Welcome back; I'd continue your surgeries, but my other test subjects seem to have me a little tied up at the moment...uh...what're you gonna do with that...AAAAAAHHHH!!! As for Rini and her fellow humans upon the isle, they, too, are about to get "le rude awakening". But first, the disclaimers!
Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Toei, DiC, Pioneer, and Cloverway, in that order, none of whom are me.
The Island Of Dr. Moreau belongs to H.G. Wells and his descendants(if any), also not me.
This is emphasis, and this is thought. And this is auditory/visual flashback.
And now, the terror continues...
The Island Of Dr. Tomoe
by Scorpinac
Chapter 7: Tomoe's Fall And The Beast Folk's Liberation
I'm not sure how long I bathed myself, but in due course Mimete came in and found me, and stopped me from scrubbing off every inch of skin I had. She held me and comforted me to the best of her ability for the next hour or two, I eventually pulling myself back together. She bandaged what spots I'd skinned in my haste, and took me down for some lunch to steady my nerves.
Later, I decided to walk about the compound, to try and relax and just forget what I had done in the laboratory. As I walked the grounds quietly, I noticed Tomoe walking around with Motoki, talking to him and working on making him more like a person and less like a big, man- eating kitty. He led the newest Beast Man up to the storage hut, and unlocked the door. Curious, I followed at a distance as he lead Motoki inside.
I walked up to the building and peered in from the still open door as Tomoe watched Motoki a few feet in front of me. Now that I could see the inside of the shed clearly, I saw it was indeed an animal holding pen with cages along both sides, holding a lion, a tiger, a goat, an ox, a wolf, a zebra, an antelope, and a couple of others I didn't quite recognize. Motoki seemed to be gazing upon them, as if trying to understand what he was seeing.
He moved toward the cage holding the lion, which was sitting lazily, from the looks of it, at least from where I stood, recently well fed. Motoki looked at it, his mind seeming to be casting back on what he once was. He reached out and lightly petted the beast on its head.
"You remember, don't you?" Tomoe asked. For a moment I thought he'd noticed that I was there, but then I realized he was actually talking to Motoki. "What you used to be, before I lifted you to a greater level. Must seem like a distant bad dream, huh, Motoki?" Motoki continued to quietly pet the large, maned cat, and then he did something he probably shouldn't have done, at least not in Tomoe's presence, anyway.
He meowed just like a cat.
"NO!" Tomoe roared, and grabbed something from a hook, and the tell-tale snap told me instantly it was a whip. He cracked it at Motoki, then again, and again. Without thinking, I ran forward, and jumped on Tomoe's arm, using all my weight to keep him from using the whip on Motoki again.
"STOP IT!" I screamed. "Leave him alone! It's not his fault!" Tomoe glanced at me, and chucked me off to land on my rear upon the floor, dropping the whip with me. Motoki had fallen back when the whip had started snapping, trying to avoid it as much as possible. He was whimpering, upset and in pain. Tomoe walked over to him and grasped him along side his head with both hands.
"You are human!" he snapped at the creature. "YOU ARE HUMAN!!" I found my footing, and stood up, not sure whether I should stay or leave. Tomoe went on like that for several more minutes, Motoki begging for forgiveness for his "error". Finally they seemed to calm down a bit, and we all left the storage hut. I quickly moved away to find something else to do lest Tomoe turn on me for stopping him from using the whip further, and after locking the hut down, he took Motoki and left.
---
A few days later, Motoki was sent out to the Beast Folks' settlement, to learn the "Law" more fully from the old Sayer, and took the rest of that particular day to rest and recover himself, as he put it. Within a few days I heard horrid, pained howling coming from the laboratory once again; Kaolinite told me they were now doing a female Jaguar, whom Tomoe was thinking of naming Yaten. I asked what had happened to the Wolverine Hotaru said they were going to do, and was told that apparently Tomoe had changed his mind about the order. Mimete said it wasn't the first time, and she expected it wouldn't be the last, either.
Within this time, Mimete taught me how to properly handle a gun, should I ever have to use one among the untrained Beast Folk again, and where they were kept stored, and for this, in the end, I must say I am actually grateful for. For the next several days my feelings for those around me ebbed, and in time I think I cared only that I was not alone.
