Disclaimer:I don't own zoids. Thank Mookie for this shiny grammar if you
haven't already.
Final chapter. Enjoy!
Fuma's sleeping form was lying on the guestroom bed, dressed in only a white tank top, long light green boxers, and various BandAids. Sweat covered her like a second skin, causing many of them to peel. Her slumber was rudely pierced by the irritating buzz of her watch. Instinctively she rose while reaching for it, only to find it missing. Her eyes scanned the familiar room that was lit by a single candle on the TV near her watch.
The wavering light made her mind feel like it was between the gears of a zoid engine. Wiping her brow, her hand became soaked, causing her to realize how hot it was. As well as what she was and wasn't wearing.
'They undressed me?' her thoughts jumped. She hesitantly lifted the top of the boxers that weren't hers. Upon finding that her normal undergarments seemed untouched, she calmed slightly. Looking at the numerous BandAids caused a warm feeling to manifest itself in her chest. She tried to beat it back with logic and reason.
'Stop it Fuma. It's not like they saved you to let you bleed to death.' Only partially satisfied with her self reasoning, she made her way to the door, ignoring the dizzy spell threatening to ground her.
Harry Champ sat in the blissful solitude of his roughed up Darkhorn. He had saved her as he had planned. At the expense of Sebastian's Stealthviper and nearly the little robot's life as well. They themselves had barely managed to take out two of the sharks before their retreat. Warsharks were such a pain to fight.
The Neo Backdraft were on their way, but Harry was already on a battle field in his mind. He remembered how his heart rattled against the cage that was his ribs when he'd forced open Fuma's cockpit.
'Nothing wrong,' he swallowed 'with feeling concern towards my fellow ma- er woman.' But why did he feel like he was rebelling against himself? His thoughts drifted back to when he was undressing her in the guestroom, the only light provided by a candle that Benjamin held. The only thing good thing about the black out caused by the 'Neo Backdraft' was that it had covered his crimson face at the time. Protectiveness emanated from him as he applied each BandAid.
'Noooo,' the thought slowly playing out nearly became spoken words. He pounded on a wall of the rebellious thoughts. 'Traitor? To whom?' accompanied by a brief flash of Leena in his mind. He recoiled, hitting the back of his head against his seat. He swallowed the self-inflicted poison that was her image.
A swirling fog lifted in his mind. 'What do you know about her anyway? Only that she's smart and funny and gorgeous and - STOP! If Leena didn't see anything in you, why should anyone? I was honest. I gave everything I had. I don't think...I could survive another fall.'
Eyes down cast Harry began to remove himself from the cockpit of his zoid. Dropping to the ground, Harry's gaze slowly shifted toward the door. Standing in the doorway, awaiting his attention, was Fuma.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Yessssssss!" exclaimed Dr. C, sitting at his computer. He turned to Red who was busy giving out orders. 'Bout time he got his act together.'
"I've finished!" he called out over the commotion.
Red turned and stared at him briefly like he was an idiot who should be shot. "Haven't you been listening to me! We don't need your stupid 'mind games.' She knows we're here."
"What?!"
"I'm not going to explain this again, Dr.C," he said mockingly "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a base to capture."
"Wait! You don't have the authority to make these kinds of decisions! Let me call Alteil -"
"I'm not an idiot! I don't need my uncle's approval for everything!" he fired back at the elderly doctor. "'Sides, once we get the Champ base we'll have plenty of zoids to hold off the ZBC 'til unc' gets his butt outta jail." He then turned his attention back to his boys.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry was frozen in place. His mind screamed 'run.' Fuma made her way towards him the same smile as always. That smile could enlighten a funeral, Harry thought to himself. She stopped a couple feet from him.
"Care to explain?" her soft, amused voice asked.
"Uhh... I... the..." Harry stuttered while averting his eyes, ".air conditioner...enemy cut the power."
Noticing his gaze was elsewhere, Fuma looked down, remembering her apparel. "Oh, I wasn't talking about that."
"Then what?" Harry asked, still looking anywhere but at Fuma's attire.
"Why did you save me?" Her tone held just a hint of seriousness, and her searched him. Lowering his guard. He didn't have an answer he understood himself that he could give her.
