Chapter
6
Swirling masses of dark
clouds covered Duo's field of vision. It was hard to tell if he was standing or
floating, seeing as his feet were covered with thick fog. Around him were
twisted, deformed trees that had the appearance of withered old men that wanted
nothing more than to be put out of their own misery. Strange echoing voices
rung in his ears, moaning in languages unknown to the young pilot.
"What's going on?" Duo called
out to the darkness, letting his voice show more fear than he wanted.
"Come back to us, Duo…" a voice
whispered in his ear, sending chills up his spine. He spun around, his braid
trailing out behind him. There, before him, shadowed by the lack of light, was
a feminine figure with huge, feathered black wings stretched out behind her.
Her arms were reaching for Duo, and the young man suddenly felt his heart skip
a beat.
"Who are you?" he demanded with
a shaky voice.
"Duo…" the female moaned, moving
closer. Trepidation took over Duo's heart; he knew something wasn't right here.
"Please…stay back!" he begged,
trying to back away. He soon realized that the woman wasn't shadowed from the
lack of light, but because she had no form.
"Duo…come back to us…" she
continued to wail, her voice rising in volume.
"Stay back!!" Duo screamed,
slamming in to a tree and finding himself trapped. The woman grabbed his
shoulders with dark, bony hands and leaned her formless face forward.
When he saw what lay beyond the
dark shadow that was her body, a scream that ripped through the dead land
escaped Duo's lips.
"DUO!" Asuka yelled, shaking
the screaming boy thrashing about on the hospital bed, "DUO! Wake up it's just
a bad dream! DUO!" she frantically cried. Duo was drenched in sweat, his eyes
tightly squeezed closed, and his hands clasped so tightly around the sheets
that his knuckles were turning white.
Asuka saw no other choice and
raised her hand in the air, bringing it down harshly on Duo's cheek. Duo
screamed again and shot bolt up right, his violet eyes darting wildly around.
"A…Asuka?" he stammered when he
saw the frightened blue-eyed EVA pilot at his side.
"You were having a bad dream."
She stated calmly, despite the fear in her eyes.
"Am I…in the infirmary?" Duo
wondered, gazing at the unfamiliar surroundings.
"Hai. You are."
Duo rubbed his sore cheek and a
tiny grin played across his gamine features.
"You slapped me…"
"It was the only way to wake you
up." Asuka explained, hanging her head as though she took no pride whatsoever
in her actions, "Duo…"
"Yeah?"
"What…happened back there?"
Asuka inquired, tilting her head and looking curiously at Duo.
"Back where? In the hallway? I…"
Duo trailed off, his eyes suddenly becoming glazed, "don't know, Asuka…I really
don't know."
There was a very long and uncomfortable silence between the two before Duo took the chance to speak again.
"How long have I been out?" he
mused, staring at the clock and trying to regain some memories. The haunting
image of the strange angel in the mist plagued his mind, however, and blocked any
access to previous incidents.
"About two hours."
"Two hours!" Duo exclaimed,
trying to jump out of the hospital bed.
"No way, you're not going
anywhere, Duo!" Asuka ordered, pushing him back down. Normally Duo would have
easily been able to over power the girl, but the incident in the hall had just
sapped any energy he had.
"You gotta let me! They've
started the mission! They can't go on without me!" Duo protested in a very
uncharacteristic whine.
"Yes they're on the mission but
you're stuck here! There is no way Miss Une is going to let you pilot in your
condition!" Asuka argued, still holding his shoulder down on the bed.
"But…" Duo continued to protest.
"But nothing, Duo…there's
nothing you can do now…"
In
the Reality Portal Control Booth
Shinji stared at the flickering
monitors before him, monitors that were watching the current vital signs of the
four Gundam pilots that were in his reality.
He sighed, seeing nothing
unchanged, nothing unusual in the status screen. The normalcy did nothing to
easy Shinji's trepidation. He glanced up at the portal doorway that lay in the
huge Reality Portal and Docking Room. Surrounding the giant gateway were
several docked mobile suits, including the stationed Deathscythe Hell, the
Gundam belonging to Shinji's guardian.
