Chaotic Cosmos Gaiden
Chapter3: Unforgotten Memories
Aleera quickly made her way down the street as she hunched over beneath her plastic umbrella for protection against the rain. The down pour had been forecast but the weather man had been wrong on the account on how severe the storm would be. As of why she was in this horrible storm to begin with? She had grown worried when Shinoski had stopped returning her texts and phone calls.
Thoughts raced through her mind as Aleera worried for her good friend. What would make him suddenly cut off all contact with the outside world, even going so far as not reporting to his job for at least a week! The manager of the store told her this, and he was also worried for one of their best employees. Former best employee anyway. But after three no call no shows the computer store had no choice but to fire him. Her shoes were already soaked by running through the gathering rain puddles on the sidewalks and when she had to crossed the streets. She was almost to Shinoski's apartment, as she could see it in the distance.
The white building against the blackened gray stormy sky of the storm gave it almost a foreboding feeling. A sudden boom of thunder made Aleera jump and let out a shriek of fear as her petite form froze up, causing her umbrella to drop from her grasp as she froze in mid step. Some passers by gave her strange and some concerned looks as they hurried on their way to get out of the summer storm. However none went out of their way to help. Her chest heaved as her clothes were now exposed to the elements and began to be soaked through as well.
Aleera tried to shrug off the shock and fear of the thunder and lighting. 'Thunder is just angels bowling.' She thought to herself as she slowly gathered herself and bent over, grabbing the umbrella and continuing her way down the street. She just couldn't wait to be out of the storm, dry, safe, and with Shinoski. However another report of thunder echoed across the rain slicked city, sounding much more closer- and louder then the last. If angels bowled, that would have been a strike. Her reaction was much more severe this time, as she instinctively huddled in a half crouch umbrella once more forgotten.
She whimpered as she squeezed her eyes shut, tears squeezing their way out and mixing with the rain as it poured down relentlessly onto her, not caring who or what it got wet on the way down. "Momma.." She sobbed out as the thunder and lightning left her too paralyzed to move anymore. However the rain was suddenly cut off as a darkened form huddled over her with it's own umbrella. The form was blurred because of the tears in her eyes, however she recognized the voice as it caused her to lift her head up toward the voice in reconnection.
"Aleera? Allera!" A warm hand grasped her at her shoulder. "Are you okay?" Aleera whimpered for a moment or two before finally speaking. "Shinoski.." Aleera's mind was detached from her body as things seemed to move in a haze. She barely felt Shino lift her back up to her feet, one arm wrapping around her slim waist and guide her into his apartment building shielding her from the rain with his own umbrella and up to his room. The dryness of the room and the dulled booms of the storm outside started to fade as she was lowered down onto one of the couches before she succumbed to the exhaustion that came from her fear.
It was much later the next day that Aleera opened up her eyes, blinking the sleep out of them as the world came back into view. 'This isn't my room.' She thought. It took her a moment or two to remember what happened the other day. That caused a shiver to run through her body. Checking herself out for a moment, she noticed that she was still in her clothes, just simply wrapped up in a dry blanket. She silently respected the fact that Shinoski didn't take her clothes off to let them dry. After laying there for a moment or two she sat up.
The apartment looked like a mess, open pizza boxes and Chinese cartons scattered around the room, some gone, while others were half eaten. That caused her stomach to growl slightly. She hadn't eaten anything since yesterday. "About time you woke up." Shinoski's voice called from behind the divider a half a wall furnished with polished wood that separated the living room from the kitchen. It seemed like he was fixing himself something to eat. "How are you feeling?" He asked as he made his way to where Alerra sat propped up against the sofa.
She turned to meet Shinoski's gaze and smiled. "I'm fine.." Though the smile was somewhat of a forced fake smile. She still didn't feel all that great, as the storm still bothered her. "You didn't look all that fine the other day when I found you at the edge of hysterics in the rain." Shinoski's comment seemed awfully blunt to Aleera as she turned her gaze down to the floor of the living room as her smile turned into a frown. 'I came to see how he was and instead I end up getting my feelings hurt.' Aleera thought as she tried to keep the anger that rose to a simmering level. Silence took over the living room, as rain was audible pitter pattering against the glass of the windows. It was still raining?
