K (karanguni) wrote in 1931, @ 2008-04-19 10:01:00 |
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Entry tags: | translations |
And another translated bit...
Sick of me yet? *g* 1932 again. This one's a pieced together scene of Luck's interaction with Eve Genoard. Usual disclaimers apply!
Scene background: The scene starts off where one of my earlier translations ended: Eve was cornered in a room by Gustavo, Luck busts Gustavo's ass, and now Eve's sprawled on the floor kind of stunned by the sheer villiany of Luck and what he can do with a chair.
After that I've just skipped right through to the ending of the novel, since Luck and Eve don't exactly have any interaction again until then.
Eve could only stare in shock at the sudden turn of events - she'd actually watched this sharp-eyed man beat Gustavo's face to a point beyond recognition with a brutality that she'd never witnessed before in her life.
When Gustavo stopped twitching , the man turned to her as though he hadn't noticed her presence before. He look troubled for a moment, but then seemed to put it aside and extended a hand out to Eve. 'Ah. I saw that he was about to attack you, so I took action. That was all really just an act of self-defence.'
Seeing this man smiling at her, Eve somehow failed find the words to express her gratitude.
'You don't need to be afraid of me.' The man seemed to be regarding her with some regret. 'My apologies; I didn't intend to have scared you like this.'
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All things considered, it was best to get Eve back up on her feet before saying anything else. Luck offered Eve his arm in assistance, but Eve did not accept. Were it anyone else, he'd probably just have pulled her up, but considering what she'd just seen him do there was probably good reason not to touch her right now.
'You must be Katie's guest. I'm her brother in law, Luck Gandor.'
The girl in front of him stopped shaking upon hearing Luck's words.
-- excellent. Katie's name seemed to have helped calm her down.
Eve was, in truth, far from calm.
'Ga... Gandor – that's the mafia family and -- you're their leader, aren't you?'
'Calling it the mafia and me the leader would be... Though I suppose you could say that, yes.'
'Please! There's something I need to ask of you!'
Blurting out her words, the girl asked Luck the thing she wanted to know most: 'My brother——Dallas-nii-san, is he still alive?'
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After Luck heard out Eve's story, he allowed himself cast his memory back.
Dallas. Luck didn't think he'd ever have heard that name brought up again.
This girl put herself in danger for the sake of finding her brother. Even knowing the dangers involved, she'd still put herself in this situation – that took true courage. It was her conviction, not Katie's name, that had helped her push aside her fear.
Luck sized Eve up and knew then that he couldn't simply tell her some third rate lies or mislead her entirely. Even if he lied to her, she would nonetheless continue to search endlessly for her brother. He made up his mind. Looking at Eve, he told her the entire story.
'You can choose to believe what I tell you, or you could choose not to – what I'm about to tell you may seem utterly preposterous – but your brother is no longer entirely human.'
A year ago, Dallas – who had been involved in a number of situations – had somehow attained partial invulnerability, thereby becoming an immortal. After that, he used his newfound abilities to kill four of Luck's close friends. At the end of it all, the Gandors drowned Dallas alive by sinking him to the bottom of the Hudson River. It had been a sort of revenge.
Looking to dispel Eve's disbelief about the existence of immortals, Luck took out a knife and cut off his own finger. It regenerated immediately. After that - Eve could feel all the disgust and discomfort she wanted – but she could no longer deny the plausibility of immortality.
Eve was conflicted. Knowing that her brother yet lived brought her great joy, but she couldn't help but greatly detest the man in front of her for causing Dallas' ongoing torment. On the other hand, her brother did undeniably kill Luck's friends. She knew best what kind of a man her brother was, and Eve knew that Dallas was guilty of his sins.
Though she understood the logic of the situation, it just didn't sit right with Eve on an emotional level.
'Why – why? Why do you make my brother suffer so? Wouldn't handing him over to the police serve just as well? It's –it's been more than enough punishment for him. I'm begging you, begging you – please forgive my brother and his friends. At the very least, at the very, very least let the law decide his fate. Please. Please!"
