Chapter Sixteen
"Yuya faces Allen in a blaze of glory"
Near Highmount, Pennsylvania
Thursday, 31st December 1931
04:50
Down in the freight hold next Noburu's hold, Yuzu and Meiru were also preparing the crates they wanted for launch into the river. They both winced at the series of thuds and what sounds like screaming going on outside and above them.
"Are you sure Yuya's going to be alright up there?" Meiru asked her partner "I mean, he's not exactly got the constitution to be a fighter."
"Yuya may act like a crybaby" Yuzu told her "But when things get serious, all those tears dry right up. Just like when he got that tattoo."
Meiru paused; she'd never heard the full story of how Yuya got that tattoo. "Well if he can get down with it when he wants to, why does he keep crying all the time?"
Yuzu stopped when she was doing and appeared to grit her teeth.
Before she could say anything though, a series of loud bangs, clearly gunshots rang overhead.
"No!" Yuzu yelled, grabbing a couple of grenades from a crate and strapping them to her belt "Meiru, you're getting off here."
"So are you" Meiru pointed out "Yuya said-"
"I don't care what Yuzu said!" Yuzu declared, picking up a tommy gun for good measure "You go ahead and meet with the recovery team by the river. Yuya and I will go on to New York."
"You could get caught by the police" Meiru pointed out.
"I already told you!" Yuzu declared, kicking the door to the corridor open "I don't care!"
Up on the roof, Yuya was making a mad dash for freedom, jumping over the flailing Allen to try and escape to the top of the train. But in his haste, he dropped the cherry bomb, it landing in the small ridge between the edge of the roof and the gutter. By the time he'd stopped and bent down to pick it up, Allen was on his feet and aiming the flamethrower at him again.
A crazy idea started to form in Yuya's head, as he spun to face Allen rather than try and run away.
"So, you ready to die, Tattoo Boy?" Allen smirked.
Yuya looked to his side. There was the river. The others should be getting off any time now. It was time to end this.
With a roar of determination, Yuya charged towards Allen.
"Are you kidding me, kid?" Allen seemed disbelieving at what was happening, but fired his flamethrower anyway.
But rather than the massive tongues of flames he'd been giving off earlier, all he got was a weak sputter.
"What?!" Allen reached back behind him to tighten the pressure nob. However, it seemed to be jammed in the lowest setting possible. "What's happening?!"
It suddenly occurred to him. Falling onto his back when the rope swept under his feet. Had the fall jammed it?
Before he could work out how to free the nob and turn the pressure back up, Yuya was on top of him and headbutting him in the face. After being forced backwards by three consecutive headbutts, Allen looked at Yuya with murder in his eyes and made a fist.
Yuzu hurried towards the edge of the freight carriage, ready to climb onto the roof and take on the suicidal bastard that had dared hurt her Yuya.
Before she got there though, the train was rocked by a massive explosion somewhere above her.
Now in a blind panic, rather than the usually blissful pleasure at hearing an explosion, Yuzu pelted towards the door at full speed.
Subconsciously, she touched the eyepatch over her empty eye socket, remembering what Yuya had told her when he'd first seen her scars, the day he turned up at her bedroom window with that gaudy sword tattoo all the way down his face so people would stare at them equally.
"I know the times I want to cry most are probably the times I'm going to most need to get serious. So every time I feel like crying, I'm just going to do it, no matter what about things. Then I'll have cried for every time I feel scared, you know. And when I need to be brave, all my tears will have dried up."
Yuya startled as a sound like a gunshot rang thrice in his ear, causing him to take a step back.
He felt his right side, where a sudden flare of pain kicked up that didn't seem like it was related to the three punches Allen had manged to land on him
He felt blood.
Looking down, he saw blood leaking from a small hole in his side, as well as his left arm and the inside of his left thigh.
Tiny bullet wounds. He'd been shot.
"See how clever this is?" Allen grinned, holding up his wrist and showing a derringer tucked into his sleeve, a small wire tied around the trigger "It fires a bullet every time I put my fist into someone."
Yuya tried not to show his irritation. He was hoping he'd be able to fight Allen close-quarters, where there wasn't enough room to manoeuvre the flamethrower. But if he could shoot a bullet just by punching, he wasn't risking him being able to get a good shot off.
"You can try and run, but I'll just catch up to you" Allen told him "And at this range, there's no way I can miss you! So the question I should be asking you is-" He raised the nozzle of his flamethrower again. "Any last wor-AH!"
