She exited the Libreia, and she followed Chesta.
"Um, Chesta," She began. "Yes?" He asked. "Where am I going to sleep?" She asked curiously.
"I don't know. You don't have quarters yet, so probably in the same room as one of us for tonight." He explained.
"Oh," She said disappointedly. "I was hoping I could get my own room." She said.
"Oh, don't worry, you will by tomorrow. You were just registered this morning, so you don't have a room yet. That's all I was saying." Chesta said.
They continued to the room she had been in to first meet the rest of the Dragonslayers. Migel was back, tenderly nursing one side of his face, which was badly bruised. Guimel was playing a game that looked like chess with Dalet, and Gatti was busily writing at a desk in the corner. She shyly said hello to the group of them, and then she walked up to the desk.
"Gatti, can I have a piece of paper?" She asked timidly.
"Hn?" He said, snapped out of his concentration.
"Sorry, I asked if I could have a piece of paper." She said, and apologized again.
"Oh, yeah. Sure. I was just writing poetry, sorry I didn't notice you." He said, and handed her a piece of paper.
"Thank you," She said. He looked on the desktop.
"Sorry, I don't have another pen. You might ask someone else. They might have one." He said, and smiled softly, returning back to his poetry. She looked around the room for the bag she'd had, and she found it, placed by a chair. She rooted through it and pulled out her green mechanical pencil. She looked around the room for something hard she could use as a table, and she came across a game board that Guimel and Dalet weren't using, and she returned to the chair.
Gabrielle leaned her chin on her elbow, resting on the board. Flicking her fingers in the air with her pencil in between them, she thought before she began to draw. She then realized that the desk was vacant, so she walked over to it and sat down. She looked at the paper that Gatti had been writing. It was written in Japanese. She could read it quite well, but she couldn't understand it.
"I wouldn't read Gatti's poetry if I were you," Dalet said in a low voice. "It's romantic. It'll rot out your brain." He continued.
"I happen to like poetry," She said, a little offended. "It's in Japanese, so it's not like I understand most of it. I can read it, though." She said.
"Okay, smart girl, what's the title say?" He said in a boyish tone.
"Yakusoku Wa Iranai." She read. "Not need promises?" She said, confused.
"Oh, that? He's writing a song or something." Guimel explained dismissively, and then went back to the chess-like game with Dalet. She gently placed the paper aside, and put down hers and continued to draw.
It was late into the night when Dilandau finally returned to the room. He looked half-dead with exhaustion, and he sat in his chair, not noticing the sleeping girl who'd fallen asleep at the desk just yet. All the others had long since gone to their quarters, and he sat there for a few moments to gather his wits before he went to his. When Gabrielle sneezed, he startled. He looked around the room, and saw her asleep at the desk, her head in her arms. He sighed to himself. Why couldn't one of the others simply have given her someplace to sleep? Now he was going to have to send for an extra bed for her to sleep on. All he wanted was to just go to sleep! He lifted himself from his chair, and walked over to her, tapping her on the shoulder. She didn't wake.
Great, this is all I need. A deep sleeper. Joy. He muttered in his head to himself, and he poked her again.
"Nnn..." She mumbled.
"Hey, get up." He said to her.
"Gnah?" She said as she opened her eyes. "Go 'way." She said, already half asleep again. He sighed again, and slid his arms underneath her kneejoints and shoulders, and lifted her up. She stirred, but didn't wake. She lifted her arm and held his shoulder. He took a step forward, rolling his eyes, and then another, and he slowly walked to the other end of the room, opening the door with his foot. He kicked it wide open so that he could pass through, and he walked down the hallway to the stairs. He was glad he only had to walk down one flight.
He eventually came to the doors of his quarters, and he opened them with one hand, bracing her with the other. He stepped in and shut the door. He stepped forwards and laid her on the bed. He thought of picking her up and putting her on the floor.