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Luck stood, unaffected, in front of the apparently witless girl. Eve could be considered right from a certain point of view, Luck knew that much. But, just as Eve was driven by her distress, Luck too was motivated by emotion. Out of the three Gandor brothers, Luck had been the one who had been most incensed by the death of their men.
'You don't understand the workings of the Mafia. I can only tell you what I feel – and I still have not forgiven your brother for what he did. Even if he were subject to the rule of the law, the punishment that Dallas would receive will not bring my friends back. I cannot let that slide. Hate me all you wish for it. But just as your brother will not be brought back, my dead men will not walk again. Their loss will always stay with me.' Luck's voice was cold, as if the mere memory were aggravating him. He'd never been able to get over the murder of his friends.
Though he supposed he also understood where Eve was coming from. If Luck had been a normal mafia man, he'd have killed her long ago. No wonder Claire had said that he wasn't made for this life.
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'Is that what you think?! That's only one opinion – yours! I don't understand anything about your underworld dealings or how you feel, but if you do this to my brother in an attempt to push aside your own pain, then what about my pain? I only, only want to have my brother back!' Luck listened mutely; Eve's anger was justified. 'Please! If you give my brother back to me, I will undergo any torment you want me to, so please-'
Luck cut Eve off, voice harsh. 'Your convictions will not change mine. Do not try. If you want revenge for what my family has done, then I will gladly bear the brunt of whatever you can throw against us – but direct your anger to us and us alone. If you involve anyone else –' Luck stopped there. What the hell am I doing? There's nothing much else to say. He shook his head, and stood. 'If in a few years you change your mind, then—' It was pointless. Eve wouldn't give up – if she understood where he was coming from, she'd have dropped the subject a lot earlier than this.
SROUUGHHH--
Eve's eyes suddenly widened in fear. By the time she noticed the shadow of that giant man coming towards them, it was already too late – Luck had been---
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Gustavo, his face bloody, had picked up the sofa in the room (which was the same size as himself) and thrown it over to where Eve and Luck had been speaking. Luck had noticed Gustavo earlier than Eve had – but even throwing the chair he'd used earlier had no effect on the raging, bleeding man. Luck took a direct hit and was thrown backwards.
Luck's back hit the wall, his entire body taking the brunt of the force. He stood, shakily, looking at Gustavo. The bloody-faced man stared back at Luck, bloodlust pouring off of him. 'Beg me!' Gustavo roared, hysterical. 'Beg me, beg me for mercy! Hahahahaha!'
Gustavo pushed the sofa aside, yelling loudly before bursting out into sudden laughter. In a hoarse voice, he said: 'I want to rip your head apart, bit by bit by bit, smash it to pieces, douse it in oil and set it on fire, put it in a safe and sink it into the sea!'
'What the—' Luck grimaced at the sight of the man who refused to be brought down. 'You're better suited to being Berga-nii's rival than mine.' He wiped the sweat from his forehead and took out a gun from under his coat. 'You are a pathetic and miserable example of a human being. I would've let you live, but since you seem to be asking for death – go to hell.'
Luck pulled the trigger. Gunshots blazed, leaving Gustavo riddled with six bullet wounds. Any normal man would've died – but Gustavo did not falter.
'You're useless, useless, useless! A small fucking fry like you doesn't even deserve to stand before me! Bullets, bullets are nothing to me! AHAHAHAHHA!'
Impossible –
Luck took a direct blow to his abdomen and crumpled to the floor. Gustavo picked up the remains of the shattered door and slammed it into Luck's face, stomping on Luck's body again, and again, and again, and – 'Die! Die! I'll crush you until you disintegrate!' Gustavo screamed as he crushed Luck's bones, snap snap snap.
He left Luck an unmoving pile on the floor, and turned to Eve. 'It's your turn now, missy. I'll toss your corpse into the New York harbour to feed the fishes the same way I did with your father and brother.'
