-X- Introduction -X-
- Desolate Gail: Redux
- Started on: 5-17-2004 / Posted on-: 4-4-2005 / Checked on: Not Applicable
- By: Zeronova
- Chapter 42: No more choices

- Text: Third person, Narration
- Text: First person, Thoughts
- Text: Interjection, the Narrator

-X- End Introduction -X-

"How's it feeling?" a feminine voice said, knocking Darton from his light sleep. He opened his eyes to find Bianca sitting in front of him, the invading morning sunlight rushing in around her frame, as if no obstacle would stop it from getting to and waking Darton, as it did so often.

"Not 'good morning' or 'how're you', but 'how's it feeling'?" he mocked her with a slight smile.

"Fine then, bleed on my floor." He looked down at his hip as she said this, realizing the gauze bandaging was dyed red and damp, a bit of beads precipitating on the outside of it, and falling off to the ground.

"Oh..." he said slightly as she nodded with an I-told-you-so look in her eyes.

"I don't have the bandaging here, so we gotta go on a little walk, see?"

"Fun."

"I'll give you something to put on it to not bleed on whatever you throw on, but it might get messy, especially with a bit of extra walking and blood pumping."

"I'll just put whatever it is you give me on there tight and hold it there."

"Fine. Anyway, we've got to go to this one shop I know, it's where get all my A.A. junk, assuming I don't steal it while I'm there."

"Get what you need here for a price, and when you get there, load up for free and bring it back to not go back."

"Correct. Don't need to be paying those ass-high prices that Thelma's got going when I can snag it at the battle site, but times like these, I've got to buy them from her."

"So, how far away is it?"

"It's by the gates, west side."

"Not too far."

"You're starting to learn Troy."

"Well, I should if I live here."

"Yeah, yeah, let's get moving, 'kay?" They both got dressed into clothes that weren't blood stained, Darton with the help of Bianca to get a shirt over his head, and approached the door of the apartment. Darton looked over at his sword that Bianca placed back in the far corner, as it usually stood there, it's one blunt, straight side facing him, while the three monster-like bites out of the other end faced the wall, each bite slowly arcing backward more until the third bite touched the back blunt end to form a stabbing point. He walked over, with Bianca, grabbed it, and used it as a cane to walk on his own. Bianca asked him if he was sure, to which he gave a solemn nod, and they were on their way.

Down the familiar metal stairs on the side of Bianca's apartment, and into the T crossway of streets that her building sat on, through the crowds and throngs of people, buying, selling, walking around aimlessly, looting, the whole daily deal, and then out into the open. Past the big concentration of people, stores, and general life was left with a pretty barren lower Troy. A few vagabonds and homeless lined the streets, people were seen and heard inside homes and shops, but if there was anyone to be found, they'd be at their nearest market place. Three big centers on the lower side of Troy, one being by Bianca, the other two kind of spread out to other places. I don't have much information on the other districts, since no one in Troy went anyone beyond their own district. It was kind of an unwritten rule. You weren't welcome in the other districts, even if no body could tell you weren't from their district, since it was all the same basically, there was a sense of belonging and familiarity that kept people bound to certain ones they lived by. But, there were three big ones.

The walk was kind of slow, Bianca's pace veering ahead slightly by her inability to be calm and just walk slowly for too long, looking back to realize Quint couldn't keep up, then slowing to walk side by side with him. The tip of his sword clicked on the ground with every step, using it for a cane of sorts, the tip digging into the tar immeasurably so he could prop himself further another step from his punctured hip. The dry echo of the click of the sword on the ground rang through both of their ears, closer and more vibrant than the dulled and indiscernible noise of the crowds behind them, mashed together as one big cacophonous sound as the distance lengthened.

"No stop at Zimmerman's today?" Darton asked with a slight smirk.

"Nah...I think I need to give him a little bit of time before I go in and see him again. You too."

"Maybe, but you know how it is with people and me. We usually don't mix too well."

"Depends. I think he's got a better opinion of you now."

