N/M Shin: Hey there y'all! Hasn't there just been a void in your lives while I was gone?
Zephyr: Yeah, I'm sure they've been holding their breath until you updated.
N/M Shin: ... But then they'd all be dead!
Jax: THEY WOULDN'T BE IF YOU'D GET OFF YOUR LAZY ASS ONCE IN AWHILE!
N/M Shin: Oh my God, THEY ARE DEAD! (Panics) Quick, get the difibu... the dufribah... THE SHOCKY THINGS WHERE YOU YELL "CLEAR!"
Jax: (Duck tapes N/M Shin to the wall) They're not dead!
N/M Shin: Oh, well then... As you may have noticed, this is a new fic, the old one is on... extended vacation. (Smiles)
Zephyr: Where was it before? You haven't updated it since the start of summer.
N/M Shin: WE DO NOT DWELL ON THE PAST!
I wanna keep this author's note short. My ANs have a habit of being extraordinarily long. Basically, every chapter will begin with a selection from a song, saying, or literary source that relates to the chapter. Why? Because I like it, and I write for myself, not anybody else. This will be a little more serious than my previous fics. Also, I have it completely planned out. The characters are set and I'm really excited about it. Where have I been? One word, "School." (Hisses rise from crowd) I swear, this entire year I haven't had a single night without at least an hour and a half of homework. But, good ole' Sonny Perdue, Georgia's own governor, has canceled school for Monday and Tuesday to conserve fuel on account of the hurricane scare in Texas. Four day weekend, maybe I'll get somethin' done! Seriously though, this hurricane stuff is bad, anything you can do to help should be done.
And all my buds in Texas, I hope y'all are doin' okay! (You know who you are.)
Zeph: ON TO ZEE FICCY!
( ") The Legend of the Dark Fire (" )
"And I'm sure the view from heaven
Beats the hell out of mine here
And if we all believe in heaven
Maybe we'll make it through one more year
Down here."
-View from Heaven, Yellowcard
In the short, fleeting moments right after a person has woken up, they deny their existence. Every morning, they wake from our dreams and, even though they hear their alarm clocks and see the sun through the window, they still cling to the dream they can now barely remember. Humans are imperfect, and no matter how perfect their life is, they feel that the dream is more pleasant than reality. That's why alarms have snooze buttons. How many times do you wake up every morning? Three, four, a number you can't remember? That's the sad thing, a few minutes later you have no idea what it was you were clinging so fiercely to.
Unfortunately, in these times, there is no snooze button; but humans are still as imperfect as ever.
"Y'all better be awake, cuz I been runnin' late this mornin' and y'all got more sleep than ya usually get! Oh yeah, it may not feel like it but y'all been sleepin' in an' it's time to get up! C'mon, it's a new day full 'o opportunities an' it looks a little nicer than it did yesterday mornin'! Course, that ain't an accurate observation, seein' as when I checked yesterday it was a 'lil earlier!"
"How much longer did we get to sleep, Vinny?"
"Bout eight minutes, I reckon, why?"
A chorus of groans rose from the street and a girl of about seventeen rolled out of her bed and onto the cold floor. The harsh slap of flesh on stone usually woke her up, but when that failed she had other ways of rising to greet the day.
One, two, three, four... She counted to thirty in her head until she was sure that all hints sleep had left her. She placed her palms flat on the ground and pushed up from the warm spot that had formed under her. Sometimes it took an iron will to get up in the morning.
"C'mon, c'mon, y'all got to sleep in an' that's all well an' good but ya need to get up now an' I ain't gonna shut up 'till you're all up an' at'em!"
The girl smiled and got dressed, a simple gray T-shirt featuring some long-gone school mascot and a baggy pear of blue jeans, then took her rightful place at the cold steel chair by her window to hear Vinny's morning "preaching."
Vinny was an odd character that woke every morning at exactly eight 'o clock, took his place at the corner of Main Street and St. Andrews, and provided everyone with a wake-up call they could neither curse nor ignore. No one was willing to waste electricity on alarm clocks, since you can't read the time while you're asleep anyway, and wind-up clocks worked fine if there was at least one that was always kept wound. Truthfully, it was Vinny's stories that everyone got up for. Vinny had a way of telling stories that everyone knew, but said them in such a strange way that no one knew what the hell he was rattling on about. No one knew when he thought of the stories or if he even ever slept, but the entire town relied on him for one reason or another.
