Tears of Sane

“Wow..” Elena stood on the edge of the small cliff; she gazed down at the rout of the dancing clouds. They all sprang and swirled from down below. That wasn't what amazed her, what put her in awe was that down below, she could see a small building right next to the rout of the clouds, “It looks like...”

“Someone is controlling this..” Mace finished her sentence.

“Yeah..”

He exhaled nervously as he glanced around, “Well lets get going..”

The two of them slowly began their decent to the bottom of the cliff; which didn't take long after they found a small smooth path. Before they knew it, the two of them were at the door of the compound. It was an old building, with wires and pipes leading out of the house and into the crack where the clouds crawled out of. Being so close to the clouds gave them a strong sensation of fear, but they didn't stop. Mace stepped up to the door and gripped the rusted nob before glancing at Elena, she gave him a slight nodded; then he twisted the nob and slammed into the compound. The rifle scanned the musky room. There was no movement, just computers beeping, machines clinging, and one weak sick price breathing.

Elena saw the body tied down to a machine where all the wires and pipes connected to, “That's him! Kilmer!” She ran into the compound toward the strapped body; Mace was close behind. She glanced down at the man that she could only remember in her dreams. He was feeble, thin, weak; almost looked as if he was ready to die, “Kilmer? Hang on okay?” She began to tug on the plate over the Prince's mouth.

After a few seconds, the plate flung off, letting Kilmer gasp for air. He coughed and choked a bit before his torn throat mutter, “..It's Kouza!”

“Huh?” Mace was about to step closer to Kilmer, but he heard a foot step behind them! He swung around and tried to lift the rifle, but Kouza's hand caught hold of Mace's arm before flinging him into the wall nearly twenty feet away! Mace slammed into the wall and fell down, unconscious; the gun landed across the room.

Elena gasped and managed to only take a step back before Kouza flung his hand and grasped her neck tightly. Elena's hands gripped the firm hand Kouza had and started to tug at it, gasping and whimpering for air. He effortlessly lifted the girl off her feet as he grinned up at her, “Thank you for coming my dear Princess.” Elena kicked and squirmed her feet over the floor, hoping to kick loose; her hands still tried to pull his hand off. Kouza watched the Princess pointlessly flail a few more seconds before he forcefully dropped her onto her back. She whimpered in pain before gasping desperately. She was far to exhausted to even try to move, her body twitched as she coughed and huffed, but that was all she could do as Kouza unstrapped Prince Kilmer. Once the Prince was released, Kouza mercilessly tossed the barely living body across the room. He then picked Elena back up and harshly slammed her down on the machine where Kilmer once was. Kouza strapped the now huffing girl in.

Elena began to regain her strength as the air flowed through her again, “Kouza!?” She tugged and squirmed at the straps as she whimpered, “Why are you doing this!?”

“Why you ask?” Kouza laughed as he tapped buttons on the machine, “Simple, because the world needs this!”

“Needs this!? What do you mean?”

“For so long I watched people, I've seen what they do.. Nothing but war after war.. There won't ever be peace Elena, Never!” He tapped on the machines, “Your peoples' war took everything from me, my youth, my wife, my daughter, my home, everything! What do I do for you? I save your kind! I made this!”

“Y-You made this!?”

“That's right! I made the clouds I made rain, I made it all..” Kouza turned to Kilmer, “I wanted the wars to stop, but I knew as long as people were people.. It would never stop.. There would always be opinions that challenged others, there would always be a reason to fight.. So I made this.. This united not just Risim, but the entire world Elena..” He turned back to Elena, “With one perfect mind set, one perfect idea that influenced the entire would, there would be peace, but humans alone would never agree to agree with one simple idea.. Kilmer always believed in peace, ever since he was born, so I strapped him to this, and the machine did the rest.. It sent once mind, one influence that controlled the mind of every single person in the world. They all began to co-exist in perfect harmony, there wasn't no more war.. That's all I wanted Elena, peace.. I'm no monster.. You understand don't you..”

