Chapter 21- Back to What Once Was
Gilly had nowhere to go, and fast. She couldn't and wouldn't under any circumstances return to OZ. But, she didn't know what else existed. She turned off Knightsaber's engines. In the silence, she watched the sun slowly creep over the earth's horizon. Far away she could see a speck, up close it would be Barge, but from here, just a speck.
She closed her eyes and wondered heavily about what she was going to do. She wanted to cry. All the emotions she was feeling inside her hurt. It hurt like hell was burning her to ashes. She felt pain, anguish, misery, betrayal, and even a hint of love. Love for something long forgotten. She cursed Trieze, Troit, Tak, OZ, and even the Gundams for what she felt. Somehow, it was all connected. She didn't know who she was, or where to look for her lost identity.
Gilly wanted to sleep, she needed to sleep, but she was afraid to. Afraid of having another horrible dream. She even cursed the people in her dreams. Everyone that is, except Sumire. Sumire didn't deserve her contempt, she was her only friend in the world right now, and she would never see her again.
"Identify yourself!" Demanded a voice.
Gilly's eyes snapped open.
"I repeat, please identify yourself."
Without hesitation, Gilly answered.
"My name is Gilly."
"No last name?"
No answer.
"I have you. Follow me or meet a terrible fate!"
"Death?"
No answer.
"Is death truly that terrible? There are worse fates."
"Your presence is requested on the spaceship, Peacemillion."
"If I refuse?"
"Please, don't be like that. My name is Quatre Raberba Winner, the pilot of the Gundam Sandrock."
Gilly flipped on a single monitor and looked at the image.
"If you don't come with me, than you will be in vain, with no answers, and meet a fate worse than death. You'll have to trust me."
"Why?"
"I know people who can help. People who know you and can give you the answers that you seek. If you refuse, than I'm afraid you'll will suffer for all eternity."
"Quatre, I will trust you, but don't take it to your head."
"Thank you, you have made this easy, Gilly Hathaway."
Gilly started up Knightsaber and followed him. When they arrived. Gilly sat in Knightsaber, waiting for further instructions.
"You can get out." Quatre called.
Gilly climbed down and stood next to Quatre. Waiting was a woman in green who had a pleasant smile on her face that matched her aura.
"Gilly," Quatre smiled, "this is Major Sally Po."
"You can call me Sally." She said as she extended her hand.
Gilly shook it, "Call me, Gilly, beings I know no other name which would be appropriate for me at this time."
"Hathaway." Quatre smiled, "With us and to us, you are Gilly Hathaway."
"Okay." Gilly gave him a sideways glance, than turned to Sally, "And what's your role in this?"
"I am a doctor, and I will be removing the amnesiatic drug."
"How do you know about that?" Gilly gasped as she took a step back.
"Sienna Troit told us."
Gilly stood in shock. She never wanted to be near Troit again.
"Why would Troit do that?"
"To atone for hurting you so. She is on your side now. She will never hurt you again."
Gilly felt uncertain of what she was doing.
"Shall I explain what is going to happen as we walk to medical area?"
"I guess."
Sally began walking and Gilly followed. Quatre stopped.
"As much as I'd like to come, I have other things I could be doing."
"See you Quatre." Sally called as Quatre walked away.
Gilly watched him go out of the corner of her eye. She liked him, and did trust him. He was a kind person.
"Alright, are you ready to hear?" Sally asked.
"Sure." Gilly replied.
"Okay. We are going to remove the dart. I won't tell you where it is until it's gone. We don't want you to try pulling it yourself, you'd risk damaging your mind further without the proper care." Occasionally, Sally looked back at her, "Anyway, once it's gone your memories will come back to you like a flash flood. Nothing can prepare you for that. The impact of it all will render you unconscious. You will probably sleep for about twenty-four hours. "As we speak, Duo Maxwell is..."
Gilly heard the name and stopped dead in her tracks. Sally saw the shock of unknowing uncertainty in Gilly's eyes and turned. Gilly was starring at a black void that seemed to come over her at hearing that name.
"Forgive me." Sally said as she removed Gilly's gun from its holster.
Without hesitation, Gilly handed the holster to Sally, as well.
"Continue." Gilly trembled as they proceeded.
"...Is making a trip. We won't go through the procedure until he returns. He wants to be with you. When he returns we'll remove the dart, you'll sleep, and when you wake, you'll have your identity back. You'll remember all of your life, including all this time that the dart has been there."
"Why does," She hesitated, "Duo want to be there?"
"He will tell you himself, when you awake. Actually, by the time you're awake, you'll already know."
"Did I know him?"
"Yes."
"Oh."
