Disclaimers Note - I don't own Gundam Wing, or any of the characters therein. All of the unfamiliar characters are my own, but some unfamiliar ones might become familiar, in which case they are not mine, or they may not! You'll have to read this and find out! Any correlation of this story to any persons living or dead is purely coincidental, honest. Phew! The characters of Hayley Reo, Kaia McInrae and Emma Kentley are mine, 'though, all mine! MINE!
**The Original Age Part 11 – The True Purpose
By Espion
Felflowne: What! What did I do?! I don't smegging well understand! What's funny? *cries* Well, thanks for the reviews anyhoo *grins* My friends are now all laughing at me. I don't know what I did to piss off DarkVengeance, but I'm real sorry, ne? *kawaii smile* Arigato! Read on! You get a really long chapter this time, to make up for whatever I did *snifs* Thanks to all reviewers, all of you! *hugs Alethea and DarkVengeance* Sorry this has taken so long, but I'm really having to pick at this to get it right. If there are any questions that you think I've left unanswered, just email me on
Duo looked up at the huge machine towering over them.
'That was pretty good, for someone who's never been trained,' he said. Relena didn't answer.
*
Heero carefully climbed into Wing Zero. He was jumpy, because it would be the first real time he'd flown in daylight. He didn't know how much faith he could put in the invisible shield barrier the developers had set up around the valley.
The hangar doors opened and he blew out of the hangar, towards the general direction of Doloria.
*
Relena sank back into the seat and shut her eyes. There was… something she just couldn't put her finger on, and it was bugging her.
She pushed it to the back of her mind as she saw Zero come into vision. She put her hands back into the controls.
They're mad. They're all mad. You too, Relena honey. Shut up.
'Ready?' asked Heero. He didn't intend to land.
Relena reached up and pulled down what she hoped was the radio.
'Err…yes, I suppose.' Heero flew past. Relena blinked, and panicked as she tried to remember how she taken off last time. She decided to try a different way. Duo and Hilde gulped as the huge head swung to face them.
'Get clear, people,' said Relena. It was strange that although the words were different, the tone was the same as every other occasion anyone had spoken to her.
Relena explored the wing controls with her fingers. Two seconds later, the wing tips glowed white and the long mobile suit powered off of the ground, in pursuit of Zero.
*
Emma sighed as she looked at the long list of terminated missions on the inside of Eron's view screen. Although she understood that she couldn't have done anything to prevent what had happened, she would've given anything to see her adoptive brother and Hayley again.
She turned Eron away from the scene before it and began to walk slowly towards the sea, putting up her invisibility shield. She wondered what had happened in the world in the last four years. Probably not much.
*
Relena was shoved back into the seat. It was like being kicked in the stomach. She wondered how they did this every day. She hoped it wasn't far.
Heero was in a state of silent {…what a surprise… Heehee} shock. How had the headmistress of a respectable girl's school ended up inside a killing machine? He turned on the radio and began to speak to Quatre.
'Quatre, how did this happen?'
Relena jumped. She could hear Heero's voice, but she didn't know how. It was probably best to keep silent.
'Accident we think. It bears an uncannily similarity to how we met Hayley.'
Relena looked desperately around for the 'Off' switch. She didn't want to know things that could get her into trouble later on. She didn't want to hear this. It was nowhere to be found.
'She's lagging behind,' said Heero. It was true. The air resistance against the huge wings was slowing her down. She had dropped from being around 50m behind Wing Zero to over 350m.
'Dammit,' muttered Relena, and sought for a solution to the problem. She didn't realise her error immediately, and then suddenly realised two things consecutively. First was that she could increase Doloria's speed by pulling the wings back as if it were diving, and second was that she'd just given away that she could hear Heero and Quatre, and they'd heard her.
K'so. Stay quiet, and maybe…just get on with the catching up, baka.
{AN I'm not going to go through all the cockpit stuff anymore, just on how it looks from outside, k?'}
Hilde watched as Doloria's huge wings drew back and the huge mech began to blur as it picked up speed.
