Post by acclue lockheart on Feb 29, 2008 23:47:47 GMT -5
Chapter II: Shock
After my brief reprieve at the sight of my sister, I fell into shock once again. I woke up the morning after and just stayed where I was. I stared into the wall and cried. Reality escaped me once more.
Acclue... damnit Acclue, get up, do you know what time it is? Acclue?
Silence. The voice had seemed so unreal, I couldn't even identify it. I dismissed the phantom sounds as unreal and let my mindcwander again.
What if I had been there? Could I have survived as Ami did? I know I couldn't have helped anything, but still... Maybe it could've been me cut down at the edge of the village, and my mother would have been kidnapped... She would've handled this so much easier...
"Wretched emotions."
She would have escaped without Hoshi's help... She wouldn't have caused that nice human boy to die.
"Your weaknesses damned you to life, not luck."
Then maybe Hoshi would still be happy in her forest... which she could have protected if she weren't with me...
"Accursed and confused youth as my flesh and blood, awake!"
My eyes burst open and shot apart the tears that had gathered. I lay staring into that same place.
Wiping off the remnants of my crying from my eyes, I stood up and stretched.
It was dark outside, but a full moon illuminated everything I could see. I had barely thought much at all, yet the entire day was already gone.
I felt light-headed. The ground shook beneath me for a moment as I sorted myself out.
And then I sensed it. The air held a familiar scent. Blood.
I looked back and forth before I followed along the edge of the valley. It was such a similar night to the attack, I felt sick being awake again.
I came to a stop. The scent was close, but there was no cavern where I stood. It must have been outside the valley.
Wandering through to the end of the village, I dragged my feet lazily across the ground, still caught halfway between the real world and my mind.
It was strange seeing the lively place I hadn't quite finished growing up in completely quiet. Even at night, there had always been the presence of life, but now...
The scent grew violently strong as I neared the bath house. I had never been inside the place, normally an area reserved for women to bathe in private.
I had never realized how poorly constructed the building was before. It was simply a collection of tall wooden planks built into the wall of the mountain, but it was enough to hide the small area.
I stepped up to the door and peered through the crack in the door.
Hoshi sat at the edge, fully clothed with her arms around her legs. She looked distracted.
The blood was coming from around her, and it was strong. The fact that she hadn't sensed me yet meant something was wrong.
I saw her crawl to the edge of the water and sit over the slowly waving liquid.
She pulled one of her sais from her belt and twisted it up and down in front of her.
She held her arm out over the water and placed the sai across the end of her forearm. She slid the blade quickly across her wrist without as much as a tear or a cry of pain.
I winced and let out a quiet squeak of empathic pain.
She threw her gaze to me and clamped her other hand over the cut "Acclue!" she shouted out in surprise.
I opened the door enough to step through and asked "What are you doing?"
She looked over to the blood leaking between her fingers and then at me again.
-----
We both sat staring into the water with our feet dipped in the shallow end. Hoshi's blood drained out of her freely now, into the bath next to her. We were both silent, and the awkward rift between us grew out once again.
I couldn't stand waiting anymore, it was tearing me apart, just what was she doing?
“Why...?” I muttered out. It stayed silent. I pushed myself away from the pool and stood up in front of her. It felt odd being that close to Hoshi's face, but I didn't let it faze me. “Why would you do something like that to yourself?!”
“Please...” Hoshi turned to me. She had tears in her eyes, and I backed down. She didn't say anything else, no matter how long I waited. I sat back down next to her in the pool patiently. “It... It... Look, it's a long story.”
“You can tell me though!” I spoke louder than I wanted to “I mean... It's just...”
“It's okay.” she wiped her eyes with her free hand “It was a long time ago, but... it never stops hurting...”
“What?”
Hoshi let out a long sigh and swallowed hard “Several years ago, in the forest we met in... I had found a wolves den, not the demons, the animals. I found that it had been abandoned with the exception of two little pups...” she was tearing up again “I took care of them... I taught them how to take care of themselves for years... and I'd never felt closer to anyone in my life... They were like my children...” she had to stop for a moment to maintain what little composure she had left.
