Chapter 11:
Grandeur
AN: Realized I had been spelling Dai-Gurren incorrectly. Fixed all instances of that issue as well as other spelling errors, awkward phrasing, incorrect name spellings(mostly Dayakka) and some other things. Thank you for reading. :]
"You on the other hand, are in need of some discipline."
"That voice…" Simon thought. He was alone with this voice now, Kamina had seemingly been left behind. The room he had been taken to was nearly empty except for the ten or so monitors that illuminated the otherwise black room. As far as Simon could tell, he was alone, the voice was nowhere to be found; and yet it didn't seem to be in his head. Rather it felt like an invisible person was talking to him. His heart pounded; either something really good or something really bad was about to happen.
"What do you want from me? And where did Kamina go?!" Simon interrogated, assuming the voice knew who Kamina was.
"As I said before, your friend is not here. He has been detained and returned to his vault," the voice said. Simon breathed a silent sigh of relief, but that catharsis was cut short. "As for you, I need to speak with you personally."
Simon thought about saying something but ultimately decided against it.
"You're reckless, inconsiderate actions are causing damage and harm to others, therefore you need to be stopped," the voice said flatly. Everything it said was emotionless, it was kind of unnerving.
"What do you mean by that?" Simon prompted. This voice appeared to be only able to speak in cryptic sentences.
"To explain that, you must first understand where you are. We are currently in a pocket of space in the seventh dimension," the voice explained. "This can be described as what your race would call a 'graveyard' for spiral races. Now, spiral power is dictated by spirit, is that how you have come to understand it?"
"Yes. The more powerful your spirit the more spiral power you can control."
"That would not be entirely true. Spiral power is spirit. Spirit is spiral power. Therefore, when a spiral being dies, it body may no longer function, but its spirit remains intact. And what happens to those spirits? They slide down the dimension gradient and get stuck here. This facility is a vault for containing the spirits of spiral beings while they slowly wither and disappear."
"Wither and disappear? What do you mean?" Simon asked.
"Nobody can really destroy the spirit, as long as there are those who still believe in and remember that spirit, it remains intact. Let me put it in a way you can relate to; you were the leader of a revolution on your homeworld, correct?" the voice asked.
"Yes, how did you know that?" Simon asked the obvious question. Clearly the voice had expected it because his response came without even having to think.
"I have a basic knowledge of all lives of spiral beings that are contained here. How else am I supposed to create a personalized dream world for you? the voice asked.
"Hmm, that makes sense…"
"Even though you are dead, the revolution fights on. Their fighting spirit is unkillable, just as yours is. This place was created to provide a peaceful 'afterlife' for spiral beings for them to enjoy until they are forgotten completely and their spirit dies off. This is by no means a place constructed out of kindness, but necessity. There was a need for a large containment center for all of the spirits to prevent them from wandering through the dimensions forever."
Most of this stuff was going over Simon's head, but one piece of information stuck out. The revolution still fought on without him!
"You are a danger to that peace. It is rare, but sometimes spiral beings are able to escape their vaults by gaining control of spiral power, where it is supposed to be suppressed here. It is usually fueled by their will for escape and their unwillingness to accept death. You appear to be one of those people and managed to escape out of your vault along with your friend. At that point, it is protocol to purge those spirits who escape to prevent them for damaging the facility; as you did. You gave no thought to your actions and their consequences, and after I was unable to purge you for a second time, I brought you here."
"So… What do you want from me now?" Again with the obvious questions.
"It is clear you will push forward until you find a way of escape, destroying everything in your wake. I cannot allow that. I also know I cannot stop you; I can see that you're a very rare being. Your spiral power is indescribably powerful. Therefore, the only solution to meet both of our wants is to let you return to the world of the living," the voice said. How he could deliver such a meaningful line without any emotion, Simon didn't know.
"R-Really?! You're letting me go back? Is that even possible?" Simon asked frantically. He was so close now, and he had been given a way out, but it couldn't be that simple.
"Of course it's possible. I can send your spirit back to the place it came from. Spiral power can create matter from nothing, so your immense power will easily be able to create an identical body to the one you had before. Actually, the body is made of the spirit, and each spirit has its own 'signature form' as you could call it. There will be not a single difference as you were before; it will be almost like you never died. But do not believe yourself to be special; there have been multiple other spiral beings who also were reincarnated before you. "
"Right. Thank you for understanding!" Simon sputtered, filled with hope and excitement.
"Do not confuse this with generosity, this will not come without other forms of consequences. 'Why do spiral beings have to stay dead?' you may be thinking. If they can just revive themselves, why do people have to die? Death is the universe's form of self-preservation. When spirits come here, they can exist until they are forgotten and die off, as I've said before. If nobody died, spiral power would never decrease and the universe would eventually collapse under that weight. Especially for people with such powerful spiral power as you; your prolonged existence in itself could be a major detriment to the future of this world. Take responsibility of the decision you're about to make. Time in this dimension and time in your homeworld are skewed so do not expect to return at a proportional time to how long you have spent here. Farewell."
"Hey! Wait! How much diffe-" Simon was cut off by his body's sudden disappearance. Everything after that moment, he didn't feel.
The world was dull for some time. The sounds, visuals, and feelings were dull, only faint whiteness, garbled noises, and faint softness could be perceived. The world gradually shifted into focus, each sense becoming sharper along with it. The faint whites turned into strong rays of white light, the garbled noises became voices, the soft feeling turned into more of something akin to a bed… or maybe soft ground?
One sole voice cut through the rest, a very familiar voice. Strong, yet kind; forceful, yet caring. A voice that provided instant comfort.
".i…N…..ia…..Ni...a…...Nia!" it called.
"S-... Simon?" Nia couldn't open her eyes, but she could hear just fine. And she knew what she heard. "Can that be...Simon? Of course it would be him… He'd be by my side… Wherever I am…"
Memory was the next form of perception to come back. "Simon! It's Simon! He's back!"
Nia's eyes proved to be hard to move, they just didn't seem to want to open.
