Return to Ruin--An Unlikely Caravan

[Kimato]

Kimato hesitates for only a moment, and then her need for a friend she can confide in overpowers her better judgement, and the words come pouring forth before she can stop them.

"I have to leave Dimitri...I have to get away from all of you. What if the next time MASS shows up you cannot restrain me? What if I hurt you or one of the others in the group? My fighting skills are deplorable, but when the MASS takes possession of me I could be dangerous. What if I do not regain control next time?"

She takes a deep, shuddering breath and looks at him through eyes that glisten with unshed tears.

"Please, Dimitri...try to understand?"

Please understand, this is the only thing I can do!

[Dimitri]

As Kimato's words pour out of her mouth to him, Dimitri looks into Kimato's eyes, trying to erase the look of shock he was wearing for a split second.

"I understand your thinking, Kimato, but I can't say that I approve of your course of action. " he states rather blandly to her.

I should have seen this coming. She'll get killed if she goes off on her own!

"I can't let you go by yourself, though. It's too dangerous. Please, let me come with you."

[Kimato]

Kimato freezes in indecision, astonished that he even offers to accompany her. She knows not what to do, being pulled by two sides of her being. Her plan had been to go alone, but now the prospect of not having to do so lightens her heart.

But....no. It cannot be so. I must do this on my own. I cannot ask you to help me. Even so...I wish I did not have to leave you, my friend.

She opens her mouth, intent upon making it clear that she has to do this alone. And instead, to her horror...

"Dimitri," she says, her voice coming shakily from her heart instead of her mind, for once, "I...accept your offer. I do not want to go away alone." Looking down at her hands, her face a brilliant crimson shade, she wonders at what she has done. And at the same time, she feels warm knowing she will have a friend in the days to come, in a time where she expected to be totally alone.

[Dimitri]

Dimitri swallows hard and looks up at Kimato. After he heard Kimato's answer, he felt a strange mixture of both relief and regret. This meant he had no loyalty to Nicholi or Thanatos any longer.

Well, at least I can keep her safe now.
....
I hope.

Dimitri stands up and pulls a small pouch out of his pocket.

Nicholi's payment to me... Dimitri thinks as the coins rattled within the pouch. I can't keep this money... Or...at least not all of it.

Dimitri pulls a handful of coinsfrom the pouch. Thinking for a moment, he suddenly throws them toward the battlefield. This is enough to compensate for our deserting them. The rest I'll use to support Kimato and myself.

"Alright, Kimato... I'll follow you wherever you go. You're in charge. What should we do next?"

[Kimato]

Kimato smiles at Dimitri, a little sadly, glad to have his help but already hating herself for the betrayal she has forced upon him. Reaching under her shirt, she pulls out her satchel of belongings. Laying the container on the ground, she removes the items one by one, surveying the contents. The red and white kimono, the chakram Nicholi gave her (now with a hole in it from her encounter with Thanatos), and last of all the picture of a happy family from a time more peaceful than this. She would only take the handgun, and the chakram. I will need both for protection.

But she knows she cannot take the picture or the kimono. They are not hers. Carefully she folds the kimono and lays the picture on it, placing the chakram in the bag and putting that and her gun on her belt. Turning back to Dimitri, she says,

"Well Dimitri, what say we head south of here? There is a place I must see. Mayhap we will need to work for sustenance, but at least I will not be a liability any longer..." she paused.

"Are you certain you want to follow me?" I do not want to be a burden to you Dimitri. I want to free all of you from this burden of my cursed self.

[Whitakker]

*Whitakker looks up in the sky above him, to see Skye returning. Why is he back already? Content to leave the matter as it stands, Skye alights on Whitakker's shoulder. Scanning the battlefield, Whitakker sees that there are basically no more adversaries to dispatch, and what little resistance there is is being handled quite efficiently by Thanatos, Rune, and Syrant. Well, I guess that's all for me today.

With a sudden thought, Whitakker begins to make his way back to Dimitri and Kimato's position, with his hands on his revolvers. While on the way, Whitakker muses to himself, Why do I even have these guns? So loud and noisy... Without a second thought, Whitakker removes the aegisite rounds from the guns, places them in his pocket, and promptly drops the guns on the ground, leaving them there.*

Just one more step removed from dependence on firearms...

[Dimitri]

"My answer stands, Kimato. I want to go." Dimitri broadly smiles. "South it is then."

Dimitri quickly glances over his shoulder toward the now strangly quiet battlefield. "We'd better hurry, they're going to come looking for us soon."

[Kimato]

”You are right.”

Kimato and Dimitri turn their faces to the south, turning away from the battlefield, the MASS, the Ruined City, and, in her own way, turning away from Nicholi Anhelo. She and Dimitri begin their journey, step by step away from the future, journeying slowly into a dark past that, thus far, resided only in the mind of the two travelers. Not knowing what they will do or whether they will ever see their comrades again, the two walk away as Whitakker begins his trek toward where they had stood.