On a note totally unrelated to Saber Marionette J, I'd just like to mention that I saw one of the best Animes I've ever seen in my life. It was called Onegai Teacher. 13 episodes of pure eye candy and emotion twisting story line. It had me on the edge of my seat through out the whole thing, especially the ending (which, by the way, was absolutely perfect.). As an added bonus the main heroine is one dead sexy sensei. Oo;; The obvious aside, this series is highly recommended. If you haven't seen is yet, do so. If you loved SMJ, you're going to love this.
Back to the subject at hand, SMJ belongs to whomever owns them ( duh ), not me. I only write about them. Anything not from SMJ belongs to me. Money belongs to the creators of SMJ, there for not me. While I'm not too worried about a lawsuit being filed because I chose to write a piece of fan fiction using their characters, I've still gotta cover my bases. Keep in mind, I am broke. Very broke. I'm like Jed Clampet before he struck oil (Beverly Hillbillies.) I hunt squirrels in my back yard with a twin barrel and a case of buckshot. My hat on my head predates my grandfather. My entire family lives with me out in the wilderness in a shack constructed entirely of animal hides and loose planks. So there.... Bah...
I'd suggest you read the first two parts before you read this one, but, then again, if you enjoy being lost go right ahead and start here. Helpful feedback is awesome. Flames and BS are not. I don't know why but some people spend their entire time going through fanfiction.net and flaming everything they don't agree on. Have they nothing better to do? For their sake and he sake of everyone who posts fan fiction in this archive, I, The Dark Phoenix, have a few places on the web they can go to pass the time in a much more pleasant manner. www.bored.com, www.emotioneric.com, www.coolquotescollection.com, and www.tshirthell.com (not for everyone, btw.).
THERE! RUN FREE MY LITTLE FLAMERS!! GO, INTO THE WORLD AND BE HAPPY!! HAPPINESS IS NEXT TO... Next to... err... CLEANLINESS!! GO WASH, GO WEB SURFING, BE HAPPY!!
[This flame retardation service was provided to you by The Dark Phoenix. You can contact him at The_Dark_Phoenix@hotmail.com. This has been a public service announcement. Many flames have been harmed in the making of this gibberish. All flames held in custody have met their maker in a painless, efficient manner. Thank you and have a pleasant day.]
On one last note, as this plot has developed there's been some confusion as to the identities of the maidens. Take notes now if ya want here's who's who. Aisha is Lime, Satomi is Cherry, Aiko is Bloodberry, Asuka is Tiger, Krysta is Luchs and Nanaka is Panta. Leska and Katsumi are two characters developed especially for this Fic [Translation: He made them up. Run, there's a new set of avatars on the loose!].
Also the one is ALMOST rated R. It covers rather gritty tones, but it's not too explicit. Up here in the states, if you're 13 you'll be fine- that's why it's still PG-13. I am still warning you though. People with sensitive natures may want to think about going forward.
Shout out to Vik-man (Editor) and Chii-chan (provider of anime). Thanks for all the support peeps!
[NOTE] Version 1.1.- Dated: 17 October 2002; I went through the whole 'fic and repaired some stupid problems that were made. The most noticeable mistakes were made at the start of Chap. 3 and the radio transmission in Chap. 4. Now I think you guys will be able to at least understand what was going on. On FF.net using "" "" to indicate actions makes the damn server think it's a set of link instructions and erases the whole line. I fixed most all of them so you can read them now. I'm sorry about the mix up. Take care and Enjoy!
[Ok I lied, this is the last note. MY bud Luvweaver requested that I change something in this version, SO this would be v1.2 of this fic. Enjoy Luvweaver!]
STORY TIME!!!! [children cheer]
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With a painful grunt Aiko fell to the floor. All the strength her body seemed to have was drained. One blow? Was that all that it took? One blow to her?
Kaiser frowned. She too had been another lemon. He was standing in a wide glass room. The ceiling and floor were brightly lit, a stark white color. There was a small door in one of the corners that led out into the surrounding observation area. There were scientists standing all along the outside of the glass scribbling furiously on their little writing tablets taking notes. They were observing how each of the women performed in combat- what systems seemed to be best suited for each one of them and so on.
Along one of the edges the seven women sat looking in. All of them except Aisha were sitting on the floor, either bruised or bleeding. They had been forced to fight Kaiser to test their inherent skills. None of them lasted anymore than one or two blows. Kaiser was some terrible machine. He seemed to be able to predict what they were going to do, move faster than they did, and hit harder and caused more pain than anything else they've ever known before. They were told that if any of them were to hit him in any way shape or form the whole group would be rewarded by a few weeks off. Ever since Kaiser first appeared, they hadn't one day of rest or relaxation.
They'd been taken from their peaceful life and forced into hell. Clothed in itchy rags, forced to march, and run, and jump, and fight every waking moment of their days. Almost three months had passed. This test was an accumulation of all their work. So far all of them had failed except Aisha. She'd yet to perform.
Kaiser signaled for the extraction team to come and take Aiko away. He refused to touch any of the women, except to punish them. So far none of them had lasted anymore than fifteen seconds. One hit was all it took. One solid belt to the stomach, or one smooth kick to the gut and they fell to the ground whimpering like the little babes in their birthing chambers calling out in hunger.
As Aiko was being dragged away Kaiser turned to the glass from which the women were recovering behind. There was only one left. 'Aisha' they called her. She was the one who had tried to attack him the first day he showed himself. After he was revealed to them, she charged at him screaming at the top of her lungs and tried to strike him. He'd put her down easily. Kaiser smiled slightly to himself. She was looking at him, glaring at him. The little bitch. She hadn't learned her lesson. He'd have to put her down once more.
Aisha glared back. 'Fight him...' 'Conquer him...' If she hoped to survive she would have to conquer him. She'd failed once. Something in her heart told her that she would not get a third chance. That angry-eyed monster was watching her. It was looking down at her. She needed to impress it, or otherwise face annihilation. All of their lives rested on her performance. Aisha knew.
She couldn't let herself fall like before. The very first time he'd hit her, she'd fallen and simply didn't get back up. Unlike in her dream the pain stayed. It entered her body and took up residence, incapacitating her. She couldn't let that happen again. Not this time. Not this time.
The words given to her in her dream rose from their depths and floated through her mind.
'If you don't defeat me, then you will have no future. You will be like a footnote in the pages of history. Combat will define you.'
'Defeat me and you will earn the monster's pleasure for many more days than otherwise given by fate. Loose to me, let me crush you, let me break you... and you and all you know will perish'
'Worry about bettering yourself. Worry about the safety of your family. Worry about those you will grow to love. Worry about standing when you fall. Learn Aisha. Learn and you will live.'
"Learn..." She whispered softly to herself heading for the glass door. "Learn..."
Kaiser watched her enter. His eyes narrowed and he became serious.
'Those eyes...'
He watched her face change as she walked to the door. They became... bold. Almost determined. She was thinking, Kaiser could tell. Something was running through her head. Her eyes revealed it. ...But what?
Aisha walked in and the door closed silently behind her. She was gazing at the floor seemingly lost in thought.
'Learn.'
'Learn.'
'Learn...'
Kaiser raised his fists. It didn't matter. He'd still have to put her down. It wouldn't be a problem. She was weak. One can be as bold or as determined as they wanted and it wouldn't change a thing if they were weak. Narrowing his eyes he readied himself.
Aisha looked up suddenly meeting his gaze. Kaiser's eye widened and his guard dropped for a moment. What... She'd changed. Her eyes had lighted up. He could see something burning in them. Kaiser had only seen eyes like those in one other place before: Out in combat, on the battlefield. They were eyes of rage and fury, of determination and spirit, eyes of a creature fighting to survive... and they were aimed at him.
Slowly Aisha mouthed something. Kaiser watched her lips move. Leska, who had been sitting against the wall out side the glass nursing her injured side, shot her gaze upwards into the ring.
"What..."
Kaiser stepped back and raised his fists once more.
"We'll see child, we'll see," he said below his breath.
Satomi turned to her sister. She seemed to be reading Aisha's lips.
"Leska-chan, What's Aisha saying? Kaiser looks spooked."
Leska shook her head. She could feel Aisha's energy radiating outwards from her mind. She wanted something.
"She's saying...She's saying..."
Satomi knelt by her. "Saying what?"
Leska turned.
"I want to live..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saber Marionette J
Dark's AU - Human
Episode Three: Lime Rose
"Teaching me to love"
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah...
Breathe in, breathe out,
Breathe in, breathe out,
Breathe in...
Breathe in, breathe out,
Breathe in, breathe out,
Breathe in...
Tied to a wheel, fingers got to feel,
Bleeding through it all, O.k. to smile...
I spin on a whim, I slide to the right
I felt you like electric light.
For our love!
For our fear!
For our rise against the years and years!
Got a machine head...
...it's better than the rest...
Green to red...
...machine head...
Got a machine head...
...it's better than the rest...
Green to red...
And I walk from my machine,
Oh, I walk from my machine girl...
Breathe in, breathe out,
Breathe in, breathe out,
Breathe in...
Deaf, dumb and thirty!
Starting to deserve this!
Leaning on my conscience wall...
Blood is like wine,
unconscious all the time.
If I had it all again
I'd change it all!
Got a machine head...
It's better than the rest...
Green to red...
Machine head...
Got a machine head!
It's better than the rest!
Green to red!
Yeah...
I walk from my machine,
I walk from my machine...
Breathe in, breathe out,
Breathe in, breathe out,
Breathe in!! Breathe in!! BREATHE IN!!
Got a machine head!!
It's better than the rest!
Green to red!
Machine head!
Got a machine head!
It's better than the rest!
Green to red!
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!!
Better than the rest!!
Better than the rest!!
Machine head~
I walk from my machine.
I walk from my machine...
Bush
Sixteen Stone
'Machine Head'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kaiser exhaled and dropped to one knee. He smiled to himself and shook his head. All that build up and for nothing! She'd actually gotten him a little worried. He looked over to her crumpled form and breathed easier. One punch was all it took. Only one.
He rose and motioned to the small window above the arena. Ghenna was seated above behind the dark glass. He was seething with anger. A servant standing near by could see his eyes glittering. He was in a very dangerous mood. All eight of his women failed him. All their training seemed to amount to nothing. They couldn't even touch Kaiser. Not even Leska, his precious psychic.
Even worse, they weren't cycling. Their bodies should have begun cycling by now, they should be ready to bear children. But they weren't. They were still infertile. He'd put his hopes on these women and they were failing him. He didn't want to go back to the drawing board. He didn't want to start all over. He wanted these to go on and bear him his children. But Ghenna was tired of waiting.
He looked down at the crumpled form of Aisha and spat in disgust. They were weak children, he was loosing his patience. They had better grow and mature soon. He was sick of watching them wasting time. He was-
Ghenna stopped when he noticed Aisha moving.
Kaiser turned when he heard a noise behind him. He turned and saw Aisha slowly climbing to her feet. She was getting back up. Kaiser saw her eyes, they were still glittering with determination.
'What the...'
He hadn't held back. He'd hit her with everything in him. She should be down and out.
But she wasn't. Climbing steadily to her feet he once again fixated her gaze upon him.
"I want my chance..." She said slowly. "I want to live."
Kaiser rose to his full height and crossed his arms. "Is that so?"
With a yell Aisha charged him and swung with all her might. Kaiser easily side stepped her and slammed his fist into her back as she rushed past. With a yelp of pain she fell back to the floor. She moaned and cried out again curling her body.
Kaiser shook his head. That first blow should have leveled her and kept her there. This one, he was sure, would.
To his utter shock Aisha stirred. She slowly planted her palms on the ground and with a heavy groan propped her self up. Kaiser watched her crawl up onto her hands and knees.
'What the hell?' the first time could have been a fluke, but not twice. He circled slowly as she rose back onto her feet. She was supposed to be weak. He'd seen her drill with the others. He'd seen her scores on the races, and in lifting, and in prediction and she did moderate to poor on all of them.
She certainly didn't look very strong. Kaiser stood still as she fixated her eyes on him again. Once more she rose to her feet. That fire was burning in them, right there in her eyes. It was still shining.
'What is that?' Kaiser asked himself. 'What is that in those eyes...'
Screaming once more Aisha charged. She barreled straight for him. He waited until she was about a foot away before throwing his fist upwards in an arc. It caught her right in the chin lifting her clear from the ground. All her forward momentum died as her entire body was thrown back by the large fist. With a heavy thud she landed almost six feet away.
Kaiser continued to watch her intently. But this wasn't about physical strength, was it? Her eyes told him it was something else. He waited there for her, wondering if she would get back up, but she didn't move. A full minute passed before he turned away.
"Stupid child" he muttered. She'd taken three of his strongest hits. Neither man, nor any Gray Eye would have been able to take that from him. She'd been determined. Some deep, powerful determination. None of her friends had that. None of her friends lasted this long.
Taking a deep breath he headed for the door. He paused when the guard watching the lock pointed through the glass past Kaiser.
"What?" He turned.
Aisha was on her feet.
Her lip had been split open and was bleeding freely onto the clean white floor. Her clothes had become slightly ripped and her lower jaw seemed to be bruising. The long hair that had fallen so gracefully before now fell over her eyes and partially hid them from Kaiser. What he could see was glittering angrily back at him.
Three... Three blows and she still got back up. Kaiser was amazed. She shouldn't be standing. She should be done and over with. She should have fallen after his first. But she got back up. He'd hit her again, and once more she'd risen back up. He'd hit her a third time, and she was still standing... She wouldn't lay down and stay there.
Kaiser frowned and readied himself once more. With a grunt Aisha rushed forward again. Kaiser watched her run and waited. Once more when she was almost on him he sidestepped her. But this time Aisha sidestepped with him. With a scream she raised her fist and swung.
Kaiser still easily caught it and twisted her arm around. Aisha screamed in pain as she felt her arm start to buckle. With a grunt Kaiser threw Aisha clear across the room, slamming her into the far wall as hard as he could. With a painful 'umph' she fell to the floor.
Up in his room Ghenna clapped his hands with joy at what he'd seen. Kaiser stood there slightly dumbfounded. She'd sidestepped with him. What...
She was learning...
Learning... Kaiser shook his head in amazement. The clever girl anticipated him moving and followed in suit. Kaiser started to smile. She'd almost surprised him. His combat sensor covered himself and allowed him to catch her before she could strike. But still... she was learning.
He paced back and forth across the room watching her, like a cat eyeing it's prey, waiting for her to move. Would she get up?
Digging her palms into the floor, Aisha did so. Her body was on fire. Her right arm felt as if it had been twisted clear off her. Her lip was bleeding as freely as before. She hurt to move. Yet... yet she still she got back up.
'I want...' she repeated in her mind. 'I want to live... I want to live... I want to go on...forever... I want to... I want to...'
Starting to cry she climbed back onto her feet. Kaiser watched her, waiting for her. She rose back up. Four blows and still she stood. He cocked his head at her a moment. He could see tears rolling off her cheek. She was crying. Kaiser's shoulders seemed to pick up slightly. She was weeping. He could see her body quivering in pain. Her tears...
Once more she ran to him, and once more he watched and waited. She swung when she got close and found herself hitting air. Kaiser moved his body around her. He wrapped one leg around hers locking them together. In one smooth motion he twisted himself around, knocking Aisha's foot out from under her body and swinging his other leg up and around slamming it into her face. Wordlessly she fell back to the ground. Kaiser took a step back and watched her once more.
Her whole body hurt, he could tell. Just about every bone, every ligament, every joint must have been on fire. ...And yet she still got back up. Once more Kaiser watched her stir. She was pulling her body up from the floor yet again. Her tears were flowing more freely than before. Her nose had been busted. It was bleeding badly down across her sobbing lips and down her chin until it dripped onto the floor. Kaiser stepped back and swallowed.
This woman...
Kaiser knew what the tears meant. She was in pain. She was in fiery pain and still she got back up. It was something she had to do. He began to understand. He had come to realize it. Kaiser narrowed his eyes. Her tears...
He'd cried very few times in his life. The first was when he was very young. When he'd been beaten down by the reigning Arch-Bishop of that time. The tall man beat the boy with a single powerful blow. When he hit the ground he broke out into tears not only from the pain, but also from the shame. The shame of falling down in front of his peers like that. The Arch-Bishop had mocked and scorned him for those tears. He beat the child because he could not rise again. Everything had become too heavy for him. The weight of his life held him down. He only lay there and cried and taking blow after blow.
The only other time was when, on the battlefield, he'd lost his closest friend to a stray mortar. His ally lingered about an hour in Kaiser's hands before finally succumbing to his wounds.
Aisha screamed once again and charged. Kaiser caught her arm as she came close and with a grunt twisted and snapped it. He felt the bone give way and shatter. Aisha let loose a shrill scream that was cut short when Kaiser slammed his other fist into her gut knocking the wind from her. With a powerful roundhouse he kicked her away. She fell back to the floor sobbing loudly.
This child was crying because she was fighting a fight that she could not bear to loose. Kaiser knew what she was feeling. He began to identify. She couldn't loose. She had an urge to succeed at all costs. And winning meant getting back up. Getting back up meant more pain.
Aisha cried out as she pulled her broken frame up from the floor. Kaiser smiled and shook his head slowly. They'd never tested her will, her resolve. He saw her rise once more and his opinion began to take a change. This woman wanted so badly to defeat him that she was willing to destroy herself to do so. She had strength he'd never seen in any other creature. It wasn't physical. It couldn't be gauged in how fast she ran, or how well she predicted things. It was in her heart. She had more determination in her body at that moment than most men ever had in their entire lives.
Aisha charged yet again and swung at him with her good arm. Kaiser caught it and was about to pull her forward to knee her when she raised her broken arm and swung. He barely had enough time to duck out of the way of her swing as she cried out in pain. With a grunt Kaiser swung hard with his free arm and slammed Aisha across her face. She fell once more.
He'd never expected her to use her broken limb. She truly wanted to win. Kaiser took a step back and smiled. She just might do it... Slowly Aisha climbed back up.
"Come on child..." he said under his breath. "One punch. One hit. Lets see you win child."
Satomi covered her eyes as Aisha rose again.
[Slap][Pow] [BAM]
And once more Aisha fell.
What was she doing?! Why was she killing herself? Why couldn't she just lay there? Why was she doing this?!
"Leska!"
Leska seemed to know what she was going to say and put her hand on Satomi's shoulder.
"Wait... Let her do this, Satomi. She knows what she's doing... just watch her."
"But Leska! He's killing her!"
She shook her head. "He won't kill her. Look at him." Leska smiled. "Aisha's beginning to change him. Every time she gets up..."
Aiko swore. "Aisha..."
Asuka sat beside her and held her sister. "I never knew such a person lived in that body."
Aiko turned. "What?"
"Look." Asuka pointed. "She's got more will than any of us. More strength. She doesn't want to loose. If anyone can get that one blow off of Kaiser, it's her. She'll beat him. Watch."
[Whump][Pow][Slap][BAM]
Kaiser was becoming excited. Instead of getting weaker and slowing down, Aisha was speeding up and becoming more ferocious in her attacks. She used her busted arm as much as her good one. Kaiser watched as she started to block and parry his blows. He began to chain up attacks in order to break through her hardening defense. He was fighting! It wasn't just a one or two blow deal like before. He was actually fighting! She was learning how Kaiser moved, and in turn, learned how to parry and block his attack. She was even learning his body signs. She could watch him move and then predict how he was going to strike at her from what she saw. Aisha was most certainly learning. She was learning faster than anyone else he'd ever seen.
She charged him yet once more and again they battled. She punched and lashed out repeatedly while Kaiser blocked and swatted her blows away. Taking a step back, he lunged and swung at her head. Aisha leaned back and watched the fist whiz past her face. He followed through with a wide, swinging kick. Aisha ducked out of the way once more countering it with a jab. Kaiser grabbed her hand and pulled hard. It was her bad arm and she screamed shrilly out in pain. With a solid kick he dealt her a blow to the stomach and threw her away.
"Come on child." he muttered softly. "Come on child. One blow."
Aisha wept loudly as she got up once again. Kaiser smiled. He began to cheer for her. He was impressed. This woman, this filthy, dirty, disgusting creature had more will and determination than any other person he'd ever fought. He saw something in her.
'This is what Ghenna sees in them.' he thought to himself. 'I understand now. I understand...' She had potential. She could be great... Maybe even the best. Just maybe...
This time Kaiser rushed forward. Aisha hadn't been at all prepared and was unable to stop the hefty punch that flattened her once again. Kaiser walked around her waiting once more.
"Come on child, come on child, come one child..."
Leska sat holding Satomi's hand. Aisha's blood was all over the glass walls making it hard to watch what was going on inside. Nevertheless all of the women's thoughts were repeating the same phrase.
"Come on Aisha, come on Aisha, come on Aisha..."
Ghenna watched her rise from the floor to her hands and knees and smiled. His eyes were flat and cool as he began repeating the same phrase over and over in his thoughts.
"Come on woman... come on woman... come on..."
Kaiser moved slowly around her waiting. She was on her hands and knees and simply holding herself there. What was she doing? Her body seemed tense. Her breathing was still heavy. Her arm was all but broken into uselessness. She was bleeding from her mouth and nose and numerous other cuts and scrapes. Her entire body was turning black and blue. Every inch of her frame was inflamed and in pain.
"I want to live. I want to live. I want to live forever..." she sobbed and shook her head. "I want to live..."
Kaiser walked over to one of the glass walls and leaned against it.
"Get up child." He said softly. Aisha's eyes shot open.
"Get up. You can't win on the ground."
Slowly, ever so slowly, Aisha pushed herself up one last time. Coming to her full height she turned and stared at Kaiser.
"You want to win, don't you?" He said turning his gaze away from hers. "You know that all it will take is one hit. One little blow... You're crying, and your tears are telling me everything. You can't bear loosing to me. You can bear to face another loss..."
Rising to his full majestic height and brining his arms into a fighter's stance, he smiled to her. "Come on Aisha. One hit."
She gazed at him behind the long hair that fell over her eyes.
'One hit...'
Kaiser's gray eyes seemed to light up. "One hit."
Slowly Aisha raised her arms and planted her feet. The world was starting to spin. The fiery pain that had enveloped her body numbed her mind to the fatigue that her body was feeling. She was right on the verge of collapsing.
"One hit..." she whispered.
Satomi held her breath.
"Onee-sama..."
Kaiser planted his feet and watched Aisha start to dash toward him. With a yell she swung her arm yet again. Kaiser batted it away and took a swing himself. The woman dodged the blow and countered it with a powerful swing of her own. Kaiser backed away avoiding it and closed in on her.
Everyone present watched as the two combatants fought their way across the room. Blow after blow was countered and returned, neither side punching through the other's defense. Aisha had indeed learned. She knew how Kaiser moved and retaliated. She knew how he attacked and defended. Kaiser was immensely impressed. She knew the right block for his blows, the right return for his misses and the proper ducks for his swings. She returned his attacks with ones of her own and ones she'd learned when Kaiser used them on her. For Aisha, all it took was once for her to pick it up.
They fought long and they fought hard until finally one side broke through. Aisha saw her chance punched forward as hard as she could. Kaiser saw it coming and blocked, following it with a powerful strike. His fist flew forward straight at Aisha's head. She had no time to react. Instead, her body acted out of instinct rather than conscious skill. She tilted her head to the side at just the right time allowing the arm to sail right past her. Bringing her leg up, she wrapped it around Kaiser's. He was caught completely by surprise and it registered too late what she was doing. Throwing her body weight, Aisha twisted her leg around unlocking Kaiser's and tripping him up. She pulled her other foot up and around as she fell and kicked out savagely. Kaiser couldn't stop the booted foot from slamming itself right into his face. With a startled yell, both he and Aisha collapsed onto the floor.
She didn't get back up this time.
She didn't need to...
She had finally won.
Above in his room Ghenna jumped up, cheering. She'd done it! His most powerful Arch-Bishop felled by a woman, HIS woman!!
Satomi cheered and ran up to the glass. Leska and the others soon followed. Aisha had done it! She'd actually HIT Kaiser! She'd won!!
On the floor Kaiser sat up shaking his head. He smiled. Little Aisha had done it. The child managed to pull it off. With a quick flip he snapped himself back onto his feet. He could feel where she'd hit him on his cheek; it was starting to swell somewhat. He turned to the floor and looked at where Aisha laid prone, breathing hard and looking back up at him.
"Well hit, child. Well hit." he said rubbing his cheek. "I'm impressed Aisha. You're the first to hit me since I've become Arch-Bishop."
Kaiser reached out and extended his hand. Aisha looked at it wordlessly a moment wondering if he was going to hit her with it, but then realized he was holding it out for her, not against her. He wanted to help her up. Smiling slightly she took his hand into hers. With a heave Kaiser pulled her up.
Suddenly he jerked her forward and shot his knee up slamming it into her stomach. Aisha had been caught completely off guard. Her breath had been knocked clean from her body and she seemed to fold in two around his knee. Kaiser leaned over her and whispered into her ear.
"An eye for an eye, child. Eye for an eye. You've done well. Very well. You and I will be spending more quality time together."
And with that he felt Aisha go limp in his arms. She'd finally blacked out. He held her up and smiled. Behind him someone was softly clapping and he turned. There, walking into the room, was Lord Ghenna. His was smiling, his eyes totally flat.
"Well done, my Kaiser. It looks like we have a winner." He walked over and examined Aisha in Kaiser's arms.
"Tcha, be careful next time my Arch-Bishop. She's only a child. She hasn't quite matured enough, yet."
"Yes, lord."
Ghenna turned to the seven resting behind the glass walls watching them and frowned.
"So much for those. I guess we can dispose of all but one. They're useless to me. They won't cycle, so they can't bear children. And it seems they can't fight as well." he turned back to Kaiser and sighed. "I suppose we'll simply have to destroy them and start over."
What Kaiser said next surprised everyone including himself. "What? No! No sir!"
Ghenna cocked an eye. "No?"
Kaiser shook his head. "You haven't given them enough time to mature yet, Lord. They all have potential. Lets... lets keep them for a while longer and wait yet. They may still cycle. I know their combat potential has yet to be reached, but I'm sure that given the time we will be able to train them to be on par with the current cycle of Gray Eyes."
Ghenna frowned. "You know how I hate waiting..."
"Indeed sir, but I feel maybe we should still hold off a little bit. Give them time. Good things do come to those who wait."
The old man turned back to the seven sitting anxiously aside waiting to know what the men were both intently discussing. Slowly, he finally nodded.
"All right Kaiser. We'll keep them alive for a little while longer. Let us wait and see..."
Kaiser nodded.
"Funny," Ghenna said stroking his chin. "I thought you hated these women. Didn't you despise them not too long ago."
Kaiser fell speechless. He didn't know what to say. Ghenna was right. He smiled at Kaiser's silence and began to chuckle.
"I told you my dear boy, I told you. They do have a habit of growing on you."
He turned and silently walked back through the door and left, making a brief nod to the women he had condemned to death not thirty seconds before.
Kaiser watched him go, still holding Aisha. It wasn't until one of the aids came up that he moved.
"Sir!" He said. "I'll need to take that. She needs to be hospitalized. We need to make sure she heals properly."
Kaiser nodded and set her down. "Where are you taking her?"
