“SAGE!”
An explosion. Then nothing.
Knees fell quietly upon dirt, a clatter of metal on earth as her weapon fell. All was still, everything silent except her breathing, louder than gunfire. That she knew what gunfire sounded like now...
An explosion. Then nothing.
Nothing on the outside. Nothing within. Nothing anywhere. Nothing everywhere.
Ashe told her to keep shooting, but Sebastian was already dead. A dead man killed her sister. A dead man took what little shred she had left - and there was nobody to blame. Not even a corpse to accuse.
She wanted to cry but... couldn’t. Wanted to scream but couldn’t. There was no longer any point to sadness or hatred, and she’d long ago lost any reason for happiness. The events that had just occurred suddenly represented her whole life with a bitter simplicity.
An explosion. Then nothing.
Ashe was looking around. Her hands wrapped tightly around her, like she was hugging herself. Like she was cold. Sage wasn’t cold. How could you be cold in a tropical jungle right next to a desert? But Sage was never cold. Anywhere.
Her body sank, until she was sitting on her legs. Slowly, she turned her eyes to the sky, a cheery blue circle peering through the clearing in the trees made for the village. With the sun brightly shining, in the heat amid a desert island, it snowed.
It was gentle at first. A few fluffy flakes, but it picked up in intensity. Despite the cheery weather, snow fell thickly upon the jungle, and a frigid wind howled through the greenery, whipping the gentle snow into a frenzy. So Ashe really was cold.
Sage looked over at the fire, slowly lolling her head over to look at it. The flames were flaring up wildly as it fought the harsh wind and heavy snow, but it was dying. Ashe reached out, grabbed Sage’s arm. Sage violently jerked away, pointing her eyes into the distance. She was talking again.
Hands fell on her shoulders, and the blue haired girl looked up at the offending student. Not her fault. No, it was... Sage’s fault. Ashe told her to shoot again. Zena told her to shoot again. To kill Sebastian, who’d taken his own life anyway. It wouldn’t have made any difference and Zena would still be alive. But Sage was thinking selfishly again. She couldn’t get over her moral code and just put a bolt through his head, despite all the horrible things he was doing.
Zena died while Sage watched and did nothing. The realization was beginning to sink in. She might as well have turned her gun on her twin; it would have accomplished the very same thing. Her head sank. Zena had come to save her, and when she needed saving, where had Sage been?
Right there.
But instead of thinking of her sister’s welfare, she was worried about murdering a murderer. And that murderer had no qualms in taking Zena with him. Because Sage let him.
It hurt so much. That she couldn’t express her pain made it hurt worse.
Ashe was pulling her up, talking again. She handed Sage’s gun to her. The hybrid wanted to resent her. There was no more reason to talk. Nothing more to talk about. But it wasn’t her fault. Sage climbed to her feet at the behest of the pink haired girl, and didn’t bother to fight as she was led by the hand to a grey humvee nearby.
The passenger door was opened for her, and Ashe helped her inside. She had been so nice to her this whole time. The door closed. Sage looked around the interior of the vehicle, noting all the impressive displays and switches and computer screens. The driver door opened and in climbed the younger girl, who closed her door behind her, encapsulating them in the vehicle, shielding them from the weather. Shielding Ashe from the weather.
She was shaking the addict harder now. “Sage, Sage, come on, talk to me, already,” she sounded frustrated. Sage gazed at her for a moment, but then looked away, out the window. Snow was beginning to cover the greenery in a soft, white sheet. Sage loved snow. So clean. So pure. It let her remember...
Ashe was complaining about something. There was a stick caught in the transmission. Something like that. But a boyfriend taught her to drive, so it was okay. Sage didn’t understand, but she didn’t care.
The vehicle shook beneath her, and the truck lurched violently forward. Ashe apologized for some reason, and they started moving. The driver moved a lever and pressed on a pedal, and the truck lurched hard again. Ashe did this again, and the truck shook again. Sage didn’t know why she wouldn’t just leave those levers and pedals alone. The truck seemed to drive okay when she wasn’t touching them. It didn’t matter, though. It wasn’t bad, just uncomfortable.
She sighed, watching her breath billow out in front of her as a cloud of steam. It must have been freezing. Sage looked over at her driver, watching her shiver violently. Ashe had both hands on the wheel, hands clenched tightly to fight against the painfully uncomfortable chill. Sage just lounged in her chair. She felt bad, but she was helpless.
