STARAYAR
(Older)




Tokyo, normally one of the world's busiest cities, is now an eerie place to live.

Buildings are decimated or collapsed. The once bustling Shinjuku and Shibuya districts are quiet. Officials have deemed those places to be off-limits, under re-construction, from the mysterious planetary affliction.

Throughout the entire city, all are in want. There is no gas. Factories that normally produced basic utilities - clean water, electricity, gas - has completely shut down, ruined by physical depreciation. The people have gone into the stores to buy what they can, as everything is ruined. Candles, bottled water, everything. But how will ten million people be able to survive when the supplies run out?

Those who hope for outside help must contend with sad bitterness. Relief from other countries is short in coming. For this condition is the same for many places around the world, in every city and state. But it is profoundly so here. An endless fog has drifted over the Japanese capital, and there seems to be no signs of it letting up.

Naturally, I would understand this. For I am an expert of destruction. A catalyst of entropy, and death. The scourge of all who knew my name.

Or I was. But now, I am only Dimitri, one spirit out of countless trillions.

But this quiet city is simply the ground where everything will be reborn. At least, that is the hope of the world. Bound together as never before, the nations of Earth have suddenly seen the light. The destruction of almost every habitable domicile. The abrupt ruin of the world economy. The mysterious "aging syndrome", as dubbed by doctors, that has aged everyone on this lonely planet by approximately six years. The Apocalypse, perhaps not in terms of the people themselves, but in everything around them. Morale is lower than ever. Despair runs rampant.

Many are pointing their fingers at the strange storm that spread across the planet, which knocked everyone unconscious. Yet it is impossible with the world's weather patterns, meteorologists claim. Others believe it was nuclear fallout - World War Three. Yet Russia and the United States have not exchanged a single shot, the politicians contend. Still others believe fanatically that the devil is at work, that God's retribution has started. Yet Jesus has not returned, the clerics argue.

In a way, it is all three. A powerful storm, created by a man who defied the gods and reversed a divine edict, spread across the planet, contaminating everything.

Now, the leaders of the world will gather, in this destroyed city, the beacon of the Land of the Rising Sun, to try to figure out a way. But there is only one way. I know the group approaching me understands this. They know that something is going to happen, an event that will transform this world into something that it never imagined.

But I know the question that hangs on your minds. For, though you have the knowledge of what is to happen, there is still the here and now to deal with.

What will happen next?


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"Is this the town we left?"

The group of young women, almost all of them pushing the ages of 22, 23 and 24, walked past the checkpoint which separated Juuban from Roppongi in the Minato Ward. Buildings were crumbled around, and the group found themselves avoiding large chunks of brick and plaster as they walked. Several people were running past them, covered in dust, shaking from shock. The streets began to darken as they walked - the only indication of passing time through the dust and fog which engulfed everything.

"Our town…"
"The stench of despair is all around." An unfinished metal structure creaked on the other side of the stone wall. "One thousand years of dormancy….and everything is gone. In wreckage."
"This is incredible."

Haruka turned to look at the new companion with slightly scathing eyes. Locke's shock at the changed surroundings showed in his face, but Haruka didn't care to notice.

"This is the doings of revenge." The group stopped. Locke's eyes shifted down and twitched from the dust. "This city….is so different from when I was here before. Long ago…..yet…..it only seems like a small while."
"The difference or appearance is the work of more than one person, sir." Haruka turned away to look towards a wall. "I understand why your sentiments would be regretful."

Locke gave Haruka no reply. He simply kept his head down.

"My god." Minako's eyes grew wide. "What will everyone say when they see us?"
"The same of what they said when they saw themselves." Makoto replied. "We aren't the only ones who've aged; everyone in the world has come with us."
"This doesn't feel like sacred land." Mamoru looked up. "It is more like a wasteland."
"It feels so strange." Ami looked around. "It is like coming home to a place that is no longer what you saw it as before."
"Yes." Haruka's eyes kept away from Locke. "Especially when you have brought extra problems with you."
"Um…."

Rei uneasily turned to Locke at Haruka's unsubtle hostility, but Locke didn't seem to notice or care about Haruka's suggestive words. He simply looked up and stared out into the distance, his eyes quietly surveying.

Is this what it feels like….at the threshold of destruction?….Complacency and death, peace and final rest, one and the same…?

"Perhaps we should get to Hikawa, Locke." Rei quietly took herself out of his thoughts. "We have a lot to do."
"Yes…."
"I'll come with you, Rei." Makoto gave Haruka a look as she walked off. "We'll have to make sure your grandfather is still alive as well."
"Right. Let's get."