"General treatment-"
"No!" He said cutting him off sharply. "Take her to Gray Treatment. She needs the expertise there."
The aid looked shocked for a moment. "But sir, these are women we're talking about here! What business should they have up at Gray Treat-"
"Because they have the same skeletal frame as any other Gray Eye. Now get going and take her up there!"
The aid nodded once. "Aye sir." He wasn't going to argue. Kaiser wasn't the debating type. Gently Aisha was lifted and taken away from the glass chamber. Kaiser watched her go shaking his head at himself. Was he getting soft? Since when did he care about any of those women?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Almost a week later Aisha was just about healed up. Her bone had set almost instantly and was coming along fine. All the cuts and bruises were gone, they were the first to heal up. Daily, Kaiser would stop in and check up on her. At first Aisha was cold to him, she thought he was there to mock her as incapacitated as she was. But as the week progressed she found that he was there because he was genuinely concerned with how she was doing. She realized he cared about her condition. Slowly, she began to soften up to him. Kaiser had changed a bit...
As her wounds healed they released her from the Gray Treatment and sent her back into the living areas where all the other women stayed. They still slept in their jungle playground at nights. It was easier to set them up there than build and place them into all new quarters. Due to Aisha's outstanding performance they were all given two weeks rest. She'd fought and saved them all, and now they were enjoying the fruits of her labor.
Everyone enjoyed the rest, that is, except Aisha herself. The day after she returned to her home Kaiser came back and took her away. They were going for a run.
"You're build for speed," he told her on the way to the surface. "We need to train you to run and jump and sprint and travel long distances with out tiring. You're the special one out of the group now. You're the squad leader. While they are resting and playing you will be running and training with me. We're going to make you strong."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aisha wasn't too happy to hear the news. She wanted to join them and relax. Running wasn't her idea of fun... She didn't like this at all. She didn't want to run, she didn't want to leave her sisters behind and jog with the Arch-Bishop. She didn't want to, that is, until she saw something that Kaiser alone chose to reveal to her. Something great and magnificent. Something never before seen by herself or her sisters.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She was riding a large cargo elevator going straight up into inky blackness. Kaiser was standing beside her leaning against a side rail wearing only a loose pair of fatigues and a pair of boots. Aisha herself was wearing something similar. It was the same fatigues and boots, but above the waist she was wearing something called a 'bra'. It was elastic and wrapped around her chest supposedly 'supporting' her. To be specific it was a sports bra, but she didn't care about the difference. All she cared was that it seemed tight around her and itchy. All the clothing they wore seemed to be itchy and tight. They never seemed to fit her right. Her hair, like Kaiser's, was tied back into a tight braid.
She leaned against the rail and silently waited for it to stop wherever they were going. She was in a sour mood. While all her friends were relaxing and taking a break she had to go running. It wasn't fair. She'd won the time and yet she wasn't able to collect upon it. She looked up and checked the floor numbers. Why was this taking so long?
"Kaiser, we passed the running grounds."
The tall man against the far rail nodded. "I know."
Aisha turned back to wall and watched the floor numbers drop down from above.
"Where are we going?"
"Up."
"No, I mean where are we headed? Where are we stopping?"
Kaiser smiled slightly. "The largest running ground on all of Terra II."
"Oro? Really? Why there?"
"We need the room."
Aisha cocked her head. "The running ground's big enough. We always use the track."
Kaiser looked over with a weird light in his eyes. "There's something else I'd like to show you."
"Huh?"
Aisha turned back to the wall and watched the numbers that indicated what floor level they were on drop down from the darkness one by one. What was Kaiser talking about?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally, as Aisha looked up, she saw a ceiling.
"We're at the top..." she remarked. Kaiser only grunted. The elevator rose to the last set of doors and came to a stop. With a hiss the large cargo doors slid wide open. It revealed a brightly-lit hallway that opened into, what seemed to be, a locker room.
"Follow me." Kaiser said before taking off. Aisha followed closely behind as he made his way to the lockers. The large room was empty. Kaiser and herself were the only ones in there. The Arch-Bishop went over to one of the lockers and punched in a few numbers onto the keypad. The door popped open and Kaiser reached inside. He pulled out two small canteens, a small satchel and what looked to be a tiny compass.
He closed the door and turned to Aisha. "I'm going to show you something that none of your friends have ever seen. " he turned and began walking again talking over his shoulder. "When I was fighting you, I saw something in your eyes. I saw this strange light, this determination that I've only seen in a few other times in my life. It was the look of someone who wanted to live at any cost, of someone who was going to fight death until the very end. I couldn't understand why you'd feel such a way until after you won."
Kaiser came to another door and opened it, taking them into a long dimly lit hallway. "Ghenna was going to kill all of you who couldn't defeat me. He was unimpressed with your performance and the fact that you never cycled."
"Cycled?" Aisha asked.
Kaiser turned his head to her. "Ovulate, become fertile. He wants you eight to fertilize. To become sexually mature."
Aisha shook her head. "I, I don't understand..."
"Women such as yourself have the ability to reproduce, to create young. When a man and a woman who is fertile couple, a child is born some time later. It's called reproduction. Procreation. It's how a species survives."
"Well, what's wrong with us?"
"You don't cycle. Apparently once a month you're supposed to cycle; an egg inside your body becomes fertile. When the seed of a man comes in contact with this egg the egg changes and begins to divide. It grows and matures until a child is born."
"Child?"
"A child is a younger, smaller version of all of us. All humans have a childhood stage except you eight. Childhood is where a babe learns to talk and walk and think and act. It's preparation for adult hood. You women didn't have one. You were all born as adults with memories already implanted in your minds. It was Ghenna's hope that you would cycle and mature much, much sooner than a child. He's yet to see this and is becoming very impatient."
Aisha was silent. This was all news to her. Kaiser continued.
"But that isn't the point. When we were fighting I saw that determination in your eyes. I saw that force of will and I became impressed. You were halfway healed up when you awoke so you never saw the full extent of the damage I did to you. You were bloody and black and blue, Aisha. I beat you real bad. Yet each every time I knocked you down, you rose up again."
He faced her again. "I don't think there is a single person on this entire planet who could have done what you did. You impressed me. You've earned my respect, child."
Aisha walked on silently. She wasn't sure if she should have taken that as a compliment. From how he'd treated the other men he was around his 'respect' didn't seem like very much.
"All your life, the extent of your world has been this facility. When I say this whole world I'm not sure you grasp just what I mean exactly. I'm not sure you grasp the scope of what I'm saying. So I want to show you."
"Show me what, Kaiser?"
They approached a single door. Aisha could see a red light shining through the cracks along the sides.
"I want to show you the world." He said with a smile. Taking the handle, he turned the knob and pulled the door open.
Aisha was hit with a small burst of cool air and a strong blast of light. She raised her hands and shielded her eyes. She felt a great many small things hitting her in the face and on her hands and body. Slowly, as she uncovered her eyes, she saw for the first time what Kaiser wanted to show her.
They were standing just outside small bunker out in the middle of nowhere. The small things that had been hitting her were granules of sand. For as far as Aisha's eyes could see she saw the sand. Billions upon billions upon countless billions of granules everywhere. Above her was the sky. Big wide and open, it was tinted red. In the west; far, far in the distance; Aisha saw, for the first time in her life, a sunrise.
It was a big wide globe of fire coming out of the ground. It painted the sky with streaks of red and orange and yellow. It stained the entire horizon with its light. She saw, for the first time, its majestic glory as it seemingly rose out of the dirt. It tinted the land red in its powerful glow, casting long deep shadows, dying everything in sight with its color.
Aisha was speechless. It was beautiful... It took her breath away. Kaiser saw the shocked expression on her face and smiled. Gently, he took her hand.
"Come on," He said. "Let's go for a run."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aisha and Kaiser jogged very quickly side by side watching the sun rise up and clearing the horizon. The cool air began to fade and was replaced by much, much warmer air. The red tint faded from the land and the sky and was replaced by natural light. Aisha could see only sand for as far as she ran. There were scattered stones and the occasional plant but for the most part the land was barren.
"Desert..." She said to herself. "Kaiser? Is this all that there is out here?"
The Arch-Bishop pointed to the west. "You see that small bump on the horizon over there?"
Aisha narrowed her eyes and focused. Yeah... yeah there was a small point on the far horizon. It barely seemed to stick up out of the sand.
"Yeah..." She said slowly. "What is it?"
"That's the Rocket Shot. There's a very large catapult there that flings space craft up a ramp shooting them into the sky."
"Why?"
"Why? Well, way, way up there in the sky there is an orbital station, it hovers just out side Terra II's gravity. Up there they have the time labs."
"The what?"
"Time labs. They run matter accelerators and time distortion devices up there. We've found how to go back into yesterday and how to go many days into the future at our own discretion. We can travel thousands of days into tomorrow to see what is there."
"Really? What's there?"
"Not Mesopotamia." He said frowning. "For some reason our kingdom of Mesopotamia disappears. We're not sure exactly why it simply vanishes, but we think we might have an idea. It's believed something happens to Lord Ghenna and after that everything falls apart. However there were no records of Lord Ghenna dying in the future, so we are at a loss as to why civilization disappears. The lower six kingdoms are still alive and flourishing, however, but the super kingdom of Mesopotamia..."
He trailed off when he noticed Aisha wasn't listening. Instead she was grimacing slightly as she ran.
"Something wrong?" he asked.
"My legs..." Aisha said slowing down. "They hurt when I run."
Kaiser slowed down with her and pulled her to a stop.
"Show me where."
Aisha bent over and ran her fingers up along her shins. Kaiser squeezed them slightly and heard Aisha gasp in pain.
"Shin splints..." he said.
"What?"
"You're not hitting the ground correctly when you run. Your feet are striking the ground odd. I don't think you're used to these boots yet."
"What, what then-"
"Take them off." Kaiser said.
"What?!"
"Take them off. You can't run in these boots yet."
"But, but the ground is hot! I'm gonna burn my feet!"
Kaiser smiled. "Then we're just going to have to run faster and keep your feet off the ground."
With a whimper Aisha started to untie her boot. Watching her a moment, he bent down and began to do the same himself.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"I'm training you to push your body's limits. I'm teaching you how to become stronger. What kind of teacher would I be if I made you run barefoot in the burning sands of Middle Terra while I ran with the comforts of boots?"
Aisha watched him bend over and unlace his other boot and smiled.
Finishing up with their boots, they tied the ends of the laces together and strung them over their shoulders. With out so much as a word between them they started running again. The sand was burning hot, so when they ran they rose their feet clear of the fire and when they stepped, they moved quickly to keep their feet from staying down too long. As Aisha ran her shin splints began to clear up. She began to feel better despite the burning of the ground. Kaiser wordlessly ran along side with her. Neither of them felt winded despite their speed and the distance they were running. Aisha had been trained earlier to run long distances without problems and now spent her time gazing at the cerulean skies and admiring the colors and shades of this desert landscape instead of gasping for breath.
The sun rose higher and higher into the sky as they ran. There weren't any plasma clouds to be seen and Kaiser remarked at this. Aisha asked what they were and Kaiser explained. They were these clouds made up of from the energy stored deep inside Terra II that surfaced every once and a while. He told her that plasma clouds were dangerous to most men and machines, but not to them. Their skeletal system was a natural plasma diffuser. Plasma was about as much of a threat to them as a strong blast of wind.
Soon, as they ran, the sand disappeared and they found themselves running on hard stone. It was baked onto the ground and almost as hot as the sand. Aisha had to squint in order to see. The sun was reflected off of this rock and shone brightly in her eyes. The ground was much harder than before. There were many jagged edges and hard clumps of dirt to avoid. While there was still the occasional plant they passed, for the most part this area was barren. Kaiser turned them to the direction of a small group of rocks in the distance. They ran steadily and hard over the baked earth making straight for the stones. The sun was a little past overhead when they finally reached it.
Kaiser called a stop and they rested. The large stones stuck out of the ground at all angles and overlapped one another in many places. In the center was a small, cool cave. Both of them sat down and rested inside, out of the blazing hot sun.
"Not bad." He remarked while looking Aisha over. She was hot and sweating, but still breathing lightly. Kaiser turned outside a moment before digging into the small satchel he was carrying at his side.
"Here," He said pulling out a small tube. "Rub this all over your exposed skin. It'll keep the sun from burning you."
"Huh?"
"Take this bottle," He said showing her what to do. "And squeeze a little bit out like so and rub it all over your body. It'll block the strong light of the sun from burning your skin."
He squeezed out a bit and applied it all over his shoulders and across his chest and arms.
"Y' don't need too much, just a little should do," he said, handing the bottle over to her.
Aisha looked at it a second and shook her head smiling. Whatever he says...
She grabbed the ends of her sports top and in one smooth motion peeled it off her body. It was soaking wet from her perspiration. With a disgusted grunt she tossed it to the side and began applying the small lotion.
"They do we have to wear those stupid things?" She asked, rubbing the lotion into her arms.
Kaiser turned to the desert outside the shade of their cave. "Lord Ghenna says that it used to be indecent for women to walk around exposed like you are. He said they covered themselves up. I suppose he wants the same for you."
She cocked an eyebrow. "And you're not bothered by me?"
"What?" he said facing her again.
"Being 'exposed' like this. You're not bothered by it?"
Kaiser chuckled. "Child, I've known you since before you first opened your eyes. There isn't a crack or a crevice on your body that I don't know about. I could care less what you wear. It's Lord Ghenna that commands you to do so, not me."
Aisha frowned mockingly at him. "But wait a minute. What kind of teacher are you of you make us wear these ridiculous things while you get to go around topless all the time?"
"Don't push your luck."
Aisha giggled and continued to apply the salve. They sat there for a minute in silence enjoying the coolness of the cave out of the blinding desert light.
"Kaiser," Aisha said breaking the silence. "Do we need to put this on our backs?"
"Yeah. That'll burn as well. We'd better."
"But I can't reach around that far."
"Eh?" Kaiser remarked turning to her. "Turn around then. I'll rub it on."
Aisha turned her body and handed the bottle over. Kaiser squeezed some of the paste out and began to rub it over her back. Aisha closed her eyes and began to smile. This felt good...
Kaiser was surprised. Her skin was softer than it looked. He'd never really touched her before. She was surprisingly soft. He moved her long braid and rubbed the lotion in down the spine of her back. She was a lot smoother than he originally thought.
Aisha giggled. "That tickles."
"Er... uh, sorry." Kaiser said turning slightly red. What the hell... he was blushing?! What for? Didn't he hate these women?
Swallowing, he finished and capped the bottle. "There, that'll do it."
"What about you?" she said turning around.
"What about me?"
"Aren't you going to apply some to your back too?"
"What? Err, Uhh no. I'll be fine."
"Nonsense!" Aisha spat grabbing the bottle from his hands. "You're going to burn yourself. Sit still."
Kaiser heard her move behind him and a moment later she was applying some as well. He sighed and slumped his shoulders. Fine, whatever she wanted...
Whatever she wanted?
'What kind of Bishop am I?!' He thought to himself. 'Allowing a little child to tell me what to do!'
But as he felt her hands move along his back and rub in the lotion, his indignity began to melt away and he smiled slightly. This did feel pretty good...
Aisha ran her hands along his muscular back in wonder. He was strong. She could feel the cords of muscle and bone beneath her hand. He was breathing slowly and steadily. Aisha was amazed. None one she'd ever known before felt this way under her touch. There was power in each curve she went over. There was strength in each crevice and pit. He was almost unreal...
As Aisha finished Kaiser sniffed the air.
"Aisha, do you smell that?"
"Smell what?"
He stood up and scanned the ground. "Blood... Are you bleeding?"
Aisha sat a moment. "Well...I guess a little bit."
"What? Where..." Kaiser sat beside her and examined her body. He quickly found the source.
"Aisha! Why didn't you tell me?! We've been marching all this time and you never bothered to let me know your feet were bleeding!"
"I didn't need to. I was still running with you."
He exhaled as he checked her feet over. The bottoms of them were all torn and bloody. She'd cut them pretty bad somewhere along the way.
"God, you idiot. You could have really hurt yourself."
"I'm fine, I'm serious!"
"We're in the desert Aisha! Water is a scarce commodity here. You need to retain all the liquid you can. Bleeding out here is just like tossing all our water away. You can die from it."
Aisha fell silent as Kaiser pulled out a roll of bandages from his satchel. She was lucky, the cuts weren't deep.
"When did you cut them?"
"When we entered the stony part of the desert."
"God, how could you go so long like this?" He said shaking his head once more.
Aisha shrugged. "I didn't think it was a reason to stop."
Kaiser chuckled. "You're either very determined, or very stupid, child."
Aisha said little as he finished up. "You know how far we've come," He said standing. "Since we left the bunker?"
"No. How far?"
Kaiser smiled again. "Close to 60 miles."
Aisha cocked her head. "How far?"
Kaiser pulled a canteen from his shoulder and handed it to her to drink from. "Four times around the track in the running grounds is one mile. Now multiply that by 60."
Aisha counted in her head a moment until her eyes lit up. "240 times around?!"
"We've almost never stopped. It's been about 5 hours since we started. We made very good time. Bet you didn't know you could run that far?"
"N-no I didn't..."
"It's the system inside your body, that's what helps you. Your muscles were grown to handle all that running and your lungs are designed to pull much, much more air than the average man. Any lactic acid that builds up in your body is removed by your skeletal system. You can push yourself all day if you wanted."
"Why didn't we?"
"Because we're in the desert. It would be dangerous. I can't have you passing out from heat exhaustion."
"Oh..."
They sat there another long moment resting. A slight breeze blew through the cave expelling some of the hot air. Aisha felt her hair get caught in the breeze and giggled. She'd never felt wind before, not like this. It was cool and refreshing. It always popped up when ever she needed it most, whenever the air became its hottest. The air seemed crisper to her up here. It seemed much more fresh. She'd never been to the surface before, this was her first time.
"Kaiser," she said standing and pointing. "What's that?"
Kaiser followed her aim. She was pointing to a small desert tree. It had, what looked like, seven or eight full, yellowish green roses on the end. They were clustered together at the very tip in full bloom despite the full heat of the sun. Kaiser smiled.
"It's a desert plant. The forefathers crossed the DNA of some strong flowering plants with those of a sturdy desert type. You don't see many of these around. Looks like we lucked out. It's in bloom."
"What's it called?" Aisha asked, her eyes shining brightly.
"A Lime Rose."
"Lime Rose..." she said in wonderment. It was beautiful. Another breeze kicked in and stirred the petals of the plant.
Kaiser saw the look on her face and smiled. "You like that, huh?"
"It's beautiful."
"Mmm." He said nodding.
Aisha's eyes shined as she smiled at the plant. She'd never seen anything like it before. Kaiser sat there and let her gaze at it. He, himself, was in love with the Lime Rose as well. There were few other men who took pleasure in plants like he did. Plants never fought, they never argued, they never tried to kill you, they were always gentle, they never said a hard word against you or got angry; they were always beautiful.
This was ironic, Kaiser was the head warrior on all of Terra II. He was the number one killing machine in all of the land, and yet he took a strong liking to the smaller, gentler, more beautiful things.
"Kaiser..."
"Yeah?"
Aisha turned and scooted closer to him. "Kaiser, I...I..."
"Aisha?"
She bit her lip and furrowed her eyebrows.
"Can...can I tell you something?"
"Hm? What is it?"
She swallowed and spoke slowly. "When I...first saw you... I hated you."
"Aisha!"
"You see, I had this dream that you were in weeks before I met you. You... you told me that if I didn't beat you, that I would die. That at the hands of a monster I would be killed."
Kaiser sat up. "Aisha what are you talking about?"
"Please Kaiser." she said closing her eyes and placing her hand over his. "Just let me say this. I feel it's important."
He sat back slowly and nodded. "All right. Go on."
She paused a moment before starting again. "...In the dream you hurt me. You hurt me badly. You struck me and beat me and yelled at me. But then, very suddenly, you changed. You became kind. You talked to me with compassion. I, I had no idea who you really were at the time. But... when I saw you for the first time, I..."
She trailed off, bringing her legs up in front of her. "Kaiser I hated you. I saw you as something that I needed to defeat in order to survive. When I attacked you, I was thinking that there was my chance to live. All I had to do was beat you and I would live. Then you struck me down. When you seemed to sneer at me lying incapacitated on the ground, and I began to hate you.
"Through out all this training you were mean to us. You always yelled, never afraid to hit us or knock us into line. I hated you for everything you did. I bided my time trying to get stronger in hopes that one day I would be able to kill you and live, to kill you and please the demon that wanted to kill me. When I heard that we would be fighting you again I got scared. I knew I wasn't ready to face you again. I wasn't strong enough.
"I watched you lay waste to all my friends. I saw them fall one by one. I realized that I just might die. You seemed like an unstoppable juggernaut. I realized that it was impossible to kill you like I was. But... something inside me started to burn. I was about to die, I knew it, but I still wanted to live. I wanted to live so badly. The words you spoke to me in my dream came back, and the thing inside of me began to burn brighter. Even if it was impossible, I told myself, I wouldn't lose. If I was going to die, so be it. I wanted to die at your hands, trying to live. It would show that monster watching me that even in the end, I wasn't going to lay down and accept my fate...
"In the end I wasn't afraid of dying. I was afraid of failing. I was afraid of falling and not getting back up. That's what kept me going, through all of your sneers and attacks and counters and pummelings...
"When I hit you, that once, that one time, something inside me came alive. It flared up and made me happy. I was weak, and it hurt to move, but I was still happy. I was going to live. I had done the impossible. My friends and I were going to live. Up until I passed out in your arms I knew I was going to be ok, and I felt good despite everything.
"For some reason I didn't hate you as much after. You didn't sneer at me. You didn't hit me like you used to. You even smiled once or twice. I guess I had conquered part of you and that tamed my hatred some. I found I could stand you that much more. Then today you woke me up and took me away from my family. You didn't yell at all, you didn't scowl... you seemed different. I was a little wary of you, I thought you were pulling a trick on me. But then you took me up and showed me the most beautiful thing I ever saw."
Aisha leaned close and rested her head on his shoulder. "You showed me a world I never knew existed. Even if it is hot, and it hurts your feet and it kills you, it's the world. I've never seen a world as beautiful as this. I never saw the sky so beautiful before. I never saw such vast lands before. Nothing as far as my eyes can see. And the Lime Rose..." she paused and smiled. "You showed me so much. You were kind to me today for the first time in my life. You've been so sweet to me, you've done more than you know."
She locked her arm around his and squeezed it close to her body.
"Thank you Kaiser."
He was speechless. For the first time since he'd known her he was absolutely speechless. He looked down at her wordlessly. He'd changed. When he first saw the women he saw wild animals. He saw creatures fit only for extermination. He hated everything about them. He remembered telling Lord Ghenna 'I say you kill them all. Wipe them clean from the face of Terra II. They're a blight that should have long since been removed. They're a waste of time and resources. Just kill them and be done with it.'
But Aisha had changed that. She was the only one bold enough to oppose him. She showed him that they all had wills and strength. That they were more than animals. When he began his fight with her he'd started it with displeasure and disgust. But every time Aisha defied him and rose back up he changed just a bit. He saw the fire in her eyes and read her lips, he saw her take her broken and battered body off the floor to defy him time and time again. He'd never met such a human before. Most would have laid down and simply accepted fate. But Aisha didn't. She wouldn't lay down and die.
And now, now despite all the times he'd struck her, despite all the times he'd said something hurtful, despite all the times he degraded her and beat her down, she still rose above that. Kaiser respected her by the end of that fight. She'd shown him that she was human. She was more human than any of the men who stood there watching it. She was human and she was strong.
But now she'd done something Kaiser would never forget, even till his last moments. He'd taken her up to the surface because he'd grown fond of the woman. She'd proven herself to him, proven that she was more than what he made her out to be. He'd taken her up and shown her the world because she deserved it.
Now, it seemed, she'd forgiven him without even his asking. She'd taken hold of his arm and held him to her and thanked him for all he'd shown her. She'd overcome her own hatred, something Kaiser had been unable to do until Aisha showed him just who she really was.
Kaiser was cold and heartless to other men because they were so inherently cold and heartless to him. They always said hard words and spoke with out thinking. Unknowingly, Kaiser had done the same to these women. Aisha was able to overcome that. She was able to do what Kaiser could not.
She was shocked when she felt him pull his arm loose from her. She sat up and looked at him as he pulled his arm free from her grasp. But instead of pushing her away, however, he wrapped it around her shoulders and pulled her whole body close. He didn't say a word the whole time. Aisha smiled and placed her head back on his shoulder. They sat there like that, just letting the breeze blow in to cool their bodies watching the Lime Rose flutter it's petals in the wind. They rested there for a long time, letting the sun lower itself in the sky, saying absolutely nothing, savoring each other for the first time in either of their lives. It was a beautiful day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two years passed. After the first time Kaiser and Aisha went out into the desert to run the remaining seven found him a changed man. Almost the first thing he did the next day was line them up that morning and apologize. They were all very surprised to say the least. He told them he regretted everything he had said and done to them up till that point and asked for their forgiveness.
From then on, they changed their views about one another. They began to develop a respect for the Arch-Bishop. He didn't yell at them like he did before. He still yelled, but his tone was much different. He listened when they had to speak, he never hit them, he joined in on any exercises he put them through. He defended them when ever they made a mistake in front of other men, or even Lord Ghenna himself. He was the first and only man in the entire facility that showed them any respect.
Under Kaiser's new guidance they flourished in their training. Aiko and Asuka were able to define and tone their strength. They began to hit harder and more powerfully, utilizing the full capabilities of their strength system.
Nanaka became faster, much faster. She learned she was able to push herself quicker and harder than she ever thought possible. While her fighting skills needed work, she became one of the fastest humans on all of Terra II, logging in new and incredible times on her sprints and runs.
Krysta and Satomi began to develop their combat sensors like nothing else. They found that they were able to predict and counter attacks from multiple sources very accurately and very quickly. Kaiser became impressed when, together, they managed to beat the Gray Eye qualification test for combat sensing systems- the test Gray Eye apprentices take in order to become full fledged combat warriors. Granted they needed to work together in order to do it, they still managed to score high marks.
Leska and Katsumi were special. Kaiser learned that Katsumi was by far the cleverest out of all of them. On a hunch he put her skills to a rudimentary hacking test and found she scored very high. While not very physical, her mind made her important. He started her in training as a hacking specialist. Lord Ghenna was pleased at such a decision. Kaiser had cleverly come up with a way to utilize her mind in a strong, productive manner. Katsumi was at the top of her class up to when she graduated. Kaiser put her into an advanced class and let her mind roll on its way there. She became proficient in the sciences and computer engineering. Programming and computer A.I. became her specialty.
Leska was something different all together. She scored high on speed and strength, but not high enough to warrant her specializing in any of those areas. Kaiser didn't know what to put her into. His indecision was quickly cleared up when Lord Ghenna demanded that she be put into speed. He had something else in store for her in the future and speed would be the best thing for her to specialize in at the moment. Kaiser didn't complain any. She ended up scoring moderately on all the tests. Kaiser hoped Lord Ghenna had something very special planned for her. She was a kind person and he took a strong liking to her. She was very sweet and pure, if at times she became a tad rambunctious.
