Chapter 2: Romania
"Guss?"
"Yes, Shihoko?"
"What's that?"
"What's what?"
"That sound!"
Shihoko Kishida pulled on her husband's arm imploringly. Her dark brown hair fell across her shoulders, her short bangs brushing the tips of her shining brown eyes. Guss looked down at her in wonder, never knowing a more perfect being.
"What sound?" he asked gruffly, taking out his cigarette and tossing it in the trashcan. He pulled his dull red jacket around him tighter and searched the stretch of street before them. "Nothing-"
"Shhh!" Her ears were on high alert, her pulse beating in her ears. "There! You hear it?"
She leapt off the bench and walked briskly up the road towards the bridge. Guss stared after her, the sound of the river lapping at the concrete. When it was clear she wasn't going to return anytime soon, he raced after her, the wind riffling through his brown hair.
"Shi-ho-ko-!" he panted, hands on his knees as he stared at her, and then at the shady looking pub before them. "Wha-!"
"Quiet, Guss!"
He stilled instantly at the coldness in her voice and then fell silent, wondering at the mysterious sounds...
"Ge-ffme!"
SLAP! Thud!
Guss glanced from Shihoko to the door, feeling a sense of obligation to help and yet not wanting to involve his wife in any way. They had been dating right out of college, but an unfortunate car accident gave both of them severe head injuries and consequent memory loss.
At least, that's what the doctor had told them. Dr. Nishijima had been really nice about it too, even going insofar as to pay for the hospital bills and sending them a comprehensive guide to their typical day, such as where they shopped, and where they lived...Guss was not about to risk Shihoko getting hurt a second time, after all, it was he who had been driving the car, wasn't it?
Suddenly, the Fates had ripped the choice from his hands as the building door slid open to reveal a tall, burly man with a tan trench coat. Two others followed, each supporting the weight of an oddly shaped, moving bundle.
The leader was busy muttering instructions to his cronies to get the car and bring it around, before even noticing Guss and his wife. The bundle squirmed some more.
"Hey, be quiet, you!" said one man, shaking the bundle.
"Grefrer!"
"HEY." The leader had apparently spotted them, and if the angry red of his face was anything to go by, then he was not happy. "What are you doing here?"
Shihoko stood valiantly against the onslaught of fatal glares directed at them both, but only Guss could see the slight trembling of her knees.
"Hey. I asked you a question!" the man exploded, whipping out a gun from under his coat. Guss' first instinct was to step back, but then a second, stronger instinct was spurring him on, forward. And why was this? He didn't know.
"Hey! Leave her alone! I don't know what you're doing and I sure as hell don't want to be involved!" Guss roared.
"Ha. Haha." the leader chuckled, raising the gun to eye level. "You've already seen too much."
Guss's face morphed in horror as he stared down the barrel of the gun. Even from twenty feet away, the sight was no less intimidating. This was not happening! This could not be happening!
The leader smirked. "Ladies first?" As quick as lightning, the gun had blasted into the night. There was no time to think or act or do. Guss lunged for his wife, his face scraping roughly against the ground, and her name muffling in his throat...
"Ha! Hahaha!" There was that chuckle again. Somewhere far above. Guss picked himself off the ground, just in time to hear, "Hey? Where'd she go?" before tackling the first man.
There were no words he could shout to make this man suffer, just feral, bestial growls erupting from his chest. They tumbled across the road, punches, kicks, and clawing making up the most of the fight. Guss had never fought in his life and yet his hands found themselves easily on the man's throat. His pulse humming beneath his thumbs. No time! No thought! No time! No-!
Splat! Something wet and warm hit his arm and he paused momentarily in his shock.
"AHHH! YOU! YO-!" one of the men behind him screeched.
Drops splattered across the ground, and still Guss did not know what it was. The liquid dripped down his arm, slowly, but his attention was already captured by the horrorstruck face of his victim. Why? What was happening? He glanced at his arm and nearly choked back the bile that had risen up in his throat. Blood. Human blood.
"Guss?" Shihoko's smooth voice floated over to him. "Guss?" It was like a dream. "Guss?"