He turned away abruptly. He could sense the alarm he hadn't meant to cause her.
'Great! Now she knows something's up. She's so smart. What now? It can't be love. I'm...I was... I...Leena! What did I do to deserve this torture?!'
"Harry?" came Fuma's voice. It was hesitant, soothing, and alluring to his ears.
"Theenemywillbeheresoon," he blurted out. "I gotta get ready. There's a Warshark around here, if you think you're up to it."
"All right," she said unconvinced. She started her search amongst Harry's many zoids.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The enemy is approaching, Red," the voice of a young man rang into Red's ears. "I can see that," he responded snobbishly. Ahead of him, six Revraptors marched side by side.
"I thought you said there were only four, Pike?"
"There were," he answered nervously.
"Oh who cares! Frag 'em." Red commanded. As the raptor zoids came within range and were shot at none returned fire. Another row appeared behind them. Four raptors and one Darkhorn.
"They must be on auto pilot," said the voice of another young man with a blue mohawk and red warpaint under his eyes.
"Thank you for pointing out the obvious Read," Red's perpetually rude voice thanked him sarcastically. Some of his men continued to fire at the approaching zoids.
"Hey hey! We need those! We need those!" Red exclaimed ecstatically. If he had any hair, each strand would have been standing up.
"Let them pass we'll get 'em later." As the first row of raptors filtered through Red's small army of 20 zoids, the Darkhorn stopped. Red's suspicions started to rise as eight of his zoids fell through the sand. The Darkhorn unloaded on any zoids still functioning after the fall.
"How coul-?" Red started.
"Must have used a Warshark to soften the ground prior to our arrival," Read quickly and calmly deduced. In the midst of the confusion, Red's men began firing at the unmanned zoids. One of the Raptors, however, returned fire. Adding to the confusion, a white, yellow and black Warshark sprang from the sands, firing missles and disappearing into the sands again.
Frustrated beyond reasoning, Red fired at the Darkhorn, narrowly missing as it took cover in the ditch the others zoids had fallen into. He turned his attention to the one Revraptor that was firing at his men. Using the strike laser claw of his black Saber Fang, he cut off its head as well as the legs of the one behind it.
"Ahhhhhh!" Benjamin's metallic voice was heard. "Ha! Before I single- handedly wipe your faces across the desert, why don't you losers show yourselves?" Red mocked. Fuma's face appeared on his screen.
"Miltin Red Alteil," she said dragging his name out slowly.
"Don't call me that!" he snapped, halfway standing in his seat. Looking at Fuma, he subdued a filthy smile cutting his face in half. "Do I know you? Please tell me I know you."
"No, you don't. But I worked for your uncle. So he put you in charge of remaking the Backdraft group? He must have been desperate." Fuma stated in a completely unimpressed manner.
"I'll show you! Come on out!" he challenged.
"Where's the fun in that Miltin?"
"I hate you mother," Red said flatly while firing randomly at the sand.
"They're baiting you, boss." Read said matter-of-factly.
"Shut up and get the Darkhorn!"
Read did as he was told and headed for the ditch in his Command Wolf. Just as he neared the edge, the Darkhorn sprang at him using advanced boosters. Read barely dodged in time and fired at it as it flew past.
Making a sharp 180, the Darkhorn returned fire. A blast from the Command Wolf hit the rhino zoid head on, causing a lot of damage. But the speed and excessiveness of Harry's galiting gun violently chipped away the face of the Command Wolf.
Slowly the battle weary Darkhorn made its way to the black Saber Fang.
Red followed his radar, chasing the oddly colored Warshark that Fuma had taken a liking to. The last Warshark on Red's side was pursuing her underground. She vaulted over Pike's Gunsniper. Seeing her surface, Red utilized his zoid's strike laser claw. Fuma submerged and continued her course past Pike while the pursuing Warshark caused a tremor, knocking Pike's zoid off its feet. Then the laser-powered claw of Red's night colored zoid decapitated it.
"AHHH! Bossssss!" he whined before the signal went blank.
