|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Chapter 68
By Agent Havoc
Victor stood still in front of Jarrick’s door. Next to him, was a suitcase and an old lady passd by looking at him from head to feet. The Cleaner looked at her for a moment and gave her a warm smile.
« Is there anything wrong ma’am? » asked the cleaner gently, smiling.
« A nice young man like yourself shouldn’t have anything to do with that awful boy Jarrick! » she declared as she kept on walking, towards her appartment « He beats that poor girl Julia, you know?, I hear them arguing every night. »
« I know ma’am! » said Victor « I am a social worker and I am going to try to settle that harsh situation right now. »
"It’s nice to know that there are still alot of young dedicated people like yourself in this awful world these days! » she said again as she entered her own appartment.
For some reason, old women always thought that he was a decent person. None of them had ever seen through to what he truly was. He had done things that would give all these old ladies heart attacks if he simply told them about it. Social worker.. Right, he was going to work on ridding society of Jarrick ...
The door finally opened. Jarrick revealed himself to be wearing a pair of shorts and a white T-shirt. The man was holding a plastic bag full of ice to his head.
« Huh? Cleaner? Daisuke sent you? He must think that I’m really in danger then! » said the small time hoodlum. « He must like me alot after all… »
« Daisuke thinks that you may be killed any moment now , that’s why he sent me. » said Victor.
How ironic, thought the Cleaner, I’m practically telling him that I’m the one who was sent to kill him and he doesn’t even have a clue... he’s even going to let me in smiling. Jarrick stepped aside as the Cleaner stepped in. A trashy appartment Jarrick’s was. It was in Victor’s belief that a person who didn’t take care of his or her environment was a trashy peron. And Jarrick was obviously a piece of trash. He probably wouldn’t be missed by anybody after this.
« Is there anybody else in here? » asked Victor softly.
Jarrick closed the door to his appartment. And looked at the Cleaner.
« No… Julia and that guy just left when I was knockd out… »
« Interesting… » mumbled the Cleaner thinking of how he would kill Jarrick off and dispose of the body…
« What kind of bathtub do you have Jarrick? » asked the killer.
« Huh? Bathtub? A regular one… » answered a confused Jarrick « Why do you ask? »
« I’m going to take a shower here later on… »
« oh… »
Victor looked at the floor, in the appartment. Jarrick didn’t have any rugs, wich was a good thing, it will be easier to clewan up afterwards.
« Go get me a drink Jarrick, an orange juice if you have any…. »
Jarrick nooded and turned his back on Victor to head towards his fridge. Victor took adavantage of that moment to draw his gun and install a silencer on on it. Jarrick opened his fridge and reached for something. When th trashy wifebeater turned back around, he saw Victor screwing his silencer on his gun.
« Why are you putting a silencer on? »
« I wouldn’t want your would be attacker to make to much noise when he gets here Jarrick. I want this kill to be clean and silent, so that i don’t get any atention from the neighbors. »
As soon as Victor was done with his sentence, he aimed for Jarrick’s head and squeezed the trigger twice…
Both bullets hit home and blood was spattered on the wall and on the floor. Jarrick was dead before he even hit the floor,with a surpised look was locked on his face.
Victor put on some gloves that were in his pockets and opened his briefacae. A bottle filled with a very strong dissolvant was in there. All he would have to do now was fill the bathtub with water, dump Jarrick’s body in the tub and put some of that dissolvant in there, and Jarrick’s body will have completely dissolved within an hour, leaving ony the two bullets lodged in his head as any evidence that there was a murder here. But no body , meant no proof of an actual murder being commited, and no proof of a murder being commited, meant no arrests could be made.
From then on, he would only have to clean up the little mess that Jarrick’s splattered skull made on the all and the floor.
Such an easy way to make a living…
Victor smiled to himself and headed for the bathroom with the solution in his hands. And then, he would meet up with Daisuke and take care of this Darian Ashley character. Another kill another dollar, simple as that.
Walking slowly in the streets of Central District, Darian thought to himself that the number of events that had fallen upon him in the last 24 hours was just plain rediculous at this point. It simply went against all odds. Perhaps he had made a world record here. Then again, he would never know for sure because chances that he actually goes and boasts of being the man who has gone through the most bizarre situations in the shortest period of time to the people who recorded world records were rather slim. But he still smiled to himself acknowledging that his thoughts here were as rediculous as the situations he had been. So Life wanted him to protect an old man who was wandering around with a kid. Quite an important task, but he was certain that he was up for it. Who the old man was, he had no idea, butthe kid did seem fammiliar… digging into his memory, Darian finally remembered that the boy was registered as a bounty hunter, but only brought in small bounties every now and then.
