Yuku free message boards

Ryn's hardened look as she stared at Augustus faded when he asked the question, and she shook her head. "Not a one. I probably wouldn't be stuck around here if I did," she replied softly as she started to leave.



Aria paused and turned around to face him with the nastiest glare she could muster. "Why should I? Give me one reason, buddy, and if it ain't good enough, then I'm outta here. Come on, make it snappy. I need to knock some sense into the head of a dear friend of mine, you see."



"What are you doing back here?"

Nathaniel was sitting in a large chair, staring past a figure standing in front of him into the orange flames dancing in the fireplace.

"I got into some trouble," the figure replied. "I at least know he's alone out there. Our sister's nowhere to be seen. Thanks to some moron blowing himself up in the middle of town, half the marketplace's a mess. It was hard enough to get around out there."

"Julius."

"What?"

"There's something else, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Terald says if you 'pull that stunt again,' he'll kill you."

Nathan smirked. "He's got a lot of audacity, considering what he's been up to these days. Listen, Julius, go back out there. Tell Terry I said the feeling's mutual. Next time you come back here, make sure Kenneth is with you. Alive."

The girl stared at him for a moment, considering the words. She then shrugged and started walking again. "You're just tryin' t' scare me," she said, resuming a brisk pace. "Aria Stiles doesn't back down or run away, not ever."

Terald had just placed the canteen back in his pocket when he looked up. His brown eyes reflected the tension he was feeling.

"She's just too hard-headed," he whispered to John, "always been that way. She doesn't know what she's headed for. She's feeling pretty scared now, but she really doesn't let anything keep her back." He felt his throat start to dry. "If you can't stop her, then at least make sure she's okay."

He never imagined just how bad things truly were here.

Kenneth had to shield his face as he walked into the smoke, but it stung his eyes. The further he walked, the harder it was getting to breathe. Buildings were still on fire, collapsing, smoldering. Aside from the occassional faint cry for help, which the boy didn't know whether it was real or not, there didn't seem to be any sign of life around.

He felt his foot trip over something and he fell over. Turning around to get a look, his heart nearly stopped at the sight of a burnt corpse staring at him. Gasping and coughing, he scrambled to his feet and ran as fast as he could. His eyes were shut tight, he didn't know where he was heading to. After a moment he lost his balance and fell. He coughed still, rolling onto his back and gasping for air.

He had to get up. He had to keep going. He had to find that other kid...



The half-rotten wood front door slammed open, knocking it off its rusty hinges as it collapsed to the floor. The fennec fox stalked through the entryway, obviously in a bit of a foul mood. As she leaned against the wall on the other side of the room, Watts and Stump entered, both gaping at the broken door before turning to her.

"Somethin' got that sheila all riled up, eh?" the wallaby commented. "'Spose we all had a bad day, mate. See ya later."
"Sure thing." The panther waved him off absentmindedly as he sat on a bed near the left side. His piercing yellow eyes looked at the fennec. "That's the second time you've done that, Kat. What's eating you?"

Katrine glared at him, her hardened look softening. "It's one thing right after another. First Chain, and now Bones. Our comrades are falling one after the other, Watts. What are we all going to do?"

"What we always do: rebound and hit 'em harder. Remember that we have a purpose, and we have to accomplish that, even if it cost us our lives. When the new world is created, only the strong survive, and the weak perish. Of course, the weak are going first."

"You say that like I'm dumb."
"Didn't say you were."
Katrine turned away and headed for the the back doorway, calling, "Kiri? You there?"

"She probably went out again. Damn half-breed's more trouble than she's worth."
"Don't test me today, Watts. You know what I'm capable of."

Speechless, the boy could only nod in reply at first. It never really occurred to him that anyone else would be out here, yet he couldn't help but think that this newcomer seemed... odd.

After a moment of silence, he managed to finally speak up, "Thank you... uh... wh-what's your name?"




"KENNY!? I SWEAR, IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR SKINNY NOBLE ASS OUT HERE RIGHT NOW, I'LL BE SURE TO GIVE YOU TWO EXTRA KNUCKLE SANDWICHES WHEN I FIND YOU!!"

Aria inhaled deeply, exhaled and crossed her arms. "If he didn't hear that, he must be deaf," she muttered. "There's gotta be something wrong with him, running off on his own like that.

She looked ahead, staring into the smoke still hanging in the air like a toxic fog. "If he actually ran off in here he wouldn't last five seconds."

"Do you talk to yourself all the time when you're mad?"

Aria's ear twitched. "No, I'm just pissed off... wait a minute..." The rabbit looked around, finally spotting a young fennec fox sitting on the ground in front of a building across from her... or was it a cat?

Aria rubbed her eyes and stared in disbelief. She'd never seen anyone like this girl before. Her black-tipped ears were too large to be a cat's, and fennecs certainly didn't have forehead stripes, from what she had seen before. She had a long bushy tail like a fox, too, tipped in black at the end like her ears. She wore a white tank top, pale yellow pants with a long orange ribbon tied around her waist, orange and white sneakers, and shorter yellow ribbons tied loosely around her wrists. She looked up at Aria with kind eyes and and a smile. The rabbit pointed a finger at her. "What the hell are you?"

