Sorrow's Fruit

Another morning broke, the light of dawn peeking through the heavy drapes. She lay silent in the bed yet again. Sleep was hard to come by for her these days, her dreams were no longer a respite from the world. Now they were yet another way for her heart to be tortured. The pup, Miracle, slept at her feet, only stirring to turn sleepy eyes on her mistress as she rose.

She looked at the mirror above her dresser, noting her limp unwashed tresses and the purple circles that rimmed her dim gray eyes. She reached and turned on her radio, hoping the music would help her.

She removed her satin pajamas, revealing her nude form to her eyes. Her ribs showed through her pale blue skin, her once flat, but healthy, stomach sunken in. She couldn't remember, nor could she care, when the last time she ate was. She turned away from her image and walked to the chair that sat beside the glass balcony doors. Pulling the drapes away, she let the pink light fill the room as she sank into the chair. Her eyes burned as she listened to the song that came from the speakers behind her.

Tell me I was Dreaming…
Travis Tritt

When I woke up this morning
And wiped the sleep from my eyes
I found a new day dawning
And suddenly I realize
You're gone

Tell me I was dreaming
That you didn’t leave me here to cry
You didn’t say
You don’t love me anymore
It was just my imagination telling lies
Tell me that you didn’t say goodbye

I’m in a state of confusion
I hope things aren’t what they seem
If this is really happening
Just let me go back to dreams
You're home

Tell me I was dreaming
That you didn’t leave me here to cry
You didn’t say
You don’t love me anymore
It was just my imagination telling lies
Tell me that you didn’t say goodbye

Tell me I was dreaming
That you didn’t leave me here to cry
You didn’t say
You don’t love me anymore
It was just my imagination telling lies
Ohhh, Tell me that you didn’t say goodbye

Don’t tell me
You didn’t say
Goodbye…

Fiercely she wiped her face with a hand and stood. She didn't have the energy to fight, so she went into the bathroom and turned the water on in the shower. She stepped into the scalding stream, washing up, not feeling the heat that pounded on her skin.

A few moments later, a soft whimper drew her eyes away from the window. Miracle stood at the door to the room.

"All right." She said after a long moment, and rose, slipping her feet into a pair of slippers and wrapping her robe around her bare body.

She followed the puppy as it bounded down the stairs and opened the kitchen door for it. She watched it run out to play in the snow, and as she stood in the doorway, her heart caught in her chest. Straight ahead was the gazebo. She couldn't breathe as she looked at it, biting her lip.

Her eyes itched and pooled as the memories hit her, overflowing and tears flowed freely down her cheeks. She saw him there, as he looked that first night. His hair flowed unbound down his back, his favorite pair of black jeans clinging to his slim body. His chest was bare, the skin glowing.

"Sparrow.." She whispered as her feet moved of her own accord. They propelled her forward, a hand rising and reaching out to the image she saw there. But they betrayed her, her feet stumbled on a small stone upon the path, bringing her down to her knees, her hands hitting the concrete.

Breathing heavily she raised her head, to see nothing there once more. Her eyes widened in desperation, her head whipping around wildly as she looked for even the slightest sign.

"Nooo..." The word emerged a low moan as her head slumped down to press against the icy concrete.

It was a long time later that she rose, her wet robe hanging heavily. She walked back into the house, passing Blade, who looked at her oddly.

"Lady Arania, are you all right?" He asked, turning away from the food he was preparing.

She ignored him as she kept walking, leaving a damp streak on the wood floors from the hem of her robe. He pondered the idea of informing Mus of what she was doing, but decided not to, he wasn't going to stick his nose anywhere it might get cut off.

She climbed the stairs, her mind focused for the first time in a long while. She couldn't stay here, well, not as much as she had. Everywhere she looked were memories, and they haunted her, the wound was still too fresh for her to handle them now. She wanted to go out, to do something.

As she stripped the wet garment from her body, she gave a small smile. Crossing the room, she dug deep into her closet, throwing some clothes out onto her bed, the pile of shiny material growing.

"That should do it" She mumbled to herself. Slowly she dressed, a black satin thong and matching bra graced her form first, followed by a pair of skin tight black leather pants and fishnet top. She sat on the bed to put on her boots, tall black boots, much like Xev's but shiny. She pulled out a leather scabbard, strapped it to her upper left arm, a retractable blade going on her right wrist, before she put on her black leather jacket. She carefully brushed and fixed her hair, pulling it up at the back of her head into a long ponytail.

Finally ready, she headed downstairs into the garage. "Silversteel, you around?" She called from the entrance.

"Yes Lady Ari?" He emerged from the front of the rolls, his hands and face streaked with grease. "I was giving the rolls a tune-up, what can I do for you?"

"I need the keys for the black Harley. I want to go somewhere, and it's better suited."