Shit, I'm gonna die! Where are the goddamn brakes? She was catching up fast, and needed to slow down.
Duh, do it in reverse.
'Oh yeah,' muttered Relena quietly, and opened the wings again, slowing Doloria down.
*
'Hey, the hatch opened!' cried Relena, 'ack,' she added as wind whistled in, blowing her hair around.
'It opened?' came Quatre's voice from somewhere.
'Stop the machine. Get out and let Hayley or one of us land it.' Heero's voice would have held the same inflection had he told her to go to the shops and buy a bottle of vinegar.
{A.N. It's just I was hungry when I wrote this, ne?}
'Huh, oh yeah.' Stop the goddamned machine? Get out? In mid-air? Jump? No mention had been made of landing. She rotated the wings and killed the main engines. Fucking long way down. No, wait, there was a small lake over there…
'How're you gonna get in?' She played for time.
'Lower a strap to the ground.'
Of course, the strap! She could get out safely. She hit the strap panel with her fist and 50m of cord fell into her lap. She threw it out of the hatch. A tug told her the Hayley had the other end. She leant out of the hatch and gulped. The wind had blown the strap over to Hayley, but Doloria was directly over the lake. The strap was at an angle. Relena sought around in the cockpit to find something to slide down on. She pulled the ribbon out of her hair and doubled it up, then tripled it. That would have to do. She locked the controls. Hayley would know how to unlock them. After all, she was a Gundam pilot. Come to think of it, how'd she known how to lock them? She decided to worry about that later, and swung out of the hatch.
'Heero, that was a stupid idea, you're gonna get her killed,' said Quatre. Heero didn't answer.
When she was halfway down, the ribbon frayed through.
*
'You're alone, correction, you have Eron, but you're still alone, so deal with it.' Emma muttered to herself as she made her way unseen down towards the beach of the nearest town. All of the primary issue Gundams were good with water, it was good practice for outer space, the doctor had said, and it made them easier to handle too. She'd found this out, because she'd had time to practice.
After the accident, she'd had around a month with Eron before she had been ambushed by mobile dolls, at that time unknown to her, and had then been found by Tsudiko at Colony A Port. She'd found Eron in a cave near the main hangar, and had used it to drive back mobile suits trying to explore the base. She hadn't wanted them to find her friends, whether they were alive or not. She'd never considered the possibility that they might have survived.
It was going to be a while before she was her old self again.
*
Don't scream, don't scream, Relena told herself as she fell, You're gonna hit the water, you'll be fine. Who the hell are you? I wouldn't say things like that! Besides, you might as well hit the ground than hit the water like that. You'll break your neck. Ah, oh yes.
Relena twisted around and hit the water feet first. It wasn't very deep, but it was deep enough. She didn't even want to know what kind of animals lived in this lake.
Concentrate on getting to the surface, baka. Stop calling me that! I'm you, baka! Shut it.
Relena broke the surface and shook her head to get her wet hair out of her eyes. Hayley and Hilde were looking at her in horror. She found she could touch the bottom after a little paddling, and began to wade towards her friends, periodically picking lakeweed, or whatever weed you get in lakes, off of herself. Hilde grabbed her arm.
'Oh my God! Are you okay?'
'I think so, I hit the water, didn't I?' Hilde began to help her pull water snails off her jeans. Hayley began to climb the rope.
'I was so scared you were gonna die,' said Hilde quietly. Relena rolled her eyes.
'I'd let me worry about that.' Hilde grinned.
*
'It was a good thing that Doloria was over a lake,' said Quatre quietly.
'Relena did it on purpose.' This was bothering Heero.
'She knew she was gonna fall?'
'No, just as a safeguard.'
'That was smart.'
'Hn.'
*
Relena wrung out her hair and watched Hayley climb. She was a good climber, but she was tiring. Relena looked away.
'It would be a lot easier for her if there was a kind of winch.'
