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 16 - The Spirit of Battle
By Espion
Relena couldn't remember when she'd last seen someone so angry. Kaia was at the point of spitting with rage. There was no point interfering. She stood by the main doors with the remnants of Suvius' once fine harness clutched in her hand. She leant her head against his warm neck and shut her eyes.
The 'debate' continued. She'd tuned out the words long ago. Anger, anger, anger. Our greatest enemy is ourselves.
Not bad, you write that?
Without opening her eyes Relena smiled, and replied, None of us have the time to spare for this.
Too true.
I'm going. Don't hurt Kaia, please.
I'm sure she could hold her own.
Please?
Of course. I won't let anyone hurt her. You have my word.
Relena signified that she'd received the promise by an incremental nod, which only Emma, watching for it, saw. Wincing, she pulled herself onto Suvius' broad back. He snorted with disgust, as if annoyed that he'd had to wait so long. Behind her, the argument, which was mainly between Wufei, Duo, Kaia and Hayley, reached a new crescendo.
SHUT UP!
They sure did. Wide-eyed, everyone looked at everyone else. Relena stopped Suvius and caught Emma's eye. She smiled.
Quatre.
The blonde Arabian looked tired, and his hands were clenched. Using telepathy had been his only choice to stop the screaming.
'Listen to me,' he pleaded, and all eyes were on him, 'we have around 800 troops after us, drawing closer by the second, and we're arguing amongst ourselves?! We've got 5 operational Op. Meteor Gundams, and 3 operational Op. Umbra Gundams. A good hand, yes, but we're going to need EVERY ONE OF THEM.'
He didn't shout, he just spoke in capital letters.
Duo and Wufei looked at each other.
Yes, he's telepathic, and so am I, said Emma, stepping forward, it'll come in very useful, so shut up.
You too huh? said Quatre privately to Emma, and she nodded.
Am I still vacating? mumbled Relena to Emma, but she simply shook her head in confusion.
I really have no idea what is going on. Her face hardened. But there's no way they can stop you fighting with me now. We'll be a team.
Together we're stronger.
Yes, we are.
'Let's do this!' Emma yelled, punching the air. A ragged cheer went up as behind her Eron reared, flares blazing in the cold hangar.
*
Relena tapped studiously at her cellphone, entering the number of the school. It rang twice, then a male voice said, 'Hello?'
'Hello, please may I speak to Miss Schneider?' said Relena, leaning back against the wall. The others were all nearby, discussing formation plans.
There was a pause.
'Miss Schneider is away on business, I'm sorry. Goodbye.'
'Wait!' said Relena quickly, her suspicion aroused, 'that's alright. May I speak to the person who is currently in charge of the school?'
Another pause. Faint conferring. Relena could tell that her conversationalist had put his hand over the receiver.
'No calls are to be put through at this time, sorry.'
The other person there then snapped something, and the man with the phone didn't have a chance to cover the receiver quickly enough.
Relena was puzzled, and very worried. It had sounded like, 'Treize is…'
Trieze is… Traze… Trase… TRACE IT!
With a yelp she threw the phone to the floor and stamped on it hard. The little impact seemed enormously loud to everyone there.
'Relena, what're you doing…?' asked Emma faintly, as Relena scrabbled to pry the back off the phone and rip out the SIM card. Anything to stop it working.
'Something's happened…at the school,' she said quietly. She snapped the mangled mobile in two, and continued, 'they wouldn't let me speak to Hilde, and then they tried to trace the call.'
'If the school's been taken over we're in deep guano,' groaned Duo, 'we've got another lot of antagonists sat right next to us, plus we now CAN'T physically send these two back.'
*
Hilde sat in her office. A prisoner in her own room. She had to get a message to Relena somehow, but all phone lines were being monitored. She shoved her hands in her pockets and stood up.
Her fingers closed on the black ball that Hannah had given her. Of course!
She sat back down and idly rolled the ball from hand to hand. It was very light, and dark as midnight in colour. It didn't seem to cast a shadow as she rolled it around. She drew a used up Biro from the penholder on her desk and began to write.
*
When she was satisfied with what she had done, she put the ball back in her pocket, hung her jacket on the coat stand in the corner of the room, and called the marshal for permission to leave the room and go to bed.
