Ok, I'm back!
And this time, it's not a good thing. Really.
There's a new side story! But it's a bad thing! Really!
You'll know what I mean soon enough...
Warning: All Berryz fans, Captain's fans in particular, I apologise in advance! >_<;;; Don't kill me too much. >_>
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Side Story 8: BreakInsubordination was not tolerated. That was the guiding principle of this place. This hell on earth.
Eyes downcast, obedient, fearful. Inwardly rebellious.
I did nothing wrong. I was only protecting my squad, my team, my friends.Chained and hauled in front of a tribunal. If the term could be used. Cold eyes. Couldn't see their faces. Piercing, unrelenting gazes.
"You killed a trainer."
Yes, yes I did, and the bastard fully deserved it!She did not speak. Could not. There was nothing to be said. Reply and she would be beaten. Don't reply...
SMACKAnd she would still be beaten.
Her face hit the ground with great force, the sound of flesh against stone ringing loudly in her ears. The impact made her dizzy, but her training kept her from passing out immediately. Unfortunately.
"Speak when you are spoken to."
A voice devoid of sympathy or even basic decency and kindness. A voice that delighted in power and the wielding of it. A voice that was the rule of law in this place. She tried to reply, but her mouth couldn't respond properly. It was a pain to move her jaw, and it felt as if there were marbles in her mouth. Coppery marbles. She spat and a few teeth came out, along with a dribble of blood.
Another hacking cough, and a booted foot was driven down on the small of her back, forcing her face down into the small puddle of her spat blood. It was difficult to breathe, let alone speak. Her back felt like it was being broken in two. She focused and tuned out the pain, just like they were taught to. It was easy, for this was nothing. She had had worse before.
"Do you think yourself above your superiors?" The voice sneered coldly. "Do you think you are irreplaceable simply because you are the best?" It was not a question.
She could not speak. She wasn't allowed to.
"Let me tell you this then. You are NOTHING. You were worthless, hopeless rejects until we took you in and shaped you to become our weapons." There was a superior pause. "We made you the way you are now, and we can break you just as easily." There was a note of triumph in that voice. "Remember this. You are worth nothing until WE gave you value. And we can just as easily discard you any time we want." Another dramatic pause.
"You have overstepped your bounds. On account of the fact that you're still worthwhile as a tool, we will not simply kill you. No, you merely need to be taught a lesson in obedience." One could hear the smile in the voice. A smile entirely devoid of warmth or mirth. She shivered, instinctively, reactively.
"Please show our dear Captain what it means to be a good soldier."
~*~*~
They were all worried. With good reason.
Captain had disappeared. Missing, for 3 days.
There was no mission, no objective that could have pulled Saki away from them. No, Captain would not leave without telling them. And if there were a mission, one of the trainers would inform them of the absence.
But right now, there was simply...nothing. No news. No information. It was as if Saki had just vanished into thin air.
The trainers were just as unresponsive. Maiha had gone up to demand an explanation, but ended up being sternly rebuffed (and made to run laps for speaking up unnecessarily). Maasa and Miyabi had gone snooping around the whole training camp for some hints, but turned up nothing at all. Maasa had even gone dangerously close to the forbidden area of camp, very nearly getting caught, but had not been able to discover anything useful.
They were united in their worry. Even the others not from their team. Saki was one of them. It was natural to be concerned.
Momoko had gone beyond worry. Hysteria would come closer. She hid it well, but the others could still read it in her movements. She had good reason to be hysterical, because she was the last one to have seen Captain before she had disappeared. And the last meeting had not bode well.
"Momo, I killed a trainer."
"What?! Why?"
"Don't ask. Just...don't."
"But...what now?
"I...I don't know... But if I don't make it back...take care of the others for me."
"Captain? Wait, Captain!"And that, was a perfectly valid reason for her panic. Momoko was terrified that Captain might have been killed. Or if not, had been dubbed a renegade and marked for execution, which was pretty much as good as being dead. But if Saki had run away, why did the trainers not have any reaction or announcement of that fact? And if they had had Captain killed, why did they not make any mention of it either?