Eve looked stunned at that announcement. Gustavo stared at her.
'Why so shocked? Didn't you know? Isn't that why you want me dea—'
Watching the girl's slowly reddening face, Gustavo realized she was truly clueless.
'Ha! If you don't know, then I'll tell you! Your old man and his guys tried to stop the development of our new drugs, so I killed him myself! After I drowned them to death, then I skinned their corpses and cut them up into bits. Then I fed them to the fishes piece by piece by piece.'
As she listened to Gustavo's maniacal laughter, Eve slowly came to understand what he was saying – her mind blanked out.
In that one second, a soft noise sounded in the room.
'Don't talk about things you don't understand.'
Luck, regenerated, came up behind Gustav.
It looked like he hadn't fully recovered; his breathing was harsh, and it looked like he was in pain from the mere effort of staying upright.
'People like you are the scum of society. Incapable of doing an honest day's work, all you're capable of is senseless killing and destruction. And now you come here, shamelessly talking as though you own the world. No wonder Baltoro and your underlings forsook you.'
'You little fucker—' Gustavo, infuriated, charged recklessly towards Luck, grabbing the Gandor by the lapels and tossing him towards Eve. Luck, still weak, hit the corner of the table next to Eve. 'You're helpless even with your weapons! Do you really think you can win? The girl's also useless. I'll cut the both of you down!' He looked down, searching for the gun he'd dropped previously.
While this was happening, Luck said quietly to Eve, 'I'll occupy him. Take the chance and run. Only Claire'd be able to take this monster---' Luck turned towards Eve, bearing the pain he felt in his back, his voice shaky. Then—
'Miss Eve!'
'Little girl!' (trans. note: Benjamin and Samansa burst into the room here, I think.)
Gustavo noticed what had happened at the same time.
Eve's entire attitude had changed.
Eyes brimming with tears but unblinking, she aimed the gun in her hand at Gustavo. She did everything very quietly, as though she were undergoing an out of body experience. Her eyes were blank, like she was looking out at some place far away. In a quiet voice, she addressed Luck: 'Mister Luck. I'm sorry, I'm very, very sorry. Earlier, I thought that you were only being selfish – I thought that what I was doing was – was plainly--- But now. Now I don't think I can forgive this man any more than you can forgive Dallas. I will not forgive this man.'
Confidence flooded into Eve. Her black eyes held not one hint of fear. 'It's only now that I understand what you were saying, Mister Luck. Therefore, therefore...'
With tears flowing from her eyes, Eve forcefully pulled the trigger.
'You little twerp! You think that I can get hurt by that? How ridiculous, trying to come up against me, trying to kill me, you think you're taking revenge for the death of your family, you stinking little kid!'
Eve didn't respond to the provocation. She just continued to pull the trigger.
The room began to stink with the smell of blood as the gunshots continued to sound, yet the recoil she felt did not match the number of gunshots she heard.
Something was wrong.
When Eve's vision cleared, Luck was standing there in front of her. Where his left hand should've been was a bleeding stump. The hand itself was on the ground, the bones of which were shattered by several rounds of bullets.
Luck had a gun in his right hand, and it was aimed at his own left hand.
Looking at the terrified Eve, Luck stood laboriously. '... I understand the pain that you feel.'
Facing the cowering Gustavo, Luck picked up his own detached hand and went over.
'Yo-you son of a bitch! What are you doing!?'
Luck lunged forward, shoving what remained of his mangled fist down Gustavo's throat, his broken bones like daggers against the soft insides of the man's throat.
'---------------!'
When the giant Gustavo was finally still, Luck said, coldly: 'That was for the times you sent your assassins after my throat.'
Luck reattached his hand, and then turned to regard Eve. 'Are you all right...---'
Luck finally succumbed to the pain wracking him, and passed out as soon as the words were out of his mouth.
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Gandor Family
1932, January the 5th.
