The Art of Self-Detonation
The year is After Colony 0195, the Whitefang has taken control of the battleship Libra. In an attempt to defeat Zechs and Whitefang, Gundam pilot 06, Shikira Maxwell, challenged the Epyon. Once her own Gundam had been repaired, she made a noble sacrifice, to aid in the survival of the other five pilots, though, leaving them all in a state of shock.
***
"Trowa, are you okay?" Catherine asked him. Trowa had been even quieter than was normal for him ever since he had returned to the travelling circus on the L3 Colonies.
"Not really Cathy," Trowa said with a sight. Catherine looked at him, she'd never seen him so depressed before. She knew it had something to do with that girl that had stopped by the circus a few weeks ago when he had left. Catherine put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.
"Don't worry Trowa, I'm sure everything will be okay," she stated. Trowa once again remained silent and Catherine sighed and went to feed the lions. Trowa once again stared off into empty space, until he received a message, then headed straight for his hidden Gundam suit, Heavyarms.
***
Not only was Trowa still taking Shikira's death hard, so was Duo, and rightfully so. He stared at the scraps of metal they had found from the debris around Starwing.
"Why did you have to do it Shikira?" he mumbled to himself. He had searched forever to find her, then, in the blink of an eye and a flash of light, she was gone again. He was fighting back the tears by now just from thinking about her.
"Duo, you okay?" Quatre asked as he approached Duo. He just nodded and pulled his black hat down slightly to hide the forming tears. Quatre watched him carefully, for he knew how much Shikira had meant to Duo.
"Come on Duo, we have to go meet up with Trowa and our Gundams. We're meeting up with Heero, Wufei, and Miss Noin out in space again," Quatre stated. At this Duo looked up and tried to force a smile so he looked like 'the old' Duo.
"Let's go then," Duo said as he made his way towards Deathscythe.
***
The five Gundam pilots were meeting in space to discuss the problem of Zechs being the leader of the Whitefang, and it was the only place to do so safely.
"Do you seriously think that Miss Relena can stop him?" Noin asked watching the five visual monitors on her screen of the boys in the Gundams. Both Quatre and Wufei seemed to look rather doubtful of this.
"I don't know, the only two people who could possibly help him would have been Shikira or Relena," Wufei stated and Heero seemed to nod in agreement. She noticed Duo sigh at the mention of his deceased sister.
"Yes, he won't attack either of them," Quatre stated. Duo and Trowa both seemed to cringe, her name was painful for them, even though they cared dearly for her. Loving during war could send a more fatal blow then any weapon ever could.
"Yes, but with…" Quatre trailed off as he picked up another Gundam Suit signature on his monitors.
"Who do you think it is? Zechs maybe?" Wufei questioned as his hands moved to grip the controls of Altron.
"No! It's the Tallgeese!" Duo exclaimed as he maneuvered Deathscythe to avoid the first string of fire coming from the suit.
"I've seen this style of combat before," Wufei growled as he went to slam his triton against the back of Tallgeese but it seemed to know how to dodge the arch of it.
"It is oddly familiar," Trowa added. As the battle continued they heard nothing from the pilot of the Tallgeese, so it could not be Treize, he seemed to like to talk his opponents to death first.
"Guys! Is it just a coincidence, or does this pilot fight a lot like Shikira?" Quatre asked as he deflected a blast off of one of Sandrock's main weapons.
"You're right Quatre…" Heero replied.
"If that is Shikira, we can't kill her!" Duo yelled. Trowa silently agreed with him, but something was very, very wrong.
"But why is she attacking us?" Noin asked. None of the Gundam pilots answered her as they were busy trying to dodge and not attack the Tallgeese. Duo was starting to wonder the very same thing, and how had she escaped the blast and gotten a hold of the Tallgeese?
"Anyone lays eyes on a Gundam must die," the pilot in the Tallgeese stated.
"No doubt now, that is most definitely Shikira," Wufei stated at hearing this.
"Locked on target," Shikira stated as she aimed the Tallgeese's main gun at Heavyarms. Deathscythe slashed his scythe down in front of Tallgeese, causing Shikira to back away from him slightly to avoid loosing her main gun.
"Shikira! What the hell are you doing?!" Duo asked her. Inside the Tallgeese, Shikira smirked, so very much unlike her.
