Sakila

"Fight you?" Sakila choked out. "Gladly. If it'll quench your thirst for revenge." Getting up she grabbed an orange vest from Sparrow. "But first, I suggest you all come down to the silo. We should fight that battle before we fight ours, eh? Can't dillydally now." She waited for their response. Vivi opened her mouth to say something, but Sakila realized she had one more thing left to say. "Vivi, if Rei had been the leader of the AF and had given you a chance to get YOUR parents back, would you trust him? Would you put your faith in your last remaining connection to this world? Because that's what I did. Greyfield was family and he was offering something you all couldn't. What would you have done if you were in my place? You had it, too. Right? A loving family, a beautiful childhood. And then someone came and destroyed it. And that someone was me. Because someone ELSE had destroyed MY loving family, MY beautiful childhood." She turned toward the direction of the explosions, her back facing the other three. "You know, at least you HAVE someone left. You have your father, Misaki. You have your brother, Vivi, who still has a chance to survive. I don't know if you can understand. You do everything you can so that your brother has a chance to survive. You left the Battalion and joined the Rebellion. I tried to do the same thing. I tried to do whatever I could so that my parents could have a chance to survive." Shrugging her shoulders, she turned back around and smiled bitterly. "But they didn't, did they?"

*is looking for the same thing but prefers modern style manga art*

(Well, better, I'd say. Thank you.)

(Wait wait wait wait. Sorry for being so witchy, but I am seriously confused at this point. First of all, Petya was at the Battalion HQ, right? Greyfield was being kept prisoner in the Battalion HQ and you went to rescue him from there, right? So that means that the armory is ALSO in the Battalion HQ, right? Okay. So I texted Brent and gave him the location of the missiles. Right now, they are headed to the missiles. BUT BEFORE THAT, they armed themselves using the Battalion HQ armory. So NOW, the armory is empty. All of the weapons were taken by the 8ths and Rebels so that they can fight. The whole point of my last post was to prevent your group from getting our weapons. Please don't disregard it. Also, Ash, Vivi, Misaki, and I are far away from the HQ. in another village, in another district.)

(Alright, but where are you going to get the arms from?)

She couldn't help but giggle at that. It was a disgusting sound, coming from a monster. "Well," she said softly, "can't help but appreciate that." She straightened up a bit more and sighed before continuing in a loud voice. "Listen up. I know you hate me at this moment and I'll be damned if I didn't blame you. But before you arrived, I sent a text to Brent. The Battalion now knows the location of the missiles. They and the Rebels are heading there now." She looked around. "I don't know about you all, but wouldn't it be a good idea for us to go too? I don't care if you take me there as a prisoner. At least, grant me the wish of being able to finally see it all go down, once and for all." (Sorry, Petya! This means that the armory is swiped clean of everything! No weapons for you! They're going down to the silo now! Nyah-hah-ha!)

"Suffer, you say? F-f-fine then. I'm going to hell anyway. Maybe this will be practice." She sighed softly and blinked a few times before looking at the girl holding her down. The girl couldn't see her anymore, but her tight grip kept Sakila from escaping. Not that she was planning to escape, of course. "Oi, Sakila, Misaki, Vi!" Her eyes flickered over to the new figure. Sparrow. She looked a bit more roughed up every time she saw her. Sakila giggled dryly before closing her eyes, the color of her body slowly reappearing.

To annoy her on purpose is the whole point.

If your teachers are saying your interpretation of a poem is wrong, then I'd suggest challenging them. IF you have proper reasons to back up your interpretation that is. I do that for fun. I once turned a beautiful poem about love and family and fatherhood into a tale of child abuse and incest. My teacher tried to stop me in order to protect the innocent minds of my classmates, but let's just say we all learned things we weren't supposed to that day. And if that's what you meant, I'd dub it as a bit of a misleading way of saying it.

(That.........doesn't.........really....answer my question.....)

(I have a question. *raises hand*) (Why do Serbian gangsters talk like they're from Detroit?)

HALT! I cannot allow you to say that! Oh, it pains my soul just reading those words! Never ever ever ever ever ever ever EVER say something like the "message is plain"-- it's HORRIFYING! The beauty of poetry comes from the fact that everyone is free to interpret in their own way. Your interpretation of it: " Hard work is the key to success, but the main aim of any achievement is that should be obtained by honest means only" can be different from everyone else's. Poetry is never "plain" because there will always be a million and one possibilities. (I am too lazy to interpret it for myself at this moment.) Ah, heck with it: Another theme could be mockery. The first two lines are spoken in a much more familiar tone. You would expect a friend of yours (or maybe a stereotypical overall-clad, straw-chewing farmhand) to talk like this. It's easygoing and natural. But then he decides to say, "On the yard I own. And the plow I work." Why is this so distant? Why does it sound so reflective? This is where the mockery comes in. It could be that the stars are mocking all his hard work. Their brightness is like a slap to the face, saying, "Ha ha, no matter how hard you work, you'll always be below us! You can never shine like we can!" There. Another interpretation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In conclusion, poetic messages are never plain. And if I may offer some words regarding the actual topic... *ahem*..... After rereading both pieces, I notice that both start off with a familial tone. There's never a WRONG tone in poetry, but usually you don't shove two tones together. Now, I'm not sure if you did this on purpose in order to portray something, but I just wanted to point it out.

