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Disclaimer: Grim Fandango belongs to LucasArts. I'm not making money with this story and I'm not associated with the company in any way.
LEFT BEHIND
She sat alone under a lamp and tried to concentrate on reading reports written in small and tidy handwriting. Most of them were more or less unimportant, but some had real facts. She knew that she should have paid more attention to them, but she just didn't feel like it.
It was one of those nights again.
Eva sighed and placed the papers in front of her on the desk giving up and leaning back in her chair. At the moment she didn't feel like anything at all.
It had been a year.
One year since Manny had won Hector LeMans and stopped the flow of corruption that had spread all over the Land of the Dead. DOD had been relieved when one of their ex-workers had got rid of Hector and as a reward they had given him a ticket on the Number Nine.
Now dead souls got what they deserved again, and the rich weren't able to step over the poor.
But it had also been a year since something else.
A year since Salvador Limones had sacrificed himself for the cause he had believed in.
Though he had taken a traitor with him and helped Manny greatly, Eva couldn't help but feel that everything had gone the wrong way. Salvador had dedicated most of his afterlife to fighting against Hector LeMans and corruption, but what use had it been in the end?
Hector was gone, but new crime lords had taken his place. They had learned from the mistakes of their predecessor as well. None of them was planning anything as big as Hector had, but each of them helped to recreate the web of corruption.
Eva was afraid that one day they would have to deal with another Hector LeMans.
Who would fight for justice then? Salvador was gone and Manny was in piece in the Ninth Underworld. Glottis had new friends and was who knew where. Eva hadn't heard of the demon in a long while.
Manny had told her that Salvador had been sure of Eva's ability of keeping the LSA together and leading them to a glorious victory. The woman was glad of his words, but they also made her feel just slightly nervous.
Though she had been part of the LSA since its beginning and dedicated herself to it... she wasn't Salvador.
The man had been the soul of the organisation, with his brave and nobel act he had made everyone believe that all they did had a meaning and that they could achieve something.
Eva was by no means weak or a coward, but she was cynical and had a pessimistic side in her. She did everything she could to be a good influence and emphasized that the LSA was still active, but things didn't look very good.
Very few joined their forces anymore and some men had just disappeared. Now that Salvador wasn't leading them anymore some had no motivation or faith in that they would be able to change things. Many also saw it useless to keep fighting now that Hector was gone.
They had lost many important warriors on the night of Salvador's sacrifice. Olivia Ofrenda, the woman who Manny had brought with him, had betrayed them and Hector's men had sprouted all rebels they had found. That alone had scared souls and very few were brave enough to join them.
But that wasn't enough to make Eva feel depressed. She had spirit and she wouldn't give up the LSA no matter what, but there was something she missed more than anything.
Salvador himself.
The man had been her more than just a good leader and a hero.
She had loved him.
Maybe it had been worshiping and a bit childish love, but it had been everything for Eva. She had felt so special and appreciated when Salvador had first approached her and asker her to join him.
At that time she had been somewhat depressed, she had just died and found out that she wasn't good enough to go to the Ninth underworld straight away. Nothing had been important and she hadn't thought she could ever be happy again.
And then he had appeared.
He had been something more than the dark and scary DOD officials who had treated her like dirt and Eva had taken him as her hero. When he had asked her to work as a double agent she had immediately agreed, what wouldn't she have done for Salvador?
When time had passed Eva's respect towards Salvador had deepened and soon the woman had realised she was in love. It hadn't been a new feeling, she had been in love many times during her life.
She didn't know had Salvador known about her feelings or not. At least the man hadn't said anything, and had treated Eva as if she was just a valuable friend. In a way she understood it, Salvador had been very busy and couldn't have concentrated on anything personal.
She had accepted it and settled with one sided love.
And yet she was still hurting.
"I really am pathetic. Longing after a man who has died twice," she muttered in dark amuse and forced herself to take the papers back in her fingers. Reading was useless though, and she found herself tapping at the first sheet.
No one knew what happened to those who were sprouted.
Was it a short cut to the Ninth Underworld, or did they just disappear?
The thought had confused Eva the whole year, it was so unfair that a man like Salvador had had to go when so many horrible souls had stayed.
El Marrow was full of con artists and gangsters who loitered in the casinos and clubs, and some of them were already pretty powerful. The city had several new crime lords who competed with each other all the time.
That was why the LSA was still needed, no one else dared to cross the crime. It brought money in the city and made it rich. Some people thought it was a good thing. It felt like everyone had forgotten that Hector LeMans had started with small business as well.
