Henny Penny

The self-proclaimed ‘best friend’ stood before Solaire grinning ear to ear. She stood before him, trying not to show her shock. The Bunstaz woman jumped to her feet and stood behind Keiichi.

“That doesn’t make any sense. How is it possible that another human, let alone the Creator’s ‘best friend’, randomly shows up in Nest? I wasn’t born yesterday. What are you really?” Solaire widened her stance, trying to prepare for an ambush but appear casual.

“You’re asking the wrong guy, toots. I’ve lived in the Wastelands for 5 years. I just woke up here and BAM! New home, new life, new me. You’re the first thing even slightly close to human I’ve seen in a long long time. Are you sure you’re human though?” Keiichi put his hands behind his head, chortling while he spoke. He seemed unimpressed by the flaming female’s posturing.

“Of course I’m human! What else would I be? I don’t look like a Bunstaz, a Mycan or even a Curdian! You would know that if you were smarter!” Solaire argued, her attempted coolness fell with her growing frustration.

“Most humans I know can’t set themselves on fire and live to tell the tale. But who am I?” Keiichi answered sarcastically, using a pinky to clean some earwax from his ear, flicking it to the ground. “I’m just an idiot who likes knives and stuff. I don’t know much about anything.”

“You are not an idiot, Keiichi! You are our leader and you still don’t act like it! It makes me so mad!” The young Bunstaz woman playfully punched Keiichi in the back of the head.

“Chill Flucy!! I’m trying to be cool here! Gah, you're always cramping my style!!” Keiichi rubbed his head and snapped at the woman.

Solaire watched the two interact, she looked around and it seemed like other Bunstaz were emerging from their respective tents and holes. It seemed a lot like Curdia in some ways, more skittish though.

“You have no style to cramp. Focus on getting the intruder out please. I don’t think I can take her on my own.” Flucy rubbed where Solaire intercepted her punch, she winced slightly.

“Alright, alright.” Keiichi conceded and sighed. “Listen lady. How’d you want to do this? My second in command is eager for you to vacate the premises, so how about you go ahead do that.”

Solaire squinted. Trying to get a read on the supposed leader.

“You’re telling me.. That you aren’t the least bit intrigued about who I am, or why I’m here? You’re just going to shoo me away without so much as a real conversation.” Solaire said as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“I know who you are. God, you really just lack subtlety, don’t you? All fire, no grace. Disappointing really, all that beauty wasted.” Keiichi looked annoyed, like his time was being wasted with the conversation. “I know everything that goes on in Curdia, the place you seem to come back to most. I know you go by Solaire, you’ve traveled through a good amount of Nest, learning what you can and helping those who need while you’re passing through. I also know that you recently made contact with the Creator, my best friend, and that you choked him out not too long ago. Shortly after that you came here looking for Lac, an ornery citizen looking to pick a fight with the Merrymen. My Merrymen. Anything else? If not, a further conversation really doesn’t interest me, and I don’t want to get the crap beat out of me by Flucy.”

Solaire looked dumbfounded, shocked and stunned.

“Why did you lie then? You said you have never seen another human but clearly that isn’t true if you know who I am and that Haruki is here. Also, if you are his ‘best friend’, how come you haven’t been to see him yet? Seems pretty strange to me.” Solaire retorted, clearly getting more frustrated with the man.

“I don’t need to explain myself to you. You gotta chill, dude, you’re acting crazy.” Keiichi shrugged and started walking away, Flucy by his side, they began to chat to themselves.

“I AM CHILL!!” Solaire screamed in heated, fiery protest.

Voices and footsteps echoed behind Solaire, a group of Bunstaz were approaching. They were huddled together, moving in sync, carrying something. A body laid in the center of the group, Solaire instantly recognized the guardsmen gear. Lac’s unconscious body was being carted, he was bleeding from his head and his shoulder looked mangled. Some of the group looked injured as well, but not as bad as Lac. Keiichi and Flucy turned around, dashing toward the group with frightening speed. Solaire ran over too.

“I see you found the man but what the heck happened to you guys? You look terrible.” Keiichi said, smirking slightly but his eyes were filled with worry.

One of the Bunstaz carrying Lac spoke up, his eye was covered in blood. His voice trembled as he got his breath. “He got knocked from his rollie and wandered off into the Wastelands with no direction. We could barely track him; his movements were so erratic. When we found him.. The sky began to fall again. It’s getting worse. Whole chunks just came crashing down around us. He got pinned beneath some rubble, and we were barely able to get him out. I think the storm is heading this way but I’m not sure, it's hard to track.”

“A skyfall storm? Who would have thought a simple tracking mission would have resulted in this. I’m so sorry, I made a bad call.” Keiichi frowned, looking at the ground.

