[chaptered] Breaking Zero Kelvin - Chapter 8 (Accomplice)
Title: Breaking Zero Kelvin (Multichapter)
Author: Luna (dreamweavernyx)
Pairing: Kazuyuri
Genre: Fantasy/Scifi
Summary: AU. They are two runaways, chased out of society through a deep-rooted stigma though they have no say in it at all. Only relying on word-of-mouth rumours and a set of sketchy directions, they now have to set out on their own journey to accomplish the impossible: escape.
Notes: Written for NaNoWriMo 2011.
Character list here.
Previous chapters: prologue | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07
~
08: Accomplice
They drove, and drove, and drove.
Tae had grown used to the usual monotonous regular cycle that her life had recently become, but that did not mean in any way that she derived any pleasure of any sort from it.
“I want a change of environment,” she complained to Kei one day, stretching her cramped legs after another long, eventless drive through the tunnels. “Somewhere where my field of vision isn’t limited to one tiny circle of light from the motorcycle headlights.”
Kei simply sighed in return.
“Have patience,” he said dryly. “Besides, you get your change of environment when we go up at every district, don’t you?”
“That’s nothing,” Tae muttered. “I miss seeing a district in the daytime.”
“It’s dangerous,” murmured Kei softly, and Tae deflated, having no argument against that.
“I just…want to see something else other than tunnels every day,” she said at last.
She did not know it then, but she would come to regret those words some time in the near future.
~
Tae let a loud whoosh of air rush out in a sigh of relief when they finally reached the sign that read Welcome to District 9 in black block letters that were beginning to fade slowly.
“What will we need this time?” she asked, as Kei dismounted from the motorcycle and began to take stock.
“Food, definitely,” replied Kei. “We probably have enough petrol for now, so food’s the priority.”
Setting up the ladder to the tunnel opening as usual, Kei climbed up and peeked out.
“It’s night,” he reported. “Let’s go.”
A short while later, they were exploring the back streets of District 9. For some reason, the lights were on in many houses, though a strange oppressive silence seemed to hang in the air.
Looking up at the buildings, Tae began to let her thoughts her drift, her legs working on autopilot to keep walking forward. The infrastructure of the buildings in this district intrigued her, with the oddly-shaped windows and the houses that looked like they were purposely built to be crooked.
She had seen pictures of villages like that before in her textbook, back in the days before the Great Revolution, but she had grown up seeing nothing but the same concrete structures and this was a new experience for her.
So absorbed in her study of the buildings, it took her completely by surprise when a small object crashed into her legs.
“Woah!” she yelped. “Slow down there. Why are you running around so late at night?”
The little boy who had crashed into her looked up at her with wide eyes.
“They’re chasing me,” he whined. “Mummy called them to take a look at me and she let them chase me because I made the rocks fly today.”
Witch, a small voice in Tae’s head whispered.
“Come with me,” Tae told him, making a split-second decision.
Only then did she realize that Kei was nowhere to be seen. Figuring that he had probably gone off to find food and would be fine, she reached down, grabbed the little boy’s hand and began to run.
Suddenly, behind her she could hear a sickening metal whirring. A quick look over her shoulder showed her that several drones were coming from a distance away, along with what looked like a couple of officers on patrol scooters.
Tae’s mind whirled as she tried to recall the way back to the tunnel entrance, but panic overtook her and she impulsively ran down the first turning she saw, instincts screaming at her to run as far as possible from the pursuers.
The little boy began to slow down, obviously tired, so Tae paused to scoop him up before continuing to run. A second glance over her shoulder told her that the drones were catching up, and she tried her best to run faster even though she knew that it was not easy to outrun a machine.
Suddenly, bright lights blinded her as she turned another corner.
~
If Tae wanted to speak out loud, she would have been letting curses fall freely from her mouth. As it was, she paused and whirled around, trying to look for a new escape route, her eyes darting frantically from side to side.
I just had to run into the district’s city square, she thought grouchily.
Spotting another side street that led out of the square, she began to run towards that, only to skid to a frantic stop as she noticed the glowing lights of two drones heading up that way.
“Miss, try that way,” the boy she was carrying said in a tiny voice.
Tae turned her head to see a side street hidden in a shadowed corner of the square. She was about to begin to head for it, when suddenly she found her vision blocked by a block of metal.
She was surrounded by a circle of emotionless drones, each one carrying a humming laser gun.
“You, woman, are under arrest for aiding a witch, an enemy of iT and the State,” a voice said behind her, and Tae whipped around to see an officer looking at her dispassionately.
“Capture the both of them,” he said lazily, waving his hand. Instantly, two other officers sprang forward, tearing the boy from Tae’s arms and handcuffing the pair of them.
One of them produced a needle and jabbed it into Tae’s arm, and she began to feel her vision going blurry.
