Chapter 6: Tormented Past
Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or the Armored Core games, only Keith Oswell and Black Dragon
Vandread Raven
Inside the Nirvana, two bodies are being rushed to the infirmary on stretchers.
Duero said, "Surface wound to the head and a ruptured spleen. She has a visually fractured femur."
Hibiki wondered, "Just what the hell were those two doing?"
Flashback
Keith was locked in combat with an enemy he knows all too well, the terrorist and murderer of Katrina: Adam Archer! His NEXT Black Heart was fully repaired and fitted with new weapons to counter Black Dragon's. Their beam sabers clash. The Harvesters are proving to be more persistent than the Nirvana crew thought.
Barnette growled, "Man, no matter how many we take down, they still keep coming!"
Keith ordered, "Calm down, Barnette. It's no good if you're hot headed." Yesterday, Keith was appointed second-in command of the Dreads after Meia. Though the pilots were at first shocked by this new development but after Keith was ordered to submit his piloting records, they begin to see why this happened. Barnette took his advice and calmed herself, for a long time now she has grown to accept him and figured out that Meia found someone she could trust at some level. Bit by bit even Barnette began to feel her hatred towards men fade away thanks to Keith's presence.
Adam said, "Keith, I'm sure you must have a thought that has been burning at your mind for years. You really want to know the day you lost your parents at a power plant fire? Well, listen close I set that fire!"
Keith asked, "What?"
Adam furthered "I started it because you were weak as a child and you're still weak now. And there is no room for the weak in this universe, only the strong will survive."
Keith seethed, "You're a psychopath! I should've finished you off at Arteria Cranium!"
His enemy told him, "It's not me you need to be worried about. I'm not the only threat here, Keith. The Harvesters brought more than just their usual force."
A Dread pilot said, "What is that giant machine?" Black Dragon turns around to see what the pilot meant.
Keith looks at the machine, it was green in color, huge in size and had beams of blue light sticking out of both sides of the bow. Only one machine had this design.
Keith exclaimed, "A Stigro Arms Fort? How the hell did the Harvesters get their hands on this technology?" What shocked him more was that it was targeting Meia. Keith blindly went to help his leader, when got there the Dread was already badly damaged and Meia was unconscious. A warning alarm snapped Keith out of his inspection of Meia and turned around in time to see the Arms Fort coming at him, it activated its large blades and sliced off Black Dragon's left leg and pounded the rest of its body with missiles. Inside the cockpit the intense vibration thrashed Keith around then a sickening crack of bone was heard as his right hand broke and burned even though Keith was wearing his g-suit, gloves and boots. He screamed in absolute agony. Shrapnel tore into his calves and was knocked out. The last thing he heard was Gascogne saying she was coming to get them and a maniacal laughter from Adam seeing that he thought he finally got rid of the Oswell family, who were famous for their expertise in the field of medicine.
End of flashback
Duero shouted, "CLEAR THE EMERGANCY ROOM!" The doors to the ER open and Paiway gasps at the sight of who the injured are. It was none other than Keith and Meia! The Dread leader's circlet falls to the ground as Duero and Paiway hook Meia up to a vital monitoring machine. When Duero removes Keith's dark blue g-suit and helmet, he is grossed out. Keith was in worse shape than his leader. The Dreads return to the Nirvana for re-supplying and for the pilots to rethink their strategy. With Keith and Meia out cold, the tide of battle takes a huge nose dive.
As Meia starts a trip down memory lane so does Keith
Keith's flashback
"You have the potential to be anything when you grow up, son." Keith's mother said.
"You can even be a toxicologist." His father said.
'What's this?' Keith thought. Then he saw himself when he was 6 years old and with his parents. 'Now I see. This is my past when I was still a happy boy.' Keith mentally answered himself. Then he saw the incident that changed his life before he became a Lynx.
On the outside of the two unconscious pilots, they let out a tear simultaneously. Paiway saw it and was taken back, noticing the surprised sound Duero looks at them.
