Earlier I said Rio's suit was the Tellia Kallisto, but it's actually the
Agui Keimeia. The other thing is that this story isn't entirely accurate –
pilots are sent to the GIS, which is where the shuttle Erts boarded in Ep.7
was going to. There, the Ingrids and the pilots can travel easier to
attacks around the planet. If a battle happens to be by G.O.A., they can
led help by sending Pro-Ings. But, in this one, I made them come back to
G.O.A., which isn't what really happened.
Ch.13: Indecision
I had to get out of there.
I wasn't sure how I got to the Reneighd Klein, but somehow I was there before I knew it, and heard the Goddess within call to me. Placing a hand on her side, I lowered my head respectfully towards her. She had been used by so many, she barely felt it anymore. When she was injured, she bore it all on the hope that her pilot would be safe. Sometimes she wasn't able to save them – she would mourn, then receive the new pilot with open arms. But I promised her something, and she had smiled down at me patiently, knowingly, and told me I would indeed make that dream come true – I would be the last pilot that G.O.A. would ever know. I would be the one to defeat the Victims. There was more than one promise at sake: the Instructor died, telling me the place I could become a hero to the people. All I had to do was destroy a planet. All I had to do was kill everything on it.
Ernest told me that too. I would be more than the top pilot who died honorably. I would be the one to destroy and come back alive.
It was time I left it all behind. This world had given me a lot of knowledge. But my purpose in life was not to stay peaceful and quiet. My instincts told me this: I was to leave this place I have known because I couldn't stay. If I did, I would become the cruel, terrible king I envisioned Teela to be. I would be acting only for the good of the planet and loyal to only one side, unable to step into another's shoes until he was dead. That was what happened to Ernest. I only take over when the position is empty. Then it is only a matter of time before I can take it.
There were two sides to me. One side told me I was leaving so I wouldn't hurt any more people. The other side told me I was leaving so I could return and use those people. I could use this power, I knew that. I could do anything I wanted into the world, send it into chaos or into perpetual peace. That latter side also told me that the world couldn't – shouldn't – stay peaceful. To have a strong country, a country must have had wars to bring the country together. That way, a ruler could better keep the people together and ensure the country's safety. The peoples of a recent war would flock to the army if they knew the pains of war. They would not let it happen again.
Human instinct is to fight or flight. Though I knew this would seem like a cowardly flight away from a death I committed, I would return with the best news any planet could receive: that is attackers were dead, and I had returned. They would look upon me with respect. They would look upon me with adoration. And I needed that – I never got it in the beginning, but now once I had tasted it, it was delicious.
I killed the Instructor.
He told me this as he sat, beaten, on the ground, Garu over him like a menace. My brother's best friend flickered with indecision; my attention was wavering, poised before killing him or not. It was my destiny, to use everyone before me. They paved the road and I kicked them away. This was the little bit of information I kept from the Instructor. He taught me guilelessly, teaching me how to use my EX. Never had he done anything wrong, anything to suggest I might have to kill him in the end. However, there I was, in control of Garu's mind, my sword over his head, and then in a jolt the Instructor realized it was not Garu who was trying to kill him, but ME. And even at that time, he told me the singlemost important piece of information he could ever tell me: that my brother was ALIVE, and that he was somewhere out in space.
I pressed my hand to the door and it opened slowly, as if recognizing an old friend. Once I stepped inside and the liquid had pressed over my head, I could see the vague form of the Instructor hovering. Loyalty only brought their demise when it was in my hands. Oh, Instructor, you should have stayed away from me. You knew my true wants, the want to become someone else, someone different. All this was to become the best I could be, unlike any other. I will be different when I come back, Instructor – I will have destroyed the Victims. The people will treat me carefully then. The people will not know I am a murderer. They will think I was acting on your last will, Instructor, to go to the Victim world and kill them all. They will think I am an angelic avenger, killing the one who killed my teacher.
