Gundams Blinded by Emotion
The year was After Colony 0195, the problems with OX had still not come to an end. In an attempt to bring peace, Relena Peacecraft retakes her role as Queen. The six Gundam pilots continue to attack the OX armies, as well as the rebel army, Whitefang. Yet with Milliardo as the leader, Relena steps down, and the Gundam pilots find a new enemy.
***
"Shikira, you can't do that!" Quatre stated.
"Why not?" she questioned as she headed for her motorcycle.
"Because, my dear suicidal sister, you would miss a certain someone too much," Duo stated with a slight smirk pulling at the corners of his fine pressed lips.
"Who…you?" she asked rather sarcastically.
"Now that's just cruel," Duo said crossing his arms over his chest.
"Shikira, you can't take on the Epyon by yourself," Quatre stated yet again.
"No, you won't Shikira, so don't even argue with them," a voice from behind them all said, footsteps now heard as the owner of the voice, that had been watching their conversation, stepped into the room.
"Trowa, it's good to see you again," Quatre said, his mood now lightening at the sight of his best friend during this time of war. Shikira blushed slightly as she looked at Trowa; glad her messy brown bangs fell across her face to hide it.
"Trowa, could you please talk some sense into my sister?" Duo asked him, knowing very well that Shikira would more than likely listen to Trowa.
"You can't face the Epyon, your emotions are to high, and you know you wouldn't be able to kill Milliardo yourself," he said as he turned to face her. He watched her expression relax slightly as she crossed her arms over her chest and frowned in annoyance. He smirked, to himself, she looked so adorably cute like that.
"Fine, I won't fight Epyon, or Milliardo," she said quietly. Duo gave a sigh of relief, for he knew his sister would push the self-detonation switch whenever she had the chance. Shikira placed her helmet back down on the seat of her own motorcycle that was parked beside Trowa's and turned to face the three boys once again.
"You better not fight Epyon, or I will be mad I missed all the action," Duo said snickering.
"Yes, well I suppose I get being crazy and somewhat suicidal from being related to the great destroyer, AKA the God of Death," she said as she walked past them. Duo fell at her statement and Quatre and Trowa laughed. Author's Note: Trowa's got such a sexy laugh! ^_^.
"That was mean," he said try to add some sort of comedy to his situation so he wouldn't look like the fool, but it was too late for that. Shikira shook her head slightly as she walked towards the hanger where her Gundam, Starwing, was still in about a thousand or so small pieces of ruble. This had been the result of the self-detonation switch that Duo was so afraid she would push again.
"A Gundam pilot must be willing to do anything," she whispered to herself, it was a silent oath her teacher had told her before she had come to the earth.
"Yes, but there are limits to even that," Trowa said as he walked up beside her. Shikira glanced over at him and noticed he was looking at the pieces that was her Gundam.
"Sometimes, yes, there should be limits," she sighed as she kicked a piece of scrap, "but I know that as a Gundam pilot, those limits are different with every mission," she stated.
"You're serious about wanting to fight Epyon, aren't you?" he asked her. Shikira laughed slightly and turned to face him, leaning up against a railing.
"Of course I am, I would not have said it if I didn't mean it," she said.
"Don't do it alone. Duo would miss you far too much," he said as he turned to walk out. Shikira watched his movements as he left her to her own thoughts.
"It is Duo or you who would miss me?" she thought as she walked out of the hanger and looked over at her motorcycle. A frown pulling her fine lips, she grabbed her helmet and placed it over her hair, her long brown hair hanging down her back. She revved the engine and pushed the visor of the helmet down.
"Shikira!" Duo yelled as she took off in a cloud of dust. Quatre and Trowa looked at the bike zoom off, and Trowa sighed as he grabbed his own helmet and walked towards his own bike.
"Trowa, where are you going?" Quatre asked. Trowa started up his bike and sat down turning his head to the two.
"I'm going to stop Shikira from getting Tallgeese and killing herself in the process," Trowa stated as he put the visor down and took off after Shikira.
"Is there something going on between those two that I'm not knowing about?" Duo asked more to himself as he scratched his head and watched Trowa go off after Shikira. Quatre looked at him funny then sighed, shaking his head, and walking back into the base.
"What!?" Duo yelled as he followed him. Shikira looked behind her and noticed that Trowa was following her. She however, much to Trowa's surprise, did not increase her speed any. When Trowa pulled his bike up beside her's and pushed his visor up he yelled to her.
