Normally, she would have enjoyed the feeling of being up in the air, but this time she hated every second of it. She hated the way the other Dragonslayers had normal conversations as they flew towards the town they were going to obliterate off the face of the planet.
"How can you possibly speak like that? Do you realize what we are going to do to hundreds of people's lives? Have you no respect? Why are you not silent for those whose lives we are about to take? We are about to descend and rip and rend families apart here! Do you not care?" She spat into the radio, her emotion pure contempt and malice. The casual conversation stopped. They were all silent for the remainder of the journey, save Dilandau, who said one word. "Dive."
All of the mechas dropped, and she gracefully aimed the Libreia's nose down into the clouds. As the pressurized interior made her ears pop, she occasionally winced at the crackling pain. She circled above the town, wishing she could send a warning and an apology to the hapless citizens below.
Dilandau activated the invisibility cloak with Gabrielle's words ringing in his ears. She was going to hurt after this, and there was nothing he could do about it. He was going to have to order her to descend upon the town if she didn't do it herself. He watched her circle in the sky and could almost feel her anguish as she saw the first of the mechas land and begin pulverizing the town.
She flew to the other side of the town, landing gracefully in the streets. "Run!" She yelled through the dragon. "All of you! Please, run! Run for your lives! Run the other way, they're coming!" She yelled. She shifted the mecha's weight, and a small child ran out into the streets filled with pandemonium. She saw the side of a blue mecha crash into a building on purpose; It's massive arms ripping apart the residential building. The small child wailed and cried for it's mother, and looked up at the massive blue statue of doom above him.
She rushed forwards and scooped the child up in the dragon's claws, trying not to step on anybody, which was exceedingly hard. They were milling about like turbo-charged ants, screaming and running from the blue thing and the red and black dragon. She backed the Libreia up, accidentally smashing a building with the long, whiplike tail of the dragon. "No!" She cried in vain. A wall of the house came away, and several people lay dead in the rubble. "Mommy!" The child screamed, and Gabrielle felt her heart being torn into pieces. She had spared the child, but killed his mother. The child wriggled out of the mecha's metal grasp and jumped to the ground.
Just then, another blue mecha crashed through the other side of the building she had damaged. The blue mecha slid in front of her and flipped over from the impact, crushing the small child. Gabrielle screamed so loud she thought her eardrums would burst. "No! No, no, no, no, no!!" She screeched, the tears stinging her eyes. Her whole body shook with anger, and the mecha stood on it's two hind legs and let out a dragon's roar to the sky. Gabrielle held her head in her hands, and the mecha, still under her control, did the same.
More of the Dragonslayers appeared in response to her torn scream, surrounding her. They destroyed things in their way as they made way to her, and she screamed again. She heard voices crackling through the radio, but she was too distraught to make sense of them. All of the sudden, Dilandau's voice came through louder than the others. He yelled across the radio waves, "Everyone except Fox and I return to Zaibach immediately! It's under attack!"
Instantly, five huged engines blasted as the legs of the blue mechas retracted inside the metal bodies, propelling them into the air. Within a matter of seconds, the only people who remained were Gabrielle and Dilandau.
She called to him. "Why are we still here?" She asked in a panicked voice. "We have to stay and wait for the White Dragon. It's our only chance. You have to stay with me because I don't think it is within your capabilities to be at the base right now while it is under seige." He told her firmly, and she swallowed. Her eye travelled up to the sides of the mountains, where she had seen a flash of movement just a second before.
A purple wing membrane appeared against the white of the snow-capped mountain. She pointed the mecha's claw up to the mountaintop, and she yelled out, "Dilandau, look behind us, it's the White Dragon!" A mechanical hiss sounded as the red body of the mecha suit pivoted on the road. He turned just in time to see a shining mass of white, green, and purple smash into his body, sending the mecha reeling backwards, smashing into the ground.
The White Dragon stood overtop of the fallen Alseides, and then it's parts interchanged as it changed from the dragon into a different form. It now looked like a knight with a massive purple cape, and it withdrew a huge sword. Dilandau struggled, but couldn't shift the weight of the massive white mecha.