“What the-” Ashe suddenly exclaimed, glancing over at one of the displays, which suddenly began blinking. The flashing light was quickly replaced with some kind of GPS display, which traced out a route, complete with way-points on it. ‘Destination,’ it declared, was a place called ‘Temple - Kai.’
Kai, Sage darkly thought, not noticing her friend look over at her. She thought back to the promise she had made. I would kill... one person, the azure haired hybrid looked back at the shivering girl, who was still watching her intently. Just as she could not express anything over her sister’s death, Sage could no longer feel guilt over her promise, and no longer feel agonized over having murdered that soldier. Everything seemed so far away, despite the overwhelming sharpness of the world brought on by a lack of Valium.
Kai Demolic, she repeated. Kai Demolic has to die,
Suddenly, the truck began to sputter and shake violently, and the violence escalated until everything abruptly fell silent and smooth again. Despite this, Ashe seemed very upset. The truck came to a halt, but Sage wasn’t clear why. It stalled, the student announced. Cobwebs of frost had, by now, nearly consumed the windows, and spread all over the metal of the vehicle, inside and out.
Though neither of the girls knew it, the machine they were driving had been heavily tuned to perform in intense heat, sacrificing cold weather reliability. The extreme drop in temperature had been too much for the engine tune to compensate for.
Ashe climbed out of the truck and slammed the door, and then kicked it. Sage let herself out, but left the door open. Getting angry at the vehicle seemed... strange. Ashe was shaking like a leaf, now, but she pulled off her sweater anyway, and reached out to Sage, offering it to her.
Sage just gave her that same empty look she had since her sister was consumed by the blue light. Why did everyone think she was infirm? Was she truly that useless? The hands held that stupid sweater out to her, begging her to take it.
“I’m not cold,” she muttered.
“You have to be, it’s freezing!” Ashe protested, reaching out to place the backs of her fingers against Sage’s cheek. The pink haired girl recoiled immediately, dropping her sweater and grasping her fingers tightly. She winced sharply, causing Sage to narrow her eyes. Did she hurt her?
“I’m... sorry...”
“No, it’s okay,” Ashe replied, throwing her sweater back over herself. “We’ll just have to walk,” she grumbled, before withdrawing the GPS device from the truck. “We’ll have to deal with the cold, somehow, too.”
But I’m responsible for it, Sage wanted to say.
An explosion. Then nothing.
Knees fell quietly upon dirt, a clatter of metal on earth as her weapon fell. All was still, everything silent except her breathing, louder than gunfire. That she knew what gunfire sounded like now...
An explosion. Then nothing.
Nothing on the outside. Nothing within. Nothing anywhere. Nothing everywhere.
Ashe told her to keep shooting, but Sebastian was already dead. A dead man killed her sister. A dead man took what little shred she had left - and there was nobody to blame. Not even a corpse to accuse.
She wanted to cry but... couldn’t. Wanted to scream but couldn’t. There was no longer any point to sadness or hatred, and she’d long ago lost any reason for happiness. The events that had just occurred suddenly represented her whole life with a bitter simplicity.
An explosion. Then nothing.
Ashe was looking around. Her hands wrapped tightly around her, like she was hugging herself. Like she was cold. Sage wasn’t cold. How could you be cold in a tropical jungle right next to a desert? But Sage was never cold. Anywhere.
Her body sank, until she was sitting on her legs. Slowly, she turned her eyes to the sky, a cheery blue circle peering through the clearing in the trees made for the village. With the sun brightly shining, in the heat amid a desert island, it snowed.
It was gentle at first. A few fluffy flakes, but it picked up in intensity. Despite the cheery weather, snow fell thickly upon the jungle, and a frigid wind howled through the greenery, whipping the gentle snow into a frenzy. So Ashe really was cold.
Sage looked over at the fire, slowly lolling her head over to look at it. The flames were flaring up wildly as it fought the harsh wind and heavy snow, but it was dying. Ashe reached out, grabbed Sage’s arm. Sage violently jerked away, pointing her eyes into the distance. She was talking again.
Hands fell on her shoulders, and the blue haired girl looked up at the offending student. Not her fault. No, it was... Sage’s fault. Ashe told her to shoot again. Zena told her to shoot again. To kill Sebastian, who’d taken his own life anyway. It wouldn’t have made any difference and Zena would still be alive. But Sage was thinking selfishly again. She couldn’t get over her moral code and just put a bolt through his head, despite all the horrible things he was doing.
Zena died while Sage watched and did nothing. The realization was beginning to sink in. She might as well have turned her gun on her twin; it would have accomplished the very same thing. Her head sank. Zena had come to save her, and when she needed saving, where had Sage been?
