BLISS
part 2
by Mike Loader and Lara Bartram
It was scary. Well, a little scary. Just a bit worrying really. Neither one of them would admit that they were scared. Worried, yes. Scared, no way.
So Ukyo and Akane sat behind the protective wall of water through the night, neither sleeping much. They just weren't tired. That's what they told each other. It had nothing to do with the sound of feet that even they could hear entering the water.
Entering and exiting. Entering and exiting. Pacing at the shore. Waiting at the shore.
"Are you cold?" Ukyo asked at one point in the night, his eyes nearly closed, but his body straight and stiff with instinctual alertness.
Akane shrugged. "A little." She looked at Ukyo, feeling more awake than she wanted. The fatigue on Ukyo's face was clear, and she could almost feel the waves of tension flow from him. "It is kind of chilly, isn't it?"
Ukyo nodded, and Akane shivered a little for effect. "If you're cold, maybe we could use our body heat to keep warm," he offered, eyes closing slowly and then snapping open.
"That sounds like a good idea," Akane replied, knowing he needed the rest a lot worse than she did. Scooting over to sit right next to Ukyo, she leaned on him a little and felt him relax. Akane rolled her eyes at the stupid machismo Ukyo was showing. And yet, the warmth they shared was comforting, even as they both managed to fall asleep with the pounding of the water in front of them.
Akane woke up, nestled within comforting warmth and protection. Dimly, she wondered where she was, though at the moment, she didn't much care. She felt safe, and that was the only thing that mattered.
The sound of the water constantly pounding down less than 15 feet away finally forced her to wake up. And that was when she discovered she was being held, and quite nicely, in Ukyo's arms, and that was all she needed after the night she had had.
Removing herself as gently as possible, figuring Ukyo needed the sleep, Akane planned on fetching a little breakfast. In the daylight, it should have been perfectly plausible to make a fire on the beach and cook something up. If she could catch it.
Stripping and doing her best to shelter her clothing under her body, Akane ducked under the falls until she was forced to swim. Holding her wet, but not quite soaked, clothing on her head with one hand, she did a clumsy three-quarter dog paddle to shore.
Once out of the water, she shook as much moisture off as she could and redressed. She hadn't forgotten to snag a piece of flint from Ukyo before she had left him, and went about gathering tinder. And there, among the sand and soft dirt, she saw the prints, paw prints of dogs.
They both had known the animals had been there, but actually seeing the ground covered in their prints was a completely different story. The sheer number of them was close to being frightening, and if they hadn't taken refuge behind that waterfall, Akane wasn't sure they would have been successful at fighting the beasts off.
Gathering the tinder and building the base for the fire, Akane tried to think what she could catch and cook. The thought of more meat was practically making her mouth water. Fruit was fine to a point, but red meat, or even poultry or fish was that much better.
The lake had seemed absent of any fish as she thought about it. They had seen birds in the trees, but only songbirds and nothing worth the effort of catching. There were monkeys, but they too were small, and they were fast little buggers.
There was no way Akane planned on hunting wild dogs by herself either. She might actually find them. In large numbers, and that would most assuredly be disastrous. That left her with nothing, but again, that wasn't entirely true.
The two of them hadn't really been looking for food before. She just knew there had to be more on the island than scrawny monkeys, birds and those damnable dogs. After all, what were the dogs eating anyway? There had been so many of them, they couldn't have been feeding off the very few tree-dwellers they could find or catch.
Unfortunately, with the two of them trampling all along the lake's edge, whatever animals might live on the island would not approach the water to drink. That meant she had to go out and hunt. Akane had never hunted before. But there was a first time for everything.
Breaking off a thick branch and crudely fashioning a point on it by rubbing it against a rock, Akane looked at her spear and almost laughed. If she could even catch a leaf on the thing, she'd count herself lucky.
Shrugging, Akane headed off into the jungle to hunt.
While it seemed fortune spat on them before, this day, it seemed to have changed its mind and was now smiling. Akane had gone less than 100 meters from the lake and was wiggling her way up a tree to examine what looked like a bird's nest.
A rustle in the bushes below her made her freeze in mid wiggle. Looking down, amidst a large, leafy bush, she saw something big and... bristly. Listening, she heard the sound of grunting and smiled predatorily. Just as she thought...
Trying to move around so she could somehow spear the animal, Akane slipped a little and slid a foot down the tree. The rough bark against her skin made her hiss in pain and grasp the trunk more tightly. She fumbled with her makeshift spear and almost dropped it, but she recovered, and her prey hadn't seemed to notice it at all.
It emerged from the bush, black snout directed at the ground, pausing to root in the soft earth. It was bigger than Akane had first thought, looking to weigh a good 45 kilograms, but...
She was almost drooling at the thought of having some "real" meat finally. There wasn't any way dog was going to replace some nice, juicy pork on her list of preferred meats.
The wild pig revealed its full, bristly back to her as it continued to root for food around the tree. If only she could just throw her spear and hit it in the neck...
Letting go of the tree with her weapon hand, Akane hung down dangerously, trying to get the best angle on her future breakfast. A little lower she dropped as the pig moved to the left some. "Damn it, hold still, porky," she said quietly, ready to throw her spear.
Legs fatigued and hand sweating, Akane felt like she was suspended in the air for a brief moment as her hand slipped off the trunk. And then the ground was rushing at her and she couldn't even manage to scream.
The pig, hearing enough noise to know something was going on, jerked its body around and ended up taking the point of Akane's spear in its back, getting wedged between some ribs. Akane herself slammed into the rear half of the pig and drove its body to the ground, squealing with pain and terror.
Rolling off the animal, Akane sat up, half of her broken spear still in her hand. She looked dazedly at the pig, which was at the moment attempting to stand and make its escape.
Neck feeling like it was on a spring, Akane knew she couldn't let this golden opportunity to get away. She crawled forward and dumbly stared at the injured animal, wondering just how she would finish it off. Even if she didn't plan on killing the thing, leaving it in such a shape would simply be too cruel.
Sudden sadness and frustration came over her, and she gripped the struggling animal's head in her hands. Closing her eyes, Akane twisted quickly and felt/heard the satisfying crunch of bones. The entire body shuddered and twitched for a few moments, then fell still.