"Shut up!" he yelled at the dead screen in frustration. The top part of Fuma's zoid was exposed, as a river of sand seemed to follow. It was irritation in the form of pins scratching at Red's inner will. Fuma suddenly stopped letting both her pursuers take the lead. She fired all her remaining ammo at both. The shark stopped moving when the light show was over. The Saber took every hit and fell over, but then slowly got to its feet.
Fuma didn't expect it to still be functioning but wouldn't let it get to her. She stared determinedly as Harry's Darkhorn joined her. She didn't take her eyes off her target as Harry opened fire on it.
The Saber Fang dashed to the right of the live rounds and charged toward them both veering up its claw attack. Both Harry and Fuma veered to the opposite side, but Harry's Darkhorn lost its back right leg. The tiger zoid ran at circle, avoiding Harry's pivoting galliting gun until a series of clicks replaced the sound of gun fire.
"You're out?" Fuma asked, her face appearing on a vid screen in Harry's zoid. He merely nodded, not trusting his voice. Fuma was too focused to really notice. The Saber Fang was facing them again, preparing that same old attack. Fuma face, still visible on Harry's vid screen, had gained the weight of a wicked smile. Her zoid disappeared into the sand and reappeared next to the Darkhorn's remaining leg, on the right side of its body.
"What are you doing?" Harry finally had to ask.
"Shhh," she replied.
"Giving up? Getting in line for me huh? Consider yourself lucky that I'm gonna make this fast!" Red threw out the words in a voice that was only half-sane. "Told you uncle."
Fuma's Warshark locked its jaws on the right leg of the Darkhorn.
"Hey. You're not gonna...?" Harry's voice trailed off as the Warshark picked up speed. The Saber Fang charged toward them at full speed. They mirrored this.
"RRRRAAAAhhhhhhhhhhh!" the volume of Red's voice rose as adrenaline rushed through his head. It got higher and higher as he neared his enemy.
"Uuh aaaaAAAAAHHH" the volume in Harry's voice rose with disbelief at how truly evil women were. A couple of feet and only a couple of seconds away, the space between the three of them was rapidly shrinking. The Saber became airborne in what seemed like slow motion. For whatever reason, Harry's mind was able to capture every detail but no sound. Fuma was still smiling. Always smiling. With a loud gut twisting crash, everything went black.
"Oh, so you are still alive," Harry heard a mocking woman's voice. He opened his eyes, but nothing was registering with his brain. He sat up, rubbing his eyes with one hand and feeling sand between the fingers of the other. 'Sand?' It all came back to him at once. He sprang to his feet and pointed a finger at the woman in front of him. "Were you trying to kill me?!" Fuma's smile broadened genuinely. She couldn't help it. He was so cute like this. She knew she shouldn't let her next thoughts become words but she did anyway. "We ran out of ammo?" she said innocently.
"Does my Darkhorn look like ammo?!" the pointed finger was replaced by a clenched fist shaking in her direction.
"Well..." she started, her gaze turning only to the left where two barely recognizable, to say the least, zoids were piled together. "It looks like used ammo."
Harry stared in awe at yet another death trap he had managed to survive. Fuma sneaked an arm around his neck and pulled him toward her until their cheeks touched. "Hey, we won!" she exclaimed. Harry recoiled at the contact. He once again turned away. This kick-started Fuma's mind, reminding her of her unanswered question. Looking at Harry's demeanor, her fast working mind had a good idea what kind of answer she was going to get. Her heart skipped a beat and a warmth rose up in her from head to toe. For first time in a long time she was nervous. In less than half an hour, Sebastian, who had been sent to get in touch with the ZBC prior to the battle, would return. They'd round up the Neo Backdraft members who were loose in the desert and any that were left in the mine. After that, she'd have no reason to stay. She'd continue wondering 'what if' - possibly until the end of her days. 'What if I'm mistaken. He was really into that Gunsniper chick. I'd seen him. 'Leena I love you more with every shot you fire my way.' Then again, if he's into girls that try to kill him, maybe I have a chance.'
"Harry?" she called out with some weakness in her voice. Harry's mind caused his heart to start racing. She had figured him out. 'Should have run when I had the chance,' he scolded himself.