"Shikira stop! You know you can't do what you're setting out to do!" he yelled. Shikira merely turned to him, also pushing up her visor.
"Then I die trying!" she countered.
"That's a pointless death then, and a cowards way out of a war!" was his response and Shikira grew red with anger.
"I am no coward!" she yelled. Trowa looked ahead just in time to see a group of mobile dolls that were guarding the road to the base just up ahead of them. As quick as he could think, he launched himself off of his bike and tackled Shikira. He pushed her off of her bike and held her as the two rolled down a steep, grassy hill, moments later, their bikes impacting and exploding. Trowa winced slightly as he rolled over some sharp rocks, scraping at his back. He felt Shikira's grip on him tighten, her helmet having already been knocked off of her head, he held her to shield her from the rocks as they fell. They came to a rest at the bottom of the hill, Trowa laying on top of Shikira, both of them had their eyes closed and were wincing in pain, but trying so hard not to. Trowa opened his eyes slowly, and looked up at the mobile dolls leaving, heading towards some other battle that was most likely started by Heero or Wufei. He gave a sigh and collapsed to the ground, momentarily forgetting that Shikira was below him, until she gave a yell of pain. He looked down at her pale face and looked at her worriedly as he pushed himself off of her.
"Are you okay Shikira?" he asked her. She nodded and opened her eyes looking up at him still above her, just bracing himself off of her with his arms, blushing slightly.
"But can you get off of me?" she asked. Trowa slowly pushed himself to kneel in front of her as she sat up slowly. Their two helmets came rolling down the hill and stopped in front of them. By the time they had climbed up the hill it was close to dark.
"Ah! Shit!" Shikira said as Trowa climbed up onto the road beside her, in front of them was the burnt remains of their bikes.
"Well, I guess this means we're walking back," Trowa said as he stood up slowly holding back a wince of pain with his movements.
***
Heero and Wufei had returned to the base, they had only been told so much about Shikira's decision to attack Milliardo's Epyon, using the Tallgesse that Trieze was rebuilding.
"Don't worry about her Duo," Wufei said to the pacing Duo who seemed to be wearing the carpet down into a rut.
"Yeah Duo, she's with Trowa after all," Quatre stated. Duo stopped and looked at the three other pilots.
"That's what I'm afraid of!" he yelled. Heero glanced out the window and sighed somewhat.
"Don't worry Duo, here they are now," Heero told him. Duo and the other Gundam pilots walked out to see Trowa with his arm around Shikira's shoulders, Shikira's arm around Trowa's waist. Shikira was limping slightly and both of them had leaves and twigs in their hair, (not to mention the scratches on Trowa's back ^_^ *don't it paint a pretty picture?*).
"Shikira! What have you two been doing?!" Duo yelled. Shikira glanced at Trowa then looked at her brother who was rolling up his sleeves.
"You're dead man! Dead man walking! No one touches my sister!" he yelled, fortunately for Shikira and Trowa that Heero and Wufei held him back by the arms.
"What are you talking about Duo?" Trowa asked him and Duo merely glared at him.
"You know what I mean!" Duo yelled at him again. Quatre walked over and took Shikira from Trowa and looked at Duo.
"I told you so," he said and Duo growled slightly and looked at his sister, she already knew what he was going to ask.
"Our bikes crashed, blew up, we fell down the ridge, I sprained my ankle, and I did not! Repeat did NOT do anything with Trowa" she said her voice quieting at the end.
"I still don't believe it! Nor do I trust you with my sister anymore!" Duo said glaring daggers at Trowa.
"And you trust me with your sister?" Heero asked sarcastically.
"Hell yes! You two are both suicidal, I don't know who's worse!" he replied. Heero didn't know if that was an insult or not.
"Hey! Just be glad I didn't steal Deathscythe and push the 'button'" she snapped at him.
"You wouldn't!" Duo yelled. (Ah, sibling rivalry)
"Wanna make a bet?" she smirked all cute like and Trowa started to laugh at the situation then almost collapsed to the ground wincing in pain.
"I don't see what's so funny," Duo said. Quatre helped Shikira into the base while Wufei and Heero helped Trowa, following behind Quatre. Duo scratched his head again, then followed them inside. Once inside Quatre bandaged Trowa's back after he had placed Shikira on the couch.