It was all very confusing, and they were all afraid.
Captain, please be alright...~*~*~
CRACK"Orders must be obeyed!"
The lash bit deep, the hooks digging into tender flesh and ripping out with a spray of blood and meat. Barely a whimper came from the prone figure. It had not been the first lash on her. After the first hour, the pain had just turned into...part of the background. Ever present, and consistent.
"Loyalty to your superiors!"
NO! I HATE THEM! I HATE YOU! She might have screamed. It might have been all in her mind. She did not know. She could not care. It was all the same.
It came again.
PAINIce cold water. Over her ragged, beaten body. Her dry, dehydrated tongue, hanging loosely from her mouth, reacted to catch stray droplets. Salty.
And it burned. Oh, how it burned. Old scars, old wounds reopened with the whipping. New ones made. Salt water all over.
She might have screamed. She did not know.
She might have cried. She also did not know.
Thought was slowly being erased. Instinct was all there was.
And then there was the pain. Only the pain.
Nothing else.
~*~*~
A week. A whole week. And still no Captain.
The team was falling apart. They could not focus in training. They made mistakes, mistakes that they would not have made usually.
Worry was eating at them, and it was killing their concentration.
The trainers fretted, punished, and harangued. To no avail. Fear alone could not motivate them. They needed stability. A calming influence.
They needed their Captain back.
~*~*~
Dark. Cold.
"Do not question. Listen and obey."
Alone. Dark.
"You are a soldier."
Can't see. Alone.
"You must be loyal to the master and to the mission."
Hungry. Cold. Dark.
"Good soldiers are rewarded."
A drop of honey.
Lick. Not enough.
More.
Please?"Bad soldiers are punished."
Painpainpainpainpleasepleasepleasenomorenomorenomore!Fear. Pain. Cold.
Stop. Stop.
"Obey, and there will be no pain."
Yes. No. What?
I don't know!"Are you a good soldier?"
No. Yes. Yes. No.
Hurts.
I'm scared."Listen, and you will be free."
I don't know.
I don't know anything anymore.~*~*~
It was all so difficult. Being without Captain, their leader. And more than that, their friend.
Miyabi was getting more evil and sadistic than usual. Maiha kept picking random fights with people and getting into trouble with the trainers. Yurina started setting surrounding shrubs on fire. Chinami got mad at everything. Risako was crying in her sleep. Maasa tried to do everything and achieved nothing. Momoko was trying to hold them together, but it was all falling apart.
Captain...wherever you are...please come back to us...
We need you...~*~*~
The voices kept whispering. Whispering, whispering.
She was going mad. Almost. So close.
A single tear rolled down pallid cheeks.
So alone. I'm afraid.
Where is everyone?
Don't leave me.
So scared.
Help.
I can't take it anymore.~*~*~
Lockdown.
It had just gotten to the point where the squad couldn't function properly at all. The pressures of their training, without a solid center, was caving them in. They were distracted, disturbed, and disorganised. The trainers simply locked them into their building, and told them to shape up...or else.
Two days without access to food or water or the outside world. Two days in the dark.
But at least they were all together. Save for one.
Where are you Captain?~*~*~
I am a soldier.The world was black. But it did not matter.
Soldiers obey orders.Cold? Irrelevant.
There is only the mission.Pain? Irrelevant.
Death before failure.Fear? There is no fear.
Fear is for the weak. Are you weak, soldier?No. Not weak. Strong.
There is an enemy. What will you do?Kill. Kill the enemy.
You are wounded. The mission is not over. What do you do?Continue. There is only the mission. Pain is irrelevant.
Good girl.No.
No?I am a soldier. That is all. A good soldier.
I'm a good soldier.
Nothing else.
~*~*~
Captain was back.
Pale, gaunt, and wounded. But back. After a whole month.
Everyone was so happy to have her back that they didn't even notice the difference...at least right at first. It became more and more evident as time went by.
Something was missing. Saki might have returned to them physically, but something else was simply not there.
Her eyes were hollow. She no longer smiled.
