Conscience of a Dove

It couldn't be true. Lance shook his head, backing away from his eyeless enemy, retreating silently in his mind. He had harbored the idea of his daughter's death for four years. Four long, miserable years. And now, one of the very men whom Lance had blamed for her death, was professing her alive. Closing his eyes and reopening them slowly, Lance prossesed the information. A kindled fire began to rise up wthin his heart. Starting as a small shoot of flame, it quickly roared into a blazing torrent of the element. This wasn't the fire of madness, nor anger. This was the fire of hope.

Militarily, Lance adapted quickly to the news, walking towards the wounded man with a newfound strength in his gait. Grabbing the man by the shirt, he dragged him over to the couch, throwing him into a seated position. Landing with a loud exhale, the Russian moaned as his broken leg bumped the upholstery roughly. Suddenly the Russian began to make a choking noise. Grasping at his throat, he seemed to be struggling with some unknown blockage. Drawing hurriedly close to him, Lance grabbed him in order to turn him around for a heimlich maneuver. The sound of a lougie being hawked filled the air, followed by an explosion of spit, directly into Lance's face. Cackling, the Russian wiped his mouth. "You can kill me now...." he said, taking a breath from his laughter, "....just had to get that out of the way."

Drawing his fist back, Lance punched him right in the jaw. The Russian immediately fell silent, head cocking back with a snap. Grabbing his shirt and pulling him right up to his face, Lance spoke in a growl. "Why would I kill you? We still have so much to talk about." A defiant smile played across the Russian's lips. Out of nowhere, a scuffling sound in the corner caught Lance's attention. Whirling around, Lance came eye to eye with the little girl that he had caught a glimpse of earlier. She was looking at him with baleful eyes, clutching at a small stuffed animal. Lance's heart sank to the pit of his stomach. This poor child had witnessed all of this. Looking to back to the Russian, he let go of his shirt, allowing him to slump back onto the couch.

Lance stood up, holding out his hands softly. They were still covered in blood. "My name's Lance." he began, trying to sound as kind as he could. "What's your name?" The girl tightened her grip on the stuffed puppy she held, mouth quivering, then tightening. She was young. Perhaps ten years old. She wore a pink t-shirt with butterflies on it, along with a pair of denim jeans. Her hair was jet black, accenting the dramatic green of her eyes. Lance sighed miserably. This was something he hadn't anticipated.

"Her..*cough*...name is Candace." said the slumped figure on the couch. Lance lowered his hands, looking back to him. "She your daughter or something?" he asked gruffly. "Nope." the figure spat, spewing flecks of blood, "We got her off the last couple we hit. Think of it as an 'adoption'." Lance scowled at the word "hit". Another robbery victim, he assumed. Looking back to the girl, Lance took a careful step towards her. She closed her eyes, squeaking in fright. "Don't worry sweetheart....don't worry...I'm not going to hurt you." Lance said tenderly, true care filling his words. This girl would have ended up just like his daughter, if he hadn't done what he had done.

"Mommy!!!" she cried, tears filling her eyes.
 
Bang. One shot was all it took for the woman's instantaneous death. Blood spattered like a batch of crimson flowers upon the sterile white room, where she fell with a thud, forever sleeping with her lost beloved one. There was a moment of silence following that, in which Wren had noticed something shining, hanging from the pocket of the woman. This silence was broken once more by his gut-wrenching laughter.
"My, she was annoying! Now I think this should be handled quickly, if possible." He couldn't contain how pleased he was with himself, resetting the gun for another shot, then raising it to Jay. "You next? You, being the nuisance you are, wasted one of the two doses or that serum left. So I can only use it on one of you now. It's a shame, really, you are both just such unneeded complications here, you know? I'd just love to end it like him." She kicked the dead man at his feet. "Oh well, the other can have a bullet." Suddenly he struck an idea, grabbing the leash-like chain which connected to Wren, and pulling. She stumbled towards him, taken off-guard, and fell at his feet, where he crouched, holding her with an arm around her neck, the gun to her head.
"Jay, how about climbing up into that little table? I think we've got a little syringe with your name on it."
Wren was surprised for a mere second before fighting to get out of his grasp.
"You bastard.. Let her go!"
"No! Jay, don't..!" She rasped, "J-just.. let him have me, find a way-"
"A way out? Sorry kids but this is it for you, there is no way out."
"Shut up! BROTHER!"
Noticing something, the boy ducked down, snatching up something he'd found. It was in the woman's pocket; a key. Jay made a mad dash for the door, then, leaving Wren looking in shock. The man, realizing what had just happened, looked up to the window where his superiors were; except they weren't. Had they just left, leaving him to finish off the job? He rose the gun to Jay once more, throwing Wren to the floor. "I should have just killed you right away!" He fired. Multiple shots whizzed by his head, but they missed, and Jay had the door unlocked, and ran out. Letting out a loud growl of frustration, he took off a few steps towards the doorway, but in some desperate attempt to slow him down, Wren had attached herself to his leg, tripping him so he fell to the ground.
"Let.. GO!" He shouted, kicking her numerous times in the back of her head, until she was forced off of him. She struggled to sit herself upright after a second, her head buzzing with the blows made to it, though he had already scrambled up, cursing himself for letting the boy escape. She'd kept him there for long enough, Jay would be halfway through the building by now.
"You.. this is all YOUR fault.." He growled through gritted teeth, spinning to face the recovering child, the weapon which had seemed to never leave his hand pointing towards her as he approached, looking as if he would explode. "But.. but he left you here. Ahaha, serves you fucking right!!"
"No.. he didn't just leave me.. I.. I helped him escape.."
"But you're not going anywhere."
"No.."
"That's what I thought."
She turned her head up to him, with a frightening new look of pure annoyance, her voice somehow feeling mended, taking the gun by the nose. "Then shut up and kill me already, I've had enough of your voice."