When Vinny got to the corner from wherever it was he lived there was always a dark green bottle of his favorite beer waiting for him. Vic owned the only tavern in the city, and everyone walked through his door at one time or another. It just so happens that Vic's tavern is conveniently located on the same corner that Vinny occupies every morning, noon, and night. The only person that wakes up before Vinny is Vic, because he not only needs to set out Vinny's drink, but do his morning routine and get the tavern ready for the mob of people that congregated there every day too. How Vic woke up on his own was beyond anyone's knowledge, but no one was complaining. When Vinny was being particularly strange or powerful in his speeches, people would walk in and holler to Vic at the bar, "I'll have what Vinny's havin'!"
Vic always replies with, "We don't need another damn Vinny!"
"Today I'm gonna be straight forward with y'all," there was a pause as Vinny took a swig of his drink, "I'm not gonna tell my usual stories, cuz today's a special day! Maybe now you'll understand on your own, 'stead of consultin' the 'higher intelligence."
Her eyes widened, then returned to their normal size as she gave a subtle smile. "...Interesting," She whispered to herself.
Vinny's little speeches were usually transformed to obscure metaphors, with incomplete sentences and little bit of poetry thrown in. Sometimes even his thick accent was hard to understand.
The muffled sounds of people herding into the bar echoed into the room from the lower floor and she knew the story was about to start.
You see Vic's tavern has two stories, the bar and his house, and this young lady was graciously allotted a room there. There were three, and the remaining room was used for storage and as an office. There was also a kitchen and a bathroom, for obvious reasons.
Since Vinny's stories had clever metaphors and deep, hidden meanings, only a well-educated person could really understand them. And every morning, after Vinny's first "sermon," the only well-educated person in the city descended the stairs from her room to Vic's bar, and explained anything to the owner and landlord that he didn't understand.
Of course, since everyone herded into the bar in the morning, she was basically explaining it to everyone.
If Vinny's gonna be straight forward today, what am I going to do this morning? The girl chuckled in spite of herself.
The sounds from the bar downstairs became deathly silent as Vinny began to speak.
"People, today's more special than most. Maybe it ain't exactly a good special, but it's special, believe me. Today, as of this mornin', it's been five summers, five winters, five springs and falls, that's five years y'all, since the world got a whole lot emptier."
The girl's lips parted briefly in surprise and a small tremor ran up her spine. The silence downstairs went from light-hearted interest to melancholy. The gravity in the building became uncomfortable and the stale air caught in people's throats. Still, no one, not even those trembling in their chairs or from their place on the floor, broke the silence as Vinny continued.
"It's a story we all know and love, err... I mean hate, but I feel like we all need ta hear it. Sometimes we need ta 'member it an' sober up a 'lil. They did'n die ta be forgotten."
The air was choked with sorrow and an uncomfortable heat, but Vinny went on regardless. A few people nodded, agreeing that it needed to be told.
Vinny took a prolonged gulp of his drink, during which no one breathed, then continued.
"Nobody knows quite how it happened, but everybody knows it did. A disease, a virus, the tiniest of foes came along one day an' suddenly people in the street were droppin' like a sumo wrestler wit' no parachute. Millions, billions of people; ninety-seven percent of the whole world from what I heard, were dead an' gone, but some were perfectly fine. Some o' the some thought maybe they'd die later, so they lived it up an' then committed suicide. Others thought they were chosen by God or some shit like that," Vinny's voice cracked for an instant, and the girl thought she knew what happened to his loved ones.
He was silent for a moment longer, then continued, "An' they waited alone in a church 'spectin' a message from the Lord 'till they starved." He sighed, "Still, others thought they'd become immortal an' proved 'emselves wrong soon enough."
