Lapse
Louise barely felt the carrier's cool metal beneath her own cyborgian digits as she stepped into one of many nondescript passages, fingers resting lightly on the entryway to her own quarters. An eerie calm emanated from her expressionless features, stoicism garnered from her personal tragedies and subsequent abandonment of civilian life. A slight crease marred her brow briefly as the thought drifted inward from the outer reaches of her mind -- a life beyond the endless hunt for Gundams and their pilots; a life filled to brimming with laughter and tears shared by family and friends; a life beside the one whom could best understand her innermost fears and beliefs; a life abdicated to those who surely could be deemed more deserving than she.
Though the stains of innocent lives bloodied beneath the ruthless thumb of A-LAWS failed to taint her hands directly, each death inflicted by both mobile suit and automaton resonated somewhere within -- a place she most often chose not to consciously examine. To do so would impart guilt upon her actions, and those actions she believed necessary to bring about the extermination of all Gundams...to finally avenge her family and herself. Another crease etched itself across her brow, lasting longer than the previous though still smoothing after no more than a moment or two. Her mama and papa would be avenged.
Footsteps resonating from nearby caught her attention and she straightened to face whoever had intruded upon her personal reflection. Silvery hair emerged from an adjoining room, and a split second later, questioning golden eyes turned to meet her own. "Warrant Officer Halevy? Why are you not yet at the hanger with the others?"
With a momentary hitch born out of slight surprise, Louise snapped to attention and saluted her superior. "Forgive me, Lieutenant," came her soft, though dispassionately polite, response. "I will go there immediately."
As she turned to head down the hallway, a steely command stopped her. "Wait." The lieutenant -- Soma Peries, she reminded herself internally -- approached and slid around to face her fully. "You're still..." Soma's brow furrowed as she seemingly concentrated on something unseen and unheard.
Louse tilted her head up slightly to meet her stare, swallowing -- or attempting to swallow -- her persistent inner strife. Her previous encounter with the lieutenant left her more than aware of those so-called 'Quantum Brainwaves' whic so adeptly read her thoughts and emotions. A part of her cringed at the notion of yet another having such unrestricted access to her mind. She internalized everything for, she believed, several very good reasons -- chief among them stood that desire for vengeance which she did not wish stymied due to a concerned fellow officer. Still, though, the lieutenant could hardly be as invasive as him.
Peries's pause lasted but a moment before she plowed forward in her usual clipped, commanding tone. "You're still unsteady." Less a question than a statement, it caused Louise's eyebrows to raise just a hair in askance. "You'll be a liability this fight."
The bluntness and subject matter needled her, raising her otherwise impeccably collected hackles. First Zinin ordered her to remain behind in battle; now Peries appeared to be doing the same. Was there truly no end to the stream of individuals seemmingly Hell-bent on prejudging her abilities and now mental state? Traces of ire began dancing around the edges of her seaspray irises. "With all respect, Lieutenant," Louise began in a tone which carried hardly a tinge of irritation, "I am ready."
The enigmatic soldier approached her, flight suit creaking ever so slightly with each step. "You aren't a soldier," Peries said. "You haven't the heart or mind of one."
Dammit, let me fight! Those bastards took mama and papa! I need to do this... Louise swore an instant before remembering just to whom she was speaking, though this reminder came too late as the lieutenant's brow raised up, apparently in inquiry of the tumultuous thoughts. Definitely not surprise; though they'd just met, she knew her superior officer could never be caught off-guard like that. With a jerk, Louise turned to hide her face, staring hard down at the opposite end of the metallic passage. Stay out of my head! Unbidden the bellowing burst forth in her mind, though she made no attempt to quell it, unlikely previously. It's bad enough with him...
***
Soma's head cocked to the side as she regarded the other girl. Her abilities could be both a blessing and a curse at the best of times, a fact she knew well, and she strove -- occasionally in vain -- to block out the thoughts of those to whom she was closest. She possessed that remarkable gift which so many others in the world would surely desire to have, to use and invade and manipulate, yet she could seldom bring herself to use it in such a fashion. If it added her in battle, and it had many times in facing that specimen who had become her nemesis, so be it, but she was not meant to use that power outside combat unless vitally necessary. Sergei had taught her well in that respect.