The girl chuckled lightly. "I am just me. Are you a Lepoid? I've never seen one before that wasn't in a book."
"You're kidding me, right? What, have you been living under a rock or something?"

"No. My mother always told me never to associate with one, but I can see you're not bad. You're a bit loud, though, I heard you from pretty far away. I didn't know your kind had such huge lungs. I thought you'd be much bigger."

Aria opened her mouth, but no words came. She just didn't know what to say. Finally, she turned and started walking toward a side alley. "Yeah, sure, whatever. I'm outta here."

"Don't go that way. It's dangerous."

"And who are you to judge... whatever you are..."

"Kiri." The halfbreed girl stood up, brushing her bangs out from in front of her face. "I'm not judging, I'm just telling the truth. I don't think it's right to lie."

"Survivor? Oh, no, I'm just trying to look for someone, that's all." Ken waved his arms in front of him, making him look almost comedic. "I haven't seen much of anything around here... not that I could, with all the... uh... yeah..."

He scratched the back of his head, starting to feel a little silly.



---

"Kenneth!"

Ryn's hands dropped to her sides. This had to be the umpteenth time she'd called out, and yet there still was no answer. She couldn't shake the feeling that if someone else was really lurking out there, then she'd be in a bit of trouble.

Stepping through piles of debris and junk as the few enforcers who were around tried to clean up and help the wounded with the squirrel following at her heels, the young woman thought she had seen someone pass by at the other end of an alleyway right in front of her. Was it him? No, but from the brief glimpse she figured it was still some kid.

She looked to her left. No one in their right mind would go that way unless they wanted to die from smoke inhalation.

She paused a moment to let herself think and wait for Sam to catch up. She really didn't want to drag him around like this, but her own inner fear was starting to get the better of her.



Terald watched the rabbit as he left, then turned about face. "Doesn't look like there's anything else for me here." He briefly glanced at the trampled forms of the children and winced, whispering, "I'm sorry..."

This had been the last thing he was expecting to see. "I don't believe that's any business of yours," the tomcat replied bitterly, shouldering the sword sheath as though it actually held a blade. "I've had a bad enough day as it is, so just leave me alone and we won't have any problems, right?"



"Can I touch your ears?"
"No."
"Aw, come on, just a little."
"HELL no."

Aria's fists were clenched at her sides as she turned onto a side street only to find that the building next to it had collapsed.

Kiri had paused behind her, ears drooped and paws clasped behind her back. "Aw, you're no fun."

"That's because I'm trying to find someone," Aria growled. "Why the hell are you following me anyway? Don't you have somewhere else to go?"

"You're interesting," Kiri said happily, as if she didn't look depressed just a moment ago. "I only wanna see what kinds of things you can do."

Aria gave the halfbreed a perturbed look. "Look, do whatever you want, just stay outta my way, all right? And NO, you cannot pull my ears."

She waited a moment for a response. Kiri stared blankly back at her before pointing a finger at her and grinning.

"Hey, look over there! There are others around here, too!"




"You don't understand, though, I really am looking for someone, another kid. My friend said she'd seen him run off somewhere around here." Ken almost had to run to keep up with the wolf, although he felt a bit out of breath.



Ryn didn't do anything right away. Once the boy had almost reached her she knelt down next to him. "I'm sorry. I must be selfish, running around like this while you're still hurt. I'll stop here for now, if it's okay."

Terald's eyes narrowed. "Didn't you hear what I said before? I said it's none of your business," he growled. "Are you deaf or something?"



Where the strange girl was pointing to, Aria didn't know, but she was suddenly pushed aside as she ran ahead of her and stopped beside an injured rat crawling away from a building.

"H-help me," he rasped as the rabbit caught up to them. "Please, my son is still inside."

"What about you? Aria asked.

"It's too late for him."

She turned to look at Kiri, who's expression and again changed. This time, she seemed not to show any emotion as she gazed at the gray-furred rat. "What do you mean, it's too late?!"
The halfbreed didn't say anything right away. Aria could feel chills going down her spine, this girl was starting to give her the creeps now.
"You should go find the child before it's too late," Kiri suggested. "This man will die soon." Her eyes closed as she shed a tear. "I can feel it."

Aria gave the girl a confused look, then did as she was told.

Kiri opened her eyes to make sure Aria was gone, then opened her fist, revealing the scalpel in her hand. "Mister, you won't mind if I end your suffering, will you?"



Ryn looked ahead for a moment, then turned back to Sam, slightly puzzled. "You want to go that way?"

In the back of her mind, her search was going to have to wait. She could only hope that Kenneth would be alright without her...



"Oi! What the heck do you think you're doing?!"

A hand reached out and seized Kiri's wrist firmly. As the girl looked up, she was face to face with a highly furious Aria and a tiny Roboid child cowering behind her. "You were about to kill that guy, weren't you?"