We sat in the bathhouse for almost that entire night, and I was distracted enough by my neglect to eat anything that day. I probably couldn't have lasted had I not spent that time somewhere between sleep and the real world.
I was glad to see that her wound had disappeared rather quickly, the infamous healing abilities of the Wolf Demons demonstrating itself. I watched the moon disappear over the horizon as the sun began to come up.
Whatever had happened between Hoshi and those wolves was a crippling memory to her. But my curiosity wouldn't let the discussion drop, I am just a kid after all. “So... what happened then?” I finally asked. I hoped she hadn't forgotten that the story was only half over.
“Huh? Oh... right...” she tried to gather herself up “One day... when I was away from the pups... I returned to find them missing... I tracked them down and found that they were being taken away by some... Feral Demon...”
A Feral Demon... An outcast among even our kind... They were a strange kind, merely some kind of mutation that came to newborn demons... Always different in some way... monstrous in form, even further from human than we are... It was a bad omen to give birth to a Feral, and even worse to keep it then. Most of them found their homes in the mountains at the North end of Thryll. To have one that far from their adopted home was... almost unthinkable.
“It took them in it's massive claws... I couldn't stop it... it crushed them and left them to die before me.” Hoshi suddenly grew angry “I'd never been so happy to kill a living thing like that abomination after that!” she was absolutely hysterical “I-I couldn't save my children...”
“I'm sorry...” what else could I say? I leaned against her side in my exhaustion.
“The blood... it-it makes the pain go away...” she closed her eyes “I don't know why... it just... just... Acclue, please promise me you won't tell anybody else about this... please...”
“You're not going to stop, are you...?” Hoshi hesitated. She was dumbstruck. I waited for an answer, but received nothing. It was nearly time that the others would be waking up. I smiled up at her “Okay, I promise.”
She smiled back at me “Thank you Acclue.”
After my brief reprieve at the sight of my sister, I fell into shock once again. I woke up the morning after and just stayed where I was. I stared into the wall and cried. Reality escaped me once more.
Acclue... damnit Acclue, get up, do you know what time it is? Acclue?
Silence. The voice had seemed so unreal, I couldn't even identify it. I dismissed the phantom sounds as unreal and let my mindcwander again.
What if I had been there? Could I have survived as Ami did? I know I couldn't have helped anything, but still... Maybe it could've been me cut down at the edge of the village, and my mother would have been kidnapped... She would've handled this so much easier...
"Wretched emotions."
She would have escaped without Hoshi's help... She wouldn't have caused that nice human boy to die.
"Your weaknesses damned you to life, not luck."
Then maybe Hoshi would still be happy in her forest... which she could have protected if she weren't with me...
"Accursed and confused youth as my flesh and blood, awake!"
My eyes burst open and shot apart the tears that had gathered. I lay staring into that same place.
Wiping off the remnants of my crying from my eyes, I stood up and stretched.
It was dark outside, but a full moon illuminated everything I could see. I had barely thought much at all, yet the entire day was already gone.
I felt light-headed. The ground shook beneath me for a moment as I sorted myself out.
And then I sensed it. The air held a familiar scent. Blood.
I looked back and forth before I followed along the edge of the valley. It was such a similar night to the attack, I felt sick being awake again.
I came to a stop. The scent was close, but there was no cavern where I stood. It must have been outside the valley.
Wandering through to the end of the village, I dragged my feet lazily across the ground, still caught halfway between the real world and my mind.
It was strange seeing the lively place I hadn't quite finished growing up in completely quiet. Even at night, there had always been the presence of life, but now...
The scent grew violently strong as I neared the bath house. I had never been inside the place, normally an area reserved for women to bathe in private.
I had never realized how poorly constructed the building was before. It was simply a collection of tall wooden planks built into the wall of the mountain, but it was enough to hide the small area.