"But there's always a linger with him. I can just feel it in his voice and shit, y'know?"

"That's Zimmerman, you get used to him."

"I'm not yet."

"Give it time. He's been adjusting to you, you should too. Especially after that whole bounty hunter incident yesterday...you better be counting those angels who are watching over you."

"They're probably fake anyway. God's not too nice to me on the whole."

"Eh...not much talk of Him here, but let's just get moving then, alright? I'm not a nice girl and a patient one when I don't have my cup of coffee in the morning." They continued on for a few minutes, until Darton started talking again.

"You know they didn't have coffee in the Seikishidan?" Bianca kept walking, hands now in her pockets as Darton walked along, the click of his makeshift cane in perfect rhythm with the last.

"I couldn't live like that."

"It's a luxury. You'd adapt without it, if you weren't accustomed to getting it."

"Maybe, but I wouldn't like to."

"Yeah, things sure were different with the Seikishidan..." Quint trailed off, the click keeping him from totally day dreaming, and his having to force his body to walk, every other step jogging his memory back to reality with the slight twinge of pain brought on by the hole in his hip, right next to (and probably grazed, leaving a few bone fragments floating in sinew) his pelvis.

"Go on." she said, walking straight, looking at Darton with a smile.

"Huh?"

"What was different? I like hearing ya talk, Darton. You're good at it."

"I never thought I was, didn't really have anyone to talk to, or wanted to. It was all business in the Seikishidan...well, no, it wasn't. It was just tougher for someone like me to be able to make a few friends and people to talk to when I hated the current commander. And, there were those like me, but even they had some moral belief in something. God, or maybe fighting Gears, or saving some loved ones...but nope, I was completely out of the loop for that junk, so I kind of sat around, every day, fight in the battles, sleep in that same damn cot, day after day. I actually counted all the dimples in the ceiling."

"...Is that so? Did you name them while you were at it?"

"A few more years and I might have." A chuckle was shared between them, before Darton kept talking, Bianca listening to him while looking forward along the streets, turning up at the next one or going straight, looping around an intersection or what not, Quint following with his words slowly seeping out to cover the both of them in the sound of it bouncing back in the narrow streets. At a few points, Darton just talked to talk...to hear his voice bounce back at him, to not have his vocal chords stop, afraid of the silence and if he stopped talking, what then?

"Hmm...what else?"

"I dunno, you've been talking an hour now, y'know," she said with a slight smile.

"Well, yeah. Better than not."

"No, I didn't mean it like that. I just didn't realize you had that much to say. Get someone to talk to, and you just don't stop, eh Quint?"

"Who knows? I don't look and judge myself; I just act on how I know to. If I try and rationalize and quantify myself and actions, hell, I'm a goddamn number or something. I just act how I know to and what my gut tells me, no use in analyzing why I do what I do or anything like that, because it won't change it, and I like myself exactly how I am anyway."

"Sounds like a good way to look at life."

"It's the only thing I've kept constant my entire life. Do what feels right."

"I'd drink to that one."

"Coffee?"

"Sure, after we hit the shop."

"Sounds like a good way to look at life." he mocked, repeating her words to her inquisitive glance. "Getting a coffee a day, I mean." he added at the blow the look had dealt him. She shrugged and kept walking. They finally came to the front gates of the city, the Westward facing gates large, and sitting at a total of two-hundred feet high. The gate had a line down the center, where it would normally open outward, center of the two pieces having a large pillar at the top of each that sat right next to each other when closed. Each pillar had a large wire hooked to the top of the pulley to a generator housed somewhere on some building that would yank the thick wires and move the gates outward, coupled with a few contraptions and what not lining the wall and ground floor all around the gate. The Troy MT that they used on excursions was sitting in a small garage on the opposite side of the street, a thick fence around it and housed inside the carved out remnants of a solid building, so that the MT was perfectly protected from the lower city scum, as well as from the elements.

Quint and Bianca walked past the large gate, a bit of bustle around it with the few shops and morning sun beating down a somewhat joyous day ahead, the kind of morning sun that makes you want to get up and enjoy life. A few shopkeepers yelled out items and prices to them as they walked by, both ignoring them, and heading to the small A.A. product shop, the destination of their trip.