"Thanks Quatre," Trowa said as he stood up slowly.
"No problem Trowa, I'm going to need you two to stay here tonight so I can keep an eye on your wounds," he said. Shikira and Trowa both nodded their heads. Duo grumbled as he walked to Shikira's room to grab a pillow and a blanket for her. Meanwhile Trowa sat on the couch beside Shikira and looked down at her thinking. He blinked slightly as she sat up just slightly and rested her head on his chest.
"I'm okay, just a bit…sore" she said as she yawned. Trowa smirked slightly and wrapped his arms around her as she yawned again and fell asleep. Shortly, Trowa and Shikira were both fast asleep, Trowa's arms still wrapped around her. Duo had finally returned with a pillow and blanket for his sister and stopped short in the door when he saw them and the objects in his hands dropped to the floor.
"What the…" Duo started to yell but was stopped as Heero put his hand over Duo's mouth. Quatre picked up the blanket and covered the two on the couch, he picked up the pillow at Duo's feet and tossed it to him.
"She doesn't need a pillow now," Quatre joked as Heero pulled Duo from the room. Quatre turned off the light and sighed, shaking his head slightly as he shut the door.
***
Trowa opened his eyes slowly, the pain in his back was still there. He was about to sit up when he felt someone leaning against him. Then he remembered…Shikira. He looked down and saw that Shikira had shifted some in her sleep and had wrapped her arms around his waist and had her face buried against his bare chest. He smiled slight and pushed a strand of her hair out of her face as he felt her warm breath flutter across his bare skin.
"You know, you're lucky Trowa" Quatre said as he walked into the room. Trowa looked up at Quatre and as he did Shikira shifted a tiny bit but remained asleep.
"Duo was going to kill you last night, he's still kind of pissed off too," Quatre said.
"I don't see why. I did nothing," Trowa responded.
"I know, but you know how protective he is. Especially of her," he stated. Shikira stirred again and opened her eyes, not sure where she was and yawned.
"Well, you're awake now," Trowa said. Shikira blushed as she now realized where she was and sat up blushing deeper seeing now that Quatre was in the room. Quatre just shook his head and walked out of the room. Shikira rubbed her ankle then stood up slowly. Trowa stood up beside her as she went to take a step, she winced and collapsed into Trowa's arms.
"Thanks Trowa," she said as she used his arms to stand up again.
"Don't worry about it," he said as he helped her walk out of the room. Once Shikira was sitting down, Trowa went to the hanger, to see how the repairs on Heavyarms and Starwing were coming along. Duo walked into the room where one of the doctors was bandaging Shikira's ankle, as soon as the doctor was gone, Duo looked at his sister and sighed.
"What?" she asked glaring at him.
"Oh, nothing much. Just wondering why you and Trowa are getting so close all of a sudden," Duo said crossing his arms over his chest.
"What are you talking about?" she snapped. Duo looked right at her.
"You know what I mean! The whole thing last night and sleeping like that with him! What is going on between you two?!" he yelled at her.
"Nothing is going on!" she stated. Duo just glared at her and she gladly returned the glare.
"Fine! Whatever!" he said and then left the room. Shikira stood up and slowly rotated her ankle and slowly made her way out of the room.
"That's what I call sibling rivalry," Wufei stated as he looked at her.
"It's not sibling rivalry!" she snapped. Wufei had his arms crossed over his chest and was leaning up against a wall, facing her, yet his eyes were closed.
"Then what was all that about?" he asked her.
"That...was an over protective brother who doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut! And apparently neither do you!" she snapped at him. Wufei just looked at her. Shikira growled and walked slowly out into the hanger where her Gundam, and now motorcycle, lay in pieces.
"Duo's upset about something," Trowa said as he stepped out of the shadows. Shikira glanced at him then looked back at her Gundam.
"He's just being over protective," she replied and once again leaned up against the railing with a heavy sigh. Trowa walked up in front of her and looked down at her.
"You're lucky you have him to look out for you," he said quietly.
"Yes, I know I am," she replied her voice just as quiet. Trowa leaned forward and kissed her gently. Shikira blinked a bit in surprise but closed her eyes and kissed him back. Just as Shikira was wrapped her arms around his neck, and he wrapped his arms around her slender waist, Duo was just entering the hanger and once again stopped short. The two didn't see him until he dropped the wrench that he was carrying, and it bounced and clattered on the concrete floor.