Right there.
But instead of thinking of her sister’s welfare, she was worried about murdering a murderer. And that murderer had no qualms in taking Zena with him. Because Sage let him.
It hurt so much. That she couldn’t express her pain made it hurt worse.
Ashe was pulling her up, talking again. She handed Sage’s gun to her. The hybrid wanted to resent her. There was no more reason to talk. Nothing more to talk about. But it wasn’t her fault. Sage climbed to her feet at the behest of the pink haired girl, and didn’t bother to fight as she was led by the hand to a grey humvee nearby.
The passenger door was opened for her, and Ashe helped her inside. She had been so nice to her this whole time. The door closed. Sage looked around the interior of the vehicle, noting all the impressive displays and switches and computer screens. The driver door opened and in climbed the younger girl, who closed her door behind her, encapsulating them in the vehicle, shielding them from the weather. Shielding Ashe from the weather.
She was shaking the addict harder now. “Sage, Sage, come on, talk to me, already,” she sounded frustrated. Sage gazed at her for a moment, but then looked away, out the window. Snow was beginning to cover the greenery in a soft, white sheet. Sage loved snow. So clean. So pure. It let her remember...
Ashe was complaining about something. There was a stick caught in the transmission. Something like that. But a boyfriend taught her to drive, so it was okay. Sage didn’t understand, but she didn’t care.
The vehicle shook beneath her, and the truck lurched violently forward. Ashe apologized for some reason, and they started moving. The driver moved a lever and pressed on a pedal, and the truck lurched hard again. Ashe did this again, and the truck shook again. Sage didn’t know why she wouldn’t just leave those levers and pedals alone. The truck seemed to drive okay when she wasn’t touching them. It didn’t matter, though. It wasn’t bad, just uncomfortable.
She sighed, watching her breath billow out in front of her as a cloud of steam. It must have been freezing. Sage looked over at her driver, watching her shiver violently. Ashe had both hands on the wheel, hands clenched tightly to fight against the painfully uncomfortable chill. Sage just lounged in her chair. She felt bad, but she was helpless.
“What the-” Ashe suddenly exclaimed, glancing over at one of the displays, which suddenly began blinking. The flashing light was quickly replaced with some kind of GPS display, which traced out a route, complete with way-points on it. ‘Destination,’ it declared, was a place called ‘Temple - Kai.’
Kai, Sage darkly thought, not noticing her friend look over at her. She thought back to the promise she had made. I would kill... one person, the azure haired hybrid looked back at the shivering girl, who was still watching her intently. Just as she could not express anything over her sister’s death, Sage could no longer feel guilt over her promise, and no longer feel agonized over having murdered that soldier. Everything seemed so far away, despite the overwhelming sharpness of the world brought on by a lack of Valium.
Kai Demolic, she repeated. Kai Demolic has to die,
Suddenly, the truck began to sputter and shake violently, and the violence escalated until everything abruptly fell silent and smooth again. Despite this, Ashe seemed very upset. The truck came to a halt, but Sage wasn’t clear why. It stalled, the student announced. Cobwebs of frost had, by now, nearly consumed the windows, and spread all over the metal of the vehicle, inside and out.
Though neither of the girls knew it, the machine they were driving had been heavily tuned to perform in intense heat, sacrificing cold weather reliability. The extreme drop in temperature had been too much for the engine tune to compensate for.
Ashe climbed out of the truck and slammed the door, and then kicked it. Sage let herself out, but left the door open. Getting angry at the vehicle seemed... strange. Ashe was shaking like a leaf, now, but she pulled off her sweater anyway, and reached out to Sage, offering it to her.
Sage just gave her that same empty look she had since her sister was consumed by the blue light. Why did everyone think she was infirm? Was she truly that useless? The hands held that stupid sweater out to her, begging her to take it.
“I’m not cold,” she muttered.
“You have to be, it’s freezing!” Ashe protested, reaching out to place the backs of her fingers against Sage’s cheek. The pink haired girl recoiled immediately, dropping her sweater and grasping her fingers tightly. She winced sharply, causing Sage to narrow her eyes. Did she hurt her?
“I’m... sorry...”
“No, it’s okay,” Ashe replied, throwing her sweater back over herself. “We’ll just have to walk,” she grumbled, before withdrawing the GPS device from the truck. “We’ll have to deal with the cold, somehow, too.”
But I’m responsible for it, Sage wanted to say.
![[Image: Sage.jpg]](http://rebecca.florizone.com/sig/miscsig/Sage.jpg)