[dream] [week 22, day 5] Ashes to Ashes
[ ooc: Dehiatus and canon-update! ♥ ]
[dream]
Your throat was so parched you could hardly speak. And even if you could, you hadn’t the mental strength to think of what to say. All you could concentrate on was the heaviness in your limbs, getting more and more pronounced with every staggering step. The white-hot sand beneath your feet stretched on into the horizon, hazy and agonizingly distant.
How many days had it been since you set off from that little town, penniless and utterly defeated? Working for a wage had proved harder than you expected (even if it did feel strangely familiar when you were going through the motions). And the hardest thing to take was the look of disappointment on Hakkai’s face when you came home jobless and disgraced. You couldn’t even feel smug over the fact that Gojyo had proven himself to be an equally unreliable provider.
You wished you could go back and do it all over again, and get it right this time. All in exchange for an ice cold glass of water and a mound of pork dumplings with spring onions.
The sand felt hard as pavement when your face hit it full-on. As the darkness took you, you were sure you were done for. No civilization for miles all around. Not a drop of shade or water for days by foot. Nothing but sand and sun, and the three companions by your side - Hakkai, Gojyo, Jeep.
There was once one other.
Sanzo…
--
But you did awaken eventually, and in a place you did not expect. A whole village full of youkai, living quite normally like any human town you’d seen before.
‘You’re one of us, aren’t you?’
She said, fixing a scrutinizing eye upon you as you answered back with some confusion.
‘I guess so…yeah.’
You agreed, but weren’t sure if you really understood. There had always been an ‘us’ and a ‘them’ but not in the same way she meant. ‘Us’ was just the Sanzo ikkou, and ‘them’ was all those guys out there trying to kill you. But you weren’t the Sanzo ikkou anymore, were you? How could you be, without the one person who made it possible?
You settled in to life here. The food was tasty, the people friendly, and the girl…oh, the girl! Gojyo insisted she wasn’t pretty, but you knew better. She was abrasive for sure, and told you how it was without mincing words, but she reminded you of someone you cared about, and somehow that made you feel at ease. How could Gojyo not see? She was beautiful.
Things felt deceptively simple. An honest day’s work at the market. Peeling potatoes while chatting about your travels. You wanted this place to thrive. These were good people, eking out a living in this harsh terrain. Why could this not be an oasis in the desert where water could flow freely and the people left to live in peace? After all, it couldn’t be so much to ask, to be allowed to continue existing. You’ve been fighting for your own life for so long, you understood what it was to be hunted.
So when the humans came to burn down everything that these people cherished, you knew. Though this was not ‘your’ battle, you could not stand aside and do nothing. You fought beside them, the ‘them’ that could’ve been ‘us’ if only your loyalties didn’t lie with someone else.
You had no moment to think what Sanzo would do, so you followed your heart, instead.
And yet in the end, ‘nothing’ was all that was left.
The flame-throwers had done their work, and all that was once here was razed to the ground. The acrid smell of ash and smoke filled the air, alongside the anguished cries of the children clinging to each other with their soot-covered arms.
It wasn’t right…it wasn’t fair! But you were helpless to save their home. And you were helpless to save her, as she loaded up a wagon with all the explosives still left in the village and rolled off into the distance with determination in her eyes.
‘Don’t do this, you don’t have to. There’s so much left to see! So much in the world, if only you would stay.’
But she can’t, and she won’t, and you knew this already.
You turned your face away as an explosion rumbled from the direction of the human settlement, and a fiery plume rose brightly over the desert sky.
--
Where do you go, when there is none to guide you?
Where do you turn, when your heart is broken?
Home is not here, in the rubble of this youkai village.
It is not to the East, where you spent all the years of your life up until now.
Where…
You wipe the tears and ashes from your face, and turn your eyes West.
[video]
[The smoke plume fades into darkness.
The screen flickers on once more, and blue skies can be seen from between the leaves and branches of a towering tree. Sunlight streaks through, so pale and white it almost projects its warmth through the Hitomi. A slight groan can be heard from close-by, as though someone is waking from a deep sleep.
Sounds of grass rustling can be heard as the person apparently sits up.]
Hakkai? …Gojyo?
[There’s a brief pause, and then some more movement.
A face suddenly appears, looking down into the Hitomi with wide golden eyes. He blinks, and then he smiles, somewhat chagrined.]
Oh. I thought this place looked familiar.
[The image tilts as he reaches down to pick up the Hitomi, and he turns it toward himself to address it.]
