A Broken Melody
"Train?" A voice swam through my mind as I lay in the thick curtain of darkness that had fallen over me. "Train? Can you hear me?"
Of course I could hear them, what did they think? The only problem was I had no way of telling them when I couldn't figure out where they were. The darkness seemed to sway back and forth as I felt my body fall through it-as though I were on a turbulent airplane ride.
I tossed and turned as the feeling strengthened, my mind reeling as images began to flash past my eyes. Faces that were familiar-faces from my past. Zagine, my parents, Sven, Eve, Rinslet, Sephiria, Saya…Creed.
I bolted upright, my eyes flying open and the dimly lit room I sat in coming into focus. My heart was racing inside my chest, as though I had been running a marathon as I breathed heavily, my chest heaving in and out.
I looked around frantically, my mind grappling for the information I had momentarily forgotten. Where was I? Trapped inside some monster called Eden… Was I alone? Not that I knew of…
"Sven?" The word spilled out as though I couldn't control my mouth.
I felt a pair of hands take my shoulders firmly and shake me gently, as though they were trying to break me out of my convoluted spell. I turned to see Creed kneeling beside me, his hands the ones that had shaken me as his eyes searching for mine.
"What-I don't-" The words jumbled in my mouth as I tried to hold onto them and turn them into a sentence.
"Shh," He whispered reassuringly as he pulled me against him, the side of my face colliding gently with his chest, and for the first time I felt safe in this monstrous creature. "You're alright. You just had a bit of a trip, that's all."
"A…trip?" I asked, entirely confused.
"You passed out about half an hour ago," He said as he ran his fingers through my hair, holding me tightly against him with his other arm. "But I was able to heal most of your wounds and you should be fine now. I was just so worried you wouldn't wake up."
"Where's Sven?" I asked, words coming to me better and better by the moment.
"He went ahead to scout," He said. "To see what's waiting ahead."
"What?" I wrenched away from his protective hold to look him in the face. "You sent him out there? Alone?"
"I think I can take care of myself," A familiarly disgruntled voice came from behind us as the bang of closing doors followed after.
I turned to see Sven making his way towards us, toeing through the rubble that had been created by Mason and me. I stood immediately and rushed towards him before coming up short, several feet away from him.
"You're okay then?" I asked, giving him a once over to check for any kind of injury he might have acquired while I was out.
"Obviously," He smirked as he set his attaché case down. "Who do you think I am? Rinslet?"
"Don't let her hear you say that." I said as I stifled a laugh.
"Was there anything ahead of us?" Creed asked, his tone business-like as he stepped up beside me.
"Nothing but hallways," Sven answered, his tone changing as well as he shrugged. "It's one straight corridor that leads right through this thing. I know it has to lead somewhere, but I wasn't going to reach it anytime soon so I figured I'd head back and see if sleeping beauty here had woken up."
I threw a glare in his direction as he said this, receiving a playful smirk from him.
"Then we should head that way I assume?" Creed asked as he placed a calming hand on my shoulder. "The way I came from while Train and Mason were fighting leads up to a different section of Eden. There's nothing that way, though I did inform Chronos of that entrance."
"Right," Sven nodded before picking his case up again. "You ready Train?"
"Yeah, yeah." I grumbled as I shrugged Creed's hand off my shoulder and bent to retrieve Hades from where it lay nearby.
We made our way across the tattered room and through the large, metal door that Sven had entered from. We found ourselves standing in a long, square corridor, and just as Sven had said from what I could tell through the flickering lights it went on for a long time.
Rubber tubes twisted their way along the corridor walls, strapped down with metal locks, and small fluorescent lights hung above us, flickering as Eden hummed with life beneath our feet.
We moved forward, our footfalls in unison as we faced the never-ending corridor that would take us to a place we weren't familiar with. What would we find there? I wasn't entirely sure. It seemed as though someone must be waiting at the end to tell us we were doomed and that they would destroy us all. That's always how these sorts of things seemed to end.
Mason, as far as I knew, was dead. Creed had finished him off right before Mason was about to finish me off. Then again I hadn't seen a dead body lying in the room, so who knew what had happened in the end?
I glanced towards Creed who walked beside me, receiving a reassuring smile and nothing more. I knew what Creed was capable of, just as I knew the same about Sven, but I had no idea what the people who were running this thing could do and that made me nervous. More importantly was the fact that Eve waited at the end of this corridor-that she was depending on us to save her no matter the cost, and that, in the end, was all that mattered.
