X
Chapter 9:
Wanted
"I can't believe it..." Trowa breathed to himself.
"All soldiers have left the area, it's clear." Quatre said quietly. All the gundam pilots were in the main control room, seated in random metal chairs. Quatre, Heero and Wufei were busy at the computers, focusing mainly on the retreating soldiers.
"I can't believe it..." Trowa again mumbled. Quatre shot him a quick glance of concern, but decided not to ask. Not one of them were oblivious to Trowa's feelings towards Lea.
Trowa, out of all of us, you were hurt the most... Quatre thought to himself sadly, and turned in his chair, facing the gundam pilot.
"Trowa, can I get you something? Coffee maybe?"
Trowa continued to stare at the ground, unmoving. Quatre took a step closer.
"Trowa?"
"I'm fine." Trowa said sharply. Quatre flinched slightly at his angry words. Trowa lifted his head slightly. "I'm sorry, Quatre."
Quatre smiled. "It's alright. I understand..." Quatre's smile faded as he turned once again to the computer screens.
"In which direction was the helicopter heading?" Duo asked suddenly, breaking the silence.
"North-East." Heero said. Trowa perked up slightly.
"They went back to the compound."
Heero nodded. "Right. We'll have to infiltrate it and take back the X."
"And then what?" Trowa said, his face set, knowing exactly what it was that they had to do. Heero stopped typing.
"We'll destroy it."
"And kill Lea in the process." Trowa shook his head slightly. "Alright. Let's do it."
Lea saw X standing right in front of her. He was in pain.
"X? X... are you okay?"
X writhed in pain. Some blood seemed to come out of his mouth.
"...X?" Lea breathed and moved closer to him. He was no longer moving. "X? X!" She yelled, furiously shaking his body. "Wake up, oh please, please wake up!"
"WAKE UP!" Sakio yelled, shaking the screaming girl from her nightmare. Lea opened her eyes.
"What's wrong with him? What are you doing to him?" She grabbed the collar of Sakio's suit. "Tell me!"
"Nothing, my dear. Nothing that would harm you..." Sakio slowly removed Lea's hands.
Lea flinched, suddenly feeling sore in her left shoulder. "What happened?"
Sakio eyed Lea warily. "We just had to make a few... adjustments. To the X, I mean."
"So why was he in pain?"
"Probably because he could feel it."
"Feel what?"
"Well, we had to remove the left arm of the machine to..."
Lea suddenly jumped up. "Remove his arm! Why!"
"To insure your absolute safety on the battlefield. We ran a few tests on it, and everything is fine, although you will be a little sore for a while."
"I see." Lea said quietly and stepped out of the large room. "I'm gonna go see him."
"X? Can you hear me?"
No response. Lea stared up at the huge steel robot. It's cold stare didn't fall on her, it's hand didn't move to lift her.
"I guess you're just a normal robot, then? The voice I heard was never there, and there was never anyone in this thing." Lea walked up to the robot and kicked it fiercely.
Ouch!
Lea froze. "X...?"
Don't kick me, that hurts!
"S-sorry..." Lea said and sat down. "So does this mean you're talking to me again?"
It means you've made a terrible mistake, and I have to fix it.
"And how will you do that?"
If I can escape this robot...
"Escape? But you are the robot, how can you escape from it?"
I don't know.
Lea sighed and stared at the bolted door where X was trapped within. "What will happen... if I could get you out?"
There was a long pause before X finally spoke.
I don't know.
"Don't you know a thing about this suit! I can't believe you've practically lived inside this machine for a year and you can't tell me anything about it!" Lea yelled angrily.
...I am sorry.
Lea blinked, and then reached her hand out to the large metal one in front of her. She laid her hand lightly on top of X's.
"No, I'm sorry for yelling. Just sit tight, and I'll find a way to free you, I promise."
Lea felt like crying suddenly, knowing that if she freed X from the machine, she would never be able to get her brother back. Tears welled up in her eyes.
...Lea...
She hastily wiped them away. "I swear! I will get you out of there!" She then abruptly turned and ran towards the door. Sakio stood in her way.
"Get who out of where?" he glared at Lea and slapped her. Lea fell to the floor by the force of the hit. "Foolish girl! Do you really think I would let you destroy the only thing that will get my beloved back!"
