For Diamonds

Kaisaan

Kaisaan

The Wolf
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Invitation Status
  1. Not accepting invites at this time
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per day
  2. One post per day
  3. Multiple posts per week
  4. 1-3 posts per week
Online Availability
I have Thursdays off between two jobs. I am usually available on Wednesdays and Sundays, too. I will usually respond in the evenings, if I can, on the days I work.
Writing Levels
  1. Adept
  2. Advanced
  3. Prestige
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
  2. Female
  3. Primarily Prefer Male
Genres
Fantasy, Romance, Medieval, Futuristic, Apocalyptic, Sci-Fi, Modern, Action, Adventure, some High-Fantasy, Lord of the Rings, Pacific Rim, King Arthur, anything Game of Thrones-esque
She would never forget what they'd looked like to her child eyes when they'd come. Blazing with harsh light, massive as they blotted out the skies and spreading fire in their path, destruction as their machines delved into the earth and their fighter ships ruined the planet. The war had lasted ten bloody, futile years. Ten years that had laid waste to the planet and the people, that had resulted in the humans losing, being made slaves, dying of experimentation, diseases, famine, water shortages, weapons, bombs, radiation... And the aliens gained control, harvesting diamonds, the reason they'd come and massacred this world.

Farah knew she'd never forget the day her life changed forever, the day they'd come from the sky in fire and death...but she wouldn't forget the day they'd left either. It still played over and over in her mind two days later. There had been no warning, no indication that anything was about to change. The humans had just woken one morning and the ships had been flying away, every single one of them. There had been no renewed attack, no shooting or taking of people....they'd just left.

Those left behind on the desolate planet had not known what to think. Were they going to be annihilated? Were they to stay where they were? Would the aliens come back? Were they free? What should they do now?

Without their overlords of five years, without the resources to know what was going on, the humans hadn't done much. They'd stayed close to their prisons and ruined homes, waiting, unsure. Even Farah had been hesitate about moving about so openly, but today she was done hiding. She'd been hiding long enough for the past fifteen years.

Her mind made up, the brunette moved from her spot in the shadow of some rubble and started down the street, her pack over her shoulder, walking with a confidence she didn't really feel. She hadn't walked in the middle of a street, in plain sight, for many years now and the feeling was exposing, made her vulnerable. She felt tense and her shoulders twinged as if she were being watched. She might be.

Farah had made her decision, though. She was no longer going to walk in the dark. It was time to emerge into the light.
 
Ambrose Drustan Montgomery III watched the ships leave from the rooftop he was standing on, able to see the sun properly for the first time in 15 long years...even through the tinted glass of his gas mask. Fifteen long, long years, the sun had been blocked out by alien ships and alien exhaust. Not that the world had been cast into some crazy darkness, but there had always been cloud cover or smog cover or whatever someone wanted to call it, or a big ship covering everything in shade like a solar eclipse. Tears threatened the corners of his eyes. There was no way...could they really have hope now? Could they honestly rebuild? Have some semblance of a normal life once again? Dare he hope?

"They're leaving..." came the soft, distant voice of his sister. She stared up at the ships, her blue eyes wide but not in astonishment. They just...got that way sometimes. A childlike wonder in them now and again. "I can hear them...they're leaving...they're done..."

"You know I don't dare to hope that, Maggs..."

"They are." She turned her eyes towards her brother, listening to the sound of his breathing through his mask. "There's a sense of...of going home...it's a wonderful feeling..."

He was thankful for the dust that created a film on his mask. It meant she couldn't see the tear slide down his cheek. "I bet it is, Maggs. I bet it is." He heaved a sigh which whistled softly through his mask. "Come on...we need to get you out of the sun, now..."

-----

Drustan had spent the next week traveling with his sister. There was a work prison nearby and he was headed that way. If the aliens left, no doubt they hadn't just unlocked all the cages and told everyone they were free. It was up to the traveling twins to do that. And he was fine with that. He didn't fear walking out in the open like everyone else did. And his sister, well...well, he kept her close.

When he saw a figure moving down the street in their direction, he tightened his grip on his long, strange looking sniper rifle but didn't raise it yet. So far, they hadn't come across any trouble. Of course, they hadn't come across anyone out in the streets yet at all.

Much like Farah, the Montgomery twins were walking out in the middle of the street, in the open, each with a heavy backpack on their backs that held every single one of their few belongings. He squinted through his screen. "You pickin' anything up, Maggs?"