"Nia! Nia! Are you awake? Nia!?"
Against their wishes, Nia squeezed her eyes open slowly. White light filtered into her vision. It was bright. Her pupils slowly adjusted and she could make out a figure sitting next to her.
"Nia!" they said. The voice sounded different now, not the strong voice that Simon had, but someone else's.
The world came into focus all at once, including Leeron, who was sitting next to what must have been a medical bed the Nia was lying on. He had a complex look on his face. A mix of relief and regret. She was reminded of the time when Adiane had nearly killed her and was put into a similar situation. "That must be the nature of war… Were we supposed to expect it to be easy…?"
Nia made an attempt to push herself up, not considering the state of her body. Sharp pains shot through her entire body, most notably through her right arm. She gasped at the unexpected pain and fell back limply on the bed. A dull pain continued to torment her even when completely still.
"I would tell you to be mindful of moving, but I'm sure you've figured that out by now," Leeron commented. Nia was going to scold him for being so insensitive,but he just kept talking. "You've sustained major injuries to your legs, arms, and head. Your right arm has broken while your other appendages just have fractures."
"What happened to the team?" Nia asked, wanting to skip the unimportant stuff.
"Well, when we detected your return on the radar, we assumed that we had won. I made an effort to contact you, but you didn't respond. Shortly after, Gurren Lagann crashed into the deck. Yoko was the one to find you critically injured and got you taken to intensive care immediately. Seeing our obvious loss, I ordered the retreat and the Dai-Gurren barely managed to escape. Luckily, we had stayed defensive here and not lost anyone or had any other major injuries. We fled reasonably far away from Teppelin knowing that fighting was pointless if we couldn't defeat Lordgenome. About half of a day passed before we were pursued by a fleet of Gunmen. We were severely outmatched and only survived because we received aid from a large group of rebel soldiers who were inspired by our victory at the Four Generals battle. They had stolen their own Gunmen and managed to help us fight back the swarm. Since then we have been in an almost constant state of battle, struggling to keep the Dai-Gurren safe. We can't win without Gurren Lagann."
"How long have I been here then?"
"About two days."
"..."
"I've held off on making a call about what to do from here until you woke up," Leeron explained. You're leader; we either abandon this fight and try to escape Gunmen pursuit. That could be very difficult though. That would also mean giving up on the revolution, at least for now anyways. Nobody but you can kill Lordgenome, trying and failing is a waste of time. That being said, we can also hold this position as well as we can and hope you can work a miracle. But you're far too injured to fight for now, so I'm not sure how long we would have to keep fighting and how many we would sacrifice. What do you suggest?"
" You've left me with an impossible decision, Leeron," Nia said sadly. "If I hadn't insisted on such a risky strategy, maybe we wouldn't be stuck in this situation. I'm not powerful enough to defeat my father, even at my strongest, he was able to easily defeat me. I'm sorry, this isn't a fight I can win."
Leeron couldn't offer any words of comfort, mostly because what Nia said was true. Her risky strategy and failure to defeat her father had put them into a bad spot.
"For now, I'll tell the others to keep fighting. The Gunmen leave at night as they usually do, and it's sundown now. We won't have to keep going for much longer today. That gives you the night to come up with a solution and try to heal," Leeron explained. He got up and left the room after that, not even giving some closing statement or 'get well' or 'good luck'.
"It feels like Leeron's acting strange. Like he's mad at me," Nia concluded in her mind. A few doctors did various things in the room, completely ignoring Nia. She felt small here, weak and insignificant, crippled, people just seemed to brush her off. Luckily, the doctors eventually left leaving Nia alone with her thoughts. It made her feel a small bit better, but not much. "What am I supposed to do here? … Why do I find myself having to ask this question so often? What could have been the harm in just making everything simple? What if we just pushed onward and never had to suffer a loss? We would have kept going until ultimately we won with next to no casualties and were able to enjoy peace… I wonder… If there is a world out there like that….. Where would that put me? If Simon was still alive, how could things have happened differently? I'm sure he could have defeated my father. He would probably have had a hard time in the beginning and nearly lose, but manage to pull through at the last moment. That sounds like something Simon would have done… Is it right for me to think this way? I have a whole world of problems that nobody else can solve but me, so why am I wasting my time dreaming about the impossible? I should focus more on the people who depend on me now… But I don't really want to. I have all night to come up with a solution, so I can spare some time to do what I want to. I deserve it! I've given my entire life to what other people have wanted. Whatever 'purpose' of mine my father kept talking about; that's why I was born. And even now I've suffered for trying to win other people's' freedom. These bandages wrapped around head, what scar do they hide beneath them? A permanent reminder of what I've given for this revolution. And for what?! All its given me is pain! I lost the one person in the world who I could really connect with, lost my family, lost my innocence, lost my spirit, and almost lost my life! Why am I still fighting?! Do I even care anymore about who I'm fighting for? All those repressed people, why does it fall to protect them? If they want freedom, they can win it over themselves! Because I have the power doesn't mean I have the responsibility! I'm not the one who caused their pain, my father did! Everyone in Team Dai-Gurren, they've been very nice to me so far, but I don't even know any of them personally! My only tie to them is that they need me to pilot Gurren Lagann. Do I even count as a person to them? Or am I just here to serve a purpose like my father had wanted me to… Who am I really? Can I ever reach beyond being merely a purpose? If I'm not living to fill that purpose, does my living have any value at all?"
Similar thoughts just kept flowing out of Nia's head. She didn't find any reason not to cry if she wanted to, so she sobbed; but not into a pillow, she still couldn't move. Tears rolled down her face, eventually being soaked up by the bed or the bandages. Nia struggled to find any meaning in her living, all possible answers leading to just being another purpose. The sole window that occupied the medical room showed the slow transition from evening to night. Eventually, Nia fell asleep having tired herself out so easily. The low hum of machines then became the only signs of life in the room along with the gentle rise and fall of Nia's chest.