"Here we are." Sally said as she stopped at a door.
The two walked into the white room. It was exactly like a hospital room. Gilly went and sat on the bed. She watched as Sally put on her doctor's equipment. Gilly felt relaxed. She lay back on the bed and waited. She tried to think of nothing to ease the pain in her heart. She was no longer tired and just lay there. She wondered what Duo Maxwell looked like.
* * * * *
After what seemed like forever, Gilly heard the door open. She was lying on the bed watching the ceiling.
The boy that walked in didn't let her see his face right away. He turned as he stepped in and closed the door in front of him. Gilly sat up and watched his every movement carefully. He was so familiar it was scary. It creeped her out even more to find that he was moving in slow motion, or so it seemed to her.
When Duo finally turned to face her, Gilly gasped. Even though he wore a hat and over coat, Gilly knew his features. His hair was the boyish brown hair she had seen time and time again in her dreams, and the same went for his mischievous cobalt blue eyes, except now they didn't seem so mischievous. They were a compassionate hurt.
An image of Tak flashed through Gilly's mind, but she shut it away. She couldn't take her eyes off of Duo. He was the most handsome person she had ever seen. Her heart hurt suddenly. He sauntered over to her and sat on the edge of the bed. He extended his hand over to her, and Gilly cringed and squinted her eyes. When she felt the touch of his fingers running through her hair, she opened her eyes and looked at him. His eyes were warming her soul.
"Lie down." He whispered, "The sooner we get this dart out, the sooner you wake up."
"O-okay." Gilly lay back down; her eyes still on Duo as he stood up.
Gilly then realized that he was holding something. She pointed to the box.
"What is that?" She asked as she dropped her finger.
"It's a strong-box made of Gundanium alloy." Duo smiled as he held it up for her to see.
"Whose is it?"
"Why yours, of course." Duo smiled as if she were an idiot.
"Mine?"
"Who's else would it be?"
"May I?" She reached out.
"It's yours, you can do with it what you please."
Gilly took the box in her hands. She opened it, for Duo had unlocked the main compartment with the code he had picked up from her. She looked it over and found the keypad. Duo watched her with intensity. To his surprise, she didn't type in a code, only puzzled at it. This wasn't right. One code she knew, and it opened the main compartment, the other, Knightsaber had given her and it opened the secret one. He expected her not to know the first, but the second was caused by Knightsaber's synapse pulse, he knew she hadn't taken the time to memorize it. She didn't need to. The synapse pulse would give it to her fingers when she needed it. He turned to Sally.
"Don't start without me. I have to go find Howard first." He turned back to Gilly; "I don't want you to be alone through this. I'll be right back."
Duo walked out the door and towards the room where he figured Howard would be. He walked quickly, but didn't run. When he reached the control room, Howard was sitting in silence.
"Hey, Howard." Duo walked.
"Hi, Duo." Howard smiled.
"You know every part of the Gundams, right?"
He nodded, "Sure do."
"And could you check out Gilly's Gundam, Knightsaber? There's a jamming device that shouldn't be there, but where or what exactly it is, is beyond me."
"I'll have a look."
"Thanks, Howard."
Duo walked back to the medical ward. He opened the door and walked in.
"You ready?" He asked.
Gilly nodded as she sat on the bed. She felt at ease in his presence, but there was something that made her mad at him, something hidden deep down.
"Please," Sally smiled as she approached, "turn over on your stomach. Place your head on your pillow and try to relax. This is going to feel really weird."
"Kay." Gilly managed.
She was overcome with a sudden fear. She lay on her stomach and shivered. It was cold, and she was so very afraid. A comforting hand pulled her hair away from her neck. It held it above her head, and caressed it gently. Gilly felt the warm, rubbery hands of Major Sally, feeling behind her ears. Finally, they stopped, and Sally's hand went over the tip of the small metal dart. As she pulled it out, Gilly cringed and gave the same shriek she had given when the dart first went in.
A trickle of blood came out the puncture wound, and the last of the amnesiatic drug with it. The shivers that overwhelmed Gilly as her memory returned were almost unbearable. As Sally had said, it did feel really weird and like a flash flood her memories returned, all of her memories.
She gasped with the pain of the last month. She turned over on her back and gasped at the rush of anamnesis. Her head pounded as Duo stroked her hair. She looked at him with eyes full of hurt. The look he returned was of confusion. She breathed heavily, chest heaving. She remembered the anger and pain Duo had caused her.
"You." She gasped desperately, "You kissed her!"
With another gasp and a sigh, Gilly collapsed into Duo's arms. He couldn't believe the pain he felt at hearing her words. It figured that that would be the first thing she would remember.
