A rushing steam of rain pounded the earth again, signaling the end of short-lived serenity and the calm of a summer day's sun. Feet ran over the ground, mud sloshing up at the ankles, spotting the once pure legs and immortal pleasance underneath. They kept trampling the damp underbrush, crushing every blade of grass and every sunken flower, killing all forms of life in the simple blink of a weary eye that wants for nothing save to settle on a cheek. That cheek would likewise be disrupted of holiness, marred by unwanted tears and shameful scorn of the torrid kind, searing deeper than skin, into the very depths of the soul. It lived and breathed again, feeling the coarse wet coldness of the storm wrap It, tearing at It's newly found garments. The unsuspecting occupants had been kind to It, gave It shelter and a home. And now It still ran… farther away than ever, eyes perked open, mouth twitching at the feeling of still yet being watched by careful eyes. For a moment It pondered going back, retracing Its steps, back to the warm light and smiling faces. No. It couldn't return to that alien world, for thoughts of him still swam Its head even as the rain attempted to help drown the silken sorrows from Its countenance. He would be there, the one of voice, the one of everlasting compassion, he with the softest of hands and the kindest of beating hearts… Him. There was no need for It to place a name on this figure, for It knew that if he was within reach, he would do everything in his power to reel It in. He was that way. An angelic glow in the bitter night fears.
When It had been born into the world It now existed in, he had been there with unwavering courage, aiding It to become a blooming splendor. His odd voice had excited It and made It strong with a verve, a benign will to live and to thrive on that life It had been so graciously given. Red… For some odd reason, It associated this mysterious angel with that bright hue, but It didn't know why that was or how it came to be about. "Please…must…with you…I miss you…terr….understand…help….An answer….please…" There it was yet again, the infamous word It had come to appreciate in a growing fearful way, yearning to uncover what it meant, but all the same horrified to find out the truth behind the matter. Heaven reigned over this disquieting night. Heaven opened It's ears and heard, and It had delivered on promised schedule. Heaven knows.
"She's gone…" Coco rubbed her eyes in dismay, feeling the truth sink in her like a drowning child. "She must have left last night. I…I just don't understand. Why would she go out in this…" With a slight gesture, she motioned for Aku Aku and her brother to look out into the rainy morning. The day was a hot, humid one already, with it being only a quarter past 7 or so, and threatening to become a living furnace. The girl had escaped in the middle of the night, gone for hours, and the female bandicoot secretly fretted for the humanoid's life. Already the heat had made her break out into a moderate sweat. She wiped her brow as the other two pondered the facts. "I just hope she's alright. She seemed so distant last night. There must have been something wrong…."
The witchdoctor mask hovered above his two bandicoot children, eyes turned to the window, staring out in silent reverence of the one that had left them. It had weighed upon him as a determining factor, when the human had first arrived just a day ago, to their little hut by the beach. Aku had promised himself that he would care for her and she seemed to have accepted. Why then, did she run away from their hospitality? With a heaving groan he closed his eyes, wondering. Crash still didn't seem interested in the moment, his attention caught by Coco's blinking computer screen. With his head nodding to the rhythmic beats of the pulsing light, he continued to stare in wonder. For a minute he seemed half dazed, until he caught wind of something foreboding and horrible, and looked up from his contented position to the bleak outdoors. A frown smothered his once placid face as he prodded over to the window, furry head turned to his sister and adoptive father, shoed foot thumping the sand to the unknown tune in his head. He cocked a thick eyebrow at the dreary weather before yawning and turning back to his family and giving them a slight wink. Coco stared at him, confused, then waved off him as a mere annoyance and continued her speech. "I think that I'm going to go and find her." She made a start for the door before Aku cut her off, sternly warning her.
"Coco, it is not safe to venture out in such vehemently pressing climates. I advise you not to go, but if you must go, take Crash with you in your company. A wise man once said that there is a safety in numbers." Though his words were altogether calm, it was also a firm caveat that Aku gave out to his children, for he was forever concerned of their well-being. Crash shot him a puzzled look, a hand scratching the brown top fur of his empty head. Coco sighed as she took her brother's arm and opened the door.