Midday light illuminated the surface a bright look to an otherwise empty world. The rays of sunshine reached Simon's eyes, pulling him out of his daze. He took his first conscious breath in, cold and crisp air filling his lungs. It stung a little, but it felt incredible; indescribable to Simon. The ends of his mouth perked up, producing a genuine smile. He felt the uncomfortable feeling of hard ground beneath him with his body sprawled out every which way all over the ground. His smile grew even wider than. He blinked his eyes quickly a few times before opening them completely to take in the world around him. His heart raced as his eyes looked directly at the morning sun. In reaction, Simon put his hand in front of his eyes and squinted them. Gradually, his pupils adjusted to the brightness and became little dots in his brown eyes.
Simon pushed himself up with his arm, finding his body to be surprisingly powerful and energetic; even without eating for… ever?
"Heh, I guess I've never eaten anything in this body before," Simon said to himself, world coming into focus all the while.
Simon pulled the hand away from his face and his eyes took in a familiar sight. Light brown walls boxed him in, a small hole in the floor with a ladder was to his right and a window was sloppily cut out of the wall in front of him. There was nothing else in the room with him other than small particles of dust.
"Vacant," Simon commented. His heart began to pound inside his chest when he realized the true weight of his situation. "I'm back. Alive, I can feel things again, this world is real. I'm real; and I'm alive. Somehow, I actually defied death… And I'm back where I started; Jiha Village!"
Simon squeezed and his hands a few times, cracked his knuckles, ran his hands through his hair; everything felt real enough. He instinctively grabbed at his chest and felt his core drill dangling from his neck as it usually did. Clenching it tightly in his hand, Simon pushed himself off the ground and stood to meet the world head on. The core drill pulsated in his hand.
"Good. I'm going to need that power for later. Every last bit of it," Simon told himself. He took a good look out the village square beneath him.
All the usual sights were there, people walking around and talking, one big pathway leading up to the top of the residential complex, and pathways leading to where the diggers would do their thing. Except on major thing was different, the lights that usually illuminated the village were turned off, and yet, it wasn't dark underground. Instead, the area was lit with the natural light that came from above, from the surface! Simon looked up to see a massive hole carved out in the ceiling, but it was too long for Simon to see up to the surface from his angle.
No longer able to keep still, Simon swung down the hole in the floor into another vacant room which he quickly left behind. He went all the way down to the bottom floor and almost took a step out of the room, but he hesitated.
"What are people going to think of me suddenly being back after ditching them for the surface world?" Simon wondered. "Will they be mad, or will they even recognize me? I'm wearing my Team Dai-Gurren clothes, so maybe they won't recognize me… Should I stay and meet with the village chief… No, I'm beyond this place now. Everything and everyone here are a piece of my past,I don't need to interact with them. I fight for freedom, and that's what I'm going to do. No wasting time."
Simon stepped out confidently into the village square and headed for the path that led to the upper levels, his cape gently flowing behind him. He held his head high and took strong steps, contrasting with the old times there he would stumble around the village avoiding eye contact. For a second, he thought he saw those three girls that would always taunt him before. Simon chuckled silently.
"I've come a long way from who I was before I left with Kamina," Simon thought. "To think, my biggest fears used to be getting bullied by a couple of girls, and now I'm fighting against the most powerful being on the planet in a high stakes war for the freedom of humanity… The people who changed me so much, one left me behind and I left the other one behind. But not for long, I'm coming back! No more wasting time! I'm coming, everyone!"
Somehow, nobody seemed to notice him by the time he reached the long pathway at the center of the village square, natural light bathing him from above. Simon took one step on the path before a voice brought him to a halt.
"Hey! Who are you?" it asked boisterously.
"Chief," Simon thought.
"You're not one of my village members, come on, show your face!"
The people in the square had stopped their chatter and looked their way, digging people also poking their heads out from their caves. Simon was careful not to make direct eye contact with any of them as he spun around to look up at the chief. A plump man covered in odd marking up and down his body, as large as he is a jerk. A look of surprise struck his face as he stared into Simon's eyes, with Simon confidently meeting his gaze.
"I thought it was you from the goggles and hair… Simon! What the hell do you think you're doing here? How in the hell did you get back?" the chief asked. Rudely, of course.
"I'm just passing through here," Simon explained carefully, obviously not telling him the full story. "I just wanted… to make sure that me home village is doing alright before returning to the revolution." Simon half lied; some of it was true.
"The revolution?!" the chief sputtered.
"Damn… I guess he wouldn't know what that is…"
"You're fighting in the revolution too!?"
"Yeah," Simon replied, shocked that the chief seemed to understand. "How do you know about it?"
"The last battle you fought in against those wired monster looking things was 'broadcasted above the heads of every human' of whatever that means," the chief explained. "We watched this weird looking girl in one of those big machines annihilate a bunch of other machine looking things. I don't really get all the details, but I don't remember seeing you there. Only that girl and a few animal looking things."
"So what the voice told me was right, the revolution fights on without me. And the weird looking girl must be Nia he's talking about… I guess she naturally rose to the top as leader."
"I'm sorry, but I don't really have time to explain things now, Simon explained. "I've really got to go."
"So soon," the chief said, sounding oddly caring for some reason. "You're a hero Simon! All of us here are just waiting for you guys to strike the final blow! Isn't there anything we could do as a thanks?"
This was too strange, the chief was never this caring and considerate. He must have seen some kind of way to benefit himself from this. Simon was still going to capitalize on this opportunity regardless of how genuine it was or wasn't.
"Actually, I could use a little help," Simon commented. "I could use one of the drills from here, they've got some practical uses and I'm going to need one if you don't mind."
"Of course," the chief said. "Oi! Bring me one of those big drills, diggers!"
A lanky man scurried up to the chief and handed him a drill before sinking back into the shadows.
"Here you are," the chief said, handing the drill to Simon. He grabbed it in his right hand and rested it on his shoulder.
"Thanks for the help," Simon said sincerely. "I'll be off now."
