Welcome to Gaia! ::

A NEW MOURNING

It was deafening. Her lips parted and that horrible non-sound escaped unceasingly. She willed it to come, forcefully. She was frantic. She knew the future, knew it was death. Hands cover ears and children run to their burrows trying to hide from her non-sound. They had to know how she would end.

That’s how she began.



It was morning again; she opened her eyes and once again saw the sky, laden with ashes. Nothing had changed since

Elena got out of bed and went downstairs for her cup of coffee.
She had slept too long, she realized as she entered the main room; James was wiping down the ash-caked counters with cloth caked in ash soaked in water saturated with ash. He looked up to see her emptiness: the same blank stare most everyone was wearing nowadays. She hadn’t always been empty, and even in her emptiness, he saw a strange and dull beauty resonate from her tired frame.

She floated over to the counter before he even realized she had moved. He hurriedly got her usual: coffee, black. She reached with bony fingers and grasped her cup—the one with the chip, the one she’d always used—and looked at it a moment before draining it. Even the coffee was worse than before.

His hand went absently beneath his shirt, pulling out a pendant on a long silver chain: a bright yellow stone encased in a star burst symbol. He ran his fingers over it, relishing in memory. A voice interrupted his thoughts. He hadn’t even noticed that she had been speaking.

“James? Are you even listening anymore?” She sighed in desperation. “I know I always say the same things, but it’d be nice if you pretended to care, to be interested.”

He shook himself free from his trance and looked toward her. He saw an almost smirk on her ashen face. “What? Oh, sorry, Lena. Just that this shift has been awful long. You slept longer than usual.” He almost said “today” but remembered that time had no meaning here; there was no morning, no day, no night. Not anymore. Not since that autumn.

“Yeah.” Pause. “I had that dream again. The one I used to get before all this.” she said as she motioned to indicate the world at present.

Peaked interest. “Oh really now?” His words sounded more excited than he intended. He paused, realizing what it could mean, but tried to play it off.

“Well, at least it can’t be a sign of things to come; things really can’t get much worse ‘round here.” He attempted a chuckle to lighten the mood, but all light had been stolen by the autumn.

She then proceeded to ramble on about how it was before, how angry she was, how desolate the world had become since the autumn. James fell back into his trance until both were equally startled by the sound of bells.

Their heads jerked in unison to the opening door as a confused and awkward looking young woman proceeded into the room.

The woman, suddenly realizing all eyes were on her, fidgeted and tried to find the right words for the occasion. Finding nothing eloquent, she gave a slight bow and said “Hi, I’m…Allie.”

James, sensing her awkwardness, made with the pleasantries. “Hello, what can I get for you? We’ve got—“

“No, no. I…” She’d rehearsed this many times, but now the words died on her lips. She reached into her pocket and thrust a rather large bundle of parchment towards them. “I know Zekellion. He told me to give you these and—“

James took the papers from her and shared them with Elena, who, ignoring the papers, stood abruptly in agitation and turned to face Allie. “Who are you? How do you know Zeke?”

Allie had not prepared herself for this reaction. Instinctively, she reached out, took hold of Elena’s hand, and let the autumn speak for her.
Flashes of fire and death and realization swept through Elena’s being, sending shock waves of remembering and knowing, just beneath the skin. Goose flesh prickled its way up her arms and legs, covering her body in a shiver of understanding.

Elena pulled away, “You’re…the Seraph.”



No one ever believed the “prophecy,” until the world ended, until the universe as they knew it caught fire and reduced everything to ash.

On the first day of autumn of that year, the earth erupted in a non-flame, devouring everything. The clash of light and dark that destroyed the heavens in the form of a fire with no heat had been predicted years before by radical Catholics. By this time, Catholicism was all but obsolete and had no place in modern society. Thus, the ramblings of priests held no ground with anyone save their fellow priests.

What had they said? They began with the story of the war between God and Lucifer. Everyone had heard it before: Many years ago, Lucifer waged a war on God and lost, miserably. The war divided the ethereal and Lucifer's followers were banished to Hell for all eternity. Eternity, the Catholics said, isn’t as long as was previously thought. In the years before the Autumn, they predicted that soon Lucifer would rise again but this time, the war would not only be in the spiritual realm, but also Earth. And this time, he would be victorious. They were right.