Gabrielle, seeing the arm of the mecha raised to slash down upon Dilandau's mecha, reacted even before the mechanics of the white knight sent the signals to the arm to slash down. She barreled into the white mass of metal, sending it sprawling into the ground some metres away. It lay still on the ground for a second, and then it made many metallic sounds as it's parts interchanged yet again and the dragon stood before her, it's green eyes burning in the white of it's metal. It ignored her for the moment and went straight for the red mecha, who by this time was standing, ready for him.
The White Dragon hit at Dilandau, but he avoided the blow, deflecting easily. The legs disappeared, and he shot straight into the air, almost teasing the dragon. The white one jumped up from the ground to try and snatch at the Alseides, but he missed on account of the red mecha had activated the invisibility cloak.
The Dragon snapped open it's wings and flapped them hard, pulling itself into the air. It swirved in a circle to gain speed before attempting to gain altitude. The dragon caught sight of Dilandau using infrared and slashed him across the chest with the curved blade that Gabrielle also posessed.
The systems in the Alseides shuddered and died, and the engines, losing their power source, let the Alsieides fall. The cloak shimmered and revealed Dilandau. The Alseides was left paralyzed, and the only thing Dilandau could command it to do was to release back it's legs to stand.
She observed that he didn't move, and she could see through the damaged doors of the cockpit that he was trying desperately in vain to move the massive suit. As the White Dragon thrusted forward to deliver the final blow that would kill the pilot inside, Gabrielle dove forward, spreading the Libreia's red wings, and blocking the dragon's potentially fatal blow. The dragon struck at her again and again, but she found she could almost read his moves before he executed them, and slapped them aside with an apparent grace that surprised all three pilots. She shouted at the White Dragon, "Get away from him, you bastard!" The reply was almost instantaneous.
"Make me!" She heard the voice reply from the opposing mecha. "Fine, I will!" She screeched back, and she delivered an unexpectedly hard punch to the head of the dragon, relishing the sound of the punch connecting and the shorting circuits. She commanded the Libreia's central computer system; "Activate flamethrower four, full power!"
A valve opened and interchanged the Libreia's right claws with a flamethrower, blasting the White Dragon with searing heat. She then gave the command to rechange the flamethrower with the scythe on her claws. She gouged at the Dragon, but it recoiled and she sliced only air. She heard a humming noise directly behind her and twisted full force at the direction of the sound, careful not to step on the mecha beneath her.
The White Dragon had attempted to fire a laser from it's mouth, but the mouth of the dragon was askew and the shot missed her completely and fired into the sky, punching a hole in a cloud high above them. The dragon made an attempt at getting at the Alseides from an odd angle to surprise her, but she lashed her tail and delivered a heavy blow to his shoulder, which sparked under the impact and sent some debris flying. She heard the pilot cry out inside. He must have been joined to the mecha by blood crystal, like she was. That meant that any damage deliverd to the mecha was felt by the pilot as well. She felt remorse for the pilot, but she knew that he posed a threat to her, so she assumed a defensive posture.
She slashed out with her right arm, the scythe easily ripping through the purple fabric of the White Dragon's wing membrane, and she tore up into the air with it, still attached to her claws. She flew up to almost equal the start of the snow on the mountains, and flipped and sent the White Dragon hurtling towards the ground. She chased after it and saw it crash into the ground, and she heard his pained cry.
The dragon convulsed and then it's failing systems allowed one more shape change into the White Knight. It got up just as she landed, and she saw the huge tear in the cape where she had ripped it. The hydraulics whined as it stood, and it pounded off into the distance, diving for cover into the deep green foliage.
She shook as she sat in the pilot's seat, her body involuntarily twitching with the aftermath of shock and panic. She was breathing heavily. She stood absolutely still until she felt confident the white thing was really gone, and then she turned around to face the Alseides. She sent a radio signal.
"D-Dilandau?" She stammered. She heard no reply, so she exited the Libreia and ran up to the shorting body of the Alseides. She saw Dilandau inside. She was very quiet as she climbed the rim of the Alseides, trying to get to the smashed up cockpit. She heard him talking.
