Half-Life: Prayer of Forgiveness
Chapter 15
"Are you lost miss?"
Kumiko turned swiftly at the voice, it had caught it her off guard. She stood at the entrance to the church unsure whether to enter or not. Afterall, she was a creation of man, ammoral and unfit to enter the House of God. "I don't know..."
The priest smiled, nodding in understanding as he gently prodded her into the cathedral. "We're all a little lost sometimes. But here, many people can find themselves."
The scent of incense filled her nostrils, an aura about this place that seems to fly through the barriers of her mind. She swallowed, feeling out of place and ant-like in the domed religious building of golden arches.
Walking down the aile she heard nothing but the sound of her footsteps echooing.
Eraed hugged her back, then let go hurriedly. "Thanks. It's just...it wasn't very long ago, and I still miss her." He shook his head, breathing deeply as he got himself back under control.
She patted his shoulder gently, "It's alright...'Its better to have loved and lost then have never to have loved at all'."
Eraed couldn't help but grin, it was just one of those cliches he himself would use. "I know, I just miss her. We were really close." He said softly, then sighed. "But, enough of all that, eh?" He said clearing his throat. "Sorry about that, I tend to be much too emotional and poetic for a guy." He said forcing a laugh.
She chuckled, "Doesn't bother me."
With a grin, she looked at the time. 4: 00 AM. "So how about that promised outing?"
Kyasarin shivered "You're allllll I wa-a-a-a-ant! You're allll I ne-e-e-ed!" She sang drunkenly, "You're every-y-y-y-th
ing! EVERYTHING!" She paused to swig from the bottle of vodka that sat next to her atop the church steeple, "HOW CAN I STAND HERE WITH YOU AND NOT BE MOVED BY YOU?" She shrieked "Would you tell me how could it be any better the-e-en thi-is?" She paused again to drink from the bottle, barely a drop brushed her lips, she leaned back, staring down the top, empty. She swore, and sat quietly staring into the night sky.
Kumiko's ears perked up at the noise, grumbling as she looked up from her spot amonst the puews.
"Would you like to have a confession for your sins?"
The priest looked her over kindly as she nodded, following him somewhat awkwardly.
Eraed's ears turned red. "Oh, I don't know, I mean...well I don't think Kumiko would like it if she came back and we were gone..." He said, looking around as if she could come back right now and save him.
"Oh...okay then," she slumped pitifully in the chair, "I mean, you could have just said you didn't want to go."
Eraed opened his mouth and then closed it. "But, I would want to go, it's just, Kumiko seems to see you as some sort of threat, so I don't want her to come home to an empty house, she worries, she wouldn't say it, but I know she does." He sighed a little, looking around the empty apartment.
"We could leave a note," she suggested, shrugging, "When do you think she'll be back?"
Eraed shrugged. "I have no clue, perhaps we could leave a note, if we just go for a short walk then?" He asked, succumbing, though he had no idea why.
She smiled, opening the door, "Sounds good to me."
Eraed, sighed, writing a note.
Kumiko, hope your walk helped, I should be back before you are, but just in case I am writing a note, I am going out for a walk with Avayl, she needed to get out because she hasn't been out since we brought her here. Promise to be back soon.
Love, Eraed
He finished, and set in on the table, following her out the door.
"We are all loved by His Lordship," she priest began through a dusty screen, "He will forgive you if you ask it of Him. What have you done to sin, my child?"
Kumiko shifted on the other side of the confession booth, crossing and uncrossing her fingers. What should she say? Would He really forgive her if she told of her sins? The SU felt alien in this place. She had come here to pray for Rurik's journey and that he be forgiven, and had not anticipated praying for her own. She sighed.
"It is true I have sinned, Father," she whispered, "I was born a sin...and will die one. I was not brought into the world the same way you were...and do not think I can ask the God who did not create me for His protection."
"What do you mean?" His voice remained steady, maybe even intrigued. She looked up towards the celing, eyes closed.
"I was brought here by scientists," she sighed, "And have killed to stay alive...I want to be forgive...I want to be...human."
Silence.