His heart leapt to his throat
when he saw that particular Gundam, even though he all ready knew that Duo was
in the infirmary, probably still unconscious from his strange episode in the
hall.
"Something's not right…"
Back
in the EVA reality…
Somewhere
in orbit around Earth…
Heero stared in undeniable awe
at the monstrosity before him. As large as a Gundam, but with much more
menacing, and eerily human-like features, Evangelion Unit-01 floated lifeless
in the infinite space.
"What is that thing…?" Heero
asked the emptiness around him.
"Did you find the EVA unit,
Heero?" Quatre's voice came over his com system. The other three pilots were
monitoring Heero's part of the mission from Earth, making sure there were no
complications when he returned with the EVA unit.
"Yeah…I found it. It took some
looking, thought." Heero responded, slight nervousness entering his usual
monotone.
"Well, get it and let's get out
of here." Wufei suddenly snapped.
"Wufei…" Quatre protested
softly.
"You're acting more paranoid
than usual, Chang." Trowa added, "Is something bothering you?"
"I have a bad feeling…all
right?" Wufei growled, suddenly becoming very uneasy.
"Yeah…so do I." Heero agreed
quietly, staring at the EVA unit, "All right, I'm going to retrieve it. I'll
contact you when I've got it hooked to the trailer. This is Heero, over and
out."
"Wufei, over and out."
"Quatre, over and out."
"We'll be waiting. Trowa, over
and out."
Heero sighed and turned off the
button to his com link, his other hand hesitating over the release hatch for
his door. It was bad enough that he was completely alone; he was going to
venture outside his place of sanctity, his Gundam, in order to hook up the
cables that would reel in the EVA unit.
If anything attacks me, I'm
dead…I really wish we could have taken more than one Gundam up to retrieve this
thing…why did Une suddenly change her mind about sending me with back up? It's
like something spooked her…
He growled under his breath
and grabbed the hatch roughly.
Stop doubting yourself, Yuy.
You're trained for this kind of stuff! Just go out there and do it!
Finally, after a long mental
argument with himself, Heero pulled the hatch and watched the cockpit door
slide open, revealing the huge, vast glittering space before him, along with
the EVA unit. He exited his Gundam quickly and grabbed the long coils of cables
on his way out. As he floated weightlessly through the desolate place he caught
a glimpse of a large flat bed attached to the back of his Gundam, a strange
sight indeed considering this was nothing like any mission he'd pulled off
before.
Heero worked as quickly and
efficiently as he could, never letting his pounding heart or his nagging inner
voice slow him down once. Once he was finished tying the cords around the
giant, he trailed them back to his Gundam and to a small reeling device hooked
to the back of the trailer. If everything went the way it was supposed to, the
EVA unit would land on the trailer and all Heero would have to do was hook the
rest of the cables to the loops on the sides and take off back down to Earth.
He hopped inside his Gundam and pressed the button that began dragging the EVA
unit through the weightless atmosphere.
The wary pilot leaned back in
his seat and sighed deeply, leaning his head back against the seat and staring
out at the stars stretched across his vision.
I don't see why Zechs liked
space so much. It's too quiet in my opinion. Maybe because it makes one feel of
death. It's so quiet you think you're dead…and Zechs always seemed to want to
end his life one way or another. What kept him around for so long? His sister?
Perhaps…
Suddenly a patch of stars
seemed to just blot out of the sky, becoming completely black. Heero shot up
and narrowed his eyes.
"What was that?" he hissed.
Before he could even move to close the hatch a black shape came rushing in his
direction, slamming in to the Gundam and nearly sending him falling out. Wing,
Heero, and the EVA unit were all thrown for a loop, and Heero barely had a
chance to recover before he saw himself surrounded by ten huge, evil looking
black EVA units that resembled the white ones on Earth.
God…Duo where are you when I
need you?