Eyes of a Nobody.

[Xyrael]

Ikeda Tanaka wasn't quite sure what to do with his life, now that he had graduated secondary schooling. There were ample opportunities for Upper schooling with the military, but he also wanted to teach history. He found the rise and fall of the Inglish and Myrorian Empires to be a fascinating topic, and one that the government paid well for.

In his hands he held numerous brochures for different Upper level Schools, he just couldn't decide. He leaned back in his car seat, looking out the glass window, past the residue left behind from dried water droplets and towards the sky. Another perfect, cloudless day. Tanaka shrugged habitually and decided he'd think about school later, it was a good time to visit the mall. Summer had just started, maybe he'd catch up with some class mates and see how they were doing.

There were many doors to the mall, and everytime they opened the aroma from the food court filled his nostrils. He could smell all sorts of different foods, American hot dogs, Varkourian pastries, Myrorian brats, but his favorite had to be sushi. It tasted fresher than the rest of the food sold by the food court. His phone buzzed in his pocket as he walked to the Kano Sushi Restaurant.

i see you

The text popped out at him, and he looked around for a familiar face. No one, so Tanaka shrugged again and pretended to be sly as he slipped the phone back into his pocket, keeping vigilant for anyone he recognized.

The woman behind the counter glared at him menacingly as he stumbled across the list of foods to purchase, the man behind him obviously impatient with his unpreparedness. His phone buzzed again, and the man behind him pushed him aside.

whatre you up to??

The phone mocked him. He'd lost his patience, scurrying from the crowded cafeteria past a sleu of lingerie and trinket shops, several cell phone stands with annoying salesmen, and a rather attractive woman sitting on a bench who looked at him curiously.

He caught his breath in front of a Lego store, with absurdly large boxes portraying strange starships crowned with the trademark crenellations of Lego's adorned the top of each vessel. He saw her there, in front of him, smiling.

hi

The phone buzzed in his pocket, but he didn't look, knowing it was her as she slid the phone into her purse and skipped in his direction.

"Sae!" he clutched her as she pressed against him, nearly knocking him off balance with her forceful hug.

She waited a minute to let go before looking up at him with a grin, "It's been a while Tanaka, how have you been?" her hands meandred along his back as she kept him close, an elderly couple looked at the pair with obvious discontent.

"I've been pretty good, Sae, you?"

"Fine," she smiled as she let him go, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the fountain in the center of the mall. She sat down, pulling him with her with a giggle. "I missed you, what are you up to?"

"Can't decide whether I want to go to Upper-level or the military."

"Oooh, military boy, hm?" she jested as she pinched his scrawny arms. "Protect me!" she laughed, "those evil Varkour might stick me with a baguette!"

Tanaka grinned as he looked at her and she stopped smiling, looking intently into his eyes. His heart shook as he felt her soft fingers moved between his, a thud echoing through his body as her lips parted, moving closer to him.

The lights flickered before failing, shattering the moment. Tanaka looked about him, people were rushing around. Sae stood, mildly worried, the mall's loudspeakers had ceased their music, and an eerie calm had settled over the mall. Another shake, this time longer, forced several store gates to dislodge and slam shut. People fled from the building, and Tanaka grabbed Sae's hand. "Come on, Sae, we can't stay!"

"Is it an earthquake?!" she shouted at him as the tremors grew more violent. Several officers were grabbing people by the shirts, forcing them from the building and out doors held open by more officers who seemed to be panicking.

An officer grabbed Tanaka's shirt and flung him from the door to the sidewalk as people swamped the parking lot. Tanaka scrambled to his feet, looking for Sae. She stood in the street, looking to the sky.

"Tanaka-chan, what's that?" she pointed to what used to be a cloudless sky, now scratched by streaks of white.

"Vapor trails..." he stuttered.

[Xyrael]

The streaks through the air continued to grow. Tanaka squinted, he couldn't see planes at their head, and his eyes watered as the bright sky tingled his senses. He looked back down to Sae, noticing a plume of smoke behind her. A sound seemed to echo throughout the parking lot as fire engines raced through the streets.

