Mobile Suite G Gundam: Gathering Shadows
The Embassy: Dream of A Fighter
Rhia awoke on a bed in an exquisite room. She looked around. Her gaze traveled across the red chairs, sofas, oak tables, lamps, curtains, and stopped at the door. Rhia got out of bed, vaguely noted she was still in her Gundam suite, and walked outside. She started when she saw the flag of Neo-France hanging over the mahogany double-doors.
"I see that you are awake, Miss Avalon." Came a voice from behind her. She spun around to face a servant, carrying clothes. "Mr. Kasshu, Sir de Sand, and Mrs. Kasshu are waiting for you."
"Is a Mrs. Avalon there?" Rhia asked.
"No, but Sir de Sand has sent for her." The servant answered. Then she grabbed Rhia's arm and pulled her back inside her room. Then she took out an under-dress.
"Nooo. I am not wearing a dress." Rhia said, backing away from the servant.
"But Miss, you must dress appropriately." the servant protested.
"I doubt Domon and Rain are dressed "appropriately"." Rhia muttered sourly as the slipped into her clothes. The servant smiled ruefully.
"You are quite correct, Miss. Neither are wearing dress that correctly suit them. And Mr. Kasshu even refuses to take his red cloak off."
"Just like Domon." Said a voice, her mother's, from the doorway.
"Mom!" Rhia shouted, but the servant kept tight hold on her. She finished putting on the last petticoat and slipped the dress on over them. Then Rhia tried to run to her mother, but she found that it was impossible to do so in so many layers, so she threw some off.
"Miss Avalon..." the servant protested. Rhia didn't hear her. Allenby was embracing her too hard for such a trivial thing as hearing.
"Honey, I want you to tell everybody, and I mean everybody, about what happened in the fight. Soon Sai Sici, Argo and Chibbody will be here. Until then, come down with me. You look like a princess." Allenby told her daughter. Rhia looked down at her dress. It was a powder blue color with sleeves that ended at her wrist with a triangular piece of cloth jutting out and fastening to her middle finger with a small loop of silver thread. It went down to the ground, and her shoes--if you saw them--were silver with power blue designs. The servant gave her one last accessory, a silver circlet.
"Thank you." Rhia whispered, then followed her mother down. Of course her mother hadn't bothered to dress "appropriately" either, but it didn't bother her. Rhia followed her mother to a large meeting hall where everyone gasped at the sight of her. George got up and walked over to her.
"My lady." He said, and kissed her hand.
"Sir." Rhia whispered.
"Wow. When you change, you mean it, don't you?" Domon asked.
"I like it." Rain said. "She's got better manners than you, Domon."
"Well..." Domon did know what to say to that. George led her over to her seat, then walked back to his. Allenby took a seat next to her daughter, eyeing Domon critically. He looked almost exactly the same as he had that year they met. Alenbi knew in her heart that she wasn't truly over him, but she also loved Moro, so she was happy.
At that moment Argo, Sai Sici and Chibbody walked in, talking like old friends (which they were). The moment Chibbody caught sight of Rhia though, he stopped in his tracks, grinned mischievously, and walked over to her.
"What's a pretty young lady like yourself doing here?" Chibbody asked.
"Go away." Rhia said, not even looking up.
"It's rude to say that, you know." Chibbody answered. Rhia looked up.
"I said, "Go away." Are you deaf or something?" Rhia asked.
"Only when I want to be." Chibbody said, his grin spreading.
"Maybe if you can't hear with your ears, you'll listen to this." Rhia said and kicked him in the shin.
"Owww!" Chibbody howled, hopping up and down on one foot. Rhia just sat there, paying no attention whatsoever. Domon snickered.
"Chibbody, Sai Sici, Argo, meet Rhia Avalon, pilot of Luna Gundam and the mysterious Queen of Hearts." Domon said. Chibbody stopped jumping.
"You mean this shrimp is the person we were called here to see?" he asked skeptically.
"Shut up." Rhia said.
"Did I hit a weak spot?" Jibbody asked, another grin on his face.
