Dreams And Proclamations 13/?
Title: Dreams And Proclamations
Author:
joatex
Pairing: Akame
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Romance
Warning: None...I think... (-_-U)
Disclaimer: No.... the boys aren't mine, sad.... but true (T^T)
Summary: It's been years after a nuclear war broke out, and a group of survivors created a small city. One, in which, Kazuya lives in. But when he runs across an Outcast in the Wastelands, there is a change brewing in the winds.
A/N: Enjoy (n_n)
A million thanks to harajukyuu for the awesome banner (n_n)
Previous Chapters: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12
Kame POV: Pink
Jin POV: Red
Chapter 13: The Lying Game
Jin
As far as I knew, I had stopped anyone else from drinking the tainted water. Everyone I told was just as shocked as I was when I told them about the City poisoning our only source of water. Well, they may have been more surprised than me. This was something that wasn't below them. I stopped in front of the steps of the orphanage. It was Hana's turn to hear the news.
She was probably still trying to care for Mika, when there was nothing else we could do. This was something completely out of our abilities. We could not play God. But the City acts like they can, I thought bitterly. I walked up the steps and through the door. My assumption was correct. She was in the same place, tending to Mika's fever. It looked like the little girl may have thrown up during my absence.
It was the only thing her body could do to try and rid it of its toxins. Hana looked up at me, then leaned over Mika and whispered to her, "I'll be right back after I finish talking with Jin." The little girl didn't acknowledge her. She only laid there, still and ghost-like.
I bit my lower lip, feeling a sickening weight form in my stomach. Mika didn't do anything to suffer like this. If anything, I was more deserving of such pain. I had been the one who stole food from the City. That should have been enough for my death right then and there.
But no. An innocent child had to be the one to take my place. Hana and I stepped outside so none of the other children or Mika would hear us talk. I let out a long sigh. When had I started to feel so old and tired? I swallowed the lump in my throat and said, "The City poisoned the water. That's what's making her sick."
Hana's eyes widened. "They poisoned it?" Her voice told me that she knew it was true, but she didn't want to believe it. I nodded slowly, trying to find an easier way to explain everything. "How do you know?" she asked. It wasn't like she was accusing me of lying, but she sure didn't want to admit that I was telling the truth.
"There's a canister of some kind of powder further up the stream. It's got all the signs of being made in the City. It's the only explanation." She sighed, running a hand through her dark hair. She would have to come to terms with this sooner or later. Sooner would probably be for the best.
"So there's nothing I can do for her….." I saw her face drain of color. I didn't want to give up so easily, but what else could I do? We had nothing to clean out the poison from Mika's blood. The City might, but we had nothing. The City. I turned and looked out into the distance at the fenced enclosure.
Surely if they made something like this, they had also made something to counteract it. But even if there was a way for me to sneak into the City and find such a thing, I doubted that Mika had much time left. I didn't notice that Hana was talking to me until she tapped me on my shoulder.
I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at her with a confused expression. She asked, "What are you thinking about?" I shook my head. "Nothing. I was just wondering if the City had anything to work against the poison, but it's not worth the risk of going there."
Hana stared at me before saying, "If it meant helping Mika or anyone else that got ill, then I'd say go. But you're right. It's not worth the risk." We had to take our losses. I had gotten lucky once, and my chances of making it out of the City a second time, we very slim. "I'm sure Kazuya would know what to do," I blurted out without realizing it.
Hana gave me a sad smile before retreating back into the house behind us. I doubt she would tell Mika what was happening to her other than the water was bad. It wouldn't be right to blatantly tell a young child that they were dying, when they hardly understood life as it was.
I found myself looking back out at the City. My feet began to move, and I walked to the edge of the houses that made up our home. A light wind blew, causing ash to fly past me. I shook my head, regretting what I was about to do, then started to walk across the Wastelands towards the City.