Tanaka didn't recognize the sound as a wail slowly changed pitch until an officer grabbed him and shouted for him to leave as quickly as he could.

"Why?!"

"Do you hear that, boy!" the officer pointed in a random direction, "those are..."

An explosion slammed through the mall, ripping apart a large section of the hardware store and sending people flying with cement as cracks ripped through the ground. Tanaka lost his balance, falling backwards as a thud deafened any sense of hearing. Car alarms blared loudly, and flying stones pelted his face as he struggled to land on his hands. Shards of flying glass sprayed the officers face, droplets of blood filling the air. Tanaka looked for Sae as another explosion ripped through the middle section of an office building.

He saw her, laying face down on the asphalt as screaming people fled to their cars. In the streets, traffic signals had turned off with the loss of power, and a gridlock universally jammed the city of Khaled. He crawled through debris and smoldering plaster, the squirming officers movements slowly stopping as the life faded from his body. Panic raced through his mind, "Sae, are you okay!?" He couldn't hear his own voice. "SAE!"

His hand touched her back and he could feel her trembling. He looked to his car in the parking lot, its front window shattered by a burnt toolbox. He looked back to Sae and pulled her up, tears streaming down her face. "Sae, we have to go. My house has a basement, we'll be safe there okay?"

Sae kept crying, and Tanaka pulled her to a riderless vespa, the owner mysteriously nowhere to be found. Luckily the keys were easily found, still lodged in the ignition. He pulled Sae onto his lap and pushed the vespa along with his feet until he was moving quickly enough to keep his balance. Even with traffic, the vespa would get him home faster than anything else. He looked to the sky, he knew what he had seen. But... why?

[Xyrael]

The road was clustered with abandoned cars and rubble from damaged buildings, but the waves of missiles had subsided. The air-raid sirens, decades old by now, still sang their morbid tune in a twisted duet with ambulance sirens as they drove on sidewalks, desperate to reach the cities only major hospital. Tanaka slowed to a stop before his home, setting the kickstand down and carrying Sae into the building. The solid walls dampened the wail of the sirens, and Sae sat on the couch.

Tanaka looked for the remote, finding it between the sofa cushions. He clicked it a few times, but nothing. Damned powers' down here, too, he thought. He turned to an old wireless radio he'd thought about selling online.

Luckily the batteries still worked, and he turned the dial looking for a station. Static, static, and more static. He switched to AM and found the state-owned station. "-ning for Araka, Khadel, Narel, and New New Ingland. Death tolls are currently unknown, and power has been severed from these cities. I repeat, this isn't a drill, this isn't a joke. Missiles have struck the cities of Araka, Khadel, Narel, and New New Ingland. Foreign soldiers have pushed across the border and are advancing on these cities, the government has advised all residents with the capability to do so to calmly leave their residences and relocate away from Sel'ia. Militia units and armed force have been mo-" the radio droned on, but Tanaka stopped listening as fear gripped him.

"Foreign soldiers?" Sae looked at him intently, his hands letting the radio slip from their grasp as his panicked mind struggled to think of what to do. The unlit house creaked eerily as the sound of bootsteps echoed through the streets. Night would fall soon, darkness.

"Sae, we can't stay here."

"Where do you want to go?" she asked him.

"We should go to the beach," he replied.

"But didn't you hear? New New Ingland is under attack, it's the only major city on the beach!"

"With power gone I'm not sure the trains are working, Sae. The only thing we can do is take a ferry, and the only place I know ferries travel from is New New Ingland," he searched through the small house for an atlas, he needed to know how to get there. There was one on top of the refridgerator, so he went to go grab it. Out of the window he could see soldiers disembarking from a well armoured car. They were setting up sandbags and cement dividers in the streets, and further east he could see smoke rising from the mountains.

