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Red over Lunar
Chapter iv…drops of Jupiter
"did you fall for a shooting star, one without a permanent scar?
And there, did you miss me when you were looking for yourself out there…
with drops of Jupiter in her hair…"
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disclaimers: if I owned sm/gw, does anybody think I'll still be writing fics? Oh…all right, I would still be but, sm/gw does not belong to me. They belong to their rightful owners, whom I'm not sure of…^^;;
Notes:
I'm going over ROL and revising chapters to better suit myself. Format, structure and development are being changed.
-italics and bold emphasizes
-italics are also flashbacks
-these ----- separate and show time frames
-'…' are thoughts
-Levina centered! =)
-GORE/swear words
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"Nieve," she turned the name over and over in her mouth, letting it slide through with the roll of her tongue. She stood in front of a car, holding a key, stiffed with anxiety. The young man looked at her oddly. He coughed when she still made no move.
"Ah-hem, Miss…are you going to take the car or not?" His voice broke through her reverie.
"Oh? Sorry…yeah, I'll take it. Thank you." She shook his hand and opened the door, a bit gingerly, and placed her small body inside. Still he gave her an odd look.
"Thank you for your business."
"Your welcome." She stuck the key in the ignition and turned it on. The engine roared into life. Her foot stepped on the gas and she sped off. It wasn't long until the wind began to whip her long hair. She placed a pair of sunglasses on, her eyes set on the road and horizon that was slowly coming into view with the sunset.
It would take her 8 hours to get to where the Gundam had been reported to be and where Nieve resided. Her foot stepped on the gas again. 100 mph. She didn't care. She was the only car on the road.
"Nieve. What am I going to do when I finally see you?" Her mind raced with preoccupation.
Suddenly, on reflexes, her foot switched to the brake pedal and the car lurched forward to a stop. Her body followed the inertia of the car until she remained motionless, tracing her thoughts. She was quiet for a long time, her eyes tuning into the sounds of the empty road she was sitting on. Her sunglasses fell off and she made no move to put them back on. Her eyes looked ahead, off to a distance she could not reach. She looked weary and tired and old. Old as in seeing too much of the troubled worlds.
She stared. And she stared for so long. So long until her vision became blurred and she was blind. Then it hit her. She was afraid. Afraid of Nieve…but no, not Nieve. The person her step-sister had become. The letter had been a disappointment. Nieve didn't seem the same…even she didn't seem the same. Tsara's heart was slowly breaking as she sat, listening to the false voice of silence. She was afraid of seeing Nieve, of knowing Nieve and understanding Nieve now. Disappointment.
Disappointed.
'I wouldn't know what to say…' she chided herself. Her hands were gripping the steering wheel, blood red knuckles. 'What would I say? It's me, Tsara…remember me? I was your step-sister for a while but your father ditched me? Hah-'
She banged her head on the steering wheel and let her tears finally fall. She had promised herself she wouldn't cry, especially if Nieve didn't care but here she was, still just like a child. She wept for hours before she finally picked up her head and held it high. She placed her foot back to the gas pedal and stepped on it…hard and long. The speedometer climbed up again.
"I've got nothing to lose, I've got nothing to lose, I've got nothing to lose…" she cajoled herself.
The red convertible roared through the road.
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"So…what kind of business…do you run exactly?" Levina questioned. Her emerald eyes surveyed the place. She wrinkled her nose in distaste as she picked up a strong awful stench. Scattered around were bags, boxes, clothes…toys. She walked through the mess and lifted a plastic bag to reveal a "naughty" magazine. She quickly covered it again, a red blush covering her cheeks. She turned away embarrassed. Her eyes glued to Nieve but the girl didn't seem to notice. Nieve had been making her way through the room, into the bedroom.
Levina followed Nieve silently into the bedroom. The closer she got, the stronger the stench was. She held her breath and gulped in meager breaths to keep the stench away. She stared at Nieve's back as she stood still in the doorway, framed by its splintering edges. Nieve was standing too still for everything to seem ok. Levina peeked over Nieve's shoulder and she nearly purged. She quickly pulled back, tears running down her face, as her breakfast was screaming to move up and out. She ran off quickly into the dirty sink in the kitchen and everything came out. She was breathing hard, gasping, shaking. Gasping and shaking, trying to forget what she saw, what she smelled.
How could Nieve stand it? She brushed hot tears away. It wasn't that she was crying. It was the sickness that was gnawing at her throat.
She looked up and she saw Nieve's figure in the open doorway. Nieve didn't say anything. She continued to walk out, leaving a shaking Levina. Quickly, Levina ran out, catching Nieve's flying black coat. She held the smaller girl from moving on further.
"Nieve! What the hell was that?" she demanded. "Who did that? Who the hell would do such a horrible thing?" Nieve didn't answer. She slammed Nieve into the gate like a doll. "Aren't you a little bit shaken?! For god's sake! It's a freakin mutilated body! How can you be so calm?!" Nieve turned to look at her and as soon as she stared into those dark eyes, she froze in place. Nieve walked on, leaving Levina's frozen figure.
