Chapter 52: Those Inconceivable Realizations

Miriana trudged along with Vladimir at her side, two opposites heading across the barren wasteland as the dust kicked their feet. Moving her sunken eyes across the field, she could see the remnants of swords, spears, lances and shields with arrows lying in every single point of imagination. There was also the unmistakable sight of splotched blood running across the field but thankfully it was only a sight as the had eroded it's smell and most of its position. However judging from what she had seen, all of this had been here for years which meant that specific splotch of blood must have been quite gory in its pastime.

"This is my world…" Vladimir spoke out not as if he was talking to Miriana but as if he was talking to a group. "...This is what I have, look upon it with your eyes…" Whether she wanted to or not, Miriana found her gaze looking around the wasteland again, swallowing pathetically at that which made her cringe. Unable to keep looking at dirt, she once against found herself starring at the massive and broken down citadel rising into the sky, small pieces falling off and landing with clunks back on the ground. For half a second she thought the entire thing would just collapse.

"…Every drop of dirt…every drop of blood…all of it is my world. Look upon the dark skies, my world floating above. Every blade, every black pitched arrow, all of it is my world. All of it…is my desires. Every drop of it is of desires to create the ultimate suffering but look at it now. It is in ruin, just a blistering reminder of a long lost memory. "

Coming forth to the black walls, Vladimir stepped forward leaving Miriana behind him while she hugged herself tightly. Even if he had no way of stopping her, her body and mind were too fragile to ever think of running away. Raising his hand as if to push the gate open, he stopped glancing over at the small girl and smiling almost tenderly at her. "Ye not be afraid young angel, if you were going to die now there would be no point in bringing you this far. Come now child, come forth with me." She didn't want to, she wanted to desperately run and scream and head back to her friends but her legs moved forward before she shuddered as Vladimir's massive arm wrapped around her. Without her volition, he brought her inside into the broken desires of his citadel.

Her first impression of it was something that might have, in its better days, looked quite nice, even for someone like him. The room they walked into was grand, the ceiling rising 50 meters into the air with amazing yet highly dirty decorations from above. Where at the outside was blank, dark and depressing, the inside was amazingly colorful, although that's what it might have been in the past. Right now it was dusty and gray with a few off colors here and there but she imagined something highly of silver in its younger days. What caught her attention the most was the amazing stair case that rose up to the center of the room, leading to a large patch where an ornate chair sat. She could see many doorways leading to places that she could only imagine would go to.

"What is this place? Why did you bring me here?" Her cracked as she talked.

"It is my world as I said; this is my world, my only world, my desires and broken blistering memory." The man said, rising up the broken steps, some of which fell as his feet left them. Then he sat down on the chair, crossing his leg and leaning back so that his onyx coat ruffled slightly. "The kitchen is to your right, down the hall and through the second door, feel free eat and drink whatever you like. Try to keep a little of champagne for me, although you are a minor anyways. Hahahaha…ah who am I kidding, drink whatever you like my dear little Miriana. There are several rooms around here to sleep in, I suggest the third floor, room number 5 on your left, you might have to dust it down a bit but I think it'll be to your liking. Feel free to look around, the entire Citadel is yours for the adventure."

"What are you going to do?" She asked hesitantly.

Chuckling to himself, Vladimir relaxed back into his chair and gazing up through a dusty ornate window high above the gate wall. "It's been a long journey Miriana, I feel like resting a bit. Think of this as your free time, enjoy yourself and take a look around. Be careful though, the place is kind of falling apart and it would be tragic if something happened to you." He said sarcastically ruffling her hair of which before she would've tried to have broken free but being so broken she merely took it as it was. Besides she had finally come to the conclusion that she he might break and beat her, he would ultimately let her live. But if this kept up, she would definitely rather die.

"…How long are you going to keep me here?"

"For as long as it takes for the dreamer to arrive. You hold a very special place in Elrya Alya's heart, something that has allowed her own instincts to calm down. She'll come; I trust that, so for now please rest and make yourself at home."

His answer wasn't nearly enough for her though. "You want to hurt her though…you want to kill her."

"Aye…this is our final match, the last round of desires against dreams. Let us see how far her silly little dreams will take her."

"She'll win…"

Vladimir stopped, letting out one short chuckle before turning his head at angle to look at the young girl whom, though her eyes still remain sunken, suddenly faced him with great sternness. He seemed even more amused than before and as with him it wasn't in the case that he didn't believe her. He was just plainly amused at the statement, like a good story that he first heard. "How quaint…you know Miriana, your friend is even more interesting than you know. In fact, did you know that Elrya Alya is a killer…?"

