Chapter 10: The Exodus
"Commander! We're almost done with loading the injured aboard the Siren's Song." Olor reported. "Good." Rau acknowledged. "Still no contact from the other teams?" Olor's silence confirmed Rau's fears. "What if we send a recon to find them?" he suggested.
Rau shook his head. "Impossible, I need you and Matthew to ensure our safety. We'll just have to hope for the best, they are trained soldiers."
"Kira isn't." Olor reminded the masked commander. "Err, excuse me, but I'll go." Tolle volunteered. Rau and Olor looked at each other, but then Olor walked off muttering "it's your funeral."
"Pay him no heed Mister Koenig, it's very brave of you to volunteer, and I will take you up on your offer. I believe you already have a rifle?" Tolle nodded in confirmation. "Good then, I wish you luck."
Tolle paused for a second, as if expecting something more, but then saluted as best he could to Rau and took off, desperate to find his friends. "Even if it's the last thing I do," he vowed. "I'll make sure that they live."
"Didn't we just pass this hallway?" Athrun asked, eyeing the corridor. Kira looked around, shifting an unconscious Miriallia in his arms. "We might have. That damn Faust knocked my computer offline. I can't make heads or tails of these damn passageways."
"Well, at least we can start marking these halls in case we are actually going in circles." He took out a medical tape and tore a strip off and stuck it to the wall. "Let's keep going."
They passed by several junctions, and at each one they marked the direction they went. Turning a corner to continue following a passageway, they ran right into Rusty and Miguel. "Yamato, Zala! Where's Yzak? We couldn't find Dearka anywhere. And why do you have that girl?" Rusty said.
"We found Dearka, he's dead, Yzak as well. I don't know how or why Miriallia left the Main Hall, but it's a moot point right now." Athrun replied. Miguel looked around. "There's a shuttle waiting for us, last I heard they were loading the injured first. Commander Le Creuset will wait as long as he can, but there are the rest of the students to consider." He told them.
Feeling more secure with the arrival of their teammates, they navigated through the corridors a little easier and with a lot more speed. It wasn't until they passed over some rubble that some Forsaken appeared. Led by a Male, several Warriors tried to stop the party's progress. "We'll handle these! Get to the Main Hall!" Rusty ordered as he and Miguel charged.
"He certainly is brave." Kira commented, staring after their diminishing forms. "Stupid is more like it. Come on, let's go." Athrun corrected. There were certainly very few Forsaken left after the combined assaults, Kira and Athrun ran into two Warriors but dealt with them with no troubles at all. It seemed that the remaining Forsaken were being dealt with by Rusty and Miguel.
They had to be close to the Main Hall by now, the corridors they passed through seemed more and more familiar, and in a good way too. They stopped to look down a T-junction and decide which way to go. "So, left or right? Fifty fifty on this one Kira." Athrun noted.
"I hate probability. It feels like we need to go left to get over to the Main Hall, but trust me when I say my sense of direction is not reliable at times." Athrun held in a snigger. "You've been using a computer to help you get around for too long my friend." He paused, opened his mouth to speak again, but then grunted in pain. Kira turned around. "Athrun? What's wrong?" he asked, but then saw the first two inches of a stone dagger jutting out of Athrun's stomach.
Looking past his wounded friend, Kira saw a Male Forsaken, his arm extended and smiling quite contently. The dagger left Athrun's stomach, widening the wound as it left. Somehow managing to stand, Athrun shook with pure rage. "Get to the Main Hall." He ordered through gritted teeth.
Kira didn't get a chance to argue because Athrun charged the Forsaken with a suicidal scream. This was his best chance at getting Miriallia to the relative safety of the Main Hall, and at least Olor and Matthew would be there to protect her. He turned and ran, listening to the sounds of Athrun cursing loudly, alternating between firing his shotgun and rifle and the screams of the dying Forsaken.
The sounds seemed to fade, and Kira hoped it was because he was getting further and further away from the fighting and not because Athrun was running out of time. A voice came over the comm unit. "Kira …" it was Athrun, his voice sounding hoarse.
"Athrun!" Kira yelled back, stopping in his tracks and turning around. "Kira, tell Lacus …" the sounds of a shotgun firing interrupted him. More screams echoed down the corridor. "Tell Lacus that I love her." He finally managed to finish his sentence.