"Hey.. Wait!" the chief said. "What's going on with your left eye boy?"
"Hmm, what about it?" Simon asked. He felt the area around his left eye with his hand, nothing seemed particularly odd about it.
"Oh. I guess it's nothing. It just looks weird that's all. Come to think, that girl we saw fighting had weird looking eyes too, but not like that."
"Don't worry about it," Simon said, turning around and leaving the conversation abruptly. Everybody watched, but nobody said anything as he climbed up the pathway to the upper levels. Simon didn't mind though, his mind was occupied with thoughts of Nia. Once he reached the highest level, he walked over to a wall and reached out to touch it.
"This is good enough," Simon commented. He took the big drill and plunged it into the wall and wrapped his core drill in his other hand and did the same. His muscles flexed as he began to climb up the wall to the surface. Simon was surprised at his strength, but accepted it as a result of spiral power. That's usually what most odd things ended up being caused by. He grit his teeth from the strain and continued to slowly make his way up the walls face. Once again, he left behind his home, but this time with different motives.
"Goodbye again, Jeeha village."
"Where do we go from here, Nia?" Leeron asked.
The long night had faded away into day and Leeron had made it his first responsibility to ask Nia what her final decision was. She was still lying on the medical bed where Leeron had left her the night before, but now it looked like there were no issues with movement. Nia was able to sit up without feeling anything more that a fleeting bit of pain; yet another quick recovery.
"We have to retreat," Nia decided. "Nothing other than death will come if we keep fighting. Lordgenome has an infinite supply of Gunmen at his disposal; each and every one of his Beastmen's lives mean nothing, worthless to him. On the other hand, we're all only humans. Every one of us is special and losing just one of us is already a massive loss. We can't even wear him down, there's no possible way of victory."
Leeron opened his mouth, hesitated, then closed it. It looked like he took a second to decide something before talking. "I'll go and send the message out to our team; I'm not sure what to expect as a reaction but I'm sure they'll listen to you."
He stood up to leave but Nia stopped him. "I can tell them myself."
Nia slid off the side of the bed to standeven with Leeron. She stumbled a bit from having weak legs, but quickly recovered.
"Are you sure you shouldn't stay here and rest?" Leeron asked. It was the predictable question for the situation. "Doesn't it hurt to stand?"
"I can't feel it," Nia lied. She could feel a faint sense of pain, but it was nothing that couldn't be dealt with easily. The only thing that truly hurt was still her arm, which Nia made a point not to move it, touch anything, or use at all.
"Amazing, even from such crippling wounds as the ones you endured, your body was able to recover so easily. This is probably another instance of spiral power working its magic…" Leeron said.
"Again, I'd be worthless without spiral power; this is just another example. That's my only use to the world now. I'm just here to do whatever people want me to do with the power that only I have. Does that make me special? No. It makes me useful. I can't stand it. Spiral power, it matters more than I do. But… that doesn't mean I can't control it. I could just stop using it all together, maybe then I can see what it is that I really am… Or will that just make me completely useless?"
"Nia," Leeron said, pulling Nia away from her thoughts. "Team Dai-Gurren is waiting in the hangar for the word to fight or not. Lordgenome's forces should be arriving soon; we need to act now."
"Right."
Nia led Leeron out of the room and down the flight of stairs that led to the main level. The bulkhead door that led into the hangar was only a few steps away from there and Leeron opened it for them.
The door split into two halves that sank into the wall on each sides. On the other side were all pilots of Team Dai-Gurren, some had a few bandages stuck on their bodies here or there. They had been leaning up against the wall chatting amongst themselves until the doors opened and they now trained their eyes on Nia. She had an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Some of the looks she was getting seemed less friendly and more hostile; mostly Kittan who was standing in the shadow of his King Kittan, just staring. Only Yoko looked the least bit relieved to see that Nia was okay, and gave a warm smile. Nia gave a nearly unnoticeable nod of appreciation, but Yoko seemed to have picked up on the gesture.
Nia cleared her throat and thought about how to phrase what she planned on saying, but opted to go with the direct route. "We're retreating. I can't beat Lordgenome, we can't defeat all of Lordgenome's Gunmen before we all die to them, we've lost."
A few shocked looks showed themselves on some of the crowd's faces. Clearly this wasn't the kind of plan they were expecting. Kittan was the first one to speak up, not unlike how he usually was.
"So that's it, huh?" he spat. "We're just going to give up that easily? Have you even tried to come up with a plan or something that might be able to get us to win?"
"No plan will ever work," Nia stated. Not much emotion showed in her voice. At this point, she was just hoping that this conversation would end so she didn't have to deal with the argument that was inevitably coming. "There isn't a single gimmick that could ever be strong enough to be able to kill my father. Even if we manage to miraculously destroy all of his Gunmen, and even that massive Gunmen that he lives on, he'd kill all of us easily. If every one of us went at him at once, we'd still lose."
"That's insane!" Kittan challenged. "I don't care how strong the guy is, all of us together would have to beat him. Plus, we haven't even tried, how do we no we can't win. We can come up with something at least, or are you just that easily defeated."
"Try if you want, you'll all die," Nia deadpanned.
"So what if we do all die?" Kittan yelled. "Retreating back into our tiny holes in the ground is just the same as being dead to me. I'd rather die than have to spend another day without being able to do whatever I damn well want to do!"
A few 'yeah's and 'he's rights' sounded out from the crowd.
"Do as you please then," Nia said. This was taking a very bad turn, and Nia wasn't in the mood to be delicate here. "You go waste your lives if you want to, It's not my place to say you can't."
"So you're saying you're not willing to give your life for freedom, huh? That's how it is!" Kittan accused. That was the exact question Nia feared. "Without you, we definitely can't win against him. If you desert us, that's the same as killing us yourself!"
"No... it's not," Nia said weakly. She knew there was some truth to Kittan's words, and deep down, they disturbed her. They disturbed her because of how little she cared about what they meant. "I'm not going to die for nothing, living in pain is better than not living at all."