Aisha probably did the best out of all of them. Kaiser already knew she was a fast learner. He just didn't know how fast. He put her into speed training and helped her flourish in that. She ended up completing the training run faster than any of the others. While she wasn't quite as fast as Nanaka, she was still fast... very fast. Kaiser decided to put her into combat training next. He taught her how to fight; How to swing and counter and strike back. Once more she'd impressed him. She did very well. In the end not only was she was fast, she knew how to fight. She completed the Gray Eye Qualification Test for Combat Speed systems and, had she been a male, she would have become a full-fledged Gray Eye. In under the space of two years she'd done this. All other Gray Eye spent upwards fifteen years in training. Kaiser had been too proud for words.
The Arch-Bishop grew proud of all his charges. He was still very, very close to Aisha. Often they would go out into the desert and jog for hours on end going where ever their feet took them. They savored just being with one another. Kaiser didn't know it, but he was falling in love with the woman. Every day she taught him something new. He began to see her in his dreams. He began to love her touch, the feel of her skin softly on his. Her smile brightened him and his day while her tears often brought a few of his own.
Lord Ghenna, on the other hand, grew impatient. None of the women were cycling. Monthly he'd test them and every month the tests came back negative. They were turning out to be fine warriors, but not much else. He didn't want more soldiers, he wanted sons and daughters. He had as many fighters as he would ever need.
Every time he talked to Kaiser about sending the damn women away and starting fresh and new again he would object, saying that they were coming along fine and that waiting would be the wisest course of action. But Lord Ghenna was beginning to think differently. They were almost three and a half years old. Why weren't they fertile? The gene coders said that the codes they had used were the correct ones. Everything worked and each of them was a full-fledged human. Their DNA was as complete as any other man's on the planet.
None of them, however, could explain why they couldn't bear children. The Lord was becoming tired. In the end he had the science teams go back to the drawing boards and start over on their research. He'd made up his mind. He wanted children not soldiers. All but Leska and possibly Aisha would have to go. There was still so much potential in both of them. Leska could still become so much more than the others, and Aisha might be a useful combatant in the future. He thought about keeping them, but the rest...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One morning Kaiser was told to head into the city and meet Ghenna in his office. The 'City,' as it was called, was the capital of Mesopotamia. It was a whole metropolis that hovered on a platform well above any of the ground cities in the 6 kingdoms. This allowed Lord Ghenna to go anywhere on the planet with ease. His influence could be exerted anywhere at any time. It was his method of keeping the six leaders under his control. They wouldn't dare up rise against him if they knew that he would be over them at a moments notice raining down death and destruction from his massive, floating city.
Dominating the center of this city was a massive tower dubbed 'Gheddon'. It was from here that Lord Ghenna ruled over everything. From that massive tower the world opened up below him. It was huge, almost seventy stories tall, and circular in shape. It was colored black as night and was a fearsome sight to gaze upon. It was the symbol of Lord Ghenna's power and might. It was terrible in its glory and beauty.
Kaiser was deep inside Gheddon, riding a small central elevator up to the top where Ghenna's main office resided. It was unusual for him to be called up on short notice. He waited patiently watching he floors tick away. What could he possibly want?
With a small ping the door opened and Kaiser stepped into a long room. There was a small walkway that extended for about fifty feet until it reached a long, low desk. It was of a very dark wood carved with intricate designs and patterns. Behind the desk was a very large window that extended from ceiling to floor and from one end of the wall to the other. It was close to thirty feet long. The drapes that covered the glass were pulled back to let in the sunlight and view of the city far below. Dead center of the whole display behind the desk was a single chair. Seated in this chair was the high Lord of Mesopotamia, Ghenna. He sat with his hands crossed in front of his face, his eyes glittering in the darkness. He was a thin silhouette in front of the very large window.
Kaiser became on his guard. Ghenna's eyes were shining...
"You wanted to see me Lord Ghenna?"
"Yes Kaiser." He replied slowly. "Yes my boy. It's about the women. Come in, come in."
Kaiser sharply inhaled as he approached the long desk. "What about Lord?"
"I'm relieving you of your duties to them."
He stopped. "L-Lord Ghenna! What-"
"Kaiser, stop." He said raising his withered old hand. "Stop right there... I have grown tired of waiting on those women. They will not mature. If they haven't done so now, they won't ever. I have decided that your duties to them will be relieved. I feel that you will be of more use to me in other areas."
Kaiser didn't say anything. He was in shock. Ghenna was taking them away from him. He was loosing them. Kaiser swallowed. "Lord... what will happen to them."
Ghenna sat back and fixated his glittering gaze upon him. "They will be destroyed. I have no more use for them. We will start all over from scratch-"
"NO!"
Ghenna's eyes narrowed. "What?" he said dangerously.
"No, Lord Ghenna! Please forgive me for this outburst but I must object to this. You cannot just kill them. Doing so would be murder! They deserve to live as much as anyone else."
"I disagree." Ghenna replied. "They are useless to me. I don't need anymore soldiers. I have to admit that your training of them has been most impressive, but it is not enough to just make them Gray Eye. They do not cycle. I need them to bear children, not arms Kaiser. I will not spend anymore money on them. I have better things to do, and nothing you will tell me, Kaiser, will change my decision. I've waited far too long. All but one of them will be destroyed."
Kaiser approached the desk and planted his palms on the top. "Lord Ghenna, if you will not reconsider putting a stop to their training at least reconsider killing them. There has to be another way to let them go. Perhaps one that will make you money in return!"
"This isn't simply about money Kaiser! I have all the funds in the world."
"Then perhaps a way that will glorify your name! A way to earn pure respect for you and your kingdom. To make the people proud to be a human on Terra II!"
Ghenna paused. The sparkle in his eyes faded a bit as he contemplated this. "Go on..." He said slowly.
"Lord, perhaps instead of killing them, maybe... maybe you can reveal them to the people. Let them know of them. Then they will realize that the first true women on Terra II had been created by your glorious hands. They would celebrate and become proud. They will work harder and be far more industrious. As spirit and moral rise so does your kingdom! They could be the Eves of our time."
Ghenna rubbed his chin reflectively. Kaiser may have a point. Just maybe... After a minute of contemplation he shook his head.
"No, I will not do that."
"Lord!"
"Listen to me Kaiser. If I unveil them to the masses with out their fertility guaranteed they will be frowned upon as half-humans. People will laugh and jeer, stating that we can't even make a full human female. Your idea with boomerang and strike back at us. No, I cannot allow that."
Kaiser felt his legs grow weak. There was no way, his lord couldn't possibly mean it.
"But... Kaiser," Lord Ghenna said smiling slightly. "You are my most trusted aid. There is no one else in all of Terra II whom I'd rather have at my side. You are strongest and the bravest and the most loyal. You seek to save their lives, something that not three years ago I would have ever dreamed of you saying. You hated them with a passion unlike anything I have ever seen. But now... now you fight to save them."
Kaiser looked up as his lord continued. "It is because of this that I will spare their lives. For you Kaiser I will not kill them. No, it is your wish to let them live and I will respect that. Instead, then, I will sell them. I will auction each one of them off to the highest bidder and I will send them on their way. Each bidder will be one of my nobles, of course, and will be sworn to keep the truth about them a secret."
He leaned forward and crossed his fingers again. "Do you agree with this Kaiser?"
'Do I agree?!' he thought furiously. 'Of course I don't!!'
Kaiser knew each of the nobles and almost all of them were low, despicable people. Kaiser would sooner allow his eight to be cast out into the street and starve like dogs than let them serve under those horrible demons...
And yet... he knew that he had no other choice. This was Ghenna's decision. Either he agrees with it and they go off into a life of bondage and slavery or they die... It was a decision too horrible to make.
Slowly, ever so slowly, he nodded. Ghenna smiled. "Good. Good boy. It is set then. Their training ends as of tomorrow. Go back and tell them the news. They are to be relocated three days from now. Have the guards remember to clean out the..."
His voice droned on, but Kaiser wasn't listening. He held his head low with shame. What had he just done?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Kaiser!"
"Kaiser-sama! Welcome back!"
"Kaiser! What did the old man have to say?"
"Kaiser-sama, what's the word?"
"Hey Kaiser, wha'd the gray beard want to know?"
"Kaiser, we going back into training again?"
"Kaiser!! It's good to see you!"
"Kaiser! I missed you! What happened?"
"Kaiser what do you mean by this?!"
"Kaiser-sama! You can't be serious!"
"No! No, You're lying Kaiser! You can't be telling the truth!"
"K-Kaiser-sama... Tell us this isn't true."
"Kaiser!! There's no way... Why would he?!"
"Lies! LIES!! Kaiser, why?!
"He can't!! He can't!! Kaiser, why didn't you say something?!
"You're... you're leaving me?"
You're...you're leaving me?
...Yes...
Kaiser... no...
...I'm sorry...
Kaiser, no! Please...
...I'm so sorry Aisha...
Kaiser, please!! Don't!! Don't let them!!
...Forgive me...
Kaiser!! They're coming!! They're coming to take us!! Please!! Please Kaiser help us!!!
...Please forgive me...
Kaiser, no!! Kaiser!! I don't want to leave you!! Kaiser, please!!! Please Kaiser!!! I don't want to leave you!!
...I'm so very sorry...
Kaiser!! Kaiser!! Please Kaiser!! I love you!!!
Aisha...
Kaiser, N-Nooo!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The auctions were moving as scheduled. Lord Ghenna asked that Kaiser be present to see his previous charges off. He declined. He couldn't bear to watch those for whom he had come to care about sold like mere objects. In the end he found himself wandering the city not really knowing where he was going. His guilt clouded his sense of direction.
What in God's name did he do? He could have tried harder. He could have begged Ghenna. He could have run off with them. He could have watched over them himself. He could have... He should have... He would have...
Aisha... poor Aisha... In the end... In the end they had to tear her from Kaiser's arm and he'd done nothing to hold onto her. He'd only stood by and let them rip her from his body. She had been crying. She'd been weeping all over him. Weeping... He could still feel her tears. They were running down his arms, down his jacket...
...down his face...
She'd been weeping... sobbing... fighting the Gray Eyes will all her might. She held Kaiser with all the strength she had in her little frame.
Inevitability...
She'd been fighting inevitability. Crying and fighting inevitability. Fighting...
Please Kaiser... I love you...
Please Kaiser...
Please Kaiser...
Please...
...I love you...
His heart burned. He'd let her go. He'd let the only person in his life that made him feel good the way she did go. He let the dogs take her away.
...I love you...
He let the dogs... The dogs...
...I love you...
Deep in Kaiser's heart he had known what to say. He had known what he should have done. ...Yet he had ignored that little voice. That little voice that had known what the right thing to have done was. Now it had grown in volume. That little voice had become monstrous. It became massive. It echoed in the halls of his mind, filling every crack, every crevice in his heart. The voice boomed loud and Kaiser couldn't escape it. It and it was crying... It was crying...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Somehow he found himself wandering the dormitories for the young Gray Eye apprentices. When his mind came around he could find no explanation for being on this floor. Maybe he had tried to go up to the top floor where his room was but exited on the wrong floor.
What was more important was what brought him around in the first place. Some one was crying. He checked himself and found, somewhat to his relief, that it wasn't himself. It was someone else. He walked down the hallway listening. Someone was weeping. As he walked the noise grew louder. It was coming from around the corner.
He turned it and found a little boy leaning against the wall with his legs pulled up close to him. He was crying into his arms. Kaiser watched him a few moments. He could tell by the uniform the child was wearing that he was a Gray Eye apprentice. He couldn't have been more than eight or nine years old. Kaiser cocked his head wondering what had happened to him.
He'd bent down beside him and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. With a jump the boy looked up and upon seeing Kaiser, the Arch-Bishop of all the Gray Eyed forces, moaned with horror.
"Oh no... K-K-Kaiser, sir! Kaiser I-"
The Arch-Bishop raised his hand and silenced the boy. He walked around and sat down beside him.
"What seems to be the matter?" he said kindly, momentarily suppressing his own feelings. The boy looked at him wiping the tears from his face.
"K-Kaiser, Sir?"
Kaiser smiled. "You were crying. What happened?"
"Kaiser, Sir, I'm not sure if-"
He shook his head and placed his hand once more on the boy's shoulder. "No, you can tell me what's wrong. I want to listen. What's your name son?"
"Hajima..." the boy said nervously. "Keinaro Hajima."
"Keinaro, huh?" He said nodding. "That's a good strong name. A fine name indeed."
The boy only sniffed back more tears and nodded humbly. He was talking to the very deity that all apprentices such as himself practically worshiped and adored.
"What happened Keinaro? Why were you crying?"
The boy looked back down to his folded arms and began to weep a bit once more.
"One, one of my friends d-died today."
"Oh?"
"Yuh-yeah. He was k-killed when an am-am-ammunition case exploded..."
"Poor child..."
"Yeah..." the boy swallowed and tried to continue. "Wuh-when I heard, I st-started to cry. All muh-my clan mates pointed and luh-laughed. They called me w-weak and s-said I was a little buh-baby."
Kaiser nodded slowly as the child went on.
"My instructor st-started to yell at me as well. He s-said that I wasn't fit at all to-to be a huh-hunter! He s-said they duh-don't allow buh-babies into the fleet! He sent muh-me out here."
Kaiser nodded again. "I understand... You cared for this boy who died?"
"Yes..."
He placed his hand on Keinaro's shoulder and squeezed. "Then you've done nothing wrong child."
The boy looked up.
"Everyone sheds tears. No one is exempt. It shows that you have a heart... that you have spirit. You're more of a man than any of your clan mates or even your instructor. You've already proven your self."
Keinaro didn't know it, but Kaiser was speaking of Aisha. Someone who was so strong with so much will power and vitality and kindness had shed tears... tears couldn't possibly have been a sign of weakness. Kaiser was begining to come to realize that.
"It takes more to be a warrior than strength or speed. You need to care about your squad mates and those who you serve with. If you care about them, and they care about you, you will succeed no matter what task is set against you. You will win no matter the price. That trust and bond that you will share will raise you above your enemies. Your team will never loose. Everyone has cried before, Keinaro. Even myself."
"No..."
"Yes! Even myself. I had a friend as well, a companion on the battlefield. He was the best man I've ever known. He'd have gladly given his life in combat for my own and I would have done the same for him. As a team we were the best. We cared for each other. We made sure that the both of us were always safe. He covered my ass and I his. He wasn't just my squad mate, he was my best friend. A companion above all else."
"He died?" Keinaro asked, guessing the end of the tale.
"Yes... One day we were being shelled and a stray mortar landed almost right on top of us. He saw it coming and got in between the explosive and I. It impacted and took a large chunk of flesh from his back. There was no medical support to be found- we'd been isolated from the rest of our group. I stayed with him for almost an hour, holding him in my arms. He lingered... and died.
"I must have cried for hours afterwards. Even after the rest of my squad came in helped pull me clear I was still wailing and bawling. He was my best friend. He was my companion. We couldn't even bring his body back. We had to leave it behind.
"Now that I looked back, I realized I wasn't crying because he died. I was crying because I would never see him again. He was gone from my life and would never come back. He'd lost his own life to save mine.
"I've always remembered that. I've never forgotten, and I'm not ashamed of those tears. They weren't for me, Keinaro, they were for him. There's nothing greater for you to do for a fallen comrade than to cry for him and remember who he was. There's no shame in weeping over those you care about. You should never be afraid to cry for those you've lost. You honor them with your tears. You honor their name.
"Your instructor had no right to say what he did. Who was he?"
"Instructor Ryken."
"Huh!" Kaiser scoffed. "Ryken's an idiot! He's a flaming, mongrel, idiot! Look where he is now! Well over 50 and only instructing apprentices. He's gotten real far in life. He knows what he's talking about, eh?" Kaiser smiled over to Keinaro. The boy sniffed and smiled back.
"Don't you worry about what he says or what he does. I'll have a little chat with him later about this. Don't you worry. I want you to go back in there, and tell Ryken to stop by my dorm at 1900 hours. Tell him if he doesn't come, I'll have his head and his job title both removed."
Keinaro smiled again.
"Also, tell your clan mates you just finished talking with the Arch-Bishop. And that he's proud about what you did. I'll stop by tomorrow and talk with you all once I finish chewing your instructor a new asshole. All right?"
Keinaro smiled and nodded.
"Thank you Kaiser, sir."
"You can dispense with 'sir' Keinaro. You're not a full Gray Eye yet. You still have your training to do. Just call me Kaiser."
"Yes, Kaiser..."
He watched as the boy sniffed a bit and rose. He saluted to the Arch-Bishop, and re-entered his dorm. As soon as the door closed the smile on Kaiser's face faded. The last he wept was when he'd lost his friend to the mortar fire...
He found his way back to the elevator, and up to his dorm, and wept the rest of the night away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~One year later...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Kaiser-sama!"
The tall Arch-Bishop looked up. "Yeah?"
"Think I have what you've been looking for."
"You do?"
"Yes sir. It's the list you've been after."
"It is?! Yes, excellent!!"
"Yes sir! But... If you don't mind me asking..."
"Go on."
"Why would you want to know where the homes of the Nobles who purchased objects at an auction over a year ago are?"
"I lost some things in those auctions. I want them back."
"H-hai, sir."
"Thank you, Thank you! I've waited over a year for this! Who gave this to you?"
"Well, I found it in the intelligence office. It was in one of their cabinets."
"And you just took it?"
"Y-yes sir."
Kaiser broke out into laughter. "Good man! Good man indeed! No wonder I haven't been able to find this! They stashed it away in the intelligence office!"
"Why couldn't you just get their addresses from the office of records?"
"What?"
"The nobles who purchased those items, why didn't you just get their addresses from there?"
"Because there are over three hundred thousand Nobles scattered through out the land. I need to know exact addresses of the nobles who bought the items. These... Seven? There's only seven on here. Where's the eighth one?"
"Uh... I'm sorry sir. I that was all that I saw in there."
"Only seven?" Kaiser counted the names on the list. "We're missing Jade... Jade isn't on here."
"If you don't mind me saying sir, those are peculiar items listed at an auction. Those prices are ridiculous. Nine million wong for Limes, another seven million for a Tiger. Almost eleven million for some Bloodberries! Why one could go out into the city an PICK their own."
"These aren't the real items, you fool! These are code names for what was really sold. They're for hiding what they really bought. Lets see here. Lime, Tiger, Panta, Bloodberry, Cherry, Rose and Luchs, but no Jade... Does that mean he kept her?"
"E-excuse me sir?"
"Huh? Oh nothing! Splendid job you did. I'm very impressed! I want you to go home and take the remaining week off. I wont be here in the office and I doubt you'll want to be either."
"Th-Thank you Sir!"
"Mmhmm. Now be gone you. I need to think..."
"Thank you sir! Thank you very much!"
A door closed and Kaiser sat back looking over what he had been given. Only seven were sold. That means Ghenna kept Jade... Jade... She was the one Lord Ghenna always excluded when he talked about the eight. Leska...
"Why the hell would he keep Leska and not the others?" he thought to himself. Her psychic powers weren't that great. Sure she could read minds, and had the odd premonitions, but that was about it.
'Well, No matter.' he thought. He would find out sooner or later. But first...
Kaiser looked down the list. He'd given the code names to each one of the women. He'd given them with each one of their personalities in mind. It was Lord Ghenna who had instructed him to do so for the auction sales. Recording their real names on the auction sheet might have drawn questions.
He looked down the list and smiled. He had someone to visit. Pulling out a pen he circled the top line. It read...
'Lime', Sold: 9,350,000 Wong- Buyer: Nobleman Kisa Arrahs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The nobleman Kisa Arrahs, or Kisa-ahss as some of his servants called him behind his back, lived in the heart of the Japoness Kingdom. Kaiser knew this man to be one of the biggest suck ups he'd ever seen in all his days. When Lord Ghenna was around, this man made more flattery than real conversation. Ghenna was usually unimpressed with his display but kept Kisa in power only because the sections ruled under him were some of the most profitable in all of the Kingdom.
Kaiser visited his mansion first. He wanted to visit 'Lime' once more. It was easy enough making up a story that would gain him access to the girl. Kisa, of course, would be around, and they would have no private time, but Kaiser didn't care. He only wanted to see her, to make sure she was ok.
Kisa's mansion was a very large building, dead center in the upper Japoness district. It was tall and white, with two or three stories to it. It was a symbol of the power and prestige given to him over the Japoness people.
Kaiser came to the large double doors and paused. They were made of solid oak and massive in size with ornate figures and images carved into the fine wood. They were quite impressive. Kaiser raised his arm and knocked solidly on it three times. Almost immediately a servant came up and opened the massive thing.
"Arch-Bishop Kaiser! This is indeed a pleasant surprise! Come in, come in. Lord Kisa will be with you in a moment."
He walked in and looked around. It was typical a rich man's home. Kaiser was reminded of the homes of well to do British nobles in the ancient days on Terra. Lots of wood carvings a engravings, many paintings and statues and tapestries. Wood paneling on the floor and along the walls, massive wooden beam supports overhead and the odd chandelier or two.
"Ahhh, Kaiser! Kaiser of the Bishops! Welcome, welcome!" A fat man waddled up. His eyes were thin and almost imperceptible on his fat, little head. He was dressed in a casual uniform befitting such a man in such a position in the heart of Japoness. He carried a little round fan that he used to constantly fan himself off. He was totally bald and seemed to always be sweating. It was almost like walking around was exercise in itself. But then again, considering the short man's very large size, such a statement might have been true. This was Nobleman Kisa.
"What brings you here, to my humble home?"
The Arch-Bishop grimaced every time the fat man spoke. He had a nasty habit of briefly hissing out his 'Esses' very shrilly.
"I'm just checking upon all the royal noble men in this area. Mind you if I take seat with you and share a drink?"
"It would be my honor, Bishop!"
'It's ARCH-Bishop, you fat, fucking imbecile!!' Kaiser thought to himself. It took all his will power not to say it. Kaiser had a severe disliking to the little man.
He was lead through the various rooms with various tapestries and various ornaments and various other odds and ends that the nobleman pack ratted away until he reached the large common room. There were many plush, velvet seats here and there lined with a very dark wood. The walls were a similar color, made of the exact same, dark wood. Wood had been carved into intricate pillars and columns stretching from the floor to the ceiling. Dominating the west wall was a massive, ornately carved fireplace. It had a small blaze going lighting the entire room. The floor was almost entirely covered in a wine-red plush carpet.
'Tacky...' Kaiser thought to himself.
"Impressive, no, Kaiser?"
"Yes, sir Nobleman. This is indeed a fine job you have done here."
"Oh, yes..." the fat man said chuckling, extending his arms, "I oversaw everything! Made sure everything was done just right. I even took over the carpenter's job once or twice to show them just how I wanted it done!"
Kaiser only smiled.
'Yeah, what ever... Where the hell are you keeping Aisha?'
Kisa turned back to Kaiser and smiled once more. Kaiser could swear those eyes disappeared when all the fat on his forehead creased and wrinkled downwards in that grin.
"So what brings you to my humble home?"
Kaiser took a seat and explained. "I'm here to check up on a purchase you made over one year ago."
"What? A purchase? I make many purchases."
"Oh, this one was special. I know you still know... about her..."
Kisa's smile faltered a moment. "You also know about her?"
Kaiser nodded knowingly. "Indeed. I raised her."
"You did!" His eyes disappeared yet again. "So you do know about her! And what a fine job you did! Such a strong and noble man as your self could only have known about the intricacies of proper child raising. Such a fine job indeed! You could have made a fine birth father, raising the young straight from the hatching chamber!"
'That's it, I HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU OLD MAN!!!'
Kaiser only smiled nervously. He'd just been horribly insulted. Birth fathers were the tasks of the lower cast laborers or of those Gray Eyes deemed unfit either mentally or physically for combat.
"I-indeed..." He said using every ounce of will power in his body to keep him self from lashing out and smacking the evil Humpty Dumpty. "D-do you mind if I see her?"
"Of course you may, Kaiser! I think you will be pleasantly surprised. When she first came she was wild and rambunctious, but we've fixed that. She's much better now." He turned and called over his shoulder. "AISHAAA!!!"
Slowly, a door that had escaped Kaiser's notice opened behind Kisa. A woman walked in wearing a long and brightly colored kimono. Kaiser's eyes went wide open. The woman moved slowly, robotically. He couldn't see her eyes for the fire that was behind her back. The shadows hid them. Her mouth was almost pencil thin and totally emotionless. With her hands clasped in front of her she knelt down beside Kisa and lowered her head.
Kaiser was almost in shock. 'No... This couldn't be...'
Kisa mistook the expression on Kaiser's face for amazement and smiled brightly. "Isn't it amazing! Such a transformation, huh? She's a good girl now. Most of the time. Sometimes she forgets and needs a lesson though. But you don't forget anymore, do you Aisha-chan?"
"No, Lord Kisa." She said almost flat, almost monotone.
"Now watch this, Kaiser!" He said giggling happily. He clapped his two hands together twice and wordlessly she rose. She walked over to a small table and picked up a tray containing a small pot and three cups on saucers. Kisa was fanning himself excitedly as he watched her work. Aisha wordlessly walked back to where the men were and set the tray down. She took the pot, automatically, and filled each one of the cups with some of the tea. Kaiser's mouth had become dry. She moved like a machine, like a robot, or some twisted marionette! He couldn't, no he wouldn't believe what his eyes were showing him. Taking one of the saucers with the cup on it, Aisha rose it up and handed in Kaiser's direction. Raising her head she met his eyes for the first time.
"Would noble Kaiser like some tea?"
Kaiser could not believe this... This wasn't happening! This was not Aisha!! This is NOT AISHA!!! Her eyes, her eyes... They betrayed everything to him. He saw in them something terrible. Kisa had managed to do the one thing Kaiser had been unable to do when he first took control of the group of women.
He'd broken her.
He hadn't just broken her, he'd crushed her and killed her. He'd destroyed her spirit. Kaiser didn't know how, he didn't know when, but he did. Kisa had broken the strong will that once existed in the woman. He'd extinguished the flames that Kaiser once saw in her eyes that day they fought when she would not lay down and accept defeat.
Kaiser saw other things. He saw pain in those eyes. In those once beautiful eyes where he'd seen happiness and compassion now lay sorrow and misery. Shattered dreams... He saw shattered dreams in them as well... Kaiser fell back against his chair, his hand across his mouth in horror. One year... He'd been searching for her for one year and this is what he found... Aisha was dead...
Her hand trembled uncontrollably as she tried to suppress her feelings. Deep down something told her this man meant a lot to her, but she wasn't allowed to think, was she? She wasn't allowed to remember the things before Kisa's entrance to her life. Her life began when she entered that doorway into this hell. Anything before that was forbidden to her thoughts and dreams. The cup still jittered on the plate. But this man... why was she feeling this way?
Kisa looked over at Kaiser with a questioning look on his fat, ugly face.
"Is something the matter Kaiser?"
Kaiser only looked back into Aisha's soft, jade eyes with horror. It was like she didn't remember him. Like he'd been wiped clean from her memory.
"What...What's wrong..." he began to stutter out. Kisa's grin became almost evil.
"Ahh, my dear Kaiser, it is one of the greatest achievements man has ever created. It's called 'Mental Conditioning'. It's beauty and simplicity is incredible!"