But as it happens, I was soon to be alone again. The jaguar was to be Tomoe's last experiment, one that would end in a horrible disaster! It was on the eighty-eighth day of my stay on the island that this disaster occurred, and I honestly cannot say what exactly it was that happened.
It was mid-afternoon, and I was sitting in the lounge, working on a jigsaw of one of those giant dirigible crafts, like the Hindenberg thing that blew up back in nineteen thirty seven. I could hear the now light roaring of the poor Jaguar in the laboratory, when suddenly Kaolinite's voice rose in terror, and Tomoe's in anger, and many cries of panic. And then something smashed through the lounge and knocked me aside, sending me to the floor. I caught myself with one hand, wrongly, and I swear I felt my wrist snap from the pressure of my weight. I looked up fast enough to see what looked like a thing wrapped in bloody bandages crashing outside and down to the gate. I rose up, favoring my poor left wrist, as Tomoe and Kaolinite raced out after the thing, guns and whips in hand.
A few moments later I heard a smashing sound, as if something were being broken apart in a flash of haste, along with a screech of panic or horror, I'm not really sure which, maybe both at once. Curious, but not that curious, I carefully moved through the newly smashed wall and peered down to the gate to see what was happening. Unazuki was half sitting, half lying on the ground where she'd been knocked aside from the look of it, just as I had been, and Nephrite and Jadeite were dashing to her aid while Kyusuke and Haruka, who had also come out to see what had happened, stared at the blood and damage, trying to understand what was going on, a few others following them out. Greg, from his tower, also looked down in curiosity.
The most telling thing, though, was even as I glanced down to the gate, I could tell it had been partially damaged, the bandaged thing that had formerly been a Jaguar having smashed its way through and to the "freedom" of the jungle with its pure brute strength, leaving a great blood trail in its wake that made me feel a little ill to my stomach. I thought about what to do next when Mimete, Hotaru, and Melanie came running, fear and worry on their face.
"What the...what the Hell happened in here?!" Mimete stared at the damage.
"The new experiment got away," I said. "It...ran out through the gate...oww..." I winced in pain, gripping my wrist, and Mimete came over and kneeled, taking my hand in hers for a look.
"Looks like a mild sprain, maybe a small fracture. I'll have to take a better look and run a couple simple tests," she said, rubbing my wrist gently. "Where are..."
"They went after it," I answered her question before she finished, having been, to be honest, expecting it anyway.
"Probably won't live, anyway," Hotaru commented, looking outside at the damaged gate and the blood. "Not if it's bleeding that badly."
"So what do we do?" I asked Mimete, feeling just a little nervous.
"Well, for now we trust that Tomoe and Kaolinite will be fine, and take care of what we can here," she replied, then turned to Hotaru. "Hotaru, why don't you take Rini over to the lab and run a simple x-ray, give us an idea of how hurt she actually is, and give her some aspirin or something for the pain. I'll go get Nephrite and the others busy on fixing the gate, that has to be done first. We can worry about the damage to the house later."
For a moment, Hotaru looked ready to argue, then relented and took me by the shoulder while Mimete stood back up and went outside to organize the trained Beast servants. I didn't argue, and simply went with Hotaru to the lab, and she immediately gave me a pair of pills and a glass of water, with I took gratefully. She then prepped a machine real fast, and laid my hurt arm on a small plate under it, wrapping a heavy apron around me, and then tapping something on the machine that resulted in a flash. A few minutes, which felt like hours, later she pulled out a piece of film and looked at it.
"Hmm, yeah, looks like a minor fracture of the wrist, probably gonna need a light cast," she muttered as she stared at the sheet showing the bones in my arm and hand.
"Can I take this off?" I asked, and she glanced at me and put down the film, then removed the apron and put it away. She then got out some bandages and a sling and set them down and picked up the film again just as Mimete came in, and handed it to her. Mimete looked at it thoughtfully, then took my hand and gave a squeeze, which made me wince a little, then took the bandages and wrapped my wrist tightly before putting my arm in the sling.
"Probably don't need the sling, really, but best not to be tempted to use the arm for a day or two, kiddo," she told me.
"Any sign of Tomoe and Kaolinite?" I asked.
"Not that I saw," Mimete replied. "I'm gonna grab a gun and go look for them. You two stay here in the house." She walked out, and Hotaru and I stepped out of the lab and went back towards the lounge.
