Mystic's Note: Alrighty peoples. I did not write this chapter. This chapter was written by Crow Black Dream, the person who came up with Severina's name and story. You should all go read the rest of her fics after you read this story. She's a magnificent writer!! Oh yes, and you'll definetly want to read Gundam Wing: Desecration before reading this. Yes. *nods*
Disclaimer: Okie, my loyal fans… *Looks at Kat smiling and her boyfriend waving a flag* -_-;; You know the drill. I do not own Gundam Wing, and some of you may catch the title of this story… 'Warning' by Incubus. I do not own that, either. Carry on.
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Warning ~ Severina's Story
Severina sighed as she pulled her car into the garage. She reached up, about to shut the car off, resting her chin on the steering wheel. She shut her eyes, trying to will her headache away, as well as the sense of loneliness.
Just as she was about to turn the keys back in the ignition, she noticed a small rattling noise. Raising a curious eyebrow, the young woman pulled the hood release button and stepped out of the car.
"Damn it all to hell," she muttered. "I've got to get to the airport. I don't have time for this."
The rattling seemed to have stopped by the time she had looked at the engine. The pilot went back to the cab and shut off her car so she could poke around at the engine.
For a second, Severina thought she could see a pair of eyes staring at her through the empty space under the hood.
"Did I scare you?" a boy laughed.
"Gah!" Severina nearly slammed her head on the hood as she leapt backward.
"Here, let me get that for you, Mai," an unfamiliar voice said from behind. Severina whirled around.
Nothing.
What's going on? She placed her hands on the car's frame with her feet about a foot apart and her head hanging.
A gunshot rang in Severina's head. She didn't so much as blink.
"Severina?" Quatre entered the garage, violin and bow in hand. "Are you alright? I thought I heard you yelp."
"I thought I heard somebody," Darksaber's pilot shook the cobwebs from her head.
"You should lay down," her comrade grabbed her hand to guide her to her room.
"Run, Mai!" a girl cried.
"My name is not Mai! It's Severina!" Gundam 08's pilot screamed. Her eyes went blank. She stared at her friend, seemingly catatonic. She finally fell into his arms, sobbing, "Why can I remember that? Why can't I remember anything else?"
Then there was nothing. She seemed catatonic again.
"Severina, what's wrong?" Quatre shook her violently, dropping his prized violin. It crashed to the asphalt floor, a long crack growing lengthwise in the sensitive wood. He looked around desperately before forcing her to sit on the ground. "I'll be right back. Trowa! Trowa, come quick!"
The Arabic boy went off to find Barton. He ran around a corner and nearly crashed into him.
"Trowa! You gotta help Severina! I think the SIA's wearing off!"
"I'll take a look at her, but I doubt there's anything I can do. SIA recovery can't be helped."
When the two arrived back at the garage, Severina was in the fetal position, her eyes wide in horror.
"All we can do is move her to a more comfortable place, keep her warm, and make sure she doesn't hurt herself," Trowa scooped up the female pilot and slung her over his shoulder.
"Hey, don't hurt her," Quatre snapped.
"I won't. Her sensory nerves have shut themselves down; she won't sense anything."
The two walked into the living room and put Severina on the couch. Quatre grabbed a blanket from the corner and placed it over the young woman.
"I'm going to pull up her history records from her base. Watched her closely. Most SIA test subjects are suicidal," Barton began to leave.
"I thought you said her sensory nerves had shut down."
"I know. She may regain her senses, but not recall where she is."
~*Flashback*~
"Mai, wake up," a blonde girl flipped the lights on. A girl, only fourteen, sat up in bed, clutching the sheets to her chest.
"What's going on?" Severina, then known as Mai, asked as the blonde girl threw a pair of jeans and a tank top at the younger. "Suki?"
"Earth Sphere soldiers are here. They're after us. Get dressed."
"Why?" the fourteen-year-old pulled on her jeans and slipped the tank top over her head.
"Because we know about the Gundams."
"What?"
"They plan on killing anyone associated to the Gundams," Suki opened the window next to her sister's bed. "Including you."
She turned around the see her sister lacing up her shoes. The sixteen-year-old grabbed her sister and shoved her out the window.
A round of gunshots echoed through the secluded house.
"Mom! Dad!" Suki shouted. The only voices that responded were those of soldiers.
"Suki, what about you?" Mai shouted frantically.
"Forget about me. Mom said for you to get to the Tokyo base. Instructor H will be waiting," the older girl informed her before tossing a set of keys to her sibling. "Take Dad's car." (I changed all of the "Dr. O's and Dr. Makoto's to "Instructor H." because he was the one who designed Severina and Quatre's Gundams. All of the original engineers survived the Peacemillion deal somehow. The always seem to make it out alive)
"I'm not leaving without you!" Mai said stubbornly as pounding could be heard on the inside of her house.
"Run, Mai!" her sister slammed down the window frame. Soldiers burst into the room.
"Where's the other girl?" one shouted. He held a gun between Suki's eyes. She backed up until she fell on the bed.
"You can't have her," she snarled.
Outside, Mai gasped as she heard a gunshot. Her sister's blood and brains splattered on the glass.
"SUKI!" she screamed. A soldier looked at her cowering in the rectangle of bloody red light. He whipped the radio off his belt.
"She's outside! Get her!"
Mai bolted for the garage. Four soldiers burst out of her house, raising their weapons as they stood on the front porch.
"Stop!" one shouted, "Or we'll shoot!"
Mai barely registered it. She kept running as a volley of shots was fired. As she ran through the doorway leading to the garage, a slug embedded itself in her outer left thigh.
The girl screamed in pain, but ignored the injury and jumped into her father's convertible.