"W-what have you done to her?!"
"Kaiser, Kaiser, calm down. She's perfectly fine. Look at her, so obedient, so precise in her actions. This is the result of the Mental Conditioning she agreed to."
"She AGREED to this!?"
Kisa made a low, sibilant chuckle. "Well not at first. She was rowdy and wild when I first received her. She wouldn't obey a single word I said. I had to constantly beat and whip her. She was especially disobedient in bed. I-"
Kaiser's voice became slow and menacing. "...You took her to bed with you?"
The Nobleman smiled. "Yes, indeed. It took me a month of striking her down, but eventually she consented." He looked up and a dreamy look filled his eyes. "Oh my word, after that first night she began to change. She began to become such a nice girl. I never had to beat her as much, I never had to yell quite so often..."
'It's because you fucking RAPED HER!!!' Kaiser was about to explode. Kisa continued on blissfully unaware.
"Ahh, but she was not perfect. She would still make mistakes and sometimes she would say the wrong thing. I had to beat her for this, but found that she began to bruise far too easily. I didn't like coupling with something that was all black and blue.
"I thought I would simply have to put up with her like that for the rest of my days until I found out about the newest in mental conditioning technology. It was like a blessing from an angel to me. I found that it was possible to suppress her memories and tuck them away where she would never find them. Doing so would make her forget about her free and un-disciplined life before she came to me. It would make her complacent. It would make her obedient. It would make her perfect. Of course she would lose all memories of her friends and family beforehand, but that was a price I was willing to pay.
"The only catch to this whole thing was she had to be willing to succumb to the conditioning. She had to be willing to give up her old memories. If she refused it wouldn't work."
Kaiser was beginning to feel very, very sick. Never in his worst nightmares did he ever think someone would go this far with...
Kisa chuckled once more. "She was, of course, originally against the whole idea. She even fought me once. I had to chain her up to keep her from hurting myself and all the others. Ohh, It took me many long nights and many hard days to convince her that submitting would be the best solutions. While I had to beat her and strike her down during the day, it was at night when I felt really made the most progress. It's amazing how she becomes at night when someone is coupling with her. Heh, heh after three or four rough times with her and many, many whippings and beatings she finally agreed."
The nobleman sat back and took a sip of his tea. "It was funny, the technician who was doing the job said that in her last moments before he engaged the machinery she was calling out to you. Now it all makes more sense to me." And he broke out into a wild laughter.
Kaiser was now physically ill. He swallowed shallowly and wiped his hand across his face. His eyes were locked onto what was left of Aisha. She still had the cup and dish extended outwards to him. He could see her shaking. He'd never, not in the worst of all his dreams, or the darkest of all his thoughts, did he ever imagine that someone would go so far with her. Kisa had wiped her mind clean. He'd erased who Aisha really was. He pushed the woman Kaiser had been seeking out for the past year so far into the depths of her own mind, she'd ceased to exist. The Nobleman, on top of all the evil he put her through, did the most destructive thing possible to her.
Kaiser stared in wordless horror at the empty shell that was once Aisha. Was this it? Was this all she'd become? The woman who'd opened his eyes, the one human he'd truly begun to fall in love with, the strength and will that inspired him so... Was this all that they had become? Shattered and destroyed, humiliated and conquered?! Pushed and repressed to the point where she couldn't even recognize him? It couldn't be... It couldn't be...
Aisha's hand began to jitter violently until suddenly she dropped the cup and saucer. The cup hit the plush carpet and spilled the tea all over the floor. The saucer landed on top, shattering them both. She turned her gaze quickly to the floor in horror.
...Oh no...
Kisa rose from his seat in rage.
"AISHA!! What have you done?!" The fat man's fat face contorted in anger. New lines appeared as the skin folded. His eyes seemed to pop open. The fat man quickly turned from and ugly fat noble man, to a violent and frightening demon.
"Aisha you idiot!!" He reached back and with one large swoop slapped Aisha with everything in him. She was thrown off balance and landed on her side.
"Idiot woman! This is some of my best China! What do you think you are doing. You worthless whore! Pick this up now! Clean this mess up!! Pray you the tea doesn't stain my carpet! I'll give you a lesson you won't soon forget!!"
"Yes Lord Kisa."
Kaiser didn't move. He saw Aisha prop herself up on one arm, her face pointed to the ground. Two tears fell from her eyes and landed on the carpet. She was lucky Kisa didn't see them, he was too busy huffing and fanning himself off, but Kaiser did. He sat up. Did she just cry...
"I apologize for my worthless purchase. She can't do anything right anymore. The damn thing can't even bear children! Sometimes I think she's was a waste of good money." Kaiser saw her gently picking up the shattered pieces of glass, her eyes and face back to the emotionless expression it had been when she first entered. His mind began to quickly turn. She just cried...
Rising swiftly he turned. "Thank you for your time Nobleman Kisa."
The fat man rose quickly and chased after him leaving Aisha alone to pick up the glass. "Wait Kaiser! You're leaving already? Oh dear... If you are going to go back to Lord Ghenna, tell him that I will be away on leave for the next two weeks! He won't be able to meet me here! Only my servants will be around!"
"Will do." Kaiser said quickly opening the large front doors and leaving. His previous ill feeling had come back stronger than before. Wasting little time he ran into the nearest back alley and found a garbage can. He promptly heaved up everything that had been sitting in his stomach. Tears followed shortly after.
Aisha...
Aisha...
But slowly... eventually... Kaiser did look up. ...She'd cried right? He saw it, those were tears... That mental conditioning couldn't have been as good as Kisa said it was. She was supposed to be a robotic doll, she was supposed to be devoid of any and all emotions. Kaiser swallowed the sour taste in his mouth and began to nod. Aisha was in there. She was still alive in that body. She was down there, but not as deep as Kisa counted on her being. It was all a matter of bringing her back up, of digging her free. She wasn't dead, just buried alive.
He'd have to get to her once more. This time he'd have to get with her alone. A few minutes, that's all he'd need. He narrowed his eyes. He said...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He said he'd be gone, didn't he?
Kaiser stood once more at the doorway of the mansion. It was night out and the only illumination in the sky was the very large moon. It was a few days after he'd first come to visit. He'd waited a few days to make sure Kisa wouldn't be around. If the nobleman left when he said he was going to then he should have been a few days gone already; far enough away to guarantee that there wouldn't be any sudden appearances by him because he forgot something or other. He was not going to be there...
At least Kaiser hoped so. He held something wrapped in clear celophane in his hands. Quickly, he tucked it away behind himself. Raising his hand once more he knocked. Here went nothing...
At first he thought the entire house was empty. No one came to answer the door. He knocked once more and was greeted by the sound of a bolt being pulled on the other side. The door opened a crack and a servant peeked his head out.
"I'm sorry," he said looking over Kaiser. "But Lord Kisa's not here right now. He's away on vacation."
Kaiser sighed with relief. "It's ok. I'm not here to see him. I wish to speak with Aisha."
The servant looked taken back. "Aisha? I'm sorry but Lord Kisa has ordered that no one is to see her-"
"Yes I'm sure," Kaiser interrupted placing his hand on the door and his foot along its base. "But Lord Kisa isn't around right now, is he?"
The servant backed off a bit. "N-no sir, but he still ordered that-"
Kaiser leaned forward and brought his face right up against the servant's. "But I am telling you to let me in. Tell me now, who are you going to listen to, little man? That fat, pimple of a prick who's gone away on vacation or the Arch-Bishop of all the Mesopotamian hunter/killer forces breathing down your neck at this very moment?"
The small man swallowed under Kaiser's glare and relented.
"What ever you wish, M'lord!"
Kaiser smiled. "Indeed."
He pushed his way in and took a look around. "Where is she?"
"Er... sir, up in the Lord's bedroom but-"
"Take me there."
"But Kaiser-sama! Lord Kisa commanded that-"
Kaiser grabbed the servant and lifted him clear of the floor.
"Ohdear! Ohdear! Ohdear! Ohdear!"
"Don't you mention him again! Now take me to her!" He said almost yelling. "Now!!"
He dropped the man and he hit the ground running. He led Kaiser up a steep set of staircases and down a small hall to a pair of massive double doors.
"Don't bother us... for any reason. Got it?"
"Y-yes sir, Mr. Kaiser sir!" the servant said ducking away. He had no intention of getting in the Arch-Bishop's way at all. Kaiser watched him go before turning to the door. He twisted the knob and found that it turned easily.
Aisha... I'm coming...
Taking a deep breath he opened the door and stepped inside.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aisha was sitting in a corner when she heard the door knob turn.
'He's back already?!' she thought to herself. She jumped to her feet and straightened her self out just as the door was opening. She was still somewhat sore from the severe beating Lord Kisa gave her. He blamed her for Kaiser's sudden running off. Afterwards... He... did what he always 'did' after he beat her... Every night... every time...
As the door opened Aisha began to speak.
"How was your vacation Lord...Ki... sa..."
The fat man did not step through. Instead it was probably the last man she'd ever expected seeing.
Kaiser looked over at her and immediately his eyes softened.
"Aisha..."
She stood by wordlessly. Who...why...
He took a step forward. "Aisha, it's me! Aisha, It's me Kaiser!! Tell me you remember me! Tell me you know who I am!"
Slowly her lips began to move.
"Kai...ser..."
"Yes!"
He smiled and walked over to her taking her in his arms. "Aisha!!"
She didn't move as he embraced her. She stood there like a doll, limp in his arms. Inside her, however, something was stirring. This man...why was he here... What...
"Kaiser..."
He noticed almost immediately she wasn't responding. Letting her go, he took her shoulders in his hands. He stared deep into her eyes. "Aisha! Aisha it's me! It's me Kaiser!! Please, Aisha! You know who I am! You know who I am!!"
She gazed back into his soft gray eyes. Slowly, something in her began to open. Something began to break through. "...Kaiser?"
"Yes, Aisha! It's me!"
Blankly she stared back. Deep inside herself something was being let free. Something was opening up. Something was... Something was... no.
Kaiser watched her eyes begin to light up. He saw a glimmer of understanding starting to shine through her numbness. For a moment he thought she would pull through. Kisa's conditioning couldn't possibly be stronger than their love! She was going to be all right! She was...
But suddenly that glimmer vanished. Her eyes became flat and robotic once more. With shock, Kaiser watched her return to her old self. The spark extinguished itself.
"Aisha?! Aisha!!" He gripped her arms tightly and shook her. "Aisha!! Aisha-chan!!!"
The woman looked up at him. "Yes, noble Kaiser? What is it you require?"
Kaiser stopped and stared back at her. His eyes became heavy and sad once more. "...Aisha..."
Her blank eyes met his. "Yes, noble Kaiser?"
He began to blink back tears. He'd been so close, he saw it. Something stirred in her. Something moved deep inside her mind...but...
He gripped her arms tightly once more. Doing his best to hold back the tears that were rapidly forming he met her automatic gaze once more.
"Aisha, Aisha PLEASE! Remember me!! Tell me you remember who I am! I know it's inside of you! I know you remember!!"
He received a blank stare.
"Aisha, remember dammit!! Remember who I am!! Kaiser!! Remember the runs we had? Remember the desert? Remember your sisters? Satomi!! Tell me you remember Satomi!! That woman! You KNOW her! She was the first person you ever met. Tell me you at least remember her!"
She slowly spoke. "Sat...o...mi?"
Kaiser nodded. "Yes! Yes Aisha! Satomi! Remember, her hair was purple, she wasn't very tall, but she was always kind and happy? Remember when you first met her you used food to lure her close and gain her trust?"
"...Sat...omi..."
He began to smile. "Yes Aisha! You know who she is! You remember her! Remember Nanaka and Krysta? I know you remember them! Remember Nanaka was always fast and Krysta was a lot like Satomi? I know you do! Remember Leska-chan? Remember-"
Aisha smiled gently and spoke even more softly. "Why, noble Kaiser, what ever are you talking about?"
Kaiser stopped in mid sentence.
She didn't remember... She didn't even know whom he was talking about. He stared down at her empty gaze and felt his body start to shake. Tears began to come unbidden to him. She doesn't even remember who he is... He'd been wrong... Kisa really did kill Aisha... Kisa really did kill...
He stopped holding back and collapsed onto her shoulder. Aisha was unmoving as the large man began to weep all over her. Kaiser buried his face into her body and let himself go. Aisha didn't even stir against to Kaiser's strong sobs. Her gaze was fixed straight ahead staring at nothing, still slightly smiling.
Kaiser wrapped his strong arms around the woman and held her tightly. He couldn't do it... he couldn't save her. He couldn't bring her back. Kisa had so totally conquered the woman that what ever was left of her was buried far too deep for him to dig. The fat, little nobleman had destroyed Aisha. He'd destroyed her dreams, her life, who she was ...and what Kaiser and Aisha had once been. Kisa murdered Aisha, and Kaiser was powerless to bring her back.
As his sobs wracked his body, the item in his back pocket slowly began to fall out. With a muffled crunch it landed on the floor, the cellophane opening. Kaiser didn't even notice he'd dropped them. He was crying far to hard to hear it hit the floor. Aisha, however, did. Slowly her gaze fell to the floor. Her flat eyes focused on the object. She cocked her head. It was a small bundle of flowers.
Suddenly it struck her. They were... they were... they...
All the conditioning Kisa had trained and forced upon her suddenly came loose in one massive torrent of memories. Everything that had been buried moments before exploded free from the depths of her mind. The force of everything almost staggered her. Her eyes suddenly became sharp; a light began to shine in them once more. Her body loosened and became far less stiff. Her mind, her life, came back to her in a single powerful moment. She stared at the flowers on the floor. They were... She turned to the man on her shoulder crying. He was... She turned and stared down the length of her body. She was...
Lying on the floor in a crumpled heap were eight broken and slightly battered flowers. Their petals shone softly in the light of the room. They were clustered about a single tip and together made one beautiful bundle. A few pedals had been torn off, and many were hanging loose, broken off from the rest but Aisha immediately recognized what they were. Her breath caught in her throat.
They were Lime Roses.
Kaiser stopped weeping when he felt a pair of hands wrap themselves around his body. He looked back up at Aisha, surprised, and met her gaze once more. This time he saw, for the first time in a year, exactly what he had come back to regain. It was Aisha. Not the robot, not the creature made by Kisa, but the Aisha that Kaiser had come to fall in love with. The Aisha who had seven other sisters. The Aisha who had determination and spirit. The Aisha who loved Kaiser back. In shock Kaiser gazed back into her beautiful green eyes. She raised her hand and touched his face. Her lip began to quiver.
"K...Kaiser?"
He reached up and held her hand to his cheek and began to smile. His tears began to fall once more. "Aisha..."
"Kaiser?!" Her eyes filled with the same tears of remembrance. "Is it you?"
He let go of her hand and took her cheeks into his hands. "Aisha, of course it is!"
"Kaiser?!" Her whole body began to shake. The Arch-Bishop held her gently in his hands.
"Aisha!"
"KAISER!!" She cried out and leapt forward and grabbed him as tightly as she could. "Kaiser! Kaiser! You came back to me! You came back to me..."
He held her back as tightly as he could while she started to sob onto his shoulder.
"I know..." He said letting the pearls of tears roll down his cheeks. "Oh my god, you're back! You're back Aisha!! I'd thought I lost you..."
"Kaiser!!"
He held her tightly in his arms. She remembered him. She remembered him!!
Kaiser dropped his head close to her ear and whispered softly. "I love you Aisha...I'm so sorry..."
This brought forth new tears as she held him tightly. "Kaiser..."
They both fell to the floor and held each other. Neither side willing to let go 'less the other disappeared. For the first real time since she'd allowed herself to be broken by Kisa, Aisha let her heart pour itself out. Kaiser felt her hands dig and tear into his clothing. Nearly collapsing into his body she gripped him tightly. The tears that fell became more and more abundant. They started to fall like rain from her eyes landing on the Bishop holding her tightly. He could feel her beginning to sob harder and harder, louder and louder in his arms.
It was one year. One long, terrible year. She'd been beaten, whipped, degraded, turned into an object, forced into acts which no living should ever have forced upon them, and worst of all made to give up her past; give up those memories which she used to keep her grip on sanity. She was forced to shed her sisters, she was forced to forget their home, she was forced to cast away Kaiser. Kisa had all but destroyed her. He took away everything she held dear.
The year came up and out of Aisha hard. Kaiser did his best to hold her as tightly as he could. She gripped him back with all the force she could muster in her body. Her sobbing became more and more intense. She began to wail loudly. Her heart exploded outwards in a flood of tears and emotion. She was almost to the point screaming.
Loud and full of pain, her voice echoed through out the entire house. The doorman, who was resting in his little bed trying his best to get over the scare Kaiser had given him, sat up. Aisha was almost screaming. She sounded like a wounded animal. What in god's name was going on up there? What was Kaiser doing to her? As her wails continued the servant shook his head. There was emotion in her cries. She never wept this loud or that hard when Lord Kisa struck her, nor this passionately. Her tears were conveying pain and sorrow... Master Kisa would not be happy to hear about this.
Gently Kaiser rocked her back and forth trying his best to comfort the woman. He knew he had no idea what she went through. He knew he didn't have any idea the kind of hell she went through. What he did know was that he'd caused it. He'd been as much at fault as Kisa. He'd left her, abandoned her. As he held Aisha he realized he was the blame for all of this. It was his fault. His tears began fall more and more numerously.
"Oh god Aisha!!" He said beginning to pour his heart out as well. "Oh god, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I never should have done that to you! I should have held you back from them!! I shouldn't have left you like I did! Oh god, forgive me! Oh god, please..."
Long, long minutes passed as the two lovers held each other. Aisha's body wracked itself with her sobs. It was over a year, and her tears reflected the degree of pain and suffering she endured. She wept as loudly and as powerfully as she could against Kaiser for almost half an hour. For nearly thirty minutes she gripped the Arch-Bishop as tightly as she could, nearly tearing the clothes off his back. For nearly thirty minutes he held her letting her pour the despair and misery from her own little, bruised heart. Thirty minutes...
When her tears finally began to recede she collapsed onto him. Physically and emotionally she felt exhausted. She needed to rest. Still gripping Kaiser as tightly as her hands and body would allow she closed her eyes. Kaiser could see her begin to relax slightly. The Arch-Bishop began to rub his hands up and down her back trying his best to comfort the woman.
She knew that she had every right in the world to be angry with Kaiser. He left her to this life. He abandoned her. Something deep inside her was telling her to throw away this man, to cast this filth away from her life.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked up to meet his. Their twin portals met. Gray reflected in Jade and Jade into Gray. Despite the smile he softly gave her she could still see tears lined in his eyes. She could see regret shining in them. Shimmering along the edges of those soft, gray eyes she could see his pain and his sorrow. It hurt him to see her like this. It ate away at his very being to see Aisha suffering. His eyes betrayed his heart to her. Cast him away? Throw this garbage out from her life? Shed this man who'd left her rot in this hell?
She could feel his hand slowly rub up and down her back. His touch was soft and gentle, his embrace was warm.
"Kaiser..." she said softly.
"...Aisha?"
"Kaiser... promise me something. Promise me we'll leave this place. Promise me we'll escape this terrible land. Together, you and I, we can run from all of this."
"And your sisters?"
Aisha smiled weakly. "Yes, them too. Together, all of us, promise me you'll take us away from this. Promise me we'll all go, together, into a better life." She let go with one of her hands and reached up to gently touch Kaiser's cheek. He smiled softly at her touch. "Promise me Kaiser."
He nodded slowly. "What ever it takes, what ever the sacrifice, I will take you away. We will run, Aisha. Together we will run only if you promise me one thing."
"What is it?"
He bent down and met her forehead to forehead. "Promise me you'll be happy from now on. Promise me you'll smile and laugh. Promise me Aisha..."
He saw her eyes, for the first time in over a year, shine. With a single, gentle shake of her head she nodded. It was done.
The year of pain and sorrow couldn't be mended and healed in the space of a single night, but for Aisha, the process of overcoming what had happened had already begun. The moment Kisa's conditioning shattered in her mind she'd begun to overcome what had happened. Now, as she sat in Kaiser's arms she began to feel peace. It might have been his touch or it might have been his gentle voice, but whatever the reason, she began to breathe easier. The future had just opened up for her. At the end of her tunnel she saw a light. She could see blue skies ahead of this long dark journey. Holding her was the only man who ever cared about who she was and what she was really like. Holding her in his arms was her future. Cast him away? Toss him out?
Never.
In one another's arms they savored each other. Nothing could have torn them apart in that moment. No force on all of Terra II could have pried the lovers from the other's embrace. The flood of emotions and tears held them closer together than any thing else on that night. Kaiser could feel the tears return to his eyes once more.
"God Aisha, I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry... Please forgive me. Please-" Aisha put one finger on his lips and stopped him. She shook her head and leaned forward against his body, starting to smile weakly.
"I don't care Kaiser... You came back. You still came back for me. Now is all I care about. Right now..."
"Aisha..."
She looked back up at him and let the drops fall softly from her shining eyes.
"Kaiser..."
Slowly they brought their heads close together. Hesitantly, their lips brushed. A moment later they softly, for the first time, came together in a kiss. Aisha closed her eyes and gripped Kaiser once more. Kaiser, soon after, followed in suit. For the both of them everything seemed to melt away. The year of pain and tears melted away. The fat Nobleman Kisa melted away. The 'conditioning' melted away. Ghenna and all his empire melted away. Everything left them. For the first time in their entire lives, Aisha and Kaiser kissed. For the first time ever, their lives worries truly didn't matter. For the first time in over a year, they both were truly happy.
The moonlight streamed slowly through the windows onto the bed. Kaiser smiled as he saw Aisha's prone form sleeping softly in the wonderful half light. Neither of them were wearing anything, neither of them had any need to. Aisha had long since lost her virginity to Kisa, but Kaiser couldn't have cared less. She was still perfect. Her entire body was perfect. He now knew what the old stories meant by the exquisite pleasure that women could give to their mates. They were true.
But even after they had finished and Aisha had fallen asleep in his arms Kaiser lay awake holding her, looking at her. This was it. This was the person to whom he would dedicate his love. He could think of no better person. Aisha was perfect. She was simply perfect.
He could see her smiling softly in the dark and Kaiser began to do the same himself. He reached over with his free hand and stroked her long, silky hair. It had been so long. All those days and nights of wondering where she went, who had taken her, what she was going through. They all drifted away as he sat there petting her soft hair.
"Aisha..." He whispered softly. "Aisha...Aisha...Aisha..."
Dear lord, he hoped the night would never end. He hoped this moment would never pass. He prayed they could stay like this for as long as they wanted. That time would stop for them and give them that moment forever. Softly as he called her name, Aisha awoke.
She looked up at him and smiled.
"Kaiser..."
He smiled back. "I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"
She leaned forward and kissed him. "If you say I'm sorry one more time I'm going to smack you." she said with a giggle.
He grinned back and went back to stroking her hair.
"Why aren't you asleep?" she said cozying up next to him.
"I guess I was just thinking."
"About what?"
Kaiser smiled and kissed her again. "Nothing."
Aisha smiled dreamily and yawned. "Kaiser..."
Kaiser suddenly sat up. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot." He slowly stepped off the large bed and began to search along the floor. Aisha sat up and looked over at him. She smiled slightly as she watched his muscular form move its way across the room.
"What is it?"
A moment later he turned back around. "These..."
Aisha smiled. They were the Lime Roses. He hopped back into the bed and handed them to her.
"I could only find eight that were in bloom for you Aisha, I tried to get more but..."
She shook her head and smiled almost dreamily. "Kaiser, I don't care... They're beautiful. They're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen..."
Kaiser smiled softly, his eyes bright. "Really?"
She slipped out of the bed and Kaiser watched her disappear behind a bathroom door. She called out to him from behind it.
"We'd better get them into some water, otherwise they'll die by morning." He heard some things being moved and clanked around. A moment later she came back out holding a large vase that had been kept in there for decoration. The flowers were placed inside. She stood there at the edge of the bed and held the vase out.
"There, what do you think."
Kaiser smiled and let his eyes wander up and down. "My goddess, you are exquisite..."
Aisha looked confused for a moment, but realized that she wasn't wearing anything. She blushed and kicked the bed.
"Kaiser..."
He leaned back and began to laugh. "They look beautiful Aisha. They look perfect."
"Good..." She said looking the vase over in her hands. He took the vase and walked over to a small table and placed the Lime Roses on top of it. The moonlight spilled over them and made them glitter. Aisha smiled.
"Thank you Kaiser."
She went back to bed and Kaiser resumed stroking her. She smiled peacefully and let him continue until her eyes finally closed and she was, once again, breathing softly. Kaiser's smile faded as he lay there watching her. Eventually morning would come. And then another. And the yet another. And eventually Kisa would come back...
"No." Kaiser said softly. His expression hardened and determination filled his eyes. He remembered the look Aisha had given him when she first saw him that one day in Kisa's awful common room. Kaiser remembered the look of shattered dreams in her eyes; that look of her will, broken. That robotic, horrible look.
"Never again..." he said softly. "I'll sooner die than ever let you be like that again. I'll never let him break you again. I'll kill him first. He'll never have your soul ever again. Never."
Kaiser vowed to himself that night. No matter the cost, he would get Aisha and those seven other women away from the hell that they lived in now. He was going take them away and send them some place where Ghenna and his evils will never touch them. Some place far away...
He leaned forward and pressed his lips to Aisha once more.
"I love you Aisha. I love you..."
As he began to doze off, he started to hear music playing. Where it came from didn't matter to him. Maybe a man was playing it softly on the street corner down below, or maybe it rose from the depths of Kaiser's memories and echoed about his thoughts, or quite possibly it was because he was already half asleep; right at the point where reality and the dream world traveled hand in hand. Wherever they came from the notes were still soft and melodious and he smiled as he listened. His eyes grew heavy as the words flowed over him. They went like this...
It must be your skin,
I'm sinking in.
Must be for real,
'Cause now I can feel.
I didn't mind.
It's not my kind.
It's not my time,
To wonder why.
Everything all white.
Everything's gray.
Now you're here,
Now you're away.
I don't want this,
Remember that.
I'll never forget,
where you're at.
Don't let the days go by!
Glycerin...
Glycerin...
I'm never alone.
I'm alone all the time.
Are you at one,
or do you lie?
We live in a wheel,
where everyone steals.
And when we rise,
it's like strawberry fields!
If I treated you bad
you bruised my face.
Couldn't love you more,
you've got a beautiful taste...
Don't let the days go by,
Could've been easier on you...
I couldn't change though I wanted to.
Should've been easier by three!
Our old friend fear and you and me...
Glycerine...
Glycerine...
Don't let the days go by...
Glycerine...
Don't let the days go by~!
Glycerine!
Glycerine!
Oh, glycerine!
Glycerine!
Bad moon white again,
Bad moon white again,
As she falls around me.
I needed you more,
He wanted us less.
Could not kiss,
Just regress...
It might just be,
clear simple and plain...
Well that's just fine!
That's just one of my names!
Don't let the days go by!
Could've been easier on you!
You!
You...
Glycerine!
Glycerine!
Glycerine!
Glycerine...
