Takes place after Chapter 87. [Fan based continuation "AU-ish" only because this is written as though it's a "continuation" but you know...not by the actual author...hence fan fiction whee. OC- "Red" who I promise is a lot of fun to write and I hope she grows on you as she has on me since she's a character in my own thing that I crossed over to the world of Karneval.]
[Time period is middle of February (February 9th - Red left home in the end of January.]
Red Karneval 1: "If Wishes were …Nai?"
The air was cold. It was always cold at night. She yanked her red scarf around her neck more firmly. "Tch." Sleeping out in the woods couldn't be helped. She was low on money. She had tried to be a thief and failed. Her moral compass made it hard for her to leap into dangerous situations like robbing people. Being a girl wasn't exactly helping her either. If she was a guy she could throw a few punches and earn some respect but if she did that as a girl she'd be beat on or worse most likely. Reality wasn't like a game. You hit people-you get hit back. She wiped her bloody lower lip.
She would know.
"Damn." She sighed, running a hand through her dyed red fringe. Her dark brown roots showed but her hair was currently red. She slapped herself for getting the bright idea to "rough" it in the world. She didn't have a phone. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a map she nicked out of one of the library books in the previous town. "Karasuna"... She muttered. "Great...a dump hole is coming up…" She irritatedly sighed, resting her head against the tree trunk, staring up at the starry night sky. She quieted.
Despite her tousled dirty look, and her thin frame malnourished, she couldn't bring herself to hate the higher forces that be in the universe. If this was a trial, it was a damn doozy, that was all. She could always try Rinoll but that city of ice was a terrain she didn't think she could traverse easily in her current garb. Not to mention how would she get there? She sighed again. She hated how geographically challenged she was. She herself came from a major city, a city called Oranshitana. It is known as the "city of Oranges".
The girl puffed the cold air out, wrapping her arms around herself. She was grateful that she was wearing a pair of thick black gloves. She slipped her dark green hoodie on over her short choppy hair. She was trying to pass for a boy because it meant less trouble on the streets-if possible. Against each hip, hidden by her undershirt, jacket and black jeans, were two holsters that held her throwing knives. She figured she should get a gun too but she didn't know how she'd get the money for bullets, much less the work that goes into taking care of a gun. Those things were not cheap or light.
21 years old and all washed up. She almost laughed wryly. Her mother was a controlling person while the father was more subserviant. She didn't want to think too hard on her past. To put it simply, 19 years of it was enough. She was a college drop out and she didn't know what to do with herself. She was lost. She had wanted to do something exciting herself in her last year as a teen. She had always tried hard to make the rules work with what she wanted to do and who she was but well, things didn't pan out.
Friends were a liability. She had tried to live with a friend once. But she hated how powerless she was. How dependent she was. But those were fond memories as well. She just didn't expect them to last any longer than they had. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a chocolate bar. She smiled with a despondent look as she unwrapped it. She had literally knicked this candy off of a big 45 year old baby who hadn't noticed. As she nibbled on it, a pig looking creature trotted over to her.
"Well, hello there, you little thing," She forgot the name of it. It was pig-like but it was actually a special kind of pig native to this part of the world. And well, she never really cared for names. Perhaps it was her ADHD but she was usually more invested in other things. This pig was dark tan with lighter brown markings on its side and face.
"Bweh," it said cutely. It's hairy pink snout snuffled at her chocolate bar. She let out a small gasp of surprise. "Bweh!"
"Hey, pig! That's mine," The girl protested. She noted the strange color of its eyes. Typically animals had brown eyes or something right? I mean, it wasn't the only color, she mused. This one had a pretty shade of blood red. She felt it sniff her arm. "Hey that tickles!" She giggled.
"Bweh…" The pig seemed to pause. She blinked again. It rolled its red tongue with...barbs? Over her sleeve. "B...Bweehh."
The girl's naturally dark brown eyes widened. "What the-"
The pig latched onto her arm, it's herbivore teeth growing a pair of fangs. Tusks sprouted from it's snout- like a boar. It's fur got rougher and more spiky. It's eyes bulged wierdly. She was frozen. Yet, she was strangely captivated. "B-Bwehh!" It sank its fangs into her sleeve. She yelped. But she didn't pull back. There was no point. And she couldn't help but sense the distress in the creature. It wasn't being malicious. More like desperate?
