... leave
An intrusive thought told him that he needed to remember to pick a good alarm sound, but seeing the situation they were in, Sora couldn't pay attention to it.
The group of hostile presences, with a dull white colour the moon allowed him to see, was approaching slowly, but they were too close.
'I can't climb to the ledge' Sora's mind raced through all the plans he had devised should danger appear, but the situation was despairing. 'The barricade won't last, there are too many for me to run around in circles to make them slower, and we don't have the means to destroy them while they are in groups.'
The horde couldn't be stopped, that Sora was sure, just as he knew that hiding in the village again would be a sure death not only for him, but everyone involved.
He saw through the corner of his eyes how Matthew and a few more pushed the rocks too big for them to carry, ones they had directly dug from the mountain, but the Corrupted were simply too numerous.
CLANG KAC CRCK
The sound of crushed metal and triturated steel reached him while a few Corrupted were turned into a part of the floor, but the rest didn't care.
Every single red eye in the plain was focused on him.
Which, instead of scaring him, told him the path he should take.
'Mom, I love you' thought Sora, closing his eyes for a moment, thinking about the only family he had left, before running to the edge of the snow plain.
"Sora!" Matthew shouted in alarm seeing a nearby Corrupted swing its rusted spear, but failed to reach the white-haired man for a few centimetres, maybe even drawing some blood, as night made it hard to see for humans.
Feeling the sharp edge on his skin, Sora kept running, finally gaining some free space between him and the hostile robots as he approached the edge.
But he kept running, jumping over the holes in the plain he had memorized to avoid falling in them, and could finally see the danger they faced.
'Too many' Sora couldn't count so many white armours in the little time he had, but he knew that fighting and hiding was impossible.
Which only reinforced his plan.
Running through the edge, he turned to the left, directly where the army of Corrupted where. His destination was none other than the rope he had used countless times, one he hoped to use at least one more time.
'I will draw them to the forest' was the only plan Sora could think of in the spur of the moment. If there was a brighter plan, he hadn't been able to find it, but that didn't matter right now.
FWOOOSH
Crouching under a wide swing from a rusted hammer, Sora kept running without slowing down, jumping over a small Corrupted crawling through the ground aiming at his legs, and grimacing when a sword made a deep gash in his side.
The deeper into the horde he ran, the more attacks he needed to dodge, and the more wounds he received, but he was only trying to run around them so he didn't need to face them all at once or fear being surrounded, his only foes the ones in the outliers of the group.
Sliding under the legs of a Corrupted, and feeling a sharp stone make a new deep cut in his back, Sora finally reached the rope, grabbing it with one hand and jumping to the void next to him, hoping the trusty rope he had used a few minutes ago wouldn't break now.
It creaked and tensed in a way Sora hadn't seen before, but thankfully it didn't break, at least this time.
And while he was sailing through the air, Sora finally understood the doubt that had been plaguing his mind for years.
In front of the blocked wall, a mass of Corrupted could be seen, the sheer numbers forming a ramp where others walked through, while a few others were digging their weapons in the hard rock to climb through it. Sora couldn't help but want to laugh at the scene, as the mystery of wall-climbing robots had been able to be confirmed after years, but the new group of enemies made his throat constrict.
Glancing at the snow plain before it disappeared from view, he saw the countless red eyes still fixed on him, making him think that maybe, only maybe, the village would be safe with his departure.
But his flight came to an end when his feet touched the ground again, and Sora felt the group crashing against the wall and focus on him, telling him that there was no time to lose.
"Fuck you" a childish choice of words that Sora couldn't contain, that preceded his desperate run to the dark forest he hated so much.
An army of Corrupted on his heels.
-------------------------------------------------------
'How many are there?!' Sora's thoughts halted for a moment when a giant grey blunt weapon was swung towards his face, but he dodged it.
The gust of wind the heavy swing created made his eardrums painfully vibrate, but Sora kept running, no longer caring about the marked trees.
When everything in front of you was a mix of white and red, paths and safe roads lost all meaning, the safest one is the one his body led to after dodging a lethal blow.
Clang
The sound of metal being hit by something hard reached his ears when he least expected it, as he was sure that attacking a Corrupted was the fastest way to die, but the moon shed its merciful light through a hole in the canopy of leaves covering the forest, revealing the presence of countless Corrupted in the ground.
And a new spark of hope was ignited in Sora, who figured out that the Construct from Babylonia might still be near.