The remaining group watched as Locke silently followed the two soldiers into the dense fog. Finally, when the three had walked far enough away, the group silently looked at Haruka.

"You still have a problem with him."
"He kidnapped our princess. Is there a problem with anger in that?"
"Perhaps."
"You all know what he put us through. But you are accepting him so quickly. Has it ever occurred that all of this has fallen because of his devices?"
"Haruka." Setsuna's normally quiet voice obtained a sharp but calm edge. "Our duty is to help all in need. He needs our help. And we must help him."
"Maybe so," Michiru looked at Setsuna. "But he did have a hand in this. Haruka is right about that."
"You of all people talking." Haruka gave Setsuna an angry look. "You know better than all of us what he did."

Without another word, Haruka walked off, Michiru walking behind.

"Haruka, wait!…"
"Setsuna…" Mamoru turned to Setsuna.
"His involvement is all of this," Setsuna looked up at the prince. "Is that of a man who didn't know better."
"Setsuna?"

Setsuna did not speak for the rest of what was left in the afternoon.

---------------------

*CRACKLE!*

"Jesus." Vines lay at Knuckles' feet. "What in the world is this?"
"I don't know." Julie-Su picked up one of the wines and examined it. "This is so strange. These vines aren't indigenous to the area, are they?"
"No. At least, not last time I was here…"

Knuckles also picked up a vine and examined it carefully as the two walked on. The sun was slowly setting, beyond the treetops as they walked, purples yellows and oranges dancing through the blue clouds as the sky darkened. Julie-Su looked up and gave a sigh.

"Such a beautiful sunset…"
"Hmm?"

Knuckles' head snapped up from his vine observation. He began looking around nervously.

"Knuckles?"
"Lights." Knuckles seemed a little uneasy. "Artificial. Up ahead…..on the left…..and voices."
"Damn." Julie-Su dropped her vine. "Well, I….I guess we should see who it is, huh? I was hoping civilization would be a little further off….."
"One thousand years…." Knuckles looked back at Julie-Su. "I don't know why, but…..this vine…..I am sensing something from it. And…."
"And?"
"I have a feeling……that…." Nothing's changed much? Only my hope. The truth is, it's been a thousand years. Everything must have changed. "Well……we should see who's over there."

With that, the echidna travelers quietly resumed their walk, hand in hand, the twigs snapping under them. They knew they were plunging into a riddle that time brought upon them. They knew also that it was possible that they were embarking on a fruitless venture - one thousand years can erase the vailant and the wicked from existence in a heartbeat. Yet they marched on, delving deeper into a mystery they hoped to soon solve.

------------------------------

"Move it! Hurry up, everyone!!!"
"Let's go go go!!!"
"Really." Cracked buildings began to emerge from the wreckage. "You'd think we could move faster!"
"Mmm-hmm."

The purple female echidna absent-mindedly tweaked with her earrings as she watched the fray of recovering the bodies of the city's people. After shouting to an echidna who was sleeping, she began to walk off from the construction. A small group of vested bodyguards, dressed in riot gear, surrounded her as people, mainly reporters, began to push their way towards the woman.

"Councilor! Councilor Gala-Na!"
"A moment of your time! When will the clean-up of the freak storm be finished?"
"How much is the Echidna Council really investing in the clean up?"
"What is your feeling on the mass sell-out of emergency supplies? Is order restored in the city?!"
"What caused this storm on such an abrupt notice, Councilor?!"
"Ladies and gentlemen!" One of the bodyguards suddenly boomed. The small group stopped, the woman stopping as well. "The leading Councilor has a lot on her mind without the media delving into the position of the Council in such a time of crisis for the city of Albion!"
"The public wants to know!"
"We are doing all we can."

The voice, though it was somewhat muffled within the group of bodyguards, still rang out. The purple echidna pushed two of the bodyguards out of the way to face her critics.

"We are doing all that we can," she repeated.
"But Councilor-"
"I can assure you that we are getting to the bottom of this incident which has inflicted such terror upon the people of Albion." Gala-Na could feel the words, so often used in the history of the Echidna Council's press releases, well up with a raw new meaning within her. "Rest assured, we will not rest until that which was responsible for this vine incident is exposed and taken care of. And now," the echidna turned, "I am a busy woman, especially now, and I need some private time. Please leave me."