'There is in some kinds of mobile suit,' said Hilde, her eyes on the little figure that was Hayley, 'but you can only access it from the cockpit.'
'Bad luck I guess,' said Relena, 'so why didn't they let me pull her up, then winch me down…hang on, I coulda winched DOWN?'
'Maybe this suit doesn't have a winch…' then Hilde stopped. Hayley had stopped climbing, but she was still going up.
'Look, now the winch is working!'
'Lucky, I bet her arms are tired.'
It was true, Hayley was exhausted, and it came as a relief when the winch began to pull her upwards. How'd that happened then? There was no one inside the suit anymore.
'Lets go back home,' said Hilde, 'I'd forget about the Doc. It'll probably be gone when you get back anyway, they don't waste time. Leave D with them.'
'Okay,' said Relena, but she kept a lingering eye contact with Doloria for a few seconds after Hilde had begun to walk away.
In those few seconds, Hayley climbed into the unfamiliar machine and tried to gain control, but failed.
*
Anyone standing by the shore near the Eoar cliffs at that moment would have wondered why every single gull in the area suddenly took off at once, screaming hoarsely. They'd also have wondered, if they'd stayed, just why a large hole opened in the sea for a few seconds. The most likely thing they'd've done then would have been to run away screaming.
Luckily, there was no one around. Emma disengaged the invisibility cloak for a few seconds and jumped out of Eron. She'd stay here tonight, in the caves. She could use some of the spare parts stored in the cavity behind Eron's left front foot to catch some food, spear some fish. Fire wasn't a problem; she had plenty of that. She looked up at Eron's beam sabre cavity and grinned.
For the moment, though, she wasn't hungry, and decided to plan where exactly she was heading. If she left Eron cloaked underwater, no one would detect it, with radar or visually, and she could search for the nearest built up area and find out what state the world was in.
And then what? Revenge? No. Retribution? Perhaps. Kick serious butt? Oh yes.
*
'The controls are locked, I can't get control!' came Hayley's voice to Quatre, Kaia and Heero. Heero watched in horror as Doloria began to fall from the sky.
'Hilde!' cried Relena, 'Look!'
'Oh…shit,' said Hilde.
She needs to open the wings, thought Relena, who, of course, had no idea that Hayley had no control whatsoever, that'll stop the fall.
'I don't think she's in control,' said Hilde, with an awful quietness to her voice.
Open the wings, open the wings, thought Relena, come on Hayley, come on…
The wings opened. Doloria shot forward horizontally, its belly skimming the tops of the trees below.
'Yes!' cried Relena. Hilde was shaking.
'That was too close,' she muttered, 'what happened?'
'I don't know, but it doesn't matter, ne? You said so yourself. Lets go.' Relena tugged at Hilde's sleeve gently. Hilde spun to face her.
'What's happened to you? Why are you acting like this?' Relena was taken aback.
'Like what?'
'So calm, when I'm freaked out!' Relena opened her mouth to answer, then realised she had nothing to say. She couldn't answer Hilde's question.
*
'Hayley, speak to us!' said Quatre into the mike. It crackled, and Hayley answered. She sounded terrified, and that surprised one Gundam Pilot.
'It…It wasn't me; it did it on its own.'
'Like your suit escaping?' Hayley suddenly seemed to gain confidence.
'Yeah, like that.'
'Are you in control now?' There was a pause. Doloria was currently gliding around over the mountains in lazy circles.
'No…'
*
Relena kept her eyes focused on the small shape in the sky.
That's good, just keep doing that for a while, and then you can land straight…
'Are… Are we going?' Hilde said hesitantly.
'In a sec, I just want to make sure she lands it okay.'
'Even if she doesn't, what can you do?'
'I don't know, but lets just stay 'till then, ne?'
'Make up your mind,' muttered Hilde.
'Gomen, Hilde,' said Relena, smiling and returning her eyes to Doloria.