"I can't believe you're broken so easily," Kittan said with an exasperated tone. "You lose once and now you don't even have the will to try even one more time! You don't care about us, you just want to go back to whatever sheltered place you came from and hide yourself from the real world!"
"I don't care about you?!" Nia yelled, pushed over the edge. "Really?! Is that how you see it?! NO! You don't care about me! I'm just here to be used by you! I'm what you need to win this war, that's why I'm here! Not because you care about me, but because you can use me! Why I have to do what you want?! I'm me! I'm not bound to any of you! I do what I want!"
People seemed really surprised by her sudden outburst. This was the first time Nia had ever raised her voice against someone that wasn't the enemy. Her voice sounded a lot more intimidating and less high pitched when she yelled too.
Kittan looked dumbfounded, but wasn't willing to give Nia the last word. "That's the most selfish thing I've ever heard in my entire life. You know who wouldn't have given up this easily? Simon! He would have kept going no matter what! And you say you knew him better than everyone else, and you don't even follow what he told us! Never give up!"
"I'm NOT Simon!" Nia yelled. "He isn't me and I'm not him! He's dead now! Whatever he would have done doesn't matter because he can't do anything! I'm the one who took his place, and I'm the one who takes on the role of leader! Not him! Me! I say, you will all die against Lordgenome, and so will I! Give up and save your lives! That's what Simon would have wanted!"
"Simon wouldn't have lost to Lordgenome in the first place!" Kittan roared, stomping towards Nia to look down on her as he yelled. "Keep in mind it's your fault we're stuck in this position! You were too weak to win!"
"I don't see you winning every battle and putting all of humanity on your shoulders! I overpower you infinitely! Lordgenome would break every fiber of your being without even trying! You're nothing!"
Kittan was fuming with anger now that Nia had directly insulted him and the thing he cares about most; his strength. "DAMN YOU! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!"
He pulled back his arm and grit his teeth. His fist swung down over Nia, but of course she was ready, excited even. She desperately need something to let her anger out on.
Nia reached up and caught Kittan's fist in her arm; the broken one. Rather than feeling pain, her arm actually felt stronger. Like something had locked into place, and now it was back to its old self, but even stronger. Needless to say, Kittan's hand was stopped easily by Nia's overwhelming strength. A shocked look washed over his face and Nia looked up at him with strong animosity.
Something was plainly unnatural about the situation. From an outsider's perspective, it would look like a little girl just caught the fist of a much stronger, muscular man. But it was always more than that. It was spiral power that gave Nia the power to outmatch Kittan. And that was when Nia realized it. Spiral power was just a crutch for her; she was literally nothing without it. Nobody cared about her without it, she couldn't do anything without it, spiral power was what defined Nia. Not personality or ideals or individual thoughts, but the strength of the power that she had bet her whole life on; that she had sacrificed her individuality to be able to use. Even if she had won the physical battle, she had lost the ideological one. Once again, she had been forced to rely on spiral power because of her own weakness.
"No. Not anymore! I don't need it! I'm not defined by spiral power! I'm defined by me!"
Nia released Kittan's arm and, going against all logical thought, he staggered back and prepared his arm for another enraged punch.
"I remember Simon saying to defy logic to do the impossible. That explains Kittan's behavior I guess… How much have I deviated from what he had taught me…? How much should I depend on it anyway? I don't need Simon to tell me how to think. I'm independent from him! I'll make my own values; unique to me! And I don't need spiral power for that!"
Kittan swung his fist again, but Nia took a different approach to defending this time. She nimbly sidestepped the attack and prepared herself for the next one. A left hook. Nia backpedaled it. Kittan swung his leg out trying to sweep Nia's feet out from under her, but she made a short hop to avoid it.
"He fights dirty, clearly he was raised to fight with fists from wherever he came from… Still each and every attack he tries I can easily avoid. I'm too fast and my senses are too sharp. Even against my will, I can't not use my spiral power. I can't hurt him without using it and he can't hurt me because I have it. That means, if I really want to prove it to myself that I don't need it, I'd have to…"
Nia planted her feet on the ground and left herself wide open for the gut punch Kittan threw at her. Rather than make any effort to dodge it, Nia kept still and just let it happen. Kittan smiled in delight as his fist made good contact with Nia's chest, sending her sprawling to the floor. Or at least, that's what he expected. What really happened was nothing; absolutely nothing. Kittan's fist struck Nia directly, and she didn't even budge. Instead, Kittan's arm just slid off of her like she was butter. A faint green glow had encompassed Nia's body when his fist made contact, and that seemed to have blocked it.
Nia just looked down at the ground for a second without moving, her long hair shielding her face from the crowd. Kittan just looked on in awe, not anger. The crowd did the same. The fight had clearly been decided, and everyone just waited in anticipation for whatever would come next.
A single tear formed in Nia's eye and rolled down her face before falling to the floor lightly. Nobody noticed it, but Nia still knew it happened. She turned around and slowly walked out of the door, passing by Leeron without making any form of eye contact, she just stared down at the floor.
Nia's legs carried her to her room. She unlocked the door stepped inside and softly shut the door behind her. The bed looked like the best place for her at the moment, so she gladly took the chance to relax on it.
"I'm surprisingly calm… This must be a moment where my body's emotionally exhausted and is just taking a break. I'm sure I'd usually be crying by now, and I want to, but I don't need to… Is it because I think I understand my situation? I guess I'm not so different than the person I was when Simon found me… I still don't know many things about the world, or about myself even… But I'm learning at my own pace now. That's what I want to do. Be me. Who I was when I was back in the castle, that's the real me. Before I was shaped into whatever Team Dai-Gurren wanted me to be, what Simon had projected on me… Can I blame him for it though? I can tell he never had any intentions other than to make me happy. He didn't want for me to adopt his ways of thinking, he just wanted me to be me. I must have just been too easy to follow back then… And now… I think I know what I need to do to bring me happiness now. I'm just going to be myself and make an effort to be completely independent of my spiral power. I want to know who I am without it… To do that, I have to get away from here. Go somewhere and establish a life for myself. I don't want to fight in a war and I don't want to fight at all. I just want to take a break… Permanently… And I can't stay here any longer after what I said to everyone… They don't like me anymore, if they ever did… Does that mean I have no friends? I want to be liked by people…"
Nia felt a small disturbance on the bed. As if something had just fallen on it. Just then, Boota was standing next to Nia's face with his large eyes and tiny furry body. He licked Nia's face once and gave her a large smile, a smile that was disproportionately big for the rest of his body. But Nia wasn't bothered.
