English is not my first language. Please bear with grammatical errors.
And for your information, my fic is based on the remastered version (but I watched the original version, too).
Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.
—Promises of Yesterday—
Shutting down his computer, Shinn rubbed his eyes. He had been chatting, and complaining, with his friends online about how adults tended to overreact for almost an hour. It was already past his bedtime. But he knew his parents were too busy checking for news to check up on him.
For the past couple weeks, the Earth Alliance had been strongly pressuring neutral countries to join it. And there had been a rumor that it had secretly threatened to use drastic measures. Some people even said warships had been sent to attack Orb.
Not only his parents but many adults had been uptight because of it, which in his opinion was rather ridiculous, though he wouldn't say it in front of his parents. It wasn't like Orb was going to start a war with the EA, right? Orb was a neutral country. Even though it didn't side with the EA, it wouldn't side with PLANT, either. Everyone knew it, including those crazy people in the EA. So why did the adults make such a fuss?
His parents had even canceled visiting a park, where his family often went camping, this weekend because it was three hours away from their house by car, which was too far in their opinion. They said it was better to stay close to home in case the situation became serious. They had not changed their mind no matter how much his sister begged.
He didn't mind not going to the park as much as his sister did. He would rather play with his friends than go out with his family.
But his parents insisted his sister and he tell them exactly where they were going and what time they were coming back, much to his annoyance. They had become upset when he had come home later than he had said this evening, even though he had been only twenty minutes late. His father had even threatened to ground him if he was late again.
Adults. He scoffed as he snuck out of his bedroom to go to bathroom. He could hear his parents talking in serious tones and the sound of the TV from their bedroom.
Shaking his head, he returned to his room, and his bed. As he reached out to turn the light off, the door creaked. His sleepy eyes turned in the direction.
"Can I sleep here?" His sister peeked from behind the door.
He sighed. "Sure. But I take the bed."
Mayu pouted, but hurried in the room, hugging her pillow and dragging a blanket.
He helped her pull out a thick rug from under his bed, which was kept there for times like this.
It wasn't unusual for his sister to sleep in his room. He sometimes even let her take his bed. Although she was rather a saucy girl, she was quite pampered, especially by him. Not that he admitted it in front of his friends. He had a reputation to protect.
Spreading her blanket on the rug, she asked, "Do you think we can go to the park next weekend?"
"Yeah. Or the weekend after next." He shrugged. "Mom said, everything'll go back to normal soon, right? Then we can."
"Yeah..." She paused thoughtfully before casting an upward glance at him. "You play hide-and-seek with me when we go there?"
He rolled his eyes. He was too old to play with his baby sister. When they visited the park, he usually spent time alone or played with boys around his age, or sometimes with his father if he insisted.
"Please?" She looked at him with her puppy dog eyes. He couldn't say no to those eyes.
He groaned. "Fine."
She broke into a wide grin. "You promised! Don't forget!"
"Yeah, yeah. Go to sleep already," he said, hoping she would forget the promise by the next time they went to the park.
She happily jumped under the blanket as he got back to the bed and turned the light off.
After several moments of silence, she quietly called to him, "Big Brother?"
He yawned. "What?"
"What if...those machines come to our house?" she asked in a worried voice. He remembered she had looked a little frightened while watching mobile suits fighting with a warship on TV.
"They won't."
"But what if they do?" she demanded.
"Then I'll protect you," he answered, not really thinking about it. He just wanted to go to sleep. Actually, he was half asleep.
"You promise?"
"Sure...I promise..." he mumbled, hearing her heave a relieved sigh and falling into an untroubled sleep.
It was the last peaceful night he spent with his sister, and his parents. The next day, the Orb government confirmed the rumors and ordered the citizens to evacuate. He couldn't really sleep that night, thousands of thoughts and emotions in his mind.
Then, the day after next, his family died during evacuation. He was left alone. All alone in this universe. Without anyone to protect him. Without anyone to protect.