Thoughts of why were there so many Corrupted then, or why didn't the Corrupted aim for the Construct to focus on his sorry ass crossed Sora's mind, but were promptly discarded in favour of searching any traces that could help him follow the path the possibly overpowered Construct might have taken.
It wasn't easy, as with every step a few weapons were swung his way, one of them hitting Sora in his arm and making a shout of angish break the solemn air of the forest at night, but Sora finally found the way to go.
It was easy, every single tree had a Corrupted machine pinned to it by beautiful silver arrows Sora couldn't see the head of.
But they could have been shaped like shit, and they would have still been beautiful. Everything able to harm Corrupted was a piece of art in his eyes.
Panting, his lungs begging for air, and his muscles pleading for him to stop, he finally saw her.
Golden hair, golden eyes.
A missing arm, a broken leg.
And the look of acceptance on her face looking at the sky that Sora hated over everything in the world.
More than even the Punishing Virus that so much harm caused him.
Because he had seen that look even before the first Corrupted appeared, and always brought sadness.
He didn't know why was the Construct in this state, how many days had she fought to look this bad, who she was, or what she wanted.
But that glint in her eyes took away the need to find those answers.
All he knew was that such a look shouldn't exist on anyone's face, no matter who, no matter when.
And... well...
If he was going to die, better take that look away with him.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sora threw the first stone he saw to the Corrupted about to slash the woman with a sword, making the Construct look at him with a bit of surprise, and maybe... hope, hinting at an unfulfilled promise remaining within her.
Of what, he didn't know, but for now, that look had disappeared, and he would make sure it stood that way.
"I hate that look" that was all Sora felt obliged to explain, picking up the woman in his arms and putting her in his back as he would need to be able to run comfortably.
Feeling the Construct grab tightly to him after he forcefully moved her arm, his firm actions telling her that stupid self-sacrificial actions wouldn't be tolerated, he ran again noting that even after missing a limb and being a lot smaller than him, the woman was quite heavy.
"On the front" the woman's soft voice, which held a tinge of something else, something sinister, reached Sora forcing him to turn to his right where the amount of enemies was the least, only to resume running.
"Where do I go?" asked Sora, hoping that being in a situation where she didn't need to move would allow the woman to think clearer than him.
Bianca looked around, her consciousness being taken over by the Virus, but forced herself to focus.
She could last a bit more, and help this man who carried her even while being chased by so many Corrupted without hesitation.
Her moment would arrive soon, and she wasn't going to allow the Punishing Virus to take her in the same way it had taken Father Snow, but until that moment in which she would release the arm around the man's body, she would try to help one more person.
"Right"
the distortion in the voice grew in strength, Sora's subconscious telling him something was wrong, but the new direction he was offered took all his brain capacity.
And how much did that single direction help.
There were still Corrupted all around them, but the woman on his back seemed to have some way of identifying and locating the Corrupted, because the amount of hostiles and attacks Sora needed to dodge had decreased immensely.
But the amount of wounds he got hadn't stopped increasing, because he was getting tired and carrying the Construct on his back was definitely not helping him.
"I- I can't go on" the voice, now interrupted by muffled whispers, made Sora stop in surprise.
Both in alarm and hesitation.
The woman was clearly not good, and by the red glow he was seeing through the corner of his eyes, it was the worst-case scenario.
And hesitation, because in front of him, a blocked wall appeared, devoid of Corrupted that even now were walking through the forest, but would arrive soon.
'Can I return to the village?' wondered Sora, looking nervously at the forest. There was nothing he desired more than to return to the warmth his home gave him, but the Corrupted would follow him again. '.... I can't'
Even less when the woman in his back was a new danger to them.
'Should I abandon her an-' But Sora's thought was interrupted by a single image.
The image of the woman's golden eyes looking at the sky, with wonder and satisfaction in them.
A look he hated above everything.
Above the Punishing Virus, above his fear, above the village's situation.
A look he swore would never allow to exist on anyone's face.
So while a part of him cried in alarm and protest, a much stronger one supported his decision.
The moment the horde of Corrupted appeared in front of the village, he had already died one way or another, so if he had to leave, he would make sure that look didn't appear in front of him.
The village would suffer a lot, but for now, they had enough food. Maybe a Construct dying here might make Babylonia send someone to investigate, or at least retrieve her body, maybe then the village could have a new chance to live by conquering their hate and unwillingness to face a new life away from this place.
Crouching, Sora placed the woman on the ground, making her back lean into the wall behind her.
