Chapter 15: Akiko Goes MIA

Shiro rolled over in the darkness and stared at his personal computer sitting on the desk. He had the room to himself now because his roommate had gotten moved due to being contaminated by the Blue Cosmos virus has they were calling it now. He climbed out of bed and sat down at the desk; the screen to the computer lit up and he typed a simple message. "I'm alive." The message zipped out through cyberspace towards the Prison Colony and he let out a long sigh.

"Maybe it would be better for me if I had died... Then I wouldn't have to pick sides... He pulled a typed booklet out of a bag next to the desk and thumbed through the pages to the one with a huge header. 'Don't be like Kira Yamato!' It urged in bold underlined font taking up a quarter of the page. "Fate is a funny thing." He thought as he ran his fingers over the words. "Don't be like Kira Yamato, or Amura Amada, or Jay Diaska, or all these other people who were made to do this. People can't choose their fate... We're all the same... Not just Coordinators or Naturals... We're all humans Dad so why does it matter?!" He crumpled the booklet and chucked it across the room angrily. "WHY ARE YOU MAKING ME CHOOSE?!" He shouted slamming his fists into the desk. His body eased and he slid down and laid there quietly staring at the polished white surface as his white t-shirt slowly heaved up and down with each breath. "War sucks... And we're not even in war yet..." He whispered to himself. There was a quiet knock on the door and Shiro stood up and walked over to it. As it slid open there was the slender figure of Akiko standing in the hall.

"Is something wrong?" He wondered squinting against the sudden shock of white light. She reached out and handed him a slip of paper folded up so that you couldn't read what was on it from the outside. He started to unfold it and realized that the paper was quite old and had been unfolded several times. When he read what was on his eyes shot open. "How long have you known?" He wondered looking up.

"I've had the coordinates for almost five years now but it wasn't until a few months ago that I knew where they ended up." She explained in a quiet monotone voice.

"I have to kill you now..." He whispered angrily has he clenched the paper in one hand and stared at the floor.

"I trust you Shiro... I've known you since we were kids and unless you've changed so much in three years I know you'll do the right thing..." She said with no change in tone as she looked at him with a kind and compassionate face. His eyes slowly raised and met hers and he could feel in his heart the hard pain of being torn. "You don't have to tell me anything but I know you'll do the right thing." She started turning to walk away but he reached out and grabbed a hold her by the arms. He had a wild look in his eyes as he spun her around sharply and looked at her; she just stared back at him trustingly. He was expecting her to look scared like he was going to kill her. He wrapped his arms around her and started crying into his shoulder quietly. She pushed him back into his room and let the door close behind her.

"Akiko... What should I do?" He whispered.

"Go to bed Shiro. Get some sleep." She said pushing him off and into his bed. As she turned to leave he spoke again and she stopped but wouldn't look at him.

"Help me do the right thing Akiko. What is the right thing?" He said as he collapsed on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

"The right thing to do is whatever hurts the fewest people." She pulled a piece of paper out of the pocket of her blue pajama shorts and sat it down on his desk. "Give those orders to Amura later. I'll probably not see him before I go down."

"What are you hoping to find down there Akiko?" He wondered quietly.

"Myself I guess." She stepped up to the door and stopped and glanced back at him. "Good night Shiro." The door slipped open and she disappeared in the flood of light beyond.

"Doing what I'm supposed to is a hell of a lot harder... Sorry Dad but I'm going to have to figure out what I am before I decide if I want to be what you want me to be..." He whispered as he threw his legs over the edge of the bed.

"Shiro!" Amura called jogging to keep up with him. "Have you seen Akiko? We're supposed to go down to the basement and get started with working on the factory." He said slowing down and walking next to him.

"I did see her actually and she gave me these orders. She wanted to get an early start." He said pulling the paper Akiko had given him and handing it to Amura. Amura took it and looked at Shiro strangely as he kept walking.

"He's being more rigid than usual... I wish he would just lighten up! He creeps me out sometimes!" Amura shivered then turned around and dashed off to the cafeteria.

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Akiko sat down at a huge white console with and huge monitor in front of her as she programmed in the program that would let her recover lost, broken, and deleted files. "There we go." She mused as the program started scanning the massive amount of file on the computer. "Now I can find out anything I want to know... In the mean time I can go check on my frozen friend." She got up and walked out of the room as she slowly wandered down the halls. She heard her name echoing in the distance behind her so she jogged back to the main hall and saw Amura wandering down with a small bag.

"Oh there you are!" He jogged up to her and stopped. "This place is unbelievable! I thought a bunch of scientists designed and built this place! It's so... Blah... Anyways... I'm here to confirm my orders that you gave Shiro for me. First order get the factory computer system back online."

"That is your first order of business." She replied with a smile. "Think you can do it?"

"Psh... I've got this easy I can have it done before lunch." He replied with an arrogant smile.

"Good because you've only got 2 hours and 30 minutes to work on it before I have to send you back up." She replied before leaning in and giving him a light kiss on the lips. "Now you better hurry and get started." He smiled and nodded before jogging off down the hall staring at the instructions in his hand to find the way in. She sighed and turned back around and walked down the hall again to the cryogenics room. She typed in the code and watched the door slide open completely this time. All of the ice on the floor and wall had melted and the outer layer of ice on the tube was clear and partially melted away. She shivered against the cold that still filled every part of the room as she walked into the control room and glanced at the monitor. "55 hours remaining she read out loud."

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"Three days! I can't believe it's taking me threes days with today to repair the factory computer system!" Amura groaned as he sat in the cafeteria staring at his breakfast. Shiro walked in a grabbed a bowl of cereal and sat down next to him. They sat eating silently until Mori walked in looking really worried.

"Have either of you seen Akiko? She didn't come to bed last night before I fell asleep. I figured she'd had a late night but her bed hadn't been slept in when I woke up." She said worriedly as she stood at the end of the table they were sitting at. The boys looked at each other then promptly got up and took off towards the stairs.

"Akiko?!" Amura yelled frantically. "Akiko!" Akiko sat unconscious in the Cryogenics control room wrapped in a blanket on the floor. The console was beeping indicating that time was up and the de-frosting sequence was complete.

"Where... am I?" A voice wondered aloud as soggy steps dashed around the room. They came near the now half conscious Akiko and a voice gasped... Her vision was blurry and she looked up and saw the form of a boy now leaned over her and picking her up.

"Follow... the red... arrows... on the wall..." She whispered as she started losing consciousness again.

"You're so cold... Hang on I'll get you help... I don't know what's going on so you have to stay alive long enough to tell me..." He whispered as he ran off down the hall. "Red arrows... This way."

"Akiko?! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Mori yelled frantically. The boy carrying her picked up a little speed as they got closer to the voices. "AKIKO!" Mori gasped in shock.

"Who the Hell are you?" Amura hissed defensively.

"You..." Shiro said in shock. "You're... him..." Mori and Amura both looked at him funny then back at the boy in front of them.