//------------------------------// // 18 - A New Hope // Story: Without You // by Dustchu //------------------------------// This was it, nothing left to fight for now. I ended it. One bullet to the brain and I was gone. Not surprised this is how it ends, in all honesty. I expected it, and was trying to fight it off for so long up until now. I guess the city finally broke my defenses. I couldn't fight it no more. I thought as I drifted through the white plains. You have so much to live for, my child. A voice spoke to me, echoing through my ears and into my head. No, I really didn't. Please... trust me. No, I don't have anything to live for. Your family? Your friends? Your lover, even? They'll all move on... I'm nothing special. They will, but... are you so willing to put them through so much pain? Why should I care? I'm nothing. Not a goddamned thing that matters. No one really cares about me, not a damn soul. I'm just a pawn in the game of life, and I've been knocked over at long last. My time has come, whoever the fuck you are. So just take me away already, hell or heaven. You are so very wrong. You are so blinded by your own emotions you can't see what's right in front of you... What could possibly be in front of me that would matter? Someone who does care for you... far more than you could ever know. ooo000---000ooo A Second Chance ooo000---000ooo I didn't feel right when I woke up. Nothing sat well in my stomach. I didn't even know I had passed out... Was this all a dream? When my senses came to, I felt soaking wet and cold. So either I was pranked, or... My eyes opened slowly. The rooftop of the Raccoon City Police Department came into view, the moon lit sky, and the smoke from burning fires greeted me, alongside the sight of a body laying against the railing. An overweight man covered in blood, with a gaping hole in the middle of his eyes; Police Chief Irons. I couldn't move, and for a moment I wondered why. Moving my head felt like lugging a fifty pound sandbag, but I managed to raise my head up enough to focus on what was in front of me. Or rather, above me. It was Rainbow Dash, and she had me pinned against the ground with her hooves planted firmly against my shoulders. I saw her eyes glaring into my own with a fury I could barely comprehend, forcing my nerves to freeze my body up. Her mane, soaked with rainwater fell down one side of her face, and towards my own. In her mouth, clamped down between her teeth was my hand; blood ran from how hard she was biting down and she trembled. No matter what I do, I couldn't tear my eyes from the intensity of her own. My hand finally fell from her jaw. She took a breath, and kept me pinned down to the ground. I had a feeling she didn't intend on letting me up anytime soon. My whole body hurt, especially my shoulder where I had gotten bit. Either Rainbow forgot about it, or she knew that and was applying more pressure there. "R-Rainbow, my s-shoulder..." I pointed out. She finally snapped to attention. Fury in her eyes, she screamed, "w-what the buck do you think you were doing?!" I felt her push down on me even more as her face closed in on mine, and I couldn't escape her stare. "R-rain-" "You humans are so bucking stupid! ALL OF YOU!" She bellowed and I felt droplets of something fly onto my lips; spittle? "I c-can't believe you'd be that st-stupid to try something like this!" Rainbow brought her hoof back up, and slammed it back down into my shoulder hard enough that I swore I heard something pop. I almost yelled from the pain but kept my mouth shut. "W-why didn't you come with us!?" She picked me up and in one quick movement, slammed me back down onto the rooftop. "Hrk!" I had half a mind to fight her off... but I couldn't find the strength. "We could have gotten out of the city! But you stayed!" She screamed and I thought I saw tears in her eyes, little beads trailing down her cheeks and towards her lips. I gave up. "You c-could have left." I told her as I relaxed. There was no saving me now, I could feel my bite throbbing in pain, the burning sensation spreading. "Could have gotten to safety..." How much longer did I have left before I turned? Her head began to shake slightly, and she muttered softly, "Without you?" She shook her head again, mane swinging back and forth. "W-why would I do that?" I stared for a good few moments; my heart skipped a beat from the way she said that, and it cut deeper than any knife I could think of. "Y-you... you're my friend... right?" Her voice was quiet, hesitant. "Friends don't leave each other behind..." I suddenly felt like shit. How could she think of me like that? I'm her friend... after what I put her through? I couldn't believe she thought of me like that, let alone after... I almost killed her. I brought up my hand to her hoof; the one on my injured shoulder and gently moved it aside. She got the message and unpinned me, allowing me to sit up and against the wall behind me. Once I was settled, I groaned from the pain I was in. "Friend... huh?" I questioned. She frowned at me, and took a moment to look down