Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction / Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction / Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Urbania ❯ Patricia's Sordid Splendor ( Chapter 18 )

The best two liberators in Japan had left, three days ago on the hour. A solemn, cool breeze cut through her inky strands, making them wave in dark, silken strips. Arms crossed, she looked hard at the worn cement horizon in front of her. With the main infantry below her, clad entirely in black and completely silent, she could see there would be darkness before the wornness of the coming horizon could be felt on her blood-stained, calloused fingertips. Here. It was here. Here, where it all began. It was here that she began.

The gunshots were so loud. The scene was only available in flashes: people, big people, scattering; her mother's anguished cries; begging, begging, there was so much begging, for children, for lives, for home, for liberty, for death; her father threw himself over her, and fell limp. She couldn't move for a long, long time. No matter how hard she cried, there was nothing she could do until there were no gunshots. She was quiet, eyes closed, breath minimal, just listened as they went from spot to spot, silencing last, pained calls, as life in District Nine waned with the day.

Next she was looking as the tower, slighted by moonlight of it's grim loom over her. She was keeping warm a patch of ground, it's heat still lingering with the day.

The next specific event was among the only poignancy she'd ever experienced. She buried it deep, only to uncover it when she really felt alone. She was walking hand-in-hand with a strong, dark-haired man, the warmth of his grip putting the glaring sun to shame. She didn't know where she was being led, all she knew was he, him, this man, made her feel wanted. She served him next, becoming closer to him, and she felt him like her new father. His favorite woman read to her, made her a literary co-dependent, and on the birthday he gave her, he read to her all day while she nudged bits of icing-less cake in her mouth. He didn't like icing, so neither did she. When he took her and his favorite woman out, others saw his family, called out to him, respected him. She, her father, his woman, and tiny, dark-haired baby brother.

He was quite upset when he had to show his violent side to Patricia. "Yes, Patricia," he'd decided, "that's a pretty girl's name." They hugged. Then mean men came. He fought one like a wild animal in order to survive to kill the rest. Patricia cried. The gunshots were so loud. "It's okay, Tousan will care for you."

He did until the fair-haired jealous one with raging eyes rebelled. Then Muhma took her stuff and left. It was too upsetting. The vividness of recent heartbreak a decade ago engulfed her eyes in tears. It was all downhill from there: running away, nearly being sold, sharing a license with Nadine, joining a brothel. On a night after she'd had four men, she heard a soft weeping next to her. She moved her head over to look at Nadine. Her body quaked with every pained tear.

"Nadine," Patricia uttered softly. She touched her hardening hand to her friend's shoulder. The mistress could be heard entertaining some guests in another part of the community. Heat growled in past he moonlight from the open window. Nadine gasped, putting a somber gap in her tears and cringing auburn form. She shifted to Patricia. Patricia held her.

"It's just…I can't take it, Patty. I can't go on. I can't"

Nadine was her best friend. She needed her.

"You don't have to," Patricia assured, squeezing her friend, "I'll save you."

They were gone the next day, hooking powerful Men and acquiring their armaments. The two of them blitzed Worker Oni's community, near District Nine. The Worker's Women cried out in absolute glee and hastily joined Patricia and Nadine's powerful cause. From down in the valley, they came up to the mountains; their name became synonymous with freedom and the end of wide spread corruption. "Yo!" would be the word on the streets, "get your whores ready! Patricia and Nadine are headed this way!" One community even tried to hid all the women until their ovary-dilapidating sedative had taken full effect. Patricia liberated them out of anger, shooting their strongest captor until she was tired from the kick of the rifle.

It actually became monotonous until she noticed a severe decrease in Hunters. There were still enough to keep any woman wary, but, in areas where they used to thrive, there were perhaps three or four packs, and two Loners.

Trieze Khushrenada was becoming popular, a took a liking to Patricia and Nadine. He donated money and arms and offered his medical services for little or nothing. He told Patricia that he didn't want anyone to know about his marriage (seeing as it had been outlawed) to Geneva Une, and told her always to refer to Geneva as 'his sister.' Patricia understood.

It was during an angry, grievous time that Patricia met the legendary Serena whom almost killed Master Wildfire. Her father had just been killed, as of word on the streets. How dare he, how dare he, she screamed internally. He was the only Man she'd ever cried for. She'd found Muhma not two weeks prior, only to discover with heart-ripping dread: Loyal Six was dead. Sakuya cried away the rest of the next days and nights with her. All that love…just dead. She imagined him laying on the floor, blank expression preserved in death's cold formaldehyde, as the velvet crimson pool spread in a perfect circle, soaking his meager rat tail and ruining his fine clothes. Or maybe he;d been shuffled to the top of a banquet table, a noose hanging with a cruel and silent resolve from the chandelier. They probably tightened it until his veins were a sickly aqua, then chopped down the legs of the table, his corpse swinging, the chandelier ringing it's dark dirge. Darker and viler images stamped her broken heart, and for two full days, she had not been able to rise from her bed. Sakuya finally came and physically removed her from the dented cot, but a huge hunk of her heart would never be recovered, and she was lost forever.

