She stared up at the crack in the ceiling. It looked like a dragon with outspread wings. A land dragon, because that one has smaller wings than the dragons built for the air. She wondered how she knew that.
"Do you need anything to help you sleep?" The nurse asked her.
"No," She replied almost automatically. "I'm fine." She said, and the nurse smiled.
"As you wish," The nurse said and smiled. "Just press the button next to you if you need anything." The nurse said and turned to go.
Gabrielle felt as if her ribs would splay open and her chest burst every time she took in a breath. She said nothing. She didn't want todraw more attention to herself. She stared back at the crack in the ceiling, and she eventually found herself slipping asleep again...
She dreamt that she awoke and found someone at the foot of her bed. She looked closer. It wasn't a someone at all. It was a something. It opened its elongated, orange scaled snout with serrated teeth. Thrusting its head forward with serpentine fluidity, its yellow eyes glowed and flashed as its tongue formed out the word-
"Gabrielle." Said a familiar voice. She was still half asleep. The voice sounded distant and somewhat distorted; As if she were hearing it through a distance in a fog.
"Nnn...?" She muttered. She felt as if she were slowly rising out of the warm mist, her mind slowly returning to the surface. A sharp pain brought her all the way there with a sudden start. She cried out. It was her ribs again; They had been touched. She had never been one to have a high threshold for physical pain. She could bear the mental pain better.
Her eyes snapped open. Nearly faster than the eye could follow, the shattered nerves sent a jerking impulse. She backhanded the person who'd hurt her, sending the person back several steps. She immediately clutched her hand and stared at it dumbly, her jaw open. She hadn't meant to have done that. It had just... happened.
"O-oh, Gods, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that!" She was shocked at herself. She hadn't hit a single person in her entire life. She continued stammering apologies; She couldn't even look up and see who it was that she'd hit, she was so incredibly embarassed. Eventually the person silenced her. She shyly looked up, still holding her own hand like it was some kind of an evil pet.
It was the tall, slim boy in armour who'd appeared in the forest. He had a large red mark on his pale face. He didn't touch it, or even acknowledge that it was there.
"I startled you." He said simply. "I was fixing the bandage. The nurse was busy with another patient." He said monotonously.
"I apologize." He said coolly, and she got the feeling he hardly ever apologized for anything he ever did.
"I came to check on you, and to inform you that once your injuries have healed substantially, you are to become a member of my squadron. You have to get a uniform and weapons. Once you have gotten those things, you are to go to the Launch Bay at level one for your first flight lesson." He explained curtly. "By the way, my name is Dilandau." He added, in a tone that suggested it was a trivial thing.
He looked to his left, and then his right, and then he completed a short, shallow bow. He turned on his heel and left, his boots making a clicking noise on the hard polished floor. She watched him until he was out of the room. How strange. Gabrielle noticed that the light outside was getting dimmer. She was ravenously hungry, and had a longing to get out of the bed.
The nurse walked in just a moment after Dilandau had left. She had her eyes on the hallway as she walked in. She put her hand to her mouth and giggled slightly.
"He must like you," She said, behind a concealed smile. "He's never so polite to anyone." She continued. "Well, except of course to the High Master himself, but everyone's polite to him. If he wasn't, the High master would have Dilandau sent back, so..." She trailed off. "Well. Yes. Back to duty!" She finished in a sing-song voice.
They were both silent. "You know, he came to check on you twice while you were still asleep." She said after a moment.
"Really?" Gabrielle asked, a little bit interested.
"Yes, he said he had 'orders' to. That's obviously a lie because he only takes orders directly from the High Master, and nobody else." The nurse smiled.
"Like I said, he must like you." She added. Gabrielle was silent.
"He's so strange… He doesn't even know me," Gabrielle finally reasoned.
Gabrielle, her gaze turning towards the fading window's light, sighed. The nurse finally spoke. "He watched you sleep," She said casually. She said it as casually as if she'd said 'Water is wet.'
"What?" Gabrielle started, surprised. The nurse nodded with a smile and repeated it.
"For how long?" She asked. "Oh, I don't know. Only a moment or so. I had to leave the room to attend to another patient, and he told me your bandage was loose. I checked it quickly and I said he could tighten it, because I had to go." She explained. "So he did, I guess, and you screamed. I heard a slap. He must have made it too tight by accident," She shrugged and added, "Your pain should be gone now."
The nurse was right. Gabrielle could breathe without a problem or any pain.
"Where... Do I get clothes?" She asked the nurse.
"Um, let me check. Where are you going to go? Do you know which group?" The nurse asked. Gabrielle blinked.
"I don't know the exact name... But whichever one Dilandau is in charge of," She said. The nurse nodded and smiled knowingly.
"Okay, did he specify which rank?" She asked.
"Um, no…" Gabrielle replied.
"You'll take a blue." The nurse said. Gabrielle was confused.
"Excuse me?" She asked.
"Blue. In colour. You'll need to get measured, of course and get the right size." The nurse said. "I'll send for someone. Hold on." She said, and the nurse left the room. Gabrielle looked at the bandage on her leg. She set to work undoing the knot and unwrapping the bandage. The pain had almost disappeared completely.
