Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Love is Blind ❯ Until You Find It There ( Chapter 4 )

Hey all! Are you guys glad to see that I am not dead? School almost killed me, but I was able to evade it. Here's your latest installment of Love is Blind!

Disclaimer: Trigun is not mine. C'mon, it's late at night. I'm going to be as blunt as I can.

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Love is Blind - Chapter Four: Until You Find It There

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Rem cheerfully hummed to herself as she walked down the hall to Aurora's room. She had already tucked Vash and Knives in, and now it was Aurora's turn. It didn't worry Rem that she had not seen or heard from the little six-year-old since dinner, as she had always been a quiet child.

Arriving at the door to Aurora's room, Rem completed the song she was humming and went in. “Aurora, time for bed!” she called. But there was no reply. There was no one in the room. “Aurora?” she called again.

She ran frantically around the room, searching every place she could think of. Not finding her, she ran out of the room and down the hall calling Aurora's name. She almost bumped into Joey as she turned a corner. Joey saw Rem's anguished face and knew something was wrong.

“Rem, what's going on? What's wrong?” he asked.

“It's Aurora,” Rem replied. “I can't find her anywhere and I'm afraid that she's lost and can't find her way back.”

“I see,” Joey said. “I hope she is alright. Come, I'll help you look for her.”

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Meanwhile, Aurora continued to try to find her way back to a place of familiarity. Try as she might, she started to get used to the fact that she would never get out of the hall, and that it would be her coffin.

The little girl made her way back to the dumb waiter and sat on the ground beside its entrance, which she used as a landmark. Feeling helpless, hopeless, and frightened, Aurora curled up into a ball and cried. She cried about how the crew seemed to despise her and treat her like some animal in a zoo rather than a real person. She cried about missing Rem and Vash and even Knives, despite the way she knew he also hated her. Most of all, she cried about missing her family and her normal life on Earth.

She remembered her family; her mother, father, two older twin brothers, older sister, and her dog, Lacey. Aurora longed for her mother's touch and her father's words of encouragement. Her mother's young face flashed in her mind as she tried to remember her voice that sang her lullabies each night and read her stories in the sun.

Aurora thought of the time she was learning to tie her little black shoes, which she wore everyday. No matter how many times she tried, no matter how many times her brothers and sister showed her how to do it, she only ended up with knots in the laces. She'd complain to her mother, who would smile and say “Just keep trying. You'll get it, I'm sure you will.”

Suddenly, Aurora stopped crying.

Her mother's words...

They drove deep into her until they were all she could think about. She knew why she had given up. Her blindness left her few options on how to help the situation, but had she thought about all the facts yet? Aurora went through all of what had transpired in her head. Then it came to her- stairs. Knives had lead her down two flights of stairs to get down here. She must be in the basement, supposedly near an engine room (the mechanical purr of machines gave it away).

“I have to find the stairs,” she declared, getting up.

She traced the wall with her hand until she found a Braille sign that said “STAIRS”. Overjoyed, Aurora found the doorknob and turned it. Her joy left once more.

Knives had locked the door.

She had been so close. If only there was an elevator. They are not as easy to lock. There was no elevator, but the WAS a dumb waiter.

Aurora ran back to the dumb waiter and climbed in. She didn't know how to exactly work one, but when she found an iron cord, she figured that was how to make it ascend and descend. She grasped it and pulled it with all her might.

A small, sharp pain came to her hands. The cable was a little old and rusted and sharp broken pieces stabbed her palms. She winced as blood trickled down her hands and down the cable.

I have to keep going, Aurora thought. My life depends on it.

So she pulled again and again, feeling the wall for a door each time. When she felt the first door, her hope and excitement grew. She pulled faster and harder until she felt the second door. She swung it open and pulled herself out. Although she still didn't know where she was, she knew that SOMEONE else would hear her and help her if she yelled loud enough.

“Rem! Joey! Mary!” Aurora started calling. They'll find me. I'm sure they will.

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“This way!” Rem cried, turning left and running down the hall.

“What is it? Did you hear something?” Joey asked, following her.

