Casshern Sins: Bury the Dead

By: Ominae

Rating: T

NOTE:

All characters of Casshern Sins are under the copyright of Shigeyasu Yamauchi, Madhouse Studios and Tatsunoko Productions.

To all readers:

I must warn you that this story is after the end of episode 2: The World is Filled with the Voices of Death. If you haven't seen it, watch it to perhaps understand where I'm going with this story. Thanks.

Summary:

Casshern buries the slain robots that had turned against him from the hidden community, making his quest to recover his memories an urgent priority.

Near cathedral ruins, somewhere in Japan

Dig, dig, dig.

Dig, did, dig.

It was the only Casshern was doing ever since early in the morning. He had previously slain 99 percent of a hidden robot community that had turned against him after killing off a giant robot.

What's with this myth of killing me? I don't even get it.

Casshern places the robot parts of a little girl who he had killed, after he had thrusted his left hand on its body to pull its wires out, on a small shallow grave that he had dug out. Following this, Casshern placed the soil to cover the grave entirely with his white gloved hands.

"What are you doing?"

Casshern turned his head around, seeing the robot teenage girl behind him. She was accompanied by Friender, her robot dog companion ever since she and Root had moved in to the cathedral years ago.

"I'm burying the dead." Casshern replied, retracting the facemask that covered his mouth and nose.

"Why?" Wrench asked, seeing Casshern covering the grave with soil.

"I'm not as heartless as you may think when everyone had turned against me." Casshern began to grit his teeth, applying the last of the soil to cover the little girl's grave. "If I was, I would've killed you and Friender."

"How many did you make?" Wrench observed that several graves were made in front of the ruined cathedral.

"Around 10." The ex-robot assassin answered. "I'm planning to do 10 more at least."

"I see." Wrench saw that Casshern was now digging the ground next to the girl's grave.

"I don't know why..." Casshern planted his hands on the soil, taking a handful before tossing it next to him. "why this stupid myth of killing me would make the other robots alive and immortal?! Why doesn't anyone tell me about it?"

Wrench bit her lips.

"WHY!!" Casshern pounded the soil with his clenched fists. "WHAT THE HELL DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS CRAP?!" He felt the urge to cry, if he could.

Casshern went down on his knees, wallowing down on feeling guilty of killing the harmless robots that had treated him like one of their own. "Why? Why?"

Friender simply approached and nuzzled himself on his side.

"W-wha?" Casshern saw that Friender stared at him, as if it was trying to sympathize with his agony.

"Casshern-san." Wrench knelt next to him. "I don't what happened to you in the past, but I'm sure that you didn't mean to kill them. Especially Root."

Casshern said nothing, carrying the parts that had been Root after he was able to dig out a shallow grave. He was the first casualty of Casshern's self-defense rage.

"A-ah..."

Placing Root's parts on the grave, Casshern began to replace the soil back with Friender assisting him by using his feet to place it on top of Root's decomposing body.

"But I want you to know that you're still a kind person, no matter who you are." Wrench hugged Casshern from behind. "I don't care about that myth that the others have been passing around. You're your own person. I want you to know that, Casshern-san."

Casshern felt Wrench's arms around him, placing a hand on them as Friender finished Casshern's job in covering Root's grave.

"Thank you," Casshern felt a smile on his face. "Wrench."

"Please do me a favor." Wrench said, with Casshern already turning around. "Can you take Friender with you?"

Friender moved next to Casshern and sat down.

"I'm sure that he can help you recover your lost memory."

Casshern patted Friender on the head, earning a bark from him. "All right." Casshern nodded, facing Wrench after eyeing Friender. "I'll take good care of Friender."

"Good luck." Wrench hugged Casshern once again.

"Thank you, Wrench." Casshern returned the hug. "Despite the things that I've done."

"Don't wallow in your self-pity." Wrench shook her head. "It wouldn't help you recover your memory if you continue to be like this."

"You're right." Casshern said, agreeing with Wrench's sentiment. He faced Friender. "Come on, Friender. I need your help to bury the others. It's the least thing I can do to make sure that they rest in peace."

Friender barked, digging a portion of the ground next to Root's grave as Casshern carried parts that were from the juggler after seeing him die entertaining the crowd the previous day.

THE END

PS - First Casshern fic ever on FF(dot)net. Anyway, there is some hints of Casshern/Wrench based on episode 2 of Sins. But it's only small.

I hope you guys liked my first Casshern story ever. Let me know how I did with the angst. Thanks.