*
The next morning, the marshal followed Hilde into the room.
'The guy on surveillance said you were fiddling around with something last night. Where is it?'
Hilde contrived to look innocent.
'Look in the coat, sir,' suggested another guy, assumedly the guy who'd been on surveillance.
Hilde unconsciously held her breath as her coat was searched. She didn't even flinch as the two men began to tear it apart. They found nothing.
*
Kaia woke up. She was on the floor with a blanket over her that she and Relena and Emma had shared. Trying to get away without causing too much disarray, she struggled free. Behind her there was a noise.
CLACK…Clack…clack…clacclaclaclaclac…
She turned. A ball had rolled out of the blanket. She tried to pick it up, but it was too heavy, much heavier than it looked. It was about five centimetres across.
*
'Miss Darlian, um, I found this,' said Kaia, a little later, when everyone was up and at them. She pointed. The ball was where it had rolled. She'd been unable to shift it.
*
'And…that!' said Duo joyously, 'Is the last one of those damn connections!' He and Heero had been working together on Wing Zero since the rafter incident.
'What's left your end?' he called down cheerily.
'Not much,' Heero consented to answer, 'I just need plenty of light…'
And then the whole world went dark.
The strip lights went out.
Darkness seemed to spread up out of the hole in the roof into the open sky.
Within seconds, no one could see their own hand in front of their face.
The busy hum of machines dropped to a whisper.
There was a crash as Hayley fell over Kaia, amid much cursing.
Relena quickly whispered her clearance. A message from Hilde! What could possibly be happening there?
'Activate,' she murmured.
At once words of blazing white light began to etch themselves on the far wall. The others shielded their eyes, having been in complete darkness for a while.
'They're words!' cried Duo.
'Is it a ghost?' whispered Kaia.
'Don't be so stupid!' snapped Hayley, but in the bright light her face was pale.
The message was this.
The school has been occupied, I don't know who they are or what they want, but I heard something about Treize. The marshal is called Tamehito.
If you're reading this then you're alive, thank God. Hannah got back okay, and the students are all fine, but we've got to get them out 'Lena, it's dangerous here, don't try to come back just yet.
Send this back with news.
Hilde.
'Deactivate,' said Relena quietly. Instantly the room was how it had been before darkness had crept over it.
The ball fell from about five metres up, and bounced twice before Kaia caught it. To her amazement, it was as light as a feather.
'What is that?' asked Trowa, as Kaia experimentally threw it up and caught it.
Relena looked apprehensive. Kaia was still bouncing the ball.
'It was too heavy to pick up earlier…' began Kaia, but Duo interrupted her.
'C'mon! Everyone who's coming! We're going now. The developers say now's the time!'
***
Mizumi was mad. He'd be the last to admit it, of course, but to him the plot was truly lost. He'd lost his elder brother and mentor a few years before in a reported weapons failure, and it had rocked him to his core. Shoot now, save the questions. He'd been discovered by Lady Une herself wandering the streets of Q139.
Unfortunately, at that very moment, he was sat in the commanding unit of a squadron of Taurus troops.
'Sir, the squadron is now in formation,' crackled the com.
'Very good, but what about the little one?'
'Little one sir?'
'No matter, no matter.'
Mizumi steepled his fingers. No. It hadn't been weapons failure that had killed his brother. It had been an encounter with a Gundam. He'd read the reports and gleaned the truth from the cover-up. And now, he was going to find the one responsible, and kill everything within a mile radius of them.
'I'm coming for you Gundam.'
***
Hayley flexed her fingers habitually as she settled them lightly on Espion's controls. Back to combat again. It was where she'd always be, she supposed. This was new, a different kind of fighting that was unknown to her, but (she stuck out her chin a little) she was a Gundam pilot, one from the Original Age, no less. She could do this!
Beside her, Emma was less certain. Her brush with insanity had unsettled her, but she had always been leader. Here, it seemed that everyone wanted to be leader, but the person most people listened to was Quatre, the Empath. Trensa, or Heero, as she had to keep reminding herself, also occupied a position of power, but his seemed to be involuntary. She turned Eron's head toward Wing Zero.