*
'Quatre, have Relena and Hilde left yet?' asked Heero, his eyes also on Doloria.
'Err… no. They're still standing near the edge of the forest. Hang on, Trowa's going over to get rid of them.'
'Good.'
*
Hilde watched as the Dragon's legs drew together and its wings drew back to land. It was about ten metres off the ground. Relena looked on in amazement as the ground opened to form a long hole in the ground, the entrance to the base. They'd obviously abandoned the idea of hiding it in the cave and had decided to land it into the base. The machine descended slowly and carefully.
It was really lucky that Hayley managed to regain control. I wonder what I did to make her lose it in the first place, thought Relena miserably, unaware that Hayley still didn't have control.
At that second Trowa emerged from the trees behind her and grabbed her arm, and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She broke her eye contact with Doloria and spun to face him, but before he could say anything, there was an earth shattering crash. All three of them turned to where Doloria had been carefully landing, to find it a twisted sprawled mess of legs laying widthways across the entrance. The engines had died and it had simply dropped like a stone.
*
'Hayley!' cried Quatre.
Hayley couldn't understand what had happened at all. She hadn't had control, but the machine seemed to be piloting itself perfectly, and then, for no reason, it had just fallen out of the sky. It was lucky that she'd been quite close to the ground. She didn't seem to be hurt.
'I'm okay, but I'm getting out NOW,' she said.
'What happened?'
'Everything died at once, instantly, and I have no idea why.'
Quatre looked over to where Trowa still had Relena by the arm.
'I do,' he said.
*
'Okay, I get the picture, we're outta here.' Trowa released Relena's arm.
There was a rustle as a large grey nose appeared out of the nearby foliage, swiftly followed by a long head of the same colour, whose owner looked at them all through solemn brown eyes. Moments later another head joined it, only this time it was brown and white in stark patches.
'Thank god, they're alright,' said Hilde, reaching out and stroking Ohki's soft pink nose. The two horses, looking a bit battered, walked into the clearing and Hilde and Relena mounted them. They said Goodbye, turned and were swiftly lost from sight among the dense trees. Trowa shook his head and began back towards the disaster site.
*
'Look at those,' said Hayley, once they had got Doloria inside the base, with help from Heero, 'on its wings.' Heero and Trowa looked. All along the spokes of the wings, little round discs were clustered tightly together.
'What're they?' she asked, feeling more stupid by the second. Quatre reached up and detached one. He turned it over in his hands.
'It looks like a shield barrier generator,' he said, 'but usually you only get around half a dozen on any suit. There must be at least three hundred here. It doesn't make any sense.'
'Quatre, you said that you had an idea why everything went dead, what was it? Why did it happen?' Quatre reattached the SBG and looked at Hayley, who had spoken.
'You know how you can control Espion telekinetically?' She nodded. Cool, there's a word for it.
'I think that D's pilot can do that too, with one important difference.' He paused, then continued, 'and that's that she doesn't realise she's doing it.' Hayley blinked.
'Uh oh.' Hayley muttered. She held out her hand to Quatre.
'May I see one of those?' He moved to hand her a SBG, but then looked at her fingers. He looked up with a confused look on his face.
'Your fingers…'
'What?' She pulled her hand away and looked at it. Of course.
'You have no fingerprints.' Said Quatre. She nodded.
'They were removed,' she said quietly.
'Did it hurt?' asked Quatre. She looked away.
'What're you gonna do about this?' she asked. She didn't wanted to tell them how loudly she'd screamed when they did it. Quatre looked away. He didn't need to repeat the question, she'd just told him the answer a different way.
'From what the developers told us, Doloria was a suit designed to protect, not attack,' said Duo, twirling his braid idly between his fingers.
'Yes! That would explain the large number of SBGs,' said Quatre thoughtfully, 'if they were going to be used to protect an area.'
'There're enough on there to protect an entire colony,' said Heero.
'Let's sleep on this,' said Duo, 'and we can talk again tomorrow. I for one feel shagged out.'
