Disclaimer: see chapter 1
Chapter 4 FearDaze and disorientation- common when waking up from a dream, or just waking up for that matter. A surreal sense of reality mixed with an inner need for fantasy. Slowly beginning the transition from one world to the next, though somewhat groggily. The blinking of the eyes, the putting on a fresh layer of water to help adjust the pupils. The fuzzy image became that of lights, many lights. Then came the blindness from staring into those lights.
She shut her eyes, cringing back from the small sensation of pain. Though small, it coursed from her head to the rest of her body until she could feel the pain in her feet for some reason. Her foot twitched slightly, though she didn't bother turning her head to see. She didn't want to open her eyes anyway.
Cautiously she opened one eye, avoiding the glare of the light. Now that the glare was cut in half from absence of the other eye she could see where the light was coming from. A ceiling, dotted with lights. She had awoken on her back.
She gazed out at the lights for a strange reason. She liked staring at them, though opening the other eye would cause pain again. She stared up at the ceiling, blinking. Slowly the brightness seemed to decrease as her eyes adjusted. She then opened her other eye, though with a little withdrawal because one eye had adjusted while the other had not. She squinted with that eye, until it came around to be fully opened.
With both eyes open came two new points of view. She opened one eye, shut it and opened another. The light seemed to move slightly between the different views. She repeated this a few times, finding some fun in it. When that was done she left both eyes open, and continued to stare upwards.
Somehow she felt as if she was doing something wrong, like she'd heard from someone not to stare into the light. She didn't know where the piece of knowledge was coming from, though there was no use tracing something you weren't sure was really there. She decided to follow it anyway, and turned to her side.
She met with a wall, a pure white wall. She blinked at it, not sure what to do now. The view wasn't more interesting than the lights. She stared at it anyway with intent observation. She saw no cracks in the wall, or any flaws or dents for that matter. The wall was a pure slate. It was calming, though a little freaky, but she didn't mind. She didn't know the definition of freaky nor did she really care at that instant. She watched, hoping for some new information to pop up and teach her something, like a child.
After a while she became aware of a few things. One was she was squishing her chest and it was getting uncomfortable. Another was she had lost feeling on her right arm and leg. She didn't notice at first, but then the numbness came up on her. It was strange how numbness was a feeling of no feeling.
Then came another thought, no, an instinct. She shifted her energy to her hips, pushing off the bed until her upper body rose helped up by her arms. She found the action exhausting for some reason, though she hadn't moved at all that much. She had to strain just to get her upper body into an upright position.
With a grunt she managed to click into a position she could stay in. She uncurled her legs, feeling blood surge into her numb leg. She then noticed a thin blanket covering her legs, though it once covered her shoulders as well. She slowly pulled the blanket off, exposing her legs. They were deathly pale. And skinny. And bony.
But she didn't know this. She didn't know of the human standards that categorized physical descriptions such as them. She really didn't know what her legs were, other than they were connected to the lower part of her body.
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Erts watched as the pilot pushed herself up, almost like an injured person in a hospital bed. She wasn't hurt, or she didn't seem so. Erts couldn't deny that she did utter grunts of effort, though for such a small task. How could something so simple take so much energy? Maybe she was just uncomfortable, since no one could be that weak, especially the pilot that had put the Goddess crew into the hospital ward.
"Freaky," commented Rioroute. "This is like watching an alien horror movie."
"Yeah, how about we see if it'll suck your brains if you don't keep quiet," snapped Gareas. Rioroute pouted.
"What is it?" Yuu asked silently.
"We don't know yet," Teela answered in the same manner.
"I don't know why," Erts thought to himself, "but I think it's human."
