Just posted Chapter One a little bit ago on dA, so I figured I'd start a thread for it here too...
Chapter 1
dA link: http://stateofdep.deviantart.com/#/d4wwepi
Chapter 1
dA link: http://stateofdep.deviantart.com/#/d4wwepi
It was nearly midnight, the night before the day we died. They didn't keep anything from us; those who felt an obligation to keep us informed. They did their job until the end. Even so, they weren't alone. Others too kept at it, although for some it became only denial. Maybe it would have been less chaos if they hadn't said a thing, but it didn't happen that way. Of course, the chaos didn't start for a little while. Many were still asleep, after all, and many thought something could be done.
An older person walked around late at night in the large city. Blind, zhe could somehow avoid the crowds with ease. Although zhe got strange looks, which zhe could just about hear, zhe simply ignored them and returned to the solidarity of home.
Ciel lived a little outside the city, where zhe commuted to for hir small psychic shop. Although the question of what Ciel was came up in almost every appointment, zhe would say "I simply am" each and every time.
As soon as zhe had locked the door behind hir, the phone rang, just softly enough to not be a nuisence, but loud enough to hear from anywhere in the small house. Ciel didn't have to say a word to whoever was on the other line, as the other person seemed to know Ciel was listening.
"M-my name's Forrest. I'm a computer engineering intern over at Concino Corp. Um, if it's not too much trouble, my boss would like to ask for your services."
"What do you need?" Ciel asked tiredly, maybe with a little curiousness in his voice.
"Um, hang on." Zhe heard the boy ask someone else to talk. When the other person finally agreed, Ciel heard a girl who sounded uninterested.
"Yo. Aroku Senna speaking. This kid gave me his lunch and I'm supposed to ask you if you can read your tarrots or whatever to tell the future. I dunno how that works. Anyways, you know Concino is the leading company of the future and what not, right? Well, our boss is really supersitious and thinks we just got really bad news. I dunno what it is yet. But, yeah. She says you're the best and you'd be able to confirm it or not."
"I can try," zhe replied. Ciel told the girl to wait a second, that zhe would let her know what the cards told him.
Zhe shuffled and dealt. The first card was The World, then the Wheel of Fortune, then Death. Zhe gasped. Although only one of the interpertations, zhe knew it stood out. Bad news, Ciel remembered.
"Let me talk to your boss," Ciel rushed the girl. When the girl finally handed the phone over, another woman began.
"So?"
"It's the world's fate to change. And if you say bad news, it probably will change for the worse." When there was nothing but silence on the other line, Ciel asked "What's happened?"
"...I'm sorry. If we can further prove it to be true, there's no way you'll be able to avoid knowing."
"What?" Ciel exclaimed, but the woman had already hung up.
On the flight to a small vacation visiting friends, they played some movie about ghosts and superheros. There was a girl there who had little interest in the movie, and she simply watched the sky. Perhaps the girl was visiting from overseas, where she had moved for a job but then decided it wasn't for her. Perhaps the only other job available was as a bartender. Either way, it worked and somehow she made enough to live there still.
The flight was long, and without much to do, she meditated. Sometimes she would look out the window at the night sky, as she was lucky enough to get a window seat. Sometimes she'd close her eyes and let her mind escape.
She had made small talk with the man sitting next to her. Kaika, his name was. He had told Guren all about his life as a pastry taster and how he had been overseas marketing for his wife who was also a pastry chef. Guren noted the man had lit up when he talked about his wife. He had even shown a picture of her to Guren, and she thought his wife was awfully young. Maybe she just looked young for her age, she didn't question him further.
The movie stopped mid-sentence and switched over to some news station; Guren wasn't sure which one as a sleeping tall man blocked the corner of the screen. She planned to ignore it, but the flight crew had turned the volume up, and she couldn't. She gave up and watched a nervous looking white haired woman on camera, obviously terrified of what she was about to say.
"Hello, all," she paused. "Maybe you don't know me. I-I'm Shizu Sogone, one of the heads at Concino Corp. Um, we've recently found a coment headed for Earth. I..." her voice shook. Really, her whole body shook and it looked like she was holding back tears. "I'm sorry I have to tell everyone. We've already tried blasting the thing with missles. Russia even tried destroying it with nuclear weapons, but it seemed to only delay it by a day. There doesn't seem to be anything we can do to stop it. The comet will be here in about twelve hours. It's is large enough and is going fast enough to destroy Earth. We will keep you informed."
