Chapter 3
Looking at all the rubble and abandoned land Len would have never guessed where he was.
"Zatsune?" He called out. His voice not sounding as sure kill and courageous as before. But that of a child that did not know where he was going or headed. Left alone to roam an unfamiliar territory much like a store full of strangers.
No voice answered him, and as he surveyed his surroundings she was nowhere. Had she left him? No, that wasn't possible she couldn't have just left...could she have? She had promised him a glorious revenge. Exhaling Len closed his eyes. There was no way Zatsune would have just left, she had also wanted to destroy. Something in her eyes had told him so, he knew. Thus he placed trust in her. She would return to him after long, in the meantime he could begin his search.
Running as close as he could he scaled the terrain pushing his way up the hill. Though there was a city nearby it was empty and painfully silent, it seemed to just be becoming dawn. However it sure didn't look like it was dawn. The sky was covered in thick black clouds higher up, and the air was so tainted to the point where it almost wasn't breathable.
The place where there had once stood vacant lots, houses, stores and a school building, the city itself. Was now a sea of greyish brown rubble including; twisted metal, broken boards, snapped bricks, and shattered concrete as well as glass. Wreckage.
"No way..." He began examining the damage from the hill he had been standing on overlooking everything. Even with all the damage there were a few landmarks...well, traces of landmarks that he recognized immediately even when they were destroyed.
Even the hill he was on was nothing but a scorched heap. Whatever had set the fire to it had burned all the way down into the flesh of the rock. There was no grass or even dirt, just burnt rock. If he was planning to wreak havoc he must do it elsewhere.
He didn't even bother head into the city, all that was left was emptiness. No common city sounds, the honking of horns, the tires of cars, the running of engines. All the people were surely gone or dead and he didn't rule out the possibility that his parents must also be among...the wreckage.
Surprisingly he felt nothing at the thought. He most certainly should have been scared and sad or even worried about them. But nothing came which didn't even bug him. Maybe his past self would have cared and cried but now he felt paralyzed to those emotions. Just a bit of anger appeared, the shock had subsided, this mess was another reason to end Luka.
He felt the sudden urge to break something but like he had already deducted, there was nothing left to break. Anything he tried would most certainly just turn to ash as soon as he picked it up.
"Looks like we missed the party." He heard a familiar voice behind him.
"Where did you go?" He asked Zatsune as she settled for a seat on the rock beside him.
"I went for a head start." She smirked but it didn't last and she frowned as if she had been denied that privilege. He took a seat next to her.
"So what was down there?"
"Are you kidding me?" She scoffed. "Nothing! The sun doesn't even reach down there so I was basically walking around in the dark. Which brought me no end of fun." He picked up the sarcasm, she turned towards him.
"Dont believe me? You can go look." Taking note of his raised eyebrow.
"No, I believe you." He clearly had seen it for himself up high earlier. The desolate earth crying out to be healed and the citizens to return to it. Its call would only be in vain though, since he had also planned to destroy it.
"I'm just taking it in a bit more...I think." His voice had not trembled, it was back to its original tone. When just earlier he had been unsure. Maybe he just needed to have Zatsune beside him.
Eyeing her now her hair seemed to be a darker shade of black than before, probably thanks to the lighting.
"So what's the plan?" She asked braiding a strand of hair.
"First things first, this is my city right?"
"I thought we already established this Len." Sighing as she finished the sentence.
It being what he had thought it had been, he knew it already but only wanted further clarification.
"What's the plan?" She repeated a lot more assertively this time looking quite agitated.
"There is no plan, obviously. I came down here to break everything until I found Luka."
"Well, that failed."
"Thanks for clarifying what I couldn't already see." She stuck her tongue out at him and then he was under her. She wasn't heavy but her grip was firm, like iron.
"You promised me fun Len." She hissed. He could feel her fingernails boring into his skin, they went deeper the more she waited. "This isn't fun at all! Not even mildly interesting."
"You will have it." He started, wincing as one finger slowly dug in a little. "But what use am I if I'm dead before that?" She let up.
"I wasn't gonna kill you...there are…reasons I can't, not that I would." She said crossing her arms over her chest like it was unfair. Truthfully, he was sure she enjoyed his company to some extent.
"Besides," She began pointing a finger at him.
"You already had your share of death recently." He shoved her off during her fit of laughter and she hit the rocky ground hard. It didn't affect her.
"Before you make jokes think of a way for us to get into the city." He snapped, eyebrows narrowing.
"What was that?" She asked sitting up looking attentive as if she had heard a voice. He payed her no mind.
"About the city, the only way were getting into it is if an official comes to get us."
"Why an official?" Len asked, she drew a line across her neck. That was good enough clarification for him.
Having no way into the city meant that, they would have to wait for an official to come find them. Otherwise well...
"I heard that they aren't even trusting locals and security is tight."
"So were stuck then?" He stated.
"Basically." This time she didn't laugh, but seemed to be focusing hard on something in the distance. Her ruby eyes flashed a fiery amber and she pointed to it. A sinister smirk on her face.
Off in the distance a person was running towards them, as fast as they could apparently. Yelling something at them. They were still a good distance away which means he had time to think of a story. This person was most likely taking survivors to the city, an official.
"Hey are you all right!?" The person shouted from a distance. What would they think if they saw Len in his uniform? It had to be what he would be wearing, since he had died in it. The person finally reached him.
Immediately she stripped off her bright green poncho the only real colour he had seen in the last few minutes, other than Zatsune's eyes of course. She tossed it to him.
"I don't really need this I'm dressed." Len told her.
"Dressed? You'll freeze if you don't wear it." Looking down all he had on was a ripped up looking black shirt and shaggy pants tied with a rope, completed with a crappy pair of sandals.
Dirt covered his hands, arms and clothes. How Zatsune had done it he didn't know but he smirked, this was perfect to match his story. Like a good boy he put on the poncho and his voice took care of the rest.
He was instructed to follow closely behind the girl as she had asked. Seemed like she was alone, maybe she ran the searches by herself now.
"So you only escaped alone?" The blonde haired girl asked him. She was slightly shorter than him and her blonde hair only came to mid-neck length.
"Yeah, I was searching for my family but..." He allowed his voice to trail off.
"I see, we did have rescue parties out but they only found so many..." Her voice also trailed off. "Do you remember anything? About the incident I mean?"
"Not what happened exactly but when I woke up I felt I had to find my parents immediately...I just felt it. My head was bleeding so I assume I got hit pretty hard." The girl stopped and turned to him looking skeptical.
"How exactly did you find your family?" He avoided eye contact with her and instead looked down.
"Crushed by debris..."
"I see..." The girl repeated again nodding at his story. "I hope you wont bear hatred towards the queen or me."
He noticed her hand gripped the handle of her sword. Was there something wrong with his story? Had his cover been blown already? The answer to his doubts were soon answered after he had asked them.
The girl held him tightly in her arms, in a way that seemed was meant to comfort.
"I'm so sorry for your loss we tried so hard..." He felt her shoulders violently shaking, she was sobbing. Who exactly this hug was comforting, it was definitely not him. Obviously she must have been the army head and the amount of people who had died or lost someone was taking a toll on her.
"It's okay to cry, I won't blame you. When we get back to the city I'll take care of everything." She went on followed by more sobbing on her part. Len held her closer to him burying her head into his shoulder. She held him closer in response.
His shoulders also happened to be shaking violently. Not, because he was crying of course.