She reached out a tentative hand. "T-There...there?" She cautiously pet its ears. The monster pig seemed to pause. It blinked its red orbs at her. She kept petting it. "...You're hungry too, aren't ya?" She mused, and though she was scared, she couldn't bring herself to care. She had nothing in this world to hang onto. The fact she was going to die at the hands of a pig was really honestly pathetic. But, if it meant this little guy could go on living, she mused maybe this was fate.
She almost giggled at how silly the pig's face looked. It looked confused. Was she supposed to scream? "Bweh?"
"I would scream if I had the energy," She admitted, patting it. "But you know… I can't fault you for needing to survive. Besides...there's nothing for me…"
It's okay if I die. Right?
And if… my death can mean something to someone...even this wierd pig, I guess it's alright. It'll probably hurt like hell though.
The pig began to sink its fangs into her arm past her sleeves. She winced. It definitely hurt. As the pig pierced her flesh, she bit back a hiss of pain, wincing. She took a deep breath. The pig didn't make a move to bite her arm off. Instead it settled into her haphazard petting, and sucked on her blood like a vampire. It lapped at her arm and she closed her eyes, leaning against the tree. "You go ahead...then," she mumbled. Her hand fell away and she braced herself.
The pig squealed and it let her go. She opened her eyes in surprise. She saw it dash off into the trees. She looked at her bit arm. "Ew...saliva." She mumbled with a sigh. She just used her teeth and one of her knives to tear off the sleeve from her other arm and made a black bandage wrap like thing to put over her bite. "Hopefully it didn't have rabies...ah should have thought of that before I let it bite me…" She mused off handedly. The pig was no bigger than a half grown piglett.
She felt cold again. The pig had actually been nice company. "Goodbye...pig-chan," she sighed. Her arm was in pain. But it was a dull throb. Her head was still spinning with hunger. She nibbled the chocolate bar, musing about how long she could last before she'd become food for the crows. What a romantic way to go… She closed her eyes. Falling over after nodding off, she fell into a deep sleep.
"You're wierd," a brown haired, pale skinned boy jeered at a younger 3rd grade her. She was reading at the lunch tables.
"Brian…" Her big eyes gazed upon him. She smiled, something she often did on reflex. She didn't really understand real negativity...or rather she had disconnected herself a long time ago from abuse and tried to instead laugh and smile to bear the pain. When people were mean to her she reflexively returned it with a smile. Or a laugh. Or both. She only smiled right now. It seemed to irritate Brian. He stuck his tongue out at her and ran off to his friend, Alex, a blonde haired boy who tended to stay in the background as his echo.
"Yeah...yeah…" She hummed as she flipped a page in her book. She didn't need anyone. As long as she had her penned worlds to fall into. Her portals. Her escape from the moment. Always eagerly picking up books hungrily. She hadn't liked reading at first. In fact, she couldn't sit still. At lunch, recess, under the table, during class...she was always reading. That is...until middle school and stress picked up from her mother.
Magic was her escape. There was something awe-inspiring in the manga and the books she read. She looked around herself. She was in a black space. In front of her stood a girl, sitting on a rock. This girl had long shaggy brown hair, a blue big collar jacket, brown shorts, black leggings, and a pair of dark blue ninja sandals with closed toes.
"Ai?" The girl blinked in surprise.
The girl smiled. "Hello...Red…It's been awhile since we last played together…"
She held out a hand. She was smiling. Red smiled back. Kai was her childhood friend. She was her "twin" in a sense. In her loneliness "Kai" went to these worlds in her place. While she was bound by the laws of reality, Kai was free to transcend all logic and reasonability. Yes. Here. This was her true friend.