The video switched to a redheaded girl standing in front of a whiteboard. Or at least, it looked like a whiteboard until another video of a comet appeared. It probably wasn't the comet, but Guren could tell no one really cared about that.
"Sup. I'm Aroku Senna. I'm here to explain what's going on," she announced. "We suspect the comet was normal sized until recently, when a satelite Houston launched crashed into it on its way to Neptune. It took the comet out of its usual orbit, and it collided with smaller comets and asteroids and such. We suspect they stuck together, forming an even larger comet. It kept moving, picking up more and more until it was the size of Venus. Eventually with its original momentum, it started hurdling towards the Sun. It's going so fast it's already orbited the Sun several times in the last month, and is now getting closer and closer. We're still uncertain as to how it didn't remain in the orbit of the Sun. If our predictions are correct, it will crash into Earth in about twelve hours. As we found just yesterday, the nuclear weapons launched into space only dent the thing. We're sending as many as we can on their way to meet the coment and slow it down if not destroy it." She paused, letting the video end and return to a whiteboard. "No guarentees, though. This is all we can think of, and all we'll be able to do at the moment. Many countries have already built think-tanks and will try to set the comet off course. As my boss told you, we'll let you all know."
Finally, the volume lowered and the pilot's voice came on. It took a moment for him to actually say anything, and when he did, he sounded incredibally saddened.
"Passengers, I will fly you all to our final destination. If you can, go to your family. I'm sure the rest of your flights will be canceled, though. However, I am willing to fly you personally home if I can. For now, please try to enjoy the last half hour of the flight. It's been a pleasure serving you."
The man sitting next to Guren checked his watch, and she noted it was 12:14. The man seemed nothing but pissed, his expression locked in a face full of rage.
"Are you alright?" she asked calmly. She clutched a small lotus she always had.
"I can't let this thing hurt my wife back home."
Later, the plane landed safely and everyone got off as if nothing had gone wrong. Guren watched as the man called Kaika sprinted to a shuttle without bothering to get his luggage. She was surprised the shuttles still ran, but she supposed all hope wasn't yet lost. She, too, hoped they didn't face world's end already.
By the time she retrieved her bags, she found an old friend waiting for her. The boy stood waiting, still with his headphones on. He stood nervously, waiting, afraid of the comet reported. Nonetheless, his expression lightened when he saw her.
"Hey, Guren," he greeted.
"Hey, Forrest," she replied.
"Are you ready?" he asked, to which she told him she was, and they left the airport and towards whatever the day would bring.
Risu had lost track of time, and now it was a little past midnight. She drove back, exhausted by her day at the school. A few kids had "accidentally" landed in the flower pits after a little scuffle, and the school--wanting to keep its good reputation--required their youngest and most able gardener to stay behind. The school had even made her cancel the club she was in charge of that day.
She listened to the radio as she sped home, humming along to the songs that played. She zoned out, so when the radio came on even louder and more apparent than before, she jumped. The car swerved into a rail, although the only way Risu knew for sure that's what had happened was because both headlights went out. She jumped out to take a quick look at the damage, only finding it was too dark to see anything. Fearing something out of a horror movie would occur, she decided to drive home first anyways.
Getting back behind the wheel, the radio talked about how a comet of some sort was headed for Earth. She tried changing the station, only finding each and every station was covering the same story.
As Risu listened, she grew worried and afraid. She still wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but it sounded like the world was about to be destroyed.
As she worried and worried some more, Risu pressed her foot on the pedal harder. Her thoughts on the radio station and her headlights both, she didn't even notice the other girl trying to cross the street.
The dim streetlights only outlined the girl's figure, and Risu only just saw her as she sped closer and closer. She tried hitting the brake, but she was too close. They were going to collide.
When they did collide, Risu thought maybe just perhaps the car was going slow enough to not to any major damage. But, she got out and ran to the prone figure lying in the street.
