Author's Rambles: My computer still dislikes me, thus it is a feat that I managed to post on time. And depending on the mood of this awful computer in future, I may take my time in posting the finishing chapters. Sorry, but that's just the way it is. x.x Anyway, the thankies for this chapter go to my cat! He loved me so much this week. ;3
Oh and, to Ruru and DaisyAnimeLuvr, thanks for the virtual choccies! XD
;Standard disclaimer applies.
Chapter seventeen: A Blood Red Sky
A lonely breeze drifted shrilly through the carcass of Septombre city, carrying the cold, bitter scent of death in its wake. The breeze played through the ruins and about the skeletal remains of buildings until it came to the unconscious nostrils of one lucky enough to still have his life. The stale scent transmitted through the draft, coupled with some sand that it swept over the individual, caused him to stir.
Vash shifted drowsily for moment before he was jerked into consciousness by the sensations experienced by his sinuses. His nose was stinging, thus making his eyes water. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and, rubbing at his nose and eyes and wonderingly how long he had been passed out, glanced around. Instantaneously, his eyes went wide and he froze in horror at the carnage that had met his gaze.
All around him were the cold, grey corpses of the former citizens of Septombre. Some of them were so mutilated and crushed by fragments of the buildings that Vash felt physically sick looking at them. No matter where he set his gaze, there were dead bodies occupying the scene.
As he turned in all directions, hoping for some reprieve, his eyes caught a sight that caused hot tears to spew from them. There was a man lying on his back a few feet away. Vash had never seen the man before but it was the display of the man's eyes that caused him to burst out in scared sobs. They were open and stony and refracting the blood sky above ominously. And, turning again, he found that there were others' eyes the same.
Vash put his hands over his face and wept. He knew exactly who had caused such a loss of life; the only person who could. There was no doubt that this was Knives' doing. And now Vash blamed himself. He blamed himself for being so foolish and indecisive over his brother's fate, and for being so for over a century.
'Rem…' he moaned in his mind. 'Rem… Rem…' Vash let out a gasp.
"Raven!" he cried, leaping rapidly to his feet. He cast over the mass of bodies, praying desperately that Lavender wasn't among them.
"Lavender!" he called shakily. No response. "Lavender!" Vash tried again. He continued yelling her name for minutes on end, each call becoming more weak with worry than the last. Soon enough he was no longer conscious of doing it. Visions of Lavender's young face having become pale and lifeless flooded throughout Vash's mind and he had to wilfully banish them away.
"Lavender…" he croaked, his throat too tight with emotion. Perhaps, he thought, if he changed his position, he might find her. But he dared not venture further into the city. Not now that it was so choked with corpses. And if Lavender was one of those corpses, he found himself wishing not to find her at all.
'Dead…'
At that precise moment, Vash wished for nothing other than to slip away. The silent pain and sadness that transpired within the atmosphere of the now dead city and gory sky above, together with the loss of his daughter, caused Vash such grief that could only be described as a wish for death.
He just wanted to leave himself. To just let his body fall to the ground and enter a world he knew not of. In that world he knew he would find solace for his losses.
And it was at that same moment that it had suddenly hit Vash that all the people who had ever been close to him had left the earthly plane.
'Rem… Wolfwood… Meryl… Airies… Lavender…'They were all '…gone.' As gone as the human race would be in less than a single week.
Vash barely registered his knees connect with the ground or noticed his face becoming more and more sodden with salty tears. It was as though his entire world had come crashing down, wreathed in flame.
"Ghnnn…" was issued quietly and muffled from a form lying on his stomach a foot or so away. At that, all consciousness was returned to Vash. How could he have been so stupid, he thought? He reproved himself for despairing and felt his world re-ascend from its self-imposed demise. It all came flooding back in a wave of optimism. Milly—who had been left behind in New Miami. Lavender—she had to still be alive. Eden—that which Vash was still to help create in Rem's memory. And Knives…
"Ghnn…" Syrell grumbled again. Vash darted down to his side.
"Syrell? Can you hear me?" he asked, gently rocking Syrell's shoulders and receiving an incoherent grunt response. Though somewhat disorientated, Syrell was gradually brought to his senses and lifted himself up.
"Eriks," he said simply, his look completely blank.
"Syrell, are you okay?" Vash asked thoughtfully. "Are you hurt anywhere?"
"I don't think so—" Syrell had glanced around at the scene he was in. Comprehension had dawned on his face like a bulb suddenly flicked on in darkness. "Oh god…" he breathed.
Vash knew that a sight such as this, so filled with death, would become a scar for one as young as Syrell. That wasn't a fair thing to place on his shoulders. Until Syrell was safe, he was Vash's responsibility. Thus, Vash's mind was made to get him away from this place not a second after he had found his daughter.
"I've got to find Lavender," Vash said quietly, getting to his feet. "Stay here and don't look around," he instructed. Syrell shook his head and stood up beside Vash, a firm but timid look in his azure eyes.
"I'll help you find her," he said. Vash gave him a look of disincentive but Syrell wouldn't heed it.
"It'll be quicker this way," he pointed out. Vash considered a moment then gave a small nod. He wasn't about to argue over the matter of speed, let alone argue at all. It was Syrell's choice. And he was right; they would find Lavender a lot sooner if they worked together.
Pushing past Syrell, Vash suppressed the lemon-sized lump in his throat and allowed his feet to pick their way through the mass of destruction while his eyes did the same, scanning over the faces of the dead. Unpleasant as it was, Vash continued his way through the small respites of debris. He had to hold on to the fact that Lavender was indeed somewhere within the ruins of this city and at the same time he had to believe that she was alive.