Before she completely left the house, she threw Aku am assuring statement, "We'll be back, with her. I promise." With an unsympathetic tug, she hauled her brother through the opening and into the growing day. "Come on Crash." With that they were gone, Aku peering at their figures with fret as they disappeared into the shroud of rain sheets that plummeted down from the sky. After he could see them no more he turned, thinking again to himself of the procession of events that had passed in the day before.
"Be careful my children."
On a decrepit bench that dotted the sidewalk, he sat, hands dangling between his spread legs, face fully tilted to the pebbled ground. A lonely piece of garbage, a week old wrapper to some sort of caramel fudge bar, floated along the whiteness of the pavement, ends flattening out in the rain, droplets clinging to its edges. He craved such sweetness at the moment. It would be the perfect treat for morning, a minute piece of heaven to soften the blows of despair he had received the previous hours. One finger caught up a raindrop, lifted it to his face so he could study it more carefully, in a trance. The sheets that fell struck him, warped his internal mechanics that fueled his clocks, but he didn't care. His beloved was gone. He himself was gone. The whole universe died in a single breath. "Just not fair." He mumbled, lips only slightly forming the words. "It's just not fair." The droplet fell, reformed by another, then that one, too, fell from the perch. Though the ticking had stopped, his brain still whirred with furious emotion. Everything swirled together with bitterness and anger and misery hinted by a tint of annoyance. So many things had happened at once. Princia's death was the worst scenario of them all, combined with Brio's critical condition. N.Tropy was certain that he'd fall ill himself through narrow pricks of depression. Chocolate. He needed chocolate. Shivering, now registering how freezing cold it was outside, he stood and shook himself, wringing the wet out of his garments as best he could before trotting down the empty lane. A vending machine hummed and whirred loudly, next to a convenience store at a snug city corner block, just a few yards away from the infirmary that held Brio. Tropy drew out a few coins and deposited them, eyes scanning the various selections of syrupy bliss. After he had decided on a peanut butter chocolate cup, he pressed the button that matched its number just to get no form of reaction from the machine. Cursing under his breath, he kicked the side of the device in frustration before feeding it two more silvery coins. The same incident occurred, and he swore again, this time fairly loudly, almost enough to wake the dead. But not loud enough to stir Princia from her deathly slumber. Nothing could ever wake her again. She was too far gone.
Giving up on obtaining a sugary morsel from the vending area to help soothe his aches, Tropy wormed his way into the sliding doors of the convenience store and blinked into the fluorescent overhead lights that hovered above the rows of snacks, drinks, and souvenirs. Offering the clerk a friendly wave, he moved to the innermost isle where a pleasant myriad of fudges were tidily displayed. He picked up one package after the other, turning the bars over and over again in his hands. It was five minutes later that his communicator signaled to him, just as he was heading to the front counter where the clerk waited patiently for him. He pulled the device from his pocket and flipped it open. Unlike Nina's, Tropy's communicator was speech compatible, trimmed to perfection with input information that allowed picture snapshots, music downloads, and a personal watch. Due to the camera chat feature, he clearly saw that it was Neo's face appearing on the screen, looking pleasantly devious and scheming. "Good morning, Neo. How may I help you on such a lackluster day?"
Cortex coughed as Nina stepped into the view. Tropy raised an eyebrow. "N.Tropy, what a nice gesture of you to offer your help. That is precisely what I'm going to be asking you for." He threw a glance at his niece before he went on. "I have heard the news about Princia, and I can see from here that you are upset. And, my friend, you have every reason to be. However…"
"Get to the point. Cortex. I have no time to muddle in your trivial business today." N.Tropy heatedly interrupted, a grimace forming. He plucked at one of his whiskers. The pretty woman behind the counter up front looked his way in curiosity, head resting on the palm of her hand, elbows on the tabletop.
"Terribly sorry. I'll be quick, I promise." Neo assured the time wizard. "I plan on resuscitating the girl, enhancing her with just a few parts from N.Gin's creations, and of course using her for an experimental rat."
"Neo, you fiend!"
"Now now. It sounds a bit harsh, but I can promise you that her mind will solely be her own. She'll live again, like she should be able to, without a worry. Princia will be normal again." He hesitated before going on, afraid of provoking resistance from Tropy's side. "I have the know how to treat N.Brio as well and I expect you to fully consent to my decisions to work on them both. You'll not regret it." The doctor fell silent to give N.Tropy a moment to reason, his niece swaying back and forth behind him wither arms tenderly crossed.
