Author's Rant: Okay, this is that chapter that I was writing instead of LTLTA. I know, I deserve to die... But, to those who read my other one, here's my proof and my apology. I promise I will get the next chapter of LTLTA up soon. In the meantime, here's the fanfic that I'm writing for my best friend. I decided to post it because she said she liked it. So, enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone used in this fic, just the events. I don't even own the mecha... Whimper...
Oh! And, this story is yaoi, so if you don't like that stuff, then please, don't read it. Thanks.
Desperation and Tribulation
Chapter 1: Blood Coated Memories
"Fuck!" he hissed, whirling around to face the creature that had just rammed his arm and was now squirming to get away. He quickly whipped out his gun and pointed it right at the creature's head. "Don't you dare…"
One shot, and the creature was robbed of its life. The boy spat to the side and viciously whispered, "Damn Victim…" and swung his arm in a circle, testing the mobility of it. There was large gash across his forearm that stung like hell, and the movement of the arm was painfully sluggish. The Victim had inflicted more damage than it should have and the pilot cursed his slow performance. Now, he would have to go through the annoyance of getting the Ingrid's arm repaired, and that was something he never wanted to deal with.
He bit his lip harshly to push away his thoughts and focus on the battle he had been thrust into. The hoard of Victim that had charged GOA, about twenty of them, all of them rather large for a hoard, had all but disappeared. The teams of Pro-Ings that were sent out had made swift work of them, not without a little effort, however. The pilot of Ingrid number 87, the pilot that had taken out about six of the twenty Victim, could see that most of the pilots were a bit drained from the battle.
"All targets destroyed. Mission complete. Umm, Hiead? Are you all right?"
"Yeah," he said, cutting off the pathetic voice of his repairer quickly, not wanting to engage in any conversation at this point. He didn't cut out the line however, knowing that he would probably get demerits for that, but he tuned out any voices that the transmission was picking up. He didn't want anyone pissing him off any more than he already was.
The Victim had come unexpectedly, surprising every member of GOA. Somehow, the group of Victim had passed under GOA's radar and thus were only seen soon enough to get the Pro-Ing out quick enough to lessen the damage on the satellite. Only the pilots near the launching bay were sent out and, luckily, a few of the squads were doing drills out in space. Hiead's squad had been one of them.
Itching for a battle as always, Hiead had launched himself into the middle, swiftly taking out any Victim that got in his way. A couple of the other pilots sped in just as he did and started firing on any Victim that they saw, putting their countless hours of training to use. Zero, the prodigious pilot that was always drooling over the thought of a fight with a Victim had also flew into the middle of the fight, as would be expected. However, he wasn't as loud and obnoxious as he usually was. This time, he was quiet and he seemed a bit distracted from the battle, like something else was on his mind. This, Hiead found as wrong.
He could always count on Zero to be shouting in delight in the middle of a battle and broadcasting to the whole crew how many Victims he shot down, but he hadn't done so this time. Something was obviously bothering the blue-eyed pilot.
Hiead scanned the battlefield slowly, looking to see what damage had been done, and noticed that the certain annoying member of his squad was awfully quiet for just having participated in a Victim battle. Zero was too far away from Hiead, so he couldn't see if there was anything wrong with the Ingrid, but his brows furrowed nonetheless.
Why isn't he being his usual, idiotic self? Hiead thought, denying the fact that he was slightly concerned. He hated Zero more than anything else, but he knew how fine of a pilot Zero was and knew that his loss would be extremely detrimental to GOA. Also, why hadn't Zero flown up to Hiead to brag about how many Victim he had killed? He always did that. Something was…
"Shit!" Hiead whispered harshly as he noticed a huge chunk of the Pro-Ing's side completely torn off. That meant that Zero had been injured just like his Pro-Ing. This was not good.
Hiead quickly whirled his head around and frantically typed out the code to hack into Zero's radio frequency. All thoughts of his victory were completely gone and the pain of his wound vanished, leaving Hiead with only the thoughts of what had happened to Zero. The transmissions sounded suddenly on Hiead's radio and he listened feverishly to what was being said.
"-ero! Zero! What happened? What's going on? ZERO!
"K-kizna… I-I'm okay… Just a… scratch…"
"Just a scratch, my ass! Get back here, now!"
"I… I can't… S-sorry, Kizna…"
"Zero! Zero! Damnit!"
Hiead fired up his boosters and sped over to where Zero was hovering, dodging all of the oblivious pilots, determined to get to Zero in time. He didn't know how long Zero had had this blow, but he hoped that the dying boy was persistent enough to tough it out. Kizna's surprised voice came through Hiead's radio as he flew towards the injured pilot.
"Hiead? Oh, thank god. Please, bring Zero back quickly! His vitals have shot up into red! I don't know how much longer he can last!"
"Right," Hiead said, forgetting whatever enmity he held for the infuriating repairer and her pilot. All that mattered now was getting Zero to the infirmary, and fast. He quickly closed in on the immobile Pro-Ing and quickly slowed himself so the shock of his slight impact didn't make Zero's injury worse. Once he had Zero's Ingrid cradled in his arms, he hastily flew back to the landing bay, making it clear to the other returning pilots that his landing took precedence. He hoped that they would have enough sense to move out of the way.
He felt the Pro-Ing in his arms stir a little and he glanced down quickly to see what Zero was doing. He heard a faint, pain-filled voice stammer over the intercom.