The part that surprised everyone was when their own people—humans, they thought—became warriors out of nowhere. Humanity was divided: some chose to fight for the righteous, and some for the wicked. Some people became demons, and some angels. No, not became, were. They were always angels and demons.

Whether or not people believed it was God and the Devil in immortal combat, well that doesn’t really matter. All that matters is that something came that autumn and scorched the sky, and burned all the land in a non-fire. It was devastated the land, covering all the surface with a coat of ashes that could never be removed. The Catholics then predicted that my charge, a Seraph of God, would be bribed by Lucifer into standing with him.
This Seraph would then return to Earth and further devastate the land.

That’s as far as they got before a small group of officials took charge, gained supporters, and got rid of a rather boisterous group of radicals. Every known orthodox Catholic on the face of the earth was eradicated in a blinding flash of murder.

Elena dreamed it would happen. In her dream, she had known the answer to everything all at once. The dream should have been frantic panic and clamor and running, but the world was frozen, even the birds in the sky.



James stumbled for a weapon: frantic; he’d heard the story. He picked up various items: a shattered coffeepot that maimed with every touch, a horribly disfigured and broken spatula, a bent spoon. He decided upon the spatula, a horribly disfigured and broken spatula. He held it up as if he were a swordsman braving a fierce dragon and ran in front of the counter, getting between Elena and the Seraph.

She had prepared herself for this particular reaction, but had expected an actual fight, a real challenge. Not some coffee shop boy with a broken spatula. He couldn’t even find a pocketknife, let alone an actual weapon with which to threaten her. She didn’t budge. “Read the papers.”

“You get away! Just back away.”

What a pitiful display of manhood. “Is that spatula supposed to scare me? I’m not moving. Just read the damned papers.”

He relaxed slightly but didn’t move; he knew he was at a distinct disadvantage.



Frustration. Zeke’s hand went to his forehead, grasping his emerald hair. He could feel it. Things were not going as well as he’d hoped. He scribbled more words on the parchment, hoping to ease his frustration. “It’s nothing like they said, and yet it’s exactly what they said. Why didn’t" scribble. Scratch out. “Believe them?” hand returns to head. A throbbing begins just above his temple. He reaches for his coffee, his hand twitching, and instead knocks it over, spilling it onto the table. He sighs, rising abruptly and pulling the papers frantically off the table. Great. Just great. Spent two ******** days scribbling on this parchment only to have it stained by clumsiness. He suddenly realized he had indeed spent two days without getting up from his desk. A growl escaped from his abdomen.
The coffee was old anyway.

He laid the papers in strategic places so that maybe they would dry without too much of a stain. Coffee was always weak nowadays; it might not stain too badly. Satisfied with the placement of the papers, he left for the kitchen.

Even in times such as these, he still maintained a fairly lavish home with little effort. No one wanted to steal things anymore. People had become accustomed to the ash; there was no reason to try to remove it. He descended the stairs and stopped at the bottom, blank. Where was the kitchen again? It was to his left, where it had always been. Chastising himself for even asking such a ridiculous question, he hurried off to the kitchen, his stomach rumbling insistently.

Opening a cabinet, he was surprised to see it was bare, save for the cobwebs. He moved onto the next cabinet, empty. Next, empty. All his cabinets were empty. He opened the pantry and found one jar of pickles. I don’t even like pickles. Sigh. He grabbed the jar and reached inside, grabbing hold of a pickle, struggling to get his hand out. He bit into it and noticed it must have been far past its expiration date (do pickles expire?) well, it wasn’t pleasant to eat, but he needed food. He started his way back to his study when he heard a very faint knock on his door.

He stopped and turned his head, not quite sure he had actually heard it over the crunching of the pickle; the faint tapping came again. Zeke moved toward the door and opened the door just a crack. “Who knocks?” he said through the tiny opening.

Placing the pickle jar on a nearby table, he tried to look closer at the figure standing at his doorstep, but found he could distinguish little. It appeared to be a fairly tall man, not skinny, but also not in any way intimidating. He appeared to have short black hair, tailored clothing, and he held himself in a very business-like manner. The man cleared his throat and produced a document, but seemed to only do so as a formality.

“I need to speak with you. Something very urgent has come up. Please open the door, Zekellion.”

The man’s voice produced a spark of synapse and recognition in Zeke. “Deth?” he said, without opening the door. “What brings you here after so long?”