The girl before her, however...her mind could not simply be blocked like so many others. Her last mental outcires practically forced themselves into Soma's head, shooting forth like so many bullets to the brain. One thing stood out to her -- the mention of a "him". This referenced person surely was not the one for whom she cried when she thought no one could hear or see. Another existed who could make use of quantom brainwaves, perhaps? Unlikely, though still possible; in a world of mobile armors and space elevators, most things formerly left to the realm of fiction were striking forth into that of actuality.
Curiosity, in the end, got the best of her. Closing her amber eyes, Soma reached out with her mind to that of Officer Halevy, intimating a soothing sensation. Slowly, she could feel the other girl's angered thoughts relax and melt into complacency. Their mental melding suggested an image of gentle oceanic waves, rolling about and intertwining far from rocky or sandy shore. Taking firm hold of Halevy's subconscious, she pressed her seeming advantage. Who is he?
A figure flashed before her mind, half-cloaked in shadow through a few details could still be determined. A foamy green shock of hair erupted from his scalp and eyes shown like pink sapphires...eyes that drilled through her so thoroughly that she jerked back a step. Her own orbs shot open, staring at the back of the junior office's head as the girl rocked on her heels. Soma barely managed to raise her arms in time to catch Halevy's drowsy form, the sudden weight catching her off guard and sinking them both as the lieutenant's knees met floor.
A quick scan revealed her subordinate to be relatively safe and unharmed, though their previous mental exercises appeared to leave her unconscious. Cradling her as gently as she knew how, Soma contemplated the puzzle of a human before her, knowing they would not be granted too much more time before the call to sortie was given. The obscured presence within the junior officer's mind caused her some measure of consternation; the smirking contemplation which pierced her so thoroughly was not simply an image of a person known by Halevy. He was there, staring into her every bit as much as she did into him. Soma'd never met such a person in all her training and experience, someone who seemed so possessed of similar abilities to her own, yet he had apparently taken up residence in the other girl's mind. How was this possible?
Amber turned a touch concerned as she continued to regard the unconscious officer nestled against her. To live each day with such a specter constantly looking out one's own eyes sounded straining at best, unbearable at worst. Somewhere deep within and consciously unbeknownst to her, a tiny crack opened around Soma's soul, a soft hum emanating from it in tender ripples. She closed her eyes tight, focusing on stilling her agitated nerves which continued to reel from those bright fuchsia irises residing within the other's mind. Who are you, Halevy?
***
The next conscious sensation Louise felt was that of Peries's arms supporting her in a manner far too gentle to fit the lieutenant's public persona. Her teal eyes squinted open beneath the harsh neon hallway lighting, and were met by a curious golden gaze. "W-what?" she drowsily stuttered as she reached to rub at her eyes with bionic fingers. "How long...?" Glancing around, she noted the hall was as barren as it had been previously; likely the other soldiers were already waiting in their armors.
Peries snapped back, surprise etched on her features, surprise of which Louise had not thought her previously capable. "You collapsed," she explained, though such a statement sounded somewhat silly; obviously the lieutenant would not be cradling her as such unless a fainting spell had occurred. "Only for a few minutes," she appended before looking off in any other direction but that in which Louise lay.
Head tilted to oneside, her eyes peered inquisitively at her superior. Was she...flustered? Such a notion had seemed heretofore inconceivable to Louise, yet now she found herself faced with a rumored 'super' soldier's flumoxed expression. She paused to wonder just what the lieutenant saw with her brainwaves, for surely she -- with her similar power -- knew of his existence; she wouldn't have been that startled by his appearance...would she? Blinking, Louise re-focused on the more immediate situation at hand. "Has the..."
Peries shook her head, though still apparently deep in thought and refusing to meet the officer's eye. "The call has not yet gone out," she said, voice slightly hoarse, "though the colonel will surely be displeased at our tardiness."