"Nieve…" Levina stopped herself. All she could do was look helplessly from the open doorway to Nieve's retreating figure.
Nieve walked calmly but her feet broke into a run as soon as she was houses away. She didn't care if Levina followed or not. She didn't care if anybody saw her. She wasn't afraid of anyone or anything. Not anymore; will never be. Can never be. She couldn't do or say anything yet though. It had just shocked her speechless…shocked her so that she would never be surprised again, never be fazed by anything. She thought she had found how cruel humans could be; now she was wrong, more wrong then ever. Her figure crumbled to the ground in a heap when she gave up to the empty alleyways. Her fists were locked tightly in front of her; her face would not be lifted to face the sky.
She knew who had done it and why. They had done it. They did it. The dark room had revealed all the evidence she would ever need for justice.
The bed had been ripped and torn. Blankets were covered with blood and guts. In the corner… Her eyes were wide open, Prussian eyes shinning as if looking at something. Dried blood trailed down her face and lips to her neck to the floor. A couple of feet away laid the body, sprawled out with no hands, or legs. Small bony fingers were scattered over the dismembered arms and legs. The body didn't even need to be turned over. It was drenched in a thick pool of blood. The body had been sliced open, right through the sternum and ribcage. The lungs were pulled and separated from the body. Intestines were wrapped around the abdomen. Other organs were pulled out as well, sprawled in front of the body. Some hung from the ceiling, held by knives, still dripping with blood.
Nieve opened her eyes, her face in sweats, shaking. What had scared her the most was the smile on the child's face. Why had she been…smiling? She buried her face in her hands and wept.
'A little girl, when I first met you. I loved you; you were the innocence I could never taint. You were the innocence I could not have. You were our emblem for joy. You were the one who made us smile after all the bad things we do day in and day out. You let me believe that what I was doing was Ok…because it was all I needed to do for survival. You were our Setsuko. And now…all the guilt, it's coming back to me. Your brother left me first and now you too…you both are so cruel to me but I deserve it. I caused both of you all this grief. I deserve it…but it should have been me, the one that died, the one they killed. Should have been my blood that they used...'
"Setsuko…I'm so sorry…" she murmured through guilty sobs. "I am so sorry…"
Levina watched from faraway. She was stunned. 'She does have a conscience after all…'
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"Why haven't you reached there yet? What the hell is taking you so long? I can't have someone incompetent working for me!"
"I'm sorry sir…there's just been some difficulties. I'm going to get there by tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? You better. I can't have you do it if you can't do it right! Get there by tomorrow . I'll hear no more from you unless its about the Gundam-that you found it."
The phone slammed on her and she depressed the button on her cell phone.
'Concentrate Tsara…concentrate.' Her car wasn't moving at all. She was staring ahead. Again.
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Levina rubbed her eyes and looked at the digital clock in front of her. It was only two in the morning. She got up tiredly and walked in a trance-like state to the bathroom. She rubbed her eyes to clear them and was shocked to see Nieve in the bathroom. In her hand was a pair of scissors and in the other was a thick long loft of hair…long hair coming from Nieve's head. Nieve had flinched when she heard footsteps but she had not turned around to face Levina, instead she held the scissor to her hair and with a snap, the long silky ebony hair fell to the floor in a heap. Levina could hear heavy breathing and soft sobbing.
Levina made a motion to move forward but something held her back. She stopped and turned around, walking back to her room. She couldn't sleep so she laid on her bed for an hour or so, staring into the ceiling, wishing they were the stars, thinking about Nieve's strangeness. Unable to figure anything out, she pulled herself from bed and walked by the bathroom, to get out the window to go to the rooftop. Out of curiosity, she stopped by the bathroom, flicked the lights on and found a heap of hair piled in the small wastebasket. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror and realized for the first time that the mirror was broken and had stains of blood on it. A bit shocked, her eyes traveled to the sink. On the sink were two necklaces, one holding a locket and another holding a key. Levina picked them up and held them to the dim light. With her heart beating, Levina glanced at the small picture in the locket.
It was a man with startling blue eyes and wavy blonde hair and a beautiful little girl. The little girl…looked vaguely familiar. They were both smiling and waving.
She would have stood there forever, looking into the faces of innocence and happiness if not for the rattle behind her. Startled, Levina flicked the lights off and rushed out through the hallway to the window.
Levina climbed the ladder then climbed over the edge. She almost lost her hold when she saw a figure sitting there. Before she could fall, that someone grabbed her hand and pulled her up.
"Thanks," she mumbled. She looked to see her rescuer and was quite surprise to find Nieve sitting on the edge looking distant and aloof. Her hair was put messily in a bun. Nieve didn't reply. Levina coughed then settled herself nicely next to Nieve. "What are you doing out here so…early?"
"I might ask you the same."
"Couldn't sleep."
Nieve raised her eyebrows. She pulled a box of cigarettes from her coat pocket and took one out. She lit it then stuck it in her mouth, inhaling the poisons as if her life depended on it. She offered the box to Levina who looked disgusted and refused.
"Suit yourself." She tucked it back inside her coat pocket.
"You're awfully thin and too pale for smoking you know."