"Why weren't you helping your father work on the Jaguar?" I asked.
"I was, but I took a break to have a snack," Hotaru explained. "Mimete, too."
I sat down and waited quietly, Hotaru stepping away for a few moments and returning with two pistols, one of which she put on the table for me.
"Just in case," she told me. I nodded, and stared out the damaged wall, waiting for one of them to come back, any of them. I prayed the Jaguar hadn't hurt them, and, to my own surprise, I actually hoped that they would have to kill it rather than bring it back.
I'm not really sure how long we waited there for the grown-ups, but then Mimete came back, looking pale and horrified, almost not looking at anything until Nephrite cut her off. She blinked, said something, then continued into the house as he signaled the others who began getting wood and supplies to fix the house, the gate having already been patched for the moment. When she finally got to us, we both looked up expectantly. She ignored us, opening a nearby cabinet and pulling out a bottle and filling a glass, swallowing it quickly.
"Well?" I asked after she took another glassful down. "Where are they?"
"Not coming," she breathed, her voice shaky. "It...it...ripped her arm off...attacked him... he shot it...it's dead, but...it...it...it...mauled him...they're gone...they're both gone..." I just stared, trying to take it all in, and then Hotaru screamed.
"NO!!" she yelled. "YOU'RE LYING! HE CAN'T BE DEAD! FATHER CAN'T DIE! HE CAN'T!"
"Sounds like he did, Hotaru," I whispered. "I'm sorry..." The thing is, I'm not really sure if I was or not, all things considered. But Hotaru wasn't listening. She grabbed her gun and dove out of the house, not even stopping to change her clothes first. Without thinking, I grabbed my own and followed her, straight out the gate and into the jungle.
She followed the trail of blood left by the former Jaguar, and I followed her, until we ran into Juno and Malachite, who were standing about, seemingly confused. Nearby was Kakeru and, to my surprise, the Sayer Of The Law.
"What is...happen?" Juno asked. "Is He...dead?"
"Yes!" Malachite declared. "He is dead!"
"NO!" Hotaru screamed again. "He can't be! He isn't!" She stormed past the two and went a little further in, then a few moments later came to a halt, and just stared. I walked up beside her, Juno and Malachite joining me, Kakeru and the Sayer just behind.
"Is he...?" the Sayer asked, but I was just staring at what lay ahead, too shocked to think for a moment.
Lying on the ground, in a mess of blood and dirt, were Tomoe, Kaolinite, and the Jaguar. The Jaguar lay to one side, two or more bullet holes in its body, not moving a bit, dead. It was probably better off, anyway. A little bit away from it was Kaolinite, her left hand clutching the stump that had formerly held her right arm, her face bleach white, a look of shock and horror on her face. I could tell that she was already well past saving.
The closest to us was Tomoe himself, and he looked dreadful. His body looked ripped up, probably by the dead Jaguar's claws, and his neck looked like it had grabbed on with its teeth... and pulled. A gun lay in his right hand, loosely, and his left hand lay just under his torn throat, as though trying to staunch the blood. I knew it was over. The "experiment" had come to a final, horrible end. Doctor Tomoe...had died.
---
"NOOOOO!!!!" Hotaru screamed into the air, and dove onto her father, shaking him and beating on his bloody chest. "He's alive! He's alive!! Wake up, daddy...please wake up..." She had started sobbing, tears flowing freely down her face. I tried to imagine for a moment that it was my daddy lying there, murdered by a monstrous beast, and knew I'd most likely react the same way.
"Hotaru, I..." I tried to speak, but then a hand touched my shoulder, and I turned to see Mimete, a pistol in a holster on her hip. Nephrite was with her, as was Kyusuke and Haruka.
"Let her be for now," she said quietly. "She needs a moment to let it all in. I think we all do..." She sounded so...haunted. Just then, Beryl came out of the trees, and sniffed at Kaolinite's remains, nudging it with her hands. Then she moved over to Tomoe, even as Hotaru sobbed over him, and nudged him, too, then jumped back, then moved forward and nudged him again. Hotaru glanced up, and growled.
"Get away!" she snapped. "Leave him alone!"
"He's dead!" she declared. "He is dead! He is not the Hand!"
"No..." Hotaru growled.
"If he is dead," the Sayer said, "is there still Law?"