'Pathetic onna,' sneered Wufei, and then yelped as Hayley clipped him round the ear.
*
Hilde and Relena arrived back at the school as night was falling. They untacked their horses and entered the main building. When they reached the main staircase they said goodnight to one another, and separated. Hilde went straight on, and Relena went up the stairs.
As she pulled the covers over herself and extinguished the light, Relena simply pushed the day's events out of her mind. She had to do that, or she'd never get to sleep.
*
Relena was woken at about midnight by… nothing. She lay in bed with her eyes open, wondering what had woken her up. Whatever it was, she was awake now, and she wouldn't fall asleep again for ages. She sighed and got up, pulled on a sweater and a pair of jogging bottoms and pulling her hair into a loose plait, moved to the large window.
'Holy shit,' she said, as she leant out into the night.
*
Emma, inside her cloaked mech, spotted what looked like a small town near the coast. Towns had people in. People who could kill other people. She had to destroy it.
*
She couldn't believe her eyes. There, with its neck craning up towards her window, was the Dragon.
'Shoo,' she muttered. It didn't move.
How did it get here?
She moaned as Doloria took more steps forward until its head was level with her window. Then it clicked.
Oh no. No you don't. I'm not going to. Go away. Now.
It remained stubbornly there.
'Go away, leave me alone,' whispered Relena. It didn't move. Against her better judgement, she reached forward and touched its snout with her fingers.
*
Emma paused as she realised that she was going to have to let down her cloak to attack. She did so, and then Relena spotted her.
*
'Ohhh,' she gasped as she saw the huge horse-mech appear out of nowhere around half a kilometre from the school. It was going to attack them! They couldn't defend themselves! Wait… She looked at Doloria again, which was waiting patiently.
'You knew… How did you know? You can't 'know' anything… You're just a machine… And unfortunately the only defence the school has. I don't know how you found me, but I'm glad you did.' Relena dropped onto Doloria's snout and opened the hatch on the side of its head.
don't have to fight if don't want
'Show me,' said Relena, pulling down the control arms.
SBGs deploy them round school
'And those'll protect it?' Doloria's answers seemed to bypass her ears and go straight to her brain, but her fears for the school and its thousand inhabitants' lives were greater than her curiosity.
I should leave this to people who know what they're doing, but there's no time…
fifty will
'I'm scared, D. I'm no Gundam pilot. I'm no one. I can't help,' she slumped.
doloria gundam so relena gundam pilot
'It's not that simple, D.'
is
'I trust you, Doloria,' muttered Relena. She marvelled at the way she seemed to know where everything was in the cockpit, even though she'd only been in it once, twice before. She realised she had seconds before the hostile mech was within attacking range.
*
Duo couldn't sleep, even though it was he who had suggested that they slept. He pulled on his clothes and decided to take a walk around the hangar, maybe chat to Deathscythe, who never answered, but it made him feel better, anyway.
He walked on past the numbered Gundams and reached where Espion and Doloria were being stored, the PI Gundams, as Hayley had called them, Primary Issue. He paused by Espion, braid swinging, and took in its craftsmanship.
'Not too shabby,' he muttered to himself, 'It's no D Hell, but pretty cool anyways.' He walked on to where Doloria had been placed on its side just hours earlier by Wing Zero, and stopped.
'Oh shit! What next? Everyone! Wake up! Gundam Omega's gone! Goddamnit! Wake up!'
*
'What if he breaks through the shield D?' asked Relena, and then gave a little scream and the mech lowered its huge head and charged.
don't let it
*
'Look! There it is…' began Duo from inside Deathscythe, but then his voice trailed off as he saw the huge other mech galloping towards the school, its head down.
'Hey, that looks just like…' he tried to explain what it looked like to Trowa, who had come with him, but the night sky was split with strange light as Doloria reared up, throwing back its wings and shooting SBGs into the air around the school. Crackling energy fields joined them to one another to from a sort of igloo over the school.