"So, another percent left the livin' world outta plain stupidness!" He took another sip. "So, eventually, our smartest scientists figured it out. 'Parently, some humans are born wit' a genetic defect called 'Mettron Deficiency." Most humans are born wit' 'lil critters in their blood called mettrons, but a small percent, three percent to be exact, aren't. Everybody alive in this city today don't got any mettrons, and y'all should be grateful fer it. It did'n really matter when they were discovered, cuz mettrons basically float around 'till they die an' don't do a damn thing all their lives. But, the disease, what would later be called the Dark Fire, got the mettrons all riled up and they started attackin' anythin' the blood touches. People's hearts was disintegrated 'fore they ever felt a thing!"
"So rest easy folks, they went real peaceful."
Vinny took one more sip, and then tossed his empty bottle into a trash can. But the can was so full that the bottle just bounced out and crashed to the pavement. "Hey Vic, I need a refill! Anyway, where was I? Eh, never mind, I'll keep goin' with a dry throat. After it took care o' all the mettrons, the Dark Fire made the air wet an' thick, then floated up inta the sky. So the disease not only endangered the human race, but blocked out most a' the sun 'till we couldn' tell when it was in the east er the west. Not only that, but any child born wit' mettrons died 'fore they had a chance to live. The Dark Fire was in the air their mothers breathed an' the food they ate. In the last five years, I reckon only two er three kids been born in the city." He paused to smile and wave at a pair of twins through the tavern window. "Yep, only two. Actually, since they was born at the same time, I might as well say one."
"But the Dark Fire wasn't done yet. Somethin' in the disease reacted wit' the pollution in the air an' started eatin' away at mortar in buildin's an' streets. For those o' you who don't know, mortar is the shit what holds bricks an' stones together. After a while, all o' the buildin's an' houses jus' fell apart. Only thin' what could stand after that was houses wit' wood an' nails and jus' plain steel buildin's. This ole warehouse what good ole Vic owns is made o' steel an' welded together. The floors are made o' concrete but at leas' it's got a roof. Didn't affect the street much, gravity holds it together fine." He stomped the ground for emphasis. "Most animals had mettrons too, an' now the weak been weeded out an' new species are runnin' 'round and raisin' hell. We got big, stocky deer wit' horns like a ram, we got rabbits as big as dogs wit' teeth like a lion, we even got big gray lizards the size o' tigers wit' long legs an' spiny tails an' they run so fast a Toyota couldn' get away from 'em. But they're vegetarians so we don' get too many problems from 'em. But wit' the disease cloggin' the air, we don' get birds no more. That's prob'ly what I miss the most, is the birds in the mornin', an' you two what been born after the Dark Fire never heard 'em at all. I'm sorry kids, they mighta been our 'lil piece o' heaven on earth."
Vinny stopped talking for a moment, and the silence only confirmed the absence of any beauty that could once be heard.
"An' then there's the one." Curses passed through barely open lips at the mention of his name. "One guy got the bright idea ta declare himself ruler o' what was left o' the world. He made up his own laws, an' they wasn't bad laws mind you, an' built up an' army o' soldiers. Technically they wasn't soldiers though, they was jus' his dogs."
The girl frowned and tightened her fist around a handful of her shirt. She didn't want to hear the rest of what he had to say, but knew she shouldn't go downstairs while Vinny was talking about it. With her teeth clenched, she continued to listen.
"The One already had an army, an' sent out a few of 'em to every city in the world. They came back wit' the strongest an' healthiest person they could find, an' then the One used all o' his science an' a 'lil bit o' magic..."
"An' he gave 'em ...powers. Magnificent powers, unstoppable powers what made their lives seem like they was worth livin'! Then he gave 'em a choice. You gotta understand, money's only got meanin' on a city-to-city scale. If a city's got money, they can buy stuff from other cities. That bein' said, a person who got paid made their city a better place to live. So these 'super people' got a choice. They could become police, and work full-time wit' a steady paycheck to hunt down people who was breakin' the rules, er they could be bountiers, an' get paid person-by-person to catch anybody the police couldn't. There was only one catch: to be a bountier, ya had to be stronger than a police officer. Most people hate these guys fer workin' fer the One, but they need ta understand they didn't really get as much choice as ya think they did."