"No!" Beryl cried. "There is no more Law! Now we free! Free to live as we want, as man, or as animal!" In a moment I realized they could decide that, with Tomoe no longer around to stop them or punish them, they could devour the rest of us!
"Is it true?" Haruka asked. "Are we free from Law? Is Law no more?" I looked to Mimete for a response, but she was still too overwhelmed at the sudden deaths of Tomoe and Kaolinite, and I knew nothing would come from Hotaru, as she was still grief stricken. I thought over my options, and made my choice. I still don't know what got into me...
"NO!" I cried out. "There is still Law! There is always Law!" Giving it some quick thought, I added, "They are not dead, they have only changed. They have risen, to a new level, with the spirits in Heaven! Now He and She watch you, watch us all, from there, with greater power than ever!" Actually, I imagine that once they got to the Golden Gates, God took one look at them, then opened a trap door beneath them and sent them down to his "good friend", Mr. Lucifer, in the fiery bad place.
Beryl looked at me, even as Nephrite and Kyusuke nodded in agreement with me. I noticed Kakeru and Malachite thinking it over, and Juno nodding her head.
"Yess...is true," Juno agreed. "Your's is the Hand...little Mistress."
"NO!" Beryl screeched. "There is no Hand! No hand no more! Now, we eat flesh! Now, we shed blood!!" She started to rear up, aiming herself at Hotaru, who seemed to look up only dully, and on pure instinct I raised my gun and fired a shot, missing Beryl just slightly, and startling Hotaru into jumping back from Tomoe's body for the moment. She looked up at me in surprise, as did Beryl. I focused my attention on the tiger woman.
"Keep away from her, Beryl!" I warned. "I won't miss next time, I promise! Mine is the Hand! And so is Hers! Ours are still the Hands! Now get back! And obey the Law!" Beryl growled for a moment, then shuffled back. I glanced at Mimete, but she was still just staring mostly, kind of...distant. I thought it over, and turned to Nephrite and Haruka.
"Nephrite, Haruka, grab Tomoe and Kaolinite," I instructed. "We're taking them back to the compound." They did as I told them, and I asked Kakeru to get the Jaguar and bring it as well, and we went back. As we went, I took the time to get a good look at the dead former Jaguar, and found that it, in fact, had about ten or so bullet holes in its body. From the looks of it, Tomoe and/or Kaolinite had shot it repeatedly when it made its final attack, the beast holding out until it had delivered the fatal blows to its tormentors before letting itself roll over and die. Once inside the gate of the compound, I had Kakeru hand the Jaguar off to Unazuki, then I had Jadeite and Umino gather a large pile of wood in the middle of the courtyard. Next, I had Nephrite, Haruka, and Unazuki place all three of the bodies atop the pile, and went to the kitchen and got some cooking oil, putting my gun away as I went. I'd have used another fuel, but I didn't really know where to look for any.
I splashed the oil all over the wood and the bodies, and then got a long fireplace match and struck it. While all this was done, Melanie and the other trained Beast Folk had emerged, looking at the remains of Tomoe and Kaolinite in shock and awe, trying to comprehend what had occurred, that they were gone.
"Anyone want to say anything?" I asked quietly, noticing Mimete finally come out of her stupor enough to hold Hotaru back.
"What are you doing...?" Melanie asked, she and all the trained Beast Folk of the house watching me carefully.
"This is all we can do for them, and it'll keep the ones in the jungle from trying to eat them later, if we...lose control..." I said simply. Everyone was quiet for a moment, and then Mimete finally spoke up.
"He wasn't the best employer, but he had his moments," she said. "Kaolinite...well, she was dedicated to him, maybe even in love with him. I think, to some degree, I'll miss them both." I nodded in agreement, and tossed the match onto the fire, where it lit up brightly, swallowing the bodies, wood, and all into flame.
And the thing I'll always remember about that moment, above all else, was Hotaru keening into the air, her grief and loss all coming out at once.
---
After the fire had destroyed the bodies completely and been put out, Mimete drew Hotaru inside, both of them seeming to have gone into a bit of a zombie state, and I found myself being looked to by all the others for guidance. With no other ideas, I told Nephrite to have the others continue fixing the house, and to have at least three of the trained Beast Folk concentrate on properly repairing the gate.
