A/N: You lucky devils, two chapters and a side story in one day! Yes, yes I am that awesome. Actually no, I just did some writing over the semester break and was too lazy to upload the chapters as I finished them so for one day only, a triple update!
Now there are things in this chapter that I'm sure are incorrect, Mu's torture technique for example, however due to the nature of these things, I couldn't exactly Google it to make sure I was getting it right; I'd be put on the government watch list for sure so I'm calling creative license. You have a problem with it, you research it and get put on your government watch list. I'm not about to take a risk like that for some fun writing.
The mass update will be the last for a while; semester has started again and I'm looking for an apartment. My free time is going to be non-existent so this should tide you over until September break where I might get a chance to write.
OK, enough ramble- on with the show! This chapter is a lot darker than the others so read with caution. Oh and this is also unBeta'd so there might be some mistakes. I'll fix those in due time.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED.
Sai's screams intermingled with Kira's causing Miriallia to take refuge under her covers and pillow. Tears streamed down her face and she fought not to break down, knowing that was exactly what their sadistic captor wanted. On the other side of the room, she could hear Flay's quiet whimpers and pleas for the sounds to stop but experience told her that they still had another ten minutes of sound track before silence would return.
Over the past six weeks the situation they'd found themselves in had steadily degenerated into the horror show they were living at the moment. Initially their duties had gotten more difficult and their food rations got smaller and poorer in quality. Once it was evident that they'd truly lost the Versailius' trail, and with it any chance of recovering Kira and the Strike, the attitudes of the Archangel leaders hardened.
The next day, they were moved from their upper level quarters to some of the lower rooms in the ship. Flay and she had just finished unpacking when La Flaga had entered their room.
Flashback
"Are your new quarters to your liking ladies?" the blonde lieutenant asked as he stood in the doorway, effectively blocking any escape.
The two girls just nodded, not wanting to risk invoking the man's temper. They'd already seen that he had no qualms about striking a female.
"The best thing about them is that they're completely sound proof," Mu continued as he entered the room completely and shut the door "no one will be able to hear a thing from down here. And without your little coordinator friend here to protect you, we can finally get 'acquainted'"
While he had been talking, Mu had steered Miriallia closer to Flay and was backing the two girls into a corner of the room. When her back met the wall, Flay clutched at her companion fearfully; they were trapped.
Mu reached a hand towards the red-haired girl, who flinched away. His other ran up Miriallia's exposed thigh and stopped at the edge of her skirt. The brunette closed her eyes, tensing and wishing that she had never chosen the Archangel to do her final project on. She felt hot breath on her neck and Flay trembling next to her. Pounding on their door saved them and as La Flaga stepped back, Miriallia's legs couldn't hold her weight any longer and she slid to the floor, feeling Flay's arms come around her shoulders.
"Lieutenant, you are needed on the Bridge. Ensign Badgiruel says that now's not the time for fun and games; we still need to win the war" the runner relayed
"Bitch," La Flaga groused before stalking towards the door "well it's been fun ladies but we'll have to continue this later. We still need to get acquainted with each other."
End flashback
Flay's whimpers quieted as the recording finished. A quick glance at the clock showed half past one in the morning. She squeezed her eyes together to supress the tears. An early scare meant that either they'd be getting a visit or another taste of the soundtrack. The restless turning from the other occupant in the room caused Miriallia to speak up.
"Flay you okay?" she asked softly
A shifting of the covers and Flay emerged. Miriallia could see her tears even in the dim light. Getting out of her bed and grabbing a pillow, she crossed the room and slipped in beside the red-head. Wrapping her arms around the girl who'd unknowingly got them into this mess, she tried to comfort her. Flay broke down and sobbed into her pillow, mumbling apologies all the while. Miriallia said nothing but continued to hold the spoilt girl; her own tears gathering in her eyes. She hoped that they reached Orb soon; she wasn't sure how much more of this they could all take.
Tolle jerked awake suddenly, unsure what had woken him. He turned his head to see that the light in the bathroom was on. The sound of retching was the next thing that he perceived and he knew immediately whom it was.
Tolle gave Sai his space while he fished out the extra blanket that Flay had gotten from one of the other rooms in the Archangel and some aspirin that he'd happened to have in his pack while they were busy with the project. The previous day, Sai'd been shocked no less than eight times during his interrogation and Tolle knew that he'd have about the same today. Lieutenant La Flaga had been trying to pull any and all information about Kira but the two boys hadn't been making it easy. Kuzzey hadn't been called upon as often as they had so he'd taken to being their medic whenever they came back from a session. Also, they hadn't seen the girls in a couple of weeks and hoped that La Flaga hadn't laid a hand on them.
The bathroom light clicked off and Tolle handed the older boy the extra blanket and the aspirin, knowing that it would help with the residual pain.
"You okay Sai?" Kuzzey whispered into the darkness
"Yeah, I'm cool," came the tired sounding reply.