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She reached down and put a hand on her legs. Immediately she felt the sensation of her touch vibrate through her. She looked down at her arms, turning over the palms of her hands before her eyes. She took one hand and traced her arm up to her shoulder. There she could feel the ball-like joint move at her will. She could also feel the bones in her shoulder. She brought her hands up to her neck, feeling up to her face. There she ran a hand over her features. A nose. Two ears. A mouth. Two eyelids. Two eyebrows. Hair.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed. Her legs dangled over, at the ends of them her feet, like yoyos that hadn't curled back up. She swung them in circles, watching them make figure eights. She made a faint smile, the small act amusing her.
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"What's it doing?" asked Rioroute pressing his nose to the glass.
"Looks like it's swing it's legs around," said Erts.
"It looks like one of us can't see," growled Gareas shoving Rioroute out of his view. Rioroute frowned.
"It's not much to see," he grumbled.
"Well it is to the rest of us," mumbled Gareas staring at the pilot again.
Rioroute frowned more. "Whatever. You guys can stare at this guy swing his legs around. I don't care. I can watch my own legs swing around whenever I want. Bye! You're going to miss lunch!"
The group only noticed Rioroute was gone when his voice faded. No one turned to watch him leave.
"I think it's a girl," Erts broke the silence.
"How can you tell?" asked Gareas.
Erts blushed slightly, not wanting to reveal the real reason of how he knew. "I think it looks like a girl."
"The hair's too short," snorted Gareas.
"Some girls have short hair."
"Yeah, but the face doesn't look too much like a girl."
"Doesn't look too much like a boy either."
Gareas snorted. "I guess so."
"Does it really matter what gender it is?" Teela stated, her monotone turning into a bored one.
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She slowly reached one of her feet down, touching the floor with one toe. A small touch, she then withdrew as if it would bite her back if she pressed too long, that and it was icy cold. She touched again, longer this time. She slowly brought the rest of the foot down, until the entire sole was the floor. She put the other one on the ground as well.
Somehow she got the idea of using her lower limbs to walk. It seemed a bit ridiculous, for they seemed very clumsy, but she knew they had to be used for movement of a sort. She recalled something about that, though it could've just been an instinct. Her feet became sweaty with anticipation and her toes curled up in waves. Her smile turned into a grin, a satisfying wide grin. She pushed off the bed, teetering on her legs like stilts. She stood there, in a bit of wonder, staring down at her feet.
Seconds later she fell over.
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"What'll we do with her?" asked Erts watching her sprawled figure wince slightly from the fall.
"Keep her," Teela answered monosyllabically. "Until we can get a full analysis."
"When are we going to do that?" asked Erts looking up at his superior.
Teela paused. "When Dr. Crowford thinks the time is right," she said hastily.
"No one will get near her enough to do the tests," Erts sighed after hearing Teela's thoughts.
"If you can hear my thoughts why bother asking me?" she said in a cold snap.
"Because I want to see how you word it," Erts answered backing off. "That's what I do with people."
Teela didn't answer. Erts shrugged his shoulders and watched as the pilot tried to get off the ground. She tried standing back up again, but almost fell and frantically reached out for the bed to support her.
"She doesn't know how to walk," Erts observed quietly.
"She can't stand either," remarked Yuu, a rare few words.
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"And they just kept staring at her as she just sat there!" Rioroute told the repairers. "I tell ya, it's pretty stupid. Just stick some sensors in the guy and let it all be over with."
"But still," said Phil, "would you go near it?"
Rioroute gulped. "Why, of course I would," he said with false confidence.
"Uh, huh," Phil rolled her eyes.
"Anything else happen?" asked Leena.
"Nah, pilot's probably still sitting there while everybody watches," Rioroute grumbled sipping water through a straw.
"I wanna see!" squealed Phil.
"Me too!" added Leena.
"Hey! What's with all this?" yelled Rioroute as the girls ran off.
"Well the pilot's a lot more entertaining that you," teased Phil giving Rioroute a raspberry.
"Hey!" Rioroute frowned at her.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Hey guys! I brought you some lu-," Rioroute said proudly as he walked in with his arms full of things from the cafeteria.