Touching her forehead to raise her face, Sora saw a pair of golden eyes taken over by red, only a small area near the centre of her pupils retaining its beautiful colour. For a moment, both eyes looked at each other, but no words were exchanged, with Bianca cursing her lost ability to speak, and Sora lost in his thoughts.
But finally, he spoke.
He didn't know who the woman was, the kind of life she had led, her regrets or dreams, or what her purpose in fighting had been, so he couldn't give her a message to make her rest at ease. All he could do was to tell her what little he felt about her.
"Thank you for helping us"
The Construct might have been fighting for an entirely different reason, but Sora had no doubt that if all the destroyed Corrupted had been allowed to keep moving towards the village, he wouldn't have had the chance to arrive at the forest.
So, knowing that she had saved the village for whatever reason she had, Sora could only feel grateful for her gift, a chance for the village he loved so much to survive.
Sora saw her eyes widen a bit, but he couldn't lose more time, because his mind still demanded a few more thoughts from him.
He stood up and calmly looked back to the forest, a cloud of red eyes appearing from it, gradually increasing in size and number as the Corrupted got closer.
Sora, even in this situation, chose to close his eyes to think and remember.
His mother, that had always given him what she didn't have, starving herself so he could eat a single berry more.
Oliver, his uncle, who had given him the fun the village hadn't been allowed to have back then. Sora hadn't been able to forget the night in which his uncle had offered to go to the forest knowing he was walking towards death only to help him and his mother.
Charles, the man who taught him everything he might need to know, and far more. The bravest man Sora had ever met, one who had given everything for the village, saving them from death with his life. And one... that had acted as he thought a father would have.
Teresa, the quiet and decided girl who had mesmerized him with her ingenuity, dreams and beauty, one he would always remember with love.
And many more, every single child, man, woman and elder.
Every single one of them would need to face a hard time, but they would be alright.
If hard times created strong people, his big family was the strongest of them all.
Crack
A broken twig told Sora his time to think and remember had ended, because it sounded a few meters away from him.
The woman on his back had gone suspiciously silent, but Sora didn't have the luxury nor the will to look at her right now.
In these last moments, he wanted to think and act for himself, maybe he had earned it.
But no acceptance appeared in him, no smile of satisfaction, and no words of regret left his mouth.
Because he hated that face, more than anything else.
And he wouldn't allow such a face to appear around him, not even in his own face.
So Sora made a decision instead. In these last moments, where accepting his fate would be the easiest way, he would unleash everything he had inside.
It wasn't that special, after all, it was pure hate for the Punishing Virus that everyone in this harsh world had, but it was his.
The Punishing Virus had forced them to live in a corner of a much wider world, isolated and freezing.
They had killed countless people to find food in the forest, while animals could run rampant as the Virus ignored them.
The Punishing Virus had controlled a machine that had murdered innocent people, chasing them even to this remote corner of the world, not allowing them to rest at ease even here.
It had taken so much from them, for no reason at all. All the village wanted was to survive, but the virus wasn't willing to allow even that.
Why?
Why were they condemned to this kind of life?
Why had Charles, Carla, Ursula, Harry, Marcus, Teresa and Oliver needed to die? Were their lives cheaper than the whims of the Punishing Virus?
'How unfair' thought Sora, feeling rage start bubbling within him. '... how unfair.'
To have your efforts crushed, your heart shattered, your life taken with so much ease, for no reason, without a single explanation.
And Sora remembered his dream, one that he had confessed to the girl he had loved so much with an embarrassed expression at being unable to speak his true dream, looking from the edge of the snow plain at the gorgeous landscape from the highest point they could access.
'I want to visit that lake with everyone.'
Was it too much to ask? To visit the calm and beautiful lake with his family and friends?
And there was only one thing between him and such a utopic dream.
The damn Virus.
And so, feeling the cold steel in front of him, Sora's anger finally exploded with a single wish.
"LEAVE!!!"
From this mountain, from our lives, from this world.
You, who only bring suffering wherever you go, shouldn't exist in this world.
"LEAAAAVEEEEEE!!!!"
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And a white blast that no eye could catch erupted from Sora, shredding all the red orbs inside the white armours belonging to a forgotten era.
Because it carried Sora's desperate and pure desire.
Not to disappear, because Sora knew he didn't have the right to demand that.
Not to get destroyed, because Sora knew he wasn't strong.
But to leave, away from where you can touch us, affect us, harm us, torment us.
... leave.