"Why d-d-id you save me?" she asked, her voice close to a whisper. He turned to her, looking like a frightened animal. Fuma forced herself to remain still for the answer. He moved toward her, stopping inches from her face. His eyes searched for what seemed to be the answer to her own question. Then he startled her, dropping to his knees, placing his hands around her lower back, and leaning into her. She let out a breathless gasp before easing into the contact. Not knowing what else to do, she began to stroke his reddish brown hair. Harry let himself be absorbed into her warmth. Into an open heart. Letting her caress roll through him. He could have stayed like this forever, but he owed her an explanation. "You know why, don't you?" It wasn't a question. Fuma didn't answer. "You're smart, and you have a good heart that you show in your own way, and you're funny, and ...gorgeous."
Fuma's heart was set aflutter. Harry released her and stood up, looking her in the eyes. "But you knew all that. And you know why I saved you. It's because I've fallen in love with you," Harry said, watching a uncontrollable smile that made his heart flip appear on Fuma's delicate face. Tears of joy built an unstable crystal wall in her eyes. "But you already knew that," he finished.
She launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug that almost knocked him over. 'What did I ever do to deserve this? I only joined ZBC to do the same thing I did in the Backdraft group without being arrested.' A warmth he could not refuse consumed Harry. All black memories faded and disappeared, crumbling like ashes in the wind. In their place was Fuma. She was in his mind, heat, and arms. He stroked the back of her hair as she somehow held on tighter. "Is it safe to assume you love me, too?" he asked a little smug. She pulled off his shoulder only long enough to press her lips against his, shocking the daylights out of Harry. This time they did fall, but neither noticed as they stayed like this for what seemed like hours. "You know *gasp* this means you *gasp* you can't... can't try to kill me anymore," Harry said between intakes of air.
"Why not? You know you like it," she said getting to her feet. In the distance she could see ZBC zoids and other transports heading their way.
"I what?" Harry asked, not following her mentally as he followed her physically towards her fellow ZBC comrades. "Wasn't it romantic when I tied you to my Hammer head," she said in a fake dreamy voice.
"Um... no."
"But I just used you as a missile and you confessed your love for me, so what's the difference?" she asked sweetly. Smiling inwardly and outwardly at the coming reaction, they headed away from the destroyed zoids and towards the rest of their lives.
END
Fuma's sleeping form was lying on the guestroom bed, dressed in only a white tank top, long light green boxers, and various BandAids. Sweat covered her like a second skin, causing many of them to peel. Her slumber was rudely pierced by the irritating buzz of her watch. Instinctively she rose while reaching for it, only to find it missing. Her eyes scanned the familiar room that was lit by a single candle on the TV near her watch.
The wavering light made her mind feel like it was between the gears of a zoid engine. Wiping her brow, her hand became soaked, causing her to realize how hot it was. As well as what she was and wasn't wearing.
'They undressed me?' her thoughts jumped. She hesitantly lifted the top of the boxers that weren't hers. Upon finding that her normal undergarments seemed untouched, she calmed slightly. Looking at the numerous BandAids caused a warm feeling to manifest itself in her chest. She tried to beat it back with logic and reason.
'Stop it Fuma. It's not like they saved you to let you bleed to death.' Only partially satisfied with her self reasoning, she made her way to the door, ignoring the dizzy spell threatening to ground her.
Harry Champ sat in the blissful solitude of his roughed up Darkhorn. He had saved her as he had planned. At the expense of Sebastian's Stealthviper and nearly the little robot's life as well. They themselves had barely managed to take out two of the sharks before their retreat. Warsharks were such a pain to fight.
The Neo Backdraft were on their way, but Harry was already on a battle field in his mind. He remembered how his heart rattled against the cage that was his ribs when he'd forced open Fuma's cockpit.
'Nothing wrong,' he swallowed 'with feeling concern towards my fellow ma- er woman.' But why did he feel like he was rebelling against himself? His thoughts drifted back to when he was undressing her in the guestroom, the only light provided by a candle that Benjamin held. The only thing good thing about the black out caused by the 'Neo Backdraft' was that it had covered his crimson face at the time. Protectiveness emanated from him as he applied each BandAid.
'Noooo,' the thought slowly playing out nearly became spoken words. He pounded on a wall of the rebellious thoughts. 'Traitor? To whom?' accompanied by a brief flash of Leena in his mind. He recoiled, hitting the back of his head against his seat. He swallowed the self-inflicted poison that was her image.