Heero was at the front. His thoughts were decidedly simpler than those of the other P.I. pilots, but they centred on three main things. One, Kaia had his old surname. He didn't understand where the girl had come from. Could she be his sister? He didn't remember having a sister, or, come to think of it, very much else from before he'd been a pilot. Two, the occupation of the school was a problem. He knew that Duo in particular may not want to leave Hilde in danger, but they needed everyone. Three… Relena. The girl had changed so much in a few months. She'd endured pain and suffering past anything she could have ever imagined, yet was still alive. Her school was under occupation, but she wasn't panicking. It was… here his mind had no suitable word to insert, so suggested… odd.
Duo and Quatre were side by side. Duo was worried about Hilde and the kids at the school, but also about how Relena seemed to be taking it. She didn't even seem angry. He voiced this to Quatre, who replied, 'What can she do? The school, from what Hilde said, is completely swamped. They've got 500 hostages.'
'But we can't just leave them!'
'Why don't you ask Relena what she thinks, and switch to an open channel so we can all find out.'
***
'Miss Relena, are you scared?' asked Kaia's voice.
'Yes,' said Relena, her hands clasped in her lap, and her eyes closed.
'You shouldn't come,' said Kaia quietly, and almost kindly, 'what about Hilde and all the pupils?'
Relena winced.
'I want to go there and help them Kaia, I love them, but Quatre said…'
'Blow it! Follow your heart!'
Relena opened her eyes. There were tears in them.
'What can I do Kai?'
Kaia thought.
'Do you remember the weapon that suit used to deactivate all the Gundams?' she asked.
'Yes,' said Relena.
'Could you configure Doloria's SBGs to deactivate weaponry?'
'Yes, but only if it was laser weaponry. Wouldn't work on shotguns.'
'Wouldn't a modern military force have all the latest weapons…?' Kaia let the question hang.
'I'll check,' said Relena quickly. A window, a window through the darkness! She could help them after all!
Her radio snapped into life.
'What are y'gonna do about the school, Relena?' Duo's voice asked her.
'I have an idea,' she said quietly, retrieving the ball from Hilde from her pocket, 'but I can't do it until tomorrow.'
'What! Anything could happen by then! That's not good enough!'
'I know it isn't ideal,' she replied, etching away at the ball with a piece of wire she'd found, 'but there'll be no casualties at all if it works.'
'It better work then.' Duo snapped. Relena sighed. She could understand his mood, but didn't he realise that she was just as worried as he was? She slipped the ball back into her pocket.
'Get ready,' Quatre's voice warned them all.
**
Heero… Emma whispered urgently, Felflowne is yours, right? What are we gonna do? It has no pilot!
'Delta'll have to stay back,' Heero told the others, 'there's no pilot for it, and it's damaged.'
The others groaned as the realisation sank in. Delta was very powerful, and would have been a great asset to them.
'Wouldn't've been able to use it anyway,' Hayley said, 'Otashki told me it'd been pre-programmed when they were building it. Only Trensa could pilot it.'
'Oh great!' chorused several voices.
Relena was puzzled.
But, Emma, the thing belongs to Kaia…
'No,' said Emma aloud, to the confusion of the others, 'just drop it, ok?'
Admonished, Relena fell silent.
'Out!' cried Wufei, and one by one the Gundams exited the hangar. Kaia watched the heavy doors slide shut, and bolt themselves after them.
She looked up at the invalid Felflowne.
**
Outside, the battle had begun, and it was clear from the first second that it was not going to be easy for the defenders. Ground to air missiles co-ordinated by Trowa and Quatre had managed to all but decimate the attacking forces, but the ones that had survived were the toughest out of them.
Doloria stayed well back, its tail pointing towards the sea. The rest of the Gundams spread out in a horseshoe pattern, ready.
'Just like old times,' Hayley laughed.
Emma didn't think it was funny, her hands were tightly gripping Eron's control sticks.
A little later, Hayley wasn't seeing the funny side anymore. Their attackers had managed to disable Shenlong and Deathscythe, much to Duo's spitting fury, and Heavyarms was out of ammunition. Doloria had fended all attacks away from the main building, but hadn't destroyed any suits, so they kept going back.
