A/N: No, I'm not dead. I've just been uninspired. But I've started watching some of my old ZOIDS tapes and I got motivated. This is really long for you because I took so long. I hope ya'll are still reading this. I've not given up on everything else either! I'm just busy with everything and this, that and the other thing.
Youji: This, that and the other thing? What, Bishonen, sleep and candy?
Shh!! *Covers muse's mouth* Don't be tellin' all my business Kudou!
" You're going to take him away?"
" That's what Van says. I want to gut him and leave him in the desert for the buzzards."
" Raven…"
" No! Don't 'Raven' me! He attacked us Moonbay! Attacked us! He was bound and determine to put a bullet in both our heads!"
Raven and Moonbay were in a VIP room while waiting for the prisoner to arrive at the Wind Colony military base. Seifer and Taylor had gone right back to sleep after all the excitement. It didn't seem to faze those two at all.
The adults were the only ones were the only ones who seemed to be concerned. Moonbay and Fiona were a little more relaxed now that they were in a military base. Raven and Van weren't. Now whether this was their soldier training or protective instinct towards family, they didn't know, but the boys weren't as calm as they were.
Fiona and Moonbay were content to let someone else handle it. They would have been willing to investigate it themselves, but they had a family now. They were mothers and they didn't have that adventurous instinct that they had when they were younger. They wouldn't hesitate to fight had they not had children, but right now; their main priority was keeping their children safe.
Raven wanted to retaliate because he didn't want these people to think they were going to punk him. He didn't want them to think they could just attack his family and get away with it. He wanted someone to pay for what happened. This man that they had now intended to kill them. He didn't want to kill him, no, that would be an easy punishment. He wanted to beat the hell outta him, then maybe kill him.
" I know that! But if you kill him we'll never know where his base is and another will just come to replace him!"
" You say that like you're not angry."
" WHAT?! Don't you dare say that!! Of course I'm angry! He attacked us! He could have hit Seifer or you! But I've had to restrain myself just like you because I want to end this, not just get revenge!!"
Raven snarled and punched the wall. He knew that wasn't a fair shot he took at her. She probably was as angry as he was. He was just frustrated. He felt so helpless. He wanted to do something. But he couldn't do anything but wait until they had any information.
He sighed and sat down on the plain white military issued bed. This was so hard! He thought he was through fighting for his life. His war was supposed to be over. Why did he have to be constantly reminded that he used to be a bad person? He wasn't like that anymore. He didn't kill and destroy.
He felt a dip in the bed and heard the springs. Moonbay was sitting next to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him to lean his head on her shoulder. He complied and slipped an arm around her waist.
" Why won't they leave us alone, Baybay? I just want my family and my life. Why can't I have that?"
She suppressed a sigh and absentmindedly ran her fingers through his hair. " I don't know. I wish it were easy Raven. But, it's not. I'm sorry."
They sat there a while in comfortable silence; each of them thinking silently. Moonbay hummed a little bit while slightly rocking Raven. She didn't even seem to be aware she was doing it until she felt him shift. He moved back until his back was against the wall and pulled Moonbay with him. He returned to his position with his head on her shoulder and his arms around her waist.
" Raven, you have to go to the interrogation room later don't you?"
He murmured a response. Something like 'Mmmfmmnnnmmm'.
" I'm sorry, can I have that in English?"
" …Talk later…sleep now…"
Moonbay rolled her eyes and started to get up, but he pulled her back down and went right back to his position. " You too."
" But I'm not-"
He turned her to face him. " Sleep woman."
She sighed in resignation. Fine, she would sleep. She didn't sleep very long with him before they got there so why not sleep now? They were safe in the military institute. They wouldn't have to worry about anything right now because the base was on high alert. Might as well get some sleep.
" Fine. But don't call me woman!"
****************
Raven glared at the prisoner behind the interrogation glass. Colonel Karl Shubaltz was talking to the man right now. Raven tried to make the man burst into blue flames with his glare. He hated this man. He wanted to kill him. Literally. He wanted to put his hands around the man's throat and choke him until he ceased to breathe. Or grab him by the neck and twist until he heard that satisfying crunch.