“You're controlling their minds! You are forcing them to be something that's not human!”

“So be it! If that's what it takes! If humanity must loose their minds to live in peace, it is a necessary sacrifice!”

“So what then? You used up Kilmer and now you're going to use me to death? Was that your plan all along? One prince or princess after another!?”

Kouza laughed, “You are right about one thing. This all was my plan.. All those years I spent working on a cure, there was no cure.. I was training you my dead Princess..”

“Wh-What!?”

“The cure was right there in front of your faces the entire time.. It was the rain.. I didn't spend fourteen years developing it.. I spent it shaping your mind to what it is today, just like I shaped Kilmer's to believe in world peace. Now that I have world piece, I want more.. I want what you want.. I want to control it all!”

“So the machine forced people to work and live in perfect harmony when Kilmer was strapped in, simply because that was what he believed in? And now you want to use my idea of controlling the people to control the world!?”

Very good Elena, you are smart, just like I trained you.”

Elena spat at Kouza, “Fuck you!”

Kouza sighed as he wiped his face before slamming Elena, “Behave princess!”

“You can go straight to hell you bastard!”

Kouza laughed as he shrugged, “I might need to take out your tongue, I never liked your attitude Elena.” With a few more buttons tapped and switches flipped, Kouza walked around from the machine, but stopped, “What the!?”

Mace now stood on his trembling feet, with the rifle in his hand, “I never liked you asshole!” He squeezed the trigger and didn't let go. Over thirty bangs and explosions escaped the rifle's barrel; each one sending a slug into Kouza's body! The slugs tore and mutilated Kouza's torso and head; sending his body in a spasmodic dance as each slug punched into him. Mist of blood and chunks of torn meat swirled around Kouza at the metal ate away at the flesh; by the time the body hit the floor, his head was nothing but the lower jaw with flaps of skull bone, meat, and a few chunks of brain matter mixed with blood and hair. His torso remained only a pile of mixed meat, bones, intestines, and tethered blood soaked clothes. There was nothing left of Kouza but a pile of gore and torn flesh.

Mace dropped the gun and staggered to Elena, “Are you alright Princess!?”

“Are you kidding me!? I got blood all over me!” She tugged and squirmed, “Why didn't you help me sooner! He chocked me and slapped me!” Mace quickly began to unfasten the frantic girl as she ranted on. After he completely freed her, Elena pounce and hugged him; tears now flowing down her cheeks, her voice cracking as she cried, “Th-Thank you Mace..”

He sighed as he slowly hugged his Princess tightly, “It's alright Elena.. Come on, we need to go..”

Elena slowly let go of him and nodded, “Yeah, what about Kilmer? Is he okay?” She hopped off the machine and ran to him, “He's alive!”

Mace nodded and turned back the the machine. A devilish grin flashed on his lips before he reached for his grenades...

***

Elena, Mace, and Kilmer all sat on the edge of the cliff; all were enjoy what was left of the cans of food and water. They had left the bag on the cliff before they went down, and now they were glad they did. They all watched the compound burning to the ground as the clouds vanished.

Mace took a deep breath and flopped down on his back, “I want a raise..”

Elena giggled softly as she leaned back onto her palms, “What? My sweet smile isn't enough for you?” She turned to Kilmer, “Can you believe this guy?'

Kilmer smiled weakly as he gazed at Elena, “Thank you both.. For saving me..”

Elena shrugged, “Meh.. We had nothing better to do..”

Kilmer nodded as he chuckled, “So what are we going to do now?”

Elena sighed, “That is a good questioin...” She stumbled to her feet, “Guess we have to go home... Mace we have a lot of explaining to do...” Elena waited for Mace to get up, but he didn't, “Mace?” She gazed down to see Mace asleep, “What an ass.. sleeping on the job..”