X

Chapter 5:

"I Wish This Moment Would Last Forever..."

Water. Dark, black water. Dripping, dew dripping from beautiful, crisp new leaves. Hitting the water, the liquid glass rippling. Lea opened her eyes, revealing her old room, back at the orphanage. She walked out of her room, and found her way down to the kitchen. Damon was waiting, smiling.

That smile.

Dripping, dripping away. All her tears were dripping, like the dew off the leaves. Damon hugged her tightly. The window was fogged over, wet with the new fallen rain.

Damon and Lea walked out the door, to the garden in the front yard. Damon had kept up the garden, now it was dying.

Lea watched as the flowers wilted and fell in front of her eyes. The rain began again, wetting her hair, dripping, dripping. She reached out and grabbed Damon's hand, but it slipped away into nothingness, his face gradually fading from the surrounding landscape. His smile fading.

Fading away.

He was gone.

Lea's tears fell freely now, or perhaps it was only the rain? Only an illusion.

An illusion.

"Nothing's real anymore..."

Lea stared at the ground, watching her tears hit the ground. Like the dew. She walked into the street, but there were no cars. There was only silence.

Only silence.

Then music.

A lone piano played in the distance. She looked ahead of her, and saw a boy, with white hair and pale skin. He was playing. Playing a beautiful tune. But it was so sad.

So sad.

It had to be X; But X was merely a robot, wasn't he?

"Nothing's real anymore..."

The boy looked up. His eyes were closed, though he could see her. He lifted his hand as if reaching out to her. His lips moved.

"Wake up."

Lea slowly opened up her eyes. She was staring up at the metal ceiling inside the cockpit. She shut her eyes again.

"...Only a dream..." she breathed and stood. Her legs were fine now, though she felt very clammy, probably because she had fallen asleep on solid metal. She yawned and grabbed the top rung of the ladder that Heero had used to get up to X in the first place and swung her body over it, landing gently on the third rung. She looked up directly at X.

"...X ..."

Yes?

"I... I saw you play."

X fell silent, waiting for her to say something else.

"I saw you play the piano."

That's not possible.

"What, you playing the piano, or my being able to see it?"

Both. I've always loved playing the piano, but now...

"X, you are a robot, you always have been, so how could you have been able to play the piano?"

X didn't answer. He only let out a sigh.

"Or is it something else?" Lea inquired further. Finally, X spoke.

The experiment called X was to create a new robot, or at least, a new type of robot. One that would be so human, it could communicate with it's pilot, and even control itself if the pilot became unable. That's what they built me for.

"You mean, you're like a huge security system?"

Sort of. But the robot is so dangerous, only select humans sharing similar DNA with the robot could pilot it successfully. Otherwise...

"Otherwise?"

The pilot would meet an untimely death.

Lea cringed. "So does that mean... that you and I share similar DNA?"

Correct.

"But... I don't understand. How can you, a robot, have DNA?"

X again paused, and spoke a little more softly.

Because I am not a robot.

"Unbelievable!" Quatre said and took a quick sip of the tea he had just fixed for the five pilots.

"Yes, to have bonded with that suit already, it's incredible!" Wufei agreed.

The five Gundam pilots were all sitting around a small room beside the hangar where X was, only a door and a large window separated them from the massive machine. Duo glanced at the robot and then grabbed a glass of tea.

"Yeah, but I still get the creeps from looking at that thing."

Quatre nodded. "It's so advanced... I guess that and the fact that it's so imposing, you just can't feel comfortable when you're around it... at least for me."

Wufei and Duo both nodded.

"We're not even sure who Lea is going to side with, right? That suit's too dangerous, we have to get rid of it." Wufei said solemnly, taking a sip of his own cup of tea.

"If we destroy that suit, though, Lea will go with it." Trowa said quietly. All five pilots lowered their heads, contemplating their situation.

"If Lea decides to fight alongside Sakio, then we will have to kill her. But if she decides fight with us, but somehow loses control of X, then she may turn on us." Wufei thought aloud. "It has a more advanced system, which is comparable to the Zero System."

Duo shook his head. "It's a lose-lose situation. We have to kill her."

"No!" Heero again yelled. "It's not her fault that we dragged her into this, we'd be killing an innocent."

Trowa put a hand on Heero's shoulder and spoke quietly.

"She's already bonded with it, there's no going back now."

Quatre sighed. "Then we have no choice but to trust her. I believe she is a good person, but we can't allow her to make the wrong choices."

"Right. We should keep an eye on her, and make sure the robot is also in top condition."

All five Gundam pilots nodded.

"Then it's settled. As soon as Lea is comfortable with X, we'll kill Sakio."

Lea stared at the massive suit in front of her. She was sitting on X's large hand now.

"You're... not a robot?"