How mislead. But I will encourage those stories. I will be different when I come back, Instructor. Remain here with me and you shall see.
With that, I opened the airlocks above me by using the connection the Reneighd Klein had with the computer. I sailed out. Watch me, G.O.A. Watch me as I accomplish what no one else has. I have found where the Victims are. The final assault will not be from them, but from a one-man army, self-employed to save them all.
I will make them enter Heaven. With a wicked smirk, salvation is coming, monsters.
To my right, there was a flicker of movement. Orange-colored, it reflected off of the sun. I hesitated. In that hesitation, he saw me. It was Rio. I searched my mind and came up with an answer: he must have woken up while Garu and the Instructor were fighting. He called out to me, and I forced myself to turn. I could flee, right now, and leave him. He wouldn't understand now, but when I came back he would understand why I left. He would truly love me as a brother then. I would keep the knowledge that I was the one who had put him into a coma safely in my mind. I sighed. He would never know. We could be brothers after this.
A small voice breathed relief. I would not have to use anyone purposefully after this. All I had to do was live, and that was easy. The Instructor would have his wish fulfilled. That would be enough, and then I wouldn't have to fight or do anything anymore. I crushed that little voice.
Who could say I didn't enjoy using minds the way I did? I used them to my benefit because I could. And if that gave me an unfair advantage over other people, then that was the way it was. God must have sent me this gift.
"Erts?", Rio called. "Erts, what are you doing out here?"
I couldn't reply. Suddenly my throat was stuck for some reason. I just couldn't, couldn't bring myself to say anything. Maybe because the reply I was going to give him was a lie.
"They're telling me that you don't have authorized permission to open up the hatch and airlocks. That's just stupid, Erts. I mean, where are you going to go? You can't really sell this to the Victims, you know. They wouldn't fit in it! Too big and creepy-looking".
I could feel my throat get tighter with every nonchalant comment he said. Brother, don't say anything more or I think I will cry. When I return I might be a different person, Rio. You might not like me anymore. I could pretend that I'm still Erts, but I don't want to. But if I let you see me as I am now, you would fear me. And that's not what I want, Rio. I want an equal.
What was I thinking? I couldn't have an equal. I was to be the top, unrivaled.
And yet, indecision clouded my thoughts. That wasn't good – I was to have a clear mind if I had to pilot the Reneighd Klein, the Telepath's Goddess. Reaching out, I stroked Rio's mind softly and he shuddered under my touch like a petted cat. Rio, Rio, I said to him. Forgive me.
I was to have no equals. Indecision is not a good factor to have in battle, especially when it's a battle against emotions. I was losing badly. I had to ensure victory before this went too far and I wasn't able to walk away.
Still stroking his mind, I reached out physically with Reneighd Klein's hands. Wrapping them around the base of Agui Keimeia's neck, I felt my fingers indent into his neck. Slowly, suffocatingly, I tightened my hands around the cord that kept a human alive. I could hear the crunch of metal under the the Reneighd Klein's fingers. I could feel the scrape of metal as the chin suddenly dipped down. Under my touch suddenly Rio's mind frantically panicked, then went absolutely still. Like the butterfly under the foot, I left him lying there.
I didn't stop until the Agui Keimeia's head was completely severed from its body. Then I threw him as hard as I could against G.O.A. That would ensure Rio was dead. When an enemy came my way, I made sure to beat him into the ground so hard he wouldn't get up. That was my way. And though Rio was no enemy, I had gotten too close to him.
I killed him before he started affecting me even more. I myself knew the power of emotions. I could influence a mind with them, stimulate anger so a person will attack another person. I could control the whole of G.O.A. if I wanted to, for a short time. I was powerful. I didn't want to be stopped by my clumsy, two-left-footed brother.
