AI WA NAGARERU
A Robotech/Macross Fanfic
Macross is the property of Big West
Robotech is the property of Harmony Gold USA
Please don't sue me
This work of Fanfiction is dedicated to all those who lived through and died, in the horror of 9/11/01. This is my tribute to them, and my way of coping.
It is my intention that this Fic have anonymity, the characters are never named, even the ones who are obviously a particular Robotech or Macross character. It is also my intention that this fic, be both Robotech and Macross and neither. I will try not to use any nouns or dates specific to either show, just general events. All though I have had to change the context of 9/11/01, to make it fit in with the Robotech/Macross universe, (making a anti-unification army the culprits and making it after the crash of the SDF-1) I believe I have maintained the sprit of the event. "Ai, Wa Nagareru" is the name of a Mari Iijima song, where Minmay sings about the horrors of war.
When the world leaders had banded together to form the world government, it was supposed to have brought peace, mankind was never to have to fear the actions of nations or individuals. That fragile perception didn't last long, the destruction that was visited upon the UEG member state of the USA on the day of 9/11/01, showed the world that the dark side of human nature hadn't gone away, indeed it was as strong as ever. The strongest member nation in the UEG was dealt a crippling blow by so called anti-unification terrorists. The US acted in retaliation, after establishing, who the culprit was... but for those who went through the event, healing would take a long time.
A young red head, looked diligently at her screen. The latest stock market quotes went across the board. On 9/11 she was scheduled to work on one of the higher floors of the World Trade Center towers, she had called in sick the night before. It had taken her years to get over what the psychologists called "Survivor guilt". But even now, she till experienced occasional visions of her friends and co-workers, would here her boyfriend's voice, and every time for a second she would believe it was real. Now she was working at the Tokyo stock exchange, she hated it. She stood out, and the place was too much like... there. But it was what she was trained for and she was good at it. The day had gone on much like any other day, save for some warning, the government had posted. That had made her edgy, part of her thought it was nothing, the other part drifted back to that terrible day when her world came crumbling with those two towers. She thought about going to a shelter, but thought better of it, she needed to stay, she knew that. It was an hour more before she discovered what the warning was about, when a whole section of the building she was in simply ceased to be. The fires raged inside the building, and she knew she would not see the end of this day. She welcomed death, she would finally be reunited with her friends who she lost that day, when the second bolt struck, she was content, that was her last feeling one of contentment.
A young, man looked across at the faces in the classroom. The students looked up at his badly drawn pictures on the board. On 9/11 he was in school, he felt so detached and so helpless watching the chaos on the screen. He felt so strange when he was learning about the periodic table, and how to transform mathematical functions while people where dying. To this day he still didn't know what to feel when he remembered that horrible day so long ago. Now he was trying to teach the next generation about it, these children had been alive then, but too young to remember, they had no doubt heard the story from there parents, but he tried to find the words to express the feelings he had buried inside. The Children didn't seem interested, some of them even joked about it. But in a few moments they weren't laughing. There was a blinding light and then for the few of them that where still alive there was pain. The teacher had by some miracle survived, and as he looked at the mangled bodies of his students, he knew just how it must of felt on that day. He desperately tried to dig at the rubble that had fallen from the roof, trying to save the life of just one student, just before he collapsed and gave up his own.
In a bar, a former commercial pilot was getting drunk. He had lost two very good friends the day of that attack, and after that day, he had quit his job and found refuge from the pain in alcohol. Like the red head he to had "Survivor Guilt" but where she buried herself in work, he buried himself in booze. When, the light struck he found himself regretting, his choice, he knew his friends would have wanted him to carry on. He wept his last thought was one of regret.
Elsewhere two would be lovers who where mere children on 9/11 looked into each others eyes for what logic told them would be the last time. He went to his plane... she to her microphone. They felt for the first time the despair so many in New York had felt on that day.
On Earth the leaders of the world watched the map being covered in red with terror. In some of them a vain hope of self-preservation was the only thing that mattered, to the others vengeance, but all prepared to launch a deadly volley at those who had perpetrated the attack. On 9/11 they had used the event to make themselves look good, by faining concern when they felt none, the guilt of that struck them now.
An alien, who had witnessed and ordered the destruction of millions before, painfully took in the scene before him. Fingering the metal cowl that covered his wounded face. For the first time he felt regret and sadness. This was his first exposure to such horror. And the fact that it was his race that had caused this made him feel guilt. He shed a single tear.
One the bridge of a space ship, the Russian captain raised a lit pipe to his mouth. He watched the unfolding terror as he had on 9/11, his heart breaking on the inside but not letting it show on the outside. His resolve was the same as that of the man who was then president of the states... He would show those responsible for this attack, that they could not throw the human race of its path. They could not intimidate them. They could shake the foundations of buildings, but not the foundation of Humanity...