A swirling fog lifted in his mind. 'What do you know about her anyway? Only that she's smart and funny and gorgeous and - STOP! If Leena didn't see anything in you, why should anyone? I was honest. I gave everything I had. I don't think...I could survive another fall.'
Eyes down cast Harry began to remove himself from the cockpit of his zoid. Dropping to the ground, Harry's gaze slowly shifted toward the door. Standing in the doorway, awaiting his attention, was Fuma.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Yessssssss!" exclaimed Dr. C, sitting at his computer. He turned to Red who was busy giving out orders. 'Bout time he got his act together.'
"I've finished!" he called out over the commotion.
Red turned and stared at him briefly like he was an idiot who should be shot. "Haven't you been listening to me! We don't need your stupid 'mind games.' She knows we're here."
"What?!"
"I'm not going to explain this again, Dr.C," he said mockingly "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a base to capture."
"Wait! You don't have the authority to make these kinds of decisions! Let me call Alteil -"
"I'm not an idiot! I don't need my uncle's approval for everything!" he fired back at the elderly doctor. "'Sides, once we get the Champ base we'll have plenty of zoids to hold off the ZBC 'til unc' gets his butt outta jail." He then turned his attention back to his boys.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry was frozen in place. His mind screamed 'run.' Fuma made her way towards him the same smile as always. That smile could enlighten a funeral, Harry thought to himself. She stopped a couple feet from him.
"Care to explain?" her soft, amused voice asked.
"Uhh... I... the..." Harry stuttered while averting his eyes, ".air conditioner...enemy cut the power."
Noticing his gaze was elsewhere, Fuma looked down, remembering her apparel. "Oh, I wasn't talking about that."
"Then what?" Harry asked, still looking anywhere but at Fuma's attire.
"Why did you save me?" Her tone held just a hint of seriousness, and her searched him. Lowering his guard. He didn't have an answer he understood himself that he could give her.
He turned away abruptly. He could sense the alarm he hadn't meant to cause her.
'Great! Now she knows something's up. She's so smart. What now? It can't be love. I'm...I was... I...Leena! What did I do to deserve this torture?!'
"Harry?" came Fuma's voice. It was hesitant, soothing, and alluring to his ears.
"Theenemywillbeheresoon," he blurted out. "I gotta get ready. There's a Warshark around here, if you think you're up to it."
"All right," she said unconvinced. She started her search amongst Harry's many zoids.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The enemy is approaching, Red," the voice of a young man rang into Red's ears. "I can see that," he responded snobbishly. Ahead of him, six Revraptors marched side by side.
"I thought you said there were only four, Pike?"
"There were," he answered nervously.
"Oh who cares! Frag 'em." Red commanded. As the raptor zoids came within range and were shot at none returned fire. Another row appeared behind them. Four raptors and one Darkhorn.
"They must be on auto pilot," said the voice of another young man with a blue mohawk and red warpaint under his eyes.
"Thank you for pointing out the obvious Read," Red's perpetually rude voice thanked him sarcastically. Some of his men continued to fire at the approaching zoids.
"Hey hey! We need those! We need those!" Red exclaimed ecstatically. If he had any hair, each strand would have been standing up.
"Let them pass we'll get 'em later." As the first row of raptors filtered through Red's small army of 20 zoids, the Darkhorn stopped. Red's suspicions started to rise as eight of his zoids fell through the sand. The Darkhorn unloaded on any zoids still functioning after the fall.
"How coul-?" Red started.
"Must have used a Warshark to soften the ground prior to our arrival," Read quickly and calmly deduced. In the midst of the confusion, Red's men began firing at the unmanned zoids. One of the Raptors, however, returned fire. Adding to the confusion, a white, yellow and black Warshark sprang from the sands, firing missles and disappearing into the sands again.
Frustrated beyond reasoning, Red fired at the Darkhorn, narrowly missing as it took cover in the ditch the others zoids had fallen into. He turned his attention to the one Revraptor that was firing at his men. Using the strike laser claw of his black Saber Fang, he cut off its head as well as the legs of the one behind it.