"So then there is someone in there!" Lea yelled, pointing to the giant robot. "You actually put some human in that robot!"
Sakio knelt down so that he was facing Lea. "But you want your brother back too, right? If you save X's pathetic life, he will only suffer. He's not human; he was created in a laboratory, in a test tube."
Lea lowered her head. "I know that but..."
Sakio lightly grabbed her chin and looked deeply into her eyes. "Lea, you're happiness and my own depends on this. Now, board the X, and I'll give you instructions, and then you'll have you're brother back."
"But... what about X?"
"He'll be fine." Sakio held out his hand and once again, Lea took it in hers. He smiled and led her to the cockpit. Lea walked inside and the hatch door closed. She closed her eyes as all the wires hit her body at once, and the liquid filled the small chamber.
He'll be fine... Lea thought to herself.
LEA! Stop, stop it now!" X yelled.
What's wrong?
What are you doing!
Bringing my brother back... Lea thought and smiled.
You've got to stop! Stop it now! This is wrong... it's wrong! Please stop!
Suddenly, Lea's eyes shot open. She gasped. In front of her was X. He was screaming, crying, and scratching at a large metal door.
"SAKIO! SAKIO!" he yelled fiercely. Suddenly, underneath Lea a strange green liquid began to rise. Wires appeared out of nowhere and shot into X. He screamed even louder. Lea's eyes grew wide in fear and horror. X didn't give up. He began banging hard on the metal door. "SAKIO! SAKIO!" Then, he stopped, his eyes red and his fists ripped and bleeding. "Sakio..." he fell down onto his knees, staring blankly at the hatch door. "Why? Why...?"
The green liquid reached his shoulders, and then his neck. Then, X began to fight again. "No! NO!"
Then, the green liquid overtook him, and he was silenced. Lea couldn't move, she couldn't breathe. He was still fighting, thrashing around like a trapped animal. Then, Lea heard him like she always did, in her mind.
Is this it? Am I going to die right here? Right now? Why, Sakio? Why did you betray me?
Finally, Lea could feel herself able to move again. She moved slowly through the green liquid until she was face-to-face with X. Slowly, the boy's eyes opened. They were a solid, filmy white.
LEA!
Lea gasped as flashes of X's memory filled her mind. He was being beaten by what looked like a bunch of scientists, he was sitting out in the rain all by himself, he was crying, he was screaming.
Lea screamed.
"Wake up!"
Sakio was standing next to her beside her giant rose-colored bed. She sat up, and a horrible headache engulfed her.
"What... what happened?"
"It almost worked. You failed, Lea."
"I... failed? But... what was that? What did I see?"
Sakio grabbed Lea's shoulders and pushed her back down lightly onto the bed.
"Sleep now, and we'll try again tomorrow."
"Those things that I saw, X being beaten and left alone, did that really happen?"
Sakio shook his head and left the room without saying another word. Lea sat up again and stood.
You nearly died, you know.
Lea jumped. "Who's there!"
It's me, X. Listen, you have to get out of here. Sakio is trying to bring his wife back from the dead, right?
"...Yes..." Lea said quietly, trying to silence the memories from her mind.
In order to do that, two sacrifices must be made. A man and a woman. Both of similar ages, and the same DNA.
"Sacrifices... so in order to get Damon back..."
Sakio would have to kill us both.
Lea stared at the floor, contemplating. Finally, without looking back, she ran towards the door which held the X. Suddenly, a huge explosion made the entire compound shake. Lea cried out in pain as she felt her leg going numb with pain.
"X!" she gasped, falling to the ground, clutching her leg, which started bleeding badly. "No! X!" She reached for the door knob as the door flung open. Trowa towered above her, a gun pointed to her head. Another explosion. Lea screamed as she felt like her arm was being blown off. More blood began dripping off her hands and forming pools underneath her.
"Trowa?" She gasped. Trowa didn't move or speak. "Trowa, what are you doing? What are you doing to X!"
"We came to destroy it."
"But... but why?"
"You betrayed us and sided with the enemy, with Romefeller!"
"No! You don't understand! Sakio, he..."
Lea... get out... get out of here!
"X! No! Please, Trowa! Please stop hurting him!"
Trowa stared at her, his eyes widening somewhat. "Him?"
