Losing a Life (Aureus)

[chihiro]

[ooc: Takes place after the Enforcers thread. Plot is demi-graphic, and pretty tragic. kthnx.]

---------

Chi used the momentum to propel herself back to her feet a split second before the second enforcer attacked, heaving the metal trashcan into her gut and sending her flying a few feet down the hallway and into a row of lockers. She slowly slid to the floor, the trashcan pinning the bottom half of her body. She coughed, crimson splattering her hand, and a fresh cut beaded on her forehead, making a short trail of red down her cheek. But it wasn't as bad as the pain that gripped her stomach, rolling waves of nausea and pain that made her want to heave and with that soon, cramps. No...

....

Beep, beep, beep..

A machine beeped softly next to her. Groaning, almond shaped eyes opened blearily, and she felt like she'd been run over by a steamroller. Why did she feel this horrible, and why was she in a...? Chi looked around, the bright white walls, the white bed and bedding, the machine hooked up to her, an IV dripping from her right hand side to a needle in her arm. She was in the hospital? Why was she in the hospital?!

Chi dug into her brain as she regained consciousness, probing her memory for details. She'd had an interview with the art teacher, a lovely lunch and talk about art and how she would like to hopefully intern at 259. And they were walking back...when everything fell into chaos. The enforcers that had plagued the school since before she left had gone mad, striking out at the students. Chi had gotten pulled into the fray and was doing rather well until...Oh God, the trashcan. She must have lost consciousness after that.

Her hands rose to her abdomen and froze, her gaze horrific as she glanced down with a pained expression for visual proof of what she felt. Her stomach....her stomach was flat.

A pained, blood curdling scream pierced the air, echoing through the sanitary hallways and sending goosebumps throughout the hospital. A doctor and nurses raced to the room, 112b, where the asian woman was clutching her forehead and hyperventilating.

"Ma'am, are you okay? Just calm d-"

"My baby, where's my baby?!"

"Ma'am calm down. You've been hurt, back at the school. I'm afraid it was too much stress on your body, and you sustained an injury to your abdomen. You suffered a spontaneous abortion after you arrived here, a miscarriage."

The nurses moved to either side of the bed, hushing and trying to hold her from hurting herself with the IV in her skin. Chi flailed, shrieking in misery before pulling her knees up to her chest, curling up with her forehead to her knees and her arms over her head. One of the nurses moved to get a brown paper bag to prevent her hyperventilating while the other caring patted her head.

"Is there anyone we can call for you? Any family?"

Chi shook her head from where she was curled up, muttering 'no, no, no..' between sobs, both to the family comment and to the news that was still reverberating through her head.

"A-Aureus."

[Aureus]

Aureus spit a thick glob of blood onto the blacktop as he limped his way to the nearest car. He didn't give a fuck who's it was, he needed to get to the hospital NOW. His head was spinning and he couldn't remember how long it had been since Chi had been injured and pulled out of the building by some small group of students. Unfortunately for the Pillar, it was around that time that a large contingent of enforcers charged into the hallway and mobbed him.

A furious storm of fists and feet pounded him further into the linoleum before he was pulled to his feet and launched through a window with a frightening force that caused his body to dig through the dirt as he rolled and bounced off the earth. Anxiously crawling towards a fallen branch, the Pillar ignited it with his gloves and managed to bash in the knees and ribs of several men. A few pieces of glass remained jammed into his abdomen, leaking streams of his blood here and there.

With a quick punch Aureus broke the car's window and pulled the lock, letting himself in. Breath jagged he slumped onto the seat and reached around for the wires he knew had to be there. Paydirt.

A swift kick to his back forced the weapon out of the Senior's hand and he fell flat on his face before being pulled up to stare into the face of a ragged man who looked more than a tad perturbed. Taking the opportunity, Aureus spit in his face.

Chi...Chi...please be ok... he repeated over and over to himself as he sloppily pulled out of the parking lot and scrapped by a random motorist. The hospital was only a few blocks away, so it wouldn't be too difficult to make it there. Coughing up blood, the boy wiped his mouth off with his dirt stained sleeve and trained his eyes on the road.

Before he could be beaten to death, an explosion rocked the area and Aureus was dropped to the ground. The sound of screaming voices reached his ears, but the teen was too intent on escaping to pay them much mind. No one was coming after him oddly enough, and before long the Pillar managed to get to his feet.