“I’d like to share it with you, but I’d rather do so inside, not on your welcome mat, if you don’t mind.”

Zeke opened the door hastily, waving an arm to invite his guest in.
Upon seeing Zeke's haggard appearance, Deth said “You look ghastly. Maybe you already know of what I intend to tell you.”

Suddenly aware of his appearance, Zeke tried absently to fix his hair with his fingers. “Well, I do know of one recent event. But I’d like to hear what you’ve come so far to tell me.” He said as he led Deth and himself into the living room, glancing at his reflection in a mirror hanging on the wall. Halfway there, Deth stopped abruptly and cleared his throat in that “I have a suggestion” way.

“Yes?” Zeke said, strolling back to his house guest.
“Perhaps we should go to your study. I’ll need use of your books to tell the tale.”

Sighing, Zeke turned and walked back up the stairs.



“If I wanted to fight you, you would die. But I don’t, so there is no reason to be afraid.” The Seraph stood erect; obviously feeding off the knowledge that both knew she was the superior being. “Now,” she said, taking a seat in a chair and motioning for James to take the seat adjacent to her. “If you’ll just read the papers, you’ll understand that I am not here to destroy the world or whatever else you might have heard.”

“Then what are you here for?” Elena wringed her hands; she was tense and nervous about the whole ordeal. This whole prophecy coming true thing was starting to get to her. She wished these prophecies would just leave her be.

The Seraph turned to Elena, her too-green eyes burning into Elena. She again motioned to the papers. Sighing, she decided to explain. “I trust you know the prophecy told by the Catholics before the Autumn, right?”

“Yeah, it says that—“ the Seraph raised her hand, cutting Elena off.

“Good.” Pause. “Well, they got most of that stuff right. Up until me, that is. And some details in between, but those aren’t really for you to know." She paused again. "I am not here to destroy your lives; the war has already done that. I’m here, mainly because my world, Heaven as it were, has collapsed upon itself. I’m not all-knowing, not all-powerful.” Pause again. “With that being said…there is something I need you to help me with.”



AN: here it is. not in it's entirety, of course. i'm not exactly sure how I should go about posting this. this is about three pages of it--is this a good length to post at once?

yeah, this story uses a lot of catholic theology, and i had to do a lot of research--if you see anything wrong, point it out. i don't like having wrong stuff floating around poisoning the integrity of my sleeping babe.

i'm actually kind of concerned that i jump into things too fast; is that just me?

oh...and am i allowed to say the "F-word"? i can edit it out if i'm not supposed to say it. my characters don't curse very much, so it won't be a big deal.

and, of course, i hope everyone likes it. i know i need to work on my dialogue a bit--it's very unnatural in places (i hope it's not unnatural everywhere...).

gag! yay for pointing out errors (for serious). stupid present tense!

this is most certainly without revision or editing. it's been a long time since i actually read this.

i don't know why i thought a colon would be good there xd

as far as "lifeless vs talkative" i'm not sure how to remedy that. Elena is a lot like me: when she's depressed, she likes talking. so she IS lifeless, but talks about it.

i need to do some work on James, admittedly.

thanks. I post some more now.

Fowl is foul.

A few slightly awkward places. But Imma lazy. (:

Neeaaaaaaat~ I like it. Morez.

I think it has to do with intangibility, with something indescribable. Whatever it is, it's brilliant.

Revelations isn't so poetic. Kinda scary, actually.

F word? What? O.o

*******
It was white everywhere. David found that he couldn’t move. He knew that if he didn’t move, he would die of the cold. His limbs wouldn’t obey. There was someone screaming, far away. Louder, I can’t hear you, just a little louder; the wind is in the way. Come here. I can’t hear you. Get closer.

Snap. Everything intensified. His fingers and toes, where were they? His arms and legs burned, so hot. He opened his eyes only to be forced to close them again. Someone was shaking him violently. The screaming was closer, more distinct, though still obscured by the wind. “Are you conscious?” he groaned. “Can you move?” the shaking had stopped and he felt himself slipping away again into the white. The white pulled at him eagerly, so comforting. Eventually, David succumbed.

********

“I’m not sure I should trust her, Zeke.” Elena sounded worried. She needed answers.

Zeke felt uneasy leaving his sister with the Seraph. “You shouldn’t, to be honest. The way she’s blocking me out is unnerving.”

