Title: God of Man, Destroyer of Innocence
Author: Memy (Missheru)
E-mail: midnight_wing@hotmail.com
AIM: MemyWing
ICQ: I really don't use it much.
For Aurora's Background you'll get hints of it here but the whole thing can be found in Eternal Light: The Beginning. Used a lot of Trigun. Kind of apparent isn't it? Please don't sue.





Chapter 2

I awoke very early. Broom Head was right it did get cold at night. I stood up slowly to not disturb him. He looked like a child in his sleep. I so wanted to say good-bye to him. His sleep was restless last night I think it was nightmares. More than once he awoke violently, waking me as well. I didn't want him to feel he disturbed my sleep so I just asked if he was ok and would go back to sleep as well. He kept snuggling closer though the night. I knew what he was up to but with how much sleep he was getting and how much he was waking up I had no heart to wake him for a goodbye in the morning.

I wandered this world for what seemed like a long time. I looked blindly for what Fate told me to find. Hand of God, what did it mean? The destruction of July was like the hands of God came down and took vengeance but I couldn't find the source. It was probably luck that I found it then. I kept playing it over in my mind. There wasn't a power spike or a feeling of another being. Sure Broom Head was an odd character but I've met worse. I looked at my bracelet. Mephistopheles, when will I be able to return for good? The three stones had so many meanings. The three times we have been apart, but I'd need to add another stone now. Promise stones they are called by Mystic, Amethyst by humans, one in the same if you know how to use them. Amplifiers, and power routers, that's all I've ever used them as.

This wasteland was endless. Cities were the only change in landscape but they were nothing compared to the cities that once existed on Earth. I stepped into the bar. It looked like the only place open at this hour. I ordered a glass of water and took a seat. I noticed that everyone was watching me. I looked around again realizing that I was the only female in attendance. I couldn't stand it anymore I stood up and was about to walk out when out of the corner of my eye I caught it. Red. I turned back. It was him. "Hey, Broom Head!"

He fell off his stool at the bar at my shout. Maybe I was a bit loud for the scene. He looked up from his new seat on the floor as I took his original seat and looked down at him. "Are you going to say 'hi' or just sit there on the floor like an idiot?"

He lifted me off his seat and looked at me without recognition. "My seat little one."

Little one? I might be short but that was low. "What a great memory you have Broom Head. I can remember you but you forget me. I guess I should go and, I wanted to congratulate you on the new arm."

He turned to say something but I was already outside making my way onward. I just though I'd be nice and catch-up with the first person I met on this planet but it seems he's forgotten me. All for the better, he's safer that way.

There was a crash behind me. I turned to see the noise. It was Broom Head. Does being tall make a person that clumsy or is it just him? I couldn't help myself I had to laugh. His running gate was something to be seen to believe. "What's so funny now?"

I sobered up enough to answer him. "You are, goof."

"Well at least you're not mad at me anymore."

"But do you remember me, or are you just lady chasing?"

"The little medic in July. I've been told I owe you my life, Aurora."

"Do you have a better name for me now or are you getting to like being called Broom Head?"

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Yes."

"A really big secret?"

"A secret is a secret it makes no difference the importance you place on it."

"I'll take that as a yes. My name is Vash."

"Why is that such a big secret?"

He makes a knocking motion on my head. "Where have you been? Between what you said in July and this I really think you don't get out much. Then I see you here and know you must travel some."

"Can I ask you another question, Vash?"

He puts a hand to his head. "Full of questions. Ok, I'm ready, shoot. Well maybe not the best choice of words but, go ahead."

"Alright my first question is what town is this?"

He laughed and gave me a name. I continued, "I know two cities now!"

His look of shock over my knowledge was apparent. "Hold on one second. Are you saying that after all this time and all that you've only been to two cities?"

"It's not that, it's just I've never really found anyone that seemed nice enough to ask. My other question is why your name is such a secret."

He was laughing again. Gasping for breath even. This world is too backwards for me. No map to guide me, and Broom Head is laughing at my simple question. "Are you quiet finished yet?"

He was going to need a while. I started to walk away. "Hey wait up! I want to ask you a question now. Why have you not aged? It has been over a year since we met and you still look the same."

"I could ask you the same thing."

"What kind of an answer is that?"

"The same kind your laughter is to mine."

"Would sorry work?"

"To start."

"Alright, sorry. The reason it is a secret is because I'm a wanted man."

"And..."

"It is a lot of money for my head so I have to watch out."

"What did you do?"

"You are cut off from the world aren't you?"

"Being well connected is not my goal in being here."

"Remember July? I have been accused of causing it. Hey, what do you mean 'goal in being here'?"

"That is a long story. Did you cause the light?"

"Will you quit dodging my questions? Besides I don't remember what happened."

"If you'll quit dodging mine. Deal?"

"Deal," he told me the story of his past. What he was and all that he could remember of his past.

"Aurora, are you scared of me now?"

"Why would I be? I told you I would know who you were with or without a name."

"You knew?"

"I knew you were different. I didn't know why. You look as human as everyone else, just something doesn't fit in right when I see you."

"Is that why you helped me?"

"Could have been. Fact remains I used my powers to heal you and I shouldn't have. Using them to help others has gotten me in trouble before."

"What are you?"

"I'm a Mystic. I'm not going to show face here there are too many people. Healing is one of my lesser powers. When July was destroyed I thought that somehow someone mastered a power like my Phoenix. It scared me to think that. When I saw survivors I knew the power was different."