Realizing that he probably said to much, Shinosk sighed. "I'm sorry, should know when to keep my big mouth shut. Just that something's bothering me that's all." Shino's confession made Aleera feel slightly better, and most of the anger went away, but she regarded him with a cool gaze. "I could tell. You never showed up for work where I usually meet you on your brakes. You know that since you haven't shown up for a week at your job that you got laid off? Not only that, but you never answered my phone calls or my text messages."
Shinoski realized that he must have caught her on the way to visit him, after he was taking the round about way home from his former job. Unemployment was high, so he was lucky to have had a job. Now without one he was forced to rely on his parent's money that was sent to him. "So that's why you were where you were? You were coming to check up on me?" Aleera nodded without a word. "I apologize for worrying you, but now you're worrying me. I found you soaked on the pavement screaming. I had to drag you here where you eventually calmed down. What's going on? More importantly why are you afraid of thunderstorms?"
Aleera looked at him for a moment. "Since when were you given permission to ask all the questions? Answer mine and maybe I'll answer yours." Shinoski was rather shocked and taken aback at Aleera as she gave him some attitude in reply. ".. I had a disagreement with my Father." Shinoski replied with a rather dead pan voice. Aleera looked at him for a moment, her eyes searching his before nodding; seemingly satisfied with that he was telling the truth. Knowing him long enough and his mannerisms, his dead tone of voice was that he was rather still upset and wanted to have to matter be dropped.
"Satisfied?" Shinosk asked Aleera. "Not really, but it's enough to tell me why you skipped out of work like that. Whatever it was, it must have been some serous argument. Be grateful that you still have you parents Shinoski." Aleera turned her cool gaze into a softer tone. "I'm telling you that because I don't have any parents. That's why I'm afraid of Thunderstorms." Shinoski gave her a questioning look. "What do you mean you don't have any parents?" He asked. Some one living on their own at this age was uncommon, if not unheard of.
"How can one be afraid of thunderstorms due to not having parents?" Shinoski asked, rather absent mindedly. "Well, if you'd be quiet for a second I'll tell you." Aleera huffed, cheeks puffing out for a moment. "Sometimes you really are dense, despite how sharp you come across."
Cosmic Era 71 - 6.13 (The Atlantic Federation dispatches its 4th Naval Fleet to demand that the Orb Union dismiss Representative Athha, dissolve its legislature, and disarm itself. Orb is given 48 hours to make its reply.)
The start of the day was just about like any other for Aleera. The sounds and smells of breakfast being made in the kitchen wafted down the small hallway that connected her room to the rest of the one story house. On the other side of the hallway there was a bathroom, and her older brothers room. The hallway ended up connecting to the main living room and kitchen, followed by another hallway leading to two more bedrooms, one where her mother slept, and a vacant room that was currently used for storage.
Aleera hurried through her room, quickly throwing on her school uniform and made her way down the hall to the kitchen while fixing her hair. Already her older brother was sitting at the table, eating his breakfast and already dressed for school. Her mother came over from behind her and sat down a plate of scrambled eggs, toast, and slices of oranges. "Go to sleep late again?" Her mother asked as she went to get Aleera glass of milk. Aleera nodded slightly, eyes glassed over from sleep after just previously waking up, half listening to a small TV that was sitting on one of the counter tops. It was nothing more then Morning Talkshows. "Mmhm.."
She and her brother Todd had been up all night studying for their half year tests. Todd was bigger then her to at least a head and almost her opposite. While she was petite his form was more bulky. While Aleera's hair was blonde, his hair was a dark brown and full of curls with matching colored eyes. He looked almost like their father, from what the two of them could remember before he left them at such an early age. The only people that took care of them were themselves, and their mother, who worked two jobs back to back to keep them a float.
The exams that Alerra and Todd were taking were grueling, most of everyone but the smartest and the brightest of students were completely wiped out after words. The testing was also very important as it decided if you were to go up a level with your class, or stay behind. For the Senior class, which Todd was apart of, it meant which collage or technical school you'd start at after graduating.
