~ Chapter 11: Angel of Death ~
May 28, 2001
Arthur's Warning: This contains highly mushy content. Awww… So… If you hate that stuff--- I advise you not to read…
(Artemis POV)
The meeting had really boring. I listened to delegates drone on and on and on. Because I headed my colony, I was also a delegate. After the droning and more droning. I was about to leave when all these men came up to me and asked me if I wanted to dance. I obliged one or two of them but then I said I really had to go and made a hasty exit. The clock read 8. Sigh. It was only a two-hour meeting. Why did it seem so long?
"Wait! Miss Artemis!" a voice rang out behind me. I turned around to spot Quatre. What was he doing here? He wasn't a delegate! Or maybe he was. I saw the emblem on his left chest.
"Yes Mr. Winner?" I asked politely.
"I was wondering how the new recruits are doing."
"I believe that they are fine. Now if you'll excuse me please."
"Certainly. I wanted to ask a favor of you though."
"Go ahead." Quatre looked sheepish for a while.
"Well. I was wondering if I could spend a day or two at the Academy to see how it was. I mean I would like to see how the technology from my company is benefiting and…"
"Of course. I'll make plans with you later. I'm very sorry. I really have to go." I said. Then I went to my car before he could say anything else. I was happy that the delegation wasn't too far from the campus.
I arrived at Heero's dorm in no time. He was waiting for me outside. "Sorry I'm late… Aren't you going to change into your bathing suit? It's a warm night and the pool is heated. In fact, it's secluded in my conservatory (1) He looked uncomfortable for a while.
"I thought that I could change at the pool."
"Okay." Well. One way or another, I was going to reveal him as Heero, not as Tyra. When we arrived, he was hesitant to change. After some coaxing I was able to get him in the bathroom so that he could change. I didn't wait for him. Maybe it would be easier if I went in first and didn't notice him. The water cascaded down from the faucets. It was more like a huge hot tub then a pool. The water was filtered and there was no chlorine. I despised chlorine. I jumped into the pool. It was warm and comforting.
He finally came out. I pretended not to notice him or to see him very well because of the shadows. At night, I removed the 'artificial' sky and allowed space to be easily seen. It was a beautiful starry night. I just stared at the sky for a while then closed my eyes.
I woke up to be held in someone's arms. At first I thought it was a dream, but in reality Heero was holding me. "You almost drowned. You fell asleep," Heero explained looking somewhat sheepish. After trying to save me, the top part of his swimsuit had become crooked and he obviously couldn't hide what he was lacking. I giggled slightly and rolled out of his arms.
"Heero Yuy," I said, "How long did you think you could keep this a secret?" For every syllable, I walked closer to him. As if he was intimidated because I knew his secret, He began to back up until he hit the side of the pool. "I don't bite Heero. I've known about you since this morning. And about this…" My hand went from the water and straight for his neck. However, he saw it coming and grabbed my wrist. I glared at him before using my feet to hit the side of the wall and kick out. He let go immediately. "Doors lock!" I commanded. The security system closed the door and locked it, letting no one in or out without the correct password. All my servants knew the password, but Heero did not. It would take a lot more than him to hack into it. Instead of getting out of the pool, he swam directly at me. He threw the top off casting it aside. He came charging at me with the anger of a bull. I lightly swam away. Soon he came chasing after me. This was now a battle for my life. I knew that Heero would probably kill me if he caught me. For a while we swam around the pool. Then I got out and hid behind some of the trees that were growing around. We played 'hide and seek' for a while. It ended when Heero sneaked up behind me and charged at me throwing both of us into the pool again. I tried to swim away but he caught my ankle before I could and then pinned me against the side of the pool wall. I whimpered using my innocent, please don't hurt me act. The dangerous glint in his eyes showed me that it wouldn't work. Not on a trained gundam pilot with no emotions.
(Heero's POV)
I just stared at her downcast eyes. She was avoiding eye contact with me. The thought of her finding out angered me at first and I swam after her when she first told me. But then when I was trying to catch her, I figured that she would have probably figured out because she was the Angel. I decided to scare her a little more by continuing to run after her. I still had to make sure that she didn't tell anyone.