She recognized the girl as Sakura Kankura, a girl from her traditional Japanese dance club that worked as a clerk at the local supermarket. She looked around frantically, seeing no one and nothing. What had Sakura been doing there?
Risu whipped out her cell phone and called an ambulance. The sirens blared and echoed in her ears and the two arrived at the nearest hospital, where a small team of doctors and nurses took the girl away, and all Risu could do was hope.
An older person walked around late at night in the large city. Blind, zhe could somehow avoid the crowds with ease. Although zhe got strange looks, which zhe could just about hear, zhe simply ignored them and returned to the solidarity of home.
Ciel lived a little outside the city, where zhe commuted to for hir small psychic shop. Although the question of what Ciel was came up in almost every appointment, zhe would say "I simply am" each and every time.
As soon as zhe had locked the door behind hir, the phone rang, just softly enough to not be a nuisence, but loud enough to hear from anywhere in the small house. Ciel didn't have to say a word to whoever was on the other line, as the other person seemed to know Ciel was listening.
"M-my name's Forrest. I'm a computer engineering intern over at Concino Corp. Um, if it's not too much trouble, my boss would like to ask for your services."
"What do you need?" Ciel asked tiredly, maybe with a little curiousness in his voice.
"Um, hang on." Zhe heard the boy ask someone else to talk. When the other person finally agreed, Ciel heard a girl who sounded uninterested.
"Yo. Aroku Senna speaking. This kid gave me his lunch and I'm supposed to ask you if you can read your tarrots or whatever to tell the future. I dunno how that works. Anyways, you know Concino is the leading company of the future and what not, right? Well, our boss is really supersitious and thinks we just got really bad news. I dunno what it is yet. But, yeah. She says you're the best and you'd be able to confirm it or not."
"I can try," zhe replied. Ciel told the girl to wait a second, that zhe would let her know what the cards told him.
Zhe shuffled and dealt. The first card was The World, then the Wheel of Fortune, then Death. Zhe gasped. Although only one of the interpertations, zhe knew it stood out. Bad news, Ciel remembered.
"Let me talk to your boss," Ciel rushed the girl. When the girl finally handed the phone over, another woman began.
"So?"
"It's the world's fate to change. And if you say bad news, it probably will change for the worse." When there was nothing but silence on the other line, Ciel asked "What's happened?"
"...I'm sorry. If we can further prove it to be true, there's no way you'll be able to avoid knowing."
"What?" Ciel exclaimed, but the woman had already hung up.
On the flight to a small vacation visiting friends, they played some movie about ghosts and superheros. There was a girl there who had little interest in the movie, and she simply watched the sky. Perhaps the girl was visiting from overseas, where she had moved for a job but then decided it wasn't for her. Perhaps the only other job available was as a bartender. Either way, it worked and somehow she made enough to live there still.
The flight was long, and without much to do, she meditated. Sometimes she would look out the window at the night sky, as she was lucky enough to get a window seat. Sometimes she'd close her eyes and let her mind escape.
She had made small talk with the man sitting next to her. Kaika, his name was. He had told Guren all about his life as a pastry taster and how he had been overseas marketing for his wife who was also a pastry chef. Guren noted the man had lit up when he talked about his wife. He had even shown a picture of her to Guren, and she thought his wife was awfully young. Maybe she just looked young for her age, she didn't question him further.
The movie stopped mid-sentence and switched over to some news station; Guren wasn't sure which one as a sleeping tall man blocked the corner of the screen. She planned to ignore it, but the flight crew had turned the volume up, and she couldn't. She gave up and watched a nervous looking white haired woman on camera, obviously terrified of what she was about to say.
"Hello, all," she paused. "Maybe you don't know me. I-I'm Shizu Sogone, one of the heads at Concino Corp. Um, we've recently found a coment headed for Earth. I..." her voice shook. Really, her whole body shook and it looked like she was holding back tears. "I'm sorry I have to tell everyone. We've already tried blasting the thing with missles. Russia even tried destroying it with nuclear weapons, but it seemed to only delay it by a day. There doesn't seem to be anything we can do to stop it. The comet will be here in about twelve hours. It's is large enough and is going fast enough to destroy Earth. We will keep you informed."