With that, the councilor walked off, amid the protests from both the media and other citizens who were shouting at her. She simply shrugged the insults and questions off; she had no need for them now. She was a politician, true, and like all politicians, her first motive was normally to strive for the highest office she could attain, looking good while she did so.
However, as she rounded a corner and walked into a small, seemingly obscure brick building, she knew that the first objective could be abandoned. As she had obtained Albion's most prestigious title, there was the second objective to attend to: to rid Albion and all echidna civilization of opponents who could usurp her power. After all, what good would public office be to such a figure if she was brushed away by a seemingly innocent coup d'eat?
No. Her thoughts rumbled in fear and seething hatred as the door opened for her. The hall was dark and musky, and the smell of alcohol filled her nose. She would conquer those who defied her. She would stop this savagery contaminating the city.
I know it is him….

"Councilor." A yellow echidna smocked in green bowed. "I have been waiting for you."

Nodding, Gala-Na walked past several other echidnas - mostly other councilmen like herself - and approached the orange echidna who stood nearest to the door.

"So you found him."
"Not so much as me." The captain took off his hat and rubbed his head. "One of my men, they were fishing for some heron to feed the city in this time of emergency and…..they found it. It was drifting into the hull, almost stuck there, but one of the net harpoons got it, and……ripped it slightly. The harpoon was stuck, somewhere along its side for awhile but we were able to get it out before the coast patrol came to help. I…it's not pretty, councilor."
"Nothing is pretty in this world." Gala-Na turned to the door. "Open it. I want to see him."

The doors opened for her, and she walked in. A pungent, mildewy version of the smell of the sea greeted her as she walked in, and it took a constrained effort to try to keep herself from swooning. The yellow echidna followed her, a pair of gloves in tow. The councilor took the gloves and put them on.

"This way."

The bag lay on the table, smelling of decaying fish. Gala-Na, despite her respect for those sailors who had been forced to endure the smell for the entire day, was forced to cover her nose as the echidna slowly unzipped the bag.

"This is it." The yellow echidna looked at it, his eye slightly clouded. "I never thought I'd see this."

The fake glass eye seemed to stare up at Gala-Na, even in death, even cracked, with contempt. The blue tunic was completely ripped and stained with blood. Holes pocketed him everywhere, and from those holes, the streams of dark dried blood still left its residue. His other eye, his good one, was gone, shot out as well. His body was, on top of being riddled with bullets and snagged by a harpoon, partially eaten by greedy fish, and skeleton bone peeped out from one of the dreadlocks.
If Gala-Na had any true respect for the man in his life, perhaps she would have been sickened to see Sabre's body in the condition it was in. But she felt nothing but hate. Due to recent events, any respect she had for him, or for the family he came from, was gone. Nonetheless, she managed to keep her anger in check as she looked up at the mortician.

"And how many others have been found since then?"
"Five more yesterday. But fishermen around that area have been saying around thirty." Another councilor answered for the mortician. "And I don't think the situation will be any better, councilor Gala-Na."
"And anything from the Floating Island?."
"Nothing."
"Very well." Gala-Na's voice was firm. "I want a team in that area. I want them searching."
"For more bodies?"
"For the Island." Gala-Na turned around. "I have a feeling about this…."
"Councilor…"
"Do it." Gala-Na turned to face the fellow politician. "This is a direct attack on echidna interests. I have a feeling that someone we know had a hand in this, and I want that area searched for the Island and bodies. Tell no one of my order - I don't want any more chaos than we already have."
"Gala-"
"No one outside this room knows." Gala-Na's eyes flashed. "We must be careful, for there are things both outside and inside that will stop at nothing to destroy us. Am I clear?"

When the councilor gave no reply, the female echidna left. Her heart boiled in anger from what she saw.
I knew it. She silently fumed as she walked back down the hall. I was right. Now we must find him and stop him. No matter what I must do. And Aurora strike me down if he escapes my wrath…

------------------------------

Locke silently sat down on the futon. The feel of the hay, the coolness of the sheets comforted him even though the air was just as cold. Slowly, he rested his head onto the pillow, which lay on the futon.

So much…..