I then went up to the tower, where Greg had been watching us from the whole time, to see about summoning a retrieval boat, quickly! As far as I was concerned, I, Mimete, Hotaru, and Melanie were now on borrowed time, the untrained Beast Folk simply waiting for the moment to slay us as well.
"Little Mistress?" Greg asked as I got to the top. Which was an interesting challenge this time as my arm was still in a sling.
"I'm canceling Tomoe's last order," I said. "Call a boat, Greg, and tell them that it needs to hurry. It's to pick up me, Hotaru, Melanie, and Mimete this time. I'm...sorry, Greg, but I don't think the four of us can stay here anymore..."
"I...understand..." Greg said, a sadness in his voice, and he went to work on the radio. By then it was late, the sun beginning to set, and all that had happened that day was starting to catch up to me. I then went back down, and into the house to the lounge, where I sat down to rest and to try to relax my nerves. I had never thought it possible to feel at the same time both powerful... and powerless...
---
I guess that I dozed off for a while, because the next thing I remember is being shaken awake by Melanie, Kyusuke and Unazuki nearby. The sky outside was black.
"Hmm? What is it, Melanie?" I asked, yawning.
"Mistress Mimete and Hotaru are destroying everything!" she cried. "Please, please stop them!" For a moment it didn't quite sink in, but then it did and I was wide awake again!
"What do you mean, they're destroying everything?!" I asked, and charged out into the hall. As I passed the hall that lead to the laboratory, I noticed that the door was hanging open, as if forgotten. I turned and went over, and glanced inside.
It was a mess! Everything had been tossed around, the glass items smashed onto the floor, other things thrown here or there, all of the equipment destroyed one way or another. I stared at the devastation, trying to take it all in.
"What...how...who...?" I stuttered out.
"Mistress Mimete," Melanie answered.
"Said...wasn't...needed...anymore," Unazuki explained.
"Yes, smashed all, smashed all," Kyusuke chanted.
"Where is...?" I started, then heard a crash from outside, and dashed out to the courtyard, and screamed.
The radio tower had been toppled over, the machinery broken into shards and bits and some of it lightly burning! Mimete was near the wreckage, a bottle of wine in her hand, half empty, and as I watched she took a big gulp right from it, her cheeks pink and her whole attitude seeming a little...off.
"Oh, hey, kiddo! Hic!" she greeted me. "How are yoush?"
"Mimete...did you...?" I pointed at the downed tower.
"Yesh, don' need it anymoressh," she said. I noticed Greg limping nearby, his leg clearly hurt from probably having to jump for his life as the tower came down. At least he was still alive, at least for the moment.
"But...but we did!" I cried. "We needed to call another boat to take us away from here!"
"Why?" she smiled swayingly. "I'm an outcast, Hotaru has no memories of the outside world, and you...ah, who caresh..."
"I care!" I snapped, then took a deep breath. "Where's Hotaru?"
"Over theresh," she pointed with her bottle, then took another gulp. I glanced over and saw the girl in the garden, dancing around with a stick in one hand that she was using to tear up the ground around her. I could tell she wasn't well, she was giggling and spinning about with a look of joyful madness on her face. I walked over carefully.
"Hotaru?" I asked, feeling timid. She glanced at me, as though I were someone she'd never met before.
"Hello, how are you?" she smiled at me, her eyes looking dazed and lost. "I'm the pretty, pretty Princess of our island kingdom. Have you brought me a gift?"
"Hotaru, please," I grabbed her. "Please, you gotta calm down. We gotta get off the island!"
"Why would I leave?" she asked. "I'm the Princess, and everyone does what I say..." I shuddered, realizing it was hopeless. Her father's death had been too much. She was going mad! And then I realized I could see quite easily. Light was coming from behind me. I turned slowly, and saw for the first time that the animal storage hut was ablaze. I gulped.
"What...who did that?!" I cried, pointing at the blaze.
"Mistress...Hotaru," Unazuki answered. "Said...was...not...necessary..."
"But what about...what about the animals still inside?!" I felt my heart sinking quickly.
"She left them!" Melanie replied. "She said they were better off destroyed! We couldn't stop her, she had a gun..." I felt officially sick. By now, nothing could be done for the poor things. I decided to take my chances with Mimete. At least she was still more or less on Earth! I turned and dashed back, only to notice she'd left her handiwork behind. I will admit it. I panicked. I went looking for her, but couldn't find her anywhere at first.
