___Chapter 43___
~~~NOTE- musical inspiration (for the re-vamping of this chapter) "Miller's angels", by the Counting Crows. ~~~
"CALM DOWN!" Arcos screamed, slapping the older warrior across the face, waiting till Zite stopped yelling to repeat his question- "What's going on? And where's Comet?"
Zite, chest visibly heaving for air, pointed a quivering hand down toward the water, whispering between shaky breaths and the liquid pooling in the corners of his eyes "Something was wrong- kept saying he couldn't- couldn't breathe- was dizzy- fainted- fell- too big- too fast- couldn't catch- in the water- gone. He's- gone."
Arcos swallowed, closing his eyes in remorse, his voice hushed and hissed. "Not another one..."
Something shiny reflected in the lightning flash, pulling Arcos' down-turned eyes to something clenched in Zite's fist. A small smile came to his face as he recognized the claw they'd asked of Porunga for his brother all those years ago, the little bone-hook that he'd worn with pride every day of his life. The smile disappeared when he saw the cord was torn, as if it'd been yanked on...
The others got there quickly, yet asked no questions of the scene before their eyes. The silence told them everything they needed to know.
But that silence was broken by.......
Five heads turned to the sound to see one of their own, nearly doubled over with laughter.
Swift gritted his teeth, scorn plain in his already-dark eyes. "And what's so damned FUNNY!?" his voice grated out, the questioning tone overshadowed by the emotion in his eyes flowing into them.
"Your face."
THAT was too much. Swift jumped forward, grabbing the offender's vest around his neck, and yelled, lip twitching on the side of his face "I swear, I'm going to strangle you with your damned bandanna if you don't stop!" as he shook him in violently in his tight grasp.
The one at the end of Swift's fists was unfazed. With the same crazy smile he was wearing earlier, the look now in his eyes as well, he said "So, little 'leader' is mad at me?"
"YES."
"Oh Swift, you should see your face. It's precious."
"SHUTUP."
"Why?"
"You're loosing it, Bolt. Stop it now."
"Oh no, I haven't lost anything. You just forgot what I'm like. You think I laugh because I'm happy?"
That only brought an odd stare, and awkward silence. Swift almost jerkingly let him go, and Bolt smoothed his vest down as if nothing had happened. "I told you we're all going to hell, the whole damn world's going, because we're all screwed. THAT'S why I laugh, Swift. I told you that long ago. You just conveniently 'forgot', because you don't want to accept the truth. Remember?"
Bolt finished brushing the dust off himself, and glanced up, that look still predominant in his swirled indigo-black irises, little light reflecting into the onyx pupils.
Swift narrowed his eyes opened his mouth to protest, but soon enough closed it again, discovering he had nothing to say. Now that he thought about it....... Bolt HAD said... oh god.
Bolt's smile twisted in the same way it always did, in that cockeyed, cockamamie smirk- but it just didn't look RIGHT anymore, Swift thought to himself, now remembering the thoughts behind it- and he sighed, holding his arms out to the sides with palms up as he said in a dry tone "Now, may we be going?"
---
Ragnoroc sat there, dumbfounded, staring at the char lines on the ground, at the smoldering corpse sprawled not six feet away from him, the one that had been a living, breathing being only moments before. It had all happened so fast.... A chill rose up his spine. He was alone now, the lightning still striking about. He glanced at all the bodies, shuddering as he recognized each one, each little face once so happy and full of life staring at him now with death's cold, terrified eyes. He quivered, wrapping his arms around himself and standing up, not able to bear looking at them anymore, just staring out into the nothingness of the dark, dark sky, Nameksei's tears splattering his face with his own as the storms raged overhead like angry gods. The scarred(in so many ways) child who's name was Ragnoroc turned his head to the sky, blinking back tears as the rain washed the blood and ash from his face.
"Aecha?" he whispered, using the word he'd made up for 'sister' as his voice quaked, breaking constantly, "Where are you? I'm scared..... When will this all end?"
