Chapter 5: Hush little baby, don't you cry…
She found him seated and looking out over the ever changing desert and the harsh colours of the sunset, dressed in the grey robes of a prisoner, his eyes distant, his pose submissive.
"…Hiltz?"
She received no answer. Rhyss shivered. Like all Reapers she could sense his thoughts, but the fact that his mind was empty was chilling. Nothing came out of it. Just dull greyness that filled her with dread. Perhaps Payne had sapped all the fight left in him? How then would they secure their Hertz? The last thing stopping them from allowing the Zoidians to regain power?
"Hiltz…please…" She reached out to touch his arm; to their horror, they had discovered that touch was also a fundamental part of their new culture, just as it was with the natives. However, instead of sending a soothing surge of energy into his body, she shrank back when he twitched his arm away and all she got was a blast of stinging cold.
"Don't touch me." Came the whisper.
"…Payne said you fought it."
"To be expected."
"Hiltz!"
He turned and spat in her face. "Fuck off!"
Rhyss narrowed her icy turquoise eyes and wiped it off her face. Then she did the unexpected.
She hit him to the floor.
"Don't you dare do that again, rookie. I was a Reaper before you were a twinkle in your father's eye! Snivelling half-breed! Did you really think that I joined your little circus to further your power?"
"Yes, I should have realised that once a Reaper, always a Reaper. Now I'm infected by a stupid fucking slug and you stand in front of me bleating some shit about how I should feel privileged." Hiltz snarled back, still sprawled on the floor. He pulled himself up to sit. "You know, we always wondered how the hell your lot kept in contact over such long distances without using radio communications. You used Merns. One of the lowest life forms on Zi-ugh…" He doubled over and clutched his stomach in pain.
"Stop it." Rhyss snapped, sitting down heavily beside him. "You should have taken those drugs we gave you to still it's hunger."
"Hunger? The fuck?" He moaned from his position on the ground, grovelling in the dirt.
"Here." She placed the container in front of him, filled with a strange blue tinted liquid. "Filled with everything an infant Reaper needs."
"I'm not a Reaper!"
"When the growing pains finish, you'll be just like us, Hiltz. And you still fight it. I don't understand." She said, watching him spasm on the floor, grasp the container and rip the lid off to bring it to his lips. He swallowed hastily, almost choking himself amidst tears of shame. "There? See? All better. And slowly but surely it'll become a part of your body and you'll be just like us."
"I…I don't want…" Hands scratched at the ground in an attempt to transfer some of the pain to somewhere else.
"Hush, darling." Rhyss got up and crouched beside him, then in a business like way brought his head to her chest and began to stroke his hair. "I served you and your beloved Gunther for Payne. Because that way we could keep tabs on you, and I could make sure the Kaiser program would work…"
"I…hate you…"
"You're not the first, Hiltz. We've charmed all sorts over to our cause and set them to hunt their fellows. Are you aware your sister Lain sought out a few Delnia settlements and succeeded in destroying them completely? She was wonderful. Of course, because she wasn't a Zoidian, at least, full blooded, she never reached her fifteenth birthday. It consumed her…we had to put a bullet in her brain when she was too weak to do the job and bleeding too much to cover up." She ignored Hiltz' futile struggles. "Of course, you're not going into puberty, so that's okay. You're full grown, or at least, you have been for the last two years, yes? Stop struggling. The only problem I can see is the fact that you're more Delnian than your sister, so you probably have…at the most…three years to enjoy having the power of a God over the cattle. But with any luck we can secure your Hertz and let you fuck his brains out before he's ready so he's useless. Of course, since he'll be the broken and sorry bastard we all think he is, he'll be useless to make new Zoid cores to help the cattle win the fight, or make any new Rare Hertz…but he'll still warm you bed. No mind of his own, but he'll be a nice reward after a hard day enforcing our rule, yes? We can run the arrogant humans into the ground and reinstate the new dominant species as the Zoidians. Now and forever."
"I won't do it. I won't hurt him."
"You won't be able to resist." Rhyss patted his head with motherly affection. "With all of us behind you, you won't be able to resist. If it makes you feel any better, you won't feel a thing. I doubt you'll be conscious if you keep fighting. Just like the supposed final battle."
"What the hell makes you think you can make new Zoid cores? Without Prozen ZoidEVE is useless. The only reason She activated was because of his presence."
"Fiona's."
Hiltz hissed.
"Yes, I see you know now. Yes, little Lynette, our crowning glory."
"She's Zoidian."
"And as well as being one of us, she will carry our new source of power in her womb, the new and improved Dark Kaiser. ZoidADAM. He will save us."
"You're insane."
"Of course."
Rhyss sent more thoughts of sleep into Hiltz' mind and finally he slid into a light doze. But his tears of shame and fear still fell; she could feel them against her skin. And somewhere, in her mind, she wondered if she was doing the right thing.
~ to be continued.
Just thought you needed a Hiltz update ^^
A/N I'm glad the feedback is good so far, but you know what? I'm curious as to the fact I haven't been flamed for shonen-ai/ Prozen useage…but then, nobody reads anything with him in it, ne?
My apologies to Maelgwyn for my lack of beta reading (and therefore spelling mistakes)- I HAVE NO PATIENCE! Hehe I'm terrible. *rolls across the page* Nyuuuuuuuu~~
Hmm…my action figure of Raziel (SoulReaver, complete with loss of jaw…my dad's (hopefully) tracking down the pre-fallen version of him *swoon*) is a sad, sad bastard. He's currently out of his cowl and riding his staff with an arm in the air. Man, he needs to get laid. ;) I really want Kain tho'. Kain is ver' sexy…rrrowl!! Wraith is lucky to have a dad like him ^^
