Vandread Fanfic - Until the End
Chapter II - Attachment

Rating - G / Romance / Sci-Fi
Author's Note - Meia started to have an unusual feeling towards this man in black.

I feel the changing season
will see my promise broken
Even if I reach out with my hands
my heart will stay distant

L'ArcenCiel - Blurry Eyes (Transliterated)


"I love you Rick. I always will..."

He will never forget those words. He feels guilty about leaving her behind; letting those alien scum capture her. He would have preferred to let himself captured along with her. He didn't care about anything else except to be always be there for her.

"Leave me, Rick. If you really love me, leave me behind. You must stay alive, you must..."

He really didn't know what to do when he heard those words. He wanted to stay with her but his conscious wanted him to leave her. Since it was her request, he had left her behind & promised to return & rescue her.

"Hey, do you hear me?" a voice broke all his thoughts.

"Uh...huh..." he shakes his head and monitors his surroundings. Now he remembered. He collapsed in the space shuttle due to lack of oxygen. The environment around him is different now. It looks calmer. When he sees two beautiful girls standing next to him, it confirmed his suspicions.

"Am I...dead...?"

"No...you're not dead..." said Jura.

"You two must be angels from heaven..." he said, referring to Barnette & Jura.

"An...angel...?" Barnette gave a look of puzzlement.

"You're not dead. You're lucky that we found you. If it's a bit late, I feared the worst." Duero said as he checks the blood pressure.

"I...I see...sorry for my harsh words just now..."

"Not really...in fact, nobody calls me an angel and I kinda like it." Jura taps his shoulder lightly.

"Well...it's okay then. By the way, where am I?"

"This is the infirmary of the spaceship Nirvana." Barnette chips in before Jura can answer.

"Since you already regain consciousness, do you need anything?" asks Duero.

"I really appreciate if you can give me a glass of water. My throat is kinda dry."

"Very well. Paiway, can you bring a glass of water?"

"Coming..." a little girl appears from the back with a glass of water.

"Thanks..." as he sips the water.

The door of the infirmary slides open & Meia enters the room.

"S...Sara...?" Rick gasped as he almost drops the glass.

"Sara...?" This time it is Meia that gave a look of puzzlement.

"How the hell..." He looked at her from head to toe and shakes his head, "No...you're not Sara..."

"You must be referring to the girl in the picture..." said Meia in a surprisingly calm tone.

"Pic...picture...? That reminds me, where is it? And my guitar as well?"

Before anyone can answer, BC enters the room.

"You already awake. Boss wants to see you." She says in straight forward manner.

"Please wait. He just awake. Please give him a few more hours to rest." appealed Duero.

"No...it's okay doctor. I'll be fine. Can you give back my clothes?"

"Yeah...sure" Duero retrieves the black suit from the locker nearby and hands it to Rick.

"Thanks...err...can you guys turn around while I'm changing?"

"I guess so...we'll be waiting outside."

With that, BC & the others wait outside of the infirmary.

"So, what do you think of him?" Barnette broke the silence.

"He maybe a spy for our enemy. We better keep an eye on him," Meia speculated.

"Don't do anything harsh until we get a full report from Parfet about the shuttle's log file," BC reminded.

"I think he's nice. He called me an angel," Jura said with a broad smile.

"Gullible..." Barnette murmured.

"What? What did you just said?" Jura almost yelled at Barnette.

Paiway scribbled something on her notebook and said, "Pai check!"

Rick walked out of the room in his black suit.

"Okay, I'm ready." he said as he flashed a weak smile.

Again, Meia's heart skipped a beat.

"Okay, follow me. The others get back to your normal routine." BC walked away with Rick following her behind.

(Again...that feeling again)


"Boss, this is the man that we found on the shuttle." BC says as she bows to her. "Come closer, young man." Magno commands.

Rick steps closer towards her without a word. The crew on the bridge watches closely.

"Tell me who you are and what are you doing in the stranded shuttle."

"I'm Maverick Xero. I escaped from my home planet when it was attacked by an unknown alien force."

"Alien invasion, eh..? Tell me, have you heard about the operation 'Harvest'?"

"No...I didn't heard anything like it."

"I see...which planet are you from?"

"I'm from the planet of Terra."

"Does your home planet have a connection with Earth?"

"Umm...yes. My ancestors fled from Earth when it was in a middle of crisis."

"I see...are these belongs to you?" Magno shows Rick's guitar & the photo.

"Yes...can I have it back?"

"Yes, you can have it. What will you do after this?"

"I'll return to my home planet."

"Hmmph...you've just fled from your home and now want to return there? That's suicide." Magno sneered.

"I don't care if it's a suicide. I promised someone to return there..."

"You promised the girl in the picture? Is she really that important to you?"

"...Yes, she is important to me. We...love each other."

The whole crew on the bridge gave the look of astonishment upon hearing those words.

"Hey, hey...how could you say that?" a voice came from behind. It is Bart Garsus, the ship's helmsman.

"Huh...? What do you mean?" Rick gave a look of puzzlement.

"Women are slave drivers. You know that?"

"Stop it, Bart." BC told him.

"Yeah right. By the way, why there are so many women around here?"

"That is because women are more dominant than men around here. Besides, both sides hate each other." explains Magno.

"Yeah, whatever. Can I return home right now?"

