Note: Whenever Eureka and Renton do their telepathy thing between each other their gems blink a few times quickly then go back to normal.
Chapter 10
Ready Set Go
Renton decided on packing up earlier than expected. They all got packed except Michiko who decided to stay behind and continue doing self defense lessons. She decided Shawn could come here and visit when it was time. This would also give Shawn and Amarante to get to know each other again. They managed to all pack up the remaining things in a few hours then hopped into the Nirvash taking off to where Shawn was.
In the morning I was rudely awakened by Norb, "Shawn wake up!"
"What! What! I'm awake now!" I shouted
"Sakuya says she has a bad feeling regarding Amarante and Eureka. You should head to the city you need to do surveillance on!" Norb said very fast as I sat there dumbfounded for a moment registering everything. Once it registers I shot out of bed throwing on some cloths.
"Did you tell the General about this?" I asked as Norb nodded then handed me a folder with my instructions and what city I'd be going to. It was a city named Gremikowa. Even though I couldn't remember Amarante, I wouldn't let a girl be in harms way, not if I could help it. I ran out of the building into the hanger climbing on board Adir as I started everything up and spoke the coordinates. Going over the last check up making sure everything was green as the LFO started walking forward when I walked in place I brought it outside then began running then jumped into the air transforming into a jet as took off at high speed towards the town of Gremikowa as everyone on base heard me blast off getting up to speed then breaking the sound barriers very quickly as this spooked a ton of people.
"What the fuck was that!" Holland hollered, hoping that someone would answer.
"Shawn took off towards that town. I told him something was very wrong and he needed to head to that town. It involved Amarante." Norb said as he walked up next to Holland with Sakuya in tow.
"Wait, did he remember her?" Holland asked sounding a little surprised
"No I don't think so." Sakuya said quietly
"Then explain the rushing off?" Holland asked sounding a bit confused
"Maybe he's naturally like that or in his subconscious he remembers her." Norb suggested as Holland just nodded.
"I hope I'm wrong." Sakuya said full of worry as she walked up hugging Norb as he just nodded
Meanwhile over with Amarante and the Thurston family they all had been traveling for quite sometime when they came into the town of Gremikowa. It was three in the afternoon when they arrived. It was a decent sized city with lots of commotion going on so they decided on landing on the outskirts of the town.
"Hey Renton I'm going to go shopping and look around town!" Amarante said cheerily
"Alright just be careful!" Renton called back as he helped the kids out and the love of his life.
"So Eureka what would you and the kids like to do?" Renton asked sounding a tad excited to explore the towns stores.
"Anywhere you'd like to go but we should really get our kids something to eat and I'm hungry as well." Eureka replied as her stomach growled quite loudly as she blushed a little.
Renton couldn't help but laugh at how cute she always acted. He never got tired of it either. She really was the perfect wife. "Sure! Let's go into town then!" he said happily as he took linck's hand while Maurice walked next to Renton fiddling with his camera and Maeter stuck next to Eureka. They went in and walked around gaining a lot of attention from everyone due to Eureka's wings and the gems in Renton and Eureka's forehead. Some of the attention wasn't in a good way either. They went about their business getting some food then walking around the shops and so on. Amarante had already been through a lot of the shops when she thought she saw something through an alley so she headed into the alleyway as she noticed something shiny on the ground. Looked like a necklace as she bent over to pick it up she felt something hard hit against the back of her head as she fell forward as she could tell five blurry figures approached here as she eventually blacked out. The men tied her up and began dragging her while the other 4 had guns pointed at her as they headed out towards the market place again with Amarante being dragged. Now what Eureka and the others didn't know was that this entire town an anti-coralian faction that pretended they were friendly towards the coralian. The moment they reached the marketplace Eureka instantly spotted Amarante tied up as they were getting ready to pass the alleyway. The men noticed the other new comers and instantly aimed their guns at them.