Wasn't she dead? Hadn't she died? A hand was on his shoulder, soft and trembling. The leader beneath him was shuddering too. But Guss was too furious to see reason. He socked the man's face in with all the power he could muster, and the leader's jaw snapped unhinged as his eyes faded and head lolled to the side. A thin trail of blood seeped from his hairline, and Guss finally let his fear get the best of him. His anger webbed away as his wife called out for him again.
"Guss? Guss?"
He turned around, ashamed and unashamed, scared and fearless. What must she think of him? A murderer?
"Shi-" Her name caught in his throat as he took in the sight before him. Two bodies, mutilated as if they had burst from the inside, lay in a crumbled heap on the road. Blood pooled around them, slowly, and a girl stood completely unfazed in the corner, bright red hair spiking from her head. His curiosity lay was superseded by his awe. "Shihoko?" Her cheek was smeared with blood, as was the palm of her right hand and her white skirt.
"Yes?" she asked detachedly, staring at her hand in contemplation.
"I-"
What was there to say? One minute they were fine. Average, normal almost. The next, they were murderers. His face fell, and his eyes looked off to the headlights in the distance.
"We need to leave." It was the girl in the corner, holding the blanket across her shoulders. "Now." she added, her low voice commanding.
Shihoko locked eyes with her husband.
"She's right. We have to go far away."
.oOo.
Her bright green eyes shone cat-like in the darkness. Her hands were slender, as was the rest of her cadaverous body, slim and fragile, juxtaposing her fierce, dangerous face. Carmine sighed as she glanced at the unfamiliar couple staring at each other across uncomfortable silence.
"Who are you?" Carmine finally asked, her voice tired but distinct.
The gruff man regarded her curiously before looking to his wife who was sitting quietly by the window. Shihoko clasped her hands and stared determinedly out the window.
"Yesterday I would have told you Guss, but I just don't know anymore." Guss finally answered. Out of curiosity he added, "What were they going to do to you?"
Carmine shrugged. "What do they do to all of us? They dehumanize."
Something about the word 'us' made Guss decidedly uneasy. Us? Who was us? And the blood! Oh god, the blood...!
"Dehumanize?" Shihoko asked, her caramel voice seeming to come from outside her motionless form.
Carmine raised her emerald eyes to glimpse her face. It was half hidden by the shadows, half illuminated by the starlight.
"Yes. Dehumanize." Carmine answered softly. "And...you are his wife?"
Shihoko nodded imperceptibly. "My name's Shihoko. We've been sweethearts since college." It sounded like an echo. "Since college..." Shihoko repeated, beginning to question the gaps in her memory.
Guss frowned then looked at the compartment door. The train was large, so there wasn't any reason for someone to want to join their room. Even so, sensitive matters were heard best by sensitive ears, and Guss did not want anyone listening.
"And your name?" Guss asked to the green-eyed girl.
"Carmine." She had nothing to lose. Absolutely nothing at all. Besides, who knew her name but the higher-ups of the South American Project and the people in that? Who knew other than the dead? Hei, Pai, and Amber? She doubted very much that she would see them ever again.
"Carmine," Guss nodded at the redhead.
"Yes."
"Who were they back there?"
"The men?"
"Yes."
"I only just met them." Carmine said.
"But why were they after you?" Guss pressed.
"Why is anyone after anyone?" Carmine countered indifferently. "They're in the past now. Guilt solves nothing."
Shihoko's head snapped up. "Guilt adds depth to your actions. Without it, we become machines."
"Depth of my actions?" Carmine laughed derisively. "If that were true, I'd be in the throes of remorse. I am surprised you're both still upset."
"Why?" Guss asked. "Because we-we killed! Of course it's upsetting! I've never killed before in my life!"
"But it came so naturally." Shihoko choked back a sob. "But I can't remember killing ever before. Tell me, can others do it? Do it too?"
Shihoko's eyes were red and her cheeks wet.
Carmine sighed. "Well get used to it, because a life on the run might mean shooting someone who recognizes you. It might mean killing on an inkling of suspicion. Anything to survive, but I've watched you, and you're no amateurs." Carmine said suspiciously.
Shihoko and Guss shared another anxious look.
"And as for others," Carmine continued, "Yes, there are others."
"Others?" Guss queried. "Of what?"