He didn't even bother parking before bailing out of the red ford taunus and sprinting through the automatic doors. Before he could get far, Aureus was stopped by a few nurses and security officers. They told him he looked pretty beat up, but he protested. "Chihiro...Amuri...she's pregnant...hurt at the school...I need to see her, I need to make sure she's ok." he panted as he moved past the lobby and further into the hospital.

A shrill scream reached his ears and from then on everything anyone else said lost it's meaning and joined the buzz of the world he heard in the back of his consciousness. Breaking away from security and clumsily dodging obstacles he eventually reached the source of the scream, barging into the dark haired girl's room. "Chi!" he exclaimed, rushing over to her, the reality of the situation finally seeping in. Heart pounding out of his chest, Aureus held onto her until everything in his vision blurred and exhaustion and injury overcame him.

[chihiro]

"We will try to get a hold of him for you, Miss."

One of the nurses left the room on the way to a nurses station to look up the name in the directory when a beat up looking boy came up to them, out of breath. He was asking for the girl who's room she'd just left, but this boy looked in no shape to be seeing anyone.

"You need to be looked at young man- hey! Wait!"

A few nurses and attendants chased after him, shouting in protest to his behavior, saying he needed to be cleaned up first before the lot barged into the girl's room, the nurses and such halting at the door, but the boy continued to the girl's bed, clinging to her.

----

Chi had heard the commotion in the hallway like it was happening underwater. The shouts were blurred, nothing registering until someone was right in her face, hugging her. Her first instinct was to dislodge the assailant by force, but luckily her brain was faster than her reflexes. Aureus, he had come for her. She hugged him back, burying her face in his neck before she felt his body give way as he fell into unconsciousness. The army of nurses and doctors pulled him awa from her, setting him in the hospital bed beside her own and pulling the curtain.

"What are you doing?!-"

"Miss, he's hurt, we are simply tending to his wounds. You can see him when he wakes. You should rest."

Chi hugged her knees, wiping stubbornly at her damp cheeks. Back in high school, when she'd fallen victim to the transfer Karel, she could have sworn it was the lowest moment of her life. But now, laying in this hospital bed, her abdomen feeling like jello, her whole body feeling shaky and achy, she felt completely horrible. Curling up in her bed, her back to the curtain where hushed voices and bustling could be heard to her ears, she closed her eyes and fell into an exhausted but restless unconscious.

[Aureus]

The sound of crashing waves surrounding him and water lapping at his face forced Aureus to look up and around. He was sprawled out along the shoreline and the sun was beaming down on him. Rolling over onto his back and sitting up, the boy caught sight of a figure farther off into the ocean. Reality contracted, bringing the person close enough for him to see. It was Chi and there was blood pouring off of her into the ocean. It spread like wildfire and before he knew it the entire ocean was blood red. She looked so sad, but he couldn't get any closer. Something told him he didn't want to. She called out to him before moving further away. Something pulled him closer but not close enough. He wanted to get back to shore; he was drowning. The sea pulled him under and suddenly he wasn't worried about dying anymore. He just wanted to float there forever. Close to Chi, but not too close. Looking up, he saw the dark haired girl peering down at him. She just started saying random letters, it didn't make any sense. And then, he hit the bottom of the ocean.

Dull, brown eyes blinking open Aureus was born to a world of pain. His body ached and stung and it was enough trouble to just sit up. "Where's..." he mumbled, pulling the curtain away to reveal Chihiro sleeping a few feet away. Even when unconscious she looked like the weight of the world was about to crush her.

His thoughts drifted back years to their first night together. What he wouldn't give to go back there. Everything had been so simple at the beginning and it had been the happiest he could ever remember being. And now here he was wishing they had never met. So much time had passed and he had tried to replace her more times than he could count, but he still loved her. Something about her just...fit him and he hated it. Staring up at the ceiling the Senior smashed his head back into the wall.

Ontop of all that, Chi had just lost her baby. He shuddered to think what kind of emotional state she would be in when she woke up and for a long time after that. She needed his support even more and the thought of it all was giving him a pounding headache, or maybe he already had that, he wasn't sure. Life just never let up.

[chihiro]

After about an hour of dreamless sleep Chihiro awoke, opening her eyes silently. Her lips were drawn in a closed line, the corners of her eyes tipped downward in a meek despair. She had lost her baby, and it had been her fault. She could have run, turned the other way and bolted. But no, she had to play the hero, she just had to help, and now her child was gone.

