Whirlwind
Written for the livejournal community, endless-future. Set 2, theme 12: which is 'waiting in vain'. Claim is Tolle/Miriallia.
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The sound of a connection lost between fighter and ship sounded eerily like the sound a heart monitor indicating a life had just been lost. An endless, blaring, ear-splitting beep.
Miriallia stared blankly at the screen, surely this was the rain's fault. The weather had suddenly gotten horrible, so the Sky Grasper unit must have strayed too far from the ship. Interference was all it was.
Right?
She mentally kept herself steady, the Strike was still out there, they were in trouble, she was needed. And to top it off, it was just the rain causing this.
A boom of thunder caused her to shudder, her eyes tried to stay focused on the screen. She thought for a moment that the second crashing sound she heard was merely the weather again, until a second connection was abruptly lost.
"Tolle." The rest of the bridge turned to look at her. She was pressing the button on the panel with a shaking finger, trying to break through the rain. Just the rain. "Tolle, Kira." She called, expecting some sort of answer over the still ringing indication that they wouldn't.
"Kira, answer me! Tolle! Tolle!"
A hand shot out to stop her attempt, quieting the noise and the desperate try for communication.
"That's enough" Natarle Badjiruel said sternly, and Miri stared at her, as if asking her 'why?', but she was ignored, and Natarle moved to asking Murrue about their current status of the ship. Miriallia kept staring, wasn't Natarle as worried as she was? Not only to the fact that if it were true, they would be completely vulnerable to attacks, but more importantly, that Kira, Tolle could have been hurt?
Moments passed, and she expected somebody to say something. Anything. But it was Kuzzey's voice that spoke instead, informing them that more mobile suits were headed their way.
Surely now, they should try to contact either of their pilots again. "Kira, can you hear me? We're going to be attacked by-"
But she was shut off again by Natarle, who leaned over her and shut the communications off. "I said that's enough!" She repeated, and Miri could only stare, wide-eyed and unmoving at her words. "Lieutenant Yamato and Private Koenig are MIA."
MIA. She had heard that term before, hadn't she? Ssigh had asked one of the men on the bridge about it. "Missing In Action. Basically, this means they're dead, only it hasn't been confirmed."
"No…" She muttered, completely losing herself.
"Just accept it, or else we'll all wind up dying next dwelling on it."
Miri stared back to the screen again. Signal Lost.
"It can't be…"
She stood up from her seat, getting another bunch of looks. She could face those words no more, and turned. She heard Ssigh call to her gently, but paid no mind to anything; she was screaming on the inside, and left the bridge.
The ship's taking off threw her vertigo more off balance than she already was. She leaned against the wall to steady herself, and slowly picked up her staggering, to wherever she was headed. "This can't be… it can't… Tolle!"
She looked everywhere, maybe he hadn't really gone out into battle. Maybe he was merely lingering somewhere else on the ship, she was trying to force herself to believe this. She waited in vain to see him, to hear anything about him, endless hours of crying and desperation. She went to the simulation he had constantly practiced fighting in, checked the break room, his bunk. All empty, just like she felt on the inside with his absence. She was in a hysterical state of denial, her thoughts and emotions all cycling in an endless whirlwind of confusion. Of loss.
And even after everything else was over, the whirlwind never completely stopped.