"Thank you, my good pig mole," she said and laughed a little bit. Boota also snickered and smiled even wider. The cute little thing cuddled up on Nia's arm and fell asleep nearly instantly. Nia smiled at the sight and very carefully and slowly shifted around the rest of her body to get comfortable and tried to fall asleep with Boota. The arm he was going on was in an uncomfortable position, but Nia was too considerate to move it.
"This kindness, even something as little as not moving to wake Boota up… This is what I feel defines me. It makes me happy to be able to do kindness for others… And that's what I've been missing from my life. This basic instinct to be nice to others, I've neglected it in order to focus on the war. But that's not me anymore. This is what I want to do and who I want to be from now on, this will make me happy. This is my… happiness…"
Nia drifted off into a calm sleep. Peaceful dreams filled her unconscious mind for the first time since Simon had died. Not all of her dreams were bed since then, but none were good either. Something in her mind had clicked back into place, resolved itself. She was finally able to be at peace with herself and that's exactly what she had wanted. And yet, one more thing still had yet to be completed. One more story. One more arc.
A drill tip pierced the ground of the surface, making a small indentation in the rocky soil. A hand slapped itself next to it followed by a body sloppily rolling onto the ground beside it.
Simon panted as waves of sweat washed over his body. His muscles ached with exhaustion and his eyes squinted against the afternoon sun.
"Tha…t… was the mo….st.. exhausti...ng...thing…. I've ever done…" Simon panted. He felt like he had been climbing for hours. When he and Kamina had first drilled through there with Lagann it had only taken a few seconds, but having to climb all the way up, you could really get a good sense of scale. To make things harder for him, Simon had clumsily dropped the drill that the chief had given him and had to rely on his tiny core drill and bare hands to do the job.
"Water… Need it… now. . ."
Simon pulled his head up from the ground and observed the massive crater that he had climbed up to. Not a single drop of water in sight. Only dry, barren wasteland.
"There really is nothing in this world other than Gunmen…" Simon evaluated. He let out a defeated sigh before standing up and brushing the dirt off of his filthy outfit.
"Damn… Where do I even go from here… I didn't think this far ahead…" Simon complained. "Where is the Dai-Gurren? That's the big question here… If I were fighting a war, where would I be?"
Simon gave it a moment to consider his options.
"Aha! A clever idea! I can just console in my core drill! It usually works in mysterious ways!"
Simon reached up and grabbed a hold of his core drill. After closing his eyes, he focused all of his thoughts on the Dai-Gurren. The dore drill was eternally linked to Lagann by some mysterious power. One couldn't work without the other. In response to Simon's thoughts, the core drill started pulsating again. A hazy thought started to form in his mind. An image. Gradually it became more detailed.
"It's… It's… The Dai-Gurren… and… It's surrounded by Gunmen!" Simon thought. The picture of the bright red Dai-Gurren surrounded by enemy Gunmen had appeared in his mind. Another thought also surfaced, arguably more important. A direction.
Simon spun to his left and broke off into a sprint.
"It's this way! I know it!"
A faint consciousness lulled Nia out of her sleep. She slowly blinked her open and observed the dark room that she had fallen asleep in. Boota looked to have already woken up and was sitting directly in front of Nia's line of sight. Once he noticed that Nia had, he began rambling on in incomprehensible pig mole speak. Several implicatory gestures toward the door of the room was mixed in with the endless ranting giving Nia a good idea of what Boota was trying to say.
"You're ready to leave? Is that it?" Nia asked quietly. Even though nobody else slept on her hall anymore, she still felt the need to keep from waking other people up, and more importantly to not draw attention to herself.
Boota gave a confirmatory nod.
"Could you do me a favor and go make sure it's late at night? I don't want to be have anyone catch me in the middle of the night."
Boota nodded again and hopped off the bed and scurried to the door. Nia rolled off after him and was about to open the door for him to get out, but he had already managed to squeeze his little body under the crack of the door.
"Oh…"
Sometime passed while Boota was gone; probably looking for a window to find where the moon was in the sky. This had given Nia some time to really consider the weight of her actions.
"I don't want to be here anymore, I know that much. So my first objective is to sneak out of here in Gurren Lagann. It's mine to keep; I'm the only living person who can pilot it. Its of no use to Team Dai-Gurren so my taking it shouldn't cause them any problems. Except, if it's gone, everyone is going to know that I left them. Not that they wouldn't find out eventually anyway. But I need to be mindful of the Dai-Gurren's ability to track all Gunmen; including Gurren Lagann. My best move is probably to go somewhere far away from here as fast as possible… But what if someone is taking a night shift on the radar right now?! They'll notice Gurren Lagann's signature moving away… But nobody can really stop me, so why do I care... I guess I don't want to have any more bad interactions with the people here. I want to be gone and have it be quiet; I'll leave them to do what they please without me. But how will I survive on my own? Especially in this empty world... I can't really blend into a village, everybody should know me from the battle with the Four Generals. I can't even try to change my appearance, my features are too recognizable… I guess finding somewhere to live alone is what I'll have to do."
Nia heard a wriggling sound coming from under her and Boota squeezed out from under the door again. Nia gave him an expectant look and Boota replied with an exaggerated nod.
"Thank you," Nia whispered. She reached her hand down toward the ground and opened her palm. Boota jumped onto it and Nia guided him to her shoulder. Boota perched himself atop Nia's shoulder and made a dramatic gesture for the door.
