COMING TO AN UNDERSTANDING
The first thing that David was aware of was hands, unnaturally warm hands, massaging his arms, after several blissful seconds they moved to his own hands, spreading much needed warmth to his frozen fingers. If this was the introduction to Heaven, then David really wasn't complaining.
As the amazing hands moved up his arms, bringing wonderful warmth all the while, David decided to take his other senses into account. Eyes opening blearily, he saw the Angel that was giving him his much needed massage. Though his eyes were still blurry, he was able to see her general outline, the golden aura outlining her body, the dark shoulder length hair that gently brushed the base of her slender neck, the near porcelain paleness of her skin. Life, or death as it were, was good.
Like most delusions, this one came to an end as real life intervened. The slight but distinct smell of smoke interrupted David's near perfect moment. Why would there be a fire in Heaven? Groggy brain coming to the next most logical conclusion, David swung at the flame wreathed, evil succubus' head. Foul Demon falling backwards with a surprised squawk, he shot to his feet, or at least attempted to.
He was stopped by a small body slamming into his chest accompanied by the ecstatic yell of a small child. "Mr. Ordinary, you're okay! I was so worried!" That…that wasn't right. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, David looked at the little girl latched onto his chest. In a split second it all came back to him, the storm, the lighthouse, the Splicers, Amanda, and the Big Sister.
David turned to the "Demon" as the blood drained from his face. Shocked yellow eyes stared at him from beneath a mat of dark greasy hair. For several seconds David was horribly confused as to the identity of this newcomer, a glance at her armored body promptly dismissed any lingering confusion. He had just punched the Big Sister in the nose.
To his surprise she didn't look monstrous. There were no cancerous growths marring her face, no hideously warped facial features. She looked human, or far more human then he had expected. Her eyes were large, yellow and glowed softly like her sister's. Her face was thin, as if she hadn't had quite enough to eat, not to the point were she would be considered emaciated, but she definitely looked underfed. Because of her thin features her already large eyes appeared almost freakishly huge. Her skin was not "near porcelain" as he had thought earlier, it was pale, very pale, and he could clearly make out the blood vessels running beneath it. If he didn't know better he'd have called her an albino, but her dark hair ruined that assumption. On the other hand, her hair, that he originally thought was brown, really could be any color; it was so dirty it was honestly hard to tell.
David's examination of his companion's face ended abruptly, when said face twisted into a furious scowl and a rumbling growl split the air. Before his temperamental companion could disembowel him, David attempted to calm the volatile situation. "Are you okay? I'm sorry about that." Chuckling nervously he continued, "I was disoriented and didn't know what was going on. I actually thought I was dead, and with the fire in the background I jumped to the first logical conclusion."
Judging from the utterly confused look on his companion's face, she had no idea what he was talking about. Now David wasn't a particularly religious sort, if he was honest with himself the thought of something powerful enough to create everything made him decidedly uncomfortable, but not knowing about the afterlife, how in the world does that happen? "You know Heaven and Hell, eternal salvation versus eternal damnation."
The blank look on her face didn't change, except for a slight rising of an eyebrow. "Okay, what do you think happens after you die?" As it shrugged he continued, "Basically if you're a good person and treat others well, you go to Heaven and spend eternity in bliss. On the other hand, if you're bad and torture others you go to Hell and spend eternity in endless torment. Or that's what a lot of people believe, I'm not entirely sure if it's real or not."
With a skeptical snort, the irritable entity stood and walked away from David, further into the room. The room he found himself in was small, far smaller then the vault anyway. A fire had been constructed in its center out of a random assortment of furniture, with a hole in the ceiling serving as ventilation. Standing slowly, David made his way over to the fire, he still felt like he was made of ice.
Amanda smiled at him as he stiffly sat before her at the fire. "Do you want some food Mr. Ordinary? I bet you're very hungry!" The Pep Bar held in the small girl's hand looked quite appetizing, taking it from her with a soft "thank you" David studied the silent figure vigilantly watching for any threats out the window.
"So…do you eat?" For several seconds the creature didn't respond, as if she was unsure she was the one being addressed. When she realized that David was waiting for an answer, she rolled her softly glowing eyes and nodded. "So…do you want any food?" Ignoring the human and his attempts to extend the olive branch, she turned pointedly back to the window, resuming her watchful vigil.
"If there is one thing I learned about you when we first met, it's that you have an amazing sense of smell or hearing, I can't really tell which, maybe you've got both. Not that it matters, my point is that you would detect a threat from a mile away. So why don't you sit down by the fire and try not to brood yourself to death." The intimidating being shooting him a furious glare, reminded him once again of what she really was. He might have made a grave error in judgment.