"They're hanging over in my office ma'am, help yourself." He knew that, unlike Genesis, Mus did not fear the motorcycles, or more specifically, his lady love riding one. She was not as wild as the she-cat could be, and had not given him a reason to fear it causing her harm.

She nodded, then walked over, taking the keys and a black helmet. She returned to the garage, wrapping her ponytail into a bun before slipping on the helmet, the visor down her eyes glow was the only visible part of her features. She zipped the jacket up, and pulled a pair of gloves from the pockets, donning them before climbing onto the big machine and revving the motor, heading for the seedy side of town.

She raced down the freeway, eyes fixed on the road, body running on automatic. She wasn't bothered by the chill in the air as the wind whipped past her. She remembered seeing something in Disco's files about a warehouse that was producing anti-protoblood for those who had less affection for Kaiclones that the majority of the residents of Kaitown had. She knew that Disco hadn't had time to read the file yet, he had just gotten it when she had found it, so she had time to act before they would figure things out.

Parking the bike in the dark shelter of a huge ancient pine tree, she locked the wheel, the thick chain securing it to the tree. She peered through the thick needles, the street before her deathly still in the early morning light. Occasionally a car passed, some poor person who's job called them to come before a reasonable hour.

She slipped out from under the tree, walking calmly towards the large building. A single light came from the security offices, the high fence no barrier to one such as her. She took to the air, landing with a soft swoosh the only noise she made.

There was a single access hatch in the roof, and it was secured from the inside by a lock of some sort. It made no difference to her, she shifted, a thing small vine seeping into the thin cracks to pool on the floor below it. The noise of a worker walking stopped her from reforming, and she crept along the corner between the wall and floor, a soft rustling covered by the footfalls of the woman as she passed. She was so involved in her work she never noticed the creeping vine.

She slipped under a door, the room beyond empty and dark. She reformed into her blue self, the clothes reappearing on her body. She looked around, finding herself in a darkened lab of some sort, vials and tubes filled with odd looking mixtures. She wrinkled her nose as she picked one up and sniffed it.

~No matter~ She thought to herself, then proceeded to smash every vial and container she could find, followed closely by the electronic equipment. Each of those were overloaded with blast after blast of blue lightning. The smell of scorched rubber filled the air as she noticed a notebook sitting on a shelf near the back. Thinking quickly she grabbed it and stuffed it into a pocket inside her coat.

She smiled and let the flames spread to consume all of the lab equipment before walking out of the room. She stopped just short, nearly colliding with a huge mountain of a man wearing a lab coat.

"Ay! Watcha doin in here." His accent heavy. He noticed the flames a second later and made to grab her.

"Don't think so." Arania growled and popped her blade out of it's holder on her wrist, and pushing it deep into his gut, his blood flowing out over her arm. "Go to hell bastard."

She shoved him off her blade and stalked down the hall, destroying each lab and person she came across, before long her face and body were streaked in blood and soot. Her true mind had left her long before she ever got to the building, so she felt nothing. Finally she reached the bottom level, and found herself face to face with about 12 guards, both Kais and humans.

She stood her ground, crouching as a brace flew through the air at her, but was hit by another that came in low, cutting a gash in her leg. She rose into the air, literally flying at them, hands both bladed, cutting the head off one Kai, and knocking a human through the wall.

A smaller man jumped for her, an electric cattle prod raised to graze her skin, but the power just edged her on, and he felt the toe of her boot hit his nose, fracturing it in many places. He dropped to his knees, hands clutched over his nose. She landed on top of him, launching herself into the air again, watching as a Kai's brace took his arm off. She grinned as she grabbed his hair, pulling the Kai through the air and depositing him into a flame filled room.

Her eyes flashed briefly, the mage of the house on fire replacing what was truly in front of her, but the feel of a knife deeply imbedded in her ankle brought her out of it quickly. Her fury flooded her system with adrenaline and her eyes glowed brilliant red.

"WIND!" She shrieked into the air. Her hair rustled at first, and the men laughed, thinking her insane, but then a funnel filled the room, a vortex of air whipping the remaining mortal men into its grasp, battering them against the walls and ceiling, their bodies a mass of broken and destroyed flesh.

When the wind died, she floated eye level with three Kais, their braces armed and aimed at her. The screech of their weapons filled her ears as she tried to dodge. She moved quickly, but not fast enough, she felt two of the three dig into the flesh in her back, her own blood joining the rest that coated her body. She snarled in pain and anger, her eyes glowing even brighter, her hair whipping around her face from a wind only she felt.

The Kais were unconcerned, until the heat within the room grew, the air crackling with power. She pointed both hands straight out at them, fingers splayed. The bolts that came from her lit up the room and her skin. They flew from her, landing directly in their targets, the electricity flowing through the metal parts in the clones to incinerate them there.

