THE ICE
Written by Van, ©2003
ChaoticCentury.com
II
The miles and hours passed.
Raven crouched glumly, hunched over a cup of tea that sat untouched in front of him. Almost as an afterthought, he looked up at his prisoner. Fiona, bound at the wrists, was watching him intently.
"Do you want some tea?" he asked her huskily, holding up the mug.
"Raven, what's wrong?" Fiona was not afraid, even as Shadow glowered at her for asking.
Raven did not respond, but he began shaking. The mug slipped out of his hand. The tea spread slowly over the hard earth, creeping like blood from a wound. He looked at Fiona again, and strangely, felt soothed by her shining ruby eyes. "I don't know," he finally managed to mutter.
"Yes you do." Fiona's eyes never left his spare figure. "What happened?"
Raven found the words and thoughts and images inside him bubbling up, threatening to spill over. He was afraid he might explode from the pain. He closed his eyes tightly, almost daring a tear to escape.
One did, squeezing out his right eye. Fiona watched as it traced a path down the marking on his face.
"What do you want with me?" she asked.
"The … Dark Kaiser." His voice was cracking. "He wanted me to deliver you."
"What are you sad about, then?"
Raven jerked his face away from her so his shaggy, coal-colored hair masked his face. "I'm not sad about anything."
"I know what it is." Fiona continued to study him. "You feel guilty about something."
Both Raven's hands clenched into fists and shook. He lifted his head slowly, eyes dark and intense. "I don't feel guilty about ANYTHING!" he roared as he lunged for her. He struck her face with surprising force: more strongly than he had intended. She crumpled backwards, unable to defend herself or break her fall.
Shadow growled.
Raven stared wide-eyed at Fiona's prone body, then, without realizing why he was doing it, crawled over to help her up. "Fiona, I – "
"Untie me," she interrupted, softly, sternly.
He did not stop to think about anything; he simply crawled over to her and undid the binds.
Fiona rubbed her wrists for a moment, then looked at Raven. He was still staring at her, face still twisted with confusion and suffering.
"You're in pain," she said simply.
Raven's eyes clouded as remembrances from earlier that day flooded his vision. The base. The destruction. The Geno Breaker, tearing it all to pieces. The tiny people running to and fro, racing for cover. And then, alone, amidst the ruin and the smoke, a little girl. A little girl searching through the haze. A little girl finding the remains of her parents, partially buried beneath a boulder. The little girl's screams of shock and terror and anger. The shrill, little screams. "You bad Zoid! You killed them! You killed Mommy and Daddy!"
"I didn't mean to," Raven murmured. "That little girl …" He thought back to his own childhood, remembering how much he had hated the organoid that had killed his own parents. He felt the rage boil within him now, the rage against the organoid, the girl's rage against his Geno Breaker. A muffled cry escaped him involuntarily.
"Raven." Fiona allowed him to collapse into her arms. She rubbed her hands up and down his smooth, muscular back, as his body was racked with anguished sobs.
"Why? Why? WHY DID THEY HAVE TO DIE?" he screamed, overtaken by his own grief.
Fiona rested her chin lightly in his thick, dark mop of hair, still stroking his back. She continued as the wails slowed, and quieted, and became muted whimpers. Raven, for all his toughness, was only a little boy who was lost and alone in the world.
Raven was silent and still. His eyes were itchy from so many tears, but he could not bring himself to move away from this place, where he could hear Fiona's heart beating soothingly next to his right ear. Finally, he lifted his head, looking at her. "Why? Why be kind to me?"
"Because I understand." Before he could protest this, she went on, "You're not evil."
These words stunned Raven down to his very marrow. No one had ever seen to the depths of his soul like Fiona had just done. She had seen the shadows, but amid the gloom, she had seen a flicker of light that had never been found before. She was not afraid.
He looked into her eyes again, and she was looking into his. He saw there things he had never seen before in the eyes of another: compassion, empathy, kindness, love. Love. Is that what he saw? He peered closer, into her bright, smiling eyes. Yes.
"Raven, I believe in you."
Again, he was taken aback. "You – you do?"
"Yes. I believe in you like I believe in Van. I believe that you can create miracles."
Raven's cold, gray eyes softened.
"And the first miracle you should create is your own healing. I see the pain and anger roiling inside you. Open up your heart." Fiona stopped speaking and reached her hand out, clasping Raven's. She stroked her thumb gently over his palm. He looked down at their hands, then up at her again.
"Fiona …" How could he describe what he felt? How could he possibly explain the warmth she exuded, the comfort she brought to his tortured soul? What words could express how it felt to finally be understood?
Fiona stood and took both his hands, helping him to his feet. "Not another word," she whispered as she leaned forwards; her lips caressed his with a feather light touch.
Raven ran one hand through his hair, dazed, as Fiona said, "Shadow, please take me back to Van." Shadow looked at Raven, who nodded imperceptibly.
Shadow held out his arms and Fiona allowed herself to be lifted off of the ground and cradled against his metallic body. Spreading his bat-like wings, the black organoid blazed off into the horizon. Raven watched them go, not even noticing the wind tenderly winding through his hair.
And somewhere, far to the north, a tremendous glacier cracked and shattered under the weight of the water behind it. The stream, no longer blockaded, flowed freely past the icy remains.