Stop that. He chastised himself. Stop thinking those things. You're not that person anymore. You're not a killer. You promised her. You promised.
He sighed and rested his head to the cool glass; trying to calm the anger inside. He tried to think of something else. Something other than the thought of breaking the window and beating the man inside into a bloody pulp.
He tried to think of his favorite memory. It was last spring when he was on leave. Seifer was playing in their field with Shadow; wrestling with the organoid and playing hide and seek. Moonbay was standing in the same field. Flowers were all around her; white, yellow, green, pink, blue and purple. She was wearing a pastel yellow sundress with red petals on it. There was a hat on her head too; keeping her free hair tamed and in place as the wind blew. He was sitting by the fence; lightly dozing and occasionally peeking when the wind blew Moonbay's dress up in the back.
Raven smiled fondly at the memory. That was a good one. At least it calmed him down. He looked at the man inside again. Karl was writing something down. This would take all night. He might as well this to the Colonel and go do something else.
Like trying to find these GOZ people. Why were they after him now? Why not aid the Guardian Force way back when and face him then? And his family had nothing to do with this? If anything they should be thanking Moonbay. She was the reason he wasn't still running around tearing up Zi and blowing up every town and village and stealing whatever he thought was valuable.
Moonbay changed his life. She loved him when everyone else wanted him dead and hated him. She was willing to defend him against her friends whom she'd known hella longer than she'd known him. She cared when no one else did and she wouldn't give up on him. He owed a lot to her.
" I promised her I would not kill anymore…"
Though now he was threatened. His family was threatened. He didn't know what it was like to have something to lose before, but now he knew. Raven didn't know didn't know what it was like or how to protect someone, but he was going to now. Moonbay and Seifer meant everything to him and he wasn't about to let some GOZ yarous take them away. But, he'd have to do it without killing them. Moonbay would cry for them if they died. He didn't want her to cry at all. Least of all for some people trying to kill them.
" Raven?"
The ex-Geno Breaker pilot opened his eyes and turned around at the voice. It was Moonbay. She had changed clothes and was standing in the doorway. She was wearing her usual outfit, only it was black and gray instead of being bright orange. She had started to wear darker colors the more she was with him. She'd said he was infectious.
" What are you doing here?" He looked over at her in slight confusion.
" I was worried about you. Van said you were upset."
He shrugged. " I'm better now. Don't worry. I thought you were asleep?"
" I was. But I wanted to see what you were up to."
He turned back to the glass. The GOZ man was standing up now and shouting his head off. Karl was looking at him lazily. The man must have been going on and on about the same thing for him to be tired like that. Karl would say something every now and then, then the man would go off again on a rant.
Raven sighed and rested his head on the glass. It had been a very long day. A very long and stressfully hard day. He was tired and irritated. No clues so far, but the interrogation wasn't over. They were no closer with their initial searches of the areas than they were when they started. If the cross-examination proved fruitless, then Raven would take matters into his own hands. He would make the prisoner talk. He refused to wait for the next attack for a clue to come along.
His fist clenched against the glass and he was once again glaring at the GOZ. This was his entire fault. That bastard! First by coming into his home, then by attacking his family. He'd lost one family to his enemy and damn if he'd lose another! Sanctimonious, pompous, arrogant-
" Raven…"
He was torn from his mental ranting when he felt Moonbay's hand over his clenched fist. Her other hand came up to rest on his shoulder while she rested against him. He could feel her heartbeat in his back and her breath on his neck. His fist unclenched and he slowly relaxed too.
" Are you worried about this?" He didn't turn from looking into the room.
" I was at first, I admit. But then I remembered all the people that cared about us. All the people willing to help us. Our friends and co-workers. You and Van have saved the world. You've changed. You're not a bad person anymore. Not everyone forgives you, but they give you a chance. These GOZ 'people' are not the same people that we see everyday. These people only see hate. They don't want to move on, they don't want to forgive; they don't want to be happy. They just want to hate you and try to justify it. Try probably either hated the Republic or the Imperials if not both before the war. And now that there's no war, they want to focus on hating you."