"Hey, you're gonna die someday. Why not make it sooner?" Levina glared at her. She sneered.
"You're such a pessimist."
Nieve shrugged as if to say, "it's my nature."
Levina sighed. She fell onto her back and lay there, staring into the stars. She could see the smoke trailing from Nieve's cigarette, emptying into the night sky. Slowly she closed her eyes.
"Nieve…who is Setsuko?" Immediately she could feel the air become suddenly chilled. She turned her face to Nieve who had stopped inhaling her poisons and was as still as a statue. "So…who is she?" Levina continued to prompt casually. She wanted an answer.
"Nishi's sister." Nieve inhaled again then threw her cigarette bud into the ground below. She coughed then grabbed another cigarette. Levina sat up looking at her disgustingly.
"Why did they do that to her?" Nieve shrugged as she let her body fall and she laid somewhere near Levina. They both remained silent, staring into an empty black sky. No stars out at all.
"You better be careful," Nieve said. "They're coming for you tomorrow." She stuck her cigarette in her mouth then stood up and climbed the ladder down again. Levina shivered, glanced at her watch…only 4 am. She yawned then decided to give into the sleep that had suddenly claimed her.
'They're coming for me, eh? I wonder how she knows.'
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Levina started out early. She had only had about 2 hours worth of sleep but the anxiety was too much. She gave up sleep and crawled out. She would leave Nieve's place early. 'They're coming for you.' She shivered, putting on a jacket and socks. 'How do you know so much Nieve?' She walked past the bathroom again and disappeared through a window.
Nieve watched from the shadows, smoking away with a smirk.
Levina trudged through the garbage-aligned alleys. She tried to keep her profile as low as she could, walking in the shadows as well as walking away from the whispers she heard mumbling after her. She continued walking until she no longer knew where she was. The poverty was familiar but the walkways and streets showed no resemblance to the ways Nieve led her. She stopped. She heard footsteps following her, tracing her own. She whirled around to find empty air. She turned back.
WHAM. She was knocked down. Her body hit the pavement hard. Her head immediately started spinning. Digging her nails into the cold cement with her fingers, she pulled herself from the black abyss. She stood up and was slammed into the brick wall.
"Well, well….isn't it little miss prim and proper?! What are you doing in these streets?" he asked breathing heavily. She lifted her head to meet him. He smiled and punched her in the stomach. 'Demented hobo,' she thought. She coughed and slammed her body right into his. He was knocked down to his knees but he was still smiling with wide, red eyes filled with delirium. He pulled from behind him a pocketknife. "You think you can knock me down, huh? You think you can, can you? You can't. You can't stupid bitch!" He lunged at her. She had been prepared. The trashcan top stopped his assault. She kicked him hard between his legs. He doubled over, dropping the knife. His eyes peered up at her, accusingly…questioningly. "Do you think I am any less than a human because of what I am? Huh?" His lips curled into a smile again and he laughed. He laughed and laughed until he was crying. Levina stepped back, dropping the trashcan top to the cement. She was taken back by his strange attitude and choice of words. He was still laughing when she ran off quickly. "I'll get you one of these days, girl!" She shivered.
His eyes had been bloodshot red. Beautiful…deformed…desolate, deranged, delirious. This part of town, this…was this poverty just here or was it throughout Japan? Or was it throughout the world? She stopped dead in her tracks and breathed heavily against the support of the graffiti painted walls.
It was still just years ago when she heard endless explosions, gunshots and screams for help and pity. Everyone around her was in poverty, poor unto poor trying to survive on the edge of a blade; teetering one way or the other would eventually lead to death. She had been terrified. That was when she was still on earth living under the arms of her mother.
And then when she was on the colonies, they told her that she would be taught to pilot a Gundam to help save people like her. They had blamed the earth for the poor condition it was in and the people that were killed day by day. "Get revenge on the earth," they repeated to her day by day. And she listened to them. The people of the earth, she pressed in her heart, were what killed her mother.
Levina crumbled to the floor. Was it all the earth's fault now? Could the earth be blamed for the war that was still igniting and slumbering across the earth to the colonies? Could the colonies be blamed too? Here lies in poverty and on the colonies, giant mechas of destruction are altered to become even more powerful and destructive.
'Are we at fault too? Is what I want to save, what I am going to destroy when I pilot a Gundam?'
She closed her eyes tightly. With the breaking of a piece of glass, Levina stood up startled. She fell back against the wall, shocked.
"T-T-Tsara…" It was motionless. Tsara stood in front of her in the same manner she had stood when she had instructed her.
"Hello…again, Levina." Tsara smiled. "I've come for you."
"Are you one of their bitches, Tsara? I'm not going anywhere, even with you!" Levina glared at Tsara who stood smiling. "I'm not going back," she said through clenched teeth. "I'll go to Hell and back…but not there."
"I'm not here to take you back. I'm only here to deliver and help you."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Tsara flinched at Levina's choice of words.
"Let's make a deal since you can't seem to understand. You go with me to the Colony Base…no fuss, no nothing."
"Are you crazy?!"
"You didn't let me finish," Tsara said, glaring at her.
Levina coughed. "Go on."