Allen suddenly shrunk back, raising a hand over his eyes. Yuya was startled, until he started to see light reflecting off the train car and sparkling on the water of the river.
It was sunrise! The sun was coming up! And they were travelling east, which meant Allen was now facing the rising sun! He was blinded!
In his panic, Allen squeezed the trigger of the flamethrower, a spit of flames licking across the roof between them.
Well, it was now or never.
Yuya threw the cherry bomb into the flames and jumped back into the gap between the carriages, covering his head from the inevitable blast.
On the balcony of the caboose, an emergency resuscitation was taking place.
As least, if vaguely bowing over the body of an immobile twelve-year-old counted as an emergency resuscitation, that is.
Yugo chose to believe it was.
"Reira!" he wailed "Reira open your big beautiful eyes!"
"Are you hurt anywhere, Reira?" Rin, who was holding his hand in tears, begged him "Please, we need you to tell us you're okay!"
Reira just lay back at the spot he had almost died at earlier that evening, staring up at the slowly brightening sky.
'I don't understand' he thought 'Why are they still here? They saw what happened last time they tried to help me. Why haven't they left yet? They're going to eventually.'
A sudden explosion overhead startled all three of them, a rush of heat racing down towards them as the sky light up white.
"Was that bad guys?!" Yugo yelped, looking at the roof of the caboose as the glow faded to normal again.
"Come on" Rin scooped up Reira and began carrying him to safety "We have to make sure the bad guys don't hurt Reira."
"Yeah!" Yugo agreed "No one's gonna hurt our little buddy!"
Reira was stunned by the words. 'Little buddy?'
Down in the Susquehanna River, Meiru looked up at the train she'd just leapt from a minute ago as it moved out of sight behind the trees from her position perched on top of a crate. Before it moved away however, she saw the massive blast extend from the roof of the caboose.
Meiru's jaw might've dropped and her eyes widened.
"Whoa" was all she could say.
If Ruri, who was another two hundred yards up the river sheltering under the railway bridge, was capable of speech, she probably would've said the same thing.
Yuya peered over the edge of the roof, then jumping up when he saw what he thought was the immobile form of Allen twitch. The explosion had knocked him around, but apparently his canisters had protected him from the worst of the blast.
Yuya figured he should give him a chance. Now he saw what Yuya was capable of, maybe Allen would give up.
"You little bastard!" Allen roared, fighting to get to his feet despite his horrific burns "Get up here and let me finish you off myself!"
Ok, so he clearly wasn't going to repent any time soon. Yuya didn't like killing, but now they were past the river, he was going to have to ride this train all the way to New York with this crazy guy and Yuya wanted to live. More than he wanted Allen to.
Despite being unarmed, he summoned a battle cry and charged forward.
"What are you going to do!" Allen screamed at him, pulling a knife from his jacket "You're unarmed!"
"I HAVE A GUN!" Yuya yelled at him, charging forward and jabbing his shoulder into Allen's chest. Allen's knife stabbed into the meat of his arm, but he didn't care, pushing them to the edge of the caboose.
"IN MY HEART!"
With one final shove, both Yuya and Allen went tumbling from the back of the train.
Allen fell faster, thanks to large weight on his back. He didn't even have time to yell before his canisters hit the moving rails, a massive explosion of fire engulfing him in an instant.
"YUYA!"
Yuzu ran to the edge of the caboose's roof, having just see the boys fall.
Just before she got there though, she saw a small hand reach and grab the edge of the roof. To her relief, she then saw the top of Yuya's head.
The flow of the blow had pushed the falling Yuya back enough for him to grip the rail of the caboose's balcony, saving him from sharing Allen's horrible fate.
"Here, let me help you!" Yuzu tossed her tommy gun down onto the balcony so she could use both hands to pull Yuya back up onto the roof of the caboose. Once she was sure he was safe, she pulled him into a tight hug.
"You were supposed to jump" Yuya told her, leaning into her embrace anyway.
"Of course I couldn't leave you" Yuzu told him "You'd get into way too much trouble without me."
"Of course!" Yuya laughed "You know, Yuzu, that was the best batch of cherry bombs yet. You should make some more – we could make a real fortune on them."
Yuzu was a little worried by the abrupt change of conversation. She pushed him back a little and actually looked at his face. He wasn't crying or anxious; in fact, it was the first time in a long time she'd seen him completely tranquil.
"Are you ok?" she asked, just in case she'd missed something.
