X
Chapter 13:
Interlude
He was running, running.
Running from what?
What am I running from?
Voices.
Voices were calling him.
"Sumare... Sumare... Save us... help us... save us..."
"No! Stay away from me!"
"But... we're your own parents! Save us, help us!"
"No!"
Sumare tripped suddenly and fell. His light blonde hair covered his face, so he couldn't see. Something latched onto his leg.
"Save us! Save us!"
Sumare screamed as shadowy black hands overtook him.
"Wake up!"
"Wake up!"
"Wake up!"
Sumare shot up straight in bed. Sweat dripped from his brow and fell onto his clutched hands, which were bleeding.
Sumare took a deep breath and stared at his hands. His fingernails had apparently been dug so deep into his palms, that they broke his skin, but the cuts weren't deep. Sumare got up from his bed and pulled out some bandages and began to wrap his hands.
Sir, are you all right?
Sumare didn't answer Z. Kyo was busy polishing the left arm of Y, but stopped abruptly when he saw Sumare coming down the cat-walk.
"Hey, Sumare! You're up late..."
Sumare didn't even acknowledge Kyo. He simply walked right past him, his hands deep inside his pockets. Kyo turned hastily and cut in front of Sumare.
"Good morning, hello, how are ya? Come on, say something..."
Sumare paused and sighed. "Sorry, I'm just a bit preoccupied at the moment."
"With what?" Kyo asked and suddenly grabbed Sumare's arm and pulled it out into view. Sumare lowered his head. Kyo stared for a moment at the bloody bandages before he let go.
"You really have to stop doing that."
"I know. But I just can't get that dream out of my head."
Kyo nodded. "You're sister's not gonna be worried?"
Sumare brushed past him. "My sister couldn't care less."
Lea stared blankly up at the ceiling.
If I can somehow get my hands on some C4... where would I get something like that? Maybe Sakio has some explosives... I know he has plenty of other weapons... He probably won't let me near X... or maybe I can act like I trust him and then steal the X and plant some explosives all over the compound and set them off... I wonder what time it is?
Lea sighed and closed her eyes. "I should just go back to sleep..."
Just as she thought that, someone knocked on the door and came in. Lea couldn't see who it was because she was laying down, but the voice was somewhat familiar.
"I'm sorry, did I wake you up?" Sumare asked and sat down in the chair beside her bed.
Lea didn't answer.
"You're not talking to me, then? Alright, alright. I can play along." With that, Sumare closed his mouth tightly and watched Lea. His white eyes seemed to pierce her to the depths of her soul, almost as if he knew what she was thinking.
Finally, Lea could take it to longer. "What do you want?"
Sumare smiled slightly. "Just to see how you were doing."
"That's not true, I can tell when somebody's lying to me."
Sumare shrugged. "You caught me."
Lea watched Sumare as he dug around in his pocket and drew out a small, crinkled up photo and handed it to Lea. She stared at it for a moment. In the photo was a small girl, maybe about 7 or 8 years old, a young couple, and a boy with light blonde hair and white eyes, who looked to be about 13.
"Who is this?" Lea asked.
"Well, that little boy is me, that's my sister Kaori, you haven't met her yet, and those are my parents, who died about 6 years ago, right after this picture was taken."
Lea looked from the smiling boy in the photo to the man standing in front of her, and then back again. "But, your hair's white."
"Yeah, but it used to be blonde. You see, there was an accident where a terrorist blew up our apartment complex... that's how my parents died. But my sister and I escaped, and so now..." Sumare fingered a strand of his white hair. "My hair is like this."
Lea handed the photo back to him. "I see."
"But I'm going to bring them back, my parents I mean."
Lea coughed. "What? But, don't you know?"
Sumare blinked. "Know what?"
"The only way to bring back someone from the dead using those suits is by sacrificing your own life!"
Sumare nodded. "Yes, I knew that."
"So then why?"
"Why what?"
"Are you really going to kill yourself? To bring back your parents?"
"Yes."
Lea stared at Sumare for a minute, her mouth hanging open. He doesn't understand...
"Here, take this." Sumare said suddenly and handed Lea an unmarked small container of milky white pills. "Take one every hour, on the hour. In about a day, you should be on your feet again. Oh and, don't worry. They're not going to kill you or anything like that, we need you alive anyway."
"Why should you need me? You've got your two sacrifices."
