Unknown Past, Unknown Future

Chapter 4

Painful Memories

Last Time: Wind Speaker then gave directions to Lia's fallen zoid, Ice Shield. After the wrecked shield liger was brought into the whale king, Windy made sure no one came near Ice Shield as the wolf finally got a chance to mourn his fallen comrade, and wonder what the future might hold.

The room was at first blurry and it was difficult to make out objects in the room until she blinked the sleep away from her eyes. Lia slowly sat up and looked around the room. She remembered falling asleep in the room Herman, Schubaltz, and the others had questioned her in.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in," Lia called as she stumbled out of her bed. A way too perky Moonbay and an observant Fiona entered the room. "How can you be so perky, so early?" Lia grumbled.

"It's ten in the morning, Lia. Not to mention you've been asleep for three days. The only thing that kept Colonel Herman and Colonel Schubaltz from sending you to the hospital wing was Windy," Moonbay said happily.

Fiona nodded with a smile on her face. "You would think Wind Speaker was your older brother the way he protects you, he would only allow Moonbay and me near your old shield liger to get your things. One man who tried to get close enough so he could examine the extent of damage of the liger nearly got bitten by Wind Speaker."

"Windy is nothing more than a big puff ball that has wings and can talk," Lia said with a smile. When she had first met Windy, she was under Prozen's rule. It was because of Windy that Lia had had the courage to escape from Prozen, and now Lia was encouraged to survive to see tomorrow because of Windy.

Fiona and Moonbay left so Lia could take a shower and change into to a new set of clothes that Moonbay had brought to Lia's room from Ice Shield's cockpit. She wore another pair of jeans. Lia then put on a long sleeve, off the shoulders shirt that was striped blue and black. She combed her long wet hair and let it hang loose. After Lia was dressed, she made sure her special black gloves and sapphire charmed necklace were securely on. Finally, the former drifter put a blue bucket hat on her head and her black army boots on her feet.

Lia then emerged from her room into the empty hallway. Suddenly the whale king lurched and Lia fell backwards. "Not used to a whale king landing?" Herman said as he stood over Lia. Lia scowled and held her hand up so Herman could give her a hand up.

The Republican colonel smiled. "Smiles are contagious, Lia. Smiling is also a normal act so don't try to hide it with that mask you call your face," Lia heard her mom say in her head. Despite herself, Lia smiled. Herman began to walk down the hallway. Lia had to jog slightly to keep up with Herman's brisk walk.

"So we just got to Guygalos?" Lia asked.

Herman nodded. "Yes. We were in Republican territory, even if it was so close to Imperial territory, not to mention Guygalos was on the other side of the country and we didn't really rush because you showed no signs of waking any time soon."

"Sorry, I normally don't tire so easily," Lia said with a blush. "It's just that I hadn't been getting much sleep lately and it didn't help that I did not have a good store of magical energy. I kind of wasted the little I had on the shock I gave to Windy."

"Don't worry, you'll no longer have to wonder every second where your enemy is," Herman said reassuringly. Lia brightened up considerably.

"Don't get her hopes up, Herman," Schubaltz said as he joined the pair. "Madame President and Emperor Rudolph would not hesitate to help Lia, but other political leaders aren't so generous." Lia's shoulders sagged as her smile fell; the brim of her hat covered her eyes so neither man knew she was crying.

It wasn't long before Lia was sitting outside a meeting room with Wind Speaker. The winged wolf was curled up by Lia's chair and was sleeping off a rather large steak. Lia didn't like all this time where she could sit and think.

"Amelia, you need to listen to me," Lia's father yelled in Lia's memory.

"NO! I DON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO YOUR LIES!" Lia winced at the words she had yelled at her father the last time she talked to him. Lia remembered slamming the door shut as she left her home. She had lived close to the Imperial border from her Republican home. So that's where she went, the Imperial.