Something warm in her lap caused her to stir. "Mgrgh." She blinked blearily, the sunlight coining through the trees and the warm wind stroking her face. Her eyes widened. On her stomach was the pig, fast asleep. She blinked. Was she seeing things right? This was the same pig that had sucked her blood and then ran off wasn't it? She blinked her eyes again. She held her breath. Should she move? Would it strike? She didn't actually sense anything hostile from it. If anything, it looked like a normal pig again, minus the blood around its lips. She looked to her own arm. The wound was still there. She figured it'd be a few days at most till a scab would form. No veins had been punctured, just some flesh. Maybe she needed stitches after all. She groaned. Living was such a pain. She almost wished the pig had just eaten her.
She didn't really think about her childhood too much anymore. It felt like so long ago. She rubbed her eyes, yawning and sitting up. The pig was like a cat. She'd shove it off and it'd have to deal. The pig oinked, flopping off her to the side. She paused. Then looking at that silly display of the wierdly ovally robust pig kicking it's small hooved legs in the air and "bwehing", she couldn't help but giggle. "Oh geez, sorry, sorry…" she smiled, helping the pig rightside up. The pig nuzzled her palm of her uninjured arm.
Red didn't know why but her heart warmed a little. She kicked herself, having already told herself that she didn't need anyone. That she was fine. But, hey. This pig was a pig. Why get all cold to a poor defenseless animal? Sure that same animal had bit the dickens out of her the night before but it must be a indigenous boar thing. She didn't know why the pig was attaching itself to her.
Are you lonely too? She brushed her fingers over it's coarse little light colored hairs on its back. The pig was giving her a nudge. It began to trot a little ways away then looked back at her as though it wanted her to follow. She furrowed her eyebrows. Well, not like she had anything better to do today. World peace and James Bond would have to wait. She sighed and she got to her feet. She followed the pig. The pig trotted ahead of her. "Where are you taking me, pig-chan?" She said, amused, using a foreign form of honorifics even though she wasn't from this part of town naturally. She'd done some train hopping herself. It was thrilling but really frucken terrifying too.
Her foot stepped in something red. She furrowed her brows, bending down. "Huh?" There were red splatters on the grass. Her heart began to race. This was blood. Her head snapped up and she frowned. The pig pulled her pant leg, and oinked. It trotted ahead of her. She swallowed. She wasn't sure she wanted to know what was ahead. But taking a deep breath, she followed the pig. Pushing aside some bushes they came to a cabin on the edge of the leg. Her eyes widened with stunned shock. In front of her, there was blood on the porch and windows. There were a few bodies, intertangled on the porch. One looked like a severed corpse of an older woman still in her cooking apron. Another was of an old man and then a small child that had unfortunately been at the wrong place at the wrong time off to the side, it's eyes open and empty.
The stench hit Red next once the first wave of shock settled. "Holy HELL," She yelled falling on her ass. Her limbs turned to jelly. What the fuck. What the actual fuck. The pig did all this?! She couldn't even swallow. Her mouth was completely dry from dehydration as it were.
"I'm gonna be sick-" She held a hand over her mouth. She wasn't actually normally squeamish. She loved school dissections and she could handle blood and guts and all the goodies but if there was something she couldn't stomach-it was the horror before her for one. She kneeled off to the side and wretched. The pig oinked with concern, nudging her thigh. She raised her head weakly. It's red orbs glittered innocently like it was confused and innocent of this crime that she knew-she just knew- it had done. All by itself. "What...the hell are you?!" She breathed.
"Bweh?" It nuzzled her. She didn't pull away. She couldn't. She was numb. It was like seeing this horror had shook her of her disconnected attitude to life she had the previous night. Yet the pig was like a child that didn't know it had done a big no-no. It just kept nudging her. She leaned her head into her knees, gasping for air. Her head was spinning. She needed to think. To collect her thoughts. After what felt was a long slow while, she raised her head. Silently, she undid her brown boot lace on her left shoe. She took it off. Regardless of the consquences she knew she had to do this. She bonked the pig with her shoe.
It squealed as she hit it on the nose.
"BAD Pig-chan!" She yelled. "Bad! Bad!"