There were several more shots and screams, and then a second of unsettling silence, followed by an explosion. Athrun had used his Sturm Faust on the enemy, and it took his life as well. "Athrun!" Kira called out, but received no response.
Back in the Main Hall, Lacus looked shocked. "Athrun …" she said pitifully. "Miss Clyne," Rau started. "I need to sit down." Lacus said numbly. "You are sitting down Miss Clyne." Rau noticed.
There was a pause. "Oh, then I need to pass out." And she did.
"Any survivors, get back to the Main Hall otherwise we're lifting off without you." Rau advised.
Kira took one last look at where Athrun had disappeared and then started on his way again for the Main Hall. Rounding another familiar corner, he nearly crashed right into Tolle, who managed to stop and backup before Kira did. "Kira! You're alive!" he said happily.
"Barely, but what are you doing here?" Kira responded. "I'm here to get you back to the Main Hall, and I'm not even going to ask why Miriallia is with you." Tolle said.
"That won't concern you for long." A voice full of hatred said. Kira aimed his rifle at the same time Tolle did, only they were facing opposite directions. Sai and Simon had them trapped; each of them had scales all over their bodies.
Half of Simon's head was covered, giving him a very creepy alien-like look, and the scales continued down the back of his neck, covered a strip along his arms and all of his hands, and then continued downwards, presumably to the feet in the same pattern as on his arms.
Sai on the other hand had scales present everywhere over his body except for his head, and he still wore his glasses. "Lower your weapon and stay out of this Tolle. I'll give you this one chance to get out of here and live." Sai warned. In response Tolle took aim at Sai. "I won't leave my friends Sai, and I won't let you hurt them."
"So instead you'll kill me? Some friend you are, old buddy." Sai leered. "The Sai I knew is dead; this thing standing in front of me would never threaten us if he was Sai." Tolle countered.
The next sequence of events happened so fast that before Kira knew it, he was knocked against the wall, cradling Miriallia while Tolle was on the stone floor with a gaping hole in his stomach. Sai was wounded and bleeding while Simon was just laughing. Sai looked down at Tolle. "I am truly sorry old friend." He apologized right before smashing his fist through Tolle's heart.
It was at this point that Miriallia finally regained consciousness. However, Kira was a little busy trying to deal with Tolle's death to notice. "No!" he screamed, firing his shotgun straight into Sai. The force of the shell blew Sai backwards, and the one-time friend of Kira's didn't get back up.
"Nicely done Yamato." Simon complimented. Kira turned his attention to Simon, and noticed out of the corner of his eye that Mir was paying attention. "Miriallia, get to the Main Hall, I'll deal with Simon."
"You see, Coordinators are so violent and brutal, all they can do is utter threats." Simon started, not caring about Miriallia at all. "Milly, go! I'll be right behind you." She hesitated for a second, not wanting to leave Kira, but facing Simon was something he had to do. Miriallia nodded and ran towards the Main Hall.
"All you know is how to fight and cause pain Kira, because that's all that any Coordinator knows how to do. Whether it was your choice or not, you're still nothing but a violent killing machine." Simon ranted.
"That's not true, Coordinator scientists have cured several deadly diseases for Naturals, its the hatred and mistrust stemming from the Naturals that puts Coordinators on edge. My parents and I wanted to avoid the fighting, that's why we moved to Heliopolis." Kira retorted.
"Yet here you are now, your rifle raised, ready to kill me in a single shot. Because you are a Coordinator, you volunteered for the killing. Your instinct is to fight."
Kira seethed with anger. "I'm fighting to protect my friends! It wouldn't matter if I was a Natural or a Coordinator, I would still protect them!" Simon tried to make a comeback, but ultimately failed, so instead he lunged at Kira. Narrowing his eyes, Kira calmly pulled the trigger.
"Wait!" Miriallia called out as she entered the Main Hall. Olor turned to see her and motioned to Commander Le Creuset.
"Where is everyone else?" Rau asked. Miriallia shook her head. "Kira told me to get to the Main Hall; he said he'd be right behind me. I didn't see anyone else." She said, trying to catch her breath.
"Well get onboard the shuttle, if they don't get here soon, we'll be forced to lift off." Milly didn't like the finality of his words, but she nonetheless found a vacant spot near the entrance and took her seat. 'Kira please make it in time.'