Akane sat on the ground, just stunned at what had happened. Looking down at herself, her shirt was stained with spattered blood, and she felt some of it on her face. Whether it was from the initial stabbing or what, she didn't know, but... The pig.
She had just snapped its neck like she had broken the stick she had stabbed it with. Just... snap. Absently, she wiped her cheek, smearing the blood, the broken stick still in her hand.
More rustling from the bushes made Akane look up, but her eyes were still partly glazed from the combined shock and surprise at what she had done. Trotting out from under the plant was a group of piglets, each of them plump and colored a dusky black in color. Akane had apparently killed their mother.
She sat, her legs splayed out uncomfortably, blood on her shirt, smeared across her cheek, and stared dumbly at the little black piglets that had come trotting out.
...stupid pig...
She shook her head numbly, a feeling of nausea welling up. That damn, mean-spirited voice seemed to loom out of the hole in her mind, somehow threatening...
A piglet squealed in fear and confusion.
...yo, pig...
...ranm... stop picking on p-chan...
...stupid porker!...
...p-chan, come back...
Her vision blurred, and with an effort she snapped her mind back to the present, stomach roiling. Black piglet... she or someone she knew must have had one, and the terrible, mocking voice didn't like it... had killed it... tried to kill it?
Biting back a scream of frustration, Akane stood, and stared at the bloody main course in front of her. Out of spite, or hatred or confusion, she booted away one of the piglets. "Little bastards," she said, glaring at them.
But she had gotten what she wanted. Akane threw away the broken stick and bent down to lift the pig. It was heavy, heavy enough to stagger her momentarily when she got it across her shoulders. She wanted to throw it down and leave it there for the scavengers when she felt the warm blood trickle down her neck and into her shirt.
It was inelegant, but it was food. It was meat. That was all that mattered. And when Ukyo emerged from behind the waterfall, clothes held as high as possible when he got into the deep water, he kept his eyes trained on her.
The way she was hunched over listlessly by the fire, poking at the meat occasionally, looked very bad. "Akane, you caught breakfast," he said in an attempt to get some sort of dialogue going.
She simply nodded.
As the water got shallow, he waited for her to politely turn her head so he could exit and put on his clothing. But she never even glanced in his direction. All her attention was on the fire.
Taking slow steps, Ukyo exited the water, holding his clothes in front of himself to maintain his modesty. Never once did she look at him, and that was worrying. He expected her to at least make some sort of comment, whether it was a joke or an insult... Something.
Once dressed, Ukyo sat on the opposite side of the fire, facing Akane. "Akane, what's wrong?" he asked gently.
"Nothing. Eat your pig."
Ukyo recoiled slightly as Akane thrust a piece of steaming meat on a stick at him. Taking the stick, he held it at his side and waited for it to cool. His stomach wasn't even really awake yet, and Akane needed much more attention than himself. "Akane..."
"It happened again, all right?"
Drawing his eyebrows together, Ukyo tried to decipher just what it was she was talking about. "What happened? Were there more dogs?"
Akane shook her head, and Ukyo was surprised to see a tear hit the sand at her feet. "It happened again, and they're all so awful... None of them are good. It's just... Ukyo," she said, finally looking up at him, "I'm scared. I don't know what these memories are, but they're not good."
And then, Ukyo truly was frightened. Akane was getting her memory back? He hadn't experienced a thing. Nothing. His mind was just as blank as it had been before, and now... What if Akane got her memory back and he never did? It would be like being the last one left at the dock as a boat sails away. Akane would be looking back, waving at him.
"Akane, does this mean... you're getting your memory back?" he asked, afraid to hear her answer.
She shook her head. "Just... flashes. Voices of people, things I can't remember... Sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy, all the voices and the headaches..."
"Headaches? You're getting headaches? Why didn't you mention this before? What if there's something seriously wrong, a concussion or..." Ukyo trailed off when he saw the tired little grin Akane was giving him.
Blinking slowly, damp tracks still visible on her cheeks, Akane said, "Don't worry about it. I was in good enough shape to catch this pig, wasn't I? Besides, I think it's some weird side effect of whatever caused this amnesia." Her eyes grew steely. "I know it's not some coincidence. This was done on purpose to us."
Ukyo nodded, and as far fetched as it might have seemed initially, he was coming to believe that it was the truth. Unsure of what to say, he began to eat.
Akane turned and looked up at the rising mountain. "We've got to find somewhere to make a camp or something."
"But what about the rest of the island? We don't want to stop in one place before we know what else is here. What if..."
"What if what? What if there's some resort just over the next hill? Or what if there's a boat washed up on shore just waiting for us to sail away in it? Face it, we both know that there's nothing on this island but us. The only thing we can do is..."
Ukyo looked down at the fire in defeat. Akane was right. He DID know that they wouldn't find any sort of miraculous rescue on the island. The dogs alone should have been proof enough of that, because if there HAD been some sort of civilization, a resort, those dogs would have been exterminated before anything else.
When Akane spoke again, her voice was quiet and somber. "I think we should cook more of this meat and when it's done we go looking for a place to make a more... permanent home." She thinned her lips into a white line. It was about the only way she could control her facial expression.
"Fine. Then later, we go." Ukyo's voice lacked emotion, and in his eyes, there was the look of finality. It was as if he was preparing to walk to his death.
Akane had removed a large leaf from something she thought might be a rubber plant and wrapped it around the meat they had cooked. She ripped the rest of her sleeve off, tore it in half length-wise and used the strips to tie the bundle securely.
"We'll continue to follow the river. In any case, we're better off making camp near it, and then working our way from there." And still, Ukyo couldn't muster any positive emotion. But he couldn't think of any good reason to except that they weren't dead.
Akane seemed to understand and was quiet herself. But there had been no point in fooling themselves that they might be miraculously rescued. That would only make survival that much harder if they waited each day for someone to get them off the island.
Without further words, they walked into the jungle.
Ukyo sighed and looked at the scene before him. It was beautiful in a starkly hopeless way. If they were on vacation, he would have been taking pictures, but he and Akane were not on vacation. The scene only presented itself as the final crumbling of his hope.
