11-17-2009, 01:09 AM
“Hey, guys!”
Had the ceiling been any lower, Sage was sure she would have crashed into it, and would probably have shattered every vertebra in her spine. Kaden, too, seemed terribly shocked about... whatever had just happened. The azure haired girl wasn’t really sure, exactly.
There was a bit of commotion, then. Kaden made a series of babbling observations - or were they questions? - and then the red haired boy, the one with a girl’s name - Sage couldn’t remember it - burst into the bunker, shouting something. The courier returned, but all of it was confusing. She thought she understood the conversation, but there was no way they were talking about... that. Was there?
She rubbed her eyes with her thumb and index finger. She was fucked up on pharms and half-awake. Valium wasn’t a hallucinogen, but she supposed maybe she wasn’t in the best position to decide what she had heard.
It was then that Sage noticed Ashe. She rubbed her eyes again, and then intensified her gaze, before her expression shifted from confusion to horror. Her friend’s lip was split, her nose bloody, and one of her eyes swollen nearly shut. A shiny purple splotch stained her cheek. Somebody had beaten the hell out of her. The doctor could only breathe relieved she hadn’t been killed.
And then, Kaden explained what had happened. Sage could only sit there, mortified at the revelation. Soon, she found herself moving from revulsion at the courier for what he did to her friend, to feeling as bad for Kaden as she did for Ashe. He seemed so... defeated. Sage honestly couldn’t recall having ever seen anyone as completely lost as he suddenly appeared. A sharp twinge of guilt shot through her. Odd; she had nothing to do with this.
The courier had fled to another section of the bunker, and Ashe had taken a seat on the bed next to Sage’s. The hybrid swung her legs off her bed, so she could face the pink haired girl, who had been so horribly marred.
“Ashe...” she breathed, her visage twisted with grief. She was still coming to terms with the changeling she murdered - fake-murdered, she reminded herself - and now one of her friends had been brutally beaten by a man possessed by Damon. She couldn’t help but worry that he would take Sage’s will next. Sage knew, should that happen, she could be turned into a very dangerous weapon. But that was all beside the point. She had to help Ashe. “J-Just... hold still, okay?”
The princess laid her hands on her friend’s shoulders, and her rosé eyes met with Ashe’s pale blues. There was a conviction in them - in Sage’s eyes. She wanted to tell her - to tell anyone who would listen - that there was good in her yet. That she wasn’t just a killer. That... what she was doing was justified. Not that she totally believed it herself.
The quarter saiyan’s hands began to glow, throwing illuminations throughout the room. Sage was glad that the teenager didn’t appear frightened, and also surprised when she saw the red haired man jump backward in shock.
“Wh-what are you doing?!” he exclaimed. Sage tried to ignore him. She wasn’t a very good healer, and his distractions were hardly helping things. At that point, she raised an eyebrow. She wasn’t a very good healer, because she didn’t even know where the power came from. Sage had just tried to mimic Sophia and it... it just happened. It made no sense whatsoever, but she hadn’t questioned it, because she had needed her powers. She had relied on them, so there was no room to question why they existed.
The world spun.
Sage shook her head, returning her concentration to the matter at hand, and her gaze burned through Ashe’s flesh, and once again she was given the chance to witness the body’s own maintenance system in action. Somehow - Sage still didn’t understand it - she was able to force the regenerative functions of other people to dramatically accelerate. Ashe’s blood cells divided faster than cancer, and were pushed by a sea of adrenaline up toward her wounds, which began to seal themselves fast enough that Sage could watch the teen heal. Her jaw bone suffered a hairline fracture, and even that knitted in just moments.
Soon, the only thing that remained of the girl’s injuries were the dried blood on her face and lips. Even her swelling had disappeared completely. And then the blue haired medic collapsed. She didn’t pass out this time, thankfully.