The video switched to a redheaded girl standing in front of a whiteboard. Or at least, it looked like a whiteboard until another video of a comet appeared. It probably wasn't the comet, but Guren could tell no one really cared about that.
"Sup. I'm Aroku Senna. I'm here to explain what's going on," she announced. "We suspect the comet was normal sized until recently, when a satelite Houston launched crashed into it on its way to Neptune. It took the comet out of its usual orbit, and it collided with smaller comets and asteroids and such. We suspect they stuck together, forming an even larger comet. It kept moving, picking up more and more until it was the size of Venus. Eventually with its original momentum, it started hurdling towards the Sun. It's going so fast it's already orbited the Sun several times in the last month, and is now getting closer and closer. We're still uncertain as to how it didn't remain in the orbit of the Sun. If our predictions are correct, it will crash into Earth in about twelve hours. As we found just yesterday, the nuclear weapons launched into space only dent the thing. We're sending as many as we can on their way to meet the coment and slow it down if not destroy it." She paused, letting the video end and return to a whiteboard. "No guarentees, though. This is all we can think of, and all we'll be able to do at the moment. Many countries have already built think-tanks and will try to set the comet off course. As my boss told you, we'll let you all know."
Finally, the volume lowered and the pilot's voice came on. It took a moment for him to actually say anything, and when he did, he sounded incredibally saddened.
"Passengers, I will fly you all to our final destination. If you can, go to your family. I'm sure the rest of your flights will be canceled, though. However, I am willing to fly you personally home if I can. For now, please try to enjoy the last half hour of the flight. It's been a pleasure serving you."
The man sitting next to Guren checked his watch, and she noted it was 12:14. The man seemed nothing but pissed, his expression locked in a face full of rage.
"Are you alright?" she asked calmly. She clutched a small lotus she always had.
"I can't let this thing hurt my wife back home."
Later, the plane landed safely and everyone got off as if nothing had gone wrong. Guren watched as the man called Kaika sprinted to a shuttle without bothering to get his luggage. She was surprised the shuttles still ran, but she supposed all hope wasn't yet lost. She, too, hoped they didn't face world's end already.
By the time she retrieved her bags, she found an old friend waiting for her. The boy stood waiting, still with his headphones on. He stood nervously, waiting, afraid of the comet reported. Nonetheless, his expression lightened when he saw her.
"Hey, Guren," he greeted.
"Hey, Forrest," she replied.
"Are you ready?" he asked, to which she told him she was, and they left the airport and towards whatever the day would bring.
Risu had lost track of time, and now it was a little past midnight. She drove back, exhausted by her day at the school. A few kids had "accidentally" landed in the flower pits after a little scuffle, and the school--wanting to keep its good reputation--required their youngest and most able gardener to stay behind. The school had even made her cancel the club she was in charge of that day.
She listened to the radio as she sped home, humming along to the songs that played. She zoned out, so when the radio came on even louder and more apparent than before, she jumped. The car swerved into a rail, although the only way Risu knew for sure that's what had happened was because both headlights went out. She jumped out to take a quick look at the damage, only finding it was too dark to see anything. Fearing something out of a horror movie would occur, she decided to drive home first anyways.
Getting back behind the wheel, the radio talked about how a comet of some sort was headed for Earth. She tried changing the station, only finding each and every station was covering the same story.
As Risu listened, she grew worried and afraid. She still wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but it sounded like the world was about to be destroyed.
As she worried and worried some more, Risu pressed her foot on the pedal harder. Her thoughts on the radio station and her headlights both, she didn't even notice the other girl trying to cross the street.
The dim streetlights only outlined the girl's figure, and Risu only just saw her as she sped closer and closer. She tried hitting the brake, but she was too close. They were going to collide.
When they did collide, Risu thought maybe just perhaps the car was going slow enough to not to any major damage. But, she got out and ran to the prone figure lying in the street.
She recognized the girl as Sakura Kankura, a girl from her traditional Japanese dance club that worked as a clerk at the local supermarket. She looked around frantically, seeing no one and nothing. What had Sakura been doing there?
Risu whipped out her cell phone and called an ambulance. The sirens blared and echoed in her ears and the two arrived at the nearest hospital, where a small team of doctors and nurses took the girl away, and all Risu could do was hope.