Despite the spoiled morality of the proposition, N.Tropy's hope soared with Neo's claims to have this cure for death. Little Princia…HIS Pricia, would be able to live again. He would just have to find a way to snatcher from the hands of Cortex before the monster experimented on her like a helpless lab rat, and he was sure that he could escape to safety with her tucked in his wing before Neo could object. And Cortex even admitted to having a treatment ready for Brio, his best comrade and only true friend. Shaking his head he answered, "I suppose it's the best thing to do. I would like to see her again…alive…well…" A smile wrinkled his lips at the thought of seeing her again, holding her, comforting her. Princia would be his alone, and this time he would shelter her and love her even more so than he did in the past. "Yes. We'll see to it that your experiment is funded. How can I be of service?"
With a relieved expression, Neo gladly barked his orders, "Your duty will be to aid N.Gin, Dingodile, and Tiny into capturing a certain someone, and bringing her back for a thorough examination. I believe that she holds the promise of reviving Princia and securing a medicine that will revitalize Brio as well. The heathen escaped just a few days past and we've been searching for her ever since, but to no avail. N.Gin is currently working on pinpointing her whereabouts while Nina is about to be dispatched to gather a few side items for my concoction."
N.Tropy blinked. "SHE'S escaped again?" He shook his head as he heard a growl from the other end of the communicator. The clerk, now looking bored, chewed on her thumb fingernail. Tropy went on, "And N.Gin is actually allowing you to pursue her in attempts to put her down again?" It sounded ludicrous, as he knew of the situation that ensued beforehand about the girl.
"He's not so cooperative, but I'm working on it. He couldn't stand to lose his job." Neo cackled, gloved hand rising to his mouth. Nina now looked as content as the counter person, her metal hand rapidly rubbing over her short hair. "Besides, he signed her over to my use years ago. It isn't like him to breach such a contract."
"You forced him into the agreement, Neo! If he breaches it, I wouldn't be so surprised. I'd say that if you really want to secure her arrival to your labs, you'd better take it directly to N.Gin personally, and not just on casual level." Tropy shook his head, eyes closing briefly in amusement at Neo's words. The short man obviously thought that his second in command would follow him suit in every fact of the matter? It was impossible. Absurd! And after Cortex had shorthanded him so many times, N.Gin was bound to bounce back for retribution. "He'll come back around on you, stab you in the back and double-cross you before you can blink."
Neo hissed, "I think you'd better leave that form of business up to me." He clasped his hands, face changing from one of cloudy anger to heated excitement. "I'll be waiting for you at my labs. Try and be here by first thing tomorrow." Nina nodded, bucked teeth protruding from her thin lips, hands rocking her slender waistline. Before his face spun off screen, Cortex added, "Don't keep me waiting."
Snarling in exasperation, Tropy clicked the communicator shut and stuffed it in his pouch, clutching his candies in one hand and balling the other hand into a fist. With slow procession he waltzed to the front counter where the girl, now reanimated, blinked her amazingly long lashes in flirtatious manner while offering the customer a "hello. " The time wizard placed his items on the flat, plastic slab and waved a casual hand at the bleached blonde-haired teen, his perfectly white teeth flashing. He learned to quickly conceal his emotions from outward view and replaced his scowl with a look of genuine friendliness. Smiling back, the clerk giggled and rang him out, her hand slightly brushing his as she returned his change. Despite the traumatic aura that loomed about his head, N.Tropy felt himself blush deeply, and in a haste, grabbed his chocolate and spun out into the rainy gloom.
