Pilot Candidate Fan Fiction ❯ The Dying Sunset ❯ The Dying Sunset ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: whitesakura
On a war-torn colony, only those that are willing to sacrifice can survive. But what happens when you give away too much? A fic about Hiead Gner’s past. One-shot.

Anime/Manga: Pilot Candidate Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Horror / Angst | Type: One Shot | Uploaded On: 02.28.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 491 | Status: Completed

Warnings: Contains RAPE. This story is rated R for a reason. Please hit the back button if you can't stomach it.
 
The Dying Sunset
 
For as long as the boy could remember, he had always been alone.
He could no longer remember what his life was like before he lived, as he did now, hiding among the broken stone ruins of what had once been a house. The boy was used to being very hungry, and very cold, huddling in an old gray shirt that was too big for him. Dusty, and dirty, he had waited forever by the remains of an old black stove, wishing that it could by magic blaze again with fire, and warmth. The boy clutched his shirt during the times he used to feel the coldest. Someone had given the worn woolen shirt to him, and those same careful hands had also pulled him from the rubble. The boy waited in that broken place for a long time for another savior to appear. But no one did. Who would find him special enough for a second miracle? He, who was just one of the many starving orphans on a war-torn colony?
When it became clear to the little boy that no one was coming, he stood and began to walk through the streets. He passed by many children, some dirtier than himself. The very quiet ones, the ones that no longer bothered to peer at him with curiosity as he walked by; those were the dying. As he walked by their gaunt faces toward the garbage pile to pick for scraps, he saw for a moment, ghostly images imposed on the forlorn figures. These were children too. Their raggedy clothes were of another era; a bygone one, but the haunted faces were the same. A ghostly brown figure, looking as if she was from a faded photograph turned towards him. In her hands was a broken teddy bear. She began to reach for him. The boy screamed, and ran.
Back at the broken house, the place he now thought of as home, although he could no longer recall his true one, the boy pressed his body fearfully against the rusty stove. He had no warm arms to he could run to for comfort, but the metal digging into his skin gave him pain. Pain that helped him focus his fear away.
After the blood had dried from the cuts on his hands, the boy went back. In the corner of a broken building, a filthy blond child lay barely breathing. Someone had left the pitiful figure a half-eaten piece of meat pie. The boy reached down for it. An arm grabbed his. “That's his,” the girl that had emerged from the shadow growled like a protective mother tiger. Suddenly, she coughed a rattling type of cough that drained away all her strength and intimidation like it was draining away her life. The little boy steeled himself.
“He doesn't need it - he's dying.”
The girl wouldn't let go of his arm.
“He'll become just a memory - but I, I want to live!”
The boy pushed the girl away. The girl shrank back at the maliciousness in his red eyes and the eeriness of his glowing white hair. The boy had just experienced his first EX reaction, and didn't know it. 
It felt like a thousand miles before the boy made it back to his broken nest of debris. He choked and cried, even as he ate.
“I'm sorry, but I want to live.”
Ghostly figures surrounded him, but he no longer cared. The teddy bear girl embraced him.
“Live then, and carry us in your memory. You will hold our sorrows…and our anger…Hiead.” She disappeared into tendrils of white smoke that trailed into nothingness. The boy watched her with wide eyes. He had almost forgotten his own name. But now, he knew it again. He clutched his heart. And he was no longer alone.
 
Hiead never saw the ghosts again. But sometimes he wondered about them. Most of the time, he thought about ways to feed himself. To say he stopped stealing food from the dying after that day would be a wonderful fairytale…a wonderful lie. Hiead wanted to live. He wanted desperately to live in place of all those who had died.
So, one day, when he was very hungry, he sold the last of his innocence away without knowing it.
 