Pausing, the young girl shook her head frantically. "I won't believe such lies. Elrya and Alya are both really good people."

"How quaint…to believe such nonsense is what I like about you Miriana. You represent the perfect implication of angelic goodness. Yet, what do you think the little Diclonius will do when we finally meet. I don't plan on letting this fight go beyond the boundaries of this wasteland after all. However for the sake of this conversation let's say you're right. Let's say Elrya Alya has never once killed in her life, what will she do now?"

As expected, Miriana was at a loss for words and waited for Vladimir to continue talking. "Do you think I'll just let her pass and take you away? Dreams are nothing but stupid thoughts from those who can't rise to their desires Miriana, you, Elrya, are all but dreamers. Here's a little note for you…" Before she could think or even register what was going as Vladimir pulled out one of his oh so familiar rods and rammed into her left foot. She had enough time to open her mouth but no time to scream before the wicked man firmly clasped her mouth shut with his hand. For the ever so infinitely long time it took for him to stop, she could only mumble incoherently and cry just the same as she had done the whole time before. Just when the pain in her foot was beginning to die now when he finally pulled the accursed object out, he had to go and wrap his other hand around her broken fingers and squeeze.

!

Unable to do so much as scream, he found delicious excitement in squeezing her wounded hand. The pain became so unbearable that she began frothing at the mouth which with no other place to go, traveled right back down her throat. Now unable to scream and choking on her own spit, her small heart which felt it couldn't have known any more evil than before, hit an all-time low when Cents began cackling madly at her predicament. "Ka! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! How quaint! How quaint! Ahhhh…" Sighing deeply after his aforementioned laugh fest, he finally let her go, the young girl flimsy fall back on her behind and pushing herself back against the furthest wall she could find. Her eyes, now filled with tears we're no longer sunken but it hardly made a different now.

"Help me…"

"Oh?" Clearly interested now, Vlad snapped his fingers suddenly, scaring the young girl before whimpered again. "Help me…help me…help me…"

"Help? You want help…angel Miriana? You want help? What a quaint little thing you must say my little angel."

"Help me…PLEASE HELP ME ELRYA! ALYA!"

His twisted smile, which was already so wide it spread from cheek to cheek couldn't have gotten any larger could it? But alas he was smirking so broadly now with his chaotic eyes lighting up that he looked more demented than he had ever possibly looked before. The clear reason for this was just one, he was enjoying watching her in pain. Hurting people physically, while definitely amusing was never as good as hurting them emotionally. Watching them suffer and cry out was the absolute best drug for him, an artificial high just for him.

"AaaaaaaAAAAAAGH!" Starting out as a breath of air, it soon turned into a blood curdling scream. Going as far as to ignore the pain in her foot, she finally made a mad rush for the gate. Her working hand fiddling with the lock, Vladimir didn't make so much as a move to go get her as the gate door opened and raced outside without so much as a thought of what was behind her. She screamed again, a burst of "Help me!" echoing loudly into the sky. Further and further she ran, coughing, spluttering and panting heavily, but not stopping once.

Further!

Further!

She had to get further away!

It was still too close, she was still far too close to it! Screaming again, she couldn't believe what she saw, a group of people, maybe 5 of them on horseback in the far west. They may not understand her language, but her body language and abuse should definitely give them a clue that she needed as she had cried for so long, help. They wore unique though in some strange way, rather plain outfits, neither the same, but of different textures that made her think that all of them we're off different ethnic backgrounds. Yet to think of such things could not be done, she needed help, she needed to get to them! To get this far to safety, to come this far without problems yet, her head finally snapped around to look behind her.

Nothing, Vladimir wasn't following her.

"HELP ME!" At long last, screaming it as loud as she could, exhaustion and the sheer pain in her foot finally brought her down harshly on the blazing earth. Hardly able to move now, hope finally filled her heart when small group trotted urgently over to her, the hooves of their horses stamping loudly at her feet. Speaking in a language she didn't know, she did her best to convey her needs in both her own language and the little body movement she could muster. More unknown words were spoken, most likely that of the language in the country she was in, which would be Hungarian, she nevertheless sighed in the first moment of relief since she could remember when the lightly picked her up and put her on the back of one of the men.

"Thank you…" Miriana whispered, feeling the fresh air of freedom blowing against her face, her head resting against the firm back of the man she was riding with. "Thank you..." Before she knew it, she was already fast asleep.


