Chapter Text
The sky was bleak and grey, the sun hiding behind clouds as snow fell from the sky. There were no children playing in the streets, no adults walking to the store or to their work. Everything was still and silent, as if humanity was no longer. Even so, there were a few who remained. They were sparse and spread out, but they were there. A mother and her children hiding in the corner of their home, a couple trying to stay quiet in the kitchens of a restaurant, a brother and sister sleeping in the ruins of a convenience store.
The girl furrowed her brow, her hands holding tightly onto a rusty old pipe that had been found lying on the floor. She didn’t dare let herself dream, else she fail to keep her brother safe, yet she flickered between lucidity. When she would leave the world of the waking for just a moment, a voice would call out to her. It was quiet at first, but the longer and deeper she drifted the louder and clearer the words became:
Go on… Take my power… Take it and save your brother… All I ask… is your…
With a flinch the girl opened her eyes, dropping the pipe with a large clamor in the process. Swiftly she looked around to make sure nothing had heard the noise, grabbing the pipe once more. For a moment, she wanted to cry – she was just a child after all – and while her brother wasn’t watching she could finally allow herself the chance to be vulnerable… No, it would be too risky if the things outside heard her sobbing, but it wouldn’t hurt to let a few tears fall. So it was that she started to tilt her head downwards, taking the time to glance around once more to make sure the area truly was safe…
...And then she saw the book lying on the ground.
The girl was never known to be mean or hate anything, but in that moment hatred swelled within her. Those books were the problem. She had seen people turn into pillars of white dust before her eyes, their hands clutching the accursed bindings of the–
“Goddamn book !”
The heel of her boot struck the top of the tome with as much force as she could muster, the book sliding across the damaged tile as the girl’s eyes grew wide. She didn’t mean to yell. She was lucky with the things not hearing the pipe falling, but surely they would have heard her enraged scream, no matter how brief it was.
Groans pierced the air as figures shambled towards the ruined building, the girl letting out a breath before standing to meet the foes. Her stance was weak, her grip on the pipe too tense to be effective, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was–
“I won’t let you hurt my brother!”
The girl ran towards one of the figures, swinging the pipe as hard as she could. To her surprise, the creature started to bleed – she had hit it. This surprise only lasted a moment as she planted her feet and continued to strike upon learning she could damage them. One fell down, and then another, then a third and a fourth. By the time no more seemed to be around, the girl was struggling to catch her breath. She leaned over, hands resting above her knees, before a thought crossed her mind and she swiftly stood straight and ran towards the back. As she came to a halt, the girl held the pipe as though she was about to attack, dropping the stance with a sigh.
She walked towards a young boy who was curled against a large slab of fallen ceiling, quickening her pace when the boy started coughing. She fell beside him, not caring about the noise the pipe made as it fell from her hands. The boy glanced over to his sister, her hands grasping on to his.
“Yo...nah?”
“Shhh… it’s okay. I’m here.”
The boy weakly smiled, falling into a coughing fit right after. The girl let go of her brother’s hand, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into her chest. As the young boy coughed, his sister running her hands through his hair while waiting for the fit to end.
The boy shook his head for a moment, not daring to move against the embrace of his sister. “I’m sorry… the monsters must hear me, right?”
The girl loosened her arms, her brother falling with the change in support. “Nier? I want you to listen to me.”
The boy nodded slowly, to which the girl responded: “I will never let them hurt you. Never.”
The girl brought her brother closer once again, the boy coughing once again as his sister looked around the area. The few shelves that were close were barren if they weren’t in complete disarray, a sight that resulted in a disappointed frown from the girl. She let go of her brother with a sigh, quickly saying “I’m going to try and find something to eat. Stay here for a bit, alright? I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
The boy nodded, inching away from his sister and curling into a ball. The girl reached for the dropped pipe, her hand stopping in midair as she noticed it sitting against a black book, the cover exactly the same as the one in the front of the store.
“Nier.”
The girl’s voice was sharp as she said this, the boy growing tense as he lifted his head.
“Don’t ever touch that book.”
The boy nodded, his sister repositioning herself so best to grab the pipe and not brush against the book. After giving one last glance to make sure her brother was okay, the girl walked back to the front and started searching for a shelf that wasn’t empty, that had just enough food for her brother at the very least.
A small groan pierced the silence, and the girl quickly turned on her heel to see the same monsters from before. No… these weren’t the same. They were bigger, towering over the girl while the rest were about her height. Still, she tried to take care of these foes just as she had the others, hitting with the round sides of the pipe and eventually growing to stab with the sharp ends where it had broken off. Even so, she only managed to take out a single foe before a second knocked her into the very shelf her brother was hiding behind.
Even as the girl was knocked to the ground, she kept her gaze on the monsters shambling towards the shelf, the brunt of the attack leaving the girl to lose consciousness as her brother would be attacked, the girl unable to complete her promise.