"The will to die..."

He sighed heavily. He remembered when his sister wasn't so...grim all the time. Of course, the world wasn't exactly all sunshine and daisies either... "And what does that mean?"

"It means she's a cornered animal, afraid, looking for a way out..."

"So...be on guard. Got it." He sighed and shifted the weight of his rifle in his arms, watching the figure growing closer and closer as they advanced on each other. "She doesn't exactly look armed..."

"She isn't." She tilt her head. "Hm..."
 
They were the fourth and fifth people she'd seen in a week. The first people she'd seen walking the streets and upon seeing them, Farah wondered for a moment if she might die, if they might be hostile and kill her. That would be....okay. That would be okay with her, to die. Death was an escape, a way out of this hell, this neverending dullness and fear and uncertainty...and grief. She wouldn't mind leaving.

The thought soothed Farah's jittery nerves and though her bow was at her back, her quiver full, she didn't reach for either, nor the gun on her hip, simply walking. If they were going to kill her, fine. If not, she was sure they'd simply pass each other, nod, avoid eye-contact and move on. People didn't talk, didn't try to get to know each other anymore in Farah's experience so she expected nothing less than a cold shoulder from these people. Or hostility but she'd already been over that mental cycle.

As they grew closer to each other, Farah flicked her overgrown bangs out of her eyes and studied the two figures. The first was red-haired, female, strong build, tough look about her, but she didn't strike Farah to be the one to watch out for at the moment - though, she had learned that looks could be deceiving. The second figure put the brunette on her guard. He was dressed in a suit that hid anything she might be able to gauge about him from looking alone and his gun looked powerful if strange. She didn't care what kind of weapon it was, it could kill, of that she was certain.

But, she reminded herself, you aren't afraid of death.

Farah shouldered her pack a bit more and kept walking, continuing to study the two but not about to engage them.
 
Drustan opened his mouth, inhaling a breath through the mask to start to speak. He was surprised, however, when he heard his sister's voice, clear as a bell, ring through the air.

"Hello!" She said cheerfully, picking up her pace to close the gap even faster. She stopped in front of the strange woman with the bow and arrows and smiled. "Where ya headed, stranger?" She asked happily, bouncing a little. She tilted her head. "Hell isn't a very good place...we're going to-"

"Maggs." He said sharply, hurrying to get up beside her. "What are you doing?"

"Saying hi..." She said, frowning. "She seems nice. Just, startled and confused."

He heaved a sigh and turned to look at Farah. "Why are you out on the streets by yourself? It isn't safe."
 
Farah froze. Completely and she looked at the other woman with wide eyes that were not so much filled with surprise as shock and wariness as she resisted the urge to put some distance between them. What in the bloody seventh circle of hell was this woman smoking?! Hazel eyes, guarded and sharp looked between the woman and the man - for his voice was male - in the odd suit over and over, trying to decide whether she should stay and entertain the crazies or run and hope they didn't shoot her.

Yeah, running wasn't really her style even if it might get her shot. Hmm...tempting.

Bringing her mind back to the present, knowing she shouldn't have wandered in the first place, Farah's eyes narrowed at the suit - she really couldn't think of it as a man at this point and why was he in there anyway? - as she debated over speaking or not. Eh, what the hell.

"I didn't see any reason NOT to be on the streets. It's not like anyone has the guts to be out here anyway. I hardly see how it's not safe." And she didn't particularly care if it wasn't. She shrugged, crossing her arms. "Besides, it's faster travel."
 
"Radiation." Maggie pipped up, though, whether it was to it being not safe or why her traveling companion was in the suit, neither of the ones who couldn't read minds could say.

Drustan let out an audible sigh. Each one of his breaths hissed through the mask. Each one audible. "Raiders will be the first to come out. You don't look much like a raider though." He shifted his head slightly to better look her up and down. "We were resistance. Before the aliens left."

"But! They're gone for good now! Oof!" She doubled over after catching the butt of her brother's gun to her stomach. It didn't look like he hit her that hard, but she was acting like he had.

And, of course, he immediately regretted it. He slung the rifle onto his back via the sling and put his hand on his sister's back. "You'll have to excuse her." He said, pulling his twin close. "She speaks before she thinks. Where are you headed?"
 