“Maybe she just doesn’t want you to know her thoughts?”

“It’s possible, but I can't understand why. It’s not like I can blackmail her or anything. All she has is knowledge.” He twisted his lip. “I think she’s playing us. I think most of her story is true, but there is something she isn’t telling us.”

“That’s a given. But the question is, does she intend harm?”

Zekellion thought for a moment. “I really can’t answer that. I think that—“ a knock interrupted his words.

The door opened with oiled ease. Deth stood in the doorway, “Elena, I’d like to go with you.” He turned his attention to Zeke. “I know you were just about to say you had considered it. I’m telling you you can’t. It’s too dangerous for you.”

Taken aback by this sudden development, Zeke had no words. Elena spoke for him. “But Deth, if it’s dangerous for Zeke, how is it not dangerous for you…?”

Deth prepared himself for something of a speech. “Because this girl, the Seraph, sees Zeke as something of a threat. She knows something we don’t know, and she wants to keep it that way. She can’t do that if Zeke’s hanging around. I, on the other hand, have done nothing to threaten her. And thus, I am the better candidate.”

Feeling trapped, Zeke had no choice but to give in. “You’re right. Report back to me as often as possible. I appreciate this.”

“I will.” He turned to leave. “We should get back. She’s getting nervous about this ‘secret meeting.’”

They returned to Zeke’s study to find James and the Seraph, James eying her like a paranoid drug addict, and the Seraph reading the papers Zeke had given her. After collecting supplies such as food and blankets and all sorts of little knickknacks one might need on a trip such as theirs.(( AN: i don't know what happened--i think i forgot what i was going ot say there sweatdrop )) They, except for Deth, stayed the night at Zeke’s home, determined to depart in the morning.

********

The white was coming into focus. He smelled some sort of biscuit baking, and ale. Biscuits and ale, he decided he must be in Hell. Biscuits and ale, he thought, was a combination only the foulest of foul could consume, truly. Not that David had anything against a good biscuit, or a nice spot of ale, but whatever madman who saw it fit to combine the two, well, he’d rather not think of it.

He opened his eyes, slowly at first but with growing determination, and saw that he was not in Hell, but in a rather small cottage. He tried to sit up, but found he was tied to a couch. A pinprick of panic slipped into his mind. He wiggled and wriggled as best he could, but to no avail. The knots held fast. He began to get scared. Another pinprick of panic slipped into David’s mind as he realized all his wriggling had alerted his captor of his coming to and he heard footsteps coming closer.

A blond man, who looked to be in his fifties, peeked around the corner. “Ah, I see that yer awake now. Was startin’ to get worried that I’d lugged ya all that way for ye to just die on me couch!” He let out a full and aged laugh, which did nothing to alleviate David’s fear. The man walked with heavy footfalls, probably on account of the gigantic boots he was wearing. He moved closer to David and began to untie him. “Sorry ‘bout the rope, but you were squirmin all over the place; I was ‘fraid ye might hurt yourself!” David’s fear began to ebb away as he was freed. “Yer lucky, ya know, that I come along when I did. You’d a been dead away in just a couple more hours. That’s fer sure.” He sounded like a man who’d smoked too much for too long.

David tried his vocal chords, but little more than a twisted groan came out.
The man, upon hearing his pitiful squeak, said, “Ah, yer voice is shot, probably from the cold. Lemme get ya some warm tea to fix ya right up! I’ll be back in a jiffy.” The man scurried off into a room off to the left.

David sat up as best he could. It felt like he’d been asleep for ages. The old man returned quickly, as promised. “You been sleepin’ for three days, ya know.” He handed David a chipped coffee mug and set a plate of biscuits on the table. “What were ya doin’ out there in the cold by yerself anyhow?”

He thought for a minute, sipping his very hot tea. He tested his vocal chords again, “Out in the cold?” success.

The old man looked at David like he had three heads. “Have ya lost yer mind, boy? It’s near thirty below out there. Look out the window; even the snow’s froze”

“Snow..?” David turned his head to the window. His face registered an expression of shock at his sight of the snow.

“Do ya not remember? Do ya know yer name, even?” The old man implied amnesia.

David was miles away, lost in the snow. He turned his head, bringing himself back. “David…my name is David. I just…I’ve never seen snow before.”