Paiway said, "This is the first time I've seen Meia cry but I've never seen Keith cry."
The Tarak doctor can only wonder what the two are experiencing.
Morality on the Nirvana's bridge plummeted as well. The battle isn't going well without their leaders and for a fact that Keith has knowledge about the weakness of every Arms Fort he fought that can really help the crew. BC places a hand on a control console and clenched her teeth in frustration.
She said, "It seems we have taken Meia's leadership for granted, we neglected to train a sub-leader in the event she was seriously injured."
"If I heard that before he came into the picture, I think Meia would still be too stubborn to allow us to train one." Magno said as she got the sub-commander's attention, "Before Keith came she avoided contact with anyone unless necessary. She avoided relying on others but then he came and changed all that! Then he acted foolishly when he tried to check on her when he knew that an enemy was targeting him."
As the captain began to explain Meia's past behaviour, Keith experiences more images of his own past. Then the Pexis uses its immense power to open monitors on every section of the ship as if it wanted to show the crew what Keith was like as he grew up.
Keith's dad told his son, "Okay, Keith we're going to the commissioning of a power plant that has been completed recently, we won't be back until 9:28 p.m. If you need anyting call Kate."
Keith replied, "Understood, Pops." After his mother gives him a kiss on the forehead, the parents leave.
It reaches 9:30 p.m. and his parents haven't come home so Keith turned on the T.V. to hear the female news caster say, "An explosion has occurred at the Utah power plant. The blast went off around 9:18 p.m. as workers and visitors were preparing for the commissioning ceremony. Firefighters are struggling against the raging inferno and rescue workers are having difficulty gaining access. Many people are trapped inside the burning structure."
Growing worried about his mom and dad's safety, Keith calls Kate.
After Kate answers the phone he said, "Kate, it's me, Keith. Where are my parents? They said they'd be back around 9:28 p.m. it's 9:30 now and they haven't returned. I really want to talk to them."
Kate asked, "None of your relatives have told you?"
Keith said, "Told me what?"
Kate informed regretfully, "Ryan and Serena Oswell were caught in the explosion, they're dead Keith. I'm sorry." After that sentence Keith hangs up in shock.
He mumbled, "My parents are dead?" Hearing Kate say those words was like driving a stake through his heart. Then he hears the rotating blades of a helicopter. The searchlight is aiming at him. It takes Keith a second to realize that he was being targeted by terrorists. He immediately gets to his feet and runs as rockets are fired. Keith manages to reach his dad's hunting room. Inside it was his trusting M-37 shotgun and by chance a box of shells are lying next to it. Keith grabs them and a hunting knife then heads to a safe location. He finds his basement bedroom he locks the door and shuts the blinds. Keith loads the shotgun and quietly cocks it and sheaths the knife. He does a small prayer before unlocking his door. He sees a shadow approaching. The terrorists are doing a quick search for Keith. The 6-year old hid in a dark corridor and waits for the terrorist to pass right by him.
'Come closer, that's it. Just a little more now!' He mentally shouted. Keith grabs the foe and swiftly stabs him in the heart. He whispered, "You picked the wrong family to mess with, pal." After dealing with that jerk, Keith goes on a rampage killing every terrorist in his destroyed house before taking out the chopper. But he knows this won't bring his parents back from the dead. He tosses the shotgun away but keeps the knife.
A few months later he wanders the street with his clothes covered in his enemy's blood, crying for his mother. When a thunderstorm happens, Keith seeks shelter underneath the steps of an apartment. His black hair had grown out to a point where it almost covers his eyes and he hasn't slept for weeks. Suddenly he hears footsteps approaching then stop. He looks up to see a girl with short blue hair, violet eyes, and wearing a Collared badge on her shirt. She stares at him with sympathy then a places a hand on his cold cheek. He blushes from it.
The girl said, "My name is Katrina! What's yours?"
Keith answered, "K-Keith Oswell." Katrina's eyes widen. She thought he died in that attack on his home but she's looking at him.