The two were standing on the lip of some sort of huge crater at the top of the largest hill on the island. It was so large it actually bordered on mountainous, and gave an unfortunately good view of the rest of the island.
The crater was filled with clear water, which spilled over one edge and formed the beginnings of the river that they had been following. But the crater itself was a mystery.
It was large, but not exceedingly large. It didn't look like any sort of volcanic leftover; the "mountain" was just too small for that. And too rounded. It just wasn't the geology of a volcano. The facts just didn't add up.
Akane started walking around the edge of the crater, looking out to the jungle below them. The look on her face was probably very similar to the one on his own. Now they knew. Not even a faint hope remained. In every direction was jungle, and more jungle, and beyond that, beach and ocean and limitless sky.
Ukyo almost wanted to cry, but if Akane could remain calm, then he would too. He turned and looked out at the jungle below him. There was nothing in that greenery to be happy about, nothing to even be positive about.
"Hey, Ukyo, take a look at this."
He looked up to see Akane waving him over. She was looking down the opposite edge of the crater, and she seemed enthusiastic about something. "What is it?" he asked, approaching her.
"Look down there." Akane was pointing at something among the trees.
Peering down, Ukyo was confused. "It looks like..."
"A building of some kind." She looked at him excitedly. "Maybe we were wrong. Maybe there's someone there."
Shaking his head, Ukyo slowly answered, "No. Look at that. It's all grown over."
"Well, maybe we can stay there then. Either way, we have to go down there and check it out."
Ukyo couldn't argue against that. "I suppose we do."
Ukyo didn't like leaving the river and told Akane as much.
"I don't know what to say other than if we never leave the sight of the river, we'll never explore the entire island. We may not find anyone else here, but it's still important that we know the layout of the island. We can't be content to just sit in one spot for the rest of our time." She refused to say that they would be there the rest of their lives. She refused to accept that they would be. Even if it looked that way at the time.
But only at the time. They would find a way to get to some other island, something inhabited, or they would get themselves rescued. They simply couldn't let themselves not believe that.
Ukyo followed Akane as they descended the almost mountainous hill toward the strange ruins they had seen emerging from the jungle. True, part of it was leaving the river, which he didn't want to do, but it was the strange ruin as well.
Yes, they needed to explore it, but he really didn't want to. Seeing it at first had been a small spark of hope. Maybe, however improbable it might be, there was someone in that ruin. Maybe there was someone that could get them off the island. But something bothered him about that mysterious ruin. Something, just something, he didn't like at all.
"Just as long as you know I'm not sure this is a good idea," he said, frowning.
Akane looked back at him. "What? It's some sort of ruin or temple. What could be wrong? At worst, maybe it's where those dogs are hiding out, but we can fight them off. I really don't see what the big deal is."
"It may be nothing, but I just don't like it."
Akane shrugged and picked up her pace. It should have been a straight walk down to the ruin, and not too far by the looks of it, but distances were deceiving.
They walked through the heat and the plants and the insects for an amount of time they didn't know, sweating and tiring themselves out. They didn't have the luxury of the river to draw water from when they got too warm or too thirsty this time, and they were starting to feel it.
Hell, both of them looked ready to melt, and several times they stopped and rested under the canopy of the jungle. Even though it was all downhill, their legs were burning with the effort of moving.
"A... Akane, I have to rest," Ukyo said, panting. "It's too hot. I can't breathe."
Akane was doubled over, sucking in air. "Just... just relax, Ukyo. Take deep breaths, don't talk. It's not as bad as you think it is."
Ukyo leaned back against a tree and slid down so he was sitting on the ground, his forehead resting on his knees. "I didn't think it would be so hot if we got away from the river."
Akane nodded, sweat dripping from her shorn off hair. "Neither did I. Maybe..." Maybe this and maybe that. Maybe a golden horse would gallop out of the trees and give them ride. Or maybe a talking lion would give them a wish.
Ukyo waved his hand absently at her, and she stopped speaking. There wasn't much to say.
"Ukyo, we can't wait until dark."
He nodded. "I know." He stood slowly, his face looking haggard and drained of strength. His entire body felt like a rusty gate, stiff and creaking, like it might fall apart at any moment. "Let's go then."
That small amount of movement, standing, had him sweating and short of breath already. And when Akane stood, he could see she wasn't any better. "Quicker we get this over with, the quicker we can rest, right?" he asked.
Akane nodded, her eyes looking almost glassy. She wasn't sure she could keep it up. "It can't be much further, right?" she asked. "Not much further. It can't be." She wasn't sure she could make it, but it was something more than that. She was mentally unfocused, unable to concentrate on her breathing or her pace, which had tired her out immensely.
The entire time down, she had been huffing and puffing, her footing shaky, legs feeling like they were about to give out. It was almost like she was in a complete fog, mentally and physically. "Ukyo, this is bad..."
"It's not that bad, Akane. It's only a little bit more and then we'll be there. We can take this heat, just until we get there, and then we'll rest. Even if we have to sleep in trees, we'll be fine."
He extended his hand to her, and Akane couldn't even remember when she had decided to sit down. "It's not that," she said, taking his hand and allowing him to pull her to her feet."
"What is it then?"
Akane shook her head. "I just don't think... I've changed my mind. This is a bad idea. We should go back, or around, or something. I just don't think it's a good idea to investigate this place."
Ukyo laughed tiredly. "Come on. We've come this far. It's too far to quit."
They stumbled away from the spot they had stopped, looking like the living dead.
Thankfully, they had only a little longer to travel before they reached their destination. Even though they couldn't see it through the trees, they knew they had made it.
The multitudes of living inhabitants that had been around them at all times before, so noisy, so ever-present, were suddenly quiet. It was like they had entered some dead zone, no sound, no movement, nothing.
Even the plant life was much subdued, and nearly non-existent when they got within four meters of the immense structure, and all but the most basic plant life refused to grow. The grass was short and scraggly, thick blades grew in erratic clumps all over.
A few trees had braved the closer proximity to the walls, and they paid a price for their hardiness. Ukyo and Akane looked at the stunted and twisted trunks, almost black in color. The leaves, what few there were, were green and yellow, mottled with black and something that might have been purple, or maybe silver, but didn't have any name they could describe it with.