When I first pinned her down she whimpered. I knew it was an act for me to let go of her. I wouldn't let her. Now she looked so innocent. My emotions said to let go of her. My training told me to destroy her. "Look up." I said.
Slowly her eyes flitted up to match my gaze. She looked frightened of me. Could she really be afraid of me? We were equals in almost everything. It never occurred to me that she was weaker than I was. She was a girl though. No matter how much engineering she had done on herself, she would always be weaker physically to me. I softened my gaze and looked at her…
(Artemis and Heero POV) (2)
I looked at him. He did seem a bit nicer now. His gaze had softened. "I'll let you go if you tell me one thing and promise me that you won't tell anyone about this," he said. I nodded. The pressure that he was applying to my wrists hurt. I knew that I would have bruises on them tomorrow. "Tell me Artemis. Are you the Angel of Death?"
~~
I watched at surprised features. "How did you know?" she asked straining to make my hands let go.
"Simple… Angel… you fight just like her and your absence from the human world is only filled by the presence of Artemis. Tell me one thing…" I let go of her wrists. She made no attempt to run away. "Tell me. If Angel was alive for over 2000 years. Tell me how she survived." I could see that it was a delicate subject for her. Tears welled in her eyes. For an instant, I thought about taking that back. She didn't have to tell. She then finally began to speak.
"Around 2000 years ago, my occupation in life was as a scientist. I had a private laboratory in the mountains of Earth. There I worked with radioactive substances. I was twenty-years old then and that is the age of my body now. One day, there was a blast. I had accidentally mixed two highly reactive substances together. The result was disastrous. It destroyed my whole lab. I was subject to its radiation. Almost nothing remained except for the information that was kept in an indestructible box made of gundamium. All my experiments were all in there. No one knew I had a laboratory in the mountains, so no one knew about the explosion. After a few days of being trapped under the rubble, I found that I could move it a bit. After a while, I was able to squeeze my way out along with the box. A few years passed. My body was almost completely healed."
"I decided to work again, just this time without the radioactive substances. I conducted scans on myself to see the extent of the blast. It showed that I was immune to almost all diseases, could not age, but could not reproduce. My genetic codes had been altered. The aging gene was mutated along with many other genes. I had become faster, stronger, and smarter. This is the reason I could live for so long. I lived for many, many years. I always changed aliases, so the government could not keep up with me. I hacked into their files and added new files on my new aliases."
"I also enjoyed building. After twenty years, I built my first mobile suit. I called it Fate. It was also the time of a catastrophic war. I hated the bloodshed. I fought in the war. The fact that Fate was made of gundanium made it virtually indestructible. After a battle, almost no one was left standing on the battleground. I walked through the midst of the dead bodies and heard a groan. I will never forget that day. The horror stricken faces of fallen men just before they met their doom. The groan came from a soldier. He was mortally wounded. I guess from the sympathy out of my heart, I decided to help him. There was the chance that he would heal. I took him back to my base where I put him in a cryogenic tube. There he healed. When I applied medicines or balms, I always wore a mask. The same design that you see today. When the man was about to leave he addressed me as an angel. No. The Angel of Death. That is my nickname from now on." She stopped talking. Tears poured down her cheeks. Unconsciously, I raised my hand and traced her cheek and wiped away the tears.
"Alright. You don't need to speak anymore. Can you tell me one more thing? Tell me what your original name was?" She just looked at me blankly.
"I don't know. I don't remember. It's been so long ago," she whispered. Silent tears coursed down her face.
"Are you still radioactive angel?" I asked smiling. She looked up. I saw a small smile.
"No."
"Then. I'm allowed to do this right?" I said lifting her cheek up and pressing my lips to hers gently. Lightly. Then I pulled away unable to believe what I had just done. She seemed happy enough though. She made a sound like a cat and put her head on my shoulder again. I kissed her forehead and carried her out of the water.
I toweled her off and lay down on a lawn chair with her in my lap. She was sleeping now. I probably wouldn't be able to hack into the security system anyway. I let her sleep while I thought about her story. So sad. My poor little angel. 'When was she my poor little angel?' That was my last thought before sleep overtook me.
- Yes I have a conservatory in my house… So :P….
- I know this is a lil' hard to do, and it can get confusing after a while, but you'll figure it out… It would be annoying to keep switching POVs anyway.