"Ahhhhhh!" Benjamin's metallic voice was heard. "Ha! Before I single- handedly wipe your faces across the desert, why don't you losers show yourselves?" Red mocked. Fuma's face appeared on his screen.
"Miltin Red Alteil," she said dragging his name out slowly.
"Don't call me that!" he snapped, halfway standing in his seat. Looking at Fuma, he subdued a filthy smile cutting his face in half. "Do I know you? Please tell me I know you."
"No, you don't. But I worked for your uncle. So he put you in charge of remaking the Backdraft group? He must have been desperate." Fuma stated in a completely unimpressed manner.
"I'll show you! Come on out!" he challenged.
"Where's the fun in that Miltin?"
"I hate you mother," Red said flatly while firing randomly at the sand.
"They're baiting you, boss." Read said matter-of-factly.
"Shut up and get the Darkhorn!"
Read did as he was told and headed for the ditch in his Command Wolf. Just as he neared the edge, the Darkhorn sprang at him using advanced boosters. Read barely dodged in time and fired at it as it flew past.
Making a sharp 180, the Darkhorn returned fire. A blast from the Command Wolf hit the rhino zoid head on, causing a lot of damage. But the speed and excessiveness of Harry's galiting gun violently chipped away the face of the Command Wolf.
Slowly the battle weary Darkhorn made its way to the black Saber Fang.
Red followed his radar, chasing the oddly colored Warshark that Fuma had taken a liking to. The last Warshark on Red's side was pursuing her underground. She vaulted over Pike's Gunsniper. Seeing her surface, Red utilized his zoid's strike laser claw. Fuma submerged and continued her course past Pike while the pursuing Warshark caused a tremor, knocking Pike's zoid off its feet. Then the laser-powered claw of Red's night colored zoid decapitated it.
"AHHH! Bossssss!" he whined before the signal went blank.
"Shut up!" he yelled at the dead screen in frustration. The top part of Fuma's zoid was exposed, as a river of sand seemed to follow. It was irritation in the form of pins scratching at Red's inner will. Fuma suddenly stopped letting both her pursuers take the lead. She fired all her remaining ammo at both. The shark stopped moving when the light show was over. The Saber took every hit and fell over, but then slowly got to its feet.
Fuma didn't expect it to still be functioning but wouldn't let it get to her. She stared determinedly as Harry's Darkhorn joined her. She didn't take her eyes off her target as Harry opened fire on it.
The Saber Fang dashed to the right of the live rounds and charged toward them both veering up its claw attack. Both Harry and Fuma veered to the opposite side, but Harry's Darkhorn lost its back right leg. The tiger zoid ran at circle, avoiding Harry's pivoting galliting gun until a series of clicks replaced the sound of gun fire.
"You're out?" Fuma asked, her face appearing on a vid screen in Harry's zoid. He merely nodded, not trusting his voice. Fuma was too focused to really notice. The Saber Fang was facing them again, preparing that same old attack. Fuma face, still visible on Harry's vid screen, had gained the weight of a wicked smile. Her zoid disappeared into the sand and reappeared next to the Darkhorn's remaining leg, on the right side of its body.
"What are you doing?" Harry finally had to ask.
"Shhh," she replied.
"Giving up? Getting in line for me huh? Consider yourself lucky that I'm gonna make this fast!" Red threw out the words in a voice that was only half-sane. "Told you uncle."
Fuma's Warshark locked its jaws on the right leg of the Darkhorn.
"Hey. You're not gonna...?" Harry's voice trailed off as the Warshark picked up speed. The Saber Fang charged toward them at full speed. They mirrored this.
"RRRRAAAAhhhhhhhhhhh!" the volume of Red's voice rose as adrenaline rushed through his head. It got higher and higher as he neared his enemy.
"Uuh aaaaAAAAAHHH" the volume in Harry's voice rose with disbelief at how truly evil women were. A couple of feet and only a couple of seconds away, the space between the three of them was rapidly shrinking. The Saber became airborne in what seemed like slow motion. For whatever reason, Harry's mind was able to capture every detail but no sound. Fuma was still smiling. Always smiling. With a loud gut twisting crash, everything went black.
