"Element" - By Hiryuu Chapter 25 - Intolerance, Part I * * * * * General Disclaimer: The older brother of Writer's Block found out what I did. He was not happy. I'm only now able to move my fingers to type. What did I do to deserve this...? * * * * * "And that's basically it. After the whole town incident a few months afterwards, we've basically looked after each other...of course, Elaine's had some trouble getting on from that point up until now but she had been doing fairly well up until recently..." Erina said, concluding her story about how the two met. Colin nodded. "Yes, I remember. You don't forget things like that. It must have been something...I'm not exactly sure how she recovered from it all after it was all said and done." Erina looked down and sighed, "Neither can I, really..." the down- trodden face of hers turned to a smile, "...but then again, she's always been like that - she never seems to want to give up on anything, including herself. It's probably like now." Colin nodded once more. "On that note, we should be getting rather close. Ed, how's the view?" "Looks awright for now. I don't see anything around, at least." Colin smirked. "Well, maybe luck's on our side. We might not have to deal with anything along the way." "I'd heard there was trouble as of late," Tricia said from in front. "Mm...apparently they've been coming back to give trouble to the town. I'm not sure if that means that they've simply started to run out of things to do with their time or if they have something planned," Colin added. "What's all this yer talkin' about anyways?" Ed asked. "You really don't keep up with events, do you?" Tricia said, sighing and shaking her head. "Hey, it's not like it's really important to me, ya know? Doesn't affect me and it's not like we ever come 'round here!" Ed continued. "Yes, but you might not want to hear the reason right now..." she said, motioning her head towards Erina's position. "Huh?" Ed followed the suggestion towards Erina's chest, blinked, looked up at her, blinked again and then FINALLY something clicked in his brain. "OH! Ah geez..." he blushed "I didn't know that you meant she...I...oops?" "They've only been talking about it for the past fifteen or so minutes..." "No that..." Erina started. "...that's all right. I don't mind retelling it. I guess we still have a little time that I can give you the short version of it while we walk." She sighed. "It was just a little after Elaine started walking again..." * * * * * Elaine looked around. Black again. She was beginning to recall all that had just happened once again. She had seen this quite a few times since she was dropped in here, reliving all of this that she had seen many times before. She was tired of it, it hurt, she didn't want to get where this was going. That was too painful to remember. "No...I...don't make..." Elaine said, trying, but not able to resist going back into the role that she would relive once again as her mind started to fog. * * * * * One of Colin's healer backups noticed the irregular beeps coming from the EKG next to Elaine. Slightly panicked, he got up to check this fact out, only for it to subside and go back to normal. The woman seemed to relax a little afterwards. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned. "Has that been happening frequently?" he asked the woman next to him, also one of Colin's subordinates. She looked up. "No, it seems to happen once every so often but..." She looked over at the girl somberly. "Hmm..." the male healer said, narrowing his eyes at the monitor. "Continue keeping an eye on her. I just hope that he gets back in time. We don't really have much to use against what this woman has at the moment but I'm going to try to look up as much as I can to help." She nodded. "All right...let me know if you need any help." He left a few seconds later. She sat on the side of the bed, looking at the girl who was still locked in a coma. She silently recalled something like this not too long ago, hearts reacting to poisons. She wasn't big on toxicology but she knew that this particular method was enough to kill instantly, perhaps there was something in this that was acting in a similar fashion. She sighed. It was sad to see a case like this after so long. * * * * * Elaine woke with a start. That was definitely one of her more interesting nightmares that she had been getting as of late. They all seemed to deal with the same scenario, over and over again. She wasn't exactly sure what most of it meant or who was involved but they always seemed to end up... "A-are you okay?" "HAH!" Elaine yelped, surprised that anyone was around this early in the morning. Rabbit ears. That was the first thing that Elaine focused on. It was Erina. She was up early; the sun had barely cracked the horizon. "I-I'm fine. What are you doing up and over here? You should be in bed." "I was but..." Erina gave her a worried look. "You were making so much noise in your sleep." Elaine blinked. "Oh..." She shook her head. "No, I'm fine. It was just a bad dream, that's all." For some reason, Erina didn't really seem to buy that. "You've been having those dreams a lot. Ever since I got that rod, you've been like this. I should've known that---" "Whoa whoa...it's not your fault, okay?" Elaine said, trying her best to reassure Erina that it had nothing to do with her. "I...don't really know what these dreams are...honestly." "So you admit that it might be my fault then if you don't know!" Erina said that aloud and ran out of the room, beside herself. "No, wait, ERINA!" Elaine tried to get her to come back but at this point it was her own mouth to blame against a ten-year-old. She sincerely hoped that this wasn't going to wake anyone else up this morning because she certainly didn't want to be the one to explain this mess to--- *ksh* "Are you really sure that you're---" *ksh ksh* "I think you should really think about seeing someone about that, Elaine." Lisa said, after hearing what she had to say on the matter of waking everyone up this morning. Both Gary and Erina seemed to convey the same sentiments that she should get more help than just