Chapter One
Abandoned
(Present time)
I entered the police station and looked around, quickening my pace as soon as I saw Lenne sitting there in a chair, her face buried in her hands, her long light brown hair falling and covering most of her arms and shoulders. She was wearing the typical blue dress she used every time she was hired to sing but now the dress was torn and stained.
I wondered what had happened for her to be in that miserable state and to call me on the phone with a desperate voice in the middle of the night. The only things I had understood were Shuyin, prison and help. The rest of the words were completely lost in her many sobs and I was unable to understand them, but it didn't matter anyway. All that mattered was that I had to get there and help them as I could.
"Lenne." I called her as I walked towards her.
She looked up, her eyes bright with tears, and when she saw it was me she fell in my arms and started crying even harder. "I'm so sorry I had to call you, Yuna! It's just that I had nobody else to turn to and―"
"Shh", I said, smoothing her messed hair with my hand. "Everything's gonna be alright, now."
We stood there for a few moments until a cop showed up and caught my attention. I needed some information and I knew Lenne could not give it to me in the state she was in.
"Excuse me, sir." I called, calmly sitting Lenne once again and moving in the direction of the policeman. "Could you help me? I need to know what happened with a guy named Shuyin. Is he here or―"
"Yes, he is here", the guard interrupted me, looking eager to give me more information. "We locked him up because he started a fight in a very important club of Besaid. That girl", he pointed at Lenne, "was supposed to sing in the club tonight but apparently her boyfriend didn't like it and decided to make a scene in front of everyone. According to the people we interviewed, they started arguing and when the security tried to throw him out he started fighting them and they decided to call the police. That's when we came and we took him in."
I could not understand why he was so proud with that little story of his. There was no glory in locking up a guy, and even less when you needed the help of two security guards and two cops to do it. Anyways, that wasn't important at the time. I just needed to find a way to get Shuyin out of there as soon as possible.
"When do you think he'll be released?" I asked abruptly.
He gave me a puzzled look like he didn't understand why I had such an interest in that subject. But then comprehension fell over his face as he looked over my shoulder and saw a crying Lenne. He then turned to me once again. "She's your sister, isn't she? Poor girl, being stuck with such a troublemaker. You should try to help her instead of him, ya know? I bet she's with him just because she's afraid of him. I bet he's violent on her. I bet―"
"Do you know if he'll be released soon or not?" I snapped back, angry at his words. Who the hell did he think he was to talk about Shuyin and Lenne like that? He didn't even know them! He was just speculating and speculating wrong as a matter of fact! Firstly Lenne and I were just friends and Lenne was not stuck up with Shuyin because they didn't even date anymore; she had broken up with him after he had been kicked off the blitzball team. And in second place, yes, I admitted it, Shuyin was a troublemaker; he had done a lot of bad things in the past two years, and that's the main reason why Lenne wasn't with him anymore, but I knew he would never be violent towards her, he just loved her too much…
"We'll release him as soon as somebody pays the bail." The cop answered dryly, upset by my irritated reaction. Who cared anyway? He shouldn't have talked that way about my friends.
"And where can I pay that?"
He pointed towards a desk near the entrance of the station and turned his back at me, walking away without another word.
I looked at Lenne who was staring back at me. I smiled reassuringly, trying to calm her down. Apparently she was regaining her composure for she smiled back at me, wiping away the tears with the back of her hands.
"I'm gonna get Shuyin outta here, 'kay?" I said, sitting next to her. "And perhaps you would like to go to the restroom and clean yourself a bit…"
"Do I look that bad?" she grinned and ran a hand through her messed hair. "Then I guess it's better if Shuyin doesn't see me like this." I nodded and she continued, grabbing one of my hands, "I'm so glad you could come, Yuna. I'm sorry I bothered you, but I had no money and―"
"Hey! Both Shuyin and you are my friends and I'm here for you anytime, alright? I was glad you called me and I'm glad I can help."