I stopped a foot ahead of the other two as they slowed down; listening to something I hadn't heard yet. I had been too busy in my thoughts to hear what I could hear now.
A strange melody was winding its way through the air, sounding old and eerie. At moments it would sound louder, as though it had grown closer, before it was whisked away to almost a whisper. It was as if a music box were sitting somewhere down this corridor, open and playing its melody for us…sounding broken and bitter.
"What is it?" Sven asked, his head held high as he listened carefully-waiting for some kind of recognition to set in.
"I don't recognize it." Creed shook his head slowly as he listened too.
"I do." I muttered and both their heads slowly turned to look at me.
And suddenly the world had shifted-swirling into a million different colors as Sven and Creed vanished only to be replaced with a different scene-a familiar scene.
I stood solitary, my short coat blowing against my body as the night wind played across my face and through my hair. The moon hung high above, lighting up the landscape with its eerie glow.
The rooftop was how it had always been. Small and plain-nothing special, except…
"Let the song…of the world…
Travel forever…
Looking up…to the sky…
The sound of…people talking…
Insects jumping…
Light…and bouncy…
Taking my hopes with it…"
I turned slowly to see her standing there just across the way, her pink and white kimono fluttering around her body effortlessly in the night breeze. Her hands were clasped together just in front of her as her hair moved across her face, her mouth moving to the words that floated through the night air.
"Saya…" The word moved from my lips where it had been held for so long, seeming almost natural as it came to life.
Her song faded away as she turned to look at me, her eyes glimmering in the moonlight. With one fluid movement she leapt from her corner of the roof to mine, her eyes never leaving me as she landed gracefully in front of me.
"Train-kun," She smiled, her head cocked to the side as she regarded me. "It's been so long. Where have you been?"
"Saya-I-" I turned away as my words seemed to lose their meaning. What was there that I could possibly say?
"You're so funny, Train-kun," She giggled as I turned to look at her again. "I'm glad you found your own way after all."
"Yeah, I guess I did." I smiled slightly, our eyes meeting in the nighttime air.
"I do miss you though," She smiled sadly as she took a step forward, reaching out as if she were searching for me. "You were such a good friend to me."
I watched her as she stepped forward before taking my hand in hers, the hand that held Hades. She pulled it up so that the gun stood between our faces, her eyes on the weapon before looking past it to me.
"You never stopped carrying it," She smiled again. "Just like I asked."
"Saya I-" I choked on my words as he let my hand and Hades lower before stepping closer, hey face more serious as she pressed two of her fingers against my lips to tell me to silence me.
"I know." Was all she said with a sweet smile before everything dissolved into a mess of muted sounds and darkness.
"So what will it be?" I whipped around as a different voice entered the darkness, their form silhouetted by an invisible light as they stood just out of my reach. "Do you want to live or die?"
I felt the pace of my heart quicken as those familiar words entered my mind, bringing back a rush of memories I had tried so hard to bury. They stepped forward slowly and though I couldn't see them I could easily see the glinting gun they held in their hand, pointed directly at my chest.
"You haven't changed one bit," He smirked as I stared up at him with frightened eyes.
It had been thirteen years and yet here I stood still terrified of the man who had single handedly destroyed my life. I had wanted so badly to kill him when I was a kid, I had wanted to be the one to pull the trigger and drive a bullet into his heart, but he-like everyone else, had left me.
My breathing was ragged as I stared at him, the weapon between us meaning nothing compared to the person behind it.
"You'll never amount to anything," He said as he raised his gun and pressed it painfully between my eyes, the cold metal shocking my mind. "You're pathetic."
BANG!
My eyes flew open and it was all I cold do to suppress the scream that was bottling up deep inside my chest. I felt hands holding tightly to my shoulder and in a matter of seconds I was struggling against them, unwilling to let him get near me again.
"Train, stop! You're okay!" He said, shaking my slightly and pushing my hard against the wall. "TRAIN!"
Something snapped inside my mind and it was as if I was seeing them for the first time…again. Sven stood in front of me, his fingers digging painfully into my shoulders as he shook me again for good measure, while Creed stood a few feet back looking at me with a worried stare.
I glanced around frantically, taking in the narrow corridor and piping that had always been there. I knew where I was, I knew who I was with, and I knew what was happening-but I didn't know what had just happened. Saya had been there, so close I could feel her touch, and then he had been there…his gun in my face…his voice threatening my sanity as it had so many years before.
"You okay now?" Sven asked as he let me rest my back against the wall, catching my breath as I stared into nothingness.