He was answered very quickly, as a burst of lightning cut him down. It seemed less a punishment than an act of mercy though- as the whiteness enveloped him, he didn't feel any pain.
---
Swift felt sick inside. He'd tried to forger about Bolt's almost malicious nature, that such a creature lived inside the kind carefree person he'd come to know as his best friend, but now that was impossible to do. Of course, he'd probably be like that too if he'd been through what Bolt had, but... still! That was his friend! It wasn't... right for someone to be that twisted. It had been hard enough with Rager being like that, then Bolt's little brother had to go die, and screw up Bolt! Damn kid, it was all his f-
Swift slapped himself, cutting that line of thought short.
{{THAT was WRONG.}} he growled mentally.
---
Arcos was even more jittery. His big brother.....
{{Damn, if HE'S dead, what hope does little 'ol me have?}} he mumbled internally, for one of the first times in his life on the verge of tears. He closed his eyes, just coasting along, but couldn't banish the ache in his heart, his head pounding along with it. Arcos plucked his turban off his head, his antenna arching out above his eyes as he sighed, dropping it into the sea.
For a second he just stared down at it fall, watching it splash lightly and sink slowly below the surface. {{Like Comet did.... 'boom', 'splash', show's over kids, time to go home...}}
He swallowed hard, ignoring the fact that he was crying, ignoring the fact that everyone had stopped and was staring at him, ignored the lump in his throat as he threw himself at his other brother, his body shaking with sobs that retched through his whole little body, only able to clutch Swift's vest and cry into arms that held him close for a long five minutes.
---
Zite's fiery temper was getting the best of him. Only the icy glare Ratal had shot at him had stopped him from trying to kill Bolt earlier, when that bastard had been laughing at his friend's death. OOH was he gonna pay for that later... His moss green aura twitched with an ember glow, on and off, like the way his hands curled in and out of their fists. Flant was gonna get his teeth shoved down his throat for that, and for once, there was no gentle Tern to stop him...
As this stream of thoughts flowed through his mind he flew on blindly, only breaking out of his anger when something hit him slap-dab in the face. He jerked out of his mood immediately, jerking his arm back to blast whatever it was to oblivion..... and stopped.
{{Oh no....}}
Zite's now-pale face looked up, noticing out of the side of his eye that the others had stopped as well, but he wasn't paying attention. Below them was the outskirts of his village, HIS village, the place where he had grown up nearly alone before meeting the others, where he had tended the fields around his home lovingly every day of his young life, the place that had brought him to love such things... The tattered adjica petal fell free from his hand, floating to the barren, stripped ground stretching out for miles around him, the ground lying barren and dead.
His heart died in his throat and as all his losses mounted in his mind, he felt like just dropping from the sky and letting himself crash right there till he'd land with a 'thud' and never have to see or feel that emptiness anymore, but when released his chi aura to do so, he didn't go far- jerking his glance over his shoulder, he saw quiet blue eyes staring back at him. Frost was holding him up.
No words passed, but Zite pulled himself back and continued flying, the others behind him in a somber silence (save one, who chuckled something obscene under his breath).
That was too much, and before anyone could restrain him, Zite screamed out a full-throated yell and slugged Bolt hard in the gut, breaking his ribs before Ratal pried the shaking screaming form off him.
---
Bolt didn't react very much to the sudden assault, besides a twisting of his face at the immediate pain, but when their sensei struck the shorter warrior across the head to chastise him for his actions, he merely watched with greater amusement than before. Those light brown eyes kept glancing back at him, lighting with rage, but he didn't attack him again.
Bolt was still smiling. Inside he was laughing hard enough to make him burst. So what if he got jumped? So what if he died? They were all going to hell. No matter what, everyone would be going there eventually. Every one of their souls was damned to that dark eternity, none would be spared the wrath of their own dark sides in the end. The future was trivial anyway- all that mattered was now, for now was all they had.
