Name: Twenty days later
Author: Rain on your Back
Disclaimer: The lil' shamans belong to Hiroyuki Takei, and the scenario belong to the creator of Twenty Days later. What lies between the main lines belong to me. Only me. %) Song is « Si on devait mourir demain », version duet between Natasha St-Pierre and Pascal Obispo^^
Pairings: … It wouldn't be funny ! But if you know me, when you'll see who is there, you'll guess %)
Il y a ceux qui prendraient un avion
D'autres qui s'enfermeraient chez eux les yeux fermés
Il y en a qui voudraient revoir la mer
D'autres qui voudraient encore faire l'amour
Une dernière fois
Toi, tu ferais quoi ? ... et toi, tu ferais quoi ?
Il y en a qui referaient leur passé
Certains qui voudraient boire et faire la fête jusqu'au matin
D'autres qui prieraient...
Ceux qui s'en fichent et se donneraient du plaisir
Et d'autres qui voudraient encore partir avant la fin
Toi, qu'est-ce que tu ferais ? ... et toi, qu'est-ce que tu ferais ?
Si on devait mourir demain
Qu'est-ce qu'on ferait de plus, qu'est-ce qu'on ferait de moins
Si on devait mourir demain
~ On devait mourir demain ~
Jeanne was brutally ejected of the Gate of Babylon, falling to the ground with a terrible breaking sound. The almighty Millenium Shaman Hao hovered above her, watching the broken body of his so-called enemy with a somewhat sad look. Such a young but strong person to be killed…
But he had tried to stop her before. She didn't listen. He had no choice.
Without even one more thought, the fire shaman walked away, not listening to Shamash's cries between the teeth of Spirit of Fire.
Twenty-eight days later
Fire. Good, protecting fire. X's. The X-Laws, singing all together a lovely song, singing their hope. Sparkling eyes, gentle, loving. Marco's, Meene's, Lyserg's. Love of a family, gentleness of an alliance, sparkle of a strength. Words of justice, truth, beauty. Marco's, Rackist's. Words that raised her to what she was, who she was.
Intense heat. Hao's. Bad, horrible, burning fire, burning her to her bones, destroying her skin, hope, dreams. Tautening, menacing eyes, staring at her as she was burned, trying to provoke her, to make her break. Hao's. Words of hate and anger. Hao's.
Black. Death.
Not death. Gate. Angels dying. Still the sparkling hating eyes.
A fall, her own, through the Gate towards the ground, down and down, and then she had hit the ground. A loud sound. Intense pain. Blackness.
Nothing.
Then… After a very long time… After days and days of nothing… At first, in this eternal field of darkness… Only a sparkle… But then…
Light.
The Iron Maiden Jeanne opened her eyes slowly, and closed them immediately with the blinding light. A few minutes later, she tried again and this time, she could look at her surroundings.
Jeanne was wearing a greenish dress, the kind you find in hospital. That seemed logic, because the room she was in looked like a hospital one. Then she remembered the fight… And the fall. Maybe she had been in comatose or something… But then why weren't nurses around? The engines were stopped… Nobody was there…
And she was hungry.
Ordinary the young maiden never was, eating only enough to not enter starvation, but now she was… Really hungry.
She waited a few moments for her brain to gain total control of her body before standing up and exiting the room. Her stomach ached, but there was nothing to eat in sight. She walked down the stairs of the hospital, still alone. No one to stop an outgoing patient, no one to check on her, no one at all… What was happening?
The albino-looking girl arrived in the large hall of the building. She had still seen no one and her stomach was growling at her.
- Hello?
Her voice echoed, but no answer was given. She was beginning to think of some bad joke, or even a dream she was surely having. Such a void in a hospital? Unthinkable…
Or… Maybe it was a human place, and maybe… No, Hao couldn't have won. Her angels could… Well, Yoh was able to win over his twin…
Right?
- Hello?
Jeanne's voice was louder now, but still to no avail. She excited the place, and the bright sun made her close her eyelids anew, shocked by such a light. How much time had she passed in comatose? One month? Two, maybe? It was spring, the beginning of it when the Gate was definitely closed. She wasn't cold with the thin cloth, so summer hadn't came to its end… Well, that was she wanted to think…
- Hi? Uhm… Please, it's not amusing!
No reply.
Jeanne walked in the streets, recognizing the Pache village, still dazed by the aftermath of the comatose. Calling from time to time, she found an abandoned soda drink to end her thirst and some closed packets of sugary food.
No one.