"Would you like to dance?" an Imperial soldier asked Lia. She had gone to noisy dance club to drown out her troubles. Against her better judgment Lia danced, and then fell in love, with the Imperial soldier named Lance Shorting. He one day took her to the place he was instructed to protect. While there, Lia was captured and forced into the experiments, just like Prozen and Lance had planed. Lia waited as most of the other thousand human guinea pigs died and she was announced perfect, along with Windy and a few others.

"Why do you always look so pathetic," the kid people called Raven had once asked Lia. Raven was another one of the poor souls who got caught up in Prozen's game for power, but he was luckily never involved in the experiments. Lia occasionally spent time with the black haired kid and his organoid when they weren't destroying Republican bases and units.

"Why do you obey a monster like Prozen and how are you going to wash the blood that you've collected from your hands?" Lia had asked as she took one of Raven's hands in one of her own. He never answered her; Lia never expected an answer. That was the last talk Lia had with Prozen's favorite weapon.

"You know I had no idea that Prozen was going to do this to you, right?" Lance had asked about three years after the end of the experiments. Lia had become Prozen's weapon, like Raven and Wind Speaker, the wolf that had accidentally got caught up in the experiments. She stood rigidly as Lance hugged her.

"You know that your friends from the Black Star Gang bragged that luring Lia to the lab was your idea, right?" Wind Speaker said from behind Lance. The man turned around to tell the wolf off when Lia used her powers so Lance was knocked unconscious, giving girl and wolf a chance to escape.

"If you're going to survive in the dessert, you need water," the bandit called Roso had told Lia about two days after her escape. His gang had found Lia and Windy in the dessert. The gang was now taking the two runaways to a nearby town. "A zoid wouldn't hurt either."

"I don't know how to pilot a zoid," Lia had objected.

"You can learn," Viola pointed out. And that's just what Lia did; learn how to pilot a zoid.

"You're dwelling in the past," the present day Windy mumbled. The wolf had not been asleep, but simply lying down. "If you open up your powers you'll find a bit of a surprise."

Lia closed her eyes and opened her heart. A blue sparkle leaked from the girl and spread to the rest of the building. As the blue sparkled touched everyone unknowingly and exposed their inner souls to Lia. As she examined her new friends, she discovered their were several people added to the group, but only three new people seemed important to remember; Lia took careful time to match a soul with a face.

Thomas's inner soul was Lia's favorite. His soul was young and curious, compared to his older brother who's soul was older and set in it's ways. Thomas's soul was more of a thinker while Van's and Irvine's souls were more like warriors. Herman's soul showed him as a leader and then there was a man with teal hair –Lia remembered Moonbay mentioning a teal haired man named Captain O'Connell - who's soul showed him as a follower. However, Thomas had the ability to be both according to his soul. Fiona's soul was centered on her past; Moonbay's soul was centered on the future; Thomas's soul was living in the present.

"Stop drooling over Thomas and look farther!" Windy demanded. Lia obeyed and came across two familiar souls. They were rough in some places, old quirks were gone, and new quirks had replaced the old. However, the two souls were recognizable.

"Roso and Viola," Lia whispered. It would be nice to see the friends who had taught her to pilot a zoid and how to survive in the harsh desert life.

"Farther!" Windy said staring at Lia intently. Obeying again, Lia opened her powers even more and then lost control for a minute. She was mentally pulled to an old Republican officer. His soul was neither old nor young; it was a thinker and a warrior; it was a leader and a follower, like Thomas's; it thought of the past, the present, and the future in one confusing thought.

"It's a soul like mine," Lia said, trying not to cry. Windy sighed and shook his large head; he knew Lia was keeping something more. "It's my father's soul," Lia said as she began to rub her eyes, which were brimming with tears, and drawing back her powers. Windy waited patiently as Lia composed herself.

"Lia," it was Thomas, "we're ready for you and Windy."

Taking a deep breath, Lia made sure she had left none of her powers loose. The last thing she needed was to have powers on the run, especially when she had recently regained most of her magical energy. As she stood, Thomas offered a smile to the worried girl. Lia smiled as Windy began to stretch his body and wings.

"Ready?" Windy asked when he was done.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Lia whispered as Thomas led the pair into the room.