HAIBANE RENMEI:

DER

AUSFALL

DES

FLUGES

A fanfiction.

By

Micheal Gioe

(This is a Fanfiction, so I claim no ownership of the Haibane Renmei Title or any of it's original characters or names, except my own)

-- This chapter may be a bit long. But there's a bunch of character stuff I've gotta get outta the way. Don't worry,this one's not a flash-back, and this chapter leads into the next one, which should be pretty decent.

6-- Prophecy

Friction

Pie

Ren had been told to keep off her feet by the old man at the temple, so that's exactly what she did the next day. Besides, she sort of wanted to stay in that room, the room that everyone used, instead, of out in those dreary hallways. Although, staying in that commonly used room had some drawbacks.

For instance, she attempted to leaf through some books Essen gave her to read, but that came to no avail. Someone would always walk in and sit down, trying to start up small talk with Ren. She really didn't want to talk right now. A lot of things were sifting through her mind. A lot. The only person whom she found mildly engaging to hold a conversation with was Bier. No matter what he was talking about, it was how he talked about it that made you want to listen and join in. Always, a joke or two was slipped into a story, or he would exaggerate the voices of others when telling about a part of their past in the house. His brown mustace bobbed every time he gave a deep chuckle, and his large, long smile forced a smile from anyone's lips who saw it.

"But the best part, was when she accident'ly blew up half the kitchen with one 'o her famous pies!" Bier chuckled as he recounted Laufen's early cooking adventures, which led to her becoming an excellent chef for their group.

"So she cooks good pies?" Ren smiled up from a large book she was flipping through indifferently.

"Naw, she doesn't cook, litl' one, she calls the angels down, kills, 'em, and stuffs 'em in the crust!"

"So they're good?"

"Oh child, they're the only reason to live in this little hole of a house!" Bier boomed.

"Why..." Ren started, then pretended not to have said anything.

"Hm?" Bier patted his knee.

"What do you...I mean, why do you think we're here? Why is everyone here sinbound? Why can't-" Ren sat up a bit.

"Child." Bier started. His smile didn't falter, but his eyes grew soft as her cocked his head a bit.

"No one knows, littl' one." Bier looked out the window. "It doesn't seem fair, does it? But we all must have done something, sometime or another, to have become sinbound. I don't know what it is, but something in this place, this entire town, isn't right. Something's off, and I've always know'd it. You're right, we're all born sinbound, and no one here since the wall, has ever been born otherwise. But there's no point in being depressed or worried, littl' lady." Bier clapped his big hand on Ren's shoulder.

"There's nothing we can do. Don't worry yourself over it. Everyone is scared at first. They try to find the way out, but it's a selfish journey, it is.

"Selfish journey?" Ren's eyes were tingling.

"You just take it easy, littl' one, gotta give your back time to heal." He smiled a smile that forced his eyes shut, laugh wrinkles pulling at his closed eyelids.

Bier shuffled out of the room, and gently closed the door.

Ren was walking slowly in a wooden hallway filled with yellow, passive light. As she walked, she noticed someone standing in the middle of the hallway. It was a familiar figure, but she couldn't place the name at first. Then it came to her. It was Abstiegen. Abstiegen smiled up at Ren as she walked by. Ren stopped and talked to Abstiegen, although afterward she couldn't remember at all what she had said. Before she knew it, Stiegen was at Abstiegen's side. He had his arm on her shoulder and he was leaning his face in close to hers, blinking slowly.

"Me." Ren pointed to the floor.

Abstiegen nodded and reached her hand out to Ren. Her hand slowly formed a cup. The sound of ripping flesh was heard reverberating off the walls. Abstiegen and Stiegen both looked up in unison. Ren followed suite. Above them was a tall ceiling capped with a beautiful stained glass dome. Suspended by many wires and chains from the ceiling, was an immense object. As Ren watched, the object shifted and melted to form a creature. Or some kind of sculpture. Whatever it was, it was moving. It was

Henheftsilenfirre

And then it wasn't. The hallway wasn't. Stiegen wasn't. All that was there was Ren and Abstiegen, but abstiegeN was something else now. She was different. Hunched. Dripping. Smiling. Dead and lively eyes of abstiegeN. And then came the breathing. Wet and rasping. Tearing at her ears. Then Ren was not. She was not, but the thing was still there, in the Henheftsilenfirre, with the Balail. With the Beast.