Now again scared for my life, I went back to the cabinet where the guns were stored, and placed one in my pocket and took another in my hand, making sure first that they were both loaded. I had just begun looking again when I heard her voice back outside. I dashed out, and saw her with two more bottles of liquor, Jadeite, Nephrite, and Haruka walking around with her, the others watching from around the yard.
"PARTY!" she cried. "I'm on holiday! We're all on holiday! Party, party, party! Yeah!" She danced around, looking very tipsy, her coat slipping off to reveal her black dress beneath. I carefully made my way over to her, my choice made.
"Mimete?" I asked, hoping she wouldn't turn on me.
"Hey, Rini!" she answered. "Wanna drink? It'ssh party time!"
"No thanks," I replied. "Mimete, where do you keep the keys to the launch?"
"Launsh? Launsh? Launsh?" she muttered, as though it were unknown to her. "Oh, in the lounge, fourth shelf, behind Metricsh And Gameelssh Medishal Enshylopedya... C'mon! Letsh partay!"
"Okay, thanks," I said. "Maybe later." And with that I quickly went back inside. Once in the lounge, I put my spare gun down on the table, and found the book in question. It was just high enough I had to stand on tiptoe to reach it and pull it down, simply dropping it on the floor, and then I reached up and, after a little feeling around, found the keys and put them in my pocket. I then turned to find Melanie, Unazuki, and Kyusuke were still with me, having trailed me all over since I woke earlier that night.
"What are you doing?" Melanie asked.
"Little...Mistress?" Unazuki stared.
"Melanie, we have to get some bags and fill them with food and drink, then load them on the launch," I explained. "We can't stay here anymore, it's just a matter of time before the ones in the jungle decide to throw aside the Law completely! We'll knock Hotaru and Mimete out and throw them onboard if we have to!"
Right then, Greg limped inside, looking pained, but otherwise okay, and a small hope blossomed inside me.
"Greg?" I asked him. "Did you manage to get out a message for a boat?"
"Tried, Mistress, tried," Greg answered. "But much noise today, many messages back and forth, some in words Greg not know, something about fighting and dying in place Greg not familiar with. Was still waiting for clear channel when Mistress Mimete destroy Greg's tower. What now for me to do?"
"You can help us pack food and drinks to put on the launch," I sighed. I had a feeling things in Europe were about to get explosive anyway, as the first time I'd gone up to the tower during my stay the reply back had stated that full war had broken out, a term I'd later asked and had explained to me by Mimete.
"Launch, Mistress?" he asked.
"If we can point ourselves in the right direction, we can at least try to make for a mainland," I stated. "C'mon, everyone, let's go." We located the bags I'd found before and took a bunch, then I led them to the kitchen. We proceeded to fill at least three or four with food stuffs, and then another five with fruit punches, juices, and water bottles. I then turned to Melanie to ask the next all important question.
"Melanie, do you know if there's a map of the ocean anywhere around here? So we can know where we're going?" I asked.
"I think so, but I think it would be kept in either Mistress Kaolinite's or the Doctor's room," she said. I nodded, and had her lead me up to them. Upon entering Kaolinite's room, I noticed her things had been tossed asunder, no doubt more of Mimete and/or Hotaru's work, but I searched anyway. I found a map of the whole Atlantic, but it seemed a little much, so I moved on to Tomoe's room, and it was even worse! Clothes, ripped up and shredded, lay everywhere, the personal desk torn open and the contents thrown all over, the bed broken down the middle somehow - it made my bedroom back home seem neat in comparison.
"Ah, geez," I muttered, and started looking around. Outside, I could hear Mimete's "holiday" still in progress, and it sounded like she'd gone outside the gate onto the beach. And for a moment I thought I heard something cracking or breaking, and figured they were maybe playing some kind of impromptu drum or smacking tree branches together. Looking back now, I really should have run back out sooner!
After some more looking, I found a map that was a close up of what I presumed to be the immediate area of the ocean. A spot where no island was had been marked on it, and when I showed it to Greg, he stated that the marked spot was where he had been taught by Tomoe that we were in the vast open blue water. Feeling closer to safety, I took both maps I had found and headed back down to the kitchen, and instructed Unazuki and Kyusuke to pick up what they could carry to take to the launch. I'd send them back for the rest after.
