SO. It's been a solid, I don't know, 3 years since I've written anything. It's been a very long time, so I'm going to apologize ahead of time for errors and such. Posts will get better as I sooth myself back into writing mode. This fic here was something that I wrote back in the day (like 7 years ago) and have been wanting to rewrite for a VERY long time. Looks like I finally got around to it! This chapter will be slow and short... Sorry. The next chapter will be long AND more interesting. They'll get better from here, promise! Comments are loved, and thanks for reading!
Darkness Before the Dawn
Chapter 1: Push
"I am done with my graceless heart
So tonight I'm gonna cut it out and then restart
'Cause I like to keep my issues drawn
It's always darkest before the dawn,"
~ Florence + the Machine, 'Shake it Out'
"Hello? Shute, are you awake?"
The voices were soft but incoherent. Someone was saying his name, but Shute couldn't tell at first. It all seemed so surreal, like some kind of twisted dream.
"Are you there Shute?"
Suddenly, a gentle nudge was felt on his shoulder, forcing his eyes to slowly open. It was all a bright blur, as if he had awakened in heaven with the silhouettes of angels standing over him. The warm feelings fiercely faded when a sharp pain overtook his head; he was hyper sensitive to the lights. The familiar smell of cleaning products filled his nose, and he figured that he was in a hospital. When Shute's eyes focused he could see that he in fact wasn't in a hospital, but Blanc Base's infirmary.
He also noticed that he wasn't surrounded by angels, thank mana, but his closest friends Captain, Zero, and Bakunetsumaru. Even Guneagle was there to check up on him. A nurse could be seen working behind them, preparing some medication and fluids for him no doubt.
Captain seemed to smile as Shute looked directly at him. The boy looked weak and sickly, but at least he was alive. "How are you feeling Shute? Are you in any pain?"
The boy opened his mouth, but winced almost immediately and held his head. "Ugh, my head," he groaned as he shut his eyes to relieve the pain, "What happened?"
"You don't remember anything?" Zero questioned as he motioned the nurse over to the bed. "You tripped down a steep hill and hit your head. It was a pretty violent incident."
The nurse quietly slipped between Zero and Captain like a ghost, handing Shute a pill and a small cup of water. Shute softly nodded, took the items, swallowed the pill, and finished the water. "No, I don't. I just remember a flash of lights and someone pushing me down the hill, everything else is a blur."
"There's no way someone pushed you out of the Dark Axis' attack," Baku promptly pointed out, nearly tipping over a plate of rice balls that he had brought. "None of us were near you. If anything you were the hero of the day." Shute answered back by giving him a puzzled look, he didn't understand as to how he could've done anything special.
Captain kindly took his empty cup and gave him a nod of reassurance, understanding his friend's confusion. "Bell Wood would have been fatally injured if you hadn't pushed him out of the way when you did. You saved his life today." Then it all came back to him.
During their conflict with the Dark Axis earlier that day Bell Wood managed to position himself directly behind the Gundams right as the enemy launched their special attack. He had run to get him out of the way, and he was certain that he wasn't going to make it, but someone pushed him. He knew it for sure.
"I remember now," he hoarsely replied, "And someone really did push me out of the way; I know it, I felt it." The Gundams looked to each other, puzzled as to what he had meant. No one was in Shute's area at the time, they had all scattered to dodge the trio's attack, completely unaware that Shute and Bell Wood were behind them.
Guneagle jokingly put his hand on the boy's forehead, as if feeling for his temperature. "The nurse should take your temp again kid, I think you're imagining things. Keep talking like that and they'll have to take you away in a straight jacket!" He laughed at his own joke, but the other's failed to find it humorous.
"Maybe you should get some more rest Shute," Zero remarked as he gave Guneagle an exasperated look, "It was an eventful day."
"I agree." Bakunetsumaru added as he put the plate of rice balls by his bed side. "Be sure to eat those when you feel better, you need to get your strength back."
Shute eyed the beautifully prepared food hungrily. Bakunetsumaru always did make the best looking rice balls, even better than his mother's at times. He couldn't help to smile from ear to ear, and it was times like these that he realized that he had the best friends in the whole world.
