Remembering Akima

Disclaimer: Same as before. I don't own the lyrics of Bryan Adam's I Do it For You.

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After the entire Misfit household had collapsed into bed for the night, Bilby found he couldn't sleep. Because, technically, he was still in a combat zone he picked up his rifle and belt kit with some ammunition from the locked safe down in the basement and walked outside until he found a grassy knoll atop a hill overlooking the rugged wilderness outside of the Pit.

The night was clear and the stars shone bright with the light of the half moon. He laid his telescopic rifle across his knees and found the calm center. Every chance he took, he would take his soul out, the tattered remnants of it, and look at it. He could almost hear a voice in his head. Was he going crazy?

"They're beautiful, aren't they snake eater?" said a feminine voice with just a touch of sarcastic humor combined with a musical lilt.

Bilby turned his head and turned pale white, as if he'd seen a ghost. Sure there were legends of spirits that survived whenever worlds were devoured by the Heartless, but those were just campfire tales that the twits in the infantry used to tell the boy soldiers around the bivouacs to give them a good scare or start a good piss up. "Akima?"

"You're not imagining things." Said another female voice. As Bilby turned his head, he could see her, a dark haired, slim and lithe figure leaning against the big stalwart oak tree behind him. Akima.

Bilby turned and saw the Fairy Godmother standing beside him, "The story, the 'Bloody old wives tale' as your fellow soldiers so eloquently put it, is true. The pure of heart, the strong of spirit always survive as mere echoes. They will be restored once the Heartless are defeated and the world restored."

"I'm afraid that can't happen for Akima, for her heart was not taken by the Heartless, she was merely murdered. But when the Heartless are defeated she will return."

"How did she get here though?" Bilby said.

"You humans, when will you learn that you have far more power than you realize." The Fairy Godmother replied.

"I don't have much time Martin." Akima said, "When the sun rises in the morning, I will be gone. I had to find you before I left, because I know how much you're suffering."

"You don't know the half of it." Bilby replied.

Akima walked up to him and sat by his side. He tried to put an arm around her waist, but found she stood as thin as air. "I'm a ghost Martin. And unfortunately I don't have enough time to explain how I got here."

Another star twinkled and then vanished in the night sky, "The Heartless just consumed another world." Bilby said and in that twenty-one year old face Akima's spirit saw that a lot of aging had taken place in the year since she had died physically. Particularly his eyes, there was a noticeable network of wrinkles around the corners. At the young age of twenty one he was growing old.

'Oh Martin, what have they done to you? What happened to that idealistic young soldier that came to free my world from the Heartless just one year ago?' Akima's spirit asked itself.

"But look at all of those worlds out there." Akima said, her hand moving across the horizon, "So many worlds untouched by the Heartless' destruction."

"Don't you remember, silly, you told me those words one night when I was feeling hopeless." Akima's spirit continued.

~ ~ ~ ~

One year earlier:

Look into my eyes - you will see.

What you mean to me.

Search your heart - search your soul.

And when you find me there you'll search no more.

Don't tell me it's not worth tryin' for.

You can't tell me it's not worth dyin' for.

You know it's true.

Everything I do - I do it for you.

"It's hopeless." Akima said, as she saw another star in the sky twinkle brightly for a few seconds and then blink out. The mission of Foxtrot One Two was less than two weeks old.

"No it isn't." Bilby replied, adjusting his peaked Afrika Korps field cap atop his head.

"They've already destroyed the Titan, occupied what settlement we had on New Earth, and most of the drifter colonies. It's only so long before they find the heart of this world as your Captain Claremont says." Akima replied.

"We've still got hope, Akima. That's why my team's here, to help you." Bilby replied, sitting beside her.

"Aren't you violating some kind of rule by sitting out here with me?" Akima asked.

"Not really, the rules only mention emotional involvement, not a friendly talk in the middle of a grassy plain." Bilby replied as he smoothed a fern he had accidentally stepped on with his well worn brown paratrooper boot. "It's so peaceful out here." Akima said.

"Yeah." Bilby replied, and decided to go ahead and say what was on his mind, "Have you ever met someone that you just felt you could instantly trust?"

"Cale, after about a few days, he started to grow on me." Akima said.

"Funny, because I think I've just met someone like that just now." Bilby said, gently brushing a tear from Akima's right eye. He drew back his hand almost immediately, that was pushing that single sacred rule of the bodyguard, never get too close to your client.

Akima in fact sidled up beside him, "You know, I could say I've met a second such person. And I can also say that is a rare experience."

Looking into those brown, almond eyes Bilby could see and feel emotional warmth. Indeed in the past couple of weeks they had grown close. He brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face as they leaned into each other's embrace.

Look into my heart - you will find

There's nothin' there to hide

Take me as I am - take my life

I would give it all I would sacrifice

Don't tell me it's not worth fightin' for

I can't help it there's nothin' I want more

Ya know it's true

Everything I do - I do it for you

Ever since that night in the field, Bilby and Akima had grown close. It showed in subtle yet noticeable ways. The way Akima's hand gently brushed against Bilby's whenever they could find a moment and she would give his hand a reaffirming squeeze. The way they'd smile at each other when one came back from a raid and the other was back at the encampment. The way that Bilby seemed to assume a vast majority of the security work for the leader of the Titan resistance movement.

