Title: tinged vision
authors: teri, ian
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 15:42:53 EDT

Teri found herself being helped up from the ground by one of the
soldiers-
she hadn't noticed falling, and recoiled from the flower covered body
in
horror.  Moving quickly away, she ran to Stana's side, where the girl
was
retching violently. Fingers, hot to the touch, gently slid back Stana's
hair,
holding it at the back of the woman's neck. Kneeling next to her, Teri
rubbed
Stana's back lightly, feeling the heaving of the woman's chest mixing
with
her sobs.

"Don't worry," Teri was saying in soothing tones- refusing to look at
the
bodies strewn around her, and trying not to breathe through her nose.
If she
did, she'd join the woman before she'd get a chance to move. The
smell!!!!
Think of anything but the smell.  The peculiar dampness soaking through
her
dress nearly made her gag... ok... think of something else...

"You wouldn't believe how many times i've held hair at college. At
least your
dress is pretty cle.." Teri saw the beautiful dress out of the corner
of her
mind, and uttered a nervous laugh. "Ah, nevermind about that. Hey, at
least it
was flowers, you know? No need to bury that one, he-"

Teri's face turned white in an instant, and her free hand shot to her
mouth.
What was she saying?! She realized she was shaking, and that her skin
was
damp with sweat.

Stana had stopped wretching, and moved to the side, her face pressed
against
what remained of an untouched patch of cool grass.

Teri did what she always did, though never in such a horrifying
circumstance
before.  Closing her eyes for a moment, she convinced herself that the
bodies
around her... simply weren't there.

She felt numb, and opened her eyes to look at Stana.  Turning her head,
she
saw the guards dragging the bodies quickly away.  The rooted one was
proving
some difficulty. Her mind slipped around that fact, and quickly forgot
it.

She noticed that the green was nearly silent.  The ringing of metal had

stopped, and only an occasional moan came from the ground.  Amazingly,
Estela
was less than 100 yards away- being hoisted into Tadrin's arms. Moments
ago
Estela has seemed miles from here..  Teri's glance swept the field,
sight
unable to penetrate. She stood shakily to her feet.

"Pick her up, please," she mumbled, a limp hand pointing at Stana. She
didn't
know if the guard moved to get the woman, who was now resting and spent
from
so much heaving.  All around her, Teri felt suddenly cold. So cold
after the
heat she had spent. Her fingers were once again like ice. She lifted
them
before her- stared numbly at them.

Numb... she felt drained. So much destruction, so much...  why was she
thinking this? She never thought like this- It didn't bother her, she
just
didn't think of it. That's how she dealt..

And it didn't bother her- it wasn't the death. She looked at a corpse,
unrecognising. She felt cold...

She looked up and caught Shinji's eyes-  they seemed to be the only
sparkle
left on this green. And then the darkness as she fainted.

* * *

Wake up.

Teri shifted slightly, and her eyes opened into thin slits. Her mind
must
still be coming around, the sky looked...

"Red!?" she gasped, snapping awake. The color brought back memories of
the
Jiy, and of the hot, overbearing feeling that almost smothered her.
Then she
noticed the clouds. The clouds were white, and there had been no clouds
where
she had once been trapped. But then...why was the sky red?

Slowly, she sat up, using her right hand to steady her head as she
looked
around. She was on a small hill, and S'kae palace was nowhere to be
seen. The
grass swayed in the warm wind that swept across the plains, and the
whistling
almost drowned out the sound of wood crackling in the distance. There
was a
large fire somewhere near here, and it's light stained the heavens
crimson.

But there was something there on the plains, too. There was a form
there,
black against the red ground. Slowly, without realizing it, she had
begun
walking. As she drew closer, she saw that the form was small, and that
it
was crouched over. She thought she could hear sobbing. Ten yards. She
walked a little faster. Finally, the form took shape.

It was a child, and it was crying.

Teri felt immediate pity wash over her, felt herself grow dense with
it. How
had it gotten here? How had she gotten here? She knelt down next to it,
and
tentatively touched it on the shoulder. The child's cries stopped, but
it's
eyes remained fixed on the ground. It didn't turn to face whoever just
touched it. It didn't have to, it already knew who she was.

"You shouldn't be here," the child said softly. "You frighten me."

Teri felt a chill enter her heart. The wind picked up a little.

"But, since you're already here, you might as well know," the child
went
on. It paused, as if gathering it's thoughts, and then, "I don't belong
here," it said, softer than before. "But that's not what you need to
know.
What I want to say is..."

The wind picked up to a fevered pace, and the words were drowned out.
Suddenly she felt herself being pulled away, as if the ground were
shifting
beneath her feet. The rest of the landscape had fallen away, leaving
only
two tiny red spotlights in the darkness. Suddenly the wind brought the
child's last words to her ears.

"...I'm sorry."

The child looked up at her then. It's red and blue eyes shone briefly,
before the darkness took them all.

* * *

"I dhg nanffffns ahreha,"

"I think she's coming around," a voice said. Teri opened her eyes dry
and
unfocused, and was relieved to find that the red sky had been replaced
by the
regular, almost
familiar ceilings of S'kae's palace. She mumbled something and tried to
sit up, but she felt someone pushing her back down and telling her that
she
should rest. To her right, a Healer was examining her carefully.

"Where am I?" she asked, suprised slightly by the absense of any body
ache.The healer looked up from his work and smiled patiently.

"You're in the healing ward," he answered. She saw his face pale
slightly
before he continued. "I hope you don't mind the accomodations, we
didn't
really have time to prepare..."

"No, that's all right," she assured him. She seemed to be spending a
lot of
time with Healers, lately.  He seemed to breath easier after that. As
if on
impulse, he continued.

"Your friend is very unusual," he commented, opening a bag to ruffle
through
some bottles. Teri's eyebrows furrowed.

"Which friend?"

"The one who carried you in here. I tell you half of the staff was
afraid to
touch you after he brought you in here."

Teri fought to clear her mind. "What do you mean?"

"Well, he walked in, placed you where you are now, and told the nearest
healer to take care of you." He chuckled. "Poor guy. He told me later
that
although your friend never said it, there was a definite 'or else'
attached
to that request, the consequence probably to be taken out in bodily
harm,"
he laid a few of the bottles on a nearby table. "He brushed off our
attempts to examine him, and walked off. But then, I suppose Lord
Kintaro
had his reasons."

Teri sighed and turned her head away. She closed dry eyes against her
confusion. Reasons? She had no clue anymore...