.this.is.the.last.time.

[Rikku]

.this is the last time.
.that i'm ever gonna come here tonight.
.this is the last time - i will fall.
.into a place that fails us all - inside.

And as I stand here, as still as the stone beneath my feet, I am reminded of the past and previous desires my soul took pleasure in. It is quiet now, the disastrous post traumatic pressure grating on the psyche of all surrounding this unpleasant place. A memory dances in my heart and I hear the childish whispers of a gone tomorrow echoing my bones, white picket fences, blooming bushes of life and a once passionate existence – my sister stands beside me, looking out to the mist beyond. This disturbing scene turns my stomach and invades my brain…. Will it ever return to the norm that we expect? The screen behind me crackles with black and white interference…. Short sharp bursts of life from the film burn onto the projection light…. Demons locked in the anguish, bowling over and over, never ending. Shaken seats, disrupted positions and still I am alone….

.i can see the pain in you.
.i can see the love in you.
.but fighting all the demons will take time.
.it will take time.

There are always more, at the centre of the earth, wining and dining they sit applauding the behaviour of all insignificants…. Alone we call for help as our world crumbles beneath our feet…. Falling we try to fly…. Hitting the asphalt, and rising to lie forever, we shall never die…. A furies desire is to claim those who have died a decent death….. But that not be the case and sometimes we all die for that which we believe. Floundering in our self encasement, lost by the wayside and dying in the ditches…. Will we ever win? Or die at the hands of the devil within…. Watch as my soul is plucked from my bodice and slapping the metal chains upon the earth, I am stricken with sickness… that’s the sickness that kills, but remains undead. Watch as I cull your disease! Breeding from your life the love that locks this illusion in its hold....

.the angels they burn inside for us.
.are we ever.
.are we ever gonna learn to fly.
.the devils they burn inside of us.
.are we ever gonna come back down.
.come around.
.i'm always gonna worry about the things that could make us cold.

Centre fold, and increase those senses, soon the enemy within will rap his clasps around thines door, silently knocking, calling your soul to the death of humanity, we are locked within our cages, calling for a lost culture and praying that someone will rescue the light of day before our skin falls away… silence..… Luck? Not the love that reigns and drops from dewfeld carcasses… alone we stand, alone we fight, alone we bleed, alone we die – until that day that one unites us and drowns all fears to reunite our souls… together we will stand, together we will fight, together we will bleed and together we will die… But for now, we hide and cry for the love we wished we had… frozen you are a mere butterflied mesh to stand my heart against… shall we all fall?… or say we fly? Needing a passive essence to guide… needing strength…

“Who will stand with me? Who will fight with me? Who will bleed with me? Who will die with me? Fight for our survival!?”

.this is the last time.
.that i'm ever gonna give in tonight.
.are there angels or devils crawling here?.
.i just want to know what blurs and what is clear - to see.

[Zane]

Zane walked the streets alone, lonely unfamiliar streets, the sound of his breathing and his boots on the pavement reminding him that no, he hadn’t gone deaf. The place was just utterly silent, not a sign of human activity of any kind. And for a moment he stopped to muse on what had happened, the apocalypse that was upon them, and what the outcome would truly be. It seemed strange to him that they continued to live even though they should have been dead long ago, it seemed pointless to try, and yet they did. Why didn’t they just lay down and die, all of them at once, simultaneously throwing in the towel? But they didn’t, and still they lived, walked, cried, still they kept right on breathing.

He cast a glance up towards the skies, surprised for a moment to see the bright globe of the sun high in sky. Maybe it was his mood, or maybe it was his vision, but to him the surroundings looked like they were draped in shadows. It was midday, but to him it seemed like dusk, a very strange illusion indeed. Was it because the sunlight just couldn’t touch the earth anymore, that the life-giving rays simply didn’t do any good? And so the shadows and the darkness had taken over, staining the earth and tainting everyone, everything. Zane winced suddenly, partially because of the depressing thoughts that he was again allowing to take root in his mind, and partially because the light from the sun, although useless to revive the world, still succeeded in stinging his eyes. He raised a hand to shield his eyes, and ducked under the cover of an old movie theatre awning, backing away from the sun hurriedly. His sunglasses, although heavily tinted, still weren’t strong enough, and he sighed with relief when his gaze was finally met by shadow.

For a moment he just stood there, under his emergency sun shelter, and looked out on the desolate street. Then his curiosity got the better of him, and he approached the door to the theatre slowly. He pushed it open carefully, waiting for a creak of hinges that never came. He entered slowly, letting his eyes adjust to this new level of darkness. The lobby was deserted; popcorn machines still half full, the contents stale and beginning to go moldy. There was candy in the glass cases, and he bet that there was even money still left locked safely inside the cash register. Not that money was much good anymore, and that was probably why it had been left. There was no use for money; those that still survived had gone back to the ancient system of trades and barters.

Zane stopped suddenly as he turned to approach the doorway that led to the viewing room of the cinema. He could hear footsteps inside, and hesitated a moment before entering. When he did so he slunk in quietly, trying his best not to make a sound. He didn’t know if the person, assuming that it was a person, was a friend or foe. Though he had a feeling that most likely it was the latter. He hadn’t met many friendly people lately, and he was beginning to wonder if maybe they had all died off? Then she spoke and he almost jumped, he hadn’t been expecting that and it startled him. But he quickly regained his composure, returned to his trademark stoicism and simply watched her speak and listened to her words. Her tone was high and sharp, almost hysterical in his ears. Or maybe it was just him that wasn't used to hearing another human speak?

[Rikku]

It was hopeless talking, there was no-one in sight, and Roza leant on the wall in the opposite staring at her, slightly bemused. Rikku sighed, it was worthy giving up everything now, even though they had come so far - it never seemed enough to satisfy the fact that they had seen next to no-one in the last couple of days! The most they had seen, were, to say the least, rotted carcasses, decaying bones with slices of muscle and some even had skin, festering away atop their bodies. It had made her sick, butshe did not show it - the stronger of the two, she needed to be for Roza's sake! Rikku knew she wasn't weak, but it was a safety thing, "safety in numbers..." she remembered the phrase, but nothing would ever be the same again.

Sighing again, this time deeper, taking too much of the rancid air into her lungs, she gagged, leaning forwards to heave that which was still in her stomach onto the floor, she was discusted in her own actions. This kind of thing was not what anybody wished to see, least of all her own sister. Turning to her sister, her leather boots making sounds on the leolin tiled floor, she bent to pick up their cadet blue rucksack, hoisting it onto her shoulder, she unlatched her holster, drawning the eagle out in front of her.

"Lets get a move on, it'll be dark soon... thats when they come out to play!"