I can't believe this. I'm going to sleep on the floor, aren't I? He thought. He looked at her again. Yes, yes I am. He walked over to the closet door and opened it, taking out the extra blankets he had for the winter.
He spread one on the ground and folded it in half. He put the other on the ground next to where he was going to lie down. He walked over to the next room which served as a bathroom and he fixed himself up, slipping on a pale sleeveless shirt and pants.He lay on the folded blanket, and pulled the other over him, his back to her. He reminded himself he had only five hours to sleep. He sighed in his defeat, and he was falling asleep before he even lay his head down.
A seeming second later, his internal clock awoke him, and he cursed it. He had to go and meet the others; No doubt they had been alerted of the mission as well. They had to go searching for that damned White Dragon again. After they got back, he and Gabrielle were to go and see the Scientists. A bitter taste filled the back of his throat, but he knew there wasn't really anything there. He blinked. He'd barely said more than brief sentences to her, and yet he felt this strange protectiveness towards her. Looking at his hand laying palm up before him, he flexed his fingers. The mind was such a strange thing. Lifting himself, he cast a glance over his shoulder at the figure lying curled in a ball on his bed.
Quizzically he tilted his head as he examined Gabrielle from afar, letting his arms drop to his side. The sliver of rising sun left bare traces of red on her back, highlighting the creases in the blanket over her shoulder. Stepping forward he leaned cautiously over the girl. Why was it he could understand intricate propulsion systems, accurately predict trajectories and speeds, read opponents' moves near flawlessly… And yet when it came to her and the strange calmness she gave, he had no idea how to recognise or deal with it. In his mind it was potentially hostile, this emotion, and thus must be treated with utmost caution.
His thoughts traveled back to those in white that were constantly examining and testing him for things he knew not of. Flashes of memory seared past, remembering the sick joy he got when he set alight to entire countrysides. He hadn't always been like that, he knew, but he couldn't remember what it was like before. The giddiness was very familiar. His eyes swept over this girl that had fallen from the sky. He wondered what they would bother him for tonight.
They seemed to take utmost pleasure in messing with his mind to the point of breaking. When he tried to fight them off and get them to stop, they stuck him with needles that made him lethargic and stupid. What was their point? It was a question gone unanswered for so long he had nearly forgotten to ask it. He got that peculiar feeling that he had to protect Gabrielle again for some reason. He didn't want Gabrielle to end up like him, afraid to have emotions, and so messed up inside that he felt he wasn't truly human anymore. He didn't want that for her. Perhaps bringing here hadn't been the best of ideas. It was no matter. They knew about her visions now. Scanning the radio broadcasts, they had ruthlessly pumped him full of so much drugs that he told them about it. He felt … Bad, he decided. What was the word? Remorse? Regret? Responsibility, perhaps.
He got a strange feeling in his chest when he thought about her, and he didn't know what it was. He had been trained to kill effortlessly, not to understand why ones' heart beat faster from anything else but fear. He had gone into the other room to get changed again. When he emerged he saw her asleep on his bed. That funny feeling inside his chest made itself known. It was shaky, almost. A sort of fear. Shrugging off thoughts for the time being, and decided he needed to wake her up.
He touched her hand, and he got a flash! Muddled images and sounds, no more discernable than if someone had burst into his room, shouted a foreign language and then ran off. Snatching his hand back, he stayed kneeling at the bedside, peering at her. Weird.
He finally got up enough courage and touched her again, with one finger, trying to wake her up. Nothing. He shook her shoulder.
"Gabrielle, wake up. Come on, wake up. We have to go," He said. He shook her again, and she stirred. She opened her blue eyes, and she startled at being so close to someone's face.
"Ah!" She exclaimed. "What are you doing? Lord Dilandau?" She asked, pulling herself away from him. "Trying to wake you up," He grunted. "And please, when we're not around the Dragonslayers, you can just call me Dilandau." He said, and she nodded slowly.
"Where am I?"
"My quarters."