She cried, "I heard that your parents died in the Utah power plant explosion, I'm sorry to hear that." Keith averts his gaze from her.
Seeing this, Katrina offered, "Come with me to Collared. I'll give you a new reason to live and fight those who threaten to take your life." Keith looks back at her with hope in his eyes. She offers a hand to him with a smile. Keith takes it without hesitation. The two head back to Collared.
Katrina said, "Now the first thing we need to do is cut this long hair of yours." They stop at a cutting salon where the barber began to cut his hair to medium length after it was complete, Keith's black hair now hung above his ears. The barber grabs a mirror and shows Keith his newly trimmed hair; he smiles at the reflection he got. Next Katrina buys Keith some new clothes then they head to Katrina's room after registering Keith as a NEXT pilot. The 6-year old American heads to the bathroom, removes his ruined clothing and hops into the shower. The warm water begins to cascade down his body, removing all the nasty dirt and pebbles from him. After 5 minutes later he gets out and dries himself off then puts on the new clothes that Katrina bought which were a dragon patterned underwear, dark blue jeans, and a dark blue shirt. When he steps out of the bathroom and Katrina turns to face him, she blushes. She was utterly speechless by Keith wearing his new clothes.
'My goodness he looks nice in those.' She thought.
Keith said, "Um, Katrina you can stop staring at me."
She snaps out of her trance and tells him that it was time for him to start training. Being a NEXT pilot is a hard job and only the bravest will succeed but Katrina sees that Keith has the potential to be the best one in the history of Collared.
Keith proved that he was a quick learner and how quickly he can adapt to any situation. This impressed Katrina to no end, she begins to develop feelings toward him for his bravery and skills. After a full month of training Keith was granted the title of Lynx. He designs the NEXT he wishes to pilot.
He chooses the L01-TELLUS humanoid legs, the EKHAZER core part designed for three dimensional combat, ARGYSOS/A arms that have high defenses and great PA (Primal Armor) ratification, the MHD-RE/008 head part, a powerful pair of main, back, side, and overed boosters. For its armament Keith selects the WADOU grenade rifle, 07-Moonlight laser blade, OGOTO grenade cannon, WHEELING 01 multi-chain missile launcher, NEMAHA 01 shoulder unit, and 074ANO101 large stabilizers one resting on the middle part of both legs. He paints the Armored Core black leaving the neck, joints and lower back of the legs gray and colors its eyes red. Lastly he imprints a dragon emblem on the left arm.
Katrina asked, "What do you want to call this, Keith?"
Keith answered, "I'll call it Black Dragon!"
10 years later, Keith reaches 16 years of age and Katrina reaches 17. For his first 2 years as a pilot Keith relied on the AMS to help him out through his missions but now that he's been suffering migraine-like headaches from overusing the Allegory Manipulation System, Keith rarely relies on it. Keith and his mentor have been climbing the ranks recently. It's hard to describe the sensation when Keith and Katrina are on the battlefield together they have been dubbed by their enemies as "The Demons of Hell!" It sends chills up the enemy's spine just by looking at Black Dragon and Red Angel standing side by side.
They have defeated the two NEXTs protecting Arteria Cranium though it came at a heavy price Katrina sacrificed herself to save Keith's life. He watches the ORCA brigade's anti-satellite batteries fire round after round of beam attacks up into Earth's orbit to remove the Assault Cells. Desperate to save his blue-haired friend's life, he tries to revive Katrina with some of his life force but to no avail. Katrina dies.
Feeling that he failed to protect her, he was overwhelmed with grief. He said, "Katrina!" He takes in a big gulp of air and screams into the sky, "NOOOOOOO!"
End of Kieth's flashback
Keith opens his eyes after being knocked out and monitors all over the Nirvana close in response to this. Now virtually the entire crew understands why Keith's been an emotional wreck. He starts to get up only to be stopped by Duero.
He said, "Easy there. I don't want you slipping in and out of consciousness."
Keith said, "Hey doc, what are my injuries?"