Eron lay on its side, and no matter how many radio hails Hayley put out to Emma, she didn't answer.
Sandrock, Zero and Espion were encircled.
'We need to break their line somehow…' Hayley said desperately.
'I'm all out of ammunition,' said Quatre wearily, 'what do you suggest?'
'Call Doloria over here!'
'Not… an option…'
**
Kaia watched in horror as her friends, as she thought of them, were boxed in.
I have to try, she thought, and began clambering up the side of Delta.
**
'Why not?' cried Hayley, 'we're running outta options here!'
'Relena is unconscious,' said Quatre quietly.
'Screw it! I'm going!'
'Hayley, no!' The sound of Heero's voice startled Quatre, but made no difference as Espion lowered its head and charged.
**
Kaia put her hands on the controls, willing herself to remember them instantly. Suddenly a shrill alarm went off, causing her to clap her hands over her ears.
'Please! Please let me help them!'
The alarm stopped. The wall in front of her gradually faded from opaque to transparent. Radar screens and heat sensors switched themselves on.
She pushed the stick forwards, and was nearly thrown out of the seat by Delta's loping motion.
Gritting her teeth, she pushed the stick forward all the way and braced herself.
**
The ring closed around Zero and Sandrock, cutting them off from Espion. The attacking Leos peppered the already damaged MS with automatic fire, buzzing around the head like angry wasps.
Then, from the back, a Taurus powered forward and aimed a beam cannon at Espion at point blank range, then fired.
**
'Hayley!'
Espion's Gundanium protection was ripped apart, and it crashed into the ground, pieces of plating falling all around it.
**
Mizumi flexed his fingers.
'Now, I'll kill you.'
**
Quatre hailed frantically on all frequencies.
'Hayley, Hayley please answer me!'
**
Hayley lay inside the cockpit of Espion, her arm badly twisted but still intact, and her head feeling as though it was on fire.
Pain burned. Anger burned hotter. She would not lose! For Emma's sake…For…For…
Her head swam.
'Trensa,' she whispered, everything going blurry.
**
'She's lost consciousness,' said Quatre tightly. Heero didn't say anything. He considered for a moment, then decided that this was the worst he'd ever felt in his entire life.
'We'll join her in a moment,' he growled, but their guards were no longer attacking, simply guarding them.
**
They were following the Captain's orders.
'Leave a few Gundams intact,' he told them coldly, 'I want to destroy them myself.'
**
To the horror of Heero and Quatre, the Taurus was not through with the broken Gundam Alpha. It lowered its beam cannon again, pointing it straight at the head of Espion. The plating, they knew, would not stand up to another impact like the last. The head would implode, and Hayley would be killed.
They fought to escape, but they were grossly outnumbered.
**
Inside Espion, Hayley blearily opened her eyes and looked up into the barrel of the weapon.
She sighed.
'I'll see you again, Anya,' she whispered, as the Taurus prepared to fire.
Then the ground shook, and a shadow blotted the sun for a second. Mizumi looked up, then powered his Taurus backwards as quick as it would go.
He narrowly avoided being landed on by Gundam Delta.
**
Kaia tried not to look at the mangled wreck that was Espion, but instead focused her attention on the Taurus.
**
Mizumi slammed the controls into forward gear, this was it.
'I'll avenge you, Fiko-kun!'
Kaia had no answer.
Her fingers ran lightly over the controls, some of which, (which spooked her), weren't connected to anything, and twin flares blinded her attacker, before perforating his MS neatly, and destroying it.
**
'D-Delta…' gasped Quatre.
There really was nothing else he could think of to say.
**
Kaia was amazed at how the old Gundam responded so quickly, and seemed to know what she wanted. A force that was not her mind drew her hands to where they needed to be on the controls, to start with, but after a few minutes she had them mastered.
Without their captain, the remaining troops opted for plan B, an all out attack, but Heero and Quatre were ready, fighting back hard.
Kaia dodged swiftly as she was fired at, and used Delta's claws, teeth and weaponry to good effect. This was… what she was meant to do… this was her purpose.