“Thanks, Sage,” she heard from miles and miles away, as Ashe took a seat beside the hybrid’s prone form. She picked up Sage’s arm and hugged herself with it, and Sage couldn’t do anything about it. It was frustrating, the situation. Her limbs turning to concrete every time she healed someone. It was just so tiring. And Ashe wasn’t even badly injured.
The priestess went into the next room, the one Kaden had gone into. Sage had lost sight of Belle, so she assumed he went with her. Although he probably kept his distance. Good, she thought. He’s weird.
The pink haired girl looked down, a quizzical expression against her face. “Who’s weird?”
“Oh... I did it again?” the exhausted azure-head sighed. “The... um... Belle?” her voice was unsure, but she thought that was his name. “He... um...” she paused, trying to remember if Ashe was there when he had inadvertently groped her. Assuming she was, Sage decided to let it go. “I’m just glad I got to do something... nice. I feel like I’m... falling away from... me.”
“That’s tough,” Ashe replied, looking up to the wall. “I think I know what you mean, though. You just... have to get through it.”
“I didn’t know you were blonde,” Sage remarked, completely off-topic. It was the first time she had noticed that Ashe’s exposed roots weren’t at all the same color as the rest of her hair. It was incredibly noticeable, and the fact she missed it made her feel somewhat stupid. “It’s... your hair’s very pretty. I sometimes wish I had a normal hair color... like my sister.”
The pink haired girl just nodded for a moment, and then caught what Sage was implying. “Wait, what? Your hair’s naturally blue?!”
The doctor seemed shocked at the question. “...Well, y- is that bad?”
“What?” Ashe shook her head. “No, ...no, it’s just... strange,” she sighed at her choice of words. “I mean, it’s... I just never met someone with blue hair before, unless they dyed it. It’s actually really cool.”
“...I’m glad you think so. They used to make fun of my hair on Vegeta-Sei. They called me a half-breed. Some of them... were very cruel. The things they said about my parents...”
“Right... you’re a saiyan,” Ashe’s remark seemed distant. At this, Sage sat up, and swung her legs over the side again, as she had done before, and just about kicked Belle in the head as she did so.
“Wh-What are you doing?!” she exclaimed, surprised at herself. Belle’s head smacked against the underside of her bed, and he crashed onto his butt, rubbing his head while he scurried backwards, away from the double female threat, shouting a few obscenities as he did so. When he was safely up against the far wall, he spoke.
“I was just- he’s here, okay?! There's a brutal murderer demon on the loose. I followed his snow trail here,” Belle’s voice was suddenly somber and very, very serious. “He's a monster; you should've seen what he did to this guy I found in the forest.”
Suddenly, Sage found Ashe’s eyes on her, and Kaden and Sophia were in the doorway, having overheard Belle’s outburst, and the following explanation. The hybrid knew what would come next, and already, she was trying to think up excuses. She felt so very small. She had already mulled over this again and again and again.
“Sage,” Sophia finally broke the silence, looking at the dried blood that had been spilled all over the diminutive pill popper. “...What happened out there?”
“I didn’t- he was- I mean, I-” Sage just gave up. Great. Ten different excuses all at once. That’ll work, she sighed, and sat up on her bed, leaning against the wall. She wrapped her arms around her legs, and nodded to herself a few times before she could drum up the courage to speak. “It... wasn’t a demon, Belle.”
“How would she know?” the boisterous mountain man retorted, addressing Kaden, not Sage. “I tracked it here.”
“Y-You... you tracked me. I made the trail you followed, Belle,” the timid girl replied. She bit her lip, and prepared to continue.
“You’re the demon?!” Belle suddenly exclaimed, breaking any shred of concentration Sage had been working to build up. “I knew it!! I knew one of you would be trying to come after us, but we know better, me an’ Kaden. You can’t-”
“She’s not a demon,” Sophia protested, almost laughing at the boy. The prospect that Sage could actually hide some sinister creature beneath the surface was just too weird.