'Quatre was right! Look!'
'We can see, Duo,' said Trowa. He was relaying video images back to the base.
Relena was panting slightly as Doloria's front legs hit the ground again. The school was safe, until the enemy machine broke through the shield.
'D, can you get anything on our attacker?' asked Relena, wondering where this courage was coming from.
rough same weight height less weapons beam sabre head
'Less weapons? Can you stop the charge?'
see
'Huh?' The unwilling pilot realised that she didn't have any time to think of anything, except…
Emma impacted into the proverbial immovable object. Relena had used the last precious seconds to dig the Gundam's long sabre-like claws into the ground.
Duo gasped as he saw how strong Gundam Omega was. 'Woah,' he muttered.
Emma was stunned. That had almost actually hurt. This pilot must die.
'Doloria's outta control again,' said Trowa, 'we gotta stop it.'
'Open a radio channel to Doloria,' said Hayley over the com. link.
'But…there's no one in it…' began Duo.
'Open a radio channel to Gundam Omega now!' said Hayley.
Shit, now he's pissed off, thought Relena as she watched the mobile suit back away slightly on all four of its feet. Eron, its name was Eron; she spotted it on its left shoulder.
Suddenly the radio crackled at her.
'Is there anyone in there?' It was Hayley's voice. Relena decided to take a chance.
'Only someone who sure as hell wishes she wasn't,' she muttered, ducking to avoid the beam sabre that Eron thrust at her. She spread D's legs wider and crouched into a defensive stance, her tail swishing through the air over her head.
'What's going on?' asked Duo, from inside his Gundam, 'Why is the damn thing here? Why's Relena here? What the hell is going on?'
'It went to find her.'
'YOU WHAT?' burst out Duo.
Relena wondered why the Gundam pilot wasn't doing his job, but didn't have any further chances to wonder as Eron sprang forwards again, knocking her roughly back against the shield, which held.
Why do things like this always happen to me?
no answer
Ouch that hurt.
She tried to mentally probe the pilot's feelings, to get some perspective on why he was attacking. Suddenly a wave of grief and rage hit her so hard that she gasped. That other pilot shouldn't be fighting, he should be getting counselling. What a ferocious block against her empathic probe!
'Hey, it's getting up! That must have hurt,' Duo commented as D got onto its feet.
Relena opened a radio channel to Eron.
'Stop attacking, why are you doing this?' Emma laughed bitterly.
'I couldn't do this if I wasn't who I am,' she answered cryptically, before diving at Omega again, but this time its pilot was ready, having used the time she had bought quizzing her attacker to formulate plan to stop this madness.
As she flew towards her target, Emma watched in horror as the Dragon lunged forward and neatly clipped her left shoulder, causing her to spin in air and land heavily on Eron's back. Before she could scramble to her feet, Doloria sat firmly on her and held down the huge legs, rendering Eron immobile. Emma tried to break the other suit's grip, but failed. For a second no one moved.
Relena glared at the now-still machine. Why? Why had she attacked, and why was she so sad? Relena's empathic abilities were know to her alone, and quite advanced. She drew Doloria's head up quickly as she saw Deathscythe approaching. It crouched as Duo looked at the horse-mech, then Duo's voice said, 'you can get off now.'
'No, I can't. The minute I get off, she's gonna kebab me.'
'And how d'you know that?'
'Oh, never mind. Okay, I'm outta here.' Doloria sprang back so quickly that it made Duo jump, and then he saw why. The second that Omega had released its hold on the captive mech, Espion's twin spun round, and its beam sabre flared into life for the second time that night.
Relena moved D back into a defensive position in front of the school and watched sadly as the powerful Deathscythe swiped viciously at the stricken mech. Suddenly she stiffened as a voice inside her mind whimpered.
//Hayley… Trensa… Help me… Someone…//
Hayley? The pilot knew Hayley? Duo had to stop. She wondered if Quatre had picked up the cry for help, or if he was too far away. She was aware of his empathic abilities.