For long moments the priest did not respond, and with the quieted atmosphere she felt even more uneased.
Whispering.
What the Father talking with someone? She pressed her ear to the screen and gasped.
"Come in."
Click.
"We've got her.
Eraed sighed as he walked along, looking at the darkened streets. "So, um..."
"I though you were suppose to be a poet," Avayl laughed, shaking an auburn head, "A loss for words?"
Eraed turned red. "Poet? Well it's not my favourite quality...well actually I don't have many favourable qualities, but really that's beside the poin-" He stopped as he looked up at the setting moon. "Wow, I haven't seen it that bright it a while, it is beautiful, a marvel to outshine the majesty of Cassipia." He said, slightly awed.
"Ah, you are a poet after all," Avyl teased, looking up at it, the light from it outlining their figures, "It is..very beautiful."
Eraed retained his tomatoe colouring. "Oh, no not really..." He said with a slight smile. "I'm just good with words when I so choose to be."
"I gracious skill," she mused, patting him carefully on the back, "Never be ashamed of being Shakespearian my friend."
The compliment made him turn maroon. "Oh no, I am not even close to the likes of just a masterful genius as Shakespeare."
She laughed, "So you've read his works as well? What's your favourite?"
"Macbeth." He said quickly, not even waiting to contemplate. "Most definitely Macbeth, how about yourself?"
"Call me a hopeless romantic, but I'm actually fond of Romeo and Juliet," she smiled in a dreamlike state just thinking about it, "Especially the ending."
Eraed, laughed, slightly nervous. "Yes well, I hope your love life ends better." He said grinning a little. "Oh, geez, what time is it? We should probably head back, I mean Kumiko could be home by now..."
"Oh...ya. I mean ten minutes really is a long time to be gone.."
"Sorry." Eraed said with a sigh. "I just can't stop thinking about her, I am worried she's got into trouble, when she is upset, she tends to get into trouble." He sighed again. "Maybe we should go find her." He turned, and stopped trying to sense her.
"Yeah, she kind of gave me that impression."
Blue sirens, she could hear then outside the santuary that had suddenly become a giant cage. She exited the booth, truth beginning to sink in. This isn't a hold place! Her eyes darted, spotting magnifying camera lenses in the statues of Mary and Saint Anne, They kept it here to trap us!
She paused hearing a weapon load behind her. Out came the priest, uzi in hand as he glared down at her like she was the devil himself. "DEMON! YOU SHALL BURN!"
Kumiko ran, bullets shattering the false sanctity around them.
I should have known...there's nothing holy left for me in this world.
Eraed heard gun shots and siren's. Damn it. He began running hurriedly, as fast as his legs could take him, he reared up in front of a church, but immidiately seen things wrong with it, out of place, having been raised Catholic. He saw Kumiko running, and joined her, in her race through the streets. "What happened?" He asked, breathlessly.
"Stupid asshole church..." she picked speed, twin SWAT trucks trailing them, "...Necromancers."
Eraed swore. "That is not a church." He said with a sigh, figuring she already knew. "Never mind, that is not the point. We have to get out of here." He looked around. Where was Avayl?
Kumiko crashed upwards, clamping onto Eraed as she did so and leaving a crater where her foot had been. They surged up into the air, leaving the trucks beneath them. She prayed they didn't send out the helecopters. Prayed? How ironic for the moment.
Eraed gasped, looking down. "Wow..." This was the most amazing thing he had ever done. "Now I know why you love this." He said, looking down on the city.
"Appreciate the beauty once they stop shooting at us," she replied, leaping onto the next building, "Why were you out here anyways?"
Eraed all of a sudden felt guilty. "Avayl guilted me into taking a walk." He said simply. "Then, after ten minutes I thought I had been out there a life time, I was so worried about you. Then I gave up and came to find you." He said simply. "Which reminds me, in my concern for you, I left Avayl out in the street somewhere..." He gulped, feeling horrible.
"You'll be lucky if I don't accidently drop you!" she snapped, groaning as the sound of helicopter blades approached. "Good, let's leave her there."
