Nightshift 42: Twin Pines Rooftop

[spandexorgtfo.livejournal.com]

[from here]

Once he was on the roof, Kratos exhaled slowly. They were safe for the moment on the roof, although he couldn't afford to relax: they had no control whatsoever over what happened inside the restaurant, and judging by the bright flames issuing from a store in the distance, that meant another possible mad dash for safety in the near future. That was of course assuming the zombies didn't get onto the roof first, but Kratos doubted they had that sort of coordination.

He turned to find Stahn. "Are you alright? We still haven't seen any sign of Leon..."

Now was a good time to pause, gather their thoughts, and plan their next move. Objective number one would probably be finding their friend; after that, Kratos wasn't so sure. He was hardly in the mood for playing the hero.

Comments

[spandexorgtfo.livejournal.com]

"Ah. That's interesting." It was clear, however, that Kratos's attention was diverted elsewhere: just under the roof there were already cracks in the ground appearing where zombies would soon arise. "Incidentally, if we ever decide to descend from here, it's going to be rather tricky." Hands were already emerging from the soil.

"And to reiterate, I'm sure Leon is fine. He can hold his own." Plus the boy was not so stupid as to throw himself into deliberate danger.

[from-lienea.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but..." Stahn said, troubled. "He's probably terrified. I mean, he doesn't scare easy, but the last time we saw him..." He fell silent, not sure if he should go on. Leon wouldn't want his issues shouted from the rooftops, but telling one person wasn't the same, especially since this might convince Kratos to go look for him.

Admittedly, he wasn't sure he wanted to go tearing off into the night, himself (as Dymlos would have pointed out, getting themselves killed didn't do Leon any good), but if this place wasn't going to be safe to escape from soon, they should run while they could, right?

[spandexorgtfo.livejournal.com]

Kratos gave Stahn a swift look. "What do you mean?" Stahn's unwillingness to say anything further slightly disturbed him - especially since this was Stahn. It meant that whatever he'd been about to say, it was extremely private business. "Actually - don't tell me unless you think it'll change our circumstances." The zombies were not quite unearthed; if they had to move, now was the time.

[from-lienea.livejournal.com]

"It might," Stahn said quietly; honestly, he wasn't sure. "I told you about how when he died, someone else found him after, but... it wasn't anyone we would've wanted to. Because Kronos, the guy who was behind everything we'd gone through... raised him. Like... this." He was looking down towards the street, so he figured he didn't need to clarify.

"It didn't last long, but I don't think that matters, much." He wasn't about to add that they'd taken Leon down; that part still hurt too much to talk about.

[spandexorgtfo.livejournal.com]

First the revelation that Leon was dead, and now the add-on that the boy was also a zombie? That was a bit too much. Kratos looked from the decaying corpses below to Stahn and then back to the zombies. "Leon resembled...that?" He pointed slowly toward one of the things. "Truly?"

This did change things somewhat, although it wasn't enough for Kratos to demand a plunge into action: it was more disturbing than motivational. "You might have had a point earlier," he said quietly, "but then again, perhaps not. Leon might have been taken from a time before his" - Kratos coughed - "transformation, in which case he wouldn't know about it."

[from-lienea.livejournal.com]

Stahn shook his head, grimly. "I mentioned it and he snarled at me. He wasn't a zombie long, at least, because we..." He couldn't finish. "Still. Even seeing it was bad enough. Living through it..." When he realized what he'd said, he laughed bitterly--a lot like Leon had, really, the last time they saw him alive. "Or not, really."

When he thought back to it all, he'd honestly all but forgotten the betrayal; Leon had been forced into what he did. What came to mind now was how little they'd been able to do for Leon, in the end. They'd saved Marian, at least, and he knew his friend was glad for that much. But he still wished they'd been able to save at least one more life.

[spandexorgtfo.livejournal.com]

"Oh." And for several seconds, that was all Kratos could say. He'd been a generally lifeless being himself for a while (if one counted several millenia as "a while"), but at least he hadn't been rotting or brain-dead. No, it was hardly the same.

"But at least you saved him from having to maintain that sort of forced existence," the older man said, looking off into the distance. Stahn hadn't finished his sentence, but Kratos was good enough at reading between the lines to understand what he had stopped himself from saying.