Dream ∆ 013
- In his arms was a faceless child.
His hair was a pale blond to match his father's, his skin smooth and unmarred by the ravages of war. The kid lived a sheltered life, inside of a luxurious home covered in velvet furniture and Egyptian cotton sheets. A woman stood beside him, a soft hand placed tentatively atop a cold metal shoulder.
"You said..." began Raiden, the cyborg, the monster, the killer, the soldier. "Miscarriage."
Her quivering lips parted.
"I lied," she whispered. She was already beginning to fade away, her touch softening and disappearing. "Just like I did about everything else, Jack. I lied..." Now she was no more than a voice. "For our baby's safety."
The child, the boy, looked up at the cyborg with big, wide, watery eyes. He was crying soundlessly, his mouth blubbering like a tv set on mute. Let me go. Mommy said I can't talk to strangers! Raiden recoiled, pulling his clawed hands out of his son's reach. The boy stumbled backwards. LEAVE ME ALONE!
The boy tripped over an electrical cable and began to fall as he attempted to scrabble. Raiden dove for the kid, grasping him by the front of his shirt to keep him from hurting himself--
But came back with nothing but the shirt.
The boy had spirited away. Nothing but a pile of useless, empty clothing: A schoolboy's sailor uniform.
Raiden dropped to his knees, the soft feel of the cloth a mere memory through his artificial nerves. He held the shirt out, opening it up to stare at the full length of cloth sadly until it, too, slowly began to crumble away into a pile of dust on the floor.
Everything Raiden touched died. Everything he touched crumbled, fell apart. He only brought death and destruction.
Rose's voice bubbled up once more, whispering into his head with a cold, stormy breeze. His own lips moved to mimic the sound, murmuring:
"It's better this way."
Raiden was always meant to be alone.
[He awakens atop the roof of Outer Heaven base to the whirling winds of the impending storm, a large crack of lightning sparking in the distance. Raiden rarely sleeps indoors these days, with the rapidly changing weather and his own unsettled conscience after Rose's mysterious and unsolved disappearance. He prefers to spend the majority of his time alone, where no one could ask him any intrusive questions.
But the winds were stronger now, the lightning more shocking. More sand was billowing up from the desert. The wails from the monsters were louder.
The storm was getting closer.
At least the worsening situation should be enough for him to stop thinking about the bombshell Rose had left him before she disappeared. He couldn't afford to think of it, because that was a kind of life Raiden will never have.
A father he may be, but he will never be able to live out that role. He was never meant to.
Raiden hops to his feet and strides to the edge of the roof, staring out into the looming clouds with hooded, melancholic eyes. And it is only then that he remembers to turn the Dreamberry video feed off with a low, husky sigh, after sleeping dreamlessly for so long.]