"Don't move!" The leader yelled as Eureka and the others froze as all the towns people back away so if guns were fired they wouldn't be in the way.
"What do you want with us?" Renton yelled
"We hate you coralians and coralian lovers. You don't need to exist on this planet! All you bring is disaster and destruction. Just like those two incidents that happened years ago!" The leader yelled back as Eureka visually looked hurt now as she remembered those times and everything that had happened.
'Eureka ignore them, it wasn't your fault. Some humans are just blind.' Renton thought to her
'But it's all true!' Eureka thought back
'But Shawn fixed everything. He brought them all back with our help, the people that disappeared due to what happened. So there's no need to blame yourself!' Renton thought back as Eureka remained quiet after that
"Then what do u want to do with us then?" Renton demanded
"First walk over in the middle of the market square." The leader demanded
The group of prisoners did as they were told. The children were very scared as was everyone else but everyone remained silent. They all sat down on the ground while they were surrounded by the men. They were whispering among themselves trying to decide what to do with them. They finally came to their decision that they were going to hold them in their jail cells while they contacted the rebel group.
"All of you up and follow us." The leader stated as they the prisoners stood up and followed them as they were told.
'If only the kids weren't with us I could do something about this.' Renton thought to himself calmly while surveying his surroundings in case they were able to get away. Looking at what he could use as a weapon and an escape route as well.
'Love I've found an escape route in case were able to get away.' Renton thought to Eureka while Eureka just nodded her head.
They finally reached the building as they enter the prisoners saw the prison cells. The leader opened up the cells and the men pushed them into the cells then the cell door closed and was locked.
"Now all of you stay quiet, if we hear any loud screaming we'll kill all of you including your children." The leader stated as everyone left the building but the leader has guards around the entire building now. He went over to radio the rebel army which he managed to get a hold of someone. He told them the location and that there was some rebel about seven hours away. After that the leader went to a near restaurant and had himself something to eat and some tea like nothing had happened. As everyone else in the town went back to what they were doing like nothing ever happened.
"Mama, what's going to happen to us?" Maeter asked
"I don't know but I know somehow we'll escape. Renton always pulls off some type of miracle in time of need." Eureka stated looking over at Renton who seemed to be thinking and looking around the room to see if there was a way out, any weak points or anything that could be use to their advantage. Once he finished surveying, the only thing that could possibly used to their advantage was the barred window that was in their cell.
"Mama, I wanna go home." Linck said with a quivering voice
"It's okay Linck someone will help us and your big brother will make sure nothing will happen to you." Maurice said proudly patting Linck's head but on the inside he was very scared of what was going to happen but he wasn't about to show it.
"You're the best." Linck said in a more happier voice now
As the hours passed the guards brought them some food and water then left. Six hours had passed since the leader radioed the rebel voices but someone had already arrived to help the prisoners escape. It took me a full day to get here an hour ago as I was up on the rooftop scoping out everything. Seeing as they had the town well lit at night in the marketplace area I could see all the guards on that one building. I figured there was something important in that building especially since they brought food and water into them.
'Must be prisoners or maybe criminals, I'll go check it out.' I thought
I got up and ran across the rooftops jumping from one to the other till I was on the rooftop next to the jail cell building. I looked down into the alley and saw one guard there and a window next to him. I quickly hide himself again and pulled out a gun while screwing on a silencer. I quickly looked over the edge again, aimed and fired a shot hitting him in the head. I waited for a few seconds and noticed no one else was coming. I quickly latched the grappling hook into a few cracks that were in the building hoping it'd hold. I tied a rope onto it then jumped over the ledge using the building as leverage as I brought myself downwards till I reached the ground. I quickly ran to both ends of the alley, noticing there was a guard at the back of the building and two in the front and probably one on the other side as well. I ran back to the window and began tapping on the wall in Morse code. I waited for an answer, which I received a few seconds later. They replied saying 'hostage, coralian, children'. This was enough for me to act. I quickly moved the dead guard under some garbage as I went to the back of the building. He turned his back to me as he began lighting a cigarette I struck. I quickly ran up grabbing his neck and snapped it as a crack could be heard. I continued to the next guard but turns out, no guard was on this side which I found really weird. I ran back to the window then tapped informing them to move away from the wall. I could hear moving then everything was quiet. I focused on forming a small black orb. I pushed my hand against the wall and then began enlarging it till it was the size of a door. The orb disappeared and there was a hole in the wall now. I saw seven people there and three of them were kids. They stood there in shock and I got this vague feeling that I knew them but I didn't know from where but I pushed the feeling aside as now wasn't the time for pondering such things.