********

The morning was cool and damp. Deth returned dressed in clothing more suitable for travel: a black wool coat, grey scarf, thick pants of some unknown but very durable material, and black boots. He arrived just at breakfast, but because he had already eaten, he took his place near Zeke. James, Elena, and the Seraph were all talking, obviously somewhat excited by the journey ahead. “I trust the night passed without event?” Deth said, nonchalant enough so that none of the others paid any attention.

Zeke nodded his head, clearly worried. “Something isn’t right.”

Deth turned his head slightly, but not enough to rouse suspicion. “I know, I thought that was obvious from the start. I’ll let you know how things go.”

Zeke imperceptibly shook his head, “No. Don’t you find it entirely too coincidental?”

“Find what entirely too coincidental? You’ll have to avoid those vague pronoun references if you expect me to follow.” Zeke irritated him sometimes.

“Today is the first day of autumn.” He paused. “Nothing good has come from this day for eight straight years.”

Deth brushed him off. Even though it was true, the first day of autumn was not a good sign, he needed to ease his friend’s anxiety. “Are you serious? You’re more superstitious than I thought. You worry too much, Zekellion.”

The party began to disperse to collect their respective traveling gear; they would take the train as far as they could, but too far past the Arctic Circle it was a virtual no-man’s-land. Elena seemed like she was looking for something. “Forget something?” Zeke said as he put his hand on her shoulder. Her frame was so small in comparison to his own, and he wasn’t even a muscular guy.

She jumped in surprise, sighed, and relaxed. “I always feel like I’m forgetting something when I’m on the verge of one of these excursions, you know?”

Zekellion chuckled. She had been like this since they were children. “Yes, I know what you mean.” He tried to think of things she would normally forget. “Did you get a hat?”

“Aha, I knew it was something!” she smiled and turned to her brother, embracing him warmly. “Thanks Zeke.”

Meanwhile, James and Allie were anxious to depart: James insisted on tapping his foot, while Allie fidgeted with her jacket. “Are we ready yet?” She seemed most irritated at the delay.

Elena walked from her bedroom and descended the stairs, with Zeke close behind her, ready to wish them a safe voyage. “Yeah, sorry. Forgot my hat.”

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, James and Allie stood in unison while Deth made his way toward the door, but not without a glance of reassurance toward his old friend. Goodbyes and farewells ensued. Alone again.

********

“Yer crazy.”

David tried to collect himself. “Maybe I am. But I’m telling you, I have no idea how I got here.”

“Do ya remember anythin before to-day?” The old man was looking for an explanation; he needed to find one.

Flashes of a beautiful woman. Of a cat. Of children, dozens of children soiled but smiling. He must have been a nice person to have had such nice things in his life. David suddenly realized that he had no actual memories. He felt that he had been other places, and known other people, but couldn’t really remember it. All his thoughts swirled together to form a fog of vague and grey. His most vivid memory was in the white of unconscious. He didn’t say anything.

“I take that as a ‘no’. You want to, but ye can’t, can ye?”

David nodded his head solemnly. “I swear I have been other places than this. I know it. But I just can’t recall what those places are.”

“Well, I s’pose tha means you’ll be stayin’ here for a while then, eh?” the old man started to get up, turned toward David, and waited for his response.

“I don’t want to be a bother...”

“Don’t be a fool, now, how many guests do ya think I get?”

“That’s a good point. But sooner or later, I’ll have to go somewhere.”

The old man held out his hand. “Name’s Cid.” David shook his hand firmly. “I’ll show ye around so I won’t be havin to cater to yer every need. Follow me.” David rose and followed his newest and only friend in this world.

********

The train glided along on its steel railing. It was early, he had to admit. Deth crossed his arms and looked out the window at the scenery whizzing by. The others were sleeping, obviously exhausted. By what, he didn’t know. He let his thoughts wander to the far corners of the universe, but to his dismay, they wandered only to the past. He thought of those delicate, yet strong, hands. He suddenly remembered unneeded glasses, round, but not oversized. Plain brown hair, and smooth, pale skin. He tried to get those images away, but to no avail. With the barrage of these pleasant unpleasant images came even more unpleasant questions. What made her think those horrible things of him? What made her say those horrible words to him? Something must have gotten into her, some horrible evil, tainting the delicate and pure of her beauty. If she hadn’t left, then maybe she wouldn’t have

He wanted so much to leave these thoughts where they belonged: in the fire of that autumn. He made one more earnest attempt at forcing the thoughts away when something helped him along. The Seraph was stirring, blinking awake. He mentally shook himself free of the past with her and barely spoke, “I was starting to get lonely. Have a good nap?” the fact he hadn’t spoken in hours was obvious in his grating vocal chords.