The others were all avoiding his eyes now- that only made the situation more asinine. But it wasn't tragic- nothing was tragic, that word didn't exist! Everything was just so damned funny, and he was the only one who could recognize it! Someone died? That's their problem. We're all gonna die eventually, what matters if it happens now?
---
Frost still felt lost inside. He'd NEVER been without his brother.... now, he wasn't sure what to do.
If his eyes had ever looked faraway before, they did now.
---
The rain and winds were pounding when they reached the little archipelago- they'd hoped to avoid the place, because of the thunderstorm hovering over the area, but been blown that way by winds which cared for noone's wishes. As a charred scent reached their nostrils and they looked down, they decided they didn't want to be there for another reason.
Bolt didn't even bother to comment this time- the others beat him to it anyway.
You can guess where they were.
---
All eyes were on Katass, but there wasn't the customary silence. Upon seeing him, three of them (including Ratal himself) cursed out-loud and bolted down. Frost could only stare in drop-jawed shock, and Swift started crying. Bolt merely floated above them, smiling and shaking his head, making a clicking noise with his tongue, the same one would use to chastise a young child. Swift jerked his head at the sound and stared at Bolt in deep resentment, but one look back at the still form of his once-companion quieted him. Bolt could go screw himself right now for all Swift cared, nothing anyone said or did could upset him more than he was now...
---
Ratal had NEVER felt this sick in his life, all 234 years of it. The years of his people's exile had never brought such a feeling to darken his heart. That had been nothing compared to the emotion which he couldn't even put a name on for how deep it went, shaking the very foundation of his soul.
He looked around him, at the fragments of so many lives, brushed out before they had even began. Then his mind flashed to the old scars of Shat, Cha, Ise..... Tern, Rager, Comet, Katass....... And Ishena's words- "We're dropping like flies..." It was happening again. All those he cared for, his friends, were dying suddenly, violently, and without even the slightest warning. "How many more will suffer before this is all over?" he hissed out in his mental voice, remembering the fight that'd just broken out, where one of those he almost considered his children had struck out at another. Violence begets violence, this was not going to end well...
Then something started screaming in the back of his head, yelling at him that he'd forgotten something. He'd had TEN students, not eight.
"....DAMNIT!" he howled, jerking up suddenly, his ki flaring up around him. The others, even Bolt, turned to look at him, confusion on their mournful faces.
"Sire?" came a voice from behind him, tinted with more than it's usual temperamental tone. He glanced Zite standing up in the corner of his eye, the man saying "What's wrong NOW?"
"I've got to go back."
"WHAT?!????!" the four of them shouted at once. Bolt just watched silently, interested with this new development.
The dark templar narrowed his eyes slightly at the looks they were giving him, which ranged from cynical, to confused, to terrified, and clenched his fists as he said "Oboe and Damaiou- I left them behind. I HAVE to go back and get them!"
"You know you'll die." was Bolt's emotionless response. Ratal turned to look at him, floating above and to the right
"I might. But I have to. As their teacher, it's my responsibility."
"We're your students too." he replied, smiling again as he crossed his arms.
Ratal stared him straight in the eyes and said "They are still children, just hatchlings. I must do what I can for them. You are my students, yes, but you're older, more experienced. You have a chance. I trust that even your twisted mind can comprehend 'honor', Flant."
Bolt was the first to break off, turning his head and clenching his eyes swiftly to avoid the gaze that bored straight through him. He didn't look back up until Ratal's aura was just a spec on the horizon once more.
---
Arcos sat on the shore, head on his hands, staring out at the water. It just wasn't fair....
The sky was still dark, indigo clouds swirling overhead, occasional streaks of lightning the only source of light between the turbid green sea and sky. But as the outside islands in the archipelago were getting the worst of it, their spot was fairly calm. Yet that was more than made up for by the turmoil going on inside them all.
Soaked to the bone, his neck ruff and antennae drooping, with a distinct pout on his face, Arcos was a truly pathetic sight, crouched down on the beach with head in hands. But he didn't really care. He was just pissed off about how unfair everything seemed. He'd lost two good friends, a big brother, another friend who'd been like a brother, and now his sensei had left him to fend for himself.