Vaguely, I could hear Phil's screams over the comm. link. I turned my mind back to the training center where my brother and I were first sent to. How distant those memories seemed to me now; just vague impressions. If my brother Ernest were here, he would have remembered everything. He had a photographic memory, he did – and he would know just what the shuttle looked like when we arrived, what our cousin who died looked like. All I could remember was a hand, a hand familiar, clutching mine. My brother, Ernest.
He was dangerous too. When I saw him, I vowed I would stay in check of my emotions. What happened to us before, that genuine affection between brother and brother, would be gone by then. I would forget it. I would kill him. He was truly an enemy, and deserved what Rio got because he convinced me to become this top, to feel this anger and this hate and this fear of all people. It made me strong and weak to a heavy degree. It was different, but victory tasted good.
I could hear Leena shouting and Tune crying out to not do anything, then the harsh voice of Gareas, telling her that he wasn't doing this for Erts, who had evidently gone crazy. I could almost see them. I could almost smile at their despair. You won't despair when I come back, G.O.A. I'll come back as a hero, and then you won't have any convictions against me. I'll do what you trained more than ten thousand young boys to do and none succeeded in doing. And Zion will love me and you won't have any say in it.
I waited patiently for Gareas to step inside of the Eeva Leena and take off. I forced indecision in his mind, but to my surprised it was blocked. I was startled; my mind had evidently changed so much he didn't mistake it for Ernest's anymore. Still, my indecision made him hesitate for a moment, and I turned his eyes to the dreaded figure of the Agui Keimeia, sprawled in gleefully obscure position against the glass of the windows. I knew he could see it.
I didn't have to wait for his decision. I knew he would follow me. I just had to make sure he saw the few twisted, innocent bodies that floated beside the Agui Keimeia from the shattered glass. Then I left. I left if all behind.
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \
Author's notes:
I'll let YOU be the judge: you want Erts guilty or not? One way or the other it's not clear even to me. If you want to believe that Garu's the one who killed Azuma IN HIS OWN RIGHT MIND, than do so. If you want Erts to be guilty, then so be it. I don't think I'm going to make this decision for you...at least for now. I might change that later.
Now I'm sad. I just killed a really, really good character. You know, I might write a prequel of sorts to this, from Azuma's POV. Yes, that would be very interesting...some nostalgia thrown in, hmm...
Andrea Weiling
Ch.13: Indecision
I had to get out of there.
I wasn't sure how I got to the Reneighd Klein, but somehow I was there before I knew it, and heard the Goddess within call to me. Placing a hand on her side, I lowered my head respectfully towards her. She had been used by so many, she barely felt it anymore. When she was injured, she bore it all on the hope that her pilot would be safe. Sometimes she wasn't able to save them – she would mourn, then receive the new pilot with open arms. But I promised her something, and she had smiled down at me patiently, knowingly, and told me I would indeed make that dream come true – I would be the last pilot that G.O.A. would ever know. I would be the one to defeat the Victims. There was more than one promise at sake: the Instructor died, telling me the place I could become a hero to the people. All I had to do was destroy a planet. All I had to do was kill everything on it.
Ernest told me that too. I would be more than the top pilot who died honorably. I would be the one to destroy and come back alive.
It was time I left it all behind. This world had given me a lot of knowledge. But my purpose in life was not to stay peaceful and quiet. My instincts told me this: I was to leave this place I have known because I couldn't stay. If I did, I would become the cruel, terrible king I envisioned Teela to be. I would be acting only for the good of the planet and loyal to only one side, unable to step into another's shoes until he was dead. That was what happened to Ernest. I only take over when the position is empty. Then it is only a matter of time before I can take it.
There were two sides to me. One side told me I was leaving so I wouldn't hurt any more people. The other side told me I was leaving so I could return and use those people. I could use this power, I knew that. I could do anything I wanted into the world, send it into chaos or into perpetual peace. That latter side also told me that the world couldn't – shouldn't – stay peaceful. To have a strong country, a country must have had wars to bring the country together. That way, a ruler could better keep the people together and ensure the country's safety. The peoples of a recent war would flock to the army if they knew the pains of war. They would not let it happen again.
