Fall Is Beautiful

S3 Chapter 4: Pain and Guilt

TW: DEATH, FIRE(?)

A few minutes earlier...

My body tensed in horror as I felt the barrel of a gun come to the side of my head after being kicked down to the floor. I hadn't gotten the chance to see where Yam or Cassim were, and I could only hope that at least they were still alive. I looked up, seeing Hakuei. She had a stoic look on her face as if she had no remorse for what she was doing. It made my stomach churn. "Why? We helped you! We saved Kouha!" I yelled, hoping someone would hear. Hakuei chuckled, shaking her head.

"Helped? We were perfectly fine until you came along. Kouha was well, Kouen was happy, we were still a family! Well, partly..." She looked over to the wall, as if in deep thought for a moment before turning back to me. "Now we just have to get Kougyoku, and we'll be a family again." My eyes widened. That's right... Kougyoku ran away from her home, but for what reason? Was her family this crazy? I tried to sit up, but Hakuei kicked me back down. "I know it wasn't you who shot my brother... I know it was the workers, even so... I'll never forgive you for entering my life. You try to act as if you're cool, you're sly, you're oh so amazing. But here's the thing, you're not. Maybe you were before the disease, maybe you were the hotshot at school, the popular, cool kid, but life is not so easy anymore. You don't have your mommy or daddy, your friends... your brother. You have nothing."

I never thought such things could leave such a pretty girls mouth, but here the words were, coursing through my brain. They mixed with Seren's yells at me, at all the lectures I got... how much of a disappointment I was. I really did have nobody now. They had all... left me. Seren, mom, dad, Hina, Rurumu, Sharrkan... Jafar. They were all gone. I looked around the room, as if that would distract me from my thoughts, and saw another person, one of Kou's people, pulling two bodies aside. They were limp, unmoving, dead. My eyes widened, and I immediately remembered why I was in this room. "YAM! CASSIM!" I yelled, refusing to ever think of those things again, for now. If I wasn't able to protect the lives of my friends, then what good was I? I darted up, and Hakuei, stumbling backwards from shock, pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The bullet went right through my arm, but I didn't care. I ran towards the guy pulling Yam and Cassim, and toppled him over. I punched and screamed at him, my fists balling with small flames. Eventually, I could see the burn marks starting to appear on his face. I wouldn't stop, though, not until he was dead. Not until I had my revenge. I yelled my frustrations out, beating the man to a pulp until I was sure he was passed out. That's when the gun barrel was pulled to the back of my head. "Get off of him, before I paint the wall in your brains." I chuckled, feeling flames of anger residing inside me, my fists burning with flames. I turned to look at Hakuei, my eyes turning red. She didn't seem to notice or care too much. I stood, but she didn't shoot. "I don't want to have to kill you, so stand down." She practically ordered, but I wouldn't step down. I reached out, faster than expected, and grappled her wrist. In a panic, Hakuei dropped her gun, screaming in agony from the flames now surrounding her arm. "LET GO! LET GO!" I wouldn't. She didn't give mercy to my friends, I wouldn't give mercy to her.

Her screams ended when her entire body was lit on fire, and she dropped to the floor. It only took a second for the entire room to catch fire, and I looked over to my right, where Kouha was still in his coma. I rested my hand over his forehead and whispered, "I'm sorry," before setting him on fire. I then looked through the smoke, seeing Yam and Cassim's bodies laying on the floor. I took a look at both of them, their eyes still wide open with shock, but there was no breathing, no pulse. They were gone. I hefted both of them onto my back, thankful that now only the room was burning, and not myself. I stepped out of the room, where the fire had already spread into the hallway, and out of the building. It seemed like almost every kid had come running to see what was happening. I laid down Yam and Cassim down on the grass, gently closing both of their eyes. I then put my hands together, saying a gentle prayer for them both, and turned to my left. Alibaba stood there, eyes wide, but nothing more.