"Chibbody..." Alenbi warned.
"What? I can take this shrimp on any day." Jibbody boasted.
"I'd love to see that." George answered.
"You don't think I can, do you?" Jibbody asked, hurt.
"I know you can't." George said.
"Say that again, why don't you?" Chibbody growled.
"I know--" George started, but Rhia stood up.
"Shut up! Jeez, stop acting like kids and grow up! Especially you, Chibbody Crocket." Rhia shouted.
"Fine." Chibbody said and went to his chair to sulk.
"Thanks, Sis. Those two sometimes get on my nerves." Sai Sici said.
"If you had any." Domon said. Rain sighed. Here they go again. She thought.
"I do too have nerves." Sai said indignantly. Domon snorted.
"If you had any, maybe you wouldn't get on anybody else's." Domon said slyly.
"I do not get on people's nerves." Sai protested.
"You mean, you don't get on people's nerves, besides now." Chibbody said, joining in the banter.
"Yes, I mean no...I mean..." Sai started. "I'm confused." Everybody laughed.
"You mean shut it." Rhia growled. They really were starting to get on her nerves.
"No, I mean no." Sai said.
"That doesn't make sense." Chibbody said.
"Yes it does. The first no is for no to Rhia, the second no is to your comment, Bro." Sai said
"That made even less sense." Domon said, amused.
"It made perfect sense!" Sai shouted.
"To you." Chibbody said. Argo sat next to George and they started to talk in hushed tones. Rhia tried to hear them over all the noise Domon, Chibbody and Sai Sici were making. Their voices melted into a buzz, lulling her to sleep. And yet again she had one of her strange dreams.
"So, she managed to stop it did she?" the same man from the other two dreams asked.
"At the cost of her mental stabability, causing her to faint." An assistant answered.
"Maybe so. We'll just have to increase the control waves." The man said.
"Why would you want to get rid of the Shuffle Alliance?" the assistant asked.
"They get in the way of my plans, that's all you need to know..."
Rhia woke to complete silence. Her crest was glowing so brightly she had to shield her own eyes from it. And it burned intensely. It slowly faded as she, and everyone else, watched.
"What was that?" Argo asked, half to himself.
"It was a crest, obviously. And look, mine's glowing too!" Sai said. Everyone else looked at their hands, and, sure enough, the crests on their hands were glowing.
"How is it possible?" Chibbody asked. No one answered.
"Rhia, why don't you start with the dream." Alenbi whispered. Rhia nodded. She told of her first dream. George was greatly stunned, as was Maria Louise who was eavesdropping outside the door. Then she went on to tell of the second dream she had while Luna Gundam was flying for the arena. No one had heard of the Thomas Kelper. Rhia discreetly kept the part about his crest to herself. Then she went into a tale of the fight against Gundam Rose. That time, everyone was shocked. Allenby had only one thing to say about it.
"It just must be an advanced form of the Berserker system." She said. They looked at her, appalled and surprised.
"Why?" George asked.
"I don't know. Maybe someone wants to get rid of the Shuffle Alliance." Alenbi said.
"Who would want to get rid of the Alliance? Wouldn't they remember what we, especially Domon, did for them when we beat the Dark Gundam?" Chibbody asked.
"It's possible that someone who supported the Dark Gundam is still alive." Rain pointed out.
"But all of the life forces are dead, aren't they? Major Ulube's dead, right?" Sai Sici asked. No one mentioned Schwartz and Kyoji who were the original life force, or the one-time life force of Rain. But it hung heavily in the air. Though Rhia didn't know this, she felt the air thicken uncomfortably. Even with her little nap, she was deadly tired again. She was barely aware that under the table, her hand had started to tingle again, not as she slipped off to sleep.
"Is he ready yet? Neo-Germany wants him to battle Luna Gundam, and if he wins, to go torture the King of Hearts." A man, different this time, said.
"Yes, Schwartz Bruder's memory is as blank as a sheet of paper, he will be ready to fight in two days." Someone answered. The voice sounded familiar to Rhia. "You do know this is cruel."