She turned around and looked at the wall. He had a very large room, and she was sure she'd never get anything nearly as big or nice as this. The walls were a dark green, with a beige trim at the bottom and the ceiling. He had very few decorations, except for a crystal vase with a rose in it and a wine rack with several bottles. On the small table by the bed, there was a type of light, a glass, and the gold headband thing he always wore. She picked it up, as the small jewel on it intrigued her.
She was careful not to get fingerprints on it, in case he got mad at her. She watched the light play on the polished gold, and the way the light went inside the little jewel. The jewel was a soft lilac colour, and it made the light that touched it go white in wavy patterns.
"Where's my headband?" She heard him ask himself, and without turning around, she swung her arm around, the thing dangling off of her finger.
"Nn," He grunted, apparently in thanks, and took it from her. She fiddled with her fingers, crossing and uncrossing them as she sat cross-legged on the bed.
"Well, you have to get ready, because we're going on a mission to capture the White Dragon." Said Dilandau matter-of-factly.
"Okay," She said, and she stood and passed him to go into the bathroom. It surprised both of them how well she was taking all of this.
Something inside him didn't want Gabrielle to come on the mission with him. Part of him was afraid for her safety. He remembered it was his decision to take her back to the base with him. He thought it was the best thing for him to do, because she probably would have died out there in the forest, been eaten by one of the dragons that infested Fanelia's forests, or been captured by the White Dragon himself.
He decided that when the time came for them to chase the White Dragon, he'd send Gabrielle to circle behind them and scout. That way, she'd be safer than if she was in the front lines. He wished she could have learned how to use her weapons properly, but he had confidence that she'd learn quickly. After all, she could successfully fly a mech only three minutes after it had been deployed, and she had deployed it herself! He could, however, not allow her to come... But that would show the others and her that he was afraid for her, and it would make her feel incapable. It would also cause him to be the butt of their little inside jokes for the next while.
The door to the bathroom opened, and Gabrielle's shapely form stepped out, her hair freshly combed and her face washed.
"Okay, so what do we do?" She asked in a brave voice. It made his heart feel something like aching, to think that the Scientists may want to break her spirit as they had done to him.
"Just... Follow me." He said, and he stood and went to the door.
In the Dragonslayer's 'lair,' Dilandau briefed them on the situation, and explained, without a note of emotion, that they were to destroy a small town closeby to attract the White Dragon's attention. When he showed up, they were to persue and capture him. Gabrielle was shocked. She had to be responsible for an entire town's death? That could be hundreds of people! He went on to explain that when they returned, whether they failed or not, they were to report back to the room as soon as they had docked.
Gabrielle trudged off towards the hangar, lagging behind the others. Dilandau stopped.
"Why aren't you running? You're slowing us down." He said with a firm look, and if she didn't know better, she would have thought that just maybe, he'd had a note of concern in his voice.
"I'm sorry, my Lord. I'll catch up…" She said. She looked back up at him, and she had tears in her eyes. "Do I really have to kill them, Dilandau?" She asked.
"Come on, don't do that … Thing." He emphasized by waving his fingers with a sort of sneer. A failed, terse and unpractised attempt at comfort. She had watery eyes, but she blinked back her tears and said nothing further. She just kept a blank mask on her face.
He wanted to comfort her somehow, but he held himself back. He just looked back at her as he ran to the hangar with the others. She heard them suit up, and they waited for her, even though she had told them to go without her. She climbed into the Libreia.
She pulled the Libreia out of it's dock, and she proceeded to the end of the line. She watched as the others leapt off of the massive ship, one after the other. Guimel was the last to jump. She jumped off the edge of the bay last.
"Panoramic display," She muttered.
.:Acknowledged.:. The computer replied, and as the mecha thrusted up into the air, and the visual unit enclosed about her head, and before the radio turned on, she whispered,
"Forgive me, O Souls of the Damned."