"Shit, shit!" she fumbled the keys into the ignition and turned them. The engine roared into life. She put the car in drive and floored it.
The car crashed though the closed garage door. With a thump, a soldier's body flew over the hood and windshield, landing behind the car.
"Holy shit!" she yelped.
The other three jumped out of the way, emptying clips. Bullets lodged themselves in the bumper and back of the car. One ricocheted off the windshield frame, barely missing the girl.
"Sir, all dead except one," a soldier radioed back to headquarters. "The youngest one."
"Well, find her and kill her," the officer on the other end said.
"Right."
Quite a remarkable distance away from her home, Mai glanced down at the speedometer. The needle climbed from eighty-five to one hundred-thirty as she put the pedal to the floor. She sped onto the freeway leading to Tokyo.
~*Housing facility living room*~
"How is she?" Trowa came back with papers. Kat followed him in. "I found her along the way."
"She was mumbling before, then she screamed. She hasn't done anything since," Winner replied.
"The SIA will cause her motor nerves to cut in and out," Heavyarm's pilot glanced over Severina before looking down at his papers.
"What've you got?" Kat asked.
"According to the base history report, her real name is Fukuda Mai. Her family was killed for Gundam knowledge, association, and operation. Her father, Kazuki, 36; her mother, Yoko, 38; and her sister, Suki, 16.
"Kazuki was Instructor H's assistant and Yoko was a technician. It was originally Suki who was chosen to be Darksaber's pilot.
"When Earth Sphere soldiers came to eliminate the Fukudas, Mai escaped. She showed up at the Tokyo base.
"Once there, she began training to pilot Darksaber. She trained in battle simulators and learned to fly planes known as defense jets. The jets were piloted by two young men, Gavin Dawes and Ido Yoshi. Darksaber began construction after Gundams 01 through 05, but before 06, 07, 09, and 10. During the Eve Wars, the United Earth Sphere Alliance raided bases in search of any secret Gundams, such as Severina's. Therefore, the base needed a minimum of two jets to defend the base from a raid.
"The first jet, also known as D-1, was shot down in such a raid. Gavin Dawes was killed. D-2's pilot was later killed in a car crash that nearly killed Severina.
"After hospitalization, Severina became somewhat pacifist. Her superiors didn't want that, so they volunteered her for SIA testing. The drug didn't work at planned, but could still be used to their advantage.
"After SIA, her name was changed to Yamato Severina so when in public after beginning her mission, she would not be recognized and hunted down for Gundam association and vehicular manslaughter."
"What was her health status?" Quatre asked.
"Physically," said Trowa, "it's plus-minus. She's been shot multiple times, has suffered numerous broken bones, abrasions, and head trauma, but she has healed quickly.
"Her health before the SIA testing, however, is very poor. Her doctors diagnosed her to have had major depression, including suicidal tendencies. She was very reckless with her life. After SIA, she was just as fierce when it came to battle, but was more careful."
~*Severina's flashback*~
"ID, please," a guard held out his hand as Mai eased the car up to the gate. Blood had stained the door, the seat, the floor, and her jeans.
"I don't have one. My mother just told me to come here. Her name is Fukuda Yoko. Please, just let me in so I can get to the base hospital. I'm losing blood fast," she rattled, her voice pained. She watched the guard lean over, take a look at her leg. He pressed a button and the gate slid back.
"Arigatou," the injured girl sped off toward the hospital. She didn't notice the guard talking to someone over the radio.
Mai parked the car, got out, and began limping as fast as she could toward the hospital. When she pulled the door open with a bloody hand, she was faced with base guards.
"Get down on your knees with your hands behind your head!" a coal-haired boy not much older than her barked.
"I can't kneel, I've been shot," Mai held her hands up in the air.
"Then lie face down with your hands on your head," the boy instructed.
Mai did as she was told.
"Yoshi," the young man glanced at another, "check her."
"Right," the blonde young soldier holstered his gun and patted down Mai's body.
"Can I get something for my wound before I bleed to death? Maybe a band-aid?" the girl asked irritably.
"No weapons," Yoshi informed the other boy.
"Alright. Get a doctor to dress her wound, but keep her restrained until Instructor H. arrives."
Yoshi handcuffed Mai's hands behind her back and slung her over his shoulder.
"Go get the instructor, then" he said to the other boy. He looked at the other guards. "And the rest of you, get back to your stations."
"I didn't expect him to be taking orders from you," Mai told the floor behind Yoshi.
"Mutual thing," he said as he turned and started toward an O.R. "Gavin and I are the defense jet pilots for Darksaber. We've been suspicious the Earth Sphere will find the Fukudas."
"They did."
"How do you know?" Yoshi grasped his gun
"Because I'm the only one who survived," was the answer.
"Alright, just who are you?" the grip on the gun tightened.
"Fukuda Mai. Suki's sister."
"Suki's dead?" Yoshi's voice suddenly wavered.
"And my parents, too."
Yoshi pushed open a door and laid Mai on the table. A doctor came in with bandages, scissors, and tweezers. He snipped off a bloody pant leg and picked up the tweezers.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" the handcuffed patient squirmed away.
"Removing the bullet."
"Like hell you are, old man."
"Doc, if the bullet's superficial, just bandage her up," Yoshi stood in the corner with his arms crossed. The doctor nodded and did as he was told.
Afterward, Mai slid off the table, her back to Yoshi.
"Thanks, but do you think you could undo these? I've got this weird thing about being restrained."
"I'm not supposed to."
"I'm wounded. I'm not able to do much if I were to try."
"Alright, alright," Yoshi unlocked the handcuffs.