"Sssshhh," hissed Phil, "be quiet."
Rioroute sweat-dropped. "Geez, and I try to be nice too!"
"I think you should all know the goddess sustained minimal damage from the last fight," Tune spoke up quietly, though everybody heard.
The hearing of the goddess brought back memories of the previous battle, angering Gareas more. The thought of being beaten, by the pilot that appeared to be a child was humiliating enough. But the thought of just having such a person right in front of him without him doing a thing about it boiled his blood. Gareas curled his hands into fists, until he could take no more.
"Gare? Where're you going?" asked Leena as Gareas stormed past her.
Gareas stopped at the door that led to the room, the room where they held the pilot, the room behind the glass panel they were all looking through. He grabbed the knob with enough force that it even hurt him back, and yanked the door open.
"Gareas!" Leena called after him in worry, reaching out to stop him.
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A bursting sound. A loud whap. She clamped her hands over her ears. The sound was so loud, too loud. She wasn't used to such loud sounds yet. It was over quickly, and the echoes soon vanished. She took her hands off her ears to see another human standing in a doorway she never realized was there before. Next to the doorway she noticed a window or something that other people we looking into. All the eyes scared her, and that small fear mixed with curiosity distracted her from Gareas until he grabbed her and shoved her to the wall.
"Gareas!" yelled another voice. She wanted to look up to see who it was, but the human who pinned her to the wall blocked all her view. She wanted to look away, very badly. His eyes pierced into her while his shoulders heaved up and down with each pant.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"What is it huh? Victim pilot!" Gareas screamed at her. A few droplets of spit came out and flew onto her face, hot and sticky, which only added to her fear. She cried out in protest, doing her best to struggle against Gareas's force. He was just too strong, and she couldn't find the strength or will power to force him off. As soon as she realized she was weaker, she gave up pushing. Her head slumped down until her chin touched her chest, looking down at the floor and hers and Gareas's feet. His feet were bulging with muscles and veins that protruded out of the skin like worms. She compared them to her own scrawny, pale legs. She never had a chance of winning.
"Gareas!" yelled a voice. Before anything else could be done the force was removed from her shoulders and she slid down the wall onto the hospital bed. Her hair fell downwards, falling like the leaves of a wilted plant. From every strand came down a droplet of sweat. She could almost feel the sweat trickling down her neck and down her chin as well. She was straining every breath, hoping that would satisfy her heart's need for oxygen. It still continued to beat fast; she could even hear it now. The small beats echoed to her, reminding her of a cave somehow and a vicious beast taking steps toward her. All that drowned out the sound of arguing.
"Lay off Gare!" yelled Rioroute as he restrained Gareas. Rioroute wrapped his arms around Gareas's shoulders in an almost headlock way, while his legs braced against the ground. It would do no good holding back Gareas's arms if he could still advance forward.
"We can't afford to hurt her!" seconded Yuu as he walked into the room and right between Gareas and the pilot, his usual calm manner a stark contrast to Gareas's current state.
"Lemme go!" screamed Gareas in rage. He could see the pilot shudder slightly from his scream. "That. . .thing nearly killed us, and you want to just let it sit here? I'll be damned if I let that thing get any closer to my teammates, no, Zion! We should kill it now, not be observing it," Gareas declared with a disgusted tone.
Yuu stared back at Gareas with his usual lifeless gaze. "Restrain," Yuu stated reverting to his usual monosyllable tone. Gareas growled, but let Rioroute haul him out of the room.
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She sat there, staring down at the floor or whatever was in her line of vision. She wasn't concentrating on anything, but her eyes stayed open-just open, like doll's eyes. The only thing that did matter to her was her breathing. As much as she wanted to stop all together, all she wanted was to slow down.
With a snap she pulled her legs to her chest clutching them for all the skinny stilts were for. She dug her fingers into them, her nails being too short to cause blood to flow.