He could hear Syrell making his way through the mess as well, somewhat more quietly, and dared not to imagine what thoughts were happening in his young mind. Minutes crept by and still nothing. The silence ensued. By now, Vash could barely tell one face from another.
"Eriks," Syrell finally called. Vash rounded, his face a blend of fear, expectancy and relief. Syrell beckoned and Vash carefully trotted over, his breath baited. At a thought, his throat tightened. Judging by the look on Syrell's face, Vash half-expected to find Lavender crushed by a stray portion of a nearby building. But there was nothing. Only a small acquittal bodies and ruins, just a circle of sand.
"What?" Vash asked blatantly.
"Someone lay here," Syrell stated. Vash glanced down to where Syrell was pointing and saw that he was right. There was a large depression in the sand, shaped as if someone had lain in it. Syrell had a good eye, Vash thought
"And there," Syrell said, motioning to other small dips in the sand. "Footprints. And they look about Lavender's size." Vash bent down next to the basin of sand and examined the prints. There was something odd about the way they were placed. Syrell looked out across the ruined city.
"She must have gone into the desert," he said, discerning a direct line of the footprints. Vash was silent a moment or two then felt a torrent of dread sweep over him, like a sandstorm, at the realization.
"No," he murmured, picking himself up. "Look at the way she stood here." He gestured. "The angles are wrong. And her feet are too far apart." Syrell scrutinized the sand.
"I guess so," he said, though he looked skeptical.
"And look." Vash pointed out at the trail with a slightly shaky finger. "Do you notice that there are two sets of tracks?" Syrell squinted.
"Hey, you're right," he exclaimed. "But what does that mean?" Vash swallowed.
"She didn't get up," he uttered after several moments' hiatus. "Someone took her."
-
A hint of a wicked sort of smile curled about Airies' lips as she stood atop a sand dune, her new attire billowing in the breeze, surveying the wreckage and debris that was Septombre city.
'Dad sure took care of them alright,' she mused as she allowed herself to glide effortlessly down the dune. She strolled into the midst of the city and allowed her eyes to absorb the scene.
Though never having witnessed death, the sight did not perturb Airies. The bodies of the dead were scattered even beneath her feet but she wasn't alarmed. On the contrary, she almost felt at home amid the carnage, although, she had yet to think why.
She paused a moment and inhaled, admitting the tang of death into her nostrils. Then she realized that it was the same scent she often noticed seeping from the great freezer. It was the smell of the process of decay beginning; a sickly sweet aroma like blood mixed with wine, much now the colour of the sky above.
Airies shrugged the odor off indifferently. It didn't please or displease her, she was just used to it. So, stepping between the corpses, she continued through the remains of the city, occasionally glancing about for any sign of life among the deceased townspeople, though there was no such activity.
'Perhaps dad took care of them a little too well,' she thought wryly. Suddenly she had a small flash of recall and something within her was made slightly conscious. Something of a past disagreement between Airies and her father came into her able memory and a few blurry images and some words went through her mind in a dreamlike, nonsensical miasma. Her attention was caught by a younger version of herself saying something about humans. She distinguished three words, '…right to kill…' and then suddenly the metaphoric movie screen of her memories switched onto Knives' severe outburst of eight years ago.
The images were vivid and flowing, divergent to the grainy, faltering ones she had just witnessed. The agony of the blade contacting with her eye replayed in Airies' mind and she barely noticed her hand fly up and envelop the left side of her face, protecting it. She promptly put the imagery out of her mind, not wanting the sore memory to persist.
Septombre returned with bitter emptiness and Airies pressed on, a little shakily. Yet, not more than a few steps onward she heard a small grunt come from a body beside her.
She turned, her eyes roaming over the unconscious form of a teenage girl. She dissected the aura emanating from this person and moved closer. Bearing down over the girl, Airies nudged her with her foot then kicked her over. Being raised by Knives, Airies didn't really know much of civility.
The girl gave a subconscious cringe and a groan and Airies perused her features with great interest. She seemed roughly about her age and appeared somewhat similar to Airies. Her hair was long and as sleek as glass; like Airies', only slightly wavy and ebony in colour. Her nose, chin and cheeks were defined, yet soft. She also had a similar sort of build to Airies', although her height was slightly diminished for the average teenager.
Airies continued looking her over and, though her senses told her otherwise, she didn't think this was the human she was looking for.
'She couldn't be the one.'
How could a girl of her own age have communicated with her during her entire life? Even as a child. People just don't have those kinds of telepathic abilities as children, Airies reasoned.
Though admitting that she was likely to be the only one still alive, Airies stomped away from the black-haired girl and rooted through the rest of the city, steering clear of the area in which she had found the aforesaid human. She must have searched the corpse littered town three times over, but still there was no other compatible, let alone alive, human being with the aura Airies received when was subject to her mind being probed.
Grudgingly acquiescing to the fact that the girl was the only one able to be her quarry, Airies made way back to the North end of the city. Standing again over the lanky teenager, her eyes glowed icily with silent malice and annoyance at the arbitrary circumstances. Airies knelt down, grabbed the female around the middle and hefted her onto her back.
'I swear it,' she griped to herself, as she proceeded out of the city in the direction of her home, 'it doesn't make any sense.'
Well I assure you all that the next chapter is going to be quite exciting. :D And it'll come all the more quicker if you Review and give me my weekly inspiration! XD