~Glycerine
Bush
Sixteen Stone
And with that his eyes closed, reality fell away and Kaiser floated into a deep, deep sleep locked into the arms of his one true love. Slowly the night wore on.
E-Mail to: The_Dark_Phoenix@hotmail.com
[To Be Continued.]
Back to the subject at hand, SMJ belongs to whomever owns them ( duh ), not me. I only write about them. Anything not from SMJ belongs to me. Money belongs to the creators of SMJ, there for not me. While I'm not too worried about a lawsuit being filed because I chose to write a piece of fan fiction using their characters, I've still gotta cover my bases. Keep in mind, I am broke. Very broke. I'm like Jed Clampet before he struck oil (Beverly Hillbillies.) I hunt squirrels in my back yard with a twin barrel and a case of buckshot. My hat on my head predates my grandfather. My entire family lives with me out in the wilderness in a shack constructed entirely of animal hides and loose planks. So there.... Bah...
I'd suggest you read the first two parts before you read this one, but, then again, if you enjoy being lost go right ahead and start here. Helpful feedback is awesome. Flames and BS are not. I don't know why but some people spend their entire time going through fanfiction.net and flaming everything they don't agree on. Have they nothing better to do? For their sake and he sake of everyone who posts fan fiction in this archive, I, The Dark Phoenix, have a few places on the web they can go to pass the time in a much more pleasant manner. www.bored.com, www.emotioneric.com, www.coolquotescollection.com, and www.tshirthell.com (not for everyone, btw.).
THERE! RUN FREE MY LITTLE FLAMERS!! GO, INTO THE WORLD AND BE HAPPY!! HAPPINESS IS NEXT TO... Next to... err... CLEANLINESS!! GO WASH, GO WEB SURFING, BE HAPPY!!
[This flame retardation service was provided to you by The Dark Phoenix. You can contact him at The_Dark_Phoenix@hotmail.com. This has been a public service announcement. Many flames have been harmed in the making of this gibberish. All flames held in custody have met their maker in a painless, efficient manner. Thank you and have a pleasant day.]
On one last note, as this plot has developed there's been some confusion as to the identities of the maidens. Take notes now if ya want here's who's who. Aisha is Lime, Satomi is Cherry, Aiko is Bloodberry, Asuka is Tiger, Krysta is Luchs and Nanaka is Panta. Leska and Katsumi are two characters developed especially for this Fic [Translation: He made them up. Run, there's a new set of avatars on the loose!].
Also the one is ALMOST rated R. It covers rather gritty tones, but it's not too explicit. Up here in the states, if you're 13 you'll be fine- that's why it's still PG-13. I am still warning you though. People with sensitive natures may want to think about going forward.
Shout out to Vik-man (Editor) and Chii-chan (provider of anime). Thanks for all the support peeps!
[NOTE] Version 1.1.- Dated: 17 October 2002; I went through the whole 'fic and repaired some stupid problems that were made. The most noticeable mistakes were made at the start of Chap. 3 and the radio transmission in Chap. 4. Now I think you guys will be able to at least understand what was going on. On FF.net using "" "" to indicate actions makes the damn server think it's a set of link instructions and erases the whole line. I fixed most all of them so you can read them now. I'm sorry about the mix up. Take care and Enjoy!
[Ok I lied, this is the last note. MY bud Luvweaver requested that I change something in this version, SO this would be v1.2 of this fic. Enjoy Luvweaver!]
STORY TIME!!!! [children cheer]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With a painful grunt Aiko fell to the floor. All the strength her body seemed to have was drained. One blow? Was that all that it took? One blow to her?
Kaiser frowned. She too had been another lemon. He was standing in a wide glass room. The ceiling and floor were brightly lit, a stark white color. There was a small door in one of the corners that led out into the surrounding observation area. There were scientists standing all along the outside of the glass scribbling furiously on their little writing tablets taking notes. They were observing how each of the women performed in combat- what systems seemed to be best suited for each one of them and so on.
Along one of the edges the seven women sat looking in. All of them except Aisha were sitting on the floor, either bruised or bleeding. They had been forced to fight Kaiser to test their inherent skills. None of them lasted anymore than one or two blows. Kaiser was some terrible machine. He seemed to be able to predict what they were going to do, move faster than they did, and hit harder and caused more pain than anything else they've ever known before. They were told that if any of them were to hit him in any way shape or form the whole group would be rewarded by a few weeks off. Ever since Kaiser first appeared, they hadn't one day of rest or relaxation.
They'd been taken from their peaceful life and forced into hell. Clothed in itchy rags, forced to march, and run, and jump, and fight every waking moment of their days. Almost three months had passed. This test was an accumulation of all their work. So far all of them had failed except Aisha. She'd yet to perform.
Kaiser signaled for the extraction team to come and take Aiko away. He refused to touch any of the women, except to punish them. So far none of them had lasted anymore than fifteen seconds. One hit was all it took. One solid belt to the stomach, or one smooth kick to the gut and they fell to the ground whimpering like the little babes in their birthing chambers calling out in hunger.
As Aiko was being dragged away Kaiser turned to the glass from which the women were recovering behind. There was only one left. 'Aisha' they called her. She was the one who had tried to attack him the first day he showed himself. After he was revealed to them, she charged at him screaming at the top of her lungs and tried to strike him. He'd put her down easily. Kaiser smiled slightly to himself. She was looking at him, glaring at him. The little bitch. She hadn't learned her lesson. He'd have to put her down once more.
Aisha glared back. 'Fight him...' 'Conquer him...' If she hoped to survive she would have to conquer him. She'd failed once. Something in her heart told her that she would not get a third chance. That angry-eyed monster was watching her. It was looking down at her. She needed to impress it, or otherwise face annihilation. All of their lives rested on her performance. Aisha knew.
She couldn't let herself fall like before. The very first time he'd hit her, she'd fallen and simply didn't get back up. Unlike in her dream the pain stayed. It entered her body and took up residence, incapacitating her. She couldn't let that happen again. Not this time. Not this time.
The words given to her in her dream rose from their depths and floated through her mind.
'If you don't defeat me, then you will have no future. You will be like a footnote in the pages of history. Combat will define you.'
'Defeat me and you will earn the monster's pleasure for many more days than otherwise given by fate. Loose to me, let me crush you, let me break you... and you and all you know will perish'
'Worry about bettering yourself. Worry about the safety of your family. Worry about those you will grow to love. Worry about standing when you fall. Learn Aisha. Learn and you will live.'
"Learn..." She whispered softly to herself heading for the glass door. "Learn..."
Kaiser watched her enter. His eyes narrowed and he became serious.
'Those eyes...'
He watched her face change as she walked to the door. They became... bold. Almost determined. She was thinking, Kaiser could tell. Something was running through her head. Her eyes revealed it. ...But what?
Aisha walked in and the door closed silently behind her. She was gazing at the floor seemingly lost in thought.
'Learn.'
'Learn.'
'Learn...'
Kaiser raised his fists. It didn't matter. He'd still have to put her down. It wouldn't be a problem. She was weak. One can be as bold or as determined as they wanted and it wouldn't change a thing if they were weak. Narrowing his eyes he readied himself.
Aisha looked up suddenly meeting his gaze. Kaiser's eye widened and his guard dropped for a moment. What... She'd changed. Her eyes had lighted up. He could see something burning in them. Kaiser had only seen eyes like those in one other place before: Out in combat, on the battlefield. They were eyes of rage and fury, of determination and spirit, eyes of a creature fighting to survive... and they were aimed at him.
Slowly Aisha mouthed something. Kaiser watched her lips move. Leska, who had been sitting against the wall out side the glass nursing her injured side, shot her gaze upwards into the ring.
"What..."
Kaiser stepped back and raised his fists once more.
"We'll see child, we'll see," he said below his breath.
Satomi turned to her sister. She seemed to be reading Aisha's lips.
"Leska-chan, What's Aisha saying? Kaiser looks spooked."
Leska shook her head. She could feel Aisha's energy radiating outwards from her mind. She wanted something.
"She's saying...She's saying..."
Satomi knelt by her. "Saying what?"
Leska turned.
"I want to live..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saber Marionette J
Dark's AU - Human
Episode Three: Lime Rose
"Teaching me to love"
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah...
Breathe in, breathe out,
Breathe in, breathe out,
Breathe in...
Breathe in, breathe out,
Breathe in, breathe out,
Breathe in...
Tied to a wheel, fingers got to feel,
Bleeding through it all, O.k. to smile...
I spin on a whim, I slide to the right
I felt you like electric light.
For our love!
For our fear!
For our rise against the years and years!
Got a machine head...
...it's better than the rest...
Green to red...
...machine head...
Got a machine head...
...it's better than the rest...
Green to red...
And I walk from my machine,
Oh, I walk from my machine girl...
Breathe in, breathe out,
Breathe in, breathe out,
Breathe in...
Deaf, dumb and thirty!
Starting to deserve this!
Leaning on my conscience wall...
Blood is like wine,
unconscious all the time.
If I had it all again
I'd change it all!
Got a machine head...
It's better than the rest...
Green to red...
Machine head...
Got a machine head!
It's better than the rest!
Green to red!
Yeah...
I walk from my machine,
I walk from my machine...
Breathe in, breathe out,
Breathe in, breathe out,
Breathe in!! Breathe in!! BREATHE IN!!
Got a machine head!!
It's better than the rest!
Green to red!
Machine head!
Got a machine head!
It's better than the rest!
Green to red!
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!!
Better than the rest!!
Better than the rest!!
Machine head~
I walk from my machine.
I walk from my machine...
Bush
Sixteen Stone
'Machine Head'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kaiser exhaled and dropped to one knee. He smiled to himself and shook his head. All that build up and for nothing! She'd actually gotten him a little worried. He looked over to her crumpled form and breathed easier. One punch was all it took. Only one.
He rose and motioned to the small window above the arena. Ghenna was seated above behind the dark glass. He was seething with anger. A servant standing near by could see his eyes glittering. He was in a very dangerous mood. All eight of his women failed him. All their training seemed to amount to nothing. They couldn't even touch Kaiser. Not even Leska, his precious psychic.
Even worse, they weren't cycling. Their bodies should have begun cycling by now, they should be ready to bear children. But they weren't. They were still infertile. He'd put his hopes on these women and they were failing him. He didn't want to go back to the drawing board. He didn't want to start all over. He wanted these to go on and bear him his children. But Ghenna was tired of waiting.
He looked down at the crumpled form of Aisha and spat in disgust. They were weak children, he was loosing his patience. They had better grow and mature soon. He was sick of watching them wasting time. He was-
Ghenna stopped when he noticed Aisha moving.
Kaiser turned when he heard a noise behind him. He turned and saw Aisha slowly climbing to her feet. She was getting back up. Kaiser saw her eyes, they were still glittering with determination.
'What the...'
He hadn't held back. He'd hit her with everything in him. She should be down and out.
But she wasn't. Climbing steadily to her feet he once again fixated her gaze upon him.
"I want my chance..." She said slowly. "I want to live."
Kaiser rose to his full height and crossed his arms. "Is that so?"
With a yell Aisha charged him and swung with all her might. Kaiser easily side stepped her and slammed his fist into her back as she rushed past. With a yelp of pain she fell back to the floor. She moaned and cried out again curling her body.
Kaiser shook his head. That first blow should have leveled her and kept her there. This one, he was sure, would.
To his utter shock Aisha stirred. She slowly planted her palms on the ground and with a heavy groan propped her self up. Kaiser watched her crawl up onto her hands and knees.
'What the hell?' the first time could have been a fluke, but not twice. He circled slowly as she rose back onto her feet. She was supposed to be weak. He'd seen her drill with the others. He'd seen her scores on the races, and in lifting, and in prediction and she did moderate to poor on all of them.
She certainly didn't look very strong. Kaiser stood still as she fixated her eyes on him again. Once more she rose to her feet. That fire was burning in them, right there in her eyes. It was still shining.
'What is that?' Kaiser asked himself. 'What is that in those eyes...'
Screaming once more Aisha charged. She barreled straight for him. He waited until she was about a foot away before throwing his fist upwards in an arc. It caught her right in the chin lifting her clear from the ground. All her forward momentum died as her entire body was thrown back by the large fist. With a heavy thud she landed almost six feet away.
Kaiser continued to watch her intently. But this wasn't about physical strength, was it? Her eyes told him it was something else. He waited there for her, wondering if she would get back up, but she didn't move. A full minute passed before he turned away.
"Stupid child" he muttered. She'd taken three of his strongest hits. Neither man, nor any Gray Eye would have been able to take that from him. She'd been determined. Some deep, powerful determination. None of her friends had that. None of her friends lasted this long.
Taking a deep breath he headed for the door. He paused when the guard watching the lock pointed through the glass past Kaiser.
"What?" He turned.
Aisha was on her feet.
Her lip had been split open and was bleeding freely onto the clean white floor. Her clothes had become slightly ripped and her lower jaw seemed to be bruising. The long hair that had fallen so gracefully before now fell over her eyes and partially hid them from Kaiser. What he could see was glittering angrily back at him.
Three... Three blows and she still got back up. Kaiser was amazed. She shouldn't be standing. She should be done and over with. She should have fallen after his first. But she got back up. He'd hit her again, and once more she'd risen back up. He'd hit her a third time, and she was still standing... She wouldn't lay down and stay there.
Kaiser frowned and readied himself once more. With a grunt Aisha rushed forward again. Kaiser watched her run and waited. Once more when she was almost on him he sidestepped her. But this time Aisha sidestepped with him. With a scream she raised her fist and swung.
Kaiser still easily caught it and twisted her arm around. Aisha screamed in pain as she felt her arm start to buckle. With a grunt Kaiser threw Aisha clear across the room, slamming her into the far wall as hard as he could. With a painful 'umph' she fell to the floor.
Up in his room Ghenna clapped his hands with joy at what he'd seen. Kaiser stood there slightly dumbfounded. She'd sidestepped with him. What...
She was learning...
Learning... Kaiser shook his head in amazement. The clever girl anticipated him moving and followed in suit. Kaiser started to smile. She'd almost surprised him. His combat sensor covered himself and allowed him to catch her before she could strike. But still... she was learning.
He paced back and forth across the room watching her, like a cat eyeing it's prey, waiting for her to move. Would she get up?
Digging her palms into the floor, Aisha did so. Her body was on fire. Her right arm felt as if it had been twisted clear off her. Her lip was bleeding as freely as before. She hurt to move. Yet... yet she still she got back up.
'I want...' she repeated in her mind. 'I want to live... I want to live... I want to go on...forever... I want to... I want to...'
Starting to cry she climbed back onto her feet. Kaiser watched her, waiting for her. She rose back up. Four blows and still she stood. He cocked his head at her a moment. He could see tears rolling off her cheek. She was crying. Kaiser's shoulders seemed to pick up slightly. She was weeping. He could see her body quivering in pain. Her tears...
Once more she ran to him, and once more he watched and waited. She swung when she got close and found herself hitting air. Kaiser moved his body around her. He wrapped one leg around hers locking them together. In one smooth motion he twisted himself around, knocking Aisha's foot out from under her body and swinging his other leg up and around slamming it into her face. Wordlessly she fell back to the ground. Kaiser took a step back and watched her once more.
Her whole body hurt, he could tell. Just about every bone, every ligament, every joint must have been on fire. ...And yet she still got back up. Once more Kaiser watched her stir. She was pulling her body up from the floor yet again. Her tears were flowing more freely than before. Her nose had been busted. It was bleeding badly down across her sobbing lips and down her chin until it dripped onto the floor. Kaiser stepped back and swallowed.
This woman...
Kaiser knew what the tears meant. She was in pain. She was in fiery pain and still she got back up. It was something she had to do. He began to understand. He had come to realize it. Kaiser narrowed his eyes. Her tears...
He'd cried very few times in his life. The first was when he was very young. When he'd been beaten down by the reigning Arch-Bishop of that time. The tall man beat the boy with a single powerful blow. When he hit the ground he broke out into tears not only from the pain, but also from the shame. The shame of falling down in front of his peers like that. The Arch-Bishop had mocked and scorned him for those tears. He beat the child because he could not rise again. Everything had become too heavy for him. The weight of his life held him down. He only lay there and cried and taking blow after blow.
The only other time was when, on the battlefield, he'd lost his closest friend to a stray mortar. His ally lingered about an hour in Kaiser's hands before finally succumbing to his wounds.
Aisha screamed once again and charged. Kaiser caught her arm as she came close and with a grunt twisted and snapped it. He felt the bone give way and shatter. Aisha let loose a shrill scream that was cut short when Kaiser slammed his other fist into her gut knocking the wind from her. With a powerful roundhouse he kicked her away. She fell back to the floor sobbing loudly.
This child was crying because she was fighting a fight that she could not bear to loose. Kaiser knew what she was feeling. He began to identify. She couldn't loose. She had an urge to succeed at all costs. And winning meant getting back up. Getting back up meant more pain.
Aisha cried out as she pulled her broken frame up from the floor. Kaiser smiled and shook his head slowly. They'd never tested her will, her resolve. He saw her rise once more and his opinion began to take a change. This woman wanted so badly to defeat him that she was willing to destroy herself to do so. She had strength he'd never seen in any other creature. It wasn't physical. It couldn't be gauged in how fast she ran, or how well she predicted things. It was in her heart. She had more determination in her body at that moment than most men ever had in their entire lives.
Aisha charged yet again and swung at him with her good arm. Kaiser caught it and was about to pull her forward to knee her when she raised her broken arm and swung. He barely had enough time to duck out of the way of her swing as she cried out in pain. With a grunt Kaiser swung hard with his free arm and slammed Aisha across her face. She fell once more.
He'd never expected her to use her broken limb. She truly wanted to win. Kaiser took a step back and smiled. She just might do it... Slowly Aisha climbed back up.
"Come on child..." he said under his breath. "One punch. One hit. Lets see you win child."
Satomi covered her eyes as Aisha rose again.
[Slap][Pow] [BAM]
And once more Aisha fell.
What was she doing?! Why was she killing herself? Why couldn't she just lay there? Why was she doing this?!
"Leska!"
Leska seemed to know what she was going to say and put her hand on Satomi's shoulder.
"Wait... Let her do this, Satomi. She knows what she's doing... just watch her."
"But Leska! He's killing her!"
She shook her head. "He won't kill her. Look at him." Leska smiled. "Aisha's beginning to change him. Every time she gets up..."
Aiko swore. "Aisha..."
Asuka sat beside her and held her sister. "I never knew such a person lived in that body."
Aiko turned. "What?"
"Look." Asuka pointed. "She's got more will than any of us. More strength. She doesn't want to loose. If anyone can get that one blow off of Kaiser, it's her. She'll beat him. Watch."
[Whump][Pow][Slap][BAM]
Kaiser was becoming excited. Instead of getting weaker and slowing down, Aisha was speeding up and becoming more ferocious in her attacks. She used her busted arm as much as her good one. Kaiser watched as she started to block and parry his blows. He began to chain up attacks in order to break through her hardening defense. He was fighting! It wasn't just a one or two blow deal like before. He was actually fighting! She was learning how Kaiser moved, and in turn, learned how to parry and block his attack. She was even learning his body signs. She could watch him move and then predict how he was going to strike at her from what she saw. Aisha was most certainly learning. She was learning faster than anyone else he'd ever seen.
She charged him yet once more and again they battled. She punched and lashed out repeatedly while Kaiser blocked and swatted her blows away. Taking a step back, he lunged and swung at her head. Aisha leaned back and watched the fist whiz past her face. He followed through with a wide, swinging kick. Aisha ducked out of the way once more countering it with a jab. Kaiser grabbed her hand and pulled hard. It was her bad arm and she screamed shrilly out in pain. With a solid kick he dealt her a blow to the stomach and threw her away.
"Come on child." he muttered softly. "Come on child. One blow."
Aisha wept loudly as she got up once again. Kaiser smiled. He began to cheer for her. He was impressed. This woman, this filthy, dirty, disgusting creature had more will and determination than any other person he'd ever fought. He saw something in her.
'This is what Ghenna sees in them.' he thought to himself. 'I understand now. I understand...' She had potential. She could be great... Maybe even the best. Just maybe...
This time Kaiser rushed forward. Aisha hadn't been at all prepared and was unable to stop the hefty punch that flattened her once again. Kaiser walked around her waiting once more.
"Come on child, come on child, come one child..."
Leska sat holding Satomi's hand. Aisha's blood was all over the glass walls making it hard to watch what was going on inside. Nevertheless all of the women's thoughts were repeating the same phrase.
"Come on Aisha, come on Aisha, come on Aisha..."
Ghenna watched her rise from the floor to her hands and knees and smiled. His eyes were flat and cool as he began repeating the same phrase over and over in his thoughts.
"Come on woman... come on woman... come on..."
Kaiser moved slowly around her waiting. She was on her hands and knees and simply holding herself there. What was she doing? Her body seemed tense. Her breathing was still heavy. Her arm was all but broken into uselessness. She was bleeding from her mouth and nose and numerous other cuts and scrapes. Her entire body was turning black and blue. Every inch of her frame was inflamed and in pain.
"I want to live. I want to live. I want to live forever..." she sobbed and shook her head. "I want to live..."
Kaiser walked over to one of the glass walls and leaned against it.
"Get up child." He said softly. Aisha's eyes shot open.
"Get up. You can't win on the ground."
Slowly, ever so slowly, Aisha pushed herself up one last time. Coming to her full height she turned and stared at Kaiser.
"You want to win, don't you?" He said turning his gaze away from hers. "You know that all it will take is one hit. One little blow... You're crying, and your tears are telling me everything. You can't bear loosing to me. You can bear to face another loss..."
Rising to his full majestic height and brining his arms into a fighter's stance, he smiled to her. "Come on Aisha. One hit."
She gazed at him behind the long hair that fell over her eyes.
'One hit...'
Kaiser's gray eyes seemed to light up. "One hit."
Slowly Aisha raised her arms and planted her feet. The world was starting to spin. The fiery pain that had enveloped her body numbed her mind to the fatigue that her body was feeling. She was right on the verge of collapsing.
"One hit..." she whispered.
Satomi held her breath.
"Onee-sama..."
Kaiser planted his feet and watched Aisha start to dash toward him. With a yell she swung her arm yet again. Kaiser batted it away and took a swing himself. The woman dodged the blow and countered it with a powerful swing of her own. Kaiser backed away avoiding it and closed in on her.
Everyone present watched as the two combatants fought their way across the room. Blow after blow was countered and returned, neither side punching through the other's defense. Aisha had indeed learned. She knew how Kaiser moved and retaliated. She knew how he attacked and defended. Kaiser was immensely impressed. She knew the right block for his blows, the right return for his misses and the proper ducks for his swings. She returned his attacks with ones of her own and ones she'd learned when Kaiser used them on her. For Aisha, all it took was once for her to pick it up.
They fought long and they fought hard until finally one side broke through. Aisha saw her chance punched forward as hard as she could. Kaiser saw it coming and blocked, following it with a powerful strike. His fist flew forward straight at Aisha's head. She had no time to react. Instead, her body acted out of instinct rather than conscious skill. She tilted her head to the side at just the right time allowing the arm to sail right past her. Bringing her leg up, she wrapped it around Kaiser's. He was caught completely by surprise and it registered too late what she was doing. Throwing her body weight, Aisha twisted her leg around unlocking Kaiser's and tripping him up. She pulled her other foot up and around as she fell and kicked out savagely. Kaiser couldn't stop the booted foot from slamming itself right into his face. With a startled yell, both he and Aisha collapsed onto the floor.
She didn't get back up this time.
She didn't need to...
She had finally won.
Above in his room Ghenna jumped up, cheering. She'd done it! His most powerful Arch-Bishop felled by a woman, HIS woman!!
Satomi cheered and ran up to the glass. Leska and the others soon followed. Aisha had done it! She'd actually HIT Kaiser! She'd won!!
On the floor Kaiser sat up shaking his head. He smiled. Little Aisha had done it. The child managed to pull it off. With a quick flip he snapped himself back onto his feet. He could feel where she'd hit him on his cheek; it was starting to swell somewhat. He turned to the floor and looked at where Aisha laid prone, breathing hard and looking back up at him.
"Well hit, child. Well hit." he said rubbing his cheek. "I'm impressed Aisha. You're the first to hit me since I've become Arch-Bishop."
Kaiser reached out and extended his hand. Aisha looked at it wordlessly a moment wondering if he was going to hit her with it, but then realized he was holding it out for her, not against her. He wanted to help her up. Smiling slightly she took his hand into hers. With a heave Kaiser pulled her up.
Suddenly he jerked her forward and shot his knee up slamming it into her stomach. Aisha had been caught completely off guard. Her breath had been knocked clean from her body and she seemed to fold in two around his knee. Kaiser leaned over her and whispered into her ear.
"An eye for an eye, child. Eye for an eye. You've done well. Very well. You and I will be spending more quality time together."
And with that he felt Aisha go limp in his arms. She'd finally blacked out. He held her up and smiled. Behind him someone was softly clapping and he turned. There, walking into the room, was Lord Ghenna. His was smiling, his eyes totally flat.
"Well done, my Kaiser. It looks like we have a winner." He walked over and examined Aisha in Kaiser's arms.
"Tcha, be careful next time my Arch-Bishop. She's only a child. She hasn't quite matured enough, yet."
"Yes, lord."
Ghenna turned to the seven resting behind the glass walls watching them and frowned.
"So much for those. I guess we can dispose of all but one. They're useless to me. They won't cycle, so they can't bear children. And it seems they can't fight as well." he turned back to Kaiser and sighed. "I suppose we'll simply have to destroy them and start over."
What Kaiser said next surprised everyone including himself. "What? No! No sir!"
Ghenna cocked an eye. "No?"
Kaiser shook his head. "You haven't given them enough time to mature yet, Lord. They all have potential. Lets... lets keep them for a while longer and wait yet. They may still cycle. I know their combat potential has yet to be reached, but I'm sure that given the time we will be able to train them to be on par with the current cycle of Gray Eyes."
Ghenna frowned. "You know how I hate waiting..."
"Indeed sir, but I feel maybe we should still hold off a little bit. Give them time. Good things do come to those who wait."
The old man turned back to the seven sitting anxiously aside waiting to know what the men were both intently discussing. Slowly, he finally nodded.
"All right Kaiser. We'll keep them alive for a little while longer. Let us wait and see..."
Kaiser nodded.
"Funny," Ghenna said stroking his chin. "I thought you hated these women. Didn't you despise them not too long ago."
Kaiser fell speechless. He didn't know what to say. Ghenna was right. He smiled at Kaiser's silence and began to chuckle.
"I told you my dear boy, I told you. They do have a habit of growing on you."
He turned and silently walked back through the door and left, making a brief nod to the women he had condemned to death not thirty seconds before.
Kaiser watched him go, still holding Aisha. It wasn't until one of the aids came up that he moved.
"Sir!" He said. "I'll need to take that. She needs to be hospitalized. We need to make sure she heals properly."
Kaiser nodded and set her down. "Where are you taking her?"
"General treatment-"
"No!" He said cutting him off sharply. "Take her to Gray Treatment. She needs the expertise there."
The aid looked shocked for a moment. "But sir, these are women we're talking about here! What business should they have up at Gray Treat-"
"Because they have the same skeletal frame as any other Gray Eye. Now get going and take her up there!"
