Juryrigged > Works > Writings > The Dream

"In this dream, I saw this vision of you. Your smooth tanned skin, matching the elegance of your dyed dirty brown hair... I felt like floating in your eyes, just to gaze them for all eternity."

The stage was set. There was no turning back from the wrongs that had occurred. I... just ran. Whether if it was fate or by choice, I desired to escape. Everyone was waiting for me, and yet, they knew the consequences if I didn't come back in time. A pulsating heart, tense blood veins, and a tensioned headache is all that I can feel at the moment. The whole time of running felt like a blur as I tried to avoid the guards. They just swarmed in, like a pack of wolves looking for dinner. There were too many in numbers for me to deal with, and with their hands holding pistols, was no exception to the danger... I cowered in the shadows, waiting for them to run past. I had to be as covert as possible, but I knew they smelled my blood. They knew I was around... I could only run for the time being, just to grasp any essence of life that I could hold...

Fleeing past the living corridors of the station, I could imagine the many civilians in fear of my presence. I couldn't blame them, fearing for my arrival to their residence. Protecting their children from a fugitive... I've committed a crime, and yet, was it really one!? I just didn't know. I just wanted to run. I didn't commit a crime, but the law decreed of my actions is against their governing system! Why is it so...? How can a simple man such as I be placed in this very situation? My comrades in arms now hunted for me... To see me shot dead by the undertakers they wielded in their hands. No compassion, no right to stand by me... Did they fear to overrule him!? Did they fear death, like my tired feet that escapes this destiny of mine? Maybe, but nevertheless, this is what was bestowed upon me. I had to run, for I feared to leave too early in this world...

"You laughed as I looked in your eyes. That gentle smile under the morning light... What could I say but laughed myself. We were both on the floor in that bathroom: you sitting there by the wall, and me kneeling before you. You were so beautiful..."

Rushing down the stairs, I just hurried my way towards the engine room. The entrance was blocked, soldiers surrounded every corridor, and I was left to be cornered eventually. I knew it would come to this... They were too powerful for me to handle, for me to escape even. Would there be an unlikely exit here I didn't know, but this was the temporary sanctuary that I could only find. Unbearing heat caressed my skin, sweat lingered from the depths of my long hair, and blinded vision were all but obstacles to escape further... I just had no hope whatsoever. My legs grew tired and tense from all of the running, and they led me here. The door before me as I gazed forward... my hazing breath and tempered will told me to go there. I... knew it was time to accept my short life here...

"You giggled with so much life and purity, I even questioned if you were an angel. I placed my right hand by the wall you rested on for support, and you placed your hand on my cheek. I held your hand as you did so, massaging it sensuously against my smooth cheek. Your eyes... they glistened."

My walk there was slow and tiring. It was the room full of secrets, full of lies and deceit, full of power and redemption. Research was conducted here, although it was abandoned when I discovered it before. I saw the life I should've had when I could give in, and then the life I have now. This high balcony in the next section of the room was what attracted me to go, and what it was supposed to have before the platform were the secrets hidden by this corrupt dictatorship. I was in a momentary stasis, and had no motive to escape anymore. The sounds of footsteps was finally here: they had found me. I could only look forward and about, using my eyes to look at the deep shadows within the vast area...

Man: "Hyakkimaru Ichigoro, or should I call you 'Ratsetsu Hunter'?"

The soldiers opened the door and lined up in an orderly manner. They infiltrated the vicinity of the abandoned research room, and aimed their guns at me in the open air. Then this man here, finishing his words, raised forth his right hand before them, to decease their action to ease and tease the situation I'm in. I merely turned around and boldly stood before him, gaining whatever dignity I could muster to speak to him. Dressed in black trenchcoat, with a blue tuinc and scarf over his neck, he seemed the typical high and mighty commander any military would expect. His army boots tapped the floor as he approached towards me, with his fearful oceanic blue eyes piercing through my soul... That is Yoshida Takahashi, or, by his other name, 'Soul Streak'... A fearful man, but he was also my rival in arms... and... a friend I could truly trust. It was a depressing air that I had to fall in this predictament...

Yoshida: "So, you escaped down to these depths. It was hell chasing you here, you know that? I couldn't even keep up, but you were always famous for your speed..."

Hyakkimaru: "That is all I can do now. Run."

Yoshida: "Why? Why do you stilll oppose the Hierarchy? Don't you wish to keep your life in peace, rather than fight to a bloody death!?"

Hyakkimaru: "I will not trust this form of government anymore. I did not join this force to be merely used like a senseless weapon."

Yoshida: "But your use with the blade is quintessential to our cause! You, me, and the others could raise our weapons to the sky to bring forth a new peace!"

Hyakkimaru: Swinging his arm to his side "Not if that new peace comes with a price! Do you know how many sacrifices will be made if we continue to follow that path! Many lives like yours and mine will be spilled to fulfill this goal!"

Yoshida: "I... see. Turning his back to him. However, there is no other way! We must make sacrifices for the greater good, and for that, the time is now."

Hyakkimaru: Shaking his head "Fools... You're all fools. Blinded by prejudice, do you not know that our enemy is human as well? We only follow different perspectives, and through politics such as that, we bring up our arms and desperately dominate each other in war and death."

Yoshida: "... That's enough. It seems that you can't allow yourself to be with us, and that makes you an enemy to our cause. You do understand of the consequences, am I correct?"

Hyakkimaru: "..."

Yoshida: "Very well..."

Hyakkimaru gave a bold stare to the man Yoshida, clenching his fists in much anger and frustration, though soon enough they relaxed into an open hand. A slight pause spread before the the two and the soldiers, leaving everything into stasis once again. Then, suddenly, Hyakkimaru knelt down on his knees, with his focus gazing downward to Yoshida's feet. Slowly ascending his gaze to looking at the back of his head, he slowly closed his eyes... The sight of tears streamed from his eyes, slowly lingering off from his very cheeks. Yoshida, looking from a tilted gaze in the corner of his eye, gave a slight sigh and closed his eyes as well. He clenched his teeth as Hyakkimaru clenched his fists, and slowly relaxed as he did. The squint of his eyes and the shake of his right hand was all that restricted him of his duty. Gaining his will, he muttered a few words before his close comrade...

Yoshida: "... I-I'm sorry that it had to come to this..."

Hyakkimaru: "..."

Crying a huge yell from the top of his lungs, Yoshida unsheathed his katana and, as he turned to him, slashed towards Hyakkimaru's neck, who seemed to be at peace with his final steps towards death...

"And there, I went towards you more, removing your hand from my face, to offer you a kiss. The feeling was like ascending to heaven, where we floated amongst the purest of clouds in the sky. The morning sun glistened over, bathing us in warm light as we kissed down on the floor. I knew at that time, that I wanted to be with you, forever. You... were the warm angel I knew I could find. I'll love you for all eternity, even after the day I die..."

Hyakkimaru: "I'm sorry, Natasha."

There, Yoshida successfully decapitated Hyakkimaru's head with a clean slice. His head flew in the air, and dropped towards the side of balcony. Turning his back from the corpse, he stabbed his bloodied blade to the floor, and signaled some soldiers to clean the mess. There, with silent and calm footsteps, he approached towards the exit and shrouded his figure into the smoke and shadows of the corridor...