Here's part 10 of "Crimson Sky,"  titled "Blue Moon."  Constructive C&C are
welcome.  Hope you like it.

Shuichi Minamino
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CRIMSON SKY
Part 10 Blue Moon 

He is still shooting at the man even after he has killed him. Ryan can't
stop himself. He is angry but at the same time it feels so satisfying to
kill the person. He watches on motionlessly as the blood on the floor
spreads and merges with the blood of the other bodies. It is the sound of
the quiet footsteps behind him that makes him spins around. 

Ryan stands facing the other man responsible for his family's deaths, his
emerald eyes stares impassively at the man. He is about to bring up his gun
to shoot when he sees Reshion behind the man. That pair of odd color eyes
makes him hesitate, and that brief second of hesitation is all that the man
needs to wrest the gun from Ryan's hand and fling him down onto the floor.
The man aims his gun at Ryan and is about to shoot when Reshion steps
forward to grab the gun. But the gun goes off anyway and Ryan feels a sharp
burning pain on his side before the world around him goes black. 

Reshion makes a mental note to himself to act faster next time when someone
points a gun at someone else. He would've bring down that man had he not
been somewhat surprised by Ryan's reaction to his family's deaths.
Actually, not his family. Reshion has managed to pull up a profile on Ryan,
very interesting family history indeed. He knows that Ryan has some
explaining to do. But that will have to wait. 

The bullet wound is not fatal but is not painless either, especially for a
normal human being who is being shot for the first time in his life, the
experience can be excruciating. But strangely enough, Ryan hasn't made any
comments about it. Ryan has been in a coma for a week before he finally
wakes up a few days ago. But since then he has refused to eat or say
anything. Actually, Reshion observes, Ryan is taking the whole incident a
bit too well. For he has not cried, nor said anything, but then maybe it's
due to the fact that Ryan is in denial. There's no way for Reshoin to know
since he never think twice about death. 

"The painkillers are on the table if you need them," Reshion says to the
motionless figure sitting against the wall. Noiselessly, Reshion leaves the
room. 

Ryan can hear some fumbling for things and metals in the next room, it
sounds like Reshion is in the kitchen. Ryan doesn't know where he is nor
does he care, all he knows is that he has been in a coma for at least a
week, his only family is now dead, Mr and Mrs. Danzler, and Derrick. Why
them? He has failed to protect the ones he loves, and he hates himself for
it. 

"Here, eat this," Reshion hands him a slice of cake. Ryan eyes it quietly
before turning his head away again. He doesn't care for food right now, he
doesn't give a damn, he just wants to be left alone. 

"May as well eat it," Reshion says as he hands him the food again. Ryan
attempts to knock the food out of Reshion's hands but Reshion steps aside
before Ryan has the chance. Ryan blinks in surprise at Reshion's speed, an
inhuman speed for that matter. Ryan feels a pang of guilt at his rudeness
but pushes it away as soon as he realizes it. Reshion turns around and
walks toward the table. He puts the food on there and starts to exit the
room. 

"It's up to you what you want to do with the food, but I think people like
you have a habit of celebrating birthdays by eating cakes," Reshion remarks
as he leaves the room. 

Ryan's head jerks up at the last comment. He has forgotten, it is his
sixteenth birthday today. But then why should he care? One celebrates his
birthday with his family, and he's got no family now. Ryan stands up
abruptly and winces at the sharp pain on his side, he has not been doing
much moving for the past several days and it's becoming very difficult to
walk. He never thought that a bullet wound can hurt this much. He opens the
door and walks down the hall slowly. 

When Ryan sees that there's no sign of anyone in the house, he opens he
door and leaves. He doesn't care if Reshion can't find him later on, he
doesn't give a damn about anything right now. It is still raining outside,
and the sky is red as usual. Ryan walks aimlessly through the streets and
gets soak by the rain. He stops at the intersection when he realizes that
he is near his home, or where his home used to be. He figures that he may
as well go take a look at the ruins. They were all dead, but the memories
of them are still there. Ryan realizes for the first time that he cannot
let go. 

He can feel the rain soaking through his clothes, the moisture seeping into
the bandage that covers his bullet wound. The mild acidity of the rain
water reacts with the wound, causing it to bleed again. But Ryan doesn't
care about that. Physical pain is negligible, it is the emotion pain that
is scarring him, tearing at him, threatening to rip him apart. 

Ryan stands in front of the burnt apartment building. It seems that
everyone in the complex have been evacuated. The once white wall is now
stained with the muddy color of the ashes and rust. It is hard to believe
that this place was once his home. 

It's his fault that he has chosen to befriend Reshion despite the latter's
warning. Why did he do that? Ryan feels like killing himself then, he hates
himself for his carelessness. He knows that he shouldn't have been that
careless, after what had happened six years ago. Ryan wishes that he can
change the past, he wishes that this is just a nightmare. But he knows that
it's not, and that he must now face the consequence, face reality as he has
done before. 

Ryan walks forward and stops in front of the barb wire fence that separates
the burnt ruins from the outside world. His hands reach up and grip the
barb wire tightly, pressing himself against it as he ignore the pain of the
wire digging into his palms. Ryan feels suffocated, he can't breath. Then
he just starts to tear at the fence, digging his fingers into the holes
between the intertwined wires, pulling at them, and ignoring the pain of
his bloody hands. Ryan works at it, and finally succeeds in ripping out a
portion of the fence. He throws it aside and rips out more of the fence
until it's finally large enough for him to squeeze through. 

Ryan pushes the main gate of the apartment open and runs upstairs to his
unit. The door to his home is no longer there, the police must've taken it
down or something. Inside, everything is destroyed. Furnitures smashed and
burnt, white walls stained with ashes and blood. Obviously, the people
didn't bother cleaning it up. But then why should they bother cleaning it
up? Everyone is dead...except him. 

The kitchen is almost gone, the side of the wall has been burnt away, the
floor is wet with the rain. There seem to be no more signs of blood, maybe
the fire burnt it away. Is that possible? Ryan wonders before he realizes
how ridiculous it all sounded. So, there's nothing here, not that there is
anything to be found. But Ryan knows that he has come here in search of
something to remember, something maybe to hold on to. 

The sound of paper rustling catches his attention. There's something
fluttering underneath the leg of the kitchen chair. He bents down to pick
it up and the chair crumbles as soon as he does so. He holds up the paper
and sees that it's a photograph, a picture of Mr. And Mrs. Danzler,
Derrick, and he. It's one of those rare family pictures. It's a miracle
that of all things, it is this photo that survives the fire and the
killing. Ryan puts it in his pocket, he's going to keep it. 

There's nothing left now. It's all barrenness here. Ryan knows that he has
once again failed to protect the people he cares for. He thought he can
start a new life after being adopted by the Danzlers, who would have
thought that this would happen?! Because of him, they are dead, and Derrick
too. Derrick, his only real family, his real brother; the one person who
really understood him. Ryan is angry, angry at himself, angry at the world.
He hates the situation he is in, he hates his helplessness and weakness. He
will much rather exchange his life for that of his family if possible, they
are worth everything to him. 

Ryan's anger is not subsiding and there is nothing he can do about it He
has nowhere else to go but to go back to where Reshion is, wherever that
place is. He can care less if those people catch him here, he doesn't care.
He sees a car waiting for him outside and he sees someone inside that car-
Reshion. Ryan keeps his face neutral as he steps out of the ruined
apartment and into the rain. 

-----------------Crimson Sky: Blue Moon End (TO BE CONTINUED)----------