Folly & Agendas & Talulah

Chapter 54

Chernobog...
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Broken at the seams, cuts and gashes exposed to the frigid air. Fallen past the slums. Limping over skin-dry corpses. Fire crackled at every corner. Metal cascaded down bridges and slopes. Smoke kept on rising higher and higher, until their heads couldn't bend anymore. Rips and fissures were layered on roads and bodies alike; none can escape this horrid fate. And so, Misha ran, only to fail, only to cry during her exodus, only to mourn, only to be collapse, only to be saved by an angel.

"It's safe in here. Don't faint now, little cub."

A pair of eyes watched over them. That same pair of eyes shook at the sight of a light shooting up to the sky, piercing the clouds, disorienting the heavens above; tremors shook the ground below, momentarily pinning everyone under the shade of ephemeral sunshine.

"Yeah, we should be fine for the time being."

Haley wrapped bandages on Misha's legs and carried her to a bunker hidden under the streets of Chernobog. There were no lights inside, so they had to use the Sankta's halo and wings. There was no warmth inside, so blankets had to suffice. The remnants of a former underground clinic was littered around them. White beds, now sullied by dirt, had ripped sheets layered over it. Numerous cabinets had pieces of pill capsules; it now rested as an array of colors, as powder. The angel sat across from the bear cub, and wrapped her arms over her knees. She looks up and sees broken lights. Dark lines sat under her eyelids, with gray sinking down to her chin –but it was dry.

She looked at the Ursus in front of her and asked: "So, Misha... how did you end up here?"

Misha laid herself on her side, with her right cheek touching the floor. "I was running away," She answered. "I ran... I wanted to go back to my home, but now it's all destroyed."

"I see... so... what were you running away from?"

"I ran away from the Reunion, from Lungmen, I... I..."

Choking on her words, she stopped. Haley listened to her, but her eyes wandered about, until she started rummaging through her bag that sat under her. When Misha found the right words, she looked at the angel in front of her. She lifted her body up, but she laid on an angle with her back on the wall; her joints cracked with every move.

"I ran, because I was afraid," She said. Haley's hand froze inside her bag; it's as if her ears have heard something similar in the past, but she couldn't grasp at the thought. Or maybe her mind was fooling her.

"What exactly happened in Lungmen?" Haley asked, pulling her hand out of her bag.

The Ursus turned her head away and stared at the ground. A light sound of tears dripping hit the floor. Sniffs could be heard, and so were chokes. Haley watched the girl's lament and pushed her lips inside her mouth.

"I lost my brother to someone I thought called my hero," Misha wept, holding her hands to her eyes. "That man saved me, and then betrayed me, and then he spared me–"

Haley's eye shot open.

"–the same man who saved me twice. That man was able heal my wounds. I trusted him; I felt safe. He covered my escape when he fought the Reunion; he spared my life. I was so scared..."

Haley held her breath.

"–and then he killed my brother."

KER-BLAM!

Haley's fingers crept to her mouth. She could only listen as the world above them trembled. And yet, she could only sympathize. She said, "I'm sorry for your loss," in a barely audible voice, just enough for the cub to hear her, even though those words held almost nothing. Her own past was far too distant for her to remember, so she sat there with her arms wrapped over her knees, with her legs pushing onto her breasts. Then she yawned, drawing the mourning Misha's attention. She shook her head and collected her thoughts.