Gilly had nowhere to go, and fast. She couldn't and wouldn't under any circumstances return to OZ. But, she didn't know what else existed. She turned off Knightsaber's engines. In the silence, she watched the sun slowly creep over the earth's horizon. Far away she could see a speck, up close it would be Barge, but from here, just a speck.
She closed her eyes and wondered heavily about what she was going to do. She wanted to cry. All the emotions she was feeling inside her hurt. It hurt like hell was burning her to ashes. She felt pain, anguish, misery, betrayal, and even a hint of love. Love for something long forgotten. She cursed Trieze, Troit, Tak, OZ, and even the Gundams for what she felt. Somehow, it was all connected. She didn't know who she was, or where to look for her lost identity.
Gilly wanted to sleep, she needed to sleep, but she was afraid to. Afraid of having another horrible dream. She even cursed the people in her dreams. Everyone that is, except Sumire. Sumire didn't deserve her contempt, she was her only friend in the world right now, and she would never see her again.
"Identify yourself!" Demanded a voice.
Gilly's eyes snapped open.
"I repeat, please identify yourself."
Without hesitation, Gilly answered.
"My name is Gilly."
"No last name?"
No answer.
"I have you. Follow me or meet a terrible fate!"
"Death?"
No answer.
"Is death truly that terrible? There are worse fates."
"Your presence is requested on the spaceship, Peacemillion."
"If I refuse?"
"Please, don't be like that. My name is Quatre Raberba Winner, the pilot of the Gundam Sandrock."
Gilly flipped on a single monitor and looked at the image.
"If you don't come with me, than you will be in vain, with no answers, and meet a fate worse than death. You'll have to trust me."
"Why?"
"I know people who can help. People who know you and can give you the answers that you seek. If you refuse, than I'm afraid you'll will suffer for all eternity."
"Quatre, I will trust you, but don't take it to your head."
"Thank you, you have made this easy, Gilly Hathaway."
Gilly started up Knightsaber and followed him. When they arrived. Gilly sat in Knightsaber, waiting for further instructions.
"You can get out." Quatre called.
Gilly climbed down and stood next to Quatre. Waiting was a woman in green who had a pleasant smile on her face that matched her aura.
"Gilly," Quatre smiled, "this is Major Sally Po."
"You can call me Sally." She said as she extended her hand.
Gilly shook it, "Call me, Gilly, beings I know no other name which would be appropriate for me at this time."
"Hathaway." Quatre smiled, "With us and to us, you are Gilly Hathaway."
"Okay." Gilly gave him a sideways glance, than turned to Sally, "And what's your role in this?"
"I am a doctor, and I will be removing the amnesiatic drug."
"How do you know about that?" Gilly gasped as she took a step back.
"Sienna Troit told us."
Gilly stood in shock. She never wanted to be near Troit again.
"Why would Troit do that?"
"To atone for hurting you so. She is on your side now. She will never hurt you again."
Gilly felt uncertain of what she was doing.
"Shall I explain what is going to happen as we walk to medical area?"
"I guess."
Sally began walking and Gilly followed. Quatre stopped.
"As much as I'd like to come, I have other things I could be doing."
"See you Quatre." Sally called as Quatre walked away.
Gilly watched him go out of the corner of her eye. She liked him, and did trust him. He was a kind person.
"Alright, are you ready to hear?" Sally asked.
"Sure." Gilly replied.
"Okay. We are going to remove the dart. I won't tell you where it is until it's gone. We don't want you to try pulling it yourself, you'd risk damaging your mind further without the proper care." Occasionally, Sally looked back at her, "Anyway, once it's gone your memories will come back to you like a flash flood. Nothing can prepare you for that. The impact of it all will render you unconscious. You will probably sleep for about twenty-four hours. "As we speak, Duo Maxwell is..."
Gilly heard the name and stopped dead in her tracks. Sally saw the shock of unknowing uncertainty in Gilly's eyes and turned. Gilly was starring at a black void that seemed to come over her at hearing that name.
"Forgive me." Sally said as she removed Gilly's gun from its holster.
Without hesitation, Gilly handed the holster to Sally, as well.
"Continue." Gilly trembled as they proceeded.
"...Is making a trip. We won't go through the procedure until he returns. He wants to be with you. When he returns we'll remove the dart, you'll sleep, and when you wake, you'll have your identity back. You'll remember all of your life, including all this time that the dart has been there."
"Why does," She hesitated, "Duo want to be there?"
"He will tell you himself, when you awake. Actually, by the time you're awake, you'll already know."
"Did I know him?"
"Yes."
"Oh."