"Sae, we're leaving now." He grabbed her arms and pulled her out the door towards the vespa. He looked through the small garage he used for storage for an extra gallon or two of gas, he didn't know how full the tank on the vespa was and he didn't want to get caught in the middle of some flatlands and get squashed by tanks. He put the gas canister by his feet, Sae straddled his back. He flipped the kickstand up and drove through the sidewalk, past several soldiers setting up defenses in street just outside of his home. One waved at him, the other set up a machine gun, while another told someone 'I love you' before closing their cell phone.

Khadel wasn't a big city, it only took him fifteen minutes before he was on the west end heading along the Continental Highway 16. But even then he could hear the first sounds of gunfire, the distant clack of small arms and the echoing thud of artillery slamming into what he could only imagine was his neighborhood. He pushed the vespa faster, it would take an hour to get to New New Ingland.

[Xyrael]

Tanaka thought the CH-16 would have been more crowded with all that was going on, but it was nearly vacant. Maybe the radio knew more about New New Ingland than he did, maybe it wasn't there anymore. The lights of Khadel had faded into the nights as the CH-16 twisted through the plains, bending to the curves of the rolling hills. Eternal night seemed to have enveloped the sky, and Tanaka only realized Sae remained awake when she tucked her fingers under his shirt to keep them warm. So... cold...

He passed several small towns, it meant he was getting closer to New New Ingland, he didn't need the extra gasoline after all. Or so he thought, thought the wind rushed against his helmet he could see the familiar ominous flashes of light illuminated within a setting fog. Tanaka knew his only chance to get away from here was by boat, they had to have a ferry in New New Ingland.

As he drove further through the outlying areas of the city he could slowly hear the echoes of gunfire growing, though still feint. He saw ahead of him a barricade manned by soldiers, he could see their barrels aimed at him. He squeezed the brake hard as one of the men fired a single shot over his head, the flash forcing his heart to skip a beat. Two men jogged forward cautiously with raised rifles, grabbing his jacket and throwing him from his bike.

The pavement was not a warm welcome, and a soldier slammed his foot against his helmet before opening his visor with the barrel of his rifle. "Why are you here?!" he shouted. Tanaka choked on his words as he struggled to catch his breath, and the soldier repeated himself.

"Ferry," Tanaka managed to cough. "I came from Khadel, after the missiles hit."

The soldiers boot raised but his gun stayed steady. "Identification?" he asked.

"In my back pocket, in the wallet."

Another soldier patted down his pants, squeezing his wallet before pulling it out and nodding to the other soldier. "Why are you here, you know New New Ingland's under attack don't you?"

Tanaka shook his head 'no'. "The power was off, the T.V. didn't say anything."

"Damn, Khadel too? Get up," the soldier offered his hand to Tanaka, then to Sae. He hurried them back to the barricade, into a small checkpoint building. Pulling out his flashlight he lit up a map of the city. "The harbors here," he pointed to the map, "they've got ferries running but I'm not sure how long until the Sel'ians start hitting them with rockets. We're scheduled to be cycled to the inner city in ten, if you want to wait we'll take you with us. It'll be easier than hitting all the checkpoints on that thing," he gestured to the vespa.

"You can take us?" Tanaka looked at him curiously.

"Yeah, no ones come through the 16 in twenty minutes except you. They probably took Khadel, I'm surprised you didn't go to Narel, they've got an old train station there and it was closer."

"Yeah..." Tanaka frowned, Sae probably thought of it and he hadn't listened. "You said they probably took Khadel? What do you mean?"

The soldier shrugged, "We haven't heard from Khadel in a while. We figure they lost communications. They've gotta be putting up one hell of a fight, the Sel'ians haven't broken through yet."

Sae interjected, failing to control the pitch of her voice, "Why Sel'ia?"

"Who knows, they didn't even declare war. They just shot rockets and hit our border with tanks. I don't get it, everythings going to hell. Ozia, Laen'ka, Joukai... now Sel'ia, pretty soon there won't be a Xyrael..." his radio flickered to life, scrawling about replacements. "Trucks almost here, just sit tight while we finish up."