Quatre gasped as Felflowne turned sharply into a Leo that had been pursuing him, and perforated it with gunfire. It went down. Another Taurus loomed behind Delta, and Quatre made to shout, but the agile Gundam sprung around before he had the chance and cut it down.
Very soon, all the enemy MS were destroyed.
**
There was radio silence.
**
Hayley opened her eyes again. She was still alive. She looked up out of her viewscreen. Felflowne stood over her.
'You… saved me… Is that you, Trensa…?' But before she got a reply, she slumped forward and blacked out again.
'No,' said Kaia, unaware that Hayley was no longer able to hear her, 'it's me, Kaia.'
**
The clean up took a very long time. Between them, Heavyarms, Sandrock, Zero and Felflowne ferried the mangled MS belonging to their friends inside.
Looking inside each one was a rather daunting prospect. Duo lifted Emma gently out of Eron and handed her to Trowa.
'She'll be okay,' he said softly, and Trowa nodded.
Quatre opened the hatch on Doloria and Relena climbed out herself with only a little support. She'd regained consciousness during transit.
Wufei had only minor scrapes. They all looked at the mess that had only an hour ago been a fine, functional MS.
'Let's get her out,' said Duo quietly.
It wasn't easy. Sheared platework was as sharp as razors, and when Heero struggled with the semi-melted hatch, a hidden blade sliced all up his arm. He had to retreat, as blood was going everywhere.
Between them, Duo and Quatre tugged the door open, and then everyone heard a voice say-
'About time, you guys.'
Hayley was awake again.
Her head popped out of the hatch, and with no help from either of her rescuers, she climbed out of the hatch and down to the ground.
'Thanks,' she said.
**
Later on, while Emma and Kaia were resting, Hayley was restless. Apart from feeling beat up and battered, her only wound was on her forehead, where she'd hit it on the control panel.
Hayley poked her head around into the room where Heero sat trying to bind up his entire arm. His left hand was useless, so he was having trouble. She'd go in and give him a hand! It was only fair, seeing as the wound had been caused by him trying to rescue her.
She paused. Would he accept help from her? He was a very complicated person, from what she'd seen.
Aw hell, what was the worst thing he could do?
She walked in.
He looked up at her, before returning his attention to his task. He didn't react when she crouched down beside him and took the bandage ends from him, proceeding to tie them up swiftly.
'You did well,' he said, when she'd finished. She looked up.
'No I didn't,' she said sadly, 'Emma and… Emma'll never let me hear the end of it.'
She still didn't know who he was.
This shouldn't've bothered him, but it did. He felt he'd betrayed her. Hayley had been the thing keeping him human through his training. When he'd lost her, he'd lost a large part of his humanity. Was it gone forever?
When that Taurus had levelled the weapon at Espion, he'd felt a wrench somewhere deep inside. He'd lost her and found her again. At that moment, it had looked like he would lose her once again.
And Emma had known. Even back at the beginning she had. She'd always given him these knowing little looks when she caught him looking at Hayley.
So, are you gonna tell her today?
She'd ask, knowing full well that he wouldn't.
And he couldn't now, either. Too much had happened. They both had a few more scars than they'd had back then. He had a reputation for being stoic and unfeeling. He couldn't just throw that away, no matter how he felt right now.
But he had to say something. He moved his arm and winced a little, but the bandages didn't move at all.
'Thanks,' he said, causing her to look at him in surprise.
'That's okay,' she said, smiling.
Somewhere deep inside, Heero wanted SO much to smile back at her.
'Can I talk to you?' he asked quietly.
'Sure,' she said, and sat down next to him on the sofa.
'Hayley, I've got a confession to make to you. It'll probably make you unhappy, so I'm sorry.'
'C'mon, out with it, you don't like me do you?' Hayley laughed, 'well, I think I'll get over that.'
'No,' it's about… '
He struggled to find the words.
Hayley just looked at him.
'I wish I was Empathic, like Emma,' he said finally.
Hayley chuckled.
'It about the Original Operation.'
She stopped laughing.
'I… was told never to mention it to anyone again, ever, under pain of death,' he said flatly.
'Who forbade you?' said Hayley quietly.
'The Doctor. I was the only known survivor.'