Radiation? Yeah, like she hadn't dealt with THAT before. It had pretty much effed up her life. Then again, so had everything else. Or perhaps the odd woman meant her brother was staying protected from radiation? If that was the case, why wasn't the woman in some sort of suit. Unless that man was a completely selfish a-hole, which he didn't seem like even if he HAD just hit the woman, who looked like she was acting more than anything. No, he seemed to care for his strange sister so the radiation really didn't make sense to her as the reason why he was in the suit.

Farah eyed the two siblings with sharp, guarded eyes, weighing their words. Raiders and Resistance, huh? Well, the raiders she wasn't too worried about. They weren't exactly subtle in their attacks seeing as they usually relied on strength in numbers. Besides, she'd take a good amount down before going under herself. Farah decided not to even address that issue, her reply focusing on the Resistance and alien part and maybe the question the suit, er, man had asked.

"I wouldn't count yourself ex-resistance just yet even if those creeps are gone." She jerked her head back the way she'd come, brown hair falling back in her eyes, studiously ignored. "Last I heard from some bums a few miles back, there are already groups rising up trying to claim power. I'm sure people like you will find someone to fight." Farah reached up and adjusted her shoulder strap again, her bow moving along her back, reassuring to her. Her hazel eyes were closed off, though, when she answered the actual question directed at her.

"Don't see how that's any of your business, but it you most know, no where. No where to go. It's all the same."
 
The suit-er-Drustan shrugged. "I was fighting for the humans against the aliens. Now, I'll fight raiders. That'll be it. Those scum will do worse than just beat you to a ground mush and eat you...."

She stood up straight, glaring at her brother. "Skin you, eat you alive, chain you to the ceiling and watch the hooks dig into your body and fall asleep to the sound of your screams..."

"They aren't exactly nice people. I'd trust a politician over a raider any day."

"You should come with us. We're going to go make sure the work prison has been unlocked. You know. By the diamond mine, where all the slaves were kept. Rumor is they left because all the diamonds are gone."

"Mags, I'm going to staple your mouth shut."

"What! She has no where else to go! She can at least walk with us and help us free innocent people. More for the resistance!"

His mask creaked as he clenched his jaw, glaring at his sister. The resistance was dwindling in numbers, that was for sure. But they really didn't need the resistance if the aliens were gone. Most of the resistance would end up as contract killers for political groups anyway. He sighed and shook his head. "If she wants to help us free people who were left to starve in their cells by aliens, sure."
 
Raiders. Sounded....yummy. Farah resisted the urge to shudder with revulsion. Okay, maybe dying by torture or cannibalism was not the way she WANTED to go... The brunette sighed, listening to them and she openly frowned at both siblings before cursing under her breath. Well, maybe it wasn't completely under her breath. All right, so it wasn't really quiet at all and Farah looked back the way she'd come, her moral compass nagging at her insistently now. Why, why did she have to find people who actually wanted to talk? Who just HAD to stir up the responsibility in her? Come on! It had been only two weeks since her last effing rescue mission!

Growling under her breath, she noted that some rocks had risen behind the siblings in her irritation. Rolling her eyes, she moved them back down gently without even making it known they'd come up in the first place and then Farah blew her bangs up in exasperation, but found herself nodding.

"Fine. I'll help. It's not like I've got anything better to do." she mumbled that last bit and turned on her heel, starting back the way she'd come. What a waste of walking distance and now she was with two crazy people, one of which unnerved her slightly with her ability to almost know what Farah was thinking. Odd.
 
Maggs smiled brightly. "See? I told you she'd want to come." She hopped up beside her new apparent best friend and linked arms with the other woman. "And so you know, I do know what you're thinking. You aren't going crazy."

"Maggs...."

"My name's Magnolia Rose Montgomery and the guy in the suit is my brother, Ambrose Drustan Montgomery III."

"Maggs...."

"We were some of the first to be captured by the aliens for creepy experiments when we were little! Amby, he gl-"

"MAGGS!" He glared at her through his mask. "Shut up! She doesn't need our entire life history, ok?! What part of 'caution' do you not understand?!"

Magnolia frowned...no...she pouted. Tears sprang to her eyes and she sniffed. "I'm just tryin' to be friendly..."

What sounded almost like a groan came from his mask. "Maggie...don't....ugh...just...just don't..."
 
Farah had stopped and was now looking between the siblings with an expression that wavered between incredulous and freaked out and she carefully pried herself away from Maggs. Jeez, personal space, please! Ah, s***. Mind reader. Great. Can't even think about how bloody strange they are....and I should probably stop thinking now....damn...