Nia laughed at the little pig mole's vigor. "We can't go just yet, there's some things I need to get first." She ruffled through her nightstand's drawers and grabbed all the clothes that she had and hung them on her arm. There were a surprising amount of them; Old Coco had really put in the work for her. Nia made a mental note to thank Old Coco someday if she could. She looked down at the table with the lamp on it. A dark object sat on top of it. Nia reached down and delicately grabbed it. The green rock Simon had given her; the only memento she had for his existence. It felt cold to the touch and didn't glimmer in the darkness. Nia slipped it into her pocket and headed for the door.
It quietly opened and Nia and Boota peered down the hall. Nobody. In an effort to keep quiet, Nia slipped off her red high heels.
"I need some kind of shoes that are going to suitable for walking around in the wastelands… Bare feet won't go well with the rocky ground either..."
Nia remembered something Simon had told her once. She walked over to his door and reached up over the door frame and felt around. Her finger touched a small, cold metal object. Nia grabbed it and examined it in the darkness. Simon's key. She slipped it into his door handle and slowly stepped inside his room. Empty, of course. Nia observed the unkempt room, bed sheets were scattered all over the bed and Simon's clothes were lying on the floor. Nia frowned at his untidiness. She tiptoed around the room and found what she was looking for. The shoes that he had let her wear when they had first met, they were still here somehow. He lost a pair when he died, so maybe he had two? Didn't matter.
The felt soft and comfortable, well worn on Nia's feet. With one problem solved, Nia sneak back into the hallway and picked up her other shoes. After making sure to close and lock Simon's door again, she made her way down the hallway. Back in the castle, she would sometimes sneak around the hallways for fun; because there wasn't much else to do. Nia was well aware of the best ways to be quiet. Rolling her feet prevented the thumping of shoes and keeping knees and arms bent prevented them for popping.
Without any unwanted interactions, Nia made her way into the hangar, using the small door rather than the bulkhead to keep quiet. She looked down the rows of Gunmen and the place that she had lost herself at earlier that day.
"This is the last time I'll ever have to be here. All the machines of war… I can leave them behind."
Gurren Lagann was one of the closest mechs to the deployment door, luckily for Nia, and she walked up to it and stared up at it. The red paint blended well with the darkness, the large glasses sticking out as the defining feature of the mech. All the dents and holes it had endured in the battle against Lordgenome were gone now, probably thanks to the mechanics. Nia walked toward the stairway that led to the upper level where she would be able to get into Lagann. A figure stepped out of the shadows to block her. Nia's heart skipped as many beats possible without stopping completely, but she calmed down a little when she recognized the form. Dangling hair, curvy form, scant clothing; Yoko.
"Yoko.. I-" Nia started.
"Don't bother. I know what you're here to do," Yoko stated.
"You do?" Nia said,shocked by how Yoko would claim to know what she's doing.
"Of course. Why else would someone pack up all their clothing and sneak out their Gunmen in the middle of the night. You're leaving. Aren't you?"
"... Yes. I am. Now, I don't want to have to argu-"
"I'm not going to stop you," Yoko interrupted.
"What? Then, why are you here?"
"Because," Yoko said grabbing a box from the shadows with a small grunt. "You're going to need these."
Yoko held a box with an assortment of food rations in them; easily enough to last Nia a few weeks alone. Nia was startled by Yoko's surprise support of her treasonous decision. Yoko placed the box on the ground in front of her and looked up at Nia with a smile.
"Why…? Why would you do this for me?" Nia asked, dumbfounded. "Don't you hate me for abandoning you?"
"I can't hate you Nia. You're too… you, y'know. At least you are now, anyways. I can see how having to take up the leadership role has affected you; it's plain to see that you're not cut out for it and don't want to do it. We all have our own reasons, and I understand yours. I want to support you, I think that some other members of the team can't really understand people very well."
"Thank you very much, Yoko," Nia said genuinely, now giving a smile of her own. "What are you planning on doing from here? It seems like you want to not give your life up as well."
"Eh, that's not really who I am," Yoko explained. "I'm staying here with these meatheads and fighting it out until the end. I knew a guy like that once. Never giving up even when fighting on is a terrible idea. I resented him for his lack of concern for his life; or at least that's how I saw it then. Now, I've changed my perspective, I understand why he would act the way he did care about his life, but he wanted to live it the way he wanted to. If he couldn't live like that, why was he even living? I'm sure you can relate to that, right Nia?"
Those words struck a chord with Nia's heart. "Yes. I understand them perfectly. I too just want to live in the way that makes me happy, and I don't think that I can get that here. So I'm going to look for it. I'll find what makes me happy no matter how long it takes. Even if that happiness doesn't exist for me, I'll search anyway. At least then, I can understand what it is that I want and who it is that I am."
"Well said, princess," Yoko said with an understanding nod. "Whatever it is you're looking for, I hope you find it out there somewhere. But keep in mind, if you even want to come back to us, you're always welcome with me. I'm not sure if you'll ever feel that way, and even if you do, if any of us will still be alive for you to come back to. Today was a rough day of fighting for us, I'm not sure if you knew. We had some very close calls and it's possible that we could all die tomorrow. But if that's how it's going to be, I'll gladly accept."
"I think I understand what you're feeling. I'll keep your offer in mind," Nia said. "Thank you for everything, Yoko."
"Don't worry about it. Good luck out there, Nia," Yoko replied, picking up the box of food rations and following Nia up the steps to the upper level. Nia placed her spare clothes in the floorboard of Lagann and Yoko put the food rations in the space next to the seat. They gave each other their final goodbyes and Yoko gave Boota one last pet.
Nia climbed down into the cockpit seat with Boota on her shoulder and grabbed her core drill in her hand.
"This is the last thing I should ever need to use spiral power for. I'll live the rest of my life without it. No more being dependent!"