"Ah, Dr., you don't understand. Power is what makes the world go round, and power, even shared, is something." the man said. " Now get back to work on that new Berserker system for Neo-Germany. Oh, and bring me Schwartz when he is ready."
"Of course, Major Ryan." The man in the shadows said, and left...
Again Rhia woke to silence, but not of staring eyes. It was the silence of an empty room. Rhia looked around. No-one. A servant woman, the same who had dressed her, entered.
"Everyone left to go to a more comfortable place to talk, Miss. No one is requesting your audience at the moment, you may do as you please." She said.
"Why am I the last to know these things?" Rhia asked.
"Because you were asleep, and no one much felt like waking you when your hand was glowing as it was. They felt your dream was important." The servant said.
"It was a rhetorical question." Rhia muttered. But all the same, it was an important piece of information. Her hand glowed before she fell asleep and had strange dreams, and when she woke up. And the strange dreams were always on the same subject: the Gundam fights. "Do you have records for a Gundam fight about 28 years ago, the 13th Gundam Tournament I believe."
"Yes. France likes to keep a close eye on the opponents. Would you like me to take you to the hall of records?" the servant answered.
"Yes, thank you." Rhia said. One phrase from her dream ran through her head: Schwartz Bruder's memory is as blank as a sheet of paper. She needed to find out who Schwartz was, and what he did that the enemy wanted him to forget. Actually, she thought, there are many things of this dream I'm confused about. The person, this "Dr.," must be important if people would trust him to create a new Berserker system. But who would they use it on? Me? Is that red mist the Berserker system? Mom said she thought it might be. Who knows? And did that man say that the Dr. was also working for Neo- Germany. But specifically on the Berserker system. And I'm a fighter for Neo-Germany! The only fighter!
"Miss, we're here." The servant said. Rhia snapped out of her daze and walked into a library that was packed with books. She went down the rows.
"1 year ago, 2 years ago, 3 years ago..." she went like that for a while. "26 years ago, 27 years ago, 28 years ago. Yes! This is it! What country would Bruder have been fighting for?" For some reason she looked under the G countries. "Neo-Germany: Schwartz Bruder." She read. "This is it."
Rhia went up to the desk and asked if she could barrow the book.
"Of course, dear." She clerk said. Rhia took the book back to her room. She sat down to read it. It told of his life as a child, and stopped when he was killed along with Kyoji Kasshu and the Dark Gundam.
"Well, he's certainly got an interesting life." Rhia commented as she closed the volume.
"Who?" Allenby asked, coming in.
"This man. His name is Schwartz Bruder." Rhia said. Allenby backed up a step, surprised.
"Why?" Alenbi asked again.
"I had another dream." Rhia said, looking at her hand.
"Tell me about it." Allenby suggested.
"Okay. Why not? I was in a different place this time. Only God knows where. Another man was talking with a man in the shadows. He asked if a man, his name was Schwartz Bruder, was ready. The shadowed man said he was, that his memory was as blank as a sheet of paper, and he'd be ready to fight in two days. Then the first man said that he would go to challenge Luna Gundam, and if he won, to move on to Domon's Gundam. Then they talked about power, and the first told the second to go work on the Berserker system for Neo-Germany." Rhia said. She made the explanation as short as possible.
"To work on the Berserker system for Neo-Germany?" Allenby asked.
"That was what he said. But it's a dream, right? It can't be happening now." Rhia said. Allenby thought back to the conversation she had with Moro. She wasn't that sure. Besides, she had never mentioned Schwartz Bruder to Rhia, she was sure.
"Yeah, it's only a dream." Alenbi said. "I'll return the book to the Hall of Records, then."
Rhia handed the book to her mother. "Oh, Mom!"
"Yes, dear?"
"What didn't Dad come?"
"I didn't know where he was."
"Oh. Okay, then."
Allenby left the room. She had to tell Domon about Rhia's latest dream. After all, Schwartz alive...hopefully Rhia's dream was real.
---
hello again! I hope I'm not going too slow for you, or too fast. If I am, tell me, okay? I'll see what I can do.