"Lea, Lea. You really don't know, do you? When you get better, I'll tell you everything you want to know. Until then, my sister, Kaori will be taking care of you. Later." And with that, Sumare opened up the door and left, and a minute later a young girl, maybe about 15 years old, walked in. Her deep red hair and green eyes looked very different from Sumare's, but Lea guessed it was his sister.
"So now I get stuck taking care of this? Sumare, you should be doing this sort of thing, not me!"
"Sorry, Commander, but it's Sakio's orders." Sumare could be heard yelling from just down the hall. Kaori silently fumed.
"That lousy... why does Sakio always have me doing the hard work? I tell ya, it's really starting to-"
"So you're Kaori?" Lea quickly cut the girl off, not wanting to hear more ranting, especially about Sumare.
"That's Commander Kaori to you, miss..."
"Lea."
"Miss Lea. Right. So, you pilot one of those monstrous things as well?"
"Huh?"
Kaori sighed. "You really are slow, Sakio wasn't just kidding."
Lea glared daggers. "Well excuse me for not being able to move 2 inches without feeling like my entire body's on fire."
"Oh, please! You've got it easy. Sakio's not pestering you with taking care of brats, and you haven't got a horrid brother breathing down your neck all the time, not to mention Kyo, who's just plain annoying!"
"Easy! I've just been torn away from the only family I have left, stabbed with a 200-foot metal pole, and now I have to listen to your whining?"
"You're the one who's whining!"
"YOU STARTED IT, YOU BRAT!"
"YOU'RE THE BRAT HERE!"
"YOU TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW!"
"MAKE ME!"
Lea suddenly broke out laughing. Kaori stared, and then smiled and began to laugh as well.
"Ow! Oh, it hurts to laugh..." Lea said and cringed, a smile still on her face.
"Have you taken those pills yet?" Kaori said, eyeing the container of pills in Lea's hand. She shook her head. "Well, it's almost 5 o'clock, I've got a watch so I'll tell you when to swallow one." Lea nodded. "I'm sorry, I've just been so stressed out lately..." Kaori said suddenly. Lea at first didn't understand what she was talking about, but then she smiled.
"Me too."
"So I see."
The two giggled together.
"You know, it's been such a long time since I've seen another girl, I was beginning to think they were all but extinct."
Kaori broke out laughing again. "You were cooped up with those five gundam pilots, right?"
"Cooped up? No, not exactly. They're really nice guys, but you know how seeing the same people everyday can get kind of dizzying..."
"I know the feeling. It's 5 o'clock now."
Lea hastily popped a small pill into her mouth and swallowed it whole. Almost instantly she felt better. "Speaking of which, where is Heero?"
"Heero? Oh, you mean 01? He's being detained right now..."
"What?" Lea knew what 'detaining' really meant. "You've got to tell me where he is!"
Kaori jumped. "Whoa, calm down. Wow, those pills really work... Sakio said you'd try to find him, but I can't tell you where he is right now."
Lea closed her eyes. Oh Heero, where are you? What are they doing to you?
Heero was laying on the hard concrete floor, his hands and feet tied, a gag prevented him from speaking.
The door to his cell opened and Sumare slowly walked in, a strange gun in his hand.
"Hello, 01. Or should I say, Shibo?"
Heero glared.
"Do you know what I have here? It's a certain type of injection that Sakio created. You see, it makes it possible to remove any memory that we wish to." Sumare aimed the gun right at Heero's right shoulder. "I'm not sure exactly how it's supposed to work, but hey, that's your problem, right?"
Sumare stared at the gundam pilot, who wasn't showing even an ounce of fear. Suddenly, Sumare drew back and stuffed the gun in his holster. "Of course, we can't use it yet. I just wanted you to know that. You'll be a fine hostage for now, since Lea will be dead soon."
TO BE CONTINUED
AN: Since it's Sunday, I figured I'd go ahead and post this today (I posted last chapter yesterday...) Mostly because the school week will be starting up again and I'll probably be really busy and won't be able to write the next chapter anytime soon... so here you go! And please review!
PREVIEW OF NEXT CHAPTER:
The Will Of Those Who Believe: Sumare confronts Lea about her past and tries to convince her to join Sakio and bring her brother back, but will Lea continue to stand her ground, or will she collapse under the weight of guilt? Meanwhile, the other four gundam pilots are plotting to enter Sakio's compound and save Lea, but will what they find be something completely unexpected?
