ground holding his temporarily cripples foot. "Yaaaaaaaaaaaah!" he screamed, at the peak of his frustration. "Why the hell am I here?!" he yelled to no one. "Why couldn't you let me be at peace?! Don't I deserve at least that much?" He collapsed, falling back and lying out on the ground. He closed his eyes and allowed his mind to drift, oblivious to all the voices of the tourists who had witnessed his emotional episode.

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She walked slowly into the left over pieces of the dilapidated, almost non- existent stadium, afraid of what she might find there, but still entirely unprepared for what she *did* find. It took every last shred of her being to keep from just flying to him and collapsing on top of him. But, he seemed like he was drifting in thought, and bringing him back suddenly could startle him and possibly do some harm, and right now that was the last thing she needed. She walked to him slowly, suddenly feeling separated from the rest of the world around her. She kneeled slowly beside him, and put her hand on his chest.

"Shuyin. Shuyin." she called softly.

Shuyin heard a voice: *her* voice. It came floating to him through the thick velvety black that was surrounding him. His mind began to swim frantically, trying to get back to her. He just had to follow her voice. Suddenly, he opened his eyes, and found himself gazing into the most beautiful brown eyes he could ever imagine.

"Lenne!" was all he could say. He sat up quickly and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his lap. And he just held her. Time seemed to stand still, until the world started spinning again: fueled by the flashing light-bulbs of tourists' cameras.

Lenne laughed.

Shuyin scowled.

"Never a moments' peace," he muttered.

Lenne put a finger to his lips. "Shh."

"Why are we here??" he muttered.

"We've been given another chance."

"Another chance at what?"

"Life."