It was true. This was the least I could do for them. For Shuyin. I kind of felt guilty about this situation, about the way things had ended after his brother had left… I should've been there for Shuyin, keeping him from becoming what he had become, but I had been so absorbed in my own pain and loneliness that I had forgotten about him and the way he felt. Besides, he resembled Tidus so much that it was impossible for me to be around him and not feel the pain inside and I could not bear it. And so I had abandoned him like all the rest of us, letting him fall into the abyss he was in.
I stood up and went to the desk the policeman had told me, while Lenne darted off to the WC to make herself presentable. The policewoman who sat there was very nice and helped me with the paperwork, telling me what to read and where to sign. She then took the money I gave her and made a phone call to the guards of the cells.
"He'll be out any second now, dear", she said after she finished the call.
I thanked her and returned to where Lenne was sitting when I had arrived. She was still not there, but she arrived just in time to see Shuyin being dragged by the guards.
"And see if you don't end up here again, boy", one of the cops told Shuyin, while he yanked his arms free from the hold.
Only then did he look up to see Lenne and… me. His beautiful blue eyes narrowed and grew darker and he looked towards Lenne once again. "What's she doin' here?"
Lenne's voice was shaky. "I didn't have any money, Shuyin. How was I supposed to get you out of here?"
Shuyin looked away and an awkward silence fell over us. I could not blame him for not wanting me there, but I had been the one who had bailed him out and now he was obliged to feel grateful towards me, which he didn't want and would never admit. In a strange way, I had caused him as much pain as his brother and that hurt me. It had not been my fault that Tidus had left…
"Well, I'm done here." I said, getting ready to leave. "Do you need a ride somewhere?"
I looked straight at Lenne, but it was Shuyin who responded, his voice low and contained, "Could you take us to my place, please?"
I turned my head to look at him, surprised, but he was staring at his feet. "Okay, but you have to show me the way, 'cause I don't know where you live."
He snapped his head up and gazed into my eyes. "Thank you."
I knew how hard it must have been for him to say those words, so I just smiled and shrugged my shoulders. "Hey, no prob. After all, you're still my favourite troublemaker."
To surprise me even more, he smirked back at me. Just a little smirk, but it was definitely one. Lenne smiled too, happy that Shuyin was finally accepting me once again, not shutting me down like he had done with everyone else in previous occasions.
We drove silently for most of the way, not because there was nothing to say, but because we felt really uncomfortable in each other's presence. Much had happened for us to act naturally.
When we arrived at Shuyin's apartment, he asked us to come inside and to rest a little, as in a way to apologize himself for giving us the trouble of having to go all the way to the prison. We could not refuse, of course, and stepped inside. His apartment was small and not very clean, but it was understandable after all. He wasn't exactly rich and his father had not given him or his brother the best education, being rude, stupid and violent. I had often wondered how those two boys had turned out so good after the father they had…
I realized Shuyin and Lenne wanted to talk in private about what had happened earlier that night so I pretended to be very tired and asked Shuyin if I could rest a little in his room. He pointed to the door on the left and told me to be at home. I went to the room and turned the lights on. The bed was all messed and before I lay down I pulled the blankets up and turned the lights off once again.
I laid there in the dark, but I could not get to sleep. I kept thinking about Shuyin and everything that had happened in the past two years that had made him change so much, becoming so different from the person he used to be. Shuyin was never the upbeat type of guy, but I remember how he used to laugh every time Wakka would say something really stupid or how he used to smile when Lenne talked to him. The only other person that would have made him smile or laugh was… well, it was his brother, but he was gone now, nowhere for us to reach.
The voices in the next room grew louder and I became able to understand them. They were starting a fight… again.
"Why, Lenne? Why don't you want me to say my feelings for you?" yelled Shuyin. I heard a huge clank and I realized that something big had crushed on the floor.