It scuttled into the bushes started and oinking, quivering and looking at her with wide eyes. Her initial frustration sparked she got to her feet with a sigh. "You! Get your ass back here!" She put her hands on her hips. The pig oinked and hid in the bushes, causing the entire bushes to shake. Red ran a gloved hand through her sweaty locks. God-damn. This was quite a bit to take in. The pig ran away. She sighed. Well that was to be expected. She shook her head. "God-fuck … I can't believe…" She paused. "Actually I can...talk about the fucking animal kingdom running loose," she huffed. She retied on her shoe. She rubbed her arm. It was getting a little itchy. Oh great, her bite wound was probably infected from the wierd boar. But she couldn't go to a hospital. She would have to give information and like hell she'd let her adoptive mother track her down or whatever. If her "mommy dearest" even cared. Which judging from the pet name for her, she didn't thinks he really would. A world that works on her how her mother can make a profit or gain something for herself at the expense of reality or a healthy relationship with her daughter, was the world she'd grown up in without a choice.
"I gotta get out of here," she wrinkled her nose at the smell of the blood. She sighed and she trudged off, pulling out the map. "Karasuna," she mumbled irritatedly. "Shit...which way is north?" She looked around. She groaned. The pig had side tracked her on top of everything else. She didn't have a compass. She mostly wandered by her gut, luck, and instinct.
~ * A lovely lot of walking later~*
Night fell.
She was a good day's walk away from Karasuna. Sitting on the outskirts of the small no-name town, she sighed, looking to the bread in her hand. A nice older couple had taken pity on her and while she normally didn't like to be taken for a charity case, her hunger forced her to agree. They did think she was a boy so at least something was going right. Sure she was only 5'5 but she passed for a teenage boy so whatever. She bit into the warm loaf and groaned like … like she didn't know how to describe it. It was like heaven rolling on her tongue. Not that she'd ever been drawn to the rich and glamorous side of living, but she hadn't had a decent meal in 2 weeks. This was heaven.
No sign of that pig either. She sighed through her nose. Was the pig doing alright? She paused. Why should she care? That pig was seriously bad news. Yet… it struck her as a lost child. Perhaps she was too soft. Or she was being dumb. After all, it was a wild animal in the end. She could have easily ended up like that unfortunate family. She shuddered. Death didn't seem so glamorous anymore. She looked to her injured arm. She would need to wash the wound probably. After all, it was a deep bite she'd received and she could feel a dull throbbing growing and going up and down her arm now. She felt a little dizzy but she shook her head. She continued to eat the bread. To be honest, the pig had been actually… gentle-ish when she had pet it while it fed. Pigs are incredibly smart so she mused it must have been in a good mood. Why had it wanted to show her those corpses anyways? She felt a bit bad all of a sudden. What if the pig hadn't been the one to do that? She paused chewing. No...as much as she wanted to believe the pig was innocent, she had a gut feeling. And her gut...even in times she went against it-was never wrong.
She huffed. "Jeez, my head hurts," she complained to no one. She hugged herself after she had eaten her warm bread. Her mouth was still dry. What she wouldn't give for some water. Her eyes grew heavy as she curled up on the grass under a tree on the hill, cradling her head in her good arm. She needed to sleep. Even though the sun had only set recently, it couldn't be more than past 7. But she was tired as hell. Worrying about a carnivorous pig of all things was seriously expending energy she couldn't afford. Closing her eyes, she fell into another insomniatic spell. She tossed and turned for hours but she just couldn't sleep well. With a heavy sigh, she finally drifted off at who knows what hour. What she wouldn't give for her portable juke-box mini right about now. She pulled it out but as she thought, it was dead. She looked at the chord freyed. She stuffed them back into her jacket pocket and re-settled, to fall once again into an uncomfortable sleep.
It was dark again. She walked around a bit. She couldn't help it. She felt like she had to do something. Alu wasn't around. She wondered if she should fall into one of her "worlds". But even that didn't feel right. With a sigh she found herself in an unfamiliar location. It looked like a nice inside of a building. She looked around the hallway. She trotted past some wierd sheep things. They were robots in the way they bleated. Wierd.