"Yeah," I breathed, nodding my head quickly as I composed myself.
"You sure?" Sven tilted his head to get a better look at me, apparently unsure of how truthful I was being.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, forcing my mind to calm down. "I'm good."
"If you're sure…" Sven sounded anything but assured as he said this.
"I'm sure." I said as I pushed away from the wall and brushed past him, my fingers gripping Hades almost painfully as I mentally kicked myself for being so weak.
"Then I guess we keep going?" Sven said from behind me and I knew that he and Creed were exchanging glances and possibly silent words about what had just happened.
It was then that it kicked in-how incredibly soar and tired I was. I had ignored it the moment I had woken up back in the room where Mason has practically killed me, but now it was settling into every fiber of me, screaming from somewhere in my bones.
I shook the feeling off as I rotated my shoulders slowly; trying to center myself for what I knew was ahead. I couldn't let strange illusions brought on by memories from my past bring me down. I wasn't sure what was happening, but I had been through worse and this was not going to stop me from getting to Eve.
We moved forward again, the hallway racing past us as we ran. There was no sound, no visions, nothing out of the ordinary. We ran through the endless corridor, our breathing quick and becoming painful the further we went, and then just as suddenly as it had begun the hall came to an abrupt end.
We stood, our chests heaving in and out as we tried to catch our breath, staring at the dead end we had found. On either side of us corridors slip off, one to our right and one to our left. They looked just like the one we now stood in, but where they led was unknown to us.
"We'll have to split up," Sven spoke suddenly, seeming to have caught his breath.
"Seems like it," I nodded as my hands rested against my knees, looking either way as I felt my heart beginning to regain stability.
"You both should stay together," Creed spoke as well, watching me with some concern.
"It makes more sense if we split up actually," Sven said, catching my eyes. "Eve doesn't know Creed, so if you go that way Train and I go this way no matter who whichever group finds her she'll see a familiar face."
I nodded slowly as Sven explained his idea. It was true, and I knew for a fact that if Creed showed up to save Eve things might not go well as she would consider him an enemy, not an ally.
"I'll stick with Creed," I said, knowing he put Sven on edge. "You head left Sven, we'll head right. Okay?"
Sven nodded before smiling his goodbye and heading off into the left corridor. We waited until he rounded the bend and fell out of sight before turning and heading our way, facing the darkness that waited ahead.
We ran for what felt like hours, time seeming to fade away in this place as it was impossible to see the sun outside. We pushed our way through the corridor, listening as Eden hummed beneath our racing feet and the faint sound of explosions permeated through its thick hide.
"What do you think's happening out there?" I asked as Creed ran beside me, our eyes focused forward but our minds elsewhere.
"Anything," He replied, making me glance in his direction. "I know for a fact that Mason planned to attack innocent people in the towns and cities they came across. I'm not sure as to how, but he seemed determined."
I pushed the image of innocent people running in Eden's wake, its oversized weapons being used against them.
The corridor suddenly widened out into a rectangular room, its walls filled with strange screens that flickered in the dim light. We skidded to a halt as we looked around, a chill running up my spine as my mind sensed oncoming danger.
"What is this?" Creed asked as he stepped towards the largest of the screens, the white noise screaming through the room as the snowy screen flickered against his face.
"I don't know," I muttered, glancing around at the other matching screens. "But I've got a bad feeling about it, whatever it is."
I tightened my fingers around Hades before listening hard. I couldn't hear anything, couldn't see anything, but something felt wrong. Maybe I was sensing Sven's situation, or what was going on outside, but whatever it was it was putting me on edge more than ever.
"How nice of you to join us," The screen behind Creed flickered to life with Doctor's face, his glances glinting in the light from the room he stood in. "I should have known you would team together eventually."
I glared up at the familiar face, Creeds expression placid as he watched his former ally and partner in crime.
"Where's Eve?" I snapped, taking a step towards the screen, willing myself not to shoot it.
"She's perfectly safe I assure you," He smirked, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he said this. "What place on Earth is safer than Eden?"
"Somewhere far from you," I growled. "I swear if you're hurt her I'll-"
"You'll what?" He asked, chuckling darkly. "I doubt you could even find me in Eden's maze, let alone touch me."
I ground my teeth together as he continued to smirk down on us, Creed standing in silence as if contemplating something.
"Let's play a game, Black Cat," Doctor spoke again, his eyes now visible through his glinting glasses. "You have an hour to find me and save your friend. One hour and nothing more. If you succeed you are free to go, if you lose, well, we'll see."
