A/N: T for the "hurt" part of hurt/comfort. I do not own Vocaloid, and this was originally written for the iPod shuffle challenge, for the song Goodbye ( I'm Sorry ) by Jamestown story (which I also do not own) and although none of the lyrics are featured or paraphrased in this story, that is intended to be the song in the recording. Trigger warnings for mentions of suicide
The cracked young woman sat upon an old wooden fence, strumming her guitar absentmindedly as her tangled web of thoughts trapped her mind like an insect to a spider. Her unusually teal eyes were sullen, blank, and void of emotion as she sighed to herself and lifted her gaze to the slowly darkening horizon. Finishing the song that she had been playing, Miku Hatsune temporarily loosened her grip on the guitar so that she could begin recording her message. Singing into the recorder, she told an embittered story of sorrow, regret, and barely contained frustration. This was a song that she had written weeks ago and practiced every day since it's creation. Once the recording, her suicide message, was concluded, she stopped recording and set the small black box where she had been sitting, knowing that no one would ever hear her final words anyway.
She didn't allow her breath to hitch as she looked around her old home for the final time, taking in a sight that she was sure she would never provoke nostalgia, and left her guitar leaning against the wooden fence. If she was going to miss anything in the afterlife, it would be her guitar, because the safety that it provided was the only reason that she had managed to survive as long as she had.
Miku Hatsune shook her head and mounted a chestnut mare, took one final look back at where she was raised, spat at the ground, and took off, shooting out of the place where she had been tortured for years on end. The horse's movement beneath her body was comforting, because she ran quickly and aggressively, expressing for Miku the will to escape that she could not have expressed herself. The sun was still high in the sky as she ran off to seal her fate, taking only the gun and a second recorder with her so that she could record a final goodbye.
Luka Megurine did not know why she had come to an old farm in the middle of the country. Running away from the people that were trying to capture her was the most obvious answer, but she didn't understand why she had wound up far outside of the city when her intention was to arrive at the black market. She was about to pass the farm when she saw a lone black box sitting atop an old wooden fence. Although Luka Megurine knew that it was unsafe for her to be spotted so soon after a robbery, no one would notice and she believed that it would not hurt to take a tiny peek at whatever the strange object was.
Directing her horse over to the fence, Luka cocked an eyebrow at the strange item sitting there. She cautiously reached out a hand, picking up the small black box from its seat on the fence and holding it up to her ear, making sure that no one was around to notice. Smiling as a song began to play out of it, she decided to carry it along for the road and let it's original owner wonder about where it may have gone. After all, they were the ones foolish enough to leave it sitting on a fence in the first place, and it wasn't Luka's fault that they didn't foresee a thief. She rode away, nodding her head to the music. Suddenly, she recognized the lyrics, and frowned. Looking to the ground, she spotted fresh tracks and spurred her horse, dashing off in the direction of a possible suicide.
Luka Megurine understood only one thing about this situation. She had no idea why she was in pursuit of yet another victim of suicide when she had the cops so close behind her. She had no clue why she didn't just allow yet another death to be another death. She did know, on the other hand, that whoever was on the other end of this tape needed to be saved, and for some reason she had to be saved by Luka. She sped across the planes, making certain not to lose the tracks, and finally came to an old barn.
Throwing the doors open, she saw a horse tied to one of the many beams that supported a small hay loft. The barn was small and eerily quiet, the perfect location for someone with this young woman's intent. Luka slowly walked around, tying her horse, Onyx, near the one that was already there. She looked around for signs of another human, and finally spotted strange teal hay mixed in with the golden hay in the loft. Going to investigate, Luka realized that the teal was actually the hair of a young woman, most likely the young woman who had left the recorded message. The girl in the loft did not move upon Luka's approach.
Luka climbed a small wooden ladder that lead to the hay loft, thinking of explanations that she could give as to why a well-known criminal was not going to kill a total stranger. Upon setting eyes on the young woman's face, Luka's mind went blank, and then she snarled. Before her was the image of innocence, sprawled across the loft of a hay barn, killed by the greed of the people who made Luka into a criminal in the first place. Without truly understanding why, Luka climbed the final bar of the ladder and cradled the young woman in her arms, feeling a sense of intense loss at the sight of her pale, motionless body. She clutched the limp body of the stranger to herself, brought to tears when the reason for her empathy finally reached Luka's mind.