at the ground. "Friends don't let their friends kill themselves..." her eyes flicked up to stab at me. "...And you're not dying until you explain everything... now." I held my shoulder and winced. She really did a number on me. Honestly? I deserved it. I struggled to stand up, gripping my shoulder and glancing down at her. "You want me to explain? Then fine, I will... but firstly, I need a fucking drink." I told her. "A d-drink?" She tilted her head. "What do you mea-?" "I'm not explaining anything sober." I wandered around the rooftop for a fair bit, gathering up my discarded weapons and stealing Irons' revolver which I tucked away in my pants. I was already sick and tired. Once I had everything I needed, I limped towards the door leading back downstairs into the station. Behind me, Rainbow followed slowly. Hopefully I could find one of the nearest bars, I needed a fucking drink. ooo000---000ooo Getting out of the station was actually far easier than I thought it'd be. The undead were too busy swarming outside after running survivors, and gunfire attracted the rest to somewhere else. Any survivors we ran across were already long goners, bitten or in the middle of turning, or torn apart with no way to save them. Rainbow was able to bare it somehow. She was getting used to it, and I honestly felt sorry for her. Having to become used to horrors like this couldn't have been easy for her, but she was getting there, and it would ultimately help us get out of this mess. Once we made it out onto the street, I immediately began wandering; but wandering where? No idea, just walking in whatever direction felt the best. Luckily, for the most part the streets were barren of any infected or people and allowed us to wander without much fear of being attacked. "Where are we going?" Rainbow asked after a while. We passed by an alleyway blocked off by a police barricade, and behind it, some undead were hunched over a corpse, feasting on it. I didn't pay it much attention other than to keep an eye out for potential threats. "Bar." "A bar?" Rainbow's voice went up an octave for a split second, and I detected a bit of interest in her tone. "Yep." And just our luck too, as we approached an intersection I discovered a place; Black Jack's Pub. It was a small hovel nestled on a small street, blocked off by a bus that lost control and crashed into a nearby flower shop. Some bodies lay around, none moving or attempting to get up and eat us. A few cars sat around on the sides, abandoned by their long deceased owners. I saw a few that caught my gaze, maybe we could use them if I could find the keys. I armed my shotgun and proceeded towards the front entrance with Rainbow, where some stairs led down to the door inside. We descended the steps carefully and once we reached the bottom, I gripped onto the door handle before tearing it open. I aimed my shotgun inside, and kept my eyes open for anything inside. The lights were still on inside. I could hear faint rock music playing from a juke box, something by an old favorite of mine, I could hear the whipping of the ceiling fan blades as hey circulated air throughout the building. Moving inside, I saw the place was mostly untouched, save for abandoned plates and bowls of food, some left behind beer bottles and shot glasses. The TV in the top above the bar wasn't playing anything, the static droned on and filled the bar alongside the music. We moved inside and I closed the door, once Rainbow moved in, and I activated the deadbolt, locking it up tight. We were safe for the time being, and with that done. I immediately made a beeline for the bar's selection of hard liquor. "Dee!" Rainbow chased after me and as I vaulted over the counter, landing on the other side and immediately grabbing a bottle I spotted. "What?" I turned to look at her before pulling up a chair and plopping my ass down into it. "Y-you got your drink or whatever now..." She grumbled and sat down on the counter, tail swishing to curl around her front legs. "Time to start talking!" I popped the cap off of the bottle and flung it aside, and gathered my thoughts for a moment. "So... everything, then?" My mind began to whirl as the images and thoughts flooded my mind of this world, my world... and her world. She nodded firmly. "You know more t-than you're telling me, I know it." Rainbow grumbled and stomped a hoof into the counter. "And you're going to expla-" "This whole world is a video game." I cut her off and left her with her mouth open. "Raccoon City, all of the zombies, the monsters, the people we've met? The city is a video game location, the monsters are enemies, and the people are all characters written by people from my world." Rainbow looked like she was at a loss for words for a good long while. She worked her mouth and looked straight at me, maybe trying to make sense of this new information. "W-wait..." "Yep." I told her. "So... a-all of this," Even though we were inside a building, Rainbow still gestured to the world around us; the city that was currently on fire, the undead that flooded the streets, everything