She looked up, barely awake, and said, “I wish it was a nap.”

Deth tilted his head. “Do you do business in your sleeping hours?”

“Indeed.” She took note of his appearance. “You look ill. Perhaps you should nap.”

He shook his head. “I’m not ill, dear Seraph.”

She felt odd at his use of the word “Seraph.” She confronted him, “Do you insist on calling me ‘seraph’? I do have a name.”

Deth sighed. It was habit; Zeke and he had been talking about the coming of the Seraph for at least a year. “My apologies; it’s…Allie, right?”

She nodded. She opened her mouth to speak, decided against it, began to close, and spoke anyway. “May I speak with you about something?”

He was suspicious. “What about?”

“Could we go someplace more private?”

“They aren’t going to wake anytime soon. Besides, where could we go?”

“Outside.” She rose and waited for him to follow suit.

He got up and walked out the door to the nearest exit with her following behind, ignoring the employees telling him he couldn’t go outside. As soon as she was through the door, he jammed the knob. “I’d say you’ve got about four minutes until they get through there.” Banging ensued.

Allie twisted her mouth uncomfortably. She wasn’t supposed to talk to anyone and she knew it. But this was desperate, and Deth knew something she didn’t. “It’s about my assignment.”

“What about it?”

“Well,” She shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to continue. “You know God is supposed to be around here somewhere, in human form like me, right?”

“Yeah. What? Can’t find him?”

“No. I’m not even close, well,” She paused, daring to stumble into specifics. “Not to the primary module anyway.”

“What do you expect me to do?” The banging was nearing frantic.

“I was told it was Elena, but…that’s way off.”

“And James?” the banging stopped.

She hesitated. “No.”

Deth’s suspicions rose. “I’ll ask again, what do you expect me to do?”

Allie gathered her strength and ventured forward into boldness. “You know who it is. I expect you to tell me.”

“What?” He was surprised. “You think I know who God is?”

“They said you do.”

“Well ‘they’ don’t know what they’re talking about. Now what about James? Don’t think I didn’t notice your hesitation.”

She was boxed in, unable to escape. “James isn’t—“

The door flew open and two security officers exploded from the opening. Screams of “Get down”, “You can’t escape”, and “Surrender any weapons” swirled through the chaos. In the chaos of the moment, the door slammed into Deth’s face, sending him tumbling over the railing.

********

In the next couple of weeks, David and Cid spent most of their days together. Every day Cid left to go find firewood and try to catch a meal; he always carried spare food just in case it was sparse, but he liked hunting. Occasionally David pretended to assist Cid in hunter-gathering, but he was mostly useless in this setting. However, David did learn a few tricks to finding wood suitable for burning in the deep snow, and he learned what not to do while hunting: talk, stand erect, and trip in the snow, causing a flurry of white to appear and scare the animal.

David wasn’t meant for the cold. He knew that now. Wherever he had been before, it wasn’t the cold. He sat so close to the flame that Cid had been afraid he might catch fire. David sat with his back to the fire, burning his taste buds off with scalding tea, looking out the window. The world was so white, almost as white as his first real memory. He had remembered a little more in the past few days, but nothing much. Just more of that exquisitely beautiful woman. He wanted so much to remember more, but found the harder he tried, the more it eluded him. He let his mind wander. He’d learned her name was Shelley, and that she loved him, but felt that something terrible had happened to her. He decided he had to find out.

He turned from the window and got the clothing Cid had provided him. He almost left without a trace, but felt it would be rude. He left a note:

“It’s time for me to depart. I have
to find out what happened to Shelley,
and what happened to me. I know
you understand.

"Thanks, David”

He left it on the counter after pilfering a few chunks of bread from the cabinet.

********

Elena woke with a ringing in her ears. The train was in total chaos. James was somehow still sleeping on her shoulder. She shook him awake, “Where are the others?” She knew the question was in vain, but needed to ask.