"... Oh God... She must be dead... I can't see her. I must have lost another one. Why did she have to fight him? Now I'm alone. I'm going to die here..." He said to himself, his back to her, his head in his hands. "D-Dilandau?" She called softly, quaking so hard that the metal and plastic of her armour was clicking on the Alseides. His head snapped up from his hands. "Dilandau... I'm b-behind you." She said. He turned around.
"You're alive!" He exclaimed. For the first time since she had met him, she actually detected emotion in his voice. She crawled over the twisted and torn metal and fell into the cockpit. She got on her hands and knees shakily. "I-I did it." She said, and she gripped her arms as if she were cold. She shook in spasmic waves as the adrenaline's effect died off, and her pupils were contracted to pinpoints. She hung her head and began to cry, not caring that she was in front of him.
"What's wrong?" He asked her, although he was sure he already knew the answer. "I-I-I'm a monster! I k-killed someone, Dilandau! Th-They're dead because of m-me!" She started. He was right. "I killed the m-mother. It w-was an accident, I swear! A-and then, the kid got away from me, and..." She started to sob as the image replayed again and again in her mind of the mecha falling on top of the child. "The kid was killed!" She blurted and she shook harder than ever before. "And all those o-other people I saw d-die..." She cried. "Dead, and it's all my f-fault! I'm a murderer!"
He sat at the other end of the cockpit, watching her cry, listening to her. She cried and looked so alone that he just wanted to go to her and tell her it was alright. He questioned this, because he wondered if it was right to do. He was so confused. He watched her cry for another moment or so, and then he shuffled across the cockpit, filled with shards of twisted metal and broken glass. He held himself back for a second, but then he gently put his arms around her. "Shh." He said, imitating so many other people he'd seen when they did this. "Shh..." He repeated, and her crying grew softer.
"Come on, we have to go back now," He whispered to her, and her crying slowly died away. He nervously pulled away from her, and she sat there, looking for all the world like a broken soul. "Come, now." He insisted, and he backed up from her. He offered his hand to her, and she gently took it. He noticed the feeling in his back had returned when he'd hugged her. She stood up slowly, brushing herself off, and he helped her out of the wrecked suit. They jumped and landed on the ground, Dilandau buckling on one knee. "You're hurt," She said. "It's nothing. Let's go." He said in a commanding voice, and she followed behind him, trying not to see the image of the child being crushed that was burned, it seemed, in the backs of her eyelids.
"Libreia, open." She said very quietly. Password? The computer asked. "Canada." She replied. Access granted. It said, and the doors opened. She stepped into the cockpit again, sitting in the seat. Dilandau slipped in beside the seat, and made himself small enough that he could fit. She was mildly surprised; He was five foot nine inches tall. She showed none of her surprise, and she commanded the door to shut. "Interior flight control." She said in a small voice. Yes, commander Fox. The computer answered. "Can you open a radio channel to the base?" She asked. At once, commander. The computer replied.
"Status report," Crackled a voice. "Mission failed. I dealt damage to the White Dragon, but he escaped. Alseides has been nearly destroyed. Dilandau is with me. Is the base still under attack? Over." She asked. There was a slight pause. "No. Please return immediately.Over and out." The voice said. She took in a shaky breath.
"Let's go." She said quietly, and the Libreia fired up and took off, adjusting the directory for the Fortress. The mecha streaked up into the sky, looking hundreds of times better than the pilot who was operating it felt. She wordlessly operated the controls, making sure they weren't being followed.
"Oh. I forgot to mention," Dilandau said, breaking the silence. "We're going to eat when we get back first thing, and then..." He trailed off. "And then what?" She asked in a flat tone that Dilandau usually used. "I have to take you to see some people." He finished quickly. "Okay," She said innocently and obediently.
She continued to stare blankly. "Gabrielle, there's nothing we can do about it, okay? I understand that you feel guilty, and so do I sometimes. But we cannot change what people tell us to do. It is not in our place. Please understand, I implore you." He said in a tone that betrayed his concern. She lifted the vision unit for a second to look at him. Their gazes met, and she stared into his eyes until he looked away. "Watch out, I think we're approaching the base." He said quietly. She replaced the visual unit and steered the Libreia into the docking bay.