When Ren awoke, her face was making acquaintances with the page of a particularly boring book. Actually past making acquaintances, now they were good friends, and they were just sitting down to dinner. Ren pried the book off her cheek and looked around the room. A dusky blue filled the room, giving way to the glow of a candle at one end of the room. A figure held the candle. It was Felson.

Ren wanted to call out to Fel, but she was sleeping, or so it appeared. Ren licked her lips and noticed that they were rough and dry. She pushed herself gingerly out of bed, and limped to the tiny kitchen area. Her back hurt a bit, but she was more stiff than anything.

She opened the flimsy door to the kitchen and stumbled inside. She was greeted by the back of someone's head right in her face. She stiffled a cry and backed out of the kitchen. Laufen came out slowly, looking around warily.

"Um. Sorry, Ren." Her eyebrows bent upwards sheepishly.

"What...what are you doing here?" Ren hissed.

"I was keeping watch on you. Uh, Felson was supposed to, but she fell asleep, and when I came in...well, no one was here to make sure you were okay."

"But you can't watch me from the kitchen." Ren raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah...um...I know." Laufen nodded slowly.

They stood for a moment in what proved to be extremely awkward silence.

"I was going to make some food...for when you woke up, that is." Laufen smiled a bit.

"Oh." Ren nodded too.

"Well, I have to get back to my...rounds." Laufen shifted uneasily.

"Okay." Ren's head bobbed in a continous motion. "I'll be fine."

"Right. Yeah. I can...do more than cook, you know." Laufen started.

"Huh?"

"More."

"More what?"

"I've got to get back." Laufen sniffed.

"Are you okay?" Ren was starting to get a bit scared.

Laufen nodded and gulped dryly.

"I'll check up on you later." She briefly stated and then hustled away.

"Laufen." Came a voice from behind Ren.

She wheeled around to find Felson standing behind her. Her thin hands holding the stump of a candle. Another low smile appeared on her face.

"That child has always been like that." Felson stared after her.

"Um, Felson?" Ren looked at the ground.

"Why don't you go lay back down and then ask me your question." Felson nodded towards the bed.

Ren was actually getting a bit chilly, and she was also feeling drowsiness creep up behind her eyes. She made her way to the bed and plopped down. Felson made a move to bring the covers up, but Ren waved at her.

"I can do it."

"Okay." Fel always had a low monotone-ish voice, sort of like the communicator.

Ren actually found Fel's voice relaxing. She sighed and looked at the wall.

"Felson?"

"Yes?"

"Do you...do you hate me?"

"What?" Felson cocked her head.

"You got so upset when you saw my wings, I just thought..." Ren trailed off.

"Well, I was mad at you, for a while." Fel looked away as well, her eyes staring off at the wall.

"But it wasn't my...my fault, was it?"

"I don't think so. I forget that, sometimes." Fel nodded slowly.

"Okay, I'm sorry." Ren nodded.

"It's-"

And then Ren knew no more, for the world around her had gone black, and her conciousness vanished.

When Ren came to, a muddy light was floating in through the windows of the room. Ren felt very heavy. She also felt very hot, in her passed out state, she had managed to toss her covers off, and everywhere that her body made contact with the bed was sticky with sweat.

Ren jumped when she heard sounds coming from the little kitchen in the room. It was probably Laufen. But she was wrong. A figure stepped out, and Ren recognized the clothes as being Geschlachtet's. But this didn't look like Geschlachtet. This didn't have a head. Instead, a dark hole in the neck of the shirt where the head should've been gaped at Ren. The figure raised the darkened halo she had seen Laufen fingering earlier. It raised it above it's hole and hurled it at Ren. It fell short and skidded under the bed. Then the figure charged at Ren.

Ren was feeling heavy, but she moved like she weighed nothing. She was on the floor before she knew it. And then she heard a heavy thud, and the door to the room opened.

"Ren?" Came a gruff voice.

"Well, I knew you were head over heels for me, but..."

It was Trunk. Of course.

"No way! You saw the Headless Haibane?" Trunk burst with excitement as Ren told him her story.

"What?" Ren's breath was shallow, and her hands wouldn't quit shaking.

"It's kindof a ghost or something that lives in this room, and around it." Trunk looked around.

"Ghost?"