Aleera finished eating her breakfast and was getting up to help her mom and brother clean up after eating, both of them having left the kitchen and doing other things in other parts of the house. The voices of the morning talk show hosts suddenly being silenced made Aleera pause for a moment before looking up to see the message in big red letters reading 'Special News Bulletin' appear on the screen before an official sounding feminine voice cutting in. "We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you braking news. At the request of the Orb Government, all channels will be tuned in to live feed from the Orb National Palace for a special announcement."
This was far from anything ordinary that she had seen while growing up in Orb. Puzzled she stood there and watched to see what it was about. "We advise all citizens to suspend regular activities in order to not miss this extremely important broadcast."Immediately Aleera turned her head over her shoulder and shouted for her mother to come into the kitchen, as she was currently in her room getting ready for her job. "There's something going on with the TV. Something about a special announcement from the Orb Government!" Aleera shouted back when her mother asked why she was calling her. It took only a moment or two for her mom to come into the Kitchen along with her Brother, just in time to catch the beginning of the announcement.
The picture shifted to the yellow sunburst emblem of Orb, staying there for a moment or two before switching again, this time to the visage of their King; Izumi Athha. The long brown hair, brown eyed, bearded man looked rather calm, but those watching could see exhaustion and worry, mixed with stubborn resistance shining through his eyes.
He was currently sitting behind a polished oak wood desk, clad in the simple maroon colored jacket, the inside of the jacket, where the buttons would be was lined with gold, allowing a white business shirt to be seen underneath. It was the dress of the emirs. Izumi did not want to be dressed as a king or ruler of the island nation, but instead like the rest of his advisors. Mix that with his down to earth attitude and friendly nature, he was as closet that you could get to 'the people's king.' The background was fairly simple, a large framed painting of a garden of some sorts, hung upon a wall painted soft sky blue. A potted plant sat over near the far side of the room.
Facing the camera's for another brief moment of silence, Izumi began to speak as he was given the signal from behind the camera's by one of the camera man that he was live. "My fellow citizens of Orb, it pains me a great deal to announce the following. An Earth Alliance fleet is on its way here, to Orb. We're told the reason is that unless Orb chooses to join forces with the Earth Alliance, and then fight against the PLANTS it will be considered a supporter of ZAFT. The Orb Government continues to stress its position as a neutral nation, and is perusing diplomatic solutions even as we speak."
Aleera and her family stood silently, transfixed on the television screen. Aleera trembled slightly in fear, and her brother Todd took one large arm and wrapped it around her shoulders to comfort her. Aleera adverted her attention from the television only for a moment before offering her brother a smile and a soft 'thank you' before returning her attention back to the speech. "But unfortunately, judging from the reaction of the Earth Forces so far, we think the chances of avoiding a battle are rather slim. Therefore, I am putting emergency measures into place, ordering all Orb citizens to evacuate the cities, and all areas in proximity to military facilities. After the broad cast, you will get a phone call, and depending where you live, you will be told to which areas to evacuate to. Either by boat to other less populated Islands, or evacuation shelters. May the Godess Hiyama look down and smile upon us in our hour of need."
The televised image of Izumi Athha faded out into black, and was quickly replaced once again by the Orb sunburst emblem. Shock quickly settled over the Island Nation as the announcement was completed. Some were slow to make out exactly what was happening, while others acted almost immediately. Over the following hours, the shock lifted, giving way to understanding as the people of Orb banded and worked together, preparing for the difficult times all but looming over them.
By the time Aleera and her family had received their phone call, and packed up their belongings, keeping only the essentials of living and a few personal items as the phone directions stated, the major intersections they were already packed. Both sides of the highway, one for inbound, and one for outbound. The traffic was all going in the outbound direction, away from the city proper and to the docks and outskirts where some would be taken by fairy. Others would be directed to reinforced bunker like structures beneath the smaller mountains of volcanic rock.