"How can you possibly speak like that? Do you realize what we are going to do to hundreds of people's lives? Have you no respect? Why are you not silent for those whose lives we are about to take? We are about to descend and rip and rend families apart here! Do you not care?" She spat into the radio, her emotion pure contempt and malice. The casual conversation stopped. They were all silent for the remainder of the journey, save Dilandau, who said one word. "Dive."
All of the mechas dropped, and she gracefully aimed the Libreia's nose down into the clouds. As the pressurized interior made her ears pop, she occasionally winced at the crackling pain. She circled above the town, wishing she could send a warning and an apology to the hapless citizens below.
Dilandau activated the invisibility cloak with Gabrielle's words ringing in his ears. She was going to hurt after this, and there was nothing he could do about it. He was going to have to order her to descend upon the town if she didn't do it herself. He watched her circle in the sky and could almost feel her anguish as she saw the first of the mechas land and begin pulverizing the town.
She flew to the other side of the town, landing gracefully in the streets. "Run!" She yelled through the dragon. "All of you! Please, run! Run for your lives! Run the other way, they're coming!" She yelled. She shifted the mecha's weight, and a small child ran out into the streets filled with pandemonium. She saw the side of a blue mecha crash into a building on purpose; It's massive arms ripping apart the residential building. The small child wailed and cried for it's mother, and looked up at the massive blue statue of doom above him.
She rushed forwards and scooped the child up in the dragon's claws, trying not to step on anybody, which was exceedingly hard. They were milling about like turbo-charged ants, screaming and running from the blue thing and the red and black dragon. She backed the Libreia up, accidentally smashing a building with the long, whiplike tail of the dragon. "No!" She cried in vain. A wall of the house came away, and several people lay dead in the rubble. "Mommy!" The child screamed, and Gabrielle felt her heart being torn into pieces. She had spared the child, but killed his mother. The child wriggled out of the mecha's metal grasp and jumped to the ground.
Just then, another blue mecha crashed through the other side of the building she had damaged. The blue mecha slid in front of her and flipped over from the impact, crushing the small child. Gabrielle screamed so loud she thought her eardrums would burst. "No! No, no, no, no, no!!" She screeched, the tears stinging her eyes. Her whole body shook with anger, and the mecha stood on it's two hind legs and let out a dragon's roar to the sky. Gabrielle held her head in her hands, and the mecha, still under her control, did the same.
More of the Dragonslayers appeared in response to her torn scream, surrounding her. They destroyed things in their way as they made way to her, and she screamed again. She heard voices crackling through the radio, but she was too distraught to make sense of them. All of the sudden, Dilandau's voice came through louder than the others. He yelled across the radio waves, "Everyone except Fox and I return to Zaibach immediately! It's under attack!"
Instantly, five huged engines blasted as the legs of the blue mechas retracted inside the metal bodies, propelling them into the air. Within a matter of seconds, the only people who remained were Gabrielle and Dilandau.
She called to him. "Why are we still here?" She asked in a panicked voice. "We have to stay and wait for the White Dragon. It's our only chance. You have to stay with me because I don't think it is within your capabilities to be at the base right now while it is under seige." He told her firmly, and she swallowed. Her eye travelled up to the sides of the mountains, where she had seen a flash of movement just a second before.
A purple wing membrane appeared against the white of the snow-capped mountain. She pointed the mecha's claw up to the mountaintop, and she yelled out, "Dilandau, look behind us, it's the White Dragon!" A mechanical hiss sounded as the red body of the mecha suit pivoted on the road. He turned just in time to see a shining mass of white, green, and purple smash into his body, sending the mecha reeling backwards, smashing into the ground.
The White Dragon stood overtop of the fallen Alseides, and then it's parts interchanged as it changed from the dragon into a different form. It now looked like a knight with a massive purple cape, and it withdrew a huge sword. Dilandau struggled, but couldn't shift the weight of the massive white mecha.