“Hello there, pretty boy.”
Hiead looked up.
“You have very pretty eyes. Are you hungry?”
Hiead hesitated then, nodded. The man before him smiled. The boy was clean, and fresh…a lovely virgin. The man fished out something from his coat. It sparkled in the light. Gold. Hiead's eyes widened.
“I'll give you this, if you give something to me.” The man re-pocketed the object, and took the small boy in his arms. Hiead sniffed in the floral scent, and shifted against the immaculate white fabric of the suit before him. The man was very warm, so was the breath tickling the silver-white hairs on his neck. The man whisked him away into the shadows so quickly that Hiead barely had enough time to take a breath.
After a long time there was nothing. The next thing Hiead knew was that he was on the softest piece of cloth he had ever felt in his life. Hiead ran his fingers through the red bed sheets.
“That's silk,” A large hand clasped over one of Hiead's smaller ones. “And it's crimson, the color of sunset, just like your eyes.” The man began to touch him then, very softly. It felt very nice. Then the hand went lower, underneath Hiead's clothes, and circled him. Hiead's eyes snapped open. That didn't feel nice at all. It felt very wrong. The next thing he knew the man's mouth was devouring him.
Hiead screamed. But the sounds were muffled.
“You agreed little angel, you agreed.”
Hiead shuddered. Was this how the other people lived? The ones that did not have to dig through garbage to find their meals, when they got hungry…Hiead cried as a mysterious pain took him suddenly…they ate other people?!
“Shh, shh, my angel.”
“STOP!”
The man was pushing him hard against the sheets, so hard it hurt to breath. It hurt to do anything. Hiead cried. The man was hurting him so much…
“STOP!”
“Not yet, s-sweet little one…oh…d-definitely not yet.”
Hiead closed his eyes. He tore away from the fear that left him paralyzed, and focused to the mesmerizing rhythm of the man's body digging into his. And then he focused on the pain the man was causing him, focusing his fear away. The man drove him into the sheets again, again, and ag-
The man groaned as he climaxed into the boy beneath him.
Hiead's eyes snapped open.
“You can't have me! I want to live!”
The man raised his weary head at the scream and backed away in horror. The lithe body, which had weakly squirmed so deliciously beneath him, heaved itself up. Hiead's thighs shook as he stood, the milky substance on them dripping down his calves and to the floor. The crimson eyes pinned the man in place as Hiead's small hands found the man's throat. Hiead's EX aura blazed. The white hair glowed in angry menace.
“GIVE ME BACK WHAT YOU STOLE!”
“Wha-?”
“I SAID, GIVE ME BACK-…”
“But petite angel…you sold it to me.”
Hiead screamed and the aura increased. The man's body was flung against the wall and slowly crushed. The man screamed as he looked into the crimson eyes, the ghastly color of a dying sunset. With a horrible realization, the man understood what he had seduced in his bed had not been an angel…but a devil. He struggled to talk to the boy, but Hiead only gnashed his teeth together.
“GIVE ME BACK…”
“I c-can't…”
The man had eaten it all.
Hiead's whole face deflated at the realized thought, and for a moment only a lost, broken boy stood before the man. Then red eyes locked onto the man's eyes again. Hiead's voice was angry.
“Then die.”
The man screamed.
A thud.
Silence.
Hiead slumped to the floor and sobbed. He had sold it away, all of it away. A shout was heard from very far down the hallway. Hiead jerked. The voices that inhabited the back of his head finally made themselves known, and throbbed against his skull. Amidst the throng of sickening wails, only the teddy bear girl's voice was clear.
Run.
The hotel staff was coming.
Quickly, Hiead wiped his tears away, stood, and crossed the room. He grabbed a fistful of coins from the ornate desk in the corner. The gold clinked in his hand. It had been won at a terrible price.
It would be okay, Hiead told himself as he peeked left, then right outside the door. He exited hurriedly.
 
A person could live without their soul.
 
It was years later, when Hiead realized the man had been talking about his virginity. Hiead had unwitting sold his body, not his soul. But by the time Hiead realized it, it had been too long since he had lived without it. Without his soul, Hiead had done well. Without it, he could definitely become a Goddess pilot. He could take revenge on all of humanity.
 
“That's great! It's Zion! Zion!”
Dozing crimson eyes fluttered open. There was a boy standing by the window. He was another candidate on the ship being sent to GOA. His brown hair was wild and unruly. His blue eyes were wide and glowing as he looked upon the last habitable planet for all of humankind…and totally devoid of intellect. When the boy, Zero, began to argue loudly with their instructor, Hiead decided to leave the room.
“It's easy!”
Hiead stilled.
“I'll become a Goddess pilot, I've decided.” Zero turned his eyes on him, looking as if he were asking for agreement. Hiead's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, and then narrowed. He wanted to smash the guy's face in. It was strange, ever since that day with…that man…Hiead had not felt so angry. Ever since that day, Hiead had felt nothing at all. Who was this candidate 88?
“Easy? Don't compare me with idiots like you.”
Zero bristled as Hiead walked away.
The boy had obviously been pampered all his life. He wouldn't understand…how hard it was just to stay alive. Hiead watched impassively as another explosion occurred in the nearby Victim battle, and rattled their ship.
To survive…sometimes, one needed to willingly cast their soul away.
“Hey!”
Hiead turned. The vibrant, loud-mouthed Zero was back again to bother him. This weakling would definitely be no problem to destroy. Hiead snorted. The boy, Zero smirked. And with a flash of EX, 88 had crossed the room in the blink of an eye and pulled Hiead's pants down.
“How embarrassing, your underwear's showing. Who's the idiot now?!” Zero's laugh was like a braying ass'. Hiead's eyes narrowed.
But just maybe, there would be a challenge after all.
He pulled his pants up.
Maybe, the feeling of Zero's blood on his fingers would be enough against the coldness that had plagued Hiead all his life. It would be nice to feel warm again. Nice to feel alive again.
The voices in his head agreed.
Hiead smirked.
His eyes glowed like twin suns, drowning in the darkness.
To live.
Hiead definitely would not lose, even if he lost himself in the process.
 
From the window, Zion shone like a bright hope, innocent…Hiead looked into Zero's dumfounded blue eyes…and so foolishly naïve.
 
Owari.