The going was rather slow for Aleera and her family, sometimes sitting on the highway in their car for hours at a time as they slowly inched their way toward safety. The day was spent in the car, Aleera and her brother Todd having hushed conversations in the back of the car as their mother concentrated on the traffic ahead of them and often reassured them despite the growing worry inside that things would turn out just fine.
Another day came and went as they were still in the same pace of things, until their car ran out of gas after sitting in line for so long. Afterward things became slightly more bearable as walking seemed to be the fastest mode of transportation rather then sitting in the still very slow going traffic. Eventually more people caught onto the idea as those who couldn't get out fast enough, or were just impatient began to walk. Eventually during the later half of the day, the traffic cleared up enough that they were able to hitch a ride.
It was beginning to dawn on the third day. The dark night sky had slowly started to turn to a soft light blue as the sun began to show it's self, its golden rays slowly peaking over the horizon of the ocean. It's rays casting the whole Earth Alliance fleet at anchor in deep shadow, only the outlines of the ships visible as they arrived sometime during the night. The sun slowly continued to climb, as both sides, Earth Alliance and Orb, prepared for battle.
By the time they neared the evacuation point, it was early morning around six am. Aleera, Todd, and her mother had very little sleep during their night drive, more to anxiety then anything else. The driver that they hitched a ride with stopped, and told them that this was as far as he could go, as the rest of the roads were blocked off to allow foot traffic. They would have to walk the next couple of miles to the shelters. The wide foot path took a route through the thick forests to the base of the mountains where the shelters were still open, masses of humanity slowly streaming in.
"How much longer is this going to be? My feet are killing me." Aleera finally spoke up, wincing slightly as her feet throbbed at her. If she knew that she was going to be hiking through the woods, or walking long distances, she would of brought a better pair of shoes, instead of leaving them behind with her amassed collection sitting in her closet at home. "We are almost there Aleera. Just another mile or so to go and then you can sit down and relax all you want till this mess is over." Replied Todd, not even slightly out of breath. He kept pace next to her, their mother slightly ahead of them as they found themselves amidst a throng of people.
Soldiers dressed in vests and combat helmets were guiding the crowd of people toward one of the mountain shelters, and assisting those with questions or physical ailments. A large speaker rose over the crowd on a hastily erected wooden poll. "Please proceed in an orderly fashion and have your identification papers ready to be inspected. Orb military personnel will help guide you to your designated shelter." The dull female voice droned out over the din of people conversing with one another before switching into a different language.
However mid way into its speech in a foreign language it stopped suddenly into silence. This caused everyone who was by now used to the constant droning of instructions to stop what they were in the middle of doing and look toward the loud speaker apprehensively. Even the Orb soldiers looked at it with worry. Quick loud high pitched beeps came across the speaker seconds apart before over the beeping the female voice spoke up, again calm as ever despite the now urgency. "Attack warning Red- Attack warning Red. Seek immediate shelter-Seek immediate shelter. Attack warning Red." A high pitched long tone went over the loudspeaker and shortly after a mournful sounding high-low siren went across the land, and in other parts of the Island nation, others took up the cry as well.
What ever sign of normalcy and order among the evacuees turned to pure chaos and panic as people made for a mad dash toward the security of the bunkers. The distant roar of aircraft and thumps of missiles impacting military targets was heard over the sirens wail. "Aleera! Run!" Her mother screamed over the panicked and fearful cries of the throng of people. The pain in her feet suddenly forgotten Aleera ran with her brother as the sounds of battle drew louder and their for even closer. Aleera continued running with her family before tripping over a stone jutting out of the ground.
Instead of being helped immediately up by a helping hand or a concerned person asking if she was okay normally, she was pushed back down to the ground and trampled over by the mass of humanity. However moments later she was pulled out of the sea of people by an Orb solider, who had risked his own life pushing through the mass of panicked civilians to rescue her. Before she even had a chance to turn and thank him he shouted at her: "Continue running! Get to the shelters immediately!" She didn't even have time to ask where her mother and her brother were!