"H-hiead? Hiead, is that… y-you?"
"Yeah, it's me. Just hold on, Enna. We're almost there."
"Hiead… Th-thank you…"Once Hiead was safely inside the dock and he had been ushered into a closed area that was blocked off from the landing bay, he carefully placed Zero's Pro-Ing down on the ground so he could easily get Zero out of the cockpit. He tore off his bindings, opened the hatch to the cockpit, and leapt out of his Ingrid and onto Zero's. He had no idea if the boy was still conscious, but there was a chance. He fervently hoped that the boy was, a coma was not a fun thing to go into, but with the blow that he had taken, it wasn't likely. There was only one way to find out…
Hiead quickly pushed the latch that opened the cockpit and stood back to let it open up. As soon as it was wide enough for him to get through, he leaned in to get Zero but froze in his tracks.
"Shit…" he exclaimed as he saw almost the whole interior coated with Zero's crimson blood. The wound was worse than he had thought. Zero's entire left side of his abdomen was torn to pieces, parts of ribs could be seen sticking out, and it was bleeding profusely. The pilot would be incapacitated for months because of this wound. All from a goddamned Victim…
Hiead kicked himself mentally and leaned in, ripping off the straps that constrained the dying pilot. There's no time for shock… he thought, forcing his mind to the task at hand. Just get Zero to the infirmary, idiot!
He slipped his arms under Zero's motionless body carefully and tenderly lifted the boy out of the cockpit, wary of his actions so he could prevent any further injury. As soon as the two were fully out of the cockpit, Hiead sprinted as fast and as gentle as he could to the nearest exit, hoping that he would run into someone that knew the path to the infirmary on the way. He didn't have to wait long as about three of the candidates came running towards him with the nurses from the infirmary and a stretcher ready for Zero's bleeding body. Hiead sighed in relief as he saw the group and slowed his dash, coming to a stop right in front of them. They moved out of his way and he softly laid Zero down on the stretcher, making sure that the wound didn't touch anything that would make it worse. As soon as Zero was on the stretcher, the group ran off to the infirmary to treat the pilot as fast as they could. Hiead, not wanting to see his efforts wasted, ran behind them to the sickbay. He wouldn't let Zero die. He wouldn't.
Hiead furrowed his brows as those last thoughts penetrated his mind. I won't let him die? Why do I care? That would make me the best. The best!
He cursed under his breath as he realized the sheer stupidity of his thoughts. Zero was dying! Being the best didn't matter anymore. Hiead had realized by now that even though he might not be the best there is, he could still demolish everyone else and that would help him protect Zion.
"Goddamnit!" he spat his thoughts whirled in his head like a swarm. He had never cared about Zion before! Why was he suddenly so goddamned confused?
Must be the sight of so much blood… he thought, realizing that Zero's injury was really fucking with his memories. He bit his lip as the flood overcame him. I haven't seen that much of the blasted crimson since…No. Don't remember. Zero's life is in danger; that's all that matters.
Luckily, the group reached the sickbay faster than Hiead had expected and Zero was almost immediately submerged in the large tanks that were necessary for his recovery. The tanks were filled with a bluish liquid that would hopefully stop the bleeding and allow the nurses to operate on him. Hopefully it wasn't too late for him. Not that the boy wouldn't stick it out until the end, though. Hiead whispered small reassurances to himself, making sure that no one else could hear them.
"He wouldn't let a stupid wound kill him… No way. Don't die, you idiot… It's not your time…"
He blinked and stopped his words as he felt something start to grow cold on his arms. He looked down with a surprised look on his face and winced as he saw Zero's dark blood coating his arms and quickly turning the white bits of his uniform a deep crimson color. He didn't really care about the blood on him so much as the sheer amount that was on him. There was no way Zero could survive much longer without some more blood. These nurses had better be good…
"Excuse me, 87, but… you want to head back to your dorms? It's pretty late, and you look like you could use a shower."
Hiead glanced up at the doctor who was speaking to him and quickly made up his mind, "I'm staying here. If there's a shower in here, then I'll use that, and I know you have some spare clothes."
The doctor blinked and then let out a sigh, running her hands through her hair. "All right, you can stay," she said exasperatedly. She didn't think it was such a good idea for the pilot to stay, but she knew that she wouldn't change his mind at all. She turned and lifted her arm up, gesturing towards a door across the room. "There's a shower in there and you can find some spare uniforms in the cabinets. Just don't use all the water."
Hiead merely nodded and stalked off to cleanse himself of the blood that elicited so many memories he's rather not think about. He stopped however, just as he was opening the door as the voice of the doctor called out to him again.
"Oh, and thanks for bringing the kid in. You saved his life."
"Yeah…" he said quietly and stepped into the bathroom, closing the door softly behind him. Not caring about the blood that dripped off of his arm, he ran a hand through his feathery hair and sighed, marveling at how fast everything had all happened. I saved his life…
"But, why?" he said softly, knowing that earlier, he would have gladly let the idiot die. Why had he been so quick to save the pilot?
Hiead stripped off of his uniform and stepped into the shower, and quietly let the warm water wash all of the blood and his unwelcome thoughts away.
Author's Note: All right, there you go. I don't have much to say right now, so... I'll upload the next chapter soon. Leave a review for me please. Even if you have a nasty one (the nasty ones make me smile).
Harbynger
