Okay, two weeks ago the entire place was covered in snow right, really thick snow, the kind of snow that makes you want to wear and escimo coat and tennis rackets on your feet. Get this, the temperature doohickie on the dresser behind me is reading 20 degrees celcius (however you spell that)! WHAT'S WITH ALL THE WEATHER PHENOMENONS! Would somebody that lives near the polar ice caps please tell me if they've gone and melted?
BW: Um...I don't think so.
FB: Why? (puppy dog eyes)
BW: (backing away slightly) Well if they had melted, it would be all over the news!
FB: (thinks for a moment) Oh.
BW: Anyway, YOU FINALLY GOT THIS CHAPTER UP! (as afterthought) Took you long enough.
FB: Hey! I'll have you know that-
BW: (looking at fingernails) Not interested, you should stick to regular chapter updates like a good little author.
FB: Says the author who hasn't updated her Escaflowne since Christmas!
BW: Hey, I'm working on that! (grinning slyly) And it's going to blow you away.
FB: Really?
BW: Yep.
FB: ...
BW: FB?
FB: (secretly plots way of stealing next Escaflowne chapter)
Disclaimer: I do not own the Outlaw Star series or for the moment BW's FanFic...but that could change any day soon...(makes caniving, scheming face)
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Mortalis, We Are the Dead
"What the hell!"
Gene stood up and glanced around the place in awe. He had been to the Leyline, he had seen some thoroughly mind boggling things but this…this just took the cup.
He was standing on the edge of a cobbled walkway leading down into what looked like a thriving city. The buildings he could see from his place on the streets were towering and grand, made of white marble by the looks of it and covered with intricately carved patterns. Ivy spiralled around the buildings and trees littered the streets. All of this was bathed under a sky of endless blue.
A utopia.
How a utopia, complete with infinite sky, fit into a temple of that size was something that eluded Gene completely. In a situation like this he decided to ignore the improbability of it all and leave it up to other people to sort out.
"Well, this'll keep Jim busy for a while." he murmured.
The sound of laughter rang out over the city making Gene frown.
'I swear Gilliam said this planet was uninhabited.'
He fingered the handle of his caster and kept his guard up, the serenity of this lost utopia was making him uneasy.
No use just standing there.
Gene made to walk into the city defiantly, intent on finding Melfina in this impossible utopia but one simple step had him reeling backwards. The ground rippled where his foot had been.
"What the-"
He crouched down, eyes focused on the ground and the slowly spreading rings. His scarred hand left his caster and pressed down onto the stones of the pathway. Once again the ground wavered and the vast ripples continued through the ancient utopia until they reached the bio-android on the other side of the city. The vibrations stopped her dead.
"Gene…"
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A white flash went off like a firework inside his head. Howling in agony, Flynn fell to his knees and clawed at his head.
She was-
Crack. Another flash. Her name was on the tip of his tongue, her identity was on the edge of his mind.
She was-
Crack.
The white haired girl before him followed his every move, there was no ounce of sympathy on her face just a deep, brooding glare. When she spoke, her voice was hollow and ghost-like.
"You don't remember me, do you."
"No," Flynn groaned through grit teeth, "should I?"
"Your memories…how did you lose them?" her voice was softer now.
"I…"
All he could remember was the wreckage of the ship, the thick black smog billowing out from the dead city, scarring the sky. And his own clueless ness.
Was that even his city?
The image of the girl before him flickered.
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Gene sprinted through the finely planned streets of the utopia towards the steadily growing rabble of voices he could hear. His footsteps left a pathway of ripples which made the ground look highly unstable. Gene was making a conscious effort not to look back.
He turned a last sharp left and to his surprise he found himself on the outskirts of a large forum. A rowdy crowd had gathered in the centre of the forum, chattering loudly.
Gene automatically hung back in the shadows feeling like an outsider in amongst these people. He could sense the mounting tension of the crowd, something big was happening.
For a moment, the event caught his interest and he started to consider staying to find out just what was going on but then he remembered the reason he was here in the first place. He blinked in bewilderment and shook his head. He didn't know and he didn't care what was going on. All he cared about was Melfina. Without a second thought he started hunting the crowd for Melfina's familiar figure but-
"Mel?"
He saw her in a split second and he recognised her instantly. The way her dark hair fell about her face, the familiar blue cape she always wore, even the way she was standing gave her away.
Acting on impulse rather than common sense, he launched straight into the crowd and barged his way through towards Melfina, calling her name over and over.
She didn't seem to hear him or if she did, his voice didn't register. She was completely absorbed, gaze locked on what looked like the town hall.
"There…" she whispered.
Subtly, she detached herself from the gathering and started walking towards the town hall.
Seeing Melfina's dark hair suddenly leaving the crowd, Gene tried to double his pace after her but the closer he got to the front, the denser the crowd became. After a little while it was virtually impossible to move.