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Kame
Koki's home was a little bit larger than mine, but not by much; it had one extra room. He let me take that room, which I thanked him for. He didn't have to do this for me, but he was my friend and he wanted to. So who was I to argue with his hospitality?
I had none of my clothes or belongings. Just the clothes on my back. At least I left the map with Jin. Last thing I needed was it falling out of my pocket and Koki finding it. That would spell disaster for me and Reiko. Considering if she was still alive.
A sudden feeling of sadness overcame me when I thought about her. I couldn't help but feel that it was my fault that she was taken away, even if she was the one who had been planning an escape. If I had been there during the home check, then maybe I could have snuck her out through the fence and into the Wastelands. But it was too late to do any of that now.
Koki knocked on the door to my room. "Come in," I said while quickly wiping away the tears that had formed in my eyes. He stepped through the door, his eyes finding me sitting on the bed. "Hey, you doing better from earlier?" I felt embarrassed about how irrational and insane I must have been when Koki found me.
I nodded. "Yeah. A lot better." He leaned against the wall of the room and said calmly, "That's good to hear. I'm going to the Courtyard in a little bit to hang out with Tat-chan, Junno and Maru. You should go. I'm sure they'd all be happy to see that you're alright."
I hadn't really given any thought to how the others had been since I had started going through the fence. The last I had talked to them, it had been with Tatsuya while I was hunting for Reiko. That was when I learned of what happened during my absence, and I wished I hadn't.
"So, you wanna come along?" I thought for a moment and looked up at Koki. He had promised that none of the Officials were hunting for me, but then again, what did Koki know? "I guess I'll go. What can it hurt?" I put on a smile to try and convince him that I was okay with going into the open.
He bought it because he smiled back. "Awesome. We're leaving in about ten minutes." He left the room and shut the door behind him. It would be good to let the others know that I was okay, for the most part at least. They deserved some peace of mind, even if I was the one who really needed it.
Ten minutes went by quickly, and Koki and I were walking down the dirt road towards the Courtyard. He kept reassuring me that the Officials weren't after me, but I couldn't shake the feeling that their emotionless eyes were staring holes through me.
I walked on the right side of Koki so he would be between me and the Officials. If they were to come after me, they'd have to get around Koki first, which would give me somewhat of a chance. I saw the flickering flame of a fire up at the Courtyard.
As we got closer, I could hear the chattering and laughing of people. They were just people, trying to make the best out of life and all of the troubles that we were facing. Koki jogged up to the people and waved. "Hey, guys! Look who I found!"
I walked up behind him just in time for all eyes to fall of me. Maru, Tat-chan, and Junno's eyes widened and their mouths opened slightly. "Kame!" they squealed at the same time. Please don't shout my name. They ran from their seats and embraced me in a hug. I hugged them back. I didn't think that they would have missed me so much. Then again, Reiko had been taken away the same day that I had 'disappeared' from the City.
They probably had thought that I was taken away as well. I smiled at them and said, "I missed you guys." They rambled on and on about how they missed me and how worried they had been. Then came the questions of where I had been. I bit the inside of my cheek as I tried to think of something to tell them.
Koki stepped in a saved me by saying, "Give him some space. If he wants to tell us, then he'll tell us." I looked at him and said to him silently, "Thank you." He seemed to know that I was grateful for him stepping in because he nodded and gave me a small smile that nobody else noticed. We were now sitting around the fire that had been made.
It wasn't dark, but the sun was almost behind the horizon. It would be pitch black in a couple of hours, the only light being that from the flame in front of us. While we were talking away, somebody brought up the topic of the Outcasts. I felt myself tense up.
What were they going to say, and if they brought me into the conversation, then how much should I say? A girl sitting across from me began to ramble. She was the daughter of a high-ranking government Official. Compared to the rest of us, she had it made.
Why she hung around us, was unknown to me. "Did you hear what the Officials decided to do?" We all exchanged looks. Of course we don't know. Why would the Officials tell us what they're doing? We shook our heads in response to her question.