“I thought I heard Aurora yelling... as if to get our attention,” Rem replied. “Keep going!”

As they kept running, the cries got louder. But they realized that the hallway up ahead split to the left and right. The two split up, each heading in the opposite direction from the other.

Rem kept calling out Aurora's name as she ran down the darkened hallway. She pulled out a small rectangular flashlight and turned it on. It provided just enough light for her to see where she was going. She continued calling out for the little girl. Finally, her calls were returned.

“Rem-Chan!”

“Yes!” Rem whispered excitedly to herself. “Yes, Aurora!” she called back to her.

As she came closer, she could hear footsteps. They were loud and staggering. Finally, Aurora came into the light trying to run and keep her hand against the wall at the same time. Rem called her name one last time, and Aurora stumbled into her arms and began sobbing into her chest. She trembled in Rem's arms. Rem clutched her close, afraid that she would escape again somehow.

“I was so worried about you!” she cried. “I don't know what I would have done without you. If I lost you ... oh Aurora... please promise me that you won't run off like that again.”

Aurora didn't bother to tell her that it had been Knives who had lead her down to the basement engine level, left her there to die. It just wasn't her. She wouldn't rat him out. Maybe they could just talk it out. While she had been deep in thought, Rem had bandaged up her hands and put her into bed. She kissed Aurora's forehead and shut off the light as she left the room. As many times when the human mind dreams of the last thoughts they have before they fall asleep, Aurora dreamed of her conflict with Knives.

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Aurora was running down dark hallways, and she could see out of her eyes. Knives chased her, and strangely, she knew what he looked like. Aurora's maturing breasts bounced as she ran, revealing that in this dream, she was much older than she is now. Her left hand held a small pistol as she panted for air. Suddenly, Knives held up a large gun and screamed, “DIE YOU HUMAN BITCH!” and a gunshot was heard.

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Aurora sprang awake, hoping for comfort, but finding none in the darkness of her blindness. So in the intense darkness, her mind flooded with thoughts about her nightmare. How had she known Knives's appearance? Why were they both so much older looking? In the end, no answers came, and all she could do was go back to sleep.

Even in the morning, the darkness was still there.

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Tensions in the ship grew with each passing day. At one point, Vash and Knives got into a fight over killing a spider to save a butterfly that had been caught in its web.

“Kill the spiders to save the butterflies,” Knives had said casually.

Demo... Aurora thought to herself, in doing so, is it true that you unknowingly become a spider yourself?

Finally, everything clashed and exploded one night. After dinner, Aurora was reading a Braille book when she heard a scream. She slowly got up and opened her door just as Rem ran by. Aurora could tell it was her by the way she ran and they way her footsteps sounded as her feet hit the floor.

“Rem, what's going on? Who screamed?” she asked.

“It came from Mary's room,” Rem said quickly. Her face was full of stress, thought Aurora could not see it. “I must hurry. Aurora, stay in your room until I come get you.” And with that, she continued running.

Aurora closed the door and slumped against the wall. Despite her age and young mind, she knew something horribly bad was going on. She could sense it. When that sinking feeling came to her, she always became fearful. It was never wrong.

When Rem returned, she told Aurora that Stephen had been mean to Mary, and he had been put into suspended animation- frozen. “What did he do to her?” asked the girl. Her voice seemed to be the essence of innocence. Rem looked hurt or sad for a moment, then found the words she thought were best. How do you explain rape to a six-year-old?

“He made Mary do something she did not want to do. Something that is supposed to be sacred and symbolic.”

Aurora tried desperately to understand, but decided to, for now, give up. She tried to be cheerful and change the subject. She put on her best smile.

“Hey, Rem, let's go for a walk!” she cried.

Rem smiled also. “Alright, let's go,” she replied.

So they went out into the hall and began their trek. As they were walking, they met up with Vash and Knives who joined them. They smiled and talked and laughed. Aurora was pleased as she held Vash's hand. She wanted happiness, no more bad things.

Then that feeling came again. That sinking feeling. Her heart felt hollow, like it had been shot through. It was almost hard to breathe.

Then the gunshot was heard.