The aid nodded once. "Aye sir." He wasn't going to argue. Kaiser wasn't the debating type. Gently Aisha was lifted and taken away from the glass chamber. Kaiser watched her go shaking his head at himself. Was he getting soft? Since when did he care about any of those women?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Almost a week later Aisha was just about healed up. Her bone had set almost instantly and was coming along fine. All the cuts and bruises were gone, they were the first to heal up. Daily, Kaiser would stop in and check up on her. At first Aisha was cold to him, she thought he was there to mock her as incapacitated as she was. But as the week progressed she found that he was there because he was genuinely concerned with how she was doing. She realized he cared about her condition. Slowly, she began to soften up to him. Kaiser had changed a bit...
As her wounds healed they released her from the Gray Treatment and sent her back into the living areas where all the other women stayed. They still slept in their jungle playground at nights. It was easier to set them up there than build and place them into all new quarters. Due to Aisha's outstanding performance they were all given two weeks rest. She'd fought and saved them all, and now they were enjoying the fruits of her labor.
Everyone enjoyed the rest, that is, except Aisha herself. The day after she returned to her home Kaiser came back and took her away. They were going for a run.
"You're build for speed," he told her on the way to the surface. "We need to train you to run and jump and sprint and travel long distances with out tiring. You're the special one out of the group now. You're the squad leader. While they are resting and playing you will be running and training with me. We're going to make you strong."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aisha wasn't too happy to hear the news. She wanted to join them and relax. Running wasn't her idea of fun... She didn't like this at all. She didn't want to run, she didn't want to leave her sisters behind and jog with the Arch-Bishop. She didn't want to, that is, until she saw something that Kaiser alone chose to reveal to her. Something great and magnificent. Something never before seen by herself or her sisters.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She was riding a large cargo elevator going straight up into inky blackness. Kaiser was standing beside her leaning against a side rail wearing only a loose pair of fatigues and a pair of boots. Aisha herself was wearing something similar. It was the same fatigues and boots, but above the waist she was wearing something called a 'bra'. It was elastic and wrapped around her chest supposedly 'supporting' her. To be specific it was a sports bra, but she didn't care about the difference. All she cared was that it seemed tight around her and itchy. All the clothing they wore seemed to be itchy and tight. They never seemed to fit her right. Her hair, like Kaiser's, was tied back into a tight braid.
She leaned against the rail and silently waited for it to stop wherever they were going. She was in a sour mood. While all her friends were relaxing and taking a break she had to go running. It wasn't fair. She'd won the time and yet she wasn't able to collect upon it. She looked up and checked the floor numbers. Why was this taking so long?
"Kaiser, we passed the running grounds."
The tall man against the far rail nodded. "I know."
Aisha turned back to wall and watched the floor numbers drop down from above.
"Where are we going?"
"Up."
"No, I mean where are we headed? Where are we stopping?"
Kaiser smiled slightly. "The largest running ground on all of Terra II."
"Oro? Really? Why there?"
"We need the room."
Aisha cocked her head. "The running ground's big enough. We always use the track."
Kaiser looked over with a weird light in his eyes. "There's something else I'd like to show you."
"Huh?"
Aisha turned back to the wall and watched the numbers that indicated what floor level they were on drop down from the darkness one by one. What was Kaiser talking about?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally, as Aisha looked up, she saw a ceiling.
"We're at the top..." she remarked. Kaiser only grunted. The elevator rose to the last set of doors and came to a stop. With a hiss the large cargo doors slid wide open. It revealed a brightly-lit hallway that opened into, what seemed to be, a locker room.
"Follow me." Kaiser said before taking off. Aisha followed closely behind as he made his way to the lockers. The large room was empty. Kaiser and herself were the only ones in there. The Arch-Bishop went over to one of the lockers and punched in a few numbers onto the keypad. The door popped open and Kaiser reached inside. He pulled out two small canteens, a small satchel and what looked to be a tiny compass.
He closed the door and turned to Aisha. "I'm going to show you something that none of your friends have ever seen. " he turned and began walking again talking over his shoulder. "When I was fighting you, I saw something in your eyes. I saw this strange light, this determination that I've only seen in a few other times in my life. It was the look of someone who wanted to live at any cost, of someone who was going to fight death until the very end. I couldn't understand why you'd feel such a way until after you won."
Kaiser came to another door and opened it, taking them into a long dimly lit hallway. "Ghenna was going to kill all of you who couldn't defeat me. He was unimpressed with your performance and the fact that you never cycled."
"Cycled?" Aisha asked.
Kaiser turned his head to her. "Ovulate, become fertile. He wants you eight to fertilize. To become sexually mature."
Aisha shook her head. "I, I don't understand..."
"Women such as yourself have the ability to reproduce, to create young. When a man and a woman who is fertile couple, a child is born some time later. It's called reproduction. Procreation. It's how a species survives."
"Well, what's wrong with us?"
"You don't cycle. Apparently once a month you're supposed to cycle; an egg inside your body becomes fertile. When the seed of a man comes in contact with this egg the egg changes and begins to divide. It grows and matures until a child is born."
"Child?"
"A child is a younger, smaller version of all of us. All humans have a childhood stage except you eight. Childhood is where a babe learns to talk and walk and think and act. It's preparation for adult hood. You women didn't have one. You were all born as adults with memories already implanted in your minds. It was Ghenna's hope that you would cycle and mature much, much sooner than a child. He's yet to see this and is becoming very impatient."
Aisha was silent. This was all news to her. Kaiser continued.
"But that isn't the point. When we were fighting I saw that determination in your eyes. I saw that force of will and I became impressed. You were halfway healed up when you awoke so you never saw the full extent of the damage I did to you. You were bloody and black and blue, Aisha. I beat you real bad. Yet each every time I knocked you down, you rose up again."
He faced her again. "I don't think there is a single person on this entire planet who could have done what you did. You impressed me. You've earned my respect, child."
Aisha walked on silently. She wasn't sure if she should have taken that as a compliment. From how he'd treated the other men he was around his 'respect' didn't seem like very much.
"All your life, the extent of your world has been this facility. When I say this whole world I'm not sure you grasp just what I mean exactly. I'm not sure you grasp the scope of what I'm saying. So I want to show you."
"Show me what, Kaiser?"
They approached a single door. Aisha could see a red light shining through the cracks along the sides.
"I want to show you the world." He said with a smile. Taking the handle, he turned the knob and pulled the door open.
Aisha was hit with a small burst of cool air and a strong blast of light. She raised her hands and shielded her eyes. She felt a great many small things hitting her in the face and on her hands and body. Slowly, as she uncovered her eyes, she saw for the first time what Kaiser wanted to show her.
They were standing just outside small bunker out in the middle of nowhere. The small things that had been hitting her were granules of sand. For as far as Aisha's eyes could see she saw the sand. Billions upon billions upon countless billions of granules everywhere. Above her was the sky. Big wide and open, it was tinted red. In the west; far, far in the distance; Aisha saw, for the first time in her life, a sunrise.
It was a big wide globe of fire coming out of the ground. It painted the sky with streaks of red and orange and yellow. It stained the entire horizon with its light. She saw, for the first time, its majestic glory as it seemingly rose out of the dirt. It tinted the land red in its powerful glow, casting long deep shadows, dying everything in sight with its color.
Aisha was speechless. It was beautiful... It took her breath away. Kaiser saw the shocked expression on her face and smiled. Gently, he took her hand.
"Come on," He said. "Let's go for a run."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aisha and Kaiser jogged very quickly side by side watching the sun rise up and clearing the horizon. The cool air began to fade and was replaced by much, much warmer air. The red tint faded from the land and the sky and was replaced by natural light. Aisha could see only sand for as far as she ran. There were scattered stones and the occasional plant but for the most part the land was barren.
"Desert..." She said to herself. "Kaiser? Is this all that there is out here?"
The Arch-Bishop pointed to the west. "You see that small bump on the horizon over there?"
Aisha narrowed her eyes and focused. Yeah... yeah there was a small point on the far horizon. It barely seemed to stick up out of the sand.
"Yeah..." She said slowly. "What is it?"
"That's the Rocket Shot. There's a very large catapult there that flings space craft up a ramp shooting them into the sky."
"Why?"
"Why? Well, way, way up there in the sky there is an orbital station, it hovers just out side Terra II's gravity. Up there they have the time labs."
"The what?"
"Time labs. They run matter accelerators and time distortion devices up there. We've found how to go back into yesterday and how to go many days into the future at our own discretion. We can travel thousands of days into tomorrow to see what is there."
"Really? What's there?"
"Not Mesopotamia." He said frowning. "For some reason our kingdom of Mesopotamia disappears. We're not sure exactly why it simply vanishes, but we think we might have an idea. It's believed something happens to Lord Ghenna and after that everything falls apart. However there were no records of Lord Ghenna dying in the future, so we are at a loss as to why civilization disappears. The lower six kingdoms are still alive and flourishing, however, but the super kingdom of Mesopotamia..."
He trailed off when he noticed Aisha wasn't listening. Instead she was grimacing slightly as she ran.
"Something wrong?" he asked.
"My legs..." Aisha said slowing down. "They hurt when I run."
Kaiser slowed down with her and pulled her to a stop.
"Show me where."
Aisha bent over and ran her fingers up along her shins. Kaiser squeezed them slightly and heard Aisha gasp in pain.
"Shin splints..." he said.
"What?"
"You're not hitting the ground correctly when you run. Your feet are striking the ground odd. I don't think you're used to these boots yet."
"What, what then-"
"Take them off." Kaiser said.
"What?!"
"Take them off. You can't run in these boots yet."
"But, but the ground is hot! I'm gonna burn my feet!"
Kaiser smiled. "Then we're just going to have to run faster and keep your feet off the ground."
With a whimper Aisha started to untie her boot. Watching her a moment, he bent down and began to do the same himself.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"I'm training you to push your body's limits. I'm teaching you how to become stronger. What kind of teacher would I be if I made you run barefoot in the burning sands of Middle Terra while I ran with the comforts of boots?"
Aisha watched him bend over and unlace his other boot and smiled.
Finishing up with their boots, they tied the ends of the laces together and strung them over their shoulders. With out so much as a word between them they started running again. The sand was burning hot, so when they ran they rose their feet clear of the fire and when they stepped, they moved quickly to keep their feet from staying down too long. As Aisha ran her shin splints began to clear up. She began to feel better despite the burning of the ground. Kaiser wordlessly ran along side with her. Neither of them felt winded despite their speed and the distance they were running. Aisha had been trained earlier to run long distances without problems and now spent her time gazing at the cerulean skies and admiring the colors and shades of this desert landscape instead of gasping for breath.
The sun rose higher and higher into the sky as they ran. There weren't any plasma clouds to be seen and Kaiser remarked at this. Aisha asked what they were and Kaiser explained. They were these clouds made up of from the energy stored deep inside Terra II that surfaced every once and a while. He told her that plasma clouds were dangerous to most men and machines, but not to them. Their skeletal system was a natural plasma diffuser. Plasma was about as much of a threat to them as a strong blast of wind.
Soon, as they ran, the sand disappeared and they found themselves running on hard stone. It was baked onto the ground and almost as hot as the sand. Aisha had to squint in order to see. The sun was reflected off of this rock and shone brightly in her eyes. The ground was much harder than before. There were many jagged edges and hard clumps of dirt to avoid. While there was still the occasional plant they passed, for the most part this area was barren. Kaiser turned them to the direction of a small group of rocks in the distance. They ran steadily and hard over the baked earth making straight for the stones. The sun was a little past overhead when they finally reached it.
Kaiser called a stop and they rested. The large stones stuck out of the ground at all angles and overlapped one another in many places. In the center was a small, cool cave. Both of them sat down and rested inside, out of the blazing hot sun.
"Not bad." He remarked while looking Aisha over. She was hot and sweating, but still breathing lightly. Kaiser turned outside a moment before digging into the small satchel he was carrying at his side.
"Here," He said pulling out a small tube. "Rub this all over your exposed skin. It'll keep the sun from burning you."
"Huh?"
"Take this bottle," He said showing her what to do. "And squeeze a little bit out like so and rub it all over your body. It'll block the strong light of the sun from burning your skin."
He squeezed out a bit and applied it all over his shoulders and across his chest and arms.
"Y' don't need too much, just a little should do," he said, handing the bottle over to her.
Aisha looked at it a second and shook her head smiling. Whatever he says...
She grabbed the ends of her sports top and in one smooth motion peeled it off her body. It was soaking wet from her perspiration. With a disgusted grunt she tossed it to the side and began applying the small lotion.
"They do we have to wear those stupid things?" She asked, rubbing the lotion into her arms.
Kaiser turned to the desert outside the shade of their cave. "Lord Ghenna says that it used to be indecent for women to walk around exposed like you are. He said they covered themselves up. I suppose he wants the same for you."
She cocked an eyebrow. "And you're not bothered by me?"
"What?" he said facing her again.
"Being 'exposed' like this. You're not bothered by it?"
Kaiser chuckled. "Child, I've known you since before you first opened your eyes. There isn't a crack or a crevice on your body that I don't know about. I could care less what you wear. It's Lord Ghenna that commands you to do so, not me."
Aisha frowned mockingly at him. "But wait a minute. What kind of teacher are you of you make us wear these ridiculous things while you get to go around topless all the time?"
"Don't push your luck."
Aisha giggled and continued to apply the salve. They sat there for a minute in silence enjoying the coolness of the cave out of the blinding desert light.
"Kaiser," Aisha said breaking the silence. "Do we need to put this on our backs?"
"Yeah. That'll burn as well. We'd better."
"But I can't reach around that far."
"Eh?" Kaiser remarked turning to her. "Turn around then. I'll rub it on."
Aisha turned her body and handed the bottle over. Kaiser squeezed some of the paste out and began to rub it over her back. Aisha closed her eyes and began to smile. This felt good...
Kaiser was surprised. Her skin was softer than it looked. He'd never really touched her before. She was surprisingly soft. He moved her long braid and rubbed the lotion in down the spine of her back. She was a lot smoother than he originally thought.
Aisha giggled. "That tickles."
"Er... uh, sorry." Kaiser said turning slightly red. What the hell... he was blushing?! What for? Didn't he hate these women?
Swallowing, he finished and capped the bottle. "There, that'll do it."
"What about you?" she said turning around.
"What about me?"
"Aren't you going to apply some to your back too?"
"What? Err, Uhh no. I'll be fine."
"Nonsense!" Aisha spat grabbing the bottle from his hands. "You're going to burn yourself. Sit still."
Kaiser heard her move behind him and a moment later she was applying some as well. He sighed and slumped his shoulders. Fine, whatever she wanted...
Whatever she wanted?
'What kind of Bishop am I?!' He thought to himself. 'Allowing a little child to tell me what to do!'
But as he felt her hands move along his back and rub in the lotion, his indignity began to melt away and he smiled slightly. This did feel pretty good...
Aisha ran her hands along his muscular back in wonder. He was strong. She could feel the cords of muscle and bone beneath her hand. He was breathing slowly and steadily. Aisha was amazed. None one she'd ever known before felt this way under her touch. There was power in each curve she went over. There was strength in each crevice and pit. He was almost unreal...
As Aisha finished Kaiser sniffed the air.
"Aisha, do you smell that?"
"Smell what?"
He stood up and scanned the ground. "Blood... Are you bleeding?"
Aisha sat a moment. "Well...I guess a little bit."
"What? Where..." Kaiser sat beside her and examined her body. He quickly found the source.
"Aisha! Why didn't you tell me?! We've been marching all this time and you never bothered to let me know your feet were bleeding!"
"I didn't need to. I was still running with you."
He exhaled as he checked her feet over. The bottoms of them were all torn and bloody. She'd cut them pretty bad somewhere along the way.
"God, you idiot. You could have really hurt yourself."
"I'm fine, I'm serious!"
"We're in the desert Aisha! Water is a scarce commodity here. You need to retain all the liquid you can. Bleeding out here is just like tossing all our water away. You can die from it."
Aisha fell silent as Kaiser pulled out a roll of bandages from his satchel. She was lucky, the cuts weren't deep.
"When did you cut them?"
"When we entered the stony part of the desert."
"God, how could you go so long like this?" He said shaking his head once more.
Aisha shrugged. "I didn't think it was a reason to stop."
Kaiser chuckled. "You're either very determined, or very stupid, child."
Aisha said little as he finished up. "You know how far we've come," He said standing. "Since we left the bunker?"
"No. How far?"
Kaiser smiled again. "Close to 60 miles."
Aisha cocked her head. "How far?"
Kaiser pulled a canteen from his shoulder and handed it to her to drink from. "Four times around the track in the running grounds is one mile. Now multiply that by 60."
Aisha counted in her head a moment until her eyes lit up. "240 times around?!"
"We've almost never stopped. It's been about 5 hours since we started. We made very good time. Bet you didn't know you could run that far?"
"N-no I didn't..."
"It's the system inside your body, that's what helps you. Your muscles were grown to handle all that running and your lungs are designed to pull much, much more air than the average man. Any lactic acid that builds up in your body is removed by your skeletal system. You can push yourself all day if you wanted."
"Why didn't we?"
"Because we're in the desert. It would be dangerous. I can't have you passing out from heat exhaustion."
"Oh..."
They sat there another long moment resting. A slight breeze blew through the cave expelling some of the hot air. Aisha felt her hair get caught in the breeze and giggled. She'd never felt wind before, not like this. It was cool and refreshing. It always popped up when ever she needed it most, whenever the air became its hottest. The air seemed crisper to her up here. It seemed much more fresh. She'd never been to the surface before, this was her first time.
"Kaiser," she said standing and pointing. "What's that?"
Kaiser followed her aim. She was pointing to a small desert tree. It had, what looked like, seven or eight full, yellowish green roses on the end. They were clustered together at the very tip in full bloom despite the full heat of the sun. Kaiser smiled.
"It's a desert plant. The forefathers crossed the DNA of some strong flowering plants with those of a sturdy desert type. You don't see many of these around. Looks like we lucked out. It's in bloom."
"What's it called?" Aisha asked, her eyes shining brightly.
"A Lime Rose."
"Lime Rose..." she said in wonderment. It was beautiful. Another breeze kicked in and stirred the petals of the plant.
Kaiser saw the look on her face and smiled. "You like that, huh?"
"It's beautiful."
"Mmm." He said nodding.
Aisha's eyes shined as she smiled at the plant. She'd never seen anything like it before. Kaiser sat there and let her gaze at it. He, himself, was in love with the Lime Rose as well. There were few other men who took pleasure in plants like he did. Plants never fought, they never argued, they never tried to kill you, they were always gentle, they never said a hard word against you or got angry; they were always beautiful.
This was ironic, Kaiser was the head warrior on all of Terra II. He was the number one killing machine in all of the land, and yet he took a strong liking to the smaller, gentler, more beautiful things.
"Kaiser..."
"Yeah?"
Aisha turned and scooted closer to him. "Kaiser, I...I..."
"Aisha?"
She bit her lip and furrowed her eyebrows.
"Can...can I tell you something?"
"Hm? What is it?"
She swallowed and spoke slowly. "When I...first saw you... I hated you."
"Aisha!"
"You see, I had this dream that you were in weeks before I met you. You... you told me that if I didn't beat you, that I would die. That at the hands of a monster I would be killed."
Kaiser sat up. "Aisha what are you talking about?"
"Please Kaiser." she said closing her eyes and placing her hand over his. "Just let me say this. I feel it's important."
He sat back slowly and nodded. "All right. Go on."
She paused a moment before starting again. "...In the dream you hurt me. You hurt me badly. You struck me and beat me and yelled at me. But then, very suddenly, you changed. You became kind. You talked to me with compassion. I, I had no idea who you really were at the time. But... when I saw you for the first time, I..."
She trailed off, bringing her legs up in front of her. "Kaiser I hated you. I saw you as something that I needed to defeat in order to survive. When I attacked you, I was thinking that there was my chance to live. All I had to do was beat you and I would live. Then you struck me down. When you seemed to sneer at me lying incapacitated on the ground, and I began to hate you.
"Through out all this training you were mean to us. You always yelled, never afraid to hit us or knock us into line. I hated you for everything you did. I bided my time trying to get stronger in hopes that one day I would be able to kill you and live, to kill you and please the demon that wanted to kill me. When I heard that we would be fighting you again I got scared. I knew I wasn't ready to face you again. I wasn't strong enough.
"I watched you lay waste to all my friends. I saw them fall one by one. I realized that I just might die. You seemed like an unstoppable juggernaut. I realized that it was impossible to kill you like I was. But... something inside me started to burn. I was about to die, I knew it, but I still wanted to live. I wanted to live so badly. The words you spoke to me in my dream came back, and the thing inside of me began to burn brighter. Even if it was impossible, I told myself, I wouldn't lose. If I was going to die, so be it. I wanted to die at your hands, trying to live. It would show that monster watching me that even in the end, I wasn't going to lay down and accept my fate...
"In the end I wasn't afraid of dying. I was afraid of failing. I was afraid of falling and not getting back up. That's what kept me going, through all of your sneers and attacks and counters and pummelings...
"When I hit you, that once, that one time, something inside me came alive. It flared up and made me happy. I was weak, and it hurt to move, but I was still happy. I was going to live. I had done the impossible. My friends and I were going to live. Up until I passed out in your arms I knew I was going to be ok, and I felt good despite everything.
"For some reason I didn't hate you as much after. You didn't sneer at me. You didn't hit me like you used to. You even smiled once or twice. I guess I had conquered part of you and that tamed my hatred some. I found I could stand you that much more. Then today you woke me up and took me away from my family. You didn't yell at all, you didn't scowl... you seemed different. I was a little wary of you, I thought you were pulling a trick on me. But then you took me up and showed me the most beautiful thing I ever saw."
Aisha leaned close and rested her head on his shoulder. "You showed me a world I never knew existed. Even if it is hot, and it hurts your feet and it kills you, it's the world. I've never seen a world as beautiful as this. I never saw the sky so beautiful before. I never saw such vast lands before. Nothing as far as my eyes can see. And the Lime Rose..." she paused and smiled. "You showed me so much. You were kind to me today for the first time in my life. You've been so sweet to me, you've done more than you know."
She locked her arm around his and squeezed it close to her body.
"Thank you Kaiser."
He was speechless. For the first time since he'd known her he was absolutely speechless. He looked down at her wordlessly. He'd changed. When he first saw the women he saw wild animals. He saw creatures fit only for extermination. He hated everything about them. He remembered telling Lord Ghenna 'I say you kill them all. Wipe them clean from the face of Terra II. They're a blight that should have long since been removed. They're a waste of time and resources. Just kill them and be done with it.'
But Aisha had changed that. She was the only one bold enough to oppose him. She showed him that they all had wills and strength. That they were more than animals. When he began his fight with her he'd started it with displeasure and disgust. But every time Aisha defied him and rose back up he changed just a bit. He saw the fire in her eyes and read her lips, he saw her take her broken and battered body off the floor to defy him time and time again. He'd never met such a human before. Most would have laid down and simply accepted fate. But Aisha didn't. She wouldn't lay down and die.
And now, now despite all the times he'd struck her, despite all the times he'd said something hurtful, despite all the times he degraded her and beat her down, she still rose above that. Kaiser respected her by the end of that fight. She'd shown him that she was human. She was more human than any of the men who stood there watching it. She was human and she was strong.
But now she'd done something Kaiser would never forget, even till his last moments. He'd taken her up to the surface because he'd grown fond of the woman. She'd proven herself to him, proven that she was more than what he made her out to be. He'd taken her up and shown her the world because she deserved it.
Now, it seemed, she'd forgiven him without even his asking. She'd taken hold of his arm and held him to her and thanked him for all he'd shown her. She'd overcome her own hatred, something Kaiser had been unable to do until Aisha showed him just who she really was.
Kaiser was cold and heartless to other men because they were so inherently cold and heartless to him. They always said hard words and spoke with out thinking. Unknowingly, Kaiser had done the same to these women. Aisha was able to overcome that. She was able to do what Kaiser could not.
She was shocked when she felt him pull his arm loose from her. She sat up and looked at him as he pulled his arm free from her grasp. But instead of pushing her away, however, he wrapped it around her shoulders and pulled her whole body close. He didn't say a word the whole time. Aisha smiled and placed her head back on his shoulder. They sat there like that, just letting the breeze blow in to cool their bodies watching the Lime Rose flutter it's petals in the wind. They rested there for a long time, letting the sun lower itself in the sky, saying absolutely nothing, savoring each other for the first time in either of their lives. It was a beautiful day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two years passed. After the first time Kaiser and Aisha went out into the desert to run the remaining seven found him a changed man. Almost the first thing he did the next day was line them up that morning and apologize. They were all very surprised to say the least. He told them he regretted everything he had said and done to them up till that point and asked for their forgiveness.
From then on, they changed their views about one another. They began to develop a respect for the Arch-Bishop. He didn't yell at them like he did before. He still yelled, but his tone was much different. He listened when they had to speak, he never hit them, he joined in on any exercises he put them through. He defended them when ever they made a mistake in front of other men, or even Lord Ghenna himself. He was the first and only man in the entire facility that showed them any respect.
Under Kaiser's new guidance they flourished in their training. Aiko and Asuka were able to define and tone their strength. They began to hit harder and more powerfully, utilizing the full capabilities of their strength system.
Nanaka became faster, much faster. She learned she was able to push herself quicker and harder than she ever thought possible. While her fighting skills needed work, she became one of the fastest humans on all of Terra II, logging in new and incredible times on her sprints and runs.
Krysta and Satomi began to develop their combat sensors like nothing else. They found that they were able to predict and counter attacks from multiple sources very accurately and very quickly. Kaiser became impressed when, together, they managed to beat the Gray Eye qualification test for combat sensing systems- the test Gray Eye apprentices take in order to become full fledged combat warriors. Granted they needed to work together in order to do it, they still managed to score high marks.
Leska and Katsumi were special. Kaiser learned that Katsumi was by far the cleverest out of all of them. On a hunch he put her skills to a rudimentary hacking test and found she scored very high. While not very physical, her mind made her important. He started her in training as a hacking specialist. Lord Ghenna was pleased at such a decision. Kaiser had cleverly come up with a way to utilize her mind in a strong, productive manner. Katsumi was at the top of her class up to when she graduated. Kaiser put her into an advanced class and let her mind roll on its way there. She became proficient in the sciences and computer engineering. Programming and computer A.I. became her specialty.
Leska was something different all together. She scored high on speed and strength, but not high enough to warrant her specializing in any of those areas. Kaiser didn't know what to put her into. His indecision was quickly cleared up when Lord Ghenna demanded that she be put into speed. He had something else in store for her in the future and speed would be the best thing for her to specialize in at the moment. Kaiser didn't complain any. She ended up scoring moderately on all the tests. Kaiser hoped Lord Ghenna had something very special planned for her. She was a kind person and he took a strong liking to her. She was very sweet and pure, if at times she became a tad rambunctious.
