Moment Of Silence

(Takes place after Falling from the Heavens.)

"Come on, Nai." Kara said, walking out into the woods of the world itself. She figured that after what had happened back in Disneytown with Naito, that a place with no people would be better for him for the moment. The engineer was inwardly glad that James hadn't thought to follow the two. She knew she shouldn't judge him based on her own past experiences with blonde guys that were Convergers, but the image of what happened to Naito would always come up in her mind whenever she thought of that guy, Cain.

Kara shook her head and instead took a deep breath. She couldn't remember the last time she was out in pure nature, refreshing breeze, the cooling shade from the trees, the feeling of walking on grass. And the engineer could feel this more strongly than before, her current appearance as a result of her deep connection with nature itself.

Naito was quiet as he followed. He was very embarrassed by what had occurred, and scared, but as per usual, was very quiet about most things.

Kara seemed at home in these woods, despite their mutual interest in technology. He himself seemed to lean toward times in the night, but he was not about to let either side of his magic loose, and so knew it best to avoid the nighttime.

And so, the Moon Tribesman followed, not saying a word as he remained relatively close behind.

Kara looked back at Naito, still a bit worried. After his episode back in Disneytown, she had gotten more worried about him, and felt she couldn't do much. The engineer looked away from him to hide her frown, remember how she couldn't do anything for him. Even if Azumi used her in her argument to calm him down, she still felt guilt over not being able to calm him herself.

Right now, Kara wanted to avoid going into any towns in this world for his safety. As such, she figured an outdoors excursion would do some good to calm him down. And if it got too dark to get back? The engineer hadn't camped in a long time and was actually looking forward to that. She just hoped there wouldn't be any unforeseen trouble happening to the two.

By and large, Naito was a young man of few words. He kept walking through the woods, aware he was worrying Kara. But what could he do? He did not know how to deal with his issues. Tamashī was able to calm him down, but what else could?

The fellow engineer seemed to think it best to go outside and away from populated areas. It was a good decision, all things considered. However, he did not know what to say.

As such, he merely looked around, a bit tense still but not hostile. He finally decided to ask after some time walking.

"Where?"

"Where? I'm checking right now. Gimme a moment." Kara replied. As much as she just wanted to stay longer and take in the sheer beauty of the forest, she still remembered her actual purpose for being here. The engineer simply waved for Naito to keep following her and walked ahead.

That was when she saw it in the distance, a large, looming black castle in the distance. She frowned at the sight, knowing what she knew about the world, she could easily guess who's palace it was. "It's her castle." Was the only thing Kara said, frowning.

She looked ready to tell Naito to return back but then a light from one of the windows blinked, getting her attention. To the engineer, it just seemed like a simple light, but to her companion, he could actually hear a voice coming from it. Male and female, speaking at the same time yet sounded distorted. It was completely unfamiliar to him but yet he recognized it.

"Come, we're waiting."

Naito could hear the voices, hear them intently. He knew they were not his, were not those with him…

No, of course not. Yes, he knew something was wrong.

But even still, the voices stoked his guilt, his anguish. He kept walking fast, covering his ears as he did, moving past his companion for the moment with his head down. "Shut up…"

Of course he knew what was real and what was not. He was not so clearly mad after all.

No, he wasn’t kidding. No need to belabor the point. Just keep moving.

Kara blinked as she heard Naito say to shut up. Was he telling her to shut up or to whatever he could only hear? Still, the engineer had no choice but to follow, seeing as the snowy white haired man walked past her and towards the castle. With a concerned expression on her face, she followed him into the castle courtyard.

In the inner courtyard, the aura of darkness could be easily felt even by those not sensitive enough to such things, permeating the air. The tension and oppressive feeling the castle was giving off felt stronger to Kara closer to it. The engineer couldn't stop herself from shivering, it felt cold to her all of a sudden. It brought back to her memories of Tau Volantis, when the Convergence brought her there, dumping her in the sheer cold of the planet. The engineer reflexively touched her RIG, the first change that happened to her due to becoming a Converger.

"Murderer...." A voice spoke to her. Kara looked around, noticing no reaction from Naito about it.

"Don't trust that demon."

The engineer frowned as she heard the voice, immediately guessing it was referring to the snowy haired young man she was walking with.

"We died because of HIM!"

Kara simply ignored the voice and took the lead, walking ahead of Naito. The engineer knew it was easily upsetting her, even as she walked towards the castle doors and went inside.

Naito continued to walk, eyes down, all around. He heard voices, heard them muttering in his ear, but there was enough in him, enough telling him what to do, that he was aware of which were his inner demons.

No, she was not going to attack him again. Yes, he knew that, most likely. No, it was not because she was very attractive, though she was. Yes, he was sure…

"Stop," he muttered to the air, to the voice behind his shoulder. They weren’t helping…

… wait. That sounded different…

"Cursed," he said, directed to Kara, meaning the entire location surrounding them. "Remain?"

"Cursed?" Kara asked as she turned around, shock evident on her face. For she was no longer in the same room with Naito, but somewhere else. The engineer wondered how she was sent to a different room from her companion without noticing. "Nai?!"

The green skinned woman found only one door, leading out of the room and walked out to find herself in a tower. She sighed with relief, glad she hadn't been sent far away. Now she had the daunting task of searching for the snowy haired young man in a ruin, with unseen voices insisting he was a murderous monster.

"He repaid his birth with our death! We died because of him!

Shaking her head, the engineer began walking down the stairs to search for Naito. "Now I regret coming here..."

Naito looked around as he found himself in a completely different location. It seemed like some kind of dungeon, with dark, stone hallways and iron doors lit by torches of green, arcane flame.

He could hear the screams, the slices as they tore through, the laughter, could see the… the blood on the walls, the blasts, the explosions, the crackles of cold, the waves of heat, so much more…

Careful! He was snapped from his waking nightmare by a sound from behind him, turning quickly and reaching for…

No, nothing. Just the darkness licked at by the light of the flames.

A sigh, as he turned around, still tense, trying to keep calm. There was no blood here. No screaming beyond that which he made, or those of the fallen he carried with him.

On the madman walked, keeping alert just in case, but trying to keep from uncontrolled bursts of power.