She didn't know how long she had been sleeping but when she woke up, she felt refreshed and comfortable. Horrible images flashed across her head but something was different, something she hadn't felt in a long time, comfort. She was sleeping on a bed, one of the most comfortable she had slept on before. The air was nice and there was the unmistakable aroma of freshly lit candles. Safe, it was the only word that traveled through her mind at the moment, just safe. A warm bed, the wonderful smell of candles, she could even see through her closed eye lids the gleam of sunlight which told her that she hadn't slept long enough for night to come along yet.

Finally at long last…she opened her eyes.

!

…And saw dark gray and black.

!

At first the simple idea of thought processes didn't even come to her, only irrational fear. This color, this dreadfully plain and horrible color, how could she forget it so soon? The room was clean, candles burning nicely and a soft bed, but this color, it already made her cringe. Jumping out of the bed, she screeched when she landed on her hurt foot, collapsing onto the ground and holding it tightly. As it finally died down, she got the energy to pick herself up, cringing against when she accidently used her broken hand and finally opened the door, hoping to see something different. It was just as before, a dank gray of old stones, the exact same as she had seen before.

!

"No…No…No…No…" Each word came out as a breathless whisper, Miriana rushed down the hall to the first door she saw, hoping with all of her might that would be wrong! She could hear voices, several voices and though she was at first scared beyond belief, the finally felt safe again. It had just been a mistake, just an ironic mistake that was all. Perhaps this was the kind of thing this country was known for, just using these colors and as the thought came to her, her anxiety had died down a great deal when she opened the door.

"Thank you…" How many times she had said that she didn't know but she couldn't have been happier at that moment. Her eyes gazed longingly at the mass group of people there, all men as she could see, but a group nonetheless. They wore matching outfits of black, making her think of old time butlers that she had seen in movies.

"Hello there Miss Miriana…" one of them finally said, speaking in very accented Japanese but well enough that she could understand him. He was holding a fine laden tray, filled with food that she never saw in Japan but looked awfully tasty as before. "…Feel free to taste some of the finest delicacy that Hungary has to offer." The last time she had eaten, other than a very small meal The Captain had given her had been at the restaurant and with all the times she had lost her stomach to the nausea around her definitely made her hungry even for something she had no knowledge about. But she as she was about to reach for it, something clicked in her mind that made all the happiness in her wither away.

"How do…you know my name?" Miriana asked hesitantly.

She didn't need to have an answer yet, she got the answer the moment she turned her head and looked up at the flight of stairs leading to the figure she dreaded most of all.

"Hello there…Miriana…" Vladimir spoke out in an easy going tone, casually drinking from a fine silver cup. "Were you having a good dream in your room? I tried to make it nice, you've been through so much right now. You shouldn't put too much pressure on that hand and foot of yours, it could cause a lot of problems.

"…No…" Speaking the words out in her soft and beaten voice, Miriana couldn't even scream or try to run away. The only thing she did was collapse on the ground, feeling her body being lifted away and taken back to her room where, for own sake perhaps, she fell back to sleep in defeat. How foolish she was to think there was any hope for her.


The men in black scurried around the room as if nothing had happened, the one who had spoken to Miriana even walking up to Vladimir and bowing deeply before presenting the plate to him. "Would you like to have one…Master Cents?" He asked professionally, speaking in the native tongue of the country. Vladimir didn't answer, he just took one, ate it with enjoyment on his face as his tongue licked his lips. "A wonderful dish, it has been a long time since I have come home, I have missed these dishes, although I must implore that you make some Japanese cuisines. They have amazing food over there if I do say so myself."

"If I may ask Master Cents, where are the other members?"

"Aye, we are a little off on members aren't we? The Sniper is no longer with us, though he isn't dead, he has merely changed…allegiances. The Tank and The Clocker Stopper have passed on, shame isn't it." None of them said anything, in fact just form his expression they could gather what had happened, yet they seemed neither worried or uncaring about what had happened, merely indifferent.

"Of course The Zero Point is still in Japan, under both my orders and more important the orders of the one he knows best of all…The Perfect Soldier."

One could finally hear a pin drop.

"Garder…Garder F. Morotisan." The man said firmly.

"Aye…the very same." Vladimir replied back simply, cross his arms casually after taking another sip of his drink. "Japan and even the world is going through something major right now. Watching everyone die, watching as humanity including myself is brought to extinction. It sounds like a great amount of suffering is to be had.

But that's not what I came here for…

I met somebody…during my years in Japan. I met a young girl with horns who is a dreamer, much like Miriana but there's something different. You see, they are very alike, and I think this might turn into something quite interesting.

Quite…interesting."


Author's Note: Another chapter finished. As if Miriana hadn't gone through enough on the ship, now this happens to her. With pain just emerging from every chapter, what more could come out of this? Stay tuned for the next upcoming chapter of "Pinpoint Lifeline."

R&R