She shuddered, convulsing from head to toe. She squeezed her body as much as she could, as if by squeezing she could drown out everything else. Drown out all the confusion. Drown out all the fear.
What happened? Who was that? What's going on? Why did it happen? What did I do? What am I going to do now?
I don't know.
Her arms were still sore from the human's touch, the place warmer than usual. It was also red.
Somehow, she found some kind of instruction on what to do, a hidden instinct.
She cried.
She wasn't used to such a flow of emotions. She wasn't used to this place, those people. She wasn't used to what was going on.
She wanted to hide. To go somewhere safe. Retreat into her sanctuary.
Lady Gwenevere?
"You will see; you will come back crying. But you must learn what you would come back crying for, is that it?"
No, I can't. I can't give up that easily. I have to go on. . .but that human. Are they all that scary? Is that what she was trying to tell me? Do I want to go back? Can I go back?
I don't know what's going on.
She sobbed, the warmth from her tears dripping onto her cold legs. Somehow, she could remember crying before.
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"What's with you guys?" Gareas roared once out of the room. "I could've finished that thing right then and there."
"We have to know what it is first," Teela spoke, coldly but with a clear arguing tone.
"Why? What is there to know? It's an enemy and we have to kill it? How hard it that?" Gareas challenged.
Teela's cold stare didn't change. "That enemy is a pilot."
"An enemy pilot!"
"There are no such things as enemy pilots."
Teela's point had hit. Gareas bore down, snarling despite his usual respect for Teela. Somehow, this entire thing had challenged everything the Goddess Pilots stood for. They were supposed to kill the Victim, not shelter them!
"Whatever," he spat at Teela's feet. "Keep your little science experiment. When that things kills us all, I won't bother saving the lot of ya."
Leena stared at the scene with a look of horror and shock. What possessed Gareas to act in such a way, and give Teela such disrespect?
"Gare? Wait!" Leena called, trotting after him.
Teela looked down, Gareas's spit on her left foot. She didn't give one look of disgust, or concern. She looked back up at Gareas's retreating form, and Leena's trying to reason with him.
Teela turned on her heel and left without a word, as did Yuu after her.
Erts stared through the screen, seeing the being in a fetal position sobbing. Though that thing had nearly killed off him and his teammates, he still felt a pang of sympathy for it. It seemed defenseless, like a child in a room lined with daggers. It was deathly pale, skin so white it almost matched the color of the walls of the room. Somehow, it didn't seem as deadly as it did in its Goddess. Its arms were skinny, as were its legs, and mostly bone. How could've that thing possibly beat all five of them before?
'Also, how did it pilot that Goddess of hers?' Erts thought, remembering the morbid scene within the cockpit.
He began to wonder if that girl was the pilot, or some power source.
"She seems, so scared," he whispered into the glass. She showed no sign of hearing him, and kept crying.
Erts's eyes softened. "So confused."
She lifted her head up, limp brown hair falling past her face revealing it. Her nose was red, sniffling while the corners of her eyes still had tears ready to fall. She sniffed, blinking some tears free. She looked so pathetic.
She turned, staring right at Erts.
Erts tensed, expecting some kind of death glare or laser eye blast. Nothing, but a tear smudged look.
Erts smiled, though he didn't know why. After what had happened this girl didn't deserve anything, respect or sympathy. Yet, he couldn't help but feel some kind of link to her non-telepathic.
It was then it came to him. She reminded him of how he was when he first discovered his EX. Lost, dazed, afraid. Though he wasn't sure it was the same case, he found some way to relate.
Erts gave her a comforting smile through the glass. She sniffled.
"It's ok," he told her, peering through the glass. She gave him a look of confusion, the hint of her fear from before still there.
"They won't hurt you anymore," Erts tried to comfort her. In all truth he wasn't sure they weren't going to hurt her again, but somehow it sounded like he meant it when it came out.
The girl only blinked at him, her look barely changing.