()
That creature talked far, far too much, but it had a point in its blunt, borderline idiotic way. With a disgusted huff, Theta stood and meandered over to the fire. Seeing this, the creature smirked at her in its infuriatingly arrogant way and responded, "So now that you've submitted yourself to my horrid company, do you want any food?" Waving a rancid can of meat in the air, it attempted to entice her to consume the foul food.
Theta gestured dismissively towards the meat, nose wrinkling in disgust. It shrugged and, smirk not faltering, stuck a spoon into the disgusting substance. Shoveling the food into its mouth it continued smirking at her, until as its chewing slowed and horror dawned on its face, it turned and spat the rancid meat back into its can. Its sense of smell must be much, much worse then hers if it couldn't detect that the meat had gone bad.
"You knew, didn't you?" She couldn't tell if it was amused or irritated, maybe both. "You couldn't have told me?" With a slight chuckle she shook her head, and pulled a Pep Bar through the air into her waiting hand. "Ah yes, your silent act, so are you just unwilling to talk to me, or are you unable to?" Narrowing her eyes at the inquisitive human she held up two fingers. "Two? Oh, you are unable to?" Rolling her eyes, she shook her head, and took a bite out of her Pep Bar savoring the familiarly comforting chocolaty taste.
"What? Then what does the two mean?" Smirking at the foolish creature, she waited for her meaning to sink in. "Ahhh…you mean both. That…that's quite unkind of you."
Theta had hoped that the fact that she couldn't respond to it would dissuade the creature from continuing its line of questioning, she was disappointed. "So, you saved me from the freezer? I'm also going to assume that you killed that Big Daddy that was extending his warmest greetings to us as well." Her derisive snort didn't provoke any reaction from the human, mentally resigning herself, Theta nodded and ate another bite of her Pep Bar.
"Thanks, I mean it. You could very easily have left me to die, and you didn't. I've got to admit, it feels like thanking you isn't enough. If there's any way I can help out, just let me know." To her irritation, Theta was surprised and impressed by the creature's offer. The creature's smirk spread into an honest smile; briefly she was confused as to why. As the creature extended its hand towards her she understood why it was smiling, she had smiled at it first.
"Right, we weren't really properly introduced. As I'm sure you've guessed, my name isn't actually Mr. Ordinary, despite what your Sister insists." With a brief, and surprising, flush of shame, Theta realized she had never really considered its name. It had always been a monster to her, and then a creature once it had allied itself with her; the thought that it was actually a person with a life of its own wasn't one that had crossed her mind.
"I'm David, it is a pleasure to meet you, now that you're not trying to kill me that is. Do you have a name?" Smile widening, Theta nodded ignoring the crea-David's extended hand; she didn't understand the meaning of the strange gesture. It-he had finally asked a question she could answer. Holding up her hand she pointed to the symbol on the back of it, her identity, and her Father's. "What is that? Some kind of Asian symbol?" Of coarse it-he wouldn't understand her symbol.
"Can you write it out?" Theta could feel her frustration rising, with an angry growl she shook her head. "You can't write? Can you read?" Glaring at the irritating creature Theta nodded, of coarse she could read! Did it think she was stupid? "Then why can't you write your name out?" Eyes closed as she attempted to calm her building frustration, Theta held out her hand and attempted to mime writing, in doing so it shook near uncontrollably.
"I-I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to be rude. I can't imagine how hard it must be to be unable to communicate with others. I think I'm… just going to shut up now." She didn't need its pity! Her younger sisters could understand her well enough, everyone else didn't matter. Her brooding and the creature's awkward silence were interrupted by an energetic yell.
"Lookit, Lookit! I found a voicebox! It's different then some of the others, it doesn't have a voice in it! See?" Activating the small device, her charge held it up, incredibly proud of her discovery. Waltz music sounded from within the handheld machine, echoing around their newest hiding space.
With the music came memories, of watching hundreds of walking angels moving in synchronization with the elegant sound, of her Daddy's unending patience with her as she tried and failed to imitate the angel's complicated movements. Theta had been innocent then, she wasn't any longer, but it was nice to reminisce. Time hadn't been kind to her; her innocence had been taken from her by force, along with her childhood.
As always, thoughts of the past brought up thoughts of Daddy, and what she must have done wrong that caused him to abandon her.