Saki the soldier had returned. But not their Captain. Not their friend.
What was going on?~*~*~
A mission. Too soon.
Only 3 days after they were reunited. The wounds had barely closed.
But they sent Saki and her team out anyway.
It was a quiet mountain village on the north coast. Said to be harboring subversives and traitors to the Empire. It was a threat, and had to be eliminated. They sent a bunch of pre-pubescent assassins-in-training. It would be more than enough.
Never mind that they would be outnumbered about 15 to 1.
Saki, despite her condition, was still an effective leader. The plan of action she drew up was simple and ruthless. It would eliminate everyone in the village. Innocent or guilty, all would perish. The order had been given. They would die.
There were doubts. Maiha looked perplexed. Maasa appeared troubled. Chinami looked uncomfortable. Yurina stoppd paying attention after hearing "burn". Miyabi was simply glad that Risako had been left behind. Momoko just looked worried.
But they said nothing. Captain was still Captain. It was just their orders, right?
Right?
~*~*~
It was easy to kill those who fought back. It always was.
Kill or be killed. It always came down to that. It made taking another life just a little easier, knowing that it was a matter of survival. It would not be pure, coldblooded murder. It was a fight to survive.
That was the idea.
There were some who tried to resist. Sort of. Armed with crude tools and weapons at most, these were hardly the well-armed subversives and traitors they were informed about. Simply a normal little village of peasants. Unarmed, defenseless peasants.
They couldn't do it. Maasa knocked a few people out, but didn't kill them. Miyabi killed those who attacked her, but otherwise tried to stay out of trouble. Maiha didn't have any problem with killing the men, but she spared the women, the old, and the children. Yurina was indiscriminately setting things on fire, and Chinami was trying to limit her.
Momoko tried to avoid killing as well, and tried to track down Saki. It wasn't too difficult. You just had to follow the trail of blood and corpses. Incomplete corpses.
The stench was making her ill. So were the mutilated corpses. Saki's choice of weaponry was ruthlessly effective in a massacre, but very messy. Momoko tried to avoid looking at the expressions of shock and horror frozen onto those dead faces. Those that still had faces. Some heads were missing. Momoko didn't want to look for them.
But where was Saki?
Amidst the carnage, a small figure stood. Red painted her from crown to toe, slick and glistening. She dripped as she moved, wet, heavy drops of crimson hitting stained soil. A few broken arrows hung out of her flesh, one in her shoulder, another in her thigh, and yet another in her side. It didn't seem to slow her down very much.
Surrounding her, were the dead. Torn off limbs, severed heads, eviscerated bodies, the entrails spilling out all over the ground...all steamed in the cool air. The blood was so fresh that it hadn't even begun to draw flies. Momoko resisted the urge to retch, her eyes set on the almost frail-looking form of her Captain. That familiar back just didn't seem very familiar now, covered in blood and gore.
"Captain?" Momoko's voice was barely audible, but it did draw a slight reaction from Saki, who turned very slowly around. Dead, empty eyes met worried, horrified ones. And there was silence, for the dead no longer spoke, and the living...well, the living were no better than the dead.
"Must we kill them all?" Momoko's voice wavered as her eyes skipped across a woman's body, a child in her arms. Both were dead. The killing was indiscriminate. Total.
The village burned around them. Saki did not reply for a moment, but there was a flicker in those hollow eyes. Just for a moment. Momoko's heart leaped, and then died down when the spark vanished back into darkened depths. She took a step closer, uncertain and afraid, but knowing that she had to get through to Saki somehow.
In the distance, Miyabi and Maasa watched, wary. Maiha was off to one side, also observing, usually mischievous eyes dull, yet alert at the same time. Yurina was simply watching the flames, entranced, Chinami beside her, holding her hand, casting glances back where Saki and Momoko were. They were all nervous. Uncertain. Terrified.
And then, movement.