Aisha probably did the best out of all of them. Kaiser already knew she was a fast learner. He just didn't know how fast. He put her into speed training and helped her flourish in that. She ended up completing the training run faster than any of the others. While she wasn't quite as fast as Nanaka, she was still fast... very fast. Kaiser decided to put her into combat training next. He taught her how to fight; How to swing and counter and strike back. Once more she'd impressed him. She did very well. In the end not only was she was fast, she knew how to fight. She completed the Gray Eye Qualification Test for Combat Speed systems and, had she been a male, she would have become a full-fledged Gray Eye. In under the space of two years she'd done this. All other Gray Eye spent upwards fifteen years in training. Kaiser had been too proud for words.
The Arch-Bishop grew proud of all his charges. He was still very, very close to Aisha. Often they would go out into the desert and jog for hours on end going where ever their feet took them. They savored just being with one another. Kaiser didn't know it, but he was falling in love with the woman. Every day she taught him something new. He began to see her in his dreams. He began to love her touch, the feel of her skin softly on his. Her smile brightened him and his day while her tears often brought a few of his own.
Lord Ghenna, on the other hand, grew impatient. None of the women were cycling. Monthly he'd test them and every month the tests came back negative. They were turning out to be fine warriors, but not much else. He didn't want more soldiers, he wanted sons and daughters. He had as many fighters as he would ever need.
Every time he talked to Kaiser about sending the damn women away and starting fresh and new again he would object, saying that they were coming along fine and that waiting would be the wisest course of action. But Lord Ghenna was beginning to think differently. They were almost three and a half years old. Why weren't they fertile? The gene coders said that the codes they had used were the correct ones. Everything worked and each of them was a full-fledged human. Their DNA was as complete as any other man's on the planet.
None of them, however, could explain why they couldn't bear children. The Lord was becoming tired. In the end he had the science teams go back to the drawing boards and start over on their research. He'd made up his mind. He wanted children not soldiers. All but Leska and possibly Aisha would have to go. There was still so much potential in both of them. Leska could still become so much more than the others, and Aisha might be a useful combatant in the future. He thought about keeping them, but the rest...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One morning Kaiser was told to head into the city and meet Ghenna in his office. The 'City,' as it was called, was the capital of Mesopotamia. It was a whole metropolis that hovered on a platform well above any of the ground cities in the 6 kingdoms. This allowed Lord Ghenna to go anywhere on the planet with ease. His influence could be exerted anywhere at any time. It was his method of keeping the six leaders under his control. They wouldn't dare up rise against him if they knew that he would be over them at a moments notice raining down death and destruction from his massive, floating city.
Dominating the center of this city was a massive tower dubbed 'Gheddon'. It was from here that Lord Ghenna ruled over everything. From that massive tower the world opened up below him. It was huge, almost seventy stories tall, and circular in shape. It was colored black as night and was a fearsome sight to gaze upon. It was the symbol of Lord Ghenna's power and might. It was terrible in its glory and beauty.
Kaiser was deep inside Gheddon, riding a small central elevator up to the top where Ghenna's main office resided. It was unusual for him to be called up on short notice. He waited patiently watching he floors tick away. What could he possibly want?
With a small ping the door opened and Kaiser stepped into a long room. There was a small walkway that extended for about fifty feet until it reached a long, low desk. It was of a very dark wood carved with intricate designs and patterns. Behind the desk was a very large window that extended from ceiling to floor and from one end of the wall to the other. It was close to thirty feet long. The drapes that covered the glass were pulled back to let in the sunlight and view of the city far below. Dead center of the whole display behind the desk was a single chair. Seated in this chair was the high Lord of Mesopotamia, Ghenna. He sat with his hands crossed in front of his face, his eyes glittering in the darkness. He was a thin silhouette in front of the very large window.
Kaiser became on his guard. Ghenna's eyes were shining...
"You wanted to see me Lord Ghenna?"
"Yes Kaiser." He replied slowly. "Yes my boy. It's about the women. Come in, come in."
Kaiser sharply inhaled as he approached the long desk. "What about Lord?"
"I'm relieving you of your duties to them."
He stopped. "L-Lord Ghenna! What-"
"Kaiser, stop." He said raising his withered old hand. "Stop right there... I have grown tired of waiting on those women. They will not mature. If they haven't done so now, they won't ever. I have decided that your duties to them will be relieved. I feel that you will be of more use to me in other areas."
Kaiser didn't say anything. He was in shock. Ghenna was taking them away from him. He was loosing them. Kaiser swallowed. "Lord... what will happen to them."
Ghenna sat back and fixated his glittering gaze upon him. "They will be destroyed. I have no more use for them. We will start all over from scratch-"
"NO!"
Ghenna's eyes narrowed. "What?" he said dangerously.
"No, Lord Ghenna! Please forgive me for this outburst but I must object to this. You cannot just kill them. Doing so would be murder! They deserve to live as much as anyone else."
"I disagree." Ghenna replied. "They are useless to me. I don't need anymore soldiers. I have to admit that your training of them has been most impressive, but it is not enough to just make them Gray Eye. They do not cycle. I need them to bear children, not arms Kaiser. I will not spend anymore money on them. I have better things to do, and nothing you will tell me, Kaiser, will change my decision. I've waited far too long. All but one of them will be destroyed."
Kaiser approached the desk and planted his palms on the top. "Lord Ghenna, if you will not reconsider putting a stop to their training at least reconsider killing them. There has to be another way to let them go. Perhaps one that will make you money in return!"
"This isn't simply about money Kaiser! I have all the funds in the world."
"Then perhaps a way that will glorify your name! A way to earn pure respect for you and your kingdom. To make the people proud to be a human on Terra II!"
Ghenna paused. The sparkle in his eyes faded a bit as he contemplated this. "Go on..." He said slowly.
"Lord, perhaps instead of killing them, maybe... maybe you can reveal them to the people. Let them know of them. Then they will realize that the first true women on Terra II had been created by your glorious hands. They would celebrate and become proud. They will work harder and be far more industrious. As spirit and moral rise so does your kingdom! They could be the Eves of our time."
Ghenna rubbed his chin reflectively. Kaiser may have a point. Just maybe... After a minute of contemplation he shook his head.
"No, I will not do that."
"Lord!"
"Listen to me Kaiser. If I unveil them to the masses with out their fertility guaranteed they will be frowned upon as half-humans. People will laugh and jeer, stating that we can't even make a full human female. Your idea with boomerang and strike back at us. No, I cannot allow that."
Kaiser felt his legs grow weak. There was no way, his lord couldn't possibly mean it.
"But... Kaiser," Lord Ghenna said smiling slightly. "You are my most trusted aid. There is no one else in all of Terra II whom I'd rather have at my side. You are strongest and the bravest and the most loyal. You seek to save their lives, something that not three years ago I would have ever dreamed of you saying. You hated them with a passion unlike anything I have ever seen. But now... now you fight to save them."
Kaiser looked up as his lord continued. "It is because of this that I will spare their lives. For you Kaiser I will not kill them. No, it is your wish to let them live and I will respect that. Instead, then, I will sell them. I will auction each one of them off to the highest bidder and I will send them on their way. Each bidder will be one of my nobles, of course, and will be sworn to keep the truth about them a secret."
He leaned forward and crossed his fingers again. "Do you agree with this Kaiser?"
'Do I agree?!' he thought furiously. 'Of course I don't!!'
Kaiser knew each of the nobles and almost all of them were low, despicable people. Kaiser would sooner allow his eight to be cast out into the street and starve like dogs than let them serve under those horrible demons...
And yet... he knew that he had no other choice. This was Ghenna's decision. Either he agrees with it and they go off into a life of bondage and slavery or they die... It was a decision too horrible to make.
Slowly, ever so slowly, he nodded. Ghenna smiled. "Good. Good boy. It is set then. Their training ends as of tomorrow. Go back and tell them the news. They are to be relocated three days from now. Have the guards remember to clean out the..."
His voice droned on, but Kaiser wasn't listening. He held his head low with shame. What had he just done?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Kaiser!"
"Kaiser-sama! Welcome back!"
"Kaiser! What did the old man have to say?"
"Kaiser-sama, what's the word?"
"Hey Kaiser, wha'd the gray beard want to know?"
"Kaiser, we going back into training again?"
"Kaiser!! It's good to see you!"
"Kaiser! I missed you! What happened?"
"Kaiser what do you mean by this?!"
"Kaiser-sama! You can't be serious!"
"No! No, You're lying Kaiser! You can't be telling the truth!"
"K-Kaiser-sama... Tell us this isn't true."
"Kaiser!! There's no way... Why would he?!"
"Lies! LIES!! Kaiser, why?!
"He can't!! He can't!! Kaiser, why didn't you say something?!
"You're... you're leaving me?"
You're...you're leaving me?
...Yes...
Kaiser... no...
...I'm sorry...
Kaiser, no! Please...
...I'm so sorry Aisha...
Kaiser, please!! Don't!! Don't let them!!
...Forgive me...
Kaiser!! They're coming!! They're coming to take us!! Please!! Please Kaiser help us!!!
...Please forgive me...
Kaiser, no!! Kaiser!! I don't want to leave you!! Kaiser, please!!! Please Kaiser!!! I don't want to leave you!!
...I'm so very sorry...
Kaiser!! Kaiser!! Please Kaiser!! I love you!!!
Aisha...
Kaiser, N-Nooo!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The auctions were moving as scheduled. Lord Ghenna asked that Kaiser be present to see his previous charges off. He declined. He couldn't bear to watch those for whom he had come to care about sold like mere objects. In the end he found himself wandering the city not really knowing where he was going. His guilt clouded his sense of direction.
What in God's name did he do? He could have tried harder. He could have begged Ghenna. He could have run off with them. He could have watched over them himself. He could have... He should have... He would have...
Aisha... poor Aisha... In the end... In the end they had to tear her from Kaiser's arm and he'd done nothing to hold onto her. He'd only stood by and let them rip her from his body. She had been crying. She'd been weeping all over him. Weeping... He could still feel her tears. They were running down his arms, down his jacket...
...down his face...
She'd been weeping... sobbing... fighting the Gray Eyes will all her might. She held Kaiser with all the strength she had in her little frame.
Inevitability...
She'd been fighting inevitability. Crying and fighting inevitability. Fighting...
Please Kaiser... I love you...
Please Kaiser...
Please Kaiser...
Please...
...I love you...
His heart burned. He'd let her go. He'd let the only person in his life that made him feel good the way she did go. He let the dogs take her away.
...I love you...
He let the dogs... The dogs...
...I love you...
Deep in Kaiser's heart he had known what to say. He had known what he should have done. ...Yet he had ignored that little voice. That little voice that had known what the right thing to have done was. Now it had grown in volume. That little voice had become monstrous. It became massive. It echoed in the halls of his mind, filling every crack, every crevice in his heart. The voice boomed loud and Kaiser couldn't escape it. It and it was crying... It was crying...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Somehow he found himself wandering the dormitories for the young Gray Eye apprentices. When his mind came around he could find no explanation for being on this floor. Maybe he had tried to go up to the top floor where his room was but exited on the wrong floor.
What was more important was what brought him around in the first place. Some one was crying. He checked himself and found, somewhat to his relief, that it wasn't himself. It was someone else. He walked down the hallway listening. Someone was weeping. As he walked the noise grew louder. It was coming from around the corner.
He turned it and found a little boy leaning against the wall with his legs pulled up close to him. He was crying into his arms. Kaiser watched him a few moments. He could tell by the uniform the child was wearing that he was a Gray Eye apprentice. He couldn't have been more than eight or nine years old. Kaiser cocked his head wondering what had happened to him.
He'd bent down beside him and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. With a jump the boy looked up and upon seeing Kaiser, the Arch-Bishop of all the Gray Eyed forces, moaned with horror.
"Oh no... K-K-Kaiser, sir! Kaiser I-"
The Arch-Bishop raised his hand and silenced the boy. He walked around and sat down beside him.
"What seems to be the matter?" he said kindly, momentarily suppressing his own feelings. The boy looked at him wiping the tears from his face.
"K-Kaiser, Sir?"
Kaiser smiled. "You were crying. What happened?"
"Kaiser, Sir, I'm not sure if-"
He shook his head and placed his hand once more on the boy's shoulder. "No, you can tell me what's wrong. I want to listen. What's your name son?"
"Hajima..." the boy said nervously. "Keinaro Hajima."
"Keinaro, huh?" He said nodding. "That's a good strong name. A fine name indeed."
The boy only sniffed back more tears and nodded humbly. He was talking to the very deity that all apprentices such as himself practically worshiped and adored.
"What happened Keinaro? Why were you crying?"
The boy looked back down to his folded arms and began to weep a bit once more.
"One, one of my friends d-died today."
"Oh?"
"Yuh-yeah. He was k-killed when an am-am-ammunition case exploded..."
"Poor child..."
"Yeah..." the boy swallowed and tried to continue. "Wuh-when I heard, I st-started to cry. All muh-my clan mates pointed and luh-laughed. They called me w-weak and s-said I was a little buh-baby."
Kaiser nodded slowly as the child went on.
"My instructor st-started to yell at me as well. He s-said that I wasn't fit at all to-to be a huh-hunter! He s-said they duh-don't allow buh-babies into the fleet! He sent muh-me out here."
Kaiser nodded again. "I understand... You cared for this boy who died?"
"Yes..."
He placed his hand on Keinaro's shoulder and squeezed. "Then you've done nothing wrong child."
The boy looked up.
"Everyone sheds tears. No one is exempt. It shows that you have a heart... that you have spirit. You're more of a man than any of your clan mates or even your instructor. You've already proven your self."
Keinaro didn't know it, but Kaiser was speaking of Aisha. Someone who was so strong with so much will power and vitality and kindness had shed tears... tears couldn't possibly have been a sign of weakness. Kaiser was begining to come to realize that.
"It takes more to be a warrior than strength or speed. You need to care about your squad mates and those who you serve with. If you care about them, and they care about you, you will succeed no matter what task is set against you. You will win no matter the price. That trust and bond that you will share will raise you above your enemies. Your team will never loose. Everyone has cried before, Keinaro. Even myself."
"No..."
"Yes! Even myself. I had a friend as well, a companion on the battlefield. He was the best man I've ever known. He'd have gladly given his life in combat for my own and I would have done the same for him. As a team we were the best. We cared for each other. We made sure that the both of us were always safe. He covered my ass and I his. He wasn't just my squad mate, he was my best friend. A companion above all else."
"He died?" Keinaro asked, guessing the end of the tale.
"Yes... One day we were being shelled and a stray mortar landed almost right on top of us. He saw it coming and got in between the explosive and I. It impacted and took a large chunk of flesh from his back. There was no medical support to be found- we'd been isolated from the rest of our group. I stayed with him for almost an hour, holding him in my arms. He lingered... and died.
"I must have cried for hours afterwards. Even after the rest of my squad came in helped pull me clear I was still wailing and bawling. He was my best friend. He was my companion. We couldn't even bring his body back. We had to leave it behind.
"Now that I looked back, I realized I wasn't crying because he died. I was crying because I would never see him again. He was gone from my life and would never come back. He'd lost his own life to save mine.
"I've always remembered that. I've never forgotten, and I'm not ashamed of those tears. They weren't for me, Keinaro, they were for him. There's nothing greater for you to do for a fallen comrade than to cry for him and remember who he was. There's no shame in weeping over those you care about. You should never be afraid to cry for those you've lost. You honor them with your tears. You honor their name.
"Your instructor had no right to say what he did. Who was he?"
"Instructor Ryken."
"Huh!" Kaiser scoffed. "Ryken's an idiot! He's a flaming, mongrel, idiot! Look where he is now! Well over 50 and only instructing apprentices. He's gotten real far in life. He knows what he's talking about, eh?" Kaiser smiled over to Keinaro. The boy sniffed and smiled back.
"Don't you worry about what he says or what he does. I'll have a little chat with him later about this. Don't you worry. I want you to go back in there, and tell Ryken to stop by my dorm at 1900 hours. Tell him if he doesn't come, I'll have his head and his job title both removed."
Keinaro smiled again.
"Also, tell your clan mates you just finished talking with the Arch-Bishop. And that he's proud about what you did. I'll stop by tomorrow and talk with you all once I finish chewing your instructor a new asshole. All right?"
Keinaro smiled and nodded.
"Thank you Kaiser, sir."
"You can dispense with 'sir' Keinaro. You're not a full Gray Eye yet. You still have your training to do. Just call me Kaiser."
"Yes, Kaiser..."
He watched as the boy sniffed a bit and rose. He saluted to the Arch-Bishop, and re-entered his dorm. As soon as the door closed the smile on Kaiser's face faded. The last he wept was when he'd lost his friend to the mortar fire...
He found his way back to the elevator, and up to his dorm, and wept the rest of the night away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~One year later...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Kaiser-sama!"
The tall Arch-Bishop looked up. "Yeah?"
"Think I have what you've been looking for."
"You do?"
"Yes sir. It's the list you've been after."
"It is?! Yes, excellent!!"
"Yes sir! But... If you don't mind me asking..."
"Go on."
"Why would you want to know where the homes of the Nobles who purchased objects at an auction over a year ago are?"
"I lost some things in those auctions. I want them back."
"H-hai, sir."
"Thank you, Thank you! I've waited over a year for this! Who gave this to you?"
"Well, I found it in the intelligence office. It was in one of their cabinets."
"And you just took it?"
"Y-yes sir."
Kaiser broke out into laughter. "Good man! Good man indeed! No wonder I haven't been able to find this! They stashed it away in the intelligence office!"
"Why couldn't you just get their addresses from the office of records?"
"What?"
"The nobles who purchased those items, why didn't you just get their addresses from there?"
"Because there are over three hundred thousand Nobles scattered through out the land. I need to know exact addresses of the nobles who bought the items. These... Seven? There's only seven on here. Where's the eighth one?"
"Uh... I'm sorry sir. I that was all that I saw in there."
"Only seven?" Kaiser counted the names on the list. "We're missing Jade... Jade isn't on here."
"If you don't mind me saying sir, those are peculiar items listed at an auction. Those prices are ridiculous. Nine million wong for Limes, another seven million for a Tiger. Almost eleven million for some Bloodberries! Why one could go out into the city an PICK their own."
"These aren't the real items, you fool! These are code names for what was really sold. They're for hiding what they really bought. Lets see here. Lime, Tiger, Panta, Bloodberry, Cherry, Rose and Luchs, but no Jade... Does that mean he kept her?"
"E-excuse me sir?"
"Huh? Oh nothing! Splendid job you did. I'm very impressed! I want you to go home and take the remaining week off. I wont be here in the office and I doubt you'll want to be either."
"Th-Thank you Sir!"
"Mmhmm. Now be gone you. I need to think..."
"Thank you sir! Thank you very much!"
A door closed and Kaiser sat back looking over what he had been given. Only seven were sold. That means Ghenna kept Jade... Jade... She was the one Lord Ghenna always excluded when he talked about the eight. Leska...
"Why the hell would he keep Leska and not the others?" he thought to himself. Her psychic powers weren't that great. Sure she could read minds, and had the odd premonitions, but that was about it.
'Well, No matter.' he thought. He would find out sooner or later. But first...
Kaiser looked down the list. He'd given the code names to each one of the women. He'd given them with each one of their personalities in mind. It was Lord Ghenna who had instructed him to do so for the auction sales. Recording their real names on the auction sheet might have drawn questions.
He looked down the list and smiled. He had someone to visit. Pulling out a pen he circled the top line. It read...
'Lime', Sold: 9,350,000 Wong- Buyer: Nobleman Kisa Arrahs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The nobleman Kisa Arrahs, or Kisa-ahss as some of his servants called him behind his back, lived in the heart of the Japoness Kingdom. Kaiser knew this man to be one of the biggest suck ups he'd ever seen in all his days. When Lord Ghenna was around, this man made more flattery than real conversation. Ghenna was usually unimpressed with his display but kept Kisa in power only because the sections ruled under him were some of the most profitable in all of the Kingdom.
Kaiser visited his mansion first. He wanted to visit 'Lime' once more. It was easy enough making up a story that would gain him access to the girl. Kisa, of course, would be around, and they would have no private time, but Kaiser didn't care. He only wanted to see her, to make sure she was ok.
Kisa's mansion was a very large building, dead center in the upper Japoness district. It was tall and white, with two or three stories to it. It was a symbol of the power and prestige given to him over the Japoness people.
Kaiser came to the large double doors and paused. They were made of solid oak and massive in size with ornate figures and images carved into the fine wood. They were quite impressive. Kaiser raised his arm and knocked solidly on it three times. Almost immediately a servant came up and opened the massive thing.
"Arch-Bishop Kaiser! This is indeed a pleasant surprise! Come in, come in. Lord Kisa will be with you in a moment."
He walked in and looked around. It was typical a rich man's home. Kaiser was reminded of the homes of well to do British nobles in the ancient days on Terra. Lots of wood carvings a engravings, many paintings and statues and tapestries. Wood paneling on the floor and along the walls, massive wooden beam supports overhead and the odd chandelier or two.
"Ahhh, Kaiser! Kaiser of the Bishops! Welcome, welcome!" A fat man waddled up. His eyes were thin and almost imperceptible on his fat, little head. He was dressed in a casual uniform befitting such a man in such a position in the heart of Japoness. He carried a little round fan that he used to constantly fan himself off. He was totally bald and seemed to always be sweating. It was almost like walking around was exercise in itself. But then again, considering the short man's very large size, such a statement might have been true. This was Nobleman Kisa.
"What brings you here, to my humble home?"
The Arch-Bishop grimaced every time the fat man spoke. He had a nasty habit of briefly hissing out his 'Esses' very shrilly.
"I'm just checking upon all the royal noble men in this area. Mind you if I take seat with you and share a drink?"
"It would be my honor, Bishop!"
'It's ARCH-Bishop, you fat, fucking imbecile!!' Kaiser thought to himself. It took all his will power not to say it. Kaiser had a severe disliking to the little man.
He was lead through the various rooms with various tapestries and various ornaments and various other odds and ends that the nobleman pack ratted away until he reached the large common room. There were many plush, velvet seats here and there lined with a very dark wood. The walls were a similar color, made of the exact same, dark wood. Wood had been carved into intricate pillars and columns stretching from the floor to the ceiling. Dominating the west wall was a massive, ornately carved fireplace. It had a small blaze going lighting the entire room. The floor was almost entirely covered in a wine-red plush carpet.
'Tacky...' Kaiser thought to himself.
"Impressive, no, Kaiser?"
"Yes, sir Nobleman. This is indeed a fine job you have done here."
"Oh, yes..." the fat man said chuckling, extending his arms, "I oversaw everything! Made sure everything was done just right. I even took over the carpenter's job once or twice to show them just how I wanted it done!"
Kaiser only smiled.
'Yeah, what ever... Where the hell are you keeping Aisha?'
Kisa turned back to Kaiser and smiled once more. Kaiser could swear those eyes disappeared when all the fat on his forehead creased and wrinkled downwards in that grin.
"So what brings you to my humble home?"
Kaiser took a seat and explained. "I'm here to check up on a purchase you made over one year ago."
"What? A purchase? I make many purchases."
"Oh, this one was special. I know you still know... about her..."
Kisa's smile faltered a moment. "You also know about her?"
Kaiser nodded knowingly. "Indeed. I raised her."
"You did!" His eyes disappeared yet again. "So you do know about her! And what a fine job you did! Such a strong and noble man as your self could only have known about the intricacies of proper child raising. Such a fine job indeed! You could have made a fine birth father, raising the young straight from the hatching chamber!"
'That's it, I HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU OLD MAN!!!'
Kaiser only smiled nervously. He'd just been horribly insulted. Birth fathers were the tasks of the lower cast laborers or of those Gray Eyes deemed unfit either mentally or physically for combat.
"I-indeed..." He said using every ounce of will power in his body to keep him self from lashing out and smacking the evil Humpty Dumpty. "D-do you mind if I see her?"
"Of course you may, Kaiser! I think you will be pleasantly surprised. When she first came she was wild and rambunctious, but we've fixed that. She's much better now." He turned and called over his shoulder. "AISHAAA!!!"
Slowly, a door that had escaped Kaiser's notice opened behind Kisa. A woman walked in wearing a long and brightly colored kimono. Kaiser's eyes went wide open. The woman moved slowly, robotically. He couldn't see her eyes for the fire that was behind her back. The shadows hid them. Her mouth was almost pencil thin and totally emotionless. With her hands clasped in front of her she knelt down beside Kisa and lowered her head.
Kaiser was almost in shock. 'No... This couldn't be...'
Kisa mistook the expression on Kaiser's face for amazement and smiled brightly. "Isn't it amazing! Such a transformation, huh? She's a good girl now. Most of the time. Sometimes she forgets and needs a lesson though. But you don't forget anymore, do you Aisha-chan?"
"No, Lord Kisa." She said almost flat, almost monotone.
"Now watch this, Kaiser!" He said giggling happily. He clapped his two hands together twice and wordlessly she rose. She walked over to a small table and picked up a tray containing a small pot and three cups on saucers. Kisa was fanning himself excitedly as he watched her work. Aisha wordlessly walked back to where the men were and set the tray down. She took the pot, automatically, and filled each one of the cups with some of the tea. Kaiser's mouth had become dry. She moved like a machine, like a robot, or some twisted marionette! He couldn't, no he wouldn't believe what his eyes were showing him. Taking one of the saucers with the cup on it, Aisha rose it up and handed in Kaiser's direction. Raising her head she met his eyes for the first time.
"Would noble Kaiser like some tea?"
Kaiser could not believe this... This wasn't happening! This was not Aisha!! This is NOT AISHA!!! Her eyes, her eyes... They betrayed everything to him. He saw in them something terrible. Kisa had managed to do the one thing Kaiser had been unable to do when he first took control of the group of women.
He'd broken her.
He hadn't just broken her, he'd crushed her and killed her. He'd destroyed her spirit. Kaiser didn't know how, he didn't know when, but he did. Kisa had broken the strong will that once existed in the woman. He'd extinguished the flames that Kaiser once saw in her eyes that day they fought when she would not lay down and accept defeat.
Kaiser saw other things. He saw pain in those eyes. In those once beautiful eyes where he'd seen happiness and compassion now lay sorrow and misery. Shattered dreams... He saw shattered dreams in them as well... Kaiser fell back against his chair, his hand across his mouth in horror. One year... He'd been searching for her for one year and this is what he found... Aisha was dead...
Her hand trembled uncontrollably as she tried to suppress her feelings. Deep down something told her this man meant a lot to her, but she wasn't allowed to think, was she? She wasn't allowed to remember the things before Kisa's entrance to her life. Her life began when she entered that doorway into this hell. Anything before that was forbidden to her thoughts and dreams. The cup still jittered on the plate. But this man... why was she feeling this way?
Kisa looked over at Kaiser with a questioning look on his fat, ugly face.
"Is something the matter Kaiser?"
Kaiser only looked back into Aisha's soft, jade eyes with horror. It was like she didn't remember him. Like he'd been wiped clean from her memory.
"What...What's wrong..." he began to stutter out. Kisa's grin became almost evil.
"Ahh, my dear Kaiser, it is one of the greatest achievements man has ever created. It's called 'Mental Conditioning'. It's beauty and simplicity is incredible!"
"W-what have you done to her?!"
"Kaiser, Kaiser, calm down. She's perfectly fine. Look at her, so obedient, so precise in her actions. This is the result of the Mental Conditioning she agreed to."