physical for what she had been through. "I...suppose that I might...but I'm fine, really. Maybe they're just memories that are coming back to me in their own way?" Lisa nodded. "Be that as it may, we just don't want to see you in any pain." *ksh* "You mean a lot to us, Elaine, and I don't think that anyone wants to see you get hurt---" *kshsahaghh* * * * * * The irregular heartbeats started once again. This time it seemed to be worse. The healer who worked under Colin got up from where she was seated after seeing Elaine jerking around in her sleep. "Oh no, you aren't going to leave on my watch!" she said as she began to go to work stabilizing this one. "I NEED SOME HELP IN HERE!" * * * * * "No...please I don't...I don't want to see it again," Elaine begged the darkness that she was trying to avoid for all she was worth. * * * * * *kshshsk* "I'll be fine Lisa...Gary...Erina. Trust me. I already owe you all my life as it is. I should be more worried about you for my own sake a-and I don't really think I deserve much more than that." "Of course you do, child." Lisa said, puzzled at anything that was coming out of Elaine's mouth in terms of her trying to be selfless. "We all worry about you just like anyone else would worry about another person if they were ever in trouble." "I..." "It's not much off of our skins to help another out, Elaine," Gary spoke this time. "It's far worse for us if something were to happen to you." He chuckled. "Especially after everything we done so far, you know?" "GARY!" Lisa said. "Whaaaat?" Gary said, looking away and scratching the back of his head. "But seriously, though, you've come a long way since we first found you. You've gone through a lot to recover and, quite frankly, you've done so better than anything I've ever seen." *ksh* "It's almost not human." *kk* "So it would be a shame if that were all to go to waste over something that you can't just sleep off and get good bed rest against." Elaine relented. She was sure she wasn't used to the idea of so many people caring about her. She couldn't maintain such a prideful stance against all these people who would worry sick otherwise. "Thank you...everyone..." Lisa thought for a moment. "I'm not exactly sure who would be a good person to turn to at this point. I don't believe we have something that explicitly deals with this in our small town." "Ahhh...I think we do," Gary said. "There was some woman who passed through our town not but a week ago and she inquired about a position that might be exactly what we're looking for?" "More medical help?" Lisa asked. "I didn't hear anything about it." "You could say that. I'll take Elaine by there tomorrow. I can't today because we won't be able to get off work until late." Lisa nodded. "I'll probably be in town later on in the evening where you're at then. Maybe we'll meet up." *kshhkhs* "It's a date then." Gary smirked. *KSHSGHHSKGHKSHG* * * * * * "So does the sappy stuff continue?" a more-than-disinterested Ed said in the middle of Erina's narrative. "Ed!" Tricia said, bopping him on the head. "OW! What!? I just don't want a forty minute story that can be condensed down to four..." he said, bluntly. "Ugh...you really are a too long, didn't read type, aren't you?" Tricia said, at a loss for how truly stupid he really was. "I did what in the read who now?" Ed said, confused. "You two..." Colin interrupted with the hint in his voice that both needed to shut up fast. They got it fairly quick. "A-Anyways...we got done talking about all of that a---" Erina said and trailed off. Something really hurt all of a sudden. She looked down at where it was coming from, noticing that there was a nice-sized arrow sticking a good distance in her left arm. She pointed a finger at the offending object in question. "I...don't remember that being there..." "Wh...WHAT THE HELL!?" Ed said, looking around only now noticing that, even though they were more or less at their goal point, they had walked into hostile territory. Too absorbed by the story was his guess. Tricia was already at ready a few moments after Ed sounded off, but she had a feeling that there might be trouble when she noticed the amount around her. Looking around in a quick fashion, she sized up the situation: there had to be about fifty of them...in all surrounding directions, with some in higher parts of the hills that were on either side of them, most of them coming from their immediate left, and most of them not carrying more than a short sword or dagger. Although the numbers were bad enough, it would be even worse if there were more than one archer in those hills. "This must be that group..." Colin said, already working on the arrow that he had removed from Erina's arm. "Are you all right? Are there any problems outside the arm?" "I'm fine..." she said, shrugging him off. Actually, her arm hurt like hell but it helped that Colin had already healed the entry spot on the wound. However, she figured this was a warning shot. "Well, we just keep getting luckier and luckier today..." Erina's eyes narrowed. Oh she had more than heard THAT voice. "I thought I smelled a rat..." she turned, eyes narrowed. It was him, sure enough. "Now now...is that any way to treat a head representative of town?" the man in front of her asked. "Ex-representative, Harold," Erina said, with ice in her tone. Colin was the first to turn his head on that one. "Wait, you don't mean...?" Things were starting to make a little bit more sense. "The very same, Colin. Harold used to be one of the lead people in charge of development in Ilia. He used to be one of the most trusted people in town..." Her expression changed back to a not so fond one. "But his greed won out in the end, he got to the point where it was so bad that he was exiled from town over some of the stunts he pulled for his own pockets." "Are you FUCKING kidding me? Your dumbass of a dead mayor didn't know his head from his ass when it came to the whole town's suffering. When I got myself kicked out, there was a reason people followed." "I'm not going to hear this," Erina stopped him from his retort. Especially smack being talked about her