"Guess you don't understand Japanese," Erts nearly chuckled.
The whole situation in which they were talking was so alien, so unnatural, but it just felt right. He shouldn't even be talking to her, let alone trying to soothe her. All the circumstances were strange, the conversation shouldn't have been going that well.
But it was, for some reason it was.
"My name's Erts," he told her. There wasn't any guilt from telling her his name.
She didn't seem to comprehend. She continued with a blank stare.
Erts only smiled. It was almost like talking to a stuffed animal, knowing they couldn't talk back gives a kind of security. Taking his hand off the glass pane, Erts left to go find the others.
"Arigatou."
Erts froze, spinning around and frantically looking around.
". . .Erts."
Erts dashed back to the glass pane, only to see the girl had fallen asleep. He immediately tensed, the security that she would never talk back gone.
He had told her his name, she knew who he was. Erts was afraid.
Quickly beginning a jog he ran off to the find the others, to get as far away from her and to find some security.
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"She doesn't do much," commented Rioroute in a casual tone. Somehow, over the course of the day, the observation of the pilot became natural.
Sure, to him she was still an alien, but it seemed more ritualistic now.
"She sleeps most of the time," sighed Phil with a bored tone. Like Rioroute, she came often to watch the pilot. It didn't seem as exciting now. "She doesn't even get out of bed."
"By the way, how do we know it's a girl?" asked Rioroute, pulling out some food he'd gotten from the cafeteria.
Phil gave him a stare for eating out of the cafeteria. "Don't know. Somebody just suggested it was."
Rioroute nodded. "Hey? Can she talk or anything?"
"Not that we've seen," groaned Phil.
"Well that sucks," Rioroute chewed. "Then why do we come here so often?"
"I. . .don't know," replied Phil with a mystified tone.
"Well, I'm going to do some training. Wanna come?"
"Sure, why not?" Phil sighed in boredom. She and Rioroute walked away.
Erts came up after them. He touched the pane softly, watching the girl on the inside. She was lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling. Her chest rose and fell at a slow rate, almost as if she should've been asleep had her eyes not been closed.
Strangely, her nose was still red. It was a nice change though, making her seem less like a ghost.
Erts watched her, making sure she didn't know he was there. After what had happened last time, he wasn't so sure about her.
He hadn't told anyone, knowing it would just stir up trouble. Also, he didn't even believe it had happened.
Why hadn't he tried to link to her mind telepathically? Why couldn't he hear her thoughts now? Was he too afraid to listen to them? Or was it something else?
Would linking to her mind cause her to notice him? Did he dare try?
She turned her head, suddenly staring at him again. Erts backed away from the window, watching her blank stare.
There was something about those eyes. . .He couldn't tell whether it was something missing, or because there was too much hidden behind them.
Or maybe it was the person they belonged to that scared him.
Erts pressed the window one last time, his breath fogging the glass. Whatever this fear was, he had to conquer it, didn't he? Did he want to conquer this fear? Was it worth it if he did?
"Sayonara," he whispered before leaving.
He couldn't do it. For whatever reason it was, he just couldn't do it. He couldn't speak t her again, there was just too much of a risk. What that risk was. . .was in his mind. There just seemed a barrier around her in his mind, a barrier that told him to keep away. She seemed so untouchable. Why did he bother?
Yet he had, in a way, conquered something. He'd said goodbye to her, shown her some courtesy. He'd treated her like a person, he didn't know why.
Though he hadn't had a conversation with her, he'd spoken to her.
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Night was a hard time to tell. There were clocks all over the station clearly told the time, but they didn't tell if the sun was up or not. Because of this the Goddess pilots had to rely on their inner metabolisms for when to sleep and wake up. Somehow, whether you got up before or after the sun rose didn't matter. Time was time, not judged by some heavenly marker.