"As I said…you go back with me-no problems no nothing and be only jailed for 3 days."
"Three days only?! Did they make a deal with you to trick me?!"
"No. It's my deal. This doesn't include them anymore Levina. This is between you and me. You help me and I will help you."
"How will you get me out then?"
"I have my ways."
"I don't trust you."
"I don't need your trust. Just your cooperation."
"How much time do I have?"
"Forty eight hours."
She groaned. Damn. Too little time to come up with a backup plan. She looked up as she saw Tsara walking away. "Hold on…where am I-"
"I'll be at the dock if you decide to come. Be there by 12 midnight. I need your help. We need to go 'treasure hunting'." Before Levina could say anymore, Tsara's figure disappeared. She let out a deep breath as her body clanged to the brick wall. She was troubled, deeply troubled by her own doings. She was not afraid of the punishment she would have to face but the person she would have disappointed and the ideals she had been brought up with that now seemed all wrong.
'I don't know if I'm willing to cooperate.'
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Tsara's smile quickly turned into a frown as she walked away. Her body was shaking and she was not sure if doing what she was doing was right…but then again nothing she had ever done had been right. She rubbed her eyes in exhaustion. What had been said had been said and she would have to trust Levina's judgment. For now, her direction was pointed toward someone else. Nieve. That girl, her stepsister.
'Didn't you wait all these years for her?'
Tsara sighed. Now or later, she had to do it. She was so preoccupy she did not see where she was going and ran smacked into someone's hard stoic body.
"I'm so sorry!" She said, feeling fluster and embarrassed. 'Dumb blondes…' she thought bitterly. She got up and looked up. Her eyes widened with surprise. Her heart was pounding through her ribcage.
"No problem at all Miss. You just go on," he said calmly with a tiny smile on. He quickly brushed himself off and started to walk away.
"Wait!" she said suddenly. He turned around, brows raised in questions. "Uhh…No…I'm Sorry. I…I thought you were someone else." He smiled understandably and turned around to disappear into the black corner. Her heart sank. "Kunzite," she called after him. The name had just popped into her mind but it had seemed so right. It framed him correctly. Those same features, those long platinum strands of hair…they were so familiar, they were what made her dreams.
The young man continued but he stopped when he heard someone whispered his name. Kunzite. He shrugged. It must have been the wind. He smiled as he saw his partner. The younger man was waving him over with a cigarette tucked between his fingers. "Good morning, Zoicite," he called.
Feeling disappointed, she walked slowly back to her hastily parked convertible when her cell phone began ringing, breaking through her thoughts. Quickly, she rushed to her car.
"Yes? Hello?" Tsara drew in a deep breath.
"Tsara? Tsara? Is that you? I can't hear you, speak louder!"
"D? D, is that you?"
"Ye..ah."
"How are you?"
"Fine. I hope you're doing better yourself. I'm just calling to make sure you go to see her. You better. God knows how long you've waited. She might give you some answers as well…There's too much static and I just got an order so I'll call you later. Take care."
"Wait! D!" The line was already dead. She sighed and tossed the cell phone into the passenger seat. She jumped into the car and turned the ignition on. Now or later or now or never.
Her foot stepped on the gas. Too late. It was going to be now.
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She was still sitting in the car looking irritated and impatient when she finally spotted a figure. She sat up and watched as the person made its way closer and closer to her. "Nieve…" she whispered. Her heart was thumping. She was shaking. "Shimatta…what am I going to do?" She watched as Nieve walked closer. The closer her stepsister came the more anxiety filled her stomach.
Nieve. How different the dark-haired girl looked now. She was so thin and pale…but as beautiful as she could remember. Her eyes were dark and downcast, a bit emptier than they used to be, depths deeper than an average child.
"Nieve? Nieve…is that you?" She slowly climbed out of the car, walking slowly to meet her halfway. Nieve stopped and looked at Tsara. Her jaw was slightly open and the cigarette in there fell out to the ground. "I…I…" She couldn't find the words to begin. The only thing she knew to do was to grab onto her little sister and hold onto her forever. 'Please…this feels so…normal…I just want to make it last.' She held onto her step-sister, ignoring the awful smell of cigarettes and another unidentified stench. "Do you know Nieve? How long it has been? I-I can't even recognize you anymore…" She held her tighter until she noticed the feeling was not reciprocated. She stopped and slowly stepped away, plastering on a sad mile. "Nieve," she reassured herself again, letting the syllables of the name assure her.
For the longest time, silence filled the gap and Tsara was afraid, more afraid than ever before that this girl was going to tell her she had made a mistake. Her fingers had turned into a fist, shaking with a shiver of anxiety.
"You-you are Tsara," she finally replied. Tsara watched closely as the girl's brows knitted into confusion and a daze.
"Yes. Yes I am Tsara, Nieve," she said softly. Just reassure me that you are Nieve, she whispered within her mind over and over again. Just tell me that I didn't take a stranger for my sister.
Nieve closed her eyes, running her fingers over her face.
'I am so confused right now,' she thought. 'I don't know how to welcome you. I don't even know who you really are. Except that you claim to be Tsara. Are you really Tsara? How can I know someone whom I remember so little of? How would Nishi do it?'
