Forgiving Vengeance
Part 1: Prologue
The rain splashed softly on the muddy ground as the sitting
occupant of the small hole in the ground stared listlessly at his
surroundings. Actually, a hole in the
ground was almost an exaggeration of his accommodations at this present
time. It was more like a trench, like
those that had been dug by the soldiers in the mid 1900's, and just like the
soldiers then, they were fighting a war now.
They, more specifically, were a resistance force that had formed when earth's unexpected and now, unwelcome and unwanted visitors had first made their first move, and brutally slaughtered hundreds of humans not only from the Sank kingdom, but from each of the other four kingdoms that had peacefully co-inhabited the earth. When there had been happiness in the alleyways and laughter floating through the fields, now there was none of that. Now, they actually considered themselves lucky if only a few of them were spotted and killed each day, and now instead of the freedom they had once enjoyed they were relegated to stealing weapons, and sabotaging space ports, military bases and laboratories where humans were now being used as incubators or petri dishes.
It was this grim future that had actually given birth to their resistance name: Polaris. Named for the brightest star in the sky. A star which used to give sailors of old hope and direction when lost at sea or caught in a storm. It was a name meant to give the humans hope now, it was a name which in Hiro's opinion was futile. In his opinion they were beyond direction, and rapidly approaching that point where hope would be out of reach. Only the chance that this newfound technology and mission would be a success kept Hiro hoping. The new technology was one that Polaris' underground team of scientists had been working on for almost two years now, it was not time-travel as they had originally intended, but while looking for a solution that had plagued their time-travel portals, they had discovered parallel universes and more importantly, they had discovered how to travel between them.
Now Hiro was set to travel to a universe where the tormentors of the human race called, Rykilions, did not even exist. It was a place that knew now the peace he had known with Relena in the past, they had fought their own share of wars, but now it was a place of rebuilding, and trust, it was a place where an undiscovered metal in his world called Gundanium had been formed into Robotic machines that had been called, Gundams. It was a place of hope.
Part 1:
Clashes of Fate
A raindrop fell silently on the end of the cigarette, quietly and effectively extinguishing it. "Damn." Hiro swore. That was his last match he had used earlier and he could not risk going out and getting some more. Not today.
"Hiro!" An old voice called.
"Yes Sato?" He asked looking over his shoulder.
"Come here boy, we haven't got all day!"
Hiro smiled softly at the old scientist he had known since he was a child. "Sorry, I was just finishing my cigaret-"
"I know what you were doing! Smoking!"
Hiro rolled his eyes at the impending lecture he knew was coming.
"That's such a filthy habit! I don't know why you keep doing it if it's been proven to kill you, we already lose enough soldiers every day! We don't need any dying because of a stupid thing like smoking, and…Hiro! Hiro are you listening to me?"
"Hmm? Oh yea, dying 'cause of cancer, and um, something else. You were saying?"
Sato abruptly turned and shook his head, mumbling something about arrogant soldiers and smoking and death.
"I think he was just getting to the part where you're going to die and spare all of us from having to put up with your shi-"
"Duo!" Sato turned and glared at him.
Duo's grin only broadened. "So, any plans when you get to this little paradise they got waiting for you?"
"No." Hiro answered simply.
"Couldn't blame you. No fighting, no guns, no blood and guts and stuff like that," Duo shook his head in mock disappointment, "Man, sounds like boresville to me."
The corners of Hiro's mouth lifted while he was taking one last look around the dark testing area that was part of an entire science facility that was hidden underground. There were two rooms, as you walked in the main door, you walked into the first smaller one, which was sealed off from the larger room by a special kind of glass that was practically unbreakable and another door.
Duo lowered his voice before he asked, "Have you said good-bye, uh, I mean good-night to Johanna yet?" Duo knew that Hiro did not believe in saying good-byes, he said that it never helped the situation anyway.
"Yes, I kissed her good-night when she went to sleep." A smile in his voice when he spoke of his seven-year old daughter. The only child he would ever have in his mind.
She was known to the outside world only as Johanna, only Hiro's close-knit friends knew who she really was. It was too much of a risk to let anyone know her real name, since it had been found out the hard way that human traitors who were called "scabs" seemed to like to turn in people who were well known or of high rank, and Princess Johanna Kuei Peacecraft-Yui was one of the highest ranking humans left.
"Hiro we're ready." The voices, behind the glass said through the intercom. "Here, when you're ready to come back, press this button." Sato said, handing him a small device that looked like a pager, "It'll open the portal for you."
Hiro nodded and Sato turned to go behind the glass. Duo remained, "Take care of yourself." Just before he turned Hiro caught the sleeve of his tattered and faded navy blue uniform.
"Do me a favor,"
"Sure."
"Take flowers to her grave for me."
Duo nodded. A sad expression crossing his face for a second. No explanation was needed for who 'she' was between the two friends. Wordlessly he walked back behind the glass with the scientists.
The portal was switched on. A faint light started to rise from his feet, slowly started upwards over his body, it swirled up surrounding him. Suddenly the light shot upward and with a loud 'whoosh' Hiro, was gone.
Duo stared in awe at the empty room where Hiro had once stood. "I hope he knows what he's doing."
"I hope so too." Sato said.
"What! You were supposed to tell him everything you know!"
"I did!" Sato shot back, "The only thing I didn't tell him was something I wasn't sure of myself."
"And that would be?"
"That he might run into people he knows from here."
"Oh," Duo dismissed that with a shrug. "He knows that, he was even wondering what he was like in the other world."
"No, you don't understand, I didn't tell him that in searching out the Gundam pilots he might very well run into not just himself, but someone more specific, someone who's been dead for almost six years now."
"Relena! You didn't tell him he might run into Relena!!"
"I didn't tell him because I'm not sure he will." Sato replied angrily. "For all I know he might have abandoned the mission to go and search for her!"
"You know Hiro wouldn't do that, he wouldn't leave us here when he knows this is the last chance we got!"
Sato turned and opened the door, "I did what I did for a reason, and that was enough for me."
"Asshole." Duo muttered after the door was slammed, but as he looked back to the empty room he wondered out loud to himself. "Man, Hiro I sure hope you know what you're doing."