Normally, she would have enjoyed the feeling of being up in the air, but this time she hated every second of it. Noting that Dilandau stayed silent, she hated the way the other Dragonslayers had normal conversations about gossip, girls and weather as they flew towards the town they were going to obliterate off the face of the planet.
.:"How can you possibly speak like that? Do you not realize what we are going to do to hundreds of peoples' lives? Have you no respect? Why are you not silent for those whose lives we are about to take? We are about to descend and rip and rend families apart here! Do you not care?":. She spat into the radio, her emotion pure contempt and malice. The casual conversation stopped. They were all silent for the remainder of the journey, save Dilandau, who said one word.
.:"Dive.":.
All of the mechas dropped, and she gracefully aimed the Libreia's curved nose down into the clouds. As the pressurized interior made her ears pop, she occasionally winced at the crackling pain. She circled above the town, wishing she could send a warning and an apology to the hapless citizens below.
Dilandau activated the invisibility cloak with Gabrielle's words ringing in his ears. She was going to hurt after this, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. He was going to have to order her to descend upon the town if she didn't do it herself. He watched her circle in the sky and could almost feel her anguish as she saw the first of the mechas land and begin pulverizing the town.
She flew to the other side of the town, landing gracefully in the streets.
.:"Run!":. She yelled through the dragon.
.:"All of you! Please, run! Run for your lives! Run the other way, they're coming!":. She yelled. She shifted the mecha's weight, and a small child ran out into the streets filled with pandemonium. She saw the side of a blue guymelef unit crash into a building on purpose; Itss massive arms ripping apart the residential building. The small child wailed and cried for its mother, and looked up at the massive blue statue of doom above him.
She rushed forwards and scooped the child up in the dragon's claws, trying not to step on anybody, which was exceedingly hard. They were milling about like turbo-charged ants, screaming and running from the blue thing and the orange and black dragon. She backed the Libreia up, accidentally smashing a building with the long, clublike tail of the dragon.
.:"No!":. She cried in vain. A wall of the house came away, and several people lay dead in the rubble. "Mommy!" The child screamed, and Gabrielle felt her heart being torn into pieces. She had spared the child, but killed his mother. The child wriggled out of the mecha's metal grasp and jumped to the ground.
Just then, another blue behemoth crashed through the other side of the building she had damaged. The thing slid in front of her and flipped over from the impact, crushing the small child. Gabrielle screamed so loud she thought her eardrums would burst.
"No! No, no, no, no, no!" She choked, the tears stinging her eyes. Her whole body shook with anger, and the suit stood on its two hind legs and let out a dragon's roar to the sky. Gabrielle held her head in her hands, and the mecha, still under her control, did the same.
More of the Dragonslayers appeared in response to her torn scream, surrounding her. They destroyed things in their way as they made way to her. She heard voices crackling through the radio, but she was too distraught to make sense of them. All of the sudden, Dilandau's voice came through louder than the others. He yelled across the radio waves,
.:"Everyone except Gabrielle and I return to Zaibach immediately! It's under attack!" :.
Instantly, five huged engines blasted as the legs of the blue mechas retracted inside the metal bodies, propelling them into the air. Within a matter of seconds, the only people who remained were Gabrielle and Dilandau. She called to him.
.:"Why are we still here?":. She asked in a panicked voice.
.:"We have to stay and wait for the White Dragon. It's our only chance. You have to stay with me because I don't think it is within your capabilities to be at the base right now while it is under seige.":. He told her firmly, and she swallowed. Her eye travelled up to the sides of the mountains, where she had seen a flash of movement just a second before.
A purple wing membrane appeared against the white of the snow-capped mountain. She pointed the dragon's head up to the mountaintop, and she yelled out,
.:"Dilandau, look behind us, it's the White Dragon!":. A mechanical hiss sounded as the red body of the Alseides pivoted on the road. He turned just in time to see a shining mass of white, green, and purple smash into his body, sending red, black and green tonnes of metal reeling backwards, smashing into the ground. The White Dragon stood overtop of the fallen Alseides, and its parts interchanged as it changed from the dragon into a different form. It now looked like a knight with a massive purple cape, and it withdrew a huge sword. Dilandau struggled, but couldn't shift the weight of the massive white mecha.