"You think the girls are fine?" Tolle asked
Sai turned until he was lying on his back. His thoughts turned to his fiancée and his project partner and what Flay had told them had happened the first day they were down here. He sighed "I hope so Tolle, I sincerely hope so."
Miriallia yawned as she made her way to the Bridge for her shift. After their early morning wake up she hadn't been able to go back to sleep for fear of a visit from the blonde lieutenant. Her thoughts turned to her missing friend and she felt her heart give a painful squeeze 'I hope Kira's okay even with the ZAFT soldiers. At least it will be better than what was happening to him here.'
She paused at the Bridge doors, steeling herself for the glares she knew she would be subjected to. At least she'd see one of the guys on the shift today even though they wouldn't be able to communicate.
"Hey pretty kitty," a cold voice said from behind her. "The lieutenant would like to meet with you in the downstairs briefing room after your shift. Then maybe later you and I can get together for a little…chat"
The brunette held still as hands roamed her body before the officer punched in the access code and entered the room. She cleared her eyes of the few tears that sprung up before squaring her shoulders and entering.
Tolle forced himself to remain impassive as he was strapped into his chair facing a mirror. Behind him, he saw Mu preparing the electrodes that would soon be attached to his chest and back. The grin that the blonde wore was unsettling and spoke of unconditional victory. This was especially confusing since Tolle knew that none of them had given any useful information out about their missing friend.
"Well it seems you and your friends are tougher than you look. Six weeks and you've still managed to keep your silence." Mu said conversationally as he attached the electrodes on Tolle's exposed chest. "That just won't do, it won't do at all; especially since we're due to dock on Artemis within the next twenty-four hours. So here's what we're going to do; you're going to tell me everything I want to know and we'll see about getting you and your band of merry jokers back to Orb or we do this the hard way."
Tolle kept silent, staring at his reflection. Mu sighed before giving the brunette an insincere look of sympathy "the hard way it is then."
The current was stronger than previous sessions and Tolle couldn't hold back his yell as his body jerked. The circuit breaker clicked and the teen panted as he tried to catch his breath. Mu watched on impassively before circling to face him. "Come now it's not that hard; does the coordinator have any allies within ZAFT that he can run to? Family, friends, military connections?"
Tolle remained silent and once again the electricity was switched on. He grit his teeth, drawing blood when he accidentally bit down on his bottom lip. The circuit breaker clicked and Tolle gasped for breath, already feeling his limbs shaking. "For the last time," he gasped out "we're all neutral. We are Orb citizens who had been recruited at our school to take part in a two year long exchange with a technology school in Heliopolis. We want nothing to do with the war."
"And yet, your coordinator friend was able to effortlessly re-write the OS of the Strike in the middle of an attack." Mu injected nastily "Funny that he ended up right in the warehouse where the Gundams were being kept as the attack took place."
Tolle bowed his head. When put like that it would sound suspicious to anyone but Tolle knew Kira, knew that the other boy was painfully shy and detested any sort of fighting. He'd seen Kira's reactions whenever squabbles broke out amongst their group and knew that that kind of reaction could not be faked, even by the best actor in the universe. But how could he reason with a mad man?
"Silent huh, oh well I have another way of making you talk." Mu walked over to the mirror "maybe she'll be able to loosen your lips." The blonde flipped the switch and Tolle's eyes widened in horror when the other side of the mirror showed Miriallia strapped down and wired just as he was. The brunette girl was blinking at the sudden light but she began struggling when her vision cleared and she saw him.
"Tolle," he heard her shout "Tolle, don't tell him anything, I'll be fine."
Mu shook his head with a tsk. "That's not happening sweetheart. And for your disobedience..."
Miriallia screamed as the current to her electrodes was switched on. She writhed in her chair until the circuit breaker cut off the power. Tolle struggled in his seat, desperate to reach her.
"Stop it!" he yelled "don't hurt her you bastard."
Mu smirked and walked until he was standing behind the captive boy's chair. He tipped it back until he made eye contact. "You know what I want, tell me everything you know about your coordinator friend and I'll let her go. I'll even be nice and put you all together again."
"Tolle don't…" Miriallia started before she screamed again as electricity coursed through her body.
"Please, please, I'll talk; just stop hurting Mir." Tolle begged
His chair fell back onto all fours and he heard the circuit breaker in the other room click on. Mu moved to crouch in front of the prone boy "my information," he drawled.
Tolle looked up from the cold blue eyes of the lieutenant into the begging ones of his girlfriend. 'Don't do it,' Miriallia mouthed to him 'we owe Kira that much.'
Tolle looked back at the smirking man before him before his thoughts turned to Kira; Kira who had sacrificed his own safety to ensure that they remained unharmed; Kira with his painfully shy, slightly sad smile; Kira who was willing to fight his fiancé to ensure their safe passage. He spat in La Flaga's face "rot in hell."
