Prologue
Written by Shyion
Narrator: Ladies, and Gentlemen! It is with deepest pride, and my greatest pleasure, that I welcome you all today. What you are about to hear, (and read, for a number of you), is a tale of true epic-ness, that was borne out of the Great Mistress' tumultuous brains, while she racked it about for a way to get more reviews for her original story. (Yes, this is a story with no other purpose than to advertise the other one). That story, of which I'm sure most of you may know, is-
Shyion: Oh shut up and get on with it.
*Smacks a rotten pear on Narrator's head, promptly splattering all over him.*
Shyion: I hired you for a reason, damnit, and that is NOT to advertise the other story. NOW GET ON WITH IT!
Narrator: Ahm, alright then, fine, as you wish. I'll start the REAL story now.
*Wipes pear juice off his suit.*
Narrator: Many people may know the events of the First World War. Most at the time, called it the Great War. And almost all, I am certain, know of what took place on the Western Front; the deplorable conditions that many soldiers had to face. Trenches filled Knee-deep with mucky water, dog-sized rats, and the constant threat of having a bullet shot through your skull at any moment.
But the tale this story covers, is not about the Western Front. It is a tale, set in the waning hours of Imperial Russia, and the first few, bloody years, of Red Communist Russia.
A tale of two children, whose only wish was to supply their two families, and village, with bread and water, turned against each other not, by their own will.
But by the will of twisted, cruel, fate.
This, is their story.
We are the eldest children of two families.
From a village in the middle of the icy desert.
Back then, the harvest season had already come and gone, and what little we managed to harvest was sold off as tax, leaving little for us to live off.
But I guess, they couldn't help it. It was the Great War, after all.
Yeah, it's true. Here in the centre of a vast countryside, we hear little, see little, feel very little of the War. Except for what it does to our stomach.
True that. But then again, that's what made us decide to do what we did, wasn't it?
We could have earned ten times the pay that we got from selling grain, if we signed up.
Send the majority back to divide between the villagers, keep the rest for ourselves. Yeah, that was the plan.
It was a perfect plan. The money we could have earned fighting would have lasted the village for as long as they liked.
But then…
Where did it all go wrong?
It was snowing.
In the middle of a vast tundra, not a sound could be heard. Almost as if the sheer cold of the Russian Steppes had frozen sound itself.
But there, in the middle of nowhere, a small cluster of lights could be seen. A small village of thatched houses, squat and sturdy, stood waiting for the snow to pass.
The shifting of wood, the crunch of snow, as two young children emerged from their homes, their breath condensing into a white cloud, before disappearing immediately.
The two were dressed warmly, their fur coats drawn tightly around their shoulders as their bodies still shivered from the biting cold, their hoods drawn up to hid their faces from view, and the howling wind.
"How is she doing?" One of them asked, the young, untouched voice of a girl rang quietly.
"Not good." The other replied solemnly, the young, unbroken voice of a boy echoing through the air. "They say that she won't last much longer through this weather; it's just too cold for her body to cope with."
"We can't help it; they took almost everything from us for the Soldiers out to the East." She said.
"We're all going to die, if this keeps up." He muttered.
"Don't say that!" She cried, coming towards him.
"It's true!" He shouted. "She's already the third one this year, damnit! Those bastards have taken everything away from us; all of our crops, our farm animals, everything! We barely have enough to survive throughout this winter alone, and next year will be the same!"
"Don't!" She shouted as she reached him, her hands clutching the boy's shoulders as she continued. "We can survive through this! The winter is almost over, and come this year we will have a good harvest, I'm sure of it!"
"They'll just take it all away again." The boy cursed, wriggling out of her grip. "It'll just be the same, again and again."
He turned around, looking gravely into the hut that he emerged from, his back facing her as snow drifted down between them.
"This can't go on for much longer." He mumbled, his teeth now beginning to clatter as his shivering slowly got worse.
"You'd better come inside." She said, concerned as she took a hold of his hand. "Come." Slowly, she dragged him away from the hut, towards the hut she came from, with little resistance.
The two quickly reached the house, knowing how dangerous it is to stay out in the freezing cold of winter, the thatch quickly closing behind them, blocking out the cold and letting the heat wash over the both of them.
"You've been starving yourself, haven't you?" She said, removing her hood.
A wave of blonde hair cloaked her head, reaching up until her shoulders, her bright blue eyes dancing concerned within the flame at the hut's centre.
"I've been eating, if that's what you're asking." He said curtly, still shivering as he kept the hood on, preserving the heat.
"You've been giving at least half your ration to her, moron." She punched him lightly, but even that had an impact.
"Her father's a good friend of my own, damnit." He cursed, rubbing his shoulder weakly. "I've had too much over the good months of the year anyway."
"Pfft, you almost collapsed in the fields seven times this year!" She whispered to him, looking around the room.
It was small, to say the least. A makeshift kitchen could be seen within an arm's length of the fire, while two large, rickety beds stood on the clay earth beneath them. One was filled with five children, none above the age of 10, huddled together as close as possible to preserve heat, deep in sleep next to the fire. The other remained empty, its inhabitants absent for now as smoke drifted up through the roof.
"You're a walking wreck!" She continued. "You can't hope to save everyone else if you can't save yourself!"
"As long as I can walk, and as long as I can work, I'm just fine." He retorted, before hobbling over to the fire, the girl following him soon after.
They sat in silence at the fire for a long time, the boy keeping his hood on as he fought to preserve his body heat, hands held above the fire.
"There are about ten families within this village." She said quietly after a time, watching the five children sound asleep beside the crackling fire.