[cutting forward past a lot of stuff I'll post when I have enough brains to translate them]
He was probably the Gandor family member who was probably most capricious, most bored and most aimless right now – Luck stared up at the ceiling, sighed, and thought back to what had happened earlier that week.
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'Miss! M-m-miss! I'm very sorry – because I, Benjamin, have not been paying attention, I've let you get entangled in this very dangerous situation!'
Eve didn't let either Benjamin or Samansa continue with their apologies.
'Mister Benjamin, Miss Samansa, I, I—'
She felt two gentle knocks against her head. Looking up, Eve saw Samansa smiling gently. 'Don't worry. It's all behind us now.'
Just as Eve was about to leave the room, Luck limped slowly towards her.
'Ah....' Eve was at a loss for words. This was her brother's mortal enemy – a man who'd openly said as much, a man who'd openly declared that he'd done all those kinds of things – but even so, it'd been Luck who'd saved her.
If it'd only been her and that gun, Eve was sure that she probably wouldn't be here talking to Benjamin and Samansa. She'd been saved by that man more than once, and yet she hadn't said a word of thanks.
And even then, even after all Luck had done for her – she still wanted to save Dallas, wanted it from the bottom of her heart.
How on earth was she supposed to talk to this man?
Luck passed Eve a piece of paper, before saying: 'When the time comes that you think that the pain I feel for the men I've lost has been assuaged by your brother's suffering, do what you like with that. I'll leave that decision in your hands.'
That said, Luck turned and made to leave the room.
There was a map of the Hudson drawn on the piece of paper, and a marking over one of its points.
'This – Mister Luck!'
'Don't say anything. I don't care if you want to swear at me or thank me. I'll just get angry either way.'
Watching as Luck moved away, Eve could only hold the piece of paper tightly against her breast.
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If what he'd done got leaked, then it'd probably be his brothers who'd sink him into the river. And then what would he have to say to his murdered friends?
If it were Firo, he'd probably shrug and say that "since they're dead there's nothing to explain to them anyway". Firo was likely colder than Luck was, in that sense.
But he couldn't work that way. Even though they seemed to invite death in this line of work, no one actually wanted to die. In that sense, they were all exactly like the average man on the street.
Except for one point. We're evil men. Yes – evil men.
He couldn't forgive Dallas any more than he could feel compassion or sympathy for Eve. Thinking that he could was just an act of complacency.
-- at the end of the day, it wasn't possible. Even knowing the Dallas' location – it wasn't possible to pull him up out of the river.
They'd sunk Dallas and his friends into the very bottom of the deepest part of the Hudson. It was still possible to attempt to use cranes and lifts to dig them out, but that was definitely beyond Eve's ability to do.
He'd only done that to give the girl a temporary respite. Since he'd told her what she wanted to know, she wouldn't have any more need to interact with people like them, or to hate herself. Dallas would probably just continue to suffer at the bottom of the river.
The situation was in hand. There was really no reason to worry.
Yet Luck couldn't put himself at ease.
If he'd really not wanted to forgive Dallas, then he could've just given her a fake address. Why did he give Eve a chance to save her brother? Why didn't he just lie to her? These thoughts kept bothering Luck.
Claire was right. I'm not suited to this life at all. But now my hands are already too dirty – and defending this territory is both my duty and my life. It's about upholding this family's honour and name. Or, if I put it another way --
It's my entire world.
- or could it be...
He recalled the expression on Eve's face when he'd been fighting Gustavo. The look in her eyes, what she must've felt – it was something that Luck wasn't even capable of anymore. That feeling of throwing one's self forward completely and utterly, of believing so totally.
Could it be – that I'm jealous? Jealous of that girl's innocence, jealous of how intensely she must still be able to feel. I know I can't feel that way myself, anymore – because I no longer have any real consciousness of death. Never again. Not ever again.
With those thoughts in mind, Luck picked up a book, and quietly started to read.