Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Armored Core series. That belongs to Agetec and From Software. I only own the original characters. Thank you.
In TALON's Grasp
by: T.R. Fanatic
AN: Italicized sentences in this chapter (unless said otherwise) are used to tell a story.
Chapter 21: Stargazing
Night fell upon the quiet plains where the crew of the Nomad decided to camp out until the next morning.
There sitting on the edge of the rooftop was Tsubasa, looking to the serene starry sky.
A distant sound came from behind him. The squeaky door being opened and footsteps hitting each rung of the ladder, stopping after they hit the hollow metal of the roof.
"...You found me." Tsubasa said calmly, eyes still fixed on the stratosphere.
"I only guessed." the voice of Kaze replied. "I came to give you a message."
Tsubasa turned to Kaze. "Let me guess... It is from Pyro and he said that I should have used the Karasawa in battle today."
The messenger's eyes widened. "H-how did you know?"
"It is the same message that he gives to me after every mission I go on... My response is, as always: if the light of the moon falls, the Karasawa will carry on. However, if the Karasawa fails, then so shall I..."
"Poetic..." Kaze commented. "So, why are you up here?"
"When a mission is an above-ground one, like today, I come out here on a clear night and look at the stars..."
"What for?" said the young pilot as he walked over and joined in glancing at the darkness of space.
"I want to know... what it is like to have feelings again..."
Kaze closed his eyes. "That's right... The Human-Plus experiments took that right away from you..."
"Correct." Tsubasa replied. If you had met me five years ago, you would have known that I was a friendly person to be around with, not bearing a grudge to anyone. For having that personality, I became the president of my homeroom class during my high school years. Though, I have to admit I was shy at times.
On the day of my graduation, my parents, both working for Murakumo, invited me to be a part of a 'survey,' as they put it, 'that will revolutionize the way that I live and breathe.' Knowing that they will not take 'no' as an answer (especially, my stubborn father who brought it up in the first place), I agreed to go along.
When we reached the place that the corporation was holding these 'surveys,' I realized that my parents had lied to me. It was there that they told me the truth, that the scientists were performing experiments on adolescents in hopes of finding out if the body of a test subject, contained with millions of nanomachines, could exceed what a normal person's body could do.
"Project H.P." Kaze noted in a hiss.
Tsubasanodded. I even watched as some of the classmates from my homeroom being put under. One of them even looked at me before he passed out, as though it was my fault.
I panicked. I told my parents that I did not want to be a part of this. They said I had 'no other choice.' As they said that, two scientists took me away... I can still hear myself screaming in terror over this. As much I know, that was my last time I ever felt an emotion...
"I'm curious. What's it like to not have emotions?" Kaze asked.
Cold, blue eyes looked to the inquisitive pilot. "...I usually put it as the fact that you are half-way dead. Or, put in a spiritual manner, your soul has left your body, yet your heart still continues to beat."
Kaze sighed, unsure of how to reply to that.
I came to about three days later, in a hospital room with nine other people, being told by an executive that we were under their control.
From there, we were forced to begin training to become powerful AC pilots in hopes that Murakumo will gain the upper hand in the war that was, at that time, a stalemate. When one pilot fell behind in meeting the executives' expectations, they were given another H.P. experiment. For me, I fell behind twice. But I could not retaliate. Aside from the fact that I am an emotionless being, I was told that falling behind was only fate and that the H.P. experiment would change my fate's course.
"Did you fall behind on purpose?" Kaze asked.
"I did not want to. The only way that you would fall behind is that you lost to your opponent in a battle against an equally 'gifted' pilot-trainee. However, if you won the battle, you would move to another team and battle against them."
"That's sounds like the way an arena works."
"True, but Murakumo had complex rules for the multi-team arena that even made the executives confused."
...Having defeated every pilot-trainee months later, I graduated and became an elite AC pilot serving Murakumo. Around that time, I came up with a theory that if I escaped from the strings that the corporation held me by, I would get my emotions back... A foolish theory as I found out later when I was caught. My punishment? Another experiment.
"I'm sorry, Tsubasa," Kaze apologized. "but I must admit... your life sucks!"
"I knew that you would agree with me..."
"And it sounds like this whole thing went by really fast."
Tsubasa shook his head. "No, the training was over the course of three years..."
Persistent with my plan, I escaped once more, this time, escaping for good... That is until I an AC began pursuing me: Nine-Ball... I fought valiantly, but he was still far more powerful than me. For that, I was left for dead...
And I would have died, had it not been for Chief finding me out in the middle of nowhere and giving me a new life as a Raven.
"Well, at least your life story is going along a happy note now..." Kaze noted.
Tsubasa nodded back, rubbing the back of his head. "True," he said. "but the memories still remain... And I have yet to accomplish my goals of gaining my emotions back... and of defeating Nine-Ball."
Kaze smiled. "I guess I'm not alone."
"You will let me have the first attack, will you not?"
"I won't be competitive and say that my grudge is stronger than yours. But your grudge wins by age."
"Thank you. Do not worry about me finishing him off, I will leave that job in your hands."
Kaze looked further into the star-filled sky. "You're too kind."
To be continued...
T.R.: You know what to do, all of you readers in fanfic world: (pose: points at nothing but sky) go now and review! ...Um, (bows) please.