Celestial Being Chronicles - Chapter 117
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Gundam series, nor any of the various series which are used or referenced in my fic, so please point that damned lawsuit cannon at someone else, also, don't read this if you are not of legal age to read such material. The story contains possibly disturbing content and should not be read by close-minded people (i.e., people who are easily offended.) Everything in the story is fictional. I am also not responsible for any actions taken by people who read this story and society's problems. I do, however, own my original character; Hope Yamato.
The Divinity Gundam crashed onto the Excalibur's flight deck with the ear-piercing shriek of metal against metal and a huge shower of sparks.
About five minutes later, Kira slowly made his way towards the locker room door after finally freeing himself from the Divinity's cockpit harness. But suddenly, a voice spoke, echoing throughout the hanger. "You people may have won this round...but don't get used to it, as you are about to lose."
Everyone inside the hanger quickly began to look around for the source of the unidentified voice, but it was Kira that found the source; strapped to the back of the Divinity Gundam's right leg, was a large canister labeled with the words; VX nerve gas.
"Oh shit!" The amethyst-eyed man yelled, even as the canister started to let out a quiet hiss as the gas began to be released. "Everyone out of the hanger, now!"
Kira also dashed for the door, but almost instantly, he began to show symptoms of exposure. First, his eyes became watery, then his pupils shunk to small pinpoints, even as he began to experience a throbbing pain in both eyes, along with blurred vision. The amethyst-eyed man was almost halfway to the doors leading out of the hanger when he suddenly began to experience excessive sweating, tightness in his chest, and rapid breathing. When he was only a few steps from the door, his body collapsed to the floor as a full-body seizure, confusion, drowsiness, weakness, and finally, a splitting headache set in. All of these symptoms had appeared within only 35 seconds of first exposure.
"We have to get him out of there!" Murrue screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks, even as she, along with Kira's other nine lovers, helplessly watched from just beyond the sealed hanger door, as his body collapsed to the floor and was wracked with a crippling full-body seizure.
Kira's entire body felt as though it was on fire, and it may as well have been, since his skin was actually bubbling as the posionous vapor came into contact with it. It was like nothing else he'd ever felt. It was unrelenting. The toxic vapor was so concentrated that it was actually causing chemical burns to form on Kira's skin.
All at once, the agony and fear and suffering of their mutual lover, Kira Yamato, who was currently trapped inside the vast hanger of the Excalibur, slammed into the consciousness of Asuka, Cagalli, Hope, Lacus, Lexi, Mayu, Murrue and Shiho, causing each of the eight women to take a stumbling step backwards due to the immense pain that their lover was experiencing.
Kira forced the searing pain out of his consciousness as he slowly began to rise to his feet. His raw, blood-soaked hands barely supported his weight as he forced his body to stand. His bloodshot, tear-blurred eyes glaring directly at the doors leading out of the hanger, even as multiple alarms and automated announcements blared throughout the now deserted hanger. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Kira made it to the door leading out of the hanger, only for his body to limply fall against it, his normally limitless strength and energy having been leeched away from his body by the highly specialized posion that now filled the hanger. With the last of his rapidly wanning strength, the amethyst-eyed man turned to face his lovers as they stood just beyond the door, staring at his blood-soaked face in horror and disbelief. Finally, his body gave out and he collapsed to the floor in a motionless, blood-soaked heap.
Kira Yamato tossed and turned on a bed in his private section of the Excalibur's infirmary, draped with a thin blanket that he didn't really need, his head resting restlessly on a large silk pillow taken from the quarters which he shared with his many lovers. His eyes were closed, but he was far from asleep or even relaxed, despite how exhausted he was.
He knew he was letting himself fall apart, but it was only an intellectual understanding, he lacked the willpower, and somehow, even the ability, to do much to fix the situation. Not right now anyway, not when the pain of the wound dealt to his entire body and soul was still so deep and ragged and fresh. He wasn't eating anywhere near enough, at least not for his body's extremely high requirements. While it was true that Kira, not to mention his eight lovers, could survive forever without eating or drinking anything, they usually preferred to do so anyway, in an effort to maintain a connection with their human roots.
He remembered to shave every few days, and to wash himself about as often, but with no one around to pressure him into cleaning up, both his private section of the infirmary and himself, the place was starting to take on the look of a college dorm room after an all-night drinking session. There were even a few emptied medicine containers and bottles lying on the floor. Kira wasn't particularly fond of the idea of suicide, he couldn't even die if he wanted to, not after attaining the powers of God, but after finding the medicine cabinet, he downed the various drugs anyway, just for the hell of it, but predictably, an eternal slumber had eluded him, in fact the drugs functioned more like incredibly powerful adrenaline shots and kept him awake and thinking much more than he'd wanted.
Kira spent most of each day either lying on the bed or else on his laptop, doing what programming and computer technology work he felt like he wanted to do for Celestial Being on any given day. He had turned off the communications systems, hiding from any interaction with anyone, knowing that he wasn't in control of himself at the moment, not trusting himself to keep things in perspective, to be calm and rational. He didn't want to hurt anyone more than they were already hurt, and the best way he could figure to do that was to isolate himself until he'd regained control of his life and actions.
Unfortunately, he didn't seem to be making much measurable progress in that regard, if anything he felt more strung out and less connected to reality now than he had before or during the attempt on his life. He was only now, incredible as it may have seemed, coming to realize what a huge part of himself was made up of ignorance and the belief that he couldn't be harmed by anyone. If anything, it was all made even worse by the fact that Kira, his lovers and their children, were psychic, the sub-conscious emotional and telepathic bonds between them were the most reassuring things in the world, but now, Kira wished that he had never been reborn as a God. The psychic bonds offered certainty in a way that was simply above and beyond what ordinary physical and emotional intimacy could ever offer, it banished all sense of doubt, and allowed him to know exactly how his family felt about him and vice-versa. And now, as Kira sat in the Excalibur's infirmary, recovering from a completely new form of VX gas which had been specially designed in an attempt to target and kill him, his family was seriously beginning to question his actions and even his sanity.
With a sigh, Kira opened his eyes and sat up from the bed. Lying there with his eyes closed was just not going to work, and meditation was simply out of the question. Self-introspection at a time like this would only highlight all those parts of him that were now gone or had been damaged by various losses that he had suffered over the millenia, he might as well just stick a knife in his ribs and begin twisting, it would hurt less.