Emptiness...

Always with me, always in me... more power, more strength...

I'm done fighting now, right? The order is to retreat, today's battle done. The hangar opens, beckoning. I'm safe. I'm alive.

Alive, so I can fight again.

--

"What?" I asked. Nothing was making any sense, the way he was treating me, the blood trickling out of my face... what he was saying...

He grinned again, and shook his head. "No need to explain. Just come with me."

"Do I have a choice?" I muttered, clasping one hand over my nose to stop the bleeding. I followed him through a metal door, into another hallway.

There were windows on both sides – full-length windows, no less. I looked to my left, and all I saw was blue. I really was on an airplane.

"I'm sure you're really confused by now," the man said.

"No shit," I said, not even pausing to think. "What are you doing?" He didn't reply, so we kept walking. There was another door at the end of the hall, and he put his hand on the handle, turning back to look at me.

"This is where you get off. Enjoy." He opened the door and pushed me inside.

"Hey, Mike!"

It was Kent, sitting down on the floor. I nodded and immediately burst out with my questions.

"Kent, what the hell is going on? Who was that?"

Kent beckoned for me to sit down. I did so, and he sighed.

"How did you do? I got a broken ankle."

I looked down. His foot was attached to his leg at a ninety degree angle.

"What?" I muttered.

"It stopped hurting an hour ago," he said, shrugging it off. "You don't look so bad. Broken nose?"

I was still pinching it with my fingers. I stopped, and the pain started again. It wasn't broken, just smashed. Hard.

"Nothing compared to that ankle, man. But... why?" I asked again. Kent was smart, he could come up with the answers...

"We're going west," he said. "The sun's over thataway... so we're headed west. Maybe East Asia? Australia? Eurasia?"

"What? Those are all Alliance or ZAFT nations..."

"Exactly. That's what worries me."

"But why would either of them risk attacking a neutral country?"

He looked at me. "This was obviously a calculated move. Some smart people thought this up. Thing is, calculated moves are also easy to follow. Who has more to gain from kidnapping Orb citizens?"

"Who? I'd say ZAFT," I said. "No, wait. The Alliance."

"Because they're losing, right?"

"They have less to lose, that's for sure."

"Well then, unless someone up high in ZAFT really went crazy, then we can safely assume that the Alliance is behind this."

I nodded. Wow, Kent really was a detective, wasn't he?

"I see where you're coming from. But... why then?"

"Why? Well, I think that there are very few reasons for the Alliance to do something so bold."

"And those would be?"

"Well," he said, listing the reasons off on his fingers, "One. They're extremely short on pilots to pilot their Mobius suits."

"But those suits suck!" I said. "If the Alliance had a half-assed brain, then they'd know to stop producing them."

"Two," Kent said, ignoring my outburst, "They're going to use us for slave labor."

"What? That doesn't make any sense," I said.

"I know... it doesn't fit. Something doesn't fit," Kent said. "But what...?"

"Hold up," I said. "They targeted the arcade. Why? What kind of people do you find at an arcade?"

"Well, your typical nerdy guys..."

"But what do these guys have in common?" I asked, smiling. I was on to something.

"Reflexes, finger control..." Kent trailed off. "Oh no..."

"Exactly what you need for piloting Mobile Suits – like the GINN."

Everything fit – the location, the timing, the motive, everything. It was perfect. A perfect plan to recruit new pilots.

--

We sat there for a long, long time. How long exactly, we couldn't tell. Finally, a hidden door opened. On the other side were the other captives.

"Mike! Kent!"

It was Allan, taking a peek into the new room. He looked relatively unscarred compared to Kent, but was just as confused as the rest of us.

"Kent, your ankle..."

"I'll live," Kent said, dragging himself forward. I followed him, careful not to step in his blood. If he didn't get medical attention soon...

There, in the room. About ten others, beat up in one way or another. There, Jess too.

"Hello..." She said.

"You're here too?"

She nodded. Her eyes were full of fear, but also full of curiosity. "What's going on?" she asked.

"I wish I knew..." I said, looking around. I knelt, and told her what Kent and I thought up. About the Earth Alliance, and about why they picked the arcade as a striking spot.

"So... what do you think?"

She shrugged. "One theory's as good as another." She groaned slightly, and I saw her clasping her side. Looked like a broken rib or two. "What did they do to you?"

"Nothing major... he tried to rearrange my face, that's all," I said with a slight smirk. "But... what's with them trying to hurt us all?"

"I don't know, I don't know... but Kent got it the worst, look at it..."

That pool of blood was getting bigger and bigger... there was a jolt, and a dull rumbling sound - the plane was on the ground.

"Welcome to Kaoshiung," said a voice. "Your new home."

--

Mom... Dad...

Even mobile suits cannot change the fact that there are pilots inside, pilots with families, children even, parents...

I heard that Orb had been taken by the Earth Alliance, and Ongoro Island destroyed. What about my parents?

My mom, always cooking too much for all of us. Dad, who I haven't heard from in ages. What about him?

What if I killed him?

The thought crossed my mind for one awful second... what if one of the Astrays that I'd destroyed was my dad's?

The cockpit opened, and there he was, holding out to me my fire. My strength. I grabbed it, and gulped it down. The fire filled my veins again, taking over my senses, my memories... it was the last time I would ever think of him.