"Let's go all you! Where is your vehicle, LFO or whatever you came in?" I asked quickly which snapped everyone out of their stupor
"Right, we're parked that way." Renton said pointing in the direction where my LFO was.
"So that was yours. I'm parked near it. Let's hurry up then!" I said as I looked both ways then headed over to the dead body and grabbed the gun and tossed it to the guy.
"Here, use it only if you have time, I want to get out of here without causing a ruckus." I stated as Renton nodded
I began moving quickly while Renton brought up the rear as they all were following. We weaved through the alleys till it led to the exit of the town. It was guarded by one person with an automatic weapon. I signaled for everyone to stopped, which they did. I pulled out the gun with the silencer. I looked around then took aim and shot him in the head and waited for a few moments. I signaled to start running which everyone did. Upon reaching the exit I turned around making sure everyone would leave before I did. I noticed a man that was taking aim and fired. The bullet whizzed through the air and hit Maurice in the shoulder as he dropped instantly from the pain. I quickly took aim with my hand and fired a black orb. The moment it hit the man the orb grew enveloping all of them then disappeared.
"Grab the boy now and run!" I yelled. Everyone did as I told them to. We all began running while they applied pressure on the wound. We finally reached the LFO as the entire family piled into it quickly. I ran over to my LFO as I saw multiple people and vehicles coming out of the city exit. I boarded the LFO and started it up. It lifted off the ground as the other LFO was already off the ground and headed towards me. I saw one thing that I feared greatly. There was three other LFO's incoming in the direction we needed to go.
"Get ready to fight!" I yelled over the com hoping they'd hear it.
"Ready whenever you are." Renton replied back
The rebel LFO's were already firing at us. We quickly dodged the incoming fire while I pulled out the sword on my back and quickly rushed in using my boosters slice the first lfo in half. After a few dodges from the enemy LFO I finally managed to cut off the arm with the gun then used my boosters again and sliced him in half as the LFO blew up. Renton had already finished off the other LFO without killing the pilot. The last one seeing the situation decided on retreating for the time being. We decided it wasn't worth chasing after him so we all headed back to the base. Though on the way back there was a lot of conversing with me going on.
"Shawn, do you remember who we are?" Renton asked, as I thought for a moment trying to jog my memory.
"Honestly, no I don't." I replied
"I see, well we're all old friends of yours. I'm Renton, the cyan hair colored girl is Eureka. You saved Eureka before you died. The kids are Maurice, Linck and Maeter. And the other cobalt haired girl is amarante. She's your…lover." Renton replied, with all that information I began getting a headache.
"I see. How did I die?" I asked
"You used your healing powers and healed both Amarante and Eureka when they were shot. You ended up fading away." Renton replied
"How long has it been since then?" I asked
"It's been about a year and a half since then." Renton replied
"I see, so how did I meet all of you?" I asked
"Well after you fell from the sky, you lived with Eureka and I for a bit then met Amarante a few days later and boarded the Gekkogo." Renton replied
"Hm, well I'm sure all of this will come back to me in due time as I've remembered Holland and the others." I replied "Oh and for what it's worth, I'm sorry for any pain I caused when I died." I stated feeling a little guilty.