[Xyrael]

The trucks slowly rumbled in, and Tanaka could hear the sounds of doors closing and opening, the soldiers chatting amongst the other as they loaded their equipment. The familiar soldier appeared in the doorway, knocking twice.

"Come on, we're leaving. We have to go soon, Khadel has reported in, Sel'ian forces have cut them off and will have the city shortly, we've gotta move now."

Without a word Tanaka and Sae quickly boarded the truck, a macabre silence fell upon the group as the truck engine roared, carrying them further into the city. Tanaka looked warily in the direction of his home before looking across to Sae. She looked at him with a weak, reassuring smile. After a few short minutes the soldier shook his shoulder.

"Don't worry, bro. Shouldn't be long. In this town you're as safe as--" an explosion rocked the truck, throwing the soldier out of the rear. The distinctive clack of gunfire, and clang of richoteting bullets forced Tanaka to grab Sae and cover her on the bed of the truck. Soldiers grabbed their rifles, hopping over the couple and into the street to return fire and find cover.

An unfamiliar soldier ducked behind the truck, and for a moment locked eyes with Tanaka. His heart skipped a beat as the man raised a pistol and aimed at him, his eyes closed, his fingers clenched Sae's hands harder. A single gunshot echoed in his mind as his entire body seized in fear.

"GET THE FUCK OUT!" shouted a familiar voice. Sae started screaming uncontrollably, her body shaking in fear. Tanaka opened his eyes and saw the familiar face of the soldier who had shown him the map. "Go! Go! Run now, Go!" he shouted at Tanaka. He didn't need to be told twice, newfound strength filled his body, blood surging through his veins. He tossed Sae over his shoulder, his feet planting into the pavement before taking flight. Run quicker than he ever had, he could hear the whistle of lead clipping the air around his body, he could see through the fog those men that had been in the truck moments before now hiding behind a brick wall. His feet didn't care, he ran, and they didn't stop him.

Tanaka wished the sound of gunfire would become more distant, he prayed for the soldier that had saved his life. But all around him hell seemed to be erupting, the city suddenly caught up in an intense battle. His lungs began to fail him, and he paused at the end of the alley, looking out both ways down the street. Everything was empty, only the echoes of gunshots filled the air, the occasional sound of tank tracks reverberating in the alley behind him. He could barely see down a block through the fog, but he could guess where the sea was.

He grabbed Sae and pressed her to the wall. "Sae, I promise you we'll be okay, got it? I promise."

She looked back at him, holding back her tears as she bit her lip. "Okay."

Holding her hand he slowly stalked down the sidewalk, looking for silhouettes in the fog. Praying to never heard the whistle of bullets again. Ahead, he could see flashlights searching through the fog. He instinctively hid in a small niche in the wall, wanting to hail the men but fearing for his life. They spoke Xyraeli, he could understand them. "I swear to the Light, Yasuki, I see one of those bastards we're going to be having Sel'ian for chow."

Tanaka peaked out from the niche, waving his hand. He watched the soldiers point their rifles quickly in his direction, one man raising his clenched fist to halt the rest. "I'm Xyraeli! Friend, don't shoot man! We're trying to get to the ferry!" he pleaded. The soldier lowered his weapon slowly, looking over Tanaka carefully.

"Where are you coming from?" he asked.

"I don't know, we were riding with some soldiers from the uh... checkpoint at 16 and the truck was attacked. I ran with Sae as fast as I could," Sae waved warily from behind the wall. The soldier lower his rifle completely.

"Come here, the ferry is this way," he motioned for Tanaka to follow. He grabbed Sae's hand and hurried along, jogging alongside the man towards an intersection. "Go down this road, 3 blocks. There will be a checkpoint, just don't get shot."

"Thanks. Good luck out there, man," Tanaka spoke softly.

The soldier smiled briefly before waving his goodbye, "You too, take care of your girl. Light grace you."

Tanaka looked at Sae a little hesitantly but her gaze was buried in his shoulder. Their tired legs carried them down the foggy street, they could barely make out the burnt out stop light, much less see any barricade three blocks away.