It was God's meticulously wrapped gift that Serena lived up to and beyond Patricia's expectations. She also became fond of Relena. The two of them were her own reincarnation: Serena, the Light of the Future's Hope, Relena, the Dark of the Past's Desperation. The team's intense motivation alone posed an inevitable threat to the modern slave holders' power. Serena had survived Master Wildfire's community with no less spirit than she'd had herself as a member of Loyal Six's household. Serena was a positive reassurance, a firm ground to stand on, and a clear sky to look to.

Then, of course, it turned out Serena was pregnant and a traitor, siding with no less than Loyal Six's murderer. It was the hardest revenge to let go, her father's murderer, and advise him to keep safe. Now she saw that she should have taken his head to rot on a bayonet when she'd had the chance. Patricia flinched, and a salty drop slithered down and disappeared in the crease of her nostril. Nadine stood quietly beside her. Patricia could feel Serena and Relena's every move. Not only had they left her, but Saki, her Muhma, had as well. Strangely enough, her bruised battered heart borne no additional pain. She ignored a variety of self-inferred reasons, and barred the fact from her emotions. Seconds later, the Northern and Southern Brigades trooped in simultaneously.

For some reason, the warning of Serena's promise to thwart her from her position didn't brand her until that moment. At that moment, dry betrayal stung her stomach and made her feel light-headed. Her feet didn't wait for her to think about moving to carry her to that wonderful traitorous pair. She heard Nadine's footsteps, but they were of no comfort, no consequence, nothing. The breeze returned to round her strands again and abduct millimeters of her vision. She stopped some feet away from both Brigades, and so did the innocent breeze. Patricia and Nadine took unsaid turns looking back and forth from Relena to Serena. Serena stood between and in front of Ryo and Saki. Relena stood in between and in front of Heero and Akane. Serena and Relena nodded to each other and both approached Patricia and Nadine.

A chill ruptured Patricia's stance. What if they won? The fools! Traitors! They would not!

The traitorous Serena opened her daring mouth. "Patricia, Relena and I need to speak to you and Nadine."

The tent was the next thing any of them remembered.

Serena shifted her protruding stomach to balance in her lap when she attempted to sit down as fluidly as everyone else. Her jeans were comfortable enough, but it was her mistake to wear the spaghetti strapped shirt. Relena's figure was the same as always through her dirty wife-beater and khaki pants. Her bandana didn't match anything. Serena and Relena were both armed with weapons they didn't intend to use. Patricia and Nadine sat across from Serena and Relena.

"I'll start," Serena volunteered.

"I'm listening," Patricia said, not meaning to sound matter-of-factly.

"Patricia, Relena and I know what you're doing. I won't sit here and tell you how wrong I think you are, because you obviously know how I feel. It's just that I feel betrayed, that you, who stand for freedom, just wants to be the oppressor." "You know nothing of betrayal," Patricia growled. She grasped her handgun.

"But I do," Relena stepped in. "I know what true betrayal is. And it is you who have betrayed not just us, but every woman that's thanked you for their freedom."

"How dare you-"

"You didn't tell us you wanted to conquer Japan!"

Patricia lost all color. "You couldn't have known…"

"Yes, we know," Serena picked back up, "and punishing and entire country for the mistakes of a handful doesn't make you any better than the ones you claim to bring justice against!"

"Just like at Master Wildfire's," Relena added.

Patricia was shaking her head as if children were trying to reason with her not to throw away their favorite movie. "You have no idea…"

"Of course we don't. Someone had to inform us. But if you would bother telling us what it is we an do to negotiate, there won't be any great showdown between the main infantry and the northern and southern brigades."

Patricia's eyes widened. "Who killed Loyal Six?"

Serena and Relena were both shot by the question's randomness. "Loyal Six?"

"Who killed him? Was it one of you?"

Relena flinched. "It's my fault he's dead."

"Then the only personal part of this is with you, Relena. I won't have my father's murderer running free."

"Your Father?" Serena jumped from her seat, her stomach reluctantly following.

"My father!" Patricia screamed. Serena motioned denial with her hands and head.

"That can't be. Ryo is Loyal Six's only child."

Patricia stopped. "What?"

"Ryo is Loyal Six's son. His only son. I know he only had to have one son. Ryo's an only child."

Tiny, dark-haired baby brother…

Raped.

Patricia sat down. "No more. No. None. I won't negotiate. Just get out of here."

"Please, Patricia-"

"I said 'no!" Patricia yelled, "If you want to stop me, stop me! Kill me! Get me on the battlefield, but I will not give up until Japan hails Queen Patricia!"

Serena flipped open the tent and exited stomach-first. Relena rolled up and left as well. Patricia and Nadine's stoic gazes shrunk them until they were lost in the grainy pattern of the two opposing brigades. They stood together, talking until the sun covered itself in that unattainable, igneous horizon.