Gabrielle, seeing the arm of the mecha raised to slash down upon Dilandau's mecha, reacted even before the mechanics of the white knight sent the signals to the arm to slash down. She barreled into the white mass of metal, sending it sprawling into the ground some metres away. It lay still on the ground for a second, and then it made many metallic sounds as it's parts interchanged yet again and the dragon stood before her, it's green eyes burning in the white of it's metal. It ignored her for the moment and went straight for the red mecha, who by this time was standing, ready for him.
The White Dragon hit at Dilandau, but he avoided the blow, deflecting easily. The legs disappeared, and he shot straight into the air, almost teasing the dragon. The white one jumped up from the ground to try and snatch at the Alseides, but he missed on account of the red mecha had activated the invisibility cloak.
The Dragon snapped open it's wings and flapped them hard, pulling itself into the air. It swirved in a circle to gain speed before attempting to gain altitude. The dragon caught sight of Dilandau using infrared and slashed him across the chest with the curved blade that Gabrielle also posessed.
The systems in the Alseides shuddered and died, and the engines, losing their power source, let the Alsieides fall. The cloak shimmered and revealed Dilandau. The Alseides was left paralyzed, and the only thing Dilandau could command it to do was to release back it's legs to stand.
She observed that he didn't move, and she could see through the damaged doors of the cockpit that he was trying desperately in vain to move the massive suit. As the White Dragon thrusted forward to deliver the final blow that would kill the pilot inside, Gabrielle dove forward, spreading the Libreia's red wings, and blocking the dragon's potentially fatal blow. The dragon struck at her again and again, but she found she could almost read his moves before he executed them, and slapped them aside with an apparent grace that surprised all three pilots. She shouted at the White Dragon, "Get away from him, you bastard!" The reply was almost instantaneous.
"Make me!" She heard the voice reply from the opposing mecha. "Fine, I will!" She screeched back, and she delivered an unexpectedly hard punch to the head of the dragon, relishing the sound of the punch connecting and the shorting circuits. She commanded the Libreia's central computer system; "Activate flamethrower four, full power!"
A valve opened and interchanged the Libreia's right claws with a flamethrower, blasting the White Dragon with searing heat. She then gave the command to rechange the flamethrower with the scythe on her claws. She gouged at the Dragon, but it recoiled and she sliced only air. She heard a humming noise directly behind her and twisted full force at the direction of the sound, careful not to step on the mecha beneath her.
The White Dragon had attempted to fire a laser from it's mouth, but the mouth of the dragon was askew and the shot missed her completely and fired into the sky, punching a hole in a cloud high above them. The dragon made an attempt at getting at the Alseides from an odd angle to surprise her, but she lashed her tail and delivered a heavy blow to his shoulder, which sparked under the impact and sent some debris flying. She heard the pilot cry out inside. He must have been joined to the mecha by blood crystal, like she was. That meant that any damage deliverd to the mecha was felt by the pilot as well. She felt remorse for the pilot, but she knew that he posed a threat to her, so she assumed a defensive posture.
She slashed out with her right arm, the scythe easily ripping through the purple fabric of the White Dragon's wing membrane, and she tore up into the air with it, still attached to her claws. She flew up to almost equal the start of the snow on the mountains, and flipped and sent the White Dragon hurtling towards the ground. She chased after it and saw it crash into the ground, and she heard his pained cry.
The dragon convulsed and then it's failing systems allowed one more shape change into the White Knight. It got up just as she landed, and she saw the huge tear in the cape where she had ripped it. The hydraulics whined as it stood, and it pounded off into the distance, diving for cover into the deep green foliage.
She shook as she sat in the pilot's seat, her body involuntarily twitching with the aftermath of shock and panic. She was breathing heavily. She stood absolutely still until she felt confident the white thing was really gone, and then she turned around to face the Alseides. She sent a radio signal.
"D-Dilandau?" She stammered. She heard no reply, so she exited the Libreia and ran up to the shorting body of the Alseides. She saw Dilandau inside. She was very quiet as she climbed the rim of the Alseides, trying to get to the smashed up cockpit. She heard him talking.
