Chasing Light

[Chizuna]

Hiya, Chizy here. This is a new story of mine that has been rolling around in my head lately called Chasing Light. It's very lightly inspired by Blood Plus, an anime, but has nothing to do with any of the characters or the actual story so I guess you can count this fic as an AU of sorts.

So, on to the story:

Prologue

August 21, 2031

Sir ---- Kairos

Remembering the Blood Purge is like seeing through a stranger’s eyes. I knew this person so well; at least I thought I knew. His life was so distant from my own, devoid of anything that I cared for intimately, as if he had somehow invaded my skin. However, that didn’t make the false existence empty or meaningless. No, I led a basic life with things that some envy: I had friends, family and I had a purpose that fueled my drive to live. I fought my hardest for that belief that I was right. I had to be right. Or else, I would never find the answers to why tragedy had stolen everything from me in such a short amount of time.

Everyone around me had felt the same way. Our world had been shaken, uprooted and turned on its head for so long that it was only natural that we wanted to do something about it. We had fought to protect the things that were so precious to us as one and we were so close to obtaining peace. With the chaotic whirlwind of war, how could I see the truth? How could anyone?

Those born after the Purge will be able to look back and pinpoint our mistakes. It would make sense to them, the sudden shift from war to peace. Kain, who had once been the most hated man in the world now was celebrated by even the most hated of his enemies and the birth of organic weapons had begun. After all, only we humans would be so foolish as to harness the tools of our own destruction.

The children of the future reading this probably curse our stupidity and self-righteously call us monsters with the power of hindsight. We always look at history with the ability to see what happens after the fact. The past is frozen and unmovable. However, for those of us who live in the present, we can change. We are vibrant, able to mold and shape our destinies like gods, uncaring and ignorant of what tomorrow will bring.

History is only a record of the chain of events that led us to do or not do. It’s not a calendar that spells out the exact actions of each and every day. Nobody knows what the future holds. The best we can do is score an incredibly lucky guess.

If anyone is able to stumble upon this journal, I beg of them to scrutinize these raw facts laid out before them as I, too, am relaying the truth of the Blood Purge through hindsight. Change our dying world before it is too late and cleanse the sins that I have created.

[Chizuna]

Hi again, this is the first chapter for Chasing Light. Instead of going Chp. 1, Chp. 2, Chp. 3--I will be calling them Steps instead, mimicking how a child learns how to walk.

Primer Paso


The city of North Caige stood in ruins. Billowing thick clouds of dark smoke had formed a cloak over the sky above as flames danced upon the shambles of broken homes and buildings. The once busy streets had been decimated by the rage of the earth below, shattering them into nothing more than dust. Bodies of humans and monsters alike were scattered around the city, their lives ripped away from them due to senseless violence. For those who had survived, their cries of agony, calling out for someone to find them only highlighted the chaos.

One of the survivors, Nia, ran through the wreckage. Despite being battered and injured, she pushed herself to keep running. The teenager clutched at her tightly at her hurting arm, her eyes searching desperately down any alley way.

“Terios! Terios!” Nia called out, gritting her teeth as another sharp pang shot up her arm. She tried to ignore the stickiness of new blood coating her fingers and tried to focus on the sound of her footsteps slamming the pavement. It was the only way that she could keep herself from passing out.

C’mon, Terios! Where are you?! was one of the many in the flurry of questions she asked herself. She had to find him. As the sight of new movement caught the corner of her eye, Nia jerked her head and gasped in horror.

There he was. A lone man of nineteen crouched down in the shambles of a broken building, his back shaking against a chain-link fence. Dark streaks and splatters of blood were all smeared across his trembling, grief-stricken face. But the state of him physically wasn’t what scared Nia to the core. No. It was the fact that he held a knife straight to his throat with white, firm hands.

“Terios! No!” she screamed at him shrilly. Her last thread of sanity now ripped to shreds, the tiny girl immediately slapped the knife out of his grasp with all her might. Terios didn’t waste any time with trying to scramble for the bloodied weapon and soon, the two fought with each other. Shoving, pulling, yanking and scratching, Nia tried everything to wrestle away from Terios.

“Nia! Stop! Give it back! Nia!” Terios cried at her in a wild frenzy, sobbing. Angrily, Nia finally snapped at him and shot her hand out, slapping him in the face. As his head rocked back, she grabbed him by the collar and slammed him hard against the fence.

“Have you lost your mind?!” Nia all but roared at him incredulously. The dark haired man didn’t say anything, fat tears still rolling down his face. Her heart sank and she almost loosened her hold on his collar. Never had she ever seen him like this. “Terios…”

“Just let me go Nia! I don’t deserve to live!” he sobbed, ducking his head lower in shame. “I hurt them all! I killed her! I killed her, Nia!”

Nia choked back her own tears and tried to shake her head, “Terios, you had no choice…you know you didn’t have a choice, it was to protect us, it was to save everyone!”

“It’s no excuse! She was in my arms, Nia! I thought that once I got it over with, she would be gone and everything would be right again!” Terios shouted back, gripping his head in agony. “But it’s not! She’s still in my head laughing at me! I couldn’t protect anyone! You have no idea what it’s like to be m---”

“The hell if I’m not you!” Nia spat at him, grabbing the sides of his face and pinning the to the wall with such a fierceness that Terios looked absolutely stunned. “If you kill yourself, I will never, ever forgive you! You’re not the only one with blood on your hands, you know! I have to live with my sins just as much as you do! How am I supposed to be happy without you?”

“All I ever do is hurt others, Nia. I can’t make you happy…As long as I’m around…they will keep coming back…” Terios told her sadly, “I can’t risk living in a world with you or anyone precious to me getting hurt because of me…”

The red head caressed his cheek ever so gingerly, afraid that the slightest sign of affection would break him again. “And I can’t live in a world without you, Terios. Everything’s over now, she’s gone. We can make things alright, we still have time…” Nia tried to give a tearful smile, “Nobody’s born cursed into this world, we just have to work with what we’re given. I still need you. Our child still needs you. Are you trying to say that our child deserves to die too just because of how you were born?”

“I-I’m too afraid, Nia…I-I can’t hurt anyone anymore, I just want it to stop…” the dark haired man sobbed. He fell into a slight embrace, clutching to her tightly.

“I promise, I’ll never let anyone hurt us again.” Nia hugged him back just as tight, but despite her words, she didn’t know how long it would last.

And as the embers of the flame’s destruction dissipated into the night air, so did the hero of The Blood Purge, Terios. Many would talk about his heroics, about how he sealed up the monsters that had plagued their world once to their sons growing up and soon, people would dismiss the horrible tragedy in their lives as nothing more than a horrible nightmare.

However, just because the hero of the story disappeared, doesn’t mean that their world doesn’t need saving. Ten years have passed and the people of Aeryear still do not understand that their world is slowly crumbling away…the future has still refused to change and their hero has failed them all…