Making it a little easier for him to track them down. Tracking people was pretty much what he had been trained to do after all.
Glancing at his watch, the scarred hunter realised that there was going to be a small setback however. The rendez-vous he had with the others was about 5 minutes ago, and he was still downtown, very far away from the airport, and he was nowhere near finding the kid and the old man yet. Perhaps giving the thers a call would be the best thing to do after all.
But first things first.
« Escaflowne, Wild Child, I am in need of your services right now, come to me. » whispered the hunter, closing his eyes.
When he opened them again, he checked in both of his holsters to find that the guns hadn’t found their ways there yet.
Unusuall, but still nothing to worry about quite yet. As he kept on walking, the sight of an abandonned knapsack in an alley caught the corner of his eye. For reasons that were beyond him, Darian decided to turn into the alley and check the bag out. When he opend it, he found Escaflowne and Wild Child in it, along with a dozen clips that were compatible with the handguns.
These guns would never cease to amaze him.
Holstering both guns and putting the clips in various pockets in his jacket, Darian thought to himself that he could probably take on a whole team of Syndicate Enforcers right now and still have plenty of bullets afterwards. Then again, Hohiro and the Syndicate probably thought that he was dead. People who fall from the top floor of buildings usually end up dead after all… Why would he be an exception. But the fact was that he had been an exception.
« I better not screw up here… » he muttered as he started to walk out of the alley.
Noticing a phone booth on the other side of the street, Darian decided to go there to make his call. Picking up the phone and putting a coin, the hunter punched in a number and listend on as a little ringing sound told him that the call had been patched through.
« Yeah? » answered a gruff male voice.
« Cid, it’s Darian! » said the hunter soflty.
« Mister A! How ya doin’? »
Cidney Lowrider was the technician Darian had hired to take care of his his Harrier Jet that he had named the White Shark. The White Shark was the jet that Darian had stolen from TracerCo to defect from them and he had modified it highly since then to be able to greet more passengers and to have many smuggling compartments.
« I’m fine Cid, thanks. Is The Shark still there? » asked Darian.
« Anika came over earlier on and asked me to put gas in her and i did, but before she and her friends could get on, they were all arrested by the cops…. »
« Damn! » cursed Darian « How many people was she with? »
« Can’t say for sure, but three I’d say, maybe four… Phoenix Mark was with her… »
A million plans bombarded Darian’s mind, but not one of them made sense. He still had to say something.
« Make sure she’s ready to take off, i may need to use her in a hurry later on Cid…make sure she’s ready for take off and take the rest of the day off…"
« It’s already done Mr. A! » replied Cid happily.
« Thanks Cid, I appreciate it… »
He hung up and sighed. He shook his head still not believing what he had just learned. The number of unfortunate events and situation kept on climbing …
What was next?
For some reason, he was affraid of the answer...
Hihori Yodama looked at himself in the miror for a long while , practically without blinking or moving. Had anybody else been there with him, he would have easily been mistaken for a lifeless statue. But the truth was that he was very much alive at the moment, and his mind was very much working. Darian’s body hadn’t been found. And Daisuke, one of his most trusted enforcers, had reasons to believe that Ashley was running loose in the city.
But it always came back to the fact that he was disfigured completely. The mockery of a human face that reflected in the miror could not be him. But mirors don’t lie. ..do they? Pushing out a scream of anger, Hihori pucmched the miror and made it break into hundreds of pieces. Looking at the floor of his bathroom, he saw that all the miror’s shards were all reflecting different angles of his monstrous visage now. Feeling his heartbeat slow down little by little, Hihori understood that his anger was in vain. Mirors do not lie after all and it was time to either accept this fate for now and return to his responsabilities.
He looked like a monster.
Darian made him look like a monster.
Feeling his heartbeat tense up again, Hihori looked away from the shards on the floor and left the bathroom. Most of his thoughts being about his face. His beautiful face.
Darian had done this.
But duty most come before feelings and this event will only add to his legend once he gets Dalasius wacked.
But Darian had disfiigured him!