She came to a room that she was particularly drawn to. It had a small simple sign on the door:
Gareki
Nai
She blinked. "Gareki…? Nai?" She tilted her head. "I don't remember imagining those two before…" She smiled though. She didn't really question the wierdness of her dreams. They were only dreams after all right? Sometimes her dreams ended up being futuristic visions that would come to pass but details. She didn't really like talking about that side of herself. Besides this didn't feel like a "vision". It just felt wierd.
She opened the door, finding it easy. A boy looked up with surprise. He had silver hair with some light purple highlights in the tips like ears and big orange-red orbs that were wide with surprise. She smiled at him.
"Um...hi?" She said shyly, waving. He stared at her. She wondered if she had something on her face.
"W-Who are you?" He asked, tentative.
Red blinked. It's just a dream. "I'm Red, and you are?" She asked smiling as the door shut behind her.
"...I'm...I'm…" The boy looked frightened. She bit her lower lip and she held up her hands.
"I'm sorry. I'll leave." She turned to go, not wanting to startle the boy but he dashed over, grabbing her wrist.
"-No wait! I'm-" The boy gasped as she looked at him questioningly. He took a deep breath. "I-I'm Nai! I'm sorry. You just startled me!" He wore a red sweater and over it, was a pair of white overalls with 2 black stripes each on the straps. He wore a pair of white knee high socks and simple brown black slip on shoes. Overall, he looked relatively cute. She wondered when she'd thought up something like this in a dream. She'd have to draw it at some point, she mused.
She smiled at him and she pet his head. He seemed to relax at her touch. "Well, I'm Red. I'm sorry for startling you." She sounded apologetic and Nai relaxed. He looked up at her with piqued interest. He was at least a few inches shorter at least but Red wasn't that much taller herself. All of a sudden, one of the dark grey sheep with creamy white wool and plum coloured capes with bright magenta fronts entered. She noted how these sheep all seem to wear a warm pink bow-tie under a blue brooch with yellow creamy beads. They also wear a plum coloured hat with two criss-crossing strings of grey beads and a magenta brooch surrounded by grey beads on one string. It was rather cute by design. The child-like young male, Nai, blinked at the sheep.
"Weird activity detected, baa," it said.
Nai gasped. "Oh no! She's nice. I- I think," He added as an afterthought.
"Gee, thanks," Red grumped.
Nai looked concerned. "Oh, I'm sorry!"
Red held up a hand. "Not a problem. Say, where are we?" She looked around as the sheep continued to stare at Nai. She had to wonder what sorts of thoughts flitted through those metal robots. The robot interrupted his response to her.
"Wierd behavior detected, taking to infirmary, baa," wierd white chords erupted from the back of the sheep's spine in a totally not creepy horror movie way, and wrapped around Nai as he yelped. Red blinked.
"Hey let him go!" she said amused.
The sheep ignored her. Oh well, dreams weren't perfect. Hers were sometimes far from that. In this case she was entertained though. Nai was brought out of the room and he actually whimpered. "Ah! No! I'm really fine- I mean- I think I'm fine."
Jeez, make up your mind kid, Red shook her head, amused. Funny kid. She couldn't help but get some lonely vibes off of him. Like he was missing someone. She hadn't seen any other person in the room. She walked over to the bunk beds. On the bottom bunk was "Nai's Diary". She smirked. Oh. Fun. She reached to pick it up. But she found she couldn't grab it. Confound it. What were the rules of this dream anyways? Yes, it sounded weird but sometimes her dreams had rules. Like at certain times she could fly and at other times she couldn't. She'd even had a dream where a giant ant had eaten her. She couldn't' wake up and she couldn't fight back. She just had to learn to face the fear until she could control it. Not bad for a seven year old, she figured.
She wondered if she could follow Nai. However when she opened the door her eyes widened. It was no longer the hallway of the building. Instead, she was going to enter another room? She stepped through the door and it faded behind her. Huh. Trippy. In front of her was a boy. He looked to have scruffy black and blue locks, like a raven, and his eyes were dark blue but on occasion they had an olive tint depending on the lighting so that they reminded Red remarkably of a dark sea. He was wearing what appeared to be a school uniform, though his tie was loose and he'd unbuttoned the first two buttons. She waved her hand in front of his face as he sat on his bed reading. He ignored her. She blinked. OH so he couldn't see her. Fun. He wore goggles on the right side of his head. She put her hands on her hips. This was probably Gareki. Her gut was informing her of this fact even as an annoying guy came barrelling through the door.