Her feet were going sore, but she was still walking, desperately wanting to find someone, anyone, anything that could explain the void.
Night was here and she hadn't seen anyone yet. THAT was more than just a strange dream, she now knew it.
- Hello? Anybody here?
He was hungry. It had been to long since he had seen something eatable. Maybe that scent… Yeah, that fragrance… A human! A girl! He raced.
- Hello? Anybody here?
The sounds the girl was emitting were delicious. Soon he would be on her, on her, on…
He was retreating to his basement. Night belonged to Infies now, so he should make it quick if he didn't want to waste strength and bullets. The person sighed…And heard a voice.
- Hello? Anybody here?
A human! Who could be so stupid, screaming in the night? Infies were going to find whoever it was. But… It had been so long since he had seen anybody normal…
He raced. He wasn't going to stay alone any longer.
A noise. In the right. Jeanne turned around, but saw nothing.
- Is there someone?
She sensed someone approaching with a great speed. Turning again, she couldn't help but think there was nothing wrong.
- Hello?
Suddenly there was a rush of brown and someone jolted her to the side. The someone was fighting… Someone… Well, not anyone, Silva!
The Pache seemed more than angry. He did not use any spirit or weapon, he was just throwing blows and trying to bit his opponent… Then Jeanne recognized the said opponent.
Hao Asakura.
The very same person that destroyed her Over-Soul and send her to coma was hitting Silva with something that was like an iron spade, sharp and coldly shining in the eerie light of that night. The only thing different was that he was wearing a thick black sweatshirt which covered all the length of his arms up to his ancient gloves in place of his revealing poncho.
After a well-done attack, the Pache backed away, his own blood covering his face.
Hao took a large and silvery gun from a pocket and shot Silva, right there and then. The man collapsed on the ground, dead.
Silence.
Only their ragged breath echoed in the empty street.
- I-I don't know what's happening, stuttered Jeanne, but-but you'll have to explain some things to me.
- After you fell into comatose in the Gate episode, the world went pretty mad. As I was winning the Shaman Fight, a strange disease spread in the shaman population. At first, I didn't pay any attention, as it was only touching weaklings... But it evolved. After being infected, they became crazy, literally, the kind you saw, screaming and attacking and eating whatever – whoever – they find. Blood or saliva in your eyes, your own blood or your mouth, and that's it, you're infected. There's no medicine, no antidote, no buts, you're dead.
Jeanne blinked in disbelief.
- You are just kidding… Right?
- As if, girl, as if. When someone becomes infected, you only have a half-minute before he goes totally crazy.
- A half-minute to do what...?
- To kill him. You can't just let him go, because he won't go. He will try and infect you as well. He will have forgotten who he was, who you were… Many Shamans killed themselves before that.
To say the maiden was shocked was under the truth. She couldn't believe what he just said…
- They let you alone because you weren't really alive; your scent was surely not strong enough to reach their excuse of a nose. That's why you were alone in this hospital…
- And… The X-Laws, your minions… Where…?
Hao gave her a hard look.
- Marco was fighting me when they attacked us. As I escaped the area, I unconsciously took him and our teams together. That way, Marco, who was pairing with Meene and Lyserg, used his plane to escape America, because infected can't use planes or boats since their IQ seem to lower itself to ten, and they fear seas. He took the other two with him, as well as Opachô.
- Then why are you here? Is Rackist…, she gulped, is Rackist with them?
- I stayed because we had made two groups. They had to get the plane ready, and we had to try to find the Hana, the other X, any Shaman sane in fact; even you, in your state, were concerned. That's when I saw the danger… Because Spirit of Fire disappeared, as well as Lucifel and all the others. We didn't make it to the plane in time and they were obliged to go without us. I had ordered the blondie so.
- … And they left me behind…
She knew she wasn't fair with her angels, but bad memories were coming into her mind. The albino-looking girl had been abandoned when she was very young; she had known the misery, the streets. And now her family was gone without her…
- They didn't. Marco was yelling he had to get you all the way, and your three angels were crying in the radio, but I had programmed the plane so it would fly whatever was arriving.
She looked at him, eyes shining. It hurt like hell…
The brown-haired boy shook his head.
- We've got no time for tears, girl. We have to go to my basement before any Infie senses us.
- Infie?
- When you scream, "the Infected" is too long.
- Oh.
After a silence, he sighed and began to walk towards his place. The walk was silent and fast, as fast as the thin girl could go anyway. She couldn't help but wonder how it could have happened. The boy who was walking in front of her used to be the strongest Shaman around, the one who nearly killed her in the first place! How could she trust him? And his story was ridiculous. A virus, spreading so quickly? Giving such results? Unbelievable.