"I hate this damn insane place!" he muttered to himself angrily. His hand brushed the caster in his pocket.
He barely felt the familiar handle under his finger, he barely had time to register what it was he could feel. An idea started forming in his mind.
At that moment, Melfina disappeared from sight again.
There was nothing for it. Gene pulled out the pistol next to his caster and took a shot in the air.
The effect was instant. The crowd stopped, gripped by fear and disbelief, staring at the man who still held the gun in the air.
"Get out of my way." said Gene simply.
Faces frozen in shock, the crowd parted, making a direct pathway from where Gene was standing to the narrow street leading to the town hall.
Vaguely he wondered how these people knew where he needed to go when he, himself didn't but he didn't have time to ponder.
He sprinted through the split in the crowd after Melfina.
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"You should know who I am." the girl said plainly. The look she gave Flynn was meaningful and prompting. He was supposed to know this girl but he didn't. Why didn't he? He punched the floor in frustration.
Suddenly, the girl's eyes flicked to her left. Flynn wasn't really prepared for her to make such a sharp move, the ghostly figure looked incapable. With a bemused look, Flynn followed her eyes over to the ancient temple.
"What's going-"
"I don't have time!"
Flynn was taken aback. She didn't sound calm anymore, she sounded desperate.
"Listen to me! The power sleeps within the city, locked behind the walls. You have the key to that power Flynn and you have to go back!"
Flynn didn't understand.
"What? What do you mean? Go back where!"
"The bio-android girl, she knows the way. You have to go back! You have to stop it from happening again Flynn! It can't happen again!"
" Go back where? What am I supposed to prevent? Tell me what you mean!" shouted Flynn standing up.
But all she said was:
"No time."
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Melfina stood at the back of the abandoned building, her fingers gently stroking the symbols on the wall. She sighed lightly. Whatever had drawn her into the temple had meant her to come here. This was the soul reason that Vega had told her to come to Mortalis.
"Melfina?"
Melfina spun round, startled by his sudden appearance.
"Gene." she said. Her voice was emotional.
"Some place huh?" said Gene looking round. His eyes caught the ripples his footsteps had left in the ground. He shuddered.
"This place is…part of a computer." replied Melfina turning back round to face the wall of symbols.
Gene watched her steadily and came up to stand by her side.
"So this is-"
"A memory, an illusion, a hologram." Melfina's voice was flat with sadness. Her eyes were closed.
"That explains the rippling floor." muttered Gene glancing back at the slowly dying waves on the ground. A raucous cheer suddenly went up from the crowd outside and a thought struck Gene.
"So those people out there…aren't real?"
"They were." Melfina didn't even turn around. "They're not alive anymore."
"Ghosts!" exclaimed Gene gawking at the crowd now at rapt attention as someone spoke out on the centre stage.
Melfina just nodded, unable to do anything else.
"What happened here?" He looked at her. "How do you know these things?"
"I…I don't know. I…I think I've been here before…"
Gene turned to face her properly then, she looked so lost and so frail and for a moment he could feel what she felt, his heart felt as if it had moved in his chest. He wanted to pull her into his embrace then and there. But he had to know.
"What have you found Melfina?"
Melfina used her hand to guide her eyes as she translated the few words she could from the wall.
"Find…manufacturer…Atlantis…"
It was at that moment that the ground started shaking.
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"What do you mean no time! Try making sense!" spat Flynn, eyes blazing angrily.
The girl before him continued to look at him in much the same way as she had before. Almost pitying, despairing for him to understand. A yellow flame suddenly ignited in her eyes.
The fire caught Flynn off guard and he drew back, cool outward exterior fleeting.
"Y…your eyes are…on fire!" he stuttered feeling himself teetering on the edge of sanity.
The girl's face took on an expression of quiet devastation.
"My eyes are reflecting our city inside the temple." she explained quietly. "Our city is burning."
"What? What city!" started Flynn.
But already she was fading, her pale, astral outline getting dimmer as the blaze in her eyes engulfed her city.
"Flynn," she said, barely audible. Her hand reached for his.
He hardly knew her, he had no emotional attachment to her yet his own hand raised towards hers.
Her fingers fell through his, he felt nothing.
"Reme-"
She disappeared on the air, a white mist of the girl she had once been. Flynn was left alone in the cock pit of the Outlaw Star once more.
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So Atlantis finally made an appearence in my FanFic eh? It's all coming together, Mwahahahaha. Questions: Has Melfina really been to Mortalis before? Who was that girl Flynn was talking to? What the hell was she going on about? The whole utopia in the temple is a hologram! And...(for all of you who still actually are thinking about this one)...who shot Gene?
FB: I've got it!
BW: Got what?
FB: If I hold chapter 15 ransom then you'll give me the next Escaflowne chapter!
BW: Hmpf, nice try.
FB: Damnit!