"Oh, so you are still alive," Harry heard a mocking woman's voice. He opened his eyes, but nothing was registering with his brain. He sat up, rubbing his eyes with one hand and feeling sand between the fingers of the other. 'Sand?' It all came back to him at once. He sprang to his feet and pointed a finger at the woman in front of him. "Were you trying to kill me?!" Fuma's smile broadened genuinely. She couldn't help it. He was so cute like this. She knew she shouldn't let her next thoughts become words but she did anyway. "We ran out of ammo?" she said innocently.
"Does my Darkhorn look like ammo?!" the pointed finger was replaced by a clenched fist shaking in her direction.
"Well..." she started, her gaze turning only to the left where two barely recognizable, to say the least, zoids were piled together. "It looks like used ammo."
Harry stared in awe at yet another death trap he had managed to survive. Fuma sneaked an arm around his neck and pulled him toward her until their cheeks touched. "Hey, we won!" she exclaimed. Harry recoiled at the contact. He once again turned away. This kick-started Fuma's mind, reminding her of her unanswered question. Looking at Harry's demeanor, her fast working mind had a good idea what kind of answer she was going to get. Her heart skipped a beat and a warmth rose up in her from head to toe. For first time in a long time she was nervous. In less than half an hour, Sebastian, who had been sent to get in touch with the ZBC prior to the battle, would return. They'd round up the Neo Backdraft members who were loose in the desert and any that were left in the mine. After that, she'd have no reason to stay. She'd continue wondering 'what if' - possibly until the end of her days. 'What if I'm mistaken. He was really into that Gunsniper chick. I'd seen him. 'Leena I love you more with every shot you fire my way.' Then again, if he's into girls that try to kill him, maybe I have a chance.'
"Harry?" she called out with some weakness in her voice. Harry's mind caused his heart to start racing. She had figured him out. 'Should have run when I had the chance,' he scolded himself.
"Why d-d-id you save me?" she asked, her voice close to a whisper. He turned to her, looking like a frightened animal. Fuma forced herself to remain still for the answer. He moved toward her, stopping inches from her face. His eyes searched for what seemed to be the answer to her own question. Then he startled her, dropping to his knees, placing his hands around her lower back, and leaning into her. She let out a breathless gasp before easing into the contact. Not knowing what else to do, she began to stroke his reddish brown hair. Harry let himself be absorbed into her warmth. Into an open heart. Letting her caress roll through him. He could have stayed like this forever, but he owed her an explanation. "You know why, don't you?" It wasn't a question. Fuma didn't answer. "You're smart, and you have a good heart that you show in your own way, and you're funny, and ...gorgeous."
Fuma's heart was set aflutter. Harry released her and stood up, looking her in the eyes. "But you knew all that. And you know why I saved you. It's because I've fallen in love with you," Harry said, watching a uncontrollable smile that made his heart flip appear on Fuma's delicate face. Tears of joy built an unstable crystal wall in her eyes. "But you already knew that," he finished.
She launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug that almost knocked him over. 'What did I ever do to deserve this? I only joined ZBC to do the same thing I did in the Backdraft group without being arrested.' A warmth he could not refuse consumed Harry. All black memories faded and disappeared, crumbling like ashes in the wind. In their place was Fuma. She was in his mind, heat, and arms. He stroked the back of her hair as she somehow held on tighter. "Is it safe to assume you love me, too?" he asked a little smug. She pulled off his shoulder only long enough to press her lips against his, shocking the daylights out of Harry. This time they did fall, but neither noticed as they stayed like this for what seemed like hours. "You know *gasp* this means you *gasp* you can't... can't try to kill me anymore," Harry said between intakes of air.
"Why not? You know you like it," she said getting to her feet. In the distance she could see ZBC zoids and other transports heading their way.
"I what?" Harry asked, not following her mentally as he followed her physically towards her fellow ZBC comrades. "Wasn't it romantic when I tied you to my Hammer head," she said in a fake dreamy voice.
"Um... no."
"But I just used you as a missile and you confessed your love for me, so what's the difference?" she asked sweetly. Smiling inwardly and outwardly at the coming reaction, they headed away from the destroyed zoids and towards the rest of their lives.
END