And with that the screen went black along with every other screen in the room, throwing us into darkness once more. I seethed as I stood there, the anger so strong I could feel its heat surrounding me. I wanted so badly to bury a bullet deep in Doctor's head, and I swore to myself that before this day was over I would.
"We need to keep moving, Train," Creed spoke, his voice reassuring in the darkness. "If Doctor is telling the truth and we only have an hour then our time is precious."
I nodded, through I knew he couldn't see me, and moved forward until I felt his hand brush against mine, his fingers wrapping around it tightly. Before I could move forward I felt his strength pull me backwards and into him.
His arms wrapped tightly around me before I felt his fingers lead my face upwards. He paused, my breath shaking in my chest as I felt how close he was to me-the warmth of his body mingling with mine until suddenly he pulled me forward into a deep, and desperate kiss.
I didn't pull away, but I didn't deepen it. I felt my body lean into his, letting his arms hold me with all their strength. He pulled away slowly, and I could feel his eyes on me as we stood in the darkness.
I felt his shoulder brush past mine as he moved forward before his hand took mine again and pulled me after, turning me in the right direction.
The darkness refused to fade as we moved forward, our hands dragging against the rough walls to keep track of where we were going. It was as if Eden had turned off altogether, but the familiar humming refused to cease beneath our feet, telling us that it was still alive.
I felt as though my time must have run out-as though an hour had long since passed, taking Eve with it. It felt hopeless, and I felt as though I were being devoured by the never-ending darkness. Yet as my mind fell deeper into itself I was shaken back to reality as my cell phone vibrated to life in my pocket.
I pulled it out quickly before flipping it open, its small screen illuminating my face in the darkness as well as Creeds outline not far ahead as we came to a stop.
"Thirteen?" It was Sephiria's voice, a shot of relief flooding through me.
"Yeah, it's me," I let out a low sigh.
"We have infiltrated Eden through the entrance Creed informed us of," She spoke quickly and I could hear several sets of footsteps in the background. "Where are you?"
"We're not sure. We hit a two-way in the hallway we were taking-you should hit it sometime soon, and we took a right. Sven went left. So far we haven't found anything, but we got a message from Doctor telling us we only have an hour before he does something drastic."
"Understood," She replied, all business on her side. "We took care of the Zero Numbers, they are no longer a problem. However it seems that Mason has other allies as well."
"Well we're heading towards what we think is the center of Eden, if we figure anything out we'll let you know." I spoke in an attempt to end the conversation.
"I must warn you, Heartnet," She said, the sudden use of my real name taking me by surprise as my eyes wandered to Creeds. "Whoever is controlling this machine they aren't afraid to take lives. When we were on the surface we saw at least one hundred civilians taken into Eden. We have no idea they are alive or not, but it seems they have at least been subdued."
I stood in silence as Sephiria spoke, my lack of words mixing with hers as she seemed to find it hard to continue. So whoever was controlling Eden was already taking in the innocent? Sephiria had said she had no idea if they had killed them or not, but it seemed like they had been hurt.
I let out another sigh before telling her we'd keep her updated and hung up the phone. I turned to look in the direction I knew Creed was, not sure how to explain what I had just been told. It didn't take long however, and after I had finished Creed stood in the same silence that had surrounded me only moments ago.
"So what do we do?" His voice finally came, sounding darker than before, my answer coming without delay:
"We find whoever's doing this and we give them the treatment they're handing out."
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Ciao everyone! How are you? Well, I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter of this story, I hope it wasn't a total let down. I know there wasn't any action, but I had to have a bit of a filler chapter even if they're still in Eden. It'll get interesting from here. They'll of course have to try to find Doctor and Eve, figure out who else is behind this, and stop Eden altogether. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to do it, but I have a few scenarios in my mind that I was to include, including one from the ending of the anime (no worries, nothing as lame as that ending was…).
ANYWAYS, I hope you enjoyed reading this. I'm not sure when I'll update next. I leave for Thanksgiving break on the 21st (next Wednesday) afternoon, but I'm hoping to update before that. Classes will be busier around then with three papers, a convention, one too many worksheets, and an exam all before then, but writing calms me down… Plus, I've been in a creative mood lately so I've been wanting to write…I really do need to make up all the massive periods where I didn't write a word to you guys since you've all been such AMAZING readers and reviewers! Thank you so much for your supportive reviews, you've really helped me understand where you'd like to see the story head, and you've even given me some ideas as to how to end this whole thing. Thanks so much, you guys BEYOND ROCK!
-Train X3