Louise pushed to her feet, cold metallic hand gripping the other's shoulder to steady herself. She noticed the lieutenant register surprise for what was likely the second time in her life at the mild coolness radiating from beneath her uniform's glove. Of course the woman would be caught off guard by its cybernetic nature, even if not visible at present. She gave a slight, internal snort, something of a mixture between annoyance and sadness; while the hand had its uses -- indeed, she would not be permitted her chance at revenge without it -- its ties back to him would never fail to cause her a feeling of slight despair. Clearing both throat and head, she gave a short nod and absently brushed imaginary dust from her uniform with her right hand. "Forgive me for delaying us both, Lieutenant."
Before she could turn and depart for the hanger, Peries reached out and gripped that same hand. "Wait," she commanded softly. Louise glanced up at her, touched with confusion. The lieutenant's voice had taken on a tone with which she was wholly unfamiliar, at least coming from those in the military and A-LAWS in particular. "I must know. That man...who is he?"
Her eyes turned downward, gazing at the floor. "I don't know, exactly, but he is--" A sudden spark coursed through her, beginning at her mind and shocking down down nerve paths to her fingertips, and halted all capability for coherent speech. With a cry, she fell back against the wall and gripped at her cyborgian hand with the other fleshier one, ripping off the glove which contained it and attempting to rub away the brutal sensations. Narrow, pinkish lines glowed faintly around the middle of her forearm.
Peries eached out for her again, face registering shock at the robotic appearance of the appendage. "Halevy!" she exclaimed as she gripped her shoulders in an attempt to calm the girl down. "What's going on?"
"My p-pills..." Louise rasped through her pain-clenched jaw. "P-Pocket..."
***
At its mention, Soma for the first time recognized the faint outline of an apparent pill box against the fabric of Halevy's flight suit. Moving to fish the container from the pocket in which it rested, she puzzled over just how a girl with so little real combat experience and a visibly excrutiating condition could have been granted even the most minor of positions within the Federation's military. She did not recall any reports of officers within A-LAWS coming under medical scrutiny to the point of receiving a likely sedative intended to combat sudden onset debilitating pain. In her slender fingers she held and examined the small plastic case, inside which rattled what sounded like several prescribed tablets, and quickly considered her next move.
Crack. Another splinter, slightly more noticeable than the previous one, shattered from her internal rock and caught her by surprise. The low trill grew louder though still every bit as warm as before. I can help her... the hum seemed to convey. With a jolt, Soma let the pill box slip from her grasp and it clattered to the floor, the fall jarring it open and strewing its contents everywhere. She turned her attention back to the other girl, gripping her anew by the shoulders. "Halevy, focus on me," she bade in a tone equal parts dulcet and demanding, deliberate and distressed.
The junior officer winced open her eyes into narrow slits, looking long into the intense gold before her. "I c-can't..." she ground out, clutching at her bionic arm even as her temples almost visibly throbbed in similar agony.
Staring hard and deep into her subordinate, Soma conjured a mental image of searching hands and extended them with ease into Halevy's own mind. Poking and prodding with rushed insistence, she sought something onto which she could grasp...something malleable into a defense against Halevy's anguish. Inside the girl's head she could readily feel the burning shockwaves rippling along her nerves and it took all her willpower to sustain the probing sensations. Brief flashes of those pink sapphire eyes darted along the edges of her vision, mocking her attempts and declaring them futile. Distantly she heard Halevy cry out again but all which lay before her in sight was a combined force of raging inferno and violent lightning storm, apparently unquellable but surely there had to be something...
Suddenly, her imagined fingers seized hold of the edge of an immense, flattened, indeterminate object and lifted it easily considering its size. With all cerebral strength she could muster, Soma hoisted the object and slammed it in place, forming a wall between the roiling tempest and Halevy's quickly fading consciousness. The assault barred from view, at least for the moment, she could feel the other soldier begin to relax and slump forward while those rosy orbs rampaged remotely, unable to inflict further distress. Unwilling to permit even a chance at the reemergence of that pain, Soma retained her presence inside Halevy's mind, conjuring imagery of those tranquilizing sea crests once more.