Erts thought it was night, just because someone from the colonies once told him the sun usually set around 6. It was past six, so it must be night. The lights around the station were always constant, never going out or dimming. Thinking that it was night with all the lights around wasn't easy.
Erts couldn't remember what it was like on the colonies. That didn't frighten him as much as it did candidates. He accepted that. He couldn't remember, and he ok with that.
After all, what use would those memories have to him?
Maybe he'd go to the observation deck. Maybe he'd see Zion.
After what had happened, he swore not to waste his time watching the pilot anymore.
The hallways were pure white, as were the ceiling and floor. People wore white. The Goddesses were white. The pilot's skin was white.
Why was he thinking of her now?
Erts sighed, a good look at Zion would flush all those thoughts away. After that he wouldn't care about her anymore, or see her anymore. She'd be gone, and he'd forget all about her.
Walking up the stairs to the observation deck, Erts looked out the glass to see Zion was indeed there. A part of him longed for that planet, as did all other candidates and pilots.
Yet Erts's was a small longing, after all, he couldn't remember ever being there.
Turning from the view Erts froze.
Standing there, staring out with one hand on the glass, was the pilot. She had one hand pressed to the glass, the other pushed against it, as if she were leaning and not standing. She, too, had a longing look at that planet. Hers was different somehow. It was a distant kind of longing, not the obvious kind that you could see in a candidate's eyes when they stared at Zion. Her eyes longed for the planet, but there was no look of rapture on her face. She stared at it like an object she could never reach.
Erts had never seen anything but a blank stare in her eyes. For that moment she looked touchable, reachable, human.
For a moment she looked like a normal girl.
It was then she noticed Erts, her eyes flicking from the view and onto Erts. Though all she did was blink at him, there was a kind of fear and surprise in her gaze.
All she did was turn, not run in fright or gasp. Erts stared back at her.
Then she fell.
She stumbled and fell onto her knees. Erts nearly ran away, nearly turning and getting far away while she was obviously in some kind of distress. Even if there was a chance she wasn't human, he couldn't bring himself to ignore her. He stayed rooted to the spot, only watching her.
She clutched her side, moaning slightly, through clenched teeth, in pain. Her head bowed down, her hand clutching her side harder.
Erts shuddered, expecting some kind of monster to spring up out of her body or something horrifying like that. All she did was moan in pain, breathing raggedly.
Erts then ran to her side, something inside of him turning over in sickness from touching her. He nearly dropped her from that sickness, but managed to catch her at the last moment.
As he was helping her up she brought her hand away from her side and up to her face.
It was then Erts just knew she was human, no reading thoughts or second guesses.
Red blood coated her hand, a pool forming in the palm of her hand; human blood.
She gasped, eyes widening at the sight. Her hand began to shake, the pool of blood in her palm spilling out and onto the white, immaculate, floor. She started breathing hard, her hand going back to her side where a stain of red was growing bigger. Her thin clothing didn't do anything to absorb the blood. It seeped through easily, and was soon leaking down her legs and onto the floor. Looking down Erts saw she was also bleeding from her legs, thick rivers flowing down. Her entire lower body was covered with blood.
"WHAT THE?" In all the confusion Erts hadn't noticed Rioroute had walked in. Behind him came Teela, Yuu and Gareas. All four, even Teela, stared in shock and horror.
"Help!" Erts managed to stutter while trying to hold the pilot up. She wasn't getting any heavier, but his will to hold her up was decreasing. Blood was coming down her other arm now, flowing over his hands where he held her up. Erts nearly vomited.
"What the hell?" yelled Gareas, running in but stopping at the sight.
"F***," gasped Rioroute. He then clamped a hand over his mouth, vomit seeping out between his fingers.
Teela backed away, clutching her stomach. Her legs began to wobble, and she stumbled away. Erts had never seen that much emotion in her before.
Yuu was the only one who vomited fully. He lurched over, yellow and brown mush spilling out from his mouth and onto the floor. He then stumbled around weakly, trying to regain his footing.