that around us both. "it's all some kind of... fantasy world? From a game?" "To a degree?" I struggled to find the words to describe this to her, it was harder then I'd thought it'd be. It might have been easier for a lot of people I knew back home, but for me? I... it was suddenly so hard once everything I knew had to be explained to her. "I... Raccoon City is a fictional city where I'm from. It doesn't exist on my world outside of fiction and fantasy. This particular franchise is by a company called Capcom, it was a video game called Biohazard in the original release, but in the United States—my home—it was called Resident Evil, and it featured a city being besieged by a virus that was intentionally set loose, one that turned humans into flesh eating monsters." She looked so shaken by that, I mean... who wouldn't be? Just the thought alone was enough to send shivers down my spine. Rainbow's demeanor had dropped from curious to something else, and it was hard to figure out what. "So what, humans play this kind of stuff for fun?" She glanced around, struggling to take everything in. "B-but there's so much death! So much blood... I mean, we have games and stuff but they're nothing like this!" She finally glanced back at me. "You can't be serious!" "Where I'm from, humans enjoy a lot more extreme stuff," I countered and sniffled as decided to take a swig of the vodka. The burn washed away any foul taste in my mouth, and I sighed. "Mmm." "I..." Dash murmured. "We have all kinds of content we consume and enjoy, we even write stories about them with our own interpretations for fun. Stuff about wars we've suffered in the past, present, even what we imagine to be the future. Throw in some magic, fantasy, chaos, destruction, slice of life, it doesn't matter what." I let out a bitter chuckle and groaned as my bite wound began to burn. "We humans are a creative bunch, we created a lot of fictional worlds, with characters, creatures, universes, worlds, lands, all of it imagined and designed within our minds and brought to life on paper and mechanical constructs purely for shits and giggles." I snorted. "Besides... this shit is popular with people who love being scared shitless and like a good story... though it depends on your definition of a good story, it's all subjective." Rainbow wiped her eyes, hooves on her head and her eyes darting from side to side on the ground. I couldn't imagine being in her place... but I hadn't even told her the other thing... About how I know so much about her. But it seemed fate picked up on that thought, and Rainbow slowly looked up until we locked eyes again. "W-wait... way back when we fi-first met," She started, and my heart started to beat faster as she closed in one what I could only assume... "I remember you calling out my name, but... I never told you it," I could see the gears turning in her eyes, as she slowly put together the pieces that had been laid out before her. "You said it was because of my mane-" Rainbow never looked away from me, as she said, "-but you were lying, weren't you?" There was no avoiding this now, so I just spilled everything I knew. "Your name is Rainbow Dash, the only child of Windy Whistles and Bow Hothoof. You're a mare who aspires to be a Wonderbolt someday like her childhood heroes, Spitfire, Soarin, Fleetfoot, and the rest of the Bolts. Your parents were those kind who pushed you towards your goals, they constantly told you how much they loved you, adored you, how proud they were of you." I started, keeping eye contact as her eyes widened. "You felt embarrassed and smothered by them to such a degree you moved away to Ponyville with your childhood best friend, Fluttersh-" "Stop!" Rainbow yelled, hooves to her ears and slouching forward. "J-just stop... p-please, no..." "Your world is a cartoon show back on mine." I didn't stop, I was already dying from this virus, so why should I care how much of this I tell? The T-Virus was slowly coursing through my body, and it was only a matter of time until I turned into one of those things. "You're a fictional character from a show called my Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic... and on top of tha-" "Dee!" She all but screamed at me and my head snapped to the side when I felt something connect. My voice left my body, pulled from it like a ghost from a haunted house. My cheek stung and my jaw ached when I turned back to face Dash. Her eyes were wide and in them I could see the confusion, the struggle she was going through trying to comprehend everything I just dropped down on her. Her hoof was raised as well... she slapped me? Her whole world was torn asunder in a matter of seconds by me, and everything she knew about life, her goals, reality, all of it was shattered by me like nothing. "Y-you can't be serious... r-right?" She feebly threw that at me, but I could tell from her shaky voice that even she didn't believe the crap coming from her own mouth. "Y-you gotta be from my world, m-maybe you are a spy!" "That's bullshit and you know it." I gave her a hard stare and she recoiled. "I