"Well, they came to an agreement on a way to get rid of a little….'problem' if you want to call it that. They poisoned the water that those Outcasts use." She cringed when she said Outcasts. I felt my jaw go slack. I didn't know how to react. How many of the Outcasts had ingested the water and died so far?
Was Jin in those numbers? I couldn't stand up and say anything, or else I could blow my already thin cover. So, I sat back and tried to stay as quiet as I could. Koki raised an eyebrow and said, "Really? I guess that's an easier way to get rid of them than waiting for them to die on their own."
I stared at Koki with shock. How could he say something like that? Then, I reminded myself that he hadn't been out in the Wastelands and learning about the Outcasts like I had. I would have probably had the same outlook on them as he did. He was looking at me with a raised eyebrow. "What?" I shook myself from my shocked state and let out a light, humorless laugh.
"Yeah. Good way to get rid of the filth." I hated myself for saying that. I wanted nothing more than to find a dark hole and hide in it. I didn't think of the Outcasts like that, especially Jin. But I had to act like I had never gone through that fence. If they discovered that I had any sympathy for the Outcasts, they would surely know something was up.
They laughed along with me, and added in a chorus of agreements. I doubted that I could stand to be friends with them for much longer. But it wasn't their fault that they didn't know the truth of what we beyond that fence. The laughter died down, and was replaced with an all too familiar voice that was shouting. I froze when I finally placed it. Jin.
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Jin
It's not an easy task to hide yourself in an open, barren landscape. I was wide open to be spotted by an Official who may look through the fence. I ran up to the wood board and barbed wire wrapped fence. All I could do was hope that I wouldn't be seen.
There had to be a gate around the fence somewhere. They had gotten out to poison our water somehow, which meant there was a door in the fence. It started to get darker and darker, and I knew that it would be difficult to find the gate once night fully cloaked the sky.
I walked around the fence, and saw orange and red dancing around. It was a fire. I crept my way towards it, wondering who was there. Sitting around the fire, was a group of people around my age. But what caught my eye, was a certain person with light brown hair. Kazuya!
Relief flooded me to know that he was okay, that no Official had gotten to him and harmed him. But that relief slowly drained away when I started to listen in on their conversation. They were talking about Outcasts and laughing. I couldn't believe that Kazuya would be in the same group as them. He had to have some reason for sitting there and talking about us.
One of the girls mentioned something about the Officials poisoning our water. My eyes narrowed. I knew it. I quickly looked back to see Kazuya's expression. He knew nothing of this, so I was curious to know how he would react. When I looked over, his face went from kind of surprised to neutral.
When the boy next to him asked him why he was staring at him, he laughed shortly and said, "Yeah. Good way to get rid of the filth." I felt my eyes widen, and I turned to face my back to the fence. Filth? Had Kazuya seen us like that the whole time he had been out in the Wastelands with us?
The whole time he had been around me? My hands tightened into fists at my sides. Filth…that's all we are to them. My jaw tightened, and I turned around to look back through the fence. I wanted to yell at them, to get their attention and let them know that I was there.
That I wasn't going to hide in the shadows while they talked about the Outcasts like that. I couldn't believe that Kazuya was letting them do that though. That's what really irked me. I was about to open my mouth, when a hand latched onto my right shoulder.
It was a tight grip that caused my knees to buckle from the pain. I cried out, and looked up to see an Official looking down at me. Behind him, were several more. The one who had a hold of my shoulder, was smirking down at me. Fear filled my mind and body, then they started to drag me into the City.