Just. ****ing. Wonderful.
He didn't respond when someone took a seat next to him, only turning when he recognized Frost's voice saying "Seems bad, doesn't it?"
Arcos nodded.
"Well, there's nothing we can do about the past right now. We have to think of the future. And we've got to stay alive."
Another nod, slightly less half-hearted.
"I know, Frost." he mumbled from his spot, "But... I just don't find myself caring after loosing my brother. It sucks."
He felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked to see understanding shimmering in Frost's usually silent, ice eyes. Then he realized the idiocy of his statement, and hid his face, embarrassed.
{{Ok, he is NOT the one to complain about that to, dumbass!}} his head yelled, causing him to hide it further between his knees.
"Get up, Arcos." Frost said quietly, pulling him up to look at him, saying "It's ok, I know you didn't mean anything."
Arcos glanced up, and smiled slightly as he sat back up. "Sorry. Forgot you did too."
"Hey, I said it was nothing."
"Alright. Just saying."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, and Arcos opened his mouth to speak, but when he looked to his left to do so, he stopped dead.
"Oh shit-"
"Huh?"
Arcos choked on his spit for a second before shouting "CYCLONE!!!!!!"
~~NOTE~~ Sorry the chapters have been so short lately. I'm trying to decide whether to type them shorter and coming out sooner, or longer and coming out less frequently- your feedback on that would be welcomed.
-
Oh, and where have all my past reviewers gone? A couple new people have come in, but all my previous ones have seemed to disappear. Your feedback is truly appreciated, and the comments you make help me decide how to tweak the story, since I'm already re-writing the original as I'm typing it (in my copybook right now it's only at page 117, which is a stark difference from what you see here). Well, that's all for now. ciao! ~~
-
Chapter 43, re-vamped on 11/15/01. Expect more work to be done on act two soon.~~
~~~NOTE- musical inspiration (for the re-vamping of this chapter) "Miller's angels", by the Counting Crows. ~~~
"CALM DOWN!" Arcos screamed, slapping the older warrior across the face, waiting till Zite stopped yelling to repeat his question- "What's going on? And where's Comet?"
Zite, chest visibly heaving for air, pointed a quivering hand down toward the water, whispering between shaky breaths and the liquid pooling in the corners of his eyes "Something was wrong- kept saying he couldn't- couldn't breathe- was dizzy- fainted- fell- too big- too fast- couldn't catch- in the water- gone. He's- gone."
Arcos swallowed, closing his eyes in remorse, his voice hushed and hissed. "Not another one..."
Something shiny reflected in the lightning flash, pulling Arcos' down-turned eyes to something clenched in Zite's fist. A small smile came to his face as he recognized the claw they'd asked of Porunga for his brother all those years ago, the little bone-hook that he'd worn with pride every day of his life. The smile disappeared when he saw the cord was torn, as if it'd been yanked on...
The others got there quickly, yet asked no questions of the scene before their eyes. The silence told them everything they needed to know.
But that silence was broken by.......
Five heads turned to the sound to see one of their own, nearly doubled over with laughter.
Swift gritted his teeth, scorn plain in his already-dark eyes. "And what's so damned FUNNY!?" his voice grated out, the questioning tone overshadowed by the emotion in his eyes flowing into them.
"Your face."
THAT was too much. Swift jumped forward, grabbing the offender's vest around his neck, and yelled, lip twitching on the side of his face "I swear, I'm going to strangle you with your damned bandanna if you don't stop!" as he shook him in violently in his tight grasp.
The one at the end of Swift's fists was unfazed. With the same crazy smile he was wearing earlier, the look now in his eyes as well, he said "So, little 'leader' is mad at me?"
"YES."
"Oh Swift, you should see your face. It's precious."
"SHUTUP."
"Why?"