Nier… I’m sorry…
A laugh echoed within the girl’s mind, her head slowly turning where the book was. She shook her head at first, but upon hearing the groans of the monsters growing closer she began crawling to where it lay.
Each movement made the girl’s chest swell in pain, tears mixing with blood that wasn’t hers, but as she grew closer to the book her resolve grew alongside the darkness in her peripheral. A tiny portion of her vision remained as she reached her hand, praying she was just close enough.
“Please… I need to… save… Nier…”
The girl felt her fingertips brush against the cold leather of the spine, and then the world was enveloped in white.
The laugh echoed in the girl’s mind once again, louder this time, as any pain she felt went away. A deep voice resonated in her mind, though she couldn’t figure out any of the words that were spoken. They were said in a strange tongue, the syllables weighted in such a manner that the girl had never heard, and yet there was undoubtedly power behind them. The words rang throughout her thoughts, the words jumbling together until slowly, very slowly, the girl could understand them.
Hand.
The sound of glass shattering broke the girl from her stupor, her gaze falling upon a red mass of energy as it unfurled its fingers. She looked beside her- from where the strange sight must have come from- only to see the black book floating around her head, its covers closing in on itself to reveal the cover.
More of the monsters started to form from the shadows outside of the store, but for once the girl wasn’t worried. Instead she walked to where she had fallen, grabbed the rusted pipe…
…and sprinted out of where a window used to be.
One by one the monsters fell, be it by pipe or by magic. As they fell, more and more words became clear within the echoes of the girl’s mind; a cacophonous chorus resonated throughout her thoughts, maddening voices repeating words over and over again until each one became lost in a single incomprehensible cloud.
When each of the foes seemed to have disappeared, the girl stood in silence for a moment. It was hard to breathe, and yet there was no pain within her chest – adrenaline likely still keeping the girl from feeling any. The chorus of words still rang throughout her mind, yet another word drowned out the rest:
Nier.
The girl started to run back towards the ruined building, terrible scenarios running through her mind with every step: What if something had happened while she wasn’t paying attention? What if one of the monsters managed to get past her and attacked him? What if he had fallen into another of his coughing fits while standing? What if something else ha–
No… don’t think about that. He’ll be fine. He has to be.
Step after step, inch after inch the girl grew closer to her destination, passing through the wide open doorway of the ruined building before slowing her pace. The girl walked towards where her brother was lying, the boy shifting slightly at the sound of his sister’s footsteps as she passed the shelf. She fell to her knees in front of the boy, exhaustion taking hold. The boy stared at this sister, placing a hand on her shoulder as he asked: “Are you alright, Yonah?”
The girl smiled, giving a small nod. “Just tired is all.”
The boy smiled back, lowering his hand as he reached behind him. “I found something while you were away.”
“Oh? What is it?”
The boy grabbed a small container, holding it in between himself and his sister with a grin on his face. “Your favorite!”
The girl weakly smiled in response, knowing fully well that her brother had picked it without any regard to himself. She grabbed the tin and opened the lid, a single cookie remaining within it, and glanced at her brother. “We’ll split it, alright?”
The cookie broke into two pieces, though not quite as neatly as the girl had hoped it would- one half was larger than the other, which she extended to her brother. Instead of taking it, the boy stared at the half and shook his head. “You eat the larger part. You’re bigger and need to keep up your strength.”
“Yes, but you’re growing more than I am. If you don’t eat this, you won’t be big and strong.”
The boy stared for a moment, unable to respond. He sighed, grabbing the larger half, and retorted, “You get the larger part with the ne–”
A cough escaped the boy, then another, and then he fell into a fit. The girl quickly reached out, grabbing her brother as he fell into her arms. He dug her face into her shoulder, his arms folded in so to keep a grip on the cookie in his hand. When the coughing continued for far longer than usual, the girl started to worry. “Nier? Are you alright?”
The boy managed to raise his head for a moment, the coughing under control just for a few seconds as he meekly replied, “I wish… you wouldn’t have to worry… so much about me…”
“I don’t mind! You’re my brother! Of course I’m going to–”
Strange runes started snaking up the boy’s skin, starting on his neck and then crawling onto his face. Symbols the girl couldn’t read clouded together, covering her brother’s face as she sat in silence. A whisper eventually fell from her, the words full of concern despite the accusatory diction:
“What have you done?”
The boy continued to cough, sounds coming from him yet no words able to truly form. The girl pulled him close, unsure of anything else to do. There was no medicine nor water that could possibly be used to help, and the dust wasn’t helping the boy’s inflamed lungs at all. All that could be done would be to wait for the cough to end, yet that wouldn’t do anything about the black runes. There was nothing that could be done, unless…
The girl raised her head and started screaming at the top of her lungs, “Please! Someone! We need help! Anyone! Please help!”
Cynicism started tearing at the girl’s heart, knowing that no one would be close enough to hear her, nor would there be any reason for them to assist, but still she cried… if she didn’t, she would truly be giving up.