"Neo-Troy...please come in. I repeat, Neo-Troy...please come in." Ky said, leaning into the driver's compartment. He had the small radio in his hands, linked to the center console by a black curly wire, his rough gloves and his frazzled hair, the sweat dried out of it, covering over his eyes that looked into the distance. The two drivers were doing their prescribed job of driving, the cabin slightly stale of its air and stinking of sweat as the two men controlled the physically draining vehicle. The large windshield in front of them showed a speck off in the distance over the horizon, knowing the dot to be Troy. They had angled their MTs to it and made sure to be there.

"They will not respond." Gestahl said behind Ky. Atlas looked back at Gestahl, with a look that said it all, then turned back to the cabin's view on the horizon.

"Neo-Troy, this is Ky Kiske of the Seikishidan. We request safety in Neo-Troy. Please, come in. God, help me...Neo-Troy, come in!" He screamed into the radio, the weary eyes and people in the stuffed MT looking to the front around and above the people obstructing one's view to try and see Ky Kiske, standing in the doorway to the only source of outside light they could get at the front of the MT, filtering around his body, and blotted out by the many people surrounding him.

"Mr. Kiske, we need to find out something to do. We are closing quick on this city and..."

"And nothing. That Oppem U.N. dog gave me the order to go Troy, and I must obey, right?"

"Not always are the U.N. correct, you must know that already." Ky looked at Gestahl once more, his eyes imploring. He was fed up with the politics, fed up with the death, unable to decide for himself once more or make that world-deciding decision and lead to victory or fall to it all, he simply succumbed to following an order, and Gestahl sighed slightly at that defeat. He was no longer the leader or the salvation of humanity, he was a 16-year-old kid who was doing what he was told because he couldn't make that decision for himself anymore.

"Neo-Troy, please, come in! Answer me!"

"No." the radio response came out of the small black radio paddle he was holding in his hands.

"Hello? Neo-Troy!" he screamed almost ecstatically, the words being heard through out the silent compartment, save the rattling of the wheels underneath and the tensed breaths of everyone in the MT.

"We do not allow access to Neo-Troy from anyone, what so ever. Also, do not use this frequency again, it is for the K.I.A. lists. Thank you," the authoritative voice said, clicking off.

"Listen to me! Neo-Troy!" silence met Ky, and he grunted softly. "Listen to me..." he trailed off, almost into a whisper. "We've come from Lyon. We took back Lyon a few weeks ago, and then the Gears attacked us, they took back that city, and drove us out. Now, all we have are three MTs that fled, one was damaged on the retreat, and is making poor time, the other two will be reaching Neo-Troy within the hour. We request assistance. Please." Nothing.

"We're carrying women...children, families, everything. Not just soldiers, but we're carrying everything; we're carrying with us the very soul of humanity's own survival. You must aid us." Silence met him on the radio, and he sniffed for a second, wiping his eyes with his glove, trying to make the tears that formed gone before they even slightly existed, not baring to let anyone know that they were there, especially not the hundreds behind him who were standing queue to his every move and breath.

"...Please, help us. Neo-Troy, I am asking your assistance. In the name of God. Not for the U.N. or Seikishidan...but for one human to the other. We would be swarmed and killed by Gears if you leave us here to die, and if that should happen, and we all die, the Gear force following us will attack Troy as well. Troy has stood for many years, but against what follows us...it won't last." Silence came back to him. He closed his eyes and took a moment, breathing heavily, his breath and morale shattering, a few gasps and slight cries in his voice, but coughing to seriousness. "Your walls won't stand against these Gears...and they will kill you all, especially once we bash this MT through your walls." There was a gasp of the few people behind him at the whispered words, and a silence on the radio. He was about to talk again when a voice shut him up.

"We will not let you in, even upon that threat. You cannot destroy our walls."