"You're loosing it, Bolt. Stop it now."
"Oh no, I haven't lost anything. You just forgot what I'm like. You think I laugh because I'm happy?"
That only brought an odd stare, and awkward silence. Swift almost jerkingly let him go, and Bolt smoothed his vest down as if nothing had happened. "I told you we're all going to hell, the whole damn world's going, because we're all screwed. THAT'S why I laugh, Swift. I told you that long ago. You just conveniently 'forgot', because you don't want to accept the truth. Remember?"
Bolt finished brushing the dust off himself, and glanced up, that look still predominant in his swirled indigo-black irises, little light reflecting into the onyx pupils.
Swift narrowed his eyes opened his mouth to protest, but soon enough closed it again, discovering he had nothing to say. Now that he thought about it....... Bolt HAD said... oh god.
Bolt's smile twisted in the same way it always did, in that cockeyed, cockamamie smirk- but it just didn't look RIGHT anymore, Swift thought to himself, now remembering the thoughts behind it- and he sighed, holding his arms out to the sides with palms up as he said in a dry tone "Now, may we be going?"
---
Ragnoroc sat there, dumbfounded, staring at the char lines on the ground, at the smoldering corpse sprawled not six feet away from him, the one that had been a living, breathing being only moments before. It had all happened so fast.... A chill rose up his spine. He was alone now, the lightning still striking about. He glanced at all the bodies, shuddering as he recognized each one, each little face once so happy and full of life staring at him now with death's cold, terrified eyes. He quivered, wrapping his arms around himself and standing up, not able to bear looking at them anymore, just staring out into the nothingness of the dark, dark sky, Nameksei's tears splattering his face with his own as the storms raged overhead like angry gods. The scarred(in so many ways) child who's name was Ragnoroc turned his head to the sky, blinking back tears as the rain washed the blood and ash from his face.
"Aecha?" he whispered, using the word he'd made up for 'sister' as his voice quaked, breaking constantly, "Where are you? I'm scared..... When will this all end?"
He was answered very quickly, as a burst of lightning cut him down. It seemed less a punishment than an act of mercy though- as the whiteness enveloped him, he didn't feel any pain.
---
Swift felt sick inside. He'd tried to forger about Bolt's almost malicious nature, that such a creature lived inside the kind carefree person he'd come to know as his best friend, but now that was impossible to do. Of course, he'd probably be like that too if he'd been through what Bolt had, but... still! That was his friend! It wasn't... right for someone to be that twisted. It had been hard enough with Rager being like that, then Bolt's little brother had to go die, and screw up Bolt! Damn kid, it was all his f-
Swift slapped himself, cutting that line of thought short.
{{THAT was WRONG.}} he growled mentally.
---
Arcos was even more jittery. His big brother.....
{{Damn, if HE'S dead, what hope does little 'ol me have?}} he mumbled internally, for one of the first times in his life on the verge of tears. He closed his eyes, just coasting along, but couldn't banish the ache in his heart, his head pounding along with it. Arcos plucked his turban off his head, his antenna arching out above his eyes as he sighed, dropping it into the sea.
For a second he just stared down at it fall, watching it splash lightly and sink slowly below the surface. {{Like Comet did.... 'boom', 'splash', show's over kids, time to go home...}}
He swallowed hard, ignoring the fact that he was crying, ignoring the fact that everyone had stopped and was staring at him, ignored the lump in his throat as he threw himself at his other brother, his body shaking with sobs that retched through his whole little body, only able to clutch Swift's vest and cry into arms that held him close for a long five minutes.
---
Zite's fiery temper was getting the best of him. Only the icy glare Ratal had shot at him had stopped him from trying to kill Bolt earlier, when that bastard had been laughing at his friend's death. OOH was he gonna pay for that later... His moss green aura twitched with an ember glow, on and off, like the way his hands curled in and out of their fists. Flant was gonna get his teeth shoved down his throat for that, and for once, there was no gentle Tern to stop him...