" You were just like me." she said, hearing the tears on her voice before she knew that she was crying. Luka could not remember the last time that she had cried. The figure in her arms scrunched her nose and opened her eyes slightly, looking up at the stranger. She blinked again, obviously just waking up from a short sleep, before focusing on Luka's face. Two teal eyes widened as the young woman pried herself from Luka's arms, forcing herself backwards out of fear. Luka's eyes widened as well, before she realized that the young woman must have recognized her from her multiple news stories.
" You're..." muttered the young woman, still looking afraid.
" Yes, I am." Responded Luka, not understanding why she refused to follow her own logic for the third time that day and remained where she was.
" Mitsuki!" The young woman finished her sentence, gaining volume as she spoke out of fear.
" That is not my real name." said Luka, before trying to meet the girl's eyes. " Look. I don't want to hurt you."
Luka took this opportunity to extract the small black recorder from where she had been holding it, using it as an explanation. Miku's eyes rested upon it and a look of recognition and then nervousness replaced the expression of fear that she had worn moments before.
" Listen." Luka began, making eye contact with the stranger once again in an attempt to convey her sincerity. " Drop the gun."
Miku hadn't realized that she had slowly began to grip her suicide weapon out of instinct. She didn't want to let it go, but put it down anyway.
" Okay, now come here." Luka commanded. Miku did as she was told, afraid and yet oddly comforted by the criminal's presence. Once she was within arm's length, Luka grabbed the younger woman and pulled her into an embrace. Miku tensed, alert and afraid, but didn't feel the same disgust and fear that she usually felt when she was being attacked. Luka didn't appear to plan on letting the stranger go, and she would ridicule herself for being so open, but at the moment she could not care less.
" I'm glad that you chose to sleep instead of your obvious original intent. You are not going to die." Luka said finally. She got no reply, but that was anticipated. " The world needs more people like you." From the look on Miku's face, Luka could tell that she was used to hearing that. "Look. People like you and I, we aren't accepted because we think differently than everyone else. We feel pain and allow ourselves to drop optimism and see the world for what it actually is, and that scares the people who are too simple-minded to notice a good person when they see one. But really? Are you actually going to let yourself just give up, just like that? Look, when the world around you tries to destroy you, you don't just let it! You may have been fighting hard before, but look. When the world around you is so corrupt that those maniacs are allowed to set up societal boundaries, then you don't fight. You break it to pieces. Burn everything else to the ground if it destroys you."
" No. I believe that that is where you are wrong." the girl in her arms stood up, sounding slightly stronger. She made eye contact with Luka, who was prepared to leap for her if she went for the gun. " You don't break the world around you in order to survive. That is the method of escape that only a coward who is corrupt in themselves could choose. You do not break the world around you, but instead realize your superiority to those who trap themselves in an eternal circle of soullessness. You do not break the world but instead break free from the world in the realization that you are destined to succeed but those around you, constantly burdening themselves with metaphorical blindness, will never achieve success. You set impossibly high goals for yourself and work to achieve them, but do not get disappointed when the are only halfway reached. You take the role of the teacher or that of the engineer and succeed where you know that only your individuality can take you as the rest of the world struggles to choose the right channel on television."
" That's more like it!" said Luka, also hopping to her feet and dusting the hay off of herself. " Like I always say, when the road gets rough, pretend like it's a rock wall and watch as everyone else falls to their imminent death."
" But you're Mitsuki. You're.." Miku frowned, still afraid of the woman that she had just allowed to give her comfort.
" My name is actually Luka, Mitsuki's an alias, and I am indeed a criminal. I do not, however, kill other humans whatsoever." responded Luka, not willing to lie to the young woman. She mounted the ladder, and appeared as if she were going to begin descending. " Speaking of which... I should be off now. The police are still after me since I'm actually just after robbing from the rich to feed the poor. I don't want people to know that I saw you, or else you'll be in for a lot of questions. Although..." Before she reached the bottom of the ladder, she scrambled back to the top again and held out her hand. " Give that gun to me and go home. The world needs more people like you, and you have a lot of life to start living."