"And….you what, Rei?!" Rei's grandfather had stared in surprise at the cloaked man. "You want me to let him LIVE here?!"
"Let me answer. Grandfather." Rei looked at Locke, who simply looked awkwardly at his new surroundings. "This man is…an uncle of Minako's. Minako, my friend?"
"Yes, yes…" Oji-san scratched his head. His wrinkled face looked up at Locke, whose eyes looked over at the fireplace. "You're Minako's uncle? Why don't you stay at Minako's?"
"Grandfather," Rei quickly replied. "Minako's house was ruined, and her uncle, the honorable man that he is, won't take charity from those who cannot give it. We, on the other hand, have sufficient supply for…this crisis…and can support an extra person."
"Hmmm!" Oji-san tapped his foot. "Seems adding six years to everyone's life is a bad thing, huh?…..why won't you answer me, sir?"
"Grandfather, he-"
"I'm sorry."

Locke's voice finally came from his mouth, though his face was still towards the fireplace.

"Forgive me…" Locke's voice trembled. "I……I am somewhat overwhelmed…."


Overwhelmed.
Locke's eyes slowly closed. Too much, too much to think, to know. To ask.

Dad……….


Locke shut his eyes tightly at the sound of Knuckles' voice. He took a few deep breaths, slowly inhaling, then exhaling, until Knuckles disappeared from his conscious.
Not now. I can't face it now.
Even with that in mind, Locke could still feel the pressures of the memories. Death. Ignorance. Duty. Life. Despair. Power. Greed. A good way to summon up forty-four years of living, plus one thousand years of magically induced slumber, and things that fueled dark secrets he feared to look at.
The massacre. His journey to Earth. His fateful trip with Usagi. Everything horrible that Locke knew would one day return to haunt him. His son's mutation. His divorce. The Brotherhood.
It was only just now starting to all sink in.
They were all over-sized weights to him. He knew that if he tried to pick them up, and hold them in the air, he would break his back. And he was uncertain as to whether he would ever recover if he confronted….everything. Full face. Hand to hand. Alone.
He closed his eyes, keeping away from the weight room as he did. He knew there were other things in the gym besides endurance tests. Those could be done when he was ready, he knew. But as of yet, all he could really be counted upon doing was warming the bench.

-----------------

The bright lights of the makeshift settlement twinkled as Knuckles and Julie-Su silently came upon the encampment.

"A clean-up team." A group of Mobians huffed as they hauled vines towards a large cart. "These vines. Something recent caused the vines to grow."
"But what?"

Julie-Su watched as the group of Mobians methodcally carried each branch into the wooden cart. Her mind calculated what she saw, and something within her stumbled upon a thought.
Strange.......these guys are using methods that we were using....

"You!!!!

The two echidnas jumped up and turned around. A metal helmet stared back at them.

"What are you doing here?!" A gun pointed towards them. This is off-limits!"

Knuckles' gut reaction came to him before a more rational thought could occur. Within a split second, he felt his knuckles crunch into the stomach of the helmet, sending him over the brush. The gun went off as the figure flew, shooting up into the sky. Knuckles, in return, jumped on the soldier.

"What was that?!?" Julie-Su jumped to Knuckles as footsteps approached the edge of the clearing. "What's going on?!?"
"Knuckles!!" Julie-Su's teeth were clenched as she pulled him up off of the soldier. "What the hell?!"

Knuckles looked down at his prey and gasped as he saw his enemy in full light.

"Those colors....!!"
"What?!" Several figures pointed to the two, running. "What?"
"..................The Acorn color guard...."

Twenty Acorn troops, dressed in full military suit, abandoned the workers and surrounded the two renegade echidnas, guns pointed.

"What is this?!"

Knuckles clenched his fists and punched one trooper, while Julie-Su took out her laser and shot at another. However, it did no good. Within moments, they were in the custody of the troopers.

"You have detained troops of his Majesty." The two were cuffed. "By order of King Maxmillian Acorn, you are both u-"
"MAXMILLIAN?!?"
"-under arrest." Knuckles winced as he was poked, though the width of his eyes didn't change. "You are both to be taken to Knothole Kingdom and tied under charge of assaulting a security officer and obstructing emergency service work!"
"It.....can't be.....are you sure?!"

Knuckles stopped struggling. His face purveyed the shock he had just received. Likewise, Julie-Su simply stared at the soldiers as if they had told her a dark secret that would destroy the world.

"What do you mean, were sure? You trying to play games?"

"Come on, you two." The soldier roughly motioned. "Let's go."

With that, the two were dragged off from the work site and through the forest, the black night seeping through the forest and into the new prisoners' stung hearts. For their hearts had yet to catch up to the reality they just found out - a reality that should have died long ago, engulfed in flame and chaos, a reality that died in them when they saw another world engulfed in ice and silence.