know your entire fucking life story, kid." I leered. "I know all about your childhood friend, Fluttershy, want me to tell you what i know about her?" Rainbow was silent. "About her special talent involving animals? That she's so cripplingly shy she can barely hold a convo with strangers?" I tilted my head as Rainbow's body began to shiver. "How about how I know you got your cutie mark... the Sonic Rainboom of myth and legend, you preformed it during a race against a pair of bullies when they were going after your sweet little friend, purely on a whim." I finally relaxed and held my wound, deciding instead to drink more of the vodka I had snagged. Christ, so now she finally knows. I just listened to the music playing in the background. Outside, I saw light beginning to bathe the city as the sun rose again over the horizon. Another day had come and gone, which meant it was... I think the twenty-eighth of September, and if I remembered my timeline correctly, there wasn't much longer until the bomb dropped down onto the city and we were blown away. Rainbow could have been out of here by now, but she chose instead to come back for me. Cause we were friends... When I focused back on Rainbow, she was looking down at her hooves with a look I could only describe as confused horror, the face of one who had everything they knew about life and reality suddenly warped beyond their understanding. I sort of understood, but at the same time I didn't exactly feel the same way she was about this. I could only guess how she was feeling and how she was digesting everything I just explained to her. I knew everything about her, her friends, her family. The burn of the vodka rushed down my throat when I upended the bottle and drank as much as I could. For the moment, I didn't care about the possibility of there being undead about to bust down the door, or some monster tracking our scent, or even Umbrella coming down on us. Right now, all I needed was the sweet burn of alcohol in my gut, drowning the pain and misery that was starting to bubble up inside my stomach. This was probably one of the worst decisions I've made so far in the city, but at least it was keeping my mind clear. ...to a degree. I heard a bottle pop open next to me while I was staring off into space, and when I focused on the noise I spotted Rainbow on the floor - she had hopped down when I wasn't paying attention and had grabbed a bottle of something. The cap was off, and she had the thing upended and was starting to sip away at it. Her face screwed up from it, no doubt turned off by the strong taste and burn, but she kept going and going. I had to give it to her, first time trying human booze and she was guzzling that fucker like it was water. The buzz was starting to hit me before I knew what was happening. Didn't take long for my body to start feeling sluggish. "S-shit." I held my head and leaned back against the chair's back rest. Which didn't exist, it was a bar stool, so I promptly fell back and slammed into the floor with a yelp. The impact made me lose my grip on the bottle, which decided to shatter off to the side and spill what remained on the floor. "Ooooh, my back." I laid there on the floor for a good bit. "What the hay dude, you were on a s-stool." "I knooow..." I murmured. "T-then why'd you lean back?" "Iunno, uugh, fuck me." I heard a snicker beside me; Rainbow's shoulders were shaking from the laughter she was experiencing. Looking over to her, her cheeks were bright red and the bottle she had grabbed next to her on the floor, half empty. "Hehehe," she finally turned to look at me and shook her head, "you're dumb." I just stuck out my tongue at her. "Whatever, ya horse..." "Pony." She chided and blew a raspberry. "Meh meh pony nyeah." I stuck out my tongue again at the mare. Rainbow just let out a loud scoff. "S-stupid human." "Smelly pony." "I'm not smelly!" Though after a few seconds of silence, I looked over and saw her raise an arm. "So what's the v-verdict? Heheheh~" "Sh-shut up!" Rainbow grumped as she crossed forelegs across her chest. "I-it's been a while since I last had a shower." I just giggled and remembered how long we had been in this city. Running around, getting thrown out, landing in muck, fighting off monsters and getting covered in blood, mud, and other unmentionable things. It was no surprise that the both of us probably smelled something fierce. I began to feel a bit grimy myself, sticky too. I didn't want to see how bad I smelled, I knew I did. "Hehehehe," I just laid back on the ground and sighed before bringing up a gloved hand. "Fuck me..." I was so fucking tir- "I'm not d-drunk enough for that." Rainbow commented quietly. Wait... drunk enough for what? I scrunched up my face as my booze addled mind got everything circulating. I said... fuck me, and then she said... I could usually feel when I was embarrassed, my body felt funny and my face in particular began to heat up. And that is exactly what I was feeling at the current moment. I just laid there and tried to keep myself under control. Well, least I know ponies