Last Life Part 1: Homecoming

Banes of Blackhill

Saul

Through the electrified, reinforced gates and into the great plaza of Blackhill we went. All was quiet and it was as if Verres and I were the only things that lived. In the empty clearing, we were yet to be escorted elsewhere.  So much for a warm welcome back home. There was only the white and gray brick of the wide court and the dull metal of the imposing walls around us.

"The place is deserted, and yet they armor the wall. I find that as a rather peculiar tactic." Verres broke the silence. I nodded my agreement. I guess the population was even poorer now than when I had last seen the place. But that was over a decade ago, I wonder what could have happened since.  "Have you been here before, Saul? You've got a look on your face."

I chuckled and kicked a bit of scrap metal with my foot. "Heh, yeah a long time ago... I don't remember much." From what I could recall, the place seemed not much worse for wear. Still the skyscrapers stood and the fence still worked.

"Not many fond memories?" He was curious now, his voice got pitchy like a person's. I could almost forget that he was not.

"Oh no, it's not that. I just-"

"SAUL! Welcome back!" A voice called out from across the courtyard, and I could just barely make out a figure standing at the base of the inner wall. Was that-

"Alice?! Is that you?" I practically screamed back at her. A breathless gasp was her answer. Yes, it was her.

I bolted across the plaza right up to the woman with outstretched arms. I embraced her and buried my head into her neck. My god it's been forever. When I pulled away it was then I realized how much shorter she had gotten, and how her hair had all turned silver. Alice still had that same mask on her face, all gray and beat up, with the neon pink filters. My heart was in my throat; ten years is a long time.

"Oh... Saul, you've grown so much..." She got out, her dark umber eyes were shining with tears and I realized that mine were as well. "I've... I've missed you."

"I'm so sorry Alice. I have so much to tell you." I managed, still holding onto her hands as if she would dissipate if I let go. "I'm sorry." 

I had almost forgotten Verres, until he was practically on top of me, bumping me gently in the back of the head with his snout. "Little one, I get that this is touching and all, but are we not going to ask why we were shot at?"

Alice looked up at him in surprise, as if she were seeing him for the first time. "So he speaks..." She mused under her breath. "Ah yes, we're very sorry about that. Dominic was supposed to convey the message to us, but he was... set back." Alice struggled, then wrapped her arm around my shoulders. "You've gotten so tall you're almost the same as-"

"SAUL?! IS THAT YOU?!" Booming in the retained walls, a deep voice assaulted my ears. I squinted in the bright light at the rapidly advancing figure. No way.

"Marcel?" I gasped as the towering teen broke into a sprint. His answer was bulling me over into the dust. I could barely breathe under his weight, my god how he had grown! I laughed and hugged him back, struggling to get up. When I finally managed to sit up, I saw that his mask still had that same baby-blue paint job. But of course, it was different mask. He must be at least four times the size he used to be.

"My god, Saul..." Under his breath he finished his sentenced, fixing me with a slight glare. "We almost shot you!"

"Aha, I know. You guys got Verres though." I looked back up at Verres who snorted and averted his gaze. The bullet wounds had already healed, and there was not a single scar or mark in their place.

"Uh... Sorry, Verres." Marcel said, color draining from his face as he looked up. "It's just we- we weren't expecting visitors... Especially those of your stature, uh sir."

Verres raised his eyebrows (if you could even call them that) and looked down his snout at Marcel, "Apology accepted, young one. You smell... Familiar."

"Ah yeah... I'm his brother!" Marcel pulled his mask off and smiled. I saw his face for the first time in... a decade. My god he looks just like me. That crooked smile, that tall nose, and those wide upturned eyes, all just like mine, except his eyes were warm brown... Mine were different... I grinned at him, tears streaming down the sides of my face. I've missed him, I've missed them all.

A metal tipped cane tapped against concrete, approaching slowly. As if from the dry lips of a snake, bitter words fell from a less than savory tongue. "Ah. So there he is."

Cold as ice, even in the boiling heat of daytime, the cane came to rest upon my shoulder. For reasons I couldn't fathom, dread crept into my ribs and sank its claws into my heart. I didn't even know this man.

But he knew me.