“There is no time to feel sorry. Bring the Curdian into the burrows, get his injuries and all yours treated. I’ll inform everyone to start evacuating into the burrows as well. If a skyfall storm is heard this way, we are all in danger. Keiichi, the people need you. Now more than ever. We just moved here and already their homes are going to be destroyed again. Solaire, you need to leave. We truly do not have time to quarrel with you.” Flucy spoke with clear authority, it was easy to confuse her for the leader instead of Keiichi.

“You are right as always, my second in command. I’ll make the rounds and get people moving.” Keiichi pushed his glasses up and dashed off to the makeshift homes. Flucy began to lead the injured Bunstaz toward the burrows but Solaire caught her wrist.

“Let me help you. I’ve only ever seen a skyfall storm once but I know how devastating they can be. Only the Creator can work to fix it permanently, I have to bring him to the Mycans so he can begin to fix his world and stop the storms. But for now please let me do what I can. Solaire pleaded.

Flucy nodded reluctantly. “They began 5 years ago. Around the time you and Keiichi arrived in Nest. They were infrequent at first but as time has gone on, they’ve become more regular, more violent and more destructive. We could use the help.”

Cries, clamoring and calming hushes spread across the settlement while the Bunstaz organized their young and elderly to safety first. The entrances to the burrows were narrow, allowing only one person to pass at a time. Keiichi sat atop the highest home with his legs crossed, he was watching his people flee, playing with a knife. He looked lost in thought until his gaze landed on Solaire.

“Why are you still here?” He said in an annoyed tone, still playing with his knife. His fingers balanced and flipped seamlessly.

“I’m here to help. You can count on me, bestie.” Solaire gave a sarcastic smile, Keiichi returned it with a smirk and a scoff.

The smell is what came first. Solaire sniffed the air, as did Keiichi. Waves of dusty air fell heavy to the ground upon them. It hung there, still and damp. Cold, moist, astringent dust that clung to the skin and stuck to lungs. Solaire instinctively covered her mouth and looked over to Keiichi who seemingly didn’t move a muscle. He had a cloth mask and goggles on, still flicking his knife to and fro. The dust poured onto them, a grey choking waterfall.

A clap like thunder blasted the stagnant dust in a shockwave. Solaire stood in the clearing, her body cocooned in fire. Glowing oranges, crimson tendrils, and burning blonde swirled around her, sparking the dust, glittering the air with brief tiny sparks. She leapt into the air, leaving a cascade of embers behind her.

Along with the smell, there was a feeling in the air. A vibration that you wouldn’t be able to detect with the ground beneath your feet. The very atmosphere felt impending, sudden, dangerous, a tranquil threat of the disaster. There was a deafening silence rivaled only by a distinct crack.

The sky fell. It descended in sheets and shards, large pieces and small pieces. Not quite actual rocks, not quite earthen boulders. Pure sky that tumbled down with velocity, violence and vengeance. Crashes of it echoed to the east of the settlement. Solaire saw the clouds of dust burst upon impact. They drew closer and closer still.

The time for watching ceased in an instant as a large piece of sky crashed into Solaire mid-air. Explosive fire burst from her ignited feet, trying with all her power to push against the weight and momentum but she was fighting a losing battle. Her grip was slipping, it was going to fall directly onto the Merrymen homes. She rubbed her nose against the dusty piece of sky in a last ditch effort. The dust tickled her vibrissae, pressure built in her nostrils. Solaire took a deep inhale through her mouth.

“AHHHCHOOO!!!” Bright fire exploded from Solaire’s nose and mouth, directly on the piece of sky. The sneezsplosion disintegrated the descending shard, reducing it to the same kind of dust that fell upon them previously. “Alright!!” Solaire pumped her fist into the air in celebration!

“Look up, you hot idiot!” Keiichi stood up from his perch, pointing up beyond the flying Solaire.

Where the one large piece was descending, more cracks echoed on high, and numerous sheets of sky began their journey of destruction. Solaire furrowed her brow with anger. She clapped her hands together, growing the fire pouring from her eyes and the flames on her fists and hands. The falling sky was met with a head-on assault of punches and kicks that turned danger to dust in an instant. Solaire leapt from shard and piece, destroying them in bursts of frenzied flame. There were too many to keep track of, however. Some slipped past and were moments from destroying the settlement.

Solaire looked down in anger and sorrow, but… the sky pieces that should have pummeled the ground beneath her were exploding. She squinted, barely making out Keiichi leaping from rooftop to rooftop, throwing something that impacted with the falling sky shards. There was no time to deliberate, she continued destroying the raining sky and saved her questions for later.

Keiichi tossed his explosive knives accurately up at each shard Solaire happened to miss. He could see her fire trail bounce from target to target. Despite the duo's best effort, there was just too much sky falling. Too many shards for Solaire to stop up high, too many for Keiichi to catch on the way down. They were getting overwhelmed.