actually fuck and not asexually reproduce through some cartoon fuckery. I forgot if I had found that out early on in our little adventure, or what, but now I know. Also now I know Rainbow isn't drunk enough to fuck me, that's nice to know. I heard something fall down somewhere in the back, drawing my attention. Rainbow's ears perking up told me I wasn't hearing things. Suddenly I regretted my choice to chug down vodka, but I was already a fucking goner, so why bother staying sober? Even so, I managed to climb back onto my feet and reached for my handgun. I pulled it out when I heard heavy footsteps in the back, slowly moving. Even as buzzed as I was, I could still tell the difference between a shuffle and a walk, and this was a survivor... I hoped, preferably a really heavy set survivor who was friendly. "Y-you heard that?" Rainbow stood up, but only just barely as the alcohol moved through her system. From the blush on her face, she was already looking pretty dizzy, but she was still able to stand and get behind me as I crept forward. "I did," I didn't like it either, but I moved up and fought back any fear I may have had. I peered around the corner into the door leading into the kitchen, and I didn't see anything at first. I stepped out, handgun charged and ready to fire at a moment's notice. I just had to hope my buzz wouldn't fuck me up too bad if I had to start shooting. I saw a yellow flannel shirt come into view from the kitchen, followed by a man wielding a pumpshotgun and carrying a small pack. It was Robert Kendo. He spotted the two of us and lowered his firearm, and I did the same. "You're both still here, huh?" Robert asked the two of us as he exited the kitchen. I kept my handgun low as Robert looked the both of us over, probably noticing the changes in the both of us. "Yeah, trip to the police department didn't end well, got rough but we managed to escape the attack." I told him and remembered the bandaging around my neck and shoulder, which was partially hidden by the armor and jacket I was wearing. "We're resting up here before moving o-out..." "With bottles of booze?" I glanced down at the bottle I still had in my hand. With a grumble I set it on the counter space with a sigh. "We're... having a difficult time, right now." "Booze ain't the answer, kid." It really wasn't the answer, but I turned to it regardless. I looked down to Rainbow and saw her fold her ears back. She began pawing at the floorboards, a look of embarrassment on her face. Honestly, I felt a bit of shame fill my heart as well. He was right, yet here we were, lamenting our woes over a bottle of expensive vodka and whiskey. I felt so dirty all of a sudden, shameful. Pretty sure from how Rainbow was looking at the floor, she felt the same. "I... know." I gave up immediately, I was too tired to come up with any excuses. "But I'd rather be drunk and knocked out before the end comes for me." I could feel Rainbow's eyes on me. "The end?" "What're you talking about, kid?" Robert questioned. I unclasped the armor near my shoulder, and yanked down my shirt to show the bandages around the bite. Robert's eyes widened, and Rainbow? Well... she just looked confused. "Y-you got bit, so what?" Rainbow maneuvered around to stand in front of me. "I-it'll heal, right?" I forgot if she even knew about the virus, and how it transmitted. I didn't tell her, did I? Or maybe she forgot? "She doesn't know about the bites, does she?" I shook my head and plopped down into the nearest chair, exhaustion suddenly decided to get the better of me. I could already tell having to explain this next was going to make things even worse, somehow. Between the secrets I kept from her about what I knew, and now this? "Wait... are you hiding something else?" Rainbow approached me and sat down in front of me and glared, even in her buzzed state, the mare still focused on the question. "Not really hiding, so much as trying to ignore it." I turned to regard the torn flesh on my shoulder, and lifted the shirt back to reveal the bandages. "The monsters outside, the infected? They're all the way they are because of a virus that was released into the city... do you know how viruses work, Dash?" "I-I think? Kinda like the feather flu?" She asked aloud. "So... do-does that mean-?" "I'm infected, Rainbow." I just said it. I was getting more and more tired by the second. Her entire expression dropped, slow realization growing as I added, "It's only a matter of time until the virus takes over, and I turn into one of them." She trembled out of the corner of my eye, guess it was hard to swallow. "No." Rainbow shook her head and stomped her hoof on the floor. "No way! You're lying!" "My family... they suffered the same way," Robert mentioned and brought back the memories of the game to mind. How his family turned into the undead, though in that instance, he killed them before killing himself. He hadn't this time, that changed from the original timeline. "I made sure they didn't suffer, kid," He told me, and when I looked I saw him glancing down at the shotgun, no doubt