In a few minutes, a boy in a blue and black suit came towards her. The outfit was similar to Dilandau's, except this boy's was blue, not red. He asked her to stand up, and she did as she was told, wrapping a small blanket around her waist first. He asked her to open her arms and hold them out to her side, and she did it without question. The boy withdrew a stick that must have been one unit of standard measurement in their world. He bent down and placed the stick pointing up from the floor.
He touched where the stick ended with his finger, and placed the beginning of the stick where it had ended before. He repeated the process several times. "Okay," Said the boy. "You'll take a medium, then. Please, follow me." He bade, and she reluctantly took a step forward. She cleared her throat. He half turned, and he saw her predicament. She obviously had to walk through halls with people in them, and she was clad only in bandages and her rather revealing white underwear. A faint blush line appeared across the bridge of his nose.
"I see." He said.
He told her to wait there for a minute, and then he turned the corner, only to return a moment later with her old school bag. She remembered she had taken it with her to the field. He placed it near her and turned around, standing stiff as a board, looking without emotion to his front at the closed door.
She rooted through the bag. It contained her new package of batteries, her MP3 player and a spare change of clothes. She gladly pulled on her favourite pants. Her boyfriend back home had given them to her. A pang went through her chest. When could she get home? She missed him. He was so thin that they could wear the same size pants. She smiled sadly as she slid them on and did them up. Slipping on a black shirt with cut away shoulders, she then tapped the boy on his shoulder to tell him she was ready. He nodded, and he started to walk down the halls.
She stayed close behind him, as the hallways were unfamiliar, and dark to her. They walked along many corridors, and she got quite a few stares. She found it odd that there weren't many females in the ... Wherever she was. She was eventually ushered into a room, and she was passed a pile of neatly folded clothes. They were all black and blue. She was then pointed in the direction of a changeroom, which she sighed and promptly used.
The clothes had knee high boots, which were blue, and they had a spike at the top. There were very tight black pants that clung to the smooth curvatures of her shape quite nicely, and there was a cloak that melded into a shirt at the top, with a collar that fitted high on the neck. She had shoulder guards, forearm guards, wrist guards, everything. She found it comfortable to move in, and quite flexible.
She stepped out of the changeroom shyly, and stood in front of the boy who'd led her there. He quietly cleared his throat and looked away.
"Er… Did I do something wrong?" She asked fearfully, and the boy shook his head convulsively, not meeting her gaze.
"P-please. The ... Rest of the squad is waiting for us. Um, my name is Viole." The boy finished.
"Okay. Thanks, Viole." She said, and smiled very softly.
"Mmm-hm. Y-you're welcome." He replied. He stepped in front of her again and led her down yet another hall. Am I really that strange looking? Do I have a second head or something? She wondered, almost sarcastic.
"This way," He said, his voice returning to it's usual flat tone. They approached the room where the rest of the group was waiting for them.
"Oh, by the way, the squadron is called 'The Dragonslayers.'" Viole muttered just before he knocked on the door.
"Yes, sir." She said.
"Oh, you're my equal, so just call me my name. None of that formal stuff, unless you are speaking to Lord Dilandau himself. You must address him with a term of respect." He informed her, and then his knuckles rapped on the door.
They waited in silence for the space of one second. The doors flew open, revealing Dilandau standing at the doors, with his hands on the handles. He gave a poisonous look to Viole. "You're late." He hissed. Viole bowed.
"Apologies, Lord Dilandau. I was called in to fetch the new recruit." The boy responded in a soft tone that couldn't possibly have hidden any kind of disrespect to Dilandau at all. At the words 'new recruit' the rest of the group looked up. They all looked behind Viole, but Gabrielle was not visible to them just yet. "Fine." Dilandau replied in a dangerous tone. She could tell only idiots with deathwishes ventured to make this commander angry. She swallowed.
Viole stepped into the room, bowed again, and stepped to the left, revealing Gabrielle. The now bright light from the corridor made a golden glow on the shining metal and plastic and on the leather of her clothes. Her gaze dropped to the floor when Dilandau looked at her.
He barked an order to the Dragonslayers and they hustled to assemble in a line. Gabrielle tried to sneak into the line with them, but with a sudden movement, Dilandau caught her wrist and pulled her back to stand with him. She stumbled as she followed him. He took her wrist in such a way that it was firm, but didn't hurt her. She knew he could have easily, had he wanted to. He pulled her in front of them.
"This is Gabrielle." He snapped. Silence flowed around in the room.
"I am assuming she has never flown a guymelef, and she probably has little or no battle experience. Don't set the simulators so high that they will gut her like a fish," He continued in clipped speech. "Two of you will come with Gabrielle and I to the hangar to select a practise mecha for her. I want the two best mecha fliers to come with us. The ones left will obey the one with the highest rank amongst you. You will either practise fight, or train." He continued with a stiff tone.
He turned his head to Gabrielle. "You have already met Viole," He said in a different tone that was the smallest bit less harsh. "Next to him is Migel and Dalet, then Gatti, Chesta, and Guimel." He said, pointing to each boy as he said their corresponding name. "Chesta and Migel will come with us, and we'll teach you how to fly." He explained flatly.
"Yes, sir." She said quietly. The last thing she wanted to do was get this volatile commander angry. Chesta, the Dragonslayer who had been with Dilandau when they had found her, stepped forwards. He saluted, his newly clipped, short blonde hair moving gently, and stood at the ready. "Awaiting orders, sir." He said. Migel stepped forwards and did the same.