Human instinct is to fight or flight. Though I knew this would seem like a cowardly flight away from a death I committed, I would return with the best news any planet could receive: that is attackers were dead, and I had returned. They would look upon me with respect. They would look upon me with adoration. And I needed that – I never got it in the beginning, but now once I had tasted it, it was delicious.
I killed the Instructor.
He told me this as he sat, beaten, on the ground, Garu over him like a menace. My brother's best friend flickered with indecision; my attention was wavering, poised before killing him or not. It was my destiny, to use everyone before me. They paved the road and I kicked them away. This was the little bit of information I kept from the Instructor. He taught me guilelessly, teaching me how to use my EX. Never had he done anything wrong, anything to suggest I might have to kill him in the end. However, there I was, in control of Garu's mind, my sword over his head, and then in a jolt the Instructor realized it was not Garu who was trying to kill him, but ME. And even at that time, he told me the singlemost important piece of information he could ever tell me: that my brother was ALIVE, and that he was somewhere out in space.
I pressed my hand to the door and it opened slowly, as if recognizing an old friend. Once I stepped inside and the liquid had pressed over my head, I could see the vague form of the Instructor hovering. Loyalty only brought their demise when it was in my hands. Oh, Instructor, you should have stayed away from me. You knew my true wants, the want to become someone else, someone different. All this was to become the best I could be, unlike any other. I will be different when I come back, Instructor – I will have destroyed the Victims. The people will treat me carefully then. The people will not know I am a murderer. They will think I was acting on your last will, Instructor, to go to the Victim world and kill them all. They will think I am an angelic avenger, killing the one who killed my teacher.
How mislead. But I will encourage those stories. I will be different when I come back, Instructor. Remain here with me and you shall see.
With that, I opened the airlocks above me by using the connection the Reneighd Klein had with the computer. I sailed out. Watch me, G.O.A. Watch me as I accomplish what no one else has. I have found where the Victims are. The final assault will not be from them, but from a one-man army, self-employed to save them all.
I will make them enter Heaven. With a wicked smirk, salvation is coming, monsters.
To my right, there was a flicker of movement. Orange-colored, it reflected off of the sun. I hesitated. In that hesitation, he saw me. It was Rio. I searched my mind and came up with an answer: he must have woken up while Garu and the Instructor were fighting. He called out to me, and I forced myself to turn. I could flee, right now, and leave him. He wouldn't understand now, but when I came back he would understand why I left. He would truly love me as a brother then. I would keep the knowledge that I was the one who had put him into a coma safely in my mind. I sighed. He would never know. We could be brothers after this.
A small voice breathed relief. I would not have to use anyone purposefully after this. All I had to do was live, and that was easy. The Instructor would have his wish fulfilled. That would be enough, and then I wouldn't have to fight or do anything anymore. I crushed that little voice.
Who could say I didn't enjoy using minds the way I did? I used them to my benefit because I could. And if that gave me an unfair advantage over other people, then that was the way it was. God must have sent me this gift.
"Erts?", Rio called. "Erts, what are you doing out here?"
I couldn't reply. Suddenly my throat was stuck for some reason. I just couldn't, couldn't bring myself to say anything. Maybe because the reply I was going to give him was a lie.
"They're telling me that you don't have authorized permission to open up the hatch and airlocks. That's just stupid, Erts. I mean, where are you going to go? You can't really sell this to the Victims, you know. They wouldn't fit in it! Too big and creepy-looking".
I could feel my throat get tighter with every nonchalant comment he said. Brother, don't say anything more or I think I will cry. When I return I might be a different person, Rio. You might not like me anymore. I could pretend that I'm still Erts, but I don't want to. But if I let you see me as I am now, you would fear me. And that's not what I want, Rio. I want an equal.
What was I thinking? I couldn't have an equal. I was to be the top, unrivaled.