Mu stood, wiping the slightly bloody saliva from his face, all traces of humour gone. "Wrong answer" he said coldly before the current was switched on and Tolle screamed. Vaguely he heard Miriallia's screams intermingle with his before all went black.
In some ways the docking at Artemis was a blessing for the Heliopolis refugees. When they were led off the ship the five teens had been led to a holding cell not much bigger than one of their rooms on the Archangel. The only difference was where there were two or three people in the small space, there were now five people sharing. But at least the interrogation sessions had stopped and they were allowed to remain together.
Miriallia still hadn't recovered from the brief session hours before. When she'd awoken, she'd been in her room with Flay hovering worriedly around her. She had made the mistake of trying to turn onto her side and that's when the pain had hit. Luckily, the red-head had a trash bin nearby because there had been no way that she'd have made it to the bathroom. When she could do nothing more than dry heave, the brunette lay down and tried to calm her shaking limbs.
Flay had then laid hot cloths over her, which she had seen later were some of the other girl's tops. As the stiffness eased slightly, Miriallia had given into her tears. Flay didn't say anything but sat at the head of the bed with the other girl's head in her lap. Gentle fingers had worked through her hair and at that moment Miriallia was very grateful for her presence. She didn't remember much until they were ordered off the ship.
Her friends were watching her closely after Flay had caught them up on what had happened after the session with La Flaga. Tolle admitted that he'd also woken up in considerable pain but Kuzzey had managed to work most of the stiffness out. They'd tried doing the same for Miriallia but the lack of space and the residual tremors made it difficult, especially since they weren't sure if they were being monitored. In an asteroid filled with military personnel convinced they were harbouring ZAFT secrets, it was only common sense to avoid anything that they might interpret as being threatening.
"Do you think Kira will be okay with those people?" Flay asked quietly. Her eyes had been truly opened over the past month and a half and she could see that it wasn't just coordinators who could be cruel.
"Whatever happens, it can't be worse than what he had been enduring to keep us safe," Miriallia injected "To think he still went out in the Strike after he'd been…" she trailed off remembering the last time she'd seen her friend.
"If Kira's able, he'll send help for us; he wouldn't just leave us here. He's too kind hearted for that and he also tried so hard to keep us safe." Tolle reassured them.
"My worry is what happens to us now. Even if Kira manages to get us help, he'd have no way to trace us and who knows where we'll be moved to. They'd have the advantage and might even be able to trap any rescue party." Sai pointed out. "What we'd need to do is send word to him somehow but that's impossible without an ally on our side."
"And these people would sooner hand us to Lieutenant La Flaga than help" Kuzzey groused
The others nodded gravely before lapsing back into silence.
"Your reports Lieutenant La Flaga, Ensign Badgiruel." Garcia stated once the officers were seated "Have you been able to find out more about the coordinator?"
"Nothing personal," Natarle replied "All we have are his public records. The other teens that were captured with him refuse to speak, even with…persuasion."
"Personally I think they might be coordinators themselves." Mu interjected, leaning in his chair "most normal teens would have spilled the beans by now but they've endured our persuasion methods for six weeks with nothing more coming out than that they're neutral and were supposedly working on some final project with their professor on the Archangel."
"And is there any chance of the coordinator sending help to retrieve them?" Garcia asked, resting his chin on his joined hands.
"It's possible Commander," Mu grudgingly admitted "Although his injuries were severe, they weren't lethal…yet. I have my doubts though, we used the compound on his chair and that should slowly destroy his nervous system. Pretty soon, he won't be of much use to them."
"Regrettable that we had to lose him but the other one is still an option." Garcia sighed "We'll keep the five detained and see if maybe we can change their minds about volunteering information. News of their survival hasn't been sent to ORB has it?"
"No Commander" the two intoned
The man smiled evilly "Oh well, so sad there were no survivors from Heliopolis. It truly is a tragedy."
Guilt had become a constant companion for Murrue since that first week when she'd spoken with the Heliopolis teens. Thoughts about 'what if' chased her into her dreams and she'd often woken up in a cold sweat; unseeing eyes in a young face fading into the darkness of the room.
After that first meeting she hadn't seen the three again which was understandable given the hostile attitudes that greeted them. She was working on some exterior damage done to the mobile armor when she heard two other mechanics talking below her.
"I'm telling you, there's no way those kids are normal. No teenager would be able to endure the lieutenant's electroshock techniques. They're coordinators I tell you."
"I hear you man. Good thing they're going to be held until they're able to extract everything from them. It'll be a huge advantage to us, time to level the playing field a bit."
Horror blossomed on Murrue's face. The EA were very lax in following the legislation regarding prisoners of war, frankly they didn't care, and to think that it was mere children they would be holding hostage…
Tears streaked down her face as she felt her heart break. "What have I done?" she whispered brokenly.
A/N: what are you still doing here, there's another chapter!