Nieve tried to remember.
"Ahh…welcome home, welcome home then," Nieve said at long last, slowly as if she had reviewed the words in her head a million times.
Tsara buried her teeth into her lips, smiling in a quiver of tears. She wanted so badly for everything to be normal. Everything if anything-she wanted to remind her of the little girl she thought she used to know. She wanted so badly to see the same smile on her face, the same one that Nieve used to plaster on to mimic her. Everything to be like the old days. Like when it was just the four of them…mom, dad, sisters. Almost perfect.
"I'm home…Nieve…I'm home at last," she breathed, at last letting her tears fall.
'So..so. This is she. This is my step sister. I guess she did mean what she said in that letter. I guess she is still like her old self. Cheerful. Optimistic. Things I don't ever want to become. Funny how I used her back then…used her so I could know what it meant to be like her-smile, smile. Funny how that small part of her influence kept me alive. Funny how now that I really see her…I kind of miss her. I kind of miss them too now…I can see her, my step-mother in Tsara's image. I don't want to see him though…father. The asshole. If he's dead like she claims him to be it's better he rots in hell.
'Tsara. I really don't know what else to say to her. I only say things, things I kind of know you will like to hear. I can see it in your character how you are also fatigued by your own problems. If anything…I'm sick of creating problems, problems to destroy lives. Its better for me to shut my mouth. I really don't know what to say, so don't think me aloof.'
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The hours, as short as they were, they seemed to lag on forever. At night, she could see the shadows, hear the voice and know who exactly it was. At every moment it was recognizable, Tsara would raise her eyebrow as if in amusement and wonder how exactly the two came into terms. They whispered but there was little said, nothing that was of her concern anyway. 'How odd it seems…that they are like friends, Levina and Nieve…'
During the daylight hours, she watched as her sister left, wandering out looking like her destination was unknown; her feet were just taking her on a journey. Tsara would sit and try to call D although it had been very clear when they had restricted her calls to the colonies. "It would be suspicious," they had said over and over again.
When Nieve came back, her hours became even shorter yet they lagged aimlessly.
'I don't know what to say, what to do. I only know how to watch her. I have only some hours before I leave…I have to meet Levina soon. I can't be late for my own meeting.'
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She watched as Nieve walked out the door again but not without a sword of some sort. She had looked on curiously, wanting to ask questions but had decided against it. 'I can't bud into her business, not yet,' she chided herself.
She watched as Nieve walked on. Her heart was pounding but she got up and raced for her car, key in hand.
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Nieve lit the cigarette in her mouth and continued waking although she felt the eyes of an intruder. She walked past the homeless, bathing themselves underneath a streetlight, surrounding the heat of a trashcan. They nodded to her and she nodded back. She stepped in the alley to throw her bud onto the trashed floor. She searched a pocket for another but found none. She had run out of her little drug. Feverishly she rubbed her eyes and continued walking. Not looking where she was going, she knocked shoulders with a taller man. He grunted. She passed him by carelessly.
He began muttering. With sharp ears, she picked up cussing words on her behalf.
"Stupid onna. Can't seem to do anything but get in my way!"
Nieve whirled around and yanked his short ponytail. He let out a yelp. She pulled him to face her and she stared into his coal black eyes with anger.
"Fuck off, asshole. You were the one who bumped into me. Watch where your scrawny feet are taking you next time."
"Fuck you!" he said through clenched teeth as he pushed her away from him. 'Do anything but TOUCH the ponytail!' "Fucken bitch can't even watch where you are going!" Too late to not pick a fight. She pushed him into the wall, considering the short width of the alleyway. When he was against the wall, she unsheathed her sword, which he noticed for the first time and held it's sharp shiny blade to his neck.
"I can cut your throat right now but I'm saving this untouched blade for someone else's flesh. Consider yourself lucky, asshole." She spat at his feet and used the hilt of the sword to slam into his stomach. He doubled over but he yanked her messy bun and wrapped his arm around her neck to choke her. Never had he even been beaten up by a woman. He slammed her small body onto the ground. She slammed her right foot into his stomach and then elbowed his chest. He rolled over to the wall coughing. She fought dangerously. It seemed if she wanted to, she could kill him and not care. She stood up and kicked his head for one last measure of revenge and walked off.
WuFei watched as she disappeared. Coughing and rubbing his chest he stood up. He blinked when he saw a chain at his feet. He bent down, must be hers. He picked it up and was alarmed. It was a key on a chain. He turned the key around and ran to the spotlight to read the writings on the back. He momentarily shocked.
"Long," he said in a whispered.
'Those eyes, those features…' he recalled. 'I think I've seen them before, I've seen those same features before…' He placed the chain in his pocket and started running. He had to leave. Now. He didn't care about his Gundam anymore. Let that onna take care of it.
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"So the little bitch is here," the ringleader snickered. Kasaki, they called him. His rugged face smiled cruelly. He fingered the gun like a messiah. She stood below them with her face hung low into the shadows. The sword was clutched in her left hand and she was extremely calm. She heard the snickers and saw blindly the nods that triggered the attack. Without any hesitation, she unsheathed the sword like a flash of lightning and jumped from her position, defending herself and attacking all those who opposed her. Her main target was Kasaki however and all these attackers were meager portions that served to fill the greater hunger.
