"Joshua," Nastasha called, watching the young man swing the energy out in front of him. "The Shuffle Alliance is on their way."
"No," Josh sighed, shaking his head to clear unwanted thoughts. He cried out at a small explosion in front of him inside the cockpit.
"Josh!" they cried, but he put his hands down once more, a little painfully.
"I'm alright," he told them, backing up. "I have to—"
"Keep the communication up," Nastasha ordered, though it was not mean to be an order. "We need to see you alive—do not talk if you cannot."
"Nastasha," he sighed. "You've been nothing but kind to me since we met, which is why I hafta tell you ta stay outta this. With all the respect drilled into me from my commanders, I gotta ask that you go lay down—" he grunted, knocking another gundam away from him, earning a new hole in his gundam suit "—go lay down and take a break. You're working too hard for your situation."
Nastasha was taken aback by the boy's request. "But, I… You know…?"
Josh knocked something away with his arm, which shot signals of agony through that arm. "Yeah," he told her gently. "Don't know if you knew or not, but the pirates told me. Whether or not they can or can't beat you in logic doesn't make them stupid; they knew."
"I… I see," she said quietly, earning surprised glances from the other women. Rain and Shirley took her by the shoulders, making her lay down on the couch. The other women crowded around the screen to watch Joshua battle it out.
"Josh," Maria-Louise asked quietly, "is my Thomas at least alive?"
Josh turned to look behind him, gasping when he was struck from behind. His hand flung to the side, and his hand opened up, the energy in his palm vanishing. From that point on, all he could do to stay alive was to block some attacks and take others.
"Josh," Nastasha cried, jumping up. She could not watch another child get hurt for her Nicolas. That and he had been like a brother to her Nicolas. He had been raised in an army as she had.
Josh grunted, his chest filling with the painful little marks, and his hands darted out to grab something. "Auuugh!" he cried, throwing it aside. "Stop messing around!" he gasped, even as his cockpit was ripped open by another.
"No--!" Nastasha screamed, losing herself despite the friendly hands trying to help her.
When the rescue team arrived for the children, they rushed to the aide of Nightmare Gundam, staggering back as they came close. It was Gundam Maxter and Bolt Gundam that caught Josh's own gundam. George rushed to help his own son, and Domon forced courage into his heart and left Vateen to George's care. Sai Saici followed Domon into the battle.
Argo and Chibodee drug the boy's gundam to the little island behind them, and Chibodee helped the boy stand a little while Argo got out of Bolt Gundam to pull the boy to the safety of the island. As soon as Josh's feet hit the ground, he could no longer stand. Argo had to carefully drag him the rest of the way.
"Josh," he called to the nearly unconscious boy. Josh's eyes fluttered, trying to wake up enough to see the man, but he had fought hard and needed his rest. His body was covered with wounds, but not very serious. He would be sore for the next few days…
"You fought well, Josh. Rest here a while," Argo told him, getting up. He did not feel comfortable leaving the kid there, but he would have to; and he did.
Josh fell into a silent slumber as he left, only to be awakened as George came back. He looked over to the man, startling when the bloody mass of white, red, and blue gundam suit in his arms did not move. But who…? Red hair, colorful gundam suit, and pale skin… Who could… Then it dawned on him. Thomas.
He struggled to sit, gasping as pain shot through his body. George came to him, kneeling in front of him and using the hand that was supporting his son's legs to gently push the other young man back down. "Stay down, Joshua. We have called for help; you will be fine."
"Thomas," Josh gasped, allowing himself to be pushed back down. "Thomas is…"
George shook his head sadly. "Just lay there. You are safe."
"He's… dead?"
George smiled sadly, refusing to let the boy find a chance to move. "No, but he is badly hurt."
Josh nodded. "Did he protect her?" At George's confusion, he added, "Fleur."
George nodded, setting Thomas out beside Josh. "He held her head in his lap and stayed awake up until the moment I came to take her."
"And where is…?" George motioned to his own gundam, where Fleur sat leaning against the thumb of Rose Gundam. "Good," he sighed before passing out again.
George sat watching the four children as they slept, Vateen not far from the other two boys.
"Where is Chen?" Sai Saici growled, hitting another gundam in the head with Dragon Gundam's staff. He searched the air around Domon, Chibodee, Argo, and himself as they fought. There was supposed to be medics arriving very soon. He would protect the medics until they were able to get the children out of there. "C'mon, you!" he cried, starting forward.
"You hurt my brother, and now you'll pay!" Domon's voice shouted. There was a crackling explosion overhead, and Bolt Gundam was forced to the side as the newly crushed military gundam was hurled into the ocean.
"Domon," Argo called, catching the Burning Gundam's foot. "You must calm down." He was speaking from experience, of course, but as calm as he was on the surface, he knew he was just being a hypocrite. In any case, Domon was their leader; he had to set the example and help to calm the others, as well.
"Let go, Argo," Domon growled, uselessly kicking his foot in an attempt to get away from the big man. And just like that, they were being attacked.
"Got you," one of the enemy gundams cackled, reaching out to demolish Argo's gundam.
"Stop it! I demand you," said a voice so familiar that Argo's blood began to boil with rage.
"Kier," he shouted out to the commanding gundam just ahead, "why did you do it? Why did you kill Nicolas?" His fists clenched tightly, his teeth bared in an angry snarl.
There was an incoherent mumbled from Kier, likely thinking out loud to himself, then a sharp, "Go home Argo. Nothing good will come of you being here."
"Kier," Argo shouted, doing his best to ignore, not only the rage, but a new saddening feeling that sprung tears to his eyes. Damn. "Answer me!"
"Go home, Argo," Kier told him again. "Come back when those four on the island heal, if you must. I hereby order all New Nations gundams back to the military base as ordered by my father." He turned then, heading back towards his home.
"Wait," Domon yelled, but his demand went unnoticed. He looked Argo, whose gundam shook with suppressed rage, but he stayed put, likely in case of a sneak attack that would try to wipe them out. "Argo," he murmured sympathetically, "it's alright."
There was a sound of helicopters, and the group was pleasantly surprised to see that the medic units had arrived. A young boy who looked to be about twelve stood out on the deck and watched the medics run on and off of the ship to bring each of the children to safety and medical help. By then, Josh was able to walk on his own, though he was still woozy from his earlier fight and the little nap he had just woke from.
After news arrived to the women that the children were safe, Nastasha was finally able to collapse on her bed with exhaustion. One arm covered her face as she slept, and the other sprung out to the side of the cream colored silk sheets. Shirley stood beside her until she had fallen asleep, Rain on her other side. When her breathing had became even, both women quietly exited.
Jamie sat off to the side with Bastien, occupying, not only herself, but her kid brother, as well. That day had been too stressful for both of them, and Jamie told herself that never again would she be dumb enough to do that. But she knew very well that she probably would do something like that again. Tiso, who had been sick all morning, had been gradually getting worse, but the news that Vateen, Thomas, Fleur, and Josh had been rescued brought some color back to her face. Still, there was the fact that Chen and Eva still could not be found that kept most of the group quiet and worried. They forgot to mention that part to Tiso…
A/N: Yeah…. Done.