Anger led to incoherent thoughts, and a leader who has incoherent thoughts was not fit to fill his role. And those who are not fit are disposed of, that wasthe one rule of the Syndicate and even its leader was not above it.
How could he escape this? How and when? Time was running out and he was only wasting more of it each time he passed in front odf a miror.
The sight of his face simply angered him so much… it was uncontrollable.
Knowing full well that the only room in his penthouse that didn’t contain any mirors was his bedroom, Hohiro ran towards it looking away from any surfaces that could remind him of his physical looks presently. As soon as he arrived in his room, he closed the door behind him and was tried to catch up with his breath. Anger simply exhausted him more than any duel or any physical exercise ever could.
But what could he do now?
What came next was almost a divine sign for him. Over his bedhung a wooden mask that brought him back alot of memories. This mask was almost an antique. Imported from the other side of the planet, it was painted in red and black, with white drawn to represent its mouth. Two holes were carved to let the weare of the mask see through, with red paint around these holes.
This mask was supposed to represent the ancient God of Death, Escaflowne…
The irony could not be missed since Darian’s gun, Escaflowne was probably the one to have done...this to him. Walking towards the mask, Hihori unhooked it from the wall andlooked at it for a moment. Putting it slowly on his face, he attached the strings , And checked to see if it was solidly placed on his face. It was. Going to his wardrobe, Hihori looked for a black suit to wear on this occasion, along with a black tie and shirt.
« Tainted love, i have need of you. » whipered Hihori.
Sure, he could simply walk to the other side of the appartment to get his handgun, but why g oto the gun when it would come to him?
As he changed clothes, Yodama found Tainted Love in his holster, under his jacket.
Looking for a black trenchcoat, yodama finally found it deep in his wardrobe and put it on. The trench coat was the final detail that would let him strike fear into the hearts of his adversaries before they met their deaths.
Hihori walked slowly and opened the door to his room. Seeing a miror on the other side of theroom, he walked towards it and observed himself in the miror. For the first time since he had woken up, he actually managed to look in a miror and not have his sanity thretened. In front of him was the reflection of a living legend indeed. The greatest leader the Syndicate will ever have.
The gun named after the ancient god of death had spawned the god of death on two feet himself. Duty before revenge. He would have to kill Dalasius and if Darian was going to try to protect the Necromancer, the hunter would meet his death also. But his priorities for the moment would have to be Dalasius, Cisia, or whatever it called itself right now.
His phone rang and interrupted his thought pattern.
Hihori walked towards the phone and answered.
« Yes? » he said firmly.
« Mr. Yodama, Cisia has been captured and is being brought here to the Core. » said a voice at the other side of the line.
« Thank you Sir Reginald, you will be well rewarded for this information. » replied Yodama.
« I expect to be. » replied Reginald before hanging up.
Hohiro glanced at the miror again. The God of Death would be on Cisia’s trail, as well as the Syndicate itself. Yodama picked up the phone ad dialed three digits.
« Gina! » he said before the receptionist could even say a word « I want 10 teams of enforcers assembled right away! We are going to visit the nice people at the Ministry at the Core, and we are going to bring hell down on the place no matter what the price…And I want to be there personally! »
« Yes sir! » answered the receptionist.
The time to weave a legend was at hand…
Focus on every single person that was walking around on the streets of Central District at such a busy hour as lunch time was a difficult task, but it was manageable, thought Daisuke, as he walked and searched for Ashley in the streets. There was no chance that he’d take the subway because the subways were filled with cops, looking on the lookout for him right now. Taking the bus would hold such a problem as well. There was a minimal chance for the enforcer to find his prey in the crowd, bytut he had to chance it. One way or another, reinforcements were on the way and he’d have a few men at his disposition to hunt down Ashley. But from the looks of things, Ashley was obviously not Mr. Yodama’s main concern. It didn’t really matter, since finding and killing Ashley was now his job, making it his main concern. Of course, his body kept on sending him signals that sleep should be his main concern at the moment, but between duty and physical comfort, Daisuke knew exactly what his priorities were. And his body was not among his highest priorities. And then, something that wasn’t short of being a miracle happened : He saw his prey , the scarred hunter in a phone booth hanging up the phone and shaking his head, obviously looking rather desperate. Dai drew his handgun and aimed a little to Darian’s right and squeezed the trigger. An the explosion of gun powder rang in the air as people started to panic and got out of the way immediately. Time slowed down for Daisuke as he knew that the start of a duel was brewing up. He felt the recoil of the gun go up his arm but controlled it completely. He was one with the bullet as it came out of the cannon and sped through the air, whistling and came crashing next to Ashley who had just turned around to see the enforcer. Their eyes locked. Ashley didn't even flinch , even though he could obviously feel the bullet hitting making the glass of the phone booth shatter.