()
As his inhuman companion stared into space with a slightly sad smile on her face, her younger sister grabbed David's hand and pulled him to his feet. "Come on Mr. Ordinary, let's have fun!" Already spinning with her arms raised above her head, Amanda dragged him into the open so they could dance.
David couldn't help but smile at the energetic child, she was doing much more of the dancing then he, he just held her hand and rocked back and forth in time with the music. Dancing after all had never been one of his strong suits.
()
"Come on Mr. Bubbles, let's have fun!" Hand clenching her Daddy's as tightly as she could, Samantha attempted to force him to dance with her. Samantha's Daddy tried, and failed, to convince her to continue their job, his low moans of protest echoed throughout the confined space.
A soft giggle followed the inhuman moan, "Daddy don't be silly, the angels aren't going to go anywhere." As the graceful music echoed down the dank passageway, Samantha did her best to imitate the graceful flowing movements of the walking angels, in her mind she did it perfectly, in reality her movements were clumsy and irregular.
After several minutes Daddy slowly started to join in, shuffling back and forth and swaying with the music. "That's it Daddy! Come on let's dance!"
After what seemed a blissful eternity of childish play, several walking angels stumbled onto the bonded pair, while they stayed well away from the duo; they ended Daddy's brief playfulness.
Samantha looked up at her large father with a sad sigh, it appeared fun time was over.
()
A childish giggle broke Theta's brief lapse into memory, her sister was twirling around the cr-David, while he stumbled gracelessly about, in a horrid mockery of actual dance. To her surprise a chuckle slipped past her lips, attracting the attention of the dancing duo.
"I'd like to see you dance! I've never done anything like this a day in my life." Theta's amusement turned quickly to irritation; she wouldn't dance for anyone, anyone except Daddy. Choking back an irritated growl, she stood and pointed imperiously towards the small bed languishing in the corner of the room.
"Sissy no, I don't want to go to bed now!" Now growling audibly, Theta gestured towards the bed once again. It was late, and her sister needed sleep, even if she didn't want it.
It was always hard to tell when night arrived in the fallen city; it was only from years of experience that Theta could. The city was slightly quieter, as if it realized that it was time for a brief break in the endless cycle of hatred and pain, the few lights that still worked as they were designed dimmed in an imitation of night on the surface.
Amanda stormed to the bed, arms flailing in anger. "Fine!" Yawning expansively, she threw herself onto the bed. "But I'm not tired! I'm going to stay up all night!" Theta couldn't help but smirk at her petulant sister, with in a few minutes she was going to be out like a light.
"The tact with which you handle your sister leaves me speechless." Theta might not know what tact was but she could tell sarcasm when she heard it. Giving David a withering glare she summoned another Pep Bar into her waiting hand.
Seemingly set on being as infuriating as possible, he grinned back at her unfazed. "You really like those don't you?" Unsure why he was interested in her eating habits, Theta nodded. "In that case, I think I might have been a little premature in blaming Amanda for the missing Pep Bars, don't you?" Taken aback by the human's surprisingly observant realization, all Theta could do was nod and stare at the floor as her face turned crimson.
She glared pointedly at the human, daring him to comment on her noticeable blush. Despite her glare his grin spread even further across his stupid, smug, stupid face, as she took another bite from the bar of chocolaty deliciousness she held in her hand. Pep Bars, Theta decided, were too good for their own good.
()
When his pale companion blushed she did so all over, her entire face was flushed a truly remarkable shade of red. Seeing her blush was surprising, and relieving at the same time. It showed without a doubt that she wasn't some mindless monster set on defending her charge, and also showed that she was far more human then he had given her credit for.
David decided to attempt to end her embarrassment; after all he really didn't need her hating him anymore then she already did. "I have to admit," He drawled, snatching a Pep Bar from the pile near the fire. "These things are very nice. I think they might be just about the only thing I'll miss about this city."
The pale skinned girl sitting across the fire nodded, yellow eyes wide with surprise; she seemed shocked that he was attempting to ease her embarrassment. A slight smile slowly spread across her features, as she took another bite of the tasty treat and hummed her approval.
The two unlikely allies sat in an almost companionable silence, enjoying their snacks. As his armored companion finished hers and reached for another, David spoke. "Do you know the thing I miss the most about the surface?"
Feeling two glowing eyes fixed on him, David continued. "It's not the sun, it's not the wind, and hell it's not even my family."
Except for the slight snoring of their young companion and the crackling of the fire, the room was completely silent. "I miss the sense of life that permeated damn near everything on the surface! You never really noticed it, but it was there. You'd walk into an area and know that you weren't alone, even if there weren't any humans there."
