Remnants Saga
Part 1
Chapter 1
Written originally by Blaze Van Wham, June 2 1999
Revised and rewritten by Blaze Van Wham, January 2003
Copyright Blaze Van Wham 1999-2003 +
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Razor was a void. Nothing or no one could begin to
grasp the amount of emotions tearing her up inside.
Axle and Jax were dead. Her parents were gone.
They had fought their whole lives for the freedom
and safety of Mars to return it back to what it once was. Two Plutarkian
snipers had decided to interfere with the two and had brought them their
death. Quick, painless and unknown until they were found and reported dead.
Razor remembered the days when she was a child and
her father would scoop her up in his arms and hug her. Even during the
first war, she felt secure in those arms always. As if nothing could harm
her, no matter what was out there. Jax was the strength of her family;
she had raised 4 kids almost entirely on her own, when Axle wasn't there.
He had contracted the plague and had left to save his family from contracting
it. Jax had to struggle to raise all four of her kids, but she pushed herself
to. When she would go over the edge and break down from all of it, Axel
would step in and help. Jax had been more thankful than ever for everything
her oldest son had done during her lifetime.
Jax and Axle had lived through enough pain and suffering,
that this end was too brutal and quick; not the end any of her family or
friends had been expecting.
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"Where are we going? Tell me please!" A.J insisted
of his sister, Brandy. They had been walking down a hallway from his room
for maybe a minute since they had left her small apartment-like complex
in the base.
"It's a surprise, handsome." Brandy smiled down
at him, a little gleam appearing in her eye.
A.J tugged at her hand, pleading more. "Tell me
ple-e-ease!" He begged. Brandy bent down in front of him. She placed her
hand on top of his head and ruffled his hair a little bit.
"Just a little more to walk, sugar." She picked
him up in her arms. A few steps and a turn later, Brandy stopped in front
of a metal door. It swished open and she carried A.J in.
Stepping past various bikes and parts, it was apparent
the two were in the garage. Her eyes scanned for a certain bike however,
and she found it propped up in a corner. Mac lay underneath the bike, fixing
some of the bodywork.
"Almost done, Mac?" Brandy squatted down and placed
A.J on the floor.
"Just about m'lady." Came his muffled reply from
underneath the bike.
"Wow...Who's bike is this?" A.J asked, his eyes
shining with delight.
"Yours. It was moms, but she left it to you. Why
don't you and I go for a ride?" Brandy said, smiling. Mac rolled out from
underneath the bike.
"She's all yours." He said, with a flourish of his
hand and a bow. Brandy rolled the bike into the floor, picked A.J
up and placed him in front of her on the bike. She kickstarted it to hear
Viz's engine running again and Viz purred softly. Brandy smiled and waved
at Mac, as she rode the bike gently out of the garage.
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"Let's have a race!" Thrash chimed to Axel, stepping
into his room. Axel perked one of his resting eyes open.
"Older brothers get a day off once in a while, ya
know." His arms were propped up behind his head, acting as a pillow as
he lay on a couch in his living room.
"Come on!" Thrash begged. He snapped his fingers,
an idea forming in his head. "One race. You win, you can take a break for
the rest of the week. I win, you have to clean my quarters." Thrash rubbed
his hands together. He knew this would work. "Hey maybe if we find some
Sandraiders or rats, we would have a little fun with them. What do you..."
Thrash rattled on.
Axel tuned his younger brother out, laying his head
back in his arms. He closed his eyes and was fully asleep minutes later.
After a few more minutes of Thrash talking, he finally took a moment to
take a good look down at his bro. He sighed in exasperation.
"Nevermind. What good are older brothers? All they
do is bring home girls..." He stepped outside of Axel's room door, shutting
it behind him.
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She stood in front of their graves silent and poised,
two flowers tucked into her right hand. Razor's crystal blue eyes focused
down onto her parents gravestones. There was a bouquet of roses placed
delicately on top. Razor closed her eyelids. She let the sounds and smells
invigorate her and fill her body.
Peace. What the entire mouse population had striven
for; the end to all of the massacre, all of the pain, all of the lives
lost.
Jax and Axle had been two of those mice, out of
the many lives that had been lost from the first war to the last one. So
many had fought with all of their lives, and weren't able to see the day
Razor now lived in.
Gently, Razor crouched down in front of her parents
gravestones. Gingerly, beside the bouquet of roses, she took the two morning
glories and laid them down. She brought her eyesight to gaze at the epitaphs
engraved into the stone.
"Symbols of your undying love." Razor whispered
into the wind. "Your lives and memories will not be forgotten. I'll make
sure of that." A single tear rolled down the white part of her fur on her
face, streaking it.
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Part of his self was missing. When Jax had been shot
by the Plutarkian snipers, Vinnie had felt it. He knew deep down that she
had died in that instance, and his body had shaken with an intense jolt.
He had felt a part of his soul was gone right after that. He had already
lost his wife and first child, now to lose his twin sister...
But he had to keep going. He had a son, Topaz, whom
he had to take care of and raise. Topaz was the joy and pride of his life,
the only bit of of family closest to his own blood left.