"... Oh God... She must be dead... I can't see her. I must have lost another one. Why did she have to fight him? Now I'm alone. I'm going to die here..." He said to himself, his back to her, his head in his hands. "D-Dilandau?" She called softly, quaking so hard that the metal and plastic of her armour was clicking on the Alseides. His head snapped up from his hands. "Dilandau... I'm b-behind you." She said. He turned around.
"You're alive!" He exclaimed. For the first time since she had met him, she actually detected emotion in his voice. She crawled over the twisted and torn metal and fell into the cockpit. She got on her hands and knees shakily. "I-I did it." She said, and she gripped her arms as if she were cold. She shook in spasmic waves as the adrenaline's effect died off, and her pupils were contracted to pinpoints. She hung her head and began to cry, not caring that she was in front of him.
"What's wrong?" He asked her, although he was sure he already knew the answer. "I-I-I'm a monster! I k-killed someone, Dilandau! Th-They're dead because of m-me!" She started. He was right. "I killed the m-mother. It w-was an accident, I swear! A-and then, the kid got away from me, and..." She started to sob as the image replayed again and again in her mind of the mecha falling on top of the child. "The kid was killed!" She blurted and she shook harder than ever before. "And all those o-other people I saw d-die..." She cried. "Dead, and it's all my f-fault! I'm a murderer!"
He sat at the other end of the cockpit, watching her cry, listening to her. She cried and looked so alone that he just wanted to go to her and tell her it was alright. He questioned this, because he wondered if it was right to do. He was so confused. He watched her cry for another moment or so, and then he shuffled across the cockpit, filled with shards of twisted metal and broken glass. He held himself back for a second, but then he gently put his arms around her. "Shh." He said, imitating so many other people he'd seen when they did this. "Shh..." He repeated, and her crying grew softer.
"Come on, we have to go back now," He whispered to her, and her crying slowly died away. He nervously pulled away from her, and she sat there, looking for all the world like a broken soul. "Come, now." He insisted, and he backed up from her. He offered his hand to her, and she gently took it. He noticed the feeling in his back had returned when he'd hugged her. She stood up slowly, brushing herself off, and he helped her out of the wrecked suit. They jumped and landed on the ground, Dilandau buckling on one knee. "You're hurt," She said. "It's nothing. Let's go." He said in a commanding voice, and she followed behind him, trying not to see the image of the child being crushed that was burned, it seemed, in the backs of her eyelids.
"Libreia, open." She said very quietly. Password? The computer asked. "Canada." She replied. Access granted. It said, and the doors opened. She stepped into the cockpit again, sitting in the seat. Dilandau slipped in beside the seat, and made himself small enough that he could fit. She was mildly surprised; He was five foot nine inches tall. She showed none of her surprise, and she commanded the door to shut. "Interior flight control." She said in a small voice. Yes, commander Fox. The computer answered. "Can you open a radio channel to the base?" She asked. At once, commander. The computer replied.
"Status report," Crackled a voice. "Mission failed. I dealt damage to the White Dragon, but he escaped. Alseides has been nearly destroyed. Dilandau is with me. Is the base still under attack? Over." She asked. There was a slight pause. "No. Please return immediately.Over and out." The voice said. She took in a shaky breath.
"Let's go." She said quietly, and the Libreia fired up and took off, adjusting the directory for the Fortress. The mecha streaked up into the sky, looking hundreds of times better than the pilot who was operating it felt. She wordlessly operated the controls, making sure they weren't being followed.
"Oh. I forgot to mention," Dilandau said, breaking the silence. "We're going to eat when we get back first thing, and then..." He trailed off. "And then what?" She asked in a flat tone that Dilandau usually used. "I have to take you to see some people." He finished quickly. "Okay," She said innocently and obediently.
She continued to stare blankly. "Gabrielle, there's nothing we can do about it, okay? I understand that you feel guilty, and so do I sometimes. But we cannot change what people tell us to do. It is not in our place. Please understand, I implore you." He said in a tone that betrayed his concern. She lifted the vision unit for a second to look at him. Their gazes met, and she stared into his eyes until he looked away. "Watch out, I think we're approaching the base." He said quietly. She replaced the visual unit and steered the Libreia into the docking bay.