"Shikira?" he questioned. At the sound they both jumped back and looked to him.
"Ah, uh, Duo…it's not what you think," she tried to explain as Duo glared at Trowa.
"Hey man, I thought I told you not to touch my sister," Duo stated trying to keep his voice down. Shikira was about to say something when Trowa stepped away from her and began to walk towards Duo.
"Fine then, but you should know Duo, she isn't a little girl anymore," Trowa stated. Hearing this Duo balled his fist and threw it at Trowa's face, punching his right cheek. Trowa just looked at him, as if not registering the pain, a red mark on the side of his face from where Duo's knuckles had impacted. Then, both of them stopped whatever glaring contest was between them when they heard the sound of one of the stolen Taurus suits being powered up.
"Shikira! What are you doing?!" Duo yelled.
"What I should have done earlier!" she replied as the Taurus took off out of sight faster than would have been expected of one so broken down as it.
"Now where is she going?" Duo grumbled to no one specifically.
"She's gone to get the Tallgeese I would assume," Trowa replied as he turned and began to walk towards Heavyarms. Duo clenched his fists and cursed silently looking to where his sister had gone, then, climbed into the cockpit of Deathscythe.
***
By the time Heavyarms and Deathscythe had landed, all that was left was the White Taurus, Tallgeese was already gone and there was many destroyed OZ suits around the base.
"Damn! She's already headed for Zechs out in space! No way can she fight the Epyon with Tallgeese it just is impossible!" Duo cursed and yelled out.
"Self-detonation," Trowa whispered, but Duo caught it over the communication link up.
"You don't think she'd go that far do you?" Duo asked him.
"I don't know, it wouldn't be the first time she'd pressed it. Come on Duo, we've got to set aside our differences here and now, we have to help her," Trowa stated. Duo thought this over for only a second or two then set the co-ordinates for space.
"Let's get going then!" he said, then took off up to where Shikira would hopefully still be alive.
"Trowa, what's going on?" Quatre asked his voice coming in over the communication system.
"Shikira's got the Tallgeese," Trowa replied, he would explain no further, all the other pilots knew what Shikira had wanted to do ever since she had found out that Zechs had betrayed her and Relena. Once in space, Duo and Trowa could see the blasts coming from many Mobile Suits, though the numbers were gradually decreasing.
***
Shikira, inside of the Tallgeese, stood in front of the Epyon, or rather floated.
"You will regret facing me with my own Gundam!" Zechs yelled, still unaware of the pilot's identity, so he cared not for the pilot inside 'his' suit. Gathering Whitefang troops surrounded the two Gundams.
"Stand down! This is between me and 'him'!" Zechs commanded them. In a flash the two Gundams, Epyon and Tallgeese, were fighting at the pilots' full potential.
"You're very good…but not good enough!" Zechs yelled as he brought the Epyon's whip down at the Tallgeese. Shikira moved the energy sword so that the whip would wrap around it, immobilizing it for even a few seconds.
"Sir, I'm picking up two more Gundams heading this way," A Lt. Said over the Whitefang's communication system. Shikira had also picked up the two Gundams and flipped an open link on.
"Shikira, you want some backup?" Duo asked as Deathscythe and Heavyarms stopped in front of the Whitefang troops.
"No, not yet, you two watch your backs though," she stated. She then opened a communication link so that only Zechs could and the Gundam pilots would hear her. She looked up in time to see the Epyon slash the whip down, having freed itself, at the cockpit of the Tallgeese. As if on instinct she reached for the self-detonator and paused before pressing it, or tempting to press it.
"Sorry Duo…Trowa," she whispered and slammed her fist into the button.
"Shikira! Don't!" Duo yelled. Zechs, hearing this, stopped the whip from hitting its target. Shikira blinked and looked around, no sirens, no -boom- had happened.
"The detonator didn't work?" she questioned. Just that moment Wing0, Altron, and Sandrock stopped beside Deathscythe and Heavyarms.
"Whitefang troops retreat!" Zechs commanded. Slowly the Whitefang troops left, leaving the six Gundam pilots to once again descend to the earth. Once on the ground each climbed out of their Gundams and landed on the ground looking at one another.
"Shikira, you okay?" Heero asked, for once showing some sort of concern.