The Tarak doctor responded, "You have two cracked ribs, a broken and burnt right hand, lacerations on your calves, and a Pexis fragment that was in your NEXT has lodged itself just above your left eye socket (ouch)."
Keith laughed weakly, "Ha ha, I've been through worse. That huge green machine that attacked me is an Arms Fort. Open a channel to the bridge." Duero nods and pushes a button. A monitor on the bridge shows Keith's face to the occupants.
Keith said, "Captain, that huge machine that attacked Meia and I is a Stigro Arms Fort. Its main strength is its speed. We should be passing through an asteroid field, if you can lure it into the field, Stigro will collide with asteroids, thus cutting its speed and that will give the chance to attack it. Tell the Dreads that!" He ends the transmission.
Then something comes across Keith's mind.
He asked, "Hey, Duero. How's Meia doing?" He saw the doctor's eyes sadden a bit.
Duero answered, "I'm afraid her condition's not improving. It's not the physical injuries I am worried about; it's the Pexis fragment that lodged itself into her head. It's attacking her brain in strange ways." Keith looks at his leader and for a second saw an image of Katrina. He makes a decision. Duero hears the sound of objects crashing. He turns to see Keith struggling to his feet.
He said, "Stop! Don't injure yourself anymore than you already are!"
Keith fired back, "Doc, let me go to Meia's side. I have a way of saving her. Please." Seeing that he had no choice, Duero gives Keith a chair that he gladly took and sat at the blue-haired woman's bedside.
The American teen told her, "Meia, please don't leaves us. This crew needs you." He grabs her left hand and holds it in his right hand, "I need you. I can't command the Dreads by myself." Just then the Pexis fragment above his left eye socket glows and Meia's head begins to glow as well. Keith wonders what this meant until he finds himself in what appears to be a bedroom.
"Don't despise your Ohma, she is really wonderful." Keith looks left and right to find out where this motherly voice was coming from, "She's a little hard to approach but she is an honest person who helps those in need and these are the reasons I fell in love with her and also the reason why you were born because of that. I'm sure you will understand one when someone really important shows up in your life." The young Lynx seems to understand how a relationship works on Mejale, it is no different than a relationship between a man and woman on Earth.
Keith then heard a familiar voice and it was Meia, well not the one in the present, but her younger self from her memories, "I don't need someone like that. Not unless they get hurt because of me." He heard a hint of sadness in that voice. Now Keith understands why Meia acts the way she does around others.
"Meia, falling in love with someone is a wonderful thing." Keith looks at her mother, "You become strong because there is someone to care about."
Meia sobbed and yelled at her mother, "No! You become weak because of it! Don't you get it yet? Don't you see whose fault it is for us feeling this way?" Keith is really tempted to slap her for saying such a thing but another part of him is telling him not to do it.
Meia's mother let out a sad sigh and said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have involved you in this."
Meia gasped and turned to see that her mother wasn't there, 'I've always regretted saying that, and I wanted to apologize but no matter what I say, she won't hear it.'
This made Keith take action.
He said, "Don't think such a foolish thing!" Meia turned to see her sub-leader, which made turn back to her original appearance.
She asked, "Keith, what are you doing here?"
The American teen told her, "Your mother will always hear your apology, Meia." As he walks toward her the scenery changes into a flower field, "Even if you don't get an answer from her, she'll always hear it if you put enough of your heart into the apology."
"How would you know? You've never lost anyone important to you." When she said that it was not out of anger but of sadness.
Keith gave a sad smile, "Guess again." Then his memories started to play in front of them. Meia was surprised to see a relationship between men and women. What surprised her the most were the incidents that took both his parents and mentor away from him.
That's when Black Dragon's voice appeared out of nowhere.
It spoke with a female voice, "At one time, Keith and Katrina were inseparable!"
Katrina said in the memory, "You and me that's what makes us unique we share a powerful bond. If you're feeling depressed you can speak to me."