"Ukyo," Akane whispered, "do you feel a breeze?"
Ukyo shook his head. "Why?"
"Then why are those branches moving?" she asked. She pointed to a tree at the corner of the structure that was waving slightly, almost as if it were greeting them.
"Um..." was all Ukyo said in response. "Why... why don't we take a look around the outside first?" he suggested, looking away from the tree.
"Good idea," Akane replied, and turned away from the waving tree. She began walking briskly in the opposite direction, quite eager to be away from it. That was just another one of those things that Akane was beginning to really dislike about the island.
She knew Ukyo was just as disturbed by it as she was. The look of revulsion on his face had been quite clear. Or maybe it hadn't been revulsion at all, but horror. And fear. Those were two things she could readily agree with.
They followed along one outer wall, idly looking at it, sometimes looking at the surrounding greenery. There just wasn't a whole lot to say about the wall because it was smooth and featureless. Just a smooth, solid expanse of white, pushing back the jungle, staking its claim.
At one point, after they had turned one corner, Ukyo thought he had spotted another wild pig and had gone after it into the jungle. That left Akane alone, and she wasn't exactly happy with it. Hell, she didn't think she'd be afraid of much of anything the island could throw at her, but it was just... creepy.
The lack of any noise, birds, animals, insects even, was so disturbing that she found herself involuntarily shivering. Suddenly getting a look of distaste on her face, she forced her body to stop the worthless shaking and stand still. She wasn't a child. It was unnecessary for her to act as one.
No, she could explore on her own. Ukyo would find her as long as she didn't wander into the jungle. That she could handle. She would handle it, childish fears be damned.
Walking, it was actually a small shape huddled against the wall that caught her attention. It looked to be a log or something leaning against the wall, and on it, she saw something that looked familiar to her.
"Ukyo!" she called out as she walked on. "I think I found a little something!"
Ukyo came bursting from the jungle, panting and sweating. He had not found any trace of the pig he had thought he had seen. "You found something?" he asked.
"Yeah. Up here." Akane pointed to the shape as they approached it. "Do those look like shitaki mushrooms to you?"
Ukyo looked at the mushrooms growing on the log Akane had pointed out. He was still too far away to tell clearly, and he wasn't quite sure what those looked like anyway, but it couldn't hurt to investigate.
They approached the mushrooms, and Akane squatted down to look at them closer. "I think they look like shitaki, but if neither of us can be sure, then we shouldn't..." She reached out to pluck one of the enlarged caps.
"Akane, don't!" Ukyo said sharply. He was standing on the other side of the log and prodding it with his stick. "Don't touch those," he warned, his voice deadly serious.
Akane looked up at him, surprised. "Why? What's wrong?"
He gestured with his stick and what he had found.
Rising and walking to stand next to him, Akane looked down at what he was staring darkly at. Her face twisted into a look of disgust. "Thanks for warning me."
"Think nothing of it," he replied. They looked at for a few moments longer, as if taking in the sight as a warning to themselves, then walked on.
They had left behind, not a log, but the corpse of a large monkey, huddled against the wall. The strange pitch black mushrooms sprouted from its body, a healthy cluster protruding forth from one empty eye socket. A slimy white fungus seemed to pour from its open mouth, like it was a rabid beast. The overall effect was disturbing, the animal seeming to clutch itself with its arms, its face locked in a silent scream of anguish.
Akane and Ukyo continued to walk, wondering when this funhouse of illusions would end. First the tree, then the monkey... What could be next? And could it be any worse? Then they reached the entrance, and a feeling of loathing washed over them. They both knew that it could get worse, and deep inside, they knew it would.
They paused at the "gates" to the immense structure, temple, palace, whatever it was and looked at each other. It was raising doubts in each of them, and the silence was beyond deafening. The two huge pillars of stone, what appeared to be a sort of marble, flanked them.
There were no obvious spots where any sort of doors might have been connected, but it seemed absurd that such a... pristine place would have been left open to the wilderness.
Akane looked at the "floor", composed of blocks of the same marble the pillars were. Indeed, the entire thing seemed to be made of the stone. But... where had it all come from? It was obvious that it hadn't come from the island itself.
Ukyo touched his hand to the smooth stone and ran his fingers across it. "It's one whole piece."
Akane looked at him strangely. "What?"
"This pillar, it's one huge unbroken piece of stone. Something this large... it should be in sections, but it's not." He looked at the outside of the pillar, where it was connected with the exterior walls. Again, there was no seam, no crack, no joint. The pillar and the wall were one huge, solid piece of rock.
"Did you see this?" Akane asked. She was down on one knee, looking with fascination at the marble "tiling" that begin just on the other side of the pillars.
Akane looked up at Ukyo, then back down at the floor. "It's amazing..." She touched it with her fingertips and wiped it lightly. It was smooth, almost greasy to the touch, and she couldn't help but bring her fingers together, rubbing them against one another. "This is weird," she said reverently.
Ukyo watched her, then took a big breath and stepped on to that strange, slippery surface. He expected his foot to slide on the smooth stone, but his footing was as solid as it had been on the dirt. He braced himself against the upright and stepped completely onto the floor of the ruined...
But he couldn't really call it a ruin of any sort. It was in pristine condition when it should have been nothing more than a crumbling pile of rubble. The slightly off-white marble with veins of gray running through it looked like it had been cleaned and polished just the other day, and was cool on his feet, even through his sandals.
"What is this? It sure doesn't feel like any sort of rock I know," Akane said, stepping gingerly from the dirt to the floor. It was hard to concentrate on one aspect of the... temple because it was just so weird in all ways.
There was the weird stone, and the way it was cut, and the perfect condition, and it was just so... eerily perfect. Words just didn't do it justice. Nothing she could say could accurately describe what she was feeling. Awe and fear and amazement and disbelief, but not any of them. It was all those things and more.
"Akane, are you..."
Ukyo's hand on her shoulder made her jump and realize she had been staring at the smallish structure in the middle of the... place. She didn't even know what she was standing in the middle of. "I'm fine, Ukyo," she replied, her voice strangely devoid of all emotion, a fact that bothered even her.