Saki reacted on reflex, ready to spring an attack, but Momoko reacted just as quickly, pouncing on her tiny Captain and immobilising her arms from behind. There was a brief struggle, but Momoko was strong, and Saki was still comparatively weaker from injuries old and new. The subject of their attention, a child, probably around their own age, staring wide eyed at them. No, at Saki, the blood-covered executioner that had laid waste to the village. Frozen with fear.
"Captain! Stop it!" Momoko half-shouted, her voice hoarse. Saki gave no indication of having heard her, continuing to try and break the hold, but to no avail. With the best of her effort, Momoko latched stubbornly onto Saki, refusing to let go.
"It's enough....more than enough...please...Captain...Saki...stop..." Momoko pleaded, whispering into Saki's ear. A brief shiver ran through Saki's body, and the struggles died down a little. Momoko breathed out a tiny sigh of relief, but didn't stop talking.
"Captain...please...you've done enough...come back to us...we want you back...we need you...I need you..." Tears were rolling down Momoko's cheeks, a tiny sob escaping her lips at the end. Another shudder ran through Saki's body, and the muscles underneath Momoko's grasp relaxed.
"Momo...?" Saki's confused, tired voice whispered. "I...what...happened?"
The others had all drawn closer by now, sensing that the worst was over. Relief was on their faces, although most of them still had a wary expression while approaching them. The memory of Saki slaughtering with a coolly detached face was still too unnerving to forget easily, if ever.
It had been like a dream for Saki. A nightmare. She was disorientated and confused, her memories fogged and hazy. She could not remember much of that awful nightmare she had just woken up from...until she saw the blood. All of it.
Blood. Everywhere. On her face. Her hands. The dead.
She reeled inwardly. Dead. So many. She recognised the marks.
It was her. Had been her.
It had not been just a very bad dream. It was real.
Dead. All dead.
All because of her.
"Captain?" Momoko's voice suddenly seemed very far away to her. Blood on her hands.
"Are you alright?" No, not alright. Not alright at all.
It would never be alright again.
She looked up, wildly. Stared into accusing eyes. That child. Fear, hatred, pain. All directed at her. All because of her.
My fault. My fault. My fault.It rang over and over. Wouldn't stop. She couldn't hear anything else.
All my fault."...ptain!" Momoko. Miyabi too. Saki shook her head dumbly, her eyes distant and in shock.
"Don't touch me." The others all flinched back, the empty, haunted tone in Saki's voice chilling them.
A monster. I'm a monster."Captain?" Chinami tried tentatively.
"I said, GO AWAY!" Saki screamed, falling to her knees, refusing to look at them.
Go away, don't touch me.
I'm dirty, so dirty. Unclean.
A monster. Don't touch me.She wept silently. It would never be alright again.
~*~*~
"You're doing it again."
Saki looked up at the source of the voice. Momoko was smiling down at her, albeit a bit disapprovingly.
"Don't even try lying. You're thinking about that time again, aren't you?" Momoko sat herself down next to Saki, while Captain looked back out across the lake.
"Is it that obvious?" Saki smiled almost sadly, throwing another pebble and watching it skip acros the water's surface.
"Only because I've seen it before." Momoko reached out to hold Saki's hand, her fingers working open the tightly clenched fist before entwining their fingers together.
"Oh." Saki was quiet after that, staring at her reflection in the water. Momoko squeezed her hand lightly.
"We love you Captain, no matter what you did. It's all in the past now. Everything's going to be alright." Another reassuring squeeze. Saki smiled a little.
"Thanks, I guess."
The ending of that dream. Her friends had rallied to her. Refused to leave her alone. Despite what she had done. They did not leave.
"I'll always be by your side. All of us. We'll never abandon you." Momoko leaned in and embraced Saki. "Never."
Together, always.========================================
Ahem. Sorry. Yeah. I got a little obsessed with writing about the Berryz here. o__O But they have very interesting pasts that just couldn't be covered properly in the main body of the fic, which is why it's here. DEAL WITH IT.
So yeah, I hope I didn't scar anyone too badly. See there, nice fluffy ending.
Comment people! -is starved of comments-
Topic: All Aboard!: The Hidden Files [#8: Break] (Read 11272 times)