In the blue she felt her body pass under the strange light, feet floating out behind her in the murky waters. The waves that lapped at her skin felt as if they were formed of melted ice from the coldest parts of the arctic. Frost glazed her eyelashes and stuck in her thick, dark eyebrows, coating them with a blanket of salty gray. Breath froze in mid air as white puffs, hollow, empty. Princia knew that she was dead, fully aware of the lifeless surroundings and images of worn ghosts dancing along the black ink-lines of banks. Steadily being washed downstream in a supple current, she still had no idea of where her ultimate goal lay, beyond in the invisible world. All that was seen of the road to come was a faint outline that grew with each passing minute, faintly visible in the distant darkness. A soft mewl escaped her lips as she shivered in the fear that accompanied the unknown. Tiny hands soundlessly splashed in the blackened muck. " Oh, Dad-d-d-d-yyyy!" Down and down she sank into that eternal abyss, until her ears could hear nothing but the rattle of her own thoughts and the cries that sprouted from her lips. Tiny arms splashing the cool waves, she looked up, chocolate brown eyes piercing the blue world with ultimate concern. "D-d-daddy!" She attempted again, but the plea fell on deaf ears, and she was plunged into the hopelessness she so hated. Princia gagged, throat retching up some vile fluid, and she spat into the water, disgusted with herself and her life. She was almost glad she was no longer a part of the world of the living. In her few short years on Earth, she despised the fact that her mother died giving birth to her, kicking herself internally as she found fault in her very existence. Perhaps there was no Heaven, not really, but only the woman who frightened her, the one with the pale face and cold voice, the one with the familiar countenance. Shivering from a mental image, Princia curled herself up in the icy blankets, the death grip plummeting her body into a shock state, and she was paralyzed, dazed eyes gathering information but no longer registering. In that trance she floated along on a course to nowhere.
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"This way Crash." Coco crunched through a mass of brambles and thorny branches, stepping cautiously over the hazards as she beckoned for her big brother to follow suit. He came behind her , just a few feet on the tail, his emerald eyes hazy with adventure and wonder. With a hand, he swept back bunches of ropey cord that fell from the high canopy, and trailed his brainy sister with utmost accuracy and prompt. He secretly feared getting left behind on such a morbid day. The drizzle and hovering clouds added and ominous presence to the land that dotted the beach shore, suffocating it with gloom and despair, foreshadowing all that is evil and malicious. His mouth formed into the trademark "o" as he plodded along, aware of every noise, smell, and feeling. Coco didn't seem to be as attentive to her surroundings, but rather she looked distant, her gaze distant and narrowed. She didn't have to speak for her brother to grasp that she was indeed troubled by the happenstances of the week, her heart fluttering in dread and anxiety of the worst sort. "Just follow behind me, and make sure that you don't get lost!" Her voice sounded confident to Crash's ears, but he also knew hat his sister could put on a strong, outstanding front when faced with trial. He simply nodded, tongue swishing in the hot saliva that had begun to drip from the corners of his open mouth. With a slurp he sucked up the syrupy fluid and drank it down with a singular gulp, ridding himself of that nuisance.
The girl had completely disappeared from the vicinity of the forest depths, as there was no trace of her white skin and human fragrances. Almost in disappointment, but mostly out of frustration, Coco stopped at the edge of the dirt trail they had been tracking loosely, arms drooping down by her side. With a small sigh, she shook her head, blonde curls waving as the ocean again came into view, along with the looming presence of Cortex's laboratory facilities. The building teemed with light and life, all of a dark aura. The female bandicoot glanced up at Crash as he came to sit in the muddy dirt by her side. "Oh, Crash. She's gone…We missed her already…" Though she didn't particularly favor a sloppy suit, Coco plopped down in the swampy mess with her brother, severely exhausted from excavating the greenery, probing every nook and cranny until not a spot was overlooked. Coco slowly settled her eyes on her cheeks, long lashes brushing her delicate skin, which glowed even in the misty downpour. Her matted fur didn't seem to disgrace her childlike beauty one bit. "She was probably captured by Cortex and set as prisoner in his stupid labs." She swung an arm toward the dark tower that sat atop the ocean in malignant glory. The clouds swelled, thick and black, above it. "There must be something we can do. There MUST be." She pounded the ground with a fist, mud squashing in between her fingers and soiling her palms. She wiped the muck onto her denim overalls that she had worn for the day and clicked her tongue in scorn, "If only we hadn't fallen asleep so soon."
The other stared off into a deep space, untouched by mortal eyes, seeing something only his kind could see. There was an unwavering hope in his eyes, lighted by the glint of the summer day sun and yet hidden, obscured, by the crying rain. He flicked at something with his finger and Coco watched the motion, understanding at last, mouth parting in a slow whisper. "Crash, I think I have a plan." He looked at her, bewilderment sparking up his adamant face that was transfixed into a "whoa." With a palms facedown on the muddy earth, the female bandicoot traced the shadows that dotted the dreary skies, head tilted upward in a desolate plea for sanity, an order to the madness, a hope.