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A/N: Talk about bad timing for Jin to listen in on the conversation. Eavesdropping is never good...they always hear the wrong thing....Jin got caught! Hope you liked it. (n_n)
My only excuse for not updating this since Dec. 6 is that I've just been lazy. These chapters have been done for a long while now.... (-_-)
Chapter 14
Author:
joatex
Pairing: Akame
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Romance
Warning: None...I think... (-_-U)
Disclaimer: No.... the boys aren't mine, sad.... but true (T^T)
Summary: It's been years after a nuclear war broke out, and a group of survivors created a small city. One, in which, Kazuya lives in. But when he runs across an Outcast in the Wastelands, there is a change brewing in the winds.
A/N: Enjoy (n_n)
A million thanks to harajukyuu for the awesome banner (n_n)
Previous Chapters: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12
Kame POV: Pink
Jin POV: Red
Chapter 13: The Lying Game
Jin
As far as I knew, I had stopped anyone else from drinking the tainted water. Everyone I told was just as shocked as I was when I told them about the City poisoning our only source of water. Well, they may have been more surprised than me. This was something that wasn't below them. I stopped in front of the steps of the orphanage. It was Hana's turn to hear the news.
She was probably still trying to care for Mika, when there was nothing else we could do. This was something completely out of our abilities. We could not play God. But the City acts like they can, I thought bitterly. I walked up the steps and through the door. My assumption was correct. She was in the same place, tending to Mika's fever. It looked like the little girl may have thrown up during my absence.
It was the only thing her body could do to try and rid it of its toxins. Hana looked up at me, then leaned over Mika and whispered to her, "I'll be right back after I finish talking with Jin." The little girl didn't acknowledge her. She only laid there, still and ghost-like.
I bit my lower lip, feeling a sickening weight form in my stomach. Mika didn't do anything to suffer like this. If anything, I was more deserving of such pain. I had been the one who stole food from the City. That should have been enough for my death right then and there.
But no. An innocent child had to be the one to take my place. Hana and I stepped outside so none of the other children or Mika would hear us talk. I let out a long sigh. When had I started to feel so old and tired? I swallowed the lump in my throat and said, "The City poisoned the water. That's what's making her sick."
Hana's eyes widened. "They poisoned it?" Her voice told me that she knew it was true, but she didn't want to believe it. I nodded slowly, trying to find an easier way to explain everything. "How do you know?" she asked. It wasn't like she was accusing me of lying, but she sure didn't want to admit that I was telling the truth.
"There's a canister of some kind of powder further up the stream. It's got all the signs of being made in the City. It's the only explanation." She sighed, running a hand through her dark hair. She would have to come to terms with this sooner or later. Sooner would probably be for the best.
"So there's nothing I can do for her….." I saw her face drain of color. I didn't want to give up so easily, but what else could I do? We had nothing to clean out the poison from Mika's blood. The City might, but we had nothing. The City. I turned and looked out into the distance at the fenced enclosure.
Surely if they made something like this, they had also made something to counteract it. But even if there was a way for me to sneak into the City and find such a thing, I doubted that Mika had much time left. I didn't notice that Hana was talking to me until she tapped me on my shoulder.
I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at her with a confused expression. She asked, "What are you thinking about?" I shook my head. "Nothing. I was just wondering if the City had anything to work against the poison, but it's not worth the risk of going there."
Hana stared at me before saying, "If it meant helping Mika or anyone else that got ill, then I'd say go. But you're right. It's not worth the risk." We had to take our losses. I had gotten lucky once, and my chances of making it out of the City a second time, we very slim. "I'm sure Kazuya would know what to do," I blurted out without realizing it.
Hana gave me a sad smile before retreating back into the house behind us. I doubt she would tell Mika what was happening to her other than the water was bad. It wouldn't be right to blatantly tell a young child that they were dying, when they hardly understood life as it was.
I found myself looking back out at the City. My feet began to move, and I walked to the edge of the houses that made up our home. A light wind blew, causing ash to fly past me. I shook my head, regretting what I was about to do, then started to walk across the Wastelands towards the City.