[Xyrael]

The sound of footsteps echoed through the fog as Sae ran ahead of Tanaka. His ears were still ringing slightly from the truck attack earlier, but he could make out a faint noise to his left as he crossed an intersection. His toes caught his heel and he landed on his palms, asphalt ripping skin and sending pain shooting through his hands and arms. He didn't have time to care about the pain, paranoia filling him as he looked into the ominous fog. He could see a large shape silhouetted in the distance, he could hear the thunderous creak of tracks slapping pacement. Was his mind playing tricks on him? It was night, how could he see a silhouette without fog?

The noise grew louder as the ringing in his ears faded away. He looked in front of him, Sae stood at the corner her eyes full of fear. He looked back into the fog. He couldn't tell what was there, but something told him if what he suspected was really there he better get his ass up and moving. He stumbled to his feet and sent himself moving to where the soldier had told him the checkpoint was. The fog was too thick to even see more than a block. He heard a loud, cracking sound as pavement crushed behind him.

Sae looked over her shoulder, stumbling over her feet and falling onto her back. Her head knocked the sidewalk, and she stopped moving. Tanaka fell to her side, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her. "Get up," he whispered, afraid someone would hear him. Behind him, a behemoth of metal slowly appeared from the intersection. The whine of its turret forced his head to turn back.

He heard two fizzles from behind him, two glowing lights hurling themselves like baseballs into the side of the tank. Two explosions illuminated the buildings through the fog, a dense cloud of smoke hid the turret as the cannon returned fire, the shell slamming into the distance. Another fizzle sent a ball of light slamming into the thick black smoke, and the tank was silenced. More gunfire erupted around him, Tanaka didn't have time to stay paralyzed by the sight of battle. He grabbed Sae, praying she was only unconscious. He could feel her warm blood dripping on his arms as her carried her in the only direction he knew to go. The fierce roar of a machine gun muffled the sound of the other guns, he could see tracers flying from the barricade ahead, flying past him.

"Don't shoot!" he shouted as he ran towards them. The soldiers looked to him and Sae, waving him to run past before continuing their stalwart defense. Tanaka didn't look back, his legs were growing numb, his lungs burned and struggled. His bleeding hands were staining Sae's shirt, or so he hoped. He closed his eyes and kept running straight, praying that this would be the beach paradise he knew existed only a few hours ago.

[Xyrael]

He hands shook, his knees trembled, his teeth grit with every shudder that quivered through his body. Everything he had known had been blasted apart in just a few hours. He didn't care who, he didn't care why anymore; he just knew he had to leave. He'd made it to the harbor, a medic had taken Sae from him to the medical tent. He didn't know how bad it was, his feet burned a trail as he paced impatiently.

Blast could be heard all around, what had been sporadic gunfire thirty minutes earlier was now incessant. He could almost hear the jingle of casings hitting street. The fog was still too thick to see anything, but when he had heard the skyline of New New Ingland fall he knew the city would as well. The soldiers, despite their efforts, weren't going to win.

He wanted to leave the hellhole, but the Sel'ians had sunk a larger ship in the harbor, it's carcass blocked other boats from rescuing the horde of people gathered on the pier. Fisherman were scurrying to untie their boats and break away for the capital or Aripa. But Tanaka had heard the reports on the radio, Sel'ian armoured divisions had broken through most of the defenses, SNLF units had detonated bridges leading to the lagoon city the Emperor called home. The Emperor himself had refused to leave, he'd die with his people. If he dies, thought Tanaka, may Light give grace to those Sel'ian souls.

A medic shifted through a crowd of would-be patients, deciding which would die and which could live. The bodies had begun piling up behind the tent, they'd quarantined it to hide the site from the people, but he could smell it. The moon disseminated light over the harbor, vaguely peering through the layer of fog. A man approached him, and Tanaka nodded his acknowledgement without glancing in his direction.

"Where are you headed?" the man asked.

"I don't know."