Before he could thank them the nurse, who rarely saw action, shooed everyone out of his room. Shute gave them all a little wave, and Captain, who purposely hung towards the back of the group, returned the gesture and peeked his head in the room one more time. "Rest well Shute. We'll be around if you require our company." And with that the nurse successfully forced everyone out and shut the door behind her. The room was finally quiet.
Shute rolled over on his side, facing the rice balls and arrangement of roses and cards. He plunged into thought as the hum from the base's generators drifted in the air. The day's events played back in his head like a movie, every minute, every second. It was as if it happened five minutes ago instead of hours ago.
All was serene, quiet, and gorgeous. Birds chirped happily in the forest, a mother doe gingerly coaxed her young fawn for a walk, and butterflies traveled from flower to flower, working their spring time magic. Just like it's gorgeous weather, it's a given that the peace could be shattered in the city of Neotopia, and this day proved to Shute that things couldn't remain quiet. Not even for a day.
The stillness of the forest was interrupted by a maroon blur that exploded through it's entrance, taking out a few small trees and digging up precious soil as it whipped past the local fauna. The odd object finally came to a slow stop, resting at the base of a large tree. Said 'object' was none other than Zapper Zaku. The Axian squad leader looked absolutely perplexed as to how he had gotten to his current location so fast, but confusion quickly boiled to anger.
"Slaggit..." He growled as he pushed himself off the ground and away from the tree, picking up his heat hawk as he sorely stood up. Before the mech could compose himself, Captain stealthy came running through the trees. His hands where balled up into fists and in a defensive position, ready for the larger bot's next move.
"I advise that you and your comrades cease your criminal actions and surrender, I will not hesitate to use my weapons to maintain the peace." It seemed as if Captain had always felt obligated to give the Dark Axis and formal warning, that or he was hard wired to do so.
Zapper's mouth piece turned into an ugly sneer, Captain's formality always rubbed him the wrong way. "You damn know well what my answer is Gundam. Now I advise that you hold still so I can make this slow and painful!"
Zapper lunged at Captain, knocking both of them back out into the field and in view of their comrades. Grappler Gouf and Zero could be seen fighting not too far off, their blades clashing with amazing ferocity. It's seemed like some kind of twisted ballet, the way they weaved in and out of each other and dodged the other's assault. Grappler failed to bring his clawed arm with him that particular day, which was a good thing for Zero. The knight was having an off day and had a few near misses with Grappler's sword, if the enemy bot was fully armed it would've been a short battle for the knight.
Grappler took another swing at Zero, attempting to give a fatal blow to the Gundam's soul stone. Zero counteracted the move by raising his shield and knocking the weapon out of his way, and raising into the air in the process. "You might as well give in now villain, you know how this battle will end."
"Don't be so sure of yourself princess," Grappler snarled defensively, "You Gundams can't keep this up forever!"
Princess was a new insult added to Grappler's repertoire, and every time he spat it at the knight the more irritated he became. "As long you threaten this world we'll be here to protect it. I'll never let the tragedy of Lacroa be repeated!" Zero cocked his arm back, beginning to swing his sword when there was a solid thud against his back.
He looked over his shoulder and noticed that Bakunetsumaru was the culprit. Zero narrowed his eyes, irritated that he had been distracted from his battle. "Watch where you are going Bakunetsumaru!"
Baku looked over his shoulder, giving his comrade a little eye contact. "Likewise Zero!" The knight snapped his gaze back to Grappler, obviously offended by Baku's words. They quickly moved away from each other and the samurai continued his assault on Destroyer Dom.
Destroyer, as usual, was armed to the bone with explosives and rockets, but Bakuntesumaru managed to easily dodge them. Destroyer Dom was growing increasingly frustrated at the nimble samurai and was inching closer, and closer to him, trying to get a better shot at the Musha Gundam. It was all part of Baku's plan.
He had fought the large Axian enough to know how little patience Dom had and how easy it was to trick him into a bad position. Baku suddenly froze, knees bent and katanas in a defensive position, an easy target for Destroyer Dom.