" What home?" asked Miku, looking at her with sad eyes that appeared to be seeing nothing and everything all at once. She grabbed her own hand and intertwined fingers, rubbing the back of her palm in a circular motion to keep herself from crying.
Luka hadn't caught on, and continued speaking. " The little farm about fifteen miles from here. That is your home, right?"
" Not-" Miku's voice broke, and she had to blink her eyes and clear her throat. "Not anymore. I'm not welcome there anymore..." Miku trailed off, losing the confidence that she had been showing moments before to the silent remembrance of her desolation. Luka rejoined her and took the gun from its place in the hay before Miku could consider shooting herself again, making certain that the safety was on before tossing it to the first floor of the barn. She went back to Miku and placed an arm around the young woman that she had not even known for an hour. Miku didn't trust Luka, but she leaned into the stranger's embrace anyway, unused to the friendly touch that she hadn't realized she had been missing.
" Looks like there's only one thing left to do, then." Luka removed her arm from around Miku's shoulder and clapped her hands together once, breaking the thought-filled silence that they had been standing in for a few minutes.
" If you would like, it looks like my 'villain's lair' has space for another person." Luka questioned every word that came out of her mouth, not believing herself, but did not regret saying them. She was confused, and had no idea how the innocent young woman managed to make her speak so openly, but Luka knew that her offer would not be abused if it was accepted. Miku was reluctant, however her curiosity got the better of her in spite of the lack of trust that she fostered for Luka. Just as Luka turned around, believing that she was not going to retrieve a response, a tiny hand darted out and caught her elbow. She turned to see a determined Miku wearing a confident expression, and gave a small nod. They descended the ladder together, and Luka instantly noticed the feeling of something changing.
When she had entered the barn, the only life that she had to look out for was her own. Certainly she had approached with the purpose of saving a life, but had she failed, it would not have left her any more alone than she had been when she entered. Miku noticed this as well. This was the first time in a long time for both of them that either had planned on doing something with another person by their side. With a simple nod of agreement, someone had been added to Luka's party of one, and it felt as if both strangers had a newfound responsibility to remain near the other. One moment, they had been two strangers, and the next they had created a connection with one another that would undoubtably alter their future. Luka dropped that train of thought and focused on escaping.
" How fast is your horse?" she asked as they both mounted, the pink-haired woman being careful to hide Miku's gun in one of her many pockets. " I'd usually have a car, but I had to ditch my last one because the authorities arrived a little earlier than expected and I hadn't managed to loop back to the garage."
Miku was reminded that she was about to follow a criminal to an unknown hideout where no one would ever be able to find her if she needed help. Then, she also remembered that there would be no one willing to search for her anyway. The compressed anger that she had been fighting to hold back for so long took control of her, and she looked up to Luka with determination in her eyes and a smile on her face. She was going to rebel against everyone that forced her to stay within their comfort zones, and this was the best way to do it. To Miku, it felt as if she was finally fighting back. Without hesitating, she mounted her horse, Sabrina.
" Why don't we find out?"
Cracking a grin, Luka mounted Onyx and prepared to leave the barn. And then they realized that the barn doors would have to be opened in order for either of them to actually leave.
" Well that's one way to ruin a moment. Are you good to go?" asked Luka as she mounted her horse once again. Miku offered a nod, and they both took off. They traveled for hours, discovering that Sabrina was indeed a very fast horse and making what little conversation they could over the noise of their escape.
" It seems as if we are actually going to be staying together a bit longer than I had originally planned. What's your name?" asked Luka. She fought back the wave of nausea that came with learning a new name. You never learn the names, because it makes it less painful when they abandon you.
" I'm Miku." the younger woman was about to use her last name, but stopped, remembering the parting words of her family as they had cast her out into the streets. She would never be using that surname again.
" Well, Miku..." Luka hated herself for feeling giddy. She hated herself for the smile that she felt paint her face for the first time in years. She hated herself for the voice that came through her own lips, which sounded so much younger and carefree than she had felt in ages. " H-hello."
Miku smiled, still full of the excitement of getting to rebel and having found someone who appeared to thing differently than everyone else. She couldn't help the relieved laughter that she threw into the wind as she sang " Hello."
A/N: Of course this was originally intended to be a one-shot in an iPod shuffle challenge in which I had resolved only to allow myself to write until the song ended ( see how that worked out ).