"Well, if you say so." He looked at her more, getting the distinct feeling that there was something very wrong, but not knowing what or why, then went back to his exploration. He decided he would try what they had done with the outside and follow the interior wall. It all seemed obvious enough, a big, wide open space surrounded by walls, but it was hard to say.
"I don't think this is any sort of temple or anything," he said as he walked. "The walls are all completely blank. Wouldn't there be reliefs or something? Engravings? Sta..."
Akane had been walking ever so slowly to the building in the middle of the space, darkly fascinated by its appearance, like that of a tomb. Could it be? But then Ukyo had suddenly stopped speaking. "What is it, Ukyo?"
Akane waited for his reply. There wasn't one. "Ukyo?" she said loudly, and began walking to where he had been along the wall. She got around the intimidating presence of the little building and saw Ukyo standing, frozen in place, staring at something. Frowning slightly, she approached him carefully. "Ukyo?" she asked again. "What's the..."
She saw what he was looking at, and something in her told her to stand perfectly still and not move. The survival instinct in Akane was quite powerful, and what she saw was something she couldn't punch and break, or something Ukyo could fend off with his stick. What she saw was... an abomination of nature.
A statue made of dark gray stone, in complete contrast to the white beauty around them, sat in the midst of a stagnant fountain. It was completely, wholly, disgustingly unnatural, with limbs all twisted, and a body perverted against everything natural.
A faceless stub of a head, masked by tentacles and claws and great wings casting a dark shadow across the still water in the fountain basin.
"Ukyo, what..."
...she screamed in fear and rage as the razored pincers slashed down towards her...
"Akane?"
..."AKANE! NO!" the male voice, screaming in rage and grief...
"Akane?"
...ukyo! no! no! my fault! my fault! no! NO!...
Waves of nausea surged through her, and she turned away and retched. For a few seconds she bent and panted, dry heaving, and then Ukyo helped her to straighten. She felt like hell, and her mind felt like something was rattling around inside it, and her head ached like mad...
"Are you okay? What's wrong?"
"The statue," she finally said. "I've seen it before. It was something horrible, and you..."
...he leapt in front of her, weapon ready, and then it was upon them...
"...and you were there..."
...ukyo! no, god, please no, my fault! my fault!...
"...and something horrible happened to you." She looked away, shaking. "I don't know what."
Ukyo frowned, and stared at the ugly thing, the lurking familiarity rising up as he did. A low throbbing began at the base of his skull.
Remember, he told himself. Remember. Look at the statue. Note the claws...
...akane! it hurt akane!...
...it killed...warrior's death...avenge...
...you will not hurt her!...
Pain blossomed in his head, and a sudden flash of ripping talons, whip-like arms, and rending jaws filled his mind. And a girl, falling apart in a fountain of crimson blood.
"Something horrible happened," he repeated dully. "Something..." He stared at the statue, this time with sickness and loathing.
Akane stood, trembling, looking down at the floor, her hand clenched into a fist. It was the only way she could regain control of her emotions, the only way she could stop herself from breaking the statue into a thousand pieces. She wouldn't do that. It wouldn't accomplish anything.
"Something," she said quietly, her voice little more than a hiss, "hurt people I cared about, and I think that something dumped us on this island without memory." She looked up at Ukyo, tears at the corners of her eyes. Her eyes narrowed as the glanced sideways at the statue. "There had better be something here worth these damned flashbacks."
With a great effort of her will, Akane approached the fountain and statue. She glared at the water, trying to avoid looking at the remnant of some twisted person that would ever deem it worthy of being displayed. Her reflection only made her angrier, the person staring back at her looking worn and bedraggled, her hair just looked awful...
"Ukyo, I look terrible, and I feel awful, and it was all because of this thing. And I want to see my family." She closed her eyes tightly. "I want to KNOW who my family is, damn it!" she yelled.
Ukyo gently put his hand on her shoulder, only to have her shrug it off. "Akane, you don't look terrible," Ukyo said quietly. "And I want to get out of here as much as you do, but I don't think getting all upset at this is going to help."
"I don't care! Whatever happened, I couldn't do anything about it, and look what happened! Look at us!" She turned and glared at Ukyo.
"We are so utterly pathetic, we might as well just sit down and wait to die! We can't survive here anyway, in a stupid jungle, with no food or water, no place to live, no nothing! So if breaking this ugly statue makes me feel better, then I will get as upset as I damn well please! Hear me?" Akane could feel her chest heaving from the anger and self-pity working their way to escape.
"Akane, you... you... Akane, you're beautiful." He paid no mind to her stunned face at his comment. "We will survive on this island as long as it takes for us to get rescued from it. We will." He gazed at her evenly, none of his own fear showing. "I don't even remember if I have a family, so I'm going to do my best to survive so I can go back and see whoever might have missed me.
"Akane, I know you want to do the same. The both of us, we have to."
She stopped and listened to him, his eyes transfixing her own. He was so... mysterious, but then, she was a mystery to herself, so that wasn't too surprising. But still, there was something about the way he spoke that convinced her that he was right. She gave the tiniest of nods.
Ukyo did not smile. He did not even acknowledge her nod. "And if ever I feel I must simply give myself up to this forsaken island, this jungle, it will not be in this... unnatural place," he said, still looking at her intently.
Akane turned her head and looked at the statue long enough to know he was right. The sweetest revenge on any stupid monster would be to go back home and show everyone she wasn't dead. Show them that the monster had been beaten, that it hadn't been able to erase her from life just because it wished to.
She was made of stronger stuff than that, and she knew it. She looked at Ukyo and gave him the beginnings of a cocky grin. He knew it too. "Okay," she said quietly, but forcefully. "We finish checking this place out and then we leave. I get a very strange feeling that we're not exactly welcome."
Ukyo nodded. "I as well. Should we split up, or..."
Akane shook her head. "No splitting up. I don't think it's big enough that we need to. Besides, I... I don't feel as bad if I get those flashbacks when I'm around you. It's like you're my anchor to the real world. Even if I get mad at you, you're all I've got that's real flesh and blood, and not some nightmare flashback torturing me."
She was quite surprised at how good she felt confessing that to Ukyo. It was like it had all been bottled up inside for some strange reason, that she hadn't been willing to reveal such a silly weakness to him.