"Aww, little samurai tired out?" Dom snickered as he raised his largest bazooka at the smaller gundam. "Nighty night Gundam!"
Dom pulled the trigger and his weapon responded enthusiastically, launching the rocket at Baku. Destroyer began to uncontrollably laugh, there was no way that rocket would miss it's target, that is unless said target decided to move. Baku did just that. He suddenly leapt to the left and pumped his legs viciously, powering towards the squad leader. Dom dropped his bazooka in shock and put his large hands up in an attempt to protect his face from the oncoming samurai's rage.
While the Gundam Force was fending off the Axian army, Shute had his own battle on his hands; trying to get Professor Bell Wood to take him seriously.
"Come on Bell, just leave it!" Shute yelled as he attempted to drag Bell Wood onto his feet. "We've got to get out of here before someone gets hurt!"
Bell tried to brush the younger boy's hands off his shirt collar as he tried to scoop a little device into his arms and out of the grass. "But I was so close Shute, so close! I just need a few more minutes!" He successfully had picked up the device at that point and began to furiously tap it's touch- screen surface with his finger tips.
Shute couldn't help but to roll his eyes, it always seemed like the Doctor put his work before anyone else, including himself. "There's no time for that! We're too close to the battle field, we have to back up." In response to Shute's comment, Bell Wood shoved the boy onto his back, making it clear that he wasn't going anywhere unless it was on his own accord.
Shute quickly scrambled back onto his feet, his face red with frustration and exhaustion. "Fine, have it your way, I've got to see if Captain needs my help." He faced his back towards Bell and began running towards Captain's last known direction, but surprisingly he wasn't there.
"That's enough Dark Axis!"
As if on cue, the Gundams successfully forced the trio into a tight circle and were eager to beat them back into the Zakorello Gate and call it a day. What they didn't realize was that their human companions were in danger, lining themselves up directly behind the Gundams and in the line of fire. Sadly, the Gundams didn't know they were back either, in fact no one knew, except Shute.
He noticed that he was too close to the action, but then he realized that Bell Wood was even close. Bell Wood was directly behind their comrades, and right in the line of the Dark Axis' fire. The Axian trio began to glow, showing off hidden missile compartments and weapons of terror. Shute knew what was happening, but Bell was still completely oblivious as to what was going on. Shute began to make a mad dash towards the professor, just as the Dark Axis launched their attack.
Time seemed to slow down as he viciously pumped his skinny legs, he could see the rockets and missiles flying towards their intended targets. He then saw it, the Gundams began to split from their formation to dodge the oncoming attack. Bell Wood was suddenly completely exposed. Shute pumped his arms faster, his legs following, his lungs begging for air. He was nearly about ten feet from Bell when he saw how close the offending beam of light was. He reached his arms out and shut his eyes, screaming as he was about to jump to shove his friend out of the way. He knew that this was the end. There'd be nothing left of his fragile body, just a crater in the earth to mark his final moments. He suddenly felt a sharp push on his back, launching him forward nearly three times faster than he had ran. He didn't have time to think about who it was, all he knew was that he suddenly on top of Bell Wood and rolling down a sharp hill. The beam of lights and missiles just missed the boy's feet, nearly grazing past his shoes and colliding into the ground, pushing the two even faster down the hill. The only thing that stopped the pair from safely reaching the bottom was a large boulder, which Shute was lucky enough to plow into head first. His head cracked fiercely against the solid surface, and it was then that he lost consciousness.
It hurt his head thinking about it, that sickening crack of his head slamming into the rock haunted Shute's mind. He rolled over onto his side and looked to Baku's rice balls, suddenly comforted. His head still hurt, but he knew that he'd get better. It'd just take some time. As he began to drift asleep his mind wandered, who had saved him?
He began to think about them, his eyelids getting heavy. "I hope they're okay..." Was all that he could mouth before suddenly drifting to sleep, too tired to bother thinking about it anymore. His rescuer was out there somewhere, he just didn't know where.