There was a gap between the wall of drones, large enough for her to see a figure peeping out of one of the side streets with a horrified look on his face.
It was Kei, and his face was the last thing Tae saw before she collapsed, and her vision went black.
~
Kei had not known exactly when Tae had wandered off, since he had taken the lead. All he knew was that by the time he had reached the grocery store, Tae was no longer following behind him.
Fighting down his worry, he filled his bag with food, and was about to leave the way he came when he heard some women laugh loudly, their conversation floating out of the house near him.
“I heard that there’s a witch chase going on,” giggled one.
“Yeah, I saw it just now! The officers were chasing one woman and one boy. Nutters, I must say - I pity the officers for having to chase them all the time. They should just die.”
“I know, right?” a third joined in. “Stupid witches. We can’t live in peace with them. I really admire how Central doesn’t just shoot them on the spot, but actually gives them a trial and all.”
Kei had heard enough, and his face slowly drained of colour. There shouldn’t have been that many women walking around at night, and he sincerely hoped Tae did not get caught by Central.
A commotion at the end of the side street caught his attention, and he ran to see what was going on, carefully to stay out of sight within the shadows.
What met his eyes was a brightly-lit city square, in the middle of which were a ring of drones. An officer was talking, and Kei faintly heard the word ‘arrest’ and ‘witch’. He could see two people trapped within the ring of drones, and as two men came forward and yanked their hands behind their backs the taller one looked up fearfully, her gaze meeting Kei’s for a brief moment.
Tae.
His eyes widened, as did hers, and then she collapsed to the ground.
He saw the Central officers take her as well as the little boy who had been with her, and watched as they left the square, drones trailing behind and people staring out of their windows at the retreating group.
Kei did the only thing he could - he ran.
~
Kei wasn’t an idiot - he knew what happened to people arrested to Central.
They would be carted back to the headquarters of Central in District 7, and then held there for a while. After that they would be given a ‘trial’, and then if they were found guilty they were to be executed.
Beyond that, he knew nothing, though he suspected that the trials were fake - he didn’t think Central would ever let a witch have the chance to walk free. He had once heard of something called ‘show trials’ that had been held in what was now District Twenty-Seven but had, once upon a time before the Great Revolution, been known as Russia.
Right now, he figured his best bet was to head to District 7 by himself and then work from there.
It was probably his only choice - chasing after the drones and officers now would have probably only helped to get him arrested as well, and that would not do.
Packing his supplies into the motorcycle boot, he felt unnerved by the silence in the tunnel. It felt almost exactly like how it had after his previous partner had died, and it was not a very good feeling.
“I won’t let Tae die,” he said aloud, but they only sounded like an empty promise to him.
~
The next time Tae was conscious, she was bound and sitting in a rather awkward position in what looked like a huge van. A metal collar had been placed around her neck, though she did not know what it was for.
“Where am I?” she asked aloud, and winced as a light electric shock pulsed through her.
“No talking is tolerated,” a voice growled, and Tae turned to see an officer sitting there, looking very irate. “We are headed for the headquarters in District 7, where you will be registered and then held until your trial for your crimes against Central.”
“I only helped a little boy-”
She was cut off by another electric pulse, stronger this time. It had come from her collar, she realized, and quickly shut up.
“No protest is tolerated either,” the officer spat at her. “You are not in a position to argue anyway, woman.”
Tae bit back whatever protest she had, and stewed in silence as the van continued to move on and on. Beside her, she saw that the little boy who was a witch was still fast asleep, a small collar around his neck.
Leaning back against the metal wall, Tae did her best to make herself comfortable.
It was going to be a long, long drive.
~
Kei woke up, and wondered for a moment why there was no other sleeping bag on the ground.
Reality caught up with him, and he bit his lip as he remembered that Tae had been captured by Central. No wonder the area had felt so empty.
Shoving the last of his cereal bar into his mouth, he swung his leg over the motorcycle and started it up.
“I’ll get to District 7 as fast as I can,” he said aloud to nobody.
Wait for me.
~
Tae had no idea how much time had passed inside the metal van. She had taken to sleeping as much as she could - it reduced the slight nausea she felt when the van drove too fast, and she had found that the officer was less likely to activate her collar device if she was sleeping.
The young boy had woken up and started wailing, and Tae had winced as the officer backhanded him and given him an electric shock. She had itched to help, but with her hands bound in metal cuffs there was little she was able to do.
They had only stopped once to refuel the van, but other than that there was nothing to do but listen to the sound of the engine as the van drove on.
I’ll never wish for a change in scenery again if I can get out of this alive, Tae thought wryly to herself.
Her stomach growled in agreement - they had been fed nothing but a little bit of stale bread, and she suddenly regretted always complaining to Kei about the lack of variety in their food options.