Neo was the only adult Stellar liked. In fact, he was the only person she really liked. Other adults, either scientists or soldiers, weren't nice people. They talked to her roughly or coldly, never reassuring or encouraging her. They never patted her gently or playfully like Neo did.
Two boys she worked with, Sting and Auel, were fine. She liked them. But they weren't as nice as Neo. They sometimes said bad things, scary things. She couldn't remember exactly what they had said, but she remembered they had.
However, Neo had never said such things. He never frightened her. He always assured her that she would be all right when she was panicked or simply scared.
She didn't quite remember what she was afraid of. The only thing she remembered was that there were scary things like death, and bad people who tried to bring death to her.
She didn't know beyond that, or care. All that mattered to her was to do a good job so that Neo would smile and praise her. Like today.
During the training this afternoon, she had made a high score on the simulator, quite an improvement from last week.
"Well done, Stellar. I'm sure you can pilot the mobile suit really well after we seize it," Neo said in a satisfied and somewhat proud tone, checking her record.
He looked at her with a smile. "I suppose you deserve a reward. I promised Auel and Sting to buy some stuff, but for you..." He paused. "How about I take you to a beach? There's one about an hour away from here. I think we can get a half day off next week."
"Beach?" Her face lit up at the word.
"Yep. You like the sea, don't you?"
"Yes!"
He grinned. "It's settled then."
After he left to do some work, she danced happily. She loved the sea, and had seen it several times when aboard warships. But she had never been to a beach. Every time she saw, in photographs and videos, people playing with waves on a beach, she wanted to do it herself. She wanted to walk on the sand in bare feet, put them in the water, and—
Stopping suddenly, she tilted her head. For a second, she had felt odd...as if she had actually been on a beach and done those things before. But it couldn't be true.
She started dancing again, not really caring about the odd feeling. It wasn't important. She was too busy dancing and imagining what she would do on the beach Neo had promised to take her to.
She was so excited that she told Sting and Auel about the promise while they were eating supper at the cafeteria, which was unusual for her. She wasn't very chatty, and normally daydreamed without talking much with other people.
When she left the cafeteria, she even smiled, though softly, at a few scientists watching her with weird expressions.
···
"Stellar." The familiar voice stopped her.
She turned around to run down the corridor toward him. "Neo!"
She had just woken up from the sleep in "the cradle," which had been suddenly required for some reason. She didn't mind sleeping in it. She felt comfortable and protected there, and she liked it, though she had never liked the people with white coats who handled "the cradle."
"It's about what I promised you yesterday." Neo grinned. "It seems like we can take a whole day off."
She tilted her head. "What promise?"
He stared at her for several moments, and then looked in the direction of the room where "the cradle" was. His body was tense as if he was angry at something. She wondered if it was her. Did she do something bad?
"Neo?"
His face turned back to her. He didn't look angry anymore. Instead, he looked sad. Even though half his face was covered by a mask, she could tell, and she felt sad as well.
"Is Neo hurt? Scared?" She looked at him with worried eyes.
He put on a smile and patted her head. "No, I'm fine. Don't worry."
She smiled back, glad that he no longer had a sad face. "Stellar likes Neo."
His face softened. "I like you, too, Stellar." And then he whispered, "I'm sorry."
She blinked, not able to understand why he was sorry.
He shook his head with a smile. "Nothing. Never mind."
···
"No!" she screamed, "Don't! Someone's gonna die! It's scary! No!"
She was so frightened that she could think of nothing but escaping. She had to go to a safe place. Somewhere death couldn't reach. Somewhere no one could harm her. Somewhere no one died.
"I'll protect you!" The words pierced her mind, chasing away her panic and soothing her fear.
He...protects...Stellar?
Shinn was the first person who had ever promised that. Even Neo had not done it. She felt safe, warm, and happy.
So she gave him her treasure, a pink seashell she had found on a beach this morning. It was pretty. She liked pretty things and beautiful things. She was glad he liked it, too.
The seashell twinkled in his hand, reflecting the light from the fire, as if it was a seal of the promise.
*posted 05/20/16*