"Sakila! Sakila!" Not now. Running footsteps. "Sakila!" Shut up. "We finally found you!" "LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!" She jumped up, her wet hair slapping her face. The phone she'd been clutching in her hand dropped to the ground. In front of her were Vivi and Misaki, visibly surprised. "Why the hell are you here?! Can't you take a hint?! I DON'T WANT TO BE FOUND. Give me a frickin' moment to myself will ya?!" "Saki--" "SHUT UP! You're annoying! You're so annoying! I bet you're thinking 'Oh, poor Sakila! I bet she didn't do it! I bet she has a reason! She would never do such a thing!' That's it, isn't it? That's what you're thinking!" The rain wouldn't stop pounding. At this rate, she would die of pneumonia before anything else. "Well, guess what! I've killed my entire life! I doubt any of you would ever understand. Do you know just HOW MANY PEOPLE I've betrayed?! I went against everyone who's ever helped me! Everyone who's ever given a crap about me! I've been the reason families have been torn apart. I've been the reason mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, so many people have died! But you know what?! After all that, the last thing I want is pity! If anything, you should hate me!" What was the point in hiding it now? She was already going to die soon. She was already going to hell. "You should despise me! Vivi! Your little brother? He was injured in that village blasting all those years ago, right? Well guess whose idea it was to bomb that specific area? Mine! I'd researched everything my parent's library had to offer on war strategies an that was a very strategic area! So I persuaded uncle to go ahead and attack there." Vivi's eyes widened. "And Misaki, I've been doing a little research on you, too. It seems you had quite the mentor. Kate, was it? Well, that was me, too. That massacre, I pulled the strings, allowing it to happen. I based it on the tactics used for the War of 1812 and changed the details so it would be to uncle's advantage." She paused, completely out of breath and shivering unconditionally. She stepped back a few feet, leaning against the wall behind her. "All of it. Every life I took, every person I betrayed, it was all for the sake of my parents." The tears finally started to flow and only increased as the seconds passed by. She was having trouble breathing. "And now. I thought I had finally succeeded. With Mokou gone, I thought I'd finally gained the visibility I'd longed for all my life." She slumped to the ground, sobbing. Her fingers started to fade, as did her feet. "See? This power, it curses me even now." It started to spread to her shoulder, her legs, her stomach. Hidden Dragon was activating by itself. "I thought I'd be fine with it, as long as I could be with my parents..." She could feel a darkness overtaking her. "But now," she choked out, "all of it's useless. All my life, I've been killing for people who've been dead for years." She closed her eyes, knowing she was nearly fully invisible, with only a faint outline of her body remaining. "Please... just kill me now."

I cried every single time I reread it. And made weird sobbing noises every time I reread the last chapter. Which I have permanently downloaded and reread about every week.

The way I see it.... Mass = social health level Volume = Wisdom Social health/ wisdom = density

(The sheer number of times Ash has been shot, stabbed, paralyzed, or made unconscious... Can't we cut her some slack?) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was pouring. Hard. What was this? Some kind of divine retribution? Some kind of godly interference? Where were they? I want to cry, she thought, curled up in a fetal position on the ground. This was misery, in it's rawest form for her. For some reason, nothing was happening. No tears, no sobs, nothing. It was like she could find no form of release. She wasn't sure she felt it at first, but slowly, it gained power. Her vibrating cell phone. Her hand was caked with mud, like most of her clothes, she realized, as she pulled out her phone. He body was numb. She dimly realized that maybe lying on the ground while it rained so hard probably wasn't such a good idea. It was from the Battalion again. She let it go to voicemail. She could imagine it now, the person on the other end listening to her normally peppy voice go, "Leave a message after the beep! Beep! Kidding, kidding," followed by the normal beep. She was sure the person on the other end was sick of the message. Maybe she should be nice and answer. ...Nah. She let the phone drop in front of her and watched as it moved on its own for a while before the person on the other end gave up. That was the 15th call. Boy, were they rowdy. Well, makes sense, I guess. It vibrated again, but this time, it was a text message. Doesn't hurt to check. Sakila sat up for the first time in two hours. Her hair was matted to the side of her face and she couldn't see very well with her right eye. She tapped on the message. ...Quotes? She scrolled down the list. "You reap what you sow." ... "Left for dead." ... "Actions come back to haunt you." ... "You got what you deserved." ... "All's well that ends well." What was this? "Dear little Blackbird. You've turned out to be quite a Benedict Arnold. I'm sure you know who that is." She did. It was an ancient traitor. Long gone, but a traitor nonetheless. She would be classified as such from now on. "But I digress. It seems you've blindly carried out my will. Didn't your parents teach you? It's not good to trust strangers." What was this?! Sakila's eyes widened and her shivering came back full-swing as she scrolled down. "Ah, but I forgot." No. No no no no no no no. "They weren't around long enough to do anything." PLEASE. NO. "You see, your parents, being archaeologists, discovered something they shouldn't have. You've been researching a certain limitation device, haven't you? Well, let me enlighten you. Your parents discovered something the IS had been working on for years before your generation. One of our past efforts had been lost and your parents happened to come across it. That was their mistake. We had no choice but to eliminate them." She couldn't help but keep reading. "Unfortunately, your parents are no longer alive. But thank you for holding your end of the deal. In return, I have given you what you truly desire: the truth about your parents. Again, thank you, Blackbird, for helping us succeed." She stopped at the bottom, unmoving. "Yours Sincerely, The IS" That was it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (Hope y'all don't mind. Had to take minimum control of the IS in order to keep the story moving. Sorry it's so long..... >__<)