"I don't want to have to, but I will. My intention is to save these people, to make sure they stay alive, and to not let them just die when I didn't do my job as being their protector. I have to do everything I can to make sure I save them, even if that includes ramming into your city. Do you understand me?"

"We will not open our gates for foreigners."

"Then we will open them. Ky Kiske, out." Atlas set the radio back on the front console, the two drivers looking at him bewildered. "Radio the other MTs, tell them to follow our lead. We'll break first, they'll come in behind us." He looked into the eyes of the soldiers who had seemed like they saw a ghost. "Snap out of it, I'm serious. When we get close enough to the city, I want you to floor this MT, then retreat with us into the back." The soldiers gulped and nodded, one whispering to the other "he's crazy", the other one shrugging and grabbing the wheel again.

Ky turned to face the crowd behind him, mothers clutching their families in wide arms and soldiers waiting to hear the words Ky had to say.

"You heard me, we're forcing our way into Troy. When we get close enough, I will open the back hatches of the MT and the hydraulics, and we jump off before this thing hits the walls. Then, we run inside through the hole. Got it?" There was a huge explosion of yells and screams, people talking and all of the sound bounded back to hit Ky in the face. "Quiet!" he yelled, silencing them all to hear him once more. "I know it doesn't sound good and right...but this is the best we can do."

"My family is here with me! I will not sacrifice them for this stupid idea! Why don't we just drive somewhere else!" a man screamed in the back, Ky unable to see who it was, but responding all the same.

"Because we can't keep running. These Gears won't stop. Back there...I saw something. In the eyes of those Gears, I saw Justice." He stopped for a moment, taking a breath, noticing his words echoing off of the metal frame back at him, the bumps in the road nothing to his weighty linguistics. "I saw Justice...and I saw that in those eyes, of that beast, it wanted me dead. It wanted you dead, sir, it wanted your family dead. Justice will never stop, these Gears won't tire, and we cannot run forever. We will have to make a stand and fight, and these Gears...they'll not stop until you're dead, until you, your wife, your children, lie around you in their own blood. I do not want that, and neither do you. Justice has plans...he wants us dead, he wants our very existence, our humanity to become extinct, the embers of humanity left, the few cities standing, us in these MTs, to be stamped out, to be gone from history and this Earth."

"I will not let that happen, and my decisions reflect that. Whether or not you agree doesn't concern me, because right now, it is my decision. I was ordered to retreat to Troy..." he sighed, taking a breath and closing his eyes, then opened and continued "...and I'll be damned if I do not do what is right to save my soldiers and my people." His words made a few women gasp, people shifted in their seats and the air, the echo of his words lingering in the ears of those around him, and the very feeling he exuded gave that feeling he was aiming for. He turned back to the cabin, the few whispers and murmurs of the people behind him being blocked out of his hearing.

"Let me see what you've got, Troy.." he mumbled, seeing the sand-stone walls slowly approaching off the horizon, the two-hundred foot high walls never penetrated and the metallic substances littered all over the first fifty feet up lined with stabs and scrapes, where Gears tried getting up but couldn't latch on and the top floors destroying them before they could even try and bash their ways in. "To do what no Gear has done, is a man's job to destroy the walls erected by man...I hope you favor me now God, I could use your help...help me now. Lift this weight from my shoulders, the entire world off of it, if for a moment, and give me the strength to do what I must." The two drivers who heard his mumbling prayer, from Ky's leaning position into the driver's compartment, both said an exhausted "amen" as Ky did. He didn't expect them to, but when he said it, they did too. He was stunned for a moment, then smiled slightly, seeing one of them turn back to him to give Ky the affirmative and steadfast nod of "I trust you". Ky nodded back, and looked again at the approaching walls.

-X- Author's Notes –X-
- Zeronova's Notes:
- A fairly short chapter, but man...this was HEAVY on the drama. I also loved the entire Ky scene here, all the tension and character building and what not...I mean, it was poetic in a few places, if I do say so myself, and we're starting to see the events that really bring Arc II around. Get ready, it's about to get ugly.
-X- End Author's Notes –X-