"Why aren't you on the pier, they'll have boats in any minute."

Tanaka looked to the medical tent from the corner of his eye, the man following his gaze.

"I see, how are they?"

"She'll be fine," Tanaka reassured himself, the man was still skeptical, however. "I've known her for years, since lower school. We just graduated a month ago, she..."

"It's ok, boy. No need to worry," the man looked out over the harbor before looking back to Tanaka. "You should get her on a stretcher, bring her to my boat. We can get her to a hospital in the Imperial City in a couple of hours, think she can make it?"

Tanaka raised an eyebrow at the man, "How?"

"I've got a fishing boat, we can cross the gap no problem. Is that alright? I doubt New New Ingland will be safe much longer."

"I'll go get her, just wait here, I'll be back soon. I promise," Tanaka felt an urgent need to get Sae, but he wasn't sure the man would stay long. The man shook his head and Tanaka hurried to the tent, brushing past nurses and hurrying through the tent. Around him sights of gore and blood tore at his mind. Screaming and wailing became symphonic cacophony of pain and loss. He found Sae, she looked at peace in her bed. His fingers caressed her cheek and he smiled.

"Who are you?" a nurse asked rudely, posturing needlessly.

"I'm her friend, I need to get her out of here, to a hospital."

"I'm sorry, sir, I can't let you take her unless you're a member of the family." Tanaka frowned at the woman, but she continued, "If you were a member of the family I'm sure you could sign a form easily enough." The woman shifted through a few documents on a cart beside Sae's bed.

Tanaka raised his eyebrows, curious. The nurse looked at Tanaka, realizing he didn't comprehend the gravity of the situation.

"Sir," she paused, "I can not allow you to take her if you are not a member of the family. But I also don't have beds to take care of other patients. Are you a family member or not?"

"Um... sure."

"Spouse? Sibling? Father?"

"Uh... definitely not the last one. Um, I guess the first one."

"Spouse?"

"Sure," Tanaka was left confused by the conversation as the woman filled out a form.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," the nurse joked halfheartedly, "take care of her. She's suffered a concussion and she's unconscious, I can tell you she didn't break her skull, but I'm not sure about internal bleeding."

Tanaka nodded and gave his thanks to the woman. It didn't take him long to push Sae to the mans boat and lay her in a cabin bed. The woman took the cart quickly back to the hospital, and the man nodded with a smile as two dozen more people burdened the fishing vessel.

[Xyrael]

His body shook as the cold and hunger finally set in. His stomach growled fiercely, and fatigue lingered on his eyes. He'd forgotten everything in his rush to survive, his mother and sisters, what had become of them? He looked to his phone, hoping to see a voicemail. The discoloured screen, however, forced him to worry. It was broken, he'd have no way of finding out if his family had managed to leave their home, too.

Within the cabin there were six others besides Sae, he'd met three of them but he didn't take the times to put their names to memory. One girl was young, maybe eight, eagerly curious but distraught. She had been leaving her school when a missile had slammed into a nearby gas station, she wouldn't say anymore though. Another was her father. He refused to speak of his daughters mother, or much of anything for that matter. Simple nods and a perpetual frown, Tanaka didn't want to know his story. The third was a foreigner, Tanaka didn't catch where from but he had lots of snack foods in a small briefcase, he was probably a salesman working in New New Ingland. The food was good, though his accent was undeniably thick and strong.

His fingers touched Sae's cheeks gently while she slept peacefully, the slow, gentle rocking of the sheltered gulfs waves carried him into an empty, dreamless, and lonely sleep.

A hand grabbed his t-shirt, shaking him awake. "Huh!?" Tanaka jerked up, his eyes cloudy and struggling to see who as there.