~*DarkDragon*~
The Embassy: Dream of A Fighter
Rhia awoke on a bed in an exquisite room. She looked around. Her gaze traveled across the red chairs, sofas, oak tables, lamps, curtains, and stopped at the door. Rhia got out of bed, vaguely noted she was still in her Gundam suite, and walked outside. She started when she saw the flag of Neo-France hanging over the mahogany double-doors.
"I see that you are awake, Miss Avalon." Came a voice from behind her. She spun around to face a servant, carrying clothes. "Mr. Kasshu, Sir de Sand, and Mrs. Kasshu are waiting for you."
"Is a Mrs. Avalon there?" Rhia asked.
"No, but Sir de Sand has sent for her." The servant answered. Then she grabbed Rhia's arm and pulled her back inside her room. Then she took out an under-dress.
"Nooo. I am not wearing a dress." Rhia said, backing away from the servant.
"But Miss, you must dress appropriately." the servant protested.
"I doubt Domon and Rain are dressed "appropriately"." Rhia muttered sourly as the slipped into her clothes. The servant smiled ruefully.
"You are quite correct, Miss. Neither are wearing dress that correctly suit them. And Mr. Kasshu even refuses to take his red cloak off."
"Just like Domon." Said a voice, her mother's, from the doorway.
"Mom!" Rhia shouted, but the servant kept tight hold on her. She finished putting on the last petticoat and slipped the dress on over them. Then Rhia tried to run to her mother, but she found that it was impossible to do so in so many layers, so she threw some off.
"Miss Avalon..." the servant protested. Rhia didn't hear her. Allenby was embracing her too hard for such a trivial thing as hearing.
"Honey, I want you to tell everybody, and I mean everybody, about what happened in the fight. Soon Sai Sici, Argo and Chibbody will be here. Until then, come down with me. You look like a princess." Allenby told her daughter. Rhia looked down at her dress. It was a powder blue color with sleeves that ended at her wrist with a triangular piece of cloth jutting out and fastening to her middle finger with a small loop of silver thread. It went down to the ground, and her shoes--if you saw them--were silver with power blue designs. The servant gave her one last accessory, a silver circlet.
"Thank you." Rhia whispered, then followed her mother down. Of course her mother hadn't bothered to dress "appropriately" either, but it didn't bother her. Rhia followed her mother to a large meeting hall where everyone gasped at the sight of her. George got up and walked over to her.
"My lady." He said, and kissed her hand.
"Sir." Rhia whispered.
"Wow. When you change, you mean it, don't you?" Domon asked.
"I like it." Rain said. "She's got better manners than you, Domon."
"Well..." Domon did know what to say to that. George led her over to her seat, then walked back to his. Allenby took a seat next to her daughter, eyeing Domon critically. He looked almost exactly the same as he had that year they met. Alenbi knew in her heart that she wasn't truly over him, but she also loved Moro, so she was happy.
At that moment Argo, Sai Sici and Chibbody walked in, talking like old friends (which they were). The moment Chibbody caught sight of Rhia though, he stopped in his tracks, grinned mischievously, and walked over to her.
"What's a pretty young lady like yourself doing here?" Chibbody asked.
"Go away." Rhia said, not even looking up.
"It's rude to say that, you know." Chibbody answered. Rhia looked up.
"I said, "Go away." Are you deaf or something?" Rhia asked.
"Only when I want to be." Chibbody said, his grin spreading.
"Maybe if you can't hear with your ears, you'll listen to this." Rhia said and kicked him in the shin.
"Owww!" Chibbody howled, hopping up and down on one foot. Rhia just sat there, paying no attention whatsoever. Domon snickered.
"Chibbody, Sai Sici, Argo, meet Rhia Avalon, pilot of Luna Gundam and the mysterious Queen of Hearts." Domon said. Chibbody stopped jumping.
"You mean this shrimp is the person we were called here to see?" he asked skeptically.
"Shut up." Rhia said.
"Did I hit a weak spot?" Jibbody asked, another grin on his face.
"Chibbody..." Alenbi warned.