"You know, Yuzu, I think everyone's been right about one thing" he told her "I have been crying too much lately." He brushed a lock of hair away from her face, revealing her face streaked with tears of worry. "But I think I'll say those extra tears I was sheading for you, so next time you think you need to cry, you don't have to worry, because I've already cried for you."
Yuzu was about to start crying again if he kept that up. She was about to tell them this, when she saw him tense and look at something behind him. Turning, she saw a figure silhouetted against the rising sun, standing a fair way up the train. All she could see of them is that they appeared to be covered in blood.
"Is that-?" she almost asked, but was startled when Yuya stood up, staring the figure down "Yuya!"
Yuya didn't pay her any attention, standing between her and the figure, still bleeding from his wounds and with a knife sticking out of his arm. She thought he was unarmed, but suddenly realised he was holding a grenade. Checking her belt, she found one of the grenades she brought was missing.
She'd tossed her gun out of reach, and now Yuya was potentially about to go up against some other nutbag with nothing but an untested grenade.
This couldn't be happening. They were supposed to be safe now the black suits' leader was gone!
"Yuya!" she yelled up at him frantically "Don't do it!"
Just as Yuya was about to charge though, the figure moved. It didn't reach for a weapon or run at them. Instead, it simply waggled its finger at them, little they were naughty school children.
Without a word, whilst the pair of them were still stood there, stunned, the figure jumped down between the carriages and out of sight.
"What was that?" Yuzu questioned.
"The Rail Tracer, I think" Yuya guessed "It's sunrise. I guess monsters don't like being out during the daylight."
"So we got lucky?" Yuzu suggested.
"I guess so" Yuya breathed out a sigh of relief.
A few moments later, Noburu's head popped out between two of the carriages near them.
"What is going on up here?" he questioned "Why didn't you two get off when you were supposed to?"
"Noburu!" Yuya cheered, Yuzu's face lighting up with joy "You're alright!"
"Of course I'm alright" Noburu frowned, looking at the ruined roof of the caboose "What have you children done up here?"
Along the train, Yugo and Rin had taken Reira to the coupling between the second and third-class carriages. He was still staring up at the sky blankly, whilst the couple tried to get his attention.
'I have to get up' Reira thought, raising his left hand into the air on instinct 'I have to get away from them. Hide where Senator Akaba and Reiji can't find me. Go someone where no one knows me. Stay away from anyone, keep them safe. Maybe then I can start to make up for my sins.'
Suddenly he found his hand seized in Rin's grip.
"Reira, you're alright!" Rin cheered.
"We thought the Rail Tracer ate your soul for sure!" Yugo told him, then turning to Rin "So the Rail Tracer didn't get him?"
"Well it's all very simple, really" Rin told him "The Rail Tracer only swallows the souls of naughty children. But I'm sure when he realised Reira was a good boy after all, he decided to give Reira's soul right back."
"That makes so much sense!" Yugo declared.
"You're wrong" Reira found himself sitting up and telling them "I'm not a good boy."
Yugo and Rin seemed upset at this.
"How come?" Rin asked.
"I've done so many horrible things" Reira told them "I lied to you. I told you I was going to New York to see my family, but the true was, my family abandoned me when they realised what a bad boy I was. And now my adopted family's going to hate me because I got Ray killed. So now I'm completely alone. I have no family! And I never will!"
Despite years of training himself never to look weak, Reira found himself sobbing anyway. The night's events were simply too much for him.
Rather than the couple leaving him in disgust though, he found they each put a hand on one of his shoulders.
"Oh Reira!" now Yugo was sobbing "You're such a good, sweet boy!"
Reira blinked, stunned. "Really?"
"You told a lie because all this time you didn't want us to worry, when in fact you were the worst off at all!" now Rin was bawling "Well don't you worry! We'll be your family! Just leave everything up to good old Aunty Rin for now on out!"
"Oh wow, you're lucky, champ" Yugo told him "Once Rin takes charge, you can just kick back and relax, and everything's going to be ok." He beamed at Reira with certainty, placing a hand on the side of his face comfortingly. "So you can go ahead and smile, ok?"
Reira didn't smile though. However his eyes did gleam with weld-up tears.
"Hey Yugo! Rin! Reira!"
The three looked up to see Yuya and Yuzu peering down at them from the roof of the third-class carriage. A moment later, Noburu peered out the door from the same carriage.
"Everyone's ok!" Yugo cheered with joy "Yahoo!"
"Now you're talking!" Yuzu agreed.