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Kame
Koki's home was a little bit larger than mine, but not by much; it had one extra room. He let me take that room, which I thanked him for. He didn't have to do this for me, but he was my friend and he wanted to. So who was I to argue with his hospitality?
I had none of my clothes or belongings. Just the clothes on my back. At least I left the map with Jin. Last thing I needed was it falling out of my pocket and Koki finding it. That would spell disaster for me and Reiko. Considering if she was still alive.
A sudden feeling of sadness overcame me when I thought about her. I couldn't help but feel that it was my fault that she was taken away, even if she was the one who had been planning an escape. If I had been there during the home check, then maybe I could have snuck her out through the fence and into the Wastelands. But it was too late to do any of that now.
Koki knocked on the door to my room. "Come in," I said while quickly wiping away the tears that had formed in my eyes. He stepped through the door, his eyes finding me sitting on the bed. "Hey, you doing better from earlier?" I felt embarrassed about how irrational and insane I must have been when Koki found me.
I nodded. "Yeah. A lot better." He leaned against the wall of the room and said calmly, "That's good to hear. I'm going to the Courtyard in a little bit to hang out with Tat-chan, Junno and Maru. You should go. I'm sure they'd all be happy to see that you're alright."
I hadn't really given any thought to how the others had been since I had started going through the fence. The last I had talked to them, it had been with Tatsuya while I was hunting for Reiko. That was when I learned of what happened during my absence, and I wished I hadn't.
"So, you wanna come along?" I thought for a moment and looked up at Koki. He had promised that none of the Officials were hunting for me, but then again, what did Koki know? "I guess I'll go. What can it hurt?" I put on a smile to try and convince him that I was okay with going into the open.
He bought it because he smiled back. "Awesome. We're leaving in about ten minutes." He left the room and shut the door behind him. It would be good to let the others know that I was okay, for the most part at least. They deserved some peace of mind, even if I was the one who really needed it.
Ten minutes went by quickly, and Koki and I were walking down the dirt road towards the Courtyard. He kept reassuring me that the Officials weren't after me, but I couldn't shake the feeling that their emotionless eyes were staring holes through me.
I walked on the right side of Koki so he would be between me and the Officials. If they were to come after me, they'd have to get around Koki first, which would give me somewhat of a chance. I saw the flickering flame of a fire up at the Courtyard.
As we got closer, I could hear the chattering and laughing of people. They were just people, trying to make the best out of life and all of the troubles that we were facing. Koki jogged up to the people and waved. "Hey, guys! Look who I found!"
I walked up behind him just in time for all eyes to fall of me. Maru, Tat-chan, and Junno's eyes widened and their mouths opened slightly. "Kame!" they squealed at the same time. Please don't shout my name. They ran from their seats and embraced me in a hug. I hugged them back. I didn't think that they would have missed me so much. Then again, Reiko had been taken away the same day that I had 'disappeared' from the City.
They probably had thought that I was taken away as well. I smiled at them and said, "I missed you guys." They rambled on and on about how they missed me and how worried they had been. Then came the questions of where I had been. I bit the inside of my cheek as I tried to think of something to tell them.
Koki stepped in a saved me by saying, "Give him some space. If he wants to tell us, then he'll tell us." I looked at him and said to him silently, "Thank you." He seemed to know that I was grateful for him stepping in because he nodded and gave me a small smile that nobody else noticed. We were now sitting around the fire that had been made.
It wasn't dark, but the sun was almost behind the horizon. It would be pitch black in a couple of hours, the only light being that from the flame in front of us. While we were talking away, somebody brought up the topic of the Outcasts. I felt myself tense up.
What were they going to say, and if they brought me into the conversation, then how much should I say? A girl sitting across from me began to ramble. She was the daughter of a high-ranking government Official. Compared to the rest of us, she had it made.
Why she hung around us, was unknown to me. "Did you hear what the Officials decided to do?" We all exchanged looks. Of course we don't know. Why would the Officials tell us what they're doing? We shook our heads in response to her question.