“Oh, sure. Obviously you would-”
“Belle,” Kaden interrupted, his voice lacking the conviction that the fiery haired youth’s had. “She’s not a demon.”
“But-” he protested. “But I followed-”
“Yeah. I know.”
“Let her talk,” the former priestess intervened. “I want to know what happened.”
Fuck, Sage found herself thinking. Of course she wouldn’t be let off the hook so easily. “When we...” she looked up at Sophia. “When we were separated, I was placed into a fight with a... changeling. We fought. I mean, I-I tried to run away, I really did,” her voice cracked, as it had when she said her goodbyes to her defeated opponent. “But I couldn’t, I couldn’t! The st-st-stasis field-”
“Easy,” Ashe put a hand on her shoulder. Sage was shaking like a leaf. Even for her, she seemed really high-strung right then.
“I-I-I... I just w-wanted to pr-protect myself. I didn’t mean-” she closed her eyes, and violently shook her head. “He jumped at me and I- and he- ...I made a bunch of spikes, and he... fell... on them.”
For a moment, nobody said anything. Sage’s face contorted into various expressions of anguish - even contempt - but she did an admirable job fending off tears. She hadn’t cried in seven years, Friend or Foe notwithstanding, and she didn’t want to change that. It was one of few things that gave her solace, even if it didn’t make any sense.
“I...” she continued. “...I knew coming in th-that I would have to...” it almost seemed to hurt her to continue. “Kill,” she finally managed. “My opponents... but... this wasn’t... I made him suffer so much, and I didn’t mean-”
“Okay, that’s enough, Sage,” Ashe interrupted. But it wasn’t enough! Her meager protests went unheard, and she gave up, suddenly feeling bitter and distraught. The fact that even Ashe wouldn't take her seriously really hurt. It wasn't enough, and it wasn't okay. And yet, she was still going to continue. Wasn't that bad? Wasn't that wrong? Why was everyone being so goddamn complacent?!
Had the ceiling been any lower, Sage was sure she would have crashed into it, and would probably have shattered every vertebra in her spine. Kaden, too, seemed terribly shocked about... whatever had just happened. The azure haired girl wasn’t really sure, exactly.
There was a bit of commotion, then. Kaden made a series of babbling observations - or were they questions? - and then the red haired boy, the one with a girl’s name - Sage couldn’t remember it - burst into the bunker, shouting something. The courier returned, but all of it was confusing. She thought she understood the conversation, but there was no way they were talking about... that. Was there?
She rubbed her eyes with her thumb and index finger. She was fucked up on pharms and half-awake. Valium wasn’t a hallucinogen, but she supposed maybe she wasn’t in the best position to decide what she had heard.
It was then that Sage noticed Ashe. She rubbed her eyes again, and then intensified her gaze, before her expression shifted from confusion to horror. Her friend’s lip was split, her nose bloody, and one of her eyes swollen nearly shut. A shiny purple splotch stained her cheek. Somebody had beaten the hell out of her. The doctor could only breathe relieved she hadn’t been killed.
And then, Kaden explained what had happened. Sage could only sit there, mortified at the revelation. Soon, she found herself moving from revulsion at the courier for what he did to her friend, to feeling as bad for Kaden as she did for Ashe. He seemed so... defeated. Sage honestly couldn’t recall having ever seen anyone as completely lost as he suddenly appeared. A sharp twinge of guilt shot through her. Odd; she had nothing to do with this.
The courier had fled to another section of the bunker, and Ashe had taken a seat on the bed next to Sage’s. The hybrid swung her legs off her bed, so she could face the pink haired girl, who had been so horribly marred.
“Ashe...” she breathed, her visage twisted with grief. She was still coming to terms with the changeling she murdered - fake-murdered, she reminded herself - and now one of her friends had been brutally beaten by a man possessed by Damon. She couldn’t help but worry that he would take Sage’s will next. Sage knew, should that happen, she could be turned into a very dangerous weapon. But that was all beside the point. She had to help Ashe. “J-Just... hold still, okay?”