"If being restrained is a fear of yours, you must learn to conquer it. That will be one of the first steps in becoming a Gundam pilot," a man with black hair and a pointy mustache stepped out of the shadows with Gavin in tow.
"Gundam pilot? What?" Mai turned to him.
"You parents wished for you to become Darksaber's pilot should anything happen to Suki. And since your sister was an excellent pilot, I decided that you would be an excellent choice as well."
"If it means that I get to kill the fuckers what got my family, I'll do it. But why did the doctor treat me if I could have possibly been the enemy? And how can you be positive who I am?"
"Because we're human, unlike those Earth Sphere barbarians," Gavin answered, pounding his palm into his palm.
"Your parents both carried pictures of you and Suki with them," Instructor H. held up a silencing hand and stepped in front of Gavin. "But had I not known you, we would've gotten your identity no matter what."
"How?" Mai's eyebrow was arched.
"Blinding and torturing does the trick," Yoshi said.
"Peachy," said Mai, "When do I begin training?"
"Right now. When your training is complete, you will receive these," Instructor H. tossed her dog tags. "These were Suki's backup tags."
"This isn't right, though," Mai read the information. "That isn't her name."
"No, they're correct. When your sister had completed her training her name was changed so she would not be linked with her original identity. Her name was chosen to be Yamato Severina."
"Severina? What the hell kind of name is that?"
"A proper one. I did thorough research on her background and selected a name to fit her Japanese-Italian heritage."
"What are you talking about? My parents are both Japanese!"
"Incorrect. Your father was Italian. His real name is Severin Valerio, hence the name Severina.
"Your mother's name is Yamato Eri. She and your father changed their names when they began work on mobile suits nearly twenty years ago."
"Well, shit."
~*housing facility living room*~
"What do you have on her medical background?" Quatre held Severina's cold hand in his own.
"Other than medical checkups until the age of fourteen, she has only two hospital visits. At the age of fourteen, when her family was killed, she was shot in the left leg. The bullet was never removed.
"At the age of sixteen, she was shot by the White Fang in a car. The car crashed and she was thrown from the vehicle," Trowa read from the papers.
"Go on about the car accident," Kat prodded. "Was she suicidal at the time?"
"According to the known time of her mental instability, yes."
During the Mariemia Incident, soldiers raided the Okinawa base where Severina, Gavin, and Yoshi, as well as their trainers, jets, and Gundam, had been relocated due to White Fang suspicion.
"The relocation drew White Fang attention. They tried to seize Darksaber, but failed. The attack was unknown to everyone, even the original five Gundam pilots
"The leader of the small faction failed to inform his superiors. The reason is unknown, but it is assumed that presenting his superiors with a new Gundam would mean a huge promotion. Also, it's believed that if we pilots found out, we would have the Gundam sent into battle, adding to the threat for Mariemia. That would not have been a possibility; Darksaber was incomplete at the time.
"Gavin and Yoshi were sent to fight against the White Fang. Yoshi successfully eliminated the faction leader before any information was leaked."
~*Severina's flashback*~
"Identify the button on the ceiling. The fourth from the front," a trainer directed from one of the screens inside Darksaber's cockpit.
"Emergency saber power generator," Mai yawned.
"Correct. We will be finished after you can tell me how to open and close the hands."
"Press the button on the back of the joystick and slowly release the grip button to open. Slowly squeeze the grip button to close."
"Good. You're done."
"Good," Mai tapped the keyboard, shutting off the screen and all power to the cockpit. She pressed a button on her seat, opening the door.
"Hey, how'd it go?" Gavin was sitting on Darksaber's right arm.
"Pretty good. It's nice having a break from the simulators and being able to be in the actually cockpit. Hey, what's that?" Mai noticed kanji painted on her Gundam's weapon. She read it aloud: "Hime no Kurayami."
"Princess of Darkness," Gavin grinned. "I thought it fit you. I painted it on the saber when you were in the cockpit."
"Nifty. Thanks."
"Dawes, report to your jet for simulation," a man announced over the P.A.
"Gotta go," Gavin saluted. He hooked his foot in the pulley and slid down. Mai waited for it to return.
"Ido, report to your jet for simulation," the P.A. made her jump. She waved at Yoshi as he crossed the hangar.
Fukuda stepped onto the pulley, pushing a small, blue button that would keep it from returning. She stepped off at the bottom and headed for the garage.
After changing into a mechanic's suit in her bunk, she headed for the garage housing the base's cars and trucks.
She grabbed tools and opened the convertible's hood.
"Tune up," she stated and got to work.
~*housing facility living room*~
"So what about the battle? What actually happened with the car accident?" Kat was getting rather impatient.
"I'm getting to that. With only a few mobile suits left, Gavin's plane was shot down. Yoshi eliminated the remaining suits. At that time, everyone at the base learned that there was a handful of soldiers who had not gone into battle due to shortage of mobile suits," Trowa read, pausing to flip to a new page.
Severina began to mumble again. Quatre flinched in surprise and felt her forehead. "She's a bit warm."
"That's normal in SIA recovery."
"Go on about what happened," Quatre squeezed Severina's hand.
"After learning about the remaining White Fang members, Severina, with her vengeful personality, and Yoshi went to find the soldiers. It isn't quite known what happened from there, but one eyewitness account recalled a truck full of soldiers being chased by a convertible.
"Not long afterward, Severina was found on the road, barely alive. She had received gunshot wounds in her abdomen and shoulder. The car had crashed into a tree, incinerating Yoshi's body."
Kat walked over to Severina and unbuttoned the unconscious woman's shirt, revealing a circular patch of scar tissue just below her rib cage and a small scar on her stomach. She unbuttoned the rest of the shirt, exposing Severina's bra. She reached over and pulled the left bra strap out of the way, showing another scar.