The speck of white woke up at the sound of a gunshot in her head, looking left and right quickly, forgetting where she was until she noticed the shadow in the doorway. Her eyes seemed to glimmer in the darkness as the light of the place behind the door seeped in. "Alice?" She looked a little concerned for a second. "Is something wrong? Is it morning yet?"

(Iyah, I made that thing drag on for too long. Too much revealed, but ahh, it's hard to just stop with that stuff. >.<;
Woah. Woaah, I had no idea it was this long.)
 
(No way, I liked it!)

Alice seemed taken aback with Wren's sudden awakening and she regretted lingering. "No, nothing's wrong," Alice reassured her, moving into the room and closing the door a bit, "I'm sorry I woke you. I was just making sure you were okay. Where you sleeping well?"
 
(Ah, thank you very much!~)

"Mmhm!" She nodded, somehow unaffected by the dream, seeming a little more intrigued by it than anything else. She raised a finger, speaking cheerfully as usual "I'm not tired anymore, though. I had a dream, too! In it, I had a brother, and.. and we fought this guy, and..." She trailed off, dropping the finger in thought, as though just thinking the whole ordeal over. She tilted her head slightly, speaking half to herself. "I wonder what happened..."
 
( Ah, I used 'Where' instead of 'were'!)

"I'm sure you would have won," Alice said amused, thinking of the demon's gifts, "But it's still very late, hardly any time has really passed and you need your rest. So you must go back to sleep."
 
"Aaaaaawh..!" She whined, gently rocking side to side in discontent, before leaning forward, looking out the doorway a little. "Is Lance sleeping too? It's quiet out there. Hehe, he seemed like someone who'd snore a lot. Growling in his sleep, like a bear! Rah!~" She held her hands out in front of her clawing at the air to emphasize the animal; though with her it seemed more like an impersonation of a small feline than a large bear, and she fell back into place against her pillow.
 
Lance faltered slightly as the cry tore from the childs lips, piercing him deeply in his soul. In his time as a soldier, he had seen many things. Severed limbs. Battle hymns. You name it. Just about every vile thing under the sun had passed in front of his eyes, wormed into his ears and poisined his heart. Nonetheless, the mournful peal of a child bereft of her mother was more than he could bear. Dropping all ceremony, Lance rushed to the child, wrapping his bloody and scarred arms around her in a warm embrace. Upon his approach, the child closed her eyes, holding her hands up as if warding off a foe. Though there was no resistance in those little arms as her hands met his chest. Sobbing, she succumbed to his hug, burying her face in his shirt.

Placing his hand behind her head, eyes closed, Lance shushed the girl softly. "M-m-mooomy..." she continued to moan, clutching at his filthy garments, almost as if they contained the secrets of reuniting her with her guardian. Looking down, Lance placed a gentle finger under her chin, lifting her head up to meet his eyes. The cooling emerald color seemed to help soothe her, as her cries faded into little sniffles. "Where did you come from sweety? Can you remember where you and your parents lived?" with tear soaked eyebrows, she blinked, nodding. BANG!! A sharp pain erupted in Lance's shoulder, causing him to cry out in agony. The little girl immediately clung to him, squealing in fright.

Lance didn't have time to turn around. The Russian had apparenly found a gun. All Lance knew was that he had to move this girl to safety. Fast. Wrapping the girl in his arms, Lance stood up, running towards the back door of the home. Drywall cascaded above their heads as bullets struck the wall nearby them. Laughing and shouting curses in his language, the blinded Russian continued firing indescriminately, whatever compsure he had now gone. Bursting through the back door, ramming it with his good shoulder, Lance stumbled out into the night with the little girl in tow. Proceeding down the street, Lance began running towards the only place he could seek refuge. The very place he had abandoned not just moments before. As his bullet wound saturated his shirt with blood, Lance doggedly sprinted his way towards his destination.
 
"You should worry less about Lance and more about you," Alice smiled softly, "Would you sleep if I sang to you? Though I'm afraid I may not have a good voice."
 
"You can sing?" Her face lit up excitedly, and she nodded, pulling the covers back over her and settling down a little. "Okay! I'll sleep when you sing."
 
A little embarrassed, Alice sat on the edge of the bed and placed her hand lightly on Wren's head. "Okay, but it has to be a promise," Alice said softly, "Okay?" Her mind reached for a song at random, beckoning it out of the darkness and giving it life. Alice closed her eyes, letting the song flow out of her like a gentle river, and she sung. Her voice rose and fell like the ocean tides, dancing with the lyrics of the song and wove through the air like the finest of silk. "There's a song that's inside of my soul. It's the one that I've tried to write over and over again. I'm awake in the infinite cold.........but you sing to me over and over again..." Alice sung softly, coaxing Wren to sleep. It wasn't the song she had wanted to sing, but it didn't seem right to sing the other one, either. This would have to do.

(Full song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls5HVpAn9AE )
 
She nodded, chiming out a "Promise," as her head was touched. Smiling contently, she got herself comfortable in the bed, listening to the lovely notes her friend belted out. The lullaby-like sound was enough that as she rested her eyes, she could feel sleep urging her into it's embrace. The bed was comfortable enough to beckon for sleep, too. and indeed by the end of the song she had been given in to the suspension of consciousness.
 
"Good girl," Alice murmured, brushing the hair out of Wren's eyes, "It's your job to be worry-free. I'll take care of anything else. So sleep well, child of light." She rose, smoothing out the covers, and the left the room. She softly closed the door, resigning herself to what needed to be done. She couldn't afford to keep Lance as insurance after all. He was too overcome with his own emotions, too fragile. He couldn't steel himself against them, even to help the ones who had reached out to him in his own wretchedness.
 
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