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(Toto) "Mommy?" "What is it, Pilika, sweetie?" Joanna offered a weary smile. "When's Joey-niichan coming back?" "Oh, honey, I don't know... be patient." Pilika paced around the room as her mother watched amusedly. /Joey-niichan, hurry back! Daddy's birthday is oh-so-soon.../ The image of the pretty necklace was still locked firmly in her mind; and she grinned eagerly when she imagined Daddy's face when she showed it to him. Wouldn't he be so happy?? The cake would be chocolate. Mommy told her so. Pilika was definetely looking forward to it. A howl rings through the air, followed by the pounding of footsteps. A small rabbit looks up from its usual feeding area, ready to bolt at the first sign of danger. Run for your life, little one. The wolves are coming. Shrill screams rang out in every direction, and fire spread through the village. People were hacked and chopped into bloody bits by the Highland army, and a single demonic laugh was echoing through everywhere. A laugh that was familiar.... familiar... "Oh... oh, no..." "God, God, save us... save us..." Marx was hugging his daughter against him, his wife standing behind him, sobbing quietly. Pilika was screaming between sobs, a high, breaking sound that rang everywhere until Marx clapped a firm hand over her mouth. "Stop it, Pilika! Stop it!" She struggled for a minute, before giving up and staring at her father with huge, pleading eyes. Joanna was busy panicking. "Oh, God... they're coming here.. they've already destroyed southern Toto-- what should we do!? Dammit, Marx, what can we do!?" "They've sealed off the exits..." Marx muttered, Pilika struggling against his grip. "There's only one thing that we can do. We have to hide. And it can't be in here anymore." Joanna went ghostly white at his words, particularily the last. She shook her head frantically. "No, we can't! They'll see us! They'll see us!" A low, defeated sigh escaped Marx's lips, which didn't raise Joanna's spirits any. "They'd notice us, certainly. But maybe Pi--" A distinct crackling sound cut him off. Smoke. It took only seconds for both parents to realize what was happening. "It's on fire!!" Joanna shrieked, a low, choking gasp escaping her. "It's on fire it'sonfireohgodohgod-- We're all going to burn to death!" "Then that settles it," Marx said firmly, moving toward the door, Pilika in tow. "We HAVE to run. Joanna! Come on!" "Run! Pilika! Run!" She tried to ignore the tears that flowed out of her eyes, as her short legs carried her as fast as they could go, toward Daddy's shrine. She could not stop the terrified gaspings, and she turned to run behind the house; seeing the shrine up ahead, while Daddy's voice kept calling for her to run, run, run. Flames beckoned to her, asking her to just give up. She hated fire. She hated-- she hated-- she was so scared-- /Daddy, help me!/ she begged silently, just before the ground under her fell loose, and she fell forward, faceflat onto the ground. /Help me!!!/ Screaming went on in the background; she thought she heard Mommy's voice, but she was too scared, paralyzed with fear, to look back; the little girl managed to pull herself onto her hands and knees to start a crawl, slowly developing into a run, forming into an all-out dash toward the safe haven. Scary things went by as she ran. She saw someone's face staring up at her, without the body still attatched. She saw. Ms. Orphia's legs in one place; the rest of her body yards away. And all of it covered in that horrible red stuff that she had seen so much of in her dream. The dream. /Run!/ she commanded herself, despite the fact her legs were giving out. /Run! Run!/ She reached the entrance to the shrine, and pulled futilely at the locks; which didn't give one inch, until she fell back, exhausted. Whimpering hysterically, she pulled herself amidst some shrubbery, rubbing at her teary eyes while the awful noise went on. /Mommy..../ /Daddy..../ She covered her eyes; covered her ears to block out everything, but her curiosity got the better of her in the end; she cautiously opened her eyes and peered out from beyond the bushes, to stare down the blood-soaked ground. Mommy. Daddy. Not moving. Red. Red. Nothing but red. Something in her exploded, and she inhaled sharply to let out a scream; the shrill sound instantly caught the attention of a man covered in metal she didn't see standing near the bushes. His head swerved, and caught sight of the small child choking and gasping near the shrubbery. Letting out a nasty grin, Pilika only had time to whimper when he raised his sword-- before falling jerkingly to the ground, more crimson spilling out around him, bursting everywhere from a hole in his chest. A woman, grimancing, holding her blade outwards, before glancing around, eyes narrowing, not noticing the child who had sobbed her way back into the thrush. Two or three people she didn't recognize were with her. "Escape route's been cut off-- listen, you two, just follow me close, we have to look for other survivors-- don't pass out on me, you idiot!" She groaned as a girl swayed on her feet; before collapsing towards the ground; as the woman caught her, dropping her sword. It was then the woman noticed the arrows sticking out of the woman's back. She dropped the woman instantly and swept up her weapon. "RUN!" Her followers gladly followed her orders. "Come on, look for other survivors when you're--" A man-- the owner of the inn, Pilika realized-- gave the woman a critical look. "Hanna! We don't have bloody time to look for anyone else; we're having enough trouble surviving on our own-- and my wife--" he choked. "Shut up, Vilrance! You can cry later. Come on-- RUN, damn you! -- come this way-- I'll protect you--" Hanna ran, steps pounding along the ground; the other two grimanced and followed her, or attempted to-- the arrows cut them down, and Hanna paused, for a fraction of a second, before giving a sorrowful look as she continued to flee. Pilika didn't know where she went. She was just scared. There was nothing but fire. And cold. Despite all the fire, she was so cold. The smell of smoke remained in the air. Burnt, mutilated bodies were everywhere-- she had vomited, cleanly onto the ground, several times when she dared emerge again and the men covered in metal had left. Staggering toward two bodies she barely recognized; she sank to the ground beside them. "Mommy... Daddy.....? D.... Daddy?" They didn't move. Not one inch. A sudden realization hit her. They were-- what was the word-- 'dead'. Didn't Daddy tell her about it when her cat had died..? Yes, it was... going somewhere. Far away. But they were right here! They weren't the same, though... "Come back," she pleaded, to the corpses who gave her no answers. "Come back from far away. Please? Please? I'm scared... Mommy, I'm scared.... "Please....." Like she had done so many times before, she buried her face into her mother's charred, blood-soaked arms, and cried.
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