The room soon filled with smoke and the stench of burning flesh, and she walked out through the front door. She walked stiffly towards her bike, but her ears were drawn by a noise that was both familiar, and stirred her anger to a bright flame, the harsh smacking sounds of leather upon flesh.

She followed them, a frown barely visible on her face through the dirt that collected there. It led her to a large apartment building, the sounds emerging through a cracked window upon the top floor. She floated up and landed on the fire escape, peering between the blinds into the dingy apartment. The room inside, while not rich, was clean and furnished practically. The room was a bedroom, with a queen sized bed with a worn quilt.

Laying spread across the bed, face down, was a clone, raven hair concealing his face from view. He was as naked as the day he would have been devatted, a tattoo on his shoulderblade of the clone was a small eagle, she could see it from where she hovered outside their window. Her blood dripped down the inside of her clothes as she watched, but she ignored it.

Through the bedroom door walked a short woman, her body plump, but attractive, with blonde hair and grey-green eyes. She was also bare, and in her hand she held a riding crop.

"I'm back..." The woman's voice was audible to the enhanced senses of their watcher through the glass.

"Yes mistress." His voice was muffled by the mattress and his own hair. "I'm ready mistress."

The woman's face broke into a smile as she walked over to the bed and straddled his hips, a leg on either side of his waist. She raised her hand and brought the crop down across his back, striking him hard enough that it created a smacking sound, but not hard enough that protoblood was drawn from his flesh. Again and again she did this, until suddenly the clone turned over, grabbing her in his arms with a growl and a passionate, earth shattering kiss.

The blue skinned watcher floated back to the ground, her feet landing in a small puddle of her own blood. It was lover's playing she had heard, no more, no less. The sight of their kiss played through her mind again, and she forced her tears away. Her senses returned and she heard and felt everything around her once more. The pain in her limbs and back made her bite her lip to keep from crying out as she forced herself to walk back to the motorcycle, and make her way home. Every bump, turn and jolt from the road sent another agonizing wave of pain through her weakened body.

She didn't bother parking the bike in the garage, instead she stopped right outside the front door, and left it, the keys still in the ignition. She pulled herself off the machine, stumbling up the stairs.

Just inside the door stood BlueKai, with an innocent smile. "Awi, where was you?"

"Out Blue....out.." She didn't have the strength or will to answer his usual questions, and started to walk by him.

She whirled as he spoke the name." He didn't say anything..he can't anymore Blue, you know that."

"Yes he can." Blue stated defiantly, and clearly. "He says that he wuvs you, that you need to stop it.."

She raised her hand, the words cutting into her way too deep. "HE'S DEAD BLUEKAI! HE'S DEAD AND HE'S NEVER COMING BACK!!!!!" She shrieked at him, pushing him harshly away from her.

Her yell brought Blade and Disco from the kitchen where they were planning the grocery list. Disco saw what was happening, and looked at Blade.

"Blue, would you like a piece of the chocolate cake I just made?" Blue's bobble head response was followed by him running after Blade as he led the way into the kitchen.

Mus's timing was perfect, as he walked in from the security room, to see Arania slumped against the wall, and smelled the blood in the air. A glance to Disco let his brother know that he would take care of it, as he pulled her away from the wall, gathering her into his arms and bearing her upstairs to tend to her.

It was many hours later when he came back down. Arania's exhaustion, as well as some sedatives Mus got from Dr Ben and slipped into her food, got the better of her, and she sank into a deep dreamless sleep. He sighed as he closed the door and headed downstairs to seek out his brothers' companionship.

He found Disco in his office, working on some papers. He slipped into the room, closing the door behind him before settling into a chair.

"She's miserable Disco, even with me still around, she's in so much pain." He said quietly.

"She lost someone she loved MusiKai, you can't expect her to just get over it that fast."

"But what she did, she went out and got herself hurt so badly. I'm worried. She's lost people she's cared about before, but she was younger then. I think that this was the proverbial straw for her."

"When she was twelve, her grandfather died. She idolized him. Not a year before that her cousin died, a girl she considered more of a sister, and she was only 16. I don't think she ever truly grieved for them. She sank herself into her book, withdrew from everyone, in her own words. I don't think she let it happen. Now with this, I think all of the pain from then, and what happened to Sparrow, it all is coming out now, and not in a good way." Mus frowned. "I think I want her to be watched, until she acts more like herself. If I can't be with her, then someone needs to keep an eye on her room, or wherever she's at."

Disco nodded. "We can arrange that. Related, Blue isn't taking it too well either. He keeps insisting that Sparrow's still in the house, and he can talk to him. I don't think he's as bad as your Ari, but still, we'll have to keep an eye on both of them."

They both nodded, and sank into companionable silence, each lost in their own thoughts.