"It's okay. You saved Amarante and I. For that we're eternally grateful. So let's focus on the future now and not dwell on the past." Eureka replied
"I agree." Amarante piped in sounding a bit sad that I didn't remember her.
"Thank you and who's that Renton?" I asked as I wasn't looking at the monitor when she spoke.
"That was Amarante." He replied
"I see. So somehow I came back from the dead, lost my memories while regaining them back slowlyand I have a lover. Talk about surprises that keep popping up." I replied chuckling a bit.
"Shawn, where did u find that child?" Eureka asked
"Child?" I asked
"The LFO." Renton Piped in.
"Oh! Close to the base in an underground cavern. I must say he's quite the LFO." I replied
"Yep he's still the same Shawn." Renton said laughing a bit.
"Mind explaining Renton?" I asked
"You would always address the LFO's as people not machines." Renton replied
"Well it makes sense to me." I stated shrugging a bit while I heard everyone in the other LFO chuckle at my reply.
"So is the other you still inside?" Eureka asked bluntly
"Other me?... Oh him, yes he is." I replied with a normal tone
"hmm." Eureka replied but didn't go any further on the subject
"Do you still have those powers too?" Amarante asked
"If it's the destructive and healing ones, yes I do." I replied
And for the remainder of the trip back to the base we were reffing and making small talk while Amarante still remained quiet through the trip. As everyone was really tired we decided to take a break down at the lake we were flying over. Both of us landed as everyone was offloaded we started camouflaging our LFO's.
"Hey Renton it's still pretty warm out, lets go for a dive." I said smiling while I pointed behind me at the lake.
"I like this idea, race ya!" Renton called back as he was already running to the lake and stripping some of his cloths off leaving on his shorts while I was right behind doing the same as he jumped into the water first followed by me next. The girls and children both just shook their heads.
"Boys." They both said giggling afterwards. The children were way too tired for swimming. They all sprawled out and slowly drifted off to sleep.
"So what's on your mind Amarante." Eureka asked as she noticed Amarante had been rather quiet the entire time.
"It's nothing, just feeling a bit down since shawn doesn't remember me." She replied
"It's alright. Just act like yourself. I'm sure he'll remember you in time or he'll fall in love with you again." Eureka replied nudging Amarante a bit and chuckling at how red Amarante's cheeks got.
"Stop it!" Amarante flared hiding her fac e a bit with her arms.
"Hai, Hai." Eureka replied as she rolled over cuddling her children as she drifted off to sleep.
Amarante remained awake for a little bit longer watching Shawn till she rolled over and went to sleep as well.
"Surprised the girls didn't demand us in bed with them." Renton chuckled slightly while I laughed in response.
"So how has things been at the base?" Renton asked
"Nothing too out of ordinary except when I arrived and me finding Adir. The other Coralians also took a liking to me as well. Other than that nothing really new." I replied
"Well glad to hear things have been going well with you." Renton stated as I nodded in reply
"To bad Michiko didn't come with." Renton said
"Michiko?" I asked curiously
"She was your old LFO that turned into a human after you died." Renton replied
"Michiko, that name sounds vaguely familiar." I said to myself more than Renton as we had reached the shore.
"Yeah, you'd always talk with her a lot out in the Gekkogo Hanger." Renton added as he grabbed the towel and began drying himself. A few moments later he heard a splash then me screaming as memories flashed before my eyes of times spent with Michiko. My wings were pulsating quickly with lots of color. Of course after the scream it woke up everyone on the beach as they all ran over but Renton stopped them.
"Don't touch him." Renton stated in a stern tone and no one questioned him but stood there watching Shawn. About a minute had passed then it all stopped as I collapsed into the water before blacking out I noticed everyone running towards me.
"What happened renton!" Amarante asked frantically as Renton had already dove in and lifted up his head and began pulling him onto the beach and checking his vital, which were fine.