"We can't let you do that. You might be a spy for our enemy."

"That's absurd. I'm just a common musician. I'm not a spy or anything to do with it. I just want to return to my home world."

"Still, we can't let you do it. You'll be staying here for a while."

"Great, I rather die in the shuttle than doing nothing here." Rick gave a grunt and walks away from the bridge area.


It happened again. Meia was standing outside, listening to the explanation given by Rick. Again, her heart skipped a beat when she heard those words- 'We love each other'. Then, she remembered what her mother used to say,

"Someday, you'll find someone you want to protect."

She quickly walked away from the area when Rick is heading her way. He looked at her and then passed her by without a word.

(What am I doing? I've got to stop this.)


Rick was walking along the corridor that leads towards the hangar for Vanguard. Then, he heard someone screaming,

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Then, he sees a boy running in his direction. He is followed by a girl screaming,

"UCHUUJI-SAN!"

The boy runs past him and disappeared at the end of the corridor.

"Uchuuji-san...please wait..." the girl stopped in front of Rick to catch her breath.

"Uh...you're okay?"

"Um? Who are you?"

"I'm Maverick Xero. Someone found me stranded and forced me to stay here..."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Dita Liebely. If you excuse me..."

She then runs off and shouts, "Uchuuji-san!"

(I thought than men and women here hate each other. Are they an exception?)

He then walks into a large area that hosted the Vanguards.

"Wooo...I've never seen these kinda thing before,"

As he takes a closer look at each of these Vanguards, he heard someone, or something, is calling for him.

"I hear something calling for me. Where is it come from?"

After doing a search, he finds a hidden console.

"The voice must be coming from beyond this wall. Let's try to open the hidden door."

After a few button bashing, a message appeared on the monitor,

INPUT PASSWORD

"Darn. Guess I have to use my hacking skills."

ACCESS DENIED INVALID PASSWORD TRY AGAIN

"Shoot. What the hell, I'll smash this troublesome thing."

"What are you doing?" a voice comes from behind him. Rick turns around, expecting another one of the ship's crew but instead he is facing a small, cute looking robot.

"Well...err...I'm trying to figure out the password."

"You are not an authorized personnel to open it."

"You got a name, short stuff?"

"I am Pyoro, this ship's navi robot."

"Since you're a navi robot, maybe you know the password for this?"

"I am not telling you."

"I see, you do know. Well, I'm going to get it anyway."

Rick reaches out his hand and an electrical energy surges from his index finger, frying Pyoro from the inside.

"System...mal...function..." it mutters before the screen goes black.

"Hmm...I haven't used that for a while. Sorry little guy, I need to know what's behind this."

Rick then uses his computer skills to hack into Pyoro's main memory and managed to find the password.

"This is the password? This is stupid." Then, he inputs the password.

INPUT PASSWORD BEEFCAKE VERIFYING.
PASSWORD ACCEPTED

With a faint click, the hidden door opens revealing another Vanguard. However, it is different from the others. It has the initials VX4 at its shoulder.

"Is it you who is 'calling' for me?"

The black Vanguard gave a hum.

"Let me take a closer look."

Rick then entered the cockpit and takes a look around.

"You need some repairs buddy. Your response circuit is almost broken; the communication system is totally out."

He then looked around the room, "Okay, got enough tools here to patch you up."


"Boss we're under attack." said BC as she scans the monitor.

"Enemy is coming this way fast." Ezra warned.

"Dispatch the Dreads." Magno ordered.


"Okay everyone. Get busy. We're going to have many orders to complete." Gascogne, the chief at the requisition department said.

Barnette came in and hands in the orders.

"Here, make sure you make it fast."

"Don't worry about it. You, process these orders." Gascogne instructed one of the girls.

"Right away." the girl replied short.


"Yeah! A battle!" Hibiki shouted as he runs towards his Vanguard. Then, he sees Pyoro lying on the floor.

"What the hell are you doing around here? Hmm...you really are broken. I don't have the time to send you for repairs right now. Guess I have to drag you along."


"What's this vibration? Are we under attack? What a 'great timing' eh, buddy?"

The black Vanguard gave another hum.

"This communication circuit is too complex for me to repair. Furthermore, I can only apply temporary repair to your response circuit."

The Vanguard hummed louder.

"What? You want me to take you out? In your condition, I don't think so. I don't know how to pilot you anyway."


"Meia! There's too many of them." Jura yelled as she avoids a blast from the alien fighters.

"If this continues..." Barnette indicated.

"Leader, I can't even unite with Uchuuji-san!" Dita screamed.

"Not only you, they prevented all of us from uniting with him." Meia said.

"Hey, give me a hand here!" Hibiki shouted as he fends off the enemy with his saber.


"Our shield is down to 45." Belvedere Coco, one of the bridge crew, indicates.

"At this rate, we'll be..." Ezra says.

"Is this the end...?" Magno speculates.

"AAAARRRGGGHHH! We're going to die!" Bart yelled from the navigational room.

BC stays quite. She doesn't want to discourage any member of the crew. She would like to say something positive but at the current condition, she rather not.

(Is it really the end)


Is this pain too much for me ?
Can I stay the same ?
When this pain consumes my heart
Will I be able to hold on to my soul?

Joanne Hogg - Pain from Xenosaga