"Kasaki, come out you asshole. I want a piece of your flesh," she said through clenched teeth as she struck her attacker through the guts, breathing heavily with a glint in her eyes. He laughed from the walls of the cars piled high. These junks were his domain and he was the king. He knew that tone; it was craving for blood. His blood. Many had craved it before and no one had been able to taste it. He would be damned if he let a little girl see his blood spill.
He stepped out, taking the gun out. He aimed the gun directly at her face and pulled the trigger. A shot went pass her face by inches. She didn't flinch.
"I take it you saw my little surprise? Didn't you like it, Nieve?" His lips broadened into a smile and he shot at her again, only this time did he purposely miss her face by centimeters. She looked up into his eyes and he saw her smile. It reeked of blood and it wanted more. His blood, it screamed constantly.
"I saw it Kasaki. I liked it. I will like it even more if it was you!" She jumped from her position and started climbing the piles of cars to get to him. The gun was fired again, this time aiming for her legs. She grasped a car and grabbed on, climbing to its flattened hood. More gunshots came at her. So he was never alone. She ran at him at full speed, ducking anything that came at her. Her strength, she had never seen it so prominent in her blood before.
It seemed to want this blood. It seemed to thrive with blood. 'This power, she thought, 'I have always felt it but it grows so strong now…it burns like flame and spreads like fire.'
She jumped at the bigger man, throwing him off his feet as she held the sword at his throat. He saw her eyes. They had turned a dark red. He trembled as he tried to draw away from her clutch. She was so strong now. The sword came closer to his throat, seducing his skin with its sharp blade.
"You thought you could surprise me, Kasaki. Didn't you ever learn not to mess with me? Didn't I tell you to never ever concern her?" She plunged the sword into his shoulder blade. He gasped as it pierced his skin. It didn't cut too deeply…yet unbearable pain was what he suffered. "Setsuko. You killed an innocent little girl. I'll kill you one hundred times worse you fucken asshole." She slowly drew the sword from his already open wound, slicing through torn skin and then plunged it back in right through his body. He screamed feverishly as he bit back the urge to cry. It hurt so badly and it felt like fire spreading through his vessels.
"It isn't my fault," he said through screams. "You were late. I lost 5 men for it. An eye for an eye, Nieve. Just that." Nieve's eyes were emotionless.
"Those men deserved to die. You do too." She drew the sword out and plunged it through the same wound. His eyes widened as he felt the pain over again to a greater degree and realized for the first time, the flame that was visible like an aura.
"What the fuck are you Nieve?" he screamed as his body started to erupt into flames. She held him in his place, stopping him from struggling. Her knees bounded his burning legs and her left hand held his hands in their place. She didn't seem to mind the flames. He was screaming at the top of his lungs now. Screaming for help and pity. He could smell his flesh burning, could feel his body giving into the urge to breakdown. He screamed and screamed. He thrusting leg finally dislodged Nieve from atop of him. From out of nowhere several shots were fired, hitting her three times on the left shoulder. Another ring of shots entered her left legs and right below her ribs. Her head slumped back as she stumbled back and finally off the edge of the pile of cars into the ground below. She slammed down with a sickening thump. She smiled though as she watched Kasaki erupt totally into flames. Her eyes lay open, counting aimlessly the stars that had suddenly appeared. She was waiting, waiting for the voice that she wanted to take her.
'Nishi, I'm waiting for you. For you,' she thought. 'Even pain right now doesn't seem to hurt. I can't feel a thing. I like this. I feel like I'm weightless…' She was bleeding, her mind being lulled into deep slumber.
As her mind was losing, she could hear in the thick background more shots. This time though they weren't coming for her. Briefly she saw blue eyes and golden hair.
"Nieve, you are going to be all right," she heard Tsara say as she was lifted. "You are going to be…" Her vision faded. Her hearing disappeared.
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'I want to die,' she said. 'Let me die.'
'No, not yet Child,' said the beautiful woman with long black tresses and violet eyes. 'We have so much to do…so much to see and feel. I cannot let you lose it all because of this. Not yet. We can't keep him waiting forever. Too many lifetimes wasted on dwelling in the past.'
Tsara stood in front of the glass window overlooking her sister. She held one hand to the glass. 'What am I to do,' she asked herself. She felt it her responsibility to take care of her sister yet…she had another responsibility. She closed her eyes. A decision had to be made; her other responsibility and dealing lie in the harbor at midnight. "Nieve…I-I…pray you will forgive me for this." She turned around to talk to the nurse at the station.
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Her eyes fluttered open to the throbbing in her head, the lights that were threatening to wake her up. She looked all around her and realized she could not move except for the simple movements of her neck. Strange eyes looked down upon her and she struggled.
"Don't move, Ms.," he said through a mask. "It'll make it mighty easier. On you and us."