"You really care about her, don't you Bilby?" said Captain Claremont.

"You mean Akima sir?" Bilby asked.

"As a human being, you do rate emotions but you also rate controlling them." Claremont replied, "You know the rule."

"Never emotionally attach yourself to anyone from another dimension." Bilby replied.

"I expect you to hold to that rule." Claremont said.

"Yes sir." Bilby replied. It wasn't just because Claremont outranked Bilby that was making this tough, it was also the fact that Bilby respected Claremont as an old school friend. It was Claremont that was responsible for the saving of the Chip and Dale's Rescue Ranger's universe from the Heartless two years before.

There's no love - like your love

And no other - could give more love

There's nowhere - unless you're there

All the time - all the way

"We're alone right now, you know." Bilby replied.

Akima smiled as he drew her into his arms. He tilted his head sideways so that their noses wouldn't bump as he kissed her. Both Bilby and Akima knew that this romance was one born of desperation. If this world was successfully liberated, then the containment barrier would be erected around it and the Heartless or anyone else would never enter this universe. If the mission failed, one or both of them would be dead.

Their's was a furtive relationship, with the knowing smile as they passed each other, the very occasional kiss or embrace, the rare moments alone between the missions that hurt the Heartless control of the Titan universe. Little did they know they had been seen by some other eyes. Stith realized she had to confront Akima.

Don't tell me it's not worth tryin' for

I can't help it there's nothin' I want more

I would fight for you - I'd lie for you

Walk the wire for you - Ya I'd die for you

"Akima?" said Stith, "What were you doing with that soldier?

"You mean Bilby." Akima replied, "There's nothing going on."

"Don't tell me that!" Stith challenged, "I saw you two together. Break it off, I told you what his commander told him."

"I can't just break his heart like that. He's been through so much, lost his entire family to the Heartless." Akima said.

"Lie to him." Stith said, "Break his heart to save his life. I overheard two of those Gamma soldiers saying that the price of what you two have is the death penalty for him."

"Remember Akima, lie to the boy to save his life." Stith said, "You hold his life in your hands. I can only cover you for so long. If anyone else catches you or tells Captain Claremont, that boy faces death by hanging rather than risking him losing his heart to despair and potentially turning him towards the Darkness."

Akima sat stunned, as Stith continued. Her alien friend indicated the soldier sitting at the gun turret, "Do you really want to be responsible for his death? Do what's best for both of you and break this off."

That night Akima wrote a letter and left it by the sleeping soldier. The tears in her eyes made it hard to concentrate, but she knew that to save his life, she had to hurt his heart.

Ya know it's true

Everything I do - I do it for you

"You still have it don't you." Akima's spirit asked.

"Yeah. The letter that says, 'Dear Martin, I love you but I just can't be with you.' I've carried it around with me for all this time." Bilby replied, removing his field cap. Inside it was a small pocket sewn into the top. There was a pouch where a letter and a small portrait of Akima from happier times were kept.

"I always wondered why you wore a World War II German field cap." Akima mused, "Considering you're part of a unit that's dedicated to freeing the oppressed."

"Well, I did that for irony," Bilby replied, "The fact that I am a member of a unit dedicating to freeing the oppressed yet I wear a symbol of the oppressors of the past was an attempt to suggest some sense of irony."

"I thought it was the most contradictory thing I ever saw. But you're about the only person I know who looks good wearing a World War II German field cap." Akima replied.

"I guess I'm alone again." Bilby said, looking at his watch, "In about an hour you'll be gone forever."

"I wouldn't go so far as to say you're alone." Akima said, "Didn't tell me you volunteered for the Special Forces for the camaraderie of being part of an elite unit?"

"I did, yeah?" Bilby replied.

"Well then you had your fellow members of Charlie Squadron as your family." Akima's spirit said, "I know they may not have the same place in your heart that I occupy, at least I hope they don't, because I'd worry about you batting for two teams throughout the afterlife."

"Don't worry, I'm definitely batting for the straight team." Bilby replied, grinning weakly.

She heard a jeep pull up, and recognizing the two faces in the jeep as David Falk and Jose Hedaya she said, "Remember, you're never alone."

Bilby felt a tear well up in his right eye, "I'll never forget you Akima."

"I'll never forget you either Martin." Akima replied as the sun started to rise, "Remember, you're never alone as long as you have your friends and your unit. Keep your heart in the light and never surrender to darkness. Farewell Martin Bilby..."

"Akima." Bilby said, the tears showing openly.

"Are you okay man?" said David Falk.

"I'm damn fine fellas." Bilby said, genuinely, as he slung his rifle and put an arm over each friend's shoulder, "As long as I have my friends I'm never alone."

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What happens when Cobra Commander decides to cross a sorceress? Conspiracy and chaos abound in the next installment of Kilo Two Zero.