(Nice job KKLT. Yeah, so she pretty much summed it all up. KKLT and Misaki are currently being interviewed or something to figure out Mokou's killer. I being Mokou's killer have suspiciously run away. Ash, who we recently found out is my cousin is talking with Greyfield who is her father. Sayuri is helping out with evidence collection. And Petya is currently trying to reach his former leader. Those are our individual locations, if it helps any~

*is randomly lurking around the forums* Gah! O___O H-h-how does this have 100 pages?! How very, er, interesting (^ _ ^)a *smh* So what, nobody shouts "I win!" anymore?

(This was my literal reaction when I read this: "Oh! OMG I don't mind! Yay!" Followed by a squeal. Literal reaction.)

Fine, I've graduated from excessive shoujo to excessive josei. Better? Kiss/Hug (His eyeeeeeeesssss.......... *sigh*)

..........midnightsecretary.......coughcoughcough..... Yes, I know what you're thinking. And it IS what you're thinking. Somewhat. I've graduated from shoujo to josei >//////////<

She didn't know how long she ran for. All she knew was that her clothes were soaked by the rain once again. She felt the phone she'd set to vibrate go off softly in her purse. She concentrated, cloaked it, and pulled it out. Vivi. She let it go to voicemail as she walked through war-torn streets still somewhat reeking with the scent of blood. An old man sat unnoticed by a shop corner. Almost absentmindedly, he dipped his finger in the bowl in front of him and wrote a word on the wall. Sakila laughed lightly at the reference. It said "Blood." She remembered it faintly. It was from a book about war, written many years ago, about a period even more years before that. Even then, there were wars. Even then, there were catalysts. How far have we really come then? As humans? Another call. This time from Misaki. Do people pick a side simply because there are sides to be picked? Is it really that black and white? If you want power and money, you join the AF? If you want to stop the torment, you become an 8th or a Rebel? She hadn't known what to do afterwards, so she returned to where she'd met the strange man from the IS. If it's like that, then what am I? Am I good? Am I bad? Am I a traitor? Or have I been betrayed? And if so, then by who? Uncle? Brent? Vivi, Misaki, Sparrow? Mokou? The IS? My parents? ...My own feelings? She deactivated Hidden Dragon and leaned against the wall numbly. Her shoulder still ached from the recoil of the pistol. Now what? Well, you reap what you sow. I guess the best thing to do at this moment is wait for word from the IS. ~~~ (I'm kinda stuck now. Can't really do much until I'm contacted by Waylon or T or something, I guess.)

(Sorry, been a bit busy.....) "What? She was just here," Sakila heard Misaki reply before slipping out of the room, cloaked. Sakila went up and down the main hall of the Battalion HQ before spotting Mokou in one of the rooms. She needed to do this. Without her parents, Sakila felt like she was without an identity. She was simply a tool, a fly-on-the-wall. But now, she had a chance to be someone. She didn't want to wander through life invisibly anymore. "Sakila, what's up?" "We need you for a brief moment. Can you come with me?" "Sure." The redhead stood up from her desk, placing the papers she'd been checking in a folder. She followed Sakila down the corridor. "So, Mokou, we haven't talked much for a while, huh?" "Yeah. Hey, about earlier today..." Sakila stayed silent. "...I was wondering..." No comment. "What exactly—" "Don't wanna talk about it." Mokou shut up for a while. They passed the meeting room and Mokou raised an eyebrow but said nothing. At the far end of the building, Sakila opened a door and stepped outside into a deserted back alley. "Sakila? What are we— huh?" Sakila pulled the pistol from her boot. "Wha-wha-what?! Sakila, what is that thing?!" "A gateway to visibility." And with that, she shot. The recoil from the small gun was greater than she thought and her shoulder was thrust back painfully. Cracking it forward again, Sakila simply watched as Mokou slumped to the ground. She chucked the pistol back into her boot and pulled Mokou's immobile body up by the hair. She placed her palms firmly against both sides of the redhead's head and held her body in place with her legs. Switching on Hidden Dragon, Sakila sharply twisted Mokou's head to the left, breaking her neck. She let the body fall and didn't look back at the scene as she fled.

OMG i know! Totally been waiting for these! I personally like the fact that Bossun's being a bit more aggressive than usual ^^

Whoa, four chappies out together! Well, on my MangaReader app.