The van only drove on and on towards District 7.
Author: Luna (dreamweavernyx)
Pairing: Kazuyuri
Genre: Fantasy/Scifi
Summary: AU. They are two runaways, chased out of society through a deep-rooted stigma though they have no say in it at all. Only relying on word-of-mouth rumours and a set of sketchy directions, they now have to set out on their own journey to accomplish the impossible: escape.
Notes: Written for NaNoWriMo 2011.
Character list here.
Previous chapters: prologue | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07
~
08: Accomplice
They drove, and drove, and drove.
Tae had grown used to the usual monotonous regular cycle that her life had recently become, but that did not mean in any way that she derived any pleasure of any sort from it.
“I want a change of environment,” she complained to Kei one day, stretching her cramped legs after another long, eventless drive through the tunnels. “Somewhere where my field of vision isn’t limited to one tiny circle of light from the motorcycle headlights.”
Kei simply sighed in return.
“Have patience,” he said dryly. “Besides, you get your change of environment when we go up at every district, don’t you?”
“That’s nothing,” Tae muttered. “I miss seeing a district in the daytime.”
“It’s dangerous,” murmured Kei softly, and Tae deflated, having no argument against that.
“I just…want to see something else other than tunnels every day,” she said at last.
She did not know it then, but she would come to regret those words some time in the near future.
~
Tae let a loud whoosh of air rush out in a sigh of relief when they finally reached the sign that read Welcome to District 9 in black block letters that were beginning to fade slowly.
“What will we need this time?” she asked, as Kei dismounted from the motorcycle and began to take stock.
“Food, definitely,” replied Kei. “We probably have enough petrol for now, so food’s the priority.”
Setting up the ladder to the tunnel opening as usual, Kei climbed up and peeked out.
“It’s night,” he reported. “Let’s go.”
A short while later, they were exploring the back streets of District 9. For some reason, the lights were on in many houses, though a strange oppressive silence seemed to hang in the air.
Looking up at the buildings, Tae began to let her thoughts her drift, her legs working on autopilot to keep walking forward. The infrastructure of the buildings in this district intrigued her, with the oddly-shaped windows and the houses that looked like they were purposely built to be crooked.
She had seen pictures of villages like that before in her textbook, back in the days before the Great Revolution, but she had grown up seeing nothing but the same concrete structures and this was a new experience for her.
So absorbed in her study of the buildings, it took her completely by surprise when a small object crashed into her legs.
“Woah!” she yelped. “Slow down there. Why are you running around so late at night?”
The little boy who had crashed into her looked up at her with wide eyes.
“They’re chasing me,” he whined. “Mummy called them to take a look at me and she let them chase me because I made the rocks fly today.”
Witch, a small voice in Tae’s head whispered.
“Come with me,” Tae told him, making a split-second decision.
Only then did she realize that Kei was nowhere to be seen. Figuring that he had probably gone off to find food and would be fine, she reached down, grabbed the little boy’s hand and began to run.
Suddenly, behind her she could hear a sickening metal whirring. A quick look over her shoulder showed her that several drones were coming from a distance away, along with what looked like a couple of officers on patrol scooters.
Tae’s mind whirled as she tried to recall the way back to the tunnel entrance, but panic overtook her and she impulsively ran down the first turning she saw, instincts screaming at her to run as far as possible from the pursuers.
The little boy began to slow down, obviously tired, so Tae paused to scoop him up before continuing to run. A second glance over her shoulder told her that the drones were catching up, and she tried her best to run faster even though she knew that it was not easy to outrun a machine.
Suddenly, bright lights blinded her as she turned another corner.
~
If Tae wanted to speak out loud, she would have been letting curses fall freely from her mouth. As it was, she paused and whirled around, trying to look for a new escape route, her eyes darting frantically from side to side.
I just had to run into the district’s city square, she thought grouchily.
Spotting another side street that led out of the square, she began to run towards that, only to skid to a frantic stop as she noticed the glowing lights of two drones heading up that way.
“Miss, try that way,” the boy she was carrying said in a tiny voice.
Tae turned her head to see a side street hidden in a shadowed corner of the square. She was about to begin to head for it, when suddenly she found her vision blocked by a block of metal.
She was surrounded by a circle of emotionless drones, each one carrying a humming laser gun.
“You, woman, are under arrest for aiding a witch, an enemy of iT and the State,” a voice said behind her, and Tae whipped around to see an officer looking at her dispassionately.
“Capture the both of them,” he said lazily, waving his hand. Instantly, two other officers sprang forward, tearing the boy from Tae’s arms and handcuffing the pair of them.
One of them produced a needle and jabbed it into Tae’s arm, and she began to feel her vision going blurry.