I am and I am not. What you see is complete robotics, but the main power source is a real human being. I am human.

"You're a human?"

I am... and I am not. I was created in a test tube, made for this one purpose.

Lea's mouth hung open in amazement.

From the day I was born they called me X, and told me what it was I had to do. I trained hard everyday, and every night I was thrown into a small, cold cell, so I couldn't escape. The scientists and personal trainers brought me up like I was an animal, giving me commands and such, as if I had no brain of my own. Only one man showed me any compassion at all.

"Sakio." Lea answered, as if reading his mind.

Yes. And every day he would bring his little niece, who was not more than a year old. And every day he would let me hold her, and he told me, "She's going to be the next pilot."

Lea paused for a second, and then it made sense. "Me? You saw me when I was a baby?"

And what a beautiful baby you were...

Lea blushed and she could hear X clearing his throat. "But... I thought... my brother..."

Yes, I found out about your brother a little while after that, just before the X was finished.

"So I was chosen to pilot the X? Why not my brother? Or was it..." Lea thought for a moment and then jumped to her feet. "Did he know? Did Sakio know my brother would be killed?"

X fell silent. Lea's eyes widened as all the pieces of the puzzle gradually began to come together.

"It was planned, wasn't it? Sakio planned on killing Damon from the very beginning." Lea, suddenly feeling incredibly sick and weak, fell forward, barely grabbing onto the rail and smashing into it. Already she could feel a bruise forming on her chest. Her eyes were wide in terror.

"How could he... how could he kill..."

She slid from the rail and hit the ground. Lea lifted her hands and stared at them, shaking furiously, tears forming in her eyes. A voice from behind her spoke softly.

"Lea?"

Lea didn't turn around, but she recognized the voice. Trowa kneeled down beside her and lay his hand on her shoulder.

"Lea, what's wrong?" Lea sobbed and then turned and threw her arms around Trowa's neck, crying like there was no tomorrow. Trowa sat there a moment, a little shocked from what had happened, then he hesitantly brought his arms around Lea, and held her tightly.

"It's alright... everything's going to be... alright."

Lea sniffed and suddenly realized what she had done. She abruptly let go of Trowa. "I-I'm sorry... I just... lost control..."

Trowa stared at her, and then smiled warmly. "It happens to all of us. Hey, do you... um... want to take a walk or something? I was just about to..."

Lea blinked up at him, and then rubbed her eyes. "Yeah... okay..."

Trowa stood and held out his hand and Lea grabbed onto it.

His hand is so warm... she thought, staring at Trowa's hand. He blushed and lifted Lea to her feet.

"Follow me." Trowa said quietly.

"Where are you taking me?" Lea asked, looking around her. She hadn't seen this corridor before, hadn't even known it existed. Trowa only smiled mischievously.

"We're almost there."

Lea followed the green-eyed boy down one corridor and up to a flight of stairs. They climbed and climbed, for what felt like hours. Lea was getting tired by the time they reached a large metal door.

"Are you ready?" Trowa turned to face her and asked. Lea nodded, not knowing exactly what to expect behind this mystery door. Trowa pushed lightly on the door, and it swung open.

Lea gasped at the sheer beauty that lay before her. They were on the very top of the hangar, which was completely flat, with a medium height railing going all around the perimeter, but beyond the hangar was the most beautiful landscape Lea had ever seen. Tall mountains shrouded in a light evening mist, with large, twisted oak trees all around the bases. The tall green grass blew in a warm breeze, and the leaves crackled and sounded like ocean waves, crashing against some unseen shore. Beyond the mountains, an orange sun began to set.

"It's gorgeous..." Lea breathed. Trowa grabbed her hand and led her to the very edge, and stood gazing at the scenery. Lea took a deep breath and sighed with contentment. "Thank you, Trowa." Lea said and smiled at the bright-eyed boy standing next to her. "This is really... nice."

Trowa blushed but then smiled. "Oh look, do you see that bird over there?"

Lea looked up into the sky, and saw a single white dove, gliding on the gentle breeze. "How pretty..."

"Yeah, doves are supposed to be a sign of peace."

Lea turned to the Gundam pilot and stared at him. Trowa gave her a side-glance, but then returned to staring up at the sky. Lea smiled and leaned on his shoulder.

"This is so nice..."

"Yeah..."

The two were silent for a while, watching the sun slowly setting beyond the mountains. Lea lifted her hand and gently set it down on Trowa's. Then the sun disappeared, and the sky grew dark. One by one, tiny stars began to appear in the sky. A shooting star.

"Make a wish." Trowa said. Lea smiled and whispered lightly.

"I wish this moment would last forever..."

TO BE CONTINUED

AN: I hope you all liked this chapter, even though it had a little bit of romance in it... XP But I like Trowa way to much for my own good... please review my story with any questions or comments or anything. Yay!