"I don't think my flashbacks are as numerous as yours. It... it frightens me a little." Ukyo frowned and looked at the fountain of blackish water. "They scare me, because I know something terrible, something really awful happened, but... What if I never remember who I am?"
"Then when we get back home, I guess we have someone fill you in. I'm sure, positive, there'll be someone waiting for us. Someone must know we're not dead." Akane nodded, assuring herself as much as Ukyo.
Hesitantly, Ukyo reached out and slipped his hand into Akane's.
For a moment, Akane didn't do anything, then she closed her hand on his in a show of solidarity. The two it them would make it. They would make sure of it.
They walked away from the statue, the water bubbling gently at their backs, reflecting dully the sun's rays back as something not wholly of this world.
The pair walked across the open space to the back wall, hand in hand until Akane, with a sudden rush of discomforting feelings, pulled free. She stayed at the same distance, but let her arm swing free at her side. Occasionally, their hands would touch, but this was not acknowledged by either of them.
"I just don't get it." Akane ran her hand over the smooth, blank wall. "This can't be a temple. Wouldn't there be something here then?"
Ukyo nodded. "Yes, I would think so, but what about that statue?" He jerked his thumb back over his shoulder toward the statue. He didn't really feel like looking at it any more than he had to.
"I don't know," answered Akane. "None of this makes any sense." She leaned against the wall, getting fed up with the annoyingly strange construct. She was about to start complaining again when she felt the wall behind her shift slightly. "What the..."
Meaning to push off and investigate, Akane ended up putting the needed force on the wall to push it back, revealing a flight of stairs that went down into the ground. She let out a strangled yelp as she slipped backwards into the darkness.
"Akane!" Ukyo yelled, and without further thought, he went down the stairs after her.
Akane tucked her body into as small a space she could manage as she tumbled down what seemed like the world's longest staircase. She covered the back of her head and neck with her hands and arms, saving herself from serious injury. Her body came to a jarring rest as she reached the bottom of the stairs and crash-landed on hard stone.
Slowly sitting up, blinking rapidly, Akane heard Ukyo calling to her. His voice echoed eerily and sounded like it was very far away. "Ukyo?" she answered back. Her own voice sounded strange and alien, echoing in whatever chamber she had ended up in.
"Akane, are you hurt?" he called.
"I... I think so." She could hear his footsteps as he descended the stairs and stood up slowly. "Watch out, it's really dark."
His footsteps slowed with her warning. "You're right. Can you see anything down there?"
Akane looked around, faced with only blackness and shook her head. "I can't see anything." She looked up where she thought the way out should have been, but still there was no light. "Ukyo, how... what happened to the wall that opened?"
"I think it shut automatically. Just wait there and I'll be right down. We can figure out what to do from there."
Figure out.. She couldn't even figure out where her butt was it was so dark. How would they be able to figure anything else out? "You shouldn't have come down here, Ukyo," she called out.
"Why not?" he said, standing almost next to her.
Akane jumped a little with surprise. "Don't do that. You almost gave me a heart attack. Besides, it's pitch black down here, and we have no way out." She looked up at him and scowled. "So how are we supposed to get out of here?"
"Well, I must admit, I'm not totally sure. It is rather dark, isn't it?"
"Thank you very much." Akane was really annoyed at this point. "So how are we..." She blinked. There was a noticeable difference. Akane blinked again. "Hey, Ukyo, I think there's light coming from somewhere."
"Why do you say that? It's still pitch..." He stopped and squinted, looking down at Akane. Sure enough, he could see her. So very vaguely, but he could see her pale skin faintly luminescent in the darkness.
"I have to say, as much as I appreciate this light, wherever it's coming from, I really want to get out of here. I think it'd be a good idea to check out the wall back at the top of the stairs." Akane pushed Ukyo aside and began climbing the stairs slowly.
Ukyo planned on exploring the cavernous room a little, beginning by following the wall around. He touched his fingertips to the wall lightly, and feeling only cold stone, began to walk. Maybe there was a tunnel or something similar they could use to escape.
He got only six paces before the texture of the wall changed from slightly rough-hewn rock to something slick and greasy. Ukyo jerked his fingers away and began wiping them furiously on his pants. Whatever that was, and he could tell it wasn't simply the smooth, oily illusion of the strange marble; this was a physical substance.
Deciding he'd had enough of exploration, at least while he was by himself, Ukyo backed up and went to the base of the stairs. Getting off whatever had been on the wall from his hand was now an obsession, and he spent the entire time wiping his hands off on his pants. "Akane?" he called out.
"I'm at the top, Ukyo. Come up here. I think I've got something," she answered, and again there was that feeling that he was a hundred miles away. Her voice was oddly distorted like he was underwater or something.
Not waiting for, or needing, another invitation, Ukyo started up the stairs as quickly as he dared. It would be just his luck to slip and fall and end up being stuck at the bottom of this seemingly limitless pit.
Several times, for no discernible reason, he looked behind himself, down into the black emptiness. He just knew all was not as it seemed and there was something down there, waiting for the two of them. But then again, the mind had the tendency to play tricks on a person, especially considering the situation.
After what seemed to be hours of speeding up the stairs, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end, Ukyo ended up slamming into Akane and smashing her against what had been the way in.
"Hey, watch it, you moron! You could have gotten us killed!" she admonished, pushing him away.
"I'm sorry," he answered, panting. "I just... Something on the walls..."
Akane definitely did not want to know and turned her attention back to the wall. "Here, help me push. I think we can tilt this thing if we try together." She leaned her shoulder up against the wall and felt Ukyo do the same next to her. "Ready? One, two, three."
The two of them put all their weight against the stone, and little by little, they felt it move. Soon enough, with both of them grunting from exertion, the slab slowly swung upwards, impossibly defying gravity.
Not waiting for it to open any more than necessary, the pair tumbled out into the bright afternoon sunlight. They watched their door swing continue to swing upward, until it was wide open, at which time it stopped.
"Whoa. That is... too weird for words," Akane said, looking in awe at the opening.
