Chapter 2
"That's quite a dream."
Kairi's head snapped up from her work on the raft.
"I mean, I've had some outlandish dreams myself, but that's all pretty vivid."
Sora got up and faced Riku. "It was, it felt like I was there."
"That happens sometimes." Replied Riku, as if he was explaining dreams for the first time. "It happens to everyone."
"Yeah I know, but this seemed different, like it actually happened. Does that sound weird to you?"
Unbenoced to them, Kairi dropped the rope she was using to bind the logs together, her hands trembled.
"It does, because something like that can't happen." Riku shoke his head. "I mean, your 15 years old, I'm 17. Why do I have to explain this to you?"
"I know, I know!" Sora threw up his arms. "It sounds crazy, it sounds stupid. But I'am telling you it felt real, I felt the ocean when I hit the water, my ears clogged when I breached the surface. And, when I was hit by that giant shadow monster, it hurt!"
"Ok, ok." Reasoned Riku. "Alright, let's assume, even though it's not possible, that your dream was real. What does it all mean?"
Sora stopped to think for minute. "I don't know."
"You don't because it's not supposed to make no sense. If your dream was anything else besides your overactive imagination, there would be some sort of meaning behind it; like a warning or…."
A crash interrupted Riku, and a sobbing Kairi ran from her work towards the island's cave.
"What's up with her?" inquired Riku.
"I don't know, she seems upset about something."
Riku shrugged and went back to work on the raft.
"Shouldn't we go talk to her?" inquired Sora.
"I'm sure that she can work out whatever is bothering her." Responded Riku. "But we need to finish the raft if we are going to set sail tomorrow."
"But, she looked really upset, like she was crying."
"If you want to go talk to her, be my guest." Snapped Riku. "I am going to stay here and finish the raft; the one we all agreed to work on, yet I'am the only one really concerned about getting it finished." Riku continued on with his work, clearly ending the conversation.
Sora left the shoreline and ran towards the cave, he felt a little guilty leaving Riku to do all the work. But Kairi was important to him and he wanted to make sure she was ok.
Alone at the shore Riku continued building the raft. He felt a little ashamed as his behavior, Kairi was his friend and he was concerned for her, but he wanted to finish the raft. He felt driven to get it finished, like it was part of a mission or something. Riku did not know why he felt that way, or if he meant anything. The only way to be sure was to finish the raft, only then would answers would come.
Sora entered the mysterious cave, a place he and his friends had shared with laughter and joy. But there was none on that today, all the happiness of his little island was washed out by the muffled sobbing of Kairi. Sora slowly approached her, unsure of what he should say or do.
"Ummm… Kairi, are you ok?" Sora ask, quickly wishing he had picked better words.
She kept her head behind her knees as she continued to sob. "Just leave me alone." She cried.
Sora moved toward her, concerned. "Kari, if there is something I can do."
"Just go!" she yelled. "There is NOTHING you can do Sora, nothing."
Sora, feeling defeated and helpless obeyed her.
"I believe you."
Sora turned back to Kairi. "Believe me?"
"Your dream, the one you thought was real. I believe you." Kairi whispered.
Sora stood for a moment and watched her, "Thank you." He replied and left her.
Alone Kairi cried, the only thing she could think of was her nightmare.
She wept so hard that she cried herself to sleep, a deep dreamless sleep.
Somewhere else,
Her face was like an angel's. Not strikingly beautiful, but modest, a beauty that if examined closely, its perfection would shine just as loud. Needless to say, it made smashing his boot down into her face all the more enjoyable. He smiled at her shriek and the pop of her broken noise; disfiguration, flaws, pain, a lesion in mortality.
Kadaj kicked the girl in the stomach, knocking her deeper into the dark alley. The rain continued to pour down, he flicked his sliver bangs from his eyes as he stared down the girl with contempt. He knew her, not personally, but by reputation. She had ruined everything, she had stopped mother's plan. Her name was Aeris, the last ancient, the one who sacrificed herself to stop Jenova.
There meeting had been by chance, he and his comrades had been driving to a meeting, when he had spotted the flower girl walking down the street, alone. At first he had not recognized her, but Mother's memories inside of him did, he slammed on the brakes and had jumped out and pulled the little witch into this alley. What she was doing here alive, Kadaj did not know. Perhaps whatever had pulled him into this pathetic excuse for a world had brought her back to life? Or, maybe this was a different girl, maybe she had no powers at all and was only guilty by appearance. Whatever the cause, there would be a reckoning for what the Ancient had done.
Loz and Liditerz strolled up behind him and sneered down at the shaking body. "Deal with her." Commanded Kadaj as he left the alley, he had more important things that night then revenge. "But I want her alive; I want to savor her death."
