Paint it Another Colour

Chapter 72

Character name reminders:
Karim - Saudi Arabia
Imani - Kenya
Lin - Vietnam

Ludwig angrily stacked his papers against his desk and huffed. "Let's take a break" he grumbled. "We're not getting anywhere here." Without waiting for a remark from anyone, he stood up and walked out.

Vash took this time to run. He'd got half way down the corridor in the building when he heard a shout behind him and an arm propped itself around his neck.

"Hey!" Jett said, a little too loudly. "How've you been? Not seen you in ages!" Logan appeared next to him and smiled.

"Uh" Vash glanced around briefly, looking for an escape option. He really wasn't in the mood for talking to anyone, especially them. He'd talked briefly to Ludwig a couple of weeks ago, and Ludwig had been sceptical about them, suggesting that maybe, they weren't even on their side anymore. "Good? you?"

"Well, what can I tell you?" Logan sighed. "Life in the wide world goes on much as it has this past. I mean, obviously now, it's a bit of a bigger war, but if you look at it from where we're stood, it's not that bad."

Vash frowned. "How come?"

Jett stopped and thought for a second. "Okay, so you know the whole population problem? Of course you don't - you're from Switzerland - but that's besides the point. The world is overpopulated. That means that there isn't enough food to go around at the best of time, right?"

"Right" Vash said, not quite sure of where this was going.

"Right" Jett grinned. "So, that means that we're over-farming all the land, everywhere, just to feed everyone. One of the main food sources in the world, is rice, but growing rice is also harmful to the Earth. Getting rid of nations like this? Less people, less problems, less rice, less harm to the planet." He winked. 

"Of course, that doesn't mean we're supporting everything that's going on" Logan said hurriedly. "Everyone's just taking it a bit personal."

Vash laughed curtly. "That's easier to say when no one's come after you, or has died on you yet."

"Oh no" Logan shook his head sadly. "They killed Frodo" he said. "My sheep."

Jett patted his shoulder. "But I get what you mean, mate. Obviously, Alfred and Matthew was a bit of a blow, but we didn't know them all that well, so it wasn't as bad as it could've been. I doubt we'll even end up in a fight if I'm honest."

"Your time will come. You will face the evil, and you will destroy it" Logan said.

Vash shook his head. "I'm not destroying any evil any time soon. I can't even hold a gun straight anymore, look" he held out a hand and they watched as he attempted to keep it still, but the shaking refrained him from doing so. "If I'm honest, you'll have to do the fighting, I'll be that useless one in the corner."

He started walking again, scowling at the floor and chewing the inside of his mouth when Jett appeared along side him. "I'm sure you won't. You'll be fine" he said, smiling.

"Besides" Logan caught up with them and huffed. "fighters are the most mainstream thing out there. All we really need to do is decide what to do with the time given to us. That will determine how long we're able to stay in this game for. We don't want to fight though."

"Anyway" Jett continued. "You have a huge gun!" On 'huge' he emphasised the word by stretching his arms out like a child trying to show the size of an elephant.

"You two must surely have weapons of some sort, right?" Vash frowned.

Logan laughed. "Do we look like the type of people to carry weapons round with us? Jett has a knife in his boot, and I have this" he reached inside his jacket and pulled out a small pistol. "But, they aren't going to do much, are they?"

"It's something I guess" Vash shrugged.

"We're not definitely doing any fighting though" Jett shook his head. "How did we even start talking about this? Neither of us want to fight."

"If we have to" Logan glanced across at Jett. "We should though. Whatever's going on, there's always some good in this world you see, and it's worth fighting for."

"No one's forcing you to do anything" Vash sighed, taking a large step forwards to try and leave them behind. As he did, he turned a corner and froze. The walls of the corridor he'd just stepped onto were splattered with blood, the floor like a swimming pool, and at the deep end of it all, three bodies. Vash himself had never really known much about, or cared for any of the nations there, but the bodies of Karim, Imani and Lin were so mangled, he found it hard to stay monotonous and emotionless.

"There is no curse in Maori, English, or the other languages of Men for this treachery" Logan muttered.

"We need to get back" Vash breather, backing away from everything. "We need to tell them. If... if this... that means they've found us."

"The hell?" Jett stared at him. "But... but they can't have, they... they can't have, right?"

Logan sighed. "The board is set, the pieces are moving. We come to it at last, the great battle of our time."

"It's not really" Jett muttered to him.

"Shh" Logan batted his head away. "Lord of the Rings."

Shout out to anyone who can tell me the number of Lord of the Rings references Logan says in this chapter!! It's a pretty bad chapter, but it has Lord of the Rings references in, so it's not as atrocious as it could be XP
MiddleEarth4eva