"We're at the hospital, boy. Get up, get her inside. They need to see her, make sure she's ok," the familiar voice of the boat captain rang like music in his ears. In only a few minutes Tanaka had carried Sae from the boat nested in the waterways of the Imperial City to one of the largest hospitals in the nation. Waterways crisscrossed the city, etching their way through a myriad of traditional structures. The city was a hotbed for tourism, although now many of the tourists were indeed refugees, setting up their villages of tents in the small, pedestrian walkways between the buildings. Thousands of people struggled to cope with their new way of life. Tanaka shook his head, denying what he saw as he entered the hospital. The sick littered the lobby of the hospital, and the queue for the front desk was bitterly long. He'd managed to find Sae a spot to lay by the far wall, a nurse providing a simple pillow to rest her head on.

The line took a bit over half an hour, and the wait for a doctor took much longer even after they had been called in. No insurance was asked for, no forms to be filled out, a simple explanations, a few nods, thirty more minutes and a few smiles. "All you have to do is wait for her to wake up, and make sure she doesn't bang her head anymore," the doctor smiled. The boat captain grinned, patting tanaka on the back.

"Good luck, boy. Take care of her, and yourself. May the Light grace your path," and with those few words the man that had saved his life left. Tanaka's tired arms carried Sae to waterbus stop, laying her on the bench while he crouched beside her. All around him bustling refugees sobbed in their abysmal tents, soldiers dressed much better than the ones before set up defenses in every feasible corner. A small, battery powered radio spoke to Tanaka.

"...day is not over. Our fight has only begun. Those who defy the Light will be consumed in Darkness! The torch does not flee from the night, the heavens do not bow before hell, and so I shall stand proud those who would make themselves my foe! This land is our birthright, this land is our home, and homes are worth fighting for!" It was the Emperor, his voice, though emitted from a single radio it resonated throughout the city waterways. He continued to speak, but Tanaka was distracted as another, new unit of soldiers marched through the city pathways. A distinctive golden anchor emblazoned upon the Illuminate flag born their shoulder. Their boot steps continued to march forward, even as the Empire collapsed.

[Xyrael]

ooc: sorry about the wait, I tried 3-4 times to post and every time the server was either down or IE gave me some stupid error. Really takes the motivation of posting away.

ic:

The night sky glowed menacingly with the vibrance of burning bits of plane descending like autumn leaves, the distant sounds of explosions barely touching Tanaka's ears. He sheltered Sae's face from the fragments of glass the pattered the ground from above, where the dogfight continued ceaselessly. In the distance he could hear what had to be artillery opening fire, the Sel'ians would be in the capital soon. All around him the last remnants of the Illuminate Armed Forces dug into every nook and cranny, every niche bristled with tens of guns, grenades and sandbags, ammo catridges and rocket launchers were as common as cobblestones in the ancient streets.

Tanaka's waterbus stop was near the Palace, which stood like a testament of dying pride and power, there resided the hope of the Illuminate, the God-Emperor still shook his fist in defiance. He would not flee his country, like Tanaka could not flee Sae's side. His hand brushed aside a lock of hair from her eye, tucking it behind her ear. Her eyelashes fluttered, but Tanaka did not notice. More golden anchors piled into the streets, an assortment of sniper rifles and medical kits. It wasn't until a policeman grabbed his shirt that it became clear the military had no intention of abandoning their home, they were going to die here.

"Kid!" shouted the officer. "Get to the docks, tell everyone you see to get to the docks. It's not safe here, the Sel'ians are pushing across the bay hard."

Tanaka began to voice his refusal before a small voice coughed out, "...what?" Tanaka looked down at Sae whose fingers attempted to crush her eyeballs. "What's wrong? Where am I?" The officer had left further down the street, stirring the sleeping within their tents.

"We're at the Imperial City, but I'm not sure for how long. The Sel'ians are winning."

"War? My mom!" she looked over herself for her cell phone, but she couldn't find it. "What about my mom!" she looked at him angrily.

"I don't have any idea Sae. I don't know. We have to go, look," he pointed to a squad of the golden anchors, the SNLF were bustling all around, barbed wire and explosives erected in now evacuated alleys.

Sae screamed as she heard the thunderous wail of a Illuminate jet shoot through the air above the buildings, slamming into a distant block. Tanaka's eyes barely blinked, fixated down the canal as a boat carrying figures quietly navigated the waters. An eery silence fell over the area. Tanaka grabbed Sae's shoulder, throwing her to her feet.

