Here Without You, Baby

Chapter Ten: I Am, Whoever You Say I Am

By: Sci-Fi Raptor

Disclaimer: I don't own Zoids or Battletech/Mechwarrior

***I don't want you to give it all upand leave your own life collecting dustand I don't want you to feel sorry for meyou never gave us a chance to beAnd I don't need you to be by my sideand tell me that everythings all rightI just wanted you to tell me the truthYou know I'd do that for youSo why are you running away?Why are you running away?

-Hoobastank (Running Away)

There was a lone tree in the meadow. It was a really big tree; I think it was a few thousand years old. It was blossoming, and when the gentle breezes caressed its lush foliage, pink petals danced in the air. Maybe they were Sakura blossoms. I went up to it. It was surrounded by very tall grass and many wild flowers. The flowers were also blossoming; red, blue, yellow and magenta dotted the meadow.

The tree had many scars on it. It looked like it had been in a fire recently. A nervous squirrel quickly scaled the tree as I approached, scattering the remains of an acorn it had cracked over the ground. I lay on the ground within the shade of the tree. I looked up to the purple sky and saw the bright blue sun filtering through the tree's foliage. The sky looked completely clear, its emptiness disturbed only by the young birds chasing each other. There was a small blue moon rising from the eastern sky.

I looked to my right and she was lying next to me. She noticed me staring and turned to look at me. She mouthed something to me, but I couldn't hear her. I felt myself say something, but I couldn't hear it also. She gave me a devilish look. She stood up and sat on me. I felt myself say something, and she lightly hit my chest with a pouty look on her face. I put my arms around her back and slowly drew her in. Our faces got closer and I felt myself say something. She blushed.

I love you…

For once I woke up first. Marlene lay strewn over the ground, clothes ruffled. If they even laid a finger on her…They also managed to take our CORE modules off. We were truly in a hopeless situation. I went up to Marlene and gently tried to wake her up.

"Hey," I softly said to her as she opened her eyes.

"What happened?"

"We got caught," I said as cheerfully as I could.

"Why'd you wait for me?"

"You think I'd leave you alone?" I said, and held her hand. After a few minutes of quiet, she went back to sleep.

"Joanna?" Seymour said, as he approached his lover. She was sobbing in a corner with Cathy.

"Hey…" she said weakly.

"I think you should interrogate the prisoners now."

"What kind of boyfriend are you?" Cathy snarled. "Can't you see that she's hurting right now?"

"I know, Cathy, but this is really important," Seymour said. He whispered something into Joanna's ear.

"WHAT?!" Joanna said in shock. "We have to tell Amy!"

"No, not until we get some answers."

"Alright. I'll go right now," she said, and scampered off to the prison block, escorted by her beloved.

"This must be really good if it could bring Joanna out of her funk," Cathy said, and started to follow the two.

"Wait, you can't go!" Mark said, stopping her with his hand… which happened to fall upon her bosom. It was a full minute before either of them reacted.

Out in the main room, where the teams were gathered, they heard a sharp slap.

There he was, tending to some woman. He was fraternizing with the enemy the whole time? What the hell is going on here?

"You, come out," Joanna ordered Crass.

"I won't leave her," he said firmly.

"Then we'll do this the hard way. James…"

James went into the cell and easily lifted Crass a foot over the ground. He struggled, but he couldn't break James' vice-like grip.

At that time, Marlene woke up again, and begged Victor not to leave him.

"Marlene!" he cried.

Victor? Joanna thought.

The interrogation room was very simple. It was a 10'x10' room with a square table in the middle and two chairs; there was a dim light on the ceiling. Crass sat on a chair with James behind him, while Joanna sat on the other end with Seymour behind her.

"What's your name?"

"Why the hell should I tell you?"

"I'm saying this only one more time, what's your name?"

Crass stood silent. "James?" Joanna cued. James grabbed Crass' left arm and twisted it.

"Alright! Alright!" he moaned and James let go, the discomfort obvious in his face. Crass sat down and regained his posture.

"My name is Victor Alehandros Emanuel Morales," he stated.

"James," Joanna motioned. Crass' faced turned to one of horror.

"I mean it!" he cowered.

"Rank?"

"Number three of Nova Cluster."

"When did you join the Terran armed forces?"

"I think about two years ago," he sais. That's when he disappeared, Joanna thought.

"What did you do before you joined?" Crass' face became glazed. They waited a few minutes, but he said nothing, lost in his own world. "Answer me!"

"I don't know!" he said, sobbing. "I don't know…" he repeated weakly.

"Why don't you know?"

"When they found me, I was in the rainforest. I was hanging in the air because of some parachute that was holding me. Then Marlene found me…"

"Is Marlene the woman you were with?"

"Yes."

"James."

"No!" he cringed, but instead of breaking his arm, James went over to her. She whispered something to him and he left.

"I just told him to send our medic to that woman in case anything happened to her."

"You didn't do that before!" he said, standing up. Seymour had a gun pointed to him instantly.

"Don't think, not even for a second, that just because you're you, that we will hesitate to use this."

"Seymour!"

"Sorry," he said, but kept the gun up.

"So, are you saying that you had amnesia?"

"I guess."

"Did you go to the hospital? What injuries did you have?"

"I had a bunch of small cuts from the leaves and a few bruises from the branches, but they were nothing compared to the injury I had on the back of my head."

"Back of your head?"

"I had this huge bump on the back of my head, and the doctors said that I would need to have a plate put into it to replace the bones that gone shattered."

Joanna sat quietly, processing this information.

"You say that you have amnesia, correct?"

"I guess…"

"Then how do you know your full name?"

"…" Crass sat there, thinking back. "It just seemed really familiar. I felt like that name was my name since I used it so much."

"And how do you know you used it so much?"

"I don't know. I just had this feeling."

James came back, making Crass cringe. He handed something to her.

"Do you know why you were in that forest, 'Victor'?"

"No. And why are you so interested anyway? What Terran secrets could you possibly find out?" he demanded. She ignored him.

"How would you like me to tell you?"

Crass stood there in shock. Can she really tell me who I was?

"I don't know about this Joanna," Seymour protested. James, who had just returned, gestured the same.

"He's entitled to know who he is," Joanna opened the package that James had brought. It was a picture book full of old pictures. She took one out and showed it to Crass.

"Do you agree that this is you?" she said, handing him the shot. It was a picture of him standing next to the X with his HES on its space mode.

"Yeah…" he said "But I don't ever remember being near a ship like that," she handed him another picture.

"Do you agree that that is you on the side?"

"Yes" he said in disbelief. It was a picture of him shaking hands with a Xi'an. She handed him a bunch of pictures this time.

"Do you agree that that is you in these pictures?" He went through them, and saw pictures of him having fun with the Rogues. He stopped when he got up to a certain picture, recognition on his face.

"Who's this?" he said, showing her the picture. It was a picture of him sleeping upright on a couch with Amy leaning on him. Seymour had a bucket of water over the two…

"Do you remember her?"

"I… I've seen her in my dreams." Joanna let out a sigh.

"'Victor', are you sure that you want me to tell you who you are? Because once I tell you, there's no turning back."

Victor gave it some thought. He kept on looking at the picture with him and Amy sleeping peacefully next to each other. After thinking for a while, he made up his mind.

"Who am I?"

hahahaa, so evil to stop here…