Gabrielle, seeing the arm of the mecha raised to slash down upon Dilandau, reacted even before the mechanics of the white knight sent the signals to the arm to slash down. She barreled into the white mass of metal, sending it sprawling into the ground some metres away. It lay still for a second, and then it made many metallic sounds as its parts interchanged yet again and the dragon stood before her, its green eyes burning in the white of its metal. It ignored her for the moment and went straight for Dilandau, who by this time was standing, ready for him.
The White Dragon hit at Dilandau, but he avoided the blow, deflecting easily. The legs disappeared, and he shot straight into the air, almost teasing. The white one crouched and leapt up from the ground to try and snatch at the Alseides, but he missed on account of the red guymelef activating the invisibility cloak. The Dragon snapped open its wings and flapped them hard, pulling itself into the air. It swirved in a circle to gain speed before attempting to gain altitude. The dragon caught sight of Dilandau's movement and slashed him across the chest with the curved blade that Gabrielle also posessed.
The systems in the Alseides shuddered and died, and the engines, losing their power, let the Alsieides fall. The cloak shimmered and revealed Dilandau. The suit was left paralyzed, and the only thing Dilandau could command it to do was to release back it's legs to stand. She observed that he didn't move, and she could see through the damaged doors of the cockpit that he was trying desperately in vain to move the massive suit. As the White Dragon thrusted forward to deliver the final blow that would kill the pilot inside, Gabrielle dove forward, spreading the Libreia's black membraned wings, and blocking the dragon's potentially fatal blow. The dragon struck at her again and again, but she found she could almost read his moves before he executed them, slapping them aside one after another with an apparent grace that surprised all three pilots. She shouted at the White Dragon,
.:"Get away from him, you bastard!":. The reply was almost instantaneous.
.:"Make me!":. She heard the voice reply from the opposing mecha. Gabrielle delivered an unexpectedly hard punch to the head of the dragon, relishing the sound of the punch connecting and the shorting circuits. She commanded the Libreia's central computer system in a desperate voice,
"Flamethrower, anything, fire, weapon, whatever, just hit him!"
A valve opened and interchanged the Libreia's right claws with a flamethrower, blasting the White Dragon with searing heat. She then gave the command to rechange the flamethrower with the scythe on her claws. She gouged at the Dragon, but it recoiled and she sliced only air. She heard a humming noise directly behind her and twisted full force at the direction of the sound, careful not to step on the mecha beneath her.
The White Dragon had attempted to fire a laser from its mouth, but the mouth of the dragon was askew and the shot missed her completely. It fired into the sky, punching a hole in a cloud high above them. The dragon made an attempt at getting at the Alseides from an odd angle to surprise her, but she lashed her tail and delivered a crushing blow to his shoulder, which sparked under the impact and sent some debris flying. She heard the pilot cry out inside. He must have been joined to the thing by blood crystal, like she was. That meant that any damage deliverd to the mecha was felt by the pilot as well. She felt remorse for him, but she knew that he posed a threat to her and her commander, and so assumed a defensive posture.
She slashed out with her right arm, the scythe easily ripping through the purple fabric of the White Dragon's wing membrane, and she tore up into the air with it still attached to her claws. She flew up to almost equal the start of the snow on the mountains, and flipped and sent the White Dragon hurtling towards the ground. Not bothering to follow it, she streaked downwards to the fallen Alseides.
The dragon convulsed and then it's failing systems allowed one more shape change into the White Knight. It got up just as she landed, and Gabrielle observed the jagged tear in the cape where she had ripped it. The hydraulics whined as it stood, and it pounded off into the distance, diving for cover into the deep green foliage.