Ukyo nodded, still gasping for breath. His attention was on his hand though, his fingers where they had brushed through whatever had been on the wall. They were black and green, like they had been severely bruised, and they tingled ominously. He set his stick down, then proceeded to scrub at his fingers with his shirt.
After a few moments, the fungus began to rub off, and after a minute of hard scrubbing, his fingers were clean once again. Ukyo felt intensely relieved, more even than escaping their temporary prison had left him.
He picked up his stick again and suddenly stopped. He looked at it strangely, then at Akane. "Akane?"
"Yeah?"
"You know, we could have just..." He waved his stick around a little and gestured to Akane's hands.
Akane immediately understood what he was implying and smacked herself in the forehead. "You're right. We could have just blasted our way through there instead of forcing it open."
Ukyo stood in the doorway and looked down the stairs. The sun's light only penetrated a little way down, making the surrounding darkness that much more intimidating. It then became obvious why they had been able to see so faintly in what should have been complete darkness.
The darkness beyond the light was lit up, just barely, by some pale glow that seemed to emanate from the walls themselves. True, it was faint, but it was enough to reveal the cyclopean room they had been imprisoned in.
He was currently standing at the level of the ceiling, but the stairs, he could barely make them out, seemed to go on and on, down deeper than he had ever imagined. Whatever the room had been used for, was still being used for, it was something immense.
And in that glow, using the near darkness, he could almost imagine the shadowy thing that had chased him up the stairs sitting at the edge of that light...
He shuddered involuntarily, and for a moment, he thought he did see something twisting, curling just out of the light, something dark and wet, connected to something larger... "Here," he said quickly, "let's close this. That way, neither of us will slip down those stairs."
He reached up and grabbed the stone, meaning to pull it back down. "Help me out with this, Akane." He pulled with all his strength, even lifting his feet and letting gravity try its hand, but still the stone would not move.
Akane stood on her tip-toes and took hold, pulling down as well. "The thing practically floated up there," she said, her arms straining with the effort. "And now it won't come down..."
Ukyo spared a glance into the darkness, and this time, he was sure there was something down there, making its way slowly up so that it could...
At that point the door started to slide back down into place, and Ukyo dropped to the ground. He scrambled backwards as the door slowly closed, feeling a rush of cold, clammy wind on his face.
Akane stepped back calmly and watched the door gently shut. As the last of the air was blown out and the rock fell completely back into place, there was a sound, almost like a frustrated sigh. Then the faint seams that indicated where the opening had been seemed to just disappear before their eyes.
"Well," Akane said, wiping her hands together, "glad to be done with that."
"Akane, I... I don't think we need to look around here much more. I mean," Ukyo stuttered when Akane looked at him curiously, "we don't want to take the chance that we'll do something like that again. We might not be so lucky next time and we could get hurt."
She shrugged in response and looked around. "Yeah, I suppose there's not really much more here to see." Not any more that she wanted to see at any rate. Akane reached down and helped Ukyo to his feet. "Yeah, I guess... This just isn't the right place for a shelter. I bet we could make better use of trees and stuff than whatever's here."
It felt pathetic, a weak, sorry excuse, but it was better than actually spending time in the creepy place. "Let's go. We've got to find some place to stay before it gets too dark."
Ukyo nodded and immediately began walking back to the entry to the ruin, not waiting at all for Akane. That feeling that something was waiting in the dark for them clung to him like a thick fog. The horrible, vile statue did nothing to allay that feeling either.
Akane followed, moving slightly slower. She averted her eyes from the statue, but she made no move to hide her curiosity in the innocent looking building. It was larger than a tool shed, and it had a faint design carved into the front of it. It was like a star, with an eye in the center. It was odd, the only sort of decoration in the entire place, and there it was.
She had an irrational urge to reach out and run her hands over it, see what was behind it, but Ukyo snapped her out of it.
"I don't know how much longer we have. They'll be out soon, I think."
They. Akane knew what he meant. She had no desire to battle another pack of wild dogs. She looked away from the engraving and joined Ukyo in exiting the "ruin".
Neither looked back.
Leaving the monolithic leftover of some civilization neither Akane or Ukyo ever wanted to know anything about, it was like a huge weight was suddenly lifted from their shoulders. Or maybe some heavy veil removed from their heads.
Either way, the hot, steamy jungle was a welcome environment after being in that desert of white stone. The natural formation of the plants and animals, all the sounds, that was so much more preferable than the mock representations.
Ukyo looked back once as they traveled north. He shivered a little and said, "I'm glad to be out of there. That is most definitely a place I don't wish to ever return to."
"And I agree. Whatever is going on in that place is not something I want to deal with." Sure they had escaped from that big pit, but it wasn't just that that bothered Akane so. There was an incredible air of foreboding, the smell of decay and impurity was too much.
Not finding the urge to look back herself, Akane continued walking. After all, they had far more important things to worry about. Namely, finding a relatively safe place to spend the night and not get mauled by dogs or irate pigs.
"Hey, Akane, do you still have that meat? I think I'm hungry," Ukyo said suddenly as they pushed through the jungle. His stomach was churning and grumbling, which he attributed to hunger, but could have been his body's way of protesting what he had just gone through.
Akane fumbled with her shirt, the package of meat wrapped in leaves bundled clumsily in it. Somehow, it hadn't fallen out when she had tumbled down the stairs, and that was a minor blessing. She sighed a little as she unwrapped it and saw that it looked fine, but she wasn't sure exactly what she had expected to be wrong with it.
The idea came to her suddenly. Why she was worried about the meat going bad for no reason was that the entire island was "bad" in some way. It was beautiful, but there was something corrupt about it, deep down in the soil where they couldn't see.
She handed a piece of meat to Ukyo, then started to eat some herself. She hadn't been overly hungry, but there was a strange weakness in her legs and a dizziness that accompanied her that she hoped would be cured with a little food.
And Ukyo walking as fast as he was wasn't helping much. "Hey, slow down a little. I'm not feeling so good," she said. It was the dizziness that did it. She just couldn't get things around her properly in focus. Even when Akane stopped and leaned against a tree, her entire body seemed to rock back and forth.
"Akane, what's wrong? Are you going to be sick?" Ukyo asked and placed his hand gently on her shoulder.