Black Dragon continued, "Keith became an emotional human being. It was Katrina who taught Keith those human qualities meaning he's got feelings now." Then the voice fades away.
Keith said, "Like you, Meia I wanted to become stronger so I could make sure that something like that never happens again. I still think it was my fault for not paying closer attention to my mentor during the attack on Arteria Cranium. I'm struggling to free myself of that regret. So please, don't choose death. I don't want you to suffer the same fate that Katrina did." He averts his gaze from her to hide the pain on his face, "I don't want to be left alone again."
Feeling that he feels the same way she does, Meia goes up to him and embraced him in a comforting hug, "I won't as long as you're there with me." This embrace calms Keith down. He looks into her eyes and time froze.
Keith asked her something he yearned for, "Does this make us friends?" She nods her head and this has a positive effect on Keith. He closes his eyes and leans in closer. Seeming to get the message she begins to close her eyes too, when their lips were about to meet a blinding light appears. Meia opens her eyes as the blinding light fades to see the crying faces of Parfet and Paiway.
Pafet said with twin stream of tears, "You came back."
Paiway said, "Keith saved you."
Meia breathed in with a smile on her face, "Oh, stop it you two." She feels her head but doesn't feel her circlet and starts to panic.
Keith called out, "Don't worry, Meia. It's right here." He shows the item in his left hand. He gives it to her.
Meia smiled, "Thank you."
All of a sudden Keith starts crying while hugging Meia regardless that she is bare around her chest. He ignored the feeling of her breasts pressing against him.
Keith told her, "I thought I lost you, it's just like I told you before I'd be sad if you died." Meia instinctively wrapped her arms around him. She is confused by this sudden display of emotion from her subordinate.
'Is Keith crying because I chose to live? I guess Black Dragon was right, Keith really does have feelings.' Meia thought as she looks at him.
After hearing that both of their leaders are okay, everything returns to normal. At the moment nearly the entire ship is quiet except a few doing things.
BC types in a bridge control console.
Ezra rubs her growing stomach as she looks at the endless blanket of stars outside the garden's window.
Duero does a medical log with a sleeping Paiway behind him.
Meia puts her flight suit on and walks around, trying to sort out what might have happened in her mindscape and what she was starting to feel around Keith. When she enters the cafeteria, there are plates stacked upon plates. Earlier the crew had a massive celebration not only for thwarting the Harvesters' plan again but also that they managed to destroy the Arms Fort Stigro thanks to Keith's knowledge on Arms Forts. What's more is that they managed to do it without Meia's help. Normally she wouldn't stand for such misbehavior but decides to let it slip this one time. She finds out that Keith isn't here though he joined in for the celebration he ate his fill and stayed for a bit before going to bed. So the Dread leader heads for his room. When the door opens Meia discovers that Keith didn't lock it there on the bed was the 16-year old American peacefully asleep. She walks up to him and studies his sleeping form.
"They all did their best out there." A voice said.
Meia turned to see Magno, "Oh, it's you captain."
"It's ironic to find someone that has some of your traits but he seems to be more attuned to his feelings but because of that him and that boy have won everyone's hearts and right underneath our noses at that." Magno said as she covered Keith with a blanket, "As far as I can see, you two are very much like each other, you and this teen. The only thing stopping you two is either if you can express feelings to each other."
Meia said quietly, "Captain, I..."
Magno asked with a smile, "Meia isn't it time you find some forgiveness, for yourself that is?"
Taken back by this, she looks at the person who stood by her bedside even though he was still injured. She answered with a small smile, "I think I already have."
A/N: That's chapter 6 done. There are two things I need to lay down.
First, I decided that this chapter to be a little emotional because what good is a romance story if there isn't emotional scenes? I also decided to add Black Dragon being assembled in this chapter.
Second, I'm a little edgy right now because I was under a Tornado Warning Tuesday and yesterday. I kept asking myself "Is my house going to be hit next?"
With that out of the way, read and review.
Chapter 7 will be up soon.
Vader 23A.