I stepped up to the door and peered through the crack in the door.
Hoshi sat at the edge, fully clothed with her arms around her legs. She looked distracted.
The blood was coming from around her, and it was strong. The fact that she hadn't sensed me yet meant something was wrong.
I saw her crawl to the edge of the water and sit over the slowly waving liquid.
She pulled one of her sais from her belt and twisted it up and down in front of her.
She held her arm out over the water and placed the sai across the end of her forearm. She slid the blade quickly across her wrist without as much as a tear or a cry of pain.
I winced and let out a quiet squeak of empathic pain.
She threw her gaze to me and clamped her other hand over the cut "Acclue!" she shouted out in surprise.
I opened the door enough to step through and asked "What are you doing?"
She looked over to the blood leaking between her fingers and then at me again.
-----
We both sat staring into the water with our feet dipped in the shallow end. Hoshi's blood drained out of her freely now, into the bath next to her. We were both silent, and the awkward rift between us grew out once again.
I couldn't stand waiting anymore, it was tearing me apart, just what was she doing?
“Why...?” I muttered out. It stayed silent. I pushed myself away from the pool and stood up in front of her. It felt odd being that close to Hoshi's face, but I didn't let it faze me. “Why would you do something like that to yourself?!”
“Please...” Hoshi turned to me. She had tears in her eyes, and I backed down. She didn't say anything else, no matter how long I waited. I sat back down next to her in the pool patiently. “It... It... Look, it's a long story.”
“You can tell me though!” I spoke louder than I wanted to “I mean... It's just...”
“It's okay.” she wiped her eyes with her free hand “It was a long time ago, but... it never stops hurting...”
“What?”
Hoshi let out a long sigh and swallowed hard “Several years ago, in the forest we met in... I had found a wolves den, not the demons, the animals. I found that it had been abandoned with the exception of two little pups...” she was tearing up again “I took care of them... I taught them how to take care of themselves for years... and I'd never felt closer to anyone in my life... They were like my children...” she had to stop for a moment to maintain what little composure she had left.
We sat in the bathhouse for almost that entire night, and I was distracted enough by my neglect to eat anything that day. I probably couldn't have lasted had I not spent that time somewhere between sleep and the real world.
I was glad to see that her wound had disappeared rather quickly, the infamous healing abilities of the Wolf Demons demonstrating itself. I watched the moon disappear over the horizon as the sun began to come up.
Whatever had happened between Hoshi and those wolves was a crippling memory to her. But my curiosity wouldn't let the discussion drop, I am just a kid after all. “So... what happened then?” I finally asked. I hoped she hadn't forgotten that the story was only half over.
“Huh? Oh... right...” she tried to gather herself up “One day... when I was away from the pups... I returned to find them missing... I tracked them down and found that they were being taken away by some... Feral Demon...”
A Feral Demon... An outcast among even our kind... They were a strange kind, merely some kind of mutation that came to newborn demons... Always different in some way... monstrous in form, even further from human than we are... It was a bad omen to give birth to a Feral, and even worse to keep it then. Most of them found their homes in the mountains at the North end of Thryll. To have one that far from their adopted home was... almost unthinkable.
“It took them in it's massive claws... I couldn't stop it... it crushed them and left them to die before me.” Hoshi suddenly grew angry “I'd never been so happy to kill a living thing like that abomination after that!” she was absolutely hysterical “I-I couldn't save my children...”
“I'm sorry...” what else could I say? I leaned against her side in my exhaustion.
“The blood... it-it makes the pain go away...” she closed her eyes “I don't know why... it just... just... Acclue, please promise me you won't tell anybody else about this... please...”
“You're not going to stop, are you...?” Hoshi hesitated. She was dumbstruck. I waited for an answer, but received nothing. It was nearly time that the others would be waking up. I smiled up at her “Okay, I promise.”
She smiled back at me “Thank you Acclue.”