The princess laid her hands on her friend’s shoulders, and her rosé eyes met with Ashe’s pale blues. There was a conviction in them - in Sage’s eyes. She wanted to tell her - to tell anyone who would listen - that there was good in her yet. That she wasn’t just a killer. That... what she was doing was justified. Not that she totally believed it herself.
The quarter saiyan’s hands began to glow, throwing illuminations throughout the room. Sage was glad that the teenager didn’t appear frightened, and also surprised when she saw the red haired man jump backward in shock.
“Wh-what are you doing?!” he exclaimed. Sage tried to ignore him. She wasn’t a very good healer, and his distractions were hardly helping things. At that point, she raised an eyebrow. She wasn’t a very good healer, because she didn’t even know where the power came from. Sage had just tried to mimic Sophia and it... it just happened. It made no sense whatsoever, but she hadn’t questioned it, because she had needed her powers. She had relied on them, so there was no room to question why they existed.
The world spun.
Sage shook her head, returning her concentration to the matter at hand, and her gaze burned through Ashe’s flesh, and once again she was given the chance to witness the body’s own maintenance system in action. Somehow - Sage still didn’t understand it - she was able to force the regenerative functions of other people to dramatically accelerate. Ashe’s blood cells divided faster than cancer, and were pushed by a sea of adrenaline up toward her wounds, which began to seal themselves fast enough that Sage could watch the teen heal. Her jaw bone suffered a hairline fracture, and even that knitted in just moments.
Soon, the only thing that remained of the girl’s injuries were the dried blood on her face and lips. Even her swelling had disappeared completely. And then the blue haired medic collapsed. She didn’t pass out this time, thankfully.
“Thanks, Sage,” she heard from miles and miles away, as Ashe took a seat beside the hybrid’s prone form. She picked up Sage’s arm and hugged herself with it, and Sage couldn’t do anything about it. It was frustrating, the situation. Her limbs turning to concrete every time she healed someone. It was just so tiring. And Ashe wasn’t even badly injured.
The priestess went into the next room, the one Kaden had gone into. Sage had lost sight of Belle, so she assumed he went with her. Although he probably kept his distance. Good, she thought. He’s weird.
The pink haired girl looked down, a quizzical expression against her face. “Who’s weird?”
“Oh... I did it again?” the exhausted azure-head sighed. “The... um... Belle?” her voice was unsure, but she thought that was his name. “He... um...” she paused, trying to remember if Ashe was there when he had inadvertently groped her. Assuming she was, Sage decided to let it go. “I’m just glad I got to do something... nice. I feel like I’m... falling away from... me.”
“That’s tough,” Ashe replied, looking up to the wall. “I think I know what you mean, though. You just... have to get through it.”
“I didn’t know you were blonde,” Sage remarked, completely off-topic. It was the first time she had noticed that Ashe’s exposed roots weren’t at all the same color as the rest of her hair. It was incredibly noticeable, and the fact she missed it made her feel somewhat stupid. “It’s... your hair’s very pretty. I sometimes wish I had a normal hair color... like my sister.”
The pink haired girl just nodded for a moment, and then caught what Sage was implying. “Wait, what? Your hair’s naturally blue?!”
The doctor seemed shocked at the question. “...Well, y- is that bad?”
“What?” Ashe shook her head. “No, ...no, it’s just... strange,” she sighed at her choice of words. “I mean, it’s... I just never met someone with blue hair before, unless they dyed it. It’s actually really cool.”
“...I’m glad you think so. They used to make fun of my hair on Vegeta-Sei. They called me a half-breed. Some of them... were very cruel. The things they said about my parents...”
“Right... you’re a saiyan,” Ashe’s remark seemed distant. At this, Sage sat up, and swung her legs over the side again, as she had done before, and just about kicked Belle in the head as she did so.