Um…hey again, I guess. I’m Goku, by the way. Anyone out there?
[dream]
Your throat was so parched you could hardly speak. And even if you could, you hadn’t the mental strength to think of what to say. All you could concentrate on was the heaviness in your limbs, getting more and more pronounced with every staggering step. The white-hot sand beneath your feet stretched on into the horizon, hazy and agonizingly distant.
How many days had it been since you set off from that little town, penniless and utterly defeated? Working for a wage had proved harder than you expected (even if it did feel strangely familiar when you were going through the motions). And the hardest thing to take was the look of disappointment on Hakkai’s face when you came home jobless and disgraced. You couldn’t even feel smug over the fact that Gojyo had proven himself to be an equally unreliable provider.
You wished you could go back and do it all over again, and get it right this time. All in exchange for an ice cold glass of water and a mound of pork dumplings with spring onions.
The sand felt hard as pavement when your face hit it full-on. As the darkness took you, you were sure you were done for. No civilization for miles all around. Not a drop of shade or water for days by foot. Nothing but sand and sun, and the three companions by your side - Hakkai, Gojyo, Jeep.
There was once one other.
Sanzo…
--
But you did awaken eventually, and in a place you did not expect. A whole village full of youkai, living quite normally like any human town you’d seen before.
‘You’re one of us, aren’t you?’
She said, fixing a scrutinizing eye upon you as you answered back with some confusion.
‘I guess so…yeah.’
You agreed, but weren’t sure if you really understood. There had always been an ‘us’ and a ‘them’ but not in the same way she meant. ‘Us’ was just the Sanzo ikkou, and ‘them’ was all those guys out there trying to kill you. But you weren’t the Sanzo ikkou anymore, were you? How could you be, without the one person who made it possible?
You settled in to life here. The food was tasty, the people friendly, and the girl…oh, the girl! Gojyo insisted she wasn’t pretty, but you knew better. She was abrasive for sure, and told you how it was without mincing words, but she reminded you of someone you cared about, and somehow that made you feel at ease. How could Gojyo not see? She was beautiful.
Things felt deceptively simple. An honest day’s work at the market. Peeling potatoes while chatting about your travels. You wanted this place to thrive. These were good people, eking out a living in this harsh terrain. Why could this not be an oasis in the desert where water could flow freely and the people left to live in peace? After all, it couldn’t be so much to ask, to be allowed to continue existing. You’ve been fighting for your own life for so long, you understood what it was to be hunted.
So when the humans came to burn down everything that these people cherished, you knew. Though this was not ‘your’ battle, you could not stand aside and do nothing. You fought beside them, the ‘them’ that could’ve been ‘us’ if only your loyalties didn’t lie with someone else.
You had no moment to think what Sanzo would do, so you followed your heart, instead.
And yet in the end, ‘nothing’ was all that was left.
The flame-throwers had done their work, and all that was once here was razed to the ground. The acrid smell of ash and smoke filled the air, alongside the anguished cries of the children clinging to each other with their soot-covered arms.
It wasn’t right…it wasn’t fair! But you were helpless to save their home. And you were helpless to save her, as she loaded up a wagon with all the explosives still left in the village and rolled off into the distance with determination in her eyes.
‘Don’t do this, you don’t have to. There’s so much left to see! So much in the world, if only you would stay.’
But she can’t, and she won’t, and you knew this already.
You turned your face away as an explosion rumbled from the direction of the human settlement, and a fiery plume rose brightly over the desert sky.
--
Where do you go, when there is none to guide you?
Where do you turn, when your heart is broken?
Home is not here, in the rubble of this youkai village.
It is not to the East, where you spent all the years of your life up until now.
Where…
You wipe the tears and ashes from your face, and turn your eyes West.
[video]
[The smoke plume fades into darkness.
The screen flickers on once more, and blue skies can be seen from between the leaves and branches of a towering tree. Sunlight streaks through, so pale and white it almost projects its warmth through the Hitomi. A slight groan can be heard from close-by, as though someone is waking from a deep sleep.
Sounds of grass rustling can be heard as the person apparently sits up.]
Hakkai? …Gojyo?
[There’s a brief pause, and then some more movement.
A face suddenly appears, looking down into the Hitomi with wide golden eyes. He blinks, and then he smiles, somewhat chagrined.]
Oh. I thought this place looked familiar.
[The image tilts as he reaches down to pick up the Hitomi, and he turns it toward himself to address it.]
Um…hey again, I guess. I’m Goku, by the way. Anyone out there?