Fear swepted threw Aeris as she tried to crawl away from her attackers. Panic overpowered her brain, blocking out all thought except for escape. A hand grabbed her left leg and she screamed in protested as he she was dragged back for another beating.
A blow to her head sent Aeris into a daze; she heard laughing and felt as if she was flying. The cold ground collided with her body again; she felt no pain, only a numb thud. The battered flower girl felt lightheaded and for some reason her left eye was forced shut. Instincts took over again, and forced her battered body to crawl again, her arms pulled herself away, away from the voices.
A she heard the sound of boots hitting the ground, belonging to someone different then her attackers. She looked up and forced her vision to focus. A large angry white skull stared down at the Ancient, she screamed until she lost conscious. The skull turned from her and walked towards her assailants.
Loz and Yazoo watched as a angry looking man walked over the limp girl's body. He looked to be over 50 years old, tall with his slick black hair was combed back, he appeared to be in top physical shape, despite his age. He wore a long black leather trench coat, it was unbuttoned and underneath was a black t-shirt with a large white skull. The Remnants did not know it, but they where face to face with Frank Castle, the Punisher.
"I'm hunting bigger game tonight then you lowlifes," The Punisher spoke, in a dark and gristle voice. "So I'll give you a chance to run and live a few more days before I beat you into a coma."
Loz laughed. "Can you believe this?" he asked Yazoo, "This old man is trying to scare us off." He grinned as his gauntlet extended and sparked with electricity. "You're in my way."
Loz became a blur and covered the distance between him and the Punisher in a second, he slammed his fist into the old man's stomach, surprised at the muscular tension, but satisfied as the old man stumbled back.
His satisfaction was short lived, as the Punisher stood up and shrugged off the blow. "That one's free." He grunted.
Loz was caught off guard as Castle's left fist hammered into his face. He cried as he felt his nose break, he threw his hands up to his face to cover the bleeding, as the Punisher sent a uppercut beneath his ribs. The impact sent Loz reeling; there was no time to recover as the Punisher pulled out a handgun and fired two rounds into the Remnant's kneecaps. Loz collapsed against a brick wall, his legs where only held together by bits of bone and strains of skin, he went into shock before he could scream.
Frank walked pasted the crippled youth. "Lets see you run around now." He said and fired the remaining rounds at Yazoo.
In an instance, Yazoo's gunblade was up and in a swing of movements, blocked the incoming bullets. Before Yazoo could counter-attack, the Punisher had pulled a shotgun from his side and fired a blast.
Shotgun bullets are a bit different from the average round. Why'll most bullets fire a metal slug, a shotgun shell, releases a spray of small round pellets.
Yazoo moved to block the incoming shot, but the spray was too wide. His gunblade blocked some, but most traveled past his weapon and dove into his flesh. Yazoo cried out as his skin burned around him, he didn't even notice the Punisher close the distance between them and fired at nearly point blank range. Yazoo found himself on the ground, with a large hole in his chest; he did not stop screaming until he blacked out.
The Punisher looked down at the man he had just killed. "Amateurs." He said as he pumped the shotgun. These two where different, they weren't the common thugs who preyed on the weak around theses streets. But Frank lived in a world full of un-ordinary people; these two had simply thought too highly of themselves and paid the price. Just another night in a world filled with super humans.
Aeris breathed heavily as she curled herself into a ball on the alley's cold ground. The dizziness was beginning to subside and the pain was filling the void. She heard footsteps again and to her horror the skull had returned for her. However, her senses where returning, it was not a skull, but a man wearing that horrible image. She remained silent, unsure if he would continue the world of hurt that Loz and Yazoo had started.
The man knelt down, and scooped the Ancient into his arms. He held her close to his chest as he carried her out of the alley. Aeris had no idea who he was or where he was taking her, but somehow she knew that this man was good and like a small child she pressed her head against his ribcage. His chest felt rough and meaty against Aeris's face, not smooth like Cloud's or rigged like Barret's, it was as if the tissue had rapped itself over scars and broken rips. She heard the sound of a car door shut and found herself in the back seat of some vehicle, her mystery man started the car and began to drive. Aeris fell into a deep sleep, remembering nothing more of that night.
2 Hours later.
Frank Castle returned to the alley where he had killed the two men, only to find there bodies missing. He did not know who had moved the bodies, nor did he really care. This had been a chance meeting; Frank had stepped outside his safe house for his nightly business only to find a girl being beating to death less then 10 feet away. He cursed his luck as he went inside his safe-house. If it had not been for those thugs and taking the girl to a woman's shelter he would not have been late for his target and had missed his opportunity. Slamming the door shut, Frank shrugged his lose off. Tomorrow would bring a new night and another change to carry on his war.