'Duo stop,' she said quietly, but she knew he wouldn't, and she knew that she had to get a message to Hayley somehow. Was Hayley empathic? No. She'd've felt it before. In a desperate attempt to stop the fight, she tried to contact the other pilot.
Stop fighting, don't struggle. I'll try and help. Eron ceased moving instantly.
Inside, Emma was shaking. She had been taking a beating from the other mech, and was dazed and disorientated. Duo watched in satisfaction as the legs locked, and the alien mech fell.
Try to stay calm, Relena soothed, What's your name?
Who are you? The girl's voice inside her mind was afraid.
My name is Relena, what's yours?
You… I… Emma… My name's Emma. Emma Kentley.
Emma, why are you here? Why did you attack the school?
It's a school? I thought it was a town… I don't know what I was doing… I just don't know…
Duo, oblivious to the exchange taking place, moved to gather up Eron, and at the same time, said coldly, 'Don't get in my way.' Relena didn't answer, but moved Doloria between Deathscythe and Eron, and *spoke* to Emma.
Can you get up, and explain who you are into the radio on frequency… Err… Frequency 106.8?
Alright, I'll try.
'Hey! Get outta the way!' shouted Duo, but Relena took the chance of ignoring him.
'Move, Relena.' It was Trowa's voice. Relena knew that she didn't have long before they both attacked her as a traitor.
Do it now, Emma.
Emma took a deep breath and coughed.
'Apologies for the misunderstanding,' she said as calmly as she could into the radio, 'this is Emma Kentley, Pilot of Gundam Beta, Eron. My colleagues have been killed. I request help.'
Silence ensued.
*
Relena sat inside Doloria in dumb silence. Emma was a Gundam Pilot? Eron was a Gundam? Another one?
'I take full responsibility for the damage I caused.' Emma's voice brought them all back to the real world, except of course, Duo and the other pilots who had no idea who the girl was, but were just being silent because everyone else was.
'I don't think you caused much damage, except maybe to Relena,' said Duo suspiciously. If Relena could have given him the fingers, she would have done.
Emma turned Eron's head towards the mech standing between her and Deathscythe.
'Are you hurt?' Relena jumped a little.
'Me? No, I'm fine.' She resolved to say as little as possible in the ensuing minutes.
'Your Gundam is very similar in design to one piloted by a colleague of ours,' said Trowa. Doloria moved so that Eron could walk out a little.
'Really?'
'Yes. Were you part of the original Operation?'
'Yes,' said Emma bitterly.
*
Hayley stared at the viewscreen, upon which played the image of Eron. Emma was alive. Emma was alive! Then it was only Trensa who hadn't made it. She had to let her best friend know that she was alive too, but how was the best way of doing it.
'Emma? Is that really you? This is Hayley.'
'H-Hayley?'
'Yeah Ems, it's me. What've you been up to?'
Emma snorted. She was beginning to feel like her old self again. 'Baka,' she muttered.
'Guess it's still raining mech…' murmured Duo. Relena understood what he meant. It was mind-boggling.
'Relena,' said Emma's voice, 'thank you for helping me.'
'It's nothing,' said Relena in a small voice.
'Can you two escort Eron back to the base?' said Quatre's voice. Relena gulped.
Doloria moved alongside Eron and nudged it slightly.
I'm not a Gundam pilot, said Relena, I'm a pilot by accident, that's why they all hate me. That, coupled with the fact that I'm an annoying, whining, pink wearing sissy.
That doesn't matter to me, said Emma, you've proved yourself to me. I trust you.
How can you trust someone so quickly?
I'm empathic, and so are you. We might as well have known each other our whole lives.
Okay, I hear you. The top-secret no-one-knows-where-it-is-except-the-whole-world-and-his-brother base is…over there.
Heh heh heh.
Doloria and Eron began to move east. Deathscythe stood for a second, unmoving. Duo switched the radio to a different frequency.