For weeks now she had kept an eye socket on a certain man who she believed to be important in the new web of corruption. Eva hadn't found out anything yet, but believed she would achieve something soon.
"Still awake?" a voice asked and Eva lifted her gaze. A man dressed in a green uniform stepped in. He had been with the LSA for merely several months. He wasn't very tall, he had the habit of tilting his head all the time and his name was Andreas.
"Someone around here has to work," Eva replied trying to look like she was concentrating on the papers. Andreas sat on the other side of the table and looked at her looking thoughtful.
"I sometimes have to wonder how you can still take this. Many others would have already given up and left to find the Ninth Underworld," he said. Eva glanced at him shortly.
"I am not like most. Salvador wanted me to stay and keep the LSA alive," she replied more sharply than she had intended to.
Andreas was silent for a while.
"I see," he said tilted his head again. Something in his voice told Eva that he also understood something else, but she wasn't sure she wanted to know what it was. "What are we going to do?" he asked to change the subject.
"I have a couple of things in mind, but I want to consider them first. Besides, if I told about my plans to you in advance others would accuse me of taking sides," Eva said. Andreas was a good man, just a little impatient at times.
"Fine, I shouldn't actually even sit here, by the way. I have work as well," the man said standing up. Eva didn't look after him until she was sure that he had really gone. Then she put the papers down again.
She needed fresh air. Now.
Perhaps a walk outside would clear her thoughts and give her time to regain some of the energy she so badly needed.
Showing up outside was dangerous for all members of the LSA, and Eva was in the greatest danger. Everyone knew who she was and how important her position was, and many would pay a good money for her skull. That didn't trouble Eva very much though, she had too many things in mind.
---
If the bright neon lights hadn't lit the streets of El Marrow Eva could have enjoyed the dim light she longed for. Everything was so colourful that she couldn't relax properly.
Eva remembered better than well what El Marrow had been like. It had been a depressing gray city where no one wanted to stay. She remembered how she had used to walk on the dim streets when she wanted to ponder something carefully. Every now and then Manny had been with her, but she had usually been alone.
Back then the nights of the city had been cold, calm and quiet. She had felt a faint breeze on her face and had been able to sense the distant reek of death. Had she been alive she would have feared the city, but death really changed people.
Now those nights were a mere memory. The dark and quiet city had turned into a noisy, loud and colourful funfair that interested more and more people every day. Eva hadn't wanted it, she thought the scum should have stayed in Rubacava that had now turned back into the small port town it had once been.
She stayed away from the presence of the most popular casinos, it was no sense in risking too much. Just being outside like that was dangerous enough.
She wasn't helpless though, just like every LSA agent she had a gun with her all the time.
The neon sign she passed was broken and flashed every now and then as if fighting for staying lit. For some reason Eva felt compassion towards it, she felt she was fighting against something as well.
Manny would have said that she and everyone else had already lost. Eva snorted at herself.
She had already noticed how much she missed the man, his side comments and negative attitude towards everything. He had always been able to mouth something about anything and nothing had been too serious with him.
And despite his pessimism Manny had had a good heart and had done so much to help others.
Eva couldn't sometimes understand what Manny had done to get stuck as a reaper, to her it seemed that he should have been one of those with a Double N-Ticket. And yet Manny had got no better treatment than Eva herself, or Domino.
Remembering Domino irritated Eva, the man had been one of the most annoying people she had ever met. So self-confident, arrogant and selfish that it was a miracle he hadn't choked in his own ego. Domino was also the third in Eva's list of people she hated. Only Hector LeMans and Olivia Ofrenda were worse than him.
The woman shook her head, she hadn't come out to remember all those who were to blame for her fate. The meaning of this risky walk was to make her feel relaxed and strong again so that she could continue Salvador's work.
And there she was again.
Getting Salvador out of her mind was more difficult than it had been with Domino, but Eva forced herself to do it. She had to get over it, she couldn't spend her eternity longing after lost souls.
She flinched as she stepped on a sewer lid and it clanged. The rebels' tunnels didn't lead that far and there were many places where they had no power at all.
For some time now several agents had been spreading rumours about that there was something big and dangerous in the tunnels, something that meant much to them and their enemies. No one knew what it was though, and Eva hadn't really thought about it.
Maybe she should have, if they found out what was there -- if anything -- and figured how to use it they just might gain something.
The only way to do it was either to send a group of several agents to investigate, or form a massive attack. Eva liked the former option more, but lately she had been forced to ask acceptance for her plans from other high LSA officers.
The woman had a nasty hunch that they preferred the latter option.
She decided to go back.
The End
Note: The ending is a little abrupt, yes. This fic was originally part of a WIP that I never posted.
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