Minutes passed with no more transmissions from anyone outside of the Main Hall and no signs of any life whatsoever. It appeared that how ever many Forsaken were still alive were being dealt with or had already been killed. It was a small piece of fortune for the survivors, nothing more.
Finally she heard footsteps. "Kira?" she asked, standing up. She only saw Miguel holding Rusty upright, the flame-haired boy holding his ribs protectively. "Sir, I believe we've accounted for most of the Forsaken." Miguel reported, handing Rusty off to a few of the impromptu medics.
"Any report from anyone else?" Miguel looked nervous. "We met up with Kira and Athrun, but then we heard Athrun's last transmission."
"Then we'll just have to hope for the best." Rau said.
More minutes passed, until finally the pilot of the Siren's Song called back to Rau. "Sir, we're going to be hit by the other half of this storm if we stay here any longer."
"Prepare the shuttle for liftoff, but wait for my command." Rau ordered. The pilot and co-pilot looked at each other hesitantly, but then chorused an "aye sir."
Switches were flipped, levers were adjusted and buttons were pushed as the engines warmed up from their pre-flight mode. Mir could feel the vibrations through the ship. "We can't leave Kira behind, he's alive, and I know it!" she said desperately.
"And I can't afford to get everyone on this shuttle killed for one person. I'm sorry Miss Haw, but we'll just have to pray for them." Rau replied as kindly as he could.
A flash of motion caught Miriallia's eye. "Look, its Kira!" she nearly screamed. Indeed it was Kira, running as fast as he could, his rifle in one hand. He smiled as he saw Mir waiting for him at the shuttle entrance, but then frowned as her expression turned to horror. Her voice reached him. "Kira, behind you!"
He turned just in time to have Icess stab her claws right through his chest, barely missing his heart, but grazing his right lung. She pushed him to the stone floor and lodged her claws into the stone, trapping him there. Kira screamed in pain, his rifle sliding from his hand. She was obviously injured, the exploding Sturm Faust had done quite a number on her, but it hadn't been enough.
"Your death won't be enough to atone for all of my Forsaken you have killed, but it will be a start." She sneered and raised her other hand, claws extended. Icess jabbed down, narrowly missing as Kira twisted as best he could out of way, but in the process widening the wound in his chest.
The queen stabbed again, and again Kira managed to dodge a fatal blow, this time having a sharp claw stab through his left ear and lacerate his shoulder. Light glinted off of a steel weapon, and Kira realized his rifle was within his reach. "I'm going to enjoy killing you, her, and all of the students Kira." She taunted him, giving Kira enough time to firmly grab the rifle and swing the barrel of the shotgun into the old wound in her chest.
"Go to hell you fucking bitch!" he yelled, pulling the trigger. The powerful shotgun slug threw Icess upwards and backwards, tearing her claws out of Kira's chest. She landed in a mangled heap and stopped moving.
Summoning the last of his strength, Kira stood up wobbly and smiled at Milly, and then collapsed face first as the rain began to pour once again. "Kira!" Mir screamed and tried to run to him. Rau tried to hold her back, but Milly slipped through his grip and ran to her good friend. "Get up Kira, get up!" she ordered, trying in vain to lift him. She tried to drag him, but he simply weighed too much for her to carry.
"Please … don't do this to me." She whispered. A shadow appeared over her, and she looked up to see Rau. Before she could plead for help, Rau grabbed the back of Kira's shirt and lifted him off the ground. "Into the shuttle Miss Haw." She nodded and they entered the shuttle.
"Lift off!" Rau ordered, hitting the button to seal the shuttle doors. The pilot acknowledged and started a slow ascent, wary of the injured peoples on board. Sliding to the floor, Miriallia cradled Kira as she tried to staunch the flow of blood coming from his chest.
His eyes flickered open. "You shouldn't cry for me …" he uttered. Shutting out the tears, Miriallia lowered her head and kissed him gently as the shuttle rose, taking them away from the horror of the temple that contained the Legend of Icess, the Queen of the Forsaken.
I think this chapter is a little shorter than my previous ones, but here it is nonetheless. I might answer any questions you faithful readers have in a short add-on to this story. Thank you for sticking with me, and please Review.
Prayer