"No, I'm just... just dizzy," she responded and closed her eyes. That was even stranger because she still felt the sensation of rocking, but without seeing the jungle around her, it felt more like she was floating.
Ukyo looked at her. Her face was a little pale, but otherwise, she appeared perfectly fine. "Do you need water? More food? What?"
Akane shook her head. "I don't know. I just feel..." She tried to stand, letting go of the tree, and started to fall over.
Ukyo was there though, and he caught her in his arms. He felt her forehead while she continued to mumble about being dizzy. He couldn't tell if she had a fever, and it was possible that it was just heat related... Either way, they still had to get to some sort of shelter and their precious daylight was running out.
"I don't know where, Akane, but we have to go," he said and lifted her. Cradling her against him, he walked at as brisk a pace that he could manage, trying hard not to trip over any treacherous vines and roots.
The problem was, he wasn't in really that much better shape than Akane. If they couldn't find a place... Ukyo didn't really want to have to spend the night in a tree, huddled against the trunk, not sleeping at all...
But he wouldn't stop, not until he had to. That was one thing, he refused to give in. There could be shelter or something just past the next group of trees. Or through the next thorny bushes. Or... Ukyo was on his last bit of willpower, and Akane was a dead weight in his arms, making his entire body feel like lead.
The sun dipping lower in the sky, turning what was visible overhead a dusky orange, bordered with purple, couldn't make him go any faster. Ukyo was simply exhausted.
And that was when he was answered. Indeed, past a group of trees adorned with vines that acted almost like a curtain, it was their sanctuary from the wild dogs. Up in a massive tree before him, supported by surrounding smaller trees, there was an old Zero.
The metal was dull with age and a good portion of the paint had come off, but the rising sun was still visible just behind the cockpit on the side and on the single intact wing. And it was rather surprisingly nestled in the tree, looking like it had actually landed there, instead of crashed.
Ukyo gently set Akane down and tried to rouse her. "Akane, I need your help. I can't get you up there alone." He patted her cheek as she fluttered her eyelids.
"What, Ukyo? What's going on?" she asked, obviously very confused.
"I found a place for us to spend the night, but I need you to help." He took her arm and tried to pull her to her feet. "Come on. The sooner we get up there, the sooner we can rest."
Akane looked where Ukyo was leading her. "Is that a..."
"Yeah, it's a plane." They were at the base of the tree. While it looked daunting, the tree seemed rather well equipped for climbing with nicely spaced limbs for them to grab and step on. "Come on. Climb up."
Akane looked confused. "Ukyo, how did a plane get in a tree?" she asked, slowly starting to climb.
"Right now, Akane, it matters not to me. I only know that if we wait too much longer, those furry little devils will come after us again, and I rather like my skin where it is." He let her use his shoulder as a step as they climbed together.
They got up to the plane's level at the nose and stopped. The engine looked... serviceable for being as old as it was, but it was missing all the blades of the propeller. From underneath, they could see where it was seated in the tree, which had, to their amazement, accommodated the Zero and grown around it.
The other wing was completely gone, ripped off and gone to wherever. Not that any of that mattered because they wouldn't be flying off the island even if they had a 747 ready to go at a moment's notice.
Ukyo tested the stability of it, putting his hand on the smooth metal skin and pushing it a little. It was rock solid, the body not moving at all, and that was good enough for him. "We can sit in the cockpit, Akane. That should keep us fairly safe. Maybe we can even get the canopy working."
Walking like he was on egg shells, Ukyo climbed up and on to the nose of the plane. He looked at the cockpit and was relieved that the pilot was missing and the canopy open. Whatever had happened, the pilot obviously had better sense than to get stuck on the island. Even Ukyo couldn't fault him for that.
"I'll help you up," he offered, extending his hand for Akane to take. "The pilot's gone, so..."
Nodding, looking better than before they had started the climb, Akane took Ukyo's offered hand and joined him on the nose. The two inched back to the cockpit, careful of the footing on the metal body.
Akane got in first and looked at the small space. "There's not room for two people in here, Ukyo." She looked at the instrument panel in front of her and frowned.
"Of course there is. Scoot forward a bit," Ukyo urged.
Akane continued frowning, but moved forward as much as she could. This wasn't going to work; they'd be smashed in like obese sardines.
Ukyo stepped over her and prepared to sit when he looked over the side of the plane. A dark shape on the ground below them moved stealthily back and forth. It was as he feared. "They have arrived. We shall be stuck here until morning," he said quietly.
Akane nodded. Had she expected anything less? She grunted as he sat down behind her, trying in vain to ignore the feel of his body behind her. It was important to keep this purely... professional between them, and that meant not thinking about the man sitting very closely behind her.
And true, they were quite cozy, but not nearly as crammed in to the cockpit as she thought they'd be.
"Um..." he said quietly, obviously uncomfortable with the situation as well.
Akane adjusted the position she was in, wriggling dangerously.
"Akane," Ukyo whispered, "please stop." He had his eyes closed and was thinking desperately of things most mundane.
Akane stopped moving and turned her head. "Stop? I was just trying to..." When she saw the look on his face, him exerting extreme amounts of effort, she wanted to shrink away. "Sorry," she said, feeling about a foot tall. If she thought it was wise at all, she would have gotten out of the cockpit and slept on the wing.
It just didn't feel... right to be so close to each other like that. Not that Ukyo wasn't good looking and all, but she just didn't think they should ever get into such a relationship.
And he was attracted to her, that much was plainly obvious, and possibly under different circumstances she might have considered seeing him. Possibly, but she didn't really think so. He didn't seem to be her type.
"Do you think we should close the canopy?" he whispered, eyes still closed.
"I'm not sure. What if it gets stuck?" she replied.
"Good point. We should be safe here without. Let's just try and get some sleep." Try was the operative word for him. With Akane pressed so close to him, the feel of her body against his… What man wouldn't be thinking of anything BUT the soft curves molded against his...
Ukyo grit his teeth and tore his mind away from that line of thinking. He needed to think of something... 'Miyazaki' floated into his consciousness, accompanied by cute animals, children with round faces and innocence. That seemed to do the trick for him, and soon enough, he was able to enter a light sleep with most thoughts of Akane pushed aside.