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He breathed deeply, in and out, chest rising and falling to the tune of his steady heartbeat. There was still a great deal of pain, a throbbing hotness lashing across his bare feet. They had taken him farther away from the comfort, away from any form of truth, away from pleasant company. All that he could faintly hear was the humdrum of people passing by his tiny, miniscule cubical and the springing of fresh thoughts in his head. A whimper could be heard from him, echoing off of the flat, stagnant walls painted a forlorn gray, washed in speckled of pure white that hurt his single eye. N.Brio still lamented over Princia, wet hands clutching up sheet, digging into the fabrics, rendering their quality useless to others now. His face would never be dry again, but rather haunted by the watery existence he would have without his precious angel standing by his side. Her delicate hands had only touched his days past, tiny fingers so insignificant to his, face soft with giggles and etched with youth. "Oh, God, what h-h-have I done!" he screwed up his stern features, breaking them into distressed wrinkles. He kicked one of his legs in attempt to jar himself from what seemed to be a living nightmare transpiring from the hazy world of fantasy.
Before he could flinch another muscle, the door to his cubical opened and a nurse cautiously peeked a head in. She was a stout woman, with a thick hour-glass torso and beefy hands. Her short, auburn hair bounced jovially as she entered and closed the metal slab behind her. A pleasant smile formed her plump lips as she spoke, the voice coming from her so soft and high-pitched that Brio wondered if she hadn't sucked helium before coming to talk with him. "Mr. Nitrus Brio? Hello, I'm Wana Wright, part of the medical staffing, and it seems that someone is here for a visit. Now, I know that you aren't supposed to have any visitors, but the receptionist up front gave this particular individual access to your cubical. Would you receive him? We must have your approval for visitors before we allow anyone in."
He craned his neck, trying to look past her and through the tinted window that led to the main hallway. "Of course. Bring them on-n-n in." Wana nodded and proceeded to pull open the door, revealing the visitor discussed as Doctor Neo Cortex. The short scientist offered his former colleague a warm smile and dismissed Wana with a wave of his gloved hand. The plump nurse shook her head and exited, a look of utter dejection extending her wide jowls. After she had slammed the metal door, Cortex turned again to N.Brio with a welcoming nod and approached the bedside.
"I see that you are doing well. How do you feel?" he shot the chemist a half worried glance. The other half depicted a bright urgency. Brio didn't intend to delay him any further.
"Quite fine. Frankly, I'm just a bit disturbed as to why you have c-c-c-come to visit me in such a-a-a-a manner." His single brown eye rolled casually over his former boss's figure, one hand thumping the sheets now, making muffled noises in the gray of the room.
With something similar to a sneer, Cortex replied hotly, "Of course." He clipped the sentence short before moving onto the important matters of the arrival. "I heard of your quite…unfortunate accident, and I came up with a…proposal of sorts." brio nodded, signaling for the other to go on. Neo coughed. "Of course, I'm sure that you are also devastated about your daughter's untimely death. The facts are there that you killed her…"
"NO! I DID NO S-S-S-UCH THING!" The wiry doctor almost jumped out of his hospital bedding, hands outstretched in attempt to ring Cortex's neck for the rude statement. The shorter man gave brio time to regain his composure before apologizing.
He bowed his head, bald spots shining in the fluorescent hospital lighting overhead. "My sincerest apologies, Brio." he found no compassion in wasting time, however, and moved quickly forward with much enthusiasm, eyes lifted up in wonderment. "Despite her gruesome death, I think that I may have a way to…revive her." Brio's brow shot high upon his forehead at the words, but Cortex gave him no time to give an immediate response. "The components are on their way. I dispatched Nina onto N.Sanity island just before I dropped by for a visit. I calculated that we need approximately twenty-five gems to run my Anim-Mecha machine, a device capable of reviving even the deadest of subjects." He put a hand to his temple and rubbed, eyes narrowing fiercely on the tiled flooring. Brio remained silent still, having no interest in objecting to his colleague's ideas. One of his sweat-soaked hands gently caressed the white rumpled sheets. His Princia may have another chance at living! Her fuzzily tender eyes, porcelain looking hands, chalk white skin… All of her would return and be alive again. Cortex straightened his posture after reflecting for a few moments, attention solely on Brio. "And so I come here to get your approval to follow through with my project. N.Gin's subject escaped with six of our crystals only a few days past, and so I've gathered an army to bring her back, and Nina has promised to take care of the rest."