"I don't know but he's breathing. Move him over there." Renton ordered as Amarante helped Renton move me over to where they were all sleeping. They dried me off and then placed a blanket over me. Amarante never once left my side but eventually she dosed off as did everyone else. I woke up at one point and noticed everyone was asleep. I began recalling some of the memories of time spent piloting Michiko. I slowly stood and walked over to the waters edge and stared up at the moon mulling over those new memories.
"Those were some fun and sad times Michiko." I quietly said outloud to myself. 'To bad they didn't pilot Michiko here too. It'd be nice seeing her.' I thought. I heard someone rustling around then walk over to me.
"I see your up." Eureka said, Renton had opened his eyes and sent a telepathic message to Eureka then he rolled back over to sleep as she nodded.
"Yep, just reminiscing over the things I remembered." I stated as Eureka looked at me
"So that happens whenever you remember?" Eureka asked as I nodded
"Does it hurt?" She asked
"It does, a lot, but I get my memories back so I don't mind." I replied as she nodded
"So how is Michiko doing?" I asked
"So you remembered Michiko. She's doing good, she's adapted to human life well." Eureka stated as I paused for a moment then tilted my head to the side not understanding what Eureka meant, at least not fully.
"Wait, last I knew Michiko was a living LFO. Your joking about her being human right?" I asked sounding rather confused as Eureka chuckled.
"Not joking Shawn. When you died the old man turned the LFO's into human." She replied
"Wow, a lot happens when you're died for a while." I replied laughing slightly
"Indeed." She replied
"Well the boss will be looking forward to my report on that town." I stated
"So you were doing a recon mission then." She stated
"Yes and well Norbu woke me quickly a few days ago and instructed me I need to hall ass to that city due to something that was going to happen, which it happened to be your family in trouble." I stated
"Thank you again." She replied
"Anytime, so looks like it'll be another party once I get back to the base." I replied with a slight chuckle
"Everyone seems to like parties, especially ones you put together." She replied
"I noticed." I replied after there was a bit of a pause then she asked something that eventually would have come up.
"So what are you going to do about Amarante?" Eureka asked looking at me this time.
"Honestly, I'll just continue like I have until those memories come back. If I loved her once before then I'm sure I'll fall for her again. Although the only complicated thing that's going to happen is Akane. I'm sure she has a thing for me but now with Amarante in the picture I don't know what will happen." I stated, "I just hope Akane doesn't do anything drastic against Amarante or against your family."
"Me too, but at least I know you're still that gentle, fun, loving guy we all knew before you died." Eureka replied as she smiled sweetly
"Thanks, glad I didn't change much." I replied laughing back louder then I had expected as one other person woke up.
Amarante felt around next to her and noticed I wasn't there. Her eyes opened up as she slowly stood scanning around the area looking for me. She noticed me by the water with Eureka. She walked over there yawning a bit.
"Beautiful." Amarante said as she noticed the moon in the sky with all those stars around. She managed to snap herself back to reality after a few seconds. "Are you okay Shawn?" Amarante asked
"Yep, I just got my memories with Michiko back." I stated sounding happy.
"I see, does that always happen when you remember what you've forgotten?" Amarante asked
"Yeah it does but rather I remember everything then not remember anything." I replied as I went back to staring up at the sky.
"So you don't remember any of thurstons or myself yet?" Amarante asked
"Not yet, sorry, but I'm sure it'll come back in due time." I replied with a smile as Amarante nodded still looking sleepy.
"I'm sure they'll come back soon. I'm going back to bed." Amarante said as she gave me a hug then walked back to her bed and went to sleep. I was stood there a bit shocked at first but remembered that I was her lover when I died so this is natural for her.
"We have an early morning so I suggest getting some more sleep." Eureka suggested
"Will do." I replied as Eureka nodded and walked back to Renton to cuddle up with him for the night. As I wandered back to my bed and laid down for the night as well.