Time returned to its normal flow. The space between Darian and Daisuke, around 20 feet of sidewalk , was empty… People were still running away and cars either stopped advancing in fear of being hit by a stray bullet or kept on driving to be as far away from this scene as possible.
« You had me where you wanted Daisuke! » said Darian softly « Why didn't you kill me? »
« A romantic answer would be that I would never kill a man by shooting him in the back, nor would I shoot an unarmed man unless I am forced too… but the truth would be, I simply want to have some fun with you Ashley. » replied Dai grinning.
The clock tower on the other side of the street started to ring its twelve stroke of noon.
« A duel at high noon… » said Darian smiling « How melodramatic… »
« And corny! If I had known I would do something this cheap, I’d have waited a little bit before giving you that warning shot. »
Daisuke put back his gun in his holster. A duel it would be then. Handgun duels were common in this part of the world. Illegal, but common. This would be his 17th duel, and probably his 17th win. All those who had confronted him before had not survived such a confrontation.
The enforcer gave the hunter an arrogant smile.
« Draw at the last stroke of noon… How does that sound? » he asked
« Sounds good too me ! » replied Ashley, obviously not impressed by Daisuke’s bravado.
As the last stroke rang from the clock, Daisuke felt time slow down yet again, he drew his hand un. His adversary, in his turn, drew two handguns from holsters in his jacket. In the admiteblty few seconds that Daisuke could see Darian’s guns, the enforcer recognized the two handguns that he had confiscated from the man late last night, under the rain. Dai squeezed his trigger once. Darian squeezed the triggers on both of his handguns. All three bullets were spat out of their cannons almost simultaneously as the explosionss that propulsed the pieces of lead sounded like a single explosion.
Ashley ducked and Dai’s bullet shattered the glass in the phone booth behind the scarred man. As for Darian’s bullets, they both whizzed by the enforcer by less than an inch on each side. Both pieces of lead would have hit him if he hadn’t spun lightly on to put himself sideways to the hunter. So the first round was a miss for both parties, wich simply meant that the fun would be extended a little bit, no big deal here. Daisuke grinned at Darian. An arrogant smile was the key to intimidation, and someone who was intimidated had lost the battle in advance. And the more he thought about it, he didn't make to much sense anymore. What was he? The reference to fighting duels?
Round two started and Darian squeezed both of his triggers again, making his move faster than Daisuke. But the enforcer still managed to dodge his rival’s shots even though he didnt have time to squeeze his trigger at the same time.
Daisuke shot at Darian who dodged the shot , holstered one of his guns and ran straight at the enforcer. The next thing he knew, Daisuke saw Ashley’s fist closing in on his face…
Darian decked the enforcer with one well-timed swing in the heat of a death-duel. What he had just tried, trying to neutralize an oponent with his fists in a handgun duel, was practically a suicidal move, but he had managed to pull it off and he was alive. That was all that mattered at the moment.
Darian was took a deep breath as a he could see clearly that Daisuke was backing up, and dropped his hand gun in the process. The enforcer was obviously stunned by his punch and he had to take advantage of the situation. He could end this quickly by shooting Daisuke with Escaflowne… But then again, that wasn’t his style and the man did leave him a fighting chance at the beginning of this fight. He owed him in a twisted way. The hunter holstered his remaining weapon.
Darian went to Daisuke’s gun and kicked it away, making it slide all the way to a nearby alley…
Recovering from Darian’s blow, Daisuke let go off his nose and smiled at the scarred man.
« Surrender now Daisuke, or suffer the consequences! » warned Darian grimly.
Daisuke blinked a few seconds.
« Surrender or suffer the consequences? » laughed the enforcer « Come on, you gotta be kidding me! Isn’t such a sentence trademarked or something? All super heroes say that in cartoons! »
Daisuke wasn't going to surrender and time was running short., the hunter spun around to give his adversay a jawbreaking spinkick that was avoided when Dai ducked.