Her eyes scanned the crowd in front of her as she ran, and finally spotted them, although they were yards ahead of her by now. However her eyes were drawn from the mass of people to the sudden roar above her. It caused her to shield her ears with both hands. Above her a Red, white and blue mobile suit with red winged fins dueled with what seemed to be its lesser copies, which lacked any sort of jet pack what so ever. The group of suits flitted and maneuvered around like frenzied birds. The original moved in a blink of an eye, drawing its beam saber from the jet pack and neatly cutting one of the lesser copies in half.
The mobile suit's back thrusters sputtered and then died before it fell to earth, crashing in the nearby forest and exploding. The mass of light and sound shook Aleera to the core as the mobile suits continued to duel over head. Seeing the fall of their comrade seemed to enrage the two mobile suits as they ganged up on it. Green bolts of energy blasted forth from the rifles they held in each hand as the jet packed mobile suit dodged to the side and returned fire. The first lance of energy flashed forward and struck the shield of the jet packed one. The second lance flashed through air where the original floated moments before only to-
Aleera's eyes widened with horror at the projected path of the beam and could do nothing, not even scream out a warning before the green lance of energy impacted the mass of people and the shelter that they were all trying to crowd into. People were just vaporized instantly, not even feeling anything as the beam hit, turning them and their clothing into green superheated vapor. The heat caused the shelter's doors to actually melt shut, trapping those within a mountainous tomb. In a flash, the three mobile suits were elsewhere, things quieted down to the still wailing of the air raid siren and the sobbing and screaming of the injured- or in Aleera's case those that were ''lucky'' enough to be alive.
The battle above them only lasted mere moments, however it ended up changing Aleera's life forever. Aleera couldn't remember what happened after that, although after waking up in the hospital the doctors told her that she had passed out due to shock, and was brought here with the survivors after the battle. The doctors however traded looks with each other and declined to speak about her Mother and her brother, but she already knew it within her heart that they were dead after seeing the beam hit the throng of people.
Everything else went by in a haze, almost like she was being filmed with a fogged over lens. She could barely remember the funerals for her mother and brother. There was nothing left of them to be found, or buried for that matter. Her friends and distant relatives offering her condolences and how sorry they were, and the old "If there is anything I can do to help…" But there was nothing that they could do that would help bring back her mother and brother from the dead. After the funerals were over she realized that it was just a sham, as no one stepped up and offered to take care of her.
It was returning to her home to discover that it was intact and virtually unscathed from the ensuing battles that it really hit her. It didn't help that she was wealthy beyond all imagination now due to inheriting her mothers and brothers life insurance policy. Aleera found herself 'rich' days before when she was still with and around her family. She tried to be strong for the people that knew her, went back to school, and always had a smile on her face and hyper active. However all of that was a façade – something to hide her lasting sadness behind. Least, until she met Shinoski by chance.
The whole time Shinoski sat and listened to Aleera's tale and by the time she was done was hugging her as the girl was nearly in tears. "I'm sorry." Shinoski replied to Aleera as she sniffled. "It's okay." She replied, her voice thick with repressed emotion. Aleera didn't want others to see her sad or upset as she didn't want them to worry about her. The anger that she was feeling toward Shinoski minutes earlier had seemed to just vanish. "No, it's not. You see I am from the Earth Alliance. That's why I moved here." Aleera looked up at him with wide eyes before smiling. If anything that further confused Shinoski. "Why are you smiling? Aren't you angry at me?" Aleera shook her head. "No. Why should I be angry at you? You're not the one responsible for the death of my family, or the damage to my country."
Shinoski was rather at a loss for things to really say at this moment, as he had been busy blaming himself for other peoples problems. "You're the most caring, kind hearted indusial that I've known for awhile. It's good to see that there are still kind people within the Earth Alliance. Perhaps if they were more like you, we wouldn't have to worry about people getting hurt." Aleera offered him another smile before getting up, if reluctantly out of Shinoski's embrace. "Thank you for taking care of me till I came too Shino. I appreciate it. But I have to go home and make myself more presentable. You might not have school, but I still do." With that, she silently went to the door, slipped on her shoes that were messily discarded by the door and made her way out.