"What the fuck are you doing?" she demanded through clenched teeth as the needled was lowered into her arm. She tried to wiggle her arm out of the grasp but strong arms had locked them in place. She didn't like this, being in a foreign place, handled by strangers…and men of all strangers sticking needles into her body. "LET ME GO!" She screamed as the needled pierced through her skin. It was quick and it sting. She could see her blood dripping down her arm onto the floor. She tried to kick and move but it was no use.
"Now, now Missy! Look what you've done! Hold her down! Her sister said she might resist-"
Sister, she thought. Her struggled ceased for just a fraction of a second. "My sister," she screamed. "Where the hell is she? She would never leave me in here! Where is she? TSARA! TSARA!" Nieve was screaming at the top of her lungs. She could feel her wounds opening in symphony with her movements but she paid it no heed. She had to get out, leave this place of men dressed in white-an asylum. "TSARA!" she screamed. The smaller man in the white coat punched her across the face. He looked terrified yet determined to make her shut up. She was detained for that while as she tried to recover. "Let me go," she said, threateningly spitting out the blood.
"LET ME GO!" This time the lights went out with her scream. The tools of medicine clattered to the floor and flames suddenly burst out of nowhere, surrounding them and threatening to swallow them. "TSARA! TSARA!" Another man grabbed a needle and tore off its sterile covering.
"Hold her down!" he commanded. This girl, although small, she was frightening. She would not cease struggling, her legs kicking and arms wailing from the straps that bound her. He gripped her arm-hard and brutally and although he could see her flinch, he plunged the needled into her pale vein, releasing all the tranquilizer formula. Nieve screamed but continued struggling, freeing her body from the straps. She fell off the bed onto the floor. They needed to calm her down. One held her hair, pulling it back as she flinched. Another kicked her numerous times to knock her out. She coughed, spitting out blood.
Cruelty, a name she had never forgotten. The darkness was claiming her and she was slowly losing consciousness.
The leader of the men stood up and walked to the door, opening it. Once outside of the room, he took off his face mask and glasses, rubbing his eyes wearily. "You never told me your sister was-was…this…thing, this pyro-kinetic freak!" he said accusingly. Tsara's features never changed. Her eyes were now locked with Nieve who looked dangerously feverish. Those dark violet eyes were so dangerous and they were blaming her, blaming Tsara.
"I did not but you have agreed to keep her here. Make sure she doesn't go anywhere. This is the safest she will be until I am back. Am I understood?" Her blue eyes locked with his. He gulped and nodded. Woman of any kind he had figured were not to meddle with especially if they were in connection with each other. "Good." She turned around when she stopped.
"TSARA!" He looked into the window and could see the girl struggling, defiant of the tranquilizer effect. "TSARA! Get me out of here," she was screaming. "If you leave me here, I'll never forgive you! I'll kill you when I get out! I'll kill you! I'll kill…" He cringed as the others beat her again, trying to knock her out. The blonde girl had continued and had left the building already.
Outside the wretched building, Tsara shivered. 'I know,' she thought. 'I know you won't forgive me but this is what I think I can do since I'm not strong enough to take care of you. Let them keep you safe-at least for now…because I can't. Please…dear Goddesses…
'I know you can't forgive me now but I want to protect you, don't you know. I can't leave you out there. Even behind locked doors, I feel more at ease that you will be safe. Even if they hurt you, I pray with all my stars that it is a safer haven in there then out here. Please, Nieve. I only do for you what I think is right. I only do for you what I think will help you. I want to keep you safe, protect you, make up for all those lost times I lost you and left you behind. You can't forgive me now but one day…please forgive me, Nieve.'
Tsara's shadow disappeared with her as the lights flickered on again. The building, The Institute for the Care of the Unstable, loomed behind like a darker shadow rising from the depths of the ground.
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'Is she coming or did she just set me up?' Levina pranced back and forth on the wooden boards. Her mind was made up and if Tsara didn't show up soon, she would forfeit their arrangement. In truth, she did not want to go back, she feared going back but the desire to see someone again was so strong she dared sacrifice her freedom. Her prancing was stopped short as she heard footsteps behind her. Quickly she turned around and smiled smugly. Tsara stood across from her.
"I see. You're coming with me then?" Levina nodded.
"I see I've no choice and I see what my rashness has already gotten me into. Tsara, I hope I have your word on this."
"Yes, you have my word." She looked across the sea. "Believe me now, Levina. You will go with me to the colonies and your judgment will be set on you. They will lock you for this trial and in three days, I will come get you. Understood?" Her eyes locked in understanding with Levina. "Now, we need to go treasure hunting for a certain mecha."
Levina's eyes widened. "How the hell are you expecting to get that thing?" Tsara looked at her pointedly.
"Get into the boat with me and just cooperate. Where did you leave the Gundam? Can you give me the coordinates?"
Levina buried her face in her hands, trying to remember. 'Shit…' "Go and I will tell you. I can't remember the coordinates but I can tell you where."
"How so? The water is ever moving. It doesn't all look the same."
"Let's…just-just go. All right?"
"Ok."
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Levina looked from the spacecraft at the small planet below her. She had forgotten how beautiful earth was despite its destruction due to war. She placed her hand on the window and breathed on it.