"N.Gin's subject?" The chemist was thoroughly confused, and the expression showed on his elongated face, wrinkles forming in between the arches of his eyebrows.
"Yes." Cortex wiped his hands together, a look of pure disgust swimming his already strained features. She had gotten out countless times before, and every time had been coaxed into returning by her dutiful master. Now, with N.Gin slightly rebelling, Cortex had no choice but to recruit his army of animals into the matters. She was needed. The key to his future dreams and countless plans rested on her frail shoulders, bubbled from her silky existence, radiated only from her empty eyes. "N.Gin, mechanical genius as he is, created for me a Crystal Carrier. This Crystal Carrier is used to detect crystals in any time/space form or body, and can retrieve them using means only existing to its hands. However, N.Gin made one fatal flaw. He used a human subject, primed with various modifications, to create this being. And since it was human, it came with a myriad of emotions and self-will." Shaking his head again, he continued. "She was a pleasure at first, obeying my (or rather N.Gin's every command.) But then troubles began as she caught wind of my plans for world domination. I have no reason as to why she decided to rebel against such glorious aspirations, but she did, constantly escaping her confinements using her powers." Brio's eyes widened at Cortex's next statement. "Every time N.Gin would go out to find her, he would erase her memory and then bring her back into my lab, where she would eventually tap into her own brain, find out my schemes, and escape again. This time, though, I jumped ahead and gathered a few friends to help catch her, in attempt to kill her of course. We simply can't have her running away with those crystals…"
The silence was horrible. After a long minute of pondering the situation, Brio gave Cortex permission to revive Princia. Before the shorter doctor turned to leave, the chemist asked one more crucial question, not knowing that he would receive the answer in another means, "Who was the human subj-j-ject that N.Gin used for his ex-ex-experiment?"
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Billows of cloudy gray smoke rose from the far corner of the lab, the puffs spouting out in a steady rhythm, like the melodic strains of a serenade hanging about a party room. He slept peacefully, soundlessly, without so much as a snore, his face turned a bit to the side, resting on the cold hard flooring. His hands were straight by his sides, perfectly flat, knuckles knocking the metal surface, fingers curling slightly at the first joints. With a deep breath his left eye fluttered open and his mouth dropped a tad, nose twitching as the dramatic effects of sleep fled from him and he was bitten by the harshness of reality. Yawning, he pushed his little body up into sitting position, sleepily rubbing the fuzziness from his good eye. The other one lolled about, rolling in it's metal socket, registering shapes and objects, colors and shading. N.Gin breathed long and deep, letting his exhalation escape noisily through a partially opened mouth before finally attempting to stand. Before he could gain all of his steadfast footing, a high pitched whine buzzed from the display panel, startling him a great deal, his heart leaping to his throat, one hand flying behind him and ramming into the metal sculpture. "Ow!" His face crunched up as a sharp pain flooded through his arm, and he instantly sensed the warmness of his own blood trickling down his wrist and past his elbow. He was holding the wounded limb upwards, the other hand wrapped around the wrist joint, crimson seeping through his fingers, gushing from the sliced opened hand. In a panicked rush, he scrambled over to a small silvery cabinet and opened one of the slide out drawers, revealing a nice array of medical supplies. He scanned the contents before picking up a couple of medicated alcohol pads, three Band-Aids, and more than just a few napkins to keep the bleeding to a minimum. He closed the drawer with a bump of his elbow and scrambled to the study table, laying out the goods before working on himself with vigilance. His wrist was sliced open horribly, skin splayed open like that of an animal being gutted before a roast. The blood spurted nonstop from the gruesome gash, soaking much of the short physicist's arm up to his elbow. He winced at the scene, already feeling faint due to the amount of blood he had already lost since the accident. The napkins sopped up most of the mess, enough for the sapped mechanic to be able to apply a quick dose of alcohol swipes to the wound, clearing the area of any infections before sticking the three Band-Aids in length around his arm, covering the slit and then some. N.Gin had broken out into a cold sweat, beads of water dripping from his forehead and onto his button-like nose, down into the corners of his mouth and falling from his chin. The pain had dulled a bit, but not nearly enough for him to be completely comfortable. With a trebling bleep, the same display panel screamed for attention again, and the fiery red head turned his gaze upon the green display. "Ah!" A surprised cry ejaculated from N.Gin's now agape mouth as her image flickered on the background. Disregarding his sore arm, the doctor dove from his position and onto a new section of flooring, directly beneath her flickering visage. The lacerated arm soared up to her picture, fingers working in constant motion, tracing over her legs, her thighs, her stomach and shoulders, her face… A tear wrenched itself from N.Gin's eye as he silently watched her run from nothing in particular….or perhaps something he couldn't even understand. No matter the circumstances, he had always cared deeply for her, longed for her, WANTED her… With a sob he began to sing, the metallic robot twinge in his voice making it sound reedy in the echoing lab room.