The brunette closed her eyes for a moment and took a breath before opening them again, hands on hips. She looked between the weird masky guy - Ambrose, was it? - and the pouting, teary-eyed woman who reminded Farah more of a child right now than anything. "Look, I am coming with you to help a bunch of strangers because I'm bored AND crazy, all right. But sweetie, your brother is right. I don't need every detail of your life from the time you were born. I'd rather not know and I won't be telling you anything either."

Despite herself, Farah's voice wasn't as harsh as it could have been as she was slightly afraid the red-haired female would burst into tears if she was overly mean. Experimented on, the both of them? Damn. Heavy. Yeah, not a story she wanted to hear. That was personal stuff and, well, they weren't going to be knowing each other that long. Farah hefted her backpack again with a roll of her eyes and started to walk once more. She looked back after a moment, thinking she should probably not be overly rude even if she wasn't going to be with this people for long.

"My name's Farah. Nice to meet you." Okay, maybe she didn't mean that last part sincerely, but oh well.
 
Magnolia heaved a sigh and folded her arms, her entire demeanor changing, darkening.

"Aaaaand the thorns come out..." He sighed and shook his head. "Yeah, nice to meet you too. Farah." He nodded, repeating the name so it would stick in his head. He reached up, sticking a finger into the seal of his mask to breathe a little easier. It got hot in all that gear! "Just so you know, Maggs isn't going to talk for...probably twenty minutes. We get some peace and quiet on this little journey..."
 
Hmm....interesting change in attitude.

Farah watched Maggs for a minute, eyebrow raised but she didn't complain about the quiet as they walked. She'd lived too long with noise, screams and groans, the whirring of ships and strange alien speech, the sound of tools on rock and the great machines that took the diamonds out of the earth. Too much noise and now...the world seemed almost too quiet, but she found she liked it. It was soothing in a strange way. She could finally hear herself think....though, that wasn't always a good thing.

She really thought too much, didn't she?

Ugh, now the silence felt overbearing....well except for creepy masky guy's breathing....

Farah looked at the two siblings for a long moment, not even attempting to hide the fact that she was doing so before she spoke. "Okay, so she's Maggs...or at least she is to you. Is that a public domain nickname or just a sibling one? And you're Ambrose. That come with a short name or do you expect people to actually say that mouthful?" Hmm....maybe she shouldn't be quiet for so long. Tended to make everything come out in one vomit, didn't it?
 
Well, that was rude, wasn't it? His question to himself was answered by Maggie nodding. "First off, I'm named after my father and grandfather...Secondly, you can call me Drustan if my given name doesn't suit your fancy." He slid his finger out of the seal of his mask and dropped it down to his side. He always felt awkward when he had nothing to do with his hands. But with his rifle on his back now, he had no where to put them. "You can call her whatever she'll answer to within reason. Mom used to call her Maggie Rose. She doesn't mind Maggs though. Maggs or Maggie."
 
Farah shrugged slightly, nonchalant. "All right. Ambrose is fine with me. I was just wonderin'." She said nothing more than that, suspecting that it wouldn't be welcome at the moment and she let her attention wander to other things, though, she kept a half-eye on the siblings out of habit alone. She didn't think they'd attack her. People who were overly friendly made her hair raise, but these two, while friendly in their own way - she guessed - were too weird to be pulling any kind of scam.

So yeah, she really didn't feel all that great of a need to watch them.

Her hazel eyes took in the street and the buildings she'd already passed, a sigh in her chest. Well, so much for progress today. Then again, progress to what? She hadn't been going anywhere. There was no where to go. Sure, people heard rumors, fairy-tale stories about places untouched by the aliens, but really? Who believed those child stories? No, Farah would rather wander aimlessly than chase a dream that can't come true. Waste of time.

And speaking of a waste of time... Farah frowned, looking up the street, but then out further, thinking she could almost see the outline of a large building in the distance, to the east of the road. "Where exactly IS this prison camp thingy?"
 
Ambrose sighed, air whistling through the vents in his mask. "It's rumored to be where the aliens kept captured resistance members and old experiments that just wouldn't die." He said, glancing over at her. She didn't need to know that the twins were looking for their mother or their other siblings. And, with Maggie currently throwing a little tantrum and being quiet, Farah wouldn't have to know that. Not yet anyway.