"Well, they came to an agreement on a way to get rid of a little….'problem' if you want to call it that. They poisoned the water that those Outcasts use." She cringed when she said Outcasts. I felt my jaw go slack. I didn't know how to react. How many of the Outcasts had ingested the water and died so far?
Was Jin in those numbers? I couldn't stand up and say anything, or else I could blow my already thin cover. So, I sat back and tried to stay as quiet as I could. Koki raised an eyebrow and said, "Really? I guess that's an easier way to get rid of them than waiting for them to die on their own."
I stared at Koki with shock. How could he say something like that? Then, I reminded myself that he hadn't been out in the Wastelands and learning about the Outcasts like I had. I would have probably had the same outlook on them as he did. He was looking at me with a raised eyebrow. "What?" I shook myself from my shocked state and let out a light, humorless laugh.
"Yeah. Good way to get rid of the filth." I hated myself for saying that. I wanted nothing more than to find a dark hole and hide in it. I didn't think of the Outcasts like that, especially Jin. But I had to act like I had never gone through that fence. If they discovered that I had any sympathy for the Outcasts, they would surely know something was up.
They laughed along with me, and added in a chorus of agreements. I doubted that I could stand to be friends with them for much longer. But it wasn't their fault that they didn't know the truth of what we beyond that fence. The laughter died down, and was replaced with an all too familiar voice that was shouting. I froze when I finally placed it. Jin.
+++++++++++++
Jin
It's not an easy task to hide yourself in an open, barren landscape. I was wide open to be spotted by an Official who may look through the fence. I ran up to the wood board and barbed wire wrapped fence. All I could do was hope that I wouldn't be seen.
There had to be a gate around the fence somewhere. They had gotten out to poison our water somehow, which meant there was a door in the fence. It started to get darker and darker, and I knew that it would be difficult to find the gate once night fully cloaked the sky.
I walked around the fence, and saw orange and red dancing around. It was a fire. I crept my way towards it, wondering who was there. Sitting around the fire, was a group of people around my age. But what caught my eye, was a certain person with light brown hair. Kazuya!
Relief flooded me to know that he was okay, that no Official had gotten to him and harmed him. But that relief slowly drained away when I started to listen in on their conversation. They were talking about Outcasts and laughing. I couldn't believe that Kazuya would be in the same group as them. He had to have some reason for sitting there and talking about us.
One of the girls mentioned something about the Officials poisoning our water. My eyes narrowed. I knew it. I quickly looked back to see Kazuya's expression. He knew nothing of this, so I was curious to know how he would react. When I looked over, his face went from kind of surprised to neutral.
When the boy next to him asked him why he was staring at him, he laughed shortly and said, "Yeah. Good way to get rid of the filth." I felt my eyes widen, and I turned to face my back to the fence. Filth? Had Kazuya seen us like that the whole time he had been out in the Wastelands with us?
The whole time he had been around me? My hands tightened into fists at my sides. Filth…that's all we are to them. My jaw tightened, and I turned around to look back through the fence. I wanted to yell at them, to get their attention and let them know that I was there.
That I wasn't going to hide in the shadows while they talked about the Outcasts like that. I couldn't believe that Kazuya was letting them do that though. That's what really irked me. I was about to open my mouth, when a hand latched onto my right shoulder.
It was a tight grip that caused my knees to buckle from the pain. I cried out, and looked up to see an Official looking down at me. Behind him, were several more. The one who had a hold of my shoulder, was smirking down at me. Fear filled my mind and body, then they started to drag me into the City.
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A/N: Talk about bad timing for Jin to listen in on the conversation. Eavesdropping is never good...they always hear the wrong thing....Jin got caught! Hope you liked it. (n_n)
My only excuse for not updating this since Dec. 6 is that I've just been lazy. These chapters have been done for a long while now.... (-_-)
Chapter 14