Had it really been her fault? Had the baby been hers to keep in the first place?Maybe she deserved to have it taken away, to be punished.

No...her baby had been taken from her by the enforcers. By Sean Barker and his mad desire to create the all-powerful human weapon. And in his creation he simply wrought destruction. He needed to be stopped.

With an almost inaudible sigh she finally rolled back onto her back, hearing movement over at Aureus' bed she looked over, watching him with her liquid chocolate eyes. He was in bad shape, all bandaged up and bruised and bloodied. Whenever she got too close to him he always ended up getting himself hurt. It was like a magnet with too much pull, causing them to crash instead, fiery and crippling.

She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Frowning, she turned her body to face him, curling up with her knees to her chest and her arms folded close to her under her blanket.

[Aureus]

Hearing Chi roll over, the dark haired boy stopped banging his head against the wall. The sterility of the white room made him sick and and he let out a small groan. Looking over at her, Aureus caught her gaze. She looked so hopelessly sad and distant. He stayed that way for what seemed like an hour, just staring. Quiet as a windless day in the middle of nowhere. He wasn't sure if he should, but eventually the Senior sat up and pulled himself out of bed. It hurt like hell, but it didn't matter. Bent over, Aureus limped over to the girl's bed and carefully pulled himself up onto it. He would lay behind her and wrap his arms around her shoulders. It was the only thing he could think to do. "I'm sorry..."

[chihiro]

Chihiro couldn't speak for the longest time, lost in the multitude of thoughts in her mind. They whirled around loudly, not allowing her a word edgewise so she lay silently, still just watching Aureus watch her. I was kind of serene, the silence outside of her body, the only sound coming from the soft ticking of a clock on the wall. She watched Aureus climb out of bed, slowly and pained, and her eyes showed a glint of concern. "You should rest, get back in that bed." She would say in her normal, slightly bossing tone, but the words were stuck in her mindm unable to make it to her mouth.

When he climbed up and laid down with her, holding her protectively, she allowed herself to relax a tiny bit. She shook her head slightly when he apologized, her unruly raven hair tumbling across the pillow. It wasn't his fault, least of all his fault. And it hadn't been his fault all the times before, and yet here he was, still here for her, apologizing for nothing in particular, trying to take some of the blame and hurt from her to lessen her burden.

She closed her hand around something on a chain around her neck, her gaze still on the tiles of the floor.

"It was a girl. A little girl. And Sean Barker took her away from me. I will kill him for it."

Her voice was determined, but weak as she was still quite tired emotionally and physically. But it was a promise, she was going to take down the scum who took her baby from her if it was the last thing she did. The asshole deserved to die.

[Aureus]

A little girl...Aureus thought, his mind traveling down the future that could have been. The child's future, Chi's future, even his own future. Who knows what exactly would have happened. There were so many possibilities, but all of them had been brushed away as quickly as they had appeared because of a single man's greed and a random, deadly turn of chance. Did that man deserve to die though? It wasn't a simple question, but at the same time he knew what he would do, what he would help Chi do. It was how it had to be. It wouldn't bring the child back, no, but it might prevent the loss of other innocent lives. "I'll help you, I promise. I won't let you down again. I'm sorry..."

[chihiro]

Chi moved to sit up, once again hugging her arms around her knees, her gaze trained on the bed sheet in front of her, covering her legs. The pregnancy had been a surprise to her, but she found as time went by that she was getting used to the idea. Her own family had disowned her following her disappearance, and this new life had been a chance for her to have a family of her own. But the enforcers, in their greed for power, had taken it all away from her.

It would be a couple hours before they would allow Chi to leave the hospital. They just had to make sure her vitals were stable following the traumatic event. Because now instead of her heart pumping for two lives, it was once again pumping for one.

----

The air was cool, the sun hidden behind a blanket of clouds above. The Long Beach cemetery stood on a gentle hill overlooking the town and ocean. Beneath a tree stood a freshly dug grave, a very small one. At it's head was a proportionately sized headstone, it's date of birth and date of death the same day. A life that had not yet begun to live.

Amuri Sorano
5/18/2008 - 5/18/2008
あなたは私の娘報復をされます

"Sorano. Of the sky."

She explained, her eyes still watching the grave before her. Chi had wanted to do this, a proper burial, because in approximately four months, she would have been a living, breathing being. But she wasn't, her life had been snatched away by the reckless greed of Sean Barker and his monstrosities. They will pay dearly for it.