Quatre checked Severina's temperature again.
"She's burning up," he announced, pushing his chair back. He stood up, and before he walked out, he said, "I'll get some water and washcloths."
~*Severina's flashback*~
Mai was finishing the last spark plug when a pair of eyes appeared in the open area under the hood of her car.
"Whoa!" she reeled backward, dropping her ratchet. Gavin slid out from under the car.
"Did I scare you?" he laughed.
"Yeah," Mai panted. She backed up into someone, Yoshi, and jumped again.
"Here, let me get that for you, Mai," he scooped up the ratchet and handed it to her.
"Thanks. I thought simulation would go longer."
"No, we didn't have much to cover," Yoshi shrugged.
Above their head, the alarm went off.
"Shit," Gavin looked up at the flashing red light. Yoshi poked a few buttons on his watch/communicator.
"White Fang attack! We gotta go!"
"What do you mean, White Fang attack?" Mai asked in surprise.
"They've found Darksaber!"
Shit, let's go then!" Gavin shouted. He and Yoshi raced off.
"Fuck," Fukuda muttered. She headed for weapons storage, realizing she may have to flee so she could carry out her mission. She grabbed an Uzi, two Glocks, and a radio. She fit the earpiece in her ear and switched the radio on. She picked up the three guns and went back to the garage, putting them in the passenger seat of her car.
Mai shut the hood of her car and hopped into the driver's seat. She started the car and drove to the hangar. She screeched to a halt.
Yoshi and Gavin had already changed into their flight suits and were fitting their helmets on. The shields closed on the jets, enclosing the two pilots in the cockpits. The engines whirred loudly.
"D-1 and D-2, you are both clear for takeoff," the air traffic controller directed as the jets rolled toward the hangar openings.
"Roger."
"Got it."
Both hit the thrusters. The jets raced down the runway, eventually leaving the ground.
"Mai," Instructor H. clapped a hand on his trainee's shoulder. "I want you to stay on the bridge."
"What about Darksaber?"
"There are no soldiers on the ground, but we're afraid White Fang may try to bomb the hangar. The bridge will be the safest place to go."
Mai got out and headed to the air traffic control area, her eyes on the screens.
"Bridge, I've got the faction leader in my sights," Gavin's voice crackled over the radio.
"Fire at first chance," a woman instructed.
On the screen, four missiles were fired from the belly of Gavin's jet. Two of them nicked the mobile suit.
"Commander, all comm. lines open!" a man shouted as Mai got to the bridge.
"D-1, what the hell are you doing?" the commander screamed into her radio.
"I'll give you one chance to surrender," Gavin barked at the mobile suit.
"Damn it, Dawes!" the commander shouted.
"Fuck you," the faction leader replied smugly.
"Well then, sayonara," Gavin released another round.
"Commander, enemy comm. lines closed," the communications station reported.
"Ma'am, the enemy leader has been eliminated!"
"Oh shit," Mai mumbled, her eyes on the screen. "Gavin! Your six!"
"What? Mai, what are you doing on the bridge?"
On your six! Enemies on your six!"
Gavin rotated one of his cameras one hundred eighty degrees.
"Damn!" he pulled up on the controls, narrowly dodging a round of missiles.
"Yoshi, help him!" Mai was howling as a missile grazed D-1's wingtip.
"Mayday!" Gavin shouted.
"I'm on my way, buddy!" Yoshi fired before coming to his friend's aid.
"D-1, what's the damage report?"
"Engine two is out – I'm going down fast!"
"Gavin, get out of there!" Mai watched as Yoshi arrived, firing on enemy suits.
A suit prepared to fire. She clutched the microphone next to her mouth, screaming, "Get out of there! Eject! Eject!"
"There's no ti-" the screens lit up in a fiery explosion.
"Commander, we've lost all contact with D-1," someone said.
"Commander, we've just learned that there are soldiers who weren't sent into battle!" a woman held up a long strip of paper. "They're in the warehouse on Elmora!"
"This battle isn't over yet, people," the commander put her hands up in the air, gesturing for everyone to calm down. "We'll deal with the other soldiers after the battle is over."
Mai stared blankly at the screen, her lip trembling.
"Fukuda, are you alright?" the commander seemed to be noticing her for the first time. "Fukuda?"
Mai's eyes suddenly became shiny with tears. She screamed and took off in the direction of the hangar.
"Get back here, Fukuda! What if they try to bomb the hangar?" the commander shouted. The Gundam trainee ignored her.
"Doc, we've got a problem," she said into her radio.
"Mai, where are you going?" Instructor H. stepped in front of the enraged Mai. She shoved him aside and grabbed the gun out of her car.
She ran outside, pointing the barrel at the mobile suits flying high above the base. Yoshi blew up a suit.
"God damn you!" she screamed and unloaded the gun.
"Mai, that gun won't do anything!" Instructor H's voice shouting through the comm. line didn't faze her. She continued to fire until the gun was empty.
"D-2, retreat," the commander ordered.
"Why?" Yoshi's voice sounded as if he was holding back his tearful rage. "I'm gonna get these two fuckers!"
Within minutes, both suits had been eliminated.
"D-2, you are clear to land," air traffic reported.
"Roger," Yoshi circled around to land, his voice laden with guilt.
Mai, meanwhile, was marching sternly back to her car. She hopped in and took out her keys. She started the engine and floored it, squealing to a stop next to Yoshi's jet.
"Get in," she didn't look away from the pavement. Her friend got in and was greeted with a gun being thrust into his hands.
