THE END.
THE END — i’ll make up an ending, or post the ending if i’ve written it
[[Sorry, it’s just a draft… And only the beginning of it, to boot. But it’s all that I’ve got.]]
End Run: How Faith’s story, or Lance and co’s ends. The convergence of the trio’s? Davie.
“Granma? Did you ever see David again?”
“………..”
“Granma?”
It was cold there, nestled between those mountains.
“Yeah. For a little while……. We’d both been transferred there – to the border mountains in Kanto and Johto – for different reasons. Or the same reasons I guess, just on opposite ends.
He was part of R&D, helping them sort out better delivery systems for those monster-containment devices when he wasn’t tinkering with the vehicles. He was always more of a mechanic, though…
I was sent for medical research - they wanted to see how that much venom hadn’t killed me, and how I was even able to get a little movement back. They did so much bloodwork, I could hardly believe I had enough left for living on.
Didn’t expect we’d meet up once there, but we did.
I’d seen him coming out from the humvee lot, his ankle-biting tigerdog with him, and my brain just…. blanks. There he was, okay and in one piece and I still hadn’t had the chance to thank him for the day I went off to Unova. His present saved my life that day, and I read as much of it as I was still able. Book had a hole in it, so it wasn’t as much as I’d have liked, but I made due. Revelations was intact, and maybe I should have taken that as a sign….
Next thing I know, I’m crying and hugging my baby brother, who was so much taller than me, it was funny.
We spent a lot of lunch breaks together at that camp.
News trickled in, of course. The Johtoans were making moves on the Unovan and Sinnohan fronts, supply lines and such were being sabotaged by the Greens, people defected right and left and the populace was shaken by the continued brutality. Though it was hardly comforting, I took a little pleasure hearing that the Blues were being hit just as hard.
Then word comes down from the top. Important mission to take place on __. Patrols and local sweeps to be doubled while our forces were deployed. Not too worrying on its own; just business as usual.
But there’d been rumors of /things/ above the snow line. And as the season turned, that line was getting closer and closer to camp.
We all ignored it, mostly, but sometimes at night the noises would get to ya.
Then, all at once, a commotion breaks out a few peaks over. We couldn’t see a damn thing from camp, but the ruckus threatened avalanches and we were scrambling to batten down the hatches.
Then the commotion was in the middle of camp. Explosions in the main R&D sheds. Tents go up like tinder. Half-feral beasts cut loose in the chaos and our boys try and stop the fires. Jack goes and disappears off, as usual, and I don’t even bother looking for him.
I took me, Lance, and my new recruit - Dae - and we go to where we were needed.
We find that it was Greens, with help from our guys, and we’re fighting as best we can. But I’m still recovering and Lance can only do so much by his lonesome. He was still pretty short then, and spent a lot of time covering Dae. Poor kid tried, but he was still a big baby; barely could handle things going bump at night, let alone shells exploding around his ears.
But he steps up to the plate when Lance and me get pinned. Got around behind ‘em and takes ‘em out, all on his own.
Couldn’t congratulate him, though - no time for that. We fight our way out of that area, and are getting ready to come at it from a different angle, take out more Greens we’d seen slinking off to the Comms sheds.
More explosions, this time from the areas they’d been researching psychics. A roaring howl cuts through the noise, and somehow I know it was Goliath. My feet are carrying me to the area, and I’m praying I can get over there in time to help.
I–”
Raging fire, oily smoke choking out the sky. Coughing. Is that me or Lance? Cover me. Charge in through the twisted gates. My dragon fends off some other critters I can’t quite see. Screams hit me: agony, fear, anger, hate. Waves of it. Strong at first, but fading quick - they’re dying. They don’t want to, they didn’t ask for this.
“Faith?”
It’s familiar, but not very strong. I tell him I’m coming for him, just hang in there, be strong. Ask him to show me where he’s at. Images: more smoke and flames, shapes in between, dancing, fighting… Tigerdog is big and fierce and something heavy squats over the me that is him. It fades as more roofing falls in and a grunt drowns out Davie a moment. The heavy thing is alive and it’s helping. It wants to help.
Protect this child, it insists.
We agree and I work my way closer. Head the direction of the head-noise, somehow.
Protect.
The walls shift, and Lance pulls me back. Bright flash as the walls fall in. He’s tall now, and stronger than some thin, razor steel.
Pro…tect.
We are all in the same room now, and tiger dog turns towards us. He wonders if we’ll fight him, too. I don’t care. There’s Davie and the steel behemoth that’s the only thing between him and crushing. It’s eyes flicker and I feel its words failing in my head.
Pr..o…te.ct…..
Davie is pulled from under her and we have to leave. The steel brain stayed. Too big to carry, not enough time to dig…. I wish I could’ve saved her.
We make it out just as it caves and the remainder of the scratching fears end. Davie coughs. Breath catches. Can’t hardly recognize his face through the blisters. One of his lips is gone.
I’m crying, begging him to hang on. Medics are coming. Medics will be here any moment. They’ll get here and you’ll be okay.
“Davie? Davie?! You’re gonna be okay, you hear me?”
“Davie?!”
“DAVIE DON’T GO!”
“… Granma?”
“I’m sorry baby. I didn’t get any closer than the gate… It was too hot and there was too much smoke.”
“…But…”
“I never saw Davie after that.”