"She AGREED to this!?"
Kisa made a low, sibilant chuckle. "Well not at first. She was rowdy and wild when I first received her. She wouldn't obey a single word I said. I had to constantly beat and whip her. She was especially disobedient in bed. I-"
Kaiser's voice became slow and menacing. "...You took her to bed with you?"
The Nobleman smiled. "Yes, indeed. It took me a month of striking her down, but eventually she consented." He looked up and a dreamy look filled his eyes. "Oh my word, after that first night she began to change. She began to become such a nice girl. I never had to beat her as much, I never had to yell quite so often..."
'It's because you fucking RAPED HER!!!' Kaiser was about to explode. Kisa continued on blissfully unaware.
"Ahh, but she was not perfect. She would still make mistakes and sometimes she would say the wrong thing. I had to beat her for this, but found that she began to bruise far too easily. I didn't like coupling with something that was all black and blue.
"I thought I would simply have to put up with her like that for the rest of my days until I found out about the newest in mental conditioning technology. It was like a blessing from an angel to me. I found that it was possible to suppress her memories and tuck them away where she would never find them. Doing so would make her forget about her free and un-disciplined life before she came to me. It would make her complacent. It would make her obedient. It would make her perfect. Of course she would lose all memories of her friends and family beforehand, but that was a price I was willing to pay.
"The only catch to this whole thing was she had to be willing to succumb to the conditioning. She had to be willing to give up her old memories. If she refused it wouldn't work."
Kaiser was beginning to feel very, very sick. Never in his worst nightmares did he ever think someone would go this far with...
Kisa chuckled once more. "She was, of course, originally against the whole idea. She even fought me once. I had to chain her up to keep her from hurting myself and all the others. Ohh, It took me many long nights and many hard days to convince her that submitting would be the best solutions. While I had to beat her and strike her down during the day, it was at night when I felt really made the most progress. It's amazing how she becomes at night when someone is coupling with her. Heh, heh after three or four rough times with her and many, many whippings and beatings she finally agreed."
The nobleman sat back and took a sip of his tea. "It was funny, the technician who was doing the job said that in her last moments before he engaged the machinery she was calling out to you. Now it all makes more sense to me." And he broke out into a wild laughter.
Kaiser was now physically ill. He swallowed shallowly and wiped his hand across his face. His eyes were locked onto what was left of Aisha. She still had the cup and dish extended outwards to him. He could see her shaking. He'd never, not in the worst of all his dreams, or the darkest of all his thoughts, did he ever imagine that someone would go so far with her. Kisa had wiped her mind clean. He'd erased who Aisha really was. He pushed the woman Kaiser had been seeking out for the past year so far into the depths of her own mind, she'd ceased to exist. The Nobleman, on top of all the evil he put her through, did the most destructive thing possible to her.
Kaiser stared in wordless horror at the empty shell that was once Aisha. Was this it? Was this all she'd become? The woman who'd opened his eyes, the one human he'd truly begun to fall in love with, the strength and will that inspired him so... Was this all that they had become? Shattered and destroyed, humiliated and conquered?! Pushed and repressed to the point where she couldn't even recognize him? It couldn't be... It couldn't be...
Aisha's hand began to jitter violently until suddenly she dropped the cup and saucer. The cup hit the plush carpet and spilled the tea all over the floor. The saucer landed on top, shattering them both. She turned her gaze quickly to the floor in horror.
...Oh no...
Kisa rose from his seat in rage.
"AISHA!! What have you done?!" The fat man's fat face contorted in anger. New lines appeared as the skin folded. His eyes seemed to pop open. The fat man quickly turned from and ugly fat noble man, to a violent and frightening demon.
"Aisha you idiot!!" He reached back and with one large swoop slapped Aisha with everything in him. She was thrown off balance and landed on her side.
"Idiot woman! This is some of my best China! What do you think you are doing. You worthless whore! Pick this up now! Clean this mess up!! Pray you the tea doesn't stain my carpet! I'll give you a lesson you won't soon forget!!"
"Yes Lord Kisa."
Kaiser didn't move. He saw Aisha prop herself up on one arm, her face pointed to the ground. Two tears fell from her eyes and landed on the carpet. She was lucky Kisa didn't see them, he was too busy huffing and fanning himself off, but Kaiser did. He sat up. Did she just cry...
"I apologize for my worthless purchase. She can't do anything right anymore. The damn thing can't even bear children! Sometimes I think she's was a waste of good money." Kaiser saw her gently picking up the shattered pieces of glass, her eyes and face back to the emotionless expression it had been when she first entered. His mind began to quickly turn. She just cried...
Rising swiftly he turned. "Thank you for your time Nobleman Kisa."
The fat man rose quickly and chased after him leaving Aisha alone to pick up the glass. "Wait Kaiser! You're leaving already? Oh dear... If you are going to go back to Lord Ghenna, tell him that I will be away on leave for the next two weeks! He won't be able to meet me here! Only my servants will be around!"
"Will do." Kaiser said quickly opening the large front doors and leaving. His previous ill feeling had come back stronger than before. Wasting little time he ran into the nearest back alley and found a garbage can. He promptly heaved up everything that had been sitting in his stomach. Tears followed shortly after.
Aisha...
Aisha...
But slowly... eventually... Kaiser did look up. ...She'd cried right? He saw it, those were tears... That mental conditioning couldn't have been as good as Kisa said it was. She was supposed to be a robotic doll, she was supposed to be devoid of any and all emotions. Kaiser swallowed the sour taste in his mouth and began to nod. Aisha was in there. She was still alive in that body. She was down there, but not as deep as Kisa counted on her being. It was all a matter of bringing her back up, of digging her free. She wasn't dead, just buried alive.
He'd have to get to her once more. This time he'd have to get with her alone. A few minutes, that's all he'd need. He narrowed his eyes. He said...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He said he'd be gone, didn't he?
Kaiser stood once more at the doorway of the mansion. It was night out and the only illumination in the sky was the very large moon. It was a few days after he'd first come to visit. He'd waited a few days to make sure Kisa wouldn't be around. If the nobleman left when he said he was going to then he should have been a few days gone already; far enough away to guarantee that there wouldn't be any sudden appearances by him because he forgot something or other. He was not going to be there...
At least Kaiser hoped so. He held something wrapped in clear celophane in his hands. Quickly, he tucked it away behind himself. Raising his hand once more he knocked. Here went nothing...
At first he thought the entire house was empty. No one came to answer the door. He knocked once more and was greeted by the sound of a bolt being pulled on the other side. The door opened a crack and a servant peeked his head out.
"I'm sorry," he said looking over Kaiser. "But Lord Kisa's not here right now. He's away on vacation."
Kaiser sighed with relief. "It's ok. I'm not here to see him. I wish to speak with Aisha."
The servant looked taken back. "Aisha? I'm sorry but Lord Kisa has ordered that no one is to see her-"
"Yes I'm sure," Kaiser interrupted placing his hand on the door and his foot along its base. "But Lord Kisa isn't around right now, is he?"
The servant backed off a bit. "N-no sir, but he still ordered that-"
Kaiser leaned forward and brought his face right up against the servant's. "But I am telling you to let me in. Tell me now, who are you going to listen to, little man? That fat, pimple of a prick who's gone away on vacation or the Arch-Bishop of all the Mesopotamian hunter/killer forces breathing down your neck at this very moment?"
The small man swallowed under Kaiser's glare and relented.
"What ever you wish, M'lord!"
Kaiser smiled. "Indeed."
He pushed his way in and took a look around. "Where is she?"
"Er... sir, up in the Lord's bedroom but-"
"Take me there."
"But Kaiser-sama! Lord Kisa commanded that-"
Kaiser grabbed the servant and lifted him clear of the floor.
"Ohdear! Ohdear! Ohdear! Ohdear!"
"Don't you mention him again! Now take me to her!" He said almost yelling. "Now!!"
He dropped the man and he hit the ground running. He led Kaiser up a steep set of staircases and down a small hall to a pair of massive double doors.
"Don't bother us... for any reason. Got it?"
"Y-yes sir, Mr. Kaiser sir!" the servant said ducking away. He had no intention of getting in the Arch-Bishop's way at all. Kaiser watched him go before turning to the door. He twisted the knob and found that it turned easily.
Aisha... I'm coming...
Taking a deep breath he opened the door and stepped inside.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aisha was sitting in a corner when she heard the door knob turn.
'He's back already?!' she thought to herself. She jumped to her feet and straightened her self out just as the door was opening. She was still somewhat sore from the severe beating Lord Kisa gave her. He blamed her for Kaiser's sudden running off. Afterwards... He... did what he always 'did' after he beat her... Every night... every time...
As the door opened Aisha began to speak.
"How was your vacation Lord...Ki... sa..."
The fat man did not step through. Instead it was probably the last man she'd ever expected seeing.
Kaiser looked over at her and immediately his eyes softened.
"Aisha..."
She stood by wordlessly. Who...why...
He took a step forward. "Aisha, it's me! Aisha, It's me Kaiser!! Tell me you remember me! Tell me you know who I am!"
Slowly her lips began to move.
"Kai...ser..."
"Yes!"
He smiled and walked over to her taking her in his arms. "Aisha!!"
She didn't move as he embraced her. She stood there like a doll, limp in his arms. Inside her, however, something was stirring. This man...why was he here... What...
"Kaiser..."
He noticed almost immediately she wasn't responding. Letting her go, he took her shoulders in his hands. He stared deep into her eyes. "Aisha! Aisha it's me! It's me Kaiser!! Please, Aisha! You know who I am! You know who I am!!"
She gazed back into his soft gray eyes. Slowly, something in her began to open. Something began to break through. "...Kaiser?"
"Yes, Aisha! It's me!"
Blankly she stared back. Deep inside herself something was being let free. Something was opening up. Something was... Something was... no.
Kaiser watched her eyes begin to light up. He saw a glimmer of understanding starting to shine through her numbness. For a moment he thought she would pull through. Kisa's conditioning couldn't possibly be stronger than their love! She was going to be all right! She was...
But suddenly that glimmer vanished. Her eyes became flat and robotic once more. With shock, Kaiser watched her return to her old self. The spark extinguished itself.
"Aisha?! Aisha!!" He gripped her arms tightly and shook her. "Aisha!! Aisha-chan!!!"
The woman looked up at him. "Yes, noble Kaiser? What is it you require?"
Kaiser stopped and stared back at her. His eyes became heavy and sad once more. "...Aisha..."
Her blank eyes met his. "Yes, noble Kaiser?"
He began to blink back tears. He'd been so close, he saw it. Something stirred in her. Something moved deep inside her mind...but...
He gripped her arms tightly once more. Doing his best to hold back the tears that were rapidly forming he met her automatic gaze once more.
"Aisha, Aisha PLEASE! Remember me!! Tell me you remember who I am! I know it's inside of you! I know you remember!!"
He received a blank stare.
"Aisha, remember dammit!! Remember who I am!! Kaiser!! Remember the runs we had? Remember the desert? Remember your sisters? Satomi!! Tell me you remember Satomi!! That woman! You KNOW her! She was the first person you ever met. Tell me you at least remember her!"
She slowly spoke. "Sat...o...mi?"
Kaiser nodded. "Yes! Yes Aisha! Satomi! Remember, her hair was purple, she wasn't very tall, but she was always kind and happy? Remember when you first met her you used food to lure her close and gain her trust?"
"...Sat...omi..."
He began to smile. "Yes Aisha! You know who she is! You remember her! Remember Nanaka and Krysta? I know you remember them! Remember Nanaka was always fast and Krysta was a lot like Satomi? I know you do! Remember Leska-chan? Remember-"
Aisha smiled gently and spoke even more softly. "Why, noble Kaiser, what ever are you talking about?"
Kaiser stopped in mid sentence.
She didn't remember... She didn't even know whom he was talking about. He stared down at her empty gaze and felt his body start to shake. Tears began to come unbidden to him. She doesn't even remember who he is... He'd been wrong... Kisa really did kill Aisha... Kisa really did kill...
He stopped holding back and collapsed onto her shoulder. Aisha was unmoving as the large man began to weep all over her. Kaiser buried his face into her body and let himself go. Aisha didn't even stir against to Kaiser's strong sobs. Her gaze was fixed straight ahead staring at nothing, still slightly smiling.
Kaiser wrapped his strong arms around the woman and held her tightly. He couldn't do it... he couldn't save her. He couldn't bring her back. Kisa had so totally conquered the woman that what ever was left of her was buried far too deep for him to dig. The fat, little nobleman had destroyed Aisha. He'd destroyed her dreams, her life, who she was ...and what Kaiser and Aisha had once been. Kisa murdered Aisha, and Kaiser was powerless to bring her back.
As his sobs wracked his body, the item in his back pocket slowly began to fall out. With a muffled crunch it landed on the floor, the cellophane opening. Kaiser didn't even notice he'd dropped them. He was crying far to hard to hear it hit the floor. Aisha, however, did. Slowly her gaze fell to the floor. Her flat eyes focused on the object. She cocked her head. It was a small bundle of flowers.
Suddenly it struck her. They were... they were... they...
All the conditioning Kisa had trained and forced upon her suddenly came loose in one massive torrent of memories. Everything that had been buried moments before exploded free from the depths of her mind. The force of everything almost staggered her. Her eyes suddenly became sharp; a light began to shine in them once more. Her body loosened and became far less stiff. Her mind, her life, came back to her in a single powerful moment. She stared at the flowers on the floor. They were... She turned to the man on her shoulder crying. He was... She turned and stared down the length of her body. She was...
Lying on the floor in a crumpled heap were eight broken and slightly battered flowers. Their petals shone softly in the light of the room. They were clustered about a single tip and together made one beautiful bundle. A few pedals had been torn off, and many were hanging loose, broken off from the rest but Aisha immediately recognized what they were. Her breath caught in her throat.
They were Lime Roses.
Kaiser stopped weeping when he felt a pair of hands wrap themselves around his body. He looked back up at Aisha, surprised, and met her gaze once more. This time he saw, for the first time in a year, exactly what he had come back to regain. It was Aisha. Not the robot, not the creature made by Kisa, but the Aisha that Kaiser had come to fall in love with. The Aisha who had seven other sisters. The Aisha who had determination and spirit. The Aisha who loved Kaiser back. In shock Kaiser gazed back into her beautiful green eyes. She raised her hand and touched his face. Her lip began to quiver.
"K...Kaiser?"
He reached up and held her hand to his cheek and began to smile. His tears began to fall once more. "Aisha..."
"Kaiser?!" Her eyes filled with the same tears of remembrance. "Is it you?"
He let go of her hand and took her cheeks into his hands. "Aisha, of course it is!"
"Kaiser?!" Her whole body began to shake. The Arch-Bishop held her gently in his hands.
"Aisha!"
"KAISER!!" She cried out and leapt forward and grabbed him as tightly as she could. "Kaiser! Kaiser! You came back to me! You came back to me..."
He held her back as tightly as he could while she started to sob onto his shoulder.
"I know..." He said letting the pearls of tears roll down his cheeks. "Oh my god, you're back! You're back Aisha!! I'd thought I lost you..."
"Kaiser!!"
He held her tightly in his arms. She remembered him. She remembered him!!
Kaiser dropped his head close to her ear and whispered softly. "I love you Aisha...I'm so sorry..."
This brought forth new tears as she held him tightly. "Kaiser..."
They both fell to the floor and held each other. Neither side willing to let go 'less the other disappeared. For the first real time since she'd allowed herself to be broken by Kisa, Aisha let her heart pour itself out. Kaiser felt her hands dig and tear into his clothing. Nearly collapsing into his body she gripped him tightly. The tears that fell became more and more abundant. They started to fall like rain from her eyes landing on the Bishop holding her tightly. He could feel her beginning to sob harder and harder, louder and louder in his arms.
It was one year. One long, terrible year. She'd been beaten, whipped, degraded, turned into an object, forced into acts which no living should ever have forced upon them, and worst of all made to give up her past; give up those memories which she used to keep her grip on sanity. She was forced to shed her sisters, she was forced to forget their home, she was forced to cast away Kaiser. Kisa had all but destroyed her. He took away everything she held dear.
The year came up and out of Aisha hard. Kaiser did his best to hold her as tightly as he could. She gripped him back with all the force she could muster in her body. Her sobbing became more and more intense. She began to wail loudly. Her heart exploded outwards in a flood of tears and emotion. She was almost to the point screaming.
Loud and full of pain, her voice echoed through out the entire house. The doorman, who was resting in his little bed trying his best to get over the scare Kaiser had given him, sat up. Aisha was almost screaming. She sounded like a wounded animal. What in god's name was going on up there? What was Kaiser doing to her? As her wails continued the servant shook his head. There was emotion in her cries. She never wept this loud or that hard when Lord Kisa struck her, nor this passionately. Her tears were conveying pain and sorrow... Master Kisa would not be happy to hear about this.
Gently Kaiser rocked her back and forth trying his best to comfort the woman. He knew he had no idea what she went through. He knew he didn't have any idea the kind of hell she went through. What he did know was that he'd caused it. He'd been as much at fault as Kisa. He'd left her, abandoned her. As he held Aisha he realized he was the blame for all of this. It was his fault. His tears began fall more and more numerously.
"Oh god Aisha!!" He said beginning to pour his heart out as well. "Oh god, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I never should have done that to you! I should have held you back from them!! I shouldn't have left you like I did! Oh god, forgive me! Oh god, please..."
Long, long minutes passed as the two lovers held each other. Aisha's body wracked itself with her sobs. It was over a year, and her tears reflected the degree of pain and suffering she endured. She wept as loudly and as powerfully as she could against Kaiser for almost half an hour. For nearly thirty minutes she gripped the Arch-Bishop as tightly as she could, nearly tearing the clothes off his back. For nearly thirty minutes he held her letting her pour the despair and misery from her own little, bruised heart. Thirty minutes...
When her tears finally began to recede she collapsed onto him. Physically and emotionally she felt exhausted. She needed to rest. Still gripping Kaiser as tightly as her hands and body would allow she closed her eyes. Kaiser could see her begin to relax slightly. The Arch-Bishop began to rub his hands up and down her back trying his best to comfort the woman.
She knew that she had every right in the world to be angry with Kaiser. He left her to this life. He abandoned her. Something deep inside her was telling her to throw away this man, to cast this filth away from her life.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked up to meet his. Their twin portals met. Gray reflected in Jade and Jade into Gray. Despite the smile he softly gave her she could still see tears lined in his eyes. She could see regret shining in them. Shimmering along the edges of those soft, gray eyes she could see his pain and his sorrow. It hurt him to see her like this. It ate away at his very being to see Aisha suffering. His eyes betrayed his heart to her. Cast him away? Throw this garbage out from her life? Shed this man who'd left her rot in this hell?
She could feel his hand slowly rub up and down her back. His touch was soft and gentle, his embrace was warm.
"Kaiser..." she said softly.
"...Aisha?"
"Kaiser... promise me something. Promise me we'll leave this place. Promise me we'll escape this terrible land. Together, you and I, we can run from all of this."
"And your sisters?"
Aisha smiled weakly. "Yes, them too. Together, all of us, promise me you'll take us away from this. Promise me we'll all go, together, into a better life." She let go with one of her hands and reached up to gently touch Kaiser's cheek. He smiled softly at her touch. "Promise me Kaiser."
He nodded slowly. "What ever it takes, what ever the sacrifice, I will take you away. We will run, Aisha. Together we will run only if you promise me one thing."
"What is it?"
He bent down and met her forehead to forehead. "Promise me you'll be happy from now on. Promise me you'll smile and laugh. Promise me Aisha..."
He saw her eyes, for the first time in over a year, shine. With a single, gentle shake of her head she nodded. It was done.
The year of pain and sorrow couldn't be mended and healed in the space of a single night, but for Aisha, the process of overcoming what had happened had already begun. The moment Kisa's conditioning shattered in her mind she'd begun to overcome what had happened. Now, as she sat in Kaiser's arms she began to feel peace. It might have been his touch or it might have been his gentle voice, but whatever the reason, she began to breathe easier. The future had just opened up for her. At the end of her tunnel she saw a light. She could see blue skies ahead of this long dark journey. Holding her was the only man who ever cared about who she was and what she was really like. Holding her in his arms was her future. Cast him away? Toss him out?
Never.
In one another's arms they savored each other. Nothing could have torn them apart in that moment. No force on all of Terra II could have pried the lovers from the other's embrace. The flood of emotions and tears held them closer together than any thing else on that night. Kaiser could feel the tears return to his eyes once more.
"God Aisha, I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry... Please forgive me. Please-" Aisha put one finger on his lips and stopped him. She shook her head and leaned forward against his body, starting to smile weakly.
"I don't care Kaiser... You came back. You still came back for me. Now is all I care about. Right now..."
"Aisha..."
She looked back up at him and let the drops fall softly from her shining eyes.
"Kaiser..."
Slowly they brought their heads close together. Hesitantly, their lips brushed. A moment later they softly, for the first time, came together in a kiss. Aisha closed her eyes and gripped Kaiser once more. Kaiser, soon after, followed in suit. For the both of them everything seemed to melt away. The year of pain and tears melted away. The fat Nobleman Kisa melted away. The 'conditioning' melted away. Ghenna and all his empire melted away. Everything left them. For the first time in their entire lives, Aisha and Kaiser kissed. For the first time ever, their lives worries truly didn't matter. For the first time in over a year, they both were truly happy.
The moonlight streamed slowly through the windows onto the bed. Kaiser smiled as he saw Aisha's prone form sleeping softly in the wonderful half light. Neither of them were wearing anything, neither of them had any need to. Aisha had long since lost her virginity to Kisa, but Kaiser couldn't have cared less. She was still perfect. Her entire body was perfect. He now knew what the old stories meant by the exquisite pleasure that women could give to their mates. They were true.
But even after they had finished and Aisha had fallen asleep in his arms Kaiser lay awake holding her, looking at her. This was it. This was the person to whom he would dedicate his love. He could think of no better person. Aisha was perfect. She was simply perfect.
He could see her smiling softly in the dark and Kaiser began to do the same himself. He reached over with his free hand and stroked her long, silky hair. It had been so long. All those days and nights of wondering where she went, who had taken her, what she was going through. They all drifted away as he sat there petting her soft hair.
"Aisha..." He whispered softly. "Aisha...Aisha...Aisha..."
Dear lord, he hoped the night would never end. He hoped this moment would never pass. He prayed they could stay like this for as long as they wanted. That time would stop for them and give them that moment forever. Softly as he called her name, Aisha awoke.
She looked up at him and smiled.
"Kaiser..."
He smiled back. "I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"
She leaned forward and kissed him. "If you say I'm sorry one more time I'm going to smack you." she said with a giggle.
He grinned back and went back to stroking her hair.
"Why aren't you asleep?" she said cozying up next to him.
"I guess I was just thinking."
"About what?"
Kaiser smiled and kissed her again. "Nothing."
Aisha smiled dreamily and yawned. "Kaiser..."
Kaiser suddenly sat up. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot." He slowly stepped off the large bed and began to search along the floor. Aisha sat up and looked over at him. She smiled slightly as she watched his muscular form move its way across the room.
"What is it?"
A moment later he turned back around. "These..."
Aisha smiled. They were the Lime Roses. He hopped back into the bed and handed them to her.
"I could only find eight that were in bloom for you Aisha, I tried to get more but..."
She shook her head and smiled almost dreamily. "Kaiser, I don't care... They're beautiful. They're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen..."
Kaiser smiled softly, his eyes bright. "Really?"
She slipped out of the bed and Kaiser watched her disappear behind a bathroom door. She called out to him from behind it.
"We'd better get them into some water, otherwise they'll die by morning." He heard some things being moved and clanked around. A moment later she came back out holding a large vase that had been kept in there for decoration. The flowers were placed inside. She stood there at the edge of the bed and held the vase out.
"There, what do you think."
Kaiser smiled and let his eyes wander up and down. "My goddess, you are exquisite..."
Aisha looked confused for a moment, but realized that she wasn't wearing anything. She blushed and kicked the bed.
"Kaiser..."
He leaned back and began to laugh. "They look beautiful Aisha. They look perfect."
"Good..." She said looking the vase over in her hands. He took the vase and walked over to a small table and placed the Lime Roses on top of it. The moonlight spilled over them and made them glitter. Aisha smiled.
"Thank you Kaiser."
She went back to bed and Kaiser resumed stroking her. She smiled peacefully and let him continue until her eyes finally closed and she was, once again, breathing softly. Kaiser's smile faded as he lay there watching her. Eventually morning would come. And then another. And the yet another. And eventually Kisa would come back...
"No." Kaiser said softly. His expression hardened and determination filled his eyes. He remembered the look Aisha had given him when she first saw him that one day in Kisa's awful common room. Kaiser remembered the look of shattered dreams in her eyes; that look of her will, broken. That robotic, horrible look.
"Never again..." he said softly. "I'll sooner die than ever let you be like that again. I'll never let him break you again. I'll kill him first. He'll never have your soul ever again. Never."
Kaiser vowed to himself that night. No matter the cost, he would get Aisha and those seven other women away from the hell that they lived in now. He was going take them away and send them some place where Ghenna and his evils will never touch them. Some place far away...
He leaned forward and pressed his lips to Aisha once more.
"I love you Aisha. I love you..."
As he began to doze off, he started to hear music playing. Where it came from didn't matter to him. Maybe a man was playing it softly on the street corner down below, or maybe it rose from the depths of Kaiser's memories and echoed about his thoughts, or quite possibly it was because he was already half asleep; right at the point where reality and the dream world traveled hand in hand. Wherever they came from the notes were still soft and melodious and he smiled as he listened. His eyes grew heavy as the words flowed over him. They went like this...
It must be your skin,
I'm sinking in.
Must be for real,
'Cause now I can feel.
I didn't mind.
It's not my kind.
It's not my time,
To wonder why.
Everything all white.
Everything's gray.
Now you're here,
Now you're away.
I don't want this,
Remember that.
I'll never forget,
where you're at.
Don't let the days go by!
Glycerin...
Glycerin...
I'm never alone.
I'm alone all the time.
Are you at one,
or do you lie?
We live in a wheel,
where everyone steals.
And when we rise,
it's like strawberry fields!
If I treated you bad
you bruised my face.
Couldn't love you more,
you've got a beautiful taste...
Don't let the days go by,
Could've been easier on you...
I couldn't change though I wanted to.
Should've been easier by three!
Our old friend fear and you and me...
Glycerine...
Glycerine...
Don't let the days go by...
Glycerine...
Don't let the days go by~!
Glycerine!
Glycerine!
Oh, glycerine!
Glycerine!
Bad moon white again,
Bad moon white again,
As she falls around me.
I needed you more,
He wanted us less.
Could not kiss,
Just regress...
It might just be,
clear simple and plain...
Well that's just fine!
That's just one of my names!
Don't let the days go by!
Could've been easier on you!
You!
You...
Glycerine!
Glycerine!
Glycerine!
Glycerine...
~Glycerine
Bush
Sixteen Stone
And with that his eyes closed, reality fell away and Kaiser floated into a deep, deep sleep locked into the arms of his one true love. Slowly the night wore on.
E-Mail to: The_Dark_Phoenix@hotmail.com
[To Be Continued.]