"What brought you here?"

"The signal was there again. Even in death I guess I was not free from fate. I went to the wall of light. It was time to step through it to another life in a new time. I was alone in this journey. I was to have no help and travel alone. The light was everywhere but I kept walking, then I hit the pain. I clenched my eyes and kept walking. It had been some time since I last returned to the side of life.

The pain was gone now. I opened my eyes to one of the biggest shocks I have ever received. This wasn't where I wanted to be this was home. I saw Halo and Torrent in the distance. Odd, nobody was around me. I thought that I had just been through rebirth so where is my new family? I looked at my reflection in the nearby pond and my jaw dropped. All the choices I had made since the day my last mission ended had been wiped away it seemed. My reflection, I was again Aurora the Mystic only slightly aged, the amount I would have if I never made my choice to die so long ago. I looked to the sky. 'I am really starting to dislike this game you have been playing with me! I can't be your pawn forever, someday this form will die!'

I didn't feel much better and as usual I didn't get a reply. Whatever you want to call the force that guides my destiny, for the sake of my lack of respect for it by this point I might as well call it Bob but I wont, Fate didn't make this any easier. Sure I was a Mystic again but I didn't have any of my jewels to store and amplify my power. 'Aurora! Where have you been we have all thought you were dead,' Halo had spotted me.

I stood there and waited for her to run up to me. It had to be true then, Earth was dead. Halo and Torrent would never leave their post there, they loved that planet probably even more than I ever could. 'Long time no see Halo. What made you think I was gone?' One of the rules of the game is to keep others from knowing you had died, it just complicates things.

'Torrent found Promise, your compass, and a new piece that I think Mephistopheles made by the pattern on it. Promise disappeared after Midnight died but we figured that might have been why she died. Then we found the pieces so far away and together with no owner we figured you were lost to eternity.'

'Where is Promise now?'

'We put it in the willow tree by the stream. But you really have to meet Aqua.'

'Halo, I'm sure she's great and it appears that she has everything handled as queen so I might as well let her keep the title and just go.'

'But, you are the true queen.'

'It is best that I'm not. I've been given another mission. Could you please try to forget I was here, for the sake of this world?'

'I'll try my friend.'

She started to walk away and I made my way to the willow tree. The jewels were all on the lowest branch strung through the tendrils of higher branches. The moonstone was now ghostly pale in the soft light. I gathered my trinkets and placed them back to their proper homes. Promise was back around my neck, the bracelet Mephistopheles had made was around my leg, and the compass was now tangled and well hidden in my wings. It was time to move and I knew that the path was already being set for me to travel.

I was here early again. I'd have to wait almost one hundred years before I saw anything unusual. That's when I saw July disappear."

I told him the rest of my history. By the end he knew how old I really was. "That is one good story. But I wanted a true one."

"Give me your knife."

"Why would you want that?"

"To prove a point."

"I shouldn't give you it but here."

He handed me his knife. "I healed where your arm should have been so you didn't die but is that enough? Of course not, why do guys always seem to think injury is much less than it actually is?"

I sliced down my arm. The violet blood flowed at a violent pace with how deep I had cut myself. His eyes went wide. I think in fear that I actually cut myself and that the blood was not the red he expected. He grabbed the knife away. "We have to get you some help."

"Hold still. Don't draw any more attention. If you are that much of a wanted man think about what you have in your hand. Move and it will come into full view and then where are you going to be? So listen, stay."

He was still very fidgety. I grasped my arm with my other hand. I had to concentrate. It had been a while since I've had to heal myself. That and the blood lost posed a challenge. The wound closed at my touch. "So, that's what you did to me?"

"Yes."

"Then why was I still hurt?"

"If I would have healed it completely it would have drawn attention to me. Have I convinced you of who I am?"

"If everything you've said is true can you promise me one thing?"

"What is that?"

"Never use the Phoenix when it might kill something."

"I have no intention to. I would prefer to never use it again. Fate seems stacked against my intentions though. Hey, I'm hungry want to go get something to eat?"

He gave me an odd look then agreed. I wiped the blood off his knife for him. It was my blood; it should never be allowed to stain him. We walked into the restaurant. It was already morning. I ordered a plate of doughnuts for my breakfast. What do I care about health, I really didn't need to eat in the first place. I had finished one while Vash had finished the rest. "Well, you said you didn't need to eat."

"I still enjoy the taste of food!"

"You could have said something."

"Never mind. Why do people keep staring at me like that?"

I rolled my eyes around the room. "You are different from anyone else. Your red hair could be one reason. Another reason is when you pay your bill. You don't use $$ you barter metals and jewels."

"I guess it makes sense then."

I paid the bill. "Vash, I have to go again. I have to find the 'Hand of God,' whatever Fate meant by that."

"I met a man a while ago, real strange guy. His name is Wolfwood he seems to be the religious type."

"Wolfwood? How will I know him?"

"Well he doesn't look like a churchman, except for the dark clothes and he carries a big cross."

"Where can I find him?"

"He was heading towards, wait, you wouldn't know the city. Just head that way until you hit the city."

"Thanks Vash. Until we meet again. Maybe then you can see my true form."

"I look forward to it."

I started to walk away when he grabbed my hand. "Can't I come? Please? I'll be your guide."

"I was told I had to do this on my own. If you want to come it is your own risk."

"Don't worry I'll keep you safe."

"Come on. I can see I'm not going to be able to get you to understand the risk of being around me."

"I thought trouble only followed me."