"Because you're confused", Lenne's voice was trembling, I could tell she was near the tears "You don't know how you feel―"
"Yes, I do! Damn it, Lenne! I've always loved you, don't shut me down!"
"Please, Shuyin, don't make it harder than it already is", said Lenne, trying to control her feelings "We cannot be together."
"Why?" repeated Shuyin.
"Because, Shuyin. I don't want to hurt you, so don't make me do it."
There was a pause and the next thing I heard was the door slamming. I slowly got up and entered the other room. There was a chair on the floor and Lenne was crying on the couch but as soon as she heard my footsteps she turned her head to look at me.
"Sorry, did we wake you?" she asked, getting up and wiping her tears with the back of her hands.
I shook my head "It's okay, I could not sleep anyway."
"You heard?"
I nodded and she sat back in the couch, unable to prevent the tears from falling. I knew she was devastated ― she was a very sensitive person who had a very strict and complicated family so life had never been exactly easy for her either. But she was also very strong, in a way not many people could be, and she would hold on through this another crisis, like so many times before.
I sat next to her and let her sob on my shoulder for a while. When she felt better, she asked me in a trembling voice "Where do you think he went?"
"Don't worry, Lenne, I'm sure he's fine. He already had enough trouble for one night, he won't be messing around. He's probably just cooling off and then he'll come back and you'll have a chance to talk."
She looked at me, grateful for my calmness under the circumstances and then sighed. "I don't think we should talk again tonight. He's really mad at me and I can't say I blame him. Not after what I told him…"
I didn't know what to say to her. "Well, Lenne, I'm sure you did what you thought it was the best and―"
"You don't understand", she interrupted me. "We cannot stay together, not right now! Things are getting way too complicated in my life and Shuyin isn't exactly helping, you know? I already have a lot of problems without him adding another one to them."
"I'm so sorry to hear that, Lenne." I said, grabbing her hands. "But you gotta understand Shuyin. He isn't having the best time either. He feels so lonely right now and it's so complicated for him to go through this."
Lenne smiled slightly. "After all that happened, I never expected you to be defending him…"
"Hey, like I said, he's one of my best friends, even though we hadn't been there for each other lately. He―"
I was once again interrupted, this time by the door opening. We both lifted our heads to see who it was although we both knew it could only be one person. Shuyin entered the room and suddenly there was a strange silence. We both got up and Lenne turned to him, but he talked before any of us could say anything.
"I just want to say one thing before you both get out. I know I'm not exactly the perfect guy and I know I'm getting into a lot of troubles lately. So I understand your reaction, Lenne. I understand that I'm not good enough for ya and I think I'll never be… So it's perfectly natural that you'll abandon me just like all the others have…"
I felt tears tickling in my eyes. I knew what he meant by saying that and I felt so sorry for him. First it had been his mother, dying prematurely with a strange disease and leaving them alone with their weird father. Then it was one of his best friends, Chappu, dying in a car accident a few years ago. His brother was the next, leaving him for the opportunity of his life… leaving all of us. And then Wakka had married, Lenne had broken up with him and even I had begun to drift away, growing more distant with everyday… He must have felt so lonely!
"I'm not going to abandon you, Shuyin―" Lenne began, but Shuyin lifted a hand, making her stop.
"I really don't wanna hear it, Lenne. Not tonight."
Lenne began crying once again, but she quickly wiped her tears away. She wasn't going to let him see her cry. She picked up her bag and walked to the door. "I'm really sorry if I hurt you in any way, Shuyin. When you're ready to talk, you know where to find me." Then she looked at me "Yuna, can you drop me at my house?"
I nodded and went to get my bag too. Then I started heading towards the door but stopped near Shuyin "You're not alone in your pain, you know? He abandoned me too, so if you wanna talk―"
"Not tonight, Yuna." He repeated, looking straight ahead. Then he turned his eyes to me and said in a softer tone "But thanks anyway."
And without any other word, I left his apartment with Lenne.