Depressed frustration was plain on David's face as he continued. "This city, this dead fucking city, doesn't have that. You walk into an area and it feels dead. You feel like you've disturbed a grave or something, and you should leave immediately. It's wrong, on so many levels."
As his inhuman partner stared at him trying to comprehend what her world must seem like to him, David carried on, staring into the fire. "When I found life here, for this brief second I was ecstatic. Suddenly I wasn't alone; there were others down here, others who could help. Meeting said life forms put a damper on that hope pretty quickly though."
An unexpected sound interrupted David before he could continue; his companion had apparently decided to extend an olive branch. For a split second he thought that she was growling at him, but this sound wasn't the familiar blood curdling growl he'd heard before, it was softer, it didn't rumble inside her chest, it sounded almost like someone trying, and failing, to whistle.
His inhuman companion was hissing at him.
Perplexed, David looked up from the fire and directed his gaze towards the source of the noise. She was sitting across from him, pointing to the strange circular symbol on the back of her hand, all the while making the incessant hissing noise. That symbol had represented her name, or at least that was his interpretation. Was she trying to tell him her name?
"Does your name start with that sound?" Eyes brightening with pleasant surprise the incredibly pale girl nodded happily, obviously impressed he had guessed it the first time. "Do you want me to guess your name?" Still smiling, she nodded and gestured for him to begin.
"Sabrina?" Looking slightly put out, she shook her head.
"Sadie?" All he got in answer was another shake of her head.
"Ummm…Sofia?" That was a negative.
"Stephanie?" Nope.
"Susan?" No.
"Selena?" Releasing a frustrated huff, she buried her head in her hands.
"Don't tell me your name is actually Sissy!" The look of shock and contempt that flashed across her face answered his question before she could shake her head.
"Samara?" To his surprise recognition flashed across her pale face. "Your name is Samara?" She shook her head before holding two fingers close together. Her message was clear; he was close.
"Samantha?" Broad smile spreading slowly across her face, the newly dubbed Samantha nodded. "Well it is nice to formally meet you Samantha. If I said it's been a pleasure I'd be lying but it's nice to meet you all the same." With a hoarse laugh, Samantha nodded in agreement.
"I would stay and chat longer, but I think I'm still recovering from the freezer. If you would excuse me, I think I need some sleep." Still smiling slightly, her gaze distant, Samantha nodded once again.
As David lay down and readied himself for sleep, he felt the eerie eyes of his companion watching him vigilantly. It seemed that despite their brief bonding he still wasn't trustworthy enough to not be suspected of treachery.
Another sleepless night loomed ominously over the exhausted human, frustrated at the obvious lack of understanding, David closed his eyes. He didn't think that Samantha understood she was keeping him awake, he just really didn't feel like trying to explain the problem to her. She may seem human, but she wasn't and neither was Amanda. For what seemed the thousandth time in the foul city, David felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness.
()
With a soft gasp, David sat up in his bed as if he was struck by lightning, something was wrong. Slowly regaining his bearings, he scanned the small room they had camped in for the night. The lights were dimmed, Amanda was sleeping peacefully in the only real bed in the room, and the fire had been extinguished some time during his brief slumber, only embers remained.
A thought that should have been obvious struck him, where was the older sibling, where was Samantha? As if in answer an unfamiliar sound echoed up from the street, music, the same music that he and Amanda had briefly danced to.
Still groggy, David ambled to the window and gazed into the street. Idly he realized that they had camped out in a store across from the trashed butcher's shop he had been chased into by the rouge Big Daddy.
Movement caught David's attention; Samantha was standing in a small area that had been cleared of ruble. On the ground several feet in front of her lay her helmet, broken visor facing her, against it rested the "voicebox" as Amanda had called it, the small device releasing elegant music into the otherwise silent night air.
Samantha's head was bobbing in time with the music, and when the refrain began once more she took action. Hands rising slowly over her head she moved with shocking grace, in perfect time with the music she began to pirouette. As the music increased speed, her movements increased in complexity, morphing from basic spinning to convoluted movements that David had trouble following in the dim lighting.
With a jolt, David realized that she was dancing some type of waltz, and from what he could tell she was doing it incredibly well. As she spun gracefully once again, her head tilted upward, David ducked down beneath the window. Happily he realized that her eyes had been closed and he had avoided detection.
Not willing to risk the penalty for spying on her during such an obviously private moment, David crawled back to his bedroll. Laying down he prepared himself to let sleep claim him again, stubbornly determined to ignore the tears he had seen streaming down the far too human face of the broken creature he found himself forced to rely on.