"Yeah, I don't really believe in spirits myself. I don't know what this is, but it's real. It can touch you."

For some reason, this didn't comfort Ren very much.

"What...What's it...Why is it here?" Ren searched for the words.

"Dunno." Trunk shrugged. "But everybody usually sees it once."

"So why did you come in, just now?"

"Oh, I was sent to check on you."

"You?" Ren giggled.

"Yeah, me." Trunk nodded with a grin.

"Okay." Ren looked away.

A long moment.

"Yeah." Trunk patted his leg. "Laufen cooked you something, by the way."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, she said you'd probably be hungry and whatnot."

"Oh, well she didn't have to-"

"Hey, when you eat this stuff, you won't refuse her food ever again." Trunk gave a chuckle and produced a covered bowl.

Inside the bowl was what looked to be a bread of some sort. Flecks of brown and gold creeped toward a cream colored center, and the object radiated a warm, deep smell.

"What is it?" Ren poked at the bread, and found it to be solid.

"It's pie. Try it, it's Laufen's best dish."

He also produced a spoon.

"Don't forget to leave me some." Trunk grinned.

"But there's only one spoon...how are you...?" Ren looked nervously at the spoon.

"Don't worry, just eat." Trunk's grin spread further.

Ren found that inside the crust was a hot and thick substance. It had a sweet taste that lingered in the mouth, and it filled the nose with the smell of rich and bittersweet fruits, most likely some kind of berry. After a while, Ren didn't notice that she was automatically bringing spoonfuls of it to her mouth, returning the spoon to the pie, and then making the trip again. She also did not notice that Trunk was watching her spoon very closely. Something strange flashed in his eye, just for a second, and Ren looked over at him.

"What?" Ren blinked curiously, the spoon still in her hand.

"You're cute." Trunk said.

Normally, Ren wouldn't have minded, even coming from Trunk. But something in his voice makde her squirm a bit.

"Uhm." She mumbled.

Essen walked into the room. At first, Ren forgot that the door was open, and was surprised. Essen began moving some objects around on the table. Laufen came in a few seconds after her.

"Essen, do you need anything else before I...uh...go?"

"Nah, I'm good." Essen nodded.

"I'll be back before sunset. One pair of gloves, uh, right?" She almost whispered.

"Yep." Essen looked out the window.

Laufen briskly left the room, leaving Essen, Trunk, and Ren alone. Essen looked over at Trunk watching Ren, and her face scrunched up a bit.

"Trunk?"

"Hm?"

"What are you doing?"

"Feeding Ren."

"Why don't you go make sure Laufen gets outside okay?" Essen didn't move her eyes off of Trunk.

Trunk sighed and left. Essen accompanied Ren on the bed, fiddling with her fingers.

"Where did Laufen go?" Ren looked out the doorway.

"Listen, Ren, about Trunk, he-"

"Where did she go?" Ren didn't really care about Trunk at the moment.

"Oh...uh, she goes to town every now and then to pick stuff up. Groceries, clothes, things like that."

"I thought you said the town didn't want us to-"

"Yeah." Essen cut her off. "Well, the Haibane Renmei allows Laufen to go to town every few months, so we can survive."

"Why her?"

"Dunno. I guess it's because she's really nice, and doesn't cause too much trouble."

"Wow." Ren sighed.

"Hm?"

"I wish I could go out. I wanna see the wall."

"You do?" Essen sat up.

"Yeah..." Ren sighed again.

"I can take you."

Essen's face again looked strange, if only for just a moment.

-- And, fin. So, some dream stuff. It doesn't really have much to do with the storyline, so don't worry too much, but there's symbolism, and it does tie in with some real events later in ze story, so stay tuned...er...reading. Yes. And the Headless Haibane. Gotta keep it eerie. I want to have a lot of "unreal" characters in this story as well as Haibane and townsfolk. And the Trunk/Ren thing...kinda makes me wanna bump this up to M, but seeing as how nothing will really happen, and if I put this in M, no one will find it on account of there being NO HB fanfics in M...makes me not want to. Ah well. Yeah, you get to see what's beyond the wall too in the next Chappy (or at least what I think should be.) and It's quite neat, if I do say so meself. So please stay tuned!

-- Thanks for reading so far, if you've reviewed or not ,(Shout-out to Bunch-O-Nuts.) thanks for looking! Stay tuned (again!)