When Darian was done spinning, he returned to his feet to realizre that Daisuke had drawn a very large knife. Where from, he had no idea, but that detail didn’t really matter at the moment. What mattered was that he indeed had a knife.
Dai tried to open Darian’s belly with two well timed swings, but they weren’t well timed enough, either that or the hunter had good enough reflexes to avoid the enforcer’s attacks. The hunter countered with his elbow on the enforcer’s jaw. It wasn’t a direct hit however, and Dai was still in the fight after it.
« Not bad! But I’ve had my face busted up by experts… » said Daisuke rubbing his jaw with one hand and making his knife spin around with the other « and you JUST DON’T CUT IT! »
Dai jumped forward with a kick that landed directly on Darian’s upper torso. Knocking the wind out of him. The hunter fell flat on his back. The scarred man tried to get back on his feet, but Dai was already kneeling next to him , with one hand grabbing his throat, pinning him to the ground.
« Get it? » said Dai, waving his knife in front of Darian’s face « Cut it! I kill me… But first, I kill you… »
Instinctively, Darian managed to send the enforcer on his back with an uppercut. The enforcer’ fighting style was self thought, that much was obvious, analysed Darian, and his mouth was running at a mile a minute, probably another self thought technique to distract his oponnents while fighting. Whatever the case may be, this guy was good, probably one of the only oponents he had ever faced who was good enough to go against him, excluding Dalasius of course.
Darian jumped back on his feet and saw that Dai had dropped his knife but was already running straight back at him. The enforcer swung a left hook towards his face, but he managed to dodge it.
« Oh please… » said Daisuke laughing « Don’t tell you’re into this « silent-but-deadly schtick » here, it is rather lame you know? »
Dai managed to swing a right hook that did graze the side of Darian’s jaw. But Darian still managed to retort with another uppercut that pushed the enforcer back momentarily.
« Ouch! » lamented Dai « Quit it with the jaw will you? I had my mouth wired shut for TWO MONTHS a little while ago! »
« For a motormouth like you, that must’ve been like slow torture… » replied Darian smiling.
Don’t talk to him, said Darian to himself, that’s how he kures his oponents into lowering their defenses. Just focus.
Darian stepped forward and kicked Dai directly on the jaw. The enforcer fell flat on his back.
« Again with the jaw… » panted Daisuke trying to manage as much defiance as possible in his tone of voice.
Standing over his fallen oponent who seemed a little dazed from this confrontation, Darian knew in his heart that this fight was finally over.
« It’s over Daisuke! » said Darian, looking straight into the enforcer’s eyes «Yodama doesn’t win this one. I hope he was worth it, for your sake. »
« It’s not as if we were lovers or anything! » said Daisuke laughing « The guy just cuts the paychecks and I cut the throats! »
The conversation the two men were having was suddenly interrupted by the sound of blaring sirens. It was now time to think fast, or get captured thought Darian. But what could he possibly do? Letting go of Daisuke, the hunter dashed towards the alley leaving the enforcer behind, hoping that there wouldn’t be a dead end on the other side…
Phoenix felt his heart screaming to rip a hole in his chest to get out as the van stopped. Lydon turned around to look at him.
« You realize, Mr. Phoenix Mark, that nobody really cares if you arrive at the Core dead, or alive don’t you? » said the detective with a wry smile on his face.
Phoenix felt the looks of Nakano, Cisia and Anika on him, telling him to shut up. It didn’t matter at all. He detested being a captive, and anythin would be better than this. Lydon could take his life, but he would never tak away his freedom. Looking at the detective straight in the eyes, Phoenix spat on the floor in front of him. Lydon sighed and looked at him for a moment, he then gave Cisia a look that the short red head could not decipher.
« Take the redhead out of the van! » ordered Lydon to the driver « Shoot him, and then uncuff him.. Leave his body on the pavement and then we’ll be off to the Core. I owe this jack ass for the bullet he incrusted in my shoulder yesterday night. »
The driver nodded and opened the door next to him and got off.
« You won’t get away with this Lydon! » said Anika « Darian won't let you get away with this, cop or not, he will get you… »
« You rely on your partner way too much miss Jansen! » said Lydon smiling, still looking at Phoenix Mark.
The door to the back of the van opened. Lydon waved at Phoenix Mark.
« I’ll see you in hell Mark! » said the detective with a mocking smile.