Erts was really beginning to feel sick to his stomach. He was holding a bleeding body, no, a bloody body. He soon was clinging onto her for support.
He looked down at her, trying to see how long until both of them just collapsed from holding each other. It was then he saw her face, one that would haunt him forever and rival watching Victim slaughter.
Blood was running down onto her face, coming down from her hair and flowing down. There were only a few spots of white skin where the blood had not run down. Her brown hair was stained red, blood now dripping down from it. The lashes of her eyes now had a web of blood over them.
Erts fell onto his own knees, unable to take the strain and still stand. He couldn't pull away now. The blood had caked his hands and was sticking him to her arm.
Erts was scared. Suddenly the white walls became morbid, everything becoming more gruesome. A warm liquid came up into Erts's throat.
Whether it was his telepathic link, or high awareness, that caught it, Erts heard something. Frightened and panicked, Erts followed it only to come with the girl's bleeding head. Erts almost vomited on her.
"What's she saying?" Erts thought, a desperate attempt to hide from the ghastly scene.
"Help me."
All thoughts escaped him. Erts listened to her.
"Help me. I need you. Please. Help me."
The hot liquid in his throat went back down.
". . .Lady Gwenevere."
Erts's eyes widened. "Lady Gwenevere? Where have I heard that before?"
"Attack, Lady Gwenevere."
"The Goddess!" Erts screamed. In their queasy states, all of the pilots jumped.
The next thing he knew, Erts was running to the containment room with the girl on his back. Where he had managed to gather the strength to carry her, or the fortitude to have her arms around his neck, was beyond him. Something inside him raced to the containment room. He had to get there.
She would die if he didn't, and he cared if she died.
Erts ran down the sealed doors, down the walkway. He could feel her blood soaking into the back of his uniform. He was sure he was leaving behind a trail of blood as well. He ran, the Goddesses whizzing past him.
Somehow, he got the strange feeling they were whispering to him.
Erts skidded to a halt in front of a locked door. How could he have forgotten? Had the urgency made him forget? They had put the Goddess behind a locked door that morning, behind a seal and password.
There was no time to ask anyone, they were too sick to follow behind. What could he do? What could he do? What could he do?
A bloody hand came from behind his back. Erts didn't have to look back to know whose it was. He almost expected it to clamp around his neck and strangle him.
Her finger was pointed toward the touch pad where the password could be entered. A fingertip touched lightly one of the keys, a drop of blood dripping down its surface.
The next scene was too surprising to remember or relate to a previous time. Wire from inside the touch pad came out between the keys and wrapped around her finger. Erts could only watched, shocked and amazed. Erts then realized they weren't wrapping around her finger, they were going into her finger.
With a beep the door opened, as did the wires retreat.
Erts would've stood still to give her a look of confusion, had she not been in her state and him panting. He ran into the room, motion-activated lights turning on.
There stood the Goddess, in all its eerie glory.
Erts ran, ran up the steps, ran up to the walkway. There he ran right up to where the cockpit stood, still open.
"Lady Gwenevere!" he screamed, as if the Goddess could hear him. He threw the girl right in, just ran right up and threw her. Watching her fly by Erts was suddenly reminded of his brother.
Wire flew out from the Goddess's cockpit, catching the girl in midair. They slithered around her like snakes, pulling her in. Erts was tempted to jump in a save her, but after what had happened he didn't know what was best anymore. They pulled her in, the cockpit closing behind her.
The Goddess's eyes flickered to life, a dark blue.
Erts fell down, exhausted physically and mentally. He panted, trying to regain strength and composure.
He sat there, uniform and hands soaked, resting in a pool of the girl's blood.
***************
Wow, I had to use blood way too many times in this chapter. I like the way this chapter came out actually, though the bleeding scene could've been done in a more morbid sense.
Ack, hope I didn't make anyone throw up.
Thanks to Julie!
Ttfn!