Yoshi looked her up and down. Her grimy mechanic suit was staining the seat, which was already tainted blood red from her gunshot wound she had received when she first came to the base. The steering wheel was caked in black grease from her hands. Her hair was askew; sweat dripped down her face, mixing with her tears.
"Where are you two going?" Instructor H. seized a radio from a technician, screaming into it.
"To get the rest of those White Fang bastards," Mai replied. She ripped the radio from her ear and chucked it out of her car. She floored the gas pedal.
"Mai! Get back here!" Instructor H. ran after the car, but it was too late. They were gone.
~*housing facility living room*~
"She's quieted down quite a bit," Trowa remarked as Quatre put a cool washcloth on Severina's forehead.
"I know, it's starting to scare me," Quatre watched her still body. "Trowa, do you think she could…"
"No, SIA recovery won't kill her. It shouldn't."
"Hey, what's going on?" Duo and Tom poked their heads through the doorway.
"Severina's SIA recovery," Trowa replied.
"I thought I heard her yelling before," Shinigami walked over to the female pilot and opened an eyelid, peering down into Severina's blank eye.
"She's pretty damn quiet for hollering her head off earlier," Tom remarked.
"I'm starting to worry," Quatre brushed a forelock out of Severina's face. He gasped as her hands shot up and grasped his arm, clutching it as if she was desperate to never let go. Her lips mouth silent words as her eyes flew open and darted about.
Quatre's arm was singing with pain as Severina's nails tore open his skin. He let out another involuntary gasp just before she removed her hands and began scratching her face.
"Severina, stop!" Tom shouted as he and Duo pinned her arms down.
"She can't hear you," Trowa said in his normal stoic tone.
"Severina," Quatre's eyes began to water as she stopped struggling. For the first time, he noticed eight very faint white lines running down her face like stripes in the locations that she had scratched at her face. He lifted his friend's upper body while he sat on the couch. He hugged her head to his chest with his right hand while wrapping his left around her.
"What happened after they found her on the road?" Sandrock's pilot asked as he turned the wet washcloth on her forehead.
"She was comatose for eight days. When she woke up, she was even more suicidal and refused to fight, believing that she was to blame for everyone dying around her."
"That doesn't sound like our Princess of Darkness," the God of Death noted. "How'd they take care of that problem?"
"SIA," was all Trowa said.
~*Severina's flashback*~
"Where do you think they are?"
For the first time ever, Yoshi was terrified of Mai. He kept his distance in the car.
"Abandoned warehouse on Elmora," she replied, her grip tightening on the steering wheel.
"How do you know?"
"That's what they said on the bridge."
"Oh," Yoshi nodded.
One of Mai's hands came off the wheel and found the cross around her neck. With a quick tug, she ripped it off.
"I don't know how I could believe in such a merciful God after watching everyone else die," she said as she tossed the necklace out onto the street.
Overhead, a red light zoomed by.
"Mai, that was a stoplight."
"I know."
The convertible eventually came upon a large, dilapidated building. A truck engine revved in the alley next to it.
"You think that's them?" Yoshi checked the .9 mm sitting on his seat.
"Yeah," Mai replied. She glanced at her comrade. The last traces of humanity vanished from her eyes. "Hold on."
She floored it, flying around the corner. A man in plain clothes was pulling the warehouse door shut. Upon seeing the two teenagers, mostly Yoshi in his flight suit, he ran for the truck, He cleared the tailgate and landed in the bed amongst seven other soldiers.
The truck sprayed gravel as it took off. Mai didn't even flinch. Her foot dropped to the floor.
"Yoshi," she signaled. She swung around a corner onto a wide street.
"Right," he leaned around the windshield and fired multiple times, taking out six of the eight soldiers in the back. Mai swerved around the bodies.
"Shit," he growled. An enemy bullet took off his side mirror. "I'm out."
"Alright," Mai glanced at the speedometer. The needle was pinned to one-hundred-forty, the highest reading. She hit cruise control and began to climb onto her seat. "Take the wheel."
"Are you crazy?" Yoshi shouted. He dove for the steering wheel when she let go and grabbed her gun.
"Yes," she answered and stood up. A bullet zoomed by her ear.
"Just let me take the damn gun!"
Mai ignored him and took out the soldiers in the truck bed.
"I'll kill you fuckers," she growled, her voice barely audible to Yoshi over the wind. "I'll kill you for killing Gavin."
"Is this what this is about? Mai, he's dead! Nothing will bring him back!" Yoshi screamed. In the cab, the passengers cocked their guns.
Mai prepared to fire again when something hot pierced her shoulder. She gasped, clutching her wound. She let her gun fall onto the road, grasping the top of the windshield with her left hand.
Another bullet ripped into her body. Mai felt her bottom right rib shatter as the bullet ricocheted, lodging itself in her abdomen. Groaning, she collapsed on the windshield, her shocked eyes watching Yoshi.
"Mai? Oh my God!" Yoshi noticed the blood running down the windshield. He looked through the red glass and saw Mai's white, pained eyes. He turned his head to look up at the rest of her body slumped over the windshield.
While his head was turned to the side, a bullet shot through the windshield, forming a spider web crack in the glass. The small piece of metal ripped through Yoshi's throat.
And of course, Mai, the girl who believed herself to see all the pain and suffering around her, was conscious at this time, watching the flesh and blood spray as the bullet exited his body.
The young pilot panicked when he heard the air escaping his lungs through his wound. He pressed his hands against the two holes in his throat, not noticing that the car was drifting off the road.
Mai's eyes nearly rolled up into their sockets as she watched the curb coming at them. She tried to move, but all that she could do was use one leg to paddle the air. Her arm twitched uselessly when she tried to signal.