“Wh-What are you doing?!” she exclaimed, surprised at herself. Belle’s head smacked against the underside of her bed, and he crashed onto his butt, rubbing his head while he scurried backwards, away from the double female threat, shouting a few obscenities as he did so. When he was safely up against the far wall, he spoke.
“I was just- he’s here, okay?! There's a brutal murderer demon on the loose. I followed his snow trail here,” Belle’s voice was suddenly somber and very, very serious. “He's a monster; you should've seen what he did to this guy I found in the forest.”
Suddenly, Sage found Ashe’s eyes on her, and Kaden and Sophia were in the doorway, having overheard Belle’s outburst, and the following explanation. The hybrid knew what would come next, and already, she was trying to think up excuses. She felt so very small. She had already mulled over this again and again and again.
“Sage,” Sophia finally broke the silence, looking at the dried blood that had been spilled all over the diminutive pill popper. “...What happened out there?”
“I didn’t- he was- I mean, I-” Sage just gave up. Great. Ten different excuses all at once. That’ll work, she sighed, and sat up on her bed, leaning against the wall. She wrapped her arms around her legs, and nodded to herself a few times before she could drum up the courage to speak. “It... wasn’t a demon, Belle.”
“How would she know?” the boisterous mountain man retorted, addressing Kaden, not Sage. “I tracked it here.”
“Y-You... you tracked me. I made the trail you followed, Belle,” the timid girl replied. She bit her lip, and prepared to continue.
“You’re the demon?!” Belle suddenly exclaimed, breaking any shred of concentration Sage had been working to build up. “I knew it!! I knew one of you would be trying to come after us, but we know better, me an’ Kaden. You can’t-”
“She’s not a demon,” Sophia protested, almost laughing at the boy. The prospect that Sage could actually hide some sinister creature beneath the surface was just too weird.
“Oh, sure. Obviously you would-”
“Belle,” Kaden interrupted, his voice lacking the conviction that the fiery haired youth’s had. “She’s not a demon.”
“But-” he protested. “But I followed-”
“Yeah. I know.”
“Let her talk,” the former priestess intervened. “I want to know what happened.”
Fuck, Sage found herself thinking. Of course she wouldn’t be let off the hook so easily. “When we...” she looked up at Sophia. “When we were separated, I was placed into a fight with a... changeling. We fought. I mean, I-I tried to run away, I really did,” her voice cracked, as it had when she said her goodbyes to her defeated opponent. “But I couldn’t, I couldn’t! The st-st-stasis field-”
“Easy,” Ashe put a hand on her shoulder. Sage was shaking like a leaf. Even for her, she seemed really high-strung right then.
“I-I-I... I just w-wanted to pr-protect myself. I didn’t mean-” she closed her eyes, and violently shook her head. “He jumped at me and I- and he- ...I made a bunch of spikes, and he... fell... on them.”
For a moment, nobody said anything. Sage’s face contorted into various expressions of anguish - even contempt - but she did an admirable job fending off tears. She hadn’t cried in seven years, Friend or Foe notwithstanding, and she didn’t want to change that. It was one of few things that gave her solace, even if it didn’t make any sense.
“I...” she continued. “...I knew coming in th-that I would have to...” it almost seemed to hurt her to continue. “Kill,” she finally managed. “My opponents... but... this wasn’t... I made him suffer so much, and I didn’t mean-”
“Okay, that’s enough, Sage,” Ashe interrupted. But it wasn’t enough! Her meager protests went unheard, and she gave up, suddenly feeling bitter and distraught. The fact that even Ashe wouldn't take her seriously really hurt. It wasn't enough, and it wasn't okay. And yet, she was still going to continue. Wasn't that bad? Wasn't that wrong? Why was everyone being so goddamn complacent?!
![[Image: Sage.jpg]](http://rebecca.florizone.com/sig/miscsig/Sage.jpg)