//------------------------------// // I // Story: The Crow: Red Sins // by 2wingo //------------------------------// Where am I? He could see nothing, nothing except the crushing, cloying darkness all around him. He could feel the sheer weight of it on his chest and limbs. So why wasn't he suffocating? Why am I here? He tried hard to focus, to force the memories to come, but the more he tried the more they eluded him. He tried to move but found that he couldn't even open his eyes. Who am I? He didn't know. He tried to calm his mind, hoping that the answers would come of their own volition. Then something changed. A feeling of desperation overcame him, a feeling that he couldn't stay in this position for a second longer. Again he tried to move, and this time, he succeeded in pushing against the darkness. Dirt, he thought to himself. It's not darkness; it's dirt. Scratching, scraping and punching his way upward, he broke through to the open air, finding himself in a dark forest. He paused to catch his breath, only to find that he did not have to. He inhaled deeply but could not feel the air moving through his lungs. I don't have to breathe anymore. I don't have to breathe and I just dug myself out of - A feeling of horror came over him as he realized where that train of thought was leading. He stood and stared at the patch of earth he'd climbed out of. There could be no doubt; it was a shallow, unmarked grave. He pressed his trembling fingers to his neck, hoping to feel a pulse. There was none. He leaned against a tree and sat down. "What in God's name is going on?" His deep voice rasped from his dry throat, yet he felt no thirst. He found that he barely felt anything, though he flexed his muscular arms and legs as hard as he could. "Who am I?" "Jason Calbus Wright." He jumped to his feet and frantically looked around, but he couldn't see whoever had said that name. It was familiar to him, somehow . . . "It should be, it was yours." And then he saw the crow, sitting on a branch of the tree above. It was large for a crow, with shiny black feathers, razor-sharp talons, and dark red eyes. It tapped its claw against a worn strand of hempen rope that was tied to the branch, then jerked its head toward Jason. "Did - Did I hang myself?" Jason asked. The crow nodded. "Why?" asked Jason. "Why can't I remember anything? And who or what are you?" The bird did not reply. Instead, it spread its wings and flew deeper into the forest. Some instinct told Jason to follow it, so he did, running to catch up. "Where are you taking me?" he yelled to the crow, "Please, I'm so confused!" The crow merely cawed at him and flew faster. Jason ran harder, pumping his arms to propel himself forward, and only then realized how quickly the forest was passing him by. He remembered very little, but he was fairly certain that normal humans could not run this fast. Finally, the crow stopped at the mouth of a cave. It jerked its head toward the cave. Jason entered the cave, finding that the interior was lit by bioluminescent mushrooms. There was a pile of rags near the rear, with a firepit in the center and scraps of rotten food off to the left. "Was this my home?" Jason asked himself. If it was, he'd been leading a pitiful existence. He knelt down by the pile of rags and picked one up to get a better look at it. The pins and needles stabbed into his flesh while that damn cat clawed at his legs. He opened his mouth to beg for mercy, to assure her that he meant no harm, but Rarity wouldn't listen. She threw more of her supplies at him even as he ran out of the boutique. She shouted something about him being a "boorish, lanky creature" as she slammed the door. Jason threw down the rag in fright, the memory raging in his head like a swarm of bees. He stumbled over and fell into the fire pit. His muscles contracted so hard he thought the bones they were attached to would crack from the strain. He twitched uncontrollably as he tried to run, to get away from her, but Rainbow Dash had him in her sights. She fired another bolt of lightning at him, weaker this time, and yelled, "Take that, monkey-boy!" Jason stumbled to his feet, tears streaming down his face. He didn't want these memories anymore. He turned to run out of the cave, but he stumbled again and fell among the remains of his food. His ribs felt like shattered gravel, there wasn't a single inch of him that did not hurt, and Applejack still pounded away at him with her strong legs. "That'll teach ya to steal from my farm!" she yelled, kicking his head for good measure. He opened his mouth to explain, that he'd only taken a few apples because he was starving, but Wynonna ran up and started biting his face, tearing his lower lip. "NO, PLEASE, NO MORE!" screamed Jason as he crawled on his hands and knees out of the cave. Other memories came to him; Fluttershy fainting or pretending she wasn't home when he needed medicine, Twilight's refusal to let him into the castle to speak to her, Pinkie Pie constantly avoiding him when just a single laugh would brighten his day. Jason curled into the fetal position and continued to cry. "Why?" he said between sobs, "Why, why, WHY?!" In the three years he'd been there he hadn't done anything wrong. Why had they been so cruel to him?! He felt a soft tap on his shoulder and looked up to see the crow standing next to him. Its eyes shone with a paradoxical combination of sympathy and scorn. "Do you really want to know, Jason?" it asked him. "Though knowing may give direction and purpose, it will only make the shroud of sadness that sits 'pon you weigh heavier." Jason wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, took a shaky breath, and said, "Please, tell me. I have to know everything." "Very well," said the crow. It placed its head against Jason's forehead. And Jason knew.