As his lungs started to fill with blood, Yoshi realized what was happening. Taking a bloody hand off his neck, he took the steering wheel and guided the beige convertible back onto the road.
He was reaching for the cruise control button when he passed out. As his body collapsed on the seat, his arm jerked the steering wheel to the right.
Mai's body was thrown from the car. Upon impact with the ground, her left collarbone and hip broke. Her radius and ulna in her right arm, her right femur, and left kneecap shattered as she kept rolling. Skin was ripped off her left hip, her lower back, and her right leg. Her skull fractured when her head slammed against the ground.
She eventually rolled to a stop, face down on the pavement. Blood began to pool below her body.
When Mai flew out of the car, the convertible ramped over a curb and collided with a large oak tree. Gas started leaking from the tank. A spark ignited the fuel, sending the car, Yoshi's body, and the oak up in flames.
The explosion rocked nearby houses and people who were gathering outside. Someone ran off to call the paramedics.
Sirens were wailing in the distance when a white, unmarked van pulled up to the scene. Two men in black clothing and ski masks got out and picked up Mai's limp body. They placed her on a gurney in the back.
The neighborhood residents were in an uproar, rushing the vehicle when the men pulled the back doors closed. The van drove off.
~*Housing facility living room*~
"What happened to the White Fang soldiers?" Quatre was still holding Severina's body.
"They got away. Luckily, they knew nothing of Darksaber," Trowa replied.
"What did they tell her after SIA?" Kat asked.
"Very little. They didn't even tell her what her real name was. She was told that she had been thrown from her car when she was shot, but she was never informed that Yoshi perished.
"She was told that she had trained alongside Gavin and Yoshi, but her superiors refused to tell her what happened. In her mind, they had been transferred to another base.
"She was informed that she had been abandoned as an infant and was taken in by one of her trainers.
"She recalled everything about Darksaber after her trainers ran her through everything once."
"So basically," said Duo, "she could recall anything they told her."
"For a certain things, her memory was allowed a certain amount of time, such as her past. The report indicates that she questioned them, feeling as though she was being lied to. But after seventy-two hours, her memories were unable to be recovered. But when time ran out after being told false information, she was unable to know even her own name, no matter how hard she tried.
"Other things that she was never informed of after SIA, however, she could recall at the drop of a hat, like piloting Darksaber."
"That doesn't make much sense," Tom remarked.
"Think of it as building walls. Instructor H. and his assistants built walls around certain memories. The walls couldn't be knocked down after seventy-two hours. Memories that she had never been told of, or rather, didn't have 'walls' around them could be recalled easily."
"What about the SIA injections afterward?" Quatre asked. "How could they tell when she needed them?"
"She would begin to have migraines and could suddenly recall her name.
"When she began to remember, they gave her weaker doses at three points in her body so the drug wouldn't reach her brain all at once.
"Due to the fact that the doses were weaker, she recalled everything she had been told after the initial shot, but didn't realize nearly all of her past was being kept from her."
~*Severina's flashback*~
Mai stared at the ceiling, her eyes filled with anger and sadness.
Her arms were strapped to he bedrails. The IV tube was taped to her upper arm, as was the oxygen mask to her face. Gauze crisscrossed her head, covering her cranial injuries. Much of her body was covered by casts.
"Hello, Mai," Instructor H. walked into the room. "I heard you've been quite a bit of trouble for these doctors and nurses."
Mai's eyes didn't shift.
"Unhooking your IV and life support… tsk, tsk."
"My body was malnourished without the IV fluid. I couldn't breathe without oxygen being forced into my lungs," Mai finally spoke. "Yet when I took away both, I didn't die. I hadn't breathed for five minutes. And yet, they performed CPR, and I'm fine."
"You don't exactly look fine," her trainer knocked on the cast of her upper right leg. "You were in a coma for eight days, after all."
He unstrapped the young girl's arm restraints. She didn't move her limbs once they were removed.
"Why did you try to kill yourself?"
"I just want to die. But I can't," Mai responded coldly. Instructor H, who was beginning to take interest in the view outside the window, did a double take.
"What?"
"I was not murdered when the rest of my family was. I was shot in the leg and lost so much blood I should have died. But I don't even walk with a limp anymore. I watched both of my best friends, my only friends, die before my eyes just moments before being thrown from a car. And again, I wasn't killed. I tried to starve my body, deprive it of oxygen. Yet I'm still alive."
Her eyes misted as she looked at her doctor.
"I just want to die."
"Well, you haven't," Instructor H. stated matter-of-factly.
"But everyone around me has…" she whispered. That simple realization made her crack.
One hand shot up and grabbed the instructor's lab coat as she desperately tried to sit up in her bed.
"They can't kill me! I can't die!" she howled over and over. "I can't die! I can't die! I can't die!"
It was then that her doctor backhanded her. She was silent, but she trembled. Her hand, still clutching Instructor H's lab coat, was trembling badly. The instructor regained his composure and stood straight.
"What do you want me to do about it?" he squeezed her uninjured arm, trying to get her to let go.
Her arm did not drop away, but she eased back a little. Her right eye, which was not covered by the gauze, traveled his young face before quickly looking away.
"Kill me," her voice was soft. "I won't fight, so just kill me. Please."
"No," Instructor H. responded without hesitation. "You are not exendable like Gavin or Yoshi."
The young woman stared silently for a moment before letting herself fall back completely. She released her grip on Dr. Mokoto's coat and dragged her fingernails over her face, tearing the skin open.
"What the hell are you doing?" the doctor shouted. "Nurse!"
"How dare you say that my friends – my brothers – are expendable!" she screamed through her fingers.