As this stream of thoughts flowed through his mind he flew on blindly, only breaking out of his anger when something hit him slap-dab in the face. He jerked out of his mood immediately, jerking his arm back to blast whatever it was to oblivion..... and stopped.
{{Oh no....}}
Zite's now-pale face looked up, noticing out of the side of his eye that the others had stopped as well, but he wasn't paying attention. Below them was the outskirts of his village, HIS village, the place where he had grown up nearly alone before meeting the others, where he had tended the fields around his home lovingly every day of his young life, the place that had brought him to love such things... The tattered adjica petal fell free from his hand, floating to the barren, stripped ground stretching out for miles around him, the ground lying barren and dead.
His heart died in his throat and as all his losses mounted in his mind, he felt like just dropping from the sky and letting himself crash right there till he'd land with a 'thud' and never have to see or feel that emptiness anymore, but when released his chi aura to do so, he didn't go far- jerking his glance over his shoulder, he saw quiet blue eyes staring back at him. Frost was holding him up.
No words passed, but Zite pulled himself back and continued flying, the others behind him in a somber silence (save one, who chuckled something obscene under his breath).
That was too much, and before anyone could restrain him, Zite screamed out a full-throated yell and slugged Bolt hard in the gut, breaking his ribs before Ratal pried the shaking screaming form off him.
---
Bolt didn't react very much to the sudden assault, besides a twisting of his face at the immediate pain, but when their sensei struck the shorter warrior across the head to chastise him for his actions, he merely watched with greater amusement than before. Those light brown eyes kept glancing back at him, lighting with rage, but he didn't attack him again.
Bolt was still smiling. Inside he was laughing hard enough to make him burst. So what if he got jumped? So what if he died? They were all going to hell. No matter what, everyone would be going there eventually. Every one of their souls was damned to that dark eternity, none would be spared the wrath of their own dark sides in the end. The future was trivial anyway- all that mattered was now, for now was all they had.
The others were all avoiding his eyes now- that only made the situation more asinine. But it wasn't tragic- nothing was tragic, that word didn't exist! Everything was just so damned funny, and he was the only one who could recognize it! Someone died? That's their problem. We're all gonna die eventually, what matters if it happens now?
---
Frost still felt lost inside. He'd NEVER been without his brother.... now, he wasn't sure what to do.
If his eyes had ever looked faraway before, they did now.
---
The rain and winds were pounding when they reached the little archipelago- they'd hoped to avoid the place, because of the thunderstorm hovering over the area, but been blown that way by winds which cared for noone's wishes. As a charred scent reached their nostrils and they looked down, they decided they didn't want to be there for another reason.
Bolt didn't even bother to comment this time- the others beat him to it anyway.
You can guess where they were.
---
All eyes were on Katass, but there wasn't the customary silence. Upon seeing him, three of them (including Ratal himself) cursed out-loud and bolted down. Frost could only stare in drop-jawed shock, and Swift started crying. Bolt merely floated above them, smiling and shaking his head, making a clicking noise with his tongue, the same one would use to chastise a young child. Swift jerked his head at the sound and stared at Bolt in deep resentment, but one look back at the still form of his once-companion quieted him. Bolt could go screw himself right now for all Swift cared, nothing anyone said or did could upset him more than he was now...
---
Ratal had NEVER felt this sick in his life, all 234 years of it. The years of his people's exile had never brought such a feeling to darken his heart. That had been nothing compared to the emotion which he couldn't even put a name on for how deep it went, shaking the very foundation of his soul.
He looked around him, at the fragments of so many lives, brushed out before they had even began. Then his mind flashed to the old scars of Shat, Cha, Ise..... Tern, Rager, Comet, Katass....... And Ishena's words- "We're dropping like flies..." It was happening again. All those he cared for, his friends, were dying suddenly, violently, and without even the slightest warning. "How many more will suffer before this is all over?" he hissed out in his mental voice, remembering the fight that'd just broken out, where one of those he almost considered his children had struck out at another. Violence begets violence, this was not going to end well...