Eraed winced. "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have went." He sighed heavily. "I can't leave her there Kumiko, I have to go and find her, you know I do." He hoped she wouldn't drop him.
She shifted his weight. "Not now."
The air device began shooting, narrowly missing the two experiments.
"Surrender for deactivation! We demand that you cease at once!"
"How stupid do they think I am?" She sneered, bounding off the side of the Chrysler building, trying to throw them off.
Eraed looked up at them. "We're not losing them." He said with a sigh. "Drop me off, and run, you'll move faster without me." He sighed as bullets and other killing devices wizzed past them.
"Don't touch me!" Kyasarin shrieked as she was pulled violently from the roof into the eager arms of the Necromancers below. She snapped out of her sozzled state and began to try and get free, "Get you're stinking hands off me!" She snarled
Kumiko's eyes flicked, spotting Kyasarin down below, "Kya."
She ignored Eraed's request and landed them both on the rooftop her assaliant occupied.
Kyasarin managed to pull her arm free, and squarely punched a young guard in the face. She managed to pull free from the others and moved backwards along the ledge, drawing her gun and pointing it at the guards.
Eraed watched, horrified as the guards advanced on Kya. "Damn it, what are we going to do?" He shook his head, guilt still gnawing at him to go find Avayl.
Kyasarin shot a look at Eraed, desperately trying to pick up on her thought, Follow my lead.. "I am a Necromancer Agent," She announced, rolling back the sleeve of her trenchcoat and revealing the brand she had worn for years, "I order you to back the f*ck away."
Eraed picked up the thought and nodded. What did she want him to do though?
"These two experiments are under my jurisdiction." She announced, "They have agreed to work with me to bring back the missing SUs." She glared at the guards, "This is an elaborate sting operation classified to the highest levels. So I repeat: Back the f*ck away."
Ki sensed the fight going on remarkebly only about 10 blocks away. Ki got up and rushed Cira knew what was going on and got up Eyes close behind. "I suppose we should follow them." announced Vein, Barrage nodded. They got there within a few minutes. One of the guards saw them,"Apocalypse 13 and 14 come here... now!" Ki laughed
"Go to hell." he burned him until he fell.
Eyes took out her elbow blades as she was surrounded by guards she concentrated on a fire hydrant nearby and broke it open she began telekineticaly chaneling at them they fell down as they got up she slit there throats with practiced accuracy.
A helicopter began shooting at Vein he wasted no time he jumped into the copter draining everyone there he then piloted the helicopter towards a small group of guards and crashed it into them.
Barrage finshed throwing people and rolled his eyes,"Are we done yet?" Cira smacked someone behind her and trapped a few more in the earth,"Probably not."
Kyasarin swore loudly, they could have been out of this situation if it wasn't for them kids. The Guards raised their weapons at Kyasarin. She raised her weapon in return, knowing she couldn't talk her way out of this one. Closing her eyes she concentrated on connecting to the technology within their weapons. This better work... she thought fleetingly
Kumiko concentrated looking inside herself for a familiar globe of power. "Eraed...get far away from me."
She waited until he followed her instructions, before flashing her eyes open, glinted with scarlet power. Red flames surged from her body in an uncontrolled bolt of raw energy. It ran onto the agents, enflaming them until the flesh melted from their bones. A sickening sight. She felt the rage grow within her, bloodlust crawling to the surface. Its them again...
"Help me sister..."
He lie there, choking on blood; smothered by it from the inside out. 8 y/o Kumiko collapsed to the floor as her brother, Su218 faded.
"This is what happens when you try to run," the voice chilled her as the Master ordered his men to dispose of the body, "226, come with me. If you ever try this again, that will be you."
She smelt the flesh burning.
Tears blurred her vision, his blood staining her fingertips, never leaving. Just like the pain. Safe once again in her cell she cried to the silence, her despair...
They burned him... Her limbs shot out, the inferno of bloody tones engulfing the enemy's helocopters and flooding onto the building beneath them. Like they burned Rurik...
"NOOOOO!!! DON"T DO IT!"
Kumiko screamed, crumpled helplessly to the ground, bullets ridditing her leg. She dragged herself forewards, screaming. Knowing.