"Yes, there's a person inside that suit! If you destroy the robot, you'll be killing an innocent! He doesn't work for Romefeller, or for Sakio! He was put in there against his will!"
Trowa suddenly reached down and scooped up Lea in his arms. "Stop!" Trowa ran towards the giant robot, where Quatre, Heero, Duo, and Wufei were all planting explosives on the suit. "There's someone in there!"
"What?" Quatre yelled, and immediately disengaged one of the explosives.
"What's going on?" Wufei yelled, seeing Lea.
"Please... there's someone in that suit! We've got to get him out!"
"Not here... or now! We've got to get out of here soon, before the compound explodes!" Heero said, looking very worried. Lea eyes widened and she looked straight up at Trowa.
"Please, get me to the cockpit."
"But you can't!" Trowa said, protesting. Lea stared hard at him.
"Please Trowa..."
Trowa stared at her for a moment, and then ran up the metal stairs and let her down in front of the cockpit's hatch. It opened.
"X... are you alright?"
Yes... and you?
"Fine." she said hastily and jumped into the cockpit as the hatch closed. She closed her eyes as the entire machine activated. She could feel the wires, the warm liquid...
And then she could see a mental image in her mind.
Walk.
She could feel her legs moving, slowly at first; then she broke out into a run.
"Heero, open up gate number 3!" She called out.
"Roger!" Heero said, and ran towards the gate with a huge white 3 painted on it. On the left side was a small control panel. He quickly input a few numbers and it began to open.
X ran straight through it, and into the open. All five pilots piled into a large jeep and sped off.
Now fly! The robot kicked off the ground and flew into the air, it's main booster engines switched on and it was off, soaring through the sky. Lea glanced down at the world below her. She could just barely make out the jeep through the clouds.
It's beautiful... Lea thought happily.
Yes... it's been so long since I've flown...
Lea took a deep breath and enjoyed the feeling. She was engulfed in happiness as she ripped through the clouds.
I'm finally... happy. After so long, I feel happy again.
And Lea smiled, despite what hope that she had lost along the way.
TO BE CONTINUED
AN: Lalala! After writing that, I feel like dancing around and singing- I guess I kinda didn't get to describe the feeling of flight much... I've never even been in an airplane! But I guess, I just thought of the happiest feeling that I had that required some sort of fast movement, and I remembered how at one point in my life, I could run so fast, it was like I was one with the wind. So I tried to describe that, without over-doing it. Oh yeah, and one more thing. I'm sorry if this is getting to be really long, but I'm almost done ranting! Here's something that no one else has yet to have even thought of!
PREVIEW OF NEXT CHAPTER:
After Lea returns to the hangar with the five gundam pilots, she learns a terrible secret. Where is her heart leading her now? Could she be willing to run away from it all, or will she confront the truth head-on?
Meanwhile, Heero reveals the truth about his connection with the robot X and the boy whose soul is trapped within. How was Heero involved with the death of Lea's brother, Damon?
AND ONE MORE THING!
Gomen, I promise this is the last thing I'm writing!
Here is what the ending for this chapter was, after I witnessed something that my brother had done which put me in a funny, giggly mood. I'm afraid my sad, angsty writing turned afoul in the worst kind of way... comedy!
"Fine." she said hastily and jumped into the cockpit as the hatch closed. She closed her eyes as the entire machine activated. She could feel the wires, the warm liquid...
And then she could see a mental image in her mind.
Walk.
She could feel her legs moving, slowly at first; then she broke out into a run.
Now fly!
Suddenly X's main boosters switched on and the robot crashed through the roof.
"Now that was totally unnecessary.." Wufei said, sounding annoyed.
"Come on, we have to follow her in the jeep!" Duo exclaimed suddenly, running towards the jeep.
"You parked the jeep inside the hangar?" Wufei said. Duo glared.
"Well, duh! It's a lot easier to get to this way!"
Wufei rolled his eyes.
And that's all I wrote! I immediately stopped and was like, "Oh my GOSH! Those lines were HORRIBLE!" So I deleted it and wrote something different! ; But it was so stupidly funny, I just had to include it somewhere in here...
Thank you for your time, and thanks for reading! (Look for more weird stuff at the ends of chapters from now on, it's so much fun! .)
Mendel