Then something started screaming in the back of his head, yelling at him that he'd forgotten something. He'd had TEN students, not eight.
"....DAMNIT!" he howled, jerking up suddenly, his ki flaring up around him. The others, even Bolt, turned to look at him, confusion on their mournful faces.
"Sire?" came a voice from behind him, tinted with more than it's usual temperamental tone. He glanced Zite standing up in the corner of his eye, the man saying "What's wrong NOW?"
"I've got to go back."
"WHAT?!????!" the four of them shouted at once. Bolt just watched silently, interested with this new development.
The dark templar narrowed his eyes slightly at the looks they were giving him, which ranged from cynical, to confused, to terrified, and clenched his fists as he said "Oboe and Damaiou- I left them behind. I HAVE to go back and get them!"
"You know you'll die." was Bolt's emotionless response. Ratal turned to look at him, floating above and to the right
"I might. But I have to. As their teacher, it's my responsibility."
"We're your students too." he replied, smiling again as he crossed his arms.
Ratal stared him straight in the eyes and said "They are still children, just hatchlings. I must do what I can for them. You are my students, yes, but you're older, more experienced. You have a chance. I trust that even your twisted mind can comprehend 'honor', Flant."
Bolt was the first to break off, turning his head and clenching his eyes swiftly to avoid the gaze that bored straight through him. He didn't look back up until Ratal's aura was just a spec on the horizon once more.
---
Arcos sat on the shore, head on his hands, staring out at the water. It just wasn't fair....
The sky was still dark, indigo clouds swirling overhead, occasional streaks of lightning the only source of light between the turbid green sea and sky. But as the outside islands in the archipelago were getting the worst of it, their spot was fairly calm. Yet that was more than made up for by the turmoil going on inside them all.
Soaked to the bone, his neck ruff and antennae drooping, with a distinct pout on his face, Arcos was a truly pathetic sight, crouched down on the beach with head in hands. But he didn't really care. He was just pissed off about how unfair everything seemed. He'd lost two good friends, a big brother, another friend who'd been like a brother, and now his sensei had left him to fend for himself.
Just. ****ing. Wonderful.
He didn't respond when someone took a seat next to him, only turning when he recognized Frost's voice saying "Seems bad, doesn't it?"
Arcos nodded.
"Well, there's nothing we can do about the past right now. We have to think of the future. And we've got to stay alive."
Another nod, slightly less half-hearted.
"I know, Frost." he mumbled from his spot, "But... I just don't find myself caring after loosing my brother. It sucks."
He felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked to see understanding shimmering in Frost's usually silent, ice eyes. Then he realized the idiocy of his statement, and hid his face, embarrassed.
{{Ok, he is NOT the one to complain about that to, dumbass!}} his head yelled, causing him to hide it further between his knees.
"Get up, Arcos." Frost said quietly, pulling him up to look at him, saying "It's ok, I know you didn't mean anything."
Arcos glanced up, and smiled slightly as he sat back up. "Sorry. Forgot you did too."
"Hey, I said it was nothing."
"Alright. Just saying."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, and Arcos opened his mouth to speak, but when he looked to his left to do so, he stopped dead.
"Oh shit-"
"Huh?"
Arcos choked on his spit for a second before shouting "CYCLONE!!!!!!"
~~NOTE~~ Sorry the chapters have been so short lately. I'm trying to decide whether to type them shorter and coming out sooner, or longer and coming out less frequently- your feedback on that would be welcomed.
-
Oh, and where have all my past reviewers gone? A couple new people have come in, but all my previous ones have seemed to disappear. Your feedback is truly appreciated, and the comments you make help me decide how to tweak the story, since I'm already re-writing the original as I'm typing it (in my copybook right now it's only at page 117, which is a stark difference from what you see here). Well, that's all for now. ciao! ~~
-
Chapter 43, re-vamped on 11/15/01. Expect more work to be done on act two soon.~~