the one he used to end his family before they turned from the contaminated drinking water. "I can't do much, but I can stop you from turnin-" "NO!" I was bowled over by Rainbow. I didn't have the strength to really stop her from knocking me over, but I did have enough to whine profusely. "I already h-had to stop him from trying to do that! I'm not letting anyone else do it either!" A loud stomp sounded, followed by a crack that echoed throughout the room, emphasizing her point. "If you don't, he'll become one of those things." Robert argued. Soon enough I would, I didn't know how much time I had left before it happened. "It can't end like that, there's gotta be a cure!" Rainbow growled. A twitch of her wings and her tail flicked about, she looked agitated. Then she looked back towards me with a shine to her eyes. "D-didn't you say you knew a bunch of stuff about this world?" Damn it... don't give me hope. She had done it now, cause now I could see Robert's eyes focusing on me. "You said you knew what the virus was!" Rainbow whirled on me and grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to look at her. I couldn't tear my gaze from hers as she asked, "isn't there a cure or something?! There's gotta be!" "There is a cure... a vaccine called Daylight, it can completely eradicate the virus in my system." I remembered the vaccine. "But we're too far from it... there's no way I'll get it in time." A violent shake of her head and she glared at me. "I'm not gonna le-let you turn into one of those things!" "Rainbow, there's no point in even trying... and I told you before, you should just go." I grabbed onto her hooves and pulled them from my shoulders. Her visage changed from hopeful to anger, but I didn't really focus on that, I just wanted her to get out of this damn city. "Just leave me behind." She punched me in the chest and yelled, "why in the hay are you so quick to quit!?" The mare punched me again for good measure, forcing me back a tad to avoid her blows lest my injuries grow worse. "Why?!" "Maybe I'm tired of fighting, that's why." I pushed her off of me and slowly attempted to stand. "I'm getting real fucking tired of this." She wasn't having any of it from me though. Flaring out her wings and flying up to eye level with me, she poked me in the chest, "there's still a chance to save you, you idiot!" "What does it matter?!" I yelled back and poked her back. "Friends don't let friends die!" She countered and growled out, "so if there's a chance, then I'm willing to take it!" She sounded so adamant, and it infuriated me to no end. Goddamn her... "I'm not letting you die like that, I'm not letting you turn into one of those damn things! You understand me?" Her hoof hit my shoulder with each word. Her eyes were afire and her body trembled as her wings spread out wide. No matter how deeply I looked into her eyes, I could tell she wasn't going to back down and just leave me. "You're annoying, you know that?" I grumbled out and struggled to get back onto my feet, which took some doing. She watched me the whole time and let me stand. "What, cause I don't want to let you die?" She asked me, and she was quiet for a bit before throwing a question at me, "why... why are you so willing to die?" For a moment, I looked at my hands, all of the dirt, mud, and blood covering them. How long has it been since I landed in this city? I had made it so far in this damn place and fought a lot of shit up to now, was I seriously willing to give up so easily because I was bitten? It was my own fault of course, but I did it to save lives... lives that were snuffed out by Chief Irons and his greed. I didn't know why. "I don't know." I curled my fingers into a tight fist. This virus in my system was beginning to change me, already I could see how it was affecting my skin; turning it pale, even making my already visible veins more prominent along my arms. If that wasn't enough, I could... feel something in my stomach, a sort of emptiness I didn't notice until now, or maybe I had noticed it but I didn't put any thought into it. I felt hungry... so so hungry. Was I getting closer to the insatiable hunger the zombies outside felt? "This virus is messing with my head," I took off my cap, dirtied as it was and ran a hand through my hair. So much sweat and grease covered my hand afterwards, was it hot in here? As I put my cap back on, I turned to Rainbow, "Even if we did go after the vaccine... who's to say it will even work? There's a certain point where no amount of vaccination or cure will save someone." She didn't falter. "I say we give it a shot, besides..." Her expression fell suddenly, eyes shimmering with something. "You did so much to keep me alive when I got hurt. I want to pay you back, I want to save you like you did with me, Dee... please." Rainbow's eyes focused on me a bit more. "Let me try and save you, Dee." I'll never understand why. I'll never understand why there are people like that, who are willing to risk that much for someone like me. A long sigh and I relented. "Fine, but I'm not going to hold out any