"Others with abilities. Heartless machines that the government uses to achieve their own ends. In short, contractors." Carmine told them bitterly.
"Why haven't I heard of them before?" Shihoko whispered, voice cracking.
Carmine lifted her emerald eyes. "But you have."
"What?" Guss cried. "That's absolutely ludicrous!"
Carmine shook her head. "Then how do you explain two fatalities with ruptured internal organs?" Carmine parried, then lowered her voice. "We don't talk about them because the governments want to keep them covered. We use ME technology to erase their memories, and we kill the loose ends."
"The loose ends..." Guss repeated, seeming to regain some of his personality. "Well I don't know about you, Shihoko, but I don't see how you could not know you could do that."
Shihoko shuddered with an uncomfortable swallow.
"So this...ME technology." Shihoko started tentatively. "Can it erase, say, your entire life?"
Carmine gazed on sadly.
"Yes, your entire life." Carmine said.
"What are you saying, Carmine? That someone just, that someone just took our memories?" Guss floundered.
"Considering the facts, yes." Carmine nodded. "Though why they would think to do so with a contractor..." her voice trailed off as she thought for a bit, "Contractors are different from humans. They have no emotion. They can't blend in with the rest of society, and even if they could, their price would give them away. After they use their power, a contract payment needs to be met, or else they die. Even so, these payments can be a bit gruesome."
"Price?" Guss asked, whipping around to look at Shihoko. She was wiping tears from her eyes and was looking a little queasy. "Shihoko, what price? What's wrong? Speak to me!"
"The emotions...they're overwhelming." Shihoko told them in a hushed voice. "I can feel the weight of the world on my shoulders, so many, so much guilt. I don't even know what I did to deserve it, but I know it had to be something."
"They'll be over in a minute." Carmine informed her. "You're not a martyr, you don't deserve punishment for what you don't remember."
"So you're one of them too?" Guss asked rhetorically.
He was unsure how he felt, seeing as he loved his wife but the entire idea of there being anything in existence like contractors made him sick. Killing machines? No, his wife couldn't have...wasn't responsible for their deaths. After all, hadn't Guss killed one man himself with his bare hands? And where had he learned to kill anyway? And when?
How long ago had it been since this ME had been used?
"So where are we headed anyway?" Guss asked, breaking the silence and looking out the blackened window.
"Japan." said Carmine monotonously.
"Ja-" Suddenly many things clicked at once. "Hell's Gate." Shihoko breathed. "The contractors came from Hell's Gate. They said it was a research facility, but it was always so hushed up."
"No-no-no-no-no! Shihoko's not a monster! We just can't return her!" Guss protested, thinking that Carmine meant to take Shihoko through the Gate with her.
"Return?" Carmine asked lightly, "If there was a way to return we would've found it by now. No...I'm going to retrieve something I've lost a long time ago."
The train ran on in silence; they left the light off and the curtains drawn on the door.
"So we make a new life, is that it?" Shihoko asked later. "Start over?" Her voice was back to her usual pleasant monotone, though it seemed much sadder than before.
Staring over once again. After the accident her whole world seemed built from scratch...how many times had she and Guss started over? When had she really met Guss? And why? Perhaps she never even loved him...
"We're wanted criminals now, so what could you want with us?" Guss asked grimly.
"A little help never went amiss, and I think you're looking for something lost too. The Gate grants wishes, you know." Carmine cocked her head to the side and smiled. "Actually, I'm looking forward to it."
A/N- I edited this a bit, seeing as it was hard to follow...sorry! Well, basically, Guss (Huang) and Shihoko are living happy enough lives in Romania with absolutely no inkling of how they even got there. Of course, Dr. Nishijima helps them along the ironic road of recovery after supposedly being in a car crash. One night, they just happen to hear a noise, which is Carmine and some members of some type of mafia from episode 3 (the mafia which Nov11 makes the deal with.) Being good samaritans, they decide to help, end up breaking out in moves they didn't know they had, and Shihoko accidently activates her power...which then leads into Carmine, Guss, and Shihoko running away on a train to Japan!
This will tie in with the story, so it's not completely random and irrelevant! PLEASE REVIEW! (I actually have a plot for this if I ever have time...and the will to continue ;)
Thanks! BT