And yet, indecision clouded my thoughts. That wasn't good – I was to have a clear mind if I had to pilot the Reneighd Klein, the Telepath's Goddess. Reaching out, I stroked Rio's mind softly and he shuddered under my touch like a petted cat. Rio, Rio, I said to him. Forgive me.
I was to have no equals. Indecision is not a good factor to have in battle, especially when it's a battle against emotions. I was losing badly. I had to ensure victory before this went too far and I wasn't able to walk away.
Still stroking his mind, I reached out physically with Reneighd Klein's hands. Wrapping them around the base of Agui Keimeia's neck, I felt my fingers indent into his neck. Slowly, suffocatingly, I tightened my hands around the cord that kept a human alive. I could hear the crunch of metal under the the Reneighd Klein's fingers. I could feel the scrape of metal as the chin suddenly dipped down. Under my touch suddenly Rio's mind frantically panicked, then went absolutely still. Like the butterfly under the foot, I left him lying there.
I didn't stop until the Agui Keimeia's head was completely severed from its body. Then I threw him as hard as I could against G.O.A. That would ensure Rio was dead. When an enemy came my way, I made sure to beat him into the ground so hard he wouldn't get up. That was my way. And though Rio was no enemy, I had gotten too close to him.
I killed him before he started affecting me even more. I myself knew the power of emotions. I could influence a mind with them, stimulate anger so a person will attack another person. I could control the whole of G.O.A. if I wanted to, for a short time. I was powerful. I didn't want to be stopped by my clumsy, two-left-footed brother.
Vaguely, I could hear Phil's screams over the comm. link. I turned my mind back to the training center where my brother and I were first sent to. How distant those memories seemed to me now; just vague impressions. If my brother Ernest were here, he would have remembered everything. He had a photographic memory, he did – and he would know just what the shuttle looked like when we arrived, what our cousin who died looked like. All I could remember was a hand, a hand familiar, clutching mine. My brother, Ernest.
He was dangerous too. When I saw him, I vowed I would stay in check of my emotions. What happened to us before, that genuine affection between brother and brother, would be gone by then. I would forget it. I would kill him. He was truly an enemy, and deserved what Rio got because he convinced me to become this top, to feel this anger and this hate and this fear of all people. It made me strong and weak to a heavy degree. It was different, but victory tasted good.
I could hear Leena shouting and Tune crying out to not do anything, then the harsh voice of Gareas, telling her that he wasn't doing this for Erts, who had evidently gone crazy. I could almost see them. I could almost smile at their despair. You won't despair when I come back, G.O.A. I'll come back as a hero, and then you won't have any convictions against me. I'll do what you trained more than ten thousand young boys to do and none succeeded in doing. And Zion will love me and you won't have any say in it.
I waited patiently for Gareas to step inside of the Eeva Leena and take off. I forced indecision in his mind, but to my surprised it was blocked. I was startled; my mind had evidently changed so much he didn't mistake it for Ernest's anymore. Still, my indecision made him hesitate for a moment, and I turned his eyes to the dreaded figure of the Agui Keimeia, sprawled in gleefully obscure position against the glass of the windows. I knew he could see it.
I didn't have to wait for his decision. I knew he would follow me. I just had to make sure he saw the few twisted, innocent bodies that floated beside the Agui Keimeia from the shattered glass. Then I left. I left if all behind.
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \
Author's notes:
I'll let YOU be the judge: you want Erts guilty or not? One way or the other it's not clear even to me. If you want to believe that Garu's the one who killed Azuma IN HIS OWN RIGHT MIND, than do so. If you want Erts to be guilty, then so be it. I don't think I'm going to make this decision for you...at least for now. I might change that later.
Now I'm sad. I just killed a really, really good character. You know, I might write a prequel of sorts to this, from Azuma's POV. Yes, that would be very interesting...some nostalgia thrown in, hmm...
Andrea Weiling