" Coldness on my shoulders, I wait in this winter day Only for you to turn your head and slip my way Above all else I stand with feet withering in decay Clouds are bleeding upon us Washing us, leading us astray Won't you turn to me now instead of kneeling to pray?
Ah, without pain, you and I!
Destined to sleep on words gone by
No one ever told you this
Can't you hear me even now?
Run, snow dove, into the midnight blue!
How can I be obsolete when my heart is new?
No one ever told you this
Could you even love me then?
Fly, white angel, into the permanent dawn
You say I'm here but
I feel so…
Gone…"
He choked the last word out, watery face now plastered with hot tears, despondency springing from his cheeks and cascading from his half-closed eye. How could he feel so much when he could only express his emotions through quiet questioning and pitiful pining? His hand now covering his face instead of touching what he could of her, N.Gin sank to the floor, hunched over in the same location that he had awakened upon earlier. The song's notes and lyrics reverberated endlessly in his head, like a broken record, and it fought him and accused him. Accused him as did her eyes in the past. A tightness fluttered in his chest and he clutched at it feebly, willing the torment to spread from him and onto someone else who deserved it more so that he did. The throbbing in his wrist returned ever stronger, beating in time with his aching heart, pumping furiously as the clouds of smoke issuing from the missile lodged in his head. With a savage moan he ripped the Band-Aids from his wound and watched the skin flap open again, the flow of blood reborn, the sting it produced a good medicine for his depression. Smiling in hysteria, he watched the very life pour from him, draining him of will and future. Crimson now came in staccato bursts, pooling around him in a bath of stickiness. He held up his limb weakly, vision becoming faint and blurry as more of the life-sustaining liquid ebbed from his body. Soon he could barely see the hand in front of him, and with a laugh his head thumped back onto the chrome display panel siding, and he drifted off into the welcoming arms of unconsciousness.
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With a blinding speed It ran, tracing the ripples of rain water with It's feet, driving the sound madly into the thinness of the air. In a few hours It would have to stop and regain strength, It would have to rest a while in the frenzied downpour. It knew that he was watching, and It felt his pain and guilt and suffering. The thought of him writing on the callous, hard floor with agony drove It further, made Its legs work faster still, even though thorns pricked at Its exposed hills. The material of the dress the female bandicoot had offered her was splintered and torn asunder by wild branches and lively green leaves. The sleeves were ruffled, unimpressive in style, not holding the same fervent flavor as before when It had tried it on, new out of the dark closet space. It felt unimaginably ugly… hideous… And It wondered if he felt the same, if he despised himself as mush as It despised Itself. Oh, what unspeakable hell! His voice kept coming back, rising up from the dark depths of memory, and It heard the words to the countless songs that he had sang It so long before. But one melody struck out above the rest, its notes long and strained, loud and longing. Where was that permanent sunrise he had told It about, and where was Its wings so that It may become a fleeting dove or a holy angel? And where… where was he standing amidst a frosty winter underneath the weeping clouds? It thought about this for a moment, hoping that he would somehow reach out a hand and bring It under his wing, nurture It, content It with all of his fancies. "Where….are you? I can't…see you… anymore. Please come back to me!" It strangled on a sob that rose from the bottom of Its throat before It collapsed on the muddy ground, forsaken and lost.