A nurse rushed in and helped him bond Mai's arms. Once the straps were on, the pilot stopped thrashing. Eight bloody lines ran vertically down her face. As the red liquid began to trickle down her face, she glanced at her trainer.
"I know I won't have scars from this."
"Well, the scars and missing flesh from your skin grafts will be enough memorabilia."
"Why don't you just unhook my IV for me again? I'm not going to fight; I'll only kill everyone around me. I have no use to you."
"Very well, then," Dr. K pressed the button for the intercom on the wall.
"Yes, sir?" a woman answered.
"We'll be using her as a test subject, after all. Send in the fluid."
"Hey, what the fuck do you plan on doing to me?" Mai shouted from her bed.
"I'll send it in right away, sir," the nurse said in a cheery tone.
"What are you gonna do, you bastard?"
"Thank you," Instructor H. said into the intercom, ignoring Mai. After the nurse had signed off, he turned to his trainee, removing her hospital gown.
"Get your hands off me!" Fukuda screamed. "Rape! RAPE!"
"Nobody believes a delusional young suicidal girl such as you, dear," the beady-eyed instructor smiled, but didn't touch her after removing the gown. "This is my hospital, after all. I run the entire base. And I have no intentions of raping you."
Mai lifted up her right leg and swung it hard. The side of the cast on her shin struck Instructor H. in the chest, sending him flying backward.
He slammed into the wall, grunting as the wind was knocked out of him, but he merely twitched his nose and musctache and grinned as he drew in his breath again.
"I don't intend to rape you," he reiterated. "You are fierce, but unfortunately, you refuse to fight. I've decided to use you as a test subject for a new drug. It affects the subject's mentality so that they no longer have a sense of humanity. You will obey every order given to you."
"Kinda sounds like a robot," Mai sneered. Her head snapped to the door as another doctor and two nurses entered.
"Is the subject ready?" a nurse asked.
"No, I'm not ready!" the pilot shouted angrily. "You can keep that shit away from me!"
"She's about as ready as she'll ever be," Instructor H. took a syringe filled with purple liquid from the other doctor. "Let's get this over with."
The doctors and nurses pinned down Mai's legs and head. Dr. Mokoto pressed down on her stomach, the only area able to be injected because it had the least amount of injuries.
"The less you struggle, the less it will hurt," he said calmly.
"Get the fuck away! Keep that shit away!" she snarled.
Mokoto stuck the needle in Mai's abdomen. He depressed the plunger, ejecting the fluid into her system.
After removing the syringe, he dismissed the nurses.
"It will take approximately one minute before the drug circulates through her body," the other doctor said. Dr. Mokoto nodded.
Within a minute, Mai began to stop yelling. She tensed as waves of cramps coursed through her entire body. When she finally fell back on the pillow, her lifeless eyes seemed duller than ever. Her heart rate dropped rapidly. Her breathing slowed.
Finally, her eyes regained their liveliness that they had retained years ago. Years before she heard the gunshots that murdered her family, years before she watched her sister's blood and brains paint her bedroom window red.
"Wha… What's going on?" she looked around with all the wonder and curiosity of a toddler.
"Doctor…" Instructor H. whispered, "the drug failed."
"It must have given her amnesia instead."
"This can still be used to our advantage," Mai's doctor turned back to the girl, covering her with her hospital gown. "Do you remember anything at all about the crash?"
"What crash? I don't even know who anybody is, not even me."
"Your name is Yamato Severina. You are the pilot of the Gundam Darksaber, You were thrown from your car and have been in a coma for eight days."
"What's a Gundam?" Mai tried to sit up in her bed, but fell back when the restraints caught her wrists.
"You'll find out when you get your casts off and are rehabilitated. But for now, you must relearn the inside of the cockpit as well as battle maneuvers and techniques."
~*housing facility living room*~
"So how did they get her to fight after SIA?" Duo wondered aloud.
"Immediately after the first SIA injection, the subject's personality seems almost programmable. Severina obeyed her orders and retrained to pilot Darksaber. She was exposed to images of battles from the Eve War and the Mariemia Incident.
"Instructor H. saw that the amnesia would work far better than lack of humanity, what the drug was intended to do. He decided to let her retain a sense of compassion, small compared to what her compassion was before, so she would be able to blend in with the general public. People tend to notice people with no humanity," Trowa answered.
"Yeah, Heero always stands out in a crowd," Kat remarked.
"But why?" Quatre turned away from Severina to look at the Heavyarms pilot.
"Yeah, why would they want her out in public?" Tom questioned.
"Because," said Trowa, "she would easily be able to pick off White Fang soldiers at a rally or passing by, should a plainclothes soldier be out in public. Most would never the second Darksaber pilot to also be female; women pilots are hard to come by."
"Quatre?" Severina mumbled and shook her head to one side.
"It looks like she's regaining her senses," Quatre looked at her.
"Be careful, as I said before," Barton warned, "She may not know what's going on."
~*Severina's flashback*~
"Mai, have you finished reading the original Operation Meteor plans?" Instructor H. asked through the intercom.
"Yes," Mai, now Severina, answered.
"Good. Now you will know what signs to look for in White Fang suit formation should they attempt it again. Preparations for colony entry begin at 0600 hours tomorrow."
"Yes, sir," the trainee's voice seemed to indicate that she wasn't thinking of her mission.
"Sir… who is Fukuda Mai?"
"Where did you hear that name?" the short instructor was calm, but he glanced at his SIA doctor.
"I don't know, it just popped into my head."
"Do you have a headache?"
Severina's eyebrow was quirked as she replied, "How do you know?"
"Severina, come with me, please. Prep. training is over for the night," Instructor H. instructed. He walked out of the room.