The core drill fit perfectly into the spiral gauge as it always did and Nia turned it. Gurren Lagann silently came to life. Nia grabbed the controls and slowly lifted Gurren Lagann off the ground and away from the wall. She looked down at Yoko who was waving goodbye to her. Yoko slammed her hand on the button that opened up the main hangar doors. Now with nothing between her and freedom, Nia waved back at Yoko and hovered out of the hangar for the last time. Having the ability of flight came in handy when you didn't want a giant metal machine to thump along the ground loudly.
The full midnight moon shone brightly above Nia's head, illuminating the vast expanse with a mysterious light. Nia closed her eyes and focused.
"Teppelin is straight ahead… So I'll go the opposite direction."
Nia flew up and over the bridge of the Dai-Gurren and passed over the stern of the battleship, heading straight away from everything. All the fighting and conflict was behind her now. Her father who had abandoned her, she was now doing the same to him.
"I wonder if he thinks I died from that?" Nia said. "What do you think, Boota?"
"Bui! Buii!" Boota replied. Just by the tone and pitch of the noises Boota would make, Nia could understand what Boota meant. Maybe not as well as Simon, who seemed to have developed a concrete language by which to communicate with Boota. It was strange.
Once Nia had flown away from the Dai-Gurren for maybe an hour, she slowed down the pace to take in the land and scout for a good spot to make a temporary home, or maybe a permanent one. It depended on how much she liked it. One thing was common for everything Nia saw, they were all empty and bland landscapes.
"There really is nothing in this world other than Gunmen," Nia observed. Boota nodded in agreement. "Where are all the trees and flowers I learned about from the castle? I wonder… If this world always looked this barren? Could there have been a world the was covered with flowers and trees before? I would have liked to see that. That would be a beautiful place, lots of flowers and other kinds of plants. I want to live somewhere like that. I think Simon would have liked to see a world like that too. After attaining peace, what would he do? I can't really say for sure… Maybe he would have followed me wherever I go? That's a nice thought. How about you Boota? Do you miss Simon?"
Boota gave a sorrowful nod. But he didn't stay sad for long, as he decided to leave Nia's shoulder to burrow into the food rations Yoko had given her.
"Don't do anything rash, Boota. We need to share those," Nia explained. She hoped Boota wouldn't eat anything, restocking food wasn't something that Nia had thought out all the way yet. But little problems like those didn't bother her very much, she had the freedom to do whatever she wanted now. That was all she could have hoped for.
Simon crested yet another ridge, looking down at the expanse that lay before him. All day had been spent traveling in a straight line across the featureless world. How long had Simon gone? He didn't know, but it felt like a long ways. The world was covered in large craters for some unknown reason. And that was all that Simon had found today, empty craters, until now. Of in the distance, Simon spotted something he never expected to find this soon.
"No way… Is that… Could it be…." Simon questioned in stunned awe. The one thing he had been looking for the whole time, he had finally found it; "Water!"
Simon broke off into a sprint and headed for the large stream that flowed freely in front of him. His throat was incredibly dry for having not drank anything in so long. Or eaten anything for that matter. Once he reached the stream he slid down on his knees and cupped his hands in the water. He pulled his hands to his mouth and drank all of the delicious water he could. It was the most refreshing feeling he had ever felt in his not even a day long life. After taking his fill, he peered down into the water and gazed at his reflection. The chief was right, something was off about his left eye. In the rippling water Simon could make out the faint shape of a green spiral etched into his eye. It shone a bright green color.
"That's… actually pretty cool!" Simon explained. "Just another thing to add to my ever evolving look. But if spiral power can do that to my body, I wonder what other things it'll do. Well, this one seems pretty harmless to me at least."
Taking advantage of the water supply while it was here, Simon took off his coat and shorts and soaked them in the water for a while. Most of the dirt and dust that they had acquired from the climbing expedition were washed off easily, leaving clean clothes for him once again.
"Hmm, Gurren Lagann's that way," Simon said pointing across the stream. It was a good forty or so feet wide, a good size. "So I have to cross this if I want to get to it. But I can't swim, so I hope this doesn't get too deep… Never had the chance to mess around with water like this underground or during the war…"
Simon took some time to come up with a cautious plan for conquering the river. First, he removed his shoes and threw them to the other side of the stream, landing safely and dryly on the bank.
"Good, don't want to get those things wet."
Simon next swung his newly clean clothes over his shoulder to free up his hands and took a trepidatious step into the water. It was slightly cold, but not deadly, so Simon slowly put both feet into the water. He kept on walking deeper into the stream until he was about halfway through and the water was only up to his waist. After breathing a sigh of relief, Simon used the opportunity to clean himself up. He dunked his head underwater to get all of the dust and dirt of it and ran his hands through it a few times to keep it messy. Once satisfied, Simon walked the rest of the way across the stream and stepped into his shoes again. His feet would still make them slightly soggy, but not as much as if they had been completely submerged in water.
Simon was still dripping wet, so he shook off as much water off his body as possible before getting back on track and heading for Gurren Lagann. As he walked, he wrung the water out of his clothes that he washed and slipped them back on when he felt dry. Simon looked up at the full moon as he walked, marveling at its beauty.
"Even in this empty world, there's still things of beauty to look at," Simon thought. "I refuse to believe that this is what the world always looked like. Sometime before, I know that this world was covered in beauty. How it became like this, I don't know. I want to see it restored to its former glory. I'm sure Nia would think the same. She would want to see peace and beauty in the world. I hope. I hope she is still the same person she was when I died. Nia earnest and endearing, those qualities are what I liked most about her. But who did she become after I died? I know that I changed for the worst after Kamina died… I don't know what would have happened to me if I didn't meet Nia. I hope she's okay. I know she's alive, but is she still Nia? I guess it won't be too long until I find out… Hmm? What's this feeling I'm getting…. Gurren Lagann, it's coming this way! I can sense it! Why? What is it doing?"
Simon pondered the question as he continued the long trek across more barren wasteland, very slowly getting closer to his goal.