« NO ! » screamed Nakano
Cisia had her eyes closed, obviously trying to force the tears back. Anika was breathing heavily, controlling her anger with all of her willpower. Seing all the tension over his fate, Phoenix decided to channel the most positive energy he had in him and decided to focus and stay calm.
« Alright carrot-top, get off the van, and no funny business! » said the officer.
Phoenix could feel Lydon’ds look behind his head. But bizarrely enough, no anger came to his mind. He usually used anger to channel his aggression in fights and it made him that much a better fighter.
« Why would I try anything Mr. Officer? » asked the bounty hunter .
Seeing an opportunity to act, Phoenix jumped off the van, hands still cuffed behind his back. Smiling all along, Phoenix looked at the officer, and sent him a flying kick on his face. Seeing the opportunity to escape, Phoenix took tail and ran. Hearing a few shots and seeing bullets ricochet on walls around him, kept on running. Eventually, the firing ceased. He would be able to rescue the others afterwards…for now, he had to escape and get these cuffs off his wrists, somewhere and somehow…
« Incompetent fool! » cursed Lydon as he looked at the driver emptying his gun without scoring a single hit on Phoenix « Just close the damn door and get back in here. Phoenix Mark’s fate is irrelevant, we just have to get these guys back at the Ministry. »
Lydon sighed under his breath as he felt the fear in his captives’ hearts in the back seat. Cisia was even more mystifying now that she was in his custody, and he knew that he would have to do something concernning all this soon enough or he would go insane as these thoughts would eat him up slowly from inside. But whatever he would do, he would do it in an intelligent way. He didn’t get to where he was by being sloppy.
Meaning that he would hand over Cisia and the others to the folks at the Ministry, and he would formulate a plan later on.
The driver hopped back in the van and started to drive again.
Too bad about the escape of Phonix Mark, but the short red head really didn’t matter in the long run. He had to think about the things that did matter.
As the van kept on advancing, only the eyes of the young girl that haunted him in his dreams were in his mind, and it bothered him…alot…
He desperately wanted to think about his future, but it simply didnt work.
What was Cisia’s connection to this girl?
Those eyes, they had the same eyes…the same aura…
And then it him like a ton of bricks. For some reason, he loved Cisia like she was his own daughter, love being a very vague word, and the solution out of this haunting situation was the same as before. When a woman confuses your emotional reactions like this, you kill her. It was simple as that. He had done it it before, and he would do it again…
In a very clean way…
Freedom, thought Anika, she had always taken the word and the condition for granted. As hard as it was to believe, this was actually the first time she had ever had her hands cuffed, and it was also the first time ever she was arrested. And suddenly, the word captivity had a whole new meaning to her. The definition of the word in the dictionnary was one thing, but living it was quite another.
Captivity : State of being captive
Captive : held in captivity, unable to escape.
Unable… the word particularly annoyed her. She had always been thaught that she was able to do anything if she put her mind to it, but at the moment, it was impossible to even think about anything else than the factt that her fate was in the hands of other right now.
What would Darian do right now? He would stay calm, and he would call his magic guns when the time was right and ecape. But she didn’t have any magic guns. Darian…
She had failed him…
Failure, capitivity…Both words that she simply detested, but they were still the words that described her best at the present moment.
Looking at Cisia, she felt her heart squeezing in her chest. The young interface had just discovered the concept of freedom and he was already going to live through all this over again. Cisia was the one Anika felt the most sorry for.
As for Nakano, she could see the hate in his eyes, and she couldn’t blame the man at all…
At least Phoenix Mark had managed to escape…Who would’ve thought that his impulsivenss and anger would actually be useful at one point?
But having nothing better to think about, Anika’s thoughts returned to those two words that kept on ringing in her head : Failure and captivity…
Anika felt tears starting to flow down her cheeks. Feeling the van move under her, Anika cried for the rest of the trip, alone, as each of the three captured companions kept their thoughts to themselves and stayed silent... Perhaps saying something to her friends would be a good thing, but she thought to herself that her tears meant a thousand words. She would let them face captivity and failure their own way, or whatever it was they were facing in the complicated domain of emotions. She had her own emotions to face, and they weren’t pretty at all… The warm tears running down her cheeks weren’t nearly as comforting as they should be… Tears barely ever did anything to her anymore these days in any case. She should have learned that by now. But for some reason, she kept on crying until they got to the Core…
 |
 |
 |