"What? I can take this shrimp on any day." Jibbody boasted.
"I'd love to see that." George answered.
"You don't think I can, do you?" Jibbody asked, hurt.
"I know you can't." George said.
"Say that again, why don't you?" Chibbody growled.
"I know--" George started, but Rhia stood up.
"Shut up! Jeez, stop acting like kids and grow up! Especially you, Chibbody Crocket." Rhia shouted.
"Fine." Chibbody said and went to his chair to sulk.
"Thanks, Sis. Those two sometimes get on my nerves." Sai Sici said.
"If you had any." Domon said. Rain sighed. Here they go again. She thought.
"I do too have nerves." Sai said indignantly. Domon snorted.
"If you had any, maybe you wouldn't get on anybody else's." Domon said slyly.
"I do not get on people's nerves." Sai protested.
"You mean, you don't get on people's nerves, besides now." Chibbody said, joining in the banter.
"Yes, I mean no...I mean..." Sai started. "I'm confused." Everybody laughed.
"You mean shut it." Rhia growled. They really were starting to get on her nerves.
"No, I mean no." Sai said.
"That doesn't make sense." Chibbody said.
"Yes it does. The first no is for no to Rhia, the second no is to your comment, Bro." Sai said
"That made even less sense." Domon said, amused.
"It made perfect sense!" Sai shouted.
"To you." Chibbody said. Argo sat next to George and they started to talk in hushed tones. Rhia tried to hear them over all the noise Domon, Chibbody and Sai Sici were making. Their voices melted into a buzz, lulling her to sleep. And yet again she had one of her strange dreams.
"So, she managed to stop it did she?" the same man from the other two dreams asked.
"At the cost of her mental stabability, causing her to faint." An assistant answered.
"Maybe so. We'll just have to increase the control waves." The man said.
"Why would you want to get rid of the Shuffle Alliance?" the assistant asked.
"They get in the way of my plans, that's all you need to know..."
Rhia woke to complete silence. Her crest was glowing so brightly she had to shield her own eyes from it. And it burned intensely. It slowly faded as she, and everyone else, watched.
"What was that?" Argo asked, half to himself.
"It was a crest, obviously. And look, mine's glowing too!" Sai said. Everyone else looked at their hands, and, sure enough, the crests on their hands were glowing.
"How is it possible?" Chibbody asked. No one answered.
"Rhia, why don't you start with the dream." Alenbi whispered. Rhia nodded. She told of her first dream. George was greatly stunned, as was Maria Louise who was eavesdropping outside the door. Then she went on to tell of the second dream she had while Luna Gundam was flying for the arena. No one had heard of the Thomas Kelper. Rhia discreetly kept the part about his crest to herself. Then she went into a tale of the fight against Gundam Rose. That time, everyone was shocked. Allenby had only one thing to say about it.
"It just must be an advanced form of the Berserker system." She said. They looked at her, appalled and surprised.
"Why?" George asked.
"I don't know. Maybe someone wants to get rid of the Shuffle Alliance." Alenbi said.
"Who would want to get rid of the Alliance? Wouldn't they remember what we, especially Domon, did for them when we beat the Dark Gundam?" Chibbody asked.
"It's possible that someone who supported the Dark Gundam is still alive." Rain pointed out.
"But all of the life forces are dead, aren't they? Major Ulube's dead, right?" Sai Sici asked. No one mentioned Schwartz and Kyoji who were the original life force, or the one-time life force of Rain. But it hung heavily in the air. Though Rhia didn't know this, she felt the air thicken uncomfortably. Even with her little nap, she was deadly tired again. She was barely aware that under the table, her hand had started to tingle again, not as she slipped off to sleep.
"Is he ready yet? Neo-Germany wants him to battle Luna Gundam, and if he wins, to go torture the King of Hearts." A man, different this time, said.
"Yes, Schwartz Bruder's memory is as blank as a sheet of paper, he will be ready to fight in two days." Someone answered. The voice sounded familiar to Rhia. "You do know this is cruel."