"Here we are." Sally said as she stopped at a door.
The two walked into the white room. It was exactly like a hospital room. Gilly went and sat on the bed. She watched as Sally put on her doctor's equipment. Gilly felt relaxed. She lay back on the bed and waited. She tried to think of nothing to ease the pain in her heart. She was no longer tired and just lay there. She wondered what Duo Maxwell looked like.
* * * * *
After what seemed like forever, Gilly heard the door open. She was lying on the bed watching the ceiling.
The boy that walked in didn't let her see his face right away. He turned as he stepped in and closed the door in front of him. Gilly sat up and watched his every movement carefully. He was so familiar it was scary. It creeped her out even more to find that he was moving in slow motion, or so it seemed to her.
When Duo finally turned to face her, Gilly gasped. Even though he wore a hat and over coat, Gilly knew his features. His hair was the boyish brown hair she had seen time and time again in her dreams, and the same went for his mischievous cobalt blue eyes, except now they didn't seem so mischievous. They were a compassionate hurt.
An image of Tak flashed through Gilly's mind, but she shut it away. She couldn't take her eyes off of Duo. He was the most handsome person she had ever seen. Her heart hurt suddenly. He sauntered over to her and sat on the edge of the bed. He extended his hand over to her, and Gilly cringed and squinted her eyes. When she felt the touch of his fingers running through her hair, she opened her eyes and looked at him. His eyes were warming her soul.
"Lie down." He whispered, "The sooner we get this dart out, the sooner you wake up."
"O-okay." Gilly lay back down; her eyes still on Duo as he stood up.
Gilly then realized that he was holding something. She pointed to the box.
"What is that?" She asked as she dropped her finger.
"It's a strong-box made of Gundanium alloy." Duo smiled as he held it up for her to see.
"Whose is it?"
"Why yours, of course." Duo smiled as if she were an idiot.
"Mine?"
"Who's else would it be?"
"May I?" She reached out.
"It's yours, you can do with it what you please."
Gilly took the box in her hands. She opened it, for Duo had unlocked the main compartment with the code he had picked up from her. She looked it over and found the keypad. Duo watched her with intensity. To his surprise, she didn't type in a code, only puzzled at it. This wasn't right. One code she knew, and it opened the main compartment, the other, Knightsaber had given her and it opened the secret one. He expected her not to know the first, but the second was caused by Knightsaber's synapse pulse, he knew she hadn't taken the time to memorize it. She didn't need to. The synapse pulse would give it to her fingers when she needed it. He turned to Sally.
"Don't start without me. I have to go find Howard first." He turned back to Gilly; "I don't want you to be alone through this. I'll be right back."
Duo walked out the door and towards the room where he figured Howard would be. He walked quickly, but didn't run. When he reached the control room, Howard was sitting in silence.
"Hey, Howard." Duo walked.
"Hi, Duo." Howard smiled.
"You know every part of the Gundams, right?"
He nodded, "Sure do."
"And could you check out Gilly's Gundam, Knightsaber? There's a jamming device that shouldn't be there, but where or what exactly it is, is beyond me."
"I'll have a look."
"Thanks, Howard."
Duo walked back to the medical ward. He opened the door and walked in.
"You ready?" He asked.
Gilly nodded as she sat on the bed. She felt at ease in his presence, but there was something that made her mad at him, something hidden deep down.
"Please," Sally smiled as she approached, "turn over on your stomach. Place your head on your pillow and try to relax. This is going to feel really weird."
"Kay." Gilly managed.
She was overcome with a sudden fear. She lay on her stomach and shivered. It was cold, and she was so very afraid. A comforting hand pulled her hair away from her neck. It held it above her head, and caressed it gently. Gilly felt the warm, rubbery hands of Major Sally, feeling behind her ears. Finally, they stopped, and Sally's hand went over the tip of the small metal dart. As she pulled it out, Gilly cringed and gave the same shriek she had given when the dart first went in.
A trickle of blood came out the puncture wound, and the last of the amnesiatic drug with it. The shivers that overwhelmed Gilly as her memory returned were almost unbearable. As Sally had said, it did feel really weird and like a flash flood her memories returned, all of her memories.
She gasped with the pain of the last month. She turned over on her back and gasped at the rush of anamnesis. Her head pounded as Duo stroked her hair. She looked at him with eyes full of hurt. The look he returned was of confusion. She breathed heavily, chest heaving. She remembered the anger and pain Duo had caused her.
"You." She gasped desperately, "You kissed her!"
With another gasp and a sigh, Gilly collapsed into Duo's arms. He couldn't believe the pain he felt at hearing her words. It figured that that would be the first thing she would remember.