There was a gap between the wall of drones, large enough for her to see a figure peeping out of one of the side streets with a horrified look on his face.
It was Kei, and his face was the last thing Tae saw before she collapsed, and her vision went black.
~
Kei had not known exactly when Tae had wandered off, since he had taken the lead. All he knew was that by the time he had reached the grocery store, Tae was no longer following behind him.
Fighting down his worry, he filled his bag with food, and was about to leave the way he came when he heard some women laugh loudly, their conversation floating out of the house near him.
“I heard that there’s a witch chase going on,” giggled one.
“Yeah, I saw it just now! The officers were chasing one woman and one boy. Nutters, I must say - I pity the officers for having to chase them all the time. They should just die.”
“I know, right?” a third joined in. “Stupid witches. We can’t live in peace with them. I really admire how Central doesn’t just shoot them on the spot, but actually gives them a trial and all.”
Kei had heard enough, and his face slowly drained of colour. There shouldn’t have been that many women walking around at night, and he sincerely hoped Tae did not get caught by Central.
A commotion at the end of the side street caught his attention, and he ran to see what was going on, carefully to stay out of sight within the shadows.
What met his eyes was a brightly-lit city square, in the middle of which were a ring of drones. An officer was talking, and Kei faintly heard the word ‘arrest’ and ‘witch’. He could see two people trapped within the ring of drones, and as two men came forward and yanked their hands behind their backs the taller one looked up fearfully, her gaze meeting Kei’s for a brief moment.
Tae.
His eyes widened, as did hers, and then she collapsed to the ground.
He saw the Central officers take her as well as the little boy who had been with her, and watched as they left the square, drones trailing behind and people staring out of their windows at the retreating group.
Kei did the only thing he could - he ran.
~
Kei wasn’t an idiot - he knew what happened to people arrested to Central.
They would be carted back to the headquarters of Central in District 7, and then held there for a while. After that they would be given a ‘trial’, and then if they were found guilty they were to be executed.
Beyond that, he knew nothing, though he suspected that the trials were fake - he didn’t think Central would ever let a witch have the chance to walk free. He had once heard of something called ‘show trials’ that had been held in what was now District Twenty-Seven but had, once upon a time before the Great Revolution, been known as Russia.
Right now, he figured his best bet was to head to District 7 by himself and then work from there.
It was probably his only choice - chasing after the drones and officers now would have probably only helped to get him arrested as well, and that would not do.
Packing his supplies into the motorcycle boot, he felt unnerved by the silence in the tunnel. It felt almost exactly like how it had after his previous partner had died, and it was not a very good feeling.
“I won’t let Tae die,” he said aloud, but they only sounded like an empty promise to him.
~
The next time Tae was conscious, she was bound and sitting in a rather awkward position in what looked like a huge van. A metal collar had been placed around her neck, though she did not know what it was for.
“Where am I?” she asked aloud, and winced as a light electric shock pulsed through her.
“No talking is tolerated,” a voice growled, and Tae turned to see an officer sitting there, looking very irate. “We are headed for the headquarters in District 7, where you will be registered and then held until your trial for your crimes against Central.”
“I only helped a little boy-”
She was cut off by another electric pulse, stronger this time. It had come from her collar, she realized, and quickly shut up.
“No protest is tolerated either,” the officer spat at her. “You are not in a position to argue anyway, woman.”
Tae bit back whatever protest she had, and stewed in silence as the van continued to move on and on. Beside her, she saw that the little boy who was a witch was still fast asleep, a small collar around his neck.
Leaning back against the metal wall, Tae did her best to make herself comfortable.
It was going to be a long, long drive.
~
Kei woke up, and wondered for a moment why there was no other sleeping bag on the ground.
Reality caught up with him, and he bit his lip as he remembered that Tae had been captured by Central. No wonder the area had felt so empty.
Shoving the last of his cereal bar into his mouth, he swung his leg over the motorcycle and started it up.
“I’ll get to District 7 as fast as I can,” he said aloud to nobody.
Wait for me.
~
Tae had no idea how much time had passed inside the metal van. She had taken to sleeping as much as she could - it reduced the slight nausea she felt when the van drove too fast, and she had found that the officer was less likely to activate her collar device if she was sleeping.
The young boy had woken up and started wailing, and Tae had winced as the officer backhanded him and given him an electric shock. She had itched to help, but with her hands bound in metal cuffs there was little she was able to do.
They had only stopped once to refuel the van, but other than that there was nothing to do but listen to the sound of the engine as the van drove on.
I’ll never wish for a change in scenery again if I can get out of this alive, Tae thought wryly to herself.
Her stomach growled in agreement - they had been fed nothing but a little bit of stale bread, and she suddenly regretted always complaining to Kei about the lack of variety in their food options.
The van only drove on and on towards District 7.