"Permission to reengage Darksaber in its brace?"
"Go ahead," a director on the bridge replied.
"Roger. Commencing engagement," Severina carefully guided her Gundam into its brace, its heavy metal feet causing the hangar to tremor as it shuffled toward its steel case.
The young woman shut down her suit and undid her harness. When she walked onto the platform and grabbed the pulley, she spotted Instructor H. standing by the hangar doorway.
"What is it?" she asked as she was being lowered to the floor. Once at the bottom, she switched the pulley return to off.
"I want you to come with me. You never get headaches," he turned to the hallway and began to walk toward the hospital. "Do you happen to have a large, bright light blocking your vision?"
"Yeah," Severina jogged to catch up.
"Then it's definitely a migraine. We'll use the proper medications," the instructor guided her into a room. Once he closed the door, four large men attacked Severina.
"Hey! What the fuck?" she shouted in surprise. She struggled as the large male nurses stripped her down to her bra and underwear, tossing her flight suit aside.
"Sir, the syringes have been prepared," one nurse said as he helped strap Severina down.
"Very good," Instructor H. picked up a vat containing three syringes filled with weak SIA fluid.
"No!" Severina gasped as the sight of the syringes sparked her memory. "No! You bastards! Let me out of here! Let me go!"
Instructor H. injected a needle in her side, acting as though he didn't hear. He waited until she had stopped thrashing before administering the second dose in her outer left thigh.
Severina seemed to be in a complete stupor when he injected the third and last needle into her jugular in her neck.
"Dress her!" he barked at the nurses. They quickly unstrapped her and dressed her in her flight suit.
When Severina's eyes began to clear, the nurses set her back on the table.
"State your name and purpose," Instructor H. ordered as he stepped before her. She looked up at him dazedly.
"Yamato Severina, pilot of the Gundam Darksaber. My mission is to wipe out the White Fang enemy and protect innocent civilians."
"Very good. You were just treated for a serious migraine. Do you recall anything from the last ten minutes?
"I remember everything until the end of my training."
"Do you remember everything before that?"
"I believe so."
Two days later, Severina was watching the final preparations being made on her Gundam. A needle was draining IV fluid into her body as a source of nourishment.
"How much longer should I let this go for?" she asked her dietician.
"Did you eat the entire meal prepared for you?" the woman checked the IV level.
"Yes."
"Then you will get even more energy than with just this. Give it another minute or two."
"Right," Severina nodded. Doctors were buzzing around her, attaching life monitor patches to her chest and temples.
"Yamato-san, your wardrobe has been packed in the storage compartment with food and water," an assistant reported.
"Arigatou."
"All systems up and running perfectly," a technician shouted from his station.
"Good," said Instructor H, "Severina, are you prepared?"
"Yes," Severina replied, taking the needle out of her arm. She zipped up her flight suit and stood up, slowly walking toward the transport shuttle that held hers and Quatre's Gundams.
At the pulley, she hooked her foot in the stirrup. The rope pulled her up to the platform.
"Shit," she breathed nervously. She sat down in her seat and put on her helmet, which had been sitting on the keyboard.
After fastening the harness, she closed the cockpit door. Severina's heart was pounding. She glanced nervously at the cockpit window and the computer board below it.
"Darksaber, commence operations," Instructor H. said through the comm. line.
"Roger."
"Prepare for launch."
"Roger," Yamato waited until she felt the force of the launcher to which her craft was attatched to before grabbing the steering device.
"Darksaber, you are clear for takeoff, engage thrusters." The air traffic controller reported.
"Roger. Turning on thrusters," the young woman tapped two buttons and pushed the joystick completely forward.
Severina sped off into space, heading for colony L2-X1988. (In GWD chapter one Severina said that she had Quatre's Gundam)
"This is Darksaber. I will sever communication transmissions in ten seconds.
"Roger. Good luck," Instructor H saluted on the screen.
"Thank you. Out," Severina said. She shut off her comm. line microphone, but kept her lines open to listen to the voices crackling on the Preventer frequencies.
"This is Quatre," one pilot's voice rang clearly through the static. "Preparing for L2-X1988 entry."
"The great Quatre Raberba Winner," Severina settled back in her seat. For the first time she could remember, she smiled.
~*housing facility living room*~
Severina's eyelids were fluttering. Quatre, who had let her lie back down, was sitting next to her, watching eagerly.
"She's coming out of it," Trowa stated. Duo, Kat, and Tom stood by, ready to restrain her.
"Mmf," Severina muttered as her eyelids slid open. She gazed at everyone before finally mumbling, "Those flashbacks give you one hell of a migraine."
"Glad to see that you're awake," Duo commented.
"Amen to that," Kat agreed.
"What time is it?" Yamato yawned. "How long was I out?"
"You were in that state for about half an hour," Tom replied as he looked at his watch.
"Half an hour? I've gotta get to the spaceport!" she tried to sit up, but Quatre held her down with a gentle hand.
"You're not going anywhere. I don't want anything happening to you," he grabbed her hand. For a long moment, there was a pause, and everyone in the room could feel the connection between them.
Severina was the first to look away.
"I don't care," she finally sighed. "It's not like I have any place to go. My whole life's a lie, anyway."
"Well, what are you going to do?" Kat asked.
"I suppose I'm just going to start over," a half-smile crept onto her face, a smile that let her pain show through. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need a nap."
Her green eyes were again lidded as she let out a heavy sigh. Within moments, she was asleep.
"If you're not letting her go," Duo wondered, "how long are you going to keep her here with you?"
"Until she gets away," Quatre tried to be funny, though he knew that he sounded miserable. But honestly, didn't care.
The End