"Together our two families have eleven children between..." She continued after a pause.
"And we both happen to be the oldest, at 14 years old." He finished, his face still watching the burning fire. "All the other families are in the same state as us; large families with young children."
They sat in silence again, wondering what to do about their predicament, how they could help their village survive through the coming years and winters.
"Let's sign up." She said abruptly through the silence, her attention fixed onto the fire.
"What?" He turned his head, his surprise hidden by the shadow casted by the flame.
"Let's sign up with the military." She turned to face him, her face serious. "Those recruitment trucks keep passing by, carrying raw recruits. We can always hop on one, and get to the capital. Sign up for service, and send any extra we get back home."
"The money we can earn there isn't enough." He grumbled.
"Well at least it's better than the lot we get here, isn't it!" She said, almost shouting. "The money we earn there can easily pay for the village's wellbeing; food, clothes, just the two of us will be enough!"
"Tch, we'd be the first ones they'd leave behind to freeze our asses off, if not bombed to bits."
"Anything's better than watching them freeze their asses off." She retorted. "They'd also have two less mouths to feed. Isn't that what you want?" She spat the last comment, before silence overtook them again.
A few moments passed, before the boy sighed, finally removing his hood, revealing a ruffled head of shoulder-length flaxen blond, a short ponytail tied behind his head by a thin band of string. Steel-blue eyes stared solemnly at the fire, the bright flame dancing across them like a fleeting sprite.
"We might as well." He said in agreement, finally. "We're of no use here, especially in the winter. I heard from the last truck that they're asking for women as well for call up, so you shouldn't have any problems."
"Seriously?" She asked him, turning her face to watch him carefully, their eyes locked.
"Yeah, seriously." He replied, looking at her solemnly, before letting a small smile break. "We'll send back most of our pay; they'll provide us with food enough anyway, and that's all we need there. The rest of the money should be able to help the village survive, as long as we keep working…"
'And as long as neither of us dies.' The unspoken fact remained hovering between the two, as they looked into the fire.
"The next truck will probably be arriving very soon," She spoke again after a long pause. "We'd better tell everyone and get ready."
"Yeah, we'd better get ready for the trip; it's a long way to the capital." He agreed, nodding his head gently. "And from there, to our divisions."
"Better get some sleep first though." She spoke again, crawling around the fire to the empty straw mattress.
"Yeah, we'd better." He replied, before looking around. "Um, where are your parents?"
"They had to go and talk with yours, while you were at her place." She said simply. "They told me to find someone else to sleep with first."
"Umm…" He blinked several times, before realisation dawned on him. "Ehh!" he cried, pointing at himself in surprise.
"Who else?" She laughed gently at his surprise. "We used to do it all the time as kids, remember?"
"But…that was when we were like, 5 or something…" he muttered, concerned.
"Does that matter?" She asked, taking off her outer coat to hang on a peg held on the low-hanging roof, several layers of clothing still clinging onto her. "Or do you want me to freeze alone tonight, too?" She turned to look at him, her eyes pleading.
"Gah!" He slapped his palm to his forehead, dragging it down over his face. "Fine! But no funny stuff like the last time you tried this!"
"Don't worry." She giggled, remembering. "I won't."
He sighed, exasperated, before placing some more wood onto the fire and crawling over to the bed. Hanging up his coat,
"I lied." She said quietly as they laid down. "They didn't tell me to find someone else to sleep with. I just wanted to drag you in here."
"Then I lied too." He smirked. "A few bits of my plate somehow found their way to yours, even before Winter came."
"I knew it." She smiled, hugging him under the covers, the boy returning the gesture.
"Goodnight, Rin." The boy said first, his breath mingling with hers.
"Goodnight, Len." The girl replied softly, sleep slowly creeping over her. "We'll write to each other, yeah?"
"Yeah, we'll keep in touch." Len replied, his body relaxing .
The two closed their eyes, their minds and bodies succumbing to sleep, as they thought about the journey that lay ahead of them.
That, was the Year of Our Lord, 1915.
That, was two years ago.
Thanks to Unity_of_Sun_and_Moon, for having a quick read and telling me that it's 'tasty' enough to post...you should know what that means XD.
Yes, I know, I know how many of you wanted to see Len & Rin get under the bed together, so I decided to write this up to try and appeal to popular demand. Sadly, I find it very distracting to work with twincest so I made them non-related here...aplogies to all who wanted some. You can pretend they are twins if you want to, not like I'm gonna dispute their relations in the story.
Please note that the title MAY change later...I'm just incapable of coming up with a good title for this guy right now.
I ask that you all ignore my...'employee' up there; he kinda got carried away with himself. This story is completely independent of my other one (Which I should be dedicating my time to instead of this one...=_=''), and I do not in any way ask that you read it (cross my heart honest).
Now, this little guy...might not be updated too frequently. He's one of the plot bunnies that managed to sneak through my usually impassable wall and bugged me enough to write him. I'm gonna try and finish my other story before I begin 100% on this one. Although...again some chapters might be able to get through...Bug me enough and you can help him get through a wee bit. (Reviewing is one way of doing it, wink, wink)
08/10/10
THE FOLLOWING DISCLAIMER WILL ONLY BE SAID HERE IN THE FIRST CHAPTER, BUT WILL APPLY TO THE ENTIRE STORY. ANY SUBSEQUENT CHAPTERS WILL NOT HAVE THIS DISCLAIMER.
DISCLAIMER: I, in no way, own VOCALOID, and its subsidary derivative products. Their ownership is firmly in the hands of Crypton Future Media Inc. But the plot is mine, and is in no way shape or form (that I know of) a copy of someone else's work.