"Go!" he whispered harshly, and as though by his signal a hellish storm of lead was unleashed from the nearby buildings, limbs and bits of bone and flesh flying through the air as high caliber machineguns ripped the vessel into shreds. Tanaka's knees buckled in fear, Sae's senses seemed to go wild as she fled through the streets. Struggling to get up he could hear the city seem to ignite in conflict, artillery shells slamming through millenia old buildings, bullets and the screams of dying, the wails of panic. Air raid alarms moaned their morbid cry through the canals, clouds of dirt, dust and debris drifted through the air. Tanaka rose to his feet, hurrying after his bewildered love. His fingers clamped onto her shoulder as he caught her, spinning her around to face him.

Fire turned night into day, and his eyes locked with hers under the resilient brilliance of the Palace. "Sae..." Tanaka looked into her eyes, praying her panic would fade. "I..."

A soft, distant whirl of rushing air grew closer, a single star racing towards the city center. Tanaka's eyes looked in fear as life seemed to blur around him. Sae's eyes traced the path upon which his followed, her fingers dug into his shoulder, her lips opened to scream. Like two suns colliding, the shooting star slammed into the resplendent residence of the Emperor, fire sweeping across the canal, rocks and buildings cracking under the immense explosion, shrapnel and fragments riding the shockwave. Tanaka's fingers grabbed Sae's waist, instinctively using himself to shield her. He could feel the ground moving beneath his feet, he could see reality distort itself. He closed his eyes, his feet lifting from the ground, Sae's fingers grabbing his shirt as their bodies floated through the sky together.

[Xyrael]

ooc: Happy Valentine's Day

A gloved hand pulled Sae out from underneath Tanaka, his hair matted against his head, moist. Red. "Miss! Are you okay?" the officer questioned her. Sae could feel pain shooting through her thigh, but she scrambled to Tanaka's side.

"Tanaka!" she shouted into his face, her eyes barely focusing on his face, wrapped in a dark shroud as her eyes readjusted to the dark night. The Palace burned before her, nothing remained except burning wood. The officer moved quickly to Tanaka's side, his hand flashing against Tanaka's paling neck. He shifted his fingers, moving them across his skin. "Tanaka..." she sighed desperately hoping to hear a gasp of life. The fingers passed to his blood stained hands, pressed against his wrist, searching.

Flaming paper drifted like confetti, gunfire grew louder. Sae watched as the officer rolled Tanaka's body onto his back, mounting him while pressing his hands against Tanaka's welcoming chest. Press, press, press, breath... breath... breath... press.... press. Sae's hands clamped around his motionless hand, her eyes fixated on the single tear still dwelling in Tanaka's eye as the officer desperately tried bringing him back to life. She watched it slip down his cheek as he shook under the constant efforts of the officer.

"It's no good," the officer looked to Sae, his gloves stained red and black with blood and ash. "We have to go."

"I can't leave him! He never left me!" Sae resisted the officers grips as her hand refused to release her love. She could feel his fingers, the blood and sweat a silky smooth lubricant that slid along her skin. Tanaka trembled, his hands shaking in her hand. "See!" she shouted with joy.

Tanaka's hand stopped, blood trickled from his mouth. His light faded into the dark, and Sae watched the stream of the tear slowly disappear in the dry heat beneath the smoldering ruins of her life. The officer silently pulled Sae away, her hand letting Tanaka go for his final journey through the infinite dark.

Surreal reality passed as though existence was non-existent, and it wasn't long until the officer shook Sae from her daze. "We're here, the docks. Get on a boat, you don't have much time but we'll give everyone their chance to go."

"Aren't you coming too?" Sae asked, attempting to care.

"No. The Police and SNLF will stay. We give our future to promise you yours, now go. Go, or your friend will have died for nothing," the officer shouted as his finger pointed to a military transport loaded with refugees.