hope, Rainbow." Her eyes lit up and she smiled warmly, I held up a hand, "We'll go, but we need to be careful... especially around the college, got it?" "Crystal," She nodded. I turned to Robert and gave him a nod, and turned to leave through the back door; it being a more appropriate route as it faced east and the college sat on the river. And Just as we were about to leave, something from Kendo stopped us. "You know, I lied earlier when I said I didn't have anything left in my shop." I heard him say as Rainbow and I stood near the exit. I paused and glanced back towards him, "you did? Well you had the shotgun but I do-" When he pulled out a handgun from behind him, I shut up. I looked it over when he held it out to me. I took a hold of it to give it a closer look and see what kind of gun it was, and I saw the make, model... It was the staple of S.T.A.R.S. forces, a handgun that was specially customized for each member, with different slides, barrels, calibers, and capable of putting out a lot of damage. The Samurai Edge. "It's not the end for you just yet, kid." He told me before shouldering his shotgun and started for the front door. "Get out of this city, and live." I blinked, was he just giving me this thing? Rainbow perked up and asked, "wait, what do you mean?" Robert paused by the doorway, back turned to us. "I was ready to give up... then you two came along," He looked back at us. "I don't know why, but I'm not ready to give up just yet." He seemed to regard something in the corner nearby, but I didn't see anything worth noting. "My wife and daughter wouldn't want me to give up..." I looked back down to the handgun, and my mind wandered. "Get that cure, and escape this city... live." Robert exited through the front door, leaving the two of us alone in the bar with only the dull sound of the ceiling fans to break through the silence. I sighed and turned around. "Let's go." ooo000---000ooo After leaving the bar through the backdoor, we made our way into the city once more. "Why didn't you tell me at first?" Rainbow asked me as I holstered my new Samurai Edge. We began walking away from the bar and down a nearby alleyway filled with garbage and blockades. If I was remembering the layout right, heading for the college on the east side of the city would be a breeze. "About... what you knew?" I looked down at her. "About...?" "About me... my world, everything." She muttered and kept her head low, avoiding my gaze. "Why did you lie to me...?" It had been so long I nearly forgot why I had lied to her. Why did I keep everything hidden? Did I really think she wouldn't be able to handle it? Or was I trying to just keep her from being fucked over by what I knew? I searched my mind for the reasons why, my motivation for keeping her in the dark like I had, but nothing surfaced. "I'm honestly not sure," I couldn't remember. My reasoning for why was slipping away from me, like trying to grab a fish out of water. "I... I think I was trying to protect you." She gave me a funny look, and I felt a bit of embarrassment begin to flood my chest. "Protect me...?" "Yeah," I couldn't think of another reason, let alone a good one. "You're... you're one of my favorite characters, one of my favorite ponies from the show." It felt so weird to talk about this so openly now, about what I knew. Rainbow looked a bit out, but she didn't fight me on it either. "I guess I just... wanted to try and preserve whatever innocence you had left when you came here, keep you from learning the horrible trut-" "Dee?" "...Yeah?" "Shut up." I was stumped and unsure of how to respond. She just told me to shut up? "W-what?" "Dee, I'm... I'm not a little filly," She told me as we walked down the alleyway, and approached the opening to a street where a barricade had been busted down. We passed by a mangled body, and Rainbow didn't even look phased by it, not like she had been before. Looking down at the mare, I saw her giving me a hardened look, this wasn't the rainbow I used to know. "I've seen a lot of messed up things in this world and my world, a lot of horrible crap, but..." I continued walked out into the street before pulling out my shotgun. I gave the way ahead a check, once it was clear we kept moving at a much faster pace. "I have to be strong," She told me point blank. "I can't be... eaten up by the fear, paralyzed by it so much that I can't move my body." Her posture straightened up, her eyes hard, and she looked out ahead into the city of Raccoon. "if I'm going to make it out of here alive, if we're going to make it... I need to be strong and fight, to make it back home to my family." The smile that appeared on my face felt strange, especially after everything we've been through the past couple of days, but ya know what? The feeling that came with it felt really good... The feeling of having hope for survival. "We both have to be strong." I told her and sped up my pace. "I was an idiot for acting the way I was, an-" "Dee?" "Yeah?" "Shut up." "...Duly noted." We shared a chuckle and continued on. Our next stop. Raccoon City University.