"Because it is the wish of Mr. Treize, and you are my target Gundam Pilots," she said coldly, her voice lacking of emotion.
"So it was Treize," Heero stated as he aimed the gun at Tallgeese and fired.
"Heero!!" Duo yelled as the Tallgeese exploded from the blast.
"Shikira…" Trowa whispered, his voice cracking with emotion. Only Quatre heard Trowa, and he glanced back up at the screen.
"Everyone! Look on the screen! Look in the debris!" Quatre yelled.
"Shikira!" Duo stated loudly gripping the controls.
***
"How is she?" Quatre asked Duo as he walked out of Shikira's room.
"She's still out cold," he said sadly.
"Maybe its better if she stayed that way for now," Heero said calmly. All the other Gundam pilots, minus Wufei, turned and looked at Heero in shock.
"What are you saying Heero?" Quatre asked him.
"Think, if she wakes up, she may still think we're her enemies, she may attack us, that is 'if' she wakes up," Wufei explained to them, thinking along the same line as Heero at the moment. Quatre was watching both Duo and Trowa, neither had said much since they had brought Shikira back to the base. Trowa didn't say anything as he stood and walked into Shikira's room and watched her sleep. Duo walked with Quatre out to the hanger where Howard and his men were rebuilding Starwing.
"Shikira…" Trowa whispered again as he watched her silently, his arms crossed over his chest he leaned up against the wall. He looked up slightly a few moments later as the machines attached to her started to beep louder. Shikira's eyes fluttered open slightly, and slowly revealed the cobalt blue colour of them that reminded him so much of a clear lake.
"Shikira?" Trowa asked as he stepped forward towards her now. She blinked as she sat up, her gaze falling on him, then she hopped out of the bed, wires and tubes falling off of her, she winced at her movement and fell to the ground.
"Are you okay?" he asked her as he went to kneel beside her, but she slapped his hand away as she pushed herself to stand.
"You are my enemy, why do you care?" she snapped. Trowa looked a bit hurt at her words but stood up beside her.
"Because you are NOT my enemy," he stated quietly.
"Huh?" she asked quietly as she turned to him, then frowned and ran out through the door, but Heero and Wufei topped her.
"Out of my way!" she commanded.
"We can not let you," Wufei stated as he walked over to her and placed his hand upon her shoulder. Shikira smirked again as she grabbed his wrist, and faster than he could react, flipped Wufei into Heero. Quickly she took off to the hanger to find a Mobile Suit, or some other means of escape. Once inside she leaned up against a wall breathing rather hard and wincing. She searched the hanger and grinned as she spotted a motorcycle, she started to make her way towards it but stopped as the five boys stepped out in front of her. Her eyes widened in shock since one of the boys, looked very much like herself.
"Shikira…please listen. We're not your enemies," Quatre told her. Shikira backed away from them still holding her side.
"Duo?" she asked looking to him, then collapsed onto the concrete floor. Duo rushed over to her and picked her up carefully.
"Don't worry Shikira, hopefully when you wake up, this war will all be over," Duo said as he carried her back to her room, hooking her back up to the machines that were there, hating to see her attached to so many wires and such.
"Do you think this will affect the way he fights now?" Quatre asked Heero later that night.
"I don't think so, but its made him even more determined to end this war," Heero replied.
"Typical weak woman, she should have left her Gundam destroyed the first time," Wufei said as he looked up at the others.
"No, she is not weak by any means. If she was weak, she would have been killed long ago, therefore, would never have been a Gundam Pilot. And if I do remember, she did catch you quite off guard today," Trowa stated and turned to look at a sad Duo as he walked out of Shikira's room.
"So what's wrong?" Quatre asked him.
"She's slipped into a coma," he replied as he looked down slightly, avoiding eye contact with them all.
"Don't worry Duo, she's a Maxwell, she'll be okay," Quatre said trying to cheer him up some.
"Yeah I know, she not going to die without a detonator switch in her hand," he said forcing a small smile. Trowa was once again silently watching Shikira, he was worried deeply for her. Her condition hadn't stabilized and she was still in the coma after three days of slipping into it. He sat down beside her bed and gently wrapped his hands around hers.
"I promised I would protect you