A Mistake To Never Be Repeated

Hand still gripping Rei’s, Calix leapt from the side of the building, directly towards Boston and his bike. Rei braced herself for the impact, and Calix kicked Boston directly in the chest, knocking him onto the ground, his mask cracking just a little more. He managed to catch Rei under the arms so that she didn’t hit the ground too hard, but she had jumped from higher before, so she wasn’t too fazed. Other than a little shakiness in her legs, she felt fine.

The Sunset Eyes went for them, and they tried to make a run for it, but the guards and Haze had arrived from the other side, blocking their way. Looks like they were going to have to brute force their way out of this one. Rei tossed Calix his knives and took up her own pistol, firing off several shots, driving the gang members back..

One of them rushed for her and grabbed her around the waist, slamming her against the wall of the building. She tried to fight him off but her arms were trapped, and she could feel his arm crushing her windpipe. As she tried to push him off, she looked behind his shoulder, and saw Haze standing there, the lighting from the bikes washing over his feet like waves, the night air hazy around him. Her vision was growing blurry, but it seemed that he was looking at her, and she tried to force out something, anything, but no sound came from her mouth. She could only mouth, “Help”, in a desperate attempt that someone would see her in this dark night.

The ringing in her ears had grown so loudly, she couldn’t even think straight to use her metal arm.

And suddenly she was dropped to the ground, and she gasped for air, rubbing her throat, and she looked up, trying to see who had knocked the gangster over the head for her. At first she thought it was Calix who stood there, but as her vision focused she realized it was Caius, who was quietly inspecting the cane in his hand. In the chaos and confusion she could only ask, “Why?”, which was barely audible. But he replied, eyes somber.

“Master doesn’t want you dead. You can ask him.”

But when she looked for Haze, she couldn’t see him anymore.

She climbed to her feet, blades extending out of her metal arm, and jumped back into the fray, swinging and whacking. She couldn’t leave Calix to fend for himself.

Blood flew, but she no longer felt anything. If she hesitated anymore than the lights might never come on again. For a moment she found herself face to face with Boston, and she could only stab him in the chest, but he deflected the blade with his gun. They exchanged several blows; she, swinging repeatedly at him; and he, jumping back and blocking. Why wasn’t he firing any shots? But then some of the Sunset Eyes came between them, and he disappeared without a word.

Was this war? Just endless, thoughtless battle with people she no longer could care about? Once upon a time, she fought like this, dirtying her jacket and the streets of R’veno, but she thought that she had turned from that life. Now she was here again, fighting so that she would never have to do this in the future.

“I don’t understand!” she cried, sending a kick into the stomach of one member and slicing her bladed arm across the back of another. “What in the world do you have to gain from this?”

But if Haze responded, she didn’t hear.

With her numb shoulder and injuries from prior Rei found that she could not fight as well as she usually did, but jumping from that ledge had sent a rush of adrenaline through her body, propelling her forward. She could not take down everyone; in fact, she spent most of her time fighting two in particular, but it seemed that Haze and Caius were there, keeping an eye on things, the Sunset Eyes were not giving it their all. Or perhaps they, like her, were tired out from chasing them around R’veno all night.

A shot rang out, and Rei’s heart nearly stopped.

Not because it was from any pistol that they were using, but because it was so loud, so clear, and it carried with it the weight of agony. A sniper rifle, from the window. She looked, and there was Aries, who looked breathless, and worn down.

But who had he hit?

She thought at first it was Calix, and felt panic rise up within her, but then realize it was Caius who was lying on the ground, blood pooling out around him. All motion had stopped, and Calix was kneeling next to him, crying something indistinct.

Haze was staring up at the window, a hauntingly dangerous gaze in his eyes.

“Aries, what is the meaning of this?”

“I - I thought - I was aiming for - ”

“Don’t you know I wanted the bartender alive, too?”

And through it all, maybe Rei could hear what Calix was saying. Was he saying he was sorry, or cursing the last of life out of Caius? But there were still tears in his eyes, and Caius reached up to touch his face. For once, his gaze seemed not on Haze, but on his brother.

“You left me alone once already! Don’t leave me alone again!”

But then Caius’s gaze seemed to slip past Calix and over his shoulder, to where the boy Haze once stood. And there his gaze remained, until his eyes were closed.

It seemed that without Boston, and in the subtle confusion, the Sunset Eyes did not seem intent on attacking Rei and Calix any longer. For what if they made the same mistake, and slaughtered someone whom Haze refused to kill? The way Aries stood there in the window, hesitantly, as if he wanted to run away, but he couldn’t, for Haze was still standing there below, looking up at him. Had Aries worked for Haze all along? If so, then what had this all been about? Why had he and Boston been fighting, if they were working for the same boss?

Without Caius by his side, Haze looked so lonely on the street, a boy in a coat with a missing eye. Rei felt the instinct to run to his side and protect him in this darkened world, but then remembered that he was the cause of all this. The lights, she should go put out the lights while she still could…

She ran to one of the Sunset Eyes’s bikes and hopped on. It didn’t seem like anyone would care at this point, though it did seem awkward for her to drive off at such a time. She looked at Calix, to see if he would come with her, but he was still bent over his brother’s body, his shoulders shaking. She extended a hand to touch them, but paused, and only patted his shoulder before turning and driving off. He should be okay. The Sunset Eyes should know better than to hurt someone who was in grief.

As she rode, taking the drive out of her pocket and inserting it into the bike, she felt her eyes tear up. Because she felt like she was abandoning her ward to the world again? Because she was on her own again? Because she didn’t understand why anything had happened the way it had?

There were still the last of the lights left, out on the skyline…