"Y'all think they could choose neither after they got powers? Nope, anybody who refused the question got tortured inna way what suited 'em best. Life's hard fer all o' us and y'all shouldn't be makin' it worse fer anybody." Vinny looked up into the girl's window and she held his gaze until he turned back to the street.
"I know you guys think it's worse than hell an' you'd be better off dead, but think about it fer a sec; we've been livin' like this fer five years, five years y'all! That's why I told this story in the first place, cuz I ain't sad, I'm proud. Y'all should all be proud."
"...Just cuz we can't barely see no sun, don't mean it ain't there." Vinny sat down to show he was finished and for a moment it was completely silent, then, from the tavern downstairs came a rumble of noise.
Vinny looked surprised for a moment, then turned to them and took a bow.
He had never gotten applause before.
"We're still chasing our tails
and the rising sun
And our dark water planet
Still spins in a race
where no one wins
and no one's one."
-The Beautiful Letdown, Switchfoot
"Morning Rae, did you sleep well?" She was greeted by Vic at the bar as soon as she reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Pretty well, I did get an extra eight minutes, after all." Vic gave a wide grin and set a steaming mug on the bar.
"Well take your seat and drink your nasty herbal stuff, before the smell conks me out." Raven smiled and took a seat in the stool in front of her morning drink. "Jesus, that stuff is nasty. Can't just have a beer like everybody else..." Vic muttered as he brought another drink out to Vinny on the street, who was still taking his break.
Vic and Vinny were the only African Americans in the city, because mettrons are most common in black males. Caucasians had a slightly smaller percent with mettrons, and Asians had the least. Even then, most of every race was dead.
When Vic came back in Raven had finished her drink. "So was there anything you didn't understand this morning?" Raven asked him the same question every morning, then fetched his notepad from behind the bar where he wrote down things he didn't comprehend from Vinny's sermons. He had already gone through twelve, but when she pulled it from its drawer, there was nothing new written down.
"He was pretty straight forward today, wasn't he?" Vic plucked his notepad from her slender fingers and put it back into the drawer. He interlocked his fingers and, putting his elbows on the bar, placed them under his chin. "I guess he was right though, we needed to hear it."
"Yeah, it surprised me when he-"
"Good morning, Miss Raven!" Said girl looked around to see that the twins had seated themselves on either side of her.
"Oh, good morning Chris, good morning Tucker." Each boy smiled as she said their name, but while the former had a great, toothy grin, the latter only gave a slight smile.
The twins both had sandy blonde hair that hung just over their eyebrows, and looked almost identical except for their eyes. Tucker, the shy one, had bright lime green eyes, and Chris, the outgoing one, had dim brown eyes. The color of their eyes made their personalities look reversed. Chris and Tucker were the only children in the city born after the Dark Fire, and were exceptionally smart for five-years-olds.
"We have a question, don't we Tucker?" Chris was a good brother, and always encouraged his reserved twin to talk once in a while.
"Yeah, um, about what Vinny said." Tucker stared at the ground as he talked, and by the time he got to 'said' his voice was barely above a whisper.
"Yeah, he talked about those things that sounded pretty, what were they... breads?"
"Birds." Tucker corrected.
"Really? Are you sure Tucker? Cuz that sounds really weird."
"No, he's right, they were birds. What did want to know about them?" Tucker's head shot up and Chris's grin grew even wider.
"Everything, Miss Raven, we wanna know everything! What did they sound like, what did they look like, what did they eat? Did they have fur? Did they have claws? How did they stay in the sky? Could they really stay in the sky?"
Raven was surprised to find that it wasn't Chris, but Tucker that had posed all of these questions.
"Well, it would take a long time to explain everything..."
"We have time Miss Raven, please! Please, they sound so cool!" For once Chris and Tucker had the exact same expression on their faces. One of utmost curiosity and determination to make her talk by any means necessary.
She sighed in defeat and gave a weary smile. "Alright, come upstairs and I'll tell you all about them."
"Yes!" The twins jumped up and high-fived each other, then raced up the stairs to await their lesson.
Vic laughed. "Mighta bit off more than you can chew, Rae."
She smirked in his direction. "Sorry, I can't talk right now, my mouth is full."