Vinnie gently crept into Topaz's room, where he
was sleeping for an afternoon nap. He smiled, standing in the doorway and
snuck back out, to watch some old Earth movies.
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A.J's little voice yelled as Brandy hit the gas on
Viz. His fist punched straight up into the air, and the words, "Aaaoww!"
emitted from his mouth.
Brandy held onto A.J with her free arm, steering
the bike with the other. She kept tabs on the area she was riding in, making
sure not to go beyond the Freedom Fighters known territory. A.J's heart
beat fast with excitement; Brandy could feel the little thumps against
her own hand holding him. She smiled and began to turn her bike around
to head back to the base.
Her ears perked as she heard a number of other motors
surrounding her own. She checked her mirrors and felt her teeth clench.
Rats....
Her mind said, and she wanted to scream. She couldn't risk putting her
little brother in any kind of danger. She had to get him back to the base
as fast as she could, or at least try and get the rats off her trail before
they would cause any problems to her and possibly A.J.
"Come on Viz. Let's get away from this scum." She
purred to her, so as not to alarm A.J. Viz picked the pace up, and her
speed gage read at a faster rate.
The group of at least six rats and their bikes circled
around Brandy. She skid to a stop, with no chance that she could break
through them. At least not if it was just Viz and herself.
She looked down at A.J. "A.J, do something for me.
Run, like you've never before. Get back to the base and find your uncles
Vinnie, Modo and Throttle." She told him. Brandy knew if A.J found at least
one and informed them of her danger, they'd round up a good number of mice
and chase the rats back to where they came from. Brandy closed her eyes
for a moment, and hoped that that would happen. With no hesitancy, A.J
slipped down from Viz, landing on the sand. He picked himself up quickly,
his little five year old body dashing inbetween two of the rat's bikes.
"Get the little punk!" One of them shouted.
"What's he gonna do? Slash our tires?" Another said
and the group burst into various tones of laughter.
Brandy sighed in relief, glad that A.J would be
all right. He was her responsibility, and her little brother. Her relief
soon turned to fear, as the rats stepped off their bikes and onto the sand.
They edged towards Brandy, a dark grey one stepping out beyond the rest.
He flipped out a knife in his hand, feet from Brandy.
"Well. What a prize we have here. A female Martian
mouse." A smile could be seen from the corners of his mouth. "If you fight
or attempt to struggle, you'll be hurt. If you co-operate, you'll be hurt."
He snickered, now inches from where Brandy stood. Even though his threat
didn't sound all that horrible, Brandy knew the meaning of 'hurt' within
the rat's domain. Being 'hurt' wasn't a very nice thing, and she knew what
would come of her if no one arrived in time to save her.
The steel of the knife flicked against her throat.
"You'll be a good girl?" The rat asked her. Brandy felt her breath ragged
against the knife and could only help but watch as Viz struggled to throw
the rats off that were trying to chain her.
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Mac pulled Thrash into his room, having had found
the male mouse wandering the halls, with nothing to do. Even though Mac
was the resident shop, bike and repair man, he was also known for his eccentric
lifestyle. Most wouldn't have known what he did as a living just by watching
how he acted.
He plunked Thrash down into a chair. He skipped
over to a vanity table, full of makeup, hair brushes and nail polish.
"Hm. Let's start with the base, your eye shadow."
Mac grinned at the male mouse.
"Mac...If anyone sees me, you'll be dead meat, don't
think of doing.." He began but Mac interrupted him.
"Sweetie sweetie sweetie! You will be an absolute
babe! I hardly doubt anyone will make fun of you. And if they do, well
they'll just have to go through me." He picked out a case of eye shadow,
held it up to Thrash's eyelid and grinned. "Perfect darling."
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Razor's fingers lightly felt the wall she walked
along.
So quiet...So empty...
Her eyes were downcast, looking at the floor.
She faded out every few minutes, stopping in her footsteps and leaning
fully against the wall.
"Whoa! You okay miss?" A male voice jolted into
Razor's thoughts, interrupting her trance like state.
The male shook her a few times by the shoulders
gently. "Are you okay?" He asked again.
Razor's eyelids fluttered open entirely, and she
found herself looking into a pair of identical blue irises. She nodded
slowly.
"I noticed you down the hall, and ran to catch you
because you were beginning to faint." The male mouse said, still holding
Razor up by her shoulder. His fur was pearl white in colour, and his hair
stood out from the rest of him, with its wild, spiky look, dyed into various
colours. "May I have your name?" He asked politely.
"Razor. Razor Van Wham." She was completely enveloped
by the stranger's gaze. "Yours?"
"Throwback. Most call me TB for short." He let go
of her shoulders, and extended his right hand to hers. Razor reached her
own out, expecting him to shake it. Instead, Throwback lifted her slight,
delicate hand to his lips and kissed the back of it.
"It's been a pleasure, Miss Van Wham." He released
her hand softly, and Razor felt it brush back against the side of her body.
Their eyes locked once again. Throwback bowed, and
swiftly turned around and began to walk down the hallway, being further
and further away from her by every step. Razor stood where she was for
a few minutes, and watched him walk down the hallway.
To her, that last gaze before he had turned seemed
to last an eternity from where she stood.
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End of Part 1