He glanced over to the side, spotting the ruins of an old supermarket. He reached up, adjusting his mask and wondering if anything would be left inside that was edible, and if the place wouldn't be too dangerous to take two women into. He was pretty hungry though.
 
Farah frowned at his words, a shudder working through her body at the thought and she found her palms itched in a familiar way so that she rubbed them on her jeans in a vain attempt to sooth the pressure. Damn her stupid conscience and sense of duty and everything her military parents had drilled into her for the eight years they'd been together. The amount of people in a place like that and their conditions....she could imagine it pretty clearly and she really didn't want to. Farah really didn't have much of a choice, though. She really DID think too much. Most of the time it was about nothing in particular, but when she had something to focus on....

The brunette sighed, reaching up to brush her hair back, uncaring if it stuck up or out or anything. If she ever found enough water to bathe it would be a miracle of epic proportions. Her sharp hazel eyes glanced over at the market and Farah tilted her head, slowing in her walking as she judged the place. She hadn't seen that walking in as she'd taken a different street.

Probably picked clean, but....maybe not. Wonder if The Third and Red would consider stopping... Eh, only one way to find out.

"Care to go shopping?"
 
"Yeah, I was just thinking that..." He looked over at his sister. "What do you think, Maggs? Is she empty or should we keep going?"

Magnolia turned her attention to the building in question and narrowed her eyes. Farah's thoughts were so loud, it was hard to focus on anything else. Then the itching she got right above her right ear when she knew Ambrose was watching her, waiting for her to give a reading on a place...She dropped to her knees suddenly, yelling out in pain as a hundred voices flooded her head at once. She slid her fingers into her hair and pulled at it, tears springing back to her eyes. "SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" She screamed, starting to rock back and forth.

Well, it wasn't a definitive answer but it still wasn't one he wanted. He dropped down to his knees beside her and pulled her into his chest, mostly to muffle her screaming but also to provide her some sort of comfort. "Maggs, in the building or no?" He flinched when her voice sounded in his head. He looked up at Farah, turning the pane of tempered glass that made up most of his face in her direction. "Voices from the prison. It's all she can tap into right now." He sighed and shook his head. "Looks like we're going in blind. She can't sit out here screaming like this..."
 
Farah had leaped back like a startled deer when Maggs started screaming and shouting and she now watched the siblings with wide eyes. At Ambrose's words, she nodded slowly and swallowed, her heart settling back in her chest. Prison voices. Got it. The brunette looked back at the store, wondering just what she'd actually gotten herself into with these two, but she didn't say anything....though, she should probably stop thinking such things so clearly, shouldn't she?

Farah shook her head, already preferring when she'd been alone and things were less complicated as she started for the store. It was easy and familiar to take her bow in her hands and draw a steel-tipped arrow, notching it on the string and pulling back slightly. Her stance melded into something more defensive and wary, alert as they approached the entrance and Farah didn't hesitate to go in first, her hazel eyes taking in the dilapidated state of the inside of the building, her gaze scanning the check-out aisles and then the shelving beyond them. Well, so far so good.

She glanced back at Ambrose and Maggs, not concerned for the red-haired woman per say, but feeling like she SHOULD check on her. It was the puzzle that was Farah - even to herself - that she didn't tend to care too deeply - at least at first - about those that she would take a bullet to help. Complete strangers seemed to get her loyalty in the strangest way.
 
Ambrose had stood up, holding his sister against his chest. He sighed heavily, walking on towards the building. "Maggs, you need to be quiet now..."

Her eyes snapped open and and clamped both of her hands down over her mouth. She nodded a little and wiggled until she was put down.

"Good girl..." He set her down and slid his hands into his trench coat, pulling out two...what looked like alien blaster pistols. He followed Farah inside the dimly lit store, looking around. It seemed pretty deserted...

"Crawlers." She said, speaking up suddenly. She whimpered, putting her back against the wall just inside the door.

"Shit..." He crouched, looking around. "Seriously?" He hated the dark. He hated it so much. Not because he was scared of it, no. It was because his face started reflecting off the inside of his mask. He sighed and reached up, pulling on the two straps that went over the top of his head. He loosened them, letting the mask fall about his neck. He was sweaty, for one thing, but not bad looking. Rather handsome if it weren't for the green glow his skin gave off....no wonder he wore the suit...
 
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