"Tsara, are you ready for this?" The blonde did not answered but she knew she had her attention. "What are you going to do if you are caught?" Levina turned to face her motionless back. Tsara stood up and brushed herself.
"I won't get caught. You won't either but from this point on, you can't turn back any longer. Not even to the person you love." Levina watched as she left the room. She huddled to the ground.
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They had been back for less than an hour when Levina was promptly handcuffed and accompanied to the cells.
Levina blinked back tears as she was slammed into the cell. Her face glanced up to catch Tsara's who had incomprehensible features. The blonde hair girl leaned into the cell and pull Levina's face to meet hers. "Wait for my signal. Don't do anything stupid." Levina's eyes swelled with anger but she nodded. Tsara left then, slamming the cell door behind her. The reverberating sounds of emptiness crept in and Levina locked herself into the corner, cradling herself. Shadows spoke to her that night in snarls and laughter, inviting her. She buried her ears and sang to herself; closed her eyes and saw him staring at her patiently.
Her eyes snapped open and she stood up, shivering as she glanced at the mirror. A shadow of herself stared back at her. Her fingers strove to touch her own reflection. The girl staring back at her looked so different and yet so familiar. Her features were haggard and vague and her eyes…they were unrecognizable.
'Have I grown older,' she asked herself. 'Have I changed?'
The image changed then, into a beautiful woman. Her skin was of dark ivory and her curly hair flourished down her shoulders. Levina stepped back aghast. The women smiled and yet her eyes looked out, forward into Levina's eyes. She was so beautiful and yet it seemed carried within her eyes were shadows of the darkest places and burdens no one else wanted to endure.
'Levina. You have grown and you have changed. One thing remains though…your heart, it still desires what we both have waited for, lifetimes and lifetimes past. Remember to be patient, a princess never gets all that her heart desires.' The image of the woman disappeared and Levina was deserted again in the empty cell. Her legs huddled close to her and she slept.
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"You can't go to see her without permission!"
"I have permission. Let me through."
"But-But!"
She heard a loud thud and looked up to see a tall figure. He hovered over her looking down at her. In observance or pity, she didn't know. She didn't want to look at him. Her gaze turned to the crevices of the floor. Her eyes continued to stare at the dirty floor although she felt his
"Lev, why don't you look at me?" he asked as he leaned down, head to head. "Do you really despise me that much?" His long arms reached through the bars and touch her. He felt her coil as she pulled back. "Lev," he called again. "If I did something wrong, then tell me. Tell me." Her face looked up at him then. His own eyes soften. He did not speak anymore then. He fell into silence again. His eyes speaking with her own until she broke it off.
"Did I disappoint you?" she asked. He remained silent, the silence he had always been acknowledged for.
"I knew you were going to do it," he said at long last, speaking softly. "Those cookies were a bit too sweet." He smiled. "But I'm not disappointed. You did what you did. I can't hold you back.
"And I still wonder…why did you do it?"
"Don't you ever feel like this, Trowa?" Her eyes grew sad. "Feel like you are at the ends of your ropes. I just wanted to tie a knot at the end of it so I could hold on." She moved forward until their faces were inches apart. She smiled as she traced his cheek with her rugged hand.
"I don't like this. I don't like being used. I know you are too, like all the other pilots but no one will say anything."
He said no more. He only closed his eyes and butted heads with her. This woman, he thought, she has come back from a journey, changed. Do you think less of me now? He hand reached out and slowly he caressed her face. It had become softer.
Tell me…now that you're back with drops of Jupiter in her hair
"You've changed, Lev." He smiled. "I'm really happy." His hand drifted to her hand and he placed within its grasp something wrapped in a cloth. "It reminds me that there's room to grow." He got up and started to walk off with his head bowed to the floor in a serene matter. Levina looked at his figure until he had gone through the door did she stand up against the bars to call for him.
"Trowa," she whispered as the urge to cry came over her. "I haven't changed. I'm still clinging to you. Waiting for you to save me…" The cloth from her hand fell with a clatter. She glanced down and saw tumbling out of it was a pair of earrings. Levina leaned down and picked them up.
It was two rose buds. The same ones she had seen long ago. Gently, her fingers traced their intricate carvings. Words of the past came to her like ghosts.
'Ne, Trowa, when I was small…my mama, she told me that when I had grown up, she would buy rose earrings for me, just likes hers. I'm still waiting, even though I know…she won't.'
The woman's voice came back. 'You have grown, Levina,' she reminded.
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/a.n/ It's been a long, long while and I hope I still have some readers…I hope? Anyway to everyone who has read my story, thank you so much for the reviews and everything!
Thank you to Chibi-chan, Joanna, mako-chan-fan, senshi, Crystal Dragon, island_gurl, Princess Jupiter, Girl-chama, anna, allegra, Marsgoddess, Priscilla, IsleofSolitude, marzy001, The 80lb Carrot, makoto, Sandra, key, star25801, Kasumi, JupLuna, Kaze, and Cade! And also to everyone else I forgot to mention!
+Leave me a review…please? -puppy dog eyes- Thank you! Thank you! Happy reading and reviewing!