That she couldn't save him.
"DON'T KILL HIM!!!"
His eyes were glazed as the metal shots impacted his side, forcing him to the ground. Like unseen claws, dragging him under.
Kumiko screamed, the last think he heard before blood sealed him into darkness...
"RURIK!!!!"
She screamed, sadistic laughter mixing with the fire. They could all burn, human deserved nothing better. "BURN IN HELL MURDERERS!!!"
Kyasarin swore as the heat began rising around the guards and herself. "Someone f*cking stop her!" She swore as she ran to the edge of the flames, trying to work out how to escape
Eraed saw with horror that Kya was trapped, he looked at Kumiko, but she wasn't stopping. Damn it. She was in the middle of it, there was no way he could stop her, and her emotions were starting to cloud over him despite his attempts to block it, he knew if he didn't act now, he wouldn't be able to, and so with a burst of strength, he ran and slammed into Kumiko, hoping to knock her out of what ever state she was in, her crimson flesh burning his own, as the flames licked up, surrounding them both as they tumbled to the roof floor.
The flames suddenly vanished, and Kyasarin spun around to now find herself surrounded by angry guards.
Cira grabbed a gun and shot six of the guards around Kya. She tried shooting again, but was out of ammo. "Damn gun." she said grabbed her staff and rushed at them.
Two guards clamped Kyasarin's arms securely to her sides. "She's an Agent!" The Leader yelled, "Get hold of her legs, disarm her. And get those frigging experiments in custody!"
Kyasarin spat in the eye of one of the guards holding her "You're gonna regret this!" She yelled to the leader, "Ring it in - Agent Sandhawk 4686. They'll tell you I've gone dark on the trail of the SUs. Do it."
"Fine." The Guard replied "We'll do it once we're out of range of those frigging experiments."
The group began to retreat - taking Kyasarin with them.
Kumiko shook her head, blood pulsing close to the surface. What the hell... There was something underneath her, breathing unevenly. She stiffened, sitting up to release Eraed.
Eraed coughed, his arms were red with burns, and his shirt had been burned away. He seemed to go through a lot of shirts now adays. He sighed, forcing himself up, painfully, he gasped, coming to a wobbly stand. "Ouch." He said, laughing, breaking the horrible tension.
"You idiot!" Kumiko steadied him up, arm around his waist, "Why would you do that!"
"Because-" He coughed. "You were about to put Kya up in flames." He said simply. "I had to do something." He shrugged, trying to quell the butterflies at her touch. He looked down at his arms, he wasn't burnt terribly bad, it could have been a lot worse. He could be dead. The thought had an impact, he never supposed it would. He realized suddenly, despite everything, he wanted to be alive. If for no other reason than to see her beautiful face.
She swallowed, watching Kya as she finnished off the guards. Her anger faded. "I didn't mean to. Well, I did in a way, to kill the others. But not Kya...never Kya."
Kyasarin squarely kicked a guard in the throat with her heavy boot, "And that's for trying to kill me." She looked around at the bodies on the floor. "Hope they didn't ring it in..."
"I know you didn't Kumiko, which is why I stopped you. You forget I know exactly what's going through your head when you get like that." He said with a slight sigh. "So, you can control it right? I mean anytime you get passionate about anything, it doesn't turn on, does it?" He said looking down at his arms a moment, before turning an aweful shade of maroon.
Kumiko read easily between the lines, wishing she hadn't. Instead of responding she called to Kya. "Is that all of them?"
Eraed cleared his throat. "Yeah I think it is." He looked around suddenly and remembered Avayl. "I'll be back, you guys head home, I'll meet you there." He said with a sigh, and turned to climb down the roof.
"And where through all of this is our healer?" he said perturbed.
"Who knows, he's been all to himself lately," Kumiko grumbled.
Vein had no idea what or who they were talking about so he sort of blanked out. He blinked, he couldn't stop looking at Cira.
Eraed looked back once, before leaving, he dropped down to the ground, and began walking to where he had left her, he hoped she was still there. He rounded the corner to where they had been walking and looked up.
Half-Life
Stumble!