"What abut the serum?" Melanie asked. "We can't leave without that!"
"Serum?" I asked, blinking.
"Yes, Mistress Mimete's serum," Greg said. "Serum that keeps us men. We need it, to stay man when we leave, cannot go without it."
"Oh, that," I replied. "Um, not to be mean, Greg, but I wasn't really thinking on taking any of you. I mean, you and Unazuki and Kyusuke would kind of stick out among normal people. Since, you know, you're not...really..."
"But if we stay, we die!" Kyusuke cried. "Beryl soon to throw over Sayer Of The Law, destroy all those who not run with her!"
"I know, I know, but...well, I suppose she can make more on the mainland," I gave in. Just then, we all heard a horrid scream, followed by more, coming from outside, and I dashed outside, all the way to the beach, and gasped.
The ones in the jungle had not waited as long as I'd hoped. Malachite had come, with Chad and at least three other untrained Beast Folk, and had attacked Mimete and the ones with her, Jadeite, Nephrite, Umino, Haruka, and Joe. It was clear that a fight had broken out, and the Beast Folk had turned on one another, ripping into each other's hides and bringing death. And Malachite had gone straight for Mimete.
The various Beast Folk were in various states of injury, some of them having torn one another's throats out. Of all of them, only Nephrite still seemed alive, and only barely. As I looked closer, I saw that his body had been badly torn by another creature's claws and teeth, his chest seeping out blood all over, and in a moment of compassion, I pulled out my spare gun and ended his pain once and for all.
Then I turned to Mimete, who had, thankfully, driven a knife into Malachite's chest, into his heart, but not before being badly clawed and chewed on. She looked almost lifeless, but as I watched her for a moment, I could see her chest still rising and falling, ever so slightly. I dove over and dropped to my knees, praying she still lived.
"Mimete?! Mimete?!" I cried. "Please, wake up!" I shook her a little, hoping she'd stir, begging god to let her stay with us a while longer. She moaned, her eyes fluttering, and she glanced up at me. I smiled happily, lifting her head up in my arm. "That's it, just stay with us, Mimete. Please don't go, we need you..."
"Oh, hi kiddo," she said quietly. "I really need to stop going on benders..."
"It's okay, Mimete. It's okay," I told her. "We can fix you, you'll be fine, and then we'll all go on the launch, and make for Bermuda or wherever the nearest mainland is. We'll be safe soon..."
"Don't...think...I'm gonna...be there...Rini..." Mimete got out, then moaned once more. "Sorry..." And then her eyes fluttered closed, and her body went limp, her head lolling to one side in my arm. I sobbed.
She was dead.
---
"All gone..." Hotaru's voice floated over to us from behind. I turned around to see her standing a few feet away, swaying about, still lost in her own private world. "Gone, gone, gone," she sing songed, "all gone away. First daddy, then mommy Kaolinite, now mommy Mimete, they all went away to heaven, leaving the Princess all alone. Gone, gone, gone..." She idly danced away, moving along the beach. I watched her go for a moment, then turned my attention back to Mimete and laid her head back down, and quietly cried my tears for her, not knowing what else to do right then.
"The boats!!" Melanie cried out, and I turned to see what was up, and felt the blood drain out of me.
Mimete and her "party" had taken axes and hammers and destroyed my original lifeboat! What hadn't been set on fire now lay in bits along the nearby shore. I swallowed, feeling myself shake, and prayed it had been left alone. It hadn't; dock, launch, and all had been torn apart, burned, and otherwise destroyed. We'd packed for nothing.
We were forever trapped here...
I glanced around, and saw a wine bottle near Mimete's hands, and picked it up, cleaning the bottle head off on my dress. It was still half full, and I considered my remaining options. I really shouldn't, I thought. Then I cursed for the first time in my life.
"Oh, the hell with it!" I cussed. "To Mimete!" I rose the bottle to my lips, and began drinking it down, ignoring the bitterness of the taste...
And thus, it ends. Well, not quite. Still one more chapter to go; hopefully I'll have it out before the end of January. No promises, though. But I'd definitely call it possible right now, I'm on a roll again! Will Rini escape the island? Will she ever see her family again? Will Hotaru ever regain her mind? Find out, next time!
Happy 2005, everyone!
R & R now, ya' hear!