That was surely a scheme of his… She didn't have Shamash with her, so the young girl could do nothing but obey him for now; she would just have to be ready when the time would come…
They were still walking in the streets of the Pache village, and Hao decided to go across the commercial center. Soon, they were above an underground gallery, separated by a barrier and three meters of height.
And Jeanne saw them.
- Bounster and… Kevin!
The young Maiden smiled wide and prepared herself to call her angels, but before she could even breathe, Hao had put his hand on her mouth.
- Wh-what, she whispered. They're here, they…
- Are infected. Everyone is. Look at them, Maiden!
Indeed, the two X-Laws were acting in a strange manner. Their faces were red and they were growling to each other, walking as if searching something… Someone…
Hao took his gun and took a few steps toward the broken escalator. Jeanne opened her eyes wide and stopped him.
- What are you doing?
- Protecting us.
- Don't kill them! How can I know that's not a scheme of yours, to kill the angels without me interfering?
He sighed and took her arm, shaking her harshly.
- Are you so stupid? Didn't you see the outside? Didn't you see the infected attacking you? It was Silva! They're already dead, their souls are gone, they're only walking corpses!
- I won't let you kill them! You already killed Larky and the others… There must be a way…
- That's the only way, Iron Girl. They're…
- Safe.
- What…
Smiling, Jeanne showed the inferior floor.
- They disappeared! They're safe from you at least.
Hao went mad and shoved her on the wall.
- You ARE stupid. They're coming for us now!
The albino-looking girl stood, defying the Asakura. And she heard the scream.
It was Kevin's voice.
She turned around, ready to run to him, but backed away by reflex as she saw her precious angel running toward her, without his mask, and seeming very very angry. In fact, angry was an understatement. He was raving mad.
She let out a shriek as Hao took her as a shield, shooting the man two meters away. Then he moved and aimed his gun at Bounster, killing him within seconds. The massive giant seemed to shiver from the shock and fell with a thunder-like sound.
- No…
Jeanne tried to go to him, but Hao kept her under his arm. His face was unreadable.
- Don't go near them. You'd get infected as well, their blood is poison. Come, we need to find you a weapon.
He kindly ignored her tears and dragged her in a quick pace towards the place he had managed to secure. Once in it, he locked the place and looked at his poor possessions to find something to arm the girl.
- Take that, he said after eyeing a smaller but still useful gun. You wouldn't do any good with a spade or anything that need physical strength. You'll surely need that gun later, but for now, you'll need to sleep.
He then gave her a thin blanket and kept another on him, drifting off to sleep, not really caring about what the former Iron Maiden would do…
He was woken up by a tiny sound. Blinking, he looked around frantically. Did an Infie try to enter his basement?
Then he found the source of the sound and sighed. She was sobbing in her sleep. Her light cries sounded as clear as crystal, broken sobs that stopped Hao from sleeping. No doubt, she was having a nightmare…
- Hey.
She stirred, still not awake. He shook her a little, and she opened her eyes, jerking when she recognized him.
- Ha-Hao!
- Aah. Calm down, remember what happened yesterday. I don't want to deal with your mental incapacity once more.
Jeanne blinked then frowned, a flash appearing before her eyes.
- YOU KILLED THEM!
- SHUT UP! Your voice will wake up every infected Shaman around.
After a silence, he continued:
- You remember now?
- Ye-yeah, but…
His voice had become rough, his words cross whispers that were spears aimed at her heart.
- Do you really think you're the only one who lost people in that stupid event? I think Opachô's safe, he was in the plane with your blondies, but the Hana became infected before my very eyes… My little brother suicided himself after killing his infected itako... Rackist asked me to kill him before becoming that! And… And I just… I just obeyed…
He punched the wall, angry with himself.
- Now there's no fouryoku or abilities or anything. It's just about how strong you are. About how lucky you are.
And with that, he closed his eyes once again, still holding her wrist.
Rain: Waah... I wrote all this... Waaaaaah...
Hao: ... Seems interesting... Even if my breakdown wasn't needed, I liked killing those X.
Jeanne: AH! I KNEW IT, YOU MURDERER!
Hao: ... And? What are you going to do? I'm stronger than you, even without powers.
Jeanne: Grrr...
Rain: Calm down, kiddies. You need to work together if you wanna survive! ... Don't look at me that way... Hao, put that gun DOWN!