deceased grandfather coming from the likes of him. "We had our reasons and you've no right to tell me otherwise. You should be thankful that was all we did to you." "Oh...well, the army I have around here tells me otherwise. Besides, I don't think you're going much farther than where you stand, little missy," he said that and pulled a nice sword from what was haltered on his side. "Five pieces says you n' yer weaksauce army don't lay another finger on us," Ed said, butting in. "I mean what kinda army's run by a guy named Harold, anyways?" "HAAHhahah..." Harold laughed in good humor, mostly because he thought the cowboy who was flapping his gums was downright dumb when it came down to math and the fact that they were very much in trouble. "It doesn't really matter if I win or lose that...it does however matter if little miss never sees the light of day again." "What's your problem anyways, Harold? Why make the whole town suffer? There was nothing they ever did to you. You used to be someone that we'd trust. What happened to you?" "That all changed when you exiled me. How do you think I felt? How do you think those that stand here felt. You've no right to tell me anything. You'll be dead like they are now. It'll be another feather against oppressing us to begin with." "..." Erina froze. "Oh? You didn't know who killed them?" "...You didn't..." Erina shuddered in her speech, unable to look up. "Erina..." Colin said. "What's it matter to you anyways? You're dead. MEN!" A simultaneous arming of swords, daggers and bows sounded off, all readying themselves. "Tricia, Ed. You two know what to do." "Right." Tricia said, focused in front of her. "Damn straight." Ed replied. Colin looked back over at Erina once more. She wasn't moving but her grip had tightened terribly on the rod she carried. Her knuckles were white. "AIM!" * * * * * "HEY GUYS! Boss says get your asses moving! We've got people around! A REAL GUEST!" That got them moving. Derrick wondered where all their loyalties came from. He didn't do much more than shift his eyes up from what he was reading for a moment and then back down. They could handle it. "'EY NEWBIE! GET YER ASS MOVING! Boss says he's only keeping you around because you kick serious ass with a sword but that won't mean shit if you don't do anything." "Right right...whatever..." Derrick said, getting up and hoisting the sword he had up on his shoulders. "Geez, I need to back to that one place and get a nice meal after this is all done," he complained, his mind obviously off in the clouds. No matter, this got him his cash and cash was what he needed to get a ticket to food. He moved out, lagging close behind to the rest of them. * * * * * "What the status?" The EKG monitor sounded excessively out of whack. The erratic beats should have more than answered the question posed in front of Elaine. She was already jittering every so often. "It's spreading...at this rate, I can't imagine she's going to last much longer. We have them constantly trying restorative healing techniques, but her life energy is too erratic for it to remain effective." "...nnghgh..." They all looked over where Elaine was. She was...saying something? "nngghAAH...AHH..." "What's going---?" "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" * * * * * Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep be- [slap] "Nnn...fuck." T.J. yawned. There was no way it was 6 AM already. There was absolutely no way in hell it was 6 AM already. He kept thinking that through his mind before the bells finally went off in his head. It was 6 AM. He groaned. It was going to be another one of those sleepless days. He only got two hours of sleep this time. He didn't really know what was going on as of late with his sleep schedule but he figured that he should make it a priority to turn off the computer monitor before 10 tonight or something. That or take off today. Take off today... He pondered that for a sec. What was today? Thursday. "Ahhh that'd be no good if I faked being sick only to show up Friday...maybe I'll do it tomorrow or something I dunno..." he muttered this to no one in particular and got into the shower. The shower did what it did every day - woke him the hell up. He would really need it today, since all he was running on was the equivalent to a power nap. How he would get through 10 or 11 hours of being up and about driving or being at work was beyond him at this point. He slowly reminded himself of what happened yesterday and what he was going to have to deal within the next hour or so. This did nothing to help his mood. This week already sucked as it was already. It didn't help that this was the busy season at his job of being a computer tech and they needed machines out at a much faster rate than normal. Did him nothing to be pressured when they were fickle things to repair to begin with when it came down to it. He continued to think this after getting out of the shower, dried off, prepped, dressed and ready to go. He grabbed his keys, checked all of his pockets to see if he had everything. He seemed ready to go this time. Opening the door to his apartment, he turned back briefly to make sure everything was fine on the inside and think about things he might be forgetting at the last minute before shutting the door behind him and locking it. He headed to his car...or really it was a somewhat beaten down sport utility vehicle was a dented passenger's side front...and went to unlock the door. That's when he froze. He looked around, eyes a little bit too wide for this early in the morning. "What the...hell?" Now he was sure he needed to get some sleep. He looked around once more on the expanses of the apartment complex. Nothing. Maybe he should call 911? Maybe not...there were others around him walking by that didn't seem to notice. "Could've sworn I heard a scream..." he said. He shook his head, unlocked the door, got in the car, started it and pulled out of his spot in front of his place. Not even giving it a second thought at this point, he made his way to work. It was going to be a long day. * * * * * End of Chapter 25. More on the way? Faster? Hopefully?