"Jeez Ranji! Stop nagging me!"
"Shishi! Stop being a stubborn dick!"
Shishi huffed and pointed at Gareki. "Torment him! He's the one who's not at dinner!" He complained. Ranji rolled her eyes, putting her hands on her hips in her school uniform.
"Gareki is excused on account of his need to study!" Ranji continued.
"He's not even in the Circus course anymore," Shishi sighed. "What'd you switch to again?" He asked Gareki, furrowing his brow.
"I told you. I'm going to be a Combat Physician," Gareki sighed. He tsked a little. Red could note just how noisy it'd become. It was irritating him. She smirked. What a fun dream this was! Kinda vivid but cool!
His eyes looked right through her. But her smile froze to her face. His eyes held unimaginable pain. It was different from Nai. It was like something was "glued" together inside him but still very fragile and breakable. She found it hard to breathe. His emotional state was a mess and it reeled her off her feet momentarily.
She held her head. She had a headache.
"Ugh-"
She closed her eyes, trying to calm herself. When she opened them again she gasped. She was now in a village. She looked around with surprise. Wow, that scene was changing so quickly. What an interesting dream she was having. She was a bit enthralled. It'd been awhile since she'd had interesting dreams like this. She wondered if maybe she was meant to live to write some story about those two boys. She couldn't help but feel that they were connected somehow. It just felt like the only plausible explanation. She also sensed that perhaps this Nai "missed" this Gareki. He had looked lonely when she'd walked in on him.
She blinked. A kid with the same face as Gareki-though far younger, was busy shoveling in someone's garden. His clothes were very plain and a bit big for him though the white shorts fit fine. The old man chuckled who was on the porch. "Keep up the good work, kid and I'll pay you an extra penny or two," and he went back inside. Gareki was focused. He panted a bit.
"This...is for...Tsubaki," he said though he looked dead on his feet. Red bit her lower lip. The poor kid! She looked to see two kids-twins, one blonde and one brown haired, run over to Gareki. They both wore "dresses" -and the boy looked a lot like his sister. Only his hard eyes contrasted to her softer ones. Yotaka, started to chide him about running off. He stared at them somewhat blankly and with a bit of exasperation and surprise. He was clearly not used to someone caring about his whereabouts.
"Jeez-Making Tsubame worry!" The boy, Yotaka as his sister called him, said disapprovingly. "Don't go running off so often! You make Big Sister Tsubaki worry!"
"J-Just remember to come home, okay, Gareki?" Tsubame timidly said, smiling shyly at the raven haired boy who continued to look at them with dazed confusion. Yotaka huffed.
"Let's go Tsubame. He's got the message," and he took his sister by the hand and lead her away. Gareki and Red watched them leave in unison. After a moment, Gareki's expression went back to impassive and he resumed digging, pulling up weeds. Dirt was caked under his nails, and sweat lingered on his thin frame. Red wanted to hug him. But all she could was stand there. Gareki pep-talked himself since no one was around. She could sense the loneliness but a stubborn stoic attitude unfitting of someone so young. Then again, she sort of used to do the same thing. But her hardships felt laughable compared to his. She couldn't explain it.
"Gotta... Prove to Tsubaki...she can rely on me. Doesn't need that bastard of a boyfriend...scum…" Gareki panted. "There...are three kinds of people...scum...prey… or enemy…" the eight year old's eyes glinted vehemently. Red reached out to touch his hair. Even if it was just a head pat. Her eyes watered.
"Dude- your life really sucks," was all she could intelligently say as she wiped her eyes on her good sleeve. The boy's eyes subtly widened. He looked up in her direction as she pulled her hand away from her "air head" pat to his head. She blinked. Had he felt it? Was she able to connect to him in this dream. His eyes looked through her though. He turned back to digging after a moment of silence. Red sighed.
She closed her eyes, smelling in the sea.
What a dream she was having.