James opened his eyes, groggy as hell. “What others…? Elena, surely I’ve still got a couple hours before—“

She shook him forcefully to bring him back to reality. “Deth, and Allie, do you know where they went?” she was on the edge of panic.

James looked around the cabin. “No. I’ve been asleep the whole time.”
Elena stood shakily, “We have to find them. Something is wrong.” She pulled him to his feet and they were off.

She looked out of the doorway and into the hallway. Most of the commotion seemed to be coming from the end of the car. She dragged James to the crowd of officers and train employees.

A firm hand gripped her shoulder, “Ma’am, go back to your cabin.” A commanding male voice.

Elena wasn't even listening to the man; she felt only the need to find Deth and the Seraph. “My friends, I have to find my friends. It’s a young woman about my height with strawberry blond hair, and a tall man with long, greying dark hair.”

The man stepped aside so she could see past him, but didn’t let Elena through. “You mean this young woman?” Allie was frantic and screaming and holding her own in the midst of a brawl; she looked like she was trying to get somewhere. “If you’re connected with her, I’m afraid we’ll have to take you into custody, once we can get her tranked, that is.”

“No, you can’t, you don’t understand!” Elena was panicking.

“No, ma’am, I don’t think you understand. This woman is a threat to this entire train. Please come with me.” He grabbed Elena’s arm and started to drag her away.

James felt angry at this man’s mishandling of Elena. “What the ******** are you doing?” He stepped toward the man, but was dwarfed by the man’s massive stature.

“My job, sir. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t try to hinder me, and just—“

“Well I don’t give a s**t if you appreciate my actions or not. You let go of her, and let us get Allie.” Normally, James would never speak to a soldier this way; it just wasn't smart.

The man let go of Elena. “Who do you think you are, little man?”

James ignored the statement and pushed past the man, grabbing Elena’s arm, trying to get through the chaos. The man took advantage of James’ turning his back and spun him around, landing a rock-hard fist square into James’ cheek. James fell hard on the floor. But, seeing that James was causing significant distraction, Elena broke past, needing to end this cacophony.

Allie was trying to climb on the outside of the car, but Elena was unable to see why. Elena surprised the soldiers with her presence and held up a hand as if to say “leave this to me.” She called out to Allie, but Allie seemed deaf to all. Suddenly, Allie slumped as if exhausted. Elena looked down to see the form of Deth tumbling down as the train raced past. She had no time to react as Allie took Elena’s hand, pulling her over the side and they both fell hard on the ground, rolling in an attempt to lessen the impact.

********

Miles away, Zeke felt another headache coming on.

He turned out all the lights and prayed that would keep it at bay. His hand went to his temple and kneaded. He knew it wouldn’t do any good, but it just made him feel like he could do something about it.

Skin ignites and melts off muscle off bone. Flame spreads. Human candle syndrome. No burns on the ceiling, no burns on the chair, no screaming. Just flame burning body to ash, burning ash to ashes. Silent grey carried by the breeze into stinging eyes.

********


AN: hum. i'm...randomly weird, and in this last instance, i like the present tense--i know it's there and it's staying, i think. if i have constant grammatical errors that you've pointed out, don't be alarmed; i'll fix it eventually, but probably only in the manuscript. once again, forgive my formatting--i'm lazy.

bah. i'm going to revise it before i post any more. i think most of this junk will be more clear if i actually write it like someone doesn't know what's going on. you gotta understand: this hasn't been touched in almost a year.

i don't mean to confuse...a lot.

why weren't they stopped? well that's easy: they didn't stop when the attendant (you know, the wimpy looking one that tells you you "can't" do something) told them not to go outside. they just went anyway.

they were attacked on the train BECAUSE they disobeyed the attendant guy; he brought in the big guns (presumably). maybe i should make that part more clear.

Simple suggestion from the simple minded: Make your submissions a little slower. I haven't replied because everytime I go to read it, I'm tired and don't finish the entire thing. I'm really liking it, but I want to reply all at once and is taking me forever. Yay for story, though. heart

numba one: i have and use a thesaurus when i feel like i'm repeating a word too much.

numba two: i repeat words on purpose SOMETIMES.

numba three: you're right. this sucks right now. that's why i'm rewriting it. i hadn't read it in a year, and now that i've seen it again, i know how craptastic it is. so...i'll probably post some more...later, probably beginning from the beginning again.