"Ah, Dr., you don't understand. Power is what makes the world go round, and power, even shared, is something." the man said. " Now get back to work on that new Berserker system for Neo-Germany. Oh, and bring me Schwartz when he is ready."
"Of course, Major Ryan." The man in the shadows said, and left...
Again Rhia woke to silence, but not of staring eyes. It was the silence of an empty room. Rhia looked around. No-one. A servant woman, the same who had dressed her, entered.
"Everyone left to go to a more comfortable place to talk, Miss. No one is requesting your audience at the moment, you may do as you please." She said.
"Why am I the last to know these things?" Rhia asked.
"Because you were asleep, and no one much felt like waking you when your hand was glowing as it was. They felt your dream was important." The servant said.
"It was a rhetorical question." Rhia muttered. But all the same, it was an important piece of information. Her hand glowed before she fell asleep and had strange dreams, and when she woke up. And the strange dreams were always on the same subject: the Gundam fights. "Do you have records for a Gundam fight about 28 years ago, the 13th Gundam Tournament I believe."
"Yes. France likes to keep a close eye on the opponents. Would you like me to take you to the hall of records?" the servant answered.
"Yes, thank you." Rhia said. One phrase from her dream ran through her head: Schwartz Bruder's memory is as blank as a sheet of paper. She needed to find out who Schwartz was, and what he did that the enemy wanted him to forget. Actually, she thought, there are many things of this dream I'm confused about. The person, this "Dr.," must be important if people would trust him to create a new Berserker system. But who would they use it on? Me? Is that red mist the Berserker system? Mom said she thought it might be. Who knows? And did that man say that the Dr. was also working for Neo- Germany. But specifically on the Berserker system. And I'm a fighter for Neo-Germany! The only fighter!
"Miss, we're here." The servant said. Rhia snapped out of her daze and walked into a library that was packed with books. She went down the rows.
"1 year ago, 2 years ago, 3 years ago..." she went like that for a while. "26 years ago, 27 years ago, 28 years ago. Yes! This is it! What country would Bruder have been fighting for?" For some reason she looked under the G countries. "Neo-Germany: Schwartz Bruder." She read. "This is it."
Rhia went up to the desk and asked if she could barrow the book.
"Of course, dear." She clerk said. Rhia took the book back to her room. She sat down to read it. It told of his life as a child, and stopped when he was killed along with Kyoji Kasshu and the Dark Gundam.
"Well, he's certainly got an interesting life." Rhia commented as she closed the volume.
"Who?" Allenby asked, coming in.
"This man. His name is Schwartz Bruder." Rhia said. Allenby backed up a step, surprised.
"Why?" Alenbi asked again.
"I had another dream." Rhia said, looking at her hand.
"Tell me about it." Allenby suggested.
"Okay. Why not? I was in a different place this time. Only God knows where. Another man was talking with a man in the shadows. He asked if a man, his name was Schwartz Bruder, was ready. The shadowed man said he was, that his memory was as blank as a sheet of paper, and he'd be ready to fight in two days. Then the first man said that he would go to challenge Luna Gundam, and if he won, to move on to Domon's Gundam. Then they talked about power, and the first told the second to go work on the Berserker system for Neo-Germany." Rhia said. She made the explanation as short as possible.
"To work on the Berserker system for Neo-Germany?" Allenby asked.
"That was what he said. But it's a dream, right? It can't be happening now." Rhia said. Allenby thought back to the conversation she had with Moro. She wasn't that sure. Besides, she had never mentioned Schwartz Bruder to Rhia, she was sure.
"Yeah, it's only a dream." Alenbi said. "I'll return the book to the Hall of Records, then."
Rhia handed the book to her mother. "Oh, Mom!"
"Yes, dear?"
"What didn't Dad come?"
"I didn't know where he was."
"Oh. Okay, then."
Allenby left the room. She had to tell Domon about Rhia's latest dream. After all, Schwartz alive...hopefully Rhia's dream was real.
---
hello again! I hope I'm not going too slow for you, or too fast. If I am, tell me, okay? I'll see what I can do.
~*DarkDragon*~