'Guys… Err… What the fuck is going on?'
*
What do you mean, by accident?
I was the first to go inside Doloria, so I became its pilot.
Seems kinda dumb.
Glad you agree. So, you're another of the PI Gundam pilots?
Are you a citizen?
Technically… Yes.
Tell me about yourself, how did you come to be here?
Why are you so interested?
In a citizen who got roped into this? I'd just like a different perspective on what happened.
Oh, you wanna know about the Gundam Pilots? I don't know much, you'd probably be better off actually asking them.
Relena pushed Doloria into a loping run and Eron followed suit.
Tell me what you know.
Relena couldn't find anything suspicious in Emma's psyche, so she began.
As you know, in AC 175, the leader of the colonies was assassinated, and twenty years later, some colony citizens decided to end the tyranny, so they made those Gundams. They go on missions to hurt OZ in tactical ways. Err… That's all I know.
Why are you here?
Relena bristled slightly.
I was here first! I run the school over there that you mistook for a town. I can't do anything about the fact that the school is in the middle of nowhere. That's why they came here, you see.
*
'But Relena?' Duo's voice radiated disbelief, 'you can't be serious!'
'Duo, we don't have a choice,' said Quatre, who was rapidly losing patience, 'we need her to explain how Doloria works.'
'We'd be able to figure it out… Besides, how does she know? She's only been in it twice.'
'Three times,' said a voice he didn't recognise. Kaia looked at the older people glaring at her.
'What? Mistakes irritate me. You might wanna look at that instead of glaring at me,' she added, looking at the radar screen, her dark plait swinging as she looked away again.
*
'Emma, are you picking up anything on your radar?' Relena spoke out loud for the first time in ages.
'Err… Nope, I think it's bust. Why?'
'I think we'd better both… Err… what do you call it?'
'Cloak?'
'That's it.'
'You can do that?'
'D says I can.'
*
'Hey! Where'd you go?' Duo looked around, but Relena and Emma had vanished.
'We cloaked, idiot,' said Emma.
'Grr…' said Duo half-heartedly as he swung around to face their pursuers.
'How did they find us? We're all gundaniumified.'
'Say what?'
'I just made that word up.'
'It shows, honey,' said Emma.
Relena listened intently to the banter. No one seemed to know how the Leos had found them except D. She wasn't going to say anything either.
Emma, tell them that the Leos are equipped with a sensor that can detect Andronia flares.
Gotcha.
'They sensed the energy from our flare weapons,' said Emma quickly, but didn't continue to give Relena away.
'Goddamn,' said Duo, but he easily destroyed them all, while Emma watched, and Relena waited with Doloria's head down.
Emma, I'm getting out and going back to the school.
But how will Omega get back to the base?
I'll ask… Program it to follow you, if I may.
But why?
I'll explain another time. I've just got to recall the… Err… What? Oh yeah, thanks… SBGs.
Who are you talking to?
Doloria.
Oh.
Relena dropped her cloak and drew Doloria's enormous wings up above its head. The protective cage around the school dissipated into individual points of energy that flew back to their places on the underside of the huge wings. Relena turned Doloria's head to the space where she knew Eron and Emma were.
I guess I'll see you.
Take care.
Relena knew that she wouldn't be seen. She lowered D's head to the ground and climbed out.
Lift your head back up, and follow Emma to the base, where you came from tonight.
As Doloria began to comply, Relena turned and began the short walk back to the school, and wondered how she was going to explain this to the students in the morning. She was instantly swallowed up by the dark forest.
Felflowne: Sorry again for the delay, but please review! My muse has passed out from overwork, and she'll only wake up if someone reviews! *fans her muse with a wadge of rejected fics* Also, I need some suggestions as to pairings. Do I need them? Should they be Yaoi? Yuri? Het? Please please pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease!! *whimpers* Neeeed reviews… To… Live *dies*
I think I'll stop now. Bye bye. *^_^*