Chapter 11

Vaas felt his day slowly diminish when he woke up alongside a cheap whore, a whore that was laying in the same spot that belonged to his wife. He kicked her off the bed harshly causing her to hit the floor with a loud thump. He dragged her outside and slit her throat with a knife that he had once given to Lunetta. He then went back up to his room, bloody, naked, and messy before sitting down on the edge of the bed.

He stared blankly through the doorway, emotionless, dead like. He laid back with a sigh, legs still hanging off the bed. He closed his eyes...

"Vaas! Don't die on me you son of a bitch!" She shook him and shook him, but his body would not twitch into life, his eyes closed, and his clothes soaked in his own blood. She didn't see how this happened, but the knife wounds on his chest told her everything. She brought his head into her lap and cradled him, rocking him back and forth, muttering soft words to him.

"I love you... You can't just leave me."

"You and Me... We are the same... We make a whole..."

Lunetta snapped awake, falling from the branch she had perched herself on. She landed on the dirt ground on her hands and knees, staring down into the earth as if it was her demise. She was afraid, but not because she had just survived a twelve foot fall onto the ground, but because she had dreams about him. She hated him for it, she hated the idea of love, yet she thought of him. If only he wasn't a monster, she could really love him she had dreams about that, but this trip brought her further and further to the conclusion that it was true, Vaas wasn't crazy, but torn. He was right, they were very similar entities and she was beginning to feel that it was wrong to leave him as she had. In actuality he was all she had left besides Raiza, everyone else was merely just... There.

She picked her backpack up from its place beside the tree and strapped it over her shoulders. She ran a hand through her sweaty hair and took a deep breath, before continuing on in the direction she had been going. It had been one day since she started and she could feel herself nearing the sacred waters.

She was jumpy, simply because she knew only the best made such a journey and she had been trying her entire life to be the best. She had done it before because she had obligations, but now those obligations were safe so she could make other ones.

She felt at peace with herself, not entirely, but just enough. When she made it to the cave it was sundown, she contemplated for a moment whether she should take a break or venture further into the cave. She chose the latter option, leaving her supplies near the entrance and bringing a knife with her as she entered the cave.

She was not scared of what dangers could lurk before her, she knew the risk she was taking when she began this. The red paint still fresh on her soft skin, smearing from the humid perspiration that dripped from her pores. The cave was moist and dark, but shimmering gems of all sorts provided some glittering factor. She kept closest to the cave walls, careful with her footing as she stepped over fragments of rock and lost sand.

She walked like this for about an hour, following the path that the cave wall allowed her. She could make out barely anything in the abyss that sat before her. An unusual tapping sound came from ahead of her, she slowed in her pace. She held her knife with a vice grip, preparing for the worst. Nothing happened, the tapping silenced as soon as she stopped in her place.

She remained quiet, not a sound came about through the cave, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She spun around just in time to be tackled by a beast of some sort, by the claws that had dug into her torso she deduced it was tiger. She struggled, kicking her legs up into its underbelly, she swiped the knife from side to side unable to make out anything but it's humongous figure. She turned her head to the side, her face smoothed into a moss of some sort, she inhaled the white substance that stuck to its strands and sneezed. The tiger tore its claws down her sides and droplets of blood poured out onto the cave floor. One of its paws swooped down to her face and three long marks made their way across her features, the blood dripping from them and covering her face in a sheet of red.

She thought it was over as the floor fell out from un der her and she was submersed in water. She felt lighter, almost electrified, her mind reeled; she wondered if Heaven was a real place and if this was the bridge between two worlds. Her mind could barely make out anything, anyone, she drifted off into the land of nowhere without any control of what would happen next.

Jango heard a knock at his door, but was too lazy to sit up from his comfortable seat. Raiza was doing dishes so he expected her to fetch the door and as suspected she ran from the kitchen door into the living room. With his eyes still closed, a tiny smile on his face, he shook his head.

"No running in the house." She slowed down, her feet patting against the wood floor. She opened the door, not bothering to ask who it was, hoping that it would be Lunetta. Her smile dropped into a frown when she saw that it wasn't Lunetta, but another familiar face.

"Benny?" Raiza heard the chair creak as Jango sat up from his seat and walked over to the door, pushing her aside to take her place.

"What do you want? And how did you find this place?"

"Lunetta told me about it a while back, is she here?"

"No, she hasn't been here for about a day and a half."

"Well it's very important." Benny asserted much more firmly, Raiza crossed her arms and nervously averted her eyes when Benny looked down at her.

"I understand, but she isn't here. You best be on your way young man."

"Vaas, he has gone completely insane since she left. Before he was crazy, but now he is just... I don't know man. She needs to come back."

"She isn't coming back, she is working."

"She'll be back eventually." Raiza added, she eventually looked up at him. He gave a gentle smile in her direction and she returned it.

"How Vaas acts is none of our business. Leave now." Jango stated firmly, his eyebrows furrowing with aggravation.

"Fine, I am sorry for coming here. At least tell her that Vaas needs her." Maybe Benny was over exaggerating, maybe Vaas was just being Vaas, but ten times worse than his usual self. All he knew was that ever since Lunetta left Vaas had been killing more, fucking more, taking more drugs than he averagely consumed. Benny didn't like that and it had been only a day since she left, imagine the damage Vaas could do in a week.

Benny turned, his head hung as he walked back towards the path he had came from. Raiza pushed past Jango and ran towards him, she just wanted to love him. She was in love. Raiza had fallen in love with a man about the same age as Lunetta and she didn't care. She loved him because he understood her, he was there for her when Lunetta was busy with Vaas and no one else.

"Benny!" He spun around and was tackled to the ground, arms wrapped around his neck. She buried her face into his chest, he wrapped his arms around her despite his confusion. "I love you." She whispered, he smiled with relief and happiness and every emotion a man felt when he knew someone loved him back. He knew it was wrong, but Benny wasn't one to not follow his heart.

"I love you too."