Raven nodded and reached his free hand up to cover hers on his shoulder. " I can ignore them hating me. This doesn't matter. I can ignore them trying to hurt me. This doesn't matter either. But when they try to hurt my family, I can't ignore that. I want to retaliate."
Moonbay made a 'hmm' noise. " I know. I know you do. But you can't. You'll be proving them right. And my baby's not a killer. But you are a hero to that little boy in the hanger."
" He really looks up to me, huh?" He let his fist drop down and hang limply and looked back at her.
" Kitto!" She smiled brightly at him.
Raven rolled his eyes at her. " Baka."
" You love me for it, ne? And no one would dare attack us in a military base, so I'm chillin'!"
He let out a bark of laughter and shoved at her playfully. " You are so silly!"
She stuck her tongue out at him, and then squeaked unexpectedly when he turned and bit at it. He smirked when she blushed at the action. " Stay on guard Moon goddess."
" Bad boy."
" Oooo, punish me." Raven's hands wandered from her hand and the window to 'other places' of their own accord.
" Ah!" Moonbay jumped and slapped his arm. " Raven! You so nasty!"
Raven chuckled and turned back to face the cross-examination room. There was someone else in there with Karl now. Ah, good cop/bad cop. He knew that routine. He'd pissed off more than a few officials with his nonchalant attitude towards them when they did that.
The scary part was that it was actually working.
" Seems like they actually got somewhere, ne?" He nodded towards the window.
She came over and looked over his shoulder. " Yep. Seems like they got something outta him. Finally got a lead! Told ya this wasn't hopeless ya pessimist ya!"
**************
" His name is Anji Baiken. He had a job in a Iron Kong plant but he quit suddenly a year ago. He has a wife named Millia Baiken and a daughter named Bridget. But he hasn't been to see them in the past year."
Raven, Van and the rest of the Guardian Force listened as Karl explained all he learned from the questioning with the GOZ follower. They frowned when they heard the part about him abandoning his family and grabbed the hand of their wives; more for their reassurances than the girls.
So far, they had learned that the man had left his job and his family because Raven had killed one of his co-workers in a base he destroyed. Said pilot flinched when he heard that. But he wasn't exactly in the wrong on that particular battle, that base fired on him first. Though, that didn't seem to matter to Anji. Anji hated Raven and he joined GOZ to kill him. Raven bristled at that. This man had turned his back on everything just because of his hatred of him. Moonbay had been right about these people.
Van closed the folder in front of him. " Do you know where their base of operations is?"
" Yes," A map appeared behind Karl and a yellow dot appeared in the center of it," This is where we think his base is. The area around it is New Vashin City. New Vashin City is not a confrontational city. They won't let our troops in so we'll have to sneak in. Van, Raven, Thomas! You three are going to have to lead the rookies in this. I don't trust this to them alone."
The three nodded. Karl gave a few more instructions, but Raven wasn't really paying attention. He was thinking. He would be able to get the people who attacked his home and his family. But, somehow, it felt like it shouldn't feel this easy. Not to say he wasn't happy to have it over, it just seemed that there should be more to it. It was too organized, too good for just some group of farmers with nothing to do but hate him and terrorize his home.
" –ven?" Raven?!"
" Nnm? What? Who called me?"
Van grabbed his shoulder standing to leave after everyone else. " Right here. Time to go pal. We gotta go. Squad leader says."
" Oh, dispatch-wait a minute! Who said your squad leader?"
Van looked surprised. " You want to be the leader?"
" Don't look so surprised! I can lead!"
" The Air Force Raven! This is on land. You might just be out of your league."
" And you might just be out of your mind! I can lead these rookies just as well if not better than you and Thomas combine!!"
" I can't believe you wanna be leader!"
" Well I should be! Your such a papaya head!" Raven slapped him from behind the head.
" Oh yeah?! I've gotten you outta plenty of messes before!"
" That's nothing compared to the mess you make when you eat!"
" I do not!"
" Do too!"
" I do not!"
" Do too!"
" Well I'm the leader and that's that!" Van crossed his arms and stuck his nose in the air.
" Well why should I listen to a ditz like you?!"
" Well maybe because I'm Van Flyheight, defeater of the Deathsaurer!"
" All I know is you must be wearing that ponytail of yours too tight!"