"Yes, I'm quite fine," she replied quietly. Duo walked up to his sister, stood in front of her for a moment then raised his hand and slapped her across the face. Shikira winced and put a hand on the reddening mark.
"Duo! What the hell was that for!" Shikira snapped at him.
"I'm trying to knock some sense into you! What did you think you were doing? Epyon against Tallgeese, you know that would never have worked!" he snapped back at her.
"Yup…definitely sibling rivalry," Wufei stated with a slight smirk pulling his lips.
"It is not sibling rivalry!" both Shikira and Duo yelled at him as they both turned to glare at Wufei. He decided to just keep his mouth shut for the time being and let the two argue as they wanted.
***
It was a week later after Shikira had gone after Zechs in the Tallgeese, and Starwing was close to being completed.
"Hey Duo, pass up that will you?" Shikira called down from the Gundam's cockpit to her brother. Duo grabbed the pliers that she had been referring to and tossed them up to his sister.
"What are you doing up there exactly?" he asked.
"Modifying the system in the Gundam," she replied. Duo looked at her funny, then it clicked in.
"You're not putting in the ZERO system are you?" he asked her as he started to climb up the scaffolding to where Shikira was.
"Um…no, why do you ask?" she replied. Duo sighed and shook his head.
"Because you're related to me, and you're crazy enough to actually install that thing into your Gundam," he replied. Shikira let out a small laugh and sat up wiping the grease off of her face. Duo smiled at her, he really hoped his sister wasn't joking around with him. He knew the extent of her thinking the scary thing was, it was so close to his.
"Awe, come on Duo, Lighten up, I'm not that crazy…yet," she stated and chucked her greasy rag at him.
"Oh, I'm not so sure, you are going out with Trowa after all," he said sarcastically.
"Hey! Now that's not funny!" she snapped at him. Duo had only sort of accepted the fact that his sister was as old as he was and needed to have a life separate from being a Gundam pilot.
"Oh, I thought that it was hilarious," Duo said. Shikira smirked as she started to climb down to the ground again.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Duo asked her.
"I'm going to see Trowa," she said jokingly and smirked. Duo started at her blankly then shook his head.
"Okay, okay, I take it back, now get up here before I do something to wreck you Gundam again," he said relatively serious. Shikira walked to the base of Starwing and looked up at him.
"You wouldn't, because then I would go do something to Deathscythe," she said smirking at him again.
"No way! You win, let's go, it's getting late anyway," Duo said as he hopped down from the scaffolding. Shikira looked at the Gundam a moment before she shut the lights off.
"Don't worry Starwing, tomorrow we'll have you back out in the battlefield," she though to herself as she shut the door and walked with Duo back to the base.
***
The six Gundams stood in front of the Mobile Doll troops and readied their already exhausted weapons. OZ had known somehow that they were coming and had sent out the brunt of their forces at once. The Gundams' energy was draining fast and not much was going to be able to be done.
"Think we should retreat?" Quatre asked over the communication link.
"No way! I say we fight to the end," Wufei stated. Starwing and Deathscythe were the first to make a move, Deathscythe's scythe taking out three dolls, while Starwing's double scythe split into two smaller ones.
"This isn't getting us anywhere you know?" Shikira stated as she was hit by several blasts from the Mobile Dolls, causing her forehead to slam against the control panel. She winced and ignored the blood that streamed down the side of her face now.
"Then what should we do?" Duo asked sarcastically. Trowa was about to respond when Shikira cut her communication link from the others and flew towards the center of the Mobile Dolls. Trowa had clenched his hands around the controls of Heavyarms and was looking on in shock.
"She's going to self-detonate!" Quatre yelled when sirens on her Gundam flared.
"Shikira! Don't!" Duo yelled. The Gundam pilots stared in shock as a massive explosion came from Starwing, destroying most of the Mobile dolls. Trowa had clenched his hands around the controls of Heavyarms and was looking on in shock.
"Come on Trowa! Let's get out of here!" a voice snapped at him pulling him out of thought. Trowa instantly followed behind the three other Gundams and retreated. For the first time since he could remember he was very close to tears. Duo was in the same state of shock and was about to self-detonate himself, when Heero's voice came over the link in his Gundam.
"Don't do it Duo! She did what she did, to save us, don't let her die just to have you kill yourself," Heero stated. Duo sighed, for once Heero had spoken the truth, clenching his fists her reluctantly followed the others, not glancing back at the morbid scene that was there.
