Los Luceros chapter 3

Los Luceros

Revised

Chapter 3

The sounds of the wheels clamored over the tile floor, not allowed to be rolled as the gurney flew down the hallway.  People were shouting to one another as empty eyes stared up at the ceiling, red trickled down pale lips.  The woman's body would convulse every once in a while causing the back to arch, head to lull, and arms to contract.

"Rhythm, you stay with me," X patted the girl's face when her eyes started to drift close. "Stay with me girl."

There was a particularly bad convulsion that forced a burst of blood to burble up from her throat and escape into the air from her lips.

"How she's doing?" Axel shouted as he helped Zero clear the way for the medical team.

"We'll be lucky if she makes it," one of the lifesavers grunted taking vital signs.  Unlike other reploids Rhythm was special, she was mostly flesh and blood, few parts of her was artificial.  A genius had created her, and only that genius knew how to effectively help her.  But since they had little to go off of, they were severely limited to what they could do.

~~>~~>

"Why the hell were you asleep?!" Zero reached for the redhead only to have his chest pushed back by Soldjer who was in the middle of them.

"I told you I didn't mean to fall asleep!"

"This is all your fault you little, grrrah!"

Soldjer pushed back the blond hunter once more, before striking him with a punch to the cheek, "Cool it!!"  She panted as she looked at the red hunter she hand just forced onto the ground.  The little blonde was known for her beauty and kindness yes, but she was famous for being able to throwing punches that could dent a titanium wall.  Once asked about how she did it she just said she put her weight into the hit.

She straightened out and rubbed her face, "Look, we're all upset.  I'm pissed off because I was supposed to be there but I had something else to do.  I asked Axel to take my place when he was supposed to be resting.  If you want to be pissed off at someone take it out on me, not on someone who's been on non-stop missions for the last few weeks."  She let out a sigh, taking off her helmet.  A shaking hand ran through her hair as she tried to think.  The last mission was hard on her and she barely had enough time to be repaired when the doors to the repair lab was thrown open.  The color red dripped down onto the floor as bright lights flooded the room.  She had never seen blood before, it was a beautiful color and that thought disturbed her.  Why would she think something so morbid?

The doors to the repair lab finally opened, X came stepping out, his body splattered with dried blood.  The three reploids outside the door watched him as he walked over to the window to watch the blue sky and green grass outside.

"E-...X?" Axel was the first to find his tongue.

"Axel," his voice was even but it was obvious by the way he stood that he was angry. "I would like to talk to you in private soon.  But as it stands we need to make a few preparations."

"You don't mean," Soldjer felt a line crack down her heart.

"I mean, I'm not going to be up to working after this and Rhythm won't be up to full standards for a few more weeks," he turned.  His face was void of worry all that was left was the remnants of being scared, "Zero will you accompany me to make a request for a small vacation?  I believe all of us deserve one by now."

The red hunter picked himself off of the floor as if he had been sitting there for leisurely reasons the whole time.  "Whatever," he patted the dirt off of himself while joining his friend down the hallway.

The yellow hunter gave a sigh of relief, and threw an arm around Axel giving him a squeeze, "She'll be okay... god I was scared there."

The redhead nodded in agreement.

~~>~~>

"God," Rhythm shivered pulling the knitted sweater closer to her body.  There were  few human clothes left on the surface, making them a commodity.  The expense of them always took up her paychecks just so she could have something to wear besides spandex and her armor.  The small wardrobe that she owned only consisted of two outfits per-season and currently she was wearing both that was designed for winter.  She was freezing cold and there was no wonder why.  She was pale as a ghost from loosing so much blood, and there was no way to replace any of that but by letting it naturally refill itself.  That meant a lot of sleep and to much orange juice for her liking.

"You okay?" Axel looked up at her from where his head was nestled on his knees.  He was curled up on a chair next to her bedside.

She looked at him before closing her eyes and leaning back into the hard pillows that were propping her up, "Stop being an idiot."

"I'm not an idiot for asking if you're okay."

"But you are an idiot for thinking that this is your fault," She opened her eyes and looked at him with a half lidded gaze.  Something about it made him feel... weary. "Kid, being part of Jack of Suicide means that you can die at any moment.  I know that, you should to.  Stop blaming yourself."

Axel tiredly blinked.  The deep color of the blood, how it was almost as black as oil, he had heard that when a human bleeds that deep of a color that it was blood coming from somewhere deep in the internal organs.  He always thought she was a normal reploid, how she leaked vital fluids and coolants; how she had metallic bones and electricity that sparked when she was torn open.  But now he wasn't sure what she was.  He had always thought it was weird how she was hyper sensitive to temperatures, the feel of her skin was more refined than any other artificial skin he had touched before.  Before all of this he had thought that she wore human clothes for fashion sake, but now that he sat there and watched her shiver he knew it was not the case.  What kind of secrets did she have hiding in the closet?

~~>~~>

Dust filled the air from being kicked up.  Tall tents colored with reds and golds stood above the crowd that shifted and moved like ocean waves.  X kept a hand on Rhythm's back as she continued to shiver in the summer heat.  She had more color than a few days ago, and she was finally released from the hospital ward in the repair lab.  Soldjer had a hold of Zero's pony tail trying to pick out some cotton candy that she had accidentally got into his golden locks when she tripped.  Axel had tried to keep his distance but it was kind of hard when Rhythm would come find you when you try to seek solitude.  He was a bit glad that she did though.  She would play some booth games with him, he got to choose the prize and he would give it to her.  The small smile she would give him was fleeting and always hid away when any of their group approached the two.

It was the first day of their vacation, Soldjer had asked to come along due to not being able to get time off for even a recharge for a week.  Signas was happy to oblige now that everything had calmed down for a time that was longer than two days.  They were still on call, a precaution to make sure that the HQ would not be cut off from their best fighters.  But Rhythm was still off detail, X under orders to keep an eye on her while they were out.  Even though the brunette was apart of JoS (Jack of Suicide) she was still a vital person to the tenth unit, considering that they would not take orders from anyone else.

The fair was being held on the way to their destination and everyone was sick and tired of the van they had to take.  Signas gave some sort of talk about how it was vital because it would help them unwind.  Everyone else knew the truth though, he was a cheep-skate and didn't want to pay the additional fees to teleport them across the country.

"I'm tired of this place," Soldjer sighed finally finished getting the neon blue sugar candy from Zero's hair.

"There's to many people around," Rhythm agreed in her own way holding X's drink while the man braided her hair.

"I don't know.  I kind of like to see that normal life can continue for some," X curled Rhythm's ridiculously long hair up in a coil and twist.  He lanced the hair with a clean chopstick, he had nabbed from a food booth, to keep it in place.

"We all know the real reason why you're saying that X," Zero yawned around his hand.  He was bored.

Axel barely heard their conversation as he looked around.  He had played at every booth, was forbidden to come back to the shooting ones because he kept on winning, and he had already tasted his fill of fair foods... though he did want another elephant ear.

"Then... can we go in there?" He pointed off into the distance.  His innocent green eyes on his companions interrupting their fun of teasing X.

Zero whistled, Soldjer giggled with glee at the possible prospect of going into such a place and X had a stand-off-ish look.  Rhythm... well she was Rhythm and didn't like anything so it was natural for her to look either neutral or down right unpleased.

"Looks like we managed to save the best for last," Soldjer nudged Axel with her elbow. "Good spotting kid."

"Stop calling me kid."

"A horror fun house?" X had a grip on Rhythm's shoulders to keep her seated on the bench they were on. "I don't like the sound of it."

To Be Continued...