'YOU were?' She looked at him. Then she looked harder.
'That was why I never told you who I was. I was conditioned to obey.'
Hayley couldn't speak.
'I'm sorry.'
'You're… sorry?' She was shaking. He knew she never cried.
'Emma was furious, and now I see why. I should have told you.'
'Every day…' Hayley seemed to be shuddering, and when she turned on him he was shocked to see tears filling her eyes and running down her face. She lashed out with her fist and caught him in the stomach. He took it. He knew he deserved it. Hayley slumped forward, her sobs seeming to rip into him.
When she finally raised her head again, she said, 'I've missed you every day. Tortured myself about how your death was my fault! I… I missed you!'
With that, she flung her arms around him and pulled him close.
Wincing slightly (he ignored it), he copied her motion, sliding his arms around her waist.
'You're crying.' He said numbly.
She leant back and wiped her face.
Not really knowing what he was doing, he eased her hand away and brushed the tears off himself. She reached her hand up again and covered his hand with her own.
For a moment neither of them said anything.
'Don't cry,' he said finally, 'I'm not worth it. I hate seeing you cry.'
'Of course you're worth it,' she said softly, leaning forwards so she could rest her head on his shoulder.
'You helped me so much when we were training together,' Heero said, unconsciously holding her tighter, 'out there… back then… I thought I'd lose you again.'
'I was always here,' she whispered, 'I wish we could've been together, all of us I mean, for longer than we have been.'
Heero brushed her shoulder where bruises were beginning. He knew she didn't bruise easily. He placed his hand over her shoulder softly, feeling the warmth.
She gasped and moved back again so she could look at him, laughed softly and rested her forehead on his so their noses were touching.
Then, without a single conscious thought, Heero leaned swiftly upward, bringing their lips together.
Hayley froze, lost, but then relaxed against him. As they broke apart, Heero brushed some hair out of her face, and she noticed his hand was shaking.
'Trensa,' she sighed, 'I don't know what's happening, but I don't want it to stop.'
He took that as a signal, and kissed her again. This time, however, he slowed it down, and, with his good hand, ran her hair through his fingers. He was startled slightly when she let her lips part, but instantly responded by caressing her tongue with his own. This time, when they leant away from each other, their breath was coming in pants, and he felt, by placing a hand over her heart, that it was beating as hard as his was.
'I… love you.' He whispered, his voice gone, 'I think I fell in love with you when we were together first. When you first got Espion…'
Hayley held him tightly, her lips still tingling.
'I can't believe you're really here,' she murmured, 'I'm not going to wake up, right…?'
'No,' he said, 'I promise.'
She snuggled closer, and he heard her breathing slow down and her pulse decelerate. She was asleep.
Heero watched her. Was he…happy? He didn't understand highs and lows as well as he used to. He was letting his eyes close slowly, lulled by Hayley's steady breathing, when a thought came to him.
He'd said that he loved her, but he hadn't been thinking. Thinking about it now, he realised that he really did.
He trusted the others, yes, but there was no-one he trusted as much and Hayley and Emma. He'd always slept alone, away from other people, if he possibly could. The thought of sharing body heat with someone else had been simply out of the question for him. He'd like to have at least a door between him and anyone else.
But now, here he was, dropping off to sleep, with another person actually sleeping on him! What had changed?
Nothing had changed, he decided. It was just that this person was special. She wasn't just another person, she was his person. They complimented each other. They loved each other.
Put like that, it seemed almost too simple.
But, he reasoned, as Hayley shifted against him, sending a warm little tremor through his body, maybe the strongest, most enduring things in life are the simplest things, the littlest words. Death, War, Hate, Love.
Clutching at the last word, Heero fell asleep.
***********************************************************************************
Felflowne :What's this *squints* Could it be… an update? After nearly two years? Gosh, there ya go. I don't know how FanFiction.Net refreshes new chapters, whether they go back to 'Just In' or not, so it may be that I get no reviews for this at all. I really don't know. *^_^*
Anyway… another chapter done! This is wrapping up now. Next chapter, the group splits. Half go off to space, and half stay behind to remedy the school situation. Just what is Relena's plan? We just don't know. No really. Even I don't.
Love
Fel xx