Relax now.
She started, flabbergasted eyes nearly breaking from the other girl's. That was not her voice...or rather, it was her voice but it was not actually her intoning those words. Where did they come from?
I have you.
Again the strange murmur, almost sing-song in its delivery. She sensed Halevy match its thrum with her own approval...and thanks. With an unheard growl, she tried to regain control of the situation from this mysterious fourth party. Who are you? she demanded, teeth clenched.
Tell me, Louise...
Soma's mind grew filled to brimming with images of people she did not know, people presumably who impacted Halevy's life to varying extent. One figure stood out clearly among the flashes, of a serene-eyed, perpetually smiling young man and...a ring, a ring she'd seen but hardly noticed before. Taking a chance, she glanced very swiftly down at Halevy's left hand and caught sight of the small band of gold which rested on her finger. Perhaps given to her by the young man in question. As if to clarify, a dulled, sepia scene played out before her mental eye, of that boy gifting her subordinate -- bandaged severely and missing her left hand entirely -- with that very ring, only to be denied.
The imagery changed, almost violently so, to a series of glowing red explosions...of death and destruction and the faint outline of a maliciously demonic mobile armor. Interspersed were newspaper articles, detailing the slaughter at a wedding in Spawn of the Halevy family, among others. Every one attributed it to Gundams, to that organization known only as Celestial Being.
Tears began streaming down Halevy's cheeks as the flashes continued, venturing into the attachment of that bionic arm by unseen figures, and the junior officer's introduction into the Federation military and then A-LAWS. The wall Soma had erected to keep the storm at bay rumbled and shook at its foundation, threatening to give way as Halevy's emotions crept into dangerous territory, but then a third 'hand' shot forth, solidifying and stabilizing and surrounding both soldiers in a protective sheen. Their nebulous guardian began to take form before them both, though its shape still shimmered too much to permit identification.
You will be safe.
The form solidified into that of a woman with features shadowed, and it leaned forward to gently press her lips to Halevy's forehead, lingering therefor several beats. Soma hissed a narrow-eyed gasp yet otherwise found herself unable to move. The mystery's outline swayed a bit, from which she caught glimpses of...silvery hair, long and straight. Who are you?! she growled again, more desperately than before.
"Lieutenant? Offier Halevy?"
Their connection snapped like an excessively taut wire at the outside intrusion, reeling them both a step backward. Soma was the first to recover, turning her already frazzled attention to the newcomer. "Lieutenant Smirnov, what is it?" she barked, not yet fully recomposed. Halevy stared dumbly at them both, as she lightly touched her left hand's fingertips to her forehead in wonderment.
Smirnov -- Sergei's erstwhile son -- blinked, caught off guard by his superior's unusually brisk tone. "I..." he stuttered, then shook his head shortly. "The call to sortie went out several minutes ago, sir. Colonel Mannequin sent me to find you both," he explained.
Soma gave a small sigh, irritated at their lapse in adhering to the established code of conduct. Surely punishment of a sort would be handed out once combat had subsided, but at present... "We'll be along shortly. Officer Halevy must compose herself first." Her amber eyes narrowed in dismissal of the man for whom she did not overly much care, of which he thankfully took heed and departed in haste and with a salute.
"Thank you..." murmured the junior officer as she steadied herself against the passage wall, seaspray eyes still hazy from mental exhaustion.
The lieutenant fought off a snort of exhasperation and simply turned away, preparing to head quickly to the hanger. If her nerves were slightly unsteady before, Halevy surely was in no condition to fight now. "Perhaps it would be best for you to remain behind after all," she said, returning to a clipped tone after all that had happened between them. "I am sure the colonel would understand."
Halevy shook her head, hair the color of straw flitting about in the air from the motion. "I have to be out there. I just...need a moment."
"Very well," Soma replied, muscles tense as she began walking. "Do not delay more than necessary." As she departed, following in the footsteps of Lieutenant Smirnov, a hum reemerged from those tiny cracks, glowing aurous in the forced darkness.
I will see you again, Louise Halevy.